ILC INTERNATIONAL NEWSLETTER NO. 123 - 124
A dossier of weekly information published by the International
Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples
March 22-29, 2005
International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples
87, rue du Faubourg Saint Denis 75010 Paris, France
Price 0,50 E
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The World Conference of the ILC was held in Madrid on March 18 - 20,
2005
Three bulletins with present a full report on the World Conference.
Below we publish the first of these three bulletins.
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Bulletin No. 1
World Conference of the International Liaison Committee of Workers and
Peoples
Madrid, March 2005
PRESENTATION:
Different points of view expressed freely. A fraternal confrontation
of ideas in a common framework -- that of the defense of the
independence of organizations that the working class has built over
time, that of the defense of the rights as well as social and democratic
conquests, even if only tiny segments of these conquests still remain,
obtained by the class struggle.
Such were the discussions that went on over the three days of the World
Conference of the ILC, including the one day devoted beforehand to the
European Meeting and to the Second Session of the International Tribunal
on Africa.
The raison d'etre of the International Liaison Committee of
Workers and Peoples is precisely this free discussion, this capacity to
bring together for such a discussion activists from diverse origins and
political and trade union experiences, at all times respectful of the
prerogatives of all the organizations to which they belong. And beyond
this discussion, the purpose is to organize in common, wherever
possible, activities rooted in the framework that is common to all:
working class independence and internationalism.
This open and free discussion is indispensable, vital, in the difficult
and complex situation that exists in today's world. "It would be
wrong to try to crystallize this discussion into a formal organizational
structure", the presenter of the main report declared at the
conclusion of the gathering.
"The discussions we have had call for concerted campaigns carried
out in common as well as a Final Declaration prepared by the presiding
committee on the basis of the contributions and proposals put forward
during these three days," the reporter continued.
The Final Declaration was submitted for individual endorsements from the
conference participants. The only vote proposed was to pursue this
discussion with the workers and activists in each of our own countries,
within the organizations of the labor movement.
It should also be noted that what is different about this conference
from so many others, such as media-hyped world social forums, is not
only the content but also how it is financed -- which, of course, is
closely linked to its content.
As opposed to the gatherings of the NGOs, the World Social Forums, and
all too many large conferences of that type, the ILC does not receive --
nor does it want -- financial sponsorship from the large financial
institutions and governments that fund the NGOs and social forums. The
ILC conferences are self-financed -- meaning they are funded exclusively
by the workers and activists, who, throughout the world, by thousands of
small sums, gather the necessary funds that paid integrally for all the
trips, the lodgings, all the organization and the holding of this
conference.
This is the hallmark, the very condition in fact, of the ILC's
independence.
"Considering the diversity of the situations in each of our
countries and within each of our organizations, we concluded that in a
world daily plagued by wars, military occupations, assaults upon
national sovereignty, plunder, and the threats to the very forms of
democracy, including the existence of nations -- it is the very basis of
human civilization that is threatened. More than ever, the working class
needs its own organizations," was the conclusion of of the
conference's Final Declaration.
Three bulletins will be devoted to the complete report of the
discussions held during the World Conference of the ILC.
In this first report-back bulletin (No. 123-124 of the ILC International
Newsletter), we publish the Final Declaration that was submitted for
endorsement by the presiding committee to the delegates; messages
received during the conference; the appeal proposed during the Women's
Meeting; the verdict adopted at the session of the "International
Tribunal charged with judging those responsible for the deadly evolution
imposed on the workers and peoples of Africa"; a report on the
European Meeting, and the various initiatives decided during the
conference.
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FINAL DECLARATION OF THE MARDID ILC CONFERENCE
Submitted to the Participants by the Members of the Presiding Committee
Delegates from throughout the world, respectful of the prerogatives
of the organizations to which we belong, gathered at the World
Conference of the International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples
(ILC). Following our discussions, we believe it is our task to pursue
within our respective organizations and on an international scale the
open discussion that we held at this conference in Madrid in March 2005.
Considering the diversity of the situations in each of our countries and
within each of our organizations, we concluded that in a world daily
plagued by wars, military occupations, assaults upon national
sovereignty, plunder, and the threats to the very forms of democracy,
including the existence of nations -- it is the very basis of human
civilization that is threatened. More than ever, the working class needs
its own organizations.
At the start of the 21st Century, even more perhaps than during the
previous two centuries, there cannot be democracy if the workers are
denied the right to establish their own organizations, trade unions and
parties.
It is precisely this right -- without which democracy is a hollow word
-- which is threatened. Not only is this right under attack, but the
very existence of the organizations that were built by the workers in
each country through many struggles and sacrifices is threatened.
The manner in which this destructive offensive is carried out varies
from country to country, but it is without a doubt a policy implemented
on a world scale and in a concerted manner.
Let everyone judge for themselves:
Next September, on the occasion of a Summit of the United Nations, a
meeting of the "Copenhagen+10" will be held. This name refers
back to the UN Social Summit held in Copenhagen in 1995. At that
gathering ten years ago, the large international institutions such as
the UN, the IMF, the World Bank, GATT (now the WTO), the European Union
-- along with many heads of state -- adopted the "Declaration of
the Millenium."
At that time, all declared they would undertake the fight against
poverty. They all spoke about the "humanization of
globalization." What is their balance sheet?
The reality over the past 10 years consists of wholesale regression and
the assault on rights throughout the world. >From 1998 to 2002, more
than 100 million children were cast into the hell of child labor.
Unemployment has skyrocketed. War and deadly conflicts have arisen
everywhere. Military occupations have been followed by more military
occupations.
Industrial employment has decreased throughout the world. Peasants have
been refused the right to own land. An entire continent -- Africa -- is
in the throes of being dismantled, struck by genocide caused by AIDS,
starvation and war. And during this time, the profits of the
multinationals have continued to increase, while the speculative markets
have grown to astronomic proportions.
Poverty has increased in all countries, including in the most
industrialized countries, and even in the very heart of the world's
largest superpower: the United States.
For the labor movement, the real fight against poverty is bound up with
the fight for labor rights. The more labor rights there are, the more
labor codes there are, the greater number of social laws there are, the
more misery is reduced.
Worker activists know that the system of ILO Conventions and Norms
represents a point of international support for labor rights in each
country. When a Convention is formulated in ILO bodies, each member
state or member nation is called upon to ratify said Convention. Once
ratified, it must then be inscribed into the social legislation and the
Labor Code of that country.
Let us remember that throughout its history, since 1919, the ILO has
adopted 183 conventions, covering every aspect of labor rights and
guarantees.
Let us recall ILO Convention No. 87 on trade union freedom and the
protection of trade union rights; No. 98 on the right to trade union
organization and collective bargaining: No.100 on equality in wages; No.
103 on the protection of maternity rights; No.111 concerning
discrimination in employment; Nos. 4, 41, and 89 on the banning of night
work for women in industry; No.138 on the minimum age for child labor;
and No. 97 on the rights of migrant workers.
Now this entire ILO system of Conventions and Norms is threatened.
In 1998, for the first time in the history of this institution, a
president of the United States, Bill Clinton, addressed the annual
International Labor Conference of the ILO.
Clinton was there to promote the "Declaration of Fundamental Rights
at Work," whose main feature is to substitute the principle of
Conventions -- that is, the binding norms and ratification procedures --
with general recommendations without any constraining value. The
undermining of collective rights leads inexorably to the
individualization and atomization of the working class.
At the same time, Clinton endorsed a new Convention -- No. 182 -- which
for the first time, in the name of the fight against "the worst
forms of child labor," in fact legalized child labor and de-facto
overturned ILO Convention No. 138, which bans child labor altogether.
In November 2001 at the ILO headquarters, as part of the effort to
further undermine the ILO conventional system, a "Commission on the
Social Dimension of Globalization" was constituted. According to
the report presented in June 2004 to the 92nd International Labor
Conference of the ILO, this Commission sets as its goal the elaboration
of recommendations for "a new world governance that is equitable
and inclusive of the universal values and rights of man." This
"new world governance" is supposed to be "set
up with all the actors: governments, parliaments, corporations, members
of civil society, trade union organizations, and international
organizations."
The Commission states in its report that it has met with the IMF,
the World Bank, the WTO, the European Union, and all the Bretton Woods
institutions, and that it has received support and approval everywhere.
The report of the Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization
also was discussed at the congress of the International Confederation of
Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) in December 2004 during which it was decided
to merge the ICFTU with the World Confederation of Labor (WCL). The
Commission report also was discussed at the World Trade Union Forum that
preceded the World Social Forum at Porto Alegre in January 2005.
At the closure of this forum -- in which the ICFTU and WCL participated,
along with the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and numerous
NGOs -- Emilio Gabaglio, former secretary general of the ETUC and
coordinator of the merger process between the ICFTU and the WCL,
declared that the next meeting of the Trade Union Forum of the World
Social Forum should be the founding congress of the new world
confederation, in the spring of 2006.
Isn't there reason for concern? With these proposed alliances, will the
merged future world trade union organization be transformed into a
Non-Governmental Organization, specialized and mandated to function
within the framework of the globalized institutions? Isn't there a real
danger that the workers' organizations will find themselves integrated
in the so-called "world governance"?
We submit these questions to wide discussion within the world labor
movement as there are attempts everywhere to force the labor movement to
renounce its historic mission of defending the specific interests of
wage earners acting solely on the ground of working-class interests.
The IMF is multiplying the initiatives to "promote the dialogue
between civil society and the IMF." At the meeting of the Bridge
Initiative, held December 2004 in Paris, the "working groups"
-- which included the IMF and "the representative worldwide civil
society groups, particularly the World Social Forum (WSF)" -- it
was explained that "the social organizations should place
themselves both 'outside' the Bretton Woods institutions (demonstrating
in the street) and 'inside' (by cooperating with them at all possible
times.)" (IMF press release for Civil Society, February 2005)
How is it possible for the labor movement to accept -- through the aegis
of the WSF or otherwise -- to "place itself 'inside' the framework
of the IMF and World Bank plans" and "cooperate" with
those very institutions that are determined to destroy nations and
peoples?
