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A dossier of weekly information published by the International ----- Introduction: Campaign in Solidarity with the Mexican People: Unionists, who support the International Call for Solidarity, have written a specific letter to unionists of other countries. We are also publishing the letter to the ILC from Elena Poniatowska, from the Organizing Committee of the National Democratic Convention, addressing the ILC. Mexico: You will find below the latest declaration of the Democratic Independent Workers Party: "Let's build committees of the National Democratic Convention (CND) in all the country to implement the decisions of the CND and to mobilize for the construction of popular assemblies and coordinating committees." International Trade Union Confederation: We are publishing below a new document from the Bureau of the ILC concerning the fusion project. Hungary: For several days, tens of thousands of Hungarian citizens demonstrated in the streets of Budapest; correspondents have written us. Germany: We are publishing a text by a SPD activist concerning the electoral collapse of the SPD-PDS in Berlin and Mecklenburg. Belgium: You will find below an Appeal in Defense of the Unity of the FGTB and in Defense of the Federal Social Conquests, signed by and activists from Walloons and Flanders. Italy: A few months after its creation, the Unione government, led by Romano Prodi, has presented its budget, with 30 billion in budget cuts to implement the Stability Pact. ----- Table of Contents: p.1: Introduction Contact: ************************
(Also see last week's issue) The draft programmatic statutes presented by the Organizing Committee of the ITUC, as we explained in our last text, dedicates the future organization to the project of an "accompanying unionism" in relation to the world globalized economy. We think that accompanying unionism means "integration" into the system, as opposed to a unionism that fights against the established order, in this case, globalization. The Organizing Committee of the ITUC -- where, it is necessary to recall, the former president of the ETUC, Emilio Gabaglio, plays a central role -- declares: "An effective and democratic governance of the world economy passes through a fundamental reform of the concerned international organizations, particularly the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization." The draft resolution continues: "At the same time, all the organizations should recognize the primacy of human rights in relation to the financial, commercial, and economic regulations. The governments should assume in a more serious manner their responsibilities to make them govern and function perfectly coherently and to cooperate in a responsible manner to implement the democratically decided-on goals." Let's look past the rhetoric. Essentially, the ITUC intends to implement on a world level, and in relation to the nation-states, "the principle of subsidiaries" already implemented with the European Union and the treaties it is based on. This is the system that is the model for the "world governance." Where is the democracy in all this? In the proposed text, one cannot find a single world concerning what the "effective and democratic governance of the world economy" will look like. Nevertheless, we know that this continues to be the project set forth by the famous Washington Consensus dictated by the IMF in 1990, which attacks the intervention and role of states, notably concerning public services, handing over these functions to the NGOs. These policies have led to ruin and social misery in an important part of the countries of the Third World, notably in sub-Saharan Africa. The corrupt leaders have subordinated their countries to the decisions of the IMF and the World Bank. The growing number of boat-people heading toward Europe from Africa demonstrates that things have not changed. Of course, the draft resolution indicates that, for the ITUC, it is necessary to incorporate in the world exchanges clauses concerning the rights of the workers, assuring the respect of the fundamental norms of labor. For the ITUC, "Such a clause should be anti-protectionist, favorable to development, and should constitute a crucial instrument for social justice in an open world commercial system. It should be accompanied by technical cooperation to help the countries to completely conform to the labor norms. The ITUC links the theme of sustainable development to the defense of the environment and to industrial development. In the same chapter, the draft discusses the "challenges for the multinational companies." The ITUC recognizes that the multinational companies are "an essential motor of globalization." It is necessary to note that at no point does the ITUC evoke the negative role of multinational corporations in the accumulation process, their corrupting influence on governments, or their contribution to world instability and armed conflicts that result from the conquest of the markets. Agreeing with the strategy of the multinationals, whose budgets are often higher than many states, the ITUC limits itself to calling on these companies to be more dedicated to environmental, social concerns, human rights, giving