e-News bulletin 12 February 2016

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E-News Bulletin
Friday 12 February 2016
Labour news you cannot afford to miss!

Pro-Palestinian activists call on Jennifer Lopez to cancel rumored concert in Israel

Pop star Jennifer Lopez’s rumored plans to tour Israel next summer has already whipped up a social media backlash from pro-Palestinian supporters demanding her to stay away.

Bernie Sanders and the question of Palestine

At a March 1988 news conference endorsing Jesse Jackson’s candidacy for president, Bernie Sanders blasted Israel’s brutal treatment of Palestinian protesters as “an absolute disgrace.” Fast forward to August 2014 and the Vermont senator struck a very different tone, angrily shouting at his constituents as they challenged his defense of Israel’s killing rampage in the Gaza Strip that summer.
https://electronicintifada.net/

Controversial Israel Supporter Funneling Millions Into Clinton Campaign

Recent disclosures show media mogul and controversial Israel supporter Haim Saban is pouring millions of dollars into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid.

Israeli Labor Party Adopts the Apartheid Mantra

On Sunday night, Israel’s Labor Party unanimously approved their leader’s diplomatic plan.

Labor’s premier Isaac Herzog laid out his vision a few weeks earlier at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, telling the audience that he “wish[es] to separate from as many Palestinians as possible, as quickly as possible.” 

 

A gruelling life for Palestinian workers in Israel

During the day, the Bethlehem Checkpoint 300 tells only half the story. A few lone travellers make the crossing in mere minutes, passing through multiple electronic turnstiles and a warehouse-like compound, and undergoing a quick passport check before leaving the occupied West Bank and entering Israel.

Rosa Luxemburg and the Growth of the Labor Movement

In an excerpt from his Reigniting the Labor Movement, Gerald Friedman describes Rosa Luxemburg’s revolutionary politics and her understanding of the role of the mass strike—not as the means for a decisive “one hit” victory for the working class, but as part of what Friedman terms a “long-term process of consciousness-building through participation in class struggle.”

DTT is here: what you need to know

It’s finally happened. South Africa this week launched digital terrestrial television (DTT), ushering in a new chapter in the country’s broadcasting history, but one that has arrived many years later than promised.

Yanis Varoufakis launches pan-European leftwing movement DiEM25

Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has launched a new pan-European umbrella group that aims to pull together leftwing parties, grassroots protest movements and “rebel regions” from across the continent.

http://www.theguardian.com/

Libyans will bear brunt of fighting Isis, says Carter

US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter insisted yesterday that Libyans would do most of the fighting against Islamic State (Isis) terrorists in their country.

His comments came a day after anonymous officials in his department revealed that they were asking the Treasury for $200 million (£140m) next year to fight a new war against Isis across north and west Africa.

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/

Communist Youth of Syria: ‘We will never give up!’

Special interview with Wessam Kahel, member of the International Relations Committee of the Communist Youth Union of Syria-Bakdash.

http://icp.sol.org.tr/

What is the Turkish president going to do in the war against Islamic State?

The Syrian campaign against the foreign supported terrorists continues with the help of Russia, Iran and other associated forces. This campaign is aimed at killing all terrorists and their associated forces as demanded by the United Nations Security Council resolution 2254.

Facebook Loses a Battle in India Over Its Free Basics Program

For years, Mark Zuckerberg has had a grander vision than just connecting the more than one billion people who already use Facebook: He wants to connect the entire world.

That effort hit a major roadblock on Monday, when Indian regulators banned free mobile data programs that favor some Internet services over others.

http://www.nytimes.com/

“The Power of Pictures: Early Soviet Photography, Early Soviet Film”—an exhibition

“The Power of Pictures: Early Soviet Photography, Early Soviet Film,” at the Jewish Museum in New York City through February 7, examines some of the remarkable photography, magazines, film posters and innovative films produced in the years that followed the October Revolution of 1917.

An Uber Labor Movement Born in a LaGuardia Parking Lot

Last Tuesday afternoon, at LaGuardia Airport’s Lot 7, fifty Uber drivers logged out of the app and staged a strike.
http://www.newyorker.com/

‘Carwasheros’ unionise in New York City: community-labour partnerships and the challenges of organising a runaway industry

New York City carwashes harbour some of the most exploitative labour practices in the city. State law sets carwash workers’ hourly minimum wage at nearly three dollars below the state minimum…
http://column.global-labour-university.org/