National

  • A video of an Oakland police officer shooting a man in the back as he lay prone on the ground is beginning to stir national outrage. January 7, 2009

  • Barack Obama's selection for Education Secretary has been hailed as an innovative reformer--but teachers in Chicago know better. December 17, 2008

  • When workers lose their jobs, they often lose health coverage, too. There's no better reason to be for a single-payer health care system. December 17, 2008

  • Boston's racist politics-as-usual is in the limelight after a left-wing politician was arrested and smeared by the media. December 17, 2008

  • Two leading organizers of the November 15 demonstration for equal marriage rights talk about the future of the struggle. December 10, 2008

  • A California referendum that would have directed nonviolent drug offenders toward treatment rather than prison was defeated on Election Day. November 25, 2008

  • The 36 children surrendered under Nebraska's "safe haven" law should be a warning about what's missing from the U.S. social welfare system. November 24, 2008

  • Immigration officials have arrested some of the South Asian workers who staged a dramatic walkout from a Signal shipyard in Mississippi. November 24, 2008

  • Gulf War Illness is a real and debilitating condition affecting one-quarter of U.S. soldiers who served in the 1990-91 war against Iraq. November 21, 2008

  • A Texas death row prisoner examines the injustices in the case of Troy Davis, including evidence of innocence that has never been heard in court. November 21, 2008

  • Some leftists stand aside from or even oppose the explosion of protest in support of gay marriage. They're wrong. November 20, 2008

  • The election of Barack Obama is raising expectations for a reversal of the policies that have led to a virtual war on the undocumented. November 18, 2008

  • Tens of thousands of people gathered in 300 cities across the country November 15 in support of equal marriage rights for all. November 17, 2008

  • George W. Bush may have less than 70 days left in the White House, but he appears intent on doing as much damage as possible on his way out. November 13, 2008

  • An organizer of the November 7 march in San Francisco against the anti-gay marriage Proposition 8 talks about how the protest was organized. November 12, 2008

  • Obama's new chief of staff Rahm Emanuel has decades of experience maneuvering in the world of Washington insider politics. November 12, 2008

  • A false and reactionary narrative is emerging that blames Black voters for the victory of a gay marriage ban passed in California. November 11, 2008

  • A Georgia death row prisoner speaks to his supporters around the world after being saved from the death chamber for a third time in late October. November 11, 2008

  • Anger over the narrow victory of Proposition 8 in California, which bans same-sex marriage, led to protests in several cities. November 7, 2008

  • SocialistWorker.org asks leading voices on the left--Howard Zinn, Mike Davis, Sharon Smith and others--about the prospects for our struggles in a new era. November 5, 2008

  • Analysis and commentary from our writers and columnists as the results rolled in on a historic Election Night. November 5, 2008

  • SocialistWorker.org writers and columnists provide up-to-the-minute analysis and commentary as the results roll in on Election Night. November 4, 2008

  • There's not much suspense about the winner, but how the vote breaks down could hold some surprises. SocialistWorker.org tells you what to focus on. November 4, 2008

  • The Republicans found another "radical" from Barack Obama's Hyde Park neighborhood with a name that just sounds guilty: Rashid Khalidi. November 4, 2008

  • Colin Powell's endorsement of Barack Obama was the most visible among a group of business and military elite that jumping the Republican ship. November 3, 2008

  • Victims of politically motivated surveillance conducted by the Maryland State Police have scored a significant victory. November 3, 2008

  • Barack Obama says America should invest in "clean coal" technology to reduce pollution. But there's nothing clean about "clean coal." October 31, 2008

  • The Chicago Transit Authority wants riders to pay for a budget shortfall caused by insufficient funding and the worsening economy. October 29, 2008

  • John McCain and the Republicans are irate about Barack Obama's alleged determination to "spread the wealth around." What's so bad about that? October 28, 2008

  • Supporters of equal marriage rights are looking to California, where voters will cast a ballot on a right-wing referendum to ban same-sex marriages. October 28, 2008

  • Among Barack Obama's supporters, there is a gnawing fear that racism and bigotry may still cost him the presidential election. Is this fear justified? October 27, 2008

  • For the third time in 16 months, Georgia death row prisoner Troy Davis has been saved from a scheduled execution. October 27, 2008

  • A referendum on the ballot in Massachusetts would eliminate the state income tax--a catastrophe in the current crisis. October 27, 2008

  • If the city of Chicago gets the 2016 Olympics, residents should be certain that the cost of "security" won't be limited to money. October 24, 2008

  • The modest changes Obama has promised fall far short of what is needed. Achieving something more will take a struggle that goes beyond the ballot box. October 22, 2008

