Biden’s tariffs, a further stage in the breakdown of the international economic order

Nick Beams

The decision by the Biden administration to maintain tariffs on Chinese goods imposed under Trump and to vastly extend them with a 100 percent tariff on electric vehicles (EVs), together with major imposts on other green technology products, has sent a shock through the global economy.

It is being regarded as a qualitative leap in the ongoing breakdown of the international economic order put in place after 1945 aimed at preventing the trade and currency conflicts and the formation of rival economic blocs that fueled the conditions for World War II.

People walk past a mural on a bank showing symbols for American, Chinese and other world currencies in Beijing [AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein]

A recent editorial in the Economist, published before the latest Biden decision, said the order that had governed the global economy since the war had been eroded was now “close to collapse” and “war is once again becoming the resort of great powers.”

In a paper published immediately after the Biden decision, Bruegel, a Brussels economic think tank, pointed to its far-reaching implications. It said the EV tariffs “depart from the US emphasis on national security to adopt anti-China measures (unless one believes that EVs are meandering Chinese spies), suggesting that all sectors are now in play.”

(In the lead up to the decision, Biden had claimed that the smart technology in EVs could be used to send back intelligence information to China.)

The paper suggested the decision was a product of the enormous power of the United Auto Workers union as Biden campaigns for votes in the US presidential election. No doubt electoral considerations played a role as Biden tries to present himself as the most pro-worker president ever—in reality the most pro-trade union bureaucracy president—but they are not the central reason.

Rather, the trade measures are part of the drive to place the entire US economy on a war footing as it confronts what it regards as the greatest threat to its global dominance—the economic and technological rise of China.

The US is advancing its drive for action against Chinese exports and pushing for the European Union to join it with the claim that China is engaged in “unfair competition” because its industries receive massive state subsides. But this fiction is being exposed.

No doubt Chinese firms in the green technology sector and other areas receive state backing, but this is not the main reason for their increasing penetration of global markets.

According to the analysis by Bruegel: “China’s cost advantage arises from the combination of scale, advanced and lower-cost technology, availability of IT and AI expertise, lower labour costs, and intense competition in the Chinese market, with dozens of domestic and foreign producers active.… The only available and presumably reliable numbers on subsidies received are those declared by Chinese publicly traded companies such as BYD, [one of the main Chinese EV producers] and are small relative to turnover or value added.”

These cost advantages saw Chinese EV exports increased by over 60 percent in 2023 to reach 1.2 million units, mainly to Europe.

The European Commission is preparing a major report on Chinese exports and will release its findings in the next few weeks. The EU will then decide whether to join the US in its economic war against Beijing as it was urged to do by US treasury secretary Janet Yellen at the meeting of G7 finance ministers in Italy last week.

The escalation of tariffs on green technology products is only one part of an ever-expanding economic war against China. The US seeking to strike a blow at what it regards as the weakest area of the Chinese economy—development of new and more advanced computer chips—by introducing a series of bans and sanctions.

The US has imposed sweeping restrictions on China’s ability to buy advanced chips and chipmaking equipment and is demanding that suppliers in the Netherlands, South Korea and Japan do the same and isolate it.

This week the Chinese regime hit back and announced the establishment of a $47.5 billion fund set up by the central government and state-owned banks and enterprises to foster the development of semiconductors.

The latest announcement is the third in the series of a program which began in 2014 and was further developed in 2019.

Citing “people familiar with the matter,” the Financial Times said that “the third fund will target Chinese makers of equipment for chip factories, after the previous rounds ploughed capital into semiconductor manufacturing.”

In the US, the Biden administration is pouring tens of billions of dollars into the coffers of high-tech companies, including $39 billion under the Chips and Science Act along with $75 billion in loans and guarantees.

The US establishment is becoming increasingly agitated about the superiority of Chinese production methods in many areas of green technology. It is trying to gather support for its economic warfare with the claim that it is all due to illegal practices such as subsidising excess production and then dumping products on world markets at lower prices.

In fact, the reasons for the superiority lie elsewhere as was partially revealed in the New York Times on Monday, which sought to address the question posed in the headline as to why China had pulled so far ahead on industrial policy.

It noted that according to the International Energy Agency, in 2022 China accounted for 85 percent of all clean energy manufacturing investment in the world. China, it reported, now controls over 80 percent of worldwide production of every step in the manufacture of solar panels.

The Times article noted: “China’s unrivalled production of solar panels, and electric vehicles is built on an earlier cultivation of the chemical, steel, battery and electronics industries, as well as large investments in rail lines, ports and highways.”

Nothing like this has taken place in the US which has become a byword for the decay and disintegration of vital economic infrastructure.

The article cited comments by economics professor Zheng Yongnian, from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, who pointed to another significant factor.

“The West’s decision to pursue neoliberal economic policies was a strategic mistake, which led to the de-industrialisation of their economies and provided China with an opportunity,” he said.

One of the key aspects of the so-called neoliberal agenda, which began in the 1980s, was a process known as financialisation.

The key objective of major corporations became “shareholder value,” that is, the boosting of the stock price on Wall Street through financial operations such as share buybacks and leveraged buyouts in which companies were taken over and then asset stripped to return fabulous profits for financial investors.

This process of financial parasitism has now confronted US capitalism with what in many ways is an existential crisis as its once industrial and economic dominance is being challenged on every front.

