World News
Trump repeats threats of post-election military repression as Barr calls for charging protesters with “sedition”
By Patrick Martin, 17 September 2020
While Trump and his political aides and advisers openly speak of civil war and martial law, the Democrats are largely ignoring and covering up the moves toward dictatorial forms of rule.
House report on Boeing 737 Max crashes: Corporate criminality, FAA complicity, but no accountability
By Barry Grey, 17 September 2020
Despite the incriminating evidence, the Democrats propose no actions to hold either Boeing or the FAA accountable for the deaths of 346 men, women and children.
No charges in Missouri police murder of 25-year-old Hannah Fizer
By Jacob Crosse, 17 September 2020
As another killer cop goes free, protesters against the police killing of Ricardo Munoz in Lancaster, Pennsylvania remain in jail, with bail set at $1 million.
Reject the AFT’s rush to vote on sellout contract at University of Michigan!
By the International Youth and Students for Social Equality at UM, 17 September 2020
Now is not the time to back down! The struggle must be broadened to include undergraduates, staff, faculty and workers in a common struggle.
American Federation of Teachers shuts down University of Michigan graduate student strike
By our reporters, 17 September 2020
The end of the strike occurred less than 24 hours after the American Federation of Teachers assumed control of negotiations and produced an agreement that was virtually identical to the one overwhelmingly rejected just a week ago.
Big Ten universities announce football will resume
By Andy Thompson, 17 September 2020
After an earlier decision to postpone the season, the Big Ten football conference has announced games will begin October 24.
“We’re going to keep fighting”
Opposition mounts as thousands of University of Illinois at Chicago nurses and workers continue strike
By Kylie Rose, 17 September 2020
The university administration and the Democratic Party are increasingly nervous over the support striking workers have elicited.
Slow-moving Hurricane Sally makes landfall along Alabama-Florida border
By J. L’Heureau, 17 September 2020
With close to 20 million people in its path, Sally brought coastal flooding, record rainfall, high winds and mass power outages to a large swath of the northern Gulf Coast, stretching from southeast Louisiana to the west central coast of Florida.
Fed toes the line on Wall Street’s demands
By Nick Beams, 17 September 2020
The most commonly used phrase by Fed chair Jerome Powell at his press conference was “very strong forward guidance” in a message to Wall Street that the central bank was giving the commitments it has demanded.
Trump’s China tariffs ruled illegal by World Trade Organisation
By Nick Beams, 17 September 2020
The WTO decision will not see any relaxation of the US trade war against China but rather its intensification.
Students return to UK universities: Build campus safety committees!
By Danny Knightley, 17 September 2020
Campus safety committees must ensure safety procedures are put in place to protect the health of students and staff alike, and fight for increased testing on campuses.
Manchester Go North West bus drivers vote overwhelmingly to strike
By Dennis Moore and Robert Stevens, 17 September 2020
Workers in Manchester should emulate the move by London bus drivers at a number of garages, who this week set up the London Bus Drivers Rank-and-File Safety Committee.
Strikes mount as COVID-19 breaks out in hundreds of Spanish schools
By Alice Summers, 17 September 2020
Spanish unions have refused to call out education workers in a unified struggle against the reopening of schools, limiting action to sporadic, short-term protests.
Faurecia Gladstone Rank-and-File Safety Committee calls for plantwide shutdown to guarantee safety during pandemic
By Faurecia Gladstone Rank-and-File Safety Committee, 17 September 2020
The Faurecia Gladstone Rank-and-File Safety Committee has issued a statement calling for equal treatment to protect against COVID-19.
Surge in COVID-19 infections as in-person classes resume at many Illinois college campuses
By Fabian Salgado, 17 September 2020
Illinois State University is experiencing a horrifying explosion in the rate of COVID-19 infection as in person classes resume at many of the state’s campuses.
University of Wisconsin-Madison and La Crosse quarantine students after infections
By Brian Green, 17 September 2020
The affected students were given the choice of returning to their families or remaining on campus in the crowded and COVID-infested residence halls.
COVID-19 outbreaks force switch to online learning at New Jersey schools
By Erik Schreiber and Robert Milkowski, 17 September 2020
At least eight districts have switched their entire district or individual schools to fully remote instruction after confirmed infections.
