Violent attacks on asylum seekers in Dublin, Ireland continue
Asylum seekers in Ireland face violent attacks, deportation, fascist agitation and homelessness.
•Steve James
Latest articles
Macron’s naming of a right-wing government in France and the bankruptcy of Mélenchon
By allying with Macron and falsely promoting him as an enemy of neo-fascism, Mélenchon’s New Popular Front created conditions for Macron to assemble a government backed by the far right.
•Alex Lantier
Trial of “Uhuru 3” begins in Florida as US government accelerates anti-Russia campaign, war drive
As four members of Black nationalist groups in the US are facing potentially 15 years in prison for advancing positions in opposition to the Ukraine war, the Department of Justice claimed on Wednesday that Russia and Iran were “interfering” in the 2024 election.
•Jacob Crosse
Washington presses regional governments to secure Maduro’s ouster in Venezuela
The Venezuelan crisis has exposed all bourgeois nationalist governments of the Latin American pink tide and their pseudo-left apologists as instruments of US imperialism.
•Andrea Lobo
Australia: Ousted CFMEU leaders seek to bury workers’ opposition to administration in drawn-out legal challenge
With tens of thousands of workers looking for a way to fight the Labor government’s attack, the ousted CFMEU bureaucracy is trying to convince them that no fight is needed.
•Martin Scott
One month of Ukraine’s invasion of Russia’s Kursk region
President Vladimir Putin, whose government failed to prevent the first seizure of Russian territory by an imperialist-backed army since World War II, is attempting to manage the debacle by downplaying the crisis in Kursk.
•Andrea Peters
Sri Lankan president appeals to Muslim voters with apology over forced cremation
Ignoring the opposition of the Muslim community, which always buries its dead, the government of former president Gotabhaya Rajapakse ordered the cremation of all bodies at the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
•Wasantha Rupasinghe
US citizen killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces
Turkish-American Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was shot in the head and killed on Friday as Israel Defense Forces fired on protesters who were defending Palestinians against Zionist settlers in the West Bank.
•Kevin Reed
The banning of X/Twitter in Brazil and the authoritarian drive of the capitalist state
Brazil’s supreme court has suspended access to X/Twitter, a platform used by tens of millions of Brazilians.
•Eduardo Parati, Tomas Castanheira
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra doubles down against British-Australian pianist Jayson Gillham
The law firm defending MSO censorship is prominent in the barrage of legal action against artists, journalists and other public figures opposing Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
•Richard Phillips
Canada’s New Democrats posture as defenders of rail workers, while abetting Trudeau’s strikebreaking
Just hours after Canadian National and Canadian Pacific-Kansas City imposed a lockout, Liberal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon used the quasi-dictatorial powers invested in him to outlaw all worker job action and empower an arbitrator to dictate their contracts.
•Graham Beverly, Roger Jordan
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
India: Maharashtra road commuter transport workers walk out for pay rise; Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital workers strike indefinitely; Western Australian and New South Wales child protection workers take action over staffing; Tasmanian nurses and midwives strike
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Appeals court ruling backs big publishers’ lawsuit against the Internet Archive
A three-judge US appeals court panel ruled that the Internet Archive violated copyright law by lending eBooks to borrowers at the beginning of the pandemic without authorization from the publishing industry.
•Kevin Reed
Erdoğan welcomes al-Sisi to Turkey for the first time in the shadow of the Gaza genocide
Erdogan and al-Sisi are taking steps to strengthen their ties amid Israel’s US-NATO-backed genocide in Gaza, which is spreading to the West Bank, and preparations for war against Iran.
•Barış Demir
UK studies on Long COVID reveal its brutal impact and prevalence
Several recent UK studies have investigated this harm being done to the population’s health by the policy of “living with the virus” enacted jointly by Conservative and Labour parties.
•Robert Stevens
With contract expiring soon for East Coast dockworkers, ILA make radical-sounding statements to head off rank-and-file anger
The ILA bureaucrats are drawing from the same playbook as the Teamsters and the UAW, using radical-sounding talk to ease the passage of a deal with massive hidden concessions. A general rule of thumb has emerged: the bigger the talk, the bigger the sellout.
