Since June, a third of Pakistan has come under water resulting in over two thousand deaths and upwards of 20 million displaced, revealing the complete failure of the capitalist Pakistani government in particular and ineffective capacity for capitalism globally to solve the problems endemic to the climate crisis.  In 2022 alone, famines, floods and catastrophes wrought by climate change have laid bare to workers from East Africa to Pakistan two facts of this profit-driven system: first, that international “aid” is often a smokescreen for imperialist aggression; second, that local government neglect and corruption leaves millions around the world starving and tens of thousands dead—often women, children and the most vulnerable.  Take Haiti where, after the 2010 earthquake and ensuing cholera outbreak, mafioso agencies diverted needed goods to the poor to line the pockets of greasy Haitian elites via either the black market or for personal use.  As in Haiti, Pakistani workers show us that only the heroic efforts of members of the working class will offer the courage, energy and political commitment needed to share our resources and help prevent further suffering from class brothers and sisters.

The recent floods in Pakistan are the direct outcome of the deadly admixture of heavier than normal monsoon rains and rapidly melting glaciers, both resulting from the bosses’ system of profit-driven production which continues to pollute the atmosphere, ravage the ozone and intensify global warming.  Chinese, US and neighboring bosses in India contribute the largest share of CO2 emissions, and workers the world over suffer the impacts. Pakistan’s share in the world’s CO2 emission is 0.5 percent only which may not be a reason for climate change, but the government-backed rich landowners divert the natural flow of water toward the small piece of lands and dwellings of poor farmers to save their own crops and properties.

Bosses save their profits
The bosses there have proven entirely ineffective with government mismanagement of international aid and mob-like agencies swarming to hoard the “charity” and relief donations arriving from around the world, causing even more death and devastation than the floods themselves. While the Current Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s brother is largely behind the corruption in the current flood relief, the Sharif brothers years ago opportunistically called out the former regime in the aftermath of the 2005 earthquake that killed 100,000 people, claiming the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority had misused 60 per cent of the funds.  According to one local journalist, Shadi Khan Saif, “There are already quite credible reports concerning criminal negligence and abuse of authority to loot and misappropriate the funds and resources meant for the flood victims…It is, however, quite ironic to see the power-greedy elite looking at this calamity as an opportunity to accumulate more wealth.”  Saif is mistaken, however, to see this greed as ironic when it is in fact the parasitic nature of a system  
based on exploitation for profit that such “corruption” take place (in.investing.com/news).   

Workers better than anyone know not to be fooled, as many impoverished Pakistanis understand that donors are sending the relief items like tents, mosquito nets, blankets, mattresses, kitchen utensils, medicines etc. that are being diverted into the markets.

As winter is approaching a large number of displaced populations are living without shelter, clean water and warm clothes. Still more than ten million people are surrounded by water which is breeding ground for malaria-breeding mosquitos, because the government is doing nothing to get the water out of the affected areas.  As of October 25, “in Sindh, 59 health facilities are fully damaged and 461 partially damaged, further limiting access to primary health care. In Sindh, between July and early October, nearly 350,000 people were suspected of having malaria, more than 700,000 had some form of diarrhea, and over 770,000 people reported a skin-related disease, according to the Directorate General of Health Services” (reliefweb.int/report).  Not only do poor people have no way to access hospitals, but capitalists owning the pharmaceutical companies are creating artificial scarcity of life saving drugs to increase the prices of medicines. Now an ordinary medicine like Paracetamol is not available in the market which is widely used to treat dengue and malaria. Some lifesaving medicines became very expensive. Those capitalizing on the shortage offering black market generics have joined the ranks of those responsible for severe reactions and sudden deaths.

Workers save lives
We approached some areas where there is no road intact. We used boats without engines/motors and were pushed by the men using a piece of wood to reach out the poor people with medicines, clothes and tents. We are a party of the poor working class therefore we don’t have resources to meet the requirements of poor displaced people but we used to collect some used items, food, water and lifesaving drugs from our neighborhoods, and we coordinated to establish some medical camps. Some of our comrades fell sick because of Malaria and dehydration during these efforts.

