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Support for Luigi Mangione Reflects Working Class Weariness of Top-Down Violence

Original article by Megan Thiele Strong republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

A woman named Mary holds a sign in support of Luigi Mangione outside the Criminal Court building in lower Manhattan as Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the United Healthcare CEO killing, waived extradition to New York on December 19, 2024. (Photo: Bryan R. Smith/AFP via Getty Images)

To honor Brian Thompson, and to ensure his death is not in vain, we can engage in the needed conversation about the extreme depravity of our healthcare system which his death revitalized.

Early this month Luigi Mangione, 26, University of Pennsylvania graduate, allegedly gunned down CEO of UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, 50. The public response has been varied, with many supporting Mangione. Some fear the positive regard of Mangione is indicative of a shift into a new era where violence is glorified and humanity is lost. As a sociology professor who teaches Poverty, Wealth, and Privilege, I disagree. This failure of subsets of the public to broadly denounce the actions of Mangione does not herald a cultural shift in appreciation of violence.

Instead this unusual display of class consciousness reflects two things. First, the reaction is due to the shift in who bore the cost of violence. Class under-resourced; Black, Indigenous, Latinx and people of color; women; and queer and trans people are the normal recipients of societal violence. Wealthy, cishet, white men in positions of power are not. Wealthy, white communities are conditioned to expect protection, and the revocation of that sheltering is rare.

Second, the working classes are weary from surviving an unnecessarily violent and unjust society. We live amid staggering class, race, and gender-based stratification and life and death stakes everyday. The ruling class profits from our blood, sweat, and tears. And yet, when one of the elite passes, they want us to give them more. They ask us to give them our love. Yet, they remain calloused to our pain and ignore our pleas for fairness.

We, as a community, might ask, how are the elite and their apologists not appalled by a harm-rich system that normalizes the idea that humans are only as valuable as their economic worth?

We all deserve the same sanctity of life given to wealthy insiders. However, when it comes to many of our social systems, such as healthcare, respect and care are not institutionalized; instead, harm is normalized. We see “out-sized returns” to private equity investors.

Recently, a magician performed at a kid’s birthday party. Magic tricks work through deception. A magician distracts the audience to hide what else they are doing. Similar dynamics play out in our public life. The wealth gap continues to grow, yet we voted in a billionaire to be president. The public is shamed for failing to appropriately sympathize with Brian Thompson and his family, yet everyday targeted attacks and systemic neglect accumulate to harm and render disposable historically and strategically marginalized communities, such as class under-resourced, BIPOC, women, and trans and queer people.

Let us stop this charade. Our healthcare system is not pro-health. The World Health Organization (WHO) names universal healthcare as a worldwide goal. The United States has not complied. Most Americans are insured through private companies. Many Americans struggle to pay for healthcare, they postpone receiving care, and are in medical debt. The healthcare system has practices, such as using AI to deny a high number of healthcare claims, which put profits over people. There is something deeply inhumane and harmful about this disregard for health in a healthcare system. It may not be illegal, but it is savage.

The elite and their apologists ask, “How could they not be appalled by Thompson’s murder?” Instead we, as a community, might ask, how are the elite and their apologists not appalled by a harm-rich system that normalizes the idea that humans are only as valuable as their economic worth? Decades ago, Larry Summers, currently on the board of directors of OpenAI, famously wrote that people who produce less are more expendable. This classist ideology pervades our healthcare system.

To honor Brian Thompson, and to ensure his death is not in vain, we can engage in the needed conversation about the extreme depravity of our healthcare system which his death revitalized. A path forward that reforms a calloused healthcare system can provide benefits to all of us. Those among us who deeply mourn Brian’s death can take solace that it can impart a legacy of positive, sustainable, and overdue social change. Those among us who view Mangione’s action as predictable, if not understandable, can appreciate the same reform.

