Daily Archives: November 15, 2021

2021-11-15: News Headlines

_____ (2021-11-15). Victory For Palestinian Hunger Striker After 113 Days Without Food. popularresistance.org Israel agreed on Thursday to release a hunger-striking prisoner in four months after lengthy negotiations. | Miqdad Qawasmeh suspended his hunger strike on Thursday after refusing food for 113 days to protest his detention without charge or trial after Israel agreed to release him in February 2022. | His victory came after lengthy and arduous negotiations between the leadership of the Hamas prisoners' group and Israeli authorities. The 24-year-old was the youngest of six Palestinian men who have been refusing food for weeks and months in protest of Israel's detention of them without charge or trial. | Five others…

_____ (2021-11-15). Wealthy Liberal Arts Colleges Are Exploiting International Students For Cheap Teaching Labor. popularresistance.org Language assistants at Grinnell can be asked to work up to 20 hours per week, although it's unclear how many hours are actually scheduled for the typical student worker. However, if someone worked 20 hours per week every week for the full academic year (nine months) at $12/hour, they would still only make $9,072. Even including the value of room and board, which the language assistants receive for free, their income is still only $23,470 for the year — about $5,000 less than what is considered a living wage for Poweshiek County, Iowa, where Grinnell is located.

Peoples Dispatch (2021-11-15). As poverty worsens in Brazil, movements demand action. peoplesdispatch.org Tens of thousands of people across Brazil took part in a 'March Against Hunger' on Saturday, November 13. They were protesting the rising food and energy prices across the country.

Kim Petersen (2021-11-15). Planning for a New, Better Future. dissidentvoice.org As the world prepares to depart 2021 and head into 2022, it is clear that the United States is a declining economic power and that China continues its rapid upward trajectory. While homelessness and poverty sully the debt-laden US, China has eliminated extreme poverty. What is the American response to economic disparities domestically? Institute a …

Sarah Anderson (2021-11-15). Wealthy Americans get paid leave. Shouldn't the rest? nationofchange.org The fight to guarantee paid sick time and family leave faces an uphill battle, but advocates aren't giving up.

Staff (2021-11-15). Glasgow Pact Slammed for Betraying the Global Poor Who Suffer Most from the Climate Emergency. democracynow.org The U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, ended Saturday with over 190 nations agreeing to the Glasgow Climate Pact, which calls on governments to return next year in Egypt with stronger plans to curb their emissions and urges wealthy nations to provide more funds to vulnerable countries in the Global South. It also pushes countries to phase out fossil fuel subsidies and reduce the use of coal, but activists say the final language of the agreement is too weak to meaningfully reduce emissions and limit global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius, which scientists say is needed in order to avoid the most catastrophic…

_____ (2021-11-15). The 'Forgotten Fight' For Prison Abolition In France. popularresistance.org When I saw that Jaccques Lesage de La Haye had a new book called The Abolition of Prison, published by the French radical press, Éditions Libertalia, I reached out through my anarchist radio networks to find contact information for him. Jacques is a longtime anarchist and abolitionist in France, who for many years hosted the anti-prison radio show Ras les murs. His book promised to be a culmination of all of his experience writing and struggling against prisons and working to support people both inside and outside. | As a translator and an anarchist, I am always keeping an eye out for new texts to try to bring in…

Editor (2021-11-15). Thirteen theses of Marxism-Feminism. mronline.org The theses are a working tool and an insurance at the same time of what we are and where we want to go to, while both the path and the goal are open for joint discussion and thus for change.

WSWS (2021-11-15). Reno, Nevada bus drivers launch third strike in 4 months after rejecting Teamsters-backed contract. wsws.org Furious over miserly wage increases and dangerous working conditions exacerbated by the pandemic, 90 percent of bus drivers and transportation workers voted against the last offer negotiated by Teamsters union bureaucrats.

Angela Lang (2021-11-15). Democrats are courting disaster (again) by betraying their base. zcomm.org Democrats risk turning off voters and losing their 2020 electoral gains if they don't deliver meaningful change for working people…

WSWS (2021-11-15). Boston authorities clearing homeless encampment despite protests by ACLU, public health experts. wsws.org While some homeless people have been referred to shelters, the ACLU notes that many shelters are not equipped for people with certain medical conditions or family situations. Throwing more people into congregate settings during the pandemic risks deadlier outbreaks.

rebekah (2021-11-15). Colombia and the Pandora Papers. inequality.org

_____ (2021-11-14). The Only Legally Recognized Fast Food Union In The US Reaches Tentative Agreement. popularresistance.org The Burgerville Workers Union — Industrial Workers of the World (BVWU) has reached a tentative agreement with Burgerville on a historic contract to be ratified by a vote of workers in represented shops. Upon ratification, workers at Burgerville will become the only fast food workforce in the U.S. covered by a Collective Agreement. A milestone in one of the longest standing labor disputes in the Portland, OR area, this Agreement will set out a range of improvements in wages and working conditions for approximately 100 workers across five Burgerville locations. Burgerville and the BVWU have been in contract n…

