Photo: Nov. 21 demonstration in Seattle against U.S. intervention against Ethiopia and Eritrea The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has overwhelmingly approved a new measure designed to impose sanctions on Ethiopia. Known as the Ethiopia Peace and Stabilization Act of 2022, the bill authorizes the U.S. government to suspend financial and security…
On April 1, tenants from Los Angeles and the Boyle Heights neighborhood protested at Mariachi Plaza against the State of California ending the Emergency Rental Assistance Program. According to the tenants this will put hundreds of thousands of renters in the area in jeopardy of losing their homes. Leonardo Vilchis an organizer with UniĂłn De Vecinos…
The state of Idaho has seen a wave of hateful bills. On March 23 Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed into law Idaho senate bill 1309 which allows families to file civil lawsuits against abortion providers. Effectively this bill divides families and adds an additional roadblock for women seeking abortions. HB 666, which did not pass in the state senate, proposed…
On the morning of February 2, the president of McCarthy Manor Tenant Association in Syracuse, NY, Tony Bibbs, addressed a crowd of tenants, members of the press, city officials, and members of the grassroots Syracuse Tenants Organizing for Power: âWe, the tenants of McCarthy Manor, need to have decent living conditions,â he implored. âRight now…
Across New York State, over 1.2 million residential gas and electric customers are 60 or more days behind on their utility bill. The total debt owedânearly $1.8 billionâhas more than doubled since the start of the pandemic. These households are all at risk of having their utilities shut off April 15, as New Yorkâs utility shutoff protections…
On March 4, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, off-duty police officer Shawn Guetschow kneeled on a 12-year-old girlâs neck in order to break up a fight at Lincoln Middle School. Guetschow, who was working part-time as a security guard, was able to resign from his role at the school on March 15 while remaining employed with the Kenosha Police Department. The…
On March 31, 4,600 public school teachers and staff of the Sacramento Unified School District entered their seventh day of a strike. Their unions â Sacramento City Teachers Association and SEIU 1021 â are negotiating with the district for fair compensation, healthcare benefits, and safe staffing levels. Teachers, staff and supporters gathered…
Google Fiber workers in Kansas City, MO who voted to join Alphabet Workers Union. Credit â AWU On March 25, Alphabet Workers Union (AWU) won its first legally-recognized bargaining unit of retail associates at Google Fiber stores in Kansas City, MO. The workers voted 9-1 to form a bargaining unit that will now negotiate a first union contract with…
Five climate activists who temporarily blocked a train from delivering coal in New Hampshire stood trial from March 22 through 24 at the Merrimack Superior Courthouse. The jury found Daniel Flynn, Dana Dwinell-Yardley, Jonathan OâHara and Johnny Sanchez guilty on two trespassing charges, while Emma Schoenberg was acquitted on both counts. One charge…
This interview is an episode of The Socialist Program with Brian Becker, a podcast providing news and views about the world for those who want to change it. You can follow the show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Walter Smolarek and Prof. Richard Wolff discuss the Biden administrationâs budget proposal for the coming year on Monday, proposing…
This interview is an episode of The Socialist Program with Brian Becker, a podcast providing news and views about the world for those who want to change it. You can follow the show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Brian Becker, Esther Iverem, Nicole Roussell and Walter Smolarek discuss how Joe Biden deepened the war in Ukraine during a trip to Poland…
2015 march in Kiev to celebrate the birthday of Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera (pictured on black and red flag) On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin undertook what he referred to as a âspecial military operation ⊠to de-militarise and de-Nazify Ukraine.â Western bourgeois media immediately decried these stated goals, regularly repeating…
Photo: F-35 fighter jets, one of the most expensive weapons systems operated by the Pentagon. Credit â Cpl Tim Laurence (Wikimedia Commons) On Monday, President Joe Biden unveiled his 2023 budget, calling for dramatically increased funding for war and the police while allocating all-too-little funding for social services. Out of the total $1.58 trillion…
A fire broke out in a homeless encampment in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago on March 22. Fifteen tents and virtually all personal possessions inside the tents were lost in the fire. This tragedy should serve as a galvanizing reminder of the dangers of life for people experiencing homelessness; with adequate, safe housing, events like these would…
On March 12, people gathered at Smith Park in downtown Jackson and marched to the Governorâs mansion to demand that Carolyn Bryant Donham, the last living accomplice in the infamous murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till, be served the warrant that the Department of Justice never served. The march comes just days after Congress passed the Emmett Till bill…
Originally published by Breaking the Chains. âPregnant and Scared? Know Your Options!â âWe Inform, You Decide.â âYou have options. Get the facts.â âYour Future, Your Body, Your Choice.â Chances are, youâve probably come across these messages on a billboard while driving down a highway or while performing a Google search. Such…
After 20 months of struggle against Encore Global, San Diego audio visual technician workers won their first union contract. On March 16, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 122 announced that the Encore workers are officially joining their union. Photo: Haley Manbeck The triumph of the Encore workers represents a major victory…
Over 30,000 grocery workers represented by the United Food & Commercial Workers union ratified a four-year contract on March 1 with Stop & Shop. The major win for Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island Stop & Shop employees comes on the back of a strike in 2019 and growing cultural consciousness that the economy can not run without essential workers. …
Almost a year after the workers at Colectivo Coffee Roasters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, voted to unionize with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the National Labor Relations Board has made a final decision about the results, determining that the challenges by Colectivoâs owners, and their union busting lawyers, were without merit…
This interview is an episode of The Socialist Program with Brian Becker, a podcast providing news and views about the world for those who want to change it, produced as part of BreakThrough News. You can follow the show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The war in Ukraine has altered the global order. How is it changing politics around the globe…
On March 22, residents of the Sable Altura Chambers community in Aurora, Colorado, won a four-month-long struggle to keep Sable Elementary School from being shut down by the Aurora Public Schools Board of Education. This grassroots struggle, its members made up primarily of parents and teachers, has called into question the true motives behind the BOEâs…
Jose Cortes and volunteer Kwame X at a campaign funraiser event on March 5. Liberation photo Jose Cortes, a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, will officially be on the ballot with a full voter guide statement on June 7. Cortes, who grew up in El Cajon, is running on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket in Californiaâs new 51st Congressional…
Fighters for freedom and justice united on March 19 for a virtual webinar to send Ruchell âCinqueâ Magee 83rd birthday greetings and to demand his immediate release from California Medical Facility in Vacaville, California. Ruchell Magee is the longest held political prisoner in the United States and nearly 60 years have passed since his arrest…
The confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson have now concluded, with a final vote expected soon. Jackson, who would be the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court, was subjected to outlandish attacks by Republican senators. Many of them rejected Bidenâs pick before it was even made based on their opposition in…
On March 23, call center workers at the Maximus call center in Hattiesburg, Mississippi launched a strike against unfair labor practices. They were joined by Maximus call center workers from Bogalusa, Louisiana. Despite fear of retaliation from their employer, in two so-called âright-to-workâ states in the deep South with few employee protections…
