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A dossier of weekly information published by the
International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples
November 4, 2009
Issue 361
Price 0.50 Euros
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Introduction
Great Britain: On October 29 and 30, the British postal workers went
on strike for the second time in recent weeks, with their union. A trade
unionist sent us a letter of one of his colleagues published by The
Guardian newspaper. We are reprinting it below.
Belgium: After the success of the action on October 9 in Charleroi,
Carlo Briscolin,i Deputy Regional Secretary of the General FGTB explains:
"We must carry onŠ If we don't stand up and fight, they will make
us pay for the crisis two or three times over."
Honduras: We are publishing a communique by the Honduran National Front
of Resistance to the Coup, celebrating the planned reinstatement of
Zelaya and vowing to continued the struggle for a just society.
United States: You will find below the decisions of the October 24
Conference to Save Public Education, including the call by the conference
for a strike and day of action in defense of public education on March
4, 2010.
Guadeloupe: We are reprinting the declaration of the International
Conference held at LaPointe on October 20 and 21, 2009. Its conclusion
states: "Let the workers and peoples of Guyana, Martinique and
Guadeloupe (...) organize for the final triumph of their struggle for
freedom and emancipation. "
Peru: You will find below a call by militants and leaders of workers
organizations to a unity meeting for a National Sovereign Constituent
Assembly.
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Table of Contents
p. 1: Introduction
p. 2 - Great Britain: New s trike by postal workers and their unions.
p. 3 - Belgium: Interview with Carlo Briscolini, Regional Secretary
of the FGTB.
p. 4 / 5: United States: Conference to Save Public Education
p.6 - Guadeloupe: Declaration of the International Conference
p. 7 - Peru: Unity meeting for a national sovereign Constituent Assembly.
p. 8 - Honduras: Public Statement by the National Front against the
Coup.
* Subscriptions.
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Contact
Informations internationales
Entente internationale des travailleurs et des peuples
87, rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis -75010 Paris - France
Tel: (33 1) 48 01 88 28.E.mail: eit.ilc@fr.oleane.com
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GREAT BRITAIN
On October 29 and 30, the British mail carriers went on strike for the
second time in a few weeks, together with their union. We are republishing
a letter from a unionist published in The Guardian.
Why I'm on strike today
I will be out on strike today. Yesterday the load was light in the delivery
office where I work, because of strike action in other parts of Royal
Mail. That will make the backlog on Monday all the greater - and that
is a good thing. In London we have been on strike for months and each
have lost nearly £1,000 in wages. Royal Mail wants to appear as
if it doesn't care about the strike and is simply ploughing on with
its changes, so it good to see the action is having an impact.
After all this time and lost money we want to get something out of the
strike. So when we heard rumours that it was going to be called off,
we were worried. It seems plain from the attitude of Adam Crozier and
other Royal Mail senior management that they are not yet ready to compromise.
They have employed 30,000 temporary workers to clear the backlog (apparently
not strike breaking in a legal sense), they have sent individual letters
to us saying they will help us to cross the picket line, and Crozier
has appeared on TV telling us to shut up and get back to work. For the
union to call off the strike now would therefore be seen as a big error
- people in my office were saying if this happened we would have been
on strike for nothing, and there was talk of leaving the union.
Interviewed on TV, spokespeople for the Royal Mail seem rigid, while
union spokespeople come across as reasonable. But "reasonable"
doesn't go down so well with me and many other posties. Royal Mail have
been imposing job cuts, tearing up terms and conditions ruthlessly and
indicate every desire to keep going. While they say they have achieved
their savings this year they also say they will start cutting jobs again
in January. Management is clearly on the offensive, and has been for
years. We need to push them back a bit.
The Tories, we've now learned, want to fully privatise the postal service.
They say they hope the union is beaten in the present dispute so that
Royal Mail is more attractive to private bidders. Even though Peter
Mandelson was forced to back down earlier this year, part-privatisation
remains Labour official policy. Privatisation will only make our plight
worse. It could see a "preferred bidder" such as TNT take
control - the same TNT that recently imposed pay cuts on both its Dutch
and UK staff "because of the recession". But privatised or
not, Royal Mail is already run on market principles, aiming for the
same cost and service cutting approach as its competitors.
