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ALGERIA « No to the 12 June elections! »

2021-06-14

An interview with Abdelkader Bentaleb, of the Organising Committee of Internationalist Socialists of Algeria (COSI) What is the situation on the eve of the 12 June legislative elections? The regime knows perfectly well that these elections are and will be massively rejected. When he called them, the president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, had clearly indicated that the rate of participation was of little importance to him. What counts above all is that the elections be held, in order to maintain and guarantee the continuity of the regime – with a new team, but also with some recycling of members of Bouteflika’s staff. But the legislative elections of 12 June are facing a major obstacle: the popular movement, which has not diminished, as we have seen in the weekly Tuesday and Friday marches. The wave of workers’ strikes and popular struggles have become its essential component. The movement of workers and the popular strata remains intent on its demands: the saving of jobs and [...]

FRANCE POID Banned from Demonstrating A Threat to all the Labour Movement!

2021-06-14

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Paris, June 5. Convened six weeks ago, the Paris demonstration of the Independent & Democratic Workers’ Party was banned on the very day it was to be held, 5 June, by decision of Prefect Lallement acting on behalf of the government, a decision confirmed by the administrative court. This is the right to demonstrate that is at threat. In his document, the Prefect points out that he authorised other demonstrations on the same day in Paris, including « an anti-fascist demonstration » and « demonstrations […] linked to the ‘yellow vest’ movement ». Why this difference in treatment? Regarding the POID demonstration, the prefect mentions « a strong risk that individuals […] could infiltrate this demonstration in order to create a climate of insurrection ». Is the POID involved in this risk? No. Is there a single example of a previous demonstration by our party that gave rise to such incidents? No. So why this special treatment? By quoting (and [...]

PALESTINE “The Unity Intifada”

2021-06-06

On Tuesday 18 May, a powerful general strike, having started in Palestinian youth groups, achieved the unity of the Palestinian people and its components in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and the 1948 territories (the current State of Israel), as well as in the refugee camps in Lebanon and Jordan. During this strike « from the Mediterranean to the Jordan« , a leaflet entitled The Manifesto of Dignity and Hope The Unity Intifada was widely distributed and sent out by correspondents, and from which we publish extracts. Haïfa May 18. « We are one people, one society throughout Palestine. The Zionist movements have forcibly displaced most of our people, stolen our homes and destroyed our villages. (…) Israel has locked us up in prisons, each one isolated from the others. One part is isolated in the « Oslo prison » in the West Bank. Another part is imprisoned in the « citizenship prison » inside the 1948 territories. Some are isolated by a brutal blockade and [...]

COLOMBIA “For forty years, ministers, big bosses and narcos have been governing against the people”

2021-06-06

Faced with the popular uprising of workers and youth, the government has ordered a military intervention in Cali. We publish an interview with Anna, an activist in Cali, a member of the National Union and Community Coordination. The revolution will educate its children What are the root causes of the uprising? On April 28, mobilisation started against the reforms which we reject: the tax reform, the healthcare-, work-, and retirement pension system reforms. For the population, a majority of which are unemployed, it is not possible to go on tolerating this system. To give one instance on healthcare, we would have had to pay 5 million pesos for health insurance to have access to healthcare (a part of which is still free of charge). But the average wages are one million pesos (about €225). Meanwhile, Luis Carlos Sarmiento Angulo, chairman of the Aval company, the country’s largest fortune and who is one of former President Uribe’s cronies, intends to take over the [...]

PALESTINE Demonstrations around the world in support of the Palestinian people

2021-05-23

Rarely has such mobilisation in solidarity with the Palestinian people been seen. We are publishing a brief report. We invite all our correspondents to send us reports, accounts and photos on the demonstrations in their countries. First informations from Pakistan, Canada, United States, Australia, South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, Germany, France, Great-Britain... [...]

FRANCE Independent and Democratic Workers’ Party (POID): May Day Manifesto

2021-05-16

Comrades, On this May 1st, 2021, we salute comrades around the world who commemorate the sacrifice of the Haymarket workers in Chicago on May 1st, 1886. We salute you, comrades from India and South Africa, from Brazil and Germany, from Turkey, Algeria, China and all over the world. We salute you, our brothers and sisters who have been hit for fifteen months not only by the Covid-19 virus but also (and above all) by governments whose profit driven policies are turning the health crisis into a devastation that is sacrificing millions of lives. We salute you, our comrades, who in recent months, in the face of the pandemic and in spite of it, have taken to the streets by the millions from Bombay to Algiers, from Beirut to Minneapolis. We salute you who have been fighting tirelessly for social justice. On this 1st of May, the international day of working class struggle, we strongly affirm that workers all over the world form one single class, women and men, [...]

International Campaign « Free Mumia Abu Jamal! »

2021-04-11

ALGERIA Mumia Abu-Jamal has just tested positive for Covid-19 by his prison doctors. – Free Mumia immediately! – Free all political prisoners! Mumia has to be hospitalised. He has just tested positive for Covid-19, and he is jailed in a completely inadequate prison infirmary. Given his age – 67 – and his liver disease (hepatitis C) and blood pressure problems, his life is in very serious danger. His condition is all the more alarming as he has recently been diagnosed with congestive heart failure. He needs to be released from prison and sent to a hospital to receive the necessary medical treatment. But that is not all. Mumia must be released from prison altogether, as his proven innocence and his health should be sufficient to justify his release. In the United States and abroad, initiatives to demand his release are multiplying. On 27 February, the first mobilisation took place in front of Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s office, where [...]

RWANDA The Open Secret of the Duclert Report

2021-04-11

An interview with Paul Nkunzimana, honorary president of the Party of Workers and Democracy (PTD) of Burundi, author of the book Contribution à l’étude de la préhistoire et de l’histoire sociales de l’Afrique des Grands Lacs et de l’Est (Éditions du travail, 2019). In 1994, in the space of just a few months, armed groups massacred one million Rwandans. Twenty-seven years later, the president of the « Commission on the Rwandan genocide », Vincent Duclert, believes that France has an « undeniable responsibility ». Is this really a revelation? With this report commissioned by Macron and made public on 26 March, it was “revealed” to the mainstream press that France bore “heavy and overwhelming responsibility” in the 1994 genocide. However, the report states that « nothing proves » that France was « complicit« . In reality, the role of French imperialism in the genocide and its motives have been known since 1994; there was no need to [...]

PHILIPPINES We Need To Speak Against The Bloody Slaughter of Activists A statement by the Partido Manggagawa (Labor Party-Philippines)

2021-04-10

Two days after President Rodrigo Duterte delivered his « kill, kill them all » speech last March 7, 2021, 9 activists felt to the ground dead. Any extra-judicial killing (EJK) diminishes us all, it kills part of our humanity. Today, news report said that police have killed 9 and arrested 6 believed to be with activist groups in Laguna, Rizal, and Batangas, provinces surrounding capital region Metro Manila. Partido Manggagawa (Labor Party-Philippines) calls on the Filipino people to speak and denounce the bloody slaughter, arrests and red-tagging of trade unionists and members of people’s organizations. The killing of trade union organizer Emmanuel « Manny » Asuncion this morning at the Workers Assistance Center in Salitran, Dasmariñas Cavite is highly condemnable and the serving of search warrant questionable if not incredible. The policemen allegedly served a search warrant. He was at the 2nd floor with the police and his wife at the ground floor when [...]

TUNISIA In the call centers of Téléperformance, general assemblies prepare the strike

2021-04-10

An interview with Ali Ourak, General Secretary of the Information and Communication Technolo gies Union of the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT), a worker at Téléperformance Tunisia. General Assembly at Teleperformance Tunisia What are the working conditions in call Téléperformance arrived in Tunisia in centres? 2001 and now employs 8,300 people in the country’s seven call centres. In the early years there was fierce exploitation. The first trade unions, affiliated to the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT), were founded in 2007. In 2013, there were major struggles (see box). Since the creation of the unions, workers have won significant improvements in their working conditions and pay rises. Of course, the company is aligned with the logic of the « free movement of capital », and after setting up call centres in Tunisia and Morocco, it is now planning to relocate production to sub-Saharan Africa, in search of ever greater flexibility. In March last year, [...]