The 21 year old social partnership pact between unions, employers and the Government in Ireland is entering one of its periodic crises as one national pay agreement Towards 2016 begins to run out and talks on a successor have collapsed. The Government is expected to attempt resuscitation in late August or early September, writes Padraig […]
Subjects Archives: Movements
Hiroshima Message, 2008
This is Vanunu Mordechai from East Jerusalem. I’m the man who exposed Israel’s atomic secretes 22 years ago, in 1986, sentenced to 18 years in prison. Now, since my release in 2004, I have not been allowed to leave Israel. I’m still under Israel’s power, imprisoned in East Jerusalem. Today, I’m reading my message […]
No Revolution Ever Disappears
Penelope Rosemont, Dreams & Everyday Life: André Breton, Surrealism, Rebel Worker, sds & the Seven Cities of Cibola, Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company, Chicago, 2008, ISBN 978-0-88286-234-2 Despite an era made for modern-day state and corporate Metternichs there are stirrings, movement, growing discontent. In the words of Buffalo Springfield’s song, “There’s something happening here. […]
The Crowd in the Iranian Revolution of 1977-79
“The main actor of the Iranian Revolution was really the crowd. One American sociologist has described it as ‘the largest protest event in world history’ . . . in fact it had more mass participation than any other major political crisis or revolution. What is striking about the Iranian crowd is that it’s very, very […]
Labor Board Becomes Government’s “Rip Van Winkle”
Returning to school after winter break, Austin Garrido found that Uloop, an online marketplace for college students, had cut his hourly pay. Elsewhere on the University of California-Polytechnic’s campus in Pomona, his co-worker Sarah Doolittle also discovered a light paycheck. Unhappy about $8 an hour and shrunken bonuses from the Craigslist-type outfit, the two posted […]
Iran Should Sue to Stop US Attack
Francis Boyle, Professor of International Law at the University of Illinois, proposes that Iran sue the U.S. in the World Court to enjoin it against threats to attack Iran. Part 1: The Libya Precedent “We filed papers with the International Court of Justice in the Hague, on behalf of Libya against the US and […]
Afghanistan Threatens to Become Obama’s Vietnam
On the occasion of US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s visit to Berlin, Christine Buchholz, a member of the Left Party executive board, comments: Many hopes are tied to Barack Obama, since George W. Bush is the most unpopular American President ever, and Obama promises to improve the social situation and bring the Iraq […]
Declaration by Zimbabwean Civil Society regarding a Transition to Democracy in Zimbabwe
Briefly. . . 15 July 2008 Broad Zimbabwean Civil Society adopted Declaration calling for establishment of transitional authority, drafting of a new peopled-driven constitution and subsequent democratic elections DECLARATION BY ZIMBABWEAN CIVIL SOCIETY REGARDING A TRANSITION TO DEMOCRACY IN ZIMBABWE following the “Whither Zimbabwe: National Civil Society Consultative Conference” We, civil society organizations acting on […]
Democracy: Too Important to Leave to the Members?
Earlier this summer, it looked like the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union was about to experience something truly unusual in its history – — a contested campaign for national president. The last contest for the union’s top Canadian officer was in 1960, a quarter of a century before the formation of the CAW and a […]
Labor Imperialism, Corporate Unionism, & the SEIU Convention in Puerto Rico
This video is an edited part of a 60 minute labor TV show the Labor Video Project is producing on the 2008 SEIU convention in Puerto Rico. To find out more about the issue of the Puerto Rican teachers and the struggle against privatization you can go to: www.fmprlucha.org mysite.verizon.net/vze2kxcd/fmprsupportcommitteenewyork/ www.coordinadorasindical.org/ www.utier.org/estructuras/index.php More Videos about […]
SEIU: Debating Labor’s Strategy
Introduction by Michael D. Yates Over the past several years, a vigorous debate has taken place within organized labor and among its allies over how best to rebuild a dying labor movement. Much of the is debate has centered around the actions and arguments of the leaders of the nation’s largest union, The Service […]
“Health Care for America Now”: Which Side Are They On?
On June 19th, twenty of us from Gainesville, Florida traveled to Jacksonville to protest Blue Cross Blue Shield, my health insurance company. The effort was part of a nationwide protest of insurance companies, led by the coalition Healthcare NOW: Cigna in Philadelphia, Aetna in Hartford, Humana in Louisville, and many more. The biggest demonstration […]
An Iranian’s Letter to the US Congress
Honorable Ladies & Gentleman! National Call-in Day on Iran Blockade Resolutions Wednesday, July 9 is a national call-in day for H.Con.Res 362, the blockade resolution. Call your member of Congress and ask him or her not to support a blockade on Iran. It was with great dismay that I, and many of my fellow […]
Florida Unilaterally Restricts Travel to Iran, “State Sponsors of Terror”
National Call-in Day on Iran Blockade Resolutions Wednesday, July 9 is a national call-in day for H.Con.Res 362, the blockade resolution.Call your member of Congress and ask him or her not to support a blockade on Iran. Washington, DC — A law has been passed by the Florida legislature making it significantly more difficult […]
Support Striking Namibian Workers at Lev Leviev Diamonds!Protest Firing Threats, Abusive Managers
July 5, 2008 Management at Lev Leviev Diamond Polishing Company (LLD) in Windhoek, Namibia is threatening to fire 153 diamond polishers who have been on strike since June 19th protesting abusive managers as well as overdue job appraisals, promotions, wages and outstanding overtime pay. The company, owned by Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev, whose companies […]
Arroyo Welcomes More US Participation in the “Killing Fields” of the Philippines in the Guise of Humanitarian Intervention
A historic event worthy of the Guinness Book may have occurred in Washington in the last week of June. The worst “torture” president that the United States has ever had met the most corrupt and brutal president ever inflicted on the Filipino people. Grotesque or farcical? Bush is now credited with the horrendous deaths […]
Revolution and Compromise
Our revolution is in the stage of negotiation and our party sees compromise as another aspect of the class struggle. The question has not yet been finalised whether the revolution will be accomplished through compromise or it will be pushed towards counter-revolution. There is an incessant and fierce struggle between two different world outlooks that […]
U.S. Conference of Mayors to Consider Iran Resolution
It’s a Slippery Slope to War: Ask Your Representative to Oppose H. Con. Res. 362Over the last three weeks 77 House Democrats and 92 Republicans have agreed to cosponsor a new resolution against Iran that demands that President Bush “initiate an international effort” to impose a land, sea, and air blockade on Iran to […]
‘Dare Anyone Say a Word?’: The Canadian Labour Congress Convention of 2008
There is always something unsettling about people who say one thing and do another. There is for one thing the hypocrisy. Then, there is the uncertainty. It only takes a few disappointments to sow the seeds of doubt about whether you can ever trust their judgement again or whether you can ever expect them […]
Three Days in Cairo: Egyptian Workers Impose a New Agenda
The road from the airport to the hotel shows the story: modern buildings partly conceal dilapidated, crowded structures that seem on the verge of collapse. Ancient jalopies chug along as if by inertia, while the latest luxury models zip past them. Huge billboards advertise multinational corporations. All this goes side by side with centuries-old […]
