March 2022

Document: An Act For The Abolition Of Slavery, 1833

March 31, 2022 Editors, The Black Agenda Review. Resist! Bahamas, Belize, colonization, Great Britain, Jamaica

Just last week a white couple, William and Kate, went on a Caribbean cruise. Smiling, carefree people, they were surprised by the intense hostility and the relentless contempt they received from the dark-skinned natives. William, not incidentally, is the grandson of a woman named Elizabeth. Elizabeth has claimed – and for many years, few disputed the claim – that her full name is “Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.” Her “realms and territories” include the Caribbean countries of Belize, Jamaica, and the Bahamas. William and Kate (whom some call the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge) had traveled to the Caribbean to celebrate the seventy-year anniversary of Elizabeth’s reign over these realms and territories, and to ensure that by the time he, William, inherits his grandmother’s royal mantle something still remains of his family's name, and their empire.

Conflicts In Priti Patel’s Power Over Assange

March 31, 2022 Matt Kennard, Consortium News. Educate! Criminal Justice and Prisons, Extradition, Julian Assange, Whistleblowers

Priti Patel sat on the Henry Jackson Society’s (HJS) advisory council from around 2013-16, although the exact dates are unclear as neither the HJS nor Patel responded to Declassified’s requests for clarification. She has also received funds from the HJS, and was paid £2,500 by the group to visit Washington in March 2013 to attend a “security” program in the U.S. Congress. Patel, who became an MP in 2010 and was appointed home secretary in 2019, also hosted an HJS event in parliament soon after she returned from Washington. After the U.K. Supreme Court said this month it was refusing to hear Assange’s appeal of a High Court decision against him, the WikiLeaks founder’s fate now lies in Patel’s hands.

Noam Chomsky, Cornel West, Naomi Klein Join Academics Denouncing Attempt To Cancel Lowkey

March 31, 2022 Alan MacLeod, Mintpress News. Resist! Censorship, Israel, Palestine, Spotify

United Kingdom - In recent weeks Lowkey – a tireless campaigner for Palestinian human rights – has been the target of a disingenuous attempt to destroy his career, led by pro-Israeli groups, many of whom are either directly funded or staffed by individuals from the Israeli Embassy in London. Following their pressure campaign, his talks and performances at universities have been postponed or canceled. Meanwhile, the lobbying group “We Believe In Israel” is trying to remove his music from streaming platform Spotify. Even British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has involved himself in the affair, seemingly fully supporting the witch hunt against him and signaling this could be the first of many similar efforts to silence pro-Palestinian voices.

We Can’t Allow The Far-Right To Take The Initiative Or Hold Public Space

March 31, 2022 It's Going Down. Strategize! Anti-fascism, Boston, Massachusetts, Neo-Nazis

Boston, Massachusetts - Last weekend in South Boston, around 50 people mobilized to counter a possible appearance by the neo-Nazi group the Nationalist Social Club-131 (a nod to both the ‘National Socialism’ of the Nazi Party and ‘Anti-Communist Action’), after public outcry grew following the group’s appearance at the yearly St. Patrick’s Day parade. At the parade, around a dozen neo-Nazis, all wearing masks and flying a flag with a white nationalist symbol, held a banner reading, “Keep Boston Irish,” and handed out flyers promoting the group and attacking non-whites.

Ukraine SitRep – Part II Of Russia’s Military Operation Unfolds

March 31, 2022 Moon of Alabama. Educate! NATO, Russia, Ukraine, Wars and Militarism

The Russian military operation in Ukraine began with a rather small force of some 150.000+ men against a much larger (including reservist and territorial forces) Ukrainian force of some 400.000. The Russian force used maneuver warfare to fix the larger Ukrainian forces into place. It attacked on a large front and threatened major population concentrations, i.e. cities. The Russian operations started with the destruction of the Ukrainian command and control network. Over the last four weeks the Ukrainian navy, its airforce, its radars and air defenses and a huge number of its armored vehicles were destroyed. Throughout the last week fuel depots all over the Ukraine were attacked and destroyed over night. Ukraine's large ammunition depots are gone. Military production and repair facilities have likewise been destroyed.