New York City ruling elite warns Mayor de Blasio of “widespread anxiety”
By Fred Mazelis, 17 September 2020
The corporate elite is demanding an intensified back-to-work drive, and is fearful that the “progressive” mayor may not be able to keep the lid on growing social discontent.
As US death toll hits 200,000, Trump calls for herd immunity
By Andre Damon, 17 September 2020
“Herd immunity” has been the guiding principle of Trump’s response to the pandemic, underlying his efforts to downplay the virus, handicap testing and get workers back on the job as quickly as possible.
Former Der Spiegel journalist exposes US government lies that Assange “failed to redact” and “put lives at risk”
By Laura Tiernan, 17 September 2020
Testimony from John Goetz established that the only “harm to life” came from US war crimes which Assange and WikiLeaks were trying to expose.
Assange exposed “a very serious pattern of actual war crimes,” Daniel Ellsberg tells extradition hearing
By Thomas Scripps, 17 September 2020
Ellsberg said that “with the Manning and Assange papers, I found my name being mentioned all the time as a very good person … to use me as a foil against these new revelations which were supposedly very different from mine.”
Journalist Andrew Fowler speaks to the WSWS: If Assange is extradited, the same can happen to any of us
By Oscar Grenfell, 17 September 2020
“The attempt by the State to control information is at the heart of the charges against Assange. Its physical manifestation is there every day in the court.”
Australian ruling elite moves to junk coronavirus safety measures—the working class must intervene to answer the pandemic threat!
By the Socialist Equality Party (Australia), 17 September 2020
Sections of the ruling class have concluded that any further safety restrictions can no longer be tolerated, regardless of the danger to working class lives.
Book Review
Wilmington’s Lie: The 1898 white supremacist coup in North Carolina
David Zucchino, Atlantic Monthly Press, 336 pages
By Fred Mazelis, 17 September 2020
The racist massacre in Wilmington was a major turning point in the entrenchment of Jim Crow segregation throughout the South.
British actress Diana Rigg (1938-2020)
By Paul Bond, 17 September 2020
Rigg was a fine classical actress who ended up successfully negotiating the transition back and forth between stage and television.
“I thought this was like an experimental concentration camp”
Nurse alleges forced sterilizations, medical malpractice at Georgia immigrant detention center
By Niles Niemuth, 16 September 2020
The chilling report provides further evidence of the sadistic abuse meted out by the Trump administration in its fascistic war on immigrants.
Acting US Homeland Security secretary refuses to appear before congressional committee
By Jacob Crosse, 16 September 2020
In defiance of Congress and the Constitution, Chad Wolf said he would not testify before a House committee on September 17.
Wisconsin Supreme Court blocks Green Party presidential campaign from 2020 ballot
By Kevin Reed, 16 September 2020
The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled 4-3 to reject a lawsuit by the Green Party candidates seeking an injunction against the distribution of ballots to voters without their names on them.
University of Michigan graduate student workers’ strike at critical turning point
By Matthew Brennan, 16 September 2020
With threats of a court injunction and the taking over negotiations by the American Federation of Teachers, the strike by more than 1,200 graduate students is in danger.
Defying injunction threats, striking University of Michigan grad students call for “larger mobilization of working people”
By our reporters, 16 September 2020
Striking graduate students at the University of Michigan are continuing their walkout in defiance of the strikebreaking threats by top administrators.
Who is on the University of Michigan Board of Regents?
By Matthew Brennan, 16 September 2020
The governing body of the University of Michigan is a nexus of powerful political, military and corporate interests
Strike by University of Illinois at Chicago nurses and workers continues, as Illinois Democratic governor threatens to decimate state budget
By James Martin and Kristina Betinis, 16 September 2020
A virtual blackout of the strikes at UIC and its hospital in the national press indicates the growing fear in ruling circles over the development of working class opposition.
West Coast fires and evacuations expected to fuel the spread of COVID-19
By Kevin Martinez, 16 September 2020
Tens of thousands of people fleeing fires have been forced to live in makeshift shelters, making effective social distancing measures nearly impossible.
