Privatization

The Post Office Belongs To The Public

July 18, 2020 Mark Dimondstein and Richard Koritz, In These Times. Organize! Congress, Privatization, Recession, USPS

On June 15, Louis DeJoy of Greensboro, N.C., began his new job as Postmaster General of the United States. We are postal worker union activists who also hail from Greensboro (and are now American Postal Workers Union president and solidarity representative, respectively). For decades we have defended the interests of the public Postal Service and postal workers, and we bring a much different perspective than that of multi-millionaire businessman DeJoy. We are concerned that DeJoy, a mega-donor to Republican Party causes and to President Trump, has been tapped to carry out the administration’s agenda.

‘Attempted Murder Of Your Post Office’

July 16, 2020 Jake Johnson, Commondreams. Organize! Congress, Privatization, US Postal Service, Worker Rights and Jobs

Postal workers and their allies in Congress are vowing to fight back after the new head of the U.S. Postal Service—a major donor to President Donald Trump and the Republican Party—moved this week to impose sweeping changes to the popular government agency as it faces a financial crisis manufactured by lawmakers and exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. The Washington Post reported late Tuesday that Postmaster General (PMG) Louis DeJoy, who took charge last month, issued memos announcing "major operational changes" to the USPS "that could slow down mail delivery, warning employees the agency would not survive unless it made 'difficult' changes to cut costs."

Report Warns Of Unprecedented Wave Of Land Privatization

July 15, 2020 By Anuradha Mittal, Oakland Institute. Educate! Capitalism, Land, Natural Resources, Privatization

Amidst a worsening climate crisis, the Oakland Institute’s new report, Driving Dispossession: The Global Push to “Unlock the Economic Potential of Land,” sounds the alarm on the unprecedented wave of privatization of natural resources that is underway around the world. Through six case studies—Ukraine, Zambia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, and Brazil—the report details the myriad ways by which governments—willingly or under the pressure of financial institutions and Western donor agencies—are putting more land into so-called “productive use” in the name of development. “The fact that most of the land on our planet, especially in the Global South, is public land or land held under customary tenure systems is seen as an obstacle to exploitation and economic growth,” said Frederic Mousseau, Policy Director of the Oakland Institute and the lead author of the report. “Governments are being pushed to adopt the Western notion of private land ownership to give corporations access to natural resources—land, water, and minerals—just the opposite of the drastic shift we need to win the struggle against climate change."

Privatization And The Pandemic

June 24, 2020 Jacob Assa and Cecilia Calderon, Developing Economics. Educate! COVID-19, Health Care, Pandemic, Privatization

Unlike other epidemics or pandemics – such as tuberculosis, SARS, MERS or HIV/AIDS – COVID-19 has hit hardest at the world’s wealthiest countries. As of early June 2020, the 37 industrialized countries of the OECD accounted for 59% of all cases and 78% of deaths, even though they constitute less than 18% of the total population affected. Looking at the pandemic’s effects in another way – using cases and deaths per million population – paints an even starker picture. OECD countries have a prevalence ratio of 2,890 cases per million and a mortality rate of 225 per million, compared with 869 cases and 51 deaths per million in the rest of the world. Furthermore, the case fatality ratio (CFR) – the ratio of deaths to cases – is also higher in the OECD (7.8%) than in the rest of the world (5.9%).

Neoliberalism Is In Critical Condition

June 17, 2020 Riccardo Mastini, The Ecologist. Strategize! Austerity, Capitalism, COVID-19, Neoliberalis, Privatization

Now is the moment to transition away from an economic system that thrives on exploitation. The Covid-19 pandemic is tearing the neoliberal playbook apart as politicians and citizens realise that, in times of pandemic, markets won’t save the day. The privatisation-deregulation-austerity recipe is becoming obsolete, leaving ways for a diversity of interventionist policies. Meanwhile, outside of markets, solidarity initiatives are blooming, creating the experiential and affective base for a paradigm shift away from self-interested individualism. This is an opportunity for a long-awaited transition away from an economic system that thrives on the exploitation of the vulnerable, from precarious workers to animals and ecosystems.

