29 December 2018

Impact on workers, services spreads as US shutdown enters second week

By Patrick Martin, 29 December 2018

More than 800,000 federal workers are going into the New Year without paychecks.

Federal workers thrown into crisis by US government shutdown

Federal worker: “Democrats are just as eager as Republicans to victimize immigrants”

A closer look at American “democracy”

Dozens killed in protests against austerity and repression in Sudan

By Jean Shaoul, 29 December 2018

That Sudan’s ruling elite has responded with such ferocity to these demonstrations testifies to the depth of the economic and political crisis.

Protests erupt in Tunisia after self-immolation of journalist Abderrazak Zorgui

University authorities suppress student protest in China

By Peter Symonds, 29 December 2018

The CCP regime, which has all but abandoned its previous socialistic phrase-mongering, is terrified at the prospect of students politicizing the struggles of workers.

Syrian government troops deployed to flashpoint city of Manbij

By Bill Van Auken, 29 December 2018

Turkey and Russia are staging high-level talks on the future of Syria’s northeast following the US troop withdrawal.

Trump’s visit to Iraq and Washington’s never-ending war in the Middle East

More on the War Drive in the Middle East »

Japan plans for massive military build-up aimed at China

By Ben McGrath, 29 December 2018

In clear violation of Japan’s constitution, the Abe administration is proceeding with a pro-war agenda which will only further exacerbate tensions in the Asia-Pacific.

A wild week on Wall Street

By Nick Beams, 29 December 2018

This week registered the first gain for the financial markets in three weeks, but they remain on course to record the worst December since 1931.

Wild swings on Wall Street

Thousands face loss of mental health coverage in the US

By Matthew Taylor, 29 December 2018

Congress has eliminated the Medicaid-sponsored program in line with the larger push by the ruling class to dismantle social programs.

Chicago ZF chassis plant to close, lay off 261 workers

By George Gallanis, 29 December 2018

The UAW has remained silent on the job cuts announced by the German-based auto parts company at its Chicago plant.

Government-named arbitrator to dictate Canada Post workers’ contract

By Louis Girard, 29 December 2018

The criminalization of the postal workers’ strike campaign and the impending imposition of concessionary contracts constitute an attack on the entire working class.

UK: Investigation into Grenfell fire will “take years, not months,” police say

By Barry Mason and Robert Stevens, 29 December 2018

With the police investigation now to take years, there is plenty of scope for the criminals responsible for Grenfell to kick things even further into the long grass.

New in French

Les manifestations éclatent en Tunisie après l’auto-immolation d’Abderrazak Zorgui

Alexandre Lantier, 29 décembre 2018

Zorgui a affiché une vidéo sur les réseaux sociaux dans laquelle il appelle à un soulèvement et dit espérer que son geste lancerait une nouvelle révolution.

La visite de Trump en Irak et la guerre sans fin au Moyen-Orient

Bill Van Auken, 29 décembre 2018

La performance absurde de Trump en Irak fait passer un seul message: qu’il y ait ou non de troupes en Syrie, la guerre au Moyen-orient continuera.

L'acteur Kevin Spacey publie une vidéo réfractaire: «Ce n'est jamais aussi simple, ni en politique ni dans la vie.»

David Walsh, 29 décembre 2018

Dans une vidéo de trois minutes, Spacey (jouant le personnage de House of Cards, Frank Underwood) invite les auditeurs à ne pas «croire le pire sans preuve» et à ne pas «se précipiter pour juger sans faits».

New in Spanish

La visita de Trump a Irak y las guerras interminables de Washington en Oriente Próximo

Bill Van Auken, 29 diciembre 2018

El actuar bufonesco de Trump en Irak llevaba un mensaje serio: con o sin tropas en Siria, las guerras hegemónicas estadounidenses en Oriente Próximo seguirán.

