Around the world, the people of several countries find themselves engaged in fratracidal warfare, killing others in the name of various conflicts, usually created by those in power. Those who have interests to fight do so to gain or to serve an ideology or national hatred stoked in the people. These armed conflicts are distractions meant to draw attention away from real forces of oppression.

In Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, Ethopia or Myanmar, despite differing circumstances, the results are the same. Thousands of victims senslessly slaughtered at great social and economic costs; young people forced to pick up guns. While thousands of Russians with the economic means fled the country to avoid this war, the army drafted the poorest from other ethnic groups in Russia and recruited the desperate poor from Nepal. While millions of Americans go without basic health care and cannot afford the basic necessities of life, the tax dollars of the working class goes to fund genocide in Gaza. These are just two very clear examples of how the working people of these countries are being forced to pay for or participate in a war that is not in their interests.

The International Workers' Association is clear that the working class has nothing to gain by these wars or by fake national diversions that divide people for somebody's benefit. It calls on all workers around the world to take a stand against these wars and, where possible, to take anti-war actions.

Solidarity with the CNT-AIT!

Again this year, the whole of the International Workers' Association stand in solidarity with our Section in Spain, the CNT-AIT. The unions of the CNT-AIT face the repressive and vindicative actions of the union now known as CNT-CIT. The lawsuits and legal actions brought by the Spanish Section of the CIT, or ICL (International Confederation of Labor) threaten the CNT-AIT with serious financial loss and, for some members, even time in prison.

The situation has not changed since last year when we wrote this article: https://vivacntait.iwa-ait.org/iwa-days-of-solidarity-with-the-cnt-ait-s...

We explain that the changes that took place in the CNT, particularly over the past 15 years meant that a group of individuals who were both theoretically and practically inclined against the grassroots, non-hierarchical, internationalism of the CNT-AIT, based on revolutionary ideas and practices in line with anarcho-communism and anarcho-syndicalism, tried to re-fashion the organization to support clientele unionism and the professionalization of the organization, including financially profiting from the union's legacy. In order to achieve these goals, there was a period where the „reformers” spearheaded a number of purges from the organization, most infamously of those who exposed corruption or criticized these tendencies. At the same time, it sought to take control over the International Workers' Association and disenfranchise many of its member organizations. The results of all this were the exclusion from the IWA (as a consequence of their own auto-exclusionary actions) and the decision of part of our Section in Spain to remain the CNT-AIT, not to reform the CNT based on hierarchical practices and not to start a new international based on ideas that ran against the egalitarian traditions of the IWA.

Around the world, millions of workers have had problems with unpaid wages or benefits. This could mean not getting paid for the work done, but also includes failure to pay overtime, not paying required benefits or paying sub-minimum wages.

The Sections of the International Workers’ Association have set an annual week of actions to highlight this issue. Past actions have also included successful direct actions at workplaces where this has occurred. (For a report on last year's actions, see here: https://iwa-ait.org/content/report-international-week-against-unpaid-wages-10th-16th-october-2022)

As anarcho-syndicalists, we see solidarity, direct action, boycotts and self-organization as means to counter this problem and there are hundreds of examples of our unions using such means successfully,

More information will be published here before and during the week of actions: https://stopwagetheft.iwa-ait.org/