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Class war

The Secret Reason Billionaires Love A Pandemic

June 22, 2020 Lee Camp, Consortium News. , , ,
Most billionaires don’t work harder, don’t think harder, and don’t know more. They have nothing over your average person except: a) luck b) sometimes inheriting a fortune and c) being more sociopathic. So I guess you could say they’re extraordinary on the sociopathy front. They are more willing to crush other humans to get what they want and thereby they are more able to get what they want. Billionaires in the U.S. have seen their fortunes skyrocket, increasing by 12.5 percent since the pandemic began. The Institute for Policy Studies released a study “showing that, in the eight weeks between March 18 and May 14, the country’s super-wealthy have added a further $368.8 billion to their already enormous fortunes.”

Community Control Vs. Defunding The Police

June 11, 2020 Max Rameau and Netfa Freeman, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
The intensity and scope of the mass rebellion that has gripped the U.S. and expanded internationally has shaken global white supremacist capitalist patriarchy to its knees. The people have tasted a real sense of their own power and as a result some very unexpected developments have emerged. Among them is the demand to “defund the police,” which is even being acknowledged by some lawmakers in a few jurisdictions. To be clear, this is a momentous development for the movement. Supporters often advance two primary arguments: the first is that defunding is a necessary step towards the ultimate goal of abolishing the police altogether.

It’s A Class War Now Too

June 3, 2020 Joshua Frank, Counterpunch , ,
The looting of stores is inherently a class issue, whether you look upon it favorably or not (there are always exceptions of course). The act of looting is a long-standing American tradition, dating back to the theft of Native lands and African enslavement. And today, while wealthy people don’t loot strip malls, they are adept at looting natural resources and labor, from the coalfields of West Virginia to Jeff Bezo’s Amazon warehouses. The poor, exerting their nominal power—even in a destructive and violent manner—display an entirely natural reaction to a continually powerless state of being. For them, looting is a cry for help, an expression of hopelessness. Economic and racial oppression in America has finally reached a boiling point. Systemic change will take a systemic realignment of the economic and political structure in the United States.

The Growing Outbreak Of Discontent In The US Military

May 20, 2020 By Clark A. and Antonio Balmer, Marxist.com. , , ,
It is a well-known feature of revolutionary history that the individual soldiers and sailors who make up the armed forces can be affected by the overarching mood in society and play a key role in the class struggle. The cramped quarters of Navy warships have been likened to “floating factories,” and given the proletarian background of most of their crews, these conditions can breed a fierce class hatred. Add a deadly virus to the already volatile mix, and the stage is set for a social explosion. In late March, after a port stop in Hanoi, an outbreak of COVID-19 began to ravage the crew of the US Navy’s Nimitz class supercarrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt. Routine safety measures were no match for the virus on a ship with 4,500 sailors interacting in close quarters. By March 31, as many as 200 members of the crew had tested positive for COVID-19—a figure that would continue to multiply in the following weeks.

Most Workers And Businesses At The Heart Of US Economy Can’t Meet Financial Needs

April 10, 2020 Popular Resistance. , , , ,
A survey of small businesses and workers conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management published on April 1 finds that small businesses and workers are being hit hard by the COVID-19 crisis. Their findings reveal the real class divide in the United States in that those workers who are essential, such as those who work in construction, manufacturing, transportation, education, and food, have the highest rates of not being able to meet their basic needs because of the shutdown while professionals are less affected. This poll highlights the need to demand financial security for everyone during this time of necessary physical distancing. We need a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures, full coverage of health care by the government, higher pay for essential workers and adequate unemployment benefits for those who are unable to work.

Social Ecology: Radicalizing The Climate Movement

December 22, 2019 Katie Horvath, ROAR Magazine. , , ,
It is not up for debate: climate change is the most pressing issue of our time. Aside from the rather obvious fact that we cannot wage any struggle or build any new society in the shell of the old if we are all dead, the struggle for climate justice is a deeply intersectional one that touches on all the other issues we hold dear. Concerned about inequality and the class war? Look at the way the wealthy have already started building walls to protect themselves while the lower classes drown or burn. Concerned about housing as a human right? Millions of houses are in areas that will soon be underwater or in flames will bring the affordable housing crisis to levels we have never seen before. Concerned about migrant justice, racial justice and the violent impacts of the nation-state more broadly?

Chile, Bolivia and AFRICOM: Imperialism, Revolution & What We Must Ask Of Ourselves

November 17, 2019 Eleanor Goldfield, Act Out! , , ,
Did the French Revolution go too far? And what the hell does that have to do with our place and time?? Meanwhile, people ask "when is the US going to reach that tipping point?" Well, I have some thoughts on that. As protests rage on in Chile, the echoes of a past we made play loudly in the streets. Chairman Omali Yeshitela of the African People's Socialist Party joins us to talk imperialism, class warfare, revolution and more. "You can have peace on the plantation. But you have to say victory to the oppressed."

US Militarism And The One-Sided Class War

July 5, 2019 Ajamu Baraka, Black Agenda Report ,
Despite capitalism’s internal contradictions, it can sustain itself in various forms – even fascism is a capitalist construct – as long as the bourgeois class is a “class for itself” and the working class is subjectively reduced to non-existence as a political force because of its lack of class consciousness. The various methods with which the rulers are able to leverage ideological consent from the oppressed don’t necessarily require extensive study of Gramsci, although it would help. Rather, it is only necessary to remind ourselves of the very simple but accurate observation provided by Marx that the dominant ideas of any society reflect the ideas of its dominant class.

