Analysis

The Senate debate on immigration “reform” was moving toward a dramatic showdown during the week of April 3, and no one can say what kind of legislation will eventually be passed, or if any legislation will be passed. There are competing bills from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and the Senate Judiciary Committee, and there is a possibility of a filibuster or a stalemate, both of which would delay the whole issue.

Está creciendo la evidencia de que la administración Bush se está preparando para un gran ataque militar contra la República Islámica de Irán.

In response to a comment about the beauty of Colombia, 7-year-old Daniela said, “Yes, but it is so violent.” Daniela should know. She has seen the violence up close. Her father, a left-wing city council member, was murdered by right-wing paramilitaries when he answered the door to their home one day.

CHICAGO — Broad unity is the key challenge facing the anti-ultra-right electoral coalition in the wake of Illinois’ March 21 primary. Victory in two congressional battleground races in suburban Chicago will also require winning independent and moderate Republican voters.

If you are a young person under the age of 30 you probably know more about the elimination and under-funding of social services and programs for youth than your parents’ generation ever did.

Baseball, the quintessential American sport, is enjoyed by nations worldwide, whose athletes make invaluable contributions to the game. The inaugural World Baseball Classic ended this week which struck a new beginning for a real World Series.

It’s a recurring theme in American history: The mass media plays up the demagogy of reactionaries who use ignorance and prejudice to blame immigrants for major social ills. Reactionary politicians who rely on disunity to achieve their goals use the resulting hysteria to push through repressive measures. This makes the immigrants more vulnerable. Businesses exploit them for superprofits and to lower the living standards of the general populace. Then the demagogues blame the victims again and so it goes.

Many New Yorkers were inspired by the strike of Transport Workers Union Local 100 against the efforts of the Metropolitan Transit Authority to cut back on workers’ pensions and health care. People understood that the two-tier benefit system being insisted on by the MTA would create mistrust between veterans on the job and new workers, damaging the union’s strength and credibility.

Evo Morales is Bolivia’s first indigenous head of state in 500 years. The day before his inauguration on Jan. 22, a huge assembly of Bolivia’s indigenous people, who represent two-thirds of the country’s population, ceremonially granted him power.

Months of growing grassroots pressure for immigrants’ rights and against proposed harsh repressive measures are beginning to open new avenues of struggle for a fair and humane approach to immigration reform.