Archive: December 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 December 2009 (front page)
- Honduran vote held amid repression, mass abstention
- Obama issues order for escalation in Afghanistan
- Torture continues at US prisons in Afghanistan
- Philippine political massacre foreshadows widespread election violence
- UN denies complicity in Congo human rights abuses after leaked report
- Australia: Liberal party divisions deepen as leader ousted over carbon trading system
- Australian court condemns police and prosecutors over child sex case
- London: Metropolitan Police caught out extending armed patrols
- Michigan community colleges face drastic funding cuts
- Workers Struggles: The Americas
- Letters from our readers
2 December 2009 (front page)
- US Senate begins debate on health care overhaul
- US military suicides reach new high
- Oppose Obama’s escalation of the Afghan-Pakistan war! Withdraw all troops now!
- Sri Lanka’s ex-military chief announces presidential candidacy
- US Supreme Court suppresses torture photos
- Germany: What the selection of Left Party candidates in North Rhine-Westphalia reveals
- Canada’s Conservatives respond to Afghan torture charges with lies and slurs
- UNICEF details growth of child poverty in Britain
- Thousands of jobs threatened in British Airways-Iberia merger
- California: College faculty suspended for protesting budget cuts
- What were the 1960s about?: An Education and Pirate Radio
- Mehring Books announces holiday sale!
3 December 2009 (front page)
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As congressional hearings begin
Obama administration backtracks on Afghanistan withdrawal date - Obama’s speech on Afghanistan: A compendium of lies
- The bursting of the Dubai debt bubble
- Switzerland bans minarets
- US: Hundreds of thousands of jobless to lose health insurance subsidy
- Australia: Senate rejection of carbon trading legislation draws rebukes from big business
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US states move to make cuts permanent
Tennessee suspends enrollment in children’s low-income health care plan - Scores die in Bangladeshi ferry disaster
- Britain: Post union president resigns from Socialist Workers Party
- Irish unions call off general strike, offer €1.3 billion public service cuts
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After Obama’s Afghanistan speech
German military pushes to overturn post-war constraints - White House holds photo-op “jobs summit”
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WSWS public meetings in Sydney and Melbourne
The Economics and Politics of the ETS: Socialism and Climate Change
4 December 2009 (front page)
- Human rights report exposes US abuse of immigrant detainees
- EU-China tensions on display at joint summit
- Fed Chief Bernanke testifies at confirmation hearing
- Britain: Prospect of hung parliament raises fear of “Canadian” scenario
- Trial against John Demjanjuk opens in Munich
- Boston mass transit system report exposes widespread safety dangers
- Britain: Iraq inquiry hears the testimony of guilty men
- The pro-war Nation and Obama’s Afghan escalation
- One year since Canada’s constitutional coup
- 150 years since the execution of John Brown
- Australia: Labor governments launch major assault on TAFE teachers
- Workers Struggles: Europe & Africa
5 December 2009 (front page)
- Obama jobs summit: “No money for jobs”
- US prepares Fallujah-style offensive in Afghanistan
- US economy remains devastated despite improved jobs figures
- French government threatens to shut firms employing illegal immigrants
- Former Spanish prime minister lays out his right-wing agenda
- Chicago journalism students targeted for Innocence Project work
- Sri Lankan unions shut down pay campaign
- Detroit Federation of Teachers agrees to new concessions contract
- European states fall into line behind Obama’s Afghanistan surge
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Germany
Afghanistan war: SPD, Green Party and Left Party challenged by representatives of the Socialist Equality Party - The Coen Brothers’ A Serious Man: a suburban Job
- Letters from our readers
- Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
7 December 2009 (front page)
- Copenhagen Climate Summit: The gulf between rhetoric and reality
- How many Afghans will die in Obama’s war?
- Global climate diagnosis worsening
- Coverup of the German army’s role in the Kunduz massacre continues
- The NPA pursues right-wing alliances for France’s regional elections
- Britain: Leaked document reveals escalating attack on higher and further education
- Britain: Sussex students protest cuts
- Australian Labor government unveils historic welfare-cutting plan
- This Week in History: December 7-December 13
8 December 2009 (front page)
- Police attack protesters in Greece
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Obama officials drop “withdrawal” ruse
US in Afghanistan to stay - Obama to extend US attacks in Pakistan
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In health plan debate
US Senate Democrats block efforts to bar Medicare cuts - Indian Stalinists provide “left” cover for government’s anti-Maoist counterinsurgency war
- Bolivia: Morales wins landslide re-election
- Ireland suffers widespread flooding
- Detroit teachers denounce sellout deal at mass meeting
- The danger of Bonapartist rule in Sri Lanka
- Teachers speak to WSWS on concessions contract
- Video: Detroit teachers speak out against DFT Contract
- Workers Struggles: The Americas
- Precious: A view of Harlem through a very narrow lens
- Letters from our readers
9 December 2009 (front page)
- Congressional hearings set stage for escalation of Afghanistan war
- Obama calls for austerity in Washington jobs speech
- Report documents widespread frustration, alienation of Pakistan’s youth
- Hacked climate emails used to attack scientists
- At least 118 killed in Russian nightclub fire
- Russia proposes new organization of European states
- Germany: The dispute over Erika Steinbach
- Twenty members of the LTTE convicted in France
- Obama expands war into Pakistan
- Sri Lankan SEP announces presidential candidate
- The way forward for Detroit teachers
- Sri Lankan SEP public meeting to launch presidential campaign
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A conversation with Austin Chu, co-director of The Recess Ends
A film about the impact of the economic crisis in the US
10 December 2009 (front page)
- Afghanistan massacre on eve of Obama’s surge
- Australia: Union prepares sell-out of TAFE teachers struggle
- German Green leader Joschka Fischer bangs the drum for Afghanistan war
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US Conference of Mayors report:
Recession drives up hunger, homelessness in US cities - Bombings ravage Baghdad as election campaign begins
- Britain: Bailed out banks still set to pay billions to top execs and traders
- Sri Lanka: Free movement of Tamil detainees—a cynical election ploy
- Ohio death row inmate executed by one-drug lethal injection
- Quebec’s Villanueva inquest: Whitewashing a police killing
- US prison population at record high
- German Socialist Equality Party holds meeting on 20 years since fall of Berlin Wall
- Twenty years since the fall of the Berlin Wall
- Hollywood on Trial: a timely reminder
- Letters from our readers
11 December 2009 (front page)
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At Copenhagen climate talks
US takes hard line against poor nations, China - French government supports Obama’s Afghan escalation
- US jobless claims rise, job openings decline
- Signs of mounting crisis within Iranian regime
- Amid new recessionary signs, Japan unveils major stimulus package
- Britain’s ruling elite express fear of “class war”
- Right-wing Sri Lankan leader thanks ex-lefts for services rendered
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In bid to escape pay restrictions
US banks move to repay bailout loans - Opel works council chairman praises GM leadership
- Accepting peace prize, Obama makes case for unending war
- Greece: A warning for European workers
- Corporate media denounces resistance by Detroit teachers
- Workers Struggles: Europe & Africa
12 December 2009 (front page)
- Mercenaries and assassins: The real face of Obama’s “good war”
- Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
- The Nation and the Obama Doctrine
- Philippine president declares martial law in Maguindanao province
- Greece verges on default
- Padilla v. Yoo: Obama administration backs appeal of Bush torture memo author
- Election result intensifies Romania’s domestic crisis
- Canada’s social democrats embrace big business from coast to coast
- Germany: Daimler shifts production to US
- The Messenger and Brothers: The elephant in the room
- Letters from our readers
14 December 2009 (front page)
- Danish police arrest nearly 1,000 protesters at climate conference
- Martial law in the Philippines
- US House passes pro-Wall Street banking bill
- US firms lose out in bidding for Iraq oil fields
- Report on Senate health bill: Medicare cuts jeopardize access to care
- Sri Lankan unions rally behind presidential candidates of ruling elite
- Obama administration reaches $3.4 billion settlement with Native American landowners
- British inquiry underscores Australian complicity in Iraqi war crimes
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Police crack down on California student protests
California governor denounces “terrorism” - British High Court rules that Liberia must pay debt
- Kunduz massacre: What is the German government hiding?
