USPS worker dies in Fayetteville, North Carolina after shift in mail truck on 95-degree day
“Wendy” Johnson died on June 6 after working for hours in the back of a mail truck. She was 51 years old.
•Jane Wise
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Teamsters president at the Republic National Convention: The bureaucracy throws its lot in with fascism
Sean O’Brien’s speech called for “bipartisanship” based on nationalism, militarism and the integration of the unions with management and the capitalist state—but he made clear his particular sympathy for Trump and the extreme right.
•Tom Hall
J.D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy memoir: How Trump’s VP choice got his start in right-wing, anti-working class politics
From right-wing author to US senator and Trump’s new running mate: the making of a junior political charlatan.
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Conductor-composer Esa-Pekka Salonen leaves the San Francisco Symphony: The profit system once again proves incompatible with serious art
Salonen came into conflict with the board over budget cuts and other cost-cutting measures, which he perceived as dangerous to the artistic health and well-being of the orchestra.
•David Walsh
Mexican steel workers continue strike in defiance of courts and union
The 52-day strike at the multinational Indian-owned company ArcelorMittal has caused major losses in production and disruption across numerous industries in North America.
•Don Knowland
Toronto workers support campaign for Bogdan Syrotiuk’s freedom and express opposition to imperialist war
Socialist Equality Party members won a warm response in a working class neighbourhood Saturday as they continued their struggle to build support for the campaign to free the Ukrainian socialist and opponent of imperialist war among Canadian workers and young people.
•James Clayton
Framed-up Maruti Suzuki India workers demand release of Bogdan Syrotiuk
”Bogdan Syrotiuk did not do or say anything wrong,” declared Amarjeet one of 13 Indian autoworkers sentenced to life in prison on bogus murder charges. “What he did was fight for the sake of the international working class. He fought and is fighting for workers’ power.”
•Our Reporters
Global Wealth Report 2023: An orgy of enrichment for the super-rich
Multimillionaires around the world benefited from the inflation year 2023, while the German super-rich alone increased their wealth by 10 percent to more than €2.1 trillion.
•Andy Niklaus, Carola Kleinert
Boeing machinists: Vote YES to strike! Build rank-and-file committees to enforce the will of the membership!
The struggle at Boeing, the poster child for corporate criminality, must become the tip of the spear of an offensive of the whole working class in defense of its interests.
•International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees
Kenyan anti-Ruto protests continue as Uber drivers down tools and truckers threaten to strike
The continued protests are a rebuke to Kenyan President William Ruto who dissolved his cabinet last Friday to pave the way for the formation of a “broad-based Government” with figures from the opposition.
•Kipchumba Ochieng
50,000 foreclosures expected to be enforced in Greece this year
The most high-profile eviction case was that of Ioanna Kolovou, a retired journalist. She was evicted from her home along with her 28-year-old disabled son at the end of January this year. According to reports a large crowd gathered outside her home which was attacked with tear gas by the riot police who then arrested Kolovou and her son.
•John Vassilopoulos
The Republican National Convention opens: A carnival of fascistic demagogues
The convention and the selection of J.D. Vance as his running mate are Trump’s response to the homilies and appeals for “unity” from Democrats following the assassination attempt.
•Joseph Kishore, David North
Palestinian-Australian activist issues defiant response to police preparation for arrest on bogus charges
Hash Tayeh told the World Socialist Web Site that police informed him last Thursday that a warrant for his arrest has been issued, for allegedly “inciting serious contempt for Jews.”
•Patrick O’Connor
In the face of fascist goons summoned by the Anti-Defamation League, Holocaust survivor denounces Gaza genocide
Holocaust survivor Rene Lichtman and other anti-genocide protesters rallied in front of the Zekelman Holocaust Center in Farmington Hills, Michigan despite an intimidation campaign by Zionist elements.
•Jacob Crosse
Rising unemployment and poverty in New Zealand
The National Party-led government is cutting funding for foodbanks as tens of thousands of people lose their jobs and more households struggle to pay for food, electricity and rent.
•Tom Peters
This week in history: July 15-21
This column profiles important historical events which took place during this week, 25 years ago, 50 years ago, 75 years ago and 100 years ago.
