http://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/india-s-young-workforce-adopts-new-forms-of-protest-114050500049_1.html India’s young workforce adopts new forms of protest Aman Sethi The negotiating power of workers, Mahesh Kumar Sharma explains under a tent pitched in an open field in the Pathredi Industrial Area on the Haryana-Rajasthan border, varies inversely with distance from the site of production. “It is the most in the factory but no […]
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May 6: En Dino Muzaffarnagar
http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/standpoint-film-review-en-dino-muzaffarnagar-portrays-the-grisly-outcome-of-electoral-communalism-1984665 ‘En Dino Muzaffarnagar’ portrays the grisly outcome of electoral communalism Saurav Datta “The Punjab seemed to have become a howling wilderness of beasts rather than a land of human beings. All humanity disappeared”, lamented Sir Mohammad Zafarullah Khan at the bloodbath which gripped Lahore in 1947. It would be an apt metaphor for Muzaffarnagar, […]
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ज़ोर है कितना दमन में तेरे-देख लिया है, देखेंगे!
श्रीराम पिस्टन के मालिकान, प्रबन्धन और भाड़े के गुण्डे भिवाड़ी के मज़दूरों के आन्दोलन से डर गये हैं। उन्हें लग रहा है कि मज़दूर जाग रहे हैं और इंसाफ़ की लड़ाई को फैलने से रोकना होगा। यही कारण है कि श्रीराम पिस्टन के मालिकों ने 5 मई को मज़दूर कार्यकर्ताओं पर यह कायराना हमला करवाया है। दूसरी बात, मज़दूरों पर पूँजीपतियों की नंगी तानाशाही कायम करने के काम में राजस्थान, उत्तर प्रदेश और हरियाणा की सरकार और पुलिस पूरी तरह से पूँजीपतियों के साथ है। मज़दूरों के लिए इस बात से कोई फर्क नहीं पड़ता कि उत्तर प्रदेश की सपा सरकार हो, राजस्थान की भाजपा सरकार हो या फिर हरियाणा की कांग्रेस सरकार हो। उनके लिए किसी भी सरकार का अर्थ यही हैः पूँजी की बर्बर और नग्न तानाशाही! तीसरी बात, भिवाड़ी के मज़दूरों पर हमले ने भिवाड़ी के बहादुर मज़दूर साथियों के संघर्ष को और मज़बूत किया था और यह ताज़ा हमला भी मज़दूरों के हौसले को और बुलन्द कर रहा है।
The post ज़ोर है कितना दमन में तेरे-देख लिया है, देखेंगे! appeared first on मज़दूर बिगुल.
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May 6: Mass acceptance of police violence
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/05/cecily-mcmillan-occupy-guilty-police-violence Cecily McMillan’s guilty verdict reveals our mass acceptance of police violence Molly Knefel The verdict in the biggest Occupy related criminal case in New York City, that of Cecily McMillan, came down Monday afternoon. As disturbing as it is that she was found guilty of felony assault against Officer Grantley Bovell, the circumstances of […]
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Ukraine fascists kill many, burn trade unions building in Odessa
Thugs of the neo-Nazi political party Right Sector assaulted and set ablaze the House of Trade Unions in Odessa, Ukraine, May 2, murdering dozens and injuring over 200 anti-fascist, anti-coup protesters. The Right Sector is one of the fascist parties in the new, U.S.-backed coup government of Kiev. The vicious attack on the House of Trade Unions is only the most recent explosion of violence backed by the Kiev government.
In the wake of the secession of Crimea and its induction into the Russian Federation following a popular referendum in March, the crisis in Ukraine is intensifying. The fascist-dominated junta in Kiev, backed by the U.S. and NATO, is cracking down on ‘separatist elements’ in the east and now the south of the deteriorating country.
Within less than a month of Crimea’s secession, mass protests erupted in Eastern cities – Donetsk, Lugansk, Slavyansk and Kharkov and dozens of smaller towns. Occupying government, public and media buildings, the protesters declared their cities independent and issued a minimum demand: a referendum on the federalization of Ukraine in order to provide its heterogeneous population and ethnically varied regions choice in their official language and allegiance between Ukraine and Russia.
The uprisings in the east come on the heels of the U.S.-backed Maidan coup in February that ousted the Yanukovich government. The Yanukovich government turned down an EU deal on the grounds that EU integration would bankrupt and destabilize Ukraine.
The new coup government is comprised of several menacing parties that usurped power. The neo-Nazi Svoboda (Freedom) Party, which has promoted a campaign to “liquidate” the “Muscovites and Jewry” of Ukraine, holds key ministerial as well as judicial and military positions. The Right Sector party, whose leader has claimed that even Svoboda is “too liberal,” has claimed an equally significant number of military posts. The stubbornly right-wing Fatherland Party, led by the one of the most infamous, wealthiest and criminal oligarchs in Ukraine, Yulia Tymoshenko, is the other newly ascended party in the regime. In tandem with the rise of these parties to power, the portrait of Stepan Bandera, the notorious Ukrainian Nazi-collaborator of World War II, is hanging in government buildings.
Virulently anti-Russian, the new government is hitting hard with its first political offensives that target a vast portion of the Ukrainian population. Such ‘reforms’ included the proposed ban on any official use of the Russian language, which was formerly respected as the second official language of 13 out of 27 regions.
The predominantly Russian east, frightened by the new coup government’s fascist ambitions, is being devastated by the austerity imposed by Kiev as a prerequisite measure to join the EU. Cut off from funding and suddenly faced with the menace of fascism, one city and region after another is rising in defiance of the right-wing government.
Protesters in the east surged out in mass numbers to demonstrate against the new government. After demonstrations changed little and an offensive on the part of Kiev was impending, occupiers soon declared autonomy, formed self-defense teams, and looked to Russia for aid. The most famous instances include the declaration of People’s Republics in Donetsk and Lugansk and requests by newly appointed governors for Putin to intervene on Russians’ behalf. The Ukrainian left, including the Borotba Union and the Communist Party of Ukraine, are organizing and leading protests.
In mid-April, the Kiev junta announced an ‘anti-terrorist’ and ‘anti-separatist’ military operation to clear protests in Eastern Ukraine by force. The Ukrainian military launched offensives against numerous eastern cities, deploying tanks, helicopters and heavily armed soldiers against protesters.
While peaceful protesters initially greeted tanks, intense fighting has since broken out as Kiev makes it clear that it is determined to suppress any resistance to its new order. Although defections, mutinies and executions of soldiers who refuse to fire on protesters plague the Ukrainian army, the Kiev coup government offensive continues and the number of civilian deaths is rapidly increasing.
With Ukraine facing civil war and the U.S. mobilizing and deploying troops throughout Eastern Europe, all progressive people should adamantly oppose U.S. intervention and declare: “Hands off Ukraine!”
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Jacksonville postal workers protest Staples and privatization
Jacksonville, FL – Dozens of union workers rallied outside of the Staples store on Beach Boulevard here to oppose the proposed privatization of key United States Postal Service (USPS) jobs.
The protest was part of a nationwide day of action on April 24, called by the American Postal Workers Union (APWU). The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), the Mail Handlers Union, and National Rural Letter Carriers Association (NRLCA) supported it. Rallies, pickets and protests took place across the country at 50 locations in 27 states and drew out hundreds of workers, according to the APWU.
The Jacksonville protest drew a sizable crowd from all four of the major unions that represent workers at the USPS. Several members of Teamsters Local 512 who work at UPS also came out to show their solidarity as fellow package handlers.
“It’s important because the Postal Service employs a lot of workers,” said Doris Orr-Richardson, President of the APWU 7041 in Jacksonville. She said of the Staples move: “It’s a back door way to privatization by hiring minimum wage workers to do skilled labor. Each and every postal worker has to sign a ‘sanctity of the mail’ affidavit. Staples workers are told, ‘Here is the product, sell it.’”
Waving signs that read, “Stop Staples,” and “U.S. mail, not for sale,” the protesters received honks and cheers of support from passing cars.
Early in the rally, a Staples manager came outside to watch the protesters and photograph the event.