Throughout the world, the trade unions have been set up to promote the
organized independence of the workers against the employers and the
exploiters. Without this, the trade union organizations could not exist
as independent organizations to defend the interests of workers.
Must we renounce the age-old traditions of the labor movement?
Meeting at the World Conference of the International Liaison Committee
of Workers and Peoples (ILC), we reaffirm our commitment to the labor
movement, which was founded upon the notion that the exploiters and the
exploited have distinct and irreconcilable interests. From its
beginnings, through diverse methods of action, the labor movement has
always put forth the need to fight to put an end to the private
ownership of the means of production, the very basis of capitalist
exploitation.
The labor movement fights to freely constitute its organizations. It
opposes all concepts which in the name of the "new world
governance," in the framework of maintaining the regime of private
property in the means of production, wants to reduce the role and the
function of labor organizations to that of a cog in the system of
globalization, thereby fully integrated into it.
Refusing to forfeit our struggle in support of the Conventional system
of the ILO, our conference has affirmed the need to develop practical
campaigns in defense of, and for the enforcement of, the ILO
Conventions.
- Against the offensive by the Venezuelan employers' federation,
FEDECAMARAS, to have Venezuela condemned in the ILO for alleged
violations of trade union freedoms, we support the initiative of the UNT
aimed at the ILO Workers' Group. The UNT's Open Letter indicates that it
is the employers' federation that is actually violating trade union
freedoms. The Venezuelan workers must be free to join the trade unions
of their choice, which is an inalienable right linked to the defense of
the sovereignty of the nation.
- Expanding the international campaign "for labor rights and
against the occupation of Iraq," we affirm that the Iraqi workers
must have the right to freely organize in their own country, which has
been devastated by the war and the occupation.
- Along with the Chinese delegates at our conference, we affirm: ILO
Conventions 87 and 98 have a universal value. They must be valid for all
workers, in China as in all other nations.
- Having been informed of the tragic situation and danger that Miron
Cozma, the former delegate of the Romanian workers to the ILO, is now
facing, we have been called upon to address the highest authorities in
Romania to end the horrific repression against this mining trade union
leader, jailed because he respected the mandate of his trade union. We
have also demanded that the threat of imprisonment against the trade
union leader Constantin Cretan be lifted.
We ask: Isn't it a terrible indication of the world situation that from
one end of the globe to the other, the labor movement has to fight for
the defense and implementation of ILO Conventions 87 and 98 -- that is,
for the right to a distinct organization so that the workers can defend
their specific interests and for the right to free collective
bargaining?
The question of land is central for thousands upon thousands of men and
women around the world. The right to land for those who work it is a
fundamental right. We have heard that measures have been taken in this
sense in Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
Questions were raised by the Brazilian delegates regarding the situation
in their country. We affirm: The authentic workers' movement is on the
side of the peasants so that a real agrarian reform can be instituted.
From our diverse origins, we have gathered together within the
International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples (ILC) around the
"Manifesto Against War and Exploitation," which states, in
part:
"We are aware that the future will be difficult. The world is
falling apart. We affirm our confidence in the capacity of the workers
of the world to free themselves from the chains of exploitation and
oppression, their capacity to build a world where harmonious cooperation
between nations and workers will replace this increasingly barbaric
world."
The labor movement at the beginning of the 21st century fiercely
defends the traditions of those who started to organize it over 150
years ago. The labor movement defends the principles that were common to
all the tendencies of the labor movement that participated in the
International Association of Workers:
"The emancipation of the working class is the task of the
workers themselves. The fight for the emancipation of the working class
is not a fight for privileges and class monopolies, but is the fight to
establish equal rights and duties and to abolish all forms of class
domination." For this reason workers must be able to freely
form and control their own organizations.
Solely under this condition, can the workers and their organizations put
into practice the slogan of the labor movement: "Workers of the
world unite."
Presiding Committee members:
Daniel Gluckstein, Coordinator of the International Liaison
Committee of Workers and Peoples (France)
Paul Nkunzimana, President of the University Workers Trade Union
of Burundi
Tafazzul Hussain, President of the National Federation of Workers
of Bangladesh
Gotthard Krupp, member of the Ver.di trade union and the SPD
(Germany)
Nambiath Vasudevan, Trade Union Solidarity Committee of Bombay
(India)
Clarence Thomas, Co-Chair of the Million Workers March Movement
(USA)
Erwin Salazar Vasquez, President of the Lambayeque region CGTP
(Peru)
Vitaly Kulik, President of the Borotba Union (Ukraine)
Lybon Mabasa, President of SOPA (South Africa-Azania)
Nancy Wohlforth, Secretary Treasurer of the OPEIU; Co-convenor of
USLAW - titles listed for id. only - (United States)
Marcela Maspero, National Coordinator of the National Trade Union
of Workers of Venezuela
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Conference Participants Who Endorsed the Final Declaration of the ILC
World Conference:
Algeria: ARFOUTNI Abderrahmane, Member of Parliament, Parti des
travailleurs (Workers Party); Hanoune Louisa, General Secretary and MP,
Parti des travailleurs; KHERBACHE Zoubida, head of the women commission
and MP, PT; BEN MOHAMED Mustapha, Parti des travailleurs; TAKJOUT Amar,
MP, PT and leader of the UGTA.
Azania (South Africa): MABASA Lybon, General Secretary of the
Socialist Party of Azania (SOPA); MONWABISI Duna, leader of SOPA;
PHANYAPHANYA Theophelus MZUVUKEL, General Secretary of the SOPA, liaison
for the SADTU.
Bangladesh: TAFAZZUL Hussain, President of the National Workers
Federation of Bangladesh.
Belgium: BOONEN Eric, unionist of the CGSP teachers' union,
member of the Committee For a No on the European Constitution; LARSIMONT
Philippe, coordinator of the Movement in Defense of Workers.
Benin: ASSOGBA Innocent, Secretary of international affairs of
the Benin Federation of Labor Unions (CSTB); AZOUA Maurice, Benin
Federation of Labor Unions (CSTB).
Bielorussia: NOVIKAU Aleh.
Brazil: ADILSON Mariano Mayor, Workers Party (PT) (*); ARAUJO
Celso Oliveira, Workers Council CIPLA/Interfibra; BITTENCOURT Valmir,
Workers Council Workers Council CIPLA/Interfibra; BOITTO Misa, National
Leadership of O Trabahlo current of the PT; DA ROSA Domingos, Workers
Council; DE OLIVEIRA Marlene, Workers Council Workers Council CIPLA/Interfibra;
GOULART Serge, Coordinator of Workers Council CIPLA/Interfibra; SOKOL
Markus, National Leadership of the PT; TURRA Julio, Executive Director
of the CUT trade union federation (*).
Burkina Faso: TIENDREBEOGO Richard, Confédération générale du
travail du Burkina.
Burundi: NKUNZIMANA Paul, President, Syndicat des travailleurs de
l'Université du Burundi.
Cameroon: ESSIGA Benoît, President, CGT Liberté; MBILLE Martin,
Organization Secretary, CGT Liberté.
Central African Republic: REDJEKRA Jean-Pierre, First Vice
President of the Parti africain pour une transformation radicale et
l'intégration des Etats.
Chad: N'GARMADJAL Gami, General Secretary, Syndicat des
enseignants du Tchad (SET).
Chile: MARTINEZ BOLIVAR Jorge, President of Federation of Bank
Unions of Chile; MESINA Luis, unionist of Federation of Bank Unions of
Chile; POBLETE MENDOZA John, Treasurer of the BBUA; SANTIBANEZ PENA
Jose, President of the Federation of Bank Unions of Chile Santander.
China: (Hong Kong): CHAN KA WAI, Hong Kong Christian Industrial
Committee (HKCIC).
Dominican Republic: GARCIA GOMEZ Maritza Altagracia; GREGORIO
TAVARES Valerio; SANTOS EVELIO Fernandez, ANPA.
Djibouti: HASSAN Cher Hared, Secretary of international affairs
of Djiboutan Union of Workers (UDT).
Ecuador: ANAZCO H. Yolanda, Committee for Women's Rights; BAEZ
MERA Fausto Ramiro, Treasurer of SEEMAP (Workers Union of the Centers
for the Purification of Water in Quito; BAQUERO W. Washington,
Communications secretary; CABRERA LUNA Hector Gerardo, Secretary of the
Organization of Unions SEEMAAP Quito (*); CARRANCO MANTILLA Galo Ramiro,
General Secretary of the SEEMAAP Quito; CAZA TOAQUIZA Jorge Ramiro,
General Secretary of the CETEMAAP Quito; DOMO ORDONEZ Monica Susana,
Officer of the Women's Commission CETEMAAP Quito; GUANOQUIZA CASTILL0
Washington Wilies, Secretary of inter-union relations, SEEMAAP Quito;
GUERRA GOMEZ Martha Patricia, CETEMAAP Quito; LIMAICO VELA José
Ernesto, Officer of the OSRT; NARANJO JACOME Ciro Roman, SEEMAAP (*).
France: BARROIS Jean-Pierre; BAUVERT Gérard, bureau du Comité
international contre la répression (CICR); BESSE Pierre, trade
unionist; BITAUD Christophe, Union des Anarcho-syndicalistes (UAS);
CHAINTRON François, trade unionist; CHALARD Manu, trade unionist; COSTE
Cristel, trade unionist; DE MASSOT François; DORIANE Olivier, Parti des
travailleurs (PT); GAUQUELIN Marc, PT; GLUCKSTEIN Daniel, Coordinator,
International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples, National
Secretary, Parti des travailleurs (Workers Party); HEBERT Marc, trade
unionist; HEBERT Alexandre, (UAS); HEBERT Patrick, trade unionist;
HOFFMAN Georges, Revue socialiste Réflexions; KANBAN Bertrand, UAS;
KEISER Christel, PT; LOEW Jean-Claude, trade unionist; LOGEREAU Josette,
PT; MARQUISET Jean-Charles, trade unionist; MOUTOT Dan; PARIS Jacques,
trade unionist; PEPERS Véronique, trade unionist; PERREU Evelyne, trade
unionist; PERROTTE Yan, trade unionist; RAFFI Jean-Pierre; RAGUIN
Hubert, trade unionist; SALAMERO Joachim, UAS; SAVY Aimé, Deputy Mayor,
d'Ivry sur Seine; SCHIDLOWER Marie-Claude, Women's Commission, ILC;
SHAPIRA Daniel; SIFFLET Patrice; SIMONNIN Michèle, trade unionist;
SYBELIN Yannick, trade unionist; VINCENOT Dominique.
