ILC International Newsletter No. 134
May 31, 2005
Weekly dossier published under the responsibility of the
International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples (ILC)
Introduction:
May 29, 2005: "A victory for the French people." We
are publishing in this issue the declaration of the National Bureau of
the Workers Party, adopted by on May 29 at 11 PM.
We have asked our correspondents throughout Europe to send us articles
from the media in their countries, as well as their reactions to the
results of the referendum on the Constitutional Treaty.
We can only publish a small percentage of them here. From Belgium, we
received two messages. One was from Jean-Maurice Dehousse, the former
vice-president of the Socialist fraction in the European Parliament,
titled "The 'No' has won but the struggle continues." The
second letter was from a union congress which "salutes the massive
vote of the French workers" and calls on people to join together on
June 17 to protest the ratification of the constitutional project by the
Parliament in Brussels.
From Germany, a union leaders writes: "the French 'No' gives us
reason to hope for a Europe of the workers and peoples." A message
from Turkey is titled "Now the real struggle begins. Onwards
comrades!" A Spanish correspondent writes: "the Zapatero
government has been hit with full force by the sinking of the European
Constitution."A Swiss correspondant notes that the "No"
vote "is a point of leverage for the workers of Switzerland against
the bosses offensive." In Denmark, where a referendum is scheduled
for September 27, a correspondent declares: "We should not hold
back from saying no." Lastly, we publish a message from Pakistan
that "salutes the struggle led by the Workers Party and the ILC to
defeat the Constitution of the EU, which is aimed against the people and
democracy."
You will also find an invitation to the Conference in Defense of the ILO
Conventions and for Union Independence that will take place on June 12
in Geneva.Lastly, we are publishing a correspondence from Afghanistan as
well as an appeal from the International Committee Against Repression
that makes the call for a campaign for the release of the imprisoned
activists.
Write to us, and subscribe to the ILC International Newsletter!
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
p. 1: Introduction
p. 2 ILC: Invitation to the Conference in Defense of the ILO Conventions
and for Union Independence that will take place on June 12 in Geneva.p.
3-4-5: France: A victory for the French people. Declaration of the
National Bureau of the Workers Party, May 29.
p. 6-7: Letters from correspondents concerning the defeat of the
referendum in France (Belgium, Germany, Pakistan, Turkey, Spain,
Switzerland, Denmark.)
p. 8 - Afghanistan: - Protests against the Occupation; correspondence
from the LRA.
-- Appeal from the ICAR (France)
Subscriptions
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International Liaison Committeeof Workers and Peoples
Invitation
Conference For the Defence of ILO Conventions and
the Independence of Trade Union Organisations
Sunday 12 June, 9.00 am to 5.00 pm
Salle des conférences 9, 11 rue Varembré, Geneva
On 12 June 2005, from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm, the International Liaison
Committee of Workers and Peoples is organising a Conference In Defence
of ILO Conventions and the Independence of Trade Union Organisations.
You and your organisation are cordially invited to participate in it.
As you must know, the Conferences organised by the ILC over the last
12 years at the same time as the Annual Session of the International
Labour Conference are not intended in any way to compete with any other
initiative or labour organisation, national or international.For us
it is a question of continuing the free debate on the crucial questions
that are affecting the labour movement and which are the focus of the
ILO's 93rd Annual Conference.
- We offer for your consideration and for debate at our Conference a
contribution entitled "The ILO at the Crossroads?"
covering "the evolution and the progressive transformation of
the role and function of the ILO since it was set up in 1919, and then
confirmed in 1945 after the war."
We have on several previous occasions, at our Conferences, drawn
attention to the dangers we think the Charter of Fundamantal Rights
poses to the ILO's system of Conventions. We were concerned last year
about the work of the Commission on the Social Dimension of
Globalisation, proposing to introduce a "new world
governance".
The contribution that we are offering for your consideration poses, in
relation to the upcoming key dates, including the UN General Assembly in
September this year which proposes the "recasting of the
international institutions", a question which cannot fail to shout
out to all trade unionists:
"In fact, and we have had this feeling for a long time now, we
are plainly engaged on the path of profound transformations affecting
the role and functioning of the ILO. In parallel with this, and there is
nothing coincidental about it, the planned merger between the ICFTU and
the WCL assumes its true role.
The end of 2005, with the UN General Assembly, and 2006, with the merger
conference of international trade unionism, have assumed a real
importance to which the labour organisations should already be giving
their full attention."
- "The ILO at the crossroads". This same question was at
the heart of the World Conference of the International Liaison Committee
of Workers and Peoples, held in Madrid on 18-20 March 2005.That World
Conference brought together delegates from 48 countries, from every
continent, from all sorts of backgrounds, pays, and debated these
questions widely. A Final Declaration was agreed and endorsed. The
delegates considered that this discussion concerns all workers, in every
country, every activist, every organisation.All the delegates considered
it essential to continue this discussion, to open this debate in our
organisations. The Declaration concludes as follows:
"Throughout the world, the trade unions have been set up to
promote the organised independence of the workers against the employers
and the exploiters. Without this, the trade union organisations could
not exist as independent organisations to defend the interests of
workers.
Must we renounce the age-old traditions of the labour movement?
Meeting at the World Conference of the International Liaison Committee
of Workers and Peoples, we reaffirm our commitment to the labour
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 labour movement has
always put forward the need to fight to put an end to private ownership
of the means of production, the very basis of capitalist exploitation.
The labour movement fights to freely constitute its organisations. It
opposes all concepts which in the name of the "new world
governance", within the framework of maintaining the system of
private property in the means of production, wants to reduce the role
and the function of labour organisations to that of a cog in the system
of globalisation, and thereby fully integrated into it."
We offer these questions up for debate by the world labour movement,
because the labour movement is being pressured on every side to give up
its historic mission to defend the particular interests of wage-earners,
acting solely on a class basis.
- Why are we so attached to the ILO's system of Conventions, to its 183
detailed Conventions that have the capacity to constrain states and
governments? Because the workers, the labour organisations need the
ILO's normative system, they need the ILO Conventions, because these
constitute a leverage-point for the labour movement internationally and
in each country, enabling them to achieve and protect labour and
democratic rights that are incorporated into national law.
This is why the ILC is being grasped and used by labour activists and
organisations that are turning towards the International Labour
Organisation.Within the framework of international solidarity, the fight
for respect for the ILO Conventions, and labour and democratic rights,
we have been led to develop the following international campaigns, which
we are bringing to your attention:
For the Defence of the National Workers' Union (UNT) of VenezuelaAgainst
the claim by the Venezuelan employers' federation, the Fedecamaras, that
Venezuela should be condemned for violating trade union freedoms, we
support the UNT's initiative towards the ILO Workers' Group, which
demonstrates that it is the bosses' organisation that is violating trade
union rights. The Venezuelan workers must be able to choose freely the
trade union of their own choice, which is an inalienable right linked to
the defence of the nation's sovereignty.
… Together with the Chinese delegates attending our Conference in
Madrid, we affirm: ILO Conventions 87 and 98 have a universal value.
They must apply to all workers, in China and in every other country.
… For the release of Miron Cozma, miners' leader and former
Romanian delegate to the ILO's Workers' Group, who was sentenced and
imprisoned, in violation of ILO Conventions 87 and 98, for carrying out
his trade union mandate.
Having been informed of the tragic situation and the danger faced by
Miron Cozma, we decided to call on the highest Romanian authorities to
end the suffering of that miners' union leader who was imprisoned for
having respected his trade union mandate, and to lift all threats of
imprisonment against the trade union leader Constantin Cretan.
… We support the complaint lodged by the National Workers'
Federation of Bangladesh with the ILO following the catastrophe that
occurred on 12 April 2005, when the collapse of a garment factory caused
the death of dozens of workers.
In the light of the facts that have been assembled, what happened on 12
April in Bangladesh was not an accident, but murder committed in the
name of competitiveness. The big firms that are responsible for that,
Spectrum Sweater's big "order-placers" - resulting in its
producing around 80,000 items of clothing per day for export - are Zara,
Carrefour, Karstadt, Quelle and Cotton Group, which all place their
orders in Bangladesh because purchase costs are low, and these are low
because wages are way below the legal minimum and health and safety
regulations are ignored. All these companies had made a commitment to
respect a "Code of good conduct".
The National Workers' Federation of Bangladesh is lodging a complaint
which shows that several of the ILO's norms and Conventions have been
swept aside, like Convention 81 on labour inspection, Convention 155 on
workers' health and safety, and Convention 134 on the prevention of
major industrial accidents, at a time when the labour laws were also
being broken.
Don't all these initiatives demonstrate, if proof were needed, the
indispensable character of the ILO's normative system, which has been
developed since it was set up in 1919, and which includes 183
Conventions?
A report of each of these initiatives will be presented to the
Conference on 12 June 2005
We hope to see you there
12th Conference For the Defence of ILO Conventions and
the Independence of Trade Union Organisations
Geneva, Sunday, 12 June 2005, 9.00 am to 5.00 pm
*********************
FRANCE
Workers Party National Bureau Statement
A victory of the people of France
The French people have just expressed their will. Their record
participation rate shows that, when it is in the service of genuine
democratic choice, universal suffrage is an arm which the people are
ready and willing to seize in their own interests. The French people
voted with full knowledge of the stakes involved. It sent a message to
all that it would not give its consent to a "Constitution"
which used the Charter of Fundamental Rights as a pretext for
undermining all the foundations of political democracy and workers'
rights.
The "no vote" has just won a resounding victory. And this just
a few days after the collapse of Germany's SPD (Social-Democratic
Party). Can one imagine that these two events have no relation with one
another? The SPD leaders led their party to collapse for refusing to
admit that the German working class's social gains were won through
class struggle. Isn't this also true in France with the collapse of the
partisans of the "yes vote"?
On May 29, in our country, there are the victors and the vanquished.
The victors are the workers, victims of plans of delocation,
deregulation and the destruction of rights, public workers, the youth,
farmers submitted to the common agricultural policy, pensioners...
