Ivan Karp Doctoral Research Awards 2021

Application Deadline: 3rd May 2021

Eligible Countries: African countries

To Be Taken At (Country): South Africa

About the Award: The African Critical Inquiry Programme (ACIP) seeks to advance inquiry and debate about the roles and practice of public culture, public cultural institutions and public scholarship in shaping identities and society in Africa. The ACIP is committed to collaboration between scholars and the makers of culture/history, and to fostering inquiry into the politics of knowledge production, the relationships between the colonial/apartheid and the postcolonial/postapartheid, and the importance of critical pluralism as against nationalist discourse. ACIP is a partnership between the Centre for Humanities Research at the University of the Western Cape and the Laney Graduate School of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia (USA).

Funding is to be used for on-site dissertation research; research cannot be at the applicant’s home institution unless that institution has necessary site-specific research holdings not otherwise available to the applicant. Applicants who have completed significant funded dissertation research by the start of their proposed ACIP research may be ineligible to apply to extend research time. Eligibility will be at the discretion of the ACIP Selection Committee, depending on completed research time and funding. Please note that the Ivan Karp Doctoral Research Awards support dissertation research only and may not be used for dissertation write-up, tuition, study at other universities, conference participation, or to reimburse debts or expenses for research already completed. The programme does not accept applications from Ph.D. programmes in Law, Business, Medicine, Nursing, or Journalism, nor does it accept applications in doctoral programmes that do not lead to a Ph.D.

Type: Research

Eligibility:  

• The Ivan Karp Doctoral Research Awards are open to African postgraduate students (regardless of citizenship) in the humanities and humanistic social sciences.
• Applicants must be currently registered in a Ph.D. programme in a South African university and be working on topics related to ACIP’s focus.
• Awards will support doctoral research projects focused on topics such as institutions of public culture, particular aspects of museums and exhibitions, forms and practices of public scholarship, culture and communication, and the theories, histories and systems of thought that shape and illuminate public culture and public scholarship.
• Applicants must submit a dissertation proposal that has been approved by their institution to confirm the award; this must be completed before they begin ACIP-supported on-site research or by December 2018, whichever comes first.

Selection Criteria: Selection will be based on the merit and strength of the application.

• Awards are open to proposals working with a range of methodologies in the humanities and humanistic social sciences, including research in archives and collections, fieldwork, interviews, surveys, and quantitative data collection.
• Applicants are expected to write in clear, intelligible prose for a selection committee that is multi-disciplinary and cross-regional.
• Proposals should show thorough knowledge of the major concepts, theories, and methods in the applicant’s discipline and in other related fields and include a bibliography relevant to the research.
• Applicants should specify why an extended period of on-site research is essential to successfully complete the proposed doctoral dissertation.
• Guidance and advice on how to write a good proposal and budget can be found in the Resources section of the ACIP website (see Links in Program Webpage below)

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Award: Grant amounts vary depending on research plans, with a maximum award of ZAR 40,000.

How to Apply: To apply, eligible applicants should submit the following as a single file attachment with documents in the order listed:

• completed cover sheet (form below and online at end of application information at http://www.graduateschool.emory.edu/about/special/acip.html, under ACIP Opportunities)
• abstract of the proposed research project (250 words maximum)
• research proposal outlining the project’s goals, central questions, significance, and relevance for ACIP’s central concerns. Proposals should include a clearly formulated, realistic research design and plan of work responsive to the project’s theoretical and methodological concerns. Applicants should provide evidence of appropriate training to undertake the proposed research, including the language fluency necessary for the project. Proposals should be no longer than 5 pages; they should be double spaced, with one inch margins and a font no smaller than 11 point. Applications that do not follow this format will not be considered.
• bibliography of up to two additional pages
• project budget listing and justifying project expenses to be supported by the award
• your curriculum vitae
• current transcript
• two referee letters; one of these must be from your supervisor. Your referees should comment specifically on your proposed project, its quality and significance, and your qualifications for undertaking it. They might also evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your project and how you and your work would benefit from receiving the research award. Referee letters should be submitted directly to the selection committee.

Closing date: Applications and referees’ letters must be received on or before Monday 3 May 2021. Incomplete applications and applications that do not conform to format guidelines will not be considered.

Please submit materials as a single file attachment with documents in the order listed above. Applications should be sent by email with the heading “ACIP 2021 Research Award Application” to acip.uwc@gmail.com.

Visit the Program Webpage for Details

Award Providers: Supported by funding from the Ivan Karp and Corinne Kratz Fund

Canon Student Development Programme 2021

Application Deadline: 9th June 2021

About the Award: 250 students will have the exclusive opportunity to have their portfolio reviewed by professional photographers. Submit your portfolio now for a chance to take your first step into the pro world.

Type: Training

Eligibility: The Canon Student Development Programme is open to any university student enrolled in an educational institution for the academic year 2020 to 2021. 

Submit a digital portfolio with a maximum of two stories and include up to twenty fully captioned images, with an accompanying synopsis or description. Applicants will need to include details of their school, institute or university, along with a short photographer’s bio and if possible, a letter of presentation by their teacher, professor or editor. Applications close on the 9th June 2021.

Eligible Countries: All

To be Taken at (Country): Virtual

Number of Awards: 250 

Value of Award: During the virtual four-day event, discover untold stories, breath-taking imagery and have your portfolios reviewed by world-renowned photographers, from the comfort of your home.

How to Apply: APPLY NOW

• It is important to go through all application requirements in the Award Webpage (see Link below) before applying.

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BMGA Fellowship Program 2021

Application Deadline: 18th April 2021

About the Award: The BMGA Fellows Program is a social impact initiative designed to narrow the gender skills gap that exists among female university graduates in Africa. It is a six-month online blended programme that provides young women with access to the knowledge and resources required to develop their employability skills.

Type: Fellowship

Eligibility:

• Young women from Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia.
• Final year students, recent graduates and early career professionals with not more than 3 (three) years post-university work experience are welcome to apply.
• Excellent academic record: Applicants must have graduated top of their class or a final year student with a current or cumulative CGPA equivalent to a B+ [UK grade point system].
• Applicants must speak, write, and read English with proficiency.
• Applicants must have regular access to the internet.

