The working class of Australia has no interest in a war against Chinese workers and Chinese workers have no interest in a war with us. Militarization and war is a ruling class game. We have far more in common with each other than either of us do with the ruling classes of our countries. And just as so many Chinese workers (under much harsher conditions than our own) have had the bravery to fight the bosses and politicians who exploit and oppress them, rather than embrace a nationalist fight against ‘foreign forces’, we should also recognise that our main enemy is here at home. They manage our workplaces and make our laws. The only war worth fighting is the class war against them.

Chinese Workers Fight Back

What is the significance of the recent protests in China and what should we take from them here in Australia?

The capitalist press have mostly stuck to a simplistic explanation based purely on opposition to Covid lockdowns. Clearly, the draconian policing of an unrealistic ‘Zero Covid’ policy (implemented as a substitute for a poorly executed vaccination effort and significantly privatised health system) has been a major source of anger. An important event in building popular support for the protests was a deadly fire in a Xinjiang apartment building, which resulted in at least ten people dying. Many locals blamed the inadequate response time by firefighters on Covid restrictions.

But there is much more to these protests than just anger over Covid restrictions. Furthermore, we can easily debunk conspiratorial narratives that this is some kind of right-wing or Western controlled movement. Instead, it is a manifestation of class war, which many Chinese workers continue to frame in socialist terms.

The Foxconn Strike

Particularly neglected in Western coverage of China is the component of labour struggle. A major development in the build up to the protests was the militant confrontation between workers and police at the Foxconn mega-factory in the city of Zhengzhou.

Foxconn is a Taiwanese company best known for producing iPhones for Apple, as well as working conditions so brutal that ‘suicide nets’ have been built outside of factory windows, to prevent workers leaping to their deaths. To comply with government Covid restrictions, Foxconn had forced workers to live in the factory from October through to November in appalling conditions. Eventually, many workers escaped and quit, forcing the State to work with the company to offer pay raises and bonuses to attract new workers.

When the workers arrived they found that the promises of higher pay didn’t materialise. On top of this, they became furious about the handling of Covid – in this case because workers who tested positive for Covid were not being separated from others. In other words, when Foxconn workers once again stormed out of the factory and confronted police, they did so on the basis of pay and workplace safety.

From Social Media to the Street

News of the strike spread across Chinese social media and messenger apps. Whatsonweibo, which monitors these platforms, reported that

a clear majority of the people speak out in support of the Foxconn workers. They post old propaganda posters that emphasize how the Chinese working class will lead the revolution, and recommend other Weibo users to read Karl Marx. “Is the working class still leading?”, they ask.”

Despite what many people think, protest is not rare in China. There is intense working class militancy, frequent struggles in rural areas over land and social services, and also student protest. What is rare is dissent against the political system as a whole, the rapid spread of protest across the country, and the intermingling of different struggles.

In the case of the recent protests, we saw both uncommon examples of political dissent and its rapid spread across various regions. There was widespread mourning of those who died in the Xinjiang fire, with some making open reference to the repression of the Uygurs. Workers took to the streets singing the Internationale. Slogans calling for the fall of Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party dictatorship could be heard in multiple cities. University students began calling for freedom of speech and democracy. Others held up sheets of blank A4 paper – a defiant symbol conveying the same message.

In one video, a person opposed to the protests echoes the narrative that the West is behind the unrest. The man asks the crowd if they know that “foreign forces” are manipulating them. Someone with a megaphone responds: “The foreign forces you are talking about, are they Marx and Engels?” In another video, a student comes amazingly close to a famous phrase from Bakunin: “No socialism without freedom! No freedom without socialism!”

Certain Covid restrictions have now been eased, particularly in cities where the rebellion was strongest. Protest has waned, but now the Party’s incompetent management of the pandemic threatens to overwhelm the healthcare system, which could easily lead people back to striking and hitting the streets.