•Tom Hall
What is revealed in the school massacre in Winder, Georgia
School shootings are a manifestation of the devastating social crisis of American capitalism.
•Patrick Martin
Harris and Trump compete for support from billionaires
Appealing to the billionaires that control both parties, at two recent events both Trump and Harris pledged to cater their policies to the interests of the ultra-wealthy.
•Jacob Crosse
Zelensky begins mass dismissal of cabinet ministers
The turnover of the Zelensky cabinet comes amid an impending military defeat in the Donbass region.
•Jason Melanovski
US urges New Zealand to ramp-up military capacity to police the Pacific
As the US presses for ramped-up military preparations, the Pacific is being placed on a war footing without the consent of the population, who have not been consulted.
•John Braddock
Macron names Barnier to lead right-wing French government backed by neo-fascists
The selection of Barnier tramples upon the election victory of the New Popular Front and marks a major step towards an authoritarian regime led by the far right.
•Anthony Torres, Alex Lantier
Canada’s NDP ends governmental pact with Trudeau in hopes of averting electoral debacle
The NDP’s new oppositional posture is aimed at repositioning the social democrats and their trade union allies so they can more effectively perform their essential function for the ruling class—suppressing the class struggle and acting as political safety valves—under conditions of intensifying global capitalist crisis.
•Keith Jones
Wellington rail workers voting on strike action
The Socialist Equality Group calls on rail workers to vote in favour of strike action in their pay dispute with Transdev and Hyundai Rotem, but warns that to carry out a real fight, workers must break from the RMTU and establish an independent rank-and-file committee.
•Our correspondent
Israel hampering polio vaccine drive as daily bombardment of Gaza continues
Israel could not have killed hundreds of thousands and laid waste to Gaza’s infrastructure, creating the perfect conditions for thousands more deaths from disease, without the unstinting support of the imperialist powers.
•Jordan Shilton
Prasanna Vithanage’s Paradise: Police brutality and a marriage implosion amidst Sri Lanka’s economic collapse
Paradise is a poignant and compelling film that reveals much about Sri Lanka’s social relations and will resonate with workers and youth around the world.
•Pani Wijesiriwardena, Richard Phillips
Metformin and COVID-19: An old drug with compelling anti-viral properties
Recent studies by the University of Minnesota and the COVID-OUT trials indicate that metformin, a commonly used drug to treat diabetes, has compelling clinical benefits in treating COVID.
•Benjamin Mateus, Bill Shaw
Four killed in mass shooting of sleeping train riders in Chicago suburb
While specific circumstances may differ from one event to another, the most pressing questions are the social roots of these repeated outburst of violence and how to stop them from happening.
•Brian Green
Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa
As new school term begins, teachers across Europe strike and protest pay, conditions, class sizes and student assessments; high school teachers in Israel walk out over pay and conditions as education budget slashed to pay for Gaza genocide; South African coal miners in KwaZulu-Natal province threatened with dismissal for striking over pay
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Finishing Palestinians, preventing “war”, bringing “peace”, Nikki Haley extends support for Taiwan
Since the 1970s, Taiwan has been no stranger to aiding and abetting genocide perpetrated by US-backed far-right dictatorships or by the US itself. It is no aberration that Haley’s visit was warmly received by Taiwan’s sub-imperialist bourgeoisie.
•Shih-Yu Chou
Twelve refugees drown in Channel due to criminal actions of British and French governments
The state crackdown on smugglers who organise the crossings has only forced migrants into undertaking even more hazardous journeys, as they try to avoid the militarised border infrastructure established by the British and French authorities.
•Tony Robson
Oil workers walk out at Marathon Detroit refinery
More than 270 workers went on strike Wednesday morning to demand substantial wage increases and an end to exhausting work schedules that threaten the health and safety of workers and the surrounding working-class community in southwest Detroit.
