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Published by the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI)

1 June 2010

Israeli massacre of Gaza convoy supporters provokes outrage

By Chris Marsden and Jean Shaoul, 1 June 2010

Israel’s massacre of up to 19 supporters of an aid convoy to Gaza has provoked angry protests internationally. But the Obama administration signalled tacit US endorsement of the bloodbath.

Israel steps up its warmongering

By Chris Marsden, 1 June 2010

Israel’s action against the Gaza aid flotilla is in line with its increasingly bellicose stance on all fronts.

China: Honda strike sends shudder through financial circles

By John Chan, 1 June 2010

A strike at the Honda Motor transmission plant in southern China paralysed the company’s production for almost two weeks.

Escalating violence in Afghanistan as Kandahar offensive nears

By Patrick O’Connor, 1 June 2010

Within US and European ruling circles, there are now clear signs of concern for the viability of the Kandahar offensive and the far-reaching implications of failure.

Indian air disaster kills 158

By Arun Kumar and Deepal Jayasekera, 1 June 2010

The Indian government and Air India management have attempted to blame the pilot for last week’s Mangalore crash even before conducting any investigation. This is a desperate attempt to deflect attention from the underlying causes of the crash.

Air India unions call off “flash” strike in face of state repression

By Kranti Kumara, 1 June 2010

A flash or wildcat strike involving about 20,000 workers at Air India ended May 26, after the unions bowed before a reactionary ruling of the Delhi High Court that proclaimed the strike illegal.

40,000 rally against government austerity programme
Largest protest in Romania in 20 years

By our correspondent, 1 June 2010

On May 19, some 40,000 workers took to the street in Victory Square, Bucharest, in the largest demonstration in Romania since the downfall of the Stalinist regime in 1989.

Australia: Surging house prices built on a debt time-bomb

By Alex Messenger, 1 June 2010

A 20 percent increase in house prices over the past year, combined with a slowdown in housing loans since March, has set the scene for warnings that Australia’s housing bubble is ready to burst.

Australia: Rising debt stress among homebuyers

By Chris Johnson, 1 June 2010

Personal debt levels in Australia have risen back to levels comparable to those at the onset of the credit crisis in September 2008, according to recent reports.

New in French

Grèce : Quatrième grève de 24 heures contre les mesures d'austérité

Par Robert Stevens, 1er juin 2010

Le 20 mai, des dizaines de milliers de travailleurs ont protesté partout en Grèce à l’occasion de la grève générale de 24 heures contre les mesures brutales d’austérité imposées par le gouvernement PASOK du premier ministre George Papandreou.

New in German

Eine Regierung der Finanz-Elite für die Finanz-Elite
Britische Koalitionsregierung kündigt Angriff auf den öffentlichen Dienst an

Von Chris Talbot, 1. Juni 2010

Der konservative Finanz- und Wirtschaftsminister George Osborne und der Liberaldemokrat David Laws, Staatssekretär im Finanzministerium, haben Geschlossenheit demonstriert, als sie am Montag ein Bündel von Sparmaßnahmen im Umfang von sechs Milliarden Pfund ankündigten.

Sparprogramm der Bundesregierung nimmt Gestalt an

Von Elisabeth Zimmermann, 1. Juni 2010

Hunderte von Milliarden Euro, die für die Rettung der Banken aus dem Bundeshaushalt zur Verfügung gestellt wurden, sollen jetzt bei Arbeitern, Rentnern und Hartz-IV-Empfängern gekürzt und eingespart werden.

Neue Beweise für kriminelle Nachlässigkeit von BP
Top Kill gescheitert - Öl fließt noch monatelang in den Golf von Mexiko

Von Joe Kishore, 1. Juni 2010

Die Tatsache, dass BP mit seinem Top-Kill-Verfahren gescheitert ist, bedeutet, dass bis mindestens Ende August Öl in den Golf von Mexiko sprudelt.

Massive Verluste für etablierte Parteien in Tschechien

Von Markus Salzmann, 1. Juni 2010

Ihre wichtigste Aufgabe sieht die neue tschechische Regierung darin, Wirtschaftsreformen und Sparprogramme durchzusetzen.

Other Languages

Perspective

The socialist response to the Gulf oil crisis

1 June 2010

The continued eruption of oil from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico is an unmitigated catastrophe, with incalculable economic and ecological consequences.

Earlier Perspectives »

Socialist Equality Party

Public meetings in Australia discuss new stage of global crisis

1 June 2010

University students and working people participated in SEP public meetings addressed by Nick Beams in Sydney, Melbourne and Newcastle late last month on the “Class struggle in Greece: The second stage of the global financial crisis”.

BP Oil Disaster

New evidence of criminal negligence in run-up to rig explosion
Failure of BP’s “top kill” means oil will continue to flow for months

By Joe Kishore, 31 May 2010

The failure of BP’s “top kill” attempt means that the eruption of oil into the Gulf of Mexico will continue at least through August. New revelations show that BP and the government ignored warnings of a looming disaster in the weeks and months leading up to the explosion.

Full coverage of the Gulf oil disaster »

Workers Struggles

Boron struggle betrayed

By Jack Cody, 1 June 2010

Hundreds of miners returned to work last week after a three-and-a-half-month lockout by the Rio Tinto group. Workers were forced to take major concessions after the struggle was isolated by the International Longshore and Warehouse union.

Workers Struggles: The Americas

1 June 2010

The World Socialist Web Site invites workers and other readers to contribute to this regular feature.

Commentary

A wave of mine disasters

31 May 2010

Yet another mining disaster, in which 17 miners died in a reported dynamite explosion in central China last Saturday, has highlighted the ongoing sacrifice of mine workers’ lives around the world for profit and increased output.

Austerity measures throughout Europe

Arts Review

San Francisco International Film Festival 2010 Part 5: The small pictures that still dominate

By Joanne Laurier and David Walsh, 28 May 2010

Films from Iran, Germany, Palestine, Belgium, Mexico, South Korea, the US and China exhibit some of the same “smallness,” some of the same passivity, some of the same aversion to tracing out phenomena historically.

A comment on Tatlin in London today

Mehring Books

Newly available from Mehring Books
Detroit Disassembled: A visual exposé of Detroit’s decline

25 May 2010

Mehring Books is pleased to offer Detroit Disassembled, the recently published monograph by photographer Andrew Moore.

25 years
50 years
75 years
100 years

25 years ago: Papandreou’s PASOK win Greek elections

The Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) won the Greek elections held on June 2, 1985, allowing it to maintain its majority in parliament and Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou to form a government.

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50 years ago: U-2 incident reveals US provocations against Soviet Union

Congressional inquiries into the U-2 incident continued this week in 1960, with Dr. Hugh L. Dryden, head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), giving largely secret testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on NASA’s role in the spy plane incident and its cover-up. NASA, by law, was to serve only peaceful purposes.

75 years ago: Massive earthquake strikes Pakistan

On the morning of May 31, 1935, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck the town of Quetta, located in Baluchistan, Pakistan. Between 40,000 and 60,000 people were believed to have been killed during the disaster, with thousands more injured.

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100 years ago: British dominion of South Africa founded

On May 31, 1910, the former Boer republics of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State joined with the Cape and Natal colonies to form the Union of South Africa, a British dominion. Unity between Boers and English settlers, formerly bitter rivals, was secured based on the disenfranchisement of black Africans.

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