Asia
US and UK clash over Huawei involvement in 5G rollout
By Robert Stevens, 18 January 2020
The rollout of 5G broadband wireless networks globally is becoming an arena for the eruption of geopolitical tensions.
Mumbai hospital workers demand outstanding wages; South Korean car workers strike; Australian tram drivers vote to walk out
Workers Struggles: Asia and Australia
18 January 2020
The World Socialist Web Site invites workers and other readers to contribute to this regular feature.
Sri Lankan SEP holds public meeting: How to fight the new Rajapakse regime
By our correspondents, 16 January 2020
About 150 workers, youth, professionals and housewives, including party members and supporters from Colombo and outstations, attended the event held in Colombo Public Library Auditorium.
Sri Lankan Central Bank chief demands “structural reform”
By Saman Gunadasa, 15 January 2020
Lakshman’s statements indicate that the government is preparing to further impose the burden of the country’s economic crisis on the back of the working people.
Plotters behind violent massacre in Philippines convicted after 10 years
By Owen Howell, 15 January 2020
The Maguindanao massacre is one horrific instance of the ongoing problem of political violence in the Philippines.
Indian workers in general strike call for unity
By our correspondents, 14 January 2020
Striking workers discussed with the WSWS the central political issues in the struggle against the Modi government and its program of austerity and communal reaction.
Taiwan’s anti-China president wins re-election
By Ben McGrath, 13 January 2020
Emboldened by her victory, and with Washington’s backing, Tsai Ing-wen will continue to escalate cross-strait tensions with China.
General election in Taiwan marked by anti-China atmosphere
By Ben McGrath, 11 January 2020
The Taiwanese ruling elite has covered up the real issues in the region during this election, including its alignment with Washington’s war drive against China.
The Indian general strike and the global fight against communalism and war
By Keith Jones, 11 January 2020
Tens of millions of workers, youth and rural toilers participated in Wednesday’s all-India one-day general strike, transcending communal, caste and ethno-linguistic divides.
India: Haryana public transport workers strike against outsourcing; Pakistani journalists oppose salary and job cuts
Workers Struggles: Asia and Australia
11 January 2020
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India: Mass outrage over Hindu supremacists’ violent assault on JNU students
By Wasantha Rupasinghe, 10 January 2020
All the circumstances surrounding the attack point to it having been carried out with the connivance, if not at the behest, of the Narendra Modi-led BJP government.
Sri Lankan president outlines big business, communalist policy to parliament
By K. Ratnayake, 10 January 2020
Rajapakse’s demagogy about fighting terrorism, extremism and disruptions to public order are aimed at justifying state suppression of inevitable struggles against his government by workers and the poor.
Massive all-India general strike protests Modi’s pro-investor, communalist policies
By Deepal Jayasekera and Keith Jones, 9 January 2020
The strike’s size and scope did vary across the country, but there is no doubt that it had a massive impact, and attested to the growing militancy and immense social power of the working class.
Indian workers need a revolutionary socialist program to fight Modi, capitalist austerity, and communal reaction
By Deepal Jayasekera and Keith Jones, 8 January 2020
While tens of millions of workers and youth will join today’s general strike to fight the BJP’s “pro-investor” and communalist policies, the unions and Stalinist parties are seeking to tie the mass opposition to Modi to the big-business Congress Party and the Indian state.
Sri Lankan police arrest two former government ministers
By Pradeep Ramanayake, 4 January 2020
The Rajapakse government’s attacks on political opponents is a warning to the working class.
Garbage collectors strike in India’s Maharashtra state capital; military vehicle production workers oppose sackings in Tamil Nadu
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and New Zealand
4 January 2020
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Many unanswered questions in Carlos Ghosn’s escape from Japan
By Nick Beams, 3 January 2020
According to the head of Ghosn’s own Japanese legal team: “A very large organisation must have acted to pull this off.”
