Protests continue against military rule in Myanmar

Vol. 85/No. 21 - May 31, 2021

Despite bloody government repression, protests continued May 17 in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, above, demanding the military junta that seized power in the country Feb. 1 stand down. Police and soldiers had broken up a protest march in Mandalay’s Pyigyidagun…


What are the lessons from the fight for a union at Amazon?

Vol. 85/No. 20 - May 24, 2021
Rally in Philadelphia Feb. 20 backs Amazon workers’ fight to win a union in Bessemer, Alabama. Key is to rely on the strength of the workers themselves, backed by working-class solidarity.

On April 9 the National Labor Relations Board released the results of the union vote at Amazon’s fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama, where a union drive had been underway since last year. Of the 5,876 workers eligible to vote, 738…


April 1986 Chernobyl disaster and Cuba’s internationalism

Vol. 85/No. 19 - May 17, 2021
Cuban President Fidel Castro, left, greets children arriving from Ukraine, March 29, 1990. Over 25,000 affected by Chernobyl radiation poisoning, mainly from Ukraine but also Belarus and Russia, received free medical treatment under internationalist program of Cuban Revolution.

Thirty-five years ago, the worst nuclear disaster in history occurred at the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union, with devastating and long-lasting social and environmental consequences. On April 26, 1986, a test went terribly wrong.…


Blackjewel miner joins strike of Warrior Met ‘brothers’

Vol. 85/No. 18 - May 10, 2021

MCCALLA, Ala. — I hooked up with Chris and Wendy Lewis and their son Dalton, right, at the April 21 rally here. Chris and Dalton are veterans of the 2019 fight against the Blackjewel coal bosses. Backed by their families…


UK gov’t halts effort to open coal mine, create jobs

Vol. 85/No. 18 - May 10, 2021

WHITEHAVEN, England — “People from outside the area say Sellafield is unsafe and coal is bad for the environment, but it’s an issue of jobs,” Patrick Stamper, a former scaffolder at the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing site, told Peter Clifford, the…


Protests demand Jakarta grant West Papua self-determination

Vol. 85/No. 17 - May 3, 2021
Picket supporting independence for West Papua outside Indonesian Consulate in New York, Oct. 23. Morning Star flag of an independent West Papua, first raised in 1961, is on right. Flag of national rights struggle in Moluccas is third from right.

NEW YORK — A picket outside the Indonesian Consulate here April 12 protested military repression in West Papua and elsewhere in the archipelago. The West Papuan people “experience systemic racist discrimination,” Julian Howay, a warehouse worker in Atlanta originally from…


SWP: ‘The people of West Papua deserve support!’

Vol. 85/No. 17 - May 3, 2021

The following is a statement by Rachele Fruit from the Socialist Workers Party to the 20th Session of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, April 19-30.  Distinguished guests: My name is Rachele Fruit. I am the Socialist Workers Party…


Seattle: Stop Philippines gov’t killing labor activists

Vol. 85/No. 17 - May 3, 2021
Seattle: Stop Philippines gov’t killing labor activists

SEATTLE — About 100 Filipino Americans, members of Bayan Pacific Northwest, Malaya Movement Seattle, and the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines, as well as Socialist Workers Party members and others gathered April 9 at Jose Rizal Park…


Anti-labor outfit attacks miners strike, union

Vol. 85/No. 16 - April 26, 2021

Union coal miners in Brookwood, Alabama; steelworkers at ATI; and nurses in Worcester, Massachusetts, are on strike today, fighting against attacks by their bosses. They set an example to millions of workers and need and deserve solidarity. In the midst…


As US, Tehran open talks, Iran’s rulers continue weapons program

Vol. 85/No. 16 - April 26, 2021
Demonstration in Mashhad, Iran, December 2018, protests government’s wars, economic crisis and attacks on political rights. Actions spread to scores of cities across the country.

An explosion that disabled parts of the Iranian rulers’ main nuclear facility at Natanz April 11 was blamed on Israeli government forces by Tehran. Most media in Israel attributed the attack to Mossad, the Israeli rulers’ spy agency. Less than…