•Our reporters
Trump, Republicans openly plot to suppress vote, overturn election
Emboldened by the complicit Democrats, Trump, with the Republican Party behind him, is mounting a fascist campaign aimed at suppressing the vote on the way to a presidential dictatorship.
•Jacob Crosse
Israeli defence minister foreshadows Gaza-type genocide in West Bank
In an unmistakeable sign that a full-scale invasion of the West Bank is in preparation, Defence Minister Gallant declared yesterday that eventually the military will need to “pull out the roots” of Palestinian resistance.
•Peter Symonds
Boeing machinists ready to strike ahead of September 12 contract expiration
Hiding behind rules set by the bourgeois National Labor Relations Board, rules which Boeing no doubt had a say in creating, the IAM has not released any details of the discussions between itself and the company, not even on the most critical demands of wages and pensions.
•Bryan Dyne
4 dead, dozens wounded in Georgia high school shooting
Two students and two teachers were shot dead on Wednesday morning by 14-year-old Colt Gray at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, 45 miles east of Atlanta.
•Kevin Reed
US-organized police-military “stabilization” force deploys in Haiti
The social catastrophe roiling Haiti, the Western hemisphere’s poorest country, is rooted in well over a century of US imperialist predations—including repeated colonial-style occupations and “made in USA” regime changes.
•Félix Gauthier
Australian economy heading into recession
The economy grew by just 0.2 percent in the June quarter following a 0.1 percent rise in the three months to the end of March, while output per head was down 0.4 percent, its sixth consecutive quarterly decline.
•Nick Beams
Anheuser-Busch announces closure of two distribution facilities, exposing false job protections in new Teamsters contract
Anheuser-Busch announced it would close distribution facilities in Ohio and Massachusetts, destroying upwards of 150 jobs.
•Alex Findijs
The barbarism of “forever COVID” and the fight for socialist public health
We are publishing here the report to the Eighth Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US) given by Evan Blake. The congress was held from August 4 to August 9, 2024.
•Evan Blake
Canada joins US in imposing 100 percent tariff on Chinese-made EVs
Prime Minister Trudeau announced the imposition of punitive tariffs on electric vehicles at a cabinet retreat which was attended by President Joe Biden’s National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, making clear Canada’s ever-deeper involvement in the US war drive against China.
•Niles Niemuth
Atlanta-area postal worker dies on the job
The death of Shannon Barnes comes as Postal workers across the US face brutal exploitation.
•Patrick Smith, Matthew Taylor
California College of the Arts faces deep crisis: “The ultimate judgment upon the quality of a civilization”
According to one report, the school is “now reevaluating its course offerings, contemplating layoffs, and even considering a potential merger with another school to ensure its survival.”
•David Walsh
Grenfell Tower fire public inquiry delivers its final whitewash
The victims of Grenfell Tower died as the result of an act of social murder whose architects were companies aiming to cut costs in their refurbishment of the 24-storey building. Their accomplices were successive Conservative and Labour governments.
•Robert Stevens
UK suspension of Israeli arms contracts a guilty fraud
Britain is responsible for a tiny fraction of the arms received by Israel, overwhelmingly provided by the United States. In any case, the government’s decision affects just 30 of 350 arms contracts between the UK and Israel, and excludes parts for F-35 fighter jets killing Palestinian men, women and children day after day.
•Thomas Scripps
Overriding strike vote by 33,000 Boeing workers, IAM bureaucrats schedule vote on non-existent contract
What is worse, the IAM is prepared to even override a “no” vote to enforce the contract through an undemocratic technicality.
•Bryan Dyne, Tom Hall
Sri Lanka: SEP presidential candidate speaks to media, public meetings
The SEP is the only party warning of the dangers of world war and fascism and advancing a socialist alternative to massive IMF austerity.
•Wasantha Rupasinghe
Israel pounds Jenin refugee camp as assault on West Bank continues for seventh day
The Israeli military continued its expansion of the genocide against Palestinians into the West Bank on Tuesday with an intensified assault on the Jenin and Tulkarem refugee camps.
