Israel’s labour policy was dominated for decades by a single, state-aligned trade union with a strongly nationalist tradition. Only six years ago, the first independent, democratic trade union was founded in Israel. Koach LaOvdim – Power to the Workers – has since been able to mobilize tens of thousands of workers and lists over 12,000 members as of 2013. On the occasion of International Workers’ Day, the AIC has asked Yaniv Bar Ilan, official spokesperson for Koach LaOvdim, about the state of workers and unions in Israel.
They want us poor, silenced and straight
24 July 2013, byThe governing Popular Party (PP) is on a crusade – not only against fundamental rights such as health, education, housing, work, but also against sexual and reproductive freedoms. The PP wants to impose a model of society, not only at the service of capital, but sexist and homophobic to boot. It wants us poor, silenced and straight.
David and Goliath : The story of farm workers and farm bosses in the Breede River Valley
22 July 2013, byOn Wednesday 6 March 2013 in Ashton, 180 km from Cape Town, people started gathering for a meeting early in the morning. Outside the library, one could observe the expensive bakkies and luxury sedans of the consultants and lawyers representing 42 farms that had been called to a meeting by the (Commission for Conflict Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA). The CCMA is a parastatal that has the power to mediate and solve conflict and problems between workers and their bosses.
COSATU’s history: coming full circle
22 July 2013, bySouth African magazine Amandla interviewed Dirk Hartford, the first head of COSATU media and editor of COSATU News in the 1980s, about the implications of the current tensions in COSATU in April 2013.
Elections stolen: people power the answer
20 July 2013, byMay, 2013
Malaysia’s ruling party managed to narrowly hold power in elections in May, but only as a result of a rigged electoral system and widespread fraud. Over 50,000 protesters expressed their anger at the result on the Wednesday following the elections in Kuala Lumpur, undeterred by police declaring the demonstration illegal. The elections were the closest in Malaysia’s history, where the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN—National Front) has been in power continuously since independence (...)
Theaterpolitik of the Troika takes over
18 July 2013, byA plot such as the one that has been happening in Portugal for the last two weeks could not have been written by the worst soap opera writers of all time. Politics and democracy have left the building. Portugal has been stripped of any sort of political rationale and the successive episodes and plot turns every day can tell how unsustainable the current government and majority are.
The Egyptian revolution must continue without the tutelage of the army
10 July 2013, byThis statement by Izquierda Anticapitalista represents a generally held opinion in the Fourth International. It was adoped on Monday 8 July, 2013.
“Beware of the army”: and if we stopped treating Egyptians as stupid?
10 July 2013, bySince the evening of July 3 the formula has been taken up by the media and social networks: “the Egyptian army has overthrown Mohammad Morsi”. This assertion seems at first sight indubitable, at least if we concentrate on the events of that evening and on their strictly institutional dimension. To those who affirm that the recent events amount to an army coup, others retort that we are at a new stage of the Egyptian revolution. In fact, the reality is midway between these two positions.
Army ousts Morsi from power in face of popular protests
9 July 2013, byJaisal Noor from the Real News Network interviewed Gilbert Achcar about developments in Egypt on 4 and 5 July, as Morsi was removed from government, about the background to those developments and their implications.