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A dossier of weekly information published by the
Introduction Trade unionists and activists in the United States have formed a movement: the Workers Emergency Recovery Campaign (WERC)."At this historic crossroads, as we face the prospects of another Great Depression, we, the undersigned dedicate ourselves to forging the broadest unity in action among those in the labor movement, Black and Latino organizations, immigrant rights groups, and antiwar and other social justice protest movements to secure the emergency measures listed below." Switzerland: Swiss activists who are preparing the European Workers Conference on February 7 and 8, 2009 have sent us news concerning the campaign led by the National Committee against the renewal of the agreement on the so-called free movement of persons. The committee calls for NO vote in the referendum to be held on February 8. Turkey: You will find the following text: "Mass Death Of Textile
Laborers In Sandblasting Of Denim In Turkey." Ten thousand workers
suffer from silicosis as a result; and the workers suffering from silicosis
in Turkey have formed a committee. China: We publish the China newsletter. The editorial states that the crisis has begun to wreak havoc in China. Two other articles are devoted to the strike by taxi drivers and Chongqing migrant workers. Burkina Faso: The office of the National Coordination of the Collective of Democratic Mass Organizations and political parties informed the activists of the ILC, and the national and international public, that four officers of the National Coordination of the Guadeloupe: You will find an interview with Elie Domat, General Secretary of the General Union of Workers of Guadeloupe (UGTG). For January 2009, thirty organizations have called for an indefinite general strike. Support the ILC, subscribe! Table of Contents: p. 1: Introduction Contact ********************* UNITED STATES JOIN US IN ENDORSING & PROMOTING THE WORKERS' EMERGENCY In recent months we have witnessed billions of dollars pumped into the financial institutions WITH NO STRINGS ATTACHED. Reckless behavior and greed have been graced with the most extravagant rewards, allowing the rich to get even richer. After receiving their bailout, A.I.G. executives resumed their plans for a retreat at a lavish resort. Meanwhile, foreclosures have risen, unemployment has soared, and misery has spread with virtually nothing being done for the millions of workers suffering from these afflictions. We cannot sit back and simply hope that things will get better. The financial executives have organized themselves and lobbied for bailouts. We must now do the same. We must organize ourselves and mount a campaign, insisting that government programs benefit the majority of the population first and foremost, not the super wealthy small minority. At this historic crossroads, as we face the prospects of another Great Depression, we, the undersigned dedicate ourselves to forging the broadest unity in action among those in the labor movement, Black and Latino organizations, immigrant rights groups, and antiwar and other social justice protest movements to secure the emergency measures listed below. We endorse these demands as necessary steps to address the pressing needs of working people and the oppressed in general so that we can all enjoy a secure and comfortable life and find relief from an economic crisis we had no part in creating. We are committed to reaching out to more workers and encouraging them to endorse our demands and join our movement, the Workers Emergency Recovery Campaign (WERC), so that we can form committees across the country, organize educational forums, and then aim at building a national conference to promote this campaign. In this way we can begin to win the majority of working people to this agenda. In solidarity we can win. Here are 10 fundamental demands that we believe should be included in a Workers' Emergency Recovery Plan to Bail out Working People -- NOT Wall Street: 1) Put a halt to the Wall Street bailout plan. Not one more penny should be earmarked to bail out the bankers and speculators. It's time to bail out working people. 2) Enact a moratorium on all home foreclosures, utility shut-offs, evictions and rent hikes. Nationalize the mortgage industry, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. 3) Enact H.R. 676 -- the universal, single-payer healthcare plan. Take the private insurance companies out of the healthcare equation. Guarantee fully funded pensions for retirees, along with healthcare and other benefits. 4) Enact the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) so that every worker can have union representation. 5) Stop the layoffs in auto and other industries across the country. Nationalize the Big 3 automakers. Re-tool the auto industry to build rapid mass transit, solar, and wind systems. 