anti-caste

RANA PLAZA AFTERMATH: NO RESTITUTION FOR FAMILIES OF WORKERS KILLED AND NO SIGN OF IMPROVEMENTS IN INDUSTRIAL SAFETY

No Justice for the Dead in Bangladesh (The Nation)

“Five months on, sweeping promises about improving factory safety and cracking down on illegal subcontracting remain hamstrung by scant resources and a near-total lack of coordination among parties. Victims’ compensation ranges from inconsistent to nonexistent. According to the Bangladesh Institute of Labor Studies, none of the 4,000 families affected by the tragedy have received the full payments promised by the government or the [Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers Exporters Association (BGMEA), the powerful trade body that represents the $20 billion-a-year industry]. [...]

“BGMEA vice president Reaz Bin Mahmood concedes that in a country as cash-strapped and chaotic as Bangladesh, inspections are ‘a very scratch process.’ The BGMEA has just ten inspectors. The fire department has eighty but says it needs ten times that. Teams staffed by engineering teachers struggle with inadequate equipment and the labor ministry is trying to hire and train 200 more inspectors in the coming months. In the meantime, there remains no central coordinating body to keep track of what the various agencies are up to. Manufacturers complain that certain factories have been inspected multiple times while others are ignored. [...]

“Some owners say that even third-party auditors dispatched by the major brands take bribes. And even if they’re legitimate, they never look further than the big factories. One owner, whose office boasts certificates for excellent safety standards from H&M;, the second-largest garment company in Bangladesh, admits that, under intense pressure to deliver orders in less time, he still has to outsource some stages of production. ‘There are so many uncertainties—strikes, shipment delays, holidays, corrupt officers at the port—that subcontracting will always’ be a part of garment making in Bangladesh. ‘The brands know it,’ he adds, but ‘they pretend they don’t.’”

See also:

After Bangladesh Factory Collapse, Bleak Struggle for Survivors (New York Times, December 18, 2013):

“[W]hile the Rana Plaza disaster stirred an international outcry — and shamed many international clothing companies into pledging to help finance safety improvements in other Bangladeshi factories — the people most directly affected are still living without any guarantees of help or financial compensation.

“Families who lost the wages of a son or daughter, husband or wife, are struggling.

“Those who lost limbs, like Ms. Khatun, are uncertain if they will ever walk or hold things again. And many volunteer rescuers like Mr. Forkan and survivors are struggling to deal with debilitating emotional scars.”

And see: on anti-caste:

RANA PLAZA: HUNDREDS OF WORKERS KILLED IN BANGLADESH FACTORY COLLAPSE (April 25, 2013)

and

ICL ARTICLE ON INDUSTRIAL MASS MURDER FROM THE TEXAS FERTILIZER PLANT EXPLOSION TO THE BANGLADESH FACTORY COLLAPSE (May 3, 2013)

RANA PLAZA: HUNDREDS OF WORKERS KILLED IN BANGLADESH FACTORY COLLAPSE

Outrage Builds After Collapse in Bangladesh (New York Times)

“As rescuers struggled on Thursday to reach survivors in one of the worst manufacturing disasters in history, pointed questions were being raised about why a Bangladesh factory building was not padlocked after terrified workers notified the police, government officials and a powerful garment industry group about cracks in the walls. [...]

“‘Even in a situation of grave threat, when they saw cracks in the walls, factory managers thought it was too risky not to work because of the pressure on them from U.S. and European retailers to deliver their goods on time,’ said Dara O’Rourke, an expert on workplace monitoring at the University of California, Berkeley. He added that the prices Western companies pay ‘are so low that they are at the root of why these factories are cutting corners on fire safety and building safety.’ [...]

“What is increasingly clear is that the collapse should not have been a surprise. Factory fires have killed hundreds of garment workers in the past decade. At the same time, many factory buildings are substandard and unsafe. Bangladeshi fire officials say the upper floors of Rana Plaza were illegally constructed. [...]

“Bangladesh is the world’s second-leading exporter of apparel, and the domestic garment industry depends on a low wage formula in which the minimum wage is about $37 a month. Garment exports are a critical driver of the Bangladeshi economy, which creates pressure to keep wages low and workers in line. Labor unions are almost nonexistent in the industry; one labor organizer, Aminul Islam, was brutally killed last year in a case that is still unsolved.”

See also:

Death Toll in Bangladesh Passes 1,100 (AP, May 11, 2013)

And see on anti-caste:

INDUSTRIAL MASS MURDER: 112 BANGLADESHI GARMENT WORKERS KILLED (December 17, 2012)

WHO WILL DEFEND LABOR RIGHTS UNDER THE DICTATORSHIP OF CAPITAL? BANGLADESHI WORKERS NEED A STATE OF THEIR OWN (August 23, 2012)

CLASS STRUGGLE IN BANGLADESH: WORKERS SAY WAGE HIKE WON IN 2006 IS NOT ENOUGH! (August 2, 2010)

ICL NOTE ON PARTITION AND THE IMPERIALIST ALLIANCE WITH PAKISTAN

Imperialism, the Cold War and the Creation of Pakistan

(Workers Vanguard)

“The British imperialists have maintained that the partition of India was aimed at creating a homeland for Muslims where they would be protected from Hindus, a claim belied by the fact that far more Muslims were left behind in India than those incorporated in the new entity of Pakistan. Besides, in the provinces that became Pakistan, the Muslims were dominant; they were neither threatened by post-independence Hindu domination nor were they interested in a separate Muslim state. In fact, the majority of Muslims were fearful of the economic and social impact of uprooting and relocation. They resented the fact that they would be confined to the two corners of the subcontinent and have to abandon the heartland of India, where Muslim rulers held sway for over 600 years before their defeat by the British, and in which lie some of the magnificent symbols of past Muslim power and glory such as the great forts of Delhi and Agra, the Taj Mahal and others. Muslim merchants and businessmen opposed the partition out of concern for the loss of a long developed market. The sizable Shi’ite Muslim population, dreading living in a Sunni-dominated Pakistan, was opposed to the partition scheme.

“Up until World War II the British depended on the strategically situated India as a military base to safeguard their interests—in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and their colonies across the Indian Ocean in east Africa. As India’s independence dawned, the British, fearing that the Hindu nationalists who would rule post-independence India would deny them military cooperation, settled for creating a weak, truncated entity that would serve their imperialist interests, would depend on Britain for its defence and would be ruled by their pliable lackeys of the Muslim League of Mohammed Ali Jinnah. Through their divide-and-rule policy and using religion as a tool, the British drove a wedge between Hindus and Muslims, built close ties with Jinnah, in whom they nourished separatist aspirations, and recognised him as the sole spokesman of the Muslims of India.

“In his well-documented book, The Shadow of the Great Game: The Untold Story of India’s Partition (2005), Narendra Singh Sarila laid bare the true intentions of the British behind the partition: a meticulously calculated scheme to detach Pakistan from India, create a militarily strategic foothold aimed at the Soviet Union and maintain control over the oil fields of the Middle East.”

