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A dossier of weekly information published by the February 19, 2008 Price 0.50 Euros ----- Introduction France: On November 24 and 25, 2007, a convention for an independent workers party brought together 236 delegates representing 8,026 members from 73 departments, worker activists from all tendencies, the Workers Party, the Communist Party, the Socialist Party, unionists, elected representatives, and secular activists. Together, they decided to organize the founding congress of the new party on June 13, 14, 15 2008 in Paris. As indicated by the draft manifesto submitted for discussion, this party in construction is a class struggle party, for the break with the European Union, for internationalism, for the defense of the Republic. The municipal elections of next March 9 and 16 are a decisive moment for the construction of this party. More than 250 electoral slates exist at the initiative of the committees for an independent workers party or in which members of these committees participate. These slates call for the defense of the demands of the people and for a break with the European Union. Among these slates, in various important towns, are united ones that bring together elected representatives, activists of the PCF and SP, the Workers Party, and the committees for an independent workers' party. In this issue we are publishing two examples of this campaign, in Moselle and Courneuve. Denmark: We are publishing a contribution, "After the Laval affair in Sweden: Against the growing risk of interference of the European Union in contractual relations." Kazakhstan: The ILC calls for solidarity with the striking mineworkers, in response to the letter from labor activists. Spain: We are publishing a letter to the candidates of the Socialist Party and those who raise the banner of workers' interests, adopted by a conference on January 19: "The stakes of the March 9 elections." Venezuela: We are publishing news about attacks of Exxon-Mobil against the sovereignty of Venezuela. Mexico: You will find below the most recent declaration by the Independent Democratic Workers Party (PTDI). Afghanistan: We are publishing an appeal by the ILC, "Free Journalist Parviz Kambakhs Now!" Support the ILC by subscribing! ------ Table of Contents P.1- Presentation ----- Contact Informations internationales
FRANCE Rally of the Committee for an Independent Workers Party in Hayange (Moselle): "No to the European Union! Yes to Renationalization!" On February 8, the committee in Moselle for an independent workers party held a rally that gathered 200 participants. More than 1,000 signatures had been collected in the preceding days around a petition for the renationalization of the steel industry, for the repeal of the plan to cut 600 jobs in the Arcelor-Mittal steel mill in Gandrage. On February 1, a delegation was received by the Socialist Party deputy mayor of Fameck, Mr. Liebgott (Hayange district). "Renationalize the steel industry: Why?" he responded. At the podium of the meeting, on February 8, there was Jean Markun, a Communist activist, Daniel Gluckstein, national secretary of the Workers Party, Jean Charles Marquiset, a trade unionist (1), Arsene Schmitt, president of the Committee in Defense of the Frontier Workers of Moselle, and Huges Miller, who chaired the rally. "France has returned to Europe," announced Nicolas Sarkozy, in a televised speech two days later, greeting the ratification of the Lisbon treaty by Congress three days earlier. "From now on, there will be more democracy, more responsibility in the functioning of Europe," he declared. Some nerve! This treaty brings back, word for word, 90% of the European "Constitution" that was rejected by the French people in the referendum of May 29, 2005. Where is the "democracy" when, 21 months later, Parliament decided to violate popular suffrage? This is a shame! The fate of all of us is at stake. Article 87 of the Maastricht-Amsterdam treaty, which is integrated into the Lisbon treaty, forbids, for example, the renationalization of the steel industry. Nevertheless, this act is the only way to guarantee the vital demands of the steel workers in Gandrage and their families. Yan Legoff (1) All three are members of the permanent committee for an independent workers party. ----- Daniel Gluckstein, National Secretary of the Workers Party: "Support this draft law, Mr. MP, and we will support you!" "Imagine that, tomorrow, all of la Lorraine descends on Paris with all their elected representatives and trade unions. Everybody united around the demands of all! This is not easy, but isn't this what needs to happen? For this, a party is needed. Not one more party, against the others. A party that mobilizes, that fights for unity, that proposes campaigns, and united demands -- there is nothing more urgent. It is necessary to renationalize the steel industry and to win back all our gains: public services, Social Security, etc. For this, it is necessary to have a party that refuses to go along, to accept what is unacceptable. Mr. Liebgott asks: 'Renationalize, why?'
