..my intent is to post items of struggle going on that may not require further discussion. but are news worthy.
Struggles in passing
Wed, 2021-10-27 14:11
#1
Struggles in passing
Wed, 2021-10-27 14:14
#2
Six Nations of the Grand River and community group oppose Amazon warehouse development
Six Nations of the Grand River Elected Council (SNGREC) and Blair Engaged Residents Association Inc. have come together to challenge development of a 2.2 million square foot Amazon Warehouse Distribution Facility in the heart of the Haldimand Tract near the Grand River in Cambridge, Ontario.
Six Nations of the Grand Rivers’ Aboriginal and Treaty Rights throughout Southern Ontario have been well documented through archaeological findings, historical facts and written Treaty Agreements. These unceded lands were granted to the Haudenosaunee in compensation for their allegiance to the British Crown and military service during the American Revolution. The Haldimand Tract, recognized in past court proceedings, is currently part of the ongoing litigation between Six Nations of the Grand River, the province and the federal Crowns.
Yet, on August 27, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark issued a Minister’s Zoning Order (MZO) for 140 Old Mill Road in the Village of Blair, Ontario. The MZO was requested by Mayor Kathryn McGarry on behalf of the Broccolini Real Estate Group. It was issued despite the fact that the City of Cambridge failed to consult with First Nations and local residents.
In their report to Cambridge City Council under Mayor Kathryn McGarry in April 2021, Cambridge staff advised residents and Council that Broccolini had indicated that the MZO was needed to avoid “having to proceed through normal planning applications and public consultation process.”
City of Cambridge planning department staff refused to meet with Six Nations Elected Council’s Consultation and Accommodation Process (CAP) team unless the ministry was present. No meeting with the city ever took place.....
Wed, 2021-10-27 14:20
#3
Korean unions use Squid Game to mobilize for general strike
quote:
The series has captured the public imagination, with many saying it dramatizes aspects of life under capitalism and the illusion of choice faced by workers and consumers. It also highlights the devasting levels of personal debt and inequality in Korean society.
The lead character, Seong Gi-hun, is a former auto worker who lost his job after a strike. His story is based on the brutal 2009 SsangYong strike, which culminated in the suicides of thirteen SsangYong workers and family members.
Wed, 2021-10-27 14:26
#4
Behind the 10,000-Strong John Deere Strike
10,000 John Deere workers in Iowa, Illinois, and Kansas launched an open-ended strike on 14 October.
The strike came after workers overwhelmingly voted down a first tentative agreement negotiated by the Auto Workers (UAW). Among the over 90 percent of members voting, 90 percent voted no.
Members’ frustrations ranged from inadequate wage increases to an end to the pension for new hires, switching to a ‘Choice Plus’ plan that many felt was scant on details. And they feel emboldened by a tight labour market and pandemic-related parts shortages that have made it hard for Deere to build up inventory.
At Deere’s Tractor Cab & Assembly Operations in Waterloo, Iowa, the 8000 tractor line—which workers refer to as the ‘money-maker’—was already over 800 units behind schedule at the start of the strike, according to Dana Thibadeau, a third-shift steward. That line produces tractors that can cost up to $800,000.
quote:
Got to See the Contract
A tentative agreement was initially announced 1 October, hours after the contract expiration was extended. Members had been expecting to strike that night, and many were frustrated with an agreement that they felt would just allow Deere to build up more inventory before a potential strike.
Workers have long been dissatisfied with the union’s secretive bargaining process. The last contract, in 2015, passed by fewer than 200 votes. Many members were frustrated at the time that they only got to see the details—in a highlights document—during their two-hour ratification meetings.
‘Everything is always a damn secret with them,’ said Trever Bergeron, an iron pourer with Local 838 at the Waterloo foundry. ‘We are the last thing they think about.’
Wed, 2021-10-27 14:32
#5
Bristol University faces boycott as public fury over sacking of anti-Zionism professor grows
Civil society organisations and activists in the UK and overseas are threatening to organise a mass boycott of the University of Bristol unless it reverses the decision to fire Professor David Miller over his criticism of Israel and its state ideology, Zionism.
The threat was issued yesterday in a letter to the Vice-Chancellor and President of Bristol University which contained the signatures of prominent academics and activists.
In firing Prof Miller, you have chosen to take sides with a foreign state that has left no stone unturned in its determination to silence voices that criticise its abominable racist behaviour at home and in the international arena
said the letter mentioning the names of pro-Israeli groups that led the campaign for his expulsion.
Miller was fired earlier this month despite being cleared of making anti-Semitic remarks. The 57-year-old spent 15 years tracking the nefarious effects of the fossil fuel lobby, the pharmaceutical lobby, the tobacco lobby, as well as state lobbies that promote Islamophobia, such as those of Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). His work in uncovering the structures of unaccountable power threatening human rights and democracy had made him a target.....