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

See also:

links to articles by the International Communist League (4th Internationalist) on South Asia

INDUSTRIAL MASS MURDER: 112 BANGLADESHI GARMENT WORKERS KILLED

Bangladesh Finds Gross Negligence in Factory Fire
(New York Times)

“Bangladesh has more than 4,500 garment factories, which employ more than four million workers, many of them young women. The industry is crucial to the national economy as a source of employment and foreign currency. Garments constitute about four-fifths of the country’s manufacturing exports, and the industry is expected to grow rapidly.

“But Bangladesh’s manufacturing formula depends on keeping wages low and restricting the rights of workers. The minimum wage in the garment industry is $37 a month, unions are almost nonexistent, and garment workers have taken to the streets in recent years in sometimes violent protests over wages and work conditions.

“Workers at Tazreen Fashions had staged small demonstrations in the months before the fire, demanding wages they were owed. On the night of the fire, more than 1,150 people were inside the eight-story building, working overtime shifts to fill orders for various international brands. Fire officials say the fire broke out in the open-air ground floor, where large mounds of fabric and yarn were illegally stored; Bangladeshi law requires that such flammable materials be stored in a room with fireproof walls.

“The blaze quickly spread across the length of the ground floor — roughly the size of a football field — as fire and toxic smoke filtered up through the building’s three staircases. The factory lacked a sprinkler system or an outdoor fire escape; employees were supposed to use interior staircases, and many escaped that way.

“But on some floors, managers ordered workers to ignore a fire alarm and stay to work. Precious minutes were lost. Then, as smoke and fire spread throughout the building, many workers were trapped, unable to descend the smoke-filled staircases and blocked from escape by iron grilles on many windows. Desperate workers managed to break open some windows and leap to the roof of a nearby building and safety. Others simply jumped from upper floors to the ground.”

See also:

Documents Indicate Walmart Blocked Safety Push in Bangladesh
(New York Times, December 5, 2012):

“[T]wo officials who attended a meeting held in Bangladesh in 2011 to discuss factory safety in the garment industry said on Wednesday that the Walmart official there played the lead role in blocking an effort to have global retailers pay more for apparel to help Bangladesh factories improve their electrical and fire safety. [...]

“The meeting was held in April 2011 in Dhaka, the country’s capital, and brought together global retailers, Bangladeshi factory owners, government officials and nongovernment organizations after several apparel factory fires in Bangladesh had killed dozens of workers the previous winter.

“According to the minutes of the meeting, which were made available to The Times, Sridevi Kalavakolanu, a Walmart director of ethical sourcing, along with an official from another major apparel retailer, noted that the proposed improvements in electrical and fire safety would involve as many as 4,500 factories and would be ‘in most cases’ a ‘very extensive and costly modification.’

“‘It is not financially feasible for the brands to make such investments,’ the minutes said.”

IMPORTANT CLASS BATTLE AT MARUTI SUZUKI: WORKERS SHOW THEIR POWER USING SIT-DOWN TACTICS, STRUGGLING FOR THE RIGHT TO ORGANIZE

Maruti workers seize control of Manesar plant wracked by unrest (The Economic Times)

“Striking employees of Maruti Suzuki, India's biggest carmaker, have seized control of a factory hit by weeks of labour unrest, the company said on Monday, as a stand-off that has cost the firm over $150 million descended into violence.[...]

"‘The plant is effectively captive in the hands of striking workers who are bent upon violence,’ the company said in a statement, describing the situation at the factory as ‘grave.’

“Maruti, 54.2-percent owned by Japan's Suzuki Motor, said 1,500 workers were inside the factory on Monday. The plant produces about 1,000 vehicles a day and the unrest has caused a production loss of 2,600 cars since Friday afternoon.

“Supporting strikes by workers at other Suzuki-owned plants in India that supply parts to Maruti's second car factory have resulted in a total loss of production of about $22 million.

“Maruti announced an agreement with striking workers last week to end a month-long strike that has already cost the automaker 6.6 billion rupees ($134 million) in lost output and contributed to a 21-percent slump in September sales.

“The carmaker's total losses due to labour unrest this year stand at close to $250 million, following a 13-day strike by 800 workers in June at Manesar that crippled production and caused more than $90 million in lost output.[...]

“‘The company cannot throw out mobs of people,’a Maruti spokesman said. ‘The action has to come from the police and the authorities.’"

See also:

Speed and Control at Manesar: Why is the Maruti-Suzuki Management Keeping Workers Out of Its Factory (Kafila, September 6, 2011)

“Since June this year, perhaps even earlier, discontent at the Maruti-Suzuki plant has peaked. June saw the eruption of a wildcat strike and a momentary occupation of the factory. Eleven ‘ring leaders’ were suspended. The issue that led to the strike was the appalling intensity of work conditions. The media and the management were content to report it as a dispute over union formation. Yes, the workers at Manesar had wanted to form an independent union. And yes, the management wanted them to remain under the umbrella of MUKU (Maruti Udyog Kamgar Union – the ‘Company’ union – which has remained an effective tool of management control over workers). But the reason that led the workers to express a desire to form their own union – The Maruti-Suzuki Employees Union (which is their constitutional right, by the way) was the ineffectiveness of the company union in addressing their complaints about the increasing intensification of control and speed at the factory. Working at the Manesar plant was becoming torturous and attrition was at an all time high.

“The twelve-day long strike in June did not end in attention being paid to the workers demands about working conditions. The eleven suspended workers were re-instated, pending enquiries. This was translated as a ‘victory’ for the workers by their newly formed (and still unrecognized independent union), even though all the workers had to agree to a penalty of a cut in two days wages for the transgression of their strike. The work conditions stayed exactly as before. According to some, things got worse.”

And see:

Why they strike. Why you should care. (Tehelka, September 24, 2011)

“Here is what a Maruti Suzuki worker says his average day at the Manesar plant is like. You catch a bus at 5 am for the factory. Arriving a second late to punch in your card means a pay cut, but you can’t leave the premises once you’ve entered. At 6.30 am, you exercise and supervisors give you feedback on your previous output. Start work at 7 sharp. Everyone does his one task — assembling, welding, fixing — for a minimum of 8 continuous hours. A car rolls off the line every 38 seconds, which means you can’t budge from your position, ever. You get two breathless breaks during the day. At 9 am, a 7-minute break to drink tea or go to the loo, or both. After a while you might, like many of your friends here, end up taking your hot tea and kachori to the bathroom with you. Then a lunch break of 30 minutes, in which you walk about a half kilometre to the canteen, wait in line with everyone, eat and walk back. Returning even a minute late from any break, or leaving the assembly line for any reason even for a minute, means half a day’s pay cut. Older systems used to include an overseer for every small group of workers who could step in if someone needed to take a breather. But, the cost logic of production is perennially at odds with workers’ rights.

“If we don’t blink at seeing a man climbing down to unblock a sewer for a few hundred a month, it’s likely we think of a Rs 16,000 factory job with a uniform as clean and comfortable. But even the salary is an illusion, as the workers’ salary slips show. A baseline of Rs 8,000 is all most are guaranteed. Take a day from your legally granted casual leave or sick leave, for any reason, and lose Rs 1,500. Take two and lose Rs 3,000, and so on up till half your salary disappears.”[...]

