Asia

This article was first published in the Pakistani daily, Dawn Metropolitan (Friday, April 23, 2004) under the title “Pakistan can learn from Venezuelan experience: MNA”. It is a report of a press conference held by Pakistani Marxist MP Manzoor Ahmed on his recent visit to Venezuela for the Second International Conference in Solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution. We are publishing it to make it available to a wider international readership. (April 23, 2004)

We received this letter from China. It gives an interesting insight into the real state of the Chinese Communist Party. It shows how far this organisation has degenerated. Faced with the growing social polarisation between the enriched bureaucracy and the ordinary working masses, the Chinese workers need to return to the revolutionary ideas that the early Chinese Communists based themselves on, the ideas of Lenin.

A number of activists of the Iranian Revolutionary Socialists’ League and the Jed-o Jahd organisation of Pakistan, as well as a section of the revolutionary socialists of Afghanistan, have come together to publish a new joint Marxist paper, an essential tool in the task of spreading the ideas of genuine Marxism in the region. The Farsi text is available in pdf format, with an English version of the articles also available for non Farsi readers.


Esteban Volkov Greets Manzoor
Alan Woods addresses Congress

Addressing the Congress
Singing the Internationale		  
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The International Labour Organization's governing body rejected the government measures of suspending trade unions and professional associations at Pakistan International Airlines (PIA)and stressed that the government of Pakistan that all facilities, rights and privileges should be immediately restored and that all declarations of the Geneva Convention should be observed. Read the article at the PTUDC website.

A one-kilometer long march of workers celebrated May Day in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand. A moderate estimate puts the number of participants on the rally at 60 to 80.000 workers. No doubt this was the biggest workers march on May Day for decades. More important was the fact that this time the May Day rally was organized without the support of the government. It was also probably one of the most combative ones. The driving force behind this massive gathering is the two-month old struggle against the privatization of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT). The bulk of the demonstrators came from this protest movement.

Due to the extremely busy agenda of the Marxist MPs elected to the Pakistani Parliament, we received this report on their intervention in the World Social Forum with a little delay. In spite of this, we believe the report gives an idea of how Marxist MPs – workers’ MPs – can have an impact far beyond the borders of their own countries, and build links with workers around the world.

Members of the National Assembly Qamar Zaman Kaira and Chuadry Manzoor Ahmed have submitted two resolutions directly related to the real issues in society and the problems faced by the working classes in Pakistan. The first resolution is for the total repealing of the anti workers ordinance IRO 2002 (Industrial Relations Ordinance 2002). This was imposed by the Musharaf dictatorship at the behest of the IMF and other Imperialist institutions to raise the profitability and exploitation of the multinational corporations in Pakistan. This ordinance even deprives the workers in Pakistan of the meagre rights they had attained after the revolutionary movement of 1968-69. It

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November 23, 2003 was a very significant day in the history of Georgia. For the first time in Georgian history a revolution took place in the old southern Caucasus state... We are publishing this letter from a supporter of In Defence of Marxismin Georgia.

November 23, 2003 was a very significant day in the history of Georgia. For the first time in Georgian history a revolution took place in the old southern Caucasus state... We are publishing this letter from a supporter of In Defence of Marxism in Georgia.