4 June 2020 —Institute of Race Relations weekly digest – Against Racism, for Social Justice
A ‘fascist speech’ verging on ‘a declaration of war against American citizens’. That’s how US president Donald Trump’s 1 June speech, where he invoked the threat of the Insurrection Act (1807) to suppress protests in 350+ US cities over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, is viewed in America. Continue reading
4 June 2020 — Open Democracy
There’s been an urgent development in our campaign to stop the secrecy about NHS data deals with private companies. The government now says they’ll make the decision “imminently” on how much detail they’ll disclose. It could be as soon as tomorrow.
Books we’re reading this month … The Life of V. Gordon Childe; The Tragedy of US Science; Four Billion Years of Life; Marx and Climate Crisis; Tell the Bosses We’re Coming; Essays on Red Rosa
Ecosocialist Bookshelf is an occasional feature. We can’t review every book we receive, but we will list and link to any that seem relevant to Climate & Capitalism’s mission, along with brief descriptions. Books described here may be reviewed in future. Inclusion of a book does not imply endorsement, or that we agree with everything (or even anything!) these books say.
4 June 2020 15:20 — The New Dark Age
“A riot is the language of the unheard”
https://mronline.org/2020/06/03/a-riot-is-the-language-of-the-unheard/
UPRISING: The Story of America Crashes Headlong Into the Reality of America
https://consortiumnews.com/2020/06/04/uprising-the-story-of-america-crashes-headlong-into-the-reality-of-america/
Agent Provocateurs: Police at Protests All Over the Country Caught Destroying Property
https://williambowles.info/2020/06/04/agent-provocateurs-police-at-protests-all-over-the-country-caught-destroying-property/
3 June, 2020 — Jack Rasmus
A week ago in Minneapolis, for all the world to see, a black man, George Floyd, was murdered by a policeman, Derek Chauvin. Protests broke out in nearly 100 American cities, and even worldwide, and have continued now for more than a week.
Murders of black men by police in America are not new. They are endemic. So why the deep, widespread, and sustained protests this time?
4 June 2020 — Tricontinental
Comando Creativo, History is watching us, Bellas Artes, Caracas, 2011.
Dear Friends,
Greetings from the desk of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research.
Last year, I walked with Mariela Machado in her housing complex known as Kaikachi in the neighbourhood of La Vega (Caracas, Venezuela). After Hugo Chávez was inaugurated president in 1999, a group of working-class residents of the city saw an empty piece of land and occupied it. Mariela and others went to the government and said, ‘We built this city. We can build our own houses. All we want are machines and materials’. The government supported them, and they built a charming multi-story complex that houses ninety-two families.
3 June 2020 — The Electronic Intifada
Israel’s version of apartheid can be more subtle than South Africa’s, but the goal is fundamentally the same: ethno-racial gerrymandering, segregation and domination. Picture-Alliance/DPA
Israel this week renewed one of the most overtly racist of the dozens of laws on its books that discriminate against Palestinians and Palestinian citizens of Israel.
2 June 2020 — John Pilger
Prime Minister Gough Whitlam
The Australian High Court has ruled that correspondence between the Queen and the Governor-General of Australia, her viceroy in the former British colony, is no longer “personal” and the property of Buckingham Palace. Why does this matter?
1 June 2020 — Mint Press
The United States is on fire. Since the police killing of George Floyd on May 26, millions have taken to the streets in protest, clashing with police. At least 11 people have died, and thousands have been arrested. 15 states (plus Washington, D.C.) have called in the National Guard to quash protests raging in over 100 cities. Violence has been widespread, particularly in the epicenter Minneapolis, where Floyd was killed, with buildings engulfed in flames, stores looted and vehicles destroyed.
4 June 2020 — Black Agenda Report
Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
The decrepit racial capitalist order appears to be unraveling under the weight of coronavirus, economic depression, and a quantitative leap in people’s willingness to confront power through the politics of the street.
Continue reading
The New Dark Age 