|
International
Liaison Committee of Workers & Peoples (ILC)
P.O. Box 40009, San Francisco, CA 94140.
Tel. (415) 626-1175; fax: (415) 626-1217.
To SUB/ UNSUBSCRIBE, contact ILC at ilcinfo@earthlink.net
website: ILC section in www.owcinfo.org
--------------------
Dear Friends and
Supporters of the ILC:
Please find below Issue n.º 71 of the weekly ILC
International Newsletter. As you will see, it continues invaluable
information and analysis you cannot find elsewhere.
Last week, we launched our $500 monthly Translation Fund to ensure that
this newsletter can continue to appear weekly, with the kind of
information you have come to expect. Where else can you read about the
presidential election campaigns of Lybon Mabasa of the SOPA in South
Africa/Azania, or of Louisa Hanoune of the Workers Party of Algeria?
Where else can you read a critique of the newly formed European Left
Party, or learn about the ongoing campaigns of Dialogue, a quarterly
magazine published by Arabs and Jews in Palestine committed to building
a Democratic and Secular Palestine? The answer is simple: Nowhere!
We know you want to continue receiving this ILC International Newsletter
every week. That is why we need each and everyone of you who receives
this newsletter to make a financial contribution, large or small, to our
Translation Fund. Without your support, we will not be able to continue
its regular publication and distribution -- which would represent a big
setback in terms of organizing the international, independent
working-class fightback against war and exploitation.
We need your support -- urgently. Please make a regular pledge (monthly,
quarterly, bi-annually or yearly) or just send us a one-time financial
contribution if you cannot afford to make a regular pledge so that we
can meet our $500 per month fund drive.
Please fill out the coupon below. Thanks in advance for your support.
Alan Benjamin
On behalf of the ILC/USA
*****************
ILC
NEWSLETTER TRANSLATION FUND SUPPORT COUPON
I wish to support the ILC Translator Fund
[ ] I pledge $ _____ to this fund on a
[ ] monthly basis
[ ] quarterly basis
[ ] semesterly basis
[ ] yearly basis
[ ] I will send a one-time-only contribution of $ _____ toward
this translation fund.
My check will be made payable to "OWC" and sent to OWC, c/o
San Francisco Labor Council, 1188 Franklin St. #203, San Francisco, CA
94109. [Please mark "ILC Fund" on your checks or money
orders.* All amounts must be payable in U.S. dollars.]
NAME:
UNION/ORG:
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
EMAIL:
TEL.:
(please fill out this coupon and return to us at ILC ilcinfo@earthlink.net)
The
ILC is a component organization of the OWC Continuations Committee and
as such has its own ILC section of the OWC website devoted to its
campaigns, newsletter and initiatives. Not all other components of the
OWC Continuations Committee, which is a coalition, necessarily endorse
all the positions of the ILC.
********************
ILC INTERNATIONAL NEWSLETTER NO. 71
A
dossier of weekly information published by the International Liaison
Committee of Workers and Peoples
(March 24, 2004)
Price 0,50 E
********************
To contact us:
ILC International Newsletter
International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples
87, rue du Faubourg Saint Denis 75010 Paris, France
Tel: (33 1) 48 01 88 28 e-mail: eit.ilc@fr.oleane.com
********************
Presentation
The international delegation that went to the ILO headquarters on
March 15 in Geneva, in the framework of the "Campaign Against the
Occupation and For Labor Rights in Iraq" delivered a memorandum and
launched an appeal to all organizations, to all the workers who oppose
the war (see our previous number). The campaign continues. The Iraqi
delegates will return to Geneva in June.
On March 20, the anniversary of the first bombardments of Iraq,
thousands of workers and youth took to the streets all over the world
against the occupation of Iraq, against the war.
On pages 2 and 3, we reproduce some of the documents collected by the
Continuations Committee of the Open World Conference in San Francisco
published on March 20 calling for a fight against the war. Also
published is correspondence from K. El Husaini, trade unionist from
Lebanon and representative of the International Confederation of Arab
Trade Unions, who participated in the delegation to the ILO.
We publish a communiqué from the magazine Dialogue that reviews
discussions between Arab and Jewish activists and calls for an
international conference for the defense of the right of return of the
Palestinian refugees, May 29, 2004 in Paris.
You will also find an interview with Lybon Mabasa, national secretary of
the Socialist Party of Azania (SOPA, South Africa) as well as an account
of the delegation that was received at the Embassy of Cameroon in Paris,
on Friday, March 19, requesting the unconditional and immediate release
of Thérèsa Béatrice Mengue, trade unionist at CAMRAIL, arbitrarily
jailed eight months ago.
Support the fight of the ILC.
Subscribe to the ILC International Newsletter
********************
Table of Contents:
1: Presentation
2: Information from the OWC Continuations Committee in San Francisco
against the war in Iraq
3: Correspondence from K. El Husiani, trade union representative from
Lebanon against the war in Iraq
* The magazine Dialogue invites to an international conference
for the right of return of the Palestinian refugees.
4, 5: Re the elections in Azania. The secretary general of SOPA answers
our questions. South Africa.
6: Article about the constitution of the European Left Party.
7: "So that Algeria lives, one and indivisible!" Program of
Louisa Hanoune to the presidency of the Republic of Algeria. (final).
8: Delegation of the women workers to the embassy of Cameroon in defense
of Beatrice Mengue, jailed unionist in Cameroon.
Subscriptions
********************
Following the Open World Conference in San Francisco in February
2000, the OWC Continuations Committee regularly publishes news and
information on its website. We are reprinting below a few recent texts
from its site concerning the fight against the war.
