Headlines at the World Socialist Web Site today:

1. Haaretz report exposes deliberate Israeli policy of massacring aid-seekers in Gaza

Over the past month, Israeli forces have opened fire almost every day at aid seekers collecting food from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the US/Israeli-backed food distribution organization. More than 549 people have been killed and over 4,000 wounded so far, during nineteen separate incidents. 

From the start, it was clear that the level of daily mass killing was the result of a deliberate policy of shooting live small arms ammunition, tank rounds and mortars into crowds of aid-seekers, with the aim of turning the food distribution points into killing fields as part of the ongoing genocide.

On Friday, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz published an in-depth report substantiating the existence of orders instructing Israeli soldiers to fire into the crowds. Internally, the massacres are officially justified as a form of crowd control, with soldiers moving groups of unarmed people from one place to another by shooting at them. 

2. Police attack pro-Palestinian protesters in Sydney leaving 1 seriously injured

A participant suffered horrific injuries, with photos showing one side of her face, including her eye, badly wounded. The victim, Hannah Thomas, stood as a Greens candidate in the May federal election, contesting Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s seat of Grayndler.

Thomas was reportedly present at the protest as a legal observer. That, combined with the extent of her injuries, suggestive of an extremely forceful blow to the face, points to the lawlessness of the police attack. Thomas’ family have stated that her injuries are so severe that she may permanently lose sight in her eye.

The protest was held in the working-class south-west suburb of Belmore, outside the SEC Plating factory. 

Activists have targeted the company due to its alleged involvement in the global arms industry supply chain. SEC, which provides advanced electroplating and coating, has previously been listed as a participant in Lockheed Martin’s construction of F-35 fighter jets. 

The Israeli military has used F-35s to drop bombs on Gaza, as part of its mass murder and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. SEC has told the press that it is not currently involved in any F-35 projects, but the company continues to list defense and aerospace as among the industries it services.

3. US Supreme Court backs dictatorship in ruling on birthright citizenship injunction

The US Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. CASA marks a new milestone in the collapse of American democracy. In a 6-3 ruling issued Thursday, the far-right majority sided with the Trump administration and stripped federal courts of the power to issue universal injunctions—even in cases where government policies are clearly unconstitutional. 

The immediate effect of the decision is to permit the government to prepare to implement Trump’s executive order targeting birthright citizenship—one of the most fundamental democratic principles in American law. This principle is enshrined in the Fourteenth Amendment, adopted in the aftermath of the Civil War to guarantee citizenship to all those born in the United States, regardless of race, ancestry or parentage.

4. Cracks opening in long-term bond market

This week, the Financial Times published an article noting that investors were “fleeing long-term US bonds at the swiftest rate since the height of the Covid-19 pandemic five years ago as America’s soaring debt load tarnishes the appeal of one of the world’s most important markets.”

The article did not go into detail about what happened then, but it should be recalled that in March 2020 the Treasury market froze—for several days there were no buyers for US debt, supposedly the safest financial asset in the world. The US Federal Reserve had to intervene to the tune of several trillion dollars to halt a meltdown of the entire US and global financial system.

5. Sly Stone (1943–2025), a funk pioneer who rejected musical and racial boundaries

Stone and his band achieved artistic success and wild popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s with songs such as “Everyday People,” “Hot Fun in the Summertime,” “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” and “Family Affair.” Their music blended rock, soul, gospel and psychedelia in a way that set them apart from their contemporaries. Stone, moreover, was a pioneer of funk whose legacy has influenced generations of musicians. But he is also known as an artist who, under various pressures, including success, became increasingly erratic and ultimately withdrew from public life almost entirely.

6. Australia: More than 100,000 patients waiting for elective surgery in NSW public hospitals  

Waiting times for elective surgery in New South Wales public hospitals significantly increased in the first quarter of this year, according to the “Healthcare Quarterly” report released by the Bureau of Health Information, a state government funded research body.

At the end of March, 100,678 people were awaiting elective surgery, 348 more than in the June quarter of 2020, when many such surgeries were suspended due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

*****

There is strong opposition to the worsening public health crisis among staff throughout the sector, but their attempts to fight back have been repeatedly sabotaged and shut down by the health unions:

• Nurses and midwives carried out several mass strikes last year demanding a pay increase of 15 percent. This was shut down by the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMA), which agreed to uphold a nine-month ban on industrial action imposed by the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC).
• More than 200 staff psychiatrists threatened to resign en masse earlier this year over low pay and chronic understaffing, in a stunt promoted by the Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation (ASMOF).
• More than 5,000 public hospital doctors stopped work for three days in April, their first strike in 27 years, demanding a 30 percent pay increase to bring their wages in line with other states, and an end to understaffing and unsafe working conditions. ASMOF shut down further action, agreeing to a three-month strike ban and arbitration before the IRC. 

Health workers across the country, including mental health staff in Victoria and nurses in Queensland, are also trying to fight back against similar attacks. But they cannot take their struggle forward within the framework of the unions, which have collaborated with one government after another over decades to enforce the erosion of public health.

Rank-and-file committees, democratically controlled by workers, not union bureaucrats, must be built in hospitals and other health facilities. Through such committees, staff from all corners of the health sector can prepare a unified struggle for good pay and conditions and a high quality public health system, free and accessible to all. 

7. Republicans incite fascist threats, demand investigation and deportation of Zohran Mamdani after NYC primary win

President Donald Trump and his fascist Republican allies have escalated their racist, Islamophobic and anti-socialist attacks on Zohran Mamdani, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and the winner of this week’s Democratic primary for mayor of New York City.

Speaking from the White House on Friday, Trump denounced Mamdani as “this communist from New York.” Trump added, “That’s a terrible thing for our country, by the way. He’s a communist! We are going to go to a communistic city. That’s so bad for New York, but the rest of the country is revolting against it.”

Far from “revolting against it,” the 432,305 first-choice votes cast for Mamdani in Tuesday’s election is the largest raw turnout for a self-identified democratic socialist in New York City history. It is also the highest vote total for any Democratic candidate in a mayoral primary since the 1973 runoff, when Abraham Beame received over 547,000 votes.

Mamdani is neither a communist, Marxist, nor revolutionary socialist. But the ruling class is terrified that even his mild criticisms of capitalism—and his open identification as a “democratic socialist”—received overwhelming support in Tuesday’s primary, held in the heart of global finance capital: New York City, home to Wall Street.

8. United States Postal Service rural carrier contract ratified with just 11 percent turnout, as union clears path for privatization

The rural carriers are among the most heavily exploited workers at USPS. They work on a form of piece-rate where they are paid according to the “value” of their routes as arbitrarily assigned by management. A new program, the Rural Route Evaluation Compensation System, led to two-thirds of rural carriers losing income, many over $10,000 and as high as $20,000 a year.

Service in the country’s rural areas is particularly targeted by a major restructuring program, Delivering for America, given the higher percentage of post offices in these areas, which management complains are “unprofitable.” But the post office’s mandate since its founding during the American Revolution was to provide mail as a public service, not to make money.

This has been eroded over many decades, since then President Richard Nixon demoted it from a cabinet-level department to an independent agency with no taxpayer funding. Now, the series of bipartisan attacks on the post office are reaching their culmination.

The USPS Workers Rank-and-File Committee is holding an online public meeting this Sunday, June 29, at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time, “For a rank-and-file investigation into the extreme heat deaths of two USPS workers!” Register here to attend. 

9. Kennedy’s hand-picked ACIP elevates anti-vaccine pseudoscience into US public health policy

Despite overwhelming evidence of ongoing public health threats, earlier this month Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismantled this vital independent body, replacing credentialed vaccine experts with ideologically aligned appointees, a move widely condemned as an assault on science and public health infrastructure. 

