The American labor movement is experiencing a resurgence, with an increase in the popularity of unions and of workers organizing.

An August 2021 poll conducted by Gallup found support for labor unions at their highest point in the US since 1965, with 68% support in the US. Labor unions were the only institution for whom Americans’ approval did not decline over the past year, in a June poll on confidence for 16 major US institutions.

During the first three-quarters of the fiscal year, the National Labor Relations reported an increase of union election petitions by 58%, up to 1,892 from 1,197.

But the corporate pushback in America has been fierce, and has come amid allegations of union-busting, and brutal campaigns to try and discourage workers from organizing.

US sees union boom despite big companies’ aggressive opposition | US unions | The Guardian

 Gaza’s Hamas rulers have imposed a slew of new taxes even though  Gaza’s 2.3 million people are suffering not only from a 15-year Israeli-Egyptian blockade, but also from a new jump in prices caused by global supply-chain issues and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. With tens of thousands of civil servants to support, as well as its heavy spending on its military wing, it is no surprise that Hamas is seeking new sources of revenue. The government offers few services in exchange, and most aid and relief projects are covered by the international community. The funds help Hamas operate a government and powerful armed wing.

 New taxes have been placed on imported clothes and office supplies just ahead of the new school year, sparking limited but rare protests in the impoverished coastal strip. The list also includes a tax of about $3 on pair of jeans, and $230 on a ton of plastic folders used to store papers. Demand for these items increases ahead of the school year.

 Planned taxes on items like packaged nuts, with an import tariff of 2,000 shekels (nearly $600) per ton. In the past, nuts were imported tax free. The tariff on a ton of toilet paper rose from $90 to $580. 

It is the latest steps are part of a series of taxes targeting a wide array of sectors, from street vendors selling hot drinks to restaurants, home building and cars.

Earlier this month, about two dozen members of the clothes merchants’ union expressed their frustration in public. They stood inside the building housing their union in Gaza City and held new pairs of jeans, with the price tags still on them, in the air for about half an hour. Two days later, the merchants gathered outside the offices of Hamas lawmakers. Police prevented the media from filming and ordered the protest to stop after allowing representatives of the union inside to talk to the lawmakers.

Seeking new funds, Hamas raises taxes in impoverished Gaza | AP News

 Yields of key crops in Europe will be sharply down this year owing to heatwaves and droughts, exacerbating the impacts of the Ukraine war on food prices.

Maize, sunflower and soya bean yields are forecast by the EU to drop by about 8% to 9% due to hot weather across the continent. Supplies of cooking oil and maize were already under pressure, as Ukraine is a major producer and its exports have been blocked by Russia.

Large parts of Europe have been afflicted by drought and hot weather in recent weeks, including Spain, southern France, central and northern Italy, central Germany, northern Romania and eastern Hungary. Cereal yields are down about 2% overall, compared with the five-year average.  Drought and heat stress in many regions coincided with the flowering stage for key crops, and water reservoirs in many places are at levels too low to meet the demand for irrigation.

Falls in Europe’s crop yields due to heatwaves could worsen price rises | Farming | The Guardian

Society has entered one of its darkest phases now. The world is paralysed. The capitalist class is facing a deep economical and political crisis and is seeking a solution.  Some workers believe that the only way to improve the current situation is to promote nationalism and identify nationalism as the only road to freedom. Voices of nationalism have spread all over but nationalism is in fact the obstacle to human progress.

A nation sacrifices its people in wars. If it wins, only those industrialists and politicians can enjoy the fruit of success. If it is defeated, people have to suffer to rebuild the wealth of their rulers. Nationalism is a monster that kills their fathers, mothers sisters and brothers, daughters and sons. The world has had enough and far more than enough of war. We are reminded every day of the inroads that war is making on our lives—less food,  curtailment of our liberties. Worst of all is the loss of the hope of a better world.  We are in the middle of an economic crisis, a health crisis, an energy crisis, a labour crisis. The standard of living, we are told, must go down and we are exhorted to work harder and longer. This fear of the future is not due to any fault or weakness of the working people but simply and solely to the policy of governments and businesses.

 Nationalism will not bring security but to misery. It strengthens the state and helps the capitalists plunder the poor. It restricts our freedom; it forces us to fight against our peace-loving nature; it encourages us to compete with people of other nations while we are supposed to help each other. Working people have absolutely nothing to gain from war. Only peace is in our interest. The class war is sole effective guarantor of peace between peoples. It is this war of the classes that we must concentrate upon, and in that connection the war against false values, against evil institutions, against all social atrocities. 