Victors as well are all the peoples of Europe who share the French
people's aspiration for defending their sovereignty, for the defense of
their rights, of their garanties, of the democratic gains, who share
their concerns about the demolition machine of mankind's conquests which
is the European Union and its "Constitution".
Aren't the peoples of the world victors as well? The victory of the
"no vote" in France means it is possible to stop the
destruction policies implemented around the world by the bankrupt system
of private ownership of the means of production. We address you, workers
and youth of the world when we say: "Producers, we must save
ourselves", as The Internationale chants. Despite the
"yes vote" call by all institutional leaders and the vast
majority of the "political class", it is the millions and
millions of the anonymous, of urban and rural workers, the youth, the
unemployed, whose aspirations all joined to say: enough is enough! The
current situation must end, this is the demand of all peoples!
Aren't the vanquished all the governments throughout Europe who came to
publicly support the French proponents of the "yes"?
Aren't the vanquished all the European Union institutions which devoted
all the means at their disposal to promote the "Constitution"?
Aren't the vanquished all the successive French governments which
meticulously implemented the Maastricht Treaty, from the "plural
left" Jospin-Gayssot government to the present Chirac-Raffarin
government?
Isn't the vanquished the MEDEF employers' association which, in the name
of the French ruling class, supported the draft constitution with full
force?
Isn't the vanquished the Bush Administration which, through the voice of
is Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, ostensibly came to support the
European "Constitution"?
The victory of the "no vote" prevailed despite a flood of
shameful propaganda, the manipulation of unbounded state powers and the
confiscation of an official campaign by eight political parties which
were selected on the basis of arbitrary criteria, probhibiting a number
of political formations, starting with the Workers Party, from taking
part in the official campaign. We carried out our campaign in a calm and
orderly manner.
But the entire arsenal of state power was not enough.
In the great moments of history the force of the masses, the force of
the millions of the anonymous shows that it can overcome the apparent
omnipotence of those who control the political, financial and media
institutions.
This May 29, 2005 will stand as one of those great moments, when the
people's will has risen to show it can submerge the powerful coalition
of those who dominate and serve the regime of the private ownership of
the means of production.
The French people said: 22 years is more than enough!
A few days before the vote, the French daily Le Monde, in an
threatening editorial, wrote that the victory of the "no"
would be meaningless if it left intact the 1983 governmental turn to
austerity policies.
For all intents and purposes, this is quite true.
Since the Left Union government of Mitterrand-Mauroy-Ralite-Fiterman,
under orders of minister Jacques Delors, made a turn towards austerity
in 1983, our country has been submitted to twenty-two years of austerity
policies, of undermining all our rights.
Twenty-two years during which our real wages have consistenly declined
and job market deregulation accrued.
Twenty-two years during which unemployment balooned.
Twenty-two years during which fertile land has increasingly been left
fallow.
Twenty two years during which regimes of social protection, retirement,
health care, unemployment have been submitted to ruinous
counter-reforms.
Twenty-two years of privatizations and dismantling of the social
services.
This is what we have experienced for the past twenty-two years.
And all these policies have been waged in perfect continuity by the
governments of Mitterrand's Left Union (1983-1986), then Mitterrand-Balladur
cohabitation (1986-1988), then once again the so-called left-wing
governments under Mitterrand (1988-1993), of cohabitation under
Mitterrand-Balladur (1993-1995), of the right under Chirac-Juppé
(1995-1997), then of cohabitation of president Chirac and prime minister
Jospin, the latter heading up the "plural left" which included
ministers from all the "leftwing" parties (1997-2002), then
the rightwing government (2002-2005).
This so-called "alternance" which alternated nothing but the
political labels of the parties in power. This explains the situation we
find ourselvese in today. It is due to twenty-two years of anti-working
class policies to which the French people on May 29, 2005 said: enough!
Twenty-two years is more than enough! This situation must come to and
end!
All the class struggle mobilizations opposing the destructive European
Union measures these last years are written into the May 29, 2005 vote.
Doesn't the May 29, 2005 vote contain within the strikes and
demonstrations which sent millions of workers to the streets in 2003 to
defend the public pension system against regionalization, movement which
raised the spector of the "general strike"?
Doesn't this May 29, 2005 vote contain within the mobilization of
millions and millions against the 1995 Juppé plan? Doesn't it contain
within the demonstrations of high school students in defense of their
national high school degree, the baccalauréat?
Of the vintners against the dissappearance of vast sectors of
agriculture? The revolt of mayors and municipal councillors of the
36,000 local communes who refuse do accept the eclipse of municipal
democracy?
Twenty-two years of uninterrupted class struggles, stymied, but then
resurging on every occasion, all coverged and forcefully expressed on
May 29, 2005 to say: twenty-two years, that's enough!
Yes, it is the survival of the rotten, decaying, corrupt regime founded
upon the private ownership of the means of production which is under
indicted here. The survival of the rotten and decaying system of private
ownership of the means of production is dragging mankind as a whole into
the abyss. In all countries of Europe it breeds ruin and hardship. On
all continents, it breeds war and the destruction of nations.
