Daily News Digest Archives
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!
Daily News Digest January 11, 2016
Image of the Day:
The Masters of War
Quote of the Day:
Importance of the political front: As in Greece, Spain, and even the USA, however, given the weakness on the trade union front, workers and youth have begun to draw conclusions about the need for a political solution to their problems. This recognition of the limits of industrial action and isolated protests, and the need for a political alternative for the working class, represents a positive step forward for the movement. This process eventually found its expression in Britain with the election (and re-election) of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader. Ever since, it is clear that the attention of the labour movement has been turned towards the political front, rather than the industrial front. We must see developments in Unite in this wider context. Len McCluskey’s election as general secretary of Unite in 2010 was seen as a shift to the left for Britain’s biggest union. Industrially, results have been mixed: support given to – and victories gained for – blacklisted workers, rank-and-file movements in construction, and super-exploited employees at companies such as Sports Direct has been balanced out by humiliating defeats in cases such as Grangemouth, where the union leadership was seen sitting on their hands and calling for compromise as the bosses took a knife to workers’ jobs, terms and conditions. As a result, there are clearly frustrations amongst a layer of grassroots union members regarding such inaction, as well as with the democratic deficiencies within the union. These were reflected in the large share of the votes gained by Jerry Hicks – a left-wing rank-and-file candidate – in the 2010 and 2013 elections for Unite general secretary, who gained 23% and then 36% of the vote respectively by standing on a programme that called for the election of all officials and a promise to only take the wage of an average skilled worker. It is on the political plane, however, that McCluskey’s influence has been more noticeable. Unite’s support was key in defeating the Blairite candidate, David Miliband, in the 2010 Labour leadership contest, and more recently in securing successive victories for Jeremy Corbyn. Even under Ed Miliband, McCluskey held the line against ultra-left attempts to pull the union away from the Labour Party, countering such calls with his own attempt to send 5,000 Unite activists into the Party to wrestle control from the Blairites. — Britain: Unite leadership election – Defend Corbyn! Fight for Socialism!
Videos of the Day
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at Stanford — “The Other America” 1967
No ‘Pause’ in Global Warming: Oceans Heating Up and Sea Levels Rising at Alarming Pace UC-Berkeley climate scientist Zeke Hausfather details the findings of a new report that confirms NOAA findings about climate change
How ‘Misinvoicing’ Masks Foreign Resource Exploitation in Africa Leonce Ndikumana of the Political Economy Research Institute explains why as much as 67% of exports in some countries are simply not registered in trade data
Snooper’s Charter Makes UK Most Spied On Democracy
U.S.:
The Utter Stupidity of the New Cold War It seems so strange, twenty-seven years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, to be living through a new Cold War with (as it happens, capitalist) Russia. by Gary Leupp
Creditors own the Debtor: Donald Trump’s businesses owe $1.8bn to more than 150 different institutions, new study suggests President-elect faces more questions about conflict of interest as financial reliance on big banks is revealed By Ben Kentish
U.S. Decline to Banana Republic Accelerates as Trump Places Son-in-Law Jared Kushner in White House Donald Trump’s intention to name his son-in-law Jared Kushner to a senior White House post violates ethical standards – and the smell test. A 1967 anti-nepotism law states that a government official can’t hire relatives “in the agency in which he is serving or over which he exercises jurisdiction or control.” Kushner’s lawyers are said to be preparing to argue that the White House is somehow not an “agency” and so Trump can do as he wishes, but they are probably wrong and without a change to the law the appointment of Kushner would likely lead to litigation aimed at forcing him out. By Jon Schwarz
Beneath Trump’s Mockery of a Reporter, a Cascade of Lies Leading Back to 9/11 Donald Trump, the serial liar who will be sworn in as President of the United States next week, lied once again on Monday, rejecting the actress Meryl Streep’s condemnation of him for impersonating a reporter’s physical disability on the campaign trail last year by insisting that he had done no such thing. By Robert Mackey
Environment:
No Right to Free Water, Except for Nestlé Former Nestle CEO Peter Brabeck is famous for denying that access to drinking water is a human right. But based on the company’s actions, its management seems to believe that Nestlé Corporation has a human right to free water. All over the world, including in some of the most destitute and water-poor countries on earth, Nestle has destroyed the drinking water that local populations depend on in order to feed its bottling operations. In Michigan, where the people of Flint still drink poisoned water, Nestle has pumped billions of gallons of groundwater since it opened its first bottling plant in 2002 — draining aquifers virtually free of charge. In drought-ridden California, where the government has imposed rationing for ordinary non-corporate citizens, it takes 80 million gallons of water a year from Sacramento, as well as tens of millions from the San Bernardino National Forest. by Kevin Carson
Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:
Black Liberation/ Civil Rights:
My introduction to Martin Luther King’s ‘The Other America’ Speech for the San Francisco Bayview Newspaper: (This speech was originally posted Jan. 15, 2009.) “The Jan. 15 birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will be celebrated this year as America’s only ‘Black holiday’ Monday, Jan. 19. On this day, the ruling class and their mass media always feature his 1963 ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, as if he never evolved beyond that point. “During his lifetime, as a leader of civil rights movement, King was constantly hounded by the government with the most savage malice, the most furious hatred and the most unscrupulous campaigns of lies and slander. Since his death, an effort has been made to convert him into a harmless icon – to canonize him. “Below is one of his last speeches, given 40 years ago and one year before his assassination, at Stanford University in April 1967 and titled the ‘The Other America.’ Here he speaks not of a dream but of the nightmarish economic condition of Black people. When he talks about ‘work-starved men searching for jobs that do not exist’ and living on a ‘lonely island of poverty surrounded by an ocean of material prosperity,’ the speech remains timely in today’s world.”
Black Agenda Radio for Week of January 9, 2017
Rally in DC for Black Self-Determination: Self-determination is the “missing ingredient” in contemporary Black politics, said Omali Yeshitela, chairman of the Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations. The Coalition will hold a rally on January 14 at Freedom Plaza, on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC, to advance “an independent Black agenda for our people, and not have us joined at the hip to the Democratic Party.” The time is ripe for a Black self-determinationist strategy, said Yeshitela, because “the Democrats, the Republicans, and the electoral process, itself, have fallen into disrepute.”
Reforming the Green Party: “We have to take our movement away from the non-profits, and the only way we can do that is if we can transform the Green Party into something more like the working class, socialist parties overseas,” said Georgia Green Party co-chair Bruce Dixon, speaking on a telephone call-in with party members across the country. “All of these parties are based on membership dues,” with their officers accountable to the membership — something our current Green Party does not do,” said Dixon, who is also managing editor of Black Agenda Report. Some members warned that a dues structure might discourage involvement of low-income people, while others cautioned against “infiltration” of the Party by other groups. The Green Party garnered only about one percent of the vote in November.
Judge Orders Hep-C Cure for Mumia: A federal judge ruled that, within three weeks, Pennsylvania prison officials must begin administering a Hepatitis-C cure to the nation’s best known political prisoner. Atty. Bob Boyle, of Mumia Abu Jamal’s legal team, told BAR producer Kyle Fraser: “This judge ruled that the 8th Amendment guarantees people in prison adequate health care under the ‘cruel and inhuman treatment’ clause.” Boyle said “upwards of 40 percent of the prisoners in the Pennsylvania system have chronic Hepatitis-C,” and could benefit from the ruling. Mumia Abu Jamal suffered a near-death crisis in mid-2015 due to complications from the disease. When told of the judge’s ruling, he urged activists to “spread the word, because this is not what the Commonwealth wants people to know about — that they engage in unconstitutional medical practices designed, not to cure, and not even to treat,” a deadly illness. “Here we have a cure, and the government of Pennsylvania refused to give it to thousands of people for years, until they got to the brink of death.”
Rev. Edward Pinkney Appeals for Help: “I was convicted with absolutely no evidence, no witness, no confession, no crime scene, by an all-white jury,” said human rights activist Rev. Edward Pinkney, serving his second stint in prison for helping Black people in Benton Harbor, Michigan, effectively exercise their right to vote. “I was given the death penalty for a 68 year-old man: 30 months in the prison system, with absolutely no evidence.” Pinkney has already served 25 months of his current sentence. “I am an innocent man, threatened, tried Nazi-style and convicted in an effort to isolate and silence me against the power of the land-grabbing, job outsourcing, blood-sucking, criminal Whirlpool Corporation, that has its headquarters in Benton Harbor. I need the people’s help,” said Pinkney. He can be contacted at the Muskegon state prison, inmate #294671. Black Agenda Radio on the Progressive Radio Network is hosted by Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey. A new edition of the program airs every Monday at 11:00am ET on PRN. Length: one hour.