One million march in Hong Kong on New Year’s Day
By Ben McGrath, 3 January 2020
To develop a genuine struggle for democratic rights, workers, students and young people must break the bonds that have been placed on the movement by various factions of the capitalist class.
Bangladeshi jute mill unions call off workers’ protests
By Wimal Perera, 3 January 2020
The Awami League-led government, aided and abetted by the unions, is determined to impose the privatisation demands of international banks and investors.
Iran, Russia and China hold joint naval drills in Indian Ocean amid US war threats
By Alex Lantier, 30 December 2019
The exercises are a signal that a US-led war targeting Iran could rapidly escalate into a global conflict involving the major nuclear powers.
Japan to deploy military forces to aid US operations against Iran
By Ben McGrath, 30 December 2019
Tokyo’s decision is part of its efforts to remilitarize and normalize overseas military action in violation of Article 9 of its constitution.
Mass protests continue in Tamil Nadu against Indian government’s communalist citizenship laws
By a WSWS reporting team, 28 December 2019
Thousands of Tamil Nadu residents demonstrate across the south Indian state in defiance of government and police repression.
The fight against communal reaction in India is the fight for socialism
By Keith Jones, 21 December 2019
India has been convulsed by a growing wave of mass protests in opposition to the Modi government’s Hindu supremacist citizenship law.
Thousands of Indian construction workers demonstrate; Australian Jetstar workers strike
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and New Zealand
21 December 2019
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Sri Lankan president expands Rajapakse family political power
By Vimukthi Vidarshana, 19 December 2019
Rajapakse is determined to abolish the 19th amendment to Sri Lanka’s constitution which places restrictions on presidential powers, insisting that he needs a “strong government.”
Magnitude 6.8 earthquake hits southern Philippines
By Owen Howell, 19 December 2019
The earthquake on Sunday, which has claimed the lives of at least nine people, is the latest in a string of powerful tremors to hit the region over the past few months.
India’s highest court greenlights repression of protests against discriminatory citizenship law
By Keith Jones, 18 December 2019
India’s Supreme Court has refused to order a probe into brutal police assaults on students protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
North Korean-US tensions rise as end-of-year deadline approaches
By Peter Symonds, 18 December 2019
In the absence of any US sanctions’ relief or meaningful talks, North Korea has threatened to resume its nuclear- and missile-testing program.
Aung San Suu Kyi defends Myanmar military’s crimes
By Peter Symonds, 16 December 2019
A UN fact-finding mission found that military forces had destroyed almost 400 villages and driven close to three quarters of a million Rohingya out of their homes.
Sri Lankan authorities delay on whether to prosecute award-winning writer Shakthika Sathkumara
By Vimukthi Vidarshana, 16 December 2019
Sri Lanka’s ruling elite is whipping up religious communalism to counter the development of unified mass action by workers, youth and the rural poor against government austerity and attacks on democratic rights.
NDP props up Trudeau, joins Conservatives in demanding tougher anti-China stance
By Keith Jones, 14 December 2019
The true character of the NDP’s “opposition” to the Liberals and the Conservatives—the Canadian ruling class’ traditional parties of national government—was laid bare in two recent parliamentary votes.
Sri Lankan SEP/IYSSE to hold public meeting on how to fight the new Rajapakse regime
14 December 2019
We urge workers, young people, intellectuals and everyone concerned about these vital issues to attend our meeting and participate in this important political discussion.
Tens of thousands Bangladeshi jute mill workers protest; Jetstar pilots and workers strike in Australia
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and New Zealand
14 December 2019
The World Socialist Web Site invites workers and other readers to contribute to this regular feature.
World Bank economist warns of worsening crisis in Sri Lanka
By Saman Gunadasa, 12 December 2019
International finance capital is demanding the new regime in Colombo fully implement the IMF’s austerity measures.
