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We Demand a Peoples Vaccine!

By Z Petrosian

Despite progress being made in the development of COVID-19 vaccines, corporate profiteering is preventing access to a safe vaccine for all. To prevent many more deaths, the people need to organize to challenge the power of these companies.

Pharmaceutical executives should not be allowed to decide who lives and who dies of COVID-19.

Capitalism: companies hoard informaton and technology to maximize profits

After benefiting from billions in taxpayer money to develop COVID-19 vaccines, U.S. pharmaceutical companies plan to get rich by turning around and selling this life-saving medicine to the highest bidder. Pfizer and Moderna have already promised around 80% of doses to the richest governments, leaving working people around the world to die while waiting for the leftovers.

Worldwide, nearly 200 different vaccines are being developed independently of one another as capitalist companies compete for a marketable vaccine. In a reasonable society, scientists and other workers would share data, expertise, equipment, and distribution systems to make sure all of humanity has easy access to life-saving medical technology. If it is not attacked everywhere, COVID-19 will not be defeated.

Socialism: informaton and products are public resources for public good

In May, President Xi Jinping stated that China will treat a coronavirus vaccine as a “global public good.” China currently has five vaccines in late stage trials and two vaccines that are candidates for inclusion in COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) Facility, an effort led in part by the World Health Organization to make sure that any safe and effective vaccines quickly reach humanity in an equitable way.

In October, China, South Africa, India, and other developing countries called on the World Trade Organization to suspend patents on all COVID-19-related vaccines and treatments. “This is a race against time, and we cannot allow the pursuit of profit to triumph over human need,” said Heidi Chow, of the advocacy group Global Justice Now. The U.S. government and the corporations it represents have opposed these efforts.

Any vaccine is a product of the collective labor of thousands of workers who have contributed to its development, production, and distribution. When a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine is found, it should be made accessible at no cost, first to those who most need it, and then to the general population. We must demand a peoples vaccine, free and safe for all!

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Massive Prisoner Resistance During COVID-19

Inmates at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago hold up signs asking for help during the coronavirus pandemic, April 20, 2020.

In the United States, the COVID-19 infection rate is 5.5 times higher for incarcerated people, and a new report shows that prisoners are organizing in record numbers to fight for survival. In just the first 90 days of the COVID-19 pandemic, 119 instances of resistance were documented by Perilous Chronicle. Nearly a dozen of these uprisings and protests took place in Louisiana, which saw the most of any state.

Since these early efforts, thousands continue rebellions across the country’s jails, prisons, and especially in ICE concentration camps as adults and children bravely demand their rights to health and life. We must join this cause and also demand freedom: for non-violent people held in jails, prisons, and ICE concentration camps, we say #FreeThemAll!

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Prevent COVID-19 Spread With Freedom, No Solitary

Nurses rallied at the entrance to Rikers Island jail in Queens, New York, this year.

Think back to the beginning of this year. A stay-at-home order has you trapped inside. Now imagine you have no phone, no computer, and no one to talk to. You are by yourself fourteen days in a row. This sort of prolonged isolation is a form of torture. It has been the daily life of thousands of incarcerated people since March.

In Orleans Parish jails, If you test positive for COVID-19, if you were in contact with someone who tested positive, if you are being treated for non-COVID-19 related illness, or medical staff simply deem it appropriate, you are forcibly subjected to fourteen days of solitary confinement. This policy has not stopped infections. As of October 16, 10 inmates in OPP were listed as positive for COVID-19.

The best policy to stop the spread of COVID-19 is also the most humane: free all nonviolent inmates and detainees! This applies to all jails, prisons, and so called “detention centers”. In the meantime, incarcerated people who have been denied visitations deserve a chance to video-conference with their families and communities. End the torture now!

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Trump Scams His Supporters

Raises $170 Million to Pay for Golf Trips and Racist, Anti-Worker Organizing Runs Bribery Schemes for Pardons While He Lets 2,200 Die from COVID-19 Every Day

Trump knows he lost the election. But he can’t resist a good scam. So, he sat down with the equally corrupt Giuliani and started scheming. They decided to tell his duped loyal supporters that the election is rigged and call for donations to an election defense fund. The money goes into a personal PAC, “Save America” to use any way he wants. Give it to himself and his little darling children, host parties at Mar a Lago, or maybe buy another gold-plated toilet. This fund will also be used to organize racist, anti-worker attacks on the people by the likes of his “Proud Boys” and others, who are ultra-right-wing stooges for Wall Street.

