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Military Resistance 14F8

England Arise:“The Politicians, The Rich And The

Powerful Who Are So Used To Getting Their Own Way Have Suffered A Massive Reverse”

“A Roar Of A Defiance Against The Westminster Elite”

“Just As In So Many Other Parts Of The World, There Is A Revolt Going On Against The People At The Top Of

Society”

24 Jun 2016 by Charlie Kimber, Socialist Worker [England] [Excerpts]

David Cameron has resigned, and the Leave vote in the EU referendum has hurled the Tory party, and the British and European establishments, into a profound crisis.

Cameron’s desperate referendum gamble has failed, his party is split in half.

The pound and share prices are falling and the “masters of the universe” have felt the sting of rejection.

Despite Remain having the support of the Tories, Labour, the SNP, Plaid Cymru, the Lib Dems, the Greens, Sinn Fein, practically every bosses’ and international finance body, thousands of “top executives” and the leaders of dozens of states including the US, more than half of those voting backed Leave.

It is time for everyone on the left and all anti-racists, however they voted, to unite and fight against austerity, the destruction of public services, the attacks on refugees, Islamophobia and the fascists who created the conditions for the murder of Jo Cox.

The politicians, the rich and the powerful who are so used to getting their own way have suffered a massive reverse.

Just as in so many other parts of the world, there is a revolt going on against the people at the top of society. It can be dragged left or right. It is our job to shape it.

The right will try to use the Leave vote to deepen racism. This is a danger, but it is far from inevitable.

It is a lie that the millions of workers who voted Leave are all racists. The mainstream Leave campaign was headed by racists and horrible right wing forces, but a large part of the Leave vote was very different.

One poll taken just before the vote showed that the majority of Leave voters thought that immigration had a good impact or no impact or the areas where they lived. And a fifth thought immigration was positive for Britain as a whole.

Another poll found that a third of Labour voters at the 2015 general election, and a third of Green voters were going to back Leave.

There are deep pools of bitterness and frustration everywhere across Britain.

The Leave vote was for many a rejection of the undemocratic, corporate-controlled EU and the political elites in Britain. This revolt against the rich and powerful must be built on.

Socialist Worker campaigned for an anti-racist, anti-austerity and socialist Leave vote. We are pleased that Leave has won. We know that the #Lexit Left Leave campaign we were part of had only a marginal effect.

But we were able to make sure there was an anti-capitalist Leave voice that did not pander to racism.

We recognise that a substantial section of those who voted Remain did so because they felt it was the best way to push back the racism of Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson.

Others were persuaded that the EU stands for workers’ rights and that a Leave vote would strengthen vile right-wing forces.

We didn’t agree, but it’s crucial that everyone on the left unites to bring down the Tories and to fight racism.

We must come together in the battles against racism, Islamophobia and in support of refugees, build for the march on the Tory conference in Birmingham on 2 October, back the teachers’ strikes in England and all the other strikes, defend the NHS, combat environmental degradation and fracking and much more.

We must not let the Tories recover, and have to fight to make sure this crisis ends with the right shattered and the anti-racist left stronger.

At a time of crisis it is actions we need, not just statements. The more strikes and protests and occupations there are, the better will be the outcome of this Leave vote.

We say Tories out, austerity out, migrants in, general election now!

The official Remain and Leave campaigns and the right wing media ramped up racism against migrants and dragged the debate to the right.

“The Idea That Leave Was A Racist Vote By The “White Working Class” Just Doesn’t Add Up.

But the majority of working class people are not racists.

Working class areas voted for Leave in large numbers, but the idea that Leave was a racist vote by the “white working class” just doesn’t add up.

The three towns outside of London where the “White British” population is a minority produced large Leave votes.

In Luton 45 percent of the population is “White British”—it voted Leave by 56.5 percent on a 66.2 percent turnout.

Similarly in Slough 34.52 percent of the population is “White British”—people there also voted Leave by 54 percent on a 62.1 percent turnout.

Meanwhile in Leicester 45 percent of population are “White British”, and 48.9 percent voted for Leave on a 65 percent turnout.

People in London backed Remain more strongly, but Leave still had strong support among working class people in the capital.

In Newham 47 percent of people voted Leave. The east London borough is one of the poorest and most multicultural boroughs in London, with only 17 percent of the population being “White British”.

Further out in Barking and Dagenham people voted for Leave by 62.4 percent. Again only some 49.46 percent of the population is “White British”.

That’s not to deny that racism is a real problem in society or that immigration has been the key issue for some people, particularly Leave supporters.

But polling shows a contradictory picture. When asked in the abstract some 42 percent of people said immigration had a negative impact on Britain.

But some 51 percent of the total and 47 percent of Remain supporters said immigration had no impact on them personally. Those saying immigration had no impact on them personally was even higher among Leave supporters, at 52 percent.

