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Timber From Illegal Logging In Amazon Discovered In US, European Markets

April 6, 2025 Cristen Hemingway Jaynes, EcoWatch. , , , , ,
A new investigative report, Tricks, Traders and Trees, by international NGO the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) reveals widespread illegal logging, corruption and fraud in the Brazilian Amazon. The investigation traced illegal timber that had originated from five logging sites in Pará state to the United States and European Union, despite laws that prohibit the importing of illegal timber and require due diligence from companies. “Our investigation shows how illegal Amazon timber is flooding EU and U.S. markets, fueling unfair competition for legitimate companies despite laws banning the trade in illicit wood.

Yemen Is Acting Responsibly To Stop Genocide; The US Is Bombing Them For It

April 3, 2025 Craig Mokhiber, Mondoweiss. , , , , , ,
The U.S. is bombing Yemen because Yemen is acting, as required by international law, to stop the genocide and unlawful siege in Palestine. This is not an editorial opinion. It is a statement of both law and fact. Neither of these facts has been featured in the reporting or commentary of Western media corporations, let alone in the statements of perpetrator governments like the U.S. Because to perpetrate a genocide in plain sight requires the suppression of the truth and the obscuring of the law. But international law is clear.

Film On Gaza Solidarity Encampments Launched Amid Crackdown On Activism

March 23, 2025 People's Dispatch. , , , , , , , ,
A new documentary chronicling the Gaza Solidarity Encampment at Columbia University will premier at the CPH:DOX Film Festival in Copenhagen on March 25, 2025. “The Encampments,” a film produced by BreakThrough News and Watermelon Pictures, “challenges the dominant media narrative by revealing the true spirit of the encampments—what it felt like to be there, the emotions that fueled the students, and what motivated their drastic action,” said directors Kei Pritsker and Michael T Workman. The film was produced by nonprofit media organization BreakThrough News, Grammy-award winning musician Macklemore, and Watermelon Pictures, a production company focusing on Palestinian-centered films.

Dr. Oz’s Nomination Fuels Fears For Crucial Health Programs

March 15, 2025 Ana Vračar, People's Dispatch. , , , , ,
Health workers and patients are mobilizing against the appointment of Dr. Mehmet Oz as head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), one of several controversial health-related nominations submitted by the Trump presidency. Many have expressed concern over what Dr. Oz’s leadership would mean for the largest US healthcare programs and, consequently, access to healthcare across the country. If confirmed, Oz would be in charge of over USD 1 trillion and overall coverage administration. While he is a recognized surgeon, he is better known for promoting dubious nutrition advice through his public platforms.

USA Is #1 Arms Dealer, Exporting 43% Of World’s Weapons

March 13, 2025 Ben Norton, Geopolitical Economy. , , ,
The United States is by far the biggest arms dealer on Earth, responsible for 43% of all weapons exports from 2020 to 2024. The US transferred 7.3 times more weapons than China, and 5.5 times more than Russia. In fact, Russia’s global arms exports declined by 64% from 2020 to 2024, and China’s fell by 5.4%, whereas those of the US grew by 21%. There were also large increases in weapons exports during this five-year period in Italy (+138%), Spain (+29%), France (+11%), and South Korea (+4.9%). This is according to data compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

Movements Worldwide Call For End To US Military Exercises In Koreas

March 13, 2025 Abdul Rahman, People's Dispatch. , , , ,
Pressure continues to grow against the ongoing Freedom Shield 25, a joint military exercise between the US and South Korea. The International People’s Assembly (IPA) and International League of Peoples Struggle (ILPS) joined Nodutdol, an anti-imperialist Korean diaspora group, in launching a joint statement calling for the Freedom Shield military exercises to be cancelled, claiming it is drumming up threats of war on the Korean peninsula. The anti-imperialist and anti-war platforms bring together hundreds of people’s movements and organizations across the world.

Trump Denies Student Loan Relief To Nonprofit Workers

March 11, 2025 Natalia Marques, People's Dispatch. , , , , ,
Trump signed an executive order on Friday, March 7, which directs the Education Department to exclude student loan forgiveness for workers at certain organizations which “engage in activities that have a substantial illegal purpose,” appearing to target some nonprofit groups at odds with his political agenda. Under the new order, workers would be disqualified from the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program if the Trump administration deems that their employers violated federal immigration laws, supported “terrorism”, or engaged in so-called “child abuse,” which includes “the chemical and surgical castration or mutilation of children or the trafficking of children to so-called transgender sanctuary States for purposes of emancipation from their lawful parents” – a clear attack on organizations that may support transgender rights.

Trump’s Trade War Escalates, Canada Responds With Retaliatory Tariffs

March 6, 2025 Natalia Marques, People's Dispatch. , , , , , , , ,
Trump’s trade war against the US’s neighbors Mexico and Canada, as well as China, continues with sweeping tariffs on the three countries going into effect just after midnight on Tuesday, March 4. A 25% tariff was added on all imports from Canada and Mexico, and an additional 10% tariff on imports from China. On March 5, Trump granted a one-month exemption on imports from Mexico and Canada for US automakers, following a conversation with the three largest auto manufacturers in the country: Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis, according to an announcement by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. Other levies remain in place.

