29 March 2010

Washington ratchets up war threats against Iran

By Patrick Martin, 29 March 2010

The Obama administration is ratcheting up its war threats against Iran, in a calculated effort to provoke a crisis with Tehran which could produce a general war in the Middle East.

Former CIA asset Allawi touted as next Iraqi prime minister

By James Cogan, 29 March 2010

With the Iraqiya coalition of Iyad Allawi narrowly ahead of the bloc headed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, frantic negotiations are underway to form the next government.

British Airways cabin crew in second round of strikes

By Robert Stevens, 29 March 2010

British Airways (BA) cabin crews began their second strike action in their ongoing dispute with the airline this weekend.

British Air picketBA strikers: “It is time to stop this rush to the bottom”

By our reporters, 29 March 2010

World Socialist Web Site reporters spoke to striking cabin crew staff at Heathrow and Manchester airports.

New York Times continues cost-cutting campaign with “doctors thoughts”

By Kate Randall, 29 March 2010

In promotion of Obama’s cost-cutting health plan, the Times asks “doctors on the medical front lines,” “What do they think the country—in other words, you and me—should do to help moderate costs?”

Fifty years since the Sharpeville Massacre: The nature of post-Apartheid South Africa

By Brian Smith, 29 March 2010

This month marks the 50th anniversary of the Sharpeville Massacre, in which 69 people were gunned down by the police during a peaceful protest in South Africa.

Britain: The business of education under Labour—Part 3

By Jean Shaoul, 29 March 2010

This is the conclusion of a three-part series on the extent of the privatisation of state education under the Labour government.

DC public schools lead in reactionary education “reforms”

By Niall Green, 29 March 2010

Public schools in Washington, DC, are being subjected to the reactionary education policies associated with the Obama administration’s Race to the Top initiative.

New in French

Grèce : la pseudo-gauche et les syndicats

Par Ulrich Rippert, 29 mars 2010

Les groupements politiques petits bourgeois qui se présentent comme de « gauche » montrent, dans les efforts qu'ils font en Grèce pour subordonner la classe ouvrière aux appareils syndicaux, le rôle politique crucial qu'ils jouent à faciliter la campagne menée par l’élite financière européenne et internationale pour imposer, dans chaque pays, des attaques historiques à la population laborieuse.

Perspective

The struggle against the EU’s financial diktats is a class issue

29 March 2010

The economic crisis has cut the ground from under the propaganda that the European Union provided the means to realize a peaceful and harmonious unification of Europe.

Earlier Perspectives »

Dexter Avenue Fire Inquiry

Obama cuts to home energy assistance to have devastating consequences

By Hiram Lee, 27 March 2010

The Obama administration’s 35 percent cut to the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program will have deadly consequences for those in danger of utility shutoffs.

YoungsVendetta continues against mother who lost three in Detroit fire
Sylvia Young and family members speak out against utility shutoffs

By Jerry White, 25 March 2010

The legal witch hunt against the young mother who lost three of her children in a March 2 house fire in Detroit—just hours after DTE Energy cut off heat and electrical service to her home—is continuing.

Video: Hearing of the Citizens Inquiry into the Dexter Avenue Fire

25 March 2010

The Citizens Inquiry into the Dexter Avenue Fire: Utility Shutoffs and the Social Crisis in Detroit held a hearing at Wayne State University on March 20.

This Week in History: March 29 - April 4

25 years ago: South Africa outlaws political opposition

On March 29 the South African government outlawed public gatherings by 29 different political groups, among them the largest non-parliamentary party, the United Democratic Front (UDP). The largest black party, the African National Congress, was already outlawed.


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50 years ago: First weather satellite launched

The US launched the first weather satellite, known as TIROS-1, from Cape Canaveral in Florida on April 1, 1960. TIROS-1, which stands for Television Infra-Red Observation Satellite, was equipped to send back photographs of weather patterns from an altitude of 450 miles.

75 years ago: Tensions between Germany and Lithuania over Memel territory

Tensions between Germany and Lithuania continued to mount this week in 1935 following the previous week’s sentencing in Kaunas, Lithuania of 91 Nazis who had been convicted of conspiring to take control of the Memel territory (also known as the Klaipėda region) on behalf of Germany.

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100 years ago: Russian Duma strips Finland of autonomy

This week in 1910 the Russian Duma approved a law dictated by Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin stripping from the Grand Duchy of Finland autonomy over any matter of “importance to the Empire.”

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Mehring Books

New release from Mehring Books
The Crisis of the World Capitalist System: Perspectives and Tasks of the Socialist Equality Party 2008-2010

27 March 2010

This new release from Mehring Books contains reports by David North and Joe Kishore analyzing the character, historical origins, and political implications of the current global economic crisis.

Book Review

An American liberal looks at health care systems around the globe

By Fred Mazelis, 29 March 2010

The Healing of America, by longtime Washington Post journalist T.R. Reid, a proponent of health care reform, raises some important issues, despite the severe inadequacy of both its analysis and its prescriptions for change.

