Left groups supports Burmese workers struggle

Left groups in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, South Africa, Australia & New Zealand have expressed their support for striking workers in Burma. Workers at the Taiyi shoe factory and Opal 2 garment factory began a strike on Monday, 8 February 2010. They are demanding an increase in salary of 10.000 Kyat (US$ 10), a reduction of working hours and the provision of a clean space for meal. The strike started in the Mya Fashion garment factory in No. 3 Factory Zone of Rangoon’s Hlaing Thrayar Township. Now they are being blocked by riot police trucks. At least 50 trucks packed with riot police carrying assault rifles and shields were dispatched. They are prevented from leaving the factory zone and no one has been allowed to enter. Police securing roads surrounding the Hlaingtharyar Industrial Zone, about 11 km outside the biggest city, Yangon [also known as Rangoon]. Overall the working conditions in Burma are getting worse. The Burmese military regime is pro-foreign capital, and depends on cheap wages and deplorable working conditions to attract foreign investments. Like other democratic rights in Burma, the democratic rights of workers such as freedom to form trade unions is also being repressed. The rise of the working class is a good sign of the possibility of fundamental changes in Burma. The rise of the working class should be supported by all people’s movements in Burma and internationally. We the undersigned organizations and political parties support the struggle of Burma’s working class and demand: • The workers’ just demands must be fulfilled. • Reject any form of repression of workers. • Full democratic rights for the workers including the right to organize, build independent trade union and form political parties. We declare our fullest support to the people of Burma to build a democratic Burma. Because only with a democratic Burma can prosperity and justice be achieved. SIGNATORIES • Working Peoples Association (Indonesia) • Singapore Democratic Party • Socialist Party of Malaysia • Socialist Alternative (Australia) • Confederation Congress of Indonesia Union Alliance • Socialist Worker (New Zealand) • Socialist Alliance (Australia) • Young Democrats (Singapore) • Partido ng Manggangawa (Philippines) • Congress of South African Trade Unions • Partido Lakas ng Masa (Philippines) • World Federation of Trade Union (Asia Pacific Region) • Movement for the Advancement of Student Power (Philippine)

BURMA- Protest against the Chinese Embassy

Invitation To Protest against the Embassy
of the People's Republic of China, Wellington,

March in Wellington to express solidarity with the ongoing peaceful demonstrations of monks, students and political activists against recent fuel price hikes, and ongoing Burmese struggle for democracy and human rights in Burma.

To request Chinese policy-makers to uphold international moral responsibilities in the global arena, especially to be polite and support democracy and human rights in Burma in line with the wishes of the people of Burma.

We, Burmese Democracy Advocates cordially invite all the people who support democracy and human rights living throughout New Zealand to join the Wellington March.

Programme Date: 15.Oct .2007 Monday
Time: 10:00 to 12:00 am
Place: 2-6 Glenmore Street, Kelburn, Wellington,

Postal Address: PO Box 17257, Karori, Wellington, New Zealand Country & Area Code: +64-4 Telephone: 4721382 Facsimile: 4990419 Emergency call: +64-21-528663

Contact Persons (1) Ko Naing Ko 021-121-8118 (2) Ko Sunny Tin Zaw Moe 09- 521-3627 (3) Ko Soe Thein-021- 163-071 (4) Ko Aung Pe Khin - 021- 170-4352 (5) Ko Ko Kyaw - 021-107-3962

Note: Buses are going to leave from Auckland at 6 pm on Sunday 14 Oct, 2007 and will depart from Wellington at 8 pm on Monday 15 Oct, 2007. Meeting points are: Zabuaye monastery in Auckland and the NZ parliament in Wellington respectively.

Burma- One Solution: REVOLUTION!

Over a thousand people turned out in Central Auckland on Saturday 29th September to support the peaceful revolution in Burma that is inspiring the world. The demostration was called by the Solidarity Union, and supported by the Council of Trade Unions (NZ), Burmese Federation of Trade Unions, the Burma Support Group (AUSA), Amnesty International (NZ), the Service and Food Workers Union, the NDU, the Green Party, Socialist Worker, Greens on Campus, Radical Youth, Pax Christi and Global Peace and Justice Auckland. A National MP even spoke- which was more than could be said of NZ's ruling Labour Party, who were conspicuous by their absence. The Labour government wants to negotiate a free trade deal with Burma, and has refused to impose sanctions on the dictatorship since 2005.



