1. UN reports slowing human development and growing inequality, promoting AI as a solution 

The UN’s HDI [Human Development Indices] is a crude yardstick for measuring a country’s human development in three key dimensions: health, knowledge, and standard of living.

Health is measured by life expectancy at birth. Knowledge is measured by the average (mean) years of schooling and expected years of schooling. Standard of living is measured by Gross National Income per capita expressed in international dollars using purchasing power parity terms— which aims to provide a more accurate comparison of income levels between countries by considering the real cost of goods and services rather than simply using exchange rates. Countries are then classified according to their HDI value as being of low, medium, high, and very high human development.

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The development of AI under social relations based on the private ownership of the means of production, including intellectual property, and the extraction of profit by maximizing the exploitation of the working class, will exacerbate already widespread poverty, particularly in the poorer less educated countries, and global social inequality.

In a back-handed way, the report acknowledges this, saying it is necessary to ensure that “no one is excluded from emerging possibilities” because of a lack of access to electricity and the Internet. But it fails to mention that 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa alone lack access to electricity and obviously does not explain how this is to be changed.

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In the garment industry, AI and robotics are already being integrated into the manufacturing process, from automated sewing to fabric inspection and cutting. These technologies boost efficiency, reduce costs and potentially improve quality and the corporations’ profits, but they also threaten to throw thousands of workers onto the scrapheap. In the case of Bangladesh, up to 60 percent of jobs in the garment sector could go due to automation by 2030.

Here is a link to the UN's report  

2. The treatment of Alan Bates: Justice denied, compensation slashed for victims of Post Office scandal by Starmer government

The shameful treatment of Sir Alan Bates—who undertook a 20-year campaign to expose one of the largest miscarriages of justice in British legal history— has stripped away the smoke and mirrors of the Labour government’s pledge of “justice” for the victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal.

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The scandal saw hundreds of sub-postmasters falsely accused of theft and fraud due to faults in the Horizon IT system, developed by Fujitsu and rolled out by the Post Office. Many were prosecuted, bankrupted, imprisoned, and some driven to suicide. The full scale of this industrial scale frame-up— carried out by a public institution with the connivance of the state and judiciary— was exposed in painstaking detail thanks to the unrelenting fight of Bates and his sub-postmaster colleagues.

3. Five employees of the Turkish-backed aid organization IHH killed by Israel in Gaza 

[Turkey's official statements of condemnation] reek of hypocrisy. The attack on the aid workers is part of Israel’s “concluding moves” in its genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza. It is being carried out with the full support of Washington and is part of the plan of the administration of US President Donald Trump to seize the territory. The entire Turkish bourgeois political establishment favours strong ties and close relations with the US and NATO— which Turkey has been a member of since 1952— who are behind the genocide in Israel.

4. Germany’s interior minister launches new attacks on refugees and migrants

The aim of radical right-wing politics is to divide the working class and to make migrants and refugees the scapegoats for the social deterioration caused by the pro-war policies of those in power and the greed of the super-rich. At the same time, the attacks on migrants serve to prepare attacks on the entire population and to further step up the repressive powers of the state. 

5. Tens of thousands of grocery workers to vote on strike in Southern California

Southern California grocery workers are fighting not only corporate exploitation but also the rightward drive by the entire political establishment. The Trump administration’s fascistic policies of war and oligarchic plundering are a huge threat to the future of millions of workers in the US and on the whole planet. Immigrant workers, who form the backbone of the grocery store workforce, face increasing state repression from deportations and ICE raids.

6. US Supreme Court gives Trump green light to deport over half a million legally residing immigrants 

In order to secure Republican votes for nearly $100 billion in military aid to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan last year, Biden and the Democrats attempted to broker a “border package” that would greatly expand the immigration deportation apparatus while providing no additional protections for immigrants under the  the CHNV (Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela) humanitarian parole program or an earlier initiative, called Temporary Protected Status (TPS), created by the Biden administration in October 2022 for Venezuelans.

Now, less than 150 days into the Trump administration, some 900,000 workers and their families are at risk of being kidnapped by a militarized immigration Gestapo, detained in a for-profit prisons, and sent to a country they may not have been to in years—or ever—where they may face political persecution, gang violence, or US-backed private militarized repression.

As of this writing no prominent Democrat, including New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, has issued a statement denouncing the court’s latest anti-immigrant ruling.

7. “It’s impossible to live in California on these wages”: Healthcare workers on 5-day strike at West Anaheim Medical Center

The strikers include respiratory therapists, licensed vocational nurses, surgical technicians, and imaging technologists— many of whom have endured nearly eight months without a contract.

8. Stellantis Warren Truck workers call for answers in death of Dundee Engine worker Ronald Adams Sr.

Workers continue to respond to the independent investigation by the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees into the death of 63-year-old Stellantis skilled trades worker Ronald Adams Sr.

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Last October Stellantis laid off 1,100 Warren Truck workers, and in April the plant was down two weeks due to a shortage of engines produced at the Stellantis facility in Saltillo, Mexico. In the meantime, the UAW is engaged in an anti-Mexican campaign aimed at diverting anger over mass firings and layoffs, and UAW President Shawn Fain has lined up behind Trump’s reactionary tariff war.  

9. The lead poisoning of Milwaukee Public Schools students

Over the past four months, an escalating crisis has unfolded that has included the closure of multiple school buildings, demonstrations by parents, educators and community members, and revelations of the dire consequences of the chronic underfunding of public education in the  state of Wisconsin.

