The Israeli Army is Killing on a Massive Scale, and Western Leaders are Letting It Happen
May 12, 2025 editorial of the New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries (NPA-R) in France, translated from French. “We have decided to intensify the operation in Gaza,” Netanyahu said on May 5. “The operation includes a large-scale attack and the displacement of most of Gaza’s population,” added the Israeli army spokesperson. Intensify the operation? Make things worse than […]
Speak Out Celebrates May Day in the Bay
San Francisco Bay Area Speak Out Socialists recently organized a celebration of May Day, or International Workers Day. Friends, coworkers, and comrades gathered to watch recorded greetings from activists in different parts of the world, hear a history of May Day and its relevance to our struggles today, and enjoy spoken word and musical performances. […]
When the Union Won’t Fight, Workers Stand Up
Baltimore Department of Public Works (DPW) workers are angry that their union, AFSCME Local 44, has failed to properly represent them. In fact, they say it has actually worked hand in hand with the city to create a crony system for hiring and promotion, while not bargaining for better working conditions. This is after two […]
Sanctuary Status Isn’t Enough to Protect Our Communities
“Wait ‘til you see what’s coming” – Tom Homan, Trump’s “border czar,” issued a thinly-veiled threat at state and local officials across the country last Thursday, May 1st. The warning shot issued by Homan is just the latest development in the Trump administration’s inhumane policy towards immigrants. Homan was responding to a question about Wisconsin […]
Happy Nurses Week!
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. It’s that time of year again when nurses everywhere are honored by their workplaces with tokens of appreciation. For all your hard work and dedication, you might get a keychain or a pen, or a “thank […]
Kaiser Mental Health Workers Reach Tentative Agreement
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. On Monday, May 5th, a tentative agreement (TA) was reached between the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), the union which mental health workers at Kaiser are organized in, and Kaiser in Southern California. Mental health […]
Sick and Stressed Out From Work? You’re Not Alone.
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. Working at Kaiser Oakland means being prepared to deal with the effects of chronic short staffing, never-ending workloads, and long hours. It’s no surprise that so many of us end up facing physical and mental health […]
Cinco de Mayo Parades Cancelled Out of Fear
Ahead of the weekend celebrations, Philadelphia and Chicago canceled their annual Cinco de Mayo parades out of fear that their community would be targeted by ICE raids. The holiday celebrates the Mexican victory over the French in the Battle of Puebla in 1862. The parades usually draw tens of thousands of people. But with attacks […]
Public-Private: The Slaughter of Jobs. It’s Up to Us to Unite in the Struggle, All Together, Side by Side.
May 5, 2025 editorial of the New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries (NPA-R) in France, translated from French. May 1, International Workers’ Day, was an opportunity to make the voice of the working class heard, in the face of the prevailing reactionary and militaristic rhetoric, in France as much as in the rest of the world. In the […]
Oakland Teachers’ Strike Called Off
On the morning of Tuesday, April 29th, Oakland educators received an email from their union president stating that the Oakland Education Association (OEA) would engage in a one-day unfair labor practice (ULP) strike that Thursday, May 1st. Ultimately, the strike never happened. However, there was a lot of mixed messaging across the media, from the […]
Trump’s Tariffs Are An Attack on Workers
On April 2nd, Trump announced a range of new tariffs on goods imported into the United States from almost every country in the world. The Trump administration has implemented a 10% baseline tariff on almost all goods imported into the U.S., with even higher “reciprocal tariffs” on goods from a select group of countries that […]
More Pain From Budget Cuts Will Hit Soon
As Trump has issued executive order after executive order and his billionaire bureaucrats have cut the federal workforce by tens of thousands, millions more are waiting anxiously for the pain to begin. While those who have lost their jobs are already feeling the emotional and financial stress of their loss, the rest of us know […]
Sinners: Blues, Blood, and the Burden of Survival
Sinners is a film that, in the words of Oakland-born writer-producer-director Ryan Coogler, is “raging against the concept of genre.” Part deeply personal portrait of a Black community in 1932 Jim Crow Mississippi, part magical-realist tribute to the cultural power of Delta blues, part gory monster movie blockbuster, this movie attempts a lot and succeeds frequently […]
50 Years Ago Today: The End of the Vietnam War
April 30 marks 50 years since the end of the Vietnam War.