Richest 1% Captured 82% of Wealth, Poorest Half Got Nothing

January 23, 2018 Staff, Oxfam , ,
Eighty two percent of the wealth generated last year went to the richest one percent of the global population, while the 3.7 billion people who make up the poorest half of the world saw no increase in their wealth, according to a new Oxfam report released today. The report is being released as political and business elites, including President Trump, are heading to Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum.   Oxfam’s report, ‘Reward Work, Not Wealth,’ reveals how the global economy enables the wealthy elite to capture vast wealth while hundreds of millions of people struggle to survive on poverty pay. This includes the stunning new finding that the economy created a new billionaire every other day over a period of one year.

The Permanent Lie, Our Deadliest Threat

December 26, 2017 By Chris Hedges, Truthdig.com , , ,
The most ominous danger we face does not come from the eradication of free speech through the obliteration of net neutrality or through Google algorithms that steer people away from dissident, left-wing, progressive or anti-war sites. It does not come from a tax bill that abandons all pretense of fiscal responsibility to enrich corporations and oligarchs and prepares the way to dismantle programs such as Social Security. It does not come from the opening of public land to the mining and fossil fuel industry, the acceleration of ecocide by demolishing environmental regulations, or the destruction of public education. It does not come from the squandering of federal dollars on a bloated military as the country collapses or the use of the systems of domestic security to criminalize dissent

What Would An American Police State Look Like?

June 20, 2017 William Boardman, www.readersupportednews.org ,
By William Boardman for Reader Supported News - country doesn't need a monolithic totalitarian government to have an effectively working police state. The United States has had a partial police state in place since before it existed as a “free country.” Slavery required a police state structure to maintain “order.” Segregation required a police state structure. Ethnic cleansing of native peoples required police state management that still exists, most obviously in North Dakota, but also across the country. Fear of immigrants has fostered police state responses, especially under the Trump administration. Fear of Communists has produced police state responses since 1917, most notoriously during the 1950s McCarthy era. Fear of nuclear weapons and nuclear power, and their very real dangers, has produced a permanent police state security network. Fear of terrorism, spiked by 9/11, has produced a host of police state responses such as the 2001 Patriot Act (ready and waiting before the attack); such as expanded citizen surveillance by the NSA and some 16 other, more secret agencies; such as unprecedented punishment of whistleblowers for their truth-telling; and such as a unified police state structure euphemistically called Homeland Security, that encourages citizens to spy on each other...

Civilians Killed By US Largely Ignored As Endless Global War Continues

May 26, 2017 Jon Queally, www.commondreams.org , ,
By Jon Queally for Common Dreams - Independent journalist Iona Craig, who has reported from the ground in Yemen for years, helped corroborate the version of events provided to Reprieve. "Five tribesmen amongst killed in US raid last night were not AQ," Craig tweeted on Tuesday. "They were tribesmen of young activists who drove me from Mareb into Yakla." Part of the wider "global war on terror" that the U.S. began in the wake of the September 11th attacks in 2001, Yemen has been a target of drone strikes and clandestine operations for years. But as foreign policy experts and the people of Yemen have repeatedly stated, the use of drones and clandestine raids have only hardened Al-Qaeda's position in the country and the killing of innocent civilians as provided a nearly perfect recruiting tool for the militant group. In addition to backing the ongoing Saudi-led war against Yemen, the military under President Donald Trump has continued to target Al-Qaeda aligned forces in the country. In January, just days after his inauguration, Trump was roundly criticized for a botched raid that led to the death of one U.S. soldier and as many as thirty civilians, including children.

Are We Ready For Class War Yet?

February 9, 2017 Fred Nagel, www.popularresistance.org , , , ,
By Fred Nagel. Are we ready for class war yet? Or ready at least to fight back in a war that the very wealthy started in earnest over 30 years ago? Now is certainly the time when millions of American citizens are infuriated about their ever diminishing economic prospects. Even during Obama's eight years, the 1% got almost two-thirds of the nation's income growth. Occupy said it well, and so did Bernie Sanders. The working class understood, and voted for someone who they thought might finally break the neoliberal system. In effect, millions of US workers felt they had no choice since Hillary represented all the evils of corporate control and elite thievery. The two dominant parties, however, have represented the same monied interests for a long time.

The Age Of The Demagogues

December 1, 2015 Chris Hedges, www.truthdig.com , ,
By Chris Hedges for Truth Dig - The increase in nihilistic violence such as school shootings and Friday’s lethal assault on a Planned Parenthood clinic, the frequent executions of poor people of color by police, and the rise of thuggish demagogues such as Donald Trump are symptoms of the collapse of our political and cultural institutions. These institutions, which once made possible piecemeal and incremental reform, which sought to protect the weak from the tyranny of the majority and give them a voice, acted as a safety valve to ameliorate the excesses of capitalism and address the grievances of the underclass.

Low Wage Workers: “We Can’t Breathe”

December 7, 2014 Richard Long and Robert Borosage, www.ourfuture.org , , , , ,
As powerful protests of the New York Eric Garner grand jury decision – We can’t breathe – swept across the country, low wage fast food and retail workers walked off their jobs in some 180 cities, demanding a living wage and the right to organize. People are stirring, no longer willing to put up with an economic and political order that gives them no way to breathe. The Garner demonstrators are not looking for a technical fix – putting cameras on police, retraining them, de-militarizing them. They are demanding justice. The fast food and retail workers are also protesting injustice – an economic order in which they have no way to breathe. Their stories are heart-rending. They work for years at a minimum wage that forces them to rely on taxpayer subsidies for food and medical treatment. They are forced into part-time work with no routine schedules, making it impossible to do the planning needed to raise a child or hold the two or three jobs needed to support a family. They lose hours and lose their apartments. Their children live on edge of desperation. Any attempts to organize are crushed. They are disposables in multi-billion dollar chains where CEOs are paid – as the CEOS of McDonalds and Starbucks are paid — $9200 an hour. They cannot breathe.
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