|
ILC INTERNATIONAL NEWSLETTER NO. 149
A dossier of weekly information published by the International
Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples
Sept. 14, 2005
INTRODUCTION
United States: Gene Bruskin, Colia Clark, and Alan Benjamin wrote to
the ILC to ask for their support in distributing an important appeal
from the New Orleans-based Community Labor United (CLU) to trade unions
and workers´ organizations throughout the world. We invite you to
distribute these documents. Our correspondents have also sent us
contributions and testimonies of Black activists. We publish excerpts
from these texts.
Africa: A "memorandum on the tragic consequences of the debt
for African countries" will soon be published. We publish below one
of the contributions sent to us from Burundi.
Germany: On the eve of the legislative elections of September 18,
you will find a declaration of three SPD activists: "Germany is at
the crossroads. It is necessary to vote SPD and kick out
Schroeder."
Portugal: Carmelinda Pereira explains in an interview the reasons
she is running as a presidential candidate in the January 2006
elections: "A socialist candidate to defend democracy and all the
conquests of April 25."
France: You will find in this issue a letter to French mayors,
inviting them to the "National Convention In Defense of the 36,000
Communes and Public Services."
Martinique: In last week's issue we published a dossier on the
deregulation of air transport, which has resulted in the deaths of
hundreds of people. We publish a declaration of the Workers and Peasants
Alliance (AOP) of Martinique.
Subscribe to the ILC International Newsletter!
********************
TABLE OF CONTENTS
p. 1: Introduction
p. 2: France: "National Convention In Defense of the 36,000
Communes and Public Services."
p. 3 and 4: United States: Letter to the ILC; Appeal of black labor
activists to the world labor movement; Press Review
p. 5: Germany: What is stake on September 18?
Portugal: 10 % of the country has gone up in smoke in fires
p. 6: Portugal: Interview with Carmelinda Pereira
p. 7: Burundi: "For the pure and simple cancellation of the
debt."
p. 8: Martinique: The West Caribbean air catastrophe took the lives of
160 people on August 16, in Venezuela
********************
FRANCE
October 16 2005: National Convention In Defense of the 36,000
Communes and Public Services
160 elected representatives and unionists have signed the call launched
by the spokesmen of the National Committee Against the European
Constitution:
- For the Reestablishment of Public Services,
- For the Defense of the 36,000 Communes,
- For the Republic, One, Indivisible, and Secular,
- For the Defense of the Sovereignty of the Nation,
- For the Rupture with the Maastricht Treaty, its Institutions, and the
European Dictates
- For the Free and Fraternal Union of the Peoples of Europe, for a
Sovereign Constituent Assembly to Establish Democracy
-----
"Dear Mayors of France,
Like you, we have just witnessed thousands of deaths in the United
States, and we ask ourselves the question: "How could this
happen?"
How could the world's richest nation remain impotent for five days, days
during which thousands of victims of the disaster were left stranded?
Enormous human and technical resources, which are presently being used
for the war in Iraq, were sorely missed.
But how is it possible that no state services or civil protection were
designated to respond to the consequences of this catastrophe, whose
effects were announced by the specialists several days in advance?
Keeping in mind a sense of proportion, we should nevertheless note that
during the storm which struck our country in 1999 and destroyed quite a
bit of infrastructure, the state services (SAMU and workers of the EDF)
arrived immediately.
Because state services, despite the lack of funding and personnel, are
still public services in the proximity of the users, with responsible
functionaries who are well trained in their sphere of intervention, the
disaster victims were aided immediately!
The mayors, elected by, and responsible to, the population, organized
together with the public services the reestablishment of basic rights:
unobstructed transportation and access to drinkable water and
electricity to the hospitals, canteens, and municipal buildings for
those who lost everything!
But today, if such a catastrophe were to occur in France, six years
later, what would be the result in our country, which has undergone,
under the aegis of the European Union and the successive governments,
waves of denationalizations of public services and national enterprises?
Can we depend on the services of the DDE, whose subdivisions are
gathered kilometers apart?
Can we depend on the university cafetarias now that these services are
in the process of being opened up to private interests and now that
their TOS personnel are being transferred to local collectives?
Can we be assured of unobstructed transportation for our ambulances and
our doctors when we have no more funds to pay for the clearing of snow
off the roads, a service which used to be guaranteed by the national
systemt of Equipement?
Can we depend on the maintenance of the roads transferred to our
departments, whose budgets are already asphyxiated and whose
fast-circulation motorways have been privatized?
