12 May 2022

US overdose deaths rose to record levels in 2021, fueled by fentanyl, exacerbated by pandemic

Kate Randall


Deaths from drug overdoses in 2021, the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, rose to record-setting levels. Overdose deaths neared 108,000, fueled by an ever-worsening fentanyl crisis, according to preliminary data published Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Hydrocodone pills, also known as Vicodin, are arranged for a photo at a pharmacy in Montpelier, Vt. on Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013. [AP Photo/Toby Talbot]

Overdose deaths in the US have now surpassed a staggering 1 million since the CDC began collecting data about two decades ago. The surge over the past two years is a result not only of the proliferation of fentanyl, but has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has served to isolate growing numbers of people and restricted access to treatment programs.

The number of deadly overdoses in 2021 was similar to those caused by diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease and approximately a quarter of the official number of deaths from COVID-19 that year, according to the CDC.

Prior to the pandemic, the US was already coping with a groundswell of “deaths of despair” from suicides, overdoses and alcohol poisoning, as well as deaths from gun violence.

The 15 percent rise in overdose deaths in 2021 followed a rise of almost 30 percent in 2020. A growing share of these deaths were driven by fentanyl, a class of potent synthetic opioids that is as much as 100 times more powerful than morphine. Fentanyl and methamphetamines, synthetic stimulants, are often mixed with other drugs. Users are most often not aware of fentanyl’s presence in the drugs they are using.

According to state health officials, many overdose deaths appear to be the result of mixing fentanyl and methamphetamines. Deaths involving synthetic opioids rose to 71,000 in 2021, up from 58,000 the year before, while deaths from stimulants like methamphetamines increased to 33,000 from 25,000.

Alaska saw the largest percentage increase of any state in 2021. Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska’s chief health official, told the New York Times that of the 140 fentanyl overdose deaths recorded in 2021, over 60 percent also involved methamphetamines and nearly 30 percent involved heroin.

Fentanyl, introduced in the 1960s as an intravenous anesthetic, is a white powder that is now often combined with other drugs such as heroin and cocaine to be sold on the illegal market. It can be produced in a lab and can be cheaper and easier to distribute than heroin, making it more lucrative for drug dealers and traffickers. It is often unwittingly used by those who have moved on to heroin after becoming addicted to opioids that have been pushed by Purdue and other pharmaceutical companies.

A substantial share of illicit pills believed by users to be the opioid OxyContin, the benzodiazepine Xanax or the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder drug Adderall now contains fentanyl, oftentimes in deadly doses. Individuals seeking prescription opioids, relief from anxiety, or a stimulant to stay awake for exams or work, become the unwitting victims of deadly doses of fentanyl.

Black Americas now have the highest fatality rates from drug overdoses, followed by American Indian and Alaska Native males, with significant increases seen among these groups in recent years.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), at the National Institutes of Health, overdose deaths among teens have doubled in the past three years, even though drug use is decreasing overall among teens. Teens are more likely to take pills they think are Adderall, Xanax or Percocet, seeking help to study, calm anxiety or treat pain, according to Dr. Nora Volkow, director of NIDA.

“They’ve been doing this for decades,” the Guardian quotes Volkow saying. “What is now different is these prescription drugs that are illicitly manufactured containing fentanyl have increased 50-fold,” she said.

The proliferation of fentanyl is undoubtedly a significant contributing factor to the surge in overdose deaths. However, this epidemic of deaths cannot be separated from either the pandemic or the social crisis that it has exacerbated. The criminal government policy pursued by both the Trump and Biden administrations in relation to COVID-19 has led to an official death toll of 1 million Americans in just two years.

The government’s refusal to adopt a Zero-COVID public health strategy has created conditions in which the country is now in the third year of the pandemic with no end in sight.

The White House announced earlier this month that it expects the US to record 100 million new cases of COVID-19 during the coming fall and winter months, along with a “significant wave of deaths.” Using the accepted infection fatality rate from the virus of 0.5 percent, this translates into 500,000 additional deaths.

Last month, President Biden sent his administration’s inaugural National Drug Control Strategy to Congress which, according to the White House web site, “focuses on two critical drivers of the epidemic: untreated addiction and drug trafficking.” The Office of National Drug Control Policy has requested just over $450 million for fiscal year 2023 to fund this effort.

This sum—much of which will end up going to federal and local police—compares to the record $39.8 billion in military aid to Ukraine just authorized by the US House to fund the US-NATO proxy war. This goes beyond the $33 billion requested by the Biden administration and is being pushed through by a bipartisan effort, including from the “left” wing of the Democratic Party.

The geyser of money for war comes as $10 billion for COVID-19 relief was dropped by the Democrats, despite the Biden administration’s predictions of an approaching fall and winter of surging deaths from the coronavirus. Can it seriously be believed that this same Democratic Party will lead a war against overdose deaths that are almost certain to rise in 2022–2023?

The crisis of overdose deaths in the US is above all a social crisis that must be confronted by workers and youth in a struggle against a wealthy elite that is prepared to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of lives annually to overdoses and other deaths of despair at the same time as it forces the population into unsafe workplaces and schools and drives millions into poverty as prices soar and real wages plunge.

