ITF Chinese arms update

David in Atlanta ""crude reductionist version of marxism""
Posts: 1684 Joined: 21-04-06
Submitted by David in Atlanta on 22 April, 2008 - 20:35.

Press area

Chinese arms ship latest: unions mobilise to stop weapons transfer

21 April 2008

Global union federation the ITF today reported that the An Yue Jiang, which left South African waters to avoid an injunction and trade union action against its cargo, later steered away from possible landfall in Maputo (where the local ITF-affiliated union was also on alert). The ship has switched off its transponder (which broadcasts its exact location), but the ITF believes it could try to make for Luanda, Angola next, and may be running low on fuel. The ITF is alerting its member unions in the area and seeking an assurance from the Angolan government that it will not attempt to assist the transshipment of the load to Zimbabwe. The ITF believes that the vessel should dock at the nearest suitable port, irrespective of whether or not its cargo is impounded, take on fuel and return to China.

ITF General Secretary David Cockroft said: “The ITF, our member trade unions and the ITUC (International Trade Union Confederation) are doing everything we consider necessary to stop this dangerous and destabilising shipment reaching Zimbabwe. We will continue to do so, we hope with the support of the regions’ governments, but without them if necessary.”

“This materiel must not reach Zimbabwe, a country whose people are crying out for food and freedom, not bullets.”

He concluded: “As well as mobilising our colleagues in the region we are reiterating our message to Cosco, the Chinese Government, the officially approved All China Federation of Trade Unions, and the Chinese Seamen’s and Construction Workers’ union – which has been showing indications of growing independence from the national authorities – that they should think of the safety of the ship’s crew. The way to do that is to dock, whether or not the arms are seized, assure the vessel is seaworthy, and then return it to its home port.”

The ITF is a global federation of 654 unions from 148 countries representing 4,418,455 workers worldwide.

ENDS

For more information contact ITF press officer, Sam Dawson.
Direct line: + 44 (0)20 7940 9260.
Email: dawson_sam@itf.org.uk

International Transport Workers' Federation - ITF:
HEAD OFFICE
ITF House, 49 - 60 Borough Road, London SE1 1DS
Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7403 2733
Fax: + 44 (0) 20 7375 7871
Email: mail@itf.org.uk
Web: www.itfglobal.org

newyawka "They gonna eat your shoulders."
Posts: 2817 Joined: 13-10-05
22 April, 2008 - 20:41

thanks david.
today's update:

Quote:
Current position of the An Yue Jiang

The indications are that the ship is making 11 knots coming around the Cape. Extrapolating from this, we believe she would have been just south of Cape Town in the early hours of this morning, and is going to be approximately off the Orange River in South Africa tracking for Lobito in the early hours of tomorrow, probably staying just outside South African territorial waters. We would estimate that she will make Lobito around noon on the 26th April.

newyawka "They gonna eat your shoulders."
Posts: 2817 Joined: 13-10-05
23 April, 2008 - 15:13
Quote:
Update as of 16:00, 23 April 2008

No assurance has been received from Cosco that the ship will abort its mission and return to China, but we continue to seek to persuade them of the wisdom of this course of action. Meanwhile union preparations continue to block attempts to unload and transport the cargo and any attempt to do so will be met by the strongest possible trade union response. The ship is still off the South African coastline in international waters making around 11 knots on a course that will take it to Lobito around midday on Friday.

David in Atlanta ""crude reductionist version of marxism""
Posts: 1684 Joined: 21-04-06
23 April, 2008 - 15:53

The latest news is that the ship has been completely blocked from landing and the Chinese are shipping weapons by air.

David in Atlanta ""crude reductionist version of marxism""
Posts: 1684 Joined: 21-04-06
23 April, 2008 - 16:04

I added the latest ITF intel to the blackcat thread. Thanks!

newyawka "They gonna eat your shoulders."
Posts: 2817 Joined: 13-10-05
23 April, 2008 - 20:32
Quote:
A shipment of weapons to Zimbabwe may be returned to China, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Tuesday, after the troubled southern African nation's neighbors prevented the cargo from being unloaded.

http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=138138

"the neighbors" prevented the cargo from being unloaded. i have seen other press reports too, and not one has mentioned the role of the unions.

newyawka "They gonna eat your shoulders."
Posts: 2817 Joined: 13-10-05
24 April, 2008 - 13:10
Quote:
A Chinese ship carrying armaments made by a Chinese state-owned company and bound for Zimbabwe has headed back to China without unloading its cargo of bullets and mortar bombs, a spokeswoman for China’s foreign ministry confirmed at a briefing Thursday.

