The long awaited Syrian peace talks — instigated by power brokers Russia and the United States — had already passed their initial due date, and are now officially stillborn. The peace talks are dead because the U.S.-backed rebels are boycotting the negotiations, ruining any hope for peace, while threatening to turn an already tragic disaster [...]
Tag Archives: slides
Syria’s Fake Sectarian War
Shamus Cooke
The fate of Syria and the broader Middle East balances on a razor’s edge. The western media is giving dire warnings of an impending sectarian war between Sunni and Shia Muslims, a war that could drown the Middle East in a flood of blood. Such a war would be completely artificial, and is being manufactured [...]
Quantitative Crisis: Bernanke’s “Stimulus” For The 1%
Mark Vorpahl
This article is co-published with Occupy.com. When I heard that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress last week that it was too soon for the Fed to end its extraordinary stimulus programs, I did a double take. “What stimulus programs?” I thought. Where are the jobs programs? Where are the “extraordinary” social services that [...]
How Obama and Al-Qaeda Became Syrian Bedfellows
Shamus Cooke
For a president that is executing Bush’s “war on terror” against Al-Qaeda and “its affiliates,” it seems odd that President Obama has targeted the secular Syrian government for “regime change.” Equally odd is that Obama’s strongest military ally on the ground in Syria — the best equipped and effective fighting force against the Syrian Government — is [...]
SF Labor: Calls on Labor Movement to Mobilize in Washington, D.C. August 24
San Francisco Labor Council
Approved May 13, 2013 In Support of the SCLC and King Center call for a March and Rally in Washington, DC on August 24, 2013 and in Support of the July 2 Northern California Demonstration to Demand a Massive Federally Funded Jobs-Creation Program and No Cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid Whereas, President Obama [...]
Syria Endgame Approaching Fast
Shamus Cooke
The tempo of events in Syria has increased in recent weeks. The government forces have scored significant battlefield victories over the rebels, and this has provoked a number of responses from the U.S. and its anti-Assad allies: a mixture of war provocations and peace offers. With Obama’s blessing Israel fighter jets recently attacked Syria on three [...]
Local Fights Against Austerity Are Growing Across the U.S.
Mark Vorpahl
This article is co-published with Occupy.com Between sequestration, with its damaging impact on workers and the entire economy, and the billions of dollars in cuts to Social Security, Medicare and other necessary social programs that President Obama is pushing, it is evident that the economic policies of both major parties are not intended to promote [...]
The Onion Website Joins the U.S. Anti-Syria Club
Shamus Cooke
The Onion is the most famous fake news website in the world, adored by millions who visit the site regularly for a cheap laugh as well as sharp political satire. But even fake news has certain responsibilities. Recently The Onion began publishing articles that framed the Syrian conflict according to the very biased views of U.S. [...]
The SF LGBT Pride Committee Has Nothing to Be Proud of Over Bradley Manning
Adam Richmond
Glenn Greenwald’s article in The Guardian titled “Bradley Manning is off limits at SF Gay Pride parade, but corporate sleaze is embraced” (4/27/13) has internationally publicized the cowardly decision of the San Francisco Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Pride Celebration Committee to rescind its election of political prisoner U.S. Army Private Bradley Manning as a Grand Marshal [...]
Obama and U.S. Military Divided Over Syria
Shamus Cooke
Has Syria crossed the “red line” that warrants a U.S. military invasion? Has it not? The political establishment in the United States seems at odds over itself. Obama’s government cannot speak with one voice on the issue, and the U.S. media is likewise spewing from both sides of its mouth in an attempt to reconcile U.S. [...]
Opposition Grows Fierce to Austerity Cuts in Portland
Mark Vorpahl
This article is co-published with Occupy.com. On April 11 over 400 people packed the third public Portland Budget Hearing, which was organized by the City of Portland and which left many spilling out beyond the room where the hearing took place. More importantly, for the City Council there was an unexpected critical outpouring from the vast [...]
Who Will Save Social Security and Medicare?
Shamus Cooke
Before Social Security and Medicare existed, the elderly were either completely dependent on their children or were left to beg in the streets. These programs thus remain sacred to the vast majority of Americans. They allow the elderly dignity and independence instead of poverty and insecurity. Attacking these programs has always been political suicide for the [...]