How can we not have our doubts in the face of the drama of the fires of
the slums, officially baptized "social housing", resulting in
the deaths of children, fathers and mothers because housing in HLM [mass
public housing] had been refused to them?
It isn't it hard not to see that instead of helping HLM offices build
new residences in regulation with the comfort and safety requirements,
the state and the European Union are financing, through the Borloo plan,
the destruction of the HLM and its privatization, pushing a shameful
speculative drive in real estate?
How can we not be frightened by the closings of all public services,
freight stations, and more?
We have seen during the beginning of the school year hundreds of schools
occupied by parents and elected officials to protest against the closing
of classes and of colleges, to protest the fact that a 3-year-old was
sent into elementary school when no spot was found in child-care, and to
protest the layoffs of thousands of professors and young teachers.
What future are we creating for the youth?
What future awaits them when companies in our communes close down and
are delocalized one after another and when our government now prohibits
youth from any chance to receive a contract of undetermined duration
with the recent introduction of "newly recruited contracts."
Will they know anything other than the law of the jungle, which has been
put into place with the destruction of the Labor Code and the attacks on
independent trade unions?
Accused by the Masson draft law of having "extremely local
preoccupations," the General Councillors are being told to abandon
their respect for the mandate given to them by the population of the
canton and to become nothing more than the executors of the decisions of
the Administrative Councils of the Communes!
The majority of mayors and of the population voted "No" to the
European Constitution on May 29, so why should we accept that the
European Union and the government continue to impose the privatization
of all our public services in the name of "free trade" and the
Stability Pact imposed by the Europe of Maastricht?
To put an end to this destructive spiral, isn't it necessary to begin by
reconquering public services in our communes? Doesn't this pose the
question of renationalizing all public services and privatized
enterprises?
Doesn't reconquering communal democracy require re-establishing all the
powers of the municipalities?
In light of the seriousness of the situation, we have proposed to
prepare a national convention to reconquer political democracy. In this
struggle, the mayors are essential links.
After we launched our appeal for the national convention, elected
officials have proposed to us that the convention decide to organize a
national protest bringing together elected officials, the population,
and trade unionists.
What is your opinion?
We invite you to participate on October 16 in the national convention,
so that we can discuss and organize together the actions that the
situation imposes on us."
* Gérard Schivardi, Mayor of Mailhac, Socialist general councillor of
Aude, Spokesperson of the Committee In Defense of the Communes of
Minervois;
* Aimé Savy, Deputy Mayor of Ivry-sur-Seine, MRC;
* Daniel Gluckstein, National Secretary of the Workers Party
********************
UNITED STATES
September 9, 2005
To: Daniel Gluckstein,
Coordinator, International Liaison Committee
Paris, France
Dear Brother Gluckstein,
We write you this letter to inform you about the People's Hurricane Fund
that was set up by the Community Labor United (CLU), a Black-led
coalition based in New Orleans, and to request the support of the ILC in
distributing their appeal to trade unions and workers' organizations the
world over.
CLU has issued a call for the formation of a Committee of the Evacuees
to "oversee FEMA, the Red Cross and other organizations collecting
resources on behalf of our people." CLU argues that the
"evacuees from our communities must actively participate in the
rebuilding of New Orleans."
They continue:
"The people of New Orleans will not go quietly into the night,
scattering across this country to become homeless in countless other
cities while federal relief funds are funneled into rebuilding casinos,
hotels, chemical plants. ... We will not stand idly by while this
disaster is used as an opportunity to replace our homes with newly built
mansions and condos in a gentrified New Orleans."
We agree with their appeal, and we strongly recommend this group to
unions and organizations wishing to send a contribution to the hurricane
relief effort. Curtis Mohammed and Bob Moses, the main organizers of CLU,
have a long history of struggle in Louisiana and Mississippi. Curtis
also has a union history and has done some excellent work building a
base with community and labor in New Orleans.
We also encourage unions and workers' organizations you can reach
through the ILC's network to send messages of support to the CLU and to
their call for the affected Black communities in the Gulf Coast region
to have direct oversight over the rebuilding efforts in the region.
We have attached the CLU appeal below and thank you, in advance, for
your effort in distributing it widely around the world.
In solidarity,
Gene Bruskin
Colia Clark
Alan Benjamin
---------
Displaced New Orleans Community Demands Action, Accountability and
Initiatives
A Peoples Hurricane Fund
Not until the fifth day of the federal governments' inept and
inadequate emergency response to the New Orleans disaster did George
Bush even acknowledge that the response had been unacceptable.
