Daily Archives: February 13, 2022

2022-02-13: News Headlines

Robert Kurz (2022-02-13). Interview on The Black Book of Capitalism. indybay.org The book is: 1) a history of the three great industrial revolutions (introduction of the manufacturing system with the steam engine at the beginning of the 19th century, Fordist "self-mobilization" with the assembly line and the rationalization of the corporate economy during the first half of the 20th century, and the microelectronic revolution.

JANET (2022-02-13). Labor-Indigenous solidarity spotlighted. iacenter.org February 11, 2022 On Jan. 20, hours before members of Boston School Bus Drivers, United Steelworkers Local 8751, were scheduled to take a strike vote, the drivers' transnational, private employer Transdev and its City of Boston client came to the negotiating table with substantially more wages than the union was officially demanding. But even in this unprecedented situation, the 1,000-strong Local 8751 made another pass which emphasized solidarity with the communities the union serves. Paid job training to recruit young drivers from the communities, COVID-19 protections, benefits for elder retirees and correcting…

Labor Video Project (2022-02-13). Fascism, Imperialism & Labor With Vermont AFL-CIO David Van Deusen. indybay.org WorkWeek interviews Vermont AFL-CIO president about the rise of fascism, imperialism and the role of labor.

One of the Letters (2022-02-13). Concord Promoting Controversial Hillsong and Bethel Concert. indybay.org One of the the events in the Concord Pavillion 2022 Concert Series is a collaboration between Hillsong and Bethel Churches. Both organizations are wrought with controversy. The Pavilion is city property, and the city of Concord's official Twitter and Facebook accounts are being used to promote the event.

ecns.cn (2022-02-13). China to keep prices stable in 2022 amid solid efforts. ecns.cn Looking into 2022, China has a solid foundation for stable prices, after prices remained within an appropriate range throughout 2021, experts said.

Editor (2022-02-12). The Strategic Blunder That Set the Stage for Today's Ukrainian Crisis. scheerpost.com [ By Rajan Menon | Understandably enough, commentaries on the crisis between Russia and the West tend to dwell on Ukraine. After all, more than 100,000 Russian soldiers and a fearsome array of weaponry have now been emplaced around the Ukrainian border. Still, such a narrow perspective deflects attention from an American strategic blunder that dates to the 1990s and is still reverberating. | During that decade, Russia was on its knees. Its economy…

Aarathi Prasad (2022-02-12). [Perspectives] Deirdre Cooper Owens: bringing context to systemic medical racism. thelancet.com In the 1790s, Franàßois Marie Prevost, a young French surgeon fresh from his medical training in Paris moved to Port-de-Paix, Haiti. "Of course at that time Haiti was France's most economically valuable colony", says historian Deirdre Cooper Owens. "So there he began some experimental work on enslaved Haitian women, trying to perfect the caesarean section." Prevost's sojourn coincided with the leadership of Toussaint Louverture, who had been born a slave, the fight for Haitian independence, and the abolition of slavery.

Betsey Stone (2022-02-12). Socialist Workers Party campaign offers working-class road forward. themilitant.com OAKLAND, Calif. — More than 300 people, way over the 65 required, have signed the petition to put Eleanor García, Socialist Workers Party candidate for U.S. Senate, on the California ballot. In addition, over $5,000 has been raised to pay the filing fee. | Over the weekend of Feb. 5-6, campaigners fanned out to cities in the Bay Area and southern California, knocking on doors and setting up tables at supermarkets, introducing the party's program and the Militant. Supporters of the campaign from Seattle, Los Angeles, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, traveled here to participate. | "I like what you are doing," Jo…

_____ (2022-02-12). Working Class In The UK Gears Up To Protest The Cost Of Living Crisis. popularresistance.org Broad sectors of the working class in the UK will take to the streets in cities across the country on February 12 against the rise in the cost of living. The protests are organized under the banner of the People's Assembly Against Austerity and have been endorsed by organizations such as the Communist Party of Britain (CPB), Young Communist League (YCL), Unite Trade Union, Socialist Appeal, Revolutionary Socialism in the 21st Century, Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC), Fuel Poverty Action, and others. Around 30 cities are expected to mobilize on this day of action.

Editor (2022-02-12). The Left has culture, but the World still belongs to the banks: The Sixth Newsletter (2022). mronline.org Dear friends, Greetings from the desk of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. '[T]here is great intellectual poverty on the part of the right wing', Héctor Béjar says in our latest dossier, A Map of Latin America's Present: An Interview with Héctor Béjar (February 2022). 'There is a lack of right-wing intellectuals everywhere'. Béjar speaks …

WSWS (2022-02-12). Unite tries to corral opposition to Labour's strike breaking against Coventry bin workers. wsws.org Labour has put into effect an openly prepared strike breaking operation which no Tory run council has attempted to mount.

