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A dossier of weekly information published by the Issue 262 Nov. Price 0.50 Euros SPECIAL ISSUE Bulletin Number Four European Workers Alliance ------ Table of Contents p.1: Introduction p.2: Demonstration in Brussels for the unity of the nation on Sunday and a gathering on Friday called by the FGTB in defense of the federal social conquests: "The division camp? The bosses! The unity camp? The workers!" p.3: Italy: A declaration of activists of all tendencies against the "expulsion" measures against foreign workers: No to deportations! For the unity of workers! p. 4 / 5 / 6: Contribution to the February 2-3, 2008 European Conference: "We freely discussed for two days and at the end of our discussion we decided to constitute a Liaison Committee of Activists of the Countries of the ex-USSR, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Balkans" p.7: France: Toward a class-struggle party p.8: Pakistan: Declaration by the APTUF ----- Contact: Informations internationales **************************
Demonstration in Brussels for the unity of the nation on Sunday and a gathering on Friday called by the FGTB in defense of the federal social conquests: "The division camp? The bosses! The unity camp? The workers!" In Belgium, the leaders of the FGTB called, last November 16, for a gathering in Brussels in defense of the federal social conquests. Two days later, a demonstration for the unity of the country brought together 35,000 in the streets of Brussels. A demonstrator explained: "They want all the money in their pockets. We are thinking about our children, our work, our parents. We need pensions." Another demonstrator affirmed: "Belgium is the model for Europe. If there is a split in Belgium, it will happen in France with Brittany, in England with the Scottish, in Spain, etc." This is also what a delegate of the big stores said when she asked: "What counts: The language spoken in a communal council or the ability to feed your child?" Yes, the workers united with their organizations have the capacity to maintain the federal social conquests and to oppose the break-up of Belgium. This vital question poses the question of the break with the criminal policies of the European Union in Italy, in Belgium, and in all Europe. Two days earlier, the FGTB union confederation organized a gathering in defense of the federal social conquests. In this context, we are publishing excerpts from the editorial of the last issue La Tribune des Travailleurs, a publication of our comrades in Belgium. In this torn country, where do you find a place where people from Flanders, Walloons, and Brussels work together without problems, where each speaks their language with respect for the language of others, where the speakers, whether they speak Flemish or French, have the right to receive the same applause when what they say touches the hearts of the audience? When a delegate of the big stores asks, in French, "What counts: The language spoken in a communal council or the ability to feed your child?", when a secretary from Anvers declares, in Flemish, "five minutes of political courage is needed not to divide the BHV, (1) but to say no the bosses' demands," both received hearty applause from the audience. The Unity Camp The location was Heysel, in Brussels, on November 16. Close to 3,000 activists, delegates, and leaders of the FGTB where present. By what miracle were linguistic barriers overcome in a country where these differences, we are told, are insurmountable? The reason was simple: this gathering of the FGTB had the goal of defending workers. To defend themselves, the workers are united in their unions on a national level. Together, they form a working class with interests opposed to the capitalists, who make their profits from the exploitation of the working class. This is the camp of unity, the only force able to provide a solution. The Division Camp There is the division camp, which leads to break-up and chaos. The bosses are united when it comes to attacking the rights of workers. But they are divided when it comes to deciding how to proceed with this offensive. The chaos and threats on the existence of the country come from them. The real objective is to lower "labor costs" They tell us: We are in a serious communitarian crisis. Really? We read in the newspaper that the very brother of Bart De Wever (the president of the separatist NV.A), declares that it would be interesting to exchange communes where there are a majority of French speakers, against the break-up of social security. The Unizo (bosses of Flemish PME) just affirmed that they need a state reform to lower "labor costs" - that is, to attack the social conquests of the Flemish workers. They speak to us of BHV! But in the newspaper you can find things that demonstrate the vote on the division of BHV is a coup organized by the organizers of L'Orange Bleu (2), who are Flemish and French-speakers. Why? It is necessary to move on to the serious things: setting up a government that attacks the workers, as FEB has raised in relation to the preparation of a "state reform" that aims to eliminate everything that is an obstacle to profits (salaries, social gains, taxes, etc.). This is reality facing us. The rest are just divisive maneuvers to divide and conquer. On November 16 in Heysel, the President of the FGTB, Rudy De Leeuw, recalled that the workers have nothing to gain from a new "state reform." During the gathering, the FGTB explained its position. It leads to a question: Is the role of the SP and the SP.A to be, with the others, be part of the "communitarian" fiasco? Isn't their responsibility to united on the basis of the FGTB program, with the goal of opening a political way out? We have arrived at a key moment in the history of Belgium. For years and years, all the governments, more and more brutally, have implemented the destructive social policies of the European Union, based on its founding treaty: Maastricht treaty. This rejection of anti-social policies explains the debacle of the Socialists in the June 10 elections. We should also note that the retreats of the Socialists are a European wide phenomenon. Aren't there lessons to be learned? For our part, we have published in the previous issue, an appeal of trade unionists from throughout Europe who oppose the new European treaty (Lisbon) and call to organize for the abrogation of the Maastricht treaty. This would finally open the path in Europe toward the free union of free peoples, based on social development - the opposite of the European Union. It is on this basis that the ILC is organizing a conference in the month of February. Isn't this the path to follow? In Belgium today, we face two completely antagonistic logics. The logic of the bosses, who are in favor of going even further with the anti-social policies of the European Union, in favor of doing anything to make more profits. For a Federal Demonstration! Against this logic, there is the united force of the workers who, on November 16, in Heysel, demonstrated their strength, their potential for struggle and their willingness to fight. This gathering was a first step. In a leaflet distributed at the entrance of Heysel, the Committee for Unity addressed the leaders of the FGTB to say: "We feel it your responsibility to launch an appeal for a big federal demonstration, bringing together the workers of Flanders, Walloons, and Brussels (and proposing that the CSC participate)." This is the very question that will be on the agenda at the conference organized by the Committee for Unity on December 8. Editorial by the Workers' Tribune ------ Endnotes 1) Neighborhood in Bruselles-Hal-Villevorde ******************************
A declaration of activists of all tendencies against the "expulsion" measures against foreign workers: No to deportations! For the unity of workers! Confronted with the policies of the European Union, workers have the right to look at what labor leaders are doing in each country. In Italy, for example, Prodi and his coalition organize the expulsion of dozens of Romanian immigrants (see below), while at the same time, the European Union speaks about the principle of the free circulation of workers. The Unione coalition includes members of Sinistra Critica, the Italian friends of Besancenot. In France, the LCR, led by Besancenot, correctly denounces Sarkozy's policies of deportations. Two countries, two different policies Š and that of the LCR is a needed cover for that of Sinistra Critica. How are we supposed to understand that the organizations that claim to defend the rights of workers implement the principle of free circulation when in corresponds to the interests of the bosses but do not implement it when it is a question of deporting immigrant workers? The Prodi government just had adopted, through a special Council of Ministers, a decree-law aiming to facilitate the deportation of European citizens. According to a spokesperson of the Ministry of the Interior, the deportations can be decided on without a trial. This text aims in particular at Romanian immigrants, of whom there are 342, 000 in Italy. Acting against this horrendous measure, labor activists from diverse political tendencies have published at the initiative of Tribuna Libera (newspaper of the activists linked to the ILC) a declaration that you will find below. ----- The Prodi government, using various pretexts and leaning on a European directive from April 29, 2005, is getting ready to deport one hundred immigrant workers, most of who are Romanian. Are immigrant workers and Romanian workers responsible? It is the Prodi government and its coalition, which goes from the Margherita to the Left Democrats, to the Communist Refoundation Party, the PDCL, and Sinistra Critica, which intends to take this scandalous measure. How are we supposed to understand that the parties of the so-called "left" and "left of left" take such measures? On the one hand, in Romania, agriculture, industry, and rights and conquests are destroyed to comply with the demands of the European Union, forcing tens of thousands of Romanians to immigrate. On the other hand, in our country, in the name of the same European Union, the government attacks our pensions, our national contracts, our rights, and our public services. This is the free circulation of the European Union! And the new Lisbon European treaty aims to worsen this situation. The Prodi government, through this measure, intends to divide Italian and Romanian workers. We will not let ourselves be divided. The Romanian workers and Italian workers have common interests and common enemies: a grand coalition government submitted to the European Union and the European Union itself, which at the exclusive service of the capitalists and speculators. No to deportations! Unity of all workers! To find a solution, there is no other path than to say no to the "new" European treaty. There is no solution within the framework of the institutions of the European Union. First signers: Davide Ascoli, Luigi Brandellero, Ugo Croce, Giorgio Farragiana, ----- Letter from a Romanian activist concerning the subject of the expulsion decree taken by the Prodi government "The representatives of the Radical left also support the draft decree on deportations" (RAI News 24) We read your declaration concerning the deportations of Romanian citizens by the Italian government. We think, like you, that it is important to underline the need for the unity of the Italian workers and Romanian workers in their common struggle against exploitation. From this point of view, we would like to bring up an article that appear on October 31 in the Romanian press citing the Italy television station RAI News 24, which reported that: "The representatives of the radical left also support the plan (the decree on deportations). Ministers Paolo Ferrero and Pecoraro Scanio (Š) approved the decree. 'They have in agreement with this since the preceding Council of Ministers,' explained Mr. Prodi." One of our comrades, a member of the PAS (a Romanian party with close links to the Communist Refoundation Party in Italy), informed the president of the party, Mr. Constantin Rotaru, of this news. He received the following response: "A coalition is in power in Italy, inside which there is not only the Communist Refoundation Party, member of the European Left Party, but also the majority party that is led by Romano Prodi. Like here, all of the parties claim to be left, which is not true. From here comes the confusion Š The Communist Refoundation Party is actually left-wing." Our comrade AP responded: "I noted that Paolo Ferrero, the Italian minister of Social Solidarity is a member of the Communist Refoundation Party. And the president of the Party of the European Left, Fausto Bertinotti, is president. If we are not mistaken, such a decree had to have received the signature of the minister of labor and social solidarity before even being looked at by the government. And we doubt that Mr. Ferrero would have been able to sign such a decree without consulting his comrades in Rifondazione, including the Italian friends of Mr. Besancenot. That the honest members of Rifondazione are not aware of this is possible and regrettable. This is precisely why I think it is necessary to clarify the real role of these supposed "leftists" who elaborate and implement such a reactionary measure, which all the governments of the EU are not being called on to adapt and implement in their countries. *************************
February 2-3, 2008, Paris "No to the new European treaty!" The proposal to have next February a European workers' conference was launched last September by the initiators of the appeal, "No to the new European treaty." The purpose is to bring together, on the basis of an investigation done in each country concerning the policies of the European Union, labor activists of all tendencies who fight in their countries against the offensive to impose on the people a "new" European treaty that takes up and worsens the European "Constitution" that was rejected two years ago by the workers and peoples. The European Workers' Conference will take place in Paris on February 2 and 3, 2008. A bulletin is published each month through the form of a special issue of the ILC International Newsletter. The first issue has already appeared. This issue can be received by subscribing to the ILC International Newsletter or writing to entente-europeenne-des-travailleurs@orange.fr ------ On Saturday October 28 and Sunday October 28, 2007, labor activists from all tendencies from nine countries in Eastern Europe and the ex-USSR (Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary, Moldavia, the Czech Republic, Romania, Russia, Serbia, and Ukraine) met in Cacak, an industrial town in Central Serbia, on the invitation of the Workers Political Alliance of Serbia and the ILC. At the end of a passionate discussion in which labor and political activists exchanged their experiences and opinions concerning the resistance of the working class and the youth in their countries, a Liaison Committee was constituted. It decided to distribute its founding declaration to labor activists of Europe and the world. Militants of different countries present in Cacak have already announced that they will participate in Paris at the European Workers' Conference on February 3 and 4 against the new European treaty. The appeal has been translated into Russian, Romanian, Czech, Serbo-Croatian and Hungarian. ----- Declaration by the Liaison Committee of Activists of the Countries of the ex-USSR, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Balkans We, labor activists from many tendencies from Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary, Moldavia, Czech Republic, Romania, Russia, Serbia, and Ukraine, met