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A dossier of weekly information published by the ----- INTRODUCTION: This is the 200th issue of the ILC International Newsletter. For four years, we have publicized news of the international workers' movement, to help the struggle of the workers' organizations and the unions for their independence. These have been four years of solidarity campaigns against repression initiated by the ILC, four years of reports on the conferences organized by the ILC. In this issue you will find the following articles: Great Britain: We are publishing an interview with Tony Richardson, a union leader, concerning the stakes of the TUC congress. Mexico: You will find below and interview with Luiz Vasquez, a delegate of the Independent Democratic Workers Party (PTDI), concerning the National Democratic Convention called by Lopez Obrador. United States: We are publishing various texts concerning the International Commission of Inquiry in relation to the struggle of the people of New Orleans against the ethnic cleansing perpetrated by the U.S. government against the Black people of the region. Ecuador: You will find below an Open Letter to the presidential and parliamentary candidates. Brazil: We are publishing a short correspondence concerning the workers' strike in the Volkswagen enterprise in Sao Paulo. Support the ILC. Subscribe to the ILC International Newsletter. *************************
P1: Introduction ***********************
Blair and his policies must immediately go! "The ranks revolt against the Leadership" On September 7, seven ministers close to Tony Blair resigned due to Blair's refusal to set a date for his resignation. At the same time, 35 MPs, who had been considered loyal, wrote Blair a letter asking him to resign "to prevent a certain defeat in the coming elections." The next day, Blair made public that he would step down "in the coming year," without setting a date. All this takes place on the eve of the congress of the TUC, which brings together about 800 delegates representing 8 million members of national trade unions. Let us recall that the unions are affiliated to the Labor Party, which will hold its congress two weeks later. Is what occurred on September 7th a "palace coup," as parts of the English press have written? Not at all. The crisis shaking Labor from the base to the summit is the product of the will of the British working class to end the policies of Blair, policies subordinating the country to Brussels and Bush. This movement led the general secretary of Amicus to declare on September 7: "A grassroots revolt over the Labour leadership"... a new Amicus electronic survey "showed that 75 per cent of its workplace reps want an immediate change of Labour leader." In the interview we are publishing below, a national union leader, Tony Richardson, says, "Blair and his policies must immediately go" in relation to the stakes of the congress of the British trade unions, which begins on September 11. Tony Richardon is a Wakefield (Yorkshire, North of England) CLP delegate. He is the Chair of the Wakefield West Labour party Ward. In the Bakers Union BFAWU, he is Branch Secretary, District & Regional Board member, and Substitute EC Member for West Yorkshire Vice president Wakefield & District Trades Council. ----- ILC: The congress of the TUC will take place during a true crisis for the Blair government. In what way do you think this question will affect the congress? TR: My position is that Blair must go and his policies must go with him; The only way to save the party front destruction is reconnect it with its core supporters by changing course and direction. Concretely, it means taking up the demands as they were expressed at the TU's national conference prior to the TUC Congress . We expect Congress to give Labour a clear mandate for the renationalisation of public services, an end to war and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, a clear defence of pensions with a clear rejection of the pension age and the restoration of the link to earnings. I think Congress should clearly support the TGWU's motion on the need reinstate public protection of private manufacturing by way of nationalisation if necessary. As you see all these demands are in total contradiction with the Brussels directives. his is why last you I intervened against the European constitution. But there are other issues including a capital one, it is the proposition to dissolve the ICFTU to give place to a new organisation via a merger with the WCL ILC: In what specific way are the British unions concerned about these plans? TR: There is a contradiction between the TUC statute book and the draft constitution of the new organisation. This merger at a world level poses a series of problems concerning the defence of basic trade union principles. Not least the recognition that society is divided into antagonist interests. For instance Rule 2 of the TUC rulebook shows that the TUC was established to defend the interests of the workers as a class. The declaration of principles that is in the preamble to the draft constitution of the new international body says: "The confederation takes up the task of fighting poverty, exploitation, oppression and inequality through international action which the conditions of global economy require, as well as taking up the task of fighting for the democratic governance of this economy in the interest of labour, which it considers as outweighing the interests of capital." This means the framework of the world governance - which is a form of partnership between capital and labour. I think the TUC 's rule book is antagonistic to integration within a framework of world governance. ILC: Will there be a discussion of this at the Congress? TR: My national union intends to intervene on this major issue and to instruct the TUC delegates to the Vienna founding conference to oppose the creation of this new organisation at the founding congress next November I tell you why: in the TUC there has always been a debate between hardliners and more reformist comrades . This is natural and understandable but it is a friendly discussion within a common framework which clearly states that we are a trade union movement based on the defence of the interests of the working class. This time with the creation of this new body the framework will be transformed. The' project is to form an organisation based on capital Labour co management. It is no longer about reforms it is about partnership with the bosses in order to promote good world governance. Nobody whether hardliner or reformist can accept it. (Interview conducted by our correspondents on September 5, 2006) ************************ MEXICO We are publishing below an interview conducted by The Organizer with Luis Vásquez, a member of the national coordinating committee of the Independent Democratic Workers Party of Mexico (PTDI) - a party that has participated actively in the demonstrations against the election fraud and is currently building the National Democratic Convention of September 16 convened by Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Question: To resist the fraud and the perpetrators of the fraud and to impose the respect of the people's sovereignty, López Obrador has called for a National Democratic Convention on Sept. 16. What are the objectives of this convention? Luis Vásquez: López Obrador is basing his actions on Article 39 of the Mexican Constitution, which states that "national sovereignty emanates from the people and for its benefit. ... The people, at any moment, have the right to modify its form." On September 1, López Obrador declared that the key to prevent the "usurpation" of the presidency of the Republic is the organization of a National Democratic Convention. In this Convention, measures will be taken, it is announced, to "re-establish the Republic," which is "currently subordinated to the private interests of a small privileged group who have taken over the institutions and now have kidnapped them." López Obrador continued: "That is why we consider the Convention of September 16 to be an historic event. In this great assembly, with the participation of delegates from all the peoples of Mexico, not only will we decide on our form of government, but we will decide on something even more important: the minimum program for the transformation of the public life of Mexico." Moreover, he added, the convention will "discuss, analyze, and decide on whether to call for a new Constituent Assembly {or Constituent Congress] to make the institutions truly of and for the people." This would mean a new way of doing politics in which "the power of money will no longer dominate over the dignity of the people." Question: What has been the reaction to this call from the workers, activists, and youth? How are the preparatory meetings being held, and how are people electing their delegates? L.V.: The people, the workers, peasants, and youth in all the country reject the results of the July 2 election because these results are completely fraudulent. They reject the TRIFE, which is nothing but a den of corrupted souls in the pay of imperialism. The people want their sovereignty to be respected. For the workers, peasants, and youth, López Obrador is the legitimate president. Over 400,000 have already announced their participation in the National Democratic Convention. In order to do so, they had to fill out a form with their name, address, photo ID, and electoral registration number. Many are delegates elected in assemblies of the neighborhood or workplace. Others have registered in a personal capacity. For example, in my union, the union of workers of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), the 1,300 delegates of the national congress that took place two weeks ago voted that the Congress as such will be present in the National Democratic Convention. In Chiapas, there is a big mobilization to prepare for the Convention. Hundreds of assemblies are taking place throughout the state to send their delegates. To my knowledge, the same thing is happening pretty much throughout the country. Confidence is very high in López Obrador's words. The call to
the Convention is addressed to "all Mexicans, free men and women,
who are conscious of the destiny of the nation, and who want to put
an end to the sham of a Republic, to create the basis for a true social
state, based on rights and democracy, that will bring about the profound
transformations that the country needs." This is the mandate of
those who will participate. L.V.: Our main focus will be to support López Obrador's call for a National Constituent Assembly. In our view, the decision to convene such an Assembly - based on the election of neighborhood and workplace delegates in every locality and state - could be launched by this September 16 Convention. We think, moreover, that it would be important for the National Constituent Assembly to be convened no later than December 1, when Calderón will "officially" be handed over the reins of the presidency. In the assemblies and meetings that have taken place to elect delegates, the activists of the PTDI, leaning on the proposal of López Obrador, have presented a motion calling for the convening of a Sovereign Constituent Assembly. We have posed the following question to the workers and the nation:
In our view, it is necessary in this short span of time between now and December 1, to structure the political power and institutions of popular sovereignty, of the power from below, as the backbone of democracy and of the new government of duly elected President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. **********************
On August 25-31, 2006 -- on the occasion of the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina -- a broadly based International Commission of Inquiry on Hurricane Katrina (ICI) traveled to New Orleans and Biloxi, Miss., to gather testimony and substantiate claims that the U.S. government has committed a series of systematic crimes against humanity in relation to Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. Members of the ICI were Kali Akuno and Malcolm Suber on behalf of PHRF-OC; Edenice Santana de Jesus, leader of the Black Women's Movement and the United Trade Union Confederation (CUT) of Salvador, Bahia (Brazil); Jesus "Chucho" Garcia, International Relations Director of the Afro-Venezuelan Network (Venezuela); Samy Hayon, representative, Workers Party (France); and Tiyani Lybon Mabasa, longstanding member of the Black Consciousness Movement, Convenor of the International Tribunal on Africa and President of the Socialist Party of Azania (South Africa). In the interim, the ICI affirms that the International Tribunal on Katrina is needed urgently to expose to the world the racism and lawlessness of the federal, state and local governments in the ongoing Katrina tragedy. It is needed to mobilize world public opinion to pressure the U.S. government to halt the ethnic cleansing policies it is pursuing to this day, one year after Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast, in relation to the African American population of New Orleans and other Gulf Coast communities. One year after Hurricane Katrina, the Black population in New Orleans only constitutes 35% of the total population, whereas it represented 67.9% before the hurricane. Through countless means, the powers-that-be are doing everything possible to prevent the Black majority from returning to their homes and communities. The estimated 645,000 to 1 million people still displaced by Hurricane Katrina have the right to return to affordable and safe homes, quality schools, jobs with dignity, quality healthcare and recreational facilities. ------ On Thursday 29, August 2006, the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, several thousands of protestors marched on the call of a coalition of more than 30 black organizations of New Orleans, the Peoples's Hurricane Relief Fund and Oversight Committee. The march crowned a week of meetings, commemorations, and a human chain around the Superdome organized in memory of the victims of the five nightmarish days for those who sought refuge. The march began with a rally in the Lower 9th Ward, in front of the levee of the Industrial Canal which broke on the night of August 29 and 30, 2005, leading to the death of over 1,200 men, women, children, and elderly people. It was in one of the working-class black neighborhoods that was most affected. The rally was extremely emotional. The deaths were due to the neglect of governments, both Republican and Democrat, who preferred to skimp on the maintenance of the levees, rather than protect the primarily black population from floods. Five levees broke in New Orleans. After the rally, the march passed through the devastated Lower 9th Ward neighborhood, which had been founded by the dockers of New Orleans. The succession of ruins, destroyed buildings, dead birds, personal possessions, and children's toys gave the impression that the hurricane had struck the night before. The government and FEMA prohibited the people from returning to their homes. The military police is constantly present to prevent them from doing so. Today, it is discreet. It even distributes water. The demonstrators, mostly black, came from their neighborhoods with their families, neighbors, and friends. The "displaced people" came back for the occasion. One neighborhood leader who organizes against the obstacles presented to the "displaced people" was satisfied: "We brought together many neighbors who we had lost touch with. We didn't know what had happened to them. The march continued and hundreds of new demonstrators joined in. Drivers honked their horns in solidarity. The march then went to the Treme neighborhood, another devastated and emptied-out black neighborhood. Many banners and sings demanded the right of return. Around 600,000 people were displaced in the state of Mississippi. About 275,000 are in Houston, Texas, and rest are in scattered around forty other states. Here, sadness turned into anger. It was signed by Ivor Van Heerden of Lousiana State University, a scientific expert on hurricanes. On protestor held a huge flag, which read, "Make levees, not war!" Two children of five and nine years, marching with their mother, held signs that stated "Unity against racism" and "One year later: Where is the aide?" The march reached the symbolically important Congo square. This is where, on Sundays, the black slaves met to practice the rituals, to the rhythms of drums and chants, of Africa, from which they were taken. On the podium, the speakers representing the united front of organizations of the coalition spoke to call for the right to return for the displaced people, including the right to social housing, secured houses, quality schools, good jobs, quality health