(2021-12-16). How The Left Can Get Ethiopia Right. popularresistance.org In the last few months, the left media outlets from various camps, in their sincere attempts to demonstrate solidarity and spotlight conflict in the Horn of Africa and internal developments in Ethiopia, got it wrong. They have been uncritically centering active ideological players on two opposing camps. The significant focus on the TPLF attacks on Eritrea, its invasion of Afar and the Amhara region, and its existence as a willing proxy actor of Washington was correct. They got it wrong, however, in their uncritical framing of neoliberal Abiy. They have chosen to over-amplify the Abiy camp's reactionary narrative…
(2021-12-16). Home care workers protest 24-hour work day in NYC. peoplesdispatch.org Workers employed with the United Jewish Council (UJC) home care agency rallied to end the 24-hour work day and demand their stolen wages on the morning of December 16. While home care workers in New York are being forced to work 24-hour shifts for poverty wages, 11 hours worth of that pay is stolen by their employers. A coalition of worker's rights organizations including the Ain't I A Woman Campaign and the National Mobilization Against Sweatshops (NMASS) have been organizing alongside home care workers for years against these unjust labor practices. | "I am traumatized from working 24-hour shifts," said Epifani…
(2021-12-16). Labor Activists Want To Know Why Workers Were Left To Die. popularresistance.org In the aftermath of a rare string of December tornadoes last Friday night that left 80 people dead across six states, labor activists are questioning why employees at two large worksites in the path of destruction were left exposed to danger. | A candle factory in Mayfield, Kentucky was totally destroyed after sustaining a direct tornado hit with 110 workers inside. At least eight people died and dozens more were severely injured. At the same time, an Amazon delivery station in Edwardsville, Illinois was also hit by a tornado during a shift change, causing the roof to fly off and part of an exterior wall to colla…
(2021-12-16). Report exposes dangerous conditions at Minnesota's Amazon warehouses. peoplesworld.org 
MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL, Minn. (PAI)—Amazon workers this week echoed the findings of a new report that paints a troubling picture of labor conditions and inequities at the retailer's Minnesota warehouses, prompting one state lawmaker to pledge action in the coming legislative session. In analyzing data from six Amazon facilities, researchers from the National Employment Law Project …
(2021-12-16). US postal workers' union proposes tentative agreement with cuts to real wages, keeps two-tier system. wsws.org The deal, which contains a measly 1.3 percent wage increase and provides for the expansion of second-tier labor, keeps every prior concession intact while adding a few more.
(2021-12-16). Omicron explodes in Australia as governments scrap nearly all safety measures. wsws.org As a result of truly criminal decisions taken by governments, Liberal-National and Labor Party alike, millions of people face infection within weeks.
(2021-12-16). Most of the Democratic Party Is Responsible for the Build Back Better Debacle. truthout.org 
Democrats are bracing for potentially huge losses in next year's midterm elections, and many believe the next few months will be the last chance for President Joe Biden to turn the tide back by passing major legislation. His signature bill, the Build Back Better Act, is currently being held up by West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, who is claiming that rising inflation and the level of federal debt is causing him to rethink his support for the bill. Progressives in the party have been sidelined,…
(2021-12-16). Wage Inequality Continued To Increase In 2020. popularresistance.org Newly available wage data from the Social Security Administration allow us to analyze wage trends for the top 1.0% and other very high earners as well as for the bottom 90% during 2020. The upward distribution of wages from the bottom 90% to the top 1.0% that was evident over the period from 1979 to 2019 was especially strong in the 2020 pandemic year, yielding historically high wage levels and shares of all wages for the top 1.0% and 0.1%. Correspondingly, the share of wages earned by the bottom 95% fell in 2020. | Two features of the pandemic economy distorted wage patterns in 2020 and led to faster wage growth…
