During her statement -- made in a luxurious room that included an actual golden piano behind her -- the Queen stated that she believed “the power of faith, frequently inspires great generosity and self-sacrifice”, and that "With two weddings and two babies, and another child expected soon, it helps to keep a grandmother well occupied" Our poor queen! She is very busy.
Statements such as these are made particularly ironic and cuttingly cynical by the fact that the United Kingdom is instituting a campaign of -- as a UN report described it -- “mean-spirited and callous” austerity effecting it’s most vulnerable and destitute citizens. With “a 7 per cent rise in child poverty, a 60 per cent increase in homelessness since 2010 and exponential growth in the number of food banks.” The UN special rapporteur on the issue saying “'I have spoken with people who depend on food banks and charities for their next meal, who have sold sex for money or shelter, children who are growing up in poverty unsure of their future”. He only visited the country for 12 days.
While this campaign of vicious austerity was implemented, the royal family spent 2 million pounds, of their rather generous welfare state allowance on clothing for the royal wedding. The local council ordered the streetscleared of the homeless so that these new clothes would not be ruined by any unfortunate background. What a show of “great generosity and self sacrifice”.
But none of this is a shock, the British monarchy has always been a parasitic leech. A leftover from the middle ages. A reactionary symbol of hierarchy, empire and a racist sense of superiority. A monarchy whose largest, most central crown jewel was stolen from India during its time as a blood-soaked colony. A monarchy that has no reason to still exist in the United Kingdom, never mind here in Canada. This has long been true, but never more obviously so in this time of looming global ecological catastrophe and sickening growth of extreme economic inequality.
The real message as the world heads into the New Year is that we desperately need a fundamental restructuring of our society. The removal of the retrograde uselessness that is the monarchy will necessarily be a part of this restructuring.
This week's list of articles, news items and opinion pieces that I see as must reads if you are looking for a roundup that should be of interest to The Left Chapter readers.
This list covers the week of May 27 - June 3. It is generally in order of the date of the article's
release.
There are three articles from prior to the period included. They have been integrated into the post. 1) Northern Ireland under pressure after historic abortion vote Robin Millard and Julien Lagache, AFP
Pressure mounted on Sunday for British-ruled Northern Ireland to liberalise its strict abortion laws after a historic referendum in the neighbouring Republic of Ireland overturned its ban. Read the full article.
Thousands of Italian women marched across the country Saturday, under the banner, 'My Body, My Choice' to mark 40 years of the passing of the historic 1978 law, Law 194, which legalized abortion in a largely Catholic country. Read the full article. 3) When Black women tell the plain truth, the world is sure to demand an apology Vicky Mochama, The Toronto Star
When a Twitter user asked whether people would have the “same energy” for tennis player Francoise Abanda that they’d had for Eugenie Bouchard, Abanda responded to say, “I will never get the same treatment because I am black. It’s the truth!”
4) Leftists need to stop shaming women for engaging the criminal justice system in situations of abuse Meghan Murphy, Feminist Current
“Fuck the police” was a slogan I easily aligned myself with as a young woman. As a then-aspiring anarchist (and NWA fan), the declaration sounded appropriately rebellious, and my father the Marxist had taught me that the police were bullies who existed only to protect money and private property. He may have been partially right, but while the phrase remains politically powerful, extending the sentiment to a literal abolishment of the police, I later realized, was not as radical an idea as I’d thought. Read the full article. 5) #WhereAreTheChildren: Anger grows over US border policy Al Jazeera
Anger is mounting in the United States at the government's policy of separating children from migrant and refugee parents who are caught crossing the US-Mexico border. Read the full article.
