Capitalist Coronavirus Crisis and the Worker Fightback -- The Week in News and Opinion March 15 - 22

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 15 - 22.

Unsurprisingly this week's edition begins with a very large roundup of news and left opinion about the capitalist coronavirus crisis and the fightback against attempts to confront it on the backs of workers.  We have tried to arrange this coronavirus news thematically and to touch on many areas of concern such as housing, worker's rights, left party demands, the heroic internationalism of socialist Cuba, and many other topics. The Featured Article link at the start is a powerful "Letter from a Retail Worker".

Featured Article:

Letter from a Retail Worker: Gratitude is nice, but dignity and safety start with a strong union

"Things can really only get worse from here for retail workers—if we let it. We are underpaid, micromanaged, and disdained. And when this crisis is over, that won’t change unless we change it ourselves. That has to start with a strong union. Make a fresh one or join one of the better existing ones (no minimum wage, tiered contract bullshit—I’m looking at you, UFCW). We want to support ourselves and our families, we want job security, we want a say in how health and safety policies that literally affect our livelihoods are decided. We want everyone to have their groceries and coffee, but we don’t want to die or kill our immunocompromised or elderly family members doing it. If companies—and capitalist society as a whole—didn’t by nature prioritize profits over us, we wouldn’t have to make that choice."


Capitalist Coronavirus Crisis and the Worker Fightback:

- Panic buying and hoarding are a function of capitalism

- Message to the government: your friends, the super-rich, are the hoarders

- Coronavirus has revealed left wing ideas are nothing more than plain common sense

- "Socialism is imperative for our health!" -- International workers' parties call for socialist solutions to the capitalist coronavirus crisis

- Covid-19 hastens the deepening structural crisis of the capitalist system

- "It is only through our resistance and struggle that we can defend our rights." - WFTU coronavirus statement

- Our politics isn’t designed to protect the public from Covid-19

- Look after people not profit in the COVID-19 crisis

- Lessons from the Spanish flu of 1919: internationalism and people before profit

- EMERGENCY ACTION REQUIRED NOW TO STOP COVID-19 AND DEEP RECESSION

- While Some Wait For COVID-19 Tests, The Wealthy Cut The Line

- Cuba Sends 144 Health Workers to Combat the Covid-19 in Jamaica

- Cuba Sends 53 Doctors and Nurses to Fight Covid-19 in Italy

- Amid coronavirus pandemic, Bolsonaro’s Brazil begs for Cuban doctors – after expelling them

- What coronavirus revealed about national mindsets across the world — and how Cuba came out on top

- Update: British Cruise Ship With COVID-19 Cases to Dock in Cuba

- Cuba's Interferon Alpha 2B, Successful in Treating COVID-19

- BioCubaFarma Guarantees Production of Drugs for COVID-19

- Chile’s Communist Mayor to Import Cuban Meds to Fight COVID-19




- Bolivia: Coup-Born Regime Rejects Medical Cooperation From Cuba

- The UK Only Realised "In The Last Few Days" That Its Coronavirus Strategy Would "Likely Result In Hundreds of Thousands of Deaths"

- 'A generation has died': Italian province struggles to bury its coronavirus dead

- Grim milestone: Italy's coronavirus deaths surpass China's

- Why Italy was hit so hard and so fast by COVID-19

- Australian doctors condemn government response to COVID-19 “disaster”

- Coronavirus: Socialists Call for Urgent Bonus to Health, Welfare Workers (Hungary)

- Workers at Lewisham coronavirus hospital walk out after not being paid

- ‘Terrified’ Package Delivery Employees Are Going to Work Sick (USA)

- Workers Shut Down Mercedes Factory That Called Them In During Coronavirus (Spain)

- Employees in Toronto are being told to work in the face of COVID-19 and they’re angry and scared

- Air Canada failing to inform us of true exposure to Covid-19, employees claim

- Ontario Bill 186 "falls far short" Dias says as Unifor continues to call for 14 point plan for workers

- ‘Blood on their hands:’ Teachers say de Blasio and Carranza helped spread coronavirus

- New York now the center of the US coronavirus crisis – can it cope?

