2021-10-15: News Headlines

Graham Peebles (2021-10-15). Discontent by Design: The Lost World of the West. counterpunch.org A cursory glance at the 'State of the World' reveals what a mess things are: from the environmental emergency and war to injustice and poverty, a tightly woven man-made mess of interconnected issues, unprecedented in scale. The greatest crisis of all, however, is humanity, and the culture that we, specifically 'The West', have built and

Jeffrey St. Clair (2021-10-15). Roaming Charges: Supply Chain of Fools. counterpunch.org As Biden vows to keep the ports of LA and Long Beach running 24/7, likely gutting labor rules to in the process in effort to speed the import of cheap goods from China and South Korea, it's hard not to reach the conclusion that the most pressing supply chain issue is housing, where there's not a single state in the US where an employee who works a 40-hour can afford a 2-bedroom rental at the current minimum wage of $7.25 hour.

Siddharth Joshi (2021-10-15). Solar panels on half the world's roofs could meet its entire electricity demand. zcomm.org Rooftop solar has huge potential to alleviate energy poverty and put clean, pollution-free power back in the hands of consumers worldwide…

sputniknews (2021-10-15). Europe's Fuel Crisis May Drive Households Into 'Energy Poverty', UN Agency Chief Says. sputniknews.com MOSCOW (Sputnik), Andrei Savenkov – The ongoing fuel crisis in the European Union will undermine the economies of the bloc's most vulnerable countries and leave many households struggling to pay energy bills, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Olga Algayerova said.

Olivia Engling (2021-10-15). IMF: Wealthy and Poor Countries Face COVID Economic Challenges. indybay.org

WSWS (2021-10-15). Sà£o Paulo teachers and public employees strike against attack on pensions. wsws.org Workers are fighting against austerity measures that will have a deep impact on their pensions and working conditions.

Vijay Prashad (2021-10-15). Women Hold Up More Than Half the Sky. dissidentvoice.org Junaina Muhammed (India) / Young Socialist Artists, A woman working in the korai fields, where women often work from a young age to earn a living. Reminder: Indian peasants and agricultural workers remain in the midst of a country-wide agitation sparked by the proposal of three farm bills that were then signed into law by …

WSWS (2021-10-15). Soaring food prices drive hunger around the world. wsws.org The 2021 Global Hunger Index (GHI), published on Thursday, revealed soaring levels of hunger among the poor and working populations around the globe.

WSWS (2021-10-15). South African metalworkers strike expands. wsws.org About 16,000 workers in a smaller union have joined the 155,000 members of NUMSA, the main union in the steel and metalworking industry.

Elliott Negin (2021-10-15). To Find Out If ExxonMobil Really Supports a Carbon Tax, Just Follow the Money. counterpunch.org When then-ExxonMobil lobbyist Keith McCoy conceded in a secretly recorded video in May that the oil giant voiced support for a carbon tax only because it assumed it would never happen, ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods said the company was "shocked by these interviews" and stood by its "commitments to working on finding solutions to climate change." Wood's reaction was reminiscent of Captain

Juan Cole (2021-10-15). A Yemen Catastrophe that America helped Make (Pearson Inst. Video with Juan Cole). juancole.com Pearson Institute Panel on Catastrophe in Yemen from October 13, with Juan Cole among the panelists. Pearson Institute: Yemen in Neglect My (much more expert-on-Yemen than I) colleagues in this panel: Afrah Nasser is Yemen Researcher, Human Rights Watch. Shadi Abu Sneida is a humanitarian working with UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Yemen. Stacy …

Dean Baker (2021-10-15). The High-Paid Media Types are Unhappy Workers are Getting Higher Pay. cepr.net Many in the media are very upset that workers at the bottom end of the pay scale feel secure enough to demand higher pay and better working conditions. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of watching a television anchor, who earns $6 million a year, complain that 3 percent of the workforce quit their job in …

Editor2 (2021-10-15). Homeless in Colombia Under Attack. orinocotribune.com Colombian police allegedly set fire to temporary camps during an eviction operation in Bogotá. The fire consumed the huts and belongings of over 300 poor displaced people, recyclers and immigrants, who had been living in temporary camps since last year. | Colombia's notorious police unit the ESMAD (Anti-Disturbance Mobile Squadron) has come under fire once again following the violent eviction of homeless families in the south of Bogotá. On October 8 agents of the ESMAD evicted around 120 families from a property belonging to the University of Cundinamarca in the Puente Aranda municipality, in the capital Bogotá.

