7 November 2009

US unemployment rate surges to highest level in 26 years

By Andre Damon, 7 November 2009

The sharp increase in unemployment has been accompanied by corresponding decline in wages and growth in the exploitation of the working class.

After troop deaths, British establishment rallies behind Afghan war

By Robert Stevens, 7 November 2009

The killing of five British soldiers by an Afghan policeman on Tuesday has only served to highlight the British government’s determination to remain in Afghanistan.

Wall Street banks go to the front of the line for H1N1 shots

By Tom Eley, 7 November 2009

While Americans wait in line for H1N1 shots and schools close due to outbreaks, major private firms—including Citigroup and Goldman Sachs—have secured for themselves a share of the scarce vaccine.

Germany military welcomes new defence minister

By Ulrich Rippert, 7 November 2009

The German military has welcomed the newly appointed defence minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, as one of their own. Guttenberg’s noble title and his aristocratic family’s 800-year-old tradition played a not insignificant role in their response.

Opel workers in Germany protest threatened mass redundancies

By our reporters, 7 November 2009

On Wednesday, thousands of Opel workers took part in protests throughout Germany directed against the massive job cuts to be implemented following General Motors’ decision earlier this week not to sell Opel to auto supplier Magna.

The Clearstream trial: a conflict in the French bourgeoisie

By Alex Lantier, 7 November 2009

The month-long Clearstream trial, hearings for which ended on October 23, is a cynical judicial façade for ruthless state politics.

France: The affairs the Clearstream trial aims to suppress

By Alex Lantier, 7 November 2009

A decades-long series of corruption scandals, bound up with oil and arms deals, constitute the essential legal background to the Clearstream Affair.

Fiji expels Australian and New Zealand diplomats

By Frank Gaglioti, 7 November 2009

Tensions between Fiji and the two regional powers, Australia and New Zealand, intensified further this week after Suva expelled two top diplomats for interfering in the country’s internal affairs.

Unanswered questions over Australian offshore oil spill

By Mike Head, 7 November 2009

Throughout the oil spill crisis, the Rudd government has been preoccupied with protecting the image and profits of the multi-billion dollar offshore drilling industry.

Student protests in Austria

By Markus Salzmann and Johannes Stern, 7 November 2009

Students in Austria are engaging in strikes and protest actions with the central demand: “More money for education, not the banks and corporations.”

New in French

Afghanistan : La comédie électorale prend fin pour faire place à l’escalade

Par Bill Van Auken,7 novembre 2009

Le long et frauduleux processus électoral afghan a pris fin lundi lorsque le président sortant Hamid Karzaï a été déclaré vainqueur. La fin de cette comédie ouvre la voie à l’escalade de la guerre par Washington.

New in German

           

Japans neue Regierung will das Bündnis mit den USA umgestalten

Von John Chan, 7. November 2009

Im Vorfeld von US-Präsident Barack Obamas erstem Besuch in Japan am 12. und 13. November hat Premierminister Yukio Hatoyama das Bestreben seiner Regierung signalisiert, das langjährige Bündnis Japans mit den USA neu auszurichten.

Perspective

Mass shooting at Fort Hood: collateral damage from Iraq and Afghanistan wars

7 November 2009

The mayhem at Fort Hood in Texas, which has left 13 individuals dead and 30 injured, is a byproduct of the brutal wars in the Middle East and Central Asia. It is a form of “collateral damage.”

Earlier Perspectives »

Commentary

Twenty years since the fall of the Berlin Wall
The Christian Democrats celebrate Kohl, Bush and Gorbachev

By Peter Schwarz, 7 November 2009

At the end of October, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) organized a ceremony in Berlin’s Friedrichstadtpalast to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

History

Twenty years since the fall of the Berlin Wall
Statement of the Bund Sozialistischer Arbeiter, October 18, 1989—Part 3
Overthrow the Stalinist bureaucracy!
Build workers’ councils in East Germany!

7 November 2009

This statement by the Central Committee of the Bund Sozialistischer Arbeiter, the predecessor of the Partei für Soziale Gleichheit (Socialist Equality Party of Germany), was issued on October 18, 1989. Today we are posting the third and concluding part of the statement. Part 1 was posted November 5; Part 2 was posted November 6.

Workers Struggles

Australia: Qantas aircraft engineers vote for industrial action

By Terry Cook, 7 November 2009

About 190 professional engineers at Qantas voted by 98 percent to take industrial action after seven months of negotiations for a new work agreement failed to resolve issues over pay and working conditions.

Fire Brigades Union capitulates to South Yorkshire management

By Simon Whelan, 7 November 2009

With just two hours to go before the next in a series of strikes by South Yorkshire firefighters, the Fire Brigade Union capitulated to management demands and called off the stoppages.

Britain: Communication Workers Union sabotages postal strike

By Chris Marsden, 7 November 2009

All strikes by Britain’s 120,000 postal workers were called off until at least the New Year, on the evening that two days of action were about to begin.

Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific

7 November 2009

The World Socialist Web Site invites workers and other readers to contribute to this regular feature.

Book Review

HegelThe “Hegel renaissance” and other questions

A comment on The Cambridge Companion to Hegel and Nineteenth-Century Philosophy

By Alexander Fangmann, 4 November 2009

Last year saw the publication of The Cambridge Companion to Hegel and Nineteenth-Century Philosophy. The volumes of the Cambridge Companion series contain collections of essays by scholars working on a particular philosopher or subject area.

This Week in History: November 2-9

India erupts in anti-Sikh violence in wake of Gandhi assassination

In the wake of the assassination of Indira Gandhi by two of her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984, pogroms targeting the religious minority kill 3,000 and leave tens of thousands more homeless. Most of the violence takes place in Delhi.

More »

Massive strike of US steelworkers ends

On November 7, 1959, the nationwide steel strike involving 500,000 workers comes to end on its 116th day after the US Supreme Court upholds by an eight-to-one margin President Eisenhower's invocation of the Taft-Hartley Act, which allows the US president to end strikes if he declares that they threaten a national emergency.

More »

Republicans routed in off-year elections

The Democratic Party increases sizable majorities in both houses of Congress in the 1934 off-year elections. The result indicates popular support for government intervention to create jobs in the midst of the Great Depression, policies associated with the “New Deal” reformist measures proposed by President Franklin Roosevelt.

More »

Germany’s US ambassador says war “improbable”

In an address to the Academy of American Political and Social Sciences in Philadelphia on November 6, 1909, Germany’s ambassador to the US attempts to reassure Washington that Germany’s rise to world power will not necessarily lead to war.

More »

Correspondence

Letters from our readers

7 November 2009

A selection of recent letters sent to the World Socialist Web Site.

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Videos and Images

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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
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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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