Far from doing anything to address the root causes of mass shootings, Congress is using these tragedies to sneak an attack on students’ right to privacy and free speech. Texas Senator John Cornyn recently introduced a bill called the Restoring, Enhancing, Securing, and Promoting Our Nation’s Safety Efforts (RESPONSE) Act which would broaden the discretion police have to surveil and repress students based on their online activity. The act would also require federally funded schools to contract for-profit surveillance companies to monitor students’ social media posts for “inappropriate content.”
People are understandably desperate to put an end to mass shootings, but that’s not what this act is really about. If Senator Cornyn were really concerned about curbing mass shootings, he would denounce the white supremacist National Rifle Association and other lobbies for the arms profiteers. Cornyn won’t because he’d lose a source of campaign funds, having taken over $210,000 from these lobbies.
The real reason that this bill has been proposed is that students are beginning to rise up against the oppressive conditions they face in and out of school. The capitalists and their politicians view this as a threat, so they’re moving to suppress the youth’s power.
This act falls in line with other national tragedies that have been used to increase police surveillance on U.S. residents. They want to use school shootings as cover for the diversion of more of our tax dollars to private surveillance companies. They want to empower police to judge whether or not students’ posts are “suspect” or not. The record on police fusion center databases is clear: a person’s speech is most likely to be judged “suspect” when they disagree with the policies of the U.S. government. Progressive minded—not to mention revolutionary—people will be hounded by these “Big Brother” type programs while openly violent white supremacists occupy Congress and the White House. The FBI names earth protectors as one of the largest threats to the country. Funny that they pose such a threat to capitalism!
As workers, we must stop putting up with these bullshit programs. We cannot keep sacrificing our rights to millionaire liars. If we want violence to stop, it is CRITICAL that we ORGANIZE our own communities. The Feds are not going to protect us. We workers hold the collective power to protect our loved ones.
National union leaders and LGBTQ activists and allies at the Pride at Work Triennial Convention.
By Sally Jane Black
Whether it’s being fired for who we are or harassment over what bathroom we use, sexual assault from customers or offensive homophobic jokes from our bosses, LGBTQ workers often face hostile work environments, especially from bosses and owners. 22% of LGBTQ people face discrimination on the job, with LGBTQ people of color facing it far more often. Nearly half of all LGBTQ workers are in the closet at work because they fear discrimination.
To whom can you turn?
Laws Don’t Protect Us
Though Title VII laws were reinterpreted under Obama to allegedly protect LGBTQ workers, the current administration has rolled that back. The issue is now in the courts. There is no state-level law to protect you, and the city ordinance has no teeth (though the New Orleans Human Rights Commission has recently gained investigative powers, they still have no power to enforce the ordinance on the books). Even if there were laws to protect you, you don’t have the money to take anyone to court.
The cops won’t do anything. They’re on the side of the bosses. For most, there’s no way to fight back.
Solidarity is the Answer
In some workplaces, however, LGBTQ workers can turn to the union.
In 1988, workers in Boston organized and went on strike, taking on Harvard University. On their list of demands were raises, healthcare benefits, and protections for gay workers. The university came back with everything but the protections, and the workers refused to go back to work. After a few more days, Harvard conceded. They won the protections in their union contract.
Around the country, LGBTQ protections have become a common part of union contracts, and in union workplaces, LGBTQ workers have their contracts to protect them and the union to back them up.
“An Injury to One Is an Injury to All” is the spirit in which the organization Pride at Work fights against discrimination. Founded in 1994, Pride at Work supports LGBTQ union members around the country. The fight for workers’ rights must include ALL workers; by standing together, we win not just better wages and benefits, but protection from harassment, discrimination, and violence in the workplace. Only as organized workers standing in solidarity can we protect ourselves from homophobia and transphobia.
The Philadelphia City Council has passed a Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. This is the result of a year-long campaign waged by the Pennsylvania Domestic Workers Alliance, which is affiliated with the National Domestic Workers Alliance. The passage of the bill is a gigantic win for the city’s 16,000 domestic workers, including housekeepers, gardeners, and those who care for children and the elderly.
