As Zimbabwe prepares to put its union leadership on trial for criticising the government’s violent excesses, a similar story is unfolding in neighbouring Swaziland. Jan Sithole, Secretary General of the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU), was arrested on Friday, after 30 armed police stormed his house in the early hours of the morning. (more…)
Further to my recent post on the BNP union, Solidarity, and Skuds’ comment, I was interested to find this old news release (”Solidarity’s right wing friends“) from South African union federation COSATU, concerning South Africa’s own Solidarity union, and accusations that they are trying to maintain old “whites-only” job policies.
I’d thought the BNP union was a bit of a slur on the Polish Solidarity (Solidarnosc) pinching both their name and their logo (Odd given that the party aren’t that keen on Polish workers coming here, just their union!) . Maybe though they’ve found another Solidarity to draw inspiration from.
I visited Solidarnosc in Gdansk last year, and was rather taken by a display in Gdansk’s Lech Walesa Airport (the only union GS I know of with his own airport!). It has a picture of newsreel footage on the faces of dominoes, with 25 years of oppressive regimes around the world tumbling in the face of people power, and the very neat slogan: “Today was born in Gdansk”. Inspiring stuff, and a very long way from anything their ignoble new namesakes are likely to achieve.
