Daily News Digest January 25, 2024
Images of the Day:
Argentine Unions Hold General Strike Against New Leader Milei’s Austerity Policies!
Latuff: Israel needs to be stopped now, otherwise the world runs the risk of being drawn into a war where we know how it starts but not how it ends.
Since World War I, ‘the war to end all wars’, there have been perpetual wars for perpetual peace, this Laura Gray’s cartoon from the front page of The Militant August 18, 1945, Under the Banner Headline: “There Is No Peace”
Capitalism as a Failed System: World Capitalism Has Been Aware of the Comming Catastrophe of Global Warming Over 5 Decades Ago and Did Nothing!: Under Capitalism — Human Lives Don’t Matter Capitalism Does Not, and Never Has, Worked for the Masses! In Its Death Agony, Capitalism Is Traveling About The World Like The Four Horsemen of the The Apocalypse, Spreading Racism, War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death. The very future of Humanity Is Now At stake!
During This Economic Crisis, Capitalism’s Three-Point Political Program: Austerity, Scapegoat Blacks, Minorities, and ‘Illegal’ Immigrants for Unemployment, andThe Iron Heel! For Decades, Blacks Have Been Subjected to The Iron Heel! Currently, the US Capitalist Class is Divided Over When — Not If, to Apply It to Everyone! Due to Years of Austerity, Cuts to Public Health Care, And An Anti-Science and Profiteering President, The United States Now Leads the World In Coronavirus Cases and Deaths in the World!
Always Remember: That President Obama, With a Majority Democrat Legislature Supported the Wall Street Bailout and Remember, That he Established, in writing, the United States Capitalist Austerity Program. — The Race to the Bottom/Pauperization of the 99%!
Democracy?: As the Capitalist Robber Barons Steal from the 99%, Only the 1% Voted For Austerity! The 99% Should Decide On Austerity — Not Just The 1%, Who Profit From Austerity!! Under Austerity, All of the World Will Eventually Be Pauperized, Humbled, and Desecrated Like Greece and Puerto Rico.! Socialism Means True Democracy, that the 99% Will Rule, Not the Few!
Quotes of the Day:
A sense of the Jewish part of this tragedy can be had by considering an essay recently published by Amanda Gelender, writer and mental health advocate, in the Middle East Eye. Here Gelender laments the fact that “Israel’s use of religious symbols” in its ongoing slaughter in Gaza “has robbed Jews of a faith practice divorced from nationalist barbarism … .After Palestinians, Zionism’s next victim is the Jewish faith.” Indeed, the whole Zionist argument that Judaism and Zionism are the same thing links religion to political power, just as Catholicism was bound to a Papal state in the 16th century, and the various Protestant sects to secular states in the 17th. It also resurrects as present policy the most inhuman aspects of the Old Testament wherein God commands the Israelites to “attack the Amalekites and completely destroy everything they have.” Just to be sure the divine order is not misunderstood, God itemizes the targets: “Kill men, women, infants and nursing babies, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.” Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has referred to the Palestinians as Amalekites, and so in Gaza, his government seems to be reenacting the biblical conquest of Canaan. Today, as Gelender points out, “Israel has murdered more than 20,000 Palestinians and counting. It has displaced almost two million people and intentionally destroyed homes, the ecosystem and infrastructure to render Gaza uninhabitable for those who manage to survive starvation, dehydration and carpet bombing.” —The Historical Roots of Israel’s Purge and Purify Strategy
Videos of the Day:
From Freezing Cold to Housing Insecurity, Migrants Face Crisis in NYC, Chicago & Beyond
“Many of My Shows Have Been Canceled”: Ai Weiwei on Israel, Gaza & Censorship
United States:
The United States is not a Democracy (A government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly)! Only the 1%, through their ownership of the Republicrats and who profit from war and the war budget, vote for War and the war budget — A policy, which Gore Vidal called a Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace. — The 99% Should Decide On War — Not Just The 1% Who Profit From War! Under a Democracy, The 99% would have the right to vote on the policy of Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace! The United States takes from the poor and gives to the Rich. Tax the Rich! — They Can Afford ford To Pay! Both Parties Support U.S. Capitalism’s Wars! (The Only War the Democrats Opposed was the Civil War!)