•Kevin Reed
Australian Labor PM now as unpopular as his hated Liberal-National predecessor
Another media poll indicates deepening disaffection with both Labor and the Coalition.
•Mike Head
As US East Coast dockworkers face contract deadline, union, government and management draw from playbook of sellouts at UPS, rail
If there is to be a fight, it must be waged by rank-and-file dockworkers against the port operators, the corrupt union bureaucracy and the federal government, which is waiting in the wings to block a strike if necessary.
•Tom Hall
Russian organizations and social media pages demand Bogdan Syrotiuk’s release
A number of Russian leftist organizations and media outlets have expressed their support for Bogdan, demanding his immediate release.
•Andrei Grozov
Lessons from the electoral success of the far-right Alternative for Germany
The establishment parties have rolled out the red carpet for the AfD and opened all doors for them.
•Peter Schwarz
VW workers must prepare for industrial action to oppose factory closures and layoffs
The IG Metall union and its works council reps have helped VW devise the “Performance” plan, to be used to slash thousands of jobs. This corporate united front is preparing to push through its attacks against the resistance of the workforce.
•Ludwig Weller
Modernism in Ukraine 1900-1930s: Revolutionary art outshines Ukrainian nationalist narrative
Those featured attended the same art schools as other Soviet artists, rebelled against the old conventions together, co-founded artistic movements, shared studios, debated the future of art and became friends and lovers. Many embraced the Bolshevik Party and its Ukrainization policy based on the principle of self-determination including the right to secession.
•Paul Mitchell
Racial inequality among the working poor shrinks in America
In July a team of researchers from a Harvard-affiliated research institute and the US Census Bureau released a study on economic mobility in the US which shows that inequality between low-income whites and blacks is decreasing.
•Andrea Peters
Footage of trapped Dagenham fire residents published as victims demand secure housing, assistance and justice
No guarantee of assistance has been provided, with council officials at pains to stress that the Spectrum Building residents are not council residents.
•Michael Barnes
ASLEF blocks train drivers’ strike at LNER to fall in line with UK Starmer government
Whelan and ASLEF’s cancellation of the LNER strike follows the announced settlement to end the bitter, two-year national rail dispute by train drivers at 16 train companies over pay and attacks on terms and conditions.
•Tony Robson
Faculty at 2 Michigan universities set for potential strike as fall classes start
Faculty at Oakland University and Western Michigan University are poised to begin strikes, with educators demanding pay increases large enough to offset soaring inflation.
•Shannon Jones
The lessons of the UAW sellout at Dakkota
There is absolutely nothing legitimate about UAW Local 3212’s claims that their deal was “ratified” by 92 percent Saturday.
•Dakkota Workers Rank-and-File Committee Network
Union bureaucrats stump for Democrats in Detroit, Milwaukee and Pittsburgh on Labor Day
In their tightly controlled appearances, Kamala Harris, Tim Walz and Joe Biden avoided any talk of the wars overseas while falsely presenting the interests of the working class and nationalist union bureaucracies as one and the same.
•Jacob Crosse
10,000 hotel workers launch nationwide strike during Labor Day holiday weekend
Hospitality workers walked out on strike for three days at 25 hotels in cities across the US to demand increased wages and an end to understaffing.
•Kevin Reed
While trying to ram through more sellouts, US rail union official warns of “class warfare” in Labor Day message
Workers have had to take a stand against Ferguson and the union bureaucrats, who have given up all of the gains of the past.
•Tom Hall
Protests and general strike in Israel pose the need to break with Zionism
Without a new axis of political struggle being taken up by the working class, the Israeli regime will continue with its policy of genocide, ethnic cleansing and apartheid, whether under Netanyahu, Gallant or someone else.
•Thomas Scripps
Unstable right-wing government formed in Thailand
Pheu Thai is attempting to manage its tenuous alliance with pro-military and monarchist parties, though there is no guarantee against further political upheavals.
•Ben McGrath
The SEP intervention in the UAW election and the fight for socialism among autoworkers
We are publishing here the report to the Eighth Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US), given by Jerry White. The congress was held from August 4 to August 9, 2024.
•Jerry White
Deepening crisis in New Zealand public health system
Health NZ has issued a letter to its administrative workforce calling for “voluntary redundancies” as the government seeks to slash $1.4 billion from healthcare.
•Tom Peters
Contemporary lessons from the slave power’s plot to overturn the 1860 election
Erik Larson’s new book The Demon of Unrest, published this year by Penguin Random House, contains critical lessons for the fight against Trump and the threat of dictatorship today.
•Eric London
PSOE, Sumar and Spanish union bureaucracies agree to new attack on pensions
Spain's union bureaucracies and their pseudo-left allies joined the capitalist state and business federations to deepen attacks on the public pension system, public services and working conditions.
•Santiago Guillen
Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei members call on Opel workers in Eisenach to fight together with their colleagues at Stellantis
SGP members appealed to the Opel workers to support the struggle of US auto workers who have begun to fight back against job cuts and poverty wages. This socialist perspective fell on receptive ears.
•Gregor Link
Latest economic data put question mark over China’s growth target
A range of economists and commentators have been downgrading their forecasts for growth.
•Nick Beams
Workers Struggles: The Americas
Last week retired workers marched in Lima, Peru demanding increases in their pensions while hotel workers in Quebec City and Montreal staged the fifth in a series of protest strikes.
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Chile’s Boric and Argentina’s Milei join exercises of US Southern Command
Boric’s pseudo-left government in Chile and Milei’s fascistic government in Argentina are participating in military exercises this week that are part of the war preparations by US imperialism and NATO.
•Rafael Azul
“The war’s not over”: Dakkota workers seething after UAW rams through contract with threats of lockout
The rebellion of Dakkota workers has kept coming into conflict with the pro-company UAW bureaucracy, which has worked to sabotage, isolate and break the strike from the very beginning.
•George Marlowe
Australian doctors warn dialysis patients are receiving third-world care
“Soon we may be forced to deny these life-sustaining treatments to patients who need them to stay alive, or to choose patients who can stay on haemodialysis while others die.”
•Martin Scott
Sri Lankan Supreme Court rules cancellation of local elections violates democratic rights
Postponing last year’s local elections by President Wickremesinghe, just nine months after the 2022 mass uprising, was a reactionary attempt to maintain his unstable regime and implement IMF austerity.
•Saman Gunadasa
Management safety violations preceded crash of UPS driver who suffered heat stroke behind the wheel, co-worker says
The non-fatal crash followed the deaths of two other UPS workers in the Dallas, Fort Worth area, including driver Luis Grimaldo on August 6.
•Omri Wolfe
Dana Corp. announces closure of auto parts plant in Lima, Ohio, destroying 280 jobs
The shuttering of the more than 50-year-old plant is part of a broader attack on jobs across the industry, including nearly 2,500 cuts at Stellantis’s Warren Truck plant near Detroit.
•George Kirby
American Academy of Pediatrics updated guidelines encourage kids experiencing “mild” diarrhea and vomiting to attend school
The AAP’s recent guidance has no scientific merit but reflects the ruling class policy of mass infection and reinfection that prioritizes profits over public health.
•Joseph Hillmeyer
Thai opposition party turns to right after being anti-democratically dissolved
The party’s refusal of call protests and rallies to defend basic democratic rights reflects its fear that the opposition could spiral out of control, draw in the working class and threaten bourgeois rule.
•Robert Campion
Pacific Islands Forum approves Australia’s anti-China policing plan
Amid the escalating US-led confrontation with China, the Pacific Islands Forum approved a far-reaching policing initiative that will strengthen Canberra’s strategic position in the region.
•John Braddock
Palestinian filmmakers accuse Hollywood of “dehumanization”
The list of signatories includes many significant figures, such as Hany Abu-Assad, Farah Nabulsi, director of the well-received The Teacher, and other notables such as Elia Suliman.
