First Zika death on US territory as Congress delays funding

David Brown

Last week the Center for Disease Control (CDC) confirmed a death earlier this year as the first fatal, American case of Zika fever. A man in his 70s living in Puerto Rico’s capital of San Juan, fell ill with Zika in late February. A few days after recovering from the normal rash and fever, he died from internal bleeding from a resulting autoimmune disorder. His death was only recently reported after the CDC was able to confirm that it was caused by the Zika virus and not any other complications.

There are currently 700 confirmed cases of Zika in Puerto Rico, including 89 pregnant women, and CDC officials predict 700,000 cases by the end of the year as the epidemic spreads across the island. Puerto Rico is currently the only part of the United States where local transmission by mosquito is occurring.

In the face of this health crisis, the US Congress entered into a week-long recess this week without approving any funding to combat the Zika virus. The CDC is currently using $589 million in funding redirected from the efforts to contain the 2014 Ebola outbreak. To carry out sufficient preparations to combat Zika the CDC has requested $2 billion.

The money would be used to control the mosquito populations that spread the disease and ensure the profits of pharmaceutical companies developing tests and vaccines.

Without a significant boost to Puerto Rico’s health care system, the Zika outbreak could become a social catastrophe. Although the disease is normally asymptomatic in adults, it has caused a sharp spike in rare autoimmune and neurological disorders.

The Puerto Rican death was caused by immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) where the body’s immune system begins targeting the platelets responsible for blood clotting. With low platelet counts, victims of ITP may begin bleeding from the gums, bruising easily, and in severe cases, bleeding internally.

In the current Zika outbreak, there have been three fatal cases of ITP in Colombia. Current CDC testing suggests that 1.3 percent of Zika cases show a subsequent decline in platelet levels. There are no reported cases yet in Brazil, but the symptoms of ITP are easily misdiagnosed as the much more common dengue hemorrhagic which is spread by the same mosquitoes as Zika.

ITP shares similarities with the neurological disorder Guillain-Barré syndrome that is also caused by Zika. In both cases, the Zika virus causes the body’s immune system to attack other cells; platelets in the case of ITP and nerves in Guillain-Barré. So far, 17 people have been hospitalized in Puerto Rico with Guillain-Barré syndrome, which usually entails temporary weakness that can transform into potentially fatal paralysis.

The majority of adults that are infected show no symptoms and most of those that do only suffer a fever and rash. This makes the Zika virus much harder to detect outbreaks in poverty stricken areas with poor health care systems. The current outbreak, which is centered in Brazil where over a million are believed to have been infected, was only noticed from the disease’s impact on fetal development.

Women infected with the disease while pregnant pass it on to their children in the womb, resulting in a sharp spike in children born with abnormally small heads, microcephaly. The Brazilian health ministry counts 4,908 suspected and confirmed cases of Zika-related microcephaly. The epidemic began in April 2014, a year when Brazil had only 150 cases of microcephaly, the normal rate. Seven other countries have reported Zika-related microcephaly cases in the single digits, including two in the US.

Like most epidemics, Zika is a disease of poverty. Basic infrastructure like garbage collection and piped water minimize the mosquito populations that spread the disease. Well-maintained housing keeps mosquitoes out during the night, and 50 cents a year in netting is all it takes to protect an adult where other measures are not possible. Regular access to health care and family planning would also eliminate the majority of sexual transmission of the disease.

It is no coincidence that in the United States, the territory that is experiencing a widespread outbreak of Zika is also one of the poorest. In Puerto Rico 45 percent of the population is below the poverty line, and the health care system is in crisis. The US territory is facing a $72 billion bankruptcy crisis and failed to deliver a $250 million payment to its hospitals last year.

When the US Congress began their weeklong recess Friday, they not only failed to allocate money to combat the Zika outbreak, they also tabled any resolution to Puerto Rico’s debt crisis, forcing the US territory to default on a $422 million debt payment on May 1.

Since 2009, the island has laid off tens of thousands of public employees, while the official unemployment rate sits at 11.8 percent. Since 2014, the administration of Governor Alejandro Padilla has closed 10 percent of the schools. Efforts by the government to pay the bankers through cuts to social services will only exacerbate the conditions that have allowed the Zika virus to spread on the island.

Poverty has become more concentrated under Obama

Nancy Hanover

Under the Obama administration, more Americans have found themselves consigned to economic ghettos, living in neighborhoods where more than 40 percent subsist below the poverty level. Millions more now live in “high poverty” districts of 20-40 percent poverty, according to recently released report by the Brookings Institution.

All in all, more than half of the nation’s poor are now concentrated in these high-poverty neighborhoods. This means that on top of the difficult daily struggle to make ends meet, they face a raft of additional crushing barriers because of where they live.

The Brookings’ Metropolitan Policy Program report, “Concentrated poverty continues to grow post recession,” is authored by Elizabeth Kneebone and Natalie Holmes and scrutinizes this unprecedented shift in the aftermath of the 2008 financial meltdown.

The report, based on an analysis of US census tracts, shows that concentrations of poverty have grown under the Obama administration in all geography types: large metropolitan areas, small cities and rural areas. In fact, the number of poor people living in concentrated poverty in suburbs grew nearly twice as fast as in cities, putting paid to the myth of affluence or even stability in America’s suburbs.

The growth of social and economic distress within large parts of the US is demonstrated by the statistics. Pockets of high poverty exist in virtually every part of the country, including adjacent to the nation’s wealthiest neighborhoods. Since 2000, according to the report, the total number of poor people living in high-poverty neighborhoods has doubled to 14 million Americans. This is five million more than prior to the Great Recession.

Referring to the “double burden” facing the poor when they live in high-poverty neighborhoods, Kneebone and Holmes say, “Residents of poor neighborhoods face higher crime rates and exhibit poorer physical and mental health outcomes. They tend to go to poor-performing neighborhood schools with higher dropout rates. Their job-seeking networks tend to be weaker and they face higher levels of financial insecurity.”

These effects are clearly discernible once a neighborhood’s poverty rate exceeds 20 percent, the report explains. During the study period, between 2005-09 and 2010-14, the number of such high poverty neighborhoods grew by more than 4,300.

