Most of the trade union activists arrested in Pakistan on May Day have been released, but some are still being held! The latest news we have from Pakistan about the trade union activists arrested on May Day is that all the comrades with the exception of two in Pashawar have been released on bail. The comrades in Peshawar are still being held, but pressure is being put on the authorities. Our campaign must now continue until ALL the arrested comrades are released. We are publishing a selection of the protest letters we have received.
URGENT: Campaign for the Release of Trade Union Leaders Arrested in Pakistan on May Day 2001 We are appealing to you to help us in the campaign for the release of workers' leaders arrested on May Day in Pakistan. As you will be aware, a military dictatorship is presently in power in Pakistan. This military junta has tried to portray itself as a "soft" and only mildly repressive regime. They prefer to present themselves in this way in order to divert attention away from its repressive measures. On May Day of this year its true colours were shown. Workers and trade union leaders all over Pakistan were arrested for taking part in May Day rallies. Some have since been released, but many are still being held. Below we are sending you a report we received from the...
URGENT: Campaign for the Release of Trade Union Leaders Arrested in Pakistan on May Day 2001 We are appealing to you to help us in the campaign for the release of workers' leaders arrested on May Day in Pakistan. As you will be aware, a military dictatorship is presently in power in Pakistan. This military junta has tried to portray itself as a "soft" and only mildly repressive regime. They prefer to present themselves in this way in order to divert attention away from its repressive measures. On May Day of this year its true colours were shown. Workers and trade union leaders all over Pakistan were arrested for taking part in May Day rallies. Some have since been released, but many are still being held. Below we are sending you a report we received from the PTUDC (Pakistan...
Women workers in Indonesia - Not mere victims of exploitation but also agents of social change The recent Global Alliance report (February 2001) on workers' rights (mostly dealing with young girls) in 9 Nike factories in Indonesia has once more brought to the fore the ruthless character of the regime in the factories belonging to this American multinational. If the claim made by a so-called 'surprised and disturbed management' is to be believed, then the conditions in the factories reviewed would be amongst the most "progressive in the country".
China, America and the Pacific The clash between China and the USA over the crashed spy plane has thrown into sharp relief the tensions between the great powers in Asia. The incident in itself was an accident. But dialectics explains that necessity can be expressed through accident. Underlying the immediate incident lie fundamental contradictions between China and the USA.
Bangladesh eco-parks are bad news for minority peoples The minority peoples of Bangladesh have been systematically evicted from their land or displaced by settlers. They face state repression, social discrimination and harassment on a daily basis. The latest government strategy to throw ethnic minorities off their traditional lands is the creation of ten "eco-parks" around the country.
Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign - A record of struggle This is a report we have received of the most recent activities of the Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign. These comrades are working under the most difficult conditions and deserve our support and solidarity. We have now set up a facility to make on-line credit card donations.
World deflation - led by Japan The complacent optimism of capitalist consensus is fast disappearing. At the beginning of this year, the general view about the world economy was that US growth would slow gradually to about 3% from 5%, Japan would pick up a little to about 2% and Europe would trundle along at about 2.5%. The US central bank, the Federal Reserve, would cut interest rates to ensure that any slowdown would not mean a loss of investor confidence or consumer demand. Well, January seems like eons ago in global economics. After a non-stop spate of warnings about lower profits from the main US corporations and the release of economic data each day that showed a weakening economy, US...
Letter from Vietnam, March 2001 We received a letter from Vietnam which gives a wider and more political view of the situation in Vietnam on the eve of the important forthcoming congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam on "market led socialism".
Vietnamese girls marrying Taiwanese men: the harbouring of illusions This article describes the situation of poor young girls in the rural areas who try to escape from misery by marrying Taiwanese men.
Philippines - Mass Revolt Forces President Estrada to resign The events last week looked just like a re-run of the "People's Power" movement in 1986 when the hated dictator Ferdinand Marcos was overthrown by a mass uprising in the cities of the Filipino archipelago. So it will surprise nobody that this extraordinary sequence of events has been dubbed the "People's Power 2" movement by local activists and by the media.
The conditions of workers in Export processing zones in Vietnam We publish this article from the Vietnamese press, translated for In Defence of Marxism by one of our Vietnamese correspondents which shows the conditions Vietnamese workers face in the Export Processing Zones through the example of the strike at the Tan A company in Ho Chi Mihn City.
Important development in the Indonesian left - Interview with the Democratic Socialist Association An important political development has taken place in the left movement in Indonesia with the split of the Democratic Socialist Faction from the PRD (Democratic People's Party) during the first few weeks of November 2000. Although small in numbers (some 22 national leaders and organisers based in the capital Jakarta) the political reasons behind this split relate to fundamental questions of revolutionary socialist strategy for Indonesia.
Building the Indonesian Labour Movement - An interview with the union SBMNI Since the fall of the dictator Suharto, the Indonesian working class has been in a constant struggle to build up its own organisations. But they are seriously hampered in this by the economic crisis and the resulting mass unemployment, even more than before. On top of that comes the ongoing repression by the employers, the government and the military.
The Roaring of the Classic Tiger Economy: The Korean Working Class Claws Back An in-depth analysis of the current wave of strikes in South Korea, the implications of the move towards reunification and a look at the history of the Korean working class.
