Educate!
Education is the foundation of political change. In this section we provide news and analyses of current events that you won’t likely read or hear in the corporate media. Our sources are from organizations and independent media outlets free of corporate and government propaganda. We strongly encourage you to share these articles by email and social media so that together we create an echo chamber that overcomes the influence of the oligarchy. You will find large social media sharing buttons on the left side of each article when you open the article to read.
Ukraine is still pushing for the US to support long-range strikes inside Russian territory after a meeting between President Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer ended with no announcements about the issue.
Biden and Starmer held talks at the White House on Friday, a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that if the US allowed and supported long-range strikes inside Russia, it would mean NATO is at war with Russia.
Ahead of the meeting, the White House said the US hasn’t changed its policy regarding long-range strikes. “There is no change to our view on the provision of long-range strike capabilities for Ukraine to use inside of Russia,” said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.
US Citizens Among 37 Sentenced To Death Over Congo DR Coup Attempt
September 16, 2024
Al Mayadeen, Orinoco Tribune.
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Coup Attempt, Coups, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Legal System, Mercenaries, United States, US Imperialism
Three US citizens were among 37 defendants sentenced to death by a military court on Friday for their involvement in a failed coup attempt in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in May.
On May 19, armed men briefly seized control of a presidential office in Kinshasa before security forces killed their leader, US-based Congolese politician Christian Malanga.
Among the Americans on trial were Malanga’s son, Marcel Malanga, and his friend, Tyler Thompson. Thompson had accompanied Marcel to the DRC. The third American, Benjamin Zalman-Polun, was a business associate of Christian Malanga.
Official Statement By Chairman Omali Yeshitela On Behalf Of The Uhuru 3
September 15, 2024
Hands Off Uhuru, Popular Resistance.
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FBI, Foreign Agents Registration Act, Legal System, State Repression, Uhuru 3
On September 12, 2024 a jury in the federal courthouse in Tampa, Florida repudiated the more serious charge of the U.S. government’s frame-up of the Uhuru 3 by finding myself, along with Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel, NOT GUILTY of being agents of the Russian government.
The prosecutors unleashed a barrage of lies and distortions of the law, along with deliberately confusing jury instructions, to mislead the jury into returning an inconsistent verdict, convicting us on the lesser charge of “conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States,” which we intend to appeal and are confident we will win. But more importantly, the jury’s “not guilty” verdict on the “Russian agents” charge means that the jurors agreed with the legitimacy of our efforts to advocate for the liberation of Africa and African people.
The US Attempted Coup In Venezuela Uses New Cyber Tools
September 15, 2024
Stansfield Smith, Popular Resistance.
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Cyber Warfare, Elections, US coup, Venezuela
The peoples around the world have looked to Venezuela as a vanguard leading Nuestra América in its second independence struggle, against the US. The US rulers operate as the inheritor of the European colonial empires, assuming the right to interfere in other countries’ elections, and dictate who are the winners. No other country - save US underlings in Europe, and Israel - dares to violate international law so brazenly.
The Venezuelan right-wing had no real plan to win a democratic election, but instead prepared for a coup d’etat even before the polls closed. Working with the US government and corporate media, they allege President Maduro stole the July 28 presidential election, then committed human rights abuses to crush protests.
US-Backed Media, Activists Behind Attacks On Honduran Government
September 15, 2024
Wyatt Reed, The Grayzone.
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DEA, Honduras, Lawfare, Media, US coup, US Imperialism, Xiomara Castro
The Honduran government has slammed the US for attempting to initiate a “coup d’etat” in the Central American country, after the media outlet Insight Crime released decade-old footage appearing to show the current president’s brother-in-law negotiating a payment with men who later confessed to trafficking drugs.
The tape was leaked amidst a diplomatic spat with the US over the Honduran government’s friendly relations with Venezuela following its disputed elections in July. Days before the footage emerged, Honduran president Xiomara Castro hinted at its release while announcing an end to a longstanding extradition deal with the US: “I will not allow the instrument of extradition to be used to intimidate or blackmail the Honduran Armed Forces.”
Boar’s Head Plant Shuts Down
September 15, 2024
Edward Carver, Portside.
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Boar's Head, Food Industry, health, Unions, Virginia, Worker Rights and Jobs
About 500 workers lost their current jobs when Boar's Head on Friday announced the closure of the Virginia meatpacking plant behind a deadly listeria outbreak.
A chapter of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union, which represents the workers, said in a statement that the closure was "especially unfortunate" given that the workforce was not to blame for the outbreak, which killed at least nine people nationwide.
The UFCW announced that it had reached a deal with the company to allow the workers to transfer to another Boar's Head facility or receive a severance package "above and beyond" what's required by law.
"Thankfully these workers have a union they can count on to always have their backs," the union statement said.
Pentagon Renovates Israeli Air Base
The US Department of Defense is building aircraft facilities in Israel to accommodate new US-made KC-46A Pegasus refueling tanker planes that could assist in an attack on Iran, The Intercept reported on 14 September.
Army Corps of Engineers documents show new buildings will be constructed and existing buildings will be upgraded, including hangars, warehouses, and storage facilities, at a military base in the south of Israel.
The project includes “establishing and adapting aviation and maintenance infrastructure for the KC-46,” including the construction of five new concrete and steel structures, the documents show.
US Imposes New Imperial Sanctions Against Venezuelan Officials
September 14, 2024
Ana Perdigón, Orinoco Tribune.
