truthout--2020-07-12--Organizing Against Police Unions Has Invigorated Hollywood’s Labor Movement

The labor movement is split on the question of cops .
While union officials have signaled their tempered support for police unions , the push to expel law enforcement from the movement has grown quickly in the rank-and-file .
The Writers Guild of America , East ( WGAE ) led the way with a June 8 resolution urging the AFL-CIO to drop the International Union of Police Associations ( IUPA ) .
Nine days later , the Martin Luther King , Jr. County Labor Council , an AFL-CIO regional affiliate , voted to expel the Seattle Police Officers Guild from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ researchers and teaching assistants have since passed resolutions demanding police union disaffiliation from the AFL-CIO , and a coalition of workers within the Service Employees International Union ( SEIU ) have put forward a similar call to expel its police union affiliates .
Except the WGAE , no national unions within the AFL-CIO have positioned themselves against police unions beyond calling for the IUPA—a union representing over 100,000 officers across the United States—to reform itself .
But a movement is brewing in two large Hollywood unions .
Within the ranks of two unions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Theatrical Stage Employees ( IATSE ) and the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists ( SAG-AFTRA ) —the push to kick police out of the AFL-CIO has ballooned in the span of a few weeks , with members of each union saying that the effort has pushed them to consider , some for the first time , the power they possess as unionized workers .
Taking inspiration from the WGAE , Nicholas Monsour , a television and film editor credited on “ Us ” and “ The Twilight @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his union , IATSE , to pass a resolution calling for the ouster of police unions from the AFL-CIO .
The petition has been shared widely on social media , garnering hundreds of signatures and bringing together a coalition of IATSE members organizing around the “ drop cops ” campaign .
Another editor represented by IATSE , who preferred not to be named for fear of retaliation from the Los Angeles Police Department , says he joined the campaign because he has seen the police indiscriminately target Black people and “ [ has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the police.
” “ There ’ s IATSE members who actually get mistreated by the police , and I think we should look out for them , ” he says .
“ Being a person of color in IATSE , I love being a union member , I love the benefits and my coworkers , and I would love more if we used our power to make the community a better place.
” He adds , “ I ’ m very encouraged to see these actions happening , and I hope that union @ @ @ @ @ @ @ say the push has also had the secondary effect of pulling union members into union politics who might not have participated otherwise ; in the fight for the Black Lives Matter movement , rank-and-file members have found and exercised their union power .
“ The culture when I joined [ was ] a little bit sleepy , ” Monsour says .
“ I ’ m a dues paying member who has occasionally gotten slightly more involved in our discussions and meetings around contract negotiations but I ’ ve never sought any positions or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Through the campaign , interest in the structure and leadership of the organization has grown among members who were less involved in union politics before this month .
“ I wasn ’ t day-to-day involved in Local 700 stuff , but .
.
.
knowing that IATSE is part of the AFL-CIO and that [ the International Union of Police Associations ] is part of AFL-CIO too , a lot of this is definitely new to me , ” said editor and producer John Cantú .
“ Everyone that I ’ ve @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like me , where they had no idea that IATSE was part of the AFL-CIO and that police unions were also tied into that.
” Alexis Simpson , an actor and member of SAG-AFTRA , says that the parallel push within her union has yielded a comparably strong increase in union activism .
“ I would say I ’ m probably more engaged in union stuff than most of the membership .
And that ’ s not saying much … the number of people [ to whom ] I have said , ‘ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re affiliated with the police unions ?
’ who are like , ‘ What ?
I did not know that.
’ It is waking them up to learning more about their union , at least at that initial level.
” In each union , members started their respective campaigns by circulating petitions .
While gathering signatories and connecting with interested members , the member-organizers simultaneously pressured leadership to take a position against police unions .
Members of each organization say they have coordinated efforts on internal message boards and launched internal campaigns @ @ @ @ @ @ @ police from the labor movement .
Meanwhile , SAG-AFTRA member-organizers have partnered with Color of Change , an organization that has rallied against racism in the criminal justice system and media .
There ’ s precedent for the action they are calling for : In 1957 , the AFL-CIO expelled the Teamsters from the federation for corruption and unethical practices .
Both SAG-AFTRA and IATSE have issued statements in response to the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department and the movement to end police brutality that has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ far as to actually call for the expulsion of police from the AFL-CIO .
A June 11 statement from SAG-AFTRA calls on police unions to “ dismantle the structures they have erected that have been used to protect officers who engage in racially targeted violence , racial profiling , and other racist and unlawful conduct towards Black and other citizens of this country.
” It ’ s an argument that mirrors the logic of AFL-CIO ’ s original statement on police brutality by condemning discrete acts of violence while maintaining that the police @ @ @ @ @ @ @ But cop unions have long formed an ardent opposition to police reform , providing legal cover for killer cops and quashing efforts to increase transparency .
And IUPA reacted to the labor federation ’ s statement on police reform with outrage : In a letter to AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka , Sam Cabral , the head of IUPA , called the idea that brutality is endemic to policing “ ridiculous.
” Leaders of the 55 unions in the AFL-CIO have skirted the question of expelling cop unions from the labor movement or outwardly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the rank-and-file grow , so will the pressure for their representatives , in unions representing workers across industries , to respond .

The labor movement is split on the question of cops. While union officials have signaled their tempered support for police unions, the push to expel law enforcement from the movement has grown quickly in the rank-and-file.
The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) led the way with a June 8 resolution urging the AFL-CIO to drop the International Union of Police Associations (IUPA). Nine days later, the Martin Luther King, Jr. County Labor Council, an AFL-CIO regional affiliate, voted to expel the Seattle Police Officers Guild from the coalition. Union shops representing postdoc researchers and teaching assistants have since passed resolutions demanding police union disaffiliation from the AFL-CIO, and a coalition of workers within the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) have put forward a similar call to expel its police union affiliates.
Except the WGAE, no national unions within the AFL-CIO have positioned themselves against police unions beyond calling for the IUPA—a union representing over 100,000 officers across the United States—to reform itself. But a movement is brewing in two large Hollywood unions.
Within the ranks of two unions representing theater and entertainment workers—International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) and the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA)—the push to kick police out of the AFL-CIO has ballooned in the span of a few weeks, with members of each union saying that the effort has pushed them to consider, some for the first time, the power they possess as unionized workers.
Taking inspiration from the WGAE, Nicholas Monsour, a television and film editor credited on “Us” and “The Twilight Zone,” wrote a petition urging his union, IATSE, to pass a resolution calling for the ouster of police unions from the AFL-CIO. The petition has been shared widely on social media, garnering hundreds of signatures and bringing together a coalition of IATSE members organizing around the “drop cops” campaign.
Another editor represented by IATSE, who preferred not to be named for fear of retaliation from the Los Angeles Police Department, says he joined the campaign because he has seen the police indiscriminately target Black people and “[has] relatives who have been mistreated by the police.”
“There’s IATSE members who actually get mistreated by the police, and I think we should look out for them,” he says. “Being a person of color in IATSE, I love being a union member, I love the benefits and my coworkers, and I would love more if we used our power to make the community a better place.”
He adds, “I’m very encouraged to see these actions happening, and I hope that union leadership listens to its grassroots.”
Members say the push has also had the secondary effect of pulling union members into union politics who might not have participated otherwise; in the fight for the Black Lives Matter movement, rank-and-file members have found and exercised their union power.
“The culture when I joined [was] a little bit sleepy,” Monsour says. “I’m a dues paying member who has occasionally gotten slightly more involved in our discussions and meetings around contract negotiations but I’ve never sought any positions or anything within the guild, the union.”
Through the campaign, interest in the structure and leadership of the organization has grown among members who were less involved in union politics before this month.
“I wasn’t day-to-day involved in Local 700 stuff, but . . . knowing that IATSE is part of the AFL-CIO and that [the International Union of Police Associations] is part of AFL-CIO too, a lot of this is definitely new to me,” said editor and producer John Cantú.
“Everyone that I’ve been in touch with has been just like me, where they had no idea that IATSE was part of the AFL-CIO and that police unions were also tied into that.”
Alexis Simpson, an actor and member of SAG-AFTRA, says that the parallel push within her union has yielded a comparably strong increase in union activism. “I would say I’m probably more engaged in union stuff than most of the membership. And that’s not saying much … the number of people [to whom] I have said, ‘Hey, did you know that we’re affiliated with the police unions?’ who are like, ‘What? I did not know that.’ It is waking them up to learning more about their union, at least at that initial level.”
In each union, members started their respective campaigns by circulating petitions. While gathering signatories and connecting with interested members, the member-organizers simultaneously pressured leadership to take a position against police unions. Members of each organization say they have coordinated efforts on internal message boards and launched internal campaigns to demonstrate popular support for expelling the police from the labor movement. Meanwhile, SAG-AFTRA member-organizers have partnered with Color of Change, an organization that has rallied against racism in the criminal justice system and media.
There’s precedent for the action they are calling for: In 1957, the AFL-CIO expelled the Teamsters from the federation for corruption and unethical practices.
Both SAG-AFTRA and IATSE have issued statements in response to the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department and the movement to end police brutality that has ensued. But neither has gone so far as to actually call for the expulsion of police from the AFL-CIO.
A June 11 statement from SAG-AFTRA calls on police unions to “dismantle the structures they have erected that have been used to protect officers who engage in racially targeted violence, racial profiling, and other racist and unlawful conduct towards Black and other citizens of this country.” It’s an argument that mirrors the logic of AFL-CIO’s original statement on police brutality by condemning discrete acts of violence while maintaining that the police unions are capable of changing course.
But cop unions have long formed an ardent opposition to police reform, providing legal cover for killer cops and quashing efforts to increase transparency. And IUPA reacted to the labor federation’s statement on police reform with outrage: In a letter to AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, Sam Cabral, the head of IUPA, called the idea that brutality is endemic to policing “ridiculous.”
Leaders of the 55 unions in the AFL-CIO have skirted the question of expelling cop unions from the labor movement or outwardly rejected the idea. But as calls from the rank-and-file grow, so will the pressure for their representatives, in unions representing workers across industries, to respond.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
This article was originally published at In These Times.


