Archive: December 2008
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 2008 (front page)
- Obama’s cabinet selections win praise from the right
- Airport occupations bring Thailand to political breaking point
- Mumbai atrocity: the dead end of communal politics
- Kosovo’s dirty secret: the background to Germany’s Secret Service affair
- Britain: Woolworths and MFI go bust
- Economic downturn produces budget crisis in Illinois
- First images taken of extrasolar planets
- New York City: Financial meltdown brings Bloomberg term-limit maneuvers into focus
- Clever, all too clever: Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York
- Leon Trotsky, Soviet Historiography, and the Fate of Classical Marxism
- Sri Lankan SEP marks 70th anniversary of Fourth International
2 December 2008 (front page)
- UAW pledges to impose further job losses and concessions on auto workers
- US stock market plunges 680 points on signs of severe recession
- Obama’s national security team and the failure of American democracy
- Pentagon to deploy 20,000 troops on domestic “anti-terror” mission
- After the Mumbai siege, India-Pakistan tensions rise
- Canada’s minority Conservative government on brink of collapse
- Britain: The political issues raised by the arrest of Damian Green MP
- Berlin education senator and police criminalise student demonstration
- Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky: A film about life and people being worth something
- Revealing Australia’s dark past—The Secret War: A True History of Queensland’s Native Police
- Workers Struggles: The Americas
- Letters from our readers
3 December 2008 (front page)
- Thai court dismisses the government
- Canada’s “putsch”: Oppose Conservative power-grab! No support to Liberal-NDP coalition!
- US Congress, Big Three, UAW conspire against auto workers
- Obama warns US governors of “hard choices”
- More military vessels dispatched to Somalia
- Sharp conflicts in Europe over economic stimulus program
- Australia: State provocations, security and Socialist Alternative
- Venezuela: Divided election points to sharpening social struggle
- Quantum of Solace: James Bond vs. imperialism
- Boeing: Professional workers vote to accept contract
4 December 2008 (front page)
- 1937: Stalin's Year of Terror
- In bid for loans, Detroit auto makers outline plans for drastic downsizing
- Security agreements mean Iraq occupation will continue to 2012 and beyond
- Washington exploits Mumbai attack to promote “war on terror”
- Layoffs soar as US plunges deeper into recession
- Republican wins Georgia Senate race as Obama lies low
- Australian economy on edge of recession
- The tragic death of Baby P
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Uncovering the truth about Trotsky and the Russian Revolution “continues to run my life”
A conversation with the remarkable David King - Canada’s “putsch”: Oppose Conservative power-grab! No support to Liberal-NDP coalition!
- Letters from our readers
5 December 2008 (front page)
- Canada’s constitutional coup: A warning to the working class
- Germany: Jobs and wages cut at Opel
- Senate hearing sets the stage for the impoverishment of US autoworkers
- Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa
- China’s economic growth rate continues to tumble
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Tensions between leading European nations and US following NATO meeting
Foreign ministers agree to resume talks with Russia - US backing for India fuels tensions with Pakistan
- Brazil-Ecuador clash bares tensions between “left” governments
- Britain: Police broke the law in raid on Damian Green’s parliamentary office
- Fiscal emergency declared in California
- An interview with British filmmaker Mike Leigh
- Opel workers in Germany: “Nobody knows what will happen next”
6 December 2008 (front page)
- Buyer beware! Obama named “Marketer of the Year”
- US payrolls shrank by more than half a million in November
- US: The social and historical roots of the Highland Park fire tragedy
- New York Times bares Obama’s campaign lies on Iraq war
- Canada’s “constitutional coup” and the corporate media
- Crisis grips German auto industry
- The Canadian auto “bailout”: CAW to impose sweeping concessions
- Afghanistan: A rise in civilian deaths and foreign troop fatalities
- Australia: The DSP split and Socialist Alliance—another opportunist debacle
- The rise and fall of Highland Park, Michigan
- Letters from our readers
- Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
8 December 2008 (front page)
- Tense India-Pakistan standoff continues
- Obama’s Team of Reactionaries
- Riots break out in Greece after police shoot 15-year-old boy
- Obama calls for “shared burdens” in US economic crisis
- British pound falls to new lows on currency markets
- Québec solidaire: Quebec's “left” party in the orbit of the big business PQ
- In response to economic crisis, Australian government bolsters “national security”
- Turkey hit hard by international finance crisis
- US: Higher education costs soar
- Chicago workers occupy plant set to close
9 December 2008 (front page)
- Insurgent attacks on NATO trucks highlight US military crisis in Afghanistan
- A great step forward
- US companies announce more mass layoffs
- French government’s emergency budget deepens social divide