Unacceptable doesn't begin to describe the depth of the neglect, racism
and classism shown to the people of New Orleans. The governments'
actions and inactions were criminal. New Orleans, a city whose
population is almost 70% percent black, 40% illiterate, with many poor
people, was left day after day to drown, to starve and to die of disease
and thirst.
The people of New Orleans will not go quietly into the night, scattering
across this country to become homeless in countless other cities while
federal relief funds are funneled into rebuilding casinos, hotels,
chemical plants and the wealthy white districts of New Orleans like the
French Quarter and the Garden District. We will not stand idly by while
this disaster is used as an opportunity to replace our homes with newly
built mansions and condos in a gentrified New Orleans.
Community Labor United (CLU), a coalition of the progressive
organizations throughout New Orleans, has brought community members
together for eight years to discuss socio-economic issues. We have been
communicating with people from The Quality Education as a Civil Right
Campaign, the Algebra Project, the Young Peoples Project and the
Louisiana Research Institute for Community Empowerment. We are preparing
a press release and framing document that will be out as a draft later
today for comments.
Here is what we are calling for:
We are calling for all New Orleanians remaining in the city to be
evacuated immediately.
We are calling for information about where every evacuee was taken. We
are calling for black and progressive leadership to come together to
meet in Baton Rouge to initiate the formation of a Community Oversight
Committee of evacuees from all the sites. This committee will demand to
oversee FEMA, the Red Cross and other organizations collecting resources
on behalf of our people.
We are calling for volunteers to enter the shelters where our people are
and to assist parents with housing, food, water, health care and access
to aid.
We are calling for teachers and educators to carve out some time to come
to evacuation sites and teach our children.
We are calling for city schools and universities near evacuation sites
to open their doors for our children to go to school.
We are calling for health care workers and mental health workers to come
to evacuation sites to volunteer.
We are calling for lawyers to investigate the wrongful death of those
who died, to protect the land of the displaced, to investigate whether
the levies broke due to natural and other related matters.
We are calling for evacuees from our community to actively participate
in the rebuilding of New Orleans.
We are calling for the addresses of all the relevant list serves and
press contacts to send our information.
We are in the process of setting up a central command post in Jackson,
MS, where we will have phone lines, fax, email and a web page to
centralize information. We will need volunteers to staff this office.
We have set up a Peoples Hurricane Fund that will be directed and
administered by New Orleanian evacuees. The Young Peoples Project, a
501(c)3 organization formed by graduates of the Algebra Project, has
agreed to accept donations on behalf of this fund. Donations can be
mailed to:
The Peoples Hurricane Fund
Vanguard Public Foundation
383 Rhode Island St., Ste 301
San Francisco, CA 94103
or visit www.qecr.org.
If you have comments of how to proceed or need more information, please
email them to Curtis Muhammad (muhammadcurtis@bellsouth.net) and Becky
Belcore (bbelcore@hotmail.com).
Thank you.
-----------
Press Review
Mutiny Among U.S. Soldiers in Iraq
"Three days ago, an American soldier went hysterical when he found
out that three of his family members died in New Orleans. Corporal Nick
Lancer screamed: "It's the curse of Iraq. My family is paying for
my crimes in Iraq. Bring us home so that we can help our families. To
hell with Bush and Rumsfeld.
There was a confrontation when an officer attempted to calm Lancer in a
forceful manner. Other soldiers joined with Lancer to fight the officer.
The confrontation became generalized when other officers tried to
intervene in the scuffle. The soldiers proceeded to attack them and
strike them with sticks. They also struck the Iraqi high-ranking
officers who tried to help the U.S. officers. The soldiers yelled:
"Bandits! We're going to join the resistance so that you get
killed. It's because of you we're getting killed." (from Lexington
Herald Leader)
-----
"We see the people of New Orleans on our TV screens and in the
newspapers. Taxpaying Americans. Black and poor, for the most part.
These are people like us, who watch over our children, who wait on our
table at restaurants, who clean our rooms in hotels or in our homes, who
do what they can to survive. And we have treated them worse than has
ever before been seen; their situation is extremely desperate. To be
black and poor in these circumstances is like being an animal. Have no
doubt that human beings would have received aid much, much
earlier." (from Lexington Herald Leader)
The "Times-Picayune" looks into history for a comparable
example
"The water that has covered New Orleans will eventually be
drained. But the destruction caused by Katrina will be felt for years.
The cost of reconstruction is estimated at tens of billions of dollars.
.... It will be difficult to re-house people near their homes and their
workplaces. Many of them will leave the city for good. The housing
problem will take a long time to resolve, particularly because so much
of the population of New Orleans is of modest means. Houses are always
the last to be rebuilt, notes Mrs. Comerio, and housing for modest
families are always built last. "The inhabitants of Kobe lived for
8 years in provisional housing," she explains. In New Orleans,
neighborhoods flooded to the roofs of the houses will have to be
entirely rebuilt. ...