Sri Lankan president mobilises military with orders to shoot on sight

K. Ratnayake


Sri Lankan President Gotabhaya Rajapakse addressed the nation yesterday evening after mobilising the military throughout the country with orders to “strictly enforce the law against rioters” and to shoot on sight.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa [Credit: AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena]

Referring to the thug attack on anti-government protesters in Colombo on Monday, Rajapakse hypocritically condemned the “unfortunate situation” and said police has been instructed to initiate a full investigation.

The attack was orchestrated by the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna as the pretext for the imposition of police-state measures. After being addressed by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, hundreds of SLPP goons, armed with clubs and sticks, were unleashed against anti-government demonstrators outside his official residence and then on protesters who had occupied Galle Face Green in central Colombo for about a month.

The extensive nationwide protests demanding President Rajapakse and his government resign have been fueled by a social disaster created by huge price increases, acute shortages of essential food, medicines, fuel and lengthy daily power cuts.

In his national address, Rajapakse focused on the violent clashes that erupted outside the houses of SLPP ministers and parliamentarians across the country after that attack on Galle Face Green protesters. Houses were set on fire and several people died in the clashes.

As the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) warned in a statement on May 10, these clashes have played directly into the hands of Rajapakse and the state apparatus. The president declared that soldiers from the three branches of the armed forces and the police “have been ordered to strictly enforce the law against the rioters.”

Rajapakse had already declared a state of emergency last Friday after a massive one-day general strike and business closures shut down the country’s economy and sent a shudder of fear through the ruling class. The state of emergency gives the president extensive powers to deploy armed forces with powers, arrest people without warrant, ban strikes, protests and meetings, impose curfews and media censorship, and proscribe political parties.

The island-wide deployment of the military yesterday is reminiscent of the reactionary 26-year communal war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. In Colombo, armoured vehicles and soldiers on motorcycles are patrolling the streets. Heavily-armed soldiers are manning checkpoints complete with barricades to stop and search vehicles and people.

Heavily-armed soldiers and military vehicle in Colombo enforcing curfew. [Image: Facebook]

In every part of the country, military personnel have set up checkpoints at the entrances to all major towns and at strategic points along highways.

The presidential media division has announced that the round-the-clock curfew imposed on Monday will be lifted at 7 am today, but only for seven hours and will remain in place until Friday morning.

Following the thug attack on anti-government protesters on Monday, thousands of people poured into Galle Face Green defying the curfew and security forces to show their solidarity. Yesterday evening, however, the police declared that the regrouped protesters were in breach of curfew regulations, indicating preparations for their forcible removal.

Hundreds of health workers in Kandy march in protest against thug attack on Galle Face Green demonstrators.

A crackdown on social media is also on the cards. Yesterday the police said they had identified 59 social media platforms with investigations commenced against them under repressive Computer Crimes Act and other criminal laws.

The extensive military deployment and resort to police-state measures is a sharp warning that Rajapakse is systematically preparing for a showdown with the working class that has already demonstrated its determination to defend its social and democratic rights.

Millions of workers participated in the April 28 and May 6 general strikes, shocking the entire political establishment, including the trade unions which they thought would be limited protests.

All of the capitalist political parties—government and opposition alike—are committed to reaching a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for an emergency bailout and to implementing the draconian emergency measures that will accompany it. All of them support the IMF’s demand for “stability”—in other words, the suppression of working-class opposition.

Twelve business lobby groups, including the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka, and the Joint Apparel Association Forum, wrote to the president this week calling on him to appoint a prime minister and cabinet acceptable to all leading parliamentary political parties.

The big-business groups declared that these steps “must be done with immediate effect in order to take urgent action to restore law and order and economic activity in the country and not to ‘jeopardise’ talks with the IMF.”

Despite the deployment of the military, President Rajapakse remains in a weakened position. Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse resigned on Monday, along with this cabinet, after it became clear that working people were outraged at the attack by pro-government thugs and sections of the working class stopped work. The president, using his far-reaching executive powers, currently holds all cabinet posts.

In his national address, Rajapakse said he would appoint a new prime minister and cabinet within a week that “commands a majority in the parliament and secures the confidence of the people.” Steps would then be taken to revert to the 19th constitutional amendment to “empower the parliament.” Currently the president can sack ministers or the whole government at his own discretion.

Currently, however, no party commands a parliamentary majority and all of them are deeply discredited. The opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), which has 65 members in the 225-seat parliament, offered to form a government yesterday but declared that the president must step down.

Similarly, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-led National People’s Power (NPP) proposed that it be allowed to appoint an interim government, but also demands that Rajapakse resigns. It has only three MPs but has urged other parties to support it. It has also declared that it would back an interim regime from outside.

While President Rajapakse has repeatedly insisted that he will not resign, there are clearly frantic behind the scenes discussions taking place to put some form of interim government in place and to buy time for the implementation of the IMF’s agenda.

A politically criminal role is being played by the trade unions. In response to the attack on anti-government protesters on Monday and the outrage of broader sections of workers, the trade unions called an indefinite general strike on Monday evening.

