Israelis continue to kill thousands of Palestinians
Al Jazeera, 1/12–The Israeli military siege on the northern Gaza Strip has left about 5,000 Palestinians dead or missing after 100 days of brutal attacks that have only intensified amid talks of a potential mediated agreement between Israel and Hamas. Another 9,500 Palestinians were injured as a result of the Israeli military operation in the north that was launched in early October…Gaza’s Government Media Office…described the Israeli siege as “the most horrific form of ethnic cleansing, displacement and destruction” that has affected hundreds of thousands in the war-ravaged area...north Gaza is now a “ghost area” of vast destruction and rubble…
South Korea latest to ponder building nukes
Foreign Affairs, January/February– South Korea has long relied on the United States to keep the North Korean nuclear threat at bay. Pyongyang…today regularly issues nuclear threats against its southern neighbor…North Korea’s capabilities are growing. Pyongyang has developed an intercontinental ballistic missile…North Korea can now strike American cities with a nuclear weapon…Seoul is now considering a step that, until recently, was discussed only on the country’s political fringe: building its own nuclear weapons…this proposal has gone mainstream…71 percent of South Koreans support nuclearization…
Nurses in Michigan prepare to strike
Lansing State Journal, 1/9–A potential strike between nurses and the University of Michigan Health-Sparrow system fits a post-pandemic pattern of nurses asking for more, which may now be a recurring feature of health care…
Nurses have been negotiating, picketing and striking to highlight their changing needs. Nurses were often burned out during the pandemic, cutting into the available workers for a specialized job that can’t be done by artificial intelligence…The five-day strike that Sparrow’s health care workers are planning to start Jan. 20, pending further negotiations, could bring pressure on the hospital to meet the nurses’ demands…
Antiracist protesters in Lisbon fight against anti migrant fascists
Portugal Residents, 1/12–Almost a month on from the police operation in Martim Moniz that so outraged left wing parties and immigrant associations, thousands of people have taken to the streets today in protest...Slogans today included those attributed to ‘activists of the Left Bloc’, who chanted: “Fascists, fascists, your time has come, the immigrants stay and you go away”...
According to lawyer Ricardo Sá Fernandes, also among the demonstrators:“The Portuguese are sending a signal here that they do not agree with any discrimination. We are all together,” …in spite of the fact that members of far-right groups were holding a counter action nearby, in support of the country’s police forces.
Anti-fascist protest in Germany
France24, 1/12–A key congress of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was delayed Saturday as thousands shouting “No to Nazis” protested outside the venue in the eastern town of Riesa. The party’s 600-odd delegates are expected to approve its manifesto. The draft version of the manifesto includes an exit from the euro and a tough immigration policy. An AfD party spokesman told AFP that the programme was delayed by at least an hour due to protests preventing delegates from reaching the venue…”We are filling the streets of Riesa with diversity, solidarity and openness and are gathering in numbers in front of the entrances to the AfD congress”...
Mafia profits off of mass migration
Der Spiegel, 1/3–The Darién Gap between South and Central America is exceedingly dangerous, but hundreds of thousands of migrants try their luck every year in an effort to reach the U.S. Now, a drug cartel has turned the jungle crossing into big business…Within just a few years, the Gulf Clan, Colombia’s most powerful cartel, has transformed one of the world’s most dangerous migration routes into a global refugee highway, which generates millions of dollars each week… And it is a service that people around the world have learned about…Venezuelans…Haitians, Ecuadorians, Mauritanians, Micronesians, Afghans and Iranians. There are people from Angola, Ghana and Nigeria, fleeing from bitter poverty in their homelands, from bloody conflicts or from the effects of climate change.
