Police raids in Bure, France, attempted to disrupt resistance to a deep geologic repository for nuclear waste.
Articles
Puerto Rico devastated by hurricanes, colonial exploitation, and Trump’s racism
October 1, 2017We condemn the racist response of the Trump administration to the desperate situation in Puerto Rico. What we are seeing there is nothing less than a physical and moral apocalypse.
Earthquakes in Mexico: a wake-up call
September 26, 2017An in-person report of the recent devastating earthquakes in Mexico and how social conditions including capitalism, government corruption, etc., negatively affect rescue efforts; how everyday people’s self-organization makes a significant difference.
What it means to be ‘a good company man’
September 19, 2017Retired miner and Marxist-Humanist Andy Phillips recounts an incident from the Consolidation Coal Company whose foreman refused compensation for a worker who sustained a back injury from years of laying 10 foot steel rails that weighed 60 pounds a foot.
The struggle for the meaning of history
On Aug. 27 in Berkeley, Calif., thousands came out to protest an “alt-right,” “No to Marxism,” demonstration including Black Lives Matter, feminists, Muslims, immigrants, leftists, and ordinary citizens against “hate.”
September-October 2017 issue is online!
September 7, 2017The September-October 2017 issue of News & Letters, Vol. 62, #5, is available on the web.
View the issue online or as pdf.
Lead article: Rising U.S. racism challenges all freedom movements
A Marxist-Humanist analysis of the history and meaning of the rising of the right-wing neo-Nazi white supremacist movement, its relationship to President Donald Trump and his administration, and its challenge to the [=>]
‘Detroit’ offends Detroit
September 5, 2017Detroit activists reviews the film, “Detroit,” and finds it insulting to actual history and a “brilliantly filmed wasted opportunity.”
Readers’ Views: September-October 2017, Part 2
Readers’ Views: Marx’s concept of theory; we are not a game; voices from behind bars.
Readers’ Views: September-October 2017, Part 1
Readers’ Views: facing far right’s threat; don’t scapegoat; Canadian strike; Transgender troops; women’s liberation; homeless in Los Angeles; defend dissidents; why read N&L.
Appeal: Your help is needed to change the world
An appeal for funds to keep Marxist-Humanism alive and to help News and Letters Committees continue to grow. .
Voices from the inside out: ‘Agreement to End Hostilities’ 5th anniversary
Prisoner Faruq writes about the meaning of the fifth anniversary of the historic “Agreement to End Hostilities” that continues to challenge the racism imposed on prisoners in the California prison system and elsewhere. .
Editorial: Venezuela: Which way forward?
Editorial on the situation in Venezuela including the deterioration of living conditions; the repression practiced by the United Socialist Party of Venezuela and their attempt to gut Venezuela’s Bolivarian Constitution; and the personality cult built around Hugo Chávez, revealing contradictions in the movements for freedom. .
Voices from the Inside Out: Death by incarceration
Among the reasons U.S. prisoners die in prison or are unable to reintegrate into society upon release are: lengthy incarceration, especially for minor crimes; lack of mental and physical healthcare; lack of effective rehabilitation.
Picket line solidarity shuts bus yard
In person report of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) mechanics at the Foothill Transit operations yard in Pomona going on strike on the morning of Aug. 7.
The struggle in Diego Garcia continues
Mauritians get closer to reunification as the UN General Assembly Resolution for an Advisory Opinion from the UN’s International Court of Justice is approved by a wide margin, much to the disappointment of the UK and US.
Queer Notes, September-October 2017
September 3, 2017Round up of news about LGBTQ people including: Transgender people rally against Texas discriminatory bathroom bill; International Non-Binary Day celebrations; World Pride 2017 was celebrated in Spain; and Illinois becomes the second state in the U.S. to pass legislation banning so-called Gay and Transgender panic defense.
World in View: When war opens the door to famine
A general view of the humanitarian crises caused by civil war in South Sudan, Yemen, Somalia and Nigeria.
World in View: Kurdish referendum
Iraqi Kurds are scheduled to vote on Sept. 25, 2017, in a referendum on independence for Iraqi Kurdistan, which is expected to pass easily.
World in View: China and U.S. extend internet censorship
China extended its state censorship. Meanwhile, facebook may be the world’s biggest censor, especially of voices from the Left..
World in View: Chile abortion rights
Chilean women won a limited but important victory Aug. 21., when the Constitutional Tribunal ruled to legalize abortion in three situations: rape, incest, and when the woman’s life is in danger.
World in View: Sellout in Burma
Despite the electoral victory of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party over the dictatorship in Myanmar (Burma), for the Muslim Rohingya minority in this Buddhist majority country there has only been an intensification of repression which is occurring with the acquiescence of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Humanity confronting annihilation
The peace march on Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to commemorate over 70,000 lives lost at the atomic bombing of Nagasaki on Aug. 9 in Livermore, Calif., bring up questions of Marxism, humanism, and the alternative necessary new society.
Cyclists demand bike lanes in Skid Row
On July 8, 60 residents and activists rode bikes from Skid Row to City Hall to protest the lack of bike lanes in their neighborhood, despite the large number of bicycle riders living there.
Rising U.S. racism challenges all freedom movements
September 2, 2017A Marxist-Humanist analysis of the history and meaning of the rising of the right-wing neo-Nazi white supremacist movement, its relationship to President Donald Trump and his administration, and its challenge to the freedom forces arrayed against it who are fighting for a humanist world. .