- This week in history: December 14-December 20
- New Feature: Automatic PDF printing
15 December 2009 (front page)
- Obama holds stage-managed meeting with Wall Street bankers
- Mass arrests in Copenhagen
- Violence escalates in Russia’s North Caucasus republics
- India: Soaring food prices place tens of millions at risk
- Britain: Young mother commits suicide and kills her son after months of poverty
- Economic difficulties force more students out of college in US
- New York Governor Paterson defends Wall Street bonuses
- Historians in the Service of the “Big Lie”: An Examination of Professor Robert Service’s Biography of Trotsky
- Sri Lanka: Election meeting participants speak to the WSWS
- Sri Lankan SEP launches presidential election campaign
- Detroit teachers union launches intimidation campaign to push sellout deal
- New Zealand: Public sector workers protest government wage freeze
- Workers Struggles: The Americas
- Letters on Obama’s Nobel Prize speech
16 December 2009 (front page)
- New poll reveals human cost of US unemployment
- Turkish Constitutional Court bans Kurdish party
- Irish government imposes austerity budget
- Sri Lankan presidential candidates accuse each other of war crimes
- Reports demonstrate Israel’s efforts to alter demography of East Jerusalem
- Obama’s Afghan escalation and the decay of democracy
- The Tiger Woods episode: Money, the media, and the “path to redemption”
- Australian government threatens Pluto construction workers
17 December 2009 (front page)
- Shock therapy for Greece
- The international league of war criminals
- World climate conference: Conflict outside and inside Copenhagen meeting
- Obama seeks Guantánamo-style prison on US soil
- Kunduz: Is the German army empowered to carry out targeted killings?
- Australian government frame-up of Julian Moti collapses as court throws out charges
- German Home Office agrees temporary reprieve for a handful of refugees
- Chinese conference underlines mounting economic problems
- British CEO pay 81 times that of workers
- School districts in Michigan vote on cuts
- Millions of eligible Californians do not receive government food assistance
- Letters from our readers
18 December 2009 (front page)
- US threatens Iran with harsh sanctions
- Banks repay TARP funds, government bailout of Wall Street continues
- US House passes $636 billion military spending bill
- Pakistan Supreme Court ruling further undermines beleaguered president
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93 percent in US think economy in bad shape
Polls reveal disappointment, dissatisfaction with Obama - US jobless claims rise for second week in a row
- Germany: Leading SPD member Thilo Sarrazin (SPD) rallies the right wing
- Chile: Right-wing presidential candidate wins first round
- Sweden: GM threatens Saab shutdown by year’s end
- State of California ends free mammograms for women under 50
- New York City: Police shooting of vendor underscores deep social tensions
- Australia: Rudd government backs moves to outlaw national postal workers walkouts
- Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa
19 December 2009 (front page)
- Copenhagen climate summit ends in bitter disagreements
- Strikes and demonstrations in Greece against austerity measures
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White House escalates push for Senate health bill passage
Public option, Medicare buy-in dropped - India: Move to create new state in Telangana provokes political crisis
- Britain: City attacks Labour’s bank bonus tax
- New York: payments to cities, schools cut as Wall Street profits soar
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“Teachers were crucified as a step in the destruction of public education”
Richmond, California, teachers union pushes through concessions contract - The murderous face of Obama’s surge
- 25 years after world’s worst industrial disaster, Bhopal victims languish in neglect
- Australian SEP meetings discuss socialism, climate change and emissions trading schemes
- Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
- Letters from our readers
21 December 2009 (front page)
- Obama ordered US air strikes on Yemen
- France: Sarkozy’s national identity campaign boosts the National Front
- British Airways strike ruling a major attack on workers’ rights
- China opens a major gas pipeline from Central Asia
- New York transit agency to impose drastic service cuts on workers and students
- Chicago homeless crisis worsens with budget cuts, mass foreclosures
- Great powers sacrifice climate on the altar of profit
- This week in history: December 21-December 27
- An appeal to support the World Socialist Web Site
- Climate change, emissions trading schemes and the profit system
- Concessions contract ratified by Detroit teachers after campaign of intimidation
- Film critic Robin Wood dies at 78
22 December 2009 (front page)
- US Senate clears way for passage of Obama-backed health care bill
- Tony Blair, the Iraq war and the international league of war criminals
- Health care profiteers: A billion-dollar lobby
- Iran: Mass opposition protest at funeral for dissident cleric
- Afghanistan: Karzai picks cabinet of US stooges and warlord cronies
- US Senate report proposes a more “robust” policy toward Sri Lanka
- Hedge fund manager makes $2.5 billion betting on US bailout of Wall Street
- Massive bank scandal: Austrian right-winger Jörg Haider’s legacy
- Marxism, socialism and climate change
- UAW installs Bob King as new president
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The Power of Yes: A serious indictment of capitalism
David Hare at the National Theatre - Australia: Union cuts short NSW bus drivers’ strike
- Workers Struggles: The Americas
- Letters from our readers
23 December 2009 (front page)
- US home foreclosures top one million mark
- German government plans massive spending cuts
- Political lessons of the Julian Moti affair
- Obama names former Bush adviser as cybersecurity chief
- California appeals court refuses to dismiss case against Roman Polanski
- Great power rivalries inflame Nagorno-Karabakh dispute
- Sri Lankan students face lack of university places
- Survey shows sharp rise in US households seeking utility assistance
- Scotland: Diageo unions end campaign against plant closures
- New York City students protest scrapping of free transit fares
- Why are the critics lauding Avatar?