Given that a 24-hour curfew was in place, however, many workers were de facto “on strike”—that is, they were not permitted to go to work. Key sections of workers—in the plantations and free trade zones—did go to work, with the permission of the police and the unions.

Now that Rajapakse has eased the curfew, the Trade Union Coordinating Committee (TUCC) yesterday called off their “general strike,” telling the media it was necessary to “normalise public services” to prevent the country falling into “anarchy.” They declared that they would “contribute to the people’s struggle in a new form.”

All along the trade unions have acted not to fight for the democratic and social rights of the working class, but to confine, divert and suppress the groundswell of opposition in the working class to the government and to prop up bourgeois rule. Their demands are virtually identical to the opposition parties—the resignation of the government and the formation of a new capitalist interim government.

11 May 2022

Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute Financial Support Scholarship for Students Worldwide 2022

Application Deadline: 13th June 2022

Offered annually? Yes

Eligible Countries: All

About the Award: The CFA Institute Access Scholarship Program (“Program”) is designed to make CFA Institute programs more available to individuals who may not be able to afford the full program fees. (“Access Scholarships”). In order to protect the integrity of the Program, the following Official Rules (“Rules”) shall bind all participants in the Program.

Scholarship Candidates may be either new or existing candidates in the CFA Program. There is no minimum or maximum income or asset level for Scholarship Candidates. Candidates are ineligible if their current employer provides any financial assistance for participation in the CFA Program. Candidates can only receive one Access Scholarship per calendar year. Further, a Candidate may only receive one scholarship per exam, so if a candidate applies for both an Access and an Awareness Scholarship, and receives an award, the remaining application will be void.

Selection Criteria: Applications will be reviewed by CFA Institute and/or a local CFA Institute Member Society in the Scholarship Candidate’s geographic area. While financial need will be strongly considered, awards may be made based on a combination of factors, including financial need; the academic, professional or other accomplishments of the candidate; obstacles overcome by the candidate; contributions to the local community; the candidate’s interest in pursuing the CFA charter; and other personal characteristics that indicate the individual is a strong candidate to receive an Access Scholarship and become a CFA charter holder.

Number of Awardees: Not specified

Value of Scholarship: The scholarship covers the one-time CFA Program enrollment fee (if applicable) and reduces the exam registration fee (includes access to the curriculum eBook) to US$250.

How to Apply: Log in and complete the CFA Program Access Scholarship Application. You can expect a review decision no later than 31 July 2022.

Visit Scholarship Webpage for details

Why Latin America Needs a New World Order

Marco Fernandes



Mural at the hall of the Arts House of the University of Concepción, Chile. Photograph Source: Fotografía tomada por Farisori; Autor del mural: Jorge González Camarena – CC BY-SA 3.0

The world wants to see an end to the conflict in Ukraine. The NATO countries, however, want to prolong the conflict by increasing arms shipments to Ukraine and by declaring that they want to “weaken Russia.” The United States had already allocated $13.6 billion to arm Ukraine. Biden has just requested $33 billion more. By comparison, it would require $45 billion per year to end world hunger by 2030.

Even if negotiations take place and the war ends, an actual peaceful solution will not likely be possible. Nothing leads us to believe that geopolitical tensions will decrease, since behind the conflict around Ukraine is an attempt by the West to halt the development of China, to break its links with Russia, and to end China’s strategic partnerships with the Global South.

In March, commanders of the U.S. Africa Command (General Stephen J. Townsend) and Southern Command (General Laura Richardson) warned the U.S. Senate about the perceived dangers of increased Chinese and Russian influence in Africa as well as Latin America and the Caribbean. The generals recommended that the United States weaken the influence of Moscow and Beijing in these regions. This policy is part of the 2018 national security doctrine of the United States, which frames China and Russia as its “central challenges.”

No Cold War

Latin America does not want a new cold war. The region has already suffered from decades of military rule and austerity politics justified based on the so-called “communist threat.” Tens of thousands of people lost their lives and many tens of thousands more were imprisoned, tortured, and exiled only because they wanted to create sovereign countries and decent societies. This violence was a product of the U.S.-imposed cold war on Latin America.

Latin America wants peace. Peace can only be built on regional unity, a process that began 20 years ago after a cycle of popular uprisings, driven by the tsunami of neoliberal austerity, led to the election of progressive governments: Venezuela (1999), Brazil (2002), Argentina (2003), Uruguay (2005), Bolivia (2005), Ecuador (2007), and Paraguay (2008). These countries, joined by Cuba and Nicaragua, created a set of regional organizations: the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America–Peoples’ Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) in 2004, the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) in 2008, and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in 2011. These platforms were intended to increase regional trade and political integration. Their gains were met with increased aggression from Washington, which sought to undermine the process by attempting to overthrow the governments in many of the member countries and by dividing the regional blocs to suit Washington’s interests.

Brazil

Because of its size and its political relevance, Brazil was a key player in these early organizations. In 2009, Brazil joined with Russia, India, China, and South Africa to form BRICS, a new alliance with the goal to rearrange the power relations of global trade and politics.