(2021-12-16). 20th ALBA-TCP Summit Declaration. orinocotribune.com "17 years defending Latin American and Caribbean integration and peace" | The Heads of State and Government and the Heads of Delegations of the countries of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America — Peoples' Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP), meet in Havana, Cuba, on December 14, 2021 to commemorate the 17th Anniversary of the Alliance. In signing this Declaration, we renew our commitment to strengthen this mechanism of political coordination based on the principles of solidarity, social justice, cooperation and economic complementarity, a result of the political will of its founders, the Commanders Fid…
(2021-12-16). Pastor Bernice King: How Can Any Leader Call For Unity And Reconciliation Without Economic Reparations To Black Americans? moguldom.com Minister Bernice King — the youngest daughter of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — says there cannot be reconciliation in America without making reparations to Black Americans. "Reparations is a real, pressing need. And it is right and just," King tweeted on Friday, Dec. 3. "How can any leader in this nation …
(2021-12-16). The Re-Humanizing Power of Great Musical Art. dissidentvoice.org As history repeatedly shows, it is under deteriorating social and economic conditions that the most unscrupulous, the most opportunistic—i.e., the very worst people—end up on top. And because they are the worst, they demand even more, take even more, and abuse and intimidate and/or bribe anyone who stands in their way. Such persons, clearly sociopathic …
(2021-12-16). China's Economic Diplomacy: Where do Taiwan and Kosovo fit in? moderndiplomacy.eu The attempt to unite Taiwan with the mainland since 1979 when Deng Xiaoping instituted the principle of "one country, two systems" has been ineffective to date. In fact, China is struggling with so-called "own provinces," such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Tibet, to name just a few. Internal conflicts are usually a cause of imbalance power …
(2021-12-16). Wall Street rises on Fed monetary policy decision. wsws.org While the Fed's decision has been described as "hawkish," the markets took reassurance from the fact that Powell has indicated the central bank will take into account their reaction to its decisions.
(2021-12-16). Will the Federal Reserve Crash Global Financial Markets As a Means to Implementing Their "Great Reset"? globalresearch.ca It's looking increasingly likely that the US Federal Reserve and the globalist powers that be will use the dramatic rising of inflation as their excuse to bring down the US financial markets and with it, crash the greatest financial bubble …
(2021-12-16). "No Food Available": Afghanistan Faces Catastrophe as Donors Cut Humanitarian Aid to Taliban Gov't. democracynow.org 
Afghanistan under the new Taliban government faces a humanitarian catastrophe this winter as the United States and other donors have cut off financial aid. The United Nations warns nearly 23 million people in Afghanistan — or more than half the population — face potentially life-threatening food shortages, with nearly 9 million already on the brink of famine. In addition, people face lack of proper healthcare, unemployment and housing shortages. "The international aid organizations, for them, it's just another country … where they take pictures and make their careers out of it," says Pashtana Durran…
(2021-12-16). How The US Government Segregated America. popularresistance.org For many years, I worked in Boston public housing with teams of residents, community organizations, public housing staff and other professors on reducing and removing the many asthma triggers that caused the highest rates of asthma and asthma attacks in the city. Living and working in the heart of the city neighborhoods, I was keenly aware of the apartheid nature of public and residential housing (black Roxbury, white South Boston, white gentrification overtaking Boston's mixed-income interracial neighborhoods, and white suburbs) | I had been familiar with the mid-20th century pattern of "white flight" from urban…
(2021-12-16). Profiting from Migration: Peru Requests $304 Million to 'Serve' Venezuelan Migrants. orinocotribune.com 
Through the "business" of migration, the government of Peru now intends to ensure its source of income for the year 2022, under the pretext of needing financing to "help" Venezuelan migrants. Peru intends to obtain the funds through a new program that they announced to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and UNHCR. | According to official sources, the Peruvian administration requested $304 million, allegedly to assist some 900,000 Venezuelans in Peruvian territory. In Peru, Venezuelan migrants have faced serious acts of xenophobia, discrimination, mass deportations, and violence against Venezuelans…
(2021-12-16). A Critique of Obscene Wealth. independentmediainstitute.org Wherever and whenever obscenely rich people existed, they always protected their wealth and the privileges that come with it from the majority of non-wealthy people working for them and around them. Emperors, kings, czars as well as masters of huge slave plantations, lords of big feudal manors, and major shareholders and top executives of capitalist …