10. “World Wealth Report 2025”: Social divide deepens in Germany

In anticipation of the foreseeable social explosion, everything possible is already being done to divide the working class. That is the real reason for the agitation against migrants and refugees, spearheaded by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and implemented by governments at federal and state levels. The poorest of the poor are being scapegoated for a financial crisis that is, in reality, the result of the orgy of enrichment of the super-rich. 

11. New Zealand government refuses to condemn illegal US bombing of Iran

A few hours before US President Donald Trump announced the attack, New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon—who was in Europe to attend the NATO war summit—called for “diplomacy” to end the Israel-Iran war, stating: “more military action [is] going to make the region more destabilised and cause more catastrophe and more human suffering.”

Afterwards, however, on June 23, Luxon echoed the fraudulent pretext for the US-Israeli bombardment. He told a media conference, “We do not want to see a nuclear armed Iran. But now there is an opportunity, as we look forward from these strikes, to actually get around and use diplomacy and dialogue and negotiation to actually get a political solution in place.”

Luxon did not explain how unprovoked acts of war by the US—in addition to Israel’s murderous bombardment of Iran and assassinations of top officials and scientists—created an “opportunity” for peace. The opposite is the case. 

12. Executed this week in the US: A Florida inmate with severe mental illness, a Vietnam veteran in Mississippi with PTSD 

Twenty-five men have been sent to their deaths in the first half of 2025, the same number executed in all of last year. Executions took place in 10 of the 27 states, along with the US military and federal government, that still have capital punishment on the books. Four of these states—Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee—carried out their first execution in multiple years.

All states but one, Arizona, that carried out executions so far in 2025 have Republican governors. They have been emboldened by President Donald Trump’s Inauguration Day executive order, “Restoring the Death Penalty and Protecting Public Safety,” which directed the US attorney general to “pursue the death penalty for all crimes of a severity demanding its use.” The blood-thirsty order came in response in part to the Biden administration’s commutation of the death sentences of 37 federal prisoners.

13. Sri Lankan government and IMF celebrate “success” of austerity program

On June 16, the Sri Lankan government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) held a high-profile event at the Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo titled “Sri Lanka’s Road to Recovery: Debt and Governance.”

The invitation-only gathering attended by government ministers, IMF officials, and the corporate elite was a celebration of the IMF’s vicious austerity program—hailed cynically as a “success story” and a “model” for other countries in crisis.

Behind the stage-managed optimism at the Shangri-La Hotel lies the brutal reality that this “recovery” is built on the backs of workers, the poor and youth, who continue to bear the catastrophic consequences of a debt-repayment regime designed to serve international creditors and Sri Lanka’s capitalist elite.

14. Postal workers must take advantage of deepening crisis over “USO reform” at Royal Mail

Pushing through “USO reform” following the takeover of Royal Mail and parent company International Distribution Services by billionaire Daniel Křetínský’s EP Group has hit major problems.

This presents fresh possibilities for postal workers to oppose the brutal restructuring agenda—resistance blocked until now by the collusion of the Communication Workers Union leadership with the Starmer Labour government and Křetínský.

“Reform” is a codeword for dismantling Royal Mail’s statutory obligations which remained after privatization in 2013: the Universal Service Obligation to deliver mail to every UK address six days a week at a fixed price. 

15. Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific

Bangladesh:    

Garment workers demand unpaid entitlements  

Government workers demonstrate against “black law”

India:

Hyundai Motor assembly workers in Tamil Nadu serve strike notice

Tamil Nadu rubber factory workers campaign for inclusion in state benefits

Uttar Pradesh power corporation workers protest arbitrary transfers

Haryana: Outsourced workers still on strike at health and science university

IT workers in Bangaluru protest Karnataka government’s 12-hour work-day law

Pakistan:

Police tear gas protesting government employees 

Balochistan government workers protest provincial budget

Australia:

South Australia’s public hospital doctors strike for pay rise

Public hospital health and disability support workers’ bans continue in South Australia

Getinge electricians still locked out in Queensland

Peabody coal mine workers in New South Wales locked out

CDC bus drivers in Victoria to strike again over pay

Epworth Medical Imaging nurses walk out again for higher pay

Royal Hobart Hospital medical imaging nurses take action over staff shortages

Westmead Hospital nurses in Sydney protest neonatal staffing

New Zealand:

Hospital theatre nurses strike over pay 

16. Free Ukrainian socialist and anti-war activist, Bogdan Syrotiuk!

 

A Sri Lankan protests the political imprisonment of Bogdan Syrotiuk

Headlines at the World Socialist Web Site today:

1. As the toll of police killings of Gen-Z protesters mounts, Kenyan Interior Minister says “job well done”

[Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba] Murkomen’s words were chilling: “Our security agencies exercised remarkable restraint amid extreme provocation. To our brave officers injured while protecting Kenya against rioters and no doubt hired thugs, we feel your pain and sacrifice that embody the truest expression of patriotism. Thank you for a job well done; you have my full support. There is no police officer who committed any excesses.”

Wednesday saw a powerful nationwide protest led by hundreds of thousands of Kenyans, predominantly youth, who flooded the streets across major cities and towns in the country to commemorate those slain by police violence and to voice their opposition to the authoritarian rule of the Ruto government, IMF-driven austerity, and skyrocketing costs of living. Demonstrations erupted across at least 27 of the country’s 47 counties.

The police were deployed to terrorize the population by killing, maiming, and teargassing unarmed protesters. To conceal their actions, many officers wore masks, hoods, and civilian clothing, while others operated without name tags—clear violations of the law. 

*****

Ruto, Odinga, and Atwoli are part of a universal phenomenon. In all imperialist countries and their former colonies across Africa, bourgeois governments are rapidly rearming, embracing authoritarian methods of governance, and stoking reactionary forces to preserve their rule—driven by the mounting crisis of global capitalism. 

2. NATO summit sets the stage for world war and dictatorship 

The NATO summit held this week in The Hague marks a dangerous turning point in world politics. Seventy-five years after its founding, the imperialist alliance of 32 member states has pledged to spend at least 5 percent of GDP on the military. This buildup is directed not only against Russia and China—it targets the working class in every country.

The summit took place just days after the illegal US-Israeli bombardment of Iran and in the midst of the ongoing genocide in Gaza. It coincided with NATO’s escalating proxy war against Russia in Ukraine and mounting preparations for military confrontation with China. Behind the cynical rhetoric of “defense” and “deterrence” lies the reality that NATO is preparing for global war and the violent redivision of the world. 

*****

The implementation of these war plans and budgets requires a massive redistribution of wealth from the working class to the capitalist oligarchy and the military-industrial complex. Trillions of euros and dollars are being funneled into armaments, while public services are systematically gutted. Healthcare, education, pensions, housing, and other basic social protections are to be destroyed to pay for war.

This agenda cannot be carried out democratically. To suppress the inevitable opposition from workers and youth, authoritarian forms of rule are being prepared and implemented across all NATO member states. 

3. Andor: Encouraging and reflecting anti-establishment, anti-authoritarian sentiment

What makes Andor remarkable is not its visual effects or action sequences, but the extent to which it portrays the ravages of imperialist violence and encroachment. The scenes and characters in Andor are not allegorical, they speak to contemporary conditions and processes. 

4. AFT President Weingarten exits the DNC amidst deepening crisis of Democratic Party 

The exact issues involved behind Weingarten’s resignation are difficult to say with certainty, but what can be said is that there are no issues of political principle involved. A member of the DNC since 2002, Weingarten is a creature of the state and intelligence agencies. She is a leading Zionist and supporter of the wars of US imperialism, crisscrossing the world in support of US-backed wars in Gaza and Ukraine. The latter has brought her in contact with Ukrainian neo-Nazis, and underscores the cynicism of her joining in the slander of opponents of Zionism as antisemitic. 