- German interior minister presses for new repressive police laws
- Australia: Big business and unions line up behind Labor’s “fair work” laws
- Sharp economic downturn in the Philippines
- War, poverty cause high rates of mental illness in Sri Lanka
- Milk, identity politics and Gus Van Sant’s art
- Workers Struggles: The Americas
- Reply to an anti-Trotskyist rant over SEP candidate’s appearance in Scotland
- Letters from our readers
10 December 2008 (front page)
- Video: WSWS report on Chicago factory occupation
- Workers occupy Chicago factory for fifth day
- Republic Windows and Door workers speak on their struggle
- The US, Pakistan and the “terrorist” Hamid Gul
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White House, Congress close to bailout deal
“Car Czar” to slash wages, jobs of US autoworkers - Protests and riots in Greece precipitate political crisis
- 9/11 guilty pleas expose Guantánamo kangaroo court
- Canada: Liberal-NDP coalition would be a tool of big business
- Five Blackwater mercenaries face manslaughter charges in Baghdad massacre
- Canada: “Progressive coalition” rallies fail to denounce constitutional coup
- Spain: The collapse of the investigation into Franco-era crimes
- Australian SAS units function as death squads in Afghanistan
- Sydney Opera House architect, Jørn Utzon dies
11 December 2008 (front page)
- General strike, spreading protests rock Greek government
- European Union in crisis
- Bush returns to West Point to defend doctrine of aggressive war
- Democratic governor arrested in Illinois corruption probe
- Pakistan rounds up suspects in Mumbai attacks
- Thai military plays key role in forming new government
- Quebec elections: Liberals win bare majority in record-low turnout
- Children displaced by Katrina face severe health risks
- After billions in state aid, Bavarian State Bank sheds thousands of jobs
- Britain: Labour seeks draconian congestion charge for Greater Manchester
- Doctors declare Australian hospital system on the brink of collapse
- Rally for Republic Windows and Glass workers in Chicago
- The Writer and Revolution: WSWS arts editor David Walsh in conversation with Trevor Griffiths—Part 1
- Video: “The Writer and Revolution” Part 1
12 December 2008 (front page)
- Bush, Democratic auto bailout fails in Senate, talks continue
- Video: “The Writer and Revolution” Part 2
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As world slump deepens
US jobless claims soar to 26-year high - WSWS speaks with Greek protesters in Berlin
- US: Relatives of September 11 victims condemn Guantánamo show trial
- Germany: Gulf between rich and poor is rapidly widening
- Britain: Right wing newspapers demand massive cuts in public spending
- South Korean economy heading toward negative growth in 2009
- Lessons of the Chicago factory occupation
- Australian welfare agencies warn of growing social crisis
- The Writer and Revolution: WSWS arts editor David Walsh in conversation with Trevor Griffiths—Part 2
- Wije Dias addresses Sri Lankan university students on global economic crisis
- Workers occupy auto parts plant in northern Germany
- Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa
13 December 2008 (front page)
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White House signals aid after auto loan bill stalls in Senate
UAW agrees to more concessions - North Asian summit: an empty show of unity
- Senate torture report confirms Bush, top officials guilty of war crimes
- New protests in Athens, solidarity actions across Europe
- US military prepares for Obama’s expansion of Afghan war
- Washington urges Canada to wage war in Afghanistan beyond 2011
- Canada in the week since the Conservatives’ constitutional coup
- National interests dominate at EU summit in Brussels
- Nearly 1 billion of world’s people face chronic hunger
- Germany: Opel works council demands planned wage cut be kept secret
- Thousands of jobs threatened in Swedish auto industry
- SAG to hold strike vote: the issues facing screen actors
- The deaths of singers Miriam Makeba and Odetta
- Letters from our readers
- Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
15 December 2008 (front page)
- A socialist policy for auto workers
- Questions in the affair of Illinois Governor Blagojevich
- China on the verge of unemployment explosion
- Court acquits police officers implicated in asylum-seeker’s death
- Britain: Financial crisis threatens pensions and retirement plans
- Tribune Company files for bankruptcy
- Mining crash signals “unmitigated disaster” for Australian economy
- Europe’s ruling elite fear the “contagion” from Greece
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Computerized “Taylorism”
US retail giants utilize software programs to drive productivity - Audience members discuss Nick Beams’s lecture
- Nick Beams presents Marxist analysis of global economic breakdown to Australian audiences
- 30 years since the death of Jacques Brel: his life, his art, his legacy
- Los Angeles teachers protest budget cuts
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Socialist Equality Party and World Socialist Web Site Meeting
A public discussion on the crisis in the auto industry
16 December 2008 (front page)
- Bush’s “victory” visit to Iraq meets with contempt and protest
