(2021-12-18). Australian governments ramp up "reopening drive" amid record COVID-19 infections. wsws.org As Labor and Coalition governments alike scrap public health measures, to satisfy the demands of the corporate elite, there are signs of mounting public concern and hostility.
(2021-12-18). "The raises are insulting in this economy": Postal workers oppose union-brokered tentative agreement. wsws.org The agreement continues decades of attacks on workers by offering meager raises and expanding the second tier of lower-paid postal employees.
(2021-12-18). Australian budget update flies in face of pandemic disaster. wsws.org The government's mid-year review directly reflects the demands of the corporate elite for a full reopening of the economy, in the interest of profit, regardless of the human cost.
(2021-12-18). The Sociopolitical and Economic Impact of the Pandemic. journal-neo.org 
Two years of the coronavirus pandemic have seriously changed the world around us economically and politically. The pandemic demonstrated that any mass epidemic is as much a generic challenge to society as war, a change in geological epochs, or economic stages. At this challenging time for everybody, all power structures and public institutions have faced …
(2021-12-18). [World Report] WHO and World Bank urge spending for UHC. thelancet.com Governments have been urged to strengthen public spending on health as COVID-19 stalls progress towards universal health coverage. John Zarocostas reports from Geneva.
(2021-12-18). Committee for Public Education (Australia) holds successful online meeting on the COVID crisis. wsws.org The event, titled "COVID-19 spreads through Australian schools: Lives before profit! Stop the pandemic!" featured a report from Evan Blake, a member of the US SEP and a leading WSWS writer.
(2021-12-18). Climate Justice Campaign Director. peoplesaction.org About People's Action/Institute People's Action Institute (501c3) and sister organization People's Action (501c4) are national progressive organizations supporting the mobilization and leadership of the grassroots in support of an agenda that puts people before profits. People's Action/Institute builds the power of poor and working people, in rural, suburban, and urban areas to win change through …
(2021-12-18). Policy & Research Manager. peoplesaction.org About People's Action/Institute People's Action Institute (501c3) and sister organization People's Action (501c4) are national progressive organizations supporting the mobilization and leadership of the grassroots in support of an agenda that puts people before profits. People's Action/Institute builds the power of poor and working people, in rural, suburban, and urban areas to win change through …
(2021-12-18). Healthcare For All — Lead Organizer. peoplesaction.org About People's Action/Institute People's Action Institute (501c3) and sister organization People's Action (501c4) are national progressive organizations supporting the mobilization and leadership of the grassroots in support of an agenda that puts people before profits. People's Action/Institute builds the power of poor and working people, in rural, suburban, and urban areas to win change through …
(2021-12-18). Turkish left calls minimum wage hike insufficient. peoplesdispatch.org After months of negotiations and protests, the right-wing AKP government announced on Thursday that the minimum wage will increase next year to 4,250 Turkish Lira from the current 2,850 Turkish Lira. This is against the unions' demand of a minimum wage of at least 5,200 Turkish Lira…
(2021-12-18). "Workers around the world suffer the same conditions": A former Kellogg's worker in Australia sends a message of solidarity to US strikers. wsws.org Warwick Dove, a member of the Socialist Equality Party (Australia) and former Kellogg's worker, has a message for striking Kellogg's workers in the United States on the eve of their vote on another concessions contract this weekend.
(2021-12-18). Paul Buhle and the Rise of Socialist Comics. zcomm.org The historian has been at the forefront of telling the lost stories of U.S. radicalism—in comic book form—for nearly two decades…
(2021-12-17). Congress Passes Massive $778 Billion NDAA. popularresistance.org On Tuesday, the Senate passed the massive $778 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in a vote of 89 to 10. | The legislation is a compromise version of the NDAA that was already passed by the House and now just needs President Biden's signature to become law. Congress added $25 billion more to the spending bill than Biden requested. | The bill authorizes $740.3 billion for the Pentagon, $27.8 billion for the Energy Department's nuclear weapons program, and $9.9 billion for "Defense-related Activities Outside NDAA Jurisdiction." | In September, the House passed a different version of the NDAA that inc…
(2021-12-17). Home Care Workers Protest 24-Hour Work Day In New York City. popularresistance.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…
(2021-12-17). Yes Virginia, there is a labor movement. workers.org 
Workers in Virginia flexed their organizing muscle in two separate industries recently. First, hospitality workers at the tourist attraction, Colonial Williamsburg village, held a rally in front of various sites within the complex. The majority of the workers are Black. Their grievances include low wages and long hours. Colonial Williamsburg . . . |
(2021-12-17). Democratic Production and Self-Organized Labor: How the Che Guevara Commune Confronts the Crisis. libya360.wordpress.com Cira Pascual Marquina and Chris Gilbert Part I: Highland Resistance: How the Che Guevara Commune Confronts the Crisis First-hand accounts of the impact of the US sanctions on a coffee and cocoa growing commune in the Venezuelan Andes. The Che Guevara Commune lies on the fertile hillsides that rise up from the shores of Lake…
(2021-12-17). New Leader Pushes Teachers' Union to Take On Social Justice Role. zcomm.org Becky Pringle, the country's top Black labor leader, has plunged the National Education Association into the reckoning unfolding in public schools…
(2021-12-17). Both major parties in Australia plan accelerated pro-business university restructuring. wsws.org Regardless of whether the Coalition or Labor form the next government, the devastating attacks on jobs, conditions and the quality of education will accelerate.
