Coronavirus and Racism, Worker Resistance, Sanctions & more -- The Week in News and Opinion April 5 - 12

This week's list of articles, news items, visuals and opinion pieces that I see as a must if you are looking for a roundup that should be of interest to The Left Chapter readers.

This list covers the week of  April 5 - 12.

This week's edition begins again with a very large roundup of news and left opinion about the capitalist coronavirus crisis and its impact on working people globally. There are a number of links related to such topics as racist attacks as well as the impact of systemic racism on coronavirus outcomes, the worker fightback in the United States and internationally, and the ongoing impact of cruel, criminal American imperialist sanctions against a number of countries. The Featured Article link at the start is an excellent refutation  by Glenn Greenwald of the false notion that American non-voters are somehow "privileged".

We have tried to arrange this coronavirus news thematically and to touch on many different areas of concern.

Featured Article:

Nonvoters Are Not Privileged. They Are Disproportionately Lower-Income, Nonwhite, and Dissatisfied With the Two Parties.

"NOT EVEN 24 HOURS have elapsed since Bernie Sanders announced that he was suspending his presidential run, and already a shaming campaign has been launched against those who are contemplating abstaining from voting due to dissatisfaction with the two major party candidates. The premise invoked for this tactic is that only those who are sufficiently “privileged” have the luxury of choosing not to vote — meaning that nonvoters are rich and white and thus largely immune from the harmful consequences of a Trump presidency, which largely fall on the backs of poorer and nonwhite Americans."

Capitalist Coronavirus Crisis:

- Not on the Backs of Workers! -- The Capitalist Coronavirus Crisis News on The Left Chapter

- Coronavirus didn't bring the economy down — 40 years of greed and corporate malfeasance did

- The Plan Is to Save Capital and Let the People Die

- There is no vaccine to humanize capitalism

- The COVID-19 Pandemic Is Exposing the Plague of Neoliberalism

- Capitalism provides what is superfluous, while socialism provides what is necessary

- No more unconditional corporate bailouts

- Social Distancing Is a Privilege

- It’s Time to Stop Calling Essential Workers ‘Unskilled’

- Dumped Milk, Smashed Eggs, Plowed Vegetables: Food Waste of the Pandemic

- Global Lockdowns Resulting In 'Horrifying Surge' In Domestic Violence, U.N. Warns

- Coronavirus pandemic exacerbates inequalities for women, UN warns

- Declare abortion a public health issue during pandemic, WHO urged

- Don’t Blame China For Your Government’s COVID-19 Failures

- Spitting and coughing assaults on service workers 'ramped up' amid COVID-19, union says

- YouTube moves to limit spread of false coronavirus 5G theory

- Muslims Spitting, Sneezing, Hiding in Mosques to Spread Coronavirus Are All Fake News Stories

- Smashed windows and racist graffiti: Vandals target Asian Americans amid coronavirus

- 'It happened because I'm Asian': Toronto ER nurse says she was spit on, verbally assaulted

- Pope Francis Calls for Debt Forgiveness and Ending Sanctions

- #BloqueoNoSolidaridadSi campaign seeks to end cruel American sanctions

- The United States was always the Evil Empire

- Billionaire-backed Human Rights Watch lobbies for lethal US sanctions on leftist governments as Covid crisis rages

- Why is the US blockading poor countries in a pandemic?

-  Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain: “Imperialism is the real virus that kills the people”

- U.S. wages economic war on Iran during pandemic, as mainstream media looks away

- US ready to block Iran's requests for coronavirus aid from the IMF, officials say

- Cuban Doctors Arrive in Angola to Train 1500 Health Technicians

- Cuban Medical Team Arrives in Barbados to Help Fight COVID-19

- Cuban Medical Aid in Italy Shows Positive Results

- Contribution from China to support Cuban fight against COVID-19

- LETTER TO THE PEOPLE OF THE US FROM PRESIDENT MADURO

- Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration Blasts US Moves

- The U.S. Should Fight COVID, Not Venezuela

- Adolf Trump goes for Venezuela: A jump into nothingness?