The Future Is Public

May 27, 2020 the Transnational Institute. Create! Municipalization, New Economy, Privatization, Transformation

Resistance to privatisation has turned into a powerful force for change. (Re)municipalisation refers to the reclaiming of public ownership of services as well as the creation of new public services. In recent years, our research has identified more than 1,400 successful (re)municipalisation cases involving more than 2,400 cities in 58 countries around the world. But this book is about more than just numbers. It shows that public services are more important than ever in the face of the climate catastrophe, mounting inequalities, and growing political unrest. Together, civil society organisations, trade unions, and local authorities are crafting new templates for how to expand democratic public ownership to all levels of society and opening up new routes to community-led and climate conscious public services.

Co-op Has A Plan To Democratise Large Parts Of The Internet

May 27, 2020 By Leo Sammallahti, Co-op Exchange. Create! Democratize, Internet, New Economy, Privatization

Around 5% of all websites use the .org domain, with the most popular being Wikipedia. These websites represent around 6% of the top 1000 websites and 7% of the top 100 000 domains. The domain itself has been controlled by ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), which is part of the non-profit Internet Society. In 2019 a private equity firm, Ethos capital, approached ICANN with an offer of buying the .org registrar for $1.6 billion. As the deal seemed likely to pass, the opposition to the deal mobilised a massive campaign to stop it. ICANN received 3,252 comments, with only 6 in favour of the deal. Perhaps the most commonly cited criticism included the removal of the price cap. The price for .org domains had been capped at 9.93$/year since 2013, although registrants were allowed to freely sell them.

Billionaires Are The Biggest Threat To Public Schools

May 20, 2020 Sarah Lahm, The Progressive. Create! Betsy DeVos, Bill Gates, Charter Schools, Privatization

In recent months, as schools closed to limit the spread of COVID-19, millions of students, teachers, and administrators have been forced to flip a switch and embrace distance learning. Many states have hinted that this situation could continue well into the next school year. Now, panic is spreading among public school advocates as key proponents of “disruptive” education models scramble to capitalize on the chaos. First came the news, in late April, that Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who has long been a political and financial supporter of school choice schemes, has been authorized by Congress to hand out $307 million in grant money to state departments of education—provided they use the funds to “reimagine” (read: privatize) K-12 schooling.

Group That Won School-Funding Suit Now Challenging Private School Vouchers

May 15, 2020 Darrel Rowland, Columbus Dispatch. Resist! Legal System, Ohio, Privatization, Public Education

The same coalition that successfully sued the state a generation ago over an unconstitutional school-funding system now is putting together a new lawsuit challenging the legality of Ohio’s school voucher program. “The vouchers are causing harm to the students that are left in the public school districts, reducing the availability of resources that school districts have,” said Bill Phillis, executive director of the Ohio Coalition for Equity & Adequacy of School Funding. “And, of course, there’s a double whammy now with the reduction of appropriations for primary and secondary education,” he added, noting $300 million in K-12 funding cuts announced last week stemming from reduced state revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic. Ohio’s EdChoice voucher program redirects taxpayer money from public schools and gives it to parents to help them pay tuition to private schools.

No Sacrifices Of The Public Interest In Times Of Emergency

May 11, 2020 By Adam M. Sowards, The Revelator. Strategize! Oil and Gas, Popular Protest, Privatization, Public Good

Never one to miss an opportunity, the Trump administration has repeatedly used the COVID-19 crisis as cover to enact unwise and dangerous environmental policies against the public interest and to forestall citizen input. In recent days the Environmental Protection Agency has moved forward with weakening rules for automobile emissions and relaxing pollution standards. The Bureau of Land Management continues leasing for oil and gas drilling even as prices drop. And while much of the country remains under stay-at-home orders and faces the most disruptive public health crisis in a century, deadlines for public statements on forest plans have not been extended and formats for hearings about dams have frustrated citizens who wish to speak up for public resources.