This resilience is significant considering not a day passes without a politician or a newspaper making some racist statement and demonising migrants.

Many working class people have voted to give the establishment a kicking, while many also accept some reactionary ideas around immigration.

But that’s partly because no one has put an anti-racist argument on immigration to them.

We must unite against austerity and racism and fight together, not abandon working class voters to the racists.

“A Roar Of A Defiance Against The Westminster Elite”

Leading Labour MP Diane Abbott said the vote was not a rejection of immigration but “foremost a roar of a defiance against the Westminster elite”.

That roar has echoed around Europe.

In Greece the EU’s austerity has hammered workers. Socialist Stelios Michaelidis told Socialist Worker, “I’ve just been campaigning in my local town hall, hospital and tax office. Everybody is celebrating the British referendum result.”

Labour left group Momentum issued a statement saying, “Much of this vote reflected anger in communities which have experienced many years of industrial decline with the subsequent loss of secure employment.

“Many such working class communities have been utterly neglected for years by those in power.”

It called on Labour to “clearly demonstrate how it will improve lives through policies that will increase wages, tackle the housing crisis, and give people a greater say at work and in their communities.”

Failure to do so would boost “the populist right, who blame immigrants, not the powerful for the problems in our country”.

Union leaders have vowed to defend workers’ rights. They must be held to their word.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said, “As the UK prepares to leave the European Union, the first priority now is to protect jobs and defend the living standards of working people.”

Stock markets have already plunged and politicians claim this has to mean cuts.

But O’Grady added, “Working people must not pay the price for the decision to leave the EU.”

Right wing Leave campaigners claimed the money saved on the EU would be spent on the NHS. They never meant it and are trying to back out of it.

But Dave Prentis, general secretary of the biggest NHS union Unison, said, “We will be working in the coming weeks and months to hold the Leave campaigners to the promises they’ve made—that there will be more money for the NHS, and that our rights at work will remain intact.”

MORE:

“The Biggest Slap In The Face Ever Delivered To The British Establishment In The History Of Universal Suffrage”

June 24, 2016 By FRASER NELSON, Wall Street Journal [Excerpt]

Never has there been a greater coalition of the establishment than that assembled by Prime Minister David Cameron for his referendum campaign to keep the U.K. in the European Union. There was almost every Westminster party leader, most of their troops and almost every trade union and employers’ federation.

There were retired spy chiefs, historians, football clubs, national treasures like Stephen Hawking and divinities like Keira Knightley.

And some global glamour too: President Barack Obama flew to London to do his bit, and Goldman Sachs opened its checkbook.

And none of it worked. The opinion polls barely moved over the course of the campaign, and 52% of Britons voted to leave the EU. That slender majority was probably the

biggest slap in the face ever delivered to the British establishment in the history of universal suffrage.

MORE:

“The Capitalist Class Is Being Held In Power By Two Instruments – Their Own National State, Which Is The

Primary Instrument, And They Also Have The European Union”“If You Have An Anti-Capitalist

Perspective, It Requires A Breach With The EU”

June 22, 2016 Kevin Ovenden interviewed in LeftEast [Excerpts]

On the question of the European identity: since the Treaty of Rome, until this crisis, the ECU, the European project – it’s never been about something progressive, but it’s always had a progressive story to tell.

And then, in the nineties into the two-thousands: the expansion eastwards, and a promise that it could secure democracy.

Now we see democracy goes out the window, when it comes to Greece.

Senior European officials said: “It doesn’t matter which way you vote – there’s Maastricht, the fiscal pact, and there’s the memorandum.”

So, the EU has undermined that Europeanism, but still essentially the left is clinging to Europeanism – and that’s what they’re doing in Britain, and that’s really a product of the political weaknesses of the left.

The left – and this is what we’re trying to do in Britain with the left exit campaign – the anti-capitalist left (is) trying to clarify what the European Union is, but also to put a clear fighting alternative on the left.

And the fighting alternative will confront the European Union, because the capitalist class is being held in power by two instruments – their own national state, which is the primary instrument, and their own national political system; and they also have the European Union.

In Greece last year, the election of January led to the shattering of the two political instruments of the ruling class – New Democracy, the centre-right party, and PASOK took a beating.

The Greek capitalist class was incapable, politically, of making its fight inside Greece.

It relied upon the European Union, which is a club of the capitalist classes, to conduct that fight for them. When Gerhard Schröder was smashing the Greek government, he wasn’t smashing Greece as a whole – he was smashing the Greek government on behalf of German capital, but also on behalf of Greek capital.

And that’s the relationship between the two.

So, if you have an anti-capitalist perspective, it requires a breach with the EU – you not only need a breach with the national bourgeoisie, you need them both.