Statement to March 20th Antiwar Protests:
* End the Occupation of Iraq, All Foreign Troops Out Now!
* Stop the FTAA!
* U.S. Out of Haiti!
* No U.S. Intervention in Venezuela!
On March 20th, we workers and peoples of the world are taking to the
streets to demand: End the occupation of Iraq! All foreigns troops out
now! No to the FTAA! Our governments must withdraw from the FTAA
negotiations! U.S. Army out of Haiti! No intervention by U.S.
imperialism in Venezuela!
The protests on March 20th are taking place in the context of the
heinous terrorist attack of March 11th against the workers and youth of
Madrid. The Spanish people have responded by kicking out the Aznar
government -- one of Bush's most loyal allies -- and putting the PSOE
[Socialist Party] into power with the clear mandate to bring the troops
home now. The Spanish workers and youth have shown that they refuse to
be manipulated and are perfectly aware that the root cause of terrorism
is the U.S. government's "endless war" against the peoples of
the world -- all for the sake of profits and empire.
On our continent of the Americas, March 20th is also a day of struggle
against the FTAA. No matter what form the FTAA takes -- whether it's an
"FTAA Lite" or a "FTAA a-la-Carte" or an
"Amended FTAA" -- its aim is to destroy national sovereignty
and the rights and conquests won by all the oppressed through their past
struggles. This is why we demand that all our governments immediately
withdraw from these FTAA negotiations!
On March 20th, we are uniting against all military interventions by U.S.
imperialism -- which now has troops stationed in Haiti, is threatening
Cuba, and has already supported and financed two attempted coups in
Venezuela. All occupation troops must leave Haiti now so that the
Haitian people can freely determine their own destiny.
Our struggle is bound up with -- and fully supportive of -- the struggle
of all the antiwar movements the world over that are calling for the
withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraq and that have affirmed time
and again that the policies of war and destruction are not being carried
out in the name of working people in their countries.
More than ever, we need the unity of the workers, the youth, the labor
and popular organizations to stop the FTAA and the destruction of our
rights! We say no to war -- and we call for an end to the occupation of
Iraq and the return of all foreign troops to their countries of origin!
We call for solidarity among the peoples of the world! Our governments
must withdraw now from FTAA negotiations!
signed/
Alan Benjamin (U.S.) and Julio Turra (Brazil)
On behalf of the Coordinating Committee of the
Western Hemisphere Conference Against the FTAA
----------
U.S. Labor Against the War Calls for
Labor to Turn Out for
March 20 Global Day of Action
(excerpts)
On March 20, the one-year anniversary of the U.S. bombing and
invasion of Iraq, millions of people across the globe will once again
take to the streets to say,
"The world still says NO to war!"
This was a war based on lies. There is no evidence Iraq was involved
in 9-11. Iraq posed no imminent threat to the United States. No weapons
of mass destruction have been found there.
Bush lied ...
U.S. troops and innocent Iraqi civilians died.
Hundreds of U.S. soldiers died; thousands more have been
physically or emotionally scarred for life. Tens of thousands of Iraqi
civilians have suffered casualties and death. Unemployment among Iraqi
workers has reached 70%, but there are no unemployment benefits. Wages
for most Iraqi workers have been frozen at $60 per month, while all
bonuses, profit sharing and subsidies for housing and food have been
eliminated.
Iraqi workers have been denied the right to organize unions of their
choice. The U.S.-run Occupation Authority continues to enforce a 1987
Hussein-era law that prohibits unions in the public sector and state
enterprises where most Iraqis work.
All this suffering, for what? To make Iraq safe for Halliburton, Bechtel
and a host of other corporate cronies of the Bush administration! The
Occupation Authority just issued a new decree, Public Order 39, allowing
100% foreign ownership of Iraqi businesses and the repatriation of
profits.
One year of U.S.-led occupation of Iraq has only brought chaos and
disaster to that country.
Iraq teeters on the brink of malnutrition, chaos and civil strife while
multinational corporations scramble to divide up Iraq's national
resources and wealth -- the same corporations that violate workers'
rights, fight unions, and downsize, outsource and export jobs in the
United States.
----------
LEBANON
"We Must Affirm Our Solidarity with Iraqi Workers in Their Struggle
Against Tyranny and For Their Trade Union Rights!"
In the face of the difficulties confronted by the Iraqi people, we
came together and drew up a protest statement directed to the U.S.
authorities which we are delivering to the ILO. In this manner, we have
assumed our responsibilities before the Iraqi people.
The suffering of the Iraqi people has lasted a long time, and we do not
want it to continue. The suffering began with the siege that was imposed
on them under various fraudulent pretenses. The heinous war was
conducted under the pretext of ridding the Iraqi people and the world of
Saddam Hussein's regime and of the so-called weapons of mass
destruction.
After the fall of Saddam's regime and the entry of the forces of
occupation, it is no longer a question of weapons of mass destruction
nor of Saddam Hussein himself, as he has been detained. Given that the
reasons invoked for the invasion of Iraq no longer exist, why then are
the occupying armies still in Iraqi territory?
I will not explain here in detail the vast suffering of the Iraqi
people, and especially of its workers, but I will give some examples of
what happens there. First regarding the activities of the security
forces, I want to underscore their brutality, the unjustified and
lengthy arrests, the barbaric treatment of Iraqis with total disregard
for international law, the rampant arrests of the disabled and children
under 15 (arrested without justification and held for long periods), as
well as the dismissal of 174 judges illegally deprived of their
indemnity.
The mass layoffs affecting a large number of workers have created an
army of unemployed that threatens the fate of their families and
contributes greatly to the aggravation of the economic crisis, placing
security at risk and consequently threatening the stability of different
Iraqi cities.