He’s also running a bidding scheme for payoffs, going now for over one million dollars a pardon for people who are war criminals, banker thieves, scammers of seniors, slum lords, and people who generally would like to see workers’ wages dropped to $1 an hour. Oh, and course, who’d like to legalize child labor and end public schools.

Throughout his term in office, Trump and his rotten children have all profited personally as has his rabid dog, Giuliani. Melania, famed for saying who cares about migrant children in cages, has fared well for the time being. But Trump will probably dump her when she gets a gray hair. Time for a new model.

NO PARDON FOR TRUMP THE MURDERER!

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Sackler Family Pleads Guilty to Deadly Crimes, Gets to Keep their Fortune and No Jail Time

Drug Dealing Billionaires Conspired to Sell More Oxycontin Despite 450,000 Dead from Opioid Overdoses

While thousands go to prisons for long sentences for dealing petty amounts of drugs, the billionaire Sackler family got off with no jail time despite pleading guilty to criminal charges of conspiracy to push Oxycontin—especially to doctors prescribing large amounts. The Sacklers even gave payments to doctors whose “patients” died. The Sacklers are celebrating what is really a win for them, as they siphoned off at least $10 billion from the company which is now in off- shore accounts. So, as they live it up, millions of family members mourn and workers at the company are left wondering whether they have jobs or pensions. This proves once again that prisons are mainly concentration camps for the poor and that the wealth of the rich buys them immunity for the crimes they commit.

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Workers Can Organize to End Evictions

Louisiana Movement for Workers Councils leads anti-eviction march on Sept. 8.

By Ashlee Pintos

While politicians and the big business media promise that a coming COVID-19 vaccine will magically fix the economic crisis, over 12 million renters around the country will owe an average of $5,850 in back rent by January 1. In Orleans parish alone, some 30,000 households are vulnerable to evictions, and thousands more are on the brink of foreclosure. Even before COVID, working people have been struggling to make ends meet as rent prices and property taxes have skyrocketed as a result of gentrification. Now, millions of us are unemployed or have had our hours and wages cut and we’ve received little to no help with our mounting debts.

This issue is shaking the core of the entire country, with thousands of households in almost every large city facing possible evictions. the Democratic and Republican parties can agree on a trillion dollar war budget, but they can’t agree on relief for workers in some of our most desperate hours. Our only way out of this crisis is to organize ourselves, independent of the two parties of Wall Street and the Pentagon. this has taken a heavy toll on us workers but we must take heart at our massive numbers: would they dare to evict us if we banded together?

The Louisiana Movement for Workers Councils is an effort to unite all working people, employed and unemployed, to demand that the state and federal government provide us with what we need to survive this crisis, using our tax dollars. Looking back on the history of social security, food stamps, and unemployment insurance, we know that it has always been the struggle of the masses that has forced those in power to concede to our demands.

Time and time again, government officials cry that their hands are tied, that they cannot call a moratorium on evictions or provide extended unemployment insurance. But we are organizing to push back against the State Legislature that has given over $150 million in tax breaks to oil companies amid a pandemic. We’re organizing to demand that the Mayor and local politicians, whose sights are set on making New Orleans “the number one city to do business,” use their emergency powers to halt evictions and foreclosures. It is only our solidarity with one another that can keep us in our homes and win the relief we need.

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No to Imperialist War on China

by Jennifer Lin

U.S. Democrats and Republicans cannot agree on economic relief but they recently united to vote for a $740.5 billion military budget (the total war budget is $1.2 trillion). Both are threatening to go to war with China. Trump is sending warships to the Pacific and whipping up hatred against China to get us to ignore the fact that our tax dollars are being looted to fatten the pockets of war profiteers.

From Trump calling COVID-19 “the Chinese virus” to the corporate media spreading lies about China engineering the virus, the U.S. ruling class is blaming China for the pandemic in order to distract us from how they have profited from it. While U.S. billionaires have seen their profits increase by $685 billion since March, at least 170,000 have died from COVID-19 because the U.S. government refuses to provide universal testing, healthcare, medical supplies, and PPE, and mask mandates.

