https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LXeFKRm4L0
Sunday, October 10, 2021
Nobel Committee Gets Peace Prize Wrong Yet Again
https://consortiumnews.com/2021/10/08/nobel-committee-gets-peace-prize-wrong-yet-again/
October 8, 2021
The Nobel Peace Prize has devolved into a prize for random good things that don’t offend a culture dedicated to endless war, writes David Swanson.
Portrait of Alfred Nobel by Gösta Florman, undated. (The Royal Library of Sweden, Wikimedia Commons)
By David Swanson
World BEYOND War
The Nobel Committee has yet again awarded a peace prize that violates the will of Alfred Nobel and the purpose for which the prize was created, selecting recipients who blatantly are not “the person who has done the most or best to advance fellowship among nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and the establishment and promotion of peace congresses.”That there are numerous candidates who plausibly meet the criteria and could have been appropriately awarded a Nobel Peace Prize is established by the list of nominees published by Nobel Peace Prize Watch, and by the War Abolisher Awards which were given out two days ago to highly qualified persons and organizations selected from dozens of nominees. Three awards were presented. The Lifetime Organizational War Abolisher of 2021: Peace Boat. The David Hartsough Lifetime Individual War Abolisher of 2021: Mel Duncan. The War Abolisher of 2021: Civic Initiative Save Sinjajevina.
The trouble with the Nobel Peace Prize has long been and remains that it often goes to warmongers, that it often goes to good causes that have little direct connection to abolishing war, and that it often favors the powerful rather than those in need of funding and prestige to support good work.
This year it has been awarded to another good cause that has little direct connection to abolishing war. Although virtually every topic can be tangentially connected to war and peace, the avoidance of actual peace activism intentionally misses the point of the prize’s creation by Alfred Nobel and the influence of Bertha von Suttner.
The Nobel Peace Prize has devolved into a prize for random good things that don’t offend a culture dedicated to endless war.
This year it was awarded for journalism, last year for working against hunger. In past years it has been awarded for protecting children’s rights, teaching about climate change, and opposing poverty. These are all good causes and can all be connected to war and peace. But these causes should go find their own prizes.
The Nobel Peace Prize is so devoted to awarding powerful officials and avoiding peace activism that it is often awarded to the wagers of wars, including Abiy Ahmed, Juan Manuel Santos, the European Union, and Barack Obama, among others.
At times the prize has gone to opponents of some aspect of war, advancing the idea of reforming even while maintaining the institution of war. These awards have come closest to the purpose for which the prize was created, and include the 2017 and 2018 prizes.
War Makers’ Propaganda
Dec. 10, 2009: President Barack Obama uncomfortably accepting the Nobel Peace Prize from Committee Chairman Thorbjorn Jagland in Oslo, Norway. (White House)
The prize has also been used to advance the propaganda of some of the world’s major war makers. Awards like this year’s have been used to denounce violations of human rights in non-Western nations targeted in the weapons-funding propaganda of Western nations.
This record allows Western media outlets each year to speculate before the prize announcement on whether it will go to favorite propaganda topics, such as Alexei Navalny. The actual recipients this year are from Russia and the Philippines, Russia being the primary target of U.S. and NATO war preparations, including the primary excuse for the construction of new military bases in Norway.
Journalism, even antiwar journalism, can be found around the world. Violations of the rights of antiwar journalism can be found around the world. The most extreme case of violating the rights of one of the most impactful antiwar journalists is the case of Julian Assange. But there was never any question of the prize going to someone targeted by the U.S. and U.K. governments.
At a moment when the world’s largest weapons dealer, most frequent launcher of wars, dominant deployer of troops to foreign bases, greatest enemy of the International Criminal Court and the rule of law in international affairs, and supporter of oppressive governments — the U.S. government — is trumpeting a division between so-called democracies and non-democracies, the Nobel Committee has chosen to throw gas on this fire, declaring:
“Since its start-up in 1993, Novaja Gazeta has published critical articles on subjects ranging from corruption, police violence, unlawful arrests, electoral fraud and ‘troll factories’ to the use of Russian military forces both within and outside Russia. Novaja Gazeta’s opponents have responded with harassment, threats, violence, and murder.”
Lockheed Martin, the Pentagon, and U.S. President Joe Biden will be delighted with this selection — Biden far more in fact than with the awkwardness of being ridiculously given the prize himself (as some suggested and was done with Barack Obama).
Also given the prize this year was a journalist from the Philippines already funded by CNN and by the U.S. government, in fact by a U.S. government agency often involved in funding military coups. It is worth noting that the Nobel Peace Prize was established to help fund peace activists in need of funding.
