10 March 2010

Obama stumps for his cost-cutting health care overhaul

By Kate Randall, 10 March 2010

Obama spoke in Pennsylvania Monday as part of a last-ditch push to gain passage of his health care overhaul. His remarks were a cynical effort to conceal the right-wing character of the legislation.

Papandreou in Washington
Obama administration backs Greek austerity measures

By Barry Grey, 10 March 2010

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou met Tuesday with President Obama in the White House in a bid to shore up political support for the PASOK government’s sweeping attacks on the jobs and living standards of Greek workers.

Stampede at Indian temple kills 63

By Arun Kumar, 10 March 2010

A tragic incident near the town of Kunda in the state of Uttar Pradesh last Thursday again highlighted the abject poverty facing tens of millions throughout India.

Russian President Medvedev signs strategic, business deals in France

By Kumaran Ira, 10 March 2010

France and Russia signed energy, military, and industrial deals as France tried to rally Russian support against Iran and develop its influence in eastern Europe.

Britain: Dartington College of Arts to close

By Joe Mount, 10 March 2010

Dartington College of Arts, a small academic institution in Devon, England, will close this autumn.

Superintendent plans to close nearly half of Kansas City schools

By Tom Horton, 10 March 2010

On Wednesday, the Kansas City, Missouri, School District’s (KCMSD) board will vote on superintendent Dr. John Covington’s plan to close 26 of the district’s 61 schools, eliminating 700 jobs, including 285 teaching positions.

Pittsburgh officials shift blame for steelworker’s death to paramedics

By Phyllis Steele, 10 March 2010

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, City and Allegheny County officials are seeking to blame paramedics and other emergency personnel for the death of 50-year-old Curtis Mitchell, an unemployed steelworker, during the worst winter storm to hit Pittsburgh in over 125 years.

Illinois budget crisis deepens

By Matt Morley, 10 March 2010

A number of recent reports highlight the deepening economic and social crisis currently gripping the state of Illinois. The state with the fifth largest economy in the US currently faces an unprecedented $12.8 billion budget deficit.

Britain: Stafford General Hospital inquiry exposes impact of assault on NHS

By Tania Kent, 10 March 2010

A devastating report, delivered on February 23 into Stafford General Hospital, exposed conditions that one might expect in an underdeveloped country.

New in Russian

Украинские выборы и провал "оранжевой революции"

Нил Грин, 10 марта 2010 г.

Разгромное поражение Виктора Ющенко в ходе президентских выборов в январе этого года и избрание Виктора Януковича во втором раунде голосования 7 февраля знаменуют собой позорный конец "оранжевой революции" 2004 года.

New in German

Die Medienhetze gegen Griechenland

Von Ulrich Rippert, 10. März 2010

Das Finanzdiktat der EU in Griechenland ist der erste Schritt, um die Last der Finanzkrise der europäischen Bevölkerung aufzuzwingen.

Die Liberalen lamentieren: Was ist los mit Obama?

Von Patrick Martin, 10. März 2010

In der ersten Märzwoche waren in den amerikanischen Medien einige Kommentare - meist von liberalen Koryphäen - zu lesen, die sich über Präsident Obamas Ansehen in der Öffentlichkeit und die zunehmende Zerstrittenheit der Demokratischen Partei Sorgen machen.

Tschechien: Gewerkschaften stoppen Streik der Transportarbeiter

Von Markus Salzmann, 10. März 2010

Der tschechische Gewerkschaftsverband hat am Mittwoch vergangener Woche erneut einen Streik abgesagt und unterstützt damit die Politik der konservativen Regierung unter Jan Fischer und des rechtsgerichteten Präsidenten Vaclav Klaus.

Alice Schwarzer hetzt gegen Clara Zetkin

Von Justus Leicht, 10. März 2010

In einer hysterischen Tirade in der Frankfurter Rundschau (FR) hat Deutschlands bekannteste Vertreterin des bürgerlichen Feminismus, Emma-Herausgeberin Alice Schwarzer, am internationalen Frauentag, dem 8. März, für dessen Abschaffung plädiert.

New in French

Papandreou à Paris
Sarkozy se fait l'écho de la ligne dure de l'Allemagne sur la crise de l'endettement de la Grèce

Par Antoine Lerougetel , 10 mars 2010

Le président français Nicolas Sarkozy a rencontré le premier ministre grec Georges Papandreou à l'Elysée dimanche et s'est fait l'écho de la chancelière allemande Angela Merkel en insistant pour que la Grèce résolve sa crise d'endettement en imposant à la classe ouvrière un programme d'austérité brutal.

Perspective

The German media’s chauvinist campaign against Greece

10 March 2010

The chauvinist campaign directed against Greece by sections of the international media, and particularly the German media, has assumed an increasingly strident tone since Greek workers took to the streets in large numbers to oppose the austerity program dictated by the European Union and the banks.

Earlier Perspectives »

Arts Review

Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island: Mysterious and sinister, but headed where precisely?

