Feb 9, 2002

NEW YORK – Over 20,000 peaceful protestors converged on the Waldorf-Astoria hotel here last weekend to protest the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting being held there. To visit two websites with more information, click Another World is Possible or the World Social Forum.

On Jan. 31, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney warned the World Economic Forum (WEF) that working people had come to the group’s annual meeting, held Jan. 31 to Feb. 4, to “challenge Enron economics at home and abroad” and warned that the anti-globalization movement is not going to go away. Visit the AFL-CIO for more speeches by Sweeney, as well as much more information on the U.S. labor movement.

For movie lovers, it always seems to be feast or famine. Either there are so many good films to chose from that you might as well sleep in the lobby, or you’re so desperate you’re actually considering seeing Slackers.

President Bush and the Congressional right wing are planning to fund their war budget at the expense of poor people.

NORTH CHICAGO, Ill. – On Feb. 1 Carousel Linen strikers and 100 supporters rallied across the street from the sprawling industrial complex of global pharmaceutical monopoly, Abbott Laboratories.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) talked of the “legitimacy and the necessity of the study of reparations” for the enslavement of African Americans in a speech at the University of Michigan last week. Conyers’ speech was part of a number of events planned to celebrate Black History Month at the school.

Children scamper quietly between family members in the sky-colored church. Churchgoers dressed in a rainbow of colors sway back and forth on packed wooden pews. Skin tones ranging from sand color to caramel to the color of a strong espresso complete the vivid scene. It’s an image of the world that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., envisioned.

Time to speak out for peace, international law/Bush favors unborn over born

The most industrialized nation in the world, the United States, does not have the highest literacy rate in the world. However, it does have the distinction of claiming the highest percentage of incarcerated citizens. Young African-American males, and in increasing numbers females, are being incarcerated significantly out of proportion to their numbers in the population.

Most of President Bush’s State of the Union address was devoted to declaring himself ruler of the entire world, without having won any election, but he did take some time out to talk about the economy. Bush’s speech contained themes that will continue as major issues in the coming months.