WORKERS AROUND THE WORLD by
Andy McInerney
EUROPE
'Open the borders to all!'
In cities across Europe on Jan. 31, tens of thousands of
immigrants, labor unionists and their supporters staged rallies
to demand an end to restrictions on immigration, and legal
asylum for undocumented workers.
The Associated Press estimated that 2,500 people marched in
Athens, Greece, chanting, "Legalize all immigrants, open the
borders to all!" Some marchers clashed with neofascist
hecklers.
Marches also took place in cities across Italy: Rome, Turin,
Bologna, Caltanissetta and Crotone. Many marchers criticized
the Italian government's immigrant detention centers,
especially after prosecutors charged a center in Bologna with
lacing food with sedatives to keep detainees passive.
In Spain, a coalition of unions and working-class parties
joined with anti-globalization groups to protest a new law
restricting immigration. Under the slogan "Native or immigrant:
the same working class," the groups demanded internment centers
be closed, deportations and repression of immigrants stop,
immediate amnesty, and an end to European Union restrictions on
immigration.
The demonstrations were the result of a call made by the
European Social Forum held in Saint-Denis, France, in November.
That call was for a European Day against Internment Centers and
for the Free Circulation of People.
Right-wing nationalist groups and parties across Europe have
been terrorizing immigrant communities at the same time
governments have been impos ing greater restrictions on
immigrants.
IRELAND
Anti-racist rally in Belfast
Hundreds of people turned out for an anti-racist rally in
Belfast on Jan. 27 organized by the Anti-Racist Network in
conjunction with the labor union movement, the Republican News
reported. The rally was called to protest a rash of racist
attacks against African, Chinese and Pakistani immigrants in
southern Belfast, in the British-occupied northern part of
Ireland.
The Sinn Fein Party, which advocates an end to British
control of Northern Ireland, supported the rally. Sinn Fein
leader Gerry Adams told the crowd that political leaders have
"a duty to stand up against the racists and the bigots who were
bringing terror to the ethnic minority communities of the
city."
He was referring to the fact that all the attacks have
occurred in segregated neighborhoods controlled by pro-British
Loyalist thugs. Loyalist politicians have distanced themselves
from the attacks-some of them even attended the anti-racist
rally-but all evidence points to the Klan-like Loyalist
paramilitary groups.
PERU
Unions protest
privatization
The ancient Inca ruins at Machu Picchu in southeastern Peru
are not accessible by road; they can only be reached by a train
that travels there from the closest city, Cuzco. That made the
train a perfect target for the Cuzco Workers Federation, which
has been protesting President Alejandro Toledo's plans to
privatize 10 percent of the Machu Picchu Electric Company.
On Jan. 28, unionists set up blockades made of logs and
boulders across the train tracks, forcing the railroad to shut
down and stranding hundreds of tourists. Several
tourist-oriented restaurants and shops were also closed by
protests.
Toledo came into office in 2001 promising to create a
million jobs. Yet unemployment continues to rise, fueling
growing strikes and protests. Toledo's popularity is running at
10 percent, according to recent polls.
GERMANY
Warning strikes press for wage
increases
The powerful German metal workers' union IG Metall began a
series of rolling strikes to press the demand for a 4-percent
raise. By Jan. 30, over 50,000 workers were off the job.
The bosses' federation, which includes industrial giants
like DaimlerChrysler, offered 1.2-percent pay hikes over 15
months, followed by another 1.2 percent for the next 12 months.
Bosses also demanded that the work week increase from 35 to 40
hours without salaries going up.
Union leaders called the offer "a slap in the face."
DaimlerChrysler union council leader Erich Klimm promised to
"take the conflict into the factories."
The fight kicked off Jan. 29, when about 10,000 workers
walked off the job for two-hour warning strikes. The next day,
the number of strikers soared to 50,000. Union leaders
promised, "The movement will grow in coming days."
IRAN
Gov't attacks worker protest
What began as a sit-in by contract workers at the Nazkhaton
Copper Smelter in Babak, Iran, ended in a massacre by
government security forces on Jan. 23, according to both
government media and exile workers' rights groups. The Inter
national Alliance in Support of Workers Rights in Iran, a
Canada-based group, issued a release stating that four to 15
workers and their supporters were killed.
The French News Agency AFP quoted a member of Iran's
parliament saying that the workers had gone on strike several
days earlier to demand permanent jobs. He said that helicopters
carrying special police units attacked the workers in
Khatunabad, and that fighting spread to the nearby town of
Shahrebabak.
The AFP also noted that the People's Mujaheddeen, one of the
armed opposition groups with Marxist roots in Iran, issued a
statement protesting the attack. The group asserted that 15
people had been killed.
The government sent a delegation to investigate the charges,
which were publicized in many of Iran's main newspapers. But
the Alliance in Support of Workers Rights statement states,
"There is an overwhelming lack of trust toward [Iranian
President Mohammad] Khatami's delegations since they have never
been accountable and sincere in the past."
Reprinted from the Feb. 12, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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