Across many demographics: City and suburb, black and white

Suburbs accounted for one-third of the newly high-poverty neighborhoods, a higher share than cities, rural or small metro areas. The share of poor black and Hispanic suburban residents climbed by 10 percent while poor white residents climbed by eight percent, almost as much.

The palpable effects of the auto industry restructuring, with the Obama administration’s stipulation of a 50 percent cut in wages for new autoworkers, is demonstrated in the growth of poverty in the sprawling auto-dominated Detroit region. Out of metro Detroiters living in poverty, 58 percent now reside in suburban districts, according to a survey by Oakland County Lighthouse.

A recent and similar demographic study by the Century Foundation states that the six-county region has the highest concentration of poverty among the top 25 metro areas in the US by population. This represents 32 percent of the poor living in concentrated tracts.

There has been a staggering growth of poor neighborhoods in and around Detroit, Kneebone told the Detroit Free Press, adding that the number “grew almost fivefold between 2000 and 2010-14.” Detroit now has an official poverty rate of 39 percent, the highest in the US among cities with more than 300,000 residents.

“Sadly this report reinforces what we have been seeing year after year in Detroit and across Michigan.” Gilda Jacobs, of the Michigan League for Public Policy told the World Socialist Web Site. “Poverty is too high, and where people—especially kids—live has a direct and significant impact on their economic standing, health and other outcomes.”

From the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt

Detroit, however, is just the most concentrated expression of the national trend. “Among the nation’s largest metro areas, two-thirds (67 percent) saw concentrated poverty grow between 2005-09 and 2010-14,” the Brookings study found. The authors note that some of the “largest upticks included a number of Sun Belt metro areas hit hard by the collapse of the housing market—like Fresno, Bakersfield and Stockton in California and Phoenix and Tucson in Arizona—and older industrial areas in the Midwest and northeast—like Indianapolis, Buffalo, and Syracuse.”

Eight metro areas now show concentrated poverty over 30 percent: Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wisconsin (30.1 percent); Memphis, Tennessee (31.1 percent); Bakersfield, California (31.7 percent); Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, Michigan (32 percent); Syracuse, New York (32.4 percent); Toledo, Ohio (34.9 percent); Fresno, California (43.8 percent); and McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas (52.3 percent).

As the WSWS has previously reported, all job growth over the last decade has been “temp” or contingency employment, traditionally the lowest wage levels of any job and paying no benefits. This loss of hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs has impacted communities throughout the US. Concentrated poverty in suburbs has jumped 2.4 points in the wake of the recession, to a record high of 7.1 percent.

What is the “double burden” of concentrated poverty?

In her remarks to the WSWS, Gilda Jacobs elaborated on the double burden of concentrated poverty: “So many detrimental factors come with living in high-poverty neighborhoods. There are no viable jobs, public transportation, childcare, or grocery stores. Crime rates are high, there’s blight and abandoned buildings, and the health risks of lead exposure and asthma. Even Detroit’s public schools are unhealthy and even dangerous.

“This is what Detroit kids and other low-income children are dealing with every day, and what they have to try to overcome in improving their futures. These living and learning conditions are all connected, and harm kids’ development and learning, their academic outcomes and their future job prospects. It is called toxic stress when kids are under constant strain. This study reiterates that so many factors affecting poverty are external and environmental, making them nearly impossible to defeat alone,” she stressed.

A series of studies [including George Galster’s “The Mechanism(s) of Neighborhood Effects Theory, Evidence, and Policy Implications” and others] have documented how poor neighborhoods undermine even the most determined individual efforts to escape poverty.

Taken together, these studies demonstrate how the escalating growth of poverty concentration exacts an ever-higher toll on American society, affecting many aspects of life and particularly destroying the potential of the next generation.

*Education. High-poverty neighborhoods exert “downward pressure” on school quality. Data from the Stanford Data Archive has recently shown a staggering effect upon child learning capacities of attending impoverished school districts. Utilizing 215 million state accountability test scores, the study showed that “Children in districts with the highest concentrations of poverty score an average of more than four grade levels below children in the richest districts [emphasis added].”

*Violence. Exposure to violence has reached epidemic proportions for low-income youth, particularly among minorities. Parental stress over neighborhood violence is a substantial factor motivating families to move—when they can—from high-poverty neighborhoods, compounded by fears of negative peer influences upon their children. Youth and adults who have been exposed to violence as witnesses or victims suffer increased stress and documented declines in mental health.

*Toxic exposures. Poor areas are chronically associated with higher concentrations of air-, water- and soil-borne pollutants. Lead poisoning is most often associated with older housing stock. Researchers have demonstrated that depression, asthma, diabetes and heart ailments are correlated with living in high-poverty neighborhoods. Additionally, individuals in poor neighborhoods often receive inferior health care and reduced government services.

* Other effects of physical decay . The inability to exercise outdoors is a known factor in the rise of obesity, especially among children. High levels of noise pollution produce stress, and prolonged exposure to run-down surroundings can lead to hopelessness.

*The poor pay more. Prices in poor neighborhoods are notoriously higher and the goods of poorer quality than those in better-off areas. Food and health-care “deserts” are common. The costs of home and car insurance are usually substantially higher.

*Lack of social cohesion. Disorder and lack of social cohesion are associated with both crime and mental distress. Children who live without a cohesive neighborhood network are more likely to have behavioral problems and have lower verbal skills. Those in areas of concentrated poverty are typically more isolated within their households and have fewer educated or employed friends and neighbors. Low levels of employment in distressed neighborhoods also destroy the informal networks crucial for workers to find good jobs.

US senators demand escalation of military confrontation with China

James Cogan

Tensions between the United States and China are rising in the lead-up to a ruling by the United Nations Permanent Court of Arbitration on a US-backed legal challenge launched by the Philippines to Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea.

Last Wednesday, leading Republican and Democratic Party senators joined forces to introduce legislation, “The Asia-Pacific Maritime Security Initiative Act,” that is aimed at dramatically increasing the US intervention into the territorial disputes. The legislation authorises the Obama administration to give greater military assistance to the Philippines and other rivals to China’s claims, while requiring the White House report to the Senate on US plans for “freedom of navigation assertions” and “China’s activities in the South China Sea.”