Today Iraqi workers live in terrible conditions. In addition to the
terrifying fall in their standard of living, the propagation of idleness
and the instability on the social and economic stage, the workers are
threatened today by the deprivation of the trade union freedoms and the
non-application of international labor conventions, ratified years ago.
The workers fear the decisions that could be taken by the armed forces
of occupation, particularly those relative to the economic sphere
(privatization Š). They fear that Iraq's riches could be stolen by
multinational corporations of various countries.
In this dangerous period we are experiencing today, we must affirm our
solidarity with the Iraqi workers in their struggle against tyranny and
for their trade union rights, alongside all the political forces that
reject violence, that reject war and that demand peace.
The tyrannical war launched against the Iraqi people is a war against
humanity. The victims are the Iraqi people and also the soldiers of the
allied countries who have been forced into a deadly war that only serves
the aims of Bush and his allies. This is a war to find markets for the
multinational corporations and that will allow them to control natural
resources all over the world -- today in Iraq, tomorrow the world! (we
don't know where! )
This war was launched in the name of democracy -- but democracy is being
trampled upon daily. It is a war against workers and the freedom of
peoples, a war directed by the stockbrokers, the merchants, the
opportunists as well as the ambitious.
----------
-- Khadije El Husaini, trade unionist from Lebanon, representative of
the International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions (ICATU), delegate
to the ILO delegation in Geneva, March 15.
********************
Dialogue Magazine Issues the Following Communiqué:
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE IN DEFENSE OF PALESTINIAN REFUGEES' RIGHT OF
RETURN
May 29, 2004 -- Paris, France
Dear Friends,
Together with human rights, trade union or political activists from more
than 40 countries, you have endorsed the appeal to organize an
International Conference in Defense of the Palestinian Refugees' Right
to Return to their homeland. This appeal was launched on June 15, 2003
in Geneva, Switzerland, at a meeting of trade unionists in defense of
ILO conventions.
The appeal states:
"In the difficult situation created for all the peoples
of the world by the war in Iraq, we declare once again that no solution
can lead to peace and justice without respecting the democratic rights
of the Palestinian people -- and above all their right to return to
their homeland. Rights are indivisible.
"Has a Palestinian worker not the right, as every worker, to the
dispositions of ILO conventions, which codify workers' and trade union
rights?
"Beyond our differences, we hereby declare together that democracy
requires that the right of return be respected for all the
Palestinians. Without democracy there can be no lasting peace.
"Like all the peoples of the world, the Palestinian people have a
right to their land, to peace and freedom."
"On the basis of this declaration, we propose to act in
common to prepare an international conference in defense of the right of
the Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland, to their village.
"
Since June 2003, this appeal has been circulated widely throughout the
world and endorsed by more than 3000 unionists and democratic rights
activists on every continent.
With all the new and tragic information emanating day after day from
refugee camps and from the whole Middle East region, we think it
necessary and urgent to convene the International Conference in Defense
of the Palestinian Refugees' Right of Return as proposed by the
initiators of the appeal.
Dialogue, a bulletin of discussion between Arabs and Jews
of Palestine, has endorsed the appeal and has volunteered to host the
conference in Paris, France, on Saturday, May 29 of this year.
This conference is not counterposed to any other national or
international initiative aimed at addressing the vital problem of the
right of return.
The framework for this conference has been set by the international
appeal launched by the trade unionists and human rights activists
gathered in Geneva on June 15, 2003.
Several prominent figures of the labor and civil rights movements on the
international level have already let us know that they will participate
in this conference.
Dialogue has offered to publish a special issue to appear
in early May 2004, where all those who will be building this conference,
and who agree with the framework established by the June 15, 2003
international appeal, can contribute their points of view.
This conference will be independent from any institution and will only
be funded by those who wish to support it.
In other words, it is your financial contributions that will enable us
to cover the cost of the meeting hall and will also enable us to help
some participants travel to Paris.
Every endorser will receive a free copy of the Dialogue
Special Issue preparing the conference, as well as a full report on the
debates.
I wish to support this conference [ ] 10 euros [ ] 20 euros [ ] 50 euros
[ ] 100 euros
Checks should be made payable to Les amis de Dialogue, 87,
Rue du Faubourg, Saint Denis 75010 Paris, France
For all info about the conference, please contact Jean Pierre Barrois at
<j-p.barrois@wanadoo.fr>
********************
SOUTH AFRICA/AZANIA
SOPA Leader Lybon Mabasa's Response to A Few Questions
… Elections have been announced in South Africa/Azania. What
kind of elections are these?
Lybon Mabasa: On the 9th of February 2004 President Thabo Mbeki
announced the date of the general National elections which are also
presidential elections. Whereas in 1999 the same elections were in June
of that year, this early announcement and the financial implications
thereof, in our view were meant to throw the parties outside parliament
into disarray as the majority of them were not going to be ready and
financially healthy to meet the challenge.
As a result all parliamentary parties have been able to pay all the
money required because, in the first instance, they are helped directly
by government but also the most interesting phenomenon is the fact that
banks and big financial houses have also poured millions of rand to
assist the very same parties. All parliamentary parties are parties
committed to market oriented policies of the IMF and World Bank, not a
single one of them is in any way oriented to policies in defense of the
working class, their democratic gains won through struggle and their
independent organizations.
… In what conditions were these elections announced? How are
they being prepared and what is at stake for the Socialist Party of
Azania (SOPA) on a national as well as international level ?
Mabasa: SOPA comes to these elections under extremely difficult
conditions, exacerbated by lack of financial resources. However, the
elections provide a national forum and platform for the party to raise
all those issues that are being ignored or played down by parties
married to the captains of big finance capital.