- Venezuela Donates COVID-19 Tests to Caribbean Countries

- Venezuela Receives Humanitarian Aid From UN, WHO, Russia

- Trinidad & Tobago Rejects Possible US Intervention on Venezuela

- Brazil: Judge Prohibits Bolsonaro From Lifting Quarantines

- Chile’s Elite Escaping by Helicopter for Easter Amid Pandemic

- Peru: Indigenous People in Lockdown Without Electricity, Sewage

- Honduran Doctors Need More Medical Supplies to Fight COVID-19

- Paraguayans go hungry as coronavirus lockdown ravages livelihoods

- Latin America: 14 Million People Lost Their Jobs to COVID-19

- Ecuador Indigenous Ask IACHR to Investigate State Over COVID-19 Crisis

- Ecuador's Guayaquil Runs out of Coffins as COVID-19 Deaths Soar

- Ecuador’s Virus-Hit Guayaquil Begins Burials of 1,000 Bodies

"They wait until they die out here to attend to them. Then, their families pick them up after they die.":


- "They're Crooks": Coal Industry Aims to Exploit Coronavirus Crisis to Cut Payments to Miners With Black Lung (United States) 

- Stealing masks and stockpiling hydroxychloroquine — what America has become during this epidemic is deeply worrying

- US Seizes Ventilators Destined for Barbados

- Coronavirus Is Forcing the GOP to (Tacitly) Admit Its Ideology Is Delusional

- Trump was warned in January of Covid-19's devastating impact, memos reveal

- Trump’s campaign to reopen businesses risks hundreds of thousands of lives

- Trump Administration Tells Employers Not To Worry About Recording COVID-19 Cases

- Trump Considering New Aid Package Favoring Big Business: Report

- Dear Jeff Bezos, instead of firing me, protect your workers from coronavirus

- Chicago Amazon Workers Picket with Supporters—and Their Cars

- Coronavirus: Amazon workers threaten revolution!

- America's billionaires are giving to charity – but much of it is self-serving rubbish

- A tale of two New Yorks: pandemic lays bare a city's shocking inequities

- We’re in a Plague — Yet Andrew Cuomo Just Passed an Absolutely Brutal Austerity Budget

- In a Push to Re-Open Schools, Florida Governor Falsely Claims No One Under 25 Has Died from COVID-19 Nationwide

- How Did the U.S. End Up with Nurses Wearing Garbage Bags?

- Fast Foods Workers at 50 Restaurants Across California Are Going on Strike

- Grocery workers are beginning to die of coronavirus

- Dying to work: Frontline workers bear the brunt of the lethal virus

- The Irony of Being Essential, But Illegal (United States)

- 'A perfect storm': poverty and race add to Covid-19 toll in US deep south

- Black Americans raising concerns about being profiled for wearing masks amid coronavirus

- BLACK WOMEN HAVE LONG FACED RACISM IN HEALTHCARE. COVID-19 IS ONLY AMPLIFYING IT.

- In Chicago, 70% of COVID-19 Deaths Are Black

- Chicago mayor signs order ensuring immigrants, refugees have access to COVID-19 relief provided by city

- The US Seeks to Set New Military Base in Syria Amid Pandemic

- No rent was paid in April by nearly a third of American renters

- REPORT FROM INSIDE ANGOLA PRISON PAINTS A TROUBLING PICTURE AS CORONAVIRUS GRIPS LOUISIANA

UK healthcare professionals are being silenced and threatened for speaking out about their work during the coronavirus outbreak:




- We're not all in it together, your majesty

- Hundreds of UK care home deaths not added to official coronavirus toll

- Bus driver killed by coronavirus 'told his pay would be cut if he missed work' (United Kingdom)

- While 'low-skilled' migrants are saving us, the government is cracking down on them (United Kingdom)

- In India, Coronavirus Fans Religious Hatred

- COVID-19 Hasn’t Stopped Ford From Trying To Speedup Future Evictions (Ontario) 

- Ontario bans Airbnb and short-term vacation rentals during pandemic

- Ontario's long-term care workers still working at multiple facilities as B.C. clamps down

