Readers Comments: Death of Voting Rights Act, Gerrymandering, Confederacy Worship, Gestapo Seizures and Camps; RFK Insanity; Zohran Mamdani; Martin Niemöller's real quote; Italian Dockworkers Threaten to Shut Down All of Europe; No Kings 2 - Oct 18;
Pop the champagne—or at least a decent California sparkling wine—because Judge Charles Breyer just reminded America that even presidents who cosplay as kings are bound by law. His ruling that the Trump administration “willfully” broke federal law in sending National Guard troops stomping through Los Angeles this summer is a victory not just for California, but for the idea that the United States isn’t supposed to look like a banana republic with Humvees.
New Yorkers can get behind: hardworking New Yorkers deserve a city that is affordable and safe for us and our families. And we deserve leaders who are not afraid to call out the forces that are preventing them from achieving that vision.
Artificial intelligence (AI) no doubt has many positive and good applications for the future, but there are also some frightening possibilities. For one thing, AI can start doing for free the kind of work people used to get paid a salary and benefits for.
Pastor Neimoller did not say, "First they came for the socialists ..." but rather he said, "First they came for the Communists ..." The distinction may seem like semantics, but the change misses something essential. First, factually -- it was the removal of Communist members of parliament and their arrest that gave the Nazi's sufficient control of parliament that was the first step toward the elimination of all the other parliamentary parties. Second, Neimoller recognized that and his quote in German while he was also alive always began by referencing Communists. Third, at some point (post Cold War I assume) the quotation was changed and it is difficult to believe that the change was not purposeful. Communists were no longer "acceptable" as victims, so best to leave them out.
By now the change has been normalized, most people don't recall that it was ever different -- but by changing the text from an unacceptable," to a more benign victim, the core meaning of Neimoller's quote -- challenging the borders of who are acceptable victims -- is lost. That has facilitated the equation of fascism and anti-fascism in wide circles in Europe (most disgracefully in Germany) and is the same logic that for far too long would allow people otherwise progressive to rationalize or ignore Israeli treatment of Palestinians.
Two recent items, both important and praiseworthy, share one interesting deficiency. Niemöller's words about "who they took away first" (and we did nothing) starts not with "socialists" but – a meaningful alteration – with communists! This, usually I think, is not just an error!
And the GM strike at Flint in 1937, seen by some as the most important in US history, was a key to the big rise in living standards later used to sell USA capitalist superiority to the world. Ironically - it was led by Bob Travis and Wyndham Mortimer, both of them Communists! Also rarely recalled: the leadership by so many then close to or members of the Communist Party: Harry Bridges (and Bill Bailey) on the docks, Julius Emspak and James Matles, in electrical appliances, the big UE, Joe Curran and Ferdinand Smith on the ships, Bill Foster and Gus Hall in steel, Claudia Jones for domestic workers, Mike Quill in city transportation, others in farm equipment, mine, mill and smelter, fur and leather, tobacco - the list is long, amazing and purposely forgotten. The destruction of this anti-racist, anti-misogynist leadership or influence, marked by the defeat of the Wallace campaign in 1948 and the anti-Robeson Peekskill attack in 1949 led to a decade of McCarthyite rule at home and the Dulles brothers abroad. The names and views of those heroic men and women deserve mention and recall.
Takes the fire as a starting point and explores the high cost of cheap food. I've yet to see a book do a better job of summing up how broken our food system is. The workers at that plant obviously paid the highest price but practically everyone else gets royally screwed too.
Venice dockworkers have voted to join their comrades in Genoa in resistance.
Italian dockworkers have threatened to “shut down all of Europe” and block all shipments to Israel if communication with the latest aid flotilla bound for Gaza is lost. The threat marks a significant escalation in dockworkers’ long history of industrial action in solidarity with Palestine.
Speaking at a procession in the port of Genoa – one of Italy’s two largest commercial ports – on behalf of the Unione Sindacale di Base (USB), a syndicate of various grassroots unions in Italy and thought to be the largest of its kind, the dockworker said: “If we lose contact with our boats, with our comrades – even for just 20 minutes – we will shut down all of Europe.”
“Our young women and men must come back without a scratch, and all this cargo, which belongs to the people and is going to the people, must reach its destination, down to the very last box.”
“13,000-14,000 containers leave this region every year for Israel. Not a single nail will leave anymore,” he continued.
In a statement, USB said it was “ready to mobilise in defence of the flotilla. Workers can play a decisive role … we must be ready to react with all the forms of struggle at our disposal.”
“As many of us are repeating these days, we can’t stand by and watch … If they block the flotilla, we block everything!”
The Global Sumud Flotilla expedition, which set sail on Sunday, is the largest ever naval mission to break Israel’s siege and deliver humanitarian supplies to Gaza, with around 20 vessels carrying delegates from at least 44 countries (though some have been forced to turn back due to bad weather).