truthout--2020-07-12--Post-Pandemic Education Must Move Beyond Mere Job Training

Roughly 11 years after the Great Recession , the social and economic inequality of the U.S. has been laid bare by a pandemic .
This time , however , there is no skills gap to blame for job losses and unemployment : Workers in all sectors of the workforce are losing jobs and careers .
As a result , community college students — 35 percent of undergraduates , including a high percentage of low-income and non-white students — who have followed expedited and limited curricula to a place in the existing economy , have found themselves , again , at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and cultural interests that have little concern for their future role in determining what we do next .
They also face cultural and political crises that call into question the very idea of what it means to live in a democracy .
As the pandemic ravages the country , it ’ s been business as usual for too many community college leaders and politicians .
Politicians propose more job ( re ) training .
The American Workforce Policy Advisory Board , co-chaired by U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Ivanka Trump , offers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ better access to online tools and remote learning ” and by involving businesses in assisting community colleges with designing curricula for job ( re ) training .
Community college leaders call for much the same .
Monty Sullivan , president of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System , stated that as community colleges emerge from the pandemic , “ [ i ] t ’ s especially important for two-year colleges to continue training ‘ essential ’ workers.
” Using the language of the ongoing pandemic , students are now “ essential @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with dwindling rights and protections .
What these groups deny or fail to grasp is that we are living in a failed state .
The economy that students have been rushed into has collapsed and the “ education ” they received has done little to prepare them .
They live in a country more than willing to send them off to work without concerns for their health while the wealth of billionaires increases .
More job ( re ) training for jobs that can disappear overnight or forever is not the answer to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a country that is tipping into chaos .
While students struggle to make ends meet , community college leaders treat the moment as a minor pause instead of a challenge of citizenship and creativity .
There has been little or no thought given to the role these students would play , or that through their labor and activism , they might change the world instead of being another “ brick in the wall.
” As a former community college president ( who served as an adviser to the Obama administration during the Great @ @ @ @ @ @ @ [ Community College ] is working with the federal government and other community colleges to better prepare students for the world that exists , not the world they want to live in.
” This thinking perpetuates the misbelief that technocracy is stable and self-sustaining , and that the best that community college students can hope for is to find a slot in the economy that is skilled enough to elevate them out of menial labor .
It was always dishonest to portray career and technical education ( CTE ) as “ enough ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the mercy of economic and cultural forces that saw them as first marginal and now disposable .
Continued economic and social inequality and the lack of consideration for their needs and protection is now clear .
We should take this moment to do more than fine tune the online programs we use to remotely teach our students , and ask what skills they need to survive on their own terms .
What our students require is not more ( re ) training and technical skill but the education that prepares them with the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they need to fend for themselves when the technocracy crashes and burns ; to advocate for their own rights and living conditions — their own agency .
Amid the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic and the future direction of higher education , community colleges have a role — but not as a “ nouveau college ” so closely aligned with workforce training that it resembles a defunct for-profit Corinthian College more than an educational institution .
Rather , there exists the opportunity for community colleges to re-envision their mission , to reclaim the ideals @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Education For American Democracy ” ( also known as the Truman Commission Report ) .
After World War II , the Truman Commission identified community colleges as “ laboratories ” of democracy and argued that community college students deserved an education that prepared them for citizenship in a democracy : “ Equal opportunity for all persons , to the maximum of their individual abilities and without regard to economic status , race , creed , color , sex , national origin , or ancestry is a major goal of American democracy.
” The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ promise and potential has been realized .
If democracy is going to become equitable , multicultural and multiracial , which it must do to survive , students need to learn how to create and live in that new world .
Now is the time to rethink and revitalize the linkage between education and democracy , and in the process , to reintegrate and rearrange the balance in the community college curriculum of different disciplines , pedagogues and areas of knowledge .
Historically we have treated democracy as a formal arrangement of institutions , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , coming as it has during an administration not much interested in institutions , laws and protocols , has made it painfully clear that democracy requires more .
With respect to education , it requires a renewed inquiry — to use educational reformer John Dewey ’ s term — into what we know and what we seek to become .
In Democracy and Education ( 1916 ) , Dewey argued that education was a critical link to expanding and realizing our democratic potential .
His focus on inquiry was not to review what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ orthodoxy , but to challenge us to think about what we don ’ t know or how our current approach is too limiting and too exclusive .
The humanities should be the site of that inquiry — not to privilege what has been done but to do what needs to be done .
A call for more humanities is a call for a New Humanities , one less concerned with canonical assumptions and more directed toward how this narrative of cultural development has failed ; one that moves from teaching the canon to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Susan Searls Giroux writes in Take Back Higher Education , “ We have to open up rather than close down our classrooms to dialogue and debate over contemporary issues and hot-button topics that most concern our students.
” A New Humanities must teach students how to engage in dialogue , create historical and cultural perspective , and to engage in the hard work of making a government that is fair and inclusive .
Schools can ’ t do this on their own , but they must be a part of it .
Democracy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ work : We have to learn how to do this work through practice and modeling .
Teaching people to accept a cultural , political and economic reality dictated by an elite to “ just to get a job ” is exposed as the con it is during these crises .
As narratives about the U.S. are being challenged and are more open to critique than at any time in the last 50 years , the humanities become a method and a forum for remaking the country .
There is nothing in CTE or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and mathematics ) curricula that will guide or inform the hard ethical decisions and value choices we face .
Doctors in Wuhan , Milan or New York City deciding who gets intubated and who doesn ’ t is not a technical problem ; it is an ethical one .
The divisions in our society exposed and intensified in the current crises can only be addressed and healed in a dialogue that includes members of society who have not traditionally had a voice in such conversations , including community college students , who are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Even the more local and mundane issues around what “ learning ” means now that we ’ ve all been forced out of our normal routines is going to require a conversation about more than what app works best for virtual meetings .
The humanities have a role to play in not only reframing the curriculum but in restructuring our ideas about the 21st-century community college and society at large .
The future we should be building is not one of subservience to the demands of business — to an economic system @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our students — but one of student agency through active participation in a democracy .
The question now is not whether or not community colleges will evolve to better fit the emergence of a new social and intellectual challenge ; they have no choice .
The question is how that evolution will unfold and who and what interests will be served : Students ?
Democracy ?
Corporations ?
We need options , and we need more inclusive ways of developing and thinking about those options .
If we want to move forward as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all clear at this juncture — then we have to provide an education that models , critiques and contextualizes the neoliberal fantasy of a technocracy that has shaped a curriculum more conducive to the needs of corporate interests than those of our students .
After 40 million people applied for unemployment , it is absurd and obscene to tell students that a job is enough .
If we ’ re about to embark on a new political and cultural journey , they deserve a seat at the table and a voice in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ opportunity the community college has to be more than a credentialing agent for corporate simulacra .
This is a moment of incredible uncertainty and vulnerability .
We should seize it .