- Ontario suspends environmental oversight rules, citing COVID-19

- Ontario conducting far fewer COVID-19 tests than promised as cases keep climbing

- 16 people died at Ont. nursing home before sick residents were separated from the healthy

- Quebec premier confirms 31 dead at Dorval long-term care home

- Petition Re: Dollarama: Dollarama respect pandemic rules and give workers protective gear

- Fraser Institute Uses Coronavirus Pandemic to Push Dubious Claims About the Health Benefits of Plastic Bags

Africa:

- UN Seeks $130 Million To Prevent Hunger Catastrophe in Zimbabwe

- Libya War Escalation is Straining ‘Decimated’ Health System

Canada:

- Police and bylaw harassment is not a coronavirus cure

- Canada lost more than 1 million jobs last month as COVID-19 struck

- Ontario releases more than 1,900 inmates, many with nowhere to go

- Fight for publicly-owned medical manufacturing in Ontario

- Passengers hoping for refunds for cancelled flights will be out of luck

- CO-OP REFINERY SCAB GROUP: NO SAND N****R, PRAIRIE N****R, OR UNION POS TOUCHES MY TRUCK

- Big banks slammed for charging customers interest on interest for deferred mortgage payments

- THE CANADA EMERGENCY WAGE SUBSIDY IS A SUBSIDY TO BUSINESS, NOT WORKERS

- CLC LEADERSHIP NEEDS TO STEP UP

- Documents suggest Canada paid millions more than admitted to fight Cindy Blackstock

- Anti-poverty activist and writer Pat Capponi dead at 70

- Actress-activist Shirley Douglas, daughter of medicare's Tommy Douglas, dies

- Canada re-embraces Saudi monarchy by lifting freeze on arms exports

Cuba:

- Despite U.S. blockade, Cuba’s comprehensive health system looks after every citizen

Climate Change:

- Tolkien was right: giant trees have towering role in protecting forests

- Antarctica Was a Rainforest During the Times of Dinosaurs, New Study

- Will the next great pandemic come from the permafrost?

Ideas:

- Corbynism Lost, Sandersism is Losing: Why Working Within Capitalist Parties Fails

Latin America:

- Cuba’s Promising Approach to Cancer

- Ecuador: Ex President Correa Sentenced to 8 Years in Prison

- BRAZILIAN MILITARY CURTAILS PRESIDENT BOLSONARO’S POWER OVER COVID19 DISPUTE

United Kingdom:

- UK hunger crisis: 1.5m people go whole day without food

- Right turn for Labour

- An open letter to UK Labour leader Keir Starmer

United States:

- Another Sanders Betrayal

- NYT Writes Post-Mortems for a Sanders Campaign It Did Its Best to Kill

- Airlines Want To Cancel Rule Requiring Them To Refund Fares For Canceled Flights

- 'One of the Most Brazen Acts of Voter Suppression in Modern Times' as US Supreme Court Blocks Absentee Ballot Extension in Wisconsin

- Trump Signs Order Allowing Private Companies to Mine the Moon

- Trump to open more wildlife refuge land to hunting, fishing

Capitalist Coronavirus Crisis -- The Week in News and Opinion March 8 - 15

Empty streets midday in Washington DC Friday

This week's list of articles, news items, visuals and opinion pieces that I see as a must if you are looking for a roundup that should be of interest to The Left Chapter readers.

This list covers the week of  March 8 - 15.

This week's edition starts with a very large roundup of news and left opinion about the capitalist coronavirus crisis. Otherwise the round-up of international left news is presented in sections related to topic/region listed alphabetically except for the Featured Article post at the start.

Featured Article:

America Is a Sham

"In a time of real anxiety, maybe this optimism is just grasping for something good to come of all of this. But that’s really up to us. Over the next few weeks, we’re going to see more and more absurd, or cruel, or counterproductive practices revealed. Pay attention when they are. Notice the statements the people in charge make when they effortlessly roll back their surcharges and threats, their punishments and impediments. Remember them. And when the time comes that the danger from the virus is no longer as severe, and those people try to quietly reinstate the policies that hurt so many around you, remember that for a lot of Americans, a “return to normal” is a scary prospect. Keep your giant bottle of hand sanitizer. You’re gonna need it to deal with all the bullshit that’s coming back when the pandemic finally passes."

