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latest news

South Africa
Student uprising

22/10/2015: Struggle for free education now!

  Africa, South Africa

World Economy
’Biggest danger to capitalism is capitalism’

22/10/2015: Steel plant to close after a century of production, raw material prices collapsing, China’s economy slowing, the ongoing euro crisis...

  World Economy

Britain
Socialists and the Corbyn campaign

21/10/2015: An opportunity for socialist ideas

  Britain

 CWI’s 2nd congress for China and Hong Kong a big success

21/10/2015: Discussions on perspectives for Hong Kong’s democracy struggle and the crisis in China

  China, CWI, Hong Kong

Ireland South
Travellers fire deaths

20/10/2015: The fight against anti-Traveller racism

  Ireland Republic

 CIT/CWI Iberian School a great success

19/10/2015: Anti-austerity struggles across southern Europe and the socialist alternative

  CWI, Spain

Austria
Did ’Red Vienna’ really stay red?

17/10/2015: What the Vienna elections show

  Austria

South Africa
Mining and steel industries in crisis

16/10/2015: ‘Deals protect profits not jobs’ – for nationalisation under workers control

  Africa, South Africa

Volkswagen
It’s not just VW exhaust fumes that stink

16/10/2015: ‘Normality’ is the scandal

  Germany

Syria
Western governments’ interventionist strategy in tatters

15/10/2015: Still no end in sight after four and a half years of civil war

  Syria

Germany
Merkel and refugees

14/10/2015: Polarising situation, but 250,000 march against free trade agreements shows potential for mass resistance against establishment

  Germany

Portugal
Left vote grows as right coalition fails to win majority

13/10/2015: What way forward for the Left and workers’ movement?

  Portugal

Turkey
100,000s workers and students strike and protest against terror

13/10/2015: Photos by members of Sosyalist Alternatif (CWI in Turkey)

  Turkey

Turkey
Double bombing at Ankara peace demonstration massacres over 100

12/10/2015: Trade unions’ 48 hour general strike must be first step to building mass, united movement against murderous regime of Erdoğan

  Turkey

Quebec
Government attacks spark workers’ protests

09/10/2015: Step up industrial action to defeat government plans

  Quebec

Burkina Faso
Mass revolt foils coup

09/10/2015: Independent working class political solution urgently needed

  Africa, Burkina Faso

Scotland
Glasgow’s trade unions demand a ‘No Cuts’ budget

08/10/2015: Plenty of money in economy –just in wrong hands or lying in big business bank accounts

  Scotland

Britain
Right wing step up campaign against Corbyn

07/10/2015: ’No time to lose’ to organise against austerity

  Britain

Canada
Tories face election after nearly decade in power

07/10/2015: The NDP represent as a left alternative?

  Canada

Ireland North
Socialist runs for leader of biggest union

05/10/2015: Jobs threatened, pay cuts, increased workloads…public sector workers need fighting, democratic union

  Ireland North, Ireland Republic

Kazakhstan
Workers’ representative demands to see KazMinerals boss in London

01/10/2015: Copper giant denies suffering of its workers and victimisation of their representatives

  Kazakhstan

Britain
Socialism is back!

30/09/2015: We can end cuts, crisis and capitalism

  Britain

Austria
Refugee crisis, solidarity and resistance

29/09/2015: Working class solidarity – a beacon of hope

  Austria

Britain
TUSC conference

29/09/2015: Central in the battle for a working class anti-austerity voice

  Britain

China
Sino-US tensions increasing as China’s economy stumbles

25/09/2015: Nationalism, repression and neoliberal economic ‘reform’ hallmarks of Xi’s rule

  China, US

USA
“We protest violation of democratic and workers’ rights”

25/09/2015: Seattle City Councillor Kshama Sawant co-signs protest letter to visiting Chinese President Xi

  US

Britain
Left Labour leader Corbyn under attack

24/09/2015: But enthusiastic support continues

  Britain

Hungary
Refugees and the Orban government crisis

23/09/2015: Capitalism is an endless ’state of emergency’

  Hungary

 Ireland
Ruth Coppinger TD sends solidarity message to homeless

23/09/2015: Video of Ruth Coppinger, Socialist Party TD, speaking in the Irish Parliament: "I’m here to give you their vote of no confidence in you and your government"

  Ireland Republic, Video

Greece
Mass abstention dominates general election

22/09/2015: Mass socialist alternative needs to be built

  Greece

Finland
General strike shakes government

22/09/2015: 30,000 join Helsinki union demonstration

  Finland

 Solidarity
Protests at Irish embassies

21/09/2015: Jobstown is not guilty: drop the charges against the 27!

