ILC
International Newsletter
Number 14
February 17th 2003
Weekly information dossier published by the
International Liaison Committee -ILC,
Please contact :
International Liaison Committee -ILC, c/o Parti des travailleurs - 87,
rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis,
7510 Paris France
phone : (33 1) 48 01 88 28 fax : (33 1) 48 01 88 36
e-mai l - eit.ilc@wanadoo.fr
**********
Contents:
Introduction
Global telephone press conference against the war in the United States
Letter from Michael Eisenscher, US Labor Against the War coordinator
International Labor Statement Opposing War Against Iraq
Delegation visits 10 Downing Street (Blair's residence)
Switzerland: Press communiqué of the Socialist Group, Federal Assembly
Italy: Tribuna Libera editorial
South Africa: Socialist Party of Azania's Statement
Peru: El Trabajo editorial
February 15th across the globe
**********
Introduction
On the 15th of February, all over the world, people and workers said
"No to war". Millions of people on the seven continents, in
all countries were mobilized. Huge demonstrations took place on
the streets. A first estimate claimed demonstrations took place in
603 cities in the world. The people do not want war. They do not
want the horror and the massacre which are in preparation.
They know that in the shadow of war all the governments are whetting
their weapons to accentuate their offensive toward deregulation and the
destruction of labour rights.
After the 15th of February, the mobilization against war of the American
Unions who took the initiative of an international declaration of the
labour movement against the war is encouraging for us all.
Our Newsletter is publishing this appeal.
We will report next week on the global press conference which was
scheduled for 19 February in the United States.
**********
Wednesday 19 February 2003, 12 am local time, Labor Against the War hold
a global telephone press conference in the United States simultaneously
transmitted on the web to present the "The International Labor
Declaration against the war against Iraq"
Ten days ago, US Labor Against War (USLAW, American Unions against war)
circulated a declaration to the leaders of Labor Federations and main
Unions in the world. The response of workers overstepped our hopes.
Organizations representing several thousand workers throughout the world
have signed it.
Wednesday 19 February, 12 am local time, USLAW will organize a global
telephone press conference to brief the media on the declaration
and its signatories and on the protest against the war over the world.
Will attend this press conference, the media and labour leaders of Great
Britain, Australia, Korea, the US, Pakistan, Germany, South Africa,
Europe.
This conference will be broadcasted in audio form live on the World Wide
Web, to allow all those who have the internet to be able to listen.
After the conference, a report will be filed on the site of USLAW (www.uslaboragainstwar.org).
The conference will be mostly in English. Interpreters will translate it
on-line into Spanish, French and Portuguese. Please inform your
colleagues and join us!
Send your comments and reactions to: info@uslaboragainstwar.org
Feel free to inform us if your labor organization should want to be a
member of USLAW.
We will report on this press conference in our next issue of
International Newsletter.
**********
Letter from Michael Eisenscher to the ILC
USLAW is circulating a statement to labor federations around the world.
The objective is to get as many as possible to sign on to this
declaration so that on February 19th it can be released at a press
conference at the UN in NY, and around the world in countries of the
signatories. Federations in other countries will be invited to send a
representative to be present at that press conference where they will
join with the national executive officers of a number of U.S. unions -
to make a ringing global declaration on behalf of the world's labor
movements against the march to war. The statement being circulated is
based on the USLAW resolution and is reproduced below.
I am writing to solicit your help in getting affiliates of the ILC and
any other federations with which you have contact to sign on to this
declaration.
This press conference is timed to immediately precede the AFL-CIO
Executive Council meeting. It also will occur on what the Administration
may intend to be the eve of the launch of war. We can have a dramatic
impact on both if we can gather a very large and broad group of labor
federation signatories. This action will have a demonstrable impact on
the deliberations at the AFL-CIO meeting and will provide important
support to the peace forces on the Executive Council.
Please let me know if you can help with this important project by
providing a list of the groups to which you are prepared to circulate
the declaration to solicit their signatures. We have very little time,
so immediate action is urgently needed.
For more information, you can also contact Bob Muehlenkamp and Gene
Bruskin, national coordinators of USLAW.
Thanks for your help.
Michael E.
**********
International Labor Statement Opposing War Against Iraq
February, 2003
On the eve of a threatened war against Iraq, we, trade unionists from
around the world, join with U.S. Labor Against the War (USLAW) and the
U.S. unions, representing more than 4 million workers, who have opposed
this war.
As trade unionists we have the responsibility to inform all working
people about issues that affect their lives, jobs and families, and to
be heard in the international debate on these issues.
We oppose a US led war against Iraq for many reasons.
