Opel-Stellantis: Short-time working heralds closure of auto plant in eastern Germany

Dietmar Gaisenkersting

The Stellantis Group, the result of the merger of the PSA Group (Peugeot/Citroën), Fiat Chrysler Autos (FCA) and Opel/Vauxhall, announced last Thursday that production of the Opel SUV Grandland X model at the Eisenach plant will terminate by the end of this year.

All of some 1,360 workers at the factory have been placed on short-time work. Production at the Opel plant in Aspern, Austria, near Vienna, is also on hold until the end of the year. The company justified the moves by pointing to the worldwide shortage of semiconductor chips.

Opel plant in Eisenach (Photo by CEphoto, Uwe Aranas)

When production in Eisenach was suspended in August, the shutdown was regarded as a temporary response to the fact that a supplier of electronic components in Malaysia had been forced to halt production following an outbreak of COVID-19.

The workforce in Eisenach now fears that the current production stoppage heralds the closure of the plant. The company’s announcement that production will resume at the beginning of 2022 “if supply chains allow” is understood by many workers to mean that a resumption of production in three months is by no means guaranteed.

There are indications that the production halt will be used to transfer production of the current Grandland and a facelift model to the company’s plant in Sochaux, France, although production of the new model was originally intended for a factory in eastern Germany. Workers report that warehouses are being completely cleared out, and material is being shipped to other plants, including the one in Sochaux.

Just two days before the company announced the three-month production shutdown, workers in Eisenach assembled for a factory meeting. At the meeting, no mention was made by the works council of the planned short-time working. After the company’s announcement, the IG Metall trade union and works council angrily declared that they had not been informed. “This is a disaster,” Uwe Laubach, the first representative of IG Metall in Eisenach, told the magazine Automobilwoche.

This is very hard to believe. According to Germany’s system of “co-determination,” management is obliged to inform the union of important changes, such as the introduction of short-time working or any other change in the company’s working hours. The works council, which said nothing at the factory 48 hours before the short-time working was announced, had to have been informed and in all likelihood had already agreed to the measure. Why, then, did its representatives not report it, and what else do the works council and the union know that they are hiding from the workforce?

The current state of affairs mirrors developments during the past few years. The works council, the union and management work together and have perfected their roles in implementing the cuts demanded by Stellantis. Bernd Lösche, the chairman of the Eisenach works council, plays a central role. He has been a member of Opel’s supervisory board since June 2019, is vice chairman of the company’s general works council and has been a member of the IG Metall executive since 2013.

Lösche and the union are supported by Germany’s Left Party. The premier of the state of Thuringia, Bodo Ramelow (Left Party), vouched for the claim that the union had not been properly informed, calling the alleged omission “bad form.”

For her part, the mayor of Eisenach, Katja Wolf (Left Party), merely brushed aside the Opel workers’ fears. In an interview with Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR) radio, she expressed sympathy with the problems of the company, saying she was aware that the situation was difficult for auto manufacturers due to worldwide supply bottlenecks.

At the same time, she said she expected production to start up again as soon as possible. Wolf said she was in contact with the plant management, the Stellantis group and the works council, which were all sending “positive signals.” She included the works council, which supposedly knew little or nothing about the situation.

This type of union connivance has a long history at Opel in Germany. As early as 1990, Opel launched a joint venture with the Eisenach auto plant, home to the East German Wartburg model, and commenced production of the Opel Vectra. At the same time, a state-of-the-art Opel plant was built in the city.

In January 1991, the West German institution began organising the winddown of East Germany’s industry (the Treuhandanstalt) and ended production at the former Wartburg plant. Its 4,500 employees were made redundant, with the agreement of the IG Metall, and a year and a half later the new Opel plant opened. The new factory employed just 1,900 workers, who produced two models, the Astra and Corsa. At the time, the plant was considered one of the most productive in Europe.

After decades of job cuts and plant closures, the PSA Group and its CEO, Carlos Tavares, took over Opel/Vauxhall from General Motors in 2017. IG Metall was full of praise for Tavares, who even then was known as a tough reorganiser. The union and the works council immediately agreed with him on the “Pace” (Tempo) restructuring plan.

At that time, Opel still employed a total of about 19,500 workers in Germany, including 1,800 in Eisenach. Today Opel has a total workforce of 15,000, with 2,100 due to lose their jobs, mainly at the main plant in Rüsselsheim.

At present, only 1,360 work in Eisenach. In 2018, the works council agreed to cut between 400 and 450 jobs. The then-chairman of the general works council, Wolfgang Schäfer-Klug, explained that the transfer from General Motors to PSA was “good for the plant” because production would be increased. “The disadvantage is,” Schäfer-Klug continued, “jobs will be lost. For Eisenach, this meant the loss of 400 to 450 jobs. But we would be prepared to put up with that.”

According to IG Metall, Tavares gave assurances in 2017 that the company would refrain from compulsory redundancies and plant closures. In reality, Tavares set targets for job cuts and other savings that the works council and IG Metall pledged to implement. In doing so, the union relied on its usual bag of tricks, e.g., severance payments and so-called transfer companies.

When workers refused to yield to pressure from the works councils to “voluntarily” quit their jobs, Tavares and the company threatened compulsory redundancies and plant closures.

These are now apparently to be imposed in Germany after the recent federal election. Tavares himself has appointed former Renault manager Uwe Hochgeschurtz as head of Opel in Germany. The two men have known each other from their time together at Renault.