Russia Welcomes Ukraine’s Written Proposals But Says No Breakthroughs

March 31, 2022 Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com. Educate! Peace Talks, Russia, Ukraine, Wars and Militarism

On Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia welcomed Ukraine’s written proposals on a potential peace deal but cautioned that there is still a long way to go to end the fighting. Peskov said that he hasn’t seen anything too promising and that there are no signs of a breakthrough between the two sides. Ukraine put forward its proposal during talks in Turkey on Tuesday. The Ukrainian proposal includes a pledge not to join NATO, but Kyiv wants security guarantees similar to NATO’s Article 5, which outlines the alliance’s mutual defense agreement. Ukraine wants these guarantees from several NATO countries, including the US, which is likely a non-starter for Russia.

25,000 Finnish Health Workers Set To Begin Strike On April 1

March 31, 2022 People's Dispatch. Resist! Finland, Health Care, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

Finland - 25,000 health care workers from six hospital districts represented by the Finnish Union of Practical Nurses (SuPer) and the Union of Health and Social Care Professionals (TEHY) are all set to go on strike starting on April 1. Unions are demanding immediate staff recruitments to solve an acute staff shortage in the social and healthcare services (Sote) sector, and a 3.6% increase on top of the annual pay raise over the next five years. On March 30, A national mediator presented a proposed settlement but it was rejected by unions who declared that the settlement did not address workers’ primary concern of staffing shortages. If the union’s demands are not met after two weeks of striking, 15,000 more health workers from other seven hospital districts also will join the strike.

How To Build Fierce And Worker-Centered Unions

March 31, 2022 Paige Oamek, In These Times. Organize! Organizing, Unions, UNITE, Worker Rights

In the early 2000s, UNITE was a small, scrappy union that put an immense amount of resources into new organizing. They had small teams of organizers who flew around the country and lived in hotels and motels and spent their life organizing. I think it’s really important for unions to be oriented in that way, to have just about every arm focused around new organizing and building the labor movement and having militant sites. At the same time, we have to really think critically about the role of organizers. Organizing can be such a science: We assess things, map workplaces, determine our tactics. Our tactics add up to be our strategy. It’s all very methodical and stripped of emotion. I write about standing up in front of the group and telling the story of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, which is something organizers in UNITE get trained to tell.

Staten Island Amazon Workers Vote On A Union

March 31, 2022 Luis Feliz Leon, Labor Notes. Organize! Amazon, New York City (NYC), staten Island, Unions

New York City (Staten Island), New York - As the country cheers on Starbucks workers organizing, the votes will be counted this week in two big union drives at Amazon warehouses—one in Alabama and one in New York. Voting concluded March 25 in Bessemer, Alabama, after mail-in ballots were sent in early February to more than 6,100 workers who are deciding whether to join the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union. This is a re-vote after Amazon’s interference tainted the first election, a landslide defeat last April. Meanwhile in an in-person election at the sprawling Amazon warehouse known as JFK8 on Staten Island in New York City, more than 8,000 warehouse workers will decide whether to unionize with the Amazon Labor Union, an independent union formed there last year.

Oakland, California, March To Stop School Closures Reaches Thousands

March 31, 2022 Judy Greenspan, Workers World. Resist! California, Education, Oakland, School closures

Oakland, California - Students from three Oakland area schools, scheduled to be closed at the end of this school year, led a spirited march and rally today. Young people from Parker Elementary, La Escuelita Middle School and Community Day School chanted from the sound truck, carried signs and banners and spoke about how teachers in their neighborhood schools have changed their lives. Rank-and-file members of the Oakland Education Association, parents and community members participated in today’s action. Since February, a grassroots community-led coalition has come together to stop the Oakland Unified School District’s plans to close or merge 11 public schools serving primarily Black, Latinx and other students of color in East Oakland.