- We’re Struggling With the Coronavirus in Spain—but We’re Vastly More Prepared Than the US

- Spain has nationalized all of its private hospitals as the country goes into coronavirus lockdown

- America has no real public health system – coronavirus has a clear run

- Total Cost of Her COVID-19 Treatment: $34,927.43 (United States)

- Here Are the 51 Republican Senators Who Just Voted Against Expanding Paid Sick Leave to All Workers

- Trump inaccurately claims malaria drug has been ‘approved’ for coronavirus treatment, prompting FDA correction

- Coronavirus – anti-China propaganda brings catastrophe to the West

- White House Pushes U.S. Officials to Criticize China For Coronavirus ‘Cover-Up’

- Photo of Trump remarks shows 'corona' crossed out and replaced with 'Chinese' virus

- Bolsonaro’s son enrages Beijing by blaming China for coronavirus crisis

- Coronavirus and anti-racism: no scapegoating, no excuses

- COVID-19: Korean consulate issues warning after violent attack in Montreal

- Asian Canadian Woman Wearing Face Mask Kicked Out of Toronto Supermarket

- Don't Demonize China! A Report from Chongqing

- China would answer calls for assistance – even when the past isn't pleasant

- Why are we surprised the BC NDP is forcing thousands back to work in unsafe man camps for Big Oil?

- Work Camp in Alberta’s Oil Field Issues Notice That Workers May Have Been Exposed to COVID-19

- Game Over for Kenney

- The Other Emergency Is Crashing Oil Prices

- Ottawa prepares multibillion-dollar bailout of oil and gas sector

- NYC local buses a free ride for all during coronavirus outbreak

- Cities across Canada implement free transit to curb COVID-19

- Detroit Bus Drivers Win Protections Against Virus Through Strike

- 'Literally Weaponizing Coronavirus': Despite One of World's Worst Outbreaks of Deadly Virus, US Hits Iran With 'Brutal' New Sanctions

- US accused of making Iran's coronavirus crisis worse after issuing new sanctions

- 'In This Dark Hour for the Iranian People,' Groups Demand Trump End Inhumane Sanctions Amid COVID-19 Outbreak

- US Should Lift Economic Sanctions to Avoid More Deaths From Pandemic

- Cuba faces squeeze on food production as US oil sanctions bite

- IMF Rejects Venezuela's Request for $5B in Virus Aid

- U.S. prevents Venezuela from buying drugs to treat COVID-19

- China Releases Full Report on US Human Rights 2019 Record – Criticizes US Sanctions on Venezuela and Cuba

- Israel stops providing cleaning products to Palestine detainees

- Gaza confirms first coronavirus cases as West Bank shuts down

- A coronavirus coup in broad daylight (Israel)

- Guatemala Suspends All US Deportation Flights Over COVID-19

- NYSE boss sold his own stock ahead of coronavirus market meltdown

- Four senators sold stocks before coronavirus threat crashed market

- Senator Richard Burr Sold a Fortune in Stocks as G.O.P. Played Down Coronavirus Threat

- Labour demands government suspends rents to stop evictions during coronavirus pandemic (UK)

- Ontario puts brakes on new eviction orders, postpones ones in the works because of COVID-19

- Here's how Toronto renters feel about the new mortgage deferrals in Canada

- Coronavirus: Calls to suspend rent in Toronto get louder

- TORONTO: KEEP YOUR RENT (April 1)

- B.C. union calls for suspension of mortgage and rent payments until COVID-19 crisis ends

- Impact of COVID-19 on Vancouver's DTES could be catastrophic

- If Social Distancing Is Impossible in Prisons, People Should Be Freed

- Canada to turn back asylum seekers, close border at midnight to stop spread of COVID-19

- Community Services abandons most vulnerable in time of crisis (Nova Scotia)

- COVID-19: Quebec teachers in shock after government suspends collective agreements

- Emergency action is necessary to end the health and economic crises in Ontario

- Ontario could run out of ICU beds, ventilators in 37 days even if COVID-19 rates cut in half: study

- Chickens coming home to roost in austerity Ontario

- Frustrated Canadians looking for mortgage deferrals from big banks facing delays, denials

- AFB2020 as COVID-19 policy response: A plan to protect workers and the public from an unprecedented crisis

Bolivia:

- Bolivia: Electoral Tribunal Suspends Elections Due to COVID-19

- Bolivia: MAS Presents Legal Resource in Support of Evo Morales

- Morales pick leads in Bolivia opinion polls

Brazil:

- Rise in 'forced disappearance' preys on Brazil's young men of colour

Canada:

- January manufacturing sales show Canadian factories were slowing even before COVID-19 hit

- Alberta to sell native grassland despite promises no Crown land would be sold

- Tribunal orders Canada to compensate parents who lost children in care

- Despite Foodora ruling, app-based workers face uphill union battle

India:

- Delhi's Muslims despair of justice after police implicated in riots

Israel / Palestine:

- Bibi Boi -- Hellworld #6

- Maiming Palestinians for Sport is a War Crime

United States:

- Furious at Probe Into US War Crimes Pompeo Threatens ICC Staff

- Sanders Gets Swallowed by the DNC Machine: It’s Time to #DemExit

Israeli Election, Democratic Primaries, the Coronavirus & more -- The Week in News and Opinion March 1 - 8

A supporter wearing a Netanyahu mask on election night in Israel

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 1 - 8.

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:

Police union says cops can’t do their job without beating up Black people

The police have shown us who they are, if we ever had any doubts. They are not interested in healing from racial profiling, in working with the Black community, or in changing police culture. And they made sure to leak this email so that the public knows it. If our officials continue to refuse to hold the police accountable while giving them more and more resources to be used in their “job” of unchecked violence against us, then they are also letting us know who they are.


This email lays it all bare. It is past time to do something about it.

Brazil:

- Brazil: Left-Wing Parties Unite Against Bolsonaro's Gov't

- Brazil: Protest in Sao Paulo Against Pension Reform

Canada:

- How the Trudeau government is failing the world's most vulnerable despite its 'feminist' aid policy

- Women, children turned away from shelters in Canada almost 19,000 times a month

- No compensation for parents of First Nations children that died in care, Justice lawyer tells tribunal

- Doug Ford gives reconciliation the shaft

- ‘Bait and Switch’: Doug Ford’s New Numbers On Special Education Staff Funding Are Not Adding Up

- Ontario backs down on increasing class sizes, e-learning in teacher negotiations

- Haligonians protest police brutality on Halifax Regional Police's doorstep

- Sask. RCMP member under investigation after post joking about machine-gunning protesters

- RCMP denied using facial recognition technology - then said it had been using it for months

- Alberta government to close, privatize campgrounds

- Challenging Alberta’s Austerity

- Buffalo Declaration a 'clear display of ignorance,' says Alberta treaty nation

- Foodora couriers are now dependent contractors—that's a problem for Big Tech

Chile:

- 'Our role is central': more than 1m Chilean women to march in huge protest

- Chile: Total Arrests Rise to 283 After Day of Protests

Climate Emergency:

- The Earth System and the capitalist system are incompatible

- Tropical forests losing their ability to absorb carbon, study finds

- 'Devastating': Great Barrier Reef in Danger of Catastrophic Bleaching as Temperatures in Australia Remain High

- FOSSIL CORALS SUGGEST A MASS EXTINCTION IS ON THE WAY: 'IT'S LIKE A SLOW-MOTION CAR CRASH'

Colombia:


Scenes from Colombia where student protesters clashed with the riot police.

Students took to the streets to resist neoliberal education policies and violent police repression of protests by Ivan Duque's right-wing government.



Coronavirus:

- Coronavirus Alarm Blends Yellow Peril and Red Scare

- Exclusive: The Strongest Evidence Yet That America Is Botching Coronavirus Testing

- The Official Coronavirus Numbers Are Wrong, and Everyone Knows It

- America is about to get a godawful lesson in why health care should never be a for-profit business

Democratic Primary:

- 'What More Do You Need to Know?' Health Insurance Stocks Drive Wall Street Rebound on Biden Super Tuesday Wins

- The Case Against Joe Biden: Former VP’s Long Career Shows a Recurring Theme of “Appeasing the Right”

- Elizabeth Warren ends Democratic presidential campaign

- Mike Bloomberg quits 2020 race after spending more than $500m

- Super Tuesday fury as ‘thousands of voters’ in black and Latino neighbourhoods forced to queue for hours in Texas

- #WithTheseHands is Sanders' Super Tuesday, inspiring shot across the bow of American politics