SOPA is therefore called to work much harder than all parties contesting
these elections. We should not end up at the point of raising these
issues we should also concretely get people to vote for SOPA. And get
some of our people elected. Whereas, SOPA is using its manifesto to
campaign, raising consistently the issue of the debt, that it should be
unconditionally scrapped - not only in our country but everywhere in the
world but most particularly in Africa where whole sectors of the
economies have been completely ruined by the debt burden. We are also
fighting for the sovereignty of our country in the context of the unity
of nations that are independent and are prioritizing the needs of their
people, not in the context of both the African Union (AU) and NEPAD that
have become forums of surrender to the dictates of the IMF and the World
Bank.
… These elections are taking place 10 years after the Kempton
Park Agreements and the 1994 elections which placed the ANC in power.
What balance sheet can you draw of these 10 years, mainly as far as
workers and Black people in Azania are concerned ?
Mabasa: These elections are taking place ten years after the
Kempton Park agreements, they taking place in conditions that are
extremely similar to those of 1994, save to say, under a government that
came into being in the name of Black people. However, the main
beneficiaries of this very government are white people and the
traditional white institutions who continue to do business under much
more favourable conditions. Whereas, the people in government are in the
main not white, however, the same people have perpetuated the same
economic relations that were first put in place by the Apartheid regime.
As a direct result of these policies, the living conditions of Black
people have worsened.
Today more than two million people have been retrenched or laid off,
millions of others seek employment with no likelihood of ever finding a
job, more people are homeless and live in makeshift shacks, people
remain landless and the public health situation is in complete disarray.
The saddest thing is: In freedom our people have become completely
powerless and lie at the mercy of institutions of international finance
capital like the IMF and the World Bank. The government of the day, like
other governments of Africa who function and operate at the behest of
the IMF and the World Bank, is indefinitely postponing delivery to the
poor, the unemployed and the landless under the guise of so-called
progressive economic policies that are nothing else but pies in the sky.
… Since the Soweto uprising of June 16th 1976, the Black
Consciousness Movement you come from has been waging a struggle for the
real sovereignty of Black people in Azania. Can you outline again the
major steps of the struggle SOPA is still carrying on today and the
place you take in it particularly ?
Mabasa: When the Black Peoples Convention (BPC) came into being,
under the leadership of Steve Biko and other leaders, it rallied under
the slogan ONE AZANIA, ONE NATION - it was call for the unity of the
oppressed Black people who were being divided along ethnic and tribal
lines but also it was a call that went against the grain of racism that
had clearly divided the people on racial bases. The call was for the
building of true independent nation led and ruled in the interest of its
majority -- that is, black people, it also meant that political power in
South Africa will remain meaningless unless it is transformed in deed
and in fact into the power of the Black majority. It was therefore not
surprising that the uprising of 1976 led by students under the banner of
the Black Consciousness Movement rallied people under the slogan 'BLACK
POWER', re-emphasizing that the oppressed and exploited people of our
country had basically one struggle that could only be consummated by the
building of a truly Black Republic.
… SOPA addressed a message of support to the 8th Congress of
COSATU which took place last September. What is the significance of this
initiative and what follow-up are you giving to it ?
Mabasa: The struggle to achieve this goal could not be realized
outside the struggle of workers to force and win concession in the
workplace through their unions and their independent organizations.
Through the struggle of workers and their unions democratic rights have
been won and these rights must be defended against governments and
institutions that seek to reverse them. They are important as they form
part of basis of the very foundation of human civilization.
SOPA's fight to defend and support workers in their daily struggles is
in itself part of the struggle to build socialism. We, as a party, have
consistently supported COSATU, other unions and federations in their
struggles against the bosses. We supported their general strike against
privatization because we saw it not only as a threat to workers but also
as a situation that will add more hardships to the already disadvantaged
Black majority.
Any attack on social or public property is an attack on all the people,
as a matter of fact, is the very basis of the destruction of independent
nations with the ability to work for its people.
The setting up tripartite structures like NEDLAC where the bosses and
government are supposed to solve common problems with workers are
nothing but structures that are set up to liquidate the hard won rights
of the workers. Indeed, workers should engage bosses and government only
in forums of collective bargaining. Both government and the bosses have
no other program except weakening the unity of workers and incorporating
them in programs that will finally destroy the very basis of their
existence.
Workers and their organizations should guard and protect themselves
against such maneuvers to weaken them, the tool of collective bargain
for workers need to be defended and not allow the leaders of unions to
fall prey to corruption in these tripartite forums. The workers must
lead in the call for a break with institutions that seek to subjugate
and destroy them. The only real way out for workers in our country is a
break with NEDLAC and the building of workers organizations that are
independent from both government and big business.
The unions in our country have had a rich history of struggle and have
led without fear and in unity, however, under the present situation they
have made themselves vulnerable by agreeing to serve in the structures
of both the government and the bosses- the very institutions they are
engaged in a deathly struggle with. Without breaking with NEDLAC the
workers can never emerge victorious.
SOPA addressed a message of support to the COSATU congress because we
were in complete agreement with them in terms of their own balance sheet
and especially in relation to the real genesis of the problems that are
facing workers today and Black people in general in our country.
Our political orientation is that of defending the workers and their
gains in the form of democratic rights won through struggle which
include amongst others the very right to organize, the right to form
unions, the right to bargain collectively and above all the right to a
job - and when any union is involved in the struggle to advance or
defend these rights, the Socialist Party will unhesitatingly give its
unqualified support because that is also the essence of our own
struggles.
We also are of an opinion that the federation called COSATU is a direct
result and product of the workers' struggle to build unions that will
represent their own interest. So in reality COSATU belongs to the
millions of workers who set it up. It is a reflection of their will and
their unbendable commitment. The fact that different leaderships can
display a deviant behaviour or attitude towards the historical role and
mission of COSATU does not change the fact that in the final analysis
COSATU belongs to the workers who set it up and it is our duty and role
to fight for its soul and to rescue it from those who mean harm to it.
The balance sheet clearly demonstrated that the material conditions of
workers in the present dispensation will finally determine the direction
the federation will take.
Workers are confronted with real life situations (unemployment,
retrenchments, homelessness, landlessness, the list is endless) that
demand of them a new way of dealing with their unions and they cannot
continue to accept the betrayal of their leadership without question
especially as most of them leave them to join the ranks of the ruling
elite that rule in the name of Black people but on behalf of big
business and the institutions of international finance capital like the
IMF and the World Bank. The Socialist Party for its part continues to
seek ways and means of engaging workers and the unions of COSATU.
… It is in Azania that the AU was established and that it
adopted NEPAD as program. Beyond Africa, great powers tend to integrate
more and more the South African government into the implementation of
their plans, as we can see with the developments in Haiti. As a member
of the ILC, how does SOPA, of which you are the president, analyse all
these developments ?
Mabasa: Finally, we need to comment on the role and place of
South Africa in the scheme of imperialism that is dominated by US
imperialism. The president of South Africa is not only the confidant of
his American counterpart but he is being put to play the same role as
that played by the Prime Minister of the UK, Tony Blair. It is much
through South Africa that the African world is being made in the
"image (meaning in the interest of) of US imperialism."
When great resistance was shown both at home and abroad to Clinton's
Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), they needed someone or some
country that will package it in the manner that will make it acceptable.
In came President Mbeki with NEPAD, Africa's version of AGOA with the
same emphasis on partnerships between rich and poor countries. What the
protagonist of NEPAD did not tell the people is that the relationships
they were talking about were like those of a horse and its rider. Africa
through NEPAD will continue to lose out while still under the clutches
of the crippling debt and fulfilling all the conditionalities of good
governance instead of good governments.
This NEPAD which was being championed by President Mbeki as the 'cure
all' of Africa's problems. NEPAD is also linked to the African Union
which is styled after the European Union and through its security
council will play the role of the 'policeman of the region', Africa will
finally have its own structure that will play a far greater role in
localized aggression, no more will imperialism face the discrediting
process of sending the so-called peace keeping forces in African
countries. In all these structures Thabo Mbeki is playing a leading role
even in the US led war against Iraq Mbeki went to Washington and Bush
visited South Africa and Nigeria during that period. Mbeki is becoming
the necessary link between US imperialism and Africa and Black people in
the Diaspora.
It was therefore not an accident of history that he went to Haiti at the
time when he did. Aristide has been doing exactly what US imperialism
has prescribed for poor nations - taking whatever resources available
and pay the debt. He betrayed those who fought to bring him to power and
therefore his handlers and masters wanted a decent way out for him and
what better person to use than the president of the Republic Of South
Africa.
South Africa is no longer important for its people and African people
only, it has become an important cog in the wheel of imperialism. First
it was Mandela who did not demand justice and freedom for his people but
chose a route that is despised by the west but which hailed as the best
for Africa. The US stated categorically that the Truth And
Reconciliation Commission would not work in the US because as a
superpower they need to be seen as pursuing justice but they thought it
was good for Africa and Africans.
The role of Mbeki is greater than that of just an ordinary African
leader. South Africa has long been called the gateway into Africa and
beyond and therefore its leaders must become the conveyor belts though
which the machinations of imperialism must find their way, be it in
Haiti, Brazil, the US itself or some obscure island at the back of
beyond.
-- March 13, 2004
********************
A Contribution to the Discussion Regarding the Formation of the
European Left Party
A Few Reflections on the Proposed Manifesto
(excerpt)
On January 10 and 11, 19 parties from European countries resulting
from the crisis of the Communist Parties met in Berlin to constitute a
party named the European Left Party (ELP) with the objective of
participating in the elections to the European Parliament that will take
place June 13, 2004.
Eleven of the 19 parties reached an agreement. At the reading of the
proposed manifesto of the ELP and the statutes submitted to the
discussion, one can only wonder about the objectives of this initiative.
We do not ask anybody to take our word for it. We will attempt to prove,
through quotations, the negative character for the working class and its
organizations of this process.
Although it takes place in a European setting, this enterprise acquires
world-wide importance for several reasons. First, the European nations
were at the origin of the industrial revolution: Britain, Germany,
France... consequently at the birth of the industrial proletariat, and
the constitution of the first workers' parties and trade unions
dedicated to the fight against exploitation and the abolition of private
property.
For the upholders of imperialism and the defenders of the private
ownership of the means of production on a world scale, the defeat of the
working class in European countries is an essential question.
The institutions of the European Union are part and parcel of the
overall policies of imperialism and play a particularly pernicious role.
It is not by chance that the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC),
which is a direct appendage of the EU, openly defending the application
of European directives, has worldwide connections and is actively
present in Latin America, Africa and elsewhere.
In combination with this initiative that gathers a good number of the
parties resulting from the crisis of the different CPs, one is faced
with the creation of another "party of the anti-capitalist
left", supported by the friends of Krivine-Besancenot in France and
other European countries.
Although there may be contradictory aspects in these two unfolding
processes, they have a common point, as we will demonstrate: they place
themselves in the framework of institutions of the European Union, of
its defense, and therefore of the offensive to integrate and disfigure
the organized labor movement. All of this, of course, is accompanied by
an impulsion of social forums which, as the European Social forum of
November 2003 demonstrated, has no other outlook than
to"democratize" the European Union.
1. On the content of the projected manifesto of the ELP
The first striking feature of the document adopted at the founding
meeting of the ELP in Berlin -- particularly insofar as the parties all
call themselves "communist" -- is that lack of any reference
to the 1917 Revolution and the rejection of any project based on the
expropriation of capital. The Manifesto is based therefore entirely
within the framework of the private ownership of the means of
production.
One reads: "We fight for a society that goes beyong capitalistic
and patriarchal logic. Our goal is human emancipation, the liberation of
men and women from all manner of oppression, exploitation and exclusion.
Further on, the Manifesto continues: "But we cannot follow the same
paths taken in the 20th century that brought big achievements but also
big defeats and tragedies for the forces of revolutionary inspíration."
Therefore it is quite clear: "Human emancipation, the liberation of
men and women from all shades of oppression" cannot be attained
following the same parth taken at any time during the 20th century
because these paths only brought about big defeats and tragedires for
revolutionaries.
This is why we cannot find in the Manifesto any reference to the class
struggle, nor to the private ownership of the means of production --
much less to its expropriation. The objective is therefore "human
emancipation" in a capitalist framework that becomes the
"capitalistic logic" which it is necessary to
"overtake" or "transform." Others seeking the same
objective, say that one must "humanize" globalization and/or
that one must introduce a series of "social clauses."
The Manifesto continues: "We conceive the role and the tasks of the
political left in Europe as a contribution to form a large political and
social alliance for a radical change in politics while developing
alternatives and concrete propositions for the transformation of the
current capitalistic societies."
In fact, the Manifesto adopted in Berlin consideres that there can be a
change of politics while preserving the private ownership of the great
means of production. But our assessment in the ILC from the balance
sheet drawn in European countries from the implementation of the
Maastricht , Amsterdam, and Nice treaties, is exactly the opposite. We
have known all manner of so-called political "alternatives" in
all the EU-member European countries: the Plural Left government which
preceded the government of the right in France; the Blair government in
Great Britain, which followed the Thatcher-Major government; the SP
Gonzalez government in Spain that preceded the Aznar government. What is
the balance sheet of all these governments of right and left, all of
them subjected to the same European treaties? All of them implemented
the same anti-worker policies demanded by these EU institutions and
treaties. The point of departure of the European treaties, it must be
understood, is the defense of property ownership of the means of
production and its intangible character.
2. About the crisis of the Nation States
We read in the Manifesto: "The new shapes of power on a world
scale generate a crisis for the Nation States, for the alliance systems
and for the international order resulting from WWII."
The "crisis of the Nation States" is treated here as something
natural, an objective fact. Therefore one ignores the destruction of the
Nation States by U.S. imperialism, in the name of the preservation of
the capitalist system. To speak of the "crisis of the Nation
States" is to remove all responsibility for the assault on the
Nation States by the U.S. government. According to this view, the
"new shapes of power" are responsible there again, a formula
whose objective is the same. This explains why the responsibility of the
U.S. administration in Afghanistan and Iraq is not even mentioned in the
seven columns of this Manifesto.
In the following sentence one reads: "The theory of the endless war
contained in the 'Bush doctrine' is actualy both an illustration of, and
the spiral of, the terrorist violence fed by the war that favors the
growth of inequalities and reduces democratic spaces." Therefore,
the only reproach one can make to Bush is that his "doctrine"
of the permanent war favors the growth of inequalities and reduces the
spaces of democracy. ... But what is the daily reality that we all can
observe? Throughout the world, the Bush administration undermines the
existence of soveriegn nations. This is an inquestionable fact.
Sometimes it does this through the aegis of direct war -- such as in
Afghanistan and Iraq. Sometimes it carries this out in the framework of
"global projects" such as in the Middle East and in Europe.
The new "Europe of Regions," in fact, is all about undermining
existing nations and the democratic and social rights, as well the gains
of the working class and the peoples registered in the framework of the
nations. Let us continue...
3. Acceptance and defense of the Europe of Maastricht and
regionalization
We read further on: "For these reasons, the European Union, the
whole European continent, becomes a more important space for an
alternative policy: in addition to the traditional political levels, the
Nation States, also the regions and townships in relation to world
developments."
Not a word of condemnation in the whole Manifesto on the dismantling of
townships and nations programmed in the Maastricht Treaty. Not a word on
the principle of subsidiarity. It would only be about an additional
"level", and more importantly for an "alternative
policy."
Furthermore: "We will give an increased role to the regional
committees and to the economic and social committees as institutional
organs essential to the democractic and regional politics of the
European Union." Therefore, the Manifesto adopted in Berlin places
itself openly in the framework of the "Europe of Regions."
With such a defense of regionalization and of European institutions, the
phrase preceding this paragraph takes on a precise connotation:
"The heart of the crisis of the European Union is democracy. During
decades, Europe was constructed top-down, disregarding..the great
diversity of its cultures and its tongues, without the people and often
against them."
Therefore, the question of democracy in Europe is one of "total
contempt for the diversity of its languages..." This is stated in
the framework of the defense of regionalization and the economic and
social councils of the EU and provides support for the dismemberment of
the Republic for the benefit of "peoples, languages, culture and
institutions. ..."
Let us repeat it: In every nation or state in Europe, the so-called
regionalization undermines the rights and the gains of the working class
and peoples; it represents an assault on the national public services,
Social security, collective-bargaining agreements that are codified in
the framework of the nation. At the same time, this "regionalization"
does not recognize the right to self-determination of the nations that
live within the same State -- as for example, in Spain. ...
********************
ALGERIA
"THE ALGERIAN NATION MUST LIVE! The Algerian Republic must live!
We publish the final installment of the electoral program of Louisa
Hanoune, candidate of the Workers Party to the presidential election of
April 8, 2004 (see issues 67, 68 and 69).
It is about enacting measures of détente, of peace, observing
respect for human rights, to put an end to the terrible consequences of
the family code on women and children by the enactment of laws
establishing the effective equality before the law and care of children
in all circumstances. It is about establishing the basis of an era of
peace and democracy and hope. It is possible, it is feasible.
It is possible to stop the social regression which is the feeding ground
of violence, to absorb the unemployed that transforms into outcasts over
30% of the working age population, while preserving and reinforcing
nationalizations and public corporations which along with the public
function, ensure the majority of jobs and have ensured essentially the
provisional re-location of disaster victims.
It is possible and vital to preserve and relaunch national production by
sovereign decisions to re-locate decently and definitively disaster
victims to rebuild our country especially the damaged zones, forging a
national plan of development structured on public works. The Algerian
nation has the means, the state has $33 billion dollars in reserve from
oil reserves that are the inalienable property of the nation. Democracy
requires that public funds be dedicated exclusively to public investment
and the enormous social needs of the nation.
The state has the sufficient means to come to the aid of the fellahs, to
give fresh impetus to a true agrarian reform, an integral part of the
national development plan, in conformity with the nation's needs.
It is possible to re-think the decisions an agreements that are the
product of outside pressures, harmful decisions for the Algerian
economy, for the present and future of the people, future generations,
of decisions that alienate the sovereign decisions of the Algerian
state, question the unity of the Republic in violation of the Algerian
Constitution, notably article 17 that establishes: "Public property
is a collective national asset. That includes the sub-soil, mines and
quarries, sources of natural energy, the mineral, natural and living
wealth of the different zones of the national maritime domain, waters
and forests. In addition, it refers to railway, maritime and aerial
transportation, postal and telecommunications, and other goods
established by law."
From a democratic point of view, no one can dispose of the collective
national property, under any pretext contrary to articles 1, 13 and 17
of the Constitution of the Algerian republic that can be repealed by the
sovereign state. What must also be repealed is any disposition that
questions by way of various subterfuges the nationalization of
agricultural lands.
It is possible to unite the efforts on an international scale to end the
pillage of peoples by the reimbursement of the external debt, pillaging
that is the origin of the bloodletting of the African continent, and
that mortgages all prospects of progress in debtor countries, a
pillaging that only benefits international financial institutions, that
are at the exclusive service of the multinationals.
By restoring to the people their right to dispose of their riches, to
live, to restitute all their chances at peace, to end the barbaric
regression of which the exploitation of children is an expression, in
resolving the social problems that have their origins particularly in
the unemployment of their parents and the loss of spending power. In our
country we have the means to re-launch the national economy, increase
wages while indexing them to the cost of living and encourage national
production.
From the point of view of democracy, the vital budgets are that of
health, national education, higher education, professional formation,
housing and water, shouldn't these be extended substantially allowing
these to cover the enormous social needs?
From the point of view of democracy, the workers, the producers and the
builders of the country aren't they entitled to demand that their point
of view be understood, that it be taken into account since they express
the aspirations of the majority?
From the point of view of democracy, the position expressed massively on
February 25 and 26, 2003, in the general strike against privatizations,
for an increase in wages of all amazighophones and arabophones in
Algeria, representing the vast majority of the people shouldn't they be
in charge of economic policy?
From the point of view of democracy, those employed in public health and
teaching that accomplish fundamental missions, haven't they the right to
improvement in their working and living conditions?
From the point of view of democracy, with foreign currency reserves of
over $33 billion dollars, isn't it time that the guaranteed minimum wage
be raised to 24,000DA -- this sum corresponding to the budget
established by the trade union for a family of seven on the basis of the
cost of living?
From the point of view of democracy, shouldn't the Algerian state put an
end to exploitation of unemployed professionals the young, forbidding
all wages lower that the guaranteed minimum wage and the sub-contracting
of Algerian laborers particularly in the gas and oil fields?
From the point of view of democracy, international financial
institutions (IMF, World Ban, WTOŠ) are not authorized to dictate
policies to our country contrary to its interests.
It is up to the Algerian people to formulate economic choices according
to their needs and that Algerian institutions should employ. This
requires the installation of a real democracy, restoring speech to the
people as the only sovereign to choose freely its representatives on the
basis of confrontation of programs, controllable and revocable
representatives, seated in institutions by the will of the people that
will define their form and content.
Yes, it is possible to chase away the specter of dislocation of our
country. The rescue of our country is possible, even if all efforts are
not combined, but express the will of us all. There is still time.
The regulation of problems is possible. It is possible to resolutely
engage in the reconstruction of our country, in clarity and fraternity,
in serenity and hope recovered.
But the condition remains for the preservation of the integrity of the
nation and its sovereignty.
Algeria must live.
The people of Algeria must live, with its two linguistic components,
enjoying equal rights.
For this, the Algerian Republic must remain one and indivisible.
Algiers, February 20, 2004
********************
CAMEROON
Following a first delegation on March 8, 2004 on the occasion of the
International Women's Day and on the appeal of the working women
"to all the women of the world", a delegation was received at
the Embassy of Cameroon in Paris on Friday, March 19. We hereby publish
what transpired. (See issues 65, 66 and 69 of ILC International
Newsletter)
Unconditional and immediate liberation of our sister and comrade, Mengue
Theresa Béatrice, trade unionist at CAMRAIL, arbitrarily jailed eight
months ago!
This is the delegation's report:
Mengue Thérèse Béatrice, employed by CAMRAIL, member of the
CGT-Liberté, was arbitrarily arrested on July 10, 2003 and jailed at
Kondengui for her trade union activities in Cameroon.
Mengue Thérèse Béatrice is the mother of six children the youngest of
which is 2 _ and the oldest 18. She has undergone unbearable pressures
that have threatened her health and sanity. She has been seriously ill
over a month and a half and the state of her health is of grave concern.
What is she accused of? The simple defense of CAMRAIL workers' rights
through trade union action. After her arrest, and despite judiciary
instructionŠ.the prosecutor's office found no offense, she has been
kept in preventive detention.
The delegation indicated that a campaign of petitions, and stands taken
by trade unions in France and on an international level. She quoted the
letter addressed to the President of Cameroon by the secretary general
of the ICFTU, Guy Rider, who again protested against the latest arrest
of Thérèse Béatrice Mengue:
-----
September 8, 2003
Mr. President:
Re: False accusations against Mr. Benoit Essiga and Mrs. Thérese Béatrice
Mengue
We have just learned that the authorities of Ngounou have recently
rejected the false accusations against 13 of 14 employees of CAMRAIL. We
believe the management at CAMRAIL acted with the collusion of certain
government authorities, no doubt with the objective of destabilizing the
central union CGT-Liberté.
We address this pressing appeal for you to intervene with the competent
authorities to ensure that the false accusations against Mr. Benoit
Essiga and his wife, Mrs. Thérese Béatrice Mengue be equally voided.
We also request your intervention so that all the victims of harassment
on the part of CAMRAIL are reinstated to their jobs at this company.
The affiliates of the ICFTU are closely following the evolution of the
dossiers of these victims and decry the anti-union attitude of the new
management at CAMRAIL. The very image of the Republic of Cameroon is at
risk in the absence of a quick and satisfactory resolution in favor of
the victims. We remind you that the incarceration and the physical and
more harassment of unionists because of their union activities,
constitutes a flagrant violation of international legislation in the
matter of union rights and notably a grave lack of respect for ILO
Conventions 87 and 98. which Cameroon has ratified respectively in 1960
and 1962.
Awaiting your positive and rapid reaction, please receive, Mr.
President, our most respectful sentiments.
Secretary General ICFTU
The chargé d'affaires of the Cameroon embassy declared that he had
received the petitions and the various positions had been mailed. He had
not received any information since March 8 from the Cameroon
authorities. When asked: of what is Mengue Béatrice Thérèse accused
of since the public prosecutor's office had not found any charges
against her they had nevertheless maintained her in preventive custody,
he indicated that not having received any information he could not
answer. The delegation insisted on the fact that Mengue was a trade
unionist, mother of a family and jailed over eight months, without any
charges or judgment against her, that she was sick and it was urgent
that she be released.
The chargé d'affaires said he would get information and would contact
the delegation at that time, that he would receive the delegation again
and that a solution would be found. He recalled that CAMRAIL had been
privatized and was no longer under the government's control, that the
Bolloré group was the new owner.
The delegation plans, while awaiting a new interview, to increase the
support in the direction of the embassy and the Cameroon authorities.
She communicates this account to all correspondents of the ILC
International Newsletter and invites them to widen the international
campaign towards the Cameroon authorities for the
Unconditional and immediate liberation of Mengue Thérèse Béatrice,
trade unionist at CAMRAIL.
Increase your support.
Telegrams, fax, mail.
M. Paul Biya
President of the Republic of Cameroon
Presidential Palace
Yaounde (Cameroon)
Fax : (237) 222 08 70
Minister in charge of Justice, Garde des Sceaux
Fax : (237) 223 00 05
M. Nkili Robert
Minister of Employment, Work and Social Security
Fax : (237) 223 09 40
Petition to the Embassy of Cameroon in France
73, rue d'Auteuil - 75016 Paris Fax : 01 46 51 24 52
---------
Please send a copy of your telegrams and motions to the Women Workers
Commission of the ILC at their address above).
The undersigned demand the Cameroon authorities:
The unconditional and immediate liberation of the comrade Mengue Thérese
Béatrice, employee and unionist at CAMRAIL, arbitrarily arrested for
her union activities and incarcerated at the Kondengui prison since July
10, 2003.
Stop the arrest and permanent persecution against the union militants of
the CGT-Liberté at CAMRAIL.
*********************
Subscriptions to ILC International Newsletter
10 issues: 10e; 20 issues, 20e; 30 issues, 30e; 40 issues, 40e; 50
issues, 50e
Including the support for the distribution of the international
bulletin.
Support subscription 1 year: 100e
10 issues, 16 Swiss francs; 7 books, 10 dollars, etc.
Name
Surname
Address
Country
e-mail
Checks to the order of CMO (address below)
Bank transfers (IBAN): FR76 3093 8000 34000 5122 7000 317 LUBPFRPP
To contact us:
ILC International Newsletter
ILC of Workers and Peoples
87, rue du Faubourg-St-Denis 75010 Paris France
Tel: (33 1) 48 01 88 28 Fax: 01 48 01 88 36 e-mail: <mailto:cit.ilc@fr.oleane.com>cit.ilc@fr.oleane.com
Publisher: Daniel Gluckstein - Printed at Rotinfed 2000, 87, rue du
Faubourg-St.-Denis, 75010 Paris (France) Commission paritaire No. 0708 G
82738
Back to Home Back
to ILC Newsletter Index
|
Open World Conference of Workers