Sri Lankan president appoints former military officers to head state institutions
By Pradeep Ramanayake, 11 December 2019
Sri Lankan President Gotabhaya Rajapakse confronts a deepening economic crisis and widespread anti-government sentiment among workers, youth and the rural masses.
Workers must adopt a socialist internationalist program to oppose Sri Lanka’s authoritarian, communalist Rajapakse regime
By the Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka), 7 December 2019
Rajapakse’s aim is to secure the two-thirds parliamentary majority necessary to repeal a key constitutional amendment and give the president sweeping authoritarian powers.
Sri Lankan president prorogues parliament to try to consolidate his rule
By Saman Gunadasa, 6 December 2019
Gotabhaya Rajapakse is aiming to seize all governmental powers and thereby strengthen his hand against the working class and his political rivals.
Maoist union leaders isolate striking Motherson autoworkers in India
By Arun Kumar and Moses Rajkumar, 5 December 2019
Union leaders are attempting to divert Motherson workers along reactionary Tamil nationalist lines.
Thousands of Sri Lankan estate workers strike over workloads and wages
By M. Thevarajah and K. Kandipan, 5 December 2019
Strikes have erupted already in tea plantations following last month’s presidential election.
Indian auto parts workers demand union rights; Bangladesh cargo workers on indefinite strike; French Polynesia hotel workers expand walkout
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and New Zealand
30 November 2019
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UK defies UN deadline to hand over Chagos Islands/Diego Garcia to Mauritius
By Jean Shaoul, 26 November 2019
The UN meeting in May condemned Britain’s occupation of the Chagos Islands and a non-binding ruling by the International Court of Justice calling on the UK to relinquish its hold on the territory within six months.
The lessons of the Hong Kong protests for the working class
By Peter Symonds, 26 November 2019
In the absence of a turn to the working class throughout China based on a socialist and internationalist perspective, the Hong Kong protest movement is being corralled behind various pro-capitalist organizations.
US puts new Sri Lankan president on notice
By K. Ratnayake, 20 November 2019
While Pompeo couched his message to Rajapakse in terms of “human rights,” Washington’s real concern is that the new president will re-orient Sri Lanka towards China.
Hong Kong police lay siege to university occupied by demonstrators
By Ben McGrath, 19 November 2019
The ramping up of police violence is a precursor to even more violent methods of suppressing the months-long protest movement.
Former top military official wins Sri Lankan presidential election
By K. Ratnayake, 18 November 2019
Gotabhaya Rajapakse’s election marks a sharp shift towards autocratic forms of rule, amid a deepening crisis of Sri Lankan capitalism and the rising resistance of the working class to austerity measures.
Former US Secretary of State Kissinger points to danger of “catastrophic” conflict between US and China
By Nick Beams, 16 November 2019
Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has warned of an inevitable “conflict” between the US and China that “will be worse than the world wars that ruined European civilisation.”
Sri Lankan presidential election: Workers must prepare to fight moves towards police-state rule
By K. Ratnayake, 16 November 2019
Calls by the major candidates for “strong government”—code-words for the development of dictatorial methods—are a response to the growing opposition of workers and the poor to government austerity.
Parasite: An unusual director with his antenna attuned to social class
The Lighthouse: A gothic horror film
By Joanne Laurier, 16 November 2019
Parasite is a dark comedy from South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho that concerns itself with income inequality and its implications. The Lighthouse is a pointless horror film set in the late 1800s in New England.
Indian Honda contract workers still on strike; West Bengal teachers demand pay rise; maintenance workers take industrial action at Australian paper mill
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and New Zealand
16 November 2019
The World Socialist Web Site invites workers and other readers to contribute to this regular feature.
Hong Kong protests defy police violence and mass arrests
By Mike Head, 13 November 2019
Escalated police attacks appear to have reinforced the popular support for the protests, setting the stage for an even-more bloody confrontation.