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Australia: Second major fire in nine months at Melbourne chemical factory
The Derrimut factory was the site of an October blaze, in which 44-year-old worker Reece Martin was killed and two others were injured.
•Jason Quill, Martin Scott
SEIU bureaucrats attempt to push through concession contract for library workers in Cleveland, Ohio
The bureaucracy has violated a strike mandate by workers, some of whom earn as little as $13 an hour.
•Logan Brazek
Growing numbers of protesters arrested and jailed in Australia
So far, those punished have been mostly involved in climate change demonstrations, but precedents are being set for use against all forms of protest, including against the Gaza genocide.
•Mike Head
Maruti Suzuki India workers jailed for life on frame-up murder charges speak to the WSWS
The workers are the victims of a conspiracy involving the Japanese-based transnational automaker, the police, courts and the Haryana state and Indian Union governments. Their sole “crime” is to have challenged the brutal sweatshop conditions that prevail in India’s globally-connected auto industry.
•Satish Simon, Kranti Kumara
Harvard appoints former Pentagon general counsel and Northrop Grumman executive as vice president
O’Connor’s appointment is a provocation and marks another step in an offensive against democratic rights on campus.
•Mike Ingram
Workers Struggles: The Americas
July 19 date set for strike authorization vote by 14,000 Southern California Disneyland workers.
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Messages from Germany, Austria and Switzerland in support of Bogdan Syrotiuk’s release
The World Socialist Web Site is receiving statements from workers across Europe and internationally demanding freedom for imprisoned Ukrainian socialist Bogdan Syrotiuk.
•Our reporters
Why is Mélenchon silent on Macron’s secret talks with French neo-fascists?
Instead of attacking Macron’s collaboration with the RN on policies of war and austerity rejected by the French people, Mélenchon is doubling down on his alliance with the pro-business president.
•Alex Lantier
Milei and Bolsonaro attend fascistic CPAC conference in Brazil
The politicians behind the Latin American version of CPAC have served as the most direct advocates of US imperialism’s agenda in the region.
•Guilherme Ferreira, Tomas Castanheira
Taiwan’s statehood illusion, US imperialism and the “Pro-Palestine” initiative
Conspicuous by its absence in the principles of the Taiwan Alliance for a Free Palestine is any reference to US imperialism or an explanation of why Taiwan has suddenly “deviated” from its founding principles by lending support to Israel.
•Shih-Yu Chou
UNRWA headquarters “flattened” as destruction of Gaza continues
Amid the killings, it was the turn of David Lammy, foreign secretary in Britain’s new Labour Party government, to tour Israel and sprinkle perfumed phrases about “peace” and “stability” on its fascist regime and genocidal war.
•Thomas Scripps
Public health crisis deepens as many doctors leave Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka’s limited free public health system, like public education, has been systematically run down and undermined by consecutive Colombo governments.
•Rohantha De Silva
On the attempted assassination of Donald Trump
Whatever the provenance of the attack, one thing is certain: It will produce a further sharp lurch to the right of the entire political establishment.
•WSWS Editorial Board
John Deere to lay off a further 345 workers, adding to its bloodletting of over 1,500 jobs
The layoffs can and must be stopped through the independent intervention of Deere workers by forming rank-and-file committees across state lines and internationally to unite workers against the cuts.
•George Gallanis
China experiencing torrential rain and major floods
Extreme weather events and floods have become the annual norm in China in recent years amid ongoing climate change.
•Ben McGrath
Two Russian-Australians arrested on vague charges of “preparing for espionage”
From what has been reported, this is a politically manufactured case, seeking to cultivate a wartime atmosphere against Russia.
•Mike Head
Israeli airstrikes massacre hundreds across Gaza over the weekend
On Saturday, Israel launched a massive airstrike on a humanitarian zone in the coastal town of al-Mawasi where Palestinians had sought refuge from the relentless bombing of Gaza. The Health Ministry said it was one of the deadliest attacks in the nine-month siege, with 92 killed and 300 wounded.
