The Telagana Political Joint Action Committee has decided to observe the Andhra Pradesh Formation Day on November 1 as 'Betrayal Day'. Talking to reporters after a meeting of the JAC, its convener M Kodandaram said Telangana supporters would hoist black flags at various places on that day. "The formation of Andhra Pradesh is betrayal for us," Kodandaram said. The pro-Telangana public representatives of various parties, who have quit their posts, would sit on a fast, he said. The duration of the fast would be decided soon, he said. TRS and BJP public representatives are likely to sit on the fast, which leaders of other parties might also join. Alleging that false cases have been registered against Telangana supporters during the 'sakala janula samme' (general strike), the JAC demanded that all the cases be withdrawn. JAC has been organising the strike since September 13 and several sections of government employees have withdrawn from the stir, though some major unions like Telangana Non-gazetted Officers' Association still continue with it.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
A great betrayal
Given Zanu (PF)’s unyielding commitment to profligacy and its predilection to treat the national purse as its own, we have always expected President Robert Mugabe’s party to be the stumbling block to any effort to rebuild the economy and rescue the country from years of hunger and misery.
But what we never anticipated was that the MDC would so easily capitulate to Zanu (PF) the way they did when they so embarrassingly buckled to pressure to hike salaries for civil servants without demanding that the Public Service Commission first weed out the 75 000 ghost workers (read Zanu PF agents) bleeding the fiscus.
For the record, we are not opposed to public workers getting a salary increase. No, not at all! We will be the first to call for more pay for civil servants if and when the money is available. And we believe that the government is capable of paying its workers decent salaries.
All that is required is for it to dismiss the thousands of Zanu (PF) youths, so-called war veterans and other thugs deployed by Mugabe’s party in the civil service where they are paid to do nothing. The money saved could go towards improving salaries for genuine public workers.
By not standing up to Mugabe and demanding that he gets rid of ghost workers before the government could honour his promise to increase civil servants’ salaries, by not backing Finance Minister Tendai Biti in his lonely and ultimately futile bid to stop Zanu (PF) from using the national purse to fund its political programmes, the two MDC parties have dismally failed Zimbabweans.
As it stands, the government expects to run a $700 million deficit by December and this is sure to put a damper on an economic recovery that, at best, looks fragile and uncertain.
Besides, raising salaries in an environment where the state cannot increase revenue collection can only have a negative knock-on effect on other functions of the government, especially infrastructure development. The Treasury will be forced to divert cash meant for building roads, schools, hospitals and dams to fund the wage increase.
But the ugliest part of it all is that it is the common people, the ordinary villager or city resident, who will suffer when hospitals stop functioning or when roads are impassible because of lack of maintenance. These are the same people who trust the MDC to be defending their interests in the unity government. It is a huge betrayal.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Strike ban plan is a 'betrayal'
The International Trade Union Confederation has branded a plan to outlaw strikes by Egypt's military government "a betrayal of the revolution."
It demanded on Tuesday that Prime Minister Essam Sharaf scrap the proposed decree which would threaten workers who withdraw their labour with prison terms of up to a year and fines of up to £56,000.
The Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions (EFITU) has described the plan, which has already been approved by the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, as "a grave and worrisome development."
And ITUC general secretary Sharan Burrow said: "Millions of Egyptian workers continue to work for poverty wage and depriving them of the right to strike, a fundamental right under international law, would remove an essential means for working people to achieve economic and social justice."
Ms Burrows said that by seeking to repress legitimate union activity the junta would also "suffocate the development of a vibrant civil society, which Egypt desperately needs for building democracy."
The EFITU has called on authorities to start dealing with Egyptian workers as "citizens, not subjects."
But the ETUF - the officially sanctioned trade union centre under former president Hosni Mubarak - has welcomed the proposal to make strikes illegal, apparently because it would serve to undermine the burgeoning EFITU.
Ms Burrows condemned the "discredited and unrepresentative remnant of the old regime" for continuing to seek to talk on behalf of Egypt's working people.
She said that like workers everywhere "they are perfectly capable of organising their own trade unions, but they can only do this effectively if the authorities refrain from the anti-democratic habits of the past."
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Walker's betrayal a mistake
Protests rage in Madison, Wisconsin. Governor Scott Walker signed a bill on Friday, March 11th that cuts many collective bargaining rights, in effect severely weakening unions. Collective bargaining refers to the negotiation of wages and other conditions of employment by an organized body of employees. Union leaders use these rights to gain benefits such as healthcare and cheaper pensions for their unions.
The previous governor of Wisconsin, Democrat Jim Doyle, ordered up to sixteen furloughs, unpaid days off, while he was in office. It is estimated by CNN.com that those sixteen furloughs amounted in a three percent pay cut. It is Governor Walkers' aim to avoid such furloughs by cutting the bargaining rights of unions. It seems as though those furloughs would be preferable as long as employees would still have their benefits such as healthcare and dental insurance. Without collective bargaining rights the state employees have the potential to lose healthcare benefits, which would require them to pay more for healthcare. Some employees might not be able to afford such healthcare without the state benefits. Also, they can also now be overworked for lower wages.
