Brazil
Brazil: Volkswagen workers on indefinite strike
Workers at the Sao Paulo plant approved the strike in a mass assembly of 10,000 workers, starting immediately in “direct response” to the firings.
The 1,800 layoffs are seen as the first wave of cuts at the 12,000-worker Sao Bernardo do Campo car plant. Workers will decide on a day-by-day basis the course of the strike. The main demand is guarantees of job security, which runs counter to bosses plans. The cuts are due to be made effective in November.
Is Latin America really turning left?
James Petras examines recent social movements and developments in the class struggle in Latin America.
A new series of social and national polarities in the Western Hemisphere has dominated political life over the past few years. At the beginning of the new millennium the national confrontation was between Cuba and the US/EU, and the social confrontations between the rural/indian and urban/unemployed movements and a continent-wide collection of neo-liberal regimes.
France: Protests take international turn
As the protests agains the First Employment Contract (CPE) continue in France, young workers and students across the world have begun to show support for the French movement or take similar action themselves.
http://libcom.org/blog has received reports from Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Japan, Brazil, the USA, New Zealand, Ireland and Turkey so far, with actions ranging from university occupations and school walkouts to protests against French consulates and businesses.
See also French version below.
Anti-CPE Movement: Embassy protest in Brazil
Leafletting and sit-down protest at the French embassy in Brazil. Photos from http://paris.indymedia.org/article.php3?id_article=56520