Agentes federales liberan a más de 1,000 inmigrantes en El Paso, Texas

Patrick Martin, 29 diciembre 2018

La liberación masiva, con inmigrantes detenidos que dejaron en estaciones de autobuses, refugios y parques de la ciudad, parece ser una campaña políticamente motivada por agentes del ICE.

Estallan protestas en Túnez después de autoinmolación del periodista Abderrazak Zorgui/a>

Alex Lantier, 29 diciembre 2018

En un video en redes sociales, Zorgui dijo que esperaba que su acto causara una nueva revolución, ocho años después del derrocamiento del presidente tunecino, Zine El Abedine Ben Ali.

New in German

Trumps Besuch im Irak und Washingtons endloser Krieg im Nahen Osten

Bill Van Auken, 29. Dezember 2018

US-Präsident Donald Trumps grotesker Auftritt im Irak hatte eine düstere Botschaft: Mit oder ohne Truppen in Syrien geht der endlose US-Krieg um Hegemonie im Nahen Osten weiter.

Proteste in Tunesien nach Selbstverbrennung des Journalisten Abderrazak Zorgui

Alex Lantier, 29. Dezember 2018

Zorgui äußert in einem Video seine Hoffnung, dass acht Jahre nach dem Sturz des tunesischen Präsidenten Zine El Abedine Ben Ali seine Tat eine neue Revolution auslösen wird.

Ende des Steinkohlebergbaus im Ruhrgebiet
Eine ganze Region fällt ins Bergfreie

Dietmar Henning, 29. Dezember 2018

Seit Jahrzehnten steht der kontinuierliche Rückgang der Kohleförderung beispielhaft für grundlegende Veränderungen in Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft: Industriearbeitsplätze werden durch Niedriglohnjobs ersetzt.

New in Norwegian

Trump besøker amerikanske styrker i Iraq samtidig med krisen over tilbaketrekningen av tropper fra Syria

Bill Van Auken, 27. desember 2018

Overraskelsesbesøket syntes å være rettet inn mot å tekkes deler av militær-etterretningsapparatet og forsikringen om Trumps forpliktelse til amerikansk militarisme i Midtøsten.

Israels Netanyahu kaller til nyvalg under anklager om korrupsjon

Jean Shaoul, 27. desember 2018

Mens Netanyahu må gå til valg under en tung sky, foretrekker han dét fremfor å stille som en tiltalt skurk.

Israels statsminister krever en slutt på den tyske regjeringens finansiering av Det Jødiske museum Berlin

Sybille Fuchs, 27. desember 2018

Benjamin Netanyahus brev beskylder museet for «antiisraelske aktiviteter» ved å søke å oppfordre til dialog med muslimer og andre.

New in Turkish

2019 Avrupa seçimleri
AB’ye, toplumsal eşitsizliğe, faşizme ve savaşa hayır! Sosyalizm ve Avrupa işçi sınıfının birliği için!

Sosyalist Eşitlik Partisi (Almanya), 24 Aralık 2018

Sosyalist Eşitlik Partisi (SGP), Mayıs 2019’da, Avrupa seçimlerine, aşırı sağın yükselişine, artan militarizme, bir polis devletinin inşa edilmesine ve büyüyen toplumsal eşitsizliğe karşı çıkmak için, ülke çapında bir seçim listesiyle katılacak.

New in Russian

Протесты «желтых жилетов» во Франции: Куда дальше?

Алекс Лантье, 14 декабря 2018 г.

Ключевым вопросом является создание независимых организаций рабочего класса во Франции и в международном масштабе в качестве подготовки к европейской всеобщей забастовке.

Other Languages

Perspective

Facebook: The global censor

29 December 2018

This year has seen an intensification of internet censorship by Google, Facebook and Twitter, transforming these companies into censors that police what their users say, do and think.

Earlier Perspectives »

WSWS Holiday Schedule

Over the New Year holiday period, we will not publish on Tuesday, January 1 or Wednesday, January 2. We will resume our regular schedule of postings on January 3.