“Protective Shield East”: Poland to build new €2.3 billion eastern wall

Martin Nowak

On May 18, the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced the construction of extensive military fortifications along the country’s border with Belarus. The borders of the wall are also to include the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad and Ukraine.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk during his speech in Krakow [Photo by gov.pl]

Ten billion zlotys, the equivalent of around €2.3 billion, are to be spent on the “East Shield” project over the next two to three years to build a 400-kilometre-long defence belt along the state border. Construction work has already begun.

Tusk’s government had previously announced that it would take tougher action against refugees. The border fortifications erected by the previous government in 2021 are to be expanded. The current 10-metre-high steel fence with cameras and patrols is primarily aimed at refugees crossing the Belarusian border into Poland. The entire political establishment has denounced such refugees as “weapons” in a “hybrid war” being waged against Poland.

Tusk’s latest initiative, however, goes far beyond the repelling of refugees. He is planning the construction of extensive fortifications and bunkers, the likes of which have not been seen since the end of the Second World War.

Tusk explained: “We are launching a major project to build a secure border, including a fortification system incorporating landscaping and ecological elements that will make it impossible for a potential enemy to cross this border.”

The project is reminiscent of the Nazis’ Ostwall. This was the name the Nazis gave to a similar construction project that not only consisted of tunnels and bunkers, but also reshaped the entire landscape with hills and trenches to create favourable military conditions for conducting war.

Tusk used the anniversary of the Battle of Monte Cassino in May 1944 to announce the project. Many Polish soldiers who fought in the so-called “Anders Army” on the side of the Allies lost their lives in the battle, which was characterised by heavy losses. During a military parade in Krakow, Tusk praised their heroism.

During WWII, the Polish soldiers were fighting against fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. Now, however, Tusk is making pacts with fascist elements in Ukraine who honour Nazi collaborators. At the external border of the European Union, Tusk is blatantly disregarding the human rights of refugees in a manner which evokes the legacy of the fascists.

A day earlier, during a visit to a border guard battalion, Tusk had already made it clear that “there will be no spending limits on border security.” He said that work was also underway on a legislative amendment “that will give our soldiers and officers full legal certainty in their activities here,” i.e., full protection from punishment in the event of the mistreatment of refugees.

Tusk has been criticised by numerous human rights organisations for seamlessly continuing the anti-refugee policies of the previous far-right PiS government. In fact, Tusk is intensifying the measures introduced by his predecessor and sealing the border even more tightly.

Details of the billion-euro project are not yet known, but numerous comments make it clear that this eastern wall—Gazetta Wyborcza refers to it as the Tusk Line—is not just about roadblocks, anti-tank ditches and permanent firing positions.

A complex network of roads and bridges for troop movements, barracks and air hangars for the permanent stationing of troops and associated infrastructure measures, from water supply to communications, are planned. It will undoubtedly also incorporate the experience gained from numerous large-scale NATO manoeuvres. Alone the “Steadfast Defender” exercise required the deployment of tens of thousands of soldiers to the Russian border.

Retired General Waldemar Skrzypczak, who was a member of the former government led by Tusk in 2013, explained in an interview with Wyborcza that fortress formations and specially trained military units would be required to be permanently stationed there. They would have to be newly recruited and know the terrain inside out. In the interplay of artillery, engineer troops and air defence forces, they would have to know exactly what to do.

In his opinion, the 10 billion zlotys are therefore only a start. It is evident that such extensive facilities would entail further operating and maintenance costs in the billions.

Skrzypczak, who was already a general staff candidate in the Stalinist People’s Republic, has criticised the policies of the PiS party and the Tusk government from the right. He accused both of numerous failings and complained that their patriotism was limited to ceremonies.

Surveys show that Poles would rather leave the country than defend it, the former general complained. He therefore called for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to be more involved in everyday life. Respect for them must be constantly present, he said, and they should appear on talk shows and in schools.

His tirade makes clear that Poland’s ruling class is not concerned with “defence.” Those who hold up the “heroic deeds” in the neo-colonial wars of conquest in Iraq and Afghanistan as a role model are planning to do the same in Eastern Europe. Fortifications, as Germany’s East and West Walls have shown, can be used not only for defence but also for offence.

Tusk has spoken of a “pre-war period” in which it is necessary to prepare for war with Russia. The construction of the “Protective Shield East” clearly serves this purpose. NATO is in the process of massively escalating its military confrontation with Russia. It is in the process of allowing Kiev to attack targets inside Russia and is preparing to send its own troops to Ukraine.

Representatives of the former and new Polish governments have also repeatedly described direct military intervention in the war in Ukraine as an option. The Tusk government and the PiS opposition are in complete agreement on the main features of their war policy. The government differs from the PiS only in its closer military co-operation with the European Union and Germany. Tusk has announced that he will join the German-led European Sky Shield (ESSI) initiative.

He also announced that the European Investment Bank had approved a €300 million loan for the first two Polish surveillance satellites. Together with two ground stations, the satellites should be operational by 2028. In view of the military disaster of the Zelensky regime, the Tusk government is now apparently accelerating its plans. The Tusk Line should be operational as early as 2027.

Canada to dramatically expand domestic spying powers and curtail democratic rights

Niles Niemuth

Under the cover of combatting purported “foreign interference,” the Canadian government, led by Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, is planning to dramatically expand the domestic spying powers of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and curtail the freedom of association and right to protest. 

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks to the media at a hotel in Beijing, China on Dec. 5, 2017 (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

Bill C-70, titled “An Act respecting countering foreign interference,” was tabled for its first reading in parliament on May 6 by Public Safety and Democratic Institutions Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Justice Minister Arif Virani. “We're taking action to adapt and to respond to our world where life, and consequently threats, are increasingly moving to the online realm,” LeBlanc said at a press conference that same day. 

