This article was first published in Marxist Alive n° 3, May 2001. Marxism Alive is the theoretical magazine of IWL-FI.

The recent workers’ conflicts at Honda and Foxconn show the secret of the “Chinese miracle”.

It will be two years since Fernando Lugo came to power. He took over on an historic deed on 20 April 2008, when the toiling masses, tires of 61 years of suffering and repression, delivered an electoral blow to the hateful Colorado Party.[1] However, the electoral dispute gave victory to a class collaboration government, a government that was to govern for the rich.   

After two years of relative calm, the Chinese working class is reappearing in the news, with reports of strikes occurring on the Pearl River Delta, in southeast China. This region is home to one of the largest concentrations of manufacturing in the whole world. 

Interview with Haidar Eid

Founding member of the PCACBI (Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel).

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The world was appalled by the Israeli massacre at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009. But then Gaza disappeared from Western news media. What is the situation today in Gaza, a year and a half after that genocidal attack?  

Dear comrade Didi**, 

I send you a brief report about the general strike on Thursday, 8th of July.

The Israeli armed forces attack on the international goodwill flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip exposed once more the real character of the State of Israel. Because the murder of at least 9 activists was, when all is said and done, nothing but the continuation of the everyday genocidal policy applied against the Palestinian people, especially against the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip.

On July 7th, to express solidarity with the Chinese workers who are waging strike at Honda factory in China, we, Japanese fighting unions, workers and students, with Doro-Chiba (National Railway Motive Power Union of Chiba) at the head, will rise up for a protest action against the headquarters of Honda Company in Tokyo. We call on all of you to join us in our solidarity action to amplify the protest.

The massacre perpetrated by the Israeli army against the Freedom flotilla, which was carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip has revealed once more the real nature of the State of Israel.

The Palestinian trade union movement, as a key constituent member of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) calls on dockworkers' unions worldwide to block Israeli maritime trade in response to Israel’s massacre of humanitarian relief workers and activists aboard the Freedom Flotilla, until Israel complies with international law and ends its illegal blockade of Gaza.