By JOE AUCIELLO President Bush, in a major address on the Middle East, declared, "Peace requires a new and different Palestinian leadership so that a Palestinian state can be born. I call on the Palestinian people to elect new leaders, leaders not compromised by terror." The sincerity of the president's proposal for peace in the … Continue reading Would Arafat’s Ouster Bring Peace?
Month: August 2002
U.S. Phony War on Terror: Iraq Invasion Threat, Afghanistan Murder
By GERRY FOLEY Although the U.S. war against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan has now faded into history, Washington's airborne terrorism against the Afghan people is still continuing. On July 1, American planes blew away a wedding party in the village of Kakarak. Official estimates of the number killed were about 40. Most were women … Continue reading U.S. Phony War on Terror: Iraq Invasion Threat, Afghanistan Murder
Genetic Engineering – Danger Along the Food Chain?
Yucca nuke fight not over Thanks to the nuclear industry's lobbying, the Senate gave President Bush the green light last month to proceed with plans for a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, near Las Vegas, Nevada. Under the plan, some 77,000 tons of nuclear waste would be trucked to Yucca Mountain through communities all … Continue reading Genetic Engineering – Danger Along the Food Chain?
Where Standing Still and Minding Your Own Business is a Crime
By ADAM RITSCHER I keep imagining a sign. It's big and green, with white lettering. It hangs over the highway, and it looks like this: Or maybe it isn't over the highway-it could be hanging off the side of city hall with bright flashing Las Vegas lights. "Seven hundred dollars," you'd think to yourself, staring … Continue reading Where Standing Still and Minding Your Own Business is a Crime
Youth in Action
JAMS 4 JUSTICE By MARK OSTAPIAK Ask most people what rock music means and you could expect to hear such answers as "sex," "drugs," big hair," "loud guitars," "a driving rhythm," etc. Furthest from his/her mind is the idea of rock n' roll as a political tool. However, many attempts have been made to silence … Continue reading Youth in Action
UPS Pact – Is the Truth Being Cooked?
By CHARLES WALKER From The New York Times of July 17, ("U.P.S. and Teamsters Reach Deal for a 25% Raise") to the Peoples Weekly World of July 20, ("Teamsters win big at UPS"), comes word that the Teamsters' tentative contract with United Parcel Service (UPS) announced on July 16 is a winner for the workers. But did the usually … Continue reading UPS Pact – Is the Truth Being Cooked?
Fresh Insights into the Conflict: Palestine
By PAUL SIEGEL "The New Intifada: Resisting Israel's Apartheid," ed. Roane Carey. Verso, 2001. 354 pp. $20. "The New Intifada" consists of 20 essays by different contributors, mainly on-the-scene Palestinians, but also including Noam Chomsky, Edward Said, the well-known British journalist Robert Fisk, Israeli peace and human rights activists, and American activists in the Palestinian … Continue reading Fresh Insights into the Conflict: Palestine
Movies About Palestine
By JOHN RUHLAND The escalation of the violence in the Middle East demands a closer look at the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The little-known film "HANNA K.," directed by Costa-Gavras and produced by Franco Solinas, gives a good background. The plot appears to be straightforward: an Israeli lawyer defends a Palestinian man accused of being … Continue reading Movies About Palestine
Bush’s ‘Peace Plan’ & the Media
By JOE AUCIELLO The dominant tone was set early. In the major newspapers throughout the United States, most columnists and op-ed contributors unabashedly cheered for the president's April 5 speech and derided Arafat and the Palestinian cause. Few writers even attempted to grasp the issue from the Palestinian perspective. Television news reported the speech in … Continue reading Bush’s ‘Peace Plan’ & the Media
U.S. Unions Bankroll Israeli Aggression
By BOB MATTINGLY Labor voices are being raised against the AFL-CIO's collaboration with the U.S. government's backing of Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people. Unionists are petitioning the labor federation's officers, stating that they "deplore the fact that AFL-CIO President John Sweeney recently associated U.S. labor's name with support for the Israeli invasion of the … Continue reading U.S. Unions Bankroll Israeli Aggression
Unemployment Growing in China
By ZHANG KAI HONG KONG-Since China embarked on the road for capitalism, enterprises with profit-making as their main concern have been laying off workers for cost-effectiveness. With China entering into global competition after accession to WTO, readjustments, bankruptcies and mergings of enterprises will accelerate; the post Sept. 11 impact on China's exports also added to … Continue reading Unemployment Growing in China
British Government Policies Trigger Strike Wave
By TERRY CONWAY LONDON-It is not only in the United States itself that some of George W. Bush's friends have been having a difficult time. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, one of Bush's closest international allies, has been having a rough ride at home as dissatisfaction with the policies of his government have played a … Continue reading British Government Policies Trigger Strike Wave
Science Fiction Film of Our Post-Ashcroft Future?