5. Republicans threaten to deport Mamdani, conduct mass roundups in response to New York mayoral primary

In the aftermath of Zohran Mamdani’s decisive victory in Tuesday’s Democratic mayoral primary in New York City, politicians from both capitalist parties have lined up to denounce the Democratic Socialists of America member and his very modest reform proposals.

Republicans in New York and nationally have responded with overtly racist rhetoric and fascistic threats to “denaturalize” and deport Mamdani. In a letter sent Thursday to Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi, Tennessee Republican Congressman Andy Ogles urged the Department of Justice to “open an investigation into whether Zohran Kwame Mamdani… should be subject to denaturalization proceedings on the grounds that he may have procured US citizenship through willful misrepresentation or concealment of material support for terrorism.” 

6. Australia: Victorian mental health workers strike against Labor government pay offer 

As is the case throughout the public health system, [Victoria's] mental health sector is in a deepening crisis. Chronic understaffing, lack of resources and low wages, due to decades of government funding cuts and a privatization drive, has left many mental health workers burnt out and considering leaving the sector.

Now, the Labor government is seeking to impose a 3 percent per annum nominal pay rise for all non-nursing staff, which would effectively lock in another four years of real wage cuts. While the official inflation figure is currently 2.4 percent, the cost of living is rising far more rapidly for working-class households, driven by the soaring cost of housing, utilities and fuel. 

7. Striking Australian mental health workers speak about wages and conditions

One worker:

“No one is in public health because they want to get rich. It is because we are passionate and we think that there is value in providing service to the population and it is disappointing that our government is not getting behind us and helping us to do that. We’re all going above and beyond. We get out late. People work through their lunches because work needs to get done. And asking for that to be fairly compensated is not unreasonable.”  

8. Engineers’ contract narrowly passed at CSX, while US railroads push for mergers, deregulation 

[Union] officials have tried to put the best face on the new deal, claiming it represents an 18.77 percent “compounded” wage increase and a 21.4 percent total increase in wages and benefits. But in reality, the agreement amounts to a real wage cut under conditions of continuing inflation, particularly for a workforce that has suffered massive job losses, deteriorating working conditions and longer hours under “Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR).”

The deal is effectively the same one which the rail unions are attempting to ram through across all six Class I railroaders in the US. Having barely avoided an all-out rebellion and national strike three years ago, the union bureaucrats are now forcing workers to vote on dozens of separate bilateral deals—albeit with near-identical language on economics—between each union and each railroad.

*****

The growing unrest among railroaders is taking place amid renewed speculation in financial circles over massive cross-country mergers between the Class I carriers. Reports in Barron’s and other business publications have floated scenarios in which Union Pacific, the largest carrier in the western US, would merge with either CSX or Norfolk Southern, forming one half of a transcontinental duopoly. The remaining carrier would then likely be absorbed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, which owns BNSF Railway.

***** 

Behind the drive for mergers is the impact of Precision Scheduled Railroading, pioneered by the late CSX CEO Hunter Harrison and implemented across nearly every major railroad. PSR has slashed tens of thousands of jobs, destroyed rail infrastructure, shuttered yards and maintenance shops, and forced the remaining workforce to work longer hours with fewer safety protections.

Now, after cutting operations to the bone, the carriers see mergers as a means of continuing profitability through monopoly control of the national freight network.

9. Online meeting Sunday: For a rank-and-file investigation into the extreme heat deaths of two USPS workers!

The USPS (US Postal Service) Workers Rank-and-File Committee is holding an online meeting this Sunday at 3 p.m. EDT, “For a rank-and-file investigation into the extreme heat deaths of two USPS workers!” 

Register to attend the event here.  

10. Australia: Educators rally against Victorian Labor government’s school funding cut 

In a major attack on public education, the state Labor government of Premier Jacinta Allan secretly slashed more than $2.4 billion in promised school funding over the next six years.

The cuts also impact federal funding arrangements, which are matched to the state allocation. That brings the total withdrawal of desperately needed school funding to $3 billion. 

*****

Justin Mullaly, the Australian Education Union (AEU) state branch president, called for the government to “fix your funding mess now. We have this problem because of active decisions of the government.”

Contrary to Mullaly, the Allan government’s cuts are not an aberration or an accident. They are a deepening of decades of underfunding to public education, presided over by successive governments at the state and federal levels, Labor and Liberal alike.

This offensive has deliberately created a two-tier educational system that is semi-privatized and socially segregated. Students from privileged backgrounds attend lavish private schools, that continue to receive substantial public funding. 

11. SEP/IYSSE public meetings in Sri Lanka: Oppose US-Israel war on Iran! 

The Socialist Equality Party and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality in Sri Lanka are holding two public meetings titled “Oppose US-Israel war on Iran.”

The first is an online event via Zoom on Sunday July 6 at 7 p.m.; the second is an in-person public meeting on Tuesday July 8 at 3 p.m. at Veerasingham Hall in Jaffna. 

12. China continues to seek move away from US dollar

China is continuing to chip away at dollar dominance of the global financial system and is seeking to enhance the role of its currency, the renminbi (yuan), by easing restrictions on its movement and by touting a major expansion of its internal market that will prove attractive to foreign investors.

These were the central themes of an address by Chinese Premier Li Qiang to the World Economic Forum’s summer meeting—sometimes referred to as the “summer Davos”—held in the north China city of Tianjin this week.

While not directly referencing the US and the actions of the Trump administration, Li said China would “open its doors still wider to the world,” and warned of the “fragmentation” of global supply chains, casting China as a stabilizing force in the global economy.

He said policymakers were growing the nation “into a mega-sized consumer powerhouse on top of its solid foundation as a manufacturing power,” and this would bring “vast markets to enterprises from all countries.”

13. Israel closes crossings into northern Gaza, as massacres of Palestinians at aid sites continue

Civilians are forced to walk long, exposed routes to reach the distribution centers, only to be targeted by military vehicles, drones, helicopters and artillery shells. Those who survive the journey often receive only a meager amount of food that is below minimum survival needs.

The repeated killings at aid sites have created an atmosphere of fear and desperation. This has led to widespread terror and the collapse of social cohesion, as people are afraid to leave their homes or seek assistance. The Israeli strategy is not only to starve the population but to break its will to resist and to herd it into tightly controlled zones and out of Gaza entirely. 

14. Cadiz metalworkers reject Spanish union sellout contract

Workers marched in protest against a sellout the social-democratic UGT union bureaucracy attempted to impose on them to call off strikes. 

15. State bill proposes massive cuts at University of Michigan and Michigan State University 

Michigan's public universities face an escalating crisis, the culmination of decades of state disinvestment. At the forefront of this assault is Michigan House Bill 4580 (HB 4580), introduced by Republican Representative Greg Markkanen on June 5, 2025, and passed on June 12. The bill, the House response to Senate Bill 167 (SB 167), passed May 13, focuses on appropriations for higher education for the fiscal year 2025-2026.

The bill intertwines funding with partisan cultural policies, targets Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, requires universities to list their employees who work remotely, and demands universities certify students’ immigration status. The bill has since been transmitted to the Senate, where it awaits negotiations with the Democratic-controlled body and Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

16. Grenfell Uncovered: A moving cry for justice for the mass murder committed by a money-mad ruling class 

Grenfell Uncovered traces the events and decisions in political and corporate circles that led to the 2017 inferno in London’s Grenfell Tower that took the lives of 72 people.

A call for long-denied justice, the Netflix documentary is directed by Olaide Sadiq and features heart-rending testimony from bereaved family members and survivors. Sadiq knew Khadija Saye, a victim of the fire. Khadija, a photographer who had exhibited at the Venice Biennale, was just 24 when she died alongside her mother, Mary Mendy.

