(2023-08-20). Children from China's once poverty-stricken areas stun world with beautiful songs. ecns.cn Children dressed in traditional Yi ethnic costumes chorused a song to inaugurate the opening ceremony of the 31st summer edition of the FISU World University Games"ÄÄin southwest China's Sichuan Province."ÄÄ…
(2023-08-20). Antipoverty Centre report calls for income-first approach. greenleft.org.au 
(2023-08-19). Perspectives] Kelley Lee: putting the governance of global health under scrutiny. thelancet.com Kelley Lee, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Global Health Governance at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada, spent her early childhood in Vancouver's Chinatown area, where she learned how social disadvantage can profoundly shape life chances. The area, now known as the Downtown Eastside, was already a place of struggle against addiction and poverty in the 1960s. For the Asian community, it was also a place born from institutionalised anti-Chinese policies and racial segregation. Lee's grandfather paid the notorious head tax in 1911 to enter Canada, while her Canadian-born parents were denied citiz…
(2023-08-19). Why Public Transportation Sucks in the US. youtube.com Access to transportation is the single most important factor in escaping poverty.
(2023-08-20). The politics of degrowth – Technology, ideology, and the fight for eco-socialism. internationalviewpoint.org Degrowth identifies and critiques growth as fundamental to the capitalist system. Growth enriches property owners and the wealthy, leaving the rest of humanity behind with devastating environmental consequences. | – | / |
(2023-08-20). Over 3.5 million lose 'dollar millionaire' status in 2022. ecns.cn More than 3.5 million people lost their "dollar millionaire" status last year during the first fall in global wealth since the 2008 financial crisis.
(2023-08-19). YOU LOVE TO SEE IT: Millionaire Tax Feeds Hungry Kids. levernews.com Good things are happening! Millionaires pick up kids' lunch tabs, the Louisiana coast rebuilds, a top university sides with labor organizers over a huge corporation, and boat-rocking climate activists made landmark progress in Montana.Millionaires Stock The Cafeteria: Wealth taxes work! Just look at Massachusetts, where millionaires are funding free lunches for hungry school kids.Last November, the state passed a four percent tax increase on incomes over $1 million, bringing $1 billion in new revenue for its 2024 budget. Some of that money will provide free lunches to Massachusetts public school students…
(2023-08-20). Vox's Student Loan 'Expert' Is Paid by Debt Collectors. scheerpost.com 
(2023-08-19). Golden Lashes Out at Student Borrowers After Taking Donation From Sallie Mae. truthout.org The United States' first debtors' union and a former staffer of U.S. Rep. Jared Golden were among those who rebuked the corporate Democrat on Friday after he said in a statement that he opposes student debt relief because it would benefit "privileged" Americans — and refused to answer questions about donations he's taken from student loan company Sallie Mae. When asked by the Maine Beacon whether… |
(2023-08-19). For first time ever, debt owed on credit cards in US tops $1 trillion. themilitant.com In a stark sign of the challenges facing working people as the crisis of capitalism deepens, credit card debt in the U.S. for the first time ever topped $1 trillion in the second quarter this year. That's up 4.6% from the previous three months. "Compared to other debt categories this quarter," the New York Federal Reserve said, "credit card balances saw the most pronounced worsening in performance." | And it will keep rising as workers and farmers increasingly have to wrack up more and more debt for food, car repairs, rising rents and mortgages and all kinds of family emergencies. Inflation and sharply higher int…
(2023-08-19). Argentina adopting US dollar to fight inflation would be 'insane' neocolonialism, says economist Ha-Joon Chang. By: Ben Norton. midwesternmarx.com 
Right-wing politicians in Argentina want to adopt the US dollar as the national currency to fight inflation. Development economist Ha-Joon Chang said this is "insane", warning dollarization would make the Latin American nation a "colony".Argentina is suffering from high rates of inflation, largely due to odious debt owed in US dollars to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Western vulture funds.The South American nation sometimes suffers from a current accoun …
(2023-08-20). End of Pandemic-Era Child Care Aid Spells Crisis for Millions of Working Moms. truthout.org A Minnesota Public Radio article noted last month that "women are returning to the job market in droves." While it's true that women may be returning to work; they are not doing so without challenges. Most people have no idea the systems that must be in place in early childhood education to accommodate women and families and help them get back to work and stay at work. Simply put… |
(2023-08-20). Documents Show Taiwan Working With FBI to Prosecute Chinese Americans, Intimidate U.S. Politicians. strategic-culture.org Amid a controversial visit from Vice President William Lai (the front-runner to be his country's next leader), official documents reviewed by "MintPress News" show that the Taiwanese government is attempting to drum up anti-China hostility, influence and intimidate American politicians and is even working with the FBI and other agencies to spy on and prosecute Chinese American citizens.