A Curious New York Times Article on Teacher Evaluations
Ann Robertson and Bill Leumer
A recent New York Times article, “Curious Grade For Teachers: Nearly All Pass,” finds incredulous the idea that, “In Florida, 97 percent of teachers were deemed effective or highly effective in the most recent evaluations.” The author goes on to cite similar percentages in other states and concludes: “The teachers might be rated all above [...]
How Obama Chose War Over Peace in Syria
Shamus Cooke
With Syria on the brink of national genocide, outside nations have only two options: help reverse the catastrophe or plunge this torn nation deeper into the abyss. Countries can either work towards a peaceful political solution or they can continue to pour money, guns, and fighters into the country to ensure a steady gushing into the [...]
Obama’s Still Shopping for a Grand Bargain
Shamus Cooke
President Obama’s recent closed-door sessions with Republican congressmen to reach a “grand bargain” has roused suspiciously little attention in the mainstream media. What scant reporting has occurred presents the following narrative: President Obama is a “middle ground” politician attempting to breach political divides with erstwhile Republican opponents. In reality these meetings are not between political [...]
Detroit Citizen’s Prepare to Fight Their Corporate Master
Mark Vorpahl
This article is co-published with Occupy.com. Fresh from shoving his “Right to Work for Less” legislation down the throats of Michigan’s workers, Governor Rick Snyder has grown bolder in pursuing a corporate agenda. He has now appointed Kevyn Orr of Jones Day law firm to act as an Emergency Financial Manager (EFM) of Detroit. As [...]
Chavez Succeeded Where Obama Failed
Shamus Cooke
When President Obama campaigned in 2008 in Portland, Oregon over 70,000 people came to hear his speech. And although I missed the event, I was intrigued by the raw emotion that the candidate’s words inspired in my community. Obama re-visited Oregon during his 2012 campaign, but the inspiration had faded from his voice, and the audience had [...]
Democrats and Labor: A Tale of Abuse
Shamus Cooke
The Democratic Party’s participation in the recent national “sequester” cuts is yet another big dent in their love affair with organized labor. But break-ups are often a protracted process. Before a relationship ends there is usually a gradual deterioration based on irreconcilable differences, until the split becomes inevitable. The decades-long marriage of labor unions and the Democratic [...]
President Hugo Chavez has Died
Tamara Pearson, Venezuelanalysis.com
Introduction Workers Action joins the progressive peoples of the world in experiencing a loss with the passing of Hugo Chavez, president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. It will be up to the working class of Venezuela and its allies to carry forward the socialist revolution that Chavez so courageously launched and that has been [...]
The Choice In Portland: Austerity Versus a People’s Budget
Mark Vorpahl
This article is co-published with Occupy.com. It’s no secret that most cities, counties, states and school districts in the U.S. are facing big deficits. What is less understood is the extent to which austerity cuts have become politicians’ bi-partisan response to the situation. The dramatic measures being implemented in Portland, Oregon are no exception. By “austerity” [...]
AFL-CIO’s Own Oil Disaster
Ann Robertson and Bill Leumer
With less than transparency, the AFL-CIO just issued a statement endorsing “expanding the nation’s pipeline system.” Although it did not explicitly endorse the Keystone XL pipeline, the labor federation nevertheless managed to extend its blessing to the project while hiding behind vague generalities. However, the logic of its position is unambiguous: the federation is in [...]
Obama Wades Deeper Into Syria’s Morass
Shamus Cooke
The recent announcement that the United States would increase its “non lethal” military aid to Syria’s rebels shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. Some speculated that Obama — having been repeatedly proved wrong about the Syria government’s stability — would leave Syria in silent humiliation. Not so. The destruction of Syrian society will continue, indeed, increase. Although [...]
Austerity USA Begins March 1st
Shamus Cooke
U.S. politicians have cried wolf over austerity long enough for the public to ignore them. A perfect time, then, for politicians to actually unleash the wolves. Barring an unlikely last minute deal, here’s a short list of some of the massive, national bi-partisan-created austerity cuts, according to the New York Times 600,000 food stamp recipients will be [...]
What the 1% Heard During Obama’s State of the Union Speech
Shamus Cooke
When President Obama speaks, most Americans hear what he wants them to hear: lofty rhetoric and a “progressive” vision. But just below the surface the president has a subtly-delivered message for the 1%, whose ears prick up when their buzzwords are mentioned. Obama’s state of the union address was such a speech — a pro-corporate [...]
