The newly elected president of Iran, the religious conservative and former revolutionary guard Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who was elected on the 24 June tried to play down fears of Iranian workers during the election campaign that he would reverse the "liberalization" of recent years. Read the rest of this article here.
Marc Vallée Socialist Party England and Wales, 29/7/5
Pakistan phone workers urgent appeal for support
61 000 Pakistani Telecom workers start all-out strike against privatisation
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The Musharraf government has begun an ambitious $1.7 billion privatisation programme to sell off what remains of state owned industry. The jewel in the crown for local and international big business is the Pakistani Telecommunications Ltd (PTCL) which makes £323 million in profit every year. If privatisation goes ahead 50% of the workforce could be sacked. Workers who keep their jobs will lose the health and education benefits they receive for themselves and their families. The phone system in the rural areas, where the majority of the population lives in Pakistan, will be decimated by new private owners because this section of the industry is not profitable.
So we are appealing for solidarity letters of support from all Members of Parliament, councillors, trade unionists and their branches to be sent as quickly as possible to the following email addresses:
turcpakistan@yahoo.com. Please send protest letters to Junaid Khan (president PTCL), president@ptcl.com.pk; M.Shahzad Sadan senior vice president ptcl, sevphr@ptcl.com.pk; Awais Leghari, Minister of Telecoms and Information Technology, minister@moitt.gov.pk, aleghari@moitt.gov.pk
French workers say ‘NON’ to the European constitution and the establishment.
Karl Debbaut, cwi, Monday 30 May 2005.
"We’re voting no. It is a constitution for the bourgeoisie, for multinationals, for bosses. It is only about the economy, competition, profits, the market and capitalism. We are against all that"
Workers in struggle
The solidarity campaign with the ZOO Papier workers in Ruzomberok is reaching an important stage. Today, a meeting between management and workers is planned. This is the first official meeting since Austrian management sacked 14 workers because they organised a new union.
Slovakia: Austrian multinational bets on time against Slovakian workers.
"They want to starve us out"
Petr Jindra, CWI Czech Republic, Ru˛omberok, Slovakia. Monday 23 May 2005.
Half a year ago Mondi BP, the Austrian paper producing multinational formerly known as Neusiedler, sacked 14 workers from their paper mill in Ru˛omberok, Slovakia. They were made redundant for launching a petition in the factory demanding higher wages after the official trade union, ZO OZ Drevo, continued to ignore the demands of the majority of the workers at the plant. The workers from Mondi BP decided to form a new trade union, ZOO Papier, so that there struggle could be officially recognised.
Read more here
Building a mass socialist international
This article is a reply, by Peter Taaffe, from the Committee for a Workers' International (CWI), to an article by John Percy, Secretary of the Australian Democratic Socialist Perspective (DSP - formerly the Democratic Socialist Party), carried in it's journal, Links no. 25, January to June, 2004).
Scotland: Clear socialist alternative needed
The Scottish Socialist Party conference meets this weekend in the aftermath of Tommy Sheridan’s resignation as SSP convener.
As well as electing a new convener the conference will be debating key issues of policy and programme. Members of the Committee for a Workers’ International will be arguing for a change of direction by the SSP leadership to ensure the party moves forward and strengthens its position in 2005. In this feature Philip Stott looks at the challenges facing the SSP
The CWI was able to politically and morally respond to the disaster which occured after the Indian Ocean earthquake on Dec. 26th. A number of statements and reports were made. Initially it had been thought that a leading cde in Sri Lanka had been killed, but later news indicated that he had survived (although seriously wounded) and two workmates were drowned. The condolences of the SP in Ireland goes out to the victims.
Report by the Sri Lankan cdes
Siri, one of the leading cdes in Sri Lanka has sent the following report. All cdes should read it.
Both the military and corruption sabotage relief work. While Aceh on the northern edge of Sumatra has registered nearly two-thirds of the total
death toll by the Asian tsunami, the Acehnese so far have received only 30% of UN food deliveries. More than two weeks after the catastrophe many distant villages have not yet been reached by relief workers.
Arne Johansson Rättvisepartiet Socialisterna (cwi Sweden)
While the Indonesian government tries to give the impression of a more generous attitude towards its opponents in the Free Aceh Movement (Gam), relief work is hindered by the generals’ attempt to re-assert military control.
Indian Ocean tsunami: Catastrophe for Sweden
Worst disaster since the "Spanish disease" following the First World War
Arne Johansson, Rättvisepartiet Socialisterna (cwi, Sweden), Friday 31 December 2004
Indian Ocean tsunami: Natural disaster in War Zone Aceh
The Indonesian ‘province’ of Aceh on the island of Sumatra is just 155 kilometres from the epicentre of last Sunday’s earthquake.
Arne Johansson, Rättvisepartiet Socialisterna, Friday 31 December 2004
Tsunamis and warning systems: “We tried to do what we could”
Despite the biblical scale of floods and destruction, the death along the Indian Ocean coastline was no ‘Act of God’.
Jon Dale - Socialist Party (England and Wales), Thursday 30 December 2004