The Selection Process

Through a rigorous open application process, the selection committee selects high potential young people, who are recent university graduates or students in their final year of university, to participate in an intensive six-month fellowship program.

BMGA’s selection committee utilizes their expertise to review all applications and the decision made by the committee is final.

Eligible Countries: Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of Award: The program offers high-level professional development courses, mentorship, and life skills that are designed to prepare young people for a career in the 21st Century. As a fellow, you will join the BMGA Fellows Program Alumni network which will provide you with a wide range of opportunities from professional mentorships to programs specifically tailored towards career development.

Duration of Award: 6 months

How to Apply: Click here to apply to be a part of the 2021 cohort of the BMGA Fellows Program.

• It is important to go through all application requirements in the Award Webpage (see Link below) before applying.

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UNESCO Cultural Diversity Fund 2021

Application Deadline: 16th June 2021 before 1pm CAT.

About the Award: This year, the IFCD joins the celebration of the International Year of the Creative Economy for Sustainable Development by calling for projects aiming to make strong contributions to the creative economy in developing countries that are parties to the 2005 Convention.

Type: Grants

Eligibility: The call is open to public institutions and NGOs from eligible countries, as well as international NGOs registered in countries that are parties to the 2005 Convention. 

The proposals must fall within the following domains:

• Music
• Performing Arts
• Cinema / Audiovisual Arts
• Visual Arts
• Publishing
• Design
• Media Arts

Project eligibility:

The projects must clearly lead to structural changes through:

• Introduction and/or elaboration of policies and strategies that have a direct and structural impact on the creation, production, distribution of and access to a diversity of cultural goods and services
• Reinforcement of skills in the public sector and civil society organisations to support viable local and regional cultural industries and markets in developing countries.

All projects will ultimately contribute to a sustainable creative ecosystem and the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda of the United Nations.

Eligible Countries: Eligible African countries include Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Congo, DRC, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, eSwatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

See other eligible countries here

Number of Awards: Not specified

How to Apply:

• It is important to go through all application requirements in the Award Webpage (see Link below) before applying.

Visit Award Webpage for Details

Save Pollinators Campaign Needed On Urgent Basis As Bees, Butterflies and Birds Face Increasing Risks

Bharat Dogra

A silent crisis that has been building up over recent decades may ultimately assume the form of one of the biggest risks to world food and farming system if allowed to proceed unchecked. An increasing number of scientists and conservationists are issuing warnings on the basis of urgency that if  the many-sided risks for bees, butterflies, moths, humming birds, other insects and birds, even bats, in fact all pollinators  are not checked, then the natural processes for pollination will be severely disrupted.

Particular mention should be made here of the forgotten pollinators campaign launched by two scientists Stephen Buchmann and Gary Nabhan . Although their campaign has focused more on the USA and a few other countries, Buchmann says emphatically, “ It is clearly a concern at the global level.” This is certainly true of India where many of the important factors which have been  listed as most important threats to pollinators are present. What is more, these factors are   related to highly distorted policies being favored by authorities and so their threat is likely to go on increasing, unless the policies are corrected at a  more basic level.

The green revolution technology brought in more chemical pesticides and  herbicides, exotic varieties, monocultures. All of these are harmful for pollinators. In the next phase GM crops like Bt cotton have been brought, again a threat to pollinators. In   the forestry sector there has been a lot of deforestation and replacement of mixed natural forests with monoculture plantations as well planting of commercial species monocultures. All this is harmful in various ways including for pollinators. The authorities have consistently ignored complaints of serious hazards of non-ionizing radiation, another serious hazard for important pollinators like bees as well.

Risks are very high for bees which are known as very important pollinators.  A sharp reduction in the number of honeybees and their colonies has been reported in many countries of world including India. Diversity of bee species is known to be related to diversity of plant species in forests and they exist in mutually protective relationships.

If natural pollination processes are disrupted then the threat to the potential of organic and natural farming will be very high as such farming depends more on protection of overall natural systems and on balance of nature. Hence it is  really important to protect honeybees by reducing the impact of the factors that have been harmful for honeybees.

Two aspects of highly distorted farming practices which have been very harmful for honeybees are the introduction of genetically modified crops or GM crops and secondly the increasing use of chemical pesticides, insecticides and herbicides.  At times these two factors are also related as the introduction of some GM crops is accompanied by the use of some very harmful herbicides like glyphosate . There has been a huge debate recently on the risks of glyphosate and those who have suffered have claimed and obtained huge damages due to the alleged poisonous impact causing serious disease. If these are so harmful generally one can imagine the great harm caused to very fragile honeybees and other beneficial pollinating insects like butterflies.

Another very adverse factor relates to the introduction of exotic bees which often has a very harmful impact on local honeybee species. There have been cases of diseases spreading in local species so that these perish in large numbers. At the same time the exotic species may not be able to perform their expected role in new settings and a different climate. When honeybees from a cold region have been introduced in a different region which is much warmer and experiences intense heat as well, the response of the exotic bee has been that I won’t go out in such heat! The result is that there is very little pollination and very little honey-making. In fact colonies of exotic honeybees sometimes collapse in a big way. Some of them may be artificially kept alive by feeding a lot of sugar and medicines, but overall their survival has again been difficult.

It is important to learn from past mistakes and to take all protective measures to save honeybees as protecting honeybees is integral to protecting food systems and bio-diversity systems.

At the same time the concern of protection should not be restricted to honeybees alone but should instead extend to all bees including  simple bees and wild bees. As far as pollination is concerned some of the bigger wild bees may be performing an even more useful role. In fact too big a rise in commercially kept honeybees may even impede the survival of these wild bees or simple bees.

There should be a comprehensive campaign for protecting all pollinators with steps at several levels. Promotion of organic or natural mixed farming, banning all GM crops, protection of natural forests, indigenous tree groves, gardens and grasslands, avoiding indiscriminate  introduction of exotic species and reducing risks of non-ionizing  radiation, avoiding any cruelty or capturing or harmful practices relating to  leading pollinators, avoiding chemical pesticides and herbicides not only in farms and forests but also in urban gardens and maintaining overall balance of nature will all contribute to protection of pollinators.

