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May 31, 2002 | Issue 409

FRONT AND BACK PAGES

Enron and the White House
Crooked to the top
The Bush administration has claimed to be an innocent bystander in the collapse of energy giant Enron. But documents released by the White House last week show that the Bush gang was best buddies with these corporate crooks.

Verizon breaks contract to ram through layoffs
We'll fight for our jobs
Thousands of union telephone workers in New York City will turn out May 29 for a rally against layoffs at industry giant Verizon.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Uproar over what the White House didn't tell us
Liars and hypocrites
George W. Bush and his gang are on the hot seat. Every day seems to bring more revelations that the administration missed warnings about the September 11 attacks. Here, Socialist Worker looks at the deeper questions about September 11 that no one in Washington will ask.

One billion malnourished because...
Profits come first
Nearly 1 billion people suffer from hunger around the globe, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. But the not-so-free market has no answers for the world's hungry.

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WHAT WE THINK

India and Pakistan go to the brink of an all-out war
Nuclear nightmare in the making
India and Pakistan are terrorizing each other--and the world--with the threat of nuclear war. And Washington set the stage for this conflict with its power grab in neighboring Afghanistan and Central Asia.

Colombia's death squad president
The candidate of the death squads--and the U.S government--will be the next president of Colombia.

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NATIONAL NEWS

Palestinian students at SFSU set record straight
Exposing the real bigots
Israel supporters caused a storm of controversy at San Francisco State University (SFSU) by claiming that pro-Palestinian students organized an anti-Semitic counterprotest opposite a May 7 pro-Israel rally. But Palestinian rights activists are speaking out to set the record straight--and to expose the real bigots at SFSU.

Expelled at UC for taking a stand
Just weeks after they were forced to reverse their suspension of Students for Justice in Palestine on the Berkeley campus, administrators for the University of California system are at it again.

White House whitewash
Crooks sue over stolen election
Fully 18 months after Bush "won" the 2000 presidential election by stealing the vote in Florida, his Justice Department is finally filing suit against three Florida counties for voting rights violations.

A liberal gloss for welfare "reform"
Hillary Rodham Clinton once said, "It takes a village to raise a child." But if the New York senator gets her way with federal welfare "reform" legislation, the village and the child could starve to death.

Market priorities wreck planet
The United Nations' latest report on the environment is the most terrifying yet.

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COLUMNS

WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?
Israel's supporters try to silence critics
The same smear tactics that were once used against opponents of the apartheid regime in South Africa are being used to discredit those who speak out against Israeli apartheid.

THE MEANING OF MARXISM
Why pacifism is a dead-end strategy
For at least some antiwar and social justice activists, all violence, period, is wrong. This is based at least in part on a healthy revulsion. But principled opposition to all violence, if held fast, comes to inadvertently accept it.

ISSUES IN THE LABOR MOVEMENT
Concessions or confrontation?
Aggressive moves by employers will present a stark choice to the labor movement this summer. Will unions accept demands for concessions--some of the most aggressive in 20 years--or step up the struggle?

INSIDE THE SYSTEM
Bono's new best friend
Maybe the light coming through the lenses of his trendy blue sunglasses has fried his brain. U2 lead singer and egomaniac Bono is convinced that he's going to "save the world"--with the help of the Republican White House.

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ON THE PICKET LINE

Union-busting bottling company attacks Teamsters
Pepsi drivers strike in Chicago
More than 300 drivers and delivery workers hit the picket lines at three PepsiAmericas plants on May 21.

Do the Teamsters have a winning strategy?
PepsiAmerica is coming after the union again--this time in Chicago, a stronghold of Teamsters President James Hoffa. But Hoffa did nothing to prepare for this fight--not even after the company's rival, Pepsi Bottling Group, provoked strikes.

Labor in brief
New York City Labor Against War; University of California-Los Angeles; Madison, Wis., nurses

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REPORTS FROM THE STRUGGLE

Defend Azmi Bishara
More than 500 people came to hear Noam Chomsky speak at Hunter College May 25. The event was a benefit for the legal defense of Azmi Bishara, a Palestinian member of Israel's parliament.

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SW READERS SPEAK OUT

How the paranoia of their war came home to me
Stop this scapegoating
The paranoia generated by the "war on terrorism" came home to me today--literally. I found a note on my door from the apartment management warning residents that "terrorists may target American apartment communities by rigging explosives in units that they have rented."

Dangers for union activists inside Colombia
In Colombia, trade union activism is a dangerous affair.

Limitations of the refuseniks
Mark Cooper recently wrote about the "sobering" speeches given by Israeli "refusenik" soldiers on tour in America. But we must also clearly recognize the limitations of the refuseniks.

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REVIEW

Book exposes Washington's conservative elite
A pack of schemers and filth peddlers
It's hard to believe that only four years ago, official Washington was whipped up into a frenzy over President Bill Clinton's affair with intern Monica Lewinsky.

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