The pope has kicked the bucket… and found whiners!
April 23, 2025 article from the New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries (NPA-R) in France, translated from French “Encyclicals such as Laudato Si and Fratelli tutti resonate because they strike a chord as unique messages in a world that has been rolling towards Trump and Musk, and towards all forms of racism and xenophobia,” wrote Jean-Luc Mélenchon (French […]
Long Live May 1st, the International Day of Struggle of the Working Class!
April 28, 2025 article from the New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries (NPA-R) in France, translated from French. While the ruling classes of the world try to burden us with their threats of trade war and military war, there is no shortage of class struggles. For example, in the United States, demonstrations against Trump’s policies have taken place […]
Waymo Promoted While Service Cuts Are Forced on MUNI
Pedestrians and transit riders will soon have one more thing to watch out for on San Francisco’s downtown thoroughfare: Mayor Lurie has opened up the previously transit-and-taxi-only portion of Market street to autonomous rideshare company Waymo. This announcement came just a week after the SFMTA (San Francisco’s transit authority) voted to expand service cuts to MUNI (SF’s […]
Trump’s Cancellation of Union Contracts: An Assault on All Workers
On March 27, President Trump declared that a million federal workers would lose their collective bargaining rights. He claimed that the targeted workers are ineligible for union representation because their work involves national security. But the order extends far beyond that sector and includes workers at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Environmental Protection Agency, […]
France: Budget Cuts to Volunteer and Social Sectors: A Major Social Shock
April 14, 2025 article from the New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries (NPA-R) in France, translated from French As the [French] government announces a new “effort” of €40 to €50 billion ($45 to $56 billion) for the 2026 budget, let’s take a look back at the effects of the already massive cuts that have taken place over the […]
Israel Begins Annexation of Gaza
In late March Israel resumed its war on the Palestinians of the Gaza strip, killing and wounding thousands more Palestinians. Since the war began in October 2023, more than 51,000 Gazans have been killed along with another 115,000 wounded. And now, for the first time since this war began, Israeli political and military leaders are […]
The Bay Area Fights Back in “Freaky Tales”
“Freaky Tales,” a whimsical new film showcasing a vision of the Bay Area in the 1980s, opened on April 4th nationwide. The movie weaves together three stories with a common theme- celebrating the success of an underdog who wins against impossible odds. Although set in a fantasy version of the 80s, which is now 4 decades […]
Hunger Strike by Kaiser Workers
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. Southern California mental health workers at Kaiser are still on strike. They are now engaged in the longest mental health strike in U.S. history. To escalate their tactics against Kaiser, 8 mental health workers at Kaiser […]
French Prime Minister Bayrou and the Budget: Charming the Markets, Cheating Workers
April 21, 2025 editorial of the New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries (NPA-R) in France, translated from French. Forty billion euros (more than 45 billion dollars). Last week, [French] Economy Minister Éric Lombard put a figure on the “additional efforts” to be made for the 2026 budget. The government is preparing to take these 40 billion from public […]
Highland Installs New Purell Dispensers —Are New Pillows Next?
