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August 3, 2001 | Issue 374
FRONT AND BACK PAGES
300,000 defy police violence in Genoa protest
Another world is possible
They came to protest a world of grotesque inequality and poverty. But the leaders of the eight most powerful countries on Earth had a different concern. They wanted to show who's boss.
Military readies plan for invasion
Israel drives toward war
In the biggest troop movements since the Palestinian Intifada began 10 months ago, the Israeli military last month deployed forces around the West Bank in maneuvers that coincided with media reports that top Israeli generals had drawn up a plan to invade and retake areas now controlled by the Palestinian Authority.
SPECIAL FEATURES
The battle of Genoa
"They are eight, we are 6 billion"
Plenty of fine words flowed out of the 14th-century castle in Genoa, Italy, where the leaders of the world's most powerful countries met last month. But they sent their most important message a mile away, in a small square called the Piazza Alimonda--with two gunshots that killed Carlo Giuliani. Here, Socialist Worker presents eyewitness accounts of what happened in Genoa.
Barbara Ehrenreich on getting Nickel and Dimed
Trapped by low wages
In this special interview, Barbara Ehrenreich talks about her book about the working poor Nickel and Dimed, why she wrote it and what the fight for a different future will involve.
When air traffic controllers took on Ronald Reagan
Lessons of PATCO
August 3 marks the 20th anniversary of one of the toughest battles in organized labor's recent history--the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization strike in 1981.
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WHAT WE THINK
We hold them responsible for the violence in Genoa
G8 assassins
The Group of of Eight leaders spoke of the "tragedy" of the deadly police shooting of Carlo Giuliani during demonstrations in Genoa, Italy, last month. But these politicians all but pulled the trigger.
Bush's way or the highway
U.S. arrogance was so thick at the G8 summit in Genoa that even U.S. allies found it hard to take.
Bush tries to kill Patients' Bill of Rights
Kowtowing to HMOs
All puffed up after Congress passed his $1.35 trillion tax cut, George W. Bush must have thought he could get away with anything. But it hasn't worked out.
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NATIONAL NEWS
THE DIRT ON DUBYA'S GANG
The truth about the Star Wars scam
"Every test has been rigged so far"
The Bush administration was crowing last month after a successful test of the national missile defense scam that they've been pushing since taking over the White House. But no one should believe the hype about Star Wars. Socialist Worker talks to military expert Theodore Postol.
White House buries treaty to ban germ weapons
First it was land mines. Then machine guns and mortars. And now those international do-gooders want to ban germ weapons.
How the Bush boys stole Florida
Bare-knuckle brawling for every vote
George W. Bush may be slow-witted, but he and his buddies know how to win a fight. That's the only conclusion that you can draw from reading the New York Times' investigative report, published last month, on the disputed presidential vote in Florida.
Immigrants face higher injury rates in the workplace
Latino workers are 20 percent more likely to be injured or killed on the job than their white or Black counterparts.
Madison Hobley deserves justice
Madison Hobley should be walking free today. But an Illinois judge postponed Madison's hearing last month to give prosecutors one more chance to cobble together the crumbling case that sent Madison to death row 12 years ago.
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INTERNATIONAL NEWS
INDONESIA
Megawati takes over as president
Wahid pushed out in Indonesia
Three days after he was impeached by Indonesia's parliament, Abdurrahman Wahid abandoned attempts to hold onto the presidential palace and boarded a jet for the U.S.
ARGENTINA
Argentina rocked by general strike
Argentina was rocked by two days of a general strike called last month to oppose planned austerity cuts.
SOUTH AFRICA
Left without shelter after the demolition of a squatters' camp
ANC smashes occupation
South Africa's African National Congress government demolished hundreds of squatters' shacks in a camp near Johannesburg in mid-July. Socialist Worker presents this eyewitness account.
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COLUMNS AND REGULAR FEATURES
WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?
Bush hints at legal status for immigrants
What is Dubya up to?
Is George W. Bush getting ready to grant permanent residency to millions of immigrants--including the estimated 11 million undocumented workers already living in the U.S.--as his top advisers have hinted recently?
WHAT DO SOCIALISTS SAY?
Does the market help the poor?
Before the G8 meeting in Genoa last month, George W. Bush declared that those who oppose the free market are hostile to the poor. The nerve of this guy!
BRIEFING: GM FOODS
A "gold rush" for the biotech bosses
Biotech companies like Monsanto claim that genetically modified (GM) foods are perfectly safe. But there's growing evidence of their potential environmental and health hazards.
THE MEANING OF MARXISM
Is violence necessary to win social change?
The ruling class and their media are quick to condemn acts of violence as morally wrong or "counterproductive." But Italian authorities exposed their own hypocrisy in their attacks on global justice protesters in Genoa last month.
INSIDE THE SYSTEM
Bonehead and Geldof
As protesters massed on the streets to demonstrate against G8 leaders in Genoa, rock stars Bob Geldof and Bono had better things to do. They were hobnobbing with the heads of state that hundreds of thousands had gathered to oppose.
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ON THE PICKET LINE
West Coast activists build support for campaign
Free the Charleston Five!
Kenneth Riley, president of International Longshoremen's Association Local 1422, last month continued his tour to build support for the Charleston Five--members of his union under house arrest and facing five years in prison following a police attack on their picket line in South Carolina last year.
ISSUES IN THE LABOR MOVEMENT
Should the U.S. ban "NAFTA trucks"?
Trent Lott is a Mexican truck driver's best friend--or so the Senate minority leader would have you believe. The right-wing, race-baiting Mississippi senator last month denounced Senate Democrats for "anti-Hispanic" attitudes because of their opposition to "NAFTA trucks."
Striking plasterers speak out
Members of Plasterers Union Local 66 in San Francisco won a three-week strike against Bay Area construction firms in July. Four unionists talked to Socialist Worker about the struggle.
Union members tell Bush: Ergonomics standards now!
About 150 union members and supporters rallied in Chicago July 20 outside hearings on ergonomics standards sponsored by the Bush administration.
Labor in brief
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NEWS AND REPORTS
U.S. solidarity action with Genoa protests
Take on one of us, you take on all of us!
Activists in cities across the U.S. organized protests and meetings in solidarity with the global justice demonstrations at the G8 summit in Genoa, Italy.
Reports in brief
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Waste means that many go without
Health care for all!
Until recently, I was employed as a health insurance benefits administrator for a small local restaurant chain, where health insurance was only made available to management and corporate employees, and not to hourly workers. But there's another problem that plagues the U.S. health care system--red tape.
Send your refund check to help Socialist Worker
It's not everyday I get a $300 check in the mail from the government. But when I got my check from the IRS today--"Tax relief for America's workers"--I was more disgusted than relieved.
Other letters
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REVIEWS
Ripping into nostalgia for the Old South
Gone With the Wind turned upside down
Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel Gone With the Wind, like the 1939 film starring Clark Gable and Vivian Leigh, is nauseating. Now, African American writer Alice Randall has written a novel in response.
Real lives during a hot summer in Brooklyn
In a summer full of movies about robots, apes and video games, it's refreshing to see a film that reflects real life.
A PEOPLE'S VACATION GUIDE
Showing the history of the Holocaust
The elevator doors close as you start toward the fourth floor. A TV monitor shows horrific images of bodies--hundreds and hundreds of bodies--lying barely clothed on the ground. That is how a visit to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum begins.
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