The Lacuna, or what’s missing

By Sandy English, 27 March 2010

In The Lacuna, Barbara Kingsolver recounts the life of a fictional writer named Harrison Shepherd, mixing his story in with those of such historical figures as the Mexican painters Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, and Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky.

Sri Lankan SEP Election Campaign

Sri Lankan SEP holds election meeting in Jaffna

By our reporters, 26 March 2010

Around 100 people attended the meeting, where speakers explained the global dimension of the capitalist debt crisis and the struggle facing the working class.

Workers Struggles

Australia: Union ends print workers’ picket

By Terry Cook, 29 March 2010

Workers stood down at Paragon Printers lifted a week-long picket and will return to work under a union deal reached with the administrator on Friday.

Commentary

In the aftermath of the health care vote

27 March 2010

In the aftermath of the passage of the health care bill, there have been various acts of right-wing vandalism and intimidation against congressional Democrats who voted for the legislation.

History

Trotsky lithographTrotsky the subject of cultural events in Russia

By Vladimir Volkov, 24 March 2010

In recent months Leon Trotsky has been the subject of two cultural events in Russia—an exhibition at the State Museum of Political History in Saint Petersburg and a documentary aired on television. Each provided a more objective evaluation of Trotsky’s historical role than is typically found in Russia today, and each had serious limitations.

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Videos and Images


Detroit firefighters discuss impact of utility shut-offs and budget cuts
Citizens Inquiry chairman speaks at press conference
Dexter Avenue fire victim’s son speaks to the WSWS
ISSE members speak at San Diego rallies
Neighbors of Detroit fire victims oppose utility shutoffs
Interviews with neighbors of Bangor Street fire victims
Sister of fire victims speaks on utility shutoffs NUMMI
NUMMI auto workers denounce UAW intimidation Borax
Locked-out California Borax workers oppose concessions Borax
Boron, California mine workers denounce company lock-out House fire
Family members denounce deaths in Detroit fire Detroit teachers
Detroit teachers speak out against DFT Contract Handful of jobs offered at Detroit jobs fair
Handful of jobs offered at Detroit jobs fair H1N1 distribution interviews
Thousands line up for Swine Flu vaccine in Michigan Ford workers speak on contract rejection
Ford workers speak on contract rejection Ford workers speak out against concessions contract
Ford workers speak out against concessions contract 50,000 line up for housing assistance in Detroit
50,000 line up for housing assistance in Detroit ISSE members speak on education cuts at rally
ISSE members speak on education cuts at rally Detroit residents speak on utility bills, social crisis
Detroit residents speak on utility bills, social crisis OU video
Michigan’s Oakland University faculty strike has student support Detroit teachers denounce pay cuts
Detroit teachers denounce pay cuts D'Art
Detroit city workers oppose concessions, layoffs Interviews at Los Angeles health care clinic
Interviews at Los Angeles health care clinic Workers continue Vestas occupation on Isle of Wight
Workers continue Vestas occupation on Isle of Wight A conversation with Windsor municipal workers
A conversation with Windsor municipal workers New York City workers speak against cuts in healthcare and social services
NYC workers speak against cuts in social services Flint vid
Flint, Michigan and the bankruptcy of General Motors MI auto vid
GM workers on bankruptcy and plant closings MI auto vid
Michigan auto workers and families speak on plant closures GM vid
GM workers speak out on concessions contract Protesting students and parents speak to the WSWS
Protesting students and parents speak to the WSWS Chrysler workers speak on concessions vote
Chrysler workers speak on concessions vote UK Visteon workers speak on occupation
UK Visteon workers speak on occupation GM and Chrysler workers oppose more concessions
GM and Chrysler workers oppose more concessions Chrysler workers oppose Obama auto plan
Chrysler workers oppose Obama auto plan
WSWS interviews G20 protesters in London Donovan
Pontiac residents speak on schools crisis Detroit jobs fair
Workers interviewed at Detroit jobs fair
Ford workers: “Now the fight is with our own union.” GM workers videoGM workers denounce concession demands Chrysler workers oppose cuts
Chrysler workers oppose pay cuts, concession demands London demonstration against Sri Lankan war
Over 100,000 demonstrate in London against Sri Lankan war Joanne
Funeral for Michigan man frozen following utility shut-off Montserrat
Exposing Franco's mass graves Bay City, Mich.: “Shutting somebody's electricity off in the dead of winter is criminal”
Bay City, Michigan residents speak on death from utility shut-off London protesters speak to the WSWS
WSWS interviews London protesters London demonstrators protest Israeli assault on Gaza
London demonstrators protest Israeli assault on Gaza Chrysler workers denounce pay cuts
Chrysler workers denounce pay cuts Griffiths and Walsh
The Writer and Revolution: A conversation with Trevor Griffiths

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