Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

Jersey of truth?

Where the Ongoing Mass Protests Against Neoliberalism in Chile Came From

In recent months, common people in Chile have taken to the streets not to pursue an ideological project or concrete cause—but as the result of the fragility and insecurity of everyday life, and the injustice of the political system. We have seen this with the Occupy Wall Street movement, in the context of the Arab Spring and the Indignados Movement in Spain. Although more than two months of social mobilizations forced the right-wing billionaire Sebastian Piñera government to implement policies it has previously opposed such as the reform of the constitution and the increase in public social spending, none of the major political forces were able to channel the movement giving rise to questions about the durability of these mobilizations in the long term. The political debates have increasingly focused on questions of institutional reforms and transparency, which although important for framing future political struggles, tend to mask more urgent economic reforms such as greater taxation of wealth and universal access to social services. Such policy changes are indispensable for the reduction of Chile’s exorbitant inequalities.

The explosion

The social explosion started in Santiago on October 18 following clashes between the armed police and students who were evading raised metro fares. Mobilizations quickly spread throughout the country demanding justice and change of the highly unequal economic model, bringing together a range of qualms that are typically discussed in isolation: low pensions, highly unequal healthcare, underfinanced education, political corruption and frequent cases of economic collusion between producers to raise consumer prices. The mobilizations boasted unprecedented social support: surveys conducted at the end of October demonstrated that close to 85% of the public supported the protests and after two months of mobilizations, support for them still stood at around 77%.

Pinochet’s legacy

Chile’s current economic model was established during the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1989) by a group of Chilean economists educated at the University of Chicago under Milton Friedman. The country’s economy is widely considered to be the first attempt in the world at the introduction of a thorough program of neoliberal restructuring—many of the reforms established by Ronald Reagan in the United States and by Margaret Thatcher in the UK were first “tested” in Chile during the second half of the 1970s. The reforms included unprecedented liberalization of trade, the establishment of a new labor code which practically prohibited collective bargaining, financial liberalization, privatization of public companies, diminished per capita social spending, regressive tax reform and privatization of pensions. When it came to education and healthcare, reforms led to the creation of dual public and private systems, making access to education and healthcare the responsibility of individuals through their participation in the market.

The reforms carried out during the dictatorship (as well as the 1982 economic crisis) contributed to increased inequalities and a ballooning poverty rate (in 1987 close to 45% of the population lived under the poverty line), a greater concentration of wealth, a fall in real wages and an increase in unemployment.

Continuity and change

During much of the post-dictatorship period Chile was governed by center-left coalitions (between 1990 and 2009 and then 2014 and 2017, with the first right-wing Sebastian Piñera government in the interim), which focused on addressing extreme poverty and Chile’s rampant inequalities, but within the framework of the economic model inherited from the dictatorship.

Members of the coalitions have frequently pointed to the 1980 Constitution—written by Pinochet’s advisers and approved in a fraudulent plebiscite—as a structural limitation on any major reforms to the economic model. The constitution limits the state’s absolute ability to provide social services such as health, education and pensions, virtually prohibits strikes of public sector employees, obliges workers to join private pension funds, gives the president substantial control over Congress and makes it extremely difficult to reform the armed forces and the police, as well as the electoral and educational systems, because of extremely high quorum required for the approval of the reforms.

The governments of center-left coalitions did manage to decrease poverty and income inequalities. However, access to quality social services remains highly unequal and the relative poverty rate is very high. Chile’s tax system also features regressive characteristics while public social expenditure is tiny, translating into low quality public social services. In addition, the job market is highly segmented and a high share of the population works with temporary contracts or is self-employed in low skilled jobs, meaning their access to social services is also limited.

What’s next?

The recent mobilizations practically paralyzed the Chilean economy, which helped force the right-wing government of billionaire Sebastian Piñera to make concessions, such as paving the way toward the replacement of the 1980 Constitution (a plebiscite on whether a new constitution should be drafted is scheduled for April), scrapping plans to lower corporate taxes and increasing cash transfers to the poorest including modest cash subsidies to employees earning the minimum wage and those receiving the basic pension. The government also announced projects to increase sentences and fines for corporate collusion and fraud.

Social mobilizations have shaken the political system and demonstrated that the injustice of the neoliberal economic order is felt across Chilean society. But it is so far uncertain how the solutions to this broader issue will be achieved—and who will implement them. After the social explosion, the political Left has emerged highly divided and unable to channel social demands. According to a recent poll, although the president has record low approval rates (only 11%), the most popular political figures are associated with the political right and support has dropped for young left-wing politicians who have won elections by promising to transform Chile’s economic model.

Protesters have continued flowing to the streets but their dissociation from political parties and unions makes their calls increasingly appear as individual demands which can be satisfied through occasional cash transfers and reforms. Without a broader political movement, however, these reforms may simply consecrate the unequal status quo.

