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August 2, 2002 | Issue 416
FRONT AND BACK PAGES
Don't let him steal our rights
Ashcroft's Big Brother spy plan
The pilot phase of John Ashcroft's Terrorism Information and Prevention System--known as Operation TIPS--is due to go into effect this month. It aims to recruit 1 million people in 10 cities and give them "a formal way to report suspicious terrorist activity." In other words, to be a spy.
Sharon called this slaughter a "great success"
No to Israel's terror!
Israel's horrific attack on a residential neighborhood in Gaza City sparked outrage around the world. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon personally approved the July 22 assault by a U.S.-made F-16 fighter jet that killed 15 people, nine of them children, injured 145 and leveled several buildings.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Corporate crook in the White House
Hail to the thief
The flurry of corporate accounting scandals has got Washington talking about cleaning up Corporate America. But George W. Bush has a problem. His corporate crime rap sheet ranks with the worst of the bunch.
"A lot of what's wrong isn't illegal"
Norman Solomon, a syndicated columnist on media and politics, talked to Socialist Worker about the corporate crime scandals and what kind of impact they can have.
Leaks show all-out assault is a matter of when, not if
The coming war on Iraq
Some 250,000 U.S. Marines and soldiers. Hundreds of warplanes. An air assault against thousands of targets. These are a few of the details of the U.S. government's plan for a war on Iraq, as described in a leaked Pentagon document.
Former UN aid coordinator explains why...
"Iraq is not a threat"
Hans Von Sponeck served as humanitarian aid coordinator for Iraq from 1998 to 2000, but resigned in protest against U.S.-backed economic sanctions. He spoke to SW about his recent visit to Iraq and the Bush administration's buildup for war.
The Bush administration's attack on our civil liberties
A return to McCarthyism?
Using the "war against terrorism" as their excuse, George W. Bush and his henchman John Ashcroft have led an all-out assault on political opposition at home. Here SW answers the question: Are we experiencing a new McCarthyism?
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WHAT WE THINK
Congress lets the corporate criminals off the hook
A sham crackdown
Give crooked CEOs a slap on the wrist one day--and then stick it to workers the next. That was Washington's real response to the outrage over corporate crime.
Defending their right to torture
The Bush administration sank to new depths of hypocrisy last week--when it tried to block an international agreement on monitoring torture.
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NATIONAL NEWS
Pa. accident could have been prevented
Putting profits before miners' lives
People around the country greeted news of the rescue of nine trapped miners in Pennsylvania last weekend with relief and joy. But this shouldn't hide a crucial lesson--that this accident was easily avoidable.
Bush cuts funds for UN family planning agency
Another present for the fanatics
"Women and children will die because of this decision." That was the response of Thoraya Obaid, executive director of the United Nations Population Fund, to the Bush administration's decision to take away $34 million in funding for the international agency.
Bush's crackpot choice for judge
Priscilla Owen is considered a conservative crank even by other conservative cranks. But that hasn't stopped the Bush gang from going all out to win Senate confirmation of her nomination to be a justice on the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
SOA graduates held responsible for torture
Finally two graduates of the U.S. government's terrorist training camp--the School of the Americas--have been exposed as war criminals.
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COLUMNS
WHAT DO SOCIALISTS SAY?
Do Marxists reduce everything to class?
At the core of the Marxist tradition is a commitment to a socialist society that would end not only economic inequalities, but all forms of oppression and discrimination. But most people on the left today doubt that commitment.
READING BETWEEN THE LINES
The other party of big business
One day after Democrats crowed that they had forced a White House "unconditional surrender" on their accounting reform bill, the so-called "friends of working people" announced a "compromise" with Republicans on bankruptcy "reform."
Inside the System
A bunch of grouches; Fighting terror at summer camp; Heard it through the grapevine
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ON THE PICKET LINE
UPS rank and filers criticize Hoffa's contract
"Why we're voting no"
Teamsters President Jim Hoffa declared that "Teamster members have achieved the best contract in our union's history at UPS" when he settled three weeks early. But many rank-and-file members among the 210,000 Teamsters at UPS don't see it that way.
Workers at Delta Dental strike against givebacks
Some 1,100 employees of Delta Dental insurance have been on strike since July 19. Workers, members of Teamsters Local 856, have set up picket lines in downtown San Francisco, as well as the company office in Sacramento.
Labor in brief
West Coast dockworkers; National Writers Union; City Colleges of Chicago; Metal Preparations
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NEWS FROM THE STRUGGLE
Reports in brief
Justice for Palestinians; Amnesty for immigrants
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SW READERS SPEAK OUT
How corporations profit from workers' deaths
The bosses' sick scam
Companies are always looking for ways to extract surplus value from employees, but I don't think that even Marx could have anticipated one of the recent scams U.S. companies have cooked up.
Blaming the victims for inner-city crime
About 1,500 people converged on Oakland City Hall, marching and singing songs from the civil rights era. Unfortunately, many of the slogans of the civil rights era were not a part of this demonstration.
A must-read for Palestine activists
Haymarket Books' new title The Struggle for Palestine is a must-read.
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REVIEWS
The contributions of musicologist Alan Lomax
Sharing the music of ordinary people
Alan Lomax, the legendary musicologist who traveled across the U.S and the world preserving the music of ordinary people, died in Florida last week at the age of 87.
A few good insults and insights from Vidal
Gore Vidal's Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace is one of several recent titles debunking the rhetoric that September 11 was an attack on U.S. "freedom" and "democracy."
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