COVID-19: Killer of Black, Brown and Poor of US and Haiti

by Dady Chery

teleSUR | May 12, 2020

Some writers stopped just short of declaring, particularly to the populations of states with large Black and Latino populations: “You’re dying because you’re poor.”

 

We are supposed to be thinking this week about the health disparities in the United States based on race and ethnicity, since the New York Times, Washington Post, National Public Radio, and even USA Today are going on about it. This is the hot topic presumably because of a recent analysis of the demographics of COVID-19 deaths by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Such an analysis, however, cannot be found.

Coronavirus financial collapse Feature photo COVID-19 Are We on the Verge of a Global Financial Collapse

by Raul Diego

MintPress News | May 08, 2020

Money has been moving like lava through the economy for almost two months now amid the coronavirus shutdowns resulting in millions of layoffs, which some bank officials like J.P. Morgan’s Bob Michele, say will keep unemployment high for at least a decade. The bleak prediction comes as the April jobs report, published today, reported that 20.5 million people joined the ranks of the unemployed. If we consider a study done by the Economic Policy Institute, the real figure could be twice larger.

Corporate Media Don’t Think Americans Paid to Invade Venezuela Count as Mercenaries

by Joshua Cho

FAIR | May 11, 2020

When an attempted invasion of Venezuela launched from the shores of Colombia was foiled on May 3, after armed commandos were intercepted at Venezuela’s coastline of La Guira, it seemed undeniable that the heavily armed men, possessing satellite phones and uniforms with the US flag emblazoned on them, had been paid to take part in a coup attempt to overthrow the Venezuelan government (People’s Dispatch, 5/6/20).

In recent reports regarding the Bay of Pigs–style invasion, however, the term “mercenary” was accompanied by scare quotes, as if these men could only be seen that way from the perspective of an Official US Enemy^TM (whose perspective is always illegitimate in the eyes of corporate media).

Mercenaries, pandemic and riots in Venezuela: A grassroots perspective

by Federico Fuentes and Atenea Jiménez

Green Left | May 08, 2020

Incidents of looting have occurred in some small- and medium-sized towns, such as Upata, Bolivar state.

Venezuela is confronting COVID-19 amid foreign sanctions and mercenary incursions. Complicating matters further is the explosive combination of deep recession and a nationwide lockdown, which has triggered incidents of looting and riots.

Green Left’s Federico Fuentes spoke to National Network of Commune Activists spokesperson Atenea Jiménez to get a sense of what is happening in the country.

***

Could you begin by talking about how the government has dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic?

Everyone recognises that the government acted quickly to implement all-encompassing measures.

World’s Super Rich Buying Pandemic Escape Mansions in New Zealand

by Alan Macleod

MintPress News | May 11, 2020

Instead of paying $24,000 for a haircut or spending $120,000 on a banana duct taped to a wall, the world’s super wealthy have found a new commodity to purchase: pandemic bunkers in New Zealand. A number of the planet’s richest people, including billionaire co-founder of Paypal Peter Thiel, have, amidst a growing global pandemic, escaped to the country and bought luxury bunkers designed to withstand even nuclear explosions. LinkedIn CEO Reid Hoffman describes the practice as “apocalypse insurance.”

Isolated in the far “corner” of the Southern Hemisphere, more than 1,000 miles from Australia, the sparsely populated island country has long been a destination of choice for those worried about the potential of a catastrophic event, like a war, nuclear attack, or an uprising. The country’s temperate climate and remarkably stable society make it a particularly safe choice in the event of such an occurrence.

Google and Facebook pay way less tax in New Zealand than in Australia – and we’re paying the price

by Victoria Plekhanova

The New Zealand government’s recently announced NZ$50 million subsidy package to support local media was necessary and urgent – even if it came too late to save the Bauer magazine titles from closing.

But the injection of government cash did not address the underlying cause of the decline of New Zealand’s media, which predates the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the internet has created new opportunities for media and audiences alike, those opportunities have come at a price. Traditional media organisations now compete with giant digital platforms, not only for the attention of readers, but also for the advertising revenue that was once their lifeblood.

India: Vizag gas leak: Who is liable?

by Soundaram Ramanathan, Nivit Kumar Yadav, Digvijay Singh Bisht

Down To Earth | May 07, 2020

The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a Delhi-based think tank, has come out with an assessment of the styrene gas leak that occurred in the plant of LG Polymers India Pvt Ltd early morning May 7, 2020.

CSE — in its first assessment released at 3.30 pm — has attributed the accident to the company’s negligence and in not adhering to safety protocol. Based on the detailed note by CSE, below is a low down on the gas leak that has already killed 10 people.

UK: Tenants’ unions demand government strengthen protections for renters

by Ceren Sagir

Morning Star | May 12, 2020

Posters referencing Covid-19 and a rent strike in Bristol

BRITAIN’S biggest tenants’ unions penned an open letter to the government today to demand strengthened protections for renters from the coronavirus crisis.

Acorn, Living Rent and the London Renters Union (LRU) wrote to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick to demand that the government suspends all rents immediately, cancels all rent debts and puts in place more robust measures against evictions.

Chomsky, Sanders and Varoufakis unite to launch Progressive International

Morning Star | May 13, 2020

LEFT-WING academics and authors including Noam Chomsky and Naomi Klein launched the Progressive International (PI) initiative on Monday, which will hold a founding conference in September.

Forty notable figures, also including Greece’s former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, Iceland’s Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir and exiled former Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa, were joined by the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM) and the Sanders Institute to launch the PI’s website.

On International Nurses Day we thank nurses for their priceless contribution to society

by Helen O’Connor

Morning Star | May 12, 2020

PRIOR to becoming a trade union officer, I was a nurse working on the front lines of the NHS for 28 years.

Many in my cohort in 1990 were migrant women, mostly Irish, just like me.

In those days the registered general nurse (RGN) was a three-year apprenticeship where you earned your stripes through hard work on a variety of in-patient wards.