INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-JAPAN:

2010 JAPANESE ANARCHIST CALENDER AVAILABLE:

Hey, here's another item that proves that Molly isn't only focused on the cold and frozen North. The following came Molly's way via the Asian Anarchist Network. It's originally from the Japanese CIRA (the Japanese section of the international centres for anarchist documentation and research)via the Irregular Rythym Asylum Blog. I hope that that will be enough references for anyone. In any case the following calender highlights an attempt to assassinate the Japanese emperor earlier in the 20th century. Ah- every anarchist's dream, "to assassinate the emperor" and thereby "make a difference" with a simple act without complications. It's too bad that reality rarely is so simple. In any case here is the advert for the calender.

@@@@@@@@@@

CIRA Japana 2010 Calendar Out Now!‏
Hello comrades, Please check this out.

Best,

cat bloc

CIRA Japana <http://www.cira-japana.net/> 2010 Calendar Out Now!

CIRA Japana <http://www.cira-japana.net/> presents the 2010 calendar with a theme of the 100th anniversary of the High Treason Incident <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Treason_Incident>.

The High Treason Incident

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Treason_Incident>, also known as the Kotoku Incident, was a socialist-anarchist plot to assassinate the Japanese Emperor Meiji in 1910, leading to a mass arrest of leftists, and the execution of 12 alleged conspirators in 1911.

To commemorate the people’s struggle against the Emperor in the early 20th century, this calendar highlights the key figures of the High Treason Incident <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Treason_Incident> and international campaigns of prison solidarity for the victims. You will see valuable pictures of activists in the early socialist movements in Japan with English thumbnail for each month.

Here are the topics of the months:

[Jan] Shusui Kotoku: a prominent political thinker and anarchist

[Feb] Sugako Kannno: a feminist journalist and anarchist

[Mar] Gudou Uchiyama: an anarchist monk and his secret publication

[Apr] The High Treason Album/International prison solidarity

[May] The Commoners’ Society (Heimin-sha): the centre for socialists in the early days[Jun] A protest against fare rises of the Tokyo City railways[Jul] Suppression of free speech against the Commoners’ Daily[Aug] The Commoners’ Summer Seminar[Sep] The pollution in the Ashio copper mine and socialists[Oct] The post-war campaign on the restoration of honour of victims[Nov] Other High Treason Incidents: Daisuke Nanba, Park Yeol and Fumiko Kaneko, and Lee Bong-chang[Dec] Movements against the emperor system in the post-war Buy your copy now! 1200 yen plus postage.You can order by Paypal:http://irregularrhythmasylum.blogspot.com/2009/12/100-cira-japana-2010-calendar.html If you want more than 2 copies, let us know by email: irregular@sanpal.co.jp

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-ASIA:

THE ASIA FLOOR WAGE CAMPAIGN:
The following article came to Molly's notice via the Maquila Solidarity Network.
&&&&&&&&&&&&
Worker rights groups launch Asia Floor Wage Campaign:

On October 7, workers' rights groups in over a dozen countries throughout Asia, Europe and the Americas are participating in the public launch of the Asia Floor Wage Campaign (AFWC). The campaign is demanding a common minimum living wage for garment workers across the Asian region, in order to stop the destructive race to the bottom on wages and labour standards - which is fueled in part by companies moving production between countries in the region in search of ever-cheaper labour costs.





To this end the AFWC has calculated a minimum living wage (Asia Floor Wage) for the region as a whole, which has been standardized so that it can be easily converted to national currencies in key Asian garment-producing countries (including India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, China and Hong Kong).
What is the Asia Floor Wage
According to the AFWC, the Asia Floor Wage (AFW) is based on "the income required for a single earner to support a family of four (2 adults and 2 children) by working a legal maximum working week (but no longer than 48 hours), excluding any payment for overtime or other bonuses/allowances." It should provide enough income to pay for food and other essential living costs such as healthcare, housing, clothing, childcare, transportation, fuel, education, etc.





The AFW is expressed as a single figure that can be converted to local currencies using the World Bank's 'purchasing power parity' (PPP) formula so that the floor wage would allow workers to purchase the same amount of goods and services in each garment-producing country in Asia. The Asia Floor Wage for 2009 has been set at 475 PPP$.
The need for a Living Wage
The garment industry's history of low wages, excessive overtime and poor working conditions is well known. Though small improvements have been made in some areas, on the issue of wages the apparel industry has continually failed to act -- arguing at times that it is enough to abide by local minimum wage laws and other times using the excuse that there is no commonly-accepted living wage figure for them to meet.