Dave Clennon (2021-10-14). Tom Hanks: The Trojan Horse in a Citadel of Labor. counterpunch.org From the beginning of his acting career, Mr. Hanks seems to have lacked an appreciation for the life experience of the average, working, non-starring actor. When his entrepreneurial drive took him to the next stage — movie and TV producer — did Thomas J. Hanks's capacity for empathy grow or shrivel?

Julia Conley (2021-10-14). 'Striketober' in full swing as nearly 100,000 workers authorize work stoppages. nationofchange.org "You might say workers have declared a national general strike until they get better pay and improved working conditions," said former Labor Secretary Robert Reich.

WSWS (2021-10-14). US-EU rift over relations with China widens after AUKUS pact. wsws.org Historically rooted conflicts between the world's wealthiest and most powerful countries, that twice in the 20th century led to world war, again threaten to erupt.

Ramona Malczynski (2021-10-14). Montana nurses overcome union busting, win first contract. liberationnews.org Logan Health nurses remained united and steadfast to win major improvements in working conditions in their first contract.

Mark Gruenberg (2021-10-14). AFL-CIO cheers Biden ban on ICE sweeps of undocumented people. peoplesworld.org WASHINGTON—The AFL-CIO is cheering the latest Biden administration reversal of racist Trump-era immigration policies. Biden's Homeland Security Department banned massive ICE raids to round up and deport undocumented people, and imposed a U-turn to pursue exploitative employers, instead. "To improve wages and working conditions, we must change the current enforcement environment in which employers violate …

WSWS (2021-10-14). Kellogg's workers in Battle Creek, Michigan denounce two-tier wages and call for the broadening of their strike. wsws.org The strike is part of a broader upsurge by the working class, as workers battle against the subordination of the response to the coronavirus pandemic in almost every country to private profit.

WSWS (2021-10-14). The strike wave in the United States heralds a new stage in the global class struggle. wsws.org The escalating strike wave in the United States provides incontrovertible evidence that the working class is breaking free of the stranglehold of the reactionary trade union apparatus.

Peoples Dispatch (2021-10-14). Bolivians march in defense of the Wiphala and socialist government. peoplesdispatch.org These protests came a day after working class and popular sectors in Bolivia organized counter protests to a strike called by right-wing sectors against the MAS govt.

Monica Cruz (2021-10-14). 10,000 John Deere workers begin largest US private sector strike in years. peoplesdispatch.org Over 10,000 John Deere production and warehouse workers are on strike across 14 facilities, making up the largest US private sector strike since 2019. Workers with the agriculture equipment maker in Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa and Kansas walked off the job at midnight, just days after they voted by 90% to reject a tentative contract agreement. | Workers say they have been forced to do overtime consistently, some working 12-hour days, 6 days a week. The strikers cited inadequate wage increases as a major reason for rejecting the contract offer. Meanwhile, John Deere has reported record profits in 2021. With…

Margaret Kimberley (2021-10-14). The Obama Presidential Center will displace Black people. mronline.org The Obama Presidential Center will inevitably displace a working class Black community in Chicago. The center is in keeping with Obama's history of doing the bidding of the powerful, including accelerating gentrification.

_____ (2021-10-14). Port Truckers Win $30 Million In Wage Theft Settlements. popularresistance.org One of the world's largest trucking companies, XPO Logistics, agreed Tuesday to pay $30 million to settle class-action lawsuits filed by hundreds of drivers who said they earned less than minimum wage delivering goods for major retailers from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. | The combined settlements, approved by U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner, addressed allegations that two XPO subsidiaries, XPO Logistics Cartage in Commerce and San Diego and XPO Port Service in Rancho Dominguez, paid drivers less-than-legal wages, failed to pay them for missed meal and rest periods, and failed to reimburse them f…

Staff (2021-10-14). Wall Street's Barons Are Causing Homelessness for Profit. truthout.org It seems that everywhere you look in America you see homelessness. Rarely, though, do you hear that Wall Street is helping cause it. | Thirty-two percent seems to be the magic threshold, according to new research

Sarah Anderson (2021-10-14). 5 Charts on Tackling Bad Corporate Behavior Through Taxes. inequality.org

Peoples Dispatch (2021-10-14). 400 Palestinian prisoners on mass hunger strike against tighter restrictions in Israeli prisons. peoplesdispatch.org The prisoners began their hunger strike due to the tightening of restrictions and punitive measures by Israeli prison authorities in the days following the daring Gilboa prison break in September…

WSWS (2021-10-14). Greek teachers and students strike against attacks on education and lack of protection from the coronavirus. wsws.org Under conditions of enormous anger and opposition among teachers and students, the aims of the teachers' unions and those of the strikers are diametrically opposed.

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