The murders of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht

People’s World | January 14, 2019

Carnations are placed in front of a memorial stone with names of socialists at a cemetery in Berlin, Jan. 13, 2019. Prominent figures from the country’s left paid tribute to the founders of the German Communist Party and other socialist heroes. Luxemburg and Liebknecht were killed Jan. 15, 1919, by right-wing militiamen. | Markus Schreiber / AP

This week marks the anniversary of the Jan. 15, 1919, murders of German communists Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. They were both born in the same year, 1871, and died on the same day, their names necessarily linked in history.

As members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), they were outraged that their party supported German involvement in World War I. In 1915, they broke from the SPD and co-founded the anti-war Spartacus League (Spartakusbund). Both were imprisoned for their anti-war agitation.

‘No Time Extension to Coup-Born Regime’ Bolivian Workers Warn

teleSUR | January 16, 2020

Members of the Confederation of Rural and Indigenous Women Bartolina Sisa during a press conference, Bolivia, January, 2020. | Photo: Twitter/ @LosAndesBolivia

Women, workers, Indigenous peoples, and transporters vowed to defend democracy.

Bolivia’s social organizations Thursday reject the Constitutional Court’s decision to extend the period of the self-proclaimed President Jeanine Añez until the installation of a new government which is expected to emerge from the May 3 elections​​​​​​.

Steelworkers sue Trump EPA to save anti-chemical disaster rule

by Mark Gruenberg

People’s World | January 15, 2020

Chemical Safety Board investigators inspect wreckage at the Tesoro-Anacortes refinery in 2010. | Chemical Safety Board

WASHINGTON—Imagine putting the lives and health of 177 million U.S. residents – one of every two – at risk. That’s what greens contend GOP President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency is planning to do, and the United Steelworkers (USW) have gone to federal court to stop the scheme.

At issue: An EPA plan to “amend” its Risk Management Program rule that, now, orders some 12,500 chemical-producing plants nationwide to plan and implement methods to prevent accidents, explosions and fires which release toxic chemicals into the air and water.

In plain language, to “amend” the plan means to trash it.

France: Operation ‘Dead Ports’ Makes Macron Feel the Workers’ Strength

teleSUR | January 16, 2020

Workers on strike attend a demonstration against pensions reform in Paris, France, Jan. 16, 2020. | Photo: Reuters

Dockers have paralyzed the ports in response to the French government’s intransigence.

The dockers’ strike keeps French ports blocked for the third consecutive day, an action that responds to the call made by the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) to protest against President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform proposal.​​​

 

2019 was second-hottest year ever, more extreme weather ahead: WMO

Countercurrents | January 16, 2020

The 2019 was the world’s second-hottest year on record. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), U.S. space administration NASA and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced the finding Wednesday. The Geneva-based WMO combined several datasets, including two from the NASA and the UK Met Office.

The decade beginning in 2010 was the hottest ever, and it’s the fourth in a row to set a new high. The five warmest years occurred since 2015. This year, 2020, is expected to be similar to 2019.

Under normal conditions, without warming, scientists would expect that 2.5% of the Earth would experience “very high” temperatures in a given year. In 2019, 52% of the Earth did. Almost 10% of the planet set local heat records for average annual temperature; no place broke a cold record, according to Berkeley Earth.

Minorities pay more to bank than whites in the U.S., says report

A Journal of People report

A new survey from Bankrate shows that African-Americans, millennials, and Northeasterners pay more in banking fees than other segments of the population.

Banking fees are defined as “nominal” fees paid by the consumer for services, maintenance, and upkeep of their bank accounts. Examples could include a fee to print a check, to open or have an account at a bank, or for wire transfers.

Bankrate says the American customer spends on average $8 a month on fees for “routine service charges, ATM fees and overdraft penalties.” However, not everyone pays the same amount.

UK’s disappearing coastline: Coastal towns at risk of being wiped out over next 20 years

A Journal of People report

Around 7,000 homes in England will disappear into the sea by the end of the century. Happisburgh in Norfolk will be worst hit with 318ft of erosion in the next 20 years.

Figures from Plymouth University, cited by the Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership, found that coastal erosion is occurring along 17% of the UK coastline – comprising 30% of England’s coastline; 23% in Wales; 20% in Northern Ireland and 12% of the Scottish coastline.

India: These places in NCR are making zero waste a daily commitment

by Rashmi Shrivastav , Dinesh Raj Bandela

Down To Earth | January 07, 2020

Food wastage is often neglected or remains invisible. An estimated 1.3 billion tonnes — a third of all food produced in the world annually — is lost or wasted along, according to a Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) study. This happens across the chain — from farms to processing plants, marketplaces, retailers, food service operations and kitchens.

The resource to produce that much food leaves a footprint of about 3.3 billion tonnes of CO₂. If food waste were a country, it would place third worldwide in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, between the United States (US) and India.