In this sense, the victory of the "non" in France is a clarion
call for fightback and struggle of all peoples the world over.
To live, the people need democracy
This May 29, 2005, the people said: We want to live, we want a
future for the youth. To live, the people need democracy. It is not us,
but the people as a whole who say so.
This May 29, 2005 has acutely deepened the political and institutional
crisis which is shaking our country.
Everywhere we are already hearing proposals about how to pull things
back together. Everywhere there are candidates to become the supreme
savior, as always, in order to betray the people's aspirations.
The Workers Party asks: can the needs of the current situation be
adressed without democracy?
The rejection of the European Constitutional Treaty contains the
people's aspiration to defend and reconquer political democracy.
It is especially because this alleged Constitution was meant to
confiscate the sovereignty of the nation and political democracy that it
was rejected.
There can be no solution without democracy.
The Vth Republic institutions are at the end of the rope. They are used,
laminated, dislocated.
For a positive solution to be found to the major problems which are
besieging our country, don't people need to participate in solving the
crisis?
For political democracy to be restored, isn't it indispensable for a
sovereign Constitution Assembly to be called, one which diposes of all
the means to rebuild political democracy?
Because it's up to the people to define the form that genuinely
democratic institutions should take.
It's up to the people to define the political and social content of
democracy.
It's up to the people to designate its delegates, its elected
representatives to such a sovereign Constituent Assembly, on the basis
of an integrally proportional election, a single national list, one
single district, delegates to be mandated for the adoption of emergency
measures to put an end to current policies.
The leaders must answer these questions
The victory of the "no vote" means, and everyone knows,
that major issues have been raised on this May 29.
They call for responses which none can ignore. They call for answers
that the leaders will have to provide.
Yes, an urgent answer must be given to the youth who asks: why don't I
have the right to a real job, to a decent wage? Why shouldn't I have the
right to gain a real qualification and degree which are recognized by
labor legislation, collective bargaining agreements and employment
status?
An answer must be given to this nurse who asks: why don't I have the
means to heal the ill? Why are hospital wards closing? Why are job
positions eliminated?
An answer must be given to the vintner who says: why do my barrels
remain full? Why can I no longer sell my wine? Why is the destruction of
my profession planned within the next three months at the next upcoming
harvest,?
An answer must be given to the worker who asks: how long will they
continue to delocalize? How many jobs will be lost? Why shouldn't I have
the right, like my elders, to save my job with its collective garanties
and live the decent life I aspire to?
An answer must be given to the teacher who asks: why shouldn't I have
the right to teach youth anywhere in France, in respect of its secular
traditions in education? Why shouldn't all youth enjoy the same rights?
Why shouldn't the handicapped have special ed teachers, physical
therapists and psychologists?
An answer must be given to the employee of the Social Security health
care administration who asks: why don't I still have the right to
reimburse citizens receiving public health care? Why don't I still have
the right to garantee these workers rights, as the Social Security fund
did at its outset in 1945?
An answer must be given to the pensioner who asks: I paid into my
pension fund all my life, I have the right to a decent retirement and
nothing justifies it being handed over for speculation to American
pension funds.
An answer must be given to the unemployed, to artists and actors who
defend their special coverage fund, to farmers, to elected
representatives, to all those whose rights are being violated, to all
those whose rights have been destroyed and sacrified on the mantel of
Maastricht for the last twenty-two years, on the twenty-two-year mantel
of the turn towards auterity.
Yes, the leaders must answer thes questions.
Workers, activists, youth
We must have no illusions
The immense victory won this May 29, 2005 in no way means that those
who govern the country or those who present themselves as partisans of
an alternative government intend to question the policies which have
been waged up until now.
Worse still: aren't they calling for them to be pursued, if not
aggravated?
Do you know? In the days preceeding the referendum, the government
continued its headlong march forward to implement a series of measures
aimed at imposing the counter-reforms rejected by the people.
On May 25, the Council of Ministers adopted the Borloo law which
generalizes deregulated, precarious work.
On May 25, the Statutes Commission of the High Council of the Civil
Service decided to start dismantling the civil service employment
statutus.
And already have been programmed for the days following the referendum a
series of measures which were postponed until after the referendum, and
which are still slated for implementation with no delay.
On July 1st, the Gaz de France natural gas utility is to be
privatized.
In June, under the pretext of "negotiations" with employers'
associations, the collective garantees written into the metal-works
collective bargaining agreement are on the chopping block.
In June will be examined the destructive reform of the Labor Code which,
in the name of simplification is actually targetting the gains won by
the previous generations of workers and their organizations.
In June the famous "Juniors Pact" would be introduced to the
civil service, allowing 20,000 apprentices a year to be
"recruited" in conditions of abominable super-exploitation
(paid a fraction of the minimum wage to replace the entry-level jobs of
public administrative and manual workers). Can this be?
Can workers, activists, youth accept such a violation of democracy, that
these measures rejected by the May 29 vote be implemented none the same?
To the contrary, what is needed are emergency measures.
The emergency measures needed are the suspension of all the
counter-reforms underway.