Is Trump ‘Making America Affordable Again’?

February 28, 2025 Natalia Marques, People's Dispatch. , , , , , ,
US President Trump ran his campaign on a pledge to “make America affordable again,” following the inflationary crisis during Biden’s administration. But since the beginning of his presidency, the cost of living crisis, including the cost of staple grocery items and rent, has persisted. Peoples Dispatch spoke to economist Richard Wolff, who outlined that “prices are shaped by many factors, and only a few of those are under the control of any president.” “Trump did what American politicians usually do, which is take a cheap shot at his political enemies by blaming them for something bad going on in this case, inflation,” Wolff said.

As US Authorities Crack Down On Immigrants, ICE Seeks To Expand

February 27, 2025 Natalia Marques, People's Dispatch. , , , , , , ,
As Trump’s mass deportation efforts continue to terrorize immigrant communities across the US, Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE)’s vast network of primarily for-profit detention centers have exceeded their capacity. Earlier in February, ICE was forced to release some migrants from their facilities after reaching 109% capacity. Due to limited detention capacity, Trump’s administration has utilized a strategy dubbed “catch and release”, which Trump himself had criticized Biden for employing. Through “catch and release”, migrants that are considered “nonviolent” by immigration authorities are released after agreeing to return for their hearings in immigration court.

Black Prisoners Organize For Dignity In Angola

February 24, 2025 Natalia Marques, People's Dispatch. , , , , , , , , , ,
This Black History Month, Peoples Dispatch is exploring the history of the notorious Louisiana State Penitentiary, the site of centuries of Black struggle—first against slavery, then convict leasing, and now the US prison system, which some label as slavery in the modern day. At the helm of the US’s notorious system of mass incarceration sits Louisiana State Penitentiary. Apart from being the largest maximum-security prison in the United States, this prison, nicknamed “Angola” after the former plantation site that it sits on, is an example of the conditions of modern-day slavery that the US prison system inflicts upon its disproportionately Black incarcerated population.

How Black Workers Overcome Historic Obstacles To Labor Organizing

February 13, 2025 Natalia Marques, People's Dispatch. , , , , , , ,
The struggle between Black organized labor and the political establishment has been historically waged with particular fierceness in the US South—a region with the highest proportion of Black workers but with the most hostile laws against workplace organizing. States in the US South have some of the lowest rates of union coverage in the country—meaning that they have a lower share of workers who are organized in a union. The national union coverage rate stood at 11.2% as of 2023, while the rate was as low as 3% in South Carolina, 3.3% in North Carolina, 5.2% in Louisiana, and 5.4% in Georgia.

Labor Fights Back Against Attacks On Federal Workers

February 9, 2025 Natalia Marques, People's Dispatch. , , , , , ,
Following a legal response by organized labor, one of Trump’s early attacks against the US federal workforce have been temporarily halted. On Thursday, February 6, Trump’s deadline to furlough millions of federal workers if they did not accept a buyout offer was paused following an injunction by a federal judge in Boston. This pause came less than 11 hours before the deadline for workers to accept the buyout offer, which 65,000 federal workers did—agreeing to leave their jobs in exchange for eight months of pay and benefits through September.

Actions Planned Across The US In Opposition To Immigration Raids

February 8, 2025 People's Dispatch. , , , , , ,
As Trump’s administration escalates immigration enforcement raids across the United States, detaining around 1,000 immigrants on a daily basis in sweeping arrests, the movement against harsh measures has grown. Protests have been called for the weekend of February 7 through 9 to oppose Trump’s mass deportation agenda. Demonstrations have been scheduled in cities across the country including Riverside, California; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; San Antonio, Texas; Anchorage, Alaska; Chicago, Illinois; New York City; Phoenix, Arizona; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Indianapolis, Indiana.

When Workers Resisted Labor Exploitation At Bronx ‘Slave Markets’

February 7, 2025 Natalia Marques, People's Dispatch. , , , , , , , , ,
Following the Great Depression, Black working class women flocked to street corners in the Bronx, New York, forced to sell domestic labor for far below its value in order to make ends meet. “They come to the Bronx, not because of what it promises,” reads the renowned exposé by two Black radical activists, investigative journalist Marvel Cooke and civil rights leader Ella Baker. These informal domestic workers flocked to the infamous “Bronx Slave Market,” “largely in desperation,” Cooke and Baker wrote in 1935. Desperation did indeed characterize the circumstances at the so-called slave markets, in which impoverished women braved the elements for hours, waiting to be exploited by wealthy families for a few cents and hour and risking all manner of dangerous working conditions and potential sexual abuse.
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