Asia

After the struggle of the PTCL workers in Pakistan came to an end some on the left raised criticisms of the PTUDC comrades, insinuating they played a minor role. Here we present an account of the sterling work done by the PTUDC comrades, written by two PTCL workers active in the struggle, and supporters of the PTUDC. Instead of attacks these comrades deserve every bit of support they can get.

On July 7, a rally of more than 2000 students and youth broke the deep silence of the Jhelum Valley road in Muzaffarabad Azad, Kashmir and its surroundings. The participants of the rally waved huge red flags and banners and chanted revolutionary slogans while riding on the roofs of buses and wagons. The convoy disrupted and even paralyzed the routine life of the valley and every viewer called it a “red storm”.

Pakistan is a country where Lenin’s famous phrase “socialism or barbarism” rings absolutely true. The present situation in Pakistan is characterized by fundamental instability. From this instability flow social and class conflicts, which could move Pakistan to the top of the world political agenda in the coming years. Marie Frederiksen in Denmark takes a look at the history of a country torn apart by divisions.

On February 24, an estimated 50 million people, including Government employees, answered the call for a nationwide general strike in India. They were demanding a review of the Supreme Court judgment on the right to strike and reversal of the VJP government's economic policies. The strike was total in the Left-ruled States, and it disrupted normal life in the whole of this vast country.

The Bangladeshi government is pushing through measures that would give the World Bank and IMF immunity in its operations within the country. These measures show graphically the real relationship between the underdeveloped countries and their imperialist masters.

The whole world has been rocked by the news of the slaughter in Andijan, where demonstrators were shot down in cold blood by the security forces of Uzbek dictator Islam Karimov. George Bush has a lot to say about regime change in Iraq and democracy in the Ukraine, Georgia and Belarus, but has maintained a deafening silence about the regime of terror of his good friend President Karimov.

On March 28 2004 in Tashkent terrorists blew up an apartment block and shot dead three policemen. The following day a suicide bomber killed herself and 18 other people at a local market. But this wave of terrorist attacks was not widely reported in the Russian press because it did not threaten the hated regime of Islam Karimov. On the contrary, it strengthened his leadership, giving him an excuse to step his persecution of anybody who crossed his path.

The revolutionary process, which has gripped one republic after another in the CIS, is gradually stealing upon the outposts of reaction. While before “strong” leaders were inclined to explain the problems of their unlucky colleagues in terms of their softness and intellectual complexes, we now see that Uzbek President Karimov finds himself in a crisis, and he is one of the most ruthless leaders in the CIS, who has driven the opposition into the underground and its leaders into prisons or emigration.

The Musharraf regime wants to privatise Pakistan Steel Mills, the largest industrial complex in the country. The workers at the plant have started a struggle against the privatisation attempt. Discontent among the workers is increasing day by day, and there is now a mood and desire to unite all the trade unions on a single point agenda: “unite to fight and fight to win”. Read the article on the PTUDC website.

Dozens of journalists have been beaten and detained in Islamabad, with police charging the journalists in Lahore. The journalists have staged a sit-in outside Governor House in Karachi, as countrywide rallies were held in Pakistan called by the PFUJ to observe International Press Freedom Day.

The working class in Pakistan is on the move after decades of inactivity. The Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign (PTUDC) organized for May Day on a national level. There was widespread participation of workers, trade union leaders, political activists and youth in the May Day events in 26 different cities. We present here a detailed report of the events.

After three and a half years of US occupation, peace, stability, and freedom are restricted in the presidential enclave behind huge concrete blocks in Kabul. Here is where Mr. Karzai resides. American mercenaries guard him, advised or dictated to, whatever you may call it, by American diplomats and instructed by the State Department in Washington.