Daily Archives: December 9, 2021

2021-12-09: News Headlines

Divyanshu Jindal (2021-12-09). India and the 'Summit for Democracy': Behind the Silent Acceptance. moderndiplomacy.eu US president Joe Biden's 'Summit for Democracy' has raised questions over the legitimacy of the American leadership in global geopolitics. The summit is planned for 9-10 December and will be attended by a 'confusing' list of 110 countries. Among the invitees are EU (sans Hungary), Ukraine, Philippines, Pakistan, and India. Some major exclusions are Russia, …

Jubeda Chowdhury (2021-12-09). Fifty Years OF India-Bangladesh Ties: Sky's The Limit. moderndiplomacy.eu Bangladesh and India are two neighboring countries of South Asia and these two countries have historically had very close relations. After the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, present day Bangladesh was part of the Republic of Pakistan as East Pakistan. The people of Bengal will never forget the assistance rendered by the late …

WSWS (2021-12-09). As Omicron begins to spread in India, school reopenings put tens of millions of children at risk of infection. wsws.org The Indian ruling elite's insistence on reopening schools for in-class instruction threatens to produce mass infection and death, compounding an already dire social crisis decades in the making.

Shiney Varghese (2021-12-09). After a Year-Long Strike, Indian Farmers Score a Big Win. zcomm.org The country's prime minister has agreed to roll back laws that threatened to corporatize agriculture, jeopardizing the food security of more than 800 million people and further enriching the ultra-rich…

Staff (2021-12-09). Headlines for December 9, 2021. democracynow.org As Coronavirus Cases Surge, Study Finds World Dangerously Unprepared for Next Pandemic, Senate Approves Bill to Reverse Vaccine Mandate for Large Employers, Olaf Scholz Sworn In as German Chancellor, Ending Angela Merkel Era, Canada, U.K. and Australia Join U.S. Diplomatic Boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics, Western Sahara Activists Accuse Moroccan Authorities of Brutality and Sexual Assault, India's Military Chief Among 13 Killed in Helicopter Crash, Biden Orders Transition to Renewable Energy for Federal Buildings and Vehicles, Lawmakers Grill Instagram Head over App's Damaging Effects on Children, Mark Meadows…

Badri Raina (2021-12-09). The All-Knowing Narendra Modi Ought Not to Ridicule Red. zcomm.org The prime minister's alarm at the colour of the Samajwadi Party's headgear is out of step with the all-encompassing significance of red in the natural, religious, cultural, and political lives of evolved human beings…

Alan MacLeod (2021-12-09). OTF — The "independent" internet freedom organization that makes all your favorite privacy apps—is staffed full of spies. mronline.org While the OTF presents itself as independent internet freedom activists, their funding, staff, history and choice of targets all point to the conclusion that they are a digital weapon being used against Washington's enemies.

Anis Chowdhury (2021-12-09). Climate change: Adapt for the future, not the past. mronline.org Funding for developing countries to address global warming is grossly inadequate. Very little finance is for adaptation to climate change, the urgent need of countries most adversely affected. Also, adaptation needs to be forward-looking rather than only addressing accumulated problems.

Binoy Kampmark (2021-12-09). Backing horses: Australia's Solomon Islands intervention. greenleft.org.au The history of "humanitarian" or policing missions is one of taking sides, argues Binoy Kampmark.

_____ (2021-12-09). Students Rally To Support Prison Moratorium. popularresistance.org Massachusetts – Smith College students marched through the streets of downtown Northampton backed by a chorus of honking cars as they chanted, "We don't want a prison nation, stop mass incarceration!" on Saturday, Dec. 4. | This march was in support of a moratorium on prison and jail construction within Massachusetts that was introduced in the Massachusetts state legislature. The bill was written by Families for Justice and Healing and the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, who, along with Massachusetts Peace Action, sponsored the walk. Smith students and volunteers from…

Binoy Kampmark (2021-12-09). Ineffectual Boycotts: The Beijing Winter Olympics. dissidentvoice.org Making moral statements in the blood and gristle of international relations can often come across as feeble. In doing so, the maker serves the worst of all worlds: to reveal a false sense of assurance that something was done while serving no actual purpose other than to provoke. Anger, and impotence, follow. The Biden administration …

José Manuel Blanco Diaz (2021-12-09). Are the Candidacies of Jorge Arreaza and Claudio Fermín Legal? orinocotribune.com As the January 9 elections in the state of Barinas approach, the temperature of the political debate in Venezuela is heating up between the four opposition candidates and the candidate for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV)/Great Patriotic Pole (GPP), Jorge Arreaza. | Within both the right-wing groups and the Chavistas, a debate was opened regarding the various options that are on the table. This political landscape was formed after the inconclusive elections of November 21 in Barinas, and the National Electoral Council's (CNE) announcement of a re-election process. | The present candidates now includ…