We in the PLP are trying to expose the bosses’ high officials and political leaders for their systemic neglect and discrimination against members of our class. When we told them that we are from a political party which is striving to establish a society without classes and exploitation, we collected all that stuff from the poor working class people and their sympathizers, they in turn showed full support to our ideology and activities. They asked us to come over here again when the situation gets better. We have found very good contacts in these areas to develop a base of support for workers’ class consciousness, a critical step toward revolution. We are proud of our poor brothers and sisters living under the sky without a tent, warm clothes, mosquito nets and clean water but understanding that it is all because of a bad political and economic system which is creating
problems for them.

Natural disasters require political solutions!
Whether it be the crushing of innocent people in Seoul’s Halloween celebration or last year’s Travis Scott concert, October deadly collapse of the bridge in India, or recent cholera outbreaks from Haiti to Pakistan, capitalism proves time and again that profiteering bosses are always at root of the events that cause needless death for our class.  Natural disasters will occur even under communism, but natural disasters under capitalism are 90 percent man-made.  They can only be combatted and mitigated through political organization and the power of our class.  Hoarding of commodities, competition over land ownership and business, pharmaceutical profiteering are all political problems fueled by the capitalist world order. Until workers seize control of land, of pharmaceutical plants—we will continue to be left at the mercy and will of the same class that places us in this continuous cycle of crisis, displacement, misery and death.  Long live Communism and PLP.

The all-Black leading actors who are cast in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, now playing on Broadway in New York City, pay tremendous homage to a well-known play by pro-communist writer Arthur Miller. It’s about the deep alienation that results from the commodification of not only human labor but also human ideals and potential. But this production inevitably feeds into the current trend in bourgeois capitalist culture–on television, in media and in film and theater–of presenting Black  workers in fundamentally pro-capitalist spaces as “progressive,” when, in fact, the primary function of such representation feeds the illusion that material conditions for the masses are improved by virtue of some stars “making it.”  Notably, the current Broadway play continues the laudable effort on the part of Arthur Miller to present his “profit is evil, profit is wrong” assertion as a universal predicament for all workers regardless of race or ethnicity.  Still, the fundamental weakness in the play, overall and this rendition, in particular is that the “race blind” critique of capitalist alienation–partially challenged by positioning Black actors at the helm of this current production–continues to undermine the very commitment to portraying the truth about how racism and sexism are pillars of capitalist exploitation.

Make no mistake, Arthur Miller, in spite of his liberal tendencies, was no traitor of the communist movement. In 1956 when he was called into the House  Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), the judicial arm of the bosses’ post-World War II vicious anti-communist political attack on the working class, Miller refused to name names–though surely he had many–risking even jail time to uphold his principles of workers’ justice.  

While figures such as Paul Robeson (see page 8) used theater in the twentieth century as a mechanism for invoking the power of internationalist proletarian culture, the general fact is that Broadway culture–on and off Broadway–is in many ways inaccessible for most workers, especially in times of stifling inflation such as exist today.  Just this past summer, young comrades in our Progressive Labor Party staged a short but powerful skit in the community outside of a public housing complex where one of our comrades resides, using this skit to shed light on the substandard conditions inflicted upon workers, inspiring many in the crowd to then participate in a CHALLENGE distribution in that same housing complex. It is this kind of art–theater as practice for workers’ empowerment–that our class must support, create, and use in the effort to overturn capitalist inequality and build a world in which commodity production and the alienation it produces–such as that embodied by the tragic character of Willie Loman–no longer exists.

U.S. prepares plans for world war
Foreign Affairs, 10/27–In its recent National Security Strategy, the White House wrote that “the [People’s Republic of China] and Russia are increasingly aligned with each other,”...the conflict in Ukraine is likely to be protracted…Chinese leader Xi Jinping…could try to seize Taiwan as the war in Ukraine rages on…China’s expanding interests and global footprint suggest that a war with Beijing would not be confined neatly to Taiwan and the western Pacific but instead stretch across multiple theaters, from the Indian Ocean to the United States itself.

A war with China could easily spill from east Asia into the Indian Ocean, which connects China with its sources of energy in the Middle East, and even to the Persian Gulf…even if things go well for Washington, and a Chinese missile campaign or amphibious invasion ends in failure, Beijing would likely fight on…But the presence of nuclear arsenals would also significantly raise the stakes of escalation. It’s not impossible that the war could produce the world’s first nuclear attacks since 1945.

