World Socialist Web Site

 

Archive: October 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.

1 October 2009 (front page)

• Talks with Iran open in Geneva amid threats and provocations
• Sixty years after the Chinese Revolution: Lessons for the working class
• US Senate panel votes down “public option” for health care
• Tsunami hits several South Pacific countries
• Military regime massacres protestors in Guinea
• Wall Street lauds FDIC plan to replenish bank deposit insurance fund
• Mass sackings in Russia
  AvtoVAZ to lay off 28,000, Aeroflot 2,200
• Protests mount against Pakistan’s blasphemy laws
• The New York Times throws Roman Polanski to the wolves
• Australia: The political issues facing Victorian paramedics
• Ireland: Vote “No” to the Lisbon Treaty
  For the United Socialist States of Europe
• SEP holds public meeting in Sri Lankan plantations
• Germany: Successful rally in Berlin ends PSG election campaign
• Letters on two recent films

2 October 2009 (front page)

• US continues to pressure Iran after Geneva talks
• General Motors to liquidate Saturn brand
• UN official fired over criticisms of Afghan election fraud
• EU report states Georgia started 2008 war with Russia
  Georgian attack unjustifiable under international law
• Former detainee describes conditions in Sri Lankan internment camps
• Michigan lawmakers prepare sweeping cuts in social services
• Britain: Postal workers call for disaffiliation from Labour during strike ballot
• New Orleans jail conditions violate inmates’ constitutional rights
• Imperialist interests drive US focus on Iran, Afghanistan
• A new period of class struggle and inter-imperialist conflict
• “Law & Order” episode makes case for prosecution of Bush administration torturers
• Britain: Leeds refuse strike enters fourth week
• Workers Struggles: Europe & Africa

3 October 2009 (front page)

• Letters from our readers
• US: Over a quarter million jobs lost in September
• One year since the US bank bailout
• General McChrystal publicly campaigns for Afghanistan “surge”
• US faces worsening military situation in Afghanistan
• The new Forbes 400: Provocative wealth amidst social misery
• Thousands feared dead after Indonesian earthquake
• Britain: The denouement looms for Labour
• Social Democrats suffer historical defeat in Upper Austria
• Germany: Whither the SPD?
  The working class and the decline of social democracy
• Sri Lanka: SEP election team campaigns among cinnamon peelers
• Toronto International Film Festival 2009—Part 2
  “The Iraq war poisoned the water—you can’t undo that, it’s there forever”
• Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific

5 October 2009 (front page)

• Heavy US troop losses in insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistan
• US Senate committee set for vote on health care plan
• Irish referendum endorses European Union’s Lisbon Treaty
• Puerto Rico: Mass layoffs provoke protests, strikes
• Germany: The role of the Free Democratic Party in the next government
• Indian drought exacerbates social crisis
• Australia: The assassination of Michael McGurk and the stench of NSW Labor
• Britain: BAe Systems faces prosecution for bribery
• As US jobless toll tops 15 million
  Unemployment crisis shows the failure of capitalism
• Obama’s Olympic failure
• Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired: Laying bare the facts of the 1978 case

6 October 2009 (front page)

• New York Times recycles fabrications about Iran’s nuclear programs
• White House-military tensions over Afghanistan
• Greece: New PASOK government to move quickly to impose austerity measures
• US: Watchdog says Treasury misled public about cost of bank bailout
• IMF chief economist calls for drastic UK spending cuts
• With winter approaching
  US states face record demand for home heating assistance
• Arizona: Man killed in police shooting following home foreclosure
• Sri Lankan plantation workers support Balmoral Workers’ Action Committee
• Letters of support for Balmoral Estate Action Committee
• Workers Struggles: The Americas
• Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story
• New York Times: “everyone to blame” in Russia-Georgia war
• Letters from our readers