care, and recreational equipment. All this means that the reconstruction of New Orleans and the cities of the Gulf must respect the right to social justice and self-determination for all its citizens. Several speakers demanded that the genocidal offensive and the most serious dispersal of black people since the Reconstruction be ended. The International Commission of Inquiry will be the first step in the meeting of the International Tribunal on March 2007. ----- Interview with EDENICE SANT'ANA DE JESUS, Brazilian Black activist and member of the International Commission of Inquiry Edenice Sant'Ana de Jesus participated in the International Commission of Inquiry on Katrina on behalf of the CUT trade union federation in the state of Bahia, Brazil, and in her capacity as a founding member of the Workers Party and as a leader of the Black Women's Movement in Bahia. Question: You are a member of the International Commission of Inquiry on Hurricane Katrina. What are your feelings after this first step of the investigation? Edenice Sant'Ana de Jesus: This week of investigation was very important. I was filled with great emotion and anger. Hurricane Katrina struck one year ago, but the homes and much of the public housing are still in ruins. It is clear that the federal, state and local governments have done close to nothing to help the people rebuild their homes and communities. What's even more appalling is that a good portion of the public housing was minimally affected by the floods, and yet even the inhabitants of these units are not allowed to return home. Brazil, where I'm from, is really the second Africa. For me, it was important to participate in the Commission and to enter into direct contact with the victims of the devastation, as well as with the leaders of the Black organizations on the ground. They all told our Commission who, in their opinion, is responsible for this situation, this tragedy. What I saw, and what I will say publicly throughout Brazil, is that a wholesale drive of ethnic cleansing of the mainly Black population is under way in New Orleans and other cities in the Gulf Coast. What I saw, to be frank, was the continuation of the process inflicted
upon us since slavery. For at least the past 10 years, studies by the
U.S. government's own Army Corps of Engineers have pointed out that
the levees in New Orleans needed to be maintained and upgraded if there
was any hope of protecting the population, mainly the Black population
living in the flood areas, against a storm surge resulting from anything
more powerful than a Category 2 hurricane. But despite all the warnings,
nothing was done. We heard from families who were heaped into the Superdome and the Convention Center and kept in the most appalling conditions - without food, water, medical attention or basic sanitary conditions for up to six or seven days. Then, they were put on buses and evacuated, without even knowing where they were going. Whole families were separated and sent to the four corners of the country. This is what we experienced as Blacks when they took us from Africa and heaped us into the holds of the slave ships bound for America. Everyone with whom we spoke, everyone was who was forced to evacuate,
wants to return home. They want to return to their communities, their
culture, their homes, their proud Black heritage in New Orleans and
the Gulf Coast. Question: The government says it is doing everything possible to enable the people to return home. Is this true? E.S.: No. This is a total lie. A real ethnic cleansing operation is taking place. They do not want the people to return. The victims have received no money, or very little money, to gut their homes and rebuild them. Renters have received almost no aid. How are they supposed to return? Those with houses must clean them
up on their own, with their own funds. And if they do not do this quickly,
the government is threatening to demolish their homes and seize their
properties. Families have children. In fact, 250,000 school children were displaced in New Orleans alone. But only seven of the 117 public schools that existed before Katrina have been re-opened. And they have been re-opened as Charter schools, which, we were told, is a step toward their privatization. The public schools damaged by the storm and the floods have not received one single cent from the government. And there are no jobs for people to return to. Those jobs that do exist are being farmed out to immigrant workers from South America under H2-b visas. These workers are being super-exploited as indentured servants, as "guestworkers," with no rights. We met with these immigrant workers. They told us they were being treated like slaves. If they do not like their pay or working conditions, they cannot leave their jobs and look for employment elsewhere. They are bound to their employers. They told us they did not know Black people from New Orleans were being prevented from returning to their homes and their jobs. The recruiters had told them no one wanted the jobs they were taking. Obviously, this is just a means to pit Latino workers against African American workers. It's the old strategy of divide and rule. There is plenty of work for everyone in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. But this requires a genuine Reconstruction Plan, with massive sums of federal funding - but under the control and oversight of the Black and immigrant communities. Question.: What were the images or testimonies that most impacted you? Question: You are returning to Brazil. What echo are you expecting to receive from the Brazilian workers, particularly the Black workers and youth, to your Commission report? E.S.: When I return to Brazil, I will report widely the conclusions of the Commission so that we can prepare throughout Brazil the International Tribunal on Katrina next March or April. Katrina and its effects exist in all our countries, particularly in my country, where Blacks are a majority. I am certain the Tribunal will be supported widely by the CUT and the other mass workers' organizations, particularly the Black organizations, because what the people of New Orleans have gone through with Katrina and its aftermath is what we, workers and Blacks, confront every day in Brazil. It is not just a question of poverty and oppression. Like in New Orleans,
