- focusing on a handful of issues that immediately affect the day-to-day lives of working people — with a particular emphasis on the question of affordable housing.
- Yet rather than just use their platform to highlight a specific set of issues, KPĂ– politicians in both Styria and Salzburg practice a form of politics that emphasizes face-to-face contact with constituents. To this end, they hold regular office hours where they point people toward relevant social services, assist them with bureaucratic matters such as filling out application forms for welfare programs and even provide those in financial emergencies with direct aid from a fund to which all KPĂ– elected officials donate a portion of their monthly salaries. Based on this practice, the KPĂ– managed an unprecedented jump from 0.4 percent of the vote in the 2018 Salzburg state parliament election to 11.7 percent in 2023. In the capital, the Communists even earned 21.5 percent, finishing behind only the Ă–VP.
Yet entirely in keeping with their formula for success in recent years, the Communists did not let their opponents’ rhetorical mudslinging distract them from the actual issues. With impressive message discipline, they continued to concentrate on demands such as a rent cap and increased public housing — and thereby succeeded in controlling the political discourse. With the pending runoff election for the city’s new mayor, it appears this dynamic will continue for another two weeks.
https://jacobin.com/2024/03/austria-salzburg-communists-far-right-election/
- Yet rather than just use their platform to highlight a specific set of issues, KPĂ– politicians in both Styria and Salzburg practice a form of politics that emphasizes face-to-face contact with constituents. To this end, they hold regular office hours where they point people toward relevant social services, assist them with bureaucratic matters such as filling out application forms for welfare programs and even provide those in financial emergencies with direct aid from a fund to which all KPĂ– elected officials donate a portion of their monthly salaries. Based on this practice, the KPĂ– managed an unprecedented jump from 0.4 percent of the vote in the 2018 Salzburg state parliament election to 11.7 percent in 2023. In the capital, the Communists even earned 21.5 percent, finishing behind only the Ă–VP.
Yet entirely in keeping with their formula for success in recent years, the Communists did not let their opponents’ rhetorical mudslinging distract them from the actual issues. With impressive message discipline, they continued to concentrate on demands such as a rent cap and increased public housing — and thereby succeeded in controlling the political discourse. With the pending runoff election for the city’s new mayor, it appears this dynamic will continue for another two weeks.
https://jacobin.com/2024/03/austria-salzburg-communists-far-right-election/
Jacobin
Austria’s Communists Are Curbing the Far Right’s Rise
Austria’s Communist Party just increased its vote by over 20% in the Salzburg city elections — and it now has a shot at winning the mayor’s office. It shows that a party that credibly fights for working people’s interests can do well anywhere.
Pantopia Reading Nook 📰🚩 pinned «- focusing on a handful of issues that immediately affect the day-to-day lives of working people — with a particular emphasis on the question of affordable housing. - Yet rather than just use their platform to highlight a specific set of issues, KPÖ politicians…»
Israeli forces in Gaza have created invisible “kill zones” near their operations in Gaza where soldiers are under orders to fire on anyone who is not Israeli military personnel, according to an explosive new report in Haaretz, a prominent Israeli newspaper.
“This kind of indiscriminate killing is illegal and falls far short of any gold standard for civilian harm,” argued Brianna Rosen, a senior fellow at Just Security.
The news casts significant doubt on Israel’s accounting of the number of Hamas militants killed during its operations in Gaza. Israel claims that more than one in four of the over 32,000 Gazans killed since October were members of Hamas, but the rules for making such a designation are loose. “In practice, a terrorist is anyone the IDF has killed in the areas in which its forces operate,” a reserve officer who served in Gaza told Haaretz.
“When a person's status is in doubt, international humanitarian law requires combatants to presume that that person is a civilian,” Ramming Chappell told RS. “This new reporting from Haaretz seems to confirm yet again that the Israeli military is not taking sufficient measures to protect civilians.”
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/us-weapons-israel-2667646466/
“This kind of indiscriminate killing is illegal and falls far short of any gold standard for civilian harm,” argued Brianna Rosen, a senior fellow at Just Security.
The news casts significant doubt on Israel’s accounting of the number of Hamas militants killed during its operations in Gaza. Israel claims that more than one in four of the over 32,000 Gazans killed since October were members of Hamas, but the rules for making such a designation are loose. “In practice, a terrorist is anyone the IDF has killed in the areas in which its forces operate,” a reserve officer who served in Gaza told Haaretz.