The privatized outsourcing of major USPS functions to Staples is the latest in a long series of attacks by major corporations and monopoly banks on the publicly-owned postal service. Congressmembers and Senators from both the Republicans and the Democrats have pushed harmful legislation that puts undue financial burdens on the post office in order to make it fail. In 2006, a bipartisan Congress passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, which forced the USPS into a 75-year liability for retirement benefits. Although the Post Office is an incredibly efficient operation, this requirement has USPS overfunding retirement by paying for postal workers who have not even been born. No other federal agency is expected to fund their retirement plans 75 years in advance.
The USPS administration handled this artificial crisis predictably by cutting over 200,000 postal jobs, closing down mail distribution centers and local post offices, and now contracting work out to non-union employers like Staples. The American Postal Workers Union is demanding that these new Staples mail centers be staffed with union postal workers and not minimum-wage retail workers.
Earlier in 2014, International APWU President Mark Dimondstein announced a nationwide alliance between the APWU, the NALC, the Mail Handlers Union, and NRLCA. The focus of this historic unity between the four postal unions is to reverse cuts made to the USPS service, resist privatization attempts like Staples and work with the people to better the post office for workers and customers.
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The real significance of Cinco de Mayo
Tampa, FL – It is Cinco de Mayo, or May 5, but before you participate in “Cinco de Drink-o” and yell, “Happy Mexico Independence Day!” read this article.
In the late 1960s the Chicano movement started to commemorate the battle of Puebla and held annual events to mark that history. Over the years the Cinco de Mayo events spread to the point that they reached the ‘mainstream.’ Then U.S. beer companies started to sponsor the Cinco de Mayo events. Eventually Cinco de Mayo increasingly lost its political significance and became a marketing tool for alcohol and other products.
Looking back, it all started around 1862. Mexican President Benito Juárez, of indigenous, Oaxacan descent, declared Mexico would not pay any foreign debts for two years. France reacted by sending in troops to Mexico and demanding payment. What happened on May 5 was the Mexican victory in La Batalla de Puebla, or the Battle of Puebla. The battle was fought in the state of Puebla, Mexico and it was one of the few victories against the French. The poorly-equipped Mexican army defeated the powerful French army.
Just under 15 years earlier, in 1848, Mexico was invaded by another foreign power – the United States. After supporting pro-slavery American settlers who broke Texas away from Mexico, the U.S. took one-third of the land of Mexico, which is now the states of California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, and even parts of Wyoming, Kansas and Oklahoma.
Once-Mexican people would now become trapped in a land that would not acknowledge them as Americans and one that Mexico would shun as non-Mexican. This was in 1848 – the U.S. war and takeover of what is now called the U.S. Southwest would become the homeland of the Chicano nation.
In Mexico, the Battle of Puebla is still remembered and will forever remain a victory for the Mexican people. But Cinco de Mayo is not celebrated in Mexico the way it is commercially celebrated in the U.S. In the U.S., we see major companies and various types of businesses push for parties, drinking, new liquors and ‘Mexican’ memorabilia.
The fact is, Cinco de Mayo is not mentioned in the U.S. as a day when Mexicans fought and won against foreign domination and in particular against France, which is still sending its troops to other countries. Never is the day called “La Batalla de Puebla,” and much less is it ever linked to the Chicano Nation and how it came to exist.
Donning ‘sombreros’ and shaking maracas is just plain incorrect and should not be encouraged. As far as the Independence of Mexico goes, that day is the 16th of September. In 1810 when father Miguel Hidalgo gave the Grito de Dolores, a cry for independence from Spain. And while U.S. beer companies and Dos Equis will keep finding a new beer to market, we remind everyone Cinco de Mayo meant much more to the people than getting drunk. The fifth of May symbolized the day people united to fight back against colonization and against the pillaging of their people by a foreign occupier.
Marisol Marquez is a member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization. Marquez organizes in Tampa with a group called Raices En Tampa. If you wish to contact her, you can message her on her twitter account: twitter.com/elmaryelsol
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Jacksonville young workers celebrate May Day
Jacksonville, FL – Around 40 workers from Jacksonville attended a backyard May Day cookout to celebrate International Workers Day. The event, hosted by the newly-formed Young Workers of Jacksonville (YWJ), drew workers from across many industries and unions. A giant black-and-white banner welcomed them, “The future is ours, Young Workers fight back.”