Chicagoans defend Genoveva Ramirez against ICE
August 31, 2017Hundreds demonstrated Aug. 31 outside Chicago offices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, supporting Genoveva Ramirez and all others being threatened with deportation.
Auto jobs and 1967 Detroit Rebellion
On the 50th anniversary of the Detroit rebellion, “The Origins Of The Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit,” written in 1996 by Thomas Sugrue, is again timely.
Letter from Mexico, September-October 2017: Where Ayotzinapa movement can lead
Sept. 26 is the third anniversary of the forced disappearance of 43 students from the rural normal school Raúl Isidro Burgos in Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, nevertheless their parents and fellow students continue to agitate for their return.
KC labor fights
Days before the “right-to-work” bill enacted by the Republican-controlled state government was due to go into effect on Aug. 28, Missouri unions and civil rights groups turned in more than 300,000 signatures that postponed its taking effect
Yemeni women’s fight for freedom
Perspective of a feminist and reflective Yemeni journalist on the humanitarian crisis in that country and its possible solutions. .
Women Worldwide, September-October 2017
Women Worldwide column on Sheila Michaels’ popularization of “Ms.”; the Dutch anti-trafficking organization Free a Girl; and Nighat Dad, founder of Digital Rights Foundation.
‘God Knows Where I Am’ is retrogressive
A new film, “God Knows Where I Am” is presented as a documentary, but is in fact an attack on the right of psychiatric patients to give informed consent to psychiatric medication.
Woman fights ICE
On July 20 a remarkable collection of people from many faiths gathered in front of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) offices in San Francisco to urge them to release Veronica Zepeda from Mesa Verde Detention Facility.
Chicago auto mechanics strike!
Striking journeyman speaking on their strike against about 140 new car dealerships in the Chicago area, for a better wage and to change the structure.
SlutWalk hijacked
In-person report of the Aug. 13 SlutWalk in Chicago including how it was highjacked by A Wider Bridge and the Chicago Police.
Now online! Guide to the Raya Dunayevskaya Collection, the Marxist-Humanist Archives
August 29, 2017The new online Guide at www.rayadunayevskaya.org contains clickable links to all the documents in the Archives. .
New book: Dunayevskaya on Russian Revolution
On the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, a new book collects writings by Raya Dunayevskaya on the Revolution, counter-revolution, and their consequences, aiming to help create new revolutionary beginnings today. .
Handicap This! September-October 2017
New Jersey medical parole passed; Chicago cop shoots autistic teen; films lack characters with disabilities.
China border controls
China: protests against Hong Kong repression, border push into Bhutan vs. India, repression of Uyghurs.
Detroit cops’ abuses
Detroit police invaded our neighborhood, indiscriminately stopping people and impounding cars.
From the writings of Raya Dunayevskaya: A concrete universal: Marx’s ‘Capital’–Part 2
August 28, 2017Continuing to mark the 150th anniversary of Karl Marx’s Capital, we present excerpts from “Marx’s Transcendence of and Return to Hegel’s Dialectic,” taking up the profound humanist transformation from Marx’s Grundrisse into Capital.
Brexit is a portmanteau
Poem by Paul Geist begins: Brexit is a portmanteau word/ so is brunch/ but I’m bored with politics/ unless it’s about human emancipation…
Fighting back against the rise of neo-Nazi hate
In-person reports of demonstrations in Chicago, Memphis, Oregon, Los Angeles and Halifax in Canada in solidarity with activists in Charlottesville, Va., fighting against neo-fascism and demanding to take down Confederate statues. .
Chicago mechanics on strike!
August 14, 2017A striker speaks from one of the auto mechanics’ picket lines at 140 car dealerships in the Chicago area. .
Fascism declares civil war in Charlottesville, Virginia
August 13, 2017Analysis of the violent invasion of Charlottesville, Va., the significance of the broader advance of fascism, and the opposite to it in human forces and reason.
Venezuela, ‘Chavismo’ in total crisis—which way out?
August 8, 2017As Venezuela’s social crisis deepens, the contradictions always present in Chavismo are coming to a head. A look at the Bolivarian Constitution, Chavismo’s relationship to the Arab Spring, and its dependence on high oil prices and a top leader illuminate the crisis.
Workers join ranks against Keolis Transit Service
Mechanics went on strike at Foothill Transit in Pomona, Calif., and were joined on the picket line by bus drivers.
Now available online! Guide to the Raya Dunayevskaya Collection, the Marxist-Humanist Archives
July 29, 2017The new online Guide with links to all the documents is an extremely useful finding tool that helps the reader or researcher locate items and grasp the structure of the Archives. The website of the Raya Dunayevskaya Memorial Fund presents the Raya Dunayevskaya Collection as she organized it, together with the Supplement.
July-August 2017 N&L available on the web
July 7, 2017The July-August 2017 issue of News & Letters, Vol. 62, #4, is available on the web.
View the issue online or as pdf.
Lead article: The struggle for immigrants’ rights challenges humanity
The massive increase in inhuman attacks against immigrants and undocumented people in the U.S. is spurring new activism and urgency.
From the writings of Raya Dunayevskaya: A concrete [=>]
Readers’ Views: July-August 2017, Part 2
July 6, 2017Readers’ Views on Cooperative Form of Labor vs. Abstract Labor; Marx vs. Trump-Putin; Voices From Behind Bars
Youth in Action, July-August 2017
Youth in action in Bayonne High School in New Jersey, Independence, Mo., Venice High School in Calif., Vernon Township High School in New Jersey and in Charlotte, N.C.