Trump stages sham Mideast “peace” ceremony on White House lawn
By Bill Van Auken, 16 September 2020
The overriding significance of the Israel-UAE-Bahrain accords is the further consolidation of a US-led anti-Iran axis in the Middle East.
The Moria catastrophe and the European Union’s war on refugees
By Martin Kreickenbaum, 16 September 2020
The inhumane treatment of the desperate people on Lesbos is the product of deliberate policies being pursued by the European Union and its member states.
Schools at epicentre of UK’s coronavirus explosion
By Robert Stevens, 16 September 2020
The virus is resurgent in workplaces, schools, and communities, with the R (reproduction) value rising above 1 across the UK.
COVID-19 cases escalate with school re-openings: Build educators rank-and-file safety committees!
By Tom Pearce and Julie Hyland, 16 September 2020
With Labour Party support, the National Education Union is complicit in abandoning its 450,000 members and those they teach to the government’s policy of “herd immunity”.
France imposes return to school without protections against COVID-19
By Jacques Valentin, 16 September 2020
With over 1,200 schools and universities affected, France faces a resurgent pandemic provoked by the reopening drive by the highest state authorities.
The political significance of the London Bus Drivers Rank-and-File Safety Committee: “Change is coming in the working class”
By our reporters, 16 September 2020
The formation of the committee shows that bus workers are starting to draw a balance sheet from their experiences over the past six months and are ready to fight back.
London bus drivers launch rank-and-file safety committee to fight renewed threat from COVID-19
By the London Bus Drivers Rank-and-File Safety Committee, 16 September 2020
“We are not cattle and will not be sacrificed to protect the profits of the corporations and banks who have made a financial killing during the pandemic,” states the resolution passed by the London Bus Drivers Rank-and-File Safety Committee.
London bus drivers resolve to fight for Assange’s freedom
By the London Bus Drivers Rank-and-File Safety Committee, 16 September 2020
The first action of the newly formed London Bus Drivers Rank-and-File Safety Committee was to pass a resolution calling for the defence of imprisoned WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
“It’s immoral and irresponsible to bring students to campus and to conduct in-person classes”
NYU faculty and students denounce unsafe reopening of campus
By IYSSE at New York University, 16 September 2020
The reopening of NYU, the largest private university in the US, is utterly reckless and places the lives of students, workers and residents in the area in immense danger.
San Diego State University seeks to shift blame to students for coronavirus outbreaks following reopening
By Melody Isley and Norissa Santa Cruz, 16 September 2020
As the virus spreads on campus, students have watched in horror as peers are taken away to isolation dorms by staff dressed in hazmat gear.
“It is really up to the teachers to take their safety into their own hands.”
One-third of schools in Knox County, Tennessee have at least one positive COVID-19 case
By Isaac Finn, 16 September 2020
The growing spread of the deadly virus is the direct outcome of the “herd immunity” policies that have been pursued by every level of government in the US.
Reactionary Massachusetts ruling paves way for Andover public schools to open in-person
By Mike Ingram, 16 September 2020
The state Department of Labor Relations board ruled that Andover teachers had engaged in an illegal strike by refusing to enter school buildings
Yoshihide Suga replaces Abe as Japanese prime minister
By Ben McGrath, 16 September 2020
LDP support for Suga indicates that the Japanese ruling class views him as the most capable of carrying out its agenda, in the face of a growing economic and social crisis.
Indian police and BJP government extend witch-hunt against anti-CAA protesters to filmmaker Rahul Roy
By Wasantha Rupasinghe, 16 September 2020
Monday’s interrogation of Roy and his wife comes after the Delhi police spuriously implicated prominent cultural and political figures in the BJP-fomented communal violence.
US defence secretary phones Sri Lankan president about increased military cooperation
By Vijith Samarasinghe, 16 September 2020
Washington wants enhanced military relations with the strategically-located island in order to intensify its war drive against China.
Woodward revelations: Canada’s political elite implicated in Trump’s suppression of COVID-19 threat
By Omar Ali and Roger Jordan, 16 September 2020
Given Canada’s intimate military-strategic partnership with Washington, it is inconceivable that the Trudeau government was not privy to the intelligence Trump and the top Democrats received about the pandemic.
Australian CEO pay hits record high, boosted by JobKeeper subsidies
By Jason Quill, 16 September 2020
Large companies have exploited government COVID-19 bailout schemes to increase executive rewards.
Trump incites fascistic violence as US election approaches
By Joseph Kishore—SEP candidate for US president, 16 September 2020
The great issues confronting workers in this election cannot be resolved on the basis of an electoral strategy. They can be resolved only through the revolutionary movement of the working class and the conquest of state power.
Assange faces life imprisonment in politically motivated trial, witnesses argue
By Thomas Scripps, 16 September 2020
Both expert witnesses shared the view that the prosecution of Assange is politically motivated—which, if found to be true, would bar his extradition.
Suppression of wages in US at centre of widening social inequality
By Nick Beams, 16 September 2020
The reduction in labour’s share of the national income by eight percentage points over five decades means that workers would be receiving $1.12 trillion more had the previous distribution between wages and profits applied.
An interview with Michael Fitzgerald, producer of Waiting for the Barbarians
By David Walsh, 16 September 2020
Fitzgerald has a history in movies extending back to the late 1970s. He first produced two films with John Huston, Wise Blood (1979) and Under the Volcano (1984).
The precedents for disease eradication through international cooperation
Part two
By Frank Gaglioti, 16 September 2020
Vaccines have been successfully developed for both polio and the measles, but global elimination of the diseases lags.
Stalinist leader Joma Sison doubles down on Big Lie that the CPP never supported Philippine President Duterte
By Tom Peters, 15 September 2020
Jose Maria Sison has not even attempted to refute the evidence presented by Dr. Joseph Scalice that the Communist Party of the Philippines supported the fascistic president Rodrigo Duterte in 2015-2016.
Trump, Roger Stone call for violence and repression after Election Day
By Patrick Martin, 14 September 2020
The US president and his oldest political crony called for a police-military crackdown to back his continued rule.
University of Michigan graduate students vote to extend strike as opposition erupts at campuses throughout the US
By Genevieve Leigh, 14 September 2020
The reopening of campuses is driving an expansion of the coronavirus pandemic, with 19 of the 25 largest outbreaks in communities with colleges that have started in-person learning.
“A general strike is a must to stop this back-to-work and back-to-school madness”
Autoworkers support University of Michigan strikers
By our reporters, 14 September 2020
Like the herding of workers into the auto factories, the drive to reopen schools and colleges even as the pandemic continues to rage is entirely driven by profit interests.
Greece buys billions in French arms amid war tensions with Turkey
By Alex Lantier, 14 September 2020
The purchase of a squadron of fighter jets and four warships marks a major escalation in the military standoff between Greece, backed by France, and Turkey.
“In the end, it is all about profit"
University of Illinois Hospital nurses strike over staff shortages, unsafe conditions
By Benjamin Mateus and George Gallanis, 14 September 2020
UIH nurses in Chicago walked out Saturday to demand patient limits and safe work environments.
University of Illinois at Chicago workers go on strike against low wages and unsafe conditions
By Kylie Rose and Andy Thompson, 14 September 2020
Workers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have gone on strike against low wages and unsafe conditions as the COVID-19 pandemic spreads rapidly through college campuses.
More than 15,000 attend University of Texas football game amidst coronavirus pandemic
By Chase Lawrence, 14 September 2020
A UT Austin spokesperson confirmed that only 1,198 attendees were tested before the game. Out of these, 95 tested positive, or nearly 8 percent.
Millions in the US choke on hazardous air as West Coast fires continue to rage
By Kayla Costa, 14 September 2020
With 33 dead and over 4.6 million acres burned, the unprecedented fires in California, Oregon and Washington have quickly spiraled into a catastrophe affecting the lives of millions.
Wildcat strike over COVID-19 at Lear auto parts plant in Indiana
By Marcus Day, 14 September 2020
Lear workers refused to work for several hours Friday night after learning of potential COVID-19 cases in the facility, halting production also at the nearby Ford Chicago Assembly Plant.
Floods inundate Sudan amid escalating economic crisis
By Jean Shaoul, 14 September 2020
The hardest hit has been the capital Khartoum, where the Blue and White Nile Rivers meet, as the Nile burst its banks, demolishing everything in its way.
