At a joint meeting organised by UNISON and ESNET (El Salvador network ) attendees heard an interesting account of the Nueva Esperernza (New Hope ) community in EL Salvador. In the 8Os a brutal civil war took place between the FMLN and a right wing government to end the oppression of the working class. The war lasted 10 years and left 70,000 dead. Over 2 million fled their homes including freedom fighters and their families from the Bajo Lempa region who fled to Nicaragua. Ten year later they returned determined to build a new community which they called Nueva Esperanza . Armed only with blue plastic sheeting (for tents), a machete and $30 (supplied to each family by the UN) they cut down the jungle to es-tablish their new community which would be based on grass roots democracy and co-

operation . Children educated whilst in Nicaragua have grown and become teachers in the community school . The Government however would not allow them all to be employed . So they took the decision to all teach and share the wages the government would provide. Since then the Birmingham based organisation which is part of ESNET , has supported and fund raised for the community . For the first 18 years of its existence the right wing government put every obstacle in their path , but with the election of a left government in 2009 things have been somewhat easier. But El Salvador is still a poor country and the community is still relatively poor and support is still needed , particularly in the area of health care.

Further information can be obtained by emailing Tim and Mogs at mogtim@hotmail.com

PUBLISHED BY THE WEST MIDLANDS INTERNATIONAL FORUM WINTER 2014

INTERNATIONAL

Following the visit to the region in the summer of

Carmen Meir from Nicaragua health union FESALUD, as part of our building links with the Nicaraguan trade union movement , we agreed a joint project with FETSALUD .

The aim of which , is to train and develop FETSALUD activists, particularly women and young members.

The project would be funded by UNISONs International development fund. Last Month UNISONs national inter-national committee approved the bid and the project will commence in the new year.

As previously reported the George Eliot hospital will be sending a delegation to Nicaragua in February and we have also agree to send mark Glover (Solihull LG) as a regional rep to report on the progress of the project.

THE B’LAAN INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF THE SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES ARE IN DANGER. THE HUGE TAMPAKAN MINING PROJECT AIMS TO BUILD ONE OF THE WORLDS LARGEST OPENCAST COPPER AND GOLD MINES RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE B’LAANS’ ANCESTRAL HOMELAND ON THE ISLAND OF MINDANAO. Recently the region was visited by 2 Filipino activists from the region who are campaigning against the mine. The campaign is jointly funded by UNISON and War on Want. Mark Lopez and Clemente Bautista spoke of the campaign and the oppression campaign activists and the B’laan people face , in what has become effectively a war zone . Seventy four percent of the proposed mine site is on land classified as ancestral land of the B’laan. If the project goes ahead 4,000 people will be forced out of their homes. The project boundary will measure 10,000 hec-tares, destroying swathes of rainforest which are the source of 5 rivers . In the face of concerted opposition from B’laan communities , the tampakan mining

project has made payments to army and paramilitary forces which have been responsible for committing atrocities against campaigners (including 10 murders. WITH A CONTROLLING STAKE IN THE PROJECT, THE ANGLO SWISS COMPANY GLENCORE STANDS TO MAKE ENORMOUS PROFITS

TOGETHER , WE CAN STOP THIS THIS DEADLY MINING PROJECT FROM GOING AHEAD .

Take action TODAY

Tell Ivan Glasenberg CEO of

Glencore -to withdraw from

the Tampakan project at

Waronwant.org/stopthemine

964

CONFIRMED DEATHS OF WORKERS FROM JUST NEPAL, INDIA AND BANGLADESH IN 2012-2013. THAT’S MORE THAN 40 DEATHS A MONTH.

4000

THE ESTIMATED WORKER DEATH TOLL BY THE TIME THE QATAR WORLD CUP STARTS IN 2022 – IF NOTHING IS DONE TO STOP IT

90

PERCENTAGE OF LOW-INCOME MIGRANTS, IN QATAR, THAT HAVE REPORTED HAVING THEIR PASSPORTS CONFISCATED..