“When a person's status is in doubt, international humanitarian law requires combatants to presume that that person is a civilian,” Ramming Chappell told RS. “This new reporting from Haaretz seems to confirm yet again that the Israeli military is not taking sufficient measures to protect civilians.”
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/us-weapons-israel-2667646466/
Responsible Statecraft
US ships Israel more bombs amid 'kill zone' revelations
A bombshell new report should force Biden to reassess Israel’s human rights compliance, experts say
lot of carbon offset projects are based in economically developing countries where governments can make money from efforts to plant trees that trap and store carbon dioxide. A carbon credit represents a metric ton of CO2 sequestered, and companies can then claim those credits as evidence that they have canceled out some of their own pollution.
However, a steady stream of investigations and research has found that many of those credits don’t represent real emissions reductions at all. Oftentimes, projects overestimate the amount of carbon dioxide they can offset. Or trees might not survive long enough to keep CO2 from building up in the atmosphere and heating the planet. In other instances, tree farms might replace native vegetation, doing more ecological harm than good and negatively impacting the livelihoods of communities that depend on those resources.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/15/24130886/climate-change-corporate-watchdog-sbti-carbon-offsets
However, a steady stream of investigations and research has found that many of those credits don’t represent real emissions reductions at all. Oftentimes, projects overestimate the amount of carbon dioxide they can offset. Or trees might not survive long enough to keep CO2 from building up in the atmosphere and heating the planet. In other instances, tree farms might replace native vegetation, doing more ecological harm than good and negatively impacting the livelihoods of communities that depend on those resources.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/15/24130886/climate-change-corporate-watchdog-sbti-carbon-offsets
The Verge
Is a watchdog for corporate climate commitments caving to industry?
Will it allow companies to offset their supply chain emissions?
But the true significance of the attack lies not in its desire to empty northern Gaza’s largest civilian refuge, which houses 30,000 people, but in foiling Faiq Mabhouh’s pivotal role in coordinating the delivery of humanitarian aid to starving civilians in Gaza while restoring a semblance of social order to the north.
In other words, the attack on al-Shifa was an assassination operation aimed at breaking down civil order in northern Gaza. It aimed to facilitate Israel’s genocidal project and pave the way for total control over the area without resistance.
The unfolding events of the past few days expose Israel’s intentions of engineering famine and contributing to social breakdown. It reminds us that this is not only a war against Gaza’s resistance but also against its people.
https://mondoweiss.net/2024/03/the-real-reason-israel-stormed-al-shifa-hospital-yet-again/
In other words, the attack on al-Shifa was an assassination operation aimed at breaking down civil order in northern Gaza. It aimed to facilitate Israel’s genocidal project and pave the way for total control over the area without resistance.
The unfolding events of the past few days expose Israel’s intentions of engineering famine and contributing to social breakdown. It reminds us that this is not only a war against Gaza’s resistance but also against its people.
https://mondoweiss.net/2024/03/the-real-reason-israel-stormed-al-shifa-hospital-yet-again/
Mondoweiss
The real reason Israel stormed al-Shifa Hospital yet again
Israel’s latest attack on al-Shifa Hospital and the successful delivery of food aid to northern Gaza are connected. Here’s how.
The forthcoming general election is once again likely to be dominated by claims about a housing shortage and a dire need to build more homes. Housebuilding is an article of faith across the political spectrum.
The evidence, however, does not support this thinking. Quite the reverse. Over the last 25 years, there has not just been a constant surplus of homes per household, but the ratio has been modestly growing while our living situations have been getting so much worse. [...] What has changed for the worse is not the amount of housing per household, but its cost. And cost, in turn, has a great deal to do with the landlordism that is at the heart of the present crisis.
We now find ourselves in a situation where one in every 21 adults in the UK is a landlord. We have four times as many landlords as teachers. As a consequence, virtually everyone struggles to afford a home that meets their needs despite a net gain in housing stock.
Our recent history shows us that landlord abolition, while maintaining adequate levels of housing stock, is an entirely realistic ambition.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/mar/19/end-of-landlords-surprisingly-simple-solution-to-uk-housing-crisis
The evidence, however, does not support this thinking. Quite the reverse. Over the last 25 years, there has not just been a constant surplus of homes per household, but the ratio has been modestly growing while our living situations have been getting so much worse. [...] What has changed for the worse is not the amount of housing per household, but its cost. And cost, in turn, has a great deal to do with the landlordism that is at the heart of the present crisis.