  • Former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge was arrested on civil rights charges because of his role in the systematic abuse of prisoners. October 22, 2008

  • Georgia officials wasted no time setting a new execution date for Troy Davis--now supporters are preparing an all-out effort to save him from the death chamber. October 20, 2008

  • When the subject turned to abortion during the last debate, John McCain went off the deep end and sank to a new low. October 20, 2008

  • Just in time to claim vote fraud in November, Republicans have manufactured a scandal involving an old target: the group ACORN. October 17, 2008

  • While Republicans rail about Barack Obama's alleged ties to a "terrorist," John McCain is hiding connections with violent right-wing extremists. October 16, 2008

  • The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal by Troy Davis, clearing the way for Georgia to execute an innocent man. October 15, 2008

  • The new coalition Health Care for America Now promises to fight for reforms--but their proposals leave the insurance companies unscathed. October 15, 2008

  • The McCain campaign's attempt to tie Barack Obama to "terrorism" by linking him to former 1960s radical William Ayers is a fraud. October 13, 2008

  • Why is it that the Democrats, the party that is supposed to stand up for women's right to choose, try so hard to keep that a secret? October 3, 2008

  • The Republicans--who have led a relentless 30-year war on women's rights--are claiming to be pro-woman because they nominated Sarah Palin. October 2, 2008

  • A mosque in Dayton, Ohio, was attacked by two men using pepper spray, yet police refuse to call the incident a hate crime. October 2, 2008

  • Many of Obama's progressive supporters know his pitfalls well, and no matter how disastrous these may seem, they'll still vote for him. September 30, 2008

  • The U.S. Supreme Court will decide today whether to hear an appeal from Troy Davis--which could mean life or death for Troy as early as tonight. September 29, 2008

  • September 29 will be a national day of action to stop the execution of Georgia death row prisoner Troy Davis. September 26, 2008

  • Troy Davis won a stay of execution from the U.S. Supreme Court less than two hours before he was scheduled to be put to death. September 24, 2008

  • In the mass mailing Planned Parenthood sent out last week, the word "abortion" appears nowhere--not even "pro-choice." September 24, 2008

  • Troy Davis is scheduled to be executed today, for a crime he didn't commit--and the state of Georgia won't even let a jury hear the evidence. September 23, 2008

  • Peter Miguel Camejo lost his long battle with cancer on September 13, but he left behind a lifetime of fighting for a better world. September 22, 2008

  • If the state of Georgia gets its way, Troy Davis will join Frances Newton as another innocent victim of the machinery of death. September 19, 2008

  • John McCain and the Republicans have shown a willingness to invoke a new lexicon of coded racism, aimed at stoking bigotry among white voters. September 17, 2008

  • Hurricanes like Ike aren't unknown to Galveston residents. What’s new is the sheer viciousness of a government that blames the people who lost everything. September 17, 2008

  • Are you facing foreclosure? If you live in Macomb County, Mich., you could lose your right to vote if Republicans get their way. September 17, 2008

  • Georgia officials denied clemency for Troy Davis, clearing the way for his scheduled execution, but his supporters are upping the pressure. September 16, 2008

  • Joe Biden's visit to Holyoke, Mass., for a $2,300-per-plate fundraiser served to highlight the social crisis in one of the state's poorest cities. September 16, 2008

  • Veteran socialist Peter Camejo, who died this weekend after a long battle with cancer, talked to Socialist Worker in 2005 about the crisis in California. September 15, 2008

  • Participating in Ron Paul's press conference for third-party candidates was a backward step by Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney. September 12, 2008

  • Troy Davis could be put to death before the end of the month for a crime he didn't commit if the state of Georgia gets its way. September 8, 2008

  • The death of a 17-year-old undocumented farmworker has drawn attention to slave-like labor practices all over California. September 8, 2008

  • Police repression of peaceful protesters was rampant in Minneapolis-St. Paul during the Republican National Convention. September 5, 2008

  • All over the country, hospitals have been deporting seriously disabled immigrants--with the sanction of laws passed by anti-immigrant politicians. September 5, 2008

  • On the same day Sarah Palin revealed that her 17-year-old daughter was pregnant, Republicans passed a platform supporting abstinence-only education. September 4, 2008

  • Dr. Sami Al-Arian was finally released on bail and reunited with his family for the first time since the Feds' witch-hunt began with his arrest in 2003. September 4, 2008

  • Latino supporters of the Chicago Fire soccer team are organizing to challenge racist behavior by stadium security guards. September 3, 2008

  • After months of grumbling about John McCain, the Republican right was over the moon about his choice of a running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. September 2, 2008

