9 March 2019

Chelsea Manning jailed for refusal to testify against WikiLeaks

By Patrick Martin, 9 March 2019

The courageous whistleblower has already been imprisoned for seven years and subjected to solitary confinement and torture for exposing US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

US court upholds subpoena of whistleblower Chelsea Manning

More on the campaign to free Chelsea Manning »

Hundreds of thousands march in Algeria to demand fall of Bouteflika regime

By Will Morrow, 9 March 2019

Videos on social media show waves of predominantly young people chanting “The people want the downfall of the regime,” and “Thieves, you have eaten the country!”

SEP in Sri Lanka wins strong support for plantation workers’ conference

By our reporters, 9 March 2019

Plantation workers welcomed SEP and IYSSE campaigners while angrily denouncing the plantation unions’ betrayal of their wage strike.

Chinese premier warns of grave risks and challenges ahead

By Peter Symonds, 9 March 2019

Addressing this week’s National People’s Congress, Li Keqiang referred to “public dissatisfaction in many areas,” amid a slowing Chinese economy and rising geo-political tensions.

Trump administration kept secret database targeting journalists and immigration activists at US-Mexico border

By Kevin Martinez, 9 March 2019

More than 50 people were spied on, including journalists documenting last year’s Central American migrant caravan.

Trump Homeland Security chief defends family separation and caging children

US detains 77,000 immigrants at border in February, a 10 year high

More on the attack on immigrants in the US »

After ripping up of INF treaty
Pentagon escalating buildup on Russia’s borders

By Bill Van Auken, 9 March 2019

The top US commander in Europe told a Senate panel that the Pentagon needs more troops and more warships to counter alleged Russian “threats.”

More on the anti-Russia campaign »

Amazon HQ2’s campus connection
The marriage of militarism, big business and academia in Northern Virginia

By Nick Barrickman, 9 March 2019

The integration of US imperialism, academia and corporate America raises the need to expropriate massive companies like Amazon and place them under democratic control.

Cuts to hours for Whole Foods workers exposes fraud of Amazon pay increase

More on Amazon »

Trump signs executive order cementing secrecy over US airstrikes and shadow wars

By Jacob Crosse, 9 March 2019

Previous minimal reporting procedures introduced under the Obama administration are being scrapped as the US escalates strikes in Africa and Asia.

Trump makes perfunctory trip to survey Alabama tornado recovery efforts

By Ed Hightower, 9 March 2019

President Donald Trump’s visit to Lee County appears to have consisted largely of a helicopter overflight and briefings with local officials.

Families struggle in aftermath of deadly Alabama tornado

US “retail apocalypse” expected to exceed annual high with more than 1,100 store closures announced in one day

By Trévon Austin, 9 March 2019

More than 6,300 stores are already set to close in 2019 already surpassing the total number of closures last year.

London Metropolitan Police cite Grenfell Inquiry to justify not pressing criminal charges
End collaboration with the inquiry now!

By Robert Stevens and Chris Marsden, 9 March 2019

What is confirmed by the Met’s announcement is that the Grenfell Tower Inquiry is a filthy manoeuvre by the Conservative government, convened with the sole purpose of protecting the guilty from legal retribution.

Six million UK workers on low pay

By Barry Mason, 9 March 2019

Despite the Tory government’s perpetual rhetoric that “work pays,” reality shows being in work is no guarantee of escaping poverty.

Uganda’s social media tax leads to sharp drop in internet users

By Eddie Haywood, 9 March 2019

The government of President Yoweri Museveni, in power for three decades, regards social media with intense hostility and suspicion.

Australia: Chemist Warehouse workers vote to take industrial action

By Terry Cook, 9 March 2019

The union’s concern is to maintain its position as a labour hire agency and an industrial police force.

New in Turkish

Cezayir’de protestolar devam ediyor

Will Morrow, 8 Mart 2019

Rejim, işçi sınıfının ve ezilen kitlelerin devrimci özlemlerini bastırmak için, resmi burjuva “muhalefet”in tamamen köle ruhlu karakterine güveniyor.