Germany: BOULBOULLE Carla GEW, ex-MP of the SPD; EISNER Udo, IG
Metall; FREY Henning, Ver.di SPD; FRIEDLÄNDER Bärbel; KARLHEINZ
Gerhold, SPD, AfA, Ver.di; KRUPP Gotthard, Ver.di SPD AfA; MATHISKE
Christel; SCHÜLLER Klaus, Ver.di, SPD, AfA Thuringe; SCHÜLLER Heingard,
IG-BAU; SCHUSTER Heinz Werner Ver.di, AFA, NRW; SIEWEKE Beate, Ver.di
SPD; UHDE Werner, Ver.di IAV.
Gabon: MOMBO MOUELET Camille, Secretary of the Fédération libre
des entreprises énergétiques, minières et assimilées (FLEEMA).
Great Britain: CHARALAMBOUS Charlie, TUC; CHOLEWKA Stefan, editor
of The Link.
Guadeloupe: GAUTHIEROT Raymond, General Secretary l'Union Générale
des Travailleurs de Guadeloupe (UGTG); MARIMOUTOU Christian, trade
unionist, Executive Board, UGTG.
Hungary: KOVACS Marika, delegate of Hungarian unionists, (*).
India: GAWALI Suresh, President Sarva Shramik Sangha Ahmednagar
Maharashtra; SANYAL Chandan Kanti, General Secretary, National
Federation of Sales Representatives Union (NFSRU); VASUDEVAN Nambiath,
Representative, Trade Union Solidarity Committee (TUSC).
Italy: DANIELE Gabriella, unionist CGIL-commerce; VARALDO
Lorenzo, teacher, member of the leadership of the UIL-school Turin.
Ivory Coast: OUATTARA Mamadou SYNARES, (*); YAO François General
Secretary of the Labor Federation of Energy Workers (SYNASEG).
Korea: SIKHWA Jung, Vice-president of the KMWF (Metal Workers
Federation, KCTU), (*).
Lebanon: a trade unionist.
Madagascar: GALY Jean-Raphaël, STM (Syndicat Lutte des
travailleurs).
Martinique: PETITOT Jacqueline, Alliance ouvrière et paysanne.
Mexico: DIAZ ALEGRIA Arturo; VASQUEZ RODRIGUEZ Luis Adrian,
SUTERM Chiapas; VILLALOBOS Luis Vazquez, STUNAM; ZAVALETA RUIZ Victor
Hugo, local General Secretary of the SUTERM Chiapas.
Morrocco: MEHINI Saïd, UMT (Union Marocaine du Travail), (*).
Pakistan: CHAUDHARY Gulzar Ahmed, Secretary General, All Pakistan
Trade Union Federation (APTUF); JAMIL Rubina, President of the APTUF
& WWO.
Peru: SALAZAR VAZQUEZ Erwin, Member of the National Leadership of
the CGTP; TRUJILLO Micael Diego, unionist SIDERPERU.
Portugal: PAGARETE Margarida, student; PAGARETE Joaquim, POUS;
PEREIRA Carmelinda POUS; REBELO Naida, Defense Committee of April 25th;
SERRA Antonio, Defense Committee of April 25th
Romania: CHIRCA Iosif, Vice president SLE; COSMA Tiberiu,
President, EM LONEA; CRETAN Constantin, President of the Committee in
Defense of Miron Cozma; POP Diana, AEM; TUDOR Marian, President of the
Organization for the Emancipation of Labor
Russia: GUERM Alisa, Union of students and teachers of Saint
Petersburg; SAFRONOVA Daria.
Serbia: IMSIROVIC Pavluscko, Alliance for Workers' Politics (APO);
MILUNOVIC Jacim, Alliance for Workers' Politics (*).
Spain: AGUILERA Rafael, unionist UGT; ALCOVER Sonia, UGT;
BARRACHINE Alberto Jimenez, UGT; BEJAR Jesus, CCOO; CALZADA Josep, UGT;
CHIAMA Mouloud; DEL CARMEN Alonso Montada, UGT; GARCIA FERNANDEZ José
Ignacio youth delegate; GONZALEZ SANS Luis, General Secretary CCOO
Seville; HERRERO HERAS Henrique, unionist; INIESTA Manuel, unionist CCOO;
INIESTA José Antonio, unionist UGT; MARTINEZ PEREZ José Antonio, UGT;
MENDEZ GALLEGO Koldo, socialist municipal councillor; MORO Javier
Miguel, UGT; ORTEGA Blas, unionist FSP UGT; PEREZ Jesus M, délégué
UGT; SAGASETA MILLAN Maia, CCOO; SANCHEZ ALVAREZ José, FSP UGT ENEL
Ayto Leganes; TORNAMIRA SANCHEZ Roberto, Federation of Public Services
FSP; VIDAL Manuel, CCOO; VILLA ANTONIANA José Miguel, UGT.
Sri Lanka: MUDUNKOTOWAGE Samman.
Switzerland: ANOR Alexandre, MP PS; DELEY Luc, unionist; FIASTRI
Marzia, UCPO; HERRANZ Antonio unionist SSP-UPOD; LANDRY Abdou, unionist.
Togo: GBIKPI-BENISSAN Norbert Tétévi, General Secretary of the
Union Nationale des Syndicats Indépendants du Togo (UNSIT); LAWSON
Messan Drackey, Parti des travailleurs du Togo; SENOUVO M. Vissikou,
UNSIT.
Tunisia: HACHED Ali.
Turkey: ONER Ibrahim, textile unionist, Kocali; OZANSU Sadi;
YELKEN Cetin, textile unionist, Istanbul.
Ukraine: BALAYEH Bogdana, Borotba organization; KULIK Vitaly,
Borotba; KULYK Andriy Borotba; NEPRYTSKYY Oleksandr, Borotba; POLTARAKOV
Oleksiy, Borotba.
United States: BENJAMIN Alan, Co-coordinator, Continuations
Committee of the Open World Conference of San Francisco (OWC), Executive
Board, San Francisco Labor Council (AFL-CIO); BRUSKIN Gene, Co-convenor,
US Labor Against War (USLAW) (*); CLARK Colia, Chairwoman, NEFEROHU;
COCHRANE Brenda, Chair, Labor Studies Dept., San Francisco State Univ.
(*); GALLIE Dennis, member, UAW Local 325 (*); GRIGGS Andy, Chair,
Commission on Human Rights, United Teachers of Los Angeles (*); HAMILTON
Jim, member, AFT Local 420 (*); IRMINGER Robert, Delegate, San Francisco
Labor Council for Inland Boatmen's Union/ILWU (*); KAMATHI Dedon, Co-Convenor,
Africa Tribunal of Los Angeles (2000) and member of the All African
People's Revolutionary Party; KUNNIE Julian, Chair, Africana Studies
Dept., U of Arizona at Tucson (*); LOMBARD Denice, member of OPEIU,
AFL-CIO (*); PHILLIPS Millie, Socialist Organizer; ROSARIO Eddy,
Co-coordinator, Continuations Committee of the Open World Conference of
San Francisco (OWC); SCHOENMAN Ralph, Communications Director, Million
Worker March Committee - UAW 1981; THOMAS Clarence, Co-Chair, Million
Worker March Committee; WOHLFORTH Nancy, General Secretary, OPEIU, Co-convenor,
USLAW (*).
Venezuela: MASPERO Marcela, C0-Coordinator of the National Union
of Workers (UNT).
(*): organizations and titles list for id. purposes only.
The delegates from the Comores Isles and the Czech Republic
had to leave the conference before the end of the deliberations.
The delegates from Afghanistan, Iraq, Moldavia, and the Philippines
were not able to get their visas and thus were unable to attend the
conference.
**************
PLEASE ENDORSE THIS ILC FINAL DECLARATION
[ ] I publicly endorse the final declaration of the World Conference of
the International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples (Madrid,
March 2005)
Country:
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Organization and title:
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Checks to the order of: CMO at above address
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[ ] I endorse in a personal capacity:
[ ] I endorse on behalf of my organization:
On this basis, I wish to be a correspondent for the ILC International
Newsletter
[ ] Yes [ ] No
********************
Welcoming Message to the World Conference from Manuel Bonmati, General
Secretary for International Relations of the UGT Trade Union Federation,
Spain
[Note: Manuel Bonmati, General Secretary for International
Relations of the General Union of Workers of Spain (UGT), welcomed the
World Conference at the UGT headquarters in Madrid on March 17 during
the International Rally "for equality in rights for women and men
in society and in particular in working relations."]
WELCOME TO MADRID, COMRADES!
One hundred and seventeen years ago, at the time of discussions
between Marxists and partisans of Bakounin, a small group of Spanish
socialist workers founded the General Union of Workers (UGT) and the
Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE).
Today, 117 years later, despite the dictatorships we have known in
Spain, we are still here. Comrades, 117 years later, welcome to the
House of the People, welcome to the socialist trade union that is the
General Union of Workers. Please allow me, during my short speech, to
make two or three observations on the discussions you will have.
In reference to the new world framework: They tell us that globalization
is neutral and that it represents all our interests. For us socialists,
the globalization that is being installed is purely and simply a new
reorganization of the capitalist economic system.
It is a new reorganization of production systems, a new way to exact
surplus value on a global level. Capitalism today needs a new framework
in reference to social rights, a framework in which social rights no
longer exist, where everything is privatised and the State has no role
in the economic or social domains, as well as in the political and
democratic domains. And all of this with the help of a hegemonic power
that seeks to impose a neo-liberal culture and, when dialogue is an
obstacle, has a hegemonic army to impose these policies.
My second observation concerns the end of the Soviet bloc. Many believe
there are no alternatives to capitalism and that one must accept things
as they are. But I sincerely think they are mistaken, since for
socialists the collapse of Stalinist totalitarianism is good news, and
it is also good news because Stalinism never represented workers'
interests.