Joe Carolan of Solidarity Union introduced the speakers, and called on NZ student and trade unions to take action to support their words-

"Now that the MyanMar military Junta has smashed the monasteries, beaten, imprisoned and murdered the monks, and opened fire on the people in the streets, there can be no retreat. All work and trade must stop. A General Strike must paralyse the nation.
Workers and student organisations are now on the frontline in Burma. Our NZ student and trade unions have a moral duty to support them in this time of need. The CTU has backed todays protest. But Burma needs more.

The trade unions of New Zealand are the largest democratic organisations we have. Unions who came today should take up workplace collections to support the Burmese Federation of Trade unions, whose representative Naing Ko Ko joins us here. They know best how to deliver the support to the resistance at home.

All NZ companies who profit from slave labour in Burma should be the targets for future protests- NZ does 4.4 million dollars of dairy business with the Myanmar regime, and the Super Fund invests in Total Oil's exploitation of Burma's reserves. Helen Clarke wants to sign a free trade deal with the regime. All should immediately be stopped. There can be no trade with a slave labour regime."






Naing Ko Ko of the Burmese Federation of Trade Unions paid homage to the Buddhist monks, who led the march down Auckland's Queen Street. He said that the struggle that they have started must be continued by the country's workers and students, many of whom are now forced underground. Tinmama Oo of the Burma Support Group in Auckland University Student Association pledged that her generation of Burmese would never give up and never surrender, and that one day the brutal military dictatorship would be overthrown.

John Minto from GPJA warned people not to trust groups such as the UN Security Council, ASEAN, the US Military or the politicians in power to solve the crisis. He looked to the huge outpouring of internationalist solidarity from ordinary working people to deliver the support to the Burmese resistance as the only power Burma's people could trust.



The revolution in Burma will inspire the workers of Thailand, who are living under the iron heel of the Thai military with little condemnation fromthe Western political establishment. The revolution in Burma will inspire the workers of China, who were slaughtered along with the students of Tiananmen Square when they stood up from freedom in 1989, The revolution in Burma has inspired the people of Aotearoa, who will continue to organise practical solidarity for the resistance in the weeks and months to come.

Video of the Auckland protests and speeches

NZ Unions to rally in Solidarity with Burmese workers and students

FREE BURMA!

Demo in Aotea Square, Auckland

Sat 29th Sept 2pm

Demonstrate your solidarity with the revolution breaking out in Burma against 20 years of brutal military rule. SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER: Naing Ko Ko. pro democracy activist (Federation of Trade Unions Burma) and former political prisoner.


"The peaceful people's revolution in Burma against an oppressive and brutal military dictatorship now faces a crucial few days, as the Junta declares it will crack down on protests and demonstrations with the utmost of severity. But the huge marches in Rangoon, Mandalay and other major cities that have been led by monks, have now been joined by students and workers. Solidarity Union calls on workers and students here in Aotearoa to come and show your support for our courageous brothers and sisters in Burma this Saturday, 2pm, in Auckland's Aotea Square. Please bring your union or organisation banners and placards calling for freedom for Burma. This world does not need a horrific repeat of the massacres of 1988. "

Special speaker at the rally in Auckland will be Naing Ko Ko, a trade union and democracy activist with the Burmese Federation of Trade Unions, who was jailed and tortured for six years by the military dictatorship. The rally is also supported by the CTU, the Service and Food Workers Union, Amnesty International, AUSA Greens on Campus, Socialist Worker, the Space Inside Social Centre and Radical Youth. We appeal to other community groups to come and stand with Naing and the Burmese people in solidarity, and demand that the NZ Government has no truck with the military butchers or the companies that are profiting from Burmese slave labour.

- Joe Carolan
Solidarity Union Secretary


One way to support the struggle for democracy in Burma is to put pressure on international companies that still has trade relations with the regime. According to the International Labour Organization of the UN, ILO, as well as the democratic opposition in Burma, it is impossible to engage in economic activity in Burma without providing the junta with direct or indirect support. For that reason the international trade union movement has published a list of companies with links to Burma. Together we can encourage the companies to abandon those links, thereby putting pressure on the regime.

