Solidarity - articles before 22 November 2002

Millions of workers joined a general strike in Italy on 18 October called by the country's biggest trade union federation, CGIL. Protests were held in 120 towns and public transport was brought to a halt. The strike was called to oppose massive cuts to health and education services proposed in Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's 2003 Budget. Many school and hospital workers joined the action, as did car workers from Fiat, where bosses are trying to slash jobs. Twenty per cent of the Fiat workforce faces redundancy. By Lucy Clement The strike also highlighted the CGIL's ongoing campaign to save...

...fight for decent pay : link the struggles! The offensive of public sector workers continues. Tuesday 5 November will see the most co-ordinated strike action ever in the Further Education (FE) sector in England. Workers from the FE teachers' union NATFHE are demanding parity with school teachers, who currently earn on average nearly £4,000 more than their FE counterparts. By Matt Cooper, Chair Barnet NATFHE (in a personal capacity) In England the employers have offered a derisory 2.3%, although in Wales the Executive has promised to achieve parity by April 2004. This action follows a two-day...

Russia out of Chechnya! No war on Iraq! By Gerry Bates A monstrous act of scarcely believable terrorism against innocent civilians was committed last week. At least 119 people were killed. The victims were Russian citizens. The terrorists were the Russian government and the Russian military. Five hundred civilians being held hostage in a Moscow theatre by Chechen militants - demanding that Russia stop its war in Chechnya - and their captors were subjected to attack by nerve gas. 119 of the hostages died. Two hundred or so are still critically ill. The 50 Chechens in the theatre were all killed...

Six days after the bomb explosion in Legian, Kuta Bali, the Indonesian Government issued Government Decrees on the elimination of terrorism. After Bali's tragedy, the Megawati-Hamzah Haz government has found a justification for a more repressive policy. This government has the blessing of, and complete support from, the governments of Bush, Howard and Blair to carry on its anti-democratic policies. We, the working people, condemn this tragedy on the Island of Paradise, which has killed 187 people, and injured more than 300 others. We condemn every single cowardly political action which...

By Dale Street Oakington "Reception Centre" deals with new asylum-seekers. During their week's detention at Oakington their claim for asylum is refused - the rejection rate at Oakington is 99.98%. Around 80% are then released, while the other 20% are further detained elsewhere. The government's Nationality Immigration and Asylum Bill is soon to become law. It will revive the old Tory "white list" - countries in which there is supposedly no risk of persecution. New Labour's "white list" consists of the ten states in the process of joining the EU. According to refugee rights groups, only...

Right wing opposition leaders have again attempted to oust President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela over the last month. The opposition organised a demonstration on 10 October, involving around a million people. A general strike-lockout by employers and some unions took place on 21 October, and the following day dissident generals set up a "liberated zone" in Caracas. Chavez claims to have thwarted several attempts to assassinate him or overthrow his government.

Colombian trade unions have organised a general strike on 30 October. The action follows another strike and protest of around 800,000 on 16 September where many people were detained and beaten. Trade unionists, youth, rural workers and poor peasants were involved. The action is against the new government of Uribe Vélez policies of cuts and repression. The government plans: l A labour reform that reduces wages and overtime l A pension reform that increases the retirement age by a third l The reduction of public sector salaries by 30%. These measures have been developed under pressure from the...

In Pakistan's elections of 10 October - the first since General Pervez Musharraf grabbed power in a coup in 1999 - gains were made by the coalition of Pakistani Islamist groups, the Muttahida Majlis-I-Amal (MMA). The Islamists got around third of the seats in the National Assembly, won a definitive majority in Sarhad (Northwest Frontier Province) and a majority of seats in the southwestern province of Baluchistan. The Pakistan Muslim League (Q), an 18-month old party backed by Musharraf and the army, gathered the most votes, but not enough to form its own government. Musharraf's supporters...

Organising the left in the PT is the key, says Paul Hampton Luiz Inacio Da Silva of the Workers' Party (PT) comfortably won the presidency of Brazil on Sunday, gaining over 52 million votes - 61% of the total. Da Silva, known universally as Lula, becomes the first working class president of the world's fifth largest country, in an election of continental significance. The Workers' Party (PT) was formed in 1980, after a great wave of strikes. The military dictatorship that ruled Brazil had presided over the rapid industrialisation of the country, resulting in a working class concentrated in the...

Refugee rights campaigners from Britain and France organised joint protests outside Dover Removals Centre (DRC) and the Sangatte Red Cross camp near Calais on 19 October. It was a truly international protest with similar events happening all over Europe. Sally Murdock reports. DRC is a converted young offenders' prison. Detained refugees - many are Afghan or Iraqi - are accused of no crime except seeking asylum in the UK, often fleeing from war, torture and terror. In the early nineties, less than 300 immigration "offenders" were detained at any one time. The government is now creating 4,000...