25개의 게시물을 찾았습니다.
Germany: A New Kind of Class Struggle..
The workers of occupied bicycle factory in the Thuringian Nordhausen take up production in self-management again
The 135 colleagues of the bicycle factory Bike Systems GmbH in the Thuringian Nordhausen, who keep the factory occupied since 10th of July 2007, decided to resume the production of bicycles in self-management. For this aim 1,800 binding orders on bicycles must be received till 2nd of October. So the collegues are working together with the anarcho-syndicalist union FAU (Freie Arbeiterinnen- und Arbeiter-Union – Free Workers-Union), which formed for this campaign the internetpage www.strike-bike.de.
Since more than two month the staff keep the factory in the south of Harz Mountains in three shifts occupied. They want to prevent the definite dismantling and sale of the factory. The file for bankruptcy from 10th of august is against long odds: The factory is exploited and ran down, the hall was emptied except for the coating line. The staff receives unemployment compensation and hopes for a new concept and a new investor.
The „Strike Bike“ - Solidarity-Bikes from Nordhausen
In the time of occupation and in the wake of discussions during the visits of solidary people, the colleagues of the factory developed the idea to initially take up the production in self-management for a short time. Because it's not the point to only prevent the evacuation of the last machines and to wait for a new investor, the idea of an own ”Strike-Bike“ meet with more and more response. Now the opportunity arises to show the ability to develop an own concept and to self-manage production and distribution.
If it goes well to collect 1,800 advance orders for the bicycles produced in self-direction, we spread solidary ideas and bolster the colleagues in similar situations, not to let themselves easily being restructured to zero. By whomsoever!
The staff gets assistancy by the solidary members of anarcho-syndicalist union Freie Arbeiterinnen- und Arbeiter-Union (Free workers-union), which will become active in whole germany to spread the knowledge of the struggle of the bycicle-workers and to support the sale of the „Strike-Bike“.
Strike banner in front of the occupied factory
("Solidarity bicycle, produced in the occupied factory")
For more please check out:
☞ Production from the Occupied Factory
☞ "Propaganda Solidarity Music Video"
Burma, 9.28: The Third Day of Crackdown/STATE TERROR
According to several sources in Burma: Despite the threat to be killed - again - 10,000 people protesting against the junta today took the streets of Rangoon!!
In Mandalay soldiers refused to shoot on demonstrators. In other areas citizens were trying to defend monasteries against attacks by the military. According to int'l media the Internet connections from/to Burma are complete cut off..
More detailed reports here:
☞ Burma Protests: The Situation on September 28 (The Irrawaddy)
☞ Burma protests: Friday (G.blog)
☞ Internal fights between (Army) Battalions (Yongon Thu)
☞ Burmese troops seal off Buddhist monasteries (Guardian/UK)
☞ Local residents thwart monastery raids (DVB)
☞ Security forces fire on school pupils
☞ Myanmar Breaks Up Rallies, Cuts Internet (AP)
☞ Myanmar's blogs of bloodshed (A. Times/HK)
Related:
☞ Taking action for Myanmar (Hankyoreh)
☞ 버마, “군부 내 갈등 조절 안 돼” (Chamsesang, interview)
Solidarity in S. Korea:
☞ [9월 28일] 버마.. 촛불 집회 (Pictures and report)
버마 민주화운동 희생자 추모와 민주화운동 지지를 위한 촛불문화제.
▶ 일시 : 9월 29일 오후 7시
▶ 장소 : 광화문 세종문화회관 앞
Burma, 9.27: The Second Day of Crackdown/STATE TERROR
"Myanmar's (Burma) security forces fired automatic weapons into crowds of anti-government protesters, after attempts to clear them from the streets on Yangon (Rangoon)", CNN reported today afternoon.
After military and police forces raided in the ealy morning hours several Buddhist monasteries the majority of the protesters today were mainly "ordinary" people. According to witnesses the monks were blocked by armed forces inside the monasteries and temples.
During the day, particularly in the early afternoon, according to sources inside Burma/Rangoon, large military units opened fire on demonstrators and killed at least ten of them (incl. a Japanese photo journalist).
Several hundred of students were arrested.
Since the early evening Rangoon is "looking like a ghost town"
But, according to political underground sources in Rangoon - despite the state terror - the people will continue the struggle (tomorrow the protests will be held from 8 a.m. until the afternoon)..
