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Brazil on Strike

By Lucas Iberico Lozada Dissent Magazine
The strike, said to be the biggest in decades, was meant to rally opposition to an aggressive pension reform plan that would weaken labor laws and raise the retirement age by a decade—the centerpiece of an array of austerity measures put forth by President Michel Temer, whose approval rating sits at a dismal 4 percent.

Franz Kafka: In His Times and Ours

Alan Wald Against the Current
For the author of the work under review--much heralded by the reviewer--Czech novelist Franz Kafka was no chronic pessimist or dour, fatalistic misbeliever in human emancipation, but a consistent partisan artist siding with the humiliated.

Immigrant Workers March on D.C.: ‘Trump Benefits When We are Divided’

Tina Vasquez Rewire
Whether intentionally or by virtue of the fact that the populations historically affected by low-wage, abusive workplaces are people of color, MLOV’s DC on Strike May Day rally was intersectional, highlighting how the most vulnerable communities are always those with the most complex identities.

Funding Agreement Protects Orphan Miner Health Care, But Doesn't Resolve Pension Issues

Tracie Mauriello Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Democrats and coal-country Republicans say miners are uniquely deserving because of an agreement in 1946, when the government seized mines and ended a strike by agreeing to provide health and pension benefits. Legislative leaders have agreed to the provisions as part of a $1 trillion government funding bill, and rank-and-file members are expected to approve it later this week.

The Prisoners’ Revolt: The Real Reasons behind the Palestinian Hunger Strike

Ramzy Baroud Common Dreams
The protests igniting across the Occupied Territories to support 1,500 hunger strikers are not merely an act of 'solidarity' with the incarcerated and abused men and women who are demanding improvements to their conditions. Sadly, prison is the most obvious fact of Palestinian life; it is the status quo; the everyday reality.