March 15, 2002 | Issue 398
FRONT AND BACK PAGES
Stop Israel's terror
Justice for Palestinians
Israel's war on Palestinians reached a level not seen in the 20 years since the full-scale invasion of Lebanon, with Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers leading assaults into refugee camps and Palestinian towns throughout the West Bank and Gaza.
Bosses still cutting jobs
They call this a recovery?
"An economic expansion is already well underway," Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan declared during congressional testimony March 7. Greenspan should try out that line on the 22,000 Kmart workers who found out the very next day that they would be losing their jobs.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Alexander Cockburn on Bush's war:
"People have begun asking questions"
Alexander Cockburn, columnist for the Nation magazine and coeditor of the left-wing newsletter CounterPunch, spoke to Socialist Worker about the course of Bush's "war against terrorism" and the future of the antiwar movement.
Are antiwar activists the "real patriots"?
"The 'War on Terrorism' Breeds More Terror
and It's Unamerican Too!" That's how the call to action for the April 20 national demonstration against Bush's war begins. It's certainly true that the U.S. war "breeds more terror," but is it "unamerican too"?
Roots of the conflict between Israel and Palestinians
There can be no peace without justice
The media regularly characterize the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians as an endless "cycle of violence" caused by centuries of mutual hatred. But this ignores the history of the region.
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WHAT WE THINK
Washington will stop at nothing to impose its domination
Building the resistance
The disclosure of the Pentagon's nuclear hit list last week made the real aims of the U.S. "war on terror" horrifically clear. The fanatics who run the Bush White House are ready to unleash weaponry that could destroy the planet in their drive to dominate the globe militarily--as U.S. corporations dominate economically.
Texas oil boys in the White House
George W. Bush and Dick Cheney swear that they never did any favors for bankrupt energy giant Enron. But you'd never know it to judge from the White House energy plan the Senate is debating this week.
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NATIONAL NEWS
White House asks the Pentagon to draw up a...
Nuclear hit list
The Bush gang is thinking about the unthinkable. In a secret policy review finished earlier this year, the White House ordered the Pentagon to draw up plans to use nuclear weapons against at least seven countries--Russia, China, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Libya and Syria.
Jamil Al-Amin convicted in sham trial
Don't let Georgia murder this man
After a sham trial, Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, the former 1960s Black Power leader then known as H. Rap Brown, was found guilty last week of shooting one Atlanta cop to death and injuring another.
U.S. releases new "evidence"
Hot air to justify a war on Iraq
Dick Cheney and the Bush gang want a war on Iraq, and they'll say just about anything to get their way. U.S. officials released "evidence" of an Iraqi "military buildup"--involving trucks bought through the UN's "oil-for-food" program, no less.
The bigot that Bush wants on the bench
What would you call a judge who sought a lighter sentence for someone who burned a cross on an interracial couple's lawn, once pledged his commitment to the "Southern way of life" and tried to block desegregation efforts? George W. Bush calls him "a good, good, honorable citizen."
Nike and Adidas profit off sweatshop labor
Indonesian workers who make shoes for multinational giants Nike and Adidas continue to face sweatshop conditions, according to a new report by Australia-based Oxfam Community Aid Abroad.
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INTERNATIONAL NEWS
AFGHANISTAN
Raining more death on Afghanistan
Since the end of last year, Bush and Co. have gloated daily over the U.S. "liberation" of Afghanistan. But last week, the Pentagon was trying to explain why U.S. forces were suddenly fighting their largest battle in Afghanistan to date.
ZIMBABWE
Government on a rampage of violence
Mugabe tries to steal an election
Zimbabwe's presidential election was still in doubt amid fraud, violence and legal challenges as Socialist Worker went to press. President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party tried to guarantee victory with a campaign of arrests and assaults against leaders and activists in the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
SOUTH KOREA
Power workers strike against privatization plan
More than 5,000 workers at Korean Electric Power Corp. have been on strike against privatization since February 25, in spite of threats of arrest and violence by the government.
INDIA
A day in jail for the crime of free speech
What's the price of criticizing the Indian government for destroying the environment and attacking the poor? A day in jail.
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COLUMNS
READING BETWEEN THE LINES
Who are the real nuclear madmen?
Imagine if George W. Bush obtained a secret tape recording of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein contemplating using a nuclear weapon. Bush would take to the airwaves to denounce the "evildoer" in Iraq, and the B-52s would be in Baghdad before Bush was finished speaking.
WHAT DO SOCIALISTS SAY?
Is the U.S. really out of recession?
"It seems quite clear now that our economy maybe never suffered a recession," Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill declared last week. Tell that to the 8 million people out of work--and the millions more who've been hit with shorter hours or forced into part-time work.
INSIDE THE SYSTEM
Sing along with justice
Things are getting bad at the Justice Department these days. Not only does Attorney General John Ashcroft make his staff endure a daily prayer meeting, but he's also making them participate in sing-alongs.
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ON THE PICKET LINE
IAM idles military aircraft production in Georgia
Strike hits Lockheed Martin
Workers at a plant that produces military aircraft in Marietta, Ga., surprised Lockheed Martin bosses with a strike March 11. The 2,700 workers, members of International Association of Machinists Local Lodge 709, voted to strike by a 4-to-1 margin to fight for better job security.
What's at stake in UTLA election
Teachers, nurses and counselors of United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) voted for a new president in a hotly contested four-way election last week, setting the stage for a runoff this month between John Perez and Becki Robinson.
Verizon
Members of Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1106 at Verizon in Queens have begun to organize against a speedup.
Labor in brief
New Era Cap; Chicago day laborers; Boycott Taco Bell
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REPORTS FROM THE STRUGGLE
Students fight cuts at UMass
Chanting "They say cut back, we say fight back," more than 1,500 students, faculty and staff rallied outside the student union at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst March 7 to protest budget cuts and a tuition hike.
Chicago City Colleges
About 500 students, faculty and staff protested the decision of the Chicago City Colleges Board of Trustees to gut counseling services.
Justice for Palestinians
About 150 protesters demonstrated against Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani outside Cooper Union March 7.
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SW READERS SPEAK OUT
Victim of a coerced confession on videotape
Framed by abusive cops
Your readers may know me as one of five inmates severely beaten by racist guards on July 29, 2000. I am also one of the first people in Illinois to fall victim to a videotaped statement that was actually coerced by prosecutors and detectives.
Vicious political game of India's right wing
On the surface, recent anti-Muslim violence was a response to a vicious attack on February 27, in which Muslims from Godhra set a train carrying Hindu pilgrims on fire, killing 58. But the attacks and counterattacks are in the context of Hindu fundamentalists' assault on and scapegoating of the Muslim minority.
What is UPS scared about?
As Teamsters and UPS begin contract talks, UPS is intent on keeping workers in the dark. That was the case this week when managers at UPS in Williston, Vt., tried to stop the sale of Socialist Worker outside company gates.
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REVIEWS
The world's leading perpetrator of terror
In 9-11, a book that collects interviews in the month after September 11, Noam Chomsky denounces the U.S. "war on terrorism"--and explains why the U.S. is the main perpetrator of state-sponsored terrorism in the world.
A call for ending bigotry against gays
In October 1998, Matthew Shepard was viciously beaten and left to die, tied to a fence in Laramie, Wyoming. NBC's The Matthew Shepard Story focuses on Matthew's family, as they come to terms with his homosexuality and with his horrific murder.
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