David Swanson is an author, activist, journalist and radio host. He is co-founder and executive director of WorldBeyondWar.org and campaign coordinator for RootsAction.org. Swanson’s books include War Is A Lie. He blogs at DavidSwanson.org and WarIsACrime.org. He hosts Talk Nation Radio. He is a NobelPeace Prize nominee, and was awarded the 2018 Peace Prize by the U.S. Peace Memorial Foundation. Longer bio and photos and videos here. Follow him on Twitter: @davidcnswanson and FaceBook.
This article is from World BEYOND War.
DEA WENT UNDERCOVER TO INFILTRATE A VIGIL FOR GEORGE FLOYD
By Dell Cameron,Gizmodo.
October 8, 2021
https://popularresistance.org/dea-went-undercover-to-infiltrate-a-vigil-for-george-floyd/
Police Asked For DEA’s Help Surveilling Protests In Over 50 Cities, Records Show.
As students at the University of South Florida quietly sobbed during a moment of silence for George Floyd last summer, they had no idea their candlelight vigil, organized before a monument to an assassinated civil rights leader, had been infiltrated by federal agents.
They were not aware that the campus police department charged with their protection had invited federal drug cops to dress in plain clothes and stand beside them as they took turns venting their anger and frustration—fear over the growing number of unarmed Black people being shot dead by police.
The students weren’t the only ones being monitored.
At least 51 times last summer, drug enforcement agents were asked to surveil Americans engaged in First Amendment activities stemming from the backlash over Floyd’s murder. The requests to the DEA arrived from all over the country and came from all levels of government. Once approved, they resulted in a nationwide deployment of agency assets on the ground and in the air; covert agents and other intelligence tools and personnel; and in surveillance, both physical and electronic, the scope of which remains a mystery.
Specifics about operations were revealed only after the U.S. government was sued for unlawfully denying access to materials that lay bare the breadth of the Trump administration’s efforts to surveil protests—authorities granted under the supervision of Attorney General William Barr to foil “anarchists and far-left extremists using Antifa-like tactics,” as revealed by BuzzFeed News at the time.
In a D.C. federal court, the records were finally released this week to Citizens for Ethics (CREW), a government watchdog group that sued the departments of Justice and Homeland Security over a year ago under the federal freedom of information statute.
The records show the DEA approving “covert surveillance” at protests in Los Angeles, Denver, St. Louis, Newark, Philadelphia, Chicago, Albuquerque, and Tampa, as well as a number of much smaller cities, such as Troy and Plattsburgh in upstate New York.
“The new records reveal the full scope of the DEA’s surveillance operations last summer,” the group said. “While some agencies sought DEA’s help with apprehending people suspected of theft or looting, CREW counted at least 51 instances where agencies enlisted DEA to secretly monitor protesters engaged in First Amendment-protected activity.”
One operation sent DEA agents undercover at the University of South Florida’s Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza. Students had gathered around the plaza’s reflecting pool for a candlelight vigil, which was described by reporters in attendance as “peaceful.”
The students gathered and before speaking stood in silence for 8 minutes and 46 seconds—the amount of time a police officer had held his knee on Floyd’s neck, killing him.
The MLK plaza, founded in 1982, includes a bust of King, which is set at his exact height (5’7″) and is inscribed with a passage from his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. “We hold these truths to be self-evident,” he said, “that all men are created equal.”
A website run by students and faculty says the plaza was established to promote “the activist spirit by providing a place where students can speak freely about issues dear to them.” Agency emails, meanwhile, show the university’s police department wanted undercovers to monitor the students in secret.
Neither USF nor its police department responded when reached for comment.
In other cities, the DEA was asked to surveil protests citing prior incidents of looting and violence that occurred during the nationwide protests sparked by the police murder of George Floyd. Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of Floyd’s murder and sentenced to more than 22 years in prison in June.
On June 1, 2020, during the fourth day of consecutive protests in San Antonio, a Facebook post went viral showing a police officer bleeding from the head. A senior official said that protesters had gathered peacefully for a candlelight vigil at sundown, and blamed “outside agitators” for vandalizing businesses and hurling objects at police. (A majority of the arrestees were locals, according to local news.) Three other officers were reportedly injured.
Documents show the following day, the DEA’s Houston office was asked to “conduct surveillance during a protest” in San Antonio. The request was made by “CBP Air,” an apparent reference to Custom and Border Patrol’s Air and Marine Operations division.
In some cities, such as Las Vegas and Richmond, the DEA was asked to provide agents for security around buildings, such as a courthouse, which was expected to attract large crowds.