Australia: Unions silent as dozens of New South Wales schools are affected by COVID-19
By Martin Scott, 14 September 2020
Even teachers over the age of 70, or with serious health conditions, have been forced back to front-line teaching since late May.
Australian government exploits family funeral to push for end to coronavirus border restrictions
By Patrick O’Connor, 14 September 2020
The government aims to shift public opinion against border restrictions, which corporate Australia now wants scrapped.
Three postal workers test positive at UK Royal Mail’s Medway Mail Centre
By Paul Lee, 14 September 2020
The outbreak at the “state-of-the-art” delivery office demonstrates that workers’ health is being imperilled in an ongoing scramble for profit.
In fascistic Independence Day speech, Brazil’s Bolsonaro condemns “strikes, social disorder”
By Miguel Andrade, 14 September 2020
Bolsonaro’s rant rooted Brazil’s national identity in “fear of god, respect for the family” and the struggle for “liberty” against “communism.”
Wisconsin Supreme Court blocks mailing out of absentee ballots pending ruling on Green Party ballot access
By Jacob Crosse, 14 September 2020
The Democratic party has led the charge in purging third-party candidates, including the Greens, from the November ballot.
COVID-19 outbreak at Virginia migrant detention center caused by repression of anti-police brutality protesters
By Joe Williams, 14 September 2020
The outbreak at the Farmville detention center demonstrates the capitalist class’s disdain for democratic rights and the lives of the entire population.
Tens of thousands in southwest Louisiana remain without power two weeks after Hurricane Laura
By J. L’Heureau, 14 September 2020
With Tropical Storm Sally on track to hit Louisiana early this week the social and ecological crisis wrought in the wake of the last major storm is still coming into focus.
Congressional investigation opened into deaths of 27 soldiers this year at Fort Hood, Texas
By Chase Lawrence, 14 September 2020
The military newspaper Stars and Stripes has dubbed the base the US Army’s “most crime ridden post.”
The California wildfires, climate change and capitalism
By Bryan Dyne, 14 September 2020
The wildfires ripping through California and Oregon have exposed yet again the dangers posed by climate change and the inability of capitalist governments to deal with it.
Australian government, Labor opposition silent on sadistic British show-trial of Julian Assange
By Oscar Grenfell, 14 September 2020
The Australian political and media establishment has largely responded to the vicious attacks on Assange’s legal and democratic rights by pretending that they are not occurring.
Stop the dangerous “routine operation” of schools in Germany! Prepare a nationwide general strike!
Set up independent action committees for the safety of teachers, pupils and parents!
By the Action Committees for Safe Education, 14 September 2020
The completely unsafe routine operation of schools threatens the health and lives of millions of educators, parents, children, young people and their families.
Dr. Joseph Scalice responds to Jose Maria Sison’s Stalinist lies and slanders
By our reporter, 14 September 2020
Sison hails “Stalin’s great achievements,” and Anakbayan prints this statement without any attempt to distance itself from such an assertion.
German Left Party preparing to enter government and support war
By Johannes Stern, 14 September 2020
In August, the Left Party’s parliamentary leader Dietmar Bartsch backed the German Army’s foreign deployments. Now foreign affairs spokesperson Gregor Gysi is going further.
Wildfires devastate US West Coast
By Linda Rios, 12 September 2020
As with the criminal mishandling of COVID-19, the mass devastation wrought by the wildfires exposes the complete inability of capitalism to address any social problem.
University of Michigan grad students set to extend strike as opposition grows to the US back-to-school drive
By Genevieve Leigh, 12 September 2020
Nineteen of the 25 hottest outbreaks in the US are in communities with colleges that have reopened for in-person learning, sparking growing anger over the homicidal back-to-school campaign.
University of Michigan strikers speak out: “We need to resist going back to normal. Normal no longer exists”
By our reporters, 12 September 2020
The strike is quickly turning into a focal point of a much broader opposition to the reckless reopening of both K-12 schools and college campuses everywhere.
Revelation of US government conspiracy on COVID-19 exposes EU herd immunity policy
By Alex Lantier, 12 September 2020
Revelations that US officials conspired to lie to the public about the severity of the coronavirus pandemic also expose the politically criminal role of the EU.