Hochgeschurtz worked for Renault in various management positions from 2004 onwards and then took over as Renault’s boss in Germany in 2016. Tavares started his career at Renault in 1981 and stayed until 2014, when he took over as CEO of PSA Peugeot Citroën. Now Hochgeschurtz is expected to introduce the next round of cuts for Tavares and Stellantis shareholders.

The main problem facing Opel workers is not the company’s unscrupulous management but rather the IG Metall and its works councils, which have been implementing the company’s offensive against its workforce.

The mergers of Opel and PSA, as well as the merger of PSA and FCA at the beginning of this year, were supported by the union and the works councils, which were involved in the takeovers from the beginning. In 2017, even prior to the merger between Opel and PSA, IG Metall Chairman Jörg Hofmann and the then-Opel works council chairman, Wolfgang Schäfer-Klug, praised the fact that “constructive talks” had set the course for a “European auto champion with German-French roots.”

The unions also enthusiastically welcomed the Stellantis merger, creating the fourth largest car company in the world earlier this year.

Both Schäfer-Klug, who still heads the European Works Council, and Uwe Baum, the current head of the Opel General Works Council, hold high-paying posts on the supervisory board of Opel Autos and have long been privy to all of the concern’s restructuring plans.

The basic prerequisite for a successful struggle to defend jobs is the realisation that IG Metall and its works councils are fully on the side of the corporation. Toothless union protests, such as “whistle demos,” carrying coffins through city centres and plant vigils, are aimed at obscuring this fundamental fact. Such pseudo-protests serve only to allow the union and the works councils to continue their dirty deals with the top management.

The globalisation of production creates the objective basis for strengthening international resistance and uniting workers struggles across national borders. Workers all over the world are facing similar attacks by transnational corporations on working conditions and wages. Resistance is growing.

In the US last week, over 10,000 workers at the farm equipment giant John Deere voted to strike. Earlier, 3,000 Volvo workers in Virginia walked off the job for nearly six weeks to oppose a contract involving much worsened conditions agreed to by the United Auto Workers (UAW) and worked out with management. Workers have set up independent action committees in both factories.

Taiwanese president rejects China’s calls for reunification

Peter Symonds

Tensions across the volatile Taiwan Strait intensified last weekend after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen used her National Day speech on Sunday to flatly reject calls by Chinese President Xi Jinping for a peaceful reunification of the island with China.

Tsai declared “there should be absolutely no illusions that the Taiwanese people will bow to pressure [from China].” She said that Taiwan would “continue to bolster our national defence and demonstrate our determination to defend ourselves,” adding that “nobody can force Taiwan to take the path China has laid out for us.”

US Democratic Sen. Christopher Coons, left, speaks near Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan and Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth during a meeting with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, second right, in Taipei, Taiwan on Sunday, June 6, 2021 [Credit: Taiwan Presidential Office via AP]

The militaristic warning to China was reinforced by a rare display of weaponry as part of the National Day parade that included tanks and missile systems mounted on trucks. As Tsai reviewed the procession, fighter jets and helicopters conducted a fly past overhead.

Tsai declared that China’s “one nation, two systems” proposal, whereby Taiwan would be incorporated in China but retain its own economic and social order, “offers neither a free and democratic way of life for Taiwan, nor sovereignty for our 23 million people.”

Tsai and her pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) are opposed to any integration with mainland China, but have stopped short of declaring formal independence. Tsai, who has refused to accept that the island is part of China, has seized upon Beijing’s anti-democratic measures in Hong Kong to reject China’s overtures.

The very fact that Taiwan and China hold the same National Day, marking the overthrow of the Qing dynasty in the 1911 revolution that established the Chinese republic under Sun Yat-sen, points to the artificial character of the separation of Taiwan from the Chinese mainland.

In the wake of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) seizure of power in 1949 Chinese Revolution, the defeated Kuomintang (KMT) led by Chiang Kai-shek retreated to Taiwan and, with the protection of the US Navy, established a brutal military dictatorship. For decades, the KMT in Taipei, supported by Washington, claimed to be the legitimate government in exile of all China, even occupying China’s seat in the UN Security Council.

That abruptly changed in 1972 when US President Richard Nixon visited China, met its leader Mao Zedong and forged a de-facto alliance against the Soviet Union. The trip which resulted in the joint Shanghai Communique paved the way for the establishment of full diplomatic relations between the US and China in 1979.

Central to the lengthy negotiations over diplomatic ties was the status of Taiwan, which China insisted was part of its territory. The US recognised the “One China policy” in the Shanghai Communique and effectively acknowledged that Beijing was the legitimate government of all China including Taiwan when it ended diplomatic ties and its military alliance with Taipei in 1979.

In her speech, Tsai declared that the cross-strait situation was “more complex and fluid than at any other point in the past 72 years.” However, the chief responsibility for these dangerous tensions lies with Washington and Taipei.

The Biden administration, following on from Trump, is rapidly undermining the 40-year status quo in relation to Taiwan as part of its intensifying confrontation and military build-up against China. Biden has given the go-ahead for high-level consultations with Taiwanese officials and has declared that the US is “rock solid” in its support for Taiwan against China. At the same time, the US has stepped up military sales to Taiwan, as well as the provocative dispatch of US warships through the Taiwan Strait between the island and the Chinese mainland.

In a flagrant breach of previous protocols, the US has sent special forces troops to Taiwan to train Taiwanese military forces—the first US military presence on the island since all American forces were withdrawn in 1979. The deployment of US military trainers on Taiwan was leaked via the Wall Street Journal last week in a move calculated to further escalate tensions with China.