When the reconstruction of Kobe was done, the city was completely
different. "The commercial districts are rebuilt, but, in general,
there are no longer the same businesses," explains Mrs. Comerio.
"And the residential neighborhoods become completely gentrified.
The modest families are evicted."
------
The Black Nation's 9/11, by Saladin Muhammad
(excerpts)
African American national oppression was/is definitely a major
factor contributing to the magnitude of the disaster caused by Katrina.
National oppression takes on more factors than race. It includes among
other factors where people live and work-social and political
territories and institution, and has a working class character
represented by the most exploited strata of the US working class. Thus
African American national oppression is at the deepest point of the
intersection of race, class and gender oppression and exploitation of
the US working class.
As more than 90 percent of Black people throughout the US are workers,
African American national oppression places its primary emphasis on the
exploitation and oppression of Black workers and their communities. More
than two-thirds of New Orleans' inhabitants were African American. In
the Lower Ninth Ward, a neighborhood that was one of the hardest hit,
more than 98% were Black.
The slow US federal and state government responses to natural disasters
like Hurricanes Katrina and Floyd in North Carolina in September 1999,
that greatly impacted predominately African American working class
communities, make clear that the value of Black and working class life
is subordinate to capitalist property and profits.
********************
GERMANY
Intro:
What is at stake on September 18th
A few days from now, on September 18th, 61million Germans are going
to vote. A recent issue of the Financial Times took a clear
stand. Under the headline "Why Europe needs Merkel to win",
the British daily gave its reasons. This election is important for
Germans, "but also", it stressed "for the rest of
Europe", since a victorious Merkel candidacy would open the
possibility of resuming reforms "in every country of the
continent".
The framework is set. Finance capital considers that the victory of
Merkel must serve as a point of leverage to unleash a violent onslaught
across entire Europe and to try to erase the victory of the French May
29th and Dutch June 5th "No" votes on the European
"Constitution."
The "European crisis" has to be eased, "the
anti-liberalism, protectionism and anti-Americanism that are prevalent
in the Franco-German alliance" have to be smashed, the daily
newspaper of the City writes. It concludes: "A Merkel victory would
not in itself solve all the problems of Europe. It nevertheless would
offer a chance to resume economic and political reforms"; this is
an indisputably concise and to the point summary of what is at stake in
this election for the continent's workers and peoples.
In our ILC Newsletter, we have several times analyzed the position of
each of the forces bidding for votes; this week, we have chosen to
publish in an opinion column the declaration of three leaders of the
SPD's labor commission on the eve of the election.
-----
Statements of three leaders of the SPD's Labor Commission
"The situation is shifting for the German people".
On September 18th, the German people are going to vote. What does Angela
Merkel say? She claims that " 'reforms´ have not gone far
enough." Not far enough?
The Hartz laws that have knocked 100,000 unemployed workers off the
employment benefit lists -- most of them now have to work at 1 Euro an
hour jobs. Not far enough?
The reform of the health-care system which compelled patients to pay
viciously high lump-sums, and which resulted in the closure and the sale
of hospitals. Not far enough?
The privatizations of municipal workshops, local transports and,
especially in Eastern Germany, of the child-care centers and public
housing ... these did not go far enough?
The massive destruction of industrial jobs, sacrificed for financial
profits, with the destruction of regulations in the workplace, with the
soaring rise of casual, underpaid jobs, ramming gaping breaches into
collective agreements and threatening the prerogatives of trade unions.
Not far enough?
Who achieved that? Who, month after month, has aroused the anger of
workers in the East and West, across Germany? Who has caused the
unprecedented crisis of the SPD? Who is responsible for these policies?
Who has obligingly paved the way to power for Angela Merkel, who is
determined to push the implementation of European Union-dictated
"market economy" still further?
Who is responsible for this situation? Who indeed if not Schroeder
himself! Isn't keeping Schroeder at the head of the SPD the same as
easing in all the anti-labor disasters today openly announced by Angela
Merkel?
On September 18th, a few days from now, the German people are going to
vote.
What choice do workers, old-age pensioners, and young people have?
Gysi (Linkspartei-PDS) not only praises his terrible legacy of
privatization-destruction of all industries in the Lander of the East
during the '90s, but also explicitly takes a stand against
nationalization and State public property, and is against defending the
hospitals´ and public housing's requests that they should be managed
again by municipalities.
