Newark rallies hit racist gentrification, and homelessness

NEWARK, NJ January 29—With three days of rallies on the steps of City Hall organized by the War Against Poverty Coalition (WAPC), the fight-back against mass homelessness in Newark has picked up!. These rallies demanded an end to homelessness, gentrification and racist unemployment. They came on the brink of an arctic blast of cold air and on the anniversary of the death of Carolyn Perry, a disabled Black worker who froze to death four years ago in a tent city in Newark. Even as we fight to save lives in the middle of this deep freeze, we must remember that capitalism has its fingerprints all over the crime scene surrounding our brothers and sisters who have died as the direct result of racism and poverty.

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No free speech for racists! KCC fighters defend antiracist prof

BROOKLYN, NY, January 23— After months of asking, prodding, and at last threatening disciplinary action, the City University of New York’s (CUNY) interrogation squad finally got an anti-racist professor into a room to grill him!

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Support the caravan, smash all borders

NEW YORK CITY, January 30–Tonight, the National Writers Union held a forum where volunteers reported on their experience at the Mexican/U.S. border as part of the New Sanctuary Caravan project, to stand in solidarity with workers who have traveled thousands of miles in a caravan from Central America, fleeing poverty and violence. These national borders are one of the great evils of capitalism. The capitalist bosses travel freely around the world seeking profits and destroying the lives of workers.
Attending the forum were union and immigration activists, journalists, teachers, and retired workers of all ages, including members and friends of the Progressive Labor Party. Two of the speakers were members of the National Writers Union, a local of the United Auto Workers (UAW), which has organized other UAW locals to provide money and volunteers for this project.

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Oakland: Stop racist attacks on education!

The struggle in Oakland, California is heating up!  The last couple of weeks have been action packed as the multi-racial working class, students, teachers, parents and community supporters, has mobilized against on-going, racist plans to dismantle public education from k-12 to Community College.  In the following three instances, Progressive Labor Party members and friends are actively promoting communist ideas, as they fight for better schools.

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D.C. Women’ March Union hacks promote voting, workers want to fightback!

Washington, DC, January 19 – At the third annual Women’s March, thousands of protestors gathered and marched down Pennsylvania Avenue past the Trump Hotel. Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members joined both the feeder rally at the New York City union headquarters of the AFL-CIO, and the main rally, getting our communist line out with sales of CHALLENGE and flyers inviting marchers to an event sponsored by Mass Liberation, a local anti-racist group on January 26.

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Unemployment kills millions

The bosses’ media, and their two flunky parties are flooding us with glowing accounts about “low jobless” figures and rising prosperity for the working class. Yet this “prosperity” completely ignores the fact that every rise of 1.4 percent in the jobless rate leads directly to the deaths of over 30,000 workers in the following five years from stress-related ailments, suicide and homicide!

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U.S. threatened by China’s growing imperialist clout, World War looms

As the rivalry between U.S. and Chinese capitalists intensifies, Canada is the latest country forced to choose which imperialist master’s orders to follow.

Since the December arrest in Vancouver of a top Chinese business executive, Meng Wangzhou, at the order of the U.S., tensions between China and Canada have been rising. After threatening “severe consequences,” China retaliated by arresting two Canadians for “harming national security” (code for spying) and sentencing a third to death for drug smuggling. The latest word is that the U.S. will escalate the fight by pressing Canada to extradite Meng for a criminal trial in the U.S.

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LA STRIKE STUDENT-PARENT-TEACHER SOLIDARITY

LOS ANGELES, CA, January 23—Tens of thousands of education workers led a strike for six school days for the learning conditions students deserve. They called for reduced class sizes, more school personnel such as librarians, nurses, and counselors, to create “community schools” which serve the communities who have the most need, regulate charter schools, decrease testing, and pay teachers a living wage. Parents, students, and community members showed solidarity by joining picket lines, rallies and actions across Los Angeles for six working days.
As communists, we understand that class struggle is a critical aspect to winning the working class to have confidence that we can overthrow capitalism and replace it with a society that is run for and by the workers. With this in mind, we met to plan our involvement in this massive strike.
Progressive Labor Party here supported the picket lines at 10 different schools around the City. We distributed a PLP leaflet and CHALLENGE. We led militant chants and some scab confrontations. We also made dozens of new contacts with school workers and supporters. Strikers appreciated the contributions we made to the struggle.

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150 million workers bring India to a halt

INDIA, January 9— For two days, India’s 7,421 freight trains and 59,713 passenger cars did not move to any major cities. They could not move, because in places like the capital of the southwestern state of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, workers were sitting down on the tracks. As were their working class sisters and brothers in Chennai, in neighboring Tamil Nadu. As were workers 1,500 miles (2400 km) away in eastern Assam, bordering Bangladesh and Bhutan, where one quarter of India’s oil is produced. One third of the country’s working class - 150 million workers - were on strike!

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Sudan workers rebel! Bosses caught at crosshair of U.S.-China Rivalry

KHARTOUM, SUDAN—“The regime is panicking! I have never seen them panicking like this.” That’s what an activist with Justice Africa said as massive protests erupted here in response to the government’s attempt to triple the price of bread and fuel. The protests started in the eastern city of Atbara, the former home of the Sudanese Communist Party, which was one of the most powerful communist parties in Africa or the Middle East.  The demonstrations quickly spread to six other cities, including the capital.
Like all workers’ struggles today, this fight in Sudan unfolds in a world where the rivalry between imperialists is the main factor shaping events.  For decades now, Sudan has been a crucial outpost for Chinese capitalists in their drive to challenge U.S. imperialism and establish themselves as a new center of gravity in the world economy. In 1995 President al-Bashir signed an important oil deal with the China, supporting their bid to establish energy access outside the military footprint of US imperialism’s Mid-East presence.  China now controls 75% of Sudanese oil output of 133,000 barrels a day (thediplomat.com, 6/17/18).

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