The emergency measures mean an immediately halt to all the processes of
privatization engaged, of all the measures implementing the Douste-Blazy
counter-reform of Social Security health care, of all the closures of
school classes, of entire schools, of hospital beds and wards.
All these measures must be repealed. This is the obvious respect which
democracy demands.
Shouldn't there be, on this basis, a government set up by a sovereign
Constituent Assembly which defines which measures, in which areas,
democracy demands?
As for us, we call for the following:
- return to the Social Security health care regime of 1945;
- repeal of the Juppé and Douste-Blazy counter-reforms, in conformity
with democracy;
- repeal of the closed-envelop hospital budgets;
- full and integral return to the SNCF (railways), EDF-GDF
(electricity-gas) public utilities and reversal of all the privatized
public services;
- return to the secular and national state-run school system, stop the
school and class-room closures, return to national degrees;
- return to employment status, collective bargaining agreements and
Labor Codes.
Workers, activists and youth,
You can only count on your own forces
All the successive governments have consistently undermined all the
great conquests, the major social and democratic gains which, in our
country, resulted from momentous revolutions.
The Republic and political democracy were born with the 1789-1793
Revolution. They resurged in the great revolutionary movements of 1830,
1848 and 1871, during the Paris Commune.
Social Security, retirement regimes, social legislation, collective
bargaining agreements, employment status, Labor Codes, unemployment
benefits, just like public, secular and compulsory education,
nationalizations, all these gains were won through independent class
struggle by powerful movements, by the 1936 general strike, by the
confiscated 1944-1945 revolution.
It's through the independent class struggle that workers today, by
capitalizing upon May 29, 2005, can and will be able to reconquer all
that has been subverted.
Isn't it the independent class struggle which is on the agenda today,
the struggle to bring a halt to measures of destruction, to impose the
respect of the May 29, 2005 mandate, to impose the reconquest of all
that has been destroyed? We think so. Don't you?
And to carry out this independent class struggle, it is indispensable to
preserve the independence of trade unions.
Among the defeated of May 29, 2005, among the top of the list is the
European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) whose general secretary, John
Monks, has gone to great lengths to support of the constitutional
treaty.
The ETUC's defeat is a call to preserve labor movement independence,
which can only play its role if it is independent of the state, of the
government, of the employers, of the churches, but first and foremost of
the European Union institutions.
The Workers Party contributed to the May 29, 2005 victory.
Alongside elected officials and personalities of all political colors
who intend to defend local communes, the unity of the Republic, we
formed the National Committee for the Victory of the No, with
"leftwing" personalities from various political backgrounds.
Of all the political formations in France, the Workers Party was to the
first to call for the "no vote". As of 2003, once the second
draft "Constitution" was officially in the works, and then in
April 2004.
In this way and in full independence, the Workers Party contributed to
carrying out actions for building unity around the victory for the no
vote.
Of course, we entirely reject the "recipes" proposed by
organizations which called for the yes vote. But to those (and they are
numerous) who called for the no vote, we ask the following question: is
it possible to improve the situation of working people without
challenging the decaying system of private property, which aims to
dissolve all countries the world over? Need we recall Brussel's iron
heel which is trampling upon peoples in all areas?
Shouldn't a clear and precise answer be provided to this question?
Shouldn't political democracy, in relation to all gains won by the
working class, be restored in all countries?
Today, the Workers Party independence is expressed in our refusal to
situate ourselves within any kind of project of political alternance.
The political independence which is ours prohibits us from participating
in any kind of combination of partisans of "yes" or of
"no", in any combination of the two, in any combination
through which, under the cover of alternance, the policies rejected on
May 29 will be carried out.
Workers, activists, youth, its through our own force that the people of
our country will impose on all those who govern, all the "top
leaders", all the "summits", their stinging defeat of May
29, 2005.
Workers, activists, youth, you can only count upon your own forces to
move forward and, through the class struggle, carry out the mandate that
the people confided in itself on May 29, 2005.
Workers, activists, youth, do not accept any "alternance"
which is meant to impose the continued implementation of the rejected
policies.
Count only upon your own forces. It's in this way that, sooner or later,
all the conquests of mankind threatened by the European
"Constitution" will be regained.
Workers Party National Bureau
Paris, May 29, 2005, 11:00 p.m.
--------
After the victory of the French people on May 29, we asked our
correspondents throughout Europe to send us their reactions as well as
articles from the media. We are only able to publish a fraction of the
letters received.
********************
BELGIUM
"The 'No' has won but the struggle continues"
"Not only has the French people chosen freedom, but it has done
so with a crushing majority. This was a victory for the people and for
the youth. France has refused to resign itself and, we fervently hope,
has chosen to preserve the possibilities for another Europe - a more
just, social, and useful Europe.
We owe so much to the leaders of the left for the "No",
because it is thanks to them, and only then, that the popular
"No" was able to express itself in a positive way, while also
placing a barrier to the extreme right.
Just as in the great hours of her history, France is showing us the way
and in giving a voice to not only the French people, but to all of the
citizens of Europe.