Brazil’s role did not please the White House, which—avoiding the crudeness of a military coup—staged a successful operation, in alliance with sectors of the Brazilian elite, that used the Brazilian legislature, judiciary system, and media to overthrow the government of President Dilma Rousseff in 2016 and to cause the arrest of President Lula in 2018 (who was then leading the polls in the presidential election). Both were accused of a corruption scheme involving the Brazilian state oil company, and an investigation by Brazil’s judiciary known as Operation Car Wash ensued. The participation of both the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI in that investigation was revealed following a massive leak of the Telegram chats of Operation Car Wash’s lead prosecutor. However, before the U.S. interference was uncovered, the removal of Lula and Dilma from politics brought the right wing back to power in Brasília; Brazil no longer played a leading role in either the regional or the global projects that could weaken U.S. power. Brazil abandoned UNASUR and CELAC, and remains in BRICS only formally—as is also the case with India—weakening the perspective of strategic alliances of the Global South.

Turning Tide

In recent years, Latin America has experienced a new wave of progressive governments. The idea of regional integration has returned to the table. After four years without a summit meeting, CELAC reconvened in September 2021 under the leadership of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Argentine President Alberto Fernández. Should Gustavo Petro win the Colombian presidential election in May 2022, and Lula win his campaign for reelection to Brazil’s presidency in October 2022, for the first time in decades, the four largest economies in Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Colombia) would be governed by the center-left, notably supporters of Latin American and Caribbean integration. Lula has said that if he wins the presidency, Brazil will return to CELAC and will resume an active stance in BRICS.

The Global South might be prepared to reemerge by the end of the year and create space for itself within the world order. Evidence for this is in the lack of unanimity that greeted NATO’s attempt to create the largest coalition to sanction Russia. This NATO project has aroused a backlash around the Global South. Even governments that condemn the war (such as Argentina, Brazil, India, and South Africa) do not agree with NATO’s unilateral sanction policy and prefer to support negotiations for a peaceful solution. The idea of resuming a movement of the nonaligned—inspired by the initiative launched at the conference held in Bandung, Indonesia, in 1955—has found resonance in numerous circles.

Their intention is correct. They seek to de-escalate global political tensions, which are a threat to the sovereignty of countries and tend to negatively impact the global economy. The spirit of nonconfrontation, and peace, of the Bandung Conference is urgent today.

But the Non-Aligned Movement emerged as a refusal by Third World countries to choose a side in the polarization between the United States and USSR during the Cold War. They were fighting for their sovereignty and the right to have relations with the countries of both systems, without their foreign policy being decided in Washington or Moscow.

This is not the current scenario. Only the Washington-Brussels axis (and allies) demand alignment with their so-called “rules-based international order.” Those who do not align suffer from sanctions applied against dozens of countries (devastating entire economies, such as those of Venezuela and Cuba), illegal confiscation of hundreds of billions of dollars in assets (as in the cases of Venezuela, Iran, Afghanistan, and Russia), invasions and interference resulting in genocidal wars (as in Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Afghanistan), and outside support for “color revolutions” (from Ukraine in 2014 to Brazil in 2016). The demand for alignment comes only from the West, not from China or Russia.

Humanity faces urgent challenges, such as inequality, hunger, the climate crisis, and the threat of new pandemics. To overcome them, regional alliances in the Global South must be able to institute a new multipolarity in global politics. But the usual suspects may have other plans for humanity.

UK: Queen’s Speech lays out brutal class war agenda and evisceration of democratic rights

Robert Stevens


Today’s Queen’s Speech, in which the government’s legislative agenda for the upcoming session of Parliament is outlined, took place amid a heightened political crisis for the ruling class. The Conservative government’s programme was a further lurch to the right, with an evisceration of democratic rights at its centre.

With Buckingham Palace citing the queen’s “episodic mobility problems”, the 96-year-old monarch was unable to attend the State Opening of Parliament to read the speech. The queen has only twice missed the ritualistic constitutional ceremony in her 70 years on the throne, both due to pregnancies, and the last time in 1963.

Instead, the deeply unpopular Prince Charles, himself 73 and next in line to the throne, gave the speech with the queen’s Imperial State Crown on a table next to him. The Palace ensured that Charles’s eldest son, Prince William, attended his first State Opening sitting alongside him.

Prince Charles sits next to the Queen's crown during the State Opening of Parliament, at the Palace of Westminster in London, May 10, 2022. Queen Elizabeth II did not attend the opening of Parliament amid ongoing mobility issues. Prince William is seated second left, and Camilla Duchess of Cornwall is seated right. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, Pool)

With both heirs to the throne present, the state was on full alert. Sky News anchor Adam Boulton noted, “The security around Westminster is the greatest I have seen in four decades,” adding that “they’ve [police and security] sealed off all the way around the [Buckingham] Palace, as well as the Mall, and St James Park, as well as here at Westminster.”

The event took place amid NATO’s proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, in which Britain is buried up to the hilt, and as a massive political crisis affecting the major political parties rages at home.