To be sure, there are people who claim that human fallibility is a predestined curse that we cannot overcome, that we are born sinners and that we cannot do better than prioritize greed over care of each other, even within our healthcare system. There will be those of us who feel that disproportionate wealth is a triumph and that our healthcare should reflect the position we hold in our socioeconomic system. However, 73 countries have universal healthcare, including China, Russia, Mexico and Canada. Us Americans are also worthy.

Wealthy and powerful people are the most protected against societal harms, and they also have disproportionate control over them. We need the CEOs, billionaires, and other power elites to do better. The system does not have a great way to hold those in charge accountable for bad behavior. Can they figure out a way to hold themselves accountable? Can they reorganize to prioritize care, a virtue, over greed, a vice, in our healthcare system? If they are immune to this self-correcting recovery, we need to organize around collective action, such as voting, for example for single-payer healthcare, because our lives depend on it. We don’t want anyone dying in the street. We also don’t want anyone dying or in pain due to a broken so-called healthcare system.

Original article by Megan Thiele Strong republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Continue ReadingSupport for Luigi Mangione Reflects Working Class Weariness of Top-Down Violence

Trump Is Turning the White House Into a Billionaire Time-Share

Original article by Bob Burnett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk talk ringside during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden on November 16, 2024 in New York City. (Photo: Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)

It appears that Trump has entered into a power-sharing agreement with Musk and several other wealthy individuals including Vivek Ramaswamy, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and David Sacks.

Democracy decays into oligarchy when a few individuals accumulate most of the political power.

The reelection of Donald Trump has accelerated the decline of the United States into oligarchy. Trump has had billionaire donors for each of his presidential campaigns, but in 2024 the role of these wealthy donors expanded. Donors such as Elon Musk made gigantic contributions to Trump’s campaign; in return for this they are taking an active role in the Trump White House. Perhaps, this time around, Trump turned the oval office into a time-share.

On December 19, Elon Musk led the call for House Republicans to repudiate a continuing resolution they had just negotiated to keep the federal government running through the end of the year. Perhaps Musk’s charter includes coordination with Congress.

When Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy speak of increasing government efficiency, they usually start with services for the unfortunate.

It appears that Trump has entered into a power-sharing agreement with Musk and several other wealthy individuals including Vivek Ramaswamy, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and David Sacks. However this arrangement works, it’s likely that the Trump administration will cater to billionaires—Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) observed that the 13 billionaires chosen by Trump to serve in his administration have a combined wealth of at least $383 billion.

What do these billionaires want? The oligarchs and billionaires want lower taxes and reduced government regulations. Of course, each billionaire has a particular set of interests; for example, David Sacks, Trump’s “AI and crypto czar,” is a venture capitalist with heavy investment in AI and crypto. Sadly. most of the oligarchs are climate-change deniers.

The oligarchs want more wealth. Robert Reich observes:

Since [1980], the median wage of the bottom 90% has stagnated. The share of the nation’s wealth owned by the richest 400 Americans has quadrupled (from less than 1% to 3.5%) while the share owned by the entire bottom half of America has dropped to 1.3%… The richest 1% of Americans now has more wealth than the bottom 90% combined.

The oligarchs share a fiscally conservative agenda. They intend to shrink the size of the federal government. The particulars vary but the oligarchs are not concerned with the size of the defense budget; their cost-cutting focus is on programs that service the poor and disadvantaged—such as Medicaid. When Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy speak of increasing government efficiency, they usually start with services for the unfortunate.

What are the practical consequences of this shift to oligarchy? It’s unsettling to be in a political situation where we do not understand who is in charge at the White House. We don’t know how power-sharing will work. The relationship between Trump and Congress has been fraught. The shift to oligarchy will make this relationship even more difficult.

Will the oligarchs fix the economy? Trump was elected because he promised to fix the economy. Most Americans believed he would drive down inflation; they thought Trump would reduce the cost of food, housing, and household and medical expenses. Since November 5, Trump has given no indication of how he plans to do this. Perhaps he has lost interest.

