>The IC published a report in August 2024 that accused Iran of disseminating misinformation online, stating that it will impact the upcoming election. According to the report, “Iran and Russia have employed these tactics not only in the United States during this and prior federal election cycles but also in other countries around the world.” > >The National Intelligence Council (NIC) and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) have been monitoring China’s alleged interference heavily since 2020. The NIC reported in 2021 that China did not deploy influence efforts in the 2020 presidential election, because China focuses on local and midterm elections; the FBI backed up this claim. > >On May 6, CNN platformed these concerns, stating that Chinese intelligence officials had issued directives to “intensify efforts to influence U.S. policy and public opinion in China’s favor” as well as “magnify U.S. societal divisions.”

>Once again, the state used the hollow excuse of “fare evasion” to justify an assassination attempt on a Brooklyn man. This is not an isolated incident but a pattern of state violence targeting the working class in general and Black people in particular. Mayor Eric Adams took to Twitter, rather ironically, calling this shooting an act of “bravery.” Only in our […] city of escalating [neo]fascism is the victim painted as the villain and the aggressor as a “hero.” > >Freedom of movement, as on public transportation, is a right, not a privilege. The MTA should be FREE for ALL New Yorkers. The increased police presence in our subway system has not made us safer. Instead, it led to a horrific mass shooting where a police officer shot four people, including the man accused of fare evasion, two innocent bystanders and even another officer. All this over a $2.90 fare — a fare that should not exist in the wealthiest city in the United States. > >The normalization of state violence, whether in Gaza or on the streets of New York City, has desensitized us to the ongoing war against Black and other colonized communities. This incident took place in East New York, Brooklyn, where the majority of individuals on that train were Black and Brown, seen by the establishment as disposable. It’s precisely this context that allows the [Zionist]-trained NYPD and Mayor Adams to attempt to cast this incident aside as just another “normal” occurrence. > >Had this shooting occurred outside of the hood, it would not have been so easily dismissed. The outcry and mobilization that once followed such acts of violence have faded. Where are the voices of celebrities and influencers that once proclaimed Black Lives Matter? The silence is deafening. Yet, across the city, we working-class Bronxites are listening and ready to act.

>Tomorrow, people all across the United States are taking to the streets to oppose the U.S.-sponsored […] terrorist campaign against Lebanon. Today alone, the relentless [neocolonial] bombardment has murdered over 270 people in Lebanon. The massive military aid and political cover provided by the Biden-Harris administration to the [neocolony] is what allows these massacres to happen. > >Rather than heeding the world's demands for a ceasefire, Netanyahu is escalating the genocide in Gaza into an all-out regional war. With the help of Biden and Harris, he wants to use this as an opportunity to brutally attack any force in the region that stands against [neocolonial] occupation and U.S. domination. > >The ANSWER Coalition is joining the call to action issued by the Shut It Down for Palestine movement to demand an arms embargo and sanctions against [Zionism’s neocolony] now. [The] attacks in Lebanon and the ongoing siege and genocide in Gaza are made possible by the huge amount of bombs, missiles and warplanes provided by the US government. We will take to the streets to say: Hands off Lebanon! Free Palestine! > >### Initial list of demonstrations coming soon, check here for frequent updates

(Taken from an email sent to me by the ANSWER Coalition.)

>Councilmember Lozada has decided to target services that improve and save the lives of chaotic drug users in Philadelphia’s Seventh District. She wants to ban the presence of harm reduction mobile units in residential areas and areas near recreational centers. Anyone running a mobile unit could then be fined $500, with another bill targeting “littering” near these mobile sites that would fine people another $500. > >Lozada claims she wants to work with the community, the services and the mayor to have areas where these units can run and help drug users. The reality, though, is that she wants to purge the neighborhood of chaotic drug users. She claims that these units have caused “nuisance behavior” and “public safety issues,” but they merely operate where these drug users congregate. Just moving the vans won’t do much, as some users will not change their using location just to find a van. > >The other members of the Kensington Caucus, Councilmembers Mark Squilla, Mike Driscoll and Jim Hagerty, back this bill, unsurprisingly, because they also serve as both Lozada’s lackeys and as agents of developers trying to transform Kensington into a hot gentrified neighborhood that real estate interests can exploit. > >Between the sweeps which resulted in Amanda Cahill’s death, the attacks on the International Overdose Awareness Day memorials, and the attacks on harm reduction mobile units, one tying string can be seen: a disdain for chaotic drug users and a disdain for the people who want to help or love them.