7 October 2009 (front page)

• Demand the release of Tamil detainees in Sri Lanka
• Obama offers no relief to growing army of jobless workers
• The Australian Labor Party and the war in Afghanistan
• The new leadership of the German Social Democratic Party
  Opportunists, lobbyists, careerists
• Pacific tsunami relief efforts grossly inadequate
• Pregnancy ends in death for one in eight mothers in Sierra Leone
• Roman Polanski denied bail in Switzerland
• Amnesty International condemns Spain’s Incommunicado Detention Law
• New York Mayor Bloomberg to spend more than $100 million to secure third term
• Chicago teen killed in street brawl
• Eight years after invasion
  Washington faces deepening debacle in Afghanistan
• Toronto International Film Festival 2009—Part 3
  Filmmakers on violence and social tension in the Middle East

8 October 2009 (front page)

• 50,000 line up for housing aid in Detroit
• Obama rules out troop drawdown in Afghanistan
• Video: Tens of thousands line up for housing assistance in Detroit
• Detroit residents line up for housing assistance
  “Most people out here have been unemployed for months”
• Western media steps up pressure on China over Iran
• Opel/Vauxhall takeover by Magna
  Unions play off workers against one another
• Bosnia faces collapse
• British care industry using foreign students as cheap labour
• The sordid coalition pursuing filmmaker Roman Polanski
• Sri Lankan SEP holds final election meeting in Galle
• SEP public meetings in Sydney and Melbourne
  Seventy years since World War II: lessons and warnings

9 October 2009 (front page)

• Sri Lanka: Vote SEP in the Southern Provincial Council election
• White House-backed plan to slash health care costs advances in Senate
• GM to cut 10,500 more jobs by year’s end
• UN agency bombed in Pakistan
• France: New Anti-Capitalist Party prepares “unitary” coalition with state parties
• Prosecuted for saving the lives of refugees
  The case of Cap Anamur president Elias Bierdel and his crew
• US: Pennsylvania enters fourth month without a budget
• The socialist answer to unemployment and poverty
• Leeds refuse workers vote to continue strike
  SEP (Britain) warns against sellout by union leadership
• Britain: Postal workers vote for national strike
• Workers Struggles: Europe & Africa

10 October 2009 (front page)

• Letters from our readers
• Mercedes Sosa, 1935-2009
• US Afghanistan commander requested as many as 60,000 more soldiers
• The Nobel War Prize
• US builds “coalition of like-minded nations” against Iran
• In wake of IMF meeting
  Dollar plunge highlights fault lines in global economic “recovery”
• Britain’s Conservatives outline plans for an “age of austerity”
• Sri Lanka: The JVP and the executive presidency
• Ten thousand unemployed apply for 90 jobs in Louisville, Kentucky
• Toronto International Film Festival 2009—Part 4
  More human (and artistic) problems
• Toronto International Film Festival 2009
  An interview with Asli Özge, director of Men on the Bridge
• Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific

12 October 2009 (front page)

• Following attack on army headquarters
  Pakistan vows to mount new military offensive
• This week in history
• Support for government fades in Sri Lankan election
• US Supreme Court term begins with more threats to democratic rights
• Israeli cabinet minister cancels visit to Britain
• Romania: General strike intensifies political crisis
• One year since banking collapse, Iceland’s crisis deepens
• Australian government deports Sri Lankan asylum-seekers
• Obama continues assault on democratic rights
• Vietnamese economy hit by global crisis
• Letters on Roman Polanski

13 October 2009 (front page)

• 75 years since the 1934 truck drivers' strike in Minneapolis
• The Crash of 2008 and its revolutionary implications
  Nick Beams' opening report to SEP summer school – January 2009 in Sydney Australia
• A lecture by Nick Beams
  The World Economic Crisis: A Marxist Analysis
• White House defends inaction on jobs crisis as unemployment grows
• “Socialism in One Country” and the Soviet economic debates of the 1920s
• Dollar devaluation and the working class
• Another costly week in Afghanistan
• The racist outburst of German Federal Bank executive member Thilo Sarrazin
• UAW reaches new concessions agreement with Ford
• One in ten US high school dropouts incarcerated
• Australia: Productivity Commission report rules out curbing executive pay
• India: Chhattisgarh government to call probe into industrial accident
• Britain’s bosses call for university tuition hike
• German unions agree to mass layoffs in printing machine industry
• New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman glorifies American militarism
• Letters on the “Nobel War Prize”
• Workers Struggles: The Americas
• This week in history