While ships mainly departed from Barcelona, some vessels also departed from the Italian port.
Aboard the flotilla is Swedish climate justice campaigner Greta Thunberg, former Barcelona mayor Ada Colau and Novara Media contributor Kieran Andrieu. It is the third attempt to deliver aid by sea this year and the 38th attempt from the flotilla coalition.
Since 2010, all aid flotilla missions have been either intercepted or attacked by Israeli forces. Aboard the last vessel in July was Chris Smalls, co-founder of the Amazon Labor Union. He and his crewmates were intercepted by Israel and taken into custody, where Smalls was reportedly beaten by IDF soldiers.
As well as activists, journalists and politicians, the most recent flotilla is also carrying large amounts of humanitarian aid. The Italian aid drive was organised by campaign group Music for Peace and Calp, an autonomous port workers’ collective affiliated to USB. While initially hoping to gather 40 tonnes of aid, the drive eventually collected over 250 tonnes.
An estimated 40,000 people took to the streets of Genoa last Saturday in a torchlit procession to mark the ships’ departure.
Andrieu said: “I feel as everyone else aboard the flotilla feels about the announcement: moved beyond words.”
“It’s been clear for a long time now that Israel still has the old power structures on its side, but the people of the world are for Gaza and for Palestine – and power structures without people always fall sooner or later.”
He added: “Like the crowds who showed up in their thousands to see us off in Barcelona, the dockworkers’ stance is a powerful expression of love and solidarity for Palestine, and one that we are carrying close to us as we head towards Gaza.”
The Genoese docker worker’s threat is not a one-off protest. USB blocked the passage of ships carrying military equipment in June and August, with workers chanting that they will “not work for war” during last month’s stoppage.
The USB is not alone in its objections to handling military shipments to and from Israel. In Greece, France and Morocco, dockworkers have mobilised against the genocide in Gaza. In Sweden, the national deputy chair of the Dockworkers’ Union was fired after the union blockaded military cargo to and from Israel.
In 2024, the Palestinian Youth Movement launched a campaign targeting shipping giant Maersk, alleging that it has shipped military cargo to Israel during the genocide.
Since 2010, dockworkers have been blockading Israeli ships and military cargo, including in Canada and South Africa. In the United States, the San Francisco-based Arab Resource and Organizing Center organised port blockades in 2014 and 2021.
“When the government fails, labour unions are supposed to be the shield for the working class,” Smalls told Novara Media in an interview in August.
USB was approached for comment.
[Polly Smythe is Novara Media’s labour movement correspondent.]
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In June, we mobilized millions of people to take to the streets and declare with one voice: America has no kings. Trump’s birthday parade was drowned out by protests in all 50 states and throughout the world. His attempt to turn June 14 into a coronation backfired, and the story of the day was about the strength of a movement rising against his authoritarian power grabs.
The millions of people who turned out in June helped create one of the largest single days of protest in US history, and their courage and commitment set an example for others to follow. Since then, we’ve seen more and more political leaders and institutions choosing to resist the regime rather than play dead.
But we knew June 14 was just the start. Trump is doubling down on his authoritarian tactics. He is disappearing immigrants to sprawling concentration camps, sending troops into our cities, threatening to interfere in elections, rigging maps to steal power from the voters, and orchestrating a massive giveaway to his billionaire allies as families struggle.
Trump is ramping up his attacks on our rights and democracy, but we’re not backing down. On October 18, we’re taking to the streets in more cities and in larger numbers to remind Trump, his cronies, and those on the sidelines looking for hope: America has no kings.
Right now, we’re in round the clock coordination with our No Kings partners to make No Kings 2 one of the largest days of protest in US history. Next week, we’ll have events up on the map and the ability to register protests in your area. Until then, here’s what you can do to help make No Kings 2 as big and powerful as possible:
Pitch in to help make No Kings 2 the biggest day of protest in US history. Organizing a national day of action with millions of people takes time and resources. Between the recruitment tools, map of events, supplies and resources for local protests and anchor events, we’re estimating the costs will be over one million dollars. If you’re able to, please pitch in to support No Kings 2.
Since June, this movement has only continued to grow. New Indivisible groups are forming every week, hundreds of thousands have joined our trainings on strategic non-cooperation, and we’ve launched new campaigns to resist Trump’s attacks on our elections, universities, and immigrant communities.
But with Trump escalating his authoritarian tactics, it’s critical that we respond to his power grabs loudly and publicly. We need to show up with millions of people -- in demonstrations even larger than June’s -- to show that the resistance is still here and growing. And every time Trump levies another attack on our rights and democracy, our movement only grows stronger in response.
Just picking a day on the calendar won’t be enough to generate the kind of response we need in this moment. A national day of protest takes time and immense resources to prepare -- tech and online infrastructure, marketing materials, security investments, staging/sounds, and so much more.