Should they vote for a Linkspartei-PDS which, wherever it runs the
administration (as in Berlin for example) breaks collective agreements,
cuts wages and privatizes public child-care centers and housing.
Should they vote for a Linkspartei which rejects the slogan of repealing
the Hartz law and recovering the system of unemployment benefits based
on contributions, with the excuse of making this rogue law
"obsolete"?
Should they abstain when Merkel is clearly determined to push still
further?
Isn't it necessary to say clearly: Merkel must be defeated, Schroeder
must be gotten rid of and, on September 18th, we must vote for the SPD?
signed/
- Klaus Schüler (member of the leadership of the Labor
commission of the SPD of Thüringe and a member of Transnet)
- Gothard Krupp (member of the leadership of the Labor commission
of the SPD of Berlin, and a member of the Ver-di union)
- Michael Altmann (member of the leadership of the Labor
commission of the SPD of the Southern Hesse sector and a member of the
Ver.di union)
********************
PORTUGAL - I
10 % of the country is going up in smoke due to fires
For the past years, massive fires have repeatedly ravaged the
forests of Portugal. Thus, in the past three years, 10% of the forests
of Portugal have been destroyed, that is, 850,000 hectares.
This situation has been represented by some sectors as fate or as a
punishment.
The ex-vice president of the Assembly of the Republic, Manuel Alegre, at
a moment where the fire, in the month of August, was on the doorsteps of
Coimbra, the third largest city of the country, declared: "The
Republic itself is on fire."
The situation is extremely serious. The country is undergoing an
economic, social, and political crisis which does not seem to have an
end in sight.
The negative balance-sheet of exports grows every year. The public debt
has reached 70% of the GDP, and the state and municipal debt has risen
by 10 billion Euros in the first trimester. Portuguese marine commerce
only represents 9% of what it was 25 years ago and has only 16 boats!
All this is the result of two decades of Portugal's integration into the
Common Market.
The international press has reported on the situation in our country.
Under the title, "Portugal's destroyed illusions", the
supplement of El Pais, on August 28, explains: "The fires which,
for the third straight year, have devastated Portugal have provoked a
debate that goes beyond the debate on the lack of means to prevent
forest fires. The commentators and the politicians reflect on the
direction to take the country in this delicate political juncture.
"Why is Portugal subject to so many fires? Essentially, this is due
to the chaotic management of the forests and the territory in general.
The disintegration of the rural world in the last two decades, largely
due to the European integration, has led to the abandonment of
agricultural lands and forests, which are no longer considered
economically viable, and to the migration of youth from the towns in the
inland to the coastal zones. Today, 80% of the population lives on the
coasts. The result is an abandoned rural zone."
To a certain extent, everything is told here -- but not everything is
explained. Essentially, in liquidating one of the conquests of the
revolution of 1974, the "European integration" has provoked a
counter agrarian reform, destroying Portuguese agriculture. Today, 90%
of food products are imported, and the forests are only used for the
export of cork; Portugal remains the world's number one producer.
Could there possibly be a clearer demonstration of the destructive
policies imposed by the European Union? Let us recall that Portugal
officially joined the Common Market in 1986, under the Soares
presidency. All the governments subjected to the European Union have
applied the same policies, leading to the destruction of the country,
not only in the countryside but also in the main sectors of Portuguese
industry.
The result is that, today, Portugal has become, as the article in El
Pais explained, an exporter of labor.
The real contradiction is that political and social relations in
Portugal remain marked by the April revolution of 1974, which
nationalized 70% of the productive economy, nationalized the banks,
imposed an agrarian reform and, notably, established political
democracy. And despite the successive counter-reforms, these are still
the obstacles that must be destroyed. This is the goal of Socrates
government.
-----
PORTUGAL - II
Interview conducted with Carmelinda Pereira, representative to the
Portuguese Constituent Assembly (1975-76), by Informations Ouvrieres/Labor
News, the weekly newspaper of the Workers Party (France) -- excerpts
"Why I am running as a presidential candidate"
[Intro: "The presidential elections of January 2006 will take
place in a context of a generalized regime crisis in Portugal. In 1974,
the revolution established political democracy and won a number of
social conquests. Today, after two decades of the implementation of the
Brussels directives, the country is on the brink of disaster and its
basic conquests are threatened. In this situation, our comrade
Carmelinda Pereira, who was a deputy to the Constituent Assembly
(1975-1976), has decided to run as a presidential candidate. We have
interviewed her to ask her to explain her reasons for running.]
Question: Why are you running for president?