Last week’s elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly saw the nationalist Sinn Féin win the most seats, intensifying the crisis of British imperialism both in its oldest colony and regarding its relations with the European Union and the US. The pro-British Unionist parties are demanding the scrapping of the Northern Ireland Protocol governing post-Brexit EU trade and there is little possibility of the power-sharing executive resuming. But given the threat of a constitutional unravelling and a possible trade war that would alienate Washington as well as Berlin and Paris, the Queen’s Speech could only refer in general to taking “all steps necessary” to protect Northern Ireland’s place in the UK internal market.

Since November, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s leadership has been threatened by the Partygate scandal, after it was revealed he and other leading government officials broke COVID public health measures in place during 2020/21. But Johnson may now not be the first leader forced to stand down. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has been dragged into the crisis in the “Beergate” scandal, with Durham police launching an investigation into whether he also breached rules during a political campaign event in the north east of England. Just 24 hours prior to Parliament opening, Starmer announced that if he is fined he will resign along with his deputy, Angela Rayner—following his repeated calls demanding Johnson’s resignation.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer (left) and Boris Johnson walk to the House of Lords to hear the Queen's Speech (Credit: UK Parliament Jessica Taylor)

The government’s response was to throw “red meat” to satisfy the Tory Party’s right-wing constituency and the capitalist class demanding an escalation in the offensive against the working class.

Despite Johnson’s “levelling up” mantra, there was not a single concession to workers being hammered by more than a decade of grinding austerity. In what was presented as the first “post-COVID” Queen’s Speech by a government that has overseen almost 200,000 deaths, what was tabled was a deepening of the onslaught to be imposed by repressive measures.

The speech contained 38 bills to be legislated, including a Public Order Bill, which, building on the newly passed Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act, effectively ends the right to protest. All protests “interfering with key national infrastructure” such as airports, railways and newspaper printing presses, will be outlawed, with prison sentences of up to 12 months. Any person blocking the construction of major transport projects such as the HS2 high-speed train network faces six months in prison.

“Locking on”, where environment protesters glue themselves to roads and structures, will incur a maximum penalty of six months’ imprisonment and an unlimited fine. People deemed to have come equipped to lock on will also be hit with a fine.

Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab has authored a grotesquely named Bill of Rights to “restore the balance of power between the legislature and the courts”, which will repeal the Human Rights Act introduced in 1998 by the Blair Labour government. The government cynically announced Raab’s Bill would curb “the incremental expansion of a rights culture without proper democratic oversight”.

Law Society president Stephanie Boyce warned, “If the new Bill of Rights becomes law, it would make it harder for all of us to protect or enforce our rights. The proposed changes make the state less accountable. This undermines a crucial element of the rule of law, preventing people from challenging illegitimate uses of power.”

Whatever remains of any European Union-based legislation that hinders the untrammelled operations of big business is to be shredded under a Brexit Freedoms Bill. The Independent noted, “The legislation will also remove the principle of supremacy of EU law, which still applies to 2,376 acts of parliament passed before Brexit.” The Bill allows the amendment or repeal of many laws by using “secondary legislation”, to be enacted by ministers without full parliamentary scrutiny.

Among other incoming legislation is a media bill facilitating the privatisation of Channel 4 Television, a precursor to the eventual privatising of the main state broadcaster the BBC, a long-time aim of the Conservatives.

A measure aimed at bolstering the Israeli apartheid state will prevent public bodies from boycotting certain countries, i.e., Israel.

Further laws to be enacted include a national security bill, which will tighten the official secrets law and require lobbyists and PRs to register any work carried out for foreign states.

The Great British Railways Act will see the state offering the private sector train-operating companies guaranteed returns. It lays the basis for intensifying attacks on railworkers’ conditions. Another law will require all vessels operating at UK ports, specifically ferry companies, to pay employees the minimum wage, in effect laying the basis for a permanently low paid workforce.

The Queen’s Speech is a declaration of war against the working class by a ruling elite that is shoveling unlimited financial resources into a proxy war against Russia, threatening a nuclear conflict. This is to be paid for by workers through an assault on their jobs, pay, terms and conditions and access to the basics of life including health care, education and housing.

In response, Starmer cynically called for the government to address the raging cost of living crisis as inflation races towards 10 percent. Johnson said only that he would address this “in the days to come”. This will consist of a few sops doing nothing to address the social distress impacting millions of people who can no longer afford to live. It may include making a grant of the £200 energy bills loan being made available to households from October. To put this into perspective, a household using a typical amount of gas and electricity will by then be paying up to £2,600 annually.

Millions already cannot even afford to eat properly. Research published this week by the Food Foundation reveals that almost 5 percent of households, or 2.4 million adults, had not eaten for a whole day during the last month. More than one in 10 households (6.8 million adults) had eaten smaller meals than usual or skipped meals because they could not afford or access food. Some 2.6 million children live in households that do not have access to a healthy and affordable diet, which puts them at high risk of diet-related diseases.

In this situation, that a sated ruling elite with no significant social base to govern can offer nothing except militarism, war and repression points to a society headed for a social explosion.

