Workers‘ struggles in East Asia (November 2012)

die neue Monatsübersicht von Spartacus auf LibCom: Workers‘ struggles in East Asia (November 2012):

Summary and links to news stories of workers‘ struggles around East Asia during November 2012 and related resources. The most important stories appear on my Twitter feed as soon as I find them: http://twitter.com/spartacusnews.

This month there has been news from Burma/Myanmar, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, North Korea, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Among the significant events is Singapore’s first strike in 25 years, carried out by Chinese bus drivers – it’s probably too early to suggest this is a sign of China exporting workers militancy, but it’s nice to be hopeful now and then!

Klassenkämpfe in Asien, Oktober 2012

nachfolgend dokumentiert das Oktober-Update von Spartacus (many thanks for compiling the stuff) auf LibCom: Workers‘ struggles in East Asia (October 2012)

Summary and links to news stories of workers‘ struggles around East Asia during October 2012 and related resources. The most important stories appear on my Twitter feed as soon as I find them: http://twitter.com/spartacusnews.

This month there has been news from Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. I haven’t had time to check the JTTP.cn or Jasmine Revolution website this month, but they’re worth a browse for the photos even if you can’t read Chinese or be bothered to use Google Translate. Reports I’ve come across for countries outside of the region can be found here.

The most important stories:

Workers‘ struggles in East Asia (September 2012)

Die allmonatliche Zusammenstellung auf LibCom: Workers‘ struggles in East Asia (September 2012), herzlichen Dank und liebe Grüsse an Spartacus!

Zu den ArbeiterInnenkämpfen in Ostasien

die monatliche Linksammlung auf LibCom: Workers‘ struggles in East Asia (August 2012)

Zu den aktuellen Klassenkämpfen in Ostasien

Nachfolgend dokumentiert die monatliche Zusammenstellung Workers‘ struggles in East Asia (June 2012) auf LibCom, einen herzlichen Dank an Spartacus für das Zusammensuchen der Meldungen:

Zu den derzeitigen Klassenkämpfen in Asien

Zwei Lesehinweise:

* Workers‘ struggles in East Asia (May 2012) (LibCom)

* Towards a Workers’ Organisation (Part One) – GurgaonWorkersNews May 2012

Zur Situation der Rohingya-Flüchtlinge aus Birma in Indien

Zehntausende Rohingya – Birmanisch- oder Bengali-sprachige Muslime aus der Region Arakan bzw. Rakhine State im nordwesten von Birma wurden in den letzten Jahrzehnten v.a. nach Bangladesh aber teilweise auch nach Indien vertrieben, zu deren Situation der Artikel People With No Country? in der aktuellen Ausgabe der Liberation:

„Around 2000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, from 623 families from the northern Rakhine state in Myanmar have been in India for the past two years, forced to wander from one place to another in search of shelter and survival. They had been in Delhi since 9 April, to take up the matter of their refugee status with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).“

Punk und Repression gegen Punks und Emos in Indonesien, Birma, Irak und Russland

zwei Artikel im aktuellen Guardian:

– Punk rock … alive and kicking in a repressive state near you

– Massacre of emos in Iraq goes to core of a damaged society

ArbeiterInnenkämpfe in Asien

Nicht nur im Nahen Osten ist viel los, eine Übersicht auf LibCom: Workers‘ struggles in Asia (February 2011)

Zwei Solidaritätsaufrufe

Quelle: LabourStart

* Colombia: Free jailed university lecturer and trade unionist

Miguel Ángel Beltrán Villegas, a Colombian university lecturer and unionist was tried in 2009 by Álvaro Uribe’s government, on charges of „rebellion“ and „breaking the law for terrorist purposes“. One year after his imprisonment there has been no evidence to support the allegations against him. During his teaching career, Dr. Beltrán has published various articles and academic papers questioning the official version of the Colombian civil war. He has also criticised Colombia’s education policy and human rights abuses in the country. Education International is deeply concerned that professor Beltrán has been imprisoned for his political beliefs, like so many other teachers in Colombia, without having committed any crime.

* Thailand: Migrant workers have the right to workers‘ compensation

At least 2 million migrants from Burma work in low-skilled, dirty and dangerous jobs in Thailand from which they frequently incur accidents and disease. Since 2001, Thailand has discriminated against migrant work accident victims from Burma by denying them access to the Workmen’s Compensation Fund (WCF), even though all workers regardless of national origin are legally eligible for access to this fund. These work accident victims are denied access to work accident compensation from the WCF, rehabilitation assistance and are also denied the right to register as disabled if they suffer permanent disabilities at work. This denial is on the basis that most of these workers were smuggled into Thailand “illegally,” despite more than 1 million of them registering to legally work. The State Enterprise Workers Relations Confederation (SERC), an affiliate of the ITUC, has since 2007 demanded an end to this systematic discrimination against all migrants in Thailand to ensure their access to the WCF equally with Thai workers. The ILO’s Committee of Experts in February 2010 responded to a SERC complaint on this issue stating denial of access to the WCF to migrants from Burma breaches ILO Convention 19 on equality of accident compensation. Thailand then announced plans to set up an insurance scheme managed by private insurance companies to provide compensation to migrant work accident victims. SERC disagrees with this proposal as it is discriminatory and unlawful, but despite our protests, the Government continues to push ahead with this scheme.