“On 3 June, the Manesar workers formally applied to form a separate union called Maruti Suzuki Employees Union (MSEU). They say the company responded by suspending 11 workers and sending bouncers to force them to sign blank pieces of paper. The workers struck work on 4 June and held a sit-in inside the plant for 13 days till their 11 colleagues were reinstated, though the main issue of unionisation remained unresolved. [...]

“Meanwhile, the file to register MSEU in the labour office was cancelled. Reasons: the employees resorted to an illegal strike; among those who’d signed for a new union, many still retained MUKU membership; some signatures didn’t match with the registered ones. The revolting workers say they’d all resigned from the old union and these technical reasons merely indicate how hand-in-glove the Haryana government is with Maruti Suzuki.”

And see also:

Maruti’s Modern Times clash (The Telegraph (Calcutta), October 19, 2011):

“The Maruti Suzuki workers were recruited when they were about 18 years of age in 2006. The Manesar plant opened in February 2007 and the first batch of trainees became permanent workers only last year. Almost immediately, the workers were urged to become members of the Maruti Udyog Kamgar Union (Muku) that is the only workers’ outfit in the company’s Gurgaon plant. (Manesar is about 18km south of Gurgaon).

“The workers were hesitant. As more batches of trainees became permanent workers, the demand to form a union — basically the right to collective bargaining — was raised towards the end of 2010.

“Maruti Suzuki now has 970 permanent workers in a total workforce of around 3,000 — a majority being contractual, casual or trainees and apprentices, who are worse off than the permanent workers.

“‘We knew that Muku was a pliant union with workers in Gurgaon who are much older and have families and, since their strike was broken in the year 2000, they do not have the stomach for a fight,’ says Naresh.

“His friend, the French-bearded Jitender Barot, who at 28 years is among the oldest permanent workers, raises his palms: ‘These hands have worked so hard that had I put them to use in my family farm in Hisar, my folks would have been very happy. We have delivered 2 lakh cars when the management wanted it, working overtime and breathlessly and we have been taken for granted.’

“Asked why he does not go back home to work on his farm, Barot shoots back: ‘I wanted to be something else.’ [...]

“The rent for the one-room tenements in Gurganva where many of the workers live is between Rs 3,000 and Rs 3,500. A permanent worker technically earns about Rs 18,000 per month. Of this less than half is the fixed component of the salary and the rest are added incentives.

“Maruti Suzuki’s punitive measures often mean that workers have to make do with cuts. In the case of Naresh and some 30 others who are suspended, this means that their salary slips show a negative pay of Rs 3,800, meaning that the amount would be deducted from their next salary. [...]

“For now, the workers are not even demanding a hike in salaries. But what they are asking for — the right to form a union of their choice — is a political demand that may actually spell more trouble.

And see further:

Workers' struggle in Maruti Suzuki by Prasenjit Bose and Sourindra Ghosh (The Hindu, September 28, 2011):

“The stand adopted by the MSIL management in the ongoing dispute was endorsed by the Chairman and CEO of Suzuki Motor Corporation, Osamu Suzuki, during his recent visit to India. He said: ‘Indiscipline is not tolerated . . . not in Japan, not in India.’ Mr. Suzuki seems to have completely missed the larger picture.

“Over the past three years, MSIL has emerged as the most productive and profitable subsidiary of the Suzuki Motor Corporation. Its Annual Reports show that while Suzuki's car production and sales in Japan registered absolute declines in 2008 and 2009 following the recession, MSIL's production and sales in India have registered steady growth during this period. Could this be achieved by an ‘indisciplined' workforce?”

And:

Debate over trade unions rages in India (BBC, October 19, 2011):

“This is the Maruti workers' third strike this year for the same demand. And Maruti is not the only case. Strikes demanding the right to form workers' unions have hit the automobile sector in northern India at frequent intervals.

“Spare parts production company Rico faced a strike in 2009 which affected production in Ford and General Motors plants in Canada and the US.

“Suzuki plants in different parts of India are seeing protests by workers Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India saw a strike in 2005 which was ended by violent police action.

“While the Hero Honda agitation was successful and the company now has a robust workers' union, Rico workers had to bow down to their management.

“Despite a chequered history, workers here seem to have faith in the organised trade union.”

And:

Material for the Debate on Maruti Suzuki Workers’ Struggle in Maneswar, India (GurgaonWorkersNews, October 28, 2011)

Maruti Suzuki Workers Strike: A Report from Gurgaon (GurgaonWorkersNews via Sanhati, July 16, 2011)

And also see anti-caste: A PERSPECTIVE FOR INDIAN LABOR

IMPORTANT NEW ARTICLES IN THE THEORETICAL JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNIST LEAGUE (4TH INTERNATIONALIST)

Edmund Samarakkody and the Legacy of the Ceylonese LSSP:
The Fight for Trotskyism in South Asia
(Spartacist English edition No. 62):

“Our relations with the Revolutionary Workers Party (RWP) of Edmund Samarakkody in the 1970s constitute a significant chapter in that difficult, long and uneven struggle. By the time of his death in January 1992, Samarakkody’s revolutionary days were well behind him. But at one time, this founding member of the Ceylonese Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) represented a rare breed: a militant won to Trotskyism in the late 1930s who had not been utterly compromised and corrupted by homegrown popular-frontism or by the revisionist current of Michel Pablo, which had destroyed the Fourth International in 1951-53. In outlining the prospects for revolutionary regroupment, the 1974 declaration of the international Spartacist tendency, now the International Communist League, took particular note of Samarakkody’s RWP as having ‘emerged with integrity from the welter of betrayals perpetrated by the old LSSP’ and abetted by the Pabloite United Secretariat (USec) of Ernest Mandel and the craven ‘International Committee’ (IC) of Gerry Healy (ibid.).”

1960 Letter by James Robertson to SWP Political Committee:
No to Public Silence on LSSP Betrayal (August 8, 1960):

“Dear Comrades, I am addressing you on the matter of our party’s public silence concerning the recent and continuing betrayal of the Ceylonese working class and of the world Trotskyist movement by the Lanka Sama Samaja Party. I refer, of course, to that party’s entry into a ‘Popular Front’ electoral pact with the Stalinist party and with the left bourgeois nationalist party represented by the widow Bandaranaike.”

M.N. Roy: Nationalist Menshevik
Spartacist English edition No. 62:

“Ervin’s treatment of this pseudo-Marxist adventurer, who figured prominently in the Bukharinite Right Opposition from its inception in 1928, is a piece of philistine idolatry fully in line with bourgeois academic studies of Indian Communism, in which Roy is far from neglected. What distinguishes Roy, and makes him attractive to such types, is that he embodied the revisionist endeavour of trying to blend Communism and nationalism. In pursuit of this effort, Roy became a vulgar democrat who pushed the bourgeois ideology of nationalism, albeit with some Communist colouration, making him an opponent of the fight for a Leninist vanguard party based on proletarian internationalism.”

