Solidarity with GWTUC-Bangladesh

Trade Union activists are under attack at this moment in Bangladesh. Recently there was a movement demanding a minimum wage of 16000 BDT (around 190 USD) per month. The members of the ICOR organization CPB (Communist Party of Bangladesh) are playing important roles to organize the workers and the movement but they are facing strong resistance from the factory owners and the Government. On 31^st January, the workers of Ashiana Garment Industry in Dhaka and leaders of the Garment Workers’ Trade Union Centre (GWTUC), who were demanding trade union rights for workers, were barbarically attacked. After the incident, false cases were filed against the injured leaders and workers by the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA). The police case filed by the BGMEA is against 15 frontline leaders of the GWTUC and more than 150 workers. Police accepted the false charges from the factory owner but did not document the allegations of the workers. GWTUC General Secretary Joly Talukder, senior most leader Sadekur Rahman Shamim have been sent to prison on 1^st April 2018 afternoon when they surrendered at the CMM court, Dhaka after finishing the bail period granted by the High Court. Even though the case filed was under bailable sections, because of the influence of the BGMEA, the court refused to grant bail to the workers leaders. In the same case, two workers of the factory were arrested in February and are still in jail. Moreover, 30 workers of Ashiana Garments were also dismissed from their jobs in the factory. Such completely false and motivated police cases against workers leaders are filed to stop the movement for higher minimum wage. The Government is supporting the BGMEA and continuously denying the demands of the workers. Though the arrested leaders have now been granted bail on 4^th April by the High Court, they have still to be released from jail.

As soon as the news about the arrests of the union leaders was made public by the CPB, the ICOR and other supporting organizations, above all the World Women's Conference, held worldwide solidarity actions.

          ICOR condemns the oppressive way in which the workers’ leaders have been treated. It calls upon the working class all over the world to come onto the streets for the following demands:

1. Immediately release all the workers’ leaders of the GWTUC;
2. Scrap all the false cases foisted upon them;
3. Take action upon the real culprits responsible for attacking and injuring the workers’ leaders.

1. ORC   Organisation Révolutionnaire du Congo (Revolutionary Organization of Congo), Democratic Republic of the Congo
2. MMLPL   Moroccan Marxist-Leninist Proletarian Line
3. CPSA (ML)   Communist Party of South Africa (Marxist-Leninist)
4. PPDS   Parti Patriotique Démocratique Socialiste (Patriotic Democratic Socialist Party), Tunisia
5. MLOA   Marxist-Leninist Organization of Afghanistan
6. CPB   Communist Party of Bangladesh
7. CPI (ML) Red Star   Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Red Star
8. NDMLP   New-Democratic Marxist-Leninist Party, Sri Lanka
9. Krasnyj Klin   Gruppa Kommunistov-Revoljucionerov „Krasnyj Klin“ (Group of Communist Revolutionaries “Krasnyj Klin” [Red Wedge]), Belarus
10. БКП   Българска Комунистическа Партия (Bulgarian Communist Party)
11. KSC-CSSP   Komunisticka Strana Cheskoslovenska – Cheskoslovenska Strana Prace (Communist Party of Czechoslovakia – Czechoslovakian Workers Party), Czech Republic
12. MLPD   Marxistisch-Leninistische Partei Deutschlands (Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany)
13. MIKSZ   Magyar Ifjúság Közösségi Szervezete (Organisation of Hungarian Youth Community), Hungary
14. KOL   Kommunistische Organisation Luxemburg (Communist Organization of Luxemburg)
15. RM   Rode Morgen (Red Dawn), Netherlands
16. BP (NK-T)   Bolşevik Parti (Kuzey Kürdistan-Türkiye) (Bolshevik Party (North Kurdistan-Turkey))
17. VZDOR   VZDOR - strana práce (Resistance - labour party), Slovakia
18. MLGS   Marxistisch-Leninistische Gruppe Schweiz (Marxist-Leninist Group of Switzerland)
19. TIKB   Türkiye İhtilalci Komünistler Birliği (Union of Revolutionary Communists of Turkey)
20. MLKP   Marksist Leninist Komünist Parti Türkiye / Kürdistan (Marxist Leninist Communist Party Turkey / Kurdistan)
21. KSRD   Koordinazionnyj Sowjet Rabotschewo Dvizhenija (Coordination Council of the Workers Class Movement), Ukraine
22. PCC-M   Partido Comunista de Colombia – Maoista (Communist Party of Colombia - Maoist)
23. PC (ML)   Partido Comunista (Marxista Leninista) (Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist)), Dominican Republic
24. NPCH (ML)   Nouveau Parti Communiste Haϊtien (Marxiste-Léniniste) (New Communist Party of Haiti (Marxist-Leninist))
25. PC/ML   Partido Comunista (Marxista-Leninista) de Panamá (Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist) of Panama)
26. PCP (independiente)   Partido Comunista Paraguayo (independiente) (Paraguayan  Communist Party (independent))
27. PML del Perú   Partido Marxista Leninista del Perú (Marxist-Leninist Party of Peru)
28. PPP   Partido Proletario del Perú (Proletarian Party of Peru)

29. MLP   Marksistsko-Leninskaja Platforma (Marxist-Leninist Platform), Russia

30. БРП(к)   Българска Работническа Партия (комунисти) (Bulgarian Workers Party (Communist))

Signed after the release date:

31. PS-GdT   Plataforma Socialista - Golpe de Timón (Socialist Platform – Change of Course), Venezuela

32. RMP Российская маоистская партия (Rossijskaya maoistskaya partiya) (Russian Maoist Party)

Additional Signatories (Non-ICOR):

Trotz alledem!, Germany

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