Those who pontificate about this new situation are mistaken, because
while capital and labor continue to exist, the antagonism between the
present economic system and the interests of workers will exist. This is
so because this economic system does not solve, has never solved, and
will never solve the problems of humanity. From this starting point, we
must reaffirm as workers, that the labor movement is always necessary,
that the labor movement was born to build a different society, and we
must continue to act according to this responsibility and this
commitment.
For example, the theoreticians who work in and around the Bush
administration, and President Bush himself, say it is true, there is
poverty in the world, that capitalism should understand this problem and
show compassion. Bush said that a society of property owners should be
created. He said this while at the same time he seeks to dismantle the
system of Social Security in the United States.
We, the workers, must clearly state that we do not want compassion.
We want to speak out in our name and conquer a different redistribution
of wealth on a world scale. The role of class-based trade unions must
remain what it has always been since we were born as an organization of
resistance -- the defense of the working class on an economic, social
and political plane, because no one has ever done us any favors or shown
us any compassion, we have conquered all our advances on our own.
So, comrades, the role of the trade union is fundamental and strategic:
It is an instrument of equality, and we must place it at the service of
the workers' interests. We are citizens, but as a group we are one
class, the working class; we have our own needs and our own interests.
The commitment of workers must be ideological in analysis and action.
I am certain that a more just society is possible, but we must all -- as
workers, women and men -- be convinced of this, not just those who are
present here, but those who are elsewhere. We must convince them, that
it is our responsibility.
The trade union is the instrument, and the ILO, as well, is an
instrument of the workers.
But there are many who wish to weaken the ILO today. They would like to
prevent it from producing important and binding norms for collective
bargaining. They want to disfigure it. In fact, there exists within the
ILO a current of opinion favorable to the creation of a fourth group:
that of Non-Governmental Organizations.
The working class is not opposed to Non-Governmental Organizations. They
have a role to play in society, but the relationship between the boss
and the worker, between capital and labor, constitutes the fundamental
role of the trade union.
I would like to talk about the meeting on working class women that you
will hold this evening by giving just one opinion. The women in today's
society have problems on two levels: today's problems, the problems of
equality before the law, and the daily struggles for their rights.
Working women must be aware that their emancipation is not possible if
they do no link up to the emancipation of men, because in the end it is
a problem of the fight for the transformation of the economic system.
Comrades, as a trade union leader of the UGT, a trade union
ideologically committed to socialism, I sincerely wish that the
discussions you will have over the next few days will help to confront
the problems that we face as workers. And since this is an assembly of
trade union leaders committed to the left, let us all act so that the
left can gain ground over this unjust system.
Welcome to Madrid, comrades!
*******************
Some of the Messages Received at the World Conference
Message from Louisa Hanoune, Member of Parliament in the National
Popular Assembly of Algeria and General Secretary of the Workers Party
of Algeria. She was slated to be one of the speakers at the
International Women's Meeting in Madrid on March 17.
To the representatives of the labor organizations gathered at the
World Conference of the ILC on March 18-20 in Madrid.
Dear comrades and friends,
It is with a heavy heart that I address you through this message in my
name and in the name of the delegation of the Workers Party that had
hoped to be present at the 2nd session of the Tribunal charged with
judging those responsible for the bloody evolution that threatens the
African continent, whose first two sessions I had the honor of
presiding. I also address this message to the delegates attending the
ILC World Conference in the name of all the activists of the Workers
Party (PT) of Algeria.
Unfortunately what we feared has occurred. Due to the acceleration of
the extremely brutal offensive by imperialism against our country, the
delegation of the Workers' Party will not be able to join you, as its
leaders, including its deputies in the National Popular Assembly (APN),
such as myself, are obliged to cancel our trip to Madrid because the APN
announced on March 15, after an extraordinary session, the convening of
a plenary session so that the deputies can discuss and vote on the draft
law regarding the de-nationalization of our nation's oil and gas
resources.
It is the very Algerian nation that is in question here, given that with
the de-nationalization of the country's principal resources -- all for
the profit of multinationals, the very ones that plunder Iraq and ruined
Argentina -- it is the very existence of the State that is at stake.
After the announcement of the new program in the National Popular
Assembly, we urgently attempted to put together another delegation for
Madrid, but unfortunately that became impossible due to the obstacle of
obtaining visas, which requires a minimum of 15 days' preparation.
The draft law on hydrocarbons -- principally oil and gas -- was
concocted in January 2001, then withdrawn in February 2001 after a
general strike called by the UGTA trade union federation and the
opposition of the majority of parties that laid siege to the APN. This
was before September 2001.
The working class was able to snatch a respite, but in the framework of
the world offensive against workers and the peoples since the summer of
2004, a veritable steamroller has been unleashed against the nation and
the Algerian working class, expressed in the form of a cascade of
so-called "reforms," including privatizations and
deregulations of any and all sectors, particularly any public sector.
The law on hydrocarbons, at U.S. insistence, was preceded on March 14 by
the ratification of a global agreement with the European Union, which
placed Algeria under binding agreement, foreshadowing the creation of a
"free trade" zone to benefit the multinationals, as well as
the European Union and the U.S. government.
Isn't this the very same war of "free trade" and plunder that
caused the chaos in the Ivory Coast, in the Democratic Congo, and in
many other countries?
Dear Comrades, the Workers Party (PT) has declared itself in a state of
general emergency, since, with the extension of the war of occupation
and plunder against the sister peoples of Iraq, the spectre of
dislocation and chaos has started to come close to our country.
As part of its uninterrupted campaign of worker and popular
mobilizations in defense of the Algerian nation and the Algerian working
class, the Workers Party has been in the forefront of all the struggles
and campaigns initiated by the International Liaison Committee of
Workers and Peoples, in defense of nations, of Iraq, of the Ivory Coast,
of Venezuela, and through numerous campaigns for the release of
imprisoned trade unionists, in solidarity with the landless peasants of
Brazil and in defense of the UNT of Venezuela.
At this very moment, on the basis of an Open Letter that I have
addressed to all the Algerian people, to all who think that the
privatizations are inevitable, we are circulating a "Pledge of
February 24, 2005" (the 34th anniversary of the nationalization of
hydrocarbons in 1971), that is being signed massively by the workers and
people of Algeria. The activists of the PT have traversed the country to
reach the greatest number of people to summon them to action against
this ferocious imperialist offensive.
These vital questions are at the heart of your deliberations in Madrid,
and at the heart of all the processes on all continents and in all
countries. In Algeria, as in so many other countries, in response to the
brutal attacks, the workers and the rank-and-file trade unionists, as
well as the federations, are organizing the resistance to preserve their
jobs from the imperialist plunder. In Algeria the working class is
fighting to defend norms and guarantees consecrated in Algerian social
legislation since its independence.
In this fight to the death, the workers are defending their trade union
organizations, which are threatened with destruction.
I regret -- and we regret -- that this will be the first time since the
foundation of the ILC in 1991 that the Workers Party will not be
represented, particularly as a strong delegation had been planned. But
world developments often dictate the need to respond to changing events.
We are certain, however, that you will have an open and free discussion,
respectful of all the diverse political affiliations, aimed at providing
a perspective for struggle that can aid the workers, the youth and all
the oppressed on all continents to drive back and ultimately sweep away
the encroaching barbarism. We are convinced that despite the
difficulties and the ferocity of the offensive under way against the
working class, the last word has not been said, not by a longshot.
In fact, the presence of comrades of the UNT of Venezuela among you is
more than significant, since the advances in that country, product of
the struggle and the resistance of the working class and the majority of
the people of Venezuela, shows all the oppressed and exploited on this
earth that barbarism is not inevitable and that the independence of
labor organizations is fundamental for the survival of the working class
and for the nation.
On this Wednesday, March 16, in the industrial zone of Algeria, a
gathering of workers was held , called by trade unions and the UGTA
local union in solidarity with the workers at a brick factory that had
closed, because the workers opposed the privatization. An unemployed
trade unionist appealed to the organization in defense of all sectors
threatened with privatization, concluding his remarks by saying that
"the victory and re-conquest of our enterprises and jobs is
possible." Indeed, the Venezuelan people, through their
mobilizations, have shown that it is possible to nationalize
re-nationalize their bankrupted or privatized industries and recover
their jobs. We can do the same.
Through the ILC International Newsletter, you will be informed of the
results of the discussions and vote on hydrocarbons at the National
Popular Assembly in Algeria, and more generally on the struggles in
Algeria. We are certain that we will be able re-appropriate the
conquests of the Algerian Revolution because we do not doubt the
capacity of the Algerian people, of all the peoples of the world, to
stop the policies of U.S. imperialism which unleash wars and spreads
desolation and horror throughout the world.
Thus, as has always been the case since 1991, your decisions will be
ours.
Long live the ILC World Conference, the struggle of the workers and the
peoples, down with war, and down with exploitation.
Louisa Hanoune,
General Secretary of the Workers Party
Deputy to the National Popular Assembly,
Algeria, March 17, 2005
********************
Messages Received at the World Conference
Declaration of solidarity with the Madrid conference in March 2005, by
Bill Fletcher, Jr., President of the TransAfrica Forum (United States),
who had planned to present a report at the World Conference but was
unable to do so.
Statement in solidarity with the Madrid Conference, March 2005
From Bill Fletcher, Jr., President of TransAfrica Forum, USA
Comrades, sisters and brothers:
I regret that I am unable to be present during your deliberations. Yours
is an important conference, particularly in this moment of great global
insecurity, empire-building and militarism.
We, at TransAfrica Forum, are deeply concerned with the continued
approach of the USA and Western Europe toward Africa. Rather than
acknowledging the debt that the USA and Western Europe owe Africa for
providing much of the basis for the development of capitalism (through
the slave trade and eventually raw materials), the USA and Western
Europe have imposed a debt of a different sort on Africa. Through
irresponsible loans given to kleptocratic governments, as well as unfair
terms of trade to African countries in general, Africa found itself,
beginning in the 1970s, under the increasing weight of odious debt.
