Jan 24, 2004

George W. Bush delivered the 2004 State of the Union speech to Congress and the American people on Jan. 20, and afterwards many people asked: What Union and world was he talking about?

MUMBAI, India – On the sidewalk of a busy Mumbai street, two tiny children and their baby brother, clad only in a shirt, sit in a patch of dirt, directly in front of a cell phone store. click here for Spanish text

With its Jan. 22, 1973, ruling that abortion could no longer be illegal, the Supreme Court ushered in a new era for the rights of women, children and families.

DES MOINES, Iowa – A near record 122,000 Iowans braved bitter cold here Jan. 19 to attend Democratic caucus meetings in a dramatic display of their determination to defeat George W. Bush Nov. 2. On the eve of the caucuses, four candidates were in a dead heat, spurring people to turn out in droves, especially youth and other first-time caucus-goers.

With the death toll of U.S. soldiers in Iraq reaching the 500 mark this week, peace and justice groups are intensifying their efforts to build a Global Day of Action against War and Occupation on Saturday, March 20, the one-year anniversary of the U.S. bombing and invasion of Iraq.

Launching a campaign to go nationwide and all-union with the Southern California grocery strike, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka met with representatives from 50 city and state labor councils in Washington Jan. 20.

When a Republican District Attorney in Waller County, Texas wrote a letter claiming that students at Prairie View A&M University, which has an almost totally African American student population, did not necessarily have the right to vote in the county, 5,000 students marched two and a half hours in wet weather to the courthouse. There they held a big political rally and voter registration celebration.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas: Wal-Mart locks up workers / SAN FRANCISCO: DaimlerChrysler charged with murder / EDMONDS, Wash.: Slick Chevron-Texaco / TAMPA, Fla.: Patriot Act goes to court / WASHINGTON: Science panel calls for universal health care

It is always heartwarming and helpful to return to the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Even though Dr. King’s last words were spoken over 35 years ago, much of what he had to say still has application to our struggle against right-wing reaction and its representatives in government.

ATAMI, Japan – Approximately 1,000 delegates representing 400,000 members of the Japanese Communist Party (JCP), meeting here at the party’s 23rd congress, voted Jan. 17 to adopt the party’s revised program and a resolution outlining its basic domestic policies and its approach to world politics.