6) Stop the scapegoating of immigrant workers. Stop the ICE raids and deportations. 7) End all funding for the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and bring our troops home now. The war expenditures in these countries alone are estimated at $3 trillion. Redirect all war funding to meet human needs. 8) Enact a massive national reconstruction public works program (minimum expenditure needed of $1 trillion) to rebuild the nation's schools, hospitals and crumbling infrastructure and to put millions of people back to work at a union-scale wage. Provide all necessary funding for a genuine Reconstruction program in the Gulf Coast; enact the Gulf Coast Civic Works Act (H.R. 4048). 9) Defend and expand the rights and economic security of those who are unable to work. Grant living-wage benefits to single parents, disabled, seniors, and the unemployed. End the arbitrary, punitive time limits, sanctions, denial of education, and forced unwaged workfare in the TANF welfare program. 10) Tax the corporations and the rich -- not working people -- to finance a workers' recovery plan. The rich currently enjoy historically high levels of wealth while being taxed at bargain-basement rates. Implement a retroactive tax on windfall revenue on the oil-energy industry, return capital income taxation to 1981 levels, and repatriate the $2 trillion from the offshore tax havens. ---------- ENDORSEMENT / SUPPORT CAMPAIGN COUPON [ ] I endorse this statement [ ] I would like to work on this campaign. Please contact me ASAP! NAME UNION/ORG (for id. only) STATE (fill out and return it to <wercampaign@gmail.com> or to P.O. Box 40009, San Francisco, CA 94140. For more information, or to get involved, call 415-641-8616.) ******************** INITIAL LIST OF CAMPAIGN SUPPORTERS (partial list; * org & title listed for id. only): Nancy Wohlforth* (Co-Pres., Pride at Work/AFL-CIO, Vice Pres., California Federation of Labor); Cindy Sheehan (Gold Star mother, antiwar activist); Cynthia McKinney (former Member of Congress, 2009 Green Party presidential candidate); Donna Dewitt* (President, South Carolina AFL-CIO); Progressive Democrats of America; Nativo López (Hermandad Mexicana); Colia Clark (veteran of the Civil Rights Movement); Michael Eisenscher* (AFT Local 1603, OPEIU Local 3); Mark Dudzic* (National Organizer, Labor Party); Dennis Serrette* (Political Director, Communications Workers of America); Bruce Dixon (Editor, Black Agenda Report); Kali Akuno (Gulf coast reconstruction activist); Gene Bruskin (labor and antiwar activist - Washington, D.C.); Larry Pinkney* (Black Activist Writers Guild & The Black Commentator); Al Rojas (Coordinator, Frente de Mexicanos en el Exterior); Alan Benjamin (Editor, The Organizer); Glen Ford (BlackAgendaReport.com); Elizabeth "Betita" Martinez (Institute for Multiracial Justice); Kentucky May Day Coalition; Renée Saucedo* (La Raza Centro Legal); Andy Griggs* (Chair, National Education Assoc., Peace & Justice Caucus; UTLA); Howard Wallace* (Pride at Work); Clarence Thomas* (Exec. Bd., ILWU Local 10); Don Bechler* (Single Payer Now!); George Hutchinson* (Pacific Green Party, former OEA member); Mike Carano* (Progressive Democrats of America-Ohio, Teamsters' union); Jerry Gordon* (UFCW International Rep/retired; Chair, Ohio State Labor Party); Bill Leumer (Workers Action); Ed Rosario (Co-Convener, OWC Continuations Committee); Pat Gowens (Welfare Warriors); Luis Magaña (Organización de Trabajadores Agrícolas de California); Tim Kaminski* (UAW Local 110, former committeeman, retired); Al Rojas (Coordinator, Frente de Mexicanos en el Exterior); Gustavo Bujanda (Raices Mexicanas); Nancy Romer* (Professional Staff Congress, CUNY, AFT 2334); Frank Martin del Campo* (Exec. Bd. member, S.F. Labor Council); Mark Esters* (member, UAW-St. Louis, Missouri); Jack Rasmus (Economist, Professor St. Mary's College); Juan Rafael Santos* (South Central Farm Leadership Council); Wes Brain* (Southern Oregon Jobs with Justice); Adam Richmond (Committee to Overturn Prop 8); ;
SWITZERLAND Swiss activists preparing European Workers Conference (February 7 and 8, 2009) A call to vote no in the referendum on "Freedom to provide services" The organization of an international workers conference to demand the repeal of the judgments of the European Court of Justice has been proposed by the delegation that visited the European Commission on September 12, 2008. At the end of the interview with the representative of the European Commissioner for Social Affairs and Employment, it adopted a call that says: "_Whatever are our views on the legitimacy of the institutions of the European Union - we deny the right to the European Union and its institutions (European Commission, Court of Justice, Central Bank, European Parliament) to challenge any gains whatsoever in any of our countries. We affirm that in