Part of the Series Despair and Disparity: The Uneven Burdens of COVID-19
Roughly 11 years after the Great Recession, the social and economic inequality of the U.S. has been laid bare by a pandemic. This time, however, there is no skills gap to blame for job losses and unemployment: Workers in all sectors of the workforce are losing jobs and careers. As a result, community college students — 35 percent of undergraduates, including a high percentage of low-income and non-white students — who have followed expedited and limited curricula to a place in the existing economy, have found themselves, again, at the whims of the economic, political and cultural interests that have little concern for their future role in determining what we do next. They also face cultural and political crises that call into question the very idea of what it means to live in a democracy.
As the pandemic ravages the country, it’s been business as usual for too many community college leaders and politicians. Politicians propose more job (re)training. The American Workforce Policy Advisory Board, co-chaired by U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Ivanka Trump, offers plans to re-skill displaced workers by offering “better access to online tools and remote learning” and by involving businesses in assisting community colleges with designing curricula for job (re)training. Community college leaders call for much the same. Monty Sullivan, president of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System, stated that as community colleges emerge from the pandemic, “[i]t’s especially important for two-year colleges to continue training ‘essential’ workers.” Using the language of the ongoing pandemic, students are now “essential” or “human capital stock” with dwindling rights and protections. What these groups deny or fail to grasp is that we are living in a failed state.
The economy that students have been rushed into has collapsed and the “education” they received has done little to prepare them. They live in a country more than willing to send them off to work without concerns for their health while the wealth of billionaires increases. More job (re)training for jobs that can disappear overnight or forever is not the answer to the systemic inequality and social upheaval in a country that is tipping into chaos. While students struggle to make ends meet, community college leaders treat the moment as a minor pause instead of a challenge of citizenship and creativity.
There has been little or no thought given to the role these students would play, or that through their labor and activism, they might change the world instead of being another “brick in the wall.” As a former community college president (who served as an adviser to the Obama administration during the Great Recession) described it, “Macomb [Community College] is working with the federal government and other community colleges to better prepare students for the world that exists, not the world they want to live in.” This thinking perpetuates the misbelief that technocracy is stable and self-sustaining, and that the best that community college students can hope for is to find a slot in the economy that is skilled enough to elevate them out of menial labor.
It was always dishonest to portray career and technical education (CTE) as “enough” for these students, leaving them at the mercy of economic and cultural forces that saw them as first marginal and now disposable. Continued economic and social inequality and the lack of consideration for their needs and protection is now clear. We should take this moment to do more than fine tune the online programs we use to remotely teach our students, and ask what skills they need to survive on their own terms.
What our students require is not more (re)training and technical skill but the education that prepares them with the historical, narrative, and dialogical perspectives they need to fend for themselves when the technocracy crashes and burns; to advocate for their own rights and living conditions — their own agency.
Amid the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic and the future direction of higher education, community colleges have a role — but not as a “nouveau college” so closely aligned with workforce training that it resembles a defunct for-profit Corinthian College more than an educational institution. Rather, there exists the opportunity for community colleges to re-envision their mission, to reclaim the ideals expressed in the report titled “Higher Education For American Democracy” (also known as the Truman Commission Report).
More job (re)training for jobs that can disappear overnight or forever is not the answer to the systemic inequality and social upheaval in a country that is tipping into chaos.
After World War II, the Truman Commission identified community colleges as “laboratories” of democracy and argued that community college students deserved an education that prepared them for citizenship in a democracy: “Equal opportunity for all persons, to the maximum of their individual abilities and without regard to economic status, race, creed, color, sex, national origin, or ancestry is a major goal of American democracy.” The current crises show how little of that promise and potential has been realized. If democracy is going to become equitable, multicultural and multiracial, which it must do to survive, students need to learn how to create and live in that new world. Now is the time to rethink and revitalize the linkage between education and democracy, and in the process, to reintegrate and rearrange the balance in the community college curriculum of different disciplines, pedagogues and areas of knowledge.
Historically we have treated democracy as a formal arrangement of institutions, laws and protocols. The COVID-19 pandemic, coming as it has during an administration not much interested in institutions, laws and protocols, has made it painfully clear that democracy requires more. With respect to education, it requires a renewed inquiry — to use educational reformer John Dewey’s term — into what we know and what we seek to become. In Democracy and Education (1916), Dewey argued that education was a critical link to expanding and realizing our democratic potential. His focus on inquiry was not to review what we already know or to strengthen existing orthodoxy, but to challenge us to think about what we don’t know or how our current approach is too limiting and too exclusive.
The humanities should be the site of that inquiry — not to privilege what has been done but to do what needs to be done. A call for more humanities is a call for a New Humanities, one less concerned with canonical assumptions and more directed toward how this narrative of cultural development has failed; one that moves from teaching the canon to inquiry-based dialogues about cultural narratives. As Susan Searls Giroux writes in Take Back Higher Education, “We have to open up rather than close down our classrooms to dialogue and debate over contemporary issues and hot-button topics that most concern our students.” A New Humanities must teach students how to engage in dialogue, create historical and cultural perspective, and to engage in the hard work of making a government that is fair and inclusive.
Schools can’t do this on their own, but they must be a part of it. Democracy is not natural. It is hard work: We have to learn how to do this work through practice and modeling. Teaching people to accept a cultural, political and economic reality dictated by an elite to “just to get a job” is exposed as the con it is during these crises. As narratives about the U.S. are being challenged and are more open to critique than at any time in the last 50 years, the humanities become a method and a forum for remaking the country.
There is nothing in CTE or STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) curricula that will guide or inform the hard ethical decisions and value choices we face. Doctors in Wuhan, Milan or New York City deciding who gets intubated and who doesn’t is not a technical problem; it is an ethical one. The divisions in our society exposed and intensified in the current crises can only be addressed and healed in a dialogue that includes members of society who have not traditionally had a voice in such conversations, including community college students, who are often members of the most marginalized groups. Even the more local and mundane issues around what “learning” means now that we’ve all been forced out of our normal routines is going to require a conversation about more than what app works best for virtual meetings.
Teaching people to accept a cultural, political and economic reality dictated by an elite to “just to get a job” is exposed as the con it is during these crises.
The humanities have a role to play in not only reframing the curriculum but in restructuring our ideas about the 21st-century community college and society at large. The future we should be building is not one of subservience to the demands of business — to an economic system that has never worked in favor of our students — but one of student agency through active participation in a democracy. The question now is not whether or not community colleges will evolve to better fit the emergence of a new social and intellectual challenge; they have no choice. The question is how that evolution will unfold and who and what interests will be served: Students? Democracy? Corporations?
We need options, and we need more inclusive ways of developing and thinking about those options. If we want to move forward as a democracy — an assumption not at all clear at this juncture — then we have to provide an education that models, critiques and contextualizes the neoliberal fantasy of a technocracy that has shaped a curriculum more conducive to the needs of corporate interests than those of our students. After 40 million people applied for unemployment, it is absurd and obscene to tell students that a job is enough. If we’re about to embark on a new political and cultural journey, they deserve a seat at the table and a voice in the discussion.
This might be the last opportunity the community college has to be more than a credentialing agent for corporate simulacra. This is a moment of incredible uncertainty and vulnerability. We should seize it.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
Copyright © Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.


