(2022-02-05). Conceptual artist places gold cube in Central Park: Once again charlatanry meets extreme wealth. wsws.org Artnet News announced this week that "An Artist Placed a Cube Made From $11.7 Million Worth of Gold in Central Park—Protected By Its Own Security Detail."
(2022-02-05). No pause in health workers' struggles in Nigeria. peoplesdispatch.org As health workers' trade unions in Nigeria call their membership to continue strike action over bad working conditions and missed payments, attempts to limit the space for industrial action persist…
(2022-02-05). Join Socialist Workers Party, 'Militant' in campaigning. themilitant.com 
The international In California the fight for ballot status for SWP candidates Eleanor García for U.S. Senate and Joel Britton for governor is underway. García and Britton explain why working people need ou…
(2022-02-05). Chicago protest demands federal charges against killer cop Jason Van Dyke. fightbacknews.org Chicago, IL – A delegation of activists demanding Justice for Laquan McDonald met with an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Chicago's Federal Building. They presented a letter signed by 38 organizations and unions, as well as five elected officials, demanding federal charges against killer cop Jason Van Dyke. | A statement released before the protest explained, "VanDyke was given a 'slap on the wrist' by the Cook County Criminal Court after being convicted of McDonald's murder and 16 counts of aggravated assault and is being released from prison after less than 3 1/2 years, when Black and brown and other working-class…
(2022-02-05). Canadian workers need a socialist program to defeat the threat of far-right political violence, end the pandemic and oppose war. wsws.org With the support and encouragement of a significant faction of the ruling class, far-right thugs have besieged Canada's parliament for the past week to demand all COVID-19 public health measures be abolished. These extraordinary events underscore the urgent necessity of the independent political mobilization of the working class.
(2022-02-05). [Perspectives] Ayoade Alakija: advancing equity in the COVID-19 response. thelancet.com Ayoade Olatunbosun-Alakija is running late for our video call because of back-to-back meetings in Geneva as the newly appointed WHO Special Envoy and Co-Chair of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-Accelerator), a global collaboration to accelerate equitable access to COVID-19 health tools. Her Geneva visit will help her "join the dots to help move us from working in silos to working better collectively to overcome COVID-19", she tells me in between her last meeting and catching a flight back home to Abuja, Nigeria.
(2022-02-05). With Ôªøre-election of ÔªøMattarella, Italian government will seek to enforce "EU recovery plan" wsws.org The anti-working class offensive of the Draghi government and the rise of the Fratelli d'Italia make clear how urgently necessary an independent working class movement is, a party that resolutely leads the struggle against mass infection, social impoverishment and war.
(2022-02-05). Bomb threats sent to historically black colleges across the United States. wsws.org The series of threats against historically black colleges and the law-and-order response of authorities follow protests and demonstrations at schools and universities against inequality and the spread of COVID-19.
(2022-02-05). In New Zealand, rising inflation, inequality intensify social crisis. wsws.org The Labour-Green Party government's pro-business policies, imposed since it assumed office in 2017, have produced an unprecedented explosion in social inequality since the onset of COVID-19.
(2022-02-04). How U.S. Meddling Split Sudan, Creating an Oil Republic Drowning in Poverty and Conflict. strategic-culture.org Following decades of US soft power aid interventions to exploit South Sudan's energy reserves and counter China's influence, the republic is trapped in humanitarian crisis.: | TJ COLES | Like most countries, the Republic of South Sudan is a complex nation of shifting alliances and external influences. | Recently, President Salva Kiir, who sports a Stetson hat
(2022-02-04). New Puerto Rico Debt Plan Is A False 'Solution'. popularresistance.org Activists and Puerto Rican community members protest against Steven Tananbaum, a board member of the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), for his involvement in a hedge fund that owns over $2 billion of Puerto Rico's debt, outside of the newly renovated and reopened MOMA in Midtown Manhattan on October 21, 2019, in New York City. Drew Angerer / Getty Images | On January 18, Judge Taylor Swain of New York's Southern District confirmed Puerto Rico's eighth amended Plan of Adjustment (POA), setting into motion the closure of the largest municipal debt restructuring deal in the history of the United States. The POA modifies…
(2022-02-04). Poorer countries facing sovereign debt crisis. wsws.org One of the most vulnerable countries is Sri Lanka. Rating agency S&P Global warned last month the country faced a possible default this year as it downgraded its sovereign bonds.
(2022-02-04). Argentina To Russia: We Want To End Dependency On US. popularresistance.org The President of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, today visited the Kremlin and told President Vladimir Putin that his country wants to end "dependency" on the US and strengthen economic ties with Russia instead. | Fernández told Putin "Argentina, in particular, is experiencing a very special situation as a result of its indebtedness and the economic situation that I had to inherit. From the 1990s onwards, Argentina has always looked towards the United States. Now, the Argentinian economy depends a lot on the debt it has with the United States, with the IMF, and the role that the US has within the IMF." | The Presid…
(2022-02-04). Biden Withdrawing Student Debt Appeal After Outcry. dailyposter.com 
(2022-02-04). Fast Food Sector Council advances in California, but CalCare health bill on hold. peoplesworld.org 
SACRAMENTO—Legislation to create a first-in-the-nation Fast Food Sector Council charged with regulating wages, working hours, and conditions affecting over half-a-million California fast food workers passed the state Assembly Jan. 31 and is on its way to the state Senate. The measure, Assembly Bill 257, the Fast Food Accountability and Standards (FAST) Recovery Act, by Assemblymember …
(2022-02-04). After Amazon Tragedy, Workers Come Together to Demand Safe Working Conditions. inequality.org
(2022-02-04). Connecticut's Essential Worker Relief Fund a model other governments should follow. peoplesworld.org 
Connecticut is leading the way in building back better. The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the lives of many working-class families, but some relief is in sight. Recently, the Connecticut General Assembly, with a strong push from organized labor, passed the Connecticut Essential Worker COVID-19 Relief Fund. It' a $34 million program which will allow essential …
(2022-02-04). An open letter to workers in New Zealand: Join the fight to stop the pandemic and save lives in 2022! wsws.org The Labour Party-led government, backed by the trade unions, insists that schools and businesses must remain open, allowing Omicron to spread. The working class cannot accept this policy of mass infection and death.
(2022-02-04). Human rights lawyer in Egypt slapped with terrorism charges. peoplesdispatch.org Osama Bayoumi was arbitrarily detained after authorities raided his home in capital Cairo last week on Saturday. He has been working as a defense attorney for several political prisoners in Egypt…
(2022-02-04). New Dutch government lifts COVID-19 measures as infections skyrocket. wsws.org The reactionary and unscientific policy of the European bourgeoisie is going from "living with Covid" to "working with Covid."
(2022-02-04). "City on the Second Floor": Clarion call from a poetic craftsman. roarmag.org Police investigate at a homeless people's encampment in Los Angeles, US. September 15, 2022. Credit: Ringo Chiu / Shutterstock | Matt Sedillo's poetry is electric, like a lightning bolt. He is a man on a mission, with a message to spread and fire on the tongue. With the tone and the tenor of a biblical prophet — though one with a profound sense of the farcical, too — he delivers a scathing critique, a desperate denunciation of the patriarchal, white supremacist and capitalist dystopia that we inhabit. His latest book, City on the Second Floor, is a cohesive and compelling compendium of some 32 poems a…
(2022-02-04). A Labor Stunner in Mexico Augurs Greater Equality — on Both Sides of the Border. inequality.org