MORE:

“In London People Had No Idea Of The Scale Of Discontent Brewing”

24 Jun 16 by Marcus Tanner, BIRN [Excerpts]

Down here in London, people had no idea of the scale of discontent brewing in the run-down towns of the north of England, in the east of England and in Wales.

The leaders of the Remain camp should hang their heads in shame.

Lecturing the country in a patronizing way, ridiculing Exiteers as rustic retards who just didn’t understand economics, and banding about absurd claims about how an “Exit” vote would “delight” Putin’s Russia and ISIS were the wrong way to go.

Provincial England, with its grimy towns and rundown hospitals, is tired of being told that globalization, open borders and mass immigration is an exciting challenge, and that they had better get with the programme.

They don’t want “the programme” and they are not interested in whether Putin is “delighted” by the UK’s exit or not.

YOUR INVITATION:Comments, arguments, articles, and letters from service men and women, and veterans, are especially welcome. Write to Box 126, 2472 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025 or email

contact@militaryproject.org: Name, I.D., withheld unless you request publication.

Same address to unsubscribe.

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

Taliban Bomber Kills 14 Canadian Embassy Guards In Kabul

Minibus being taken away following the attack in Kabul.

June 20, 2016 By RFE/RL

Afghanistan's Interior Ministry says 14 Nepalese security guards have been killed by a Taliban bomber who targeted their minibus in the Afghan capital Kabul.

Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Seddiqi said eight others were wounded in the early morning attack on June 20.

One wounded survivor of the attack told The Associated Press that his group provided security at the Canadian embassy in Kabul.

The group was leaving their residential compound on the main highway leading from Kabul to Jalalabad when the attacker approached their vehicle on foot and detonated his explosives.

Kabul police spokesman Basir Mujahid said the bomber appears to have studied the daily routine of the security guards and waited for their minibus to leave their compound when he carried out the attack shortly after dawn.

Afghan authorities said the minibus was owned by a foreign security company, but did not name the company.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed the Taliban was responsible for the attack, saying on Twitter that the bomber intentionally targeted “guards of foreign invaders."

More Resistance Action

[Graphic: flickr.com/photos]

Jun 22 2016 By Khaama Press

An Afghan National Army (ANA) soldier has killed at least four of his comrades in an insider attack in the northwestern Badghis province.

According to the local officials, the incident took place in Jund district on Tuesday evening after an Afghan soldier opened fire on his comrades.

A member of the provincial council said another soldier was also wounded in the attack and the assailant was also killed after the other soldiers responded to his fire.

Earlier, at least 6 policemen lost their lives in an insider attack carried out by three of their comrades in Charchino district of Uruzgan province.

MILITARY NEWS

Pentagon Refuses To Say Whether U.S. Troops Have Been Wounded

Fighting ISIS:“We Provide Information With

Regard, Of Course, To Casualties”“We Do Not Provide Information On

Wounded Service Members”

June 22, 2016 Patricia Kime, Military Times [Excerpts]

The Pentagon is refusing to disclose when U.S. troops are wounded by Islamic State forces in Syria, suggesting that doing so could “provide information to the enemy that might be helpful.”

Defense Department spokesman Peter Cook has repeatedly balked at questions about reports that four American troops were injured there on June 9. He did so again Tuesday, citing a policy to not acknowledge such incidents.

It’s an apparent reversal from only three weeks prior, when military officials publicized that two Americans had be injured as a result of by ISIS activity — one in Syria, the other in Iraq.

News of the June 9 incident was first reported by CNN. Citing anonymous Pentagon sources, the networked reported that four U.S. troops were injured by an anti-tank round that exploded a vehicle near their position.

CNN reported at the time that the four unidentified personnel suffered light shrapnel wounds and may have returned to duty.

“We provide information with regard, of course, to casualties,” Cook said Tuesday. “But for a variety of reasons, we do not provide information on wounded service members, and we're going to continue to stick to that, again, because we don't want to provide information to the enemy that might be helpful.” [According to this bizarre brain fart, a wounded soldier is not a casualty. T]

Every week, the Pentagon releases aggregate data about military casualties sustained in connection with U.S. operations in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.

According to the most recent report, dated June 21, 16 American service members have been injured while supporting efforts against ISIS as part of Operation Inherent Resolve.

It says only that one sailor was wounded in May and one soldier has been hurt by hostile action so far in June.

But on May 31, another Defense Department spokesman, Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, told reporters that two service members had been injured in the ISIS campaign, one in Iraq and one in Syria. Davis, the Pentagon’s director of press operations, said the two troops' injuries were the result of indirect fire.

"They were not on the front lines,” Davis said at the time, “they were not engaged in active combat.”

The lack of a clear policy regarding such disclosures may reflect the prominent role that special operations troops are playing in the ISIS fight. Hundreds of them are deployed to Iraq, and all 300 U.S. troops in Syria are believed to be from the special operations community.

