In the spring and summer of 2006 there were massive strikes and demonstrations in the Bangladesh garment industry, further clashes followed in 2009. As one account put it, "4000 factories in Dhaka went on wildcat strike, 16 factories were burnt down by strikers and hundreds more ransacked and looted, pitched battles were fought with cops and private security forces in workplaces and workers' neighbourhoods, main roads were blocked. Casualties include 3 workers shot dead , thousands injured, several thousand jailed. The Government eventually felt compelled to bring in the Army to restore 'order'" *
I remember reading about this and talking with friends in Europe about it. Bangladesh is a Muslim nation, we don't hear too much about Muslims unless it is to do with suicide bombers or other acts of desperation and despair. But it would appear that Muslims are much more than that if we ponder for one moment on the figures above----4000 wildcat strikes in a former colonial country and Muslim nation. To top it off, many of the strikers, and possibly most of them, would have been women. Not having done any serious research on that, I can't say for sure, but it is often the case that garment workers in these sweat shops of the former colonial world are women.
Here's how one account described the beginnings of the struggle:
"The revolt began on Saturday 20th May in Sripur in the Gazipour district of Dhaka. 1,000 garment workers gathered at FS Sweater Factory, refusing to work until 3 arrested fellow workers were released from custody. The factory bosses locked the striking workers in the factory, cutting the power and water supplies. Eventually, the sweltering heat proved too much and by 11 am the workers fought their way out, then gathered on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway. Now joined by locals, they barricaded the highway for 6 hours and fought pitched battles with the cops.[1] One person was killed and 70 others, including cops and journalists, were injured."
We are accustomed to hearing about Arabs (Bangladeshis, like Iranians, are not Arabs as so many Americans believe) and Muslims and their propensity for terrorism, but little space is offered them when they launch major offensives against the capitalist class; when they lead the way in the class struggle; it could become contagious.
This week, the class struggle has resurfaced yet again in Bangladesh. According to reports, 700 factories were closed down after days of protests by thousands of workers demanding better wages. The employers shut down the factories not as an offensive measure but a defensive one, "They had no other way to avoid the chaos..." reports the Wall Street Journal. In response to the shutdown, workers "smashed and set fire to vehicles on a major highway" the Journal adds.
The Journal devotes an inch or two inside its pages to what amounts to a class war in this small nation in between India and China; such events are not good news. Next door in China, there have also been repeated strikes for higher wages and better conditions; in response, employers have considered moving to more favorable locales, as we reported in a previous post, Bangladesh being one of them.
We can only imagine what it would do to the mood were 700 factories to be shut down here in the US due to strikes and protests. The employers can imagine it only too well which is why their mass consumption media ignores it.
But we live in a global economy and a global community, and events cannot be shut out completely, even in the US which has the most censored mass media of all the industrial democracies. The situation in Europe is close to a boiling point, with Britain, Greece, Spain, Hungary, Germany and France, all these countries introducing austerity measures that will force the working class to pay for the economic crisis; the working class will not sit idly by and let this happen and the future is very volatile. We cannot rule out the Bangladesh scenario being played out on European soil in the not so distant future. The instability of the situation is exemplified by the crisis that struck the French world cup team with the French Premier, the sports minister and the sponsors all being drawn in to the events surrounding the solidarity strike of the French team in response to a star player being sent home for his run in with management.
As we have said many times before we would be cautious not to be caught off guard; there is a likelihood of a bumpy ride ahead.
http://libcom.org/news/article.php/bangladesh-garment-revolt-140706
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