Monthly Archives: May 2016

Lucky Akhtar, a union leader with the Garment Workers’ Trade Union Centre, was abducted in the middle of the night earlier this week by paramilitary thugs. Grave fears for her safety were held as repression of unions and labour activists in Bangladesh is very common (see here, here and here). […]

A recent investigation into the labour practices of fast food global giant McDonald’s has revealed how the company has managed to underpay thousands of its employees in Australia. The key to their success has been the co-operation of the yellow union covering these workers, the SDA, in cutting overtime rates. […]

This week saw the welcome release of a Palestinian journalist, Mohammed al-Qeeq, who had been on a 94 day hunger strike in protest against his jailing by Israeli forces. Unfortunately Mohammed’s case is not an isolated one with thousands of other Palestinian activists in jail. The pattern around West Asia […]

A local community group in Melbourne Australia has organised an anti-racism rally in the suburb of Coburg.  This rally has been met with hostility and threats from far right wing forces who are planning a counter-rally.  As we’ve previously reported, these far right wing and fascist forces have built momentum […]

While repression against anti dictatorship activists has been documented before (see here, here, here and here), a recent report by Human Rights Watch, HRW, has catalogued the full extent of repression by Thailand’s military junta. HRW found that since the coup in May 2014, over 1,600 people are being tried […]

The 15th of May was the 68th anniversary Al Nakba, the day in 1948 that officially marks the dispossession of Palestinians from their lands by Zionist colonisers. Over 500 Palestinian villages were affected and 750,000 Palestinians became refugees. Events were held all around the world to seek justice and redress […]

This week, one of the imprisoned leaders of the Iranian Teachers Trade Association (ITTA) was transferred to a hospital due to the effects of his continuing hunger strike. Two other imprisoned workers, Esmail Abdi and Jafar Azimzadeh, are continuing their indefinite hunger strike. They began their hunger strike at the […]

This week, a year ago, the Kentex factory that produced thongs burned down in Valenzuela City in the Philippines. At least 72 workers were killed, but more are suspected to have perished. After 12 months, most of the survivors are still waiting for justice, the owner of the factory is […]

This week, the trial against labour rights researcher Andy Hall will begin in a Bangkok Criminal Court. Andy is facing criminal defamation and computer crimes charges. These arise from three years ago after Andy had exposed the brutal exploitation practices of the Natural Fruit Company, especially against its migrant Burmese […]

The murder of Khurram Zaki this week, in the southern city of Karachi, is the latest murder in a continuing campaign by Islamist reactionary forces against left wing activists. A journalist was also killed at the same time as Khurram. This murder reinforces the climate of repression and intimidation that […]