17. Philadelphia sanitation workers and educators push for strike action

Approximately 9,000 Philadelphia municipal workers in AFSCME District Council 33 are set to go on strike when their current contract expires at midnight on June 30. The union includes sanitation, water, airport and other essential workers, whose labor keeps the city functioning.  

At the same time, 14,000 educators in the city’ school district have voted to authorize a strike. The public school system faces a $300-$400 million funding gap in the coming fiscal year. Meanwhile, the school district projects a $2 billion gap over the next five years.

A similar situation exists in the public transit system, where a $213 million structural deficit threatens to create a “death spiral” for commuters who rely on the trains, once the new fiscal year begins, also next week. Other cities as well, such as Washington, D.C. ($1.1 billion); Chicago, Illinois ($1.1 billion); Denver, Colorado ($50-$200 million this year and next) and Austin, Texas ($33.4 million), face substantial financial deficits. 

18. Berlin judge, who ruled against the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei, to head secret service in Brandenburg

In November 2021, Presiding Judge [Wilfried] Peters rejected the complaint filed  by the Socialist Equality Party against the federal Interior Ministry  and Verfassungsschutz (Secret Service), ruling that the party should  also bear the full costs of the proceedings. 

*****

The German intelligence service is notorious and widely despised for its right-wing bias, which reaches back to the Nazi era. Last year it was revealed that the federal Verfassungsschutz had classified its former head, Hans-Georg Maassen, as a “suspected right-wing extremist.” This amounts to an admission that the agency was led for eight years by a far-right extremist.

19. Free Ukrainian socialist and anti-war activist, Bogdan Syrotiuk!

Bogdan Syrotiuk 

Headlines at the World Socialist Web Site today:

1. As Palestinian death toll tops 56,000, Israel massacres dozens of aid seekers in one day 

After each massacre, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claims to be “reviewing the incident” and insists that its actions are for crowd control and to prevent security threats. However, as the Associated Press and Al Jazeera report, witnesses and humanitarian organizations have consistently stated that the shootings are unprovoked and indiscriminate, with no evidence to support claims of militants among the crowds.

Israel’s fascist political leaders echo these lies, asserting that the killings are necessary for “security” and to “prevent infiltration by militants”—a lying narrative that is exposed by the eyewitness testimony and the scale of the civilian casualties. 

*****

As the World Socialist Web Site has repeatedly emphasized, the mass killing and starvation of Palestinians is not an isolated atrocity, but the opening phase of the reorganization of the Middle East to serve the interests of US imperialism—with Israel as its henchman—in preparation for a new world war. 

2. The political significance and implications of Zohran Mamdani’s victory in New York City 

The election has shattered a number of myths of American politics. First, there is the myth that socialism is “toxic.” Mamdani openly identified as a “democratic socialist.” His reform proposals—related to soaring housing costs, child care, and other social problems—clearly struck a chord with workers and young people, along with layers of the middle class, in one of the most expensive cities in the world. 

Second, there is the claim that criticism of Israel’s genocide in Gaza amounts to antisemitism. The billionaire-backed smear campaign led by Cuomo, which centered on accusations of antisemitism against Mamdani, backfired. Mamdani received tens of thousands of votes from among New York’s 1.2 million Jewish residents. Popular opposition to war and what Mamdani explicitly called a genocide was a major factor in his electoral victory. 

Third, Mamdani’s win refutes the media narrative that Trump’s re-election in 2024 marked a right-wing shift in the American population. Mamdani’s campaign benefited from mounting popular opposition to the Trump administration, with the candidate pointing out that Cuomo was backed by the same billionaires bankrolling Trump. Just ten days before the vote, the largest anti-government protests in American history were held against Trump’s dictatorship, and Mamdani pledged to resist Trump’s attacks on immigrants.

Fourth, the basic questions animating the great mass of the population center not on issues of race and gender politics, relentlessly promoted by the Democratic Party and their affiliated media outlets, but class.

The sentiments animating the vote for Mamdani are bringing masses of people into conflict with the entire political order. What terrifies the ruling class is not Mamdani’s relatively milquetoast program, advanced within the framework of the Democratic Party, but that his victory shows socialism can gain mass support in America, and in a far more radical form.

***** 

The New York election demonstrates that there exists enormous possibilities for the development of a genuine socialist movement. Conditions are ripe, indeed overripe, for such a development.

This makes all the more essential a correct understanding of the basic political issues, which those who have given their support to Mamdani, and for that matter Mandani himself, will have to confront.

*****

The Socialist Equality Party has insisted that the predominate tendency within the working class, both within the United States and internationally, is toward political radicalization and opposition to capitalism. The New York mayoral election is a confirmation of this assessment. However, we do not mistake the indication for the fulfillment. While the SEP recognizes the significance of Mamdani’s victory, it does not adapt its political program to the illusion that his electoral success will lead to a change in the nature of the state, the class character of the Democratic Party, and the violent and oppressive character of American capitalism.

3. Kenya’s Ruto government bloodbath against Gen Z protests 

Hundreds of thousands took to the streets across Kenya Wednesday, with protests erupting in at least 27 of the country’s 47 counties, marking one year since the Gen Z uprising that culminated in the storming of Parliament on June 25, 2024.

President William Ruto once again resorted to mass violence, unleashing a brutal crackdown involving live ammunition, teargas, water cannons, and the deployment of state-funded thugs to attack demonstrators.

***** 

Organized largely through social media, with no backing among the main bourgeois parties and trade unions, the protests were mobilized via platforms like WhatsApp, Telegram, and X, using hashtags such as #OccupyStateHouse, #OccupyUntilVictory, #RutoMustGo and #SiriNiNumbers, which trended for days.

What unfolded was a nationwide political revolt. Entire swathes of the country ground to a halt, with major businesses, banks, and markets closed across urban centers. As with last year’s uprising, the protests transcended the tribal and regional divisions long exploited by the Kenyan ruling elite to maintain power. This was a movement united in a common struggle against police brutality, authoritarian rule, austerity, and the soaring cost of living.

*****

As the World Socialist Web Site has stressed, the crisis unfolding in Kenya is not an isolated event, but part of a growing international upsurge of youth and workers against austerity, authoritarianism, and imperialist war. One year of struggle, punctuated by protests, uprisings, strikes, and betrayals, has demonstrated that courage alone is not enough. The central task that now confronts the Gen Z movement and the broader working class is the building of a conscious political leadership, rooted in the working class and armed with a socialist and internationalist program. 

4. Trump’s destruction of Medicare: An update  

The Trump administration has launched an unrelenting offensive against Medicare—a centerpiece of American social policy that once stood as a minimal, yet vital, bulwark against poverty, illness, and suffering in old age.

Over the last three months in particular the scale and intensity of the assault have plumbed new depths. Through a combination of executive orders, regulatory sabotage, and covert restructuring, the administration has moved aggressively to privatize and dismantle what remains of this already frayed public health program.

The groundwork for this onslaught was laid by the Democratic Party—most notably under the Obama and Biden administrations—which facilitated a gradual but decisive shift toward privatization through their expansion and promotion of Medicare Advantage (MA). The Democrats’ bipartisan complicity with the Republicans has been essential in converting Medicare from a guaranteed public benefit into a goldmine for private insurers, eager to profit from taxpayer funds while offering seniors narrower care options and fewer protections.

What Trump has done—openly and without apology—is push the program closer to the edge of total privatization. His administration’s decisions reflect a calculated strategy of the financial oligarchy to gut federal oversight, reward corporate interests, and leave millions of elderly and disabled Americans at the mercy of private profiteers.

***** 

In the long term, the privatization agenda is unsustainable. The Medicare Trust Fund is expected to become insolvent by 2033, a crisis exacerbated by the hemorrhaging of public dollars into private MA plans. With enrollment in MA projected to reach 60 percent by the end of the decade, traditional Medicare risks becoming a neglected relic—underfunded, underutilized and available only to those unable to “opt into” private care.

