Asia Pacific Currents

The Philippine working class has a history of militant actions and resistance against repressive governments and exploitative working conditions. The last three years under the Presidency of Rodrigo Duterte have been particularly hard. We talk with Elmer Labog, Chairperson of the militant labour union federation KMU, about the situation for workers in the Philippines and some of the ways that they...

International Women's Day (IWD) has been commemorated since 1908. It has always been a movement for women to gain rights and achieve equality in the economic, social and political fields. It is marked by rallies and actions every year around the world on the 8th of March. For this years IWD, APC brings you an interview with Zoe Xhao, a sociology student on issues of gender, digital labour and tran...

This week, the ongoing tensions over the government Citizenship Act, in conjunction with the nationalistic fervour unleashed by USA President Trump’s visit, spilled over in mass acts of violence that left whole neighbourhood burnt and close to 40 people dead. All reports indicate that the perpetrators of this violence were Hindu fascist militias with ties to the governing party of the BJP.APC spok...

Trade union repression is a global problem that affects all workers. In some countries, the repression is via beatings, arrests and murders. In other countries, it is via sackings, fines and anti union legislation. The ultimate aim is the same - weakening the power of workers. At a forum in Melbourne, Australia, on trade union repression, APC interviewed Thy Yann, the Secretary of the Building & W...

The long awaited 'deal of the century' by the current USA administration to resolve the Palestinian issue is nothing of the sort and is just a continuation of the ongoing dispossession of Palestinian lands and the the creation of a Greater Israel. We talk to Reem, a local Palestinian activist, about this supposedly new deal for Palestine, its significance, and its ramifications for the future. Asi...

The last three years of the Government of Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines is increasingly bringing back memories of the Marcos dictatorship in the 1970's and 80's. Pres Duterte has unleashed a terror campaign via unleashing death squads and granting total impunity to police and the army. Tens of thousands of working class people and activists have been killed. Nevertheless, as under the Marcos...

Australia’s national holiday, 26 January, is Invasion Day. It commemorates the start of the British invasion in 1788 and the dispossession and genocide of that land’s First Nations peoples. Aboriginal people have resisted this from the beginning and their resistance continues today. For many decades, Aboriginal people were forced to labour or had their wages stolen. Under the theme of ‘Abolish Aus...

For the last two and a half months Iraq has experienced mass protests against corruption, exploitation and poverty by millions of people from working class communities. Notwithstanding heavy repression by the IRaqi government and associated militias that have killed more than 400 protestors, the uprising is still continuing demanding the resignation of the whole Iraqi political class. We interview...

We usually do the year's round up of stories and issues affecting workers in the Asia Pacific region on our last program of the year but this year we did it a week earlier because of interviewing scheduling issues. So, labour updates of the week's stories but also what has happened in the last year. Asia Pacific Currents provides updates of labour struggles and campaigns from the Asia Pacific regi...

The shipping industry around the world is one of the most globalised sectors on the world economy, dominated by global companies that have terminals in multiple countries. It is characterised by a fierce global race to the bottom in terms of wages and conditions as companies try to continually shorten the time it takes to upload and download containers. APC interviewed Maritime Union of Australia...

Over the last two decades, the Indian economy has fully integrated intp the global capitalist economy. This has led to the growth of huge industrial zones where companies seek to take advantage of low wages and favourable laws. One of these areas in the Gurgaon region in Haryana state just to the north of the capital New Delhi. Automotive factories are one of the sectors that have established in t...

On October 31st, police and military personnel arrested 61 labour and human rights activists belonging to Bayan Muna, Gabriela, Kadamay, and the National Federation of Sugar Workers in a series of co-ordinated operations across the Philippines. While they have all been released, many have been put under heavy bail conditions, including raising substantial amount of money. Even more worrying, many...

Repression against journalists, researchers and writers unfortunately occurs around the world as governments and organisations try to suppress information from being publicised. Julian Assange, the founder of the investigative social media organisation Wikileaks, became world famous in 2010 when he disseminated a whole raft of secret documents that exposed US military war crimes and operations. In...

The strenght of the labour movement in every country goes up and down depending on economic conditions and the level of repression it is facing. While in part of Asia we are seeing huge working class struggles erupting, the labour movement in Australia is still struggling to go on the offensive and regain the ground that it has lost over the last 30 years. We hear a talk by Gwynnyth Evans, Assista...

The Chinese working class movement is probably the largest in the world, it is constrained in its ability to organise and form independent unions. The ongoing mass protests in Hong Kong have focused renewed attention to the situation in China and its labour movement. For this week's program, we play a recorded talk by Kevin Lin, an activist and researcher of China’s labor movement, on the Chinese...

The country of Iraq has had a very turbulent history since the USA military invasion of 2003 that overthrew the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. The invasion led to a series of social and military crisis since then, with armed militias now a feature of the countries political landscape. Working class communities have borne the brunt of this violence. In addition, this instability has fostered a cli...

Global mining companies are not only one of the most important and strategic pillars of the capitalist system, but their are also some of the most predatory companies in the world, leaving a trail of social and environmental destruction in their wake. Kevin Bracken, former leader of the Maritime Union of Australia Vic Branch and long time union activist, talks to us about the background and histor...

The increasing tensions between Iran and the USA/Saudi Arabia may have been triggered by events associated with the war in Yemen, but the issues are deeper than that with both historical roots going back to the Iranian revolution of 1979 and political/economic issues associated with the Arab Spring that started in 2010.APC talked with Joseph Daher, a media commentator and academic, on the possibil...

It has been a bit over three years since President Duterte was elected as President of the Philippines. President Duterte administration authoritarian and repressive policies have surpassed those of the late Dictator Ferdinand Marcos in terms of people jailed and killed. While not initially targeted, the situation for labour activists has now deteriorated with increasing arrests and murders, with...

Ever since the infamous Tampa Affair in 2001, Australia asylum seekers and refugee policies has been marked by xenophobia, cruelty and government intransigence. Even thought there has been a mass movement since the Tampa affair against these policies, both major parties continue this hard line stance. The latest victims of this repression has been a Tamil family of four who had been quietly living...

In early June, massive protests exploded in the city state of Hong Kong against the local government's proposal to introduce a bill allowing the extradition of people to mainland China. The demonstrations have numbered up to two million people on the streets. Even against mounting repression by the police and paid thugs, the protests have now continued for over three months. While the original ext...

East Asia is one of the industrial hubs of the world with countries like Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China producing and exporting goods all around the world. The working class in these countries numbers in the hundreds of millions. Due to conflict and wars, workers have not historically had many links between these countries. This is now changing and a recent Labor Notes Conference brought hun...

While the political situation in Kashmir has always been tense, with India and Pakistan engaging in military conflicts a number of times over this disputed territory, the recent India's government abrogation of Kashmir's special constitutional status has plunged the region in uncharted waters. In contrast to previous flashpoints, this time the changes are driven by internal politics and by the nat...

Ever since the sham Act of Free Choice in 1969 when the Indonesian Government engineered a vote for West Papuans to join up within the Indonesian state, conflict has never stopped. The Indonesian government, and its capitalist allies, have always kept a close control West Papua as the region is incredibly rich in natural resources in areas such as mining, timber, farming and fishing. APC interview...

Somyot Pruksakasemsuk, a long time union and democracy activist in Thailand, was jailed for 11 years in 2011 under the repressive Lese Majeste Law - Article 112. He was pardoned in 2018 after serving seven years in jail. Somyot had been a labour and human rights activists for decades. He was jailed because of his opposition to military rule and the power of the Monarchy. APC interviewed him recent...