We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both. — Louis D. Brandeis Quotes
The greatest purveyor of violence in the world today — my own government. MLK, Beyond Vietnam
Ralph Nader: What If Our Society Valued Civics as It Does Entertainment? A teacher once said to me: “A society pays for what it values.” If so, our society values commercial entertainment, including spectator sports, orders of magnitude more than it values civics defined as the rights and duties exercised by citizens in a democracy. What if we lived in a society that valued both equally?
- Possibly the most visible event would be an annual Academy of Civic Heroes Awards viewed by tens of millions of people. The glitter would shine not on the winner’s wardrobes, but on their victories of justice and on their groundbreaking documentaries, books and features.
- The acceptance remarks would not be gushing flurries of thank yous, but concise evocations of their hard-earned struggles for, and portrayals of, a just society. The school curriculum in our elementary, secondary and higher education institutions would provide academic parity for civics and civic skills with courses on business and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). . . .
New Disclosure Rules Favor Oligarchy Over Small Business After a costly lobbying blitz, hedge funds and private equity got themselves exempted from stringent anti-money-laundering requirements being imposed on small businesses. As of Jan. 1, small businesses must report who owns and controls the company to financial regulators or face stiff penalties. The disclosure is required under a new anti-money laundering law designed to curb tax fraud and terrorism financing. But while mom-and-pop cafes and hardware store owners are now busy filling out the disclosure paperwork, many investment vehicles flagged by law enforcement agencies are exempted from those same disclosure rules after Wall Street firms spent millions lobbying on the matter.
What Surgical Errors Teach Us About Nuclear Policy Even a tiny portion of the world’s nuclear weapons — anywhere in the world — has the potential to end civilization. In the persistence of disastrous medical mistakes, an ER doctor sees a dire warning about human fallibility. There is something in medicine we worry about a lot called “a Never Event.” This is an error so terrible we hope it will never be made. The classic example would be accidentally taking the wrong patient to the OR for someone else’s surgery. Or, a similar example, you’ve got the correct patient but still end up doing the wrong surgery — replacing the wrong hip, or biopsying the wrong kidney, or thinking it’s a tubal ligation when it’s actually supposed to be an appendectomy. These sorts of errors are incredibly rare. It’s a 1-in-100,000 event. But we do millions of surgeries in this country. And so it is that about 100 of these awful errors are reported every year (!) across the United States.
How Israel’s Starvation of the Gaza Palestinians Has led Biden to try to Starve the Yemenis T he British Royal Air Force and the American Air Force bombed the Yemeni capital of Sanaa again on Tuesday, in a campaign that President Biden admits has had no effect. Washington and London ordered the airstrikes, now being launched almost daily, in retaliation for the rockets being launched at Red Sea container ships by the Helpers of God or Houthi militia that controls 80% of Yemen’s population. The Houthis say that they are punishing Israel for its total war on the Palestinians of Gaza by cutting off Red Sea traffic to the port of Eilat. On Friday, massive crowds gathered in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa to protest the US air strikes. Houthi leaders addressed them, saying that they are standing up for the weak and oppressed among the people of Palestine. Hatred for the US is boiling over throughout the Arab world.
U.S. Funded Palestinian Genocide:
The Farce of Post-Gaza Pax Americana in the Middle East The Biden administration is preaching peace to cover up Israeli war crimes in Gaza. America’s Middle East diplomacy and Israel’s war on Gaza are two sides of the same coin. Washington’s efforts to shield Israel as it carries out war crimes in Palestine have implicated it in yet another war that threatens to engulf the whole region. Since the Israeli army embarked on its bloody assault on Gaza a month ago, the Biden administration has dispatched its foremost naval strike force, including two aircraft carriers, to the Middle East in order to put its detractors on notice and its allies at ease. It has also sent its top diplomat to do Israel’s bidding in Arab capitals and to buy time for its military to “finish the job” in Gaza.