The US has conducted two “freedom of navigation” operations, once in October 2015 and again in January, during which an American warship intruded into the 12-mile territorial zone around Chinese-held and claimed islands.

The tabling of the legislation was accompanied by strident condemnations of China over its reclamation of land from the sea around small islands and reefs, its construction of airstrips and docks and deployment of military forces and missile defence systems on territory that it controls.

Democratic Party Senator Ben Cardin denounced “China’s provocative actions in the South China Sea.” Republican Cory Gardner asserted that “China’s ongoing reclamation activities and militarisation of the South China Sea threatens regional stability and represents a clear and fundamental challenge to international law.”

Democrat Robert Menendez complained that “for too long, as China continues its aggressive and expansive policies, the United States has played the role of observer, or perhaps protestor, but not yet an actor.” The legislation, Menendez declared, would “send a signal to our friends and allies in the region that the international community—led by the United States—will no longer tolerate China’s efforts to militarise its foreign policy.”

These accusations of Chinese aggression turn reality on its head. The longstanding territorial disputes in the South China Sea have only emerged as major international issues—and the possible trigger for a catastrophic war—due to the US “pivot” to Asia to undermine China’s influence. Launched by the Obama administration in 2011, the pivot has involved the build-up of US military forces and activities in the region that threaten Beijing. China has made efforts to cement its grip over territory in the South China Sea, by reclamation and military deployments, largely been in response to Washington’s active encouragement of the Philippines and Vietnam to pursue their claims.

Hearings of senate committees last Thursday were used by various senators to grill representatives of the Obama administration and demand greater US military intervention in the South China Sea.

Opening the Foreign Relations Committee, at which Deputy Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was called to testify, Republican Bob Corker asserted: “We’ve reached a point now, where there’s no denying the fact that China has positioned itself as a geopolitical rival to the United States.” Calling for the navy to conduct a freedom of navigation operation inside Chinese-claimed territory “every week,” Corker declared: “Sending one a quarter is simply insufficient to send a strong message to China.”

In the Armed Services Committee, Senator John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential candidate, lambasted Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and the Obama administration for classifying provocative US naval and aerial operations taking place in the vicinity of Chinese-held territory. Carter refused to provide details on reports that US A-10 Warthog attack aircraft have recently been flying from a base in the Philippines to the area near Scarborough Shoal—a small reef that is claimed by the Philippines but is effectively controlled by China.

Scarborough Shoal—known as Huangyan Island in China—is one of the disputed territories that the UN court has been asked by the Philippines to adjudicate on. The US Navy has alleged that Chinese survey ships have been operating in the area, and speculated that China may respond to a ruling in favour of the Philippines by deploying military forces onto the shoal and initiating land reclamation in order to expand it and allow for the construction of airstrips and other infrastructure.

Last week, the Chinese Defense Ministry stated: “Huangyan Island is China’s inherent territory and the Chinese military will take all necessary measures to safeguard national sovereignty and security.” It denounced the United States for “promoting militarisation of the South China Sea in the name of freedom of navigation.”

Bonnie Glaser from the US Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) told the Wall Street Journal last week: “A political decision would have to be made that Chinese reclamation on Scarborough is unacceptable. But do we really want to draw a red line here? And what would the US do if the Chinese simply went ahead anyway?”

The rhetoric in the Senate reflects the fact that major figures in the US political establishment are more than prepared to trigger a war with China, using the territorial disputes as the pretext. During the recent joint US-Philippines’ Balikatan military exercises, American and Filipino troops rehearsed an amphibious assault to retake an island in the South China Sea that had been seized by an unspecified country.

For its part, the Chinese regime is ratcheting up tensions as well. On April 28, Beijing rejected a request by the US aircraft carrier USS John C Stennis and its support ships to make a port call at Hong Kong. The refusal is the first time in more than a decade that US warships have been denied entry into Hong Kong and only the third time since the territory was reincorporated into China in 1997.

Over the past week, Chinese foreign minister Wang Zi has engaged in top level talks with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov to try and enlist Moscow’s support. Lavrov responded with a statement that “outside parties”—a clear reference to the US—“should not interfere” in the South China Sea disputes.

The prospect of an incident taking place is steadily increasing. Reuters reported on Saturday that the Chinese military is training thousands of fishermen as a militia to assist with “safeguarding Chinese sovereignty,” by gathering information and monitoring the movement on foreign ships. According to the report, some fishing crews have been issued with small arms.

Austria abolishes right to asylum

Markus Salzmann

The Austrian government has responded to the success of the Freedom Party (FPÖ) in the first round of the presidential election by embracing its far-right politics and thereby further strengthening it.

The Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP)/Social Democrat (SPÖ) coalition rushed a law through parliament on Wednesday which practically abolishes the right to asylum. The government can now declare a state of emergency if “public order and the protection of internal security” can no longer be guaranteed due to high refugee numbers. In practice, this means this takes effect when the government’s self-imposed upper limit of 37,500 refugees per year is reached.

Refugees will then no longer be allowed into the country. Asylum applications would be reviewed in a one-hour procedure at the border and only accepted if the applicant can prove they face the threat of torture in their homeland, or if close relatives live in Austria. All others will be immediately turned away.

The state of emergency is initially limited to six months, but can be lengthened for a period up to two years.

The law also proposes that irrespective of the state of emergency, refugees will only receive protection for three years. At that point, the basis for asylum will once again be reviewed. Family reunification will also be made much more difficult. In addition, the period for processing asylum applications will be increased from six to 15 months.

Due to earlier radical right-wing measures to deter refugees, the number of asylum applications in Austria has already declined significantly. While last November a total of 12,000 applications were filed, by February it was just 5,000.

As well as hermetically sealing off the eastern border with Hungary, the grand coalition in Vienna is acting similarly at the southern border with Italy. On the Brenner motorway, one of Europe’s most important arteries, they are building a 370-metre-long, four-metre-high fence and three checkpoints on the highway that runs from Italy. Another checkpoint is being built on the federal highway. Trains crossing from Italy into Austria will also be checked.

The police director in Tyrol, Helmut Tomac, declared that border controls on the Brenner could be reintroduced at any time. New Austrian Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobodka (ÖVP) stated that waiting rooms and registration centres were in the process of construction. Austria did not wish to be taken by surprise by an influx of refugees, he said.