to the states and the effected parties "access to legal reparation and the imposition of sanctions." This is the least that could be done. The draft of the ITUC declares: "Corporate social responsibility must not be used as a substitute for the role of the governments and the unions." On this, we agree with the ITUC in the sense that, for us, the workplace is the site of the class struggle, where the boss tries to extract the most surplus value from the wage earner, to make an average rate of profit. Today, it is the fall in the profit rate that characterizes the crisis of capitalism, posing the question of the private ownership of the means of production. With the communitarian thought that spreads today through the majority of political currents, from the left to right, based on the "participatory democracy" initiated by the various Porto Alegre Social Forums, we are witnessing the promotion of "civil society," as the anti-thesis of "political and representative democracy." In fact, the promotion of the "civil society" concept, a false inheritor of populism, is meant to hide the existence of social classes with antagonistic interests, with the owners, the exploiters on one side and the exploited proletarians on the other. Thus, to confer on the companies "social responsibilities" is an intellectual swindle. The facts show us every day the hard truth about the capitalist system. While Ford in the U.S. announces the end of a third of its jobs, while the newspapers chronicle the corruption of the "rulers of industry" and the scandal of pensions, we are justified in doubting "corporate social responsibility." The ITUC is spreading illusions. ------ The draft statutes of the ITUC affirm its firm support for the ILO. The ITUC recalls that the regulation of international labor norms remains the essential function of the ILO. The ITUC is invited to actively engage in all initiatives that aim to strengthen the norms, against all those who aim to weaken them. From our point of view, concerning the ILO, the ITUC does not go far enough. For us, we think what is necessary is to return to system of conventions which, in the framework of tri-partism, engages the states, the employers, and the trade unions of workers, to elaborate conventions that must then be integrated into the national Labor Codes and national social legislation. We know of the importance of this system, including for the struggles of the oppressed peoples to return to democracy. Since 1989, the rise of the global economy and globalization, based on the break-up of nation states and the march toward a world economy, has pushed for the elimination of the last social barriers on this expansion. In 1999, under pressure of the U.S., in the name of liberalism, President Bill Clinton, came in person to the ILO in Geneva, to plead (with success) for the abandonment of the conventional normative system, to be replaced with a vague declaration concerning the "Charter of Fundamental Rights," which all corporations should subscribe to. Since 1999, the situation of the wage earners has deteriorated throughout the world, while the opposite is true for the multinationals. The orientation adopted by the ILO in 1999 is part of the process destroying and undermining the political authority of the nation-states as the political framework aiming to regulate the economy and social norms. Globalization and its institutions are becoming neo-totalitarian. The ILC must condemn this and warn the trade unions of the dangers of this offensive against democracy and the freedoms linked to it. For the ILC, loyal defenders of internationalism, the political framework of the nation-state remains the most solid, because it is the only one based upon political sovereignty. The European Union and world governance cannot base themselves on this. It is in the framework of the nation-state that democratic principles are expressed. This is true for free and independent trade unionism, which defends the specific interests of the workers and which remains an essential instrument nationally and internationally. The Bureau of the ILC September 22, 2006 *************************
Thousands of protestors in the streets of Budapest This text is based on reports sent to us by different correspondents in Hungary, as well as excerpts from the press. In the first three weeks of September, by the thousands, students have demonstrated throughout all of Hungary (6000 in Szeged, 5000 in Miskolc ....) to protest enormously high tuition fees in the University. This is taking place because the "socialist" Prime Minister Gyurcsany is implementing to the letter the dictates of the European Union, particularly the "Bologna Process" privatizing the universities. But the students took to the streets to say: "We want the university to remain free, because we want a future!" On September 18, 2006, the television in Hungary aired a speech of the Prime Minster Ferenc Gyurcsany to the MPs of his party. Here are a few excerpts: "Evidently, we lied throughout the last year and a half to two years. It was totally clear that what we are saying is not true. You cannot quote any significant government measure we can be proud of, other than at the end we managed to bring the government