ANNA HAZARE: SINISTER “ANTI-CORRUPTION” CAMPAIGNER PUSHES PRO-IMPERIALIST NEO-LIBERAL AGENDA WHILE SALUTING COMMUNALIST BIGOTRY AND AGE-OLD CASTE OPPRESSION

I’d rather not be Anna by Arundhati Roy (The Hindu)

“Who is he really, this new saint, this Voice of the People? Oddly enough we've heard him say nothing about things of urgent concern. Nothing about the farmer's suicides in his neighbourhood, or about Operation Green Hunt further away. Nothing about Singur, Nandigram, Lalgarh, nothing about Posco, about farmer's agitations or the blight of SEZs. He doesn't seem to have a view about the Government's plans to deploy the Indian Army in the forests of Central India.

“He does however support Raj Thackeray's Marathi Manoos xenophobia and has praised the ‘development model’ of Gujarat's Chief Minister who oversaw the 2002 pogrom against Muslims. (Anna withdrew that statement after a public outcry, but presumably not his admiration.)

“Despite the din, sober journalists have gone about doing what journalists do. We now have the back-story about Anna’s old relationship with the RSS. We have heard from Mukul Sharma who has studied Anna’s village community in Ralegan Siddhi, where there have been no Gram Panchayat or Co-operative society elections in the last 25 years. We know about Anna's attitude to ‘harijans’ [Gandhian term for untouchables]: ‘It was Mahatma Gandhi’s vision that every village should have one chamar, one sunar, one kumhar and so on. They should all do their work according to their role and occupation, and in this way, a village will be self-dependent. This is what we are practicing in Ralegan Siddhi.’ Is it surprising that members of Team Anna have also been associated with Youth for Equality, the anti-reservation (pro-‘merit’) movement [that opposes affirmative action on the basis of caste]? The campaign is being handled by people who run a clutch of generously funded NGOs whose donors include Coca-Cola and Lehman Brothers. Kabir, run by Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, key figures in Team Anna, has received $400,000 from the Ford Foundation in the last three years. Among contributors to the India Against Corruption campaign there are Indian companies and foundations that own aluminum plants, build ports and SEZs, and run Real Estate businesses and are closely connected to politicians who run financial empires that run into thousands of crores of rupees. Some of them are currently being investigated for corruption and other crimes. Why are they all so enthusiastic? [...]

“At a time when the State is withdrawing from its traditional duties and Corporations and NGOs are taking over government functions (water supply, electricity, transport, telecommunication, mining, health, education); at a time when the terrifying power and reach of the corporate owned media is trying to control the public imagination, one would think that these institutions — the corporations, the media, and NGOs — would be included in the jurisdiction of a Lokpal bill. Instead, the proposed bill leaves them out completely.

“Now, by shouting louder than everyone else, by pushing a campaign that is hammering away at the theme of evil politicians and government corruption, they have very cleverly let themselves off the hook. Worse, by demonising only the Government they have built themselves a pulpit from which to call for the further withdrawal of the State from the public sphere and for a second round of reforms — more privatisation, more access to public infrastructure and India's natural resources. It may not be long before Corporate Corruption is made legal and renamed a Lobbying Fee.”

See also:

Converging agendas: Team Anna and the Indian Right by Rohini Hensman (Infochange, September 2011):

“Questions were raised about the dangerously authoritarian character of the bill they were backing, with its creation of an unaccountable, unelected body that would have the power to tap phones, intercept emails, and remove every government functionary from the Prime Minister and Chief Justice to the lowest peon. Access to judicial review for those targeted by this all-powerful body would be meaningless, given its power to remove judges it did not like. By defining corruption as the disease rather than seeing it as merely a symptom of a deeper disease–power without accountability, power to commit crimes with impunity–the JLB was a formula to introduce a new source of corruption rather than eliminating it. It was also, potentially, an assault on India’s democratic institutions, one heightened by the demand that either the law should be passed by parliament by August 30, or the government should quit. [...]

“The enthusiastic participation of the RSS and other members of the Sangh Parivar also disturbed many.”

And see:

What is the real goal of the Anna movement? by Rohini Hensman (InfoChange India, November 2011)

TARIQ ALI ON U.S.-PAKISTAN RELATIONS IN THE LIGHT OF WIKILEAKS

Elephantine Corruption by Tariq Ali (LRB Blog)

“The WikiLeaks confirm what we already know about Af-Pak. Pakistan is a US satrapy: its military and political leaders constitute a venal elite happy to kill and maim its people at the behest of a foreign power. The US proconsul in Islamabad, Anne Patterson, emerges as a shrewd diplomat, repeatedly warning her country of the consequences in Pakistan if they carry on as before. Amusing but hardly a surprise is Zardari reassuring the US that if he were assassinated his sister, Faryal Talpur, would replace him and all would continue as before. Always nice to know that the country is regarded by its ruler as a personal fiefdom.”

AT SITE OF THE WORST INDUSTRIAL CRIME IN HISTORY—STILL CONTAMINATED—THE SUFFERING CONTINUES

Bhopal: 25 years of poison by Indra Sinha (The Guardian (UK))

"Indra Sinha, who was Booker-nominated for his book on the Bhopal disaster, explains why the gas leak that killed 20,000 people 25 years ago—and continues to create health problems for countless more—is still a national scandal

"If safety was ignored inside the plant, Union Carbide had no plan at all for the surrounding densely packed neighbourhoods. As the situation worsened, factory staff, fearing for their own lives and those living nearby, put up posters warning of a terrible danger. Keswani wrote begging the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh to investigate the factory before Bhopal 'turns into Hitler's gas chamber.' His sensational style, perhaps, caused him to be ignored. His final article, 'We are all about to be annihilated,' appeared just weeks before the gas disaster.

"As night fell on 2 December 1984, none of the factory's safety systems was working. The vent gas scrubber lay in pieces. The flare tower was undersized. The siren stayed silent. Years later—too late for the thousands who would now die in unimaginably hideous ways—a prosecuting attorney would say that Union Carbide had demonstrated a 'depraved indifference to human life.'"

See also:

25 years of shame by Praful Bidwai (Frontline, Decemeber 05-18, 2009)

"Even as people were dying in Bhopal in the first week of December 1984, Indian diplomats were at pains to tell the world that the disaster would in no way affect India’s foreign investment policy.

"Twenty-five years on, their assurances have been largely fulfilled. Carbide has got off the civil liability hook with a paltry settlement of $470 million, an amount barely double its insurance cover—for what was the world’s most catastrophic industrial accident until Chernobyl happened in April 1986, and which remains the worst chemical industry accident in world history.

"Now, the government is keen to lay out the red carpet for UCC’s successor, Dow Chemical Co., and is doing its utmost to let Dow evade its responsibility to clean up the Bhopal plant site, which remains contaminated with hundreds of tonnes of toxic chemicals, which have poisoned water supplies. The captains of Indian industry, in collaboration with U.S. multinationals, are strenuously trying to bury the past and erase Bhopal’s memory—at the expense of the victims, and to attract foreign investment.