response to the judgments of the European Court of Justice, against the European treaties which are the basis (Maastricht, Amsterdam, taken in the draft Treaty of Lisbon ...), the movement is a legitimate right to fight for the defense, the maintenance and restoration of all rights, guarantees and conquests won by the class struggle in each country. " Repeal of the judgments of the European Court! For all correspondence: European Workers Alliance As trade unionists and socialist activists, we Swiss delegates to the European workers conference on February 7 and 8 in Paris, have sent information about the struggle of national committee against the exploitation workers, calling for the No to win on February 8 (in the referendum concerning the renewal of the agreement on the alleged free movement of people). On February 8, the Swiss population is expected to vote in a referendum
on the renewal of the agreement on free movement of persons with European
Union. The agreement on the free "movement of persons" includes "freedom to provide services." It is in this case of foreign companies that post workers in Switzerland. The number of "detached" workers increased massively: they were 40,500 in 2005 and 61,000 in 2007. But the European Commission believes that two legal limits limited too much the "free service": the rule which requires the employer to announce the posting of workers eight days in advance and which prohibits the use of a interim foreign company to hire foreign workers. In 2000, the government promised that alleged measures of support would ensure that all workers under the agreement would benefit from all the guarantees enshrined in collective agreements and Swiss legislation. But behind a seemingly innocuous word - who can be against more freedom and more freedom of movement of people? - lies a policy to put a workforce without rights in the hands of the appetites of exploiters. The bilateral agreement with the European Union provides that "at the request of a party, the joint committee will determine the implications of the dictate that Switzerland will be informed of," which means that the government, in agreement with the European institutions, was given the means to impose the decisions of the Court of Justice. The Laval, Viking and Rüffert judgments are becoming "pertinent" for Switzerland. There is no other way to defend working conditions and social achievements than to reject the agreement. With a perspective towards vote of February 8, a workers committee was established on November 22 2008 in Berne. It brings together activists from various trends of the labor movement - including the Socialist Party and trade unions - that are fighting within their own organizations for unity for the No. Although the leaderships of the national movement (PSS-ASU) have taken a position for the Yes, more than 90 militants have joined the committee. District committees have been established and are conducting a sustained campaign among workers and their organizations for the No to win. Everywhere, significant sectors of the labor movement are joining the campaign for the No: this is the case in Neuchâtel, in particular, where the PS district organization has not yet taken a position, and where many activists and leaders of the PS are campaigning with the committee. A new national meeting of union workers and activists is convened in Berne on January 24. Correspondent ************************ TURKEY Mass Death Of Textile Laborers In Sandblasting Of Denim In Turkey * According to Ministry of Labor and Social Security's estimates, about ten thousand of laborers are sick with silicosis. * Silicosis is an illness that occurs especially in the laborers who work in the branches of ceramic, tunnel and road construction, iron foundry, mines by having been exposed to silica dust (granite, stone - sand dust). But, this illness was first seen with the sandblasting of denim in Turkey in 2005. * Sandblasting is defined as the erosive process applied on denim by air compressors blowing out sand in order to bleach and to batter the denim. Exposure to intense dust during this process causes silicosis in lungs. * The illness generally occurs after 20 - 30 years of working experience in mining; but if the laborers are exposed to intense dust, it may occur in 1 year or even 6 months after working in sandblasting of denim. There is no known cure of the illness. * Silicosis is a "work illness" due to sandblasting of denim. WHO accepts that silicosis is a work illness caused by breathing sand dust and is definitely preventable. * Most laborers were employed without any social security in sandblasting of denim. There are lots of foreign and child laborers among them, who are employed outside of social security and illegally. We know that there are lots of foreign laborers from Romania, Moldavia, Azerbaijan and Georgia who were