No War Between Nations, No Peace Between Classes

In Australia, the major political parties are increasingly militaristic in their attitudes towards China, and the capitalist media repeatedly warns us about the supposed ‘Chinese threat’. Incredibly, even when the people of China rise up against their own ruling class, the framing of the coverage barely changes at all. When Chinese workers show that they also oppose their government, it is seen as just another opportunity to encourage Australians to embrace militarisation and a readiness for the possibility of war.

The working class of Australia has no interest in a war against Chinese workers and Chinese workers have no interest in a war with us. Militarization and war is a ruling class game. We have far more in common with each other than either of us do with the ruling classes of our countries. And just as so many Chinese workers (under much harsher conditions than our own) have had the bravery to fight the bosses and politicians who exploit and oppress them, rather than embrace a nationalist fight against ‘foreign forces’, we should also recognise that our main enemy is here at home. They manage our workplaces and make our laws. The only war worth fighting is the class war against them.

WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE!
NO WAR BUT CLASS WAR!

*This article is from “The Anvil”, newsletter of the Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group (MACG), Vol. 11/ No 6, November-December 2020.

* Go to: https://melbacg.wordpress.com/

A short report on a strike by health workers in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

Today over 10,000 members of the allied, public health, scientific, and technical District Health Board (DHB) workforce went on strike. These are the ‘essential’ workers across 70 occupations, who continued their jobs throughout the lockdown and do the mahi behind the scenes that rarely gain attention. They have been in negotiations with the DHBs’ for over a year-and-a-half and have had no progress.

Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement (AWSM) was able to join the picket line outside the hospital in Rotorua. About 20 workers in two groups stood by the side of the road, waving flags and placards. Many passing cars honked in support.

AWSM spoke to two of the participants about the action. Both workers spoke anonymously about their action and were reluctant to be recorded or filmed. When asked why, the answer was “Well, I’ve never been on any protest in my life so I feel shy and I don’t know what it’s ok to do or not do in this situation”. This modest reaction is strongly symbolic of the kind of employment landscape that exists in 2022. Here are ordinary people who normally go unseen and just turn up every day to work bloody hard. Due to the low level of militancy caused by 30+ years of union-bashing legislation from the political parties, today’s workers have rarely had the opportunity to express themselves via strike action. However, they have been pushed to this point. As one of the allied workers told AWSM “Apart from the negotiations which are partly about pay parity with nurses, this is also about the cost of living increases everyone has. It’s coming across in all sorts of ways. I went to get my dog’s nails clipped and it cost $5 more than last time, for no obvious reason. Everything is going up”.

The current strike is one of last resort, and therefore limited and defensive in nature. However, the workers on strike today are not alone within their sector. Senior doctors are unhappy with their pay negotiations, orderlies feel their pay is woefully low, with previous increases also being swallowed by the cost of living. Lab technicians are also being overwhelmed. Hopefully, this sense of shared frustration will lead to even stronger and ongoing actions as this year continues. We in AWSM wish them luck in their struggles.

The crisis of capitalism won’t resolve itself.  No government can save us. Only the working class can end it for the better. We need to make a revolution.  We need to overthrow capitalism and build libertarian communism, worldwide.  For this, the labour movement needs to be built anew.  We need to organise in the workplace and rebuild our unions from the ground up.  We need direct democratic control, with delegates held to mandates, and a consistent federalist structure. The practices by which we build our movement will be the ones that form the basis of the new society.  And we need to do it now, because time is short.

May Day 2022

May Day 1886

On 1 May, 1886, Anarchist-led unions in Chicago in the US struck for the eight hour day.  A worker was shot dead by a cop, so a protest was called for 4 May.  After an unidentified person threw a bomb, killing a few coppers, the police started shooting.  When the dust settled, seven coppers and at least four civilians were dead.  Some of the coppers had probably died from friendly fire.  A huge anti-Anarchist campaign ensued and eight Anarchists were convicted in a kangaroo court.  The State killed four, while one committed suicide.  The labour movement started a campaign for the exoneration of the Haymarket Martyrs and eventually succeeded.  In the process, May Day became the day of the international workers’ movement.