>Joining the IAM 751 Machinists on the picket line the first day were workers from the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, which has over 10,000 members who work at Boeing. These workers continue working during the Machinists’ strike, but will refuse to do the machinists’ production jobs. > >Other unions like the United Auto Workers and the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) joined the machinists in a general uproar of chanting and horn honking as the strike kicked off. > >The Machinists are joining the rising tide of a revitalized movement both in the U.S. and internationally. The working class is being pushed to the wall by the bosses, but these workers have a perspective of unity and struggle and a growing class-consciousness to take a great leap forward against capital.

>The community successfully occupied the Harris/Walz campaign office for over three hours. Rally members outside flooded into the office following the confirmation that the police would not be arresting anyone. Though the protesters’ demands were not met, they were successful in making their position known to the Biden/Harris administration, as Harris/Walz campaign staffers and police conceded the space to the protesters.

\ Huh… interesting.

So, how’s everybody doing?

>According to local media reports, the dangerous fire forced evacuations in the surrounding neighborhood as explosions were heard inside the building, and one firefighter was injured in the blaze. People with respiratory illnesses were especially warned to take caution. > >The fire was not completely put out until Sept. 7. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, water was contaminated in a nearby creek that runs into Long Lake. EPA representatives claim they would continue to monitor the area. […] > >Akron is a small, Midwestern city near Cleveland that was once known for being a large manufacturer of rubber tires. Like most “rust belt” towns, workers suffered tremendously when jobs were destroyed as a result of capitalist greed, automation and offshoring. > >Many of the displaced residents did not have a place to go when the fire began in their neighborhood. City officials were not prepared to assist anyone in the community, and instead only offered “advice.” > >In contrast to the capitalist U.S., [people’s republics] can conduct mass evacuations when disaster unexpectedly strikes. For example, revolutionary Cuba has been able to carry out successful evacuations to avoid hurricanes and floods. > >In 2008, [the Republic of] Cuba safely helped a quarter of a million people to leave their homes to avoid Hurricane Gustav. As NBC News admitted: “When Hurricane Gustav roared across western Cuba as a Category-4 hurricane on Aug. 30, it damaged 100,000 homes and caused billions of dollars in damage. Nobody died. The storm then moved onto Louisiana, which launched a massive evacuation and saw 26 people die.” (Sept. 10, 2008) > >Capitalism cannot deliver or meet people’s needs. So long as workers and oppressed people suffer under the yoke of capital, dire disasters will be hard to escape. Socialism is the only proven solution to helping the masses when faced with unforeseen catastrophes.

>Workers at the other 24 hotels conducted their walkouts for one to three days as limited duration strikes. Unfortunately, no contract was signed, and the union asserts the labor dispute is ongoing. Strikes could still be called in cities where they’ve been authorized, but have not yet occurred, such as New Haven, Connecticut; Oakland, California; and Providence, Rhode Island. > >The work stoppages are a result of unresolved contract negotiations. Hotel workers are demanding higher wages, fairer staffing levels and the ability to provide daily cleaning services. The latter issue inconveniences guests and it requires more work to clean rooms which have gone for days without being serviced. > >Gwen Mills, international president of UNITE HERE said in a statement: “The hotel industry is making record profits while workers and guests are left behind. Too many hotels still haven’t restored standard services that guests deserve, like automatic daily housekeeping and room service. Workers aren’t making enough to support their families. Many can no longer afford to live in the cities that they welcome guests to.” (travelweekly.com, Sept. 5)

>One of the many victims was Ayşenur Ezgi Ergi, a U.S. and Turkish citizen who was murdered by [neocolonial] soldiers the day before the march, Sept. 6. Ezgi was protesting the genocidal destruction of Palestinian neighborhoods in the West Bank. She was a graduate of Seattle Public Schools and the University of Washington in Seattle. > >Ezgi was in the forefront of the Free Palestine movement in Seattle, helping establish the Palestine solidarity encampment at the University of Washington in May. > >The movement has lost a wonderful person who is now being honored for her ultimate sacrifice. Aria Fani, one of her professors, told the Seattle Times: “She would say right now if she were alive, ‘The only reason I’m in the headlines is because I have [U.S.] citizenship.’” (Sept. 6)

