World Socialist Web Site

 

Archive: December 2012

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 2012 (front page)

• Mass protests as Egyptian government seeks to push through constitution
• November sales slump in US reflects worsening social crisis
• Israel to expand settlements after UN vote on Palestine
• Leveson report whitewashes collusion in media’s criminal activity
• Protests grow against evictions in Spain
• France: Gaullist Union for a Popular Movement on verge of split
• Bipartisan group in US Congress promotes drone killings
• Bradley Manning speaks on abuse
• US bankruptcy judge approves $1.75 million in bonuses for Hostess executives
• Thai anti-government protesters clash with security forces
• Police attack Bangladesh garment workers
• One month since Hurricane Sandy
• Los Angeles and Long Beach port clerical workers on strike
• Workers protest low wages at New York City fast-food restaurants
• Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
• Letters from our readers

3 December 2012 (front page)

• Dangerous Remedy: Bertram Wainer and the struggle for abortion rights
• In “fiscal cliff” talks, Democrats offer cuts now, cuts later
• The death of Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif
• German Left Party moves further to the right
• Fifth German secret service resignation in NSU far-right terror scandal
• Demands for restructuring of public sector follow approval of Portuguese budget
• Doha conference highlights national divisions over climate change
• Social catastrophe faces UK working poor
• South Korean “independent” pulls out of presidential election
• Thousands protest as new Mexican president takes office
• US birth rate falls to lowest since 1920
• Burmese military cracks down on copper mine protest
• The “rule of law” and state killings
• This week in history: December 3-9
• The PQ budget and the 2012 Quebec student strike
• Grain haulers’ lockout of Northwest longshoremen postponed

4 December 2012 (front page)

• Australian Senate report rejects dole increase
• Japan: At least nine dead in tunnel collapse
• Sri Lanka: Jaffna University students arrested
• The historical significance of the gathering world slump
• Washington floats chemical weapons charge as pretext for Syria buildup
• More data pointing to slowdown in US economy
• Mass opposition to Tunisian repression of anti-poverty protests
• Jordan hit by protests against fuel hikes and Abdullah’s rule
• Florange steelworkers betrayed by French government, unions
• New study details growth of income inequality across US
• NHL union lays the basis for massive concessions for hockey players
• Los Angeles area port workers’ strike continues
• University of Illinois graduate assistants:
  Reject the sellout contract! Fight to defend the right to higher education and decent living standards!
• UK health unions mount feeble protest against attacks on National Health Service
• Socialist Equality Party/SouthWest NHS Fightback
  A reply to Unite Head of Health Rachael Maskell
• Workers Struggles: The Americas
• Letters from our readers

5 December 2012 (front page)

• Mass anti-Mursi protests, clashes with police in Cairo
• Public tussle over US deficit plans masks bipartisan agenda
• Italian steel workers fight for jobs
• South China Sea disputes flare up
• Australian central bank cuts interest rates amid signs of economic slump
• German newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau faces bankruptcy
• Massive cost-cutting by airlines across Europe
• Scores dead as typhoon hits the Philippines
• Hurricane Sandy compounds crisis facing public schools in New York City
• Notes on the social crisis in America
• Obama administration to allow further US media consolidation
• Obama and Al Qaeda
• Behind the UAW’s “support” for the Maruti Suzuki workers
• Striking bus drivers in Singapore face arrest and deportation
• Boeing professional and technical workers oppose concessions demands
• Nirvana’s Nevermind re-issued by Sony/Universal
  Assessing an American pop icon

6 December 2012 (front page)

• Defend auto workers victimised by Maruti Suzuki and Indian authorities
• Papua New Guinea PM pledges fealty to Australian government, mining investors
• Sri Lankan unions prepare political trap for plantation workers
• US-backed Muslim Brotherhood unleashes bloody crackdown in Cairo
• Leveson whitewash of Murdoch’s UK media empire
• German Left Party student association moves further to the right
• Citigroup to cut 11,000 jobs
• Who are Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles?
• ISO leader endorses Chicago school closings
• Large turnout at meeting on attacks on public schools in Michigan
• Spanish government prepares repressive measures against social opposition
• Austrian billionaire Stronach launches new right-wing party
• The failure of land reform in South Africa
• Congressman Jack Brooks, Rex ’84 and the Iran-Contra affair
• Elliott Carter (1908-2012) and the crisis of contemporary music
• ILWU ends Los Angeles port strike
• Mursi’s crackdown exposes counter-revolutionary role of Egyptian Revolutionary Socialists
• Letters from our readers

