On Nov. 5, trafficked young workers from the Philippines gathered in Fort Washington, Md., to form Migrante Youth Fort Washington, which joined the Migrante USA alliance. Migrante USA is a national association of Filipino worker and migrant organizations dedicated to fighting for the rights and welfare of Filipinos in the U.S. and for genuine democracy and freedom in the Philippines.

The youth who formed the Fort Washington chapter of Migrante were promised by an employment agency that, if they were to migrate to the U.S., they would have jobs in the hospitality industry that not only paid well, but promised career advancement. They paid their own way to the U.S. only to find that they were working at a hotel, far below minimum wage and for tips.

At the founding event, BAYAN USA, GABRIELA Washington, DC, and the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines joined with Migrante Fort Washington to provide an overview of the dire political situation in the Philippines.

For example, despite the abundance of natural resources in the Philippines, over 20 percent of its workforce labors overseas and sends back remittances. There is no reason for the overwhelming joblessness and poverty except for the conditions created by capitalism, imperialism and feudalism in the Philippines.

President Rodrigo Duterte folds to the pressures of U.S. neocolonial rule in order to continue receiving military and police aid, further fueling the flames of repression. Duterte has gone above and beyond in granting extra-legal powers to these brutal forces to deny due process and execute dissenters.

The youth of Migrante Fort Washington have chosen to fight back. They refuse to bow to the horrendous working conditions imposed by U.S. imperialism and to be tricked into accepting pay far below what was promised.

In front of a full house, these youth pledged to fulfill their duties in securing better working conditions here, as well as national democracy and sovereignty in the Philippines.

It is evident that a reactionary white supremacist political element, one that has been growing larger for the past ten years and whose belligerence has been steeled and egged on by the Trump regime, will not simply go away. Nor has there appeared any official mainstream desire to put an end to this rising threat.

Every day there is a new instance of shocking violence and disturbing behavior towards people for living while Black, Brown, Indigenous, Asian, Muslim, woman, migrant, LGBTQ+ identifying or leftward leaning. The recent shootings of two elderly Black people at a Kroger’s in Kentucky and the massacre of Jewish people at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh cannot be separated from the 5,000 military troops ordered to the border because of a caravan of migrant workers and their families, forced from their homes and countries because of the history of U.S. intervention. The hardening of the political establishment and the ultraright turn of a significant portion of the U.S. population comes at a crucial historical juncture in this country and the planet.

The continuing environmental degradation brought about by an economic system built on exploiting working and poor people and the environment, straining resources and polluting the air, water and food sources, has put us near a dangerous precipice. This fact alone, coupled with militaristic adventures from imperialist and former colonialist countries and their proxies has caused mass emigration, where migrants flee their lands for safety and economic security, risking everything, even their lives.

Around the world, economic uncertainty remains, and in this country, wages have not grown to match the rising cost of housing and other necessities of life. Communities of Black, Brown and poor people in the U S. are being cleansed, people being pushed/forced out by developers working in conjunction with local politicians, who have passed repressive ordinances that allow for increased policing. Police terror and mass incarceration continue to rob Black, Brown and Indigenous people of their lives and feed the prison system new bodies of color.

Indigenous lands continue to be ravaged by mining interests and pipelines, coupled with attempts to deprive Indigenous people of the right to vote, and all the while the population of Indigenous people faces genocidal conditions.

This reality of the capitalist system, its ongoing teetering, the effect it has on working, poor and oppressed people trying to survive and take care of their families, of the growing ultraright trend here in the U.S. and around the world that whips up racist violence among people of European descent against darker-skinned people, together with the specter of fascism and the continuing destruction of the natural world, will not simply put itself neatly back into a container.

At the root of all these issues is the system of capitalism. And only a grand struggle can push back the fascist threat, unite workers of all nationalities against war and for a working peoples’ program for our needs. Without principled political unity, one built around programmatic demands and determined to uproot the fascist and white supremacist threat, such a struggle is impossible. It is up to all progressive and revolutionary people and organizations to fight through the morass and political differences to begin to forge what is necessary.

