1. Trump escalates coup by sending Marines to Los Angeles
A new political framework is being established in America, in which the federal government operates outside any legal restraint, carrying out actions that are not only unprecedented in scope but brazenly illegal and unconstitutional. Those who criticize or oppose these actions—whether in political office, the courts, law firms, the media or through protests in the streets—will face the repressive power of the capitalist state.
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Within Congress, there is no demand for Trump’s removal. The Democratic Party is doing nothing. The Democrats will not even say publicly what they all know privately: The events in Los Angeles represent a giant step toward the establishment of a presidential dictatorship. Their appeals are not directed to the working class but to Republican members of Congress—and even to officials within the Trump administration itself.
2. Nationwide protests multiply against fascist ICE raids and military deployment in Los Angeles
While Trump and his fascist conspirators in the Republican Party and media have justified the deployment of military forces on the grounds that there is an ongoing violent “invasion” in Los Angeles County by immigrants, the reality is that the only “invaders” and “occupying force” are the militarized federal agents—working in conjunction with local police and sheriff’s departments—who are targeting long-time residents, workers, and their families at work, in immigration court and outside schools.
3. US cops shoot Australian journalist amid Trump’s dictatorial rampage (with video)
The attack on the Australian reporter is striking because it was caught on camera and was clearly a targeted shooting. Footage posted by Nine shows Tomasi speaking to the camera, with her back turned to a line of heavily armed cops. Apropos of nothing, one of them lines her up and shoots her in the leg, with onlookers voicing outrage at the deliberate attack on a clearly marked journalist.
4. Australian public housing tower residents speak out against demolition
Last week the Victorian Labor government stepped up its drive to evict hundreds of public housing residents who are refusing to leave their homes, which are slated for destruction. This is part of a privatization strategy that will tear down all 44 high-rise public housing towers across Melbourne, displacing some 10,000 occupants.
5. Sri Lanka: Union leaders in new conspiracy against striking Michelin workers
The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna-controlled Inter Company Employees Union has intervened into the Michelin workers’ dispute to try and block workers’ determined fight for job security and against management’s victimisation of militant workers.
6. Growing support for striking Michelin workers in Sri Lanka
The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) of Sri Lanka has been actively involved in the struggle, advocating for the formation of independent workers’ action committees and offering political support. Hundreds of Michelin workers have responded positively to this initiative.
7. Far-right Dutch coalition government collapses
The collapse of the far-right coalition government in the Netherlands on June 3 marks a new stage in the political crisis of Dutch and European capitalism. After only eleven months in office, Geert Wilders—the neo-fascist leader of the Freedom Party—withdrew his party from the ruling coalition, bringing down the four-party government formed eight months after the November 2023 elections, in which the PVV emerged as the strongest force in parliament. This marks the downfall of the most right-wing government in the Netherlands since World War II. Fresh elections have been called for October 2025.
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The entry of Wilders’ PVV into the Dutch government exposes all the talk of a European “firewall” or “cordon sanitaire” against the far right for what it really is: a fraud, an attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of the population and sabotage any serious fight against fascism. Such a firewall never actually existed and is now being officially removed.
8. Study paints disturbing picture of Long COVID in early childhood
A new study published in JAMA Pediatrics found that a significant percentage of young children with prior COVID-19 could be classified as suffering from Long COVID.
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Ultimately this study demonstrates the bipartisan ruling class response to the pandemic to be a massive social crime, by leaving the world’s future generations to suffer potentially a lifetime of disability and lowered life expectancy as a result. The working class cannot fight for the health of its children through the two-party system. Instead, it must join forces with scientists and youth to replace capitalism with a system that prioritizes human health over private profit.
9. Trump begins new travel ban
In a June 5 letter, UAW Stellantis Department head Kevin Gotinsky says nothing about the death of the 63-year-old skilled trades worker.
11. Philadelphia sanitation workers prepare to take strike vote against city’s austerity demands
Sanitation workers have every reason to be skeptical of their [union] leaders. The latter routinely posture with threats of strikes to placate their members, only to abandon the pledge and secure concessionary contracts.
In early April, the Brazilian Workers’ Cause Party launched a lying attack on the statement by the Turkish Socialist Equality Group titled “The crisis in Turkey and the struggle for revolutionary leadership,” published on the World Socialist Web Site and its Portuguese-language page.
13. Quebec adopts draconian anti-strike law with complicity of unions
Bill 89 constitutes a massive assault on the working class in Quebec and across Canada. Under the Orwellian-named “Act to give greater consideration to the needs of the population in the event of a strike or lock-out,” the government will henceforth be able to illegalize virtually any strike. And to do so merely on the word of the labor minister, without any recourse to a National Assembly vote.
14. German politicians, theater management denounce actor Shehab Fatoum for calling for peace in Gaza
On May 15 the artistic director of Theater Aachen, Elena Tzavara, hosted a gala celebrating the theater's 200th anniversary. The event was well attended by theatre devotees, sponsors and personalities from culture and politics. As part of the festivities, the entire ensemble, the company’s, singers, opera choir, and symphony orchestra addressed themes from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, performed in numerous variations. At one point in the proceedings, however, a scandal erupted.
Dan Workman, a 59-year-old postal carrier, died while on the job on May 30. He was a nine-year veteran of the Postal Service working in Grand Junction, Colorado.
According to postal workers, Workman was making deliveries in 95 degree heat and had just 12 deliveries left on his 16 mile route. He had been unresponsive for nearly two hours before the local postal office management sent a City Carrier Assistant to check on him, where he was found collapsed in the front yard of a house, according to postal workers.
A lively discussion took place during the Question and Answer portion of the May 31 public meeting in London hosted by the Socialist Equality Party (UK), “Trump’s war on free speech: The case of Momodou Taal.”
17. UK trade unions leaders back Starmer government’s war drive
Some on the pseudo-left like the Socialist Workers Party have issued toothless criticisms, urging union leaders to “break from militarism.” They present the warmongering of the bureaucracy as a mistaken policy choice, rather than the essential function of a privileged caste that polices the working class on behalf of the capitalist state and acts as recruiting sergeants for war.
18. Workers Struggles: The Americas
Brazil:
Mass protests over new environmental law
Canada:
DHL couriers and drivers locked out nationwide
Chile:
Two-day strike by teachers to demand education funding
Mexico:
Health workers strike in Oaxaca
Puerto Rico:
Nurses call for a one-day protest strike in San Juan
United States:
Teachers in Baltimore County, Maryland institute a work-to-rule policy to protest a substandard wage proposal
One-day strike by Chicago hotel workers seeking their first union contract
Illinois’ Champaign County workers vote by 96 percent for a strike to secure wages and healthcare
Minnesota state workers picket, threaten strike, over forced return to office
Uruguay:
Health workers strike at Montevideo teaching hospital
19. Free Ukrainian socialist and anti-war activist, Bogdan Syrotiuk!
Bogdan Syrotiuk
