World News
010 COVID-19 US update
4 April 2020
020 Europe coronavirus round-up
4 April 2020
030 Failure of UN resolution
4 April 2020
040 US jobs report
4 April 2020
Mounting opposition among German health care, industrial workers
By Ulrich Rippert, 4 April 2020
The German government has implemented a bailout program for major companies and banks, but health care and industrial workers are being forced to work under catastrophic conditions.
Coronavirus crisis: Hunger and malnutrition spread in Germany
By Carola Kleinert and Andy Niklaus, 4 April 2020
Research indicates some 13 million people in Germany are living in poverty or confront hunger, malnutrition and social misery due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. This total includes three million children condemned to poverty by the policies of Germany’s ruling CDU-SPD (Christian Democratic Union-Social Democratic Party) grand coalition.
UK corporations scramble for coronavirus bailout funds
By Paul Bond, 4 April 2020
The £350 billion bailout, equivalent to 15 percent of the UK’s annual GDP, is an unprecedented financial handout to UK corporations, conducted without even the rubber stamp of a parliamentary vote.
Working class Londoners risk their lives fighting COVID-19 as the city’s billionaires decamp
By Michael Barnes, 4 April 2020
While the super-rich complain of being bored in their gated mansions, masses of workers in London have lost their jobs or are forced to work in unsafe conditions with next to no protection from the virus.
UK: Elderly will be left to die as coronavirus plunges care sector into crisis
By Stephen Alexander, 4 April 2020
It is estimated that up to a fifth of all COVID-19 deaths in the UK have occurred in care homes, hospices, and individual households.
Ireland woefully unprepared for COVID-19 onslaught
By Dermot Byrne, 4 April 2020
The European Centre for Disease Control warns that the intensive care system in Irish hospitals will not be able to cope with rising numbers of coronavirus patients in critical condition.
110 Amid calamitous lockdown, Modi seeks to censor coronavirus reports
4 April 2020
120 Amazon walkouts
4 April 2020
Caterpillar interview
4 April 2020
Africa’s confirmed cases rise to 7,600, as 314 die from the coronavirus
By Stephan McCoy, 4 April 2020
The response of African governments has been to ramp up the powers of the state and impose brutal lockdowns with virtually no mass testing, contact tracing or isolation taking place.
Ecuadorians protest bodies of COVID-19 victims left in the streets
By Andrea Lobo, 4 April 2020
Desperate families and neighbors have flooded social media with videos and reports of corpses rotting in their living rooms, sidewalks and parks for days.
Nearly three years after the Grenfell Tower inferno, flammable cladding still widely used in UK
By Alice Summers, 4 April 2020
High Pressure Laminate cladding, thought to be used on thousands of buildings across the country, has been shown in tests to be as highly flammable as the cladding used on Grenfell Tower.
150 Doctors being threatened with firings for speaking out on conditions
4 April 2020
160 Georgia Governor criminal coronavirus response
4 April 2020
180 Tennessee health care company furloughs
4 April 2020
190 Mass. vets home COVID-19 outbreak/cover-up
4 April 2020
191 Mass transition to e-learning
4 April 2020
192 Russia coronavirus update
4 April 2020
Canadian government’s coronavirus bailout increases big banks’ control over economy and state
By Roger Jordan, 4 April 2020
Canada’s Liberal government is funnelling hundreds of billions of dollars to the country’s banks and major corporations so as to guarantee the wealth of the country’s capitalist elite, while offering working people ration-style temporary relief.
Australian airline exploits pandemic in an attempt to sink rivals
By Terry Cook, 4 April 2020
Qantas CEO: “This will be a survival of the fittest and Qantas is one of the fittest and most dynamic airlines in the world.”
195 Australia: Labor Party and the unions’ response to COVID-19
4 April 2020
196 Nepal coronavirus update
4 April 2020
200 Social inequality and coronavirus - the class questions
4 April 2020
Attend the Committee for Public Education online meeting
The COVID-19 pandemic: The political issues confronting educators
By the Committee for Public Education (Australia), 4 April 2020
We invite World Socialist Web Site readers in Australia and internationally—especially teachers, school staff, academics, kindergarten and childcare workers, parents and students—to attend the online meeting.