“According to our information, between 200,000 and 1 million potential refugees are ready to set off in the direction of Europe from Libya,” said Sobodka, without providing any evidence for these figures. The interior minister made clear that he would continue the ruthless policies of his predecessor, Johanna Mikl-Leitner. He explained the closing of the borders for refugees with the justification, “The country’s security interests come first.”

Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) said that after the Balkan route, the southern route had to be secured. “If it is clear that the road to Central Europe is no longer open, then there will be fewer people with an interest in coming to Central Europe.” Austria applied pressure last year on the states of the former Yugoslavia to shut down the so-called Balkan route to stop the flow of refugees to Austria.

The charitable organisation Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned of the danger of the Brenner becoming a “new Idomeni” in the event of a border closure. The Greek town has become a synonym for the European Union’s refugee policy. “If we don’t create legal and secure routes through which the refugees can reach Europe, unbelievable situations could arise,” the organisation warned.

In parliament, the SPÖ and ÖVP unanimously supported the asylum measures. The right-wing extremist FPÖ wanted to go even further. It demanded an upper limit of “zero” for the influx of refugees.

Only the Greens opposed the legislation in parliament. But they are not concerned with the right to asylum, but rather the maintenance of the EU, which they consider to be at risk with the sealing off of the national borders.

The Italian government protested against the Austrian measures to seal the border. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi stated it was a blatant violation of EU regulations. The president of Italy’s chamber of deputies, Laura Boldrini, said they were ill conceived, because they imposed divisions. Interior minister Angelino Alfano warned of the closure of the Brenner by stating, “Europe’s future is at stake.”

By contrast, the Austrian government received support from the far right. State president of Lombardi, Roberto Maroni of the xenophobic Lega Nord, declared, “Austria is simply doing what normal countries do: it is controlling its borders. We are the only ones who appear surprised when Austria does what its citizens consider to be worthwhile.”

With its right-wing policies, the Vienna government is playing directly into the hands of the far right. Even the Greens’ Alexander Von der Bellen, who is involved in a run-off election on May 22 for the presidency with the FPÖ candidate Norbert Hofer, did not fundamentally oppose the measures. In a debate broadcast by public broadcaster Ö1, both were agreed that the concept of “home,” under which Van der Bellen is conducting his campaign, contained a positive message.

Van der Bellen declared he thought borders on the Brenner were superfluous, because Italy was fulfilling all European requirements. At the same time, he noted—in agreement with Hofer—that in the face of high unemployment, economic migrants must be firmly rejected.

Political prisoner Gary Tyler freed from Angola prison after 41 years

Helen Hayes

On Friday, April 29, after spending his entire adult life at the notorious Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola for a crime he did not commit, Gary Tyler, now 57 years old, walked out a free man.

Gary Tyler in 1985

Tyler’s case is among the most brazen and brutal frame-ups in modern American history. His victimization exemplifies the violent and repressive character of class relations in the United States and the antidemocratic nature of the US “justice” system.

The Workers League and the Young Socialists, the forerunners of the Socialist Equality Party and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality, played the leading role in the campaign for Gary Tyler’s freedom. Our movement carried out a determined national and international struggle to mobilize the working class in his defense, insisting that his frame-up was fundamentally a class question and represented an attack on the working class as a whole.

In 1974, Tyler, then a 16-year-old student at Destrehan High School on the outskirts of New Orleans, was railroaded to prison for the October 7 shooting death of a 13-year-old white student, Timothy Weber. The killing occurred in a racially charged atmosphere whipped up by elements such as David Duke, then emerging as a leading figure in the Louisiana and national Ku Klux Klan—now a supporter of Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump—in response to court-ordered busing to desegregate Destrehan and other high schools.

Gary Tyler in late 1977

Tyler was among the group of African-American Destrehan students being sent home early that day due to tensions at the school. Weber was standing in a crowd of white students and adults shouting insults as the school bus pulled out, when a shot rang out, fatally wounding him. Tyler was arbitrarily singled out by sheriff’s deputies and taken to the local jail, where he was savagely beaten.

He was held in jail for a year, until he turned 17, so he could be tried as an adult. He was charged with first-degree murder, a charge that carried a mandatory sentence of death in the electric chair. His nine-day trial was a travesty. The alleged murder weapon—not found during initial searches—turned out to be a pistol that had “disappeared” from a police firing range. The gun later went missing. The trial judge, Ruche Marino, was reportedly a member of the White Citizens Council.

The only “evidence” against Tyler was testimony from students, black and white, who subsequently recanted their statements at trial, in some cases charging that they had been terrorized and threatened by police to make them falsely incriminate Tyler.

Convicted by an all-white jury, Tyler was initially sentenced to be executed on May 1, 1976, almost exactly 40 years prior to the date of his eventual release. He spent two years on death row at Angola prison, becoming at the time the youngest death row inmate in the US. The death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole only after the US Supreme Court ruled, in 1977, that the Louisiana death penalty statute was unconstitutional. The authorities vindictively kept the young man in solitary confinement for eight years.

They refused to release Tyler or grant him a new trial despite a 1980 ruling by the Fifth Circuit of the US Court of Appeals that his trial was unconstitutional and “fundamentally unfair.” Instead, the attorneys general of Louisiana, Texas and Florida petitioned the Fifth Circuit Court to change its decision. They feared that giving Gary a new trial would derail scores of similar frame-ups throughout the south. In 1981, the appeals court overturned its own ruling on a legal technicality.

Tyler’s attorneys appealed this ruling to the Supreme Court, which refused to hear the case.

Both big-business parties are complicit in the frame-up and decades-long imprisonment of Tyler. The teenager was railroaded to prison under Republican President Gerald Ford and the state administration of Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards, a Democrat. He was kept in jail by Democratic Governor Charles “Buddy” Roemer despite three separate recommendations from the Louisiana state parole board that his sentence be reduced, which would have allowed him to go free many years ago.

In 1994, Amnesty International declared Gary Tyler to be a political prisoner. In 2008, Democratic Governor Kathleen Blanco left office without acting on new calls for Tyler’s release from prominent journalists and cultural figures.

