Robert B. Livingston

1. US President Donald Trump directs his administration to reopen and expand Alcatraz, the notorious former prison on an island off San Francisco, California

Many believe that the exorbitant costs needed to build and maintain a Guantanamo Bay-type prison on Alcatraz, along with its size limitations, will prevent the realization of Trump’s proposal.
Whatever its ultimate outcome, however, Trump’s proposal to construct an American Guantanamo, within full view of one of America’s most scenic cities, is repulsive and revealing.
It would serve to normalize the construction of similar concentration like prisons throughout the country. And it is a demonstration of the fundamentally sadistic preoccupation with brutal repression as the solution to the crisis of American capitalism, shared not just by Trump but by the entire ruling class.

2. The threat of all-out war between India and Pakistan continues to rise

The only way to prevent the outbreak of all-out war and put an end to the horrific social conditions produced by the communal partition of the subcontinent is through the unification of the working class throughout the region, cutting across all the fraudulent divisions deliberately cultivated by the ruling elites. This requires the fight for a socialist and internationalist program.

3. The Netanyahu government in Israel effectively announces the beginning of the final stage of ethnic cleansing in Gaza

In February, US President Donald Trump declared that “The US will take over the Gaza Strip” and “level out” the remaining buildings and transfer the Palestinian population to “other countries.” At the time, both US and international media dismissed Trump’s plan as an “outlandish” scheme with no prospect of realization.
The Israeli government approached Trump’s plan with deadly seriousness. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump’s “bold vision” for an ethnically cleansed Gaza. “We’re working on it,” Trump said during a meeting in Washington last month.

4. The immediate response of the pseudo-left parties to last Saturday’s Australian federal election has been to promote the fraud that the incoming Labor government can be pressured to the left through protest

Under conditions of a breakdown of global capitalism, the second Albanese government will be compelled to intensify the central policies it advanced over the past three years: major attacks on social conditions, a military build-up in preparation for US-led war against China and an associated crackdown on democratic rights to suppress popular opposition. What is on the agenda is not concessions through pressure, but a confrontation between the working class and a right-wing, pro-war, pro-business Labor administration.

5. Senior adviser to US President Donald Trump, Stephen Miller, announces that the White House is “actively looking at” suspending the writ of habeas corpus

The significance of habeas corpus, and the administration’s hostility to judicial oversight, was underscored this week by the case of Rümeysa Öztürk, a Turkish Ph.D. student at Tufts University.
Öztürk was detained by ICE in March after authoring an op-ed critical of Israel in her school newspaper. Her video-recorded apprehension by masked federal agents was a turning point in the administration’s crackdown on foreign students for pro-Palestinian activism.

6. Autoworkers respond to the call for an independent rank-and-file investigation into the death of Stellantis Dundee Engine worker Ronnie Adams Sr.

7. How and why the Left Party’s support was decisive in enabling Chancellor Friedrich Merz, a politician who openly works with the far-right AfD on key issues and supports the interests of finance capital, aggressive militarism and an authoritarian state like almost no other German politician, to take office

8. The trial of a former police officer charged with the 2022 execution-style murder of Congolese immigrant Patrick Lyoya in Grand Rapids, Michigan, ends with a hung jury

9. Seven months after coming to power, local elections reveal that the Sri Lankan ruling political party of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake is facing growing popular opposition

10. Armed and masked federal agents wearing military fatigues arrest the mayor of Newark, New Jersey during a peaceful protest outside a massive immigration detention facility

This is the second time in less than a month that a prominent public official has been arrested for allegedly interfering with immigration police operations. Last month, the FBI—under the direction of Kash Patel—arrested Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan. She faces two federal charges, including obstruction of a federal agency (a felony) and concealing a person to help them avoid arrest (a misdemeanor).

11. The World Socialist Web Site points out how some noteworthy films shown at this year's San Francisco International Film Festival provide truthful moments and sequences, but largely sidestep vital social contradictions and accept too much of the world as immediately given

Ricky is about a man's challenge to stay out of prison

Mad Bills to Pay is about a Dominican American who lives in the Bronx who struggles to meet his responsibilities without having a blueprint to guide him

Cloud tells the story of a man who thinks he can make easy money selling goods online

Triumph, based on a notorious military operation that once took place in Bulgaria, paints a picture of an extremely backward, grasping and rather stupid ruling elite dreaming of “national greatness.”

12. Democratic Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel drops all charges against seven protesters who were arrested during a 2024 pro-Palestinian encampment

While the dismissal of charges are a victory for the rights of the seven defendants, several other protesters at the University of Michigan still face prosecution by Nessel’s office.
Four individuals charged for their involvement in the pro-Palestinian encampment continue to face misdemeanor charges. Additionally, on January 15, Nessel announced new charges against three protesters who participated in a “die-in” demonstration on the university’s central quad, the Diag, during the annual Festifall club event in August.
The remaining charges include felony counts of resisting and obstructing a police officer, as well as misdemeanor trespassing.
Moreover, the courtroom prosecutions are just one component of a broader, bipartisan campaign—led in Michigan by the Democratic Party— aimed at criminalizing protest and suppressing political opposition to the interests of American imperialism.

13. The United States and the United Kingdom announce a deal regarding their trade and tariffs

Although the deal brings some small relief to Britain’s car and steel industries, the overall picture shows the weak hand being played by British capitalism. Average UK tariffs on US products have fallen from 5.1 percent to 1.8 percent since Trump became president, while average US tariffs on UK goods have increased from 3.4 percent to 10 percent.
More than anything, the deal is a signal from Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government that it is prioritising relations with America over those with Europe. And Trump’s White House is eager to use this fact to its advantage in its trade war, against the European Union, but also globally.

14. NHS Fightback is holding an online meeting on May 19 to oppose the Labour Party's plans to gut and privatize the United Kingdom's National Health Service

NHS FightBack says: Billions for health and patient care, not rearmament and war! No fight to defend the NHS can be successful without challenging the grip of the financial oligarchy over society. The claim that there is “no money” for the NHS is a lie!

15. A Marxist tribute to a Marxist intellectual and fighter for the working class

Wolfgang Weber (1949-2024) applied his life to helping keep the flame of historical truth and genuine socialism alive during a period marked by betrayals and social counter-revolution.