Socialist Alternative

By Alton Sierra Feb 8, 2010

Wall Street bonus season has begun again, with billions handed out in bonus pay as banks and investment firms report gigantic 2009 profits.

By Will Soto Feb 2, 2010

The recent earthquake has hit the poorest metropolitan area in the Americas and brought a new wave of devastation to a country that had already suffered the worst effects of capitalism, poverty and imperial meddling.

By Jesse Lessinger Jan 30, 2010

NEW YORK CITY—On January 26, around 2,000 teachers, students and parents attended a rally called by the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) and then entered a mass hearing of the Panel for Education Policy (PEP) at Brooklyn Tech High School. The overwhelming majority, if not the entirety of those that attended were there to speak out against mayor Bloomberg’s proposal to close 19 public schools, which would be voted on by the PEP at the end of the hearing.

By Dan DiMaggio Jan 27, 2010

Radical historian Howard Zinn passed away today at the age of 87. Here we re-publish a review of his documentary, The People Speak, which premiered on the History Channel in December, and is undoubtedly among the best programs in TV history.

By Bryan Koulouris Jan 21, 2010

Unimaginable a few short weeks ago: Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat in Massachusetts was won by a Republican. Two months ago, Martha Coakley had a 31 percentage-point lead in polls over the obscure Republican state senator Scott Brown. Most had thought that the real race was over for Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat when the Democratic primary ended. After all, the seat had been held by the Democratic Party for over 58 years, most of that time by two brothers with the last name Kennedy. Just over a year ago, Obama had carried Massachusetts by 26%. What happened?

By Niall Mulholland Jan 21, 2010

The humanitarian catastrophe that has befallen Haiti beggars belief. The powerful earthquake that struck on 12 January left many thousands dead, with estimates running to 200,000 and more. The flimsy slum dwellings in Port-au-Prince, the capital, collapsed, as did public buildings, including schools and hospitals. Many thousands are still missing and more are badly injured.

By Dave Carr Jan 20, 2010

While desperate survivors in Haiti’s destroyed capital of Port-au-Prince tried to find food, water and shelter, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton breezed into the main airport for a photo opportunity, diverting aid relief flights which included a field hospital from the charity Médecins Sans Frontières.

By Aidan Beatty Jan 19, 2010

Much has been said about the change promised by Barack Obama prior to his election, and the depressing continuity between his administration and those of Bush and Clinton. During the drawn-out months of his election campaign, there were even some rumblings in right-wing media circles that an Obama presidency would not be “sufficiently” pro-Israel. Comparisons were drawn with Jimmy Carter’s supposedly pro-Palestinian administration, while a false controversy was manufactured in Obama’s friendship with the moderate, and indeed quite uncontroversial, Palestinian historian Rashid Khalidi. It is clear, however, that even prior to November 2008, Obama was never going to buck the trend when it came to Washington’s long-term “special relationship” with Israel.

By Marlon Pierre-Antoine, Cedar Rapids branch of Socialist Alternative Jan 14, 2010

Democratic Governor Chet Culver of Iowa is attempting to implement a 10% ($600 million) across the board cut to the state budget. With the support of both his own party and the Republicans, no program is off limits - Medicare, food stamps, public education and more are all on the chopping block.

By Niall Mulholland Jan 13, 2010

Disaster has struck the impoverished people of Haiti once again; a powerful earthquake, on January 12, toppled buildings in the capital Port-au-Prince.

By Jeff Booth Jan 9, 2010

The future for working people under capitalism can be seen most sharply by looking at its impact on young people. The recession has accelerated already falling living standards for U.S. youth and hit young people harder than any other section of the population. 16 to 24 year-olds have lost at least 2.5 million jobs since December 2007. As of September 2009, only 46% of youth between 16 and 24 were actually working – the lowest figure on record since 1948 when the government started keeping track of this statistic.

By Bryan Koulouris Jan 9, 2010

The Youth Fight for Jobs campaign in Britain caught the attention of Socialist Alternative and Justice newspaper. With over a million young people now out of work, the campaign has organized dynamic, high-profile actions to demand jobs and affordable education. Bryan Koulouris from Justice interviewed Ben Robinson and Sarah Sachs-Eldridge, two leaders of Youth Fight for Jobs (YF4J).

