Councilmember Lozada has decided to target services that improve and save the lives of chaotic drug users in Philadelphia’s Seventh District. She wants to ban the presence of harm reduction mobile units in residential areas and areas near recreational centers. Anyone running a mobile unit could then be fined $500, with another bill targeting “littering” near these mobile sites that would fine people another $500.

Lozada claims she wants to work with the community, the services and the mayor to have areas where these units can run and help drug users. The reality, though, is that she wants to purge the neighborhood of chaotic drug users. She claims that these units have caused “nuisance behavior” and “public safety issues,” but they merely operate where these drug users congregate. Just moving the vans won’t do much, as some users will not change their using location just to find a van.

The other members of the Kensington Caucus, Councilmembers Mark Squilla, Mike Driscoll and Jim Hagerty, back this bill, unsurprisingly, because they also serve as both Lozada’s lackeys and as agents of developers trying to transform Kensington into a hot gentrified neighborhood that real estate interests can exploit.

Between the sweeps which resulted in Amanda Cahill’s death, the attacks on the International Overdose Awareness Day memorials, and the attacks on harm reduction mobile units, one tying string can be seen: a disdain for chaotic drug users and a disdain for the people who want to help or love them.

Joining the IAM 751 Machinists on the picket line the first day were workers from the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, which has over 10,000 members who work at Boeing. These workers continue working during the Machinists’ strike, but will refuse to do the machinists’ production jobs.

Other unions like the United Auto Workers and the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) joined the machinists in a general uproar of chanting and horn honking as the strike kicked off.

The Machinists are joining the rising tide of a revitalized movement both in the U.S. and internationally. The working class is being pushed to the wall by the bosses, but these workers have a perspective of unity and struggle and a growing class-consciousness to take a great leap forward against capital.

The community successfully occupied the Harris/Walz campaign office for over three hours. Rally members outside flooded into the office following the confirmation that the police would not be arresting anyone. Though the protesters’ demands were not met, they were successful in making their position known to the Biden/Harris administration, as Harris/Walz campaign staffers and police conceded the space to the protesters.

So, how’s everybody doing?

According to local media reports, the dangerous fire forced evacuations in the surrounding neighborhood as explosions were heard inside the building, and one firefighter was injured in the blaze. People with respiratory illnesses were especially warned to take caution.

The fire was not completely put out until Sept. 7. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, water was contaminated in a nearby creek that runs into Long Lake. EPA representatives claim they would continue to monitor the area. […]

Akron is a small, Midwestern city near Cleveland that was once known for being a large manufacturer of rubber tires. Like most “rust belt” towns, workers suffered tremendously when jobs were destroyed as a result of capitalist greed, automation and offshoring.

Many of the displaced residents did not have a place to go when the fire began in their neighborhood. City officials were not prepared to assist anyone in the community, and instead only offered “advice.”

In contrast to the capitalist U.S., [people’s republics] can conduct mass evacuations when disaster unexpectedly strikes. For example, revolutionary Cuba has been able to carry out successful evacuations to avoid hurricanes and floods.

In 2008, [the Republic of] Cuba safely helped a quarter of a million people to leave their homes to avoid Hurricane Gustav. As NBC News admitted: “When Hurricane Gustav roared across western Cuba as a Category-4 hurricane on Aug. 30, it damaged 100,000 homes and caused billions of dollars in damage. Nobody died. The storm then moved onto Louisiana, which launched a massive evacuation and saw 26 people die.” (Sept. 10, 2008)

Capitalism cannot deliver or meet people’s needs. So long as workers and oppressed people suffer under the yoke of capital, dire disasters will be hard to escape. Socialism is the only proven solution to helping the masses when faced with unforeseen catastrophes.

Protesters are demanding justice, along with improved security and protection for women healthcare workers. The general public has also condemned the continuing crisis of women’s rights in India, highlighting the high rates of rape and other forms of gender-based violence across the country.

While a police volunteer in the state-run hospital where the victim was found has been arrested, thousands of doctors continue to demand a thorough investigation on the case as more details emerge regarding possible motives and involvement of state and hospital officials behind the heinous crime. The young doctor’s family also revealed that they believe a gang rape occurred, which means that more perpetrators must be brought to justice.

Filipino women strongly support calls for better workplace protection for doctors, especially those speaking out against criminal activities like the Kolkata doctor. Women workers in the Philippines, be it in healthcare or in other fields and industries, are similarly subjected to violence and harassment in the world of work.

Those who dare speak up against gender-based violence and exploitative practices in their place of work or in their communities are at risk of being likewise targeted by [neo]fascist state and non-state forces.

As such, Filipino and Indian women share in the struggle for the rights, freedoms and dignity of women workers. GABRIELA joins the women and peoples of India in demanding justice for the young Kolkata doctor and for the Modi administration to address the dire state of women’s rights in the country.

