What happens when a Chinese automotive glass company takes over a derelict General Motors plant in Ohio and begins putting Americans to work? This is the premise of American Factory, a 145 minute documentary released earlier this year. The question may at first seem intriguing, bringing to mind issues of cultural difference and how a company from nominally socialist China will be managed. In fact, the answer is easily predicted by anyone who has worked in a factory or building site. Regardless of the colour of his skin or the specific myths he uses to con workers, the interest of the new Chinese boss is the same as the old American boss: profit.

On Saturday, the 13th of July, around 4am, a 69 year old man named Willem Van Spronsen attacked a privately owned Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centre near Seattle, Washington. The centre was housing immigrants that had been detained by ICE as part of the US government’s recent crackdown on ‘illegal’ immigration and immigrants in the United States.

The 11th of April was a day of celebration for the people of Sudan. Continuous organized protests and strikes led by the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), effectively paralysed the whole nation, leading to the ousting of president Omar al-Bashir in a military coup d’état. Rebelling against the military junta, the organised masses showed unmatched solidarity and worker’s power and paralysed economic life throughout the state.