“Quiet Quitting” is Just the Beginning
The phrase “quiet quitting” has been blowing up all over social media, and has corporate productivity specialists freaking out. Most self-described “quiet quitters” aren’t quitting their jobs – rather they are quitting the idea of continuously going above and beyond at work. They are trying to reject the idea that their worth as a person […]
Climate Catastrophe Update: “Heading in the Wrong Direction”
As the rich and powerful continue to refuse to do what’s necessary to stop global heating and the climate catastrophe that threatens all life on Earth, we can’t write full stories on all of the related current developments. Here are two of the most recent signs of the need for an urgent response from the […]
Republicans Use Immigrants as Pawns; Democrats Arrest and Deport Them
In the past few weeks, Republican governors in Florida and Texas have put migrants on buses and planes and shipped them off to Democrat-led cities and states in a sickening political stunt, using the immigrants as pawns in their attempts to make the Democrats look bad. Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida paid an estimated $615,000 […]
The climate crisis is here, what can we actually do?
{download as b/w leaflet .pdf} A majority perspective Look around you. We are not alone! A recent poll1 shows that 72% of adults in the U.S., believe global warming is happening and threatening life as we know it; 65% believe that we should do more to address global warming. Why isn’t more being done to […]
Iran: Women Revolt against Police Murder
The women of Iran have set the country on fire politically. Why? They are outraged by the death of a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, who died as a consequence of being detained by police for not wearing her hijab, or headscarf, according to the law. Amini died a couple days after her police detention, suffering […]
Brazil: Elections on October 2 and Pro-Democracy Letters
This is a translation of an article by Rafael Santos of the Partido Obrero (Workers’ Party) in Argentina, published on its website, Prensa Obrera on Aug. 18, 2022. Its analyses are those of a Trotskyist current, with information and perspective that should be interesting to our readership. On October 2, elections will be held in […]
Corrupt U.S. Congressmembers Profit Off Insider Information
A recent New York Times investigation found that over 90 members of Congress or their family members bought or sold financial assets related to industries that they oversaw in Congress. They found there was a conflict of interest in at least 3,700 trades by lawmakers or their family from 2019 to 2021. A detailed Twitter […]
What’s Been Going on in the Railroad Sector?
For those not familiar with the railroads, trying to follow the situation over the last few months can be confusing. We offer some clarification to help paint a clearer picture. Freight and passenger rail operators in the U.S. have been negotiating with railroad workers’ unions for months now. Railroad workers, or “rails” as they sometimes […]
Hurricane Disaster in Puerto Rico Again… and It’s Not Natural!
Hurricane Fiona swept through Puerto Rico and other parts of the Caribbean in the last days of summer, almost exactly five years after Hurricane Maria killed more than three thousand people on the island. Fiona was a weaker storm than Maria, but it still totally shut down Puerto Rico’s electric power grid and destroyed a […]
France: When Prices Rise, Tempers Do Too…
September 19, 2022, Editorial of the Workplace Newsletters of the Etincelle fraction of the NPA. Translated from French. The funeral of the Queen of England took place on Monday. As millions of Britons face inflation and wonder if they will be able to keep warm this winter, tens of millions of pounds were spent, heads […]
15,000 Minnesota Nurses Walk Out in Historic Strike
15,000 nurses in Minnesota went on a 3-day strike.
Facing soaring prices, Let’s Fight for Our Wages
In the face of rising prices, we need to fight for our wages.
Mobile Billboards in D.C. Expose the Democrats’ Persecution of Julian Assange
Mobile billboards in Washington D.C. drew attention to the U.S.’s ongoing persecution of Julian Assange.
A National Railroad Strike has been Called off … for now
On Thursday, Sep. 14, two unions representing about 60,000 railroad workers announced that they have reached a tentative contract agreement, and have called off what would have been the first national railroad strike in 30 years. For months the Biden administration has been supporting the rail companies in trying to stop a strike from happening. […]
Online Town Hall: Sunday, September 25 at 4pm pdt (7pm edt)
The Abortion Struggle Today — Our Right and Our Fight This is the video recording of the presentation by Jenny Brown at the Set 25 town hall. Ever since Roe v Wade legalized limited access to abortion in 1973, it has been under attack across the country. The nationwide assault on abortion rights has many […]
Senator Proposes Bill to Ban Abortions After 15 Weeks – We Say No!