The TUC campaign is encouraging football fans to get involved in highlighting the violation of workers’ rights in the building trade.

You can take a selfie wearing your club colours and up-load it to the Play Fair Qatar website. Encourage col-leagues, friends and family to also get involved.

UNISON is backing the TUC Play Fair Qatar cam-paign calling for the 2022 World Cup hosts to respect the rights of migrant construction work-ers - who are dying at a rate of around 40 a month.

Or at least that's the estimate from the Interna-tional Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), which has exposed numerous violations of the rights of the more than one million migrant workers.

The Qatar government disputes the figure, saying that heart attacks cannot be classified as industrial accidents. Many of the young Nepalese and Indian workers suffer cardiac arrests and campaigners says this most likely because they are working long hours in temperatures of more than 40oC.

Since being awarded the 2022 World Cup in 2010, Qatar has launched an unprecedented construc-tion programme including building a new city to accommodate the final of the World Cup.

The ITUC figures would mean around 4,000 peo-ple dying before the World Cup starts.

DEATH AND INJURY

To date, almost 1000 World Cup workers have died in Qatar and many have been injured.

LOW PAY AND NO PAY

Workers are paid as little as 45p an hour and some employers withhold wages.

TRAPPED IN QATAR

Workers need permission from their employers before they can leave Qatar.

NO DEFENCE

World Cup workers in Qatar are unable to join forces and defend themselves.

REGIONAL INTERNATIONAL FORUM SUPPORTS THE CAMPAIGN.

WOLVERHAMPTON GENERAL WOMEN'S GROUP SUPPORT THE CAMPAIGN

The landlocked Kingdom of Swaziland is the only absolute monarchy in Africa. The country is ruled by King Mswati

III who rules by decree over his people and who sucks up much of the countrys wealth. Swaziland has the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence in the world and an estimated 70% of people live below the poverty line. Freedom of speech is restricted, all political parties are banned and any opposition to the monarchy is heavily punished. This includes the harass-ment and imprisonment of trade unionists and human rights activists Women in Swaziland face horrendous lev-els of discrimination because they are women. Poverty, high levels of gender based violence, traditional laws that classify women as minors and the failure to implement laws that in the-ory guarantee rights and equality all contribute to an appalling level of discrimination. Women in Swaziland are treated as second class citi-zens, as objects and denied the opportunity or resources to advocate for their rights. ACTSA is working with the Foundation for Socio Economic Justice and the Swaziland Rural Women’s Assembly on a four year pro-ject to Improve Women’s Rights in Swaziland. The project is funded by the Big Lottery Fund. Hobslie from the Swaziland rural women's net-work and Mark Beacon from ACTSA recently spoke at the region. Thousands of women in rural areas will bene-fit from a national peer education programme to develop their understanding of their rights and empower them to organise and advocate for their rights on a family, community and na-tional level. A special programme will be run to improve women’s rights in the textile industry, notori-ous for discrimination and the denial of rights. The project will bring women together to meet and discuss their rights and what they need to do to improve them at a series of national and local events. Women will develop a charter of women’s rights which they can use to lobby national politicians and community leaders to

support these rights and reform unjust laws that discriminate against women.

The project will tackle discrimination against women in the media by monitoring the portrayal of women and working with journalists to im-prove this and highlight the challenges women face. It will help develop women’s groups throughout the country into strong, democratic organisa-tions and develop the leadership skills of women to stand for election in their communities and civil society organisations. Hobsile explained that despite the harassment women who were active in the movement faced , 90% of women who had taken leader-ship courses have taken on leadership positions in their areas. Hobsile also gave a concrete example of women's empowerment, where a woman had been thrown out of her house and all the other women in the area threatened to leave their homes. The threat worked and the woman was allowed back into her home and her land You can learn more about Swaziland and ACTSAs work and individual campaigns at Www.actsa.org and if your branch is not af-filiated join now!

If you have any interest in international issues or want to

become a Branch International officer contact me at

daveauger61@hotmail .com

DAVE AUGER REGIONAL INTERNATIONAL OFFICER