Wed, 2021-10-27 15:13
#6
Dozens Arrested as Protesters in Ecuador Condemn Fuel Price Hike, New Economic Policies
In Ecuador, thousands of people took to the streets around the country for another round of Indigenous-led protests against a hike in fuel prices and other economic policies pushed by the right-wing government of President Guillermo Lasso. Some three dozen people were arrested as protesters blocked roads.
Víctor Sánchez: “We do not agree with the economic measures being implemented, which passes the crisis on to the shoulders of the workers and the middle classes of the country.”
Wed, 2021-10-27 16:29
#7
In 2011, Donziger won an $18 billion settlement against Chevron on behalf of 30,000 Indigenous people in Ecuador for dumping 16 billion gallons of oil into their ancestral land in the Amazon. Since the landmark case, Donziger has faced a series of legal attacks from Chevron and a New York federal judge, who has employed a private law firm linked to the oil company to prosecute him. Earlier this month, he was sentenced to six months in prison for contempt of court, and his request for bail pending his appeal was denied. Amnesty International and United Nations human rights advocates, along with several U.S. lawmakers, are calling for Donziger’s immediate release. “Chevron and these two judges, really allies of the fossil fuel industry, are trying to use me as a weapon to intimidate activists and lawyers who do this work,” says Donziger. “I need to be prosecuted by a neutral prosecutor, not by Chevron.”
quote:
I mean, the other crazy thing about this that is so disturbing, Amy, is that I was not prosecuted by the U.S. government. I was prosecuted by a private law firm, Seward & Kissel, appointed by a federal judge after the U.S. government declined to prosecute me. And the judge never disclosed that the law firm had Chevron as a client. So, essentially, I’m being prosecuted by a Chevron law firm, a partner in a Chevron law firm, a private law firm, who deprived me of my liberty. I’m the only person ever charged with this offense held pretrial, at home or in prison — never happened before for even a day. It’s over 800 days. So, you know, this is the first corporate prosecution in U.S. history. I have never seen a case like this, nor have other legal experts that work with me. And, you know, we just think, you know, to restore the rule of law as regards Steve Donziger and the people of Ecuador, this case has to be stopped and taken over by the Department of Justice. I mean, they could do what they want with it. I mean, if they went to prosecute me, prosecute me, but I need to be prosecuted by a neutral prosecutor, not by Chevron......
Thu, 2021-10-28 17:09
#8
District Council 37 and Non-Profit Workers Applaud Signing of Labor Peace Agreement
Following months of advocating on behalf of workers in the non-profit sector, District Council 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido today applauded the signing of Intro. 2252. The bill, which Mayor Bill de Blasio signed into law today, requires city human services contractors to enter into labor peace agreements within 90 days of receiving or amending a city contract – affording the workers the ability to organize without interference from their employers. The new law represents a sea change in how labor unions can proceed in organizing and developing collective bargaining agreements with private sector and non-profit organizations under contract with the City.
quote:
“No City dollars should ever be paid out to employers who engage in union-busting and that’s exactly what this new law will help ensure,” said City Council Speaker Corey Johnson. “It will also help give over 200,000 of our City’s essential human service workers the right to organize for the pay and benefits they deserve without fear of retaliation or punishment or interference from their employers. I was proud to have sponsored this in the Council, and I am thrilled it is being swiftly signed into law. I thank my Council colleagues and the de Blasio administration for moving to make this bill a reality.”
Through its Private Sector Division, District Council 37 currently represents 20,000 workers in the non-profit space, many of whom work at private agencies providing services such home health care, early childhood education and homeless outreach services.....
Sat, 2021-10-30 13:16
#9
‘No way back’ to Military Dictatorship Declare Sudanese Activists
The coup launched by Sudanese military leaders on the morning of 25 October is being resisted by mass protests amid calls for total civil disobedience and a political general strike. After mass protests on 21 October, General Abdelfattah al-Burhan dissolved the government and military units took Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok away to an unknown location. He is being supported by the Rapid Support Forces, led by Mohamed Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, a militia commander responsible for a major massacre of protestors during the popular uprising in 2019.
The internet was shut down and flights from Khartoum airport suspended. Trade unions and revolutionary activist networks have responded by calling for mass protests, a political general strike and civil disobedience. Health worker unions which played a crucial role in the popular revolution two years ago are urging their members to walk out in protest at the coup.
“We are completely prepared to protect the democratic transition and civilian rule and announce a general strike in all Sudanese hospitals with the exception of emergency care, and withdrawal from all military hospitals,” said the United Doctors’ Bureau in a statement on Facebook.
Resisting the Military
Demonstrators are paying a heavy price, an activist currently in Sudan told Middle East Solidarity. “Protesters are going to the sit-in site in front of the military headquarters and there is news of live ammunition shot at peaceful protesters.” Later in the day, they messaged again “The numbers of injured protesters are huge: head traumas and live ammunition.”
