Israeli military admits it slaughtered medical workers

New York Times, 4/5–The Israeli military on Saturday acknowledged that the initial accounts from troops involved in the killing last month of 15 people in southern Gaza — who the United Nations said were paramedics and rescue workers — had been partially “mistaken.” The assessment…came the day after a video obtained by The New York Times appeared to contradict the military’s earlier version of events…The video…shows that the approaching ambulances and fire truck were clearly marked and had their emergency signal lights on when Israeli troops hit them with a barrage of gunfire… On March 30, rescue teams found 15 bodies, most in a shallow mass grave along with their crushed ambulances…

Bosses’ advisors recommend they quit dreaming about Russia-China split

Foreign Affairs, 4/4–Many American foreign-policy makers dream of being the next Henry Kissinger…today’s U.S. policymakers may be tempted to try to replicate that success by orchestrating a “reverse Kissinger”—pulling Russia closer to balance a rising China…drawing Russia away from China …sounds appealing. In reality, the idea is a bad one. Most important, the analogy to the Cold War of the 1970s is flawed...Beijing and Moscow are now true strategic partners. Both Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping see the United States as the greatest threat to their respective countries…

Mahmoud Khalil slams Columbia University for attacking student protesters

The Guardian, 4/5–Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University student activist who led campus pro-Palestinian rallies and is now resisting the Trump administration’s deportation efforts, has accused the university of laying “the groundwork for my abduction” and called on the student body to continue demonstrations and protests…Khalil also accused the university of suppressing student dissent under the auspices of combating antisemitism and bowing to pressure from Congress to turn over student disciplinary records and creating a task force on antisemitism “that broadly categorized anti-Israel sentiment as hate speech to condemn protests”...

Students in Puerto Rico force out University boss over cuts

Truthout, 3/27–This February, President Luis A. Ferrao Delgado of the University of Puerto Rico resigned after attempting to suspend 64 educational programs. The measure targeted core disciplines such as history, philosophy and comparative literature, stunning the university community and provoking bitter opposition. Eleven days of protests followed, compelling Ferrao to reverse the decision before stepping down. The university showdown is the latest chapter in a two-decade struggle against austerity…

Argentinian workers clash with police over austerity measures

DW, 3/13–Argentine pensioners and soccer fans clashed with police on Wednesday as a protest unfolded in front of Congress, with citizens rallying against the economic policies brought in by the government of President Javier Milei. It was an unlikely mix with retirees gathered in Buenos Aires flanked by soccer fans from teams normally at odds with one another. What started as a peaceful event escalated into violent clashes as police fired water cannons, tear gas and pellets while protesters threw stones. The crowd yelled “Milei, garbage, you are the dictatorship!” — a comparison of his rule with the military junta that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. 

Workers strike in Belgium against austerity measures

Reuters, 3/31–A national strike in Belgium kept all flights on the ground on Monday and caused some public transport disruptions as people demonstrated against the new government’s austerity plans. Local media reported some protesters also blocked access to some stores in Brussels’ shopping area, including Foot Locker, Kiko Milano, Zara, Primark and Pull & Bear. The strike was the second big one to protest the government’s proposals to reform pensions and the labour market.

On March 15, less than 100 days into his reign of terror, “peacemaker” President Donald Trump unleashed a series of airstrikes in Yemen, killing and maiming over 100 workers (NBC, 3/16). The assault was a desperate attempt by the U.S. imperialists to regain some control over the Red Sea, a vital global shipping route. This fight is a move toward a wider war between the U.S. and the Chinese and Iranian imperialists who back the Yemeni Houthi militia. It shows that the “Fortress America” version of U.S. imperialism, the one favored by Trump and his capitalist backers, can’t save workers from the bloodbath of world war. Only building a mass international movement to fight for communist revolution can turn this impending conflict into a fight for the liberation of our class.

Imperialists kill over trade routes

The conflict between the U.S. and Chinese bosses has been sharpening for years, and workers are paying the price. Yemen was one of seven countries bombed by Barack Obama, the “drone-strike” president who massacred thousands of workers to defend the U.S. bosses’ profits and shipping lanes (vox.com, 1/10/17).  Joe Biden resumed the bombing of Yemen last year, and now Trump continues the slaughter. But after their debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. bosses can’t murder enough people to stem their decline in the oil-rich Middle East. Meanwhile, China has strengthened its position as the region’s dominant power through its support of Iran and Iran’s proxy groups, including the Houthi militia (Atlantic Council, 1/14).

