News from around the world

A general strike has brought Khartoum and all major cities and ports in Sudan to a standstill in response to a deadly rampage by pro-regime militias, the army and security forces, Sudanese trade unionists and community leaders in the UK told a press conference yesterday. The Transitional Military Council, which seized power after a popular uprising forced dictator Omar el Bashir to step down, sent troops to attack a peaceful sit-in outside the Army General Command on Monday 3 June, killing at least 35 people according to reports from Sudan.

We, as feminists who uphold the peaceful resolution of conflict, stand in solidarity with the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) in their struggle for fundamental rights. We condemn the violence that took place on May 26th in the Khar Qamar area of North Waziristan in which 13 civilians were allegedly killed and 46 were injured as a result of army firing. According to the testimonies of eyewitnesses and video footage released on social media, the protesters were unarmed and were peacefully protesting the illegal detention of local residents.

Yesterday was an explosive day at the national parliament. Bilawal Bhutto, son of Benazhir Bhutto who heads the Pakistan Peoples Party had written a two-page letter addressed to the speaker of the Assembly to order for the production of Ali Wazeer, from jail to the National Parliament on Friday. This is a normal practice. Any parliamentarian in jail has a right to attend the Assembly session.

In the morning of Sunday, May 26, 2019, the Pakistani army openend fire on people protesting against its brutal operations in the region bordering Afghanistan. Videos show unarmed, peaceful protesters cheering and chanting slogans when their leaders, Pakistan National Assembly members Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar, arrived at the sit-in. Suddenly, shots are fired.

Arrested parliamentarian Ali Wazir has become the top trend on Twitter a day after his arrest on 28th May 2019. Tens of thousands participated in the Twitter thread #WhereisAliWazir?

In the morning of Sunday, 26 May 2019, a sit-in of the affected villagers at Kharqamar check post, Boyya, North Waziristan was going on. Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar both members of Pakistan’s National Assembly arrived at the sit-in site to support the protest leading their caravan from Bannu. A wave of enthusiasm erupted amongst those in the protest against the military’s brutal search operation of the area.

After more than four years that SYRIZA, along with its social-democrat, right-wing and far right allies are in power, the workers’ movement is still in a state of frustration and disarray. Hopes that a “left” government or a government of “social salvation” would effortlessly lead us out of austerity were bitterly disproved, as expected. The massive NO of the working class and the poor and oppressed strata in the referendum of 2015 was cancelled in the most provocative way, once more showing that a vote is not enough to save us. On the other hand, through years of struggles and strikes, working people have accumulated significant political experience, which will prove valuable in a new round of struggles. There are signs of a certain recovery of the movement, as frustration and disappointment will be subsiding.

On May 15, the streets of Brazil will be occupied by a multitude of students, teachers, and other education workers and other categories in the struggle against the Bolsonaro government and its recent attacks on public education. In a few months of government, Bolsonaro directly attacked public education and the study of the humanities, disqualifying public schools and universities and politically persecuting students and teachers for their political positions. He wants to suppress careers in sociology and philosophy because he says that there "students are educated in Marxist political thought.

A bill has been introduced authorizing the extradition to the Continent of anybody in Hong Kong at the request of the Chinese authorities. Its adoption would mean that the local population would henceforth live under the permanent threat of arbitrary repression. Civic or political, local or regional networks would, among other things, be particularly affected by this threat.

The general elections give a snapshot of the political reality of the Spanish State: the great majority of the population has said "no" to the radical, macho, racist right-wing at the service of the rich. The people of the left mobilized against the threat posed by these minority sectors. Their defeat is clear, although they will continue to try to condition public debates by trying to turn into problems issues that for the majority of the population are legitimate rights to be developed: the freedom of women, migrants and working people.