The catastrophic failure of unregulated financial markets saw the state
ride to the rescue, and yet Ken Clarke, Peter Mandelson and Crozier
remain wedded to the dogma that led to that collapse - an unquestioning
belief that everyone and everything should bend to serve the drive for
profits. But the post office is not just a "business". With
its universal service obligation (one-price stamp for all) it is an
essential piece of social infrastructure that people rely on and feel
affection for. Yet more and more a commercialised Royal Mail means posties
and the service they provide must be sacrificed on the altar of "efficiency"
(that is, profit).
Regrettably, even union leaders have bought into the logic of humans
as resources in the modernising mission, instead of taking the obvious,
simple line that the post office could be defended as a public service,
and that the terms and conditions of posties should be defended. Meanwhile
ordinary postmen, like workers in other industries, are staring down
the barrel of job cuts and intensification of work - we are just trying
to survive.
"It can't be bargained with, it can't be reasoned with. It doesn't
feel pity or remorse or fear, and it absolutely will not stop - ever,
until you are dead." Those words are uttered in the film Terminator
to describe the automaton assassin. But they just about fit the way
posties see the Royal Mail and the government right now. We won't give
up, though. We are mobilised, and hopefully we are showing that when
you are attacked it is possible to fight back - it's what we all need
to do.
***********************
BELGIUM
Following a very successful demonstration on October 9 in Charleroi:
"We must carry on ... If we don't stand up and fight, they will
make us pay for the crisis two or three times over!" -- Interview
with Carlo Briscolini*, deputy general secretary of the General Confederation
of Belgian Workers (FGTB) Charleroi
Question: Isn't the Charleroi demonstration a living proof that workers
are mobilized to defend their jobs and their rights?
Carlos Briscolini: We really believe so otherwise we wouldn't have taken
that initiative. We are the ones paying for the crisis. The government
has bailed out the banks but that's with our money. The economic crisis
has then set in. The ones laid off first by companies are interim and
temporary workers. Then, in certain areas, restructuring has confronted
us. These are facts. We knew budget measures were to be taken, so we
didn't want to wait any further. That's the reason for the October 9
demonstration. We refuse to pay yet again. Before the holiday season
already, a 10,000-strong demonstration took place in defense of our
buying power. There was also the European demonstration (1).
The budgeting process is an important political act. We knew there was
a debate between the left and the right. The right was saying spending
had to be taken on. The left on the other side was speaking of taxing
those who had the means, that is, the capital. For that we had to take
to the streets. Up until the demonstration, every sector, every enterprise
tended to fall back on itself because everyone is running scared. We
started to think things over beyond occupational boundaries and we reckoned
we had to hold a demonstration on the streets.
It is not easy to mount such an action only in one region alone, but
we had the will to move forward. We took the risk and held the demonstration
with strike compensations. We didn't want to cause any harm to the national
gathering of militants that was to take place at the same time (2),
but we thought that that gathering was not enough. Besides when we heard
about the framework of that national gathering, we came to the conclusion
that it wasn't what was needed. Upon our call 12,000 workers took to
the streets in Charleroi. That's what should have been done at the national
level.
Question: Isn't the key question the one of job losses? Some people
think nothing can be done about that. Doesn't the demonstration offer
a clear proof that workers do want solutions?
Briscolini: That's the main thing. Jobs are the basis of our society.
It is the key issue. We cannot consider restructuring as inevitable.
Besides, some bosses resort to restructuring in anticipation.
The government has created a system that grants all employers rebates
on social contributions. This measure is one-sided and there is no control.
That's not acceptable. The building industry uses a great deal of labor,
the oil industry very little. If it is just to give employers advantages
that in fact are used for increasing profits, we cannot agree with that.
It is the same thing as with notional interests.
Regarding jobs we must be crystal-clear: it is a fight in defense of
jobs in both the public and the private sectors.
Shouldn't we tie in the fight for a ban on layoffs to the FGTB's declaration
of principle in favor of nationalizing key sectors of the industry and
of the banking system? It is true that on the principles level we missed
an opportunity as regards the banks. We should've raised the question
of nationalizing the financial system. Obviously it's not easy. We can
see now how the life of nuclear power stations is being extended. The
FGTB doesn't find this to be a positive short-term development. He who
takes solely a short-term view is mistaken. Obviously this is a difficult
fight.