They are really not against war and are not for the overthrow of the system that produces war; they are not really for peace and are not for the overthrow of the system which makes peace impossible. For the capitalist, it does not matter whether he produces guns or butter so long as he produces profit.

Since the war in Ukraine began, the Western media have been used to prove the barbarity, the cruelty, and the oppression of Russian militarism. Conservatives and radicals alike are giving their support to the Ukrainians for no other reason than to help crush that militarism, in the presence of which, they say, there can be no peace in Europe. As long as the class society continue to exist there can be no long-term guarantee that humanity will ever achieve permanent peace. For the bankers and industrialists, for the armament manufacturers  and food speculators, – for all the capitalist vultures who feast on the bloody war, – opportunity to coin billions out of human carnage has arrived again. To camouflage the real character of this merciless plundering and unprecedented pilfering of the people’s pockets, the bankers and bosses have termed the Ukrainian war one of self-determination and national defence

The Socialist Party is for the triumph of peace and fraternity among all human beings. It seeks to end all oppression and of all exploitation of man by man. It has always taught that the workers of all countries are brothers and sisters and that the enemy is the exploiter, whether born alongside us or in a far-off country, whether speaking the same language or another. Capitalism is war; socialism is peace. We believe that there is no fundamental cause for people to quarrel with each other. We believe that international disputes do not originate with ordinary working men and women, but are instigated by the few who profit from prejudice and conflict. The Socialist Party’s energies have always been directed towards the elimination of the causes of war. Our battle cry is and will remain ‘War on war!’

‘Ordinary’ folk in ordinary situations don’t have enemies. We may know people who hold opinions we don’t share or like, and we may meet people whom we don’t want to have as friends but personal enemies are rare. Most people have no desire to deliberately kill another human being. Even personal disagreements and feuds rarely conclude so drastically.

 Our most dangerous enemies the world over are the insidious, manufactured histories refashioned and spun in favour of the storyteller to keep us onside and supportive of foreign policies. Part-truths, withheld information and fake news as opposed to the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth is the norm. The “gratitude” of the ruling class for whom war is fought and won has a quick expiry date.

 A war veteran hopes for the end of all wars as promised in “the war to end all wars” and the new recruit what he has been told, that he one of the ones to finally put the world to rights. Both are disappointed as actual history shows again and again. A world without conflict  can be achieved by the world’s citizens in general agreement that they are no longer prepared to pay the price that has been demanded of them for so long.

It is the duty of the military of each country concerned is ordered, along with the other armed services, to carry out its function as the protector of the foreign interests of its native capitalist class. Not that the protection of capitalist interests will be the reason given for hurling masses of young men, mostly members of the working class, into bloody conflict against other masses of young men, similarly mainly workers. The various propaganda machines will manufacture high-sounding excuses. The war is a fight for “democracy over autocracy”, for “breathing-space”, to defend “the rights of small nations”. Augmented now by hosts of wartime conscripts the task for each army is to wreak what havoc, destruction and death it can upon the armies of the “enemy” countries. For no other reason than that they have been ordered to do so by their respective governments, man kills man so that his masters’ trading interests are furthered or at least protected from damage.

Capitalism is a system whose roots are embedded in military conflict whether under a Labour Government just as much as a Conservative Government. The frenzied scramble for markets and sources of supply, as well as trade routes, culminates in a war when threats and diplomatic jiggery–pokery fail to give sections of the capitalists, in their internal strife, the sought-for supremacy in the limited markets of the world. When the struggle for markets has reached the peak of frantic intensity the shadow of war becomes ominous; capitalists will not lose the privilege of reaping the results of the exploitation of workers without the resort to armed conflict, particularly as these same workers may be persuaded to risk their lives in their masters’ battles. Terrible though the prospects of war are, the capitalist class of the world do not hesitate; in spite of the threat of nuclear missile, so you may be assured that they will not hesitate, as the present concentration on large scale means of destruction makes clearly evident. That the world’s leaders are still prepared to continue their nuclear logic , that they are continually prepared to wipe out millions of their fellow humans to further the interests of a minority should shatter any illusions the future we have will proceed on a different course. While we contemplate the wars, the conflicts and the horrors our masters have in store for us this coming century, it is also important to remember that we as a class hold the power to prevent the same from coming about. The profit motive kills all human feelings and excuses the most fiendish brutality.