Bloomberg Wants To Take Your Student Loan Payments Directly Out of Your Paycheck

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg launched his campaign for president by spending hundreds of millions of dollars on advertisements to boost his poll numbers. Yesterday, he released a policy proposal to address the cost of higher education. 

Unsurprisingly, Bloomberg would not cancel student debt or make all public colleges free (as Bernie Sanders proposes). Instead, he would place all student debtors in an income-driven repayment plan so that payments are taken directly from borrowers’ paychecks. 

This plan is a neoliberal technocrat’s wet dream. It would treat student debtors as isolated individuals who must make payments tailored to their specific situations and according to means-tested formulas. 

Bloomberg’s education payment plan would also eliminate the possibility of student debt strikes. This is an outcome that I am particularly concerned about. 

In 2015 I helped organize the first student debt strike in U.S. history as part of the Debt Collective, an organization for debtors that I co-founded. That strike helped win more than $1 billion in debt relief for people who had attended predatory for-profit colleges. 

What does it mean to go on a student debt strike and why is now the time for millions of student debtors across the United States to join together to refuse to pay their loans?

First, it’s important to understand how deep the crisis has become. Today, there are 45 million people are carrying $1.6 trillion in loans. What’s worse, student debt has a disproportionate impact on people of color and women, precisely those groups for whom education was supposed to provide a path to a better life. It turns out that a college degree alone can’t address racial, gender or economic inequality, particularly when education has been turned into a consumer product instead of what it ought to be: a public good. 

While everyone knows that servicers like Navient make a bundle collecting on student loans, what a lot of people don’t realize is that millions of us are already not making payments. The Department of Education reported that, as of March 2019, 20% of student debts were in default, meaning borrowers have not made a payment in 270 days. This trend shows no sign of slowing down. According to the Center for American Progress, about a million new borrowers go into default every year. As the number of people who are forced to debt finance their college degrees has risen, so has the number of those who can’t—or won’t—pay.

But defaults are only part of the story. The federal government has reported that only 36% of people with student debt are making progress repaying their loans. Millions are not even making payments because we are enrolled in deferral, forbearance or in one of the “income driven repayment” plans that allow many low-income people to pay nothing. 

It is time that we call this massive non-repayment what it is: a debt strike. Indeed, that is exactly what the Debt Collective aims to do. Debtors who are not making payments, whether they are in default, forbearance or $0 income-based repayment, can join the campaign as bona-fide debt strikers. By joining together with others in their situation, student debtors can send a message to the federal government, lenders, collectors and especially to those running for president that they have had enough.

Why is now the time for a national student debt strike? First, collective action by debtors brings people together. With an election in full swing and many people divided over the right way forward, one thing is certain: More of us need to get involved. The fact that millions are struggling with educational debt can unite us across our differences and give us a reason to get involved in the political process. I saw this type of shared struggle firsthand five years ago during the strike that I helped to launch with former for-profit college students. People from all walks of life including Democrats, Republicans and those who don’t identify with either party came together to demand justice from the federal government—and they won! Now is the time for student debtors to rise up with one voice.

What do student debtors want? The Debt Collective has long been demanding a student debt jubilee and free public college. A decade ago, such proposals were considered totally outside the mainstream. Today, thanks in part to the Debt Collective’s work, top presidential candidates have signed on to both policies. First, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) proposed cancelling a portion of student debt. Then, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), along with Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Mich.), introduced bills that would cancel all student debt, both federal as well as private loans, and make public college free. 

Such proposals represent a stunning shift in public policy, and they were made possible by ordinary people rising up and refusing to pay. In fact, the Debt Collective has already identified the mechanism by which federal student loans can be cancelled. One of our founders co-wrote a legal brief on the Higher Education Act of 1965, which gives the Department of Education the authority to decide not to collect federal student debt, without going through Congress. 

We are closer than ever to liberating tens of millions from the burden of student loans and to assuring that future generations have a right to a quality education without going into debt.   

The Debt Collective has helped to normalize the idea that student debt can be cancelled. We also showed that it can be done. Indeed, for thousands of former for-profit college students who have been freed from their debt, joining a debt strike had a profoundly positive impact on their lives. 

I attended a public university. But I have much in common with former for-profit college students who believe education is a right and a public good. Regardless of where we went to school—whether it was a private college, a public university, or a predatory for-profit—the fight for debt cancellation, free education, as well as for public goods more broadly, must include all of us. That’s why, this time, in addition to helping to organize the strike, I’ve joined it. I believe it’s time to follow the example of those who already refused to pay and won. More and more people are recognizing the power of collective action by debtors. This is precisely the kind of collective action that Bloomberg’s higher education plan intends to stop in its tracks. And that is why he must—and will—be stopped. 