Amid war danger in Black Sea, Turkey threatens Montreux Convention

Barış Demir

As NATO escalates threats against Russia and China, a bitter conflict has erupted in the Turkish state machine over the Montreux Convention, an international treaty signed in 1936 governing passage between the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Sections of the navy are objecting to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s talk of using plans for an Istanbul Canal to scrap the Convention, which limits warship deployments to the Black Sea. This could allow NATO to deploy warships from the Mediterranean, at will, to threaten Russia’s coast.

Turkish authorities on Monday, April 5, 2021, detained 10 former admirals after a group of more than 100 retired top navy officers issued a statement that government officials tied to Turkey's history of military coups. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, File)

The Istanbul Canal would accommodate large tanker and merchant shipping, bypassing the narrow Bosporus straits by linking the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara. In 2018, the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong worried that the project could “trigger an arms race in the Black Sea,” adding: “China is watching closely.” At that point, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım had said the Istanbul Canal would not be subject to the Montreux Convention.

This issue is more even explosive since Biden’s inauguration as US president, after Ukraine announced plans to invade Crimea with NATO support and seize Russia’s Black Sea naval base at Sevastopol. This issue was widely discussed in Turkish media after a reporter asked Parliament Chairman Mustafa Şentop whether Erdoğan “might dissolve the Montreux Convention.” Şentop, a member of Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), replied, “Technically, yes.”

On April 3, 104 retired Turkish admirals issued a declaration opposing the opening of the Montreux Convention to discussion. They said: “The opening of the Montreux Convention to debate as part of Canal Istanbul and the authority of the annulment of international treaties is met with concern.”

The admirals, all longstanding NATO officials, declared that questioning the convention is not in Turkish national interests. They noted that it “governs not only the passage through the Turkish Straits, restoring full sovereignty to Turkey over Istanbul, Çanakkale, the Marmara Sea and the Straits, but also is a major diplomatic victory” for Turkey.

Two days later, the Turkish government had ten of the admirals arrested and alleged that they were preparing a coup, referring to the failed NATO-backed coup attempt of July 15, 2016. Şentop said “Expressing one’s thoughts is one thing, preparing a declaration evoking a coup d’état is another.” Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said the admirals aimed to “harm our democracy, negatively affect the morale and motivation of Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) personnel, and gratify our enemies,” while Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu warned: “Do not let them try our patience.”

Erdoğan said the admirals’ declaration “cannot be labeled as freedom of speech” and repeated that he might cancel the Convention: “We currently have neither any efforts nor intention to leave the Montreux Convention. However, if such a need presents itself in future, we will not hesitate to review every convention to introduce a better one for our country. And we will open them to international discussion.”

Yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin called Erdoğan to oppose scrapping the Montreux Convention. The Kremlin press service published a brief announcement, declaring: “In regards to Turkey’s plans for construction of the Istanbul Canal, Russia emphasized the importance of preservation of the 1936 Montreux Convention in order to ensure the regional stability and safety of the regional Black Sea straits regime.”

Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stressed: “Any attempt to revise the convention affects the interests of our country. We see this convention as a key factor in stability and security in the Black Sea basin, especially regarding warship traffic.” Russian Ambassador to Turkey Alexey Erkhov had said that the dredging of an Istanbul Canal would not invalidate the Montreux Convention, which would still be binding on Turkey.

On Wednesday, Erdoğan accused the bourgeois opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) of “trying to whitewash this declaration that has coup sentiments.” He also said some of the admirals were CHP members.

The declaration has divided the CHP and its allies, including the far-right Good Party. While CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu called the government’s response an “artificial agenda,” the CHP’s Kurdish-nationalist ally, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), said Erdoğan’s decision to “invent a coup threat from a written statement is nothing but political cunning and opportunism.”

While Good Party leader Meral Akşener criticized the declaration, calling it “silly behavior,” his İzmir deputy Aytun Çıray defended the retired admirals and their statement.

In reality, Turkey’s government and bourgeois opposition parties are aligning themselves with the NATO imperialist powers’ war drive amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Because of the Erdoğan government’s murderous “herd immunity” policy on the pandemic, prioritizing the profits of big business over lives, daily new cases reached 54,740 and the death toll 276 on Wednesday. Both figures are records since the pandemic began. There is mounting social anger and strike activity in the working class in Turkey and internationally against the social murder imposed by the ruling classes’ reactionary health policies.

The Turkish government’s threats to scrap the Montreux Convention come as NATO tightens its ranks to prepare for war, threatening both Russia and China. In particular, tensions between Russia and the NATO-backed regime in Ukraine on the Black Sea’s north shore are the highest since the far-right forces overthrew Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich in February 2014 in a US- and German-backed coup.

While the Turkish government has signed major arms deals with Ukraine and backs NATO’s Ukraine policy, its relations with NATO, Russia and China are all deeply fraught.

A critical factor in Ankara’s increasingly difficult relations with Washington was its fierce hostility to US ties with Kurdish nationalist forces in the now decade-long war for regime-change in Syria. While the Islamic State (ISIS) militias gained power in Syria and invaded Iraq, the imperialist powers turned to Kurdish nationalist groups as a proxy force. Erdoğan could not adapt to these sudden, violent shifts in imperialist war policy, and his imperialist allies came to see him not as a “strategic partner,” but as an unreliable one.

Washington and Berlin responded with an attempted military coup against Erdoğan in 2016, while Biden was Barack Obama’s vice president. The coup’s failure further undermined Ankara’s relations with NATO.

Despite threats of US sanctions, Turkey bought S-400 air defense systems from Russia and signed a strategic natural gas pipeline agreement with Moscow. Though Turkey and Russia repeatedly were on the verge of direct conflict in the NATO proxy wars in Libya and Syria, as well as in the recent Armenia-Azerbaijan war, they always managed to avert a direct clash, which would risk precipitating all-out global war between NATO and Russia.

Erdoğan has worked to improve relations with Washington after Biden’s inauguration as president, though despite all his efforts, conflicts continue between Washington and Ankara. US officials oppose Turkey’s purchase of a Russian-made S-400 air defense system and Ankara’s broader relations with Russia and China. This week, the US State Department imposed sanctions on a Turkish defense agency and four of its officials after Ankara refused to abandon plans to purchase the S-400 system.

Erdoğan also criticized Biden’s comment denouncing Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “killer.” Erdoğan said that this term for Putin was “unacceptable.”

