latest news, library and history articles

Guyanese sugar workers strike again

Workers striking for higher pay shut Guyana's sugar industry for a second full day on Wednesday (27th August), seriously threatening sugar exports to the European Union according to the government.

Labor Minister Manzoor Nadir said the government has ordered an end to the strike by about 17,000 workers, which he said could be "gravely injurious to the national interest" if it continued.

Australia: Journalists to strike against job cuts

After the announcement that 550 jobs would be cut by Fairfax Media in Australia and New Zealand on August 26th, journalists at The Age (Melbourne, Australia) and Sydney Morning Herald newspapers have decided to go on strike until Monday.

A Fairfax spokeswoman announced that both papers would come out on Friday, but refused to comment on whether weekend papers would be affected.

London bus workers to strike

2,500 bus drivers in east, west and central London will be going on strike tomorrow (August 29th) to oppose a below-inflation pay offer.

The Unite union has confirmed that strike action which is expected to halt the services of First Capital East Buses and First Centrewest Buses in London will go ahead from 3.00am Friday 29th August. The action will affect bus routes across east, west and central London (see below).

Korean three-year struggle against precariousness

Female precarious workers at Kiryung Electronics Satellite Radio plant in Seoul enter their 1,100th day of struggle.

Female precarious workers for the Korean firm Kiryung electronics today enter their 1,100th day of action in demand of direct employment.

Anti-semitism and National Socialism - Moishe Postone

No functionalist explanation of the Holocaust and no scapegoat theory of anti-Semitism can even begin to explain why, in the last years of the war, when the German forces were being crushed by the Red Army, a significant proportion of vehicles was deflected from logistical support and used to transport Jews to the gas chambers. The specificity of the Holocaust requires a much more determinate mediation in order even to approach its understanding.

Anti-Semitism and National Socialism
By Moishe Postone

Coastguards in 48 hour bank holiday strike

Office workers in the Maritime and Coastguard Agency strike over poor pay.

following the offer of a paltry 2.5% pay increase, well below inflation levels, 700 Rescue Co-ordinators backed by the Public and Commercial Sevices Union have taken strike action against real-terms cuts to already poor pay.

Psychologists protest against involvement in torture

Over 400 psychologists in the United States are currently withholding dues to the American Psychological Association over its failure to explicitly condemn all forms of torture.

Recently, the American Psychological Association (APA) passed a new resolution reaffirming its position against torture as defined in Article l of the United Nations Declaration and Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

Wolberg, Aniela Franciszka 1907-1937

A short biography of Polish anarchist Aniela Wolberg

“When only twenty years old she sacrificed time and money for her ideal. At that time her sense of criticism and reality was highly developed; her heart was passioned for the masses, for the revolution. Her burning aim was to help the formation of an Anarchist movement in Poland; one that would not be locked up in groups, but powerful, popular, and able to materialize our aspirations”.

Gatwick and Stansted strikes suspended

Following intensive negotiations through the arbitration and conciliation service ACAS, Swissport have tabled a revised pay offer for baggage handlers and check-in staff.

Unite will hold a consultative ballot with its members at Swissport which will begin shortly. Therefore, the union will suspend industrial action at Gatwick, Stansted and Manchester airports pending the outcome of the ballot result.

Wilkens, Jack (1897-1936) aka Vilkens aka Ivan aka Jaime Salan aka J Galan aka Manuel Fernandez Alvar

A short biography of the shadowy and mysterious figure of Wilkens, intrepid Spanish anarchist who was one of the first in Western Europe to offer serious criticisms of the Bolsheviks.

“He had been an Anarchist and an active fighter for long. His tragedy was that he had never been able to inspire the organisations with complete confidence in him. He lived a strange life.

A battle for life

In 1958 the Communist Party of China had been in power for nearly a decade. This article is an example of the propaganda radicals such as the anarchist Ba Jin had to write in order to remain free, although he did not escape denunciation during the Cultural Revolution launched 8 years later.

Foreword

Nationalism and the road to happiness for the Chinese

This article by the Chinese anarchist writer Ba Jin was originally published in Awakening the People, No. 1, September 1921.

Chinese society is at the darkest stage now. Under such circumstances, young people become impotent and weak without the power to resist corruption. Even the brave ones can only keep quiet and submit to fate. When it is really unbearable, suicide is the only way out. China is paralyzed; where can we find happiness?

Bitter death in a chocolate factory

Factory puts profit over safety.

In May 2008, Krzysztof Pruszewicz would have been 21. He was killed on April 16 in an industrial accident in the Vobro Chocolate Factory in Brodnica, Poland.

Council workers and civil servants strike in Scotland

Tens of thousands of striking council workers disrupted public services across Scotland today while Scottish civil servants also struck for their own pay dispute.

Schools were closed, rubbish went uncollected, ferry services were disrupted, and services like libraries were closed. Union leaders said an estimated 150,000 workers took part in the one-day strike over pay. The pay row is over an offer of 2.5% for each of the next three years, an offer made "derisory" by the rising cost of living.

Tube strike called off after improved offer

A 72-hour strike on London Underground was last night called off after an improved pay offer was made.

Some 1,000 track, signal and train maintenance staff working for Tube Lines, the contractor responsible for running the Piccadilly, Northern and Jubilee lines, were due to walk out. The strike would have meant that any signalling problems - a daily occurance - or track faults would have closed down the lines.