May 24, 2003

This month’s outbreak of renewed conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) threatens to further weaken this central African country and perpetuate its economic dependence on the U.S. and other big capitalist powers.

Among the 75 dissidents recently convicted on subversion charges in Cuba are so-called “independent librarians.”

Nepal: Solidarity needed / S. Korea: Truckers win victory / France: New strikes protest gov’t pension changes / Argentina: Workers’ co-ops taking root / India: 60 million set to strike

BALTIMORE – About 70 peace activists marched from Baltimore to the White House April 26-28 to protest the war on Iraq and the occupation, which they charged, Bush has forced the poor to pay for both in lives lost and tax dollars squandered.

WASHINGTON – In a preliminary victory for consumers, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-to-3 decision, has lifted the injunction that had put Maine’s innovative effort to reduce the cost of prescription drugs on hold

In her analysis of “The State Fiscal Crisis” for the Center for Budget Priorities, Lisa McNichol reveals the dimensions of the most serious budget crisis in decades.

SAN FRANCISCO – The longshore division of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), which met here on May 5-9, made it clear that dockers are not resting on the laurels of the recent contract victory against their employers, the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA).

CHICAGO – “The NLRB is a meat-grinder,” said AFL-CIO Director of Organizing Stuart Acuff, “and most workers who enter into it are ground up into sausage.”

The eight days between May 2 and May 10, 1963, when thousands of school children in Birmingham, Ala., defied the fire hoses and police dogs of Eugene “Bull” Connor, marked a turning point in the civil rights movement.

Opinion


It’s a safe bet that Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) ranks high as a pain-in-the-backside of George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and the rest of the oily crew at the White House.