Question: Doesn't what's happening with Suez-Electrabel show that, without
nationalizing the energy sector, we remain at the mercy of the financial
groups, here as elsewhere?
Briscolini: On principle making Suez pay is positive. However if the
government has not provided for the guarantees that will ensure that
Suez does indeed pay, there will be a huge problem! At Horeca (equipment
firm for hotels, restaurants and cafés), the government is lowering
the VAT rate to 12%. That only makes sense if the means are there to
control that employment does increase as a result. But if it is to do
what they've done in France where the bosses in that sector have simply
pocketed the rebate, we cannot accept it.
If Suez impose their rules, I worry about Belgium's energy future. If
Suez don't get taxed, what are worth their "guarantees" regarding
jobs and investments? We're getting back to the question of nationalizing
the energy sector.
All official forecasts in terms of jobs or keeping up social rights
are pessimistic. Isn't the success of the Charleroi demonstration a
starting point for a bigger national demonstration along the same lines?
We could've gone much farther. For us, the October 9 demonstration isn't
an end to itself. We could sense workers are mobilized. It's not over.
We must carry on. Workers bear no responsibility for this crisis; it
is not for them to pay for it.
At the trade union level, we have strong demands, but demands are not
enough. We must be ready to take to the streets again with all sectors
involved.
The demonstration we held in Charleroi is only one step. It helped mobilize
people. But we must carry on. Let's see already whether banks and Suez
will be paying anything. If we don't stand up and fight, they will make
us pay for the crisis two or three times over.
We were a bit worried about calling for that October 9 demonstration
in Charleroi only. But it was a success! We must carry on.
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Endnotes
1. The European demonstration was organized under the aegis of the International
Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), mainly around the "decent work"
concept (note of the editors)
* Carlo Briscolini has signed the Call for a National Demonstration
launched by the May 30, 2009 conference (see ILC International Newsletter
nos. 339 and 344)
***********************
UNITED STATES
We are publishing below the report on the decisions of the October 24th
Mobilizing Conference to Save Public Education, which took place at
UC Berkeley.
Introduction
Thanks to all of you, the Conference was a tremendous success! While
we recognize that we stand in the beginning stages of our struggle and
acknowledge that we have much work ahead of us, we are certain that
the Conference on October 24, 2009 was a pivotal event in the building
of a statewide movement to defend public education. More than 800 students,
workers, and teachers from over 100 different schools, unions, and organizations
from all across California and from all sectors of public education
- Pre K-12, Adult Education, CC, CSU and UC - participated, discussed,
debated, and democratically voted on how to advance the struggle to
defend and transform public education in California.
Here are the principal decisions of the Conference. Please share them
with your member groups, General Assemblies and all those concerned
with defending public education! Spread them far and wide!
Solidarity With November Actions
The Conference endorsed the UC and CSU strike and mobilization on Nov.
17th-20th and decided to call for statewide solidarity actions on these
days. On these dates, the University of California Regents will meet
in UCLA to impose a 32% student fee increase and the California State
University Board of Trustees will meet in Long Beach to begin the development
of a list of programs to be eliminated in anticipation of major budget
cuts next year. Throughout the state and across the different levels
of education, we must act together against all attacks on public education.
The conference calls for all activists and organizations to organize
solidarity actions on Nov. 17th - 20th.
These November actions - and other similar upcoming actions - are crucial
building blocks towards the united Strike and Day of Action on March
4th.
March 4 Strike and Day of Action To Defend Public Education
After much passionate discussion and debate, the conference democratically
voted, as its principal decision, to call for a "Strike and Day
of Action that is inclusive of all different tactics, including: walkouts,
rallies, march to Sacramento, teach ins, occupations, and all other
forms of protests chosen by schools and organization. It starts on this
day ______ and its up to each school and organization if and how long
to continue it."
After passing this resolution, different dates were discussed and March
4 was overwhelmingly chosen as the date for the united Spring action.
The call for the March 4 Strike and Day of Action To Defend Public Education
is copied below and attached to t
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CALL:
March 4 Strike and Day of Action To Defend Public Education
On October 24, 2009 more than 800 students, workers, and teachers converged
at UC Berkeley at the Mobilizing Conference to Save Public Education.
