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On Monday, several activists wore t-shirts emblazoned with the question Where Is Peng Shuai? to a match at Wimbledon in order to raise awareness about the Chinese tennis star. Peng has been absent from international media following her forced disappearance, forced re-appearances, and forced retirement in the wake of a sexual assault allegation against former Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli that she posted last November. Peng won a Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in 2013, but discussion of the injustice against her was unwelcome at the tournament this week. As Emine Sinmaz from The Guardian reported, the activists were confronted by Wimbledon security guards who warned them not to approach anyone at the venue:

Will Hoyles, 39, one of the campaigners, said: We came trying to raise a bit of awareness but Wimbledon have managed to make it worse for themselves by harassing us

They were asking loads of questions about what we were going to do, why we were here, you know, what wed already done etc. And we told them wed just been wandering around and wed spoken to a few people and thats when they seemed to get quite suspicious.

He said that the staff told them they should not approach anyone to talk to them. They said repeatedly the club doesnt like to be political, he added. [Source]

Despite citing political neutrality to justify tamping down the show of support for Peng Shuai, Wimbledon chose to ban 16 athletes from Russia and Belarus in April, in response to Russias invasion of Ukraine and Belarus support for the invasion. A similar controversy occurred in January, when the Australian Open ejected activists attempting to raise awareness about Peng Shuais disappearance, but that organization later reversed its decision under widespread public pressure. The Womens Tennis Association, one of the few major tennis organizations that has followed through on its supportive rhetoric of Peng, has canceled all of its events in China due to her continued absence from public life.

Off the court, other #MeToo cases are slowly making their way through Chinas judicial system. On June 22, a Chinese court sentenced Zhang Guo, a man accused of sexually assaulting a former Alibaba employee, to 18 months in prison. The former employee, surnamed Zhou, alleged that Zhang and her former manager, surnamed Wang, had pressured her into drinking too much alcohol at a client dinner last August and raped her later that night. After Zhou revealed her story on an internal corporate message board, Alibaba fired Wang, but then did an about-face and fired ten other employees for leaking Zhous accusation to the public. Zhou eventually lost her own job as well. This week, in the wake of Zhangs sentencing, Zhou called out inconsistencies in the police statement about the case. Huizhong Wu from the Associated Press reported on Zhous online post criticizing Wangs lenient judicial treatment:

Zhou criticized the official police account for turning her manager from someone who objectively has criminal intention, a rapist with actual criminal intentions, into a good boss caring for his drunk female subordinate.

And as for me? I have become a slut who is falsely accusing the male boss that she was carrying on with, she continued.

[] She wrote that her former manager had stolen her ID card to get the hotel to make him a key for her room, asking the staff to list him as a fellow traveler. She also said that police had concluded she could not express herself clearly when the front desk called to get her consent for giving him a key.

He voluntarily cancelled his taxi on the app, carried my stolen ID card, went back to the hotel and added himself to my room, sexually violated me, she told the AP, elaborating on her post. All these things show that not only did he intentionally try to rape, but also he committed a criminal act.

A police statement last August said that Wang had the key made with Zhous consent and that he had her ID card, without saying how he had gotten it. [Source]

Two days after Zhang was sentenced to prison, a four-hour public hearing for a sexual assault case involving the leader of another powerful Chinese tech company took place in the U.S. The victim, Liu Jingyao, has accused Liu Qiangdong, the billionaire founder of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com, of raping her after a dinner and drinks party in 2018. At the time, Liu Jingyao was an undergraduate at the University of Minnesota. The hearing revolved around a motion to add punitive damages against Liu Qiangdong and JD.com, and the official jury trial is scheduled to begin on either September 26 or October 3. In a recent overview of the case published by a WeChat account supportive of womens rights, friends and supporters of Jingyao who attended her hearing shared more details about the trial, and criticized the double standards applied to male and female behavior in sexual assault cases:

In the court of public opinion, victims are on the receiving end of boundless scrutiny and mistrust. Why dont we ask Liu Qiangdong, or the person who organized the event, why a dozen middle-aged men would invite a young twenty-something woman to a drinking party? Why did Liu Qiangdong bring Jingyao to his villa in the first place? Liu Qiangdong is a married man, so why wasnt he more circumspect about his words and behavior? People tend to instinctively come up with excuses to justify the behavior of rich and powerful men. But as a woman, unless you happen to think like a perfectly rational automaton, people will tend to exaggerate the irrational aspects of your behavior. [Chinese]