Russia, Ukraine And The Law Of War: Crime Of Aggression

March 30, 2022 Scott Ritter, Consortium News. Educate! Russia, Ukraine, US Imperialism, Wars and Militarism

When it comes to the legal use of force between states, it is considered unimpeachable fact that in accordance with the intent of the United Nations Charter to ban all conflict, there are only two acceptable exceptions. One is an enforcement action to maintain international peace and security authorized by a Security Council resolution passed under Chapter VII of the Charter, which permits the use of force. The other is the inherent right of individual and collective self-defense, as enshrined in Article 51 of the Charter, which reads as follows: “Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security. Measures taken by Members in the exercise of this right of self-defense shall be immediately reported to the Security Council and shall not in any way affect the authority and responsibility of the Security Council under the present Charter to take at any time such action as it deems necessary in order to maintain or restore international peace and security.”

President AMLO Criticizes US Claim It Hosts Russian Spies

March 30, 2022 Ben Norton, Multipolarista. Educate! Mexico, Russia, Sovereignty, Spies

Mexico’s left-wing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has criticized the United States for claiming his country hosts more Russian spies than any other. “We need to send them telegrams, informing them that Mexico is not a colony of any foreign country, that Mexico is a free, independent, sovereign country,” declared López Obrador, who is known popularly by the acronym AMLO. “More and more this should be known, because sometimes it appears that it is not understood well enough,” the Mexican president added. The leader of US Northern Command (Northcom), General Glen VanHerck, claimed in a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on March 24 that Russia’s foreign military intelligence agency the GRU supposedly has more spies in Mexico than anywhere else.

Global Food Shortages: How Does Your Garden (Or Pantry) Grow?

March 30, 2022 Thomas Knapp, Counter Punch. Educate! Famine, Finance and the Economy, Food Access, Inflation

“President Joe Biden and other leaders of the world’s major industrialized democracies pledged action on Thursday [March 24] to address food shortages caused by Russia’s war on Ukraine,” Politico reports. Biden says food shortages “are going to be real,” although he seems to see them as an opportunity to increase US grain production and food exports rather than a real threat to Americans’ own well-being. After a year of continuing his predecessor’s “trade war” policies, Biden seems to be getting some free trade religion, which is nice, but he may be under-estimating the scope of the problem. The Russian invasion of Ukraine — and the US/EU/NATO sanctions response — doesn’t just up-end the global supply of grain crops (Russia and Ukraine are both top exporters of wheat) and other foods.

Tunisian Journalists’ Union Announces General Strike On April 2

March 30, 2022 People's Dispatch. Resist! Journalism, Media, Strike, Tunisia

Journalists in Tunisia will go on a nationwide general strike on April 2 to protest governmental interference in public media and to defend the freedom of speech and freedom of the press in the country. The National Syndicate for Tunisian Journalists (SNJT), Tunisia’s main journalists’ union, announced on Wednesday, March 23, that it has approved a mass strike by journalists. Union official Amira Mohammed cited the “president’s attempts to control public media and the authorities’ insistence on hitting the sector” as the main reason for the strike. The journalists’ union has criticized president Kais Saied and his regime for a number of recent measures which according to them drastically reduced the independence of state media.

The Urgent Need For Climate Action

March 30, 2022 John Scales Avery, Popular Resistance. Educate! climate crisis, Climate Justice, Fossil Fuels, Sea level rise

Although the worst effects of catastrophic climate change lie in the distant future, there are recent warnings that tell us that a climate disaster may be nearer than we thought. The Arctic and Antarctic regions are warming more than twice as fast as the remainder of the world. In the Antarctic region, the vast Thwaites glacier, sometimes called "the Doomsday Glacier", has recently exhibited so many cracks that scientists fear that it may shatter into small pieces like a windscreen. If this happens, the event may trigger the collapse of other nearby glaciers through a mechanism called "Marine Ice Cliff Instability". This could mean several meters of sea level rise, threatening all coastal cities throughout the world. Other warnings come from the Arctic.

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