On Tuesday, September 13, Senator Lindsey Graham proposed a national bill that would ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The senator appears to be reversing his previous position that states should determine abortion legality. This bill would override the abortion laws in states with less restrictive laws. While it’s unlikely the bill will go […]
Federal Reserve Chair: Ordinary People Will Need to Suffer to Combat Inflation
Each year, there is a tradition within the United States’ capitalist system where dozens of central bankers, economists, and policymakers meet in Jackson Hole, Wyoming for an economic summit. At this meeting, these individuals discuss the state of the capitalist economy and different strategies to optimize its functioning in the interests of the ruling class. […]
U.S. Women’s Soccer Fight Culminates in Landmark Equal Pay Agreement
On Tuesday, September 6, the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team signed a landmark equal pay agreement guaranteeing identical pay with members of the men’s team. This is the result of a long fight that women’s soccer activists have carried out to receive gender equality in payment. Activists within the women’s structure have been fighting for […]
Kaiser Mental Health Workers Continue the Fight
Note: This article comes from the most recent edition of Speak Out Now’s Healthcare Newsletter. Kaiser mental health workers in Northern California have reached week 4 of their strike. They are fighting alongside Hawaiian mental health workers, who have also been on strike since August 29th. Their fight is linked to absurd levels of understaffing, which […]
California – Cooking from Climate Change and Rolling the Dice with Neglected Infrastructure
For the past two weeks, much of California has faced record temperatures. Governor Gavin Newsom declared that it was the longest and hottest stretch of heat wave days ever on record in the state. Throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, a number of cities reached over 110 degrees. Sacramento hit temperatures over 100 degrees for […]
Kings and Queens Belong in the Dustbin of History
Let’s not mourn for monarchs, who have historically been exploiters and colonizers, and wealthy parasites at best.
France: Against inflation: A Fight at Any Price!
The French government gave minor concessions to the working class in the hopes of preventing strikes by workers hurt by inflation, but it is nowhere near enough.
Climate Disruption? It’s Time for Us to Disrupt
The capitalist system is unable to take meaningful action against climate disruption.
Chile’s September 11th, 1973: Tragedy and Lost Opportunity
On September 11, 1973, the Chilean military, with the support of United States intelligence services, violently overthrew the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende. The documentary, “The Battle of Chile”, by Patricio Guzmán is an excellent portrayal of the events at that time. On that day, the military occupied the capital city of Santiago, bombarded […]
Water Emergency in Baltimore
Positive samples of E. coli in drinking water were detected beginning on Friday, September 2 in Baltimore’s Harlem Park/Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood, an overwhelmingly Black area with some of the city’s highest rates of poverty. The first public announcement was released on Monday, when the Department of Public Works posted on social media that residents in a […]
Military Contractors Profit Off the War in Ukraine at Our Expense
In August, the U.S. government decided to send another three billion dollars in military aid to Ukraine. This brings the total amount of U.S. military aid to Ukraine to over $13 billion during the Biden administration. While the people of Ukraine have the right both to defend themselves and to determine their own future, the […]
Failure of the Constituent Assembly in Chile: some remarks the day after
The following article is translated from French from the website Convergences Revolutionnaires, organ of our comrades of the fraction “Etincelle” in the New Anticapitalist Party in France. September 6, 2022 It will probably take more time before we have a precise view of the meaning of the results, and of the feedback from the revolutionary […]
Oakland: The Consequences of School Closures Today
The case of a lost 9-year-old is one of the consequences of school closures, such as that of Parker Elementary school.
A Cold Winter Ahead for Northeastern U.S.?
The Northeastern U.S. may see shortages of diesel and heating oil this winter. The for-profit system leaves us vulnerable to these kinds of shortages.
Capitalism + Racism + Climate Crisis = Water Disaster in Jackson, Mississippi
The climate crisis is combining with institutional inequality to create more suffering for oppressed people.
Landlords’ Greed and Inflation are a Crisis for Renters
High rent and inflation are threatening renters with eviction.
Capitalist Barbarism Creates Starvation in the Horn of Africa
Capitalism is producing a food crisis in the Horn of Africa, with the combined effects of climate change and war in Ukraine disrupting supplies.
From Peru: The War in Ukraine’s Terrible Impacts
The war in Ukraine is also negatively affecting the economy of Peru.