>The following are the “overt acts” listed in the indictment: > >* In 2015, Chairman Yeshitela attended a conference hosted by a nongovernmental organization, the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia, entitled “The Dialogue of Nations.” Hundreds of delegates from around the world, including members of other U.S. anti-war organizations attended this conference, held in Moscow. >* Publishing a petition charging the U.S. with genocide. >* Speaking and organizing at United Nations hearings for reparations to African people in the U.S. Publishing an article opposing a ban on Russian athletes in the Olympics. >* Running for public office on a reparations platform. Speaking out against the U.S./NATO proxy war on Russia. (Burning Spear, Sept. 3) > >The U.S. government’s “proof” includes images of public events, such as marches and protest rallies for reparations and against police violence, educational webinars and other community activities. > >Some 30 federal agents have had over two years to build their case since the July 23, 2022, early morning raid on the Uhuru House in St. Petersburg, Florida, the home of Chairman Yeshitela and the office of the Solidarity Committee in St. Louis. During the raid, agents seized computers, electronics, boxes of documents, photos, books and papers, while damaging doors, walls and furniture. > >And what have they found? A history of more than 50 years of defending Black people against police murder and harassment, consistent organizing for poor people’s needs for housing, healthcare and education; solidarity with oppressed peoples everywhere and opposition to [neo]imperialist war. > >That history is what has brought scores of progressive and revolutionary organizations to attend the trial and offer their solidarity through written messages. > >Among the many people traveling to Tampa-St. Petersburg to attend the trial are well-known activists, including Pam Africa of the MOVE Family and with International Concerned Friends and Family of Mumia Abu-Jamal; esteemed Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) veteran Efia Nwangaza; Jihad Abdulmumit, National Jericho Movement; Jill Stein, Green Party presidential candidate; Benjamin Prado of Union del Barrio and Cheryl LaBash, Co-Chair of the National Network on Cuba. > >The courtroom has been packed with up to 100 supporters, plus others in an overfill room.

>The clear majority of march participants were young Asians, many who have grown up watching their parents and grandparents engage in these earlier struggles against efforts to destroy Chinatown. > >A contingent of young speakers from Students for the Preservation of Chinatown opened up the second rally at the Friendship Arch following the march. Speaking collectively, these young activists asked why the billions of dollars that the city is considering for the arena should not go instead for air conditioning and libraries in public schools and playgrounds in the many city neighborhoods that have none. > >Speakers at the closing rally included a medical student who addressed concerns that the arena would impact traffic to and from the nearby Jefferson hospital complex. Residents of Washington Square West and the Gayborhood, a historic LGBTQIA2S+ area, which would also be impacted, condemned the arena proposal. A speaker from the immigrant/migrants’ rights group Juntos compared this proposed gentrification to the globalization that has forced millions of South and Central American and Caribbean people to leave their countries.

>Santiago, an immigrant from Colombia and former detainee at Moshannon, said at the press conference: “The truth is, Moshannon is a place where they don’t treat you like an immigrant, but as if you were a criminal,” Santiago, who used an assumed name to protect himself, said he was “treated like an animal” there and that officers were “very racist.” He was put in solitary confinement for two months just for having “a small verbal argument” with a fellow detainee. Santiago described how guards assaulted him and how they use solitary confinement to punish detainees for minor infractions. > >Each year, ICE holds hundreds of thousands of people in detention facilities while they await their immigration court hearings. Being sent to Moshannon or another ICE facility is not supposed to be a punishment. The U.S. Constitution does not allow those in civil detention to be subject to punishment or conditions that amount to punishment. > >No one at Moshannon is there to serve time after being convicted of a crime. On the contrary, they are asylum seekers who are forced into detention to ensure their appearance in court. Some are long-time permanent residents — including primary breadwinners or parents of U.S.-born children — detained and taken away from their communities based on old allegations, no matter how trivial. > >[…] > >Because private prisons are notorious for violence, abuse and unjustified deaths, President Joe Biden was forced by community pressure to sign Executive Order 14006 on Jan. 26, 2021, directing the Department of Justice to cease the renewal of federal contracts with private prisons. However, the order does not apply to Homeland Security and ICE facilities. The notorious GEO Group, Inc., a private company with $2.4 billion in revenue in 2023, operates Moshannon and more than a dozen other ICE detention centers in the U.S. > >Through a “fixed-rate contract,” ICE pays GEO Group to maintain a certain number of beds at detention centers regardless of whether or not they are being used. Thus, detention centers that are under fixed-rate contracts, like Moshannon, may house significantly fewer people than what the contract requires, which encourages ICE to fill rather than let the surplus beds go unused. As a result, money drives immigration detention, not actual need. > >[…] > >Of the 77 immigrants interviewed, 50% reported instances of general mistreatment by facility staff, 58% expressed medical and mental health care issues, 31% were subject to racial or derogatory slurs, 6% were the victims of physical force and 10% were threatened with being transferred to an out-of state facility, even further away from their families and supporters. > >People detained at Moshannon reported staff have physically abused them using excessive force, including chokeholds. Non-English speakers in detention recounted how staff treated them worse. > >Women reported they were given less access to resources such as recreation time, the law library and even the cafeteria when compared to men. > >People complained that accessing counsel for their immigration proceedings was made difficult and that their complaints were ignored or resulted in retaliation and abuse by staff. Without adequate legal representation, people have a hard time asserting their rights in immigration court.

