ILC International Newsletter
No. 6
December 30, 2002
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
* Presentation
* Press Conference in Paris of the Collective of French intellectuals,
researchers and artists for support of the American call: "Not in
our Name"
* Interview with Hillary Keagan, secretary of the New York Not In Our
Name committee (from the Newspaper Informations Ouvrières-France of
December 20, 2002)
* The Ivory Coast /Cote d'Ivoire
* Presentation by Markus Sokol on Dec. 17 to the National Executive
Committee Meeting of the Brazilian Workers Party (PT) on Lula's Cabinet
Appointments
**********
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**********
Press Conference in Paris of the Collective of French intellectuals,
researchers and artists for support of the American call: "Not in
our Name"
François Dominique, a writer, introduced the press conference giving
thanks to the Theatre du Rond Point which lent its space to the
collective. He presented the speakers: Hillary Keagan, an actress,
secretary of the Not In Our Name collective in New York, Jean Pierre
Barrois, Lecture Professor and Guy Poussy, member of an association.
Hillary Keagan then presented the Not In Our Name movement of the United
States: The collective was founded through the initiative of Clark
Kissinger, an activist against the Vietnam war, to which well known
artists and intellectuals have been added.
The Not In Our Name text began to be elaborated in January of 2002,
collecting its first signatures, and then, in June, we decided to
distribute it through the press, radio and television. None of the means
of communication wanted to distribute it, except the Guardian in London,
for free, and with an email address. Starting from that point we were
swamped with signatures. In September we published a paid advertisement
in the New York Times, the LA Times, the Chicago Tribune, and, more
importantly, in USA Today, a daily with wide distribution throughout the
country; we wanted every city, every town, every home, to see it.
This text was written well before the threats of war in Iraq; "It
originated from the families of the victims of the World Trade Center
who didn't want war to be waged in their name: "Our pain is not a
call to make war."
"It is a call against the threat of imperialist war, against the
denial of our civil rights. Today, the text is more current than ever.
It is about the broadest possible struggle against war in Iraq."
To a question about the state of public opinion in the United States,
Hillary Keagan responded that "the American citizens only have the
information from the White House: the television, radio, and press say
nothing else. It is a true information blockade. The White House is
using the tragedy to develop a pro-American patriotism."
Numerous demonstrations have developed. "Between 150 and 200,000
demonstrators in Washington on October 26 according to the police. The
media has said nothing about it".
Jean Pierre Barrois, spokesperson for the French collective, spoke next.
According to the NYT, the United States is preparing to reject the
report of the inspectors. We have entered into an active phase of direct
preparation for war. There have been new transfers of troops to Qatar.
Not all public opinion is with Bush. It is important that the genesis of
the call be remembered, the families of the victims of the World Trade
Center in the USA. There is a problem with mass media in the
United States. The same happens in France. It is necessary to construct
our own public opinion. The majority of public opinion is against the
war, but lacks the outlets to express itself. We have published 2,000
signatures, we needed to gather thousands of them in all milieus.
Bush has spoken of a long lasting war, of the plans of dismantlement in
many countries. Not In Our Name is a Manifesto, a call for an accord
among all peoples. We thank Clark Kissinger, who has established
relations between our committees. This movement has an international
calling, and it is indispensable.
USA Today mentioned a date, the 25th of January. Some think that it is
too lateŠ
In the case of war, we will immediately call for a demonstration, on the
same day.
We call for the broadest possible unity.
In conclusion, Hillary Keagan read a call directed to the artists of
France:
As secretary of the American movement Not In Our Name in New York, I
want to greet and to express our solidarity with the French signers of
the campaign Not In Our Name.
As an actress, I allow myself to extend this message to all my brothers
and sisters, men and women of the theater, the cinema, of the
entertainment business, in France and other places.
As a professionals of the arts and entertainment, our teachers, our
sources of inspiration are neither Bush, nor Colin Powell, nor
Condoleeza Rice, but Eurípides and Sófocles, Shakespeare, Molière,
Goethe, Faulkner, Brecht and the other thousands that in all countries,
at all times and of all origins, have put their talent and sensitivity
at the service of the promotion of man and not at the service of his
destruction.
I would like to take advantage of my stay in France to address all my
companions of this country. Your poet Jacques Prévert has said before
us, "What stupidity is war".
With thousands of American artists I say no to the war in Iraq, I
say no to the barbarian intervention that is being prepared against a
people that have already lost more than a million of their own because
of the embargo.
