By JOHN LESLIE Facing poor working conditions and mistreatment that made workers feel “like slaves,” workers at Jasic Technologies are attempting to form a union in Shenzhen, China. On May 10, a delegation of workers delivered a petition to the company and the officially recognized Workers Union. After first expressing support for the workers’ effort…
By RUWAN MUNASINGHE “The structuring of the LSSP leadership … showed itself best during the August 1953 Hartal (general strike). The LSSP leadership appeared as a really revolutionary team at the head of insurgent masses, fighting in the streets simultaneously for immediate material gains for the impoverished masses and for the socialist overthrow of the…
HARTFORD, Conn. — On Aug. 8, volunteers for the campaign to elect Fred Linck turned in more than 10,900 signatures to the Secretary of State to secure a ballot line for U.S. Senate in the November elections (7500 are required to qualify). Fred Linck is an antiwar Iraq veteran, a climate justice activist with 350…
By CHRISTINE MARIE Since April, hundreds of thousands of Nicaraguans have taken to the streets in protest of the policies of the government led by FSLN President Daniel Ortega. The protests at one point escalated to road blocks and occupations and have been fiercely resisted by the government. Undoubtedly, Nicaraguan society is in crisis. Here,…
By JEFF MACKLER The unfolding events in Nicaragua over the past three months pose two critical questions for socialists and antiwar activists. Where do we stand on the critical issue of U.S. imperialist intervention and where do we stand with regard to the dynamics of the still-unfolding confrontations? That U.S. imperialism is intervening in Nicaragua…
By STEVE XAVIER On Aug. 4, the Patriot Prayer group, led by Joey Gibson, the GOP U.S. Senate candidate in Washington state, organized a mobilization of far right and neo-fascist groupings in Portland, Ore. This rally included the proto-fascist Proud Boys, an organization that has repeatedly, and violently, attacked the Occupy ICE camp in Portland.…
By ANN MONTAGUE Next year will be the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. In the early morning hours, gay men and lesbians fought back against the police raid of the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village. After that event, which began in the early morning of June 28,1969, Gay Liberation had joined the lexicon of Women’s…
By CLAUDIO KATZ Writing about Nicaragua is as painful and sad as it is absolutely necessary. Memories of the Sandinista revolution are still alive among the generation who knew this feat. Remaining silent would be an affront to those who participated in that memorable insurrection against Somoza. The events of recent months offer little doubt:…
Por CLAUDIO KATZ [1] Escribir sobre Nicaragua es tan doloroso y triste como indispensable. Los recuerdos de la revolución sandinista todavía están vivos en la generación que conoció esa gesta. El silencio sería una afrenta a los que participaron en esa memorable insurrección contra Somoza. Los hechos de los últimos meses ofrecen pocas dudas.…
By FOURTH INTERNATIONAL BUREAU Children separated from their families and caged in Trump’s USA, thousands drowning as they cross the Mediterranean, boats transporting migrants refused the right to dock by Salvini’s Italy, Orban’s Hungary declaring that helping refugees is a crime, 370 thousand Rohingya fleeing from to Bangladesh after another military raid and massacres by…
By BARRY WEISLEDER The June 7 election of the Doug Ford-led Progressive Conservative Party to government in Ontario means an escalation of the class war against working people, visible minorities, and impoverished social layers. The former right-wing Toronto city councillor and brother of deceased Mayor Rob Ford cloaked his fiercely anti-labour agenda in populist rhetoric…
By MARTY GOODMAN “Technique is a weapon to do whatever must be done.”— Cecil Taylor “Conquistador” was the first Cecil Taylor jazz album that I ever heard. It astonished me, and the title piece nailed me to the wall with its dangerous, urban sound. Taylor’s sideman, Jimmy Lyons, blew amazing sax riffs; the coolest, hippest,…
By MARTY GOODMAN A showdown between capital and labor in France over the privatization of the national railroad will extend into the summer and possibly beyond. France’s nationalized railroad, SNCF, is a source of pride for most French people—and in particular, for rail workers, who recognize the landmark rights they’ve won by striking over many…