This trajectory points to the emergence of a two-tiered healthcare system: a profitable, selectively accessible private system for those who can afford it, and a stripped-down, increasingly inadequate public option for everyone else. Such a future is not inevitable—but it is the logical outcome of bipartisan policy choices that treat healthcare as a corporate asset instead of a social right.

The Trump administration’s attack on Medicare is nothing short of an assault on the working class and elderly population of the United States. It is driven by the demands of Wall Street and the healthcare industry, which view Medicare as a lucrative source of revenue—not a lifeline for tens of millions. Meanwhile, unlimited funds are allocated for war and repression by a bipartisan alliance.

5. Amazon founder Bezos and company flaunt their wealth in Venice

[Jeff] Bezos’ marriage to [Lauren] Sanchez is an ultra-luxurious event for a super-rich elite spanning several days. The canal-dominated city is closed off to autos, meaning that the invited guests, arriving in over 90 jet planes, will be transported primarily by boat and helicopter. This requires the renting of numerous yacht moorings, helicopter pads and the virtual takeover of the city’s central municipal transport for the duration of the event.

 *****

In the midst of all this, Bezos flaunts his wealth in Venice. As the world confronts world war, the re-emergence of fascist authoritarians and climate catastrophe, the nonchalance and arrogance of today’s insatiable and grasping super-rich, epitomized by Bezos and his entourage, recalls the withering indictment of the rich in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The wealthy, wrote Fitzgerald, “smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made. …” 

6. ILA dockworkers union president Harold Daggett celebrates Trump’s attack on Iran

In an extraordinary letter to President Donald Trump, Harold Daggett, president of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), offered gushing praise and enthusiastic support for the criminal bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities by the US military. Moreover, he pledged the ILA’s backing for Trump in future acts of aggression.

***** 

Presuming to speak on behalf of all 85,000 ILA members, Daggett praised Trump’s “bold and courageous decision to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities.” With these words, Daggett celebrated an attack on a country that had neither attacked nor threatened the US. Parroting the propaganda of the American ruling class, he called Iran “an enemy of the United States.”

***** 

The criminal character of Daggett’s letter is underscored by the man himself. The US Department of Justice has previously alleged that Daggett is an associate of the Genovese crime family and attributed his rise in the ILA to mob influence. In his slavish praise of Trump, Daggett—a gangster in charge of a union bureaucracy—has offered his full support to a gangster at the head of American capitalism.

*****

There is a political logic at work here that goes beyond the crude thuggishness of Daggett. His support for war flows naturally from the nationalist policies which the ILA shares with the entire union bureaucracy. UAW President Shawn Fain, who postures as a progressive, has tried to square the circle by claiming it is possible to support Trump’s tariff policies while opposing some of his other far-right policies.

But Daggett’s letter demonstrates that this is a political fraud. Having accepted the logic of economic nationalism, the unions cannot avoid its consequences. If they accept “America First” trade policy, they must also accept war.

 *****

It is impossible to defend workers in the US while killing and maiming their class brothers and sisters in Iran, China or elsewhere. The real allies of American dockworkers are not in the White House or the ILA headquarters, but among workers in Iran and around the world.

The working class is the only force capable of opposing war because its social interests are bound up with the fight for equality, not conquest. 

7. Nato summit in The Hague: a milestone on the way to a third world war

The NATO summit, which took place on Tuesday and Wednesday in The Hague, Netherlands, will go down in history as a milestone in the imperialist powers’ slide toward a third world war. The 31 members of the world’s most powerful military alliance agreed on the most comprehensive rearmament of Europe since World War II.

*****

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte wrote in a private text message to US President Donald Trump: “Congratulations and thank you for your decisive action in Iran, that was truly extraordinary, and something no one else dared to do. It makes us all safer.” Trump immediately published the message on his social media channel. The Israeli genocide in Gaza, which continues unabated, is also supported by NATO members.

The European powers—especially the so-called E3: Germany, France and Britain—are determined to continue the war against Russia at any cost, even if Ukraine is militarily and financially exhausted. A significant part of the summit preparations was aimed at keeping the US on board and preventing Trump from pulling out of the war and reaching an agreement with Putin over the heads of the Europeans. 

8. India’s Modi government tacitly backs the US-Israeli war on Iran 

New Delhi professes to be an ally of Iran, and it has been seeking to develop port facilities at Chabahar on Iran’s southeastern coast, with the aim of expanding India’s influence and trade ties with Afghanistan and Central Asia more broadly. Even more importantly, India doesn’t want to in any way harm relations with the Gulf States, which supply much of its oil and provide employment for 10 million overseas Indian workers.

Modi’s Hindu supremacist BJP recognizes, and to some degree champions, its political-ideological affinity with the Zionist far-right. But the government is also aware that the mass of India’s workers and toilers are sympathetic to the Palestinian people and hostile to imperialism and Washington’s global bullying and aggression.

*****  

Much has been made of the Modi government’s failure to support the US-NATO war on Russia, and its insistence on preserving India’s longstanding close military-strategic ties with Moscow, which date back to the Cold War, as well as the possibility of getting large amounts of Russian oil at discount.

To be sure, this has miffed Washington and the other NATO powers, but India has responded by aligning itself still more fully with the US in regards to China. Moreover, during the course of Israel’s Gaza and broader Mideast war, the Modi government has expanded its ties with the Netanyahu regime to the point that India and Israel are increasingly acting as partners in crime. 

9. Sri Lankan government fails to condemn US strikes on Iran

The failure of the ruling Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna/National People’s Power (JVP/NPP) to criticise, let alone condemn, the naked aggression of US imperialism against Iran is to lend legitimacy to this criminal US-led war. 

10. Deadly heat dome engulfs Eastern US, as infrastructure fails and workers suffer

The heat wave starkly illustrates the class divisions within American society. While wealthy areas maintain reliable air conditioning and cooling systems, as well as more stable power distribution, working class communities face disproportionate risks. An estimated 12 percent of US households—approximately 39 million people—lack air conditioning entirely. Even those with cooling systems face a cruel choice between financial hardship and heat-related illness, as many cannot afford the electricity bills required to run air conditioning.

*****

The ongoing heat crisis demonstrates that addressing climate change and protecting working people from extreme weather requires fundamental changes to the economic system. The profit motive that drives capitalism is incompatible with the rational, scientific approach needed to combat climate change and ensure workers’ safety.

A socialist reorganization of society would prioritize human needs over corporate profits, implementing comprehensive workplace safety standards, ensuring universal access to cooling systems, and rapidly transitioning to renewable energy sources. Only through the expropriation of the wealth of the capitalist class and democratic workers’ control of production can society address the climate crisis and protect workers and future generations from its devastating effects.  

11. Dallas, Texas letter carrier Jacob Taylor dies in extreme heat, second USPS worker to die in June

The working conditions in the USPS have been shaped not only by management but by the active complicity of the union bureaucracy. Taylor was a member of Lone Star Branch 132 of the National Association of Letter Carriers. The current NALC contract was imposed earlier this year through binding arbitration with the union’s backing, after workers had rejected it by 70 percent. It enshrined sub-inflation wage increases and did nothing to guarantee safe working conditions during extreme weather. Worst of all, it cleared the path for the privatization of USPS. 

12. Australian court rules ABC illegally sacked journalist Antoinette Lattouf for opposing Gaza genocide

The judgement is not only a damning indictment of the ABC and a vindication of Lattouf. It is an exposure of the entire political and media establishment, extending from the federal Labor government to the press and every institution of official society.   

