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International appeal of support for the people of Sri Lanka!

29 juillet 2022

The following appeal was launched by activists, workers, students, intellectuals, artists, internationalists who are forced to live in France and in different countries of the world because of the economic, social and political conditions in Sri Lanka. It has since received support from labour activists, rural workers and intellectual activists in Sri Lanka and from workers and activists around the world. [More...]

Here you can publicly endorse the International appeal of support for the people of Sri Lanka!

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NATO: Towards the Generalized Militarization of Europe

11 juillet 2022

What should we learn from the NATO summit that took place in Madrid (Spain) from June 28 to 30? According to the official communiqués of this U.S.-led military alliance, founded in 1949, the Madrid summit marked a "strategic turning point." What is that?

NATO is now calling Russia "the most significant and direct threat to the security of the allies.” The military alliance adds, "We cannot rule out the possibility of an attack on the sovereignty or territorial integrity of the allies." Not only does NATO not rule out the possibility of a direct confrontation, but in fact it is looking for one. For example, during the summit, bombings took place on the Russian city of Belgorod, 40 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, as a result of massive arms deliveries to Ukraine from NATO countries. Shortly before the summit, the Lithuanian government (a member of NATO and the European Union) declared a blockade of the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad (a Russian territory between Lithuania and Poland and a Russian naval base in the Baltic Sea).

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MORROCO The Tragedy of Melilla

11 juillet 2022

A real human tragedy took place on June 24 in the north of Morocco after the attempt by about 2,000 migrants from sub-Saharan countries to enter Mlilya (in Spanish Melilla), an enclave occupied by Spain. This attempt was repressed in a bloody and deadly manner, costing the lives of at least 23 young migrants and injuring dozens. Their only « crime » was to enter Europe through this occupied city.
This tragic event coincided with another similar event: The death of at least 46 migrants trapped in a truck in San Antonio, Texas, after a day of extremely high temperatures. This occurred about 145 miles from the border with Mexico. The young people who died were hoping to reach the United States. Moroccan activists preparing the World Conference against War and Exploitation, for the Workers’ International Have sent us this contribution. [...]

On All Continents, In the Face of Soaring Prices, Workers’ Mobilise for Their Demands

30 juin 2022

On all continents, workers are suffering from soaring food and fuel prices, caused by the speculation of capitalist markets. Everywhere, they are seeking to assert their demands: wage increases, freezing of prices and an end to austerity measures. Under one and the same red banner, the banner of labor organisations from Ecuador to Tunisia, to Belgium and elsewhere, workers have mobilised this past week. [...]

NIGERIA « May the Organisations Come Together for Socialism, for an Egalitarian Society »

30 juin 2022

Interview with the singer Africana, endorser of the call to the World Conference against War and Exploitation, for a Workers' International (Paris, October 29-30)

— Africana, you are a Nigerian singer. Can you tell us more about yourself and your songs? What are they about? What do your songs stand for?

— My name is Jibril Adewunmi, but my stage name is Africana. I am 32 years old. I was born and raised in Bariga, a working-class neighborhood in Lagos. My parents, now deceased, were civil servants. I have a degree in animal breeding. But I chose to be an artist. My songs are inspired by my immediate environment, by what I see around me. They speak about the political and social context of my country. For example, one of my songs, Stand Up, says, "Fight for your rights / For a better future / So many lies / So much corruption from our leaders / While the masses starve."

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GREAT-BRITAIN Trades Councils Conference 2022, Emergency Motion 1 : « Release of the President of the Russian trade union Courier Kirill Ukraintsev »

24 juin 2022

The National Congress of the Trades Councils (TUC’s) was held on Saturday, June 11 in Leicester, England. On the agenda was the following emergency motion, tabled by the Greater Manchester Association of TUC’s grouping 10 TUC’s.

After the motion was read out, the demand for the immediate release of the trade unionist Kirill Ukratsev, president of the Courier trade union, and the official recognition of the trade union by the Russian authorities was unanimously adopted by the delegates of the 150 TUC’s represented at congress.

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GERMANY « We will soon have NATO’s biggest conventional army in Europe » (Chancellor Scholz)

21 juin 2022

In a show of national unity, in early June and by a very large majority, German MPs voted to provide 100 billion euros for the army.

On June 3, the Bundestag (Parliament) voted to amend the Fundamental Law (which serves as the Constitution) to allow for the creation of a "special fund for the Bundeswehr", the German army. This special fund, worth 100 billion euros, was then adopted.

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RUSSIA Kirill Ukraintsev appeal hearing

10 juin 2022

An activist involved in the campaign for the release of trade unionist Kirill Ukraintsev tells us about the appeal hearing he attended in a Moscow court on 23 May.

The lawyers of the head of the Kurier trade union (kurier means “deliveryman” – translator’s note) and left-wing activist Kirill Ukraintsev had appealed against the court's decision to remand him in custody. His lawyers had appealed against the pre-trial prison sentence, requesting that he be placed under house arrest pending trial.

Currently in pre-trial detention until 25 June, Kirill risks being sentenced to five years' imprisonment under Article 212.1 of the Criminal Code, an ultrarepressive and arbitrary article that punishes alleged "repeated violations of the legislation on public gatherings".

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RUSSIA Despite the war, workers’ resistance is making its way

10 juin 2022

Despite the repression of any expression of protest against the war in Ukraine, one of our correspondents says: "It is extremely significant that several groups of soldiers have refused to go to Ukraine. For an enlisted man, refusal means immediate and permanent dismissal from the army and possible legal action.” Among the collective refusals of soldiers to go to Ukraine were twelve members of the Russian Guard from Krasnodar (1 March), eighty sailors from a Crimean regiment, sixty enlisted men from a Pskov regiment, eleven members of the special forces of the Ministry of the Interior from Khakassia, fifty-eight enlisted men from a Kaliningrad regiment (29 March) and the bulk of a South Ossetian regiment (31 March). These enlisted soldiers often come from the poorest regions, where the only employer is the army. [...]

Freedom for American Women! Freedom for Afghan women! Freedom for women throughout the world!

18 Mai 2022

As soon as the press leaked the intention of reactionary Supreme Court justices to challenge the right to voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion), thousands, then hundreds of thousands of women and men, sometimes together with trade unions, took to the streets across the United States. On 15 May, major demonstrations will take place to defend this democratic right.

"Bans off our bodies!", "Abortion is healthcare!” On Monday evening, May 2, within moments of publication of the leaked draft of a United States Supreme Court decision that would overturn Roe v. Wade (the 1973 Supreme Court decision protecting the right to voluntary termination of pregnancy), people mobilized outside the Supreme Court and organized protests at federal courts throughout the country.

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