There is only one solution to the problem of war, the removal of its cause. War arises out of the private property basis of capitalism, which drives capitalist sections into conflict over the disposal of the wealth produced by the worker. This conflict will only disappear when the workers of the world take possession of the means of production and distribute products freely wherever they are needed. Then there will not be markets to fight for because buying and selling will have been abolished. Socialism is the only solution to the problem of war in the modern world.

As for the workers of Ukraine they will rapidly find that they have just changed one set of rulers for another no matter who prevails in the war. We are not ruled by force or coercion, but by consent. The Putins and the Zelenskyys of this world can only do the things they do because we vote them in, thus legitimising their actions, however detrimental they may be to our interests. War and conflict and all the terrors we dare to imagine only come to pass because we refuse to join together as a class to express our class interests.

 Two new talks have been uploaded to the Party website:

The Ideas of Rutger Bregman

Paul Bennett, 15th July 2022

Human Nature

Richard Field, 22nd July 2022

 Sri Lanka’s food inflation soars to a staggering 80 percent in June 2022.

An alarming 6.3 million people (about 3 in 10 households) are now food insecure.   Of this number, 66,000 people are severely food insecure

The majority of households (61 percent) are regularly using food-based coping strategies such as eating less preferred, less nutritious food and cutting back on food portions. 

About 6.7 million people are not consuming adequate diets and 5.3 million people are reducing the number of meals eaten.

While urban households are depleting savings to cope for now, rural populations are already turning to credit in order to purchase food and other essentials.

An alarming increase in high-risk child protection incidents such as sexual assault, physical abuse, and child negligence have been reported in at least four districts, namely: Moneragala, Nuwara Eliya, Batticoloa and Mullaitivu. 

WFP Sri Lanka Country Brief, June 2022 – Sri Lanka | ReliefWeb

Palestinian authorities are systematically mistreating and torturing Palestinians in detention, including critics and opponents, Human Rights Watch said today in a parallel report submitted jointly to the United Nations Committee Against Torture with the Palestinian rights group Lawyers for Justice. 

More than a year after the PA beat to death prominent activist and critic Nizar Banat while he was in custody and violently dispersed people demanding justice for his death, including rounding up scores for peaceful protesting, no one has been held to account. Prosecutors brought charges against 14 accused security officers, but critics say the authorities are moving too slowly and are biased, including in a June 21 decision by military prosecutors to release the accused for 12 days.

“More than a year after beating to death Nizar Banat, the Palestinian Authority continues to arrest and torture critics and opponents,” said Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch. “Systematic abuse by the PA and Hamas forms a critical part of the repression of the Palestinian people.”

In the months that followed Banat’s death, PA police forces violently dispersed popular protests demanding justice and rounded up scores of people for peacefully protesting.

The death in custody of Banat and rounding up of demonstrators in the weeks that followed reflects the Palestinian authorities’ systematic practice of arbitrary arrest and torture with impunity, Human Rights Watch said. PA and Hamas security forces routinely taunt and threaten detainees, use solitary confinement and beatings, including whipping their feet, and force detainees into painful stress positions for prolonged periods, including hoisting their arms behind their backs with cables or rope, to punish and intimidate critics and opponents and elicit confessions, as Human Rights Watch and Lawyers for Justice lay out in their parallel report.  

Palestinian authorities have consistently failed to hold security forces accountable, as documented in the parallel report.

In 2021, the ICHR received 252 complaints of torture and ill-treatment and 279 of arbitrary arrest against PA authorities in the West Bank and 193 complaints of torture and ill-treatment and 97 of arbitrary arrest against Hamas authorities in Gaza. Hamas authorities have also executed 28 people in Gaza since seizing political control in June 2007, in a context in which  due process violations, coercion, and torture are prevalent, and have summarily executed scores of other people without any judicial process, often on accusations of collaboration with Israel.

Palestinian authorities should abide by the international human rights treaties they have acceded to and end grave abuses and endemic impunity by holding those responsible to account.

