e-News bulletin 3 March 2017

Broke and Broken: The Shameful Legacy of Gold Mining in South Africa explores the exploitation, the blatant disregard for health and safety regulations whose implications continue to be felt in rural villages far away from the imposing mine shafts… theconmag.co.za/

The Grandmothers of Mthatha

The women of Tabase offer a snapshot of the struggles and the tenacity of elderly women across the country… aljazeera.com/

By the Time They Came For Me…

INTERNATIONAL

Tea Party Illinois governor Bruce Rauner launches job website for scabs in case of union strike

In preparation for a possible strike by Illinois’ largest union of state workers, Governor Bruce Rauner’s administration launched a website on Tuesday encouraging residents to apply for permanent or temporary state jobs… http://in.reuters.com/article/illinois-union-idINL2N1GD0UJ

‘White Helmets helping rebrand terror groups to create Syrian no-fly zones’

Increased terrorist attacks during the peace talks put pressure on the US to divide the militant factions inside Syria to determine who are terrorists and who are not… rt.com/
Related: Film about Syrian White Helmets wins Oscar

The U.S. Carried out Regime Change in Syria in 1949 … and Tried Again in 1957, 1986, 1991 and 2011-Today

As early as 1949, this newly independent Arab republic was an important staging ground for the CIA’s earliest experiments in covert action. The CIA secretly encouraged a right-wing military coup… globalresearch.ca/

Sand mining: the global environmental crisis you’ve probably never heard of

From Cambodia to California, industrial-scale sand mining is causing wildlife to die, local trade to wither and bridges to collapse… theguardian.com

Israeli Apartheid Week

British imperialism a midwife to Zionism

2017 is the Centenary of the Balfour Declaration that committed Imperial Britain to the founding of a Jewish state in its Palestinian mandate. [pdf pamphlet 298KB]

NEW SOCIAL AND WORK TECHNOLOGIES

Learning to Love Our Robot Co-Workers

The most important frontier for robots is not the work they take from humans but the work they do with humans — which requires learning on both sides… nytimes.com/

The 5 Jobs Robots Will Take First

Oxford University researchers have estimated that 47 percent of U.S. jobs could be automated within the next two decades… linkedin.com/

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick caught on video arguing with driver about fares

Kalanick apologized after a video obtained by Bloomberg showed him in a heated exchange with a driver who told the CEO: ‘I’m bankrupt because of you’… theguardian.com/

FILM

Film about Syrian White Helmets wins Oscar amid allegations of terrorist ties

The film revolves around the “perilous work of volunteers who brave falling bombs to rescue civilians from the of Syria’s civil war,” the description on its Netflix page says… rt.com/

Why It’s Important to Recognize That “Moonlight” Was Robbed Of Its Moment

The Academy Awards did the best possible thing in the worst possible way last night, when it conferred Moonlight the Oscar for Best Picture. This exquisite coming-of-age tale about a black boy struggling to embrace queer masculinity deserved all the shine it got this year… cosmopolitan.com/

THEORY

Marx on Immigration

On April 9, 1870, Karl Marx wrote a long letter to Sigfrid Meyer and August Vogt, two of his collaborators in the United States. In it Marx touched on a number of subjects, but his main focus was the “Irish question”… monthlyreview.org/