In these explosive conditions, discussion of canceling the Montreux Convention is a warning to workers around the world of the rapidly accelerating threat of war between the major powers.

The working class must intervene to halt Canada’s COVID-19 catastrophe

Roger Jordan

Canada is rapidly emerging as a global coronavirus epicentre, with a surge in cases due to the new more contagious and lethal variants.

Daily new infections have more than doubled from an already high level in mid-March. On Thursday, there were 7,984 new cases, and the 7-day daily average of new cases, which has risen steadily for the past month, reached 6,873—its highest point since close to the peak of the pandemic’s second wave in early January.

Teachers at Montreal’s Westmount High School staged a protest Jan. 18 against the Quebec government’s reckless school reopening policy. (Photo Credit: Robert Green)

Canada’s per capita daily new infection rate is close to matching, if not surpassing, that in the US, as is the number of critically ill COVID-19 patients per 100,000 people.

Due to the rapid rise of cases and the rampant spread of variants, three of which are spreading widely throughout the population, the US Centres for Disease Control (CDC) on Wednesday issued its highest-level warning against travel to Canada.

Absent the political intervention of the working class to force the closure of all nonessential production and schools, and confiscate the vast wealth of the super-rich to provide billions in funding for overstretched hospitals, Canada is heading towards a catastrophe.

In Ontario, the country’s most populous province, more than 550 COVID-19 patients are in intensive care. During the winter’s second wave, authorities repeatedly warned that if the number of ICU patients in Ontario hospitals rose above 350, it would be impossible to maintain emergency medical care for all. According to CBC the Ontario government’s health agency has ordered the province’s hospitals to postpone all non-emergency surgeries as of next Monday.

Stories are also emerging of certain drugs, including one that has proven highly effective in treating critically ill COVID-19 patients, being rationed in Ontario hospitals, and patients being transferred to other regions due to a lack of beds. ICU occupancy rates are also at their highest since the pandemic began in British Columbia, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick.

Canada is one of the few countries where all three of new more infectious virus strains—the B.1.1.7 British variant, the P.1 Brazilian variant, and the B.1.351 South African variant—are spreading widely throughout the community. In Quebec and Ontario, the B.1.1.7 variant is already the cause of the majority of new COVID-19 cases, while in Alberta and B.C., where Thursday saw the highest number of new infections since the start of the pandemic, the P.1 variant is running rampant.

“There’s no other country that’s kind of dealing with it as we are—we have all of them emerging at once,” Dr. Zain Chagla, an epidemiologist at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, told CBC.

The new variants are exacting a far heavier toll on younger patients in the prime of their lives, many of them frontline workers and/or their partners. Last weekend, a 47-year-old teacher in Ontario with no previous health issues was intubated. On Wednesday, local media in Montreal reported the death of a 16-year-old student. The Ontario government’s scientific advisory panel reports that the variants have increased the risk of hospitalization by 103 percent, ICU admission by 63 percent, and death by 56 percent.

A significant contributing factor to the eruption of a third wave fueled by these more transmissible variants is the ruling elite’s shambolic rollout of vaccines. Justin Trudeau’s federal Liberal government announced late last year with much fanfare that a military general would oversee the distribution of vaccines—a tacit admission that the decades of austerity imposed on health care by all political parties, from the New Democrats to the Conservatives, has decimated Canada’s health care infrastructure. The past few months have demonstrated that the consequences of this class war policy, pursued to ensure the enrichment of Canada’s fabulously wealthy financial elite, could not be overcome by military command, no matter how often bourgeois politicians and the mainstream media invoke the armed forces as the country’s national saviour.

However, the principal cause of Canada’s unfolding coronavirus catastrophe is the ruling elite’s fulsome support for a criminal “profits before lives” policy of mass infection. To ensure that the profits of big business, the banks and the financial oligarchy continue to increase, governments at every level have refused to impose the necessary restrictions on workplaces and schools, the two main vectors of transmission.

Since September, schools have been open almost continuously across the country, due to the ruling class’ insistence that parents must be freed from childcare responsibilities in order to go to work churning out profits for the capitalists. Scientific studies have proven the authorities' insistence on in-class teaching played a critical role in triggering Canada’s deadly second wave, which claimed over 10,000 lives. And, as has been explicitly stated by public health officials in Montreal and Ontario’s Peel Region, two of the country’s biggest COVID-19 hot spots, schools are major vectors in the transmission of the current third wave.

The ruling elite’s back-to-work/back-to-school strategy has been spearheaded by Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government, which began the pandemic by funneling more than $650 billion in emergency bailout funds to the big banks and financial oligarchs with no strings attached.

Following last spring’s lockdown—which was only imposed because workers, including autoworkers in Windsor and across North America, launched job action to close their unsafe plants—the Trudeau government, with the support of corporate lobby groups and the trade unions, implemented a reckless back-to-work campaign. Employers were given a free hand to ignore public health orders and basic virus protection measures, as Ottawa and the provinces refused to enforce even their own inadequate pandemic regulations. The unions connived in this gang-up against working people by sabotaging all workers’ struggles against unsafe work, and ordering teachers and education workers to return to their jobs despite widespread opposition.

In its throne speech last September, the Trudeau government sent a clear message to big business that absolutely nothing would be done to get in the way of their profit-making. Any lockdowns or further public health restrictions, the speech asserted, should be implemented at the “local level” and be “short-term,” i.e., totally ineffectual. The minority government’s throne speech only passed parliament due to the votes of the New Democrats, whose leader Jagmeet Singh has vowed that he will continue to prop up the Trudeau government until the pandemic is over.

Trudeau has also hidden behind the division of powers between the federal and provincial governments to offload blame for the failure to close down all but essential businesses and the overall ruinous response to the pandemic onto the hard-right premiers like Doug Ford in Ontario, Jason Kenney in Alberta, and François Legault in Quebec.

While they and their governments are undoubtedly complicit in social murder, the reality is that the conspirators-in-chief sit around the Liberal cabinet table in Ottawa. Already in early April 2020, federal Health Minister Patty Hajdu callously declared that “herd immunity” was a viable policy because, “Having 70 percent of people get COVID is not the end of the world.” Trudeau provided billions of dollars in additional funding to the provinces that was made conditional on the enforcement of homicidal reopening policies.