The struggle against debt actually becomes one front in the struggle for
reparations. The struggle against debt is forcing a global recognition
that it is not Africa, or the rest of the Global South for that matter,
which owes anything to Western Europe and the USA, but rather the
opposite is the case. The pillage of the Global South; the slave trade;
the destruction of indigenous civilizations; the superexploitation of
the work forces; the existence of unequal exchange, and countless other
processes served to underdevelop the Global South. The development of
the USA and Western Europe, then, are not the result of hard work and
self-sacrifice, but came at the expense of large portions of the rest of
the planet, especially at the expense of Africa.
We join you in the struggles for genuine national liberation, social
transformation, and, to borrow from the late Amilcar Cabral, a return to
our own history.
In solidarity,
Bill Fletcher, Jr.,
President
TransAfrica Forum
Washington, DC
----------
Greeting from Walter Johnson, Secretary-Treasurer-Emeritus of the San
Francisco Labor Council (AFL-CIO)
Dear Sisters and Brothers:
Congratulations for one more Open World Conference of the ILC. I am
sorry I'm unable to be there, but rest assured that my heart and soul
will be with you.
I have a great admiration for all the different labor contingents from
different parts of the world that will be gathering to send one powerful
voice to defend labor and people's rights.
Over the past eight years, beginning in 1997 with the Western Hemisphere
Workers' Conference Against NAFTA, I have watched the seed that was
planted here in the United States by two individuals -- Alan Benjamin
and Eddie Rosario -- blossom into a worldwide force.
Nothing could be more important than the gathering of labor members from
all over the world to deal effectively with the other side: the
government and Big Business interests so determined to deny us our
rights.
I look forward to receiving the report from the U.S. delegation
regarding the outcome of the Open World Conference in Madrid. I am
supremely confident that after sharing ideas and plans, a new journey
will begin down the highway of resistance for all people.
Finally, I wish to convey the greetings to your gathering from Jack
Henning, former Secretary-Treasurer of the California Federation of
Labor. Jack, as you know, was instrumental in getting the Open World
Conference process off the ground here in the United States.
I hope that some time during your conference mention will be made of
Jack's lifelong contribution to the U.S. and international labor
movements, to thank him for his inspiration and leadership in the work
we all have embarked upon.
Thanks for all your great work. On to the future. Together we shall
prevail.
Walter Johnson,
Secretary-Treasurer-Emeritus
San Francisco Labor Council (AFL-CIO)
**********
Message from Ion Albu, Secretary General of the Trade Union
Confederation MERIDIAN of Romania
To the participants at the World Conference of the International
Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples.
Dear friends,
I wanted to be present at your conference, but unfortunately important
trade union matters have kept me in Romania and I would like to detail
them.
Over the past few weeks, the Romanian government has attempted to modify
the Labor Code. These proposals of change represent a brutal turn in the
evolution of labor relations in our country. For example, the obligation
of the employer to accept collective bargaining will be suppressed,
opening the door to arbitrary workplace relations.
Labor contracts will be replaced in all domains, by contracts with a
limited validity, thereby liquidating the stability of employment. The
trade unions will not be consulted in the establishment of labor norms
by the employers. The procedure for individual and collective layoffs,
for economic reasons, will be simplified to the maximum. The employers
can therefore oblige the worker to work supplementary hours without
asking for his or her approval.
All these measures, proposed under pressure from the IMF and with the
complicity of the European Union, will transform the Romanian workers
into a sort of modern slave, all in the name of rendering Romania
"attractive to investors" and "competitive on the
European market."
We have no choice but to fight against all these plans. I ask for your
solidarity, the solidarity of the workers of the world, for our
struggle, in the name of the Romanian trade union movement!
I would also like to call on you, your organizations, to continue the
fight for the immediate and unconditional release of our mining leader
Miron Cozma, who has been in jail over seven and a half years for having
respected his mandate as a trade union leader.
Dear friends, I wish you success in your conference. You can count on us
in Romania, to defend the rights of workers and their organizations.
Ion Albu
Secretary General of the
Meridian Trade Union Confederation
****************************
Message to the World Conference of the International Liaison
Committee of Workers and Peoples from the Trade Union Federation of Mine
Workers of Bolivia
The Mine Workers Federation of Bolivia, the backbone of the main
organization of the Bolivian workers, the Bolivian Workers Confederation
(COB), greets the World Conference of the International Liaison
Committee of Workers and Peoples that opens on March 17 in the historic
city of Madrid.
The economic and social situation that our country is facing is
extremely serious. The consequences of neo-liberalism have profoundly
deepened poverty and unemployment. The disgraceful plunder of our
natural resources over the past 20 years and the increase of the foreign
debt have engendered a suffocating budget deficit that is now 9%. The
dramatic situation of the 70% of the Bolivian population who are in
poverty explains the riots from 2000 to the present, including the
historic insurrectional uprising of October 2003, where Bush's best
pupil, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, was thrown out of office.
Today we are living in a profound political crisis that originated with
the radicalisation to the right by the government of Carlos Mesa who, in
his speech of March 6, 2005 before Parliament announced that he was
"resigning", putting forward as his condition for continuing
as president the adoption of policies in favor of the corporations. This
unleashed a chain of conflicts that have polarized the people with the
aim of obtaining the support of the middle classes and especially of
public functionaries obliged to support Mesa. Mesa's offensive
culminated with the pact between the government, the neo-liberal
parties, the multinationals and the employers.
This pact guaranteed the approval of the law on hydrocarbons of Carlos
Mesa, favorable to the interests of the oil multinationals -- all of
which led a gigantic offensive in defense of their interests. The
demands for autonomy, guided by foreign oligarchs, in the department of
Santa Cruz are part of the maneuvers of the multinationals and seek to
foment the separatism of the so-called "camba nation."
The popular and trade union movements, faced with the government's pact
with the multinationals and neo-liberal parties, unified its forces in a
Grand Alliance for the Dignity and National Sovereignty, under the
direction of the Bolivian Labor Confederation (COB). In this alliance
are Evo Morales, leader of the Socialist Movement (MAS), Felipe Quispe,
leader of the Pachakuti Indian Movement (MIP), Alejo Veliz and other
political and trade union leaders. The central objective is the
reconquest of our natural resources and the nationalization of the
hydrocarbons, objectives for which the workers and the peoples are
mobilizing in Bolivia.
The conditions in which are country finds itself renders the pursuit of
the neo-liberal model unviable, and it is the reason why the solutions
must inevitably pass through deep structural transformations. This
process implies a tough battle because we are faced with the financial
power of the multinationals, especially the oil ones; nevertheless the
struggle of the Bolivian people is determined and will be pursued
through to victory.
We again salute the World Conference of the ILC, and we make a fervent
wish that its conclusions will allow us to orient the struggle of the
peoples in search of their independence and their national sovereignty,
and to crush the fascist resurgence incarnated by George Bush, principal
author of genocide on the planet.
Miguel Zubieta Miranda,
On behalf of the
Mine Workers Federation of Bolivia
********************
Message from Jean-Maurice Dehousse, Former Vice President of the
Socialist Group of the European Parliament (Excerpts)
To the World Conference of the International Liaison Committee of
Workers and Peoples.
Dear comrades,
We are today in a situation where on the one hand there is the draft of
a Constitutional Treaty and on the other hand there is the general
context in which this draft is being prepared.
During the demonstration in Paris on January 22, I said that our
demonstration wasn't only the result of our efforts but also a point of
departure, a leverage poing from where we can fortify our common
resolutions.
The Liegeoise (Belgium) Federation of the Socialist Party that is by far
the most numerous and has one quarter of those affiliated to the party,
proclaimed with a crushing majority that the draft of the Constitutional
Treaty of the European Union does not respond to the hopes of
socialists.
The regional body of Liege Huy-Warmme of the General Federation of
Belgian Workers (FGTB), the most important regional entity of this trade
union (the FGTB is the largest trade union in Wallonie), adopted a
similar position. The executive committee of the Brussels regional of
the FGTB trade union of employees, technicians and professionals (SETCA)
rejected the draft "Constitution" because it considered that
it threatens our social model. It is almost impossible to cite all
positions taken in this regard, and even less those that are in
preparation.
Unfortunately, this progressive movement toward an essentially popular
"NO" has led the Belgian parliament to bury any hope of a
referendum.
Thus a new situation is in the process of definition. One can observe
that everywhere, progressively, especially in Germany, France, Belgium
and even in Spain, that the direction of the Social-Democrat parties and
sometimes the trade union organizations, have joined the right wing
parties to defend this detestable draft "Constitution" -- of
which many specialists denounce its profoundly anti-social character.
But in any case, these are political and trade union leadership that
take positions, usually without any consultation of the rank and file
and sometimes manipulating the rare votes in the trade union or
political structures.
They are deliberately organizing a profound divorce between the leaders
and the popular masses, which at the same time opens a road to the
extreme right.
Our task, difficult but very exalting, is directed at this time against
the new Holy Alliance of these leaders with the aim of forming a broad
mass front, that through its cohesion and its democratic practices, will
give the peoples confidence and again take up a march towards a better
future.
Liege, March 16, 2005
********************
Message from Peter Sorensen, former trade union leader of department
stores in Copenhagen, and sponsor of the fight against Maastricht and
against the European Constitution.
In Denmark, there is a popular movement against the European Union,
for the NO vote. What is at stake is the defense of the sovereignty of
the Danish nation. It is social security, pensions, unemployment
insurance, everything that one calls the Scandinavian model. They have
asked me to tell you that the eyes of Danish trade unionists are fixed
on France. If the NO vote [against the European Constitution] is
carried, this is important for all Europe. Our referendum will be held
on September 27.
********************
Message from the Workers Party (PT) of Brazil
To the World Conference of the International Liaison Committee of
Workers and Peoples
Dear comrades,
In the name of the Worker' Party, I send a warm greeting to all the
participants at the World Conference of the International Liaison
Committee of Workers and Peoples and wish you success at this event that
constitutes a demonstration of political will for all the peoples of the
world.
Markus Sokol, member of the national leadership body of the PT is
attending the Conference as a representative of the Workers Party.
Our common struggles for true democracy and social justice, inspire our
wishes for success in the accomplishment of these objectives at your
Conference.