The state of Louisiana finally allowed Tyler to go free only after a series of rulings by the US Supreme Court left it with no alternative. In 2013, Tyler’s lawyer filed a motion on the basis of the 2012 decision in Miller v. Alabama in which the court said mandatory life sentences without the possibility of parole for juvenile offenders violated the US Constitution. Earlier this year, in Montgomery v. Louisiana, the high court held that its decision in Miller had to be applied retroactively.

Even so, the state authorities insisted that in return for his freedom, Tyler, who had always maintained his innocence, accept a plea deal in which he pled guilty to manslaughter. Last Friday, a state judge accepted Tyler’s plea and sentenced him to the maximum 21-year term for manslaughter, far less time than he had already served.

Tyler, having lost both parents and a number of siblings while in prison, was able to leave prison for the first time since he was arrested at the age of 16.

The arrest, frame-up and conviction of Tyler took place in the context of a mounting economic and political crisis of American capitalism. The shooting at Destrehan High School occurred only weeks after the resignation of Richard Nixon as a result of the Watergate revelations, the first ever resignation of a sitting US president.

On the international front, the US was heading for an ignominious defeat in Vietnam.

Political hatred for Nixon was accompanied by militant struggles by coal miners, autoworkers, teachers, public employees and other sections of workers against the initial attempts of the American ruling class to impose the cost of its economic decline on the working class. Under Nixon’s successor, Gerald Ford, the US entered into the deepest recession to that point since the end of World War II, which continued under the Democratic Carter administration.

The stage was set for the ruling class, under Ronald Reagan, to launch a counteroffensive against the working class, targeting all of its past social gains and its democratic rights—a class-war policy that has continued unabated ever since. The trade unions enabled this offensive to proceed by betraying every struggle of the working class against mass layoffs, plant closures, wage cuts and union-busting, beginning with their de facto alliance with the Reagan administration against the PATCO air traffic controllers in 1981.

When the Workers League and Young Socialists learned of Tyler’s frame-up and looming execution in 1976, our movement organized a powerful and sustained campaign to mobilize support in the working class for his freedom. We recognized that this was part of an attack on the entire working class, and that Tyler’s freedom could be won only by mobilizing workers independently of and in opposition to the capitalist two-party system.

The Young Socialists issued a pamphlet titled The Frameup of Gary Tylerthat sold tens of thousands of copies and went through three editions. The pamphlet outlined the basic facts in the case, explained that this was an attack on the working class as a whole, and called for the unity of black and white workers to fight for Tyler’s freedom.

Juanita Tyler speaking at a Young Socialist conference in Detroit, 1976

The pamphlet stated in its introduction that the freedom of Tyler and other political prisoners could not be secured “through protests and appeals to the government and its courts.” It continued: “These are the forces that carried out these frame-ups as part of their preparations for the most savage attacks on the basic rights of all workers and youth. Defending Gary Tyler means fighting to rouse the strength of the working class against Jimmy Carter and the capitalist system which is responsible for these attacks.”

Within the space of a few months, 40,000 signatures were collected on petitions and the support of union bodies representing hundreds of thousands of workers was secured in the fight for Gary’s defense. Our movement carried out this struggle internationally, and the appeal for Tyler’s freedom began to draw widespread attention, with songs written and performed by Gil Scott Heron and UB 40, among others.

The Young Socialist march to free Gary Tyler in Harlem, December 1976

On December 4, 1976, the Young Socialists organized a powerful march and rally in Harlem, New York that was joined by hundreds of young people and workers, including autoworkers, transit workers, teachers and striking newspaper pressmen, to demand Tyler’s freedom and review the political implications of his frame-up.

Tyler sent a message to the demonstrators from prison, which read, in part: “While here in a state of incarceration, I have decided to write this statement. I really appreciate the things you all are doing to help me to obtain justice that the government says truly exists within this country. But, how could justice exist when Democracy only applies for the rich and not for the working class and especially not for the poor?... Democracy for an insignificant minority, democracy for the rich—that is the democracy of capitalist society.”

Tom Henehan (right) leading the 1976 march in Harlem

In 1977, Tom Henehan, a leading member of the Workers League, was killed in a political assassination at a Young Socialists social held in Brooklyn to raise funds for the defense of Tyler. In 1985, we published a pamphlet featuring an interview with Tyler obtained by Young Socialists National Secretary D’Artagnan Collier, who visited the 27-year-old prisoner at Angola state penitentiary.

Young Socialists interview Gary Tyler in Angola State Penitentiary July 10, 1985

The Socialist Equality Party, the IYSSE and the World Socialist Web Site continued to bring Tyler’s case to the attention of a national and international audience, despite a virtual blackout in the media. In 2012, SEP members held a meeting in New Orleans as part of the presidential campaign of Jerry White in that year’s national elections and raised the demand for Tyler’s freedom. They met with Tyler’s mother, Juanita Tyler, shortly before her death at the age of 80.

Gary Tyler’s conviction and the time he spent in prison expose the brutal class character of the American judicial system and its vast prison complex. Since his frame-up, the assault on the living standards and democratic rights of the working class has intensified. It has been stepped up under the cover of the fraudulent “war on terror” and especially since the Wall Street crash of 2008. Under the Obama administration, it has reached new heights, with the expansion of war, a record growth of social inequality, and an escalation of government surveillance and the militarization of the police.

Today, the issues raised by our movement in the fight for Gary Tyler’s freedom—the inseparable connection between the defense of democratic rights and the fight for socialism—retain their full urgency.

Iraqi regime shaken by storming of Baghdad’s Green Zone

Thomas Gaist

Hundreds of Iraqi demonstrators flooded out of Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone Sunday, ending dramatic protests that saw crowds storm the central government compound, destroying property, assaulting an Iraqi lawmaker and prompting the imposition of a state of emergency throughout the capital by Iraq’s military.

The demonstrators, whose storming of the militarized compound on the previous day had, as even the New York Times acknowledged, “hinted at revolution,” maintained silence and ceased the attacks against government property they had carried out on the previous day as they left the Green Zone, doing so under orders from Shia leader Moqtada al-Sadr.

In a speech to supporters Saturday, Sadr issued populist denunciations of the country’s political elite, declaring: “The main political blocs in this country want a partisan government of sectarian quotas so they can keep their gains and keep stealing.”