For more please read:
☞ Burma Protests: The Situation on September 27 (The Irrawaddy)
☞ Soldiers Open Fire on Protesters (Der Spiegel)
☞ 'Several killed' as Burmese forces shoot.. (Guardian)
☞ Junta raids monasteries and fires on crowd (IHT)
☞ Burma: Military Crackdown("photo gallery" by Der Spiegel)
☞ ..Junta Has Few Options Other Than Force
☞ Monks in the vanguard for regime change
☞ The man behind the Myanmar madness
☞ Economics at the root of Myanmar protests
Solidarity in S.K.:
☞ “한국정부는 조속히 버마 군부의 무력진압에 대한 입장 밝혀야” (이주노동자방송국)
☞ “군부독재 끝날 날 멀지 않았다” (Chamsesang)
9.26: Burma's junta started in the morning a massive crackdown (as it was to be expected). Just call it..
..STATE TERROR
Despite the junta's yesterday's threat (to smash current democracy movement in general and the street protests in particular) today once again thousands of people took the streets across Burma. Since the early morning, especially in the major towns such as Rongoon and Mandaley, police and miltary forces were in readiness to crackdown any demonstration. Finally, according to several underground sources in Burma, the "security forces" killed at least seven people (monks, nuns and students), injured and arrested hundreds..
But the All-Burmese Monks Alliance and the 88 Generation Students group released a joint statement today vowing to continue the protests and to ignore the military’s attempts at intimidation..
“We, monks and students, hereby announce that we will not be afraid of any threats or violent crackdowns and we will continue our fight for our nation's sake by joining hands with all the ethnic groups and the people of Burma,” the statement said.
For more news please read:
☞ Mass Protest Rock Burma (The Irrawaddy, 9.26)
☞ Myanmar crackdown: 'Monks killed' (CNN)
☞ Monks clash with security forces.. (IHT)
☞ Moment of truth for Myanmar's military (A. Times/HK)
Related articles:
☞ Burma: A Protester's View (Guardian, 9.26)
☞ Buddha vs the barrel of a gun (A. Times/HK)
BURMA PROTEST NEWS:
Yesterday, according to nearly all sources inside and outside of Burma, tens of thousands of protesters took the streets all across the country.
Last night the junta issued statements that they will act now "according to the ruling law" against the protests, i.e. STATE TERROR was announced.
But today protesters defied junta's threat of crackdown and thousands of protestors took the streets of the main cities in Burma again. Allone in Rangoon, if we can believe some sources of the opposition forces in Burma, about 100,000 people, 30,000 monks supported by 70,000 citizens/political activists (according to The Irrawaddy), demonstrated for democracy.
About the latest news (9.24/25) please read following reports:
☞ Burma Protests: the Situation on September 25 (The Irrawaddy)
☞ (Burma) Monks Defy Junta, Resume Rallies (AP, 9.25)
☞ Burmese protesters defy junta's threat of crackdown (Guardian, 9.25)
☞ Burmese military issues threat to monks (DVB, 9.24)
☞ Tens of thousands join Myanmar protest (IHT, 9.24)
☞ Barefoot Against the Junta (Der Spiegel, 9.24/incl. "photo gallery")
☞ TV warning to Myanmar protesters (Reuters TV, 9.25)
☞ The Silent Genocide of Myanmar (Der Spiegel, 9.06)
BURMA:
"Monks Are Calling For UPRISING AGAINST THE JUNTA"..
..today's German magazine Der Spiegel headlined. Channel NewsAsia: "That's the beginning of the end!"..
Today about 20,000 people led by Buddhist monks demonstrated in Rongoon (aka Yangon) against Burma's military junta, in what has quickly become the largest anti-government demonstrations since the failed democratic uprising in 1988.
The latest protest movement began Aug. 19 after the government raised fuel prices, but has its basis in long pent-up dissatisfaction with the repressive military regime.
State terror against protesting monks, Pakokku (Sept. 2007)
Using arrests and intimidation, the government had managed to keep demonstrations limited in size and impact - but they gained new life when the monks joined. But since the beginning of last week the demonstrations were continuously increasing.
Last Thursday Burmese Buddhist monks called on students and civilians to join hands with them in public protests against the military regime which has ruled the country for almost 20 years.
The Federation of All Burma Young Monks Unions issued a statement saying, “It is time for the Burmese people to work with monks and courageously demonstrate their genuine aspirations.”