  • If Hurricane Gustav had hit closer to New Orleans, it could have overwhelmed a levee system that still isn't rebuilt. September 2, 2008

  • In Laurel, Miss., immigration agents carried out the largest single workplace raid in U.S. history, causing terror in the Latino community. August 29, 2008

  • The federal government's efforts to help New Orleans recover, like the response to the Katrina disaster itself, have been completely inadequate. August 29, 2008

  • Anyone can watch the stage-managed convention extravaganzas on television, but to see the real action, you have to pay big bucks for access. August 27, 2008

  • Opponents of the death penalty are celebrating a last-minute ruling that stopped a Texas man from being executed for being in the wrong place. August 26, 2008

  • One of the best-known voices in the antiwar movement explains why she's running against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the November election. August 26, 2008

  • Barack Obama is a favorite politician of the agribusiness industry, which is making record profits off the ethanol boom. August 21, 2008

  • It was hard, but Patricia and Michael Phillips kept up on the monthly $600 rent. So they were shocked when they were told they would be evicted. August 20, 2008

  • Two men convicted of murder in the notorious 1991 "Yogurt Shop" case in Austin, Texas, may be coming home soon. August 14, 2008

  • An overzealous federal prosecutor is proving that anti-Muslim racism is at the heart of the ongoing prosecution of Dr. Sami Al-Arian. August 13, 2008

  • It’s an old childhood adage that "it takes one to know one," but what phrase better describes John McCain when it comes to "playing the race card"? August 7, 2008

  • The murder of Luis Ramírez by white teenagers in Shenandoah, Pa., is the horrifying outcome of a climate of hate and scapegoating whipped up against undocumented immigrants. August 6, 2008

  • Under its Law of Parties, Texas is once again poised to execute a man who was never even accused of killing someone. August 5, 2008

  • The U.S. jails more of its population than any other country, but it stands even further apart in sentencing men and women to spend the rest of their lives behind bars. August 1, 2008

  • One of the targets of the Maryland police spies talks about what the scandal means for activists--and the importance of standing up for justice. August 1, 2008

  • Under George Bush, the Labor Department, which is supposed to look after workers' rights, has instead looked after the employers' bottom line. July 31, 2008

  • Five years after his arrest, the family of Dr. Sami Al-Arian is still waiting for his release from prison--despite the fact that he has never been convicted of a crime. July 30, 2008

  • A three-year-old boy was killed in the Cabrini Green housing complex in Chicago when a 7-foot steel gate with rusted-through hinges fell on him. July 30, 2008

  • Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel is embroiled in a scandal over his use of not one, not two, but four rent-stabilized apartments in Manhattan. July 29, 2008

  • A Justice Department report detailing ongoing human rights abuses against prisoners at Cook County Jail in Chicago reads like a horror story out of Abu Ghraib. July 25, 2008

  • The Maryland State Police have been exposed for carrying out a clandestine surveillance campaign against anti-death penalty and antiwar activists. July 21, 2008

  • Congress overrode a Bush veto to end a weeks-long fiasco in the Medicare program that threatened to cut payments to doctors by over 10 percent. July 17, 2008

  • The city of Chicago wants to spend tens of millions to build an Olympic Village for the 2016 Games--but it hasn't been named the host city yet. July 15, 2008

  • Immigration rights activists in Baltimore held a spirited rally to protest an ICE raid on an Annapolis, Md., painting company. July 11, 2008

  • Defenders of biofuels say they have the solution to the planet's environmental crisis. But scratch beneath the surface, and biofuels don't look so good. July 10, 2008

  • What John McCain and Barack Obama have to say about health care isn't very encouraging. But that doesn't mean activists should be pessimistic. July 10, 2008

  • The tributes for Jesse Helms after his death called him a man of "stubborn principle." But the principles he actually stood for make most people's skin crawl. July 8, 2008

  • One major reason for Barack Obama's popularity is the belief that he's antiwar. But the men and women he's gathered around him as advisers are veteran war-makers. July 2, 2008

  • With his campaign moves since clinching the nomination, Barack Obama seems more and more like a car whose steering wheel is stuck in one direction. June 27, 2008

  • A Texas prisoner describes the struggle against repression and the death penalty organized inside the belly of the beast. June 25, 2008

  • New federal legislation on domestic surveillance sets back hard-fought free speech, civil rights and privacy protections--with bipartisan support. June 24, 2008

  • Barack Obama's Father's Day speech ignored the underlying and decades-old sources of the problems facing Black neighborhoods. June 24, 2008

  • Two Illinois women describe how callous treatment by the health insurance industry wreaked havoc on their lives. June 17, 2008