France: Back to work: time to fight back
August 31, 2022, Editorial of the Workplace Newsletters of the Etincelle fraction of the NPA, Translated from French. For kids, it’s the end of summer vacation. With inflation rising and wages at rock bottom, summer spending had to be monitored closely – for those, that is, who were able to take time off, if the […]
Scientists Say Sea-Level Rise is “Now Inevitable”
A recent study published in Nature Climate Change used new techniques to determine that melting of the Greenland ice sheet will contribute at minimum 27cm (about ten-and-a-half inches) of sea-level rise as 10 trillion tons of ice melt. That guaranteed minimum is twice the amount predicted by last year’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report. […]
Justice For Brittney Griner! Justice For Us All!
Since March of this year, WNBA basketball star Brittney Griner has been incarcerated in Russia, and is now facing 10 years in prison. She – like many other WNBA stars – has played there professionally in her off-season for seven years because women athletes simply don’t make enough money playing in the U.S. While male […]
The “White Voice” of the Film Sorry to Bother You — But for Real
Many people may remember the plot of the 2018 film Sorry to Bother You from writer and director Boots Riley. The film follows Cassius, a young Black man in Oakland, California, who picks up a job as a telemarketer in a call center. Cassius is a failure at his new job until he discovers the […]
UK Port Workers Stand Up to the Global Supply Chain
On August 28, nearly 2,000 port workers in Felixstowe, the United Kingdom’s busiest port, concluded an 8-day strike that followed their rejection of a final offer from C.K. Hutchinson Holding, Ltd, the port operator. Because the port handles nearly one-third of all the U.K.’s trade, and an even larger percent of its trade with Asia, […]
Safety Meetings: Everything BUT Safety
Note: This article comes from the most recent edition of Speak Out Now’s BART Newsletter. BART is the commuter rail system that serves the Bay Area in Northern California. The “System Service” classification described in the article is the classification that cleans the stations. When BART workers raise safety issues that need addressing, they often fall […]
California Governor Newsom Intensifies Drug Overdose Crisis
On Monday, August 22, California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill which would have legalized safe drug consumption sites in major cities in California. From a public health and “harm reduction” point of view, these sites, called “safe consumption sites,” are an extremely effective tool to help save lives and mitigate the worst effects of […]
Louisiana State Officials Order Death by Flooding for Opposing Abortion Ban
After the Dobbs decision came down from the Supreme Court in June, Louisiana has implemented one of the most restrictive anti-abortion laws in the nation. This ban has no exceptions even for rape or incest. The state recently even prevented a woman who was 10-weeks pregnant with a fetus with no skull (acrania) from aborting, […]
Back to School: Year 3 of COVID-19
Thoughts from an elementary school teacher about 3 years of the pandemic.
Pakistan Flood Disaster – Who is to Blame?
The disastrous flooding in Pakistan is the fault of wealthy countries that have emitted and continue to emit large amounts of greenhouse gases.
Deshaun Watson: The NFL Prioritizes Profits Over Victims of Sexual Predators
Despite information about Deshaun Watson’s predatory sexual behavior being publicly available at the time, the Cleveland Browns signed him anyway.
The Yangtze River (among Others) Faces Its Greatest Drought Yet
In another sign of climate change, the Yangtze and other rivers have hit historic low levels.
Worldwide Flooding Shows the Realities of the Climate Crisis
The flood events around the world show that climate change is not just a future problem, it is affecting us right now.
Using Electric Vehicles as the Excuse to Lay Off Workers
Ford and other auto companies would like to use the transition to electric vehicles as a cover for reducing their workforce.
Starbucks – Hands Off Your Worker-Organizers!
In recent months, workers at over 220 Starbucks locations in 33 states across the United States have organized to join a union, with a store in Buffalo, New York being the first store to unionize back in December 2021. The struggle has not come without some serious consequences. Many of the core organizers across the […]
Coal Miners’ Strike: Over 500 Days and Betrayed by Democrats and Republicans
Coal miners in Alabama have been on strike now for more than 500 days — nearly a year and a half. The strike originally started when the mine’s owner, the company Warrior Met Coal, refused to negotiate a contract with better terms. This refusal came even though years earlier the company told miners they would […]
Fires, Arsonists, and Us
August 16, 2022, Editorial of the Workplace Newsletters of the Etincelle fraction of the New Anticapitalist Party (NPA), translated from French. Four heat waves in three months. Since the start of the year, uncontrollable mega-fires have already caused the destruction of nearly 112,000 acres across France, and tens of thousands of people were evacuated overnight […]