Canada’s biggest anti-abortion organization has released a list of candidates who its hardline social conservative supporters will find “supportable.” Read the full article. 18) In Britain, Austerity Is Changing Everything Peter S. Goodman, The New York Times
After eight years of budget cutting, Britain is looking less like the rest of Europe and more like the United States, with a shrinking welfare state and spreading poverty. Read the full article. 19) STUDENT PROTESTERS IN PUERTO RICO FACE TRIAL AS GOVERNMENT CRIMINALIZES DISSENT Alice Speri, The Intercept
WITH THE SECOND round of trials underway in Washington, D.C., for protesters charged in connection with the J20 demonstrations against Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration, another legal battle over the right to dissent is unfolding hundreds of miles away in Puerto Rico, where seven students are facing charges in connection to a protest over tuition hikes at the island’s public university. Read the full article. 20) Hurricane Maria's Death Toll in Puerto Rico Almost 5,000, Not Official 64: Study Telesur
Three anti-federal worker executive orders by GOP President Donald Trump, issued late on May 25 as the nation headed into the Memorial Day weekend, are “a denial of democracy,” the president of the largest federal worker union says. Read the full article. 27) Mexican Front-runner AMLO Has 52% of Vote Intention: Poll Telesur
The center-left candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has widened his lead and is now 26 points ahead of his closest rival, the right-wing Ricardo Anaya, for the upcoming July 1 presidential elections in Mexico. Read the full article. 28) Say hello to Justin Trudeau, the world's newest oil executive Bill McKibben, The Guardian
Decades before the Holocaust, Germany carried out what many historians consider the first genocide of the 20th century in Namibia. German generals targeted two land-owning ethnic groups, the Herero and Nama, killing 100,000 people; and throwing the survivors into concentration camps. Read the full article. 31) Quebec mosque attack survivors demand ban on assault weapons Jillian Kestler-D'Amours, Al Jazeera
THE DAUGHTER of a Grenfell Tower victim launched a blistering attack on Kensington and Chelsea council today for housing a “vulnerable, physically disabled and partially sighted pensioner” on the 18th floor. Read the full article. 33) Greece at a stand still as thousands strike against austerity Patrick Strickland, Al Jazeera
Flags and banners fluttered above a steady stream of protesters, who chanted anti-austerity slogans as they marched through the streets of the Greek capital.
Since US President Donald Trump came to office, Israel has approved construction of more than 14,000 settlement units. Read the full article. 38) Palestinian medic, 21, is killed by Israeli sniper as she tends wounded in Gaza Mondoweiss
Today’s news from Gaza was especially disturbing. Israeli snipers shot 40 protesters and killed one of them: Razan al-Najjar, a 21-year-old volunteer medic. She was wearing a white coat when she was shot, news accounts say, and one report says she was attempting to tend a wounded protester. Read the full article. 39) Thousands of Palestinians Mourn 'Reprehensible' Killing of Gaza Medic Telesur
The U.N. envoy for the Middle East wrote in a tweet that “Medical workers are #NotATarget!” and that “Israel needs to calibrate its use of force." Read the full article. 40) NYPD Isn’t Telling Prosecutors Which Cops Have A History Of Lying, DA Says Mike Hayes and Kendall Taggart, BuzzFeed News
The New York Police Department fails to provide district attorneys with information, including police officers’ disciplinary records, that prosecutors need to decide whether to charge people with crimes, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office said in a letter to the department exclusively obtained by BuzzFeed News. Read the full article.
This week's list of articles, news items and opinion pieces that I see as must reads if you are looking for a roundup that should be of interest to The Left Chapter readers.
This list covers the week of May 13-20. It is generally in order of the date of the article's release.
This edition leads off with a special section of articles and statements related to the horrific massacre of unarmed Palestinian protesters by Israeli forces early in the week. Gaza Massacre: 1) Defiance, then death: Gaza suffers most horrific day of violence for four years Hazem Balousha and Peter Beaumont, The Guardian
Amid the wail of sirens and the urgent to and fro of ambulances from the front line, Gaza’s hospitals struggled on Monday to cope with the influx of dead and wounded after Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinian protesters. Read the full article. 2) Hundreds Protest Opening of US Embassy in Jerusalem Today Communist Party of Israel
Hundreds of Israelis marched through downtown Jerusalem Saturday night, May 12, to protest against the politically volatile moves of the United States next week that will increase tensions with the Palestinians and the Arab World. The protesters marched from King George Street downtown to the Old City’s Jaffa Gate. Along the way, they chanted slogans: “We oppose an escalation [of the security situation],” “Jerusalem capital of two states – Israel and Palestine,” “End the occupation of east Jerusalem,” and “Netanyahu – resign! Peace is worth more [than the embassy move].” Read the full article. 3) Trump threw a match into Jerusalem with no plan to put out the fire Rachel Shabi, The Guardian
But with the embassy move, Trump has deployed that far-rightist trick of disruption for the sake of it. There is no follow-up, no renewed talks in the pipeline, no international diplomacy, just the usual, multipurpose mumblings from Trump about sealing a good deal. This is no Middle East policy, unless you count as policy the practice of being a fire-starter and appearing to sanction overwhelming Israeli violence. And as we are seeing today, it is those living in the region who will suffer the punishing consequences of his folly. Read the full article. 4) Pastor who prayed at embassy opening is 'a religious bigot', says Mitt Romney Martin Pengelly, The guardian
An evangelical pastor who former presidential candidate Mitt Romney denounced as a “religious bigot” delivered a prayer at the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem on Monday. Read the full article.