  • An Indian worker talks about the brutal conditions he and his coworkers faced at the Signal shipyards in Mississippi--and the struggle they organized for justice. June 16, 2008

  • Hillary Clinton began her campaign as the "inevitable" candidate. The question of women's rights didn't come up until it became politically expedient. June 13, 2008

  • Trying a 14-year-old as an adult will do nothing to stop other crimes like the one he committed--the murder of a fellow student who was gay. June 12, 2008

  • By appeasing the Israeli and U.S. right at the AIPAC conference, Obama was signaling that he wouldn't change the course set by George Bush. June 11, 2008

  • Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget would force poor and working Californians to pay for nearly every penny of a $15.2 billion state shortfall. June 10, 2008

  • Unlike most people, Ted Kennedy didn't have to worry for one minute that he wouldn't get the care he needed for his life-threatening cancer. June 5, 2008

  • A law set to take effect in Oklahoma this November will force women to submit to an ultrasound before terminating a pregnancy. June 3, 2008

  • Behind the rhetoric about improving education, the goal of privatization is to undercut and destroy a system of public control over schools. June 2, 2008

  • Alvin Clay has dedicated his life to defending those accused of crimes, but vindictive federal officials are carrying out a campaign to bring him down. June 2, 2008

  • Videos of a Wal-Mart managers’ meeting have provided a seldom-seen glimpse into how big corporations buy political power and influence. May 30, 2008

  • The worst damage to New Orleans schools came after Hurricane Katrina--inflicted by conservative ideologues and private education companies. May 28, 2008

  • Four-year-old Isabella Griggs won the fight of her life when an insurance giant caved to pressure and agreed to cover necessary rehabilitative training. May 26, 2008

  • Half a lifetime ago, Pol Brennan was a political prisoner of the British government in Northern Ireland. Today, he sits in a Texas immigration jail. May 23, 2008

  • Predictably, the right is angry about the California same-sex marriage decision. More alarming, though, is the evasive position of some on the left. May 22, 2008

  • The California Supreme Court has opened the door to marriage equality for gays and lesbians in the biggest state in the country. May 20, 2008

  • Fast-food giant Burger King was caught with its royal pants down when reports revealed the company was spying on farmworker rights activists. May 16, 2008

  • The students arrested in the drug bust at San Diego State University could have their young lives damaged irrevocably. May 16, 2008

  • Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents descended on an Iowa slaughterhouse in the largest raid in the state's history. May 14, 2008

  • The sister of Georgia death row prisoner Troy Davis explains why the courts aren't letting evidence of his innocence be heard. May 14, 2008

  • The brutality of Philadelphia police is on display for the world to see in a video showing a dozen officers descending on three African American men. May 12, 2008

  • The "working class" and its much debated "bitterness" are at the forefront of the 2008 election, but with this has come a reprise of longstanding stereotypes. May 9, 2008

  • An ingredient in most plastic baby bottles on the market may cause developmental disturbances--but the government isn't moving to ban it. May 8, 2008

  • The Democratic presidential candidates say they will reduce crime by putting more police on the street. But the facts tell a different story. May 7, 2008

  • While the acquittal of Sean Bell's police killers was greeted with pleas for calm, Jeremiah Wright was denounced from coast to coast as "racist" and "paranoid." May 2, 2008

  • Outrage, disgust--and protest. That was the reaction of supporters of Sean Bell to the acquittal of three police officers who killed him in a hail of 50 bullets. May 1, 2008

  • Sami Al-Arian is facing another extension of his incarceration--and has been forced to take desperate action in protest. April 25, 2008

  • I teach at an elementary school in East Harlem, where we recently learned that there are high levels of cancer-causing PCBs in our building. April 25, 2008

  • After a seven-month halt on executions, death penalty opponents faced a setback when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that lethal injection was constitutional. April 25, 2008

  • In tomato fields in Florida, in a shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss., in Los Angeles sweatshops, immigrant workers are enduring a form of modern-day slavery. April 11, 2008

  • The country's largest corporation is trying to steal from a former employee who is now severely disabled. April 4, 2008

  • Mumia Abu-Jamal suffered a setback in his struggle for justice when a federal court upheld his murder conviction and refused him a new trial. April 4, 2008

  • PacifiCare's refusal to pay for his cancer treatment could have been the end of the story. Instead, Nick Colombo's brother was determined to fight. April 4, 2008

  • José Luis Buenrostro-Gonzalez, 1992-2008

    Police claim that 15-year-old José Luis Buenrostro-Gonzalez pointed a weapon at them. But eyewitnesses and his family tell a different story. March 28, 2008

