Lockdown a Prison for India's Migrant Workers

Indian migrant workers in Chennai speak to WSWS about coronavirus pandemic

by Sasi Kumar and Moses Rajkumar - WSWS

8 May 2020

World Socialist Web Site reporters recently spoke with migrant workers and homeless people in Chennai about the worsening social conditions they now confront because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Chennai, India April 2020 image: NDTV

Tens of thousands of workers from various Indian states, including Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand, are living in Chennai, the capital of the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu. These low-paid migrant workers are employed in construction and global production plants located in nearby industrial hubs, such as Sriperumbudur and Oragadam.

Media Finding Racist Purchase for Blame China Pandemic Narrative

Why It’s Wrong (and Racist) to Blame Covid-19 on Chinese ‘Wet Markets’

by Joshua Cho - FAIR

May 7, 2020

The stigmatization of Asian people and their culture as “inferior” or “exotic” isn’t a new phenomenon. What is considered acceptable or “strange” meat is often the result of arbitrary cultural norms, and Chinese food has often suffered from hypocritical cultural appropriation once it became popular, before being stigmatized again by racist and propagandistic news coverage following the Covid-19 outbreak (FAIR.org, 3/6/20, 3/24/20).

New York Times depiction (1/25/20) of a wet market in Shenzhen, 

which is 680 miles from Wuhan (photo: Lam Yik Fei/New York Times).

Alongside a spike in hate crimes against Asian people are reports of Asian restaurants and other businesses—especially those owned and run by Chinese people—struggling to survive because of resurging racist stereotypes about “dirty” Chinese eating habits.

Anatomy of Extractive Exploitation: Guatemala's Xinka and Canada's Pan American Silver

Xinka people of Guatemala and thousands of international supporters demand answers from Pan American Silver 

by MiningWatch Canada

May 6, 2020

Canadian mining company Pan American Silver is holding its Annual General Meeting (AGM) today in Vancouver, with a small group of company insiders in the room and limited phone access for others. But despite the challenges of being heard, Guatemalan communities are raising serious questions about the company's acquisition of the Escobal mine with its 2019 purchase of Tahoe Resources and about social division the company is sowing by intervening in communities during the global health pandemic.

November rally in Vancouver in solidarity with the Xinka people, 

in front of Ross Beaty's Biodiversity Museum at UBC 

(Source: Students for Mining Justice)

The peaceful resistance to the Escobal mine is asking (among other questions) why Pan American, after saying it is different than Tahoe Resources, is using the same tactics—like taking advantage of moments of crisis, such as COVID-19—to collect signatures and ID numbers from local community members who receive company donations. Will this information be used later to suggest Pan American has support for the mine?

China's Year of The (Corona) Goat: "They Are Going to Be Held Accountable for It"

US ramps up COVID-19 propaganda war against China

by Peter Symonds  - WSWS

6 May 2020

Confronting widespread public anger over its criminal negligence in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump administration is intensifying its campaign of unsubstantiated allegations and lies to shift the blame onto China.

Former TV Financial Analyst and Trump Administration Director of the
United States National Economic Council, Larry Kudrow,
Promises "China Will Pay."

As reported by CNN, Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow and other top officials have in recent weeks spoken to many foreign allies in an effort to enlist them in the campaign of denunciations directed against China for allegedly concealing the dangers of the virus.

Playing the Plague Tambourine: Camus and Russia's Covid Response

PLAYING THE TAMBOURINE AT THE PLAGUE – RUSSIAN REFLECTIONS ON COVID-19 AND CAMUS’S LA PESTE

by John Helmer, Moscow

@bears_with

May 5, 2020

After the episode of the sermon by the Jesuit priest, blaming the plague on the sinfulness of his congregation – “a calamity has befallen you, my brethren; you have deserved it…no earthly power – not even, note this well , vain human science – can shield you from His hand as it reaches out to you”; and after the journalist’s attempt at bribing the militia to arrange his escape from the plague city; and after the municipal administrator’s acknowledgement that “luckily, I have my work”; the visitor from Paris explained to himself in his diary that regarding the old Chinese custom of “playing the tambourine in front of the genie of the plague…it was quite impossible in reality to know whether the tambourine was more effective than other preventive health measures.”

