Alternative News

Articles from non-mainstream as opposed to corporate for profit sources.

No, the Coronavirus is Not Responsible for the Fall of Stock Prices

Details: Published on Wednesday, 11 March 2020 04:24; Written by editor

~~~~~~~~~~~~~(((( T h e B u l l e t ))))~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2018 ... March 11, 2020
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No, the Coronavirus is Not Responsible for the Fall of Stock Prices

Éric Toussaint

We are witnessing a big crisis in the stock markets on Wall Street, Europe, Japan and Shanghai, and many blame the coronavirus for it. In the last week of February 2020, the worst week since October 2008, the Dow Jones fell 12.4%, the S&P 500 fell 11.5% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 10.5%. The scenario is similar in Europe and Asia for the corresponding period. On the London Stock Exchange, the FTSE-100 fell by 11.32%, in Paris the CAC 40 fell by 12%, in Frankfurt the DAX lost 12.44%, on the Tokyo Stock Exchange the Nikkei fell by 9.6%, the Chinese stock exchanges (Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong) also fell.

On Monday, March 2, following (promises of) massive interventions by central banks to support the stock markets, most of the indices went up again except in London. On Tuesday, March 3, the panicked US central bank, the Fed, lowered its key rate by 0.50%, which is a considerable drop. The...

Renewal. Justice. Community: RAVEN's News from the Nest

Details: Published on Wednesday, 11 March 2020 04:16; Written by editor

Renewal. Justice. Community: RAVEN's News from the Nest r1 ...

CFSC E-News | Understanding the UN Declaration

Details: Published on Tuesday, 10 March 2020 10:24; Written by editor

Download this newsletter in PDF.

Understanding the UN Declaration

A recent webinar included CFSC staff Jennifer Preston and associate member Paul Joffe. They joined Tara Marsden and Loretta Williams to help explain the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, provide context and background, and offer examples of how the Declaration is applied (and not) on the ground:

What are people saying about Are We Done Fighting?

We've collected these links all together in one place to make it easy to check reader reviews, the on-going Psychology Today blog, and media coverage of CFSC's book Are We Done Fighting? https://quakerservice.ca/AreWeDoneFighting

Tipping point for climate action

Details: Published on Tuesday, 10 March 2020 09:20; Written by editor

You're winning in so many ways!

You did it, A!

Teck Frontier mine, the biggest tarsands mine ever proposed, just got cancelled and death knells are sounding for the Trans Mountain pipeline, after PM Trudeau finally released the true cost of the disastrous pipeline.

Not only that, your pressure forced major dairy producer, Saputo, to commit to a 50% food waste reduction by 2025, which means a massive reduction of GHG emissions from food waste.

Here’s a run-down of how you're winning.

You helped stop the biggest tarsands mine ever!

Picture of Tarsands mine with a cancelled stamp over it and the words you did it

With our partners at Leadnow and 350 .org leading the charge, members like you have been supporting the fight against this carbon bomb for years.

When the Canadian government released its new climate requirements for new fossil fuel projects, over 12,000 members like you called on the government to include Teck Mine in that assessment.

You also chipped in to fund a historic Indigenous conference to build strategies to...

Contradictions of Post-Soviet Ukraine and the New Left

Details: Published on Tuesday, 10 March 2020 02:24; Written by editor

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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2017 ... March 10, 2020
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Contradictions of Post-Soviet Ukraine and the New Left

Volodymyr Ishchenko

Ukraine ended the 1980s as one of the most advanced parts of the Soviet super-power with a developed machine-building industry. Thirty years later, Ukraine’s major economic indicators are on a par with many Third World countries. The country is fundamentally dependent on the financial, political, and military support of the West, with politics dominated by a handful of powerful oligarchs, right-wing paramilitaries regularly marching on the streets, and a part of the country annexed by neighboring Russia and another part torn through by the frontline. It can rightfully be called the northernmost country of the Global South. Moreover, there is not any relevant political force with a vision of alternative progressive national development.

Several profound contradictions have defined the dynamics of the Ukrainian economy, politics and society since the collapse of the Soviet Union: the contradiction between transnational and local capital, those between factions of the local capital, Ukrainian national identity contradictions, geopolitical contradictions with Russia, the US, and EU, and contradictions between civil...

Shooting seals

Details: Published on Monday, 09 March 2020 09:08; Written by editor

A, did you see this?

Right now, the people of a tiny Scottish island are getting ready to take on a global fish farming corporation. Locals are desperate to save their home and our oceans from a grotesque super-sized salmon farm.

They have just days left to convince local authorities to reject this mega-farm -- so they’ve asked for your help today.

Please, can you chip in to save our oceans from reckless fish farming?

If you’ve saved your payment information with SumOfUs, your donation will go through immediately:

Donate CA$94 now Donate CA$141 now Read more: Shooting seals

CFSC E-News | Understanding the UN Declaration

Details: Published on Monday, 09 March 2020 06:44; Written by editor

Download this newsletter in PDF.

Understanding the UN Declaration

Read more: CFSC E-News | Understanding the UN Declaration

Class (Size) Struggle: The Ontario Government's Latest Game

Details: Published on Monday, 09 March 2020 04:06; Written by editor

