workingclasshistory:On this day, 10 April 1969, Indonesian worker activist and martyr Marsinah was b
workingclasshistory:On this day, 10 April 1969, Indonesian worker activist and martyr Marsinah was born in rural Nglundo, East Java. In school, she was a bright student, at the top of her class, but she was unable to afford to attend university. So she moved to the city, and eventually found work in a watch factory in Porong (content note: sexual violence). Then one day, in April 1993, the governor of East Java increased the minimum wage by 20%. However the company Marsinah worked for, PT Catur Putra Surya, refused to implement the increase. Despite living under the harsh US-backed dictatorship of president Suharto, Marsinah and 500 co-workers walked out on strike on 3 May. The following day they began a sit-in in the factory, and the company began negotiations, which included Marsinah as a spokesperson for the workers, and agreed their demands. On 5 May, 13 workers were called to the District Military Command, where they were forced to sign resignation letters. Marsinah headed to the military office to try to find out what happened to her colleagues, then disappeared. Her body was found 3 days later. She had been brutally tortured, beaten, raped with a blunt instrument and killed. The Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation determined that Marsinah was most likely killed by the army. To date, no one has been convicted for her murder. https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1691590451026098/?type=3 -- source link