How Much Influence Goes Iran have Over Its Strategic Allies — Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis? By Sara Harmouch, American University and Nakissa Jahanbani, United States Military Academy West Point From attacks by rebels in the Red Sea to raids in northern Israel and the Oct. 7, 2023, assault by Hamas, Western analysts have pointed a finger of blame toward Iran. Regardless of how involved Tehran is directly in the planning and carrying out of such incidents, the accusations get at a broader truth: In Middle Eastern geopolitics, Iran’s strategy of aligning with violent nonstate actors – notably Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen – influences the regional balance of power. As experts in Iran’s relationship with its network of proxies, we understand that Iran’s connection with each group is distinct yet interlinked, revealing Tehran’s regional objectives. From southern Lebanon to Gaza to Yemen, these alliances shape the political landscape and highlight the nature of influence and control in proxy warfare. It serves as a counterweight to Iran’s relatively limited conventional military capabilities, forming a key part of its foreign policy.
Marjorie Cohn: Biden’s Illegal Bombing of Yemen Intensifies the Risk of Regional War The Houthis say their attacks in the Red Sea will continue until there is a ceasefire in Gaza. In response to Israel’s assault on the people of Gaza in early October, Yemen’s Houthi movement, Ansar Allah, began mounting attacks on commercial ships in and around the Red Sea. The Houthis said the attacks were aimed at Israeli-connected or Israel-bound ships and they would continue until there is a ceasefire in Gaza. Meanwhile, the pressure on this vital trade route is impacting the global economy as ships are being redirected to more expensive routes. On January 11, South Africa presented its case documenting Israel’s genocide in Gaza to the International Court of Justice. The following day, the U.S. and U.K. attacked 28 sites in Yemen. Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from a ballistic missile submarine killed five Yemenis and injured six. Four days later, the U.S. fired another cruise missile into Yemen.
Environment:
One of Many Ways to Begin to End Global Warming: Expose ‘Greenwashing’ — Tax the Polluters 100%! After World War II Rosa Luxenburg Coined the Slogan: ‘S0cialism or Barbaism’! Now the Slogan Should Be: ‘Ecosocialism or Ecocide’!
Alpine Glaciers Certain to Shrink at Least a Third by 2050 Alpine glaciers certain to shrink at least a third by 2050 Even if global warming were to stop completely, the volume of ice in the European Alps will fall 34% by 2050. If current trends continue, however, almost half the volume of ice will be lost.
Flash Floods Inundate Homes in San Diego: ‘It’s Never Been That Bad’ Torrential rain swept through a large part of the US on Monday, days after a cold spell A furious rainstorm unleashed record levels of rain on communities across San Diego county on Monday, inundating homes and overturning cars. Hundreds of people had to be rescued from flooded areas as the San Diego River surged over its banks, fueled by downpours that left the city grappling with the fourth wettest day in history. States of emergencies have been declared across the county by local officials, and hundreds of unhoused people were displaced when water rushed into homeless shelters. Residents described harrowing escapes from Alpha Project’s Bridge Shelter that was quickly overtaken by waist-deep water, which had also previously flood in 2018, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
Change Is Coming Soon “All Americans owe them a debt for — if nothing else — releasing the idealism locked so long inside a nation that has not recently tasted the drama of a social upheaval. And for making us look on the young people of the country with a new respect.” That’s how Howard Zinn opened his book The New Abolitionists about the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee of the 1960s. Zinn pointed out a truth from the Black freedom struggles of that era and earlier: that young people were often labeled aloof and apathetic, apolitical and uncommitted — until suddenly they were at the very forefront of justice struggles for themselves and for the larger society. Connected to that truth is the reality that, in the history of social-change movements in the United States and globally, young people almost invariably find themselves in the lead.
Labor:
Economy:
Michael Roberts:Marx’s Law of Profitability – Yet More Evidence Marx’s law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall (LTRPF) argues that, over time, the profitability of capital employed will fall. Marx reckoned this was “the most important law of political economy” because it posed an irreconcilable contradiction in the capitalist mode of production between the production of things and services that human society needs and profit for capital – and it would generate regular and recurring crises in investment and production. Marx’s law has been attacked theoretically as erroneous, illogical and indeterminate and it has been rejected as empirically disproven. However, various Marxist economists have provided a robust defence of the law’s logic. (Carchedi and Roberts, Kliman, Murray Smith.) And the body of empirical evidence supporting a long-term falling rate of profit on capital accumulated has mounted over the years. Now Tomas Rotta from Goldsmith University of London and Rishabh Kumar from the University of Massachusetts have made another important contribution to the empirical evidence supporting Marx’s law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall. In their paper, Was Marx right? Development and exploitation in 43 countries, 2000–2014, R&K find that Marx’s law is right: capital intensity rises faster than the rate of exploitation and so the global profit rate declines.
