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November 21, 2003 | Issue 477
FRONT AND BACK PAGES
Mother of a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq:
"George Bush killed my son"
As she buried her son Brian, Rosemarie Dietz Slavenas had a message for George W. Bush: "I request in Brian's name a stop to the killing. No more pre-emptive wars."
Thousands defy police to protest FTAA trade deal
Showdown in Miami
Barricades and arrests in the streets, bribes and threats in the suites. Those are Washington's tactics as trade ministers gathered in Miami to negotiate the Free Trade Area of the Americas.
SPECIAL FEATURES
John Pilger on Bush's occupation of Iraq
"They put the lie to their own propaganda"
Veteran journalist and documentary filmmaker John Pilger talks about why the U.S. went to war--and why its colonial occupation is in crisis.
Interview with the mother of a slain U.S. soldier
"He was worth more than oil"
Rosemarie Dietz Slavenas made headlines by refusing to allow any military presence at her son Brian's funeral. In this interview, she talks about Brian's death--and how she wanted to honor him.
Report from the European Social Forum
A Europe of rights, a world without war
Socialist Worker reports from the European Social Forum, where more than 50,000 representatives of left-wing organizations, unions and social movements met to discuss today's--and tomorrow's--struggles.
Uproar over steel tariffs
Steel and the politics of "free" trade
Is American steel a rust-belt relic or a pillar of the U.S. economy? This question came to the fore after the World Trade Organization announced that the U.S. had violated WTO rules by placing tariffs on imported steel.
If Kennedy had lived, would history have been different?
The real JFK
John F. Kennedy's political history reveals not only an utterly conventional American politician, but an ardent Cold Warrior who brought the world the closest it has ever been to nuclear annihilation.
WHAT WE THINK
New strikes and struggles show sentiment for a fightback
The signs of resistance
The growing frustration with corporations that ensure their bottom line by making workers pay has burst through in a number of strikes across the country.
Is Howard Dean a friend of labor?
Howard Dean's presidential campaign got a big boost when he won a joint endorsement from two of the country's most powerful unions. So what does Dean have to offer labor?
NATIONAL NEWS
Hidden behind proposed drug benefit
Their Medicare "deform" scam
Congress is getting set to pass Medicare "reform." So hang on to your wallet. The politicians' proposal will harm the very people that Medicare is supposed to help.
One justice system for the rich and another for the poor
Billionaire killer buys a verdict
The acquittal of billionaire Robert Durst for a grisly murder in Galveston, Texas, shows more clearly than ever that there is one justice system for the rich, and another for the rest of us.
Immigrant workers deprived of their rights
The Wal-Mart sweatshop
"It's an unlawful conspiracy to systematically deprive people of the most basic human rights." That's how a lawyer described Wal-Mart's treatment of thousands of immigrant workers.
Not a "resistance" to the LA Times
The Los Angeles Times has banned the phrase "resistance fighters" from its pages. At least when it refers to Iraqis.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
U.S. stooge teetering as violence increases across the country
Abandoned by Bush
Promises of liberation broken by street bombings and stepped-up military operations. Those are the bitter consequences of Washington's brutal "war on terror" in Afghanistan.
Power struggle at the top could reignite a civil war
Behind the crisis in Sri Lanka
A battle for power among Sri Lanka's most powerful officials is threatening to open a new stage in the country's bloody civil war.
Protests in Britain could spoil the view
The White House didn't want anything to spoil George W. Bush's view during this week's visit to Britain. No matter how many rights that British authorities would have to shred.
COLUMNS
WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?
Is the U.S. bringing democracy to Iraq?
The White House's new rush toward Iraqi sovereignty was coupled with the unveiling of "Operation Iron Hammer," a military crackdown on suspected insurgents.
THE MEANING OF MARXISM
Is social change always gradual?
We're taught in school that change is something that happens gradually. But gradual change and big, qualitative leaps shouldn't be counterposed. They go together.
ON THE PICKET LINE
Problems remain in new deal for Chicago teachers
CTU votes on new contract
Chicago teachers were set to vote on a tentative contract agreement as Socialist Worker went to press.
"We have a stake in the grocery fight"
Solidarity efforts are continuing for the 70,000 locked-out and striking grocery workers entering the sixth week of their struggle.
On the picket line
Teamsters Local 174; Teamsters Local 705 election; Los Angeles transit workers; Boston teachers; City Market
NEWS FROM THE STRUGGLE
Defend the Berkeley 3
University of California-Berkeley Dean of Students Karen Kenney approved sanctions against three students for taking part in a peaceful campus antiwar sit-in.
News and reports
Shut down the FTAA
OUR READERS SPEAK OUT
Organizing against the anti-gay bigots in Chicago
"We don't want your hate!"
More than 100 students came out in solidarity for gay rights to protest an anti-gay hate group on Northeastern Illinois University's campus.
Labor has to take a stand to save union jobs
I attended a rally in Chicago to protest the Free Trade Area of the Americas, and it raised some troubling questions about how the labor movement addresses issues surrounding the FTAA.
Letters to the editor
Why the Greens should run; The millions who die because of profit; SW misrepresented Gonzalez's position; Taking to the aisles to build solidarity; SW shouldn't use the term "moron"
REVIEWS
Making the world look like Texas
Nobody knows better than Texas humorist Molly Ivins the amount of damage possible when the man she calls "GeeDubya" is put in a chief executive position.
They saved pennies while workers died
In his new book, David Von Drehle takes readers step by step through the fire that took the lives of 146 immigrant women in the New York City garment district in 1911.
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