Those who shout loudest about Labour Party anti-Semitism have nothing to say about Israel maiming and killing unarmed protesters in Gaza. Read the full article.
Dr. Tarek Loubani decided not to use the tourniquet in his pocket to stop the bleeding when he was shot in the legs at the Gaza border on Monday. Read/listen to the full story.
11) As mass killings horrify the world, Netanyahu’s circle dwindles Doug Saunders, The Globe and Mail
“You have made history,” Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, said to U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday as the two leaders, flanked by a discomfiting alliance of far-right politicians, ultra-Orthodox rabbis and evangelical preachers who have declared that Jews are doomed to burn in hell, officiated over the U.S. embassy’s move to the contested city of Jerusalem. Read the full article. 12) Killing Gaza Chris Hedges, Truthdig
Israel’s blockade of Gaza—where trapped Palestinians for the past seven weeks have held nonviolent protests along the border fence with Israel, resulting in scores of dead and some 6,000 wounded by Israeli troops—is one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters. Yet the horror that is Gaza, where 2 million people live under an Israeli siege without adequate food, housing, work, water and electricity, where the Israeli military routinely uses indiscriminate and disproportionate violence to wound and murder, and where almost no one can escape, is rarely documented. Max Blumenthal and Dan Cohen’s powerful new film, “Killing Gaza,” offers an unflinching and moving portrait of a people largely abandoned by the outside world, struggling to endure. Read the full article. 13) Seven Palestinian journalists injured by gunfire in Gaza protests Committee to Protect Journalists
The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the use of gunfire by Israeli forces against journalists covering protests today in the Gaza Strip. At least seven Palestinian journalists have been injured by Israeli gunfire while covering today's demonstrations, according to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS), reports shared on social media by media outlets and journalists, and CPJ interviews with local journalists Saud Abu Ramadan and Moneeb Saada.
The Communist Party USA reacts with anger and sorrow to the killing of at least 62 Palestinian demonstrators in Gaza by Israeli security forces on Monday, May 14. The CPUSA directly blames the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and the U.S. government of President Donald Trump for this tragedy. Read the full statement. 17) UN votes to send war crimes investigators to Gaza Al Jazeera
The United Nations' top human rights body has voted to send a team of international war crimes investigators to probe the deadly shootings of Gaza protesters by Israeli forces. Read the full article.
18) On Trump, Gaza and white supremacy in South Africa Tafi Mhaka, Al Jazeera
From South Africa to Palestine to the US, there is a systematic attempt to whitewash the crimes of white supremacy. Read the full article. Other Issues/Articles: 19) By ending the Iran deal, Trump has put America on the path to war Bernie Sanders, The Guardian
Last week, Donald Trump made one of the most reckless moves of his presidency: (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear agreement. With this decision, the president discarded years of hard work by our diplomats, who had obtained an extremely rigorous set of restrictions and inspections guaranteeing that Iran would not obtain a nuclear weapon. He also slammed the door on a once-promising possibility of detente between the US and Iran. Read the full article. 20) Trump, Iran sanctions and the danger of war Mazda Majidi, Liberation
On May 8, President Trump announced that the United States would violate the nuclear agreement with Iran and re-impose sanctions. Trump claimed that Iran was continuing its pursuit of nuclear weapons, contradicting 11 certifications of compliance by the International Atomic Energy Agency and ignoring U.S. government intelligence. Standing reality on its head, Trump said, “We will not allow American cities to be threatened with destruction.” Read the full article.