This was the first official call by protesting monks for the public to take part in their demonstration marches which have spread across the country during the past week. Previously, the monks asked the public not to join their protests..
For more detailes about..:
☞ The last days of the protest - a chronology (daily updated!!)
Related articles:
☞ Emboldened Myanmar monks challenge junta rule (Channel NewsAsia, 9.23)
☞ 20,000 March Against Myanmar Government (AP, 9.23)
☞ 10,000 Protest Against Myanmar Gov't (AP, 9.22)
☞ Timeline: Myanmar fuel protests (al-Jazeera)
For some (more or less) independent informations about Burma, please check out:
☞ BurmaNet
WELCOME TO NORTH KOREA
A Documentary Film
by P. Tetteroo and R. Feddema (NL, 2001)
Related:
☞ A Daily Life in NK (al-Jazeera documentary video)
Already y'day (9.19) Yonhap reported that the "South Koreans are becoming increasingly negative toward labor unions largely because of their militant and sometimes violent way of pushing through their demand for pay raises and other benefits.." (yeah, "don't believe the hype"!!).
Now - today - the "left"-liberal Hankyoreh published following article about the same issue:
S. Korea’s labor movement on the decline after 20 years
Though expectations on unions are high, union membership has fallen and public opinion is increasingly negative
How has South Korea’s labor movement changed over the past two decades? A forum marking the 19th anniversary of the Korea Labor Institute and held on Sept. 19 looked at a variety of aspects of the labor movement in an attempt to answer this and other questions.
The outcome of an analysis conducted at the forum revealed that the union membership rate has fallen and an increasing number of people have negative opinions about union activities, demanding that unions concentrate on protecting the rights of contract-based workers and other underprivileged colleagues, instead of excessively pursuing material gains. Due to the instability in the job market, income disparity is greater than it was in the early 1980s and the number of poor laborers who appeared after the financial crisis in 1997 has also increased.
Korean people have increasingly expressed their objection to the labor movement by remaining silent, Lee Soo-bong, the policy coordinator for the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, said at the forum. Figures confirmed the sense of crisis.
At the forum, Oh Gae-taek, a Korea Labor Institute researcher, unveiled a survey of 2,000 people, which was conducted to see how they view the nation’s labor activities. Of those polled, 16 percent of the respondents thought that strengthened labor activities would contribute to the nation’s economic growth, far less than the 53.3 percent holding this opinion in a similar survey done in 1989. Only 41.3 percent saw labor unions’ demands as just, compared with 67 percent in 1989.
Of note is that only 5.4 percent of those surveyed cited labor unions as the most reliable organizations, far less than civic groups (41 percent), the media (15.2 percent), the government (11.9 percent) and conglomerates (7.2 percent).
Nevertheless, people still have high expectations for labor unions. Of those polled, 34.4 percent wanted labor organizations to play a role in political democratization, while 40.2 percent called for an improvement in social inequality.
In the meantime, the union membership rate has dropped dramatically for the past two decades. The ratio peaked at 18.5 percent at the end of 1987 before it fell to 10.3 percent in 2005.
Cho Sung-jae, a KLI researcher, said, “Following the financial crisis in the late 90s, the number of unionized workers has not changed a lot, but the efforts of labor unions to organize workers have failed to catch up with the increase in the number of salaried workers.”
Data showed that the ratio of workers in the manufacturing sector has decreased from 43.1 percent to 27.6 percent, while that of the service sector surged from 11.9 percent to 30.4 percent.
While the nation has enjoyed rapid income growth due to compressed economic growth from 1987-1996, the income disparity between the haves and have-nots has widened since 2003 as the poorest people took the brunt of high unemployment. The relative poverty ratio among urban households also rose to 10.8 percent in 2006 from 10.2 percent recorded in 1982.
A more serious problem is that the number of underprivileged workers is rapidly increasing. Of them, 59.9 percent are able to work and those working but remaining poor stood at 30.6 percent. This shows that it is more important to provide better-paying jobs rather than decreasing the unemployment rate.
In addition, it is not easy to overcome poverty. According to Lee, of the KCTU, the possibility of irregular workers obtaining regular worker status is 13.8 percent, less than half of the 30.5 percent average in the 15-member European Union.
The nation’s job market has undergone significant change over the last 20 years. The employment rate has decreased most distinctly among young men, according to the Korea Labor Institute. Though young women have been relatively successful in joining the job market, women in their 30s and 40s ranked the lowest in job recruitment rates among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development nations.