Washington’s backing has only encouraged Tsai and the DPP to make their opposition to any reunification with China more overt. While China called for negotiations and peaceful reunification, it has repeatedly declared that it will respond to any formal declaration of independence by Taipei with the use of force. The fear in Beijing is that the US will integrate Taiwan, strategically located just 160 kilometres off the Chinese mainland at its closest point, into war plans against Beijing.

In his National Day speech, Chinese President Xi warned against Taiwanese independence and called for cross-strait reunification as part of China’s “national rejuvenation,” reflecting his “dream” of transforming the country into a major international power. In a thinly-veiled threat, he declared: “It has never ended well for those who forget their ancestors, betray the motherland, or split the country.”

In response to US backing for Taipei, the Chinese military has stepped up its activity near Taiwan, with an increased number of flights by military aircraft into Taiwan’s self-declared Air Defence Identification Zone which extends into the middle of the Taiwan Strait. At the same time, two US aircraft carrier strike groups have engaged in drills with British, Japanese, New Zealand and Dutch warships in waters near Taiwan.

The Biden administration’s claims to be standing up for “democratic” Taiwan are utterly hypocritical. The US backed the KMT dictatorship for decades as it used police state measures to violently suppress opposition to its rule. The KMT only allowed more open elections in response to a widening protest movement and workers’ strikes in the late 1980s, with the first direct presidential election only taking place in 1996.

US imperialism is once again exploiting “human rights” to hide its predatory intentions. Having waged decades of criminal wars and occupations in the Middle East and Central Asia to shore up its strategic position, the US has increasingly targeted China over the past decade as the chief threat to its global dominance.

Under Obama, Trump and now Biden, the US has engaged in an aggressive campaign to undermine China diplomatically, economically and strategically in a bid to subordinate it to American interests. Washington is determined to prevent its eclipse by China, now the second largest economy in the world, by any means, including military.

The rapidity with which Taiwan, arguably the most explosive flashpoint in Asia, has become central to US-China tensions is a sharp warning of the dangers of war between the world’s two largest economies, both armed with nuclear weapons.

Podemos covers up neo-fascist circles in Spanish army

Santiago Guillen & Alejandro López

The Socialist Party (PSOE)-Podemos party government is actively covering up for far-right circles in the Spanish army.

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (PSOE), second left, walks next to Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias, second right, and First Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo, left, at the Moncloa Palace in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, Jan. 14 2020 [Credit: AP Photo/Manu Fernandez]

In July, online newspaper La Marea requested information from the Ministry of Defence on what investigations were carried out and what sanctions were imposed on active-duty officers over public displays of support for fascism by Spanish military officers while on duty.

In December 2020, La Marea had released a video showing soldiers of the Parachute Brigade (BRIPAC), based in Madrid’s Paracuellos del Jarama barracks, singing and dancing to “Primavera” (Spring) by the neo-Nazi rock band Estirpe Imperial and raising their arms in a fascist salute. The song hails Spain’s Blue Division, a 45,000-strong infantry division of volunteers sent by Spanish fascist dictator General Francisco Franco during World War II to support Nazi Germany’s war of extermination against the Soviet Union. This war left nearly 27 million Soviet dead.

This took place on December 8, 2019, during the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Three of those soldiers, although many more were involved, were allegedly punished for a minor offence.

Another video, taken in 2017 but only reported the day after La Marea posted the BRIPAC video, showed Spanish army Alpine soldiers singing verses of at least two Estirpe Imperial songs. While marching on Atocha street in Madrid, one soldier sang these verses which the rest repeated. They are heard exalting the “Race of conquistadores, of noble and loyal people, we prefer death to traitors.”

The videos emerged amid a political crisis provoked by letters to King Felipe VI by retired top military officers, denouncing the PSOE-Podemos government as a “social-communist government,” accusing it of undermining “national unity,” and assuring the king of their “deep loyalty.” The signatories included officers whose WhatsApp chats proclaimed loyalty to Franco, boasted of being “good fascists,” and called for the murder of “26 million” left-wing voters and their families to “extirpate the cancer.” These officers received the public support of the far-right Vox party.

These videos, along with texts from a WhatsApp group of 121 active-duty officers defending the signatories of these letters, exposed the lie that Spain’s integration into NATO and in the US-led wars in the Middle East modernised and democratised the Spanish army. They expose the degraded atmosphere prevailing in NATO military forces across Europe. Only a few months later, 23 retired French generals, supported by over 7,000 officers, wrote in the neo-fascist magazine Current Values advocating a coup in France.

Above all, they exposed the false claims of then-Podemos General Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister Pablo Iglesias, who sought to downplay and cover up fascist sentiments in the officer corps. After the retired officers’ WhatsApp chats were revealed, Iglesias gave a prime-time television speech dismissing the chats as irrelevant. “What these gentlemen say, at their age and already retired, in a chat with a few too many drinks, does not pose any threat.”

Once La Marea released its videos, exposing Iglesias’s lies, Podemos tried to cover its tracks by asking the Ministry of Defence to investigate its troops. When PSOE-Podemos Minister of Defence (MoD) Margarita Robles vitriolically denounced the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) for calling for an investigation, Podemos parliament spokesperson Jaume Asens defended the PNV. Asens asked Robles to stop “with apologies for Nazism in the army,” claiming he was “alarmed” by neo-fascist “infiltration” of the army.

The MoD’s refusal last week to disclose the results of these official investigations exposes the fraud of Podemos appeals for the military to investigate its own fascist sympathies.

It is likely either that no penalties were imposed or that penalties were so light that their publication would embarrass the PSOE-Podemos government. In either case, this would expose their collusion with the pro-fascist forces in the army.

Podemos never intended to call for an investigation of pro-fascist sentiment in the army. It aims to dampen the deep and historically rooted anti-fascist sentiments in the working class in Spain and across Europe, concerned that this could intersect with rising opposition to its austerity agenda, bank bailouts and its policies on the COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in over 100,000 excess deaths. Such a movement in the working class, Podemos fears, can rapidly develop against its own government and capitalism.

The role of Podemos vindicates warnings made by the WSWS starting at the end of last year, amid the Spanish army’s coup threats and former US President Donald Trump’s coup plotting which culminated in a fascist coup attempt to overrun the Capitol in Washington. Workers and youth cannot place any confidence in the Biden administration holding the conspirators to account or defending democracy. In Spain, they cannot trust the “left populist” Podemos party to defend democracy against the preparation of a far-right coup.

In fact, Podemos is emerging as a political tool of the conspiracy, dedicated to suppressing social opposition to the fascist threat. A party of the affluent middle class, familiar with the history of the Spanish Civil War, it knows that a working-class movement against a fascist coup would also enter into opposition against its own government. It is therefore desperately trying to hide the stench of far-right plots in the army.

Significantly, the PSOE-Podemos government invoked the Official Secrets Law to block any disclosure to La Marea. This law was passed in 1968 during the Franco dictatorship and has remained in force ever since. It has been used by PSOE and PP-led governments, and now the PSOE-Podemos government, to avoid exposures of the state apparatus—including the role of the PSOE and former King Juan Carlos in the February 23, 1981 coup attempt; state terror against the Basque-nationalist armed group ETA; and the corrupt finances of Spain’s Bourbon monarchy.

This exposes all of Podemos’ pretences to criticise the 1978 Transition from Francoite rule to a parliamentary regime for not “fulfilling” the Spanish people’s democratic and social aspirations. The truth is that the Transition was never about bringing about democracy. The political forebearers of Podemos in the Stalinist Communist Party of Spain (PCE) strangled a developing revolutionary crisis, in exchange for getting positions in the post-Franco capitalist regime.

This filthy compromise, embodied in the 1978 Constitution of the PSOE, PCE and the Francoites and the 1977 Amnesty Law that “forgave” the crimes of fascism, allowed the Francoite ruling class to keep its privileges and wealth. The state apparatus—including the judiciary, the army and the police—remained stacked with fascists.

It would be a terrible political error to underestimate how fragile the limited democratic rights granted under the Transition are. Barely 40 years later, Podemos is using fascist legislation to cover for far-right circles in the army. The danger of a fascist coup against mounting working-class anger over social inequality, austerity and “herd immunity” policies is very real.

Philippine presidential elections open, dominated by fascistic and far-right forces

John Malvar

Public political strife and backroom manoeuvring increased markedly over the last two weeks in the Philippines as scores of presidential aspirants filed their candidacy for the country’s May 2022 elections. The election promises to be the most heated in memory, its tensions fueled by unprecedented levels of social unrest and geopolitical crisis.

Ninety-seven contenders filed official candidacy for the presidency by the October 8 deadline. The next month will be marked by political barter and the formation of alliances, as until November 15 all official candidates for office have the option of withdrawing and filing to run for a different position.

An examination of the leading candidates for the presidency reveals that the ruling elites in the Philippines are preparing to run the most right-wing election campaign in the country’s history.

At stake in this are three critical questions:

Will the new administration continue the fascistic policies of the administration of Rodrigo Duterte, which has conducted a murderous “war on drugs” that has killed over 30,000 impoverished Filipinos?

Bound up with this, how will the new administration suppress any struggle from the working masses as the capitalist class attempts to ramp up production in the country which continues to be ravaged by the pandemic as less than 20 percent of the population has been vaccinated?

Finally, as war tensions in the region reach a fever pitch, will the next president continue Duterte’s reorientation of Manila’s geopolitical and economic ties away from Washington toward Beijing, or will they reverse this policy?

Outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte is constitutionally prohibited from seeking a second term as president. He made the surprise announcement last week that he would not be running for the Vice Presidency, an office he had been widely expected to seek. Duterte cited a recent poll indicating his declining popularity, although his main calculation is to attempt to secure the victory of a loyal successor.

President Duterte talks to Philippine Army troops [Credit: Presidential Communications Operations Office]

Duterte faces charges before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for his war on drugs, and the next president will be able to shape to a large extent the access and outcome of the ICC’s investigation.

Among the leading candidates for the presidency is Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., son of the former dictators Ferdinand and Imelda, who ruled the country through a brutal martial law regime from 1972 until their ouster in the 1986 “People Power” revolution. Marcos’s candidacy represents an undisguised attempt to historically rehabilitate the dictatorship and employ its methods again today.

Marcos was no political innocent at the time of his parents’ rule. He was an adult and in the 1980s he was vice-governor and governor of the northern province of Ilocos Norte as part of the Marcos’ dictatorship. He grew rich from his family’s use of the state to steal billions of dollars.

Marcos has made the rehabilitation of the martial law dictatorship a centerpiece of his campaign, openly proclaiming it the “golden era” of Philippine history, a time of discipline and progress. He advocates the rewriting of the country’s textbooks accordingly, and his supporters campaign in the mainstream and social media to falsify the past on a truly colossal scale.

Another leading contender for the presidency is presidential daughter Sarah Duterte-Carpio. Long-time mayor and vice-mayor of the southern city of Davao, Duterte-Carpio followed in her father's footsteps in overseeing a fascistic iron rule to crack down on alleged criminality. Duterte did not declare her intention to run for president, ad filed a candidacy to run for re-election as mayor. It is quite possible over the course of the next month that she will withdraw and declare instead for the presidency, a tactic her father employed in 2016. A Duterte-Carpio presidency would represent the most direct continuation of the fascistic policies of the outgoing president.

The list of leading candidates for president is full of names of a similarly fascistic and far-right character; it is a political rogues gallery of murderers and scoundrels. Among them are:

Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, who headed the torture apparatus of the military under the Marcos dictatorship before rising in the ranks of the Philippine National Police with a national reputation for the extrajudicial killing of alleged criminals.

Senator Manny Pacquiao, famed as a boxer, is a vociferous supporter of Duterte’s “war on drugs” and advocates for the restoration of the death penalty and for its widespread use on “criminals” as young as twelve.

Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, formerly a television celebrity, was a leading supporter of Duterte and is known for his right-wing populism, calls for discipline and the scapegoating of the city’s sizeable population of Chinese Filipinos.

The bourgeois opposition to Duterte has lined up behind the candidacy of Vice President Leni Robredo. Robredo is chair of the Liberal Party (LP), which was the party of Marcos’s leading ruling class rival, Benigno Aquino (assassinated in 1983), and of presidents Corazon Aquino (1986–1992) and Benigno Aquino Jr (2010–2016).

Robredo is widely depicted as the defender of human rights and democracy against the tide of right-wing populism and outright fascism unleashed by Duterte. The truth, however, is that the Liberal Party was instrumental in the creation of Duterte and the current political climate of far-right politics in the country. It was the Benigno Aquino Jr. administration that transformed the Davao mayor, then a member of the Liberal Party, into a figure of national prominence, depicting his “iron discipline” as the way forward for mayors throughout the country.

Most fundamentally, it was the bitter public disillusionment with the policies and character of the Liberal Party and the Aquino administrations that made possible the climate of revisionism surrounding the martial law regime of Marcos. Having presented themselves as the democratic opponents of dictatorship, the Aquino administrations were characterized by brutal crackdowns on the working class and peasantry, including multiple massacres of unarmed demonstrators by the military and police. They thwarted any meaningful land reform, which would have impacted their vast sugar estates. It was in fact the Liberal Party and the Aquino administrations that were instrumental in the return of the Marcoses to the Philippines and their restoration to political prominence and credibility.

Robredo will continue the Liberal Party’s policy of useful alliances with fascistic and right-wing figures. On the senatorial slate of the Liberal Party is the Sen. Antonio Trillanes of the far-right Magdalo Party. Trillanes rose to prominence for attempting on two occasions as a naval officer to seize power in a military coup d’état. Magdalo sought to form a military junta and take power from then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Robredo recognizes just how tarnished is the reputation of her own political party. The Liberal Party has been associated with the colour yellow for decades. Every banner celebrating “people power” and the ouster of Marcos has been yellow. Robredo announced that her campaign would use the colour pink, in the most superficial of attempts to bury the now hated legacy of the party of which she is chair.

Washington has played a major, at times decisive role, in every election staged in its former colony. The bloody Marcos dictatorship received the support and sanction of the Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan administrations. The Corazon Aquino administration was propped up and sustained with the support of US imperialism.

The ever-more aggressive moves by Washington to maintain its global hegemony in the face of the economic rise of China has brought the world to the brink of a catastrophic global war and has turned the entire Asia-Pacific region into a series of flashpoints. In this context, Duterte, looking to secure investment from China, substantially reoriented Manila's diplomatic and economic ties from Washington to Beijing.

The geopolitical allegiances of each of the candidates in the upcoming election is thus a fundamental question. A majority of the leading candidates seems to favour a continuation of the policies of Duterte, although most are likely willing to negotiate. Robredo, however, is the only candidate that is clearly tied to the interests of Washington.

For months, as the deadline for declaring candidacy approached, Robredo hesitated, refusing to state if she intended to run. It does not seem that she was being politically coy, her reluctance felt genuine. On October 4, the ad interim Charge d’Affaires of the US Embassy in Manila, Heather Variava, travelled to the office of the Vice President and met privately with Robredo. Variava was quoted in the press as stating that the Philippines and the United States “were the strongest of allies,” and promised that Washington would be supplying much-needed vaccines to the country.

That afternoon, the Robredo camp announced that Robredo would be making a major announcement the next morning. On October 5, Robredo, dressed in bright pink, announced that she would be running for president.

1Sambayan, an umbrella political organization whose sole concern is opposition to relations with China and escalating Manila’s claim to the South China Sea, announced that it was giving its endorsement to the presidential candidacy of Leni Robredo.

The various factions of Stalinism and pseudo-left politics in the Philippines are throwing themselves into relations with various bourgeois candidates, particularly Robredo.

Akbayan, a political organization formed in the 1990s from breakaways from the Stalinist Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and various social democratic organizations, has effectively merged with the Liberal Party. Sen. Risa Hontiveros, of Akbayan and the LP, is running for re-election of Robredo’s slate.