13. Australian workers and youth oppose US-Israeli attacks on Iran and ongoing genocide

As at previous demonstrations, speakers denounced Israel, the US and the complicit Labor government. They criticised the fraudulent premise that the unprovoked attack on Iran was a necessary “preemptive strike” to stop the imminent development of nuclear weapons, drawing a parallel with the “weapons of mass destruction” lie used by the Bush administration in 2003 to justify the invasion of Iraq.  

But, having identified the persistent lies and hypocrisy of the imperialist powers over decades, the rally organizers promoted the illusion that war and genocide can be stopped through appeals to the same governments that are perpetrating them. This was starkly illustrated by the culmination of the protest march outside the US consulate.

14. The underlying geostrategic reasons behind the US-Israeli war against Iran

China, Iran’s largest trade partner, is the ultimate target behind this war. The Trump administration, focused on preparing for war against China, sees the kowtowing or removal of the Iranian regime as a critical strategic step towards war with China. It clears the path to reclaim vast energy reserves and to reassert US dominance over two of the world’s most critical geopolitical chokepoints: the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea.

*****

Since the 1990s, the US has spent billions to fund exiled monarchists and opposition groups, while imposing crippling sanctions that have devastated Iran’s economy and caused mass immiseration. These policies have failed to bring down the regime—but they have succeeded in generating enormous suffering.

Major protests broke out in 2017, spreading to 85 cities. These demonstrations were not controlled by the US but reflected widespread hatred of both the bourgeois nationalist Islamic Republic and the imperialist chokehold placed on the country.

*****

Today, China purchases as much as 90 percent of Iran’s oil, largely through informal or semi-clandestine channels, often at a discount. These flows bypass Western oversight and sanctions, fueling both nations’ strategic partnership and hampering US efforts to strangle Iran’s economy.

*****

But Iran’s importance goes beyond the sheer production of oil. Iran has virtual control over the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most critical oil chokepoint. More than 20 percent of all seaborne oil passes through this narrow passage. While Iran has threatened to close the strait in retaliation for the US attacks, at the time of writing, oil markets are down by several percentage points as traders bet that Iran will not shut down the strait.

Part of the reason Iran has been reluctant to use the so-called “oil weapon” is that the majority of oil flowing out of the Strait of Hormuz now heads east—to China. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE are all major suppliers to China. If Iran were to close the Strait, it would strain its relations with these Gulf states and, more critically, harm China—its largest trading partner.

*****

While China dominates the global refining of critical minerals, the United States and its allies still exert far greater control over global oil and gas flows. In any future confrontation with China, access to oil and gas will serve as a critical pressure point. Every day, one out of every nine barrels of oil produced worldwide is shipped to China. If that flow were cut off, the impact on China’s economy would be immediate and potentially devastating. 

 *****

For over a century, imperial powers have viewed control over Iran as key to securing influence across the Eurasian landmass. Today, US planners see Iran not only as a critical node in China’s energy security but as a potential lever to disrupt regional integration between China, Russia and their neighbors. From the US perspective, crippling Iran weakens an entire axis of connectivity that threatens to undercut American dominance across both East and West Asia.  

*****

Wars typically produce unseen and far-reaching consequences. While the Trump administration will no doubt try to spin its actions as proof of his unparalleled “genius” and “dealmaking,” this would-be Hitler has only accelerated a global process of radicalization. As the crisis of the capitalist system deepens, billions are beginning to see more clearly the scale of violence and horror it is unleashing.  

15. The Left Party in Germany justifies the US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran 

In a statement, Jan van Aken, co‑chair of the Left Party, called the US‑Israeli attack on Iran what it is: an “illegal war of aggression under international law.” Yet this seemingly unequivocal condemnation serves merely as a rhetorical fig leaf for the party’s unconditional backing of the imperialist war aims pursued through the attack. In reality, the Left Party stands firmly behind the aggression against Iran, once again exposing its inherently pro‑imperialist character.

Van Aken states that military attacks were not a solution to preventing an Iranian nuclear bomb, yet he simultaneously affirms that such an outcome “must in any case be prevented.” Thus, he echoes precisely the propaganda Washington, Tel Aviv and the European great powers invoke to justify their illegal attack on Iran.

Significantly, in his statement, he criticises that even the dropping of the largest conventional bombs may not have sufficed to destroy Iran’s nuclear program. “Perhaps the US’s illegal attack has damaged some of Iran’s nuclear facilities today,” he writes, lamenting. “But that does not prevent an Iranian bomb—it merely delays it by a few years at best. The next facility will simply be built even deeper beneath rock.”

Van Aken’s simultaneous insistence on “negotiations” and “on‑site inspections” is the height of cynicism. It was the US that unilaterally abandoned the Vienna Agreement on Iran’s nuclear program, despite Iran’s full compliance with all agreed “inspections.” And the most recent “negotiations” were then used by the US and Israel as a cover to prepare and carry out massive attacks on Iran. 

*****

That the Left Party aggressively defends Germany’s imperialist interests on all war fronts is no accident. Despite its name, it has never been a left‑wing or socialist party. From its inception, it was a bourgeois project intended to channel social discontent into the existing capitalist system. It represents the interests of privileged middle class strata, state functionaries and academic milieus whose political orientation is tightly bound to German imperialism. 

16. Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa 

Belgium:

Tens of thousands of workers in countrywide strike against government budget cuts  

Italy:  

Tens of thousands of metalworkers strike for new contract agreement 

Spain: 

Metalworkers in Cadiz and Murcia continue strikes for a collective agreement with employers 

EasyJet cabin crew flying out of Spain strike for pay increase 

United Kingdom:

Car mechanics at London dealership strike over pay

Cleaners at health centres in north-west England strike over underpayment

Underground rail system workers in Glasgow, Scotland to strike over working conditions 

Ethiopia: 

Health workers continue strike over pay and conditions

Nigeria: 

Workers in tertiary education join strike by teachers and council workers in Ondo State over minimum wage 

South Africa: 

Municipal workers in uMhlathuze Local Municipality continue strike over pay and horrendous conditions

17. Free Ukrainian socialist and anti-war activist, Bogdan Syrotiuk!

Bogdan Syrotiuk 

Headlines at the World Socialist Web Site today:

1. Democrats help kill resolution to impeach Trump over Iran war

In a demonstration of political support for Trump’s illegal and unconstitutional war against Iran, a majority of Democrats in the House of Representatives joined a unanimous Republican caucus on Tuesday to block a resolution to impeach the president. Democrats voted by 128-79, and Republicans 216-0, to table the resolution that had been introduced by Democrat Al Green of Texas.

Every Democratic Party leader—from Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on down, along with former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and former Majority Whip James Clyburn—voted to kill the measure. At a press briefing before the vote, Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar dismissed the impeachment resolution as a “distraction.”

Notably, Green’s resolution did not denounce Trump’s bombing of Iran as an unprovoked aggression or a violation of international law. Instead, it focused narrowly on his failure to seek congressional authorization, accusing Trump of abusing presidential powers by “usurping Congress’s power to declare war” and ordering strikes “without the constitutionally-mandated congressional authorization or notice.”

***** 

The Democratic Party is an advocate and instrument of American imperialism. While supposedly “antiwar” figures like Green, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders engage in political stunts to give a “left” cover to this right-wing party, the real concerns of the Democrats are those of the Pentagon and the CIA. They object not to the homicidal belligerence of Trump but to his erratic and even seemingly manic conduct of the US foreign policy. 

These concerns were spelled out most bluntly by Biden’s former Secretary of State Antony Blinken in an op-ed column in the New York Times, published under the headline, “Trump’s Iran Strike Was a Mistake. I Hope It Succeeds.” He called the decision to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities “unwise and unnecessary,” but added, “Now that it’s done, I very much hope it succeeded.” 

2. How the New York Times launders Zionist slanders against children’s content creator Ms. Rachel  

The New York Times emailed questions to Accurso [Ms. Rachel], including the big bomb shell: did she receive money from Hamas? The “newspaper of record” has the temerity to ask this question solely on the basis of a piece of Zionist hatchet work!