WSWS (2022-02-12). New Zealand joins diplomatic offensive against Russia amid escalating war build-up. wsws.org The Labour-led government, the foreign policy establishment and a layer of pseudo-lefts have lined up with the escalating imperialist operation against Russia.

A Guest Author (2022-02-12). Boston school bus drivers' contract struggleLabor-Indigenous solidarity spotlighted. workers.org On Jan. 20, hours before members of Boston School Bus Drivers, United Steelworkers Local 8751, were scheduled to take a strike vote, the drivers' transnational, private employer Transdev and its City of Boston client came to the negotiating table with substantially more wages than the union was officially demanding. But . . . |

RECOVERY Collaborative Group (2022-02-12). [Articles] Casirivimab and imdevimab in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial. thelancet.com In patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19, the monoclonal antibody combination of casirivimab and imdevimab reduced 28-day mortality in patients who were seronegative (and therefore had not mounted their own humoral immune response) at baseline but not in those who were seropositive at baseline.

WSWS (2022-02-12). Australian defence minister accuses Labor Party of "appeasing" China. wsws.org The attempt to whip up a wartime atmosphere flows from the government's deep crisis and Australia's frontline role in the US-led preparations for conflict with China.

A Guest Author (2022-02-12). Boston school bus drivers' contract struggle — labor-Indigenous solidarity spotlighted. workers.org On Jan. 20, hours before members of Boston School Bus Drivers, United Steelworkers Local 8751, were scheduled to take a strike vote, the drivers' transnational, private employer Transdev and its City of Boston client came to the negotiating table with substantially more wages than the union was officially demanding. USW . . . |

Staff (2022-02-12). AI could already be 'slightly conscious', expert claims. rt.com Other experts are skeptical, accusing the OpenAI researcher of "trolling" | The co-founder of a San Francisco-based AI research laboratory claimed in a Twitter post this week that "today's largest neural networks" could already be "slightly conscious." | Ilya Sutskever from OpenAI did not clarify what system or systems he was referring to, or how exactly he defines "slightly conscious." | It is possible he was referring to OpenAI's GPT-3 — an advanced language processing system developed for translation, question answering, and filling in missing words. | Sutskever's cryptic tweet quickly engendered a deb…

Cristina Mussini, Alessandro Cozzi-Lepri (2022-02-12). [Comment] Another piece in the COVID-19 treatment puzzle. thelancet.com A new study1 from the RECOVERY Collaborative Group adds another piece to the puzzle of severe COVID-19 therapy. The RECOVERY trials have been pivotal in providing evidence on the efficacy of compounds within current treatment guidelines for COVID-19, such as dexamethasone, tocilizumab, and the casirivimab and imdevimab combination.1—3 In previous randomised trials, these monoclonal antibodies4 were effective in preventing infection and clinical progression when given in the early phase of infection.

Irvin Jim (2022-02-12). Solidarity is the road to liberation. peoplesdispatch.org This is a lightly edited version of a speech given to an international meeting held on 1 February under the banner: Free Mumia Abu-Jamal and All Anti-Imperialist Freedom Fighters! Speakers included Abu-Jamal (via a recorded statement), Angela Davis and a number of trade unionists. | Around the world, imperialism — with its dehumanization and brute violence — has allowed for a small minority to permanently accumulate wealth at the expense of the masses of our people. In recent years, women and men have been killed — from Afghanistan and Iraq to South Africa and the prison archipelago of the US.

_____ (2022-02-12). Front Line In New Cold War On China. popularresistance.org With a diplomatic boycott by Western governments, corporate media propaganda has demonized China over the 2022 Winter Olympics. | Britain's major newspaper the Financial Times openly declared, "Beijing Winter Olympics: the new front line in the US-China cold war." | China expert Carl Zha joins Multipolarista to pick apart the propaganda and explain what's really happening.

Editor2 (2022-02-12). 'Freedom Convoy': A Dangerous Movement for the Working Class, but Useful for the Ruling Class. orinocotribune.com By Communist Party of Canada — Feb 4, 2022 | The Communist Party of Canada views the "Freedom Convoy" as a public expression of the increasingly organized and assertive far right. The clear links between the organizers of the convoy and far-right networks indicate that this is not a spontaneous working-class demonstration. On the contrary, it is part of a global phenomenon: the rise and mainstreaming of the far right, which is demonstrated by the strong support (ideologically and financially) from the US far right and circles close to Donald Trump and the Jan. 6thinsurrection. The convoy is filled with Nazi…

sputniknews (2022-02-12). US & European Partners Finalizing Anti-Russia Sanctions, SWIFT Ban Off Table – Reports. sputniknews.com WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The United States and its European partners are finalizing sanctions targeting major Russian banks should the Ukraine situation escalate, but banning Russia from the SWIFT financial system is off the table, Reuters reported citing US and European Union officials.