While the Pentagon has historically been forthcoming about incidents of wounded service members in traditional military operations, officials typically follow a more conservative policy for special operations troops, who often are involved in missions that are entirely classified.

These questions over what is considered a combat casualty come as President Obama steps up U.S. involvement in both countries. In April, he authorized an additional 217 troops for Iraq, putting the total American force there at more than 4,000. Obama also approved an additional 250 special operations troops to deploy to Syria, bringing the total U.S. force there to about 300.

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

“At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh had I the ability, and could reach the nation’s ear, I would, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke.

“For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder.

“We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.”

“The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppose.”

Frederick Douglass, 1852

Rise like Lions after slumber In unvanquishable number, Shake your chains to earth like dew Which in sleep had fallen on you- Ye are many — they are few -- Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1819, on the occasion of a mass murder of British workers by the Imperial government at Peterloo.

The Legacy of Insanity

Photo by Mike Hastie, Vietnam April 2016. Full Disclosure

From: Mike HastieTo: Military ResistanceSent: June 15, 2016Subject: The Legacy of Insanity

The United States Government, the most powerful military force ever known to mankind, indiscriminately bombed the holy hell out of Vietnam, one of the poorest countries in the world. If you were to throw a dart at a large map of Vietnam, wherever that dart landed, the U.S. probably committed an atrocity. If the American people knew that truth, national shame would be a mental illness.

Mike HastieArmy Medic VietnamJune 17, 2016

Photo and caption from the portfolio of Mike Hastie, US Army Medic, Vietnam 1970-71. (For more of his outstanding work, contact hastiemike@earthlink.net)

One day while I was in a bunker in Vietnam, a sniper round went over my head. The person who fired that weapon was not a terrorist, a rebel, an extremist, or a so-called insurgent. The Vietnamese individual who tried to kill me was a citizen of Vietnam, who did not want me in his country. This truth escapes millions.

Mike HastieU.S. Army MedicVietnam 1970-71December 13, 2004

ANNIVERSARIES

June 26, 1918: Anniversary Of A Political Atrocity

Carl Bunin Peace History June 25 - July 1

[S]ocialist organizer Eugene Debs was arrested June 26, 1918, for giving an anti-war speech in Canton, Ohio, 10 days earlier.

He was charged with “uttering words intended to cause insubordination and disloyalty within the American forces of the United States, to incite resistance to the war, and to promote the cause of Germany,” despite his repeated and vehement criticism in the speech of Germany and its landed aristocracy, known as the Junkers.

“And that is war in a nutshell. The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.

“The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and all to lose — especially their lives.”

RECEIVED FROM READERS

THEM

From: Clancy SigalTo: Military Resistance NewsletterSubject: THEMDate: Jun 21, 2016

June 21, 2016 by Clancy Sigal

“It was like the length of a song. It just kept going, ‘Pow, pow, pow, pow’. Just non-stop, continuous,

and then just sort of brief silence and then it went all over again.”

- Orlando massacre survivor

If you’re a liberal, you may feel in your own body, as I do, the surge of death-dealing AR-15-type assault guns as a threatening alien invasion like those old 1950s monster movies “Them” and “The Thing” .

As usual sales of multiple magazine AR-15 and MCXs are up after a mass public shooting like the Pulse club in Orlando. “Them” is after us. I have an obsessive physical identification with the men and women gunned down by Omar Mateen and can’t stop following shot-by-shot news stories and TV diagrams of how it went down.

I, too, am cowering inside the club’s men’s room as the assassin strolls in to methodically pump bullets into each and every cubicle. He’s coming, he’s coming! O god what do I do? Where are the cops? I’m trapped and powerless. If only I had a Glock 9mm to stop this maniac…

It’s wrong to think hysterically. But, especially if I was gay, I’m not sure I wouldn’t sneak into my local gun shop to scope out the goods.

Already in West Hollywood there are “Shoot back!” posters all over the place, Lord knows who slaps them up.

And, if you’re so minded, you can always join a Pink Pistol self-defense group.… Around here is where a gun-owning Trump voter and I meet, each of us with a different variant of feeling powerless.

His not-so-secret agenda may be violently racist and homophobic; mine is a need to fight back against the armed racist homophobes. But at some level we may be joined at the hip.

I’m perfectly aware he hates people like me and may wish me dead or deported. But I’m an Alinskyite. To remind you, Saul Alinsky was a Chicago community organizer whose genius was to give birth to a ‘Back of the (Stock)Yard’ group composed of people who despised each other and get them to work together on a specific goal, like banks hiring more minorities, removing a toxic lead dump, etc.

Somehow he persuaded the Irish who hated Jews who were suspicious of blacks who weren’t keen on Catholics who despised socialists that it was in their interest to temporarily unite for a common good.

