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Democracy

End The Siege On New York City

October 3, 2024 Imani Nile, Black Agenda Report. , , , , ,
On May 1, 2023, Jordan Neely walked onto the F train at the Second Avenue subway stop in Manhattan and never walked out. Daniel Penny, a former Marine from West Islip in suburban Suffolk County, executed Jordan Neely in a full subway car while passengers watched. They were forced to witness Penny keep Neely in a chokehold for about six minutes — even after he had gone completely motionless. Neely, a known subway performer and Michael Jackson impersonator, was homeless and battled a number of mental health conditions. That day on the train, he began to cry out in anger and anguish and instead of receiving help or services, he was murdered.

UAW Reformers Muster Forces To Hold Bosses To Their Word

October 3, 2024 Keith Brower Brown and Jane Slaughter, Labor Notes. , , ,
A year after the United Auto Workers’ Stand-Up Strike, the union caucus that helped make it possible is setting out to transform locals still stuck in the mud. Their first step is to fight a new onslaught of layoffs, broken promises, and retaliation from CEOs. The reform caucus Unite All Workers for Democracy (UAWD) held its first convention last weekend outside Detroit, with 150 UAW members, mostly auto workers but also from higher ed, legal services, and heavy equipment manufacturing. Shafarrah Hill, a Stellantis transport driver from a Detroit local, said she joined the convention after local officers did nothing about bullying by her supervisors. "My union steward has been telling me for two years,” she said, “that if I want to do something about it, I need to come to UAWD."

Biden’s UNGA Address On Democracy, Cooperation Contrasts With Reality

September 26, 2024 Natalia Marques, People's Dispatch. , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
When US President Biden ended his final address to the UN General Assembly with “my fellow leaders, there is nothing that’s beyond our capacity if we work together,” it can be easy to forget that the United States is the number one obstacle to mutual cooperation around the world. Biden’s mention of the various conflicts and aggressions around the world—from Ukraine to Sudan to Gaza—of course made no mention of the US’s complicity in each of these conflicts. Biden calls for “a ceasefire and hostage deal” for Gaza in order to “bring the hostages home, secure security for Israel, and Gaza free of Hamas’ grip, ease the suffering in Gaza, and end this war.”

Assemble Lights Up Parliament With ‘Evict The Lords’ Projection

September 25, 2024 Ed Sykes, The Canary. , , ,
On 23 September, the words “EVICT THE LORDS” and “POWER TO A HOUSE OF THE PEOPLE” were projected onto parliament. This rounded off a day in which Assemble, a group with roots in the modern climate movement, highlighted “five urgent political priorities” that people around the country had decided on. Assemble spokesperson Maddison Wheeldon delivered the statement in front of the Emmeline Pankhurst statue outside parliament, “standing in front of a replica of the throne seen in the House of the Lords — typical of the extreme luxury and aristocratic trappings seen in the chamber”:

Farmworker Union To Hold New Election

September 19, 2024 By Dan DiMaggio and Sindhu Sundar, Labor Notes. , , , ,
Members of the second-largest farmworkers union in the U.S. will elect leaders on September 21 and 22. It’s a rerun of an election two years ago, following accusations that many members were effectively disenfranchised in that vote. The Farm Labor Organizing Committee agreed to the new election in a voluntary compliance agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) last year. The union has 1,500 members in North Carolina, Virginia, and Ohio. Its primary collective bargaining agreement, with the North Carolina Growers Association, covers 9,000 farmworkers scattered across 750 North Carolina farms.

Russia Is Not Bluffing: To Avoid WWIII, The US Must Find A Diplomatic Offramp

September 17, 2024 Margaret Flowers, Clearing the FOG. , , , , , ,
Last week, the United States was considering Ukraine's request for long-range missiles that could strike more deeply into Russian territory. The Russian government made it clear that this would be viewed as a declaration of war and that it would respond with attacks on NATO countries, including the United States. Clearing the FOG speaks with Scott Ritter about the current state of the Ukraine proxy war against Russia. Ritter explained that had the United States not backed down, World War III could have started. Ritter also discusses the escalating attack on free speech and his new campaign, Operation Dawn, which will launch on September 28 in Kingston, New York.

Venezuela’s Parliament To Request Break Of Relations With Spain

September 12, 2024 Alba Ciudad, Orinoco Tribune. , , , , ,
The president of the Venezuelan National Assembly (AN), Jorge Rodríguez, has asked the Foreign Policy Commission of parliament to prepare a report calling for President Nicolás Maduro’s administration to break diplomatic, commercial, and consular relations with Spain—including the suspension of commercial passenger flights—in response to the decision of the Spanish Congress to ignore the democratic victory of President Nicolás Maduro in the July 28 Venezuelan elections, and instead “recognize” the fictitious “victory” of the far-right opposition’s former candidate, Edmundo González.

France’s ‘President Of The Rich’ Macron Steals Election He Lost

September 10, 2024 Ben Norton, Geopolitical Economy. , , , , , , , ,
France’s leader Emmanuel Macron, a multimillionaire investment banker known popularly as the “president of the rich”, has been accused by the country’s left-wing opposition of stealing the election and carrying out a “coup”. In June and July, France held two rounds of voting. Macron lost the election, while a coalition of leftist parties came in first place. But Macron refused to allow them to form a government. Instead, Macron made a tacit alliance with the French far right to keep the left out of power, and he appointed as prime minister a conservative politician from an unpopular party that came in fourth place and earned just around 6% of the vote.