There have also been changes in the wage system. Until 1996, only 5 percent of companies with more than 100 employees adopted the annual salary system. After the financial crisis hit the nation, the ratio surged to 35 percent with one out of five companies providing dividends based on job performance to their workers.
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/237750.html
Just few hours ago the Israeli..
..Cabinet voted Gaza a 'hostile entity' (Yedioth Ahronoth)
Security cabinet approves economic sanctions against Gaza in response to incessant Qassam attacks, ministers in consensus against retaking Gaza. Hamas: This is a declaration of war
The security cabinet voted on Wednesday to declare the Gaza Strip a hostile political entity..
The unanimous vote also authorized the imposing of economic sanctions against Gaza, so long as they do not affect the civilian population. The measures to be taken against Gaza include cutting back on the supply of electricity and fuel..
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said that Israel's decision constituted a "declaration of war."
"This is a dangerous escalation of the attempt to legitimize destroying Palestinian land, criminal behavior and bringing a humanitarian disaster on the Palestinian people. This is Israel attempting a knock-out blow against Hamas following its successes in taking control of Gaza.
"I find the silence and cooperation of the man in Ramallah (Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas) with the enemy to be very curious indeed," said Barhoum..
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3451149,00.html
Related article:
☞ Ministers declare Gaza 'enemy entity', vote to disrupt power, fuel (Haaretz)
☞ ANALYSIS: Gaza as a 'hostile entity' - a decision in the dark (Haaretz)
Meanwhile, (not only) since the last days, the military thread by the US and EU Imperialists against Iran is increasing. "France threatens Iran.. unmistakably with war" today's German daily newspaper Der Tagespiegel wrote. Fears of a military conflict with Iran rose a notch after comments on Sunday night by the French foreign minister Kouchner, who said: "We have to prepare for the worst, and the worst is war."
For more please read:
☞ French-kissing the war on Iran (A. Times/HK, 9.19)
☞ Bush setting America up for war with Iran (Telegraph/UK, 9.17)
☞ US crafting Iran bombing plan (Ynet/IL, 9.12)
☞ UK troops are sent to Iranian border (The Independent/UK, 9.12)
US wants war with Iran (Yedioth Ahronoth, 9.16)
Senior intelligence source tells Sunday Telegraph most defense officials believe diplomacy failing, White House likely fine-tuning escalation program to lead to military confrontation with Iran
The United States Department of Defense has developed a list of up to 2,000 bombing targets in Iran, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
According to the report, senior CIA and US defense officials believe that the White House was taking steps to ensure military confrontation with Iran, for fear that diplomatic efforts to slow the country’s nuclear weapons program are doomed to fail.
According to a senior US intelligence officer, the escalation to military confrontation could begin with a public denunciation of Iran’s suspected meddling in Iraq, the report said. The US claims Iran is arming and training Shiite militants; a denunciation of such activity could lead to cross-border raids on Iranian training camps and bomb factories.
The official told the Sunday Telegraph that a prime target for such a raid would be the Fajr base run by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Quds Force in southern Iran, where Western intelligence agencies say armor-piercing projectiles used against British and US troops are manufactured.
The report said according to the theory, which was “gaining credence in Washington security circles”, US action could provoke a major Iranian response, possibly in the form of cutting off Gulf oil supplies, a move that could trigger air strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities and even its armed forces.
According to the report, the intelligence officer said the US military had "two major contingency plans" for air strikes on Iran.
"One is to bomb only the nuclear facilities. The second option is for a much bigger strike that would - over two or three days - hit all of the significant military sites as well. This plan involves more than 2,000 targets," he said.
"A strike will probably follow a gradual escalation. Over the next few weeks and months the US will build tensions and evidence around Iranian activities in Iraq," the US intelligence official explained.
The intelligence source added that no one outside a tight circle knew what was going to happen. However, he said that within the CIA "many if not most officials believe that diplomacy is failing" and that "top Pentagon brass believes the same".
A source in the US State Department told the Sunday Telegraph that pressure from senior counter-proliferation officials have caused US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to acknowledge that military action might be necessary in order to stop Iran’s nuclear plan.
The source added that Rice had begun working with Vice President Dick Cheney to find a way to reconcile their positions and present a united front to President George W Bush.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3449757,00.html#n
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