(2021-12-16). Most American Homeowners Are 'House Poor'. popularresistance.org In a recent survey, 40% of homeowners with mortgages said they work second, full-time jobs to afford housing expenses. A majority of the 1,002 people surveyed by Consumer Affairs feel like they can't afford their housing expenses, and did not anticipate the extra costs of upkeep when they bought their homes. | The report comes amid record surges in US home prices, also finding that more than a third of respondents are incurring extra credit card debt to pay their bills. Despite these challenges, homeowners ultimately prefer owning a home to renting one. | The survey found that although 40% of people rely on secon…
(2021-12-16). Health workers hang up their lab coats in protest. peoplesdispatch.org More than 300 health workers in Konjic in the south of Bosnia and Herzegovina decided to hang up their lab coats at the entrance of Konjic General Hospital on 15 December, in protest against a financial crisis that the town's health institutions have been struggling with for months on end. Nurses, doctors, and other health workers warned the authorities that this was their last warning before they quit en masse, a move that would cause the collapse of health services in the area. | The protest is the latest in a series of workers' actions since late November this year. Until now, workers have engaged in striking…
(2021-12-16). Quick Note on the Inflation Debate and November Retail Sales. cepr.net People are still not spending the money banked in the pandemic. This means that we have less reason to fear excess demand driving inflation.
(2021-12-16). Minneapolis-St. Paul airport maintenance workers authorize strike action. wsws.org The workers are demanding increased compensation, under conditions of soaring inflation, and benefits that correspond to other MAC workers.
(2021-12-16). 89-10: Senate sends record-high $768 billion war budget authorization to White House. antibellum679354512.wordpress.com The Senate vote was 89-10.The House vote was 363-70.It's the highest-ever Pentagon budget in current dollars and the largest since World War II in constant dollars. Russian military spending for 2020 was an estimated $61.7 billion, less than 1/12 of next year's U.S. defense spending. Senate Passes $768 Billion Defense Bill, Sending It to Biden …
(2021-12-16). Investor Pumps Dogecoin On Tik Tok But Describes A Technical Ponzi Scheme. moguldom.com A Dogecoin fan pumped the hugely popular meme coin on Tik Tok, and an observer reposted the video on Twitter with an accompanying comment saying that the man had just flawlessly described a Ponzi scheme. The unnamed Dogecoin enthusiast was keen to share what he said was "an incredible investment opportunity right now." The goal …
(2021-12-16). Time's person of the year Elon Musk: Worshipping the pandemic profiteer. wsws.org Time magazine is celebrating a billionaire who personifies the most noxious tendencies in contemporary capitalism.
(2021-12-16). Ten Marxist classics for Xmas. mronline.org 
Lindsey German's Marxist holiday reading list…
(2021-12-16). Envisioning a world with no bosses. zcomm.org Please Help ZNet Source: Systemic Disorder Many people, especially those with eyes open to the ravages of capitalism, know what they don't want. Fewer know what they do want. That is understandable, given that the task of building mass movements on so many fronts is daunting. But while
(2021-12-16). Chile is at the political crossroads: social renewal or decades of painful neoliberal policy. peoplesdispatch.org Presidential candidate José Antonio Kast reflects the failure of Chile to prosecute those who violated the rights of Chileans during the 30 years of Pinochet's rule…
(2021-12-16). How Can We Expect Things to Change?>. anchor.fm In this episode I discuss the practical ways in which we can expect the world to change based on the ways in which it has historically changed; through people taking control of their circumstances and building a new tomorrow. However it comes, we know that a new tomorrow must come, but if we want that new tomorrow to lead us towards an actually better society, then we need socialism. So how do we get there? Well, let's discuss!
(2021-12-15). SEP (Australia) Emergency Public Meeting: British court decision puts Assange's life in danger. Demand his immediate release! wsws.org The Socialist Equality Party (Australia) has called an online public meeting to fight for the immediate freedom of Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, after the British High Court last week ordered his extradition to the US.