By Brett Hoven, Twin Cities Ford Assembly Plant, UAW local 879 (personal capacity) Jan 9, 2010

In late October, in a historic show of rank-and-file opposition, Ford’s 41,000 hourly workers voted down proposed contract modifications endorsed by the company and the international leadership of the United Auto Workers (UAW). The modifications would have removed limits on hiring low-wage entry-level workers and frozen their wages for six years, while also limiting the right to strike. This was the first national Ford contract to be voted down by UAW members since 1976 (Detroit Free Press, 10/31/09).

By Steve Edwards, President, AFSCME Local 2858, personal capacity Jan 7, 2010

On October 31, 65 activists met at a Chicago union hall to discuss the crisis facing public sector workers and the services we provide.

By Ty Moore Jan 7, 2010

The small antiwar protests that erupted across the country on December 1, as Obama announced the huge surge of 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, had a significance far beyond their numbers.

By Marlon Pierre-Antoine (Recently Unemployed Retail Worker) Jan 7, 2010

I was raised in a staunchly Democratic household, with the belief that the Democrats were champions of the working class and poor across America. I was told that if it weren’t for the Republicans interfering with things, my family would be better off.

By Pete Ikeler, Professional Staff Congress of the City University of New York Jan 7, 2010

All across the country, education is under attack. State governments have slashed the budgets of public universities, raised tuition, and cut jobs.

By Genevieve Morse, Classified Staff Union / MTA (Personal Capacity) Jan 7, 2010

The Economist reported in November that “the only executives to face criminal charges relating to the financial crisis were acquitted of lying to investors about the state of the subprime-stuffed hedge funds they ran at Bear Stearns. The funds’ collapse caused losses of $1.6 billion.”

By Francesca Gomes Jan 7, 2010

Apparently, the Democrats in Congress are not only perfectly happy to work with Republicans on bank bailouts – they are also willing to work with the Republicans to further erode the right of working-class women to decide if they want to have children or not.

By Teddy Shibabaw Jan 7, 2010

Black History Month in February will mark just over a year since the election of Barack Obama. Still, in this Black History Month and beyond, the real day-to-day lives for tens of millions of African Americans forces the question: Is the rise of this one man also the rise of the great mass of black people? And if not, what gives?

By Bryan Koulouris Jan 7, 2010

There is a war going on, a war against working people throughout the country, especially in the “failed state” of California.

By Dan DiMaggio Jan 7, 2010

Just a year after being elected with massive hopes that he would end the wars launched during the Bush era, President Obama announced he is sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, on top of the 21,000 additional soldiers he ordered there earlier this year.

By Jesse Lessinger Jan 7, 2010

Socialist Alternative recently updated our "What We Stand For" program, found on page 2 of our newspaper Justice. This puts forward a series of fighting demands and slogans which point the way toward mass struggle and the need for a clear alternative to capitalism.

By Dennis Prater Jan 7, 2010

The Copenhagen Climate Conference, charged with crafting a new international agreement to curb climate change, ended in failure, with the text of the accord recognizing the need to act but containing no commitments to do so.

By Patrick Ayers Jan 7, 2010

The Senate Democrats have mustered up a fragile compromise on health reform, defeating a filibuster and moving one step closer to passing the first comprehensive health legislation in decades. But is there anything for working people to celebrate after months of givebacks to the right wing and Wall Street-backed insurance companies?

By Tony Wilsdon Jan 7, 2010

One year ago, millions of Americans were in the streets cheering the election of Obama as the end of Republican policies and the start of a new era. How quickly these hopes have been dashed.

By Olivier Lachance, MPS (CWI in Quebec) Dec 27, 2009

In the last months, a new sympathising section of the CWI has been formed in Quebec. Mouvement pour un Parti Socialiste (MPS) has also launched a website and begun to produce a paper, Le Socialiste.

By Marlon Pierre-Antoine Dec 26, 2009

The Cedar Rapids branch of Socialist Alternative, with Women for Peace-Iowa and local supporters, held a march against the war in Afghanistan in downtown Cedar Rapids on December 18th. The event featured a speech by leading left-wing analyst of the Obama administration Paul Street.

By Dan DiMaggio Jan 27, 2010

By Steve Edwards, President, AFSCME Local 2858, personal capacity Dec 25, 2009

The passing of the Tax the Rich resolution in mid-October by members at the Illinois state convention of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) shows that workers are waking up to the reality of the class war being waged by big business a lot faster than our union leaders.