Pavan Kulkarni (2021-12-09). UN and AU endorse Sudan's coup government, the streets do not. peoplesdispatch.org Protesters are not convinced by the UN and AU's position that democracy can be won by accepting a government where the real levers of power are held by the military while a cabinet of technocrats is paraded before the international community to maintain the facade of 'joint military-civilian rule'

Staff (2021-12-09). Bolton Admits that 'Unity' of Venezuela's Opposition Depends on US Position. orinocotribune.com Former White House national security adviser and one of the main promoters of the maximum pressure policy against Venezuela, John Bolton, assured that the absence of "a solid position" from the United States puts the "unity of the opposition" at risk, in terms of the so-called "interim government," "Without stronger American support, how long could the opposition hold together?" asked Bolton, as quo…

_____ (2021-12-09). Does the Deepening Crisis in Turkey Manifest an End to the Erdogan Era? journal-neo.org Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is experiencing his worst moments as head of state today. Social and political tensions in the country are becoming increasingly evident. The economy is collapsing, the value of the national currency is relentlessly falling, and the number of poor people is skyrocketing. According to recently published data, the nation's citizens …

WSWS (2021-12-09). Bank for International Settlements raises concerns over financial system. wsws.org The BIS managing director pointed to one of the fundamental contradictions of all capitalist markets: what may be rational behaviour for an individual participant can be irrational for the system as a whole.

WSWS (2021-12-09). New York Times sponsors a debate on the racial authenticity of West Side Story. wsws.org Racialists and nationalists oppose the progressive views defended by this classic musical.

Peoples Dispatch (2021-12-09). Sri Lankan public section workers stage strike seeking salary hike. peoplesdispatch.org After teachers and health workers, public sector workers in Sri Lanka struck working demanding higher wages in the face of repeated price hikes and an economic crisis…

Moderator (2021-12-08). House Approves $778 Billion Military Budget. scheerpost.com By Jake Johnson / Common Dreams In bipartisan fashion, the U.S. House of Representatives late Tuesday passed a sprawling military policy bill that contains nearly twice as much funding on an annual basis as Democrats' flagship social spending and climate bill. That reality led Stephen Miles, executive director of Win Without War, to slam the $778 billion National …

Vijay Prashad (2021-12-08). There's a nonsensical propaganda campaign to make China look bad in Uganda. peoplesdispatch.org Despite strident denials by both Ugandan and Chinese officials, an misinformation campaign is being carried out which alleges that Chinese authorities are going to take control of the Entebbe International Airport due to a loan default…

Gilbert Doctorow (2021-12-08). The United States pushes Russia to the brink of war, then cries "wolf" mronline.org The Russians have plainly said that they deem the Ukrainian government to be U.S-controlled, not a free agent, and they hold Washington directly responsible for whatever may happen on the ground in their neighborhood.

Jason Hickel (2021-12-08). The age of imperialism is not over—but we can end it. mronline.org Capitalist accumulation has always depended on cheap labor and resources extracted from the Global South. To end this violence we need a post-capitalist transition—otherwise, as climate breakdown accelerates, the ceaseless search for profit will drive us further into barbarism.

Candice Bernd (2021-12-08). Baristas in Buffalo Are Poised to Unionize Using Starbucks's Own PR Against It. truthout.org Baristas with Starbucks Workers United's organizing committee are cautiously optimistic one or more stores will soon become the first of the corporation's locations to unionize in the United States. Results are expected tomorrow for three of six Starbucks stores in the Buffalo, New York, area that have filed for union elections with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). | On Tuesday, the NLRB dismissed Starbucks's request to impound ballots already cast in the union election and stop th…

Martha Grevatt (2021-12-08). Hondurans reject coup regime — °Xiomara presidente! workers.org On January 27, after nearly 13 years under a "narcodictatorship" responsible for thousands of assassinations, kidnappings and imprisonments, the people of Honduras will witness the inauguration of President-elect Xiomara Castro de Zelaya. She was the candidate of the Libre (Freedom and Refoundation) Party and is the spouse of former President . . . |

Progressive International Observatory (2021-12-08). Honduras rises up to reclaim its democracy. greenleft.org.au Delegates from the Progressive International Observatory witnessed the election of Xiomara Castro in Honduras on November 28.