"Why, Minister of State for Environment Jairam Ramesh even turned up at the plant in September and jeered at the victims. He picked a fistful of waste and declared: 'See, I am alive!' There could have been no meaner and more obnoxious way of rubbing salt into the wounds of people who have suffered untold injuries from the gas leak and had to bear the further humiliation of having to drink water contaminated by the plant. Ramesh even insinuated that there was a dirty secret to the accident other than Carbide’s culpability —something he 'can’t even talk about.' Like UCC’s servitors in the media, he hinted that the disaster was caused by negligence on the part of its workers, or worse, sabotage by them."

And see anti-caste: CAPITALIST INDIFFERENCE TO HUMAN SUFFERING (July 7, 2008)

INDIAN GOVT COMMITTEE: "LARGE LANDOWNERS INVARIABLY BELONG TO THE UPPER CASTES" WHILE TATA AND ESSAR STAGE "THE BIGGEST GRAB OF TRIBAL LANDS SINCE COLUMBUS"

Experts seek land ceiling like Bengal (The Telegraph (Calcutta))

"The Centre has been asked to impose the Bengal model of land distribution across the country by a panel it appointed to suggest land reforms.

"The non-binding advice, which recommends rural land ceilings more stringent than those in Bengal, comes at a time the [CPM-led] Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government has tried to raise those limits to promote industry but seen its efforts stalled. [...]

"In Bengal, the ceiling in non-irrigated areas is 17 acres and in irrigated areas, 12 acres. Left-ruled Bengal, Kerala and Tripura are the only states with rural land ceilings, the limit for irrigated land in Kerala being 15 acres. Some other states have tried and failed to enact land ceilings.

"So, although the report on 'State Agrarian Relations and the Unfinished Task in Land Reforms' was handed in last January, the Centre has been unwilling to reveal its contents given their controversial nature."

anti-caste: The report of the government-appointed panel mentioned above, which is available online here in full, makes interesting reading, with frank and well supported analyses of the near-total failure of capitalist India to solve the land question. And it's only getting dramatically worse, with the current drive to separate poor and middle peasants, landless laborers (who are overwhelmingly untouchable), and tribals from what meager resources they had claim to on behalf of native and foreign-based capital. That shouldn't be news to the government that commissioned the report, since, as documented there, it's the one facilitating it. Liberal reformers regret the state taking on this role; Marxists know it's only doing its job. It's a dirty job, too: just look at Operation Green Hunt.

Excerpts below from the report's fourth chapter, Alienation of Tribal and Dalits Lands (with emphasis added by us throughout):

"Land and Social Hierarchy - Dalits and Adivasis in India

"Land is not merely an important economic asset, its ownership is also socially valued, sought and denied. In rural societies, ownership of land was and to a large extent is still coterminus with social status. Hence, its unequal distribution reflects both prevailing social stratification and also helps maintain the hierarchical structure of the society. In contrast, fair distribution of land strikes directly at the roots of an unequal social order and skewed power relations, and frees the marginalized from the clutches of perpetual bondage, for want of a sustainable livelihood. The landless, whose only remaining asset is their labour, are effectively separated from the other means of production, namely land, and remain dependent on large land holders for their survival. Powerful landlords have always opposed land reforms, fearing not only loss of control of assets, but also their dominant position in society, which straddles the economic and the political realms. The denial of access to land, thereby, functions both as a means of exclusion as also a mechanism of bondage. [...]

"The pattern of land distribution in India, therefore, reflects the existing socioeconomic hierarchy. While large landowners invariably belong to the upper castes, the cultivators belong to the middle castes, and the agricultural workers are largely dalits and tribals. [...T]he data of absolute landless families proves that the feudal society is firmly anchored in large parts of India, notwithstanding claims to the contrary.

"Tribal India – Land and People

"The tribal people, referred to in the law and constitution, considered the descendents of the original inhabitants, are largely located in the hilly tracts of Central and North Eastern India, Andaman and Nicobar Islands. [...] Earlier the temples of modern India reduced millions of tribal people to ecological refugees, now the minerals seen as the building blocks of modern India put the tribal people at risk of losing their land through acquisition and further disruption of their societies and economies. [...] Left without an alternative, either in the government or non government organizations, and left to a harsh fate of unmitigated exploitation, the tribal people initially gave the Naxalites succor and now have become their base. Most tribal areas in Central India are the abode to the naxalites, whose presence is a response both to past and future land alienation, the failure of the government to live up to its constitutional mandate and the withdrawal of the state from its responsibility to protect the tribal realm. [...]

"The data gathered from the village studies and from the records of the various governments all point out to the inescapable conclusion that alienation of tribal land continues unabated and alienation of land has actually accelerated in areas where irrigation and modernization of agriculture are making rapid strides and roadways, industrialization and urbanization is enveloping larger areas in the towns and cities. Four apparent forms of tribal land alienation are listed below. [...]

"Conclusion - The Biggest Grab of Tribal Lands after Columbus

"A civil war like situation has gripped the southern districts of Bastar, Dantewara and Bijapur in Chhattishgarh. The contestants are the armed squads of tribal men and women of the erstwhile Peoples War Group now known as the Communist Party of India (Maoist) on the one side and the armed tribal fighters of the Salva Judum created and encouraged by the government and supported with the firepower and organization of the central police forces. This open declared war will go down as the biggest land grab ever, if it plays out as per the script. The drama being scripted by Tata Steel and Essar Steel who wanted 7 villages or thereabouts, each to mine the richest lode of iron ore available in India.

"There was initial resistance to land acquisition and displacement from the tribals. The state withdrew its plans under fierce resistance. An argument put forward was ‘you don’t play foul with the Murias [a tribal group]’, it’s a matter of life and death and Murias don’t fear death. A new approach was necessary if the rich lodes of iron ore are to be mined.

"The new approach came about with the Salva Judum, euphemistically meaning peace hunt. Ironically the Salva Judum was led by Mahendra Karma, elected on a Congress ticket and the Leader of the Opposition and supported wholeheartedly by the BJP-led government. The Salva Judum was headed and peopled by the Murias, some of them erstwhile cadre and local leaders of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). Behind them are the traders, contractors and miners waiting for a successful result of their strategy. The first financiers of the Salva Judum were Tata and the Essar in the quest for ‘peace’. The first onslaught of the Salva Judum was on Muria villagers who still owed allegiance to the Communist Party of India (Maoist). It turned out to be an open war between brothers. 640 villages as per official statistics were laid bare, burnt to the ground and emptied with the force of the gun and the blessings of the state. 350,000 tribals, half the total population of Dantewada district are displaced, their womenfolk raped, their daughters killed, and their youth maimed. Those who could not escape into the jungle were herded together into refugee camps run and managed by the Salva Judum. Others continue to hide in the forest or have migrated to the nearby tribal tracts in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa.

"640 villages are empty. Villages sitting on tons of iron ore are effectively de-peopled and available for the highest bidder. The latest information that is being circulated is that both Essar Steel and Tata Steel are willing to take over the empty landscape and manage the mines."