•Kevin Reed
NATO moves to formalise anti-China “partnership” with Indo-Pacific nations
With the summit’s bellicose attack on China, the US-led NATO powers are forging closer ties with countries in the Indo-Pacific to prepare for war on a global scale.
•John Braddock
The Democratic Party, the Biden campaign crisis and the billionaire “donor” class
The crisis of the Biden election campaign has shed light on a fundamental feature of American politics—the domination by a financial oligarchy over what passes for “democracy.”
•Barry Grey
No stationing of US missiles in Germany! Stop the danger of nuclear escalation!
The SGP and the WSWS strongly condemn the deployment of long-range US precision weapons in Germany, directed against Russia.
•Johannes Stern
The summer surge of COVID in the US and the implications of the anti-public health policy
The summer surge of COVID is seeing infections climb across the country, along with emergency room visits, hospitalizations and deaths.
•Benjamin Mateus
Case against actor Alec Baldwin in 2021 death on Rust film set collapses over prosecution’s withholding of evidence
It was the revelation that the police and district attorney had “buried,” i.e., deliberately concealed, evidence that led to the judge’s action.
•David Walsh
President Milei rides tank in Argentine independence day parade
Milei’s agenda echoes the “National Reorganization Process” (el Proceso) initiated by Argentina’s murderous military dictatorship.
•Rafael Azul
UAE imposes life sentences on 43 defendants in second-largest trial in its history
In 2014, a United Nations working group found that their convictions had been “based on charges of acts that would fall under the rights to freedom of expression and of assembly,” and that their detention had been “arbitrary.”
•Jean Shaoul
Starmer embraces role of Britain’s wartime prime minister at NATO summit
On every front, Starmer’s appearance at the NATO summit confirmed that he is the leader of a government of war and political and social reaction.
•Robert Stevens
Biden’s press conference and the war hysteria of American imperialism
Far more significant than the semi-senility of Biden is the political madness expressed in his policies and his statements, a madness shared by the entire ruling class political establishment.
•Barry Grey
Zelensky government prepares further social cuts ahead of new debt negotiations
Ukraine is now the second largest debtor to the IMF after Egypt. Its agreements entail mass privatizations and further reductions in already minimal social spending.
•Jason Melanovski
Political and media accomplices of Gaza genocide condemn Russian missile strike on Ukrainian hospital
While shedding crocodile tears over the deaths of two people and injury of 16 others in Kiev, the cynical hypocrites occupying government offices and media editorial boards in the imperialist centres have said virtually nothing about The Lancet’s estimate that Israel has killed 186,000 people.
•Jordan Shilton
Palestinian-Australian under police investigation for protests against Gaza genocide
What has been reported makes clear that Hash Tayeh is being targeted for political speech condemning Israeli war crimes and for organising mass protests against them.
•Oscar Grenfell
Indonesian government attacks wages through phony public housing scheme
Workers already face precarious employment and low wages as the capitalist class seeks to extract greater profits.
•Aditya Syed
European Central Bank official sounds warning on growth of private credit
Private credit institutions in Europe hold more financial assets than banks and other traditional sources of finance.
•Nick Beams
Dozens killed in their homes in renewed Israeli attack on Gaza City
The Israeli army dropped leaflets on Wednesday telling residents of Gaza City to leave through “safe routes” and then proceeded to shell Palestinians in their homes.
•Kevin Reed
Reject IATSE sellout contract—Organize rank-and-file committees!
The two Memorandums of Agreement were released July 10 on IATSE websites, only four days before entertainment workers were scheduled to begin voting on the deals.
•Hong Jian, David Walsh
Boeing near-disasters continue to pile up in wake of sweetheart plea deal
Boeing’s $243 million fine is barely a slap on the wrist for the aerospace giant and an insult to the families of the 346 men, women and children who died after the company knowingly put the faulty 737 MAX 8 into service.
•Bryan Dyne
Canada’s ruling elite deploys court injunction and police violence to crush two anti-genocide student encampments
Using a court injunction and police violence, authorities in Ontario and Quebec succeeded in shutting down the student encampments at University of Toronto and McGill University, without any of their demands being met.
