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PAKISTAN PTI government is following US Imperialism Policies to Privatize state-owned companies in Pakistan

2019-10-12

The federal government has decided to privatise 49 organisations within the next five years. The decision was made in a session of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee for Privatisation. The Privatisation Ministry said that 15 companies had been taken out of the privatisation list and eight had been added to it. Pakistan is in discussion with half a dozen companies from Russia and China to run the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) under public-private partnership and increase its capacity from 1.1 million to 3.5 million per year. The committee was informed that the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and the PSM have so far racked up combined losses of around Rs600 billion, of which the PIA losses stand at around Rs400 billion. This ruling government is sitting on the laps of US Imperialism and constantly adopting what agreement they signed with IMF/World Bank. The mills current total losses are around Rs200 billion. Secretary Privatization said that [...]

HAITI Long Live the People’s Uprising for Democracy and Sovereignty!

2019-10-12

For two weeks now, the people en masse have been coming out into the streets in Port-au-Prince and the other major towns of Haiti, to demand an end to President Jovenel Moïse’s government, his PHTK party, and his antiworker and anti-popular policies. The masses –with the workers in the forefront – want an end to the high cost of living and to the austerity measures dictated by the International Monetary Fund to a government that only has been able to remain in place thanks to the occupation by foreign troops. The people are denouncing the top State dignitaries’ pillaging of the funds of PetroCaribe, the Venezuelan government’s programme that sells cheap oil to Haiti. The MINUSTAH -the UN troops that have been occupying Haiti for 15 years now -are in a state of alert. In the face of this popular uprising, the regime has unleashed its repression. The worker and anti-imperialist weekly Haïti Liberté reports: “Since Friday 23 September, the popular mobilisation [...]

UNITED STATES Labor’s Resurgence, Bernie Sanders, the DSA and the Fight for Independent Working-Class Politics Today An Interview with The Organizer Editorial Board Member Alan Benjamin (part II)

2019-10-05

Question: The Organizer newspaper has reported on the substantial growth of Democratic Socialists of America, or DSA, the political group that has been promoting Bernie Sanders for president. Tell us about it? Alan Benjamin: The DSA, the long-dormant refuge of labor officials adhering to liberal social-democratic policies within the Democratic Party, has re-emerged through the Bernie Sanders campaign with a largely youth and rank-and-file labor base, a militant base. This is another expression of the growing radicalization of the youth and sectors of the working class. DSA just held its national convention in Atlanta, with more than 1,000 delegates representing 56,000 dues-paying members organized in hundreds of chapters nationwide. During the pre-convention discussion, some of the DSA chapters refused to endorse Sanders for president, as proposed by the outgoing DSA leadership, on the grounds that a vote for Sanders would be nothing more than a vote for Biden or Warren, [...]

ALGERIA Oued Souf: Fire in a Maternity Hospital “For an end to these policies and to the regime that implements them”

2019-10-05

Eight newborn infants died in a fire that broke out in a maternity hospital in Oued Souf. Other infants were injured. This has caused great emotion throughout the country. The citizens of this southern town have poured out into the streets to express their anger, their indignation, and their disgust. The minister of Healthcare thought it best to relieve the director of the hospital and the regional head of Healthcare of their duties -the minister himself remaining in place. With these decisions, the minister means to limit the confines of “this crime” to local and individual failings. Yet, is that the truth? Absolutely not. (…) Here is what the head of the National Union of Public Healthcare Practitioners (SNPSP), Dr. Mrabet, said: “The hospital structures are dilapidated, and fire security standards do not even exist in the building specifications.” Moreover, the real reasons lie elsewhere. It was less than a year ago that the minister, riding roughshod over [...]

ALGERIA IWC Press Release Immediate Release of Louisa Hanoune and of All the Political Prisoners in Algeria!

2019-09-30

The International Workers Committee (IWC) condemns the decision of the military Court, and demands the immediate release of Louisa Hanoune and of all the political prisoners in Algeria. We call upon all labour activists of all tendencies and ask them to demand, by the means they feel appropriate, the immediate release of Louisa Hanoune and of all political prisoners in Algeria. [...]

