Portal Blog

Yemen is the Greatest Humanitarian Crisis in the World.

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Yemen is the Greatest Humanitarian Crisis in the World.

The conflict in Yemen is the greatest humanitarian conflict in the world. For the next 5 days, we will be sharing information about this conflict, and attempting to explain how US imperialism has made it far worse. We hope you will join us on the Yemen Day of Action on Jan 25th for a global webinar, hosted by Code Pink, at 11AM. https://www.codepink.org/globalyemen

Yemen is the Greatest Humanitarian Crisis in the World.
  • 238,000 people are facing famine conditions in Yemen today due to an ongoing civil war, which has been made worse by the intervention of the US and Saudi Arabia.
  • 7.4 million people need treatment for malnutrition, two million of which are children under five years old
  • 17.8 million people do not have access to the necessary facilities
  • 19.7 million people lack access to adequate health care
  • A massive cholera epidemic has also affected the country, and large numbers of people have been internally displaced
  • The world powers involved in this conflict are engaging in collective punishment of entire villages.
  • Since Trump has declared the Houthis as terrorists, relief from other countries or organizations is at risk.

History of the Conflict in Yemen

  • Britain was interested in Yemen as a strategic military location since the mid 1800s.
  • Britain split the country with the Ottoman Empire in 1905
  • South Yemen became a socialist country in 1967
  • Capitalist unification of the country occurred in 1990
  • The government collapsed in 2015, leading to civil conflict. 
  • Western intervention has contributed greatly to the ongoing civil war.

Why is the US committed to this war?

  • The ruling class is not united on this, Congress passed a war powers resolution to withdraw the US, Trump vetoed
  • Nonetheless, weapons manufacturers, big businesses like AMC and Domino’s Pizza see Saudi Arabia as a profit center or market for exploitation
  • Saudi Arabia and its war coalition, including the US, is treating it as a proxy war with Iran
  • Yemen is a strategic location for the Saudis, and the US has sided with Saudi Arabia in many conflicts against Iran
  • Saudi Arabia has bankrolled many US think tanks after the 2008 housing crash, leading these think tanks to support Saudi wars and political standing in the region

Yemen is an Example of Imperialism

  • Capitalists benefit from war through weapons manufacture, and especially in nations that are rich in resources or could serve as economic thoroughfares and sites for oil pipelines
  • Saudi Arabia is a reactionary monarchy that the US collaborates with to serve mutual financial and war interests, not the interests of the people of either nation
  • At this stage of capitalist production, global capitalism requires total domination of potential markets. Imperialism is a manifestation of the insatiable hunger of capitalism.
  • The people of Yemen have a right to self determination, but their struggle has been wrapped up in the imperialist plan for global financial domination. Yemeni culture deserves to survive without this imperialist intervention.
  • The exploitation that you experience at your job is directly connected to the global war machine that is causing mass suffering in Yemen.

 What Is Imperialism?

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Portland DSA condemns the cruel and unnecessary decision by MultCo commissioners to rescind eviction protections for Multnomah residents.

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Portland, Oregon neon sign, superimposed over image of houseless encampment

This decision will result in more evictions, more houselessness, and more suffering. Our commissioners should reverse this immediately.

Portland has the highest concentration of low income tenants in Oregon. Strong protections were and still are necessary. But MultCo commissioners have decided to retract their prior protections, and defer to the state’s protections, which are weaker. Here’s how:

  1. They rescinded the 6 month payback period. Tenants will be on the hook for ALL accrued rent debt when the moratorium ends in July.
  2. Landlords can again evict you for no cause, including if they want to renovate or move into the property themselves. This means more evictions.
  3. Tenants are now required to submit a written hardship declaration to qualify for the moratorium. This puts the burden on tenants to navigate a continuously changing moratorium; many will slip through the cracks.

Commissioners Kafoury, Meieran, and Pederson claimed that their decision was to avoid “confusion” between the two overlapping moratoriums. Yet their decision only causes more confusion, and emboldens landlords to evict while scrapping tenant protections.

All COVID rent debt should be cancelled. Tenants need rent debt forgiveness, not just borrowed time. If our county commissioners intend to defer to the state, they are deferring to a body of landlord legislators who do not have the backs of MultCo tenants.

Clackamas County Branch of the Portland Democratic Socialists of America Chapter Calls on Congressman Kurt Schrader and County Commissioner Mark Shull to resign from their positions

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Congressman Kurt Schrader and County Commissioner Mark Shull

The Clackamas County branch of the Portland Democratic Socialists of America calls for the resignation of OR-District 5 representative, Kurt Schrader. His comments on Friday, January 8th comparing possible impeachment proceedings of President Donald Trump to a “lynching” show his disregard for our country’s history of violence against Black Americans, and are completely unacceptable and indefensible.

This is just one of many incidents in which Schrader has abdicated responsibility for his working class constituents. In December, he voted no on a $2,000 stimulus check that would have provided much-needed relief to residents of Oregon’s 5th District during a pandemic and after devastating wildfires in the area. A member of the “Problem Solvers Caucus” and a self-described, “Blue Dog Democrat,” Schrader has made it clear that he sides with the ruling class, not the working class which needs relief from COVID and Donald Trump. We call on Kurt Scharder to resign. If Governor Brown must find a replacement for him, we hope that she appoints someone who will fight for the working class, unlike Schrader.

The Clackamas County Branch of the Portland Democratic Socialists of America also calls for the immediate resignation of Clackamas County Commissioner Mark Shull. It has been made public that he has made repeated statements in the recent past espousing hatred for Muslim, Black, and transgender members of our community. These xenophobic views are abhorrent, and he is incapable of representing residents of Clackamas County. Our Muslim, Black, immigrant, refugee, and transgender residents have always endured discrimination and hate, which has been amplified by Donald Trump’s hateful and racist rhetoric since 2016. We stand in solidarity with our community members and call on Mark Shull to resign so that he can be replaced with someone who is not a proponent of hatred and division.

Portland DSA calls for the immediate impeachment and removal of Trump from office!

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Piss Boys on Bridge
Trumpista Poopoo-heads Pissed Their Pants

Portland DSA calls for the immediate impeachment and removal of Trump from office, the expulsion of all members of Congress who aided this coup attempt, and the beginning of a nationwide commitment to antifascist praxis by socialists of all tendencies.

We are witnessing an attempted coup in real time. It is already too late to reverse the damage done to our country, damage that was inevitable after a century of US coups in foreign nations and the buildup of white supremacist police forces across the nation. Imperialism is coming home to roost.

Now is the critical time to cease collaborating with and assuming good faith of the right wing in this country. We must finally rid ourselves of liberalism’s fairytale belief in compromise with the right. Those in the Republican Party supporting this attempted coup are leading their party down a road to fascism.

Radical action is needed from those who hold state power. The Democratic majorities in the House and Senate and the President-Elect must act swiftly to root out right-wing extremism from their own halls and from the state capitals in the US. Democrats must not allow a fascist movement to metastasize.

Across the US, socialists must commit to an antifascist praxis that confronts fascists when they come into our communities, prevents them from organizing and operating with impunity from police, and roots out the inequities of Capitalism that allow them to recruit to their fatalistic cause.

Only fierce action can meet a rising fascist threat. It is clear that the US is becoming a failed state, and we are on the precipice of imperialism advancing to another, far more brutal stage. We must be vigilant and uncompromising in our response. There is no excuse for weakness.