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August 22, 2003 | Issue 465

FRONT AND BACK PAGES

"Our troops have become oppressors and occupiers"
End the occupation now!
Paul Bremer, the man appointed by Bush to run Iraq, wants Iraqis to be grateful for all the "rights" they now enjoy, thanks to the U.S. military occupation of their country. He has some nerve!

How the politicians' deregulation binge caused this crisis
Free market blackout!
The politicians love to talk about protecting us from terrorism. But they didn't do a thing to protect us from the free market madness that caused the Great Blackout of 2003.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Why you should be a socialist
Why do we live in a world of such obscene inequalities and terrible violence? There is an alternative. Here we print excerpts from Alan Maass' Why You Should Be a Socialist, soon to be republished by Haymarket Books in a new and expanded edition.

Book excerpts
The madness of the free market; Wars without end; The future socialist society; "If there is no struggle, there is no progress"; Can workers change society?; The need for organization

From atrocities to routine humiliation
Nightmare in occupied Iraq
A look at the Bush administration's latest report on Iraq--"100 Days Toward Security and Freedom"--shows the nearly delusional gap between White House rhetoric about Iraq and the reality on the ground.

Forty years since the civil rights march that changed U.S. politics
Hidden story of the March on Washington
Four decades since the historic civil rights march where Martin Luther King delivered his famous "I have a dream" speech, Socialist Worker tells the hidden story of how the Kennedy administration frustrated and betrayed the civil rights movement.

WHAT WE THINK

Activists debate what position to take in the 2004 election
Should we settle for the "lesser evil"?
Out of a sense of desperation at what the Bush administration has gotten away with, some people are concluding that who sits in the White House is the most decisive question in U.S. politics. Is it?

The challenges facing our unions
Union leaders have a Labor Day message amid organized labor's worst crisis in decades. Avoid confrontations with the employers and throw everything into backing an "electable" Democrat to beat George Bush..

NATIONAL NEWS

Bush administration wants revenge on human shields
Fined for resisting Washington's war
If the Bush administration gets its way, antiwar activists will have to pay fines totaling tens of thousands of dollars. All for the "crime" of trying to protect innocent Iraqis from the Washington war machine.

Arab immigrants targeted
The Feds' secret deportations
In the latest escalation of its witch-hunt of Arabs and Muslims, the U.S. government is planning a mass deportation of as many as 100 Middle Eastern men and women. Activists are fighting back against this inhumane attack.

Airport blacklist for antiwar activists
Remember the airport blacklist which "red-flagged" antiwar activists as possible security threats? The one that the Feds claimed didn't exist? Turns out they were lying.

Thousands of doctors call for national health care
Over 8000 U.S. doctors have endorsed a plan calling for a national health care system that would eliminate for-profit hospitals and insurance corporations.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

"Apartheid wall" looming over the road map
Israel's racist war on Palestinians
The construction of a "security fence" that snakes its way through the West Bank, cutting off Palestinians from their lands and from each other, exposes the racist and unjust Israeli government as the real obstacle to peace in the region.

Marines landing in Monrovia
Will the "peace deal" bring peace to Liberia?
Oust one warlord, replace him with another, and call it "peace." That's the U.S. plan for Liberia following the departure of former President Charles Taylor.

Will the "new Afghanistan" fall apart?
Afghanistan is a country that is ripping apart at its U.S.-sewn seams.

COLUMNS

READING BETWEEN THE LINES
California political establishment has no answers
Can we recall the system?
In the midst of the news coverage focusing on the California recall "circus," it's easy to lose sight of the bigger picture.

THE MEANING OF MARXISM
The politics of the "lesser evil"
The narrow choice offered in American politics of electing one capitalist politician to replace another has doomed the U.S. left to holding its nose and voting for something they don't want. Is there any alternative?

Inside the System
G.I. George: Real American zero; When Fox News attacks; Heard it through the grapevine

ON THE PICKET LINE

Verizon workers grow impatient with union leaders
Two weeks after the expiration of contracts that covered 78,000 Verizon workers in the Northeast, union negotiators admitted to rank-and-file members that they are "back to square one" in the negotiations.

High stakes for UAW at Jeep
Workers at the big Jeep complex in Toledo, Ohio, voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike in a battle that could have an impact on negotiations for the entire auto industry.

On the picket line
Tyson Foods; Chicago Teachers; Azteca Foods

NEWS FROM THE STRUGGLE

Protest George W. Bush!
Protesters dogged George W. Bush at his mid-August appearances in Arizona and San Diego.

SW READERS SPEAK OUT

Campus Green activists lean toward Kucinich
Is this an alternative?
Should the Greens repent for their support of Ralph Nader in the 2000 presidential election--and line up behind a Democratic candidate? This question ran through the 2003 national convention of the Campus Greens.

Letters to the editor
Harrassed by LA police for being an activist; Struggle is the way to defeat Bush; Sexism is a real issue for women; A step forward for gay teens?

REVIEWS

Film exposes Catholic Magdalene asylums
Profiting off of "salvation"
The Catholic Church has a growing pile of skeletons in its closet. A new movie tells the personal stories of young women abused and enslaved by the Church in Ireland.

The Gatekeeper's view from the border
The new independent film, The Gatekeeper, makes a powerful argument against the idea that the Mexican border is being violated by immigrants, instead showing that it is the immigrants who are victimized by the border.

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