Many of the various political organizations founded by Popoy Lagman, likewise breakaways from the CPP in the 1990s, including Sanlakas, Partido Lakas ng Masa, and Laban ng Masa, all attempted to form ties with Robredo during her lengthy period of hesitation. On October 3, Walden Bello, chair of Laban ng Masa, wrote of how “Laban ng Masa has sought a meeting with her for nearly three months to talk about possibilities, but she and her people won't give us the time of day.” He denounced Robredo for her “courtship” of “former Duterte allies” and “the right.”

In frustration, Laban ng Masa announced that they would be fielding an “independent candidate of the working class,” Leody de Guzman, a union leader. De Guzman and Robredo wound up filing their candidacies on the same day.

Within a day, this supposed “independent working-class” candidate had issued an official party statement hailing the candidacy of Robredo: “Laban ng Masa welcomes VP Leni Robredo’s candidacy for the presidency. We look forward to hearing her platform ... We also look forward to hearing about how she intends to bring Duterte to jail ... We welcome the opportunity for us and our presidential candidate ... to engage with her on all these crucial issues.”

The CPP, through the various legal organizations that follow its political line, has not yet endorsed a candidate, but they are working to establish ties with one. The founder and ideological leader of the CPP, Jose Ma. Sison, has posted enthusiastic statements on Facebook about the candidacies of Pacquiao, Moreno, and Robredo.

The CPP’s full throated support for Duterte in 2016-17—in which they promoted him as a leftist, backed his war on drugs, and picked candidates for his cabinet—demonstrates that there is no candidate, however right-wing or fascistic, with whom the party will not ally if the leadership believes that they can secure benefits from the relationship.

Elections in the Philippines are notoriously bloody, with death tolls frequently in the hundreds. The fight between the various factions of the ruling elite over how best to suppress the working class and how to negotiate between ties with Washington and Beijing is a murderous affair, and the victims are the poor, the peasants, and the workers.

A coronavirus pandemic reality check

Bryan Dyne

Around the world, from North America to Asia, governments are abandoning all measures to stop the spread of COVID-19, reopening schools, workplaces and mass gatherings. To justify these measures, the media endlessly promotes the false claim that the coronavirus pandemic is effectively over.

The reality is quite the opposite. In the past seven days, there have been more than 620,000 new cases recorded in the US and at least 10,000 official deaths as a result of the pandemic. Worldwide, the number of new cases grew by more than 2.8 million and nearly 48,000 human beings were added to the tally of the dead. As it has been since it first emerged, the virus continues to be a mortal threat for every person on the planet.

A grave digger wearing a protective suit stands during a a COVID-19 victim burial at a cemetery outside in Omsk, Russia, Thursday, Oct. 7, 2021 [Credit: AP Photo/Uncredited]

Such figures did not stop the New York Times from publishing an opinion piece on Thursday by Paul Krugman entitled, “What if Things Are About to Get Better?” According to Krugman, the ongoing colossal loss of life should merely be viewed as the end of “the summer of our discontent,” as worded by the Times columnist. That nearly 86,000 people died in the US between June 21 and September 22, including more than 160 children, is of no consequence.

Instead, Krugman argues that because of a relative drop in cases in the US and limited vaccine mandates by the federal government and various corporations, the population “can feel fairly safe going back to the office, going out to eat and—most important of all—sending their children to school.” Moreover, workers must overcome their “unwillingness” to “engage in risky activities” and simply accept reopenings and the tens of thousands the inevitable premature deaths they will cause.

The Times piece also ignores the inconvenient fact that there is still no vaccine for children under 12, meaning that tens of millions of infants and school children are still vulnerable to the pandemic. Data from the American Academy of Pediatrics shows that hundreds of thousands of children are infected each week, alongside rising hospitalizations. The vast majority of these infections are caused by what Krugman views as “most important,” children being back in schools.

There is also no consideration of the spread of the pandemic in other countries. Eastern Europe continues to be one of the hardest hit regions of the pandemic. Poland has suffered more than 11,000 new cases and 175 new deaths in the past week, both figures up 50 percent from the week before. Ukraine has had a similar spike, reporting more than 82,000 new cases and nearly 1,700 dead over the last seven days. In Romania, cases have jumped to 89,000 every seven days, a 28 percent increase, while deaths have climbed to 1,762 per week, a 49 percent increase.

Even in Germany, often hailed as a model for Europe’s pandemic response, both new cases and deaths have risen by about 25 percent during the last seven days compared to the preceding seven days. Official figures of cases and deaths over the past week climbed to 68,000 and 400, respectively.

One of the worst hit countries is Russia, where cases and deaths have spiked sharply in recent weeks. Daily new cases have been rising in the country since mid-September and are approaching the peak seen last December. As a result of this surge, there were a record 6,400 deaths reported in the country last week.

Other countries that have seen a rise in their case and death counts include Sudan and Somalia. In both African countries, which have suffered greatly over many years as a result of indirect or direct US military interventions, the number of new reported cases has more than tripled. Deaths over that same period more than doubled in Sudan and increased by more than a factor of five in Somalia.

Among the many consequences of the hundreds of thousands of new cases each day will be the emergence of new and more infectious variants of the coronavirus, including the possibility of one wholly resistant to the vaccine. Such a variant, even under Krugman’s Panglossian prognosis that the pandemic is ending in the US, would inevitably restart the waves of infection and death workers are still living through.

