Dec 29, 2001

Without socialism, the countries of the world cannot reduce their illiteracy rate to zero, attainable and necessary for progress.

The following is an excerpt of greetings to the Communist Party USA’s annual holiday party in New York Dec. 20. Sam Webb is CPUSA national chairman.

How could anyone oppose a strong public health system – one with a mandate to protect everyone from such potential disasters such as smallpox or anthrax? Given the disastrous shape that the U.S. public health system is in, there is certainly a need to infuse millions of dollars into the system.

WASHINGTON – Playing the “Grinch who stole Christmas,” President Bush and his Republican helpers on Capitol Hill blocked a Senate bill that would provide an additional 13 weeks in jobless benefits and extend health care for millions of unemployed workers, many of them under a temporary federal Medicaid plan.

CHICAGO – Organized by the Peace Response and coordinated with similar mobilizations in other cities, march to protest the war in Afghanistan attracted more than 200 people here Dec. 7. Many of the participants carried blankets draped over their shoulders, to represent the suffering of refugees in Afghanistan.

Llegando en Colombia un día antes del empezar del 18 Congreso del Partido Comunista Colombiano (PCC) me dio una oportunidad de visitar el famoso Museo Dorado en Bogotá.

Lasn Kalle, the founder of Adbusters Magazine, mixes satire, comedy and social commentary into Culture Jam: How to Reduce America’s Suicidal Consumer Binge – and Why We Must.

As holiday shoppers scramble for last-minute gifts, the barrage of advertisements taking advantage of the season of giving is reaching its peak. The same rule of thumb that explains the sell-out of the must-have toy of the season also applies to tobacco: the most heavily advertised brands are the most popular. The leading brand among teens in the United States is Marlboro, peddled to kids by what has been called the number one advertising icon of all time, the Marlboro cowboy.

In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, there has been a lot of attention paid to the Portland, Ore. Police Bureau’s response to a request by federal authorities to question 23 men of Middle Eastern origin in our community.

On Nov. 1, Nancy Oden, an organic farmer, drove 100 miles from Jonesboro, Maine to the Bangor airport. A member of the National Coordinating Committee of the Green Party USA, she was going to an important committee meeting in Chicago.