Sadr said that the cessation of protests was only temporary and that another round of demonstrations is scheduled to begin Friday. He vowed that his own sizable parliamentary faction would cease participation in legislative proceedings indefinitely.

The Sadrists had earned popular sympathy through their armed struggle against the US occupation forces. In 2004, the Shia movement was drawn into the anti-American insurgency after being outlawed by US proconsul Paul Bremer for delivering aid to residents during the blood-soaked siege of Fallujah by US Marines.

The opposition of the Sadrist party to US imperialism is, however, ultimately a tactic aimed at bolstering the movement’s sectarian interests within Iraq. Sadr, the representative of a powerful Shia clerical and political family, is firmly bound to sections of Iraq’s political establishment. Reports indicate that he is engaged in behind-the-scenes discussions with Abadi.

The New York Times reported that Sadr hopes “to nudge politicians who have opposed Mr. Abadi’s efforts” and is seeking “to reinsert himself into Iraq’s political mix.”

“This isn’t necessarily al-Sadr positioning himself against Abadi, they are both looking for the same sort of process,” Baghdad-based investment analyst Stephen Royle told Bloomberg.

“It works in favor of Abadi to use Moqtada al-Sadr and public support to push through with these reforms,” Royle said.

Though quickly reined in, the demonstrations are an acute manifestation of the fact that the US-backed government stands completely discredited and hated in the eyes of the Iraqi population. Eleven years after being installed in power through elections held as hundreds of thousands of American soldiers still patrolled Iraqi streets and towns, and under a transitional administrative law authorized by US bureaucrats employed by the Coalition Provisional Authority, Iraq’s government stands on the verge of collapse.

The crisis of the Iraqi state has only intensified since the official US withdrawal in 2011, as Iranian influence in the country has grown, and sectarian conflict has intensified.

In the summer of 2014, large portions of the country, including its second most populous city, have fallen under the control of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), an Al Qaeda-linked militia that emerged out of the insurgency against the Syrian government organized by Washington and its Gulf allies. ISIS subsequently consolidated control over portions of northern and western Iraq, including the cities of Mosul, Hit and Ramadi. In the past week, a wave of terror bombings claimed by ISIS rocked cities in southern and central Iraq, killing dozens of civilians.

Faced with a steep decline in economic growth, which fell to only 2.4 percent in 2015, down from 12.7 percent on average between 2000 and 2012, Abadi’s government is seeking to stabilize its rule under conditions in which the fall in world oil prices has placed massive strain on its revenues. In recent weeks, demands by Washington for an escalation of military operations, fought by Iraqi troops accompanied by US “advisors,” have intensified the diversion of resources away from civilian functions and forced a virtual shutdown of government operations.

The deliberate stoking of Sunni-Shia divisions under the US occupation as a divide-and-rule strategy has insured that central areas of Iraq remain contested by the government troops, backed by US “advisors,” and various militant groups. Armed violence continues to rage throughout Iraq on a daily basis, with at least 800 Iraqi civilians killed last month alone, on top of 1,100 killed in March, according to UN figures.

At least 55,047 Iraqi civilians were killed between 2014-2016, the UN found, with 3.2 million displaced during the same period, including more than 1 million school children.

In recent weeks, the Pentagon announced new deployments of US ground forces, Apache helicopter gunships, and artillery to combat bases in northern Iraq, where US forces are preparing a brutal assault against Mosul. In a desperate effort to prop up its ailing puppet regime, Washington is preparing to meet any opposition to the American-backed order with, as Defense Secretary Ashton Carter put it in remarks last week, “the full might of the US military.”

Class and geopolitical tensions are mounting throughout the region. The emergence of strike movements among Kuwaiti oil workers, the revival of protests in Egypt and the accelerating buildup of US combat forces on both sides of the Iraq-Syria border underscore the fact that the entire Middle Eastern political order is becoming unstuck, under the impact of a developing revolutionary crisis and wars that are increasingly coalescing into a region-wide conflagration.

Oppose the witch-hunt of Ken Livingstone!

Robert Stevens & Chris Marsden

The suspension of former London Mayor Ken Livingstone from the Labour Party in Britain on the spurious grounds of anti-Semitism is an outrageous violation of democratic rights and yet another shameless capitulation by the Jeremy Corbyn leadership to reactionary political forces.

The Socialist Equality Party in Britain has longstanding and fundamental political differences with Livingstone. But it rejects the accusation that he is an anti-Semite as a politically motivated lie. Livingstone has been active in left wing and radical causes for more than 40 years. To accuse him of anti-Semitism is not only a personal slander. The unjustified misuse of the term—reducing anti-Semitism to the level of an epithet—has the effect of trivialising a politically sinister and dangerous form of racism. Such misuse of the charge of anti-Semitism has become the stock in trade of Zionists and other right-wing forces seeking to discredit all political opposition to Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people.

The political forces behind the attack on Livingstone involve an unholy alliance of the Conservative Party, Zionist groups and right-wing sections of the Labour Party itself. The support lent to it by Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn is yet another demonstration of his political cowardice and lack of principles.

The suspension arises out of statements Livingstone made last week while opposing a similar action carried out against another Labour Party MP, Naz Shah. After defending Shah against charges of anti-Semitism, Livingstone went on to say, “Let’s remember, when Hitler won his election in 1932 [sic] his policy then was that Jews should be moved to Israel. He was supporting Zionism. [He then] went mad and ended up killing 6 million Jews.”

Within hours, dozens of reactionary Labour Party MPs—including all three of the individuals Corbyn defeated in the party leadership contest last September—demanded action against Livingstone. Corbyn suspended him that same day, declaring that his comments were “unacceptable” and that he would have to face an investigation. “We are not tolerating anti-Semitism in any form whatsoever in our party,” Corbyn said.

As to the substance of the controversy, the worst that can be said about Livingstone’s comments is that he spoke with insufficient care. The statement that Hitler supported Zionism, without further qualification, is imprecise and challengeable on factual grounds. Hitler was a virulent anti-Semite, and whatever support he and his regime gave to Zionism was steeped in the most cynical political calculations and always subordinate to Nazi leader’s unwavering and pathological hatred of Jews. However, it is a matter of historical record that after Hitler came to power in 1933, significant sections of the Zionist movement in Germany sought an accommodation with the regime.