This week, similar public vilification was heaped on Yu Xiuhua, a woman born with cerebral palsy who has become famous for her poems about love, sexuality, disability, and female identity. In a Weibo post (deleted two hours after it was published on Wednesday), she accused her estranged husband Yang Zhuce of domestic violence, alleging that he physically assaulted her multiple times in the course of their two-month marriage, after she asked him if he was having an affair with another woman. While some of Yus fans were sympathetic or outraged on her behalf, other netizens criticized her for being an attention-seeker, alleged that she had it coming, or made her the target of online bullying and death threats. The author of a WeChat post archived by CDT detailed how women who suffer sexual violence often receive harsher public scrutiny and criticism than their male abusers:

This has become a common practice online. When a woman suffers domestic abuse, the first question people ask is, What did she do [to provoke it]?

In the absence of other evidence, the mind conjures up various and vilifying possibilities:

Did the man find out that their child wasnt his?

Was she mean to her in-laws?

Was she too bad-tempered?

This is particularly true in the case of Yu Xiuhua, a headstrong, high-profile woman with many enemies. Some will find it easy to understand why a man might beat her: theyll say she had it coming, she brought this humiliation on herself, she knew the risks and went into it with her eyes wide open.

Youre old, disabled, and uglywhy would you think such a young man could actually love you?

The heartless domestic abuser has thus far avoided the storm, while Yu Xiuhua, the one who was beaten, finds herself in the eye of the storm, the object of public censure. [Chinese]

Translation by Cindy Carter.

The rest is here:
#MeToo Cases Weather Censorship, Suppression, and Victim-bashing - China Digital Times

Greg Tobin is the Digital Strategy Director for the Canada Strong & Proud Network.

Imagine a Canada where every single thing you say online was watched, checked, and possibly censored by the government. Your text messages, Facebook posts, and comments on YouTube videos all of it monitored to ensure your speech is safe.

It sounds outrageous, right? Totalitarian and gross. Now, what if I told you that the government was just caught planning for it?

Federal Heritage Minister, Pablo Rodgriguez, fresh off spearheading two other censorship bills, C-11 and C-18, has been caught planning his greatest feat yet to censor all electronic communications within Canada. Going all-in against freedom of speech has become a pattern for this government it seems.

Minister Rodgriguez recently appointed a 12-person expert advisory group and commissioned them to come up with a plan on how to tackle misinformation among other things.

The group came back with some outrageous suggestions that involve monitoring and regulating all communications in Canada, including text messages, for the purpose of combating misleading political communications, which we all know is a liberal dog-whistle for information, the government doesnt like.

The proposal is sweeping and leaves nothing out. The advisory group suggested including all your private communications your texts, phone calls, Facebook posts, AirBnB chats, reviews left on Amazon products, images posted to Instagram, TikTok videos any and all of it could land you a fine, or be shut down online if the government doesnt like it.

Imagine youre making a phone call and you start talking about the latest government scandal and then the call just drops.

Or if youre trying to send a text to your friends about a meetup for a protest, and the texts just wont send.

Or youre trying to get a t-shirt made up as part of a campaign effort, and the manufacturer says he received a notice from the government that the designs you sent him constitute harmful speech.

Its insane that the government and their advisory committee would suggest this kind of invasion into our lives. A Justin-vasion of your privacy if you will. It makes one think of the situation in Hong Kong, where the government there made open dissent against the Chinese Communist Party illegal.

Do you trust anyone in this government, much less a group of unelected bureaucrats to be able to fairly, justly, or wisely decide what counts as misinformation?

It also leaves us asking a hundred and one questions about how they will go about doing this, and what kind of measures they will take to ensure that all communications are accounted for.

VPNs, for example, allow Canadians to ensure their online activity is kept private from hackers and spying entities online. It also allows you to trick your Netflix into thinking youre American so you can get access to an entirely different library of content. Will the government ban them?

What about encrypted social media apps, like Signal or WhatsApp? Both are popular among journalists to ensure their work is kept private from prying eyes. Will the government ban the use of them? Forcing you to do all your communicating over one kind of messaging app that you know is being watched?

Will they force Canadians to use only one kind of web browser they can easily manipulate?

Will they do something similar to what exists in China and create a firewall around the entire Canadian internet? Blocking access to certain parts of websites, or whole websites together like Wikipedia, Twitter or Facebook, if the content on those pages goes against government dogma?