Just as this atrocious crime should intensify the Indian women’s fight against the violent and oppressive patriarchal culture in India that continues to endanger millions of women across the country, it should also strengthen solidarities between other women workers all over the world in the struggle for social justice and an end to gender-based violence.

Workers at the other 24 hotels conducted their walkouts for one to three days as limited duration strikes. Unfortunately, no contract was signed, and the union asserts the labor dispute is ongoing. Strikes could still be called in cities where they’ve been authorized, but have not yet occurred, such as New Haven, Connecticut; Oakland, California; and Providence, Rhode Island.

The work stoppages are a result of unresolved contract negotiations. Hotel workers are demanding higher wages, fairer staffing levels and the ability to provide daily cleaning services. The latter issue inconveniences guests and it requires more work to clean rooms which have gone for days without being serviced.

Gwen Mills, international president of UNITE HERE said in a statement: “The hotel industry is making record profits while workers and guests are left behind. Too many hotels still haven’t restored standard services that guests deserve, like automatic daily housekeeping and room service. Workers aren’t making enough to support their families. Many can no longer afford to live in the cities that they welcome guests to.” (travelweekly.com, Sept. 5)

One of the many victims was Ayşenur Ezgi Ergi, a U.S. and Turkish citizen who was murdered by [neocolonial] soldiers the day before the march, Sept. 6. Ezgi was protesting the genocidal destruction of Palestinian neighborhoods in the West Bank. She was a graduate of Seattle Public Schools and the University of Washington in Seattle.

Ezgi was in the forefront of the Free Palestine movement in Seattle, helping establish the Palestine solidarity encampment at the University of Washington in May.

The movement has lost a wonderful person who is now being honored for her ultimate sacrifice. Aria Fani, one of her professors, told the Seattle Times: “She would say right now if she were alive, ‘The only reason I’m in the headlines is because I have [U.S.] citizenship.’” (Sept. 6)

The following are the “overt acts” listed in the indictment:

• In 2015, Chairman Yeshitela attended a conference hosted by a nongovernmental organization, the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia, entitled “The Dialogue of Nations.” Hundreds of delegates from around the world, including members of other U.S. anti-war organizations attended this conference, held in Moscow.
• Publishing a petition charging the U.S. with genocide.
• Speaking and organizing at United Nations hearings for reparations to African people in the U.S. Publishing an article opposing a ban on Russian athletes in the Olympics.
• Running for public office on a reparations platform. Speaking out against the U.S./NATO proxy war on Russia. (Burning Spear, Sept. 3)

The U.S. government’s “proof” includes images of public events, such as marches and protest rallies for reparations and against police violence, educational webinars and other community activities.

Some 30 federal agents have had over two years to build their case since the July 23, 2022, early morning raid on the Uhuru House in St. Petersburg, Florida, the home of Chairman Yeshitela and the office of the Solidarity Committee in St. Louis. During the raid, agents seized computers, electronics, boxes of documents, photos, books and papers, while damaging doors, walls and furniture.

And what have they found? A history of more than 50 years of defending Black people against police murder and harassment, consistent organizing for poor people’s needs for housing, healthcare and education; solidarity with oppressed peoples everywhere and opposition to [neo]imperialist war.

That history is what has brought scores of progressive and revolutionary organizations to attend the trial and offer their solidarity through written messages.

Among the many people traveling to Tampa-St. Petersburg to attend the trial are well-known activists, including Pam Africa of the MOVE Family and with International Concerned Friends and Family of Mumia Abu-Jamal; esteemed Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) veteran Efia Nwangaza; Jihad Abdulmumit, National Jericho Movement; Jill Stein, Green Party presidential candidate; Benjamin Prado of Union del Barrio and Cheryl LaBash, Co-Chair of the National Network on Cuba.

The courtroom has been packed with up to 100 supporters, plus others in an overfill room.

The clear majority of march participants were young Asians, many who have grown up watching their parents and grandparents engage in these earlier struggles against efforts to destroy Chinatown.

A contingent of young speakers from Students for the Preservation of Chinatown opened up the second rally at the Friendship Arch following the march. Speaking collectively, these young activists asked why the billions of dollars that the city is considering for the arena should not go instead for air conditioning and libraries in public schools and playgrounds in the many city neighborhoods that have none.

Speakers at the closing rally included a medical student who addressed concerns that the arena would impact traffic to and from the nearby Jefferson hospital complex. Residents of Washington Square West and the Gayborhood, a historic LGBTQIA2S+ area, which would also be impacted, condemned the arena proposal. A speaker from the immigrant/migrants’ rights group Juntos compared this proposed gentrification to the globalization that has forced millions of South and Central American and Caribbean people to leave their countries.