Sudanese activists in Britain are mobilizing in solidarity with the protests. At a few hours notice around 200 gathered outside the Sudanese embassy in London. Many were holding signs opposing the military coup and waving Sudanese flag. Protesters chanted for civilian rule and denounced the military coup. “We want democracy and peace,” the crowd chanted. They warned the military regime that the “Nubian queens and revolutionary boys are in the square” while a Nubian flag was seen being waved within the protest. Defiance and anger could be felt among the protesters as a speaker informed the gathering of the casualties in the streets of Sudan.
Sudanese doctors in Britain, many of whom work in the NHS, have also called for solidarity from abroad with the protestors risking their lives to resist the military coup. The Trade Union Committee of the Sudanese Doctors Union in the UK said in a statement:
“The coup leaders cannot turn back the hands of the clock, as the Sudanese people have declared ‘no way back’. Our people are capable of achieving what they want despite the attempts of the tyrants to kill our dreams of freedom, peace and justice… We call on the masses to declare complete civil disobedience and take to the streets to oppose this coup. Our trade union committee will resist the coup by any means possible and will mobilize solidarity with the call by the United Doctors Office for a total general strike.”
Sun, 2021-10-31 10:11
#10
Yet another great thread. Every issue mentioned deserves discussion, especially the last, but you are right in that we can't discuss everything. It's a good heads up. I am going to read about the Sudan.
Tue, 2021-11-02 14:48
#11
How food workers are building solidarity across borders and industries
What does a Starbucks in Mexico have to do with an apple farm in Ontario? A lot, it turns out.
Last fall, a group of migrant agricultural workers in Vienna, Ontario, staged a wildcat strike at Martin’s Family Fruit Farm, which supplies apples used to make apple chips sold at Starbucks. In an act of support and solidarity, the international Food Chain Workers Alliance coordinated actions at over 20 Starbucks locations in Canada, the US, and Mexico.
This cross-industry, cross-border organizing exemplifies the work of the Food Chain Workers Alliance (FCWA), which aims to cultivate solidarity and build power for workers across the entire food chain.
The FCWA is a coalition of unions and worker advocacy groups in different food industries — from planting and harvesting, to processing, to selling and serving — with members in both the US and Canada.
The strike at Martin’s and actions at Starbucks were initially sparked by a COVID-19 outbreak at Martin’s Family Fruit Farm at the end of October 2020, and management’s response.
Following the outbreak, migrant farmworkers refused to work until they could all confirm whether or not they had contracted the COVID-19 virus. However, the employer refused.
“A group of workers [at Martin’s] withheld their labor for, I believe, a day and a half,” explains Chris Ramsaroop, and organizer with Justicia 4 Migrant Workers (J4MW), a group supporting migrant workers in Ontario and British Columbia. “They then were threatened, you know, if they didn't go back to work, they would be sent home.”.....
Tue, 2021-11-02 18:47
#12
There are reasons for hope in Sudan. For one, the fissures in the revolutionary coalition don’t seem to be nearly as severe as they were in Egypt. The coup appears to be supported by only a small number of parties and ex-rebel groups in the Forces of Freedom and Change, which led the civilian branch of the transitional government. The week before the coup, a sit-in at the presidential palace calling for military intervention drew limited numbers and was at least partly manufactured by the military itself.
Instead, the coup has been fiercely denounced by most of Sudan’s revolutionaries. Leaders from the Sudanese Professionals Association, an umbrella group of labor unions, have used their widely followed social media platforms to call for peaceful protests. Others, including rebel leaders such as Abdul Wahid al-Nur and Abdel Aziz al-Hilu, have done the same.
https://walltub.com/2021/10/29/opinion-the-coup-in-sudan-can-be-stopped/
All real change requires the will of the people to succeed. The military coup will fail if it loses troops to the revolution. Thanks for bringing up this issue.
Wed, 2021-11-03 12:14
#13
..from #4
Behind the 10,000-Strong John Deere Strike
The strike came after workers overwhelmingly voted down a first tentative agreement negotiated by the Auto Workers (UAW). Among the over 90 percent of members voting, 90 percent voted no.
Workers have long been dissatisfied with the union’s secretive bargaining process. The last contract, in 2015, passed by fewer than 200 votes. Many members were frustrated at the time that they only got to see the details—in a highlights document—during their two-hour ratification meetings.
‘Everything is always a damn secret with them,’ said Trever Bergeron, an iron pourer with Local 838 at the Waterloo foundry. ‘We are the last thing they think about.’
...
John Deere Workers Continue Strike After Rejecting Proposed Contract with Management
Over 10,000 John Deere workers will remain on strike after a majority last night voted to reject the latest contract proposal negotiated by their union. Workers are fighting for better wages and pension plans. They’ve been on strike for nearly one month.
Fri, 2021-11-05 11:41
#14
Sudan: Revolution & Counter-Revolution — A Global Teach-In
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2021 AT 6 PM ET
About this event
In 2019, Sudan's mass democratic uprising toppled the country’s despised dictator, Omar al-Bashir, and secured a power sharing agreement between civilian leaders and the military with the promise of elections for a new government. In October 2021 the military reneged on that pledge and carried out a coup, arresting activists across the country. The people have now returned to the streets in mass numbers to defend their revolution.