By Committee for a Workers International International Executive Committee Dec 22, 2009

The following Committee for a Workers International statement was adopted by the CWI International Executive Committee at its recent meeting in Belgium, December 2-9, 2009. This meeting brought together over 70 representatives from Europe and Russia, Asia, Central Asia, Latin and North America and Africa.

By Devin Matthews Dec 22, 2009

On December 10, Barack Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize, just days after announcing a huge troop surge to the criminal and imperialist war being waged upon the people of Afghanistan. In protest, the Olympian branch of Socialist Alternative joined branches all over the country by staging a rally and march.

By Bryan Watson Dec 22, 2009

Held during a time of severe economic crisis and a growing questioning of the capitalist system, activists gathered to discuss a variety of current and past political topics.

By Elin Gauffin, Rättvisepartiet Socialisterna Dec 14, 2009

The climate demonstration in Copenhagen on December 12, with over 100,000 participants, was the biggest climate protest ever. It had a strong anti-capitalist character, with our socialist CWI contingent chanting, "Save the planet - smash the system - what we need is socialism." This is a report from Swedish socialist activists at the demonstration.

By Greg Maughan Dec 8, 2009

John Lennon had a tendency to be touched by world events, which, combined with his instinctive sympathy for the ‘underdog’, led him towards political questions and saw him, for a period at least, describing himself as a socialist.

By Rättvisepartiet Socialisterna, Swedish Section of the Committee for a Workers International Dec 6, 2009

A resolution adopted at the congress of Rättvisepartiet Socialisterna, the Swedish section of the Committee for a Workers International, in response to the Copenhagen Climate Summit, dealing with the failure of capitalist, market solutions to the environmental crisis and the need to fight for a socialist solution.

By Logan Steele and Ramy Khalil Dec 3, 2009

Hours before Obama would announce his plan to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, approximately 160 students, veterans, and community members hit the streets of Bellingham to protest the troop surge.

By SocialistAlternative.org Dec 2, 2009

Eight years after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, the occupation continues to drag on with no end in sight. U.S. casualties are on the rise, with recent months being the deadliest since the war began.

By Dan DiMaggio Dec 2, 2009

Barack Obama has decided to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, on top of the 21,000 additional soldiers he ordered there earlier this year. Millions in the U.S. and around the globe are undoubtedly asking why Obama, who was elected with what many viewed as an anti-war mandate, has decided to escalate what is an increasingly unpopular and seemingly unwinnable war.

By Peter Taaffe Nov 29, 2009

After great crimes ‘against humanity’, there is usually some kind of atonement, blame is apportioned, the guilty are charged and sentenced, and the lessons are hopefully learned. But not always. The Turkish genocide against the Armenians has still not received full historical recognition. The crimes of the Nazis against the Jews have been pored over again and again, but not how the Nazis rose to power with the help of the capitalists, both in Germany itself and in Europe, Britain, etc., nor that for Hitler, his main target was the organisations of the working class.

By Rob Jones, CWI, Russia Nov 29, 2009

It’s certainly the first time that the first speaker at a meeting in which the CWI participated was a Russian orthodox priest in full robe speaking through video link from St Petersburg. It’s also the first time for eighty years that a leading Trotskyist has spoken on such an important platform in Moscow.

By Cedric Gerome, Committee for a Workers International Nov 28, 2009

It appears likely now that President Obama will announce on December 1 that he is sending another 34,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan, bringing the total to over 100,000. This article gives background to recent developments in Afghanistan and explains how the U.S. is trapped in an inescapable quagmire.

By Pete Dickinson Nov 19, 2009

Climate change is accelerating. On November 4 the North Pole ice cap fell below the record lows for early November set in 2007.

By Alejandro Rojas Nov 18, 2009

A new and critical phase has opened up in Venezuela which poses new dangers for the struggle for socialism.

By Peter Taaffe Nov 17, 2009

This book is very thick – running to 600 pages – but is very thin when it comes to an honest political examination and analysis of the ideas of Leon Trotsky.

By Mary Smith Oct 28, 2009

With staggering unemployment and relentless foreclosures and evictions, working people are finding it harder and harder to make ends meet. To avoid homelessness, many are forced to double and triple-up, and others move in with relatives despite the glut of homes sitting vacant. This economic crisis has taken an enormous toll on families.

