Blogs

Mourad Ghedia, President of the SNAPAP/CGATA Justice Sector Workers, has been arrested and placed under a detention order in El-Harrach prison. Join the LabourStart campaign calling for his immediate release.

Mr. Ghedia, a clerk by profession, had previously been suspended in 2012 for almost three years along with 57 other people for strike action, without any procedure having been followed or any supporting documents having been sent to them.

CUPE 4600 member Cihan Erdal has been unjustly jailed in Turkey since September 2020. CUPE is pressing the Canadian government to support Cihan as he prepares for trial in May, and to work to get him released from jail and safely home to Canada.

The next few weeks are critical. We need to make Cihan’s case a top priority for the Turkish government, and demand action.

Ancapology rests on the recognising negative rights (the right not to have something inflicted upon you, such as murder), but not positive rights (entitlements that place a burden on others, such as healthcare). That’s perfectly legit. Contrary to ancap misconception other ancoms don’t recognise universal positive rights either, but may choose to extend those within their own communities.

A few days prior, over a work-related video conference, an engineer based in India opened to those present their feelings on the state of their country. It was a depressing story, of death and many more infections on the campus (some of which must result in more deaths). He mentioned the incredible sadness that is affecting so many in their country, the frustration at the lack of resources the country has as the pandemic's infections and fatality rates continue their accelerating and upwards trend.

Today, April 16 AEST, the global casualty rate for SARS-CoV-2 reached three million dead, and around one-hundred and forty million aggregate cases. It is, of course, nowhere near the scale of WWII, where something in the order of 70-85 million people died when the world population was an estimated 2.3 billion, compared to the 7.7 billion of today. But of course, this is just year one.

by Pyotr Malatesta

I was just thinking of an interesting NAP situation...

Today is Bramble Cay Melomys Memorial Day, dedicated to Australian wildlife and especially those that have become exitinct due to human (in)action. The Bramble Cay Melomys is the first mammal to become extinct due to climate change. A rescue plan was organised, but it was too little, too late.

The Guardian cartoonist, First Dog on the Moon, has provided a series of cartoons on these events.

The women of the independent national trade union of public administration employees in Algeria, Femmes SNAPAP, are calling for the immediate release of Dalila Touat and Namia Abdelkader, both teachers and both prisoners of conscience.

Since the mass protests denouncing pervasive corruption in Algeria – also called the Hirak Movement – and the protests following the December presidential election, repression has intensified, sparing no one, including trade unionists.

On 25 July last year, leaders of the Jordanian teachers union were jailed. The Education International, uniting teachers from all over the world, launched a global protest including an online campaign on LabourStart. On 23 August, the teachers' leaders were freed from jail -- because Jordanian law allowed them to be held for just 30 days.

Four months later, things have gotten much worse.

On 31 December, the Amman Magistrate's Court authorised the dissolution of the teachers union, and the detention of all 13 union board members for a year.

Michael chose the introductory music to Anarchist World This Week (AWTW) over 20 years ago, he was also the producer of AWTW for a number of years. Michael was an indispensable presence at the Reclaim the Radical Spirit of the Eureka Rebellion Celebrations’ live broadcast from Ballarat at 4:00am on the 3rd December, for over a decade.

He also did a number of outside broadcasts for Talkback with Attitude over the years. Michael Smith was an integral part of many of the programs I’ve been involved with at 3CR Community Radio