“The Number One Demand on the Streets of Colombia is for Justice”

PROTEST FOR JUSTICE IN COLOMBIA 

Zoe PC

People’s Dispatch | September 13, 2020

“Who protects me from those who are supposed to protect me” Photo: Javier Jiménez, Colombia Informa

On Wednesday, September 9, a video went viral in Colombia. It depicted a man repeatedly being beaten and tased by the police while he kept pleading “please, no more”. In a few hours, the man, Javier Ordóñez, would be dead and thousands would be on the streets of Bogotá and across the country demanding justice for him.

Ordóñez, a lawyer and father of two, had stepped out with his friends when he was accosted by a group of police officers. As Ordóñez was being tortured, his friends begged the officers to lay off even while capturing their cruelty. The agony of Javier Ordóñez did not end there. According to his family, after he was given more than 10 electric shocks, he was taken to a CAI, a small neighborhood police station. There, according to the forensics report, the police beat him up so severely that his skull was fractured in 9 places. He died shortly after.

Now West should Sit on its Backside, Shut Up, and Listen to “The Others”!

IMPERIALISM

Andre Vltchek

We were always told what to think; what is correct and what is wrong. By the white dudes living in or coming from Europe and North America. They knew everything. They were the most qualified.

When I write “white,” I don’t mean just their race or color of their skin. To me, “white” is their culture, where they belong. Yes, their identity.

We Russians, Cubans, Venezuelans, Chinese, Iranians, Turks are not really “white,” even if our color of the skin is. Not that we are dying to be white, really! We have our own way of living and thinking, and most of us are on the side of the oppressed, of the ‘wretched of the world,’ intuitively. For centuries, our nations have been plundered and attacked. Millions of our people vanished during invasions, genocides, like those in Africa and all other parts of the ‘non-white’ world.

Does Fighting Climate Change Require Postponing the Fight for System Change?

POLITICS AND CLIMATE CHANGE 

John Molyneux

Climate and Capitalism | August 25, 2020

Time is always an important factor in politics and history but never has it mattered as much as on the issue of climate change.

The IPCC Report’s warning in October 2018 that the world has twelve years to avoid climate disaster was undoubtedly a major factor in galvanizing a global wave of climate change activism, especially in the form of Greta Thunberg and mass school strikes and the Extinction Rebellion movement. At the same it is clear that this warning could be, and was, “heard” or interpreted in different ways by different people. In this article I want consider some of those interpretations and their implications, particularly in relation to the question of whether there is time to bring about system change or whether, because time is so short, it is necessary to focus on and settle for changes that can be implemented within the framework of capitalism.

Contemporary Relevance of Marxian Economics

POLITICAL ECONOMY

David F. Ruccio

Occasional Links and Commentary | September 14, 2020

[ht: adm]

 

I’ve just signed a contract with Polity Press to write a new book, “Marxian Economics: An Introduction.” The idea is to publish it in late 2021 or early 2022.

My goal is to write a textbook that can fulfill two purposes: first, a stand-alone book for courses that are focused on Marxian economics or survey courses that have a section devoted to Marxian economics; second, it will also be useful as a companion text in a course that is based on reading all of or major selections from Karl Marx’s Capital. While the book will be aimed at college and university students (both undergraduate and graduate) in economics, it will also be relevant for and accessible to students and professors in other disciplines—such as sociology, geography, history, and cultural studies—as well as to interested individuals outside the academy.

Screwing with the Unemployment Statistics

UNEMPLOYMENT IN U.S. 

Dave Lindorff

Unemployment benefits application line at noon running for half a block out onto the sidewalk in Brooklyn, NY (photo by Tricia Wang 王圣捷 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Something is screwy about unemployment numbers coming out of Washington.

In late July, just before the end of the supplemental $600 weekly checks for people collecting unemployment benefits, the New York Times reported that 30 million were receiving those checks.

That’s 30 million laid-off workers who qualified for unemployment benefits, which is not everyone who was laid off, since many people who get work for a wage don’t qualify for unemployment compensation.

Venezuela Will Produce World Health Organization Approved COVID-19 Vaccines and Distribute Them Free

VENEZUELA 

RESUMEN | September 10, 2020

Once vaccines are certified by the World Health Organization, Venezuela will produce and distribute those anti-COVID-19 vaccines produced by international scientific centers.

“Venezuela has its facilities for vaccine production, and we have the capacity to produce the vaccine in coordination of Russia, China, Cuba and the whole world,” stated Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Former US Marine Captured Spying on Venezuelan Refineries – Dismantled Plan to Cause an Explosion in El Palito Refinery

U.S IMPERIALIST AGGRESSION AGAINST VENEZUELA 

Orinoco Tribune | September 11, 2020

Venezuelan President, Nicolás Maduro, announced on Friday the capture the day before of a United States citizen who was carrying out espionage activities at the Amuay and Cardón refineries in Falcón state. “There is all the evidence, the photographs, the videos.” A sabotage plan at the El Palito refinery in Carabobo state was also dismantled.

He indicated that the spy served as a “Marine” at CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) bases in Iraq. He was captured with heavy and specialized weapons, a large amount of dollars in cash and other items, which have been passed on to the Public Ministry. “He is already in the declaration phase.”

Why is the US Government Using Stolen Cash To Pay Doctors in Venezuela?

U.S IMPERIALIST AGGRESSION AGAINST VENEZUELA 

Alan Macleod

MintPress News | September 11, 2020

Venezuelan doctors currently fighting COVID-19 are receiving funding from an unlikely source: U.S. backed coup leader Juan Guaidó. Health workers, who sometimes earn less than $20 per month, are receiving $100 dollars monthly from the self-declared president of Venezuela. Where is Guaidó getting all this money from? The U.S. government, who, in turn, is using the billions of dollars it has confiscated from Venezuela to fund his latest political stunt.

Venezuela Backs Bolivia’s Morales and Ecuador’s Correa Following Court Rulings

LATIN AMERICA 

Manuela Solé

Venzuelanalysis.com | September 10, 2020

Presidents Nicolas Maduro, Rafael Correa and Evo Morales during a 2015 summit in Bolivia. (TeleSUR)

Mérida, September 9, 2020 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro rejected judicial decisions that forbid ex-Presidents Evo Morales (Bolivia) and Rafael Correa (Ecuador) from running in upcoming elections.

Bolivia’s MAS Launches Campaign in El Alto, Loza Replaces Evo

PEOPLE’S STRUGGLE FOR DEMOCRACY IN BOLIVIA

teleSUR | September 13, 2020

Presidential candidate for the Movement Towards Socialism rallies a crowd at a market in El Alto. September 13, 2020. | Photo: Twitter / @LuchoXBolivia

Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) candidates Luis Arce and David Choquehuanca are launching their election campaign in the city of El Alto this Sunday.