Daily Archives: December 2, 2021

2021-12-02: News Headlines

The Socialist Program (2021-12-02). Why China Succeeded and the U.S. Failed to Beat COVID. liberationnews.org What can we learn about how different countries have handled the pandemic, and the radically different outcomes they produced?>

Emir Sader (2021-12-02). Latin America: Why the Elections in Chile, Brazil and Colombia are Crucial. orinocotribune.com By Emir Sader — Nov 29, 2021 | Latin America has become the epicenter of the greatest political struggles of the 21st century because it was the epicenter of neoliberalism in the world. It was the region with the most neoliberal and radical governments. Therefore, it became the region where the anti-neoliberal governments developed, thus becoming the fundamental scenario of the most important disputes in the world in the 21st century. | The first decade of the century in Latin America was marked by the emergence of anti-neoliberal governments, which implemented a set of measures that attacked the main factor…

WSWS (2021-12-02). National Labor Relations Board orders new union election at Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama. wsws.org The Biden administration is intervening not to defend workers' democratic rights, but to impose a labor police force over this decisive section of the working class…

WSWS (2021-12-02). "The laws are ultimately censorship"—SEP electoral members support campaign against Australia's anti-democratic legislation. wsws.org "The government does not care about the health and wellbeing of the population; they just want to keep the economy 'healthy'"

Anis Chowdhury (2021-12-02). Profiting from the carbon offset distraction. mronline.org Carbon offset markets allow the rich to emit as financial intermediaries profit. By fostering the fiction that others can be paid to cut greenhouse gases (GHGs) instead, it undermines efforts to do so.

Peter Certo (2021-12-02). Greed Is Prolonging the Pandemic. fpif.org Stop me if this sounds familiar. | It's been kind of a hard year, but I felt optimistic about the holidays. My wife and I had just scheduled our COVID-19 boosters. Even better, we'd been able to get our young child vaccinated. | We imagined a cautious return to simple family pleasures like indoor dining — and maybe playdates at indoor play centers during the long Midwestern winter. Maybe we'd even test our kid's appetite for air travel and visit relatives in different parts of the country. | Then — another COVID-19 variant. Possible breakthrough infections. Travel bans and tumbling stock markets. And…

Carolina V N Coll, Thiago M Santos, Karen Devries, Felicia Knaul, Flavia Bustreo, Anne Gatuguta, Gbenankpon Mathias Houvessou, Aluísio J D Barros (2021-12-02). Identifying the women most vulnerable to intimate partner violence: A decision tree analysis from 48 low and middle-income countries. thelancet.com Starting with well-known predictors of IPV, the decision-tree approach provides important insights about subpopulations of women where IPV prevalence is high. This information can help designing targeted interventions. For a large proportion of women who experienced IPV, however, no particular risk factors were identified, emphasizing the need for population wide approaches conducted in parallel, including changing social norms, strengthening laws and policies supporting gender equality and women ¥s rights as well as guaranteeing women ¥s access to justice systems and comprehensive health services.

Gauri Gandbhir (2021-12-02). India: Victory for farmers protesting fascist farm laws. greenleft.org.au The Indian farmer's movement is a demonstration that people power can preserve the public sector and has become an inspiration for labourers around the world to take on neoliberalism and fascism, writes Gauri Gandbhir.

WSWS (2021-12-02). Chancellor-designate Olaf Scholz and Germany's federal states reject necessary pandemic restrictions. wsws.org All the parties in the new coalition government to be headed by Scholz are aggressively pursuing the "profits before lives" policies that have already resulted in more than 100,000 deaths in Germany alone and are creating an ever-expanding catastrophe.

WSWS (2021-12-02). Philippine government ramps up campaign for "living with the virus" wsws.org Like capitalist governments around the world, the Duterte administration aims to force workers to "live with the virus" and remove all barriers to the profit-making of the capitalist class.

Steve O'Brien (2021-12-02). Newcastle socialist candidate: It's time to put people before profit. greenleft.org.au Community-minded people can successfully challenge powerful interests, and the governments that serve them, to create communities that are sustainable, affordable, socially just and inclusive, writes Steve O'Brien.

WSWS (2021-12-02). Anger among Mississippi Ingalls shipbuilders on eve of contract extension vote. wsws.org Workers want higher wages and safer conditions at the giant military shipbuilding facility, located on Mississippi's Gulf Coast…

The Socialist Program (2021-12-02). Two Verdicts: Racist Violence & American Capitalism. liberationnews.org The three men who murdered Ahmaud Arbery have been convicted of murder in a major victory for the struggle against racism, but at the same time the Rittenhouse verdict reveals a grave danger.

