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Today's
Stories
January 10, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Bush
as Hitler? Let's Be Fair
Diane Christian
On Lying and Colin Powell
Lisa Viscidi
Exhumations: Unearthing Guatemala's Macabre Past
Saul Landau
Homeland Anxiety
Elaine Cassel
Who's Winning the War on Civil Liberties?
January 9, 2004
David Lindorff
The
Misers of War: Troop Strength and Chintzy Bonuses
Kurt Nimmo
Saddam's Defense: Summon Bush Sr. to the Stand
Mike Whitney
Orange Jumpsuits for the Bush Clan?: The Carnegie Report on Iraq's
Non-existent WMDs
Deb Reich
Palestinians and Israelis: This War is Unwinnable
David Vest
Disabled
Vets Fire Back at Rumsfeld
January 8, 2004
Neve Gordon
Israeli
Refuseniks Sentenced to Jail
Lenni Brenner
Dr.
Dean and the Godhead
Ray McGovern
Bush: Driving Without Breaks
Mark Scaramella
Inside
the DA's Office: Lies, Errors and Tedium
Yves Engler
Bush's Mexican Gambit
James Hollander
Journalists
Under Fire: the Death of José Couso in Baghdad
January 7, 2004
Democracy Now!
Uncharitable
Care: How Hospitals are Gouging and Even Arresting the Uninsured
Greg Weiher
The
Bush Administration's Ongoing Intelligence Problem
Ben Tripp
The Word of the Year, 2003
Dave Lindorff
Dean and His Democratic Detractors
Michael Leon
The NYT Does Chomsky
Bob Boldt
God Talk
Ramon Ryan
Small
Victories and Long Struggles: the 10th Anniversary of the Zapatista
Uprising
January 6, 2004
Dave Lindorff
RNC
Plays the Hitler Card: MoveOn Shouldn't Apologize for Those Ads
Ron Jacobs
Drugs
in Uniform: Hashish and the War on Terrorism
Josh Frank
Coffee and State Authority in Colombia
Doug Giebel
Permanent Bases: Leave Iraq? Hell No, We Won't Go
John Chuckman
Sick Puppies: David Frum's New Neo-Con Manifesto
Rannie Amiri
The Politics of the Iranian Earthquake
John L. Hess
A Record
to Dissent From
Thacher Schmid
A Cheesehead's Musings on the Sunday NYT
David Price
"Like
Slaves": Anthropological Thoughts on Occupation
January 5, 2004
Al Krebs
How
Now Mad Cow!
Kathy Kelly
Squatting
in Baghdad's Bomb Craters
Jordy Cummings
The Dialectic of the Kristol Family: Putting the Neo in the Cons
Fran Shor
Mad Human Disease: Chewing the Fat Down on the Farm
Fidel Castro
"We Shall Overcome": On the 45th Anniversary of the
Cuban Revolution
Gary Leupp
North
Korea for Dummies
January 3 / 4, 2004
Brian Cloughley
Never
Mind the WMDs, Just Look at History
Vice Admiral Jack Shanahan
The Wrong War at the Wrong Time
William Cook
Failing to Respond to 9/11
Glen Martin
Jesus
vs. the Beast of the Apocalypse
Robert Fisk
Iraqi Humor Amid the Carnage
Ilan Pappe
The Geneva Bubble
Walter Davis
Robert Jay Lifton, or Nostalgia
Kurt Nimmo
Ashcroft vs. the Left
Mike Whitney
The Padilla Case
Steven Sherman
On Wallerstein's The Decline of American Power
Dave Lindorff
Bush's Taiwan Hypocrisy
William Blum
Codework Orange!
Mitchel Cohen
Learning from Che Guevara
Seth Sandronsky
Mad Cow and Main Street USA
Bruce Jackson
Conversations with Leslie Fiedler
Standard Schaefer
Poet Carl Rakosi Turns 100
Ron Jacobs
Sir Mick
Adam Engel
Hall of Hoaxes
Poets' Basement
Jones, Albert & Curtis
January 2, 2004
Stan Cox
Red Alert
2016
Dave Lindorff
Beef, the Meat of Republicans
Jackie Corr
Rule and Ruin: Wall Street and Montana
Norman Solomon
George Will's Ethics: None of Our Business?