“Our government is taking action to protect all people in Canada, our institutions and our democracy from foreign interference,” Virani declared. “These reforms to criminal and national security laws are carefully crafted to tackle these threats in an appropriate, balanced, and fair manner.”

Bill C-70 is modeled in part on anti-democratic “foreign interference” laws which have already been adopted in Australia, the UK and the United States and that effectively illegalize cooperation with international political organizations. This marks a new stage in the assault on democratic rights as the imperialist powers pursue a war for global hegemony on multiple fronts—from their war against Russia in Ukraine and their support for Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza and aggression and threats against Iran, to their all-sided military-strategic offensive against China across the Indo-Pacific.  

Over the past year-and-a-half, a furor has been whipped up by CSIS, the corporate media and the political establishment over lurid, unsubstantiated claims of Chinese interference in the last two federal elections and more generally the threat that China purportedly constitutes to Canadians’ “democracy” and “way of life.”

Bill C-70 is being politically framed as a response to this threat, although its measures go far beyond anything remotely connected to “foreign interference.” The proposed legislation consists of four components which revise and expand multiple existing laws with far reaching implications for democratic rights in Canada. 

Three days before Bill C-70 was unveiled, Justice Marie-Josée Hogue, the commissioner of a much ballyhooed public inquiry into alleged foreign interference, declared that China represents, “the most persistent and sophisticated foreign interference threat to Canada.” The Hogue inquiry was impaneled last year after CSIS reports were leaked to the media alleging China interfered in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections and that the Liberal government didn’t act despite being aware of these efforts. 

Despite the immense amount of innuendo and ink spilled in the press over supposed “foreign interference,” including by Russia, India and Pakistan as well as China, and lack of action over it, no evidence has emerged which shows that any such activity actually influenced the outcome of Canada’s elections. And Hogue was compelled to admit as much in her report earlier this month. 

Nonetheless, the issue is being used to push forward with the adoption of the draconian new law. Those sections that directly deal with “foreign interference” are couched in vague language, so as to provide them the widest ambit, and would effectively create a new category of crime to illegalize behavior that would otherwise be legal.

Its provisions would apply not only to the actions of foreign governments and their counterintelligence agencies but to all “foreign principals,” a catch-all designation which includes foreign-based businesses and political parties in foreign countries not currently in power. According to the bill’s summary, individuals would be required to register as a foreign agent, “if they enter into arrangements with foreign principals under which they undertake to carry out certain activities in relation to political or governmental processes in Canada.”

“Every person commits an indictable offence,” the introduced legislation declares, “who, at the direction of, for the benefit of or in association with, a foreign entity, knowingly engages in surreptitious or deceptive conduct or omits, surreptitiously or with the intent to deceive, to do anything if the person’s conduct or omission is for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the State or the person is reckless as to whether their conduct or omission is likely to harm Canadian interests.”

The bill would establish a registry of “foreign agents,” with severe penalties for those who do not declare their associations with “foreign entities,” and would create a commissioner to oversee the registry.

Two other sections of Bill C-70 pertain to expanding the spying power of CSIS and its sharing of “intelligence” with other government agencies, levels of government, and non-government actors, including businesses, universities, and political parties.

CSIS has long complained that it is hampered in providing specifics about its “intelligence” to anyone but the federal government. If Bill C-70 becomes law, it would have carte blanche to finger socialists and others its identifies as threats to the Canadian state to their employers, and to work with big business and university administrations to victimize them.

Canada’s most important big business lobby group, the Business Council of Canada (BCC), was quick to endorse the proposed law, including the provisions that would allow CSIS to work more closely with employers. “At a time of heightened geopolitical risk,” wrote BCC CEO Goldy Hyder in a May 7 statement, “Bill C-70’s modernization of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act–including to authorize CSIS to share threat intelligence with Canadian companies–is urgently needed to protect Canadians’ lives and livelihoods.”

The legislation would also establish a new definition of sabotage that would make it a crime to block or interfere with roads, rail lines, pipelines and other “essential” infrastructure with the intent to “harm Canadian interests.”

The section on sabotage is clearly aimed at blocking the growing number of protests across Canada, which have used blocking critical infrastructure to draw attention to issues ranging from the violation of Indigenous rights to Ottawa’s ongoing support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza. It is also aimed at enshrining in law the measures which were used under the Emergencies Act to clear out the far-right “Freedom” Convoy from Parliament Hill and border crossings in 2022. 

The bill contains an explicit exception to the new anti-sabotage law for work stoppages and protests where there is no explicit intention to harm Canadian interests. However, this is far less than meets the eye. Under conditions where workers’ job action paralyzes one or more key sectors of the economy and especially in the case of strikes of an overtly political character, the reference to an intention to harm “Canadian interests” could and will serve as a convenient loophole to invoke the new sabotage provisions as part of a vicious state crackdown. As it is, the federal government and provinces have placed increasing restrictions on workers’ legal ability to strike, including through use of back-to-work legislation and the invocation of the “essential” nature of broad sectors of the economy. 

The bill contains punishments of life in prison for those convicted of “foreign interference” and ten years for those convicted under the expanded definition of sabotage.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) has raised concerns over the punitive nature of the law, with Shakir Rahim, Director of the CCLA’s Criminal Justice Program noting:

The expansion of the offence of sabotage to include interference with essential infrastructure is a serious risk to freedom of expression. Essential infrastructure is defined too broadly, and the interference offence could suppress protests. The Criminal Code already contains offences that adequately address harms to public safety and security.

