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1 VOLUME 3. NUMBER 33 20 - 27 SEPTEMBER 2015 Contents Contents .. 1 NEHAWU FULLY BEHIND THE PHARRELL PROTESTS .. 1 COSATU SUPPORTS THE pHARRELL pROTEST .. 2 WFTU CONDEMNS THE MILITARY COUP IN BURKINA FASO .. 3 ANC IN SOUTH AFRICA FOR UN REFORM .. 3 TRADE UNION ACTION AGAINST THE ANTI-REFUGEE POLICY OF THE EUROPEAN UNION .. 3 SOCIAL INJUSTICE AND INEQUALITY STILL MAJOR CHALLENGES FOR AFRICA AND ARAB COUNTRIES .. 4 MASSIVE DEMONSTRATION OF PAME AGAINST THE ANTI MIGRANT POLICY OF THE EU.

2 5 JEREMY CORBYN: A MAN WHO DIDN T TRY TO FASHION A CAREER .. 5 THE KIND OF SOCIETY WE WANT .. 9 PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT URGES ISRAEL TO STOP 12 NEHAWU FULLY BEHIND THE PHARRELL PROTESTS 22 September 2015 NEHAWU Statement NEHAWU adds its voice in support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions {BDS} Campaign against Pharrell Williams and Woolworths. We view his collaboration with Woolworths as shameful, unprincipled, and morally obscene. It is tantamount to feasting on the carcasses of the slaughtered and mutilated Palestinians and a slap in the face of the exiled and incarcerated ones.

3 Globally, there is now an accepted indictment of the government of israeli ; that its practices against the Palestinian people are in breach of the prohibition on apartheid under international law. Apartheid like slavery is a step up above the grave for those who are subjected to it. The apartheid state of Israel has not just slaughtered and displaced many Palestinians, but it has also persecuted Christians and other minorities. In 2012 hundreds of African immigrants were attacked by israeli nationalist protestors in Tel Aviv neighbourhood of Hatikva, with the connivance of the state.

4 They assaulted, destroyed and looted the properties of African immigrants after provocative statements by members of the israeli Knesset {assembly}. Miri Regev an israeli lawmaker and member of the Knesset called the Sudanese Immigrants a cancer in our body during an anti-immigration protest. This was followed by the statements from Danny Danon a member of the Likud party who proposed that the city s African residents should be deported to the detention facilities and be removed from population centres. Artists like Pharrell Williams should remember that by collaborating with organisations like Woolworths, they are giving indirect support to the racist, xenophobic and neo-fascist practices of the israeli state.

5 Currently, the israeli regime is busy detaining young Palestinian children and is also busy drafting draconian laws meant to ensure that the israeli Arabs remain second class citizens in their own country. We call on all our members and the workers in general to join in the ongoing BDS campaign .All of us have a moral responsibility to speak out against the abuse of Palestinians by the israeli government and also to stop the crime of silence. We reaffirm our solidarity with the people of Palestine and we are calling for an end to the military aggression against Palestinians.

6 All political prisoners and detainees must be released immediately and we support the formation of an independent Palestinian state with West Jerusalem as its capital. The Israelis must affirm the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland Issued by NEHAWU Secretariat Office Source: NEHAWU COSATU SUPPORTS THE PHARRELL PROTEST 21 September 2015 COSATU Statement The Congress of South African Trade Unions supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions [BDS] Campaign led by International Social Justice Activists today in Cape Town, Western Cape against Pharrell Williams due to his deliberate and un-informed decision to collaborate with Woolworths.

7 COSATU has continued to campaign that companies must discontinue doing business with Apartheid israeli regime as an instrument to isolate the intransigent regime against ill-treatment meted against the people of Palestine. COSATU agrees with BDS-South Africa that International mobilisation, mass protests, global boycotts and specifically the cultural and sports boycott against the oppressive and racist Apartheid system in South Africa were used as ways to mobilise huge pressure on the Apartheid regime in the 1980s, largely accelerating our struggle towards freedom.

8 And today, we cannot put wool in our eyes with injustice meted against the people of Palestine. COSATU reiterates its solidarity with the people of Palestine, who continue to suffer from political repression and apartheid from Israel. COSATU welcomes the Western Cape High Court judgment which declared the attempts by the City of Cape Town to restrict attendance to only 150 people, invalid and unconstitutional. Equally, COSATU condemns the act by some political parties who have visited the Middle East on a ticket of the oppressor, the israeli regime.

9 COSATU also appreciate the recent decision by the United Nations to have the flag of Palestine flying high at its Headquarters. COSATU urges workers to actively participate in the #PharrellProtest at the Main Entrance of Grand West Casino, Jakes Gerwel Drive in Parkwood, and Cape Town from 16h00 as planned. We, the South Africans are not free until the people of Palestine are free! Issued by COSATU Source: # WFTU CONDEMNS THE MILITARY COUP IN BURKINA FASO 21 September 2015 WFTU Statement The World Federation of Trade Unions strongly condemns the military coup in Burkina Faso and expresses its solidarity to the people and working class of the country.

10 Supports the call for general strike of the Trade Union Federations and calls the workers to denounce the coup. We call the Burkinabe people to continue their struggle to overthrow the coup of the Presidential Guard. We strongly believe that the workers have the power to secure their rights and independence against every enemy in and out of their country. The WFTU, representing 92 million workers in 126 countries, endorses the demands of the trade unions in Burkina Faso: the unconditional dissolution of the Presidential Security Regiment (RSP), calls the workers ant the trade unions in every country of the world to express their solidarity in every possible manner and mean to the working class of Burkina Faso who is struggling to defend its rights against the military coup.