In Albuquerque, agents were asked to infiltrate protests and make drug arrests under the auspices of Operation Relentless Pursuit—a planned “surge” of federal agents into seven U.S. cities supervised by the Trump Justice Department purportedly targeting “cartels and street gangs.”
The DEA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
CREW, whose freedom of information lawsuit against the federal government is ongoing, said the records underscored the “stark difference” between federal law enforcement’s response to 2020’s anti-racism protests and this year’s insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
The inadequate police response to the Capitol attack has been heavily criticized and is widely viewed as a major security and intelligence failure. The Capitol police, among other authorities, have long insisted that no one suspected the Trump rally would devolve into violence. Many reports have since cast doubt on that assertion.
Newly released documents obtained under open-records laws by the nonprofit Property of the People, for instance, show that federal law enforcement agencies were among those alerted in advance about the potential for violence.
A briefing, authored by a private intelligence firm and shared with federal law enforcement on Dec. 24—two weeks prior to the Capitol event—is revealed to have specifically warned about evidence of a growing plot to overthrow the U.S. government.
“A supposedly violent insurrection by [Trump’s] supporters has ‘always been the plan,” the briefing said.
The domestic considerations behind the US provocations against China
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/10/09/pers-o09.html
“At least half the battle is at home”: The domestic considerations behind the US provocations against China
Andre Damon@Andre__Damon
14 hours ago
The United States is systematically working to provoke an escalation of tensions with China over Taiwan.
Multiple aircraft fly in formation over the USS Ronald Reagan, a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier [Credit: Kaila V. Peters/U.S. Navy]
On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that US troops have been stationed in Taiwan, which China considers part of its territory, for over one year. The Journal’s revelations, which Chinese officials saw as being a semi-official announcement by the US government, came amid the most dangerous standoff between the US and China since the 1958 Taiwan Strait Crisis.
The US Navy has been carrying out major war games near Taiwan, following the announcement of the alliance between Australia, the UK and the US (AUKUS), which includes providing Australia with nuclear-powered submarines.
These developments followed the revelation in March that the United States is in active discussions to station offensive missiles on the “first island chain” off the Chinese mainland, including Okinawa and Taiwan.
In 1962, when the Soviet Union stationed missiles in Cuba, a sovereign country nearly 100 miles from Florida, the United States declared that the USSR must either remove the missiles or face war. Today, Washington is stationing troops, and possibly offensive weapons, on territory claimed by China just minutes of flight time from China’s most populous cities.
The response in China gives a sense of the potentially massive consequences of the United States’ actions. The Global Times, which speaks for dominant sections of the Chinese political establishment, called America’s actions tantamount to an “invasion” in an editorial Friday.
It is clear that the Biden administration is trying to goad China into some sort of response, provoking an incident that can be seized on to create a de facto state of war. The US may not want a full-scale conflict involving nuclear weapons, but war has a logic of its own once provocation turns into an exchange of arms.
What is behind these extraordinarily reckless actions? There are certainly the geopolitical imperatives of American imperialism, and China has become a central target of US war planning over the past decade. The military considerations, however, are not the only ones dictating the situation. A major factor is the US domestic political crisis.
Twenty months into the global COVID-19 pandemic, the United States is a social powder keg. More than 725,000 Americans have lost their lives to the pandemic, or one out of 500 people. Prices are rapidly rising amid a widespread labor shortage. Workers in industries throughout the country are beginning to demand pay and benefits commensurate with the increased cost of living.
These demands are coalescing into a nationwide strike movement. Despite the efforts of the corporatist unions to suppress all opposition in the working class, there have been strikes in recent weeks of Kellogg’s cereal workers, nurses in New York, distillery workers in Kentucky, and carpenters in Seattle. There is seething anger among auto and auto parts workers, who are rejecting contract after contract brought back to them by the unions.
Over the past year and a half, the American ruling class, as it implemented a policy of mass death, has handed itself trillions of dollars, inflating a massive stock market bubble that can be sustained only through the relentless increase in the exploitation of the working class.
Throughout history, and particularly in the 20th century, governments have seen war as a means of enforcing “national unity” in the face of mounting political opposition. In 1967, historian Arno J. Mayer noted, in an article “Domestic Causes of the First World War”:
During the decade, including the weeks immediately preceding July-August 1914, the European nations experienced more than routine political and social disturbances. Even Britain, that paradigm of ordered change and constitutionalism, was approaching the threshold of civil war.
This growth of social tensions, Mayer noted, “inclined the governments to push [military] preparedness and diplomatic obduracy as part of their efforts to maintain a precarious domestic status quo.”
