On the 16th August, South African Police fired live ammunition atstriking miners at Lonmin’s Marikana mine, killing 34 and injuring 78. Many were killed were shot at close rangewhile trying to surrender. The Marikana miners were demanding a tripling of their salary to R12,500 (£950 or €1100) per month.

In the following days, 270 of the Marikana strikers were arrested and charged with the murder of their colleagues under the Common Purpose doctrine, a law last used under Apartheid. They were released on bail after public pressure forced the National Prosecuting Authority to provisionally drop the charges. Since the massacre the community of Marikana has lived under a virtual State of Emergency, with police patrols, raids and reports of unlawful arrests and harassment. Over half of the Lonmin Strike Committee due to testify before the Commission of Inquiry have been over the past days charged with murder.

To date ...

653 Kurdish prisoners in 58 different prisons in Turkey have been on hunger strikes for 42 days. Their demands are the recognition of the right to use one's mother language in courts and improvements on the conditions of the imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan.

Today, DSIP (Revolutionary Socialist Workers Party) have issued the following press statement on the issue calling the government to meet the strikers’ demands which will pave the way for negotiations on peace between the Turkish state and the Kurdish movement (in Turkish - English translation below):

Hapishanelerde ölümlere izin vermeyelim

Hükümetin açlık grevi yapan Kürt mahpuslara karşı tutumu kaygı vericidir.

Adalet Bakanlığı’nın iddialarının aksine, bugün açlık grevinde 42. güne giren birçok mahpus ciddi sağlık sorunları yaşamaktadır.

Ölüme giden kritik eşiğe gelinmiştir ve boşa harcanan her dakika açlık grevindeki yüzlerce insanı ölüme terk etmek demektir.

Başbakan son günlerde birçok kez “Gerekirse İmralı ile görüşürüm” derken, açlık grevi yapanlar da Abdullah ...

The streets of London filled with people furious with the assaults on workers from the government today. And class anger ran through the demonstration.

Watch photos of today's march here on Flickr

Many marchers delighted in yesterday’s resignation of Tory chief whip Andrew Mitchell after he called a cop a “pleb”. Everywhere people carried placards declaring themselves “plebs” against the Tories.

The anger also broke through when members of Disabled People Against Cuts occupied the road at Marble Arch at the end of the demo, blocking the way in to plush Park Lane.

Over 150,000 marched in London according to the TUC. The Scottish TUC said that over 10,000 marched through Glasgow, while up 10,000 marched through Belfast, according to Northern Ireland ICTU.

On all the protests the battalions of organised labour came out in strength. Seas of union banners, placards and balloons made a vibrant display. The Unison contingent filled Whitehall. The Unite ...

El 7 de octubre, Hugo Chávez salió reelegido como presidente de Venezuela con un 55,4% del voto popular. Henrique Capriles Radonski, candidato de la oposición, recogió casi el 45%, o sea más de 6 millones de votos.

Por Mike González (English translation below)
 

Según la prensa extranjera, Capriles montó una gran campaña –es decir, una campaña moderna y efectiva, con amplios recursos publicitarios. Hizo todos los intentos posibles por representarse como algo nuevo: joven (relativamente hablando), en buena condición física, buen aspecto, relucientemente blanco. La novedad consistía en una derecha que promete mantener elementos del programa de gobierno de Chávez en lo que a servicios sociales se refiere, y de ofrecer un capitalismo más suave (incluso blando, dice). O sea, algo distinto del neoliberalismo que tantos estragos ha hecho con América Latina desde la década de los noventa.

La realidad, sin embargo, es que ...