Scholz, Macron meet in Berlin to call for EU military build-up against Russia

Johannes Stern & Alex Lantier


On May 9, on the anniversary of Nazi Germany’s defeat in World War II, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and newly-reelected French President Emmanuel Macron met in Berlin. They discussed plans to accelerate the re-militarization of Germany and the EU and escalate EU participation in the war NATO is waging against Russia in Ukraine.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, left, welcomes French president Emmanuel Macron, center, with military honors prior to a meeting at the the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Monday, May 9, 2022. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

In the evening, the two visited the Brandenburg Gate, which was illuminated in Ukraine’s blue-and-yellow colors. A few hundred supporters and journalists were allowed to gather near Scholz and Macron and to shout pro-Ukrainian slogans. Asked by journalists what message he and Scholz intended to send with their night-time visit to the Brandenburg Gate, Macron replied: “Full support for Ukraine.”

Earlier that day, Scholz had given a speech rejecting any “Russian-dictated peace” in Ukraine, after having accused Russia of waging a “war of extermination” and “breaking with civilization.” The reactionary capitalist regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin is waging war in Ukraine, but Scholz’s war speech, effectively equating Russia with Nazism as a genocidal entity that must be fought and destroyed, was inflammatory and false. It was the basis for Scholz and Macron to lay out a militaristic agenda.

At the joint press conference, Scholz praised Macron's reelection as “a good sign for Europe.” He said that there had been agreement “for a long time that our countries can only successfully master the great challenges of our time if we proceed together and within the framework of a strong and sovereign Europe. We want to continue on this path together.”

The remarks of Scholz and Macron left no doubt as to what this meant. Berlin and Paris are working to massively rearm Europe and organize it more powerfully in order to be able to pursue their geostrategic and economic interests more independently of Washington. All the phrases of “peace and freedom,” “democracy” and “social justice”—employed repeatedly by both leaders during their remarks—cannot hide this fact.

Scholz and Macron threw their weight behind NATO’s proxy war against Russia in Ukraine and announced further arms deliveries to Kiev. “We stand closely and unbreakably by Ukraine's side,” Scholz said. “We support them financially, from a humanitarian standpoint and also militarily with our arms deliveries in order to end this war”—that is, to militarily defeat Russia.

Scholz described Germany’s military support for Ukraine as “very far-reaching.” Its arms deliveries, he said, are “very comprehensive assistance from our own stocks, from cooperation with our defense industry and from cooperation with the countries of Eastern Europe that have what is so urgently needed in Ukraine, namely Russian weapons that can be used immediately in the conflict.”

Currently, beyond supplying its own heavy weapons, such as the self-propelled Howitzer 2000, Berlin is organizing so-called “ring exchanges” with Eastern European countries. Concretely, this means that Eastern European EU and NATO member states supply Soviet-designed tanks and air defense missiles to Ukraine. In return, Germany undertakes to replace the respective weapons systems with corresponding weapons of Western and German production.

At the same time, the Bundeswehr will train Ukrainian soldiers in Germany on these weapon systems. Future Ukrainian crews of the self-propelled howitzer 2000 and technical specialists reportedly landed in Rhineland-Palatinate on Tuesday. Training is to start today at the Bundeswehr’s artillery school in Idar-Oberstein. According to an expert report by the Bundestag’s Scientific Service, the training of Ukrainian soldiers on German soil constitutes war participation under international law.

In addition to military support for Ukraine, Scholz stressed that Germany would do “whatever it takes” to “strengthen its own defense capabilities.” At a special summit of the European Council at the end of May, he said, “We want to discuss how we in the European Union can better coordinate our investments in defense and use them more effectively. In this context, we naturally also want to speed up Franco-German armaments projects.”

The far-reaching plans at stake are evident in foreign policy papers such as the “Strategic Compass for Security and Defense,” recently adopted by the EU. In Berlin, Macron described the paper, which aims to equip the EU for “this era of growing strategic competition” and “major geopolitical shifts,” as an important means of establishing a more independent European foreign and war policy.

To achieve the necessary capabilities, the paper commits EU states to “spend more and better in defence” and massive rearmament. Among other things, it proposes to “jointly develop cutting-edge military capabilities” in all operational areas, “such as high-end naval platforms, future combat air systems, space-based capabilities and main battle tanks.”

Some of these mega-projects, worth hundreds of billions in total, such as the new European Future Combat Air System (FCAS) and the Franco-German Main Ground Combat System (MGCS), are now being pushed. For example, the rearmament package announced by Scholz at the end of February provides for spending of some €34 billion on these “multinational armament projects” alone.

At the press conference with Macron, Scholz boasted of Germany's biggest rearmament drive since the Nazis. Berlin, he said, will “permanently spend two percent of its economic output on defense. We have decided that we will launch a special fund of €100 billion to advance this process and also bring about a restructured defense capability for Germany,” he said. Germany already has “a very large conventional army,” he added, and “if we correspondingly strengthen massively our armed forces, of course that will have positive effects on the defense capability of Europe as a whole.”

