Experiments with truth: 3/12/10
- On Thursday, thousands of Nigerian women took to the streets in protest of religious violence that left at least 200 dead last weekend, singing and waving branches full of green leaves — a traditional sign of protest. They also carried Bibles and crosses made out of scrap lumber.
- The mass protest intended to paralyze Bangkok and topple the Thai Government began at exactly 12:12 pm today with a huge round of applause followed by the sound of gongs and Buddhist chanting.
- Workers belonging to CGIL, Italy’s biggest labor union, will walk off their jobs today for four hours to protest cuts at companies such as Fiat SpA, Alcoa Inc. and Antonio Merloni SpA. The strike called by CGIL, with a membership of 5.5 million people, and a demonstration in city centers will cripple traffic and cause delays in public transport and air travel.
- The third general strike was underway in Greece yesterday. Public services were shut down and air traffic controllers sealed off national airspace.
- More than 300 unionized workers at Shaw’s food distribution center in Methuen, Mass., have been on strike since Sunday after rejecting what they call an “unjust and inequitable” contract offer.
- Zimbabwe’s striking civil servants say they are now resorting to a hunger strike after the cash strapped government ignored their month long job boycott.
- The National Programme for Improvement of Watercourses (NPIW) workers – led by Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leader Marvi Memon – ended their seven-day long protest and sit-in in front of Karachi Press Club after the Sindh government assured the protesters that it will regularise 1,547 temporary NPIW employees.
- Affected villagers of Barapukuria coal mining areas in Bangladesh started an indefinite hunger strike on Wednesday to realize their compensation.
- At least 70 detainees at the West Japan Immigration Control Center, which has long been criticized by human rights groups and Diet members, have been on a hunger strike since Monday.