The availability of life imprisonment for certain offences introduced under Bill C-70 is disproportionate and excessive. For example, a person convicted of an indictable offence under the Criminal Code, even as minimal as theft under $5,000, could be sentenced to life in prison if they acted for the benefit of a foreign entity.

Stephanie Carvin, an associate professor at Carleton University and a former Government of Canada national security analyst, told the Globe and Mail, that Bill C-70 is “arguably the most significant attempt at updating Canada’s national-security laws since 1984.” Carvin further noted, this “grants a lot of what the intelligence community has asked for.” 

A May 6 press release from the government notes that the bill would lower the threshold for obtaining warrants in relation to electronic surveillance and accessing devices, placing on a legal footing activities in which CSIS is more than likely already regularly engaging.

“Amendments would address growing gaps caused by evolving threats and technological advancements. Safeguards have been built in and are strong–the legislation was developed to ensure that CSIS activities comply with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” the press release assures its readers, before noting, “Proposed warrant powers, while new to the ­CSIS Act, are not new tools; they are modelled on powers routinely relied on by Canadian law enforcement and intelligence agencies in other democracies.­ The threshold for accessing these tools is still high.”

CSIS was established in 1984 as the successor to the RCMP Security Service, following the findings of the McDonald Commission, which exposed the illegal activities of Canada’s intelligence agency including the theft of party membership lists, break ins, opening mail, forging documents, warrantless electronic surveillance and arson. The transfer of spying powers from the RCMP to CSIS was aimed at granting the national security apparatus renewed legitimacy, and placed on a legal footing much of what had been done illegally. 

Canada is one of the components of the Five Eyes global spying network. Alongside spy agencies in the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand, its national-security apparatus carries out a dragnet operation which collects global electronic data. Leaks by Edward Snowden showed that members of the Five Eyes spy on each other’s citizens and share the information as a way of getting around domestic surveillance restrictions. 

Snowden’s documents showed that the Communications Security Establishment, a partner of the CSIS and a critical competent of the Five Eyes, was engaged in the mass surveillance of millions of uploads and downloads on file sharing websites through its Project Levitation.

The opposition Conservatives and the NDP, which props up the minority Liberal government through a confidence and supply agreement, both welcomed the tabling of Bill C-70. “Conservatives have called on Justin Trudeau to implement a foreign influence registry for years. Instead of protecting Canadians and diaspora communities, he blocked, delayed, and obstructed a foreign influence registry at every turn,” Sebastian Skamski, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s spokesperson, gloated. NDP House Leader Peter Julian meanwhile asserted that the measures should have come sooner, declaring both the Conservatives and Liberals dragged their feet and “failed to treat these threats with the urgency required.”

Pixar Animation announces layoffs in the midst of the Great Hollywood Contraction

Hong Jian

Last Tuesday, Pixar Animation Studios announced layoffs of 175 workers—14 percent of its workforce. Those cuts come after the termination of 75 employees in 2023. According to reports, the layoffs will spare management and exclusively hit workers.

Various efforts have been made to blame the financial difficulties on executive blunders at both Pixar and its parent company, Disney.

For his part, Pixar president Jim Morris told Variety that the problems were bound up with wider issues. Morris noted that it was “expensive for a family to go to the movies. It can be a $100 afternoon for a family, and that can be a stretch for some to do. The other thing is that during COVID, we trained audiences to watch our movies on Disney+.” The company had no choice during the height of the pandemic, Morris suggested, but “We have a little work to unring the bell and motivate families to go to the theater and not wait a few months to see it on Disney+.”

Pixar studio lot in Emeryville, California [Photo by Coolcaesar / CC BY 3.0]

In any event, this is simply the tip of the iceberg. The film and television industry is experiencing big changes. The job cuts at Pixar are happening in the midst of what is being called Hollywood’s “Great Contraction,” a component part of the jobs destruction affecting every major industry.

The strikes last year by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and the Writers Guild of America (WGA), which ended in November, were sabotaged by the union leaders, and workers were left thoroughly unprepared for the attacks now being launched against them.

Many writers and actors felt instinctively that the issues in the strikes were “existential,” that the fate of their professions hung in the balance, and that general perception was correct. Film and television production was already on the decline at the time of the strikes and that decline has continued sharply in their aftermath.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) was a major issue of contention in the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes and is now starting to substantially threaten jobs. Early this year, the announcement of a deal between SAG-AFTRA and Replica Studios was understood by many creative workers to be the opening shot in a process of overall jobs replacement. In animation, as well as in all other creative or productive tasks, AI is used by corporations for the sole purpose of lowering costs and extracting more profits from a reduced workforce.

The Hollywood Reporter pointed out in February that a study published the previous month polling 300 leaders across the entertainment industry “reported that three-fourths of respondents indicated that AI tools supported the elimination, reduction or consolidation of jobs at their companies. During the next three years, it is estimated that nearly 204,000 positions will be adversely affected. Sound engineers, voice actors and workers in VFX and other postproduction jobs were identified as vulnerable.”

According to a report by FilmLA, television production in the Los Angeles area provided 30.6 percent fewer jobs in January 2024 than it did in January 2023. There was a 16.2 percent decline in production, or shoot days (SD), in the first quarter of this year compared to 2023. Every category of television production was down except for pilots, which were almost non-existent last year, mainly in anticipation of the strikes. 