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. You may have noticed the shiny new hand soap and sanitizer dispensers installed across the hospital. While updated infection control tools are important, some of us are left wondering: Why this change – and why now? […]
Sitters Keep Patients Safe
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. Many of the patients we take care of need extra help staying safe during their hospitalization. For patients who are elderly, have dementia, or are confused as a result of their illness or injury, the hospital […]
Book Review – Overshoot: How The World Surrendered To Climate Breakdown
In his most recent book, Overshoot: How the World Surrendered to Climate Breakdown, Andreas Malm and his co-author Wim Carton show us why, despite a complete understanding of the deepening climate catastrophe, the forces shaping our world have not attempted to stop or even to mitigate the worsening crisis. As oil production and profits have […]
The Pitt: How America’s Broken Healthcare System Survives on the Backs of Its Workers
HBO Max just wrapped up the explosive first season of The Pitt, a highly rated and riveting medical drama. Set in a bustling ER in Pittsburgh, the series showcases many of the real problems faced by frontline healthcare workers in a large city hospital. The 15 episode season takes place over a jam packed 15 hours in the ER, where each episode covers a single hour […]
Educators Protect Students From Government Attacks
These are uncertain times: there are mass layoffs across job sectors, budget cuts, and deportations of documented people without criminal records. It appears that nowhere and no one is safe. Even so-called progressive areas of California are under attack from the federal government. In Oakland, educators started organizing a rapid response team after learning that undocumented students […]
Book Review – White Skin, Black Fuel: On The Danger Of Fossil Fascism
White Skin Black Fuel: On the Danger of Fossil Fascism, is a 2021 book by Andreas Malm and the Zetkin Collective. It is a cautionary tale about the rise of what they call fossil fascism. Throughout this stimulating and historically grounded book, they bring to light the connections between climate denialism and the rise of […]
Trump Admin Orders Millions of Acres of National Forests Cut Down
Hundreds of thousands of acres of forests in Western North Carolina still bear the scars of the devastating Hurricane Helene, as shown in the picture above. State logging plans in Western NC have put too much pressure on the already damaged forests, a common scene along the path of the destructive Hurricane Helene in several […]
It’s Time to Do Away with Borders and Bosses
April 14, 2025 editorial of the New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries (NPA-R) in France, translated from French. On Tuesday, April 2nd, Trump declared a trade war on the whole world: tariffs rising from 10% to 25%, or even more, sowing panic among European bosses, and from 20% to 54% for imports from China. On Tuesday, April 8th, […]
Our Earth, Our Lives! Not Their Profits!
Download pdf Trump and the billionaires he represents have stepped up their profiteering rampage. The mounting attacks on environmental regulations and the right of states to apply their own regulations will lead to an acceleration of worldwide environmental destruction. This is an attempt to return to a time when the politicians openly ran the country […]
When Students Are Under Attack… Stand Up, Fight Back
The detentions of Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student, and Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts graduate student from Turkey, set the stage for the U.S. government’s ongoing attacks against immigrant and international students. The students’ outspoken criticism of the U.S.-Israeli genocide against Palestinians is the underlying cause of their being criminalized and imprisoned by […]
Community Fights For Release Of Family Abducted By ICE… And Succeeds!
On Thursday, March 27th, a mother and her three children, one third grader and two high school students, were abducted and taken into custody by ICE officials. They are originally from Guatemala, and the raid took place in the small Republican-leaning town of Sackets Harbor in upstate New York. The town is the childhood and […]
The Real Scandal Of “Signalgate”
On March 15th, the United States carried out drone strikes in a residential area of Sanaa, the capital city of Yemen, taking the lives of at least 53 men, women and children. The attacks were directed at the Houthis’ “top missile guy” that they knew was “walking to his girlfriend’s building.” The unprovoked attack on […]
Thousands of California Educators to Lose Jobs
Each year on March 15th, educators across the state of California learn if they have been retained for the following school year, or if they have been “pink slipped,” the common expression for being laid off. This year, due to Governor Gavin Newsom‘s budget cuts across the state of California and the end of federal COVID funds, […]
The Fight at VTA – It’s NOT Over!