•James Clayton, Roger Jordan
Western Australian teachers’ union pushes through sell-out wages and conditions deal
The union apparatus worked to intimidate teachers and school workers who were outraged by the deal, threatening an even worse outcome through government-mandated arbitration if it was voted down.
•Sue Phillips
Washington uses Panama’s new government to attack migrants crossing deadly Darien jungle
Washington is seeking to create a bottleneck for hungry and desperate migrant workers escaping from the impact of imperialist oppression and war in dozens of countries.
•Andrea Lobo
Hundreds protest in Stuttgart, Germany against the genocide in Gaza
“Germany is not interested in human lives, but in power, gas and oil,” explained one young demonstrator.
•Florian Hasek, Tamino Dreisam
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
South Korean metal workers strike for new labour law; India: 10,000 Tamil Nadu power distribution workers protest privatisation; Bangladesh university workers’ strike in second week; Australia: Serco workers strike at naval bases.
•
Extreme heat wave claims 33 lives in western US as Biden administration promotes inadequate “heat protection rules”
At least 33 people have tragically died since the beginning of July in California and Oregon as some 161 million people remain under heat advisory warnings.
•Edmundo Beltran
Fatal accidents at work in Germany: What is a worker’s life worth?
Almost every four days a construction worker dies in Germany. After a decline in the number of industrial accidents, with the coronavirus pandemic and the introduction of pro-war policies, indications are that this trend is reversing.
•Marianne Arens
Starmer’s UK Labour government escalates offensive against immigrants and asylum seekers
Labour committed to more tightly policing the UK borders in its manifesto, along with setting up a Returns and Enforcement Unit to swiftly deport anyone deemed a “failed” asylum seeker.
•Robert Stevens
Unite calls off south Wales steelworkers strike, partnering with Labour government and Tata Steel UK
Action had been planned against Tata Steel UK’s plans to cut 2,800 jobs at the plants in Port Talbot and Llanwern, South Wales, announced last September.
•Simon Whelan, Tony Robson
SEP/IYSSE (Sri Lanka) holds powerful meeting to demand the immediate release of Bogdan Syrotiuk
The Colombo public meeting, which was streamed on the party’s Facebook page, has been viewed so far by over 2,200 and shared by nearly 200 people.
•
Australia: Rank-and-file committee calls for staff, student and wider support to stop Western Sydney University College cuts
The Western Sydney University Rank-and-File Committee is organising an information and publicity campaign, including posters, leaflets and social media, to call for a wider movement to defeat the restructuring and job cuts at WSU College.
•Our correspondents
Samsung Electronics workers in South Korea stage first-ever strike in company’s 55-year history
Even as workers’ conditions decline, none of the unions in South Korea will wage a struggle against Samsung, any other company, or the government.
•Ben McGrath
Australia: Rental pain sharpest in working-class suburbs
Almost three-quarters of Australian suburbs are in “extreme rental pain” as rent soars and wages stagnate.
•Vicki Mylonas
Biden’s “domestic NATO”: The trade union bureaucracy backs escalating global war
Biden’s comparison raises the obvious question: Against whom is this “domestic NATO” at war? Above all, it is the American working class, which is fed up with poverty and inequality and despises the whole capitalist political setup.
•Tom Hall
US-German missile plans at NATO summit threaten cities deep inside Russia
The decisions taken as the NATO summit in Washington closed Thursday show the NATO imperialist powers are planning direct military intervention against nuclear-armed Russia.
•Johannes Stern, Alex Lantier
Macron officials hold secret talks with neo-fascists amid French government crisis
The secret meetings expose the bankruptcy of the New Popular Front’s call to fight neo-fascism through electoral deals with Macron’s right-wing Ensemble coalition.
•Alex Lantier
Sorry/Not Sorry: The continuing campaign against comedian Louis C.K.
Through a new documentary, the New York Times seeks to keep the #MeToo pot simmering, divert the attention of as many people as possible from big social issues and prepare the ground for further attacks on democratic rights.
•Erik Schreiber
Factory meeting initiates closure of the Ford plant in Saarlouis, Germany
At the factory meeting at Ford in Saarlouis on July 10, the works council, chaired by Markus Thal, initiated the closure of the plant, which once employed over 7,000 workers.