By RUAN MUNASINGHE On May 22, thousands of protesters in the town and district of Thoothukudi (also known by its British name, Tuticorin), in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, expressed their anguish as victims of pollution from the area’s copper smelter. Police and paramilitary fired into the crowd, killing 13 and injuring many more.…
By ERNIE GOTTA Hospitality workers from Local 217 Unite Here are hitting the picket lines across Connecticut this summer in solidarity with their coworkers waging contract fights at hotels in Hartford, New Haven, and Stamford. At a time when most unions are making concessions to the bosses, Local 217 has drawn a line in the…
By LIGA DE UNIDAD SOCIALISTA, PARTIDO OBRERO SOCIALISTA, and LA GOTA Two days after the elections in which he had secured a sweeping victory with more than 50 percent of the total vote, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) announced that he will back the government of Enrique Peña Nieto during the transition period prior to the…
Alegría desbordante por la derrota del PRI y el PAN y preocupación por la difícil situación que se avecina. Por LIGA DE UNIDAD SOCIALISTA, PARTIDO OBRERO SOCIALISTA, y LA GOTA Dos días después las elecciones en las cuales había amarrado un triunfo arrasador con más del 50 por ciento del total de la votación, Andrés…
By ANN MONTAGUE — SALEM, Ore. — People in Oregon are usually proud of their natural resources. All school children know that in 1966 Governor Tom McCall took on the real estate barons with public pressure behind him, and all Oregon beaches were legally declared public property with unfettered access for all. So those of…
By JOHN LESLIE — UPDATED, July 9 — Abolish ICE! Stop the raids! Reunite families! No Wall! Those are some of the central demands shouted by thousands who have taken to the streets to protest Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policies. Occupy ICE encampments of protesters have been set up outside ICE headquarters and other government…
By STEVE XAVIER The results of the primary election result in New York’s 14th Congressional District, which includes parts of the Bronx and Queens, stunned the Democratic Party machine. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a former Bernie Sanders campaign worker and member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), defeated 10-term Congressman Joe Crowley. Crowley, who out-spent Oscasio-Cortez…
By ANN MONTAGUE On June 27, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled the 1977 decision in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education. That decision said that making non-union members pay for the union’s political activities violated the First Amendment, but that it was constitutional to require non-members to help pay for a union’s collective bargaining and…
By ROBBIE MAHOOD Routine childhood vaccination is one of the cornerstones of modern public health. Evidence points to its major role in improving health by a dramatic reduction in the incidence of infectious diseases that formerly caused significant illness and death. Yet, as any nurse or physician delivering primary care can tell you, there is…
By LUCAS ALAN DIETSCHE — SUPERIOR, Wis. — On April 26, around 10 a.m., on the same day as the anniversary of the explosion at Chernobyl, the Husky Refinery here exploded and caught fire. For nine hours, toxic fumes blew 30 miles to the south. Eleven workers were injured but soon recovered. Most of this…
By BARRY WEISLEDER and GARY PORTER Q: When should workers oppose nationalization of an industry? A: When it is a bail-out of a nature-destroying, Indigenous rights violating, ruthlessly greedy corporation. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision on May 29 to buy the Trans Mountain pipeline is that, and much worse. While the Liberal federal government can’t come…
By ADAM RITSCHER — DULUTH, Minn. — On May 29, by a vote of 7 to 1, the Duluth City Council passed an “Earned Safe and Sick Time” ordinance. The new law mandates that all business owners in the city give their workers time off when they are sick and need time off for other…
By JEFF MACKLER North Carolina teachers capped off two months of unprecedented national teacher militancy as they rallied 20,000 strong at the state capitol on May 16. During their one-day “sick leave” strike, the teachers closed down 40 local school districts with one million students. As with the previous five statewide teacher strikes in 2018,…
