ILC International Newsletter
Number 23
April 22, 2003
Weekly information dossier published by the International Liaison
Committee -ILC,
Please contact : International Liaison Committee -ILC, c/o Parti des
travailleurs - 87, rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis, 7510 Paris France
phone : (33 1) 48 01 88 28 fax : (33 1) 48 01 88 36
e-mail - eit.ilc@wanadoo.fr
Contents:
- Introduction
- No to war!
- From our correspondents: Switzerland, Benin
- A document on archeological sites: No the occupation of Iraq!
- A document in preparation to the congress of the CUT Brazil
- Fiat: a new tide of lay-offs in Italy
- A letter from Russia
- Italy: "Tribuna Libera" Italian monthly
- Portugal: Political organisations under threat
- Subscription
Introduction
"The immediate goal of North-American imperialism's war is to take
control of oil; it plans the carving up of Iraq. What is at stake in
this war is international relationships in general, as well as the
future of peoples." That is what unionists of the CUT of Brazil
explain in a document preparing the congress of this trade union.
"We have back tracked scores of years. Americans came in order to
destroy, not to liberate" an Iraqi engineer in Basra states.
"There is a link between waging war and closing down factories"
an Italian unionist delegate insists.
True, more than ever, fighting the occupation of Iraq, fighting war,
fighting imperialism are connected to fighting the privatisation of
power facilities in Russia, fighting for the repeal of the laws that do
away with education in Italy, acting in defence of democratic liberties
and the existence of political parties:
Let us circulate that information.
__________
Switzerland
Resolution of the Assembly of delegates of the Public Sector workers'
Union
End the war against Iraq!
Since March 20th 2003, the United States and its allies have been
engaged in a war of aggression against Iraq, despite all the protests
and demonstrations and initiatives for peace.
In conjunction with the millions of unionists across the globe, the
delegates of the SSP demand that the United States' government and its
allies
- End this war of aggression!
- End the massive bombing of Iraqi cities throwing human rights down the
drain!
- Immediately recall the occupying troops from Iraq and the Middle East!
The delegates expect the general council to take and unequivocal stand.
They ask the General Council to make sure no war material be exported
towards the warmongering countries. Besides, the Iraqi funds that are
frozen must not be surrendered to the USA because they belong to the
Iraqi people.
The Federal Council that is entrusted with the Geneva conventions must
make sure those are abided by. Among others they must see to it
that:
- Indiscriminate bombing of Iraqi populations is halted,
- Ceasefire must be demanded so that humanitarian help can be brought
and those civilians who should wish to leave Iraqi cities be permitted
to do so.
The Federal Council must unilaterally lift the embargo that hits Iraqi
people and publicly oppose the occupation and administration of Iraq by
the United States and its allies. The Federal Council must also cancel
the invitation to George Bush to come to Switzerland on an official
visit by Pascal Couchepin.
The Swiss union of SSP public services appeals its members to continue
participating in local and national demonstrations against war, and to
show their solidarity to the suffering and distressed Iraqi population,
thanks to generous contributions.
______________
Benin
Appeal to the people launched by unions of Cotonou
Let us say: an end to the war in Iraq, in the Ivory Coast while
continuing our fight to have our demands satisfied.
In spite of the opposition of peoples, of the majority of the countries
of the UNO Security Council, despite the opposition of the major
religious authorities in the world, the American hyper-power launched
the attack against Iraq and invaded the country.
Its only prospect is its hegemonic interests.
The obstinacy shown by the USA highlights that what is at stake in Iraq
certainly is not to fight Saddam Hussein's dictatorship, nor in any way
to defend democracy or the rights of peoples; what it wants is to smash
Iraq in order to grasp oil and strategic footholds in order to
strengthen its hegemony over the planet to ensure the financial
capital's super-profit.
To that end, it shows a total lack of respect for human lives, for the
children wasted by a ten-year long embargo, for the women and the men
humiliated and scarred in their flesh and soul.
That proves what little consideration it has for us the smaller
countries which they already treated so offhandedly with the ruinously
expensive programme of the IMF and of the World Bank.
Already, in the Ivory Coast, France gave weapons to the rebels in order
to find subservient lackeys that would safeguard its interests.