One can admire her response, “This accusation is not only absurd, it’s patently false.”

But, the Times assures, “She did not dispute that she has posted more frequently about Gazan children.”

Caught red-handed! How could Accurso escape this charge, posting “more frequently” about Gazan children because they were being massacred “more frequently”? 

“The painful reality is that Palestinian children in Gaza have been killed by the thousands and continue to be killed, maimed and starved right now” she replies, adding, “the idea that caring about one group of children prevents us from caring about another group of children is false.” 

*****

In reality, the New York Times is waving, clapping and pronouncing its pedagogy in alignment with the US State Department and the murderous Netanyahu regime. This is not journalism, but propaganda, designed to intimidate and silence dissent. The Times, long a mouthpiece for the Democratic Party and the American foreign policy establishment, has once again demonstrated its role as an enforcer of ideological conformity. 

Rachel Accurso has dared to say what tens of millions of working people around the world feel instinctively: that the mass killing of children is unacceptable, and that silence in the face of such crimes is unjustifiable. Her advocacy is not “wading into a debate”—it is legitimate and, one might add, elementary political activism. Quite rightly, Accurso recently told an interviewer that “it should be controversial to not say anything.” 

3. Israel, confirming ceasefire, declares “campaign against Iran is not over” 

Following his ceasefire announcement Tuesday, Trump traveled to the NATO summit in Brussels, which is set to announce major increases in military spending by all NATO members.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump shared a series of texts from NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, who praised the illegal US attack on Iran. “Mr President, dear Donald, Congratulations and thank you for your decisive action in Iran, that was truly extraordinary, and something no one else dared to do. It makes us all safer,” Rutte wrote.

Despite Trump’s boastful claims about having obliterated what he called Iran’s “nuclear weapons” program, the actual damage inflicted on the program appears to have been limited.

On Tuesday, CNN, the New York Times and other media outlets disclosed a classified US intelligence report indicating that the attack set back Iran’s nuclear program by only a few months.

4. Detroit high school student, on brink of graduating, deported to Colombia

Maykol Bogoya-Duarte, a senior at Western International High School in Detroit, has been deported to Colombia by the Trump administration. A June 12 post on the Facebook page of the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center read: “We are deeply saddened to report that our young client Maykol was deported yesterday. His flight left approximately 3 hours after his stay was denied. Instead of being able to complete his education, Maykol was abruptly removed from his family and friends. These are the real life and heartbreaking consequences of the policies of this administration.”

*****

The working class must take action to force a stop to Trump’s immigration gestapo, which is a key part of his broader strategy to build a dictatorship in the United States. This was shown by the deployment of Marines and National Guard troops to the streets of Los Angeles in response to largely peaceful protests, denouncing immigrants and their supporters as an “invasion.” Mass outrage contributed to the massive turnout in nationwide protests on June 14, by some estimates the largest in American history.

But the fight to stop deportations must be rooted in the industrial and political mobilization of the international working class. This requires workers take action themselves. Not a single major trade union, including the AFT or the Teamsters, has called for any real action—such as strikes or protests—in defense of immigrant rights.

To that end, workers, students and community members must build independent rank-and-file committees in every school, workplace and neighborhood. These democratic structures, united through the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC), must take up the following immediate tasks:

• Organize emergency meetings in schools, hospitals and workplaces to expose the full extent of immigration repression.
• Plan for a general strike to unite workers—immigrant and native-born alike—against deportations, police violence, and economic exploitation.
• Expand the movement internationally, linking struggles in the US with those of workers worldwide. 

5. Fired DOJ lawyer alleges senior Justice Department officials lied to courts, ignored orders and directed subordinates to do the same

In a revealing whistleblower complaint first reported by the New York Times on Tuesday, Erez Reuveni, the former acting deputy director of the Office of Immigration Litigation (OIL) at the Department of Justice (DOJ), accused several senior figures in the DOJ of “knowingly and willfully” defying court orders and directing “their subordinate attorneys to make misrepresentations to courts” in order to advance Trump’s mass deportation operation.

Reuveni’s complaint is supplemented by emails and direct quotes, lending credibility to its allegations. It exposes the criminal and lawless character not only of the Trump administration but of the entire US government. 

6. Events in Detroit and Los Angeles mark 43nd anniversary of racist murder of Chinese American draftsman Vincent Chin

Vincent Jen Chin ( 陳果仁) days before he was murdered 

The brutal killing of Chin took place amid an earlier wave of anti-Japanese hysteria whipped up by the UAW and Democratic Party officials, who scapegoated Japanese workers for supposedly “stealing” American jobs. The UAW has never acknowledged, let alone apologized for its role in fueling anti-Asian hate.

***** 

One would hardly learn from the official speeches what is taking place all across America: the virtual declaration of martial law in Los Angeles, the mass round up of immigrants and “foreign looking” people by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Gestapo, and their detention in inhuman conditions without due process. Among those immigrants being rounded up are also US citizens and legal residents. 

7. In an act of political censorship, Deutsche Bank terminates publisher Mehring Verlag’s account

The attack on Mehring Verlag is inseparable from the return to war and militarism and the assault on social and democratic rights. What is unfolding in Trump’s America—the ICE-Gestapo’s hunt for migrants, the domestic deployment of the military, gangster-style foreign policy, and the illegal bombing of Iran—is also developing, in varying forms, across all imperialist countries, including Germany.

*****

The attack on Mehring Verlag reveals what the ruling class in Germany fears most: the spread of ideas that threaten the foundations of its tottering, rotten capitalist system—namely, the program of socialism. As the great French writer Victor Hugo said 150 years ago: “One can resist the invasion of armies; one cannot resist the invasion of ideas whose time has come.” 

8. German finance minister presents war budget

The very fact that [Finance Minister Lars ] Klingbeil has the financial leeway for such high new borrowing is the result of decades of social cuts. The debt brake, which sets strict limits on government borrowing, was enshrined in the Basic Law in 2009 specifically for this purpose. As Klingbeil himself emphasized, the low debt ratio of 63 percent compared to other countries now allows him to take out large new loans. What has been saved in social spending, local government and other socially relevant areas, is now being poured into rearmament and war.

*****

Before leaving for the NATO summit on Tuesday, Chancellor Friedrich Merz emphasized that Germany was not increasing its military spending “to do the US and its president a favor. We are doing this based on our own views and convictions.” That is undoubtedly the case. However, Merz’s claim in his government statement that the issues at stake are peace in Europe and protection against alleged planned attacks by Russia is a lie.

For years, leading representatives of the German elite have been demanding that Germany once again play a political and military role in the world commensurate with its economic weight. The Merz government has declared its goal of making the Bundeswehr (German Armed Forces) the strongest army in Europe.

With NATO’s advance into Eastern Europe and its support for the 2014 coup in Ukraine, the Western powers provoked a reactionary attack by the Putin regime, which felt surrounded and threatened in its existence. Since then, Germany has deliberately fueled the war in Ukraine, supporting it with arms deliveries worth billions and sabotaging any negotiated solution that does not involve Moscow’s complete surrender.

For the first time, the German armed forces have permanently stationed a brigade in Lithuania, at a key strategic location that would place them at the center of the war if the conflict with Russia escalates.

The goal is not only complete control over Ukraine, but also the subjugation and destruction of Russia and unhindered access to its valuable natural resources. In a world increasingly dominated by great power conflicts, trade wars and military confrontations, German imperialism is once again expanding in the same direction as in the First and Second World Wars, when it also occupied Ukraine and attempted to subjugate Russia, or rather the Soviet Union. 

