Behind Indonesia’s anti-Chinese riots
In recent weeks riots have erupted across Indonesia in response to a sharp rise in prices produced by the collapse of the national currency, the rupiah, and the country’s deepening economic crisis.
View ArticleHard lessons from the Liverpool docks lock-out
There are crucial lessons to be learned from the bitter end of the long-running industrial dispute on Liverpool's Mersey docks. The action by 329 stevedores, locked out for 28 months, ended on January...
View ArticleA quarter of school children working
One in four children under the age of 16 are working in low-wage jobs paying as little as 33 pence an hour (US$.53), according to two recent surveys. While previous research suggested that up to 2...
View ArticleBlunt IMF warning to Suharto
In what appears to be a closely coordinated operation, the US administration and the International Monetary Fund have warned the Suharto regime in Indonesia to drop plans to peg the rupiah to the...
View ArticleUnions call off strike by plantation workers in Sri Lanka
All workers on tea, rubber, and coconut plantations throughout Sri Lanka launched an indefinite strike on February 5. They demanded a wage increase of 50 percent from the present daily wage of 83...
View ArticleAntiwar protest grows in Britain
Public meetings and demonstrations opposing a renewed military attack on Iraq and calling for an end to economic sanctions have drawn greater numbers than anticipated by their organizers.
View ArticleTensions rise over European Monetary Union
The attempt to integrate capitalist Europe is deepening antagonisms between the various powers on the continent, as well as between Europe and the United States.
View ArticleOnce again on "weapons of mass destruction"
The World Socialist Web Site has frequently pointed out the fraudulent character of the Clinton administration's claim that its motivation in the conflict with Iraq is to prevent Saddam Hussein's...
View ArticleInspectors or spies -- is there a difference?
Iraqi government claims that United Nations weapons inspectors are really spies for the US government have been brushed off by the Clinton administration, the UN and the American media.
View ArticleClinton's countdown to war
With the military buildup against Iraq nearly complete, the next phase of US war preparations will be launched February 17 with a televised speech by Clinton, delivered from the Pentagon.
View ArticleThe truth behind the White House lies
The Clinton administration is preparing a cowardly attack on the people of Iraq in which countless innocent lives will be sacrificed to further the interests of American big business.
View ArticleAmistad: Some historical considerations
Amistad, the film directed by Steven Spielberg, places before a large audience a glimpse of the brutality of the African slave trade. For four centuries the traffic in human cargo transported tens of...
View ArticleAmistad’s failings
Steven Spielberg's subject in Amistad is a worthy one, but the artistic treatment it receives at the director's hands is, for the most part, dreadful.
View ArticleA litany of deception
Washington has substituted ultimatums, threats and provocations for diplomacy and negotiations. The US has thus far rejected all offers by Iraq to allow the inspection of sensitive sites by UN arms...
View ArticleAir disasters mount in East Asia
At least 203 people were killed February 16 in the crash of a China Airlines jet which was attempting to land at Taipei International Airport in Taiwan.
View ArticleInternational Labour Organization study
A new study conducted by the International Labor Organization (ILO) reports that the United States, Australia and New Zealand are the only industrialized nations that do not provide paid maternity...
View ArticleCIA and MI6 plot to assassinate Hussein revealed
The US and British intelligence agencies, the CIA and MI6, plotted together to assassinate Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in 1995. Senior US intelligence officers confirmed to the Los Angeles Times...
View ArticleBritish Parliament rubber-stamps war
On Tuesday evening the Labor government in Britain secured a massive parliamentary majority for military action against Iraq. Despite claims that Britain was pursuing all diplomatic channels, the...
View ArticleWorkers Must Oppose the Gulf War
This Special National Congress declares the opposition of the Workers League to the mobilization of US military forces in the Middle East and pledges all the efforts of the party to rally the working...
View ArticleA political vacuum in Indonesia
For three decades, since coming to power in one of the bloodiest military coups of the 20th century, the Suharto regime has ruthlessly maintained its grip over Indonesia.
View ArticleA shabby pretense of democracy
There was unintended irony in the statement by Secretary of Defense William Cohen describing the town hall meeting in Columbus, Ohio as "a tremendous example of what democracy is all about." While...
View ArticleSEP speaker addresses antiwar protest
Nearly one hundred protesters held an hour-long march and rally prior to the "Town Meeting" in Columbus, Ohio, to oppose preparations by the Clinton administration to launch a war against Iraq. The...
View ArticleA telling saga of cancer and the courts
This book, though written as a gripping novel, is a true story. It chronicles the tortured history of a court case mounted against three major US companies. They were accused of dumping poisonous...
View ArticleAustralian Constitutional Convention
Extraordinary efforts have been made by politicians and media commentators in Australia to depict the Howard government's Constitutional Convention as a healthy and vigorous exercise in democracy. The...