France is strengthening its stranglehold on our country through
KEREKOU-AMOUSSOU's determination to hand out the harbour and 5 other
strategic sectors to BOUYGUES and BOLLORE [two French corporations -TN]
This is what we must say:
_ Stop treading the rights of peoples under foot.
_ Stop violating the sovereignty of states
_ No war for oil
_ No to the plunder of smaller countries.
That is why the following organisations: CSTB, SYNTRA-MFPTRA, SYNTRACEF,
SYNATB, SYNTRACAT, SYNATRACIEEP, SYNATRAT, ODHP, FENUP, MFLPP, UNSEB,
UNAPEB, invite workers, patriots and nationalists, democrats, human and
peoples' right defenders, all the men and women who love peace and
justice to join in the pacifist march of Tuesday April 1st 2003 to say:
_ End the war in Iraq and in the Ivory Coast
_ End imperialist wars!
_ No to puppet and crony governments
_ Immediate satisfaction of the demands of workers and people!
Cotonou March 27th 2003
The organisations that appeal to the march.
__________
No to the occupation of Iraq !
A « planned » pillage, according to an American specialist.
The director of the Baghdad Museum accused American troops on Friday of
committing the « crime of the century » by failing to protect the
works of art in Iraqi museums from pillage, or the archaeological sites
from destruction.
"What has happened to the sites (archaeological), and what has
happened to the museums in Iraq amounts to the crime of the century,
because this affects the heritage of humanity" declared the
director of the National Archaeological Museum of Baghdad, Donny George,
speaking in the presence of other Iraqi archaeologists.
"It is obvious that more important priorities exist(for the United
States) other than the museum of Baghdad" he added. The American
troops, who had taken control of the capital on the 9th April, had
observed without intervening while the looters carried away works of art
of the world's most ancient civilizations.
Some of the stolen works, including a Sumerian alabaster vase 5000 years
old and weighing 300 kilos, and known as the vase of Urak, would have
required several people to carry them, explained Mr Jaber Khalil
Ibrahim, president of the National office of Iraqi antiquities. The only
objects remaining in the gallery were those too heavy to be transported.
"I imagine that these people knew exactly what they were looking
for, and they sought especially Sumerian objects of value" he added.
According to the Iraqi archaeologists, " days and days " will
be needed to make a complete list of the losses, due to the absence of
electricity in Bagdad and in the other regions of Iraq.
The pillage of the Baghdad museum was a "planned" operation,
carried out by organized groups with the necessary equipment, declared
Mr McGuire Gibson, professor at the University of Chicago, and
specialist on the Iraqi patrimony.
Mr Gibson took part on Thursday 17 April, in Paris, in this first
evaluation of the damage caused to the Iraqi heritage, with around
thirty specialists brought together by UNESCO.
"Some thefts were pre-meditated, the work of gangs who have spent
several years destroying archaeological sites in order to export
illegally important works from the country" he judged during
a press conference organized after the meeting of experts.
Mr Gibson also stated that, during the burning of the library of Baghdad,
several collections of manuscripts were destroyed. At the Awqaf (
religious affairs),"a library of ancient Corans also went up in
flames" he said. He also indicated that a collection of 80000
clay tablets illustrating Babylonian and Sumerian writings have been
"lost", as well as very valuable works of the Mossul museum,
which had been brought to Baghdad for protection.
Dismay and anger of the archaeologists at UNESCO.
" Don't ask me .Go and see the Americans"; the voice of the
Iraqi archaeologist, Salma El Radi started to tremble when she replied
to the question; " How could such a level of pillage take place?"
"The curator of the museum had implored the American soldiers to
intervene, but they replied that it was not their problem",
declared this specialist of the Middle-East restoration workshops
at the University of New York.
The thirty specialists, meeting at the headquarters of UNESCO, in Paris,
attempted to list the destructions and irreparable losses inflicted upon
the Iraqi historical, archaeological and cultural heritage, following
the ransacking of the museums in Baghdad and Mossul, and the fires at
the National library and the Archives of Baghdad. " We are dismayed
by the disappearance of all of these Sumerian and Babylonian works,
which represent the very basis of the identity of the Iraqi people and
of humanity itself" declared Mr Mounir Bouchenaki.
The amplitude of this pillage and the irreparable destructions committed
in Iraq has led to the resignation of the president of the presidential
consultative committee for cultural affairs, Mr Martin Sulivan, a
renowned archaeologist. Another member , Mr Gary Vikan , followed his
example , and several of the nine other committee members , all
specialists in art and archaeology, could shortly quit there positions.
In his resignation letter, dated the 14 April, Mr Martin Sullivan
confirmed that "the pillage and ransacking of the Baghdad museum,
and the loss of irreplaceable collections, is a tragedy which was
predictable and which could have been stopped", adding however that
this tragedy should not " overshadow the human suffering and the
economic ravages , which are the direct consequences of the preventative
war launched by the United States".
"Everything started with the embargo", underlined a UNESCO
specialist. Starved by the embargo imposed by the UNO, " the people
would have done anything to feed their families, they had nothing left.
So they started to sell objects , antiques", he added. And networks
were organised little by little, despite the law of 1958 taken up in all
Arab countries, which bans the exportation of works of art. " There
were even quasi-professional expeditions of organized pillage".
__________
Among the AFP press releases
Hundred of sick children in Zubayr for lack of drinking water.
"Twenty babies have died already in Zubayr (200 000 inhabitant city
about 500 km. South-East of Baghdad) since the war broke, nearly a month
ago" said Dr Shaie al-Sukeini.
"Most of the cases we are trying to cure are gastroenteritis",
he said to AFP. Drinking water has been a rare commodity in the South of
Iraq since the main region's water treatment facility stopped working.
Another doctor at the health care centre, managed by the Red Crescent
explained that most of the children were treated as day-patients as
their parents could not or did not wish to have them stay in hospital.
"Every day we have 200 children under five years of age with
diarrhoea and vomiting,» he added.
Mossul: "the price of civilian blood is still cheaper"
"We have back tracked scores of years, our children have no
prospect for the future, Americans have come to destroy not to liberate
us", a civilian engineer sobs in front of what is left of a factory,
just like those Basra students in front of the ruins of their university"
("Le Monde" April 19th)
While a greengrocer is moaning over the plummeting price of a kilo of
potatoes, a customer cries out:
"The price of civilian blood is still cheaper"
"We do not want Americans, we do not want to be occupied" (A
young Iraqi in Mossul, AFP)
As two vehicles drive across the market place, two young people shout:
"We do not want Americans, we do not want to be occupied",
Ahmed Suleiman 18 says (AFP)
__________
BRAZIL
A document to prepare the congress of the United Trade Union of Workers
(CUT) (excerpts from "Ten proposals to strengthen the CUT)
Who are we?
We are trade unionists who helped build the CUT during its near 20 years
of existence, as a class trade union, bent on democracy and struggle!
We are CUT members, either independent or linked to organised currents
that actively take part in our trade union's initiatives, who
politically refer to the PT.
We fought side by side with Brazilian men and women to drive Lula to the
presidency of the republic as early as the first round!
We consider that what was expressed on that day of October 27th 2002 was
Brazil's working people's determination to bring about changes, to
secure the country's sovereignty, to have our demands for Land, Jobs,
Wages, decent Public Services fulfilled. It is a certainty, reaching
those goals requires breaking from the accursed heritage of FHC and of
the IMF.
On March 15th at the CUT's headquarters, we decided to set up a
regrouping "to reinforce the CUT and conquer rights". Over 130
comrades, from various regions of the country thus decided to start a
debate with all our union's rank and file, on the stands and
propositions that are presented in this newspaper.
We consider that those stands must become CUT's resolutions and form the
basis of a large list at the 8th National Congress (June 3rd to 7th
2003).
Our starting point is defending the independence and the autonomy of the
CUT - even also from the Federal government it contributed to bringing
into power - so than it can develop to the full what is enshrined in its
own statutes: " to organise and support all the actions that aim at
gaining better living and working conditions for all the workers"
and "to fight for the emancipation of workers, by workers
themselves in the prospect of building socialist society".
We invite all the comrades to participate in the widest and most
democratic discussion, avoiding one-track ideology, as it is the urgency
of now!
We call on the unions members of the CUT to mobilise immediately as was
decided by the February 12th 2003 CUT national executive Committee in
order to:
_ Organise emergency campaigns demanding anticipated wage increase as
inflation is speeding up.
_ Fight the PF 9 [N° 9 Bill] (that lashes out at public sector workers)
and for the repeal of constitutional amendment N° 20 concerning social
reserve funds.