See also:

‘The biggest land grab after Columbus’ (Hindustan Times, December 4, 2009):

"It seems no coincidence that India’s mining heartland is also the Maoist heartland.

"'If you map the forest wealth, the mineral and the poverty of India, it’s a complete match,' said Sunita Narain, head of the Centre of Science and Environment."

And see anti-caste: OPERATION GREEN HUNT: INDIA’S DIRTY WAR ON TRIBALS AND LEFTISTS.

U.S.-BACKED PAKISTANI ARMY LEAVES A TRAIL OF BLOOD IN SWAT

Pakistan Army Said to Be Linked to Swat Killings (New York Times)

"Pakistan’s military operations against the Taliban in Swat, begun in May under public pressure from the United States, has been hailed by Washington as a showcase effort of the army’s newfound resolve to defeat the militants. [...]

"Now, concerns over the army’s methods in the area threaten to further taint Washington’s association with the military, cooperation that has been questioned in Congress and has been politically unpopular in Pakistan.

"The number of killings suggests that the military is seeking to silence any enthusiasm for the Taliban and to settle accounts for heavy army casualties, said a senior provincial official who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprimand by the army.

[...]

"A sullen, uncertain atmosphere prevails in Mingora, where people interviewed last week in shops, homes and government institutions nervously complained of the arbitrary and unpredictable army rule.

"Bodies, some with torture marks and some with limbs tied and a bullet in the neck or head, have been found on the roads of Mingora and in rural areas that were militant strongholds.

"Reports on Sept. 1 in two national daily newspapers, Dawn and The News, said the bodies of 251 people had been found dumped in Swat.

[...]

"A well-to-do landlord, Sher Shah Khan, who had criticized what he termed the army’s early reluctance to confront the militants, said he was not worried about the reports. 'If the security services kill in the same manner as the Taliban killed, people have no problem.'"

See also anti-caste: WHAT IS THE CLASS NATURE OF THE CONFLICT IN SWAT? (REVISITED) (July 28, 2009)

MILITANT MASS STRIKES NEAR DHAKA

50,000 Bangladesh garment workers in wage protest (AFP)

"Two people have died and scores have been injured in violent clashes as protests entered a second day and spread to scores of factories at the Ashulia industrial zone 30 kilometres (19 miles) outside Dhaka, police officials said.

"'More than 50,000 workers have joined the protests. They have become violent and hurled stones and rocks at our officers. We fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the protesters,' Dhaka district police chief Iqbal Bahar said.

"The new clashes came a day after one garment labourer was shot and killed and several injured when around 7,000 workers clashed with police over wage cuts and unpaid salaries. Police officer Rehana Begum said the body of another labourer was recovered from the area Sunday, taking the death toll to two.

"Scores of officers and workers were also injured in the clashes, she added.

"Factories in the South Asian nation have been hit hard by the global economic crisis with several reportedly cutting wages to compete for orders with other producing countries, such as Vietnam, China and India."

Bangladesh textiles unravelled by price war, protests (AFP, July 1, 2009)

"Kamaluddin, 18, has seen his factory salary slashed from 7,000 taka (100 dollars) a month, to around 3,000 taka, although he is still expected to put in the same gruelling hours.

"His shift involves standing all day at his sweater knitting machine—exhausting work that he blames for his deteriorating health, including two recent bouts of hepatitis. 'Before, it was bearable because I was sending 3,000 taka home to my mother each month, now there's barely enough to live on for me, let alone for her,' he said.

"In leaving his home in northern Bangladesh, Kamaluddin had been following in the footsteps of hundreds of thousands of rural labourers, lured to Dhaka's clothing factories by the promise of doubling or tripling their wages.

"Bangladesh has a legal minimum wage of around 25 dollars per month. With overtime, a skilled garment worker can earn up to 150 dollars—or rather he could.

"Since early 2008, salaries have been cut by an average of up to 30 percent, according to union leader Tauhidul Islam who said this week's violence had been fuelled by desperation.

"'The workers hit the streets because their backs are up against the wall,' Islam said."

See also anti-caste: IN MASS WILDCAT SRIKES, TENS OF THOUSANDS OF WORKERS SHUT DOWN GARMENT INDUSTRY (May 23, 2006)

CHINESE WORKERS' STATE, DESPITE ISOLATION AND POLITICAL DEFORMATION, IS PROGRESSIVE VS. CAPITALIST INDIA

As Indian Growth Soars, Child Hunger Persists (New York Times)

"Small, sick, listless children have long been India’s scourge — 'a national shame,' in the words of its prime minister, Manmohan Singh. But even after a decade of galloping economic growth, child malnutrition rates are worse here than in many sub-Saharan African countries, and they stand out as a paradox in a proud democracy.

"China, that other Asian economic powerhouse, sharply reduced child malnutrition, and now just 7 percent of its children under 5 are underweight, a critical gauge of malnutrition. In India, by contrast, despite robust growth and good government intentions, the comparable number is 42.5 percent. Malnutrition makes children more prone to illness and stunts physical and intellectual growth for a lifetime."

See also:

anti-caste: MALNOURISHED CHILDREN: INDIA—46%, CHINA—8% (February 10, 2007)

P. SAINATH ON THE AGRARIAN CRISIS

Neo-Liberal Terrorism in India: The Largest Wave of Suicides in History (Counterpunch)

"[T]he neoliberal model that pushed growth through one kind of consumption also meant re-directing huge amounts of money away from rural credit to fuel the lifestyles of the aspiring elites of the cities (and countryside, too). Thousands of rural bank branches shut down during the 15 years from 1993-2007.

"Even as incomes of the farmers crashed, so did the price they got for their cash crops, thanks to obscene subsidies to corporate and rich farmers in the West, from the U.S. and EU. Their battle over cotton subsidies alone (worth billions of dollars) destroyed cotton farmers not merely in India but in African nations such as Burkina Faso, Benin, Mali, and Chad. Meanwhile, all along, India kept reducing investment in agriculture (standard neoliberal procedure). Life was being made more and more impossible for small farmers.

"As costs rose, credit dried up. Debt went out of control. Subsidies destroyed their prices. Starving agriculture of investment (worth billions of dollars each year) smashed the countryside. India even cut most of the few, pathetic life supports she had for her farmers. The mess was complete. From the late-’90s, the suicides began to occur at what then seemed a brisk rate.

"In fact, India’s agrarian crisis can be summed up in five words (call it Ag Crisis 101): the drive toward corporate farming. The route (in five words): predatory commercialization of the countryside. The result: The biggest displacement in our history."

FIRST BLOOD FOR OBAMA

Pakistan protests to US over air strikes (Dawn (Pakistan))

"Twenty-two people were killed in two missile strikes in Waziristan on Friday.

"The two missile strikes, coming three days after the new administration assumed office, are being taken as an indication that President Obama has endorsed drone attacks on Pakistan.

"President Obama, during his campaign for the White House, had called for attacks against high-value targets in Pakistan.

