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

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

Chicago teachers have launched the first major charter school strike. The teachers and their union charge that the “independent” schools are overcrowded and underfunded. Charter schools are being used to create a second tier in the teaching profession, the union says.

The strike of 550 teachers and paraprofessionals in 15 charter schools is for pay equality with public school wages, more resources for students and smaller class sizes.

Read more at Chicago charter school teachers walk out in first major strike

Google’s temporary, vendor and contract workers (TVCs) are demanding better pay and access to benefits. TVCs make up more than half of the company’s workforce.

A letter from the TVCs to Google CEO Sundar Pichai said, “As you know, 20,000 full-time and temporary, vendor, and contract workers (TVCs) recently walked out to protest discrimination, racism, sexual harassment and a workplace culture that only works for some.”

The letter continues, “The exclusion of TVCs from important communications and fair treatment is part of a system of institutional racism, sexism, and discrimination. TVCs are disproportionately people from marginalized groups who are treated as less deserving of compensation, opportunities, workplace protections, and respect. We wear different badges from full-time employees, which reinforces this arbitrary and discriminatory separation. Even when we’re doing the same work as full-time employees, these jobs routinely fail to provide living wages and often offer minimal benefits.”

While Google conceded to some of the workers’ demands following the Nov. 1 walkout, many demands have been ignored by the company. The struggle continues.

Read more at Google contract workers demand better pay and benefits

Read the TVCs’ letter at Invisible no longer: Google’s shadow workforce speaks up

The Fight for $15 movement to raise minimum hourly wages led directly to a collective $68 billion raise for 22 million low-wage workers in both the public and private sectors.

That’s the conclusion of a new analysis published by the National Employment Law Project, which backs a higher minimum wage. “Of the $68 billion in additional income, the overwhelming share (70 percent, or $47 billion) is the result of $15 minimum wage laws that the Fight for $15 won in California, New York, Massachusetts, Flagstaff, Los Angeles, San Jose, San Francisco, the District of Columbia, Montgomery County, the Twin Cities, Seattle, and SeaTac over the past few years,” NELP researchers reported.

NELP further found that the $68 billion figure is “more than 14 times larger than the total raise under the last federal minimum wage increase, approved in 2007.”

Read more at For Low-Wage Workers, the Fight For 15 Movement Has Been a Boon