2023 witnessed a 12 percent drop in the number of scripted series, to 512, from the previous year. Some executives have already predicted that with the end of “Peak TV,” the number of shows produced will decline even further, to perhaps as few as 300 a year in the coming years. That figure has not been seen since 2012, before the streaming services exploded.

The continuous stream of remakes, reboots, bland sequels and super-hero movies has not occurred simply because of philistine and artless executives, although such people exist in considerable numbers, but rather flows from the reality that the studios have become divisions of international media conglomerates either owned outright by hedge funds and banks or tied to the latter by a thousand threads.

With financial managers calling the shots, deciding what gets made and what does not, the tendency is always to rely on the tried and true, the lowest common denominator. But even this model is coming under attack from Wall Street, which only has one concern and that is share value (and immediate profits). The general result is increased exploitation, lower pay and lower-quality artistic work.

In response to “Superhero fatigue,” with several special effects “blockbusters” having done poorly last year, executives are now proposing to double down by limiting the number of these over-the-top extravaganzas, while providing even larger budgets for those they do “green light.”

The effects of the “Great Contraction” are being felt by workers in every part of the industry. Even A-list stars are now not able to find work regularly, with many having to take a year or two off or work on smaller projects.

Not only are there fewer projects in production, but those going ahead are spending less money (one major FOX series reduced its budget by over 50 percent, from $10 million to less than $5 million an episode). Television series are reducing the number of shows in a given season, by more than a third in some cases (for example, from 22-24 to 6-10 episodes), while also reducing the number of regular cast members by turning them into recurring roles (with fewer appearances) or guest stars.

Many middle-income actors are finding it harder and harder to live in Los Angeles. With reduced hours and pay, some are being forced out of the business, if not out of the state.

Deadline noted in February (“Hollywood Contraction: Actors Struggle To Find Jobs As TV Castings Dry Up”) that a “decade ago, as many as 100 broadcast pilots would be casting right now. This year, we have a total of three, all at NBC. In addition to a shot at an on-air series, a casting in a pilot provides a life line for hundreds of actors with a paycheck that helps them qualify for the union’s health insurance.”

On top of fewer shows and virtually no pilots,” the Deadline article continued, “the available acting gigs pay less than they used to amid rising cost of living, talent sources say, making it hard for many working actors to afford their rent or mortgage and support their families.” ...

The wave of series cancellations during the dual Hollywood strikes has continued amid sweeping cost-cutting, including layoffs and content removal, by traditional media companies and some belt-tightening among the tech-based streamers too as their once sky-high series budgets have come down to earth. …

Broadcast dramas now often cost between $3 million-$5 million per episode, streaming ones $5M-$10M an episode, down sharply from the highs of the past decade, according to sources. …

That has led to salary concessions, like the 25% pay cut the Blue Bloods’ cast took to pave the way for a Season 14 renewal; the minimum guarantee reductions adopted by Wolf Entertainment series; and series regular cast members getting downgraded to recurring, which happened on CBS’ Bob Hearts Abishola and the CW’s Superman & Lois, among other shows.

With actors having fewer roles, and being paid less, agents have been particularly hard hit, as they survive by commissions. Commissions are falling across the board, so talent agencies are feeling the pinch. One major agency (A3 Artists Agency) shut its doors this year.

As for writers, numerous media reports document their current crisis.

*The Hollywood Reporter on April 2 headlined a piece, “‘I’m Scared’: Why It’s a Brutal Time to Be a TV Writer” and continued in a subhead, “The end of Peak TV has ushered in an era of contraction, with fewer buyers … and fierce competition for the few shows that are staffing: ‘People are in total survival mode.’”

● Deadline also commented in April that because “of fewer shows in the works and the disappearance of pilot season, the availability of gigs are now few and far between—with many [writers] considering a life outside of Hollywood.”

● Along the same lines, the Los Angeles Times reported in May that “Film and TV writers of varying experience levels are struggling to find work after the Hollywood strikes amid an ongoing industry contraction.”

● Variety commented May 1: “The Writers Guild of America called a strike one year ago today, declaring that the streaming boom had created an existential crisis for writers. … But as the boom has gone bust, writers now face a different kind of crisis.”

The drop in film and television production has hammered below-the-line workers in the industry, including cinemaphotographers, costume designers, set decorators, grips and more. After months of not working during the strikes, and with production continuing to slow, many have had to find jobs outside the industry to keep afloat. The Hollywood contraction comes as the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), notorious for its corruption, anti-communism and capitulations to management, is engaged in contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

At least 670 dead, two thousand buried alive in Papua New Guinea landslide

Patrick O’Connor

A massive landslide in Papua New Guinea’s central Enga province has killed at least 670 people, according to state officials, with the exact toll unlikely to be known for several days. The affected area is accessible on land by only one highway, a section of which was covered by rubble.

Injured person is carried on a stretcher to medical assistance after a landslide in Yambali village, Papua New Guinea, May 24, 2024. The landslide struck Enga province, about 600 kilometres northwest of the capital, Port Moresby, at roughly 3 a.m. [AP Photo/Benjamin Sipa/International Organization for Migration]

“The landslide buried more than 2,000 people alive and caused major destruction to buildings, food gardens and caused major impact on the economic lifeline of the country,” Lusete Laso Mana, director of Papua New Guinea’s National Disaster Centre, wrote in a letter to the United Nations.

The isolated rural Yambili village, with an estimated 4,000 residents, was almost entirely submerged by the landslide. Local reports indicate this may have been triggered by an earthquake, following extended heavy rains.

