Three days ago, on 16 November, fourteen people were killed by army and police in the Philippines. Those people were strikers, trade unionists like yourselves. They worked on sugar farms in sugar mills, and had
been on strike for ten days. Two of those killed were children, aged two and five, who died from suffocation as a result of the tear gas used. Some 35 people suffered gunshot wounds, 133 were arrested, hundreds more were wounded.

The trade union movement in the Philippines has called for a massive international protest condemning the murders, demanding a full
investigation of what happened. They are demanding that hundreds of workers illegally dismissed be rehired, and that criminal charges against the strikers be dropped. Please send on your message of protest by going here:

http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=39

http://tinyurl.com/3zglc

Message has been sent/passed on.

When shit like this happens, I sometimes think five-eyes-for-an-eye might be just fine.

Edited to add: I agree, skdadl, but these kind kind of stories need folks who are able to push them a bit. International coverage is especially bad these days. One would think that Latin America, Eastern Europe, most of Asia, and most of Africa didn't exist if one were just following the news.

[ 19 November 2004: Message edited by: BLAKE 3:16 ]