So it seemed to the leading citizens of a town consumed by a pandemic imagined by the French writer Albert Camus seventy-five years ago.

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Mordecai Ogada, Peter Ewart, Janine Bandcroft May 7, 2020

This Week on GR

by C. L. Cook - Gorilla-Radio.com

May 7, 2020

We are as yet still NOT broadcasting live from the CFUV studios in the basement of the Student Union Building at the University of Victoria, but are instead recording live-to-tape via Skype this day, April 16th, 2020.

The “Big Lie” concept is certainly not new, but in today’s “post truth” World, that once cynical tool of despots has become a condition of life, (like water for fish) so ubiquitous it is largely invisible for we immersed in it.

Nowhere is reality less evident than in the field of nature conservancy, where the comfortable certitude of unassailable good will being met by equally good deeds in truth bears little scrutiny.

Dr. Mordecai Ogada is a scientist, educator, author, and Executive Director of the Nanyuki, Kenya-based, Conservation Solutions Afrika.

Listen. Hear.

Ogada's book, ‘The Big Conservation Lie’, co-authored with Kenyan journalist, John Mbaria, is an unblinkered examination of the conservation industry in Africa, and searing indictment against the detrimental effects its malpractice visits against the environment and Africans, both human and non-human.

Dr. Mordecai Ogada in the first half.

And; is it too soon to wonder, just what happens after the sirens stop ringing? As it stands now, the global economy has for millions stopped: no work, no money, and no idea when they can pick up their lives and begin again providing for themselves and their families. We’re more fortunate than most in this country, Canada, but even so, that’s cold comfort to those living on the margins of our not entirely inclusive society. So, what next?

Peter Ewart is a Prince George-based writer whose latest, ‘Foxes in the henhouse – Who decides where bailout money goes?’ informs, Canada like our southern neighbour will rely on the expertise of BlackRock, the trans-national asset management colossus, (intricately implicated in the financial meltdown of 2008) to determine the country’s financial path out of the current financial disaster. What could go righter than that?

Peter Ewart and the Trudeau government inviting the fox into the treasury in the second half.

And; long-time Gorilla Radio contributor, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour to bring us up to speed with some of what’s good to do in and around our town in the coming week; but first, Mordecai Ogada and discerning the Big (conservation) Lie.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Thursday between 11-Noon Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.ca. He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/

Pre-emptive Attack: Blaming China Now for the Expected Covid Deaths to Come

Scapegoating China for US administration’s failures: Trump and Pompeo’s “big lie”

by Andre Damon - WSWS

4 May 2020

In a modern-day version of the “big lie,” the Trump administration is claiming that the COVID-19 pandemic is the product of the deliberate actions of the Chinese government.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and President Donald Trump at Osan Air Base, 

Korea in 2019. (Image Credit: Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)  

On Sunday, President Donald Trump, in a “town hall” with Fox News, accused China of taking actions specifically intended to infect millions of Europeans and Americans.

Coronavirus Changing the World Irrevocably, Plus Guantánamo and WikiLeaks with Chris Cook on Gorilla Radio

Radio: I Discuss the Coronavirus Changing the World Irrevocably, Plus Guantánamo and WikiLeaks, with Chris Cook on Gorilla Radio

by Andy Worthington

4.5.20

Last Tuesday, I was delighted to speak to Chris Cook, for his radio show Gorilla Radio, beaming out to the world from Vancouver Island, in western Canada. Our full interview — an hour in total — can be found on Chris’s website. It’s also available here as an MP3, and I hope you have time to listen to it. A shorter version — about 25 minutes in total — will be broadcast in a few weeks’ time.

Andy Worthington calling for closure of Guantánamo outside the White House 

on January 11, 2020, the 18th anniversary of the prison’s opening 

(Photo: Witness Against Torture).