David Vest
As the Top Wobbleth
January 1, 2004
Randall Robinson
Honor
Haiti, Honor Ourselves
David Krieger
Looking
Back on 2003
Robert Fisk
War Takes an Inhuman Twist: Roadkill Bombs
Stan Goff
War,
Race and Elections
Hammond Guthrie
2003 Almaniac
Website of the Day
Embody Bags
December 31, 2003
Ray McGovern
Don't
Be Fooled Again: This Isn't an Independent Investigation
Kurt Nimmo
Manufacturing Hysteria
Robert Fisk
The Occupation is Damned
Mike Whitney
Mad Cows and Downer George
Alexander Cockburn
A Great Year Ebbed, Another Ahead
December 30, 2003
Michael Neumann
Criticism
of Israel is Not Anti-Semitism
Annie Higgins
When
They Bombed the Hometown of the Virgin Mary
Alan Farago
Bush Bros. Wrecking Co.: Time Runs Out for the Everglades
Dan Bacher
Creatures from the Blacklight Lagoon: From Glofish to Frankenfish
Jeffrey St. Clair
Hard
Time on the Killing Floor: Inside Big Meat
Willie Nelson
Whatever Happened to Peace on Earth?
December 29, 2003
Mark Hand
The Washington
Post in the Dock?
David Lindorff
The
Bush Election Strategy
Phillip Cryan
Interested Blindness: Media Omissions in Colombia's War
Richard Trainor
Catellus Development: the Next Octopus?
Uri Avnery
Israel's
Conscientious Objectors
December 27 / 28, 2003
Alexander Cockburn
A
Journey Into Rupert Murdoch's Soul
Kathy Kelly
Christmas Day in Baghdad: A Better World
Saul Landau
Iraq
at the End of the Year
Dave Zirin
A Linebacker for Peace & Justice: an Interview with David
Meggysey
Robert Fisk
Iraq
Through the American Looking Glass
Scott Burchill
The Bad Guys We Once Thought Good: Where Are They Now?
Chris Floyd
Bush's Iraq Plan is Right on Course: Saddam 2.0
Brian J. Foley
Don't Tread on Me: Act Now to Save the Constitution
Seth Sandronsky
Feedlot Sweatshops: Mad Cows and the Market
Susan Davis
Lord
of the (Cash Register) Rings
Ron Jacobs
Cratched Does California
Adam Engel
Crumblecake and Fish
Norman Solomon
The Unpardonable Lenny Bruce
Poets' Basement
Cullen and Albert
Website of the Weekend
Activism Through Music
December 26, 2003
Gary Leupp
Bush
Doings: Doing the Language
December 25, 2003
Diane Christian
The
Christmas Story
Elaine Cassel
This
Christmas, the World is Too Much With Us
Susan Davis
Jinglebells, Hold the Schlock
Kristen Ess
Bethlehem Celebrates Christmas, While Rafah Counts the Dead
Francis Boyle
Oh Little Town of Bethlehem
Alexander Cockburn
The
Magnificient 9
Guthrie / Albert
Another Colorful Season
December 24, 2003
M. Shahid Alam
The Semantics
of Empire
William S. Lind
Marley's
List for Santa in Wartime
Josh Frank
Iraqi
Oil: First Come, First Serve
Cpt. Paul Watson
The
Mad Cowboy Was Right
Robert Lopez
Nuance
and Innuendo in the War on Iraq
December 23, 2003
Brian J. Foley
Duck
and Cover-up
Will Youmans
Sharon's
Ultimatum
Michael Donnelly
Here
They Come Again: Another Big Green Fiasco
Uri Avnery
Sharon's
Speech: the Decoded Version
December 22, 2003
Jeffrey St. Clair
Pray
to Play: Bush's Faith-Based National Parks
Patrick Gavin
What Would Lincoln Do?