During the presidential campaign, Trump said his inflation-fighting agenda would rely upon tariffs, but it’s likely that the oligarchs will influence how Trump’s tariff strategy plays out. Musk has huge business interests in China, and it’s unlikely that he would support a tariff policy that would hurt his relationships with the country.

Trump has appointed a “czar” for immigration (Tom Homan), energy (Doug Burgum), and AI & Crypto (Sacks). Trump has not appointed a czar for inflation. With much fanfare, Trump has appointed a commission on “government efficiency;” they’ve already started meeting. Trump has not appointed to a commission to curb inflation.

After January 20, Trump will own inflation and the economy. Trump’s immigration “purge” will drive up the cost of food. Trump’s tariffs will drive up the cost of household expenses.

Trump’s trying to ignore inflation. Or turn it over to an oligarch co-president. Stay tuned.

Original article by Bob Burnett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Continue ReadingTrump Is Turning the White House Into a Billionaire Time-Share

Morning Star Editorial: The West won’t rein in Israel, because its savagery is ours

Original article republished from https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/west-wont-rein-israel-because-its-savagery-ours

Relatives and friends mourn over the bodies of five Palestinian journalists who were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, December 26, 2024

ISRAEL bombing the airport in Yemen’s capital Sana’a when World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was actually at it shows a brazen contempt for the United Nations.

It is not new. Israel has expressed this contempt repeatedly. Most dramatically when its ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan used a miniature shredder to shred the UN Charter after the general assembly voted in favour of giving Palestine full membership in May.

But it is seen too in the bombardment of UN peacekeepers in Lebanon. In the evidence-free assertion that the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA harbours Hamas fighters and subsequent decree banning the agency from operating in Israel-controlled territory — meaning the whole of Palestine.

Benjamin Netanyahu accuses the United Nations of intrinsic hostility to Israel, calling it an “anti-Israel flat Earth society” which has “an automatic majority willing to demonise the Jewish state.”

The siege mentality is deliberate: only by presenting this fortress state, so extravagantly armed by its Washington sponsors that it can extend its bombing campaigns across Lebanon, Syria and Yemen after over a year of carpet-bombing Gaza, as under constant existential menace can he justify its frenetic aggression.

Enforcing this narrative is why Israel has become more authoritarian in step with its increasing belligerence, codifying institutional racism through measures like the Nation-State Law and pending legislation that could bar parties representing Palestinian citizens of Israel (and the Communist Party of Israel to boot) from standing in elections.

As its suspended communist MP Ofer Cassif warns, there is no positive outcome possible from this vicious cycle: an unendable, unwinnable war against the world will bring Israelis neither security nor peace.

Israel is a rogue state, a danger to itself and others, but it will not be stopped by other rogue states. Just as the agony of the Palestinians continues due to the US policy of unlimited support for Israel, we cannot expect the so-called “free world” to step in on Yemen’s behalf.

Least of all Britain. When evidence of Saudi Arabia deliberately bombing Yemeni schools and hospitals became undeniable, even the United States paused arms sales — but Britain did not.

Expecting our government to be persuaded or even shamed into upholding international law is a fool’s errand.

There is much to criticise in the United Nations: its undemocratic structure, the way the veto power can be wielded to shield perpetrators of war crimes.

Even so, since the beginning of the 21st century a clear division has emerged between the US-led West, awarding itself the right to violate international law by invading, bombing and assassinating whoever it likes, and emerging powers which support the United Nations — a creation of the Allied victory over fascism, intended to prevent the lawless aggression that characterised Nazi Germany and its allies.

China brokered peace in Yemen through a rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran. China continually makes the case too for UN recognition of a Palestinian state, and hosted talks between 14 Palestinian factions last year in an attempt to forge a united Palestinian leadership capable of taking that project forward.

China, like most of the global South, is not happy with an international system designed in Western capitals 80 years ago, and calls for a more equitable international order. Yet China, unlike the Western founders of that system, is acting to uphold its principles and prevent the world descending into the kind of “might is right” violence the UN was supposed to stop.

