Archive: 05/2009
The archive below lists all articles that have been posted on the World Socialist Web Site by date. To visit the archive for other months, return to the Archive Monthly Index.
May 1, 2009 (front page)
- Spanish judge launches new torture probe of Bush officials
- Workers Struggles: Europe & Africa
- Chrysler declares bankruptcy
- May Day 2009
- May Day 2009: Reports on rising class struggle from around the world
- Algerian presidential election gives Bouteflika a third term in office
- Why did France resort to violence off the coast of Somalia?
- The credit card crisis and the false promise of the Obama administration
- Unemployment takes growing toll in New York City
- German trade union implements wage cuts at Opel
- Video: Chrysler workers speak on concessions vote
- Solomon Islands report demands legal immunity of RAMSI occupation force be revoked
May 2, 2009 (front page)
- Obama administration seeks extraordinary military powers in Pakistan
- The Chrysler bankruptcy
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As Chrysler shutters its factories
Workers denounce UAW concessions - Workers march in May Day demonstrations around the world
- France: Up to a million people on May Day protests
- Military investigations whitewash Israeli war crimes
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Indian Elections:
Tamil Nadu parties posture over plight of Sri Lankan Tamils - US Supreme Court hears challenge to Voting Rights Act
- Germany: ThyssenKrupp shareholders receive millions while workers face the sack
- Australian Labor government escalates military involvement in Afghanistan
- Australia: Unemployment study highlights “new face of disadvantage”
- Spain: Zapatero government sends more troops to Afghanistan
- France: Reports of police beatings at March 19 demonstrations
- Sri Lankan SEP and ISSE hold May Day meeting in Colombo
- Letters from our readers
- Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
May 4, 2009 (front page)
- Obama administration indicates military commission trials to resume
- US Senate rejects anti-foreclosure measure opposed by banks
- New evidence of Sri Lankan army atrocities
- US Supreme Court Justice Souter to retire
- Appeals court rejects Obama state secrets claim in rendition case
- Britain: Police to be investigated after wrongful arrest of Cardiff man
- Fijian military defiance triggers Australian foreign policy debate
- Media sensationalism, corporate power and the swine flu outbreak
- “Socialism in One Country” and the Soviet economic debates of the 1920s—Part 1
- May Day in France: Protests hit unemployment, government austerity
May 5, 2009 (front page)
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Chrysler, GM set the pace
Obama administration spearheads wage cuts for American workers - What is the United States preparing in Pakistan?
- Spain: Garzón investigation reveals abuse suffered by Guantánamo detainees
- Chrysler bankruptcy sets stage for assault on GM workers
- Questions following not guilty verdicts in July 2005 London bombing case
- Former Australian intelligence officer faces jail over Bali bombing documents
- New Zealand unions scapegoat immigrant workers
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In the 2009 European elections
A socialist answer to the capitalist crisis: Statement of the Socialist Equality Party (Germany) - “Socialism in One Country” and the Soviet economic debates of the 1920s—Part 2
- Workers Struggles: The Americas
- Letters from our readers
May 6, 2009 (front page)
- US airstrikes kill scores of civilians in Afghanistan
- The Obama recovery
- Obama proposes token measures to close foreign tax loopholes
- Fierce offensive continues in northern Sri Lanka
- Germany: IG Metall union backs Magna bid to acquire Opel
- Canada’s ruling elite asserts its predatory Arctic ambitions
- Ireland: Unemployment expected to reach 17 percent
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Boston Globe shutdown averted for now
Unions signal readiness to accept massive concessions - Australia: Rudd Labor targets jobless youth in welfare cut
- Tulpan: Poverty and unrequited dreams on the Kazakh steppes
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“To show the beauty of this reality”
Film director Sergey Dvortsevoy speaks with WSWS -
Lecture 2
“Socialism in One Country” and the Soviet economic debates of the 1920s—Part 1
May 7, 2009 (front page)
- US Justice Department report urges no prosecution over torture memos
- With its state debt ballooning, German government prepares social cuts
- Oppose the Afghanistan-Pakistan war
- British Prime Minister Brown faces possible leadership challenge
- French “left” parties trail in European election campaign
- China takes steps towards full convertibility of the yuan
- North Korea threatens new nuclear tests
- Berlin: Pro-religion referendum suffers resounding defeat
- Official figures obscure rapidly rising joblessness in Australia
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Lecture 2
“Socialism in One Country” and the Soviet economic debates of the 1920s—Part 2 - Visteon workers maintain action after accepting redundancy offer
- Letters from our readers
May 8, 2009 (front page)
- Massacre of civilians overshadows “AfPak” summit
- Pakistani military intensifies its offensive
- Mass abstention in Detroit mayoral election
- Sri Lankan government whips up communal hysteria as war reaches climax
