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

12 June 2010

Gulf oil crisis

The history of a cover-up
New evidence undermines latest BP-White House estimate of spill size

By Tom Eley, 12 June 2010

The worst oil spill in human history has been, since its first days, the subject of a cover-up. The Obama administration and BP have repeatedly been forced to increase their estimates of the spill size in the face of scientific criticism. But each new official estimate, it has been revealed, was only the latest lie.

BP seeks to limit liabilities in “truce” with White House

By Tom Eley, 12 June 2010

In a White House meeting next week, BP will reportedly seek an agreement with the Obama adminsitration that will limit liabilities in return for a temporary delay of a scheduled dividend.

Full coverage of the Gulf oil disaster »

Right-wing shift in Dutch elections

By Peter Schwarz, 12 June 2010

After Hungary and the UK, the Netherlands is the third significant European Union country where right-wing parties have emerged as election winners in the midst of the deepest economic crisis since the 1930s.

Honda Lock strike in China continues as industrial unrest spreads

By John Chan, 12 June 2010

Strikes at three Honda plants have been followed by industrial action in other parts of the country.

Police break-up occupation at Hyundai complex in southern India

By Arun Kumar, 12 June 2010

Police broke-up an occupation at a Hyundai car assembly plant located on the outskirts of Chennai last Tuesday, arresting more than 200 workers.

US pushes for readmission of Honduras to Organization of American States

By Rafael Azul, 12 June 2010

At this week’s summit meeting of the Organization of American States, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for Honduras to be readmitted as an OAS member.

Billionaires and crackpots: US primaries select right-wing candidates for November election

By Patrick Martin, 12 June 2010

The primary elections held in 12 states last Tuesday, the largest single day of voting before the November congressional elections, demonstrated the narrow popular base of the Democrats and Republicans and the enormous gulf between the concerns of working people and the two big business parties.

Doctors “calibrated” pain for CIA interrogations

By Ed Hightower, 12 June 2010

According to a recent report, the CIA’s Office of Medical Services dispatched doctors to carefully monitor the physical effects of torture techniques on prisoners.

Britain: How should the Cumbria massacre be understood?

By Robert Stevens, 12 June 2010

In the aftermath of the June 2 rampage during which taxi driver Derrick Bird shot and killed 12 people in west Cumbria, the British media has made little attempt to examine the broader implications of the tragedy.

Ukraine abandons NATO candidacy

By Niall Green, 12 June 2010

The new administration in Kiev seeks to improve ties with Moscow and the EU, while preparing with austerity measures against the working class.

Australia: Unemployment statistics mask job crisis

By James Cogan, 12 June 2010

Hundreds of thousands of people who want and need full time jobs do not show up in the figures because they are not counted as unemployed.

Ypsilanti, Michigan school board approves 17 percent pay cut for bus workers

By Naomi Spencer, 12 June 2010

Before a crowd of school workers, parents, and students, the Ypsilanti Public Schools board approved a plan June 7 to cut 10 percent of the district’s bus crew and slash pay by 17 percent.

New in French

La classe ouvrière chinoise émerge

Par John Chan, 12 juin 2010

Survenant juste après les événements en Grèce, les premiers accès de colère et de révolte de la classe ouvrière en Chine émettent des ondes de choc au sein des élites dirigeantes du monde. Il s'agit d'un démenti cinglant de tous ceux qui avaient fait une croix sur le prolétariat en tant que force sociale révolutionnaire et qui affirmaient que la lutte de classe était dépassée.

Other Languages

Perspective

One year after Iran’s presidential election

12 June 2010

Today marks one year since the presidential election in Iran triggered a bitter factional struggle in the Iranian ruling elite that erupted in the form of the Green movement.

Earlier Perspectives »

Commentary

A comment: Revisiting George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four in 2010

By Richard Mynick, 12 June 2010

George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, one of the most influential English-language novels of the mid-twentieth century, was published in 1949. The term “Orwellian” has long conjured up a vision of the prototypical “totalitarian state.”

The BP oil spill and the tyranny of private ownership

11 June 2010

Fifty-two days into the worst ecological catastrophe in US history, Washington has stepped up its efforts at containment—not of the oil spill itself, but of the financial dangers it poses to BP and the oil industry as a whole.

Committee Against Utility Shutoffs (CAUS)

For public ownership of DTE Energy

By Jerry White, 12 June 2010

An article written by the president of the Utility Workers Union raises the question of transforming DTE Energy into a publicly owned utility.

Socialist Equality Party

SEP to run D’Artagnan Collier for Michigan State House of Representatives

11 June 2010

The Socialist Equality Party is running D’Artagnan Collier for Michigan State House of Representative in the 9th District for the November 2 elections.

Arts Review

Date Night and City Island: One comedy that knows where it’s going, another that can’t seem to decide

By Charles Bogle, 10 June 2010

Quality adult comedies have become a rarity; therefore, it was something of a surprise to find that two recently released adult comedies have received almost uniformly good reviews.

Philosophy

The Nation, Jonathan Israel and the Enlightenment

By Ann Talbot and David North, 9 June 2010

On 12 May this year, the Nation magazine published an article entitled “Mind the Enlightenment.” It is an intellectually unprincipled and vindictive attack on Professor Jonathan Israel’s multi-volume history of the development of the Enlightenment and its relationship to social and political radicalism in the century leading up to the outbreak of the French Revolution.

Mehring Books

Latest edition of Perspectives now available

3 June 2010

The latest edition of Perspectives, a journal published by the World Socialist Web Site, is now available from Mehring Books. In this month’s magazine, readers will find a collection of articles from the WSWS analyzing the most important events of the day, including the Gulf oil spill, the debt crisis in Europe, and much more.

Workers Struggles

Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia & the Pacific

12 June 2010

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

25 years
50 years
75 years
100 years

25 years ago: 2.3 million US factory jobs lost since 1980

A US Labor Department report published this week in 1985 revealed that over 8 million jobs had been lost since 1980. Hardest hit was factory employment, where 2.2 million jobs had been shed. The steel industry by itself had purged nearly 400,000 jobs, resulting in the devastation of cities like Gary, Indiana and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

More »

50 years ago: Mass protests in Japan over Eisenhower visit

US-Japanese relations faced their greatest crisis since World War II this week in 1960 over a scheduled visit by US President Dwight Eisenhower, which came soon after the approval of a security pact that was widely opposed among Japanese workers and youth.

75 years ago: Chiang Kai-shek recognizes Japanese control over northern China

On June 9, 1935 Generals Yoshijiro Umezu of Japan and Ho Yingqin of China concluded an agreement by which Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang government formally recognized Japanese control over large sections of northern China. The pact, which came to be known as the Ho-Umezu Agreement, also banned anti-Japanese organizations and stipulated that Chinese forces be withdrawn from Hopei.

More »

100 years ago: Mexico puts down Mayan uprising in Yucatan

On June 8, a detachment of Mexican national guardsmen succeeded after a fierce battle in repulsing thousands of Mayan insurgents from the administrative town of Valladolid in the Yucatan peninsula. Earlier, on June 5, some 2,000 Mayans had invaded the city, killing all of its top administrative officials, seizing arms, cutting telegraph lines, and ripping up railroad track.

More »