- There Have Been 21 Debate Questions About Paying For Social Programs, Zero About Paying For War

Europe:

- Luxembourg becomes first country in world to provide free public transport

- Ukrainian communists warn Kiev planning a year of glorifying nazis

- VIKTOR ORBAN'S ANTI-ROMA CAMPAIGN IN HUNGARY IS BEING LEGITIMIZED BY TRUMP AND WESTERN LEADERS, ACTIVIST WARNS

Greek-Turkish Refugee Crisis:

- Refugees trapped on Greek-Turkish border attacked from both directions

- EU chief praises Greece as 'shield' of Europe after police attack refugees at border

- Two dead and hundreds more in distress as chaos ensues at Greece-Turkey border

- Refugee boats leaving Turkey for Greece attacked at sea

Guyana:

- No Winner Declared for Guyanese Elections Amid Court Hearing

- Guyana: Electoral Dispute to Continue in Court Amid Discontent

- Guyana: Ruling Party Claims Victory With Contested Data

India:

Delhi riots: Survivors tell their stories


In this ground report, we spoke to families that were displaced due to the mob violence during the anti-Muslim riots in Delhi, India. The families recall their horrifying tales of escaping from their homes as mobs set fire to everything they owned. Nearly 50 people lost their lives and countless people lost their livelihoods during the violence. Neither the Delhi state government or the Indian central government has done much to help these families.




- Inside Delhi: beaten, lynched and burnt alive

- Delhi Violence: India's Communist Party Holds Street March Demanding Top Court-Monitored Probe

International Women's Day / Feminism:

- International Women's Day: events highlighting gender inequality take place around the world

- Why the working-class, socialist history of International Women’s Day matters today

- Photos: Strong Latin American contingents feature at IWD marches across Australia

- 8M: Latin American women prepare for record feminist marches

- Bill Maher Goes Full Sexist, Defends Chris Matthews and Mocks His Sexual Harassment Accuser

- Universal Childcare Would Have Changed My Mom's Life

Israel / Palestine:

- Gazan Girl Fighting Cancer Died After Israel Denied Her Parents' Visit. She Won't Be the Last

- Israel arrests Palestinian man on the day of his release after 18-year sentence

- Israel lobby scores own goal as football charity stands by Ken Loach

- Israel election: Netanyahu begins coalition talks

- Israel Election Results: Netanyahu Reaps the Fruits of a Messianic, Racist and Nationalist Decade

- ‘An Earthquake’: How Israel’s Arabs Achieved Their Historic Election Win

- Celine Dion to perform on ethnically cleansed land

- Anti-Muslim bigots to address AIPAC

Mexico:

- Mexico Vows to End Violence Against Indigenous Women

Poland:

- International Communist and workers' parties rally against rightist persecution in Poland and Europe

- Stop the falsification of history and persecution in Poland!

- Young Communist League protests at Polish embassy over persecution of its comrades

Porn & Prostitution:

- ‘Sex work’: Why we are not buying it

South & Central America:

- Ernesto Cardenal, Nicaraguan Priest, Poet and Revolutionary, Dies at 95

- Remembering the Heroism of Activist Berta Cáceres Four Years After Her Assassination: an Interview With Her Daughter

- Evo Morales: 'We'll Restore the Dignity of the Bolivian People'

- Venezuela: How grassroots solidarity is helping to break the US blockade

United Kingdom:

- Labour leadership: Rebecca Long-Bailey vows to rewrite party’s constitution to enshrine fight against climate emergency

- Sheikh’s daughter called UK police after kidnap, lawyer claims

United States:

- Barricades Go Up In Santa Cruz As UC Wide Wildcat Strike Expands Following Firings

- The 50-year fight by radical evangelicals that could end US abortion rights

- Children as young as eight picked coffee beans on farms supplying Starbucks

- Target raised wages. Then it cut workers' hours and doubled their workload

- Alabama to execute Nathaniel Woods on Thursday despite questions about his culpability in killing of 3 police officers

Wet'suwet'en:

- Solicitor General Mike Farnworth authorized redeploying RCMP resources in response to Coastal GasLink's injunction

- Turns out the BC NDP government authorized the RCMP attack into Wet'suwet'en after all

- Ecosocialists and UBCIC demand Mike Farnworth's resignation for authorizing RCMP's massive show of force

- First Nation deal won’t stop pipeline, Horgan says

- What If We’d Gone Hard for Treaties Instead of Fossil Fuels?