So, today, under conditions of deepening social, political and economic crisis, dominant sections of the American ruling class see a conflict with China as a mechanism for enforcing “national unity,” which means, in practice, suppressing and criminalizing domestic opposition.
This view is spelled out by Financial Times columnist Janan Ganesh in a February 2021 column titled, “America’s best hope of hanging together is China.” Ganesh concluded, “Without an external foe to rail against, the nation turns on itself,” adding, “only an external foe” can end the “age of discord.”
In June 2019, the former intelligence officer and current transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg made clear that a common external enemy would serve as the basis for “national unity” and the “battle” at home. “The new China challenge provides us with an opportunity to come together across the political divide,” he said. “At least half the battle is at home.”
The First and Second World Wars were accompanied by systematic censorship in the United States and the imprisonment of left-wing opponents of capitalism. In 1918, socialist Eugene Debs was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his opposition to World War I. In 1941, 18 members of the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party were sentenced under the Smith Act to between 12 and 16 months in prison.
More recently, the attacks of September 11, 2001 were utilized to implement far-reaching attacks on democratic rights under the framework of the “war on terror”: the Patriot Act, Guantanamo Bay, domestic spying, and other measures aimed at erecting the apparatus of a police state. As the WSWS noted at the time, the ruling elite “seized on the tragic events of September 11 to realize their political agenda at home, just as they are using them to launch a US military intervention in oil-rich Central Asia.”
And what has happened over the past twenty years? Social inequality has grown to new heights. The American ruling class, in the form of the plots of Trump, has raised the prospect of a fascistic dictatorship. The criminality of the oligarchy, under both the Democrats and Republicans, has led to a level of death from the pandemic that is staggering.
The working class must be on alert. The pandemic has made clear that the American ruling class is capable of sacrificing hundreds of thousands of lives to achieve its goals. If the deaths of millions of people in war is the “least bad” of several unfavorable options for the ruling class, these deaths will be tolerated.
All over the world, workers are entering into struggle to demand the end of decades of falling or stagnant wages, horrendous and worsening working conditions, and an end to the pandemic. These struggles must be connected to the fight against imperialist war, the plots against democratic rights, and opposition to the entire capitalist system.
On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that US troops have been stationed in Taiwan, which China considers part of its territory, for over one year. The Journal’s revelations, which Chinese officials saw as being a semi-official announcement by the US government, came amid the most dangerous standoff between the US and China since the 1958 Taiwan Strait Crisis.
The US Navy has been carrying out major war games near Taiwan, following the announcement of the alliance between Australia, the UK and the US (AUKUS), which includes providing Australia with nuclear-powered submarines.
These developments followed the revelation in March that the United States is in active discussions to station offensive missiles on the “first island chain” off the Chinese mainland, including Okinawa and Taiwan.
In 1962, when the Soviet Union stationed missiles in Cuba, a sovereign country nearly 100 miles from Florida, the United States declared that the USSR must either remove the missiles or face war. Today, Washington is stationing troops, and possibly offensive weapons, on territory claimed by China just minutes of flight time from China’s most populous cities.
The response in China gives a sense of the potentially massive consequences of the United States’ actions. The Global Times, which speaks for dominant sections of the Chinese political establishment, called America’s actions tantamount to an “invasion” in an editorial Friday.
It is clear that the Biden administration is trying to goad China into some sort of response, provoking an incident that can be seized on to create a de facto state of war. The US may not want a full-scale conflict involving nuclear weapons, but war has a logic of its own once provocation turns into an exchange of arms.
What is behind these extraordinarily reckless actions? There are certainly the geopolitical imperatives of American imperialism, and China has become a central target of US war planning over the past decade. The military considerations, however, are not the only ones dictating the situation. A major factor is the US domestic political crisis.
Twenty months into the global COVID-19 pandemic, the United States is a social powder keg. More than 725,000 Americans have lost their lives to the pandemic, or one out of 500 people. Prices are rapidly rising amid a widespread labor shortage. Workers in industries throughout the country are beginning to demand pay and benefits commensurate with the increased cost of living.
These demands are coalescing into a nationwide strike movement. Despite the efforts of the corporatist unions to suppress all opposition in the working class, there have been strikes in recent weeks of Kellogg’s cereal workers, nurses in New York, distillery workers in Kentucky, and carpenters in Seattle. There is seething anger among auto and auto parts workers, who are rejecting contract after contract brought back to them by the unions.
Over the past year and a half, the American ruling class, as it implemented a policy of mass death, has handed itself trillions of dollars, inflating a massive stock market bubble that can be sustained only through the relentless increase in the exploitation of the working class.