24 December 2009 (front page)
- US ground attacks reported in Pakistan
- Socialism and the defense of public education
- Obama pay czar OKs $4 million raise for AIG executive
- Nepali Maoists hold protests to demand a place in government
- Britain still in recession
- Romania: Twenty years after the overthrow of Ceausescu
- US Senate bill advance sparks health care stock rally
- Australian Labor government extends Aboriginal intervention, ignoring widespread opposition
- 250,000 jute workers continue indefinite strike in West Bengal
- India’s almond workers mount militant strike
- Australia Post workers voice growing discontent
- Australian postal unions call off industrial action
- On Canada’s bank bonuses and ruling class hypocrisy
- Letters from our readers
28 December 2009 (front page)
- US steps up drone attacks, assassinations in AfPak “surge”
- Disturbing questions in thwarted US plane bombing
- French NPA covers for military escalation in Afghanistan
- Eurostar breakdowns: Thousands imperilled by corporate indifference
- Five years since Ukraine’s “Orange Revolution”
- Malaysian government continues persecution of opposition leader
- The massacre at Kunduz and the policy of targeted killings
- This week in history: December 28-January 3
- Jennifer Jones, prominent figure in postwar Hollywood, dies at 90
29 December 2009 (front page)
- In wake of airline incident: Drumbeat for US war in Yemen
- The crisis of the Islamic Republic and the tasks of the Iranian working class
- US military kills ten civilians in Afghanistan raid
- Sri Lanka: Victims still live in misery five years after tsunami
- Gaza report finds major powers complicit in Israel’s collective punishment
- Aid report details social devastation in Gaza
- Lithuanian parliamentary commission confirms presence of CIA prisons
- Australian government pushes ahead with internet censorship
- Grayson Perry’s “The Walthamstow Tapestry”: A sensitive depiction of the journey through life
- Workers Struggles: The Americas
- Letters on film and film criticism
- Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
30 December 2009 (front page)
- Obama answers failed airline bombing with threat of new wars
- Greece: Social democratic government passes austerity budget
- Thirty years since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
- GM confirms closure of Saab
- Billions more for bailout of US mortgage giants
- British transport union accedes to anti-union laws, suspends strike ballot
- American Greetings to close Michigan plant
- Australian report canvasses nuclear weapons option
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In praise of George Eliot’s Adam Bede on its 150th anniversary
Part 1 - Sri Lankan SEP to hold election meetings
31 December 2009 (front page)
- Obama administration prepares public opinion for attack on Yemen
- The Northwest Flight 253 intelligence failure: Negligence or conspiracy?
- Canada’s Conservatives shut down parliament, again
- Britain: Record fall in pay levels
- Britain’s pension provision threatened with collapse
- Obama-backed health bill: “Cadillac” tax to target one in five plans
- US state and local tax revenues plummet
- Germany: Five years since the Hartz IV labour “reforms”
- Best films of 2009 and the decade
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In praise of George Eliot’s Adam Bede on its 150th anniversary
Part 2 - Letters from our readers
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