We now find ourselves in a situation where one in every 21 adults in the UK is a landlord. We have four times as many landlords as teachers. As a consequence, virtually everyone struggles to afford a home that meets their needs despite a net gain in housing stock.
Our recent history shows us that landlord abolition, while maintaining adequate levels of housing stock, is an entirely realistic ambition.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/mar/19/end-of-landlords-surprisingly-simple-solution-to-uk-housing-crisis
the Guardian
The end of landlords: the surprisingly simple solution to the UK housing crisis
Mass-scale housebuilding isn’t necessary – there is already enough housing stock. But we need to learn the wisdom of the last century when it comes to landlordism
The Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) system, set up 20 years ago, provides the most authoritative assessments of humanitarian crises. Its figures for Gaza are the worst ever by any metric. It estimates that 677,000 people, or 32% of all Gazans, are in “catastrophic” conditions today and a further 41% are in “emergency” conditions. It expects fully half of Gazans, more than 1 million people, to be in “catastrophe” or “famine” within weeks.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/21/we-are-about-to-witness-the-most-intense-famine-since-world-war-ii-in-gaza
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/21/we-are-about-to-witness-the-most-intense-famine-since-world-war-ii-in-gaza
the Guardian
We are about to witness in Gaza the most intense famine since the second world war | Alex de Waal
Gaza’s health crisis has its own dreadful momentum. Even if the shooting ends today and the aid trucks begin to roll, the dying will carry on for some time
What if we rethought our institutions of public safety from the ground up, and the operative concept was “safety” rather than “enforcement”? What keeps people safe? Getting guns out of their hands keeps them safe. Violence interrupters can keep them safe. Having good free mental healthcare keeps them safe. Having communities with good schools, good childcare, good jobs, good housing, and good universities and hospitals keeps them safe. As Illinois State Senator Robert Peters told me:
We know what safety looks like. If you live in the North Shore of Chicago, where there’s a lot of money, you’ve got a good school. You’ve got a good job. You’ve got good public transportation. You have food on your table. You have good housing. That is public safety.
We want to be secure. We want to know that we’re going to be safe. We want to know that we will be fed. We want to know that we will be housed. We want to know that we won’t be destitute in old age. There’s nothing wrong with that. Why should we let the Right have that concept and that emotional terrain? It’s a powerful emotional terrain
https://www.currentaffairs.org/2024/02/more-firefighters-fewer-cops/
We know what safety looks like. If you live in the North Shore of Chicago, where there’s a lot of money, you’ve got a good school. You’ve got a good job. You’ve got good public transportation. You have food on your table. You have good housing. That is public safety.
We want to be secure. We want to know that we’re going to be safe. We want to know that we will be fed. We want to know that we will be housed. We want to know that we won’t be destitute in old age. There’s nothing wrong with that. Why should we let the Right have that concept and that emotional terrain? It’s a powerful emotional terrain
https://www.currentaffairs.org/2024/02/more-firefighters-fewer-cops/
Current Affairs
More Firefighters, Fewer Cops
If we want to keep people safe, we need institutions more like the fire department and less like the police department.
"There’s no reason that gig workers who are facing algorithmic wage discrimination couldn’t install a counter-app that co-ordinated among all the Uber drivers to reject all jobs unless they reach a certain pay threshold. No reason except felony contempt of business model, the threat that the toolsmiths who built that counter-app would go broke or land in prison, for violating DMCA 1201, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, trademark, copyright, patent, contract, trade secrecy, nondisclosure and noncompete or, in other words, “IP law”.
IP isn’t just short for intellectual property. It’s a euphemism for “a law that lets me reach beyond the walls of my company and control the conduct of my critics, competitors and customers”. And “app” is just a euphemism for “a web page wrapped in enough IP to make it a felony to mod it, to protect the labour, consumer and privacy rights of its user”."
https://www.ft.com/content/6fb1602d-a08b-4a8c-bac0-047b7d64aba5
IP isn’t just short for intellectual property. It’s a euphemism for “a law that lets me reach beyond the walls of my company and control the conduct of my critics, competitors and customers”. And “app” is just a euphemism for “a web page wrapped in enough IP to make it a felony to mod it, to protect the labour, consumer and privacy rights of its user”."
https://www.ft.com/content/6fb1602d-a08b-4a8c-bac0-047b7d64aba5