- The Madoff scandal
- Greece: Police crack down as government and opposition seek to isolate mass protests
- Obama’s defence appointee signals continuing US belligerence
- Eyewitness reports police violence against Athens protesters
- US government bailouts: poverty wages for auto workers, trillions for bankers
- Schumer vs. Blagojevich: No match when it comes to corruption
- Pakistan: Conditions attached to IMF “bailout” will exacerbate slump and poverty
- Britain: Jury verdict over killing of Jean Charles de Menezes demolishes police lies
- Major US publisher not buying new books
- New Zealand: Job cuts mount as recession deepens
- Workers Struggles: The Americas
- Letters on WSWS arts editor David Walsh’s trip to Britain
17 December 2008 (front page)
- China slumps as global recession deepens
- US Federal Reserve cuts interest rates to near zero
- Iraqi government seeks criminal prosecution of anti-Bush protestor
- Steelmakers threaten production cuts and plant closures worldwide
- Canada plunging into recession
- Sri Lankan president issues threat against Supreme Court judges
- US: Blagojevich scandal points to unions’ corrupt relations with Democrats
- Wall Street’s crisis spells deepening attacks on average New Yorkers
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New York City workers and students speak
“The bailout is for the rich, we are the ones who pay for it” - Australia: Police gun down 15-year-old boy
- Praise from Cheney for Obama’s national security team
- Studs Terkel, American writer and documentarian, dead at 96
- University of Manchester ISSE hear report on international economic crisis
- Concessions imposed on Pittsburgh, Penn. bus drivers
18 December 2008 (front page)
- Utilities cut off to 1 in 20 US households in 2007
- Why the UAW and the Democrats are pushing economic nationalism
- Hunger and homelessness grow across US cities
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As global auto crisis deepens
Bush administration stalls on bailout - Madoff collapse has global impact
- Obama names more cabinet secretaries—a continued march to the right
- Japanese government flounders amid worsening recession
- Third new Thai government installed in four months
- Britain: Brown announces pull-out from Iraq, more troops to Afghanistan
- British economy sinks like a stone
- Video: Michigan Chrysler workers denounce pay cuts
- Recession looms for Turkish economy as job losses accelerate
- Baz Luhrmann’s Australia: a superficial jumble
- Letters from our readers
19 December 2008 (front page)
- Dollar plunges after record rate cut by US Federal Reserve
- Obama picks Wall Street insider to head main regulatory agency
- Eyewitness report from Athens, Greece
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Amid fears Greek demonstrations could spread
Government postpones French high school reform - France: high school students protest education reform
- France: The LCR and the unions betray planned rail strike
- Obama, in a ‘slap in the face,’ invites right-wing evangelist to the inauguration
- Sri Lanka: Heavy fighting in battle for Kilinochchi
- WSWS speaks to Chrysler workers on plant closures
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No concessions! No job cuts!
Canadian auto workers must join with US and Mexican workers to advance a socialist alternative - Ontario auto sector report warns of catastrophic job losses
- German auto parts industry hit by bankruptcies
- Voters reject Hindu supremacist BJP’s attempt to exploit Mumbai atrocity
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Border repression and Democratic hypocrisy:
A visit to San Diego’s “Friendship Park” - The political issues posed by the mass protests in Greece
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A lecture by Nick Beams
The World Economic Crisis: A Marxist Analysis
Part 1 - UK: Trade unions at Corus offer yet another pay cut
- Australian building workers demand abolition of hated policing agency
- Workers Struggles: Europe & Africa
20 December 2008 (front page)
- Hunger mounts in the US
- Capitalism and the auto crisis
- Falling oil prices shatter Iraqi budget forecasts
- Greece: Student protests target Karamanlis government
- Sri Lankan army head provokes diplomatic furore
- German court provides legal stamp for hard labour
- New York state budget cuts target working class
- California budget crisis triggers halt to infrastructure projects
- Iceland faces rising unemployment and rampant inflation
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Lecture by Nick Beams
The World Economic Crisis: A Marxist Analysis
Part 2 - The blues in Chicago: Cadillac Records
- Letters on Bush’s trip to Iraq
- Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
22 December 2008 (front page)
- US to double military forces in Afghanistan
- Growing signs of workers’ unrest in China
- Mass layoffs expected in Greece
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WSWS reports from Athens
“This is more than a protest, it is an anti-capitalist movement” - Historical usage of cluster munitions: a weapon to terrorize civilian populations
- US, Israel, other military powers refuse to sign cluster munitions treaty
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Faces of foreclosure in Pittsburgh