(2021-12-17). Qatar jails migrant worker for speaking out on labor violations. peoplesdispatch.org Jordanian Abdullah Ibhais was sentenced to five years in prison in April this year. Human rights groups assert that the sentence is based on false and baseless charges completely lacking evidence…
(2021-12-17). GOP Candidate JD Vance Accuses Walmart of "Slave Labor" But Invests in Its Stock. truthout.org 
Ohio Republican Senate candidate Vance, who made a fortune as a venture capitalist before writing the best-selling book Hillbilly Elegy, submitted his persona…
(2021-12-17). WEF Develops Framework to Transition Colombia to Data-Driven Economy. moderndiplomacy.eu The Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution and a multistakeholder community have developed a technology and governance framework for trustworthy and commercially sustainable public-private data exchanges in Colombia. This new public-private resource will give individuals greater control over how their data is used and serve as a means for responsible value creation. The multistakeholder community …
(2021-12-17). Indonesia's Economy Grew in 2021 Despite COVID-19, Will Accelerate in 2022. moderndiplomacy.eu The Indonesian economy continued to recover in 2021 despite moderating due to the COVID-19 Delta variant wave mid-year. The economy is estimated to have expanded 3.7 percent this year and is forecast to accelerate to 5.2 percent in 2022, the World Bank said on Thursday. The projection assumes that Indonesia will avoid another severe COVID-19 …
(2021-12-17). Jordan: Reforms Critical to Resilient Recovery and Sustainable Growth. moderndiplomacy.eu Accelerated global recovery, improved vaccine rollout, and a full reopening of the domestic economy are the main drivers of a projected growth rate of 2.2% for this year in Jordan, according to the World Bank. However, rising COVID cases in some parts of the world, the slow pace of recovery of international tourism, and the …
(2021-12-17). WB Supports Greater Access to Energy and Broadband Services in Rural Mozambique. moderndiplomacy.eu The World Bank approved today a $300 million grant from the International Development Association (IDA) that will support the Government of Mozambique's efforts to increase access to energy and broadband services, as well as strengthen the operational performance of the country's electricity utility. "Mozambique's economy can benefit from systematically harnessing the synergies of energy and …
(2021-12-17). 20th ALBA-TCP Summit Declaration. popularresistance.org 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 Fidel Castro Ruz and Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías.
(2021-12-17). Faith Leaders Call on Biden to End Economic Sanctions. globalresearch.ca Leaders of 18 American faith and faith-based humanitarian organizations appealed to President Joe Biden this week to eliminate general U.S. economic sanctions against nations that are dealing with the ravages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as with the …
(2021-12-17). Dems face 2022 nightmare, critics warn, if student debt payments restart and child credit ends. nationofchange.org "These are policy choices," said one economic justice group. "We don't have to choose this. All of this is 100% unnecessary and avoidable."
(2021-12-17). DeJoy Nets Massive Bonus Amid Mail Delays and Rampant Wage Theft From Carriers. truthout.org 
This The U.S. Postal Service paid its top executives more in bonuses and perks last year than at any other point in the past decade, adding up to $370,622 in extra income for Postmaster…
(2021-12-17). Omicron case identified in New Zealand. wsws.org The Labour Party-led government claims that it is "very well-prepared" to keep Omicron out of New Zealand, when in reality it has ditched its elimination strategy and is allowing the Delta variant to spread nationwide.
(2021-12-17). Only a COVID-19 elimination strategy can protect educators, students, and their families from the Omicron tsunami! wsws.org The nearly two years of the pandemic have conclusively demonstrated that a science-based strategy that prioritizes saving workers' lives over corporate profits and investor wealth will only be imposed through the independent intervention of the working class.
