Workers’ Solidarity, Mandates, and the Political Economy of COVID

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This week on COVID, Race, & Democracy, we look at the struggles over COVID vaccine mandates for workers with TWU executive board member Evangeline Byars.

Dr. Nayvin Gordon examines the policy of COVID Zero that would seek to eliminate the virus in the US.

University of Cardiff (UK) professor Fabio Vighi talks to journalist and author Max Blumenthal about the political economy of the pandemic.

Fabio Vighi’s article, “A Self-fulfilling Prophecy: System collapse and the pandemic simulation” 

Professor Carol Lang spoke to Pacifica’s Steve Zeltzer about the struggle in labor movements and unions to support Palestinians and the boycott of Israel debate among the AFL-CIO and the American Federation of Teachers members.

Thomas O’Rourke (WPFW) has an update on the case of imprisoned Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange.

Just after the bombshell revelations about the CIA plot to kidnap and assassinate WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange while he sought political asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, the Belmarsh Tribunal held its first face-to-face session at the London Convocation Hall to judge the U.S. government for its crimes against humanity in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and for the imprisonment of Julian Assange, who revealed such information.

With this process, the Belmarsh Court emulates the Bertrand Russell – Jean Paul Sartre people’s court, which sat in Stockholm and Copenhagen in 1967 to try the White House for war crimes in Vietnam.

Watch it here: The Belmarsh Tribunal: the War on terror is put on Trial

Next week on COVID, Race and Democracy, we’ll spend the hour bringing you excerpts of a remarkable event this past weekend in New York. Called the International Tribunal on U.S. Human Rights Abuses Against Black, Brown and Indigenous Peoples, it was organized by the Spirit of Mandela, a coalition of organizers, academics, clergy, attorneys, and advocacy organizations committed to working against the systemic, historic, and ongoing human rights violations and abuses committed by the USA. There was an independent nine-member Panel of Jurists, including some with international stature, the majority of whom were women and rooted in the Global South. The Tribunal’s verdict was just submitted to the United Nations. Tune into a roundup of the Tribunal coming up on next week’s edition of COVID, Race and Democracy on your favorite Pacifica Radio station or affiliate. For more information on the Tribunal, go to tribunal2021.com.

CREDITS:
Producer: Steve Zeltzer
Host/producer: Polina Vasiliev
Exec. Producers: Akua Holt, Polina Vasiliev, and Steve Zeltzer

Music:

“Games People Play” by Joe South

“Changes” by David Bowie