June 16, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO — We rarely hear that a powerful labor movement in Iraq is defending workers’ rights, campaigning for an end to the U.S.-led occupation and for better daily living conditions for ordinary people, and upholding the Iraqi people’s right to keep control of their country’s great oil resources.

CHICAGO — Graduating with a college degree is more than ever a necessity today. Students and their families are doing whatever it takes to pay for higher education, including taking on excessive amounts of debt.

At the beginning of April 2007, people in Puerto Rico saw pictures of Jason Núñez Fernández from the town of Naranjitos on their television screens. The 22-year-old husband and father of two daughters had returned home in a casket covered with the U.S. flag, a casualty of Iraq.

JERUSALEM — An international meeting here June 4 appealed for world pressure on the Israeli government to negotiate with the PLO to achieve a comprehensive and just peace. The conference was an unprecedented joint undertaking of the Palestinian People’s Party and the Communist Party of Israel.

WASHINGTON — Thousands of demonstrators rallied at the U.S. Capitol, June 10, to protest Israel’s 40-year occupation of Palestinian lands and to demand that Congress take action to win “a just peace for Palestinians and Israelis.”

CAMDEN, N.J. — Neighbors came out of their homes in this South Jersey community, June 2, when they heard loud chants of “Bring the troops home. We want justice. We want peace.”

ERIE, Pa.: GE workers demand fair contract
CHICAGO: Skyrocketing gas prices ignites drivers
LORAIN, Ohio: Steelworkers protest illegal searches
SACRAMENTO, Calif.: Voters could cast ballot on Iraq withdrawal

ST. LOUIS — Eighty activists, including trade unionists, elected officials, religious leaders and workers of all races, ages and genders gathered here June 9-10 for an extraordinary Communist Party conference on African American equality.

In his June 9 national radio address, President Bush strongly endorsed the “Grand Bargain” immigration bill, S 1348. What kind of “improvements” Bush is after, and what he gets, will be critical to whether the bill, or a close version of it, becomes law. The question is: How far to the right can Bush help shepherd the bill through the Senate and House?

RIMINI, Italy — The recent general elections here resulted in a defeat for the ultra-right Silvio Berlusconi, former prime minister, and his supporting parties. But the government, now run by a coalition of center-left parties and headed by Prime Minister Prodi, won by the barest of margins. Italy is a divided country.