2021-05-21: News Headlines

Nadine K Jawad, Lina Abu Taweeleh, Jad A Elharake, Nicole Khamis, Osaid Alser, Fatima M Karaki, Layla Aboukhater (2021-05-22). [Correspondence] Refugee access to COVID-19 vaccines in Lebanon. thelancet.com Lebanon is currently experiencing multiple unprecedented crises—political, infrastructural, and economic. The Beirut port explosion, in August, 2020, damaged 36% of health facilities.1 The Lebanese pound has lost 90% of its value, pushing more than half of the population into poverty.1 Complicating its desperate plight, Lebanon hosts the largest refugee population per capita in the world.2 The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated this situation, leaving an ill-equipped health-care system overwhelmed.

WSWS (2021-05-21). US states begin eliminating unemployment aid even as nearly half a million jobless claims were filed last week. wsws.org Over 20 states have vowed to end the meager $300-a-week federal jobless benefit while millions remain out of work and an average of 600 people succumb each day to COVID-19.

Mark Gruenberg (2021-05-21). Workers' rights part of Poor People's Campaign 'Third Reconstruction' plan. peoplesworld.org

Staff (2021-05-21). Rev. William Barber Calls for a "Third Reconstruction" to Lift 140 Million People Out of Poverty. democracynow.org Reverend William Barber, co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign and president of Repairers of the Breach, says the United States needs a "Third Reconstruction" aimed at lifting 140 million poor and low-income people out of poverty. Barber worked with Congressmembers Barbara Lee and Pramila Jayapal to unveil a congressional resolution for a Third Reconstruction this week, which includes measures to expand voting rights, implement immigration reform, raise the minimum wage, establish a federal jobs program and more. "There is not a scarcity of resources," says Barber. "What there is is a scarcity of social justice…

Staff (2021-05-21). Rev. Barber Calls for "Third Reconstruction" to Lift 140 Million Out of Poverty. truthout.org Reverend William Barber, co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign and president of Repairers of the Breach, says the United States needs a "Third Reconstruction" aimed at lifting 140 million poor and low-income people out of poverty. Barber worked with Congressmembers Barbara Lee and Pramila Jayapal to unveil a congressional resolution for a Third Reconstruction this week, which includes measures to expand voting rights, implement immigration reform, raise the minimum wage, establish a federal job…

Staff (2021-05-21). Biden Wants to Hire 87,000 Additional IRS Agents to Go After Wealthy Tax Dodgers. truthout.org The Biden administration is proposing hiring 87,000 new workers for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), effectively doubling the agency's size, as part of a plan to beef up enforcement efforts and find billions of dollars in tax revenues that go uncollected each year. | Enforcement efforts Th…

Fight Back (2021-05-21). FRSO fund drive nets $65,000, let's make the push to $100,000. fightbacknews.org We are proud of the progress that our Spring Fundraising campaign has made so far. $65,000 in hand, with many thousands in pledges. We are in striking distance of goal of $100,000. We are poised to make a great leap forward. | FRSO has been growing rapidly, and as a result we need to grow our capacity as a national organization. This fundraising drive makes it possible for us to open a national office and hire staff that can work full time to develop the revolutionary movement. | The decline of U.S. imperialism is accelerating. In the heart of the beast, we have seen a great rebellion against racist inequality an…

CA Poor People's Campaign & PPC National (2021-05-21). Monday 5/24: Rally to Demand End to Poverty & Starvation Wages in U.S. w/ PPC. indybay.org Online via livestream…

Andy Higginbottom (2021-05-20). The roots of Colombia's crisis 2021. mronline.org There has been a social explosion of the Colombian people against poverty and repression. President Duque's 'tax reform' package was the last straw that broke their patience. | May 20, 2021 | Newswire…

Justin Podur (2021-05-20). Is Colombia's Military Displacing Peasants to Protect the Environment or Sell Off Natural Resources? counterpunch.org Colombia witnessed a series of mass protests at the end of April following a call for a national strike in the city of Cali. Still ongoing, the protests have many causes: an apparent "tax reform" that was going to transfer even more wealth to the 1 percent in Colombia; the failure of the most recent

commondreams (2021-05-20). COVID Vaccines Create 9 New Billionaires With Combined Wealth Greater Than Cost of Vaccinating World's Poorest Countries. commondreams.org ______________________________…

Laura Flanders (2021-05-20). United Action to Keep Workers Down. counterpunch.org Just six percent of private sector workers belong to a union in the US, but that doesn't mean we're short of united action on our economy. For weeks now, employers and their lobbies have been unified in their lament that a scarcity of workers is the result of overly generous federal unemployment benefits. People would

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-05-20). India in the Face of Neoliberalism, Pandemic as Part of the Tragedy. libya360.wordpress.com Misión Verdad India's structural conflict is a product of inequality as a continuation of colonization and a caste system that prevails in its society (Photo: PTI). In times of global pandemic, the neoliberal drift, a continuation of a colonial system, continues to test emerging countries that will have to confront their internal contradictions in order…

Ellen Brown (2021-05-20). How America Went From Mom-and-Pop Capitalism to Techno-Feudalism. dissidentvoice.org The crisis of 2020 has created the greatest wealth gap in history. The middle class, capitalism and democracy are all under threat. What went wrong and what can be done? In a matter of decades, the United States has gone from a largely benign form of capitalism to a neo-feudal form that has created an …

Jane Marsh (2021-05-20). Water poverty continues to grow in the US. nationofchange.org It's an issue that just might affect people near you, as millions have experienced the repercussions.

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