Chris began by playing an excerpt from the new release by my band The Four Fathers, ‘This Time We Win’, an eco-anthem inspired by the campaigning work of Greta Thunberg and Extinction Rebellion.

Charting the Terror of Our Times: Mapping Militarism 2020

Mapping Militarism 2020

by David Swanson - World BEYOND War

May 1, 2020

A new collection of maps found here displays what militarism looks like in the world. Here’s a brief guide to using and understanding them.

 

Across the top are 10 drop-down menus on these topics: Wars, Weapons, U.S. Weapons, Money, Nukes, Chemical and Biological, U.S. Military, Air Strikes, Law, and Promotes Peace and Security.

Freeing Julian: A Plea from His Family

Why Julian Assange must urgently be freed

by Stella Moris - via El Pais

May 1, 2020

I want my children to believe that inequitable treatment is not tolerated in mature democracies

The life of my partner, Julian Assange, is at severe risk. He is on remand at HMP Belmarsh, and Covid-19 is spreading within its walls.

The Machine Paused

The Machine - Honest Government Ad

by TheJuiceMedia

April 30, 2020

The Government has made an ad about its response to the pandemic, and it's surprisingly honest and informative.

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Spreading Hunger No Conspiracy Theory: American Food Banks Need Help

Food banks face supply and volunteer shortages as mass hunger rises in the US

by Alex Johnson  - WSWS

30 April 2020

Food banks in the United States are facing a crisis of epic proportions as tens of millions of people across the country are finding themselves in need of aid from food pantries and soup kitchens to stave off hunger. The coronavirus pandemic has brought alongside it a staggering rise in joblessness and wage reductions, driving underfunded charitable food services to the brink due to the explosion in need.

Cars line up for food at the Utah Food Bank's mobile food pantry 

at the Maverik Center Friday, April 24, 2020, in West Valley City, Utah. 

(AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

In scenes that recall the long breadlines during the great depression of the 1930s, millions over the past month have been compelled to wait in massive line ups and drive-through food banks to seek emergency food assistance. 

Is There Room for Qualified Alternate Perspectives on Covid-19 Narrative?

Perspectives on the Pandemic #5 In this highly-charged follow-up interview, Knut Wittkowski says his initial claim has been vindicated

by OffGuardian

April 30, 2020

Following up his original interview, Prof Knut Wittkowski discusses the mainstream coverage of his opinions, recent studies on the numbers of infected in New York, and the Swedish government’s approach and much, much more.

The Interviewer: John Kirby is the director of FOUR DIED TRYING, a feature documentary and series on the major assassinations of the 1960’s and their calamitous impact on the country. To join the struggle for justice for Dr. King, Malcolm X, and John and Robert Kennedy.

Of Course You Realize, This Does NOT Mean War

A Pandemic Is Not a War

by Robin Andersen - FAIR

April 30, 2020

At a press conference on Wednesday, March 18, President Donald Trump offered this grammatical hash: “I view it—in a sense as a wartime president.” Translating the mangled discourse into a coherent statement, CNN (3/18/20) reported, “Trump said that he sees the country on wartime footing and himself as a wartime president amid the coronavirus crisis.”

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo picked up the theme of war on March 30: “The frontline battle is going to be hospitals. The soldiers in this fight are the healthcare professionals.”

Keeping Calm and Standing Ready: Police Preparedness Before Skripal's "Attack"

HOW THE BRITISH POLICE PREPARED FOR THE ATTACK ON SERGEI AND YULIA SKRIPAL, FOUR DAYS IN ADVANCE

by John Helmer, Moscow

@bears_with

April 28, 2020

Armed British police, plus ambulance and medical crews, drone and helicopter pilots, firefighters, and the head doctor of the Salisbury District Hospital’s emergency department were preparing for the attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal just four days before Russian military assassins arrived from Moscow allegedly carrying a lethal chemical weapon in a perfume bottle.

Not counting the Skripals and the Russians, the British forces numbered at least two hundred. They were mobilized through the afternoon and night of February 27 until the morning of February 28, in the centre of Swindon, Wiltshire; that is a city 70 kilometres (40 miles) north of Salisbury, also in Wiltshire. The Skripals collapsed at 4:15 in the afternoon of March 4, in the centre of Salisbury. 