Sri Lanka: SEP presidential candidate exposes pseudo-lefts’ pro-capitalist program at university debate
By our correspondents, 13 November 2019
Wijesiriwardena explained the underlying principles of the Socialist Equality Party’s socialist internationalism and the necessity for the independent mobilisation of the working class in every country.
Build a mass movement to free class-war prisoners Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning
By SEP (Sri Lanka) presidential candidate Pani Wijesiriwardena, 9 November 2019
Assange and Manning are being persecuted because the US and its imperialist allies are preparing for war and want to silence all honest journalists and fighters for the truth.
Honda motorcycle and Kerala state transport workers strike in India; Pakistan health workers oppose privatisation
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
9 November 2019
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India: 48,000 striking Telangana transport workers defy back to work order
By Kranti Kumara, 7 November 2019
Over 48,000 drivers, mechanics, conductors and other workers at the state-owned Telangana State Road Transport Corporation have defied a November 5 back-to-work order.
Sri Lankan SEP holds presidential election meeting in Hatton
By our correspondents, 6 November 2019
Estate workers, students and youth discussed the necessity for a socialist and internationalist program at a public meeting in the key tea plantation district.
Uncertainty hangs over US-China trade deal
By Nick Beams, 6 November 2019
There has been no agreement from Washington to withdraw any of the tariff measures already imposed because it wants to ensure China complies with US-dictated terms.
Why the Sri Lankan Tamil parties appeal to the UNP and SLPP presidential candidates
By Pani Wijesiriwardena--presidential candidate of the Socialist Equality Party, 4 November 2019
The Tamil parties, like their bourgeois counterparts in Colombo, fear the unity of workers across ethnic lines.
CIA death squads responsible for spike in Afghan civilian casualties
By Bill Van Auken, 2 November 2019
A Human Rights Watch report documents extrajudicial executions, forced disappearances and attacks on medical facilities by militias trained, funded and directed by the CIA.
Bangladesh: Sixteen sentenced to death over brutal murder of student
By Rohantha De Silva, 2 November 2019
The Bangladeshi government is exploiting outrage over the brutal murder of a young woman to step up its law-and-order attacks on democratic rights.
New Zealand: Anti-China propagandist Anne-Marie Brady speaks at Victoria University of Wellington
By Tom Peters, 2 November 2019
Brady is demanding a full-scale witch hunt against Chinese “interference” in order to align New Zealand even more closely with US war preparations.
Thousands of doctors strike in Tamil Nadu, India
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
2 November 2019
While 16,000 Tamil Nadu doctors walked-out to demand salary increases and promotions, thousands of the state’s railway workers struck against privatisation measures.
Sri Lanka: SEP presidential candidate addresses meetings in war-ravaged north
By our reporters, 30 October 2019
The SEP presidential candidate explained that the democratic rights of the oppressed can be achieved only in the struggle for socialism.
More evidence of cover-up of Australian war crimes in Afghanistan
By Mike Head, 26 October 2019
The damning disclosures underscore why the government is intensifying its efforts to suppress media freedom.
Eightieth birthday tribute to Sri Lankan Trotskyist Nanda Wickremasinghe
By David North, 26 October 2019
Nanda Wickremasinghe, who turned 80 on October 15, is a founding member of the Sri Lankan section of the ICFI.
Sri Lankan SEP holds inaugural presidential election meeting
By our correspondents, 26 October 2019
Speakers explained that the Socialist Equality Party is the only one presenting an international socialist program for the working class and the poor.
400,000 bank workers strike across India
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
26 October 2019
While almost half a million Indian bank employees walked off the job, tens of thousands of teachers and healthcare workers across the sub-continent have engaged in strikes and protests.
Newly-inaugurated Indonesian president appoints notorious ex-general as defence minister
By Peter Symonds, 24 October 2019
Former special forces general Prabowo Subianto has a long history of human rights abuses and was intimately connected to the bloody Suharto dictatorship that ruled Indonesia for three decades.
