World Workers' Movements Newswire Archive

Recent media coverage has highlighted the onset of zero-hour contracts for employing workers in various private and public sectors. This article looks at the economic logic of this under the capitalist mode of production and suggests this is nothing new in the history of that mode.

There was a large gathering at this years Durham Miners Gala

The toppling of Morsi by the combined efforts of millions aided by the military have introduced new factors into the volatile situation in Egypt. This article considers a number of them both positive and negative.

Did the recent 'Peoples' Assembly offer a realistic way forward or just another chance for the left elite to gain an audience? Was the dominant message based on reality or simply wishful thinking? This article considers the positives and negatives of this recent initiative and suggests avoiding some obvious pitfalls.

Following last week's observations on the destructiveness of the money system in general, we look this week at two specific examples of devastaed communities and ecosystems. Firstly, an account by Arundhati Roy of the oppression of Indian communities by a government determined to extract resources. Secondly, a radio adaptation of "To The Last Drop", a film about the Athabasca Tar Sands in Alberta, Canada.

A report from Islington Hands Off Our Public Services about the People's Assembly Against Austerity on 22 June 2013. 4,000-plus delegates heard that they should set up local assemblies against austerity and debate a draft statement. Union leaders said they would back industrial action supported by workers.

Given the persistence of political and religious sectarianism and its rapid proliferation into extreme forms throughout the world it is worth considering in considerable detail the characteristics of this reactionary tendency. In this the first of three articles the opinions of Marx and Engels in the 19th century on this vexed question are considered.

"Revolution is the only form of warfare where a final victory must be preceded by a long series of defeats."

Rosa Luxemburg

“No worker who is not a shareholder, no shareholder who is not a worker,” say the workers of VIOME (Industrial Mineral), a factory in northern Greece. Their plan to take over the factory and to manage it themselves has generated waves of encouragement and support throughout the world. In this report for UNFOLLOW magazine, Christos Avramidis and Antonis Galanopoulos investigate the background to current events, and ask what the future might hold for these workers and their plan, what the reaction of the Greek government is likely to be, and whether workers’ self-management is feasible in a capitalist context.

Eco-warriors and other anti-capitalist protesters are preparing for massive protests against the Bilderberg Conference at the Grove hotel at Watford England from 5 to 9 June 2013 where presidents and prime ministers will secretly meet the bankers and corporate leaders who illegally employ them just one week before the G8 summit in Ireland.
Most of the mainstream media is refusing to publish or broadcast any news about the protests against the secret world government of the Bilderberg Group and even Facebook has banned a message to Peter Jackson proposing the filming of the reality TV show for the children about the imminent extinction of the human race by global warming as a result of the burning of fossil fuels.

This week an invitation to reflect on capitalism in crisis not as an economic but a political phenomenon. We hear two 'bigger picture' talks on the interrelationships between Economics and Politics, one with a European focus, one which concentrates on USA. First Tariq Ali gives us "The Rotten Heart of Europe" summarising the machinations of the political elite in Europe. Next it is Gar Alperovitz, author of "America Beyond Capitalism", on the growth of US movements to decentralize wealth and ownership.

The Asylum Strike is a historical moment of self-organisation where the undocumented and illegalised have manifest as a force on their own terms and shown the ability to go on the offensive against the state and racism in the heart of Western Europe and therefore on these same terms against international capitalism.

- Remember the Dhaka workers and all those killed by capitalism

Thursday 2nd May

People have been taking to the streets in Bangladesh since Thursday and
there will be mass strikes on 2 May. Let’s show them some solidarity!

2nd May, 4.30pm, Primark, Western Road, Brighton

On 24 April more than 300 workers were crushed to death in a collapsing factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The factory made clothes for high street chains including Primark, Matalan, Benetton, and Mango. Just another "accident" in the race for profits. Those responsible for these deaths are in London and in towns across the UK, we need to hold them to account.

Golden Dawn get drunk, make Nazi salutes, attack immigrants & locals, then get thrown into the sea by Anarchists

The working class is awakening, and the mobilisations of the last few days among the logistics sector workers in Emilia Romagna are the first signs. Recently, we have seen two different images of work struggles: the Peugeot workers in Paris clashing with the police on one hand; and the sad, resigned-looking picket organised by Fiom outside a Fiat establishment in Italy, on the other hand. Both are fighting for their jobs, but the differences are clearly visible and stimulate many diverse reflections. The French workers’ determination in defense of their rights and dignity has spread to the Italian logistics sector workers’ mobilisation on March 22, and manifested in their determination to defeat the enemy. Workers of different backgrounds and origins, Italians and migrants, have united against the exploitation carried on by the worker cooperative owners and the main worker cooperative, the Coop.

Call to action of the Indonesian People's Movement Against Neocolonialism-Imperialism toward Bali WTO Ministerial meeting on 3-6 of December 2013

A small army of High Court bailiffs, security men, tow truck drivers, and Enfield council officials who tried to steal more vehicles belonging to the children's charity that is building a school in Gambia, failed in their latest attempt to evict the Working Class Heroes from our derelict squatted MOT service station site on Thursday 7 March 2013.

StopG8 is organising a week of action, including workshops, gigs and cultural events in June. There is also a major day of action on Tuesday 11 June, 'J11 – Carnival against Capitalism'. There's lots to do and we need more people to get involved.

Hate meetings?! No problem, we want people to come and take on jobs, you don't have to sit around in big groups discussing things. The next national meeting will be in London on 6th and 7th April (venue tba, see network23.org/stopg8/), we'll arrange the agenda so you can come along and get involved without spending hours in meetings.

I’ll miss Hugo. When I first was introduced to him in Porto Alegre in 2003, he greeted me, “Mi padre,” and said he learned a lot from me. I was dubious about this and thought he was simply buttering me up, like any two-bit politician. Then he started telling me what he learned from Development Debacle, Deglobalization, and Dark Victory. I was stupefied; the guy actually read my stuff!