_ To engage in the struggle against the war that Bush and his allies are
waging on the Iraqi people by participating in the Committees against
War and the various demonstrations that demand an end to bombing and
that invasion troops be sent home!
10 proposals to strengthen the CUT
1.- In the struggle against war and exploitation
North-American imperialism with the Bush government, relying on the help
of such allies as Blair, have waged a war on the Iraqi people. A war
whose immediate objective is to control oil resources; it plans the
disintegration of Iraq to guarantee that multinationals will have a free
hand to plunder the country.
What is at stake in this war is the bulk of international relationships,
as well as the fate of workers and peoples.
In the situation where the global market is shrinking, where even in the
United States there is a crisis in industry with massive lay-offs, where,
in European Union countries, commodity industry has dropped from 30% to
18% of the GDP over the last few years, where Latin American economy is
caught in the stranglehold of the external debt, Bush's war aims at
speeding up privatisation schemes, plans to deal the death blow to
social and labour rights, to plunder natural resources undermining the
very existence of sovereign nations in each and every country.
That is why this war is not legitimate, whether it was given the green
light by the UNO and its Security Council or not.
With or without the UNO we say NO to Bush's war on Iraq!
We demand an immediate end to bombings; we demand that US and allied
troops leave Iraq and the neighbouring countries right now.
Fighting war is one and the same as fighting to thwart US imperialist
expansion plans and give a wider basis to international anti-capitalist
movement.
Across the globe, demonstrations have been staged before and after the
war was started; they should continue in order to forge the united
resistance of workers and peoples against imperialist oppression.
Down with war! Down with exploitation! United, workers will make peace
all over the world!
Continuing on the united front guideline, the CUT and branch unions have
to continue mobilising initiatives that will be landmarks in the world
movement against war, that will denounce the real motivations, economic
and political that are pushing forth this criminal military action of
Bush and Blair in a war which
is the direct result of capitalist globalisation.
2.- In the struggle against FTAA
In Brazil and the Americas, fighting war is also fighting the FTAA and
declaring solidarity with the Venezuelan people who underwent an
attempted coup, directly contrived by Bush, that took the form of
sabotaging the economy on the basis of an "alliance" between
the bosses of the Fedecamaras and the CTV summit.
It means fighting the Columbia plan as well as the surrendering of the
Alcantara military basis into the hands of the US administration!
In that fight, our allies are workers and their organisations,
especially trade unions, in North and South America, USA included; in
that country the labour movement is mobilising against the war while it
undergoes the consequences of the domestic war that Bush is waging
against labour and union rights.
We wish all to unite in the struggle against the implementation of the
plans of the IMF, to defend the national sovereignty -which include
lifting the embargo on Cuba- and the most resolute fight against the
FTAA.
FTAA will make it easy for North American corporate monopolies to
purchase what is not yet privatised South of its borders. The result of
the Popular Referendum against FTAA from September 1st to 7th 2002 in
which over 10 million cast their votes, must be the cornerstone of the
CUT's stand:
_ NO to FTAA
_ Brazil must back off the negotiation
_ NO surrendering the Alcantara basis to the USA
We must continue this struggle, we must demand that the Brazilian
government (the executive power), the legislative and judiciary powers
immediately call for an Official Referendum taking up the issues raised
by the Popular Referendum.
The CUT must take an active part in all the planned campaigning on the
continent against FTAA and it must take its part in the initiatives of
workers and unions for unity to thwart this imperialist onslaught of
domination that actually would make Latin American countries mere
appendixes of the USA, erasing any remnant of national sovereignty.
"Economic integration" propounded by FTAA runs cross-grain
with the interests of workers and peoples across the whole continent
since, instead of extending rights and social investments, it undermines
them, it favours the interests of capital, of the multinationals and of
profit.
__________
Italy
Fiat after 8 500 were made redundant last December, a new tide of
lay-offs is announced for next June
A report by a correspondent of the International Liaison Committee
Fiat: after 8 500 were made redundant last December, a new tide of
lay-offs is announced for next June. Especially, the Turin Mirafiori
factory may close down altogether.
1800 jobs are under a cloud, 50 000 if one comprises subcontracted jobs.
We went on location to investigate and report.
Gate N° 5 at Fiat Mirafiori
Three CGIL activists are handing out fliers. They publicise "that
after the Mirafiori factory Rivolta closed down, and a subsequent
separate agreement with unions signed last July, that accepted 2 800
redundancies and the introduction of flexibility, another 1 800 jobs
will be lost".
A discussion with a CGIL activist:
"Here we used to turn out small inexpensive cars that sold well.
Now, production is outsourced most of all to Poland."
It should be known that General Motors owns 20% of the shares of Fiat.
American imperialism considers that Italian factories must be closed
down. Therefore, doesn't the enlargement of the European Union become a
tool to speed up disindustrialisation?
The activist adds: "This is the biggest car-producing factory in
Europe, yet only 40% of its capacity is used. They are constantly
downsizing. After the new batch of 1 800 lay-offs, only 5 400 workers
will be left (compared with 50 000 20 years ago) they are slowly
strangling us to death. How can all that be halted?"
A delegate intervenes in the discussion: "If you see things from
the management's point of view, there is no solution. We unions have
lived with this problem for years." Indeed! That is exactly where
all the problems stem from. As union leaders accept to keep in stride
with social downsizing schemes, they stand in the way of class struggle,
they prevent workers from uniting to stave off job losses.
Together, we read the conclusion of the appeal to the March 8th national
conference: "We 81 delegates convened at the Bourse du Travail [Trade
union centre- TN] in Paris, we consider that we should unite whatever
trade union we belong to. That is both necessary and urgent; this can
enable us to demand that lay-offs be banned, an end to factory closures,
and an end to outsourcing. All the workers of all the firms, of all the
country's industry, we must unite. We do not wish to take the place of
trade unions but we propose that trade unions and branch unions in
industry call up for a day of strike and demonstration to the seat of
the government in Paris."
A question is raised: "Then why shouldn't a demonstration be staged
in ROME to demand that lay-offs at FIAT be banned?" One of the
activists objects: what is needed is a European demonstration.
The demonstrations called by the EFTA are just token demos. they just
facilitate the implementation of European chiefs of states' decisions to
slash jobs. They can have no positive outcome. On the opposite, if we
wish to unite internationally, we must start demonstrating in Paris in
front of the seat of government, as well as in Rome.
Another delegate speaks: "The Fiat management wants to shed its
car-making branch. It has ceased investing. These last years, 11 000
billion Liras have been distributed to shareholders. About the same
amount went into investment."
True, on the one hand, billions of profits to line the pockets of a
handful of shareholders, on the other hand, investments that only serve
to scrap workers (20 years ago, 60 000 worked at Mirafiori, today, well
below 15 000). So, as 2003 has shown no profit to be distributed to
shareholders, they have decided to trash Mirafiori factory.
Š..
War is the next topic in the discussion: it is a war against the unity
of nations and their sovereignty; it aims at shattering the national
framework in which the working class wrenched its rights.
A delegate: "that is true, waging war and closing down factories
are connected. Bush is in the frontline to implement this policy that
aims at destroying and carving up Europe turning it into something
similar to the Balkans. That is what they already achieved in Yugoslavia.
Zastava car factory used to provide decent living conditions to tens of
thousand workers. It was bombed and destroyed. Today, those workers have
to live on 100 Euros a month. They must pay for everything: lodgings,
electricity Š since in the aftermath of the war, everything was
privatised. That is what war is used for: to push workers' living
conditions below the poverty line."
A proposition is made: couldn't union delegates meet on an appeal for:
nationalising Fiat, canceling the 1 800 lay-offs and reinstating those
who have lost their jobs?
__________
A letter from Russia
We are publishing the letter we received from an International Liaison
Committee correspondent on the counter-reforms initiated by the Russian
government. They concern the privatisation of power production and
distribution and the extinction of lodging services among others.
Putin's government initiated a twofold counter-reform:
- The privatisation of electric power, under the guidance of Anatoli
Chubais who, since 1992 has been the mastermind behind
privatisation-destruction in Russia.
- The overhaul of communal services or of benefits reserved for lodging.
One of the gains that had been wrenched by workers in the USSR had been
very cheap prices for tap water, heating, electricity, refuse collection.
Certainly the bureaucracy made up for this costly gain by keeping
maintenance costs at the lowest level possible. The Eltsin government
had outlined an objective which was taken up by the Putin government: to
make Russian citizens pay 100% of those services by 2004. As one third
of the Russians today live below the poverty level, this objective will
have to be forced through: those who cannot pay will be expelled from
their lodgings.
Actually, that is mere plunder as, according to official data, 40% of
the heating and 25% of the tap water are lost before reaching the users.
Therefore, the government wants to make users pay for heating and water
they do not get, actually, to make them pay the price of the sorry state
of disrepair of the facilities it is responsible for.
Privatising power production and distribution would amount to the same.
It would mean that the present power state monopoly would be split into
countless tiny companies. According to deputy Iaroslav Shyriaiev, the
scheme provides that the state would no longer set the prices of
electricity; that could lead to an "absurd" situation:
electricity prices would be different within the same town and in
neighbouring buildings". -Literaturniaia Gazeta March 5th - 11th
2003. According to another deputy of the Iabloko group, prices might
increase by 600%.
Those would be very serious counter-reforms. The Russian sociologist
Simon Kordonski writes in the magazine Novy Mir (December 2001, p 225):
"In Russia today there are over 50 million households and nearly 40
million plots of land next to dachas, individual vegetable patches, on
which people grow potatoes, vegetables, raise cows, goats, pigs or
poultry. It means that the population runs an off the grid economy to
manage their livelihood and provide themselves with some food against
winter."
So the outcome of "capitalist re-instatement" in Russia means
a reversal to pre-capitalistic forms of the organisation of work and
living conditions: nearly 40 million households out of 50 million -
over75%- live off the land (the unemployed and many kolkhoze workers) or
partly off the land; those latter ones work during the week, then on
Saturday and Sunday, they cultivate their patches of land to grow some
sort of adequate food for the winter. Is this "return to mother
earth" that turns teachers, clerks, factory workers into half or
quarter peasants going to be supplemented for tens of thousands of
Russian families by the necessity to make shift to produce their own
lighting and heating as they will not be able to pay for electricity and
heating?
Four years ago, Tatiana Zaslavskaia, a sociologist, favourable as a rule
to this policy of alignment on the world market advocated by the
European Union, the World Bank and the IMF though she was, gave the
following comment to the plan: the people in the government set too high
prices, the result will be that no one will pay. As one simply cannot
expel half the population, the present Russian men-in-power are trying
to use the war in Iraq to force the measures down the Russian people's
throats by imposing further sacrifices. The leader of the party of the
Union of Right Wing Forces, Boris Nemtsov, openly a toad of the United
States, underlined that the Russian government could take advantage of
the situation to push through reforms that up to now had more or less
stalled -among those, lowering and decentralising taxes, which in Russia
amount to 13% for all the citizens whatever their income; that would
push already ailing public services, and healthcare, social protection
and scientific research budgets further down.
He states:
"For Russia, the war in Iraq is very serious. The world is to be
divided along new lines and the current issue is crucial: what will be
the place of our country in the global landscape? (.) On the opposite,
if, after the crisis, Russia could participate in the development of
Iraq, it would get an opportunity to secure foreseeable and rather
dynamic development.
Russia can garner much from the crisis in Iraq, it can also lose much.
If today we undertake to lower taxes, overhaul the government apparatus,
cut red tape, implement a reform of the army, promote local
self-administration, Russia will be able to advance"Š what it
means is, to continue privatising, dismantle public services, bring
scientific research budgets still further down (those only amount to
0.5% of the GDP in today's Russia!) and so on.
In this list, Nemtsov strangely fails to mention either the
privatisation of electricity or the counter-reform of community public
services, which he warmly advocates. He only approaches it through a
demand for lower taxes that decrease the amount of money for public
services. He feels it is more easily said than done. To prepare the
confrontation, without which those counter-reforms will not be passed,
the government has set up a true official party in charge with
regrouping all the forces that can make this onslaught feasible. It is
not by chance that in the statement quoted above, Nemtsov evokes the
possibility "of a social and economic crisis (.) that might entail
industrial actions and a total lack of trust in the authorities, top
power, president, included". It is this fear that makes the
powers-that be waver.
__________
Tribuna Libera
Italian monthly published by activists of various strands connected to
the International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples
We are publishing two articles from the magazine
Retirement pensions: the onslaught
Capitalist's headache: "once again, to try and lure Mr and Mrs
Smith into investing in the stock exchange" (extract from "Affaires
et Finances") but how is it possible to offer new stock assets when
everyone can see with their own eyes that the economy is still on the
down slope and people have seen the little money they had saved vanish
into thin air?
Enters on stage the reform of pension funds passed in a first round at
the parliament on February 1st. What is at stake is precisely this: to
funnel our money, the legitimate money of our retirement pensions into
the stock exchange, into private pension funds so that capitalists,
insurance companies, banks can fleece us and stop the leaks in their
finances.
The first stage of embezzlement is straightforward: the law provides
that the TFR (end of career bonus) is compulsorily paid into private
pension funds. That means that a fraction of workers' wages (the delayed
wages paid at the end of working life) will be conjured off the worker's
pocket.
The second stage of embezzlement: lifting the legal retiring age. People
will be allowed to work beyond retirement age; they will be persuaded to
do so by tax reductions and their enterprises will be subsidised. Con
sequence: the coffers of the state will show a loss since companies will
find it profitable to keep ageing workers rather than to hire younger
workers.(.) These three years thousands of billions have vanished into
thin air at the stock exchange because American pension funds spiralled
down.
A study paper by the "Financial Times taken up by the Corriere
della Sera sharply sheds crude light on the fact that across the whole
world the pension fund system lost money in 2002. The study paper
informs: "The sole pension funds lost 1400 billion Euros during
this last year".
We cannot actually grasp what this figure amounts to but it represents a
dramatic reality: hundreds of thousands of families would simply be left
stranded deprived of retirement pension, deprived of any prospect. That
is what is lurking behind the reform of retirement pension funds. That
is what is at stake. First stage: funnelling the TRF into private
pension funds will bite a big wedge off our pay packages.
Declaration of the "500 manifesto" (1) just after the Moratti
law was passed
NO to "reform". NO to implementation decrees. Repeal the law
A few hours after the reform was passed, Moratti, the National Education
Minister shamelessly announced that "the government was first and
foremost determined to focus the law on helping people achieve to the
best of their abilities"? Who do they think is going to believe
their forked tongues?
They put an end to compulsory education, they prepare the ruin of full
time education; in the elementary school template, children from 5 and a
half will face seven or eight teachers; they will be caught in a
whirlwind of constantly changing class mates as they will be mingled
with 7 year-olds. The 2 and a half year old toddlers will mingle with
kids of 6 and a half years of age. Several subjects are made optional;
only the more affluent families will have their children study those
subjects outside school; they are dismantling national curricula and
instead they put ones that are restricted to half the number of subjects;
they suppress school periods by the hundreds; in secondary schools, they
set up the possibility to have students work half time for free in
enterprises with the excuse of vocational tuition; thus they pave the
way for the exploitation of future generations; they cancel the diplomas
one usually passes at 19 and postpone them till 21-22 years by the
means of costly and very inadequate tuition; vocational training is
regionalised.
And they dare claim that "the government is first and foremost
determined to focus the law on helping people achieve to the best of
their abilities"!
No teacher, no parent, no union, no organisation, respectful of justice,
democracy, of the prospects of future generation can accept what is
being schemed right now. What is the most paradoxical about it? The
"reform" allegedly introduces the study of English at the end
of elementary school.. Well! It has to be said far and wide: the number
of hours devoted to foreign languages teaching is reduced compared with
now!
We do not accept. Despite all the difficulties, we cannot accept the
havoc that is being wreaked(.)
We are saying to all teachers, parents, students: circulate this
declaration in all schools, show our documents that explain in detail
what is being planned. Come and take to the streets with us. Prepare
your banners in every town, in every demonstration to say: "unity,
repeal the law".
We propose to convene soon a National Conference for the repeal of the
"Moratti" reform in Rome in coming May.
A law was passed, a law can be repealed:
From now on we shall mobilise on a single objective.
A delegation of the "500 manifesto" travelled to Rome on March
26th to be received by the national secretaries of the trade unions. The
delegation handed out the thousands of signatures collected throughout
Italy on an appeal to the union leaders that says: "It is the
urgency of now: the trade unions must unite and appeal to a national
demonstration for the repeal of the Moratti "reform" and for
the defence of public education"(.)
(1) Regrouping for the defence of public education
European information
__________
Portugal
The very existence of political organisations is threatened.
We are calling on all the democrats
The liberties we gained on April 25th 1974 (1) are jeopardised.
