Category: Our Network

Translated:

Our world woman Sharmistha and her fellow campaigners are free again!

We have just received this wonderful news from India:

“We thank you for the message of solidarity with Sharmistha. We are pleased to inform you that Sharmistha and the others who were abducted with her were released the same evening after a massive protest by the people.”

And further they write that the situation is very tense but Sharmistha and other activists are in a safe place.

“(…) We thank you again for your support and promise you that the fight will continue.”

We, the workers of „Fortuna” Gračanica shoe factory and participants of European world womens conference of grasrootswoman, strongly condemn the brutal attack and abduction of activist Sharmista Choudhury and other leaders of the Bhangor-Movement!

As woman, workers and fighters for worker rights in Bosnia and Herzegowina we were also victims of physical and psychic attacks and it is our obligation to the society and to the world to stand up against such attacks on individuals and activist groups.
We demand for immediate and unharmed release of Sharmista and other activists!

We call on the government to take action against such criminal activities and also we call upon the government to take steps to protect the activists in the country.

Free Sharmista!

The workers of “Fortuna ” Gračanica Shoe Factory / Bosnia and Herzegowina

Protest declaration

In the name of the Women’s Political counsel we protest against the brutal attacks and the kidnapping of our friend Sharmista Choudhury and ather leaders of the Bhangor-Movement.

Sharmista Choudhury is an well known woman here in germany, she often visited our Women’s Political Counsel, the greatest self organized women event in germany. She is an aktivist of the worlwomen’s conference movement and we work strongly together.

We ask the government to take action against these criminal activities.

Continue reading “Militant Women’s Council Germany: Protest declaration in regards to Sharmista Choudhury”

European coordinators of the World Women Conferences, 17.04.2018

Press release can be downloaded as PDF file here

From 13 – 15.4.18 60 participants met in Mannenbach/Switzerland for the
8th European Conference of grassroots women. Delegations from Albania, Bosnia, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey and the Ukraine were able to meet in the middle of nature with a view of Lake Constance and well supplied by many helping hands. Complemented by numerous written contributions from other countries such as Greece and Spain, the conference gave an impressive picture of the situation and struggles of women in Europe. Everywhere, the women’s movement  faces a cutback of hard-won, democratic rights and freedoms. Governments everywhere are moving to the right and more and more women are standing up for their rights.

We learned of the brave industrial action of Bosnian women workers. They camp in front of their closed factory for their workplaces – “neither batons nor silence can break our resistance!” Of the wage struggles of employees in hospitals, day-care centres and nursing facilities in Germany. Only 15% of the women farmers in Switzerland are paid on family farms, 56% are not paid for their work and only 6% head a farm. From the difficult situation in Turkey where arrests and dismissals are commonplace. In Ukraine, where there is hardly any work, the young people have to go abroad. Women also receive 25% less pay, with an average pension of €42. On Women’s Day, the demand was “Protection of Women’s Rights”. In the Netherlands, the cleaning women are active thanks to the cleaning women’s union. In Russia, young women in particular protest despite the threat of arrest. Poverty, unemployment, poorer pay, fewer rights, are absorbed in the organization of everyday life, and that happens in the 21st century! And we heard from the trauma of mass rape as a weapon of war in the Bosnian war, which continues to this day. And the fight to punish the guilty! The national strike organised in Spain on International Women’s Day is the militant response to all this!

The conference positioned itself unanimously for the struggle for world peace and demands:
“Active resistance to the bombardments by the United States, France and Great Britain!
Active resistance to the dangerous escalation that threatens world peace.
Our contribution is to work actively to build a new peace movement. (decision)
The most important decision of this conference is to strengthen coordination and cooperation. We agreed that more effort must be put into building up the women’s movement in our own countries. Therefore we will visit each other and inform ourselves about the website.
The Bosnian workers start by coming to Germany to exchange ideas with workers from many companies. On the weekend at the workers’ platform of the Internationalist Alliance in Hildesheim near Hannover, Germany.

European coordinators of the World Women Conferences   

Halinka Augustin/ Netherlands

Susanne Bader/ Germany

Stellvertreterin

Zaman Masudi/ Germany

Frauenverband Courage

Ortsgruppe im Vest Recklinghausen
10.4.2018
für den Ortsvorstand:
Gabi Beisenkamp: Beisenkamp@t-online.de

Protest note

The Women’s Association Courage Vest resolutely and energetically unites the protest against the arrest and isolation of Joly Talukder and 7 other dedicated unionists on 01.04.2018 in Bangladesh.

Joly Talukder became internationally known for her commitment to improving working conditions after the conflagration and the collapse of the Rana Plaza.

When three years ago the textile factory in Bangladesh collapsed and more than 1,100 people were killed , international fashion companies pledged to improve. Rana Plaza was the largest factory accident in the country’s history.

Just three weeks later, unions and industry representatives signed a plan of action to improve fire safety and building security. But since then factory buildings have repeatedly burned or collapsed, and many people died. Construction and safety measures are still neglected.

The now imprisoned and criminalized trade unionists were engaged to implement the action plans and exposing the intolerable grievances before more people would be suffocated, scalded or burned at the workplace.

We demand the immediate unconditional release of Joly Talukder and all other GWTUC trade unionists imprisoned in Bangladesh!