Two more speeches from the plenary this week on the jailing of Pussy Riot and the repression and protests in Russia. The second speech is on the disproportionate effects of E.U led austerity on women workers.
“Mr President, the jailing of the three young women of Pussy Riot for two years in a prison colony is an absolute scandal. It graphically reveals the repressive nature of the Putin regime, which will brook no opposition, but it also demonstrates the fear that the regime has not only of Pussy Riot, but of the mass demonstrations that have taken place against the election-rigging and also the threat of a Russian winter. That is because all of the promises made to the people of Russia at the time of the collapse of Stalinism have been proven to be false. They were promised economic growth and the benefits of that growth have gone only to the oligarchs while working people suffer. They were promised democracy. They got only rigged elections and an absence of any real democratic rights, the right to freedom of speech, the right to protest.
In her closing statement at the trial one of the members of Pussy Riot, Yekaterina Samutsevich, accurately summed up the situation: ‘Compared to the judicial machine we are nobodies and we have lost. On the other hand, we have won. The whole world now sees that the criminal case against us has been fabricated.’ The system cannot conceal the repressive nature of this trial. It is nobodies like them who, with a mass movement in Russia armed with a socialist programme, can overthrow the Putin regime and bring about democratic and socialist change.”
“Mr President, the EU likes to claim that it is a fort for progress in relation to women’s rights. However it is EU-led austerity programmes and neoliberal policies that are disproportionately increasing hardship for women workers. These programmes are resulting in mass job losses, together with attacks on wages and conditions in the service sector, particularly in retail. A majority of the unemployed workers in the EU are now women. Women are also disproportionately hit by savage budget cuts, targeting vital public services and social welfare. We have seen this in Ireland with the scandalous cuts to single parent allowances, to home helps and the threatened cuts to child benefit.
Women workers in the service sector have been one of the most active sections of workers taking action against redundancies and attacks on their conditions. In Ireland we have seen this with the recent strikes and occupations in La Senza, Thomas Cook, EBS and Laura Ashley. The trade union movement must now organise in the service sector to fight against low pay and job losses, and for decent working conditions with improved maternity and paternity leave and decent public services.”
Article source: http://www.paulmurphymep.eu/video-pussy-riot-jailings-and-attacks-on-women-workers