Marjorie Cohn
How to
Try Saddam: Searching for a Just Venue
Kathy Kelly
The
Two Troublemakers: "Guilty of Being Palestinians in Iraq"
December 20 / 21, 2003
Alexander Cockburn
How
to Kill Saddam
Saul Landau
Bush Tries Farce as Cuba Policy
Rafael Hernandez
Empire and Resistance: an Interview with Tariq Ali
David Vest
Our Ass and Saddam's Hole
Kurt Nimmo
Bush
Gets Serious About Killing Iraqis
Greg Weiher
Lessons from the Israeli School on How to Win Friends in the
Islamic World
Christopher Brauchli
Arrest, Smear, Slink Away: Dr. Lee and Cpt. Yee
Carol Norris
Cheers of a Clown: Saddam and the Gloating Bush
Bruce Jackson
The Nameless and the Detained: Bush's Disappeared
Juliana Fredman
A Sealed Laboratory of Repression
Mickey Z.
Holiday Spirit at the UN
Ron Jacobs
In the Wake of Rebellion: The Prisoner's Rights Movement and
Latino Prisoners
Josh Frank
Sen. Max Baucus: the Slick Swindler
John L. Hess
Slow Train to the Plane
Adam Engel
Black is Indeed Beautiful
Ben Tripp
The Relevance of Art in Times of Crisis
Michael Neumann
Rhythm and Race
Poets' Basement
Cullen, Engel, Albert & Guthrie
Hot Stories
Alexander Cockburn
Behold,
the Head of a Neo-Con!
Subcomandante Marcos
The
Death Train of the WTO
Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens
as Model Apostate
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click Here
for More Stories.
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January
10 / 11, 2004
We Must be Together
Inside
the California Grocery Strike
By MICHAEL SCHWARTZ
For over three months, shoppers and drivers in
Southern California have seen them holding their picket signs.
They are 70,000 supermarket workers represented by the United
Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) and their picket lines
extend hundreds of miles across the region. They are on strike
against Vons/Pavilions (Safeway) and have been locked out by
Ralphs (Kroger) and Albertsons. These workers are fighting three
of the largest supermarket chains in the country; the financial
statements of these companies show that together they earned
$8.3 billion dollars in net profit in the last four years alone.
The same multi-billion dollar corporations
claim they need to cut one billion dollars from their labor costs
in order to compete with Wal-Mart. According to the supermarket
chains, this future competition necessitates that they reduce
the health benefits package of their workers by 50 percent. They
also want to institute a two-tier wage system, with new employees
receiving lower wages and fewer benefits, and they even want
to reduce the pension benefits of workers who have already retired.
We cannot underestimate the importance
of this strike. It has taken 70 years of struggle for these grocery
workers to win the relatively decent wages and benefits that
they have today. These victories will disappear if the companies
have their way. The behavior of the supermarkets suggests that
they understand just how important this battle really is.
From day one, the "Big Three"
have acted as one company and they have not cracked since. They
have displayed corporate solidarity unrivaled in recent memory.
After the UFCW went on strike against Vons and Pavilions, Ralphs
and Albertsons locked out their employees the very next day.
In addition, the union's strategy to pull their picket lines
from Ralphs to try and break this unity seems to have backfired.
It has been discovered that the three companies signed a pact
to share all the money they earn during the strike. It is unclear
whether or not the companies will be able to fulfill the pact
since it is being investigated by California's Attorney General
for anti-trust violations.
Their corporate solidarity has been matched
by the solidarity of the grocery workers, the community, and
other workers across the region. This strike has touched the
hearts of millions and the companies are feeling the financial
pain that comes with such widespread support. From people who
had never even seen a picket line to old union veterans, people
are just not crossing the line to shop. Stores that were incredibly
busy before the strike are now basically empty. The companies
have suffered tremendously and have lost over $1 billion dollars
in the last eleven weeks.
