Monthly Archives: September 2016

Somyot Prueksakasemsuk is one of Thailand’s best known political prisoners. Somyot is a journalist and a labour activist who has been in jail for over 5 years now, convicted under the draconian and repressive Lese Majeste law. Somyot’s birthday is 20 September. He will turn 55. The international campaign group […]

Workers in Korea are continuing to resist the economic and political offensive of the government. Following a major demonstration in July, subway and rail unions will commence an unlimited strike against the government’s policies and its repression of unions and its leaders on 27 September. Major lead up rallies indicate […]

While the historic general strike earlier this month was a massive show of force by Indian workers, there are also ongoing actions by workers. This week, workers from the Honda Motorcycle plant in Tapukara, Rajasthan began an indefinite hunger strike to protest against the company’s mass dismissals of workers. They […]

In an historic compensation deal, the survivors and the families of the 260 workers who were killed in a fire at the Ali Enterprise on 11 September 2012, are to receive compensation. The deal comes after four long years of campaigning by a number of labour organisations, both within Pakistan […]

In the months of August and September there have been a number of strikes by sanitation workers in China calling for wage increases and better working conditions. In a related issue, the long awaited trials of detained labour activists from the Panyu Workers Service Centre, a labour NGO in Guangdong […]

An explosion at a packaging factory at Tongi, in Gazipur, Bangladesh, caused an uncontrolled fire that destroyed a 5 storey building. At the time of writing, at least 24 workers have been killed while more than 50 have been injured. This number may increase as the exact number of workers […]

This week, in the western NSW town of Baryulgil, Australia, an Aboriginal man, Ffloyd Laurie, became the first confirmed case of the fatal asbestos cancer mesothelioma. Ffloyd was not a worker at the asbestos mine, but grew up in the adjacent town of Baryulgil where white asbestos was piled up […]

The attempted military coup in Turkey of mid-July allowed the government to crack down on any real and apparent opposition. Tens of thousands of workers were affected by a wave of suspensions and dismissals in the days after the coup attempt. Unfortunately this campaign of repression against workers has continued. […]

AAWL is screening The Battle of Algiers, one of the most influential films in the history of political cinema. The film focuses on the events of 1957, a key year in Algeria’s struggle for independence from France.  Comrade Lionel Bopage will be introducing the film with a discussion of the political dimensions […]

This week in an ominous announcement, the Chief of the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) of Indonesia, Comr. Gen. Budi Waseso¸ stated that their plans to procure more weapons and intelligence was only the start. Gen. Waseso commented that he not only supported the current murderous War on Drugs campaign in […]