World in Crisis

Today, the world faces multiple crises.  The most important is climate change, threatening to destroy industrial civilisation and wipe out at least 80% of the human race.  On top of that, the billionaire capitalists continue to enrich themselves at the expense of the working class, authoritarian governments spread and some lurch towards Fascism, a global pandemic continues to kill millions despite the world having the ability to end it, and military powers across the world – in the US, China, Russia, and Europe – are inflaming tensions which could lead to World War III.  We have the ability to end world poverty, but the contradictions of capitalism have never been more acute.

The Working Class Movement

In industrialised countries, the established labour movement continues its long decline.  This is especially true in Australia.  For decades, union leaders have told members to put their hopes in governments and not in the power to strike. Our unions are now hobbled by decades of anti-worker legislation, to which the officials, almost without exception, continue to bow.  Without power in our workplaces, the Labor Party (which exists to enable the union officials to negotiate a compromise between labour and capital), has shifted to the right.  It’s not all bad news, though.  There are few signs as yet in Australia, but struggle is picking up in many countries, sometimes within established unions, sometimes in new independent ones and sometimes as wildcat strikes.  The current wave of unionisation in the US is particularly significant, because it comes in the face of concerted opposition from ascendant capitalist corporations.  Unionising Amazon would be a massive victory.

Revolution

The crisis of capitalism won’t resolve itself.  No government can save us. Only the working class can end it for the better. We need to make a revolution.  We need to overthrow capitalism and build libertarian communism, worldwide.  For this, the labour movement needs to be built anew.  We need to organise in the workplace and rebuild our unions from the ground up.  We need direct democratic control, with delegates held to mandates, and a consistent federalist structure. The practices by which we build our movement will be the ones that form the basis of the new society.  And we need to do it now, because time is short.

WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE!

Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group

1 May 2022

Este mes de abril se cumplen 30 años del inicio de la gran huelga de las trabajadoras de la Empresa Colombiana de Telecomunicaciones (Telecom) de 1992, contra la privatización de la compañía. Este paro, uno de los mas grandes y largos de la historia de los servicios públicos en Colombia, movilizo unas 12.000 obreras, y fue liderado por el mayoritario Sindicato de Trabajadores de Telecom (Sittelecom) y la minoritaria Asociación de Técnicos de Telecom (ATT), que confluyeron para impulsar un Comité Nacional de Paro.

Este mes de abril se cumplen 30 años del inicio de la gran huelga de las trabajadoras de la Empresa Colombiana de Telecomunicaciones (Telecom) de 1992, contra la privatización de la compañía. Este paro, uno de los mas grandes y largos de la historia de los servicios públicos en Colombia, movilizo unas 12.000 obreras, y fue liderado por el mayoritario Sindicato de Trabajadores de Telecom (Sittelecom) y la minoritaria Asociación de Técnicos de Telecom (ATT), que confluyeron para impulsar un Comité Nacional de Paro.

Según el investigador Oscar Moreno, Telecom estratégica compañía estatal formada en 1943, controlaba para ese época la vasta mayoría de servicios de las tele comunicaciones a nivel nacional e internacional, mantenía a nivel general los servicios de telex, telegrafiá y transmisión de datos del país, y era responsable de gran parte de de la telefonía rural y local. La compañía se caracterizaba por mantener un modelo de funcionamiento rígido y centralista y en su interior existían prácticas de corrupción impulsadas por los propios gobiernos nacionales y regionales. Sin embargo, era claro que, aunque la empresa estaba desatendida por una gerencia que preparaba su privatización desde 1989, la compañía generaba de forma consistente ganancias extraordinarias, que de hecho eran empleadas por el Estado para cubrir múltiples deudas y vacíos de presupuesto.