America’s financial oligarchy has blinded itself to these dangers, focusing instead on more completely reopening the economy. The latest stage of the reopenings in the US has been the resumption of in-person mass cultural events. The Detroit Symphony Orchestra, where musicians last year were forced to take a 20 percent pay cut after its performances were canceled, has again begun full-capacity in-person concerts. The Boston Symphony Orchestra similarly began to have in-person performances at the end of September.

This is an international phenomenon. The United Kingdom will on October 11 remove 47 countries from its “red” list of countries where travel is unsafe, including world pandemic hot spots India and Brazil. Bali (the resort island in Indonesia), India and Vietnam are all slated to loosen their own travel restrictions. Vietnam, which suffered the vast majority of its 800,000 coronavirus cases and 20,000 coronavirus deaths since July, is beginning domestic flights and is planning to fully reopen for the summer 2022 tourist season.

In Pakistan, all educational institutions are slated to reopen even though there are still more than 1,200 new cases and more than 30 new deaths each day.

The argument that it is the appropriate time to reopen because cases are falling is all the more homicidal and fallacious given that even as cases have dipped slightly in the US, the rate of infection is still higher than during every other part of the pandemic except the highs of last November, December and January. And there has been a systematic effort, beginning with then-President Donald Trump and continuing under Joe Biden, to cover up the actual number of cases, including by limiting testing, inadequate contact tracing and the outright falsification of data.

Workers should also remember that similar arguments that reduced case numbers mean that it is safe to reopen the economy have been used before. It was federal policy under the Trump administration, developed in the wake of the initial lockdowns in March 2020. The slight drop in cases in April, combined with claims that enough personal protective equipment and other critical devices such as ventilators had been stockpiled, was used in late April and May to reopen auto plants and other areas viewed as critical to the American economy.

The results were predictably disastrous. A second wave in the summer saw tens of thousands more deaths, followed by some limited lockdown measures. Those were lifted after it was proclaimed that the increase in testing and the development of therapeutics meant that it was safe to reopen. What followed was the most severe spike in cases and deaths seen in the US and worldwide to date.

Workers must fight to eradicate COVID-19. An initial expression of this perspective has been voiced by UK parent Lisa Diaz, who organized the first global school strike against unsafe reopenings during the pandemic on October 1 and has called for a second. “Given that our politicians are doing nothing to protect us, I propose another school strike,” she declared. “Let’s send a powerful message, a global message, that we will not let our children be collateral damage. They shouldn’t be sitting ducks.”

This initiative expresses broad sentiments in the working class, expressed in one form by the fact that Diaz’s latest call for action got more than 42,000 views in 24 hours. Millions are looking not merely to abate the worst of the pandemic, but for a scientifically grounded strategy to end almost two years of needless suffering and death.

Riders at German delivery firm Gorillas protest illegal mass sackings

Johannes Stern

Employees of the Gorillas delivery service held a protest Wednesday in front of the company’s headquarters in the German capital of Berlin. In total, more than 100 riders—as the couriers are called—and supporters came together to loudly demonstrate for better working conditions and the reinstatement of several colleagues.

Protest in front of the Gorillas headquarters in Berlin (Photo: WSWS)

The billion-dollar start-up announced last Tuesday that all employees who participated in work stoppages over the previous weekend would be terminated. On Friday and Saturday, Gorillas bike couriers went on strike against conditions of abuse and paralyzed several warehouses. It is still unclear how many employees were given notice by letter or telephone. According to the latest reports, there are over 300.

This is a massive attack on the right to strike that goes far beyond the Gorillas delivery service. The ruling class is launching an all-out attack on working conditions and wages around the world.

In Germany, the Social Democrats, Free Democrats and the Greens are preparing a new government whose central tasks will be to enforce the debt brake so as to restrict public spending and squeeze the hundreds of billions of euros that were funneled to the banks and corporations under the guise of the coronavirus bailout packages out of the working class. With the federal election now over, mass layoffs and the shutdown of entire industrial plants are being implemented. The employers are demanding, in the words of Ford Germany boss Gunnar Herrmann, “gigantic flexibility.”

The message being sent with the mass sackings at Gorillas is clear: anyone who is not prepared to accept conditions of slave-like exploitation must expect severe consequences.

The company’s management makes no secret of the fact that the terminations are a punishment for the strikes. A company spokesman said on Tuesday evening, “Such unannounced strikes that are not supported by a trade union are illegal. After careful consideration, we are now forced to enforce this legal framework. This means that we end the employment relationship with those employees who actively participated in the unauthorized strikes and blockades, who hindered the company through their behaviour and thus endangered their colleagues.”

The arrogance and aggressiveness of the billion dollar company is breathtaking. It is not the striking workers fighting for fair and safe working conditions who are endangering their colleagues, but company management.

Slavery-like exploitation

At the demonstration, numerous riders reported on the completely unsustainable working conditions at Gorillas and the brutal behaviour of the company.

Blocked entrance of the Gorillas headquarters at Schönhauser Allee 180 in Berlin (Photo: WSWS)

A 21-year-old Gorillas rider, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, reported that the strikes began on Friday, October 1 in Bergmannkiez in the Neukölln district and then quickly spread to the warehouses in Schöneberg and Mitte. On Saturday, a strike also took place at the Gesundbrunnen warehouse. On Tuesday, the company then carried out a “blatant attack on the employees,” as the worker described it.

“All the people on strike who had no protection against dismissal have been terminated without notice,” the rider explained. “Some by letter and some by phone. This is of course completely illegal. That is why we are protesting against the working conditions and the action on the part of the company. We demand the reinstatement of those who have been terminated.”

