|
September 13, 2002 | Issue 421
FRONT AND BACK PAGES
UN support won't justify war on Iraq
Stand up against Bush's war!
George W. Bush is looking for war--and he's getting his posse in order. Cynically using the anniversary of the September 11 attacks to push for more horror in Iraq, the White House propaganda machine has kicked into high gear. And if there's no evidence, some can always be made up.
Trucking bosses send a message on Labor Day...
"You're fired"
The trucking giant Consolidated Freightways sent a message to 15,500 workers on Labor Day: We're going bankrupt. And you're out on the street.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Howard Zinn on...
What Bush's "war on terror" is really about
For half a century, Howard Zinn has been one of the leading voices against injustices carried out in the name of "democracy" by the U.S. government. He spoke to Socialist Worker about Bush's real war aims.
The alternative to a system controlled by a tiny few
How will workers run society?
"Nice idea, but it will never happen." For many people, this is the common-sense response to socialism--a society based not on greed and violence, but on cooperation and fulfilling human need. But history provides many examples of workers uniting and fighting back.
Back to the top
WHAT WE THINK
Bush gang tries to usher in a new era of U.S. military power
World super-cop
The train is leaving the station, so get on board. Or else. That's the message that George W. Bush will deliver to the world's governments in his planned speech at the United Nations on September 12.
Taking on the global loan sharks
Secretary of State Colin Powell felt the heat last week when protesters heckled his speech, with chants of "Shame on Bush!" on the final day of the Earth Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Back to the top
NATIONAL NEWS
Truth finally comes out about Central Park jogger case
Racist frame-up exposed in NYC
The racist hysteria used to convict five Black teenagers of a notorious crime in New York City more than a decade ago has finally been exposed.
New bombing on Vieques
Used by the Navy for target practice
The U.S. Navy resumed bombing exercises on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques September 3. And again, the Navy was met by resistance from a population that is determined to stop the U.S. war machine from using their land for target practice.
How Ebbers and his banker pals got rich
Corporate crime family
Corporate criminals don't act alone, and WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers is no exception. In exchange for steering WorldCom to Salomon Smith Barney for investment banking services, Salomon gave Ebbers several opportunities to buy initial public offerings of technology stocks.
Florida vote fraud lawsuit settled
The final round of the slugfest over the 2000 presidential election in Florida came to an end last week when the NAACP and other civil rights groups settled their federal lawsuit against state and local election agencies.
Washington wages chemical warfare in Colombia
The U.S. government began dumping toxic chemicals on parts of Colombia last week, under the guise of the "war on drugs."
Back to the top
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
ISRAEL/PALESTINE
Israeli military escalates attacks
Green light for a new rampage
Israeli forces got a green light last week for a renewed rampage against Palestinians throughout the Occupied Territories.
GERMANY
Can Schröder come from behind?
German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder is trying to win re-election in a close race by opposing both a U.S. war on Iraq and American-style corporate greed.
Back to the top
COLUMNS
WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?
Backroom deals to set up a war on Iraq
As Bush administration officials took to the airwaves on the Sunday morning talk shows last weekend to make the case for war on Iraq, there was a seeming role reversal.
THE MEANING OF MARXISM
Can a revolution end inequality?
In all past revolutions, the universal goals expressed by their participants masked underlying differences. Appeals to the interests of humanity, "the people" or the nation covered over the fact that there were different class forces with differing ideas about the revolution's goals.
Inside the system
Vladimir Putin--the pop idol; There's nothing they won't sponsor; Heard it through the grapevine
Back to the top
ON THE PICKET LINE
Union holds a second vote on job-killing contract offer
High stakes for IAM at Boeing
Machinists at Boeing will vote on a proposed contract September 12-13--the same union-busting offer that they voted on just two weeks earlier.
West Coast dockworkers
As contract negotiations resumed, members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union at the Matson terminal in Oakland, Calif., showed how best to deal with the shipping bosses and the
Labor in brief
Chicago hotel workers; Boston janitors; University of Massachusetts; San Jose hospitals; University of Vermont; Felbro Display Manufacturing
Back to the top
REPORTS FROM THE STRUGGLE
Protesting the war at home and abroad
"Our grief is not a cry for war." That's the message that thousands of people across the country sent as they turned out to mark the anniversary of September 11 by opposing the Bush administration's war at home and abroad.
Back to the top
SW READERS SPEAK OUT
"Cuffs were put on so tight that his wrists bled"
Seeing the cops in action
I am 16 years old. This August, I visited my father in Minneapolis and learned firsthand about police brutality.
Anti-immigrant racism on the rise in Europe
For years now, the countries of the European Union have been trying to keep pace with the U.S., first economically, and more recently militarily. Now they're catching up in yet another area--anti-Arab and anti-immigrant racism.
They're split on attacking Iraq
There has been a fierce debate in Washington and around the world concerning Bush's wish for war on Iraq. SW has recently characterized this debate as a matter of "not if, but when" (Aug. 9). At this stage, I don't think that this is true.
Back to the top
REVIEWS
A PEOPLE'S VACATION GUIDE
The heart of the fight for civil rights
Situated in the Alabama city that was a center of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and '60s, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute does an impressive job of chronicling the key struggles.
Resource for halting the machinery of death
Defense lawyers, family members of murder victims, former prison employees, journalists and social workers--all with firsthand experience of the horrors of capital punishment--contributed to the collection of essays titled Machinery of Death.
Home page | Back to the top
| 