7 December 2012 (front page)

• Egypt’s US-backed president Mursi deploys army, prepares massive repression
• US tightens military noose around Syria
• Global retail giants and the Bangladesh factory fire
• Spanish bank bailout paves way for new attacks on working class
• Michigan woman killed in blaze near closed fire station
• Michigan legislators pass right-to-work bill as police attack protesters
• Behind the growth of D.C. charter schools
• UK by-elections reveal hostility to government
• Survey shows Australian teachers oppose NAPLAN testing
• The American establishment and the British royal pregnancy
• The SYRIZA model
• Locked out American Crystal Sugar workers reject contract again
• Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa

8 December 2012 (front page)

• Protests spread throughout Egypt against Islamist dictatorship
• Japanese election mired in nationalism and militarism
• Mounting evidence of US plans for military intervention against Syria
• Tepid US jobs report points to ongoing slump
• Cleveland, Ohio police killing sparks outrage
• Trade unions shut down South African farm workers strike
• The destruction of health care in Greece
• UK Autumn budget: Austerity without end for workers
• Australian national income falls as global downturn deepens
• Protests continue in Australian refugee detention camps
• Washington DC parents and teachers express outrage over schools plan
• Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
• Letters from our readers
• Letters on the British royal pregnancy

10 December 2012 (front page)

• Australian governments make bogus pledge to lower electricity bills
• Death toll from Philippine typhoon exceeds 600
• Inter-European conflicts torpedo plans for banking union
• As American commanders target Afghan children
  Karzai offers immunity for continued US occupation
• Mursi calls on military in Egypt crisis
• New York City police arrest artist who created drone satires
• Syrian “rebels” establish unified military command
• The “fiscal cliff” and the dismantling of Medicare
• Tunisian UGTT union calls one-day national strike
• Peabody closes Illinois mine after miner’s death, laying off 400
• Protests against Slovenian government
• For an independent political struggle by the working class
  No to Michigan’s ‘right-to-work’ legislation
• This week in history: December 10-16
• Jazz musician Dave Brubeck dies at 91

11 December 2012 (front page)

• Doha climate summit concludes without agreement on emission reductions
• Sri Lanka: Parliamentary panel backs impeachment of chief justice
• The political economy of the Spanish bank bailout
• UAW provides Obama a platform for his austerity assault on workers
• WikiLeaks editor denounces mass internet surveillance and US attacks on democratic rights
• Italian Prime Minister Monti resigns
• Croatian war criminals released after appeal by Western military chiefs
• Irish budget deepens misery for working people
• The extortionate operations of NML Capital
• Obama inauguration to allow unlimited corporate donations
• Patriot Coal to end mountaintop removal mining in West Virginia
• Workers Struggles: The Americas

12 December 2012 (front page)

• Australia: Young people list economic issues as top concern
• Chinese leadership tries to revamp its corrupt image
• Mass protests against referendum on new Egyptian constitution
• Michigan enacts right-to-work law
• GM-Opel plant in Germany to be shut down
• Michigan protesters denounce right-to-work law
• New York: Continuing misery in Rockaways in aftermath of Hurricane Sandy
• Hearing on Bradley Manning’s pre-trial confinement concludes
• Stockton, California: Bankruptcy judge poised to rule against workers
• Conviction of Quebec student strike leader sets stage for broader attack on students’ rights
• Outburst of loyalist violence in Northern Ireland
• Washington discovers terrorists in Syria
• The Central Park Five: A story of injustice

13 December 2012 (front page)

• Australian court throws out allegations against former parliamentary speaker
• New Zealand Hobbit premiere used to drive “international competitiveness” agenda
• US warns of “consequences” over North Korean rocket launch
• “Friends of Syria” meeting demands Assad cede power to Islamist opposition
• Michigan’s right-to-work law
• Sweetheart settlement for HSBC bank on drug money laundering charges
• Oregon students face massive debt
• Massachusetts governor outlines new round of budget cuts
• Social Democratic-led alliance wins Romanian election
• After winning FDI vote, Indian government vows to push ahead with pro-investor measures
• The royal pregnancy phone hoax
• Leading German newspaper’s conference hears call for dismantling democracy
• Illinois grad assistants union pushes through concessions contract
• Lobbyists collude with UK government on National Health Service privatisation
• Death Grips’ No Love Deep Web: A terminally destructive message
• Letters from our readers

14 December 2012 (front page)

• Obama, CEOs join forces in budget-cutting campaign
• Sri Lanka: Security forces continue arresting Tamil youth
• US Federal Reserve expands “quantitative easing”
• Philippine government calls for the rearming of Japan
• SPD leader calls for a strong German state
• Russia starts construction of the South Stream pipeline
• Global tensions overshadow Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit
• Australian foreign minister visits Sri Lanka to tighten anti-refugee measures
• Uninsured in Detroit speak on health care crisis
  “It is like they are trying to find a way to kill us off”
• Washington, DC charter school wins Race to the Top grant
• Above the law
• Australian pseudo-left backs imperialist intervention in Syria
• Scotland’s Radical Independence Conference pledges to divide the working class
• Australia: Fire safety problems in new student accommodation
• SEP (Australia)
  Film showing of Tsar to Lenin in Sydney this Sunday
• Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa

15 December 2012 (front page)

• Air incident escalates Japan/China tensions over disputed islands
• Australian state government prepares to privatise railways
• School shooting in Connecticut leaves 27 dead, including 20 children
• South Korean “progressives” line-up behind the Democrats
• Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
• EU summit—years more of austerity and crisis
• Rice abandons bid for secretary of state nomination
• US military trial to censor testimony on CIA torture
• Detroit area auto workers speak on passage of Michigan right-to-work law
• Indian establishment mourns founder-leader of fascist Shiv Sena
• Junta forces Malian prime minister to resign
• UK local authorities plan more than a billion pounds in cuts
• Syria in the crosshairs
• India: Thousands join convention and protest to defend victimised Maruti Suzuki workers
• The Life of Pi: In a lifeboat alone with a tiger

17 December 2012 (front page)

• Egyptian constitutional referendum marked by low turnout, allegations of fraud
• Horror in Newtown
• Right-wing LDP government to take office in Japan
• Rash of gun violence, arrests follows Connecticut massacre
• Protests erupt after Chicago police kill unarmed man
• After devastating Samoa, Cyclone Evan hits Fiji
• Australia: Keen interest in socialist perspective at Tsar to Lenin screenings
• British Labour backs welfare benefit cuts
• German union boss becomes head of personnel at ThyssenKrupp
• Instigator of 2002 Gujarat pogrom seeks new term as chief minister
• Ireland’s United Left Alliance presents its “alternative” budget
• This week in history: December 17 - December 23
• Vast increase in compensation for US college presidents
• Workers and youth speak about the relevance of the Russian Revolution today

18 December 2012 (front page)

• Obama, Republicans move toward deal to slash social programs
• The enduring significance of the life and work of Comrade Keerthi Balasuriya
• Media, politicians obscure social roots of Connecticut shooting
• Ten girls die in Afghanistan explosion as US pushes for permanent presence
• Israel considering attack on Syria
• Australian hospital patients waiting longer under Labor’s “health reform”
• In Memory of Keerthi Balasuriya
• Letters from our readers
• Michigan’s Awrey Bakeries faces closure
• New Chinese leader signals further pro-market restructuring
• One-day sale – get 50 percent off Tsar to Lenin DVD
• Peña Nieto moves toward privatization of Mexican oil
• Stone tools and the evolution of modern human cognition
• UK government pays millions to tortured Libyan to conceal its crimes
• Workers Struggles: The Americas

19 December 2012 (front page)

• Washington raises specter of Al Qaeda seizing Syrian chemical weapons
• New Japanese government marks dangerous turn to militarism
• German parliament votes to station Patriot missiles on Syrian border
• Tunisian UGTT union calls off one-day national strike against Islamists
• Killings highlight epidemic of police violence in US
• Notes on the social crisis in America
• Chicago diverts taxes to investors, plans privatization of services
• Private consultants reap rewards from UK National Health Service privatisation
• Australia boosts links with Sri Lankan regime
• New Zealand earthquake report whitewashes government’s role
• Fierce clashes follow elections in Georgia
• Germany’s Left Party and the closure of GM-Opel’s Bochum plant
• New York Times prescription for “When the Doctor Is Not Needed”
• Sri Lankan SEP marks 25th anniversary of Keerthi Balasuriya’s death
• Andrew Marr’s History of the World: A slur against revolution

20 December 2012 (front page)

• Obama announces task force on gun violence
• Fiscal cliff talks get down to business
  Obama proposes Social Security cuts
• UBS Libor-rigging settlement exposes pervasive bank fraud
• Daughter of former South Korean dictator wins presidency
• US, Arab allies call for intervention in Syria after bombing of Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp
• Bangladesh factory fire report blames “sabotage”
• Government threatens UK teachers with pay cuts as punishment for industrial action
• Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty: Hollywood embraces the “dark side”
• Letters from our readers
• Pakistan: Ethnic violence in Karachi deadliest since 1994
• Ravi Shankar, acclaimed Indian musician, dies at 92
• The Australian Labor government and the “mummy bloggers”
• Tsar to Lenin premiered in Berlin
• US Department of Agriculture pushes for weaker rules on poultry industry