Say NO TO THE WAR!
Say NOT IN OUR NAME!
Only the unity of the people can make peace in the world.
The following press were present:
Radio France,
L'Humanité (newspaper of the French Communist Party)
Informations ouvrières (newspaper of the Workers Party of France)
**********
Interview with Hillary Keagan, secretary of the New York Not In Our Name
committee (from the Newspaper Informations Ouvrières-France of December
20, 2002)
IO: What you can add to what you said in the press conference?
Hillary Keagan: I insist. Our call is a call that was elaborated before
the military threat in Iraq. It is a call against the war and the
imperialistic policy of the American government. Clearly, it takes on
new relevancy with the war. This call has as its departure point the
denial of civil liberties in the United States. The Bush government is
playing on the fear of Americans after the tragedy of the World Trade
Center, in relation to all foreigners. With the "Patriot Act",
all expression, economic, political or social protest can be considered
acts of terrorism. This policy is looking more and more like that of the
50s, that of McCarthyism, in which a single issue, that of the fight
against the Communism, excused all of the acts of denial of liberties.
The Bush government plays on fear. In fact, the United States is very
isolated, above all outside of New York and the West coast.
IO: What are the consequences of the preparation of the war for the
population of the United States? What does the military budget
represent?
Hillary Keagan: The economic consequences, in the daily life of
Americans are immense. We are in a period of serious economic crisis.
51% of the budget is dedicated to the war. There is no money for the
schools.
When Bush arrived in the presidency there was a budgetary surplus. He
has ruined it all in two years. He has not only reduced taxes, but gave
"a tax return of 350 dollars per person. That is very little for
each one of us and is an enormous waste.
In fact, it is about oil. Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld have made estimations on what they would allow
for Iraqi oil; an increase of 8,000 million dollars. But that oil is not
going to enrich all American citizens, only to a handful of them.
IO: In the press conference you spoke of the action taken by the young
people of the group in leadership in the universities and in the
schools. You have indicated that on the 20th of November, arising from
those young people, numerous spontaneous demonstrations took place in
universities and schools. What message do you want to give the young
people of France?
Hillary Keagan: The young people are not so removed from the policies
which the government makes. You think that nothing can be changed, and
ask yourself, why act? But we have a responsibility, to say loudly what
we consider to be just. What has happened in the Sebastopol school of
San Francisco, where the young people demonstrated, and have been
suspended, and where their parents have come as well to demonstrate
against those measures, is significant.
For months, I contented myself with talking with my friends around a
glass of wine. And later, I said to myself that I could not continue to
accept doing nothing, I said to myself that I had to do something and
have given my energy and my time. To remain in front of the television
and say to ourselves: what horror, is not sufficient. The conservatives,
be they Republican or Democratic, are strong, and they act. We cannot
keep quiet.
The unions are little accustomed to taking part in the political
landscape, but many unionists have signed in their official positions.
Religious people have signed.
We have paid for publicity in newspapers 5 times already. What is
important is that other small newspapers have reproduced it.
**********
Ivory Coast/Cote d'Ivoire
We reproduce below a press clipping taken from Informations Ouvrières
(France) in which it is reported that 2,000 soldiers have been rolled
out in the Ivory Coast with the orders to "open fire" on
people that are already bleeding.
"Petroleum reserves of this country can be equivalent, in some
years, to those of Iraq", foretells the president of Vanco, the
main drilling company (...).
Two airborne companies, an armored squadron, a logistic unit of and
elements of commando: the reinforcements disembarked in the Ivory Coast
Saturday 14, with which the number of French soldiers in the country
rises to 2 thousand.
Le Parisien (France), December 9th reports on the pressures exerted by
Washington for France to make a clearer commitment: "officially,
the North Americans promote a pacific solution in the Ivory Coast and
say that they do not want to take part in the Franco-Ivory Coast
affairs, nevertheless, they begin officiously to worry about the
decomposition of the situation".
"The most serious, in the eyes of Washington, emphasizes Le
Parisien, is the threat that weighs on the port of San Pedro, a declared
objective of the Ivory Coast rebels. Cargill (a powerful North American
multinational, (NDLR) has cacao warehouses in that port and above all,
petroleum near the coast has been discovered". Precisely on a
borderline that protects San Pedro, they have set French
reinforcements with the order to "open fire" on "any
person who tries to impede the mission" of those reinforcements.