Guaidó, ABD’nin rejim değişikliği operasyonunun sonraki aşaması için Venezuela’ya döndü

Bill Van Auken, 8 Mart 2019

Kendini “geçici devlet başkanı” ilan eden Juan Guaidó, aralarında ABD, Almanya, Fransa, Kanada, Brezilya ve başka birkaç ülkenin büyükelçisinin bulunduğu bir Batılı diplomatlar topluluğu eşliğinde Venezuela’ya geri döndü.

New in Portuguese

Índia e Paquistão caminham em direção a uma guerra catastrófica

Keith Jones, 9 Março 2019

Índia e Paquistão estão à beira do que seria a primeira guerra entre países com armas nucleares.

Onda de greves de professores espalha-se pelo mundo

Eric London, 9 Março 2019

De Bamako a Buenos Aires, de Sacramento a São Paulo, o movimento de greve dos professores mostra o caráter internacional da luta de classes.

New in Spanish

‘Trotsky’ de Netflix: una combinación tóxica de fabricaciones históricas y antisemitismo

JDavid North y Clara Weiss, 9 marzo 2019

Netflix está presentando a su audiencia mundial una serie virulentamente antisemita, Trotsky, originalmente producida por el Estado ruso en 2017.

La denunciante Chelsea Manning encarcelada por negarse a declarar contra Julian Assange

Mike Head, 9 marzo

Un juez federal ordenó a Manning ir a prisión el viernes por cargos de desacato por negarse a brindar testimonio contra WikiLeaks y su editor Julian Assange.

Ola de huelgas docentes se extiende por los cinco continentes

Eric London, 9 marzo

Desde Bamako a Buenos Aires y desde ...os por la Ley de Igualdades de 2006, y podría abrir una investigación plena bajo el apartado 20 de la Ley en dos semanas.

Socialistas demócratas de EUA y Jacobin encubren la traición de la huelga docente de Oakland por parte de los sindicatos

Norisa Diaz, 9 marzo

La función de DSA y otras organizaciones de la pseudoizquierda es encubrir políticamente a los sindicatos, que están haciendo todo lo posible para aislar y reprimir la rebelión de los docentes.

La traición de la huelga de maestros de Oakland y el camino a seguir para los estudiantes

Jóvenes y Estudiantes Internacionales por la Igualdad Social, 9 marzo

El sindicato OEA ha declarado el fin de la huelga, pero los estudiantes, maestros, y padres están decididos a continuar y expandir la lucha por defender la educación pública.

New in Norwegian

Lærenes streikebølge brer seg over fem kontinenter

Eric London, 8. mars 2019

Fra Bamako til Buenos Aires og fra Sacramento til São Paulo viser lærerernes streikebevegelse klassekampens internasjonale karakter.

Hvorfor er det så lite medieskepsis om Leaving Neverland og filmens påstander om Michael Jackson

David Walsh, 8. mars 2019

Leaving Neverland består hovedsakelig av to menn, Wade Robson og James Safechuck, som detaljerer sine påstander om at sangeren Michael Jackson misbrukte dem seksuelt gjennom mange år, på 1980- og 1990-tallet.

André Previn, allsidig komponist, dirigent og pianist, dør i en alder av 89

Fred Mazelis, 8. mars 2019

Previn ble ofte sammenlignet med Leonard Bernstein, for bredden av sine prestasjoner og sin insistering på å appellere til et bredt publikum.

New in French

La vague de grève des enseignants s'étend sur les cinq continents

Eric London, 8 mars 2019

De Bamako à Buenos Aires et de Sacramento à São Paulo, le mouvement de grève des enseignants montre le caractère international de la lutte des classes.

La fermeture de l'usine GM de Lordstown

Jerry White, 8 mars 2019

La fermeture de cette usine emblématique, le site d’une série de grèves sauvages et d’autres luttes militantes au début des années 1970, est le résultat tragique d’un demi-siècle de trahisons par le syndicat UAW.

Lordstown après le Vietnam

David North, 8 mars 2019

Comme la dernière journée de production de l'usine emblématique avait lieu mardi, le WSWS publie une interview d'un travailleur de GM de Lordstown, publiée le 12 février 1973 dans l'International Workers Bulletin, l'organe hebdomadaire de la Workers League, précurseur du Parti de l'égalité socialiste.

Lock-out à l’Aluminerie de Bécancour au Québec:
Le syndicat soumet aux travailleurs la dernière offre patronale pleine de reculs

Laurent Lafrance, 8 mars 2019

Dans le contexte d’une montée de la lutte des classes au Canada et à l’échelle internationale, le Syndicat des Métallos a systématiquement isolé les travailleurs d’ABI.

New in German

Die Schließung des GM-Werks Lordstown

Jerry White, 8. März 2019

Die Schließung des legendären Autowerks, in dem Anfang der 1970er Jahre viele spontane Streiks und andere militante Kämpfe stattfanden, ist das tragische Ergebnis eines halben Jahrhunderts Verrat der UAW-Gewerkschaft.

Von Lordstown nach Vietnam – und zurück

David North, 8. März 2019

Zur endgültigen Schließung des Traditionswerks Lordstown von General Motors hier ein Interview mit einem GM-Arbeiter, das am 12. Februar 1973 im International Workers Bulletin, der Wochenzeitung der Workers League (Vorläufer der Socialist Equality Party), veröffentlicht wurde.

Lehrerstreiks breiten sich über fünf Kontinente aus

Eric London, 8. März 2019

Die Streikbewegung der Lehrer erstreckt sich von Bamako bis Buenos Aires und von Sacramento bis nach Sao Paulo und zeigt so den internationalen Charakter des Klassenkampfs.

Hessen: Gestapo- Methoden bei der Abschiebung

Marianne Arens, 8. März 2019

Um die Abschiebezahlen hochzutreiben, bedient sich die hessische Landesregierung von CDU und Grünen übelster Polizeistaatsmethoden.

69. Berlinale: „Gott existiert, ihr Name ist Petrunija“ – eine Satire zwischen Zorn und Melancholie

Verena Nees, 8. März 2019

Zorn über die Zustände des winzigen Balkanlands Mazedonien und Sehnsucht nach Gleichheit und Gerechtigkeit: Das ist die zentrale Botschaft dieses erfrischend lebendigen, sehr sehenswerten Films.

New in Arabic

حكومة مصر تشنق تسعة سجناء
إجرامية الدولة بدعم إمبريالي

٢١ شباط فبراير ٢٠١٩

في حادثة تظهر بربرية الديكتاتورية العسكرية في القاهرة ، أعدمت السلطات المصرية تسعة شبان في 20 شباط ، بعد محاكمة زائفة استخدمت فيها اعترافات انتزعت بالتعذيب.

Other Languages

Perspective

Some economic and political conclusions
The ten-year stock market bull run

9 March 2019

Over the past decade, as a result of policies carried out by the US government, financial authorities and the US Federal Reserve, trillions of dollars have been pumped into financial markets lifting the Dow and the S&P 500 by more than 300 percent.

Earlier Perspectives »

Free Julian Assange!

Support builds for Melbourne March 10 rally to demand freedom for Assange

By our reporters, 8 March 2019

The SEP and IYSSE have won the backing of workers, young people and students for the March 10 Melbourne rally to demand the freedom of WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange.

Rally to demand the Australian government acts to free Julian Assange!
Sydney Martin Place Amphitheatre, 2pm, March 3! Melbourne State Library, 1pm, March 10!

By the Socialist Equality Party (Australia), 25 January 2019

Attend March 10 Solidarity Vigil in London for Julian Assange

By Robert Stevens, 25 February 2019

The SEP (UK) calls on all defenders of civil liberties and democratic rights, all opponents of imperialist wars for regime change, to attend the March 10 vigil and make it known in your workplaces, campuses and schools.

The political lessons of the March 3 Free Assange rally

By the Socialist Equality Party (Australia) Political Committee, 5 March 2019

More on the campaign to free Julian Assange »

Featured Commentary

Netflix’s Trotsky: A toxic combination of historical fabrication and blatant anti-Semitism

By David North and Clara Weiss, 8 March 2019

Netflix is currently presenting to its worldwide audience the virulently anti-Semitic television series, Trotsky, which was originally produced by the Russian state in 2017.

WSWS Archives

From Lordstown to Vietnam and Back

By David North, 7 March 2019

In the wake of the iconic plant’s final day of production Tuesday the WSWS is posting an interview with a GM Lordstown worker published February 12, 1973 in the Bulletin, the weekly organ of the Workers League, forerunner of the Socialist Equality Party.

The shutdown of GM’s Lordstown plant

Arts Review

Actor Bruno Ganz, prominent on stage and screen for more than 40 years: an obituary

By Sybille Fuchs, 9 March 2019

On February 16, Swiss-born actor Bruno Ganz, aged 77, died of cancer at his home on Lake Zurich. Ganz was one of the leading figures in the contemporary German-speaking theatre and film world.

The attacks on Green Book and the racialist infection of the affluent middle class

By David Walsh and Joanne Laurier, 8 March 2019

Behind the racist backlash against Green Book

Why is there so little media skepticism about Leaving Neverland and its allegations against Michael Jackson?

By David Walsh, 6 March 2019

The Fight Against Fascism

Socialist Equality Party April meeting series: “The Threat of Fascism and How to Fight it”
Christoph Vandreier, German Trotskyist and prominent opponent of fascism, to speak in US

By our reporters, 5 March 2019

Attend March 17 of London Book Launch of Why Are They Back?

Updated: Letters oppose barring of SEP panel on the fight against fascism from Historical Materialism conference

ISO and DSA bar Socialist Equality Party panel on the fight against fascism from upcoming Historical Materialism conference

By Joseph Kishore, 15 February 2019

Commentary

Democrats push through resolution branding Rep. Omar’s criticism of Israel as “anti-Semitic”

By Barry Grey, 8 March 2019

The assault on Jeremy Corbyn is a warning that must be heeded

By Chris Marsden, 6 March 2019

Labour Party investigated for anti-Semitism by UK government human rights commission

UK Labour Party members rebel against suspension of Chris Williamson MP for bogus claims of anti-Semitism

European Central Bank announces major policy reversal

By Nick Beams, 8 March 2019

“Deaths of despair” continue to soar
US deaths from alcohol, drugs and suicide at all-time high

By Kate Randall, 8 March 2019

Democratic Socialists of America and Jacobin cover for union sellout of Oakland teachers strike

By Norisa Diaz, 8 March 2019

The betrayal of the Oakland teacher strike and the way forward for students

For a unified struggle of Oakland students and teachers to defend public education!

Report reveals that armed troops were mobilized to force through US aid provocation on Venezuelan border

By Bill Van Auken, 7 March 2019

Workers Struggles

Thousands of Sri Lankan teachers protest for higher pay; Pakistan sanitary workers strike over non-payment of wages; Telstra workers to strike in Australia
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific

9 March 2019

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

UE orders return to work at Erie, Pennsylvania locomotive plant

By Shannon Jones, 8 March 2019

Jefferson County, Kentucky teachers continue sickouts in defiance of unions

By our reporter, 8 March 2019

Atlanta School Board prepares a fresh assault on public education

By Kranti Kumara, 8 March 2019

“The unions are trying to divide the students and teachers”
Oakland students oppose sellout of teachers strike, plan to continue fight to defend public education

Denver schools ax jobs in wake of contract pushed through by union

Germany: Opposition growing among teachers, public sector workers to Verdi’s sell-out agreement

By Ulrich Rippert, 8 March 2019

Teachers strike wave spreads across five continents

More on the defense of public education »

Demand the unconditional reinstatement of Sri Lankan plantation worker S. Balasubramaniyam!

By M. Thevarajah and W.A. Sunil, 7 March 2019

ICFI meeting

Trotskyists campaign in Kolkata for 80th anniversary of the Fourth International meeting
Students and workers discuss India-Pakistan military tensions and the necessity for socialist internationalism

By our correspondents, 8 March 2019

The campaign for the Kolkata meeting is being conducted as military tensions between India and Pakistan intensify.

