English

Some 50 Ukrainian protesters Wednesday blocked a crossing point on the border with Poland calling on the Poles to ease visa requirements.

The protest took place in the Lviv region in western Ukraine, where the demonstrators blocked the only road serving the Rava-Ruska border crossing, according to a spokeswoman for the regional border guards, Tetiana Guerasimtchuk.

Last month there were similar protests along the border by Ukrainians demanding Kiev and Warsaw sign an accord that would allow border residents to enter Poland without needing a visa.

Just like the US government used 9/11 attacks to have more control over their people (PATRIOT act), the Estonian government is using the April riots of last year to do the same by changing 12 laws, which would drastically expand the rights of police. The proposal to go on with these changes came from the Interior minister Jüri Pihl from the social-democratic party.

The following points worry us the most, as we think the bill would:

• Violate the constitution, banning any demonstration which seeks changes in the constitutional order.
• Tempt governments to misuse the police.
• Tempt police officials to misuse their powers
• Allow blocking peacful demonstrations with dissolution orders
• Allow „preventative detainment of persons at whim.
• Allow detainment of peacful demonstrators on the pretext of „items suitable for concealing ones face”
• Weaken obstacles wich deter mass surveiliance
• Allow ocasionally lethal electric weapons to replace persuasion or pepper spray

Some video fun. Comedian George Carlin explains why he doesn't vote.

Legal fees for Adam Pazuryna are expected to be around 1000 zloties (slightly over 400 dollars US or 280 euro). Adam was one of 11 people arrested on May 16, 2005 after a protest held during the Council of Europe Summit in Warsaw. All the arrested were taken in during a typical police action at the end of the demo and were charged with offences like refusing to follow police orders and assaulting an officer. Adam was beaten at the police station and later charged with refusing to follow police orders, assaulting an officer and using offensive language. Although a judge later ruled that there was no legal basis to arrest Adam, the charges were not dropped. Adam decided not to report to police supervision or to court and was arrested in late December. He was imprisoned for over one month and was released at the end of January. The charges have not been dropped.

1000 zloties (400 USD, 280 euro) is needed for his defense. Anarchist Solidarity is appealing to comrades to help out in this situation. We would greatly appreciate all donations made towards these expenses.

[mainstream press news report from the Guardian]

The bleeping of the tills stops and the Tesco cashiers grin conspiratorially when I ask to see Iwona Mandat, the head of the Work Confederation, Poland's newest trade union.

"You need to go round the back, where the security guards are," says an anonymous worker. "She'll tell you everything you need to know but I can't talk to you any more."

Past a series of CCTV cameras and questioning from the store manager and head of security, Mandat is sat behind a desk in a small room at the back of a vast corrugated metal shed. She is a slight, calm, 51-year-old working class mother of two, who plans a small revolution.

The woman is rapidly becoming well known in Czestochowa, which is at the heart of a dispute about pay and conditions between the ambitious UK supermarket group and workers in one of its many overseas outposts.

Last Wednesday (30th Jan) two workers in World Dresses Ltd, Mirapur, Dhaka, were attacked and beaten by management staff at the end of an evening shift. Khokon and Malek were apparently almost the last of the workforce on the premises at 8pm, as they were washing themselves before leaving. Five officials appeared and accused them of loitering with intent to rob the company. They then beat the workers severely:

Quote:

"‘We repeatedly told them we had gone to the washroom, but they beat us saying that we had stayed back to steal things,’ said Malek, the injured worker, in Dhaka Orthopaedics Hospital.
‘They broke my hands and legs and hit Khokon in the head, chest and abdomen until he fell unconscious,’ Malek said."

As their condition deteriorated, the management staff eventually took them to hospital; Khokon died at 3am, while Malek is still hospitalised with broken limbs. A manager and security guard have been arrested, while police say they are looking for three others. The company has promised compensation to Malek and to Khokon's family.

A group of 11 foreigners escaped from a detention prison for foreigners in Lesznowola, Poland, on Friday. They escaped through a tunnel dug through the group. Police went after them with dogs but haven't found them. The authorities think that somebody from the outside dug the tunnel into the center rather than the other way around. Among the escaped were 8 Vietnamese people, a Russian, a Ukrainian and a Chinese man.

A member of the collective editorship of the Venezuelan publication El Libertario (www.nodo50.org/ellibertario, in Spanish & English) exposes the inconsistencies of the bureaucracy that manipulates the World Social Forum through a reading of their evasive silence with regards to the tragedy that Kenya is experiencing today.