in Cacak (Serbia), with representatives of the ILC and from the Discussion Bulletin (Russia), on October 27-28, 2007. We freely discussed for two days and at the end of our discussion we decided to constitute Liaison Committee of Activists of the Countries of the ex-USSR, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Balkans because we agreed on the following: Sixteen years ago, the Soviet Union collapsed. Throughout the world and in our countries, the leaders, the heads of state, and the media said at the time: a new era of democracy, freedom, progress, and unprecedented economic development has opened within the framework of the "market economy." The balance sheet of these 16 years has demonstrated the falsity of these predictions. The fall of the USSR intensified, on a world level, an offensive of
reaction and imperialism against all the workers and nations: the first
Gulf War (1991), the Maastricht treaty (1992) in Europe, the free-trade
MERCOSUR treaty (1993) in Latin America, etc. The regimes that collapsed in 1989-91 were neither able nor willing to maintain the conquests of state property. It is precisely those who were responsible for the 1991 collapse that today are at the head of governments that privatize and sell off our countries to the international institutions of the Bush government. What has happened in our countries in the course of these 16 years? Based on the first testimonies brought forward at our conference in Caçak, we can observe that in all our countries, the situation of workers, peasants, pensioners, and youth has gotten considerably worse. All the policies implemented of privatization and undermining state property have led to an economic and social collapse for the vast majority. Misery, unemployment, closures of factories, mines, hospitals, schools, and the sell-off of natural resources are threatening the very existence the workers of our countries, while a small pocket of Mafioso parasites make colossal fortunes. It is time to bring forward the "black book" of the policies of privatization during the last 16 years. Here are a few of the first observations: In the former USSR: "Between 1992 and 2003, life expectancy from birth decreased in Russia from 70.0 to 65.6 years of age. A Russian male, born in 2003 would live on average 2.6 years less than an Indian (59.1 years as opposed to 61.7 years). Whereas in 1970, life expectancy in Russia was not far off that in the US ( 67.5 years as opposed to 70.8 years), today an American lives almost twelve years longer than a Russian. Russia is not an isolated case. (.,,) The following developments can be observed in countries in the so-called "economic transition towards a market economy" (Yugoslavia excluded, because of the war situation and the lack of long term statistics due to the break up of the country). Life expectancy has receded in Tajikistan (63.7 years in 2003, a dramatic drop of 6.3 years in comparison with 1992) in Kazakhstan (63.4 years with a drop of 5.6 years since 1992) in Azerbaijan (66.9 years i.e. a drop of 4.1 years in relation to 1992) in the Ukraine (66.3 years, 3.7 years less than in 1992), in Turkmenistan (62.5 years, 3.5 less than in 1992), in Byelorussia (68.2 in 20023 2.8 years down on 1992), in Georgia (70.4, i.e. down 2.6 years) in Uzbekistan (66.5 down 2.5 years), in Moldavia (67.4 years, 1.6 years down ), in Kirghizstan (66.9 years, that is a drop of 1.1 years), in Armenia (71.3 years, a drop of 0.7 years) in Lithuania (72.2 years i.e. a 0.4 year drop." In Ukraine: Millions of renters are threatened with eviction because of the policies of privatizing housing; to defend themselves, they continue to pay the former rate. In Moldavia: A "small caste of parasitical mafiosos that make huge fortunes, is the government of the Communist Party of the Republic of Moldavia and its president, Voronin. This is a government that has privatized more than the so-called 'right-wing' government that preceded it. This government has privatized tobacco and the wine enterprises of the country. This government is completely subordinated to NATO and today, in the framework of the new European treaty, aims to integrate into the European Union, with the goal of making Moldavia, to come back to what the comrades of the ILC mentioned, a 'new paradise for investors.'" We have established, on the basis of facts that nobody can dispute, that the policies of "enlarging to the East" of the European Union have contributed to this massive destruction of the labor force. Poland: As one comrade explained, "One of the crucial questions in Poland today is the will of the European Commission to close two of three naval yards in Gdansk, where Solidarnosc was born in 1978. This would be the next-to-last step in the definitive closure demanded by the European Commission. A leader of Solidarnosc in the yards explained why: American investment bankers have bought the land. They want to take down the yards and take away the jobs of the 2,700 last workers that remain (compared to 17,000 in 1978). The European Commission acts as an instrument of the American investors. These are the yards, let us recall, that in 1970 and 1980 were the site of the Polish working classes resistance against the bureaucratic dictatorship. On September 1, 100 workers