Student and Worker Movements Force Concessions Across Three Continents

Power concedes nothing without organized force. This week that axiom played out in three arenas: students in India forced a minister's resignation, educators in Australia struck over unlivable wages, and a working-class candidate in Maine faces the question of whether his support can unseat an entrenched incumbent.

In New Delhi, the student protest movement achieved a major victory against the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi when Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan offered his resignation. The protests erupted over exam paper leaks. Bloomberg calls it the biggest concession yet by Modi's government to one of the country's largest student movements in years. The New York Times confirms Pradhan's resignation marks a win for the movement.

Half a world away, Victorian educators in Melbourne delivered the same message from the picket line. At a strike rally, one teacher laid out the arithmetic of austerity: "The lack of resources is making staff leave and the wages are not enough. That is the situation for a lot of us. To survive I have a second job." The World Socialist Web Site reported the rally as educators speak out over wages and conditions.

In the United States, the fight takes a different form. Maine Senate candidate Troy Jackson has built a following among the state's working class; Newsweek calls him the Gold Standard for Maine populists. Newsweek asks whether that support is enough to unseat Susan Collins.

Meanwhile, the class that benefits from the status quo invests in insulation. At Citi, the head of aviation finance advises wealthy clients on when to buy private jets — and when to hold off. Mike Francis, head of aviation finance at Citi, advises wealthy clients on purchasing private jets, including when to hold off. In Washington, the administration prepares to break ground on a "world-class" golf course a mile from the White House South Lawn amid a fight with residents. President Donald Trump has said the administration will break ground on Sept. 1 for what the Department of the Interior calls a new "world-class" golf course only a mile from the White House South Lawn.

The pattern is clear. Students, teachers, and workers organize; ministers resign, picket lines form, candidacies rise. The other side builds runways and fairways. Every concession won from below is a crack in the edifice. The question remains whether the cracks widen into structural failure — or whether the edifice reinforcing itself with private jets and presidential golf courses holds.