Daily Archives: February 9, 2022

2022-02-09: News Headlines

Kit Klarenberg (2022-02-09). Propagandist for Syria terror proxies compromised Amnesty International, leaked docs show. thegrayzone.com Amnesty International was listed as a client of a professional propagandist for Syrian terror groups backed by the UK and US governments — the same militias once condemned by Amnesty. This December, The Grayzone exposed how a shadowy communications firm, Valent Projects, enlisted a prominent YouTube influencer to front a covert state-sponsored influence operation designed to undermine critics of London's pandemic policies. That company was founded by Amil Khan, a veteran of long-running and lavishly funded UK Foreign Office information …

Staff (2022-02-09). WHO wants rich states to contribute to Covid-19 plan. rt.com ACT-Accelerator initiative requires $16 billion to end the pandemic | The World Health Organization (WHO) has appealed to the leaders of the world's richest countries, asking them to pay their fair share of the funding needed for the agency's program to end the global Covid-19 pandemic as soon as possible. | The body announced on Wednesday that it needed more than $16 billion to bridge the funding gap for its ACT-Accelerator program, and said it could end the pandemic as a global emergency in 2022. | The Access to Covid-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) is the WHO-led initiative that unites leading agencies in a bi…

Ali Abunimah (2022-02-09). Meet Ahmad Mansour, the Palestinian doing Israel's dirty work in Germany. electronicintifada.net Deutsche Welle's purge of Arab journalists aims to shield the Berlin-backed Israeli apartheid regime from criticism.

Staff (2022-02-09). After 295 days of kidnapping by Israeli apartheid, Juani Rishmawi is free. samidoun.net Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network welcomes and rejoices at the release of Juani Rishmawi in the face of the unfounded and pernicious judicial persecution imposed by the apartheid regime and Israeli occupation. Juani, a Spanish aid worker naturalized as a Palestinian, contributes to the Palestinian cause from the humanitarian perspective and through political activism in …

Medea Benjamin, Nicolas J. S. Davies (2022-02-09). Memo to Congress: Diplomacy for Ukraine Is Spelled M-i-n-s-k. dissidentvoice.org Peace protest at the White House — Photo credit: iacenter.org While the Biden administration is sending more troops and weapons to inflame the Ukraine conflict and Congress is pouring more fuel on the fire, the American people are on a totally different track. A December 2021 poll found that a plurality of Americans in both …

Ben Imbus (2022-02-09). Indigenous families call for justice for missing and murdered relatives in rural New Mexico. liberationnews.org Liberation News spoke to some of the families at the Jan. 29 protest in Shiprock.

WSWS (2022-02-09). Ford temporarily lays off thousands at North American plants, citing chip shortage. wsws.org Ford laid off thousands of workers temporarily after it reduced or stopped production at eight North American plants starting Monday.

_____ (2022-02-09). What are the Real Reasons for Washington's Boycott of the Beijing Olympics? journal-neo.org Despite various blatantly nefarious actions by Washington to disrupt the Beijing Olympics, the event commenced on schedule with impeccable organization by the Chinese authorities. Heads of state, high-ranking officials, representatives of public organizations and corporations arrived in Beijing. The "diplomatic boycott" initiated by the White House and their "hawks" and obedient vassals went awry and …

Berry Craig (2022-02-09). Kentucky Republicans again aim to ban teaching truth about racism. peoplesworld.org Here they go again—white Republicans trying to whitewash history. Kentucky State Sens. Max Wise and Robby Mills have introduced SB 138, the "Teaching American Principles Act." Like HB 14 and HB 18, it's a censorship bill aimed at restricting the teaching of systemic racism in public schools. SB 138 requires a teacher who "chooses to discuss current events …