there are often floods after heavy rains in my city of Salvador and
throughout Brazil. But these are often followed by mudslides that kill
large numbers of people living in cardboard shacks in the overcrowded
favelas. The aim of the Tribunal is to show the whole world who is responsible for this situation in New Orleans and in the favelas of Salvador. It is necessary to show the workers that we have a common enemy, and that it is necessary to organize in unity, because this struggle in defense of the Black victims of Katrina is the struggle of all the Black people of the world. ************************
Open Letter to the Presidential and Parliamentary Candidates It is urgently needed to unite to defend national sovereignty against imperialism, in defense of the workers' and popular demands against the privatizations! We trade union leaders and labor and popular activists who publish this Open Letter to the candidates that raise the banner of the interests of the workers and the people, of anti-imperialism, are preoccupied with the division and dispersion evident in the current electoral campaign. This division of worker, popular, and indigenous forces is exactly contrary to what the exploited and oppressed people of Ecuador, who fight for social emancipation and true independence and national sovereignty, demand. We know that the people of Ecuador are tired of being betrayed by the corrupt and demagogic politicians! That is why the polls indicate that millions are going to reject the rotten state institutions through issuing blank votes. To find a solution to the situation of misery and oppression facing the vast majority of our people, UNITY is needed to fight for real change, in the interests of those who build the nation through their labor. We have received an appeal launched in August by the FRONT IN DEFENSE OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY, calling for the unification of the popular and anti-imperialist sectors around a single candidate for presidency, because division only benefits the capitalists and the direct agents of imperialism. We note that no concrete response to this appeal has been issued by the candidates who say they defend the people. Our responsibility as fighters for the liberation of our people means that we must continue to fight for unity around a platform of struggle which stands for the demands and hopes of the mass mobilizations of recent years which took down three presidents -- Bucaran, Mahuad, and Gutierrez -- but which has not been able to respond to the demands of the people and impose national sovereignty! The people are ready to mobilize to end the dismantling of the nation. Through mobilizations, the peasants, indigenous peoples, and mistreated people demand the destruction of the country-side, which would be fully destroyed through the Free Trade Agreement with the U.S. The peasants call for a true agrarian reform, for the land for those who work it, with technical and financial aid from the state. The workers of the energy sector have mobilized to end the privatization of the public enterprises, which are the material base of our sovereignty and our economy (against the privatization of electricity, gas, telecommunications, health, education, water, etc.) The education workers and the students have struck and demonstrated in defense of the education budget and against the destructive "reforms" of the education programs. The youth wants the full right to secular and public education on all levels and the right to jobs with rights and good wages. The flexibilization of employment, established by the Democratic Left and the government of Rodrigo Borja, have become the strategy aiming to super-exploit and humiliate the working class. Reconquer all the workers' rights taken from the Labor Code! The workers in health and social security and all the families of workers are for the defense of free pensions, health, and child care. All want hospitals with sufficient budgets and personnel. The EMAAP workers have begun to mobilize in mass against the attempt by the administration of Mayor Moncayo to privatize the war service in 12 neighborhoods in the North-East zone of Quito; to push through this privatization, the authorities have resorted to buying off several popular leaders. All the people demand the end to the violence of the narco-traffickers, kidnappers, and robbers, which is caused by the policies which destroy the economy and dismantle industry and agriculture, implemented by the governments at the service of the transnationals and imperialism. The country demands a policy in defense of national sovereignty, the end to the privatizations, the nationalization of the natural resources, and in defense of the immigrant population. Dear presidential and parliamentary candidates who raise the banner of the interests of the workers and the people: We ask you to respond to the aspirations of the people