back from the brink. Nothing. If we have to give account to the country about what we did for four years, then what do we say? We lied in the morning; we lied in the evening. The first few years will be terrible," he said. "It is completely irrelevant that only 20 percent of the population will vote for us.... What would happen if instead of losing our popularity because of bullshitting among ourselves we lost it because we promoted great social causes? In that case it is not a problem if we lose the support of society for a while." In response to the airing of the lies of the Prime Minister, ten of thousands of Hungarians took to the streets. The international press says that it is the extreme-right that is demonstrating. Is this true? In Issue 762 of Informations Ouvrieres (Labor News), the weekly of the Workers Party of France, Marike Kovacs, who as a young student participated in the 1956 Hungarian Revolution of workers' councils, explains: "This is a manipulation. In Budapest, a few very small incidents of violence were perpetrated by hooligans who were fans of specific soccer team. But it was the people who marched massively. Fifty years after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, the inheritors of the Stalinist bureaucracy, which drowned the workers' councils in blood in 1956, denouncing the protestors as fascists, today use the same argument, which in turn has been spread by the media throughout the world. Today, we see the same insults against those who fight against lies and injustice!" Who is Gyurcsany? According to the international press: "His humble origins and lots of ambition propelled him rapidly up the structure of the Young Communists. Just before the dictatorship fell, Ferenc Gyurcsany, at the age of 28, was nothing more than a vestige of the old regime. But under capitalism, he adapted very quickly. Taking advantage of his economic studies at the University of Pécs, in the South of the country, he returned to the political scene in 2002." (Le Figaro, September 20) On April 25, 2006, Radio France International specified: "He made a fortune during the first privatizations... He made a fortune in housing at the beginning of the 1990s, by re-selling the properties belonging to the party. If a part of the population sees him as a symbol of social success, many Hungarians feel that he incarnates the unscrupulous methods of the Communists." What do the protestors say? If one looks at the protests and their signs and demands, you see: "We want jobs and bread, the right to health care, and free education without fees. We are against a rise in taxes, the price of gas, and electricity. We want jobs." A trade unionist explained at the end of August, "If, in this situation, the people do not take to the streets, soon, there will not be any more a country called Hungary." The country is faced with liquidation. Over 80% of the economy has been privatized. At the European Workers Conference in Berlin, a unionist from the big Ikarus car factory explained how the enterprise has gone from 10,000 workers in 1989 to 50 today. In his speech, the Prime Minister said: "We must reduce the public deficit of this year and implement fiscal modification in September." What does all this mean? According to La Tribune (France, September 26): "While the demonstrations continue in Budapest for his removal, the socialist Prime Minister, Ferenc Gyurcsany, who recognized having lied in the Spring elections concerning his economic and budgetary intentions, will receive on September 26 an indirect support from the European Commission. Today, this institution should approve the 'convergence program' submitted by the Hungarian government at the beginning of month and is expected to underline that this strategy, which must be implemented rigorously, is indispensable to fix the public finances as soon possible and to prevent a crisis of confidence. The Hungarian public deficit will be 10.1% of the GDP this year, which is three times the amount authorized by the Stability Pact, while it could reach 11.6% if urgent steps are not taken." Gyurcsany is acting against tens of thousands of demonstrators, implementing instead the dictates of the European Union. Thus, it is necessary to cut all the public budgets and privatize and liquidate. The result is dramatic for Hungary. According to the information given to us by the trade unionists, the health system, which had been excellent, is on the verge of being liquidated. The doctors work 16 hours per day. Their over-time hours are 600 forints, that is, 2 Euros. The result is a shortage of doctors, who tend to leave the country to go abroad. The Hungarian health care system is in chaos. Numerous pharmacies are disappearing, because one can buy medicine in the drug stores. In the name of solidarity with the unemployed and the poor, the government, which massively exempts the bosses, decided on a tax of 1% to 1.5% on the net wage of the workers, as well as on the solidarity tax on the unemployed. This is in addition to the previous 2.5% raise. The result is that over 80% of the workers live without their necessities, while a minority gets richer. ***********************