(2023-08-20). China interested in strengthening bilateral cooperation with Ethiopia. plenglish.com Addis Ababa, Aug 20 (Prensa Latina) China is interested in strengthening cooperation and diversifying the areas of work with Ethiopia, hence both countries are working together to achieve mutual development, an official source said.
(2023-08-20). Ecuadorians Concerned About Deficiencies in Online Vote Abroad. telesurenglish.net Throughout Sunday morning, hundreds of Ecuadorian migrants have been denouncing that the online voting systems were not working properly. | RELATED: | This happened in countries such as Canada, Belgium, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Spain, where citizens have been trying to vote for hours without being able to do so. | Former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa warned about this issue, which has been also reported by internationa…
(2023-08-20). Documents Show Taiwan Working With FBI To Prosecute Chinese Americans. popularresistance.org Vice President Lai's journey to the United States is, officially, only a stopover on his way to Paraguay (the U.S. does not formally recognize Taiwan as an independent state). He is scheduled to make appearances in both New York and San Francisco. | Lai himself is an outspoken leader of the growing movement for Taiwanese independence. Many nationalists see Taiwan as culturally different from the mainland and argue it would be better off as a fully independent state. To achieve this goal, they are attempting to gain American backing and influence American public opinion. China, however, sees the matter as purely i…
(2023-08-20). Why The Hollywood Strike Matters To All Of Us. popularresistance.org Over the last decade, the entertainment industry has shifted away from legacy distribution models like film and television and embraced a streaming-first model. The move has been a lucrative one, bringing billions of dollars in revenue to the industry. | But those profits haven't reached working actors and writers. Some 87% of actors earn less than $26,000 per year; many writers have to work second jobs to make ends meet. And so, for the first time since 1960, members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) are on strike simultaneously — and Hollywood has effectively sh…
(2023-08-19). British nurse found guilty of murdering seven newborn babies. tribune.com.pk 
A British nurse who described herself as a "horrible evil person" was found guilty on Friday of murdering seven newborn babies and trying to kill another six in the neonatal unit of a hospital in northwest England where she worked. | Lucy Letby, 33, was convicted of killing five baby boys and two baby girls at the Countess of Chester hospital and attacking other newborns, often while working night shifts, in 2015 and 2016. | The verdict, following a harrowing 10-month trial at Manchester Crown Court, makes Letby Britain's most prolific serial child killer in modern history, local media said. | She was found no…
(2023-08-19). Dilemmas of Humanity conference calls for Pan-African, working class power. peoplesdispatch.org At the Dilemmas of Humanity: Pan African Dialogues to Build Socialism conference, 184 delegates from 38 radical organizations charted the socialist way forward for Africa at a time of dramatic change in the world order…
(2023-08-19). SWP: Defend free speech, political rights! themilitant.com Below is a statement issued Aug. 15 by Róger Calero, Socialist Workers Party candidate for New York City Council District 48. | Working people and all defenders of constitutional protections of free speech and assembly should oppose the campaign by the New York Times, now backed by Sen. Marco Rubio, for investigations and prosecution as "unregistered" foreign agents — in this case, for the government of China — of members or supporters of Codepink, People's Forum and other organizations. We oppose any attempts to take away the tax exempt status of groups cited by the Times. | Since its enactment in 19…
(2023-08-19). Moscow's war, Ukrainian resistance and the place of the national question. themilitant.com As working people in Ukraine exert courageous efforts to reconquer parts of their country seized by the Vladimir Putin regime in Moscow, they are strongly motivated to defend their independence. At the same time, workers and oppressed nationalities across Russia are becoming increasingly disaffected from Putin's war. | At the heart of these developments is the national question. The Ukrainians were oppressed for centuries by Russia's czars. They won autonomy for a few years after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution led by V.I. Lenin. Then they came under the iron grip of Moscow again as the counterrevolution headed by…