With the Houthis blocking shipments of oil and other goods across the Red Sea, U.S. ships have been forced to take a much longer and more expensive route around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa. Meanwhile, tankers and cargo ships from China and Russia, the two biggest U.S. imperialist rivals, have been able to continue to use the Red Sea route, adding to China’s advantage (Foreign Policy, 2/14/24).

As they build toward war, the bosses turn to rising fascism and racist scapegoating of immigrants and Muslims to divide the working class and shift the blame for the international crisis of capitalism. The attacks on immigrant students who protested the genocide in Gaza, alongside sweeps by the ICE gestapo and Trump’s plans for mass deportations, are designed solely to build fear and racism. It is essential that the working class fight back against these racist atrocities by uniting and defending workers whenever they come under attack.

As the battle among imperialists spreads, it becomes even clearer that the international working class shares the same common interest: to smash the profit system and the capitalist parasites who rely on it. The workers now dying in wars in Ukraine, Yemen, Sudan, and Gaza are all one class. But around the globe, too many workers remain tied to the deadly leadership of one imperialist and nationalist faction or another. It’s the task of the revolutionary communist Progressive Labor Party to lead our class to break free of these chains and create a society run by and for the working class. 

Oil is STILL the lifeblood of capitalism

As much as Trump talks about avoiding wars in the Middle East, the U.S. rulers can’t afford to lose control over the world’s largest reserves of cheaply extractable oil—or the shipping routes that control its distribution. Oil is still the lifeblood of capitalism. The U.S. military’s enormous fleet of tanks, trucks, planes, and ships runs on it. Global warming and climate catastrophes notwithstanding, the world will be mostly powered by fossil fuels for the indefinite future. Beyond its military applications, oil and gas are the most abundant and profitable ways to power critical industries like steel and cement. At a time of global economic crisis, the capitalists aren’t about to sacrifice short-term profits to switch to renewable “clean” energy, which accounts for only a small fraction of U.S. industrial production (Energy Information Administration, 7/13/23). Goldman Sachs recently projected a “growing demand for natural gas as a transition fuel until 2050, and the need for new oil & gas development beyond 2040” (JP Morgan, 3/44).  Even in Europe, where the finance capitalists have led the clean energy “transition,” renewables’ share of the energy mix is growing at less than one percent per year. 

Nationalism is a death trap! 

Out of desperation, in the face of an onslaught of racit violence from the bosses, many workers are siding with small-time capitalists under the banner of “national liberation.” From Vietnam to South Africa, this strategy has been proven a disaster for the working class around the world. Time and again, alliances with “lesser evil” capitalist bosses have wrecked the possibility of working-class emancipation. In many cases, they’ve led to thousands or even millions of workers’ deaths.

In 1968, after ousting the British imperialists, the National Front took power in southern Yemen. Because they identified with the bosses and lacked confidence in the working class, these fake “revolutionaries” maintained the British-built civil service and used British-trained forces to smash the workers who’d created a revolutionary workers’ militia. Today’s Houthi nationalist bosses, backed by Iran, are now battling the old regime of nationalist capitalists who are backed by the royal leeches of Saudi Arabia. The resulting civil war has killed more than 300,000 workers, all to replace one vicious oppressor with another.

In spite of these many betrayals, the heartbeat of working-class international solidarity persists. College students across the U.S. have risked expulsion and threats of deportation to protest the anti-Muslim genocide in Gaza. But even as Mahmoud Khalil and other brave students and workers are brutalized and jailed, the working class must fight back even more aggressively to defend our class. As the Trump regime expands its reign of state terror, as conditions for workers around the world keep getting worse, we must seize the opportunity of this moment. Most of all, we must call upon our class to build Progressive Labor Party (PLP). Without a commitment to antiracism, anti-sexism, and communist revolution, the most courageous struggles will lead to dead-end reformist battles settled on the bosses’ terms.  Only an organized working class with a revolutionary outlook can lead us toward our final liberation: communism. Join us!

