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June 7, 2002 | Issue 410
FRONT AND BACK PAGES
Stop this nuclear madness!
A world armed to the teeth
Anyone in their right mind is terrified by the threat of a war between India and Pakistan. But even as George W. Bush was urging "restraint" between the two nuclear armed rivals, administration officials revealed that the Energy Department was restarting production of plutonium triggers--for use in U.S. nuclear warheads.
Talk of "reform" hides a power grab
Ashcroft unleashes the FBI
The federal government's security and law enforcement apparatus is using the controversy over September 11 to grab frightening new powers that will be used to squash dissent.
Tightening the noose:
Israel orders daily raids in West Bank
The Israeli government is taking new steps to tighten its iron grip.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Chicago public housing residents:
Kicked out
More than 18,000 apartments destroyed. Some 42,000 people forced out of their homes. Nearly 40,000 on a waiting list for housing. You might think that these numbers document a refugee crisis after a war, but they're actually the projected results of the Chicago Housing Authority's "Plan for Transformation."
The radical politics of the biologist Stephen Jay Gould
A scientist of the people
Stephen Jay Gould, who died of cancer last month, was one of the most influential evolutionary theorists of his generation and the most talented popularizer of science in the past century.
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WHAT WE THINK
Washington's flag-waving provides a smokescreen for...
What their war is really about
Nine months after September 11, the politicians' attempts to wrap themselves in the flag are ringing increasingly hollow.
A socialist world is possible
Fighting for the future
Every day brings new examples of the brutality and humiliations of the society we live in. For many people, the details of how unjustly society works aren't new. The real question is whether we have the power to do anything about it.
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INTERNATIONAL NEWS
INDIA/PAKISTAN
Washington's "war on terrorism" set the stage for this latest conflict
The drive to nuclear war
India and Pakistan remained at the brink of war at the beginning of June after two weeks of hard-line rhetoric from political leaders and regular exchanges of artillery fire in the disputed state of Kashmir.
FRANCE
Are Nazis headed for election gains?
French politics could be headed for a second "earthquake" in this month's legislative elections, with both the fascist National Front and the revolutionary left expected to do well.
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NATIONAL NEWS
Financial shenanigans while he ran Halliburton
Cheney's corporate rap sheet
Spreading waves from the Enron-Arthur Andersen scandal are lapping at the feet of White House puppet master Dick Cheney.
Victim of feds' witch-hunt
Detained for being a political activist
An Arab student and activist at the University of Illinois in downstate Urbana-Champaign was picked up by the FBI in late May and turned over to Immigration and Naturalization Service officials.
Bush nominee approved as federal judge
Creeps on the bench
U.S. senators showed just what an old boys' club they are when the Judiciary Committee approved right-wing sleaze D. Brooks Smith as a federal circuit court judge.
How profit wrecks U.S. health care
"In the United States, too many working-age people lack insurance coverage, and when they do get necessary medical care, it's too little and too late," concludes a recent study published by the Institute of Medicine.
Biggest human rights bully on the block
The U.S. government is one of the biggest human rights bullies on the block, according to Amnesty International's 2002 annual report.
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COLUMNS
WHAT DO SOCIALISTS SAY?
Why the two-state solution won't work
The fight for Palestinian liberation is often put in terms of "ending the occupation," implying that the main obstacle to peace is Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. If Israel would withdraw to its pre-1967 border, the argument goes, it would clear the way for a Palestinian state.
READING BETWEEN THE LINES
The Church's rot from top to bottom
The Catholic Church is the world's largest absolute monarchy. It demands conformity to a set of moral and religious beliefs invented centuries ago. Yet they seem to think that sexual abuse of children is a mere public relations problem to be swept under the rug.
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ON THE PICKET LINE
Reformers win tough election battles in UAW Local 594
"It's time to flex our muscles"
United Auto Workers officials preparing for this week's union convention in Las Vegas were shocked when activists opposed to concessions won top spots in two important locals.
Company agrees to arbitration after strike threat
Workers at Verizon take to New York's streets
Thousands of Communications Workers of America members at Verizon came out in force May 29 to let the phone giant know that any attempt to lay off workers will be met with stiff resistance.
United Parcel Service
After 93 percent of Teamsters at UPS voted to authorize a strike last month, management has finally started to move on contract negotiations.
Labor in brief
PepsiAmericas; Transmission Crafters; Wheels Transportation; Madison Market; Stanford University; Chicago teachers
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SW READERS SPEAK OUT
Indefinite detention prompts a hunger strike
"Disappeared" in the U.S.
The U.S. government is taking a page out of the Israeli government's book when it comes to the brutal detentions of Palestinians.
San Antonio cops get praise for racist assaults
"They muscle criminals to the ground, they go after the bad guys, they do what it takes to get them into handcuffs." These accolades come from a recently released San Antonio Express News study documenting the city's 14 most "aggressive" cops.
We shouldn't echo the right on Cuba
Bridget Broderick's article about Cuba (SW, May 24) comes close to supporting Jimmy Carter's recent sermonizing about democracy and human rights in that country.
Other letters
Sharon and Hitler aren't the same; Socialists fight all forms of oppression; They say racism is free speech
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REVIEWS
A good album marred by misplaced nostalgia
Billy Bragg should know better
British musician Billy Bragg's new album, England, Half English is what I've come to expect from him--an interesting but inconsistent mix of relationship songs and politics.
When wealth and poverty collide
Changing Lanes is about two men who live in different worlds--and what happens when those worlds collide.
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