Yearly Archives: 2016

At the end of January, four Chinese gypsum miners were rescued from a mine collapse after 36 days buried underground. The rescue effort that saved them was massive and highly publicised, but it could not do anything for a number of other miners. As previously reported, Chinese mines are among […]

At the end of last year, workers and other activists staged a series of demonstrations to protest against the government’s increasingly authoritarian measures and legislation to weaken the workers’ movement. While these actions mobilised hundreds of thousands of workers, the reaction from the government has been very heavy. Many unionists […]

The war in Syria in 2016 has continued with increased intensity, creating a new wave of refugees fleeing the devastation of war. The increased intervention by Iran and Russia has now pushed another reactionary power, Saudi Arabia, to announce that they are ready to intervene directly by sending in their […]

Last year saw a succession of protests by labour groups, spearheaded by teachers (see here and here) who successfully mobilised across the country. Unfortunately, many labour organisers received long jail sentences and some, like Shahrokh Zamani, died in prison due to the harsh jail conditions. This year, hundreds of workers […]

As reported previously, there has been no let up by the military junta in Thailand against labour and human rights activists. A prominent human rights activist, Sirawit Serithiwat, was lucky to survive an abduction by government security forces. In a separate case, an ethnic minority activist, Maitree Charoensuepkun, from the […]

The High Court of Australia this week once again confirmed the legality of imprisoning asylum seekers and refugees indefinitely. This latest ruling is the most recent of a long line of attacks over the last 15 years. Over 200 people currently in Australia for medical reasons, are in danger of […]

Migrant workers are one of the most exploited sectors of the working class around the world. Their conditions have been well documented before (see here, here and here), with governments and employers taking advantage of their vulnerable social and legal status. Last month, the International Monetary Fund produced a report […]