The beginning of the first phase of mitigating some of the measures taken to deal with the coronavirus epidemic starts on 11 May. This deadline has been prepared by the French government in a haphazard manner and the polls show deep distrust on the part of the majority of the population.
Reimagining the Frontline from Heaven’s Edge
10 May 2020, by“I hated unions,” says Sathya Vani, now Joint-President of Sri Lanka’s Domestic Workers’ Union (DWU). “My parents were part of a union, who did nothing for them. So for a long time I avoided trade unions.”
Vani’s parents work in a tea plantation in the Kandyian hill country. “We saw how our parents suffered,” she continues matter-of-factly. “We wanted a better life.” A better life is not always easier.
Pandemic and Oil Crisis Could Make Second Arab Spring Return With a Vengeance
9 May 2020, by ,As the world confronts a global economic crisis exacerbated by the current pandemic, what lessons can the U.S. left learn from those outside our borders?
In this interview, Gilbert Achcar discusses with Ashley Smith how Middle Eastern oil-exporting countries’ price war has impacted the world, the ongoing revolutionary actions that could result in a “Second Arab Spring” and how the U.S. left must revive the true meaning of internationalism. The following transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Socially Necessary Work
9 May 2020, byAs the pandemic rages we realize that “necessary work” is not Wall Street and its stock market or the manufacturing of cars but the health and well-being of society. That is, the work that is central to society turns out to be what socialist feminists call “social reproduction.” These are the functions necessary to sustain human life, whether performed inside or outside the home, whether paid or unpaid. For the most part this has been considered “women’s work,” and if paid work, generally poorly paid.
Covid-19: Likely financial conflagrations to come
8 May 2020, byPart 3 of the series: The Pandemic of Capitalism, Coronavirus and the Economic Crisis Part 1: “The Capitalist Pandemic, Coronavirus and the Economic Crisis”, Part 2: “To confront capitalism’s multifaceted crisis the bankers must be expropriated and the banks socialised”.
Hong Kong after the uprising
8 May 2020, byFor the third time since the handover of Hong Kong from British colonial rule to Chinese sovereignty, the region exploded in protest in 2019. One million people took to the streets in a 9 June mobilisation called by the Civil Human Rights Front, a coalition of pro-democracy groups, in the biggest demonstration since 1997. Three days later, tens of thousands of masked protesters surrounded Honk Kong Island’s Central Government Complex to prevent lawmakers convening.
With the big demonstrations having receded and with the government on a new offensive, this article looks at the Chinese Communist Party’s latest moves and evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the pro-democracy movement.
Fight like a nurse, facing off with Bolsonaristas in Brasilia
7 May 2020, byAs Covid-19 deaths spiral upward in Brazil, health care workers are not backing down in the face of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro’s threats. Nurses in Brasilia, Brazil’s capital city organized a May Day action across from the presidential palace. Harassed by Bolsonaro supporters, the nurses stood strong and gained national attention as they courageously fought for their fallen co-workers in the fight against Covid-19. [No Borders News]
Response Forced Doctors Onto a Hunger Strike
6 May 2020, byPakistani authorities made a bad start to the coronavirus response, using the crisis to push through an IMF agenda of hospital privatization. Faced with protests by health professionals, the government immediately opted for repression — showing that it considers health care for the masses mere unnecessary spending.
PRT Mexico: Our lives are worth more than your profits
5 May 2020, byAs of May 3, Mexico has 22,088 confirmed coronavirus infections and 2,061 Covid-19 deaths. The real figures are likely significantly higher. If these numbers follow the pattern in Brazil, then Latin America’s first and second biggest economies will soon rank beside the U.S. and Western Europe as global pandemic hotspots. Meanwhile, Left-of-center populist President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has surprised his supporters by pivoting to the right. As the Guardian explained, AMLO as he is known, “has introduced austerity measures so severe that his critics have compared him to Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. This week, the president, popularly known as AMLO, unveiled more cuts in response to the Covid-19 crisis, including the abolition of 10 government departments, a hiring freeze and a 25% cut in government salaries. He also eliminated Christmas bonuses.”[No Borders News]
Dangerous times in the USA
5 May 2020, byThis has been a rather impressive week [13-19 April] even for Donald Trump. Whenever you think that he has reached the nadir of his Presidency, he always manages to continue the downward trend; it is like a sink-hole that appears in the middle of an area that simply sucks everything in its path downwards.