There is no evident purpose for this war that we can support. There is
no convincing link between Iraq and Al Qaeda or the attacks on Sept. 11,
and neither the Bush administration nor the UN inspections have
demonstrated that Iraq poses a real threat to Americans and other
nations.
It is clear that military action in Iraq will actually increase the
likelihood of retaliatory terrorist acts around the world against
Western targets.
This action against Iraq by the U.S. military and others nations that
may join them, threatens the peaceful resolution of disputes among
states, jeopardizing the safety and security of the entire world.
We know that the principal victims of any military action in Iraq will
be the sons and daughters of working class families who serve in the
military forces and innocent Iraqi civilians who have already suffered
so much.
We have no quarrel with the ordinary working class men, women and
children of Iraq, or any other country.
We oppose the spending of billions of dollars to stage and execute this
war when our nations need money for education, healthcare, housing, and
other basic needs.
We oppose the use of this war, and the threat of war, as pretext for
attacks on labor, civil, immigrant and human rights in the United States
and in other nations
We believe Bush's drive for war serves as a cover and distraction for
the sinking U.S. economy, corporate corruption, and layoffs.
As representatives of the labor movement around the world, we have long
had an historic role in fighting for justice. We urge our members to
actively protest this war. At the onset of the 21st Century we join with
the vast majority of the people of the world who seek a better life and
who yearn for a peaceful resolution to this and other international
disputes.
US Labor Against the War
US Labor Against the War: www.uslaboragainstwar.org
More information available:
www.owcinfo.org et www.uslaboragainstwar.org
We suggest that for endorsement you make use of a form divided in two
sections :
**********
A DELEGATION OF LABOUR PARTY MEMBERS AND TRADE UNIONISTS VISITS 10
DOWNING STREET (BLAIR'S RESIDENCE)
TO HAND IN AN OPEN LETTER OPPOSING WAR IN IRAQ
We the undersigned formed a delegation, organised on the initiative of
The Link bulletin and drawn from those Labour Party members, affiliated
trade unionists and Labour voters who signed an Open Letter to The Prime
Minister expressing opposition to the planned military intervention in
Iraq. We called at 10 Downing Street at 3 pm on Monday 3 February to
deliver the letter with a current list of the endorsers (see attached).
It is to be deplored that the delegation, which was mandated by a wide
range of Labour Party members and affiliated trade unionists opposed to
the planned war, was not received by a representative of the Prime
Minister. He is after all taking full responsibility for this war, and
should know that he is not acting in our name.
Recent polls show that the delegation represented the views of a vast
majority of the population. The delegation also represented the views of
many thousands of Party members and trade unionists who deplore the fact
that Tony Blair and New Labour are acting as if the Labour Party is
their own private property by ignoring the huge opposition from the CLPs
and the trade unions over this war.
The statement co-signed by Tony Blair with seven heads of current and
future EU governments only serves to emphasise that the Prime Minister's
actions in engaging Britain in a war on Iraq are illegitimate.
Tony Blair told us all some weeks ago that the cost of settling the
current fire dispute on the FBU's own terms, estimated at £100 million,
would push up inflation and drag down the British economy, yet he has
now approved a projected cost for the Iraqi adventure of between £2.5
billion and £6 billion without a moment's hesitation.
Taxpayers' money should go towards jobs, health care, housing,
education, public services, not for war. The steamroller tactics being
used by the Blair government over Iraq, the firefighters and other
public sector issues directly affecting British working people should be
condemned. The Government's support for war is not in our name.
NO TO WAR AGAINST IRAQ!
NO BLOOD FOR OIL! MONEY FOR PUBLIC SERVICES, NOT WAR!
THIS WAR IS NOT INEVITABLE
By organising a delegation to Downing Street around the Open Letter, we
said no to the war. We also said this party is ours, not New Labour's.
Fighting against the war is fighting to reclaim the party from those who
are turning their backs on peace, progress and democracy by transforming
it into a subsidiary of the Bush administration.
Transmitted by : The Link
Open Forum of Labour Party Members
and Trade Unionists
To Reclaim the Party
**********
Switzerland
Press communiqué of the Socialist Group from the Federal Assembly
WE MUST SAY NO TO THE WAR AGAINST IRAQ!
On the forefront are the people and democracy. The main objective is now
to stop the war against Iraq and the humanitarian catastrophe which is
threatening. The people of Switzerland are expecting the Federal Council
to fully commit to this end.