14 October 2009 (front page)

• US Senate panel approves Obama-backed health care plan
• US pressure builds ahead of talks with Iran in Vienna
• Citigroup spins off subsidiary to pay trader $100 million
• Sri Lankan president invents an “international conspiracy”
• Nationalist tensions deepen over Magna’s purchase bid for GM Europe
• Obama tops Bush in troop buildup
• Political fallout grows over Indonesian bank bailout
• The American way of debt: Turning a profit by preying on the poor
• European Trotskyists mark seventieth anniversary of World War II
• Workers expose GM payoff to Canadian auto union officials
• Toronto International Film Festival 2009—Part 5
  Compassion, vision, genius

15 October 2009 (front page)

• More than 1 billion hungry, UN agencies report
• A record year for Wall Street pay
• Afghan election crisis enters new stage
• Britain: Brown’s £16 billion asset sale a vain effort to appease big business
• Solidarity meetings in Germany for dismissed shop worker
  An interview with Emmely
• Mexican government closes electric utility, sacks 44,000 workers
• Norwegian pension fund breaks silence on Volkswagen-Porsche takeover scandal
• Swedish government to provide backing to Saab sale
• Australia: Contradictory witness testimonies in Julian Moti hearing
• “Obama’s War”: A glimpse of US debacle in Afghanistan
• Photo essay
  A day in the life of a Sri Lankan plantation worker
• Letters from our readers
• Sri Lanka: Plantation employers drive up productivity under union agreement

16 October 2009 (front page)

• Dow climbs to 10,000 as jobless rate nears 10 percent
• Pakistan descends deeper into civil war
• The German Left Party and Berlin’s austerity budget
• Sri Lankan government delays annual budget
• Supreme Court agrees to hear appeal of Enron’s Jeffrey Skilling
• FBI raids home over use of Twitter at G20 summit
• New Zealand workers face deepening assault on jobs and conditions
• The politicization of the British military
• Reject UAW-Ford concession demands
  Elect rank-and-file committees to defend jobs and living standards
• Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa

17 October 2009 (front page)

• Obama in New Orleans: The callous face of the US ruling elite
• Obama and the fiscal crisis of the states
• Morale crumbling among US and British troops in Afghanistan
• Bailed out insurance giant AIG plans $198 million in new bonuses
• Class justice in Germany: banker wins €1.5 million redundancy judgement
• Indian government to launch major military offensive against Maoist insurgents
• British media gagged in toxic dumping case
• Australia: Rudd intervenes to block Tamil asylum-seekers
• Australian Federal Police disclose 1,500 pages of documents in Julian Moti case
• Puerto Rico: General strike against mass layoffs
• BBC reveals plan by Royal Mail and Labour government to break postal strike
• Toronto International Film Festival 2009—Part 6
  Thoroughly lost, or playing at it
• Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
• Letters from our readers

19 October 2009 (front page)

• Pakistani military launches offensive into South Waziristan
• US House panel approves pro-Wall Street derivatives bill
• Honduras: Is US moving to back ‘state of siege’ election?
• Signs of the US dollar’s demise
• British High Court instructs government to release evidence of CIA torture of Binyam Mohamed
• Phoney Indian concern about Tamil detainees in Sri Lanka
• Power struggle in Italy around Berlusconi
• Obama joins Netanyahu in shielding Israel from war crimes charges
• Berlin state constitutional court rules against Senate ban on referendums
• The two Americas
• SEP public meetings in US
  One year since the election of Obama: Illusion and reality