If they are as serious as they seem in this report everything is on the table.

And to top it all off the governments plan includes the appointment of a Chief Internet Censor. Who would have the power to levy fines and issue takedowns of the so-called harmful content

Selfie while youre at the gym? Harmful body standards: censored.

Argument with family over Facebook? Cyberbullying: censored.

Teasing a friend about his solar panels on Twitter? Climate Disinformation: censored.

Meme about the Prime Minister in your WhatsApp group chat? Hate speech: censored.

The goal of course is to create a Canada where you have lost your ability to speak badly about this government, under the false guise of safety. The safety that the government refers to is for them to be safe and free from the criticisms of voters like you.

The governments plan is totalitarian. It is deeply and truly unCanadian.

The neutrality of our online world, free from the corruption of one political party or another, allows our democracy to thrive. This plan throws that neutrality out the window and could be used by any government going forward, of any political stripe, to clamp down on your right to free speech.

Lets all join together, and tell Trudeau to keep his corrupt hands off our internet.

Gregory Tobin is the National Content Manager for the Canada Strong & Proud network of pages. Working in graphic design, video design, social media management and much more. His career has seen him work on numerous political campaigns across the country.

Were asking readers, like you, to make a contribution in support of True Norths fact-based, independent journalism.

Unlike the mainstream media, True North isnt getting a government bailout. Instead, we depend on the generosity of Canadians like you.

How can a media outlet be trusted to remain neutral and fair if theyre beneficiaries of a government handout? We dont think they can.

This is why independent media in Canada is more important than ever. If youre able, please make a tax-deductible donation to True North today. Thank you so much.

The rest is here:
GUEST OP-ED: The governments latest totalitarian attempt to censor the internet | The Paradise News - The Paradise News

About the position

For a position as a PhD Candidate, the goal is a completed doctoral education up to an obtained doctoral degree.

The Department of Information Security and Communication Technology has a vacancy for a position as a PhD Candidate at the Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering (IE), in the cross-disciplinary field of cyber security. This is a researcher training position aimed at providing promising researcher recruits the opportunity of academic development in the form of a doctoral degree. The position is a part of a national effort to develop the Norwegian knowledge base in cyber security according to the directions given in the newly announced Norwegian strategy for digital security.

The workplace will be located close to NORCICS Center of Excellence in research-based innovation - The Norwegian Center for Cybersecurity for Critical Sector - hosted by NTNU and opportunities exist for close collaboration with the NORCICS consortium.

The positions working place is in on NTNUs campus in Gjvik.

Your immediate leader is Head of Department.

Duties of the position

Censorship is a huge challenge in many countries. For dictatorships we have the obvious of holding back all critical thinking from being published and suppress any opposition activities. And many countries are aiming for more and more control of the information sources available to the public both inside the country and outside of the country. There still exists several channels for uncensored information flow, but the attacks and efforts put into censoring increases by the day and there must be an evolution in improvements and new systems for censorship-resistant technologies.

This is good for privacy, but when there is a security incident and/or a police investigation there will be a need for performing digital forensics and investigation on compromised or confiscated equipment. So when laws are broken and there must be performed digital investigations there will be high demand for how to investigate such systems with the most effective methods. And this should happen without compromising the censorship-resistant technologies in general as we do not want to stop these anti-censor technologies from being used to fight for democracy in strongly censored countries. The digital investigators will also require deeper and deeper technical knowledge inside these areas and this knowledge should be used for improving investigation processes and methods, in addition to strengthening censorship-resistant technologies. We also see that machine learning is making a significant impact in all areas of research, therefore knowledge of the complex digital investigation area together with machine learning techniques will be an advantage.

The position will be addressing research challenges with the goal to improve the research area of censorship-resistant technologies. In addition, it is preferable to have strong interest in the areas of network anonymity principles, overlay networks, digital investigations, computational forensics, machine learning, and network forensics.

The research will be carried out under guidance of Associate Professor Lasse verlier.

This PhD is expected to collaborate closely with the researchers in the NTNU Digital Investigation Group and the new NORCICS center, and will be an integral part of the relevant research groups.

While this position has a defined roadmap and duties, both the roadmap and duties can be subject to significant changes depending on background, expertise and interest of the candidates, on research outcomes both in our group and in the field, and on needs arising in the research group.

Required selection criteria

You must have a professionally relevant background in at least two or more of the following fields: network anonymity, censorship-resistant technologies, dark nets, overlay networks, network security and network forensics.

