3 December 2020 — US Right to Know
The Coca-Cola Company used its sponsorship of international public health conferences to deflect blame for the obesity epidemic away from its products, according to a new study based on documents obtained by U.S. Right to Know.
3 December 2020 — Institute of Race Relations
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Following the IRR’s concern about the appointment of controversial ‘race iconoclast’ David Goodhart as commissioner at the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and amid revelations about the views of other commissioners, Jenny Bourne sets the debate about the EHRC in historical context by examining the statutory bodies from 1962 till today. CIAC, NICCI, CRC, CRE, EHRC – whatever the initials, the organisations have long held an ambiguous position and struggled to gain community trust. Today, the EHRC, with its tiny budget, reluctance to hit hard, and a set of right-leaning dissentient commissioners, seems dominated by the very interests it is supposedly regulating. Even when the Commission deems the government’s hostile environment policies unlawful, as our recent twitter thread explains, it appears reluctant to mete out any substantial forms of redress. In a week that has seen another deportation flight to Jamaica, the futility of such bodies is laid bare.
3 December 2020 — Tricontinental
Aswath (India), Lenin met India, 2020
Dear friends,
Greetings from the desk of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research.
Farmers and agricultural workers from northern India marched along various national highways toward India’s capital of New Delhi as part of the general strike on 26 November. They carried placards with slogans against the anti-farmer, pro-corporate laws that were passed by India’s Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament) in September, and then pushed through the Rajya Sabha (upper house) with only a voice vote. The striking agricultural workers and farmers carried flags that indicated their affiliation with a range of organisations, from the communist movement to a broad front of farmers’ organisations. They marched against the privatisation of agriculture, which they argue undermines India’s food sovereignty and erodes their ability to remain agriculturalists.
25 November 2020 — Michael Roberts
Before the COVID-19 pandemic engulfed the world, the big pharmaceutical companies did little investment in vaccines for global diseases and viruses. It was just not profitable. Of the 18 largest US pharmaceutical companies, 15 had totally abandoned the field. Heart medicines, addictive tranquilizers and treatments for male impotence were profit leaders, not defences against hospital infections, emergent diseases and traditional tropical killers. A universal vaccine for influenza—that is to say, a vaccine that targets the immutable parts of the virus’s surface proteins—has been a possibility for decades, but never deemed profitable enough to be a priority. So, every year, we get vaccines that are only 50% efficient.
3 December 2020 — Black Agenda Report
Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
Ten chapters of the national Black Lives Matter organization are in open revolt against the individuals that have treated the mass movement as their personal vehicle for upward political, professional and financial advancement.
The New Dark Age 