  • The Georgia Supreme Court isn't going to let the truth stop the state from executing an innocent man. March 28, 2008

  • The number of Americans behind bars is equal to the combined populations of Atlanta, Miami, Minneapolis, Cincinnati, Kansas City and Pittsburgh. March 21, 2008

  • Refusing to work in slave-like conditions, 100 immigrant guest workers from India walked out of a shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss. March 21, 2008

  • Hillary Clinton's and Barack Obama's criticisms of the North American Free Trade Agreement make it seem like the U.S. is the biggest loser. March 14, 2008

  • Health care in crisis:

    Health care reform has been at the center stage of the Democratic primaries. But both Hillary Clinton's and Barack Obama's proposals fall short. March 7, 2008

  • Ralph Nader's critique of the Democrats remains true, but the political setting for the 2008 election is different from his previous campaigns. March 7, 2008

  • The U.S. military has announced plans to shoot down a 5,000-pound spy satellite by firing a missile into space. February 22, 2008

  • "Why?" was the question asked again and again last week in the wake of a deadly shooting at Northern Illinois University. February 22, 2008

  • The debate about the torture of "war on terror" detainees was reopened when a White House spokesman asserted that waterboarding is legal. February 15, 2008

  • The economic stimulus plan passed by Congress shafts the unemployed, the hungry and tax-paying undocumented immigrants. February 15, 2008

  • The unidentified remains of at least six workers were recovered after an explosion at the Dixie Crystal sugar refinery in Port Wentworth, Ga. February 15, 2008

  • Millions voted on Super Tuesday with the hope that a Democratic president will end the war on Iraq. But the Democrats' history should give them pause. February 8, 2008

  • George W. Bush's proposed budget for fiscal year 2009 is a perfect capstone to his administration's relentless service to the super-rich. February 8, 2008

  • The U.S. Senate looks set to rubberstamp a Bush administration demand that its new spying powers be made permanent. February 8, 2008

  • Abortion is harder to obtain for many women today than several decades ago, and support for the right to choose has declined. February 8, 2008

  • More than 250 Massachusetts doctors issued an open letter warning against a "cure" that promotes the health--and wealth--of private insurers. February 1, 2008

  • In another setback for the Bush administration's "terror" prosecutions, the Feds failed to win a life sentence for Jose Padilla. February 1, 2008

  • The National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights held its national conference with a weekend of education, debate and discussion. February 1, 2008

  • Chicago activists are gearing up for a second round in their fight against deportations and the separation of families. February 1, 2008

  • Race and racism have emerged at the heart of the Democratic presidential campaign. But they have always been beneath the surface of U.S. politics. January 25, 2008

  • Ralph Nader's 2000 presidential campaign electrified U.S. politics. But the prospects for an independent presidential challenge are very different this year. January 25, 2008

  • Jamie Lynn Spears' statement that she was "shocked" she could become pregnant says a lot about the ignorance about sex forced on American teenagers. January 25, 2008

  • Donna Smith, a victim of the health care system featured in the film Sicko, talks to Socialist Worker about the struggle for health care rights for all. January 25, 2008

  • Some 4,000 college students in Arizona have been denied in-state tuition because they didn't prove they were legal residents or U.S. citizens. January 25, 2008

  • Would Hillary Clinton meet the expectations of many women that she will act on the issues that matter in their day-to-day lives? January 18, 2008

  • Was Barack Obama robbed of victory in the New Hampshire primary by the racist fears of white voters? The evidence for this contention is thin. January 18, 2008

  • In light of the tendency of some liberals to identify Bush's critics within the CIA as the "good guys," it's worth recalling the agency's real history. January 18, 2008

  • The Chicago City Council approved a nearly $20 million settlement for four men who were tortured by police and railroaded onto death row. January 18, 2008

  • Voters' desire to see political change has become the undisputed theme of Election 2008 following the strong surge of support for Barack Obama. January 11, 2008

  • Supporting a candidate with right-wing views, even if he is against the war, is a disaster for anyone who wants to rebuild the left. January 11, 2008

  • A bill that would criminalize dissent in frightening ways is working its way through Congress with virtually no opposition. January 11, 2008

  • The super-rich are getting super-richer--while the rest of us struggle to get by. That's the reality that emerges from new government data tracking inequality. January 11, 2008

  • A 17-year-old California woman died five days before Christmas after her parents' health insurance company denied her a life-saving liver transplant. January 11, 2008

  • Obama's big win in Iowa:

    Voters' desire to see political change has become the undisputed theme of Election 2008 following the strong surge of support for Barack Obama. January 4, 2008