SOUTH AFRICA

Premier Blue Ribbon Salt River strike enters fourth month

Premier employees at Blue Ribbon bread in Salt River have been on a protected strike since 28 November over wages and working conditions. Their grievances include the withdrawal of a paid lunch hour and reducing Sunday rates from double pay to one and half times normal rate. groundup.org.za/

Unions Join Management to Deny Workers Rights

Health unions in the Northwest, Hospersa and Nupsaw, joined management and threatened to fire community health workers who wanted to attend a national meeting to be held on 27 February. karibu.org.za/

Cellphone data rules change this week – here’s how it will work at Vodacom, MTN, Cell C and Telkom

From the beginning of March, South Africans have to be warned if they use out-of-bundle data, and they will also be able to roll over data. businessinsider.co.za/

INTERNATIONAL

The Rojava Revolution and a call to end the isolation of jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan

In the north and eastern parts of Syria, a revolution as progressive, profound and potentially as far reaching as any in history is taking place. There, an alternative system to the state, capitalism and patriarchy is being built—statement of support by Ilrig. ilrigsa.org.za/

The Magic Socialist

All aboard for another cruise on the new and improved U.S.S. Magic Socialist with your captain Bernie Sanders at the helm! A satirical piece on Bernie Sanders’s announcement of a second tilt at the US presidency. greanvillepost.com/

VENEZUELA

John Pilger, Venezuela and the parallels with apartheid South Africa

Should the CIA stooge Guaido and his white supremacists grab power, it will be the 68th overthrow of a sovereign government by the United States, most of them democracies. A fire sale of Venezuela’s utilities and mineral wealth will surely follow, along with the theft of the country’s oil. counterpunch.org/

ISRAEL-PALESTINE

Israel pharmaceutical firms test medicines on Palestinian prisoners

The Times of Israel also reported that a Hebrew University lecturer’s finding that Israeli military firms are testing weapons on Palestinian children and carry out these tests in the Palestinian neighbourhoods of occupied Jerusalem. middleeastmonitor.com/

NEW TECHNOLOGIES / NEW FORMS OF LABOUR

Don’t Fight the Robots. Tax Them.

Many companies invest in automation because the tax code encourages it, not because robots are more productive. South Korea already taxes robots. nytimes.com/

We won’t be war profiteers’: Microsoft workers protest $480m army contract

ENVIRONMENT

Game Over? Report Card on Our Planet’s Environment

Climate news is getting worse. 2018 was the fourth-hottest year on record; 2015-2017 are the other three. The Arctic experienced its second-warmest year ever. counterpunch.org/

Of Insects and Men

Something like 41 percent of insects are in decline and about a third are going extinct. It is the largest extinction on Earth in the last 299 million years. This catastrophic decline and extinction of insects are bad omens for civilization. counterpunch.org/

The Rigors of Organizing: On the Road with the German Climate Resistance

The German environmental movement is known for its radicalism and its innovation, particularly in the interplay of direct action versus organizing in smaller rural communities, and how one makes common cause with those who feel like they benefit the most from mining. counterpunch.org/