"The Chinese company has already decided to send the military goods back to China in the same vessel, the An Yue Jiang,” said the spokeswoman, Jiang Yu.

China’s decision will be welcomed as a victory by the dock workers, trade unionists, religious leaders, western diplomats and human rights workers who have been campaigning since last week to block delivery of the weaponry to Zimbabwe.

...

"This is a great victory for the trade union movement in particular and civil society in general in putting its foot down and saying we will not allow weapons that could be used to kill and maim our fellow workers and Zimbabweans to be transported across South Africa," said Patrick Craven, spokesman for the Congress of South African Trade Unions, which represents 1.9 million South African workers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/25/world/africa/25zimbabwe.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

so shut my mouth, someone did mention the unions

David in Atlanta ""crude reductionist version of marxism""
Posts: 1684 Joined: 21-04-06
24 April, 2008 - 13:15
newyawka wrote:
Quote:

China’s decision will be welcomed as a victory by the dock workers, trade unionists, religious leaders, western diplomats and human rights workers who have been campaigning since last week to block delivery of the weaponry to Zimbabwe.

...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/25/world/africa/25zimbabwe.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

so shut my mouth, someone did mention the unions

Dockers first, then everyone else in descending order of relevance too, except maybe human rights workers, who should probably come before western diplomats.

Sean Siberio
Posts: 107 Joined: 03-04-08
24 April, 2008 - 18:35

To me its a pretty big coup and took a fairly large amount of gall on the dockers part; I don't doubt they could have been "compelled" to unload the arms by force if need be.

David in Atlanta ""crude reductionist version of marxism""
Posts: 1684 Joined: 21-04-06
29 April, 2008 - 19:18

Well, the government backed off in the face of a determined local working class with international support. Too rare an event. Red Stars all round!
red star red star red star red star red star

Call me utopian, but what I'd love to see grow from this is a Pan-African working class embargo of the international arms trade. For starts.

David in Atlanta ""crude reductionist version of marxism""
Posts: 1684 Joined: 21-04-06
30 April, 2008 - 23:48


Quote:
China arms ship poised to dock in Luanda, but dockers refuse to handle cargo

30 April 2008

newyawka "They gonna eat your shoulders."
Posts: 2817 Joined: 13-10-05
27 June, 2008 - 11:28

update:

Quote:
This split within the SADC was perhaps most glaring during the notorious "Ship of Shame" incident that unfolded while I was traveling through the region in April. During my stay in Namibia, local newspapers published extensive reports on the odyssey of the An Yue Jiang, a Chinese merchant vessel that was carrying thousands of tons of arms and ammunition to the Zimbabwean government—some of it, presumably, to be used by the army and police to put down opposition protests. After dockworkers in the South African port of Durban refused to unload the vessel, the An Yue Jiang attempted to drop its cargo at the Namibian port of Walvis Bay. But Namibian civil leaders and union pressure obliged the government—normally friendly to Mugabe—to deny the ship landing rights, and it was forced back out to sea.

After a several-week odyssey, however, ZANU-PF officials boasted that they had finally taken delivery of the cargo. The An Yue Jang reportedly unloaded the weapons in May in the Angolan port of Lobito. From there, the cargo traveled by train to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where it was loaded onto regular military supply flights and flown to Harare. It was yet another example of how a lack of SADC solidarity in the face of Mugabe's abuses had emboldened and strengthened one of the world's most abusive regimes.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/21531

David in Atlanta ""crude reductionist version of marxism""
Posts: 1684 Joined: 21-04-06
27 June, 2008 - 12:16
newyawka wrote:
update:

Quote:
After a several-week odyssey, however, ZANU-PF officials boasted that they had finally taken delivery of the cargo. The An Yue Jang reportedly unloaded the weapons in May in the Angolan port of Lobito. From there, the cargo traveled by train to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where it was loaded onto regular military supply flights and flown to Harare. It was yet another example of how a lack of SADC solidarity in the face of Mugabe's abuses had emboldened and strengthened one of the world's most abusive regimes.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/21531

Well crap.

newyawka "They gonna eat your shoulders."
Posts: 2817 Joined: 13-10-05
27 June, 2008 - 13:14

yeah, this was the first i'd heard.