WSWS (2022-02-12). Unite secures sell-out pay deal to end strikes at First Bus Manchester. wsws.org Speaking to the WSWS as they voted, workers said the pay increase was around 6 percent according to their calculations. This is a real-terms pay cut—with Unite citing the Retail Price Index measure of inflation which stands at 7.5 percent and rising.

Matthew Wall, Ann Fordham, David Bewley-Taylor (2022-02-12). [Correspondence] The Global Drug Policy Index: its rationale and the role of civil society. thelancet.com One of our goals in creating the inaugural Global Drug Policy Index (GDPI) was to encourage debate about how to best measure and compare states' drug policies, and we therefore welcome well informed critical commentary. Although such commentary did feature in the World Report1 (for example, Harry Sumnall offered lucid and insightful criticism), we felt that this was not true across the piece.

Dominique McGee (2022-02-12). Movement Politics Field Manager. peoplesaction.org About PAI 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 reflects people over profits. People's Action/Institute builds the power of poor and working people in rural, suburban, and urban areas to win change through issue …

Paul Haeder (2022-02-12). Blasphemy: How Many Circles of Hell are there for the Elite? dissidentvoice.org War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives. ‚Äï Smedley Butler, War is a Racket: The …

Lyn Neeley (2022-02-12). Portland city workers warn: 'Don't force a strike'. workers.org Portland, Oregon Workers at Portland's Bureau of Development Services have been working without a contract for a year and a half. On Feb. 5, they held a rally and march of over 150 workers to demand that bosses and City Council agree to provide fair wages and respectful working conditions. . . . |

Editor (2022-02-12). °La solución a la desigualdad global es el socialismo! workers.org En todo el mundo, miles de millones de personas están sufriendo pérdidas increíbles como consecuencia de la incapacidad y la negativa del capitalismo a abordar seriamente la pandemia del COVID-19. Millones han perdido la vida o a sus seres queridos. Las familias se han quedado sin casa. Los trabajadores se . . . |

Anonymous Contributor (2022-02-12). Indigenous Binnizá Defend Their Communal Lands Against Industrial Park in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca. itsgoingdown.org Below we publish two translated communiques from the Indigenous Binnizá community of Puente Madera, in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, who are engaged in a struggle in defense of their communal lands against the construction of an industrial park, part of the Interoceanic Corridor megaproject being pushed by the AMLO administration Puente Madera, Isthmus of…

Industrial Workers of the World (2022-02-12). Dill Pickle Co-op Workers Walk Out Over Unsafe Conditions. itsgoingdown.org Report on recent job actions from Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) workers in so-called Chicago. Last month, workers at the Dill Pickle Food Co-op in Chicago walked out over unsafe working conditions related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Workers at the grocery store are organized as the Dill Pickle Worker's Union with the Industrial…

Staff (2022-02-12). Biden is rooting for Russia to invade Ukraine, Tulsi Gabbard says. rt.com The former US congresswoman suggests US and NATO want Moscow to attack so they can impose "draconian" sanctions and enrich the military-industrial complex | President Joe Biden and his NATO allies could easily prevent war in Ukraine but would rather see Russia invade their ally to justify harsh sanctions against Moscow and spur a money-making cold war, former US congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard said on Friday in a Fox News interview with Tucker Carlson. | Gabbard, an Iraq war veteran who ran unsuccessfully for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, made her comments as Biden's administration and US media outl…

WSWS (2022-02-12). Sri Lankan nurses defy court ban and remain on indefinite strike with other health workers. wsws.org The court ban on industrial action by health workers indicates that the Rajapakse government is moving into direct confrontation with the entire working class.

Anonymous349 (2022-02-12). Military Situation In Iraq On February 12, 2022 (Map Update). southfront.org Click to see the full-size image | On February 11, the Iraqi Army killed four ISIS terrorists in the Adhim area | On February 10, Faleh al-Fayadh, head of the Iraqi Hashad al-Shaabi organization, announced the signing of new arms contracts and the purchase of modern, high-quality weapons for the organisation | MORE ON THE TOPIC: : |

Fight Back (2022-02-12). Celebrate International Women's Day, Resist Attacks on Reproductive Freedom. fightbacknews.org Across the world, March 8th honors the contributions of women to the people's struggle. This year, Freedom Road Socialist Organization will hold events to celebrate International Women's Day (IWD). | | IWD was founded to honor the sacrifices of heroes named and unnamed. Some capitalists have tried to sanitize and co-opt International Women's Day. The origins of this day are clearly anti-capitalist. Our celebrations will carry forward that spirit. | | Long History, Global Reach | | International Women's Day originates in the struggle of working women in New York City. In 1908 there was a determined battle…

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2022-02-12). From U.S. to Honduras: Socialism is Vital to Black Liberation. libya360.wordpress.com John Parker On Jan. 27, I was fortunate to be one of a handful of delegates from the U.S. to attend the historic inauguration of President Xiomara Castro in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Representing the Socialist Unity Party, I was part of an international delegation invited by President Castro and her Libre Party, founded by the National…

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