Jan 31 2011

A working class struggle not an "Arab" struggle!

Re: A working class struggle not an "Arab" struggle

I am in complete agreement with you, David. I have also been doing some research
on the struggles in the region, which have been posted from newspapers and
internet.

Thank you for pointing the direction of class struggle. I have noticed that
prior articles from the Left - socialist, comunists and anarchists - have fallen
into the mass media clap trap of presenting the workers struggle as an Arab
struggle.

Lil Joe

--- In laborpartypraxis@yahoogroups.com,, "dmoros2000" wrote:
>
>
>
>
> The uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt are more about economic crisis
> and proletarian struggle than an "Arab World" thing. These
> ongoing rebellions are a continuation of working class struggle
> and rebellions of unemployed or underemployed youth
> centered around the Mediterranean Sea countries, Turkey, Egypt,
> Italy, Greece, Tunisia, France etc., that have intensified since
> the onset of the US real estate swindle induced global economic collapse.
> David
> ---
>
> =======================

http://www.rcbi.info/usr/layout/enpi-cbc-mediterranean-sea-programme2.jpg
>
> Egypt business: New moves
>
> December 30th 2010
>
> FROM THE ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT
>
> The Egyptian government has offered fresh financial incentives to truck owners
in a bid to end a strike that has had a serious impact on the distribution of
goods during December. However, the government remains determined to push
through reforms aimed at improving safety on Egypt's roads, easing congestion
and encouraging greater use of railways and the Nile river for the transport of
bulk goods.
>
> The strike began in early December after reports that the government was
planning to impose new taxes on heavy trucks, with retroactive effect, as part
of a package of measures affecting road haulage that has been in preparation for
the past two years. The other measures include a ban on trucks over the weekend
(Thursday-Friday), sharply increased fines for overloading vehicles and, most
controversially, the phasing out of semi-trailers (articulated trucks) in favour
of full trailers. There are an estimated 70,000 semi-trailer trucks on Egypt's
roads, and a significant proportion of them took part in the strike, which grew
increasingly violent over the course of the month. The strike is expected to
have pushed up inflation for the month of December, as well as impairing real
GDP growth as goods have been stacked up at factories and ports awaiting
transportation....
>
http://viewswire.eiu.com/index.asplayout=VWArticleVW3&article_id=1127705297&refm\
=vwHome&page_title=Latest%20analysis
>
>
> Wed Jan 26, 2011 10:54PM
>
> Italy hit by massive transport strike
>
> A nationwide public transportation strike in Italy has halted buses, subways
and ferries and forced commuters to scramble to get to work.
>
> There was chaos and heavy traffic in Rome and major Italian cities on
Wednesday after a 24-hour public transportation strike once again paralyzed
commuters, travelers and tourists in the Italian capital, the Associated Press
reported.
>
> The walkout was called by unions in a show of protest to proposed cuts in
funding for public transport in the government's austerity budget. ...
> http://www.presstv.ir/detail/162164.html
>
>
> Tunisian Teachers Strike in Solidarity with Imprisoned Colleagues
>
> October 12 2009
>
> Elementary teachers in Tunisia staged a one day strike last Monday October 5th
in solidarity with trade unionists who have been jailed after protests in the
Gafsa region of the country
>
> The protests started as a result of the actions of the phosphate mining
corporation and escalated into general protests about high prices and the high
rate of unemployment. As a result of the protests 34 trade unionists were jailed
for up to 10 years in a trial described by human rights organisation Amnesty
International as unfair. The regional director of Amnesty said: "The Tunisian
authorities must immediately stop criminalizing social protest. Instead of
trying peaceful protesters and trade unionists, the authorities should
investigate the allegations of torture previously raised by the defendants."...
>
http://www.teachersolidarity.com/blog/tunisian-teachers-strike-in-solidarity-wit\
h-imprisoned-colleagues/
>
>
> Youth take to streets as French protests spin out of control
>
> October 20, 2010 3:35PM
>
> BOTTLES flew, riot police charged and protesters scattered before regrouping
to form a joyous and unruly mob chanting: "Sarkozy, you've had it, the youth are
on the streets."
>
> It was a familiar rallying cry for generations of protesters in France. Only
the name of the head of state has changed over the years - although yesterday,
in the Place de la Republique in central Paris, there was a difference.
>
> The voices echoing over the hubbub were not those of battle-hardened,
chain-smoking trade unionists but of schoolchildren.
>
> Their presence indicated how the demonstrations against President Sarkozy's
pension reform legislation have spun out of control....
>
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/youth-take-to-streets-as-french-prote\
sts-spin-out-of-control/story-e6frg6so-1225941289838
>
>
> The Tekel Strike in Turkey
> The "Sakarya Commune" Wins the First Round!
>
> by Sungur Savran
> Global Research, March 17, 2010
>
> The strike of Turkish workers across the winter of 2009-10 at Tekel, a former
state enterprise in the tobacco and alcoholic beverage sector, has attracted the
attention of the left and unions around the world. The Tekel workers have
demonstrated incredible tenacity and courage in confronting layoffs,
flexibilization, and remuneration cuts that have been the result – as well as
the intent – of the privatization process. The strike has animated the Turkish
union movement, and given renewed impetus to the class struggle in Turkey.
>
> Although the struggle has many features specific to the Turkish context, it
has gained wider resonance for the union movement internationally. Struggles
over public sector austerity and restructuring are moving to the centre of the
political stage as `exit strategies' from the financial crisis begin to set in.
Indeed, these conflicts have already burst onto the streets of Athens, Dublin,
Lisbon and San Francisco. And they will continue to spread over the coming year.
Workers and the left around the world can draw inspiration from the Tekel
workers' struggle.The Bullet here presents two reports, from Sungur Savran and
Gülden Özcan, on the current phase of the Tekel strike.
>
> After 78 days of resolute and militant fighting, the heroic battle of the
Tekel workers of Turkey has now entered a new phase. At the end of January, the
government issued a decree that involved some minor improvements to the new
employment status of the workers, giving them a month to make the transition to
this new status or to lose their jobs all together. The workers and their union
refused this new offer, since the casual nature of the employment status
remained despite the improvements (the workers could be sacked at the end of 11
months of employment in their new jobs.) On March 1st, the penultimate day
before the term recognised by the government expired, the Council of State, a
high court in the French tradition that oversees administrative decisions,
decided to stay the execution of the government decree, on the grounds that the
30-day period given by the government to make the choice was "unnecessarily
restrictive."
>
> Squeezed between the alternatives of having to accept a status against which
they had been fighting for more than two and a half months and joblessness in a
country where the official unemployment rate is 14%, with real figures reaching
up to 20%, and threatened by the government with eviction from the tents that
they had set up in the heart of Ankara, the capital city, the workers rejoiced
at having gained a reprieve of unspecified length to carry on their fight. The
union they belong to decided that, after 78 days in Ankara, the workers would go
back to their home towns to return to Ankara on April 1st to start the struggle
anew. So we have entered a new stage that is extremely critical for the future
of this fight, which has given an electrifying impetus to class struggle in
Turkey....
> http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=18167
>
>
> Spain: General strike on September 29 - CC.OO/UGTYouth Joint Statement
>
> by Cristina Bermejo Toro, Youth Secretary, Comisiones Obreras
>
> 8 September 2010: The Spanish Trade Union Confederations of Comisiones Obreras
and the Unión General de Trabajadores have taken the decision of initiating a
process of actions which will be culminated by the General Strike of the coming
September the 29th. It is our aim to express the Spanish workers´ sound
rejection towards the financial cuts in social policies and the abolition of
worker's rights by the Government, under the coverage of European directives.
> The Spanish Government and other European Governments have disappointed the
citizenship they represent. The tremendous economic settlements which are being
adopted as a "shock treatment" to get out the crisis are socially unfair, as
well as they mean a step back in labour law. Also, these formulas are wrong in
economic terms, as they compromise the possibilities of economic growth and
employment creation.
>
> Also, the Spanish Government has mended its ways by provoking a radical shift
within its economic and social policy. Now it is clearly oriented in three
directions. First of all, towards a severe cut in public expenditure which falls
back into the workers and pensioners shoulders. In the second place, the
Government has taken the decisions of undertaking a severe reduction in public
investment which will hold economic growth back and increase the unemployment
rate. Alt last but not least, the Executive has imposed a labour reform that
will suppose the elimination of some rights for every citizen at his work....
> http://www.ituc-csi.org/spain-general-strike-on-september.html
>

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