truthout--2020-07-12--Man Killed by Mexican Police for Not Wearing Mask Sparks Protest Movement

In Mexico the police will kill you for not wearing a mask and the state will disappear you for demanding justice .
This is the conclusion drawn by Alejandro Puerto , a young grassroots political activist in the state of Jalisco , who spoke with Truthout about the violence and repression doled out by the state government of Gov .
Enrique Alfaro .
Inspired by the uprising against police brutality happening in the United States and tired of the regular abuses committed by state security forces at home , thousands took to the streets in Mexico in June to denounce @ @ @ @ @ @ @ police .
They were met with brutal repression .
According to relatives , López , a 30-year-old construction worker from the town of Ixtlahuacán in the state of Jalisco , was detained in early May for being in public without a mask .
His family struggled to ascertain his whereabouts , eventually discovering his body with apparent signs of torture in a morgue the following day .
The Jalisco state human rights commission eventually concluded that the deadly beating delivered by police constituted an extrajudicial killing .
López ’ s brother claimed the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 200,000 pesos ( a little under US $ 9,000 ) to stay silent but they rejected the offer and released a video of López ’ s detention that served to ignite the ire of the population .
In Guadalajara , the capital of Jalisco and Mexico ’ s second-largest city , several demonstrators were picked up by plainclothes police in unmarked vehicles before they could even make it to a protest and were told by the masked officers that they were going to be disappeared , a threat that is taken seriously in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for decades engaged in forced disappearances against those deemed political opponents .
Meanwhile , others were told they would be dismembered .
Adding to the people ’ s ire was the fact that Lopez ’ s death was seen as entirely preventable .
Whereas the federal Mexican government has centered its response to the COVID-19 crisis on public health measures , such as shutting down workplaces — precisely to avoid giving authorities further powers to arbitrarily detain people and violate their human rights — the state government of Enrique Alfaro opted to place @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Alfaro focused his response on individual behavior and imposed this measure , the mandatory use of a facemask , which was very dangerous , and the end result that people wanted to avoid is precisely what ended up happening : the killing of a person for not wearing a facemask , ” Puerto told Truthout .
But Puerto argues that that alone does not paint a complete picture of the circumstances that led to the death of López at the hands of police .
He says the police have a propensity to behave @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the person they are investigating or the neighborhood where they are working .
Ixtlahuacán , where López lived , is one of the most marginalized neighborhoods in the metropolitan Guadalajara area , with two-thirds of its residents living in poverty or with some degree of social deprivation .
“ In the most marginalized areas is where you find the most abuse of power , the most violent arrests , the bloodiest persecutions , ” said Puerto .
“ Perhaps they thought that since it was a bricklayer from a poor neighborhood , there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ surrounding the killing of López , the apparent effort by state authorities to cover up the death of López at the hands of police , and the repression unleashed on those demanding justice served to highlight how in Mexico , as in the United States , being a working-class target of racism can be a death sentence and the path to justice is littered with obstacles .
Barely one month later , another police killing in Mexico , this time in the southern state of Oaxaca , would once again awaken a hot @ @ @ @ @ @ @ desire to confront the plague of police brutality .
One hot night in the town of Acatlán de Pérez Figueroa , 16-year-old Alexander Martínez headed out with a group of friends celebrating a birthday to the local convenience store to buy soft drinks .
On their way back , they came upon a police checkpoint , where police fired live ammunition upon the group , hitting Martínez in the head , who died on the spot .
State officials would later claim that the checkpoint was there in connection with measures related to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ went off accidentally when it was dropped by an officer , who was subsequently arrested .
A witness would later say that police tried to plant a gun on him to justify their actions .
And so , in both López ’ s and Martínez ’ s cases , as human rights defenders warned could happen , it was a COVID-19-related measure that ultimately led to their deaths at the hands of police .
Martínez was deeply loved by his friends and family .
He dreamed of playing soccer professionally , and so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as only his friends could .
In a video widely shared on social media , Martínez ’ s friends placed his coffin on a pitch , passed a ball between them , the final strike bouncing off his coffin and into the net , granting him one last goal with his team .
After the ball went in , in the midst of cheers and tears , his friends gathered around the coffin and hugged their friend goodbye .
Sara Méndez , coordinator with the Codigo DH human rights organization in Oaxaca , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is critical of governments that have implemented a “ heavy-handed ” approach to the COVID-19 epidemic because they fail to address the root of the problem , which is about access to health care .
The strategy that sees people arrested or fined for not abiding by public health mandates , such as the use of a facemask , lends itself to abuse by authorities and absolves the state of its duty to provide care , instead placing it on the individual who may or may not have access to personal protective equipment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or hospital , or has no choice but to leave their homes in order to try to generate income for themselves and their families .
Méndez argues that the COVID-19 crisis has also served to expose all of the underlying problems in Mexican society , with people becoming more aware of the “ structural problems ” concerning public safety and policing that have not been resolved .
Youth in the town of Acatlán de Pérez Figueroa have expressed to local media that police harassment and mistreatment is constant .
Méndez says her organization @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : arbitrary detentions , torture , mistreatments and extrajudicial executions .
She adds that use-of-force guidelines are insufficient or routinely ignored , and the lack of a judicial system capable of prosecuting abuses opens the door to impunity , and as a result , people are continuously exposed to crimes by state security forces .
Méndez tells Truthout the legal system in Mexico often punishes the victims instead of the perpetrators and leads to a wider sense of exhaustion in society .
She also points to notorious incidents of police violence in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2006 violent eviction of a protest camp by teachers in the state capital that eventually led to a state-wide uprising , or the repression seen in 2016 where police fired live ammunition against protesting teachers , resulting in the deaths of six people .
“ Oaxaca has a long history where it is not just one or two people but entire populations that are subject to police actions , ” said Méndez .
In the last few months alone , police in Oaxaca were involved in the deaths of four youth in similar @ @ @ @ @ @ @ But Méndez says it is not just impunity that is responsible for the abuses perpetrated by state security forces and points to discrimination and racism against Indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples .
“ At the end of the day , we have a country that has been built upon this ideology of mestizaje .
The mestizaje ideology says that in this country there are no Indigenous people , everyone is mestizo , but when it does that , it erases the ethnic diversity that we have in Mexico , ” said Méndez .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of not recognizing racism , a feeling that racism happens elsewhere but not in Mexico.
” It is this mestizaje ideology that has made it difficult for Mexico to confront its own practices of racism and discrimination , to even begin to have the conversation and acknowledge the erasure of Afro-descendent people in Mexico .
“ These debates are urgent and necessary precisely in order to begin to revert that history of denial of racism , ” said Méndez .
However , the question of how to address discrimination was forced into the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of tackling the issue , the National Council to Prevent Discrimination ( CONAPRED ) , organized an online forum to discuss the problem but opted to invite Chumel Torres , an online personality famous for his racist , classist and discriminatory statements .
Fallout over the decision to invite Torres eventually led to the cancellation of the forum , the resignation of the head of CONAPRED and the suspension of Torres ’ s program by HBO .
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador criticized the “ bureaucratic apparatus ” of CONAPRED , charging @ @ @ @ @ @ @ address discrimination , and has said that it is his wish to see an Indigenous woman at the head of the organization as a first step toward rectifying its work .
As in the U.S. , however , it will likely take a mass movement in Mexico to begin to truly address the scourge of racism and discrimination and the violence it produces , particularly from state security forces .
Fortunately , Mexican society has proven that it is capable of producing these mass movements .
For example , recent mobilizations by feminist @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of femicides have put the oppression of women onto the national agenda , forcing governments at all levels to respond .
The recent protests over police brutality have shown that people are fed up and the movement is indeed growing .