230 Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
4 April 2020
Black & Privileged: Poor African Americans “intrude” on an affluent Chicago neighborhood
By Nick Barrickman, 4 April 2020
Mark Harris’s television film tells the story of a middle-class black community “disrupted” when low-income people are forced to move in.
999 Wisconsin famers forced to dump milk
4 April 2020
One million infected with coronavirus worldwide, more than 50,000 dead
By Patrick Martin, 3 April 2020
None of the governments of the major capitalist powers has carried out any effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Europe: Over 520,000 coronavirus cases and almost 38,000 deaths
By Robert Stevens, 3 April 2020
With 4,199 new deaths yesterday, 37,864 have already perished in Europe from COVID-19.
An interview with four Chinese physicians at the epicenter of the pandemic in Wuhan
By Benjamin Mateus, 3 April 2020
Four doctors who went through the worst of the COVID-19 epidemic in China recently spoke with the WSWS about their experiences and the lessons for the wider world.
Michigan’s confirmed COVID-19 cases surge past 10,000 as Democratic officials attempt to deflect responsibility
By Shannon Jones, 3 April 2020
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan have offered demagogic appeals for unity as the state has solidified its position as one of the epicenters of the pandemic.
Navy fires captain who warned of COVID-19 spread on aircraft carrier
By Jessica Goldstein, 3 April 2020
The move is a clear statement that saving lives in the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be allowed to interfere with the war aims of US imperialism.
Banks set to make billions from stimulus measures
By Nick Beams, 3 April 2020
Banks, lobby groups, major legal firms and hedge funds are all striving to get their slice of the largest corporate and financial bailout in history.
Royal Mail rejects all demands for basic coronavirus safety measures, but CWU continues to block strike
By Thomas Scripps, 3 April 2020
Sitting on a huge mandate for strike action delivered less than a month ago, the CWU’s only response is to turn to Boris Johnson with an appeal for more talks!
Germany marked an increase in violent attacks on refugees in 2019
By Isabel Roy, 3 April 2020
The Left Party has been instrumental, along with the country’s other political parties, in creating a hostile climate and the corresponding explosion of violence against refugees and immigrants.
Polish government insists on holding presidential elections in May despite coronavirus lockdown
By Clara Weiss, 3 April 2020
In polls taken last week, 73 percent opposed holding the elections as planned.
General Motors imposes wage cuts and layoffs on Brazilian workers with aid of unions
By Tomas Castanheira, 3 April 2020
GM announced mass layoffs along with a wage cut of up to 25 percent in wages at all its Brazilian plants.
Honduran doctor warns of “collapsed health care system” as coronavirus toll grows
By our reporter, 3 April 2020
“Now we face this COVID-19 pandemic which demonstrates tragically that the armored tanks of the police and warships of the Navy are incapable of saving lives.”
El-Sisi uses coronavirus pandemic to tighten grip on Egypt
By Jean Shaoul, 3 April 2020
Egypt did nothing to prepare for the onset of the virus, despite being identified in early February, along with Algeria and South Africa, as one of the African countries most at risk.
South Australian teacher speaks out against governments keeping schools open
By Sue Phillips, 3 April 2020
Amidst the mounting coronavirus danger, teachers are demanding the closure of schools.
Mounting protests in Canada’s construction industry over lack of safety measures to counter COVID-19
By Penny Smith, 3 April 2020
A petition launched by a construction worker in Ontario calling for the shutdown of the entire industry quickly secured over 50,000 signatures.
Thousands face coronavirus disaster on cruise ships as governments close their ports
By Tom Casey, 3 April 2020
In addition to the approximately ten thousand cruise ship customers still stranded worldwide, there are many more ships with just their crews on board being denied entry into ports of call due to coronavirus outbreaks.
Coronavirus hits Seattle, Washington homeless shelters
By Julio Patron, 3 April 2020
As the pandemic rips across the United States, COVID-19 cases are beginning to be reported among the homeless population in Seattle.
As schools close down amid COVID-19 pandemic
Marist and SUNY Geneseo students face homelessness
By Alex Findijs, 3 April 2020
The crisis that has emerged at schools and colleges around the country in the face of the pandemic has laid bare the harsh realities of life for millions of youth and students.
Louisiana ranks fourth in the US for coronavirus deaths
By Aaron Murch, 3 April 2020
Governor John Bel Edwards used his daily press conference Thursday to announce an extension of stay-at-home orders through the end of April.
