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Published by the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI)

21 May 2012

No agreement at G8 summit on deepening financial crisis

By Nick Beams, 21 May 2012

The communiqué issued after a day of talks at the US presidential retreat at Camp David revealed there was no plan to meet the crisis, just a decision to put the best face on a worsening situation.

Chicago police frame antiwar activists on “terrorism” charges

By Patrick Martin, 21 May 2012

A total of five men have been arrested on three separate “plots,” all organized by the same undercover police agents.

Germany: Tens of thousands protest in banking quarter of Frankfurt

By our correspondents, 21 May 2012

Tens of thousands defied police and court bans to protest in Germany’s banking capital.

Spain faces bank run

By Alejandro López, 21 May 2012

The latest available statistics on bank deposits show that €50 billion have left Spain since January last year.

German chancellor’s sacking of minister exposes government crisis

By Ulrich Rippert, 21 May 2012

The manner of Chancellor Merkel’s dismissal of her environment minister revealed panic in the face of Germany’s increasing international isolation.

Leveson inquiry: Damning evidence of political corruption of Labour and Conservative parties

By Robert Stevens, 21 May 2012

The charging of former editor Rebekah Brooks in the police investigation into the News of the World phone hacking scandal has overshadowed revealing testimony given at the Leveson inquiry into press ethics.

Western Australian, Tasmanian state governments announce new spending cuts

By Patrick O’Connor, 21 May 2012

The state government measures form part of a bipartisan austerity drive signalled by the federal budget delivered by the Gillard Labor government earlier this month.

Cost-cutting taking place across Australian universities

By Zac Hambides, 21 May 2012

The sackings at the University of New South Wales are the latest in a series of cuts occurring at universities across Australia.

Unemployed California workers face termination of benefits

By Rafael Azul and Roseanna Donatello, 21 May 2012

California's unemployment rate has declined from 11 percent in March to 10.9 percent in April because many workers have stopped looking for work, according to figures released from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Illegal stops by New York Police rise to 2,200 daily

By Dan Brennan, 21 May 2012

The current pace represents an 11 percent increase from 2011 and an eightfold rise from 2002, when billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg began his first term in office.

New in French

La loi du gouvernement du Québec criminalisant la grève étudiante menace les droits fondamentaux de tous

Par Keith Jones, 21 mai 2012

Le gouvernement libéral du Québec a passé une loi spéciale qui criminalise la grève étudiante au Québec et qui impose de sévères restrictions sur le droit de manifester.

New in Romanian

Grecia: ce vrea SYRIZA?

De Christoph Dreierc si Peter Schwarz , 21 mai 2012

SYRIZA ar putea ieşi învingătoare în cadrul alegerilor din 17 iunie. Scopul partidului nu va fi transformarea socialistă a societăţii în interesul clasei muncitoare, ci crearea unor condiţii mai bune pentru clasa de mijloc superioară și acele secţiuni ale burgheziei elene, care sunt foarte afectate de efectele măsurilor de austeritate.

Programul lui Obama pentru crearea locurilor de muncă: o listă lungă de cadouri pentru corporaţii

De Andre Damon, 21 mai 2012

În primul discurs ţinut de preşedintele Obama în cadrul campaniei electorale pentru realegerea sa, acesta a prezentat programul său privind politica economică pentru “crearea unor locuri de muncă.” În cadrul acestei strategii el a propus acordarea unor subvenţii financiare corporaţiilor.

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Perspective

Police state bill passed to suppress Quebec student strike

21 May 2012

As in Quebec, capitalist governments the world over are responding to mounting resistance to their class-war program with state repression, trampling on democratic rights and criminalizing working-class opposition.

Earlier Perspectives »

History

“Of course, Trotsky was an alternative to Stalin”
An interview with Professor Mario Kessler on the Trotsky biography by Robert Service—Part one

By Wolfgang Weber, 21 May 2012

This is the first part of a two-part interview with German historian Professor Mario Kessler on the 2009 biography of Leon Trotsky by Robert Service. Professor Kessler is a co-signatory of a letter sent by 14 European sociologists and political scientists to the Suhrkamp Verlag publishing house raising grave reservations about its plan to bring out a German edition of Service’s book.

Socialist Equality Party

Sri Lankan SEP condemns attack on WSWS supporters in India

By the Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka), May 2012

The assault by AIADMK thugs is a warning to workers of the methods that governments and employers will use to suppress opposition to the deepening assault on jobs and living standards.

WSWS Fund Appeal

An appeal for support from David Walsh

21 May 2012

In this video, WSWS arts editor David Walsh speaks about the crisis in Europe and why now more than ever we need the financial support of our readers.

Socialist Equality Party (US) Election Campaign

SEP presidential candidate Jerry White speaks on Obama’s attack on auto workers

19 May 2012

In this video, Socialist Equality Party presidential candidate Jerry White visits the site of the General Motors Pontiac East Assembly Plant, which was closed in September 2009.

Obama, the UAW and the auto bailout
Statement by Jerry White, SEP candidate for US president

17 May 2012

Hydraulic fracturing and the case for socialist planning
Statement by Phyllis Scherrer, SEP candidate for US vice president

18 May 2012

Visit the Socialist Equality Party campaign site »

25 years
50 years
75 years
100 years

25 years ago: US Supreme Court rules in favor of prison without bail

On Tuesday, May 26, 1987, the US Supreme ruled to allow a criminal defendant to be jailed without bail if the prosecutor and the judge agreed that the suspect was a threat.

50 years ago: AFL-CIO announces drive for 35-hour workweek

On May 23, 1962, AFL-CIO President George Meany announced that the US trade union federation would launch a drive for a national 35-hour workweek.

75 years ago: Spanish child refugees arrive in Britain

On May 23, 1937, the decrepit ocean liner the SS Habana docked at Southampton in southern England, carrying 3,681 mainly Basque child refugees fleeing the barbarity of Spanish fascism.

100 years ago: Reichstag votes to expand German navy

On May 21, 1912, the German Reichstag, or parliament, passed an amendment that called for an expansion of the size of the German navy.

Auburn, New York: 150 strike against TRW for eight-hour day

By Eli Steven, 21 May 2012

Workers have been on strike at the TRW automotive plant in Auburn, New York since May 7. The company is demanding that workers work 10-and 12-hour shifts and that they be allowed to hire temporary workers with lower wages and benefits

TRW workers speak out against proposed contract

By a WSWS reporting team, 21 May 2012

Workers on strike at the Auburn, New York TRW automotive plant spoke with the WSWS on their grievances.

Illinois Caterpillar strike enters fourth week

By Jeff Lusanne, 21 May 2012

Nearly 800 workers at a Caterpillar plant near Joliet, Illinois have been on strike since May 1 fighting company demands for a six-year contract that would sharply reduce their pay and erode working conditions.

Arts Review

Strindberg & Cinema in Los Angeles
Palaces of memory: August Strindberg and Ingmar Bergman

By Richard Adams, 21 May 2012

The Strindberg & Cinema Festival in Los Angeles featured two films that Ingmar Bergman made for Swedish television: his version of August Strindberg's A Dream Play (1963) and his portrait of a theater director, After the Rehearsal (1984).