Flooding in Pakistan is worse than terrible
Al Jazeera, 10/28–The catastrophic floods in Pakistan have pushed the country to the brink. These floods follow the COVID-19 pandemic, rising inflation and the most severe heatwave the country has faced in more than 60 years. When he visited in September, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said he had “never seen climate carnage on such scale”.

Across 81 districts, a total of 78,000 sq km (30,000 sq miles) of farmland were flooded. That’s an area bigger than the entire Czech Republic. More than 80 percent of crops across the country were damaged, according to the government. Thousands of hectares of standing food crops like rice, onions, tomatoes and other vegetables have been destroyed. More than 6,000km (3,728 miles) of roads and bridges have been damaged, causing significant disruptions to the transport of the food that has survived.

U.N. mulls invading Haiti again
NPR, 10/21–The United Nations Security Council is considering an international intervention in Haiti to open up aid corridors and resolve what the U.N. secretary-general calls "an absolutely nightmarish situation." Armed gangs have blocked the main fuel terminal in the capital since last month and severed access to aid routes…Nearly half the population faces acute hunger. And now the country faces an outbreak of cholera.

In response to this spiraling crisis, [Prime Minister Ariel] Henry has asked the international community to intervene with a "specialized armed force." But the request has been met with horror by many in Haiti, who are more than familiar with the checkered history of foreign intervention and occupation…U.N. peacekeepers brought cholera to the island over a decade ago, causing an outbreak that killed thousands of people.

Many in the U.S. are also wary of Washington's history of occupation and intervention in the Caribbean nation. In 1915, the U.S. invaded Haiti and occupied it for nearly two decades …but it left behind chaos. Then in Operation "Uphold Democracy" in 1994, President Bill Clinton sent in more than 20,000 troops to restore ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power.

New York politicians call in troops to deal with overflowing shelters
NY Post, 10/27–National Guard members are being deployed to New York City’s homeless shelters to help assist the overwhelmed facilities that are also housing migrants…The city shelter deployment came after Gov. Kathy Hochul mobilized 100 National Guard troops for deployment earlier this month to “provide logistical and operational support” to the city’s controversial migrant tent city on Randall’s Island.

The city Department of Homeless Services’ hit a new occupancy record this month, with 62,174 people living in shelters as asylum-seeking migrants continue to arrive from the southern border. The surge in migrants to the Big Apple forced Mayor Adams to declare a state of emergency and predicted it would cost $1 billion to house and provide social services for the nearly 20,000 new arrivals.

Worker to worker: Rodwell-Spivey organizing continues
      Last month, a group of comrades in Newark, NJ canvassed with Monique Rodwell, the mother of the Rodwell-Spivey brothers, in front of Save-A-Lot, a grocery store on Springfield Ave, (a street that was the site of the ‘67 Newark Rebellion) where we spoke to people and asked them to sign petitions. It was fantastic; we reached out to a lot of people. We got feedback about racial profiling and housing issues. Most of the residents were vocal about politicians who only came around when it was election time. When asked if they thought things were different since the election of Newark’s mayor, they all said nothing has changed. If anything, things have gotten worse.

We need more unity. I think that we should address certain issues differently. Communication is a must. People will feel more comfortable talking to people who are going through the same struggles and come from the same neighborhoods, because they feel like that person can relate.  And there are too many organizations, too many egos and not enough working together. We have to put aside personal differences;it’s about community.

Those who signed the petition need to get together soon.

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Build bonds with co-workers
Organizing in the Transit Workers Union (TWU) as a Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) worker has been challenging. Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members try to learn as much as we can about our contractual rights within our union and within the bosses’ company so we can share that info with the rest of the workers. It creates that revolutionary potential when workers learn the limitations this system offers, paving a way to more fight back.

Many workers, myself included, are isolated and get bombarded with ideas and historical events of workers’ fightback not amounting to much, especially in recent fightbacks, like for George Floyd. But even when they do report our fightback stories the ruling class dilutes them of their militancy and lies about their effectiveness. They also remove any communist influence, birthing cynicism. Workers don’t know what we don't see. So it’s our job to read and share this paper that is filled with our victories and strengths.

This is where our strength comes from and without it any one of us can be prone to idealist ideology, like it’s enough to have a union that fights some of the time or Biden is “better.” Our co-workers don’t show up to meetings because the union misleaders don’t want them to. They don’t want the workers to bear witness to their limits.