Please receive our most fraternal salutions,
Paolo Ferreira
Secretary for International Relations
Workers Party (PT)
********************
Delegates from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka,
Afghanistan, Iraq and Moldavia were unable to attend the World
Conference having been denied visas.
They speak of democracy. Yet the impossibility for delegates from
numerous countries to attend the Conference speaks to the fact that we
are facing a process that threatens the right of people of this or that
country to enter a European Union country -- including for political and
trade union reasons.
Bangladesh:
Bangladesh, as well all know, is an extremely poor country. The
National Federation of Workers of Bangladesh that supports the
conference made considerable efforts to constitute a representative
national delegation. It was representative of both the reality of the
federation and its geographic diversity. It was composed of seven
people: Tafazzul Hussain, president of the National Federation of
Workers of Bangladesh; A.K.M. Fazlul Hoque, secretary for international
affairs of the National Federation of Workers of Bangladesh; Shariat
Ullah, secretary of the Dockers Trade Union of the port of Chittagong;
M. Shamimara, secretary of the women's commission of the National
Federation of Workers of Bangladesh; Mozibar Rahaman, secretary of the
Local Union of Dinajpur of the National Federation of Workers of
Bangladesh; M. Rafiquzzaman, president of the Chittagong Union of the
National Federation of Workers of Bangladesh; Kazi Towhiduzzaman,
secretary of the trade union at the Dazi jute factory affiliated to the
National Federation of Workers of Bangladesh. Only Comrade Tafazzul
Hussein was able to be present since he had a "Shengen" visa
that was still valid.
Pakistan:
Two delegates from a trade union federation, the APFUTU, were not
even able to arrange an appointment to obtain a visa, although they had
sent several letters to the embassy. They sent a message to the World
Conference.
Message from the APFUTU: Dear friends, please receive greetings
from the APFUTU (All Pakistan Federation of United Trade Unions.)
Thank you for your invitation. I would like to inform you that our
delegation was unable to attend the conference because the embassies of
Spain and France in Islamabad refused to issue us visas. We send
greetings to the conference. Keep us informed of the results.
Fraternally yours, Zia Syed.
- Out of five comrades mandated by another trade union confederation,
the APTUF, three were invalidated.
Philippines:
"After having passed nearly two weeks going to the embassy and
standing in line, the Spanish embassy finally received me to advise that
there was a delay of 15 days. Sometimes the line for the next day
started at 10 p.m. just to obtain an inscription number, and then we
learned that that number would not allow us to form part of the
contingent to be received on that day. It was an interesting experience.
I hope you can come and visit us in the Philippines." -- Victor
Briz (BMP)
Sri Lanka:
The delegate mandated by the trade union of the special economic
zones (FITZUNION) who wanted to attend the conference was refused a visa
after three trips to the embassy, where he was given a new appointment
each time.
Afghanistan:
After several weeks of comings and goings at the end of which the
dossier required for obtaining of a visa had been duly filled out
despite extremely difficult local conditions, the Afghanistan delegation
was ordered to go to Islamabad in Pakistan, so that the French consulate
could give them the green light for a visa. In Islamabad they told them
to go back to Kabul-several hundred kilometers along des COLS
inaccessible. Back in Kabul, they asked us to return to Islamabad where
they learned their visas had been refused without an explanation.
Iraq:
The delegates were unable to obtain visas. The Conference received a
message from Falah Alwan, president of the Federation of Workers and
Trade Union Councils of Iraq (FWCUI) and Aso Jabbar, in the name of the
Union of Unemployed in Iraq (UUI) recalling and saluting the struggle
engaged in common for the rights of workers in Iraq.
Moldavia:
The two Moldavian delegates were refused visas. They were informed
that no Moldavian could leave the country.
Thus in seven countries, organizations that had decided to send
delegates to the conference could not be represented. The ILC inscribes
in its struggle the respect for democratic freedoms.
*********************
International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples
International Meeting for Women's Rights
March 17, 2005 in Madrid
Appeal Issued by the Panelist of the Women's Rights Rally to the Women
and Trade unionists the World Over
Speakers at the rally:
- Isabel Cerda, Women's Commission of the ILC, from Spain
- Manuel Bonmati, Secretary for International Relations of the
UGT trade union federation, a message of welcome to the World Conference
- Daniel Gluckstein, coordinator of the ILC
Message from Louisa Hanoune, Member of Parliament in the National
Popular Assembly, General Secretary of the Workers Party of Algeria
- Nancy Wohlforth, Secretary-Treasurer of the OPIEU, United
States (title listed id. Only)
- A trade unionist from Lebanon
- Alisa Guerm, Student, students and professors' trade union of the
University of St. Petersburg, Russia
- Rubina Jamil, President of the All Pakistan Trade Union
Federation (APTUF), and Working Women's Organization (WWO) - Marie-Claude
Schidlower, Women's Commission of the ILC
We -- women, trade unionists, political activists gathered on Thursday,
March 17, 2005 in Madrid, at the headquarters of the UGT trade union
federation in response to the appeal of the International Liaison
Committee of Workers and Peoples (ILC) for a rally "for the
equality in rights of women and men in society and especially in labor
relations" -- address women and trade unionists the world over.
We have established a common assessment of the situation that affects
women and children throughout the world.
On all continents, women -- whatever their political or religious
beliefs, their traditions, the cultural atmosphere in which they live --
suffer with full force the consequences of the policies of imperialism.
Whether in Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan, Africa, Asia, Europe
(ex-Yugoslavia and the former USSR ), and even in the United States,
women suffer in their flesh and that of their children from war and the
barbarism it engenders.
We declare: We the women of the world, we who give life, we do not
accept this barbarism!
No to war! No to the genocide of the Iraqi people, withdraw the
occupation troops now! It is urgent to stop war and occupation; they
must all end immediately!
We take note of the following: In numerous countries, on all
continents, under diverse forms, the women suffer institutionalised and
codified oppression. They are second-class citizens through the
political instrumentation of religion. We are witnessing a regression in
countries where democratic rights, and equality in rights for women and
men have been obtained after many long years.
Whatever our political or religious inclinations, whatever cultural
atmosphere we live in, we are women.
We insist upon this: From the standpoint of democracy, religion must
remain a private matter.
The emancipation of women requires political equality in rights for
women and men, all must be citizens.
We take note of the fact that on all continents, and in all
countries a ferocious offensive is under way. Millions of women and
children subsist in misery, hunger, and informal work without rights.
The elementary rights to education and health care are not available to
them. Everywhere where rights have been obtained, they are brutally
attacked. Aren't the ones responsible for this situation institutions
such as the IMF, the World Bank, the European Union, NAFTA -- indeed,
the very system founded on the private ownership of the means of
production.
The figures are alarming. According to the UNICEF:
"One million children in the world live in poverty. From
now until 2013, only half the children of Africa will have attended
primary school and one child out of six will die before its fifth
birthday."
"One hundred and fourteen million children who are of school age do
not attend school."
Also according to UNICEF:
"352 million children aged five to 17 work one way or
another."
What woman, what trade unionist can accept this situation?
Our first duty is to fight for the total eradication of child labor,
for the ratification of ILO Convention 138, for its application in all
countries and in every country!
According to international institutions, poverty is developing
throughout the world. According to the UN, the situation of women has
deteriorated in the past ten years.
The women are the first victims of the policies of privatization and
relocations by the multinationals. The suffer the full force of the
frenetic development in the "free economic zones," of the
informal economy. They are the first victims of the destructive policies
of the European Union, of all the rights conquered by preceding
generations in the name of "flexibility", of the "competitivity
of companies," of "free competition."
As women, as trade unionists, we want to fight poverty. To all who
say, we must "humanize" globalization, we ask: Is there a way
to fight against poverty other than fighting for the defense of labor
and democratic rights?
Is there a way other than defending and promoting the ILO Conventions,
and fighting for their ratification?
As women, as trade unionists, as defenders of the rights of women
and children, we have decided to fight on an international scale for the
ratification and the application of ILO Conventions -- and especially
for those that protect women and children:
- For the defense and reconquest of ILO Convention 103 that protects
pregnancy at work
- For the prevention of child labor and the defense of ILO Convention
138
- For the prevention of night work for women in industry, the defense
and application of ILO Conventions 4, 41 and 89 that prevent night work
- For equality in rights for men and women, the ratification and
application of ILO Conventions 100 (equal pay) and 111 (against
discrimination.)
We say that if we are to ensure our survival and wellbeing and that
of our children, if we are to ensure the survival of humanity, we must
put a halt to this barbarism.
- No to war! No to misery!
- Against oppression and exploitation!
- Religion must remain a private matter!
- For peace, democracy, social justice for the rights of women!
*******************
Verdict of the Second Session of the International Tribunal charged with
judging those responsible for the deadly evolution imposed on the
workers and peoples in Africa, held on March 18, 2005 in Madrid
The Session was chaired by Paul Nkunzimana of Burundi, with the
assistance of Connie White of the United States and Francois K. Yao of
Ivory Coast.
The Tribunal was held before an international Jury composed of Patrice
Sifflet of France, Jacqueline Petitot of Martinique, Alan Benjamin of
the United States and Brenda Cochrane of the United States.
At the outset of its proceedings, the Tribunal heard the following:
- A letter from Louisa Hanoune, Member of Parliament in the
National Popular Assembly of Algeria (APN) and former chair of the
Africa Tribunal, apologizing for her absence as she was forced to remain
in Algeria on account of the unilateral decision of the Algerian
government to present before the APN a draft law aimed at privatizing
the public hydrocarbon (oil and gas) corporation;
- Apologies from Tole Sagnon of Burkina Faso and Gaston Azoua of
Benin, who were held back on trade union business in their
respective countries.
- Messages of support from Bill Fletcher Jr. (Washington, DC),
Jahahara Alkebulan Ma'at (Oakland, Calif.), Saladin Muhammad (on behalf
of Black Workers for Justice, North Carolina), and Ray Laforest and
Cajuste Lexiuste (Haitian activists in the United States).