The parallel Human Rights Watch and Lawyers for Justice report also covers mistreatment and torture by Israeli authorities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and impunity for these abuses. Despite more than 1,300 complaints of torture filed with Israel’s Justice Ministry since 2001 stemming from acts allegedly carried out by Israeli authorities in Israel or the West Bank, including painful shackling, sleep deprivation, and exposure to extreme temperatures, these complaints have only resulted in two criminal investigations and no indictments over the past 20 years, according to the Israeli rights group Public Committee Against Torture in Israel. As part of its duties under the Convention Against Torture to “prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction,” the State of Palestine should cease all security coordination with the Israeli army that contributes to facilitating torture and other grave abuses, and stop handing over Palestinians, as long as there remains a real risk of torture and other prohibited ill-treatment for those handed over, Human Rights Watch said.

“Many governments say they want to support the rule of law in Palestine and yet year after year continue to fund police forces that actively undermine it,” Shakir said. “Purported concerns over the fragility of Palestinian institutions and other tired excuses should no longer stand in the way. Donor governments should cut ties to abusive Palestinian police and security forces and center their Palestine and Israel policies on human rights.”

Palestine: Impunity for Arbitrary Arrests, Torture | Human Rights Watch (hrw.org)

 The German economy is facing a shortage of workers. Immigration reform may be on the table to attract more foreign labour. Germany loses around 350,000 working-age people every year as the Baby Boomer generation, those born in the years immediately following World War Two, retires, and not enough younger people are available to fill their positions. The labor market will have seven million fewer workers by 2035, according to labor experts.

Around 56% of companies report being short-staffed, according to a survey from the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Those polled said they considered the shortage one of the biggest risks they face.

Germany’s Federal Employment Agency has noted bottlenecks in 148 job areas, with another 122 at risk. It can take eight months for an elderly care home to fill a position. For construction companies, the wait is six months. Nationwide, there are more than 1.7 million open jobs.

“This is no longer just a problem in specialist fields, but a general staffing problem,” Markus Winter, the director of the temp agency, IDS,  said. Unskilled labor also has openings, he added, “areas that are really essential for industry, which without them nothing happens…Companies are already hiring untrained workers and then helping them learn on the job…”

Germany on the hunt for labor | Germany | News and in-depth reporting from Berlin and beyond | DW | 26.07.2022

Whereas Germany could once rely on workers from other countries in the European Union to compensate for domestic shortages,  said Herbert Brücker, a professor at the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) in Nuremberg, said that source is starting to dry up.

“Incomes in other EU countries are starting to pick up, and they are also seeing demographic changes,” he said. “Basically, the party is over.” 

A law passed in 2020 was supposed to encourage the 400,000 foreign workers Germany needs every year to come and stay in Germany. In its first year, it only attracted 30,000, which Brücker called a “disappointment.”

 About 2.4 million households – nearly half of all claimants on universal credit – have on average £62 docked each month to repay benefit advances, tax credit overpayments and debts owed to landlords and utility companies.

With energy and food prices soaring and benefit levels pegged way below inflation, the deductions often leave struggling households without enough money to afford food or pay their bills, forcing some claimants to turn to food banks to survive.

The Commons cross-party work and pensions select committee urged ministers to give households extra “breathing space” by suspending all benefit deductions until inflation dropped to a manageable level or benefits were increased to accurately reflect living costs.

The committee noted that while the government has urged creditors to accept reduced monthly repayments from households battling the cost of living crisis, it “isn’t following its own advice” when it comes to deductions levied as a result of government policy rather than individuals’ behaviour. The bulk of benefit deductions are for advance payments made to new universal credit claimants, introduced to help tide them over the built-in five-week wait for a first payment. They are interest-free but must be repaid from future benefit payments.

The benefits uprating mechanism, which set benefit increases in April using inflation estimates from the previous September, had effectively caused a real-terms fall in income for low-income families and was “not fit for purpose”, the MPs’ report said.

Stephen Timms, Labour chair of the committee, said: “Deductions by [the] DWP from benefits are contributing to the hardship, and the government should give those struggling some much-needed breathing space by following its own advice to other creditors and pausing repayments until the threat of inflation recedes.” He continued, “A properly functioning social security safety net should be agile enough to respond to worsening economic conditions, but the high levels of inflation have laid bare the dysfunctional nature of parts of the system – not least that any increase in benefits is already seven months out of date when it takes effect.”

The report called for an urgent review of the benefit cap, which has been frozen at the same level since 2016, despite a statutory requirement to do so every five years. The committee noted that capped families did not even receive the 3.1% below-inflation benefits increase.

 Cuts introduced from 2010 meant that UK social security spending would be about £34bn lower next year than it was in 2010, the committee noted.

Benefit deductions should be stopped until inflation falls, say MPs | UK cost of living crisis | The Guardian