_____ (2021-11-14). The Only Legally Recognized Fast Food Union Reaches Tentative Agreement. popularresistance.org Portland, OR — The Burgerville Workers Union — Industrial Workers of the World (BVWU) has reached a tentative agreement with Burgerville on a historic contract to be ratified by a vote of workers in represented shops. Upon ratification, workers at Burgerville will become the only fast food workforce in the U.S. covered by a Collective Agreement. A milestone in one of the longest standing labor disputes in the Portland, OR area, this Agreement will set out a range of improvements in wages and working conditions for approximately 100 workers across five Burgerville locations. Burgerville and the BVWU ha…

AEzra El (2021-11-14). ACT UP Boston charges city with mass violations of human rights. workers.org Boston On Nov. 5, ACT UP Boston, labor leaders, frontline harm reductionists, housing advocates, contingents of students, folks who have been houseless and people who use drugs converged on City Hall for a protest press conference and speak-out. Days earlier, city officials began waging their "sheriff's plan," setting up kangaroo . . . |

Staff (2021-11-14). Elon Musk keeps forgetting Bernie Sanders is still alive. rt.com Billionaire Elon Musk responded to a call by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) for the wealthy to pay their "fair share" by claiming to forget the 80-year-old democratic socialist was alive. | "We must demand that the extremely wealthy pay their fair share. Period," Sanders tweeted on Saturday, to which Musk replied, "I keep forgetting you're still alive." | He followed up by floating the idea of selling Tesla stock. Musk previously sold billions in shares after putting out a poll asking if he should sell 10% of his holdings, to which over 50% of people said yes. | I keep forgetting that you're still alive[m…

Robert Reich (2021-11-14). How Wealth Inequality Spiraled Out of Control. zcomm.org Wealth inequality has spiraled out of control. It's time to end this vicious cycle…

_____ (2021-11-14). Another Housing Crisis in America Is Coming. strategic-culture.org There is now an unprecedented spike in housing costs while COVID-19 has driven down the wealth of the average American. | Let's begin our discussion of the next Housing Crisis with a relevant personal anecdote, that is a microcosm of what is happening all over the United States right now. | Some of my relatives made the wise decision to live within their means and build a smaller (by American standards) house in the early 2000s. They live in the Midwest which means there is generally plenty of space for a big house even within city limits. Mortgages and loans were super easy to get for even fantastically large su…

George Monbiot (2021-11-14). Make extreme wealth extinct: it's the only way to avoid climate breakdown. zcomm.org Why do we tolerate the massive environmental impacts of the very rich?>

Ashley Curtin (2021-11-14). The gap between climate rhetoric and reality: The Fossil Fuelled 5. nationofchange.org Among those five wealthy countries analyzed, the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Norway and Australia, all plan to approve and subsidize new fossil fuel projects despite their claims of leading in the climate fight, the report concluded.

Rebekah Entralgo (2021-11-14). NYC Taxi Drivers Win Debt Relief After 2-Week Hunger Strike. truthout.org After a two-week hunger strike and two months of sit-ins, dozens of taxi drivers in New York City hosted a long-awaited celebration outside City Hall on November 10. | On November 3, New York City reached an agreement with the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA), the union fighting to relieve drivers of thousands of dollars in debt they owe for medallions, the physical permits to operate taxis. According to the NYTWA, the average debt owed on medallions by taxi drivers is $600,000. | "Today marks a new daw…

_____ (2021-11-14). Nov 15 Nationwide Actions To Demand Let Cuba Live! NO To CIA Plots! popularresistance.org The State Department, the CIA, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and other U.S. agencies are working to organize anti-government protests in Cuba on Monday, November 15. The organizers of the November 15 demonstrators are the same players who led violent attacks on people and public facilities on July 11. One such person, Yunior García Aguilera, has been exposed in recent weeks as having direct links with notorious Miami-based terrorist Ramón Saúl Sánchez, and CIA plots to try to create conflict within Cuba. The ANSWER Coalition is calling on people to show their support for the right of Cuba to retain i…

_____ (2021-11-14). November 15: Nationwide Actions To Demand Let Cuba Live. popularresistance.org Donald Trump imposed 243 additional coercive measures aimed at tightening the U.S. economic blockade against Cuba. Increased economic suffering for ordinary Cubans is the consequence of this policy. President Biden has not lifted even one of the additional sanctions imposed by Trump. Instead of treating Cuba as a neighbor and resuming the process towards normalization between U.S. and Cuba, the Biden White House is working overtime to promote a counterrevolution inside of Cuba. | The State Department, the CIA, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and other U.S. agencies are working to organize anti-governme…

WSWS (2021-11-14). Health care unions call off Kaiser strike, announce four-year agreement with real wage cuts. wsws.org Saturday's move is the latest betrayal by the unions in the United States, which are working to sabotage a growing movement by workers against wage stagnation and unsafe working conditions.

Dusan Pajovic (2021-11-14). How to fix climate activism. zcomm.org Interview on tactics, messaging, and how to bring the working class into climate activism — who have so far been excluded…

Staff (2021-11-14). Food banks struggle to feed hungry Americans. rt.com Food banks across the United States are struggling to keep up with the number of Americans in need of assistance amid record inflation and the supply chain crisis, which have gripped the nation ahead of the holiday season. | The Alameda County, California Community Food Bank was forced to "make a lot of really tough choices" due to inflation and the rising costs of food, its executive director, Regi Young,

2021-11-16 00:00 | 18:00 EST | jz | 28 | 0 | 14 | 12 | 0