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Even when large parts of the "Corona measures" were lifted at the beginning of April, one thing remained: The relaxed rules in the application of short-time work justified by the pandemic. The German Bundestag extended the so-called facilitated short-time allowance until 30 June 2022. In concrete terms, this means that the maximum period of entitlement to short-time allowance has been extended from 24 to 28 months. In addition, it is sufficient if at least ten percent of employees are affected by work loss, although according to actual legislation at least one third of a company's workforce must be affected.

 

The war in Ukraine, as in every imperialist war, shows once again how cruelly the imperialists wage their wars. One of these cruel methods is to use hunger as a weapon. According to official figures, Russia is blocking the export of more than 20 million tonnes of grain from Ukraine. Food on which many people in Ukraine, as well as internationally, depend. Such a practice is a common practice of imperialist warfare and has been used by many imperialists. It was not until the Second Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions in 1977 that the use of hunger as a weapon of war was declared illegal. Article 14 prohibits attacking, destroying, removing or rendering useless "objects essential to the life of the civilian population". This includes not only food, but also drinking water, medicines, blankets and adequate shelter. That these rules and laws are of no value to the imperialists when push comes to shove is confirmed once again by the current war in Ukraine.

Wednesday night on 18. 05 the collective bargaining commission of Ver. di announced a breakthrough in the wage disputes in the social and educational service. A number of agreements were reached with the VKA that purportedly aim at relieving the workload of educators and social workers and increasing the financial value of the work.

 

It has been clear for several weeks that the FRG will also deliver heavy weapons to Ukraine. The first Gepard tanks are to be delivered to Ukraine this summer. German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht, for example, said: "We are now working together to ensure that the first 15 Gepards are ready for deployment from mid-July with fully trained crews." But the intervention in the war in Ukraine is not limited to the delivery of weapons. Since the beginning of May, the German armed forces have also been training Ukrainian soldiers, for example in Idar-Oberstein in Rhineland-Palatinate. This training serves to teach the Ukrainian armed forces how to handle the weapons supplied by Germany. Soldiers of the Ukrainian army are currently being trained in the use of the so-called self-propelled howitzers, which are supplied by the FRG.

 Now that the FRG has stopped importing Russian coal in the wake of the EU coal embargo against Russia, it is looking for alternatives to importing coal to ensure energy security. The EU is currently dependent on Russia for about 45 per cent of its coal imports. One of these alternatives is Colombia. There were already talks between German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Colombian President Iván Duque at the beginning of April. Duque named three areas in which he would be willing to increase production immediately. Oil and gas production, hard coal and renewable energies such as green hydrogen. In March, Germany already imported 1.3 million tonnes of coal from Colombia, an increase of 47.3 percent compared to the previous year.

Coal in Colombia is mainly produced in the El Cerrejón mine in the La Guajira region in the northwest of Colombia, which is operated by the Swiss mining company Glencor. The mine is one of the largest open-cast coal mines in the world. About 30 million tonnes of coal are exported annually from El Cerrejón to the world, for years also to Germany.

For years, the mine has even made headlines in the bourgeois press because of the eviction of the population or the destruction of nature in the area. The mine is located in the territory of the indigenous Wayuu, whose livelihoods are increasingly being destroyed by coal mining. The old Colombian state, with its armed henchmen, naturally serves as an enforcer of the interests of the imperialist mining corporation. Evictions of the population are the order of the day and would increase even more with an expansion of the mine in order to export more to Germany and Europe, as announced by Duque. So-called energy security in the FRG, as it turns out, is directly linked to the misery of the poor Colombian masses, who are displaced, fought against and murdered.

In order to secure social peace in the FRG and to continue to guarantee energy supply despite the crisis, the Colombian people have to suffer. This fact that the prosperity and the "good life" here in the FRG are built on the backs of the oppressed peoples further aggravates the situation worldwide, especially the main contradiction on the world level, which is between imperialism and oppressed nations. While the German imperialists are trying to ensure social peace here, new struggles will develop in Colombia. This system shows that it is not viable, because it is based on oppression and the oppressed will not stop fighting until they smash this system.

 

We reproduce an unofficial translation of a post published in German on the website political-prisoners.net.

Ihsan Cibelik of the revolutinist music band Grup Yorum was arrested by German police on his way home from a doctor's appointment.

His house was searched and he is being taken to Karlsruhe prison.

A mural was also painted in Hamburg on the occasion of 17 May - the 42nd anniversary of the initiation of the People's War in Peru. The slogan "VIVA LA GUERRA POPULAR DEL PERU!" honours the ongoing people's war in Peru. The painting was spotted in Hamburg's working class district Mümmelmannsberg. We publish here pictures that were sent to us.

We publish a pronouncement of the People’s Movement Peru for 42nd Anniversary of the People's War that we found here.