 Dear reader, Here are the latest articles published today on the World Socialist Web Site. The initiation of mass firings of over 20,000 scientists and public health workers at the Department of Health and Human Services marks a historic turning point in the collapse of American democracy and the Trump administration's efforts to establish a fascist dictatorship in the United States. The tariff on a large range of countries is not determined by the tariffs they actually levy, but is calculated to include the effect of a range of internal measures, including taxes, subsidies and regulations, that the administration has determined are inimical to US interests. The Pentagon has sent six of its B-2 stealth bombers to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean—within striking distance of Iran—or 30 percent of the entire US stealth bomber fleet. Israel's Attorney-General Galia Beharav-Miara has greenlighted war crimes against the Palestinians. As she acknowledged in her defence, she gave her legal support for the government's "operational approach to Gaza." Within the political straitjacket of the US two-party system, the only alternatives to the fascist Republicans were right-wing, pro-corporate Democrats. Confirming their collaboration with the Trump administration's fascistic attacks on free speech, several university administrations have announced they will fully cooperate with a right-wing congressional committee formed to attack student protesters. Virtually no one believes that the last-minute election pledges, even if they were to be kept, would make any real difference to the lives or prospects of workers and their families. During a year in which workers saw their living standards devastated by inflation and thousands of UAW members lost their jobs, the army of UAW bureaucrats in the union's Detroit national headquarters had a prosperous 2024. To avoid friction with the Armed Forces, infested with fascist apologists for the dictatorship, the official policy of the Lula government was to ignore the date. Under conditions of exploding income inequality, widespread poverty and inflation-driven real wages cuts, the parties campaigning for the April 28 federal election are offering phony "affordability" measures that don't even amount to a Band-Aid. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has given his support to an extreme right-wing campaign making lurid and baseless insinuations that Green MP Benjamin Doyle is a paedophile. Tensions in ruling circles have markedly sharpened amid a worsening economic crisis and growing fears of an eruption of opposition by workers, peasants and youth. According to the absurd ruling, the no strike clause in the ATU contract not only prohibits striking during the term of the contract, which would be bad enough, but all potential strikes in the future. The political significance of our contract battle is becoming ever clearer. Every effort is being made to prevent us from organising an all-out strike and enforcing our justified wage demands. The Starmer government is using the Birmingham strike as a test case, whose defeat would be used as a springboard for imposing its austerity agenda. About the WSWS The World Socialist Web Site is published by the International Committee of the Fourth International, the world Trotskyist movement, and its affiliated sections in the Socialist Equality Parties around the world. Find out more about joining the Socialist Equality Party.
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Wednesday, April 2, 2025Under threat of seizure and disappearance, Momodou Taal leaves the US
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