I hope that those who consider themselves worthy to lead the peoples
will be able to re-learn, in France and elsewhere, to listen to them and
to follow their wishes.
But the interests at stake, particularly the interests of the
financiers, are so important that we should be ready for a virulent
reaction. It is clear that they are going to unleash upon France, as
well as the workers throughout Europe, a torrent of unacceptable
projects and plans. This is even more of a reason to close ranks and
resist by participating in the social struggles that are already
underway as well as the struggles to come.
As for those who are calling for a second vote, which they never would
have argued for had the "Yes" won, let them accept a new
negotiation. If this were to succeed, then a new vote would have to be
envisioned."
Jean-Maurice Dehousse,
Former Vice-President of the Socialist Group of the European Parliament
------
Motion
The Congress of the SETCa (BHV), May 31, 2005:
Salutes the massive vote of the French workers against the European
Constitution;
Reaffirms the motion of the Executive Committee on March 3, 2005:
"The Executive Committee considers that, in general, this
constitutional treaty does not at all reflect the legitimate aspirations
of the workers. Rather, it constitutes a threat to our social model.
Aware of the historic stakes of this text as well as the fact that more
and more branches of the FGTB are taking positions, the Executive
Committee of the SETCa of Bruxelles-Hal-Vilvorde decides to declare its
rejection of this European Constitution."
Reaffirms its rejection of this European Constitution;
Calls on the Parliamentarians in Brussels to join this vast movement
against this Constitution by voting (during the discussion on June 17 in
the Parliament in Brussels) against this liberal project;
Calls on the participants of this congress as well as other unionists to
join the gathering organized against the ratification of the European
Constitution by the Parliament in Brussels. This gathering will take
place June 17, 2005 at 2 PM, in front of this institution on 69 Lombard
St.
******************
GERMANY
"The 'No' gives us reason to hope for a Europe of the workers and
peoples"
Dear Colleagues,
The struggle for the "No" was not in vain. The French people
have responded to the expectations of the German workers. While they
have refused to let us have a referendum, the German workers have in all
of the recent elections addressed an unequivocal "No" to
Schroder, who is in the vanguard of the implementation of the policies
of the European Union and the ratification of the European Constitution
in Germany and throughout Europe.
Here on the Baltic coast, we have lived through the strike of the
Polish, German, and Norwegian seamen who were defending themselves
against the shipping companies without scrupples. The powers-that-be
were trying to impose poverty wages on the workers by breaking with the
system of collective bargaining of wages. With this European
Constitution and within the framewoek of the extension to the east,
deregulation is threatining to become the brutal reality of everyday
life.
In the name of the supreme principle of the European Constitution, that
is competition", our brothers and sisters are being subjected to
the most brutal measures. We are scared as a widening gulf separating
the ranks from the union leadership
We read in the news about Ver.di: "There is an agreement between
unions in the 25 countries of the EU to support the constitution."
Who has given them the mandate to do this ? It is surely not our German
brothers and sisters, and surely not those in the other European
countries! The French workers have expressed with their "No"
vote their rejection of the Constitution."The 'No' gives us
reason to hope for a Europe of the workers and peoples"
Lothar Hesse, Wismar.
Ex-Secretary of the Ver.di union
******************
TURKEY
Now the real struggle begins! Onwards comrades!
Dear Comrades-
First of all, congratulations on the massive success of the
"No" vote. And, of course, congratulations on the success of
the success of the campaign initiated by the Workers Party months ago.
The victory of the "No" in France is not only a victory for
the oppressed of France, but also for the oppressed of all of Europe. We
salute you in the name of the Turkish working class, who is in full
solidarity with you. Now the real struggle begins! Onwards comrades!
Hürr-Yet (the principal daily newspaper of the Turkish bourgeoisie)
published an article titled "The Shock of the 'No' in Europe, in
which it notes, "The essential reasons for the victory of the
"No" are the following:
1. The people punished the government for the very high unemployment
rate of 10.2%.
The people feared the destruction of social security.
The workers, peasants, and functionaries reacted against the French
political elites."
M.A.
******************
PAKISTAN
Message from Pakistan
In the name of the All Pakistan Trade Union Federation (APTUF) we
salute the activists of the Workers Party on the occasion of the great
victory of May 29, 2005, when the French workers defeated the
imperialist Constitution which would destroy labor rights in France.
We salute the struggle of the Workers Party and the ILC to defeat the
EU's Constitution. This constitution is directed against the people and
democracy, and aims to create a constitutional framework to an
orientation favorable to U.S. imperialism; it also encourages a
militaristic policy through NATO and forces each country to spend at
least 2% of their budget on military expenses.
We salute you brothers and sisters, struggling to defend your rights,
from the bottom of our hearts. In the name of the working class of
Pakistan, we send our solidarity to the workers of France and Europe
fighting against the Constitution..
Gulzar Ahmed Chaudhary, General Secretary
Rubinal Jamil, President.
********************
SPAIN
The Zapatero government has been hit with full force by the sinking of
the European Union.
Zapatero took on the responsibility of engaging the Spanish people
in the ratification of the Constitution through a referendum this past
February 20. Let us recall the results: almost 70% of voters abstained,
and 30% of voters voted "No" or cast a blank ballot.
