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E-NEWS BULLETIN 22 February 2019 Links to present possibilities
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SOUTH AFRICA
The break with the Zuma regime is not just in relation to corruption and cronyism, but towards reconciliation with big foreign and domestic capital. aidc.org.za/
The South African Federation Trade Unions condemns the budget as a savage attack on the workers and poor and as an attempt to appease international big business and the wealthiest South Africans. saftu.org.za/
While we recognise the tight financial spot the Treasury has been painted into by widespread corruption, under-delivering departments and failing SOEs, especially Eskom – we urge government to recall its first duty: to ensure the progressive realisation of people’s Constitutional rights. section27.org.za/
 The Black Sash takes issue with the social support grant increases and petrol price increases, and reminds government of the high unemployment. blacksash.org.za/
Unbundling serves a privatisation agenda by making electricity and its provision a commodity rather than a public service and human right. businesslive.co.za/
The Quarterly Labour Force Survey is the most reliable source of employment statistics, but it has a serious flaw: its mining employment data is wrong. It states that the number of mining jobs rose 13% between the first quarters of 2008 and 2018. groundup.org.za/
The Right2Know campaign calls on the Zondo Commission to investigate evidence and allegations of state capture and associated corruption in South Africa’s broadcasting sector. wwmp.org.za/ [143KB pdf]
Municipal employees say they work in terrible conditions and their office equipment and computers do not function. Pick n Pay becomes their only place to refer people wanting pay their municipal accounts. groundup.org.za/
A journal article by Patrick Bond and Christopher Malikane on a pivot of Marxian economics and a plague of postapartheid South Africa, the problem of overaccumulated capital. wwmp.org.za/ [801KB pdf] |
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Local news from Khayelitsha, East London, Port Elizabeth, Alexandra and Orange Farm in English and isiXhosa
Install the Elitsha app for your phone   |
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INTERNATIONAL
This is the situation being reported by teachers in communities across the UK – children arriving at school so hungry that they are filling their pockets with food, or even scouring bins for scraps. weforum.org/
Strikes close or slow production at dozens of assembly plants and factories as workers demand better salaries. theguardian.com/
The Bangladesh Accord, which was a response to the Rana Plaza building collapse in 2013 that claimed more than 1000 lives, is set to be thrown away by the government despite achieving better safety protections for workers in the garment industry. industriall-union.org/
An obituary for Dorothy Bolden who adapted the organizing techniques she learned as a civil rights activist to secure protections for domestic workers, a largely unregulated part of the work force. She died in 2005; The New York Times is supplementing its archive. nytimes.com/
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VENEZUELA
US foreign policy mobilizes every available resource for regime change and for counterinsurgency. Among those resources, you will always find academics. The pen may not always be mightier than the sword, but behind every US-backed war on a foreign people there will be a body of scholarly work. podur.org/
Two things stand out about the US coup in Venezuela. First, it is unusually open. Typically, the US tries to hide its coups. Second, the coup is built on a series of obvious falsehoods. popularresistance.org/
Radio show from WBAI in New York discussing the far right threat to Latin America, with the director of a Brazilian human rights organisation, an American lawyer and political activist and the Secretary General of the International Association Against Torture and member of the December 12th Movement. Download or listen to this 28:50 minute program, radio4all.net/ or archive.org/.
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The mainstream media has been supporting the coup, flooding the air waves and Internet with stories about chaos, poverty, corruption, and violence in Venezuela, showing Maduro is unpopular. Yet, not mentioned in these news reports are the extremely popular education, health care, and housing programs provided by the Venezuelan government and popular support of Maduro. |
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A special look at the situation in Venezuela from outside the corporate media |
![[Act Out! 194] - Our Venezuela Coup: The Who, What, Why From Censored Perspectives](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/bj4Kszcq4gQ/maxresdefault.jpg) |
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Masters Programmes in U.S. and Germany open for application
The Masters’ programmes focus on policies for social justice including global governance, international labour standards, development, economics, trade and multinational enterprises. Trade unionists with a trade union recommendation letter can apply for scholarships.
Masters in Professional Studies in Labor and Global Workers’ Rights at Penn State University, USA.
Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Application deadline: 1 March 2019
Master of Arts (MA) in “Labour Policies and Globalisation” at the Berlin School of Economics and Law/University of Kassel in Germany.
Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Application deadline: 1 March 2019
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NEW TECHNOLOGIES / NEW FORMS OF LABOUR
The world’s internet infrastructure has no central authority and the Russian state wants to control it, but it's much more difficult than Vladimir Putin may think. wired.com/
Devices worn on employees' bodies are an increasingly valuable source of workforce health intelligence for employers and insurance companies. It is fueling a boom in the use of wrist-borne health and fitness monitors. timesunion.com/
Agricultural workers of the future may soon be made of tech and steel. Can a robot pick a strawberry better, faster, and cheaper than a seasonal farmworker? washingtonpost.com/
Advances in robotics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning are set to reshape the labor market in ways for which we have yet to prepare. Soon robots will begin to outperform human workers in a number of jobs. law.nyu.edu/ |
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ENVIRONMENT
Renewable energy is usually agreed to be the way forward. However, we haven't adopted these sources of energy in any systematic, widespread way. To understand why, we will need to explore the basic foundation of Marxism. hamptoninstitution.org/ |
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"Eulogy for Malcolm X" by Ossie Davis (1917 - 2005)
Faith Temple Church of God In Christ, New York City - February 27, 1965
“This was his meaning to his people. And, in honoring him, we honor the best in ourselves. Last year, from Africa, he wrote these words to a friend: My journey, he says, is almost ended, and I have a much broader scope than when I started out, which I believe will add new life and dimension to our struggle for freedom and honor and dignity in the States."
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