 Hello and welcome to the International Daily Roundup by People's Dispatch, where we bring you some of the major news developments from across the world. Our headlines Protests in Minneapolis Intensify After Police Repression One Death Report US Ends waivers to China, Russia and other countries or Iran sanctions Workers at South Africa's McSteel factories decide to strike against day-cuts New wave of protests hits Algeria over the arrest of activists We begin with an update on the situation in Minneapolis in the United States where protests continue after the murder of George Floyd Things have intensified as the police clash with the protesters One protester is reported to have died because of a shooting incident while one has been arrested by the police The circumstances behind the death of the protester is not known yet, neither is the identity of the perpetrators There were also reports of a target store being raided by the protesters after they were refused permission to buy milk for those hit by tear gas shells from the police The protests were especially intense as the third precinct office of the Minneapolis police This is the precinct where the four police officers accused of Floyd's murder were serving While the mayor of Minneapolis has assured a federal investigation into the death of Floyd, the police officers are yet to be indicted Protests have been demanding that the officers be charged and arrested for their crimes, which is recorded live by several eyewitnesses and went viral over the social media Early this morning, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the end of the last sanctions waiver provided to Iran under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or the Iran Nuclear Deal According to this waiver, a few Russian, Chinese and European firms were allowed to work at certain Iranian nuclear sites despite the sanctions Despite unilaterally withdrawing from the JCPOA or the nuclear deal in 2018, the US had continued to renew these exemptions every 60 days However, Pompeo announced that after the expiry of the current 60 days period, companies working on sites in Iran will be subjected to sanctions in the United States The US continues what it calls its maximum pressure campaign against Iran and has imposed several fresh sanctions despite the appeals from the international community Iran has been one of the worst affected countries by the COVID-19 pandemic and sanctions have hampered its ability to contain the outbreak in the country This month, the US has also tried to extend the UN arms embargo in Iran set to expire in October as per the nuclear deal It even went to the extent of threatening to snap back all pre-2015 sanctions on Iran In our next story, members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa or NUMSA at MUC Steel's production units in South Africa have embarked on a strike action beginning today The workers are protesting the company's unilateral decision to cut their salaries by 20% Described by Iran's website as Africa's leading steel supplier, MUC Steel produces a variety of steel and aluminum products for use in different sectors Businesses expected to be hit by the strike action include MUC Steel Coil Processing, Exports, Fluid Control, Roofing, Special Steel, Trading, Tube and Pipe and MUC Steel VRN NUMSA has accused the management of using the pandemic as a pretext to attack workers' rights The union has further alleged that MUC Steel is not applied for temporary employment relief scheme or TERS The scheme helps distressed companies pay their workers' wages during the COVID-19 emergency TERS is funded to the Unemployment Insurance Fund that requires mandatory contributions made by employees and employers of any company registered with it Any company which is made this contribution regularly is eligible to apply for financial assistance under TERS Not applying for this scheme indicates that there have been irregularities in the UIF contributions In the meanwhile, MUC Steel has claimed that NUMSA strike is unprotected and has threatened workers with retaliation In our next story, Algeria's witnessing a fresh round of anti-government protests is Monday Protests under the banner of the Hirak Movement, stage rallies and demonstrations in cities across Algeria Despite the restrictions enforced in the country due to the coronavirus pandemic, as well as a ban on holding public demonstrations The anti-government protests were held in major cities coinciding with the Eid al-Fitr celebrations The protests were organized to show solidarity and extent support to the prominent members of the Hirak movement who have been imprisoned or detained by the authorities According to the National Committee for the Liberation of Prisoners, there are currently close to 50 activists imprisoned for their involvement in the protests last year Just last week, three Algerian opposition activists were given lengthy prison sentences on the basis of the social media posts on Facebook In our infocus section, we bring you an interview with Kenya Alcozer, an activist and organizer with Union de Vecinos An organization in Los Angeles, California, and she talks about issues regarding rent in the country and in the city, especially issues faced by migrant workers Hi and welcome to People's Dispatch. Today we are joined by Kenya Alcozer, who is an organizer with Union de Vecinos in Los Angeles, California This organization works around a lot of issues relating to housing and amid the pandemic and lockdown, the organization has been very active in organizing and calling for the cancellation of rent So thank you Kenya so much for joining us. The Union de Vecinos has issued a very clear demand of food, not rent The organization is called for rent strikes. It is called for the cancellation of rent This is something we're seeing in the US, not only in Los Angeles, but also by organizations on a national level across the country So why has the demand for the cancellation of rent become so pressing? The reason why is because we don't see a future for tenants to keep their homes if there are in debt to their landlords A lot of our community members had to go on rent strike on April 1st because they didn't have money to pay for April's rent We're in May. It doesn't seem like it's going to be any time soon that we're going to be able to have the communities actually go back to work and receive full payment of not just what they missed of work, but for them to continue to survive for the following months So rent cancellation is very important for us because it tells people that it is not okay for people to be in debt We know that there are a lot of our community members that are already in debt, whether it's credit cards or student loans So adding another debt onto communities and onto folks, it lives them in a very precarious situation If we say people go into rental agreements where they start paying rent to landlords and they sign this document Then that really tells tenants that if for whatever reason they're not able to pay that rent, then they will go through an eviction proceedings and lose their home anyway So it doesn't really solve the issue of people not losing their homes and that is why rent forgiveness is the best way for people and anybody to be really safe in their homes during this pandemic And the food not rent actually calls on to really prioritize different things during this moment Food is more essential right now than paying your rent is, feeding your family is more essential And that is where we're also trying to really push back against this essential worker narrative Although