Fascist USA: journalists not allowed to keep their sources secret

In yet another example showing that the United States is not a democracy but an authoritarian state, a court has ruled (against many precedents and a long-established tradition) that journalists can't keep their sources secret. They applied a century-old emergency law (WWI) which was before only used in three cases.

From Russia Today:

A federal appeals court ruled Friday that New York Times journalist James Risen must testify in the trial of a former Central Intelligence Agency officer accused of leaking classified national defense information to the media.

A lower court ruled previously that Risen could protect the source responsible for sharing intelligence about a CIA operation discussed in his writing, but the US Court of Appeals from the Fourth Circuit reversed that decision Friday morning with a 2-1 vote. 

“The reporter must appear and give testimony just as every other citizen must. We are not at liberty to conclude otherwise,” Chief Judge William Traxler Jr. wrote for the majority opinion.

The trial is about Jeffrey Sterling, a former CIA agent accused of leaking a Clinton-era plan to deceive Iran into using faulty nuclear weapon blueprints. There are other six people accused.

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Turkey: 50 political prisoners beging hunger strike

50 people arrested in the context of the Taksim uprising have begun a hunger strike in protest for what they denounce as a witch hunt. 

Erdogan and the Turkish police-military apparatus are persecuting people for just being members of the Taksim Solidarity platform, arresting them and searching their homes. 

Taksim Solidarity demands the immediate release of all those arrested for merely exerting their right to demonstration. 

Source: Webguerrillero[es].

Italy: major unions bow down and renounce to the right to strike and direct worker representation

This is the formal consolidation of fascist-like vertical unions, intended only to keep workers submitted to the tycoons' power. 

From Struggles in Italy:

June 1st saw the beginning of a new era in Italian labour policy, with a new agreement about union representation signed by the three union confederations and Confindustria (the national association of industrialists). The agreement came after a long build-up and a few months of informal meetings with industrialists, for instance, taking part in the May Day rally organized by CGIL, CISL and UIL in Bologna.

Despite the general consensus around it, this agreement seems to be a victory only for industrialists and union bureaucrats. It was welcomed by many, including Prime Minister Enrico Letta and Maurizio Landini, national Chair of FIOM (the union representing metalworkers). Ironically, those who would be most harmed by such an agreement are its most fervent supporters – this seems to be, apparently, the case of Landini.

The text of the agreement has not yet been made public; from what is known, it would underwrite the new power balance in labour relations, effectively weakening the right to strike. High-ups in the union confederations now have official recognition and a new and powerful tool in their ongoing struggle against workers’ grievances and against the most active unions – a struggle that so far has been characterized by political immobility and by acquiescence to industrialists’ diktats.

From now on, only those unions that signed this deal will be authorized to represent workers in bargaining. Agreements between unions and employers will need only to be approved by 50%+1 of all unions at the table, regardless of the size of their membership. Consequently, a few small unions (that is, a few among those that signed the deal) could form a majority and approve an agreement, thus deciding matters for all other workers.

Workers will still have some say through a referendum process. However, as the cases of Pomigliano and Turin clearly showed, these consultations often come with heavy pressure: the threat of losing one’s job is so strong that it can often determine the outcome of the vote. Unions, of course, exist precisely to free workers from such threats, through the strength of collective organization.

Once an agreement is signed, unions cannot change it. This rule is enforced through a sanctions mechanism. Workers still have the right to strike, as laid down in the Constitution of the Italian Republic. However, the unions that are supposed to guarantee this right can be fined or sanctioned for it.

Base unions and left-leaning FIOM officers have protested loudly. Among them are Giorgio Cremaschi and Sergio Bellavita, who strongly criticized their chair, Landini. As Bellavita declared: “All power is given to the leadership of union confederations – a leadership that keeps mistaking the protection of their own organization for the protection of workers’ rights.”

This deal is not valid for FIAT. Sergio Marchionne, FIAT’s CEO, withdrew FIAT from Confindustria in order to have “a free hand” with unions. This decision has already brought about the expulsion of FIOM from its plants, and the adoption of a very regressive contract.

Marchionne, with his anti-union behavior, has now opened up a way of operating that is being extended across the whole of Italy. What is worse, this is happening with the complicity of CGIL and FIOM, its metalworkers’ wing.

USA: Colorado to legalize marijuana

Colorado is set to be the first state of the North American federation to legalize marijuana ownership by citizens and sale in shops without a medical pretext. Citizens older than 21 (legal age for alcohol consumption) will be allowed to have up to a ounce (28 grams) of this herb, although individual purchases would have to be of just a fourth of this measure. Shops will be able to sell it with an especial tax of either 15% (to be dedicated to school construction) or 10% above the normal sales taxes (in which case it'd be dedicated to education campaigns on drug use and the regulation of the trade itself). The bill is to be voted in referendum on Autumn this year. 

Source: Webguerrillero[es].