World Bee Day

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Published on Wednesday, 20 May 2020 07:18

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It’s World Bee Day — Let’s Protect our Pollinators!

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Choosing Between Life and Capital in Latin America

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Published on Wednesday, 20 May 2020 00:44

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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2097 ... May 20, 2020
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Choosing Between Life and Capital in Latin America

As in most parts of the world, Latin America is struggling to contain the COVID-19 pandemic with confirmed cases and deaths still escalating. In some countries, notably Brazil and Ecuador, the situation is grim, while in Mexico and Peru the setting remains anxious, and no country is insulated from the threat of a deadly virus with no known vaccine. The outbreak is unfolding in a context where health systems have been vastly under-supplied and run-down for decades, scarcely being improved in the period of the ‘pink tide’ of ‘progressive’ governments. The states of Latin America continue to bear the weight of decades on neoliberal globalization and social polarization, along many axes of inequality. The impact of the current severe global economic downturn, from a policy-induced shutdown and the end of what was a very weak expansion after the 2008-10 ‘great financial crisis’, has made for a compounded crisis of unusual depth, breadth, and unknown duration across the continent. To observe that there will be significant political consequences is...

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Your Points Summary

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Published on Wednesday, 20 May 2020 00:22

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BlackRock

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Published on Tuesday, 19 May 2020 09:48

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A,

BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager, with 6 trillion dollars worth of assets including climate-destroying corporations such as ExxonMobil and Chevron.

Thanks to relentless pressure, including tens of thousands of SumOfUs members like you, BlackRock’s CEO - Larry Fink - wrote a very public letter saying it would act on climate.

But so far there has been no climate action from BlackRock -- just a bunch of hot air.

The month of May is full of annual meetings for corporations -- a time when shareholders vote on agenda-setting proposals for the rest of the year, including ones to do with all of our climate future. BlackRock is a massive shareholder for fossil fuel giants like ExxonMobil and Chevron and can affect the course of these climate chaos companies, by voting for planet-friendly resolutions.

Tomorrow is BlackRock’s annual meeting, and our friends have a real life hot air balloon in New York and are creating a street mural full of hot air balloon imagery in San Francisco saying “BlackRock: Hot Air on Climate”.

You can’t be there in person, so please tweet BlackRock and call on them to vote the right way on key climate votes at Exxon and...

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In and Against the Brazilian State

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Published on Tuesday, 19 May 2020 00:42

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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2096 ... May 19, 2020
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In and Against the Brazilian State

Leo Panitch

Following the demise of the communist regimes, and the collaboration of so many social-democratic parties in neoliberal, capitalist globalization, a strong anarchist sensibility emerged, quite understandably, on the radical left, and remained influential for a considerable period of time. From the continent-spanning anti-globalization protests at the turn of the millennium to the rapid spread of Occupy Wall Street from New York to other US and international cities, the predominant mood reflected a widespread suspicion, if not disdain, for any political strategy that involved going into the state.

And then, rather suddenly, there seemed to be a widespread realization that you can protest until hell freezes over, but you won’t change the world that way. That realization came during the very short time bridging the occupations of the squares in Madrid and Athens and the rapid electoral breakthroughs of Syriza and Podemos. It also seeded the Corbyn and Sanders insurgencies inside the dominant center-left parties of the United Kingdom and the United States.

John Holloway’s work...

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Following Mexicos Worker Strikes, the US Steps in to Keep Border Factories Open

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Published on Sunday, 17 May 2020 23:28

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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2095 ... May 18, 2020
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Following Mexico’s Worker Strikes, the US Steps in to Keep Border Factories Open

David Bacon

In Washington, D.C., President Donald Trump is trying his best to reopen closed meatpacking plants, as packinghouse workers catch the COVID-19 virus and die. In Tijuana, Mexico, where workers are dying in mostly US-owned factories (known as maquiladoras) that produce and export goods to the US, the Baja California state governor, a former California Republican Party stalwart, is doing the same thing.

Jaime Bonilla Valdez rode into the governorship in 2018 on the coattails of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. And at first, as a leading member of López Obrador’s MORENA Party, he was a strong voice calling for the factories on the border to suspend production.

López Obrador himself was criticized for not acting rapidly enough against the pandemic. But in late March, in the face of Mexico’s rising COVID-19 death toll, he finally declared a State of Health Emergency. Nonessential businesses were ordered to shut their doors, and to continue paying workers’ wages until April...

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Tell the government of Canada action is urgently needed to protect food workers' lives and safety!

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Published on Sunday, 17 May 2020 21:52

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Will the Pandemic Set Women Back?

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Published on Sunday, 17 May 2020 12:46

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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2094 ... May 17, 2020
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Will the Pandemic Set Women Back?