mobilized in front of the European Commission in Brussels and raised a banner that said: 'What Moscow was unable to do Will Brussels succeed?' and 'Dictators of the East did not destroy our yards, but the Brussels functionaries continue to try!' Is it necessary to accept the destruction policies of the European Union?" In Germany: "Fifteen years ago, it was Eastern Germany that was presented as a 'paradise' for investors. The privatizations under the aegis of Treuhand, led by the bankers of the West and by the former bureaucrats of the East, led to the closure of thousands of enterprises. Today, barely anything is left. And, in the framework, of a new European Treaty that was just signed in Lisbon, the European Union just prohibited the subsidies of the German federal state to the Landers of the East, subsidies that are incompatible with the free competition upon which the European Union is based." It is in the name of "free competition" that the European just condemned the Romanian government, which during the privatization of the giant Tractorul factory in Brasov imposed under pressure of workers a clause requiring the re-hiring of all the laid-off workers, explained an activist of the Association for Workers Emancipation of Romania. Thus, a metalworker trade unionist from Hungary explained that, in his country, "more than half a graduating high school class finds themselves unemployed. This is one of the main reasons why crime rates have exploded in recent years." Evoking the dramatic situation in the hospitals, which are the victims of the policies of privatization and budget cuts imposed by the "stability pact," he explained: "Each public hospital from now on has a quota of surgical operations. If the quota is gone over because the doctors feel it is necessary to treat their patients, then it is the hospital that has to pay for the extra expenses." WE noted that this policy of destruction, imposed by the American government, the European Union, the World Bank, and the WTO is accompanied by a policy of generalized war and military occupation under the aegis of NATO. A young activist from the Czech republic explained, "The site where the American radar would be situated will be an American territory, where American laws rule, where there is no sovereignty. This radar is a threat against Czech security and other important parts of Europe. This radar aims to protect America. It is supposed to intercept attacks from foreign missiles, with the anti-missile signals then sent to Poland. This radar is not meant to protect any European country." In the former Yugoslavia: "The sinister 'scenario' results today in the so-called 'independence' of Kosovo, under the control of the Camp Bondsteel American military base. The offensive, to separate definitively Kosovo from what remains of the former Yugoslav federation, is for the time being, the last chapter in the explosion of the Yugoslav federation, encouraged by the EU and the United States, via different fractions of the Tito bureaucracy who have become direct Mafiosi agencies for US imperialism. It is not a question of the rights of peoples, but a question of considering Kosovo as a protectorate under EU and NATO tutelage and of countering the aspiration of the Balkan peoples to reestablish the Yugoslav federation on the basis of collective ownership; of countering their aspiration to be sovereign peoples and to establishing fraternal relations, i.e. breaking with the European Union, NATO and to seeing the withdrawal of troops." A Serbian working class activist explained: "Kosovo represents 80% of the production of coal in Serbia. Before the war, in the big electricity production, centers there was no conflict between Serbian, Albanian, and other nationalities. During the bombings, we remained united. NATO tanks attacked our electrical centers, though collectively we continued to make them work. After the war, NATO prohibited the Serbian workers from returning to the centers. About 8,600 Serbian, Macedonian, and even Albanian workers were not able to return to their jobs and the situation has not changed. We want to return to our jobs. I accuse NATO and the American government of having destroyed our jobs. The bombings indifferently killed Serbian and Albanian workers." In the face of policies of privatization, destruction, war, and "balkanization," in the words of a Serbian militant, we raise "the tradition of the democratic revolutionary movement of the Balkans and Hungary in the 19th century: the fight for the Balkans-Danube federation, for the free union of the people of Yugoslavia, the Balkans, and Central Europe. This was the tradition of the Yugoslav Communist Party at its foundation in the 1920s, which was broken by Stalin in 1948. Today, under NATO occupation, there is no more sovereignty in Serbia than in Kosovo. It is our task to revitalize this tradition." The working classes of our countries are seeking to resist this "future" of wars, privatization/pillage, and social decomposition. We salute the tens of thousands of teachers of Bulgaria who just entered their fourth week of strike, with their unions, for a 100% wage raise. This strike comes head up against the policies of the Bulgarian government, which in the name of the respect of the budget criteria of the European Union, refuses to respond to the demands. We note that through different forms and in very difficult conditions, the workers of our countries aim to resist, in their trade unions, leaning on all the conquests and segments of conquests that remain of state property, that is, of the conquests of the October Revolution of 1917, ninety years ago. By setting up this Liaison Committee of labour activists from the ex-USSR, Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkan-Danube area, we will do everything in our power to break through the isolation they seek to impose on the workers in our respective countries by circulating information on the workers' movement in all our countries: - We oppose the current "balkanisation" of the Balkans and the whole of Europe and the establishment of the American protectorate, and propose instead the Free Union of the Peoples of the Balkan Danube region, and the Free Union of peoples of ex-USSR, Central Europe and Eastern Europe Yugoslavia, the Balkans and the ex USSR; - We oppose the EU and its privatisation programme, and propose instead the perspective of defending and reconquering all State enterprises and natural resources that were privatised and renationalising all companies and natural resources; - We oppose the institutions of Capital: the EU and NATO, OSCE, the WTO and propose instead the Free Union of peoples of the whole of Europe, free from wars and exploitation, founded upon workers' rights. The Liaison Committee decided to publish the speeches of the conference and proposed to each national delegation that they publish, in the form they judge useful, these texts in their language and in their own country. The Liaison Committee decided to contribute its conclusions to the participants in the European Workers' Conference of February 2-3, 2008 in Paris. Considering that throughout the world the workers and workers' organizations are confronted with these questions, we ask the ILC: "Shouldn't the ILC call for a world conference, open to all activists and workers' organizations that, in this difficult situation we all know, aim to preserve their independence to aid the struggle against war and exploitation?" Cacak, October 28, 2007 First Signers GERMANY, Gotthard Krupp, syndicaliste Ver.di, militant SPD; Carla Boulboullé,
bulletin Soziale Politik und Demokratie; Manfred Birkahn, syndicaliste
Ver.di; Klaus Schüller, syndicaliste DGB, militant SPD;
----- ENDNOTES 1) Our comrades in Moldavia has reported to us that at the same time that the Caçak conference was taking place, the president of the Republic of Moldavia, Voronine, was hosting a meeting of the European Left Party in Chisinau. Vororine underlined, "For the first time, it is government that is organizing an initiative of the European Left." *********************
Toward a class struggle working class party! Rally on November 16 in Paris (Published in the Labor News 821 - Excerpts) The strike of the railway and RATP workers was total on November 16. Thus, it was a real tour de force of organization - "in the image of the working class party that we want to build," said one speaker - on the party of the committees of the Paris region to organize the arrival of participants at the first meeting of the Provisional Committee for a Working class Party. The Mutualité hall was packed. After having excused the organizers, like Gerard Schivardi and Daniel Jeannin, mayor of Montenois, who were unable to make it to the capital, the host began the meeting. Eleven speakers took the mic. They were activists of the provisional committees for a working class party, railway workers, Social Security worker, a student, TOS, a mayor, former and current members of the Socialist Party and the Communist Party, activists of the Workers Party, and unionists. The provisional committee noted its diversity and, at the same time, underlined the common will animating its partisans to collectively build a class party, to defend and represent the oppressed against the oppressors, to reconquer political democracy, and to end the subjugation to the European Union, which destroys all the social gains. ----- Franck "Save the special retirement benefits, a point of leverage to
return to 37.5 years Lots of attention was given to Franck, a railway worker from Saint-Lazare, when he explained how, with twenty of his colleagues who met that afternoon during the strike, in their provisional committee for a workers' party, they prepared his speech for the rally: "If the government's plan passes, a railway workers who today receives a pension of 1,1190 Euros would receive 837 Euros a month." All the pensions systems are threatened by the European Union: "Breaking the special pensions benefits means breaking all the pensions. Saving the special benefits, is a point of leverage to return to 37.5 years for all." Carine Weber "The Socialist Party has voted to support Sarkozy by supporting the mini-European treaty" Carine Weber, a Socialist and trade unionists, underlines: "I was a member of the Socialist Party for over three years I quit after Segolene Royal was chosen in November 2006. Two weeks ago, the SP voted to support Nicolas Sarkozy - against the population, which voted on May 29, 2005 - by supporting the so-called mini-treaty."
Carine launched an appeal for unity in the strike on November 20: "We must demand, all together, the maintenance of the pensions of the public workers and the 37.5 years of contributions for all workers in the public and private sectors." Dominique Canut Dominique Canut has worked in the Toulon arsenal and was a member of the French Communist Party for over 30 years. He drove in car to be able to speak at the meeting. "With the PCF, I said no the Maastricht treaty and no to the single currency. Today, the PCF is looking for adjustments to the new treaty to make it acceptable. We need a new party, which calls for the abrogation of the Maastricht treaty and for the break with the European institutions." With the Committee for a Working class Party, he has fought for the renationalization of the Seyne Naval Shipyards (DCNS). HE explained: "Renationalizing DCNS is an economic demand, because it means the economic development of the town of Toulon. That is why we decided to present a slate of candidates in the Toulon municipal elections of March 2008. The Committee's aim is to help the population organize to defend the town's industry, to assure work for youth, and also to defend the public services or remunicipalize those that were privatized. That is our mandate. Pierre Jeanneney Pierre Jeanneney concluded his speech with a list of demands in the communes: "We want our agriculture, which was completely ruined by the policies of common agriculture, to be re-established. We want our factories and jobs back. We want the end to speculation on land. We want equally good public services in all towns. We want childcare and pre-school for our children. We want to be fully covered by Social Security, as it was set up in 1945. We want to live in the conditions that our parents and grandparents fought for and one." Daniel Gluckstein, National Secretary of the Workers Party Noting the political, geographical, and occupational diversity of the different speakers who preceded him, he also noted the common opinion of all concerning the decision to build a working class party, "a class party representing all the exploited against the exploiters." "On October 18, something occurred that was not initially foreseen. Š Since November 13, the railway workers have reaffirmed their demands and the strike in the General Assemblies, saying: 'We intend to have our demands fulfilled; we demand to be consulted before any decision affecting our future takes places; we must be constantly informed of the state of the discussion; we are opposed to any enterprise by enterprise negotiation." And Daniel Gluckstein made the parallel "with the millions of anonymous people who pushed the NO to victory on May 29, 2005." Leaning on the appeal of several hundred labor activists from 22 countries of Europe against the Lisbon treaty and for the break with the European Union, Gluckstein explained: "We are unconditionally in support of a new referendum: this would give the working class and the people of this country the space to sweep away the institutions of the European Union." One week separate the rally from the convention for a working class party on November 24 and 25. "It is certain that this convention will allow us to take a step forward on the path of the creation of a party, a party of hope, struggle, and reconquest," concluded Gluckstein. **************************
In its declaration, the All Pakistan Trade Union Federation (APTUF) reestablishes the facts and recalls the demands of the workers' movement. On November 17, it organized, despite the repression, demonstrations against the state of emergency, for democracy, and for the shop-floor demands. The APTUF launched an appeal that is called on all trade unions to adopt; five confederations have already done so. The international action campaign for the release of its General Secretary, Farid Awan, must continue and be deepened. PROTEST DECLARATION by the On Nov. 3, the government of Pakistani military dictator Gen. Pervez Musharraf declared emergency rule, suspended the constitution and imposed a Provisional Constitutional Order. Musharraf cited "rising Islamist militancy" and "growing judicial interference in government functioning" as the reasons for the effective martial law. He also dismissed the entire Supreme Court. Among the judges removed was Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, a judge that Musharraf had sacked earlier in this year, only to be forced to reinstate him in response to large protests. Military forces quickly surrounded the Supreme Court and detained the judges. They have been held under house arrest with their communications cut off. Pakistan's security forces ruthlessly attacked demonstrators, led by lawyers protesting the imposition of martial law. Thousands of lawyers, activists, trade unionists, human right advocates, opposition party figures and others have been detained. The military government placed severe restrictions on the press. A dozen news stations were taken off the air. Even broadcasters from imperialist countries like the BBC and CNN were cut off. The day before the imposition of martial law, engineers of Pakistan International Airlines went on strike, demanding a wage increase and an improvement in working conditions. The strike caused the cancellation of 92 flights, both local and international. There is an upsurge in labor struggles, particularly among the workers of water and power, telecommunications, railways, the garment industry and others. In recent months, different segments of the Pakistani population have been in motion in opposing the dictatorship, a most worrisome prospect for Musharraf and his U.S. backers. Pakistan has a history as a client state since the formation of the country in 1947; its rulers have been an indispensable part of imperialist policy in the region. Privatizations and downsizing have lost Pakistani workers thousands of jobs and plunged them deeper into poverty. Indicating his priorities, in his proclamation of the necessity of emergency rule, Musharraf made reference to: "constant interference in _ economic policy, price controls, the downsizing of corporations." The situation is critical. APTUF decided to launch a campaign against the brutal act of the ruling government and on November 14, 2007 APTUF observed "Black Day" all over the Pakistan and held protest gate meetings. Workers wore black badges and bands, shouted slogans against the government: No martial law!, Go Dictator Go!, Restore constitutional rights!, Release the judges, lawyers, political activists, labor leaders and human rights activists! Workers wanted to hold protests outside the factory gates, but heavy contingents of police and intelligence agents stopped the workers from coming out from the factories. Police also threatened to go inside the factories, charging with batons and throwing tear gas. To prevent confrontations, the office bearers of the trade unions told workers to hold meeting inside the factory premises. Some employers in different provinces issued charge sheets to the office bearers who held protest meetings in the factory premises. APTUF contacted all the affiliated unions requesting that they send the names of workers who had been charge sheeted so that the federation could take proper remedy to redress the workers' grievances. Police threatened union office bearers not to hold meetings in the future, otherwise the cases under 16 MPO would be registered. Police officials said that due to the emergency rule no meetings could be allowed. GR, RJ, and others spoke on this occasion and strongly condemned the emergency rule that suspended the constitution and imposed a Provisional Constitutional Order that dismissed the entire Supreme Court. Speakers also condemned the government for its actions to arrest judges, lawyers, trade unionists and human right activists, political leaders, and to ban freedom of speech and expression. Speakers stated that Our struggle is a Just struggle for the people and and for social liberation against the Musharraf regime and US Imperialism. Speakers said that it is a shameful act of management to charge-sheet workers who participated in the protest; they also said that our struggle will continue till the acceptance of our demands. APTUF calls on all members of the society to strongly condemn the brutal act of the government against lawyers, trade unionists, journalists, human right activists, and called to show solidarity with those who are experiencing repression. APTUF calls upon national trade unions, organizations, human rights lawyers, journalists to urge the government to lift the emergency rule, respect human rights and allow the people to exercise their right to elect their representatives. Workers demand: - Worker should give all the facilities to workers such as workers' education funds, or marriage grants for workers' daughters. - Anti labor amendments should abolished. - Release all the arrested judges and reinstate them in their jobs. - Released all the lawyers, trade unionists and political activists. - Lift the ban on TV channels, which is immoral and illegal; it is a denial of freedom of expression. - Immediate restoration of the Chief Justice of Pakistan and the judges of the Supreme and High Courts who have not signed Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO). in this critical situation, Pakistan Workers Confederation-Punjab called its Executive Body meeting on November 18th at 4:00 PM. ------ We invite you to send these demands to the Pakistani authorities and to communicate to us your initiatives, in order to be able to inform Pakistani trade unions which are engaged in a fight for the defense of democratic rights and the right to organize. Send telegrams and declarations to: - the President of the Republic of Pakistan, General Musharraf Islamabad, Pakistan. - the embassies of Pakistan in your own country Send a copy to the ILC <eit.ilc@fr.oleane.com>
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Open World Conference of Workers