Skip to main content

Posts

The more I know, the more angry I get.  "Oh, what a sweet and soft and healthy pillow is ignorance and incuriosity, to rest a well-made head!" —French philosopher Michel de Montaigne
The International Trade Union Confederation is releasing to the world the results of its annual Global Rights Index: Trade unionists were murdered in ten countries - Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Italy, Pakistan, the Philippines, Turkey and Zimbabwe.  85% of countries have violated the right to strike.  80% of countries deny some or all workers collective bargaining. The number of countries which exclude workers from the right to establish or join a trade union increased from 92 in 2018 to 107 in 2019. Workers had no or restricted access to justice in 72% of countries. The number of countries where workers are arrested and detained increased from 59 in 2018 to 64 in 2019. Out of 145 countries surveyed, 54 deny or constrain free speech and freedom of assembly. Authorities impeded the registration of unions in 59% of countries. Workers experienced violence in 52 countries.  Full report: ITUC Global Rights Index 2019
The Astounding Eyes of Rita
The British government might have broken the law?  Oh, please, give me a break!  On a 2016 trip to Yemen, the Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell visited a school in the capital. It had been built, he said, with British aid – only to be destroyed, in all likelihood, by a British bomb. “I asked my host what the children were chanting,” he recalled to me in his Westminster office. His host translated for him: “‘Death to the Saudis’, ‘Death to the Americans’ – and in respect for your visit today, they have cut out the third stanza.” ' The Saudis couldn't do without us '
Egypt Mohammed Morsi was not a revolutionary. On the contrary, the Muslim Brotherhood made deals with SCAF during the heyday of Tahrir Square mobilisation, he and his movement did not have a programme for the development of Egypt, he embraced Obama and co., he attacked the workers movement, etc. But he was not a "terrorist", nor is the MB.  He did not die ; he was slowly killed by the military.