We need to recognise how the world looks from outside the West. The “rules-based international order” is not threatened by emerging powers, but by the US-led imperialist camp. We don’t rein in Israel, because its violence is ours.

This is why solidarity with Palestine means fighting for peace and disarmament in Britain, and resisting the constant militarist propaganda pretending our country is under threat.

Original article republished from https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/west-wont-rein-israel-because-its-savagery-ours

Continue ReadingMorning Star Editorial: The West won’t rein in Israel, because its savagery is ours

US Doctor Warns of ‘End of Humanity’ in Northern Gaza as Israel Assails Hospitals

Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital was treated by colleagues for injuries caused by an Israeli strike on the medical compound in northern Gaza on November 23, 2024. (Photo: AFP via Getty Images)

The comments from emergency physician Mimi Syed came as the Israeli military forcibly evacuated Kamal Adwan Hospital, endangering patients and medical workers.

An American emergency and trauma physician currently working in Gaza warned Friday that the Israeli military’s evacuation order at a barely functioning hospital in the northern part of the enclave means “the end of humanity” there, as the dozens of patients receiving treatment at the besieged facility have nowhere safe to go and the healthcare system in the region has collapsed.

Mimi Syed, who is based in Olympia, Washington and is on her second stint in Gaza since Israel’s latest assault began last year, told Al Jazeera that she “can totally imagine deaths taking place as a result” of Israel’s evacuation order at Kamal Adwan Hospital, given that patients who are reliant on electrical appliances cannot easily be transported.

Syed’s comments came as the head of Gaza’s health ministry said he has lost contact with Kamal Adwan, one of several northern Gaza hospitals that Israeli forces have encircled and attacked in recent weeks.

Citing a nurse and a journalist inside Kamal Adwan, CNN reported Friday that everyone inside the facility has “been ordered to leave the hospital and go to the yard of the compound.”

“Earlier on Friday, a video shared by nurse Walid Al Budi, who is also inside the hospital, showed a fire burning in the archive department of the hospital,” the outlet added. “Heavy gunfire can be heard in the background.”

Video footage posted to social media by Quds News shows patients and medical personnel walking south following the evacuation order at Kamal Adwan:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1872593797408059807

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The forced evacuation came hours after an Israeli airstrike near Kamal Adwan killed dozens of people, including medical workers.

Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan, wrote in a social media post early Friday that Israeli forces are “burning all the operating departments in the hospital while we are still here.”

“The army evacuated the entire medical staff and the displaced people and arrested a number of the medical staff,” he added. “There are a large number of injuries among the medical staff.”

In an interview released earlier this week, Syed issued an “urgent plea for help,” saying Israel’s assault on Gaza’s overwhelmed and underresourced hospitals and other civilian infrastructure “needs to stop.”

“I’m seeing civilian casualties on a regular basis,” said Syed. “Camps and tents are being struck with airstrikes routinely. We’re seeing children with traumatic amputations shrapnel injuries, open skull wounds with brain matter out.”

“We’re seeing so many children with kidney failure and gastritis that it’s leading to significant dehydration,” Syed added. “All of this is unnecessary.”

Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Continue ReadingUS Doctor Warns of ‘End of Humanity’ in Northern Gaza as Israel Assails Hospitals

Israel threatens all-out war on Yemen

Original article by Aseel Saleh republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Protesters in the million man march in Yemen on December 27. Photo: Screenshot

Israel has escalated its attacks against Yemen, most recently launching airstrikes on civilian infrastructure at Sanaa Airport which almost resulted in the death of the WHO Director.

The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) intensified aerial attacks on Yemen in the last several days, as Ansar Allah-led Yemeni Armed Forces continued operations against Israel in retaliation for the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza, and against Israel’s allies who attempt to bypass the blockade imposed by Ansar Allah of Israel.

On Thursday, December 26, Israeli warplanes targeted civilian facilities of Yemen’s Sanaa International Airport, including the airports’ main runway, control tower, and an aircraft, according to the Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post.