"The outgoing administration had increased the frequency of drone attacks in the dying weeks — about two dozen attacks occurring over five months. Some top Al Qaeda leaders were killed in these attacks."

CAPITALIST INDIFFERENCE TO HUMAN SUFFERING

Decades Later, Toxic Sludge Torments Bhopal (New York Times)

"The toxic remains have yet to be carted away. No one has examined to what extent, over more than two decades, they have seeped into the soil and water, except in desultory checks by a state environmental agency, which turned up pesticide residues in the neighborhood wells far exceeding permissible levels.

"Nor has anyone bothered to address the concerns of those who have drunk that water and tended kitchen gardens on this soil and who now present a wide range of ailments, including cleft palates and mental retardation, among their children as evidence of a second generation of Bhopal victims, though it is impossible to say with any certainty what is the source of the afflictions."

TENS OF THOUSANDS OF GARMENT WORKERS STRIKE TO PROTEST RISING FOOD PRICES

Bangladesh workers riot over soaring food prices (Agence France-Presse)

"About 20,000 workers rioted over high food prices and low wages on Saturday close to the Bangladesh capital Dhaka, police said, amid spreading global unrest over soaring grocery costs.

"Police fired tear gas and used batons to break up the protests and at least 50 people were injured, most of them police officers.

"About 20,000 textile workers from more than a dozen factories went on the rampage in Fatullah, 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of Dhaka, demanding better pay amid soaring rice prices, police chief Bhuiyan Mahbub Hasan said.

[...]

"'With our poor salary, it is now impossible to buy three meals a day. Some of us are even going hungry some days,' said Jamal Uddin, a sweater machine operator, who earns 30 dollars a month."

See anti-caste: IN MASS WILDCAT STRIKES, TENS OF THOUSANDS OF WORKERS SHUT DOWN GARMENT INDUSTRY (May 23, 2006)

CLASS BATTLE IN BANGLADESH CONTINUES

In a concession following the convulsive struggles of May-June (see anti-caste: IN MASS WILDCAT STRIKES, TENS OF THOUSANDS OF WORKERS SHUT DOWN GARMENT INDUSTRY, May 23, 2006), the government offers garment workers a minimum wage, but one set at starvation levels. As the factory owners complain that even this is too high, and in the context of redoubled class struggle in other sectors including jute mills, river transport, and railways....

Thousands protest 25 dollar minimum wage in Bangladesh (Agence France-Presse)

"The government's minimum wage board commission last week fixed the monthly wage at 1662.50 taka (25 dollars) after four months of negotiations between unions and factory owners.

"The figure was agreed by employers and one leading textile workers' union. Other unions, however, called for earnings to be set at at least 3,000 taka (44 dollars) and called protests for Tuesday to press their demands.

"Several thousand workers set fire to a factory and attacked several others with stones at Pallabi, 20 kilometres (12 miles) west of central Dhaka, said Major Ehtashamus Samad of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) security force.

"'They held protest marches, set fire to one factory, smashed the windows of cars and also tried to set fire to another factory before police came to the scene and brought the situation under control,' he added.

"Police also clashed with at least 10,000 workers who attacked a factory in the city's northern suburb of Uttara, sub-inspector Malik Khasru of Uttara police station said."

[...]

"Impoverished Bangladesh, which has some 4,200 garment factories, relies on the industry for more than three-quarters of its 10.5 billion dollars in export earnings.

"More than two million workers, 85 percent of whom are women, work in the sector which is notorious for poor salaries and shabby safety standards.

"Business, however, has boomed since the end of global textile quotas last year. Garment exports in the last financial year alone grew by more than 24 percent."

BANGLADESHI GARMENT WORKERS STRUGGLE: "one of the first instances of successful mass direct labor action against the export manufacturing sector in a developing country"

Industrial Riots Reveal Bangladesh's Crisis of Governance (Power and Interest News Report drafted by Michael A. Weinstein)

"Between May 20 and 24, the South Asian country of Bangladesh underwent the most severe and widespread industrial rioting in its history, as workers in its booming textile export industry torched 16 factories, ransacked 300 more and went on a general rampage, destroying cars, blocking roads, intimidating perceived adversaries and looting.

"As the rioting spread from the Gazipur industrial district throughout the textile belt and into the capital Dhaka, government security forces held back from making a decisive response, triggering a counter-demonstration by factory owners, who sat cross-legged in Dhaka's main thoroughfare, demanding that the army be brought in to quell the disorders on pain of indefinite plant closures.

"The violence peaked and seemed to be getting out of control on May 23—'Black Tuesday'— finally impelling the government to deploy paramilitary forces, which succeeded in quieting down the situation. Meanwhile, negotiations began between labor unions and the owners, mediated by the government, that resulted in an agreement fulfilling many of the workers' demands for higher wages and more favorable work rules. By Thursday, May 26, the violence had ended; factories were reopening and owners were demanding government compensation for their losses. The death toll stood at two workers, with hundreds of people injured.

"The riots have geoeconomic significance because they mark one of the first instances of successful mass direct labor action against the export manufacturing sector in a developing country.

[...]

"Half of Bangladesh's population of 152.6 million—densely concentrated in the delta region on the Bay of Bengal—lives on less than US$1 per day. Two-thirds of the labor force is employed in agriculture and the literacy rate is 41 percent. The country is a large net labor exporter, with 400,000 Bangladeshis working in the United Arab Emirates alone, and remittances from abroad contribute the largest portion of foreign exchange.

[...]

"The rise of Bangladesh's garment sector has not been attended by a corresponding improvement in labor compensation and working conditions. The monthly minimum wage of $14 was set in 1994, but the cost of living has doubled since then. Workers often put in 20 hour days, have not had guaranteed holidays, are frequently required to work overtime—sometimes without additional compensation—and sometimes have their wages go into arrears for more than two months.

[...]

"With an insurrection in process, the Bangladesh Garment Workers Trade Union Center issued a series of demands, including Friday holidays, a 30 percent wage hike, no forced overtime, payment of wages in arrears and release of arrested workers and union officials. Alarmed by government inaction, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association demanded that the army be deployed to suppress the riots and expressed willingness to negotiate with the unions at the same time that it filed a suit against six labor leaders.

"The manufacturers failed to convince the government to bring out the army and were unsuccessful in their attempts to get the Commerce Ministry to mediate the conflict. With Prime Minister Khaleda on a visit to the United Arab Emirates with the purpose of gaining energy concessions and expanding the number of guest workers, the government was unable to come up with a unified response. Finally, the paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles were dispatched and relative order was restored on May 24.

"The government also stepped in on May 24 to bring the unions and manufacturers together in a six-hour bargaining session that resulted in an agreement in which the manufacturers promised to raise wages, provide a 90 day maternity leave, issue appointment letters to all employees and pay workers full wages for the month of May.

"The government agreed to release arrested workers and union officials, and to drop the cases against them. It also promised to set up a 'minimum wage board for the garment sector and take steps to meet the demands of garment workers,' and—in a bow to the manufacturers—to investigate the causes of the riots.

