Kaiser Workers Continue the Fight For Better Conditions!
UNAC/UHCP — the union representing various Kaiser workers such as rehabilitation therapists, certified registered nurse anesthetists, and physical therapists — has been on strike since January 26. The strike has continued with a strong presence. At the Oakland facility, there were pickets on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, with music, chants, and high energy. In […]
Iran: More Than 50,000 Arrests (and at Least 30,000 Deaths)
February 5, 2026 news-in-brief by the New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries (NPA-R) in France, translated from French. Repression continues and intensifies in [Iran]. According to the NGO Human Rights Activists, at least 50,235 arrests have been made since December 8 and the outbreak of widespread protests against the mullahs’ regime by a large part of the population, […]
AI Space Data Centers Get Funded Before Our Basic Needs
Artificial intelligence technology has grown rapidly in the past couple of years. Tech giants everywhere like Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon are investing an estimated $380 billion total on AI infrastructure. The industry is trying to compete with popular chatbot tools like ChatGPT which has over 800 million weekly active users. As this technology is quickly depleting the […]
County Supervisors Call Out AHS Leadership
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. Workers packed the Board of Supervisors meeting last week to tell county officials about the absurdity of AHS’s proposed layoff plan. Yet again, workers and the community spoke of the importance of AHS services, and the detrimental impacts […]
AHS Workers Honor Those Murdered by ICE
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. Last Monday, January 26th, workers and community members gathered outside of Highland to commemorate Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse who was killed in the streets of Minneapolis by ICE agents. In only a day, AHS workers organized a […]
Beilenson Hearing: Wednesday February 25th at 2pm
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. The Alameda County Board of Supervisors finally announced the scheduling of the state-mandated Beilenson Hearing, after significant pressure from workers, the union, and the community. California state law requires that healthcare facilities provide detailed information to the public […]
Highland Closes Weekend Cafeteria Service
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. In yet another act of cruelty towards Highland Hospital workers and patients, Alameda Health System executives have decided to end weekend cafeteria service at the hospital. The recent layoffs have left hospital workers understaffed and overworked, coming in […]
Bay Area: Students Lead the Way! Abolish ICE!
Tens of thousands of students walked out of classrooms all across the Bay Area on Friday, joining hundreds of thousands across the country in demanding justice for the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of federal agents, and an end to the daily brutality in Minnesota and nearly everywhere else that ICE has been deployed. In San Francisco, students […]
The Stanford 11 Trial Raises More Questions Than Answers
Earlier this month, the criminal trial of five students from the Stanford 11 began in Santa Clara County Superior Court, following charges brought by District Attorney Jeff Rosen. The case stems from a June 2024 pro-Palestine protest in which twelve students occupied Building 10, Stanford’s president’s office, to demand divestment from Israel, financial transparency, and […]
Abolish ICE, CBP, and the Whole System that Created Them!
As Trump’s deportation campaign has gained momentum over the first year of his second term, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have become the violent faces of the regime’s anti-immigrant policies. As they have gone into targeted cities with aggression and staged spectacle, ICE and CBP have terrorized local populations, […]
Minneapolis Shows the Power We All Have!
Last Friday, tens of thousands of people gathered in Minneapolis for a second day of No Work, No School, No Shopping, No ICE mass demonstrations. Schools shut down and hundreds of small businesses closed, and thousands of workers did not go to work. And this time, Minneapolis called on cities across the country to do […]
AI Lies Spread Amid ICE Occupation
While ICE agents have occupied the streets of Minnesota over the past two months, the right wing and federal government have been spreading misinformation. The invasion itself was kicked off by a right-wing YouTuber’s video, falsely alleging fraud by Somali daycare center owners. And as the behavior of federal agents has gotten more and more […]
Who Really Owns the Climate Crisis?
The climate crisis is caused by the corporations and politicians who profit from fossil fuel extraction.
ER Boarding at Crisis Levels
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. The Highland emergency department, although usually overcrowded, has recently been dangerously over capacity. With the hospital fully impacted with patients, there is nowhere to admit people waiting in the ER. This leads to patients who have orders to […]
We Need the Union, And Then Some
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. For those of us lucky enough to be in a union, it plays an important role. But we can’t just rely on the union – we have to play an active role in struggles ourselves if we want […]
Is AHS Trying to Privatize Our Hospital?