France Press Agency, December13th: The soldiers in the beginning had the
order to "protect the 20 thousand French and other foreigners who
now live in the Ivory Coast (...). (the French soldiers) can resort to
force". The mask falls. "The French troops can take any point
when they want to and can move across any part of the country",
declared the French official who directs the operation, to the AFP.
Le Parisien, December 9th: "A great amount of petroleum in western
Africa". A verification which, according to that newspaper,
clarifies the present events. "The high level officials of Vanco,
the main deep water drilling company (North American), are very clear:
The Ivory Coast offers an interesting potential according to the results
of the surveys done in 1999. That year, Konan Bédie was president of
the Ivory Coast and opened the doors to Vanco, granting him two licenses
for sea exploration".
It was also at that time (Christmas of 1999) that a series of coup
d'etats began, which threw the Ivory Coast into the chaos in which it
currently finds itself.
"In a short time, this region of Africa will produce more barrels
of petroleum daily than Saudi Arabia", predicts Gene Van Dyke
(president of Vanco, NDLR), cited by Le Parisien, which for its part
notes enthusiastically: "The reserves detected (...) can reach 100
000 million barrels in four or five years, a number equivalent to that
of Iraq".
With this fact, concludes the newspaper, the interest of the United
States is understood. The French army will serve as reserves.
The African people, once again, must pay the price: "50,000 people
have fled due to the combat taking place in the Western part the of the
Ivory Coast, AFP informs (December 14th).
Call from the CGT-B (*) of Burkina Faso, neighboring country to the
Ivory Coast
"Faced with a situation that can only bring terrible consequences
for the people of the region (the Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Mali,
Niger, etc.), the directive advice of the CGT-B calls (...) on the
workers and in general the people of the region, especially those of
Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast, to undertake an active solidarity in
the common fight against the common exploiters".
(*) CGT-B: General confederation of Workers of Burkina Faso.
**********
Presentation by Markus Sokol to the National Executive Committee Meeting
of the Brazilian Workers Party (PT) on Lula's Cabinet Appointments
(December 17, 2002)
Dear Sisters and Brothers
We are all aware of the delicate and difficult situation the new
government will encounter upon assuming office on Jan. 1, 2003.
On the one hand, we have the millions of working people across Brazil
with their deep aspirations for jobs at a living wage, healthcare,
agrarian reform, education, housing, and the like. They understand that
not all their demands will be solved overnight, but they await a clear
signal that concrete measures will be taken by the new government to
begin to address their most urgent needs.
On the other hand, however, there are all the obstacles that are being
placed, and will continue to be placed, in the path of the government
that will take office on Jan. 1.
The budget for 2003, for example, is part of the cursed legacy inherited
from the government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso (FHC). The budget is
structured in such a way as to pay back the foreign debt, not to attend
to the needs of the Brazilian people. In fact, it calls for a sharp
reduction in the healthcare, housing, education and other social
budgets.
Our Workers Party (PT) deputies sounded the alarm a while back on these
issues, noting that the outgoing government was placing time-bombs in
our midst, to sabotage a future Workers Party government.
The truth of the matter is that those who were defeated Oct. 27 are
doing everything in their power to ensure that the policies implemented
by Cardoso over the past eight years are maintained, if not deepened.
That is why it was correct to insist, as the PT comrades did, that it
was impossible to keep Arminio Fraga, or somebody like him, as head of
Brazil's Central Bank .
Last week, however, the president elect -- Luis Inacio "Lula"
da Silva -- announced the names of some of the principal ministers
[equivalent to cabinet nominations in the United States--translator's
note] in the incoming government.
Thousands of PT members across the country found out from the mainstream
media, as we did, that prominent Big Business personalities, many of
whom had supported the defeated Cardoso candidacy, had been named to key
posts in the new government. This has created an extreme malaise across
the board within the PT, as even the National Directorate of the PT was
never convened, nor was it even consulted, to discuss these cabinet
appointments.
Hence, we learned that the new president of the Central Bank will be
Henrique Meirelles, a federal deputy from the PSDB opposition party in
the state of Goias. Meirelles is the former president for international
affairs of the Bank of Boston, one of the largest banks in the United
States. Later we learned that Luiz Fernando Furlan was appointed
Minister of Development, Industry and Commerce and that Roberto
Rodrigues was named to head the Ministry of Agriculture.