The Socialist group of the Federal Assembly has brought today to Liestal
its full support to Micheline Calmy-Reyin in her effort to prevent a
humanitarian disaster in Iraq. Switzerland is a state with a long
standing humanitarian tradition. In charge of foreign affairs, the
freshly nominated Federal Councellor has the duty of proposing the
intervention of our country anywhere we can efficiently contribute to
the resolution of serious problems which concern millions of people.
Her wish to explain to the public the commitment of the Confederation
meets the expectations of the population.
The Socialist Group is persuaded that the citizens of Switzerland do not
want the war that is threatening. It will do its utmost to prevent
its occurrence and to favour political solutions to the crisis.
The Socialist Group is calling on the population to attend the
demonstration against war on Iraq on Saturday 15 February in Bern, as
part of the Day of resistance and actions against war in Europe.
Today more than ever the Socialist Group is convinced that the Middle
East does not need another war: it would more urgently need a less
precarious peaceful situation. In order to bring some stability to
the region and throw the bases of a durable peace, democracy need to be
reinforced, poverty must be overwhelmed and the right conditions of a
just redistribution of the resources must be set up. On the
political scene a fair peace treaty must also be signed between the
state of Israel and the Palestinian people.
The dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, his plan of imposing Iraq as a
regional power and the repression against his own citizens have
generated suffering and damage. It is indispensable that the Iraqi
people be given the opportunity of choosing their future and benefiting
from the dividends of their immense natural resources. These are
objectives which are difficult to achieve, but one thing is certain
though: a war against Iraq is not the right way to it.
A military attack on Iraq would throw millions of people into
indescribable misery. Besides leaving many dead and wounded, large
numbers of refugees and inevitable damage to the civilian
infrastructures and to the environment, war also brings with it despair
of the entire population, it adds new problems to those we pretend to be
willing to solve. The Middle East would be gravely de-stabilized
and the world economy would also be shaken.
For all these reasons the Socialist Group vehemently rejects the war
against Iraq. The arguments brought forward by the Bush Administration
to justify the war are not acceptable. The Socialist Group of the
Federal Assembly will contact the Democratic Party as well as the
organizations fighting for peace in the US. They want to instore
some constructive dialogue, set up exchanges in favor of civilian
solutions to the war which is threatening and support as best it can all
efforts in favor of peace. Given the situation of international crisis,
the socialist group is expecting from the federal council that they act
in a firm way and without wasting time.
This is why it is supporting the initiative of Micheline Calmy-Rey of
setting up a meeting in Geneva convening the people technically
responsible for humanitarian aid from the countries which would have to
face the consequences of a possible conflict and especially the mass
arrival of refugees.
Should this war start despite the efforts put up to prevent it, this
Geneva meeting would certainly help improve the efficiency of the
humanitarian measures taken. In addition, the socialist group will
ask the offices of the federal chambers to provide sufficient space on
the agenda of the next spring session so that a debate can take place on
the Iraq crisis and on the role Switzerland is likely to play in it.
The group will file an urgent motion at the opening of the session,
bearing on the issues they want to be treated. The text of this
motion will be worded at the next meeting of the socialist group due to
take place in Zurich on the 21st ant 22nd February.
**********
ITALY
"Not a cent for the war: money for our public services and salaries
"
Editorial of Tribuna Libera n°30
On 12 June, the US announced that 62 000 soldiers had been sent to the
Persian Gulf. But on the same day," thousands of
demonstrators took to the streets of Los Angeles during all day holding
banners and placards reading" (La Repubblica, 13/01.) "Do not
reduce my social benefits to pay for bombs and missiles!"
"Saddam Hussein has not closed down my hospital!" The
above-mentioned article also reported on the reduction of 21 billion
dollars in social expenditure in order to fund the war budget.
In his statement of support to the International conference against the
war (convened by the Entente Internationale on 23 and 24 January in
Paris), Clarence Thomas, a US Union activist supporting the
demonstration of 18 January in the US explained:" The war against
terrorism is being used to undermine our capacity of defending ourselves
and our interests and this is also true of the war against Iraq.
The policy of the Bush Administration is a Trojan horse which is going
to allow them to apply their national and international plans in favour
of the big capitalist concerns: they want to make this planet
secure for the multinational companies."
Is the US the only country concerned by these issues? In France
which is depicted as the "sceptical nation" on an attack on
Iraq, the government authorities have allocated an extra 2.3 billion
Euros to the military budget while Chirac has announced that "the
military must stand ready for action".
And what about Italy? On 16 January, 3,000 soldiers were sent to
Afghanistan and at the same time the US are claiming through NATO's
general secretary that there is a "possibility of resorting to the
forces of the member states, once the war is over." (La Stampa of
16 January). Why "once the war is over?" The government
is already authorizing the use of its NATO bases and therefore is about
to support the war both economically and politically.
