Headlines at the World Socialist Web Site today:
1. After largest-ever protests, Trump orders arrest of millions of immigrants
In response to the largest anti-government protests in American history, President Donald Trump issued a call Sunday night for the mass roundup of “millions upon millions” of immigrants. The lengthy social media post, in which he ordered raids and mass arrests by federal agents, uses language that has no parallel in American politics, outside of the ravings of neo-Nazi groups and white supremacists.
After calling on ICE officers to carry out “the largest Mass Deportation Program in History,” Trump continued:
In order to achieve this, we must expand efforts to detain and deport illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside. These, and other such Cities, are the core of the Democrat Power Center, where they use Illegal Aliens to expand their Voter Base, cheat in Elections, and grow the Welfare State, robbing good paying Jobs and Benefits from Hardworking American Citizens.
In naming the Democratic Party, the nominal opposition within the framework of the corporate-controlled two-party system, Trump is threatening to abolish what little remains of constitutional democracy in the United States. After this diatribe, why should anyone believe that there will be legitimate elections in 2026? Or in 2028, for that matter, when Trump has declared his interest in seeking an unconstitutional third term in the White House?
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This is the four-point program advanced by the Socialist Equality Party to fight Trump’s coup d’état:
- The fight against Trump must be rooted in and led by the working class, centering on the call for a general strike to force out the Trump-Vance administration.
- Mass opposition to Trump’s attacks must be connected to specific democratic demands: withdrawal of troops from American cities, dismantling of ICE; removal and prosecution of those involved in his attempted coup.
- The fight against dictatorship must be waged on an international basis, linking workers in America with their class brothers and sisters in countries around the world.
- The fight against dictatorship and war must be a fight against capitalism and for socialism. The defense of democratic rights requires putting an end to the profit system and vast social inequality on which it is based.
2. US surges warships and aircraft to Middle East, as Trump says “evacuate Tehran”
On Monday, US President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, “IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON … Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!”
Shortly after making that post, Trump left the G7 summit in Canada for Washington D.C., where he instructed US national security staff to convene in the situation room.
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Israel has been relentlessly bombarding Iran since Friday and claims to have achieved total air superiority in the skies over Iran after having destroyed its missile defense systems. Israel used nuclear negotiations perfidiously initiated by the US as cover to assassinate top Iranian civilian and military leaders, including a senior nuclear negotiator.
The US has over 40,000 troops deployed in the Middle East, together with hundreds of aircraft and dozens of warships.
Critically, last month, the US deployed B-52 bombers, which are capable of carrying large bunker-busting munitions, within striking distance of Iran.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview that he endorsed the murder of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying, “It’s not going to escalate the conflict, it’s going to end the conflict.”
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Iran’s Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran has been turned into a “bloodbath,” in the words of one doctor who spoke to the Guardian. “We were overwhelmed by chaos and the screams of grieving family members. Dozens upon dozens of people with life-threatening injuries, minor wounds and even bodies were brought in.”
He added, “I’ve seen toddlers, teenagers, adults and the elderly alike. Profusely bleeding mothers were rushing in with their children injured by shrapnel.” He added, “We haven’t had the time to eat or drink. I fear after this morning we are going to have more bodies coming in.”
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In the days ahead of the Israeli strikes, the US began to divert weapons to the Middle East, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying last week that 20,000 US anti-drone missiles initially slated to go to Ukraine had been diverted to the Middle East.
3. Healthcare workers at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland prepare for strike
In an immediate sense, this strike is in opposition to UCSF’s so-called “Integration Plan,” which will go into effect on July 6. The plan would have hospital management fire current employees and rehire them as University of California (UC) employees doing the same work, in the same facilities, for significantly reduced take-home pay.
UCSF claims there will be no layoffs or cuts to base pay. But workers will lose up to $10,000 annually through sharply increased costs for health and retirement benefits under UC system plans. Healthcare premiums, previously $0, will now reach nearly $200 for individuals and close to $1,000 for families. The new retirement scheme is so abysmal that many longtime employees are being forced into early retirement.
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Dozens of workers would become “at-will” employees, stripped of job security, seniority, and essential benefits like educational leave.
This is a major attack which could set a precedent for workers elsewhere. The struggle at the hospital is for the rights of workers everywhere and for high quality public healthcare. The potential exists for the building of a broader movement linking up the strike with the enormous political and social opposition demonstrated by the 11 million who took to the streets in last Saturday’s “No Kings” protest.
But this requires that workers organize rank-and-file committees to take control of the strike out of the hands of the [National Union of Healthcare Workers] NUHW bureaucracy. Rather than a broad struggle uniting workers across the San Francisco Bay Area, their strategy is merely to preserve the inadequate contract that already exists and to isolate the strike by diverting workers into pointless appeals to state Democrats. In fact, the “Integration Plan” and has the full support from state Democratic lawmakers.
4. Gold now number two reserve asset in international financial system
The past two months were supposed to be a period of intense negotiations during which the Trump administration would announce major deals. Nothing had eventuated, with the exception of a minor agreement with the UK. Discussions over weeks with Japan, which is in line for a major hit to its auto industry of tens of billions of dollars, has so far produced no result.
At the same time, the concerns in the financial markets have grown with JPMorgan Chase chief Jamie Dimon warning that the bond market would “crack” at some point.
This brought a response from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that the US would “never, never” default on its debt—a statement which recalled the old saying that one should never believe anything until it is officially denied.
5. Noguchi Museum staff call for boycott and resignation of top officials
Anti-democratic censorship has become de facto policy for cultural institutions since 92NY, a cultural landmark for poetry, cancelled an appearance by Vietnamese-American Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Viet Thanh Nguyen because of his opposition to the Gaza genocide in October 2023. Since then, a host of cultural institutions, ranging from the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the Brooklyn Museum to the Tate Gallery in London have sought to censor artists, staff and members of the public opposed to the genocide.
The attack on the democratic culture of museums is not only facilitated by upper middle class layers who work as managers and directors; it is state policy under Trump, as can be seen by his defunding of the Institute for Museum and Library Services, a lifeline to many smaller and rural museums in the US, and his executive order restructuring the Smithsonian Institution. The latter is part a plan “to wreck the democratic principles embedded in American culture,” as we noted.
The cultural counterrevolution also includes the dismantling by Trump of the Department of Education and the attacks on universities. The Trump administration has sought to impose a Gleichschaltung–the Nazi’s “synchronization” of all elements of intellectual and cultural life–on the campuses and this holds equally true for museums and similar institutions.
The attempts to suppress opposition to the Gaza genocide at the Noguchi and elsewhere reveal the deep conflict between the objectively progressive role that art and culture play in the cognition of the world around us, on the one hand, and the pervasive influence of the oligarchy and its lackeys, on the other.
6. Death row in Trump’s America: 4 executions in 4 days
Four death row inmates were executed last week over a span of four days, with prisoners sent to their deaths in Florida, Alabama, Oklahoma and South Carolina. If two more executions proceed as planned before the end of June—one each in Florida and Mississippi—the same number of executions will have taken place in the first half of 2025 than in all of 2024.
This uptick comes as the Trump administration seeks to resume executions at the federal level and promote a fascistic escalation of the barbaric practice that remains on the books in 27 US states, the federal government and the military. State officials in death-penalty states have been emboldened by Trump’s blood-thirsty stance on executions.
7. Heavily militarized ICE Gestapo raid popular Southern California street market
This past Saturday, as millions across the United States protested against the fascistic Trump regime and its mass deportation program—including over 25,000 in downtown Los Angeles—roughly 20 miles away, heavily militarized Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raided the Santa Fe Springs Swap Meet.
The Santa Fe Springs Swap Meet is a popular open-air market located in the predominantly Latino, working class and immigrant community of Santa Fe Springs. In addition to hosting vendors, the venue typically features live music concerts on the weekends. The raid took place Saturday afternoon as families were shopping, eating and preparing to enjoy the concert scheduled for later that evening.
8. Canada hikes military spending 17 percent this year as part of stampede right
One of the reasons [Canadian Prime Minister Mark] Carney gave for the massive military spending hike is that the US can no longer be considered a reliable Canadian imperialist ally. The US, he asserted, “is beginning to monetize its hegemony: charging for access to its markets and reducing its relative contribution to our collective security.” Previously he has warned that America under Trump is “out to break us.”
Yet Canada’s Liberal Prime Minister is currently engaged in secret negotiations with Trump, communicating via telephone calls and chat messages with the president as he systematically violates the US constitution and tramples on the rights of the American people.
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These developments confirm everything that the World Socialist Web Site has said about the breakdown in Canada-US relations. It is a reactionary conflict between rival imperialist powers. Workers in Canada have every reason to oppose Trump and all he represents—oligarchy, dictatorship, imperialist war and territorial expansionism. But they cannot do so by lending support to the Canadian ruling class, or any of its rival factions and political representatives. In so far as they “oppose” Trump, it is solely from the standpoint of defending their own predatory interests and “sovereign” right to the lion’s share of the profits derived from the exploitation of Canada’s workers and abundant natural resources.
9. Mass protests erupt in Kenya after police murder of blogger and teacher Albert Ojwang
The protests are erupting just as workers and youth are preparing to mark the one-year anniversary of the 2024 Gen Z uprising. A mass demonstration is already planned for June 25.
Ojwang was arrested on June 6 in Homa Bay County on charges of “defaming” top policeman [Eliud] Lagat, after publishing posts exposing high-level corruption in the police. He was transferred over 350 kilometers to Nairobi Central Police Station, where, in the early hours of June 8, just 70 minutes after being booked, he was dead.
Police claimed he died “after hitting his head against a cell wall.” The public instantly rejected this obvious lie. For millions of Kenyans living under constant police harassment, the explanation recalled infamous police killings in Apartheid South Africa: Imam Abdullah Haron allegedly “falling down stairs” in 1969; South African Communist Party member Ahmed Timol jumping from a police window in 1971; and Steve Biko, whose 1977 death was attributed to a hunger strike though he had been beaten to death.
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Police killings in Kenya are a national plague. Every year, hundreds are killed by the security forces, with victims drawn overwhelmingly from the working class and rural poor, especially young people in informal settlements. The killing of protesters has escalated sharply. In 2023, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights recorded 61 protesters killed and 73 abducted. In 2024, during the Gen Z uprising against the Finance Bill, at least 65 were killed, thousands arrested, and dozens disappeared without a trace. The BBC documentary Blood Parliament documented how senior police commanders ordered their officers to “kuua, kuua” (“kill, kill” in Kiswahili), before firing live rounds into unarmed protesters. That year, cases of enforced disappearance rose nearly five times compared to the year before.
The roots of this violence lie in the structure of Kenyan capitalism. Six decades after the Kenyan bourgeoisie promised democracy and social equality on the eve of independence, the country’s tiny ruling elite, fattened by corruption and the crumbs thrown by imperialism, presides over staggering inequality. Less than 0.1 percent of the population, around 8,300 individuals, control more wealth than the bottom 99.9 percent—over 44 million people. Oxfam predicts the number of millionaires in Kenya will grow by 80 percent over the next decade, even as poverty remains widespread. Roughly 40 percent of Kenyans live in poverty, with nearly a third experiencing food insecurity.
10. Millions protest throughout the US against Trump’s efforts to establish a dictatorship
[Live reports updated a day ago.]
11. 6 dead in West Virginia flooding, 2 still missing
Flash flooding is occurring more frequently as a direct consequence of global warming. Flash flooding occurs when heavy rainfall overwhelms the capacity of natural or man-made drainage systems to absorb or channel water effectively. Unlike regular flooding, flash floods develop within minutes to hours of intense rainfall, leaving little time for preparation or evacuation if proper and timely warnings have not been issued.
As the planet warms, the atmosphere can hold more water vapor. This heightened moisture content fuels more intense and prolonged rainfall, leading to an increased likelihood of flash flooding.
12. Austria: Eleven dead in Graz school shooting
On June 10, a gunman killed ten people and seriously injured eleven others at a school in Graz, Austria. The attack itself lasted only a few minutes. Immediately after police arrived, the perpetrator committed suicide in a school restroom.
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The background to such incidents is the enormous brutalization of society. While state and federal politicians mourn the victims of the rampage, at the same time they fully support NATO’s war against Russia, which could escalate into a nuclear war, and Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip.
13. German government supports Israeli war of aggression
The German government has pledged its full support to Israel following its attack on Iran. Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil, and Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul have justified the unprovoked assault on the country of 90 million people with Israel’s “right to self-defense.”
In doing so, they not only scorn the facts, but also international law. Their support for Israeli aggression shows they will stop at no crime in pursuit of their geopolitical objectives. Having already backed the bombing, starvation and displacement of two million Palestinians, they are now defending the targeted assassination of senior Iranian military figures, politicians and scientists, the bombing of Iranian high-rises, industrial facilities and fuel depots, and Israel’s attempt to set the entire region ablaze.
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Virtually all leading experts in international law agree that Israel’s attack on Iran violates the UN Charter’s prohibition on the use of force. This charter allows military action only in self-defense after an armed attack. Preemptive strikes are only permissible in narrowly defined circumstances when an attack is imminent. But “not even an attack is being claimed that would meet these criteria,” as Tom Dannenbaum, professor of international law at the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, noted.
Matthias Goldmann, a professor of international law in Wiesbaden, argued that even if Iran possessed nuclear weapons, that would not justify an attack: “The Israeli assault on Iran is a textbook case of an illegal preemptive strike.”
And according to Kai Ambos, professor of international law in Göttingen, “the prohibition on the use of force—a fundamental norm of international law—becomes practically meaningless” if one were to view Israel’s attack as a legitimate preemptive strike. In that case, “any state could decide to use military force on the basis of a mere sense of threat.”
14. Australian writer deported at US border after questioning about Gaza protests
Kitchen told the Guardian he was “clearly targeted for politically motivated reasons.” He said US border officers questioned him about his views on Israel and Palestine, including his “thoughts on Hamas.” It was “quite an in-depth probing of my views on the war.”
This is tantamount to being interrogated for supposed thought crimes.
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The [Australian] Labor government’s failure to oppose Kitchen’s interrogation and deportation from the US is in line with the anti-democratic methods used in Australia to persecute refugees and immigrants. While the attack on free speech and basic democratic rights is most sharply expressed in the United States, the erosion of democratic rights is well advanced in Australia as well.
15. Australia: SEP censored at Melbourne rally on police killing of Aboriginal man
More than a thousand workers and young people took part in rallies across Australia’s major cities last week, protesting the brutal police killing of Kumanjayi White, a 24-year-old Indigenous man with a disability who died after being violently restrained outside a supermarket in the Northern Territory.
At the Melbourne rally, Socialist Equality Party (SEP) members were subjected to a coordinated attempt at political censorship by the event organizers, the Black People’s Union (BPU). SEP members were harassed, their leaflets condemning White’s killing were ripped from their hands, and they were slandered as “colonizers” and “white supremacists.” The BPU escalated the confrontation by involving police, forcing SEP members to leave.
The SEP intervened to raise the critical question that none of the organizers would answer: What was the real cause of White’s death? White was impoverished, disabled, and required ongoing support. His killing was not just an act of racism, but a tragic expression of a broader social crisis rooted in capitalism.
16. Sri Lankan police file criminal charges against Alton Estate workers
Why are these workers being hounded by the plantation company and the police, with the backing of the trade union bureaucracies and the blessing of successive Sri Lankan governments?
The Alton Estate workers have been targeted because they were part of determined industrial action four years ago by up to 150,000 plantation workers who were demanding a living wage, better working conditions, and decent housing, education, and health facilities.
17. Workers Struggles: The Americas
Argentina:
National protests against Milei’s economic policies
Brazil:
Santa Caterina Island transit workers strike
Canada:
Public transit maintenance workers conduct one-week strike in Montreal
Mexico:
Protesting teachers take over Chichén Itzá and other archaeological sites
United States:
Teamsters picketing Mauser Packaging Solutions plants in four states
Teamsters report contract deal in strike by postal contract drivers
California cement workers strike over company proposal offering poor pay and pensions
18. 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.
