RUSSIAN DOCKERS' LEADER BEATEN AND STABBED - AN URGENT APPEAL FOR HELP

From the NYC Wobs discussion list:

. . . . on 7 June, Mikhail Chesalin, the chairman of the local Dockers Union in Kaliningrad, Russia, was savagely stabbed and beaten outside the union office. An unknown number of assailants attacked Chesalin when he got out of his car, stabbing him numerous times in the spine, and beating him severely about the head. He was left lying face-down, unconscious, in a pool of blood. Chesalin's colleagues believe that the attack was orchestrated by Vladimir Kalinichenko, the General Director of the Sea Commercial Port where the dockworkers' union is currently running an organizing campaign.

When we talk about "urgent action appeals" this is exactly the sort of thing that we mean. It is our responsibility as trade unionists to rally to the support of our brothers and sisters in Kaliningrad and to demand that attacks on trade unionists cease and workers' rights be respected. Please send your message of protest today:

Labor Start Solidarity Campaign

And most important -- pass this message on, mobilize members of your unions, let's send thousands of messages to Russia today.

With These Hands I Demand the Future

Simple, but brilliantly effective.

From the Coalition of Immokalee Workers website.

A day late, a hundred years on

One of the most interesting bloggers on the block, Charlie Pottins, has a post marking the hundredth anniversary of the Belfast 1907 strike led by Jim Larkin.

International Workers' Memorial Day

As today is International Workers' Memorial Day, I thought I'd post the following article from the forthcoming May 2007 Socialist Standard:

Underlying Cause

It's just one example of many where the pursuit of profits take primacy over the lives of working people.

What's International Workers' Memorial Day?

"The purpose behind Workers' Memorial Day has always been to "remember the dead: fight for the living" . Two million people are killed at work around the world every year according to the International Labour Organisation. This is greater than the numbers killed in wars, by AIDS or by alcohol and drugs."

Hope people find it of interest.