Solomon Islands deal with Chinese developer highlights Pacific tensions
By John Braddock, 23 October 2019
Repeated claims that China wants a military foothold in the Pacific turn reality on its head to justify the aggressive build-up for war by the US and its regional allies.
Illegal forest fires send another lethal haze over parts of Indonesia
By Owen Howell, 23 October 2019
The haze is chiefly affecting Sumatra and Borneo islands, with air pollution in the city of Palembang reaching record levels.
Sri Lankan SEP and IYSSE hold successful meeting on India’s Kashmir lockdown
By our correspondents, 19 October 2019
“The Modi government’s anti-democratic moves are not just directed against the Kashmiri people, although they are the immediate target, but against the working class as a whole.”
Tens of thousands of Indian transport and aircraft manufacturing workers strike
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and New Zealand
19 October 2019
Some 49,000 transport workers in the state of Telangana walked-out in defiance of government threats to their jobs, while more than 20,000 employees of a state-owned defence company took strike action.
India: Thousands of Telangana transport workers strike; Darjeeling tea estate workers demand higher pay; New Zealand medical laboratory workers strike
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and New Zealand
12 October 2019
The World Socialist Web Site invites workers and other readers to contribute to this regular feature.
US and China reach limited trade deal
By Nick Beams, 12 October 2019
The markets responded enthusiastically with the Dow finishing up by more than 300 points, but for all the celebrations, the agreement is very limited.
Hong Kong’s chief executive invokes emergency law against protest movement
By Ben McGrath, 5 October 2019
The use of this British colonial era law is a warning that the ruling class in the Hong Kong and Beijing are preparing to suppress the months-long demonstrations for basic democratic rights.
Thousands of Assam tea workers strike over bonus payments; 17,000 non-academic university workers remain on strike in Sri Lanka
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and New Zealand
5 October 2019
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Indonesia: Student unrest continues as tens of thousands of workers set to strike
By Oscar Grenfell, 4 October 2019
Police have responded to the largest student demonstrations since the movement that toppled the Suharto dictatorship in 1998 with violent repression and mass arrests.
Half a million Indian coal workers strike; New South Wales coal miners fight for higher pay; Fenner Dunlop strike continues in Australia
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and New Zealand
28 September 2019
The World Socialist Web Site invites workers and other readers to contribute to this regular feature.
South Korean autoworkers join global fight against GM
By Ben McGrath, 26 September 2019
Workers in South Korea, the United States, and around the world face the same fight against GM and other corporations.
India’s top court greenlights New Delhi prolonging Kashmir state-of-siege indefinitely
By Wasantha Rupasinghe, 21 September 2019
India’s Hindu-supremacist BJP government has imposed an unprecedented security clampdown to suppress mass opposition to the constitutional coup it mounted against Kashmir August 5.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and New Zealand
GM workers in South Korea strike over wages; Pakistan higher education teachers walkout; Psychologists continue industrial action in New Zealand
21 September 2019
The World Socialist Web Site invites workers and other readers to contribute to this regular feature.
Thousands of Sri Lankan university workers demonstrate in Colombo
By our correspondents, 19 September 2019
In contrast to the efforts of the unions to shut down the strike, workers’ opposition is growing, not only to the government but also to the unions and capitalist parties.
Hundreds of thousands of Indian auto workers face sackings and wage cuts
By Saman Gunadasa, 18 September 2019
The assault on Indian workers is part of the escalating global attack on the jobs, wages and working conditions of auto workers in the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe and Asia.
Widodo plans to move Indonesian capital to Borneo
By Owen Howell, 17 September 2019
The government’s move to relocate the country’s administrative centre is aimed at removing itself from the social disaster of Jakarta, but will potentially create an environmental disaster on Borneo.
Sri Lanka: Tamil People’s Council calls rally to stir up Tamil nationalism
By M. Thevarajah, 14 September 2019
The reactionary “Rise up Tamils” campaign aims to divide Sri Lankan workers along ethnic lines as they are coming into struggle against Colombo’s austerity measures.
