(2020-11-30). The Planet Cannot Heal Until We Rip the Mask Off the West's War Machine. counterpunch.org 
Making political sense of the world can be tricky unless one understands the role of the state in capitalist societies. The state is not primarily there to represent voters or uphold democratic rights and values; it is a vehicle for facilitating and legitimating the concentration of wealth and power into fewer and fewer hands.
(2020-11-30). Tuesday 12/8: "The Dreamt Land: Chasing Water and Dust Across California" Book Talk w/ Mark Arax, Author. indybay.org Online via Zoom…
(2020-11-30). As pandemic aid ends, California families face brutal new year. zcomm.org An estimated 750,000 Californians are set to lose federal unemployment benefits the day after Christmas, and 2.1 million could lose their homes weeks later when a statewide eviction moratorium lifts…
(2020-11-30). Violent attacks against anti-government protesters in Iraq leave seven dead. peoplesdispatch.org Anti-government protests in Iraq entered the third day on November 29, Sunday. As many as seven people were killed in the previous two days. Massive protests took place in the Iraqi capital Baghdad and southern parts of the country, including the cities of Nasiriyah, Kut and Amara. The anti-government protesters were met by thousands of armed followers of influential Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. His followers reportedly attacked and clashed with the protesters in Nasiriyah, resulting in the deaths of seven people and wounding 60 others. | The epicenter of the violence was the Haboubi square in Nasiriyah, wh…
(2020-11-30). The planet cannot begin to heal until we rip the mask off the West's war machine. zcomm.org The role of the imperial project is to use violence as a tool to capture and funnel ever greater wealth — whether it be resources seized in foreign lands or the communal wealth of domestic western populations — into the pockets of the power establishment…
(2020-11-30). The Actual Effects of Enhanced Unemployment Benefits. zcomm.org Overwhelming evidence supports quite a different bedtime story—one that calls for far more humane unemployment policies…
(2020-11-30). Inequality gone viral: The obscene numbers. nationofchange.org Something has to be done to heal the rupture in the sickened body of our nation.
(2020-11-30). Wednesday 12/9: Impact of COVID-19 on Refugees & Aid Workers in the Middle East. indybay.org Online via livestream (FREE)…
(2020-11-30). The Economy Isn't Working. That's Exactly the Plan. commondreams.org Inequality is reaching feudal proportions, where very few own almost everything, and everyone else is crushed under the wheel of engineered destitution. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/reagan_lies_0.jpg …
(2020-11-30). Austerity Is Still A Political Choice. popularresistance.org When Rishi Sunak delivered the spending review earlier this week, the coverage focused predictably on levels of government borrowing. With GDP set to contract by more than 11% in 2020 — the largest fall in three centuries — and unemployment expected to reach 7.5%, government spending is the only thing standing between the UK economy and complete economic meltdown. As a result, we're forecast to see the highest levels of public borrowing since the Second World War. | In this context, Sunak felt the need to balance some new spending pledges…
(2020-11-29). The Planet Cannot Begin to Heal Until We Rip the Mask off the West's War Machine. dissidentvoice.org 
Making political sense of the world can be tricky unless one understands the role of the state in capitalist societies. The state is not primarily there to represent voters or uphold democratic rights and values; it is a vehicle for facilitating and legitimating the concentration of wealth and power into fewer and fewer hands. In …
(2020-11-29). Indigenous Women Lead Land Struggle Against Wealthiest People In The US. popularresistance.org While the United States shudders in the shambles of another election year, whether from a collective sigh of relief or fear of what's to come, a different system of governance blooms in a swath of woodlands jutting into the Atlantic Ocean. This sandy shoreline now part of what is called Long Island has always been home to the Shinnecock people. A group of Shinnecock women, organized as the Warriors of the Sunrise, are called to rise up in the face of invasive settlement. This is not their first battle. | Members of the Shinnecock Nation know of a time before there was a Southampton…
(2020-11-29). Thursday 12/10: We Charge Genocide: Systemic Poverty in All Its Forms is Violence! indybay.org Online event…
(2020-11-28). Engels at 200: He transformed dreams of better world into a science for liberation. fightbacknews.org November 28 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of one of the greatest revolutionaries of all times, Fredrick Engels. Born the son of a factory owner in Barmen, Germany, Engels, along with his comrade and friend Karl Marx, made immense contributions to the struggle for emancipation of the working class. In the U.S. today, monopoly capitalism has revealed itself a corrupt and criminal system that is unable to meet the needs of the vast majority of people. It rewards the wealthy with fabulous profits and unimaginable riches. As a result, there is renewed interest in socialism. | What has made scientific social…
(2020-11-28). Navalny uses meeting between EU officials & pro-West Russian opposition to call for sanctions on Kremlin-linked 'oligarchs'. rt.com 
Alexey Navalny has called on the EU to impose sanctions on Russian "oligarchs," rich businessmen he says are connected to the Kremlin. The opposition figure wants them to be prevented from keeping assets inside the 27-member bloc. | Navalny explicitly named Uzbek-Russian tycoon Alisher Usmanov and Israeli-Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. Both men laid the foundations for their immense wealth during the Boris Yeltsin-era, when Western governments were encouraging privatization in Russia, and the country's integration into the global capitalist system. Finnish-Russian magnate Boris Rotenberg, who came to pr…
(2020-11-28). Covid-19-driven recession may see Russian economy contract by 4.5% & a million plunged into poverty, says finance guru Kudrin. rt.com 
The economic consequences of Covid-19 are becoming clearer, and they aren't good. The number of Russians in poverty is projected to grow by about a million by the end of 2020, with the overall economy due to fall as much as 4.5%.
