The National Constituent Assembly in Venezuela will analyze the economic situation in the country, as it has already approved measures to respect and protect the legality of the state’s institution including the opposition-led National Assembly.
The U.S. submarine captain says, “We’ve all got to die one day, some sooner and some later. The trouble always has been that you’re never ready, because you don’t know when it’s coming. Well, now we do know and there’s nothing to be done about it.”
He says he will be dead by September. It will take about a week to die, though no one can be sure. Animals live the longest.
The war was over in a month. The United States, Russia and China were the protagonists. It is not clear if it was started by accident or mistake. There was no victor. The northern hemisphere is contaminated and lifeless now.
The US health care system produces healthy profits while leaving growing numbers of people without access to affordable, quality health care.
The US is one of the only advanced capitalist countries without a system of universal health coverage. Tens of millions are uninsured, and many millions more pay for insurance that is either too limited in its coverage or too expensive to use. What we need, and could implement if political realities change, is a “Medicare for all,” single-payer system of national health insurance.
As the organization Physicians for a National Health Program explains:Read More »
The Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold’s African subsidiary, Acacia Mining, is embroiled in a major political conflict in Tanzania. With growing evidence of its failure to pay royalties and tax, Acacia has been condemned by President Magufuli, had its exports restricted and slapped with a massive tax bill. Barrick enjoys considerable government backing.
Will the Canadian government continue to support Barrick Gold’s exploitation of mineral resources in Tanzania no matter what abuses the company commits?
Would the Trudeau government stop backing the Toronto-based firm if it bilked the impoverished nation out of $10 billion? Or, what if one thousand people were raped and seriously injured by Barrick security? Would Ottawa withdraw its support if one hundred Tanzanians were killed at its mines?
Respected humanitarian agencies collected a mountain of donations in the name of Haiti earthquake victims, they largely squandered it, and they then refused to account for it. How did they get donors to give the money? Through exaggerations, truth-twisting and outright lies. And the international press spread those lies and gave them credibility.
The following is an excerpt from the new book, The Great Haiti Humanitarian Aid Swindle, by Timothy T. Schwartz (CreateSpace, March 2017), available from Amazon and IndieBound.
The presidential elections in Iran on May 19 saw the re-election of President Hassan Rouhani for a second term of office. As was widely expected by most Iranian observers, this was the most convenient outcome for the theocratic regime in Tehran.
The election—from the opening of nominations, to the vetting of candidates, to the televised debates over a three-week-long campaign—followed the normal practice of a carefully state-managed show. However, the liberal newspapers and media in North America and Europe presented the election as an exercise in democracy in which the “reformers” won decisively.Read More »
To be an Uber driver is to work when you want. Or so Uber likes to say in recruitment materials, advertisements, and sponsored research papers: “Be your own boss.” “Earn money on your schedule.” “With Uber, you’re in charge.” The language of freedom, flexibility, and autonomy abounds, and can seem like a win for workers.Read More »
Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar was arrested again after being released from hospital. She is on the 14th day of her fast. Today after discharged from hospital in the afternoon, Medha Patkar started at 4 PM from Indore after meeting her supporters and resting a little. As their vehicle was moving towards Barwani, her vehicle was intercepted by nearly 35 police vehicles and arrested her again. The vehicle’s driver was forced out and a police man took control of the vehicle. Medha Patkar will be produced before the magistrate.Read More »
Today we celebrate World Indigeneous people’s day but in the backyard of the biggest democracy of the world is the systematic isolation and displacement of millions of adivasis in the name of development. A veteran activist is fighting for the rights of the aadivasis on the Narmada valley but the government is determined to ‘develop’ the state even when it ensure dislocation of thousands of adivasis in India. Can we expect anything from those in power who have already decided what is ‘good’ for adivasis by dislocating them without any honorable rehabilitation? The state does not even allow activist to peacefully protest against a project which has never been shared with those who are going to be affected. The brutal and condemnable police action against the Narmada activists led by Ms Medha Patkar, in Dhar, Madhya Pradesh reflect the methodology of the Indian state which does not believe in dialogue on the issue of ‘development’. Those who challenge it peacefully are antinational while others who have picked up the guns have only given state legitimacy to brutally suppress the adivasi revolt in the name of Naxalism. Frankly speaking, fasting methods will not move Indian elites unless it is either done by the prime minister or some Swamies and Babas. Anna Hazare’s fast was to discredit the Manmohan Singh government and the nation is paying a price for it. Not that we loved Dr Singh but definitely he was much more sober and better than his alternative’.Read More »
Few days ago I read a longish interview that Prof John Bellamy Foster, had given to a leftist journal called Left Voice (LV). Prof Foster is a renowned American Marxist scholar and a leading eco-socialist theoretician. Among many other things, he expressed in the interview his high regard for Naomi Klein, who had, 2-3 years ago, published a best-seller entitled This Changes Everything—Capitalism vs. the Climate. That would not have been any problem for anybody. But Prof Foster also said : “She is aligned with eco-socialism”. What the phrase “aligned with” actually meant was not clear. So Richard Smith, another renowned American eco-socialist, took it as meaning Klein is an eco-socialist. According to Smith, who has read Klein’s 576 page book, she is not an eco-socialist. He criticized Prof Foster for thinking so, probably meaning thereby also that Foster was thus diluting the content of eco-socialism. Thereafter several comments appeared in the website of the forum the Simpler Way. I too published there my first quick response to the debate. Below I am posting a revised and expanded version of my response.Read More »
Journal of People 