After the election in the USA, and witnessing the rise of the far right in Australia, the union movement - and particularly union rank and file members - need to take a lead in the fight against racism. Trades Hall has partnered with a number of unions and community groups to hold a rally and festival celebrating and defending multiculturalism. Join a free family friendly street party celebrating the great diversity of our society. There will be music, food, cultural exhibitions and rides for the kids.

Global Street Party - Saturday 10 December - International Human Rights Day
12pm - Rally against Racism at State Library, Melbourne with a march to Trades Hall
1pm - Festival at Trades Hall, Lygon Street Carlton

Invite your fellow workers and bring the whole family for a fun afternoon in support for our multicultural society.

The last few weeks have not been kind to workers in Pakistan. Following the fire at the shipbreaking yard a month ago, injured workers and families of those who died have not yet received any compensation. The 1,500 workers employed at the PepsiCo plant in Lahore are still fighting for secure jobs and the right to collectively bargain. In another manufacturing company, Schneider Electric, 17 workers were instantly dismissed for demanding a wage rise. Just this week, over 60 workers of the luxury Quetta Serena Hotel, were arrested for holding a gathering outside the hotel premises in support of their right to bargain.

The suffering and casualty toll to working class communities has only increased in the last few months with the latest military offensives in Aleppo, Syria and Mosul, Iraq. Both of the wars in Syria and Iraq have seen the involvement of multiple reactionary and imperialist forces. The last few months have seen many developments among these various forces such as Turkey, Iraq, Turkey and Iraq, Iraqi Kurds, Iranian Kurds, Syrian rebels, Egypt, Russia and the USA as each tries to position itself to gain advantage over some of their rivals. Under the pressures of these manoeuvrings, many of the original popular movements in places like Aleppo are being strangled, while international calls to stop the bombing only have a limited effect.

The period under the dictatorial rule of President Marcos between 1972 until 1981 is characterised by the routine beatings, arrests and murders of labour and human rights activists. President Marcos was expelled via a popular uprising in 1981 and died in the USA a few years later. The current Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte reignited past wounds by allowing Marcos’ remains to be buried in the ‘Cemetery of the Heroes’ in Metro Manila. This decision provoked mass opposition and protest by many human rights and labour groups who see Marcos as a dictator and a murderer. The protests have also surprisingly generated widespread opposition from a younger generation who see this burial as an attempt to re-write Filipino history.

AAWL is concluding this year’s series of film fundraisers by turning its focus to Africa with the screening of ‘The First Grader’. The film takes a personal story to focus on the failed Mau Mau national liberation movement and the struggle by former activists to be recognised in an independent Kenya. Check out the facebook event page here.

At least 40 workers were killed on Thursday 24 November, when a construction platform at a power station in the Yichun, Jiangxi province, collapsed. Many other workers were injured. The cause for such a catastrophic collapse is not yet known, but this is just the latest of a series of disasters to hit Chinese workers (see here and here). A relentless drive for profits combined with the repression of independent unions create a deadly combination for workers in China.

Earlier this month, a fire at an illegally run garment factory in a residential area of Sahibabad, New Delhi, killed 13 workers. The fire occurred early in the morning and killed the workers as they were asleep in the factory building itself. In India’s rapid industrialisation over the last two decades, it is the workers who are paying the price with many fatal accidents occurring all over India. Amid the carnage, some sections of the workers’ movement like the garment workers around Bangalore, have been able to make improvements through direct action and workplace organising.

The the powerful South Korean workers movement will be holding a nationwide general strike on Wednesday 30 November. While the primary objective is to force the resignation of the President, Park Geun-hye, workers are also fighting for their rights and their wages and conditions. The South Korean workers’ movement has called for international actions in support of their general strike.

Following on from last week’s big protests in Malaysia, and in many other cities around the world, the Malaysian government has stepped up repression against the anti-corruption movement. Maria Chin Abdullah, one of the leaders of Bersih, had been arrested prior to the demonstration with a number of others. Maria Chin is now being held for allegedly violating the recently proclaimed Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (SOSMA), also known as the anti-terror law. SOSMA allows people to be detained without charge for long periods. This development has brought back memories of when the ISA was used to suppress dissent in Malaysia.

The rise of the racist One Nation Party in Australia in the recent Federal elections has emboldened the far right. Islamophobia is one of the major planks for these movements. In Melbourne, a right wing Zionist group has invited representatives of One Nation to hold a meeting this Sunday to discuss how to oppose Islamic people. Anti-racist Jewish groups have called a counter demonstration, inviting all anti-racists and anti-fascists, to oppose the spread of division and hate in our communities.