- Groups linked to oil companies funded Facebook ads denouncing the rail blockades

- Mohawks face online threats, hate as protest continues

- The blockades no one talks about devastate Indigenous economies

Zambia:

- Capitalism to blame for chaos in Zambia, says Musumali

Turns out the BC NDP government authorized the RCMP attack into Wet'suwet'en after all

RCMP and Coastal GasLink employees tear down a checkpoint reading "Reconciliation"  

After weeks of the John Horgan BC NDP government trying to pretend that its hands were tied when it came to the RCMP's violent invasion of Wet'suwet'en territory on behalf of Coastal GasLink, it turns out that that may not be entirely true.

Yesterday a document came to light that shows that BC Solicitor General Mike Farnworth did, in fact, authorize the intervention.

As reported in the Georgia Straight:

...under article 9.1 of the Provincial Police Services Agreement with the RCMP, Farnworth authorized "the internal redeployment of resources within the Provincial Police Service to the extent necessary to maintain law and order, and to ensure the safety of persons, properties, and communities in the area".
This is revealed in a January 27 letter that Farnworth wrote to Deputy Commissioner Jennifer Strachan, the commanding officer of E Division in Surrey.

One of the founders and leaders of the new BC Ecosocialist party, Stuart Parker, posted the letter in full on twitter.

 This leaves little room for doubt.

A number of folks, Parker included, pointed out the implications.

What the fuck is the point indeed?

Now someone needs to send a memo to federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh who has been trying to lay all the blame, incorrectly we now know for sure, at Justin Trudeau's door.

As recently as February 24, as we reported on already, Singh tweeted:

This brought this response, which is even more pertinent in light of the new revelation:

No more forgetting Horgan anymore Mr. Singh. Time for the federal NDP to make clear where it stands and time for the BC NDP to cut the bullshit.

4 Tweets tell the tale of another week in the life of the NDP

Singh seemed to know who John Horgan was here!

What a week it has been so far for the wonderful folks in Canada's "labour" and "workers'" party, the NDP. And not just federally and in British Columbia, but in Ontario and Alberta too! 

There are many highlights -- from John Horgan's continuing embrace of colonialism and RCMP violence to pander to the energy corporations, to its federal MPs voting to pass Trump's North American free trade deal -- but four standouts from twitter deserve prize winning mention.

Mr. Singh and the Pacifist CEOs:

Really?

Seriously, really? The CEOs want "peaceful de-escalation"? We all know how Bay St. and Big Business absolutely NEVER supports police action against Indigenous people and workers, except, of course, all of the countless times they have!

As "Drapeau Rouge" pointed out, Singh, yet again, also forgot that this fine fellow exists:

Keener Ian Arthur Thrilled to be Hanging with Business Scumbags!

Ah look...Ian Arthur, NDP MPP for Kingston & the Islands and the NDP Environment Critic hanging with the anti-worker bottom feeders at the Ontario Chamber of Commerce. The NDP, in its desperate quest for bourgeois respectability can't seem to get enough of them.

You might remember that Andrea Horwath went to their big party back in 2018, right after the OCC and Rocco Rossi had just gotten finished successfully lobbying Doug Ford and his stooges to rip up Bill 148 that granted new rights and protections to workers in Ontario and that was to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Good times.

On twitter Arthur calls himself a "Climate emergency advocate". Know who aren't? Any of the people in charge at the OCC.

Alberta NDP Loving the Petro Police State:

This one rather speaks for itself. Just when you think Notley and crew can't go any lower, they prove you wrong. It is a bottomless pit.

Ontario NDP Strikes Again:

Is there anything more craven than acknowledging that something is dangerous and a bad idea but then refusing to oppose it? In NDP land it is par for the course.

Solidarity with Wet'suwet'en, Bloomberg's History, UK Labour Party & more -- The Week in News and Opinion February 9 - 16

Photo via twitter

This week's list of articles, news items 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  February 9 - 16.

The round-up of international left news is presented in sections related to topic/region listed alphabetically except for the Featured Article post and a large section related to Wet'suwet'en Solidarity Actions & News at the start.