Fra Hughes (2021-12-02). Sinn Fein from Revolutionary Party to Constitutional Nationalists. orinocotribune.com By Fra Hughes — Nov 28, 2021 | Sinn Fein went from being a revolutionary party supporting a legitimate armed struggle against Britain's illegal imperialist military occupation of Ireland and aiming to build a socialist republic, to becoming a business-oriented party, focused on acquiring more seats in the parliament. | Where did it all go wrong? | Once the vanguard of Irish republicanism and claiming to be fighting for a free sovereign socialist 32 county Irish republic SF is now a parody of its previous incarnation. | From a revolutionary party supporting a legitimate armed struggle against Britain's illega…

WSWS (2021-12-02). SEP meeting discusses the socialist policies needed to fight Sri Lankan government's budget. wsws.org The speakers urged workers to reject all nationalist programs and fight for international socialist policies in order to defeat the austerity budget.

Dana Sanchez (2021-12-01). Federal Reserve's Jerome Powell Taps Out On Inflation, Now Admits Inflation Isn't Transitionary, Will Remain High. moguldom.com Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who repeatedly downplayed the risk of inflation earlier in 2021, now says he is retiring the word "transitory" to describe the inflationary outlook and believes that the omicron variant could threaten the U.S. economy. Speaking to Congress on Tuesday, Nov. 30, Powell acknowledged the growing risk of more persistent inflation …

Peter Certo (2021-12-01). In OtherWords: December 1, 2021. otherwords.org Markets crashed again over the weekend as reports of a new COVID-19 variant cropped up first in South Africa and then in countries all over the world. Already it's been spotted in California. | By now the cycle of relief and uncertainty feels very familiar. We don't yet know how serious the Omicron variant will be, but one thing is for certain: The longer this virus circulates, the more variants we'll see. | In other words, the vast vaccination gaps between richer and poorer countries are putting all of us at risk — even those of us who are already vaccinated. This week, I explain how overcoming corporate g…

_____ (2021-12-01). WHO Stands With African Nations And Calls For Borders To Remain Open. popularresistance.org As a growing number of countries impose flight bans on southern African nations due to concerns over the new Omicron variant, World Health Organization (WHO) urges countries to follow science and the International Health Regulations (2005). | Travel restrictions may play a role in slightly reducing the spread of COVID-19 but place a heavy burden on lives and livelihoods. If restrictions are implemented, they should not be unnecessarily invasive or intrusive, and should be scientifically based, according to the International Health Regulations which is a legally binding instrument of international law recognized b…

WSWS (2021-12-01). African National Congress rejects new measures to counter South Africa's Omicron variant surge. wsws.org South Africa's third wave was the result of inadequate safety measures implemented by the governments around the world in the interest of reopening the economy. President Ramaphosa is now declaring that even those limited mitigation measures are unacceptable.

Fight Back (2021-12-01). Interview with Toni Gilpin on recent strikes and the need for fighting unions. fightbacknews.org Toni Gilpin is a prominent labor historian, author and activist. She wrote the book The Long Deep Grudge which covered the militant history of the Farm Equipment Union whose members later merged into the United Auto Workers, including some the locals that recently struck for five weeks at John Deere, where Gilpin provided support on the picket lines. | Fight Back! was able to speak to Gilpin recently about the John Deere strike, the uptick in recent strikes, union leadership and elections, and what is needed in the American labor movement today. The following are excerpts from that conversation. | Fight Back!: Wh…

Joris Leverink (2021-12-01). Earthcare Fieldcast: Migrant Labor Struggles in Agriculture and Care. roarmag.org As we are sliding from crises of social reproduction into crises of planetary ecology, | Episode 3 —Feminist Organizing across Migrant Agricultural and Care Work:…

Staff (2021-12-01). Amazon Workers in Alabama Get New Shot at Union After NLRB Rules Company Broke the Law in 1st Vote. democracynow.org Workers at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama may soon get another chance to decide whether to unionize. The National Labor Relations Board has ruled that Amazon violated U.S. labor law while waging an aggressive anti-unionization campaign against warehouse workers earlier this year in Bessemer, Alabama. This comes as Amazon workers worldwide from Bangladesh to Germany campaigned on Black Friday for fairer working conditions under the banner, "Make Amazon Pay." "If Amazon is trying to eat the world, it's also bringing many disparate sets of workers and activists and communities together to fight against the…

Monica Cruz (2021-12-01). Amazon workers in Alabama get a second chance to vote on unionizing. peoplesdispatch.org A federal labor official has ruled in favor of the union, which charged the company with illegally interfering with the election held earlier this year…

a guest author (2021-12-01). Workers of the world demand: MAKE AMAZON PAY! workers.org By Tony Murphy and John Catalinotto Strikes, protests and militant job actions marked the global day of actions Nov. 26, targeting the megamonopoly and superprofiteer Amazon in 20 countries. Chris Smalls, president of Amazon Labor Union, speaks at NYC rally Nov. 26, organized by Workers Assembly Against Racism. The day . . . |