Answer: In 1974, I was a deputy of the Socialist Party in the
Constituent Assembly. The Portuguese people brought down the atrocious
Salazarist dictatorship. We deputies, elected on the mandate of the
people, changed the course of events by, first of all, establishing
political democracy, by nationalizing 70% of the productive economy, and
by implementing the agrarian reform.
Today, this is what the European Union wants to do away with. In the
face of the disaster facing the country, which is the result of two
decades of the implementation of the Brussels directives, and faced with
a drive to go all the way with these disastrous policies, I have decided
to present myself as a candidate and to call on the people, workers, and
activists of Portugal to defend the political democracy, Republic, and
social and democratic conquests won by the Revolution of April 1974.
My candidacy is addressed to the millions of Portuguese who mobilized,
during the legislative elections of last February 20, to change the
course of events of the country, by giving the absolute majority to the
Socialist Party and by inflicting a historic defeat of the PSD and the
CDS-PP (the two parties of the right), whose coalition government went
all the way in implementing the policies of the European Union.
The workers and people of Portugal clearly expressed their sentiments
against the policies of the past years. With them, I respect the mandate
given to me in the Constituent Assembly in 1975, a mandate for political
democracy and for social conquests.
What we are all witnessing is the acceleration of the implementation in
Portugal of the policies dictated by the European Union, policies which
are directed against the workers, against the Socialist electorate, and
the Socialist Party itself.
Isn't this a complete detour away from the norms of democracy? Should a
democratically elected government report to and be held accountable to
the people who elected that government, or should it be to the European
Union, behind which are hidden the institutions of finance capital and
the large transnational corporations?
Question: What kind of regime change do you think the main
political forces would like see?
Answer: It would be the formalization of the dictatorship of the
Brussels institutions. This would be done through the revision of the
constitution of the Portuguese republic, with the goal of doing away
with the conquests of April which are codified in the constitution. But
this totalitarian framework has been rejected by the peoples of Europe,
as the French and Dutch people categorically affirmed during the
referendums on the "Constitution"! This process of resistance
and rejection constitutes the basis for finding a positive solution for
the Portuguese people.
Portugal has a role to play in the world, notably in Europe. This role
can only be assumed in the framework of democracy and in the free union
of sovereign peoples and nations.
This was the path which the Portuguese people tried to open up with the
revolution of April 25, 1974 -- and which the European Union has put
into question, year after year, government after government. This was
the path which the Portuguese people tried to return to through their
vote in the last legislative elections, where they rejected the
consequences of the policies implemented by the successive governments
at the service of Brussels.
Question: What do you think is the political solution?
Answer: What actions should a government which responds to the
hopes of the people take? They must be truly socialist actions such as
putting an end to the privatizations and having the state take back
control of the banks and the strategic sectors of the economy, in order
to launch a development plan for industrial and agricultural production.
This government should end the process of company bankruptcies and
closings.
It should annul the laws that attack the rights won by the public
service workers (specifically, the age of retirement). It should defend
social security and all public services and put an end to the bosses´
control of the public hospitals. It should annul the new labor laws and
the law against political parties.
It should end the policies of decentralization/regionalization, which
aim to dismember the democratic republic which we have built in the
oldest nation of Europe.
Question: Mario Soares, who is presented as the "father of
democracy," is running as a candidate. What is your opinion?
Answer: Soares declared that he is not the candidate of the
Socialist Party, but rather a national candidate searching for the
support of civil society. Already, the leaders of the Communist Party
and the Left Bloc (led by the friends of Alain Krivine in Portugal)
declared that, in the second round, they would drop out and support him.
They all have declared their agreement in relation to the strengthening
of the presidential regime, the introduction of participatory democracy,
and the respect for the Maastricht Treaty and the modification of the
Stability Pact.
For us, the Soares candidacy is far from being the expression of the
workers, activists, and, even, socialist leaders of Portugal. That is
why we have launched our candidacy and have collected the 7,500
signatures necessary to register.
********************
BURUNDI
"For the pure and simple cancellation of the debt"
During the parliamentary sessions which took place in Algiers on the
initiative of the parliamentary group of the Workers Party of Algeria, a
decision was taken to elaborate a memorandum on the tragic consequences
of the debt for the African countries."
The first contributions have been sent to us. We publish an article
which constitutes the first elements of this memorandum.
-----
"The recent history of Burundi and the Great Lakes region is
marked by the killings of the civilian population and genocidal
massacres. But the ethnicities, in this country, just like Rwanda, do
not really exist.
The population speaks the same language, have the same culture, share
the same religion (the Kiranga-Ryangombe cult) and have always
peacefully co-existed on the plains, the hills, and plateaus of the
Great Lakes region.
