5 Stories to Read: CEO Pay 299 Times More Than Workers, Post-Fracking Economy in PA, The Pro-Trump Militia Threat, Indigenous-led Uprising in Guatemala, and End the War in Yemen
Here are some stories I read this week.
CEOs made 299 times more than their average workers last year
By Moira Ritter
The average S&P 500 company CEO made 299 times the average worker's salary last year, according to AFL-CIO's annual Executive Paywatch report. Executives received $15.5 million in total compensation on average, marking an increase of more than $260,000 per year over the past decade. At the same time, the average production and nonsupervisory worker in 2020 earned $43,512, up just $957 a year over the past decade. Read more at CNN Business
Reports highlight how to repair the Appalachian economy without relying on fracking
By Kimberly Rooney
“It is a myth that we must make a decision between jobs and a healthy environment,” ORVI senior researcher and lead author of both reports Sean O’Leary said in a press release. “It’s simply not true.” Read more at the Pittsburgh City Paper
How can we neutralize the militias?
By Steven Simon and Jonathan Stevenson
The most urgent concerns are militia infiltration and gun availability. Militias have penetrated some military organizations and law enforcement agencies, and need to be purged from them. For example, about 10,000 current and former employees of the US Border Patrol are members of a Facebook group that has shared racist and anti-immigrant memes. The Oath Keepers boast that tens of thousands of its members are current and former law enforcement officers and military veterans. Read more at The New York Review
Guatemalan communities turn out for Indigenous-led nationwide shutdown
By Sandra Cuffe
“As Indigenous authorities we are very concerned about corruption,” said Lorenzo Castro, Sololá’s Indigenous mayor, in charge not of the official municipal government but of the area’s autonomous traditional Indigenous governance system. Kaqchikel authorities in Sololá have powerful convening capacity, as do autonomous K’iche authorities in the neighboring department of Totonicapán. Mobilizations along the Pan-American Highway in the two predominantly Indigenous regions were the largest actions in Guatemala on Thursday. Read more at The Intercept
Congress tried to Force Trump to end the Yemen War. Now they’ll have to do the same with Biden.
By Sarah Lazare
Activists say it’s not enough to trust Biden’s promises to end U.S. support for the war: Congress must compel him. “It’s imperative that a War Powers Resolution is introduced and passed under a Biden administration,” says Kawthar Abdullah, an organizer with the Yemeni Alliance Committee. “So many lives are at stake here.” Read more at In These Times
Thanks for reading! I look forward to your feedback and suggestions. And most importantly, keep organizing!