APHEDA - Union Aid Abroad: Solidarity is under attack

There’s no other way to put it. Humanitarian efforts, aid, and global solidarity are being deliberately targeted around the world – and it’s working people who are paying the price.

Five years on from the pandemic, workers are still feeling the effects as economic pressures push millions into insecure, informal work, often without access to basic workplace rights and safety nets.

Authoritarianism, war, and corporate greed are fuelling crises that hit workers – especially women and children – hardest, while at the same time governments like the U.S. are slashing international aid, abandoning those who need it most.

Why is this happening?

As unionists, we know that solidarity is powerful. It’s how we organise to shift the balance of power in the workplace. And it’s the same principle we apply across industries and borders: if we don’t stand together, we all get pushed down.

Solidarity isn’t just a union value – it’s the foundation of our strength.

But the powerful know this too. Elon Musk recently said: ‘The fundamental weakness of Western civilisation is empathy... They’re exploiting a bug in Western civilisation, which is the empathy response.’

There is a growing belief among the powerful that empathy, solidarity, and international cooperation are weaknesses. And the consequences are clear as we see Trump in the USA gutting the overseas aid budget, while in the UK, Prime Minister Keir Starmer is slashing international aid to boost military spending.

In Myanmar, a recent 7.7 magnitude earthquake killed 3,500 people and injured thousands more. Yet the military junta continues air strikes and blocks aid from reaching affected areas. And instead of condemnation, junta leader Min Aung Hlaing was welcomed on the red carpet at a recent regional summit in Bangkok.

In Gaza, humanitarian aid isn’t just blocked – it’s being targeted. Over 400 aid and health workers have been killed since October 2023. A blockade on humanitarian aid, put in place in March, left people starving and without access to medical care.

And in our own region, Trump’s extreme tariffs have punished Southeast Asian economies and workers. Cambodia and Vietnam have been hit with tariffs of almost 50%.

In Cambodia’s garment industry alone, where 750,000 workers are employed, thousands of jobs are now under threat. These are attacks on global cooperation that hurt workers most.

But they can’t shut down solidarity

They can’t privatise it, bomb it, or put tariffs on it. Global solidarity belongs to us – the workers, the neighbours, the communities that show up for each other when it matters most.

The Australian union movement has a proud legacy of internationalism. That’s why we built Union Aid Abroad–APHEDA – our movement’s own organisation for global justice.

We’ve stood strong with democracy defenders in Myanmar, through the Myanmar Campaign Network, and supported humanitarian relief on the Thai-Myanmar border.

We’ve raised over $1.25 million for our partners in Palestine, including the Palestinian Women’s Humanitarian Organisation and the MA’AN Development Center, who continue their vital work in Gaza in the face of devastation.

Through APHEDA, we’re also building strong unions, feminist movements, and climate justice networks that connect workers across our region in collective struggle and hope.

Now’s the time to unite and stand up

When workers’ and human rights are under attack – anywhere – we respond by uniting, organising, and standing together. Because solidarity has no borders. There is strength in numbers. That’s why we’re asking unionists and workers to support Union Aid Abroad–APHEDA with a monthly donation of $20 or more.

Join us at www.apheda.org.au/join and spread the word.