Strikes among Gorillas delivery workers already took place repeatedly in spring and summer. The 21-year-old rider reports that working conditions have even worsened since then.

“The shift times are now issued by a computer,” he said. “Accordingly, the shift times are extremely short. I have a 30-hour contract and work six days a week. Four days in advance, the legal minimum, you will be notified of your shift. You can no longer plan your free time because you never know when and where you have to work.”

He went on to describe the extreme workload during a shift, commenting, “We have six orders in one backpack, and that happens over and over again. Sometimes you can’t even close the rucksack because it’s overloaded, and you still have to deliver everything. I have no idea how heavy the backpack is sometimes, maybe 40 kilos. You can hardly get it on your back. And that’s what it’s like for the whole shift for eight hours.”

There are also virtually no safety measures to protect workers from the COVID-19 pandemic. “The disinfectant dispensers are usually empty and you really have to beg for masks,” remarked the worker.

Another rider, Camilo, reported that workers often receive their starvation wages late or are not paid in full.

Camilo (Photo: WSWS)

“This is a problem that has existed since the beginning,” he told us. “I’ve been with Gorillas for a year now and there are wage issues every month. There is no regular payment and often people only get €100 or €200, although they ought to get €1,000, for example. This means that many workers are left without income and still have to pay their rent, etc.”

Camilo also pointed to the generally poor condition of the bikes, with potentially fatal consequences.

“Nobody in the stores is responsible for ensuring that the bikes are in good condition,” he said. “Very often, workers ride their bicycles and, for example, the seat falls off or something breaks, which leads to accidents. Accidents are very common at this company. That also has to do with the company’s business model, which promises to deliver within 10 minutes. There have been very serious accidents. People with broken limbs, people who needed an operation. There was even a rider who almost died.”

There is broad solidarity with the workers among the population. Alexander took extra time off to support the protest. “I want to set an example because I find the working conditions under which people work here unbearable,” he said. “The people who work here are completely overworked. Driving around 100 kilometres a day with 20 kilos on your back is impossible. The sackings were the tipping point for me. “

Alexander pointed out that the attacks are part of a wider political development.

Alexander (Photo: WSWS)

“Workers’ rights have been dismantled for a long time and attempts are being made to continue to dismantle them,” he commented. “Many people are angry and no longer feel represented by the political parties. The social divide is getting bigger and bigger and this is happening on the backs of the people who work here. Even the housing market is being capitalized. How can we still lead a good life in this city without working 80 hours a week? There is enough money, but you have to distribute it differently, you have to organize it differently. That is long overdue.”

Geneviève McMillan-Reba Stewart Foundation Scholarship 2022/2023

Application Deadline:

• Deadline for undergraduate programme (applicants from foreign secondary schools): 23rd February 2022.
• Deadline for undergraduate programme (applicants from French secondary schools): mid-June 2022.

Tell Me About Geneviève McMillan-Reba Stewart Foundation Scholarship:

The Geneviève McMillan-Reba Stewart Foundation was established in 2005 to realize the vision of its founder, Geneviève McMillan (1922-2008), and to commemorate the life and work of her friend, the artist Reba Stewart (1930-1971). The scholarship celebrates McMillan’s passion for the African continent.

Since 2010, the McMillan-Stewart Foundation has partnered with the Sciences Po American Foundation to offer merit-based scholarships to give access to France’s higher education system to meritorious African students from sub-Saharan African countries. This will be done specifically through the undergraduate Europe Africa program of Sciences Po.

What Type of Scholarship is this?

Undergraduate

Who can Apply for Geneviève McMillan-Reba Stewart Foundation Scholarship?

The Scholarship is awarded on the basis of academic excellence, social criteria as well as the criteria as listed below:

• Candidates must be citizen of a sub-Saharan African country
• Candidates must have completed their high school education in a sub-Saharan African country and
• Candidates must be accepted to Sciences Po’s undergraduate Europe-Africa programme

How are Applicants Selected?

The Scholarship is awarded on the basis of academic excellence, social criteria as well as the criteria as listed below:

Which Countries can apply?

Citizens of sub-Saharan African countries

Where will Award be Taken?

France

How Many Scholarships will be Given?

Not specified

What is the Benefit of Geneviève McMillan-Reba Stewart Foundation Scholarship?

Successful students will receive a scholarship covering the full Sciences Po tuitions fees every year, for the duration of their undergraduate studies programme.

As Social criteria are also taken into account, an additional grant may be awarded to cover living expenses.

How Long will the Program Last?

4 years

How to Apply for Geneviève McMillan-Reba Stewart Foundation Scholarship:

Candidates must first apply to study at Sciences Po undergraduate Europe Africa program. Applications should be completed on Sciences Po’s Admissions website and include all supporting documents requested for the Emile Boutmy scholarship application. The deadline for the Geneviève McMillan-Reba Stewart Foundation Scholarship is the same as the deadline for Emile Boutmy scholarship applications.

During the two weeks following the student’s application, all candidates must also apply for the Geneviève McMillan-Reba Stewart Scholarship by sending an application to scholarship@usscpo.org and matthew.baker@sciencespo.fr.

This application must include a cover letter outlining motivations to study at Sciences Po’s undergraduate program and to benefit from the Scholarship.

For all questions, you may contact the Office of Admissions, either through the online contact form, or through e-mail to matthew.baker@sciencespo.fr.

Visit Geneviève McMillan-Reba Stewart Scholarship Webpage for Details