(2021-12-15). Frank Chapman, veteran activist, tackles Black Liberation and national question in book. peoplesworld.org 
Frank Chapman has a long and storied reputation as an activist-leader-theoretician in the anti-repression, labor, and left movements. His history makes it imperative that activists engage with his theoretical work, which is drawn from years of struggle in the mass movement. His latest book, Marxist-Leninist Perspectives on Black Liberation and Socialism, traces the history of …
(2021-12-15). Union battles at Amazon and Starbucks are hot news. zcomm.org Which can only be good for the labor movement…
(2021-12-15). Not Just Billionaires — the Average Rich Person's Pay Has Risen During COVID. truthout.org 
Amid all the anxiety about inflation, the good news this year has been that many businesses increased wages in an effort to keep a reluctant workforce on the job and contend with a tight labor market. However, wages rose quickly for the ultra-rich even as the pandemic raged in 2020, and economists say gains made by workers in 2021 are not sustainable unless structural changes are made. | Wage growth in the United States has slowed since hitting an all-time high in April, when employers sought…
(2021-12-15). Honduras' Left-Wing Breakthrough. orinocotribune.com By Francisco Dominguez — Dec 10, 2021 | Since a US-backed coup toppled Mel Zelaya in 2009, Honduras has faced a clampdown on democracy and serious human rights abuses. But the election of socialist Xiomara Castro is a chance to break the cycle. | What appeared impossible has been achieved: the people of Honduras have broken the perpetuation, through electoral fraud and thuggish violence, of a brutal, illegal, illegitimate, and criminal regime.By means of sheer resistance, resilience, mobilisation, and organisation, they have managed to defeat Juan Orlando Hernandez's narco-dictatorship at the ballot box. Xio…
(2021-12-15). Casey Mulligan Says Build Back Better Will Raise Child Care Costs by $27,000. cepr.net Many people may remember University of Chicago economist Casey Mulligan for his argument that unemployment in the Great Recession was caused largely by generous food stamp benefits. Well he's back, and telling us that the child care provisions in President Biden's Build Back Better (BBB) plan could raise the cost of child care by $27,000 …
(2021-12-15). Reverend William Barber Leads Moral Monday Action At US Capitol. popularresistance.org Washington DC — Community organizers and faith leaders from 33 States converged on the U.S. Capitol to demand passage of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (H.R. 4) and the Build Back Better Bill (H.R. 5376), now pending Senate approval. They chastised West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin for his role in delaying passage of the legislation which would provide protection for voting rights and financial relief for millions of impoverished Americans. | Reverend William Barber called out Senator Joe Manchin by name for playing a "trick" on his constituents by delaying a vote in the Senate on the voting r…
(2021-12-15). Venezuela Challenges Illegal Blockade: New OPEC Data Published. orinocotribune.com While President Nicolás Maduro assures that 2022 will be the year for the definitive recovery of Venezuela, reports from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) point in the same direction, showing an increase in oil production despite the illegal US and European economic blockade. | In this way, it is evident how the South American nation has challenged the illegal coercive measures imposed by the United States government and its European lackeys, an economic attack that initially led to a 99% drop in Venezuela's foreign revenue, completely disrupting Venezuela's economy. | This was highlighted…
(2021-12-15). Venezuela Pushes for Stronger ALBA Economy at XX Summit. venezuelanalysis.com The regional organization also unveiled a Counter-Intervention Observatory to monitor US meddling.