_____ (2021-12-01). Backed by AFRICOM, corporations plunder DR Congo for "climate-friendly" materials and blame China. strategic-culture.org Cobalt, a key metallic element used in lithium batteries and other "green" technology, is sourced from slave labor in the Democratic Republic of Congo. As the West points the finger at China, the US Africa Command is indirectly policing mining operations that profit US corporations. | TJ COLES | Ever since Belgium's King Leopold II (1835-1909) established the Congo Free State in 1885, international powers have exploited the region's vast resources. Leading a regime that went on to kill an

_____ (2021-12-01). Leftist Castro's Victory In Honduras Vote Spells End Of US-Backed 'Narco-Politics, Neoliberalism'. popularresistance.org Xiomara Castro, the presidential candidate for the leftist opposition party Libre, seems to have won a resounding victory in Honduras' presidential elections. Her victory comes in spite of attempts by the ruling National Party, which overthrew her husband, Manuel Zelaya, in 2009, to stifle voter turnout, as one Sputnik journalist observed.

Editor (2021-12-01). Anti-neoliberal candidate Xiomara Castro dominates Honduras' presidential election. mronline.org With a significant advantage over the closest contender, Xiomara Castro has emerged as the likely next president of Honduras.

Joris Leverink (2021-12-01). Economic Update: Imagining a Different Economy. roarmag.org On this week's show, Prof. Wolff presents updates on his recent debate with the Ayn Rand Institute on capitalism vs socialism; inflation in Europe; he offers an analysis of right vs left splitting in the US today; and real vs fake causes of energy price inflation. | The second half of the show features an interview with Professor David McNally, University of Houston, on lessons from the history of capitalism. | You can support this show on

Jayati Ghosh (2021-12-01). The feminist building-blocks of a just, sustainable economy. mronline.org Jayati Ghosh finds in a UN Women report a blueprint for an economy which serves the public—rather than the other way around.

Maxximilian Seijo (2021-12-01). The Metaphysics of Accounting with Paolo Quattrone. mronline.org Paolo Quattrone (@PaoloQuattrone) joins Money on the Left to discuss the metaphysics of accounting and the significance of accounting's repressed history for political economy today. Professor of Accounting, Governance & Society at The University of Manchester, Quattrone insists that, while often seen as a positivist and merely technical skill for recording extant data, accounting in truth represents a rhetorical and quite generative engagement with the "mystery of value."

Molly Shah (2021-12-01). Berlin's 'new economy' workers fight exploitation and union busting. zcomm.org Workers at Gorillas, the Berlin-based grocery delivery service, secured a major court victory as they continue their fight against "new economy" exploitation and rampant union busting…

Tanya Wadhwa (2021-12-01). Over 1.5 million Bolivians march in defense of democracy and President Arce's government. peoplesdispatch.org President Luis Arce thanked Bolivian citizens for their overwhelming support, and promised to continue working to rebuild the country and the economy with the people…

_____ (2021-12-01). IPCC Warns That Capitalism Is Unsustainable. popularresistance.org A leaked draft of the third part of the upcoming IPCC report establishes that we must move away from the current capitalist model to avoid exceeding planetary limits. It also confirms that, as stated in the article published by CTXT on August 7, "Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must peak in at most four years". The document also acknowledges that there is little chance of further economic growth. | The signatories of this article, scientists and journalists, have analysed a new part of the Sixth Report, leaked by the scientists' collective Scientist Rebellion and Extinction Rebellion Spain. The leak clearly shows…

Prof Michel Chossudovsky (2021-12-01). The 2020-21 Worldwide Corona Crisis: Destroying Civil Society, Engineered Economic Depression, Global Coup d'État and the "Great Reset" globalresearch.ca We are at the crossroads of one of the most serious crises in modern history. We are living history, yet our understanding of the flow of events since January 2020 has been blurred. Worldwide, people have been misled both by their governments and the media.

Anand Naidoo (2021-12-01). The Heat: China-Africa Forum. america.cgtn.com China pledges more vaccine and economic help for Africa.