DMV’s sell your data to insurance companies, data brokers, private investigators, and bulk marketers—“a serious intrusion on the privacy of the public” that needs to stop, EFF Senior Staff Attorney @Adam_D_Schwartz tells @jocefromthenews. https://wjla.com/news/spotlight-on-america/depending-on-where-you-live-your-dmv-may-be-selling-your-personal-information

#Oil and #gas firms ‘have had far worse climate impact than thought’ | #Environment | The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/19/oil-gas-industry-far-worse-climate-impact-than-thought-fossil-fuels-methane

#FossilFuels #GlobalWarming #ClimateChange

The Next Big Grocery Strike Is Knocking on Safeway and Giant’s Door

Last April, more than 30,000 Stop & Shop grocery workers across the Northeast won a raucous 11-day strike against the company, beating back health care and pension cuts. Now, another major grocery strike has become a serious possibility, this time in and around the nation’s capital.

On Wednesday, UFCW Local 400 announced that it will be holding a strike vote early next month for more than 25,000 workers at hundreds of Giant Foods and Safeway stores across DC, Maryland, and Virginia. The union has separate contracts with Giant and Safeway, but both of those contracts have been expired since last October. Negotiations in the ensuing months proved fruitless, and now the union is preparing for what could become the first large strike of 2020. 

Giant is owned by Ahold Delhaize, the same European conglomerate that owns Stop & Shop. Safeway is owned by Albertsons, the national grocery holding company controlled by the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. As is common in private equity deals, Cerberus is reportedly eyeing an IPO for Albertsons—placing great pressure on the company to spiff up its balance sheet, including labor and pension costs. Not coincidentally, those issues are now fueling the contract dispute that has brought these UFCW members to the point of a strike vote. In addition to pension cuts, the union says that the companies are pursuing cuts to health care funding, tight restrictions on benefit access for part time employees, and a plan to keep many new hires locked in a minimum wage salary for years.

First JumpShot and now Hitwise. GDPR is starting to change the marketing world.

"Our primary partner is no longer in a position to provide us with data"

Hitwise used to "help companies track every stage of the consumer’s journey, from search to purchase down to the hour"

Wanted by the DNC: Someone, Anyone to Stop Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders is now the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination. But the DNC is still trying to recruit someone to stop him. First it was Kamala Harris. Then it was Joe Biden. Now it’s Mike Bloomberg.

Wall Street investors react to climate change

Institutional investors are factoring climate risks into their investment decisions.

#Chinese people in #UK targeted with abuse over #coronavirus | World news | The Guardian

More evidence of disgraceful #racist behaviour.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/18/chinese-people-uk-targeted-racist-abuse-over-coronavirus-southampton

#Racism

“I Would Love Medicare for All”: A Nevada Culinary Union Member on Why She Supports Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders is leading in the Nevada polls, but he faces a major obstacle: One of the most powerful actors in state politics has come out swinging against his signature proposal—Medicare for All. 

The 60,000-member Culinary Workers Union announced last Thursday that it will remain neutral in the Democratic primary this year. But in the past week, the union has sent out a series of communications to members warning, both directly and indirectly, that Sanders’ plan threatens its hard-won healthcare benefits. 

One flyer circulated by the union read, “Some politicians promise . . . ‘You will get more money for wages from the company if you give up Culinary Health Insurance.’ These politicians have never sat at our bargaining table ... We will not hand over our healthcare for promises.”

Sanders’ opponents have seized on the opening to double down on arguments for preserving private health insurance—a position the union shares. 

“There are 14 million union workers in America who have fought hard for strong, employer-provided health benefits,” tweeted former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg. “Medicare for All Who Want It protects their plans and union members' freedom to choose the coverage that's best for them.”

Billionaire Tom Steyer, meanwhile, has started airing an ad in Nevada telling voters that “unions don’t like” Sanders’ healthcare plan. 

Known nationally as a standard-bearer for militant workplace organizing, the Culinary Union hasn’t just won healthcare benefits—it runs its own 24-hour healthcare center and pharmacy, exclusively for members.

But some members are disillusioned that the union is flexing its muscle against a healthcare policy they believe could deliver a windfall to unions by freeing them to focus on other issues at the bargaining table. 

In These Times spoke to Marcie Wells, a shop steward with Culinary Workers 226 who has worked at Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville inside the Flamingo Hotel and Casino for 16 years. Wells discussed Medicare for All, the union’s endorsement decision and her support for Bernie Sanders. 

There was a lot of speculation as to whether the union might still endorse Joe Biden. What was your reaction to the decision not to endorse anyone in the primary? 

[Union leaders] said early on that they were not sure if they were going to endorse. When they called this press conference, everyone expected that they were going to go ahead and endorse Biden, because they already said they weren’t endorsing. So why would you put together all that just to repeat yourself? 