A Guest Author (2021-12-08). Honduras: La victoria de Xiomara Castro y los grandes desafíos. workers.org Por Carlos Aznárez Después de la victoria electoral por el Partido Libre y Xiomara Castro en las elecciones en Honduras en noviembre, el redactor de Resumen Latinoamericano escribió esta entrevista. Xiomara Castro recibió más votos que ningún otro candidato en la historia de Honduras. Quién es Xiomara Castro Nos vamos . . . |

Amjed Jaaved (2021-12-08). Quaid-e-Azam: The Protector-General of minorities. moderndiplomacy.eu Lynching and setting people was a phenomenon peculiar to India under Modi. But, in a shocking incident , a Sri Lankan factory manager in Sialkot was lynched and later burnt alive. Not only the Pakistan government but also the religiously-oriented parties condemned the incident. Government announced to confer Tamgha-e-Shujaat to the lone voice who tried …

WSWS (2021-12-08). Eighteen coal miners and villagers massacred by Indian army in Nagaland. wsws.org The security forces' killing spree began late afternoon Saturday, when an Indian Army Special Forces unit ambushed a pick-up truck that was conveying coal miners to their homes after a day of hard work.

Peter Certo (2021-12-08). In OtherWords: December 8, 2021. otherwords.org If you're feeling low this holiday season, you're hardly alone. Record numbers of Americans are seeking treatment for mental health care. | But as Katie Prout writes this week in OtherWords, record numbers are also struggling to get it — especially if you're on Medicaid. Psychiatrists were in short supply even before the pandemic, and the number of practices who take Medicaid is declining. A year in a half into a pandemic that's seen massive deaths, unemployment, and mental illness, she asks: should we really still be tying health care to people's employers? | Also this week, Farrah Hassen calls for a bipar…

Farrah Hassen (2021-12-08). Stop Normalizing Islamophobia. otherwords.org In her latest act of demonizing Muslims, Rep. Lauren Boebert This might be business as usual for the Colorado Republican.

Katie Prout (2021-12-08). Mental Health Care Is Hard to Come By — Especially If You're Low-Income. otherwords.org During the first wave of the pandemic in April 2020, my boyfriend asked, not unkindly, if I've ever been diagnosed with anything besides generalized anxiety disorder. | I was relieved that somebody had finally asked about my mental health. | All spring and summer 2020, I kicked the ball of my fritzing brain down the field to some imaginary goal of "things" getting better in the world, or at least more stable. Plainly, that didn't happen. | And so, like many others, I went back to therapy. Or tried to. | I'm on Medicaid, and while the insurance I receive through the program is accepted by many dentists and primary…

Khalil Bendib (2021-12-08). Five Minutes to Midnight for U.S. Democracy. otherwords.org Get a full-res version

Peter Gilbert (2021-12-08). U.S. caravan brings solidarity to Cuba. workers.org Ricardo Perez (center), head of International Relations for the Finlay Vaccine Institute (Instituto Finlay de Vacunas), meets with members of the Workers World Party contingent (from left to right) Chris Hollis, Peter Gilbert, Loan Tran and Elena Everett, in Havana, Nov. 16. Gilbert was a member of the 31st IFCO/Pastors . . . |

Editor (2021-12-08). Watch "Marx is Back", Episode 1: Bourgeois and Proletarians. mronline.org "Marx is Back" a mini-series about the Communist Manifesto is now on youtube. Subtitles available.

Editor (2021-12-08). Unapologetic support for abortion rights must be a pillar of the Left. mronline.org This week the Supreme Court began hearing oral arguments on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization—the case that will determine the fate of Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban, and more broadly, the fate of Roe v. Wade.

Editor (2021-12-08). Why Amazon is terrified of Its U.S. workers unionizing. mronline.org Amazon continues to abuse its warehouse workers, both in its day-to-day treatment of them and in its thuggish, law-breaking campaign to prevent unionization in the U.S.

Editor (2021-12-08). Cornel West on Frantz Fanon, one of the great revolutionary intellectuals of the 20th century. mronline.org "Decolonization implies the urgent need to thoroughly challenge the colonial situation."

The Tricontinental (2021-12-08). Dossier No. 47: New clothes, old threads: the dangerous right-wing offensive in Latin America. mronline.org The Western world lives in discontent. Progressive models have failed to maintain the levels of politicisation, mystique, capacity to question, transformative purpose, and possibilities of concrete changes for the masses.

Staff (2021-12-08). Compassion Is Not a Crime: Animal Rights Activist Avoids Jail After Conviction for Baby Goat Rescue. democracynow.org Animal rights activist Wayne Hsiung has been convicted on felony charges of burglary and larceny for removing a sick baby goat from a goat meat farm in North Carolina in 2018. Hsiung is the co-founder of the animal rights organization Direct Action Everywhere. He was given a suspended sentence and 24 months probation. He describes how the prosecutor in the case hugged him at the end of the trial and says the case revolves around a simple question: "Are the living creatures of this Earth property or are they living creatures that deserve some form of dignity and respect?"