Ann Brown (2021-12-01). Who Is Jessica Mason? Meet The Dallas-Based Activist Running For Congress In Texas. moguldom.com There's a progressive Democrat candidate running for Congress in Texas who is growing in popularity. Jessica Mason is running in Texas District 30, which encompasses a large portion of Dallas including the downtown central business and arts districts. The 30th District population is 792,445, and nearly 19 percent of residents live below the poverty line, …

Jim Hightower (2021-12-01). Rethinking Work — And Life. otherwords.org As a writer, I get stuck every so often straining for the right words to tell my story. Over the years, though, I've learned when to quit tying myself into mental knots over sentence construction. Instead, I step back and rethink where my story is going. | This process is essentially what millions of American working families are going through this year as record numbers of them are shocking bosses, politicians, and economists by stepping back and declaring: "We quit!" | Most of the quits are tied to very real abuses that have become ingrained in our workplaces over the past couple of decades — poverty payc…

WSWS (2021-12-01). Harvard graduate student union pushes through contract with cut in real wages. wsws.org The four-year deal will result in an effective wage cut for exploited student-workers at the world's wealthiest university.

rebekah (2021-12-01). Blame Corporate Greed For Inflation. inequality.org

Nora Barrows-Friedman (2021-12-01). Major Canadian academic group rejects Israel lobby's anti-Semitism definition. electronicintifada.net Scholars must be able to critique states without fear of outside political influence, association says.

_____ (2021-12-01). Sandinistas Won A Landslide Victory Because They Uplifted Nicaragua's Poor. popularresistance.org As predicted by multiple polls, the Sandinistas, led by Daniel Ortega, won a resounding victory on the November 7th elections in Nicaragua. The elections were a referendum on the path that the Sandinista government has taken the country, which is grounded on large investments in social programs that have benefited people, especially the most disadvantaged, in every nook and cranny of the national territory. | Support for the reelection of the Sandinista government was astounding. Of the entire patron electoral (eligible voters), about 65% came out to vote and, of those, about 75.9% voted for the FLSN (Sandinista…

_____ (2021-12-01). Sandinistas Won A Landslide Victory Because They Uplifted The Poor. popularresistance.org As predicted by multiple polls, the Sandinistas, led by Daniel Ortega, won a resounding victory on the November 7th elections in Nicaragua. The elections were a referendum on the path that the Sandinista government has taken the country, which is grounded on large investments in social programs that have benefited people, especially the most disadvantaged, in every nook and cranny of the national territory. | Support for the reelection of the Sandinista government was astounding. Of the entire patron electoral (eligible voters), about 65% came out to vote and, of those, about 75.9% voted for the FLSN (Sandinista…

WSWS (2021-12-01). US corporate profits hit new record. wsws.org US corporations are enjoying the largest profit margins since 1950 as the Biden administration pledges to oppose any public health measures in response to the pandemic that might impinge on profits.

WSWS (2021-12-01). FedEx locks out Australian workers fighting for improved wages and conditions. wsws.org The global logistics company last week locked out workers for two full shifts after they began four-hour work stoppages.

Gary Olson (2021-12-01). Thoughts on the Left's Response to Capitalism's Global Death Spiral. dissidentvoice.org For those whose personal and political identities are virtually indistinguishable, these are especially vexing times. Specifically, during this historical stage of capitalism it's challenging to abide by Gramsci's optimism of the will and heart and not acquiesce to pessimism of the mind, to the intellect's awareness of certain recalcitrant realities in our world. And residing …

WSWS (2021-12-01). Moses Kur, 37-year-old auto parts worker, dies in industrial accident at Ventra's Grand Rapids plant. wsws.org The accident is not the product of individual error but of an unsafe environment which has persisted for years at the auto parts maker, the product of continuous speedup and long working hours that are common throughout the industry.

WSWS (2021-12-01). Wall Street falls as Fed chair points to accelerated taper of asset purchases. wsws.org Testimony by US Fed chair Jerome Powell to the Senate Banking Committee yesterday set off the second significant fall on Wall Street in three days as he indicated that the central bank was moving to tighten its monetary policy.

_____ (2021-12-01). Castro's Victory Spells End Of US-Backed 'Narco-Politics, Neoliberalism'. popularresistance.org Castro's victory is just the latest in a year of leftist victories in Latin America, including Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua, Pedro Castillo in Peru, and Luis Arce in Bolivia, all of which represent significant setbacks for the US' agenda in the region. | "There will be no more abuse of power in this country," Castro said in an unofficial victory speech on Sunday. "Today, the people have made justice. We have reversed authoritarianism." | With 40% of votes counted, she held a commanding lead of 53.3% over her chief rival, National Party candidate Nasry Asfura, who Sputnik News journalist Wyatt Reed described as the…

WSWS (2021-12-01). Opposition candidate Robredo endorses anti-Communist task force in Philippine election. wsws.org The anti-Communist task force, endorsed by Robredo, is a heavily funded and murderous apparatus of McCarthyism…

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