News from around the world

0n Thursday 13 December, for the third time in its long history, the UGTT (Tunisian General Labour Union) is calling a one-day general strike. In so doing, it is not only seeking to protest against the attack on its national headquarters by Islamist militias on 4 December. It is also to defend the very future of the revolution.

On December 6th there was a picket in front of the Russian embassy in Berlin in reponse to the call from the Russian left (see Free Russian political prisoners !).

On December 1, Vladimir Putin sent official congratulations to his Mexican colleague Enrique Peña Nieto, the declared winner of the presidential elections just held in that country. The two presidents truly have a great deal in common. The victory of Peña Nieto, who received just 38% of the vote, was met with mass protests brutally dispersed by the police.
Nieto’s main opponent, the leftist López Obradror, who fell short of the winner by only 6% even according to official reports, spoke (…)

An international call for solidarity with victims of repression in Russia.

On November 16, 2012, the Greek police arrested three unionists, accusing them of participating in the protests against the German deputy labor minister, Hans-Joachim Fuchtel, in Thessaloniki the day before.

The assassination of Hamas military chief Ahmed Jabari on Wednesday was the beginning of Israel’s military operation against the Gaza Strip. The operation, Pillar of Defense, was not a reaction to five days of military escalation on the Gaza border, but a premeditated offensive prepared several months ahead by the Israeli army and General Security Services (GSS) .

The three Left parties, Awami Party, Workers Party and Labour Party Pakistan held their representative meetings yesterday to dissolve their parties and establish a united party of the Left, the Awami Workers Party,

Three leftist parties, Awami Party Pakistan, Labour Party Pakistan and Worker’s Party Pakistan, will formally merge into a new party called the Awami Workers Party on November 11 as a first step towards building an alternative to the status quo which has brought Pakistani state and society to the brink of collapse. This was stated by leaders of the three parties at a press conference held on Friday at the Islamabad Hotel.

On 11 October 2012 in Joymanirhat, Bhurungamari, Bangladesh Krishok Federation and Bangladesh Kishani Sabha organized a mourn and protest rally demanding immediate punishment to the killers of Abdul Karim who was the President of Bangladesh Krishok Federation Bhurungamari Sub-district Committee and the Central Committee Member of the same. Thousands of people took part in the procession to the street and paraded almost 4 kilometres long distance.

In late July 2012 San Francisco Superior Court Judge Curtis E.A. Karnow imposed $243,279.50 in punitive attorney fees against Socialist Action National Secretary Jeff Mackler and five other plaintiffs, who, two years earlier, had filed a law suit against the state of California challenging important provisions of Proposition 14, the new and infamous “Top Two” election law.