To begin this, let us strategize, build in every corner and community to inaugurate a new era of struggle.

Let’s not fail to recognize the current threat.

Let us not fall into the void, nor resign ourselves to defeat and become demoralized. We can win — but not without struggle, not without unity.

Venceremos! All Power to the People!

To support this call and get involved, contact:
Email: indefenseofourlives@gmail.com
Facebook: facebook.com/pg/Indefenseofourlives/
Twitter: @indefenseofour1

On Nov. 25, three Ukrainian military ships entered the Kerch Strait, a narrow waterway linking the Azov and Black seas in eastern Europe, where a recently completed bridge connects Crimea with the Russian mainland. The ships veered into Russian territorial waters, ignoring warnings from the Russian side. The Ukrainian vessels uncovered their artillery guns and rotated them into firing position.

The Russian Coast Guard pursued and fired on the ships. Six Ukrainian sailors were wounded and 24 were detained. The ships were impounded in Crimea.

Moscow explained that the Ukrainian ships had violated Articles 19 and 21 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and promised to stop any further attempts to challenge its territorial integrity. (Sputnik, Nov. 30)

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko condemned Russia’s actions as premeditated aggression. Western politicians and corporate media joined the chorus, calling for “consequences” against the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley condemned Moscow for “outlaw actions” (Washington Post, Nov. 26), while President Donald Trump canceled a planned face-to-face meeting with Putin at the G20 summit in Argentina. (CNN, Nov. 29)

In a Nov. 29 interview with the German newspaper Bild, Poroshenko called on NATO to deploy war ships to the Azov Sea.

Earlier, he rushed a measure to the Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, seeking to put the entire country under martial law for 60 days, claiming he had evidence of an imminent Russian invasion. The Rada rejected this version, but passed a revised declaration of martial law encompassing 10 regions of Ukraine bordering Russia, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, and Transnistria, effective Nov. 28. (Los Angeles Times, Nov. 27)

What’s really going on? Did Russia break international law? Is Putin preparing to invade Ukraine?

No. In reality, Russia acted in self-defense. Ukraine’s right-wing, NATO-armed regime staged a dangerous provocation. And there’s every reason to believe this was done with Washington’s prior knowledge and approval.

U.S. role in Ukraine

Why would Ukraine take such a provocative act against a neighboring military power?

In 2014, a coup actively supported by Washington overthrew Ukraine’s legally elected government. Since then, Kiev has issued an unending torrent of threats against Russia, allied itself with NATO, banned workers’ organizations and waged a bloody war against the Donbass region at the cost of over 10,300 lives.

Some of the first measures enacted by the new regime were meant to strip the country’s Russian speakers ― the majority in eastern and southern Ukraine ― and other national minorities of their language rights. Opposition to the coup in these areas came swiftly.

Crimea was part of Russia until the mid-20th century. In a 2014 referendum held there, people voted overwhelmingly to leave Ukraine and rejoin the Russian Federation. Moscow accepted the vote, while Ukraine and its Western allies still refuse to recognize it.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov cut to the heart of the matter: “I understand that some of our Western colleagues deeply regret that they failed to build a NATO naval base in Crimea, but there’s nothing to be done: such is the course of history, such is the will of the Crimean people.” (Tass, Nov. 28)

Since breaking off its historic trade relations with Russia, Ukraine’s economy has become dependent on International Monetary Fund loans. These are contingent on deeply unpopular austerity measures that benefit U.S. and western European capitalists.

Meanwhile, the U.S.-dominated NATO military alliance trains and “advises” (gives orders to) Ukraine’s military. The CIA is deeply embedded in the country’s internal security forces.

All of this to say, Poroshenko couldn’t dream of carrying out such a dangerous maneuver, risking open conflict with the more militarily powerful Russia, without Washington’s consent ― assuming the whole thing wasn’t dreamed up in the halls of the Pentagon.

Washington’s goal: surround Russia

Poroshenko, one of a small circle of oligarchs who enriched themselves off the suffering of Ukrainian workers and farmers after the destruction of the socialist Soviet Union in the 1990s, faces re-election in early 2019. With little domestic support and stiff opposition from ultrarightists, he’s eager to prove himself useful to his masters on Wall Street and in Washington.

For example, Ukraine and neighboring Moldova boycotted the U.N. General Assembly vote condemning the U.S. blockade of Cuba. Ukraine was one of the two votes in favor of all the anti-Cuba amendments put forward by the U.S., which were roundly defeated. (Associated Press, Nov. 1)

For Washington, ratcheting up the conflict in Ukraine has proven a useful way to put pressure on Russia for that country’s support of Syria ― and to draw attention away from the crimes of the Pentagon and U.S.-backed rebels there.

Whipping up a new round of anti-Russia charges also takes the spotlight off recent exposures linking armed white supremacists in California and Ukrainian fascist organizations that have received financial support from Kiev’s government and military training from the Pentagon. (See Max Blumenthal’s “Blowback: An inside look at how U.S.-funded fascists in Ukraine mentor U.S. white supremacists” at MintPressNews.com.)

But most of all, Ukraine’s Kerch provocation was another step in U.S. imperialism’s long march to surround and ultimately break up the Russian Federation — a goal pursued relentlessly by both Republican and Democratic administrations since the early 1990s.

Russia’s capitalist government, though based on the counterrevolution that overturned socialism in the USSR, and often carrying out reactionary policies at home, has opposed U.S. aggression in Syria and Ukraine as a matter of survival.

In the aftermath of the Kerch incident, Ukrainian parliamentary deputy Ivan Vinnik admitted an intensification of behind-the-scenes talks between officials in Kiev and Washington on the establishment of a U.S. military base in eastern Ukraine, following the example of Poland.

Commenting on this report in the Russian Free Press on Nov. 28, Alexander Shatilov, dean of Sociology and Political Science at Moscow’s Financial University, said: “Washington is trying very hard to encircle Russia with bases and unfriendly regimes on all sides. … In addition, the Americans are building a network of laboratories for testing biological weapons around Russia. This applies not only to Ukraine, but also to Georgia and Armenia. So I would not rule out that the U.S. may take the risk and go into Ukraine openly.”

Working-class people in the U.S. have nothing to gain from supporting war fever against Russia and its allies ― whether that call comes from the Trump regime or the Democratic Party. It is the anti-fascist, anti-imperialist resistance waged by the Donbass republics and inside Ukraine that deserves our support.

We need money for better-paying jobs, health care and schools, infrastructure repairs and environmental cleanup ― not more military bases and provocations that threaten to pit workers against each other for the benefit of war profiteers.

Since 2014, the Kiev regime has imprisoned hundreds of communists, anti-fascists, journalists, draft resisters, and everyday workers and students who dare to speak out. Thousands more of its political opponents have been driven into exile or underground.

As Ukraine’s martial law order took effect Nov. 28, 2018, reports quickly came in of detentions of men of “military service age” ― from the late teens up to 60 years old.

“Lugansk residents returning from the Stanitsa Luhanska village controlled by Ukraine through the checkpoint on the demarcation line, informed the republic’s authorities about mass detentions of persons of military age on the Ukrainian side of the checkpoint.

“Very young guys are grabbed under their arms and dragged into trailers, as if they are going to run away. … They saw a young guy pulled out of the line and taken out with a man, probably his father, and turned back to Ukraine. [Ukrainian border guards] said: ‘Soon you will defend the Motherland with machine guns’ ― these are the words of eyewitnesses.” (Federal News Agency, Nov. 28)

“We strongly recommend our citizens not to visit the occupied territory without sound reasons in order not to become a hostage to forced mobilization implemented by Ukrainian ringleaders,” warned Daniel Bezsonov, a spokesperson for the People’s Militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic. (Donetsk News Agency, Nov. 29)

Children, too, are subject to martial law.