•Dietmar Gaisenkersting
Socialist Workers Party “Marxism 2024” festival promotes Jeremy Corbyn as leader of a “left” regroupment
Corbyn was featured speaker at the SWP’s festival on Saturday, with its members giving him a hero’s welcome.
•Laura Tiernan, Michael Barnes
Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa
Swedish health union’s sellout of nurses’ fight for shorter hours met with outpouring of hostility on social media; strikes and protests by oil and agricultural workers and retirees over collapsing standard of living continue across Iran during presidential election; national walkout by Ghanaian state employees in all ministries over unpaid allowances and non-implemented agreed salary structure
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Greek government introduces six-day working week in stepped up offensive
The New Democracy government’s attacks on the working class have earned it widespread praise from the global financial elite Standard and Poor’s has updated its outlook on Greece from “stable” to “positive”, while German business interests speak of Greece as a new model.
•John Vassilopoulos
Former Labourite intelligence chief Schoof heads far-right Dutch government
Schoof's nomination epitomizes the deep connections between neo-fascism, police-state rule and imperialist war with Russia that are at the heart of Dutch and European imperialist politics.
•Daniel Woreck, Parwini Zora
Morenoite Révolution permanente group backs French New Popular Front as it allies with Macron
The move unmasks RP’s revolutionary pretensions. It is a middle class party that, like the NFP, works to block working class opposition to Macron and his policies of imperialist war and police-state rule.
•Anthony Torres
Lessons of the witch-hunt against Australian Senator Fatima Payman: Labor is a party of war and repression
Labor’s support for the Gaza genocide is inseparable from its commitment to imperialist war globally.
•Oscar Grenfell
Sri Lankan public sector workers take national industrial action over pay
The unions are desperate to prevent a political confrontation with the Wickremesinghe government, which has refused to grant any pay rise and threatens to ban all strike action.
•Wimal Perera
Democratic-controlled North Carolina election board continues to block third parties from ballot
At a meeting on Tuesday, the board voted to approve ballot access for the far-right Constitution Party, but neglected to hold a vote on We the People Party and the Justice for All Party, leaving Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West off the ballot for now.
•Jacob Crosse
NATO war summit prepares direct entry into Ukraine war
This week's NATO summit heralds a new phase in the war with Russia, in which the NATO military alliance will openly take charge of arming, funding and directing the Ukrainian military.
•Andre Damon
Democratic Party crisis intensifies as first senator calls for Biden to drop re-election bid
Public opposition among Democratic Party officeholders to the renomination of President Joe Biden has continued to grow, despite efforts by the White House to suppress it.
•Patrick Martin
National Education Association shuts down annual convention, locks out striking staffers
The largest union in the US, the NEA, was forced to call off its annual convention when delegates honored the picket line of striking staff members.
•Renae Cassimeda, Nancy Hanover
Train carrying anhydrous ammonia derails and catches fire in North Dakota
Officials said favorable winds directed smoke away from populated areas but issued a shelter-in-place order on Sunday after a rail car began venting dangerous amounts of ammonia.
•Alex Findijs
Biden proclaims AFL-CIO union bureaucrats as “my domestic NATO” before attending second day of summit
The visit to the AFL-CIO headquarters underscored the role of the unions in preparing the “home front” for war.
•Tom Hall
New Caledonia sees surge in pro-independence vote in French election
The poll took place amid a police-military crackdown in which a French occupying force of 3,700 security personnel has been deployed to suppress political unrest.
•John Braddock
US Fed chair takes a step towards interest rate cut
The clearest indication of the move was Powell’s reference to the “cooling” of the labour market.
•Nick Beams
Power still out for 1.5 million Texans amid deadly heat wave in aftermath of Hurricane Beryl
Days after Hurricane Beryl hit Texas, more nearly 1.5 million people in the southeast region of the state are without power or air conditioning as an intense and dangerous heat wave continues in the region.
•Kevin Reed
David Fincher’s The Killer: Why this film? Why now?