The atmosphere was alive with solidarity as workers discussed the problems at their workplaces over burgers and union beer. Union members from AFSCME, International Association of Machinists, Teamsters, American Federation of Government Employees, and International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees came out, with many wearing their union shirts to the cookout. Non-union workers who also attended work in warehouses, floral design shops, cafes, retail outlets, call centers and fast food restaurants.
The North Florida Central Labor Council (NFCLC) sponsored the event. Several veteran union members, including officers from the NFCLC, came out to show their support for the new generation of labor leaders. As darkness set in, speakers stood on chairs and addressed the lively crowd by torchlight.
“We’re often told that if you’re a worker, you didn’t make it in life, like it’s something to be ashamed of,” said Richard Blake, a Teamster and an organizer for the YWJ. “But I’m here to tell you that I work alongside some of the greatest people of my generation. Many coworkers work two part-time jobs to take care of their families. Others work long hours at work and come home to take care of the kids. And then there are the people who work while going to school. These are good people, and we should honor them.”
Other speeches talked about the importance of the workers’ struggle in the U.S.. “In the U.S., we’re told constantly that we live in a democracy and that every four years you get to go vote for who becomes president,” said Dave Schneider, a Teamster and organizer for the YWJ. “But I challenge each of you to think of this: for at least eight hours a day, we struggle under a vicious, ruthless tyranny of the bosses, the corporations and the banks. That’s not a democracy. It’s a workplace autocracy.”
As the speeches came to a close, the crowd broke out into song. A chorus of voices belted out the lyrics to Solidarity Forever, a famous union song written for the Industrial Workers of the World in 1915. The song, which talks about capitalist exploitation and workers organizing to fight back, became an anthem for the labor movement in the U.S. Solidarity Forever is sung on picket lines across the country.
The Young Workers of Jacksonville will hold its next general body meeting at 2:00 p.m. on, May 31 at the Communication Workers of America hall. To find more information, see the YWJ’s Facebook page or follow its twitter (@JaxYoungWorkers).
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Deadly attack on worker activists of Gurgaon Mazdoor Sangharsh Samiti and Bigul Mazdoor Dasta by the goons of Sriram Piston company
Goons of owner and management of Sriram Piston attacked the activists of Gurgaon Mazdoor Sangharsh Samiti and Bigul Mazdoor Dasta who were distributing pamphlets at the Ghaziabad plant of Sriram Piston in support of the struggling workers of Bhiwadi plant of Sriram Piston. The deadly attack by these goons took place around 5 PM and resulted in serious injuries to four worker activists Tapish Maindola, Anand, Akhil and Ajay.
The post Deadly attack on worker activists of Gurgaon Mazdoor Sangharsh Samiti and Bigul Mazdoor Dasta by the goons of Sriram Piston company appeared first on मज़दूर बिगुल.
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गुड़गांव मज़दूर संघर्ष समिति और बिगुल मज़दूर दस्ता के मज़दूर कार्यकर्ताओं पर श्रीराम पिस्टन के मालिकान और प्रबंधन के गुण्डों का जानलेवा हमला
आज शाम 5 बजे श्रीराम पिस्टन के भिवाड़ी के प्लाण्ट के मज़दूरों के पिछले 20 दिनों से जारी आन्दोलन के समर्थन में श्रीराम पिस्टन के ग़ाजि़याबाद के प्लाण्ट के बाहर पर्चा बांटने गये ‘गुड़गांव मज़दूर संघर्ष समिति’ और ‘बिगुल मज़दूर दस्ता’ की संयुक्त टोली पर श्रीराम पिस्टन के मालिकान और प्रबंधन के गुंडों ने जानलेवा हमला किया। इस हमले में चार राजनीतिक कार्यकर्ताओं तपीश मैंदोला, आनंद, अखिल और अजय को गम्भीर चोटें आयी हैं।
The post गुड़गांव मज़दूर संघर्ष समिति और बिगुल मज़दूर दस्ता के मज़दूर कार्यकर्ताओं पर श्रीराम पिस्टन के मालिकान और प्रबंधन के गुण्डों का जानलेवा हमला appeared first on मज़दूर बिगुल.