Workers in Puerto Rico face crisis of colonial rule

Protests oust governor, spur debate on way forward
Vol. 83/No. 33 - September 9, 2019
Yasmin Morales, from family that live by fishing, describes conditions in El Negro area of Yabucoa in Puerto Rico to Alyson Kennedy, Socialist Workers Party 2016 presidential candidate Aug. 17. The capitalist parties are like “sharks going after the small fish,” Morales said.

YABUCOA, Puerto Rico — When she returned to what was left of her home in the small El Negro neighborhood overlooking the sea after Hurricane Maria in September 2017, Yasmin Morales looked up at the nearby hills. “There wasn’t a…



‘We need to organize workers to defend environment, safety’

Vol. 83/No. 33 - September 9, 2019

“It’s only by organizing a fighting workers’ movement and using union power that we can prevent the bosses from poisoning the air, water and soil,” Rachele Fruit, Socialist Workers Party candidate for Atlanta School Board, told Belinda Aycock who was…




Miners win support in fight against Blackjewel

Vol. 83/No. 33 - September 9, 2019
Chinese restaurant owner Joyce Cheng, in miner’s helmet and jacket, with nurses at Harlan Appalachian Regional Healthcare July 11. She ran 50 miles “asking every person for a dollar” for laid-off Blackjewel miners, raising over $5,000 for miners’ families she knows.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Coal miners laid off July 1 by bankrupt Blackjewel Coal have vowed to maintain their encampment on railroad tracks in Cumberland, Harlan County, to prevent coal bosses from moving coal out of the Cloverlick No. 3 mine.…


Miners fight for pay, jobs in Blackjewel bankruptcy

Vol. 83/ No. 32 - September 2, 2019
Laid-off Blackjewel miners and supporters express solidarity with rail workers as train engine leaves without coal cars. They’ve blocked tracks since July 29 in fight to be paid for work done.

“We want our pay, but we want everyone — from West Virginia to Wyoming — to be paid,” former Blackjewel coal miner Jeff Willig told the press in Harlan County, Kentucky, Aug. 15. He had worked at the company’s Cloverlick…


Mass Hong Kong protest demands political rights

Beijing searches for way to tamp down actions
Vol. 83/ No. 32 - September 2, 2019
Throngs fill streets in peaceful protest in Hong Kong Aug. 18 in largest action in two months.

In defiance of Beijing’s threats, some 1.7 million people rallied in Hong Kong Aug. 18 to demand greater political rights and the resignation of Chief Executive Carrie Lam. Beijing is exerting its leverage on companies in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory,…


Oberlin College demands judge overturn victory won by bakery

Vol. 83/ No. 32 - September 2, 2019

Lawyers for Oberlin College filed post-trial motions Aug. 14 seeking to quash the trial verdict that found the college and its dean of students and vice president, Meredith Raimondo, guilty of slandering and wreaking damage on Gibson’s bakery. The family-run…


New York cops fire officer who killed Eric Garner

Vol. 83/ No. 32 - September 2, 2019
New York cops fire officer who killed Eric Garner

NEW YORK —“We’re not finished,” Gwen Carr said at a rally, above, after New York City cop Daniel Pantaleo was fired Aug. 19 for the 2014 killing of her son Eric Garner. “We have other officers that we have to…