Solidarity Appeals

A Marxist student comrade of the Progressive Youth Alliance, Rawal Asad, remains in jail on the charge of sedition, having had his bail hearing rejected. In addition to continued protest in Pakistan against this injustice, messages and photographs have been pouring in all week from all over the world demanding our comrade's release.

The worldwide solidarity campaign for the release of Rawal Asad, a comrade from the Progressive Youth Alliance who was arrested in Multan and scandalously charged with sedition by the Pakistani state, has forged on apace. Photographs, videos and messages of solidarity have been flooding in from all around the globe.

An international solidarity campaign has been launched to demand the release of comrade Rawal Asad, who was arrested in Multan for the 'crime' of attending a protest. He faces a scandalous charge of sedition, which carries a sentence of 10 years to life in prison, and a judge has now officially denied his application for bail. In addition to demonstrations in Pakistan, comrades from all over the world have been protesting outside of Pakistani embassies, and sending pictures and messages of support calling

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The ordeal of a Marxist student leader from Multan, Rawal Asad, seems to be unending. He is clearly being victimised through unlawful acts and a delaying of the court procedures. Today, once again it was made clear that no law exists in Pakistan, and the courts and lawyers are all part of a farcical façade, while the real power brokers rule unchallenged. The bail application for the fabricated case of sedition was due to be heard in a court in Multan today. But the judge delayed the hearing until the closing hours of the court. In the end, he said that he couldn't hear this case and that it should be referred to some other judge.

Yesterday, 16 people were arrested by Spanish police in Girona (Catalonia) without a warrant. Amongst those arrested were two local mayors of the anti-capitalist pro-independence CUP, a photojournalist and several activists of the CDRs (Committees for the Defence of the Republic), ANC (Catalan National Assembly), La Forja (pro-independence youth organisation) and SEPC (Catalan Students’ Union).

50,000 members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) have been on rotating strike since 22 October. The Trudeau Liberal government has tabled so-called “back-to-work” legislation, that will make this work stoppage illegal. Increasingly, the right to strike in Canada is not worth the paper it is written on. As soon as a strike becomes effective, it is declared illegal. However, the postal workers are angry and there is a real opportunity that they will defy the legislation. Solidarity is urgently needed to let the CUPW workers know they are not alone, and that workers in Canada and internationally support their fight.

Los camaradas de la Izquierda Marxista, que apoyan las ideas de la Corriente Marxista Internacional en Honduras, están participando activamente en el movimiento insurreccional de masas contra el fraude electoral y contra la represión. Los camaradas necesitan toda la solidaridad que podamos organizar en el movimiento obrero internacional, pero también apoyo económico para publicar material político y atender a cuestiones de seguridad.

The comrades from Izquierda Marxista, supporters of the IMT in Honduras, are participating in the mass insurrectionary movement against electoral fraud and repression. They need all the solidarity we can raise in the international workers' movement but also financial help to produce political material and to deal with security issues. Please donate generously.

Events in Catalonia over the last few weeks have created the biggest crisis the 1978 regime has ever seen. The eruption of the masses onto the scene has changed everything. They have defied the Spanish state ban on the independence referendum on 1 October, defended the headquarters of the anti-capitalist CUP against an illegal police raid, guaranteed the opening of polling stations and brought the country to halt on 3 October to protest brutal police repression. Committees in Defence of the referendum have been set up in neighbourhoods and towns, and are now starting to coordinate.

In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, the Indonesian Marxistsare publishing, for the first time, the Indonesian edition of Alan Woods’ “Bolshevism, the Road to Revolution”. This will be the first comprehensive book on the history of the Bolshevik Party published in Indonesia since 1965, that fateful year when the Communist Party of Indonesia (CPI) were brutally crushed by a military coup.