World:
All Eyes Are on Argentina Ahead of Its January 24 National Strike Since the night of his acceptance speech in November, far-right President Javier Milei has mounted an all-out attack on the rights and living conditions of working people in Argentina. Thousands of people across the country — organized in unions and workers’ organizations, the feminist movement, the student movement, and neighborhood organizations — are preparing to fight back. They are mounting a national strike to defeat austerity and authoritarianism. Most politicians have a “honeymoon” period when they enter office. Not Argentina’s far-right Javier Milei. He faces a national strike against his entire political program less than two months after taking office. On January 24, thousands are organizing a national day of action against Milei’s reactionary agenda, which promises to gut social spending and leave Argentina to be picked clean by the imperialist vultures of foreign investment and international financial institutions. January 24 will draw a line in the sand, determining the path forward for the fight against the Right and for the interests of the working class and oppressed in the context of a deep economic and social crisis. The center of this struggle is the so-called “Omnibus Law,” a series of measures Milei and his advisors have proposed to push through Congress. With more than 300 changes to labor and tax laws, proposals for layoffs, and massive privatization, this law represents a sweeping neoliberal attack on the rights and historical conquests of working people. Both the content of the law and the authoritarian methods by which Milei is trying to impose it are brutal attacks on the democratic rights of millions of people, limiting the right to protest and strike and attempting to consolidate power in the executive branch.
Argentines Strike Against Far Right President’s Attacks and Austerity Plans Two socialist members of Argentina’s congress discuss how the left is playing a crucial role in organized resistance. Unions and workers organizations, the feminist movement, social and political organizations, the student movement, and neighborhood organizations across Argentina will participate in a national strike on Wednesday, January 24. Solidarity actions are being staged in dozens of cities across the world.Left Voice spoke with Myriam Bregman and Christian Castillo, two leaders of the revolutionary socialist organization (and Left Voice’s sister organization), el Partido de los Trabajadores Socialistas (Party of Socialist Workers, PTS) and members of Congress, about Javier Milei’s attacks and how the Left is playing a crucial role in organizing the resistance.
Colombia’s Cerrejón Mine Dispute Tests the Limits of Sovereignty In Colombia, lawsuits by foreign corporations are obstructing a fossil fuel phase-out at the expense of the indigenous Wayúu community. At COP28 in December, Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced that his country, the biggest coal producer in South America, had formally joined an alliance of nations calling for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty to prevent the “omnicide of planet Earth.” The treaty is very much in line with the progressive president’s aim to steer his country toward a bold energy transformation, which he has championed since taking office in 2022. Petro, however, faces an intimidating legal obstacle: the Investor-State Dispute Settlement. ISDS is a global investment protection scheme that enables foreign corporations to sue states for actions affecting their investments in the country. Because of ISDS, in Colombia, a covert and high-stakes legal clash is now unfolding between the government and the Swiss multinational mining giant Glencore.
Education, and Welfare:
The government of the United States can pass laws in a few days to spend tens of trillions of dollars for war and the bailout of Wall Street and the bankers. Yet, those who, pass universal healthcare for themselves, but cannot spend even one trillion dollars for universal health for those who are ‘governed’! This is what is considered, by the powers to be, a democracy and part of the democratic way. — Roland Sheppard, Let the People Vote on Healthcare
Why Not Control All Drug Prices? Major pharmaceutical companies in the United States are battling with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders over an issue that is at the heart of whether we value human wellbeing over corporate profits. As chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), Sanders has vowed to force CEOs of pharmaceutical companies to publicly answer for why their drug prices are so much higher than in other nations. He plans to bring a committee vote to subpoena them. The subpoenas are necessary because—brazenly—the CEOs of Johnson & Johnson and Merck have simply refused to testify to the HELP committee. What are they afraid of? In a defensive-sounding letter to Sanders, an attorney for Johnson & Johnson accused the Senator of using committee hearings to “punish the companies who have chosen to engage in constitutionally protected litigation.” The letter does not specify the litigation in question—perhaps because it would sound so ridiculous and would reveal the company’s real agenda. Last July, the company, along with Merck and Bristol Myers Squibb sued the Biden administration for allowing the Medicare program to regulate prescription drug prices.