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February 28, 2003 | Issue 442

FRONT AND BACK PAGES

Bush thumbs his nose at millions opposed to war
And he calls this a democracy?
"The countdown to war has begun." That's the meaning of the new UN Security Council resolution proposed by the U.S. and Britain, according to the Financial Times.

Ashcroft takes aim at supporters of the Palestinian struggle
Stop this witch-hunt!
John Ashcroft's witch-hunt against Arabs and Muslims hit a new low last week when his Justice Department filed 50 counts of racketeering, conspiracy and other charges against eight new victims.

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SPECIAL FEATURES

The nightmare they have in store for Iraq
What would you call 1 million children under the age of five at risk of starving to death? The Bush administration calls it acceptable collateral damage.

"This is about imperialism"
Scott Ritter served as the chief of the United Nations Special Commission weapons inspectors in Iraq during the 1990s. Today, he is a harsh and outspoken critic of Bush's plans for a new war. Socialist Worker talked to Ritter about why he opposes the U.S. war drive.

Affirmative action: Myth and reality
Affirmative action hangs in the balance--and the Bush administration put it there. Here, SW debunks the arguments that Bush and other right wingers use to vilify affirmative action programs.

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WHAT WE THINK

Washington's war aims extend beyond the invasion of Iraq
The war for U.S. empire
Bush calls Saddam Hussein "a brutal dictator, with a history of reckless aggression, with ties to terrorism, with great potential wealth." His solution? Install a new dictatorship--made in the USA.

A system that puts profits first
Two terrible nightclub tragedies dominated headlines around the country last week. But for every fact that we learned about the cause of these catastrophes, there were other questions left unanswered, and even unasked.

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NATIONAL NEWS

Scheduled to be killed after 26 years
Will Jeb Bush execute an innocent man?
On February 26, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush wants to execute a man who has languished on death row for 26 years for a crime he says he didn't commit.

Bush gang blocks cheap drug plan
The Bush administration is making it harder for poor people around the globe to stay alive--by blocking a proposal that would have loosened global patent rules on life-saving drugs.

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

BOLIVIA
Mass demonstrations against IMF scheme rock the government
Bolivia's tax revolt
Demonstrators rocked the government of Bolivian President Gonzalo Sánchez de Losada in mid-February in an outpouring of rage against new attacks on their living standards.

EGYPT
Government uses torture on detained antiwar activists
Resisting Mubarak's crackdown
Several thousand opponents of a U.S. war on Iraq are defying two decades of martial law and a crackdown by the Egyptian government of President Hosni Mubarak.

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COLUMNS

WHAT DO SOCIALISTS SAY?
Is there a tide of anti-Americanism?
The world is being swept by a tide of hatred and bigotry toward…America. That's the line that Washington's war makers are pumping out as George W. Bush's planned slaughter in Iraq grows closer.

READING BETWEEN THE LINES
Can mass protest put an end to war?
One week after the largest global protests against war ever, the warmongers are even more determined to lead the U.S. into war in Iraq. If the huge protests have failed to dissuade the war makers, is there any hope that the mass of people can have an impact?

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ON THE PICKET LINE

Republican legislature takes aim at state workers
Showdown in Wisconsin
The state of Wisconsin is looking for a fight. The Joint Committee on Employment Relations has set the stage for a strike by voting down a tentative agreement between the state's negotiating team and the unions that represent several groups of state workers.

NYC day care workers take lead in fighting concessions
Day care workers are battling New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's attempts to make city workers pay for the city's budget crisis with givebacks and concessions.

Labor in brief
Azteca Foods; Tyson; Coca-Cola; Seattle janitors

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REPORTS FROM THE STRUGGLE

Student activists form network in Chicago
"Yes, we CAN"
Some 300 students from 100 campuses gathered in Chicago last weekend to hold the first national conference of the Campus Antiwar Network.

Activists expose New York cops
New York police were feeling the heat last week as antiwar activists exposed the cops' tactics of intimidation and violence at the half-a-million-strong February 15 demonstration.

Defend civil liberties
Activists gathered outside the Immigration and Naturalization Service office in New York City on February 21 to protest the "special registration" of immigrants.

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SW READERS SPEAK OUT

Antiwar reports from around the world
Socialist Worker readers from Britain, Italy and New Zealand describe the demonstrations that brought out 10 million people around the globe on February 15 and 16.

Our small victory against the death penalty
Like folks all over the country, I was overjoyed by Illinois Gov. George Ryan's decision to empty death row. We had our own small victory in Austin recently.

Resisting the myth of American apathy
In response to Michael Newton's letter ("Do Americans Care About War?" SW, February 7), I'd like to say that one of the biggest myths in the U.S. is that ordinary people in this country are isolationist and don't care about anyone else.

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REVIEW

Profiting off sensationalism and sexism
Reality TV cash machine
Millions of viewers tuned in last week to Fox's Joe Millionaire to find out who fake millionaire Evan would choose to live out his TV fairy tale. Like most reality TV, the premise played on sexist stereotypes and raw competition for cash to draw its audience.

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