This massive meeting brought together representatives from over 100
different schools, unions, and organizations from all across California
and from all sectors of public education - Pre K-12, Adult Education,
CC, CSU and UC - to "decide on a statewide action plan capable
of winning this struggle, which will define the future of public education
in this state, particularly for the working class and communities of
color."
After hours of open collective discussion, the conference democratically
voted, as its principal decision, to call for a statewide Strike and
Day of Action on March 4, 2010. The conference decided that all schools,
unions and organizations are free to choose their specific demands and
tactics - such as strikes, walkouts, march to Sacramento, rallies, occupations,
sit-ins, teach-ins, etc. - for March 4, as well as the duration of such
actions.
We refuse to let those in power continue to pit us against each other.
If we unite, we have the power to shut down business-as-usual and to
force those in power to grant our demands. Building a powerful movement
to defend public education will, in turn, advance the struggle in defense
of all public-sector workers and services.
We call on all students, workers, teachers, parents, and their organizations
across the state to endorse this call and massively mobilize and organize
for the Strike and Day of Action on March 4.
Let's make this an historic turning point in the struggle against the
cuts, layoffs, fee hikes, and educational segregation in California.
To endorse this call and to receive more information, please contact
march4strikeanddayofaction@gmail.com and consult www.savecapubliceducation.org
Spring Statewide Conference
The next Statewide Conference was called for Spring 2010 and will be
held in Southern California. We hope that the upcoming Conference can
move forward in democratically deciding on unifying demands, as well
as build for the statewide actions on March 4. The exact location and
date are TBA and will be sent out ASAP!
Demands
Throughout the day of the October 24 Conference, individuals and organizations
had the opportunity to raise the demands they felt were most crucial
to this struggle. All written and spoken demands are compiled in the
document "Demands 10/24/2009" attached to the original email.
We hope that the upcoming Spring Conference can move forward in democratically
deciding on unifying demands for the statewide actions on March 4!
Coordinating Committee
A volunteer coordinating committee met after the conference. To join
the Coordinating Committee listserve - oct24coord@lists.berkeley.edu
- please contact oct24list@gmail.com if you would like to be added to
the email list.
We encourage other individuals and activists to join the coordinating
committee. It is open to all!
The next in person coordinating committee meetings will be on November
7th at 1pm. NorCal Location: San Jose State; SoCal Location: TBA by
participants from the region. Details will be sent out ASAP!
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Demands 10/24/2009
Throughout the day of the October 24 Conference, individuals and organizations
had the opportunity to raise the demands they felt were most crucial
to this struggle. All written and spoken demands are compiled in a list
shown below. We hope that the upcoming Spring Conference can move forward
in democratically deciding on unifying demands for the statewide actions
on March 4!
- Stop segregation of public education
- Stop privatization
- Set aside funds that support funding for education that politicians
can't take away from us
- Abolish the regents - for student, faculty, and community control
of the regents
- End of fees
- Free education
- Abolish prison- industrial complex
- Free health care
- End wars
- CA Democracy Act Proposition
- Pass AB 656
- Defend ethnic studies
- No discriminatory cuts
- Revise prop 13
- End tax cuts for rich
- End foreclosures
- No taxing social services
- Fight for a labor party
- A dedicated, protected funding stream for adult education
- Repeal prop 209
- End wars to fund education
- End US money aid to Israel
- Financial aid to immigrant students
- Create meaningful jobs for all college graduates
- Expand demands beyond education
- Immigration reform, full rights for immigrant students at UC, CSU,
CCs, Pre K-12, and Adult Education.