Mariupol, a Black Sea port, was the alleged destination of the three Ukrainian warships. The city rightfully belongs to the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) but is occupied by Ukrainian neo-Nazi military groups. It’s a frequent staging ground for attacks on the DPR.

There, 60 orphans were pulled out of school on Nov. 28 to help dig trenches for the Ukrainian military. The use of child labor for war was broadcast on local television as a “patriotic” exercise. (Free Press, Nov. 28)

Since Nov. 17, France has seen almost daily actions by the spontaneous “yellow vest” (gilets jaunes) protesters. The media showed scenes of police in Paris attacking with tear gas, flash bombs and water canons. By Dec. 1, over 70 percent of the population in France were in support of the yellow vest uprising.

On Dec. 5, the French government decided to suspend a planned eco-tax on fuel, a tax that was one of the sparks of the protests. But the movement of the yellow vests has now turned into a broader revolt against inequality and President Emmanuel Macron’s neoliberal reforms.

Read more: Yellow Vests Rise Against Neo-Liberal ‘King’ Macron

Dr. Marc Lamont Hill was fired by CNN last week after he gave a speech at the United Nations on November 29, International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. Hill ended the speech by saying that he hoped for a free Palestine “from the river to the sea.” Watch his speech at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8_3mGQTX2E

Hill, a professor of Media Studies and Urban Education at Temple University, is also being threatened with firing by the university’s board of directors.

Lamont Hill defended his comments on Twitter: “I support Palestinian freedom. I support Palestinian self-determination. I am deeply critical of Israeli policy and practice. I do not support anti-Semitism, killing Jewish people, or any of the other things attributed to my speech. I have spent my life fighting these things.”

On Dec. 1, 160,000 people packed the Zócalo square in Mexico City to witness the inauguration of new President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, popularly known as AMLO.

AMLO’s election on July 1 by an outpouring of millions of urban and rural workers was seen as a popular revolt against the right-wing ruling parties. With more than 30 million votes, AMLO is the most voted-for president in the history of the country. The celebration in the Zócalo was tremendous.The election represented the progressive aspirations of the working class in Mexico, but it will take more than an election to win those aspirations.

Watch and read AMLO’s full speech at the Zócalo

News reports about U.S. airstrikes killing civilians in Afghanistan are seldom seen in this country. That’s not because they don’t continue on a regular basis. On November 28, Reuters reported that 20 Afghan civilians were killed in a U.S. air strike in Helmand province that day.

The Trump administration has moved to extend the war and turned over drone airstrikes to the CIA. That has led to an increase in the number of civilians killed, as indiscriminate drone airstrikes have become regularized. The United Nations recently reported that the number of civilian casualties from air strikes in the first nine months of the year was already higher than in any entire year since at least 2009.

Read more at: At least 30 Afghan civilians killed in US air strike in Helmand province

With a settlement in San Francisco on December 3, the largest U.S. hotel worker strike in history has won better wages and job security for 7,700 Marriott workers.

Marriott workers went on strike in eight U.S. cities. The largest strike locations are Hawaii, Boston and San Francisco. Other cities include San Diego, Oakland, San Jose and Detroit.

Read the union announcement at With San Francisco Settlement, the Largest Hotel Worker Strike in Modern History Ends With Transformed Wages and Working Conditions for 7,700 Marriott Workers

Graduate student unions are making advances at Columbia University, Fordham University, Loyola University Chicago, Georgetown University, Brown University and other institutions of higher learning.

Columbia University’s graduate student union agreed to a bargaining framework with the university’s administration, a milestone victory in the union’s nearly five-year campaign for recognition.

Columbia’s decision is the latest — and one of the most notable — in a string of concessions by university administrators at private institutions across the country.

Read more at How Graduate Unions Are Winning—and Scaring the Hell out of Bosses—in the Trump Era