Ein Aufruf zur Solidarität mit den ArbeiterInnenkämpfen in Birma

Quelle: Links – International Journal of Socialist Renewal:

Burma: Regional left support for workers’ struggle

February 13, 2010 — The statement below has been signed by the Working People’s Association (Indonesia); Confederation Congress of Indonesia Union Alliance; the Singapore Democratic Party; the Socialist Party of Malaysia; Socialist Alternative (Australia); Socialist Alliance (Australia); Socialist Worker New Zealand; Young Democrats (Singapore); Partido ng Manggangawa (Philippines); Congress of South African Trade Unions; Partido Lakas ng Masa (Philippines); World Federation of Trade Unions (Asia Pacific Region); Movement for the Advancement of Student Power (Philippines); Canadian HART.

If your organisation would like to sign this statement, email international@prp-indonesia.org.

* * *

Workers at Burma’s Taiyi shoe factory and Opal 2 garment factory began a strike on February 8, 2010. They are demanding a salary increase, a reduction of working hours and the provision of a clean space for meals.

The strike started in the Mya Fashion garment factory in the No. 3 Factory Zone of Yangon’s Hlaing Thrayar Township.

Now, the workers are being blocked from leaving the factory zone by riot police trucks. At least 50 trucks packed with riot police carrying assault rifles and shields were dispatched. No one has been allowed to enter.

Police are securing roads surrounding the Hlaingtharyar Industrial Zone, about 11km outside the biggest city, Yangon.

Overall, working condition in Burma are worsening. The Burmese military regime is pro-foreign capital and depends on cheap wages and deplorable working conditions to attract foreign investment.

Like other democratic rights in Burma, the rights of workers, such as the freedom to form trade unions, are also being repressed.

The rise of working-class struggle is a good sign for the possibility of fundamental changes in Burma. The rise of working-class struggle should be supported by all peoples’ movements in Burma and internationally. We support the struggle of Burma’s working class and demand:

• The workers’ just demands be fulfilled;

• An end to all forms of repression against workers; and

• Full democratic rights for workers, including the right to organise, build independent trade unions and form political parties.

We declare our fullest support for the people of Burma to build a democratic nation. Only with a democratic Burma can prosperity and justice can be achieved.

Ein Aufruf birmanischer MigrantInnen in Thailand und Malaysia

Ein Aufruf, welcher die Situation von MigrantInnen und Flüchtlingen aus Birma in den Nachbarstaaten aufzeigt, Quelle: ESSF, mehr zum Thema u.a. hier und hier:

Joint Statement of Migrants from Burma Working In Thailand and Malaysia

We, migrants from Burma, live in a perpetual state of crisis and the global economic crisis is further adding to our difficult and sometimes desperate situation.

We, migrants from Burma and migrant support groups, trade union leaders and human rights activists and lawyers from Thailand and Malaysia, met and discussed the impact of the global economic crisis on Burmese migrant workers at the 2nd Two Destinations One Origin Conference organized jointly by MAP Foundation (Thailand), Workers Hub for Change (WH4C) and Network of Action for Migrants in Malaysia (NAMM). We are concerned that Burmese migrants live in a perpetual state of crisis and that the global economic crisis is further adding to their difficult and sometimes desperate situation. We therefore appeal to the governments of Malaysia, Thailand and the ASEAN on the following issues.

We are concerned that Thailand and Malaysia governments’ response to the situation of workers affected by the economic crisis has not been comprehensive and does not provide adequate protection for workers. Migrant workers are not even included in these programs and are thus expected to deal with the impact of the economic crisis by themselves.

We call on the Malaysian government to immediately stop the unjust, discriminatory and unconstitutional policy and practice, known as ‘Foreign Workers First Out’ (FWFO) principle. According to this policy migrant workers lose their jobs before local workers regardless of length of time in the job.

We call on Malaysia and Thailand to demand that all employers fulfill their contractual agreements with regard to all workers, including foreign workers. Employers must not use the economic crisis as an excuse to dismiss workers or close down factories without adequate notice to the workers. Mechanisms should be put in place to ensure that employers pay workers adequate and just compensation for any early termination of employment agreement.