Who will be paying for this permanent war, endorsed under the pretext of
international security? You just have to consider the cuts in the
education and health budgets, the funding of local organizations to
understand the situation. The European Union has declared that it
is ready to amend temporarily the measures imposed on all its member
nations in order to allow the financing of the war efforts: for Brussels
what was impossible to achieve in order to better the living conditions
of its citizens now is becoming feasible for the war. What is more,
"temporarily" here means that the funds invested in the war
efforts will have to be recovered by all means.
What is the issue behind all this policy? These are the
fundamental contradictions of the capitalist system. Driven by
greed, the capitalists and the multinationals across the world have
continually tried to reduce the salaries, the benefits obtained by the
workers and deteriorate the living conditions of the majority of the
people. But in so doing, they have also ended up with a dwindling
market: the capacities of consumption, the purchasing power of the
individual have diminished and the market is in a crisis.
Confronted with the necessity of safeguarding and increasing the profits
in a dwindling market, the only way out for the capitalists is war: the
war against the workers of their respective countries, the US included,
the war against the people and countries they want to exploit not only
for their wealth but also their labour at the lowest possible cost.
The US are leading this war as ruthlessly as possible and they are
the ones dictating the rules to the others: it is the US, hence the
multinational companies which are dictating the rythm and the means to
invade the markets and submit the people.
The only way to reject this logic of destruction and death is to defend
all the benefits, the progress that humankind has been able to achieve
by setting up the public services, the national labour codes and
conventions, the retirement and pension fundsŠ..the defence and
recovery of all that has been lost in the last few years.
The only way is to unite all the workers and organizations and to
impose: not a cent for the war! All the money should go to public
education and health programs, to the renewal of the labour codes and
agreements, to the recovery of lost purchasing power in one year of the
implementation of the Euro, as well as in the ten years of policy
dictated by the European Union and implemented today by Berlusconi.
Lorenzo Varaldo
**********
South Africa
Socialist Party of Azania:
Statement on the war against Iraq
The United States of America, Britain and some of their allies are on
the verge of waging a murderous war against the people of Iraq, the very
same people who twelve years ago suffered the devastating effects of
'Desert Storm' - a war that was conceived by George Bush senior in the
name of protecting democracy in the Gulf region. The more than one
million Iraqi deaths - half of them children, the prevalence of children
born with grotesque deformities bear testimony to the devastating
effects of that war, let alone the modern day infrastructure of Iraq
that was reduced to iron-age status all tell of how the frontiers of
human development were pushed by several centuries backwards. Twelve
years of allied countries and UN backed sanctions have left Iraq with a
broken economy, hospitals without medicines, malnutrition and
generalised dislocation and poverty. A new war is aimed at finishing
these people of.
The new war, which is the continuation of the first which never really
abated or stopped is also being prepared under the pretext of seeking to
destroy weapons of mass destruction, the defence of democracy in the
region and an overwhelming desire by Bush family and their supporters to
unseat the "despot" that is the president of Iraq, Saddam
Hussein. However, on the balance of all available facts and also on the
basis of their own pro-US United Nations weapons inspectors, nothing
that justifies or warrants that war has been found. The truth is that
all the reasons given for the preparation of this war are false. The
United States wants to devastate and destroy the Iraqi people for their
wealth. Iraq is the second largest oil producing country after Saudi
Arabia and they produce some of the finest and best quality oil in the
world and the United States, out of great avarice, wants to desperately
have its hands on that oil.
This war is not aimed at Iraq only but it is an imperialist war that is
aimed at the working class of the world. The Bush administration
classifies all those who do not support their war effort as being on the
side of the enemy. In the US super patriotism of the ilk of Nazi Germany
is being fostered and that is why the American workers have started to
respond by anti-war slogans such as "peace is also patriotic"
and "not in our name". Workers can no longer engage in
legitimate labour action without their patriotic allegiances being
questioned. This war wishes to consolidate all the regimes and regiments
of private property and the leadership of US imperialism in the world.
We of the Socialist Party of Azania have no choice but to oppose this
war as it negates everything we hold dear and everything we have been
fighting for. Hence our last National Council meeting held in Kimberly
on the 9th - 11th August 2002 resolved that the Party should campaign
against the continued victimisation of innocent Iraqi people. On the
10th of October 2002 SOPA mobilised hundreds of people and marched to
the USA and British embassies to demand an end to the murderous course
which has taken place since 1991. We therefore support all initiatives
against this war and call upon all workers of the world to increase
their resolve to stop this war. On the 15th of February 2003 SOPA will
be joining millions of peace loving citizens of the world at an Anti War
rally in Johannesburg, which is organised by the Anti War Coalition,
wherein SOPA actively participates. Democracy indeed means that Iraq has
a right to resolve democratically all its problems of governance without
the all pervasive interference of Big Brother - the United States. The
election of George Bush was in itself an issue of great controversy,
however, the American people finally found a way of living with it after
many court interventions.