The WSWS extends season's greetings to all of our readers.

Commentary

Academics and students oppose Cambridge University appointment of eugenicist Noah Carl—Part 1

By Thomas Scripps, 29 December 2018

This is the first of a two-part series on the political significance of the appointment by Cambridge University of eugenicist Noah Carl as a research fellow.

France’s “yellow vest” protests and the fraud of Mélenchon’s “citizens revolution”

By Alex Lantier, 29 December 2018

With his calls for “yellow vest” protesters to carry out a “citizens revolution,” Mélenchon is trying to confuse, strangle and shut down the movement.

French “yellow vest” protesters mount pre-Christmas protest against Macron

Commercy “yellow vest” protesters hold second Popular Assembly

More on the 2018 'yellow vest' protests in France »

Trump administration in question as political warfare in Washington intensifies

By Joseph Kishore, 24 December 2018

The resignation of General Mattis and America’s crisis of class rule

The global crisis of capitalist rule and the strategy of socialist revolution

More on the Trump Presidency »

Federal agents release more than 1,000 immigrants in El Paso, Texas

By Patrick Martin, 28 December 2018

Germany’s Der Spiegel spreads fake news

By Peter Schwarz, 27 December 2018

Behind the epidemic of police killings in America: Class, poverty and race

By Benjamin Mateus, 20 December 2018

Part one | Part two | Part three

More in police violence in America »

Arts Review

Vice: A portrait of an American corporate-military gangster

By David Walsh and Joanne Laurier, 29 December 2018

In regard to the Bush-Cheney administration, the WSWS pointed in the early 2000s to an unprecedented development, the “rise to the pinnacle of the American political system of elements of a gangster character.”

Actor Kevin Spacey releases defiant video: “It’s never that simple, not in politics and not in life”

By David Walsh, 28 December 2018

Actor Geoffrey Rush denies new #MeToo-inspired claims of “inappropriate” behaviour

Mary Queen of Scots and The Favourite: The unimpressive recent results of “women in film”

By Joanne Laurier, 24 December 2018

Russian television’s Trotsky serial: A degraded spectacle of historical falsification and anti-Semitism

By Fred Williams and David North, 19 December 2018

International Committee of the Fourth International

The 50th anniversary of the founding of the SEP (Sri Lanka)
Victory of the Trotskyists in the 1985–1986 split in the ICFI

By Saman Gunadasa and K. Ratnayake, 29 December 2018

The political struggle against the WRP prepared the ICFI for the new period of revolutionary class struggles that are now emerging.

David North addresses New Zealand meeting celebrating 80 years of the Fourth International

By our reporters, 11 December 2018

80th anniversary of the Fourth International celebrated in Melbourne with public lecture

Eighty Years of the Fourth International: The Lessons of History and the Struggle for Socialism Today

By David North, 9 October 2018

On the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Fourth International

Workers Struggles

One million Indian bank workers strike; tens of thousands of Korean taxi drivers protest
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific

29 December 2018

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

NSW Ambulance makes stunning reversal of allegation against Australian paramedic Tony Jenkins

By Cheryl Crisp, 27 December 2018

Scrutiny of the “Root Cause Analysis” forces reversal of allegation against veteran NSW paramedic.

Teamsters union releases new sellout contracts for 15,000 Midwest UPS workers

By George Marlowe, 28 December 2018

UPS workers describe company reign of terror in wake of Teamsters sellout

“I decided that something was wrong with the world and not me”
College loan debt and the life of an adjunct professor

By Nancy Hanover, 27 December 2018

January 10 strike date set for 33,000 Los Angeles teachers

By Dan Conway, 24 December 2018

Virginia teachers plan statewide protest to demand school funding

Meeting on Oakland school closure expresses hostility to attacks on public education

“Amazon ruined my life”
Amazon hired private detectives to spy on injured worker

By Tom Hall, 22 December 2018

Police break up Amazon workers’ protest over oppressive conditions

“I think the whole shipping business is a little corrupt”
Amazon worker wrongfully fired for theft reveals company’s dead-end appeal system

More on Amazon »

Sri Lanka: Abbotsleigh tea plantation workers speak out against harsh living and working conditions

By our reporters, 21 December 2018

Sri Lanka: Action committee of Abbotsleigh Estate workers holds inaugural meeting

The international significance of the Sri Lankan plantation workers’ strike

History

Remembering the Kindertransport: 80 years since 10,000 mainly Jewish children were allowed in to Britain
Until February 10, 2019 at the Jewish Museum London

By Paul Mitchell, 28 December 2018

The bicentenary of Frederick Douglass
A leading figure of the anti-slavery struggle

By Fred Mazelis, 20 December 2018

Science

Moon targeted for further exploration, orbiting space stations and militarization

By Henry Allan and Bryan Dyne, 27 December 2018

New in Urdu

New postings in Urdu on capitalist breakdown and war, France’s Yellow Vest protests

27 December 2018

Four recent WSWS Perspectives are now available in Urdu, Pakistan’s national language.

Book Review

Rohini Hensman’s Indefensible: The ISO discovers its muse—the CIA

By Alex Lantier, 14 December 2018

Rohini Hensman’s book, issued by the International Socialist Organization’s (ISO) Haymarket Books publishing house, is an endorsement of imperialist war.

Part one | Part two | Part three | Part four

This week in history: December 24-30

25 years ago: Chinese Communist Party celebrates Mao centenary

The Chinese Communist Party marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Mao Zedong with a series of ceremonies which sought to present the pro-capitalist course of the leadership of the Stalinist party as the logical continuation of the Chinese Revolution of 1949.

More »

50 years ago: Massacre of striking farm laborers in India

On December 25, 1968, 44 people were burned alive in Tamil Nadu by a gang led by the local landlords.

More »

75 years ago: Roosevelt seizes railways to prevent strike

On December 27, 1943, US President Franklin Roosevelt issued an executive order for the federal government to take control of railways throughout the country.

More »

 

100 years ago: Sinn Féin wins Irish general election

On December 28, 1918, the radical Irish nationalist party, Sinn Féin (Gaelic for We Ourselves), won the Irish general election, held as part of the overall general election in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

More »

The fight against mass layoffs at GM

Political cartoon: Federal prosecutors point to UAW corruption during 2015 FCA contract negotiations

Members of the bargaining committee wined and dined themselves on $15,000 of FCA money to prematurely celebrate the 2015 FCA agreement which workers then rejected.

Watch: Shannon Allen's remarks at Detroit autoworkers meeting

A significant step forward: Detroit meeting of autoworkers resolves to form rank-and-file committees

By Joseph Kishore, 13 December 2018

Socialist Equality Party

Resolution of the SEP (UK) Fourth National Congress
The resurgence of the class struggle and the tasks of the Socialist Equality Party (UK)

By the Socialist Equality Party (UK), 6 December 2018

This resolution was unanimously adopted by the Fourth National Congress of the Socialist Equality Party in Britain, which was held October 27-30, 2018.

IYSSE

Student parliament condemns right-wing attack on IYSSE meeting at Humboldt University in Berlin

By our reporters, 17 December 2018

Security and the Fourth International

The origins and findings of the Security and the Fourth International investigation

By Eric London, 14 November 2018

This is the text and audio of a lecture delivered by Eric London in Detroit, Michigan reviewing the monumental investigation conducted by the International Committee of the Fourth International titled Security and the Fourth International, which exposed the infiltration of the movement by agents of the FBI and Stalinist GPU.

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Seventy-eight years since the assassination of Leon Trotsky

By Eric London and David North, 21 August 2018

On August 21, 1940, Leon Trotsky, the founder of the Fourth International and the co-leader of the Russian Revolution, died from wounds inflicted the day before by an assassin, the Stalinist GPU agent Ramon Mercader.