~~~~~~~~~~~~~(((( T h e B u l l e t ))))~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2016 ... March 9, 2020
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Class (Size) Struggle: The Ontario Government’s Latest Game

Dudley Paul

Anything that Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce says should be taken with a bag of salt. His ability to dissemble is astonishing. So, when he said on Tuesday afternoon that high school class sizes would be 23 starting in the 2020-21 school year and that parents would be able to opt out of e-learning courses required to obtain a secondary school diploma, it was time to get out and polish the magnifying glass.

Minister Lecce said that class averages for high schools would be "effectively the same as this year." He’s gone on to reiterate that point since. Challenged on CBC’s Metro Morning last Wednesday about why he was increasing class sizes at all, he retorted: "we’re freezing them at the current rate. Next year’s rate will be effectively 23." Mr. Lecce is also "freezing" the average class sizes from grades 4 to 8 at their current rate of 24.5. The trouble is that, up until the beginning of this school year average class...

Socialist Feminist Cabaret: A Rapist in Your Path

Details: Published on Sunday, 08 March 2020 04:04; Written by editor

LeftStreamed — Recorded in Toronto, 29 February 2020

Socialist Feminist Cabaret: A Rapist in Your Path

Presentation of "A Rapist in Your Path" in English and "Un violador en tu camino" in Spanish with Canadian-Chilean solidarity group Apoyamos Chile.

Part of the Socialist Feminist Cabaret 2020. MC’ed by Nithya Nagarajan.

A Rapist in Your Path
By Las Tesis – Feminist collective in Chile.

The patriarchy is a judge
That judges us for being born
And our punishment
Is the violence you don’t see

The patriarchy is a judge
That judges us for being born
And our punishment
Is the violence that you can see

It’s femicide
Impunity for my killer
It’s a disappearance
It’s rape

And the fault wasn’t mine,
not where I was, not how I dressed
And the fault wasn’t mine,
not where I was, not how I dressed
And the fault wasn’t mine,
not where I was, not how I dressed
And the fault wasn’t mine,
not where I was, not how I dressed

The rapist was you
The rapist is you

It’s the...

Shooting seals

Details: Published on Sunday, 08 March 2020 04:00; Written by editor

Reckless fish farming is turning our oceans into cemeteries.

You can save ocean wildlife from corporate greed -- it starts with a tiny island off the West coast of Scotland. Fearless ocean defenders need your help today to take on the greedy salmon industry and stop the destruction.

Can you rush an urgent donation to these volunteers?

scottish grey seal

If you’ve saved your payment information with SumOfUs, your donation will go through immediately:

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PBI accompanied lawyer to visit Canada

Details: Published on Wednesday, 18 November 2020 13:22; Written by editor

If you post photos on Facebook, read this now

Details: Published on Friday, 06 March 2020 04:46; Written by editor

Tell Facebook to stop our family photos being used to build the world's most powerful facial recognition tool.

Sign the petition

A new tech company, Clearview AI, is using billions of the photos you and I have posted on Facebook to build the world’s most powerful facial recognition tool.

Unless we act to stop it, anyone could download this app, take a picture of you and within seconds know your name, where you live and where your kids go to school.

But Facebook can stop this nightmare technology before it takes over. And pressure is mounting -- Twitter, Google, Youtube and LinkedIn have already told Clearview to stop scraping photos or face legal action, and Apple has blocked the app. If thousands of us call on Facebook to join them now, we can stop this dystopian future before it starts.

Tell Facebook to stop letting Clearview steal...