Good written and oral English and Norwegian language skills. Applicants who do not master a Scandinavian language must provide evidence of good English language skills, written and spoken. The following tests can be used as such documentation: TOEFL, IELTS or Cambridge Certificate in Advanced English (CAE) or Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE).Minimum scores are:

The appointment is to be made in accordance with Regulations concerning the degrees ofPhilosophiaeDoctor (PhD)andPhilosodophiaeDoctor (PhD) in artistic researchnational guidelines for appointment as PhD, post doctor and research assistant

Preferred selection criteria

Personal characteristics

Emphasis will be placed on personal and interpersonal qualities.

We offer

Salary and conditions

As a PhD candidate (code 1017) you are normally paid from gross NOK 491 200 per annum before tax, depending on qualifications and seniority. From the salary, 2% is deducted as a contribution to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund.

The period of employment is 4 years with 25 % teaching duties.

Appointment to a PhD position requires that you are admitted to the PhD programme in inInformation Securitywithin three months of employment, and that you participate in an organized PhD programme during the employment period.

The engagement is to be made in accordance with the regulations in force concerningState Employees and Civil Servants, and the acts relating to Control of the Export of Strategic Goods, Services and Technology. Candidates who by assessment of the application and attachment are seen to conflict with the criteria in the latter law will be prohibited from recruitment to NTNU.

After the appointment you must assume that there may be changes in the area of work.

The position is subject to external funding.

It is a prerequisite you can be present at and accessible to the institution daily.

About the application

The application and supporting documentation to be used as the basis for the assessment must be in English.

Publications and other scientific work must follow the application. Please note that your application will be considered based solely on information submitted by the application deadline. You must therefore ensure that your application clearly demonstrates how your skills and experience fulfil the criteria specified above.

The application must include:

If all,or parts,of your education has been taken abroad, we also ask you to attach documentation of the scope and quality of your entire education, both bachelor's and master's education, in addition to other higher education. Description of the documentation required can befoundhere. If you already have a statement fromNOKUT,pleaseattachthisas well.

We will take joint work into account. If it is difficult to identify your efforts in the joint work, you must enclose a short description of your participation.

In the evaluation of which candidate is best qualified, emphasis will be placed on education,experienceand personal and interpersonalqualities.Motivation,ambitions,and potential will also countin the assessment ofthe candidates.

NTNU is committed to following evaluation criteria for research quality according toThe San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment - DORA.

General information

Working at NTNU

NTNU believes that inclusion and diversity is our strength. We want to recruit people with different competencies, educational backgrounds, life experiences and perspectives to contribute to solving our social responsibilities within education and research. We will facilitate for our employees needs.

NTNU is working actively to increase the number of women employed in scientific positions and has a number of resources topromote equality.

The city of Gjvikhas a population of 30 000 and is a town known for its rich music and cultural life. The beautiful nature surrounding the city is ideal for an active outdoor life! The Norwegian welfare state, including healthcare, schools, kindergartens and overall equality, is probably the best of its kind in the world.

As an employeeatNTNU, you must at all times adhere to the changes that the development in the subject entails and the organizational changes that are adopted.

A public list of applicants with name, age, job title and municipality of residence is prepared after the application deadline. If you want to reserve yourself from entry on the public applicant list, this must be justified. Assessment will be made in accordance withcurrent legislation. You will be notified if the reservation is not accepted.

If you have any questions about the position, please contact Associate Professor Lasse verlier, email lasse.overlier@ntnu.no. If you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact HR,Katrine.rennan@ntnu.no.

If you think this looks interesting and in line with your qualifications, please submit your application electronically via jobbnorge.no with your CV, diplomas and certificates attached. Applications submitted elsewhere will not be considered. Upon request, you must be able to obtain certified copies of your documentation.

Application deadline: 29.08.22

NTNU - knowledge for a better world

The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) creates knowledge for a better world and solutions that can change everyday life.

Department of Information Security and Communication Technology

Research is vital to the security of our society. We teach and conduct research in cyber security, information security, communications networks and networked services. Our areas of expertise include biometrics, cyber defence, cryptography, digital forensics, security in e-health and welfare technology, intelligent transportation systems and malware. The Department of Information Security and Communication Technology is one of seven departments in theFaculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering.