Photo and video reports show terrible scenes, with massive boulders and dense earth covering an estimated 600 homes. Part of a small mountain range sheared off, creating debris that initial emergency responders have estimated is up to eight metres deep, covering more than 200 square kilometres.

The Red Cross in Papua New Guinea reported that the emergency response at the site consisted of police, military, officials from the provincial governor’s office, and local nongovernmental organisations.

The disaster struck at around 3 a.m. on Friday, when residents were sleeping.

Care Australia, a charity working in the area, issued a statement Saturday that with regard to the destroyed homes, “all the members of these households remain unaccounted for.” It added that in addition to Yambili’s 4,000 residents, more people may be affected after fleeing to the village from neighbouring areas hit by tribal violence.

UN official Serhan Aktoprak yesterday told the AFP news agency that only five bodies had been removed from the wreckage by Saturday night. In addition to destroyed homes, Aktoprak reported that a makeshift school and several trading stalls were buried. He explained that emergency rescue work was hampered by ongoing risks: “Working across the debris is very dangerous and the land is still sliding,” he said.

Vincent Pyati, president of a local Community Development Association, told the New York Times that the affected area was “a transport node where many came from remote areas overnight to catch public motor vehicles, a popular method of transit, probably adding to the toll […] there was also a drinking club popular with people from all over the district.”

Papua New Guinea’s tropical weather, mountainous terrain especially in its Highlands’ region, and proximity to the earthquake-prone Pacific Ocean’s “Ring of Fire,” has triggered numerous incidents like the latest crisis in Enga province.

The landslide and its devastating impact cannot be understood, however, only in terms of it being another natural disaster. PNG was an Australian colony until 1975, and it remains dominated by the imperialist powers. Its lucrative natural resources, including oil and gas, gold and silver, and timber, are siphoned off by giant transnational corporations, while the population remains among the most impoverished in the world. Basic services including electricity, healthcare, and education are limited or nonexistent for the rural poor like those in Yambili.

The devastated village included residents who eked out a living through alluvial mining. This involves panning and manually digging for specks of gold, a dangerous process. Miners’ health is frequently affected by the use of mercury and cyanide to separate gold from rock and earth.

Alluvial mining has been encouraged by successive PNG governments, and produces an estimated 5 percent of the country’s gold exports. The exploitative industry sees impoverished miners, some of them children, bear all the risk while a chain of commercial gold dealers reaps large profits. Most of the gold ends up in Australian vaults.

The Yambili landslide struck near the giant Porgera gold and silver mine that is co-owned by Canadian-based Barrick Gold (with a majority stake) and China’s Zijin Mining.

The disaster has reportedly blocked an access road to the mine. A Barrick Gold spokesperson told Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) News that the extent of the damage was still being assessed. “We are supporting provincial authorities in their assessment and initial response efforts,” they said. “Porgera currently has sufficient supplies at site to operate normally in the short term.”

PNG Prime Minister James Marape has declared that his government was doing everything possible to provide “relief work, recovery of bodies, and reconstruction of infrastructure.”

In fact, the government is responsible for the appalling conditions confronting PNG’s working class and rural poor. Since taking office in September 2022, Marape, like his predecessors, has worked to advance the interests of transnational corporations and the domestic wealthy elite. His tenure has been marked by escalating social tensions, with frequent violent tribal clashes as well as rioting in the capital, Port Moresby, last January. Marape may lose office within weeks, as numbers of government parliamentarians are switching to the opposition ahead of a planned no-confidence motion.

The PNG government has closely aligned itself with US and Australian imperialism. Last year both powers signed sweeping military cooperation deals with the Pacific state, with Washington and Canberra seeking PNG’s alignment with their aggressive preparations for a war against China. The US-PNG Defence Cooperation Agreement signed in May gives Washington “uninhibited access” to numerous locations, including the Manus Island naval base, which served as a vital deep-water American port during World War II.

Both Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Joe Biden issued public pledges of sympathy and offers of assistance over the landslide disaster. Previous responses demonstrate, however, that help will be minimal and short-lived.

Nothing will be done to invest the necessary resources to protect rural communities in PNG from the impact of earthquakes and landslides.

The latter are now at least partly predictable. University of Sydney lecturer in geomechanics Benjy Marks explained in the Conversation: “Huge advancements have recently been made in remote sensing, so that planes and satellites can be used to extract this vital [geological] information. Using sophisticated sensors, they can see past foliage and map the ground surface in high resolution. As satellites orbit quite regularly, small changes in the surface topography can be monitored. Scientists hope that by using this information, unstable regions that haven’t yet failed can be identified and monitored.”

Macron imposes “republican order” to quash New Caledonia unrest

John Braddock

French President Emmanuel Macron ended an 18-hour emergency visit to the riot-torn Pacific colony of New Caledonia on Friday, declaring that France would not “force through” contentious laws to expand the country’s voter rolls, but he has not withdrawn the legislation.

French President Emmanuel Macron visits the central police station in Noumea, New Caledonia, May 23, 2024 [AP Photo/Ludovic Marin]

Widespread rioting, largely by indigenous Kanak youth, has devastated the island’s capital Nouméa and nearby districts. Unrest erupted on May 13 as the French National Assembly pushed through a constitutional amendment to allow French residents who have lived in New Caledonia for ten years the right to vote in local elections. The move is opposed by pro-independence leaders who claim it will dilute the vote of Kanaks who make up over 40 percent of the population.