Zur Lage von Flüchtlingen und MigrantInnen aus Birma in Thailand

Nach der Niederschlagung der Protestbewegung des letzten Herbstes in Birma durch die regierende Militär- und Bürokratenkaste ist es in den hiesigen Medien um die Situation in Birma ruhig geworden – Grund genug, auf zwei kürzlich auf der Homepage des Internationalen Gewerkschaftsbundes (IGB) veröffentlichte Interviews zur Situation von birmanischen Flüchtlingen und MigrantInnen im Nachbarstaat Thailand hinzuweisen, hieraus Auszüge:

Htat Khoung von der Gewerkschaft Arakan Workers’ Union (AWU) zur Situation in der thailändischen Textil- und Holzindustrie:

„We left our country because we couldn’t find work. We arrived here illegally and the owner of the factory is aware of this, so he takes the opportunity of breaking our labour rights. He knows the economic condition of our country is not good and he knows that he can pay us the lowest wages possible because we are illegal. Actually they don’t consider us to be human beings. They order us to do whatever they want. Sometimes when we are working, they sexually harass the women workers. Sometimes they beat us. And when the owner sees that a worker is not working, he shouts and uses very bad language.

…

In one factory in Chanburi (an industrial area of Mae Sot), the owner shot dead a worker who wouldn’t listen to him. In other factories workers are handcuffed, arrested and jailed by police after being falsely accused of theft. Some owners hire street fighters to beat workers. Last year, two sisters at the Ban Thiyai knitting factory went to the owner and resigned. The next day they went back to the factory to take their belongings. The owner followed them down the road in his car and tried to run them over. The sisters ran into a field to escape. The owner got out of his car and chased them and then started to beat them. He was trying to kill them. But another worker saw what was going on and shouted out. The sisters escaped. Otherwise they would have been killed.“

Aus einem Interview mit drei auf thailändischen Schiffen in indonesischen Gewässern arbeitenden birmanischen Fischern:

„When the police and immigration come looking for us, we run and hide in the forest. We Burmese are always afraid of the police. Even when we’re sleeping, we have to be alert. All the Burmese boatmen on the island, not just us, are suffering the same way. There are many of us here now. We’ve come to this island because of our difficulties. Everyone wants to be reunited with their families, but it’s not as if we can walk back home even if we wanted to. It’s like this: we left our country in the hope of making more money. Then when we arrived in another country, we realized our situation was worse than back home. We got just enough from work to feed ourselves. Sometimes we starved. But perhaps one day our dreams will come true?“

Ludu Daw Amar (1915-2008)

Am 7. April starb in Mandalay/Birmaim Alter von 92 Jahren Ludu Daw Amar, Journalistin (gemeinsam mit ihrem 1982 verstorbenen Ehemann Ludu U Hla Herausgeberin der unabhängigen sozialistischen Tageszeitung Ludu (Das Volk/Die Massen)) von 1946-1967, Schriftstellerin, Übersetzerin, Dissidentin und Vorkämpferin für die Rechte der Frauen in Birma.

Linke Blog- und Presseschau

Die Januar/Februar-Ausgabe (434-435) der Inprekorr (als pdf-Datei vollständig hier) enthält u.a. Analysen zum zum Referendum in Venezuela, zum 90. Jahrestag der Oktoberrevolution und zu den Demonstrationen in Birma im vergangenen Herbst. Lesenswert ist hier vor allem ein mit Die Rückkehr der Strategie betitelter Diskussionsbeitrag von B.B. (S. 24-28) zur Frage von Organisation und Umgruppierung in der europäischen radikalen Linken.

In der aktuellen Ausgabe der Weekly Worker der CPGB kann mensch u.a. ein Interview mit einem Mitglied von Die Linke aus Hessen zur dortigen regionalen Situation und zur Gesamtgemengelage in der Partei sowie einen Beitrag zur Situation der SACP nach der Wahl von Jacob Zuma zum ANC-Vorsitzenden finden.

In der Socialismo o Barbarie Nr. 117 der MAS wird ein erstes Fazit zur Situation nach den Wahlen in Argentinien im Herbst 2007 gezogen und ausserdem die derzeitige Lage in Bolivien in zwei Artikeln (hier und hier) analysiert.

Auf dem lesenswerten Blog Cosmoproletarian Solidarity wird in einem Aufruf zur Solidarität mit der Studi- und Menschenrechtsbewegung in Marokko die Ingnoranz der BRD-Linken bezüglich der Situation dort und in der seit 1975 okkupierten Westsahara kritisiert; auf Honorary Proletarian kann mensch zwei spannende Artikel zu Georg Rudolf Weckherlin und Heinrich Heine finden, Another Witch to Burn ruft zur Beteiligung an einem Tribunal zur Praxis von Vergewaltigungsprozessen von Black Women’s Rape Action Project und Women Against Rape auf, welches darauf hinweist, dass bei deratigen Prozessen nach wie vor die Vergewaltiger/Männer zumeist straffrei ausgehen.

Die Worker’s Voice des Auslandskomitees der KP Iran berichtet in ihrer Ausgabe Nr. 5 (pdf-Datei) schwerpunktmässig über Klassenauseinandersetzungen im Iran, weiterhin u.a. über den Zustand von Mahmoud Salehi.