World Socialist Web Site

30 January 2009

Latest US economic data confirms accelerating contraction

By Patrick O'Connor, 30 January 2009

The return of mass unemployment in the US is one of the sharpest expressions of the social misery now being felt by wide sections of the population. The past four days alone, according to a CNNMoney.com analysis, have seen more than 110,000 layoff announcements.

Journalists flee Sri Lanka amid violent attacks and government threats

By Nanda Wickremasinghe, 30 January 2009

Just two weeks after the killing of Lasantha Wickrematunge, the editor of the Sunday Leader, another Sri Lankan editor has been stabbed and beaten.

Mass strikes and protests in France against joblessness and austerity measures

By Antoine Lerougetel, 30 January 2009

Thursday’s day of action throughout France in defence of jobs, the purchasing power of wages and social services, brought an estimated 2.5 million workers and youth onto the streets of some 200 cities and towns.

In run-up to its founding congress
France’s Left Party tries to reorganize French bourgeois left

By Kumaran Ira and Alex Lantier, 30 January 2009

The Left Party is courting virtually the entire French political establishment to the left of the Socialist Party in the hope of forming a large, left coalition that can fill a political vacuum created by the virtual collapse of the Socialist Party and the French Communist Party.

After freezing death of 93-year-old, Michigan city suspends electricity shutoffs

By Tom Eley, 30 January 2009

Amidst widening public outrage over the freezing death of 93-year-old Marvin Schur, municipal authorities in Bay City, Michigan have announced plans to temporarily suspend the utility shutoffs. Since Schur died, more frozen bodies have been found in Michigan.

Britain: Student occupations protest Gaza war

By Robert Stevens, 30 January 2009

Students at more than a dozen universities in the UK have staged occupations in protest at the war in Gaza.

Union bureaucracy victimizes militants at Turkish factories

By Sinan Ikinci, 30 January 2009

The Turkish trade unions have collaborated with management to isolate and victimize militants at factories as the economic and financial crisis has deepened.

Michigan unemployment benefits system in crisis

By Debra Watson and D’Artagnan Collier, 30 January 2009

The wave of recent layoffs has overwhelmed the state of Michigan’s unemployment insurance system, with thousands of workers unable to get through online or by telephone to file claims.

Oregon unemployment hits 9 percent with worse expected

By Hector Cordon, 30 January 2009

In its release of December’s grim unemployment figure of 9.0 percent last week, Oregon’s Employment Department warned that worse is on the way. It did not take long for that prediction to pan out as Intel, Boeing and others announced mass layoffs.

California pension funds close to bankruptcy

By Kevin Martinez, 30 January 2009

The two largest pension funds in California, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), have lost billions of dollars in value.

New in German

Truppen raus aus dem Norden und Osten Sri Lankas!

Von Richard Phillips, 30. Januar 2009

Die World Socialist Web Site ruft Arbeiter und Jugendliche auf, den kriminellen Angriff der srilankischen Armee auf mehr als eine Viertel Million tamilischer Männer, Frauen und Kinder zu verurteilen, die in der Provinz Mullaithivu im Norden des Landes eingeschlossen sind.

Für den Kampf gegen die Wirtschaftskrise brauchen französische Arbeiter eine sozialistische Perspektive

Erklärung der Redaktion der World Socialist Web Site , 30. Januar 2009

Wir veröffentlichen hier die Erklärung der WSWS -Redaktion, die am 29. Januar in mehreren Städten Frankreichs verteilt wurde. Sie beinhaltet die Position des Internationalen Komitees der Vierten Internationale (IKVI) zur Gewerkschaftspolitik im Zusammenhang mit der Wirtschaftskrisenpolitik der französischen Regierung.

Ein spannender Triller, aber kein historischer Film

Von Peter Schwarz, 30. Januar 2009

Der Film präsentiert Stauffenberg als heroischen Einzelkämpfer, von dessen Tatkraft, Geschicklichkeit und Entschlossenheit das Schicksal Deutschlands abhängt. Für ein historisches Verständnis des Widerstands vom 20. Juli reicht das nicht aus.

New in Turkish

SEP Sri Lanka'da savaşa ve demokratik haklara yapılan saldırılara karşı çıkmak için il genel meclisi seçimlerine katılıyor

Sosyalist Eşitlik Partisi (Sri Lanka), 30 Ocak 2009

Sri Lanka’daki Sosyalist Eşitlik Partisi (SEP) 14 Şubat’ta yapılacak olan iki il genel meclisi seçimine katılıyor. SEP adayları, diğer bütün siyasi partilerin aksine, Devlet Başkanı Mahinda Rajapakse ve hükümeti tarafından Tamil Eelam Kurtuluş Kaplanları’na (LTTE) karşı yürütülen savaşa kararlı bir biçimde karşı çıkacak ve Kuzeyden ve Doğudan bütün askerlerin derhal ve koşulsuz olarak çekilmelerini talep edecekler.

New in Portuguese

Tortura e detenção indefinida em Guantánamo se mantêm intactas após medidas de Obama

Por Tom Eley, 30 de janeiro de 2009

Na quinta-feira, o presidente dos EUA, Barack Obama, emitiu ordens para o fechamento da prisão de Guantánamo (em Cuba) por pelo menos um ano, pedindo à Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) e aos militares que seguissem as proibições do Manual do Exército a respeito das torturas e fechando prisões secretas da CIA por todo o mundo.

New in Spanish

Cuba marca quincuagésimo aniversario de la revolución bajo la sombra de la crisis mundial

Por Bill Van Auken, 30 de enero de 2009

Con ceremonias tenues y relativamente pequeñas, los dirigentes de Cuba celebraron el quincuagésimo aniversario de la revolución que derrocó a la corrupta dictadura de Fulgencio Batista — respaldada por los EE.UU. — y que llevó a Fidel Castro al poder.