“Thoughts and Prayers Are Not Covered, Just Like My Son’s Medicine”
The shooting of United Healthcare’s CEO has drawn attention to the way insurance companies commit social murder against us.
Port Talks Break Down. International Solidarity is Key.
After the ILA stopped its strike, negotiations have broken down. Worker power is built on solidarity, although the union bureaucrats such as Daggett aren’t interested in that.
Management’s Threats Make us Sick
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. Cold and flu season is upon us! Many of us are waking up with sniffles and sore throats, wondering if we should head into work or call in sick. Management is quick to threaten us about […]
Spending Thanksgiving on Strike
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. The Southern California Kaiser mental health workers’ strike continues, now over 40 days in length. Meanwhile, Kaiser has still failed to present a proposal that includes better pay and improved staffing levels. The long struggle on […]
Underground Resistance: The Struggle of South Africa’s Artisanal Miners
Recent events in South Africa highlight the deadly conditions faced by artisanal miners, caught between corporate greed and state violence. Artisanal mining generally involves miners who are not officially employed by a mining company and use their own tools to mine. Often trapped underground after a police standoff, these miners risk their lives in abandoned mines due to […]
France: Prime Minister Barnier Voted Out; Give Way to the Workers
This is the statement of the French New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries (NPA-Révolutionnaires) on the collapse of the French government on December 4, 2024. This evening, 331 deputies (delegates) from the Left and the Rassemblement National (RN, far-right) voted together on a motion of no confidence against [Prime Minister] Barnier’s government. The latter had not skimped on […]
AHS Workers Gifted a Hiring Freeze for the Holidays
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. AHS sent out an email last week that most new hiring will be deferred until after the New Year. They gave a confusing explanation regarding AHS’s line of credit via Alameda County called the Net Negative […]
Report from the Picket Line: SF Hotel Workers Won’t Concede To Corporate Greed
San Francisco hotel workers are in their third month of a strike.
December 2, 1964: The Occupation of Sproul Hall and the Berkeley Free Speech Movement
Sixty years ago today, on December 2, 1964, students on the Berkeley campus of the University of California took over Sproul Hall, the university’s main administrative building
Thankful For Those Who Refused to Accept the Unacceptable
On Thanksgiving, be thankful for all those who refused to accept the unacceptable.
Biden Pardons More Turkeys Than People on Death Row
Biden’s pardon of two turkeys, while doing nothing for death row prisoners or other incarcerated people, is a reminder that he uses his power to serve the rich and powerful.
France: Against Layoffs and All Attacks on Workers, Let’s Build a Fight “All Together!”
To oppose layoffs and attacks on workers, we must fight together!
COP29 Negotiates as the Crisis Envelops Us
Negotiations at the COP29 climate conference did not even attempt to halt climate change. We cannot rely on governments and corporations to do anything about the problem.
Book Review – If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution
In If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution, published last year, journalist Vincent Bevins attempts to explain how a decade of massive protests led to few changes, and in some cases brought about almost the opposite of what participants in the movements originally wanted. To do so, he takes us around […]
Trump Cabinet Picks and Officials, Part II
Last week Trump announced the first dozen nominees to his Cabinet and other high level positions in what will surely be a reactionary, anti-worker government. Since then another half dozen have been publicly named. Robert Kennedy Jr. will be nominated for Secretary of Health and Human Services. Kennedy is yet another opportunist who was willing […]
Who Killed Malcolm X?