Each side, including my own, would keep its own prejudices, agreeing only to temporarily accommodate on a small thing, like limiting magazine capacity. It’s not enough for us and too much for them. But…

How realistic is realism?

I can’t speak for the gun owners, but sometimes it seems as if my side has little or no interest in even hearing the other side’s argument let alone standing in the other person’s shoes.

This deafness occurs with the “gun issue” but also abortion and environment-versus-worker fights where we sometimes seem to delight in widening the gap as a way of confirming our own beliefs. Impossible? Probably. Undesirable? Yeah, sure.

Building An Independent Political Movement Of The Left:

What Is Our “Plan B"?

Monday, June 27th, 7 – 9 pmThe Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center

208 West 13 St, Room 101, New York, NYFacebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1612589015735196/

From: Gotham Greens Local, Green Party of NY County <info@greenTo: Military Resistance NewsletterSubject: Building an Independent Political Movement of the LeftDate: Jun 24, 2016 5:38 AM

This free, open public forum will explore the intersection of movements for social, economic and environmental justice in the context of the current political system.

It will ask the question, “How can we build a political movement of the Left that is independent of the two corporate parties and that addresses the critical issues of the day?

The backdrop is the widespread dissatisfaction with the Democrats and Republicans (Sanders' and Trump's ascendancy, Hillary's unpopularity, more people registering independent, calls for a third party, etc.) and, in particular, where will Sanders supporters go if he fails in his bid to win the nomination.

Speakers:

Professor Richard D. Wolff, New School University:

Richard D. Wolff is Professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he taught economics from 1973 to 2008. He is currently a Visiting Professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs of the New School University in New York City.

Prof. Wolff has published many books, including Economics: Marxian versus Neoclassical (with Stephen Resnick), Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism and Capitalism Hits the Fan: The Global Economic Meltdown and What to Do About It. Since 2005, Professor Wolff has also written many short analytical pieces focused chiefly on the emerging and then exploding global capitalist crisis. Since 2008, Professor Wolff has given many public lectures at colleges and universities, at community and trade union meetings, in high schools, etc. Prof. Wolff also has a weekly radio show, Economic Update, on WBAI in New York.

Glen Ford, Black Agenda Report:

In the early 1970s, Glen worked as a newsperson in Columbus, Georgia; Atlanta; Washington, DC and Baltimore, where he created a half-hour weekly syndicated radio news magazine called “Black World Report.” In 1974, Ford joined the 88-station Mutual Black Network, where he served as Capitol Hill, State Department and White House correspondent, and Washington Bureau Chief, while also producing a daily radio commentary. In 1977, Ford co-launched, produced and hosted “America’s Black Forum” (ABF), the first nationally syndicated Black news interview program on commercial television. In 2002, he co-founded BlackCommentator.com. In

October, 2006, Ford and the entire writing team left BC to launch BlackAgendaReport.com, or BAR. Ford is a founding member of the Washington chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) and has spoken at scores of colleges and universities.

Mark Dunlea:

Mark Dunlea is a co-founder of the New York State Green Party and has been a member for many years of numerous environmental groups and coalitions.

Moderator:Jack Baldwin has been involved in a wide variety of antiwar and environmental organizations, including Shut Down Indian Point Now and Occupy the Pipeline. As a party activist, he has served in the Gotham Greens local, the Green Party of New York County, and on the State Committee of the Green Party of New York State.

Directions to the LGBT Community Center:The Center is located between Greenwich and Seventh Avenues, on the south side of West 13th Street.

Subway: Please take the A, C, or E train to 14 Street Station. Walk south from 14th Street on 8th Avenue, and turn left on 13th Street. Continue east on 13th Street until you reach the intersection of 13th Street and Greenwich Avenue. Cross 13th Street, turn left and continue east until you reach the entrance to The Center on your right.

Or, take the 1, 2, or 3 to 14th Street Station. Walk south on Seventh Avenue to 13th Street. Cross the street to the south side of 13th Street, and walk west, until you find the entrance to The Center on your left.

MILITARY RESISTANCE BY EMAIL If you wish to receive Military Resistance immediately and directly, send request to contact@militaryproject.org. There is no subscription charge. Same address to unsubscribe.

CLASS WAR REPORTS

Mexican Government Kills Striking Teachers:

“Telesur Mexico Correspondent Aissa Garcia Reported That As Many As 12 People May Have Been Killed

By The State Violence”“Dozens Of The Injured Were Left

Untreated After The Police Seized The Hospital In Nochixtlan And Only Allowed

Injured Police Access”

Photo:Subversiones

Photo:EFE

20 June 2016 by teleSUR

The Mexican government followed through on its threat to use force against striking dissident teachers.

Mexican police attacked teachers striking against neoliberal education reforms in the southern state of Oaxaca, killing at least 12 people and leaving dozens more injured.