International Solidarity Campaign with the Mexican People An international delegation from the International Liaison Committee participated in the September 16 National Democratic Convention in Mexico City. International delegates present at the National Democratic Convention on behalf of the ILC were Alan Benjamin, member of US Labor Against the War(United States), Daniel Gluckstein, national secretary of the Workers Party (France), and Julio Turra, National Executive Director of the CUT trade union confederation (Brazil). Also part of the international delegation was Julio Yao, President of the Peace and Justice Service in Panama The international delegation met with Jesusa Rodríguez and Elena Poniatowska, members of the Organizing Committee of the CND, and decided to respond to their request for solidarity with the Mexican people by launching an international campaign on two axes: - We will not accept a president imposed through fraud! In this framework, it was decided or organize an International Day of Action in solidarity with the Mexican people on November 13, with public meetings, and delegations to the Mexican consulates and embassies throughout the world. We call on all our supporters to endorse the appeal below and to urge their unions and organizations to do likewise. Send your endorsements to ILC at <eit-ilc@fr.oleane.com> and to <solidaridadcnd@yahoo.com.mx>. ----------
Attention: We would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your presence at the National Democratic Convention, which was held September 16, 2006. Your presence was very important, and we treasure it. As you said here in Mexico, the struggle will be long and difficult. We need your example and your experience, just as we benefited during these days in September from the generosity of your presence. We hope you will continue to offer us your solidarity and support. In the name of the Organizing Committee of the National Democratic Convention (CND), we send you a fraternal greeting. Signed, --------------------
We, the undersigned trade unionists gathered in Mexico City on September 19 call on our trade union brothers and sisters to ask them to support the International Call for Solidarity with the Mexican People. [See below.] We think that the working class organized into its unions has a fundamental
role to play in the struggle for Thus, we invite our trade union brothers and sisters on all continents to join this international campaign. Signers: Fernando Amescua Castillo - International Relations Director, Mexican Electrical Workers Union (SME) Luis Vásquez Villalobos - Unionist, Workers Union of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (STUNAM) José Manuel Perez Vázquez - Unionist, Mexican Electrical Workers Union (SME) Sergio Sánchez Guevara - Unionist, Mexican Electrical Workers Union (SME) --------------------
Throughout the world, the people want democracy, self-determination and national sovereignty to be respected. Today, the Mexican people are standing up to defend these principles. The struggle of the Mexican people for their sovereignty is the struggle of all the peoples and nations for their sovereignty. The Mexican people's refusal to accept an unelected president is just and legitimate. Their call for a vote by vote, ballot box by ballot box recount of the July 2 election results -- a call that went unheeded by the Mexican authorities -- is just and legitimate. Seeing as this demand of the Mexican people has not been respected, we consider just and legitimate the decisions of the National Democratic Convention -- which met in the Zócalo of Mexico City on September 16, with the participation of over one million delegates from all states of the country -- to (1) refuse to recognize Felipe Calderón as the elected president of Mexico, (2) proclaim Andrés Manuel López Obrador president, and (3) affirm, based on Article 39 of the Mexican Constitution, that sovereignty lies with the people and the people have the right to change the form of government. In this sense, we consider just and legitimate the decision of the National Democratic Convention to pave the way for the convening of a National Constituent Assembly, through which the Mexican people -- without foreign interference -- can define for themselves the institutions that will guarantee democracy, self-determination, measures of social progress, and the defense of national sovereignty. For our part, with full respect for the sovereignty of the Mexican people, we solemnly pledge to spread the news widely in our own countries about the real situation in Mexico and to call for international solidarity with this just cause of the Mexican people. The defense of the sovereignty of Mexico is the defense of the sovereignty of all nations! The respect for democracy in Mexico is the respect for democracy in all nations! International delegates present at the National Democratic Convention Alan Benjamin (*), Editor of The Organizer newspaper, member of the National Steering Committee of U.S. Labor Against the War, and member of the Executive Committee of the San Francisco Labor Council (United States) Daniel Gluckstein, National Secretary of the Workers Party of France and International Coordinator of the International Liason Commitee of Workers and Peoples Julio Turra (*), National Executive Director of the United Workers Confederation of Brazil (CUT) Julio Yao, President of the Peace and Justice Service in Panama, Coordinator of Panamanians of Peace and Citizens' Action for the "No" (*) titles listed for id. only --------------------