9. Britain’s National Security Strategy prepares militarization of society 

Britain’s National Security Strategy (NSS) 2025 is Labour’s blueprint for militarizing society in preparation for major wars. It calls for a “hardening and a sharpening of our approach to national security across all areas of policy, already seen in a shift towards more investment in hard power and an emphasis on increasing the lethality of our armed forces.”

The document’s release comes just days after Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a commitment to lifting military spending to 5 percent of GDP by 2035, adopted as a common goal at yesterday’s NATO summit, which the NSS hails as “the largest sustained investment in our armed forces since the Cold War, with an emphasis on greater lethality” and “warfighting readiness”. 

 10. Thai government on brink of collapse

The main opposition People’s Party has called for the dissolution of parliament and a new general election, saying it is necessary to prevent a coup. Army head General Pana Klaewplodthuk claimed that the military was committed to “democracy” and that the armed forces would continue to operate within “existing mechanisms.”

This is no guarantee a coup will not occur, especially in a country that has experienced two in the present century alone. Anti-government protests have taken place, with more planned. The military could use these demonstrations or the overall instability in the government to carry out a coup under the pretext of restoring order.

The factional warfare among the Thai ruling class now erupting to the surface is not the result of a diplomatically embarrassing phone call. It has been ongoing behind the scenes for months and has already claimed one Pheu Thai prime minister. Srettha Thavisin was removed from office on trumped up ethics charges last August. It is an expression of the profound contradictions gripping not only Thailand but the entire region, under the impact of the crisis of global capitalism and escalating US-instigated wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Washington is escalating its preparations across the Indo-Pacific region for war against China and is applying pressure on countries like Thailand to line up with its military plans, including through Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs. Thailand faces a potential rate of 36 percent when the tariffs are set to take effect on July 9 if a trade deal is not worked out.

11. Chicago Teachers Union sanctions closures of two Acero schools as Democrats prepare massive assault on public education  

The permanent closure of Cruz K‑12 and Paz Elementary—two Acero charter schools in Chicago that serve predominantly working‑class, immigrant and Latino communities—was officially carried out in mid‑June. June 11 marked the last day for students and June 12 saw teachers and staff barred from their classrooms by “end of business.”

These closures represent nothing less than social arson, orchestrated by the Acero Schools management in collaboration with the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), Chicago Public Schools officials and Mayor Brandon Johnson. The brazen attack will displace hundreds of students and nearly 100 educators, dissolving vital community institutions. Far from defending educators and students, the CTU bureaucracy has functioned as an enforcer of austerity.

*****

The final closure of Cruz K-12 and Paz Elementary on June 11-12 was met with almost total silence from both the corporate media and the CTU. Only a single Spanish-language news outlet reported the last day students walked through the doors or the moment educators were barred from returning to their classrooms. The deliberate media blackout, despite the presence of media companies with journalists devoted to covering education matters, underscores the political calculations behind the closures: Cruz and Paz had to be disappeared, quietly and without resistance, lest their destruction provoke broader opposition among educators and working-class families throughout the city. 

12. “The union and the company aren’t saying anything”: Stellantis Dundee Engine worker backs rank-and-file investigation into death of Ronald Adams Sr

Monday marked 11 weeks since the fatal accident that took the life of 63-year-old machine repairman Ronald Adams Sr. at the Dundee Engine Complex in Michigan. The highly skilled and respected worker, a husband, father and grandfather, was crushed to death on April 7, 2025, when an overhead gantry that lifts engine blocks suddenly engaged, pinning him to a conveyor. 

In the nearly three months since the tragedy, Adams’ family and co-workers have not received any explanation of the causes of his death from the company, the United Auto Workers or the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA). In an email to this reporter Tuesday morning, MIOSHA Communications Specialist Mike Krafcik wrote, “Our investigation remains open. No updates to share at this time.” 

*****

One Toledo Jeep worker said she knew Antonio Gaston, who was crushed to death at the factory on August 21, 2024, just eight months before Adams lost his life at the Dundee plant. “We still don’t know what happened to Antonio,” she said, telling IWA-RFC supporters that she would spread the word about the rank-and-file investigation to her fellow workers.  

13. Australian universities in crisis: Oppose Labor’s cuts to international students and jobs

Staff and students at public universities across Australia face a deepening crisis. Over the past six months, despite protests at individual universities, managements have announced the destruction of more than 3,000 jobs—both academic and professional—mostly as a result of the Labor government’s reactionary cuts to international student enrollments.

14. Canada’s Liberal government gives full-throated support to US imperialism’s war on Iran

Within hours of the US attacking Iran’s civil nuclear facilities last Saturday evening with the most powerful non-nuclear bombs ever deployed, Prime Minister Mark Carney issued a statement on X welcoming the attack and America’s entry into the illegal war of aggression Israel launched against Iran on the night of June 12.

***** 

The Canadian prime minister’s statement went even further than those of his European counterparts, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Marz, who both also endorsed the US strike on the Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan Iranian nuclear sites. 

Trump’s Monday night announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Iran was immediately praised by Carney, who called for a return to “negotiations” and a “diplomatic solution.” This under conditions where Israel and the US have worked together to repeatedly use the White House’s promise of negotiations as a ruse to cover their aggression. Moreover, it is Trump who in 2018 blew-up the UN backed Iran nuclear accord, then imposed a campaign of punishing globally-applied sanctions, continued under Biden, aimed at crashing Iran’s economy and provoking “regime change.” 

15. One year since the Gen-Z Uprising in Kenya: The need for a socialist and internationalist strategy

The eruption of mass protests across Kenya in mid-2024, led primarily by young people, marked a turning point in the social and political life of the country, with reverberations felt across the African continent. Opposition to Ruto’s International Monetary Fund (IMF)-imposed Finance Bill 2024 rapidly developed into an insurgency against the entire post-independence capitalist order. It exposed the deep crisis of Kenyan and global capitalism.

16. The Trial of Dedan Kimathi returns to the Kenya National Theatre: The unresolved issues of the Mau Mau struggle 

The Trial of Dedan Kimathi, the powerful historical drama co-written by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o and Micere Githae Mugo, has returned to the Kenya National Theatre in Nairobi nearly 50 years after its original performance in 1976. This long-awaited revival comes just weeks after the death of Ngũgĩ on May 28 at the age of 87.

The performance ends in total darkness, with Ngũgĩ’s pre-recorded voice echoing through the theater, urging the audience to “resist tyranny”, a direct call to Kenya’s youth to rise against the corrupt ruling elite and its imperialist backers. 

17.  UK teachers walk out at Outwood Grange Academy schools over plans to lengthen school day

The strikes are part of a growing movement of educators against the effects of decades of government funding cuts, imposed with the collaboration of the education unions. 

18. Stagecoach West Scotland bus drivers’ strike betrayed by Unite

After nine days of a solid and determined strike in pursuit of an improvement in their pay, 430 bus drivers at Stagecoach West Scotland have been dragooned by company management and Unite trade union officials into accepting a miserable pay deal which meets none of their demands. In the aftermath of the dispute, several workers are reported to have been suspended for picketing. 

19. Workers and students in Manchester and Bradford speak out against Iran war, Palestine Action ban (videos included)

Ahmed, a rail worker, told the World Socialist Web Site, “The attack on Iran is totally unjustified, it’s also a total threat to democracy… Before we know it, we won’t be able to protest.”

20. South Australian Socialists launch: The pseudo-left promotes reformism, parochialism

For the Socialist Alternative, the electoral fronts are a means of cultivating ties with elements of the union bureaucracy, the Greens and the Labor Party, while seeking to parachute its leadership into the corridors of power and influence. The objective function of the new outfits, amid a massive breakdown of capitalism globally and a crisis of the Australian political establishment, is to divert growing anti-capitalist sentiment into the safe channels of parliament. 

21. Free Ukrainian socialist and anti-war activist, Bogdan Syrotiuk!

 

Bogdan Syrotiuk