Capitalist Coronavirus Crisis

- Coronavirus facts: is there a cure and what is the mortality rate of the virus?

- Panic buying and hoarding are a function of capitalism

- Coronavirus highlights gap between socialist and capitalist responses

- “Flattening the Curve” is a deadly delusion

- We need disciplined, socialist solutions to the coming capitalist coronavirus crisis

- Coronavirus: 8 demands we should make on the government

- No, the coronavirus is not good for the climate

- Plague Watch USA -- Hellworld #5

- Working communities must not be made to pay for COVID-19 crisis

- These are the NHL owners who have not agreed to pay arena staff for suspended events

- Tim Hortons Workers Need Doctor’s Notes To Take Unpaid Sick Leave During Coronavirus Pandemic

- Fast Food Lobby Group: Workers With ‘Coughs’ and ‘Runny Noses’ Can Still Work During Coronavirus Pandemic

- Whole Foods Suggests That Workers Share Paid Time Off During Coronavirus

- Trump offers 'large sums' for exclusive access to coronavirus vaccine

- The Dismantled State Takes on a Pandemic

- Trump to Declare National Emergency to Speed Virus Response

- Trump struggles to explain why he disbanded his global health team

- Our Worst Crisis Since 2008… and We Have an Idiot at the Helm

- Republicans Tried to Sneak Abortion Restrictions into the Coronavirus Bill

- Senate GOP Blocks Emergency Paid Sick Leave Bill From Moving Forward

- The Coronavirus Is Jump-Starting Union Organizing at Delta

- Alex Jones accused of selling fake coronavirus cures

- New York attorney general sends letter to televangelist Jim Bakker amid coronavirus concerns

- 'Nightmare Waiting to Happen': Advocates Warn US Prison Conditions Risks Intense Coronavirus Outbreak

- Mexico Considers Limiting Entries From US To Slow Coronavirus

Chinese medical workers who have been fighting the coronavirus day and night in Wuhan celebrated the closing of the last temporary hospital in Wuhan.

The reported cases went from a surge in February of 15,000 in one day to only 15 this week:




- China Ready to Assist the World to Fight COVID-19

- Italy criticizes EU for not responding its call for help, 'only China responded bilaterally'

- I’m an epidemiologist. When I heard about Britain’s ‘herd immunity’ coronavirus plan, I thought it was satire

- European leftist parties demand support for workers during the capitalist coronavirus crisis

- Coronavirus: Germany seals its borders as 100m Europeans on lockdown

- Spain to declare state of emergency over virus outbreak

- The entire country of Norway is 'shutting down'

- New Coronavirus and Measures That Latin America Govts Have Taken

- Diaz-Canel calls for intensifying measures to confront Covid-19, and continuing work with the population

- COVID-19 could be 'devastating' for First Nations, says Matawa First Nations CEO

- OPSEU President Thomas calls on businesses to "send workers home for the next two weeks with full pay"

- Canada's $1B Coronavirus Plan Abandons Gig Workers

- How can Canadians quarantine from COVID-19 if they can't afford it?

- Lessons from COVID-19: We are only as strong as our weakest link

- Health Workers Slam Ontario Government For Axing Paid Sick Days As Pandemic Spreads

- VTU CALLS ON PROVINCE & CITY TO ENACT AN EVICTIONS MORATORIUM DURING CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK

- Arms show announces intention to proceed despite coronavirus pandemic

Asia:

- Families of missing persons in Sri Lanka demand justice

- Communist Party of Philippines: ‘Lockdown’ will intensify repression in National Capital Region

Bolivia:

- Bolivia: Parliament Censors Jeanine Áñez's Allies Minister

- Feminists travel to Bolivia in solidarity against the coup

Brazil:

- Brazil: Congress Overturns Bolsonaro's Social Benefit Law Veto

- Climate crisis blamed for rains and floods that have killed 150 in Brazil

- Brazil Requests Impeachment for Jair Bolsonaro

Canada:

- Green Party leadership contender courts 'disgruntled' NDPers

- The Horrible Greta Thunberg Sticker Highlights Alberta's Toxic Oil Culture

- TRUDEAU’S CHOICE TO SUPPORT WAR CRIMES

- Usman Ahmad: Bill 168 and the ONDP’s failure to stand up against antisemitism and zionism

- Class (Size) Struggle: The Ontario Government’s Latest Game

- ALBERTA LABOUR PUSHES BACK AGAINST KENNEY CUTS

Chile:

- Chile: New Wave of Protests to Demand Piñera's Resignation

- Chile: Police Attack Protesters Demanding Piñera's Resignation

- Chile Denounces Government Repression During Feminist Strike

Climate Emergency:

- “The climate crisis is a capitalist crisis” – Zarah Sultana’s full maiden speech

Cuba:

- REPORT FROM CUBA: THE IMPACT OF THE BLOCKADE ON THE US

Ecuador:

- Ecuador: Citizens Reject Economic Decisions to Please the IMF

- Ecuadorians reject Moreno’s new austerity measures

Europe:

- How Denmark's 'ghetto list' is ripping apart migrant communities

- Housing workers explain reality to idiot Boris Johnson

Guyana:

- CARICOM Team to Oversee Recount of Guyana Elections

Feminsim / Women's Issues:

- Latin America's Women's Day: Huge Marches Across the Continent

- Protesters demonstrate in front of Pornhub HQ in Montreal on International Women's Day

Israel / Palestine:

Breaking: Israel's opposition head Benny Gantz wins support to form government

- 'You Want to Kill Me?' Totally, He Said. 'Leftists Are Worse Than the Arabs': Election Day at a Settlement

- Israel demolishes Palestinian Bedouin village for 176th time

- Israeli Forces Kill Palestinian Teenager in West Bank

- U.S. State Department Now Calling East Jerusalem Palestinians 'Arab Residents'

- Two Refined Racists From Gantz's Party Foil His Chance at Replacing Netanyahu

Mexico:

- Photos: 'One day without us' — Mexican women’s strike makes history

- 'Femicide is the tip of the iceberg': Mexican women hold national strike to protest rising gender violence

United States:

- #DemExit: Time to Launch a New Party Of, By, and For Working People

- Sanders: “I Never Expected in My Life, as an American, to See a Swastika at a Major Political Rally”

- New York woman was shackled to bed during childbirth, lawsuit says

- Harvey Weinstein sentenced to 23 years in prison for rape, sexual assault

- How settler colonialism affects Hawaiʻi

- Operation Condor: The CIA is not innocent

- Blackwater Founder Erik Prince Recruited Spies to Infiltrate Progressive Groups with Project Veritas

- Young Americans say billionaires do more harm than good, study shows

- Pregnant 19-year-old dies trying to climb US border wall

- “A Toothpick in a Tsunami”: US Big Oil Faces Bankruptcy as Prices Plunge 30% on Saudi Expansion

Venezuela:

- Bachelet is “Morally Incapable” of Talking About Venezuela

- Colombia: Duque Closes Border With Venezuela, Thousands at Risk

- GUAIDÓ LEFT OUT IN THE COLD AT GATINEAU LIMA GROUP MEETING

- US, Colombia, Brazil Hold Alliance to Attack Venezuela

Wet'suwet'en:


"The Wet’suwet’en started the preliminary work on the affirmation of our traditional territories, in 1974 - for Delgamuukw & Gisday’wa v the Queen.

23 years later, the Supreme Court of Canada finalized the decision that our kungax (oral history) was valid, and that we had never ceded or surrendered our territories... that the lands that are currently under destruction, have always been ours.

Yet, today, the colonial federal Justin Trudeau & provincial John Horgan governments are continuing to ignore this ruling. They continue to ignore the hereditary chiefs clear demand that CGL stop work, and the BC RCMP remove themselves from the territories.

When we stand and affirm our position, we are faced with mass armed forces - and the forcible removal from our unceded, sovereign territories. This is why it’s important that others continue to stand with us.

The current discussions are not regarding cgl - and are not being done in good faith by the government... or there would be a stoppage of the work while they happen."



