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Austerity

Why Can’t We Commit War Crimes And Destroy The Planet…

Sometimes it doesn’t seem like two things are connected. But deep down you know they are. You try to grasp the correlation, but it’s elusive. …I think I’ve found the answer. Why can’t we, the United States, regularly blow up fishermen off the coast of Venezuela — without a judge, jury, or relevant jurisdiction — without 49% of American children languishing in or near poverty?? Why can’t we send tens of billions of dollars to help Israel commit genocide while also having affordable housing for Americans? Rather than the monthly mortgage payment on a typical home doubling since January 2020?

Italy Holds Third General Strike In Three Months

Italy is on general strike for the third time in less than three months, following a call by the grassroots union Unione Sindacale di Base (USB). Pickets, industrial actions, and demonstrations were organized in over 40 cities, with massive rallies demanding an end to rearmament plans and the war budget shaped by Giorgia Meloni’s government. On Friday, workers stressed that their mobilization is tied both to worsening material conditions at home and to international events, specifically the struggle of the Palestinian people – whose fate, they insist, is inseparable from Europe’s expanding war economy.

Belgian Workers Reject Arizona’s Austerity In Strike Wave

Wednesday, November 26, marks the final day of a nationwide wave of strikes and protests against the anti-social policies of Belgium’s so-called Arizona government. Workers in transport and public services, joined by thousands across other sectors, remain outraged by Prime Minister Bart De Wever’s agenda, which includes attacks on pensions, wages, and public services, all while increasing spending on militarization. Picket lines sprang up across the country, with workers rejecting the government’s plans. Reporting from the strike at the port of Antwerp, Workers’ Party of Belgium (PTB-PVDA) General Secretary Peter Mertens wrote: “Workers are furious that the government is coming for their pensions, trying to steal their wage indexation and, on top of that, wants to raise taxes on gas and fuel. ‘No way,’ they’re saying here.”

Democrats’ Treachery Ends The Shutdown

In “The Shutdown and Neverending Hostility to the Welfare State,” written just two weeks ago, this columnist made the following statement. “If the Democratic Party can’t stand up to defend programs that feed poor people and pay for healthcare, then it literally has no reason to exist at all.” That essay presented a long list of infamous Democratic Party chicanery that chipped away at the already inadequate welfare state in this country. The democrats may talk a good game, but in the final analysis they will join with their duopoly partners in the Republican Party to practice the politics of austerity.

‘Students Rise Up’ Actions Hit 100 Cities

The new coalition “Students Rise Up” held actions in 100 cities at schools and where politicians were targeted on Nov. 7 to protest President Donald Trump’s attacks on higher education and address a range of issues impacting students. Nearly 20 unions and organizations endorsed the actions, including the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), Ohio Students Association, New Hampshire Youth Movement, Students for a Democratic Society, Campus Climate Network, Gen-Z for Change, Indivisible, Jewish Voice for Peace and March for Our Lives. Sunrise Movement, whose executive director, Aru Shiney-Ajay, stressed in a Nov. 4 press release that “everyone deserves an accessible, affordable and quality education.”

This Veterans Day, The VA Faces Multiple Threats

When veterans and their families gather at commemorative events on Nov. 11, many who use the benefits and services of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will be wondering whether they can still rely on that federal agency. Among those worried about the agency’s future — and their own — are the 100,000 former service members who comprise one-third of the workforce in the largest public health care system in the country. These veterans work at nearly 1,400 VA-run hospitals and clinics nationwide. Every day, they help the nine million men and women who have service-related medical conditions or qualify for VA coverage because of financial need or recent deployment in combat zones. 

The Deficit Is Not An Economic Problem; It’s A Political Weapon

Mark Carney’s long-anticipated investment-austerity budget has finally been tabled before Parliament and it’s set to raise the deficit to $78 billion. While the details of the budget will be debated over the coming weeks, the big picture is that the prime minister delivered on his promises: expanded defence and infrastructure spending “offset” by more than $50 billion in cuts and other savings. For months Carney has been laying the groundwork for these moves, making high-profile statements about Canada’s supposed spending problem and promising to discipline government workers in order to restore fiscal sanity.

SNAP Cuts Disproportionately Hurt People With Disabilities

The ongoing shutdown of the US federal government threatens the distribution of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits this November. States, localities, and anti-hunger organizations are scrambling to fill the gap in federal assistance amid a massive wave of food insecurity. While two federal judges have ruled that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) must use contingency funds to keep SNAP flowing, the Trump administration announced on November 3rd that it will only cover a fraction of the usual benefits.