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. The rapidity and carelessness of these layoffs has made many of us question if AHS has had ulterior motives with these sudden cuts. Given we have been denied rational explanations for why certain positions and services were targeted, […]
AHS Workers Stand Up To the Board
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. Last week’s Board of Trustees meeting kicked off with over two hours of public comment about the recent layoffs, despite speakers being limited to one minute each. Speakers included AHS workers from across the healthcare system who stood […]
AHS is Breaking the Law
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. California state law requires that county healthcare facilities hold public hearings (known as Beilenson Hearings) before reducing or eliminating any services. The law requires that the board provide notice of all proposed reductions, how many community members will […]
Letter From an AHS Worker:
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. After 10 years of working for Alameda Health System, I was notified on January 6, 2026, that I would be laid off effective March 9th due to the so-called “big beautiful bill,” and this has had a devastating […]
Layoff Chaos
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. The layoff notices sent out by AHS were a total disaster. Some workers received layoff notices which were rescinded the very next day. Some workers were laid off and told to stay home on administrative leave, then told […]
A World of Instability Amid Growing Imperialist Rivalries
Note: This text was completed on December 15, 2025 by Speak Out Socialists as background information for a discussion about the current international situation. It has not been updated to include the many important national and international events that have unfolded since its completion. download as .pdf Introduction Increasing international instability continues to define the […]
Greenland and Venezuela: Just the Latest Examples of Imperialist Aggression
The news in recent weeks has been full of headlines about U.S. foreign policy under Donald Trump’s increasingly aggressive regime. Although his government has carried out attacks on Iran, Yemen, Somalia and Nigeria since beginning his second term, it was the recent attack on Venezuela and the kidnapping of its president, plus Trump’s threatening rhetoric […]
There IS Fraud!
In recent weeks there has been a lot of attention on sensational claims of large-scale fraud, in this case supposedly perpetrated by the Somali-American community concentrated in Minneapolis. The latest episode of scapegoating against Somali Americans was prompted by a viral video created by a rightwing youtuber. While the video is full of distortions and […]
“Minnesota’s got the ICE melt!” A Mass Movement Against Racist Terror
A crowd of between 50,000 and 100,000 people assembled in Minneapolis on the afternoon of Friday, January 23 in -9° F conditions, to demand an end to the recent terror campaign and occupation of their city by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol. The city was engaging in a powerful day of protest […]
Workers Tell the Board: No Layoffs!
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. Last week, more than 70 people spoke at the Board of Trustees meeting, urging board members to halt the layoffs and stop cuts to important patient services. Hundreds gathered at Highland to show their support for the workers […]
The Billionaire Class Declares War on the Working Class!
January 19, 2026, editorial of the New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries (NPA-R) in France, translated from French. The year 2026 has barely begun, and already threats are mounting. After bombing Nigeria on December 25, Trump had Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro kidnapped on January 3 to get his hands on the country’s oil. Then he once again threatened […]
The Islamic Republic of Iran Shaken by Revolt
On December 28, masses of people took to the streets across Iran in protests that, in many cases, called for the downfall of the Islamic Republic. The Iranian regime responded with intense repression against the protesters with at least 4,500 reported massacred and many more missing. Not only was the regime shaken by the revolt […]
The Only Solution is Solidarity!
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. A hospital system relies on all types of workers to make it function – from therapists who ensure patients can safely swallow or move, to kitchen staff who cook and serve meals for patients and their families, to […]
So How Do We Organize?
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. The administration was trying to limit our ability to organize with our coworkers by doing this over the holidays, when workers are out of town or visiting family. They were planning on immediately taking away workers’ badge access […]
What Can We Expect From These Cuts?
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. Proposed cuts will target multiple departments of the hospital. But what do these cuts mean for the functioning of our healthcare system? Department managers have NO PLANS for how to adjust to these changes in staffing. Click here […]
Film Review: Take Out
Take Out, a 2004 movie by Sean Baker and Shih-Ching Tsou, follows one day in the life of a delivery worker at a Chinese takeout restaurant in upper Manhattan. In only 90 minutes the film takes us into the world of immigrant workers and the harsh work and constrained environments that they struggle through day […]
NYC Nurses on Strike!
On Monday, January 12, nearly 15,000 nurses at three of New York City’s largest hospital systems went on strike. While they are demanding better pay, they are also fighting for improved work conditions and to protect benefits they already have. This strike is part of an ongoing nationwide conflict between health care workers and hospital […]
Layoffs Brought to You By COT
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. The team deciding on who to cut was made up of current AHS healthcare workers who know the system, right? Wrong! A furniture salesman, a realtor, and a nurse who hasn’t worked in 40 years. Makes $en$e! Layoff […]
Why not cut from the top?
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. The executives have banded together to lay off the workers who actually do the work in the hospitals and clinics across AHS. But what do these managers and executives do? They’re the ones taking home the fat paychecks […]
AHS: Follow the F’ing Law!
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. Is AHS delaying layoff announcements because what they have been trying to do is illegal? According to California’s Beilenson’s Act, county boards are required to hold public hearings before making major changes to healthcare services at county facilities. […]
Our Holiday Bonus This year: Anxiety
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. While layoff notices are being delayed from December 24th to January 6th, the dread of wondering if you’re still “on the list” now only has more time to fester. The damage has been done – announcing layoffs for […]
Imperialism on the Move; Will the People Strike Back Soon?
