INTERNATIONAL LABOUR:

SOLIDARITY WITH DOMINICAN REPUBLIC GARMENT WORKERS:

The following appeal is from the United Students Against Sweatshops, and it concerns the role of Jennifer Love Hewitt as spokeswoman for the Hanes Corporation which sources from sweatshops in the Dominican Republic.

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Jennifer Loves Sweatshops!

Tell Jennifer Love Hewitt to support Dominican Garment Workers!
While Jennifer Love Hewitt has been a strong advocate for the rights of women in the past, she has refused to take a similar position in her role as a spokesperson for Hanes. Workers at the TOS Domincana factory in the Dominican Republic earn poverty wages, have been fired for trying to form a union, and Hanes has continually refused to bargain in good faith with the union. Despite all of this, Jennifer Love Hewitt continues to serve as a spokesperson for the company. Please email Jennifer Love Hewitt today and ask that she follow her own example and stop promoting sweatshop-made underwear.

Send a letter to the following decision maker(s):

Jennifer Love Hewitt
Below is the sample letter:
Subject: Jennifer Love Hewitt: Be Strong
Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],
We respect your accomplished career as an actor and we admire the strong stance you took for women when you were attacked in the press.As a spokesperson for Hanes, however, you are selling products made in unsafe factories overseas where women are abused. We need you to stand up for women everywhere and stop selling Hanes sweatshop underwear.
Sincerely,

cc:Executive VP and General Counsel Joia Johnson

Vice President of Social Responsibility Chris Fox

agent Kami Putnam-Heist

To send the above letter go to THIS LINK.

APPEAL FROM THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC:

The Clean Clothes Campaign (see also our Other Interesting Links section), an international solidarity site for workers in the garment industry, has released an appeal from the workers in the BJ&B garment factory in the Dominican Republic. This factory is owned by the Korean Yupong group and was producing caps for Nike. previously it had produced caps for Reebok, now Adidas. The workers in this factory managed to form a union, and in retaliation management began to divert orders to other non-unionized plants. The work for Adidas has already been moved to other plants, and now the parent corporation hopes to close the plant and move work for Nike to other facilities where they don't have to respect workers' rights. The CCC is asking for international support to prevent this closure by putting pressure on both Nike and Yupong. To join this campaign go to:

http://www.cleanclothes.org/urgent/07-03-20.htm#action

Today (Sept 25) in History:
1868: Michael Bakunin and friends establish the 'International Alliance of Social Democracy' as a splinter group at the meeting of the 'League for Peace and Freedom' in Berne Switzerland.
1870: The Marseilles Commune announces the abolition of the state and all debt.
1919: Anarchists, in cooperation with Left Socialist Revolutionaries, bomb the Moscow headquarters of the Communist Party in response to continued repression and murder of members of both the anarchists and the Left SRs on the part of the Bolsheviks. A job done poorly as the Communists later go on to slaughter 25 million ordinary Russians once the supply of political opponents runs out.
1960: Fourth Conference of the Situationalist International. Besides adopting the "Statement on Madness' they spend their everyday life in electing a central committee.
1962" US backed coup in the Dominican Republic overthrows mildly leftist president Juan Bosch.
1977:Anti-apartheid organizer Steven Biko is buried in South Africa after being murdered by the police during detention. A little quote from Steve,
"The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed."
1999: The 'Friends of the Modern School', a collection of alumni and others meet at Rutger's University. The Modern School movement was founded in many countries after the judicial murder of Francisco Ferrer (Jan 10, 1859-Oct. 12, 1909) by the authorities in Barcelona. He was falsely accused of being part of a "plot" during the 'Semana Tragica' in Catalonia that year. The events of the 'Tragic Week' led to the creation of the Spanish CGT. For more on Ferrer see http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/ferrer/ferrer.html . For more on the American Modern School Movement see 'A History of the Stelton Modern School' at http://www.talkinghistory.org/stelton/stelton.html and 'The Modern School Collection' at http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/libs/scua/modern_school/modern.shtml .
As a little aside on a past visit to Barcelona I discovered the monument to Ferrer on the way up to Montjuis. It's a little bit damaged but still standing after decades of Francoism. It has an appropriate anti-clerical quote on its base. Modern Barcelona; where public transportation hubs have been named after anarchist Juan Peiro and there is an 'Avenida Durruti'. The Catalans have named their Olympic Stadium after Companys, but they aren't above adding anarchist names in their nose thumbing at the government in Madrid.
2006:Nothing at all happened today. Time to go to sleep already.
Molly