Peter Certo (2022-02-09). In OtherWords: February 9, 2022. otherwords.org Just as I was looking ahead to the weekend last week, I got a fresh spike of anxiety. | The Republican National Committee, I read, now officially calls the January 6 coup attempt "legitimate political discourse" and is censoring its members who are helping to investigate it. That felt disturbing — and newsworthy. | But come Monday, that story had all but fallen away in the wider media. This week in OtherWords, I put the RNC's disturbing January 6 statement in the context of other recent headlines — like Donald Trump's draft order to seize voting machines in 2020 — and call on the media to priori…

Peoples Dispatch (2022-02-09). Violent clashes and displacement of people continue in Myanmar. peoplesdispatch.org In the latest cycle of violence, the junta forces torched over 100 buildings in the Chin State town of Thantlang. Activists and lawyers have also raised concerns that the measures taken by the military to cement its authoritarian control of online spaces will deepen surveillance in the country…

Jenny Farrell (2022-02-09). "Yes I said yes": James Joyce's Ulysses at 100. peoplesworld.org On James Joyce's 40th birthday, Sylvia Beach in Paris published his now most famous work, Ulysses, written in Trieste, Zurich, and Paris, 1914-1921. That was on February 2, 1922. Excerpts had appeared in the U.S. magazine The Little Review between 1918 and 1920. But deemed obscene, it was banned in the English-speaking world. The modernist …

Fight Back (2022-02-09). Florida State University SDS statement on Nazis on campus. fightbacknews.org Fight Back News Service is circulating the following February 3 statement from Florida State University Student for a Democratic Society (SDS). | This week an FSU undergraduate student has been exposed through copious emails and message logs as being a member of the Neo-Nazi group Patriot Front. The student is Calvin Stow-Ortiz from Tampa, where his father unsurprisingly works for the Tampa Police Department. In leaked messages Stow-Ortiz references spreading the groups propaganda posters and stickers in the Tampa area and made plans with another Patriot Front member to vandalize FAMU's campus with white supremac…

_____ (2022-02-09). Biden Makes a Fruitless Attempt to Play the Qatari Card against Russia. journal-neo.org By promoting a Russophobic campaign in Europe, in part by escalating the information war with a fake thesis about Russia's alleged intention to attack Ukraine, Washington is trying to convince Europeans that it can find a vital substitute for Europe's natural gas supply here. In particular, the Joe Biden administration is seeking additional sources of …

_____ (2022-02-09). DPRK Missile Tests at the End of January 2022: the Moratorium Is Over. journal-neo.org January 2022 has been rather busy in terms of missile launches by the DPRK, and following the meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea held on January 20, the month became even more eventful after they had hinted at the possible discontinuation of the unilateral moratorium. On January …

_____ (2022-02-09). Workers Power Day — February 26, 2022. popularresistance.org Starbucks workers are leading an electrifying drive to organize the major coffee chain, with one or often several stores announcing they're joining this growing movement each day. Amazon workers from coast to coast are organizing to build power at one of the world's largest and most powerful corporations. Workers in Staten Island recently filed to hold union elections at 2 warehouses. The majority Black Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama are engaged in their second union campaign, after the results of the first were tossed out based on Amazon's egregious union busting campaign — which they continue in earn…

Anonymous Contributor (2022-02-09). Punch Up Collective: Organizing Against the Occupation of Ottawa. itsgoingdown.org Statement from the Punch Up Collective on the current situation in Ottawa and ways that people are organizing in the face of ongoing far-Right convoy protests. Points of crisis can usefully reveal contradictions and opportunities for organizing. Crisis can also shut us down and make it hard to connect, think, and act. The mobilization of…

Basav Sen (2022-02-09). Three Hopeful Stories of Environmental Activism. otherwords.org When you work on climate, the news can often feel like one step forward, two steps back. But lately, ordinary people have been winning big victories to protect their communities — and our planet. | Last November, for example, President Biden Then, just two weeks later, his administration announced…

CJ Baker (2022-02-09). Protest Song Of The Week: 'Down In Virginia' By Grace Victoria. shadowproof.com Composed around the time that George Floyd was murdered by police in 2020, "Down In Virginia" is an exploration of the racism and violence faced by Black people on a constant basis.