For news related to the RCMP's violent attacks on land defenders in Wet’suwet’en territory up to February 12 see: RCMP launches violent raids into Wet’suwet’en territory

For a roundup of solidarity actions up to February 13 see: Actions across the country in solidarity with Wet'suwet'en

Featured Article:

- Wet’suwet’en protests a revolutionary moment in Canada: Mohawk scholar Gerald Taiaiake Alfred

Protesters are shutting down railways, bridges, ports, and offices.
They’ve taken to the streets in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en people opposing a gas pipeline in northern B.C.
It’s an extraordinary flow of events that have fused popular sentiment about Indigenous rights, the environment, and social justice.

For a Vancouver Island-based Mohawk scholar Gerald Taiaiake Alfred, Canada is witnessing no less than a revolutionary moment.

Wet'suwet'en Solidarity Actions & News:

On Saturday Feb 15th, around 50 people snuck onto some train tracks in Vaughan, Ontario (just north of Toronto) and shut down the second biggest rail yard in Canada. They were soon joined by a large crowd of supporters who helped hold down the blockade for the rest of the day.




"We have had enough. Enough dialogue, discussion, negotiation at the barrel of a gun. Canada comes to colonize. Reconciliation is dead.

It is time to fight for our land, our lives, our children, our future.

Revolution lives."



Breaking: Blockade continues despite 'modest progess' made in talks between federal minister and Tyendinaga Mohawk

- ‘The Fight Isn’t Over’: Wet’suwet’en Activist Speaks Out After RCMP Arrest

- Country erupts into Wet’suwet’en solidarity demonstrations: A week in pictures

- “This Is Insurrection”: #ShutDownCanada Action “Cancels Trains Nationwide” As Acts Of Sabotage Continue

- Police protect corporations, not people

- More than 60 shipping vessels stalled off B.C. coast due to rail blockades

- Solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en Against the Colonial Policies of the Canadian State

- MCA stands with Wet’suwet’en

- Palestinians stand in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en nation

- The Wet’suwet’en are more united than pipeline backers want you to think

- The inconvenient truth for pipeline supporters: root causes of this revolution will not be televised

- Canada does not deserve seat at UN Security Council: Opinion

- The Wet'suwet'en, Aboriginal Title, and the Rule of Law: An Explainer

- B.C. NDP MLAs all voted for LNG incentives—and they only have themselves to blame for the rebellion that's followed

- Time to Tear off the Masks in the Media’s Framing of the Horgan Pipeline Debacle

- Profit over people: What the Wet’suwet’en struggle reveals about corporate capture

- Trudeau calls for 'dialogue' as blockade cripples rail network, while Scheer says clear out the protesters

This is very powerful and well said. Be sure to listen to the end:

 


Brazil:

- Deep in the Amazon, armed tribesmen battle illegal loggers for their future

- Brazil: Bolsonaro Is Pushing Teachers Towards a National Strike

Canada:

Petition: TELL TRUDEAU HE IS WRONG TO CONDEMN BDS

- The Conservative leadership race: Den of really, truly, horrible people -- Hellworld Podcast Episode 2

- An open letter to B.C. Green leadership candidate Sonia Furstenau from the B.C. Ecosocialist Party

- Fredericton brings in replacement workers amid labour dispute

- Is it time for a child-care uprising in Ontario?

- Jason Kenney’s Energy War Room Deletes Tweets Accusing the New York Times of ‘Bias’ and ‘Anti-Semitism’

- 'It's 2020': Parent appalled after students told not to speak Atikamekw language in school

- Atikamekw families demand Quebec heed calls to action, to find out what happened to missing children

China:

- China Focus: Wuhan sends 34,000 gov't workers, Party members to fight coronavirus in communities

- ANTI-CHINA RACISM MUST BE REJECTED

Climate Emergency:

- How climate change is driving food insecurity

- Car ‘splatometer’ tests reveal huge decline in number of insects

- Earth just had its hottest January in recorded history

- Stop blaming population growth for climate change. The real culprit is wealth inequality

Co-op Refinery Strike:

- Newest Unifor picket line in Co-op labour dispute begins in Prince George

- Judge fines Unifor 594 $250,000 for contempt in CRC dispute

- The Myth of State Neutrality

Cuba:

- Trump Puts More Pressure on Cuba, Targets Cuban Doctors Program

- The Internet Is Widely Accessible in Cuba. Why Is the US Insisting It Isn’t?