The entire Canadian political establishment, from the hard-right Conservatives to the ostensibly “left” New Democrats, is on board with the policy of mass infection and death to protect corporate profits. Just last week, British Columbia NDP Premier John Horgan arrogantly denounced young working-age people for spreading the virus, saying, “Don’t blow this for the rest of us.” This from a Premier whose government has done absolutely nothing to stop hundreds of outbreaks at workplaces across the province, and deliberately covered up the extent of infections in schools by means of a byzantine reporting system. Meanwhile, Ontario Premier Ford continues to refuse to provide paid sick leave for workers despite widespread acknowledgement that this would curb the spread of the virus by allowing workers to shelter at home when they feel unwell.

These political criminals would never get away with these policies without the assistance of the trade unions. They have enforced the ruling elite’s back-to-work/back-to-school program, expanded their corporatist partnership with big business and the Liberal government, and denounced calls for job action to protest workers’ health and lives as “illegal.” Under conditions where even sections of the corporate media have had to concedes that the working class is bearing the brunt of the pandemic as both a health and socio-economic crisis, the Canadian Labour Congress website proclaims atop its homepage, “In Canada, we’ve weathered the pandemic by sticking together and supporting each other.”

If the looming catastrophe of mass infections and death on an even greater scale than the pandemic’s first and second waves is to be averted, the working class must urgently intervene with its own program to stop the spread of COVID-19. All nonessential production and in-person learning in schools must be immediately halted, with full compensation for all workers and families so they can shelter at home. The ill-gotten gains of the super-rich, including the $650 billion bailout and the more than $50 billion accumulated by Canada’s 40 billionaires since the beginning of the pandemic, must be expropriated and used to fund urgent social needs, from shoring up the crumbling health care system, to providing effective distance learning for all students and safe workplaces for all essential workers.

French government campaigns against the construction of a mosque in Alsace

Clémence Roiti

As the Macron government is enacting a series of anti-democratic laws and promoting anti-Muslim hysteria, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin has launched a new campaign against the construction of a mosque in Strasbourg, in the Alsace-Lorraine region.

On March 22, the Strasbourg city council, led by Green mayor Jeanne Barseghian, voted to approve a 2.5-million-euro subsidy for the construction of the Eyyub Sultan mosque.

The following day, Darmanin published a provocative tweet denouncing “an organization that refused to sign the Charter of Principles of Islam in France and that defends a political Islam.” He said on BFMTV: “I had the opportunity to tell the mayor of Strasbourg ... that we did not find this friendly to French interests, to say the least.”

TheEyyub Sultan mosque under construction is pictured in Strasbourg, Eastern France, Wednesday, March 24, 2021.(AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)

The Macron government’s intervention is part of a wider attack on Muslims, which is designed to promote an extreme-right movement and justify attacks on the working class’s democratic rights. The French state is currently seeking to pass the “anti-separatist” law, which gives the government enormous control over associations and religions, under the pretext of defending secularism.

The plans to construct what would be the largest mosque in Europe in Strasbourg were initiated in the 1990s. More recently, the Green-majority mayor’s office granted 2.5 million euros for the construction of the mosque, the total cost of which is estimated at 31 million. Since 2008, the city has already spent 22 million euros on financing religious buildings for different religions. The spending allocated toward the Muslim construction is less than for the other religions.

In Alsace-Moselle, the public authorities can legally provide public subsidies up to 10 per cent of the total cost of construction of religious buildings. This is prohibited elsewhere in France by the 1905 law, but it is not applied in Alsace, which was part of Germany when France adopted the 1905 law.

According to Darmanin, the Islamic Confederation of Milli Görüs (CIMG), which is behind the construction project, “has refused to sign the charter of principles of Islam in France and ... defends a political Islam.”

The “Charter of Principles” of Islam in France is a document drafted by the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM), but whose content was imposed by Macron and Darmanin, in clear violation of the separation of church and state. The CFCM leadership did not even consult French imams and practising Muslims and hastily prepared the document. This has provoked a crisis in the CFCM, which is likely to break apart, as several constituents have refused to sign the charter.

For the Macron government, the “charter” is a cynical attempt to present itself as a defender of the principle of equality for Muslims, while reducing their rights. It allows the police to impose an opinion on Muslims and take away their freedom of political expression. It states: “From a religious and ethical point of view, Muslims ... are bound to France by a pact. This pact commits them to respect national cohesion, public order and the laws of the Republic.”

According to the Charter, Muslims’ duties towards the State take precedence over their conscience: “No religious conviction may be invoked to evade the obligations of citizens.”

The “Charter of Principles” prohibits political discussion in places of worship: “We do not allow places of worship to be used to spread political discourse or to import conflicts that are taking place in other parts of the world. Our mosques and places of worship are reserved for prayer and the transmission of values...” This is aimed at critics of imperialism’s neo-colonial wars as well as police repression inside France, as terrorist actions are already proscribed by existing laws.

The Macron government is seeking to whip up a xenophobic atmosphere. Referring to the construction of the mosque, Darmanin declared his opposition “particularly in Strasbourg ... to extremely strong attempts to interfere in our country, notably by Turkey .... We have a number of indications that the Turkish government wants to interfere in French affairs, especially religious ones.”

Yet it is the French government that is responsible for “interference” abroad. Since 2011, when Sarkozy launched a war in Libya with NATO to overthrow the government of Moammar Gaddafi, successive French presidents have supported Islamist militias to take over the country, leading to the complete societal breakdown of Libya.

In Syria, France and the United States followed the same procedure, supporting Islamist militias to try to overthrow the government of Bashar al-Assad. This war triggered a humanitarian catastrophe across the region, killing almost half a million people and forcing over 10 million to flee their homes.

Darmanin’s intervention in Alsace is part of a campaign by the Macron government against Muslim rights. Ahead of the 2022 presidential election, the Macron government is attempting to position itself to the right of Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally.

In February, Darmanin took part in a debate with Le Pen, during which he criticised the latter for “not voting for laws,” such as the 2017 anti-terrorism law, which allowed the closure of places of worship. Attacking Le Pen from the right, Darmanin said that Le Pen, “as she attempts to de-demonize her party, has come to act with softness. You should take vitamins, I find that you are not tough enough!”