  Ireland Republic, Solidarity

Britain
A political earthquake

19/09/2015: Jeremy Corbyn’s victory is a political earthquake that transforms the situation in Britain and poses stark questions for how a new mass socialist force can be built.

  Britain

Scotland
One year after the electoral uprising against austerity

19/09/2015: One year ago, the Scottish independence referendum delivered an electoral uprising against austerity and the political establishment

  Scotland

Kurdistan

Turkey continues repression of Kurds

www.socialistworld.net, 17/11/2002
website of the committee for a workers' international, CWI

Kurdish people, known as the Kurds, live in an area that consists of south-eastern Turkey, northern Iraq, north-western Iran and a part of Syria.

Stephen Smellie

Visit to Kurdistan.

Stephen Smellie, South Lanarkshire UNISON branch secretary, recently visited the Kurdish area of Turkey as part of a trade unions delegation. Here he gives a report of the continued repression facing the Kurdish people in Turkey.

Turkey continues oppression of Kurds

The Kurds refer to this area as Kurdistan. The Kurds have their own language, culture and history as ancient as any other people in the region. Historically they have suffered oppression in all 4 countries that they inhabit.

When modern Turkey was established in the 1920s the Kurds were denied any distinct identity by the Turkish state who refused to acknowledge them as a minority group, referring to them as "Hill Turks." Over the years there have been a number of uprisings by Kurds trying to establish their own state, autonomy or simply their own identity. These risings have met with brutal responses from the Turkish state on each occasion.

In the 1980s the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) launched an armed struggle. This led to a prolonged period of civil unrest with the Turkish military occupying the area under military rule and brutally suppressing any support for the PKK. 30,000 people died during the conflict, thousands of villages were cleared with people forced to migrate to the cities, to western Turkey and abroad. Many came to live in western Europe, including Scotland, as asylum seekers and refugees.

During this period thousands of people were detained and tortured by the military. Many of these people disappeared. Families were persecuted and victimised.

Heroic struggle

A member of SES (Health and Social Workers Union) in the city of Van, Turkey brought home to me just how heroic ordinary Kurdish trade unionists need to be to struggle for basic human rights. He said "The head of our union in Van was suspended and exiled for making a statement to an Italian delegation. Since so many more people are here tonight I expect there to be many more suspensions."

I heard similar stories from trade unionists throughout the Region. The Secretary of KESK (Confederation of Public Service Employees) in Diyarbakir explained that when they elect their branch committee they also elect a second committee. This is because the state will target the committee members and probably exile them to other cities in Turkey. The members of the second committee are then able to step in to replace them. However, he pointed out, the second committee often are targeted as well. This makes it difficult to organize, he said with what must be an understatement.

The Kurdish (south east) region of Turkey suffered from years of brutal military rule as the Turkish state fought to defeat the armed struggle of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). 3 years ago the PKK’s leader, Ocalan, declared a ceasefire and since then the PKK armed units have retreated over the border into the hills of Iraq. This however has not ended the human rights abuses of people suspected of supporting the PKK, trade union activists, Kurdish politicians, socialists, lawyers and anyone else who argues for rights for the Kurds or working people.

During the time of the conflict the military destroyed thousands of villages and forced the small peasant farmers to migrate to the cities, to the west of Turkey and to Western Europe. The Kurdish cities were given no additional funding to cope with this huge influx of people. Many of these people had been victims of torture, had seen members of their family detained or murdered by the state or by the village guards. These guards continue to be a problem. Employed originally by the military to report any sympathies among the local population for the PKK, they have now became local warlords who terrorise the villagers and steal the best land for themselves.

Lawyers who represented people accused of supporting "separitism" were themselves targeted by the security forces. 70-80% of the members of the Bar Association in Diyarbakir were prosecuted or had charges brought against them. According to the Medical Association, Doctors, who examined people who had been detained for weeks before they appeared in court and who reported signs of torture, were threatened by the military.