Dean Baker (2022-02-09). The Big Lie of the Elites. cepr.net We all know about the Trumpers' big lie: somehow millions of votes were stolen from their hero, but the liberals were so smart in their steal that Trump's team can't produce any evidence. That one rightly draws contempt from anyone not in the cult, but what about the big lie that the vast majority of …

Editor2 (2022-02-09). Modi Government Taking Revenge from Farmers for Victorious Struggle Through Budget, says SKM. orinocotribune.com By Ravi Kaushal — Feb 2, 2022 | The morcha also emphasised that Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman did not mention about doubling of farmers' income even once as it failed to achieve the results in several years. | Coming down heavily on the Union Budget 2022—23, Sanyukta Kisan Morcha on Tuesday said that the Modi Government was punishing the country's farmers for leading the historic struggle against three central farm laws by slashing the allocation of agriculture and allied activities. The morcha emphasised that Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman did not mention about doubling of farme…

Ian Goodrum (2022-02-09). Beijing Olympics: Eileen Gu doesn't care what the U.S. media thinks of her. peoplesworld.org Since she was 15, Eileen Gu (Gu Ailing) has had a target on her back. The U.S.-born freestyle skier of Chinese heritage announced in 2019 she would be competing for the People's Republic at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics rather than the United States, a decision met with enthusiasm in China—for obvious reasons—but intense animosity …

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2022-02-09). How the Left Betrayed the Truckers. libya360.wordpress.com MALCOM KYEYUNE The convoy is despised by those who should support it They call it "The Honkening". Ottawa, Canada's capital city, is currently being besieged by a novel kind of protest. Honkening is a fairly appropriate name for what's going on. Thousands of truckers have driven to the capital, and barraged the city with the noise of…

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2022-02-09). Why We Should Oppose COVID-19 Mandates. libya360.wordpress.com Leila Mechoui&Alexander McKay Moral appeals for mandates only mask the brutal coercive power of the capitalist class. "In ancient times, when persuasion played the role of public force, eloquence was necessary. Of what use would it be today, when public force has replaced persuasion. One needs neither art nor metaphor to say such is my…

John Wojcik (2022-02-09). U.S. digs in as many others try to dig out of Ukraine crisis. peoplesworld.org For the second day in a row, war hawks in the U.S. and NATO Wednesday had to contend with increased efforts by several European leaders to cool the crisis over Ukraine by at least freezing the growing buildup to war and possibly by even discussing some starting points for negotiation. French President Emmanuel Macron raised …

José Manuel Blanco Diaz (2022-02-09). President Maduro Condemns Indolence of Some Officials Toward Workers. orinocotribune.com With a tenacious call to end the indolence of some state institutions and private entities, President Nicolás Maduro asked for the support of Venezuela's working class through the functions carried out by the Productive Councils of Workers (CPT). | The statements were issued this Monday, February 7, during a meeting with workers of state-owned PDVSA subsidiary Pequiven. At the same time, President Maduro noted that Venezuela currently has sufficient funds to finance small and medium industries, including through the bank's credit portfolio. | "The assets are there, what is not there is a connection with the grass…

Khalil Bendib (2022-02-09). Maus, Enemy of the People? otherwords.org Get a full-res version

M.K. Bhadrakumar (2022-02-09). United States Outruns Regional States in Race for Kabul. towardfreedom.org The U.S. Treasury Department quietly signaled on February 2 that it was "tweaking" sanctions against Afghanistan's Haqqani Network, a Sunni Islamist militant organization. International banks can now transfer money to the Taliban, including its affiliated Haqqani Network, without fear of breaching sanctions, which means the United States may now have a say in the Taliban-run government, writes M.K. Bhadrakumar.