This battle is about a lot more than
three companies trying to cut a billion dollars in labor costs,
they have already lost more than that. The supermarket chains
see this as a long term investment. The payoff will be a low-wage
workforce with minimal benefits. If they succeed, it could pave
the way for a widespread attack on the gains of the working class.
Employers across the country are watching and will base their
actions against their employees off the outcome of this strike.
There are two central questions being raised on the picket lines
outside Southern California grocery stores...should you have
to work two jobs to make ends meet and is health care a right
or a privilege?
That is why the 70,000 people who have
been on strike/locked out for over 80 days are not just fighting
for themselves; they are fighting for all of us. The grocery
workers on the picket lines belong to an ever shrinking sector
of the working class that enjoys decent wages, strong benefits,
and the ability to play a role in their communities. These jobs
did not exist before the labor movement created them and if the
companies have their way, they will disappear. Somebody has to
hold the line and that is what these workers are doing.
History has yet to write the final chapter
in this strike. No one expected the fight to last this long;
and no matter what the final contract looks like the grocery
workers have been victorious in more ways than one. They are
living the slogan the UFCW has adopted, "one day longer,
one day stronger". The companies are still waiting for the
workers to give up and this is now the longest strike in the
history of the supermarket industry. There have been many days
over the past eleven weeks when the workers could have given
up. Some workers are down to $100 dollars a week in strike benefits.
Many have been evicted; some are even living in their cars. But
the vast majority of the workers are still walking the picket
lines with pride. They have stood strong against three giant
corporations who had combined sales of $130 billion dollars last
year. They did not beg, they did not roll over, they fought long
and hard and they earned the respect of millions while doing
so. These are victories that can never be taken away.
Meanwhile, wherever we are, it is on
those of us who support the strike to take action to help it
succeed. All across Southern California, community members have
been organizing rallies, walking the picket lines with the workers,
engaging in civil disobedience, and holding fundraisers. Kroger,
Safeway, and Albertsons do not want the rest of the country to
get involved. But we are all in this together and we need to
show them that. We should boycott all stores owned by Kroger,
Safeway, and Albertsons. It is fantastic that stores are empty
in Southern California, now we need to empty out their stores
across America. We also need to open up our wallets and donate
to the strike fund. We cannot let these companies starve
the workers into submission. Every dollar you can give would
help tremendously.
In 1902 Mother Jones, who was a tireless
crusader for the working class said some words that ring very
true today... "My friends, it is solidarity of labor we
want. We do not want to find fault with each other, but to solidify
our forces and say to each other: We must be together; our masters
are joined together and we must do the same thing." One
hundred years later, it could not be said better.
Michael Schwartz,
25, is a substitute teacher and an activist with the Los
Angeles Strikers Solidarity Organization. He is also a contributor
to Left Hook. He can be
reached at mikey2_2003@yahoo.com.
Weekend
Edition Features for January 3 / 4, 2004
Brian Cloughley
Never
Mind the WMDs, Just Look at History
Vice Admiral Jack Shanahan
The Wrong War at the Wrong Time
William Cook
Failing to Respond to 9/11
Glen Martin
Jesus
vs. the Beast of the Apocalypse
Robert Fisk
Iraqi Humor Amid the Carnage
Ilan Pappe
The Geneva Bubble
Walter Davis
Robert Jay Lifton, or Nostalgia
Kurt Nimmo
Ashcroft vs. the Left
Mike Whitney
The Padilla Case
Steven Sherman
On Wallerstein's The Decline of American Power
Dave Lindorff
Bush's Taiwan Hypocrisy
William Blum
Codework Orange!
Mitchel Cohen
Learning from Che Guevara
Seth Sandronsky
Mad Cow and Main Street USA
Bruce Jackson
Conversations with Leslie Fiedler
Standard Schaefer
Poet Carl Rakosi Turns 100
Ron Jacobs
Sir Mick
Adam Engel
Hall of Hoaxes
Poets' Basement
Jones, Albert & Curtis
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