A bitter joke among some African Marxists is that AK-47s are fast becoming the continent’s principal “means of production.” Drowning in “too much” food and “too much” industry, racist imperialism has devastated Africa’s productive capacity. The desperate turn to AK-47s to loot those still eking out a living.

Many movements have come to understand the counterrevolution the radical right has launched against oppressed and working people. The movement for reproductive choice is no different.

In the US and around the world, there is deep concern about George W. Bush’s policies. People understand that Bush is exploiting the tragedy of September 11th to promote policies that are more life threatening than the actions of all the international terrorist groups put together. Indeed, since the unfolding of the war on terrorism, the world has become a more dangerous place; if Bush is reelected, the danger will be much greater.

Editor’s note: The Iraqi Communist Party holds one seat out of 25 on the Provisional Governing Council of Iraq. The US military and administrative authorities conceded this seat to the ICP only after other political forces in Iraq emphasized the Party’s legitimacy among the people of Iraq and urged the occupation forces to accept them on the Council. Ali and Batti discuss here the Party’s assessment of the war and occupation, bringing a speedy end to the occupation, the toll of war on the Iraqi people, and the revitalization of the Iraqi trade union movement under the new and independent Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions.

Perhaps the next biggest show of international solidarity on the world stage was related to the Gulf War – solidarity against waging another one. As is well known, the Bush administration pushed for war on Iraq in all the international arenas. The international community held together and said no to war.

Editor’s Note: Mike Ferner spent the month of February 2003 in Baghdad and Basra, with Voices in the Wilderness. He is Communications Coordinator for the Program on Corporations, Law & Democracy and a member of Veterans for Peace. His articles have appeared in CounterPunch, truthout.org and Common Dreams.

The labor movement is not often viewed as a social justice movement. But, contrary to popular brief, the labor movement has a long history of social justice movement participation.

In recent years, the conservative assault on the democratic values at the heart of our legal system has manifested itself in a range of sweeping repressive powers. In 2001, after Congress passed the dubious USA Patriot Act and the Department of Justice announced that it would authorize the federal government to monitor attorney-client conversations, George W. Bush signed a Military Order allowing the trial of non-citizens in military tribunals.

While the question “why do they hate us?” was first asked after the September 11 attacks, the controversy over the war in Iraq demonstrated the universal character of the new anti-Americanism. The predominant US reaction to this resentment has been to rhetorically turn the table on the accusers.