World Socialist Web Site

 

Archive: February 2009

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.

2 February 2009 (front page)

• Global crisis threatens to break up the Eurozone
• Video: Over 100,000 demonstrate in London against Sri Lankan war
• Over 100,000 demonstrate in London against Sri Lankan war
• Large demonstration in India against Sri Lankan war
• Thousands of Sri Lankan soldiers perish in northern offensive
• For top 400 Americans, combined income of $105 billion in 2006
• Australian heat wave kills 60 people, triggers power and transport chaos
• South Africa: Zuma faces corruption charges after court reverses previous judgment
• US: Nationwide salmonella outbreak forces major recall, plant closure
• Australia threatens Fiji with suspension from Pacific Islands Forum
• British unions back reactionary strikes against foreign workers
• Valkyrie: A thriller, but not a historical film
• David North to speak at Michigan meeting
  The world economic crisis and the return of history

3 February 2009 (front page)

• Obama executive orders continue “extraordinary renditions,” secret CIA prisons
• Australian unions impose wage cuts at Alcoa
• Obama prepares another trillion-dollar bank bailout
• Sri Lankan war: At least nine dead in shelling of hospital
• US-China trade tensions set to escalate
• Stalinists and Socialist Party defend “Britons first” refinery protest
• The Russia-Ukraine gas conflict and the geopolitical struggle for control of energy resources
• The Pope readmits Holocaust denier into the church
• As budget crisis hits New York City
  Bloomberg demands huge cutbacks, tax hikes and contract givebacks
• Britain: Royal Mail faces privatisation and jobs massacre
• Akhnaten by Philip Glass, performed by the Atlanta Opera
• Ireland: Workers occupy Waterford crystal factory
• Workers Struggles: The Americas
• Letters from our readers

4 February 2009 (front page)

• Tom Daschle withdraws cabinet nomination amidst tax scandal
• Obama names third Republican to cabinet
  A further bow to the right
• Sri Lanka’s independence anniversary: the emergence of a military/police state
• Socialist Party offers yet another apologia for “Britons first” refinery dispute
• Tens of thousands more jobs eliminated in the US
• German Green Party program endorses militarism and social cuts
• Australian PM announces $42 billion crisis stimulus package
• US military suicide rate at record high
• British winter death rate predicted to rise
• California runs out of cash—$3.5 billion in state payments delayed
• A socialist perspective to end the war in Sri Lanka
  Troops out of north and eastern Sri Lanka!
• The anti-communist purge of the American film industry
• Nick Beams opening report to SEP summer school
  The crash of 2008 and its revolutionary implications
  Part 1

5 February 2009 (front page)

• Obama set to launch military “surge” in Afghanistan
• Sri Lankan government detains all Tamils fleeing war zone
• Nationalism and the British trade union strike
• “This is America—we don’t disparage wealth”
  Obama announces token executive pay limits
• Thousands protest in Paris and Berlin against war in Sri Lanka
• Britain: Tamils demonstrate outside parliament
• India: Statewide protest in Tamil Nadu against the war in Sri Lanka
• Following company announcement of 7,000 layoffs
  New York City Macy’s workers speak out on economy
• Low turnout in Iraqi provincial elections
• Britain: Refinery dispute becomes focus of shift to protectionism within Labour
• Retired GM worker speaks on freezing death of 93-year-old Michigan man
  “They want profits or you die”
• US: Power outages persist throughout Kentucky
• France: What is the LCR’s New Anti-Capitalist Party?
• International Students for Social Equality meetings in Britain
  A socialist answer to the Gaza crisis
• Australia: Why NSW teachers should vote “no” to the NSWTF-Labor government agreement
• Nick Beams opening report to SEP summer school
  The crash of 2008 and its revolutionary implications
  Part 2

6 February 2009 (front page)

• US-Russia tensions escalate over closure of Afghan supply base
• SEP campaigns among Sri Lankan plantation workers
• US jobless claims hit 26-year high
• Protest outside Australian parliament against Sri Lankan war
• Rail Maritime and Transport union puts Britain’s opportunist groups on notice
• With government deadline for concession deal approaching
  Automakers, UAW move to create low-wage workforce
• Canada: State forces end to York University and Ottawa transit strikes
• The American ruling class
• Nick Beams opening report to SEP summer school
  The crash of 2008 and its revolutionary implications
  Part 3
• Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa
• Letters from our readers