- Bank demolishes new Southern California homes, citing low profit-potential
- Nepal’s Maoist prime minister steps down
- California: Charges brought in death of teenage farm worker
- US bank stress tests rigged to benefit Wall Street
- Protesting Continental workers occupy Sarreguemines factory
- Australia: Victorian bushfire royal commission—another whitewash in the making
- Workers Struggles: Europe & Africa
May 9, 2009 (front page)
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Wall Street rallies as unemployment rate soars
US shed another half-million jobs in April - British Labour’s divisive Equality Bill
- CIA memo cites 40 Congressional briefings on torture
- Sri Lankan president prepares for “economic war” on workers
- UN’s Ban Ki Moon comes to the defence of Israel
- Huge GM losses push automaker towards bankruptcy
- Five years after entry to the EU: Eastern European countries in crisis
- Germany: Neo-Nazis attack May Day demonstration in Dortmund
- Los Angeles School Board eliminates thousands of teachers’ jobs
- Britain: ISSE to hold meetings on Charles Darwin
- Letters from our readers
- Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
May 11, 2009 (front page)
- War crime in Sri Lanka: Civilians slaughtered by army shelling
- Indian election campaign enters final phase
- Pakistan war fuels international tensions
- Sri Lanka: Arrested Tamil editor speaks to the WSWS
- Australia: Labor to take a knife to welfare in 2009 budget
- US: 12 million children face hunger and food insecurity
- Scottish Socialist Party denounces No2EU campaign—a tale of rival nationalisms
- Renowned pianist Krystian Zimerman protests US militarism during concert
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The Haymarket frame-up and the origins of May Day
Part one
May 12, 2009 (front page)
- Sri Lankan government defends army massacre
- After Afghan massacre, Washington says airstrikes will go on
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In the wake of stress tests
Banks move to shake off government restrictions - Fiat plans mass sackings and plant closures throughout Europe
- Canada’s Prime Minister inspects neocolonial occupation force in Afghanistan
- Finnish government slashes social spending
- Danger of major swine flu outbreak continues
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MTA “bailout” plan:
New York transit imposes fare hikes with deeper cuts still to come - SEP candidate certified for Detroit mayoral election
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The Haymarket frame-up and the origins of May Day
Part two - A tribute to James Yancey: Volumes 5 and 6 of Madlib’s Beat Konducta series
May 13, 2009 (front page)
- Pentagon changes Afghanistan commander as military’s crisis deepens
- Seven Days in May, 2009
- Army’s war crimes continue in northern Sri Lanka
- Obama prepares to resume military commissions of Guantánamo Bay prisoners
- Massacre in Kurdish area highlights Turkey’s “village guard” system
- Spain: Migrant workers spend years stranded outside “Fortress Europe”
- China’s rich list continues to grow
- Chicago suburb provided contaminated water
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Walking, running, and human evolution
New insights derived from the hobbits of Flores -
The Haymarket frame-up and the origins of May Day
Part three - Workers Struggles: the Americas
May 14, 2009 (front page)
- US: Cuts in Social Security, Medicare to pay for bank bailouts
- GM Europe and the global fight for jobs
- Obama bows to Republican right and military on torture photos
- Pakistan government prepares for long-term war
- India’s election ends, horse-trading begins
- Families of dead Sri Lankan soldiers speak with WSWS
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“Green Shoots Withering”
US economic crisis deepens - Hearing on Buffalo air crash—schedules, conditions, pay: “a recipe for an accident”
- Australia: Labor’s budget reveals unprecedented revenue collapse
- New York City demands rent from the homeless
- Samson and Delilah: a searing portrait of life for Central Australian Aboriginal youth
- Letters from our readers
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“Cinema is a lie that tells the truth about life”
Warwick Thornton discusses Samson and Delilah with the WSWS
May 15, 2009 (front page)
- Australian government announces more pro-business concessions on carbon trading
- Political turmoil wracks northern state in Malaysia
- Sri Lankan military again shells hospital in no-fire zone
- Steel workers storm ArcelorMittal headquarters in Luxembourg
- Unions, Democrats sponsor reactionary “Keep it Made in America” rallies
- Sweden: Uncertainty over future of Saab
- France: Caterpillar withdraws offer to reduce redundancies
- At least nine Haitian immigrants drown off Florida coast
- Obama on torture photos: cover-up and complicity
- A socialist strategy for American Axle workers
- Home of Slumdog Millionaire child actor destroyed by Mumbai authorities
- Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa
May 16, 2009 (front page)
- Obama restarts military commission trials
- The lies of the CIA and Nancy Pelosi
- Uncertainty over IMF bailout deepens Sri Lankan financial crisis
- Closures of US auto dealerships will cost tens of thousands of jobs
- South Africa: Zuma appoints cabinet to please investors
- German cabinet agrees “bad banks” plan for unloading “toxic assets”