Following these messages, the Tribunal's Chief Prosecutor, Tiyani
Lybon Mabasa of Azania (South Africa), presented the Act of Accusation,
which was prepared from written contributions received before the
holding of the Tribunal. In the accusation, Mabasa indicated that Azania
was not a Black Republic, as some allege, but is in fact a republic with
Black leaders acting solely to bolster the profits of whites, who are
the only ones who own land and reap the benefits of the natural
resources.
This report was completed by extended statements from Deputy Prosecutors
Julian Kunnie of the United States and Norbert Gbikpi-Benissan of Togo.
Kunnie centered his accusation against the U.S. anti-worker and
anti-Black legislation that attempts to deprive Black Americans of all
their rights and only offers the perspective of long periods in prisons.
Kunnie also insisted on necessary reparations for the hundreds of
thousands of Africans who were victims of the Black slave trade and for
the millions who have died following the implementation of the
Structural Adjustment Plans in Africa. Gbikpi-Benissan recalled the
importance of the maintenance, development and independence of labor
organizations and reiterated the need to unite in opposition to all
forms of interference in the internal affairs of Africans.
Following these reports, the chair of the Tribunal noted the absence
of the officials of the main institutions against whom accusations have
been brought -- institutions that were formally summoned to appear
before the Tribunal; namely, the Director General of the IMF, the
President of the World Bank, the Secretary General of the UN, the
President of the European Commission;
Following this statement, the Jury heard the testimonies of 19
activists and trade union leaders from Africa, the Americas, Europe and
the Caribbean, and was informed of the dossier prepared by the
Prosecutor containing the facts, figures and all the elements allowing
for an answer to the following question: After the holding of the
Tribunal in February 2000 in Los Angeles, what are the modifications
that have appeared in the overall situation and do these modifications
confirm or invalidate the verdict of Los Angeles session of the
Tribunal?
Let us recall that the Jury at the session of the Tribunal held in Los
Angeles based its verdict on three principles:
- The recognition of the right of peoples to self-determination,
- The recognition of the right of all the exploited to organize in an
independent manner against all the attacks to which they are subjected,
- The recognition of the right to life and peace, against all attempts
to massacre the peoples through violence and famine.
Five years later, the testimonies heard lead us to add one more
principle which we believe is decisive today: the right to the land and
to reappropriate the natural resources of the continent, especially oil.
In fact, these testimonies lead us to send out a cry of alarm:
In direct continuity with the Structural Adjustment Programs and the
so-called "plans for poverty reduction" of the international
financial institutions, it is now through war and destruction of nations
pure and simple -- as in Iraq over the past two years -- that barbarism
is being unleashed upon Africa with the aim of pursuing the systematic
plunder of one of the richest continents on earth.
In Los Angeles, theJjury concluded that the facts presented at that
session justified the title of the Tribunal: "International
Tribunal charged with judging those responsible for the deadly evolution
that threatens the very existence of the workers and the peoples of
Africa."
The jury also considered that those responsible for the deadly
evolution were "indisputably the financial institutions such as the
IMF, World Bank, the WTO, the European Union as well as governments like
those of the United States, France and Great Britain that continue to
interfere directly on the African continent or through the aegis of
local governments."
* Regarding the development of conflicts and wars in Africa, the
entire world has witnessed the continuation and/or break-out of
conflicts in Burundi, Central Africa, Congo and particularly in Rwanda,
with tens of thousands killed.
But it is in the Ivory Coast that the policy of systematic
destabilization of a sovereign state has appeared with the greatest
clarity: A country considered the richest in Western Africa, a stable
and peaceful country, has been plunged into an ethnic war, with the
resulting destabilization of all the countries in the sub-region, for no
other reason than the plunder of its resources by the big powers, as the
Ivory Coast is the number one producer of cacao in the world.
This orientation of destroying sovereign nations, as is happening in
Togo, the Ivory Coast, Azania, Burundi -- just as in Iraq, and as laid
out in the Baker Plan for the countries of Northern Africa -- has become
an essential component of the policy carried out in Africa by the IMF,
the World Bank and all the governments in their service.
* A witness from Burundi reported:
"In Burundi, over the past few years, a series of peace
agreements have been signed under the aegis of the World Bank, the
United States, the European Union and the UN. These include the
KIGOBE-KAJAGA Agreements, the Convention of the Government/Political
Partnership, the Arusha Accords and the Cease-fire Agreement of 2003.
But today, the population lives in catastrophic conditions. The last
mass massacre of Banayamulenge Congolese who had taken refuge in Burundi
-- carried out by the Palipehutu Fnl, the Congolese Mai Mai and the
Ingterahamwe, who perpetrated the genocide in Rwanda -- caused more than
160 deaths in the presence of UN troops charged with maintaining the
peace.
"Carolyn MacAskie, the special representative of the UN secretary
general in Burundi, declared when she took office that the UN troops had
sufficient means to prevent massacres and genocide. On the subject of
the recent massacre in Gatumba, MacAskie reported that the UN troops --
consisting of contingents from South Africa, Mozambique, Kenya,
Pakistan, Nepal, and Ethiopia -- were there only as
"observers." During this same period massacres of civilian
populations continued in the province of Bujumbura, forcing hundreds and
thousands to flee and live under inhumane conditions."
* On the role of the big powers in these conflicts, a document from
Zimbabwe was brought to the Jury's attention:
"The U.S. administration has included Zimbabwe in the 'axis of
evil' by characterizing the country as 'a hotspot of tyranny' -- meaning
that western imperialism will not spare any effort to destabilize that
country. Imperialism already has started to use one of its best weapons
for mass destruction: tribalism and ethnicity. The objective is to
prevent the Black peasants and workers from regaining their lands. That
is the meaning of the violent campaign carried out on all fronts against
the government's decision to carry forth with the expropriation and
return of lands to the Black population."
* After the Tribunal in Los Angeles, and faced with mounting criticisms
and riots in different African countries, the IMF and the World Bank
have put forward a new policy -- the "reduction of poverty"
campaign -- with the direct participation of local leaders in the
implementation of the Structural Adjustment Programs.
A witness from Cameroon explained the consequences of this new
policy:
"Today in Cameroon, with the application of the plans of the
IMF and the World Bank through a supposed reduction in the debt of
'Highly Indebted Poor Countries,' it is the plunder of populations
through the generalized increase in direct and indirect taxes that has
been created. This will accelerate the misery afflicting the workers and
the peoples, and will increase the number of poor workers.
"To have the right to the supposedly beneficial status of 'Highly
Indebted Poor Countries," and to have the chance to have the debt
reduced but not cancelled, there is but one condition: the privatization
of the meager resources that are still state-owned. This is accompanied
by the destruction of the category of civil servants; the forced early
retirement, in violation of collective-bargaining agreements, of state
employees; and wholesale attacks against the Labor Code, with the aim of
eliminating all labor rights. What is at play here is the destruction of
everything upon which a nation is founded."
* The Tribunal heard many witnesses affirm that the continued role of
many NGOs, under the cover of the fight against poverty, is that of
auxiliaries of the international financial institutions, thereby
threatening the workers' organizations, their prerogatives and their
independence. These NGOs are financed by international or state
institutions, as well as by churches and multinational corporations,
such as the Ford Foundation. They play a totally complementary role to
the Structural Adjustment Programs and privatizations.
* A witness from Burkina Faso summed up the picture of the present
situation of the African peoples.
"Over the past few years, the buying power and the standard of
living of the citizens in the towns and especially in the rural areas of
Burkina has deteriorated in a dramatic way. The degradation of the
conditions of life has forced millions of families to observe, helpless,
the transformation of their children into beggars, into petty thieves,
or even into child prostitutes. We also see a recurrent increase in the
price of goods and services that seriously affects the people's living
conditions, with the continual decrease of the purchasing power of the
overwhelming majority of the population. The present annual income in
Burkina is 1126 euros a year."
* On the fundamental question of health, a doctor contributed the
following information:
"Africa is one of the continents that has the highest rates of
infectious diseases: tuberculosis, AIDS and malaria have caused six and
a half times more victims than all the wars throughout the world since
1945. The figures speak for themselves:
"Two million dead from AIDS, 64 million HIV positive; one million
dead from malaria, 40 million seriously; one million dead from
respiratory infections.
"The average life expectancy for Africans will descend to 33 years
by 2015, according to a report of the WHO. This report indicates that
the disappearance of adequate health services is directly responsible
for this situation. The proliferation of epidemics is caused by the
displacement of the populations, the collapse of economies, and the
deterioration of hygienic conditions that result from this overall
situation.
"Often in the past, humanity has been confronted with large-scale
catastrophes: smallpox, cholera, famines. Humanity did not have the
technical and scientific means in the past to fight against these
plagues. But we know that today this is no longer the case; we also know
that despite wars, the collapse of the economies, and the plunder of its
resources, Africa continues to be deprived of its financial resources,
which would still be largely sufficient to stave off this catastrophe.
"Also, concerning vaccinations against infectious diseases and the
treatment of malaria or the treatment of AIDS, Africa could, with its
own resources, make inroads against these deadly diseases if its
resources were not drained each year from the continent into the coffers
of the international banks via the IMF."
* For all humanity, the future resides in its children; a witness
from Senegal explained the situation there:
"In 1995, the International Labor Bureau of the ILO estimated
that the number of children at work was 250 million. Of this total, 80
million were said to be working in Sub-Saharan Africa. According to
estimates, in the year 2000, there were 380 million children at work
throughout the world, of which 210 million were five to 14 years old,
and 170 million were between 15 and 17 years old. This monstrous
situation is unacceptable. Children who work suffer various forms of
violence daily. Millions are considered as slaves in the agricultural
sector, domestic services, and in petty jobs. During conflicts, children
are stolen from their parents and enrolled by force into armies where
they are molded by criminals who exert a veritable right of ownership
over them. There are 300,000 children soldiers, of which 120,000 are in
Africa. Sometimes they are guides and cooks, but oftentimes they are
killers."
All the written information submitted, all the testimonies and oral
statements presented from 19 witnesses have persuaded us that the
damning evidence that led the Jury at the Los Angeles session of the
Africa Tribunal in 2000 to condemn those responsible for the deadly
evolution imposed on the workers and peoples of Africa, not only
continues to exist but has considerably expanded over the past five
years. The African continent is in the throes of being dismantled -- and
it is therefore the survival of humanity itself that is being discussed
here at this Tribunal.
