The Monkey Business of H&M and The Hokey-Pokey of the EFF!

Was the EFF’s trashing of several H&M stores around the country commensurate with their grievance? Was it even consistent with what it claims? The short answer is no. thedailyvox.co.za/

Trotsky once described theory as the superiority of foresight over astonishment. But the year 2017 saw a great deal of astonishment, and not least among the so-called experts of the bourgeoisie. marxist.com/

India’s Hospitals Are Filling Up With Desperate Americans

Are deep-pocketed medical tourists the cause of, or solution to, India’s health care problems? foreignpolicy.com/

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Americans Are In An Abusive Relationship With Oligarchy, And It’s Not Their Fault

Whenever I write about the exploitative Orwellian oligarchy that is loosely centralized behind the official United States government, I always get a bunch of bitter, annoyed Americans making well-intentioned comments about how stupid their countrymen are. medium.com/

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Modern capitalism has opened a major new front for strike action – logistics

Despite the recent revival of the left in the United States and England, the days when unions had the power to demand major concessions and win still seem far away. Partly thanks to tough labour laws and employer aggression, their role has become much more about consultation than domination. theconversation.com/

MSNBC: Stop censoring U.S.-assisted carnage in Yemen

The purportedly liberal cable network MSNBC did not run a single segment devoted specifically to the humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen in the second half of 2017, even though – or perhaps because – the U.S. government has played a key role in creating the catastrophe. act.rootsaction.org/

In search of the ‘merits’ of colonialism

Throughout the British colonies, imperial intervention stunted economic growth, introduced limitations and barriers to already existing trade, and brutally exploited workers for profits shipped to banks in London. But even Karl Marx was a fan. aljazeera.com/

Google faces new discrimination charge: paying female teachers less than men

Former employee alleges that women hired to work as preschool teachers in the company’s childcare center were paid lower salaries than men with fewer qualifications doing same job. theguardian.com/

Unions Are Gaining a Foothold at Digital Media Companies

After employees at the online media company Vox Media announced plans to form a union, a senior reporter at the company’s general news website Vox.com argued that some writers wanted a union “as protection for laziness.” He added that Vox was “a generous company” and “some people want to take advantage of that.” nytimes.com/

Beyond the 120 Days of the Silicon Valley Dolls

Silicon Valley holds a celebrity mystique for some, but insider accounts of its hot tub parties only bring to mind an immortal dictum that being boring is a more than a sin – it’s a felony. counterpunch.org/

The Looming Digital Meltdown

For computer security professionals, 2018 started with a bang. A new class of security vulnerability — a variety of flaws that affect almost all major microprocessor chips, and that could enable hackers to steal information from personal computers as well as cloud computing services — was announced. nytimes.com/

Facebook Says It Is Deleting Accounts at the Direction of the U.S. and Israeli Governments

Last year, we noted that Facebook representatives were meeting with the Israeli government to determine which Facebook accounts of Palestinians should be deleted on the ground that they constituted “incitement.” theintercept.com/

The robber barons of Silicon Valley

The leaders of companies such as Amazon, Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Apple offer striking parallels to the robber barons of the late 19th century. socialistworker.org/

Big Tech: The New Predatory Capitalism

The Dangers of Social Media for Radio

Will social media mentions lead to radio tune-in? Will likes and shares and comments lead to ratings? medium.com/

Blockchain Technology and Education

Sony Corporation recently announced development of a system to apply blockchain technology to education. Parents who are concerned about the increasing digitalization of their children’s education, about security of their private data, and about the future of education in general should take note. truthinamericaneducation.com/

How a French association with 6 employees offers mainstream users free and libre alternatives to Facebook Groups, Slack, Skype and the like

The year is 2017 AD. The whole web is occupied by centralized services. Well… not entirely. One small village of indomitable free software lovers still holds out against the invaders… This is how the French association Framasoft presents itself. konradlischka.info/

Unmaking Global Capitalism

When Marx famously declared that while the philosophers have interpreted the world, the point is to change it, he was asserting that it was not enough to dream of another world nor to understand the dynamics of the present. It was critical above all to address the question of agency in carrying out transformative change. jacobinmag.com/

The Right to Education Movements and Policies: Promises and Realities

The first edition of NORRAG Special Issue in 2018 is dedicated to examining international frameworks and national policy as well as the challenges of fulfilling the right to education in practice. The journal contains 36 concise articles and is divided into six parts, each focusing on a specific theme of right to education policy and practice. norrag.org/