Shooting of CEO shocks bosses as workers celebrate
The Daily News, 12/5–The fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has triggered a wave of rage-filled reactions on social media, most of them expressing contempt and dissatisfaction with the health insurance industry he represented. Thompson was gunned down early Wednesday morning… “When you see the entire internet — left and right — united around one thing, and that is celebrating the death of a healthcare CEO, you have to ask ‘Why?’ and I don’t think that has been discussed at all” … “There’s no discussion of the systemic cruelty in our healthcare system, or the fact that thousands of Americans die because CEOS like [Thompson] and others deny essential life-saving care to Americans.”
Turkish workers fight privatization
Duvar.English, 11/21–In Ankara, 500 workers at the Çayırhan Thermal Power Plant have locked themselves inside the mine in a protest against privatization plans…The privatization process for the plant began a month and a half ago..Workers [fear]...losing both their jobs and homes..miners stated they would continue their occupation inside the mine until their demands were acknowledged, while hundreds of workers and their families pledged to keep up their protests outside the mine… "We are migrant workers…All of us are migrants…”
Under capitalism, human rights don’t extend to gold mine regions
BBC, 12/4–Dayane Leite never wanted to become a sex worker but at the age of 17 her husband died of a heart attack and she couldn’t pay for the funeral. Her hometown, Itaituba…is at the heart of the country’s illegal gold-mining trade, so a friend suggested raising the money by having sex with miners…“The women are seriously humiliated there. They may be slapped in the face and yelled at…While the environmental harm of the mines is well known, the human cost - which the UN says includes violence, sexual exploitation and trafficking - goes largely unreported…The three largest customers of Brazilian gold are Canada, Switzerland and the UK. More than 90% of all exports to Europe are from areas where illegal mining occurs…
Free speech becoming a memory at U.S. universities
NY Times, 11/25–Colleges and universities have tightened rules around protests, locked campus gates and handed down stricter punishments after the disruptions of pro-Palestinian demonstrations and encampments last spring. The efforts seem to be working. Universities have seen just under 950 protest events this semester so far, compared to 3,000 last semester…administrators have often enforced — to the letter — new rules created in response to last spring’s unrest. The moves have created scenes that would have been hard to imagine previously, particularly at universities that once celebrated their history of student activism.
U.S. war planners ponder whether Trump can split China and Russia
Foreign Affairs, 12/6–“The one thing you never want to happen is you never want Russia and China uniting. I’m going to have to un-unite them”…Donald Trump boasted in an interview…early indications suggest that the coming administration might seek to damage the Chinese-Russian partnership by reducing tensions…with Moscow in order to put pressure on Beijing…Michael Waltz…whom Trump has tapped to serve as his national security adviser, advocated…for the United States to help wind down the war in Ukraine…and…divert resources to “countering the greater threat from the Chinese Communist Party”...Russia has become very dependent on China economically, with 40 percent of Russian imports coming from China and 30 percent of Russian exports going there…This dependence is deepening…
Protesters fight against French-Israeli imperialism
WIVB4.com, 11/14–Protests erupted in Paris on Wednesday against a controversial gala organized by far-right figures in support of Israel. The event, intended to raise funds for the Israeli military, included Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich among its invited guests…Smotrich, a vocal advocate of Israeli settlements, had been expected to attend Wednesday’s gala, dubbed “Israel is Forever,” which was planned by an association of the same name. The group’s stated goal is to “mobilize French-speaking Zionist forces”...On Wednesday night, several hundred protesters marched through central Paris, denouncing the event as a “gala of hatred and shame.”