Since the ceasefire the situation has improved but there are still reports of people being tortured in prison. Any country which sends 2 or 3 security police to wait for a Unison activist to come down to breakfast in the morning and follows him around all day for a week clearly has some way to go before it achieves a genuine democracy.

The Turkish state does not allow any language but Turkish to be used in any official setting. So even in schools where the children speak Kurdish teachers must only use Turkish. Failure to stick to this ruling can result in teachers being disciplined or exiled to another city. In the past year a campaign for the right to be taught in Kurdish has gathered momentum amongst students and parents of younger children. Signatures were collected on petitions to be presented to University rectors. This mild form of protest was met by a brutal response by the military. When Razat Bapci, a 19 year old student at Dija University, went to present a petition, he and his 2 colleagues were arrested, searched and beaten up by police before being detained for 3 days. They were sentenced to 3 years and 9 months in jail. They were also suspended from university just at exam time so they were unable to sit them. They are now appealing their sentence.

The teachers union, Egitim Sen, have always supported the right to "Mother Language Education." However when Abdullah Demirbas, the Chair of the unions Diyarbakir branch, made a statement on the subject he was sacked from his job. In the union office he showed me photographs of numerous union activists who had been shot by the state over the years.

While I was in Turkey the election campaign had just begun and many of the trade union and human rights activists I met were supporting DEHAP (the Democratic People’s Party)*. This was an alliance of the Kurdish party HADEP and 2 small socialist parties (EMEP and SP). This combination of nationalist and socialist outlooks continually emerged in the discussions I had with people I met. On the one hand they would emphasise the democratic struggle for Kurdish rights and on the other point out that the struggle in Turkey was against globalisation. On more than one occasion the view was expressed that the unions in Western Europe had not done enough to resist privatization and the programme of the IMF.

The activist from the SES in Van ended his contribution by making a plea for the movement against the War against Iraq. A war would not help either the Kurds in Iraq or in Turkey he said. "I am asking the socialist groups in your country to help us."

*In the election DEHAP received over 40% of the vote in the Kurdish region but only 6% of the vote nationally. They failed to win any seats in the Parliament as parties need to get at least 10% to get candidates elected.

This article was printed in the November 2002 issue of the International Socialilst, monthly paper of the International Socialists, the CWI’s section in Scotland. To receive a regular copy write to CWI, PO Box 6773, Dundee, DD1 1YL or cwi@blueyonder.co.uk



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NEWS

South Africa: Student uprising
22/10/2015, Statement of the Socialist Youth Movement, South Africa:
Struggle for free education now!

World Economy: ’Biggest danger to capitalism is capitalism’
22/10/2015, Robin Clapp, Socialist Party (CWI in England & Wales):
Steel plant to close after a century of production, raw material prices collapsing, China’s economy slowing, the ongoing euro crisis...

Britain: Socialists and the Corbyn campaign
21/10/2015, Interview with Peter Taaffe, general secretary of the Socialist Party (CWI in England & Wales):
An opportunity for socialist ideas

CWI’s 2nd congress for China and Hong Kong a big success
21/10/2015, Dikang, chinaworker.info:
Discussions on perspectives for Hong Kong’s democracy struggle and the crisis in China

Ireland South:Travellers fire deaths
20/10/2015, Manus Lenihan, Socialist Party (CWI Ireland):
The fight against anti-Traveller racism

CIT/CWI Iberian School a great success
19/10/2015, CWI Reporters, Spain:
Anti-austerity struggles across southern Europe and the socialist alternative

Austria: Did ’Red Vienna’ really stay red?
17/10/2015, Sonja Grusch, Socialist Left Party (CWI in Austria), Vienna:
What the Vienna elections show

Volkswagen: It’s not just VW exhaust fumes that stink
16/10/2015, Georg Kümmel, Sozialistische Alternative (CWI Germany):
‘Normality’ is the scandal

Portugal: Left vote grows as right coalition fails to win majority
13/10/2015, Socialismo Revolucionario (CWI in Portugal) Reporters:
What way forward for the Left and workers’ movement?

