Throughout 2011 and until now, we are seeing new wave of workers radicalization. The momentum started when thousands of workers mobilised under the banner of the Social Security Action Comittee (KAJS), demanding that the law on Social Security Provider (BPJS) would be passed mid 2011. Beside debate on the pro and cons of the law between workers organisations, mobilisations proved to be an effective way of pushing the demand and the draft law was passed after an occupation of the parliament.
Factories more like death trap than workplaces, workers treated more like slave than human beings
13 September 2012, byIt was darkest and saddest day in history of labour movement in Pakistan when more than 300 workers burnt alive in severest accident of fire in a garment factory in Karachi on Tuesday 11 September.
Fundamentalism, a challenge for the Left
13 September 2012, by ,The idea of interviewing Farooq Tariq came from a lecture he gave during the Asian Global Justice School in Manila at the end of July 2012. I remember him stating firmly that Marxism is totally opposite of religion, particularly because the main basis of religion is private property, which is in line with class based society and capitalism. He also highlighted the position of LPP towards religion, that they dont discuss religion nor make jokes about it, just as they oppose using religious arguments for socialism. At the same time, Farooq also gave inspiring examples of the role of socialists to defend religious freedom in Pakistan. For my context in Indonesia, a majority Muslim country which is seeing an increase of religious intolerancy and violence, this conversation was very important, especially concerning the attitude of the left. I also took the chance to ask him on the recent left collaboration project in Pakistan.
“Build networks of popular resistance around a democratic charter”
11 September 2012, byWe are publishing here for the first time in English an interview with Gilbert Achcar, a professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London (SOAS). The interview was conducted in Arabic by Oudai al-Zoubi for the daily “Al-Quds Al-Arabi”, and published in its edition of August 25, 2012.
After the elections, a slight hangover?
8 September 2012, byWe have all been so mobilised and impassioned by the Quebecois electoral battle of this summer of 2012 that being brought brutally back to earth on the evening of September 4 has not always been easy, notably for the most committed activists of Québec solidaire. After all, many looked to an electoral situation where everything suddenlyseemed possible, thus leaving the door open to a number of unfounded hopes and unrealistic predictions.
Supreme Court Storm Clouds
7 September 2012, byRight-wing howls outrage over the US Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling to uphold the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act soon faded into the general background noise. “Repeal Obamacare” is the Republican mantra for the November election, but an actual legislative reversal of ACA is highly unlikely. What’s actually on the agenda — and more ominous not only for health care, but as a signal of the Supreme Court’s direction on a wide range of issues — is the opportunity the Court has given states to reject the expansion of Medicaid to cover millions of the near-poor.
Business as usual at Earth Summit
7 September 2012, byIn late August it was announced that the sea ice in the Arctic Ocean has melted to its smallest point ever, an indication that the most alarming predictions about climate change are proving to be true. Terry Conway explains how inadequate the international response has been.
No to ‘Brand Israel’ Pinkwashing
6 September 2012, byPinkwashing is a strategic campaign by the Israeli state to rebrand itself as a “safe haven” of tolerance for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and queers. This is part of a systematic and conscious public relations strategy to attempt to portray Israel as a progressive society and thus to divert attention from its systematic human rights abuses against the Palestinians.
Why Race Matters in the 2012 Elections
6 September 2012, byWe sometimes hear that the drive by the RepubÂlican Party and the far right to “suppress the vote” — attempting to ensure the election of a Republican president and win control of the Congress — is just hardball politics, not about race or racism.
Social Movements in South Africa
5 September 2012, byA middle-aged woman continued stuffing an old tire with bits of straw, refusing to stop as two younger men pleaded with her not to ignite it. She didn’t seem to take them seriously, presumably because one of them was wearing a Democratic Alliance (DA) shirt, the reigning party in the Western Cape and largely despised by black voters. It was hard to hear the substance of the debate over the chanting of struggle songs and vigorous toyi-toyiing, not to mention the crowd shouting down officers in an SUV marked “Anti-Land Invasion Unit.”