Europe:

- Italy Salvini: Senate votes for far-right leader to face trial

- Activist fights homophobia in Poland with photo series of 'LGBT-free' zones

France:

- BlackRock Becomes a Symbol for Anticapitalist Fervor in France

- “Either We Defend Social Solidarity, or French Society Will Break Down”

Germany:

- German Communist Party (DKP) to hold its 23rd Congress

- Germany: Opening the floodgates to the far right

India:

Night of Terror: CCTV video exposes police brutality in Delhi's Jamia university


A recently released CCTV footage captured the ‘Night of Terror,’ when police brutally attacked the students inside the library of New Delhi based Jamia Millia Islamia University on December 15, 2019. On that day, students of Jamia and residents from nearby localities had organized a march against the divisive citizenship amendment law passed by the far-right Indian government. As the protesters attempted to take out the march, police unleashed a brutal violence.



- India's communists to protest against Trump's visit to the country

Ireland:

- Sinn Féin to try to form ruling coalition after Irish election success

- Ireland’s Left Turn

Israel / Palestine:

- Palestinians welcome UN's list of companies complicit in illegal Israeli expansion

- MLB to Cancel Roger Waters' Tour Promotions Over BDS Support

- Journalist Abby Martin Sues State of Georgia Over Law Requiring Pledge of Allegiance to Israel

- Moroccans protest Trump's Mideast plan, support Palestinians

- The IDF Spokesman Announces: Continue to Shoot Palestinian Children

Porn & Prostitution:

- Quebec City murder underscores need to abolish prostitution

- Opinion: 'Sex work' isn't work, it's sexual exploitation

- Enforcing prostitution laws could have saved Marylène Lévesque

South America:

- Meet the candidates taking on Bolivia’s U.S.-backed right-wing government

- Chile: Almost 10,000 People Arrested in Four Months of Protests

- End of political violence and threats advocated in Colombia

Spain:

- Spanish govt to ban glorification of Franco dictatorship – Socialist Party

- Leftist Podemos chief to join talks with Catalan separatists

United Kingdom:

This is what democracy looks like!


Thousands out in force at the London climate strike:




- Even With Corbyn Gone, Antisemitism Threats Will Keep Destroying the UK Labour Party

- My life’s work as an anti-racist and anti-Zionist activist makes me an antisemite according to Labour

- Labour reinstates Palestine campaigner

- Why I referred myself to the Labour Party’s Compliance Unit for antisemitism

- Calls to stem ‘devastating’ rise of femicides

United States:

- Voting for Mike Bloomberg is the line I just can’t cross

- This should disqualify Michael Bloomberg

- Why Is Bloomberg's Long History of Egregious Sexism Getting a Pass?

- 64 White Supremacists Prosecuted by DOJ Receive 820 Years in Federal Prison

- AIPAC IS HELPING FUND ANTI-BERNIE SANDERS SUPER PAC ADS IN NEVADA

- WITH NEW HAMPSHIRE BEHIND HIM, SANDERS LOOKS TO NEVADA WORKERS AS VEGAS UNION BOSSES RALLY AGAINST HIM

- New Hampshire 2020: In Supreme Irony, the Horse Race Favors Bernie Sanders

-  A pro-Israel PAC tried to sabotage Bernie in Iowa. It didn't go well

- BERNIE SANDERS LEADS ALL DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES IN SUPPORT FROM NON-WHITE VOTERS, NEW POLLS SHOW

- Why does the “BernieBro” myth persist? Because pundits don't understand how the internet works

- Native burial sites blown up for US border wall

- Seattle City Council OKs ban on wintertime evictions; here’s how it would work for renters, landlords

- "You wouldn't think you'd go to jail over medical bills": County in rural Kansas is jailing people over unpaid medical debt

Venezuela:

- Juan Guaido Stars Venezuela's Biggest Corruption Case Ever

- Mistrial Declared in Trial of Embassy Protection Collective 4

- 'The Bolivarian Shield' Prepares Millions to Defend Venezuela

- Conviasa will Continue to Operate Normally Despite US Sanctions

- Minnesotans go to anti-imperialist congress in Venezuela