21 December 2012 (front page)

• UN admits Syria wracked by sectarian civil war
• The German chancellor’s Christmas message
• Forecast: 13.1 percent to be jobless some time in US next year
• State Department officials sanctioned for Benghazi attack
• French president promotes corporate interests, Mali war in Algeria visit
• Australian government abandons budget surplus pledge
• Australian refugee lawyer condemns deportations to Sri Lanka
• Malaysian ruling party mobilises for crisis election
• Social discontent grows in Greece against austerity
• US Congress drops measure banning indefinite detention of US citizens
• Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa
• Germany’s Left Party mobilizes for war against Syria

22 December 2012 (front page)

• Obama, Boehner pledge to continue talks on social cuts
• The Libor swindle
• Obama nominates John Kerry as secretary of state
• UN Security Council approves military intervention in Mali
• Twenty-four dead in Mexican prison riot
• Thousands affected by floods in Sri Lanka
• Former Thai prime minister charged with murder
• Mental health charity warns of “nightmare scenario” for North East England
• Michigan legislature enacts new attacks on workers, democratic rights
• Privatisation agenda behind government threats against UK teachers
• Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
• A new film version of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina (and Sean Baker’s Starlet )
• Germany: PSG holds meetings in defence of Greek workers
• Letters from our readers

24 December 2012 (front page)

• Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood claims constitutional referendum victory amid mass abstention
• African National Congress anoints the butchers of Marikana
• Report details massive growth of social inequality across US
• Berlin: A grim Christmas for many
• Australia: Christmas period highlights mounting social crisis
• Big business clamour for Canada to adopt US-style “right-to-work” laws
• Massive cuts at German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp
• Australian analyst points to debate on alliance with Japan
• Britain: Oppose the closure of Maltby Colliery
• This week in history: December 24-30
• Robert Bork (1927-2012): Reactionary jurist and opponent of equality

27 December 2012 (front page)

• Occupy protests targeted by FBI counterterror units
• US retools terror war in scramble for Africa
• US mayors’ survey: Food insecurity, homelessness rising across the country
• New right-wing Japanese government installed
• Unions isolate Portuguese dockworkers’ struggle against European port restructuring
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey—not so unexpected as all that
• Australian utility companies disconnect thousands of households
• Letters from our readers
• Russian President Putin’s address to parliament promotes nationalism, austerity
• 25 years since Keerthi Balasuriya’s death
  South Asia’s foremost Marxist of the second half of the 20th century
  Part one
• US munitions cause spike in Iraqi infant birth defects
• Wage freezes, school cuts in Connecticut budget
• West Coast longshoremen overwhelmingly reject grain handlers’ contract offer
• Workers Struggles: The Americas

28 December 2012 (front page)

• On the eve of the “fiscal cliff”
  Democrats, Republicans prepare major cuts in workers’ wages, benefits
• Currency wars to intensify in 2013
• Longshoremen strike may shut down US East Coast ports
• Iraq arrests spark mass protests
• Spanish Popular Party government launches assault on public education
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower: Growing up in the early 1990s
• US walks out of World Conference on Information Technology
  Global split over telecom treaty
• More than 400,000 Californians could lose unemployment benefits
• Rape of Delhi woman sparks protests in India
• Social crisis intensifies in New Zealand
• 25 years since Keerthi Balasuriya’s death
  South Asia’s foremost Marxist of the second half of the 20th century
  Part two
• South Korean companies plan sweeping job cuts
• UK police frame up Conservative MP

29 December 2012 (front page)

• Democrats, Republicans work toward “fiscal cliff” deal
• White House, Congress extend police-state FISA law
• Tentative agreement reached as union calls off plans for US port strike
• Dismal holiday sales belie talk of US “recovery”
• Syria faces humanitarian catastrophe
• China strikes
• IMF demands deeper austerity in Pakistan
• Unpaid wages spark strikes in China
• UK: Peterborough city council’s social cuts target elderly, disabled
• In wake of Hurricane Sandy, New Yorkers hit with transit fare hike
• NYC worker: “The fare is going up, but my salary is not”
• Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
• The Scottish Socialist Party and the financial oligarchy
• Best films of 2012
• Favorite music of 2012
• Australian state government imposes fire station shut-downs
• Asia-Pacific briefs

31 December 2012 (front page)

• US, France deploy troops to Central African Republic
• Behind the “fiscal cliff” debate
  Obama spearheads social counterrevolution
• Monti to lead coalition in Italian election
• UK High Court rejects inquiry into British role in Pakistan drone strikes
• Anti-Semitic outburst in the Hungarian parliament
• Canada’s native peoples protest chronic poverty and government attacks
• Homelessness soars among US Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans
• Fear of food scarcity hits US capital, outlying suburbs
• Australian government rejects refugee protest letter
• China’s red aristocracy
• Cyclone Evan causes serious damage in Fiji
• This week in history: December 31-January 6