Dealing with this subject in his book, Nazi Germany and the Jews, the respected historian Saul Friedländer has written:

Not only did the [Nazi] regime encourage Zionist activities on the territory of the Reich, but concrete economic measures were taken to ease the departure of Jews for Palestine. The so-called Haavarah (Hebrew: Transfer) Agreement, concluded on August 27, 1933, between the German Ministry of the Economy and Zionist representatives from Germany and Palestine, allowed Jewish emigrants indirect transfer of part of their assets and facilitated exports of goods from Nazi Germany to Palestine.

Friedländer also cites a memorandum from leaders of the Zionist Federation of Germany sent on June 22, 1933, which, according to historian Francis Nicosia (author of Zionism and Anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany), “seemed to profess a degree of sympathy for the völkish principles of the Hitler regime and argued that Zionism was compatible with these principles.” The memorandum states:

Zionism believes that the rebirth of the national life of a people, which is now occurring in Germany through the emphasis on its Christian and national character, must also come about among the Jewish people. For the Jewish people, too, national origin, religion, common destiny and a sense of its uniqueness must be of decisive importance to its existence. This demands the elimination of the egotistical individualism of the liberal era, and its replacement with a sense of community and collective responsibility.

While the subject of Zionist relations with the Nazi regime is subject to varying interpretations, Livingstone’s statements have a factual foundation. That he has been suspended from the Labour Party for expressing his views on the matter is a violation of the most elementary democratic norms.

An article that appeared in the Observer on Sunday, written by Nick Cohen, exposes the underlying political motivation of the campaign against Livingstone. Denouncing Livingstone and Corbyn in equal measure, Cohen libeled Marxism as the political source of the Labour “left’s” supposed hostility to Jews. The Labour Party was led, according to Cohen, by “dirty old men, with roots in the contaminated soil of Marxist totalitarianism. If it is to change, its leaders will either have to change their minds or be thrown out of office.” [emphasis in original]

Cohen is a right-wing hack and venal warmonger, who defends the actions of an Israeli state run by political gangsters and war criminals. His lies are part of a concerted attempt to silence dissent and shift British politics sharply to the right.

The provocation against Livingstone occurred just days before elections to the Scottish and Welsh Assembly, to some English local authorities and for mayor of London. It was timed to inflict maximum damage on Jeremy Corbyn in the first national elections contested under his leadership.

Rather than forthrightly defending Livingstone, Corbyn immediately prostrated himself before the rightwing. His response to the anti-Livingstone campaign is that of a political coward. It demonstrates once again that Corbyn’s political role is to stifle and suppress the oppositional sentiment of the hundreds of thousands of workers and youth who elected him to the leadership of the Labour Party. Indeed, his tenure as the party’s leader has not changed Labour’s policy one iota—so much so that today the party’s right-wing feels able to plan his ouster.

Corbyn’s behavior exemplifies the lack of political principle characteristic of the entire Labour Party and its leadership. His main ally in the party, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, is already positioning himself as a possible replacement in the event of a leadership challenge. After committing any future Labour government to continued austerity measures, McDonnell attacked Corbyn for taking too long to suspend Livingstone.

Asthma - Can We Live With It?

Akanksha Sethi

Not all ailments are of the type that can be cured completely over time, even though they are not life threatening. Asthma, which afflicts an estimated 300 million people worldwide, is one such disease that cannot be cured though it can consciously be controlled. Those who keep it under check, through a proper lifestyle, diet and regular medication, are able to lead a normal life, said Professor (Dr) Surya Kant, Head of the Respiratory Medicine Department at King George's Medical University, in an interview given to CNS (Citizen News Service).

Watch this exclusive video interview with Prof Surya Kant here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lznZ3sO_80

Even as there has been a 25% increase in the number of people living with asthma during the last decade in Uttar Pradesh, and in India as a whole, Dr Surya Kant is grateful for small mercies in so much as the mortality rate due to this ailment remains minimal. “This means that the disease, though debilitating, is not fatal in most cases.”

My 21year old friend has been living with chronic asthma since his childhood. One fine day, two years ago, he unexpectedly turned blue due to shortage of breath and had to be rushed to the hospital. He was admitted there for two days and was nebulized after every six hours. Perhaps he had been negligent in taking his medication as well as precautions. But since then he has become wiser and takes the medicines prescribed by his doctor religiously and regularly. He always carries an inhaler with him wherever he goes and uses it twice daily. He told me that his sister is also living with this ailment but hers is the acquired type, while his is genetic. In most cases, acquired asthma is not as problematic as the genetic one. The person with genetic asthma has to take better care of himself because it can cause an attack almost anytime and all that a person can do is be prepared. Today, this friend of mine is an active basketball player and performs all his daily chores in the same manner as any other person. Like many others of his kind, he is a living inspiration to all those people who wrongly believe that asthma prevents one from leading a perfectly normal and healthy life.

Dr Surya Kant who is also the national President of Indian Chest Society advises that, “Inhalation therapy should be the patient’s part of life just like wearing spectacles is for someone with a vision problem. All persons living with asthma must regularly use their inhaler once every twelve hours every day, since there is no other alternative therapy to it.”

Dr Surya Kant shared that every year there is an upsurge in the number of asthma patients during the months of July and October. He attributes this to the change in season that is one of the factors which triggers asthma. An interesting fact which he shared was that intake of cold drinks and ice creams are important trigger factors for 1 in every 3 Indians suffering from asthma. His advise is that we Indians should replace intake of iced drinks and other iced products with indigenous alternatives like butter milk, and coconut water to protect the children from developing asthma. A study done in the school going children of Delhi, the capital of India, found that unregulated intake of fast food and rise in obesity are also leading to asthma in children. So one has to be careful of one’s lifestyle too.

"Since asthma is a genetic ailment, one cannot change the genotypes but can surely change the triggers. Air pollution, house dust, biogas fuel smoke and pollen grains are other common risk factors. House dust provokes the genotype to convert into the phenotype asthma. Houses should be properly ventilated and admit enough sunlight, which kills the bacteria. Carpets, heavy curtains/sofa covers, pet animals etc also create risks. There is no moisture and fungus formation if the house receives proper sunlight and oxygen. Coming to the houses that are too modern, we see a lot of sofa covers, curtains, carpets etc. All these, including pet animals, create an allergic environment for people with asthma and should be avoided," said Dr Surya Kant.

