Fwd: Russia: Armed Siege Against Kusbass Mineworkers (fwd)

some info..

Mine

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 21:17:19 -0500 (EST)
From: SMye5@aol.com
To: SMye5@aol.com
Subject: Fwd: Russia: Armed Siege Against Kusbass Mineworkers

Dear Comrades, 
Now the Russian ruling class has manufactured a Chechen war to raise a 
temporary chauvinist tidal-wave - ensuring the Kremlin's favourite 
oligarch's 
future - class struggle returns with a vengeance! 
In solidarity - Steve Myers.

RUSSIA INFO-LIST 
from International Solidarity with Workers in Russia - ISWoR@aol.com
***********************************************************
ISWoR web-site  -  http://members.aol.com/ISWoR/english/index.html
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ARMED SIEGE AGAINST WORKERS ORGANISED BY "COMMUNIST" GOVERNOR AND TYCOON 
BEREZOVSKY

22 Dec. 1999 

At 4am Kusbass time, we received news of a siege by armed riot police now 
taking place at the large open-pit Chernigovets mine, in the town of 
Berezovsky, in the Kusbass region. This is the same pit from which we 
brought 
you an appeal in the autumn (see ISWoR website). They have been sent in by 
the regional Governor, Aman Tuleyev. He is known to be in league with 
infamous Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky, who is determined to wrest 
control 
of the pit from the miners, the actual majority share-holders of the plant. 
The mineworkers’ representatives are right now being held prisoner inside 
the 
administration building. Tuleyev is a member of the Communist Party of the 
Russian Federation.

Several weeks ago we informed you about a similar situation which occurred 
at 
the Vyborg Paper and Pulp Mill, near the Finnish border. Armed police units 
acting on behalf of a shadowy firm Alcem UK attempted to break up a 
workers’ 
occupation by force. Though they were unsuccessful , they shot two workers 
in 
the course of the attack.

Comrades from the UM in Moscow inform:

"Hundreds of armed riot policemen brought from Kemerovo tonight have
surrounded the administration building and are preparing a night assault
just now.  The local time is 4 a.m. !!! Members of the union and workers'
committees are now locked by police in their rooms. They are not let out.
the night shift refuses to start the work. The miners are ready to go on
strike at any moment if they start the assault…."

At 05:30 Kusbass time ISWoR spoke directly to the local union chairman 
Vladimir Belin who confirmed that the workers were still being held in the 
office and were not even being allowed out to the toilet. Further, if there 
is a strike, the authorities ensure there will be no heating (in the middle 
of winter) to the whole town of Berezovsky, where nearly all of the miners 
and their families live.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The privatisation process in Russia has seen the concentration of enormous 
wealth in the hands of a few big businessmen, while the majority of the 
population now lives in deep poverty. It is commonplace for workers to have 
received no wages for over a year. In a world where the market for  many 
manufactured goods is saturated and the west has long ago monopolised 
existing demand,  Russian owners of newly-privatised industrial enterprises 
have found it more profitable to deliberately bankrupt their own plants, 
shrugging off wage arrears and sacking thousands of workers, then buying up 
any valuable machinery at rock-bottom prices at the auctions arranged by 
their friends in local government. This has created a domino effect inside 
the country, where the closure en masse of thousands of plants has 
contracted 
domestic demand even further, leading to more asset-stripping and 
deliberate 
bankruptcies. Russia, once an industrial giant, has seen its manufacturing 
output decline by more than 40% since 1992.

The Chernigovets miners are aware that Berezovsky’s firm intends to 
bankrupt 
and then asset-strip the mine. Already the corrupt local government has 
colluded in this process by stopping the accounts of the mine several times 
and by freezing the assets of the worker-shareholders. On 31 August Tuleyev 
sent in the police in an unsuccessful attempt to seize control. The miners 
are determined to resist, knowing that if they surrender they will be left 
without any livelihood at all.

ACTION! Our Russian comrades write further: 

"Urgent action is needed right now!!!! Phone calls, telegramms, faxes of
protest. Articles in newspapers. If any progressive journalist could call
and say he will write an article it would be great, Tuleyev is very much
afraid of mass media those not controlled by him. He says a lot of lies
about workers of Chernigovets, but it's better to speak directly with the
workers' committee members.

Here are some phone numbers where you can find just right now union
committee members and some journalists working there. Please call them right
now. Hands off the workers of Chernigovets!!!

(7 - 38445) 96 530 or
(7 - 38445) 96 487 or
(7 - 38445) 96 354….

You may also send your protests to  Governor Aman Tuleyev’s office:
(7 - 3842) 36 46 33 tel. Tuleyev's secretary
(7 - 3842) 23 30 49 fax Tuleyevs 'press-centre"

NEW INFORMATION from Steve Kerr (ISWoR Canada)
Just now at 7:20 Kusbass time (01:20 GMT), I spoke with a coal miner in 
Cherni
govets, a man by the
name of Igor Usterzhanin. Igor is one of the leaders of the worker's council
governing the open pit coal mine which is currently under siege by the
forces described in the email below. He described a horrific situation under
way in his mine. Over 200 special forces troops are surrounding the mine as
I write these words. The workers are hold up in the office of the director
in a building surrounded by troops. Mr Usterzhanin told me that the workers
intend not to give up ever and pleaded with me to tell the world about the
horrible crime that is about to happen. The special forces troops are about
to launch an attack at any moment against the workers, and if this happens
people, perhaps Igor Usterzhanin will die.

It seems that after these disgusting stolen elections, bought with IMF cash,
the Kremlin feels confident to move in and crush the workers movement in
Russia. Chernigovets is the beating heart of that movement right now.

Please forward this email out to every press contact that you have, in
whichever city you live in.

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The RUSSIA INFO-LIST 
We are a broad united front of individuals and organisations internationally
who support Russian workers struggles, who oppose the IMF-Yeltsinite
privatisation project, who oppose racism and fascism, and who want to
build international solidarity between workers of all cultures and lands.

If you have something you would like to distribute on Russia Info-List, or 
want to help in our practical solidarity work, contact:   >ISWoR@aol.com<
Box R,  46 Denmark Hill, London, SE5 8RZ, England
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ISWoR web-site  -  http://members.aol.com/ISWoR/english/index.html