----- Arsene Schmitte, president of the Committee in Defense of the Frontier Workers of Moselle: "This Europe has destroyed everything!" "We have not ceased to condemn these policies led by government after government in France and Germany, in the name of Europe. Those who tell us we must simply reorient the treaties are lying. This Europe has destroyed the mines and the steel industry in our region. Today, all our solidarity efforts must go out to steel workers in Gandrange. Maastricht is scandalous delocalizations, encouraged by the European Commission. I quote Dana Hubner, a European Commissar: 'Delocalizations must not be slowed down; we need more of them' Three thousands workers for Nokia, in Bochum, Germany have seen their enterprise sent to Romania, though it made 7 billion Euros in profits in 2007 and the shareholders made more than 20% in dividends.
----- Jean Markun, Communist activist "Unity of the people with their workers' organizations!" "In 1981, Mitterrand arrived in Longwy and declared: 'Close the pits.' Beginning with the Longwy mine, the closures began. Today, Nicolas Sarkozy comes to Gandrage and, in an ostentatious manner, gives the illusion he will provide state help. Minister Lagarde, the next day, recalled the rules of the European Union. They are waiting today for the trade unions to make 'alternative proposals.' But who gave the proposals of yesterday? (Markun went on the list the closures of factories and mines in the 1980s.) When Arcelor was created, we were told it was a 'European champion' and was a guarantee. Next, it was Mittal, an 'international champion.' We need to draw a balance sheet.
----- Arcelor Mittal In 2007, Arcelor made a net profit of 10 billion Euros; that is, 33,600 Euros per worker! Each one of the 305,000 wage earners in the number one steel company generated 33,600 Euros in profits, in other words, 3,000 Euros a month. ------ Jean Charles Marquiset, labor activist "Preserve industry, jobs, and the sovereignty of the country" "One of the major goals of the European Union is to integrate the trade union confederations into its destructive policies Today, it is Mittal. A little while ago, in your region, it was Daewo, in Longwy - tomorrow it will be others. That is why the question is posed: "Can one negotiate enterprise by enterprise or is it necessary to act united, throughout the country, for the rupture with the European Union, for nationalizations and renationalizations without compensation to preserve industry, jobs, and national sovereignty." ************************* FRANCE In close to 200 communes, slates supported by committees for an independent workers' party are running Numerous unity agreements in important cities 500 people at a joint rally called by the slate in La Courneuve On Friday, February 1, the big auditorium at the Hotel de Ville in La Courneuve was packed to support the slate led by Gilles Poux, mayor of the Communist Party (PCF), and in which three candidates of the Workers Party and the local committee for an independent workers party participate. Such an attendance, in a town of 40,000 residents, was the result of the people saying that they could be counted on to resist, to defend the demands of the people, as expressed in the 24 pages of the program of the slate distributed to each participant. The activists of the Workers Party were there together with others who are building the local committee for an independent workers party. They are part of the slate, whose program was discussed and signed by the mayor, the PCF, the PT, and the local committee. It states: "The slate led by the Mayor and its different components clearly affirms in its electoral campaign its opposition to the policies of the current government and the European Union. The slate demands that a referendum be organized concerning the Lisbon treaty, which is the Maastricht treaty made even worse, and demands that this treaty be rejected, as should all the other treaties and directives. The slate defends the full sovereignty of our country, which should not be subordinated to the European institutions. The municipal programs should be organized on the basis of the needs of the vast majority of the population. It will be the mandate to be implemented in the next six years."
The rally ended a little later with a social and the discussions continued. Numerous participants and candidates were invited to the public meeting of the committee for an independent workers party on February 16. ----- Excerpts from the speech of Gilles Poux, PCF mayor in La Courneuve "Dear friends, it is with loyalty to our goal of transparency and to make our choices with you to advance the interests of the people of this town that we have invited you tonight to this meeting. Thank you to all who in our town support the movement in our town that will obtain victory over the candidate of the right wing, Kamel Hamza This candidate, we know, is a candidate of demagogy, of unending promises. How can we forget that his mentor came here to say that in six months he would solve the problems of employment, security, and youth exclusion in our town?" (Gilles Poux went on to note and denounce numerous decisions of Nicolas Sarkozy.) Sarkozy dismantles the Labor Code, the 35-hour week, and the labor contracts. He refuses to raise wages, pensions, or social benefits, plunging families into growing difficulties. I will not go into details about the coup of the new European constitution, which will be directly voted on by Parliament, without a referendum, against the democratic will expressed by our people on May 29, 2005 and, unfortunately, without real opposition by the Socialist Party. So, yes, we must fight against the policies represented by Kamel Hamza and bring together all the energy of the left to open another path, that of hope. This is our first priority. The second priority is our plan to provide a program useful for all inhabitants of this town. With our program, with our open slate, we are determined. We will join together to say, "We are the future of the Republic." *************************** DENMARK After the Laval affair in Sweden and the decision of the European Court of Justice: "Against the growing risk of European Union interference in contractual relationships" The militants of the Workers' Commission of the Popular Movement Against the European Union (Denmark) who participated in the European Workers' Conference have sent us the editorial of their "Informational Bulletin" (January 2008).
"We anti-European Union activists in the workers' movement, have warned with each treaty of the growing risk of European Union interference in the contractual relationships in our country, our Danish model. The first frontal attack against our model of negotiation came in 20006 when the bosses and lobbyists of Capital obtained from the European Court of Justice ("for the respect of human rights!") the condemnation and prohibition of our convention established on an exclusively bipartite level (an agreement between a workers' union and the bosses in the negotiation of a branch enterprise). After this judgment, the European Court has attacked our traditional right (for over a century) to be able to block the functioning of an enterprise or shop when the bosses demonstrate themselves to be unbending and all the "reasonable" attempts to obtain an acceptable contract in the conflict have been exhausted. They banned our right to blockades and to strikes. In very little time, since Autumn 2007, this European Court, through its decisions, has seriously threatened our Danish rights as workers. This also took place in Finland, where the Court of Justice practically eliminated the right to strike of the Finish trade union in its strike against Viking-Line, a strike to have the collective bargaining contract be implemented. Now, with the Laval affair in Vaxholm, Sweden, the Swedish trade unions where punished for having blocked a Latvian company that was using Latvian workers in Sweden and which refused to implement the Swedish collective contract. This is a serious attack against the traditional Nordic model and there is no doubt that they will not wait long to use, in the enterprises where it has foreign workers, such legal jurisprudence against the union movement in our country. Looking at the Laval affair in Vaxholm and the decision of the Court, paralyzing our right to strike, one need not be a fortune-teller to see what the government and the bosses are planning. How long will it take for the LO union confederation to act and to reject these attacks?" *********************** Kazakhstan Communiqué of the ILC Worker activists of Kazakhstan have sent us the following news: "Since Spring 2007, the mineworkers in Jezkazkan (region of Karaganda) are fighting for their demands. We recall the accident that took the lives of 30 mineworkers in the Abaiskaia mine, where the responsibility of Arcelor-Mittal was fully recognized. Jezkazan belongs to the Kazakhmys company (owned by the Samsung multinational). Union activists were arrested, laid off, or prohibited from entering the mine. A journalist was laid off for his articles about the strike in the local press. Since February 1, 400 mineworkers have decided to struggle until their demands are met: a rise in wages, better working conditions, 100% payment of 100% for sick days, 100% compensation for work injuries. The administration wants to send in security forces to make the workers return through force." The ILC, loyal to union rights throughout the world, loyal to the freedom of workers to build their own trade unions to defend their specific interests, sends its solidarity to the striking mineworkers and their trade union, which is fighting for their demands. It calls on activists and workers' organizations to circulate this news and send support messages. (Send your messages to the ILC, which will forward them.) Paris, February 15, 2008 Daniel Gluckstein, ****************************** SPAIN The stakes of the March 9 elections The legislature and Senate elections will take place next March 9, four years after the fall of the Aznar government following powerful demonstration against the war and the social reforms imposed by the European Union and implemented by the right-wing government. On March 14, 2004, the majority of the people put the Socialist Party (PSOE) into power through electoral means. Zapatero, the new president of the government, promised on the night of the elections that he would not deceive the hopes of the peoples. On January 19, an assembly of elected delegates from different regions of the Spanish state met in Getafe. In this meeting participated militants of the POSI (section of the Fourth International in the Spanish state), labor activists, and republicans. They adopted an open letter, on the eve of the upcoming elections, to the candidates of the Socialist Party and to the candidates raising the banner of the rights of workers and people. We are publishing this below. Letter to the Candidates of the Socialist Party and those Candidates Raising the Banner of Workers' Rights "Comrades, We are 70 delegates from the whole Spanish state who have met in Getafe and decided to address you, due to the seriousness of the situation. For years later, the hopes born of the great victory of March 2004 have given way to an extremely difficult situation for workers: precarity more and more becomes unemployment; family debt; destruction of industry and agriculture; deterioration of public services, which is expressed cruelly, for example, in the state of the train network in the suburbs of Barcelona. The hope to end Aznarism, which pitted the peoples against each other, today comes up against new obstacles provoked essentially by the reforms of the statutes and the end of the "peace process." The search for a consensus with the Popular Party (PP) and the Francoites worsens the situation. Nobody can ignore the responsibility of the Zapatero government for this situation. It is clear that the situation is difficult, but an honest balance sheet of these four years demonstrates that the government has implemented the directives of the European Union, respected the apparatus of the Francoite state, which demands more and more concessions. The workers and the peoples were right to expect other policies. Now the population wonders what will happen if their deteriorating living conditions continues for another four years. They are worried that the Francoites will take advantage of the situation to return to government. We must escape this situation. All the workers in the Spanish state - whether they are from Madrid, Catalonia, the Basque country, Andalusia, or Galicia - have the same interests. They want to live and work in peace. All peoples want to live in peace. For this to become a reality, it is necessary to change the course followed by the successive governments, marked fundamentally by the submission to the European Union, its treaties, and its directives. Secondly, the governments have been marked by power of the state apparatus of the monarchy, in the economic interests of the dictatorship. It is necessary to change course. Thirty years of "the state of autonomies" have meant regional division and the negation of the rights of the Catalan and Basque peoples. They have been led to the brink of a confrontation between peoples - which no people wants - for the benefit of the multinationals, those who want to destroy social and democratic conquests to pillage and exploit our country, like Montenegro, Kosovo, or Serbia. It is necessary to not that the current government has not resolved a single of the serious problems of the workers and the peoples. To the contrary, it has led things toward a greater confrontation. That is why, it is so urgent to have a government that offers democratic solutions to all the problems of precarity, problems that take the lives of 1,000 workers each, in addition to the Basque and Catalan questions. We do not want a government that implements the orders of the multinationals transmitted by Brussels. We do not want We need a government that only respects the will of the people, a government
that, basing itself on the organizations of the workers, develops a
real socialist policy, a government that takes measures that can unite
the workers and the peoples: 2) Emergency Economic Measures: - End precarity, sub-contracting, and all forms of precarious "contracts"; 3) Defend Public Services: - Guarantee public, secular, and free education on all levels, by stopping
the use of public funds for religious indoctrination and private schools,
and by providing free care for children from 0 to 3 years of age. 4) Workers' and trade union rights: 5) Women's Rights: 6) Convoke a referendum on the new European treaty so that the people can decide. You might say this is impossible because Brussels would not accept this. But how bad will things get if we continue to accept the demands of the corporations and the United States, transmitted by Brussels?
The growing and growing chorus for the Republic cannot be crushed. The current political crisis cannot be resolved through compromise in a rotten political framework. The decision must be given to the people, so that they can freely organize their fraternal co-habitation. We think that to satisfy the urgent needs of the people it is indispensable to reestablish the sovereignty of the peoples of the Spanish state so that they can organize freely and fraternally. That is why, before anything else, it is indispensable to break with the European Union and NATO. It is necessary to free ourselves from the Maastricht treaty and the Lisbon treaty and all the treaties of the European Union and its directives. It is necessary to liquidate the privileges of the Church and the Francoites. We think that the peoples of the Spanish should speak freely and organize fraternal cohabitation. The Basque people and the Catalan people have the right to realize their national aspirations, to constitute their own state, the Basque republic and the Catalan republic. Those who say that this is possible under the Monarchy or the dictatorship of the European Union are lying. Only a break with these institutions of big capital can open a road to the realization of these national aspirations. Only this break can allow for the preservation and development of the social conquests. We, who fight unconditionally for national and democratic rights from the point of view of the interests of the workers and the peoples, fight for free union, for a Union of Free Republics of the Spanish State, through which the just aspirations of the workers, oppressed nationalities, and all the peoples of Spain can be met. Free elections for Constitutional Cortes must be organized. We do not seek to impose our position on anybody. We ask you to respond to the demands of the workers and peoples, which we have tried to outline. And, most of all, we think that those who raise the banner of the workers should heed our mandate, not the dictates of the European Union. For our part, we will organize and regroup brothers and sisters to fight for these demands. We will organize in all localities meetings and gatherings to form "Collectives of Workers and Youth for the Republic." Every step you take in this direction will have our full support -- and, without a doubt, that of the whole working class. Workers and Youth for the Republic ************************ SECOND CONTINENTAL CONFERENCE
"We think that the current situation across the Western Hemisphere requires organizing a Second Continental Conference, to coordinate our efforts in the struggle, for a break with all the Free Trade Agreements, in defense of the unity and integrity of nations, in defense of public services and enterprises, for national sovereignty and liberation. Let's all unite in the Continental Conference! Let us come to gather to organize to renationalize all that has been privatized; to defeat the Free Trade Agreements (in their various forms); to defend public services and enterprises, collective bargaining contracts, and trade union independence; and to affirm the role of the workers' and popular movements in the struggle for national sovereignty. These are all concrete questions that affect all workers and peoples from the top to bottom of the continent." (Also see Issue 272 of the ILC International Newsletter) ------ The U.S. Oil Company Exxon-Mobil obtains the freeze of the assets of the PDVSA national enterprise: An act of imperialist piracy
After his electoral victory in 1998, and particularly after 2001, the Chavez government has implemented a process of renationalization. All the enterprises that exploit the Orinoco region were obliged to integrate into the mixed-enterprises with PDVSA, in which PDVSA held 60% of the capital. Most of the corporations accepted the agreement (for example, Total and Repsol), but Exxon-Mobil point-blank refused. The lawsuit is not independent of the offensive on all levels of the Bush government to destabilize the Chavez government. This Texas corporation has well-known links to the State Department. According to the Minister of Energy of Venezuela, " the decision of Exxon-Mobil is directly related to the policies of the U.S. government. This is part of a chain of aggression against Venezuela, to oblige it to hand over its oil industry and, politically, it is a new attack on the democratic government of Hugo Chavez." Legally, this decision removes Venezuela's juridical sovereignty, because courts based abroad decided on the functioning of national enterprises. In the month of May 2007, when the nationalization decree was implemented, the Venezuelan government proposed to compensate the companies according to their books. But the complaint registered by Exxon-Mobil demands that 12 billion PDVSA assets be frozen. These are the methods of the multinationals. On February 12, the minister reiterated the threat of Chavez to end the export of oil to the North American market. Venezuela holds about 12% of the energy needs of the United States. During these days, the Chavez government has called on mobilizations throughout the country in defense of national sovereignty, against the actions of the Exxon Mobil multinational. ------ Declaration of the Collective of Workers in Revolution (CTR) of the workers' federation (UNT) of Zulia "The workers reject imperialist aggression against Venezuela" Calling for the creation of an "anti-imperialist united front in defense of the Venezuelan Revolution, sovereignty, and self-determination for the peoples of Latin America," the Collective of Workers in Revolution (CTR) of the workers' federation (UNT) of Zulia declares (excerpts): "At this moment of peril for the nation, the workers of Venezuela -- and the oil workers most of all -- call on all the Venezuelan people, the trade unions, the workers' councils, the cooperatives, the municipal councils, the missions, the peasant's fronts, the land occupation commissions, the cultural workers to close ranks in defense of PDVSA and the interests of the Venezuelan nation, which is faced with aggression by North American imperialism. We must form a powerful anti-imperialist united front in Venezuela and Latin America for the defense and deepening of the Bolivarian revolution. Defend the nationalizations, the missions, and all the progressive and anti-imperialist measures taken by the Chavez government." Maracaibo, February 10, 2008 ----- "We are faced with an economic conspiracy" Venezuela faces a veritable blockade. The Uribe government in Colombia, inspired directly by Bush, has brutally reduced the export of basic food staples. In the supermarkets of the Venezuelan towns, sugar, milk, and other goods are cruelly lacking. President Chavez has threatened to expropriate the Swiss Nestle company and the Italian Parmalat company because they are withholding the production of milk. Chavez declared: "We are faced with an economic conspiracy. We are forced to act to defend the security of the nation." This type of measure is similar to the boycott organized in 1973 against the Allende government in Chile by the CIA. **********************
Democratic Independent Workers Party For the Sovereignty of the Nations of the Continent! All out to the General Assembly of Sunday, February 24, at 11 a.m., Marina Nacional 329, in front of the PEMEX building, called by the National Democratic Convention and Andrés Manuel López Obrador! The American empire deepens its offensive against the people During these days, two measures demonstrate the acceleration of the offensive of the U.S. government and corporations against the peoples of the continent. In Mexico, Calderon, allied to the PRI and the PAN, announced his plan to privatize PEMEX, in the framework of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and ASPAN. In Venezuela, the Exxon-Mobil company and the U.S. government have declared "economic war" against the Venezuelan people. Mexico: Calderon aims to hand over Pemex to the U.S. multinationals In Mexico, the illegitimate government of Calderon has announced its plan to give the shares of PEMEX to the multinational corporations. He promises to hand over the exploration, exploitation, refining, transport, and stocking of the oil. Calderon went to the United States precisely to work out the details of the draft law that he aims to present to Congress. Mexico: Calderon aims to hand over PEMEX to the U.S. multinationals. If the Calderon plan is implemented, it will be a mortal blow against national sovereignty. It is a death threat to public education, social security, and public services. (Pemex accounts for 40% of the public budget.) This is a measure that aims to liquidate the expropriation decree of 1938, that states in its Article One: "The machines, installations, buildings, oil-ducts, refineries, tanks storage, routes transportation, tankers, service stations, boats and other assets (of the oil companies) are expropriated for the benefit of the nation." The offensive to destroy nationalized PEMEX property is contained in the NAFTA agreement and in the ASPAN agreement. These are the political and legal instruments of the U.S. government and corporations to destroy the Mexican nation, its natural resources, and labor and social rights. Exxon-Mobil declares "economic war" against Venezuela In Venezuela, the American empire has launched a deepened offensive against the people and government of Venezuela. Exxon-Mobil, the U.S. multinational oil corporation, supported by its government, declared "economic war" against the people and government of Venezuela. The Venezuelan government took the sovereign decision to nationalize the Cerro Negro project on the banks of the Orinoco river, through Decree Law 5200. Exxon Mobil, which is making profits unprecedented in the history of U.S. corporations, refuses to accept this sovereign decision - the equivalent of the act of the Cardenas government in 1938. It began legal proceeding in London and New York, to have judges freeze 12 billion dollars in financial assets of the PDVSA Venezuelan company, which is more than 17 times the losses they took! On Tuesday, February 12, the Venezuelan government decided sovereignly to suspend the sale of oil to this company. The situation is delicate Several Republican members of the U.S. Congress want to qualify Venezuela as a state that "supports terrorism," as was done concerning Iran, Syria, North Korea, and Cuba. On the other hand, the American government has pushed the Colombian government toward war against the people of Venezuela. As one state-worker in Venezuela said: "This is not a commercial quarrel; it is a political quarrel against a government that exercises its sovereignty and recuperates the oil riches." Solidarity with the people and government of Venezuela! The oil of the Orinoco belongs to Venezuela, not Exxon Mobil! ----- Half a million peasants and workers, with their organizations, demonstrate for a break with NAFTA Last January 31, close to half a million Mexican peasants and workers came from all parts of the country to demonstrate in the capital, Mexico City. They gathered together in the immense plaza, the Zocalo, facing the governmental palace, and demanded the immediate break with NAFTA. This treaty literally strangles Mexican agriculture and industry, opening the whole country to the U.S. multinationals, while, on the other side of the border, in the United Sates, the same multinationals do everything possible to make U.S. workers pay for the survival of a system in crisis, which the subprime crisis just deepened. The Mexican media reported that the main demands of the demonstration. called by all the Mexican peasants organizations, as well as most of the workers' unions, were: "Break with the Agricultural Chapter of NAFTA!", "No to the Privatization of the Energy Sectors!", "Repeal the New Law on Social Security!", and "Without Corn, there is No Country!" The peasants are fighting against a policy that is liquidating the production of corn, the main food stable of millions of Mexicans, for the benefit of the big American companies interested in the production of ethanol from corn. *************************
International Appeal Spare the life of journalist Parviz Kambakhsh! We hold the governments of the NATO occupying troops responsible for his life. Parviz Kambakhsh, a 23 year-old Afghan student has just been condemned to death after three months of detention under terrible conditions in the state security's detention centre in Marzar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan. Now in his third year of a journalism course at Balkh University in Mazar-e-Sharif, Parviz Kambakhsh also works as a journalist for the newspaper Jahan-e Naw. The young journalist was thrown into prison after being characterised as an atheist and opponent of the regime by the NDS, the Karzai regime's security service. He is also accused of having printed off atheist articles from the internet and distributing them among his classmates. He was constantly tortured during his detention, both physically and mentally, and even threatened with death if he did not admit to the charges laid against him. He has not had access to a lawyer. He has not been allowed to see members of his family or friends. The death sentence was delivered in his absence and in secret by Balkh Province Attorney General Hafizullah Khaliqyar and the court in Marzar-e-Sharif. In 2001, when the war started with the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan under the aegis of NATO, the occupying troops from the United States, France, Italy and Germany talked about re-establishing democracy and democratic rights and freedoms. The Karzai regime that was put in place by the occupying forces has reintroduced Sharia as the basic law of the land, with the support of all the states participating in the occupation and the war. It is precisely in the name of the Sharia law that the young journalist Parviz Kambakhsh has been condemned to death for circulating documents downloaded from the internet. We the undersigned journalists and defenders of human rights and fundamental freedoms, call on the Karzai Government, NATO and the occupying forces from the United States, France, Italy and Germany, saying: Spare the life of journalist Parviz Kambakhsh! Tristan MALLE General Secretary, on behalf of the General Union of
Journalists, Force Ouvrière Spare the life of journalist Parviz Kambakhsh!
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Open World Conference of Workers