Ann Brown (2021-12-08). 5 Things to Know About Lovett Fort-Whiteman: The Black Communist Who Was Taken To The Gulag in Russia. moguldom.com Lovett Fort-Whiteman was considered the first American-born Black Communist and first African American to receive training at Communist International in Moscow. Communist International (also known as Comintern) was an international organization founded in 1919 that advocated global communism. Despite his devotion to communism, Fort-Whiteman, a political and civil rights activist, spent the end of his …

_____ (2021-12-08). Kellogg Workers Reject Temporary Agreement, Continue Strike. popularresistance.org The strike that began at four Kellogg Company plants on October 5 will continue. This morning, the 1,400 striking workers rejected a temporary agreement (TA) that had been negotiated by their union, the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco, and Grain Milling Workers International Union. The strike had encompassed workers at plants in Omaha, Nebraska, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Memphis, Tennessee, and the company's flagship facility in Battle Creek, Michigan.

WSWS (2021-12-08). Australian government defies the law to block access to "National Cabinet" documents. wsws.org Prime Minister Scott Morrison's government is defying a legal ruling that the self-titled National Cabinet is not exempt from the Freedom of Information Act.

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-12-08). Seun Kuti: "The Oppressed People of the World Need to Organize Themselves for Political Power" libya360.wordpress.com Seun Kuti talks to Vijay Prashad about the EndSARS movement in Nigeria, the need for broadening the movement and building popular resistance in the country, Seun's father Fela Kuti and his party the Movement of the People (MOP), and more.

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-12-08). Uganda: A Nonsensical Campaign to Tarnish China's Image. libya360.wordpress.com Vijay Prashad The Entebbe International Airport in 2009. Photo: By PetterLundkvist — Own work, CC BY 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7028754 Despite strident denials by both Ugandan and Chinese officials, an misinformation campaign is being carried out which alleges that Chinese authorities are going to take control of the Entebbe International Airport due to a loan default On…

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-12-08). Supreme Council of Libyan Tribes: The Candidacy of Dr. Saif Al-Islam Qaddafi Exposed the Falsehood of February "Democracy" libya360.wordpress.com Sheikh Misbah Abu Sbeiha The head of the Supreme Council of Tribes and Cities of Fezzan, Sheikh Ali Misbah Abu Sbeiha, said that Dr. Saif al-Islam Muammar Qaddafi's candidacy for the presidential elections exposed the falsehood of February democracy and the peaceful transfer of power and its civil state, commenting on the incident of storming…

WSWS (2021-12-08). Author Peter Ross Range discusses his new book, The Unfathomable Ascent: How Hitler came to Power, with David North. wsws.org In this video, Peter Ross Range speaks with WSWS International Editorial Board Chairman David North about his new book on Hitler's rise to power and its contemporary relevance.

John Feffer (2021-12-08). The Far Right Continues to Build Its International. fpif.org What alt-right guru Steve Bannon failed to create, German taxpayers have just stepped in to revive: a Nationalist International. Thanks to the German government, the far right is about to get its own well-heeled global think tank, complete with the sort of political academy that was so dear to Bannon's Germany's gift to the far right is the Desiderius Erasmus Foundation, the public-policy arm of the country's most prominent extremist party, the Alternative fàºr Deutschland (AfD). Era…

WSWS (2021-12-08). The COVID-19 pandemic, the return of the class struggle and the tasks of the Socialist Equality Party in Germany. wsws.org The Socialist Equality Party, the German section of the International Committee of the Fourth International, held its party congress November 19—22. We publish here the resolution unanimously adopted by the delegates.

Giancarlo Elia Valori (2021-12-08). The crisis of international law. moderndiplomacy.eu The idea of promoting the human rights agenda in the image and likeness of the Western countries' principles — as the repositories of Absolute Truth — is counterproductive and directly harmful in the Near and Middle East and Central Asia, as it does not consider the historical experience of these geopolitical regions. Moreover, many experts …

Fight Back (2021-12-08). Organizers against police crimes meet: "We have nothing to lose but our chains" fightbacknews.org Chicago, IL – Two years after the refounding of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR) in November 2019, over 125 NAARPR members and affiliates from around the country convened for the second NAARPR conference in Chicago starting on Saturday, December 4. They shared updates about their work fighting against police crimes and for community control of the police, among other areas of struggle, then voted on resolutions and new leadership for the next two years. | Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the conference was attended only by delegates from NAARPR chapters and affiliated org…

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