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now newsletter for BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit), a rapid transit rail system in the San Francisco Bay Area – April 9, 2025 The corporate media showed what side it was on in covering the strike at VTA (Valley Transportation Authority) in San Jose. They made it […]
Kaiser: Parking Lot Craziness
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. Two weekends ago, there were crazy scenes in the employee parking lot at Kaiser Oakland. The police chased several people into the employee lot after they had stolen cars outside the facility and entered the lot […]
Mental Health Workers Challenge Kaiser
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. As of April 7th, mental health workers in Southern California have been on strike for 26 weeks. They are protesting the Kaiser administration’s failure to meet their demands or address critical issues in the for-profit healthcare […]
Missing Pay for Certified Nurses
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. At Highland Hospital, nurses voted last July to approve a new contract that includes an additional 3% compensation for having a specialty certification. Nurses spend months preparing for these certification exams, and then maintain their certifications […]
Barriers Don’t Protect: They Enclose!
April 7, 2025 editorial of the New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries (NPA-R) in France, translated from French On Wednesday, April 2—it would have seemed like an April Fool’s joke the day before—Trump announced an increase in U.S. customs duties. An economic war has been declared, risking nothing less than a global economic crisis. American Imperialism on the […]
Protests Span the U.S. and Show the Anger!
On Saturday, April 5, “Hands Off” protests spanned the United States. At least one million people rallied and marched in a clear sign of the growing rage towards the Trump administration’s attacks on the middle and working classes. Protesters raged about a wide range of struggles and injustices. Among the core messages was that billionaires […]
Mickey 17: A Sci-Fi Satire of Capitalism, Colonialism, and Cloning
Bong Joon-Ho, the visionary South Korean filmmaker behind Parasite, Snowpiercer, and Okja, is back with another sharp critique of capitalism – this time in space. His latest film, Mickey 17, is a thrilling, darkly funny sci-fi adventure that exposes the horrors of billionaire rule, unethical colonization, and the dehumanizing effects of advanced technology in the wrong hands. True to […]
As They Grind Our Lives into the Ground, Resistance Becomes More Necessary than Ever
The Trump administration knows its policies are unpopular, so it represses opposition: all the more reason to resist!
France: Marine Le Pen Gets the Prison Time that She Demands for Others!
April 1, 2025 editorial of the New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries (NPA-R) in France, translated from French. “The weapon of ineligibility will have to be used much more rigorously,” wrote Marine Le Pen (leader of the extreme right National Rally (RN) party in France) in 2012…. She has been taken at her word, the sentence given: four […]
Hacks Actor Hannah Einbinder Says Never Again for Anyone During Speech
“Visibility is a responsibility. Those of us who have a platform must use our voices to ensure that speaking out is not outlawed altogether.” Last week, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), an LGBTQ+ civil rights organization, hosted an annual fundraising dinner in Los Angeles, where Hacks actor Hannah Einbinder was presented the HRC Visibility Award. […]
They Have No Solutions for Us
Download pdf Since Trump became President, the reality of this so-called democracy has been on display for all to see. The Republicans in Congress have bowed to every demand. And the Democrats have barely expressed any opposition. Some judges have issued rulings opposing the most blatant disregard for laws. But the final word is left […]
Capitalist Critique on the Severed Floor [Contains Spoilers]
The following article contains spoilers for Season 2 of Severance. The second season of Severance just wrapped up, once again delivering a sharp, and sometimes silly, critique of capitalism and the modern workplace. The show’s premise—splitting a person’s consciousness between work and personal life—highlights a harsh reality: we spend a third of our lives trapped […]
Israel’s Violence Against Filmmaker Hamdan Ballal
On Monday, March 24, Hamdan Ballal, co-director of the Oscar-winning film “No Other Land,” was beaten and abducted by Israeli settlers and soldiers outside of his home in the village of Susya in the occupied West Bank. He was detained overnight and hospitalized following his release. “No Other Land” documents the resilience of Palestinians in the face of settler-violence […]
Kaiser: National Expansion = Record Profits
This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA. Last month, Kaiser announced their 2024 financial results, including $12.9 billion dollars in profits! This was a 300% increase in their profits compared to 2023. More than half of these new profits were from new healthcare […]