Tag Archives: International

Global

Poles Protest Attack on Judiciary

by Barry Weisleder (dateline: Warsaw, July 23)

At the end of a mid-summer bus tour of this eastern European country, replete with feudal relics, perogies and déclassé intellectuals moon-lighting as tour guides, we encountered a truly massive protest in Warsaw.  It was dusk on July 22.

The ultra-conservative regime of President Andrzej Duda sparked a wave of demonstrations, nationwide, by pushing a law through the two chambers of Poland’s parliament (Sejm) that would enable the government to control the Supreme Court.  This crude power play by the anti-immigrant, anti-abortion Duda was performed in three acts:  1. Securing the right to fire the heads of lower courts.  2. Taking control of the body that appoints judges.  3. Forcing all Supreme Court judges to step down, except for those retained by Poland’s president.

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International, Labour

Turkish Metalworkers Strike

by Y. Fikret Kayali

The Renault autoworkers in Bursa, Turkey, halted production on May 15. Tofaş workers, who produce Fiat cars, stopped working the following day. The wildcat strikes spread to six other factories in the metal sector in Bursa.

Several other factory workers in Bursa, Kocaeli, Ankara, and Sakarya either went on strike or protested against their employers. More than 20,000 workers have taken strike action, and the Renault workers are still not back to work as this paper goes to press.

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