WORKERS AROUND THE WORLD
NEPAL
Police attack sparks general strike
A general strike shut down Katmandu, the capital of Nepal,
on Jan. 1-2. Businesses, shops and schools were closed tight.
Streets were deserted. The Group of Nine Leftists, a
coalition of nine communist parties, called the action after
police killed six protesters in late December.
Student-led protests had erupted in Katmandu and other
cities after reports of anti-Nepalese remarks by Indian movie
star Hrithik Roshan. Protesters, who called the remarks
racist, targeted theaters screening Roshan's films and
Indian-owned businesses.
Cops shot and killed four protesters in the capital Dec.
27. On Dec. 31 two more people were killed in the southern
town of Rajbiraj during a demonstration against the police
killings, according to the Associated Press.
Nepal, a small, mountainous country, has long been
dominated by neighboring India. In 1990 a popular uprising
forced Nepal's king to lift the ban on political parties and
establish a parliamentary system. The bourgeois Nepali
Congress Party dominates the government. The king retains
control of the military.
The Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist),
the main opposition group, has the second-biggest delegation
in parliament. Another group, the Communist Party of Nepal
(Maoist), is waging a guerrilla war against the
government.
NETHERLANDS
Same-sex marriage victory
Same-sex marriage legislation cleared its final hurdle in
the Netherlands when it passed the Senate Dec. 19. The new
law will take effect in April, according to independent
journalist Rex Wockner.
The new law allows lesbian and gay couples to marry and
adopt children under the same statutes as heterosexual
couples. The Netherlands is the first country to grant
same-sex couples access to regular marriage.
"We're the first country in the world where there is not
distinction made on the basis of gender," said Ono Hoes, a
representative of the Dutch gay-rights group COC.
However, same-sex couples will not be allowed to adopt
children from other countries. Couples from third countries
cannot get married there.
The legislation was supported by the liberal coalition
government and by leftist parties.
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