In this year's World Asthma Day webinar, Dr Jeremiah Chakaya Muhwa of the Forum of International Respiratory Societies (FIRS) and member, Board of Directors, International Union Against TB and Lung Disease (The Union) lamented that asthma is often under diagnosed and, even when diagnosed, under treated. There seems to be a tendency to ignore it as it does not kill as much as other diseases. But it has massive social, psychological, economic and physical consequences. He rightly called asthma a public health problem that needs a well-coordinated public health response.

Embrace The Coming Ecological Inflection Point And Great Transition

Glen Barry

Environmental awareness must soon reach a critical mass, whereby massive societal resources are re-allocated to scale up solutions in a great ecological transition; before biosphere, social, and economic collapse become unavoidable. An approaching ecological inflection point reflects a narrow band of opportunity to repair fragmented, quivering nature, clearly at its breaking point, before it is too late.

New York City: After 25 years of ecological advocacy, I can say with certainty that I have never seen as much genuine environmental concern as I do now. This has generally not led en masse to required action such as personal dramatic emission cuts and refusal to buy all products from old-growth forests. But for the first time ecological decline including climate change is visibly apparent to a degree that it is readily known by the educated and it can’t be denied by anyone of good faith and character.

Concurrently trend lines for atmospheric and ecosystem decline are more perilous than ever. Humanity is putting the biosphere at great risk, as rampant industrial pollution and clearing of natural vegetation results in abrupt climate change occurring far faster than envisioned, and natural ecosystems failing to provide the surrounding matrix of natural services which makes life possible.

The natural family’s only hope is that an ecological inflection point occurs, whereby the impacts of biosphere collapse become so evident – perhaps as millions die from extreme storms and other depredations – while there is still time to implement sufficient solutions. At that point the human family will howl for the necessary measures to be taken to protect and restore natural ecosystems, and end fossil fuels, on an accelerated emergency basis.

The only questions are whether as ecosystem collapse becoming apparent, will we squabble for what remains as we deny ecologism, or will we remain free as we begin in earnest a great transition to green liberty? And will we have identified and prototyped, and be ready with sufficient ecological solutions, to meet human needs while maintaining a living Earth? The ecological inflection point is a narrow band of opportunity to repair fragmented, quivering nature before it is too late. We must be ready with templates for ecological sustainability, which can employ billions, as a program of ecological restoration and energy conservation are rapidly scaled.

What hope remains for humanity and her habitat as ecological awareness and collapse converge in such a manner, is whether we are able to ramp up fast enough the plethora of ecological solutions we all know about but don’t support enough. These efforts may be abetted by deep wells of global ecological resilience of which we are unaware, as the Earth is a living organism that has self-regulated for 3.5 billion year, yet whose workings remain largely unknown to her peoples.

Clearly we are already in ecological overshoot, as planetary boundaries regarding species loss, terrestrial ecosystem destruction, and industrial emissions of carbon, phosphorous, and nitrogen have already been breached; and thresholds for safe levels of human population, ozone, ocean acidity, aerosols, freshwater, and chemicals draw near.

Yet as mayhem looms, if we all came together to harness all the resources at our disposal – including from conspicuous over-consumption by the rich, and the military-industrial complex’s lucrative war making – surely we could marshal a response that allows the land, air, water, and oceans to rest, recover, and flourish thereby ensuring global ecological sustainability.

Reaching the ecological inflection point that triggers the great ecological transition before it is too late is going to require an end to greenwashing, which means accepting the gravity of our situation and necessary personal and societal changes, and confronting those that continue to greenwash for personal benefit. Celebrity climate activists jetting around to tell us to cut emissions, and large foundation fed bureaucratic environmental groups enriching themselves from old-growth forest logging, will have to be rebuked and shamed until their behavior changes.

And the voices must be amplified of those personally creating lifestyles without cars, traveling less, eating little or no meat, having one child, and limiting their consumption; and coming together to remake a society that is peaceful, just, and equitable. Ecological leadership must walk the walk.

The poor and dispossessed, as well as those that opulently overconsume, can together learn the meaning of enough. Equity does not mean everyone is equal, but everyone’s basic needs must be met as hard workers have more, but not ridiculously so to the detriment of others and the Earth. As livelihoods of the rich and the poor converge to reasonable levels of disparity, the talents of each can be harnessed to power enterprise without fossil fuels, to scale up alternative energy, even as we conserve negawatts.

Vast resources can be put into reclaiming non-productive, depauperate land with the expansion of historically accurate natural ecosystems, built upon restoring and reconnecting ecologically neglected fragments, wherever remaining natural vegetation occurs; intermingled with organic permaculture, to once again ensconce the human species within nature’s nurturing embrace.

Only by leaving fossil fuels in the ground and returning humanity to a sea of nature can biosphere collapse be avoided, and a sustainable future for human and all life assured.

As ecosystems collapse, horrendous suffering is going to become apparent. When we as a collective consciousness understand the magnitude of the situation – basically as mass human and wildlife death can no longer be ignored – we must be ready to scale proven ecological solutions swiftly and prudently. The sooner the ecological inflection point is reached, the greater likelihood we will avert complete and total biosphere collapse, and the end of being. A few extremophiles, and dandelions and cockroaches, may hang on; but complex life may end, and there is no assurance it will reemerge.

We must maximize the probability that enough nature will remain to sustain Gaia, a living Earth, which can essentially go on forever.

It is vitally important that each and every one of us commit to the great ecological transition by continuing to build awareness. That each of us becomes a leader in living well but consuming simply and with great care. And that we engage with the global growth machine to alter the means of enterprise in our image. We must work for ecological change within society and its engine of production, as only by converting business and the rich to our cause of self and ecological survival can we all prevail.

Sadly, I believe the possibility of an ecological inflection point is fading. And that the mass migration, state of perma-war, and resurgence of authoritarian fascism which we are witnessing are the result of environmental decline and resource scarcity. The sooner this can be widely recognized, the sooner we can get on with a massive program to save Earth, all her life, and thus ourselves.