yes, we understand that there are workers that thanks to them we are surviving through this pandemic There's also need to be an understanding that those workers safety nets are not being protected, which is housing, health care, and even workers rights and salaries If the worker is essential then his necessities need to be essential as well, and that is what the push for food not rent is actually also talking about So, amid this context what is the organizing by Union de Vecinos and other community organizations looked like And also, what are the, amid this organizing, what are the demands that have emerged to the state government, to the federal government and from the organizations themselves So, Union de Vecinos, we are in both Heights and East LA, which are very predominantly Latino immigrant communities We have a lot of our membership that are in the informal economy sector, there are other street vendors, mariachis We have folks that babysit, other community members, kids, so there is not, oh and then for the most part a lot of our workers are also garment workers So on the former sector they're either garment workers, they're fast food workers, retail, so all these jobs that are low wage jobs for the most part So one of the reasons why this, trying to push this through, it wasn't, like I said a no brainer, a lot of our members came on April and said, you know what, we're not going to be able to pay our rent For us, as Union de Vecinos working with tenants for many, many years, we know, and working with lawyers that defund tenants, that we know that the first thing that you need to do is document To protect yourself and start documenting in case you do go to a fiction court So for us, it was like, okay, we need to start documenting this, so sending your letter to your landlord saying, I've been impacted by this COVID-19 health and economic crisis And I'm not going to be able to pay this month's rent, actually helps tenants out in the process of like when we do go to court We have something to back up these tenants case in order for us to win some of these cases And the other thing that we also have a clear understanding on is courts and this particular system doesn't have the ability to evict every single person They're going to have to do some negotiations even within court There are 70,000 eviction cases that go through one court here in LA, which is Stanley Moss Court, every year If they were to do something like this, I mean, it would be very difficult and very drastic to evict We have in the city of Los Angeles 62% of the population are tenants And this is just the city of LA If we were really going to go through a process of evicting every single person that didn't pay their rent It would have been nearly impossible to go through the court system one And it would be impossible for the sheriff's department who are the executors of those court processes to lock out every single person in the city of LA So we're also utilizing this as tenant power to really bottleneck and push a system that has been for a very long time in oppressive system against poor communities We're also operating under the understanding that this housing crisis didn't start with a pandemic, but it was an existing housing crisis In the United States, we had, before the crisis, the numbers were 10 million houseless folks in the community, so homeless folks in our communities And 18 million vacant housing And this is the felt aftermath after the 2008 housing crash So there is a clear understanding that there is housing Here in LA, you go to poor communities like East LA or South Central And you see empty houses that are still owned by the banks that they were foreclosed on Houses that could be utilized right now to house people during this pandemic Because one of the things that has been essential to put this curve down has been people staying in their homes But what happens to those that don't have homes? So we have organizations here that have been amazing like the California Homeless Union and others That their job has been to push and really demand for all these vacancies to be utilized during this moment Especially not just the housing that has been foreclosed or housing that is currently vacant But also these hotels and motels in the community, we have a lot of vacancies there So one of the things that we are trying to figure out, it's like how do we start pushing our government and our local officials at every single level Locally statewide and nationally to really start thinking about the ability of housing every single individual We know that that is a possibility And one of the things that we are also realizing is that we are also part of the Poor People's Campaign and National Call for More Revival And one of the things that it's not just a policy issue, it's also a moral issue At this moment of time when we are talking about people dying, it is okay for some of our government officials It's okay for them for Poor People to die And that is something that we are also pushing back That no paying rent campaign is also a campaign of telling people to not put anything into the system That is actually wanting them to die Going to work earlier on this stage means the possibilities of you catching this disease and bringing it back to your home So it is pushing back It's something that we are thinking about more critically, even with our community members It's a process where we are actually engaging in more political education Of talking of why are we going back to work for or why are we paying rent And the little relief that people are receiving from federal government or statewide government It's so insignificant in reality I believe it was like $1,200 per adult and then $500 per children Well, that could be just what you receive, it's just one month's rent And that's it And if you pay that money then where are you going to find the money for food Where are you going to find the money for medication And those are the things that we need to prioritize A lot of the things that we are also seeing with this campaign We don't want to put our money into the pockets of our corporate landlords or back into the banks This money needs to stay in the community to secure the community's survival We are pushing for something that is more realistic for community members One of the things that our community members that are those essential workers are getting sick And we are seeing the effects of that In Texas a lot of folks that are working in the meat packing industry are getting sick Therefore all these meat companies are closing down Well, in California the meat price has doubled for the most part So even food is becoming more expensive during this time And if you're having to choose between paying a huge amount for food And then having nothing left from your rent, then that is a problem A lot of our community members here in LA are paying 60 to 75% of watching more 60 to 80% of their income is going into rent or into housing And that is something that we are also talking about It's not fair. We know that folks that live in public housing are paying only 30% of their income And there are some protections for those folks But again housing has been something that has not been prioritized Even public housing is something that has been dismantled A lot of costumation A lot of folks that are poor are now being forced to work If they want to continue to live in public housing Public housing has been disinvested from It has been attacked in the sense that mixed income families are being evicted from public housing I'm sorry, mixed immigrant status families