(2023-08-19). UK rail unions picket against cuts in ticket offices, jobs. themilitant.com MANCHESTER, England — Striking members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers union were joined on picket lines by disability rights campaigners and other trade unionists in many parts of the country during one-day strikes by 20,000 rail workers on July 20, 22 and 29. | Weeks before, rail bosses had announced the closure of almost all station ticket offices, cutting more than 2,000 jobs. Both the RMT and the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen held a series of strikes over the past year. The government and rail bosses demand unions accept job cuts and attacks on working conditions to…
(2023-08-19). Memphis strike 'standing strong' against IFF bosses. themilitant.com MEMPHIS, Tenn. — When we went on strike "some of the supervisors told us we would only last a week. Here we are 10 weeks later, still strong, still together," Zandra Lee, a member of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Local 390G at the International Flavors and Fragrances plant here, said on the picket line Aug. 13. | Nearly 200 members of the union have been on strike since June 4 after working for almost a year under an expired contract. The workers make soy protein products that are used by Nestle, Nestle Purina, Kind Bars, Abbott Nutrition and other companies to manufacture baby fo…
(2023-08-19). Maui wildfire disaster caused by capitalism, gov't disdain. themilitant.com A rapidly moving wildfire rampaged across Lahaina, a historic town on Maui in Hawaii Aug. 8, laying waste to over 2,000 buildings, mainly residences, and causing the death of over 100 people to date, all but two unidentified, with more expected. It is the deadliest wildfire in modern U.S. history, surpassing the 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise, California, which wiped out the town leaving 19,000 buildings destroyed, 85 dead and displacing hundreds more. | Working people in Hawaii and elsewhere have responded with solidarity and a mobilization of help. People on the island organized to gather and deliver food and other…
(2023-08-19). NY forum: 'Defense of constitutional freedoms is key issue in class struggle'. themilitant.com 
The indictment of Donald Trump by the Biden administration's Department of Justice "is a head-on assault on free speech," Steve Clark told a Militant Labor Forum organized by the New York and Northern New Jersey branches of the Socialist Workers Party Aug. 12. Clark is a member of the party's National Committee. | "Working people fight to defend everything that provides us space to organize and act," he said. "The criminalization of political differences, led by the Democratic Party, is dangerous. The indictment is not just part of an intra-ruling-class faction fight. It's a frame-up. Class-conscious workers shou…
(2023-08-19). Food insecure population grows for fifth straight month. stephensemler.substack.com 
If you find these notes useful, you can support this newsletter and SPRI, here. Subscribe now Share On Wednesday, I was interviewed by The Hill about a piece I wrote for The Lever called "Bidenomics isn't working for working people." In the article, I try to make sense of the disconnect between the US's impressive …
(2023-08-19). US actors, writers speak about lengthy strike and the crisis facing their profession. wsws.org The WSWS talked to several actors and writers at picket lines, and over the phone, in Los Angeles this past week. They spoke about the strike but also the broader struggles of the working class erupting across the country.
(2023-08-19). Trudeau government spending tens of billions to rearm Canadian imperialism; ruling elite clamours for more. wsws.org Canada's Liberal government—which is propped up in parliament by the trade union-sponsored New Democratic Party—is carrying out a massive rearmament program at the expense of the working class.
(2023-08-19). Putin Calls for Creation of Alternative Tournaments to Olympic Games. orinocotribune.com Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for the creation of alternative tournaments to the Olympic Games, in view of the politicization of sports by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which excluded Russia from international competitions such as the Paris Olympic Games of 2024. | Since Russia started its special military operation in Ukraine, Russia has been subjected to economic, financial, and even sporting and cultural blockades. The fact that sports institutions have taken part in the Western-led de-Russification is considered by the Russian president as "a clear degradation" of culture, and there…
(2023-08-19). Wall Street ramps up looting of Yellow freight as Apollo pulls out of bankruptcy deal. wsws.org Major Wall Street firms have jockeyed for pole positions to strip Yellow of its assets in a bankruptcy liquidation worth upwards of $2 billion.
(2023-08-19). New Stats, Old Story: Our Rich Are Raking. inequality.org