The new legislation requires employers to have a written contract outlining scheduling, pay rates, and more. Employers must now provide two weeks notice before termination. The bill stipulates requirements for paid time off, meal, and rest breaks.
Nationally, domestic workers lack basic protections. The federal government does not guarantee them the right to a minimum wage, or to unionize. They do not have the right to overtime pay, nor do they have protection from discrimination and harassment. There are over 2 million domestic workers in the U.S. workforce, and they are disproportionately women, immigrants, and people of color. They are some of the most vulnerable workers in the country.
As with other categories of workers, we can see that the only way to change this situation is to organize and fight, as the Philadelphia Domestic Workers Alliance is doing.
During the busy Thanksgiving holiday, airport workers carried out militant demonstrations in 17 cities. These included major airports in Dallas and New York, where 60 were arrested by the NYPD. The workers are tired of low wages and the high costs of healthcare, and innumerable abuses from their employer, Sky Chef.
In Miami, 12 catering workers and UNITE HERE union representatives blocked the arrivals road in front of Terminal D at the Miami International Airport. They chanted, “One job should be enough!”
In Dallas, demonstrator Preston Strickland told reporters, “We feel like because we’re the backbone of the catering operation, we should have affordable healthcare and better living wages.”
This is only the latest in a series of actions carried out by the Sky Chef workers in 2019.
In a rare display of honesty, Donald Trump has stated several times in the last two months that U.S. troops have only remained in Syria to “secure the oil.” Though Pentagon officials have tried to backtrack on his comments (since they are an admission of war crimes), the cat is out of the bag. While Trump previously claimed U.S. troops would be leaving the area—signaling a victory for the Syrian people under threat by U.S. imperialism—troops remain to maintain U.S. corporate control of the natural resources of the region.
The U.S. military’s presence in the Middle East is the primary cause of the instability and wars that have plagued the region for decades.
There is a long history of U.S. imperialism and militarism acting only to rob other nations of their natural resources. Whether it’s Bolivian lithium or Nigerian uranium or Iraqi oil they’re after, the U.S. military serves capitalist exploitation in its plunder of the world’s wealth. In Syria, it has been no different; the U.S. involvement there began when Syria tried to build their own gas pipeline and control their own resources. Since then, the U.S. has bombed hospitals and civilians, spread lies about use of chemical weapons, and backed all kinds of reactionary paramilitary organizations including the so-called “moderate rebels” now murdering the same Kurds the U.S. once backed.
The U.S. military’s presence in the Middle East is the primary cause of the instability and wars that have plagued the region for decades; the impact of imperialism is always violence and suffering for working people. Trump’s remarks expose the long-standing truth. US workers should stand in solidarity with the Syrian people and demand that Trump be prosecuted for the war crimes he admits to.
Anti-government protests have continued in Iraq since early October.
By Jennifer Lin
Protesters in Iraq are demanding the resignation of their government that is a product of U.S. imperialist occupation. Iraqis had built for themselves a highly developed country before the U.S. government destroyed it for access to its oil. After the Iraq monarchy was overthrown in 1958, British and American oil companies were kicked out and the oil was nationalized. By 1990, Iraq had the highest standard of living in the Middle East. The literacy rate was around 80% and people had access to free healthcare and education. More women were in the Iraqi parliament than in the U.S. Congress. Iraq’s children’s hospital accepted patients from all over the Middle East for free.
Determined to free themselves of U.S. imports, Iraq was moving to produce its own food as it did before British occupation. Similarly, they were moving to cut dependence on other industrial goods. Not buying U.S. commodities, using oil for their own national development: these were the real “crimes” that led to the U.S. wars.
Documents prove that the U.S. CIA considered Saddam a reliable ally when he was suppressing left and nationalist elements. But as soon as he implemented policies aimed at uplifting the working class and making Iraq economically self-sufficient, he became a threat to the economic and political dominance of the U.S. corporations.
To block the self-determination of the Iraqi people, the U.S. bombed the country in 1991. More than 90% of the country’s electrical capacity and most of its telecommunications, irrigation, water purification, and hydroelectric systems were destroyed. Bombs were aimed at farms, schools, hospitals, public transit stations, mosques, and historic sites. Around 200,000 people were killed, and the depleted-uranium missiles used by the U.S. led to tens of thousands more cancer-related deaths in the following years. Sanctions killed over half a million children.