Trump’s Greatest Ally Is The Democratic Party

The only hope to save ourselves from Trump’s authoritarianism is mass movements. We must build alternative centers of power — including political parties, media, labor unions and universities — to give a voice and agency to those who have been disempowered by our two ruling parties, especially the working class and working poor. We must carry out strikes to cripple and thwart the abuses carried out by the emerging police state. We must champion a radical socialism, which includes slashing the $1 trillion spent on the war industry and ending our suicidal addiction to fossil fuels, and lift up the lives of Americans cast aside in the wreckage of industrialization, declining wages, a decaying infrastructure and crippling austerity programs.

As SNAP Benefits Dry Up, Philly Organizations Pivot To Meet Needs

Linda James-Rivera says she’s seeing some of the highest levels of food insecurity in her Philadelphia communities since she founded the Northwest Mutual Aid Collective during the pandemic. “I just signed up five families in two days,” James-Rivera says of the group’s free delivery service, providing fresh produce and pantry essentials to seniors, disabled residents and low-income families across Northwest Philly. “That is the first time that has ever happened.” With the government shutdown still underway, she is one of many organizational leaders preparing for Nov. 1, when approximately 42 million citizens across the nation will lose Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, food benefits.

Indian Country Hit First, And Harshest, Amidst Federal Shutdown

Like climate change, the federal government shutdown affects Indigenous communities in the country first and harsher than other communities. There are several reasons why, including that federally recognized tribes have a political relationship with the federal government that is based on the laws that founded this country. In exchange for land, the federal government made provisions—consider them as promises—to tribes and their citizens in various legal processes such as treaties, executive orders, and legislation. In exchange for land, the federal government created unique programs only available to federally recognized tribes largely in the areas of housing, education, healthcare and law enforcement.

The Shutdown And Neverending Hostility To The Welfare State

Anyone who ponders whether or not the United States is a failed state operating at the behest of the ruling class and their corrupt political system need only observe that the federal government ceased operations after the fiscal year ended on September 30. Immediately, more than 2 million federal workers were furloughed and have not been paid since, while some categories of employees, such as air traffic controllers, must work without pay. Having two million people suddenly out of work is not the end of the economic devastation. The federal government cannot expend any money. On November 1 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits will not be paid and the Trump administration refuses to use an available source of emergency funds. Some 42 million recipients are at risk of being unable to buy food.

Ecuadorian Government Increases Repression Of National Strike

The government of Daniel Noboa has opted to reinforce the security forces to definitively suppress the national strike called by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), which has now been going on for 26 days. The protests, which have been concentrated in the province of Imbabura (although they have also taken place in dozens of other locations), demand the repeal of a presidential decree that eliminates the subsidy on diesel fuel, which is used especially by transporters, farmers, and rural workers. However, little by little, the demonstrations have taken on an anti-government tone that is evident in the mobilizations.

World Bank Acknowledges Poverty Increase In Nigeria

The World Bank projects that 139 million Nigerians will be living in poverty by the end of this year, a nearly 60% increase from 87 million in 2023, when President Bola Tinubu started implementing the reforms it had prescribed on the first day of his term. Promising to slash petrol prices during his election campaign, Tinubu declared in his presidential inaugural speech on May 29, 2023, “the fuel subsidy is gone,” overseeing a petrol price hike of nearly 488% in Africa’s largest producer by October 2024. This also increased the price of electricity multifold because more than 58% of the Nigerian households, left out of the national grid, rely on petrol and diesel generators. With storage capacity and cold-chain logistics limited, a lack of “reliable access to power also leads to high food losses.

A Youth Revolt In Madagascar Is Shaking The Government

Unbearable power cuts and a lack of drinking water are just the tip of the iceberg. Popular anger has erupted in Madagascar as the population grows weary of shortages and failing basic public services. Power cuts can last for up to 12 hours, which can lead to cuts in drinking water supply on an island already suffering from severe water stress. Calls for action quickly mobilized thousands of people. The crackdown was also very harsh: to date, according to the UN, there have been 22 deaths and more than 100 injuries, some of them very serious. Since September 25, an organization calling itself Gen Z Mada has organized spontaneous demonstrations in most of the country’s cities, particularly in Antananarivo, the country’s capital. In response to crackdowns, students and young people from the big cities have also gathered in front of one of the capital’s universities to denounce the government’s authoritarian turn and the police’s violent repression.
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