Mark Gruenberg (2022-02-09). Amazon workers fight for unions in Staten Island, Alabama, and elsewhere. peoplesworld.org

Mark Gruenberg (2022-02-09). In unusual bipartisan harmony, House OKs postal reform. peoplesworld.org WASHINGTON—In an unusual bipartisan harmony, the U.S. House approved a massive postal reform bill whose main impact would be to end the heavy weight of a $5 billion yearly prepayment of future retirees' health care costs. The measure is also an implicit rebuke to the GOP-run Congress which imposed that "onerous burden," as postal unions …

Matt Sedlar (2022-02-09). Black History Month: How Far Are We from Martin Luther King's Dream of Equal of Opportunity? cepr.net We are far from the society of equality of opportunity that King dreamed about. How far are we?

Mei Mei Chan (2022-02-09). Oakland students fight for COVID safety in schools. liberationnews.org On Friday, Jan. 21, striking students in the Oakland Unified School District held a public town hall to address the urgent COVID safety needs of school communities. Less than a week later, the Oakland Education Association and the OUSD came to a tentative agreement in support of all of the students' demands.

Pavan Kulkarni (2022-02-09). Workers attacked and beaten as strike at South African dairy giant Clover enters 12th week. peoplesdispatch.org Two workers abducted by goons "were held hostage and beaten in full view of the management inside the factory premises. Managers neither called the police nor the ambulance," said union leader Mametlwe Sebei.

Peoples Dispatch (2022-02-09). International condemnation following decision to dissolve Tunisia's Supreme Judicial Council. peoplesdispatch.org The dissolution of the Supreme Judicial Council is the latest in a series of undemocratic moves by president Kais Saied who wrested virtually all power in the country last year in July…

Peoples Dispatch (2022-02-09). Palestinians demand investigation into extrajudicial killing of 3 men by Israeli security forces. peoplesdispatch.org Three Palestinians traveling in a car were ambushed and killed in broad daylight in a busy street in Nablus in the occupied West Bank by Israeli security forces traveling in a civilian vehicle…

Peoples Dispatch (2022-02-09). Peruvian President swears in fourth ministerial cabinet in six months. peoplesdispatch.org The political pressure from Peru's right-wing sectors, through smear campaigns in mainstream media, forced President Pedro Castillo to reshuffle his cabinet for the second time in a week…

Peter Certo (2022-02-09). Media, Take Note: The GOP Is Now Openly Aligned Against Democracy. otherwords.org If you're the sort of person who follows the news, you've probably heard a good bit lately about podcaster Joe Rogan, Neil Young's fight with Spotify, and maybe a little about Russia and Ukraine. | All that's good grist for the mill. But did you also hear former President Trump admit that he'd intended to have Mike Pence Or, here's a bad one: Did you hear that the Tr…

Special to People's World (2022-02-09). Online Event: Solidarity with Striking UMWA Mine Workers at Warrior Met Coal. peoplesworld.org TUESDAY, FEB. 22, 2022 — 8 P.M. EASTERN REGISTER HERE Click here to make a donation that goes directly to UMWA mine workers strike fund. Read People's World coverage of the strike at Warrior Met: > Warrior Met forces 1,100 Mine Workers in Alabama into long strike > Solidarity going strong for striking Alabama …

Staff (2022-02-09). Dewey Defeats Truman! Russia Invades Ukraine! davidswanson.org

Staff (2022-02-09). Samidoun Hungary rallies in Budapest to #FreePalestinianStudents. samidoun.net On Sunday, 30 January, activists with the new Samidoun Hungary chapter organized a vigil in central Budapest to call for the freedom of imprisoned Palestinian students. Participants carried signs and pictures of Palestinian students locked behind bars in Israeli jails, calling for their immediate liberation. Students in Hungary set up their display of information on …

Tanya Wadhwa (2022-02-09). Center-left candidates to face off in second round of presidential elections in Costa Rica. peoplesdispatch.org The Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) of Costa Rica released on Monday February 7 the preliminary results of the general elections that were held in the country on February 6. As per the results, former president José María Figueres of the center-left National Liberation Party (PLN) and former World Bank economist Rodrigo Chaves of the center-left Social Democratic Progress Party will face off in the presidential run-off scheduled for April 3. With 88.20% of the Following the top two candidates were Fa…