In 2000, Saddam stopped accepting U.S. dollars as payment for oil. This was unprofitable for the U.S. capitalist class, so the U.S. invaded the country again. Bush invented propaganda accusing Iraq of developing weapons of mass destruction, but this was just a lie used to justify the invasion so the U.S. could control Iraq’s oil wealth. After the invasion, most of Iraq’s economy was either destroyed, shut down, or privatized. Poverty and unemployment skyrocketed.
The U.S. occupation was a bonanza for war profiteers and an assault on the working class. Both Iraqi and U.S. workers bore the costs of this violent imperialist war, as U.S. taxpayer dollars were stolen to fund the destruction of Iraqi lives and livelihoods.
The U.S. trained and armed Special Police Commandos to quell resistance. These death squads terrorized civilians with open gunfire, torture, arrests, and mass murders. Continued U.S. involvement in Iraq fomented sectarian violence and pushed people to join the Islamic State, locking Iraq in a state of perpetual warfare. In 2014, Obama sent troops to Iraq to “fight terrorism,” but this was just another lie used to maintain the U.S. military stronghold in the country.
On October 1, 2019 Iraqi people from all walks of life took to the streets to demand an end to the succession of repressive governments that have ruled the country since the U.S. invasion. Beholden to the ruling elites of Iraq and the U.S., these governments have stripped the Iraqi people of jobs and access to public services.
Protesters have rejected President Salih’s promises for reform, demanding that the entire government be removed from power. Despite violent repression by security forces, the Iraqi people are refusing to back down.
U.S. Ignores Poverty, Tries to Use Protests to Attack Iran
The U.S. government which only represents the oil companies and big business is not interested in the conditions of workers in Iraq or anywhere else. Always seeking to use a situation for their own purposes, however, the U.S. working through the most reactionary clerics have tried to cast the protests as anti-Iran as this fits the agenda of the U.S. There is no credible evidence that any but a small grouping are buying into this.
Workers have nothing to gain from U.S. imperialism, which imposes capitalist poverty on other countries to make the world safe for U.S. corporate control. U.S. imperialism crushes democracy wherever it goes, as the history and current situation of Iraq show. Our struggle to live a healthy life with access to jobs, food, housing, and healthcare is connected to the ongoing struggle of the Iraqi people. Our hard-earned money is stolen and used to destroy the livelihoods of Iraqi people rather than to fund public programs that would benefit us. We must stand in solidarity with any country resisting U.S. imperialism and call for an end to U.S. intervention in the country.
Entergy is a privately-owned energy company that provides electric power to the city of New Orleans for profit. As a condition of their sweetheart contract with the city government, Entergy gets a guaranteed rate of profit—technically a Return on Equity (ROE)—that is negotiated by the New Orleans City Council on behalf of the city’s capitalists.
After a year of wrangling, the City Council voted to lower Entergy’s profit to 9.35%, down from 11.1%. This leaves workers paying one of the highest energy rates in the country.
Originally, the City Council wanted the rate at 8.93%, but when Entergy squawked, Mayor Cantrell and a group of big energy users offered the 9.35% figure. Entergy’s CEO said that 9.35% was not “just and reasonable” and hampered its ability to upgrade the power grid. This after paying a $5 million fine for trying to deceive the City Council and the public by paying actors to support the construction of a widely unpopular fracked gas power plant in New Orleans East!
Entergy then offered to “front” $75 million dollars to the Sewerage and Water Board (S&WB) to upgrade its power station in return for a 10% ROE. Looking out for her friends at S&WB, Cantrell endorsed this proposal wanting us to believe that this would be a service to the people. Cantrell constantly preaches that everyone pays his or her “fair share,” but not one of Cantrell’s “fair share deals” has been anything more than an elaborate accounting trick where our money is shuffled among the pockets of the capitalists.
Now that Entergy’s profits have been “slashed,” the average consumer will see a $3 savings a month—in the short term. But don’t go splurging on Xmas gifts just yet. Soon customers will be paying $8 or more for the unwanted fracked gas plant and a solar plant.
Everyone should have the right to electricity, heat and clean water. When public utilities are privately owned, profit determines every decision. The devastating fires plaguing California are the latest example: Pacific Gas and Electricity paid millions to executives while their neglect of maintenance killed dozens and displaced thousands of people.
The New Orleans Workers Group demands that public utilities be just that— public, owned by the municipalities that use their services and run by a board of technical professionals and workers responsive to the input of the city’s working class residents.
Title X is a program that provides affordable healthcare options to people with low incomes. Title X was put in the system to give women a right to their own bodies. Donald Trump is now trying to silence women’s voices by taking away the choice of birth control options. Birth control was made for the sole reason to let women choose the option of safer sex and allow more control over their bodies; without it women will no longer have that power within their own skin. 98% of women who have been sexually active have used birth control at one point in their lives.
Trump is trying to criminalize abortions and miscarriages. Back in the day, before birth control methods, some women who got pregnant would use a clothes hanger to abort the fetus because abortion was illegal. It was extremely dangerous but their only option. With abortion now legalized, it gives women a safe way to make their own choices about their bodies. If Donald Trump takes away birth control and makes abortion illegal, it makes women completely stuck.
Planned Parenthood is also at stake. Planned Parenthood helps provide physical, emotional, educational and sexual health care to those who might not be able to afford those services elsewhere. Donald Trump is taking away $60 million in Planned Parenthood funding. If they lose too much money, prices will start going up for patients who already can not afford higher medical prices to begin with.
These laws were put in place to give women their rights to their own bodies. Women who get pregnant should have the right to multiple choices on which way they would like to handle it. Women should also have the right to choose not to get pregnant if that’s where they’re at in their life. But ultimately, it is the woman’s choice. Donald Trump has no right to take away rights that do not affect him.
On Dec. 2, the U.S. Navy announced that it had awarded a $22.2 billion contract to war profiteer General Dynamics to build 9 Navy submarines.
With $22.2 billion, a government could guarantee 740,000 workers a year’s worth of work at $15/hr.
740,000 workers could be distributing food, running nurseries, building rural hospitals, restoring Louisiana wetlands, or caring for our elders.
The U.S. government is a government of the rich for the rich. We are sick, we go hungry in order to fatten a few shareholders at General Dynamics and ExxonMobil. But we, the workers, are millions more than the generals and CEOs. We can replace their rule with ours.
Trump is a racist, woman-hating rapist. Trump is gutting every safety and workers’ rights law he can get his hands on. His tax cuts have handed over billions to the already bloated rich. He is destroying the planet and imprisoning thousands of children. His recent pardon of outright war criminals shows he is trying to build a following among fascist storm troopers and white nationalists—all to funnel more money to the capitalist class.
There are so many reasons to hit the streets like the masses of workers, women, peasants and students are doing around the world. But the Democratic Party is not seeking to unseat Trump over any of these issues. Instead they’re using the impeachment to pander to militarism and promote a dangerous war fever against Russia.
The Democratic Party is trotting out every criminal general, state department official, war monger and CIA agent to testify. This dangerous effort has unfortunately drawn in many liberal and even so-called progressive elements who think anything anti-Trump is great. There are differences between the Democratic and Republican Party. They differ on how to pursue imperialist wars, but not how to end them. Though their methods vary, both capitalist parties want to continue exploitation and profit-making without riling up the people.
You would have to completely ignore the bloody history of world war to think that the Democratic Party can really stop the rise of the right wing, which grows out of both parties’ ever-increasing funding for the war profiteering industries and militarism. Democrats are now taking the position that it’s a crime not to give weapons to Ukraine’s fascist government.
We need to take to the streets to get rid of Trump. This will send a message to the Wall Street Democratic party as well.
The right wing and Trumpism arose out of the capitalist drive for profits and global domination. The Democratic Party pretends to want to protect democracy from Trump while supporting U.S. imperialist intervention around the world, from Bolivia to Honduras to Ukraine and beyond.
We need to unite all the struggles for food, wages, equality, the environment, and housing as they do in other countries. We need to take to the streets to get rid of Trump. This will send a message to the Wall Street Democratic party as well.