On 20 October 2020, Darmanin denounced the presence in supermarkets of kosher and halal sections. “I have always been shocked to walk into a supermarket and see an aisle with the cuisine from some community and some other on the other side,” he said, referring to halal, kosher and other foods that satisfy religious requirements. “That is how communalism begins.”

This thinly disguised appeal to anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim sentiments suggests that separated supermarket shelves can contribute to the threat of terrorist attacks.

Darmanin himself has been close to the far-right royalist party L’action française (AF). In 2008, he wrote articles for the monthly La restauration nationale (which is close to the AF) and participated in a royalist summer camp. In his early days in politics, Darmanin defended a traditionalist Catholic ideology and was attracted to the AF, which in the 20th century was a hotbed of political antisemitism and French fascism. He refused to marry same-sex couples during his tenure in the Tourcoing local government and continues to call for the abolition of “marriage for all.”

The government’s effort to pass laws attacking democratic rights, including the “global security” law, is motivated by the fear of a revolt by the working class, which has already carried out strikes and demonstrations for three years, including the “yellow vest” protests. The “global security” law, which aims to criminalise photographing police, has been denounced by the United Nations as an attack on fundamental democratic rights.

Macron has intensified his anti-Muslim campaign throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, which has exposed the government’s murderous indifference towards lives of the working class. Its policy, which permitted the virus to spread through the population, has resulted in the deaths of almost 100,000 people in France. Its incitement of anti-Muslim hysteria is aimed at dividing the working class and blocking a united workers’ movement against its deadly policy.

Number of deaths counted from Texas blackout catastrophe approaches 200

Chase Lawrence

The recorded death toll from Winter Storm Uri in Texas continues to rise as more information on the full scale of human suffering comes out. A recent Houston Chronicle analysis linked 194 deaths to the February storm according, making it one of the worst natural disasters in the state in the last 100 years. The toll is almost three times the direct fatalities resulting from Hurricane Harvey in 2017 which at the time was the deadliest storm to hit Texas since 1919.

The official count is still ongoing with additional deaths already linked to the storm. The state’s death rate, which was already higher than normal due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was 8 percent above the already high level during the week of the blackouts.

Of the deaths already recorded, more than half were from hypothermia, 22 from medical devices failing or a lack of medical care because of the weather, and 16 from carbon monoxide and the same number from other causes such as fires and wrecks, while 40 were attributed to the storm by authorities without a cause. Half of the deaths were among the elderly.

In this Feb. 16, 2021, file photo, a woman wrapped in a blanket crosses the street near downtown Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)

Two dozen lawsuits have been filed against the Electric Reliability Council of Texas by families whose family members died, alleging wrongful death due to failures by the state’s power grid operator, with some of the lawsuits also naming Texas energy companies such as NRG Energy, Oncor, CenterPoint Energy, and CPS Energy. The disastrous blackout was caused by the profit seeking of the power companies, the unplanned and disorganized nature inherent to the private ownership of electrical production, and the Texas government’s failure to plan in any substantial way for the impact of winter weather.

The counting of the deaths from the storm has been hampered by the state’s death certification system, which lacks a public database as well as a sufficient number of medical examiners for investigating untimely deaths and instead mostly relies on justices of the peace with some training but rarely a medical background. Only 14 counties out of the 254 in Texas have examiners to investigate untimely deaths, and the release of information is subject to the whim of local officials.

Dr. Corinne Stern, the Webb County medical examiner told the Houston Chronicle, “I had a 93-year-old who died in his home. If his electricity had not been turned off in those rolling blackouts, chances are he’d be alive today” and that “These deaths were preventable, and they’re senseless. They shouldn’t have happened.”

The Texas Department of State Health Services only lists 125 deaths at the time of writing from the winter storm, with questions being raised that the state may be downplaying the number of deaths by making the criteria for a storm-related death too strict.

During the storm, many of the elderly, disabled, and others with medical conditions were unable to access lifesaving medication and treatment that would have been accessible with power and access to hospitals and clinics, many of which were without water as a result of power outages and rendered inaccessible due to the storm and the state’s failure to adequately clear the roads of ice and snow.

Texas power companies have special designations available for vulnerable people, i.e. customers either with or taking care of people with health conditions that require electricity, which requires that customers fill out a form and send it to a doctor for approval and then send to the power company. Under Texas state rules, power companies must provide power to critical and chronic care customers only “if reasonably possible,” that is if it does not get in the way of profit making.

Olivia Esparza, who was caring for her daughter Diana who has Rett syndrome and is unable to speak or move, and requires electricity for machines to help her breathe and evacuate saliva while sleeping, experienced a power shutoff without warning despite having filed paperwork with CenterPoint Energy to be on the Critical Care Registry. Esparza, after reserving a hotel room which also turned out to be without power, was forced to leave the state with her daughter.

CenterPoint stated in an email to the Houston Chronicle that power for residents with critical care designations could be interrupted “unexpectedly.” The power companies, as well as the Texas Public Utilities Commission (PUC), affirm this with a PUC disclaimer on the application for the Critical Care Registry reading “If electricity is a necessity, you must make other arrangements for on-site back-up capabilities or other alternatives in the event of loss of electric service.”

According to a survey of 600 disabled people living in Texas by Disability Rights Texas, most disabled people lost power and water for 24 hours or longer, with 75 and 80 percent losing power and water respectively, while many lost both for a period of 4 days or longer. Only 6 percent of respondents were signed up for a Critical Care Registry or with the State of Texas Emergency Assistance Registry (STEAR) with more than half having never heard of either. Additionally, of the less than half who were signed up for emergency alerts, most found them inaccessible.

Responses to the survey also documented the hardships by many in the storm, with one respondent stating “It was dangerous and painful. I’m disabled and have 3 children living with me with disabilities. It was 12 degrees with no way to warm up. Food got spoiled, my insulin was not good. Power got restored around me but my power was out for 6 days. Why?? It was not fair the way they restored service. Some neighborhoods did not [lose] power at all.”

