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The news channel of the Pantopia Community. We publish articles, short essays, videos and all kinds of media around leftist theory.

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"Courting the mythical disillusioned Republican, corporate-friendly centrist Democrats failed in most parts of the US, such as Theresa Greenfield in Iowa. Data show that progressive candidates performed better in swing districts. All co-sponsors of Medicare for All won their races. While the Democrats lost eight seats in the House and gained only three, the US progressive left now counts more elected representatives in its ranks than at any other moment in modern history. Progressive policies are winning even in states where Trump won, as Florida’s $15 minimum wage shows. State-run health care is seeing overwhelming support even in states with conservative legacies, such as Georgia. Progressive mobilization among communities of color and the young were crucial for Democrat’s successes in Arizona and Georgia.

If Democrats do not avoid these pitfalls, the US could end up with a Trump 2.0. The next likely candidate will not be a hysterical narcissist, but a cool-headed, cynical, efficient populist, like Orbán, Erdogan, or Modi."

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/insights-hungary-beat-trumpism/
"On Nov. 16, the FBI released its annual report on hate crimes in the United States. According to the report, in 2019, hate crimes rose to the highest level in more than a decade. Killings motivated by hate reached their highest annual total since the FBI began reporting bias-motivated incidents in the 1990s.

The rise in bias-motivated murders—51 in 2019—was driven largely by the mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, that targeted Hispanics and killed 22 people.

The report tallies a total of 7,314 incidents involving 8,552 victims, a nearly three percent increase in total incidents from 2018. Roughly 58 percent of all victims were targets of what the Bureau considers “race/ethnicity/ancestry” bias, roughly 20 percent of religious bias, roughly 17 percent of sexual orientation bias and around six percent victims of gender identity, disability or gender bias.

[...] Notably, the data shows a significant increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes, which rose 14 percent from 835 incidents in 2018 to 953 incidents in 2019. Hate crimes targeting Hispanics and Latinos increased almost nine percent from 2018. "

https://www.lawfareblog.com/fbi-releases-2019-hate-crimes-report
"Instead of the usual neoliberal assault on Social Security, the new budget increases public spending and boosts central parts of the welfare system such as child and elderly care, education, and health. The act also brings a sizable stimulus package in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic — and historically high levels of investment in climate action and defending biodiversity."

"On the suggestion of the Red–Green Alliance, the act establishes an “expert working group” to promote democratic ownership and workplace democracy. If successful, this promises to put local communities and working people in charge of their own fate — the first time in decades that there’s an alternative to the privatization juggernaut."

https://jacobinmag.com/2020/12/denmark-democratic-ownership-finance-act-social-democrats-red-green-alliance/
"this is the likely place to look for the third leg of the pandemic slump – a credit crunch and financial crash when companies, particularly small to medium firms, go bust as government support evaporates, sales revenues remain weak and debt and wage costs rise."

"So even if there is no debt tsunami and a financial crash caused by a wave of corporate bankruptcies, the recovery in most capitalist economies is likely to be very weak. The OECD in its latest forecast for the world economy talks about a “brighter future” in 2021 as the COVID vaccines are distributed. But its forecast still expects most economies in the world will not recover the output losses suffered in 2020. By end 2021, only a few economies will have experienced some real GDP growth over the two years since end-2019."

thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2020/12/02/a-credit-crash-ahead/