7 February 2009 (front page)

• Global jobs crisis deepens
  US sheds 600,000 jobs in January
• The “Britons first” dispute: What constitutes a progressive defence of jobs?
• After Democrats cave in to spending cuts
  Senate agrees to pass reduced version of Obama “stimulus” plan
• The Munich Security Conference: a transatlantic trial of strength
• Britain: Foreign Office colludes with US to cover-up torture of Binyam Mohamed
• Obama expands Bush’s “faith-based” initiative
• France: LCR dissolves itself to found New Anti-Capitalist Party
• Dozens of civilians killed as Sri Lankan army continues its onslaught
• Deepening global crisis shatters consensus over Australian stimulus package
• Solidaire with whom?
  Quebec’s new left party links hands with the political establishment
• Germany: The role of the Left Party in the destruction of Berlin’s education
• A contribution from a reader
  Architecture as the continuation of politics: White City, Dark City
• Nick Beams opening report to SEP summer school
  The crash of 2008 and its revolutionary implications
  Part 4
• Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific

9 February 2009 (front page)

• Vice President Biden in Munich signals continuation of US aggression
• Guadeloupe general strike isolated by French trade unions
• Australian writer protests new censorship measures
  Frank Moorhouse speaks with WSWS
• Pentagon warns of US military intervention in Mexico’s “war on drugs”
• The end of the Sri Lankan “peace process”
• At least 128 dead in Australia’s worst ever bushfires
• Obama’s economic “stimulus” paves way for multi-trillion-dollar handout to the banks
• Australian artists face new censorship measures

10 February 2009 (front page)

• In first White House press conference
  Obama paints a picture of economic catastrophe
• Obama administration defends torturers
• Millions of job losses threaten to trigger social unrest in China
• As state economic crisis deepens
  Forced furloughs begin for California state employees
• Unemployed in Michigan speak out
• Australia: Tragedy of child’s death sparks international response
• Germany: Unemployment rises sharply in January
• SEP campaigns in a Sri Lankan fishing village
• ISSE/SEP meetings in the US
  A socialist response to the economic crisis
• Ireland: Waterford occupation continues as protests grow against cuts and closures
• Workers Struggles: The Americas
• Letters on Obama and the American ruling class
• A contribution from a reader on Tel Aviv and Gaza City
  Architecture as the continuation of politics: White City, Dark City

11 February 2009 (front page)

• Obama administration announces plan to expand government bailout of the banks
• In preparation for Treasury concessions deadline
  GM slashes 10,000 jobs
• US general menaces North Korea with the “military option”
• New Anti-Capitalist Party holds founding congress
• Vermont senator pushes restrictions against foreign workers
  The reactionary politics of independent “socialist” Bernie Sanders
• As death toll rises
  Evidence mounts of lack of planning prior to Australia’s worst bushfire
• Iceland: New government pledges continuation of IMF austerity programme
• The Tragedy of the Iranian Revolution
• Sri Lankan SEP campaigns in Puttalam

12 February 2009 (front page)

• Israeli election exposes social and political crisis
• Sri Lankan suicide bombing: more hypocrisy from Washington
• In honor of the bicentenary of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin
• Banking CEOs testify
  Congress on bended knee before Wall Street executives
• Obama, Congress agree on scaled-back stimulus bill
• Afghanistan: Attacks in Kabul expose US occupation’s deepening crisis
• France: A conversation with the NPA’s Alain Krivine
• Britain: Bankers Treasury Select Committee “grilling” fails to materialise
• What lies behind the change of leadership in the German Economics Ministry?
• US Supreme Court undermines constitutional protection against unreasonable searches and seizures
• Cash-starved Australian hospitals unable to pay for vital supplies
• Letters on the anti-communist purge of the American film industry
• Correspondence on Australian bushfires

13 February 2009 (front page)

• US jobless benefit rolls hit record high
• A reply to correspondence on the Rwandan genocide
• Sri Lankan election: Vote for the Socialist Equality Party
• The road forward for the working class of South Asia
• French university teachers strike to defend working conditions
• Britain: Casualisation in energy sector overseen by unions
• Australian bushfires: the tragic outcome of government neglect
• New York City: threat of transit fare hikes and service cuts spark outrage
• Pontiac, Michigan: Half of district’s 20 schools to be closed
• Workers Struggles: Europe & Africa
• Letters on Rwanda