New York, April 1—It’s been almost two years since we’ve had a cafeteria on our campus and students and workers are angry! We are half-way through our spring semester and despite the promises from the administration, Bronx Community College’s (BCC) majority Black and Brown students still can’t buy food without walking ten minutes to the overpriced deli nearby. In response, our student-led club, Common Ground, along with a PL’er and campus workers, are preparing to intensify the fight against this racist capitalist austerity.

It’s clear that under capitalism, our health and wellbeing is of little to no concern to the bosses. Progressive Labor Party (PLP) fights to build grassroots struggle to demand our immediate needs with fellow workers and students, and to grow the understanding that only a worker-run communist society can guarantee healthy nutrition to all of our class.

People’s pantry reflects communism in action

As reported in a previous issue of CHALLENGE [1/15], our club has been organizing students to fight back against the racist campus bosses who have offered us nothing but excuses as to why students and workers on our campus are unable to buy anything that doesn’t come out of a vending machine. Instead of affordable, nutritious, healthy options, the students, 98 percent of whom are Black or Latin, are forced to buy overpriced garbage from vending machines that poison our bodies.

In response to this racist neglect, we organized a People’s Pantry at the end of last semester to give away healthy snacks to students. Relying completely on donations from students and workers, we fed hundreds of students as they prepared for final exams. In contrast to the bosses’ lies about how communism can’t work because workers are “disorganized” or “individualistic,” our pantry shows successful communist organizing in action!

We’ve continued this important work this semester, setting up in the library on Wednesdays. The support for the Pantry has been astounding. As the weeks progressed the movement gained traction as regular Pantry patrons would frustratingly ask for updates on the cafeteria's progress, or lack thereof, and were met with the same answer. Probably no time soon.

Expand the struggle – take aim at capitalism

This week we are planning a further escalation of our struggle with a rally and march. We’ll begin outside of campus, where we can draw in members of the community, which is a food desert itself and where many residents suffer from racist food and housing insecurity. After the rally we will march to the administration building to directly call out the college president and their stooges for their failure to ensure the availability of food on our campus. Finally, we wil set up our pantry to continue to serve students and workers.

CHALLENGE newspaper has been present at the pantry and has helped to spark many interesting discussions with students and workers. We’ve discussed the imortance of building confidence in students to build power so we can win this demand. We’ve discussed how the administration is essentially the enemy of students and workers, serving only to make excuses and to get us to accept racist austerity as the norm. We’ve also discussed the connections between the situation at our small campus and wider geopolitical events.

Making these connections is crucial because it ties together the racism we’re experiencing on our campus and U.S. imperialism. We’ve raised the fact that the U.S. has sent more than $20 billion to Israel and yet we don’t have a cafeteria and students have responded enthusiastically to this point. One of the chants for our upcoming rally is “From the Bronx to Palestine, malnutrition is a crime!” The racist brutality of capitalism comes in many forms and linking them together builds the solidarity and class consciousness that we need to build our movement and our Party.

Excitement is building as we prepare to increase our righteous anger and pin it on our small-time administration and the big-time racist, capitalist system. We will send a report for the next issue of CHALLENGE and keep the working class informed on the small steps we are taking in the Bronx to bring down capitalism and replace it with workers’ power!

Baltimore, MD, March 18 —“Tear down ICE, Tear down the walls” was one of many lively call and response chants as over 100 people challenged the role of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) detention at Baltimore’s George H. Fallon Federal Building. Immigrants detained in this hell hole are held for days without beds and showers in violation of the Department of Homeland Security’s own 12-hour detention rule since Maryland closed its immigration detention center next to the state’s maximum security prison. Progressive Labor Party members have been supporting the legislative fight for Maryland to outlaw 287G arrangements that deputize cops as immigration agents. 

At the same time, at this rally, we also shared with our friends over 30 CHALLENGE newspapers that called for communist revolution as the solution to fascist attacks on immigrants by the capitalist state. We were pleased to be part of a rally that included many groups we have been working with, including our friends from the West Wednesday coalition that fights police murder, Filipino students we’ve joined in fighting for human rights in the Philippines, and CASA members (advocates for immigrants) with whom we’ve worked many times. The bosses’ press, as usual, ignored this significant rally while only mentioning an earlier press conference – clearly not wanting to inspire a more militant approach to fighting fascism in this critical moment. The struggle to win many of our friends in these groups to a communist vision of the future and to join our Party that is building that movement continues!