Going to our union meetings where the leadership blames the workers for our problems is like meeting with vampires. It has taken a toll on me. The bosses’ influence translates into not trusting my coworkers with a communist newspaper. But I’m overcoming that influence as now I am willing to trust someone. I …am …… willing to trust someone. The bosses’ message is a lie. The answer is clear; we must be bold and confident in our line. As I have made bonds with many workers, now I see it was my own anticommunism all along. Time to remove that and practice trusting myself with my coworkers with communist ideas. Communist-led fight back has potential in transit. It’s the only way it has worked and continues to work; by trusting the working class. I don’t expect coworkers to join right away but I’m ready to show them the door. Soon, I’m sure to my surprise one (or more) will walk through it.
                
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Fighting bosses’ barriers against booster shot
This past week I tried to get my Covid-19 and flu booster from Walgreens. I heard by way of my nonprofit job that bosses at Walgreens recently made a partnership with DoorDash and UberHealth bosses to deliver Paxlovid, a Covid-19 antiviral in pill form for workers suffering from the virus. The week leading up to the Walgreens visit, I noticed in almost every interaction that I had with friends and comrades that someone had a cough or a tickle in their throat, or excess phlegm. I figured it was as good a time as any to get fierce about boosting my immune system. In the Walgreens near my home in Jersey City, one of the most expensive and quickly gentrifying cities in the U.S., there were tons of visibly sick people waiting at the pharmacy, and each was maskless; leaving them and us vulnerable. The place was not that clean, and the longer we waited, the more the store filled with coughs and lines of people. What I also noticed was that there weren’t many workers running the place - pharmacists or cashiers. I tried my best to be patient and wait, but as we neared closer to closing time, things looked bleak.

I left and tried to look up other, maybe better Walgreens that I could find based on Google reviews. Each review told an experience similar to the one that I just went through. I found a small, less mainstream pharmacy in a wealthier small town nearby. I noticed it was run by a family from India. Although the place was clean, well stocked and they made the process of getting vaccinated easy, the two people running the pharmacy had an on-edge method to keep the lines shorter, and a kid was stocking the shelves. Even the most well-intentioned people that start and run businesses still have to participate in exploitation. Walgreens, Uber and DoorDash are some of the wealthiest businesses in the U.S. They make their profits by also being the most exploitative. To smash exploitation and this whole racist, sexist system, we as working people need to fight for a full-fledged communist revolution. Only with masses of working people working together across borders to smash this system and build communism can we have a fighting chance for healthy generations to follow us and a healthy planet they can live on.

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Radiation, harmful only at high doses
The CHALLENGE article “Imperialism poisons workers with radiation” (10/19) rightly points out the U.S. bosses care nothing about our health. However, the article errs by highlighting radioactivity in general as the main cause of health problems from Superfund sites.

These toxic dumpsites, often located in Black and Latin communities, are primarily dumping grounds for often cancer-causing, but not radioactive, waste. The article also states  “[p]lutonium is the most-deadly.” Wrong. Radioactivity is generally harmless except at very high doses.

Radioactive isotopes are used both to treat and diagnose diseases such as iodine (I-131), which is used to treat thyroid diseases. I-131 is far more toxic than plutonium, but the doses used are below the threshold for harm. I-131 was the main worry in the aftermath of Chernobyl and Fukushima but estimated doses to the thyroid from those events were a tiny fraction of doses used in nuclear medicine to save lives.

All agents have thresholds that separate “too little” from “just right” from “too much.” What matters is the dose and rate of delivery. When used in the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, plutonium was hazardous.

We live on a radioactive planet. We are all radioactive. Without radiation, we would fail to develop immune systems. Radiation is a necessary nutrient in low doses, and those doses are within the same range as the exposures from radioactive Superfund sites.

A study of twenty-six Manhattan Project workers accidentally received “significant doses” (see Gwyneth Cravens’s The Truth About Nuclear Energy). These workers were studied since 1951. Their cancer and death rates are the same as the average male population. Fifty years later, most were in good health.
Let’s learn more about radiation’s effects on health at various doses. Capitalism destroys lives with pollution, imperialist war, racism, and exploitation. We need to focus on that as we build towards communism.
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