Police were attempting to evict teachers from a road blockade on the Oaxaca-Puebla highway in the municipality of Nochixtlan when gunfire erupted, leading to violent clashes that lasted approximately four hours. teleSUR Mexico correspondent Aissa Garcia reported that as many as 12 people may have been killed by the state violence.

Teachers from the dissident CNTE union, also known as Section 22, had set up the blockade as part of protests over an education reform implemented by President Enrique Peña Nieto and the arrest of several of the unions' leaders over the past week.

In a press conference from the Mexican capital, a spokesperson for the union said the dead included Andres Aguilar Sanabria, 23, and Santiago Jimenez Aylin, 28, who have been identified as trainee teacher students. The spokesperson said there was a third fatality but did not provide any details.

The union spokesperson blamed the police forces who participated in the eviction for the three deaths, calling it an “attack,” and asked the government to engage in dialogue with the striking teachers.

The death toll of five demonstrators was later confirmed by the public prosecutor's office in Oaxaca. Meanwhile, Proceso magazine reported six deaths while the CNTE themselves later reported nine.

teleSUR's correspondent in Mexico was told by the CNTE on Monday that the figure had risen to 12, with 10 fatalities in Nochixtlan, one in Hacienda Blanca and another in Juchitan.

Mexican investigative journalist Sanjuana Martinez has called the government repression a "hunt" that seeks to eliminate dissidents who oppose the education reforms.

Police said that at least 21 people had been arrested.

Users on social media said that dozens of the injured were left untreated after the police seized the hospital in Nochixtlan and only allowed injured police access. Injured demonstrators were reportedly treated inside a nearby church.

Another clash between demonstrators and police took place in the city port of Salina Cruz, in Oaxaca as well, where another group of teachers were blockading a road that connects the state with its neighbors on the Pacific coast.

Local media also reported dozens of injured protesting teachers and dozens of arrests, however authorities have not said anything on this case.

Renato Sales Heredia, national security commissioner, warned last week that the government would use force to repress mobilizations by striking teachers and their sympathizers.

Heredia said that a “moderate use of force" would be used to clear out these types of protests, but would only be used as a “last resort.”

In Mexico, common protest tactics include shutting down major highways or staging protest camps in front of government offices.

Before Sunday's events, hundreds of academic, religious, popular, student, human and social rights organizations around the world signed a document Friday that condemned the “brutal repression” exerted by the Mexican government against teachers who reject the education reform by President Enrique Peña Nieto.

Peña Nieto unveiled an education reform in 2013 as part of a set of 11 neoliberal reforms implemented in his first 20 months of power.

The controversial law imposes teacher evaluations in order to determine which applicants will be chosen to fill open posts in the public school system nationwide. Critics say the testing only justifies mass layoffs and does not effectively measure teaching skills, like the special knowledge and demeanor needed to teach in rural areas and Indigenous communities.

Five Thousand Members Of The Minnesota Nurses Association

Strike At Five Allina Hospitals In The Twin Cities:

“This Time The Company Is After Their Health Insurance”

“We’re Getting A Lot Of Support. “People Are Driving By Honking And

Waving.”

June 21, 2016 by Alexandra Bradbury, Labor Notes

Sometimes solidarity comes shaped like a popsicle. That’s what one nursing assistant, on her way in for the evening shift at United Hospital in St. Paul, delivered to nurses picketing in blazing 95-degree heat.

Five thousand members of the Minnesota Nurses (MNA) walked out June 19, kicking off a weeklong strike at five Allina hospitals in the Twin Cities.

The immediate sticking point is health insurance, but this is also a showdown over nurses’ power on the job, as Allina pushes to hand over staffing decisions to a robot.

The company’s unwillingness to budge an inch “leads me to believe they really are trying to get rid of the union,” said 30-year nurse Gail Olson, a bargaining team member. “For patient safety sometimes we slow things down. They don’t want to tolerate it anymore.”

“If we don’t stare Allina down, all these things we have right now will be gone,” said post-anesthesia nurse Theresa Swehla. “If we give in on insurance, they have no incentive to bargain with us on any other issue.”

It’s the biggest of four late-June strikes by National Nurses United affiliates, totaling nearly 10,000 nurses. Nurses are walking out at Kaiser’s Los Angeles Medical Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and Watsonville Community Hospital in California.

The strikes vary in demands and length, but syncing them up maximizes the impact by squeezing the supply of scabs. Hospitals pay through the nose to fly in replacement nurses from around the country and put them up in hotels. Allina offered $400 travel bonuses, to boot.

In a weeklong strike, 5,000 Minnesota nurses are defending a health plan that's an oasis of decency—and battling the hospital chain's cost-cutting scheme to hand over staffing decisions to a robot., Minnesota Nurses Association,

“People Are Driving By Honking And Waving.”