21) The Coming War Against Iran John Kiriakou, Canadian Dimesion
I spent nearly 15 years in the CIA. I like to think that I learned something there. I learned how the federal bureaucracy works. I learned that cowboys in government – in the CIA and elsewhere around government – can have incredible power over the creation of policy. I learned that the CIA will push the envelope of legality until somebody in a position of authority pushes back. I learned that the CIA can wage war without any thought whatsoever as to how things will work out in the end. There’s never an exit strategy. Read the full article. 22) More than half of NDP candidates are women, a first for Ontario political parties CBC News
Some 56 per cent of the NDP's candidates in the upcoming spring election are women, the party said Sunday, the first time in Ontario that a major political party has fielded more women than men. Read the full article. 23) A right on paper, not in reality: More severe attacks on abortion rights in 2018 Nathalie Hrizi, Liberation
Over 40 years ago, a 21-year old mother wanted to terminate her third pregnancy. Her life wasn’t in danger which was the only legal reason she could get an abortion. The abortion provider who would provide an illegal termination had been shut down. While this is thought of as history, she was in the position that many many women today find themselves–unable to access abortion care. Read the full article. 24) Choking women is all the rage. It's branded as fun, sexy 'breath play' Gail Dines, The Guardian
Choking seems to be in fashion, and I don’t mean the type where you need the Heimlich maneuver. Since the #MeToo movement, we’re learning just how many men seem to see choking women as a legitimate form of “sex play”, as it is often euphemistically referred to in porn. Read the full article. 25) The lives of Grenfell tower The Guardian
For at least the fifth year in a row, right-wing organizations report no political activity while uncertainty remains for many progressive charities. Read the full article.
A parade of hardhat union workers and threats from hometown-behemoth Amazon did not stop Seattle leaders from passing on Monday a “head tax” meant to fund housing projects and homeless services. Read the full article. 29) First female Communist elected in Iraq's holiest city calls for 'social justice' Alex MacDonald and Mustafa Abu Sneineh, Middle East Eye
Iraqis appear to have broken with the political establishment in response to what they see as rampant corruption and incompetence. Read the full article.
Upwards of 60,000 people hit the streets of Melbourne, on May 9, in the biggest union protest in over a decade. Some estimates put the figure in excess of 100,000. Seeing the streets flooded with union flags was a sight to behold and gave just a glimpse of the potential power of the workers’ movement. It was clear that many unions had mobilised for the ‘Change the Rules’ rally in a way they have not done for years, with many unions represented by large contingents. Read the full article. 46) Belgium: Massive demonstration against pension reform Socialist World
Six months after a huge trade union demonstration with 40,000 in Brussels, a new demonstration mobilised two times as many on Wednesday 16 May: 80,000. The anger against previously taken measures and new plans of the right wing government on the pensions is huge. The pension age went up from 65 to 67, access to early retirement was limited and now the government is planning to go even further by slashing pensions with a new calculation method aimed at forcing people to work longer. Read the full article. 47) Consistent, Free, Fair: Venezuela's Election History Analyzed Erin Fiorini and Monica Sabella, Telesur
Since Venezuela announced plans in January to hold early presidential elections, world leaders and factions of the opposition have condemned President Nicolas Maduro and his administration, branding the elections 'illegal' and claiming the vote will somehow be 'rigged.' Read the full article. 48) Maduro: Development, Respect for the Sovereignty of Venezuela Telesur
Maduro commented that he leads the charge in the battle for Venezuela's independence, sovereignty, democracy and the right for peace. Read the full article. 49) Where marital rape is legal: Sudanese teen's death sentence fuels wider fight Mohammed Amin, Middle East Eye
In Sudan, a story of forced marriage, marital rape and murder has shone a spotlight on the country's personal status law and the vulnerabilities women and girls face every day. Read the full article. 50) 'I'll be asked to clear out': how Harry and Meghan's wedding affects Windsor's homeless Harriet Sherwood, The Guardian
Four months after Simon Dudley, the council leader, attracted national attention with his demand that police use legal powers to clear rough sleepers off the streets before the royal wedding, little has changed for the town’s homeless residents. Read the full article. 51) 'Royal Parasites': Activists, Citizens Protest the Elites' $42M Royal Wedding As Population Faces Austerity Telesur
Many disagree with the people paying for a lavish event for the elites, especially in the United Kingdom, which has implemented a hash program of austerity that has affected essential public services for the many. Read the full article. 52) The Communist Party's Ontario Election Kickoff Dave McKee, Communist Party of Ontario On May 12th, supporters of the Communist Party of Canada (Ontario) met in Toronto to kick off the 2018 Ontario election. Speech by leader Dave McKee You Tube link. See also: Corbyn and the Media, Doug Ford, Teacher Revolt & more -- The Left Chapter Sunday Reading List May 6 - 13
This week's list of articles, news items and opinion pieces that I see as must reads if you are looking for a roundup that should be of interest to The Left Chapter readers.