>Climate change is a long-term shift in the average weather patterns that have come to define Earth’s local, regional and global climates. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states that the “scientific evidence for warming of the climate system is unequivocal.” According to NOAA, the Earth’s temperature has risen by an average of 2 degrees Fahrenheit since record-keeping began in 1850. > >Furthermore, the rate of warming since 1982 has tripled, and the majority of this warming has occurred since then. This warming is caused by human activity, referring to the extreme amount of greenhouse gasses emitted under the industrial capitalist mode of production. The United States is the largest per capita contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, and studies indicate that climate denialism, as a cultural and political phenomenon, is most pervasive in the United States. > >These weather events are made more frequent and severe because of the rapid heating of the oceans, atmosphere and land. What were once in a lifetime weather events are becoming annual or semi-annual events. > >The United States’ aging infrastructure has exacerbated the effects of this extreme weather. Recent tornado storms in Ohio, which were caused by the mixture of humid air from hurricane alley and cool temperatures from a low-pressure ridge in the Midwest, have caused severe power outages in Cleveland. > >As of Aug. 18, nearly 300,000 people had been without power since Aug, 12. Meanwhile, Texas has been dealing with a power outage affecting 2.7 million people since Hurricane Beryl made landfall on July 8. That category 1 hurricane has devastated large parts of Texas because of the state’s particularly faulty power grid infrastructure. > >In order for capitalism to develop and sustain its need to maintain and increase profits, it must exploit the environment at a steadily increasing pace. Capitalism requires infinite growth in a world with finite resources. It plunders workers and ecological systems throughout the world. > >Class systems perpetuated by capitalism also make poor and oppressed peoples more at risk of climate-related health issues. Poor people are often the first to suffer and the last to be evacuated during disasters; they receive the least effective medical care. Often, they lose their land or assets permanently without proper compensation. All capitalist politicians do is make empty promises and spread climate denialism. > >To end this existential threat workers must unite and implement the integration of science into economic planning under socialism.

See also: Consciousness raising: personal and social — The struggle for change

>America, America, land of the free. The society filled with justice and equality. This is a clear example of hypocrisy, unless they forgot to include me and millions of others kept in captivity. Confined behind tall walls and razor wires, with the nation of prisoners constantly rising higher. Most of us will never be released — except in a body bag, once deceased. > >Most inmates have done their wrong, but guidelines designed to hold prisoners are much too long. America’s prison in America has become the number one prison industry. Where men and women are stocked as a commodity, and actually forced to work for a paltry sum under servitude for free. Refusal and being without pay and thrown into the hole, along with a definite denial of parole. > >Since the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, minorities have been swallowed by incarceration. It’s easy to see the similarities between prison life and slavery. Inside these walls, phone rates and commissary prices are still high, because financial support comes from Securus, Global Tel Link, Aramark food service and Smart Communications, too. As far as these corporate raiders, that’s just a few. Inmates are forced to make prisoners’ clothes, bed linens, bras, panties, boxers, T-shirts, socks, boots, hats, and coats, too. > >It’s a shame many tax-paying citizens don’t know. We are in an era of the new Jim Crow. There’s no justice or equality. America was built from slavery. Don’t take my word for it; study your history. Three, two, one. Racist lawmakers and politicians make decisions causing Blacks, [indigenes], de facto whites, and poor whites to fill the prisons. Outsiders believe we are being rehabilitated. But being caged only generates hatred. > >The majority of defendants are victimized and doomed way before entering the courtroom. The vocabulary and legal terminology used leave most inmates confused. And often the attorney who’s allegedly protecting your constitutional rights, is secretly drinking martinis with the DAs and judges. Quick to offer some type of plea deal or make you wait many years for an appeal. > >Court officials share a bond of which we’re not part, stacking the odds against you from the very start, just like slave masters by selling slaves, working them till they’re dead in their graves. So at times it seriously baffles me why America is called the Land of the Free, especially when the United States of America is warehousing the largest nation of prisoners in the country.