By Joshua Koritz, Member, HUCTW/AFSCME Local 3650 Oct 29, 2009

This September, Harvard University, the richest university in the world, announced its endowment is now valued at $27 billion. Despite this, Harvard persists with “reorganization,” which led to over 200 layoffs this summer and is threatening another round of layoffs for this winter.

By Bryan Koulouris Oct 29, 2009

If the Democrats, with control of the House, the Senate, and the Presidency can’t deliver on our issues, what use are they? Working-class people are a massive social force when we can clearly see our interests and organize. We make the products that are the economy. We have power in numbers. All the social gains we have enjoyed: public education, social security, an end to segregation in the South, and women’s rights - have been won through struggle. None of this was given away by the two-party corporate system out of the goodness of their hearts.

By Kristofer Lundberg (CWI in Sweden) Nov 13, 2009

On November 4, tens of thousands gathered on the streets in Tehran in opposition to the Iranian regime. 2 socialist students who took part in the summer movement before they were forced to flee the country, give their view of the November 4 protests.

By Alton Sierra Oct 29, 2009

In August 2009, the Kent Education Association (KEA) went on strike and won demands for smaller class sizes in the city of Kent, WA. Classroom size is a major issue in education. Many classes in Kent had 35-40 students, many of whom do not speak English as their first language, or barely at all. Socialist Alternative members visited the picket lines to demonstrate their support for this important struggle. Alton Sierra gives a report on this unheralded strike in northwestern Washington.

By Eljeer Hawkins, Bronx, New York Oct 28, 2009

Former President Carter said in September that racism is playing a significant role in the mounting opposition to President Obama by the right wing. The politics of racism are once again on display, as the forces of right-wing mass media and reaction look to divide and confuse the working class.

By Bryan Koulouris Oct 28, 2009

On October 15, public sector workers in Puerto Rico shut down much of the island. They are resisting right-wing Governor Luis Fortuno’s announcement of 17,000 layoffs of government workers. This is part of the overall “Law 7” agenda passed through the Puerto Rican halls of power in March. Big business plans an avalanche of attacks on public services, decent wages, and union rights.

By Devin Letzer Oct 29, 2009

At one time, California set the bar for the nation’s idea of what public education was supposed to look like. Nowhere was this ideal more evident than in the state’s network of public universities, especially the University of California (UC) system. UC was never perfect: there was never free tuition, full funding, or open admissions. Still, it provided educational opportunity virtually unrivaled in the U.S., up to the end of the last century.

By chinaworker.info Nov 7, 2009

The Hong Kong government’s planned introduction of drug tests in schools is an attack on youth and on civil liberties.

By Dani Indovino Oct 28, 2009

On October 11, over 100,000 people joined the National Equality March in Washington, D.C. to demand full equality under the law for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people nationwide. It was the largest demonstration for LGBT rights in over a decade, and according to veteran gay rights activist David Mixner, it represented “the coming of age of the gay and lesbian civil rights movement.”

By Brett Hoven, Twin Cities Ford Assembly Plant, UAW local 879 (personal capacity) Nov 5, 2009

In a historic show of rank-and-file opposition, 41,000 hourly workers at Ford have voted down proposed contract modifications endorsed by the company and the International leadership of the United Auto Workers (UAW).

By Steve Edwards, President, AFSCME Local 2858 Oct 29, 2009

In September, Richard Trumka replaced John Sweeney as President of the AFL-CIO. The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) includes 57 national and international unions representing 11.5 million members. The new leadership pledged at the Convention to continue to put resources into organizing and to reach out to young workers, women, minorities and immigrants in an effort to reverse the decline in membership of the past period.

By Calvin Pope Oct 28, 2009

Amidst a wave of new climate research showing increasingly severe danger from global warming, the successor committee to the 1997 Kyoto Accord will be convening in Copenhagen this December.

By Katie Quarles Oct 29, 2009

Youth unemployment reached a record level this summer. The 18.5% unemployment rate for young people ages 16 to 24 recorded in July 2009 is the highest July rate on record since recording began in 1948! The rate is highest among African-Americans (31.4%). The proportion of employed young people also fell to a record low of 51.4% this July.

By Genevieve Morse, Member, Classified Staff Union/MTA Oct 28, 2009

Debate has opened up over the war in Afghanistan. Big business politicians and military brass have defined their objective as “stability,” and they are failing their own tests. U.S. soldier and civilian casualties are at an all-time high, the Taliban is growing stronger, and al-Qaeda has not been destroyed. Corruption during the recent elections was astounding, and conditions for women have gone unchanged while drug trading continues.

