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Pink Tide against US domination rising again in Latin America

by Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers Part 3 - Latin Americans Rising Against the Right and US Domination Latin American countries are rejecting neoliberalism and US domination using multiple strategies to achieve change. This month the deepening anti-capitalist movement in Bolivia is set to strengthen with the probable re-election of Evo Morales on October 20. Argentina is expected to remove right-wing President Mauricio Macri on October 27 and replace him with Alberto Fernandez. And, Mexico put in place its first progressive, left-of-center government with the election of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) on July 1, 2018. Elections are also upcoming in Uruguay on October 27 and in Peru in January. Venezuela may have National Assembly elections in January as well. Bolivia’s Evo Morales has a 13-point lead in polls as his governing party Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) looks to re-election for a third Morales term that will last until 2025. Morales has 38.8 percent, just 1.

Under digital surveillance: how American schools spy on millions of kids

Fueled by fears of school shootings, the market has grown rapidly for technologies that monitor students through official school emails and chats by Lois Beckett Part 5 - Shifts in culture School officials say that their primary motivation for using surveillance technology is the chance to save a student’s life. But schools are monitoring students’ digital documents in real time for a wide range of content they see as problematic, from swear words to nude images and pornography to cyberbullying to evidence of drug and alcohol use. In Weld county, Colorado, a student emailed a teacher that she heard two boys were going to smoke weed in a bathroom, Hernandez, the student services and safety director, said. Gaggle immediately alerted school officials: “ Within four minutes of her sending this email, the troops had deployed, ” she said. Gaggle also automatically sends students a scolding email any time they use a profanity. A few school districts have chosen not to sen

Noam Chomsky: Bernie Sanders ‘has absolutely infuriated the liberal establishment’

In an interview with The Intercept published on Thursday, Noam Chomsky, the world-renowned linguist, historian, and social critic, discussed the ongoing Democratic Party presidential primaries. Chomsky noted that reports suggest members of the Democratic establishment — donors, centrist politicians, media figures — remain adamantly opposed to Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who is running for president on the Democratic ticket. They have a “ very good reason ” to be opposed to Sanders, according to Chomsky. “ He has absolutely infuriated the liberal establishment by committing a major crime, ” Chomsky said, explaining that the Democratic elite is not opposed to Sanders just because they don’t like his policies, but because he has managed to build a powerful movement of activists willing to participate in the political process. “ His crime was to organize an ongoing political movement that doesn’t just show up at the polls every four years and push a button, bu

A CIA-backed militia targeted clinics in Afghanistan, killing medical workers and civilians

WAR CRIMES On the night of March 8, 2019, four staffers at a Swedish-run health clinic in Afghanistan’s Wardak Province ate together, talked around a thermos of tea, and bedded down for the night in the guard’s room. They were awakened some time later by the thump of helicopter rotors followed by distant explosions echoing from farther up the Tangi Valley. The sounds were not unusual in Wardak, where for 20 years there has been little respite from war, and the four went back to sleep. The men were jolted awake again sometime after midnight. The main gate to the clinic, which was next to the guard’s room, had been blown in, and the staff heard hurried footsteps in the ruined entryway. The intruders ran past the guard’s room and into the clinic’s main building. The clinic staff huddled in the darkened room as several doors were kicked in across the compound yard. After what one of the clinic workers described as five or six minutes, the staffers, worried that they’d surprise the

Max Blumenthal arrest exposes hypocrisy of Western media and ‘human rights’ NGOs

by Joe Emersberger Grayzone editor Max Blumenthal, a prominent journalistic critic of US policy toward Venezuela,  was arrested by DC police on Friday, October 25, in connection with a protest at the Venezuelan embassy, and held incommunicado. But if you rely on corporate media, or even leading “press freedom” groups, you haven’t heard about this troubling encroachment on freedom of the press. Blumenthal is a bestselling author whose work has appeared in such publications as the New York Times , CJR, The Nation and Salon . DC police arrested him at his home on a five-month-old arrest warrant, charging him with simple assault for his attempt to deliver food to the besieged Venezuelan embassy; he was held for two days, and for the first 36 hours was not allowed to speak with a lawyer. (In an interview with FAIR, Blumenthal noted that keeping arrestees—generally poor and African-American—from speaking with lawyers or family is par for the course in the DC criminal justice system.