Working class families feel brunt of housing crisis - French president proposes repressive “reform” of mental health care
- Ukraine’s “Orange” elite reunites to impose IMF-dictated austerity measures
- A union in name only
- Australia: Hundreds of jobs to be axed as childcare centres close
- SEP holds public meeting on crisis in the auto industry
- Report to SEP meeting: “Auto workers must resist government-corporate demand for poverty wages”
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A lecture by Nick Beams
The World Economic Crisis: A Marxist Analysis—Part 3
23 December 2008 (front page)
- Pay cuts, layoffs mount in US
- Workers Struggles: The Americas
- UAW beginning talks with GM on concessions
- Indian minister condemned for urging probe into killing of police chief during Mumbai
- Sri Lankan government and Supreme Court clash over fuel pricing
- Australian Labor government’s 2020 carbon emissions target: a declaration of impotence on climate change
- Australian job losses spread to mining sector
- Britain: Labour government white paper introduces draconian attacks on benefit claimants
- Obama, the military and the threat of dictatorship
- Ron Howard’s Frost/Nixon: Trivializing a war criminal
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A lecture by Nick Beams
The World Economic Crisis: A Marxist Analysis—Part 4 - US: The crisis in the Screen Actors Guild and the need for a new political perspective
- Letters from our readers
24 December 2008 (front page)
- Toyota losses highlight global auto collapse
- Press reports document criminality of US financial elite
- GM closes plants in Wisconsin and Ohio
- Canadian Auto Workers union embraces “bailout” and further concessions
- Five New Jersey men convicted in FBI-concocted Fort Dix “terror” case
- US looks for other Afghan supply routes
- Berlin Forum for Security Policy—popularising war once again
- Britain: A revealing exchange on a national unity government
- Australian bank fiasco—a warning of “tougher times” ahead
- India: Honda workers wage tenacious struggle to defend their jobs
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A lecture by Nick Beams
The World Economic Crisis: A Marxist Analysis
Part 5 - To the memory of Adrian Mitchell
- Waltz With Bashir: “Memory takes us where we need to go”
27 December 2008 (front page)
- France: Jean-Luc Mélenchon launches the Left Party
- Stalin, Trotsky and the 1926 British general strike
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US: Christmas marked by declining sales as unemployment climbs
IMF economist warns of “Great Depression” - Harold Pinter and Eartha Kitt, artists and opponents of imperialist war
- Sri Lanka: The battle for Kilinochchi continues
- Britain: New wave of human BSE/vCJD feared
- California: Budget crisis hits state employees with layoffs, unpaid furloughs
- Australia: Growing opposition to Labor’s Internet censorship
- Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
- The Wrestler: Vigorous, but opaque
29 December 2008 (front page)
- Australian police shoot another vulnerable person
- House fire in Philadelphia kills seven
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As death toll mounts
Israel threatens ground invasion of Gaza - Washington bears guilt for Gaza war crimes
- Amid rising tensions, Pakistan moves troops to Indian border
- Indian parliament rushes through draconian “anti-terror” laws
- Australia: Haneef “terrorism” inquiry produces a whitewash
- Turkish trade unions collaborate in imposing poverty wages
- US: Homelessness on the rise in San Francisco
- Rates of hospital-acquired infection rising in Canada
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Stalin, Trotsky and the 1926 British general strike
Part Two - La Fille Coupée En Deux, the new film from Claude Chabrol
- American painter Robert Rauschenberg 1925-2008: Avant-garde to Pop
30 December 2008 (front page)
- Third day of Israeli attacks deepens anger of Arab masses
- The Gaza crisis and the perspective of permanent revolution
- Israel inflicts mass suffering on Palestinian population
- US: Economic stress drives rise in child abuse and domestic violence
- Zimbabwe: Cholera death toll rises
- Chinese regime rediscovers the working class
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WSWS interviews charity workers and recipients
Demand for emergency welfare relief “dramatically spikes” in Sydney -
Stalin, Trotsky and the 1926 British general strike
Part Three - SAG leadership postpones strike authorization vote
- Workers Struggles: The Americas
- Letters from our readers
31 December 2008 (front page)
- Israel continues to pound Gaza as troops mass on border
- The New York Times and Gaza: Justifying genocide
- Protest in Dearborn, Michigan denounces Israeli attack on Gaza
- Australia: Thousands rally against Israeli Gaza attacks
- Year-end data shows deeper slump in US
- The crisis of the Greek government and the role of the “left”
- New Thai prime minister takes office amid continuing protests
- Canada’s ‘newspaper of record’ calls for Canada to wage Afghan war beyond 2011
- Irish banks bailed out as economy unravels
- East Timor: Political tensions mount over Greater Sunrise gas pipeline
- David Walsh selects his favorite films of 2008
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