Speakers:
Raga Makawi is a Sudanese democracy activist living in London. She is principal editor on the Debating Ideas platform at African Arguments, as well as leading publications and website administrator at the Rift Valley Institute (RVI). She is co-author of Sudan’s Unfinished Democracy: The Promise and Betrayal of a People's Revolution (forthcoming in March from Hurst Publishers) and Honorary Research Associate at the Institute for Humanities in Africa (HUMA). Previously, she was a commissioning editor with Zed Books.
Muzan Alneel is an activist and writer in Sudan. She is co-founder and Managing Director of the Innovation, Science and Technology Think Tank for People-Centered Development (ISTiNAD) in Khartoum and is a non-resident Fellow of the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP), focusing on a people-centric approach to economy, industry and the environment in Sudan. She also consults on industrial policy at the Industrial Research and Consultancy Center (IRCC) in Sudan.
Jean-Baptiste Gallopin is a researcher working on the Horn of Africa. The former Sudan researcher at Amnesty International, he has written on the role of the UAE and Saudi Arabia in Sudan’s counter-revolution and the political economy of the Sudanese transition. His writing has appeared in Le Monde Diplomatique, the London Review of Books, Democracy & Security, and the Project on Middle East Political Science. He holds a PhD in sociology from Yale.
Sun, 2021-11-07 14:23
#15
Loblaw sees ‘profit improvements’ in wage and benefit cuts
Twice since the pandemic began, the billionaire CEO of Loblaw Companies Ltd. has risked job action by the company’s low wage workers in a bid to cut their $2 pandemic premium pay. More than just cutting costs, this is about keeping workers desperate or—in the company’s words, “flexible.”
On Monday, 10,000 Alberta Superstore workers ratified a deal after voting 97 percent in favour of striking against pandemic pay cuts, inaugurated last June.
In June 2020, Loblaw’s CEO, Galen Weston Jr., wrote to announce workers were getting a pay cut. Their $2 per hour premium “hero pay” was ending. The CEO promised workers the company’s stores are “operating safely and effectively in a new normal.” And, lest he seem cold, he ended his letter with: “Your safety and the well-being of our colleagues remain our top priority. Be well.”
Since that time, Loblaw’s stores have reported dozens of COVID-19 outbreaks, including at 30 Superstore locations. The “hero pay” was not restored.
Bigger cutbacks, bigger profits
United Food and Commercial Workers Local 401, which represents Superstore workers in Alberta, pushed the company into dropping most of its demands for concessions. But, as the union noted, “Loblaws made a choice with their final offer about how they would ultimately value their employees.”
From the accounts published thus far, the proposed “modest” wage increase is far below $2 per hour.
The pay cut provoked a 12-week strike by Dominion workers last summer. The workers, unfortunately, only won a $0.35 increase in the first year.
Meanwhile, the wage cut laid the basis for a “banner year” for management. According to the company’s June 2020 Q2 report, the wage premium cost Loblaw $180 million for its 220,000 workers. By contrast, as its 2021 management proxy noted, it spent $548 million on “share repurchases.”
It may seem strange for a company this profitable to risk significant labour “disruptions” over a $2 per hour wage rise. But Loblaw’s wage cutting efforts persevere through strikes not merely to balance costs. The company keeps its wages low also in the name of “flexibility”—the ability to cut costs later by keeping its workers desperate....
Mon, 2021-11-08 13:50
#16
Polish Reproductive Rights Protesters Decry Death of Woman Denied Life-Saving Abortion
In Poland, tens of thousands of people took to the streets Saturday to decry the death of a 30-year-old pregnant woman who died in September after she was refused treatment amid Poland’s near-total ban on abortions. Advocates say Izabela, known as Iza, is the first person to die as a result of the draconian anti-choice law, as doctors refused to abort a fetus that showed numerous defects, and delayed offering care to Iza until a fetal heartbeat could no longer be detected. This is an activist speaking at a rally in Warsaw Saturday.
Natalia: “'I don't want to die,’ Iza said to a woman in the hospital room. Iza did not receive help because she was pregnant, because the heart of the fetus was still beating. … Iza could have lived. There was enough to take care of her, her health and her life. Iza died on September 22nd from sepsis. Iza was a mother, daughter, wife, sister, friend.”
Tue, 2021-11-09 15:56
#17
Poland Mobilizes Thousands of Troops to Belarus Border to Bar Entry to Refugees
In Europe, the Polish government has deployed thousands more soldiers and riot police to its eastern border with Belarus as it intensifies its violent crackdown on migrants and refugees — mostly from the Middle East and Africa — who are fleeing violence, poverty and the impacts of the climate catastrophe. One Kurdish refugee from Syria who gained asylum in Austria traveled to the border to help his parents try to cross into Poland from Belarus.