20 October 2009 (front page)

• US steps up pressure on Karzai over Afghan vote
• Obama’s job creation fraud
• Attacks on Iranian Revolutionary Guards kill 42
• German Greens to form coalition with CDU and FDP in Saarland
• French President Sarkozy backs Washington’s hard line against Iran
• Indonesian earthquake toll soars
• Moti defence counsel challenges Australian Federal Police witness
• US: Massachusetts governor threatens 2,000 state layoffs
• Students stage occupation to protest California budget cuts
• Oregon: plagued by homelessness, unemployment, cuts in social services
• US soldier commits suicide in Indiana movie theater
• Britain: Postal workers face a political struggle against Labour government
• Workers Struggles: The Americas
• New fossils provide insights into early human evolution
• The Invention of Lying: Telling the truth, or some of it
• SEP public meeting
  The crisis in Detroit: The socialist response
• Letters from our readers

21 October 2009 (front page)

• As unemployment and poverty rise
  Obama turns to the financial elite for campaign cash
• One in six Americans in poverty in 2008
• France: New Anti-capitalist Party tries to channel worker discontent with the unions
• Reports of indiscriminate bombing in South Waziristan
• Roman Polanski refused bail by Swiss court
• Britain: Thousands of jobs threatened in higher and further education
• Michigan governor slashes $54 million more from school funding
• Australian government prosecutors suffer significant blow in Moti case
• British secret service chief justifies torture
• Ford workers oppose UAW demand for concessions

22 October 2009 (front page)

• Karzai bows to US pressure on Afghanistan runoff
• The great unmentionable
• US Fed Chairman Bernanke demands austerity
• Iran makes significant concession to defuse nuclear standoff
• Sun Microsystems to cut 10 percent of workforce
• India: Official corruption and negligence tied to 34 deaths in firecracker explosion
• US college tuition skyrockets
• Germany: Armed Forces memorial unveiled in Berlin
• Bernard Kerik jailed on eve of corruption trial
  Former head of NYPD, Homeland Security nominee
• The British National Party and “Question Time”
• Australia: Five men convicted of terrorist “conspiracy”
• Norwegian election dominated by debates over oil fund
• The “Balloon Boy” hoax, celebrity culture, and the American media
• France: CGT’s industrial policy means workers will pay for the crisis
• Los Angeles city unions back concessions agreement
• Letters from our readers

23 October 2009 (front page)

• “A bit of a hoax”
  White House unveils token bank pay restrictions
• British postal workers launch two-day national strike
• Tensions between India and China flare again
• Germany: Closure of Quelle mail order business costs 7,000 jobs
• Sri Lankan regime keeps student union convener detained
• Atlanta homeless shelters strain under economic crisis
• Washington pushes Pakistan to the brink
• Unite Michigan teachers, students, workers to stop school cuts!
• Opposition mounts to UAW-Ford concessions contract
• Britain: Leeds refuse workers vote to continue strike
• Britain: South Yorkshire firefighters threatened with mass sackings over new shift patterns
• Workers Struggles: Europe & Africa

24 October 2009 (front page)

• As unemployment claims rise
  White House rejects new measures to stem jobs crisis
• Twenty years after capitalism’s return:
  Living standards continue steep fall in Eastern Europe
• Michigan governor again takes axe to education
• Russia: Workers at AvtoVaz protest against mass layoffs
• Irish Fianna Fail/Green coalition prepares major budget cuts
• US bankers cash in despite phony pay restraint
• Britain: Postal strikers speak to SEP campaign teams
• UAW says key local passed Ford contract by 51 percent
  Many workers call vote a “fraud”
• Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
• Letters from our readers