Colonial intervention, with its anthropology, was necessary to
distinguish amongst these populations an éthiopide racial type (tutsi)
which constitutes 14% of the population, a Negroid racial type (hutu)
which constitutes 85% of the population, and a Pygmy population (twa)
which constitutes 1% of the population, who have been now subjected on
the political plane to the first group.
The colonizers, moreover, made sure that the so-called ethnic identity
should be listed on all identification cards.
In this region of Africa, the massacres of an ethnic and genocidal
character first appeared on the eve of the independence of Burundi and
Rwanda on July 1, 1962 and would continue to be the recourse of leaders
to perpetuate the submission of the country to imperialism.
Burundi is amongst the three poorest countries on the planet. According
to the official statistics in all sectors, the percentage of the
population which lives below the poverty line was 36% in 1990, 58% in
1998, and 80% in 2004. The GDP continues to decline. There are more poor
people, and the poor are becoming poorer.
The public external debt rose, by the end of 2004, to US $1.3 billion,
that is 1,560 billion francs, which constitutes more than 190% of the
GDP. The country's economic activity, which is in the process of being
privatized, is agricultural. Coffee, tea, and cotton provide for the
state more than 90% of export revenues.
The percentage of the population properly vaccinated was 83% in 1992 and
48% in 1998. In the same period, the infant mortality rate increased
from 110% to 127%. According to the same statistics, the current war has
taken over 300,000 lives. Malaria has become a true epidemic. According
to a recent investigation, more than 80% of the population does not have
access to health care and most of the other 20% are forced to sell a
portion of their land or cattle to pay for the services.
Another report examined the continued ravages of AIDS and noted that 80%
of the beds in the general internal medicine wards in the hospitals are
occupied by AIDS victims. Life expectancy has fallen from 53 years in
1990 to 39 years in 2004.
In the country, the situation of public services has continually
deteriorated, to the point that they are on the verge of disappearing.
Forty-five percent of the 2005 budget is going towards the payment of
the foreign debt, 40% to services of defense and security, and 2% to
health care! How is the population supposed to survive without public
services, with a famine that has become an epidemic, and with miserable
wages.
Isn't this the situation that is at the root of the break-up of the
country? In Burundi, since 1994, a series of peace agreements have been
signed under the aegis of the World Bank, the United States, the
European Union and the United Nations: the Kigobe-Kajaga agreement
(1993), the Convention de gouvernement (1994), the Partenariat politique
(1998), the Arusha agreements (2000), and the "cease-fire"
agreements (2002, 2003).
But the populations continue to be massacred. On August 13, 2004, more
than 160 Congolese Banyamulenge, refugees in Burundi, were killed while
the U.N. troops (mandated to "maintain peace") did nothing but
observe. Security conditions themselves get worse every day. The current
constitution, voted on by referendum on February 28, 2005, codified the
"ethnicitization" of the country's institutions.
Today, we are worried. We know through our experience that when the
Labor Code and the Functionary Statute are threatened, there is no more
reference for communal, guaranteed, and common rights. It has created a
situation of social conflict. Thus, the unity of the nation is in
danger.
Who can fail to see that the root of this situation is to be found in
the Structural Adjustment Plans (SAP) and their policies dictating
privatization, the payment of the "foreign debt," pillage, the
questioning of public services, and their peace plans and military
interventions.
The leaders of the international financial institutions have themselves
concluded that the SAPs failed. A call has been launched to our people
to imagine a policy other than what is called NEPAD. After several
years, it became clear that NEPAD was nothing more than a strengthened
SAP; the initiators of NEPAD themselves admitted that it failed. Today,
we must fight for the pure and simple cancellation of the debt, for the
reconstruction of the country, and for the sovereignty of the people
over the resources of the continent. The people must take their
destinies into their own hands. This is the only way to turn around the
fatal drift of Africa."
********************
MARTINIQUE
Interview
Let all the truth come out about the DC-52 crash
Last August 16, a flight of the Colombian West Caribbean company
crashed near Maracaibo, Venezuela. 152 passengers, from Martinique, and
8 crew members, from Colombia, lost their lives. The families of the
victims grouped together in an association to fight for all the truth
about the causes and responsibilities to come out.
We interviewed Jacqueline Petitot, an activist of the Workers and
Peasant Alliance (AOP) of Martinique.
-----
Question: You recently published a declaration
concerning the August 16 MD-82 crash in Venezuela, which took the lives
of 160 people.