Why is the World Socialist Web Site banned from the subreddit r/coronavirus?
By Kevin Reed, 3 April 2020
The subreddit r/coronavirus has banned content from the World Socialist Web Site from being shared among its 1.8 million reader-members. We are demanding that the moderators explain why this decision has been made and immediately reverse this act of political censorship.
India: Maoist-led union alliance betrays Sanmina workers
By Yuan Darwin, 3 April 2020
The Sanmina workers walked out on strike on March 3 to demand a pay rise and reinstatement of victimised militant workers.
US Conference of Mayors survey shows severe lack of equipment to combat coronavirus pandemic
By Bryan Dyne, 2 April 2020
As the US death toll nears 5,000, a report to the federal government from mayors of 213 cities showing a desperate shortage of lifesaving equipment has fallen on deaf ears.
Statistical lies used to justify continued inaction, paint the US epidemic as nearly over
By Don Barrett, 2 April 2020
The US ruling class turns to bad statistics to justify its continued inaction and paint a picture that the worst is just ahead.
Nightingale field hospital completed in London to cope with mass coronavirus deaths
By Richard Tyler, 2 April 2020
While clearly the new hospital is a much-needed facility, given the criminal starving of resources in Britain’s health care system, for many who are taken there it will be little more than a waiting room for the dying.
UK: Communication Workers Union seeks unity with Royal Mail against postal workers
By Thomas Scripps, 2 April 2020
That the CWU is now appealing for the most basic sanitary protections is an admission of the desperately unsafe conditions it volunteered its membership into when calling off the planned national strike.
Hospital closures continue in Germany despite COVID-19 pandemic
By Sybille Fuchs, 2 April 2020
Although every hospital bed in Germany is needed because of the coronavirus pandemic, many hospitals are facing closure, especially in more rural areas.
Stock market sell-off resumes
By Nick Beams, 2 April 2020
The renewed market downturn followed statements by President Trump that US deaths from the coronavirus could be 240,000 while hinting that the toll could be even higher.
Confirmed coronavirus cases in Africa exceeds 6,000 with more than 200 deaths
By Stephan McCoy, 2 April 2020
The UN recently warned that half of all jobs could be lost on the African continent due to the disruption caused by the pandemic.
Indonesian government declares “national emergency” after downplaying coronavirus threat
By Owen Howell, 2 April 2020
A University of Indonesia report has warned that 240,000 people may die in the pandemic this month without a substantial government intervention.
Sri Lankan medical experts demand mass coronavirus testing
By Naveen Dewage, 2 April 2020
The dangerous conditions facing millions of Sri Lankan workers, farmers and the poor are the result of decades of government cuts to the health system and other vital services.
COVID-19 infections hit Australian health workers
By Oscar Grenfell, 2 April 2020
Medical professionals across the country have made ongoing complaints that they lack sufficient quantities of personal protective equipment (PPE), including masks.
Modi government represses desperate migrant workers amid calamitous coronavirus lockdown
By Wasantha Rupasinghe and Keith Jones, 2 April 2020
People across India and around the world have been shocked and outraged by the pictures of poor migrant workers caught up in the Indian government's ill-conceived and socially reckless 21-day nationwide coronavirus lockdown.
Coronavirus freezes Democratic presidential campaign as states postpone primaries
By Trévon Austin and Patrick Martin, 2 April 2020
Fourteen states have either delayed presidential primaries or extended deadlines for voting by mail.
US Navy aircraft carrier commander seeks evacuation of entire crew to stem outbreak of coronavirus
By Patrick Martin, 2 April 2020
The crisis on the USS Theodore Roosevelt is only the most acute indication of the serious impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the operations of the American military machine.
Ten New York City transit workers die of COVID-19
By Sam Dalton, 2 April 2020
More New York City transit workers are sick and dying as work continues without protective equipment.
Cuomo presses forward with Medicaid cuts as New York City health care system overwhelmed by pandemic
By Josh Varlin, 2 April 2020
Even though New York City’s hospitals and medical workers are overwhelmed by the pandemic, Governor Andrew Cuomo is pushing forward with planned cuts to Medicaid.
Without work and regular paycheck millions of Americans at risk of eviction as rent comes due
By Jacob Crosse, 2 April 2020
In New York City, the epicenter of the coronavirus epidemic, up to 40 percent of tenants are expected forgo rent payments this month.