Throughout history, and particularly in the 20th century, governments have seen war as a means of enforcing “national unity” in the face of mounting political opposition. In 1967, historian Arno J. Mayer noted, in an article “Domestic Causes of the First World War”:
During the decade, including the weeks immediately preceding July-August 1914, the European nations experienced more than routine political and social disturbances. Even Britain, that paradigm of ordered change and constitutionalism, was approaching the threshold of civil war.
This growth of social tensions, Mayer noted, “inclined the governments to push [military] preparedness and diplomatic obduracy as part of their efforts to maintain a precarious domestic status quo.”
So, today, under conditions of deepening social, political and economic crisis, dominant sections of the American ruling class see a conflict with China as a mechanism for enforcing “national unity,” which means, in practice, suppressing and criminalizing domestic opposition.
This view is spelled out by Financial Times columnist Janan Ganesh in a February 2021 column titled, “America’s best hope of hanging together is China.” Ganesh concluded, “Without an external foe to rail against, the nation turns on itself,” adding, “only an external foe” can end the “age of discord.”
In June 2019, the former intelligence officer and current transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg made clear that a common external enemy would serve as the basis for “national unity” and the “battle” at home. “The new China challenge provides us with an opportunity to come together across the political divide,” he said. “At least half the battle is at home.”
The First and Second World Wars were accompanied by systematic censorship in the United States and the imprisonment of left-wing opponents of capitalism. In 1918, socialist Eugene Debs was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his opposition to World War I. In 1941, 18 members of the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party were sentenced under the Smith Act to between 12 and 16 months in prison.
More recently, the attacks of September 11, 2001 were utilized to implement far-reaching attacks on democratic rights under the framework of the “war on terror”: the Patriot Act, Guantanamo Bay, domestic spying, and other measures aimed at erecting the apparatus of a police state. As the WSWS noted at the time, the ruling elite “seized on the tragic events of September 11 to realize their political agenda at home, just as they are using them to launch a US military intervention in oil-rich Central Asia.”
And what has happened over the past twenty years? Social inequality has grown to new heights. The American ruling class, in the form of the plots of Trump, has raised the prospect of a fascistic dictatorship. The criminality of the oligarchy, under both the Democrats and Republicans, has led to a level of death from the pandemic that is staggering.
The working class must be on alert. The pandemic has made clear that the American ruling class is capable of sacrificing hundreds of thousands of lives to achieve its goals. If the deaths of millions of people in war is the “least bad” of several unfavorable options for the ruling class, these deaths will be tolerated.
All over the world, workers are entering into struggle to demand the end of decades of falling or stagnant wages, horrendous and worsening working conditions, and an end to the pandemic. These struggles must be connected to the fight against imperialist war, the plots against democratic rights, and opposition to the entire capitalist system.
375 Michigan children infected with COVID-19 every day
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/10/09/mic1-o09.html
Zac Corrigan, Genevieve Leigh
15 hours ago
A new report from the state of Michigan released Tuesday shows a steady rise in COVID-19 cases among children, with over 375 children under 12 years old becoming infected each day over the previous week. As of Friday, 35 children are now hospitalized with the virus across the state, more than double the number from one month ago.
The report also makes an explicit warning about the dangers of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C), stating, “Expect cases to rise in future” because “Higher community transmission is followed by higher incidence of MIS-C cases nationally.”
Slide from "MI Covid response data and modeling update", October 5, 2021 [Source: State of Michigan]
MIS-C is a horrific condition observed in some children infected with COVID-19, in which “multiple organ systems become inflamed or dysfunctional,” as the report explains. At least 169 children and adolescents in Michigan alone have suffered MIS-C so far, the majority of them younger than 12. Over 70 percent of MIS-C patients have been sent to the ICU and five have died.
Contrary to the claims of the Biden administration, children can catch COVID-19, suffer severe symptoms, and even die from the virus. Last week, 22 children died from COVID-19 in the US, bringing the nationwide pediatric death toll to 520. Michigan is one of several states that do not report the total number of child COVID-19 deaths, but among the victims was an 18-year-old student at Decatur High School, near Kalamazoo. Internationally, COVID-19 is now the leading cause of death among children in Brazil.
Recent studies also indicate that roughly one in seven infected children develops Long COVID, suffering debilitating symptoms months after infection. Another study showed an average loss of two to seven IQ points in those who have recovered from COVID-19. For comparison, lead poisoning can cause a loss of two IQ points.
In-person learning is not only putting children’s lives and health at risk; it is fueling the spread of the pandemic through communities throughout Michigan and nationally. The daily new case rate in Michigan has increased over 75 percent since schools fully reopened across the state one month ago, with the seven-day average going from 2,360 on September 7 to 4,175 on October 7. The new report shows that school-aged children (5-18 years old) saw a rapid rise in infections and hospitalizations over the same time period, larger than any other age group.
With Michigan’s daily new case rate on the rise, K-12 schools are not only the largest source of the recorded COVID-19 outbreaks across the state. For the third week in a row, schools are the source of the absolute majority of new outbreaks in Michigan.
The latest weekly data from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services shows 167 new recorded outbreaks. Ninety-four of them were at K-12 schools. The next most likely place to catch COVID-19 in Michigan last week was at a nursing home, where 26 outbreaks were recorded.
This is in spite of the fact that on September 28, Michigan changed the way it measures outbreaks in schools, now requiring at least three related cases to constitute an outbreak instead of two. Schools were the only type of location which underwent that change, yet even with this handicap they remain the highest recorded source of transmission.
The 94 new outbreaks are on top of another 270 ongoing outbreaks at K-12 schools in Michigan that were initially recorded last month but continue to grow. The state’s largest ongoing outbreak is at St. Charles High School in Saginaw County, where 48 students have tested positive so far in a growing outbreak first recorded on September 20. Next is Cedar Springs High School in Kent County, outside of Grand Rapids, with 44 COVID-positive students.
Click here for interactive map of COVID outbreaks in Michigan K-12 schools.
MIS-C is a horrific condition observed in some children infected with COVID-19, in which “multiple organ systems become inflamed or dysfunctional,” as the report explains. At least 169 children and adolescents in Michigan alone have suffered MIS-C so far, the majority of them younger than 12. Over 70 percent of MIS-C patients have been sent to the ICU and five have died.
Contrary to the claims of the Biden administration, children can catch COVID-19, suffer severe symptoms, and even die from the virus. Last week, 22 children died from COVID-19 in the US, bringing the nationwide pediatric death toll to 520. Michigan is one of several states that do not report the total number of child COVID-19 deaths, but among the victims was an 18-year-old student at Decatur High School, near Kalamazoo. Internationally, COVID-19 is now the leading cause of death among children in Brazil.
Recent studies also indicate that roughly one in seven infected children develops Long COVID, suffering debilitating symptoms months after infection. Another study showed an average loss of two to seven IQ points in those who have recovered from COVID-19. For comparison, lead poisoning can cause a loss of two IQ points.
In-person learning is not only putting children’s lives and health at risk; it is fueling the spread of the pandemic through communities throughout Michigan and nationally. The daily new case rate in Michigan has increased over 75 percent since schools fully reopened across the state one month ago, with the seven-day average going from 2,360 on September 7 to 4,175 on October 7. The new report shows that school-aged children (5-18 years old) saw a rapid rise in infections and hospitalizations over the same time period, larger than any other age group.
With Michigan’s daily new case rate on the rise, K-12 schools are not only the largest source of the recorded COVID-19 outbreaks across the state. For the third week in a row, schools are the source of the absolute majority of new outbreaks in Michigan.
The latest weekly data from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services shows 167 new recorded outbreaks. Ninety-four of them were at K-12 schools. The next most likely place to catch COVID-19 in Michigan last week was at a nursing home, where 26 outbreaks were recorded.
This is in spite of the fact that on September 28, Michigan changed the way it measures outbreaks in schools, now requiring at least three related cases to constitute an outbreak instead of two. Schools were the only type of location which underwent that change, yet even with this handicap they remain the highest recorded source of transmission.
The 94 new outbreaks are on top of another 270 ongoing outbreaks at K-12 schools in Michigan that were initially recorded last month but continue to grow. The state’s largest ongoing outbreak is at St. Charles High School in Saginaw County, where 48 students have tested positive so far in a growing outbreak first recorded on September 20. Next is Cedar Springs High School in Kent County, outside of Grand Rapids, with 44 COVID-positive students.
Click here for interactive map of COVID outbreaks in Michigan K-12 schools.
Map of COVID-19 outbreaks in K-12 schools in Michigan [map data Copyright 2021 Google Maps]
Even these figures underestimate the degree to which schools cause community spread, because only students and teachers are included in the case totals. Family members of children and teachers who become infected in the same chain of transmission are not included in these outbreaks, nor are any other members of their communities who may catch COVID-19 from a child, teacher or school staff member outside of a school. Since the pandemic began, over 140,000 US children have lost a parent or caregiver to COVID-19.
This is not the first time that school reopenings have fueled a surge in cases in Michigan. In March, the reopening of schools while the Alpha variant was spreading produced a massive spike in cases throughout the state.
The Delta variant—which is now responsible for 99 percent of COVID-19 cases in Michigan—is at least twice as contagious as the original “wild type” of COVID-19 and can cause “breakthrough” cases among those who are fully vaccinated.
Science shows that although masks and vaccines reduce the spread of COVID-19, these measures cannot stop the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant. However, school districts across the state are touting these inadequate mitigation measures to pretend schools are safe to open when they are not.
The mask issue is being used to attack public health and public education from two flanks: on one side, the Michigan state legislature recently passed a reactionary budget that takes away funding from schools that have mask mandates; on the other side, schools that do have mask mandates are using it as an excuse to flout contact tracing and quarantines.
As Evart Public Schools Superintendent Shirley Howard wrote in a letter to parents on September 21, “Wearing a mask prevents your child from having to quarantine if they are identified as a close contact to someone who has tested positive for COVID.” Since then, outbreaks have been recorded at Evart High School (3 cases), Evart Middle School (9 cases) and Evart Elementary School (5 cases).
Masks, vaccines and other mitigation measures are important, but they must be incorporated into a comprehensive program of public health measures aimed at bringing COVID-19 infections down to zero in ever-broader geographic regions and ultimately eradicating the virus worldwide. These necessary measures include the temporary closure of schools and nonessential workplaces, mass testing, contact tracing, the safe isolation of infected patients, travel restrictions, and more. If implemented in a combined manner and coordinated globally, the pandemic could be brought to an end within months.
On Sunday, October 24, the WSWS and the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees are hosting a webinar with scientists and workers to discuss the present state of the pandemic and what must be done to eradicate COVID-19 worldwide. All parents, educators and workers in Michigan and globally should register to attend today and invite your coworkers and build this event as widely as possible.
Even these figures underestimate the degree to which schools cause community spread, because only students and teachers are included in the case totals. Family members of children and teachers who become infected in the same chain of transmission are not included in these outbreaks, nor are any other members of their communities who may catch COVID-19 from a child, teacher or school staff member outside of a school. Since the pandemic began, over 140,000 US children have lost a parent or caregiver to COVID-19.
This is not the first time that school reopenings have fueled a surge in cases in Michigan. In March, the reopening of schools while the Alpha variant was spreading produced a massive spike in cases throughout the state.
The Delta variant—which is now responsible for 99 percent of COVID-19 cases in Michigan—is at least twice as contagious as the original “wild type” of COVID-19 and can cause “breakthrough” cases among those who are fully vaccinated.
Science shows that although masks and vaccines reduce the spread of COVID-19, these measures cannot stop the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant. However, school districts across the state are touting these inadequate mitigation measures to pretend schools are safe to open when they are not.
The mask issue is being used to attack public health and public education from two flanks: on one side, the Michigan state legislature recently passed a reactionary budget that takes away funding from schools that have mask mandates; on the other side, schools that do have mask mandates are using it as an excuse to flout contact tracing and quarantines.
As Evart Public Schools Superintendent Shirley Howard wrote in a letter to parents on September 21, “Wearing a mask prevents your child from having to quarantine if they are identified as a close contact to someone who has tested positive for COVID.” Since then, outbreaks have been recorded at Evart High School (3 cases), Evart Middle School (9 cases) and Evart Elementary School (5 cases).
Masks, vaccines and other mitigation measures are important, but they must be incorporated into a comprehensive program of public health measures aimed at bringing COVID-19 infections down to zero in ever-broader geographic regions and ultimately eradicating the virus worldwide. These necessary measures include the temporary closure of schools and nonessential workplaces, mass testing, contact tracing, the safe isolation of infected patients, travel restrictions, and more. If implemented in a combined manner and coordinated globally, the pandemic could be brought to an end within months.
On Sunday, October 24, the WSWS and the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees are hosting a webinar with scientists and workers to discuss the present state of the pandemic and what must be done to eradicate COVID-19 worldwide. All parents, educators and workers in Michigan and globally should register to attend today and invite your coworkers and build this event as widely as possible.
Deere workers issue statement: “Vote NO to the UAW-Deere garbage contract! Rank-and-file workers must have oversight over balloting!”
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/10/09/john-o09.html
John Deere Workers Rank-and-File Committee
17 hours ago
On October 1, the United Auto Workers union and agricultural equipment giant Deere and Company announced a tentative agreement for a new six-year contract. The UAW began distributing details of the deal on Friday, just two days before the vote on the agreement. Workers have reacted angrily to the contract’s terms, which keeps raises below inflation and creates a new tier between workers’ retirement benefits.
The recently formed John Deere Workers Rank-and-File Committee issued the following statement on Friday calling on workers to oppose the UAW’s efforts to push through another pro-company agreement. To learn more about joining the committee, workers can email deerewrfc@gmail.com or text (484) 514-9797.
