Thursday 17 April 2008

Lebanon—School teachers sit-in

Primary school teachers contracted by government schools in Akkar and the North will be holding a sit-in on Friday 18 April in front of the education department in north Lebanon at 9:30 am.

They are demanding a reappraisal of their salaries, transportation expenses, health care, and receiving paychecks in a "timely manner".

Tuesday 15 April 2008

Mahalla—Turkish students

The newly founded Student Union of Turkey, Genc-Sen, National Executive meeting held on 12 April 2008 resolved to support the Mahalla workers and all those facing repression at the hands of the Mubarak regime.

Emrak ARIKUSU (NEC)
Dilek DEMIREL (NEC)
Ozan ERSAN (NEC)
Ufuk GOLLU (NEC)
Simin GURDAL (NEC)
Zeliha KABATAS (NEC)
Deniz KANTAR (NEC)
Ozan KAYA (NEC)
Umut KOCAGOZ (NEC)
Gozde MUTLUCAN (NEC)
Dilek SAHAN (NEC)

Further;
The undersigned branch representatives of 39 universities from across the country wish to extent their solidarity in their personal capacity.

Selin ÇALISKAN
Erdal TUNC
Bora KORKMAZ
Onur YILDIRMAZ
Iþýn MORDENIZ
Hasan DURKAL
Kývanç KIZILDEMIR
Cem SIMSEK
Burak GUNAYDIN
Fatma ASLAN
Yücel Caðlar OZAN
Aysun POLAT
Mustafa VARLI
Esin YILDIZ
Özge KAHRAMAN
Ali Asker TATAR
Özlem GITMEZ
Ahmet KOK
Nuray KOC
Arzu AKMAN
Uður ARSLAN
Önder SUCUK
Selami AKDEMIR
Olcay KEYSEN
Mert KURKER
Ali KARACAN
Volkan ALBAYRAK
Ezgi Ceren ALTAS
Gül Sena EERDOGDU
Eylem Ezgi TOTOS
Çaðdaþ KUCUKBATTAL
Burcu SINER
Gökhan KESKIN
Duygu ATAS
Özden OZGUNEL
Cem CINAR
Cem AYNALI
Yaþar MUTLU
Burçin KUZ
Ulaþ TASYEKIN
Deniz DOGRUEL
Cebrail DOGAN
Köksal DOGAN
Ekin KEMENT
Burcugul CUBUK
Kadir Can ALKIR
Emrah DEMIR
Berk OZDEMIR
Erdem CEVIK

Mahalla—Belgium solidarity

The congress of ACOD, public services Union, East-Flanders (Belgium) expresses his solidarity with the striking workers of Mahalla El-Kubra for a decent wage and against rising prices.

We are shocked by the violence used on “Bloody Sunday” 6 April 2008 in Mahalla and against solidarity actions in Cairo and in other places: the killings amongst them a boy of 9 and more than 800 arrests.

We ask the Egyptian government to release the arrested and consider the demands of the workers an their unions.

Patrick Creyf
Gewest.Intersect. Secretaris Oost-Vl.
Ghent, East Flanders (Belgium) April 12, 2008

Monday 14 April 2008

Mahalla—protest letter

In response to a call for a strike on April 6th by the workers in the Mahallah textile complex, the biggest factory in Egypt, the Mubarak regime decided to occupy El-Mahalla complex with security forces, abduct strike committee leaders Kamal El-Faioumy and Tarek Amin and arrest political activists of every political tendency in Cairo and other cities.

Not able to suppress the protests, the Mubarak security forces used rubber-bullets, tear-gas, and live ammunition against the Mahallah people who decided to protest on the streets of the city and in different villages, leaving at least two dead and hundreds injured and around 800 arrested. We send our solidarity to the Egyptian workers and their supporters.

We call on the Egyptian dictatorship to release the 800 detained yesterday including more than 150 political activists (socialists, liberals, and Islamists), more than 600 protestors from Mahallah (mainly women and children) and Mahallah strike Committee leaders.

Jeremy Corbyn, Member of Parliament, United Kingdom
Bob Crow, general secretary RMT Union (UK rail workers)
Mark Serwotka, general secretary PCS Union (UK civil service workers)
Lindsey German, Stop the War Coalition
Francisco Louçã, Member of Parliament, Portugal
John Rees, Cairo Conference
Clare Solomon, President, SOAS Student Union
China Miéville writer, Britain
Mike Davis writer and academic, USA
Prof. Esther Leslie (Britain)
Michael Löwy (sociologist, France)
Prof. Moshe Machover (Britain)
Prof. Jacques Bidet (France)
Prof. Claudio Katz (Argentina)
Prof. Jonathan Nitzan (Canada)
Prof. Craig Brandist (Britain)
Prof. Colin Sparks (Britain)
Prof. Alex Callinicos (Britain)
Jim Wolfreys, President, King’s College London UCU (university and college lecturers)

To add your name go to: www.stopwar.org.uk

Unifil doing Israel's job

Iran's Press TV reports:

Members of the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon on Thursday began fencing with barbed-wire the area between Wazzani and Ghajar villages.

Hezbollah's al-Manar TV described the activities of the Unifil forces in the area as 'questionable'.

"What is the reason behind this unprecedented measure along the so-called Blue Line?" It asked.

The UN established the Blue Line In 2000 after the Zionist regime withdrew from Lebanon, thus leaving the northern part of the village under Lebanese control. The entire village was later occupied by the Israel during the 2006 Lebanon war.

On April 2, however, Unifil commander general Claudio Graziano and officials from the Lebanese and Israeli armies decided that Unifil set up the barrier north of Ghajar "in order to prevent violations of the Blue Line."

The decision came after Israeli bulldozers violated the Lebanese border by entering Wazzani village.

It is still unclear whether UNIFEL is to control the Lebanese part of the village or not.

Earlier, a Lebanese military source said that the tripartite meeting woulld lead to Israeli withdrawl from the area.

Sunday 13 April 2008

Beirut: Public Meeting in Solidarity with Mahalla

Revolutionary left activists and groups in Lebanon are calling for a public meeting in solidarity with the workers of Mahalla. The meeting will be held on Wednesday, April 16, in Zico House, Spears St., Sanayeh, Beirut at 7 pm.

It will be an occasion to express our solidarity with the working class in Egypt and to call for the release of the hundreds detained including the protesters at Mahalla, the Mahalla strike committee leaders, activists, teachers, and journalists arrested by the US backed Egyptian regime.

The meeting will also discuss actions in solidarity with the proposed May 4 strike in Egypt, linking with the May 1 demo in Beirut, and the strikes around May 7.