- Australia: Royal Commission inquiry forced to investigate “stay or go” bushfire policy
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Lessons of the 1965 Indonesian Coup
Chapter One: The historical background - Britain: Labour government steps up plan to privatise Royal Mail
- Letters from our readers
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Lessons of the 1965 Indonesian Coup
Chapter Two: Stalinists betray the mass movement -
Lessons of the 1965 Indonesian Coup
Chapter Three: 1965—Stalinism’s bloody legacy - Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
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Lessons of the 1965 Indonesian Coup
Chapter Four: Pabloite accomplices of counter-revolution -
Lessons of the 1965 Indonesian Coup
Chapter Five: Pabloites cover up Stalinist treachery
May 18, 2009 (front page)
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Right-wing rampage by Obama administration
Balance sheet of a week of reaction - India: Re-elected Congress-led government to accelerate pace of pro-investor “reforms”
- Political implications of the Sri Lankan war
- Britain: MPs’ expenses provoke outrage
- German state uses piracy as pretext to amend the constitution
- Australian government announces military buildup as strategic dilemma intensifies
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The California special election and its ramifications
Vote “No” on all ballot propositions - LA Times “special investigation” on teachers covers up assault on public education
- SEP and WSWS hold regional conferences in US
- The Idea Man at the Elephant Theatre Company in Los Angeles
May 19, 2009 (front page)
- Sri Lankan army slaughters LTTE leaders
- Obama’s sermon at Notre Dame
- White House relies on UAW to ram through GM job cuts, concessions
- Killing of Afghan civilians covered-up by Australian military
- China emerges as a major exporter of capital
- The ETUC’s Days of Action—a cynical manoeuvre by Europe’s trade union bureaucracies
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The Unite trade union “March for Jobs”
A PR stunt in the defence of British economic nationalism - SEP candidate for Detroit mayor campaigns among auto workers, city residents
- Slide show: SEP mayoral candidate D’Artagnan Collier campaigns in Detroit
- The economic crisis and the resurgence of class conflict in the United States
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Book review: Death in the Haymarket
The eight-hour-day movement and the birth of American labor - Workers Struggles: The Americas
May 20, 2009 (front page)
- Sri Lanka: Victory speech signals new assault on working people
- US Supreme Court shields Bush administration officials from torture lawsuit
- US treasury secretary rejects limits on executive pay
- Britain: House of Commons speaker resigns as MPs expenses row continues
- Indian Stalinist leader defends alliances with Congress and rightwing regional parties
- Unemployed graduates in China to reach 3 million in 2009
- Communist Party of India (Marxist): a key prop of Indian bourgeois rule
- Turkish unemployment soars to record level
- Germany: The Greens as a big business party
- Panetta and Washington’s endless war
- Internationalism and the struggle for socialism
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San Francisco International Film Festival 2009
Part 1: Painful truths
May 21, 2009 (front page)
- Senate Democrats block funding for Guantánamo Bay closure
- Sri Lanka: the defeat of the LTTE and the dead-end of nationalism
- Eyewitness account of Sri Lankan detention camps
- US military denies atrocity in Afghanistan’s Farah province
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Detroit students demonstrate against school restructuring
900 jobs to be eliminated, 50 schools closed - Video: Protesting students and parents speak to the WSWS
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Oppose school closures! Stop the shut down of Detroit!
A socialist response to the crisis in education - Biden in the Balkans: US asserts interests in shattered region
- Israeli police target young people for refusing military service
- Italy: Fiat workers protest against management and their union leadership
- Australian Federal Police chief quits 18 months early
- Teachers protest in Los Angeles as more budget cuts loom
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The world economic crisis, the failure of capitalism and the case for socialism
Resolution of the SEP/WSWS/ISSE regional conferences - The Soloist: Strife and despair in the City of Angels
May 22, 2009 (front page)
- World economy in freefall
- The Obama-Cheney “debate” and the threat of dictatorship in America
- Sri Lankan government blocks international aid to detention camps
- Sri Lankan students protest against education privatisation
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Besancenot in Poland
Polish PPP congress marks lurch to the right by the new European left - Japan’s economy suffers record contraction
- London hearing in Ivory Coast toxic dumping lawsuit
- Canada’s political elite spearheads attack on GM workers
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Mass layoffs threaten San Francisco city workers
SEIU members reject concessions -
San Francisco International Film Festival 2009
Part 2: Human drama, partially treated - Workers Struggles: Europe & Africa
May 23, 2009 (front page)
- Obama’s AfPak war engulfs Pakistan’s Swat Valley
- UAW, Inc.
- Sri Lankan elites press for greater economic sacrifice
- Olivier Besancenot in Poland
- Iceland: Social democrats and Left Greens finalise coalition agreement
- California social programs threatened with devastation following special election
- Stoking hunger and homelessness: North Carolina jobless rate remains in double-digits
- Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
- Letters from our readers
May 25, 2009 (front page)
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Democrats back US militarism
Senate approves $91 billion for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - Sri Lanka becomes a diplomatic battleground
- Obama offers nothing to the Palestinians
- Two million rendered refugees by fighting in Pakistan
- London 7/7 bombing investigation a “whitewash”
- Mexico’s “war on drugs” employs army torture and police-state tactics
- Australia: Evidence points to Labor cover-up over refugee boat deaths
- Pro-Israel forces attempt to silence University of California Santa Barbara professor
- 2009 San Francisco International Film Festival Part 3: The trauma produced by events
- Letters on the Obama administration, the CIA, and democratic rights
May 26, 2009 (front page)
- New evidence of Sri Lankan army war crimes
- The European election: Trade unions and the necessity for socialism
- Growing calls for early general election in Britain
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Indian elections
Stalinist Left Front suffers debacle in its West Bengal bastion - Irish child abuse: The Ryan Report cover-up
- Opel rescue plan: German unions offer wage cuts
- China and Russia forge closer military cooperation
- Former Lehman Brothers banker to head New York City’s Housing Authority
- Spain: Unemployment could soar to one-in-four next year
- Australia: James Hardie court ruling another affront to asbestosis victims
- D’Artagnan Collier visits striking city workers in Windsor, Ontario
- For the unity of Canadian and American workers
May 27, 2009 (front page)
- North Korean nuclear test triggers international tensions
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Reject GM-government-UAW blackmail!
Organize rank-and-file committees to defeat concessions and defend all jobs! - Britain: Job losses escalate across all sectors
- Doctor condemns conditions in Sri Lankan detention camps
- Obama names Sonia Sotomayor to US Supreme Court
- French “anti-capitalist” Olivier Besancenot justifies collaboration with reformists and Polish nationalists
- France: Port of Marseille hit by economic crisis
- French university strikes end in union betrayal
- Fijian military junta faces economic and social turmoil
- US media ignores threat to democratic rights
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Socialist Equality Party public meeting
Stop the shutdown of Detroit!
A socialist response to the economic crisis -
Defend education! Defend jobs! Defend the youth!
Stop the shutdown of Detroit! -
Unions and Detroit school board hold meeting to prepare for concessions
Teachers voice opposition to cuts and school closings -
75th anniversary of the Toledo Auto-Lite strike
Historic 1934 struggle - Star Trek: Boldly going where no man has gone before, again
- Workers Struggles: The Americas
May 28, 2009 (front page)
- Grim forecasts for British economy
- The fundamental social division is class, not race or gender
- Millions displaced as Pakistani military extends its offensive
- Thousands of soldiers perished in Sri Lankan war
- GM workers speak out on concessions contract
- New York “terror” arrests: another government-orchestrated plot
- The Grundgesetz: 60 years of Germany’s post-war constitution
- The German Left Party loses support and two prominent members
- Australian bushfire royal commission: Survivors expose “stay or go” policy
- US Supreme Court ruling curbs “identity theft” arrests of immigrants
- Credit card “bill of rights” puts few restraints on banks
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110,000 US actors to vote on contract
The issues facing Screen Actors Guild members
May 29, 2009 (front page)
- US Army chief sees Iraq, Afghanistan occupations continuing for a decade
- French Socialist Party considers alliances to the left and to the right
- UN body covers up Sri Lankan government’s war crimes
- Poland: Last shipyards in Gdansk threatened with closure
- Torture photos: US soldiers raped, sodomized Iraqi prisoners
- US: Army base ordered on stand-down after multiple suicides
- Canada: Furor over soaring federal budget deficit
- Wall Street throws General Motors into bankruptcy
- Thai economy contracts, exacerbating political tensions
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“England People” deeply flawed
England People Very Nice, by Richard Bean, at the National Theatre, London - Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa
- Letters from our readers
May 30, 2009 (front page)
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SEP public meeting
Capitalist breakdown and the need for a socialist Europe - Sri Lankan government prepares broad attack on democratic rights
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On eve of GM bankruptcy
Obama administration targets the working class - US cybersecurity plan poses new war threats, attacks on democratic rights
- India’s Congress-led government to do big business’ bidding
- The Opel rescue plan: Who is being rescued?
- Auto parts maker Visteon files for bankruptcy
- Bosnian Serb leader Karadzic claims US granted him immunity
- Solomon Islands: Julian Moti challenges Australian government’s “politically-motivated” prosecution
- Lymelife: How filmmakers look at recent American life
- More letters on Obama, Cheney and democratic rights
- Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific


