1968 Year of Revolution By Peter Taaffe    May 6, 2008 A tumultuous year when the floodtide of mass revolt swept over the narrow confines of capitalism and threatened the very foundations of the system.

World food crisis By Robert Bechert    May 2, 2008 Around the world, strikes, demonstrations and protests have erupted as millions upon millions of workers, peasants and poor face the horror of rapidly rising food prices.

The Olympic protests and nationalism By chinaworker.info    May 2, 2008 In a dazzling pre-Olympic balancing act, the Chinese regime has announced talks with the ‘evil’ Dalai Lama side

May Day 2008 By socialistworld.net    May 1, 2008 The Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI) sends warm socialist greetings to workers and youth across the world on May Day, International Workers’ Day, 2008. Socialist Alternative is the US section of the CWI.

Rebirth of Keynesianism? By Peter Taaffe    Apr 21, 2008 A review of the latest book by economist and commentator Paul Krugman, ‘Conscience of a Liberal’

Politically Minded By Joshua H. Koritz    Apr 4, 2008 Son of Nun (SON) is a former Baltimore City School teacher and current MC performs class-conscious, revolutionary hip-hop

Iraq: Five Years On — Invasion and Occupation By Peter Haden, Socialist Party (CWI Ireland)    Mar 28, 2008 As the fifth anniversary of the fateful decision to launch the invasion of Iraq passes, the claims by the US administration that the 2007 troop surge has succeeded in quelling the insurgency and checking the slide to sectarian break up - claims that were being made loudly at the start of this year - are becoming fainter by the day.

Tibet erupts! By Vincent Kolo, Hong Kong    Mar 28, 2008 Thousands of paramilitary police and soldiers have been deployed in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, after the most serious protests against Chinese rule for nearly 20 years. More than 80 people have been killed and hundreds injured according to exile Tibetan groups, while official Chinese and Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) sources put the fatalities so far at 16, including three Tibetan youths who "died by jumping from a roof". The protests began more than one week ago and culminated in serious rioting in the Tibetan capital on Friday, 14 March, with more than 300 houses and shops burned according to official sources. This week, on Sunday and Monday, protests spread to Tibetan regions of the neighbouring provinces of Sichuan, Qinghai and Gansu, and even a sitdown action by around a hundred Tibetan students in a park in the Haidian district of the Chinese capital, Beijing.

ATU 587 Transit Workers Fight for a Strong Contract By Greg Beiter, ATU 587 Shop Steward, Seattle, WA    Mar 25, 2008 Rank-and-file activists in Amalgamated Transit Union Local 587 in King County, WA are leading a struggle for a better contract.

Recession Looms: A Workers' Program to Fight the Bosses' Attacks By Tony Wilsdon    Mar 24, 2008 With working-class families reeling under the impact of the housing bubble bursting, rising prices, and layoffs, workers and the labor movement need a clear program that defends our interests. Here is a workers' program to fight the bosses' attacks.

Economy in Freefall By Katie Quarles    Mar 21, 2008 Almost every day, some bad news on the economy hits the headlines: market volatility, hedge funds near collapse, rising oil and food prices, investors losing confidence and moving to less risky forms of investment such as gold. The question is now no longer “Will the sub-prime crisis trigger a broader downturn?,” but rather “How deep and long will the downturn be?” as it becomes clear this will be a serious recession.

Building on Nader's 2008 Challenge By Ty Moore    Mar 20, 2008 With Nader running as an independent in 2008, many supporters will be wondering what will come out of the campaign after November. Socialist Alternative would welcome using the 2008 elections to open a serious discussion among Greens, left-wing union activists, socialists, and fresh layers of workers and youth around the idea of launching a new broad left-wing party. We would urge Nader and Gonzalez to use their campaign to popularize this idea.

Break With the Two Parties of Big Business! Build Nader's Antiwar, Anti-Corporate Campaign By Philip Locker    Mar 20, 2008 On February 24, Ralph Nader declared he was running for President to challenge the corporate stranglehold over U.S. politics. Ordinary American have been “shut out of their government by two major parties that, in varying degrees, have turned Washington into corporate-occupied territory,” Nader said. Socialist Alternative is supporting Nader’s antiwar, pro-worker campaign, as we did in 2000 and 2004.

Is a Nader Vote a Wasted Vote? The Case Against Lesser-Evilism By Philip Locker    Mar 20, 2008 Responses to popular questions about whether a Nader vote is a wasted vote and the case against lesser-evilism.

Building the Strongest Left Challenge: Nader, McKinney and the Greens By Bryan Koulouris    Mar 20, 2008 With the stock market teetering on the brink of disaster and home foreclosures reaching record highs, working people need real solutions, not the empty promises of the Democratic and Republican parties. We need a clear break from both mainstream parties as a step towards political independence of working people. Nader’s campaign can be used to break people from the two-headed corporate warmongering monster that rules our country.

We Need a Party of Working People By Bryan Koulouris    Mar 20, 2008 Corporate America has two parties; we need our own. We need a party with thousands of activists that doesn’t just organize for elections, but also organizes actions to win victories.

Iraq, Afghanistan: The Bitter Fruits of War and Occupation By Niall Mulholland    Mar 14, 2008 Five long, bloody years of war and occupation, led by US imperialism, has left Iraq as a dangerous, violent and divided society, despite promises of stability and democracy. Niall Mulholland looks at the gruesome results of Western 'intervention'.

Why We're Protesting on the 5th Anniversary of the Iraq War By Dan DiMaggio    Mar 14, 2008 Because nearly 4,000 U.S. soldiers have been killed and, according to some estimates, over 1 million Iraqis, in a war for control of oil supplies opposed by the vast majority of Iraqis and Americans...Because if we don’t hit the streets, the media and politicians can just ignore us...

International Women's Day 2008 By Tina Rua    Mar 8, 2008 The first women’s day celebration in the United States in 1909 was a demonstration by working women and their supporters for better wages, shorter working hours, better working conditions, and politically, the right to vote. Despite many social and political improvements for working women in the 20th century, the fundamental problems of yesterday are still the fundamental problems of today.

Women: Low Pay and Sub-prime Mortgages By Dani Indovino    Mar 8, 2008 Women in the United States face a complex economic reality. Sex discrimination, while often declared dead by media and lawmakers alike, has persisted over time. One of the starkest illustrations of this discrimination is economically.

Women: Sexual Harassment in the Workplace By Melissa Sanders    Mar 8, 2008 In October 2007, Anucha Browne Sanders won her sexual harassment case against Madison Square Gardens and was awarded $11.6 million. The verdict was the result of a grueling trial, where Browne Sanders, a high profile sports executive for the New York Knicks, recounted witnessing male executives pressure young female interns into sex.

Women: Fighting For Nurses and Patients By Marty Harrison RN, PASNAP/TUHNA    Mar 8, 2008 After breaking with the management-dominated American Nurses Association in 1996, the CNA turned its full attention, strength and budget toward the concerns of the direct care nurse, organizing the unorganized, bargaining strong contracts and getting politically active.

Nader Declares His Candidacy By Socialist Alternative    Feb 28, 2008 On Sunday February 24, Ralph Nader announced that he was running for president on Meet the Press. This produced the usual storm of derision especially from the Democratic Party hacks in the big business media...

Obama: The Ambiguity of "Hope" By Alan Jones    Feb 27, 2008 The spectacular victories of Barack Obama in a series of the Democratic primaries are a reflection of several deeper processes taking place in the United States. On the one side, is the genuine hope for change felt by millions of working people, while, on the other side, there is the desire of sections of the ruling class to use Obama to create a more "acceptable face" for imperialism internationally and domestically.

Castro's Resignaton Opens Up New Chapter By Peter Taaffe    Feb 22, 2008 The formal resignation of Fidel Castro as President of Cuba opens up a new chapter in the history of Cuba and its revolution.

Film Review: There Will Be Blood By Humphrey McQueen, Marxist historian    Feb 22, 2008 In bringing Upton Sinclair’s 1927 novel, Oil, to the screen as There Will Be Blood, writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson has been faithful to the author’s socialist intentions. The adaptation also resonates with the politics of today as the neo-cons kill to keep democracy safe for big oil.

CWI Latin America School Opens With Successful Rally By Karl Debbaut    Feb 18, 2008 The first CWI discussion school in Latin America for a number of years kicked off to a splendid start in Sao Paulo Brazil on Thursday, February 14.

Kenya: Rigged Presidential Elections Provoke Widespread Opposition Protests and State Violence By Segun Sango, Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM), Lagos, Nigeria    Feb 4, 2008 On December 27, 2007, Kenyans voted in general elections to elect a new government. But, as mostly happens in Africa, Kenyans got short changed. The announcement of incumbent President Kibaki as the winner under shady circumstances led to widespread protests and violence. As we write, at least 500 people are reportedly killed, with an estimated 150,000 people displaced from their homes.

Bipartisan Stimulus Package: Politics Over Substance By Tony Wilsdon    Jan 31, 2008 As the subprime mortgage crisis has spread into a housing crisis and slowing economy, serious economic spokespersons are now predicting the U.S. is slipping into an economic recession. Politicians from the Democratic and Republican parties have come together to offer a $150 billion stimulus package to ‘prevent’ or ’shorten’ the coming recession.

World Economy: A Global Shock to the System By Lynn Walsh    Jan 29, 2008 The collapse of the U.S. housing bubble has triggered an economic slowdown and the subprime finance crisis. These forces threaten a global financial crisis and a serious downturn in the world economy. "This is not a normal crisis", financier George Soros told the gloomy delegates attending this year's Davos forum of big business leaders. "We are at the end of an era of credit expansion…"

The Other Wal-Mart By Red McKilldozer, Target worker    Jan 22, 2008 While Wal-Mart has been getting tons of bad publicity for its abuse of its workforce, Target, the fifth largest retailer in the U.S., has been enjoying a free publicity ride. Target presents itself as a decent corporate citizen and boasts of its generosity to charities, in contrast to the big bad Wal-Mart wolf. But this is all a smoke screen, as I can tell you from experience.

MORE NEWS & ANALYSIS