Recently, the historic Black activist Malcolm X’s children brought forward a $100 million suit against the Department of Justice (DOJ), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), and the New York Police Department (NYPD). They allege that these agencies played a role in the assassination of Malcolm in 1965. The lawsuit includes claims […]
Film Review: Radical (2023)
Radical (2023) is a film based on the true story of Sergio Juárez Correa, a grade school teacher in the border town of Matamoros in Northeastern Mexico. Known by the locals as a “school of punishment,” the students live in poverty amid drug cartel violence. After losing faith in the education system, Sergio arrives with a plan to try a radical new way of teaching. He challenges […]
Reseña de la película: Radical (2023)
Radical (2023) es una película basada en la historia real de Sergio Juárez Correa, un maestro de escuela primaria en la ciudad fronteriza de Matamoros, en el noreste de México. Conocida por los lugareños como una “escuela de castigo”, los estudiantes viven en la pobreza y rodeados por la violencia de los cárteles del narcotráfico. […]
The 1945 U.A.W. Strike and the Victorious Post War Strike Wave
In recent years workers activity has bubbled nationwide. In the service and retail sectors, in nursing and health care, in transport and distribution, in entertainment, and of course in heavy industry like auto and airplane production, workers have organized and moved towards forming unions and in some cases struck to win back past concessions. Worker […]
France: Against Attacks by Employers and Government: We Will Not Accept Sacrifices!
When the bosses attack us with layoffs and pay cuts, we must fight against them together.
UN Climate Change Conference Promotes Profiting Off of Catastrophe
At the UN Climate Change Conference, COP29, participants representing politicians and corporations proposed “solutions” to climate change that are just new ways to profit.
An Attack on Immigrant Workers is an Attack on All Workers
During the recent U.S. presidential elections, both Harris and Trump focused on immigration as a central issue. Now that Trump has been elected president, he is threatening serious measures: mass deportations, ending automatic citizenship for children of immigrants born in the U.S., and rolling back temporary protected status for certain migrants who are escaping unsafe […]
“Pro-life” policy kills
The infant death rate has increased by 7% across the U.S. since the Supreme Court passed the Dobbs decision, which allowed states to restrict abortion access and reproductive care. The same pediatric study found the mortality rate increased by 10% for infants born with health complications. This is just one study in a growing field […]
Berkeley Protests for Humanity of Unhoused People
Berkeley, California community members are protesting the criminalization and displacement of unhoused people, which has increased since Governor Gavin Newsom passed an executive order to remove people living in encampments. A coalition of activists and unhoused people have pitched tents on the lawn of Berkeley’s Old City Hall, painted with the message: “Where Do We […]
When the Criminals Decide
A recent attack on a BART passenger can be explained by the lack of money being spent to help those who need it.
Trump Picks First Cabinet Members and Officials
Trump has chosen Stephen Miller as his Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy. Miller is considered to be the driving force within Trump circles for a harsh border policy. He has held an openly anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, nativist world view since at least his high school years, and it is probably not an exaggeration to describe […]
The Other Big Lies – Are Immigrants to Blame for Problems We Face?
Beginning in 2016, Donald Trump and the Republicans started attacking immigrants. Trump has said such racist statements as, “when Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best…they’re rapists,” and that “immigrants are poisoning the blood of the nation.” The Republicans and Trump scapegoat immigrants for the many problems we face, and now the hostility […]
Punishing Poverty Isn’t the Solution
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. California Prop. 36 recently passed, 69% to 30% (some votes are still being counted). The measure increases penalties for certain drug and theft crimes, including longer prison sentences. The strong support for Prop. 36 reflects just […]
KP People Pulse & Elections: How Do Things Change?
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. KP People Pulse took place last month and the results are being gathered. In certain ways, People Pulse is like the election we just went through – it is framed as an opportunity to give feedback […]
E-Learning Modules Are Paid Hours!
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. For most healthcare workers, every time we log into our e-learning portal there is a new mandatory lesson to complete. From workplace violence prevention to hazardous material safety, the list of e-learnings can seem endless. Expecting […]
The Working Class Party – Posing an Alternative to the Parties of the Rich
The Working Class Party ran candidates in the 2024 elections, winning hundreds of thousands of votes.
Sanders’s Harsh Words for Democrats Come Up Far Short
Bernie Sanders’ criticized the Democrats after their election loss, for abandoning the working class. He didn’t go far enough: the Democrats will never support the working class.