By GAETANA CALDWELL-SMITH The film "Minority Report" is based on a short-story by Philip K. Dick, who also wrote the novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" from which the movie "Blade Runner" was made. But "Report," which takes place in 2054, bears little of the gritty, dark look of "Blade Runner." Steven Spielberg made … Continue reading Science Fiction Film of Our Post-Ashcroft Future?
Vouchers: Supreme Court Ruling Fails Test of Public Education
By JOE AUCIELLO On June 27, the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, struck a blow against an already ailing public school system when it upheld the voucher system in Cleveland. Parents in Cleveland can receive up to $2250 in taxpayer money for private schools, and 96 percent of them send their children to religious … Continue reading Vouchers: Supreme Court Ruling Fails Test of Public Education
Labor Department Dares Western Dockers to Strike
By CHARLES WALKER "For the past several years PMA President Joseph Miniace has been pushing hard for an increased role of the federal government in the maritime industry. The agenda: restrict trade-union power on the docks by banning the right to strike. Since Sept. 11 their lobbying has borne strange fruit." - ILWU Business Agent … Continue reading Labor Department Dares Western Dockers to Strike
Defend Lynne Stewart!
By MICHAEL STEVEN SMITH Sixty-two-year-old New York City criminal defense attorney Lynne Stewart is looking at 18 years in a federal prison. To help put her there, Attorney General John Ashcroft flew from Washington to New York to preside over a press conference announcing her indictment and that of three Arab men, charging them with … Continue reading Defend Lynne Stewart!
‘Corporate Responsibility’ – an Oxymoron?
By JEFF MACKLER The recent wild U.S. stock market gyrations have stunned virtually all observers. "Stocks Tumble and the Fallout is Going Global," headlined The New York Times on July 23. As measured by the Standard and Poor's 500-Index, the market lost more between July 15 and July 25 than in any comparable period in history. The … Continue reading ‘Corporate Responsibility’ – an Oxymoron?
Even Corporate Media Scorned Bush’s Pep Talk
By THE EDITORS OF SOCIALIST ACTION Cascading bankruptcies of multibillion-dollar corporations and catastrophic plunges of the stock market forced the official front-man for American capitalism, President George W. Bush, to try to offer some reassurance about "business morality" in a special speech July 9. After all, people might get the idea that our wonderful "free … Continue reading Even Corporate Media Scorned Bush’s Pep Talk
Commentary by Mumia Abu-Jamal: A Plan for Imperial Peace
By MUMIA ABU-JAMAL When an American president speaks, people listen. They listen because (to borrow a term from the French intelligentsia) the United States is a "hyperpower," a superstate in a world with no serious state rival for global military or economic hegemony. They listen, but they don't necessarily agree. This is especially so when … Continue reading Commentary by Mumia Abu-Jamal: A Plan for Imperial Peace
Peruvian Workers Resist Neoliberal Policies – Will Mexico Follow?
By GERRY FOLEY Throughout Latin America, revolt is growing against so-called free market economic policies, a major article in the July 19 New York Timeslamented. The immediate focus of the article was the mass protests in the southern Peruvian city of Arequipa against the planned privatization of two state-owned electricity generators. The newly installed government of … Continue reading Peruvian Workers Resist Neoliberal Policies – Will Mexico Follow?
Israel Escalates Terror Against Palestinians
By GERRY FOLEY International protests and even protests within Israel itself forced the Zionist government to drop, at least temporarily, its threat of deporting the families of suicide bombers to the Gaza strip. (For years it has been standard operating procedure by the Israeli repressive forces to destroy the homes of families with a member … Continue reading Israel Escalates Terror Against Palestinians