US sends two warships into the Black Sea as Russia warns of “full-scale hostilities” with NATO-backed Ukraine

Clara Weiss

The US is sending two warships to the Black Sea amid a rapidly escalating crisis in East Ukraine. On Friday, the Turkish government confirmed that the Pentagon had issued a formal request 15 days ago that two of its warships be allowed to pass through Turkish straits, to be deployed in the Black Sea until May 4.

The sending of US warships to the Black Sea is the latest in a series of extraordinarily provocative moves by NATO-backed Ukraine and the US in the crisis. In March, shortly after Joe Biden took office and reaffirmed that “Crimea is Ukraine,” the Ukrainian government of Volodymyr Zelensky announced a strategy to “recover Crimea” and the Donbas.

The Crimea, a highly strategic peninsula in the Black Sea, was annexed by Russia in 2014 following a US- and German-backed coup in Kiev. The Donbas has been the site of an ongoing civil war for almost seven years, and is controlled largely by Russian-backed separatists. The announcements of an offensive to retake these territories was tantamount to declaring that Ukraine is preparing for war.

Monday, Feb. 15, 2021 photo of U.S. warship (AP Photo/Mohammad Farooq)

This was the immediate backdrop for the growing fighting between the separatists and the Ukrainian army. Zelensky has since urged NATO to accelerate the admission of Ukraine to the military alliance, and Ukraine and NATO have announced joint military exercises. Last Friday, Zelensky met with US president Biden, who assured him of full US support against Russia. In response to these provocations, Russia has amassed troops on the borders to Ukraine, announced military exercises and is reinforcing its navy in the Black Sea.

Like the US, Germany and France have denounced “Russian aggression.” German chancellor Angela Merkel called upon Putin on Thursday to withdraw troops from the border of East Ukraine. Zelensky is set to travel to Paris next week to meet for negotiations with French president Emmanuel Macron. The French government has also demanded on that Russia “explain” the troop movements in the region.

On Thursday, Zelensky traveled to visit the Ukrainian troops in East Ukraine on Thursday, whom he praised for being “a true example of heroism and dedication.” A significant number of the troops and militias still fighting in what is a deeply unpopular war in Ukraine, are affiliated with the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion and similar far-right formations which have been systematically built up by the Ukrainian state and the US, especially since the 2014 coup.

In speaking of “Russian aggression,” the imperialist powers, Kiev and their lackeys in the media are turning reality on its head. It is Ukraine, backed by NATO and the US, not Russia, that has been systematically escalating the situation and pushing the region to the brink of all-out war.

On Friday, the spokesman of the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, said Russia was taking precautions given the “dangerous, explosive region at its borders.” He warned that the situation was so unstable that “the dynamics….created the danger of a resumption of full-scale hostilities.” In a call with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian president Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of resuming “dangerous provocative actions.” A day before, the deputy head of Russia’s presidential administration, Dmitry Korzak, said that Russian forces could intervene to defend Russian citizens in the region. The Kremlin has also offered Russian passports to residents of the Donbas and all Ukrainians who wanted one. He stated that a war could mark the “beginning of the end” of Ukraine.

Writing for the right-wing think tank publication National Interest, Ted Galen Carpenter noted that the situation now was reminiscent of the lead-up to the 2008 Russian-Georgian war, when the US deliberately encouraged Georgia to take aggressive action against Russia. He wrote, “The parallels between Washington’s excessive encouragement of Ukraine and Bush’s blunder with respect to Georgia [in 2008] are eerie and alarming. Vladimir Putin’s government has given the West numerous warnings over the years that attempting to make Ukraine a NATO military client crosses a bright red line in terms of Russia’s security.” Carpenter warned that the situation could escalate into a nuclear confrontation between Russia and the US.

Map of the Black Sea region

The extraordinarily dangerous situation in the Black Sea region can only be understood within its broader international and historical context. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union by the Stalinist bureaucracy in 1991, the culmination of decades of the nationalist betrayal of the October Revolution, the US has sought to offset its economic decline by militarily bringing the entire region under its control. NATO, despite earlier assurances to the contrary, has rapidly encircled Russia. The US, with heavy support from the EU, has also orchestrated several coups in the former Soviet Union to install pro-Western regimes, including in Georgia (2003), Ukraine (2004, 2014), and Kyrgyzstan (2010).

Zbigniew Brzezinski, one of the main architects of US foreign policy for many decades, summed up the significance of “Eurasia,” which encompasses all of Europe and Asia, in 1997: “With Eurasia now serving as the decisive geopolitical chessboard, it no longer suffices to fashion one policy for Europe and another for Asia. What happens with the distribution of power on the Eurasian landmass will be of decisive importance to America’s global primacy and historical legacy ... In a volatile Eurasia, the immediate task is to ensure that no state or combination of states gains the ability to expel the United States or even diminish its decisive role.”

Within Eurasia, the Black Sea region is of particular geostrategic significance as it connects Europe, the energy-rich Caucasus and the Middle East.

In 2018, the Pentagon openly declared that the US was now refocusing on “ great power conflict ,”that is, war preparations against nuclear-armed Russia and China. Eastern Europe and the Black Sea region are central to these efforts.

The COVID-19 pandemic has only accelerated the war drive, above all by the US. Underlying this are mounting class and political tensions within the United States itself. The Biden administration, following the course of the Trump administration, has taken an extraordinarily aggressive course toward China. At the same time, the US has deliberately escalated tensions with Russia. Just a few weeks ago, US president Joe Biden called the Russian president a “killer,” triggering a diplomatic crisis.

There are indications that US policy in the Black Sea region targets not only Russia but also China. Over the past decade, China has become a major economic partner of many countries in the region, particularly of Ukraine. While the EU is still Ukraine’s largest trading partner, China has become the single largest nation trading with the country, bypassing Russia. In early 2019, China became Ukraine’s second biggest import partner, accounting for almost 14 percent of total imports, more than Russia. It also became Ukraine’s third largest export partner, with 6.2 percent of total exports.

In the US, Ukraine’s growing economic partnership with China has provoked significant irritation. Notably, in March, right at the time when the Ukrainian government announced its strategy to “retake Crimea,” Kiev also declared that it would cancel a planned $3.6 billion deal to sell the Ukrainian helicopter and airplane engine maker Motor Sich to Chinese investors, after years of pressure from Washington.