- Rail disruptions ‘overblown’ by rail companies, politicians says Parliamentary Budget Officer

- Release order bars woman from voicing support for Wet’suwet’en online

Racism in Canada, the Waffle, Transit Fare Policing & more -- December and January on The Left Chapter in review

December and January saw 113 posts of various kinds on The Left Chapter.

These included new installments of our vintage photography posts like Hero City of Moscow, 1968 -- 14 Postcard Images. We also had a contemporary photography post with The City in a Photograph -- The Urban Photography of Patricia Lochwin.

There were several posts related to socialist history such as The CPSU: Stages of History, December 1980 w. Photos as well as our ongoing Daily LIFT posts like Vasily Zaitsev instructs other Soviet snipers, Stalingrad, 1942 -- Daily LIFT #72

This year there were two of our always popular music roundups, one of which nearly made the top six list. The Top Fifty Songs of the Decade ft. Hurray for the Riff Raff, Janelle Monáe, Arcade Fire, Beyoncé & more and The 20 Best Songs of 2019 ft. Brittany Howard, Kesha, William Prince, The Highwomen & more!. 

Our top food related post (in terms of hits) was: Crispy Pan Roasted Parmesan Chicken.

There were our annual reviews with Fare Evasion Frauds, NDP Debacles, Racism in Canada & more -- 2019 on The Left Chapter in review and Pam's Roti, Hot Italian Sausages, Golden Cook Caribbean & more -- The Top 5 Food Posts of 2019.

We also covered the RCMP blockade in posts like Victoria City Council declares solidarity with Wet’suwet’en People and Trudeau dodges, Horgan and Singh contort on Wet'suwet'en, the RCMP and UNDRIP as well as the open letter on our top six list.

Thanks very much to all our readers and contributors.

Two of the pieces on this top six list came from contributors so remember if you have an article, editorial, analysis, recipe or story you would like to contribute there are details on how to do so on our Submissions page as well as at the end of this post.

Without any further ado, here are the top six posts, in terms of hits, from December and January:

1) Canada has a racism problem and the fact so many Canadians think we don't is a part of it

Perhaps after an election where Justin Trudeau was exposed for having worn blackface on several occasions and yet not only was not forced to resign as Liberal leader but was ultimately reelected as Prime Minster (albeit with a minority) it should not come as a surprise that "49 per cent of Canadians don't think racism is a serious problem in the country".

Read more.

2) Fifty years later it is time to acknowledge the Waffle was wrong

As 2019 draws to close so too does the 50th anniversary of the birth of the socialist movement within in the NDP that became known as the Waffle.

Read more.

3) The policing of fare evasion reveals the twisted agenda of our politicians

What do you do in a city that is beset by terrible housing, social and transit issues due to decades of mismanagement and underfunding by politicians on all different levels of government?

Read more.

4) Singh disavows the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, shows NDP's true colours again

In a predictable and totally revealing turn of events, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh seems to have joined the ranks of politicians like Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Justin Trudeau and the leadership of Israel on the issue of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israeli apartheid.

Read more.

5) Open Letter to Jagmeet Singh regarding Trans Mountain, Site C and Coastal GasLink

By Matt Fodor

Dear Mr. Singh:


The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is calling for a suspension of the Trans Mountain pipeline, Site C and Coastal GasLink pipeline. These projects are going ahead without the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous peoples. The UN committee has raised concern about the “forced removal, disproportionate use of force, harassment and intimidation” and “escalating use of force” against Indigenous peoples.

Read more.

6) A Holiday Nightmare

By Nathaniel Laxer

Boris Johnson has won.


Despite all of the lies, debased vitriol and stomach turning hypocrisy, despite it being a time in the United Kingdom of declining life expectancy, rising poverty and incredible distress, led by an anemic government of liars and cowards, he won.

Read more.

Do you have a left point-of-view or opinion, event or petition, a recipe or a story you want to share?

Send them to The Left Chapter via theleftchapter@outlook.com!


See also: NDP Election Disaster, Canadian Foreign Policy Hypocrisy & more -- October and November on The Left Chapter in review