Asia
Great Game II: America Lashes Out on the Borders of China and Russia - by Loren Goldner
The 19th century 'Great Game' rivalry between Britain and Russia for supremacy in Central Asia is seeing a resurgence, with America taking Britain's place. The stakes are higher than ever, argues Loren Goldner.
Source; Mute magazine.
Most of Goldner's work is available on the Break Their Haughty Power website.
Burma: International power play?
Rob Ray looks at the economics surrounding the ‘Saffron Revolution’ in gas-rich Burma for Freedom newspaper
In the aftermath of the Burmese protests, in which hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets alongside Buddhist monks, there has been mounting international pressure on China and India to pull back their substantial economic support to the country.
Garment workers struggles escalate again in Bangladesh
Tejgaon, Dhaka; yesterday morning (Saturday) new clashes broke out in the city's industrial zone. Up to 25,000 garment workers came out on wildcat strike and fought both police and management-hired thugs. Over 50 people, including cops, were injured - some seriously.
The trouble began on Saturday morning at the Nasa Group factory. Supposedly one of the more 'responsible' employers - Nasa supply Primark in the UK and Wal-Mart in the USA amongst others - Nasa workers had been on strike for 2 days demanding payent of wage arrears, bonuses and extra holiday allowances.
Jute workers attack union leaders in Bangladesh amid wider unrest
RM examines a new wave of workers' struggle in Bangladesh.
Jute unrest
Bangladesh: 100 hurt as garment workers clash with police
Production in most parts of the Dhaka Export Processing Zone (DEPZ) in Savar remained suspended throughout the day yesterday as clashes between workers and police left at least 100 people injured.
The fighting broke out as police charged baton on the garment workers fuming over unconfirmed reports that one of them was killed Thursday over the theft of a cellphone set.
1912: The Lena Massacre
A short history of the brutal suppression of a strike by Russian gold miners protesting low wages and inhumane working conditions in 1912.
Situated in the dense forest of south-east Siberia, the massive goldfields that lined the river Lena were, at the turn of the century, amongst the most profitable enterprises in the Russian Empire. The Lena Gold Mining Joint Stock Company (Lenzoloto), the principal owner of the majority of goldfields in the region, was running at profits of 7,000,000 roubles a year.
Student revolt: riots across Bangladesh
A clash on Monday 20 Aug on Dhaka University campus, when students at a football game were manhandled by soldiers, has escalated into a nationwide student revolt.
Despite apologies for the assault from the government, their withdrawal of troops from Dhaka campus and the promise of an official enquiry, unrest has spread and become a more general protest against the caretaker government and its long-running State of Emergency.
China: miners strike attacked
800 striking miners at the Tanjiashan Coal Mine in Hubei Province fought hired security guards for two hours last week after they attempted to break a six day strike.
Radio Free Asia reported that the security guards set about the workers and in the ensuing clash at least one worker and one security guard died. The conflict lasted about two hours, during which time the workers vented their anger by attacking company offices and two nearby police vehicles they believed had been used to transport management's hired security guards to the mine.
1918: Rice riots and strikes in Japan
From July-September 1918, Japan was swept with a wave of riots from rural fishing villages to major industrial centres and coal fields, in what was the largest upheaval in Japan to date, and the widest ranging popular disturbances since the unrest during the Meiji restoration of 1868.
1905-1918 in Japan was called the Era of Popular Violence (民衆騒擾期, minshû sôjô ki). This began with the Hibiya Incendiary Incident (日比谷焼討事件, Hibiya Yakiuchi Jiken) - a citywide riot in Tokyo that started with a banned protest in Hibiya park; against the terms of the Portsmouth Treaty which ended the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905.
Korea: Train attendants strike in longest, most bitter struggle by working women
On March 1, 2006, approximately four hundred women who work as train attendants on the KTX “bullet train” began a strike against casual working conditions.
Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL) officials led KTX women workers to believe that although they were initially hired under short-term contracts via an external company, they would be granted permanent status as direct employees of KORAIL after one year. However, the KTX Crew Workers Branch Union’s demands for direct and permanent employment have yet to be met.
