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Russian revolutionary art exhibition in London excises Trotsky—and, more generally, historical truth - World Socialist Web Site
▻http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/02/25/rrev-f25.html

http://www.wsws.org/asset/e594b87c-c45b-4cfc-87f1-e5036023ae8P/image.jpg?rendition=image480

Russian revolutionary art exhibition in London excises Trotsky—and, more generally, historical truth
Revolution: Russian Art 1917–1932
By Paul Mitchell
25 February 2017

“We are not celebrating revolution here … I don’t think there is much to celebrate. Quite the contrary as you will see from the exhibition…” —Natalia Murray, co-curator, on the eve of the opening of the Royal Academy’s “Revolution: Russian Art 1917–1932” exhibition.

Such a comment is fair warning to anyone planning to visit the current exhibition at the Royal Academy in London.

Prior to the opening of “Revolution: Russian Art 1917-1932”, Guardian art critic Jonathan Jones expressed concern that the exhibition’s curators would fail to portray art under Bolshevism as “brutal propaganda”, equivalent to that of the Nazis. He need not have worried. (For our reply to Jones’s article see here)

Murray’s aim as curator of the Royal Academy exhibition is to pour scorn on and discredit the 1917 October Revolution and to combat the contemporary impact of the works it inspired, such as the depiction of liberation in Boris Kustodiev’s “Demonstration on Uritsky Square on the day of the opening of the Second Comintern Congress in July 1920.”

#russie #urss #ex-urss #union_soviétique #révolution_russe #1917

Anger grows over Michigan school closures - World Socialist Web Site
▻http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/02/20/dpsc-f20.html

If you attack one school, you attack them all”
Anger grows over Michigan school closures
By Shannon Jones
20 February 2017

Opposition is mounting to the threat by Michigan’s State Reform Office (SRO) to close as many as 38 schools by the end of the school year for “non-performance.” The threatened closures would have a devastating impact on communities and students, many of which would be forced to travel long distances to alternative schools.

The closure threat is the product of a right-wing attack on public education long championed by Michigan billionaire heiress Betsy DeVos, who was recently installed as Trump’s secretary of education. Under a 2009 state law schools ranked in the bottom five percent on standardized tests for three years in a row can be closed. Another 35 schools are targeted for state intervention and could face closure at the end of the 2017-18 school year.

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Baltimore public schools face $129 million budget deficit, plan mass layoffs - World Socialist Web Site
▻http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/02/20/balt-f20.html

Baltimore public schools face $129 million budget deficit, plan mass layoffs
By Ron Barzel and Brad Dixon
20 February 2017

The head of Baltimore public schools announced last month massive budget cuts and layoffs intended to offset the $129 million deficit facing the school district in the fiscal year starting July 1.

“Baltimore city public schools will look drastically different on July 2,” said Sonja Santelises, CEO of Baltimore Public Schools, stated in the announcement. “This is going to hit everything kids love about coming to school,” she said.

#états-unis #édication #privatisation #démolition_du_service_public

US conducts show of force in South China Sea - World Socialist Web Site
▻http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/02/20/scse-f20.html

Defying warnings from Beijing not to escalate tensions in the South China Sea, the Trump administration last Saturday said a United States aircraft carrier strike group had begun “routine” patrols in the strategic waterway.

According to a US Navy statement, the guided-missile destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer is joining the 97,000-ton Carl Vinson along with aircraft from Carrier Air Wing for the operations. The Carl Vinson carries a flight group of more than 60 aircraft, including F/A-18 jet fighters, as well as a crew of 7,500.

#mer_de_chine_méridionale

Duterte militarises the “war on drugs” in the Philippines - World Socialist Web Site

▻http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/02/13/phil-f13.html

Duterte militarises the “war on drugs” in the Philippines
By Dante Pastrana
13 February 2017

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte earlier this month ordered the suspension of police involvement in his brutal “war on drugs” that has left thousands dead throughout the country. All units of the Anti-Illegal Drug Group of the Philippine National Police (PNP) were ordered dissolved and the PNP’s Operation Tokhang (Knock and Plead), a campaign of house visits and intimidation of those accused of illegal drug activity, was put on hold.

The pullback of the police by no means indicates the end of Duterte’s “war.” It portends an even greater escalation. Vowing to continue the offensive until the end of his term, Duterte called on the military to take the front line. This will widen and deepen the violence being inflicted on the working class and the poor.

#philippines #drogue #brutalité #violence

Nazis in the Trump White House - World Socialist Web Site
▻http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/02/13/pers-f13.html

Nazis in the Trump White House
13 February 2017

Viewers of the Sunday morning television interview programs were given their first long look yesterday at a top Trump aide, Stephen Miller, the so-called “chief policy adviser” at the White House. What the American public saw was repulsive. If Hollywood casters are looking for someone to play the role of an SS officer in the next World War II movie, they’ve got their man in Miller.

#trump #nazis #point_godwin

Flamanville nuclear plant explosion exposes crisis in French nuclear industry - World Socialist Web Site
▻http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/02/10/flam-f10.html

Greenpeace, which also opposes the use of nuclear energy, commented: “With two recent fires at the Catternom nuclear plant in Moselle this is the third fire at a nuclear plant in the last ten days.” According to Greenpeace: “The NSA itself declared that the state of Nuclear Security in France gives grounds for concern.” On the NSA web site, 12 more or less dangerous incidents in French nuclear plants were recorded for the months of December and January.
This is not the first technical incident at the Flamanville plant. The most important was the discharge of non-radioactive smoke in August 2015 from Reactor N°2. This incident provoked the triggering of an Emergency Plan for a number of hours.
Between the end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016, Reactor N°2 had to be shut down for five weeks after the breakdown of a transformer that consequently had to be replaced. In October 2015, the EDF had declared a level 1 incident (the highest of 7 levels) after having discovered that wrong joints had been used in “a few” places on the both Reactor N°1 and N°2.
According to the newspaper 20 Minutes, at the end of 2016, 21 reactors out of the 58 installed in France had been shut down, that is more than one-third. Another 15 were stopped for “planned maintenance.” However, seven were being tested because of potentially defective steam generators. Since flaws had been detected in generators built in the Areva factory in Creusot, the NSA has imposed inspections of the 18 reactors equipped with generators from this factory.
The incident at Flamanville, even though fortunately not causing a nuclear catastrophe, underlines the critical state of the nuclear installations in France. The number of reactors that are coming up to or have already gone over 40 years of service, which EDF considers the maximum, is increasing. With the aging of the reactors, the cost of modernization before they can be replaced by a new generation of EPR reactors is increasing considerably.

#nucléaire

Les Propos irresponsables Steve Bannon sur la #mer_de_chine_méridionale

Chinese foreign minister warns against war with the US - World Socialist Web Site

▻http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/02/09/wang-f09.html

The journalist specifically highlighted the comments of Trump’s top adviser Steve Bannon, predicting war between the US and China in five to ten years over the South China Sea. Bannon, who was speaking last March on the extreme right-wing web site Breibart, said: “There is no doubt about that. They’re taking their sandbars and making basically stationary aircraft carriers and putting missiles on those.”