[ ] Please include my name on the list of signers of the International Call for Solidarity with the Mexican People [ ] I agree to participate in a delegation to the Mexican Embassy or Consulate in my country NAME ORGANIZATION AND TITLE (please list if for id. only) ADDRESS CITY COUNTRY ( Please fill out this coupon and send to ----------
Democracy is the only option for a country and people facing fraud, violence, and injustice! November 20: Millions to the Zocalo to swear in Lopez Obrador as president! December 1: We must prevent Calderon from being sworn in! Let's build committees of the National Democratic Convention (CND) in all the country to implement the decisions of the CND and to mobilize for the construction of popular assemblies or coordinating committees! The movement is deepening. The CND said: "Obrador is President!" September 15 and 16 marked a turning point in the resistance movement of the Mexican people. The ceremony of the cry of independence on the Zocalo was transformed into a gigantic rally for the respect of the popular will on July 2. Abascal, present at the ceremony in the name of Fox, was constantly shouted down by people chanting: "Abascal out!" On September 16, there were more than a million delegates present at the National Democratic Convention, from all the regions of the country, representing cities, peoples, communities, trade unions, political organizations, and peasants organizations. For over seven hours, the immense crowd did not budge. One hour of rain could not break up the crowd; the chant "Nor rain, nor wind will stop our movement!" spread throughout the Zocalo. This one-million-strong gathering represented millions of others and possesses an uncontestable legitimacy to take decisions concerning the future of the nation. "Calderon will not take office," assured an old woman present at the Convention. The decision to reject the fraud and to refuse to recognize Felipe Calderon as the president of the Republic was approved unanimously. Hundreds of thousands of hands were raised to approve the proclamation of Lopez Obrador as the legitimate president! The Zocalo shook with the cries "President, president, president!" At the end, hundreds of thousands dispersed, to the cries of "We feel it, we see it, we have a president!" The Convention decided to struggle against the "false Republic" and to declare an "end to the regime of privileges." The CND Organizing Committee proposed to set up a plebiscite to initiate a process of forging a new Constituent Congress (or Assembly). The proposal was approved unanimously. Essentially, isn't there a need for a Sovereign Constituent Congress that will decide on the creation of new institutions to fight the rotten institutions created by the PRI and continued by the PAN (1)? The adopted resolution of the Convention will allow us to begin a vast discussion throughout the whole country concerning the need for a Sovereign Constituent Congress to defend the unity and sovereignty of the nation, the popular will, and our national resources. We will not let Calderon become president! He wants to crush our rights and sell off our resources. The Calderon government is a threat to the nation and to working people. As Lopez Obrador said on September 16, the PRI-PAN government has been transformed into a committee at the service of a hand-full of bankers, business men, speculators, and corrupt politicians." We will not let Calderon govern! In a situation where, as Elena Poniatowska has explained, (2) "85% of Mexicans make less than 5,400 pesos per month" and "some survive on less," Felipe Calderon aims to privatize the energy resources, the water, public schools, for the profits of the local oligarchy and the U.S. multinationals. On September 20, the major Mexican capitalists and the representatives of the multinationals, mostly from the U.S., came together at the invitation of Forbes magazine, to demand the privatization of the oil and electric industry, the destruction of the labor rights guaranteed in Article 123 of the Constitution, and the implementation of a Value Added Tax on medicine. It is a given for these powers that Calderon will implement the will of the oligarchy and the U.S. multinationals. To reach these objectives, the attacks against the movement have multiplied. The PRI and PAN alliance, the mass media, the Catholic hierarchy, the Bush government, the European Union, and governments such as that of Lula, pressure Lopez Obrador to capitulate and accept Calderon as president. The Cardenas family has joined this chorus by saying that one must "respect the institutions." Let's build Committees of the CND to implement the action plan of the CND and to mobilize for the creation of popular assemblies and coordinating committees. The solution is to intensify the mobilization and organization from below. "Yes, it is possible!" as Lopez Obrador says, "They are mistaken. They will not succeed. They are mistaken because there is a collective will to prevent them