What do we workers have to gain from a war on China? How would having our tax dollars looted to fund another imperialist war make our lives any better? U.S. capitalists want to invade China, take over its land, markets, resources, and exploit the labor of its people so they can continue to accumulate wealth while people suffer, here and abroad. China is attempting to determine its own path as a sovereign country, free from the rule of U.S. imperialism and capitalism.

Instead of blaming China, we should be looking at its response to the pandemic as an example of what’s possible when a government puts people over profits. The Chinese government managed to stop the spread of COVID-19 early on because it immediately provided universal testing, healthcare, PPE, medical supplies, and resources for people to survive quarantine. China has absolutely no interest in a war with the U.S. Not only has it not fought a war in over 40 years, it has upheld its commitment to international solidarity during the pandemic by sending medical personnel and equipment to over 150 countries, including the U.S.

Meanwhile, the U.S. maintains 800 military bases around the world and steals more than $1 trillion of our tax dollars every year for military spending. The $1 trillion could fund our needs for a living wage, universal healthcare, education, and housing ten times over. We have more in common with workers in China and around the world than we do with the rich U.S. ruling class who are killing us so they can get rich. We must stand in solidarity with China and say NO to U.S. imperialism!

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Open Letter: Demand for Relief to Evacuees of Hurricane Laura

An Open Letter to Governor John Bel Edwards & State Representatives

Governor John Bel Edwards 
Speaker of the House Clay Schexnayder 
Senate President Page Cortez 
Senator John Kennedy 
Senator Bill Cassidy 

Dear Governor Edwards, Speaker of the House Schexnayder, Senate President Cortez, Senator  Kennedy, Senator Cassidy: 

The Louisiana Movement for Workers Councils condemns members of the Louisiana  State Legislature and U.S. Congress who, at this moment of crisis, are playing political games.  The special session is clearly more about expanding your power and privileges than it is about  expanding the unemployment fund or providing genuine hurricane relief to the tens of thousands  of Louisianans adversely affected by Hurricane Laura. 

You continue to ignore dire conditions of Hurricane Laura evacuees who need urgent  assistance with income, housing, jobs, mortgages, transportation, and food. The only relief that  has come through was announced for the sake of a photo op. Most aid has been delayed or  bogged down in bureaucratic red tape. Thousands have still not received SNAP, unemployment,  housing alternatives, or cash income.   

While you are renewing or issuing new tax exemptions to profitable corporations and  wealthy individuals, the working people of the affected parishes—on whose backs this state runs —have been left in the dust. 

We call for representatives of the Workforce Commission, SNAP, FEMA, and HUD to  station on-the-ground personnel and equipment. Representatives of these agencies must undo the  bureaucratic holdups by ensuring that: (1) FEMA pay out emergency money every day, all day;  (2) families have homes to stay in temporarily or permanently; (3) a housing repair fund is  provided for the thousands without insurance (because you have allowed insurance rates in  Louisiana to become the most unaffordable in the country); (4) children have computers and  reliable internet to attend classes.   

Every day we are reminded that the rich are getting richer while you ignore the workers’  needs in favor of your own narrow interests. Hurricane Laura has scattered people, leaving  thousands desperate. But folks are organizing. Your inaction and callous disregard will be  remembered.   

Sincerely, 

Louisiana Movement for Workers Councils

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Struggle for Black Lives Continues in Gordon Plaza

Sept. 9: Residents, including Derrick (pictured), speak out at rally in Gordon Plaza.

by Christina Tareq

Nearly 40 years ago, the City of New Orleans decided the toxic Agriculture Street landfill was the perfect place to construct and sell homes to Black New Orleanians. Building the Gordan Plaza subdivision, the city sold the homes to first-time homeowners. Today, Gordan Plaza (GP) has the second highest rate of cancer in the entire nation. “We are being experimented on, let’s see how long Black people can live on top of 150 cancer-causing chemicals,” says Shannon Rainey, President of the GP housing association and an organizer with the New Orleans People’s Assembly.