January 12, 2026, editorial of the New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries (NPA-R) in France, translated from French. After Trump’s military intervention in Venezuela to seize its oil, after reaffirming his desire to take over Greenland and its resources, now it’s Iran that the American leader is threatening with another military intervention. The pretext is to come to […]
2026: It’s All of Us vs. the Billionaire Class
2026 has begun with the Trump administration escalating their brutality against the population and increasing their threats to the world. They are drawing a line in the sand: it is the tiny class of billionaires and those who protect them on one side, and the rest of us on the other. Which direction things continue […]
Minnesotans Are Defending Their Communities Against Authoritarian ICE Terror
The U.S. government’s terror agents in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are carrying out their most aggressively violent attack campaign to date. Over 3,000 agents have flooded into Minneapolis and elsewhere in Minnesota in the past weeks. They are carrying out a brutally racist operation against local Somali and […]
Despite repression by the Islamic regime, anger is spreading in Iran
January 3, 2026 article from the New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries (NPA-R) in France, translated from French. In recent days, massive protests have erupted in major Iranian cities. Tehran merchants were quickly joined by students and larger segments of the population in these protests, which were initially caused by the rising cost of living (a 250% increase […]
We Must Oppose the Imperialist Aggression to Seize Venezuela’s Wealth
January 3, 2026 Statement from the New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries (NPA-R) in France, translated from French. J Trump, the President of the United States, has claimed responsibility for the airstrikes on Venezuela, the human cost of which remains unknown at this time. He also claimed to have captured Maduro, the Venezuelan president, whom he accuses of […]
AHS Workers Demand a Safe Workplace
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. Healthcare workers at Highland and throughout the Bay Area were shocked to learn of the stabbing death of a social worker at a San Francisco General Hospital clinic earlier this month. Although SF General administrators are now agreeing […]
When Workers Organize, The Bosses Listen
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. Employees of AHS, especially at Highland, have been calling on the administration to protect patients from immigration enforcement in the hospital. They have been hosting Know Your Rights trainings, passing around badge buddies with info about how to […]
Stronger Together
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. A proposal has been circulating at Highland recently for registered nurses to form their own chapter board within SEIU. Nurses were concerned that they were not well represented in the current chapter board, which is primarily composed of […]
“Financialize Everything”: How ‘Prediction Markets’ Are Selling the End of the World
Early this month, CNN reportedly formed a partnership with Kalshi, “the world’s largest prediction market company” according to Axios. As part of the deal, CNN will embed data from Kalshi’s online market into live news broadcasts, “includ[ing] prediction market content related to politics, news, culture and weather.” Kalshi, alongside their main major competitor Polymarket, offers a marketplace […]
Anti-Semitic Attack in Australia: We Must Fight Racism and the Capitalist System That Fuels It
December 15, 2025 editorial of the New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries (NPA-R) in France, translated from French. On Sunday, December 14, two assailants killed 15 people and wounded 42 others by shooting into a crowd gathered to celebrate the Jewish holiday, Hanukkah, on Bondi Beach in Sydney. One shooter was disarmed by a Syrian immigrant who courageously […]
Demonstrators “Scrape ICE” Out of Home Depot
People are getting creative in how they denounce ICE raids in their communities. In recent weeks, hundreds have gathered at Home Depot stores throughout the country protesting ICE’s presence. Demonstrators have organized symbolic “buy-in” protests where dozens line up to buy a single 17¢ ice scraper, only to immediately line up again and return it. The intention […]
Pam Bondi Memo Criminalizes Political Dissent
In a leaked memo dated December 4, Attorney General Pam Bondi directed the FBI to “compile a list of groups or entities engaged in acts that may constitute domestic terrorism.” She goes on to broaden the definition of domestic terrorism to include those who support problematic “political and social agendas” such as “opposition to law and […]
UC Berkeley Suspends Lecturer Peyrin Kao After Pro-Palestine Advocacy
In August 2025, at the start of the fall semester, UC Berkeley Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) lecturer Peyrin Kao went on a 38-day hunger strike to protest the genocide in Gaza and bring greater awareness onto the university campus. Kao states that he ate only 250 calories a day to represent the famine Gazans are currently experiencing. […]
Ukraine: Capitalists Profit as Millions Suffer
The corruption scandal currently rocking the government of Ukraine says a lot about what the ruling classes of nation-states really care about. While they often own the media and choose the politicians who tell us that “we’re all in this together,” the reality couldn’t be further from the truth. In 2019, television comedian Volodymyr Zelensky […]