The Transnational Activism of Dockworkers

Details: Published on Friday, 06 March 2020 02:36; Written by editor

~~~~~~~~~~~~~(((( T h e B u l l e t ))))~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2015 ... March 6, 2020
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The Transnational Activism of Dockworkers

Peter Cole

"Interfere with the foreign policy of the country? Sure as hell! That’s our job, that’s our privilege, that’s our right, that’s our duty" -- Harry Bridges, 1974.

Dockworkers have power. That’s the basic argument of my book which is named -- yes -- Dockworker Power: Race and Activism in Durban and the San Francisco Bay Area. Using comparative, transnational, and global labour historical methods, Dockworker Power brings to light perhaps surprising parallels in the experiences of dockers half a world away from each other. It’s the first comparative history of dockers in ports in what, loosely, have been called the Global North and the Global South, and among the first spanning both the traditional and the container eras of shipping. Historically, dockworkers have been able to change their conditions and promote social justice causes around the world. Notably, they continue to operate at a strategic choke point of the global supply chain, and they still appreciate their importance despite being largely invisible to the wider public.
Read more: The Transnational Activism of Dockworkers

Yesterday was huge

Details: Published on Thursday, 05 March 2020 10:40; Written by editor

Friends,

Yesterday, over 5,000 students on 38 campuses walked out of classes in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs. Young people from Prince Edward Island to Vancouver Island stood together to demand that the RCMP and Coastal GasLink fully withdraw from unsurrendered Wet’suwet’en territory immediately. It was one of the biggest moments of collective solidarity yet, and a clear sign that the Wet’suwet’en solidarity movement isn’t slowing down.

Watch the national student walkout wrap up video here. Please note that this link will take you to a video posted on Facebook.

As students took to the streets in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en land defenders, we delivered over 35,000 signatures to Export Development Canada, calling on them to reject a multi-million dollar loan for the Coastal GasLink Pipeline.1

A massive crowd joined my teammate Katie as she, in partnership with Leadnow and Oil Change International, delivered over 35,000 signatures to Export Development Canada. Photo Credit: Canute Planthara

If you haven’t signed the petition yet, it's not too late! Tell Export Development Canada that it’s unacceptable...

A year ago, this article took our campaign to the next level!

Details: Published on Thursday, 05 March 2020 08:04; Written by editor

It lifted the lid on abuse that remained hidden for far too long

Dear friend,

A year ago today, BuzzFeed News published the first in a series of reports that changed everything...

With the help of evidence provided by Survival researchers, BuzzFeed News launched their own investigation and lifted the lid on a hidden scandal: WWF funds guards that torture and kill people, including tribal people simply trying to access their ancestral land.

COVID-19

Details: Published on Thursday, 05 March 2020 07:22; Written by editor

“If you feel sick, stay home.” Those are the orders to workers at delivery and rideshare companies like Amazon, Uber, Deliveroo and many others.

But that’s not a choice when taking a single day off means not being able to pay rent or feed your family.

As the coronavirus spreads, we must demand companies grant their workers paid sick leave now -- before it’s too late.

Sign the petition

Right now, as the coronavirus escalates, some workers are more exposed than others. Drivers for Amazon, Uber, Deliveroo and others are busy delivering supplies to affected people and taking passengers to doctors.

Their work exposes them to greater risk than many of us face. And what’s worse -- many of them are forced to work when they’re sick because they aren’t given paid sick leave!

As more and more people stay home, these companies are getting swamped with business. Now more than ever we need to protect workers so they can serve as lifelines to...

Read more: COVID-19

I like big stories. Itty bitty stories. Mississippi stories. Inner city stories.

Details: Published on Thursday, 05 March 2020 07:02; Written by editor

I like big stories. Itty bitty stories. Mississippi stories. Inner city stories. r1 ...

Unions, Organizing, and the Fight for Democracy

Details: Published on Thursday, 05 March 2020 03:58; Written by editor

~~~~~~~~~~~~~(((( T h e B u l l e t ))))~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 2014 ... March 5, 2020
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Unions, Organizing, and the Fight for Democracy

Jane McAlevey

Despite the weakened state of most unions, workers today who are either forming new ones or reforming older ones point us in the direction of how to solve the crisis engulfing our society and our politics. In the midterm elections in 2018 -- dubbed the year of the woman -- the misogyny oozing from the White House was somewhat rebuked at the polls. Yet the year before, working women scored a series of thoroughly impressive wins, just after Donald Trump lost the popular vote but eked out a win from the Electoral College. Many of those victories received far less media attention. As in the midterm elections, men contributed to these wins, certainly, but the central characters were women -- often women of color -- who waged tireless campaigns of which the outcomes would have drastic consequences. Chapter 1 discusses three such examples of women winning big.

The arena for these battles was the workplace, in the mostly female sectors of the economy such as...

The Wetsuweten arent backing down, and neither are we.

Details: Published on Wednesday, 04 March 2020 15:16; Written by editor

The Wet’suwet’en aren’t backing down, and neither are we. r1 ...

CoDevelopment Canada Special Event

Details: Published on Wednesday, 04 March 2020 15:02; Written by editor

CoDevelopment Canada Special Event r1 ...

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