USA/Canada

Dedicate May Day 1945 to - a new world of socialism! MANIFESTO OF THE WORKERS PARTY Working Men and Working Women: This May Day, 1945, arrives at a time when civilization stands on the edge of disaster. The war, rapidly approaching conclusion in Europe and with a swifter than anticipated defeat of Japan in the offing, has shown the dual tendencies in capitalism: its tremendous capacity to create the means of abundance; its equally tremendous capabilities of destruction. The world stands at the crossroads. It can either go forward to a progressive society of peace, freedom and security for all...

Shock, horror and then rage. These were the feelings experienced by tens of thousands of people across the country as they struggled to comprehend the meaning of George Zimmerman’s acquittal. How could Zimmerman be free? It was he who stalked Trayvon Martin, confronted him, pulled out a gun and ultimately murdered the unarmed teenage boy. The facts surrounding this case, from its beginning to its shocking end, show the depth of racism in the United States. It took more than six weeks for George Zimmerman to even be arrested and charged with any crime. The police immediately and instinctively...

Older people in the USA prefer "capitalism" to "socialism" by a huge margin. But among under-29s it's different. Here are the figures: and this is the source: click here . "Socialism" can mean many things to many people, but it's a fair guess that in the USA it means some high degree of social provision, public measures to improve equality and freedom, and democratic inroads into the rule of profit and market forces. That general idea is much more popular: among young people than among older people; among African-Americans than among white people (and "capitalism" is even more unpopular among...

Anyone who doubts whether international labor solidarity makes a difference should speak to Hassan Juma'a Awad, President of the Iraq Federation of Oil Unions (IFOU). Months after the Ministry of Oil lodged a criminal complaint against Brother Juma'a and after seven or more postponements, his case was finally heard by a Basra count. The July 1st hearing didn’t last long. In 30 minutes the court decided to drop the charges. The company lawyer and the prosecutor repeated the accusations against Hassan but could produce no evidence that the Iraqi economy suffered any damage as a consequence of...

At the G8 summit in Northern Ireland on 17-18 June, a start was announced for talks on a free trade deal between the USA and the European Union. The talks will take two years at least, and may not produce a deal. They were able even to start only because a fudge was devised on France’s demands to have its “cultural exception” (measures which protect, for example, French film production) declared off-limits. Campaigners in Britain have been demanding that the NHS be declared equally off-limits. Otherwise future restoration of public service in health, in place of the market allocation the...

(Recruitment poster for the 54th Massachusetts regiment, making false promises to black recruits - see below) In the US Civil War of 1861-5, hundreds of thousands of black soldiers helped to turn the tide in favour of the North and crush slavery. Their participation in a war which had originally excluded black men from fighting signalled and helped push forward the escalation of the conflict into a genuine social revolution. At Ideas for Freedom 2013 , I interspersed my speech with clips from the film Glory , which is about the first black regiment raised in the North, in 1862/3, the 54th...

The state snooping scandal continues to grow. Since 6 June the Guardian and the Washington Post have revealed a court order making telecom giant Verizon give the US National Security Agency details of phone calls for millions of customers, and an NSA system for collecting vast amounts of data from internet communications. Edward Snowden, the NSA contractor who blew the whistle, is in hiding. Google, Facebook, YouTube, Apple and others are trying to reassure internet users. David Cameron swears everything is fine, but other government leaders are bothered about the US spooks dredging data from...

More than 1,000 people marched past the main gates at Fort Meade in Maryland [USA] on 1 June in a demonstration against the impending start of a court-martial for WikiLeaks whistleblower Bradley Manning. Manning should be returning to the civilian world right now. Instead, after three years of incarceration, Manning’s court-martial on 22 charges, including “aiding the enemy,” began on 3 June. According to the military Rules of Court-martial, Manning’s trial should have been held within 120 days of arraignment. While [presiding judge] Colonel Denise Lind claimed there were exceptional...

Walmart workers in Miami, Massachusetts, and California struck on 28 May. The strike is the latest walkout in an ongoing campaign for workplace justice at the retail giant, coordinated by OUR Walmart, a labour movement coalition mainly animated by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW). The strike is due to last for over 10 days, until Walmart's shareholder convention on 7 June. Although the strike involves only a minority of Walmart employees, the tenacity and dynamism of the campaign (which also coordinated strikes in October and November 2012) has seen it punch significantly...

Four hundred fast food workers in New York struck and demonstrated on 4 April to demand a $15/hour minimum wage. The strike involved workers at McDonalds, KFC, Burger King, Domino’s Pizza, and other multinational fast food chains. Naquasia Legrand, a KFC worker, said low pay in the fast food industry forced workers to make impossible choices: “You have to decide whether to feed your family or get a Metrocard so you can go to work. Or you have to choose between paying your rent or feeding your child”. The strike was part of the Fast Food Forward (FFW) campaign, an initiative of the Service...