Macron backed Germany’s rearmament. “Germany has just made far-reaching decisions that I expressly welcome,” he said. Macron also presented his own plans to make Europe more powerful, which were again supported by Scholz. To give Europe “the right political and geopolitical shape,” he advocated building “a European political community.” In addition to Great Britain, which left the EU on January 31, 2020, Macron also mentioned the countries of the Western Balkans and Ukraine as potential members.

On the EU, Macron advocated dispensing with the requirement of unanimity in EU decision-making. He proposed moving to “qualified majority voting” in “public policies that we currently still decide by unanimity … for example, fiscal policy or defence policy.” This would allow the EU to take faster decisions on military offensives and on social austerity policies under conditions of large-scale war and economic crisis on the European continent.

In reality, broad layers of European workers are aware that the reckless war policy of the EU and the entire NATO alliance threatens to escalate into an all-out NATO-Russia nuclear war. One recent poll found that 76 percent of French people are concerned about the danger of a nuclear war with Russia. Nonetheless, EU governments are thrusting aside mass popular disquiet and opposition to rearm and grab their share of the spoils in an imperialist carve-up of the former Soviet Union.

Fierce tensions are building up between the German and French ruling classes under the surface, notably over how the loot is to be divided. During last month’s French presidential election, Macron’s far-right opponent, Marine Le Pen, threatened to end the Franco-German alliance, calling Germany “the absolute negation of French strategic identity.” While every effort is for now being made to paper over these divisions, conflicts inside the EU also continue to mount.

Above all, the EU policy depends on an onslaught against the working class. This takes overt form in Macron’s election promise to spend billions more on the military, even as France sends hundreds of millions of euros in arms to Ukraine, by slashing unemployment payments and pensions and making welfare recipients work for their benefits.

The Greek government’s responsibility for violent attacks on Russians in Athens

Katerina Selin


Words are followed by deeds, the saying goes. Spurred on by the nationalist howls of war that have permeated every TV channel and newspaper around the world since the start of the Ukraine war, more and more right-wing radicals in Europe feel emboldened to commit violent and racist attacks.

A shocking incident occurred at the end of April during the Orthodox Easter festival in Greece. Ten to 12 Ukrainian nationalists beat up three people of Russian origin who were celebrating Easter on the beach in Athens. Among the victims was Oksana Maryakhina, a historian and archaeologist who studied at Athens’ Kapodistrias University and has lived in Greece for 20 years, where she also works as a tour guide.

Maryakhina described to the Greek news website The Press Project how the group of Ukrainian nationalists shouted the far-right slogan “Slava Ukraini” (“Glory to Ukraine”) and attacked her and two friends after they identified themselves as Russians. One of them hit her in the face with a knuckle duster, she said. “They kicked and punched my arms, legs and ribs so that I collapsed covered in blood.” Police were called but were late in arriving, she said. In a video posted on her Facebook page the day after, she showed the wounds on her eye, cheek and head.

Oksana Maryakhina after a violent attack by Ukrainian nationalists in Athens (Photo: Facebook video).

“This is clearly a fascist attack just because we are Russians and we support our country,” she said in an interview with The Press Project. “Not only do we feel threatened, but now we are afraid to speak Russian in the street.” There have been many attacks, and Russian restaurants are also being threatened, Maryakhina said. The newspaper refers to screenshots it has showing that Ukrainian nationalists have created lists of “pro-Russian separatists” in Greece.

There were right-wing extremist attacks in Greece in the first weeks after the war began. In mid-March, neo-Nazis desecrated the monument to the Soviet soldier in the Athens district of Kallithea, dedicated to three Red Army prisoners of war who were executed by the Nazi occupiers in the summer of 1944. Unknown persons daubed the monument with the word “Azov,” a reference to the far-right Ukrainian Azov battalion fighting Russia, the SS symbol of the “Wolfangel,” used by Azov, and the Celtic cross, an identifying symbol of Greek and international far-right groups.

Monument to the Soviet soldier in Athens, smeared with Nazi symbols, 19 March 2022 (Photo: Facebook page of the Russian Embassy in Greece).

In early April, violent attacks took place against a pro-Russian motorcade protest in central Athens, injuring two people and damaging cars. According to the daily Kathimerini, criminal proceedings were initiated against two suspects of Georgian origin for attempted murder, racism, violation of the weapons law and other charges. 

Such acts of violence against the backdrop of the Ukraine war are not limited to Greece. In Bulgaria, clashes broke out a few days ago after the parliament voted in favour of “military-technical support” for Ukraine. Pro-Ukrainian demonstrators demanding arms deliveries tried to cover the Soviet Army monument in the capital Sofia with the Ukrainian and Bulgarian flags, which pro-Russian counter-demonstrators prevented. A member of the Stalinist Bulgarian organisation “Movement 23 September” was allegedly beaten up by right-wing radicals wearing the Azov symbol on their clothes, The Press Project reported. 

In Germany, too, attacks are taking place in connection with the Ukraine war, which are hardly reported by the media. On April 19, the Federal Criminal Police Office reported that around 200 crimes were being committed per week, including threats, insults and damage to property, which are directed “mostly against members of our society of Russian origin, but also against members of our society of Ukrainian origin.”