14 February 2009 (front page)

• Europe turns to protectionism as industry plummets
• US intelligence chief: World capitalist crisis poses greatest threat
• Over near-unanimous Republican opposition
  US Congress passes economic stimulus bill
• Asia’s export economies in free fall
• French President Sarkozy visits Baghdad
• US: Tainted peanut butter scandal deepens
• California braces for impact of proposed budget cuts
• ASCE 2009 Report Card
  With US infrastructure in tatters, stimulus plan offers paltry sum
• Britain: Ken Livingstone and his “left” disciples
• Romanian government agrees to drastic austerity package
• Sri Lankan SEP holds final meetings of election campaign
• Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific

16 February 2009 (front page)

• Global slump could throw 53 million more people into poverty
• Wall Street demands lifting of pay limits
• Sri Lankan government wins a hollow victory in provincial elections
• France: the bourgeoisie sizes up the New Anti-Capitalist Party
• Israel: European Union and Washington want national unity government
• Demands for state repression of “insurrectionary” Guadeloupe and Martinique general strikes
• Obama administration seeks to block lawsuit over illegal wiretapping
• Shutdowns, production cuts hit German industry
• Australian jobless figures point to worsening economic contraction
• Australian bushfire victims speak with WSWS as evidence of government culpability grows
• Solomon Islands unprepared for flood disaster
• “Hobbits” of Flores: Implications for the pattern of human evolution

17 February 2009 (front page)

• Two US missile strikes in Pakistan in three days kill more than 60
• Obama administration spearheads attack on auto workers
• Britain: Police will not be prosecuted for Jean Charles de Menezes killing
• The American media and the Lincoln bicentenary
• 10,000 arts groups threatened
  Massive cutbacks in arts funding by US companies, governments
• Australia: Bushfire relief volunteers speak with WSWS
• Thai court jails Australian writer for insulting the king
• UK government deports Dutch politician
• Germany: Auto supply workers to pay for investors’ losses
• Over ten thousand public school students homeless in Chicago
• ISSE/SEP meetings in the US
  The future of art in an age of crisis
  David Walsh, WSWS arts editor, to speak in San Diego and Los Angeles
• The Class—inside a Parisian working class school
• Workers Struggles: The Americas
• Letters from our readers

18 February 2009 (front page)

• Record slump in Japan: a sign of deepening global recession
• Britain: Anger boils over at union’s complicity in sacking of 850 BMW workers
• Australian PM’s essay: an exercise in ideological damage control
• India: Intense maneuvering in run-up to spring elections
• Trade unions extend nationalist campaign to defend “British jobs”
• 40,000 demonstrate against Turkish government as economic crisis deepens
• US occupation of Iraq: An ongoing criminal enterprise
• Mehring Books launches web site redesign
• Toronto the Good: It needs to push harder in some very uncomfortable places
• London’s Globe Theatre to stage Trevor Griffiths’ A New World: A Life of Thomas Paine
• Australian teachers union rams through regressive pay deal

19 February 2009 (front page)

• Obama orders 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan
• Australian bushfires: Horsham residents given no warning
• A tribute to the SEP election campaign in Sri Lanka
• Obama’s “restructuring” plan
  US automakers outline massive attack on jobs, wages
• Video: Chrysler workers oppose pay cuts, concession demands
• Government measures fail to halt severe decline of British economy
• Chavez wins referendum vote as Venezuela’s crisis deepens
• Demagogy and empty promises as Obama signs stimulus bill
• Italy: The case of Eluana Englaro
  The exploitation of a personal tragedy and its political implications
• Chinese president demands army loyalty amid growing social discontent
• BHP mine closure devastates West Australian towns
• Three killed by snow plows in Montreal: privatization to blame
• The 59th Berlinale—Part 1
  Lagging alarmingly behind the times
• Letters from our readers

20 February 2009 (front page)

• Nearly five million on jobless benefits in US
• German union seeks to divide European and North American GM workers
  The reactionary politics of economic nationalism
• Guadeloupe: Striker killed in repression of general strike
  Sarkozy government sends 300 police reinforcements
• Stanford International: $9 billion fraud triggers widening bank panic
• Obama’s mortgage plan aims to bolster the banks
• Sri Lanka: War refugees to be detained in huge “welfare camps”
• Obama administration deporting 30,000 Haitians
• Spain: Major economic downturn predicted for 2009
• India: Supreme Court judge advocates “animal rights” for alleged terrorists
• California legislature passes massive austerity budget
• Australia: Bushfire expert exposes decades of government neglect
• File-sharing trial against The Pirate Bay has wide-ranging implications
• Clean-up costs from Tennessee coal ash disaster could top $800 million
• Britain: University graduates face unemployment, low-paid jobs
• For the unification of Europe on a socialist basis
  Support the European election campaign of the Socialist Equality Party!
• Wendy and Lucy: A picture of American life
• Australia: Telstra unions call strike over new agreement
• Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa

21 February 2009 (front page)

• US commander warns American troops will be in Afghanistan for years
• Israel: Netanyahu tapped as prime minister
• Obama’s housing plan and the American ruling class
• To relief of Canada’s elite
  Obama makes Ottawa his first foreign stop
• Indian government offers full support for Sri Lankan war
• General Motors workers speak out against pay cuts
• Video: GM workers denounce concession demands
• Zimbabwe: MDC proceeds with power-sharing fiasco
• Report exposes false claims of British unions’ “Britons First” campaign
• Letters from our readers
• Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific

23 February 2009 (front page)

• Obama expands US military intervention in Pakistan
• Ireland: over 100,000 march against government in Dublin
• Japanese government in crisis as recession deepens
• ICTU protest in Dublin: Workers angry over pension levy, jobs and wages
• Layoffs at GM Lordstown plant ravage Ohio communities
• Human tragedy continues in northern Sri Lanka
• Bailout of Germany’s Hypo Real Estate: A bottomless pit
• One month of the Obama administration

24 February 2009 (front page)

• Obama outlines policy of austerity at budget summit
• Obama’s Afghan “surge” sows seeds of new wars
• Hillary Clinton presses China to keep buying US debt
• Coal mine explosion in China kills 74
• European financial summit dominated by national divisions
• Britain: More charges of union complicity in mass sackings at BMW’s Oxford plant
• An unholy alliance at Australian Workers Union conference
• The 81st Annual Academy Awards: Lifeless for the most part
• Workers Struggles: The Americas
• Letters from our readers

25 February 2009 (front page)

• In address to Congress
  Obama pledges bigger Wall Street bailout
• The debate over the nationalization of the banks
• HRW report exposes Sri Lankan government’s war crimes
• Iraqi elections underscore fragility of US occupation
• Latvian government resigns as crisis deepens in Eastern Europe
• White House weighs bankruptcy in attack on GM, Chrysler workers
• Canada: CAW vows to match UAW concessions to automakers
• Swedish automaker Saab seeks bankruptcy protection
• Australian prime minister toasts retail king while denouncing “extreme capitalism”
• Australia: Few attend Rudd’s much-hyped “National Day of Mourning”
• The Revolution Betrayed and the fate of the Soviet Union
  Part one
• Ireland: Buyout by KPS would be a defeat for Waterford occupation

26 February 2009 (front page)

• Economic slump deepens in Japan as exports collapse
• Obama’s Iraq withdrawal plan sets stage for continued war
• Reject UAW sellout at Ford! Mobilize autoworkers to defend jobs and living standards!
• Gunmen kill 16 Sri Lankan villagers
• UK: Jack Straw blocks release of cabinet minutes on Iraq
• Flight 1549 pilot tells Congress: Airline employees “hit by an economic tsunami”
• Britain: An opportunist defence of the union betrayal at BMW Cowley
• Australian bushfire victims and volunteers criticise government inaction
• Australian banks dictate jobs axe at Pacific Brands
• The 59th Berlinale—Part 2
  A few healthy shoots
• The Revolution Betrayed and the fate of the Soviet Union
• Letters from our readers
• ISSE meetings in Australia
  Marxism and the world economic crisis

27 February 2009 (front page)

• Obama budget projects record deficits and borrowing
• Britain: Senior police officer warns of “summer of rage”
• Colombia rocked by wiretapping revelations
• China’s stimulus package threatens more economic turmoil
• Obama defends his “Guantánamo” in Afghanistan
• Italy: Berlusconi decree legalises anti-immigrant vigilantes
• Australian vigil denounces Sri Lankan government atrocities
• Obama’s open-ended bailout of the banks
• Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa

28 February 2009 (front page)

• Obama announces plan to continue US military occupation of Iraq
• Day of action at Opel in Germany
  The poison of trade union nationalism
• Pakistan rocked by protests after opposition leaders stripped of political rights
• Bangladesh’s government ends revolt by border guards
• US economy shrinks at 6.2 percent rate
• Australia: Labor government and unions seek to divert anger over Pacific Brands closures
  Clothing workers speak to WSWS
• British auto union leaders claim it couldn't happen in Germany
• Australian bush fire survivors speak with the World Socialist Web Site
• Chicago: 16 more public schools slated for closures, cuts
• Britain: Fractious leadership contest in Unite union
• Germany: Union leaders call on workers to sacrifice to rescue Opel
• Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific