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A dossier of weekly information published by the International
*********************** INTRODUCTION: In this issue we continue the publication of the discussion that took place during the 13th Conference In Defense of the ILO Conventions and Trade Union Independence in Geneva. We are publishing the speech of Gulzar Chaudhary (Pakistan), president of the All Pakistan Trade Union Federation, and the speech of Lorenzo Varaldo, a teacher unionist (Italy). Mexico: We are publishing an interview with a Mexican member of the ILC, concerning the mobilizations in Mexico against the electoral fraud that took place in the July 2 elections. Palestine: The tragic events that are currently taking place, whose primary victim is the Palestinian people, give a particular importance to the initiative taken by Dialogue Review to organize an International Conference in Defence of Palestinian Women. United States: We are publishing an article on the political situation after the powerful mobilizations in defence of immigrant workers´ rights. Bangladesh: You will find below an interview with Tafazzul Hussain, general secretary of the National Federation of Workers (BJSF), concerning the victory of the textile workers, who imposed the recognition of their unions. Brazil: We are publishing the Manifesto of the 9th Conference of the Brazilian organization Revolution Youth, which took place on July 1st and 2nd. Subscribe to the ILC International Newsletter! Support the ILC! ---- TABLE OF CONTENTS: p. 1: Introduction
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Gulzar Chaudhary (Pakistan) The political, economic, and labor situation in Pakistan is very bad. Pakistan has been subjected to martial law for the past 28 years. President Musharaf says there is democracy. But there is not, because be it the public or private sector, the army is holding all the reins. There is no framework in which to organize trade unions in the private sector. In the public sector, the law allows for trade unions, but in practice it is impossible to organize them. Thus, in an important sector such as that of the railways, which employs more than 100,000 workers, there are restrictions concerning the organization of trade unions. We face many obstacles. The government has recently declared that: -- If a worker is laid-off, he or she cannot go to court to protest the lay-off; but only the courts can grant workers compensation. -- If a worker is laid-off, he or she cannot continue to serve as a union officer. -- If the workers strike, the strike is declared illegal and all the labor activists and leaders are fired without compensation. Another ordinance gives the government the power to lay off a worker without needing to provide a reason. The ordinance on forced pensions allows the government to lay off any worker or trade union leader, without having to provide any compensation. The government also recently passed an ordinance prohibiting the Ministry of Labor or any other ministry to control the corporations or investigate to see if they are violating the law. If you register a complaint to a ministry, the ministry cannot investigate. These are the conditions facing us. The majority of workers have no written contract with their bosses. If a worker wants to build a trade union, the Ministry of Labor demands proof that he or she is employed by the company. The boss thus then declares that he or she does not work for the company because he or she has not signed a contract. None of the rights guaranteed by the law concerning lay-offs are implemented. The government claims it is encouraging investment. But the chaotic social situation prevents investments from coming in. There are only contracts to build buildings, but none for factories. Seven thousands factories have closed and more than 150,000 workers have been laid-off. Although Pakistan has ratified four conventions of the ILO, the government and the bosses do not implement them. However, the government pretends that it is implementing the law. Despite all these obstacles, we have built a united front of all the trade union organizations. A peasant organization with 20,000 members is affiliated to our federation. The brick-yard workers built a union and joined our federation. Various federations have come together to found a united confederation. Despite all the difficulties, we are advancing. We have also built an alliance of forced-labor workers, which brings together agricultural laborers, workers in the brick-yards, and workers in the informal sector. In conclusion, the situation is very serious. The working class lives in misery. Due to unemployment, the workers must accept extremely low wages. In the countryside, the feudal landlords have installed serfdom. The Prime Minister of Pakistan receives a wage of 100 million. The debt has risen 800 million. The wages of the ministers have risen 300%. But the workers and the unemployed have received a 1.91% rise in wages. Many are pushed to suicide, including women and children. We are advancing, despite everything. I think that the anger toward capitalism is growing everywhere. Thus, there was a Social Forum in Karachi, and very few Pakistanis participated. We were the only federation that openly criticized it and refused to participate in it. We even wrote an open letter to the organizers and the authorities. I hope that one day our struggle win triumph. ----- Lorenzo Varaldo (Italy), teacher unionist I think that the question of the integration of the trade unions is at the center of the political situation in the world and in Italy. There is a contradictory situation in my country. On the one hand, there have been massive strikes and demonstrations for years against the policies implemented by the Berlusconi government -- policies that were the direct implementation of the directives of the European Union. And in the elections of April and May, the workers, youth, pensioners, and people said: It is necessary to end these policies, things must change. Thus, there is resistance from the people. But the government of Prodi, the leader of the Unione coalition which won the elections, has presented its program for the first 100 days: It is a complete continuation of the policies of the European Union. Let´s not forget that Prodi was the president of the European Commission. These are policies of privatization, lowering labor costs, attacking public services, and the destruction of all our conquests. Thus, there is a contradiction between the will of people and that of the government. And, faced with this contradiction, the government and the capitalists have declared that it is necessary to integrate the trade unions and it is necessary to collaborate with the trade unions to implement the program of the European Union. This contradiction expresses itself on other levels. The policies of the European Union lead to the division and destruction of the country. On June 25, a referendum took place concerning a proposed reform of the constititition, which would create 20 little Italies through regionalization. Here too we see a contradiction, because the will of people was to defend the unity of the nation. In all the protests of recent years -- be it concerning education, the metal-workers, or the pensions -- the population said: "We are united from the South to the North." The parties of the center-left called for the population to vote No. But the Prodi government and the parties proposed another reform with the same content: regionalization and the break-up of the country. In the face of the will of the people, they search to integrate the trade union organizations and to establish dialogue to implement the policies of the European Union. But here too there is resistance. Many leaders are in favor of implementing the policies of the European Union, but now we are hearing from leaders who are beginning to say that regionalization means the division of the country and the destruction of national trade unions. Five years ago the reform of the constitution was passed with the agreement of all the trade unions. But today, some are beginning to pose questions. And the ranks say: It is necessary to defend the national trade unions, the national contracts, the unity of the nation, and the unity of the Republic. In the ILC International Newsletter, you may have read an interview with a leader of the CGIL in Piedmont, who says: What is needed is the defense of the independence of the trade unions. Thus, we are seeing resistance from the ranks, but also from certain leaders who are posing questions. In this context, the partisans of the ILC in Turin presented a slate in the municipal elections for the first time, on the basis of a program for a rupture with the European Union, the defense of the public services and democracy, thus the unity of the nation. This allowed us to begin the discussion: How can we defend the conquests with a Prodi government that says it is necessary to submit to the directives of the European Union? This discussion also led to a discussion concerning the trade union questions, concerning the independence of the trade unions. In this situation, there are clear dangers. It is a difficult situation, but there are elements of resistance. A discussion has begun. With the report on this conference and the work of the ILC, this debate can continue and bring about results. *************************
Interview with Humberto Brizuela, member of the National Coordination of the Independent and Democratic Workers´ Party (PDTI), an affiliate of the ILC Following the presidential elections of July 2nd -- which were marred by massive fraud in favor of Calderon, the candidate of the pro-Bush right-wing party, the PAN, and against Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the left candidate -- hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to demand a recount. Among these were activists of the PDTI, which called for "Committees Against the Fraud and for the Sovereignty of the Nation." ILC: Can you please remind our readers of the situation in which the presidential elections of July 2 took place? HB: The three main political parties presented candidates in the presidential elections: the PRI, which ruled for 60 years, the PAN, the pro-Bush right-wing party, which has been in power for 6 years, and the PRD, a nationalist party which describes itself as of the left. The PRD presented Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO), who the workers and the people mandated to defend and resolve the urgent problems facing the nation, particularly the abrogation of NAFTA (a free-trade agreement between the United States, Canada, and Mexico), which has resulted in the pillage of the country since 1994. Forty-two millions Mexicans participated in these elections. The elections were marred by a profound manipulation of the votes, organized to prevent the victory of AMLO and give the victory to Calderon, the candidate of the PAN. This gigantic fraud was covered up by the media, by the President, by the Church (which called for a Calderon vote) and behind them all, the embassy of the United States, which fears the rising mobilizations of the Mexican people. ILC: What is the evidence to demonstrate that this fraud occurred? HB: On Sunday July 16, in Mexico, during a rally in the Zocalo, AMLO, following a monster mobilization of a million people, explained that the fraud resided in the falsification of the vote results: there were arithmetic errors in the vote-count in 60% of the 130,788 voting booths. There were also thousands of voting booths where the number of votes was higher or lower than the actual number of votes cast. ILC: The Federal Tribunal was summoned to intervene on account of all these irregularities and will publish its verdict on September 6. The profound mass mobilizations put forward the demand "Voto por voto, casilla por casilla " (count each vote in each polling booth) What does the PTDI think of this mobilization? Are there other demands? HB: The demand: "Voto por voto, casilla por casilla" also expresses the necessity for the Mexican people to end the situation it has faced for the past six years of the Fox government. .... We have seen important resistance movements against the privatization of electricity, in defense of social security, public education, and against NAFTA, which liquidated two millions jobs in the countryside. For our part, we think that these struggles of the people and workers of Mexico are part of the struggle in defense of the nation and its sovereignty. ILC: In this demonstration, the biggest in the history of Mexico, AMLO called for civil resistance and for a third march and "informational assembly" on the Zocalo, on July 20, with the goal of being twice as large as that of July 16. What is the PTDI going to do in the coming 15 days? HB: The movement of the people is beginning to organize itself, particularly in the neighborhood committees. This opens up new possibilities. The role of the PDTI is to help the self-organization of the workers and the population and the construction of committees, which we call "committees against fraud and for national sovereignty." I would like to provide your readers which examples of two states, Oaxaca and Chiapas. In the state of Chiapas, last year, there was a very important strike of the teachers and the health care workers. Oaxaca, in recent weeks, there was a strike of 70,000 teachers, which received immense support from the population. In Oaxaca, a "Popular Assembly of Oaxaca" was organized and, in Chiapas, a coordination of trade unions and peasants organizations was created. In these two states, the demand to kick out the governor was raised. The task of the PTDI is to draw the lessons of this situation to aid this movement, to aid the creation of committees against fraud and for national sovereignty, and to help centralize these committees. In this situation, the PTDI presented a candidate for governor in the elections in Chiapas in August. We organized a national tour for the candidate, our comrade Russel Aguilar Brindi, which began last week in Baja California. This electoral campaign has put forward the central demand of the unity of the nation and for the constitution of committees against fraud and for national sovereignty. July 16, 2006 ----- Organize Committees Against Electoral Fraud and In Defence of National Sovereignty Close to two million workers of all sectors, housewives, street vendors, youth, and students spoke in the name of the nation on July 16 with their slogans and banners. The engagement has been taken to double the number of protesters for the July 20 demonstration. To reach this objective, to impose the popular will expressed on July 2 to elect Obrador president, it is necessary for this process, which began with the first informational assembly, on July 8, and which deepened with the mobilization of the second assembly, on July 15, to develop more and structure itself. It is necessary to build on every block, in every neighbourhood, workplace, and union, committees against electoral fraud, in defence of sovereignty of the people, in defence of the sovereignty of the nation. The 1.5 million people present on July 16, the millions and millions who voted for Obrador, and the millions who today are against the electoral fraud, are going beyond the structures and positions of the social and political organizations present in this mobilization. Working people are the force behind the anti-fraud movement. Organizing this force will open new perspectives in the struggle today against the fraud, tomorrow in defence of the nation and the rights of the people. "The people are here! That is the most important thing!" declared an anonymous voice during the assembly. Today, it is indispensable to be able to say: the working people are here, in an organized manner. Independent and Democratic Workers´ Party **********************
(NEWSLETTER No. 1 -- July17, 2006) Dialogue's editorial board has received the following message from Louisa Hanoune, elected Member of Parliament of Algeria's National Popular Assembly and general secretary of Algeria's Parti des Travailleurs (Workers Party). In this message, Sister Hanounce proposes that an International Conference in Solidarity with Palestinian Women should be organised and held in Algiers. In the grave circumstances that have arisen, we are forwarding her message to you -- a message to which we have replied favourably. -- Dialogue's Editorial Board ---------- LOUISA HANOUNE'S MESSAGE Dear Friends, I have the following information to convey to you: In my capacity as elected Member of Parliament (MP) of Algeria's National Popular Assembly and as general secretary of Algeria's Parti des Travailleurs (Workers Party), and also as a signatory of the appeal circulated by Dialogue in support of the Palestinian working women of the city of Nazareth, I proposed to my country's authorities that an international Conference in Solidarity with Palestinian Women should be organised and held in Algiers. Both the President of the Republic and the President of the National Popular Assembly have granted their official consent. The conference will take place in the building of the National Assembly sometime in November. Dear friends, given that this conference is occurring in a most particularly tragic context for the Palestinian people, I would like to point out to you how important my country considers this initiative, as is witnessed by the wide and favourable coverage it is being given. I am indeed convinced that not one democrat, not one single working-class activist can feel indifference, wherever he/she is in the world, as to the discriminatory practices of which Palestinian working women are the victims. Who can be a silent witness of the atrocious events taking place? I, as an Algerian woman, address myself to women throughout the whole world, to the conscience of one and all: Isn't it time that we took serious action to put a stop to the bloodshed, in order to save human lives and to save all the peoples of that region from the organised chaos that is awaiting them? The appeal of the Palestinian working women from Nazareth, by virtue of the cruel fate they are victims of, speaks for itself. Nevertheless, on July 3rd, they organised yet another demonstration, initiated by the Sawt El Amel Association, in front of the headquarters of Agam Mehalev, which is the company to which the Israeli government has given the job of applying the Wisconsin Plan that has vicimised them. The accounts of all those women who demonstrated are each one of them a family tragedy, the results of segregation and ferocious exploitation. At this very moment, it is a downright collective massacre that is ceaselessly being perpetrated by the Israeli Army against the Palestinian people, which has already been starved for months now in Gaza and the West Bank. These areas have been turned into ghettos with nothing left but rubble. And among the dozens of daily victims, a great many are children and babies. Can a people that has itself undergone the horrors of the Shoah accept what Israel's government is now doing? Doesn't each and every people have the right to live? It is humanity itself that is implicated here. That is why I ask myself: What solution could be adopted that could put an end to all this bloodshed? Every woman, every man, who gives thought to the necessity to save the lives of these women, men and children in danger, has to think that question over. For is it acceptable that we let entire populations be wiped out by famine and bombs? These words are not my own. The Agence France Press (AFP), which is an official press agency, issued reports more than once on July 6 on the dreadful conditions in which Palestinian women in Gaza are struggling so that their families may survive, because not only are they being bombed, but food aid is scarcely getting through any more, as a result of their being completely sealed off. Here is one such press release. "Khan Younès (Gaza Strip) -- AFP, July 6, 2006 "In the dense crowd waiting to receive food aid at Khan Younès, Solfa Hamed is elbowing her way through, pushing and attempting to make her way to the front. 'I am afraid of nothing -- except of seeing my 11 children go hungry,' she says in a determined manner. "'I won't leave until I get my sack. My 11 children are waiting for me at home and we have nothing at all left to eat,' she proclaims, the sweat dripping down her wrinkled face. For seven hours, with a hot sun beating down on her, she has been patiently waiting to receive her parcel of basic necessities: five kilos of rice, oil and beans. "In the alleyway where the crowd is pressing, police officers and members of a special Ministry of the Interior force are attempting to push it back with the butts of their rifles. From time to time, when the crowd pushes too hard, they fire into the air.... "After she has at last managed to show her I.D. card to the voluntary workers, Solfa, aged 47, goes and gets her breath back in the shade of a tree. She declares that she has never before seen such a terrible shortage in the Gaza Strip, which is in the throes of chronic violence and has been partly re-occupied in the North by the Israeli army. 'Even the youngest of my children are accustomed to living with the noise of bombs and gunfire all around them. I'm not afraid either. Can anything worse happen to us?' she asks. ... "'In my family, for example, nobody is working. Those who have jobs in Israel can no longer get out of the Gaza Strip,' adds Soraya Aid Soobah, aged 55, who has come limping along to get food aid, after having broken her leg. ... "The situation is appalling. Everybody needs aid, even the workers in the public sector,' declare those in charge of distributing the aid." Isn't it criminal to cause the death of a people in this way? Can any solution consist in crushing a people who have been martyrs for the past 60 years? Everyone is entitled to have their own opinion as to what the solution can be to bring back peace, to restore democracy and to guarantee human rights for all the women, men and children living on that land, equal rights for all. I have my own personal opinion, resulting from the history of my own country. But is it possible for anyone to accept the extermination of a people, under any pretext whatsoever? I am thus appealing to the good will of everybody throughout the world, to all women and all men who are peace-lovers, that they should put a stop to these massacres, to the massive destruction taking place, and put an end to the disgraceful blackmail of starvation. Dear friends, these are a few of the first ideas that come to mind. What I propose is that we publish a newsletter on a regular basis to help prepare our international conference. I will keep you up to date regularly on the developments of our preparation for this conference in Algeria, and I request that you keep informed those who have signed the appeal and propose that they join us. Yours most sincerely, --------- Dialogue's editorial board has replied favourably to Louisa Hanoune's
proposals and has decided to prepare the holding of this international
conference in Algiers, in November 2006. To that end, a letter will
be sent regularly to all who subscribe to Dialogue, to all those who
have signed the appeal of the women from Nazareth, to all those who
will take part in preparing this conference. A letter no. 2 will provide
additional information. You are invited to contact Dialogue's editorial committee: ********************
CAMPAIGN IN SUPPORT OF THE PALESTINIAN WORKING WOMEN BASED IN NAZARETH AGAINST THE WISCONSIN PLAN We have received an appeal from Palestinian women calling for the respect of their democratic and civil rights. Dialogue is a "review for discussion between Arab and Jewish activists of Palestine, in defence of the right of return, for the one-state solution." It organises an open discussion to promote the fundamental democratic interests of all peoples living on the territory of historical Palestine. Considering the importance of the facts, and at the request of Sawt el-Amel (Laborer's Voice), we have taken the initiative to launch the appeal reproduced below. We repudiate the mistreatment of women in all countries, because exploitation and discrimination against women are detrimental to humanity as a whole. This is, moreover, consistent with the aim of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which is "to promote the access of men and women to decent and productive jobs in conditions of liberty, fairness, security and human dignity." We urge you to endorse this appeal and to join the International Committee For the Right of Palestinian Women to Work and Dignity. The committee will send regular updates on the situation of Palestinian women and on the developments in this campaign. Dialogue Review ---------- Appeal of Palestinian Women Based in Nazareth In August 2005, the association in defence of Arab workers in the State of Israel, Sawt el-Amel (Laborer's voice), based in Nazareth, took the initiative to launch a public campaign and to organise demonstrations against the implementation of an Israeli Government's plan called the Wisconsin Plan. The Wisconsin Plan does not create any new jobs. It is meant to exclude the unemployed from their right to benefits by forcing them to accept any job whatsoever. In Nazareth, it principally affects Palestinian women. In 2002, Arab women, made up 15% of the female labour force of working-age people in the state of Israel but represented only 5% of female jobs. They present the most exploited and oppressed layer of the working population submitted to the Wisconsin Plan. Arab women are the main victims of the Wisconsin Plan. How is it possible to inflict such a treatment on women? This past January 6, the police used a violent crackdown against the demonstration convened by Sawt el-Amel despite the fact the demonstration took place in an orderly manner. One demonstrator who intervened to prevent a woman from being beaten by the police was himself beaten up and put under arrest. The Agam Mehalev company, which manages the Wisconsin Plan in Nazareth, decided to terminate the right to unemployment benefits for any workers having participated in the demonstration of Sawt el-Amel. Not only does the company exclude unemployed women from the right to employment but it also uses all sorts of tricks to exclude them from their right to benefits. The company also precipitates them in dire destitution. Whatever may be one's political beliefs, the question should be asked: Who could accept such inhumane treatment? On March 8, 2006, more than 300 Palestinian women demonstrated on International Women's Day at the call of Sawt el-Amel. They waved black flags and portraits of Kheir Khaleile, a young Palestinian worker, first victim of the Wisconsin Plan, who died on March 3rd. Kheir Khaleile had serious health problems. The workers were confined for eight hours in unbearable conditions. Kheir Khaleile asked the Agam Mehalev company for the authorization to leave work. They refused. When he came back home, he fell down and died.
We demand an immediate halt to racial and gender discrimination. It is a question of democracy! ---
PLEASE ADD MY NAME AS AN ENDORSER OF THE APPEAL OF THE PALESTINIAN WOMEN BASED IN NAZARETH NAME : COUNTRY : ORGANISATION : EMAIL : I SUPPORT THIS CAMPAIGN (*) : (money transfers can be wired to IBAN : FR76 3000 4012 5300 0100 1880 873) (*) All donations will be forwarded to the International Committee Please fill out and return to : dialoguereview@yahoo.com Please send copy to: laborers@laborers-voice.org and to ilcinfo@earthlink.net ***********************
After the powerful demonstrations in March and April, and later on May 1st, the Republican and Democratic parties unite against immigrant workers In the Spring of 2006, a powerful movement in defense of the rights of immigrant workers shook the United States. A series of demonstrations, in all the major cities of the country, culminated on May 1st, with strikes and demonstration mobilizing more than five million workers. The trade unions and the AFL-CIO gave their support to the undocumented workers; there are around 12 million super-exploited undocumented workers, most of whom come from Mexico. This movement was provoked by a bill adopted by the House of Representatives that called for massive expulsions from the country and went so far as to criminalize giving aid to undocumented workers. This immense protest movement throughout the whole country had an uncontestable effect: the Senate did not ratify the bill adopted by the House of Representatives. This was a first victory. But under the pretext of not creating a legal void (and in line with the needs of Bush, who seeks to maintain his repressive policies without creating a direct confrontation), an amended law is now being prepared in the Senate. This new bill is a "bipartisan" effort, that is, it was jointly prepared by senators of the Democratic and the Republican parties. It does not at all meet any of the demands of the millions of workers who participated in the Spring mobilizations. It does not propose to legalize the undocumented workers and does not base itself on equal rights for all workers. To the contrary, it would create a category of "guest workers," who would only be able to receive short-term contracts. Nativo Lopez, the president of the Mexican-American Political Association, recently explained in a radio interview: "The new bill is nothing but a replication of the one which we fought against, with a few less excesses. ... We had tremendous fear the Democrats would try and cut a deal behind the backs of the immigrant movement that had risen up throughout the United States. Well, that is exactly what happened. ...Those responsible for this rotten deal are the National Catholic Conference of Bishops, the Cardinal, the Mayor of Los Angeles, the national leadership of SEIU." (1) Essentially, while the AFL-CIO has maintained a principled position in support of the legalization of all the immigrant workers, a measure in the interests of the whole American working class, the organization that broke with the AFL-CIO supported the creation of "alternative legislation." They participated in the creation of this legislation together with the Democratic Party. The struggle for immigrant workers´ rights -- rights which are inseparable from those of the working class as a whole -- can only advance through class unity and independence in the face of the commissions organized by the two parties of the bourgeoisie. It was to aid this process that, from the beginning of the movement, the activists associated to the ILC in Mexico and the United Status launched a binational appeal "For the legalization of all the immigrant workers, for the abrogation of the free trade agreements which are in contradiction with the interests of all the workers." For his part, Nativo Lopez launched an appeal for the organization of new mass mobilizations on September 4, Labor Day in the United States, a day in which the trade unions traditionally demonstrate. Nativo Lopez stated: "Labor Day this year, September 4, will be different from what it's been in the past; it will be more like what we observed on May Day of this year. We will be joining with labor unions throughout the United States to organize major mega-marches, demanding fairness and the rights for immigrants. We will be as one with the labor movement in the United States, because the movement of the immigrants in the United States can only be solidified to the extent that labor generally is solidified." ----- Endnotes (1) The SEIU, led by Andy Stern, is the main organization of the Change to Win current, which broke with the AFL-CIO ------ The Supreme Court of the United States Condemns the Repressive Policies of the Bush Administration It seems useful to us to provide the readers of the ILC International Newsletter with the commentaries of an American journalist, Dave Lindorff, concerning the decision of the Supreme Court which condemns as contrary to the laws of the United States the methods used against the prisoners from Afghanistan and Iraq. The decision of the Supreme Court -- which, however, does not call for the closing of the Guantanamo base -- condemns the existence of special military tribunals established to deal with what the Bush administration calls "enemy combatants" and affirms that these prisoners (including those accused of "war crimes") should be judged by the existing jurisdiction. Dave Lindorff, author of a book on Mumia Abu Jamal and of a recent book explaining the case for the impeachment of Bush (A Case for Impeachment), explains that we have not paid sufficient attention to the fact that the decision of the Supreme Court explains that the Geneva Convention applies -- contrary to the declarations of the Bush administration -- to the prisoners of war captured during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, as well as those captured during the "war on terrorism" who presumably belong to Al-Qaeda. The legal conclusion of this reference, underlines Dave Lindorff, is that "for the past five years, Bush and his gang of war-mongers, including Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State and former National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, and current Attorney General and former White House Chief Counsel Alberto Gonzales, and many others in the administration, have been guilty of violating the Third Convention on treatment of prisoners of war. They are also, therefore, in violation of federal law, which back in 1996 adopted that convention as part of the U.S. criminal code." And Lindorff recalls that this was this case in Guantanamo, where three prisoners committed suicide. He also recalls that in 2002, Arturo Gonzalez, a White House advisor at the time, warned Bush of the risk: "But then he went on to say Bush could ´substantially reduce´ his risk of domestic criminal prosecution under the War Crimes Act by making a presidential determination that the Third Geneva Convention "does not apply to al Qaeda and the Taliban." This was rejected by the Supreme Court. That an institution like the Supreme Court took such a decision indicates the depth of the crisis in the top-layers of the U.S. state after the invasion of Afghanistan, then Iraq. It also underlines that the continuation of the occupation, as an expression of the "endless war against terrorism" is threatening the very bases of American democracy and reinforces the fact that, from the point of view of democracy, there is no other solution than the immediate removal of the occupation forces from Afghanistan and Iraq. **********************
The revolt of the textile workers imposes the recognition of the trade unions An interview with Tafazzul Hussain, General Secretary of the National Federation of Workers (BJSF) During the last week of May, throughout the whole region of Dacca, the capital of Bangladesh, tens of thousands of workers demonstrated and shut down production in the textile industry, the main export industry of the country. Concerning this powerful strike, we interviewed Tafazzul Hussain, the president of the National Federation of Workers (BJSF), an organization which participates in the activities of the ILC. ILC: In general, the international press only speaks of Bangladesh when disasters occur. Nevertheless, this time, it spoke of the strikes and demonstrations in the textile sector. What occurred? TH: Before dealing with the events, it is necessary to speak of the general causes of the movement. The textile industry is at the heart of my country's economy. It employs two million people -- mostly women -- who work in more than 4,000 factories. The exportation of these products accounts for more than 80% of export revenues in Bangladesh. In fact, the companies of these sectors are "sub-contractors" of the big multinational corporations and brands. We know that the companies claim to respect the "codes of conduct," but in reality the conditions in the textile industry are abominably exploitative. In particular, after the world textile market was liberalized, the most elementary security norms were sacrificed on the altar of competetivity. This year, hundreds of workers died in factory fires or building collapses. I repeat: These are companies that work for the big multinationals. For example, in one of the most terrible accidents was Spectrum Sweater, which works for Carrefour. ILC: What is the state of trade union rights? TH: The most elementary rights are not respected in this industry. There are companies situated in the "free trade zones," called Export Processing Zones, where "legally" the laws of Bangladesh are not implement; thus, trade unions are forbidden. But in the rest of industry, through pressure, intimidation, violence, and arbitrary lay-offs, trade unions are in fact forbidden. The labor laws are ignored, because nobody is there to respect them. There are no weekly days-off, paid-vacations, or maternity leave. Of course, the trade unions struggle and have constituted textile federations -- this is the case for the BJSF, the organization that I am president of. But this is an unending struggle to maintain the very existence of this organization when the means toward collective bargaining are rejected. ILC: And the wages? TH: The minimum wage has not been raised since 1995. Today, the monthly wage is about 14 to 15 dollars. Rice, the basic food staple, costs about 1 dollar for 3 kilos. Thus, supposing that a worker has no other expenses, a worker can buy for his or her family about 1.5 kilos of rice per day. Today, the immediate cause of the explosion was, in numerous cases, the non-payment of these miserable wages. Some workers had not been paid for three to six months. In Gazipur, a few hundred kilometers from Dacca, the workers of a factory peacefully protested, demanding the payment of their wages. This occurred on May 21. The policed intervened and opened fire. Three workers were killed. Thus, one after another, the factories went on strike. The workers got together, stopped working, and protested. It was an unstoppable wave: thousands, then tens of thousands, then hundreds of thousands participated. On May 26, the strike spread to the most protected bastions: the Export Processing Zones. The next day, on the 27th, motor-squads went around the areas most affected by the strike, lighting fires and destroying factories. Not a single worker participated in these events. But the perpetrators sought to place the blame on the workers. Nevertheless, despite everything, the movement continued and grew stronger, and counted on the support of the various trade union federations. The government and the bosses decided to negotiate. ILC: What happened next? On May 29, the government and the bosses association, the BGMEA, called a meeting with all the textile federations. In the discussion, the following points were agreed on: -- The payment of un-paid wages; ILC: What are the lessons to be drawn from these events? TH: First of all, the most important fact is that nothing is pre-ordained, nothing is inevitable. The discourse of the bosses and the government saying that everything will blow up if competition is affected was forgotten. And, secondly, nothing can replace trade union action. It is a considerable event that, in a sector which they said could not survive unless trade unions were prohibited, it was necessary, thanks to the action of the workers, to recognize trade unions and legitimacy of the workers´ demands. The concessions concerning purchasing power are far from being sufficient and, also, it is not set in stone that the bosses will honor their "engagements." The united trade union confederations should mobilize to impose the respect of these first concessions and to fight for a minimum wage that is no lower than 40 dollars a month. You mentioned that the press usually speaks of Bangladesh in relation to disasters. Yes, our country knows terror, aiming to provoke chaos. The sovereignty, unity, and very existence of our country is threatened. It is necessary to unite to save Bangladesh. Saving the country means saving its peoples. There cannot be democracy without workers´ rights. **********************
Manifesto of the 9th Conference of the Brazilian organization Revolution Youth To the Youth of Brazil, Brazilian youth are facing a difficult situation. Last May, in the chaos created by the "war" of the state government of Sao Paulo with the drug lords, the majority of the assassinations were of youth of the suburbs, particularly black youth. The governments have spoken of education, but the truth is that the right to free, public, and decent education is more and more denied to us. The public schools and universities are deteriorating and lack professors and supplies. The public universities are now making students pay tuition. The absence of free transportation for students and the budget crises prevent many from receiving an education. In the private universities, where the tuition fees do not cease to rise, tens of thousands of students have been kicked out. Today, the federal government has proposed a fourth version of the University Reform which threatens to dislocate the public university system by pitting one university with another in the mad dash for obtaining funds from the State under the false criteria of "productivity." The reform also pits youth against each other with the absurd criteria of "race," instead of guaranteeing a place for all in the universities and guaranteeing public funding for all the public universities. In order to integrate us into the very system that is harming us, they offer us so-called participative democracy and "councils of civil society." All of this, we know, is done to guarantee that the budget continues to go the payment of the debt, which is not our debt. At the same time, we also suffer from a lack of employment and deregulation of the labor legislation, a situation aggravated by the free trade treaties such as the FTAA and MERCOSUR. When we do find work, it is temporary, precarious, in NGOs, without any rights, in the worst conditions and with low wages. Without access to decent jobs, many youth are pushed toward selling drugs. All they offer us are wars and drugs. But we don´t want drugs: We want jobs, health care, education and art! We don´t want wars: We want the return of all the young soldiers sent to Haiti for the benefit of Bush! In the face of this situation, the youth in Brazil and the world, do not cease to fight for a future. We have seen in France how the government, in the service of the European Union, was forced to repeal the deregulating "First Employment Contract." In our Conference, we heard the testimony of a representative of the youth of Chile, where more than a million took to the streets for free public transportation and against the privatization of education. Today, in our country, the students of the UERJ are striking, with the professors and workers, against the precarity of the university. The students of FUPESPP (SP), present in our Conference, are struggling for the re-opening of their municipal university, which was closed a few days ago by the mayor, thus throwing hundreds of students into the streets. In recent months, in various cities, the youth have taken to the streets against the rise in bus-ticket prices and for free public transportation. Now, President Lula is campaigning for a second mandate. But to do what? To continue to put 90 billion toward the payment of the debt? Or to use this money to enact an agrarian reform by giving land to 200,000 landless families? Or to put this money toward the universities? Or to nationalize the occupied factories, invest in health care and housing, that is, to meet the needs of the people? We know the situation is not easy. That is why the most favourable solution for the youth and for all working people would be for a Lula and PT government which immediately, instead of paying the debt, responds to the following demands: -- Repeal of the University Reform The youth would certainly give their full support to any measure Lula would take in support of national sovereignty, as has been done in Bolivia and Venezuela. We, members of the RYI, are committed to struggle for these demands with our organizations and side by side with the youth. That is why we support: -- The NATIONAL MEETING FOR THE REPEAL OF THE UNIVERSITY REFORM, organized by the DCE of UFSCar (which calls on the UNE to take up this struggle) of Sunday August 27 in Sao Carlos. -- A MEETING OF ASSOCIATIONs, during the national meeting, to support the formation of committees for free transportation! We invite all youth to support our appeal and organize to help us win a future for all! São Carlos, July 2, 2006
National Leadership of Revolution Youth: Email: <mailto:contato@jr-irj.org>contato@jr-irj.org
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Open World Conference of Workers