Rodrigues is the president of the Brazilian Agribusiness Association and
campaigned for José Serra on radio and TV. He even helped Serra develop
his policy statements on agriculture. [Serra was the ruling-class
candidate who lost to Lula in the second round of the election on Oct.
27--translator's note.] The appointment of Furlan, who is president of
the Sadia business group, was "greeted with great joy by the
employers' associations," according to a press release issued by
Horacio Piva, president of FIESP, the Sao Paulo employers'
association.
Shouldn't these appointments -- all of which were "greeted with
great joy" by those who were defeated at the polling booths on Oct.
27 -- be grounds for widespread concern for the millions of working
people and youth who voted for the PT with the hope that things would
finally change for the better?
What are we to say to the new president of the Central Bank? Can we
expect that he will defend the country from all the speculators and
bankers who are clamoring for the repayment of the foreign debt, a debt
that has been paid back many times over? Meirelles was a top functionary
of a bank that is Brazil's second largest creditor -- a bank which,
according to legal complaints filed by the PT itself back in 1999 , was
among the international financial institutions that made a killing
speculating on the devaluation of the Real [Brazil's currency],
benefiting from insider trading information. This man comes from that
sector of international finance capital that led Argentina into the
current chaotic and destitute situation in which it now finds itself.
Can we expect that this new Minister of Agriculture, who is a large
fazendeiro [feudal-style landowner--translator's note] that made his
fortune exploiting mercilessly the sugar cane workers in Ribeirão
Preto, will address and provide solutions to the plight of the hundreds
of thousands of landless peasants?
What will be the priorities of Mr. Furlan, the incoming Minister of
Commerce and Development? He's a man who has been hailed loudly by Piva
and the bosses of the FIESP, that is, by the very people who have
been pushing for a "Social Pact" where the workers and the
unions are called upon to "share in the belt-tightening." Will
Furlan's priorities be the priorities of the workers and the
impoverished people who on Oct. 27 affirmed their desire for jobs,
living and dignified wages and conditions, labor rights that are fully
respected, public healthcare and social security -- all of which the
bosses of the FIESP deny with an iron fist to the workers in their own
factories? Won't this Minister of Commerce and Development be pushing
the priority of the "marketplace" -- that is, the age-old
privileges of a small minority?
Can anyone actually believe that these newly appointed Ministers --
given where they come from -- will respond positively to the
demands of our suffering people?
We must be clear: It will not be by pursuing the same policies that have
led us to the current disastrous situation that we will be able to move
forward and get out of this crisis.
Every day that passes we are witnesses to the brutality of the policies
dictated by the "market." This is what leads the current
director-general of the IMF to declare, for example, that a war in Iraq
could be a good thing for the global economy. This is what propels the
United Nations' Security Council to issue statements legitimizing Bush's
war against the people of Iraq.
Every time a concession is made to the exigencies of the
"market," more and deeper concessions are demanded. To impose
their rule, the powers-that-be -- the guardians of the
"market" -- do not hesitate to do what they are doing in
Venezuela, where a united front has been established between the U.S.
Embassy, the bosses' associations and the bureaucracy of the CTV union
federation with the purpose of overthrowing a regime that does not
submit totally to Washington's directives.
A force of 53 million people who gave the PT its electoral victory on
Oct. 27 rose up against all these "exigencies of the market."
This is the same political force that has risen up in Argentina against
the IMF-imposed crisis and that this coming December 20 will organize a
general strike led by the CTA.
It is a political force that is still standing firm here in Brazil and
that is poised to help a new government that carries out policies that
are in the interests of the great majority of working people.
Noneone here in this room will say that the road ahead will be easy. It
will not be simple to remove all the obstacles that are placed in the
path of the establishment of a genuine PT government that can adopt
measures that are essential to our people.
But that is why, more than ever, it is necessary to preserve the PT as
it was constituted historically; that is, as a genuinely independent
political party of the workers of the city and the countryside. Key to
this task is safeguarding the free expression of ideas and of diverse
points of view inside our party.
All of us know the tradition of free discussion and debate inside the
PT. Not all of us share the same points of view on all questions. I, for
one, have not always held the same position as Senator Heloisa Helena on
a series of relevant questions. But I am acutely aware of the traditions
of our party, including of our parliamentary fraction, where members
with minority positions are not sanctioned for their positions. This
freedom of expression and debate within the party is not only a mark of
our history and tradition, it represents one of our biggest strengths.
(Markus Sokol is a member of the National Executive Committee of the
Workers Party/PT of Brazil.)
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