Wyatt Souers (2022-02-09). Another fire in the Bronx at building long-neglected by landlord. liberationnews.org Residents filed 58 complaints to the New York Department of Housing and Development (HPD) against the Grand Avenue building's landlord in the last year alone…

John Ostman, Noah Roberts (2022-02-09). Mayor's war on the poor punctuates San Francisco's right-wing shift. liberationnews.org Dominated by the Democratic Party, San Fransisco's politics are lauded as some of the most progressive in the nation, yet, over the years, the city's poor and oppressed experienced innumerable attacks, each seemingly more vicious than the last.

Caoimhghin àì Croidheáin (2022-02-09). The Re-Humanisation of Culture: Dickens and the Social Realist Cinema of the 1930s and 1940s. dissidentvoice.org Charles Dickens (7 February 1812 — 9 June 1870) in New York, c.‚Äâ1867—1868 Between 1935 and 1952 seven films were made based on the novels of Charles Dickens (7 February 1812 — 9 June 1870). 1 They were filmed in the social realist style, a style that was popular after the Great Crash and reflected the hardships …

Brittani Banks (2022-02-09). The Pandemic Has Created an Opportunity for Black Artists in Oakland to Reshape the City's Economy. independentmediainstitute.org In recent years the impacts of gentrification have displaced many BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) communities in cities across the United States. Oakland, California, had the highest rate of gentrification in the country according to a recent national study, detailed in the 2020 San Jose Mercury article, "Oakland, S.F. neighborhoods fastest gentrifying in …

Staff (2022-02-09). New AI-controlled device helps paralyzed people move. rt.com Patients with spinal-cord injuries were able to walk, cycle and swim again | Three patients completely paralyzed from the waist down due to irreparable damage to their spinal cords regained the ability to move again with the help of a new nerve-stimulating device. | Scientists from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne reported on Monday that three men aged 29, 32 and 41, paralyzed after biking accidents, were able to take their first steps within a single day after the device was implanted. | In the following months, they were able to engage in more advanced physical activity, using the remote…

Morteza Ahmadi Al Hashem (2022-02-09). 7 ISIL members killed in Iraqi fighter jets' attack. en.mehrnews.com Iraqi security forces announced on Wednesday morning that seven ISIL terrorist elements have been killed in the north of the country.

WSWS (2022-02-09). 94th Academy Awards nominations: Don't Look Up, The Tragedy of Macbeth and the rest. wsws.org As has become entirely predictable in recent years, the entertainment media spent the morning of the nominations program counting up the number of black, Latino, Asian, female and gay individuals named.

In Defense of Liberation! (2022-02-09). Morning Commute: 2-9-2022. anchor.fm Hope everyone is well! Today we're doing a little news coverage based on sources I've been reading like People's Dispatch, Hoodcommunist.org, By Any Means Necessary, Liberation News, Kawasachun News, TeleSur English, Guerrilla History Podcast, etc. We go over Russia/China Relations, the Olympics, the African Union meeting, Oakland and Chicago schools ongoing issues, movements against Police Brutality and the murder by Minneapolis Police Department (yup, that one!) of Amir Locke who was 22 years old! No justice, no peace!! Go organize!

_____ (2022-02-09). How Lobstermen Formed A Union Co-Op To Claw Back Fair Prices. popularresistance.org When you think of workers hamstrung by the "independent contractor" label, you probably don't think of Maine lobstermen. | But it turns out that lobstermen—a title claimed by women as well as men who catch and sell lobster for a living—have something in common with warehouse temps and Uber drivers. As independent contractors they're denied the collective bargaining rights and various other workplace protections and benefits afforded (to some) by U.S. labor law. | And the strategy they used to confront low wages is one that similarly exploited workers might want to try too: they teamed up with a union…

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