Tag: labour matters

Robert Reich: Is America experiencing an unofficial general strike?

Last Friday’s jobs report from the US Department of Labor elicited a barrage of gloomy headlines. The New York Times emphasized “weak” jobs growth and fretted that “hiring challenges that have bedeviled employers all year won’t be quickly resolved,” and “rising wages could add to concerns about inflation.” For CNN, it was “another disappointment”. For… Read More Robert Reich: Is America experiencing an unofficial general strike?

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JYOTI PUNWANI: How 5 Reliance Workers Fighting For A Better Deal Found Themselves In Jail On Terrorism Charges

Saidulu Singapanga’s most vivid memory of  the 1185 days he spent in custody,  since he was  arrested in February 2018 under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), 1967, was when his wife and three children came to visit him in a police lock-up a few days after his arrest. It was the birthday of his daughters, aged… Read More JYOTI PUNWANI: How 5 Reliance Workers Fighting For A Better Deal Found Themselves In Jail On Terrorism Charges

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Terry Bell: The dangers of returning to a ‘normal’ South Africa

The events of recent weeks have once again highlighted the gross inequalities and the legacy of apartheid geography that remain South African realities.  They also revealed that the poison of ethnic nationalism continues to course through parts of the body politic. As a result, there are many lessons to be learned, some of which, although vital,… Read More Terry Bell: The dangers of returning to a ‘normal’ South Africa

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Chandan Gowda: The humanism of Siddalingaiah (1954-2021)

Poet, folklorist, orator, teacher, legislator, administrator and co-founder of the Dalit movement in Karnataka, Siddalingaiah’s many-layered engagement with the life of the state defies easy characterisation. Indispensable for a historian of contemporary morality in Karnataka, Siddalingaiah’s work is an elaboration of a rich vision of humanism. His debut book of poetry, Holey-Maadigara Haadu (The Song of… Read More Chandan Gowda: The humanism of Siddalingaiah (1954-2021)

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Alexey Shuntov – Strike, exile, arrest: what happened to Belarusian workers?

Mediazona, a media outlet focusing on law and justice, spoke with workers at three different enterprises who took part in last year’s protests to find out how they happened. As part of our coverage of Belarus, openDemocracy has translated and republished this article with permission here.    Alexey Karlyuk, 35, is from the town of… Read More Alexey Shuntov – Strike, exile, arrest: what happened to Belarusian workers?

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Dipankar Ghose: In the mining villages of Raniganj, broken roads, homes – and system / Vidya Krishnan: India's moral failure

The residents of the mining villages of Raniganj are all too familiar with this soot emanating from the Sonpur Bazaari mine. For decades, it has covered their broken roads, flown into their cracked homes, and seeped into their lungs and bodies. Run by the Eastern Coalfields and approved in 1995, this mine has been the… Read More Dipankar Ghose: In the mining villages of Raniganj, broken roads, homes – and system / Vidya Krishnan: India's moral failure

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Majid Sheikh – Harking Back: Lahore’s ancient slave trade and the Aleppo connection

For centuries trade of exotic Eastern goods reached the markets of the Mediterranean Europe, Africa and Turkey. The very first ‘product’ – if we can call it that – were the slaves of the Punjab. Besides some gold, the most profitable product in the loot of the Turkish-Afghan invader, Mahmud of Ghazni, were slaves. In… Read More Majid Sheikh – Harking Back: Lahore’s ancient slave trade and the Aleppo connection

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