Gordi: “First of all, I am not helping just any old person. I’m helping my parents. I think in the laws of all countries, of all religions, it is not forbidden for a person to help their parents. Second of all, the people there, aside from my parents, they’re also human beings. They need help.”
Tue, 2021-11-09 21:41
#18
This awful exploitation of refugees escaping western wars and regime change for geopolitical purposes is appalling. These people must be permitted and assisted to reach the affluent western European countries which are their intended destinations, not inflicted upon poorer nations like Belarus, Greece, Lebanon, Turkey etc.
Italian mayor blames EU for migrant 'genocide'
"Mayor of Palermo accuses the European Union of migrant-genocide in the Mediterranean Sea. 'Europe is doing nothing!'
Wed, 2021-11-10 19:47
#19
Not just affluent western European countries, Canada. We are just as responsible. We are just farther away.
Thu, 2021-11-11 18:36
#20
Sudan Restores Internet Service for First Time Since Coup; Civilian Leaders Reject Talks with Junta
In Sudan, a court has ordered internet providers to restore service that has been down since the October 25 military coup. This comes as Sudan’s main political coalition has rejected negotiations with the military coup leaders. This is a spokesperson for the group Forces of Freedom and Change, which formed in 2019 during the popular uprising that led to the ouster of longtime President Omar al-Bashir.
Alwathiq Elbereir: “Internet services are being cut in order to hide the immense amount of legal and humanitarian violations taking place. … We stress that we will not meet the military. Our position is unequivocally clear: There will be no negotiations and no compromise with the undertakers of the coup.”
Fri, 2021-11-12 13:26
#21
U.N.: 84 Million People Worldwide Displaced by War, Insecurity and the Climate Crisis
The U.N. Refugee Agency is estimating the total number of people forcibly displaced from their homes globally has risen to 84 million due to war, insecurity and the climate emergency. The U.N. says the most impacted countries have been Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan, South Sudan and Burma.
Thu, 2021-11-18 10:43
#22
Students Walk Out of Oklahoma Schools to Protest Planned Execution of Julius Jones
In Oklahoma, the clock is ticking to save the life of death row prisoner Julius Jones, who is scheduled to be executed today at 4 pm central time unless Gov. Kevin Stitt grants him clemency. Julius Jones, a Black man, has long maintained his innocence in a 1999 murder, and three people have said in sworn affidavits that Jones’ co-defendent Christopher Jordan admitted he was responsible for the killing. The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board has twice voted in favor of commuting Jones’ sentence to life in prison with the possibility of parole. On Wednesday, students across Oklahoma City walked out of class in support of Julius Jones.
Thu, 2021-11-18 10:53
#23
..update
John Deere Workers End Strike After Winning Wage Increases and Bonuses
Some 10,000 union workers who produce farm equipment for the John Deere company have voted to ratify a new six-year contract, and will end their month-long strike. 61 percent of the United Auto Workers members at John Deere voted in favor of the deal, which brings an immediate 10 percent raise; an $8,500 signing bonus; two future 5 percent raises; and bonuses to workers who meet production targets.
Meanwhile some 40,000 healthcare workers at Kaiser Permanente hospitals across northern California were poised to begin a sympathy strike this morning, in solidarity with hundreds of engineers who’ve been on picket lines for two months, demanding better pay.
Thu, 2021-11-18 20:32
#24
laine lowe
Thank the heavens and stars, Julius Jones death sentence was commuted. He still needs to win the chance to appeal his conviction but this is great news and a reversal of what could have been another gross miscarriage of justice.
Mon, 2021-11-22 09:26
#25
Teamsters United Takes the Wheel
A new administration will soon take the helm of the 1.3 million-member Teamsters union. The Teamsters United slate swept to victory in this week's vote count, beating out their rivals 2 to 1.
It’s the first time in almost a quarter-century that a coalition backed by Teamsters for a Democratic Union has taken the driver’s seat in the international union.
The incoming president is Sean O’Brien, leader of New England Joint Council 10. He says his top priorities are to unite the rank and file to take on employers, organize Amazon and other competitors in the union’s core industries, and withdraw support from politicians who don’t deliver on union demands......
Mon, 2021-11-22 10:46
#26
..update
Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok Reinstated As Teenager Killed in Ongoing Anti-Coup Protests
In Sudan, security forces shot dead a 16-year-old during anti-coup protests Sunday. The latest demonstration came as Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok was reinstated by the military coup government, one month after his ousting. Hamdok signed a power-sharing deal with the military that would last 3-to-4 years before new elections are held. This is a protester speaking yesterday from the capital Khartoum.
Hend Mohamed: “Prime Minister Hamdok is in a position of weakness and isn’t able to speak up about people’s demands because he is staying with the military leader Burhan in the same place, he can’t tell him that he’s a killer and he must be tried. But we want politicians who can bring us out of this mess, we don’t want any more bloodshed, we want a civilian state without any more violence OUT: or escalation.”
At least 41 people have been killed and hundreds injured in protests since the October 25 coup.
Wed, 2021-11-24 19:00
#27
Yemeni Protesters Condemn U.S. Support for Saudi-Led War and Blockade
In Yemen, the Saudi-led military coalition has launched air raids on the capital, Sanaa, with reports of massive explosions in the city’s northern neighborhoods. Saudi officials said they targeted Houthi military sites in retaliation for the rebel group’s drone attacks Saturday on sites in Saudi Arabia, including a major oil hub in Jeddah.
The latest violence comes after thousands of people marched through the streets of Sanaa Monday protesting U.S. support for the Saudi-led military coalition.
Abu Mahran Al-Samawi: “We the Yemeni people took to the streets today to denounce the military escalation carried out by America, the economic blockade and the continuation of aggression. We had thought that when Joe Biden took office, he would keep his promises on stopping the war on Yemen, and open the airport in Sanaa. It turned out that all the talk was a lie.”
Wed, 2021-11-24 19:34
#28
Meanwhile Canada continues to sell Saudi billions in arms. Notice the stunning silence?
Fri, 2021-11-26 11:07
#29
Alberta workers take on Cargill and its record profits
In 1968, The Beatles released the song Blackbird, expressing their sympathies for the civil rights movement. “You were only waiting for this moment to arrive,” sings Paul McCartney before the song’s chorus.
Tom Hesse, the president of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 401, says he was reminded of this lyric when UFCW workers at the Cargill meatpacking plant in High River, Alberta, voted 97% in favour of strike action on November 10. The plant processes about a third of Canada’s beef.
“At the time of the outbreak, we were not in a legal strike position, so there’s this ball of sentiment, anxiety, anger, emotion, frustration, stress and trauma that’s all built up,” explained Hesse. “They’ve been waiting to express themselves. They’ve been waiting for their moment to arrive. It’s all been bottled up.”.....
Fri, 2021-11-26 11:16
#30
..saw walden bello speak on the 1st day we gathered for the battle in seattle.
De Guzman-Bello tandem wants abortion decriminalized, backs divorce
MANILA, Philippines — Labor leader and presidential aspirant Leody De Guzman and his running mate Walden Bello on Saturday said they will push for the decriminalization of abortion and the legalization of divorce and same-sex marriage should they win in the elections next year.
De Guzman and Bello who are running under the Laban ng Masa party bared their platform in an online presentation. The tandem said they would institute measures to fully achieve gender equality and gender rights by passing a divorce law, decriminalizing abortion as well as legalizing same-sex marriage, and supporting alternative forms of family arrangements.
De Guzman, in a statement sent to INQUIRER.net, explained that marriage is a “contract” that ratifies the union of two people.
“Gaya ng kahit anong kontrata, may karapatan ang bawat tao na nasa hustong edad na pumasok dito,” he told INQUIRER.net. “At tulad ng ibang kontrata, malaya din sila dapat makaalis kung hindi na ito pabor sa kanila.”
(Just like any other contract, every person who is of legal age has a right to enter [a marriage]. And just like other contracts, they should also be free to go should things turn out unfavorable.).....
Fri, 2021-11-26 21:29
#31
laine lowe
It would be great to see a victory or even strong inroads for the Laban ng Masa party. I hope it happens but I have been surprised by how conservative the Fillippino Canadians I have met in Winnipeg are - before coming to the Peg, I only knew one Fillippino person and she was very progressive.
Sat, 2021-11-27 12:45
#32
After starting in Edmonton, Teamsters seeking to unionize 8 other Canadian Amazon facilities
The Teamsters workers' union has launched campaigns to organize employees in at least nine Canadian facilities of U.S. e-commerce company Amazon.com, according to Reuters interviews with union officials.
The influential union took the first step earlier this week to organize employees at one of Amazon's Canadian facilities, and the interviews reveal it is widening such efforts across the country, where the e-commerce company employs about 25,000 workers and plans to add 15,000 more.
The campaigns could be seen as a bet by the Teamsters that early success unionizing employees in a more labour-friendly market such as Canada will inspire similar results south of the border, where Amazon has so far fended off unionization attempts.
In the latest challenge to Amazon's anti-unionization stance, Edmonton's Teamsters Local Union 362 filed for a vote on union representation at a company fulfilment centre in nearby Nisku late on Monday....
40% of workers already on board
Thu, 2021-12-09 12:05
#33
Your Debt Is Someone Else’s Asset
Student loans, medical bills, credit cards — Americans are drowning in a record-breaking $15 trillion in debt.
Covering thousands of years in just under seven minutes, “Your Debt Is Someone Else’s Asset” ends with a rousing vision of the future: a world after a jubilee, an ancient term for the abolition of debts and rebalancing of power between the rich and the poor.
A collaboration between The Intercept; artist Molly Crabapple and her creative partners at Sharp As Knives productions; and writer Astra Taylor, this short film invites us to understand our debt in new ways. Our monthly payments are a source of profit, a form of wealth transfer from struggling borrowers to the well-to-do. These profits are a source of power; debt is never just about money. In the United States, debt has long been used as a form of social control and a tool of white supremacy.
Taylor is a co-founder of the Debt Collective, the nation’s first debtors’ union. This film reflects Taylor and the Debt Collective’s conviction that debtors and their allies will need to get organized to fight for the political and economic transformations we deserve.
Mon, 2022-01-03 14:07
#34
Jan 1 1804 - Haitian independence from French colonial rule after twelve year rebellion of enslaved people. Haiti is first independent Black republic.
Jan 1 1994 - Indigenous Zapatista uprising. "para todos todo." for everybody, everything. And to not give in and not give up.
Sat, 2022-01-08 12:41
#35
Three men to get life in prison for murdering Ahmaud Arbery as he jogged down the street
The three white men who were convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man running through their coastal Georgia neighborhood in 2020, are due to be sentenced to life in prison on Friday.
Under Georgia law, the only question before Judge Timothy Walmsley in the sentencing hearing at Glynn County Superior Court in Brunswick is whether to allow any of the three men to seek parole after 30 years.
A jury found Gregory McMichael, 66, his son Travis McMichael, 35, and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan, 52, guilty in late November of murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and criminal intent to commit a felony.
Their lawyers say they will appeal the convictions. All three men also face a federal trial in February on hate-crime charges, accused in an indictment of violating Arbery’s civil rights by attacking him because of his “race and color.”
Sat, 2022-01-08 21:24
#36
Two of them have been denied any chance of parole.
Sun, 2022-01-09 12:36
#37
On Contact: Climate Fortresses (and vid)
https://www.rt.com/shows/on-contact/545365-todd-miller-climate-fortresses/
"Chris Hedges discusses the building of climate fortresses with the author and journalist Todd Miller."
Sun, 2022-01-09 15:33
#38
By pretty much any measure, 2021 was not a good year. The COVID-19 pandemic continued to dominate our lives, the climate crisis deepened, and there was no respite from violent, unjust features of the world that target many, privilege some, and make a very few tremendously powerful and rich.
Yet even in bleak times, not only are there always people resisting in grassroots, collective ways, but some of those people manage to win. Paying deliberate attention to such victories can be a tremendous source of hope, and it can help us to remember how change for the better inevitably happens—not through magnanimous gestures from elites, not through apolitical policy tinkering, but because of critical masses of ordinary people, acting together.
In that spirit, here are a few of the victories won by social movements and communities-in-struggle within the borders of Canada in the past year.
https://breachmedia.ca/15-movement-victories-in-2021-you-may-not-have-he...
Sun, 2022-01-09 18:20
#39
That was a great read.
Mon, 2022-01-10 16:57
#40
Revolt and repression in Kazakhstan
quote:
1. The uprising began as a working-class revolt against inequality and political repression.
The protests started in Zhanaozen in western Kazakhstan, an oil-producing city with a long history of struggle for union organisation. They were sparked by a doubling of the price of liquefied petroleum gas, used for home heating and transport, to 120 tenge (about £0.21) per litre from 60 tenge. (See note.)
But this economic demand was very rapidly joined to political demands.
On Tuesday 4 January, before the internet was blocked, the human rights activist Galym Ageleuov wrote on social media:
The Zhanaozen people’s demands, that could well be taken up in Aktau [the largest city in the Mangystau region] tomorrow, are:
1. Gas for 50 tenge.
2. The resignation of the government.
3. [Former president Nursultan] Nazarbayev to get out of political life.
4. The release of political prisoners (Erzhan Elshibayev and others).
5. The return of the stolen money. [Surely a reference to the Kazakh elite’s ill-gotten gains.]
In making these demands, working people in Zhanaozen no doubt had in mind their own recent history. In 2011, the city was the scene of the most significant workers’ struggle of the post-Soviet period – an eight-month strike by oil workers, that ended with a police massacre in which at least 16 died and 60 were wounded.
After that strike, the state used repression on the one hand, and substantial regional investment and pay rises in the state-owned oil companies on the other, to fashion a new social compromise. But the effect of the pandemic on the oil industry has effectively wrecked that arrangement.
quote:
2. The movement swept across Kazakhstan like wildfire and for a short time, on 5 January, threatened the power of the state.
By Wednesday 5 January, protesters in Kazakhstan had occupied government buildings in a number of cities, and airports. They had blocked roads and railways. There were (unconfirmed) reports from Mangystau that police units have gone over to the side of the protesters. In Almaty, the largest city and commercial centre, a huge demonstration took over the city centre before security forces began to fire on it. (Please read this linked post: An eyewitness to the uprising in Almaty.)
On that same day, the former president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, was sacked as the head of the national security council, the government resigned, president Tokayev appealed to the Collective Security Treaty Organisation headed by Russia to come to his aid, and 3000 mainly Russian troops flew in. (The absurd fiction that the demonstrators were “terrorists” was needed in part because the CSTO has no mandate to intervene in domestic law-and-order issues, as far as I understand.)
Wed, 2022-01-12 01:33
#41
Kazakhstan: The Biden Connection
https://twitter.com/timand2037/status/1480405234333544448
https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/1481047838217887744
"Kazakhstan said troops from the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Org (CSTO) military bloc - which intervened to stop a violent foreign-backed coup will start leaving just a week after being deployed."
Wed, 2022-01-12 13:22
#42
..at the bottom of this piece is a list of endorsements from around the world.
Solidarity with the uprising in Kazakhstan - jan 12
An international solidarity statement. Please share widely.
We, socialists, trade unionists, human rights activists, anti-war activists and organisations have watched the uprising in Kazakhstan since 2 January with a sense of deep solidarity for the working people. The striking oil workers, miners and protesters have faced incredible repression. The full force of the police and army have been unleashed against them, instructed to ‘shoot to kill without warning’. Over 160 protesters have been killed so far and more than 8,000 have been arrested.
We reject the propaganda of the dictatorship that this uprising is a product of “Islamic radicals” or the intervention of US imperialism. There is no evidence of that whatsoever. It is the usual resort of an unpopular regime – to blame ‘outside’ agitators.
Instead, the trigger of the protests was the rise in fuel prices. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back, in a country where immense oil wealth exists side by side with terrible poverty and exploitation. It is also the result of the crushing weight of a brutal dictatorship on people’s backs. This regime has liquidated all opposition parties, imprisoned and tortured trade union and human rights activists, and was responsible for a massacre of striking oil workers in Zhanaozen ten years ago.
The position of all the major capitalist powers is clear. Putin stands full square behind the regime. The Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) has sent 3,000 troops to Kazakhstan to intimidate protesters. Chinese President Xi Jinping also announced his support for the Kazakhstan government and claimed the unrest was the deliberate result of “outside forces.”
The US administration has called for “restraint by both the authorities and protestors”. The EU has similarly called on protesters to “avoid any incitement to violence” and called on authorities “to respect the fundamental right to peaceful protest and proportionality in the use of force when defending its legitimate security interests”!
Unsurprisingly, they all prioritise ‘stability’ for their oil companies who are benefiting from the exploitation of the natural resources and Kazakh workers.....
Wed, 2022-01-12 13:24
#43
Wed, 2022-01-12 17:35
#44
Kazakhstan is run by a vicious authoritarian regime with close ties to both Russia and the UK. The opposition leaders that this latest color revolution wanted to install are already accused of massive corruption from deals made with UK banks. If the US regime change machine was not one of the predominant active catalysts for this uprising I might support it. People get pissed at their government all over the world. In Canada nobody from foreign countries supports our indigenous protestors with money and arms, they would be arrested immediately.
When foreign money predominates a "revolution" then it is not legitimate because some peoples voices are amplified by constant NED style disinformation and slander of the ruling regime. I agree the government should be overthrown but not by the US embassy because we know that going down that road does not lead to good things for ordinary people.
Wed, 2022-01-12 21:44
#45
Escobar: After Kazakhstan, the color revolution is over
https://thecradle.co/Article/columns/5668
"The year 2022 started with Kazakhstan on fire, a serious attack against one of the key hubs of Eurasian integration. We are only beginning to understand what and how it happened..."
Thu, 2022-01-13 17:50
#46
..the west is complicit in supporting an authortarian kazakhstan. not just putin. for many years leading up to today. this includes blair (the us poodle) and prince andrew. and includes the training of the forces that are shooting the protesters today. oil and gas has been a central issue.
Thu, 2022-01-13 20:15
#47
Activists from other color revolutions are already publicly taking credit for what is happening in Kazakhstan
https://twitter.com/ClintEhrlich/status/1479525188307980290
"Here is a part from Belorussian activist Dzmity Halko, who says that he helped organize the uprising in Kazakhstan along with veterans of the Ukrainian 'revolution'..."
Hong Kong too.
https://globalnews.ca/video/6240476/make-hong-kong-great-again-protester...
'A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA.' - NED President Allen Weinstein, 1991
Thu, 2022-01-13 21:02
#48
..there are powerful people who take control of movements at times. but those people ride on the backs of real people and real struggles..because they can't make it happen themselves. this especially applies in the case where real people challenge authoritarian dictatorships.
..this may apply in this case but so far everything presented sounds like propaganda. there was no coup attempt and russia came in to crush the uprising. with the west's complicity.
Thu, 2022-01-13 21:04
#49
..that's how capitalism works!
Thu, 2022-01-13 22:02
#50
So is the manufacture of consent for US-backed colour revolutions.
Fri, 2022-01-14 09:13
#51
..the only manufactured aspect is the involvement of russia. there was no coup.