During the restructuring of the 1980s and 1990s the urban proletariat of the state-owned factories - the gongren - was the focus of the restructuring and experienced massive layoffs after 1997. Before the reforms the differences between the gongren and the peasants and migrant workers were all too obvious. A part of the gongren had a number of benefits, like a guaranteed work place and bet ter health care, and were considered a strong pil lar of the socialist regime. But after the reforms, the urban proletariat became the losers: The restructuring of the state combines led to de-quali fication, wage cuts, precarity and the layoffs of millions of workers. They staged a number of militant struggles, especially since 1997, considered by the party leaders and the government as the biggest threat to social stability. They forced the regime to slow down the restructuring, but they were not able to stop it.

Western newspapers are full of articles on China. They show their fascination for China's immense economic growth, the big investments, cheap labor... and present China as a threat to the Western World because of cheap labor, environmental hazards and China's stance in the Taiwan question. On and off there is also an article on the growing social instability, workers' struggles against the non-payment of wages, the working conditions, corruption... and peasant revolts against land-confiscation etc. This article gives some explanations why China is far from stable and why we might see further social explosions there.

Outside of a few events including the Long March and the Shanghai commune the development of the Chinese revolution is relatively unknown on the western left in comparison with the revolutions in Russia in 1917, Spain in 1936 or even the Paris spring of 1968. Those sections of that left influenced by or proclaiming themselves to be Maoist haven't helped that situation much. Their histories have tended towards simple tales focusing on the role of one man and collapsed a 100-year history of revolution into the events important to him.

A few migrant workers and some solidarity activists marked this year's Int'l Migrants' Day with a rally in downtown Seoul (in front of Seoul Stn).

Oil Palm: the ill-famed monoculture converts the islands of South East Asia into one big plantation, as commodity capitalism continues its troublesome advance over Indonesia and Malaysia's rural areas. The rainforests fall, to be replaced by oil-fields, as in distant capitals politicians with their eyes shut proclaim a new green biofuel, and the trees keep falling. Yet the effects of the industry are not limited to ecology. Where there is oil there is conflict, and that is true for the oil that grows on the ground just as much as for the oil that is mined from under it. In the Indonesian Province of North Sumatra, nearly every oil palm plantation is a zone of friction. The palm trees are all planted on stolen land, and farmers are desperately fighting to get their land back.

Everyone is aware that Haft Tapeh workers in the past few years, to achieve their demands, have resorted to strikes and protests; demands such as payment of unpaid back wages, payment of over-time work, and the right to create independent workers’ organization.

10th November 2009, Jakarta: - The planned expansion of plantations in the Papuan provinces of Indonesia should be immediately suspended and reviewed amid concerns over massive deforestation and widespread exploitation of local communities, environmentalists warned today.

At least two people have been killed and scores injured in clashes between textile workers and police in Bangladesh, police have said.

The global economic crisis had a severe effect on China. However, there has been much talk recently about its impressive recovery and the return of its economy to growth. This article analyses the situation in China, and argues that the economic crisis catalysed a wave of struggle which has continued into the present, regardless of the supposed health of the economy.

Fifty activists from Migrant Care staged a rally in front of the Malaysian Embassy on Jalan Rasuna Said in South Jakarta on Wednesday.