300,000 March Against Appointment Of Conservative Prime Minister

September 10, 2024 Ana Vračar, People's Dispatch. , , , , ,
On Saturday, September 7, approximately 300,000 people took to the streets across France to protest President Emmanuel Macron’s appointment of conservative Michel Barnier as Prime Minister. The protests, led by left and progressive groups, reflect growing anger at Macron’s decision to bypass the election results and avoid a progressive government. A massive rally in Paris saw 160,000 demonstrators, with thousands more gathering in cities like Lille, Bordeaux, and Marseille. The protesters are demanding that Macron respect basic democratic mechanisms and the results of the July general election, in which the left-progressive coalition, the New Popular Front (NFP), secured the most parliamentary seats.

France Protests Against Macron’s Coup, Calls For Impeachment

September 8, 2024 Magdalena Valdez, Orinoco Tribune. , , , , , ,
Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of several French cities on Saturday, September 7 to protest against what has been dubbed as “electoral theft” committed by President Emmanuel Macron who appointed far-right Michel Barnier as the prime minister of the country despite the fact that Barnier’s party won on;y 5% of the vote in the latest general elections. The protests were called by the center-left coalition New Popular Front (NFP) in more than 150 cities across France. The protests were organized in opposition to Macron ‘s appointment of Les Républiques party’s Michel Barnier as prime minister, a decision that has been widely criticized by the French left, which has called it a coup against the people’s will, as it was the NFP that had received the maximum number of seats in the July 7 parliamentary elections but had failed to win an absolute majority.

AOC And The Desperate Democrats Attempt To Undermine The Greens

September 7, 2024 Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report. , , , ,
The Green Party is the left party most successful at gaining ballot access across the country. It is unusual for a non-duopoly formation to be on the ballot in more than 40 states. That success is indicative of its platform’s appeal to millions of people who vote for them whenever they are given the chance. There is no other party with a national reach demanding independence for Puerto Rico, the abolition of the electoral college, nuclear disarmament, constitutional protection of the right to vote, the right to health care, an Ecosocialist Green New Deal, and cutting the military budget in half. Because its policy positions are popular, the Greens have become the scapegoats for democrats’ failure and treachery.

Macron Protested Over Appointment Of Right-Wing Prime Minister

September 6, 2024 Ana Vračar, People's Dispatch. , , , , ,
French President Emmanuel Macron has finally nominated a new Prime Minister. However, his choice is not someone from the New Popular Front (NFP), the left-progressive alliance that won the most seats in the recent snap election. Instead, Macron opted for Michel Barnier, a conservative former EU official and Brexit negotiator, igniting yet more anger among left and progressive circles in France. Barnier comes from the ranks of The Republicans, a Gaullist party that garnered approximately 6% of the vote in the recent election. The French president has described him as a choice that will be able to build stability and communication among most parties.

Venezuela In The Crosshairs Of Technological Imperialism

September 5, 2024 Misión Verdad Orinoco Tribune. , , , , , , , , , ,
In August, Venezuela’s re-elected president, Nicolás Maduro, signed a decree blocking access to social media platform X, formerly Twitter, for 10 days. President Maduro said of its owner, tycoon Elon Musk, “He has violated the rules by inciting hatred, fascism, civil war, death, confrontation among Venezuelans, and has violated all Venezuelan laws.” Musk, who also owns the Starlink satellite broadband network, expressed his support for the far-right Venezuelan opposition and insulted the president, which is a sign of the determination of the new global elites to carry out regime change in Venezuela. This action was accompanied by other attempts implemented through various technological platforms such as Apple, Google, and Meta.

We Need A Culture-In-All-Policies Approach To Democracy

September 1, 2024 Jeremy Liu and John K. C. Liu, Next City. , , ,
Culture, unlike democracy, is self-propelled and self-propagating: it is persistent, in ways that democracy strives to be; it is effusive in ways that democracy should be; it is practical, as democracy must always be; and it is critical, in ways democracy is too often not. In these ways, culture’s strength and importance to civic life is that it runs through everything; it is the warp to democracy’s weft. The growing recognition of Indigenous wisdom about place and its management are important to acknowledge in any discussion of place-based work. The “new” ideas of regenerative and permaculture agriculture can draw a lineage to Indigenous wisdom, for example.

‘Democracies’ Attack Journalism As They Attack Democracy Itself

August 30, 2024 Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report. , , , ,
The nations of the collective west love to brag and to praise themselves as being democracies. They say they abhor authoritarian, autocratic governments and constantly condemn anyone they don’t like as belonging to that club. In reality, the word democracy is used to fool the gullible into accepting actions and policies they ought to reject and also as a weapon meant to disguise evil intent. But the facade is cracking as the dictatorial tendency becomes harder to hide. Here in the United States, Kamala Harris became the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee after wealthy donors orchestrated a coup against the sitting president they put into office four years earlier.
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