This war clearly demonstrates without leaving any shadow of doubt what
imperialism has in store for all the working class of the world. It
starts in Iraq today and it will be in our doorstep tomorrow. By
defending the right of the Iraqi people to true and unfettered national
sovereignty and self determination we are defending ourselves. This is
war is fought in the name of all humanity but in fact it is against all
humanity which it threatens. Let George Bush listen to the voice and
force of reason. Mandela has reiterated Che Guevara's assertion that the
United States political leadership is the greatest enemy to humankind.
These very same people who are preparing a war under the guise of
wanting to destroy weapons of mass destruction have supplied and built
the same weapons for the state of Israel that continues to practice
terrorism of the worst kind against Palestinian - the forceful removal
of Palestinian people from their historical lands. They support the
horrific one sided war against the Palestinian people that have claimed
thousands of innocent lives, most of them being women and children. We
remain firmly against the war, most specifically all capitalist wars
which are about plunder, repression and divisions for the sake of the
markets.
February 5th, 2003
**********
Peru
"Who is the beneficiary of the budget, the nation or the IMF?"
During the night of November 29th, the general budget of the republic
for year 2003 was adopted. It amounts to 44 516 million new soles.
The structure comprises fictitious components such as the 3 400 millions
devoted to investment spending, which is quite misleading as for its
materialisation since it is linked to the sly objective of confiscating
the bulk of tax exemption (3 400) for fuel and food that had been
wrenched through strikes and the mobilisation of the peoples of the
Eastern regions, (Iquitos, Madre de Dios and so on.)
Within this narrow budget, the defence front of the Loreto department is
already preparing a new assault on the Toledo government.
The budget throws the doors wide open to privatisation since it foresees
that it will reap 1424 new soles thanks to the sale of national assets.
It is fundamentally anti-national and pro-imperialist as it has
earmarked 9750 millions to pay the debts, amounting to 25% of the
budget.
It is a class-oriented budget as the question: who is the beneficiary,
the nation or the IMF is quite relevant.
Toledo and those members of the Congress who approved of the budget are
acting as valets of the IMF, the World Bank and the multinationals of
the capitalist system.
On the eve of the adoption of the 2003 Budget, the "capo" of
the World Bank James Wolfensohn, came to Lima in order to impose that
guideline.
From now on, the whole country has been warned that no money will be
available for investment in the 24 regions nor in the country's
townships (which during the November17th elections gave the Toledo
government a thrashing). No money to develop industry or agriculture.
Wage freeze in the public sector will extend over the year 2003. And the
developments of regions such as Olmos, Chinecas, Puyango and others will
remain pipe dreams.
Meanwhile, the main multinationals that are active in the country, that
plunder mineral wealth, oil, telecommunications, banks and so on will
continue to enjoy "a special tax exemption regime" that might
reach over the 2000 million dollar notch.
This grim prospect of austerity budget and hunger will no doubt pave the
way to a harsher clashing of the workers of the oppressed nation with
the Toledo government.
The "argentinazo" spectre will haunt the country. Let us be
clear: the IMF oriented budget will be at the root of all the social
uproar that will take place.
In that framework, the workers organised in the CGTP can harbour no
expectation from the Toledo government and the 1000 consultation bodies.
Only independent trade unions and popular organisations standing up to
the government and its national agreement can guarantee continued
struggle together with defence Fronts, in order to save the nation.
"Arequipazo", is the movement that last August, in Arequipa,
halted the privatisation of water distribution [NDT] Such movements can
show the way to set up a new government that would break from the
external debt and IMF imposed privatisations.
In support of this independent class movement of the class and the
people, the national assembly of the CGTP voted a resolution that
proposes to struggle for the building of a workers' and peoples' party.
Numerous union leaders in this country are endorsing this motion and
suggest that a national meeting of all the endorsers should be held in
order to discuss that objective.
"El Trabajo" supports this campaign.
Erwin Salazar V.
Leader of the "El Trabajo" bulletin, free forum of the class
struggle
February 15th across the globe
Naturally within the limited space of this bulletin we cannot report on
the demonstrations that took place in 603 cities across the globe.
Everywhere the same demand was voiced: NO TO WAR!
********
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