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

27 July 2010

Leaked documents expose imperialist war in Afghanistan

By Alex Lantier, 27 July 2010

Nearly 92,000 military documents posted on the Internet by the WikiLeaks web site paint a devastating picture of US-NATO imperialist atrocities in Afghanistan.

Germany: 20 dead and hundreds injured at techno music festival

By Dietmar Henning, 27 July 2010

Twenty people have paid with their lives due to the subordination of safety to economic interests at the annual Love Parade in Germany.

Australian election: The fraud of Labor’s “Work Choices” scare campaign

By Noel Holt, SEP candidate for Newcastle, 27 July 2010

Labor’s legislation actually strengthens the anti-strike provisions of Work Choices. It outlaws all industrial action except during the limited bargaining periods for enterprise agreements at individual workplaces.

The refoundation of Spain’s United Left: a turn to the banks

By Paul Stuart and Alex Lantier, 27 July 2010

The Stalinist United Left signalled at it June congress that it was prepared to shift decisively to the right, backing the policies of social-democratic Prime Minister José Zapatero as he carries out massive austerity policies in the interests of the banks.

Mass teacher firings in Washington, DC

By Walter Gilberti, 27 July 2010

On Friday, Washington DC’s schools chancellor Michelle Rhee fired 241 public school teachers, setting a precedent for the termination of tens of thousands of instructors nationally who are being scapegoated for low test scores.

BP oil disaster

BP attempts to buy silence of Gulf Coast scientists

By Josué Olmos, 27 July 2010

As part of its campaign to cover up the devastating effects of the Gulf oil spill, BP offered contracts to public university scientists that stipulated strict secrecy and lawyer-dictated research assignments.

Full coverage of the Gulf oil disaster »

Police cleared of all charges in death of London G20 victim Ian Tomlinson

By Robert Stevens, 27 July 2010

On July 22, the Crown Prosecution Service cleared a Territorial Support Group police officer, PC Simon Harwood, of any charges relating to the death of Ian Tomlinson during the G20 summit in London last April.

Sri Lankan government enlists services of former LTTE leader

By Athiyan Silva, 27 July 2010

Further evidence has emerged in recent weeks of the LTTE’s continuing political disintegration with reports indicating that senior LTTE leader Selvarasa Pathmanathan is now actively collaborating with the government and military intelligence.

Crowding, rising tuition at Michigan community colleges

By Dwight Stoll, 27 July 2010

The WSWS spoke to students at a Detroit community college about rising tuition prices and overcrowding.

Report reveals systematic brutality against child offenders in Britain

By Zach Reed, 27 July 2010

The Children’s Rights Alliance for England has revealed the brutal regime facing children held in privately run Secure Training Centres.

New in French

Le Spiegel défend la guerre en Afghanistan

Par Alex Lantier, 27 juillet 2010

Un récent article sur la guerre en Afghanistan et la démocratie paru dans le magazine allemand Der Spiegel constitue en essence un manifeste de guerre lié à un genre de chauvinisme fataliste.

New in German

Stellvertretende britische Premierminister bestätigt: Irakkrieg war illegal

Von Julie Hyland, 27. Juli 2010

Nick Clegg, stellvertretender britischer Premierministers, hat im Parlament zugegeben, dass der Irakkrieg "illegal" war. Das lässt nur eine Schlussfolgerung zu: Ex-Premierminister Tony Blair muss wegen Kriegsverbrechen vor Gericht gestellt werden.

Stresstest stellt europäischen Banken Gesundheitszeugnis aus

Von Stefan Steinberg, 27. Juli 2010

Das Ergebnis des Stresstests der europäischen Banken, der am Freitag veröffentlicht wurde, läuft auf einen Freifahrtschein für die großen Finanzinstitute hinaus.

Die Erosion der CDU und die Vorbereitung einer neuen Rechtspartei

Von Michael Regens, 27. Juli 2010

Auf die Rücktritte Horst Köhlers, Roland Kochs, Jürgen Rüttgers und Ole von Beust folgt nun das Ausscheiden Karlheinz Weimars, des hessischen CDU-Finanzministers. Er wird die Landesregierung gemeinsam mit Koch verlassen.

IWF und EU verstärken Druck auf Ungarn

Von Markus Salzmann, 27. Juli 2010

Weil das ungarische Parlament geplante Sparmaßnahmen nicht sofort umsetzt, verstärkt der Internationale Währungsfonds den Druck auf den Donaustaat.

Indische Stalinisten über rechten Kurs gespalten

Von Deepal Jayasekera, 27. Juli 2010

Der eintägige Generalstreik von letzter Woche gegen die von der Bundesregierung verhängten Preissteigerungen für Treibstoff enthüllte ein wachsendes Zerwürfnis innerhalb von Indiens größter stalinistischer Partei, der Kommunistischen Partei Indiens (Marxisten), kurz CPM.

