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Australia: Labor government accelerates right-wing offensive against public education
By Patrick O’Connor, 30 August 2008
In a major speech delivered on Wednesday to the National Press Club, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd unveiled a series of far reaching right-wing reforms to the public education system. The proposed measures include the publication of national league tables based on schools’ test results, tying school funding to these test results, shutting down schools deemed “underperforming”, introducing so-called performance pay for teachers, and bringing university graduates without teaching qualifications into the public school system. The central aim of this “education revolution” is to better meet business demands for a more productive workforce.
Britain: Labour government proposes huge increase in state surveillance
By Paul Stuart and Paul Mitchell, 30 August 2008
In a further escalation of the attack on democratic rights, the Labour government is proposing a huge increase in state surveillance. It is implementing new measures under the pretext of the “war on terror” to intrude ever deeper into the private lives of people who are viewed as potential criminals rather than citizens.
Letters on the Democratic National Convention
30 August 2008
The following is a selection of letters sent to the World Socialist Web Site in response to article covering the Democratic Party National Convention.
McCain’s VP pick: A sign of deepening crisis in the Republican Party
By Bill Van Auken, 30 August 2008
The surprise pick of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as the vice presidential running mate of Senator John McCain is indicative of a sharp political crisis within the Republican Party.
Obama’s Denver speech: Populist demagogy in the service of militarism
By Patrick Martin, 30 August 2008
The speech delivered by Senator Barack Obama Thursday night, accepting the Democratic presidential nomination at a football stadium in Denver, combined populist rhetoric with invocations of patriotism and pledges to escalate the war in Afghanistan and build up the US military “to meet future conflicts.”
Three years since Hurricane Katrina
By Naomi Spencer, 30 August 2008
Three years ago, on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the US Gulf Coast. The storm devastated nearly 100,000 square miles and displaced over a million people. New Orleans, Louisiana, bore the brunt of this disaster, after the levee system failed and nearly 80 percent of the city was submerged.
Unemployment and poverty on the rise in Berlin
By Emma Bode, 30 August 2008
A debate is underway in political circles and the German media over the possibility of collaboration between Germany’s oldest political party, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), and the recently formed Left Party. Such collaboration could take the form of coalition governments in the German states of Hesse and Saarland or agreements by which the Left Party supports SPD governments in those states.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
30 August 2008
Asia
Australia: Damning evidence surfaces in Beaconsfield mine inquest
By Noel Holt, 29 August 2008
Testimony by miners, mining experts and inspection officials in the first weeks of the long-delayed coronial inquest into the death of miner Larry Knight at the Beaconsfield gold mine on April 25, 2006 has revealed the culpability of both the mine owners and the Tasmanian state government.
Democratic National Convention outlines policy of wider war
By Bill Van Auken, 29 August 2008
After going through the formality of a roll call vote ending in the preordained nomination of Barack Obama as its presidential candidate, the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday turned to the question of “national security,” portraying itself as more competent than the Bush administration in defending the interests of US imperialism abroad, while making it clear that it is prepared to launch new and even bloodier wars than those carried out over the past eight years.