Produce Less – Exploring Degrowth

The U.S. “capture” of Nicolás Maduro is being hailed in Western capitals as a blow to dictatorship — but this narrative obscures centuries of Latin America’s struggle against imperialism and entrenched racially-coded elite rule. In Venezuela, the Bolivarian Revolution was more than a presidency: it was the voice of the historically marginalized, a challenge to oligarchic power. Removing Maduro won’t erase the profound social gains and deep popular loyalties forged through decades of resistance. The real battle now is between a resurgent imperial project and a people determined to defend their dignity and hard-won revolutionary legacy.

Infant clothing may expose babies to hundreds of different chemicals used in everything from plastics to paints—including some known to be toxic, a new scientific investigation shows. The analysis of 43 infant garments, published in Environmental Research, is the first to comprehensively screen for all detectable chemicals versus a limited number. In total, 303 different chemicals—from traces of pesticides to prescription drugs—were identified across the fabrics.

The concept of “crime” is not a fixed, objective reality but a fluid and politically potent construct which has been meticulously weaponized to serve the interests of power. Crime is in fact a dialectical product of the very systems of domination it purportedly challenges. An elusive chameleon, the shifting definitions of crime justifies the expansion of state control, the suppression of dissent, and the advancement of imperial projects, both domestically and globally. Whether “high crime” or “low crime” , the rhetoric is rarely about public safety; rather, it is the primary language through which state agencies validate their own existence, and the imperialist state escalates its violence, masking the carceral and militaristic enforcement of social order to maintain hegemony under the guise of moral necessity.

While China and Russia honor their historic defeat of fascism, the West has revitalized it. The doctrine of exceptionalism serves as a modern justification for genocide and imperial aggression.

Calling on Wells Fargo Bank to “Stop Fracking US” climate crisis activists on July 23 blocked the bank’s world headquarters building entryways, occupied an outdoor plaza and painted a mural illustrating their concerns in protesting and drawing attention to the bank’s investments and funding that have contributed to climate destruction, Israel’s genocide in Gaza, the funding of Palantir and deportations, and for supporting the privatization of the US Post Office, along with their funding of the 1,172-mile-long Dakota pipeline at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North and SouthDakota.

For years, women in the Beed district have documented that physicians have performed hysterectomies on them without their informed consent, with researchers estimating that about 4,605 women in the district were forced or coerced into having hysterectomies between 2016 and 2019. Maharashtra has about one-third of India’s 506 sugar factories, according to the latest data from the Indian Sugar Mills Association. About 1.5 million laborers, including many women from drought-prone regions within India, migrate seasonally for cane work, often between September and March. Most often, contractors pay the workers in advance, creating a cycle of debt. The sugarcane supplies companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsico. In many villages across Maharashtra’s sugarcane belt, women long hours of physical work and poor healthcare options, often succumbing to pressure from contractors and families to undergo risky medical procedures without adequate information.

Children and teens who spend hours scrolling social media are far more likely to smoke or vape than their peers, with the highest risks seen among girls and heavy users, according to new research.

For months, HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. has crisscrossed the nation advancing his “Make America Healthy Again” agenda — spotlighting plans to crack down on unhealthy ultra-processed foods, and praising state-level efforts to restrict chemical food additives and bolster consumers’ right to know. But in an interview with Bloomberg, Kennedy’s comments echoed Big Food’s talking points: that state laws are too complex or burdensome, and Congress should therefore enact a single national food safety standard – one that would override state laws. Public health advocates oppose federal preemption because it often replaces tougher state laws with a weaker federal one.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child… makes it clear that states have an explicit obligation to protect children from exposure to toxic chemicals, from contaminated food and polluted water, and to ensure that every child can realise their right to the highest attainable standard of health. These and many other rights of the child are abused by the current pesticide regime. These chemicals are everywhere, and they are invisible.