Phil Clarke

  • Chinese workers challenge

    China's economy, which as recorded more than 13% growth in 1992 and 1993, is the fastest growing in the world. Despite that, it is a dramatic example of the dictum that, without a profound change in the social relations of

  • Asthma epidemic hits car-polluted Britain

    LONDON — Britain is experiencing the world's worst ever asthma epidemic as high summer temperatures smother big cities in petrochemical smog and ozone. The epidemic began after violent thunderstorms on June 24; at its height,

  • British Labour moves further right

    British Labour moves further rightLONDON — Thirteen years ago the British Labour Party erupted with the most sustained and radical left-wing challenge since the 1920s. In September 1981, the leading figure of the Labour

  • British rail workers strike over pay

    LONDON — Britain's railways came to a near halt on June 16 and June 23 as signal workers struck in support of an 11% pay claim. The signal workers are demanding a large pay increase to compensate for greater workloads and the

  • Right wing populists gain in European elections

    LONDON — Elections for the European parliament, held on June 9 and 12, resulted in erosion of support for mainstream and government parties. However, the main beneficiaries were not the left alternative or Green parties, but

  • Korea: US steps up propaganda war

    Panic and hysteria took hold of the South Korean capital, Seoul, last week as troops and police moved in to "protect" government buildings from the alleged threat of North Korean terrorist attacks. Seoul airport and the residence

  • Remembering the Kwangju uprising

    More than two million people died in the 1950-3 Korean War when the United States, under UN cover, went to war to defend South Korea at war with the North. Of those two million, just 53,000 were American troops. The overwhelming

  • Hungarian elections: capitalism with a human face?

    Hungary's May 29 elections brought a triumphant return to government of the Socialist Party (HSP), the "reformed" Communists, who ruled the country from 1945 until 1990. But it is unlikely that this victory of the HSP will give

  • Crimean stand-off spotlights Ukrainian chaos

    When Ukraine declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, it seemed likely to be the most viable of the ex-Soviet states aside from Russia itself. The country had a hugely productive domestic agriculture, enabling it to