Esta huelga se desarrollo durante el gobierno del economista y político Cesar Gaviria del Partido Liberal, proveniente de una familia de la burguesía cafetera paisa, que adelantaba una agenda política contradictoria de apertura democrática y privatización. Por un lado, Gaviria, antiguo Ministro de gobierno de Barco, adelantaba una apertura parcial del regimiento político, tras la expedición de la Constitución de 1991 y los procesos de paz y reintegración con sectores de la insurgencia. Por otro, el gobierno de Gaviria, que también se había desempeñado como viceministro económico del autoritario gobierno Turbay y ministro de Hacienda del gobierno Barco, desarrollo una política de apertura económica general, y un programa amplio de privatización y des regulación de la economía nacional.

Esta verdadera ofensiva neoliberal buscaba según el Ministro de Hacienda del gobierno, Rudolf Hommes, un revolcón económico, que conduciría a despidos masivos de asalariadas, precarización de las condiciones de trabajo y privatización de los ferrocarriles y los puertos nacionales. Todo en medio de las dificultades de un gobierno, que afrontaba el recrudecimiento del conflicto armado y tensiones contradictorias con los carteles del narcotráfico, así como crisis energética originada en una severa sequía, que llevo desde marzo a la generalización de apagones eléctricos programados por el gobierno nacional.

De esta forma la huelga indefinida, que tuvo por antecedente el paro nacional del 14 de noviembre de 1990 contra las privatizaciones, inicio desde el 22 de abril, el mismo día del inicio de la discusión en el senado del proyecto de ley 033 que buscaba la conversión de Telecom en una sociedad anónima para ser subastada a particulares, siguiendo las políticas de privatización de este sector de otros países de América Latina. El duro paro, que se prolongo al menos por 7 días, logro incomunicar el país y afectar todas las actividades bancarias e industriales. El mismo fue garantizado por la ocupación obrera de muchas de las instalaciones, prácticas de sabotaje y el cierre de sedes de la empresa. Durante el movimiento se realizaron grandes asambleas y concentraciones obreras y populares frente a las cientos de sucursales de la empresa, distribuidas por el territorio nacional.

Sin embargo un sector de trabajadoras de la compañía no secundo la huelga, y la protesta, declarada ilegal por el Ministerio de Trabajo, no logro concitar un movimiento mas general de solidaridad. Finalmente el día 28 de abril, tras un acuerdo, firmado por las centrales sindicales y el gobierno en el senado, se decidió el levantamiento de la huelga. El fin del cese laboral, trajo decenas de despidos de participantes del movimiento, la suspensión de la personería jurídica del sindicato mayoritario, así como el encarcelamiento de 13 lideres sindicales durante mas de un semestre, por cargos de “subversión”, en la Cárcel La Modelo de Bogotá.

La huelga de las trabajadoras de Telecom de 1992, permanece como uno de los hitos centrales de la lucha obrera contra el ajuste, como lo fueron a nivel internacional la huelga minera contra el gobierno Tatcher en Reino Unido o de controladores aéreos contra el gobierno Regan en Estados Unidos. Aprender de esta experiencia para enriquecer las luchas de nuestro presente resulta necesario.

¡Arriba las que luchan!

Grupo Libertario Vía Libre

A message of support for striking casino workers in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

The workers at SkyCity Casino in Hamilton/Kirikiriroa, North Island, New Zealand/Aotearoa, have brought in the new year by going on strike. The company makes megabucks thanks to the efforts of its staff, yet the workers in the city do not have pay equity with those in Auckland. Since workers across the country hired by the same company have to deal with identical conditions and many of the same hardships, this attempt by management to divide them needs to be called out through such actions as this.

Workers in Aotearoa have to battle a legislative framework that has been constructed over decades to deny them power. Workers are encouraged to see themselves as isolated individuals who throw the dice and take their chances. We in Aotearoa Workers Solidarity Movement (AWSM) have few resources but wish to express our support to the SkyCity workers. They have begun this year by leading the way and showing that the best means to gain anything is through their own actions and united rather than operating as individuals. They aren’t waiting for politicians or bosses to generously deal them what they themselves have created.

We call on fellow workers everywhere to inform others about this action and to offer whatever support they can.

An Injury to one is an injury to all!