ALGERIA Organising Committee of Internationalist Socialists of Algeria (COSI) Our Position…

2019-09-30

Revolutionaries base their militant activities on principles. These are the generalization of the experience of workers’ struggles. This is the case with the struggle for the defence and/or conquest of democratic freedoms. They are indivisible. In our epoch, that of imperialism, freedoms and democratic rights are only really defended by workers. Imperialism and his agents in dominated countries cannot tolerate the full exercise of democratic freedoms because this would place in jeopardy the safeguarding of their system, which is based on the private ownership of the means of production. By denying democratic right to all the people, they are first and foremost denying the right of workers to organise, demonstrate, and strike. In a word, what they are seeking in the end is to prevent the workers from fighting to establish their own political power. Lenin established as a principle the need to pay close attention to « everything that happens in the Tsar’s [...]

FRANCE Communiqué of the Independent Democratic Workers Party (POID)

2019-09-30

A delegation of activists of all tendencies of the workers’ and democratic movement, at the initiative of the POID, will gather on Monday 30 September near the Algerian Embassy in Paris (meeting at 6 p.m. sharp) at the corner of Rue de Messine and Avenue de Messine, metro Courcelles or Monceau), after which they will take to the Algerian authorities their demand for the immediate release from prison of Louisa Hanoune. On 25 September, the Blida Military Court in Algeria sentenced Louisa Hanoune, the general secretary of the Workers Party (PT) of Algeria, to 15 years in prison. Louisa Hanoune, who has been detained since 9 May, was on trial as part of the case involving the former president’s brother, Said Bouteflika, and Generals Toufik and Tartag. The four defendants were charged with « conspiracy against the State ». The Independent Democratic Workers Party (POID) condemns this decision of the military court, and demands –as it is has done since 9 [...]

ITALY Communiqué of Tribuna Libera

2019-09-30

The editors of the monthly Tribuna Libera have learned that Louisa Hanoune, general secretary of the Algerian Workers Party (PT) has been sentenced to 15 years in prison, following a trial that also involved the brother of the former president of the Republic, Saïd Bouteflika, and Generals Toufik and Tartag. The four were charged with “conspiracy against the State”. Louisa Hanoune has been in jail since last 9 May. The editorial staff of Tribuna Libera firmly condemns this judgement by a military court, and demands the immediate release of Louisa Hanoune and all other political prisoners in Algeria. Whatever our opinions – and the opinions of others – concerning the politics of the PT, we situate ourselves on the historical ground of the labour movement: solidarity and unity in the face of any attacks against democratic freedoms or freedom of opinion and organisation. This is all the more important when the persons who are concerned reflect the [...]

UNITED STATES Labor’s Resurgence, Bernie Sanders, the DSA and the Fight for Independent Working-Class Politics Today

2019-09-22

An Interview with The Organizer Editorial Board Member Alan Benjamin (part I) Question: There has been considerable talk in recent months about a resurgence of the labor movement in the United States. Could you tell us about this? Alan Benjamin, Editorial Board Member of The Organizer Alan Benjamin: No doubt about it: Labor is rising. In February 2018, a teachers’ strike wave erupted in the « red [Republican] states » of West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and Arizona — all « right-to-work » states where public-sector strikes are illegal. Teachers walked off the job —with overwhelming parent and community support — to demand not only higher wages and improved conditions for teachers, but more funding for public education and an end to the privatization/charter school dismantling of public schools. In most of these « red states » the teachers’ won their demands. The « Red State Revolt » inspired similar strikes among unions nationwide: [...]

PAKISTAN APTUF (All Pakistan Trade Union Federation) India’s decision to revoke Article 370 is just another chapter in Kashmir’s long history of imperial oppression.

2019-09-13

All Pakistan Trade Union Federation hold a protest rally to liberate Kashmiris by the attack extremist political party BJP. More than 500 workers gathered and raised slogans against the Modi government brutality on Kashmiris Children’s, women’s and youth and issued a surprise executive decree stripping away the autonomy that the state of Jammu and Kashmir was granted in exchange for joining the Indian union after independence in 1947. While speaking to the workers gathering Rubina Jamil, Anwer Gujjar, Mirza Zafar, Malik Humanyun, M. Ilyas, Saeed Gujjar, Ashraf said that we protestors condemned Indian authorities imposed an unprecedented lockdown in the region, cutting off all communication lines, restricting movement and putting prominent Kashmiri politicians under house arrest. The government’s decision to revoke Article 370 of India’s constitution, which ensured the Muslim-majority state its own constitution and independence over all matters except [...]