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Published by the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI)

23 July 2010

The consequences of a US war crime
Cancer rate in Fallujah worse than Hiroshima

By Tom Eley, 23 July 2010

Five and a half years after an assault by the US military, the Iraqi city of Fallujah is experiencing higher rates of cancer, leukemia, and infant mortality than those recorded among survivors in Japanese cities targeted for nuclear incineration in 1945.

US jobless claims, housing data point to worsening economy

By Barry Grey, 23 July 2010

Reports issued Thursday on initial claims for unemployment benefits and sales of previously owned homes confirm that the US economy is slowing dramatically.

SEP (Australia) Election Campaign

Australia: Electrical union members disaffiliate from Labor

By Terry Cook, 23 July 2010

The vote is a sharp indication of mounting hostility within the working class toward the Labor government.

Australian election: The Labor government’s childcare backdown and the profit system

By Tania Baptist, SEP candidate for Gellibrand, 23 July 2010

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has made clear that Labor’s construction halt on new childcare centres, which was imposed at the behest of the private for-profit childcare operators, will be maintained.

Full coverage of the SEP (Australia) election campaign »

BP oil disaster

Fishermen on strike against BP

By Hiram Lee, 23 July 2010

Gulf fishermen employed as cleanup workers walked off the job on Tuesday in protest against BP’s decision to force them to sleep on quarter ships known as “flotels” without pay.

Deepwater Horizon workers knew of problems before explosion

By Josué Olmos, 23 July 2010

Two internal Transocean reports reveal that Deepwater Horizon workers were well aware of mechanical and safety problems aboard the rig, but they feared reprisal should they speak out.

Full coverage of the Gulf oil disaster »

Finland targeted for EU/IMF austerity demands

By Jordan Shilton, 23 July 2010

Last month, Finland was issued with a warning by the European Union commission over the size of its budget deficit, which is expected to rise above 4 percent of GDP this year.

Detroit: Jobs scarce as home foreclosures hit record

By Shannon Jones, 23 July 2010

Detroit area foreclosures are at a record level while Michigan’s unemployment rate remains at one of the highest in the US.

Massey shut off methane detectors at deadly mine

By Samuel Davidson, 23 July 2010

Coal miners who worked at the Upper Big Branch mine in Montcoal, West Virginia, where a deadly blast killed 29 miners on April 5, told federal investigators that Massey foremen ordered an electrician to disable a methane detector months before the explosion occurred.

Social crisis in California deepens for millions

By Richard Vargas and Alfonso Santana, 23 July 2010

The seven-week delay by the US Senate in passing an extension of unemployment benefits has considerably deepened the social crisis in California, the most populous state.

New in French

Les autorités suisses décident de ne pas extrader Roman Polanski

Par David Walsh, 23 juillet 2010

La décision suisse de ne pas extrader Roman Polanski est un coup porté au parquet de Los Angeles et au ministère américain de la Justice dont la campagne vindicative et à motivation politique a été démolie.

New in German

Australia: Wahlslogans rufen Abscheu hervor

Von Nick Beams, 23. Juli 2010

Schon in der ersten Woche des Wahlkampfs in Australien wird der hohle und verkümmerte Zustand der gesamten bürgerlich-parlamentarischen Demokratie sichtbar.

US-Regierung lässt BP gewähren
Aussickerung und "ungeklärte Auffälligkeiten" nahe dem Macondo-Bohrloch

Von Tom Eley, 23. Juli 2010

Die Obama-Regierung hat frühere Forderungen fallengelassen, dass BP den Verschluss der Maconda Ölquelle wieder öffnet. Leckagen und "andere Anomalien" wurden nahe dem Quellkopf entdeckt, die auf eine mögliche Beschädigung der Verrohrung der Quelle hindeuten.

Kriegserinnerungen im Alter

Von Werner Siepmann, 23. Juli 2010

Der Autor dieses Artikels, Jahrgang 1931, verbrachte selbst einige Zeit des 2. Weltkriegs in Kellern und Bunkern im Ruhrgebiet, in der Kinderlandverschickung in Pommern und in der damaligen Tschechoslowakei.

Other Languages

Perspective

Merkel’s trip to China

23 July 2010

With US commercial and financial power on the wane, German imperialism is increasingly looking east in order to satisfy its demand for markets, energy and finance. This is the significance of chancellor Merkel’s latest trip to China and Russia.

Earlier Perspectives »

Committee Against Utility Shutoffs (CAUS)

Michigan governor signs law witch-hunting workers for “energy theft”

Statement of the Committee Against Utility Shutoffs (CAUS), 23 July 2010

The Committee Against Utility Shutoffs (CAUS) condemns legislation signed into law by Michigan’s Democratic governor, Jennifer Granholm, sanctioning a crackdown on poor residents in Detroit and other cities for alleged “energy theft.”