The nationalization of the company comes at enormous economic cost for Ukraine, which is highly indebted and impoverished. Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of the Ukrainian government’s National Security and Defense Council, stated that the decision had been made for the sake of the “national security of the country.” Anders Aslund, a longtime US foreign policy pundit for the region, said that the decision showed that Ukraine “stands with the US even at considerable cost” and called it “an excellent step that the US should greatly appreciate.”

What has been revealed in the trial of Derek Chauvin?

Trévon Austin

The criminal trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, charged with the murder of George Floyd, has provided a glimpse into the grim reality of American society.

George Floyd’s story is one American workers are tragically familiar with. Floyd grew up in Houston’s infamous Third Ward, one of the most impoverished communities in the city. He was able to attend South Florida Community College on a two-year football scholarship before transferring to Texas A&M University. However, students from poorer backgrounds face a multitude of challenges at college, and Floyd eventually dropped out.

With limited economic opportunities and the anchor of poverty, Floyd was forced to jump from job to job throughout his adulthood, in addition to performing as a rapper with the stage name “Big Floyd.” At times, Floyd resorted to crime to get by. He served eight brief sentences between 1997 and 2005 for petty offenses, like theft and drug possession. In 2007 Floyd was jailed for aggravated robbery but began to turn his life around after he was released in January 2013.

Floyd became deeply involved in community work and joined a Christian ministry, where he mentored young men, hoping to keep them away from a troubled path. He delivered meals to senior citizens and volunteered in other programs. His loved ones recalled how Floyd knew he had “shortcomings and flaws” but deeply loved helping others in his neighborhood. Philonise Floyd, George’s brother, described his sibling as a “gentle giant.”

Dr. Martin Tobin testifies as Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill presides Thursday, April 8, 2021, in the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Court TV screenshot)

At a House Judiciary Committee hearing, Philonese told Congress, “George always made sacrifices for his family. And he made sacrifices for complete strangers. He gave the little that he had to help others. He was our gentle giant. I was reminded of that when I watched the video of his murder. He was mild mannered; he didn’t fight back. He listened to the officers. He called them ‘sir.’ The men who took his life. … He still called them ‘sir’ as he begged for his life.”

In 2014, Floyd moved to Minneapolis for a fresh start. There, he found a job at a Salvation Army center, where he met his girlfriend Courteney Ross, who testified about his life during the trial. Ross, who is white, described how she and Floyd struggled with opioid addiction, like millions of other workers, after being prescribed opioids for chronic pain. He became unemployed when the pandemic forced a shutdown of the economy in March 2020. He contracted COVID-19 himself in April but recovered after a few weeks. A month later, he was murdered, pinned under Chauvin’s knee for more than nine minutes.

Floyd’s story is deeply tragic, especially so because it embodies the experiences of the American working class. When tens of millions of workers took to the streets last summer, they did so because they could see their own lives in Floyd’s. In the killing of Floyd, people saw a society that does not value human life. People from different walks of life came together to demand an end to police brutality and a better society.

The American ruling class has been engaged in a brutal war against workers for more than 40 years. This social counterrevolution has seen workers robbed of economic security and future prospects. Going from job to job is not uncommon, and many workers have to work multiple jobs to make ends meet. The upper echelons of American society have seen their wealth skyrocket, while the economic position of the working class has deteriorated. Even workers who are fortunate enough to attend college face nearly insurmountable odds, as only 14 percent of students in the lowest-income quartile earn a bachelor’s degree within six years.

The COVID-19 pandemic has provided a contemporary example of the parasitic relationship between the wealthy and workers. The collective wealth of the world’s billionaires exploded by more than 60 percent last year, from $8 trillion to $13.1 trillion. While thousands died every day and unemployment rose to levels not seen since the Great Depression, stock markets soared to record levels.

Such levels of social inequality are fundamentally incompatible with democracy. The atomization of the working class requires the increased militarization of the police, that watchdog of capital. Police departments have been flooded with military-grade weaponry and equipment, which is regularly used to crack down on workers’ opposition. Given near free rein to do as they please, police murder an average of three people every day.

Police serve a definite social function in acting as a tool of oppression against the working class. Understanding this, departments regularly recruit from the most backward layers of the population to brutalize others. This includes racists, fascists, and those who like to exercise power and dominate over others. Derek Chauvin regularly used excessive force throughout his career, collecting 18 complaints in his 19 years as an officer. When bystanders pleaded for Floyd’s life, Chauvin was only goaded to continue torturing Floyd.

What socio-economic conditions led to the development of a man who would ignore pleas to save someone’s life?

Chauvin’s father was a certified public accountant, and his mother was a housewife. At the age of seven, his parents divorced and were given joint custody of him. One can infer that Chauvin faced a difficult childhood, as he did not finish high school and instead later received a GED certificate.

Chauvin did not always want to be a police officer. He studied food preparation at Dakota County Technical College, taking classes such as “pantry food preparation” and “job seeking skills.” Later, he went on to work as a prep cook at McDonald’s and cooked ribs and chicken at a buffet restaurant. However, he soon followed a path thousands of youth have tried in order to escape the drudgery of working-class life. At 20 years old, he joined the United States Army Reserve in 1996.

During Chauvin’s developmental years, the United States invaded Iraq in the Persian Gulf War. The affair was heavily televised, with the media glorifying the technological might of the US military machine. Images of precision missiles hitting their target and fighter jets taking off from aircraft carriers were utilized to produce a “war drama.”

In 2001, Chauvin joined the Minneapolis Police Department, which saw fit to reward him for violent actions numerous times. In 2006, he received a medal of valor for shooting a suspect, who allegedly pointed a shotgun at officers. In 2008, he got another medal for breaking down a door and shooting a suspect, who had reached for his pistol in a domestic violence dispute.

Considering his time with the police and military, Chauvin’s development followed a particular logic. He was the direct product of a socio-economic order that cultivates the most barbarous characteristics in a person—American imperialism. Engaged in continuous wars for three decades, violence has been openly embraced by the United States. It has deployed its military across the world to maintain its hegemonic position. The bloody reign of police in the States serves to suppress domestic opposition to the prerogatives of the US ruling class.

A system predicated on violence and oppression, that destroys the lives of workers and openly appeals to the worst in humanity, cannot be defended. Chauvin’s trial has exposed American capitalism for the rotten system it is.