The Assault on Working People in California
All across California, an outright assault is being waged against working people. Currently, the official unemployment rate for the state is 12.5 percent. In eight counties, the unemployment rate is higher than 20 percent. An average of about ten people are applying for every job – in some industries it’s over 20 people. And for […]
March 4 – A Day of Action and Celebration
This past Thursday, there were protests all over California – in elementary schools, middle schools and high schools, in community colleges, CSUs and the UCs. Students, faculty and staff held meetings, rallies, speak outs, picket lines and teach-ins against the budget cuts to education. Some people marched in protest and some held rallies. The biggest […]
Super Bowl – Super Rare Opportunities
The Super Bowl has come and gone. The New Orleans Saints defeated the Indianapolis Colts, winning their first Super Bowl ever. Over one hundred million people sat down to watch the game, spending the day relaxing with friends and family. The Super Bowl has become a massive sporting event, generating hundreds of millions of dollars […]
Howard Zinn – A People’s Historian
(August 24, 1922 – January 27, 2010) On January 27th, Howard Zinn passed away. Zinn was a great historian, but not just that. He was also a fighter and critic of the system of exploitation and war which poor and working people confront every day. His book, A People’s History of the United States, challenged […]
Sacrifices For Profits Are A Dead-End Road For Us
Last week Ford announced profits of $2.7 billion in 2009. After workers made all sorts of sacrifices over the past years, they will not see a nickel of this profit. The 9000 workers who were thrown out of work last year will not share in these billions. It was their tax dollars also, that were […]
War Takes its Toll on the Soldiers
Soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are returning from the wars maimed and traumatized only to find no jobs, no homes and a broken medical system. A study in 2007 found that 18 percent of the veterans who applied for jobs within one to three years of discharge were unemployed, while one out of four […]
Right Wing Protests against Obama’s health care plan – Trying Manipulating People’s Anger
There is a growing right-wing populist sentiment in the United States. It is a feeling which expresses the mistrust, fear and anger directed at the government by the population including a section of the working class. The main organizers and spokesmen for this right-wing populism are a number of television and radio personalities with links […]
No Schools Safe From Education Cuts
Recently, the San Francisco School District announced it is facing a $113 million budget shortfall. Because of this deficit, the district is planning to make major cuts to education, on top of previous cuts of the past few years. In San Francisco, an estimated 400 teachers may be laid off. Teachers and staff may have […]
Haiti – Victim of Imperialism and Natural Disaster
On January 12, a major earthquake struck Haiti. The number of people killed in the earthquake is between 50,000 and 100,000. However, the earthquake was not the beginning of Haiti’s problems. Today 70 percent of Haiti’s nine million people live on less than two dollars per day. Half of Haitian children do not attend school […]
Haiti’s Disaster, Now a U.S. Made Catastrophe
Last week Haiti suffered a powerful earthquake, 7.0 in magnitude, in its capital and most densely populated regions. The impact of this earthquake on the poorest country in the Western hemisphere has been disastrous. Estimates put the number dead at more than 100,000. Tens of thousands need immediate medical attention. An estimated 3.5 million people […]
Schwarzenegger’s New Budget – Same Attacks, Same Priorities
Last Friday, Governor Schwarzenegger revealedhis plan to deal with this year’s $19.9 billion budget deficit. Schwarzenegger promises to change the state’s priorities, to spend less on prisons and more on education. But, in fact, his plan is nothing more than a series of new attacks on social services, education, and state workers. This is the […]
2009 Was the Bosses’ Year – Will We Make 2010 Ours?
Last year was the worst recession since the 1930s. But the bosses and bankers have recovered quickly, thanks to huge transfusions of wealth from our tax dollars. While auto workers lost their jobs and saw their wages and benefits slashed, the auto companies were given billions to “recover” their profits. While millions of people fell […]