>According to Rideshare Drivers United: “Today, the Supreme Court of California decided that Prop 22 was not in violation of our state constitution, allowing Big Tech to continue exploiting drivers under a law they wrote and paid for, that replaced decades of common sense labor law in exchange for complete disregard of basic standards like hourly minimum wage standards and basic benefits like unemployment, family leave, workplace safety standards and the like. > >“It allowed billion-dollar companies to rewrite labor law for their own workers, making it legal for them to pay app drivers and delivery workers less than federal minimum wage after expenses.” (drivers-united.org, July 25) > >Rideshare Drivers United is a grassroots organization founded in 2018 by Los Angeles drivers. Since then, its membership has increased to 20,000 with chapters in Los Angeles, San Francisco and around the Bay Area. RDU has successfully organized two strikes that drew international solidarity. > >Big Tech spent over $220 million to get Prop 22 passed in the November 2020 election, sending a message that California labor law is for sale. > >Despite setbacks, the gig workers are determined to overcome obstacles by organizing and building solidarity. Unions can provide important assistance. In a 2021 article, “Unionizing the Gig Economy: A Path Forward For Gig Workers,” Ken Green explains: “The guidance of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) was key for getting drivers for food delivery company Foodora in Toronto to organize. > >[…] > >Disneyland workers won a 31% raise just by threatening to strike, which was meant to shut down the park. Disney Corporation weighed the consequences the closing of the park would have on their bottom line and opted to give in to workers’ demands. Most workers will get a $6.10 per hour wage bump, raising minimum pay at Disneyland to $24 an hour. The four unions that represent 14,000 Disneyland workers waged a contract campaign as Disney Workers Rising. > >The Amtrak Service Workers Council won a significant wage increase for on-board Amtrak workers in the latest contract negotiations. The average worker will make $80,000 over the length of the contract. The unions also won 10 weeks paid parental leave. > >[…] > >The National Labor Relations Board upheld a litany of Unfair Labor Practice charges against Red Rock Casinos in Nevada and parent company Station Casinos. Some of the illegal practices of casino management included posting anti-union messages and instituting benefits that would only apply to workers not engaged in union activity. The NLRB ordered Station Casinos to immediately begin contract bargaining with the Culinary Union representing casino workers. > >Culinary Union Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge said: “This decision affirms what we have been saying for years — that Station Casinos violated the law, and the company must bargain with the union because of its unlawful actions that corrupted the prospect for a free and fair union election. Station Casinos needs to stop breaking the law and treat its workers with respect.” (hrdive.com, June 25)

>The silence of the international community and international institutions, especially the Red Cross, regarding these crimes raises a big question mark about the credibility and neutrality of these institutions. These institutions have not fulfilled their legal and ethical responsibilities to investigate these atrocities or to send international committees into the prisons, especially since international media has repeatedly revealed the unprecedented crimes occurring in the camp against Gaza Strip prisoners. > >The U.S. stance, which overlooks these atrocities happening in the Zionist extermination camp at “Sde Teman,” and then laments what happens after some torture scenes are leaked, confirms the U.S. administration’s involvement in these crimes and its prior knowledge of the grave violations against the prisoners from Gaza Strip, including torture, rape, starvation, medical neglect and other horrific means of torture. > >The Front affirms that these crimes will not go unanswered by the resistance, and the top priority will remain ending the suffering of the prisoners and freeing them from the Nazi occupation prisons.