of Ecuador: -- Are you willing to utilize the resources of the country to develop industry, agriculture, and public services, instead of today's policy of sending the resources to imperialist banks through an unjust and unpayable debt, which is not a debt of the people? Are you ready to cancel injustice and the foreign debt? -- Are you willing to nationalize the oil and gas and all the strategic sector of the national economy? -- Are you willing to create a national productive base in the service of the vast majority? -- Are you willing to eliminate illiteracy through developing secular and free public education? -- Are you willing to break with the agreement establishing a military base in Manta, which as the U.S. commander admits, is part of Plan Colombia? Are you ready to break with the policies imposed by the World Bank and the IMF? Are you ready to reject any Free Trade Agreement? We say the policies dismantling the nation must be ended. Are you ready to end the structural counter-reforms pushed through by the governments during the past 25 years of the Christian Democracy, Social Christian, and Democratic Left, the same governments that privatized the electricity, telecommunications, and oil? Are you ready to renationalize the national bank system, which today is an instrument of pillage in the hands of financial capitalists? Are you ready to end the "autonomies" which threaten to break up our nation? Are you ready to denounce the Parliament of the Andes, which only legitimizes the pro-capitalist policies of the Andes Group, which is part of imperialism's plans towards establishing the FTAA through smaller agreements? -- Are you willing to convene a Sovereign and Popular Constituent Assembly with full powers, to implement these measures, an assembly which would be above all other powers? For the signers of this Open Letter, only the candidates who positively and concretely respond to these questions can deserve to receive the people's mandate! We will support any action or measure that responds to the demands of the nation. We call for a Blank Vote to the elections of the Parliament of the Andes, an institution without power, which is contradictory with the true unity of free peoples. If no candidate accepts this platform, we will be obliged, with growing sectors of the people, to express our rejection of the official political world through the Blank Vote. Out with all the liquidator politicians and parties! ************************* BRAZIL Volkswagen workers' strike The management of the Volkswagen enterprise in Brazil is calling for a restructuring plan, entailing 3,600 lay-offs, the elimination of conquests, and lower wages). It threatens closing the Anchieta unit (a suburb of Sao Paulo) if the workers don't accept the plan. Various negotiation meetings between management and the union have not brought about an agreement. During a general assembly, held in the union hall on Saturday August 26, the threat of the possible closing weighed on all present. But the ranks were ready for struggle. All those spoke of a strike or a strike with occupation were enthusiastically applauded. The coordinator of the factory committee (the leadership of the union) was even led to speak of a strike and occupation in his speech. He ended the general assembly with a call to prepare for struggle, because the enterprise refused to negotiate its plan - though he also spoke of the need to make a few sacrifices with compensation to keep the factory from closing down. On August 29, during the general assembly, it was informed that the management sent a letter to close to 1,800 workers. The letter told these workers that after the period of job-guarantee which ends next November 21, they would be fired. Even workers who had been at the factory 10, 15, or 20 years had received the letter. In the general assembly, with the CUT leadership present, the workers shouted out the need for a strike and Feijoo, the factory's union leader, made the proposal for a strike and occupation. The team set to work after the assembly began the strike. It was proposed that a balance sheet and discussion of new tactics take place. The proposal was unanimously accepted. Everything indicates that this won't be a struggle of just a few days. The comrades of the O Trabalho current of the Workers Party are leading a struggle to gather solidarity resolutions passed in the other unions of the ABC, a proletarian suburb of Sao Paulo, on the following line: "We want to communicate our solidarity with the union and the workers in their struggle in defense of jobs and workers' rights. Your victory will be ours. We are ready for any act of solidarity." The PT candidates of region in the legislative elections wrote a letter in support of the Volkswagen workers, in which they write: "The President of the union, Feijoo, is right when he declares that 'to accept the layoffs and the conquests would be to open the doors to hell, because the agreement would serve as a model for all the state sectors in Brazil.' Š You are right! Lay-offs and the destruction of conquests and advantages are non-negotiable! As candidates for the Workers Party, we are here today to say that we are at your side in the struggle to defend jobs and rights." Correspondent ********************* JUST IN: The strike assembly found out on September 4 that the management
announced it was repealing the 1,800 lay-off letters. The decision was
taken to suspend the strike. A new assembly has been convened for September
12 in order to examine the new situation.
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Open World Conference of Workers