View ArticleNigerian military topples Sierra Leone junta
Following a nine-day offensive and a bombardment of the city of Freetown, Nigerian military forces succeeded in toppling the military junta which seized power in the West African state of Sierra Leone...
View ArticleWho is the “repeat offender”?
In reply to the question of why Iraq has been singled out to be bombed, among all the dictatorial regimes which possess chemical and biological weapons, Clinton administration officials have taken to...
View ArticleA political system in crisis
The February 18th "International Town Meeting" at Ohio State University was a political debacle for the Clinton administration. Intended to demonstrate popular support for the impending air war against...
View ArticleHow the US has "protected" the Iraqi people
Some of the most stinging criticism of US policy at last week's "town meeting" in Columbus, Ohio concerned the impact of Washington's actions on Iraq's civilian population. There was particular anxiety...
View ArticleBritish Labour Party continues coverup of Hillsborough football disaster
Nine years after 96 Liverpool football club supporters died in the worst disaster in British sporting history, the Labour government has ruled that there will no new public inquiry into the event. This...
View ArticleQuebec’s winter storm: the social issues
The ice storm that struck a major portion of Quebec, southern Ontario and a section of the United States in January raised a number of important social questions.
View ArticleClinton issues new war threats
The agreement between UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Saddam Hussein, announced February 22, is a political setback for American imperialism and the Clinton administration’s plans for an air war...
View ArticleReaders respond to David Walsh’s review of Titanic
The WSWS has received dozens of letters on its review of the move Titanic. Here we publish some of the recent ones.
View ArticleTitanic: An exchange of letters between David Walsh and a reader
David Walsh’s review of Titanic generated a large number of letters as well as the following exchange.
View ArticleTitanic as a social phenomenon
James Cameron’s Titanic is a massive global success. The film is taking in millions of dollars a week, on its way apparently to the one billion dollar mark. Even Cameron claims to be "a little bit...
View ArticleFive-year-old arrested in Florida on felony charges
The felony arrest of a five-year-old kindergarten student in Florida, Chaquita Doman, accused of biting and scratching a support teacher, once again throws the spotlight on the ignorance and...
View ArticleGM threatens Dayton plants
The head of General Motor’s Delphi Automotive Systems, J. T. Battenberg III, convened joint meetings of managers and union officials in Dayton, Ohio, in mid-February to inform them that two brake...
View ArticleThe capitulation of the South Korean unions
Over the past decade the emergence of a mass, semi-legal, militant trade union movement in South Korea has been cited by various radical and "left" tendencies around the world as evidence that trade...
View ArticleWhat is the UAW and whom does it represent?
The Caterpillar workers’ rejection of the contract signed by the United Auto Workers underscores the antagonism between the interests of rank-and-file workers and the official union organizations that...
View ArticleFive-year-old arrested in Florida on felony charges
The felony arrest of a five-year-old kindergarten student in Florida, Chaquita Doman, accused of biting and scratching a support teacher, once again throws the spotlight on the ignorance and...
View ArticleLabour Party lefts boost illusions in UN "peace" deal
A section of the British Labour Party, together with the Greens and Communist Party Stalinists, are seeking to utilise the United Nations deal with Iraq to boost the "peace-loving" credentials of the UN.
View ArticleElectricity shutdowns in Australia
Electricity blackouts throughout the Australian state of Queensland confirm that the power failure in New Zealand is anything but an isolated case.
View ArticleUS leads attack on Japan at G-7 meeting
The G-7 finance ministers, meeting in London last week, were unable to produce any plan to resolve the economic meltdown centred in East Asia.
View ArticleNo power in New Zealand's largest city
An extensive and lengthy power blackout has hit Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand, often hailed as a "model" of economic deregulation. For five days, electricity has been virtually cut off to...
View ArticleScabs begin training on Australian waterfront
Encouraged by the acquiescence of the trade union movement, the National Farmers Federation (NFF) has successfully begun training a strike-breaking force of scabs at Melbourne's Webb Dock, in the...
View ArticleStarr’s attack on First Amendment rights
The decision of independent counsel Kenneth Starr to subpoena White House officials about their contacts with the press raises a direct challenge to First Amendment rights.
View ArticleItalian PDS founds new party
A three-day meeting in mid-February saw the founding of a new party, the Democratici di Sinistra (DS–Left Democrats). The ceremony was presided over by the ex-Stalinists of the PDS (Partito Democratico...
View ArticleNot by nature's hand alone
Despite the substantial media coverage, one question has not been asked. How is it possible that despite all the advances in technology thousands of people were left defenseless and unprepared for such...
View ArticleSome thoughts about the 1998 Winter Olympics
A commentary on the Winter Games held in Nagan, Japan in 1998.
View ArticleProtests defy Suharto’s repression
Indonesia is in political and social turmoil in the lead-up to next week’s meeting of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR).
View ArticleWhat is the meaning of the political warfare in Washington?
The past week has seen an escalation of political conflict within the highest echelons of the American capitalist state that is without precedent. Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's attempt to silence...
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