from taking power." To those who want to impose Calderon, he said: "Do you think imposing a puppet will mean tranquility for you?" Do they think they will refrain from taking over the country's energy, electricity, and oil sectors? This is why the members of the PTDI call on all the delegates to the Convention and all those who participate in this movement and support it to form Committees of the National Democratic Convention in all the country, in all the neighborhoods, communities, workplaces, trade unions, and peasants organizations. The Committees should fight for the creation of Popular Assemblies (like in Oaxaca), and coordinating committees, to implement in practice the action plan of the CND. In this sense, we call for the following, based on the action plan of the CND: - Millions on the Zocalo to swear in Lopez Obrador as president November 20! - On December 1, we must prevent Calderon from being sworn in! Demonstrations, rallies, strikes, road blocks, are needed! We call on all to participate in the other actions decided by the CND: - The day of action on September 27, against "the privatization of the energy companies and for a lowering of electricity prices," against the privatization of this pillar of national sovereignty and for the renationalization of all that has been privatized. - The days of action from October 2 to 12, "against the fraud, in defense of free and secular public education, democratic freedoms, and against discrimination." In solidarity, For the National Coordinating Committee of the Democratic Independent Workers Party Jorge Cuellar Valdez, Russel Aguilar Brindis, Victor Hugo Zavaleta, Misael Palma Lopez, Luis Vazquez Villalobos, Daniel Martinez, Jorge Lopez C., Humberto Martinez Brizuela, Gema Lopez Limon ------ Endnotes (1) The PRI and the PAN are the two main parties of the Mexican ruling
class ************************
After the Elections The most important feature of the elections that took place on September 17 in the Lander of Berlin and Western Mecklenburg is in both cases a 10% drop in turnout. The two Lander were governed by a SPD-PDS (1) coalition. This SPD-PDS coalition lost 239,006 votes in Berlin and 141, 644 votes in Mecklenburg. In Berlin, the SPD, which won with 30.8%, lost 57, 860 votes and Die Linke (2) lost 181, 206 (13.4%), receiving only 50% of the votes it received in 2001. In Mecklenburg, the SPD, which won with 30.2%, lost 146, 813 votes and Die Linke (16.8%) lost 21, 817 votes. Concerning the CDU opposition in these Lander, it lost 91,000 votes in Berlin and 68, 790 in Mecklenburg. This is a massive rejection by the population, and its working class electorate, of the policies of social destruction imposed by the leaderships of the SPD and the PDS in the poor Landers. It is a rejection of the submission to the CDU-SPD "grand coalition," which implements all the counter-reforms of the European Union. ----- Endnotes (1) SPD: The Social-Democratic Party, the majority party of the German
working class. PDS: The party coming out of the SED, the formation in
power in former East Germany. ----- After the electoral defeat of the SPD-PDS in Berlin and Mecklenburg: The Testimony of Volker Prasuhn, an SPD militant in Berlin The result of the September 17 elections are clear. They constitute a massive rejection of the SPD-PDS, which for 5 years has continued the policies of social destruction initiated by Schroder and continued today by the Merkel-Munterfering coalition, in the name of respecting the policies decided in Brussels by the European Union. The results are based in life, in the social misery being created. Right after the election and Wowereit (SPD) and Beck were already celebrating. How can they be so blind? Everything must continue like before. "There is no alternative to the reforms," says Merkel, who is close to taking the presidency of the European Union in January and whose party, the CDU, was also massively rejected. Wowereit dared to say, "The people of Berlin demonstrated their confidence in their government." And Wolf makes excuses in the style of his SED predecessors: "Many people in Berlin are apparently not satisfied with the policies led by the SPD-PDS coalition for these past five years. But we have had no choice." Who does he think he's kidding? To what extremes do they want to lead the country? Where do they want to lead Germany by continuing to destroy all the social conquests built up after the war by the workers? How can they be so blind, that they understand nothing, not even the shocking entrance of neo-nazis into five neighborhood assemblies in Berlin, as well as in Mecklenburg? How is it possible to remain loyal to the tradition of the SPD, which is intimately linked to all the social conquests, through attacking these very conquests? Hasn't the policies of SPD-PDS coalition, relaying the policies of CDU-SPD Grand Coalition, led Berlin to bankruptcy? Hasn't it aggravated the misery of the unemployed and condemned the youth to degrading informal labor? Hasn't it denied the students a decent education? Hasn't it taken free health care from the sickly? And hasn't all this happened to pay billions of interest on the debt for the banks and the speculators? Isn't this money taken away from the