- Stop Arnie Duncan plan and privatization
- Increase underrepresented minority enrollment
- Allocate funds for recruitment and retention of minorities
- Scholarship fund for undocumented students
- Defend principle of public education across California
- Bail out education, not the banks
- Prioritize education spending
- Education is a priority above military spending
- Education-first budget, chop from the top
- Operation reset: all school and individual debt is forgiven
- Organize with underrepresented students of color across cultural lines
by creating and organizing with student organizations not visible in
this room
- Reduce class size
- End layoffs, furloughs and pay cuts and rehire all staff who have
already been laid off
- Freeze on student tuition
- No cuts to departments and services
- No subcontractors in public education - all workers should be hired
as state employees with full seniority
- Cap of $150,000 on administrator's salaries and freeze on hiring new
administrators
- Insured job security and fair wages for all workers and bargain in
good faith with all unions
- Full disclosure of university and high school budgets
- Free onsite quality childcare for all students and workers
- All educational institutions should be sanctuary spaces for undocumented
students and workers; adequate financial aid for undocumented students
- Free public education for all
- Expand enrollment of underrepresented groups and insure equal access
to education for all
- Full legal and civil rights for all undocumented students and workers
- Truly democratic control by students, parents, workers over all schools,
colleges and universities
- Cancel all student debt and expand scholarships for low income students
- Repeal No Child Left Behind
- End the US occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan and Redirect war funding
to education and single payer health care
- No budget cuts for public education, no cuts to education, give justice
to our kids
- Pay cuts for the Regents and Administration of 1% to 15%, funds to
be allocated for educational needs of respective institutions
- System-wide referendum
- Restore pre-prop 13 taxation of corporations
- Equal per pupil funding
- Full union rights for all education workers
- Restore class size limits
- Job security for academic student employees and lecturers
- Expand the board of directors for each UC, CSU, CC, and K-12 to include
a significant amount of teachers, workers, and students with equal voting
power
- Implement the California Master Plan of Education
- An education first budget policy within the educational system.
- Student & worker control of universities
- Develop a vision statement about the mission & purpose of education
- Overview of union organization
- Tax the rich
- Tax the corporations
- End minority rule in California
- Tax the oil companies
- Develop a campaign to enact progressive taxation in Sacramento
- Education not incarceration
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GUADELOUPE
International Conference
La Point - October 20 to 21, 2009
Solemn Declaration
- Recognizing that the economic and social situation existing in Guyana,
Martinique and Guadeloupe, is the result of a persistent pattern of
the plantation economy,
- Considering that this economy is based on monopoly rents, abuse of
dominant positions that generate injustice,
- Considering that this is a hindrance to economic and endogenous social
development,
Mass organizations, and anticolonial and anticapitalist organizations
in Guyana, Martinique and Guadeloupe, respectively, the Front for the
future of Guyana (FPAG), Collection of February 5 (K5F) and the Front
Against Exploitation (LKP) , met on October 20 and 21, 2009 at an International
Conference in La Pointe Guadeloupe. We declare:
- 1: Workers and peoples of the last colonies of France in the Caribbean
have the right to organize collectively, with respect for the different
experiences and strategies of the organizations that compose it, thus
forming a new dimension to popular and mass forces.
- 2: These new organizations are in the current historical period, a
real hope for the workers and peoples, real tools for progress towards
more freedom, more democracy and justice in these societies.
- 3: The struggle to defend workers' interests, and the people in general,
particularly the youth, the fight against all operations conducted in
these countries demonstrate a maturation of the resistance process initiated
since the days of slavery and are inspired by the great social struggles
undertaken in past centuries.
- 4: The struggle is part of an international context marked by the
struggles of the working class and peoples against capitalism and its
destruction of the planet.
Where are we today?
We have negotiated and contracted with the French government and the
employers, agreements of a fundamental political and strategic nataure.
For the first time in the history of our country, the workers and people
in motion and in the streets have imposed the satisfaction of certain
demands.
From the PONS law to the LODEOM law, none of the so-called development
plans of the elected officials have allowed any development or reduced
unemployment. Worse, they codified the contempt of and exclusion of
the peoples of our countries.
Clearly, the movements FRAG, KSF and LKP have established a new balance
between the colonial power and its local representation and the workers
and people who conscious and in mobilization. The persistence of movements
in terms of duration, the relevance of their initiatives and the popular
support they enjoy, are indicative of a profound movement, a revolutionary
movement, whose objective is to eradicate exploitation.
Building on this course, the mass organizations listed below, met on
October 20 and 21, 2009, in Guadeloupe, to share and validate their
experiences, give dimension to their practices, organize volunteers,
especially against law enforcement, to ensure victory for the workers
and people of Guyana, Martinique and Guadeloupe, and meet their demands.
The undersigned organizations:
- Reject already the idea that the findings of the Estates General of
the French Government will respond to demands and aspirations of workers
and peoples' movement.
- We demand the implementation of the agreements and further negotiations.
- We endorse the the establishment in Pointe-à-Pitre of the International
Defense Collective, created on August 9, 2009 at Corte (Corsica).
- We call for holding a new conference in February 2010 in Martinique.
The undersigned organizations call upon the workers and peoples:
- To popularize their ideas, explain their approach in the villages,
districts, sections, companies and families.
- To mobilize in the ongoing struggles and for the implementation of
the agreements on higher wages, lower prices of fuel and basic commodities,
the emergency plan for employment and the training of youth.
- To strengthen the commitment to increasing minimum social safety net,
higher pensions and stopping the criminalization of trade union action.
- To continue the fight to end exploitation, abolish privileges and
create new economic and social relations.
That workers and people of Guyana, Martinique and Guadeloupe will organize
for the final triumph of their struggle for freedom and emancipation.
Front for the future of Guyana, Albert Darnal,
Collective February 5, Philippe Pierre-Charles
Front Against Exploitation: Elie Domota
******************************
PERU
Meeting for a National Sovereign Constituent Assembly
Sunday, November 8, 2009 at the offices of the National Agrarian Federation
(CNA)
UNITED APPEAL
A call to activists and leaders of worker organizations to a unity
meeting "for a National Sovereign Constituent Assembly", sent
to us by our correspondents in Peru.
The situation that faces the government of Alan Garcia, agent of the
multinationals and the organizations of the employers, is unbearable.
The workers and the people suffer more and more from the loss of jobs,
the slavelike exploitation, the uncertainty of jobs, the starvation
wages and pensions, unemployment and the growing misery, the destruction
of health and education services, the budget cuts in the public universities,
municipalities and regional governments, to the detriment of the work
and social programs of the marginalized sectors. The government throws
the weight of the world economic crisis on the backs of the workers
and the people.
This government is sinking the country. All the sectors have been hit.
Thousands of small farmers have lost their lands and the economic crisis
becomes worse with the passage of the water resources law that privatizes
the water sector.
More than 7000 fishermen have been thrown into the street as a result
of the fish allotments.
3500 workers from Doe Run have seen their salaries lowered by 37% and
risk finding themselves without a job if production does not start back
up.
Hundreds of workers from SIDERPRU have been dismissed and the multinational
GERDAU prepares to close the plant.
The Chinese multinational Shougang has accumulated millions of dollars
of benefits but refuses to apply the law which increases the wages.
The slavelike contract system has exploited nearly a hundred thousand
workers in the mines as well as hundreds of thousands of workers in
other sectors.
Tens of thousands of government workers have lost their jobs as a result
of Legislative decrees No.'s 1025, 1026, 1027, 1028, and 1057.
More than 34 million hectares of the Amazon have been handed over to
13 petroleum businesses with privileges for the exportation of gas to
the detriment of national consumption.
The breaking up of the ports has begun with what happened to Paita.
A resolution of the demands of AIDESEP is still being rejected.
The authors of the killing of Putis are still free, the leaders of
the miners in Casapalca are still locked up and the General Secretary
of theMiners Federation and others are allegedly accused of the deaths
of policemen.
Tens of thousands of teachers can lose their positions from the municipalization
of education.
The implementation of the regionalization threatens to make the nation
explode through the creation of interregional conflicts like that between
the mines of Pasto Grande between Puno and Moquegua, with the water
from the Santa River between Ancash and La Libertad and the Huancabamba
River between Lambayaque and Piura,etc.
Each day the rejection of the government of Alan Garcia and his "operators"
who give service to the privatized concessions in favor of the multinationals
and the foreign enterprises is growing. Each day there is a growing
rejection of the corruption which extends from the governmental palace
to the ministries and on to the most modest public administrations.
Facing all of this, the workers and the people are standing to the
government up once again for a resolution of their demands as can be
seen through strikes, work stoppages and mobilizations of the health
sector workers, university professors, government workers from CITE
and CTE, fishermen, the Miners Federation, peasants, students and lastly
all of the sectors hit by the implementation of the free trade treaty
with the U.S. and the mandates of the IMF and the World Bank.
All of this makes urgent today the need to call a Sovereign Constituent
Assembly to end the situation that the government of Alan Garcia is
imposing, nullify the political constitution of Fujimori from 1993 and
respond to the demands of the workers, the peasants and the entire nation
that have not been addressed. We see a growing number of trade union,
political and popular organizations in favor of this position.
This is what has led us to take the initiative to propose a meeting
for a Sovereign National Constituent Assembly, a united front meeting
where we will have a discussion about what to do and how to make the
call. We invite your organization for a meeting that will take place
on Sunday, November 8, at 10 am at the CNA offices, 327 Jr. Antonio
Miro Quesada Street, Lima.
Lima, October 20, 2009
Signatories: Antolin Huascar Flores, National Agrarian Confederation,
CNA, President; Gustavo Gutierrez, National Federation of Workers of
the national ports - FENTENAPU, secretary general Guillermo Nina Yampasi,
National Federation of Miners, North East Regional Secretary; Susan
Portocarrero, Coalition of Andean women Erwin Salazar Vásquez,
CGTP - Lambayeque, secretary general Bernales Hugo Aguilar, National
Federation of minors, Secretary for Human Rights and Solidarity; Ermenegildo
Ananpa H., Single Union Workers Educational Centers - SUTACE, secretary
general Fausto Arce Bazán, National Union of Workers of the bank
in the nation, Secretary General; Fidel Quispe Aedo, SUTEP - Lima, Secretary
General, Walter Matos, National Federation of Mining, Secretary for
International Relations; Carlos Palacios Guillén, Union of Workers
of the civil construction of Arequipa, secretary general René
Guzmán Gómez, National Federation of Mining, secretary
to the control and discipline; Wildel Camavilca, National Federation
of Mining, regional secretary of the center; Demetrio Ruiz Rios, National
Coordination Sugar, chairman, René Velásquez Meza, Political
Movement "Proyecto San Marcos - UNMSM, Daniel Vasquez, the Workers
Party of the city and the countryside - PTCC, has the organization responsible;
Reano Arturo Tapia, CGTP - Lambayeque Secretary to the press and propaganda;
Obregón Elías Arellanes, Union Workers UPA milk, Secretary
General, Carlos Aldana Clavijo Confederation regional Pueblos Jóvenes
of Lambayeque, Secretary of the organization; Guevara Raul Zelaya, SUTEP
- Ancash.
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HONDURAS
Honduran National Front of Resistance to the Coup Celebrates
Reinstatement of Zelaya, Vows Continued Struggle For a Just Society!
Communiqué No. 32
(October 30, 2009)
The National Front of Resistance to the Coup d'Etat, facing the imminent
signing of a negotiated agreement between the commission representing
the legitimate President Manuel Zelaya Rosales and the representatives
of the de facto regime, communicates the following to the Honduran people
and the international community:
1. We celebrate the upcoming reinstatement of President Manuel Zelaya
Rosales as a popular victory over the narrow interests of the coup oligarchy.
This victory has been obtained through four months of struggle and sacrifice
by the people who, in spite of the savage repression unleashed by the
repressive forces of the state in the hands of the dominant class, have
been able to resist and grow in their levels of consciousness and organization
and turn themselves into an irrepressible social force.
2. The signing on the part of the dictatorship of the document which
mandates "returning the holder of executive power to its pre June
28 state," represents the explicit acceptance that in Honduras
there was a coup d'état that should be dismantled in order to
return to institutional order and guarantee a democratic framework in
which the people can exercise their right to transform society.
3. We demand that the accords signed at the negotiating table be processed
in an expedited fashion by the National Congress. We alert all our comrades
at the national level so that they can join the actions to pressure
for the immediate compliance with the contents of the final document
from the negotiating table.
4. We reiterate that a National Constituent Assembly is an unrenounceable
aspiration of the Honduran people and a non-negotiable right for which
we will continue struggling in the streets, until we achieve the re-founding
of our society to convert it into one that is just, egalitarian and
truly democratic.
*"At 125 DAYS OF STRUGGLE, NOBODY HERE SURRENDERS!"
Tegucigalpa, October 30, 2009
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