USA: Oaklanders march against homelessness and displacement

by Maryilyn Bechtel

People’s World | November 27, 2019

Youth Vs. Apocalypse said that organization’s issue – climate justice – is “in an intersectional relation to housing justice” because “the same corporate officials and systems of power” preventing transition to renewable energy are the same ones removing communities of color and poor communities from their homes. Marilyn Bechtel/PW

OAKLAND, Calif. – Cranes dot the sky here. Everywhere one looks, another tower rises, throwing its shadow over the homes of long-time residents. But these new high-rise dwellings are not intended for them, and more and more folks with decades-long roots in Oakland are being displaced to far-out suburbs and cities.

Or in all-too-many instances, being displaced to tents and improvised homes under freeway overpasses, in parking lots and empty spaces. Or even to a blanket under the open sky.

Why, Indeed, Aren’t Americans Rising Up Like the People of Chile, Lebanon, Iraq, Hong Kong, etc.? A Response to Benjamin and Davies

 by Mary Metzger

Countercurrents | November 20, 2019

It is a very good question that Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J.S. Davies pose  in their recent Countercurrents article – “Why aren’t Americans rising up like the people of Chile and Lebanon?”  It is a good question and they give several very good answers to it; answers the people of America and the people of the world need to hear in order to truly understand American life.  In fact, I thought the article so informative and so worthy that I copied parts of it to hand out to the Russians who come to hear my biweekly lectures at the American Cultural Center in Moscow. (Which, since Russia threw out most of the American diplomatic representatives last year,  is no longer run by Americans but rather by the Russian Ministry of Culture.)  I had them read it aloud in class and when they were done, they were stunned silent by its message.

U.S. seen as ‘exporter of white supremacist ideology,’ says counterterrorism official

A Journal of People report

Some countries are beginning to regard the U.S. as an exporter of white supremacism, said a senior U.S. counterterrorism official on November 8, 2019.

“For almost two decades, the United States has pointed abroad at countries who are exporters of extreme Islamist ideology,” Russell Travers, acting director of the National Counterterrorism Center, told an audience in Washington, D.C. “We are now being seen as the exporter of white supremacist ideology. That’s a reality with which we are going to have to deal.”

White nationalism, born in the USA, is now a global terror threat

by Art Jipson and Paul J. Becker

The recent massacre of 50 Muslim worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand is the latest confirmation that white supremacy is a danger to democratic societies across the globe.

Despite President Donald Trump’s suggestion that white nationalist terrorism is not a major problem, recent data from the United Nations, University of Chicago and other sources show the opposite.

U.S. debt exceeds $23 trillion for the first time in history

 Countercurrents | November 04, 2019

U.S. Treasury Department figures released Friday show: U.S. public debt has surpassed $23 trillion for the first time in history, rising more than 100 percent in less than a decade and more than a trillion dollars this year alone.

Of the total, less than US$17 trillion is owed to individuals, while the remaining $6 trillion comes from loans within government agencies.

The figure marks a new record after the national debt reached US$22 billion dollars in February this year while the fiscal imbalance as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose from 3.8% in 2018 to 4.6% this year.

Down the Rabbit Hole With Donald Trump

by Tom Engelhardt

Countercurrents | November 04, 2019

There can be no question about it. Donald Trump is Lewis Carroll’s Queen of Hearts. “Off with his head!” was the president’s essential suggestion for — to offer just one example — a certain whistleblower who fingered him on that now notorious Ukrainian phone call. And if The Donald hasn’t also been playing the roles of White Rabbit, Mad Hatter, and other characters from Carroll’s classic nineteenth century children’s book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, then tell me what he’s been doing these last years.

Chicago teachers, support staff strike

by John Bachtell

People’s World | October 17, 2019

Teachers, parents, and community supporters march through downtown Chicago on Oct. 14. | John Bachtell / PW

CHICAGO—Thousands of teachers and support staff are on strike this morning, Oct. 17, after the city failed to reach an agreement with them. Despite ten months of bargaining, the sides remain far apart on restoring staffing levels decimated over the past few decades.

Chicago Public Schools yesterday announced the cancellation of classes for today.

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) has joined in solidarity with Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 73 vowing to create quality schools and parks for all. SEIU represents about 80% of Park District employees, school custodians, special education aides, and security guards. Without an agreement, the unions, representing over 30,000 workers, have gone out on strike together.