At least three people were killed in the assault and 16 others injured including the assistant to the captain of a United Nations’ plane. The plane had landed in Sanaa International Airport to transport the Director-General of World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and the UN resident coordinator in Yemen, Julian Harnis, shortly before the airstrike was launched.

The Yemeni Foreign Minister Jamal Amer considered the timing of the attack as a “direct affront and a mockery of the UN”, particularly as the co-pilot of the UN aircraft was injured.

For his part Ghebreyesus issued a statement on Thursday, explaining the circumstances of the airstrike on the airport, and confirming his presence along with other WHO and UN colleagues there at the time of the attack.

“As we were about to board our flight from Sanaa, about three hours ago (around 5 pm local time), the airport came under aerial bombardment. One of our plane’s crew members was injured. At least two people were reported killed at the airport,” the statement reads.

“The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge — just a few meters from where we were — and the runway were damaged. We will need to wait for the damage to the airport to be repaired before we can leave,” the statement continues.

Israeli fighter jets also targeted other sites in Hodeidah governorate in western Yemen including Hezyaz and Ras Kanatib power stations, and military infrastructure located in the ports of Hodeidah, according to IOF.

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his deep concern “about the risk of further escalation and has urged all parties to cease military actions and exercise restraint.” Guterres also warned “that airstrikes on Red Sea ports and Sanaa airport pose grave risks to humanitarian operations at a time when millions of people are in need of life-saving assistance.”

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) strongly condemned the aggression on Yemen, which it said “proves the Zionist-Western alliance’s bankruptcy in facing Yemen’s resistance.” Meanwhile, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) called the onslaught “a flagrant violation of sovereignty and acts of terrorism”.

Israel claimed that it escalated its aggression on Yemen after the Yemeni Armed Forces stepped up its missile and drone attack on Israel during the past few weeks. Speaking to local media on Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to launch an open war on Yemen. “We’re just getting started with them,” Netanyahu said. “We won’t allow them [to attack Israel] these days, today and any other day. We will strike them to the bitter end until they learn. As I said, Hamas learned, Hezbollah learned, and Syria learned. The Houthis will learn too,” he added.

However, the Yemeni Armed Forces defied Netanyahu’s threats by carrying out three significant military operations against the Zionist entity on Friday, December 27. The operations included targeting Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv with a hypersonic missile, striking a military site in Jaffa with a drone, and the interception of a ship in the Arabian Sea after it violated the blockade imposed on Israeli ports.

The spokesperson of the Yemeni Armed Forces Brigadier General Yahya Sare’e said in a televised statement on Friday, that these operations were carried out as part of the fifth phase of support for Gaza, and in response to Israeli aggression in Yemen, including recent airstrikes on civilian infrastructure in Sanaa and Hodeidah. Saree further emphasized that Israel’s aggression on his country “will only increase the resolve and determination of the great Yemeni people to continue supporting the Palestinian people, fulfilling their religious, moral, and humanitarian duty.”

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement praised the Yemeni missile strike on Lod (Ben Gurion) Airport, considering it “a legitimate response to the aggression on Sana’a Airport and Yemeni civilian facilities.”

Since the genocidal aggression on Gaza began in the aftermath of October 7, Israel has launched sporadic attacks on Yemen viewing it as one of seven fronts alongside Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Iran, which represent the Axis of Resistance.

During the last couple of months, the Axis of Resistance received heavy blows after Gaza’s support front in Lebanon had to temporarily stop its confrontations with Israel as per the fragile interim ceasefire agreement reached last November. Following the overthrow of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad earlier this month, Israel destroyed the country’s military infrastructure and the transitional government showed its willingness to establish “peace” with Israel.

All these factors made Netanyahu more determined than ever to demolish the military capabilities of Yemen, even if this would mean expanding the genocidal aggression to other parts of the West Asia region at the expense of civilians.

Original article by Aseel Saleh republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

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