The association freedom is jeopardised, the liberty to set up political
parties, their very existence is jeopardised; the various bills that are
being discussed in the Assembly of the Republic propose to change the
working and the form of the constitution of political parties. The
liberties and guarantees that we gained after April 25th, which are
enshrined in the Portuguese Constitution, are seriously threatened.
What is the content of this bill?
… To permit state authorities to monitor the inner working of parties,
which poses a threat to their independence.
… To eliminate all the parties that could not prove they total at
least 6 000 members, thanks to lists that should be remitted to
constitutional tribunal, or those parties that will not have obtained at
least 15 000 ballots during two successive general elections.
… To fund those parties that meet the criteria and would stick to the
new legal framework on the basis of 3 Euros per ballot.
We, militants and leaders of the Workers' Party of Socialist Unity (POUS),
we, members of the Constituent Assembly (2), we can boast dozens of
years of political and democratic militancy, we solemnly state: those
bills pose a direct threat, not only are all the parties devoted to
remaining politically independent from state power under a cloud but
some parties among which the POUS may be eliminated.
We consider that the disease that is eating away all the political
institutions, which appear most blatantly through the high rate of
abstention during the latest elections - cannot be cured by curtailing
freedom of speech and ending the right to regroup freely that had been
obtained by the 25th of April, after a 48 year long dictatorship.
For those reasons, we appeal to all democrats and ask them to endorse
our appeal demanding that those projected laws setting restrictive rules
to political parties be withdrawn.
Aires Rodrigues and Carmelinda Pereira,
Members of the leadership of the POUS and deputies to the 1975
Constituent Assembly.
What do the PSD and the PS (3) want with those bills?
The bills that are being discussed in the Assembly of the Republic on
the new law regulating the political parties recommend:
"The listing of a party must be required by at least 10 000
elector-citizens". Besides, the PDS claims that the projected law
can make "legal extinction" of political parties easier. The
extinction can be justified according to the following cases:
"fewer than 6 000 members;
"failing to get 15 000 ballots during two successive general
elections to the Assembly of the Republic"
The bill reads on: "The list of members handed to the
constitutional tribunal must be updated every 5 years by the political
parties".
Finally, the PS claims that the parties will have "access to public
service radio and television programmes according to their
representativity".
The very existence of political organisations is under threat
Thanks to April 25th 1974 events, Portuguese workers and people were
able to conquer democratic liberties. One of the bases of democratic
liberties is the right of citizens to express their opinions and
organise freely and to regroup in political parties. The bills that are
presented in the Assembly of the Republic in the framework of the "reform
of the political system" threaten those principles; they even pose
a lethal menace on political parties as exemplified by the POUS.
Political parties are free associations of militants who unite to pool
their ideas and who are determined to convert those ideas into political
propositions to be exposed and defended within the society they belong
to.
Thus, the existence of political parties, alongside other associations
among which trade unions, represents a democratic guarantee. The
Portuguese people conquered those rights on April 25th 1974. This rule,
enshrined in the law on political parties, explains: the formation of a
political party is recognised when it has applied to and has been listed
at the constitutional tribunal following a proposition of legalisation
endorsed by 5 000 elector citizens; all the political parties (belonging
to the majority or the minority) can stand in the various elections to
assume the various positions pertaining to the sovereignty of the
Portuguese State (Assembly of the Republic, town councils etc..)
During the electoral campaign, each party presents its propositions
which will be publicised on an equal basis. The only body that can
represent it is its constituted leadership legally listed at the
constitutional tribunal. Each political party submits its yearly balance
of accounts, as well as the annual receipts and expenditures
corresponding to each election.
(1) "The carnation revolution" [refers to the Portuguese
revolution when demonstrators were seen planting carnation flowers into
the barrels of soldiers' guns - TN]
(2) The Assembly that was elected in 1975 as the outcome of the
revolution
(3) PDS socialist democratic party. PS: socialist party
(4) CDS-PP: centrist popular party.
On party funding
The PS as well as the CDS-PP (4) agree to say: "Those political
that will garner over 50 000 ballots or that will elect deputies will be
funded by the State"
Political parties may also be funded by private sponsors; the top limit
will be 30 times the minimum wage.
All agree that private funding should be materialised by cheque or
banker's draft.
__________
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