Unprecedented engineers’ strike

The engineers’ [train drivers] strike organized by the GDL union represents something completely new for Germany, one of the most stable European countries, and with absolutely the least hours on strike. The demands of the engineers are a 31% wage increase, reduction in the weekly work schedule and their own contract. This strike takes place […]

Initial comments on the strike in France

The strike has been very strong in transport over land, the axis of the Sarkozy government’s attack on the “special [retirement] provisions,” and the backbone of the French workers’ movement today, especially among the railway workers. The success of the strike call by the unions was particularly obvious on the trains, since only 5% of […]

Burma: Rebellion and bloody repression

Repression by the military government against the massive mobilization leaves a toll of casualties, plus a thousand people who disappeared and thousands of people under arrest. The military dictatorship (which seized power in 1962 after a coup perpetrated by General Ne Win, following the example of Maoist China, nationalizing land, industry and trade), reacted with […]

We repudiate the brutal repression against the oil workers

In Puerto La Cruz We repudiate the brutal repression against the oil workers The Juventud de Izquierda Revoluionaria (JIR-PRS)* repudiates the violent repression against the oil workers of Puerto La Cruz, carried out today Thursday, in the morning at the entrance of the CVP (Corporación Venezolana de Petróleo) in Anzoátegui. The workers were mobilizing for […]

New attacks against the immigrants

In a context of uneasiness maintained with the foreign policy of George W. Bush’s government and increasing worries because of the fall of the real estate market and the financial crisis, millions of immigrants in the US live and work in a virtual state of siege with the threat of arrest and deportation over their […]

The role of Chávez in Colombia

During recent months pressure has been growing in Colombia, both from within the country and from outside, to arrive at a “humanitarian exchange” of hostages held by the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) and members of the FARC in Colombian and US prisons. The agreement that they would release more than 400 members of […]

A reform cooked up behind the backs of the people

On August 15, Hugo Chávez presented his announced constitutional reform in the National Assembly after months of secrecy. A reform worked out behind the backs of the people, which was presented as a package where 33 articles were amended, in order then to call on the workers and the people to vote “yes” or “no” […]

A new case of corruption shakes the government

Originally published in La Verdad Obrera 247 [Buenos Aires] Thursday 8/16/2007 By Armando Mouzo (Translation by Yosef M.) They say that a few hours before leaving, the pilots were informed that there would be eight passengers on the Royal Class flight coming from Venezuela. The affair of the suitcase of the Venezuelan Antonini Wilson has […]

The Constituent Assembly in a coma

Using its simple majority, on August 15, the MAS [governing party] parliamentary group approved excluding from the constitutional discussion the question of moving the capital to Sucre, by keeping its status as the juridical capital. On Wednesday, August 22, it suspended 4 magistrates of the Constitutional Tribunal for hindering the trial of ex-President Sánchez de […]