On 14 November 2015, about 100,000 people, most of them trade unionists, took to the streets of Seoul in response to a call by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) for a national day of protest (N14). The main focus of the protest was opposition to proposed labour “reforms” by the Park Geun-hye government, which includes measures that would reduce wages and make it easier for employers to fire workers. Many of those on the protest were also enraged by a recent policy to force schools to adopt Korean history textbooks produced by the government.

Despite the just and democratic causes of the protest, the government responded with harsh police brutality. More than 20,000 police clashed with the protesters, firing over 180,000 litres of water in a single day and leaving dozens injured, including one protester who is in a critical condition. Shamelessly, the government blames the KCTU and other ...

Over a hundred are dead and scores more seriously injured after a bomb attack on a peace rally in the Turkish capital, Ankara. We offer our condolences to the family, friends and comrades of those killed, and we stand in solidarity with all those demanding justice.

The rally, called by trade unions, was unarmed and peaceful. It sought to end the Turkish state’s war against the Kurdish people, which resumed in July when Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government ended the peace process.

The rally was joined by many from the Kurdish and Alevi communities, along with left organisations, including DSiP, an affiliate of the International Socialist Tendency, one of whose members was wounded in the attack.

Not only did Turkish police fail to provide security for the rally, once they arrived at the scene of the blast they attacked and gassed those trying to help the wounded.

It can be no coincidence ...

21 September 2015
A research paper by Christine Buchholz (Die Linke member of parliament) and Frank Renken
Translated by Ben Windsor

In recent days three related questions have been sharply posed. Die Linke must find answers to them:

i) The principal cause of the mass exodus of refugees to Europe is the war in Syria and Iraq. How can the wars in the Near and Middle East be stopped?

ii) The aerial bombardment by the US-led forces in Iraq and Syria have lasted one year but there is no end in sight. What is our position in regards to the “war on terror” of the great powers against Islamic State?

iii) The German government is part of the US-led forces. It wants to extend its military engagement in Iraq while simultaneously engaging in diplomatic initiatives. What role is Germany playing in the wars in the Near and Middle East?

1) Bombing won’t stop the ...

The Turkish government’s decision to re-start the war against the Kurdish people this summer has led to clashes between the army and the PKK, with dozens of soldiers, police officers and Kurdish fighters dead.

This has, as usual, been accompanied by a wave of racist demonstrations organised by the fascists all around Turkey and massive state repression and violence against civilians in the Kurdish regions.

The situation in the small Kurdish town of Cizre is tense; martial law has been declared there and at least 14 civilians have been killed by the security forces.

The humanitarian crisis is growing and the dead body of a small child has been kept in a freezer for several days as a result of the curfew.

The HDP members who are ministers in the interim government of Turkey and several HDP MPs have tried to reach the town, accompanied by thousands of supporters, but have ...