In Mexico the police will kill you for not wearing a mask and the state will disappear you for demanding justice. This is the conclusion drawn by Alejandro Puerto, a young grassroots political activist in the state of Jalisco, who spoke with Truthout about the violence and repression doled out by the state government of Gov. Enrique Alfaro.
Inspired by the uprising against police brutality happening in the United States and tired of the regular abuses committed by state security forces at home, thousands took to the streets in Mexico in June to denounce the killing of Giovanni López by local police. They were met with brutal repression.
According to relatives, López, a 30-year-old construction worker from the town of Ixtlahuacán in the state of Jalisco, was detained in early May for being in public without a mask. His family struggled to ascertain his whereabouts, eventually discovering his body with apparent signs of torture in a morgue the following day. The Jalisco state human rights commission eventually concluded that the deadly beating delivered by police constituted an extrajudicial killing. López’s brother claimed the mayor of Ixtlahuacán even offered the family 200,000 pesos (a little under US$9,000) to stay silent but they rejected the offer and released a video of López’s detention that served to ignite the ire of the population.
In Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco and Mexico’s second-largest city, several demonstrators were picked up by plainclothes police in unmarked vehicles before they could even make it to a protest and were told by the masked officers that they were going to be disappeared, a threat that is taken seriously in a country where state security forces have for decades engaged in forced disappearances against those deemed political opponents. Meanwhile, others were told they would be dismembered.
Adding to the people’s ire was the fact that Lopez’s death was seen as entirely preventable. Whereas the federal Mexican government has centered its response to the COVID-19 crisis on public health measures, such as shutting down workplaces — precisely to avoid giving authorities further powers to arbitrarily detain people and violate their human rights — the state government of Enrique Alfaro opted to place the burden on individuals.
“Enrique Alfaro focused his response on individual behavior and imposed this measure, the mandatory use of a facemask, which was very dangerous, and the end result that people wanted to avoid is precisely what ended up happening: the killing of a person for not wearing a facemask,” Puerto told Truthout.
In Mexico the police will kill you for not wearing a mask and the state will disappear you for demanding justice.
But Puerto argues that that alone does not paint a complete picture of the circumstances that led to the death of López at the hands of police. He says the police have a propensity to behave differently depending on the socioeconomic status of the person they are investigating or the neighborhood where they are working.
Ixtlahuacán, where López lived, is one of the most marginalized neighborhoods in the metropolitan Guadalajara area, with two-thirds of its residents living in poverty or with some degree of social deprivation.
“In the most marginalized areas is where you find the most abuse of power, the most violent arrests, the bloodiest persecutions,” said Puerto. “Perhaps they thought that since it was a bricklayer from a poor neighborhood, there would be no consequences.”
The circumstances surrounding the killing of López, the apparent effort by state authorities to cover up the death of López at the hands of police, and the repression unleashed on those demanding justice served to highlight how in Mexico, as in the United States, being a working-class target of racism can be a death sentence and the path to justice is littered with obstacles.
José Luis Granados Ceja
Another Life Cut Short by Police
Barely one month later, another police killing in Mexico, this time in the southern state of Oaxaca, would once again awaken a hot rage in the population and their urgent desire to confront the plague of police brutality.
“In the most marginalized areas is where you find the most abuse of power, the most violent arrests, the bloodiest persecutions.”
One hot night in the town of Acatlán de Pérez Figueroa, 16-year-old Alexander Martínez headed out with a group of friends celebrating a birthday to the local convenience store to buy soft drinks. On their way back, they came upon a police checkpoint, where police fired live ammunition upon the group, hitting Martínez in the head, who died on the spot. State officials would later claim that the checkpoint was there in connection with measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic and that the gun went off accidentally when it was dropped by an officer, who was subsequently arrested. A witness would later say that police tried to plant a gun on him to justify their actions.
And so, in both López’s and Martínez’s cases, as human rights defenders warned could happen, it was a COVID-19-related measure that ultimately led to their deaths at the hands of police.
Martínez was deeply loved by his friends and family. He dreamed of playing soccer professionally, and so his friends opted to bid him goodbye as only his friends could. In a video widely shared on social media, Martínez’s friends placed his coffin on a pitch, passed a ball between them, the final strike bouncing off his coffin and into the net, granting him one last goal with his team. After the ball went in, in the midst of cheers and tears, his friends gathered around the coffin and hugged their friend goodbye.
Police Are Exploiting COVID-19 Measures to Abuse Populations
José Luis Granados Ceja
Sara Méndez, coordinator with the Codigo DH human rights organization in Oaxaca, told Truthout that she, too, is critical of governments that have implemented a “heavy-handed” approach to the COVID-19 epidemic because they fail to address the root of the problem, which is about access to health care.
The strategy that sees people arrested or fined for not abiding by public health mandates, such as the use of a facemask, lends itself to abuse by authorities and absolves the state of its duty to provide care, instead placing it on the individual who may or may not have access to personal protective equipment, may not live near a clinic or hospital, or has no choice but to leave their homes in order to try to generate income for themselves and their families.
Méndez argues that the COVID-19 crisis has also served to expose all of the underlying problems in Mexican society, with people becoming more aware of the “structural problems” concerning public safety and policing that have not been resolved.
People arrested or fined for not abiding by public health mandates, such as the use of a facemask, lends itself to abuse by authorities and absolves the state of its duty to provide care.
Youth in the town of Acatlán de Pérez Figueroa have expressed to local media that police harassment and mistreatment is constant. Méndez says her organization has documented a long list of abuses: arbitrary detentions, torture, mistreatments and extrajudicial executions. She adds that use-of-force guidelines are insufficient or routinely ignored, and the lack of a judicial system capable of prosecuting abuses opens the door to impunity, and as a result, people are continuously exposed to crimes by state security forces.
Méndez tells Truthout the legal system in Mexico often punishes the victims instead of the perpetrators and leads to a wider sense of exhaustion in society. She also points to notorious incidents of police violence in the state of Oaxaca, such as the 2006 violent eviction of a protest camp by teachers in the state capital that eventually led to a state-wide uprising, or the repression seen in 2016 where police fired live ammunition against protesting teachers, resulting in the deaths of six people.
“Oaxaca has a long history where it is not just one or two people but entire populations that are subject to police actions,” said Méndez.
In the last few months alone, police in Oaxaca were involved in the deaths of four youth in similar circumstances as those surrounding Alexander Martínez.
But Méndez says it is not just impunity that is responsible for the abuses perpetrated by state security forces and points to discrimination and racism against Indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples.
“At the end of the day, we have a country that has been built upon this ideology of mestizaje. The mestizaje ideology says that in this country there are no Indigenous people, everyone is mestizo, but when it does that, it erases the ethnic diversity that we have in Mexico,” said Méndez. “In Mexico, we have a tradition of not recognizing racism, a feeling that racism happens elsewhere but not in Mexico.”
José Luis Granados Ceja
It is this mestizaje ideology that has made it difficult for Mexico to confront its own practices of racism and discrimination, to even begin to have the conversation and acknowledge the erasure of Afro-descendent people in Mexico.
“These debates are urgent and necessary precisely in order to begin to revert that history of denial of racism,” said Méndez.
However, the question of how to address discrimination was forced into the spotlight after the federal agency in charge of tackling the issue, the National Council to Prevent Discrimination (CONAPRED), organized an online forum to discuss the problem but opted to invite Chumel Torres, an online personality famous for his racist, classist and discriminatory statements. Fallout over the decision to invite Torres eventually led to the cancellation of the forum, the resignation of the head of CONAPRED and the suspension of Torres’s program by HBO.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador criticized the “bureaucratic apparatus” of CONAPRED, charging that it has not done enough to address discrimination, and has said that it is his wish to see an Indigenous woman at the head of the organization as a first step toward rectifying its work.
As in the U.S., however, it will likely take a mass movement in Mexico to begin to truly address the scourge of racism and discrimination and the violence it produces, particularly from state security forces. Fortunately, Mexican society has proven that it is capable of producing these mass movements. For example, recent mobilizations by feminist organizations in response to the alarming number of femicides have put the oppression of women onto the national agenda, forcing governments at all levels to respond. The recent protests over police brutality have shown that people are fed up and the movement is indeed growing.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
Copyright © Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.