Despite that, Zapatero and several Government heads and leaders of the
PSOE, like Joseph Borell, the president of the European Parliament and
Javier Solana, president of the OSCE, have traveled throughout France to
help Hollande and Chirac get the Constitution accepted.
Zapatero himself, last Friday, at a meeting of the partisans of the
"Yes" in Lille, even went so far as to declare that since the
victory of the "Yes" in Spain there has not been any more
delocalizations!
On Monday, the government was silent. Since then it has issued a
statement saying that the ratification of the Constitution; next
Tuesday, a meeting will take place in Luxemburg with the ministers and
heads of state concerning the negotiation of the budget of the European
Union for 2007-2013.
Zapatero risks losing 13 billion Euros, which Spain could lose with
extension of the European Union.Uncertainty reigns. The traditional
monarchist newspaper, ABC, declared on Sunday that the internal French
crisis had major consequences for Spain because all of the common
projects of public workers, particularly transportation and exportation,
are being put into question.
It is necessary to note that certain media outlets, like the SER radio
chain, have detailed that the main forces to vote "No" were
the workers and the peasants.
Despite the silence of the government, the editorial of El Pais
concluded:
"The participation has surpassed all expectations. The only
possible comparison would be the 1969 referendum on regionalization,
which also produced a negative result and which was interpreted by
General De Gaulle as a personal condemnation, something with Chirac
would like to avoid today. (Š)
It is clear that, in France, things must change. The crisis that is
opening up today in France and in the two main political currents is
also a European crisis."
For the activists and unionists that lead the campaing against the
Constitution in Spain, today is a great day. The comrades, including
those who defended the "Yes", salute you with a
"Merci" in French.
Manuel Cuzo (Informaciones Obreras)
**********************
SWITZERLAND
Dear friends,
From Switzerland we salute the vote of the French vote, which expressed
a massive rejection of the Constitution. The "No" vote, as the
media has confirmed, was based on the wage earners, the farmers, and the
youth.
In the trans-border region of Geneva, the local press explains that
"only 30 km from Geneva, Bellegarde has been hit by the factory
closings. A union leader shared this analysis: 'There have been 150 jobs
lost in the last two years in Bellegarde. The workers have experienced
firsthand the model of a liberal Europe that they are trying to sell to
us." Sixty percent of this city voted against the constitution.
In Switzerland, we have often repeated, when the people have had the
chance to express themselves against projects directed dictated by EU
such as the rise in the retirement age and liberalization of the market,
that the people are against these anti-social measures. Aren't there
similarites here with the French vote against the European Constitution
?
One of the members of the Swiss government, the federal councilor Joseph
Deiss, explained that he feared that "some people were trying to
create confusions" concerning the French results and the June 5
referendum on Schengen-Dublin. He claimed that recent events
"reinforced the path taken by Switzerland."
Another member of the government, Hans Rudolf Merz, saluted the victory
of the "No" in France. The federal councilor saw in the
results a confirmation of the correctness of the Swiss' policy towards
the EU, that of having "economic and safe relations."
It is necessary to point out that the Swiss path was an attempt to
side-step the fact that Swiss people, in 1992, refused to enter the EU,
which was called the EEE at the time.
In the countries of Europe, isn't the rejection, under different forms,
of the dictates of the EU ? Isn't this what was expressed in France in
the referendum and in Switzerland through the resistance against the
extension of the bilateral agreements in the September 25 vote ? These
bilateral agreements concerning the free circulation of peoples is
integrally linked to the drive to lower wages instituted in the
Bolkenstein directive and present in all of the documents of the
European Constitution.
Yes, the "No" vote in France is a point of leverage for the
Swiss workers in their struggle against the bosses' offensive which is
putting into question all our conquests. It is a point of leverage based
on the popular vote, where the question of decision making sovereignty,
as outlined in the French and Swiss constitutions, was at the front and
center of the debate.
Luc Deley, unionist
*****************
DENMARK
We should not allow ourselves to be deprived of the NO
Dear Friends,
The following is a smmary of the reactions of the politicians and media
in Denmark after the victory of the French "No." Politikken, a
daily newspaper, the massive "no" vote "represents a
stirring defeat for the French institutions and a shock for Europe.»
After recalling that Denmark and Ireland already rejected European
treaty-- the newspaper notes that "this earthquake is of a whole
other level-- the editorial underlines the fact the the referendum was a
defeat for the whole political and institutional class.A referendum is
planned for September 27 in Denmark. The uneasiness following the French
referendum is manifesting itself in the declarations of all the
political organizations.
A Referendum is scheduled for September 27 in Denmark.The Prime
Minister declared that it was sufficient for only one country to not
ratify the treaty for it to be declared invalid. The leader of the SF
(Socialist Party) threw out the hypothesis that the Danish referendum
"had no place after the French rejection" and he called on the
Danish head of state to negotiate a "social pact" into the
Constitution, with the hope of making it more "popular"!
The United List (a "left" coalition of the Social Democracy)
demanded that the referendum be cancelled. The Popular Movement followed
suit and declared, "Now, the project for the Constitution is
worthless if France and the rest of the EU follow the rules of
democracy."The Prime Minister, Anders F. Rasmussen, and the leader
of the Social-Democracy both argued, in their own manner, the
ratification process continue.
For Arbejderen, the "labor left" daily, there was no doubt
that "a single 'No' vote was sufficient to veto the Constitutional
treaty and that, consequently, the Constitution is null and void. (Š)
It is up to us in Europe to defend the French "No" to take
down this Constitution."
In conclusion, all signs lead us to think that "debate"
concerning the French referendum is going to develop on the question of
the "democratic" legitimacy of having a referendum "as if
nothing happened," or to cancel it to prevent the Danish working
class from having a chance to castigate the liberal government for the
application of the plans of the European Union!This is not at all a
formality, because Denmark is supposed to not only ratify the text, but,
at the same time, if the "Yes" passes, to abandon the Danish
exception codified in the four exceptions of Edinburgh agreements (no
military collaboration, no police collaboration, no Euro, etc.)
Fraternally, J.D.
**********************
AFGHANISTAN
The organization Left Radicals of Afghanistan sent us a letter
concerning the nation-wide protests against the occupation. We are
publishing it below.
"It is the nature of all dictatorial rulers to hide the roots
of and reasons for social revolts.
Insecurity, abduction of children, thefts, bureaucracy, corruption,
bribery, crimes, bomb blasts, armed fighting, homelessness,
unemployment: these are the gifts of the "democratic " US
model government in Afghanistan! (...)
The recent demonstration across the country were accompanied by tens of
thousands of people chanting slogans against the occupiers, especially
the US. The demonstrators call for stopping the bloody and inhumane
attacks and oppose creating strategic or long term military bases inside
Afghanistan.
Indeed the recent demonstrations were a slap in the face for the Karzai
administration which has called a symbolic grand assembly to pave the
way for the existence of imperialist forces in our country.
Despite the ridiculous claims of the Karzai regime and his masters,
these were not the only demonstrations that were broken up with
shootings and killings by police, but also tens of demonstrations since
US backed regime in Kabul came to power were met with severe beatings,
killings, injuries, detainments and imprisonment of peasants, students
and any other opposition.
In a word, the people of Afghanistan consider the imperialist forces as
occupiers, not as angels of peace or prosperity. They consider that the
ruling authority is not in the service of its own people, but an
instrument in the service of US imperialism.
Thus, we express our solidarity with the demonstrators and especially
who have been killed by local police and the US and the ISAF. The
government labelled the demonstrators as under the influence of Al Qaida
or the Taliban, but this is unfair. According to the witnesses it was
the police and local administration that caused the violence and that
the police themselves burnt some places to justify their brutal
suppression, and to justify killing around thirty people and injuring
hundreds of them.
We ask all progressive, democratic, anti imperialist and humanitarian
parties, unions, organizations and individuals around the world to
express their solidarity with our people and ask the US and Karzai
governments to stop the brutal attacks and free all the detained
demonstrators.
Left Radicals of Afghanistan (LRA)
May 13, 2005. Jalalabad Afghanistan
----
"Democracy seems to on the march in Afghanistan. On Sunday, Karzai
over a traditional assembly, with the goal of prolonging the the
presence of foreign forces in Afghanistan." (Le Figaro, May 10.)
Could anything be more ironic? The "march to democracy" is
thus the maintenance of the foreign forces in Afghanistan, more than
three years after the invasion.
The LRA tried to send delegates to the Madrid conference but were
refused a visa.
********************
INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE AGAINST REPRESSION
Press release
The CICR has just been informed of the arrest of several people,
including three members of the organization LRA, an organization
inspired by socialism, in the Jalabadad region of Afghanistan.
Let us recall that in the period 10 to 15 May, powerful popular
demonstrations took place in several towns of Afghanistan, protesting
against the foreign occupation, especially by the US, against poverty
and for the right to work...
These were met with savage repression: more than 20 people died,
hundreds were injured, and there were mass arrests.
It is within this context that, on 20 May 2005, new arrests were carried
out on the false accusation that the three members of the LRA were
supposed to have set fire to public buildings. The police are seeking to
use every possible means to fabricate a case against these labor
activists.
In a statement addressed to all progressive forces, democrats, humanists
and anti-imperialists, the LRA is asking for a campaign to be organized
to free the prisoners.
The CICR draws the seriousness of the situation to the attention of
democrats, human rights activists and all those who value the exercise
of labor and democratic freedoms.
The arrested activists are in extreme danger.
A few days ago, a report was published detailing the torture being
carried out in Afghan prisons.
The CICR asks the Afghan authorities, Mr. Karzai, and the Interior
Minister to free the imprisoned activists immediately.
For the CICR Bureau
Gerard Bauvert, Victoria Melgar
Send your messages of protest to Mr. Karzai at: rafiullahjawed@hotmail.com
Interior Minister: imashal@yahoo.com
Messages of support for the LRA: lr_afg@yahoo.com
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