10. Bankrupt healthcare provider Prospect Medical Holdings begins auctioning off parts of closed hospital system in southeastern Pennsylvania

Nonprofit ChristianaCare announced it would buy several of the smaller facilities associated with Crozer Health during the auctions, leaving the larger Crozer and Taylor hospitals permanently shut down. 

11. Glacier collapse in Blatten, Switzerland— A portent of an ecological catastrophe

 The scientific knowledge and technical prerequisites for solving the climate crisis are available, but they run up against the profit interests of those in power. Capitalist society is like a madman staggering toward the abyss with his eyes closed. It has only one answer to all social problems: war, dictatorship, social spending cuts, and environmental destruction. It is high time to put an end to it.

12. United Nations warns Gaza is the “hungriest place on earth,” as Israel orders new mass expulsions

Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for the UN’s humanitarian office, told reporters in a briefing that “One hundred percent of the population is at risk of famine.”

13. Australia’s right-wing Coalition re-forms but rifts continue

In what appears to be, at best, a fragile truce, the two leaders of Australia’s right-wing Liberal-National Coalition jointly announced a shadow ministry this week, just eight days after declaring a split between their two parties.

14. Trump hosts press conference for Musk exit from DOGE after 130 days 

In a press conference in the Oval Office on Friday, President Donald Trump announced the exit of Elon Musk after 130 days as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Trump praised Musk and insisted “He’s not really leaving,” adding, “He’ll be back and forth… I believe he’s going to be involved in many endeavors. It’s his baby.” Trump also lauded Musk for spearheading “the most sweeping and consequential government reform program in generations,” and claimed DOGE had shifted the “mindsets” of federal officials and made “incredible” progress in rooting out waste and fraud.

The reality, however, is that Musk presided over a historic attack on the federal workforce, government services and entire federal agencies and departments, especially those involved in social welfare, environmental protection and government oversight of corporations and banks. Musk’s term as the Trump administration’s “cost-cutter-in-chief” has left behind a trail of destruction aimed at hollowing out the US government to serve the interests of the financial oligarchy.

All of this was done while the business empire of the world’s richest man has been reeling from historic losses and personal scandal. The bizarre scene of Musk with a black eye, standing beside Donald Trump in the Oval Office, provided a window into the turmoil and crisis at the top of American capitalist power.

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Musk’s departure from the White House and his obvious personal decline are emblematic of the broader crisis of American and world capitalism. The US government deficit stands at $36 trillion with some projections saying it will rise to more than $50 trillion by 2034. Social inequality reached grotesque proportions as the total wealth of the world’s billionaires grew by $2 trillion in 2024, rising from $13 trillion to $15 trillion. Meanwhile, the imperialist powers are spending enormous sums on military armaments, and the danger of nuclear war has never been greater than it is today. 

15. The significance of the Socialist Equality Party’s vote and campaign in the Australian election

The vote for the SEP was small, but significant, revealing a growing constituency for a revolutionary, socialist alternative to the program of war, austerity and authoritarianism advanced by Labor and the entire capitalist establishment.

16. Michelin management begins witch-hunt against tyre factory workers in southern Sri Lanka

Michelin’s provocative witch-hunt is a preparation for a broader crackdown. Management’s real concern is that workers are beginning to take matters into their own hands, outside the stranglehold of the ICEU [union] bureaucracy.

17. Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific

India:

Bhakra Dam Project workers in Punjab demand outstanding wages

Himachal Pradesh ambulance workers strike

West Bengal tea plantation workers protest lack of clean drinking water and other issues

Municipal workers in Hosapete, Karnataka strike for permanent jobs

Sri Lanka:

Bank of Ceylon employees protest removal of incentive payment

State sector postal workers strike over unfilled jobs

Australia:

BMS Heavy Cranes workers in Victoria strike

I-MED radiology workers in Victoria strike for pay rise

Bus drivers at Dyson and CDC in Victoria strike for improved pay and safety

New Zealand:

Auckland nurses take action over understaffing

Doctors in Gisborne, New Zealand, hold 24-hour strike

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

Bogdan Syrotiuk in 2015

"Peace for the world! Down with war!"

1. An interview with trauma surgeon Dr. Feroze Sidhwa on his latest experience with the US-Israel genocide in Gaza

Dr. Sidhwa, wearing the blue cap, assists an operation on an injured child 

Dr. Sidhwa made a second deployment to Gaza where he worked at Nassar hospital from March 6 to April 1, nearly becoming a casualty in the March 23 attack on that hospital by Israeli forces.

Dr. Sidhwa:

"It has taken over 18 months to desensitize the world and have everybody resign themselves to the idea that everyone in Gaza, including a million children, are going to be killed. That’s where we are. Israel is continuing to do what they said they were going to do, and with unequivocal support from the United States." 

2. Rescinding COVID-19 vaccine recommendations, RFK Jr. escalates assault on science and public health

Fascist Argentinian president and quack US Health and Human Services Secretary wield golden "cost-cutting" chainsaw 

The removal of guidance protecting society’s most vulnerable— infants and expectant mothers— from COVID-19 will condemn countless lives to suffering and death. The consequences of undermining access to and public trust in vaccines will be disastrous. Mass vaccination campaigns aimed at eradicating an array of diseases, including measles, smallpox and polio, were one of the great advances for humanity in the 20th century. Now diseases like measles are making a resurgence in the US under Kennedy at the helm of public health.

3. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. unilaterally ends COVID vaccine recommendation for children and pregnant women

In an extraordinary video released Tuesday, three of the Trump administration’s top health officials announced a major rollback in vaccine access in the US, stating that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would no longer recommend routine COVID-19 shots for healthy children and healthy pregnant women.

4. Teamsters for a Democratic Union seeking reelection alongside pro-fascist union head Sean O’Brien

O’Brien was one of the earliest union bureaucrats to line up behind Trump. Since then, other figures, such as the United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain, have followed suit. Their embrace of the would-be dictator and führer is the sharpest expression of the social chasm separating rank-and-file workers from the union bureaucracy, which is joined at the hip with management and the political establishment.

5. Housing crisis hits home for 20,000 residents of Rochdale Village co-operative in New York City

Genuinely affordable housing— apartments whose monthly costs amount to no more than one-third of household income— is currently estimated at less than one percent of housing stock in New York City. Much of Manhattan and northern Brooklyn has become home to the very wealthy, along with sections of the upper middle class. On “Billionaires Row” on West 57th Street in Manhattan, multimillion-dollar units are left vacant and used as investment vehicles. 

6. Genocide in Gaza: Chancellor Merz gives himself an alibi

Pro-government media labeled it a “turning point in German Israel policy.” In fact, Merz’s statements are nothing of the sort. The chancellor is trying to create for himself an alibi for a crime against humanity that he has supported more unconditionally than almost any other German politician for a year and a half—without changing his policies in the slightest. The German government is not even prepared to stop supplying weapons to the Israeli army.

7.  Trump administration launches witch-hunt of Chinese international students 

This latest attack draws from the filthiest corners of the history of anti-Chinese chauvinism, from the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, to the violent anti-Chinese pogroms which followed. In addition to promoting division in the working class and diverting anger away from the oligarchs, this move seeks to prepare public opinion for war with China. 

8. Senior judge rules police acted unlawfully in raiding home of British independent journalist Asa Winstanley

The ruling this month by the most senior judge at London’s Central Criminal Court that the police raid on British journalist Asa Winstanley’s London home on October 17, 2024 was unlawful is a blow against the Starmer government’s efforts to criminalize opposition to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.4. Detroit Opera production of The Central Park Five takes aim at Trump

The fact that audience members had to pass through metal detectors and clear security to enter the theater was a reminder of the heightened social and political tensions.

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The staging of an opera is a costly and complex undertaking. The Detroit Opera, formerly the Michigan Opera, has struggled financially over the years as have arts organizations at all levels nationwide. The opera suffered a near financial collapse with the withdrawal of corporate funding in the wake of the 2008 financial crash and also suffered during the pandemic. The generally abysmal level of public funding for the arts in the US and the coming to power of the new Trump administration, which plans to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts, pose further challenges.  

9. Stellantis Dundee engine workers in Michigan speak out on the death of Ronald Adams Sr.: “They knew it was dangerous. He didn’t have to die.”

Several Dundee workers have recently come forward and provided detailed testimony for the independent investigation into Adams’ death. 

10. US immigration Gestapo continues terror campaign: Over 100 workers arrested while building student housing in Tallahassee, Florida

Videos posted of the raid showed dozens of police vehicles, white school buses and heavily armed and masked agents descending on the construction site. Many of the Gestapo thugs had their faces covered and virtually all were wearing body armor, even though it appears none of the workers were armed or wanted for violent crimes.

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The massive raid drew a crowd of distressed onlookers and family members. Videos posted on social media quickly went viral, with thousands condemning the arrests of the workers. 

11. Reciprocal tariff negotiations directed against China

The central target of Trump’s economic war is China because its economic advance, especially in the area of high-tech, is regarded as an existential threat to the global dominance of the US.

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The central aim of the US is to tear countries, especially those in southeast Asia, away from their economic dependence on China with the aim of ending their attempted strategic balancing act between Washington and Beijing.

But the US has a major problem in that it has nothing to offer those countries economically, under conditions where a break from China will result in economic devastation, threatening to set off major social upheavals and possibly sparking retaliatory action, of which Beijing has warned.

The outcome, at least so far, is that rather than a break from Beijing, US actions are pushing more countries into its orbit because they have nowhere else to go....

12. Appeals court orders a stay on ruling against Trump’s tariff war

The appeals court did not rule on the legal merits of the decision but ordered a temporary stay “until further notice.” The decision opens the way for the Trump administration to appeal the decision, possibly securing a rapid hearing in the Supreme Court.

13. Detroit high-school student arrested by ICE on a field trip, sent to prison in Michigan’s remote Upper Peninsula

“He’s a very sweet kid,” his teacher said. “And very much still a kid. He’s not a student who’s getting in trouble. This is a student who wants to graduate high school. And he has a lot of friends. People love him! He arrived in the US about two years ago and only recently turned 18. So he was a minor when he arrived and he had no control over coming here.” 

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These arrests are part of the Trump administration’s ongoing mass deportation operation and are an attack on the democratic rights of the entire working class. The fact that high school students are now being targeted exposes the right-wing lies that immigrants are violent criminals and a threat to society.

14. Worsening poverty and social misery in New Zealand

Asked by a TV New Zealand interviewer why the government had not done more in the budget to address child poverty, Finance Minister Nicola Willis declared: “there is not actually a magic money tree that allows me to show such generosity that I can solve every problem at once.”

Year after year, successive Labour and National Party governments have trotted out this refrain, even as they have handed tens of billions of dollars to the corporate elite through tax cuts, subsidies and bailouts, and spent billions on the armed forces. 

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Nationwide 500,000 people, one tenth of the population, relies on food banks on a regular basis.

Homelessness continues to become more visible in every major centre. The government has boasted about reducing the number of emergency housing places from 4,000 in September 2023 to around 500 in December 2024—despite the 2023 census finding that 112,496 people, or 2.3 percent of the population, are “severely housing deprived” (up from 99,462 people in 2018).

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Growing social misery and hopelessness is reflected in an unprecedented surge in the use of dangerous drugs. In Northland, the poorest region, as well as Southland and Otago, wastewater testing shows methamphetamine use has tripled in the past year. Nationwide, the amount of meth consumed between October and December 2024 was 78 percent higher than the average over the previous 12 months.

There is also a profound mental health crisis, particularly affecting young people. A May 14 report by UNICEF revealed that New Zealand had the worst youth suicide rate of the 36 countries in the OECD, with 17.1 suicides per 100,000 people aged 15 to 19 (based on data from 2018–20).

UNICEF appealed to the government to increase welfare payments for families with children and to address food insecurity by expanding the provision of free school lunches. The government has made cruel cuts in both areas. 

15. Strike by 950 nurses in Madison, Wisconsin over workplace safety and wages

The fact that SEIU Wisconsin called a mere five-day strike shows the union bureaucracy is not willing to wage a protracted struggle on behalf of workers. Nor has SEIU Wisconsin published on its website the specific wage increases and staffing ratios, if any, that it is seeking. It could therefore declare victory on any changes at all, no matter how insignificant. 

16. Former leading Ukrainian political operative assassinated in Spain 

[Andriy] Portnov was a former member of the Ukrainian parliament and deputy head in the administration of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych, who was toppled in a US- and EU-backed coup in February 2014. His assassination adds another name to the long list of Russia-aligned political figures from the Ukrainian ruling class who have been killed in targeted assassinations following the full-scale outbreak of the NATO-backed proxy war between Kiev and Moscow in February 2022.

17. Australian construction union boss steps down as Labor-appointed administrator tightens screws 

Zach Smith’s resignation as national secretary of the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union is an attempt to bolster his credibility with workers, as he continues to serve as a lackey of the administrator.

18. Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa

Greece: 

Strike by bank cashiers against sudden sackings

Italy: 

Rail workers in one-day stoppage for improved pay and conditions 

Spain:

Teachers in Asturias, Spain strike for improved pay and working conditions 

Turkey:

Over 200 chemical workers in stoppage for living wage

United Kingdom:

Care workers launch first national walkout in Scotland for a decade over pay and broken promises

Drivers at Scottish bus company begin series of walkouts over unacceptable pay offer

Further stoppages by academic staff at Dundee university, Scotland, over job cuts

Strike by health center cleaners in northwest England over pay delays

Iran:

Spreading nationwide strike by truck drivers has severe impact

Kenya:

Doctors in three Kenyan counties on indefinite strike over pay and conditions

Ghana:

University of Ghana staff on strike over working conditions

Nigeria:

Teachers in nation's capital continue strike, demand payment of arrears

South Africa:

Unemployed workers in Johannesburg demonstrate for jobs at Eskom

Residents of an informal settlement in Cape Town protest state demolition of homes

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

Bogdan Syrotiuk in 2015

The sign says: "Peace for the world! Down with war!"  

1. 85 years since the May 24, 1940 assassination attempt against Leon Trotsky

In Moscow, the failure of the May 24 attack was viewed as a political disaster. According to the former Soviet general and Russian historian Dmitri Volkogonov, “News of the failure of the assassination attempt sent Stalin into a rage,” leading him to decide that “Everything would now be staked on the action of an individual operator who had long been installed in Mexico, and who was preparing to carry out his mission.”

2. King Charles III’s Ottawa visit and what it says about the Canadian ruling class’ “opposition” to Trump

It “sends a message to people in Canada and the United States about why Canada is separate, why Canada is different,” quipped one expert. The King’s “presence was a show of muscle,” a “senior government source” told the Globe and Mail, meant to “emphasize Canada’s distinctive history and identity as a way of underlining its sovereignty in the face of US aggression.”

In truth, the visit and the regal and Canadian nationalist hoopla that surrounded it were a profession of bankruptcy and testament to the reactionary character of the Canadian ruling class, its state, and nationalist mythology.

*****

Even as the ruling class revels in its ties to the British monarchy and decries Trump’s actions targeting Canada, its preference and primary objective is to secure for Canadian imperialism the status of a duly recognized junior partner in a Trump-led Fortress North America.

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The Crown possesses vast, essentially unlimited “reserve powers” under Canada’s constitution. They are seldom used, but they permit the ruling class, acting through its state machine, to override democratic norms and, if need be, over the heads of the elected government and parliament in a period of extreme crisis.

These powers, once used only with great reluctance, lest their frequent deployment expose the true class nature of the state, have been increasingly resorted to as the crisis of world capitalism has escalated. In 2008, amid the world financial crisis, Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper instructed the monarch’s representative in Canada, the Governor General, to prorogue— that is shut down— parliament for close to two months to prevent his minority government from being toppled by the opposition parties in a vote of non-confidence.

3. Israeli troops massacre 10 aid-seekers in two days as Netanyahu says food distribution plan aims to create “sterile zone”

The massacre of aid-seekers for a second day in a row confirms the warnings by the United Nations, Oxfam, and other humanitarian organizations that the US-Israeli aid distribution scheme is nothing more than a logistical component of Israel’s ethnic cleansing program.

4. Hundreds of British and Irish writers demand immediate ceasefire, as opposition to Gaza genocide escalates

More than 380 writers, organizations and cultural figures have issued an open letter stating that the Israeli government is committing genocide in Gaza and demanding an immediate ceasefire.

Here is a link to their letter 

5. Australian court rejects appeal by jailed Afghan war crimes whistleblower David McBride

The ruling by the three-judge panel continues and upholds the extraordinary situation where the only individual convicted and imprisoned over documented Australian war crimes in Afghanistan is McBride. He is not accused of having committed the atrocities. His sole “offense” was to expose the violations of international law. 

6. Indonesia seeking to appease Washington in tariff negotiations

The US tariffs represent an intensification of the US-led war drive against China amid the breakdown of global capitalism. Washington is seeking to pressure countries in the region to align with it against Beijing. This is no doubt why it has given priority to talks with Indonesia, which has attempted to balance between Washington and Beijing.

7. Union cancels Connecticut nursing home strike, rams through sellout deal 

Having sold out the New York workers, the union then reached an agreement with the governor in Connecticut to avert the strike in that state as well.

The union bureaucracy is corrupt, socially detached and contemptuous of the interests and priorities of the rank and file. This was shown in a recent corruption scandal, which led to the ousting of George Gresham as the longtime president of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East. Tens of thousands of dollars embezzled from workers’ dues money served to supplement his $300,000 salary.

His replacement, Yvonne Armstrong, is another longtime bureaucrat, elected in a vote marked by more than 90 percent abstention, reflecting the deep alienation felt by workers to the apparatus.

8. SAG-AFTRA continues isolation of video game performers, on strike for more than 10 months

To be blunt: artificial intelligence is an astonishing technology and advance, with revolutionary implications. However, under the system of production for profit, the giant conglomerates plan to use it as a weapon to lower costs and destroy tens of thousands of film, television and video games jobs. The issue of how and when and where artificial intelligence should be used in the creative process, and how and when and where it should not be used, has to be decided upon by performers, writers, animators, technicians and other creators. SAG-AFTRA is incapable of developing a strategy for defeating the companies because it accepts the present economic framework. It has isolated the video game performers for more than ten months, and it can only propose more of the same.  

9. Swedish journalist Joakim Medin released after 7 weeks in Turkish prison

Medin’s arrest was part of a sweeping crackdown by Erdogan’s government during and after March’s mass protests. Some 2,000 people were arrested or detained for one day or several days across the country, including over 300 who were kept in custody pending trial. Although some have since been released, 71 people reportedly remain in prison. In late April, as the World Socialist Web Site reported, authorities rounded up some 150 members of left-wing organizations and trade unions in advance of May Day. None of this prompted the Swedish government to issue statements of condemnation as one of its citizens languished in a high-security prison. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said following Medin’s release that the success was the product of negotiations that took place “relatively quietly.”

It took the European Parliament almost seven weeks to pass a motion calling for Medin’s release. This, under conditions in which Reporters Without Borders noted that if Medin is convicted on all charges, he could face a prison sentence of up to 27 years. Even though he has now returned to Sweden, the Turkish government could still pursue him with an Interpol notice. 

10. School communities protest removal of principals in São Paulo, Brazil

As elsewhere around the world, accountability policies based on external evaluations have paved the way for the privatization of education. At the beginning of the year, [São Paulo's right wing] Mayor Nunes announced his intention to transfer the 50 most vulnerable schools in the municipal public network to the private sector. In fact, as reported by the daily Folha de S. Paulo, “Most of the schools affected by the measure work with students who are highly vulnerable socioeconomically and with disabilities.”

11. Ban on Red Media: EU sanctions against Russia attack press freedom

The as yet unproven accusation that Red Media is financed by Russia is completely irrelevant. Not only because numerous German media products are financed from other countries. Above all, freedom of the press includes not only the freedom of opinion of the publishers, but also the freedom of the population to listen to the different sides of a conflict and form their own opinion. However, in view of the preparations for war against Russia, any position that does not follow the official war narrative is declared “enemy propaganda” and banned.

12. The workplace carnage continues: New York City worker killed in explosion on sewage boat

New York City’s Democratic mayor, Eric Adams, who has carried out savage budget cuts to city services, released a perfunctory statement, claiming he was “devastated to hear about the tragic death.”

13. The British Broadcasting Corporation’s suppression of “Gaza: Medics Under Fire”: Solidarity with National Health Service workers standing against censorship and genocide

The decision to indefinitely postpone the scheduled broadcast is a blatant act of censorship and an indictment of the Britain’s publicly funded state broadcaster. At stake is the silencing of those who risked and lost their lives to save others from a genocide. 

*****

A witch-hunt against the documentary was instigated when David Collier, a self-described “100 percent Zionist” activist, named Abdullah Alyazouri— the 13-year-old narrator— as the son of a Hamas-affiliated official, Dr. Ayman Alyazouri. The film was smeared as Hamas “propaganda,” even though it includes Palestinians expressing criticism of Hamas and offers no political advocacy—only the truth of life under siege.

***** 

The BBC’s censorship of Gaza: Medics Under Fire demonstrates the complicity of the entire political establishment in Israel’s genocidal offensive. The smears against opponents of the mass murder of Palestinians as “terrorist sympathizers” have reached fever pitch just as the Netanyahu regime has launched the final phase of its drive to ethnically cleanse Gaza via the expulsion of more than 2 million Palestinians. 

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

Bogdan Syrotiuk in 2015

The sign says: "Peace for the world! Down with war!"  

1. The World Socialist Web Site and the fight against war, genocide, fascism and the Big Lie

 

Trotsky wrote, in response to the Big Lies of his time: “Revolution explodes the social lie. Revolution speaks the truth. Revolution begins by giving things and social relationships their real name.”

These words define the principles that guide the World Socialist Web Site.