truthout--2020-07-13--As COVID Deaths Soar in Texas, Ted Cruz Seen Without a Mask on Commercial Flight

Social media was abuzz over the weekend after an image of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz appeared to show him on a plane without a mask on .
The picture features Cruz in first class seating on an American Airlines-affiliated flight , holding a coffee and looking at his phone .
The senator is not wearing a mask in the picture , nor is one visible nearby within the frame of the image .
American Airlines policy during this stage of the coronavirus pandemic is for passengers to wear masks while sitting in the cabin .
Exceptions are allowed if individuals @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Consistent with airline policy , [ Cruz ] temporarily removes the mask while eating or drinking , ” the senator ’ s spokesperson Lauren Aronson said on Monday .
“ Yesterday , during his flight he removed his mask to drink and put it back on afterward .
We should all practice common sense measures to slow the spread of the virus.
” Whether Cruz ’ s actions were consistent with the policy or not beyond the picture being taken is unknown .
But according to polling from Gallup published on Monday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ far-fetched for someone who has the same political leanings as Cruz to fail to wear masks or facial coverings when they ’ re supposed to , in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) guidelines or private businesses ’ rules .
Gallup asked Americans in its poll about their mask or facial covering usage habits as a means to quell the spread of coronavirus .
Among all respondents , 72 percent said they wear a mask “ always ” or “ very often.
” Fifteen percent said they only @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ rarely , ” while 14 percent said they “ never ” wear a mask or facial covering .
Across political divides , a majority of Democratic and independent respondents also said they “ always ” or “ very often ” wear facial coverings , with 94 percent and 68 percent saying so , respectively .
Republican participants in the poll , however , were far less likely to say they wore masks .
Only 46 percent of Republicans said they “ always ” or “ very often ” wore facial coverings .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ sometimes ” or “ rarely ” wore them , with another 27 percent saying they never did , meaning a majority of Republican respondents told Gallup they wore masks less than “ very often ” when they were in public spaces .
Masks and facial coverings have become a political line in the sand for many , due in large part to President Donald Trump ’ s aversion to being seen wearing one .
For most of the time coronavirus has been a concern in the United States , Trump has expressed an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that he didn ’ t feel he could command respect from other world leaders if he did .
Last month , in an interview with The Wall Street Journal , Trump also suggested that masks were being worn out of spite toward him by those who felt it would signal disapproval of his presidency .
Finally on Saturday , several months after the crisis began ( and after 3.3 million Americans had been diagnosed with COVID-19 ) , Trump wore a mask on his face for the first time while in public during @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Military Medical Center .
For many , doing so was too little , too late .
“ Donald Trump spent months ignoring the advice of medical experts and politicizing wearing a mask , one of the most important things we can do to prevent the spread of the virus , ” Andrew Bates , spokesperson for Democratic candidate for president Joe Biden , said .
“ Rather than taking responsibility and leading , he wasted four months that Americans have been making sacrifices by stoking divisions and actively discouraging people from taking a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
”

Almost three-quarters of Americans overall say they “always” or “very often” wear a mask or facial covering in public.
Social media was abuzz over the weekend after an image of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz appeared to show him on a plane without a mask on.
The picture features Cruz in first class seating on an American Airlines-affiliated flight, holding a coffee and looking at his phone. The senator is not wearing a mask in the picture, nor is one visible nearby within the frame of the image.
American Airlines policy during this stage of the coronavirus pandemic is for passengers to wear masks while sitting in the cabin. Exceptions are allowed if individuals are eating or drinking while seated.
“Consistent with airline policy, [Cruz] temporarily removes the mask while eating or drinking,” the senator’s spokesperson Lauren Aronson said on Monday. “Yesterday, during his flight he removed his mask to drink and put it back on afterward. We should all practice common sense measures to slow the spread of the virus.”
Whether Cruz’s actions were consistent with the policy or not beyond the picture being taken is unknown. But according to polling from Gallup published on Monday, it wouldn’t be that far-fetched for someone who has the same political leanings as Cruz to fail to wear masks or facial coverings when they’re supposed to, in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines or private businesses’ rules.
Gallup asked Americans in its poll about their mask or facial covering usage habits as a means to quell the spread of coronavirus. Among all respondents, 72 percent said they wear a mask “always” or “very often.” Fifteen percent said they only wear such coverings “sometimes” or “rarely,” while 14 percent said they “never” wear a mask or facial covering.
Across political divides, a majority of Democratic and independent respondents also said they “always” or “very often” wear facial coverings, with 94 percent and 68 percent saying so, respectively. Republican participants in the poll, however, were far less likely to say they wore masks.
Only 46 percent of Republicans said they “always” or “very often” wore facial coverings. Conversely, 27 percent said they “sometimes” or “rarely” wore them, with another 27 percent saying they never did, meaning a majority of Republican respondents told Gallup they wore masks less than “very often” when they were in public spaces.
Masks and facial coverings have become a political line in the sand for many, due in large part to President Donald Trump’s aversion to being seen wearing one.
For most of the time coronavirus has been a concern in the United States, Trump has expressed an unwillingness to put one on, stating that he didn’t feel he could command respect from other world leaders if he did. Last month, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Trump also suggested that masks were being worn out of spite toward him by those who felt it would signal disapproval of his presidency.
Finally on Saturday, several months after the crisis began (and after 3.3 million Americans had been diagnosed with COVID-19), Trump wore a mask on his face for the first time while in public during a visit to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. For many, doing so was too little, too late.
“Donald Trump spent months ignoring the advice of medical experts and politicizing wearing a mask, one of the most important things we can do to prevent the spread of the virus,” Andrew Bates, spokesperson for Democratic candidate for president Joe Biden, said. “Rather than taking responsibility and leading, he wasted four months that Americans have been making sacrifices by stoking divisions and actively discouraging people from taking a very basic step to protect each other.”
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
Copyright © Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.