The fact is that legal national minimum wages set for workers in the apparel industry fail to provide enough income for workers to maintain their families above national poverty levels. Poverty wages push many workers into debt, lead to malnutrition, cause health problems, and make workers and their families extremely vulnerable should they face sudden unemployment, health problems or disabilities.





The Asia Floor Wage Campaign challenges the second industry excuse, by calculating a measurable floor wage throughout Asia - one that has buy-in from workers' organizations across the region and which can easily be met without significantly reducing industry profits.
About the Asia Floor Wage Campaign
At an international level, the Campaign will pressure apparel brands and major suppliers to commit to meeting the AFW within their Asian supply factories. Trade unions at the local level will also push for the AFW from the bottom up through collective bargaining with factory management and popular campaigns.





The AFWC was formed by union leaders and labour activists in Asia's major garment producing countries that came together to explore a union-based Asian strategy for the global garment industry. During initial discussions wages emerged as the central issue and the concept of an Asia Floor Wage was developed and refined between 2005 and 2007.





What began as an Asia-based process has now expanded to become an international alliance which includes support from labour rights groups around the world including the Clean Clothes Campaign, the Maquila Solidarity Network (MSN), the International Labor Rights Forum, and many others.





MSN sees the campaign as an innovative regional initiative for increasing wages in a global industry. We are exploring the potential for regional approaches to improving wages with our allies in the Americas, and will be making key materials about the AFWC available in Spanish to share with our allies in Latin America.





MSN will also be pushing apparel and footwear brands with which we are in contact to take action on the AFWC demands within their supply chains.
Learn more about the Campaign
Read the "Stitching a Decent Wage Across Borders" report
Find out how your organization can endorse the AFW

INDONESIA:

ANARCHIST ACTIVITY IN INDONESIA:

As Molly has remarked previously on this blog it seems that anarchy is breaking out here there and everywhere. While present day anarchism may lack the force of numbers in a given country that it had during the heyday of anarcho-syndicalism there is little doubt that anarchism today is a far more widespread phenomenon than it was at that time. From the north to the south, and from the east to the west there are anarchists active in all countries of the world today. As a demonstration please see the following report on recent anarchist activity in Indonesia. It originally appeared on the Asian Anarchist Network, and was reprinted today at A-Infos. The Asian Anarchist Network is an interesting project that Molly has reported on before in this blog. It's basically a list serve for anarchists resident in Asia, from Gaza to Kamchatka and from Irkutsk to Indonesia, and for those interested in anarchism on that continent. It hopes to act as an organizing tool to build links between anarchists in that area of the world. But anyways, the report(slightly edited for grammar)...

Here's some updates from our Anti-Authoritarian Network. Several comrades from Medan, North Sumatra, last year were kicked out of their university - HKBP NOMMENSEN - for boycotting the reclamation of student orientation by the university bureaucrats. They held an occupation for months, but nothing happened and the university bureaucrats refused to release their transfer permission. So their 'career' as students is dead. These students who were kicked out of university are active students who through the years have been protesting military violence in northern Sumatra, and the Rectorate of the university is a high military official. So there are other conclusions about this.

Bored and fed up waiting for their mercy, last February these students agitated others to occupy the university and burned it down. They isolated the bureaucrats and burned their cars. Now seven of them are imprisoned. In our network, there was a student organization, Semapur, that was involved through the years in farmers' struggles. Our comrades on South Celebes (Sulawesi, different island), Makassar, yesterday were arrested because of graffiti and were accused of subversion. Luckily,there are no charges and they were released. The graffiti read "I Love You Sweetheart, Let's Smash the State" (in Indonesian of course)

...Me and my own collective, Affinitas, are in central Java. We too are involved in the peasant struggle against the cement industry that is planned in a small village, Pati. We need all the help we can get from the anarchists abroad!

ANARCHIST MOVEMENT:

ASIAN ANARCHIST NETWORK (AAN):

An international mailing list has been set up recently for Asian anarchists and those interested in the practice of anarchism in Asia. People have been sending in introductions, and members hail from all over: Japan, Singapore, Vietnam,etc.. Follow this link to subscribe: https://lists.riseup.net/www/info/a_a_n