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November 22, 2002 | Issue 431
FRONT AND BACK PAGES
Stop Washington's war
This is what they want in Iraq
United Nations weapons inspectors have been rolling into Iraq. But that hasn't stopped the Bush administration from moving ahead with its war plans.
Bush steps up assault on labor
White House union-busters
Stripping union rights from tens of thousands of federal workers. Outsourcing 850,000 government jobs. Holding a gun to the heads of West Coast dockworkers. That's the record of George W. Bush's war on organized labor--in just the last five weeks.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Every day is a new struggle to get by
The other America
The scandals at Enron, WorldCom and other corporate giants have exposed the obscene wealth at the top of U.S. society--and the scams that the superrich used to get that way. But the stories of the people who lost their jobs or slid into poverty in the wake of these scandals didn't usually make the headlines.
Security Council resolution on inspections is designed to fail
How the UN set the stage for war
A rubber stamp for war. That's what the new UN resolution against Iraq amounts to. The resolution is designed to fail--and to give the Bush gang an excuse for its all-out assault.
Has racism always existed? Can it ever be totally abolished?
The roots of racism
For many people coming to radical politics--Blacks and whites alike--hatred of racism and a desire to get rid of it is a huge motivating factor. This is in contrast to some of the common assumptions about where racism comes from.
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WHAT WE THINK
What's ahead for the antiwar movement?
The most important question for the antiwar movement now is what activists can do locally to broaden the active opposition to the Bush war drive--while bringing political clarity on key political questions through democratic discussion.
How dare they ask us to sacrifice?
How can jobs be saved in this rotten economy? The employers' answer: Cut workers' wages and benefits to restore profitability. But a look at history shows that giving back hard-won gains to employers simply doesn't save jobs.
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NATIONAL NEWS
Bush uses election to demand wish list from Congress
Republicans on the rampage
The new Congress, where Republicans control both the House and Senate, won't take office until January. But George W. Bush's party is already on a rampage.
Administration hawk lashes out at Europe
And he talks of morality?
Advocate a war that is certain to kill thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians? No problem. But fail to back that war to the hilt? You must lack a "moral compass." This is the world according to Pentagon hack Richard Perle.
Return of voodoo economics
His father called it "voodoo economics." But that didn't stop the idiot son from spouting discredited gibberish in defense of last year's tax cut giveaway to the superrich.
Government documents down the memory hole
It's the "now you see it, now you don't" method for archiving federal government information.
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INTERNATIONAL NEWS
West Bank crackdown
Israel's new drive against Palestinians
Ariel Sharon is using a Palestinian attack on Israeli settlers and soldiers in the West Bank city of Hebron as an excuse to expand territory held by the right-wing extremists who back him.
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COLUMNS
WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?
One year after the U.S. "liberated" Afghanistan
One year ago last week, the U.S. claimed victory in the war in Afghanistan, when its proxy army, the Northern Alliance, marched triumphantly into Kabul, routing the Taliban. But how is "liberated" Afghanistan faring a year later?
THE MEANING OF MARXISM
What leads workers to fight together?
The same conditions that drive workers to compete with one another for jobs and that appear to impose themselves as "natural laws," also propel workers into collective struggle--into organizing and fighting back.
ISSUES IN THE LABOR MOVEMENT
The ILWU from Bridges to Spinosa
What would Harry Bridges do? That question has been on the minds of activists among the 10,500 dockworkers in the International Longshore and Warehouse Union ever since Bush invoked the anti-labor Taft-Hartley Act against them in October.
Inside the system
Not bad for a dead guy; Oscar for best protester; Heard it through the grapevine
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ON THE PICKET LINE
Chicago grocery workers under heavy pressure to take cuts
Stand up to Dominick's!
Almost 9,000 workers at 113 Chicago-area Dominick's grocery stores--owned by Safeway, Inc.--were working without a contract as Socialist Worker went to press.
Labor in brief
Verizon; Fairbanks Scales; Coca-Cola Downey Sales Center
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REPORTS FROM THE STRUGGLE
SAY NO TO BUSH'S WAR ON IRAQ
"Money for our schools, not war"
Through organizing for a protest on November 20, Chicago antiwar activists are finding a growing layer of students interested in opposing George W. Bush's war on Iraq.
Reports in brief
Protest the School of the Americas; Fight for immigrants' rights
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SW READERS SPEAK OUT
Does it matter if the Democrats get a backbone?
The confidence to fight back
I think it is right to expose the Democrats for their real record and to say that the only way we will win on the issues we care about is through our own struggle. At the same time, I think it is shortsighted to say that it doesn't matter what liberals say on key issues like the war.
Should antiwar activists reclaim the flag?
I must disagree with Elizabeth Schulte's position that antiwar demonstrators should repudiate the American flag (SW, November 8).
Marriott bosses are unfair to workers
I agree totally with your article on Marriott workers (SW, August 30), as I am also a dislocated Marriott employee from one of the distribution centers that they have just closed.
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REVIEWS
Movie offers up brand-new image for rapper
Is Eminem transformed?
Eminem is well known and widely despised for lyrics that routinely joke about rape and violence against women and denigrate gay people. But the new movie 8 Mile, which stars Eminem and is loosely based on his life, promotes a quite a different image.
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