Some Communities Are Forced To Fight School Closures And Privatization During The Pandemic

May 7, 2020 Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism. Resist! Charter Schools, Education, Pandemic, Privatization

Since mid-March, public school students in Minnesota have had to stay home because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, according to the state’s governor, Tim Walz, schools will remain closed until the end of this school year, with no guarantee that they will reopen in the fall for anything other than online teaching and learning. This hasn’t stopped the Minneapolis Public Schools from attempting to push forward with a dramatic restructuring plan, known as the Comprehensive District Design. Under this plan, nearly all of the city’s 34,000 public school students and teachers would be reassigned to new schools, beginning in the fall of 2021. The proposal includes the closure of several popular, long-standing magnet school programs, as well as the dismantling of existing community schools in favor of new school configurations.

International Call For Anti-Imperialist May Day

May 1, 2020 Anti-Imperialist Journal. Resist! Anti-Imperialism, Global Recession, May Day, Privatization

It has been more than one hundred years since the first International Worker’s Day on May 1st. It is a day of struggle and celebration that historically has brought millions of people from political and worker’s movements to the streets. This May 1st, 2020, will not be the same. The necessary policies of social isolation imposed because of the COVID-19 pandemic will prevent us from gathering in the streets and squares and from picketing our places of work to show to the governments, the bosses, the banks, and to the totality of the ruling class, that we sustain this world. For the organizations and networks that are calling for the International Week of Anti-imperialist Struggle, there is no doubt that in the context of the current public health crisis, it’s important to avoid public gatherings and break the chain of infection of the Coronavirus.

DeVos And Charter School Movement Use Pandemic To Advance Agenda

April 28, 2020 Jeff Bryant, Inequality.org. Educate! Charter Schools, Pandemic, Privatization, Public Education

COVID-19 has shuttered public schools across the nation, state governments are threatening to slash education budgets due to the economic collapse caused by the outbreak, and emergency aid provided by the federal government is far short of what is needed, according to a broad coalition of education groups. But the charter school industry may benefit from its unique status to seek public funding from multiple sources and expand these schools into many more communities traumatized by the pandemic and financial fallout. As school districts reported problems converting classroom learning into online instruction delivered to students’ homes, often due to lack of funding for internet-capable devices and Wi-Fi hotspots, charter school proponents are jumping in to take advantage of emergency aid.

On Contact: The End Of Public Education

April 21, 2020 Chris Hedges, RT. Resistance Report Cyber Charter School, Privatization, Public Education, Racism

Chris Hedges talks to Cornell University Professor Noliwe Rooks about how America’s public education system, under successive administrations, continues to be segregated along racial lines, and what is taught is often shaped by business goals and ideas. With the rise of charter schools, a cover for privatization, steering public money towards corporate profits, the most disturbing trends are cyber charter schools where children only have to check-in with teachers three times a week, term papers outsourced and graded in India, and the advent of cyber classes for pre-K children. Rooks’ book, now in paperback, is entitled ‘Cutting School: Privatization, Segregation and the End of Public Education’.

Trump: Postal Workers Don’t Deserve A Financial Lifeline

April 13, 2020 Sarah Anderson, Inequality.org. Educate! Amazon, Privatization, Trump, USPS

The financially strapped United States Postal Service wound up with crumbs in the $2.2 trillion stimulus deal, despite playing a vital role in our nation’s public health and economic stability at this time of crisis. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) accused President Trump of personally intervening to strip a Democratic postal rescue proposal from the final bill. Asked on Tuesday for his response, Trump lashed out at the beleaguered Postal Service with a stream of false accusations. “They lose money every time they deliver a package for Amazon or these other internet companies,” Trump said. “If they’d raise the prices by, actually a lot, then you’d find out that the post office could make money or break even. But they don’t do that…Tell your Democrat friend that he should focus on that.”

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