(2020-11-28). Tuesday 12/1: Alicia Garza: BLM Co-Founder & Activist on New Book, "The Purpose of Power" indybay.org Online via livestream…
(2020-11-28). This holiday season, hunger and poverty stalk the US. peoplesdispatch.org It's holiday season in the United States but the country faces an unprecedented crisis as poverty and hunger are soaring and millions face the risk of evictions…
(2020-11-27). No Thanks on Thanksgiving During US-Engineered Economic Collapse. globalresearch.ca On Thanksgiving day, throughout the year, with likely worsening times ahead, ordinary Americans are suffering through the hardest of hard times in US history. | For 36 straight weeks since March, over one million Americans sought unemployment insurance (UI) benefits. | It's …
(2020-11-27). International Coalition Of Activists Launches Protest Against Amazon. popularresistance.org An international group of climate activists and Amazon warehouse workers have launched an online campaign called "Make Amazon Pay," calling on the tech giant to provide better working conditions for its employees and to reduce its expanding carbon footprint. The protests come just as the New York Times reports that the Seattle-based company has been on a hiring spree this year, expanding its global workforce. | "During the Covid-19 pandemic, Amazon became a trillion dollar corporation, with CEO Jeff Bezos becoming the first person in history to amass $200 billion in personal wealth," the campaign states on its we…
(2020-11-27). Attack on protest camp leaves six dead, dozens wounded in Iraq's south. middleeasteye.net 
Attack on protest camp leaves six dead, dozens wounded in Iraq's south | Followers of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr attack tent camp of anti-government protesters in Nasiriyah's Haboubi Square | Fri, 11/27/2020 – 17: 45 | Tens of thousands of Sadr supporters hit the streets of Baghdad and southern city of Nasiriyah (AFP/File photo) | Six people have died and dozens of others wounded in southern I…
(2020-11-27). Britain's Class War on Children. counterpunch.org 
When I first reported on child poverty in Britain, I was struck by the faces of children I spoke to, especially the eyes. They were different: watchful, fearful. In Hackney, in 1975, I filmed Irene Brunsden's family. Irene told me she gave her two-year-old a plate of cornflakes. "She doesn't tell me she's hungry, she
(2020-11-27). Celebrities demand airlines stop mass deportation flight to Jamaica. thecanary.co Supermodel Naomi Campbell and actress Thandie Newton are among a host of prominent figures calling on airlines not to operate a mass deportation flight to Jamaica next week. | "Unlawful and wrongful": | The open letter is addressed to the bosses of multiple airlines including Hi Fly, Titan Airways, and TUI UK and Ireland. In it more than 90 high-profile figures, campaigners, and activists have urged the companies to decline to operate the planned 2 December flight. | They are also calling for a pause on the operation of future deportation flights to Commonwealth countries. | The letter, which also include…
(2020-11-27). COVID-19 Economy: A Deliberate Disaster. popularresistance.org With nearly 12 million cases and a quarter million deaths in the US so far (over 55 million cases and 1.3 million deaths world-wide), the COVID 19 pandemic is ravaging civilization. The disease is on track to be the deadliest epidemic since 1918. | The economic fallout for the working class has been severe. In the US, unemployment has skyrocketed, with 45.4 million new unemployment claims since March 14. At least 1/6 of those with jobs before the pandemic are now out of work. According to The New York Times, "The economic downturn is shaping up to be particularly devastating for renters, who are more likely to be…
(2020-11-27). Why the G20's Failure on Debt Cancellation Is Bad News for Women. commondreams.org World leaders have put wealthy creditor interests before debt justice, further jeopardising women's rights. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/gettyimages-1229708368.jpg …
(2020-11-27). Millions face a financial cliff as grim economic news keeps on coming. fightbacknews.org San José, CA – On Wednesday, November 25, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that new claims for regular state unemployment benefits increased for the second week in a row, up 30,000 to 778,000. This is the highest level in five weeks and the first time since July with back-to-back increases. Adding in the weekly new claims for the federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance or PUA for the self-employed and gig workers, almost 1.1 million people sought government aid in the recession. | For the first time in almost two months, the total number of people receiving government unemployment benefits across all progra…
(2020-11-27). Charity issues warning that fuel poverty will kill terminally ill people quicker this winter. thecanary.co Fuel poverty will kill people quicker this winter as terminally ill people struggle to afford to heat their homes, a charity has warned. | At risk: | High energy bills, delays in accessing benefits, and the other costs associated with their illness are leaving terminally ill people struggling to afford their heating costs, said end of life charity Marie Curie. It warned the consequences of living in cold, damp housing could lead to new infections, make existing symptoms worse, affect mental wellbeing and in the worst cases even hasten death. | In a report on 27 November, it said between 2014-2019 in Engla…