By DAVID JONES Some 47,897 United Automobile Workers (UAW) ended their six-week strike against U.S. auto manufacturing giant General Motors on October 31. Fifty UAW-organized plants were closed across the country with the union demanding increased job security, a gateway for temporary workers to become permanent, better pay and to retain healthcare benefits. The contract…
By JEFF MACKLER Twenty-five thousand Chicago teachers, affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers Local 1, AFL-CIO, returned to work on October 31 following a divided vote of the Chicago Teachers Union’s (CTU) 700-member Delegate Assembly (DA) to end the union’s 11-day strike. The vote to accept the five-year tentative contract was 60 percent in…
By NICK BAKER Three Venezuelan Embassy Protectors toured the Bay Area earlier this month in an eight-event, seven-city tour. Kevin Zeese, Margaret Flowers, and David Paul were three of the last four Embassy Protectors remaining in the Venezuelan Embassy when police broke down the embassy doors and arrested them. They stayed in the embassy for…
By LAZARO MONTEVERDE, Reporting for Socialist Action from Valparaiso, Chile It started small. In the week of Monday, October 14 small groups of middle-school and high-school students started to jump the turnstiles and barriers at Santiago metro stations to protest a 30 peso (approximately 4 cents US) hike. The rate hike took place on October…
By MARTY GOODMAN “The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born; now is the time of monsters.” “I’m a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will.” “To tell the truth is revolutionary.” — Antonio Gramsci, Italian communist leader and philosopher (1891-1937). “We must stop this brain working for 20…
By LAZARO MONTEVERDE Reporting for Socialist Action from Valparaiso, Chile Bolivia, Argentina, and Uruguay all held national elections in October. The result, not much change in the Southern Cone of South American. Bolivia Bolivia was the first to hold elections on October 20. President Evo Morales ran for reelection along with his MAS [Movimiento al…
It is indeed quite unusual when a political party, such as ours, widely distributes a report that describes a political split from its ranks. How the U.S. antiwar movement should respond to the U.S. government’s ongoing deadly wars of intervention across the globe – from Syria to Iran, Venezuela and Nicaragua – was central to…
By JEFF MACKLER The week of unprecedented massive and worldwide climate mobilizations that began on Friday, Sept. 20, represented an historic breakthrough in the consciousness of the world’s people. An estimated 7.6 million people in 185 countries from every continent on earth except Antarctica mobilized in unprecedented numbers to condemn the governments and politicians of…
By JOHN LESLIE Protests have rocked Egypt since Sept. 19 as protesters have taken to the streets demanding the downfall of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi following the revelations of a corruption scandal. Construction magnate Mohamed Aly posted a series of videos on social media exposing el-Sisi, el-Sisi’s wife, and elements of the military for corruption…
By JOHN LESLIE At a meeting in Philadelphia on Sept. 28, organizers discussed the opening of a new phase in the fight to free Mumia Abu-Jamal, the noted journalist and political prisoner who was convicted on false charges of killing a Philadelphia police officer in 1981. Last year, in a series of court appearances, Mumia’s…
By JIM FARRELL At midnight on Sept. 15, the United Autoworkers Union (UAW) contract with General Motors (GM) expired and almost 50,000 workers downed tools and walked off the job. During the recession, the UAW and its members had agreed to deep concessions to keep GM afloat. Now, GM is prospering and CEO Mary Barra…
By ANN MONTAGUE After winning the 2019 World Cup, the USA Women’s Soccer Team immediately returned to what could eventually become their biggest win of all. What they were really after was no secret to anyone. Echoing throughout Stade de Lyon, the stadium where they had become world champions, was the explosive chant: “Equal Pay,…