Beth English and Kelly Pike

By sapping demand for garments and other goods produced in export-oriented developing and emerging economies, the COVID-19 pandemic poses an acute threat to women workers and progress toward greater gender equality. In addressing the economic fallout of the public-health crisis, policymakers must tailor their response accordingly.

In April, the International Labour Organization (ILO) predicted that 195 million workers worldwide would "suffer severely" in the second quarter of this year, owing to the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. And markets remain shaky, raising fears of a recession more severe and prolonged than that following the 2008 financial crisis. The stakes are high for everyone, but particularly for women – and especially for women in developing and emerging economies.

A recession (or even depression) would cause more than just economic losses. The experience of the post-2008 period suggests that women’s advances will be rolled back substantially, even among those already doing low-income work. In that case, the gains will be difficult, if not...

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COVID-19 and Actually Existing Unions

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Published on Sunday, 17 May 2020 01:16

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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2093 ... May 17, 2020
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COVID-19 and ‘Actually Existing’ Unions

Steven Tufts

The shut-down of non-essential work in response to COVID-19 has decimated labour markets. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 20.5 million more workers lost their jobs in April, as official unemployment skyrocketed to 14.7%. It is the largest single-month increase in unemployment since the data series started in 1948. In Canada, the news was not any better as Statistics Canada reported that another 2 million jobs were lost in April following 1 million jobs lost in March as the unemployment rate increased to 13%. This percentage is a wild underestimation of the full impact of reduced hours and underemployment.

Over 7.3 million workers in Canada have now received the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), and another 1.7 million are still employed through Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS), now extended beyond is original June expiry date.

Healthcare and other workers deemed ‘essential’ are employed but risk their personal safety with every shift. Unions have fought for better protective measures for frontline workers and have successfully...

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How we stop starvation

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Published on Saturday, 16 May 2020 04:04

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Global Citizen, Idris and Sabrina Elba Talk World Hunger With Canadian Government Minister

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The Deadly Consequences of Neoliberalism: The Covid-19 Pandemic in Germany

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Published on Saturday, 16 May 2020 03:06

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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2092 ... May 16, 2020
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The Deadly Consequences of Neoliberalism: The Covid-19 Pandemic in Germany

Unlike the endless praises in the liberal and social democratic press in North America, the Covid-19 pandemic is relentlessly uncovering the weaknesses of the German healthcare system -- the deadly consequence of two decades of neoliberal policies. Indeed, just last week the London-based Financial Times reported on a rebound of cases in Germany. Thomas Sablowski works for the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, a research and political education centre aligned with the German socialist party Die Linke. Thomas is a senior research fellow in the area of political economy of globalization, a member of Die Linke, and on the scientific advisory board of Attac Germany. Thomas was interviewed by Saliha Boussedra of the French journal Cause Commune in late April.

Cause Commune (CC): There have been far fewer deaths in Germany than in France. How do you explain this?

Thomas Sablowski (TS): We still know relatively little about this new corona virus and the dynamics of the Covid-19 pandemic. Comparisons between countries are difficult because the testing practices...

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Call on Canada to act on UN resolution on land defenders

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Published on Wednesday, 18 November 2020 13:22

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[Corrected] Together we've done something amazing!

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Published on Friday, 15 May 2020 07:44

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Thank you!

Dear BCCLA Supporter,

I just sent an email to you with an incorrect subject line - I'm so sorry about that. Please see the correct email below:

Last week was so inspiring.

We reached out to you to support our urgent advocacy work in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In response, close to 100 of our community members joined us and donated $5,000!

Raising this amount of money during a time of such economic uncertainty is a testament to the generosity of our community. We are so grateful for your support.

Your gifts support urgent advocacy work in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. They support the creation of resources and factsheets. They support meetings with government officials and phone calls to community partners as we team up in our work.

Because of you, we can continue advocacy work and public education initiatives. Your support means information and empowerment for our community. Thank you for making this possible.

We have one goal: to make...

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We need to flatten social inequality

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Published on Friday, 15 May 2020 07:38

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Thank you!

Dear BCCLA Supporter,

Last week was so inspiring.

We reached out to you to support our urgent advocacy work in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In response, close to 100 of our community members joined us and donated $5,000!

Raising this amount of money during a time of such economic uncertainty is a testament to the generosity of our community. We are so grateful for your support.

Your gifts support urgent advocacy work in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. They support the creation of resources and factsheets. They support meetings with government officials and phone calls to community partners as we team up in our work.

Because of you, we can continue advocacy work and public education initiatives. Your support means information and empowerment for our community. Thank you for making this possible.

We have one goal: to make sure that no one is left behind in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and that unreasonable government overreach is held to account....

Read more: We need to flatten social inequality