truthout--2020-07-13--Trump’s Harsh Sanctions Lead to Iran-China Partnership

China and Iran have drafted a “ sweeping economic and security partnership , ” according to The New York Times .
China will get a regular , heavily discounted supply of Iranian oil for the next 25 years , as well as an expanded role in Iranian banking , ports , railways , telecommunications and myriad other projects .
Iran and China will also increase their military cooperation .
This “ strategic partnership ” is the result of Donald Trump ’ s punishing sanctions against Iran .
Although it has not yet been formally approved by Iran ’ s Parliament @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s supreme leader , favors the partnership .
Two years ago , Trump pulled the United States out of the Iran nuclear deal — the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action ( JCPOA ) .
In the JCPOA , which the Obama administration negotiated , Iran agreed to curtail its nuclear program in return for billions of dollars of relief from punishing sanctions .
Although Iran was complying with the agreement , Trump cancelled the deal .
Trump reimposed the harsh sanctions which include closing the international banking system to any company that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had a devastating effect on Iran ’ s economy from the loss of foreign trade .
European countries refrain from trading with Iran to avoid the U.S. ’ s wrath .
“ But Tehran ’ s desperation has pushed it into the arms of China , which has the technology and appetite for oil that Iran needs , ” Farnaz Fassihi and Steven Lee Myers reported in the Times .
Iran , one of the world ’ s leading oil producers , has seen its oil exports plummet from Trump ’ s sanctions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the announcement of the new partnership by pledging to “ continue to impose costs on Chinese companies that aid Iran , the world ’ s largest state sponsor of terrorism.
” This refers to Iran ’ s support for Hezbollah and Hamas .
Both of these organizations emerged in resistance to U.S.-supported Israeli violence and aggression , which vastly exceeds anything attributed to those groups .
China ’ s economic support for Iran is not the only aid the U.S. government will find objectionable .
China could obtain access to Iranian ports near @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Gulf , “ the world ’ s most important oil chokepoint because of the large volumes of oil that flow through the strait , ” the U.S. Energy Information Administration ’ s website says .
“ American warships already tangle regularly with Iranian forces in the crowded waters of the Persian Gulf and challenge China ’ s internationally disputed claim to much of the South China Sea , and the Pentagon ’ s national security strategy has declared China an adversary , ” Fassihi and Myers noted .
The United States maintains a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and near the Persian Gulf .
By early 2020 , about 14,000 U.S. military personnel had been added , according to a May 2020 report of the Congressional Research Service ( CRS ) .
Tensions Between the U.S. and Iran Are Already Mounting The partnership comes on the heels of six months of increasing tensions between the United States and Iran .
On January 2 , Trump illegally assassinated Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani and Iraqi senior military leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis outside the Baghdad airport in Iraq .
In a report released @ @ @ @ @ @ @ United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial , summary or arbitrary executions , concluded that the drone attack that killed Suleimani , al-Muhandis and eight other members of Iran ’ s military was unlawful .
Callamard wrote that the strike violated the UN Charter as there was insufficient evidence of an ongoing or imminent attack and it thus constituted “ an act of aggression.
” Meanwhile , Iran has issued arrest warrants for Trump and 35 other U.S. military and political leaders involved in Suleimani ’ s killing .
They have been charged with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Iran ’ s Islamic Republic News Agency reported .
On July 2 , Israel mounted a damaging attack on Iran ’ s Centrifuge Assembly Center at Natanz .
Some officials told the Times that a “ joint American-Israeli strategy was evolving , ” which included the attacks on Suleimani and the Natanz facility .
In light of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ’ s close relationship with Yossi Cohen , director of Israel ’ s spy service Mossad , it ’ s “ difficult to believe that Mr. Pompeo has no idea ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wrote .
U.S. officials are seeking an extension of the UN Security Council ban on arms transfers to Iran , set to expire on October 18 , “ in order to prohibit Russia and China from proceeding with planned arms sales to Iran , ” the May CRS report says .
But China and Russia , both permanent members of the council , have veto power over any such extension .
If the U.S. doesn ’ t succeed in extending the ban , it “ might use its sanctions laws and authorities to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” a July 6 report of the CRS indicates .
Bipartisan Attempt to Limit Further Expansion of 2001 AUMF On July 9 , a bipartisan group of congress members announced their introduction of the Limit on the Expansion of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Act .
It does not attempt to repeal the 2001 AUMF , which has been used to justify U.S. military intervention in “ dozens of countries.
” Nor does it make “ a statement on current or previous U.S. military actions.
” The bill says that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as the basis for sending our military into any country where U.S. armed forces are not engaged in hostilities today.
” Would the bill apply to Iran ?
It depends on whether U.S. armed forces are engaged in hostilities in Iran .
After the Suleimani killing , U.S. officials stated that the “ United States is not currently engaged in any use of force against Iran.
” On May 6 , Trump vetoed S.J .
Res .
68 , which both houses of Congress had passed .
It would have directed the president @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Iran unless authorized by Congress .
In his veto statement , Trump wrote , “ Contrary to the resolution , the United States is not engaged in the use of force against Iran.
” If China and Iran conclude their partnership agreement , Trump would presumably be less likely to use military force against Iran .
If he did , he would have to be willing to take on China as well .
That would be most unwise .
In addition , if Trump committed another act of aggression against Iran , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ those that occurred after Suleimani ’ s assassination .

The new strategic partnership between Iran and China is the result of Trump’s punishing sanctions against Iran.
Part of the Series Human Rights and Global Wrongs
China and Iran have drafted a “sweeping economic and security partnership,” according to The New York Times. China will get a regular, heavily discounted supply of Iranian oil for the next 25 years, as well as an expanded role in Iranian banking, ports, railways, telecommunications and myriad other projects. Iran and China will also increase their military cooperation.
This “strategic partnership” is the result of Donald Trump’s punishing sanctions against Iran. Although it has not yet been formally approved by Iran’s Parliament, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, favors the partnership.
Two years ago, Trump pulled the United States out of the Iran nuclear deal — the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). In the JCPOA, which the Obama administration negotiated, Iran agreed to curtail its nuclear program in return for billions of dollars of relief from punishing sanctions. Although Iran was complying with the agreement, Trump cancelled the deal.
Trump reimposed the harsh sanctions which include closing the international banking system to any company that does business with Iran. This has had a devastating effect on Iran’s economy from the loss of foreign trade.
European countries refrain from trading with Iran to avoid the U.S.’s wrath. “But Tehran’s desperation has pushed it into the arms of China, which has the technology and appetite for oil that Iran needs,” Farnaz Fassihi and Steven Lee Myers reported in the Times. Iran, one of the world’s leading oil producers, has seen its oil exports plummet from Trump’s sanctions.
The U.S. State Department responded to the announcement of the new partnership by pledging to “continue to impose costs on Chinese companies that aid Iran, the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism.” This refers to Iran’s support for Hezbollah and Hamas. Both of these organizations emerged in resistance to U.S.-supported Israeli violence and aggression, which vastly exceeds anything attributed to those groups.
China’s economic support for Iran is not the only aid the U.S. government will find objectionable. China could obtain access to Iranian ports near the Strait of Hormuz on the Persian Gulf, “the world’s most important oil chokepoint because of the large volumes of oil that flow through the strait,” the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s website says. “American warships already tangle regularly with Iranian forces in the crowded waters of the Persian Gulf and challenge China’s internationally disputed claim to much of the South China Sea, and the Pentagon’s national security strategy has declared China an adversary,” Fassihi and Myers noted.
The United States maintains a baseline of over 60,000 U.S. forces in and near the Persian Gulf. By early 2020, about 14,000 U.S. military personnel had been added, according to a May 2020 report of the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
Tensions Between the U.S. and Iran Are Already Mounting
The partnership comes on the heels of six months of increasing tensions between the United States and Iran. On January 2, Trump illegally assassinated Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani and Iraqi senior military leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis outside the Baghdad airport in Iraq.
In a report released on July 7, Agnes Callamard, United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, concluded that the drone attack that killed Suleimani, al-Muhandis and eight other members of Iran’s military was unlawful. Callamard wrote that the strike violated the UN Charter as there was insufficient evidence of an ongoing or imminent attack and it thus constituted “an act of aggression.”
Meanwhile, Iran has issued arrest warrants for Trump and 35 other U.S. military and political leaders involved in Suleimani’s killing. They have been charged with “murder and terrorism acts,” Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
On July 2, Israel mounted a damaging attack on Iran’s Centrifuge Assembly Center at Natanz. Some officials told the Times that a “joint American-Israeli strategy was evolving,” which included the attacks on Suleimani and the Natanz facility. In light of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s close relationship with Yossi Cohen, director of Israel’s spy service Mossad, it’s “difficult to believe that Mr. Pompeo has no idea” about the Natanz explosion, David Sanger wrote.
U.S. officials are seeking an extension of the UN Security Council ban on arms transfers to Iran, set to expire on October 18, “in order to prohibit Russia and China from proceeding with planned arms sales to Iran,” the May CRS report says. But China and Russia, both permanent members of the council, have veto power over any such extension. If the U.S. doesn’t succeed in extending the ban, it “might use its sanctions laws and authorities to deter any arms sales to Iran,” a July 6 report of the CRS indicates.
Bipartisan Attempt to Limit Further Expansion of 2001 AUMF
On July 9, a bipartisan group of congress members announced their introduction of the Limit on the Expansion of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Act. It does not attempt to repeal the 2001 AUMF, which has been used to justify U.S. military intervention in “dozens of countries.” Nor does it make “a statement on current or previous U.S. military actions.” The bill says that the 2001 AUMF “cannot be used as the basis for sending our military into any country where U.S. armed forces are not engaged in hostilities today.”
Would the bill apply to Iran? It depends on whether U.S. armed forces are engaged in hostilities in Iran. After the Suleimani killing, U.S. officials stated that the “United States is not currently engaged in any use of force against Iran.”
On May 6, Trump vetoed S.J. Res. 68, which both houses of Congress had passed. It would have directed the president to end the use of U.S. forces in Iran unless authorized by Congress. In his veto statement, Trump wrote, “Contrary to the resolution, the United States is not engaged in the use of force against Iran.”
If China and Iran conclude their partnership agreement, Trump would presumably be less likely to use military force against Iran. If he did, he would have to be willing to take on China as well. That would be most unwise.
In addition, if Trump committed another act of aggression against Iran, he would likely face large protests like those that occurred after Suleimani’s assassination.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
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truthout--2020-07-13--17 States Sue Trump Over Deportation Threats to International Students