GP residents won a lawsuit against the city 20 years ago but still have not received restitution. There are 54 residents stranded in GP who continue to pay property taxes for homes that are killing them. They have been told by mayor after mayor to “be patient” as community members die of cancer. While most homes appreciate in value, these homes are essentially worthless. With no ability to sell their homes or rent them in good conscience, the only option for these working class Black families is to wage a struggle against the city for fully funded relocation of their community.

While running for mayor, LaToya Cantrell publicly called for fully funded relocation for Gordon Plaza. Since becoming mayor in 2018, she has said that she “hears Gordon Plaza” and that her administration is working on a “solution.” Yet the only changes the residents have seen over the last two years are more deaths, most recently that of one of the neighborhood’s long-time organizers, Mr. Robert Anderson, may he rise in power.

At a rally in Gordon Plaza on September 9, Mr. Derrick, who grew up in the neighborhood and whose mother still lives there, asked in regard to Mayor Cantrell’s empty promises, “who else will fight for our lives, if it’s not a Black woman? That’s the reason we were told to vote for a Black woman.” Mayor Cantrell continues to spur the calls for protecting Black lives in a majority Black city while meeting with White supremacists concerned about the fate of confederate statues. It’s up to the people to stand with each other! Join the struggle for a fully funded relocation for Gordon Plaza. Black lives matter while they yet live!

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Hurricane Laura Evacuees Need Federal Aid Now

by Conway Lebleu and Joseph Rosen

As of September 11, the mandatory evacuation of Calcasieu parish has been lifted. Still, Lake Charles looks like a war zone. Surrounding areas have also been devastated. Most places are without electricity and clean drinking water. Trees felled, roofs disassembled and detached. Some people have decided to leave, weary of destruction. Others would do the same but don’t have the means to get out of town. One resident reported staying on the porch of his friend’s home, fighting mosquitos and unable to sleep, because his own house was crushed. His phone was stolen, so he is depending on a cousin of a friend. They are both still waiting on FEMA to call them back.

A Lake Charles resident, Jennifer Fisher, described arriving in New Orleans without a place to stay: “we came for a voucher and they were out. We walked from hotel to hotel trying to find somewhere to stay. No help from FEMA. They just say call 211.”

“They’re telling me they’re going to assist me. I do everything I have to do. They sent me to SBA and they denied me a loan. How am I supposed to get a loan? I don’t have a job. I don’t have a car.”

As of September 10, FEMA had registered 131,000 Louisiana survivors of Hurricane Laura. Thousands have no housing except what they’ve secured through temporary vouchers or the help of families and friends. Another evacuee, Gabriel Raymond, put it plainly: “Just give me somewhere to stay. I can go to work. Just give me somewhere to sleep.”

Many homeowners cannot afford to repair their homes since only 20% of homes in the area are covered by insurance, and many can’t afford deductibles that often exceed 15 thousand dollars.

According to FEMA, 97 million dollars has been approved for individual and household assistance. The news station KATC claims that FEMA “distributed more than $89 million to residents.” This relief pales in comparison to the estimated $20 billion in damages incurred from the storm.

“We need help.” Fisher expressed frustration with the measly government aid. She pointed out that U.S. government had more than enough money to address people’s emergency needs if only the government put people over profits.

“Here go the president… He could do something. He did the most to try to build a wall.” In 2017 after Hurricane Maria took the lives of more than 5,000 people in Puerto Rico, Trump announced he was diverting $155 million from FEMA’s disaster relief fund to pay off his goons in the fascist Border Patrol as well as the companies that run for-profit concentration camps for ICE.

The U.S. government spends more than $1.2 trillion ($1,200,000,000,000) in tax dollars every year on war and repression. This money could be used to provide emergency relief to everyone affected by capitalist caused climate disasters.

Louisiana needs emergency funds NOW! Fund disaster recovery, not disastrous wars!

The New Orleans Workers Group demands:

  • Immediate federal relief funds to guarantee housing, food, and security to everyone affected by Hurricane Laura, regardless of documentation or citizenship status.
  • Expand hotel vouchers to include all evacuees and extend them indefinitely.
  • Federal home repair funds to cover what insurance doesn’t pay.
  • Living wage jobs program to assist with disaster recovery.
  • Bus and parking vouchers for all evacuees.
  • A moratorium on rent and mortgage payments for all evacuees.
  • Free healthcare services for all evacuees.