Their Elections Can’t Decide Our Future — We Can
Donald Trump has been reelected, winning both the popular vote and every swing state, with the Republicans likely gaining control of both houses of Congress. But despite what the media says, this is not some mandate from the population. Instead, the election results show this was a rejection of the Democrats and the status quo, […]
Drought Conditions in 48 States
All but two of the 50 United States have been experiencing drought conditions in late October and early November. 87% of the nation is experiencing “abnormally dry” conditions. This drought has been occurring despite and during the same weeks as Hurricane Helene dumped enormous amounts of rain over the Appalachian mountains, and despite recent heavy […]
Boeing Workers Win Substantial Wage Increases, But Big Challenges Lie Ahead
After seven weeks on strike, the thirty-three thousand Boeing machinists, members of the International Association of Machinists (IAM) voted to accept a new 4-year contract on November 3rd by a margin of 59% to 41%. The new contract raises wages by 38% by 2028, a 50% increase over what the company offered at the beginning […]
The Dockworkers’ Fight: Who Does Automation Serve?
In early October, one of the main demands of the striking dockworkers represented by the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) was to protect workers’ jobs from being replaced by automation. Industrial decision-makers, both businesspeople and government officials, have long been using technological developments to try to make the production of goods as efficient as possible, thereby […]
The Empty Promises of the Democrats Fail to Beat Trump
Going into election night, the polls continued to show the presidential race was tied, without any clear idea of who would win. Many people expected that the final results could take days because the presidential race was so close. But in the end, the result was unquestionable. Trump won in every swing state, and even […]
Valencia: Workers Help Each Other with Their Feet in the Mud, While Employers and All the Authorities Have Blood on Their Hands
Deadly floods in Valencia, Spain, showed the indifference of the rulers toward the lives of the working class.
For the Working Class, Not Harris or Trump
Both of the major political parties represent the capitalist class, not the working class.
The Situation in the Middle East (Oct. 2024)
This is a series of articles published in October 2024 on the situation in the Middle East in the preceding year, by the New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries (NPA-R) in France.
Against Israel’s Escalating War Supported by the Major Powers
October 28, 2024 editorial of the New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries (NPA-R) in France, translated from French. Israel is expanding its war in the Middle East: after the destruction of Gaza, the bombing and invasion of Lebanon, tens of thousands of dead, wounded and hundreds of thousands displaced, it has attacked military bases in Iran, under the […]
Health Care in the U.S. — A Nurse’s View
I’m a nurse, I work in the San Francisco Bay Area. I’ve been a nurse for about 15 years now and when I first got into the medical field, I thought I’d be taking care of people maybe at the end of a long natural life span when they’re very old, or maybe some very […]
Healthcare Plans: Too Confusing, Too Costly
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. Open enrollment for health insurance at Highland ended on Monday. We had just two weeks to decide which healthcare plan is right for us and our families. This is not enough time to decipher the various […]
Highland Management Cheats Nurses
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. Nurses throughout Highland have found that not only is management often not providing them meal and rest breaks, they are not paying the appropriate compensation for those missed breaks! If there is not a break nurse […]
Update: Kaiser Mental Health Workers Strike
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. As the second week of the strike unfolds, over 2,400 Kaiser mental health workers in Southern California continue their fight for better wages and working conditions. The strike, led by the National Union of Healthcare Workers […]
Applying for Disability: They Want Us to Give Up!
The process of applying for disability benefits is intentionally difficult, because the priority is to keep us working, not healthy.
Update on the U.S./Israeli War on the Middle East
Israel continues its wars in Gaza and Lebanon, while the U.S. continues to provide material support.
Using People’s Suffering for A Photo-Op
Trump visited areas devastated by Hurricane Helene to promote himself at the expense of the people affected by the hurricane.
France: An Attack on Immigrant Workers is an Attack on All Workers
French and Italian politicians are attacking immigrant workers… but the immigrants are not the enemy, capitalists are.
Argentinian Students and Workers Rise against Right-Wing Policies
In Argentina, massive student protests are being held against Milei’s cuts to public universities.