hospitals, public transportation, housing, and schools? How is it possible to refuse to understand what every citizen understands? How is it possible to turn one's back on these issues? I pose this question to my comrades, my colleagues, and we are all in agreement. Isn't the solution to, for example, respond positively to the demands of the striking workers at Charity and Vivantes who are fighting in defense of their working conditions and in defense of health care in public hospitals? Isn't it necessary to end the budget cuts for hospitals, the privatizations of whole services, and the remunicipalization of out-sourced services? It is clear that a positive solution demands ending the health care reform that the Grand Coalition wants to impose on us. It demands the return to united collective bargaining in all public services and equal wages in the East and the West. Of course, this poses the question of a rupture with the policies dictated by the European Union and executed by the Grand Coalition. This is the reason why, with numerous comrades, we have addressed our colleagues, workers, unionists, and SPD members, abstentioners, and all citizens, to say: The fact that the SPD leaders obstinately refuse to respond to these questions posed by us doesn't mean that we should give up the fight. The opposite is true. We must struggle even harder than before. That is why we address all those who agree with our conclusions. There is a threat. There is urgency. Respond, get in touch. Let us together organize indispensable meetings, to gather the forces necessary to intervene on as large a scale as possible, to call on the leaders on all levels. Our future, the future of the country, and the future of democracy is at stake. V. P. ***********************
Appeal in defense of the unity of the FGTB and the federal social conquests Everywhere we are told that the period following the legislative elections of 2007 will be full of dangers and it is true that a number of alarming facts are appearing. They are presenting the danger as a threat of confrontation between Flanders and Walloons. But when one dissects the demands nourishing the climate of confrontation, it becomes clear that these really are threats to the federal social conquests -- social security, collective bargaining contracts, labor rights -- and, thus, it is working people that are threatened. From the north to the south, the bosses and the multinationals are exerting a growing pressure to undermine these vital social rights. This offensive against our rights is planned in the structures of the European Union and implemented by the government. In the north of the country, the essentially bourgeois group Manifeste In de Warande calls for the regionalization of the federal social conquests. We also see that the UWE (the Union of Companies of Walloons) has invited this group to one of its meetings and that this group was warmly greeted. Isn't this the proof that the regionalization of our federal social conquests is the means put forward by the bosses (and those who serve them) to destroy them more quickly, particularly through privatization? We have the right to conclude that the danger threatening us is an unprecedented offensive to undermine all our federal social conquests by regionalizing them. This is an offensive directed against the workers of Flanders, Walloons, Brussels, and all Belgium. No worker from Flanders, Walloons, Brussels will benefit from the regionalization/break-up of the federal social conquests. The president of the VLD has called for unemployment relief to be limited in time. Everybody understands that if unemployment benefits are regionalized, the VLD will have an easier time imposing this objective in Flanders. The workers can only face this anti-social aggression with unity. That is why we support the new FGTB president, Rudy De Leeuw, when he reaffirms the FGTB's opposition to any form of "regionalization of the labor code, collective bargaining contracts, and social security." We also support the new General Secretary, Anne Demelenne, when she calls for "solidarity and a strong and united FGTB," opposing separatism and the regionalization of the federal social rights. These declarations are even more important because on June 1, the House voted to consider a proposal of Vlaams Belang concerning the dismembering of Belgium. What is at stake are the rights of the workers in all the country. Nobody can deny the anti-democratic nature of Vlaams Belang, as well as the FN. The historic struggle of the Belgian workers' movement for universal suffrage -- and, thus, for democracy -- was above all a struggle to win rights and have the law respect them. The main instruments against the undermining of these rights are the trade unions. These are the organizations -- particularly the FGTB -- that federate the working class of the whole country. Thus, it is impossible to struggle against Vlaams Belang, and any other threat to democracy, if we allow the division of our trade unions to take place. The division of the labor movement will only help the offensive that the exploiters are planning. At a moment when it is becoming clearer and clearer that the bosses want to regionalize our social rights to destroy them, we