Latin America, epicenter of COVID-19 pandemic, on the brink of social explosion
By Tomas Castanheira, 12 September 2020
Latin America this week reached the grim milestones of 300,000 COVID-19 deaths and more than 8 million infections.
As Congress rejects renewal of unemployment benefits
US jobless claims top 884,000 for second week in a row
By Jacob Crosse, 12 September 2020
With no congressional relief in sight, millions of workers are seeing meager unemployment benefits expire while layoffs continue to mount.
As Trump incites police, fascist attacks on social protests
Biden pledges to keep troops in the Middle East and maintain record military spending
By Barry Grey, 12 September 2020
Since Labor Day, Biden has focused on appeals for support from the military and national security establishment, along with economic nationalist demagogy and pledges to prosecute “violent” left-wing protesters.
“I don’t want to be a typhoid Mary!”
Jacksonville, Florida teacher speaks out against deadly school reopenings
By Nancy Hanover and Matthew MacEgan, 12 September 2020
A teacher in Jacksonville, Florida, reached out to the WSWS to speak about the spread of the coronavirus across the state just two weeks into the new school year.
Why did so many poor New Yorkers die of COVID-19?
By Josh Varlin, 12 September 2020
Inequality, including in-hospital care, determined whether thousands of people in New York City would die of COVID-19.
Mexico runs out of death certificates with 122,765 “excess deaths” reported during pandemic
By Norissa Santa Cruz and Carlos Reed, 12 September 2020
The Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has done nothing to prevent the virus from claiming the lives of tens of thousands, most of them poor workers.
Hundreds of new COVID-19 cases raise fears of uncontrolled outbreaks across the Pacific
By John Braddock, 12 September 2020
The surge in cases across the Pacific is causing a deepening health and social crisis, underscoring the global reach of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Full classes, full buses—German schools are becoming a coronavirus trap
By Marianne Arens, 12 September 2020
With schools re-opening without social distancing and the wearing of masks, new infections are increasing. Throughout Germany, hundreds of facilities have been affected.
India-China border conflict remains on knife’s edge
By Jordan Shilton and Keith Jones, 12 September 2020
US support for India and efforts by major European powers to boost their military-strategic presence in the Indo-Pacific could cascade the border crisis into a catastrophic war.
Australian raids on Chinese journalists mark escalation of US-led witch hunt
By Mike Head, 12 September 2020
The timeline of this affair points to an intensifying anti-China propaganda campaign, instigated by Washington and the intelligence apparatus.
Mauritian cruise ship crews strike to demand repatriation
By Tom Casey, 12 September 2020
Mediterranean Shipping Company crews have been stranded on three ships near Santos port, Brazil since the industry’s COVID-19 shutdown in late March.
Infected students denounce administration guidelines, amidst rising COVID-19 cases at Southern California universities
By Melody Isley and Emiri Ochiai, 12 September 2020
Infected students report callous treatment from school administration, being thrown into isolation rooms without bed sheets, food or sanitizing equipment.
State University of New York scapegoats students for COVID outbreaks, prepares repressive measures
By Alex Findijs, 12 September 2020
Refusing to take any responsibility for this catastrophe, the SUNY system is punishing groups of students for gathering and laying the ground for further police repression on campuses.
Brexit crisis intensifies after Johnson government tears up agreement with Brussels
By Robert Stevens, 12 September 2020
Brexit epitomises the malignant growth of inter-imperialist antagonisms that are plunging the world into a brutal trade war and exacerbating the threat of military conflict.
UK Tories use Extinction Rebellion protests to argue for savage political repression
By Richard Tyler, 12 September 2020
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has asked officials to take a “fresh look” at the legal status of Extinction Rebellion and see if it can be classified as an “organised crime group.”
UK government’s “Operation Moonshot”—a trojan horse for herd immunity policy
By Thomas Scripps, 12 September 2020
Under the cover of a non-existent mass testing programme, the government plans to encourage as much intermingling as possible.
Thousands sleeping rough after the burning down of Moria refugee camp on Lesbos
By John Vassilopoulos, 12 September 2020
Shocking footage and pictures show refugees of all ages sleeping on roads and hillsides, surrounded by their meagre possessions.
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