Governor Walker recently issued a statement to public union employees that unless the bill was passed there would be as many as 1,500 layoffs. Wisconsin's state deficit is predicted, "to grow to $3.6 billion deficit over two years," according to CNN.com. The idea is that cutting collective bargaining rights would allow local policy makers to be more flexible in their decision making, and avoid laying off employees.
The new "Repair Bill" may have been passed illegally, according to Fox47.com, "The vote shortly after one a.m. Friday was taken abruptly, with the measure passing 51-17, with more than two dozen Democrats unable to get to voting mechanisms in the chamber in time to record their votes." This is because the assembly started before it was scheduled to begin. This means that the bill may not last long because it might be repealed for being unconstitutionally passed. The Republican's sneaky tactics may have facilitated the passing of the bill, but there are over 100,000 protestors in Madison, Wisconsin's capital, who want his head on a plate.
There must be a better way of reducing the state's deficit while maintaining healthcare and pension benefits for state employees. Going behind the backs of their Democratic assembly leaders was a sneaky move that doesn't cast the Republicans in a positive light, especially when following the controversy of cutting their citzens' rights.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Steve Jobs Seen at Dinner with Obama
The White House on Friday released a photo showing Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who according to persistent rumors has six weeks to live, at a dinner for IT executives hosted by U.S. President Barack Obama.
The picture of the event held in Woodside, California on Thursday, shows a frail-looking Jobs from behind in his trademark black turtleneck next to the president and raising his glass for a toast along with other business leaders.
U.S. President Barack Obama (second right) joins a toast with IT business leaders at a dinner in Woodside, California on Saturday. Apple chief executive Steve Jobs, on medical leave from the company he co-founded, is seen in red circle next to the president. On Obama's right is Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. /Reuters-Yonhap
Friday, February 11, 2011
A betrayal of our heritage
For more than 170 years the people of Quebec have been justifiably proud of the fact that representatives elected to the National Assembly were not excluded because of their adherence to their religious beliefs or practices. Ezekiel Hart was elected several times before being allowed to take his seat but finally Quebec became the first legislative assembly in the British Empire to allow someone who was not a Christian to represent his constituents.
The National Assembly of Quebec has squandered that moral capital and disgraced itself by the banning of people who wear the kirpan. Today a practising Sikh must make a choice between being true to his religion and culture and being involved in elected politics in Quebec. Today citizens of Quebec who are practising Sikhs have been told they may only have limited involvement in the political process.
The Parti Quebecois has made xenophobia and ethnic nationalism its stock in trade and no one can be surprised by its pandering to the vilest racist elements of Quebec. However, the real disgrace is to be borne by members of the Liberal Party of Quebec; they have shown just how morally bankrupt they really have become. Shame on them. They have betrayed our heritage of inclusion and tolerance.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Second tier of 2010’s best
Last week I wrote about 20 albums that were guaranteed to make people on your gift-giving list happy. The rest of this year’s top 40 are more personal picks: buy them for yourself during Boxing Week specials.
Laurie Anderson – Homeland (Nonesuch). “Was the constitution written in invisible ink? Has everyone here forgotten how to think? Is this great big boat starting to sink?” Fair questions. And few are better positioned to play the role of inquisitor than Laurie Anderson, whose wit, perception and poetry have never sounded so engaged with her selected topic — in this case, the end of an empire — than they do here. Musically, she combines the best of her sci-fi sounds of the ’80s with earthier and exotic instrumentation and manages to make it all breathe beautifully.
Bei Bei and Shawn Lee – Into the Wind (Ubiquity). It’s safe to say that the Chinese zither has never sounded funkier than it does on this collaboration, which works far better than most cross-cultural clashes do. Soundtrack supervisors for martial arts films should be paying close attention.
Jim Bryson and the Weakerthans – The Falcon Lake Incident (Maple). The Weakerthans rarely release new music, but considering how well they fare here backing up Ottawa songwriter Jim Bryson, they might not have to wait for their notoriously meticulous bandleader, John K. Samson, to amass a new set of material.
Plus, Bryson writes songs with similar wit, economy and melodic heft, and this is easily his finest work to date.
Budos Band – III (Daptone). Funk does not get any heavier than Budos Band, who filter all sorts of African influences and ’70s American funk into a percussive stew driven by baritone saxophone. Guaranteed to put swagger in your step.
Kathryn Calder – Are You My Mother? (File Under: Music). Calder is one of four lead singers in the New Pornographers, but her deeply personal debut solo album — performed with some of the top talent on the West Coast — shows that she’s also one of the most promising songwriters in the country.
Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma (Warp). Alice Coltrane’s nephew brings his own unique sense of jazz-inspired adventurism to dense compositions that mash up every avant-garde development in electronic dance music of the last 20 years, with the lush orchestration his aunt was known for. Confounding, colourful and compelling.
Frog Eyes – Paul’s Tomb: A Triumph (Dead Oceans). In a year that ended with the death of Captain Beefheart, Victoria, B.C.’s Frog Eyes paid their own personal homage by channelling singer Carey Mercer’s visceral howl into anthemic avant-garde guitar rock that crackled with a nervous, dangerous energy that has never sounded as heavy—nor as successfully focused—as it does here.
It Kills – s/t (independent). This haunting Halifax trio set themselves apart from other mostly instrumental, morose chamber-rock bands by letting the sunlight in occasionally, and using vocals for atmospheric effect, not a capitulation to traditional songwriting.
Selina Martin – Disaster Fantasies (independent). Selina Martin has always oozed charisma, but here the Toronto performer has a set of songs that matches her grand ambitions and her love of glam, prog, punk, folk, balladry—and Rush. Every song sounds like a smash hit, making this without question the most underrated Canadian album of the year (surely not a prize she was shooting for).
Joanna Newsom – Have One On Me (Drag City). Following up a bloated, meandering double album (2006’s Ys) with, of course, a triple album, Newsom proves that more is in fact more. She still writes epic songs, her girlish voice—though tempered here—is still an acquired taste, and she still plays the harp. But the ornamental orchestration is perfectly complementary, and her writing here is as strong as Joni Mitchell was in her prime. This came out in February and took most of the year to digest properly, but it’s more than worth the investment for performer and listener alike.
Doug Paisley – Constant Companion (No Quarter). Paisley sounds like the kind of constant companion that’s been with you your entire life as a music fan: the Sunday morning acoustic singer/songwriter who is neither maudlin nor morose, who is slightly melancholy but not a sad sack, whose every guitar or vocal phrase is instantly warm and welcoming. Word of mouth is spreading fast: expect to hear a lot more about Doug Paisley in 2011 and beyond.
Pantha du Prince – Black Noise (Rough Trade). This German electronic producer sounds like he’s summoning the elements of the natural world to make his brand of surprisingly funky dance music: glacial ice, rushing water, crackling fires, pebble beaches, rustling branches. It’s a matter of time before Bjork comes calling.
Mike Patton – Mondo Cane (Ipecac). Italians are known for opera, not pop music. So of course vintage Italian pop music from the ’60s is full of operatic bravado, which makes it perfect for Mike Patton to interpret, whether it’s delicate cinematic balladry or metallic garage rock that segues into a go-go chorus. That he pulls it all off is to be expected; that it is so wonderfully orchestrated and sounds so fresh is just a bonus.
Justin Rutledge – The Early Widows (Six Shooter). This sensitive singer/songwriter opens the album with the song Be A Man; producer Hawksley Workman helps him do just that over the course of 10 tracks, with a dual-drummer rhythm section, gospel choirs, and rousing electric guitars giving Rutledge’s songs some welcome heft.
Schomberg Fair – Gospel (Hi-Hat). Whiskey-soaked, s--tkicking bluegrass songs on punk rock guitars delivered with considerable fire and brimstone, this Toronto band gives Canadiana roots rock a kick in the ass.
South Rakkas Crew – The Stimulus Package (Mad Decent). This Brampton-born group plays polyglot pop and deconstructionist dancehall that is wicked, wacky and wild party from beginning to end, full of booty bass that’s both abrasive and persuasive, and even the occasional auto-tuned vocal merely adds to the overall madness rather than a nauseating distraction.
The Thermals – Personal Life (Kill Rock Stars). Too often, power pop wastes its energy on superficial or sugary sweet lyrics. The Thermals, however, sing songs of inspiration and betrayal and perform them like it’s a matter of life or death. An album for those who think punk rock sold its soul long ago.
Tracey Thorn – Love and its Opposites (Merge). Though she’s the voice behind one of the biggest hits of the ’90s — Everything But the Girl’s Missing — this devastating solo record is the best thing she’s ever done, and certainly the most heartbreakingly honest album of the year for the way she writes about divorce, aging, motherhood and singledom. So good it hurts.
Wovenhand – The Threshingfloor (Sounds Familyre). With an ominous baritone that promises a healthy dose of hellfire, David Eugene Edwards expands his deeply spiritual Americana songcraft to include Irish, Turkish and Native American influences, creating a class all his own.
Zeus – Say Us (Arts and Crafts). Not only does this album sound like 1975, it sounds like this band has been around since 1975 — with decades of experience of songwriting, arranging and performing behind them. Instead, this is a debut album by a Toronto band with a long, bright future ahead of them.
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