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Vote NO to the UAW-Deere garbage contract!
Rank-and-file workers must have oversight over balloting!
Brothers and sisters:
The UAW is trying to ram through a new six-year contract which fails to meet the needs of workers and gives the company what it wants.
UAW President Ray Curry and Vice President Chuck Browning have said their agreement with Deere contains “substantial gains” for workers. They must think we’re fools.
First, the contract contains wage increases well below the current 5 percent rate of inflation, amounting to a cut in real wages and undermining our buying power. There would be just three general wage increases over six years, as well as a signing bonus and three lump sum payments which don’t increase base pay and which are heavily taxed. After multiple contracts where our wages have been kept down, while Deere makes record profits, this is nothing but a slap in the face.
Second, the contract would eliminate any pension for newly hired workers, creating yet another tier and further undermining the principle of “equal pay for equal work.”
Third, the contract would keep the co-pays for doctors and emergency room visits and prescription costs implemented in the last contract.
Where exactly are the “substantial gains” in our pay, healthcare, retirement plans and working hours? Where are the gains for newly hired workers, kept for months on probation? Or for retirees and their spouses?
In years past, you could be proud to say you worked for Deere, and we set a high bar for ag workers. Now other workers can’t believe how bad it’s gotten here. If we can’t win real gains now, when Deere is making billions and unable to hire quickly enough to keep up with orders, when can we? We must win a better future for ourselves, our families, and the next generation.
The Deere Workers Rank-and-File Committee calls on all workers to turn out Sunday to reject this garbage contract and put it in the dumpster where it belongs!
Absolutely zero trust should be placed in the UAW to carry out an honest vote count. Many workers already suspect that the fix is in and that the contract will somehow “miraculously” pass by a slim margin, as the UAW claimed in 2015. But among workers it’s apparent that we are overwhelmingly opposed to this agreement.
To prevent any possibility of ballot stuffing or vote rigging by the UAW officials, who have made clear they want this contract to pass, there must be rank-and-file oversight over the vote. Workers should organize delegations from every plant and facility to monitor the ballot count.
It’s clear that the UAW has not been “negotiating” anything with Deere this year. This is why they have been maintaining an information blackout on the talks. Their strategy now is to try to convince us that nothing can be done, to lie and claim this is “the best Deere could do,” while at the same time censoring our comments on Facebook and saying they don’t want to hear any criticism. In doing so, they’re working as Deere’s representatives, not ours.
Deere and its millionaire executives, and their “partners” in the UAW, will never admit the company can afford to give us what we need unless we stand up and fight for it. The Deere Workers Rank-and-File Committee puts forth the following minimum demands for what workers and retirees need to live dignified lives:
An immediate end to the tier system by restoring fully paid for healthcare and pensions for all workers
A 30 percent across-the-board pay increase to make up for the years of wage freezes and stagnation
An annual cost-of-living escalator clause to keep up with inflation
Fully paid health care benefits for retirees and their widows, with no co-pays or premiums
The abolition of the CIPP productivity improvement regime, with no loss of pay
No mandated overtime, so that we have time to spend with our families, and time-and-a-half pay for voluntary overtime over eight hours and on weekends
Workers’ oversight of safety protocols to stop the spread of COVID-19. The right to halt production and close the plant for full cleaning, with guaranteed compensation to workers for all missed time, if there are COVID outbreaks.
These demands are both realistic and achievable, but to win them, we must recognize that we are facing a struggle against both Deere and the UAW. We appeal for workers to join our committee and to set up local rank-and-file committees at every Deere plant in order to share information, coordinate our efforts and begin preparations for strike action.
At Volvo Trucks in Virginia earlier this year, a rank-and-file committee provided workers with crucial information and advice throughout a weeks-long strike, helping break through the UAW’s information blackout. Their committee played the leading role in organizing three overwhelming rejections of the UAW’s pro-company contract, and won major support from workers in other countries, including in Belgium, where Volvo workers carried out a wildcat strike after learning about the struggle of their brothers and sisters in the US.
With a powerful multinational company like Deere, we too must work to mobilize the widest support possible among workers in the US and in other countries, who are also seeking to put an end to low wages and long hours. This includes workers at auto parts maker Dana, Inc., which supplies Deere, where workers are currently being forced to work under a day-to-day contract extension by the UAW and United Steelworkers. It also includes the tens of thousands of Deere workers in Mexico, India, Brazil, Germany and elsewhere.
Brothers and sisters, this struggle can and must be won, but it depends on rank-and-file workers taking the initiative and developing the organizations which will fight to secure the needs of all workers!
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