Socialist Equality Party

Germany: Socialist Equality Party submits candidates for the European elections

By our reporters, 6 March 2019

SEP meetings launch Tamil edition of The Russian Revolution and the Unfinished Twentieth Century

By our correspondents, 6 March 2019

International Youth and Students for Social Equality

Oppose Eastern Michigan University’s privatization schemes!

By IYSSE at Eastern Michigan University, 5 March 2019

This week in history: March 4-10

25 years ago: Clinton on the defensive over Whitewater

On March 7, 1994, US President Bill Clinton was forced to open a press conference with the declaration that his wife, Hillary Clinton, was “not a criminal,” following a widening investigation, begun in January, into allegations about the Whitewater real estate investment in which the Clintons had lost money.

More »

50 years ago: Scientists organize antiwar protest at MIT

On March 4, 1969, faculty and students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who were working on military projects began a work stoppage to protest the misuse of science and technology.

More »

75 years ago: Greek Stalinists form anti-fascist government

On March 10, 1944, the National Liberation Front (EAM), dominated politically by the Stalinist Communist Party of Greece, formed a Political Committee of National Liberation (PEAA).

More »

 

100 years ago: Arrest of nationalist leader sparks revolution in Egypt

On March 8, 1919, the British colonial regime in Egypt, which had occupied the country since 1882, arrested Saad Zaghloul and two other leaders of the Wafd (Delegation) Party, which was soon to become the leading bourgeois-nationalist organization in the country, for continuing to demand that Egyptians be allowed to send a delegation to the imperialist Paris Peace Conference.

More »

History of the ICFI

From the arsenal of Trotskyism
The Political Report by David North to the International Committee of the Fourth International—February 11, 1984

12 February 2019

Thirty-five years ago this week, David North, then the national secretary of the Workers League (predecessor of the Socialist Equality Party), presented at a meeting of the International Committee of the Fourth International a critique of the British Workers Revolutionary Party’s abandonment of key theoretical conceptions and programmatic principles of Trotskyism.

History

How the ruling elite sought to suppress revolution
Renewal: Life after the First World War in Photographs

By Paul Mitchell, 22 February 2019

Halil Celik, 1961-2018

Halil Celik, a fighter for socialism (1961-2018)

By Peter Schwarz, 1 February 2019

On December 31, 2018, Halil Celik, founder and leader of the group Sosyalist Eşitlik, which supports the International Committee of the Fourth International in Turkey, died of cancer at the age of 57. This obituary presents an overview of his life.

In memory of Halil Celik (1961–2018)

February 9 demonstration against GM plant closings

Watch: March to Fight GM Plant Closures

Autoworkers and supporters from across the Midwest marched on February 9 in Detroit to oppose General Motors’ plans for plant closings and layoffs in the US and Canada.

Autoworkers must prepare fight as UAW plans new givebacks in 2019 contracts

By Shannon Jones, 14 February 2019

Striking workers in Matamoros, Mexico support Detroit demonstration against auto layoffs

In this video, striking auto parts workers at Fisher Dynamics in Matamoros, Mexico send their support to last weekend’s demonstration against mass layoffs in the US auto industry called by the Socialist Equality Party.

“It is necessary to base our struggle not on one company or on one nation, but by mobilizing the workers of the world”
Maruti Suzuki workers in India send greetings to February 9 protest

Autoworkers, supporters demonstrate in Detroit to oppose GM closures and layoffs

February 9 demonstration against auto plant closures in Detroit
The program and strategy to defend jobs

Book Review

The State, Business and Education: How rapacious corporations are dismantling public education globally

By Erika Zimmer, 16 February 2019

Billionaires, global tech companies and national governments are imposing a profit-driven, user-pays system.

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

Security and the Fourth International

New book now available
Agents: The FBI and GPU Infiltration of the Trotskyist Movement

By Mehring Books, 21 January 2019

The WSWS announces the release of a new book, Agents: The FBI and GPU Infiltration of the Trotskyist Movement, by Eric London.

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

By Eric London, 14 November 2018

Seventy-eight years since the assassination of Leon Trotsky

By Eric London and David North, 21 August 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

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