Indonesian workers are still recovering from the mass murders and repression of the 1965-67 period which totally destroyed their organisations and wiped out a whole generation of labour activists.

Bob Carnegie, Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) Secretary of the Queensland Branch, recently went to Indonesia on a solidarity visit with another labour actvist, Jeff Rickertt. Bob describes how the Indonesian workers are organising their union in a very resource poor environment amid an environment characterised by causalisation, precarious employment, victimisation by employers and violence from police and thugs.

Bob also describes the International Dockworkers Council (IDC), a new international federation for dockworkers around the world, as a new attempt to implement international solidarity among workers globally. The IDC sees that an injury to one is an injury to all and that in a global environment, workers need to organise across regions and countries.

Asia Pacific Currents provides updates of labour struggles and campaigns from the Asia Pacific region. It is produced by Australia Asia Worker Links, in the studio of 3CR Radio in Melbourne, Australia.