26 October 2009 (front page)

• As “free market” fails to deliver enough vaccine
  Obama declares US national emergency over H1N1 flu
• The runoff farce in Afghanistan
• Merkel coalition agreement
  A program of social devastation in Germany
• Paris CGT jobs protest dominated by nationalist politics
• The Sri Lankan government’s “resettlement” of Tamil detainees
• South Korean government cracks down on workers’ rights
• “This is the direct result of bad public policy”
  Atlanta shelter director speaks on the homeless crisis
• German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk defends racist remarks by central banker
• Britain: Post workers speak to SEP during second day of national strike
• German building cleaners strike against wage cutting

27 October 2009 (front page)

• US casualties rise as Obama prepares Afghan escalation
• The reality behind the US “success” in Iraq
• White House promotes tax on “Cadillac” health care plans
• Nine thousand homes and lots at auction
  Detroit: A city for sale, and very few takers
• US formally requests extradition of filmmaker Roman Polanski
• Romania: Boc government resigns after no-confidence vote
• In defiance of US federal order
  Arizona sheriff carries out immigrant raid
• Mass opposition to Ford-UAW concessions contract
• Letters from our readers
• Sri Lanka: Petroleum unions call off work-to-rule bans
• Workers Struggles: The Americas

28 October 2009 (front page)

• Pakistani army offensive devastates tribal communities
• October the bloodiest month for US troops since Afghan war began
• Germany: A government of social confrontation
• Child deaths from abuse and neglect rise in the US
• America’s crumbling infrastructure
• US companies, governments continue to slash jobs and pay
• Australian government intensifies crackdown on asylum seekers
• Israel, the United States and international law
• Mass opposition grows
  Ford workers speak out against contract
• Sri Lanka: Plantation unions accept wage sell-out

29 October 2009 (front page)

• Attack on UN in Kabul in lead-up to sham Afghan election
• Bridgestone closes plants in Australia and New Zealand
• Public Meeting in New York City
  Historians in the service of the Big Lie:
• What are US troops dying for in Afghanistan?
• Education spending targeted by all parties in Germany
• Ukrainian economy suffers sharp fall in 2009
• Britain: Protests and political campaigning redefined as “domestic extremism”
• Chicago city and transit budgets pose mass layoffs and deep cuts in services
• Yemen: Regional instability worsens as government pursues insurgents
• Pension fund probe into possible bribery of former Los Angeles deputy mayor
• Seventy years since the outbreak of World War II: Causes, Consequences and Lessons
• The way forward for Ford workers

30 October 2009 (front page)

• Australian man faces lengthy jail term for “offensive” letters
• Obama signs bills for record Pentagon, Homeland Security spending
• US: GDP figure masks deepening economic crisis
• Britain: Deepening recession fuels concern over corporate bonuses and bailouts
• Wrangling continues over Iranian nuclear deal
• Opel’s future once again up for grabs
• US: Lack of insurance linked to thousands of child deaths
• Swine flu vaccine shortage disrupts local response plans
• The swine flu pandemic and the market
• WSWS speaks to workers who exposed GM payoff to Canadian auto union
• Britain: Three days of post strikes under way
• Indian auto dispute sparks mass protest, shuts Ford Canada plant
• Workers Struggles: Europe & Africa
• ISSE meetings in Britain
  End the war in Afghanistan
  No to wars of colonial conquest!

31 October 2009 (front page)

• An exposure of corruption: Afghanistan, on the Dollar Trail
• US wages and salaries rise at record-low levels
• Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
• Obama’s banker-friendly financial overhaul
• Washington pushes through deal with Honduran coup regime
• US House leaders unveil health care bill
• US makes cynical overture to Sri Lanka over war crimes
• France: Sarkozy escalates anti-immigrant campaign
• Québec Solidaire manifesto promotes nationalism and a “moral” capitalism
• Video: Ford workers speak out against concessions contract
• No compromise possible in UK post strike
  A political and industrial offensive against Labour government is required
• Canada: Vale Inco continues provocations against Steelworkers
• European Trotskyists mark 70th anniversary of World War II
  A battle for empire rooted in profound contradictions of capitalism
• Letters from our readers