Middle East

In an article today, he also discusses the work of who he considers the 'first true scientist', al-Hassan Ibn al-Haytham:

[i]without doubt, another great physicist, who is worthy of ranking up alongside Newton, is a scientist born in AD 965 in what is now Iraq who went by the name of al-Hassan Ibn al-Haytham.

Clarifying the Muddle East

Another workers’ representative of Haft Tapeh Sugar Factory, Mohammad Heydari Mehr was arrested by security forces on November 7, 2007 after being asked to refer to intelligence and security offices in the city of Shoush. Ghorban Alipour, another representative of Haft Tapeh Sugar Factory workers was arrested at his residence and taken away by security forces on November 5, 2007.

Here is the statement from the Workers Action Committee following the initial strike.

Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane workers in southern Iran go on strike

An Iranian court has sentenced a dissident labor leader to five years in jail, a judiciary official was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

Mansoor Osanloo, who runs a union grouping bus drivers, was detained in July for "distributing statements against the system". Western rights groups say Iran has launched a crackdown on dissenting voices, although Tehran denies this.

Egypt’s workers’ unrest is continuing unabated. According to the Egyptian Workers and Trade Union Watch (EWTUW) there have been a total of 580 industrial actions in the period January- September. Almost every month sees an increase in workers’ actions: from around 20 in early 2007 to the peak of 100 and 94 actions in August and September respectively.

The ITF is condemning the latest tactic in what it describes as a cynical catalogue of dirty tricks played by the Iranian government on imprisoned trade union leader Mansour Osanloo.

A law suit for alleged “slander and defamation of character” against Kamal Abbas was filed by Mohamed Ibrahim, chairman of the board of directors of a youth centre in 15 May City and member of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP).

Labour ministry officials met employee representatives at the Damietta Spinning and Weaving Co to come to an agreement just 24 hours after workers kicked off their strike, the official MENA news agency said. Labour Minister Aisha Abdel Hadi told reporters she was eager to "protect the interests and rights of the workers."

For the second time in less than a year, in the final week of September the 24,000 workers of the Misr Spinning and Weaving Company in Mahalla al-Kubra went on strike -- and won. As they did the first time, in December 2006, the workers occupied the Nile Delta town’s mammoth textile mill and rebuffed the initial mediation efforts of Egypt’s ruling National Democratic Party (NDP).

Workers’ representatives of the Misr Spinning and Weaving Company in Mahalla el-Kubra, north of Cairo, met with the official government union and they agreed to grant the workers’ an additional 90 days pay, and negotiate over further increases.

Taken from the excellent and highly recommended 3arabwy blog.

The five detained Ghazl el-Mahalla labor leaders were released Tuesday night sometime between 11pm and midnight from State Security Police custody.

Solidarity Committee with Mahalla Workers

Workers at Eilat-based Arkia Airlines have been staging the work-to-rule as part of an on-going dispute with management. A number of flights have had to be cancelled recently owing to "technical difficulties".

In reality, airline staff have decided amongst themselves to make things as difficult as possible for the company to operate smoothly until demands over pay and conditions are met.

THE REVOLUTION BETRAYED

The teachers are protesting a government decision to reduce weekends to one day per week and end having Saturday as a day-off. In Tulkarem, in the northern West Bank, Ma'an's correspondent reported that the streets were teeming with students returning from school after finding their teachers absent from the classrooms.

A strike of more than 400 workers at the Suez Fertilizers Company was suspended Friday 5:30pm, following negotiations between the CEO of the company Sayyed Abul Hawa el-Daw and the Labor Ministry officials in Suez on the one hand, and six of the strike leaders on the other, whereby the following had been agreed up on:

1) The monthly salaries of the workers will be raised by LE200

The following interview was first published in 'Workers Scud - no patriot can catch us!' (London, June 1991), a collection of articles reflecting on the Gulf War.

The Class Struggle in Iraq - an interview with a veteran
Q: Can you briefly tell us about the class struggle in Iraq before the overthrow of the monarchy in 1958?

"Our historical analogy aimed to demonstrate the failure of the present course of action for the region’s proletariat and suggest an alternative. It is the social and not the military dimension of the struggle that has the potential to transcend capital."

The strike declared Tuesday night closed most government offices and the postal service while workers related to defense and emergency healthcare remained on the job, The Jerusalem Post reported.

Government negotiations with the Histadrut labor federation were to continue Wednesday in hope of ending the strike by day's end, The Post reported.