•Sandy English
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson demands “sacrifices” to pay for $1.2 billion school budget gap
The Democratic Party is overseeing a historic assault on public education in the nation’s third largest school district.
•Kristina Betinis
Biden and Harris call for escalation of Gaza genocide following death of six Israeli hostages
As air strikes on hospitals continued in Gaza and the Israeli military stepped up its assault on the West Bank, Democrats and Republicans demanded retaliation for the death of six more Israeli hostages.
•Kevin Reed
This week in history: September 2-8
Puerto RIcan nationalists freed; Ford pardons Nixon; MacArthur hails US rule in Japan; Saudi massacre near Mecca
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Following endorsements from RFK Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, Trump escalates fascistic agitation, phony anti-war posturing
As in 2016, the only reason Trump is able to appeal to anti-war sentiments in the working class is due to the warmongering of the Democratic Party.
•Jacob Crosse
Spain’s PSOE-Sumar government threatens mass expulsions of migrants and refugees
The law and order speech Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez gave in Dakar, Senegal could have been given by any right wing politician.
•Alejandro López
Supreme Court rejects Biden’s appeal to lift injunction on student debt relief plan
The US Supreme Court last week rejected the Biden administration’s request to lift an injunction on its latest student debt relief plan, called “SAVE,” with the plan remaining on hold indefinitely until litigation is resolved.
•Chase Lawrence
Tulane University in New Orleans upholds suspension of anti-genocide protesters
Tulane University doubles down on vindictive suspension of student anti-genocide protesters who participated in an encampment last spring.
•Emma Arceneaux, J. L'Heureau
The political issues confronting workers on Labor Day
In the final two months of the elections, both parties, the Democrats and Republicans, are engaged in a massive political deception.
•WSWS Editorial Board
Stop the bank boycott of the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei! Donate now!
On 28 June, Postbank, which was taken over by Deutsche Bank in 2009, terminated the SGP's account, which it had maintained for over 50 years, without providing any reason.
•Christoph Vandreier
Far-right Alternative for Germany achieves over 30 percent in Saxony and Thuringia state elections
For the first time since the end of the Nazi dictatorship, a right-wing extremist party has become the largest party in a German election.
•Peter Schwarz
A reply to an anarchist’s falsification of the Leon Trotsky commemoration on Prinkipo
The event was covered by many national and local media outlets and widely discussed on social media before and after the event in Turkey. However, a former Maoist and current anarchist published an article on his website denouncing and misrepresenting David North’s remarks.
•Ulaş Ateşçi
Turkey threatens to deport Palestinians protesting Gaza genocide
The unlawful threat of deportation of Palestinian youth exposes Turkey’s complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
•Barış Demir
The Guardian’s brief for the trade unions: They are “good for capitalism”
The paper’s main concern, and Labour’s, is to make it as easy as possible for the union bureaucracy to police workers and create a strike-free environment for the government’s right-wing agenda, at home and abroad.
•Tony Robson
Dakkota workers’ strike in danger as UAW demands fifth vote on sellout agreement: “We have the strength to stand up and fight back”
The courageous rebellion of striking Dakkota parts workers, who defied an unprecedented four sellout agreements, is in danger of being shut down and betrayed as the UAW is threatening workers with a fifth vote on the same agreement.
•George Marlowe
Kamala Harris pledges no letup in genocide, war, attacks on immigrants in CNN interview
In her first sit-down interview as nominee, Harris staked an even more genocidal position than the current president and refused to place any conditions on weapons shipments to Israel.
•Jacob Crosse
Socialist Equality Party campaign team fights for socialist perspective against war and social cuts in Eisenach
Ahead of the state elections taking place on Sunday in the eastern German states of Thuringia and Saxony, a team from the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party, SGP) intervened in Eisenach on Wednesday and spoke to workers, young people and pensioners about a socialist perspective in the fight against war, social devastation and the rise of the far right.
•Our reporters
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