As the WSWS warned in its first statement after the war began, Putin’s reactionary invasion is dividing the Russian and Ukrainian working class and playing directly into the hands of US and European imperialism. The Western governments have since unleashed a rapid arms build-up and anti-Russia smear campaign. They are deliberately escalating the conflict which threatens to develop into a nuclear war.   

Greece plays a key role in NATO policy because of its strategically important geopolitical position. The government under the right-wing Nea Dimokratia (ND) fully supports NATO’s war course and the sanctions of the European Union (EU), despite historically close cultural and economic ties to Russia. Greece was one of the first EU countries to promise arms deliveries to Ukraine, sending mainly rifles and anti-tank missiles. The Greek armed forces are also represented in NATO’s Rapid Reaction Force (NRF), which was activated after the Russian invasion and deployed to the Eastern flank.

An important hub for NATO’s Eastern flank is the northern Greek port city of Alexandroupolis, through which weapons and armaments from other NATO states are transported towards Ukraine. Two nuclear-powered aircraft carriers—the USS Harry S. Truman from the US and the Charles de Gaulle from France—have been transferred to Greece in the Mediterranean.

Greece had already strengthened military relations with the US and Europe before the war. A military agreement with France was signed in September 2021, and the defence agreement with the US was renewed in October. Greece also granted extended access to four US military bases.

From 2017, the pseudo-left Syriza government, in coalition with the far-right Anel, had pushed military cooperation with Washington under then-President Donald Trump. In addition to arms deals, the expansion of the Souda military base on Crete was initiated and the establishment of four new US bases was allowed: in Aktio in Epirus, in Andravida in the North Peloponnese, in Kalamata in the South Peloponnese and in Alexandroupolis.

To push through its foreign policy line, the government is trying to create a climate hostile to Russia. Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni implemented sanctions against Russian cultural institutions as early as the beginning of March and canceled all planned performances of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake with the Bolshoi Ballet, causing a storm of indignation.

On April 7, the government invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to address the Greek parliament by video. Zelensky then ceded the stage to a Greek-born member of the fascist Azov battalion in Mariupol who appealed to Greek nationalism in a repulsive video message.

In the embattled regions of eastern Ukraine, especially in Mariupol, Donetsk and Odessa, there are many members of the Greek minority who have settled on the Sea of Azov for centuries and today still number about 100,000 inhabitants. The fate of these people, who are now suffering from the catastrophic destruction of their towns in the proxy war between NATO and Russia, is cynically misused by the Greek government for its nationalist war rhetoric.

The fact that a member of a fascist fighting organisation was courted in the Greek parliament caused widespread horror in the working class. In a poll, 65 percent gave a negative assessment of the Ukrainian president’s appearance in parliament, only 11 percent reacted positively.

Then, a week ago, Greek state television ERT broadcast an exclusive interview with Zelensky in which he downplayed the role of the Azov Battalion to allay concerns among the Greek population. In 2014, volunteer battalions still dominated, making “quite radical” statements against Russia, Zelensky said. But that had allegedly changed now that the Azov regiment is officially part of the Ukrainian armed forces. So, the incorporation and arming of the neo-Nazis is said to have tamed them!

Ukrainian Ambassador Sergei Shutenko in Athens was also given the opportunity to defend the Azov orator in an interview on ERT last week, complaining of an allegedly great influence of Russian propaganda on the Greek public.

What is troubling the ruling class is that despite all its efforts, antiwar sentiment among the population continues to grow. This is evidenced in two polls on the Ukraine war published by the Greek polling institute Public Issue on March 21 and April 18. According to these polls, 68 percent of respondents expressed displeasure with the government’s policy on the Ukraine issue in March and 74 percent in April. The number of those who advocated that Greece adopt a neutral position also rose from 65 to 71 percent, while only 20 percent argued in favour of supporting Ukraine.

The negative assessment of the presidents of Russia, Ukraine and the US also continued to rise: for Vladimir Putin from 72 to 74 percent, for Joe Biden from 60 to 69 percent and for Volodymyr Zelensky from 56 to 68 percent.

The Greek ruling class is sitting on a powder keg. It is trying to pass on the costs of the war to the working class, which is already living from hand to mouth after 10 years of austerity dictates. The Greek statistics authority expected inflation to rise to over 10 percent in April. At the end of March, a survey by Alco for the trade union federation GSEE showed that 59 percent of respondents had to save on basic foodstuffs. The figure was as high as 74 percent for heating costs and 80 percent for leisure activities. In addition, the pandemic has officially claimed almost 30,000 lives in Greece.

Opposition to the course of the war and its social consequences already erupted at the beginning of April in a general strike that paralysed the whole country. In the weeks before, Greek railway workers had blocked the transport of NATO armoured military vehicles to the Ukrainian border with a strike. At the end of April, dockworkers went on strike because of the unacceptable working conditions at Cosco at the port of Piraeus.

On Tuesday, a demonstration took place in Athens against the draconian new labour laws which, among other things, restrict the right to strike. Private sector workers and transport workers stopped work from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.