2021-12-15: News Headlines

WSWS (2021-12-15). SEP (Australia) Emergency Public Meeting: British court decision puts Assange's life in danger. Demand his immediate release! wsws.org The Socialist Equality Party (Australia) has called an online public meeting to fight for the immediate freedom of Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, after the British High Court last week ordered his extradition to the US.

teleSUR (2021-12-15). UNGA President Says Vaccinating World New Year's Top Priority. telesurenglish.net On Tuesday, Abdulla Shahid, president of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), said that his first goal for the New Year is to vaccinate the world and achieve vaccine equity. | RELATED: | "My top priority is going to be on vaccine. That is why I am convening this high-level meeting on Jan. 13. That is why I want to make my New Year resolution on vaccine," the UNGA president told reporters while responding to the question regarding his top pr…

Robert D. Bullard (2021-12-15). The Father of Environmental Justice, on Whether We're All Doomed. zcomm.org Interview on the global struggle to keep this world safe to live in, and how racism gets in the way…

Editor (2021-12-15). Teachers across Iran take strike action demanding jailed trade unionist is freed. mronline.org Thousands of protesting teachers assembled in front of the Majlis, or Iranian parliament building, in central Tehran today demanding justice and the release from prison of a leading teacher trade unionist.

Joe Piette (2021-12-15). For 40 years, activists globally continue to demand: Free Mumia Now! workers.org Human rights and community activists in six countries held online and in-person events to mark the date 40 years ago, when award-winning Philadelphia journalist, radio personality and Black Panther Party veteran was nearly killed and unjustly charged with a crime he did not commit. Houston, Dec. 11. Mumia Abu-Jamal was . . . |

John Pilger (2021-12-14). The Judicial kidnapping of Julian Assange. mronline.org What is at stake is both a courageous man's life and, if we remain silent, the conquest of our intellects and sense of right and wrong: indeed our very humanity.

WSWS (2021-12-14). Barbados declares a republic: British imperialism's legacy of slavery and colonialism. wsws.org None of the island's governments have been able to redress British imperialism's legacy of underdevelopment, dependency and above all economic hardship and social inequality.

Mark Gruenberg (2021-12-14). Parade of hurting people prods lawmakers to pass Build Back Better. peoplesworld.org WASHINGTON—One by one, advocating ending income inequality, strengthening and restoring voting rights, cutting military spending, extending the child care tax credit, raising the minimum wage, and more, a parade of people hurting from exploitation by corporations, the economic elite, and their political allies, took a hand-held microphone in D.C. Monday to campaign for their combined …

MD Staff (2021-12-14). How cities can save on commuting time, double job access. moderndiplomacy.eu A new report released today by the World Economic Forum pinpoints how cities can use mobility options to improve social equity and economic growth. The white paper, How Mobility Shapes Inclusion and Sustainable Growth, identifies over 40 potential solutions to improve inclusivity in mobility, with simulations of over 40 million daily trips, global benchmarking and …

WSWS (2021-12-14). Soaring social inequality under New Zealand Labour government. wsws.org Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jim Bolger warned recently that society is increasingly divided between the poor and the "obscenely rich," and that historically inequality was "the root cause of revolution."

Sam Pizzigati (2021-12-14). Against plutocrats, platitudes — about democracy — will always be pitiful. nationofchange.org The Biden administration's democracy initiative is missing the all-important inequality connection.

Adam Ramsay (2021-12-14). Culture wars: identity politics and the fight against surveillance capitalism. zcomm.org For some, it's a left-wing adoption of neoliberalism. For others, it's authoritarian. But it's really just about equality…

Nina Hall (2021-12-14). Climate activism has gone digital and disruptive, and is facing up to racism within movement. zcomm.org Two new and powerful climate groups — Fridays for Future and Extinction Rebellion — have been particularly important. Our research suggests they have championed new models and tactics of activism, and also grappled with racism in their own ranks…

Morning Star (2021-12-14). Iranian teachers strike, demand money for education and freedom for jailed union leader. peoplesworld.org Thousands of protesting teachers assembled in front of the Majlis, or Iranian parliament building, in central Tehran Tuesday demanding justice and the release from prison of a leading teacher trade unionist. Teachers staged rallies too at the headquarters of education authorities in 25 provinces and 60 cities across Iran. The gatherings in Tehran and Shiraz …

W. T. Whitney Jr. (2021-12-14). Cuba defeats COVID-19 with learning, science, and unity. peoplesworld.org Education is central to Cuba's brand of socialism. The revolutionary government's dedication to scientific knowledge and healthcare for all shows up now as Cubans cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. The United States is not so lucky. Cubans have wholeheartedly carried out masking, social-distancing, testing and quarantining. Cuba' s bio-medical research and production facilities created five …

teleSUR (2021-12-14). Venezuelan Plains' Working Songs Declared World Heritage. telesurenglish.net On Tuesday, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) placed the working songs of the Venezuelan Plains on the list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity that requires urgent safeguarding measures. | RELATED: | The practice consists of singing melodies individually and a cappella on cattle herding and milking, which are part of the plains' traditional and environmentally…

WSWS (2021-12-14). Australia: Evan Blake speaks at Committee for Public Education online meeting. wsws.org Blake reported on the spread of the Omicron variant internationally, the new dangers it represents and the significance of the Global Workers Inquest initiated by the WSWS.

Paul M. Sweezy (2021-12-14). The Triumph of Financial Capital. mronline.org Financial capital, once cut loose from its original role as a modest helper of a real economy of production to meet human needs, inevitably becomes speculative capital geared solely to its own self-expansion. In earlier times no one ever dreamed that speculative capital, a phenomenon as old as capitalism itself, could grow to dominate a national economy, let alone the whole world. But it has.

Prabhat Patnaik (2021-12-14). India's post-pandemic economic recovery. mronline.org The pandemic alas is not yet over, but there are no economic disruptions in the current fiscal year in the form of lockdowns or workers' absence. The economy's performance therefore can no longer be attributed to the prevalence of the pandemic; whatever it is, it is caused by economic factors.

Editor (2021-12-14). The right is surging in the U.S., but there's cause for hope. mronline.org Emma Norton speaks to Sherry Wolf and Joel Geier, two long-time revolutionary socialists in the United States, about the turmoil, contradictions and possibilities of the U.S. political situation.

imperial.ac.uk (2021-12-14). Visually stunning tree of all known life unveiled online. imperial.ac.uk OneZoom is a one-stop site for exploring all life on Earth, its evolutionary history, and how much of it is threatened with extinction.

Editor (2021-12-14). ACT-UP and Win: a riveting account of NYC activism during the AIDS crisis. mronline.org Sarah Schulman's recently released political history shines light on AIDS activism that often goes unrecognized.

Editor (2021-12-14). Revisiting Marx on Alienation and Communism. mronline.org A review of Karl Marx's Writings on Alienation, edited and introduced by Marcello Musto.

2021-12-15 21:35 | 17:35 EST | jz | 25 | 0 | 18 | 5 | 0