By Joanne Laurier, 10 March 2010

In 1954, US Marshal Ted Daniels leads the hunt for an escapee from a hospital for the criminally insane on the remote Shutter Island.

“What’s necessary is a vibrant film culture not just a formula”
Lucky Country scriptwriter Andy Cox speaks with the WSWS

By Richard Phillips, 10 March 2010

The WSWS recently spoke with Lucky Country scriptwriter Andy Cox, who explained some of the film’s themes, and commented on the increasing demands for Australian filmmakers to be animated by commercial considerations.

The 82nd Annual Academy Awards: Hollywood celebrates itself, undeservedly

By Hiram Lee and David Walsh, 9 March 2010

This year’s Academy Awards ceremony has come and gone. The broadcast Sunday night from the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, at three hours and 32 minutes, was a long and dull affair in which relatively little of real life found its way into the proceedings.

Dexter Avenue Fire Inquiry

FireA photographic exposé of the social crisis in Detroit

10 March 2010

A collection of photographs taken in the Detroit neighborhoods where lethal house fires recently took place.

As death toll from fatal house fires increases
Mayor plans to relocate poor residents to “downsize” Detroit

By Jerry White, 9 March 2010

A series of fatal house fires have occurred in Detroit as the mayor of the city prepares to force residents out of poor neighborhoods and bulldoze their homes in order to eliminate public services to whole swaths of the city.

From the catalog of Mehring Books
The Truth Behind the Mack Avenue Fire

9 March 2010

In connection with the Citizens Inquiry sponsored by the Socialist Equality Party into the recent fire on Dexter Avenue in Detroit and the social conditions that gave rise to it, Mehring Books is recommending to readers The Truth Behind the Mack Avenue Fire.

Visit the Citizens Inquiry web site

10 March 2010

The WSWS and the Socialist Equality Party has created a web page dedicated to the Citizens Inquiry into the Dexter Avenue fire and the social crisis in Detroit. All articles, statements, and audio-visual material related to the inquiry can be found here.

Sri Lankan SEP Election Campaign

Sri Lankan SEP launches election campaign

By our correspondents, 8 March 2010

The Sri Lankan SEP launched its campaign for the April 8 general elections with a public meeting in Colombo on March 5.

SEP (Australia) Founding Congress

Documents of the SEP Founding Congress
The Historical and International Foundations of the Socialist Equality Party (Australia)—Part 10

10 March 2010

The World Socialist Web Site continues publication of The Historical and International Foundations of the Socialist Equality Party (Australia). The document was adopted unanimously at the party’s founding congress in Sydney on January 21–25.

Socialist Equality Party

Australia: The Rudd government and the new stage of the economic crisis

By the Socialist Equality Party (Australia), 9 March 2010

In response to the deepening global economic crisis, a shift in political relations in Australia has rapidly emerged since the beginning of 2010 that has far reaching consequences for the working class.

Commentary

The liberals’ lament: What’s wrong with Obama?

9 March 2010

The first week of March has seen a number of commentaries in the American media, mainly from liberal pundits, worrying over the declining public standing of President Obama and the growing signs of disarray in the Democratic Party.

After the March 4 protests against education cuts

8 March 2010

The demonstrations against education cuts on March 4 are an important step forward in the fight to defend public education, and raise important questions of political perspective.

Mehring Books

BookWinter Recommended Reading Series
Patrick Martin: “A deeply rewarding intellectual journey”
The History of the Russian Revolution by Leon Trotsky

By Patrick Martin, 8 March 2010

Mehring Books is continuing its Winter Recommended Reading Series with a comment by Patrick Martin about Leon Trotsky’s The History of the Russian Revolution.

25 years ago: Gorbachev installed as Soviet leader

On March 11, 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev was installed as General Secretary of the Comumunist Party of the Soviet Union. He was selected by the ruling Politburo, three hours after the death of his predecessor, Konstantin Chernenko. Gorbachev was the youngest man to hold the position and the first born after 1917. A “reformer,” his appointment was a turning point in the ruling bureaucracy’s attack on the property relations established by the October Revolution.


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50 years ago: Pioneer V launched into space

The US space program NASA launched the probe Pioneer V on March 11, 1960, from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with its primary mission to investigate interplanetary space between the orbits of Earth and Venus.

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75 years ago: Göring announces creation of Luftwaffe

General Hermann Göring, Germany’s Minister of Aviation, announced this week that the Nazis had begun the process of developing an air force. This action was in direct violation of the Treaty of Versailles, which prohibited the armed forces of Germany from including a “military or naval air force.”

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100 years ago: Hollywood star system is born

On March 12, 1910, Canadian actress Florence Lawrence became the first motion picture star widely known by her name, after an enterprising film entrepreneur, Carl Laemmle, won her away from legendary director D.W. Griffith and the film monopoly of Thomas Edison. Edison responded by blacklisting Lawrence.

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Videos and Images


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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