According to the Associated Foreign Press Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski (Former Neocon American Enterprise Institute employee) has reached a deal in principle regarding hosting the controversial US missile shield after meeting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. The Tusk government's position all along has been to get a better deal in order to aid modernisation of Polish air defenses with Patriot and THAAD Missiles.

Sikorski, who has been meeting top warmongers in the U.S. added that "a great deal of work" faced negotiators while Rice talked about "some progress" and "some momentum" on the issue.

"We have an agreement in principle," Sikorski told journalists on Friday when asked if he had received assurances about US aid for Poland's air defenses.

"And, as I mentioned, the prime minister and the president will approve of whatever is done in the meantime, but yes, I'm satisfied that the principles we have argued for have been accepted," Sikorski said.

So there it is. Faustus has just done the deal and it is unlikely that it will be unravelled. The 3 Republican contenders for the presidency are all pro-shield. Hillary Clinton is also for it while Barack Obama remains sceptical. But if you ask me, I'd say get a good pair of warm socks and boots because this time next year we could be blocking the initial construction work in Northern Poland.

An agreement was reached ending the strike in the Budryk mine. It had lasted 46 days.

Workers will receive a pay raise of 490 zloties (135 euro) a month gross plus a one-time payment of 2200 zloties (600 euro) to compensate for low wages last year. This is less than the strikers were demanding.

The main demand of the strike was to end wage discrimination by raising the level of wages in Budryk to that of other mines controlled by the JSW holding company. Budryk (which is owned by the State Treasury) was merged into the JSW holding group (also owned by the State Treasury) at the beginning of the year. The average level of wages in Budryk is the lowest among mines in the JSW group despite the fact that Budryk is one of the most profitable mines in Poland and workers achieve twice the national average output.

Poland has been punished again by the European Court of Human Rights for breaching the European Convention of Human Rights. The Polish treasury has been ordered to pay over €11,000 to five plaintiffs who were kept in detention awaiting trial for ridiculously long periods. One of the accused facing a murder trial was detained without trial for 9 years.

Poland’s justice administration were accused of indolence by the Court during the proceedings.

According to the ruling everybody, no matter what their alleged crimes, has a right to freedom and being tried within a fair amount of time.

So Poland has done it again - losing hands down when it comes to breaking Human rights laws as interpreted by the EU Court of Justice.

Today a Warsaw court released Adam P. from custody. He had been held over one month in arrest for failing to appear at trial. Despite pleas from the attorney and defendant, the court refused to dismiss the case against him.

Adam was in low spirits, visibly tired from his ordeal. A large group of supporters arrived at the court to observe the proceedings. Adam recounted the history of his arrest on May 16, 2005 when, after a demonstration during the Council of Europe Summit he was arrested. He told the court that he had already left the demo when he noticed that the police had surrounded people and were harrassing them. He joined the crowd. He was arrested when trying to help another comrade who had been picked up by police. One of the accusations against Adam is that he used "language generally considered to be offensive" (!); when asked what he said, it could be roughly translated to "leave her the fuck alone".

The attorney motioned for the case to be dismissed and called the police testimony "unreliable". The judge's facial expressions tend to show contempt for the defendants, but this may be misleading. She did not dismiss the case and set another court date, calling witnesses from among the demonstrators and the police. Video evidence was still not viewed by the court and the judge seems to be intent on leaving that until after all testimony has been heard.

A "hunger pay" protest has been announced by Polish police on their internet forum.

Organizers of "Operation Fork" are appealing to underpaid, pissed off cops to send old aluminium forks in packages to the National Police HQ in Warsaw. Those involved also claim that their action is to highlight the lack of action by police unions in asserting their demands.

On Monday, workers who are against the strike demonstrated against the strikers. Today there were fights between the pro- and anti-strike miners. Striking miners blocked entrance to non-striking workers, and some violence occurred. Non-striking workers vowed to come back tomorrow.

The management has gone wild. They've hired a public relations firm now because apparently the supporters of the Budryk strike are "masters of the media" - that is have good coverage of the strike on the internet. (The mainstream media is a different matter as it tends of be against working people.)

The management of JSW has filed a complaint with the prosecutor's office again claiming that a crim has been committed. Other unions at the mine (not specified but maybe including Solidarity) have likewise reported the union August 80 for apparently keeping a large quantity of vodka in their office, which also may be a "crime".