Why Organized Labor Must Stand Against the Keystone XL Pipeline
Mark Vorpahl
This article is co-published with Occupy.com. Spurred by real urgency over the corporate driven ruin of the environment, a growing social movement is taking shape that will be on display this Sunday, February 17, when tens of thousands descend on the streets of Washington, D.C. in a show of power titled “Forward On Climate.” What is [...]
Obama’s Shakedown of Medicare
Shamus Cooke
In a political era of corporate dominance it was inevitable that doublespeak would become the official language of Washington, DC. Now “cuts” to social programs are referred to as “savings,” while the destruction of these programs is “reform.” This is the essence of President Obama’s doublespeakish “Race to the Top” public education “reform,” as well as his [...]
More Austerity Cuts Coming to the States
Shamus Cooke
The Great Recession has quietly devastated public services on a state-by-state basis, with Republican and Democratic governors taking turns leading the charge. Public education has been decimated, as well as health care, welfare, and the wages and benefits of public sector workers. The public sector itself is being smashed. Since the recession began, states have [...]
The Argument for Amnesty: An Immigration Policy That Works for All
Mark Vorpahl
This article is co-published with Occupy.com. Millions experience the repressive nature of the U.S. immigration system on a daily basis, lifting its need for reform to a level of urgency. And fixing this broken program is integral to building the unity among U.S. workers that is required to challenge corporate America’s attacks on our wages, rights, [...]
Is The “Democracy Initiative” What We Need?
Mark Vorpahl
This article is co-published with Occupy.com. Last December, at the National Education Association headquarters in Washington, D.C., leaders from a variety of progressive organizations such as Greenpeace, the NAACP and the Communication Workers of America met with the intention of beginning a national campaign to, in the words of Mother Jones reporter Andy Kroll, “remake American [...]
U.S. Cannot Tell Iran to Abandon its Nuclear Program
Kourosh Ziabari
Interview with American social justice activist and writer Mark Vorpahl Mark Vorpahl is an American social justice activist, union steward and anti-war writer. He mostly writes for the Workers Compass but his writings have also appeared on a number of international journals and news websites such as Common Dreams, Global Research, CounterPunch and Counter Currents. [...]
How To Defend the Public Sector
Ann Robertson and Bill Leumer
The attacks on the public domain, particularly public education, social services, and the public sector unions that are linked to these services, are coming in rapid-fire succession, sometimes in an overwhelming barrage where the victims have little time to comprehend what is happening and respond effectively. This should come as little surprise. The attacks are [...]
Longshore Struggle Brews on Both Coasts, Part 2
Mark Vorpahl
This is Part 2 of a two-part series co-published with Occupy.com. Click here, for Part 1 of the series. In the Northwest, at the terminals on the Columbia River, Puget Sound, and Portland, Oregon, the membership of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) are on the defensive against the Northwest Grain Handlers Association (NWGHA). The conflict involves [...]
Longshore Struggle Brews on Both Coasts, Part 1
Mark Vorpahl
This is Part 1 of a two-part series co-published with Occupy.com. Click here, for Part 2 of the series. It’s a familiar pattern: those on top of the economic ladder enjoy massive profits, while expecting workers to sacrifice even more for the “greater good.” This storyline weaves itself into every justification for anti-worker policies. From Washington’s potential Grand Bargain [...]
Egypt’s Revolution Stumbles
Mark Vorpahl
The call for a new constitution was a key political demand of the Egyptian people when they overthrew the thirty-year dictatorship of Mubarak. Motivating this was the desire to begin dismantling the repressive bureaucratic state machinery they had suffered under and replace it with a democratic government that would be guided by their needs and [...]
Obama’s War on Syria and Its Implications
Shamus Cooke
The Obama administration has already declared war on Syria, even if it isn’t “official” yet. Consider the facts, all of them acts of war: The U.S. now recognizes a group of Syrian exiles to be the official government of Syria; the U.S. is providing direct support for rebels attacking the government; the U.S. has coordinated with [...]
Articles of Interest
CORE slate re-elected in landslide in Chicago Teachers Union
Richard Trumka: The 'grand bargain' is a dead end
On the Impotence of the Progressive Movement
Revealed: how the FBI coordinated the crackdown on Occupy
Bradley Manning is off limits at SF Gay Pride parade, but corporate sleaze is embraced
Cutting Social Security–More than a Bad Idea
The Forgotten Radical History of the March on Washington
Freedom Rider: Obama and the Class War- Hong Kong Dockworkers Strike Attracts Huge Solidarity
Understanding the Venezuelan Presidential Election Outcome