By Alan Jones Oct 28, 2009

The stock market reached the 10,000 mark in the middle of October. Wall Street investment banks like Goldman Sachs were preparing to dole out a record $140 billion in pay to their traders. If you only watch the mass media, it’s as if the shock of the economic collapse that was triggered by the collapse of Lehman Brothers two years ago never happened. More and more optimistic predictions of economic recovery are everywhere.

By Tony Wilsdon Oct 29, 2009

A year ago millions of people were rejoicing over the defeat of Bush’s hated Republicans and were looking for Obama to follow through on his promises of change. Fast forward to today, and most people have enormous difficulty naming one clear change that he has enacted.

By Jesse Lessinger Oct 28, 2009

A new Harvard study just found that over 44,000 people in the country die every year because they lack health insurance. That’s about 122 people dying every day in the wealthiest nation in the world. Yet the health care crisis in the U.S. goes way deeper than the nearly 50 million that have no insurance.

By Ramy Khalil Oct 1, 2009

Not since the Great Depression has the global capitalist system experienced as severe a crisis as this current one. But is a socialist world really possible? Isn’t this just a nice idea in theory but unrealistic in practice?

By Dan DiMaggio Oct 5, 2009

Michael Moore’s new film, Capitalism: A Love Story, opened in over 1,000 theaters across the U.S. on Friday, October 2 with a simple message: “Capitalism is evil,” and must be replaced with a system that puts the interests of ordinary people over profit. While Moore does not provide a clear alternative, he is forcing open a popular debate on the need to transform the entire social system.

By chinaworker.info Oct 16, 2009

Socialistworld.net has received the following press release. The attack on Laurence Coates – a lifelong socialist - and the banning of material critical of the present dictatorial regime in China must be protested world-wide. We carry below the initial news and will follow up with details of how to protest to the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities and support the struggle for genuine socialist policies and workers’ democracy.

By Kristofer Lundberg (CWI in Sweden) Oct 16, 2009

Parisa Nasrabadi is a member of Socialist Students in Iran, a group that has led thousands of students in struggle. They distribute an underground daily paper, “The Street”. She spoke to Kristopher Lundberg (CWI in Sweden).

By Per Olsson, Rättvisepartiet Socialisterna Oct 7, 2009

Within the left internationally, the question often arises about the politics and economy of the Nordic states, particularly Sweden, and whether these societies represent a form of "socialism" or an alternative to neo-liberal capitalism. Here a real socialist from Sweden provides his perspective.

By Steve Edwards, President, AFSCME Local 2858 Sep 9, 2009

Three years ago, Green Party candidate Rich Whitney won 10.5% of the vote for governor of Illinois. He was running on a political program very similar to those of most major unions, but with the addition of outright opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and support for single-payer healthcare.

By Vincent Kolo, chinaworker.info Sep 21, 2009

It is worth noting that those who today are proclaiming the end of the global recession are the same "experts" that missed the danger signs last time around. The massive injection of liquidity by world governments, "life support" measures for banks, plus stimulus programs such as tax cuts and support for home and car sales, have succeeded temporarily in cushioning the economic fall, but at the price of stoking record deficits and worsening already unsustainable imbalances in the global economy.

By Dani Indovino Sep 15, 2009

The politicians who say they represent me sell out my interests over and over to protect people who make millions in bonuses every year. My paycheck is smaller because my taxes go to military spending and big business bailouts rather than human services, healthcare, or jobs.

By Jesse Lessinger Sep 14, 2009

Good news! Our donation drive for Justice this summer went very well. So far, we’ve raised over $1,000 more than last year and a lot of the donations still haven’t come in. Once we have collected all the donations, we may even reach double the amount raised last year. This is a big step towards our aim of producing Justice more frequently.

By Aditi Kaushik Sep 12, 2009

Among the harshest effects of increasing global job scarcity is an increase in people entering the global sex industry, an overwhelming majority of whom are women and girls.

By Ben Gallup Sep 12, 2009

On September 24 and 25, 2009, the G20 will meet in Pittsburgh with the aim of reviving their ailing system: capitalism. All workers and youth who can should come out for mass action against the G20 summit.

