Asia

We have received two reports on further anti-Trade Union repression in Pakistan. The regime is adamant on removing militant trade union leaders who are daring to challenge their plans to carry out privatisations and mass sackings. These comrades need your help. Please take up this issue urgently inside your trade union branch. Get messages of protest sent. And raise the funds needed to keep this campaign going! In these reports you will find an update on the situation in the Pakistan Postal Sector and a short report on more anti-trade union measures being taken by the regime against the Karachi steel workers. These reports were sent to us from the Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign

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The Military regime in Pakistan has completely banned trade union activities in the Postal Sector. All union offices have been closed down. The collection of union funds has been declared illegal. No union can organise any meeting. If any worker dares to participate in any union activity, he can be sacked without any notice or explanation. The Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign is organising a fightback. They need your support. For details of what you can do to help read this article now!

The Military regime in Pakistan has completely banned trade union activities in the Postal Sector. All union offices have been closed down. The collection of union funds has been declared illegal. No union can organise any meeting. If any worker dares to participate in any union activity, he can be sacked without any notice or explanation. The Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign is organising a fightback. They need your support. For details of what you can do to help read this article now!

The partition of India was one of the greatest crimes of British Imperialism. This was not to an act to defend the Muslims or the Hindus but to split and wreck the national liberation movement which they had failed to defeat by force of arms. The present states of India and Pakistan were created over the bones of the millions who died during the bloodshed unleashed. Lal Khan's book covers the history of the subcontinent from the Raj to the present day and demonstrates that a socialist federation of the subcontinent is the only way forward. Available now at WellRed On-line Bookshop.

An analysis of the historical development of the Communist Party of Bangladesh, sent to us by the Bangladeshi Trotskyist organisation, Democratic Workers Party (Gonotantrik Mazdur Party).

Since the fall of Soeharto a lot has changed for the Indonesian labour movement. During the New Order era one "union" monopolised the organisation of workers, the yellow union FSPSI linked to the ruling clique's Golkar party. Instead of raising the consciousness of workers, the FSPSI was designed to depoliticise them.

We have just received the good news that Ghulam Haider, the PTUDC activist arrested in Peshawar, Pakistan, on May Day has been released on bail. We would like to thank all those who took part in the protest campaign. All letters of protest that were received were taken to the trade union activists while they were in jail and this helped enormously to keep up their morale. All those who were released had to pay bail, and they will also have other costs, as we have mentioned in our earlier publications. Now the campaign should concentrate on collecting funds to help pay for these costs. Below we are publishing further messages we have received from different parts of the world.

We have just received the good news that Ghulam Haider, the PTUDC activist arrested in Peshawar, Pakistan, on May Day has been released on bail. We would like to thank all those who took part in the protest campaign. All letters of protest that were received were taken to the trade union activists while they were in jail and this helped enormously to keep up their morale. All those who were released had to pay bail, and they will also have other costs, as we have mentioned in our earlier publications. Now the campaign should concentrate on collecting funds to help pay for these costs. Below we are publishing further messages we have received from different parts of the world.

The latest news we have from Pakistan about the trade union activists arrested on May Day is that all the comrades with the exception of two in Pashawar have been released on bail. The comrades in Peshawar are still being held, but pressure is being put on the authorities. Our campaign must now continue until ALL the arrested comrades are released. We are publishing a selection of the protest letters we have received.

The latest news we have from Pakistan about the trade union activists arrested on May Day is that all the comrades with the exception of two in Pashawar have been released on bail. The comrades in Peshawar are still being held, but pressure is being put on the authorities. Our campaign must now continue until ALL the arrested comrades are released. We are publishing a selection of the protest letters we have received.

We are appealing to you to help us in the campaign for the release of workers' leaders arrested on May Day in Pakistan. As you will be aware, a military dictatorship is presently in power in Pakistan. This military junta has tried to portray itself as a "soft" and only mildly repressive regime. They prefer to present themselves in this way in order to divert attention away from its repressive measures. On May Day of this year its true colours were shown. Workers and trade union leaders all over Pakistan were arrested for taking part in May Day rallies. Some have since been released, but many are still being held. Below we are sending you a report we received from the...

We are appealing to you to help us in the campaign for the release of workers' leaders arrested on May Day in Pakistan. As you will be aware, a military dictatorship is presently in power in Pakistan. This military junta has tried to portray itself as a "soft" and only mildly repressive regime. They prefer to present themselves in this way in order to divert attention away from its repressive measures. On May Day of this year its true colours were shown. Workers and trade union leaders all over Pakistan were arrested for taking part in May Day rallies. Some have since been released, but many are still being held. Below we are sending you a report we received from the PTUDC (Pakistan

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The recent Global Alliance report (February 2001) on workers' rights (mostly dealing with young girls) in 9 Nike factories in Indonesia has once more brought to the fore the ruthless character of the regime in the factories belonging to this American multinational. If the claim made by a so-called 'surprised and disturbed management' is to be believed, then the conditions in the factories reviewed would be amongst the most "progressive in the country".

The clash between China and the USA over the crashed spy plane has thrown into sharp relief the tensions between the great powers in Asia. The incident in itself was an accident. But dialectics explains that necessity can be expressed through accident. Underlying the immediate incident lie fundamental contradictions between China and the USA.

The minority peoples of Bangladesh have been systematically evicted from their land or displaced by settlers. They face state repression, social discrimination and harassment on a daily basis. The latest government strategy to throw ethnic minorities off their traditional lands is the creation of ten "eco-parks" around the country.

This is a report we have received of the most recent activities of the Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign. These comrades are working under the most difficult conditions and deserve our support and solidarity. We have now set up a facility to make on-line credit card donations.

The complacent optimism of capitalist consensus is fast disappearing. At the beginning of this year, the general view about the world economy was that US growth would slow gradually to about 3% from 5%, Japan would pick up a little to about 2% and Europe would trundle along at about 2.5%. The US central bank, the Federal Reserve, would cut interest rates to ensure that any slowdown would not mean a loss of investor confidence or consumer demand. Well, January seems like eons ago in global economics. After a non-stop spate of warnings about lower profits from the main US corporations and the release of economic data each day that showed a weakening economy, US...

We received a letter from Vietnam which gives a wider and more political view of the situation in Vietnam on the eve of the important forthcoming congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam on "market led socialism".