The global youth radicalization and the fight for Socialism

by Eric London Across the world, in countries as culturally distinct as Ecuador, Lebanon, France, Germany, the US, Iraq, Chile and Haiti, a new generation of working class youth is making its powerful entrance onto the battlefield of the global class struggle. Citing the international scope of recent mass demonstrations, the Guardian 's Simon Tisdall recently wrote: “ Each country’s protests differ in detail, but recent upheavals do appear to share one key factor: youth ... This global phenomenon of unfulfilled youthful aspirations is producing political time bombs. Each month in India, one million people turn 18 and can register to vote. In the Middle East and North Africa, an estimated 27 million youngsters will enter the workforce in the next five years. ” The political awakening of the most educated, urbanized and technologically interconnected generation in history is of critical strategic significance for the entire working class.  Born beginning in the 1990s, to

After Julian Assange, the US imperialist beast goes after Max Blumenthal: the brutal hunt against independent journalism officially begins!

globinfo freexchange Right after the arrest of Julian Assange, we wrote that this is a war against real journalism. It is a direct threat against all the independent media with real journalists who expose the war crimes of the US empire and its allies. After this, expect an ongoing, brutal hunt against every real journalist who will attempt to report the truth, contrary to the corporate PR parrots of the mainstream media - the golden operatives of the establishment, who faithfully stick to the script. We concluded that until we see Julian Assange free and safe, until we see the restoration of the real Democracy, especially in the US/UK neocolonial complex, we are at war with this fascist regime. We will all have to fight not just for Julian, but for our own existence. Because everyone who seeks truth and justice from now on, would be considered potential target from the regime. Unfortunately, it seems that we were right. The regime is now going after Max Blumenthal. Blumenthal

Chile protesters: 'We are subjugated by the rich. It's time for that to end'

The spark that lit the flame was a 3% hike in subway fares, but after 12 days of mass protests and street violence, Chile’s worst unrest in decades has transformed into a nationwide uprising demanding dramatic changes to the country’s economic and political system. Eighteen people have died in the violence and 7,000 have been arrested amid widespread outbreaks of violence and arson, and credible allegations of human rights abuses by the security forces. The leaderless movement has forced the billionaire president, Sebastián Piñera, on the defensive, prompting him to replace eight ministers and announce a string of emergency measures including a small increase in the minimum wage and higher taxes on wealthy Chileans. But such moves have not been enough to defuse the protests, which are driven by deep-rooted disillusionment over inequality that has left millions of citizens frozen out of Chile’s economic rise. One per cent of Chile’s population earns 33% of the nation’s weal

New evidence ties Bolsonaro family to murder of Marielle Franco

The Intercept The Intercept's Glenn Greenwald explains the shocking news from Brazil linking the Bolsonaro family to the murder of Rio de Janeiro city councilwoman Marielle Franco.

Russian patrol comes under Turkish mortar attack in Northern Syria

Turkey has attacked a Russian military police convoy patrolling a northern Syria border area near Turkey, according to local correspondents and video of the incident's aftermath. Unconfirmed Syrian Kurdish media reports say at least one Russian soldier who was part the military police (MP) patrol was injured after the convoy came under fire by Turkish artillery fired from Turkey's side of the border in an area called Derbisiye. A senior foreign correspondent for the Telegraph also posted a video of the attack's aftermath. Early unconfirmed reports say there may be other casualties including two journalists and four civilians possibly injured in the attack on the Russian police convoy. Kurdistan24 News journalist Akram Salih described of the incident that the Turkish army entered the Syrian side of the border at which point the mortar was fired at the Russian side.  Full report: https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/russian-military-convoy-targeted-turkish-