We are in the final stages of the election campaign in Pakistan. The
masses are clearly backing the PPP in large numbers. Reaction is also preparing.
Blatant rigging cannot be ruled out, but this would only serve to enrage the
masses. In this context the Marxists are standing in several constituencies,
where they are running a revolutionary election campaign that is having a big
impact among the workers and poor.

The crisis in the garments sector goes unabated in
Bangladesh. On January 30, 2008 two workers in World Dresses Ltd, Mirpur,
Dhaka, were attacked and beaten by management staff at the end of an evening shift. One died at 3am, the other is still
hospitalised with broken limbs. Fearing unrest
management closed the factory on Thursday. When knowledge of the attack
reached the company’s workers, hundreds demonstrated outside the factory.

More than 13,000 tonnes of food have been seized in the last two weeks
in Venezuela as part of the Food Sovereignty Plan launched in order to
fight speculation, hoarding and sabotage in the food distribution
chain. The main lesson is that food soverignty is not compatible with
capitalism.