You can read the list on: http://www.global-unions.org/burma



BACKGROUND-

Over the past month, thousands of monks and civilians have been protesting in cities across Burma, demanding an end to injustice. The protests have now grown into the largest public demonstrations since 1988.

Peaceful protestors took to the streets of Burma on 19th August following fuel price increases of up to 500 percent. The dictatorship responded to the first protests with a brutal crackdown on democracy activists. On the eve of a major protest in Rangoon on 22 August, the regime arrested 13 leading democracy activists in midnight raids. Despite intimidation, including brutal attacks on protestors by regime thugs, hundreds of demonstrators have continued to protest.

More than 150 people have been arrested and most remain in detention. The regime has accused peaceful protestors of involvement in terrorism, and is threatening jail terms of up to 20 years. Those arrested face torture, including beatings, electric shocks, burning, and the ‘iron rod’ where a rod is run up and down on the shins until the skin and flesh are removed and the rod is grinding on bone. High profile members of the 88 Student Generation of democracy activists Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, Ko Mya Aye, Ko Yin Htun and Ko Jimmy are among those arrested.

FROM THE BBC-

'Communist plot'

State television said the demonstrations of the past week were being fomented by communists and exiled media and student groups.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7010839.stm

Bangkok
September 26, 2007 - 12:14PM

Savvy young bloggers in Burma are breaking through the military junta's tight internet controls to post photos and videos of swelling anti-government protests, experts say.

The Government blocks almost every website that carries news or information about the South-East Asian country, and even bars access to web-based email.

But an army of young techies in Rangoon works around the clock to circumvent the censors, posting pictures and videos on blogs almost as soon as the protests happen.

Many of these images have been picked up by mainstream news organisations because bloggers have managed to capture images that no one else can get.

When Burma's detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi stepped outside her home in Rangoon to greet marching monks and supporters on Saturday, the only pictures of the landmark moment were posted on blogs.

Mizzima News, an India-based news group run by exiled dissidents, picked up one of the photos of Aung San Suu Kyi and said more than 50,000 people accessed their website that day.

"People were saying they wanted to see more pictures of Aung San Suu Kyi," said Sein Win, Mizzima's managing editor.

The bloggers are mainly young university students in Rangoon who have made it their mission to post messages and pictures since the anti-junta rallies broke out there on August 19, he said.

"We have many volunteers in Rangoon. They are mostly university students and they keep sending us messages, pictures and video clips about the demonstrations."

Messages on blogs have applauded Buddhist monks, who have led the protest movement. The movement has grown into the biggest challenge to the junta since a 1988 uprising that was crushed by the military, killing at least 3000.

"Many people were thanking monks for their courage and were rallying support behind monks," Sein Win said from Thailand's northern city of Chiang Mai.

"The censorship is very tough, but many people want the world to know what is happening in Burma."

The California-based Mandalay Gazette also said young people in Rangoon were supplying pictures on the protests.

"It's encouraging to see messages of support coming as far as from Russia, and some messages said monks were correcting the junta's 'wrongdoing'," said a US editor, who declined to be named.

A Thai-based Burmese reporter from the Democratic Voice of Burma, a Norway-based broadcaster, said it had received video clips and photos from "many volunteers" in Rangoon since the protests began last month.

"The quality of pictures from Rangoon is very good. Many young people were helping us and the junta cannot control our freedom of information," said the reporter, who operates anonymously for safety reasons.

The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders has called Burma a "paradise for censors" and listed the military-ruled nation as one of the world's most restrictive for press freedoms.

Since the protests, the regime has cut off the mobile phones of prominent pro-democracy supporters and of some journalists representing foreign media.

State media today accused the foreign press of stirring unrest.

No foreign journalist has obtained a visa to enter Burma, under military rule since 1962, since the start of the anti-junta rallies, rights groups said

Name:	Democracy for Burma now!
Tagline:	support the people power revolution against the Military Junta
Host:	Solidarity Union
Type:	Causes - Protest

Time and Place

Date:	Saturday, September 29, 2007
Time:	2:00pm - 3:00pm
Location:	Aotea Square
Street:	Queen Street
City/Town:	Auckland
	View Map

Contact Info

Phone:	021.186.1450
Email:	joe@solidarityunion.com

www.solidarityunion.com

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