Suzanne Davison, a 72-year-old who lives in federal co-op housing in Toronto with her 63-year-old brother, goes to her local food bank every week. Read the full article
Using documents obtained through a Freedom of Information filing, the British Columbia office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has discovered B.C.’s former Liberal Government’s “Climate Leadership Plan” was almost entirely cooked up at secret meetings with oil and gas industry representatives in the Calgary boardroom of the country’s most powerful fossil fuel industry lobby group. Read the full article. 6) “Ossies,” former East Germans, compare socialist youth with life under capitalism John Wojcik, People's World
A crowd gathered at the Babylon Theater here Saturday for an annual memorial for Dean Reed, the American “rebel,” rock star, and filmmaker who famously defected to “East Germany” (the German Democratic Republic, or GDR) in 1972. Those in attendance were among Reed’s most ardent fans, of whom he had many thousands in the GDR when he died in 1986. Read the full article. 7) Jews in Texas are already in hiding from neo-Nazis, high holiday service to be held at a secret location Steve Russell, Newsweek
There's an apocryphal story from WWII that when the Nazis started requiring the Jews under their control to wear gold stars, the Danish King donned one himself and suggested his subjects do the same. It’s an inspiring story, and it ought to be true, but it is mere folklore in the service of the more mundane historical truth: the Danes saved most of their Jewish population from the Holocaust, but by more conventional methods. Read the full article.
When Karl Marlantes takes the screen during the new PBS film series The Vietnam War, he says coming home was nearly as traumatic as the war itself. Later, he describes being assaulted by protesters at the airport, invoking the image of spat-on Vietnam veterans, an image that Los Angeles Times editorial writer Michael McGough said in 2012 was based on a myth. An edifying myth, McGough called it, but still a myth. Read the full article. 9) Ken Burns’s Vietnam Documentary Promotes Misleading History Jeremy Kuzmarov, Vietnam Full Disclosure
Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s documentary on the Vietnam War began airing on PBS last night after much anticipation.
The film follows previous Burns works in providing poignant footage mixed with compelling interviews and a backdrop of good music, starting in this case with Bob Dylan’s A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall.
Despite the counter-cultural veneer, however, and admirable efforts to provide a Vietnamese perspective, Burns and Novick’s film in its first episode provides conventional analysis about the war’s outbreak and can be understood as a sophisticated exercise in empire denial. Read the full article.
This past spring I attended an advance screening of excerpts of Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s documentary about the US War against Vietnam at Harvard, with these two in attendance, along with some Kennedy School “national security” types, who had evidently been recruited as “consultants.” (I was happy to see Peter Davis, the director of the truly commendable “Hearts and Minds” in the audience, to whom I had a chance to say “hello” before I left. Peter is himself a Harvard grad, is now writing novels and, happily, was acknowledged by Ken Burns as he began the post-screening discussion.) Read the full article. 11) How AIDS campaigners joined the fight to pimp prostitution Julie Bindel, Newsweek
The HIV/AIDS movement is widely understood as one that focuses on civil rights and health care for vulnerable groups. The popular perception is that the AIDS movement is made up of human rights campaigners, medical experts and scientists, searching for the best prevention methods and, eventually, a cure. What is far less widely known is that the AIDS movement, and the vast amounts of money attached to it, has done more to shape policy, practice and legislation on the global sex trade than any other movement in history. Read the full article. 12) Why are housing association flats lying empty when Grenfell survivors need them? David Batty, The Guardian
In the heart of Chelsea, not far from Kings Road, more than 150 social housing flats stand empty on an estate set up over a century ago by the philanthropist William Sutton to house “the poor of London and other towns”. The four red-brick blocks, part of the Sutton estate, are at the centre of a long-running battle between local residents and England’s largest housing association, Clarion Group. This dispute has intensified in the aftermath of the Grenfell fire in the same borough. Read the full article. 13) ‘Radical reverend’ NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo is leaving politics for the church Kristin Rushowy, The Toronto Star
Parkdale—High Park representative, well-known advocate of LGBTQ rights, will be minister at Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre for Faith, Arts and Justice in downtown Toronto. Read the full article. 14) There is a way to prevent so many teenage girls being depressed – but no one wants to admit it Glosswitch, The Indepndent
Oakland Athletics rookie catcher Bruce Maxwell became the first Major League Baseball player to kneel during the national anthem when he did so before Saturday night's 1-0 home victory against the Texas Rangers. Read the full article.
Stevie Wonder has shown his solidarity with sports stars who were criticised by US president Donald Trump for kneeling on the field during the national anthem. Read the full article.