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Elections, Sanctions, US Imperialism, Venezuela
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), belonging to the US Department of the Treasury, has imposed new set of unlawful sanctions against Venezuela.
The new sanctions, announced by a US Treasury press release published this Thursday, September 12, target 16 officials from different public branches and the military for supporting the sovereign and democratic will of the Venezuelan people in the last presidential elections on July 28 and refusing to follow the latest US-led imperial coup plot aiming at ousting President Nicolás Maduro.
According to the statement, the new sanctions against Venezuela include “key officials” involved in the presidential elections, which gave Nicolás Maduro the victory with more than 52% of the votes.
Violations Discovered At Nation’s First Carbon Capture And Storage Project
September 14, 2024
Sharon Kelly, DeSmog.
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Carbon Capture, Carbon emissions, False Solutions, Fossil Fuels
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found multiple Safe Drinking Water Act violations at the nation’s first carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) storage project, PoliticoPro’s E&E News reported today.
The Decatur, IL, project, run by Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM), violated rules meant to protect against leaks of captured carbon, the EPA wrote in a notice of violation issued on August 14th.
The EPA said it had inspected three ADM wells in mid-June — one used for storing captured carbon dioxide and two used to monitor for leaks and other problems.
ADM told E&E News that the violations relate to corrosion in one of the two monitoring wells — a problem that ADM said it had discovered back in March.
The Revolutionary Fire In The People Starts With A Song
September 13, 2024
Vijay Prashad, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research.
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Arts, culture, History, Israel, Khalida Jarrar, Mallu Swarajyam, Palestine, Prison, Revolution
Mallu Swarajyam (1931–2022) was born with an appropriate name. From deep within the mass movement against British colonialism that was initiated by India’s peasants and workers, and then shaped by M. K. Gandhi into the movement for swaraj (self-rule), Bhimireddy Chokkamma drew her baby daughter into the freedom movement with a powerful name that signalled the fight for independence. Born into a house of reading, and able to get books through the radical people’s organisation Andhra Mahasabha, Mallu Swarajyam obtained a Telugu translation of Maxim Gorky’s Mother (1907).
Zelensky’s Last Hail Mary Gets Off To Rocky Start
September 13, 2024
Simplicius's Garden of Knowledge.
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Russia, Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, Wars and Militarism
It seems every news cycle there is now some major new development surrounding Ukraine, which threatens to plunge the war into some elevated state of risk and threat. This is by design because Zelensky and his curators need to constantly drum up a sense of advancement in the narrative, otherwise the increasingly dire situation on the front threatens to swallow the entire war effort whole.
Today that “shiny new object” meant to give UA supporters some small glint of hope is the information package surrounding permission for deep strikes into Russia.
First let’s clear up the nuances to this report. Some believe the decision has already been made and the media is merely trotting out its regular theater to warm up the public.
The Second First Presidential Debate
September 13, 2024
Jack Rasmus, CounterPunch.
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Debates, Democrats, Donald Trump, Elections, Kamala Harris, Media, Republicans, United States
Nearly all public polls in the USA today, and since the beginning of 2024, show that the number #1 issue for American voters is the condition of the economy. But listening to the debate this evening one would have heard little discussion about it—and even less about solutions—from either candidate.
The ABC moderators started off the discussion with what one hoped would have set a positive tone for the debate in that regard. They actually said the number 1 issue was the economy and cost of living and challenged both candidates with the appropriate phrase: “Is the economy better off today than four years ago!”
How Liberal Elites Fail To Understand Economic Anxiety
September 13, 2024
Taki Manolakos, Portside.
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Class Struggle, Debt, Economic insecurity, Finance and the Economy, Liberal class, Worker Rights and Jobs
There is an ideological tendency among some liberal economists today that wants us to believe that Bidenomics has been the best thing since President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. A key advocate of this belief is economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman. On September 7th, 2023, Krugman published an article titled “I’m OK, But Things Are Terrible” in which he claimed there is a disconnect between actual economic conditions and perceptions about the economy: “[t]he strange thing is that these bad ratings are persisting even as the economy, by any normal measure, has been doing extremely well.” Krugman and others who are fans of Bidenomics find it odd that when workers are asked about “the economy” their views are generally negative.
Uhuru 3 Found Not Guilty Of Being Russian Agents
September 12, 2024
Hands Off Uhuru, Popular Resistance.
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Florida, Free Speech, Legal System, Uhuru 3
On the morning of September 12th, the jury returned a verdict in the free speech trial of the century, where Chairman Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel faced bogus charges of working as Russian agents.
The 12 person jury concluded a not guilty verdict on count number two, “failure to register as a foreign agent,” in other words, working as agents of Russia. This was the big charge that carried an up to ten year prison sentence. The jury contained no black jurors, but to their credit, they saw clearly that African people have agency and sovereignty over their actions.
Harris And Trump Debate Maintenance Of The Status Quo
September 12, 2024
Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report.
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Debates, Democrats, Donald Trump, Election, Kamala Harris, Republicans, US Imperialism
The United States' decline under oligarchic rule is brutally exposed every four years, as the duopoly parties differ on fewer issues and agree that the people’s needs stay far away from the political agenda. The 2024 election is no different, as the quality of candidates continues its downward trajectory with a former president who is hated by half the country but beloved by millions more running against a current vice president that no one voted for as a presidential candidate. Their September 10 debate was highly anticipated but not for very good reasons.
Kamala Harris entered the debate one day after finally putting cursory policy platform information on her website which had nothing but merchandise for sale and donation buttons for fifty days.