What the growing class struggle in the US reveals about the pseudo-left
Both in the United States and in other countries, workers are engaging in an upsurge of strikes and militant struggles, seeking to reverse decades of worsening living standards and working conditions. As has often been the case, the development of the class struggle is shedding light on fundamental aspects of contemporary social and political life, putting to the test political programs and tendencies.
Striking Volvo Truck workers (Source: UAW Local 2069/Facebook)
Shortly after midnight on Monday, nearly 600 Frito-Lay workers in Topeka, Kansas, walked out in the first strike at the facility since at least the early 1970s, when the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers union (BCTGM) initially established a presence at the plant. Last week, workers at the snack food giant overwhelmingly rejected a fourth contract proposal this year, defying the BCTGM’s efforts to pass a deal that failed to
Pedestrians entering the country through the Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry were greeted by a new piece of street art in August as they walked onto the first block of Terrace Avenue: Big, bold white letters reading âNogalesâ painted over a vividly colord background of thin horizontal lines on a brick wall. âBasically, we wanted the word âNogalesâ because itâs the port, so we wanted a type of welcome, like a postcard,â said Priscilla Nefftys, one of the artists behind the mural, part of a bigger project called âNogalerÃaâ or âNogallery,â which encompasses the cultural identity and history of Ambos Nogales. Nefftys, Gerardo Frias and Tony Plak launched the effort with a grant from the University of Arizona Confluence Center for Creative Inquiry.