(2021-12-17). NYC opens first safe consumption sites. workers.org 
With fatal and nonfatal drug overdoses dramatically rising during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. needs a new strategy for countering this menace. In a number of cities, steps are underway to counteract this horrible loss of life. One is the foundation of safe consumption sites — places where addicted people . . . |
(2021-12-17). Impact of Terrorist Organizations in the Middle East. moderndiplomacy.eu Terrorism is a significant variable in security studies and it is hindering a wide range of safety. Likewise, because of the emotional expansion in psychological militant assaults in the course of the most recent twenty years, have economies have found a way broad ways to work on the political, social, and financial circumstances by diminishing …
(2021-12-17). Jay-Z, Shaq And Martha Stewart Get Smoked On SPAC IPO Pump And Dumps. moguldom.com If you invested in a special-purchase acquisition company (SPAC) that was boosted by a celebrity name, you may have lost less on your investment than the SPAC category as a whole, but it still isn't a happy scenario. Of 33 SPACs tied to famous public figures and tracked by Bloomberg, 21 posted negative returns for …
(2021-12-17). Low Wages and Exploitative Conditions Are Sparking Graduate Student Strikes. truthout.org 
The U.S. university,
(2021-12-17). Jon Donaire bakery workers in California continue strike against speed up, mandatory overtime and low wages. wsws.org The workers have been on strike since November 3 against mandatory overtime, long hours, relentless speedup, poor pay, lack of breaks and a punitive point system for attendance.
(2021-12-17). bell hooks changed how we think about Black femininity, class, and capitalism. peoplesworld.org 
I choose to re-appropriate the term 'feminism', to focus on the fact that to be 'feminist' in any authentic sense of the term is to want for all people, female and male, liberation from sexist role patterns, domination, and oppression. — bell hooks in "Ain't I A Woman: Black Women and Feminism," 1981 The world …
(2021-12-17). Black Lives Matter: The Power Of Activism & Citizen Journalism. telesurenglish.net The year 2021 is drawing to a close, leaving untouched American structural racism, a legacy of the slave age that capitalism preserves to ensure the reproduction of social inequalities, which have been exacerbated by a pandemic that continues to hit workers in various ways. | RELATED: | In Minnesota, for example, the rate of coronavirus infection in citizens of African descent has remained between 25 and 30 percent…
(2021-12-17). Stefan Heym: A central witness to both fascism and socialism in Germany. peoplesworld.org 
Stefan Heym—journalist, novelist, essayist—and a lifelong socialist, died 20 years ago, aged 88, on Dec. 16, 2001. His unfading commitment to humanity through his writing and actions must be remembered and celebrated. Born in 1913 into a prosperous Jewish family in the industrial east German town of Chemnitz, he was Helmut Flieg until he changed …
(2021-12-17). Villagers in Southern Thailand secure key victory against controversial industrial estate. peoplesdispatch.org After nearly two weeks of protest outside the government offices in Bangkok, the Prayut Chan-o-cha government agreed to halt the controversial Chana Industrial Project until a comprehensive review…
(2021-12-17). Cuba derrota al COVID-19 con aprendizaje, ciencia y unidad. peoplesworld.org 
La educación es fundamental para el socialismo cubano. La dedicación del gobierno revolucionario al conocimiento científico y la atención médica para todos se manifiesta ahora mientras los cubanos enfrentan la pandemia de COVID-19. Estados Unidos no tiene tanta suerte. Los cubanos han realizado con entusiasmo el enmascaramiento, el distanciamiento social, las pruebas y la cuarentena. …
(2021-12-17). Pat O'Shane to stand in Leichhardt for the Socialist Alliance. greenleft.org.au Pat O'Shane, a Kuku Yalanji woman from Mossman, will run for the Socialist Alliance in the Far North Queensland lower house seat of Leichhardt in the federal election. Jonathan Strauss reports.
(2021-12-17). Protests erupt against homophobic proposals by far-right Vox party. peoplesdispatch.org On Wednesday, December 15, LGBTIQ rights groups and other progressive, liberal sections protested in Madrid, Spain, to demand that the regional government of Madrid discard a proposal by the far-right Vox Party to repeal LGBTQI rights. The call for the protest was given by LGBTQI activist platform Trans Platform and was supported by various groups including Podemos, United Left (IU), Anti-capitalists Madrid, among others. Enrique Santiago, member of parliament and leader of the Communist Party of Spain (PCE), also joined the demonstration on Wednesday. | On Thursday, the 136-seat Assembly of the Autonomous Commun…