More than a dozen states joined together on Monday to file a lawsuit against the Trump administration , following an announcement last week from Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( ICE ) stating that international students could be deported if universities allowed them to utilize online-only options for their education .
Students could be impacted if the university itself goes online-only , or if they individually choose to create a schedule that is solely online .
Such decisions are being considered in order to curb or prevent the spread of coronavirus on campus .
ICE ’ s moves last week , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ make a difficult choice : return to the classrooms and risk exposure to the disease , or go online-only and be forced to leave the country .
Universities across the country may be stuck with a catch-22 : reopen classrooms to ensure international students can remain in the U.S. while risking greater exposure to the disease , or keep utilizing distance learning in order to protect the health of students and faculty with the possibility some students could be deported as a result .
These decisions could have enormous impacts , as the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ visas to international students every year .
International students also tend to pay higher tuition fees , and public universities , particularly in the last few decades , have been upping the proportion of both international and out-of-state admissions as a way to cover for the revenue gaps left by the defunding of education by the federal government .
As such , the ICE policy could be seen as a way of putting economic pressure on public universities to physically reopen .
In response to ICE ’ s announcement , 17 states plus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that they would be suing the Trump administration over the matter .
The argument , according to those states ’ attorneys general , is that the decision to revoke the visas of international students was made in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act , which deals with decision-making processes within federal agencies .
The litigants ’ case may stand on some pretty solid foundation , considering that the same act was cited in a Supreme Court decision on a separate immigration last month .
In a 5-4 decision from the Court , justices @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Administrative Procedure Act when they had attempted to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals ( DACA ) program .
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey , who is spearheading the coalition of states suing the administration , chastised the White House for providing little-to-no justification for why international students had to be deported if their classes went online .
“ The Trump Administration didn ’ t even attempt to explain the basis for this senseless rule , which forces schools to choose between keeping their international students enrolled and protecting the health and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said in a statement .
The states ’ lawsuit isn ’ t the only legal action being taken against the Trump administration over its new rules on international students .
Last week Wednesday , Harvard and MIT asked for court intervention to block the order , too , saying it put an undue burden on its students to make difficult decisions pitting their health against their desires to continue studying in the U.S. Johns Hopkins University also filed a lawsuit on Friday over the matter .
“ We will pursue this case vigorously @ @ @ @ @ @ @ international students at institutions across the country , can continue their studies without the threat of deportation , ” Harvard President Lawrence Bacow said .
The decision from ICE , Bacow added , appeared to be political in his opinion , an attempt by the Trump administration to “ place pressure on colleges and universities to open their on-campus classrooms for in-person instruction this fall , without regard to concerns for the health and safety of students , instructors and others , ” he added .
The Trump administration has been adamant about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fall , in spite of the steady rise of coronavirus cases across the country .

The states are joined by a separate lawsuit seeking to block the action, filed last week by Harvard and MIT.
More than a dozen states joined together on Monday to file a lawsuit against the Trump administration, following an announcement last week from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) stating that international students could be deported if universities allowed them to utilize online-only options for their education.
Students could be impacted if the university itself goes online-only, or if they individually choose to create a schedule that is solely online. Such decisions are being considered in order to curb or prevent the spread of coronavirus on campus.
ICE’s moves last week, however, could force international students to make a difficult choice: return to the classrooms and risk exposure to the disease, or go online-only and be forced to leave the country.
Universities across the country may be stuck with a catch-22: reopen classrooms to ensure international students can remain in the U.S. while risking greater exposure to the disease, or keep utilizing distance learning in order to protect the health of students and faculty with the possibility some students could be deported as a result.
These decisions could have enormous impacts, as the U.S. grants more than one million student visas to international students every year. International students also tend to pay higher tuition fees, and public universities, particularly in the last few decades, have been upping the proportion of both international and out-of-state admissions as a way to cover for the revenue gaps left by the defunding of education by the federal government. As such, the ICE policy could be seen as a way of putting economic pressure on public universities to physically reopen.
In response to ICE’s announcement, 17 states plus the District of Columbia announced on Monday that they would be suing the Trump administration over the matter. The argument, according to those states’ attorneys general, is that the decision to revoke the visas of international students was made in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, which deals with decision-making processes within federal agencies.
The litigants’ case may stand on some pretty solid foundation, considering that the same act was cited in a Supreme Court decision on a separate immigration last month. In a 5-4 decision from the Court, justices found the Trump administration had violated the Administrative Procedure Act when they had attempted to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, who is spearheading the coalition of states suing the administration, chastised the White House for providing little-to-no justification for why international students had to be deported if their classes went online.
“The Trump Administration didn’t even attempt to explain the basis for this senseless rule, which forces schools to choose between keeping their international students enrolled and protecting the health and safety of their campuses,” Healey said in a statement.
The states’ lawsuit isn’t the only legal action being taken against the Trump administration over its new rules on international students. Last week Wednesday, Harvard and MIT asked for court intervention to block the order, too, saying it put an undue burden on its students to make difficult decisions pitting their health against their desires to continue studying in the U.S. Johns Hopkins University also filed a lawsuit on Friday over the matter.
“We will pursue this case vigorously so that our international students, and international students at institutions across the country, can continue their studies without the threat of deportation,” Harvard President Lawrence Bacow said.
The decision from ICE, Bacow added, appeared to be political in his opinion, an attempt by the Trump administration to “place pressure on colleges and universities to open their on-campus classrooms for in-person instruction this fall, without regard to concerns for the health and safety of students, instructors and others,” he added.
The Trump administration has been adamant about schools and universities reopening their doors this fall, in spite of the steady rise of coronavirus cases across the country.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
Copyright © Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.