Deadline29th August 2022EmployerNTNU - Norwegian University of Science and TechnologyMunicipalityGjvikScopeFulltimeDuration TemporaryPlace of service Campus Gjvik

Continued here:
PhD Candidate in Censorship-Resistant Technologies job with NORWEGIAN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - NTNU | 300283 - Times Higher Education

Today the newspaper shares the cure for a worsening economy . . . The idea is complex . . . But it's basically socialism in a Summer dress, without many deets and by way of trusting local corproate rulers.

Here's a bit of their screed . . .

"In America today, almost 30% of all accumulated wealth is owned by 1% of Americans. Worse, CNBC and the last census suggest that 50% of all Americans have no savings at all. And I mean nothing zip, zilch, nada. Many solutions offered to fix this problem are only short-term Band-Aids and do not solve the root problem.

"Charitable help, government safety nets and Medicaid are all critical. Likewise, Social Security, pensions and 401(k)s, while great programs, only create non-poor retirements. Some believe the solution is a higher minimum wage. I support a higher minimum wage, but all of these initiatives do little to nothing in terms of long-term, sustainable wealth creation.

"Equal-but-poor is not the end goal. Extreme wealth disparity may just be the natural conclusion of all-out capitalism, but it is not in the best fiscal interest of our nation. Thats not a left or a right conclusion it is a fiscally conservative requirement for the continuation of economic greatness."

A couple of funnies . . .

The goal of the newspaper was to praise some of the big local corporations who dominate city hall and government contracts.

Also . . .

No idea how a newspaper owned by a hedge fund is arguing for "economic democracy" with a straight face.

Read more via http://www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

OPINION AND COMMENTARY Can the solution for economic justice be best found in the heart of America? We know that Kansas City has been experiencing exciting momentum the last several years. In fact, some of the most successful companies with the happiest employees here in the metropolitan area are employee-owned.

You decide . . .

See the article here:
Kansas City Star Rediscovers Socialism

The popular uprising of workers, youth and rural toilers in Sri Lanka against the Rajapakse government over unbearable conditionsincluding scarcity, daily power outages, and skyrocketing prices for essentials goodsis now reaching a new stage.

The high price of food items is leading to conditions of mass starvation. The Rajapakse-Wickremesinghe government has placed the country on a virtual lockdown because fuel has run out. Schools have been closed, and public sector institutions have been instructed to call only essential staff for work. The lack of fuel has led to the collapse of public transport. These conditions have brought popular anger against the government to a boiling point.

Under these conditions, the social media activists who are leading the protest at Galle Face Green in Colombo, also known as Gota Gogama, have announced a massive peoples protest for July 9, claiming that it will be the greatest uprising in the history of Sri Lanka. This date will mark three months since the protest started at Galle Face Green.

However, the Action Plan for the Future of Struggle, issued by protest leaders on July 5, does not provide any program to address the burning issues confronting the masses. Rather, it would trap workers, youth and rural toilers within bourgeois rule and capitalist profit system, which is the root cause of the crisis.

Their program calls for an interim government, i.e., an alternative bourgeois government, which has been promoted by opposition parties in parliament, including the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), supported by pseudo-left groups like Frontline Socialist Party (FSP). A leading organiser of protests, Anuruddha Bandara, told Economynext that the opposition partiesthe SJB, JVP and othersare almost onboard.

The main tenets of the Action Plan include the demand for resignation of President Gotabhaya Rajapakse, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the Cabinet of Ministers and all the government appointees to high posts. Their alternative is an Interim Governance but with no indication as to who will make up this regime. It is implied, however, that all the parliamentary political parties are to be included in this interim government, as proposed by the opposition parties themselves.

This Interim Governance is supposed to subscribe to the economic, social and political aims and aspirations of the peoples struggle. While they have included securing the supply of essentials, like fuel and food, in their long list of aims and aspirations, they have not advanced any concrete program on how to provide them. They just hope that the Interim Governance will provide them if pressured to do so.

A Peoples Council is also proposed, in which representatives of the Peoples Struggle, will be able to effectively engage and mediate with the Interim Governance. That is, the task of the Peoples Council will be to exert pressure on new government. This is the same program advocated by pseudo-left FSP. The Action Plan proposes within a year to establish a new constitution through a referendum, which would abolish the executive presidency and create an appropriate process for a fair election.

In opposition to the program of the Galle Face protest leaders for formation of an alternative bourgeois government, the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) advocates a revolutionary socialist program for the working class. We call for the independent mobilisation of the working class on a clear program of action to fulfill their basic needs against the Rajapakse government and bourgeois rule.