Other Languages

Perspective

A record of war crimes

27 July 2010

The tens of thousands of documents posted online by WikiLeaks have provided a detailed, documentary portrait of the criminal war being waged by the Obama administration.

Earlier Perspectives »

Commentary

The Sherrod affair and American social reality

By David Walsh, 27 July 2010

The Shirley Sherrod affair, the case of the black US Department of Agriculture official fired July 20 because of an allegedly racist remark, is profoundly discrediting to every wing of the American establishment.

Report rubber-stamps bonuses
On Wall Street, crime pays very well

26 July 2010

The Obama administration’s “special master” has rubber-stamped the awarding of billions in bonuses to top executives of major banks during the period when they were being bailed out by the US Treasury.

Book Review

Diane Ravitch’s The Death and Life of the Great American School System
An insider’s critique of education “reform”

By Walter Gilberti and Jerry White, 27 July 2010

Diane Ravitch’s book presents a summary on the attack on public education, from its origins during the Reagan era to Obama’s Race to the Top.

Socialist Equality Party (Australia) Election Campaign

Implications of Rudd coup discussed at SEP meeting in Newcastle

By our reporter, 27 July 2010

SEP national secretary Nick Beams and Noel Holt, the SEP candidate for the federal seat of Newcastle, addressed workers, students and professionals at a well-attended meeting on Sunday.

Gillard and Abbott stage sham election debate

By Patrick O’Connor, SEP candidate for the Senate in Victoria,
26 July 2010

Last night’s sole election campaign debate between Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard and opposition Liberal leader Tony Abbott comprised lengthy diatribes by both leaders against refugees and immigrants, and a series of lies and evasions on the world economic crisis, the war in Afghanistan, mounting social hardship, and climate change.

Australia’s political coup and the role of the ex-left

By Laura Tiernan and Nick Beams, 26 July 2010

The response of the middle-class pseudo-left groups to the coup that removed Australian Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and installed Julia Gillard has highlighted the class interests they serve.

Gillard’s climate change speech—another admission of bankruptcy on the environment

By Patrick O’Connor, SEP candidate for the Senate in Victoria, 24 July 2010

Labor Prime Minister Gillard’s speech on climate change was a conscious fraud, combining lies on the science of global warming with new sound-bite driven measures pitched towards business which do nothing to adequately address the environmental crisis.

Socialist Equality Party announces its 2010 election candidates

Socialist Equality Party election meetings
The socialist alternative to austerity, social inequality and war

26 July 2010

The SEP candidates will be addressing public meetings over the next four weeks and final rallies in Melbourne and Sydney.

Full coverage of the SEP (Australia) election campaign »

Investigative Report

The social crisis in Appalachia
Part 3: Environmental disaster and private profit

By Naomi Spencer and Rosa Lexington, 27 July 2010

Reckless surface mining operations in close proximity to communities has exposed residents of the coalfields to water contamination, flash flooding, and other dangers.

“Massey has destroyed the wells and the water”
Williamson, West Virginia, residents speak to the WSWS

By a WSWS reporting team, 27 July 2010

Residents of Williamson spoke to the WSWS about declining conditions, environmental destruction, and corruption in Williamson.

Arts Review

I am Love and The Leopard: Italian cinema new and old

By Joanne Laurier, 27 July 2010

Numerous critics argue that director Luca Guadagnino’s I am Love represents something of a revival of Italian cinema, and compare the new film favorably to Luchino Visconti’s 1963 masterpiece, The Leopard.

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

Workers Struggles

Workers Struggles: The Americas

27 July 2010

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

Socialist Equality Party

SEP candidate to be placed on the ballot in Detroit

26 July 2010

SEP candidate D’Artagnan Collier, will be on the ballot for the 9th district of the Michigan state house of representatives.

SEP public meetings in New Orleans and Mobile
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.

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

Visit the CAUS web site »

25 years
50 years
75 years
100 years

25 years ago: GM, UAW deepen collaboration with Saturn car brand

On July 26, 1985, the Executive Board of the United Auto Workers (UAW) approved a new, more highly exploitative labor contract for workers to be hired at General Motors’ Saturn venture, to be based in Tennessee.

More »

50 years ago: War threat after South Korean elections

South Korea attacked a North Korean naval vessel, killing 14, on July 31, 1960, the first naval conflict since the signing of the 1953 armistice. One South Korean sailor died in the exchange. The attack came the day after the Liberal party of former South Korean dictator and US puppet Syngman Rhee suffered a stinging electoral defeat.

More »

75 years ago: New Deal establishes jobs program for unemployed writers

On July 27, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Federal Writers Project, one of several programs enacted under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) for the purpose of employing cultural workers. Collectively known as “Federal One,” the other cultural programs of the WPA included the Federal Theatre Project, the Federal Art Project and the Federal Music Project.

More »

100 years ago: Rupture between Spain and the Vatican

This week in 1910 Spain recalled its ambassador to the Vatican after the Holy See issued an ultimatum demanding Madrid reverse a new law granting rights to non-Catholic religious organizations.

More »

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 »