 

David North

2. Oppose the attack on GWU student Cecilia Culver and other students for opposing the genocide in Gaza!

In recent weeks, multiple universities have either withheld or threatened to revoke graduating students’ diplomas for using their commencement platforms to denounce the US-backed genocide in Gaza. This is a deeply anti-democratic attack on the First Amendment and freedom of speech.

3. Trump administration cancels Harvard’s remaining federal funding, escalates attack on international students

The Trump administration seeks to transform all institutions of higher education into arms of the surveillance state and tools for propaganda. It has demanded direct control over curriculum at several Harvard departments.

4. Chaos and repression on first day of US-backed Gaza “aid” operation

One father told Al Jazeera:

We are suffering from starvation. We need to feed our children who are hungry. What else can we do? Fear does not compare to hunger. 

5. Merz government on course for war

By escalating the war against the nuclear power Russia, the Merz government is taking a huge risk. An expansion of the war threatens to turn the whole of Europe into a wasteland. Despite this, not one serious voice is being raised against it in official politics and the establishment media.

6. Trump issues flurry of pardons for millionaire tax cheat, corrupt sheriff and reality-TV swindlers

Over the last 48 hours, the convicted felon and professional swindler in the White House has issued a flurry of pardons targeting those who politically, economically, or ideologically support his fascist agenda. The pardons are not acts of mercy for those wrongly or unfairly convicted and sentenced by the US injustice system, but political patronage doled out by President Donald Trump to his ruling class allies.

7.  Workers walk out of ratification meeting as IAM bureaucrats push through sellout to end Pratt & Whitney strike

The strike at Pratt & Whitney has been ended in similar fashion to that of the New Jersey Transit engineers, who were sent back to work by officials from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) without even having seen the new contract. In the run-up to the vote at Pratt & Whitney, workers were raising questions on Facebook about the mysterious agreement being hidden from strikers. On the morning of Tuesday, May 27, workers were given a handout of the “highlights” of the agreement, which solicited the immediate disgust of many workers.

8. Sri Lankan Michelin workers’ jobs in danger after JVP trade union leaders’ secret deal with the company

On Monday, the workers sent their own representatives to the Labour Office in Colombo to discuss their fears. Only then did the workers come to know that the corporation and the Inter-Company Employees Union (ICEU) leaders had entered into a deal.

9. Leading Socialist Equality Party member addresses Sri Lankan Michelin factory workers struggling to defend their jobs

Although yesterday was a day off, around 2,000 workers and supporters from the area gathered at the factory to protest. They all warmly received Aruna Nishantha Malalagama’s speech....

10. Still no information about Amazon contractor killed two days after Stellantis worker Ronald Adams Sr.

Amazon is one of the largest private employers in the United States. With over 1.1 million workers, what happens at Amazon’s warehouses isn’t local—it’s national and international.

The company’s billionaire founder, Jeff Bezos, backs President Donald Trump, who in return has nominated David Keeling, a former safety director for both Amazon and UPS, to head the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration—in a move hailed by Teamsters President Sean O’Brien.

11. Australian private hospital giant’s liquidation threatens jobs and patients

Australia’s second biggest private hospital operator, Healthscope, was placed in receivership on Monday. This means the future prospects of 38 hospitals, 19,000 staff and hundreds of thousands of patients are now in the hands of ruthless international hedge funds, to which the private equity fund-owned company owes an estimated $1.6 billion.

12. Australia: Northern Beaches Hospital, a case study in the consequences of profit-driven healthcare

Like its federal and other state counterparts, the New South Wales Labor administration is systematically starving the public health sector of desperately needed funds while imposing brutal working conditions on all health workers and refusing to pay them decent wages. In fact, the harsh and dangerous conditions in the Northern Beaches Hospital are little different from those in all public sector hospitals. 

13. The Virginia Opera’s Loving v. Virginia revisits critical civil rights battle of the 1960s

Event poster

The Loving case raises profound democratic issues that cannot fail to resonate today. The opera focuses on the lives and case of Richard and Mildred Loving, the interracial couple from rural Caroline County, Virginia, whose relationship was at the center of the legal fight.

14. Taiwan’s currency destabilized by US trade deal with Trump, signalling escalating currency and trade wars

Financial engineering created by the CBC (Taiwan's Central Bank) and regulators has only prepared the way for a much bigger financial disaster. A rush on Taiwan’s life insurance sector will dwarf the collapse of SVB [the US Silicon Valley Bank], the second-largest bank failure in US history.

It would be naïve to suppose that any looming financial calamity of this scale will stay in Taiwan. 

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Taiwan is experiencing a perfect storm. As Trump’s economic offensive against the world’s second largest economy escalates, the Taiwanese ruling elite’s complicity in US manoeuvres against China (be these economic, financial or military) will also intensify.

The stance on “world peace” taken by Lai Ching-te’s government is comparable to that of US-backed Arab despotic regimes.

Arab client states have enabled the Gaza genocide by serving as the border Gestapo and supposed peace brokers. They praise the would-be führer Trump, who has been carrying out US-Israeli ethnic cleansing operations on a scale unseen since the Holocaust, as “a man of peace” who “wants to bring peace,” to quote Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani. “We can continue working together to achieve it,” the Emir told Trump.

15. Ofcom’s “investigation” into Royal Mail: A cover for sabotaging the Universal Service Obligation

[The United Kingdom's] Royal Mail delivered only 76.5 percent of First Class mail within one day— well below the 93 percent target— and 92.2 percent of Second Class mail, versus the required 98.5 percent. This is the third consecutive year of systemic failure. Ofcom’s threat of a fine follows token penalties of £5.6 million and £10.5 million in 2023 and 2024—paltry amounts for a company being restructured to gouge out hundreds of millions in profit.