The literature they put out the night before was not so subtle. It had the words “one, two, three,” and three candidates in order [Editor’s note: Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar are listed first on the flyer]. Everyone knows in the caucus, you rank your top three choices. But they’re not officially endorsing. 

I think it sends mixed signals, and it’s disappointing that they’re not being straightforward. 

Did the union poll members about the endorsement?

No, they didn’t. Typically, I get called for those types of things, because I’m a shop steward. 

Talking one-on-one, a lot of members want Bernie. But when we’re in the setting of citywide meetings or things that are exclusive to shop stewards, there’s a clear message that, “the person who wants Medicare for All wants to take away our hard work.” 

It’s disappointing as a progressive.

At a town hall the union held with Sanders in December, some members heckled over the issue of healthcare. Can you describe what you saw happen?

At this type of event, all the questions are planned. When Bernie started talking about healthcare, almost on cue, a group started chanting, “Union healthcare! Union healthcare!” 

When a speaker said, “I don’t want to give up my insurance,” I yelled back, “I do!” 

But aside from what felt like a staged protest, Bernie got a great reception, people were cheering. I mean, he’s the frickin’ union guy. 

The culinary union has the reputation of having some of the best healthcare in Las Vegas. How well does it work for you?

Relatively speaking, it is some of the best. But it doesn’t work well for me, because I have chronic illness. I have ankylosing spondylitis and bilateral uveitis that’s recurring. I’ve had this condition since high school, and I’ve been misdiagnosed, delayed diagnosed, not believed as a Black woman, told that I was exaggerating my symptoms. 

Most recently, my eyes were so inflamed that my eye doctor called a rheumatologist in the Culinary network, and she wasn’t going to be able to see me for 7 months. I had to do a GoFundMe to pay for a doctor outside of my network so I could not go blind. 

I don’t think the private insurance market is good for people with chronic illnesses, and I think it’s pretty ableist to pretend that it is. If I’m waiting 8 months to see a specialist but I’m having symptoms throughout that time, nine times out of 10 I’m going to get fired for missing work. And to even start getting that insurance in the first place, you have to work 360 hours within a certain time frame. 

There’s also a copay every time I go to a specialist. More likely than not, I’ll skip something most months. I would love Medicare for All right about now. 

Why do you think the union has come out so strongly against Medicare for All?

I think there’s a conflict of interest there. We have a labor union, and a political lobby with a PAC, and a healthcare business, all wrapped up in one. 

They built the Culinary Health Center, so that’s theirs. Word on the street is they’ve already paid for the parcel of land to build the next one. So they’re in the business now—they’re the establishment to an extent. So I think capitalism is the reason that they’re coming out against Medicare for All, and it’s just really troubling. 

Nevada’s uninsured rate is 14%, and there are big racial disparities in who doesn’t have insurance—in Nevada it’s indigenous people, Black people, Latino people. Medicare for All is a racial justice issue. For the union to have an 80% demographic of [people of color] and be pulling this, it’s just unbelievable. I’m disgusted. 

Do you think the messaging against Medicare for All will impact how members vote in the primary?

That’s what’s shitty about this whole thing. Some of these people are going to vote against their best interest because they trusted the Culinary Union.

But a lot of members do want Bernie. The younger members, the members whose young kids are getting them involved. I think I flipped a dishwasher the other day. So we’re all doing our best, but it’s just disheartening that we’re fighting against both the GOP and the union.

Oversight of fishing vessels lacking, new analysis shows

Policies regulating fishing in international waters do not sufficiently protect officials who monitor illegal fishing, the prohibited dumping of equipment, or human trafficking or other human rights abuses, finds a new analysis by a team of environmental researchers.

Warming oceans are getting louder

One of the ocean's loudest creatures is smaller than you'd expect -- and will get even louder and more troublesome to humans and sea life as the ocean warms, according to new research.

"[F]ace recognition doesn’t just mean there’s a small possibility that you could be mistaken for a suspect....it also means that your government doesn’t trust you."

EFF policy analyst @mguariglia on the ethical arguments for banning face recognition:
https://slate.com/technology/2020/02/rogues-gallery-facial-recognition-technology-history.html

South American volcano showing early warning signs of 'potential collapse'

One of South America's most prominent volcanoes is producing early warning signals of a potential collapse, new research has shown.

Warming, acidic oceans may nearly eliminate coral reef habitats by 2100

Rising sea surface temperatures and acidic waters could eliminate nearly all existing coral reef habitats by 2100, suggesting restoration projects in these areas will likely meet serious challenges, according to new research.

#Kickstarter workers have officially unionized!

https://twitter.com/ksr_united/status/1229798975693299712
ht to @alyaza