Tennessee governor’s delay in issuing stay-at-home order means thousands more will die, physicians warn
By Warren Duzak, 2 April 2020
“This is not a mandated shelter in place order, but it is a strong urging for Tennesseans to stay at home,” Gov. Lee said during his daily media briefing.
Alberta’s right-wing UCP government exploits coronavirus pandemic to lay off at least 20,000 education workers
By Janet Browning, 2 April 2020
Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party government slashed all non-teacher salary funding to Alberta school boards Saturday, which will force the layoff of at least 20,000 teaching assistants, cleaners, and other support staff.
New Zealand workers speak out on unsafe conditions, wage cuts
By Tom Peters, 2 April 2020
Workers spoke to the WSWS about the lack of personal protective equipment and other safety measures.
Amid growing anger over criminal response to COVID-19 crisis, Washington threatens war
By Bill Van Auken, 2 April 2020
Trump issued threats against Iran and Venezuela yesterday, both weaponizing the pandemic and desperately seeking to divert mounting social tensions in the US itself.
As COVID-19 pandemic exposes failure of capitalism, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shifts to the right
By Genevieve Leigh, 2 April 2020
Ocasio-Cortez is increasingly lining up behind the Democratic Party establishment at the very point that the coronavirus catastrophe is demonstrating the failure of the capitalist system and discrediting all of its political parties and representatives.
One hundred years since Germany’s Kapp Putsch
How the Social Democratic Party supported the far-right
By Peter Schwarz, 2 April 2020
The Kapp Putsch is of burning contemporary relevance at a time when Germany’s bourgeoisie is once again turning to militarism, a right-wing extremist party is represented in the federal parliament and all state parliaments, and far-right terrorist networks operate unhindered within the state apparatus and the army.
19,000 ambulance workers strike in Northern India to demand protective gear
By Pradeep Ramanayake, 2 April 2020
The strike by Indian ambulance workers is part of the militant class response by the working class against the capitalist governments that have endangered the lives of workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ukraine passes IMF-backed land reform bill, social cuts as coronavirus spreads
By Jason Melanovski, 1 April 2020
The policies of the Zelensky government threaten the working class with a social and medical disaster of immense proportions.
As Wall Street finishes worst quarter since 2008
Financial turbulence continues to grow
By Nick Beams, 1 April 2020
While COVID-19 was the trigger it was not the underlying cause, as the financial system was set to crash due to the dizzy rise of the markets divorced from the real economy.
Peruvian president authorizes military to use lethal force to enforce the national quarantine
By Cesar Uco and Don Knowland, 1 April 2020
A new law shows that Peru’s ruling oligarchy, in anticipation of widespread unrest, is preparing the army to carry out repression with absolute impunity.
Covid-19 pandemic poses gravest threat to world’s poorest countries
By Jean Shaoul, 1 April 2020
Hundreds of millions of people across the globe live in homes that were detrimental to their health and safety even before the onset of the coronavirus.
Canada’s governments exempt sections of industry from lockdowns, imperilling workers’ lives
By Roger Jordan, 1 April 2020
Placing profits before workers’ lives, Ontario and Quebec have declared businesses “essential” that have nothing to do with providing healthcare, food, power or other life necessities.
Quebec tries to extort concessions from health care and other public sector workers
By Laurent Lafrance, 1 April 2020
By offering their “full cooperation” to the CAQ government during the coronavirus pandemic, the unions have opened the door for an intensified state attack on public sector workers.
Unprecedented police and military powers implemented in Australian pandemic response
By Mike Head, 1 April 2020
Lockdown measures that have become necessary to try to contain the coronavirus are being enforced in the most heavy-handed manner.
COVID-19 pandemic leads to mass sackings in Australia
By Martin Scott, 1 April 2020
Unemployment is likely to rise above 15 percent as hundreds of thousands of workers lose their jobs.
Bangladesh: Garment workers strike over safety amid COVID-19 crisis
By Wimal Perera, 1 April 2020
The anger of Bangladeshi factory workers is mounting because they are unable to practice “social distancing” in their plants or during transit.
The significance of Hungarian Prime Minister Orban’s enabling act
By Peter Schwarz, 1 April 2020
Hungary’s parliament passed an emergency law on Monday that grants Orban unrestricted dictatorial powers.
