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October 4, 2002 | Issue 424
FRONT AND BACK PAGES
Time to stand up
No war on Iraq
For weeks, George W. Bush has been acting as if the world would simply go along with his demand for a new war on Iraq. But the secret's out. There's opposition to Bush's war drive--and it's growing.
Port bosses out to break dockworkers
"It's about power on the docks"
Shipping bosses have thrown down the gauntlet to West Coast dockworkers--and the entire labor movement. As Socialist Worker went to press, the bosses' Pacific Maritime Association had locked out more than 10,500 longshore workers, and union members were picketing.
SPECIAL FEATURES
The facts you need to know about their war drive
The Blair dossier exposed
Bush and his gang can't be bothered to offer any evidence to back up their case for a war on Iraq. So lapdog Tony Blair got the job. But even the mainstream media had to admit that Blair and Co. hadn't come up with anything new.
The Bush Doctrine: What it means
The Bush administration has produced a National Security Strategy document that goes further than ever before in asserting U.S. military and economic power. Socialist Worker explains the implications of the so-called Bush Doctrine--and its vision of a world in which Washington is the unchallenged super-cop.
SAY NO TO WAR
Huge turnout for London protest
The antiwar movement in the U.S. got a boost last weekend from across the Atlantic. As many as 400,000 people turned out in London for a massive protest against George W. Bush and Tony Blair's drive for a war on Iraq.
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WHAT WE THINK
Democrats' questions stop short of opposition to war
All bark and no bite
For the first time in months, leaders of the Democratic Party woke from their collective coma to raise questions about George W. Bush's rush to war.
Bush's union-free Homeland
The Bush administration wants to "secure the Homeland." From unions, that is. The White House is insisting that its new Homeland Security department shouldn't have to respect union rights or civil service protections.
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NATIONAL NEWS
As CEO crooks and Wall Street con men get richer...
One million more fall into poverty
Mealtimes are depressing for 6-year-old LeeArius Daniels. There's not much work in Pembroke Township, Ill., where he lives--so it's been hard for his mother LaCheir to find employment.
A new blow to machinery of death
For the second time in three months, a federal judge has declared the federal death penalty unconstitutional.
Activists targeted by no-fly blacklist
When is a nun considered too dangerous to get on board a plane? When she's a peace activist.
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INTERNATIONAL NEWS
ISRAEL
Setback in Sharon's war on Palestinians
Israel retreats from Arafat siege
Israel ended its 10-day siege of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's compound last weekend after coming under a barrage of criticism from around the world.
BRAZIL
Can Lula win on first ballot?
Wall Street responded with a frantic financial assault to the growing possibility that Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva, candidate of the left-wing Workers' Party, could win an outright majority in the first round of the presidential election on October 6.
INDIA
Indians reject the BJP's message of hate
India seemed poised for a repeat of horrific pogroms against the Muslim minority in the state of Gujarat following a September 24 attack on a Hindu temple. But calls for revenge by Hindu chauvinists went unheeded.
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COLUMNS
WHAT DO SOCIALISTS SAY?
"It all depends on workers themselves"
One of the main questions that people have about socialism is how we'll make sure that it's a just society. The starting point for answering this question is history.
READING BETWEEN THE LINES
Behind Hitchens' lurch to the right
Christopher Hitchens' decision to quit the Nation shouldn't have come as a surprise. The real surprise about his latest rightward lurch is that it didn't happen years ago.
Inside the system
Tell the truth, get in trouble; Go to hell, Bill Gates and Microsoft; Heard it through the grapevine
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ON THE PICKET LINE
Boston janitors strike downtown office buildings
"We're defending our lives"
After working without a contract for a month, more than 1,000 janitors in Service Employees International Union Local 614 and maintenance workers in SEIU Local 254 walked off the job.
Labor in brief
Metropolitan Transit Authority; United Airlines; Washington state and Chicago-area teachers; Port of Seattle; University of Wisconsin-Madison; George Washington University
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REPORTS FROM THE STRUGGLE
Weekend of protest in Washington
More than 10,000 people turned out in Washington, D.C., for a weekend of protests against globalization and war.
U.S. out of the Middle East
"No justice, no peace! U.S. out of the Middle East!" That chant rang out September 28, as more than 4,000 people rallied in San Francisco for a free Palestine and against war on Iraq.
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SW READERS SPEAK OUT
A letter from a solidarity activist in the West Bank
"I cried over these killings"
It is just so surreal to be here, witnessing all of this destruction and suffering, and hear not a whimper from the international community. Or to hear the occasional whimpering "condemnation," delivered without concrete consequences.
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REVIEW
Making the case for affirmative action
"Those who are racially marginalized are like the miner's canary: their distress is the first sign of a danger that threatens us all." This sentence sums up authors Lani Guinier and Gerald Torres' aim in The Miner's Canary--to understand the connections between racism and other social inequalities. | 
