Thirty Countries Push for Implementation of Paris Agreement

by Han Chen and Jake Schmidt

Natural Resources Defence Council | May 16, 2017

Countries at the Belt and Road Summit that Reaffirmed Commitment to Fully Implement the Paris Agreement

At the recent Belt and Road Summit hosted by China, thirty countries reaffirmed their support for the Paris Agreement and called on all countries to implement their commitments under the Agreement. At a time when the White House is attempting to backslide from the global effort to combat climate change, this statement demonstrates once again that a Trump effort to evade climate action would make the United States a global outcast.

Standoff in Venezuela

Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal | May 12, 2017

Venezuela has been rocked in recent weeks by almost daily protests and counter-protests, as right-wing opponents of socialist President Nicolas Maduro seek to bring down his government.

While the media portrays these events as a popular rebellion against an authoritarian government, supporters of the pro-poor Bolivarian revolution initiated by former president Hugo Chavez say the country is witnessing an escalation in what is an ongoing counter-revolutionary campaign seeking to restore Venezuela’s traditional elites in power and reverse the gains made by the poor majority under Chavez and Maduro.

Federico Fuentes interviewed Steve Ellner, a well-known analyst of Venezuelan and Latin American politics and a retired professor at Venezuela’s Universidad de Oriente, to get his views on recent events.

When it comes to the current turmoil in Venezuela, the media have been unanimous in their version of events: the Maduro regime is on its last legs due to the overwhelming opposition it faces from the people, including among the poorest sectors that previously supported the government, and therefore its only recourse for survival is violent repression. How accurate is this media narrative?

It’s hardly a far-gone conclusion.

There is no better indication of the deceptiveness of the mainstream media’s narrative than the spatial nature of the anti-government protests in early 2014 known as the “guarimba” and again this year.

AFL-CIO Report: Santander bank exec looted Puerto Rico’s infrastructure fund

by CAROLYN BOBB

People’s World | May 16, 2017

A key question all Puerto Ricans must ask – should banks like Santander be held accountable for their role in Puerto Rico’s debt crisis? | hedgeclippers.org

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Amid rallies by community members in Puerto Rico and Boston outside Santander banks, the AFL-CIO released a new report detailing how former Santander executive Carlos M. Garcia diverted a $1 billion fund dedicated to essential water and sewer projects into a series of financial transactions that ultimately pushed the Government Development Bank (GDB) into insolvency.

According to the report, while Garcia looted the infrastructure fund to support the issuance of billions in GDB notes and sales tax-backed bonds (known by Spanish acronym COFINA), his former employer, Santander, made millions as an underwriter.

US: House passes bill that forces workers to work without pay

by MARK GRUENBERG

People’s World | May 11, 2017

HR 1180 legalizes a practice that employers like Walmart have been sanctioned for in the past. AP

WASHINGTON – By a 229-197 party-line vote, the House has approved a bill, HR 1180, that will give employers the power to decide whether or not they will pay for overtime work.

The Working Families Flexibility Act “is not good for working families at all. It changes our nearly 80-year system of overtime that discourages employers from overworking us,” Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers said in his blog.

Under the bill’s provisions, employers could force workers to accept compensation time rather than pay them for work done in excess of 40 hours.

UK: Labour’s manifesto is a shift to the left. It’s no time for compromises with the right.

by Nick Clark

 Socialist Worker | May 16, 2017

Jeremy Corbyn out campaigning in Morley, West Yorkshire, on Wednesday (Pic: Neil Terry)

Forget the media and right wing denunciations, there are some excellent promises in the Labour Party’s draft election manifesto.

In the manifesto Labour promises to scrap tuition fees, and plough billions of pounds into education and the NHS.

It promises to raise the minimum wage to £10 an hour and end attacks on benefits claimants. And there are plans to ban fracking and renationalise the rail industry and Royal Mail.

The final version of the manifesto was agreed by a meeting of Labour’s broader leadership yesterday, Thursday. But a draft of the manifesto was leaked to a number of national newspapers on Wednesday night.

Argentina: Memory, Unity and Mobilization is the Recipe to Make Macri Retreat

by Carlos Aznárez

The Dawn | May 11, 2017

May Square was collapsed by people who went to the streets to show their indignation. Photo: Página 12

With the malignancy of those who are sheltered by many years of impunity, Macri’s government once again tried to leak through the Supreme Court the idea to overthrow one of the biggest achievements obtained by the Argentinian society: the punishment for those who murdered, tortured, disappeared people and exiled thousands of Argentinians.