India: Kolkata students and workers demand freedom for Assange and Manning
By Ritwik Mitter and Arun Kumar, 11 September 2019
ICFI supporters spoke to students at Jadavpur University in Kolkata and workers from BSNL, the Indian government-owned telecommunication company.
As contract deadline looms in US, 8,000 GM autoworkers strike in South Korea
By James Cogan, 10 September 2019
The issues over which the Korean workers are striking are ones that their American co-workers will readily identify with.
Build action committees! Expand the strike!
A socialist perspective for the Sri Lankan university employees’ struggle
By the Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka), 10 September 2019
Non-academic university staff, who are beginning an indefinite strike today, should expand their struggle by appealing to other sections of the working class.
Hong Kong administration seeks to split protest movement
By Peter Symonds, 5 September 2019
By withdrawing the extradition legislation, chief executive Carrie Lam is seeking the support of conservative protest leaders to pave the way for the suppression of more militant layers.
India labels 1.9 million Assam residents “foreigners” as prelude to their mass expulsion
By Wasantha Rupasinghe, 5 September 2019
Almost all of the 1.9 million people who have been deemed “foreigners”—some 6 percent of Assam’s population—are Bengali-speaking, and more than 90 percent of them are impoverished Muslims.
Tens of thousands join first day of Hong Kong protest strike
By Peter Symonds, 3 September 2019
The union confederation is doing all it can to limit action by workers and confine their demands to those of the official pro-capitalist opposition in Hong Kong.
Two-day strike begins in Hong Kong following weekend of protests
By Ben McGrath, 2 September 2019
Fearful of the intervention of the working class, authorities are stepping up their repression of protesters.
Motherson autoworkers strike in India; Madhya Pradesh railway workers oppose privatisation; Melbourne tram workers walk out
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and New Zealand
31 August 2019
The World Socialist Web Site invites workers and other readers to contribute to this regular feature.
Hong Kong mass rally banned as Chinese troops deployed in show of force
By Mike Head, 30 August 2019
Beijing is well aware that the protracted protests are being driven by underlying student and working class concerns about escalating social inequality.
US alarmed over end to South Korea-Japan intelligence sharing
By Peter Symonds, 30 August 2019
Seoul’s decision to withdraw from a key intelligence-sharing agreement with Tokyo is part of the deepening rift between Washington’s two military allies in North East Asia over economic and strategic issues.
Sri Lankan president “lifts” emergency but armed forces mobilised to “maintain security”
By W.A. Sunil, 29 August 2019
When emergency rule was imposed after the April terrorist bombings, the SEP warned that the real target of the government’s measures was not terrorists, but the working class.
The US announces provocative arms sale to Taiwan
By Peter Symonds, 27 August 2019
The $8 billion sale of 66 F-16V fighter jets is the first such deal since the administration of President George H.W. Bush approved the sale of 150 fighter jets to Taiwan in 1992.
Hong Kong protests continue into twelfth week
By Peter Symonds, 26 August 2019
Clashes with police took place involving for the first time the use of water cannon as well as tear gas and batons as police attempted to disperse protesters.
Wall Street falls as US-China trade conflict intensifies
By Nick Beams, 24 August 2019
Tweets by Trump in response to tariff measures by Beijing were his most belligerent to date, taking aim not only against China, but US corporations and the Federal Reserve.
Rift widens between Australia and Pacific Island states
By John Braddock, 24 August 2019
The Pacific Islands Forum has opened up a bitter dispute over the Australian government’s refusal to agree to urgent measures to address climate change.
How to fight for democratic rights in Hong Kong
By Peter Symonds, 22 August 2019
Hong Kong workers and youth need to reach out to their class brothers and sisters in China who confront the same class enemy—the Stalinist regime in Beijing that defends the interests of the corporate elite and the super-rich.
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