Addressing media after separate meetings with independence leaders and three pro-France parties, Macron stressed that he had “made a very clear commitment to ensure that the controversial reform is not rushed by force and that in view of the current context, we give ourselves a few weeks so as to allow peace to return, dialogue to resume, in view of a comprehensive agreement.”

Macron said that if such a deal is reached it would become part of the French Constitution and replace the constitutional amendment focusing on the electoral changes. He has appointed a team of three negotiators to attempt to carry this through.

A spokesman for the pro-independence Front de Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS) alliance told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that the measure should be formally withdrawn or suspended to create “clear space” for talks. “For us we can’t be holding, you know, peaceful discussions while we have this deadline of first of July above our head for the bill to proceed to the Congress at Versailles,” he said.

Whatever the outcome of any talks, which will no doubt proceed despite the professed misgivings, Macron made it clear that full independence for the colony is off the agenda. He told the leaders that the third self-determination referendum, held in December 2021 but boycotted by the pro-independence parties during the COVID pandemic, would not be relitigated. “I will not go back on this,” he insisted. Following pro-France majorities in referendums held in 1998, 2020 and 2021, Macron bluntly declared that New Caledonia had “chosen” to remain French.

Declaring that a return to “calm and security” was the “absolute priority,” Macron condemned the “unprecedented movement of insurrection” and warned that “massive new operations” would be scheduled. “Republican order in its entirety will be re-established… Step by step we will take back every neighbourhood, every roadblock, every roundabout,” he proclaimed.

Macron said that the 12-day state of emergency could only be lifted if the local pro-independence leaders called “explicitly” for all protest blockades to be dismantled. “Once these are withdrawn and this is confirmed the state of emergency will be lifted,” he said.

French security forces, now numbering about 3,000 with possibly more to come, will stay “as long as necessary”—including during the Paris Olympic Games—Macron said. He praised the security forces and vowed to “go until the end” to put down “violence.”

Tensions are far from subsiding. Police shot dead a man on Friday with the officer claiming he and a colleague were attacked by a group of 15 people. The death of the 48-year-old man brought to seven the number killed, including three Kanak youth—two by anti-independence vigilantes—and two gendarmes, during the 12 days of upheaval. Over 230 people have been arrested and 300 injured.

Christian Tein, leader of the Field Action Coordination Cell (CCAT) which is reputed to have organised the protests, said they would keep pushing for a withdrawal of the electoral reform, as well as, eventually, independence for the territory. “We remain mobilised, we maintain the resistance in our neighbourhoods, in a structured, organised way,” he said on Facebook.

Tein, despite being under house arrest and promoted as “public enemy number one,” was invited by Macron to join the meetings—to the “surprise” of observers, according to Radio NZ. CCAT was set up in 2023 by Union Calédonienne, one of the components of the FLNKS alliance. Tien’s invitation and acceptance was a clear sign that the pro-independence groupings are directing workers and youth into futile appeals to the French state.

The FLNKS represents an indigenous layer given limited influence through the 1998 Nouméa Accord which set up a “power sharing” arrangement as part of a phony “decolonisation” process. Seeking a larger slice of the economic pie and greater political say, they are part of the political and business establishment working with Macron to strangle the movement that erupted, in opposition to them, from below.

New Caledonia’s President Louis Mapou, from the National Union for Independence, part of the FLNKS, condemned the rioters, saying “anger cannot justify harming or destroying public property, production tools, all of which this country has taken decades to build.” On the eve of Macron’s arrival, the FLNKS issued a statement saying that it hoped his visit would “give new life to a calm and serene dialogue.”

Behind the pro-independence slogans, the riots have been driven by deepening social and economic misery, particularly affecting young Kanaks who are alienated from the colony’s entire ruling elite. The poverty rate among Kanaks, the largest community, is 32.5 percent, compared to 9 percent among non-Kanaks. Youth unemployment is 26 percent.

Radio Djiido journalist Andre Qaeze told RNZ Pacific young people on the streets are saying they will “never give up” pushing back against France’s grip on the territory. He noted that the “political problem”—the voting law—is just the “visible part of the iceberg.” The deeper problem was economic. Pointing to drawn-out negotiations over independence, Qaeze noted, “for 30 years the young generation, they have seen this kind of game, and for them we cannot continue like this.”

A group of unidentified Kanak youth told an ABC film crew: “They talk about us as terrorists, but it’s them, they are the ones who are terrorists here…We protect our families, we have children.” The voiceover noted: “most of all, they speak of neglect.” One young man said “They should not be surprised. The suburbs have always been left behind.” The movement was taking place because “no one is listening to us. We are marginalised here.”

After witnessing some of the areas of destruction by helicopter, Macron was forced to admit that social inequalities had “continued to increase.” However, he refused to accept that France had any responsibility for the situation and the riots, claiming: “They [the pro-independence leadership] rely on delinquents who have sometimes overwhelmed their order-givers.” Further slandering Kanak youth, he fraudulently condemned “the uninhibited racism that has re-emerged over the past eleven days.”

The colony, with a population of 270,000, faces an escalating economic crisis, with the vital nickel industry in turmoil and people reeling from escalating living costs. All the official parties, from both pro-independence and rival anti-independence factions, stand on the side of the business elite, opposing any meaningful measures to end poverty and social inequality.

In reality, none of the impoverished Pacific Island countries is fully independent: All of them rely heavily on aid from the imperialist powers and their governments are subject to routine interference from Australia, New Zealand, the US and France.