16. US postal unions seek to divert opposition to privatization to dead-end appeals to Congress

Union heads from the four major postal unions participated in a Capitol Hill roundtable on May 14 organized by US Representative Stephen Lynch and Representative Steny Hoyer. The roundtable was a stunt designed to cover up the responsibility of the union bureaucrats and the Democratic Party for preparing the way for the privatization of the United States Postal Service, a top priority of the Trump administration. 

17. Turkish workers must support independent rank-and-file investigation into the death of US Stellantis worker Ronald Adams Sr.

Workplace accidents and deaths, caused mainly by the unbridled capitalist profit motive, are an international problem of the working class and are on the rise worldwide amid escalating attacks by the ruling class on working conditions.

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

Bogdan Syrotiuk 

Headlines at the World Socialist Web Site today:

1. Israel launches air strike on school housing displaced Palestinian families in Gaza City

While the Israeli government claims that its operations are aimed at defeating Hamas and securing the release of hostages, leaked comments from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reported by Al Jazeera, reveal that the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza is the central aim.

2. Killing of two Israeli embassy staffers in D.C. seized on to slander opponents of Gaza genocide as antisemites and terrorists

The World Socialist Web Site opposes individual acts of violence, and nothing progressive will come out of the shooting of Lischinsky and Milgram. The Marxist movement has always stressed that individual violence cannot be a substitute for the conscious struggle to mobilize the working class in opposition to war, inequality and the attack on democratic rights, which is the only way to stop the Gaza genocide. Such actions are seized upon as a pretext to escalate police repression and further criminalize opposition to the genocide. With the killing of Lischinsky and Milgrim, this is already taking place.

3. Oppose European rearmament!

European countries are collectively plunging hundreds of billions of euros into a mad frenzy of military spending. The massive diversion of resources from social programs and jobs into the war machine is setting the European imperialist powers on a collision course with the working class.

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Rearmament continues largely behind the backs of Europe’s population, without any explanation being given to the public of its costs or goals. Last week, the European Union (EU) activated the Security Action For Europe (SAFE) program, a part of its €800 billion rearmament plan agreed in March that provides EU states and Britain €150 billion in loans for joint European defense projects. While this decision went largely unreported, it means that European states will ultimately have to repay €150 billion, either by raising taxes or slashing social programs.

4. SMART union decries “misinformation” while helping management prepare for one-man crews at BNSF

The International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers-Transportation Division (SMART-TD) released a statement May 19 titled “Truth and Lies about the BNSF Crew Consist Agreement.” The statement, itself dripping with hypocrisy and lies, denounces a “flood of misinformation making the rounds”, particularly from “outside our union”, about the proposed crew consist agreement.

By “outsiders,” SMART-TD means above all the World Socialist Web Site. It is clearly concerned about its influence among railroaders, tens of thousands of whom have read the WSWS. It is also terrified of the influence of the Railroad Workers Rank-and-File Committee. The RWRFC spearheaded efforts to fight the last sellout contract in 2022 which was imposed on workers by Congress, after the union bureaucrats used threats, lies and endless delays to block a national strike.

5. “We want the truth”: Educators support the IWA-RFC Investigation into the death of Stellantis worker Ronald Adams Sr.

According to the AFL-CIO, over 140,000 workers die each year in the U.S. from hazardous working conditions. This amounts to more than 380 preventable deaths every day. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is dismantling basic worker protections, gutting the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and all regulatory agencies they view as limiting corporate profits.

As educators are aware, even child labor laws are being loosened, with the Trump policy book Project 2025 advising that teenagers should be permitted to work in “hazardous” jobs. Forcing young people to abandon an aspiration to higher education, punitive student loan policies, transforming K-12 into business-directed “career pathways” and privatizing public education are all components of an overarching policy of increased exploitation.

6. Healthcare workers speak out about NewYork-Presbyterian layoffs

A physician assistant and a registered nurse who have been affected by the layoffs both spoke to the World Socialist Web Site on condition of anonymity. Their accounts reveal that workers are not receiving essential information and that the unions are refusing to organize any genuine resistance to the hospital’s attacks.

7. Boeing receives sweetheart deal to avoid criminal prosecution over 737 MAX crashes

Under the agreement, Boeing will pay approximately $1.1 billion in fines and compensation, retain a company-selected “independent compliance consultant,” and avoid the felony fraud conviction that would have threatened its status as a major defense contractor. The deal reverses a previous agreement reached under the Biden administration in July 2024, in which Boeing had agreed to plead guilty to criminal fraud charges.

The move represents the calculated intervention of the American state on behalf of the military-industrial complex. Boeing is not merely a civilian aircraft manufacturer but a cornerstone of the US military-industrial complex, receiving over $20 billion for the next-generation fighter jets and representatives accompanying President Trump on lucrative arms deals in the Middle East.

8. Trump defends trillion-dollar war budget in fascistic tirades at West Point and Arlington

While millions are poised to lose healthcare coverage and go hungry, Trump boasted that the US government is purchasing “new airplanes, brand-new, beautiful planes,” “the best missiles,” “drones and much, much more,” including what he called the “Golden Dome Missile Defense Shield.”

The massive expansion of what is already the largest military budget in the world coincides with an ideological purge of curricula at the military academies that do not conform to the MAGA agenda.

Following executive orders from Trump and directives by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth targeting so-called “un-American” and “Marxist” content, instructors at the military academies have been ordered to remove from their syllabi books, courses and terminology that address past US military atrocities or examine issues related to race and gender.

