Toronto Young New Democrats, together with other local community groups, recently held an event in support of the efforts of the PTUDC in providing relief for the flood victims in Pakistan in a true spirit of international solidarity.

Workers of Pakistan Telecommunications Company Limited have launched a strike for one month. The main demand was implementation of the 50% salary increment announced by the government of Pakistan. After holding public meetings and rallies across the country the workers of PTCL from all over Pakistan assembled in Islamabad on 31^st August at PTCL headquarters. Since then they have continued a protest sit-in at the company headquarters.

The devastating floods in Pakistan have caused widespread hardship among the workers and peasants, and the repercussions are affecting every stratum of Pakistan society, including the youth and the students. We have received this report of a protest movement by the medical students in Bahawalpur, which is suffering brutal repression at the hands of the authorities.

Pakistan is facing a great humanitarian disaster due to recent floods. Millions of people have lost everything. The whole state infrastructure has collapsed. This flood has exposed the farce of capitalist development. Ruling classes of Pakistan are responsible for this. They have destroyed lives of millions of people through their corruption, mismanagement negligence and impotency. According to United Nations more than 3 million people have not received any aid yet; the real figure is much more than that.

“The worst monsoon-related floods in recent memory”: this is how he U.N. has described the recent calamity in Pakistan. The mighty Indus River, once the cradle of one of history’s earliest civilizations has devastated the land to which it gave birth. The irresistible force of the floods has washed away the ancient ruins that had stood there for thousands of years.

Hunger strike till death of 5 workers started on July 22, 2010. Call for urgent help for camp, in front of Merck Serono Factory Gate, 7 Jail Road, Quetta.

We are publishing a selection of pictures documenting the activities of PTUDC (Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign) activists engaged in the Revolutionary Flood Relief and Protest Campaign throughout the country.

Hell on earth is the only way one can describe the situation in the flood affected areas of Pakistan. People are going hungry, children are being hit by disease, poor pregnant women are lying in the open air under the rain. In these conditions the comrades of the PTUDC are doing what they can with the meagre resources at hand to provide some relief. Please help these comrades with whatever you can!

The Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign (PTUDC) in Pakistan has been active all over the country in organising relief for the victims of the floods. We provide here a second photo gallery documenting some of the activities of the Revolutionary Flood Relief and Protest Campaign described in the latest report. These pictures were sent by PTUDC activists in Malakand, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rahim Yar Khan, Islamabad, Hyderabad and in Kashmir.

China has been making news due to its powerful economic growth. The other side of this story, however, is to be found in the terrible conditions and low pay that many of its workers have to suffer. Here is one example of a milkman.

The PTUDC in Pakistan has been active all over the country in organising relief for the victims of the floods. In some areas, however, they have met opposition from the Pakistan Army which prefers to back fundamentalist organisations. The Pakistan state has failed abysmally to help its own people, but still finds the forces to harass genuine socialists who are merely trying to help their own brothers and sisters.

Bangladesh has attracted investment from multinational corporations, particularly in the textile industry, because of its supply of very cheap labour. Now, however, this new working class is starting to flex its muscles and a wave of militant strikes has spread across the country. The conditions have been created where the left could unite and struggle for the overthrow of capitalism.

The Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign has launched Revolutionary Flood Relief and Protest Committees across Pakistan, especially in the intensely affected areas, to conduct an efficient and effective rescue and relief effort. Fifty seven camps of this campaign have been set up in various regions and is appealing for help.

The PTUDC has set up a Mobile Medical Relief Team, which include volunteer doctors and other medical staff that are providing medical aid to the flood victims.

National Marxist Youth Summer School was held from 30^th July to 1^st August 2010 at Abbottabad. In spite of the heavy floods and landslides due to disastrous rains, long distances and difficult economic situation, more than 100 comrades from all over the country participated in the school with a great revolutionary spirit.