This is not a good film, it is misguided from beginning to end. Why should anyone care about the central character or most of the others?
•David Walsh
Chicago teachers: Organize rank-and-file committees to fight another sellout contract!
Behind closed doors, a conspiracy is being hatched against 25,000 Chicago school teachers. The Chicago Teachers Union is working with the city administration of Brandon Johnson to impose cuts in a new contract and block a strike during a politically explosive election year.
•Educators Rank-and-File Committee
Peru’s President Boluarte visits China amid domestic crises and global tensions
Two days after she left for China, human rights NGOs asked the International Criminal Court to investigate the massacre of 49 Peruvians following the December 2022 coup that brought Boluarte to power.
•Armando Cruz
Report reveals nearly one quarter of Canadians are living in poverty
The growth of poverty, and the staggering fortunes of the corporations and the rich are not unrelated processes. They arise out of the inner workings of the capitalist system, and political decisions made by all of Canada’s major parties, including the Liberals and NDP.
•Dylan Lubao
Educators in Turkey protest draft anti-labor law
While the Turkish political establishment and the trade union apparatus have been working to suppress the growing discontent of the working class against the ongoing cost of living crisis, the police attacked a protest by educators in Ankara against the new anti-labor law.
•Barış Demir
Research reveals precipitous decline in UK working class living standards
The rate of material deprivation rose from 15 percent to 19 percent between 2019–20 and 2022–23, corresponding to an extra 2.8 million people. The rate of food insecurity increased from 8 percent to 11 percent over the same period, approximately 2.1 million additional people.
•Simon Whelan
Israel’s use of Hannibal Directive led to many deaths on October 7, including Israeli civilians
At 11.22am, the Israel Defense Forces issued an order to its Gaza division that “Not a single vehicle can return to Gaza.” A military source in Israel’s Southern Command told Haaretz, “Everyone knew by then that such vehicles could be carrying kidnapped civilians or soldiers… Everyone knew what it meant to not let any vehicles return to Gaza.”
•Jean Shaoul
Mass outrage after Kenya’s opposition Azimio party joins Ruto’s “dialogue” initiative
The Ruto-Odinga unification is designed to impose severe cuts, tax hikes, and privatizations demanded by the banks and global financial capital, spearheaded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), by ending the mass protests against the government.
•Kipchumba Ochieng
Australia’s new “special envoy” on antisemitism supported Israel’s bombing of hospitals
Jillian Segal is a pro-Israeli lobbyist who has explicitly supported the fascistic actions of the Zionist regime, while demanding repression of those who oppose its war crimes.
•Oscar Grenfell
DSA Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and fellow “Squad” members spearhead Biden rescue operation
As Democrats tied to the military-intelligence apparatus continue to defect from Biden, AOC and other “Squad” members have emerged as his most ardent defenders.
•Jacob Crosse, Barry Grey
Reject union-management sellout at Australia Post! Form rank-and-file committees to fight for pay, conditions and oppose restructuring!
The proposed deal, brokered in behind-closed-doors talks, would continue the cost-cutting restructuring operation already underway and likely mean further real wage cuts.
•Postal Workers Rank-and-File Committee
Australian government launches crusade to slash disability services
The Labor government’s partnership with One Nation, which has a long record of demonising welfare recipients, demonstrates the depths to which Labor will go to gut the NDIS and impose the austerity demands of the financial markets.
•Mike Head
The Philippines and Japan sign military access agreement
The growing military cooperation between Manila and Tokyo is being led by the US as it seeks to strengthen alliances throughout Asia in preparation for war with China.
•John Malvar
Autoworkers support call for new UAW elections: “This time everybody’s vote should count”
Amid new revelations of UAW corruption, Stellantis, Ford and GM workers supported the call by the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees for a new union elections.
•Shannon Jones
UN experts confirm famine throughout Gaza, condemn Israel’s starvation policy
The group's statement is an indictment all the imperialist powers, above all the United States, that have backed to the hilt Israel’s barbaric onslaught in Gaza which has reduced its buildings to rubble and its people to refugees constantly facing death by starvation, disease and bombardment.
•Peter Symonds
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