9. US-EU tariff talks resume after Trump blew up negotiations with threat of 50 percent hike

The resumption of talks came after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen initiated a phone call with US President Trump following his declaration on Friday that the US would impose a 50 percent tariff on all European goods from June 1.

The content of the discussions with von der Leyen is not known, but Trump, as is usual, gave the impression that the EU had given ground.

10. Pseudo-left promotes CTU sellout contract as Democrats prepare austerity measures

The recent leadership elections in the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) have revealed the union bureaucracy’s deepening crisis of authority as its latest sellout contract paves the way for increased attacks on teachers, including hundreds of layoffs being prepared with more school closures on the horizon.

*****

The reality is that no contract clause will stop ICE from storming schools, nor will it block the courts or Republican state legislatures from outlawing curricula. The idea that the CTU can simply negotiate away fascism is not only a delusion— It is a political cover for inaction and submission.

These illusions are being deliberately fostered by those who are politically responsible for the attacks now underway. The same forces promoting the contract— Democratic Socialists of America, Labor Notes, In These Times— have for years glorified the CTU as a model of “social justice unionism.” They have also played a central role in the elevation and defense of United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain and Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, both of whom now openly align themselves with Donald Trump and the trade union bureaucracy’s nationalist, pro-capitalist agenda.

This fraud— the idea that class antagonisms can be reconciled through “progressive unionism”— is being torn apart by the reality of Trump’s impending austerity, which will be enforced with the full collaboration of the Democratic Party if allowed to do so.

11. Hundreds of Spanish musicians boycott festivals organised by pro-Zionist hedge fund

Spanish musicians and cultural workers have launched a widespread boycott in protest against the Western-backed Zionist genocide in Palestine. Their targets are music festivals owned or operated by investment giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), which is financially involved in real estate developments within Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.

As reported by the online outlet El Salto, KKR acquired Superstruct Entertainment in 2024 for €1.4 billion. Superstruct organizes more than 80 music festivals globally, including some of Spain’s most high-profile events. It is now the world’s second-largest festival promoter, after Live Nation.

12. Sri Lankan workers must defend retrenched Next apparel workers

The shutdown of Next is part of a developing disaster in the apparel industry amid the deepening crisis of world capitalism. Apparel-producing countries are engaged in cost-cutting competition as giant retailers in the US and European countries continuously demand low-cost production.

This dog-eat-dog process has been intensified by US President Trump’s imposition of harsh tariffs on exporting countries, including Sri Lanka which faces a 44 percent tariff. Although there has been a 90-day pause since April, uncertainty remains.

13. Australia: Labor’s university job cuts raise critical political issues

Critical issues are posed by a staff-student rally called at Western Sydney University on June 3 against the threatened 300-400 job cuts at the predominantly working-class university.

These cuts are clearly not just a WSU question. They are part of a wider axing of jobs, courses and programs that has already led to the announcement of now more than 3,000 job losses throughout Australia’s 39 public universities over the past six months.

14. Berlin bus drivers support Transport Action Committee slate for the staff council elections

The Transport Workers Action Committee, which is also standing for election again, is calling on our colleagues to make this election a statement of intent against the Verdi union. Only an independent rank-and-file action committee can break Verdi’s dominance and place the initiative for the fight for decent wages and working conditions in the hands of the employees.

The Transport Workers Action Committee Appeal to Berlin, Germany's public transportation workers

15. ICE agents assault and detain US citizen in Alabama

For the “crime” of asking why his brother was being arrested and attempting to record the encounter, Venegas was thrown to the ground by federal agents, his phone discarded and his constitutional rights trampled. He repeatedly asserted his citizenship and presented an Alabama Real ID card— government-issued and backed by heightened documentation requirements— only for ICE agents to dismiss it as fake and proceed with his unlawful detention.

16. Striking Australian bakery workers at Allied Pinnacle need a new political strategy

The World Socialist Web Site not only exposes in detail the UWU’s filthy history of betrayals, but explains what is behind them: Like every other union, the United Workers Union bureaucracy does not represent the interest of workers, but serves as an industrial police force, enforcing the profit-driven demands of management and suppressing the opposition of workers to deepening attacks on their wages and conditions.

17. Australian Labor government issues phony condemnation of Israel’s starvation of the Palestinians

This is part of a coordinated operation, involving similar declarations from members of the US-led Five Eyes intelligence network, including the UK and Canada, as well as the European powers. All of them are shedding crocodile tears over Israel’s implementation of a “final solution” to the Palestinians, which they have assisted politically, diplomatically and logistically.

18. Workers Struggles: The Americas

Argentina: 

Police assault on pensioners’ protest march leaves 80 wounded

Canada:

Strike of thousands of Ontario Workers Compensation civil servants

Mexico:

Education workers protest in Mexico City and Chiapas

Paraguay:

Coca Cola workers protest layoffs and extreme exploitation

United States:

Grand Rapids, Michigan teachers protest low pay, short staffing in district schools

Six California Planned Parenthood clinics unanimously vote to authorize strike

Uruguay:

“March of Silence” honors those disappeared under the dictatorship

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

Bogdan Syrotiuk

Internationally, major artistic figures such as Roger Waters and Ai Wei Wei as well as historians such as Mario Kessler and Christian Gerlach have supported the campaign to free Bogdan Syrotiuk. Many political tendencies have also condemned his imprisonment and called for his release, despite their political differences with the Trotskyist movement. These include Jill Stein from the Greens in the United States, and several groups and websites in Russia and Turkey. Most recently, the website of the Socialist Laborer Party in Turkey, and that of the Partisan Defense Committee, which is affiliated with the Spartacist tendency, have issued statements in support of Bogdan.