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Arnold Relman, Medicine's Longtime Conscience, Dies at 91

Robert Lowes/Bryan Marquard Medscape
"Will medicine now become essentially a business, or will it remain a profession?" he asked in a 1991 lecture to the Massachusetts Medical Society later published in the NEJM. "We are not vendors, and we are not merely free economic agents in a free market." The cure he prescribed was a single-payer healthcare system in which physicians abstained from financial conflicts of interest.

On Recent Events in Mosul and Other Cities in Iraq

Falah Alwan Jadaliyya
The fall of several Iraqi cities in the hands of armed groups does not represent the dreams of the people who live there. Their demands to be rid of sectarianism are clear and direct. They expressed them through nonviolent sit-ins, but armed terrorist groups took advantage of this environment to take power. In the meantime, ISIS' control of cities and people poses a serious threat to everyday life and to society.

A Class Analysis of the Ukrainian Crisis

Viktor Shapinov, translated by Renfrey Clarke Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal
What were the class forces behind the overthrow of the Yanukovich regime, the installing of a new regime in Kiev, and the rise of the anti-Maidan and of the movement in the south-east?

Dispatches From Brazil's World Cup: 'No One Lives Here Anymore'

Dave Zirin The Nation
Two middle-aged men, former residents of Favelo do Metro, sat around a plastic table between the sidewalk and a demolished home. We asked them why the city would hastily evict this community, only to leave wreckage behind: “They didn’t give us a reason why we had to leave. They just came, pushed us out, and knocked the buildings down. Brazil spends and spends on ‘the future.’ Meanwhile, there’s nothing for the people of today.”

Five Strategies to Stop the Northern Gateway Pipeline from Being Built

Brent Patterson Council of Canadians
On CTV's Question Period yesterday, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, said, "We fully expected the Harper government to make every effort to ram this project through. But…there's enormous solidarity here in British Columbia between First Nations people, British Columbians, Canadians, and we'll do what's necessary and whatever it takes to stop this project."

What's Wrong with the Vergara Decision for Teachers

Jim Miller and Kelly Mayhew San Diego Free Press
While teachers led their classrooms, a judge in a Los Angeles courtroom said that for students to win, teachers have to lose. If we want every child to have a chance to thrive, we must retain and support a stable teaching force-especially in high-poverty schools. By attacking the rules that protect and support teachers, the "Vergara "decision destabilizes public education.

Popular Movements Toward Socialism: Their Unity and Diversity

Samir Amin; Editors of Monthly Review Monthly Review
Samir Amin writes "the movement toward socialism" is a new stage in the decades old struggle of humankind for a more just and equitable society, since the time that Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels first wrote the Communist Manifesto in 1848. Introduction by the editors of Monthly Review on attempt to bring together a variety of global struggles under the rubric of the "movement toward socialism,"

Puerto Rico Unions Threaten Strike Against Austerity Budget

Yana Kunichoff In These Times
The unions have for years been telling the government, let’s address this, and offering an alternative plan. But workers’ attempts to have fruitful dialogue with the administration are not having any results.