"The unions declared victory and the owners demanded government compensation for their losses, which they estimated to be $70 million."

IN MASS WILDCAT STRIKES, TENS OF THOUSANDS OF WORKERS SHUT DOWN GARMENT INDUSTRY

Thousands of Bangladeshi textile workers burn factories as wage protests spread (AFX News)

"Tens of thousands of Bangladeshi textile workers demanding better pay set fire to 14 more factories today, the second day of violent demonstrations that spread to the capital Dhaka.

"The demonstrators, including barefoot women, opened up a battlefield in the country's biggest textile industrial belt covering Dhaka and its adjoining industrial towns of Ashulia, Savar and Tongi, police said.

"Some 50,000 protesters armed with bamboo sticks and chanting slogans burnt garment factories at Ashulia, while police fired tear gas and used batons to disperse them, local police chief Jamiruddin Ahmed said.

"In the capital, more than 10,000 workers from Dhaka's Tejgaon industrial area and from the Mirpur, Uttara and Wari districts poured into the streets demanding better pay, overtime and a mandatory weekly holiday.

"The workers torched and smashed dozens of cars and buses and stormed dozens of factories before blocking major roads and bringing city traffic to a virtual halt, the Dhaka police control room said."

Update: This important class battle, which has been going on for over a month and is continuing, has already won notable—though far from sufficient—concessions:

"Following the unrest in the garment sector, the factory owners at a tripartite meeting late last month accepted almost all demands of the garment workers, including the right to form trade unions, weekly holiday, maternity leave and issuance of appointment letter and identity card. The meeting formed a minimum wage board comprising representatives from the government, the garment factory owners and SKOP [Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad, the trade-union federation] as the workers demanded increase of minimum salary from Tk 940 to Tk 3,000 because of the unprecedented price hikes of essentials." (New Age (Bangladesh)), June 29, 2006)

The garment industry in Bangladesh employs around two million workers in over 4,000 factories. Ninety per cent are women and girls; more than eighty per cent are between the ages of 14 and 29. Most are peasants who have migrated to the capital seeking work. They make up 75 per cent of the industrial labor force in this desperately poor and largely agricultural country, working in a sector that accounts for three-quarters of the nation's export earnings. But they receive little of this: according to Amirul Haq Amin, coordinator of the Bangladesh Garment Workers Unity Council, "The garment workers of Bangladesh may be the most deprived labor force in the world. Most are paid between US$14 to US$16 per month, the lowest salary in the world."

See anti-caste: INDUSTRIAL MASS MURDER IN BANGLADESH (March 13, 2006) and anti-caste: WORKFORCE OF 1.8 MILLION—MOST YOUNG AND FEMALE—DENIED LIVING WAGES, SAFE CONDITIONS, AND RIGHTS (May 01, 2005)

INDUSTRIAL MASS MURDER IN BANGLADESH

Booming RMG [ready-made garment sector] cares little for workers' life (Daily Star (Bangladesh))

"The goriest-ever garment factory disaster came on April 13 last year. The 9-story building of Spectrum Sweater and Knitting Factory in Savar collapsed with a resounding thud, crushing 74 workers to death and injuring over a hundred others, including 12 handicapped for life.

"'That was not an accident. It was a wilful violation of safety laws to increase profit,' ruled Kalpona Akter, secretary general and executive director of the Bangladesh Centre for Workers' Solidarity.

[...]

"The garment sector, which accounts for 75 percent of the country's export earnings, soars above any other sector in both frequency and scale of workplace mishaps.

"Yet, it continues to keep its 2-million-strong women-majority labour force toiling in the so-called factories, most of which are ultra-poor in safety. Whatever they may say in public or in paper, in practice the investors in the sector every day put the bulk of their employees at risk of death and physical harms, knowing well the dangers yet shirking rectification in order to maximise the profit. 'Well, it definitely smacks of crime,' said the outspoken Kalpona."

STRIKING WORKERS REPRESSED BY STATE AS IMPERIALISTS WORRY

Toyota workers arrested in Bangalore, strike continues (Hindustan Times)

"Hundreds of workers of the Toyota Kirloskar plant in Bidadi near here, were arrested today after they continued their strike even as the company lifted the factory lockout.

"On January 8, the Toyota Motor Corporation had declared an indefinite lockout at its plant after a strike by workers following the dismissal of three of their fellow workers.

"The workers, however, said that since the company wanted them to accept formally their mistake and stand against the office-bearers, they decided to continue the strike."

See also:

Labor rigidity in India keeps firms on edge by Saritha Rai (International Herald Tribune)

"A recent strike at the Indian unit of Toyota Motor is officially over, but the carmaker's problems with labor are still simmering behind the scenes, providing a cautionary tale to the wave of foreign companies setting up shop in one of Asia's fastest-growing economies.

"A two-week strike at the 2,350-employee plant here in January cost Toyota 900 Corolla and Innova cars. The carmaker is now trying to make up for lost time by running double shifts. An ensuing court battle could last two years, and some employees this week began taking turns fasting at the factory gates in protest.

[...]

"The strike has also led to doubts about the country's allure as a destination for foreign manufacturers. Foreign direct investment in India rose to $6 billion in 2005 from $5.3 billion in 2004. Many experts say India, already attractive for its cheap labor and its engineering skills, could bring in even more foreign companies if it could free its labor market of red tape.

[...]

"The Toyota strike is not an isolated incident. In the middle of last year, in the Gurgaon suburbs of New Delhi, there was a violent confrontation between the police and disgruntled workers of Honda Motorcycles & Scooters India, owned by Honda of Japan. Workers demanding a raise tried to form a labor union, but management fired four union leaders and suspended 50 workers.When the workers went on strike to demand that their colleagues be reinstated, a clash with the police led to 700 injured workers, and the episode was broadcast worldwide."—see anti-caste: POLICE REPRESSION OF HONDA WORKERS IN GURGAON, HARYANA (August 13, 2005)

WORKFORCE OF 1.8 MILLION—MOST YOUNG AND FEMALE—DENIED LIVING WAGES, SAFE CONDITIONS, AND RIGHTS

In Bangladesh, garment workers' payday not a sure thing by Syful Islam (American Reporter)

• "'The garment workers of Bangladesh may be the most deprived labor force in the world. Most are paid between US$14 to US$16 per month, the lowest salary in the world', said Amirul Haq Amin, Coordinator of the Bangladesh Garment Workers Unity Council (BGWUC)."
• "And even though the salaries are very low, most of the garment factory owners do not pay workers their salaries on time. There are many garment factories in Bangladesh where the workers may not get their paychecks for two to five months after they are due."
• "Trade union activities in the garment factories of Bangladesh are now strictly prohibited. Many garment workers lose their jobs because they try to form trade unions. Labor laws here are circumvented with ease."
• "About 90 percent of garment workers in Bangladesh are female. Though most work until after dark, there are no safety measures for them and no residential facilities provided. As a result, they frequently feel insecure, and for good reason: many garment workers are raped and abused by criminals who specialize in preying on them."