Answer: The Workers and Peasants Alliance, first of all, felt
the pain of the families of the 152 victims from Martinique, as well as
the families of the 8 Colombian crew members. In this drama, 3 friends
and sympathizers of ours lost their lives. We have addressed our sincere
condolences to their families and have assured them our support.
Obviously, things cannot stay on this level. This crash was not
inevitable. The truth must come out about the causes of, and
responsibility for, the crash. That is why we salute the initiative of
the families who constituted themselves in an association to research
the truth about the crash and to put into place measures to prevent this
tragedy from ever occurring again.
Question: You, and not only you, have argued that
deregulation is the direct root cause.
Answer: We are outraged at the intolerable degradation of
transportation conditions which resulted in these 160 deaths. In only a
few weeks, in the recent period, we have seen more than five air
catastrophes. And, each time, it was companies born from the policies of
deregulation. These companies used what the transportation experts did
not hesitate to label "trash-can airplanes" without the
minimum security guarantees.
We share the outraged cry of a parent who lost five family members in
the crash: "The search for profits of the air companies has led to
the death of 160 people. Here you have the truth!"
Question: What do you make of the French Airline Safety
Board statements insisting that if international security measures are
not taken to enforce security norms, we can expect that one commercial
air transport accident will take place each week by 2010?
Answer: This prediction was confirmed by the union of pilots
of Air France: "The very scrupulous flight operators and their
accomplices, the "brokers", transform themselves into
potential murderers with all impunity (due to the lack of legislative
texts) to constantly look for the lowest costs in the name of the holy
law of the market. Here we have all the ingredients necessary for
catastrophes, which make the declarations of our politicians after these
catastrophes more than insulting."
Who can accept this? This is why the Workers and Peasants Alliance has
declared its solidarity with the struggle in France of the Antillais,
Guyanais and Réunionnais collective, which has decided to join a civil
law suit on this question in Fort-de France.
We salute the struggle of this collective to establish transparent
security rules for the flights to Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guiana, and
Reunion, flights which operate with prohibitory tariffs on old aircrafts
(more than 20 years of age, on average, compared to 6 to 7 years for
planes headed towards other destinations).
"In matters of security," the collective has declared,
"passengers have the natural right to receive objective and
non-manipulated informative reports."
Thus, we are a constituent part of the preparation for the Caribbean
Conference "For the Sovereignty of Nations and for Trade Union
Independence," which will take place on December 15 and 16 in
Guadeloupe.
Question: Can you specify the goal?
Answer: On December 12 and 13, 2002, 13 organizations from
nine countries joined together at the Caribbean Conference "Against
deregulation, for the defense and reconquest of workers' rights, for the
independence of the trade unions, against the free trade agreements with
the United States, which ruin the economy of the small countries which
have been pillaged by more than three centuries of colonization, and for
the right of the peoples of the Caribbean to self-determination."
"Three years later," as the appeal for the second session
underlines, "the situation of the workers and peoples throughout
the world and in the Caribbean has drastically worsened: factory
closings, agricultural exploitation, unemployment, lay-offs, the
destruction of public services, privatizations, and a rise in crime,
drugs, and prostitution. This is all primarily a product of the
escalation of attacks against national sovereignty and trade union
independence."
The sovereignty of the peoples and the independence of the workers´
organizations, and the struggle against the deregulations dictated by
the supranational institutions -- which are completely free of the
control of the peoples -- constitute for us two aspects of a single
struggle.
*****
"This tragic accident is a new example of the barbarism of a
society run by the law of profit, of the destruction of the conquests of
the workers and peoples, of a rampaging deregulation in all sectors:
transport, health, housing, environment (look at the terrible
consequences of Hurricane Katrina in the United States), labor codes,
national sovereignty, etc.
This accident strengthens our conviction that it is necessary to
struggle for the deepest unity possible to defend the rights of the
workers and peoples, while maintaining our complete independence from
the capitalists and the governmental and international institutions at
their service. The elementary bases of civilization and the survival of
humanity itself are at stake.
In the Caribbean, to aid this vital struggle for unity, the AOP is a
constituent part of the Second Caribbean Conference "For the
Sovereignty of Nations and for Trade Union Independence," which
will take place on December 16 and 17, 2005, with the fraternal
collaboration of the UGTG and the support of the International Liaison
Committee of Workers and Peoples. Each of these organizations expresses
its sentiments to the families of the victims and assures them their
full solidarity. The AOP proposes that this conference take place in
homage to the victims of the August 16 crash and in solidarity with
their families.
Fort-de-France,
September 14, 2005
Back to Home Back to
ILC Newsletter Index
|
Open World Conference of Workers