Verdict of the Tribunal
The Madrid Jury, weighing each word, solemnly declares:
We are faced here with the greatest barbarism of all time, and those
responsible for this catastrophe are known, reported and denounced by
the peoples. We will add to this sinister list the local leaders, who
are not only corrupt but have accepted to implement the plans of the
international financial institutions in their own countries, thus
turning themselves into auxiliaries of the big powers that confront each
other over the spoils of the peoples and their resources.
Therefore, the Jury proposes the following to the Tribunal:
- To continue and develop an international campaign for the
unconditional cancellation of the foreign debt of the countries of
Africa.
- To ensure support for the people of Zimbabwe who, 20 years after
having overthrown the colonizers, still do not own their lands and are
still fighting to recover them.
- To hold an International Peace Conference in the Ivory Coast.
- To reaffirm the demands for the release of Mumia Abu Jamal and all the
other Black activists jailed in the United States and other places due
to their political activities.
- To reaffirm our position on reparations, such as we formulated it in
Los Angeles in the year 2000:
"In Los Angeles and Durban we took note of the fact that the major
state powers that dominate the world (and Africa in particular) -- as
well as the international institutions that promote this domination --
refuse to grant any historic reparations to the peoples victimized by
slavery and colonialism. In fact, instead of paying the historic
reparations due to the African peoples, they continue to perpetuate the
infernal cycle of payment of the debt.
"Not only this, these governments and institutions are responsible
for spreading the scurrilous claim that Africa's current deadly
condition is rooted in some sort of inherent predisposition to conflict
and war by the African people.
"In Los Angeles and Durban, moreover, we deemed well-founded and
legitimate any and all sovereign actions of the African people seeking
to break the chains of the debt and to demand reparations for the crimes
committed against them by the regimes of slavery, colonialism and
structural adjustment. "
- To affirm our position for the unconditional withdrawal of all
invading and occupation troops, throughout the world -- and in
particular from Haiti, the first Black Republic to be established in the
world.
In order to carry out this action plan, the Jury proposes to reactivate
and expand the Permanent Commission of the Tribunal with the mandate
that it be charged with coordinating these activities, promoting the
necessary exchange of information on all these issues, and creating an
Internet website devoted to the International Tribunal on Africa.
This verdict was adopted unanimously by the Tribunal.
-- Madrid, March 18, 2005
********************
World Conference of the International Liaison Committee of Workers and
Peoples
Report on the European Meeting held on March 18, 2005 in Madrid
By Luis González, delegate from Spain
We have had an ample discussion among comrades from countries who have
been in the European Union since its inception (such as Germany and
France), from relatively new countries to the EU (such as Spain or
Hungary) and countries that are not in the EU or are not even considered
as candidates to be in the EU (such as Switzerland, Turkey or Russia).
Despite all the differences, all the contributors have spelled out a
common panorama. In all countries, the rights of workers are being cut
back, public services are being privatized or dismantled, social
conquests are attacked and jobs are eliminated. Entire branches of
production are destroyed such as that of auto manufacturing in Italy,
naval construction in Spain (40% of workers laid off), the textile
industry in Turkey (700,000 jobs lost), and agriculture and mining
everywhere. With them goes democracy. All this has to be sacrificed in
the name of "competition", a word that labels the interests of
the multinationals and the speculators.
The very life and civilization of Europe are endangered. Entire
communities are being converted into industrial deserts, following the
path of the mining communities, causing tragic living conditions. An
example is Germany with over five million unemployed. Another is Russia,
where inspectors throw pensioners off public transportation since they
have lost their right to free transportation.
Many comrades have helped us reflect on how these attacks are organized
from within the European Union, through its treaties and directives.
Numerous speakers have insisted on how the so-called "European
Constitution" continues and deepens these attacks and how it is
necessary, in order to defend workers' rights, social conquests and
democracy, to fight united for the NO vote to the Constitution. The
battle for the NO vote has been considered by many of our comrades who
were present as fundamental for the labor movement throughout Europe.
At the same time, we have seen that these attacks have witnessed a
response, there is a resistance. A comrade from France has pointed this
out, describing the immense social mobilization of the workers, of the
students, as well as the fight against the disappearance of the
communities and their public services, the growing rejection to the
draft text of the Constitution. According to some polls, the comrade
explained, 51% of the population is for the NO on the European
Constitution. This has been explained by the British comrades when they
reported that the labor movement is preparing a strike of a million and
a half public service employees, the largest strike since the grand
movement of 1926.
This resistance, as several comrades have pointed out, is being promoted
by labor organizations, and especially the socialist parties and the
trade unions. The workers who created these organizations want to use
them to defend their conquests. Many speakers have insisted on the
importance of having independent organizations. In this regard, I would
like to remind you of what Comrade Bonmati, Secretary for international
relations of the UGT, pointed out when he said that the class struggle
continues to exist and that the workers need trade unions that defend
their particular interests, faced with the offensive of capitalism, now
called "globalization."
Another subject that was amply discussed is the role of the so-called
"European Trade Union Confederation" (ETUC). A comrade
recalled how the ETUC describes itself: "in contrast to the
national trade unions, the ETUC is not born in the class struggle, but
in the institutional development of the European Union." In
this manner the ETUC recognizes it is an institution of the EU (75%
financed by the EU as another comrade pointed out). But what was clear
to all the participants at the meeting is that we need independent trade
unions and that a trade union cannot be an institution of the EU.
The contradiction between the struggle against attacks such as the
Bolkenstein directive on services, or the directive on working hours and
the acceptance of the European Constitution has been precisely pointed
out. Several comrades have demonstrated how these anit-labor directives
and the Constitution are one and the same.
At the same time we need to point out, because of its importance, the
situation of Comrade Miron Cozma, persecuted by the Romanian government,
following orders from the EU and the United States government. The Cozma
case is not one more anecdote among many others. The defense of comrade
Cozma is the defense of independent trade unions and the right of
workers to defend themselves and therefore should be taken up as their
own by the entire labor movement in Europe.
In conclusion, I would like to note a thought offered by our comrade
from Turkey, who in pointing out that the liberalization of the textile
industry places in danger four million jobs in Turkey, also tells us
that the Turkish workers are not enemies of the Chinese workers, they
don't have to compete with them. The Turkish workers and those of all
Europe, believe the working class of China must have labor rights,
dignified wages and living conditions, free and independent trade unions
in order to defend themselves. These same needs and aspirations that
European workers have.
********************
Initiatives taken during the World Conference
The Presiding Committee of the World Conference -- following the reports
by Tibreriu Cozma and Constantin Cretan of Romania, Alexandre Anor of
Switzerland, and Hassan Cher Hared of Djibouti -- proposed that specific
appeals involving democratic rights be submitted for signature by the
delegates.
The following documents were widely endorsed by the participants.
---------
For the release of Miron Cozma and five Romanian trade unionists
TELEGRAM TO THE PRESIDENT OF ROMANIA, TRAIAN BASESCU
Mr. President:
We have been informed of the inhumane conditions under which Miron Cozma,
mining trade union leader and delegate of the workers of his country to
the ILO meeting in 1994 and 1995, has been imprisoned. We, the activists
and trade union and political leaders of the entire world, meeting on
the occasion of the World Conference of the International Liaison
Committee of Workers and Peoples in Madrid on March 19, 2005, cannot
accept that a trade union activist is imprisoned because he respected
the mandate of his trade union.
For democratic reasons, we demand his immediate release.
-------
In defense of Constantin Cretan, trade union leader in Romania
We, the delegates to the World Conference of the International
Liaison Committee of Workers and peoples, have been informed of the case
of our comrade Constantin Cretan, trade union leader in Romania who was
present at the conference.
Constantin Cretan and five other trade union leaders, including Miron
Cozma, is accused of having incited to the subversion of the power of
the State during the events of 1999. He is threatened with a five year
jail sentence by the Court of Appeals in Bucharest.
Next March 23 the appeal before the Supreme Court of Justice will be
heard.
Constantin Cretan was vice president since 1990 of the Federation of
Mining trade unions in the Rovinari region.
We cannot accept that our comrade, who is here today among us, can be
thrown into jail tomorrow for having respected his trade union mandate
in 1999. This is a violation of ILO Conventions that Romania has
ratified. We demand that all the comrades concerned be acquitted.
----------
For the release of Hussam Khader, deputy of the village of Nablus
(Palestine)
We, the undersigned, demand the immediate release of Hussam Khader,
member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, and deputy of the village
of Nablus
Initial signatories:
- Louisa Hanoune, deputy at the National Popular Assembly of
Algeria
- Alexandre Anor, deputy of the Socialist Party in Geneva
- Nancy Wohlforth, co-president of Pride at Work (AFL-CIO);
Secretary-Treasurer, Office and Professional Employees (titles listed
for id. Only)
Andy Griggs, Chair, Commission for Human Rights of United
Teachers of Los Angeles (title for id. only)
-----------
SUPPORT FOR THE COMPLAINTS LODGED BEFORE THE ILO BY THE INDEPENDENT
TRADE UNION ORGANIZATIONS OF DJIBOUTI
The undersigned :
- Advised that the Djibouti government pursues a policy of repression,
intimidation, harrasment and layoffs of activists and trade union
leaders over the past 12 years and completely disregards the appeals and
recommendations of the ILO to respect trade union freedoms ;
- Furthermore, advised that the council of ministers adopted on November
8, 2004 a project for a new Labor Code concocted on the sly by the
Minister of Labor and National Solidarity.
- This project wants to definitely destroy free and independent trade
unionism ; it goes as far as preventing trade union activists and
leaders from being paid during their time in office.
The undersigned :
- Demand the the government of Djibouti end their anti-trade union and
anti-social policies and to respect ILO Conventions 87 and 98.
- Support the complaints of the central trade unions of Djibouti (UDT
and UGTD) lodged before the ILO that demand the government be condemend
for not respecting the ILO conventions and the re-hiring of the trade
union activists laid off.
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