NEIGHBORS CHIP INDespite the heat—and Father’s Day—nurses reported a strong first-day turnout, with 600 walking the lines at the largest hospital, Abbott Northwestern. The bargaining team is asking everyone to picket at least as many hours as she or he would have worked this week.

The first morning, many showed up early to support the night nurses coming off their final shift. A nurse’s last daily task is to give a “report” on each patient to the nurse who’s taking over duty. Those working that night had the unsettling, sometimes emotional experience of handing their patients over to the care of scabs.

Then security guards walked them out as a group—and they had to move their cars out of the hospital’s parking before joining the picket lines. A church across the street from Unity Hospital is letting nurses park there, now that the Sunday rush is over.

Another sympathetic neighbor volunteered his shady yard, where the nurses have set up coolers of water, a barbecue, even a porta-potty.

“The generosity of this man is unbelievable,” said Swehla. “But his wife was a patient at Unity—and because of the excellent care she received, he’s more than happy to support the nurses.”

Bargaining team member Katie Quarles, an intensive care nurse, spent 12 hours on the picket lines the first day. As the temperatures soared, she said, picketers beat the heat with spray bottles and ‘90s pop music. Mercifully temperatures cooled the next day, and the picket line crowds grew.

“We’re getting a lot of support,” Swehla said. “People are driving by honking and waving. There must be some Teamster trucks, because every time a semi goes by….” She mimicked a double blast of a truck horn.

Minneapolis-St. Paul saw a giant nurse strike six years ago, when 12,000 nurses at 14 hospitals walked out for a day, defeating an attack on their pension. The hospitals ducked a rematch in 2013, agreeing to bargain over wages only.

Five out of six hospital chains did the same thing this year, and quickly reached three-year deals with raises of 2, 2, and 2 percent. So Allina nurses are out on their own. The upside is that their pension is safe—Allina can’t force it open without the other chains’ cooperation.

“This Time The Company Is After Their Health Insurance“But this time the company is after their health insurance. Over the years the nurses have sacrificed on other issues to maintain good health plan options, with zero deductibles and low or no co-pays.

Meanwhile the national trend is barely-there health plans, where the deductibles and co-pays are getting so high, it’s almost like not having insurance at all.

That’s the kind of plan Allina wants to push the nurses into, and the kind its service and tech employees already have—a “crappy corporate plan,” as Quarles puts it.

Olson and Swehla both know co-workers on Allina’s plans who’ve been hounded by bill collectors or come near to bankruptcy. “And that’s with health insurance,” Olson said. “It’s disgraceful.”

MNA has defended an oasis of decency. Olson’s son, now 23, was diagnosed with diabetes at age 13. His routine medical supplies, which would rack up large bills on Allina’s plan, cost her just $11 co-pays. “It has kept my son out of the hospital, because of the care we’ve been able to give him with this plan,” she says.

“Allina says it’s unfair that only the nurses get better plans,” Quarles said. “We said other employees could also move into these plans. They didn’t go for that suggestion.”

“It’s not that we think we should have better than anyone else,” Olson said. “We think everyone should have these kinds of plans. Actually I think we should have single payer. We should bargain over other things at the table, like patient safety, and leave this out of it.”

The strike is over alleged unfair labor practices, which gives the strikers legal protection against being permanently replaced. Nurses charge that the company is refusing to produce information about the health plans—and refusing to respond to the union’s proposals on any other issue, including staffing, education, and workplace violence.

On staffing, the nurses have backed off their opening proposal for guaranteed nurse-to-patient ratios. They’re still asking that the charge nurse (an experienced nurse who runs the unit, assigns patients, and acts as a resource for other nurses) not be assigned patients herself, and that each department and shift get a break nurse to relieve the others.

“There is a problem with nurses not getting their breaks,” Olson said. “We now have a break room in almost every unit, because people don’t feel comfortable leaving.”

Allina wants nurse staffing determined by computer, based on patients’ electronic records. The union objects to removing charge nurses’ judgment from the staffing equation.

Charge nurses consider factors not documented in a chart—family and psychosocial issues, the intensity of nursing required, the experience and skill of particular nurses. Besides, Swehla points out, the computer data may be out of date.

“Nurses do first and chart later, because it’s more important to take care of the patient,” she said. “The input into the computer about a patient’s conditions may happen two hours after you’ve delivered the care. They’re deciding staffing in real time with this program—but we’re not charting in real time, because we don’t have the time.”

On workplace violence, the nurses’ demand is modest: they just want union representation on committees already created by state law. But right now, Allina won’t even talk about these issues. “They say they’re unwilling to discuss anything with us at this point unless it involves transition off our MNA plans,” Quarles said.