(2021-12-15). Vietnam's Economic Policy and adaptation to COVID-19. moderndiplomacy.eu Vietnam which was seen as a success story in terms of countering COVID-19 is facing challenges with regard to re-invigorating its economy given the fact that the constraints related to international travel, trade and investment are still looming large on the horizon. As part of the initiative to provide the necessary support to the economy, …
(2021-12-15). Maduro Urges ALBA-TCP to Focus Its Efforts on a Common Economic Agenda. orinocotribune.com The President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, urged the heads of state and other representatives present at the Twentieth Ordinary Summit of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America — Peoples' Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) to exert greater efforts to establish a common economic development agenda for all the member countries of the regional body. | During his speech this Tuesday, December 14, at the ALBA-TCP Summit in Havana, Cuba, President Maduro stated, "From Venezuela we would like all of us to exert greater efforts to articulate a comprehensive economic, commercial, financial and monetary developm…
(2021-12-15). Columbia Student Workers Defy University's Strikebreaking Threats. popularresistance.org Last week saw a sharp escalation of the strike by 3,000 student workers at Columbia University in New York City, which continues in the face of strikebreaking threats by the administration. In an effort to shut down the walkout before finals, the university warned striking student workers that it might replace them in the Spring semester if they remained on strike beyond Friday, December 10. | Columbia workers rejected this attempt at economic blackmail and held out on the picket line. A poll conducted by the Student Workers of Columbia union (SWC) bargaining committee found that 87 percent of union members and n…
(2021-12-15). Congress Raises Debt Ceiling After Months of Republican Obstruction. truthout.org 
Congress voted to raise the debt limit on Tuesday after months of brinkmanship and Republican obstruction that threatened economic disaster. | The resolution raises the debt ceiling
(2021-12-15). China plays a crucial role supporting progress and sovereignty in Latin America. mronline.org 
In the last two decades, economic links between Latin America and the People's Republic of China have been expanding at a dizzying rate.
(2021-12-15). Digital Technology Key to Supporting Thailand's Recovery from COVID-19. moderndiplomacy.eu After being severely hit by a surge of COVID-19 cases in the third quarter of 2021, Thailand's economic activity has subsequently rebounded and is expected to grow by 1.0 percent this year, according to the World Bank's latest Thailand Economic Monitor "Living with COVID in a Digital World" published today. Going forward, the adoption of …
(2021-12-15). Wealth, Capitalism and Ideology. zcomm.org As an almost classical consequence of capitalist markets, sovereignty in monetary terms exists only for big players…
(2021-12-15). Will Fed Crash Global Financial Markets for Their Great Reset? journal-neo.org 
It's looking increasingly likely that the US Federal Reserve and the globalist powers that be will use the dramatic rising of inflation as their excuse to bring down the US financial markets and with it, crash the greatest financial bubble in history. The enormous inflation rise since the malicious political lockdowns and the trillions of …
(2021-12-15). Jittery markets await central bank decisions. wsws.org Since the start of the pandemic trillions of dollars have been poured into financial markets by central banks, sending stock prices to record highs, but the rise of inflation is leading to increased instability.
(2021-12-15). In OtherWords: December 15, 2021. otherwords.org On December 15, the families of 65 million U.S. children received their last monthly payment under the expanded Child Tax Credit, which expires this month. | Those payments have kept millions out of poverty, writes West Virginia mom Kristen Olsen. Unfortunately, the GOP is unanimously opposed to extending them — and so far, they've had an ally in West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin. | Will the multimillionaire senator, Kristen wonders, really vote to send millions of kids back into poverty — including in his home state, whose kids are among the poorest in the country? The answer will have national impl…
(2021-12-15). Castillo Sends Bill To Reduce Poor Families' Electricity Bills. telesurenglish.net On Tuesday, Peru's President Pedro Castillo sent a bill to modify the Electric Social Compensation Fund (FOSE) so as to ensure that the most vulnerable families have a discount of up to 15 percent on their monthly electricity bills. | RELATED: | Currently, high-income users subsidize Peruvian families that consume less than 100 kWh per month. Castillo proposes that this cross subsidy also be extended to citizens…
(2021-12-15). The only way to deal effectively with a pandemic is socialistic. moderndiplomacy.eu The two extremes of ideology are libertarianism (anarchy) versus government (socialism). (Pure embodiments of either are rare if not non-existent.) A democratic government represents the public; an aristocratic government represents the wealthiest 0.1% as its actual dictators and beneficiaries. The two types of libertarianism are: the pure form, in which everyone is free to destroy …