Over 160,000 Michigan utility shutoffs from January to May 2010

By Lawrence Porter, 21 July 2010

Recent figures confirm the continuation of the inhuman policy of utility shutoffs in the state of Michigan.

Detroit house fires kill two, injure one

Visit the CAUS web site »

Arts Review

Sydney Film Festival 2010—Part 6: Two classics and one that might have been

By Ismet Redzovic and Richard Phillips, 23 July 2010

This year’s festival screened new prints of A Woman Under the Influence and The Last Days of Chez Nous, as well as a new documentary, Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Inferno.

Socialist Equality Party (Australia) Election Campaign

SEP candidate addresses rally at University of New South Wales
“This fight is first and foremost a political struggle against the Gillard government”

By Oliver Campbell, 22 July 2010

Zac Hambides, the SEP candidate for Kingsford-Smith, advanced the need for a political struggle against the Gillard Labor government at a demonstration of University of NSW students on Tuesday.

Open letter exposes attempted political censorship at UNSW rally

By Zac Hambides, 22 July 2010

Zac Hambides issued an open letter condemning a bid by the Student Representative Council to bar him from speaking at a student rally at Sydney’s University of NSW.

Australia: Election slogans spark wave of disgust

21 July 2010

Less than a week into the Australian federal election campaign, the hollowed out and atrophied character of the entire system of bourgeois parliamentary democracy is being increasingly exposed.

Full coverage of the SEP (Australia) election campaign »

Commentary

From stimulus to austerity: An international class-war policy

22 July 2010

The past several months have witnessed a shift in social policy by the international bourgeoisie even further to the right, marked by a turn from economic stimulus policies to brutal austerity measures.

The Shirley Sherrod firing: Once again, the Obama administration cowers before ultra-right

By David Walsh, 22 July 2010

The firing of US Department of Agriculture (USDA) employee Shirley Sherrod by the Obama administration, on the basis of false allegations of racism, was one more shameful and cowardly concession to the extreme right.

Investigative Report

The social crisis in Appalachia
Part 1: Deprivation and inequality in the coalfields

By Naomi Spencer, 22 July 2010

This article is the first of a series on the history, economy, social and environmental conditions in the Appalachian coalfields of the United States.

“Everything is for the rich people, and the poor people are just hurting”
Harlan, Kentucky resident speaks to the WSWS

By a WSWS reporting team, 22 July 2010

The first in a series, the WSWS interviews a resident of Harlan, Kentucky on conditions of life in the coalfields.

Workers Struggles

Workers Struggles: Europe & Africa

23 July 2010

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

Socialist Equality Party

SEP public meeting on US Gulf coast
The Gulf oil disaster and capitalism

21 July 2010

The SEP will hold public meetings in the US Gulf Coast states of Louisiana and Alabama in early August to discuss the causes and consequences of the BP oil spill disaster.

SEP candidate D’Artagnan Collier files petitions for Michigan state election

Correspondence

An exchange with a reader on “Liberal television host Rachel Maddow solidarizes herself with US military in Afghanistan”

By David Walsh, 20 July 2010

The WSWS responds to a reader about television host Rachel Maddow’s attitude toward the war in Afghanistan.

25 years
50 years
75 years
100 years

25 years ago: South Africa in revolt

South African President P.W. Botha declared a state of emergency this week in 1985 in response to mass protests, strikes, and riots among the nation’s black workers and poor. It was the largest rebellion since the upsurge that was drowned in blood in the Sharpeville Massacre of 1960.

More »

50 years ago: Madam Bandaranaike becomes PM of Ceylon

Sirimavo Bandaranaike was appointed prime minister of Ceylon on July 21, 1960, after national elections in which the LSSP (Lanka Sama Samaja Party), which had abandoned the perspective of Trotskyism, refused to oppose her nationalist grouping, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), or its electoral partner, the Stalinist Communist Party.

75 years ago: The lynching of Rubin Stacy

On July 19, 1935, a 37-year old African-American tenant farmer named Rubin Stacy was lynched in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. According to initial reports of Stacy’s murder, a mob of masked, white men took Stacy from the custody of six sheriff’s deputies who were transporting him to the Dade County jail in Miami.

More »

100 years ago: Massive suffragette demonstration in London

Tens of thousands of “suffragettes”—advocates of women’s right to vote—marched on London’s Hyde Park on July 23, 1910. Speakers addressed the demonstration from 40 different platforms in Hyde Park, where two separate marches had earlier converged, one originating from the Thames embankment and the other starting off from Holland Park.

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Gulf Oil Crisis

Video series: The human toll of the BP blowout

The BP blowout has devastated the economy, environment and health of the entire Gulf region. WSWS reporters C. W. Rogers and Andre Damon interviewed residents, small businessmen and environmental and health experts on the Gulf coast and compiled this video report.

Full coverage of the Gulf oil disaster »

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