Daily Telegraph rails against socialist revival due to coronavirus crisis
By Chris Marsden, 1 April 2020
The fears of the ruling class internationally that the coronavirus crisis is leading to opposition to capitalism on a mass scale are expressed in the commentary in Britain’s Telegraph.
Trump boasts holding US pandemic deaths to 200,000 would be “a good job”
By Patrick Martin, 31 March 2020
In a press briefing held Monday in the White House Rose Garden, President Donald Trump declared that a death toll of 100,000 to 200,000 in the United States as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic would represent “a good job” by his administration.
Millions of Europe’s health care workers endangered by government neglect
By Thomas Scripps, 31 March 2020
The crisis is taking a particularly heavy toll on health care workers fighting on the front lines of the pandemic.
Top US health adviser predicts millions will contract COVID-19 and 100,000–200,000 will die
By Bryan Dyne and Barry Grey, 30 March 2020
As Trump’s top health advisers warn of a rapid escalation of infections and deaths across the country, the White House, visibly in crisis, shifts from one stop-gap policy to another.
020 Profit motive undermining efforts to respond to pandemic
30 March 2020
Spanish police assault steelworkers striking against COVID-19 “back-to-work” order
By Alejandro López and Alex Lantier, 30 March 2020
The police assault on the Sidenor steel factory in the Basque Country was carried out under the authority of the pseudo-left Podemos party and the Spanish social-democrats.
EU divisions erupt as anger mounts among workers over COVID-19 response
By Alex Lantier, 30 March 2020
Open conflicts are emerging between the EU powers after the collapse of Thursday’s COVID-19 summit in Brussels, as top officials warn of a disintegration of the EU.
China: COVID-19 hospital construction worker’s protest blog goes viral before being deleted
By a correspondent in China, 30 March 2020
The worker described the wage theft and repressive conditions suffered by thousands of construction employees who build hospitals in Wuhan at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
UN warns that COVID-19 pandemic could trigger global food shortage
By Jean Shaoul, 30 March 2020
The hardest hit will be the world’s most vulnerable people, including 300 million children who rely on school meals as their one reliable meal of the day.
New York City nurses protest over PPE, staff shortages as number of cases, deaths continue to climb
By Ali Elhassan and Clara Weiss, 30 March 2020
As the crisis intensifies in New York, front line health care workers are regularly being forced to work with inadequate personal protective equipment, causing them to become ill themselves in ever increasing numbers.
Leading epidemiologist says Detroit is facing a coronavirus “tsunami”
By Kevin Reed, 30 March 2020
The coronavirus pandemic is exploding in Detroit and surrounding communities as Michigan overtook Washington as the state with the fourth most confirmed cases of the infection.
Four deaths over the weekend raise COVID-19 death toll among US autoworkers to nine
By Jessica Goldstein, 30 March 2020
The primary and immediate responsibility for these deaths lies with the Detroit automakers and their lackeys in the United Auto Workers, which conspired to keep workers on the line as long as possible during the pandemic, without even minimal sanitation and safety measures
Instacart workers in US begin nationwide walkout as Whole Foods workers plan sickout Tuesday
By Erik Schreiber, 30 March 2020
Instacart workers vowed not to return to work until the company provides basic protections and improves compensation during the coronavirus pandemic, while Whole Foods workers plan a sickout tomorrow.
Chicago’s largest convention center to become 3,050-bed field hospital
By Kristina Betinis and Jessica Goldstein, 30 March 2020
After critical weeks of inaction, Illinois state and federal agencies are working to create isolation and treatment facilities in anticipation of hospitals reaching capacity.
Trump administration and Mexican government collaborate to deny life-saving care to refugees with HIV
By Joe Williams, 30 March 2020
HIV-positive immigrants seeking asylum in the United States, who face a growing shortage of key medication in Mexico to maintain their compromised immune systems, must now also contend with a growing coronavirus epidemic.
Canada’s doctors issue dire warnings over lack of preparedness for surge of COVID-19 patients
By Omar Ali, 30 March 2020
Were 30 percent of Ontario’s 14 million residents to become infected with the coronavirus, with 5 percent of these requiring intensive care treatment, each of the province’s intensive care doctors would have the impossible task of treating 500 patients per day.
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