employed illegally and died in their home countries due to this fatal illness. * But real responsibles are not the little companies but the big multinational companies. The sandblasting of denim is presented like individual enterprises' business but it is ignored that they work for big companies like LEWIS , STROM JEANS, COLLEZZIONE, DOLCE GABANNA, and LITTLE BIG. WE AS LABOURERS SICK WITH SILICOSIS IN TURKEY, CALL ALL WORLD LABOURERS TO SUPPORT OUR FIGHT * Sandblasting of denim has been forbidden in Europe since the 1960's. After the prohibition of sandblasting in Europe, manufacturing moved into countries like Turkey, Bangladesh and Syria. There are lots of illegal and child laborers who work without social security, as they are cheaper labor that way. But the real culprits of this calamity are the big multinational companies carrying out the business with subcontractors in different regions regardless of the serious threats against workers' lives. * Manufacturing and sales of sandblasted jeans must be prohibited all over the world. The Turkish Government which has been inactive due to ongoing international competition in the business should ban the sandblasting of denim work and close down the enterprises using these methods. * All sandblasting laborers' health care including all physical examination and treatment should be assured by government regardless of their social security status. The laborers who were detected as sick should benefit from social security and pensions without delay even the lawsuit is still ongoing. * All authorities who are responsible for the laborers catching silicosis illness by not performing necessary inspections and not fulfilling their assignment by law should be tried. * A commission should be constituted of representatives of trade associations and trade unions concerned as well as the Ministry of Labor and Social Security in order to define the suffered averages of laborers without delay. * 'National Strategy for Pneumoconiosis Prevention'(2007) prepared by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security in accordance with resolutions of Joint ILO-WHO Committee on Occupational Health and Safety should be carried out without any delay. * Sandblasting laborers have set up a committee on 9 June, 2008: THE SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE OF SANDBLASTING LABOURERS. Our committee carries out a support campaign and calls you for your support in order to help laborers to pay mandatory fees of the trial which voluntary lawyers will carry out. You can assist the laborers through the account number below: * Account Information :Türkiye Bankasž Swift Code: ISBKTRISXX IBAN: TR970006400000212000146503 SANDBLASTING OF DENIM MUST BE BANNED ALL OVER THE WORLD! Fax: 00 90 (312) 470 13 16 Prime Minister's Communication Center of Turkish Republic: E-mail: bimer@basbakanlik.gov.tr Fax: 00 90 (312) 425 13 75 Ministry of Labor and Social Security: E-mail: iletisim@csgb.gov.tr Ministry of Interior: E-mail:besir.atalay@icisleri.gov.tr ************************* CHINA Editorial The crisis has begun to wreak havoc in China. It is clear that the policy of reform and opening of the past thirty years by various governments has pushed the country toward integrating deeper into the world economy, i.e. depending more and more on a market economy and therefore has been weakened by this crisis. So first it was those sectors related to exports that were hit. Tens of thousands of small and medium enterprises, mostly private or joint ventures, have already closed their doors in the coastal provinces, particularly in the delta of the Pearl River. In Beijing, Xiao Wu, 38, who works on construction sites in the capital for five years, said: "I am here for three weeks and I have not seen a single boss pass. Before, it teeming with all them here"(Reuters, November 4). Since October, unemployment has started to show the impact of changes in the international situation in China, which was eventually recognized Yin Weimin, Minister of Human Resources and Social Security (at a press conference on November 20.) Up until now he denied unemployment, given that millions of migrant workers are not legally registered and thus cannot be regarded as unemployed! Recent observations reported by People's Daily, the organ of the Chinese PC, show that 300,000 migrant workers from Jiangxi have already leave, Chongqing has already seen 100,000 return; Hubei province has registered 300,000 in September and October and provides 1 million by February. In Wenzhou, a city in the coastal province of Zhejiang that is export-oriented, about 20% of workers lost their jobs. In the export-sector of the Shandong province, there were 680,000 "official" unemployed for the first nine months of 2008. What did the central government decide? It announced on November 9 that "4000 billion yuan [around 415 billion euros] would be invested in infrastructure and social protection by the end of 2010. Funding for the plan would come from both the government and private sector" and that "100 billion yuan would be released in the fourth quarter" (Caijing, November, 11). In essence it is to build railways and highways, airports and buildings and equipment to develop water and electricity to the countryside. The construction of cheap housing and reconstruction after the Sichuan earthquake in May have been announced. Will these measures help provide work for millions of migrant workers who are or will be driven out of production by the closure of factories? The big fear of managers is the increasing instability due to labor disputes, which sometimes require new attitudes (see our documents on strike Chongqing). First steps against workers. Of course a conflict will occur when the government orders a freeze on wages and uses the social security funds. The Department of Human Resources and Social Security "has asked municipalities to temporarily suspend the minimum wage increases for businesses, but also asked them to lower rates of health insurance, occupational accidents insurance and unemployment for an indefinite period." In Hubei province for example, it was recommended that the state enterprises in the fields of finance, oil, energy and telecommunications reduce wages rather than jobs ... ( "People's Daily", November 21). And to stabilize employment, the government ministry in some provinces accepts or recommends that the provisions of the law on employment contracts be circumvented to facilitate layoffs. Thus the first step taken by the authorities is to enable companies to fire workers more easily and underpaid workers. It is the workers and Chinese peasants who make the country's wealth, not the U.S. Treasury bonds or private owners of the toy or textiles factories. Avoiding disaster Don't state enterprises have the duty to protect their workers by avoiding any layoffs and any wage freezes? For those private companies that have superexploited in abominable conditions young workers, especially girls, is not it time to transform them into public companies while their bosses refuse to pay workers or fill their pockets, such as Smart Union in Dongguan? Don't the protective measures and emergency measures to save the working people and economy of the nation start there? Shouldn't public money go towards helping workers and peasants instead of Mr. Paulson to bailout the banks and speculators on Wall Street? Isn't this necessary to avoid disaster and meet the needs of Chinese workers and peasants? This is certainly not the position of those who were preparing to celebrate in December thirty years of success and the opening of the market economy and have been consistently cutting social property, employment and retirement guaranteed , cheap housing, medicine and free schools. Saving the country, rather than moving into to the disaster of the market economy, means to restore power to the social forces that have built the country in sweat and blood, thus allowing workers to organize as they wish to defend their interests, their jobs, protect the state-owned enterprises, defend the economy against the bankers and bankrupt speculators. The delegates of the taxi drivers Chongqing and thousands of young delegates migrant workers who organize events open one path. The strike by taxi drivers on November 3 In Chongqing, the fourth largest city in China, 9,000 taxi drivers went on strike for the enormous demands for holidays they had paid to taxi companies, the endless lines to fill their vehicles, exorbitant fines that were imposed by the Municipal Police, and competition from illegal taxis. The strike lasted two days; twenty taxi strike breakers were taken out, as were three police vehicles. Most taxi companies are private and were formed in the 1990s. They exploit their drivers so that a driver must pay three-quarters of their profits in car rental and other expenses to the company. The vice-mayor of Chongqing said: "This is probably the most profitable trade in the world," because every month, every bus gives to the company about 40,000 yuan (4,000 Euros). The characteristic of this strike is that negotiations took place directly with the delegates of the drivers, these negotiations have been broadcast live on local television and there was commitment to meet the demands. Unlike the provincial government of Guizhou, which has insulted and prohibits strikes by taxi drivers, it seems that the Mayor of Chongqing, Bo Xilai, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the CCP, has decided to adjust its attitude to a situation that could rapidly degenerate and explode. Maintaining social stability under the conditions where companies are reducing their operations or close their doors has become a key issue, so much so that the Economic Observer reported that the central government held a week of training for two thousand cadres, a large part of which was devoted to social unrest, including dialogue rather than the "criminalization" of the strikers. In addition, it should be noted that all bodies of the Chinese press reported the strike without censorship, as well as those followed in other cities (see below). The strike has also demonstrated once again the place and function of the official ACFTU union, whose only response was to send. ten days after the strike began in Chongqing, a note to all taxi companies for their request to set up union branches in their businesses, stressing the role of these sections to avoid the strikes. In this regard, the Southern Metropolis Daily poses this question: "Even if the taxi unions are set up, will they not be controlled by the municipalities and the owners and ignore the interests of drivers"? And "Asia Times" says that in 2005 the ACFTU Chongqing union denied a request for the establishment of unions by taxi drivers because they had to go through their taxi companies. The delegate of drivers, Yang Xiaoming, then lost his job due to a petition defending the rights of drivers. ----- The taxi strike in Chongqing has spread: another strike and demonstration of taxi drivers took place on November 10 in Sanya (Hainan Province), where hundreds gathered at the municipality to request compliance with the regulations on the rental of vehicles from private companies, which were set to be lowered from 720 a month to 530 euro beginning on January 1. The same day, in the Yongdeng canton (Gansu Province), taxis went on strike and demonstrated. On November 23 in the small town of Hongjiang (Hunan), drivers stopped work, demand a the cut in rental fees and taxes as well as support of their insurance premiums by the municipality. On November 24 in Guangzhou (Guangdong), drivers were confronted by the police during a demonstration against an attack on a driver by a local bureaucrat. And 10,000 taxis in this city went on strike on December 1. Other strikes and demonstrations on November 11 took place in the diesel engine plant in Jiangyan Yandong (Jiangsu Province) where negotiations have started after several days of protests for various guarantees for their jobs. Nearly 2,000 workers have blocked traffic and demonstrated outside the premises of the municipality to the chants of "Save our jobs!". They also demanded wage increases and pension payments to retirees. On November 25 in Dongguan, in the delta of the Pearl River (Guangdong Province), 2,000 workers for the Hong Kong toy company Kader protested against the "pathetic lay-off payments" which were awarded to 596 workers at the door this month. After being confronted by the police and security workers at the plant, they invaded the office and obtained the re-employment of the oldest as well as respect for the law on dismissals. On November 17, in Longnan (Gansu province), about thirty people went to the headquarters of the PC to protest against the destruction of their homes or to seek compensation (depending on the version) and, according to an official of the city, the protesters were joined by thousands more in the evening. Clashes with police and local officials took places; they sacked and burned vehicles; tear gas and riots lasted two days. A retiree from the city said: "People are angry and peasants of surrounding villages and towns came to help. I worked in the municipality, but there I was really on the side of demonstrators. " ************************ GUADELOUPE An appeal of the UGTG and 34 other organizations : General strike on January 24 Interview with Elie Domat, Secretary General of the General Union of Workers of Guadeloupe (UGTG) ILC : From January 20, 2009, after two days of mobilization on December 16 and 17 2008, thirty organizations called for a general strike indefinitely. Can you tell us more about this movement? ED : Today, no less than 35 trade unions, political, cultural, environmental protection and defense of the rights of consumers organizations have decided to fight together with workers, the unemployed, pensioners, young people of Guadeloupe for a better life. Everything is based around the denunciation by the unions of fraud surrounding the fuel prices in Guadeloupe. A blur is largely maintained by the French colonial state, but also by local and elected officials who through in the taxation of fuel take many resources. Mass unemployment, racial discrimination in hiring, charging abuse of essential goods, financial institutions fraud, destruction of natural spaces, school failure, Chlordecone poisoning: there are so many problems to solve while the state banks and finances speculators. ILC: The UGTG was behind the organization of this mobilization. Can you tell us why and how this happened? ED: The UGTG was not the only one working on the case of fraud on the price of fuel. But we felt it was necessary to invite all political, cultural and labor organizations who fight alongside the workers to give a real popular dimension to this demand, which affects all social strata. It was also an opportunity to forge the broadest unity around the problems that are corrupting our society. From the outset, we have clearly said that it was not a fight of the UGTG but a struggle by all the organizations, workers and the people. ILC: This movement took place during a international economic crisis. What was the relationship? ED: This so-called period of crisis might have given a greater urgency to the moment. But with or without a global crisis, the reality we live is real bad and did not begin with the crisis. With 40% unemployment, nearly 1,000 young people leaving the school system each year, massive layoffs in the hotel industry and agriculture in particular; Guadeloupe has been in a crisis for a long time and the time has come for us to say de say NO to poverty, exclusion, the horrors perpetrated by the capitalists, the French colonial state and its lackeys. ILC: What relationship can be found between the mobilization of workers and the people of Guadeloupe with the struggle of workers and the Haitian people for their sovereignty, and other peoples of the continent (Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, ...)? ED: The struggle in Guadeloupe takes place as we talk again (a little more than usual) about the status of French colonies in America. Our history is intimately linked to that of our brothers in Haiti who still suffer from the occupation of their country by foreign troops supported by France and the USA. The policy we are experiencing in Guadeloupe is imposed on us by the French colonial orders of world big business, destroying our lives, our lands, our customs, our production, our youth. Is this not what is happening in Haiti? This was an independent nation whose sovereignty was stolen by the imperialists. The same is true for the massacres perpetrated by Israel in occupied Palestine. ILC: Through this movement, what message should be sent to workers and peoples of the Caribbean, the continent, and also on an international level? ED: The capitalist system generates misery, poverty, war, hatred and barbarity in the name of money. Faced with this barbarism, organized workers and the people must unite to fight for social transformation and the eradication of capitalism and colonialism. Interview on January 9, 2009 ************************* BURKINA FASO Collective of democratic mass organizations and political parties (ACAT-AJB-Ass. Scolaires - Ass. KEBAYINA / FB - ICJ-TS - Collectif CGT-B - FANIDHO - FONOZO - FTS - Group 14 February - LDLP - MBDHP-MBEJUS - SEP - Col. Lawyers - UGEB) The office of the National Coordination of collective democratic mass organizations and political parties informed the activists of the Association, the national and international public opinion that four officers of the National Coordination of the Collective were summoned on December 15, 2008 by the Gendarmerie Nationale. They were Chrysogone Zougmoré, President of the Collective, Tolé Sagnon, Vice-Chairman, Mr. Bénéwendé SANKARA and Jean Claude Meda. The leaders were met with the Chief of Staff (Colonel Martin Zambo ZONGO) surrounded by two of his employees from 9 am to 10 pm 30. They are accused of having, during the great march of December 13, 2008 marking the 10th anniversary of the assassination of Sapouy, renamed the Avenue of the nation by putting up a sticker bearing the words "Avenue Norbert Zongo. " At the end of the hearing, the Chief of Staff, thanked the leaders and says he will produce a report. We recall that in November 1999, following the publication of a statement, the leaders of the Collective were detained and interviewed by the Directorate general of the national police (DGPN) and then brought to court on December 27, 1999 for a "call to sedition and disobedience", "undermining state security" and "demoralization of the army." It took a strong national and international mobilization for them to be released. Therefore, the office of the National Coordination of the Collective, while congratulating all activists of the Collective, the real country, democrats and progressives across the world for their mobilization, invites them to stay engaged and to stand ready concerning the evolution of the situation in the commission. In any event, the struggle must continue and will continue for the reopening investigation of Norbert Zongo. The National Coordinating Office will send you in the coming days specific instructions in this regard. Ouagadougou, December 15, 2008. National Coordination for the office: The President of the Collective: Chrysogone Zougmoré MBDHP Rapporteurs:
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