“To me that’s not negotiating, it’s bullying,” Swehla said. “And they would never pull that crap, in my opinion, if we were men.” Why is Allina pushing for computer-run care? One little-reported angle is the chain’s increasingly tight-knit partnership with the data analytics company Health Catalyst.

Investing in this fast-growing for-profit company is a lucrative opportunity for supposedly nonprofit hospital chains.

Health Catalyst has raised hundreds of millions in venture capital and plans to go public next year. Besides Allina, its big investors include the other chains where NNU nurses are striking—Kaiser Permanente and Boston-based Partners Healthcare—and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, target of a long-running SEIU organizing drive.

Allina became the company’s first customer in 2008, and CEO Penny Wheeler sits on its board. In a $100 million deal last year, the hospital chain outsourced its data analysis staff and technology to Health Catalyst. Already Allina says it has achieved $43 million in “productivity improvements” from this deal.

Analytics might sounds wonky, but the underlying goal is straightforward. Electronic charting and billing generates a huge amount of data. Sophisticated computers give hospital executives a way to mine the data for anomalies in care—and opportunities to cut costs.

The approach will sound familiar to anyone who watched the “lean production” craze sweep auto manufacturing. Quality and savings are achieved by standardizing work into rote steps. Skill and individual judgment, which introduce unacceptable variation, must be ironed out.

Only those motions that produce quantifiable results—services the hospital can bill for, health outcomes it can tally up—count as productive. That leaves out, say, brushing a patient’s hair, comforting a family member, or mentoring a younger nurse.

Any downtime is waste. In auto plants, lean managers pushed to keep workers busy 57 seconds out of every minute. (Of course, this dramatically increased injuries like carpal tunnel.) Nurse productivity, according to Health Catalyst, can be measured in nursing hours per patient day.

That ratio improves when you burden nurses with so many patients that they start skipping breaks to keep up with care.

Another scrutinized ratio is compensation versus total expenses, a number you might improve by reducing overtime—or by cutting nurses’ health insurance.

25,000 March Against The Government In Belgrade:

“The Fight With The Government Will Be Long And Enduring”

“The Movement, And The Citizens Of Belgrade Who Support It, Will Not

Stop Until Justice Has Been Delivered”

“It Is Our Duty To Protect The City And To Take Care Of The Weakest. Those

Who Need Help Will Get Help”

Photo: BIRN/Ljubisa Banovic

25 Jun 16 2016 BIRN

Civic movement Ne davimo Beograd, "Let's not drown Belgrade", organised its biggest protest yet on Saturday evening, with some 25,000 people estimated to have taken part in the latest demonstration against the nocturnal demolitions in the Serbian capital’s waterside Savamala district.

During the protest, demonstrators reiterated their calls for the resignations of the Belgrade officials responsible for the demolitions on Hercegovacka street on April 24.

The protest route started at the Assembly of the City of Belgrade and ended at the Palace of Serbia, travelling via Brankov bridge, where protesters blocked one side of the roadway to traffic.

Around a dozen counter-protesters bearing provocative signs were stationed along the route, but demonstrators adhered to calls not to react coming from Ne davimo Beograd members.

The counter-protesters are believed to belong to the same group that recently demonstrated in Serbia’s northern province, Vojvodina, during protests by local activists and journalists supporting freedom of the media.

Radomir Lazovic, from Let's not drown Belgrade civic movement, told the crowd in front of the Palace of Serbia that “the fight with the government will be long and enduring”, but promised the government that the movement, and the citizens of Belgrade who support it, will not stop.”

Lazovic ended his address by promising the government that the movement, and the citizens of Belgrade who support it, will not stop until justice has been delivered to those responsible for the nocturnal demolitions in Belgrade’s waterside Savamala district.

“This thing (the demolitions) shall not pass (without justice). This is not a political claim or political message, but this is our promise to them.” They will not let the government “steal the city from its citizens.” He added: “We want to live with dignity.”

Lazovic reiterated calls for the Belgrade officials responsible for the nocturnal Savamala demolitions to resign, which include Belgrade Mayor Sinisa Mali and Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic.

He referred to the government as a “dark force” and claimed its members “want to protect the interests of their parties, bothers and cousins…not the citizens.”

Lazovic added: “It is our duty to protect the city and to take care of the weakest. Those who need help will get help.”

His speech was interrupted on multiple occasions by protesters chanting “our city, our city”, “Resignations!” and “thieves!”

OCCUPATION PALESTINE

Heroic Zionist Occupation Forces Destroy “Homes” Of Elderly

Palestinians, As Usual

June 20. 2016 Yahoo News

Israeli troops demolish tents belonging to Palestinians near the West Bank village of Yatta.

To check out what life is like under a murderous military occupation commanded by foreign terrorists, go to:

http://www.palestinechronicle.com/ The occupied nation is Palestine. The foreign terrorists call themselves “Israeli.”

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