Skip to content
During This Economic Crisis, Capitalism’s Three Point Political Program: 1. Austerity, 2. Scapegoating Blacks, Minorities, and ‘Illegal Immigrants’ for Unemployment, and 3. The Iron Heel.
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 Who Profit From Austerity! Under Austerity, All of the World Will Eventually Be Pauperized, Humbled, and Desecrated Like Greece and Puerto Rico!
The Fourth of July: Why I celebrate the Fourth of July
I celebrate and support the Declaration of Independence as a revolutionary document. Due to the present destructive course of American capitalism, which in its quest for a Pax Americana and its perpetual wars, puts the property rights of capitalism and their ‘right’ to make a profit before, to paraphrase the Declaration of Independence, our unalienable Rights to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness — the right to a safe habitat for humanity and our very existence as a species; it therefore follows, that, To secure these rights, it is our right and our duty, to throw off such an economic system and its government To provide our own ‘New World Order’ to provide for our future security. To quote Fidel Castro, “Tomorrow it will be too late to do what we should have done a long time ago.” — Roland Sheppard
What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sound of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants brass fronted impudence; your shout of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanks-givings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy—a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour. — Frederick Douglas, July 5, 1852
Images of the Day:
Quote of the Day:
Point 10. We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace. And as our major political objective, a United Nations-supervised plebiscite to be held throughout the black colony in which only black colonial subjects will be allowed to participate, for the purpose of determining the will of black people as to their national destiny. When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly, all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Point 10. The Black Panther Party’s 10-Point Platform and Program
Videos of the Day:
Brazil’s Labor Unions Stage Second Strike Against Neoliberal Labor Law Reform The new labor law would disempower unions and lower standards of living more generally. Meanwhile, President Temer faces unprecedented charges for corruption, explains Michael Fox from Brazil
U.S.:
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
Born in the United States, Learning to Live in Mexico Alexandra, a 13-year-old with long hair and a wry smile, misses her school in Sacramento. Now that she lives in Tijuana, Mexico, her mother is stricter, always worried about her safety, and won’t let her go to the movies alone. She hates wearing a uniform and is struggling in school. “Sometimes you just think about it and you’re like what am I doing here?” she said. “I was born over there and so why am I here?” By Alice Proujansky and Cora Currier
The Battle Over What It Means to Be Female Patriarchy, across the globe, plagues humankind. In some regions female fetuses often are aborted because they are considered less valuable than male fetuses. Girls are sometimes smothered in infancy. Many women and girls are sold to men as rape and breeding slaves. Many endure genital mutilation. Many are trafficked and forced into prostitution. Many are denied abortions and access to birth control. Many, to survive economically, sell their eggs to donors or hire their wombs out to couples who cannot produce babies. In some countries, including Saudi Arabia and parts of India, women are considered the property of male guardians. There are villages in India where women have only one kidney because their husbands have sold their other one. Women are often denied education and, even in industrial countries, are paid less for carrying out the same work as men. By Chris Hedges
Environment:
It’s Raining in Antarctica While Trump Slashes Climate Science Funding Parts of Antarctica are turning green due to unprecedented moss growth on the ice continent where an area larger than Texas has experienced half a month of continuous surface melt. As President Trump and his administration continue their assault on climate science and scientists, atmospheric CO2 keeps rising to new record levels. By Dahr Jamail
Growing food in the post-truth era Agribusiness giants cause food insecurity and environmental degradation, while promoting the myth that industrial agriculture can feed the world better than small-scale, family farms. By Alana Mann
EPA seeks to scrap rule protecting drinking water for third of Americans Environmental Protection Agency and army propose ending clean water rule to hold ‘substantive re-evaluation’ of which bodies of water should be protected. The Environmental Protection Agency is poised to dismantle the federal clean water rule, which protects waterways that provide drinking water for about a third of the US population. By Oliver Milman
Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:
Labor:
The strike of the FIAT-Chrysler [FCA] workers in Kragujevac (Serbia) The Kragujevac FIAT-Chrysler’s strike in Serbia continues, having entered its seventh day. Of the more than 2,400 workers, at least two thousand have downed tools since June 26th. Only 250 “white collar” workers have decided for now not to take part in the strike. By Roberto Sarti
Economy:
New York Times Runs Editorial Today on the Mega Banks: You Need to Pay Attention We have frequently called out the New York Times for running sycophantic articles on the big, mean, untamed Wall Street banking behemoths which just happen to be one of its home town’s largest industries and source of the biggest paychecks, which, in turn, boost its real estate markets, restaurants and retail sales – not to mention its own ad revenues. According to the Federal government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, financial activities represented 468,600 jobs in New York City as of April 2017. According to a report from the New York State Department of Labor on New York City’s largest industries, as of 2014 the “average annual wage ($404,800) paid in the securities and commodity contracts industry is nearly five times the all-industry average annual wage ($84,752) for 2014.” By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
World:
Not One Day More’: Massive London Rally Says No to Austerity, Privatization Jeremy Corbyn: “This is the age of imagination, this is the age in which we will achieve that decency and social justice that we all crave.” By Common Dreams
Corbyn Defied Media Rules by Linking UK Wars to Terrorism Corbyn took a bold and unusual stand after the Manchester horror. On March 26, just four days after the suicide bombing, he gave a speech on foreign policy and terrorism that criticized May’s role as home secretary under former PM David Cameron. Noting that she had overseen cuts in public safety funding that had furloughed 20,000 police officers, Corbyn said, “You cannot protect the public on the cheap. More importantly, Corbyn went on to say, “We must be brave enough to admit the war on terror is simply not working.” A life-long anti-war activist and critic of British participation in US-led wars, even under his own party’s leaders, Corbyn charged that British interventions, particularly in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria, had made the country less rather than more safe. By Dave Lonforff
Where Did Britain’s Racists Go? A year ago Britain voted to exit the European Union. And many progressives failed to understand it. They castigated the British – in particular the English and Welsh working classes. Progressives vilified those who had the temerity to reject Brussels. Anyone who wanted to leave the EU was deemed to be a racist, a caveman, an irrational nationalist and even a drunk fool. However today – exactly one year later – after the performance of Jeremy Corbyn in the recent British election, progressives everywhere are excited and optimistic about the British voters. Some are even talking about a “soft” Brexit or even no Brexit. But does this mood swing among progressives – one year they see Hitler and the next they see Jesus – make sense? Has Britain changed so much in a year? Or are progressives completely misreading Britain’s electorate? Did all those immigrant-haters suddenly disappear or were they even there in the first place? Britain didn’t change itself in the last year. The recent election which unexpectedly halted the march of the Tories complemented rather than contradicted the vote to leave the European Union. Corbyn’s success was based upon an anti-austerity argument. He was giving the British an alternative not just to the Tory vision of society but also to the EU vision of Europe. by Aidan O’Brien
Health, Science, Education, and Welfare:
