One of the best weapons the ordinary people have against this repressive and exploitative capitalist system is solidarity. Time and time again solidarity wins battles, we may lose a few but we also win some and solidarity is the weapon that can deliver.
Erlan - now free. A little more than two weeks ago, I wrote to tell you about the sentencing of Erlan Baltabay, a trade union leader in Kazakhstan, to seven years in prison. Over 7,000 of you responded and sent off messages to the government of Kazakhstan demanding Erlan's release. Yesterday, we got the good news that the LabourStart global campaign launched by the International Trade Union Confederation and IndustriALL Global Union worked.
Erlan was pardoned, and released from jail. Here is more information about his release from IndustriALL Global Union. And here is the statement from the Confederation of Labour of Russia (KTR) which first broke the news.
Thank you very much to everyone who sent off a message, who shared news of this campaign by email and across social media, and to our volunteer translators who very quickly made this campaign available to trade unionists around the world in 18 languages.
We don't always win these campaigns, but when we do it's a cause for celebration. But it's also a reminder of the five other campaigns we're currently running in support of trade unionists in Cambodia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland and Turkey. If you've not yet done so, please make sure to support these today:
Turkey: Reinstate municipal workers in Aliağa
Cambodia: Solidarity with workers at the West Mebun temple
Poland: Hutchison Ports must reinstate union activist Marek Szymczak
Philippines: Holcim workers demand justice
Pakistan: Reinstate the Karachi 8
And please share this message -- and this good news -- with your friends, family and fellow union members.
Eric Lee
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