Vote to erase Calif. mural is blow to art, political rights

Vol. 83/No. 24 - July 8, 2019
Scene from Victor Arnautoff’s mural “Life of Washington” depicting George Washington as slave owner. In a blow to artistic, political rights, San Francisco School Board voted June 25 to destroy the mural, which has been in George Washington High School lobby for eight decades.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — In a blow to artistic and political rights in the name of “political correctness,” the San Francisco School Board voted to destroy the “Life of Washington” mural at George Washington High School here June 25. The…



‘We demand: End US colonial rule over people of Puerto Rico’

Vol. 83/No. 24 - July 8, 2019
May 1 union protest in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Front placard says, “No more Promesa” — the U.S.-imposed law demanding Puerto Rico pay its foreign debt — and “No more lies.”

The following is the statement by Seth Galinsky given for the Socialist Workers Party to the U.N. Special Committee on Decolonization at its June 24 hearing on the colonial status of Puerto Rico. Distinguished Madam Chairperson and committee members: My…


Former ‘wives,’ children of IS fighters held in Mideast camps

Vol. 83/No. 24 - July 8, 2019
Thousands of women formerly “married” to Islamic State fighters and their children are being held in appalling conditions in al-Hol, above, and other detention camps in Syria and Iraq.

Thousands of displaced former “wives” of Islamic State fighters, together with tens of thousands of children, many of them orphans, are being held in squalid, disease-infested camps in Iraq and Syria. Their reintegration into society is an important challenge in…