Online at: http://politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/2099/1/128/

November 2005


Archives - Dates and Topics 2005 – print November


Political Affairs exposes the hypocrisy, racism and class war politics of the ultra-right that led directly to the enormity of the disaster along the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. While hundreds of billions were available to pad the pockets of the Republican Party’s corporate donors, for an illegal war in Iraq and for tax cuts for the rich, nothing was available to rebuild or strengthen the levees around New Orleans.

José Cademartori, former minister of the economy under President Salvador Allende of Chile, provides an analysis of the results of the privatization of that country’s social security system. While you may not be surprised to find out that financial services corporations with operations in Chile have profited greatly under the privatization plan, you may be interested to know that those workers who opted not to go into the private plan have earned more in retirement income.

In addition to these hot topics, Gerald Horne examines new developments on the global stage that provide a counter to US imperialism. Scott Marshall takes us through the events of the 2005 AFL-CIO convention and calls for a united labor movement to defeat the Bush/Republican agenda. New PA writer Phil Rockstroh discusses the economic crisis facing the South and the contradiction of its majority support for the political forces on the right that have forced it into its current situation. Other articles give a historical perspective to the labor movement’s current crisis, examine the question of the vanguard role of the Communist Party, the USA Patriot Act, the question of nuclear weapons as part of our culture, and much more.

We also have several fine poems, book reviews, a Marxist quiz, and more still. Enjoy!

In Struggle,

PA Editors


Departments

04 Letters

08 Commentary
American Mullahs and the Cult of Fear: Network News as Counter-Reality
By Steven Laffoley

Fairy Tales for Republican Children
By James Foley

Taxation in the Hinterlands

09 Marxist IQ

13 Nobody Asked Me, But...

14 HEALTH
Health Care Frist Aid
By Don Sloan

Cutting TennCare
By David Evans

17 Book Reviews
The War on the Bill of Rights and the Gathering Resistance
Reviewed by Lawrence Albright

Hands: Physical Labor, Class, and Cultural Work
Reviewed by Bill Witherup

Rising Elephant: The Growing Clash with India over White-Collar Jobs and its Challenge to America and the World
Reviewed by Gerald Horne

20 Poetry
The Dove
By Allison Coke Hedges

We’re O.K.
By Gloria Fuertes

New Orleans – The Margins
By Michael Shepler

Scrap
By Lisa Beatman

59 Fiction
Short Story: The Destroyers
By Hunter Bear (John Salter)


Features

36 Race, Class and Katrina
By Political Affairs editors
President Bush sat on his hands while Black and poor people in New Orleans died.

24 Special Report on the AFL-CIO Split
By Scott Marshall
The 2005 AFL-CIO convention was a mixed bad: a strong antiwar position and a fighting spirit was marred by disunity and a splitting labor movement.

28 New Directions in International Labor Solidarity
By Ben Sears
Is labor turning a corner on foreign policy and international solidarity by taking a strong stand against the Iraq war?

30 Go, Bombers, Go! Nuke Um
By Bill Witherup
A high school’s nuclear mascot shows the depths that nuclear warfare has sunk into popular culture.

32 The United States of Dixieland: Corporatism, Jesus, and the Death Genes
By Phil Rockstroh
Why does the South continue to support the right wing, which is wholly responsible for its economic decline and growing poverty?

40 A Gathering Storm: Anti-imperialism Brews Tempest
By Gerald Horne
Mounting evidence indicates that US hegemony in global politics is under strong challenge by anti-imperialist forces.

44 Chile's Privatized Pensions: No Model for US
By CPC, trans. Owen Williamson
Privatization of Chile’s social security made bankers rich and pensioners poor.

48 Class Warhorses
By Karin S. Coddon
Class struggle often takes place outside of the workplace and even infiltrates our recreational activities.

50 Is Vanguardism Just Hype? Marxism and the Party of a New Type
By Joel Wendland
The question of the vanguard role of the Communist Party has a long history and needs some updating.

56 4 years under the Patriot Act
By Norman Markowitz
The repressive PATRIOT Act is a tool that undermines democracy and aims to eliminate dissent and political opposition.

66 Las pensiones privatizadas de Chile: No son un modelo para los EEUU
Por José Cademartori
La privatización del Seguro Social en Chile enriqueció a los banqueros y empobreció a los pensionistas.

 

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