are launching an appeal to: -- Defend the federal unity of the FGTB--ABVV and all the trade unions! -- Defend the federal social conquests (social security, collective bargaining agreements, labor code, etc.) against all attempts to regionalize them! We call on all workers and trade union leaders to unite around these goals. For more information, or to receive a paper or Word copy of the appeal, contact: Yves Eeckman - yves.eeckman@skynet.be - 0497 99 02 54 - Rue Georges Raeymaekers, 13, 1030 Bruxelles First Signers: Hugo Buyssens, lid ACOD VRT; Francis Cabarteux, Ondervoorzitter van de sectie ACOD/BIWM; Abder Chafi, délégué SETCa non marchand santé mentale; Yves Eeckman, militant SETCa BHV; Antonio Fanara, délégué FGTB Métal FN Herstal; Geoffrey Goblet, Secrétaire adjoint Centrale Générale Liège-Huy-Waremme; Eliane Lucas, SETCa BBTK; Pierre Marlhioux, membre du Comité exécutif du SETCa BHV; Serge Monsieur, délégué CGSP/ALR-CIBE; Anny Ots, afgevaardigde BBTK; Claude Podorieszach, délégué SETCa FN Herstal; Marc Quintelier, afgevaardigde BBTK; Rob Reynders, Adjunct secretaris Social Profit, BBTK BHV; Henri-Jean Ruttiens, permanent SETCa (secteur Industrie BHV); Michèle Seutin, Secrétaire SETCa BHV; Francis Stevens, Adjunct-secretaris BBTK BHV; Stephane Van Audenaerde, afgevaardigde Financiën BBTK; Marc Vandame, Président de la section CGSP/ALR-CIBE; Jan Van der Poorten, syndicaal afgevaardigde Metaal VW Brussel; Hendrik Vermeersh, secretaris Industrie sector BBTK ************************
The draft budget of Romano Prodi: All the policies dictated by the European Union During a public interview on September 13, Le Monde asked the following question to the new president of Italy, Romano Prodi: "Are you upset with the criticisms of the European Commission concerning the insufficiency of your economic measures in your draft budget?" Prodi's response: "When I was president of the European Commission, I never hid my opposition to the exemptions granted to France and Germany. I know that I have a higher debt than those countries and that I must act more rigorously concerning the European rules. What I am trying to introduce in Italy is the constraining nature of the rules." Thus, the draft budget that will be presented to the Parliament at the end of September establishes 30 billion in budget cuts, to "reestablish public accounting" and to bring the deficit to under the 3% demanded by the Stability Pact of the European Union. This is a budget of Maastricht, against the millions of Italians who got rid of Berlusconi on April 9 because they wanted to end his policies dictated by the European Union and who imposed the NO in the referendum on regionalization of June 25. On September 3, La Repubblica evokes the "differences inside the majority" of the government (1) between the so-called "rigorous" wing, represented by Padoa Schioppa, the former head of the European Central Bank, and the "social" and "radical left" wing represented by the Damiano, the Minister of Labor, Bertinotti, president of the Parliament, and Ferrero, Minister of Solidarity, member of the Party of Communist Refoundation, which regroups the former leaders of the Italian Communist Party as well as the Italian friends of Krivine-Besancenot. What are the differences? Minister Ferrero, of the Party of Communist Refoundation, responds: "In the first place, we called to open a vigorous negotiation with the European Union to spread for two years the length of the budgetary reduction." (Liberazione, September 3) Brussels rejected this demand and Ferrero confided to La Repubblica on August 30: "I don't know why we made this concession to Tremonti (Minister of Economy of Berlusconi) and why we must reach a 3% level in one fell swoop. I add that we do not think of not respecting the Stability Pact." And as if it were necessary to dot the "i"s, Giordano, the General Secretary of the Party of Communist Refoundation, added: "We will not put into question the policies of adjustment." (Liberazione, September 8) And this is the Italian model they propose for us in France? But the working class and people of Italy have, twice, demonstrated their rejection of the policies of the European Union and their desire to defend their social conquests won in the framework of the nation. The National Committee Against the European Union, for Democracy, Public Services, and the Unity of the Italian Republic, which presented a slate in the municipal elections in Turin and struggled for a NO in the referendum, aims to continue its struggle for the rupture with the European Union, for the independence of the trade unions, for the unity of the Italian nation, and for unity for the defense and reconquest of all the gains. The National Committee is meeting on September 21 in Turin. We will not fail to publish a report. (To be continued ...) (1) The Unione government is a "grand coalition" that brings
together the parties coming from Christian Democracy, the Greens, and
the parties coming out of the PCI (Left Democrats, Party of Italian
Communists, and the Party of Communist Refoundation, the PRC). The members
of the Usec constitute a tendency of the PRC, Sinistra Critica.
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Open World Conference of Workers