Lamenting the Pausing of Oil: Media Buries Lead on Covid's Economic Corollaries

As Covid-19 Forces Emission Reductions, Media Offer Oil Industry Elegies 

by Dorothee Benz - FAIR

April 29, 2020

Last week on April 22 the world marked the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Air pollution in the world’s major cities was down dramatically; for the first time in decades, the Himalayan Mountains could be seen from 100 miles away. The canals in Venice were so clear you could see the fish swimming in them, and lions were sleeping on the roads in South Africa. All of these developments, and others like them, were the consequences of a global reduction in fossil-fuel emissions. 

Alas, none of this is the result of popular political pressure to finally bring fossil-fuel capitalism to heel. It is, rather, a byproduct of the economic shutdowns and travel restrictions that have been put in place by most nations in order to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Continued Border Lockdown Could Mean Starvation for Afghans

Afghanistan, COVID-19 Can Mean Starvation

by Voices for Creative Nonviolence - United Kingdom

20th April 2020

As Kabul enters a third week of strictly-enforced lock down, what do the restrictions mean for those living below the poverty line?

Border closures, export restrictions among Afghanistan’s neighbours 

have put pressure on domestic food supplies. - New Humanitarian

The first item on everyone’s minds is food. Some fear that, as flour prices rise, the small, local bakeries will close. ‘It is better to die of the coronavirus rather than die of poverty,’ says Mohammada Jan, a shoemaker in Kabul. Jan Ali, a labourer, laments, ‘Hunger will kill us before we are killed by the coronavirus. We are stuck between two deaths.’

Mauvais Plan: Macron's Police Response to Food Worries Raises Tensions

Police in Seine-Saint-Denis suburbs of Paris prepare for food riots

by Anthony Torres  - WSWS

27 April 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic is exposing the class gulf separating workers from the financial aristocracy, which refuses to ensure decent health and food conditions for masses of people.

As imperialist governments shower financial markets with trillions of euros (or dollars), the World Food Program foresees that the number of people facing starvation this year could double to 265 million. Food riots have erupted in Africa and Latin America, from Cape Town to Caracas, and could break out in some of the world’s wealthiest cities.

A Star (Chamber) Is Born: Dutch MH17 Trial to Accept Secret Prosecutorial Testimony

BLIND JUSTICE, DUMB LAWYERS IN THE MH17 TRIAL — NEW DUTCH COURT RULING ALLOWS SECRET WITNESS TESTIMONY FOR THE PROSECUTION

by John Helmer, Moscow

@bears_with

April 26, 2020

A new ruling by three Dutch judges in the trial of Russia for having shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 will allow the Ukrainian secret service, the SBU, to present fabricated witness evidence without investigation or cross-examination by defence lawyers representing one of the four military officers accused of launching a BUK anti-aircraft missile at MH17. On July 17, 2014, the aircraft was destroyed above eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.

The two Dutch defence lawyers, Sabine ten Doesschate (lead image, centre) and Boudewijn van Eijck (right), have attempted to keep the court proceeding secret since mid-March when they were asked to clarify if they had filed a challenge to the use of secret witness statements in the trial, which began hearings in public on March 9.

Liberating Finally the World from War

War Abolition and Italian Liberation Day

by David Swanson - World BEYOND War

April 26, 2020

David Swanson was to speak at a conference in Florence, Italy, on April 25, 2020. The conference became a video instead. Below is the video and text of Swanson’s portion. As soon as we receive the video or text of the whole, in Italian or English, we will post it at worldbeyondwar.org. The video aired on April 25 on PandoraTV and on ByoBlu. Details on the full conference are here.

Sadly, Giulietto Chiesa, director of Pandora TV, died a few hours after attending this conference on live-streaming. Giulietto’s last public participation was his presenting the portion of the conference that concerned Julian Assange and his father John Shipton’s interview.

Swanson’s remarks transcribed below.