Thai court to hear petition to dismiss prime minister

Ben McGrath

Thailand’s Constitutional Court last Thursday accepted a petition from 40 members of the National Assembly’s military-appointed Senate, accusing Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin of ethics violations and seeking his removal from office. The case demonstrates the fragility of the unstable coalition government between the Pheu Thai party and military-backed parties and the fraud of Thailand’s “return to democracy.”

Thailand's Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, center, at government house in Bangkok, Thailand, April 17, 2024. [AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit]

The ostensible reason for the petition is Srettha’s appointment last month of Pichit Chueban as the prime minister’s Office Minister, a cabinet-level position responsible for managing and coordinating the government’s work. Pichit, an advisor to Srettha, had previously served six months in prison for attempting to bribe the Supreme Court in 2008 while working as a lawyer.

At that time, Pichit represented former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, accused of abusing his power to purchase land for his then-wife, Potjaman na Pombejra. Thaksin was toppled in a military coup in 2006 and went into self-imposed exile in 2008 before being sentenced to two years in prison in the case.

The senators who submitted the petition argued that Srettha violated ethics standards and therefore sections 160 and 170 of the constitution, which state that a minister must “be of evident integrity” and not be guilty of “behavior which is a serious violation of or a failure to comply with ethical standards.” The Constitutional Court voted to accept the petition by a 6-3 margin though they voted 5-4 against suspending Srettha from his position while the case is heard.

In response, the prime minister stated, “I respect the court’s decision. When I entered politics, I was ready to be scrutinized.” He has 15 days to submit evidence in his defense.

That Pichit is connected to Thaksin Shinawatra is not unimportant nor coincidental. The reshuffle of Srettha’s cabinet last month that led to Pichit’s appointment also included other key officials close to Thaksin. Maris Sangiampongsa, who previously served as a secretary to Thaksin while prime minister, is now the foreign minister. The new finance minister, Pichai Chunhavajira, has been described as Thaksin’s former lieutenant.

Thaksin is the de facto head of Pheu Thai, the party he founded in 1998 as Thai Rak Thai. From 2001 to 2006, he served as prime minister and through populist measures and limited handouts, gained a following among Thailand’s poor. This cut across the interests of the country’s traditional elites in the military, bureaucracy, and monarchy.

The military overthrew Thaksin in 2006 and banned his party, which first regrouped in the People’s Power Party and then in Pheu Thai in 2008. The military overthrew the Pheu Thai government of Thaksin’s sister Yingluck in 2014, rewrote the constitution and stacked the Senate and the Constitutional Court with its own appointments.

One of the senators involved in the petition against Srettha, Direkrit Janekrongtham, claimed the case was not directed at any specific figure: “We have no intention to act against anyone or treat unfairly anyone or any party in particular. What we are trying to do is to protect the public interest as stipulated in the constitution.”

These claims are patently absurd. The military-appointed Senate has used its powers to block last year’s general election winner, the Move Forward Party (MFP), from forming a government. The senators behind the Srettha petition are also close to the 2014 coup leaders, Prayut Chan-o-cha and Prawit Wongsuwon. Prayut, the former prime minister, is now a member of the king’s Privy Council while Prawit leads the Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP), the ruling party until last year. Both claimed not to be involved in the push to remove Srettha.

The petition also came on May 17 after the Senate’s five-year term came to an end on May 10. The senators who submitted the petition are acting as “caretakers” until a new senate is chosen in an upcoming, indirect election taking place in the coming weeks.

In addition, the Constitutional Court is not only hearing a case to remove the prime minister, but will also decide in a separate case whether or not to dissolve the MFP, the largest party in parliament. At the beginning of April, the court accept a petition against the MFP, which claimed that it had violated the constitution by making pledges to reform Thailand’s draconian lèse-majesté law. The party has until June 2 to submit evidence in its defense.

Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a professor at Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Political Science and a senior fellow at its Institute of Security and International Studies in Bangkok, described the petition against Srettha as a “show of force from unelected powers.” He continued: “We have a government but actually we are ruled by the judiciary... or the military. The military takes over directly and the judiciary derails whoever is in power.”

In fact, Pheu Thai only managed to form a government last August after it agreed to a coalition that excluded the MFP and included the two main military-backed parties, the PPRP and Prayut’s United Thai Nation Party. The result was an unstable alliance under worsening economic conditions and growing unrest in the working class, with the military attempting to rule from behind the scenes rather than openly rig the election results as it had done in 2019.

The petition against Srettha points to this alliance coming apart. No doubt sections of the military establishment are not satisfied with Thaksin’s return to Thailand last August and involvement in politics behind the scenes. His return and avoidance of a lengthy prison term was arranged as part of the coalition agreement between Pheu Thai and the military.

At the same time, the ruling class is sitting on a social powder keg with disputes taking place within the ruling elite over how to prevent an eruption of working-class anger. Wages are low, with the average daily minimum wage only 350 baht ($US9.55). On May 1, the Pheu Thai government pledged to raise the minimum wage to a paltry 400 baht ($US10.91) in October, but even this is seen as too far for big business. The Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking, for example, denounced this proposed increase as “unrealistically high.”

Workers and farmers also face huge amounts of debt, in part due to low wages. According to the Thai economic think tank TTB Analytics, household debt could reach 16.9 trillion baht ($US461.2 billion), or 91 percent of GDP.

Economic growth is also low. In the first quarter of 2024, GDP grew by only 1.5 percent, less than expected. In April, the World Bank revised its growth projection for 2024, down from 3.2 percent to 2.8 percent. The economy grew by only 2.5 percent last year, the second lowest in Southeast Asia.