The SEP insists that there will no solution to the burning issues confronting the masses within bourgeois rule and the capitalist profit system. There is no national solution. No amount of pressure exerted on this government or any future bourgeois government will make the ruling class provide the basic needs of the masses.

While supporting the main demand of the struggling masses for the resignation of President Rajapakse and his government, the SEP insists that it should not be replaced with another bourgeois government, but with a government of workers and peasants committed to socialist policies.

As explained in our statement issued on April 7, at the very beginning of mass uprising and also reiterated in subsequent statements, the SEP calls for the immediate abolition of the executive autocratic presidency along with repressive laws such as the Essential Services Act, the Public Security Act and the Prevention of Terrorism Act, which give police state powers to the security forces. Over the past month, Rajapakse invoked essential service laws against electricity and health workers. He used his emergency powers to deploy the military to the streets to repress workers languishing in queues for days to obtain fuel.

Irrespective of the bourgeois government that may replace the Rajapakse-Wickremesinghe regime, it will continue the same harsh austerity measures dictated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It will seek to force working people and rural toilers to bear the full burden of the economic crisis.

All the opposition parties, including the SJB, JVP and Tamil National Alliance, have expressed their open or tacit support for IMF policies. Therefore, the so-called interim governance proposed in the Action Plan will become an instrument of the capitalist ruling elite to brutally implement those policies and crush all opposition from the working class and rural toilers.

The brutality of the IMF program was indicated in Prime Minister Wickremesinghes speech to parliament on Tuesday. Referring to the coming period, which will be stamped by IMF dictates, he said: This will be a difficult and bitter journey if things do not change, the whole country will collapse.

The changes include massively downsizing the public sector, privatising state-owned enterprises, and broadening the tax base with increased taxes. They will lead to cuts in jobs, wages, and other benefits of workers in public sector, increases in water and electricity prices, and a further slashing of subsidies.

The working class must reject this brutal class-war policy and all interim government traps. Workers must develop their own independent political intervention based on a program that addresses their needs and unleashes immense social power, which was demonstrated during general strikes on April 28, May 6 and May 10. This program must be based on the social needs of workers and the rural toilers, not the profit demands of big business.

The first step in fighting for this program is to form democratically-elected independent action committees of the working class in factories, workplaces, plantations and working-class neighborhoods throughout the country. The action committees must be independent of the capitalist parties and the trade unions, which act as stooges and apologists of the capitalist ruling establishment.

The SEP encourages and will assist workers in forming these action committees, which will advance a working-class solution to the socio-economic crisis created by the capitalist class. The struggle of the working class must be internationally integrated through the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees, initiated by the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI).

The SEP advances the following demands as the fighting program for the Action Committees to overcome the mass suffering created by capitalism:

* For workers democratic control over the production and distribution of all essential items and other resources critical for the lives of people! Nationalise the banks, big corporations, plantations and other major economic nerve centres!

* Repudiate all foreign debts! No to the austerity demands of the IMF and World Bank that represent the international bankers and financial institutions!

* Establish a state monopoly of foreign trade to eradicate corruption in export and import processes and also ensure the supply of all essentials!

* Seize the colossal wealth of the billionaires and corporations!

* Cancel all debts of poor and marginal farmers and small business holders! Reinstate all subsidies, including fertiliser subsidies for farmers!

* Guarantee jobs for all with decent and safe working conditions! Index wages to the cost of living!

An independent movement of the working class organised through action committees based on the above demands will rally the rural poor and other oppressed masses. It will create the foundation for a mass movement aimed at establishing a government of workers and peasants, committed to socialist policies.

The fight for this program is part of a broader struggle for socialism in South Asia and internationally, which must be waged through a united movement of the working class globally.

The potential for such an independent movement of the working class has been clearly demonstrated in the powerful intervention of the working class in popular uprising in Sri Lanka. This includes the massive general strikes on April 28, May 6 and May 10, in which millions participated.

The struggle of workers in Sri Lanka is part of an upsurge of the working class throughout the world. The international airline industry has been affected by strikes in recent weeks, following the strike of 50,000 British rail workers struck. From Latin America to Asia, and from Europe to the United States, educators, auto workers, transportation workers, health care workers and all sections of the working class are entering into struggle against soaring prices, exploitation and inequality.

We urge workers and youth to join the SEP to and take up this struggle for a socialist program and perspective.

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The July 9 protest in Sri Lanka: A socialist program for workers and youth - WSWS