Turkey: 100,000s workers and students strike and protest against terror
13/10/2015, Socialistworld.net:
Photos by members of Sosyalist Alternatif (CWI in Turkey)

Turkey: Double bombing at Ankara peace demonstration massacres over 100
12/10/2015, Sosyalist Alternatif (CWI in Turkey):
Trade unions’ 48 hour general strike must be first step to building mass, united movement against murderous regime of Erdoğan

Quebec: Government attacks spark workers’ protests
09/10/2015, Alternative Socialiste (CWI in Quebec) Reporters:
Step up industrial action to defeat government plans

Burkina Faso: Mass revolt foils coup
09/10/2015, Abbey Trotsky, Democratic Socialist Movement (Nigeria), Ibadan:
Independent working class political solution urgently needed

Scotland: Glasgow’s trade unions demand a ‘No Cuts’ budget
08/10/2015, Glasgow union’s statement republished on Socialist Party Scotland (CWI) website:
Plenty of money in economy –just in wrong hands or lying in big business bank accounts

Canada: Tories face election after nearly decade in power
07/10/2015, Bill Hopwood, Socialist Alternative, Vancouver:
The NDP represent as a left alternative?

Ireland North: Socialist runs for leader of biggest union
05/10/2015, Interview with Patrick Mulholland, Broad Left candidate for NIPSA General Secretary:
Jobs threatened, pay cuts, increased workloads…public sector workers need fighting, democratic union

Kazakhstan: Workers’ representative demands to see KazMinerals boss in London
01/10/2015, See article and video on www.campaignkazakhstan.org:
Copper giant denies suffering of its workers and victimisation of their representatives

Britain: Socialism is back!
30/09/2015, Hannah Sell, Socialist Party deputy general secretary:
We can end cuts, crisis and capitalism

Austria: Refugee crisis, solidarity and resistance
29/09/2015, Sebastian Kugler, SLP (CWI in Austria):
Working class solidarity – a beacon of hope

Britain: TUSC conference
29/09/2015, Sarah Wrack, Socialist Party (CWI in England & Wales):
Central in the battle for a working class anti-austerity voice

China: Sino-US tensions increasing as China’s economy stumbles
25/09/2015, Vincent Kolo, chinaworker.info:
Nationalism, repression and neoliberal economic ‘reform’ hallmarks of Xi’s rule

USA: “We protest violation of democratic and workers’ rights”
25/09/2015, Open Letter Chinese President:
Seattle City Councillor Kshama Sawant co-signs protest letter to visiting Chinese President Xi

Britain: Left Labour leader Corbyn under attack
24/09/2015, Editorial from The Socialist, weekly paper of the Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales):
But enthusiastic support continues

Hungary: Refugees and the Orban government crisis
23/09/2015, Tilman M. Ruster, SLP (CWI Austria):
Capitalism is an endless ’state of emergency’

Ireland: Ruth Coppinger TD sends solidarity message to homeless
23/09/2015, Socialistworld.net:
Video of Ruth Coppinger, Socialist Party TD, speaking in the Irish Parliament: "I’m here to give you their vote of no confidence in you and your government"

Finland: General strike shakes government
22/09/2015, Jonas Brännberg and Elin Gauffin, Rättvisepartiet Socialisterna (CWI Sweden):
30,000 join Helsinki union demonstration

CWI Comment and Analysis

ANALYSIS

South Africa: Mining and steel industries in crisis
16/10/2015, Shaun Arendse, from Izwi Labasebenzi (newspaper of the Workers and Socialist Party):
‘Deals protect profits not jobs’ – for nationalisation under workers control

Syria: Western governments’ interventionist strategy in tatters
15/10/2015, Editorial from The Socialist, weekly paper of the Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales):
Still no end in sight after four and a half years of civil war

Germany: Merkel and refugees
14/10/2015, Sascha Stanicic, Sozialistische Alternative (SAV – CWI Germany)national spokesperson:
Polarising situation, but 250,000 march against free trade agreements shows potential for mass resistance against establishment

Britain: Right wing step up campaign against Corbyn
07/10/2015, Editorial from the Socialist (issue 873), weekly newspaper of the Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales):
’No time to lose’ to organise against austerity

Catalonia: Pro-independence parties win “plebiscite” elections
06/10/2015, Danny Byrne, CWI:
A step towards independence?

Greece: Mass abstention dominates general election
22/09/2015, Interview with a Greek socialist:
Mass socialist alternative needs to be built

Britain: A political earthquake
19/09/2015, Peter Taaffe, general secretary of the Socialist Party (CWI in England & Wales):
Jeremy Corbyn’s victory is a political earthquake that transforms the situation in Britain and poses stark questions for how a new mass socialist force can be built.

Britain: Corbyn’s victory marks new era for the 99%
17/09/2015, Editorial of the Socialist, weekly paper of the Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales):
Now organise to fight for a socialist alternative

Britain: Corbyn victory!
12/09/2015, Socialist Party (CWI in England & Wales):
Popularity of anti-austerity ideas confirmed - Now the battle to create an anti-austerity party begins

Refugee crisis: Defend the right to asylum
08/09/2015, Robert Bechert, CWI:
Unite against austerity and struggle for a better life for all

History: Zimmerwald Conference 1915
05/09/2015, Robert Bechert, CWI:
An important step in rebuilding the international workers’ movement during WW1

Lebanon: Mass protests against corrupt sectarian regime
04/09/2015, Serge Jordan, CWI:
Build a united struggle of workers and youth - for a socialist alternative to communal divisions, poverty and war!

Britain: Council cuts and the Corbyn campaign
01/09/2015, Clive Heemskerk, from Socialism Today, September 2015 issue (monthly magazine of the Socialist Party England & Wales):
Potential to resist if follow 80’s Liverpool Council example

Kurdistan: Democratic autonomy or socialism?
29/08/2015, Socialistworld.net:
Articles on Öcalan’s ideas and Rojava, originally published in sozialismus.info, the quaterly magazine of SAV (German section of the CWI)

Sri Lanka: Identifying the challenges after defeat of Rajapaksa
27/08/2015, Siritunga Jayasuriya, United Socialist Party (CWI in Sri Lanka):
Working class struggle top priority for socialists

History: Anniversary of Trotsky’s assassination
21/08/2015, Peter Taaffe, General Secretary Socialist Party (CWI England and Wales), article published on 70th anniversary of Leon Trotsky’s assassination, in 2010:
Coming mass revolts will see workers and youth look to Trotsky’s ideas

Socialism: Past or future?
18/08/2015, Peter Taaffe, Socialist Party (CWI in England & Wales) General Secretary:
Review of ‘PostCapitalism: a guide to our future’ by Paul Mason

Technology: Will robots end capitalism?
14/08/2015, Interview with Peter Taaffe, conducted by Shahar Ben-Horin from Socialist Struggle Movement (CWI in Israel-Palestine):
Technological developments, the threat to jobs, and perspectives for the struggle against capitalism and for the future of humanity

Ireland: Mass non-payment campaign transforms political landscape
10/08/2015, Cillian Gillespie, Socialist Party (CWI in Ireland):
57% refuse to pay hated water charge

Kurdistan: PYD leaders call for partnership with Bashar al-Assad’s regime
06/08/2015, Serge Jordan, CWI:
No faith in authoritarian rulers and Western powers!

Greece: ‘The working class showed it will return to struggle’
04/08/2015, Interview with a Greek socialist:
After Syriza capitulates, taking first steps towards building a new mass Left alternative to austerity and capitalism

CWI School 2015: World crisis continues amid horrific consequences
03/08/2015, Cillian Gillespie, Socialist Party (CWI in Ireland):
Report of World Perspectives discussion at the 2015 CWI Summer School

CWI School: Europe’s euro-crisis and prospects for class struggle
28/07/2015, Kevin Parslow, Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales):
Ground prepared everywhere for new battles and rise of left formations

China: Stock market crash can turn into a political crisis
08/07/2015, Interview, with chinaworker.info editor, Vincent Kolo:
Regime adopts panic measures as market crash threatens wider economic recession

Greece: Mighty class-based ‘NO’ shakes bosses’ EU
06/07/2015, Editorial comment by Xekinima (CWI Greece), 6 July 2015:
Referendum earthquake sees working class boldly defy Troika and Greece’s servile ruling class!