Asia Pacific Currents

President Rodrigo Duterte's 'War on Drugs' has been going on for more than three years. During this time there has been a normalisation of extra judicial killings, impunity for death squads, vilification of human rights defenders and arrests of activists. His death squads have murdered over 25,000 people. These massacres has had a terrorising effect on on urban, working class communities in the Ph...

In this week's program, independent journalist and long time human rights activist Nick Mclellan, talks about the recently held independence referendum in New Caledonia and the national elections in Fiji. While is both countries the eventual results preserved the current political status quo, the reality is that both show that Pacific island societies are changing and that the previous social orde...

The Arab Spring that swept across north Africa and West Asia promised a new beginning for working class communities. The reality has been one of broken promises, repression and war. Syria has probably witnessed the greatest bloodshed where during the last 7 years, all kind of reactionary, repressive, conservative and imperialist forces have conspired to defeat the popular uprising. APC asked Joe D...

The use of workers on temporary visas has increased in Australia over the last twenty years. Temporary migrant workers are very vulnerable due to the precarious nature of their work visa. Employers from all industries in Australia exploit their vulnerability by systematically underpaying them and making billions of dollars from unpaid wages. APC interviewed author and researcher Laurie Berg from t...

As with many other countries in the Asia Pacific region, Australian workers are also facing rising rates of job insecurity, wages that are not keeping up with the cost of living, and harsh laws that prevent workers from organising freely at the workplace. Trade unions in Australia have come together under the banner of 'Change the Rules' to campaign for a change of government and better laws for w...

Bananas are one of the big agricultural export items of the Philippines. Rural regions of the Philippines have always seen some of the worst instances of semi feudal exploitation and human rights abuses. Almost a 1,000 workers at the giant banana plantation of the Sumifru corporation have been on strike since the start of October. They are demanding a collective agreement so as to get a pay rise a...

The popular uprising in Syria in the last few years has created a big debate among the left around whether activists should prioritise anti imperialist work, especially against the USA war machine, or stand in solidarity with working class movements. In the same region, the Iranian government is at ongoing risk of being bombed by the USA but the Islamic government is also heavily repressing action...

The current Islamic for of government has been ruling Iran since the 1979 revolution that overthrew the dictatorship of the Shah. After almost 40 years, the economic and social situation for the majority of Iranian is increasingly becoming worse and worse. Since late last year there have been massive working class protests throughout Iran. The Iranian government has tried to both repress and co-op...

Australia and New Zealand have similar histories, both being settler societies and imperial outposts of the British Empire. They share similar laws and industrial landscape, though organising the working class in these two countries also has its differences. APC interviewed Mrunal Shroff, who is now employed as an organiser with the Migrant Workers Centre at Trades Hall in Melbourne, about his vie...

President Rodrigo Duterte's 'War on Drugs' has been going on for over two years. His death squads have murdered over 20,000 people. During this time there has been a normalisation of extra judicial killings, impunity for death squads, and the vilification of human rights defenders. These massacres has had a chilling effect on on urban, working class communities in the Philippines, terrorising mill...

Working class struggle is hard, with many activists not only facing isolation and victimisation from management at their workplaces but also running the risk of being beaten, jailed or killed by a whole range of state or quasi state actors. The workers movement has many examples of activists who over time lose their radical politics and accommodate themselves to the confines and rules of the capit...

The elections earlier this year in May saw the Barisan Nasional lose power after 61 years. One of the more surprising facets was the comeback of the 92 year old former Prime Minister, Mohamed Mahathir, who had come out in retirement to lead the opposition. There was much excitment and expectations at what this new government could do. Tian Chua, a long time political activist and now vice-presiden...

 The South Korean company Samsung Electronics is one of the giant global corporations in the world of electronics. Samsung since its founding in the late 1930's, the company has been ferociously anti union. Its Electronic arm of the company, Samsung Electronics, has also had a shocking health and safety record. There have been hundreds of recorded cases of assembly line workers contracting disease...

The working class is under attack in Australia from many sides. One of the ways that capitalists and governments try to undermine workers organisations and conditions is by bringing in temporary migrant workers. These workers are especially prone to exploitation due to the temporary status of their working visas as well as their unfamiliarity of the laws and culture in Australia. While some unions...

In early August 1945, the USA military dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing hundreds of thousands of civilians. The global arsenal of atomic weapons has only grown since then. The fight to outlaw these weapons of mass destruction continues. The Asia Pacific Currents program spoke to Shomi Yoon, a member of the International Socialist Organisation in Aeteor...

In every country, capitalists and their allies use racism as one of the ways to divide and weaken the working class. In Australia, the issue of the colonialism and dispossession of the Indigenous people is central when discussing and resisting racism in Australia. The show will focus on two anti racist forums that were held in Melbourne in the past week and examine how they looked at racism but al...

Malaysia has relied heavily on migrant workers over the last decades to power its economic growth. The complicated visa system in that country puts millions of these workers in very insecure conditions, leading to widespread exploitation. In addition, these workers face regular waves of repression from government agencies. We interviewed Adrian Pereira, Director of North South Initiative, a human...

The island of New Caledonia has been a colony for the 164 years and is one of France's last colonies in the world. The indigenous inhabitants, the Kanaks, have waged a long struggle for independence. This coming November 20 an independence referendum will be held in New Caledonia to decide its status. We caught up recently in Melbourne, Australia with Daniel Goa, spokesperson for the independence...

The Australian Confederation of Trade Unions (ACTU) is the peak body for unions in Australia. It recently held its national conference in Brisbane, Queensland. Close to 1,000 unionists came together to discuss the situation for workers in Australia and the 'Change the Rules' campaign. Piergiorgio Moro took part in the conference as a delegate for the Australian Services Union A&S VicTas Branch. Pi...

The mass protest movement of 2015 and 2016 in South Korea against corruption and abuse of power were able to bring down the President - Park Geun-hye. The working class, headed by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions were central in organising this movement. The KCTU paid a high price for their succeess with two of their leaders, Han Sang gyun and Lee Young joo both jailed. In addition, many w...

NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia each July to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. While this week's activities are a celebration, the past and current struggles faced by the Indigenous people of Australia are not forgotten. This week we replay an interview by Lalitha Chelliah from Friday Breakfast show with Gunnai-Kurn...

The situation for refugees and asylum seekers in Australia is becoming progressively worse as the Government continues its crackdown. In the last few weeks, the desperate situation of the family of Priya and Nadesalingam has become national news. The family is hanging on to its hopes to remain in Australia with support from their town of Biloela and thousands of supporter around Australia while th...

 While the Philippines is a country that is often talked about in terms of the damage that natural disasters cause to its infrastructure and population, it is also a country where the working class movement has a very proud and militant history. Unfortunately, it has declined in strenght in the last years which has put Filipino workers in a much more vulnerable position. We talk to Steph Rabusa, a...

This week is a special Radiothon program to keep 3CR Radio on air. You can donate in person, by phone, by mail or via the internet. Asia Pacific Currents provides updates of labour struggles and campaigns from the Asia Pacific region. It is produced by Australia Asia Worker Links, in the studio of 3CR Radio in Melbourne, Australia

Since late last year, Iran has witnessed a wave of strikes and demonstrations on a scale unprecedented since the revolutionary days of the late 1970s. While the Iranian government likes to portray these protests as imperialist plots from the USA and Israel to overthrow the Iranian government, the reality is that the causes of these protests are to be found in workers' anger at corruption, exploita...