By Nick Giannone, member of Boilermakers Union Local 29 (personal capacity) Sep 7, 2009

Many working people are used to some kind of back pain, usually as a result of physical job conditions or work related stress. But the injury workers are feeling now is a wound inflicted by the “friends of labor” in the Democratic Party. The “pro-union” Democrats are stabbing workers in the back once again, and they are using the same knife to dismember the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).

By Marty Harrison Sep 7, 2009

“Job Losses Slow, Signaling Momentum for a Recovery,” is how the New York Times phrased it. The cause of such optimism? Employers destroyed only 247,000 jobs in July.

By Brett Hoven Sep 6, 2009

Eight years after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, the occupation continues to drag on with no end in sight. U.S. casualties are on the rise, with July and August the two deadliest months since the beginning of the war.

By Philip Locker Sep 6, 2009

In the 2008 presidential election tens of millions of workers and young people voted for Barack Obama hoping for a fundamental change from the big-business, right-wing, militaristic policies of George Bush. However since taking office Obama, while striking a more sympathetic tone, has fundamentally carried out a corporate agenda.

By Dani Indovino Sep 2, 2009

Instead of surrendering to layoffs, pay cuts, and factory closures, workers in a growing number of countries are occupying their workplaces and defying court orders and threats of police violence to fight to preserve their standard of living.

By Teddy Shibabaw Sep 2, 2009

On July 16, world-renowned African American Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. was questioned and arrested in his own Cambridge home as though he was an intruder. A neighbor had called 911 after seeing what she thought might be a burglary in progress. It was just Gates and his driver trying to force open the front door, which was jammed.

By Katie Quarles Sep 2, 2009

At least 24 states are cutting aid to K-12 schools and early education programs, according to a recent report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. In higher education, the situation looks even worse, with tuition increases across the country.

By Jesse Lessinger Sep 1, 2009

He has been called a “socialist” and “Nazi.” They say there will be “death panels” where government bureaucrats will make decisions on whether or not to let grandma live. These are just some of the attacks raised against US President Obama and his plans for health care reform by enraged Fox News-sponsored right wingers who are disrupting recent ‘town hall’ meetings around the US. Of course none of them are true.

By Steve Early, counterpunch.org Sep 1, 2009

I was raised, like most Irish-Catholics, not to speak ill of the dead—at least while the wake is still underway. Of course, the affliction known as “Irish Alzheimers” exerts a powerful tug in the opposite direction. Forgetting everything except the grudges keeps you focused on those parts of a departed politician’s legacy that won’t be highlighted from the pulpit or, in Ted Kennedy’s case, in fulsome obituaries run as front-page news stories, op-ed pieces, editorials, and internet encomia throughout the nation.

By Peter Taaffe Aug 26, 2009

Seventy years ago, the major powers plunged humanity into the horror of world war.

By Pete Dickinson Aug 26, 2009

New research is claiming that concentrations of carbon dioxide (the main greenhouse gas, CO2) will remain high for at least 1,000 years, even if greenhouse gases are eliminated in the next few decades.

By Joshua Koritz, member AFSCME Local 3650 Aug 26, 2009

In 2006, Massachusetts started Commonwealth Care, a system designed to insure the uninsured and not cut out the private health insurance corporations. It is now held up as a model for healthcare in the U.S. The Obama administration would like to spread it throughout the country.

By George Martin Fell Brown Aug 19, 2009

In District 9, the new science fiction action thriller by first-time director Neill Blomkamp, an alien spaceship breaks down above Johannesburg, South Africa, leaving its inhabitants stranded on Earth, starving and impoverished. Blomkamp uses this set-up as a metaphor both for apartheid in South Africa and, more explicitly, for current immigration politics, replacing the “illegal aliens” with actual aliens.

By Peter Haden, Socialist Party (CWI Ireland) Aug 17, 2009

US and British military chiefs have been quick to label their July offensive against the Taliban in south east Afghanistan a "success". In reality the main achievement of the British "Operation Panther’s Claw" and the US "Operation Thrust of the Sword" has been to refocus the attention of an increasingly sceptical public at home on the military quagmire and political impasse that is present day Afghanistan.

By Khalid Bhatti, Socialist Movement Pakistan Aug 17, 2009

On 22 June 2009, the Pakistani government announced that it would carry out military action against Pakistani Taliban militants in the Swat district in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), primarily aimed at defeating the Maulana Fazlullah’s TNSM (Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi) who are in coalition with Baitullah Mehsud’s TTP (Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan).