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ILC International Newsletter
PREPARATORY DISCUSSION BULLETIN FOR THE OPEN WORLD CONFERENCE AGAINST WAR AND EXPLOITATION - ALGIERS, NOVEMBER 2010
********** Table of Contents: Page 1: Introduction ---- Contact Informations internationales ----- BACKGROUND What is the International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples (ILC)? - The ILC is a convergence of groups, parties, organizations and labor activists from different backgrounds, all committed to defending the working class, its demands and the independence of its class organizations. -The ILC was formed in January 1991 in Barcelona at the first Open World Conference, which brought together delegates from all continents. - A second Open World Conference was held in Paris in June 1993. In March 1995, in Slovakia, a workers meeting called the Third Open World Conference, which was held in Paris in October 1996 with representatives of 70 countries on all continents. Since then, while wars and living conditions of the working classes have worsened, other open world conferences of the ILC have taken place in Paris, San Francisco, Berlin, Madrid and other cities. The ILC has expanded its audience with activists and labor organizations around the world committed to defending the interests of workers and peoples and the independence of their organizations. - The ILC struggles against the structural adjustment plans imposed by the IMF and World Bank, which push for the liquidation of the public sector and privatizations. It fights for the political independence of the labor movement and against its integration with the state and the corporations. It fights to defend labor rights and collective labor contracts, by opposing the policies of deregulation and flexibility, now pushed in the name of globalization and the global economy. - The ILC does not seek to replace the various international organizations of workers or to compete with them. The ILC, within its framework, aims to be a meeting point of all militant workers who fight throughout the world to defend the interests of workers, for democratic rights, to allow for a discussion of various fraternal perspectives on the many problems facing the world working class. Contact the ILC: INTRODUCTION
The Open World Conference Against War and Exploitation" -- called by 463 labor and political activists and trade unionists from 54 countries in response to the proposal launched by the ILC -- will be held in Algiers.
To prepare for this major milestone, it is proposed that the ILC International Newsletter be used for the discussion and preparation of this conference. That's why this issue is titled "Bulletin of preparatory discussion for the Open world conference against war and exploitation." Each month we will publish contributions from labor activists to open discussion and the exchange of experiences in the preparation for the Open World Conference. Thus, in this first issue we are publishing: - An interview with Nancy Wohlforth, member of the national executive committee of the AFL-CIO and co-convener of USLAW (U.S.); as well as a message from the organization Left Radicals of Afghanistan - LRA (Afghanistan);
We will publish every two weeks a regular issue of the ILC International Newsletter with news updates and articles from the international workers' press. Fraternal greetings, Daniel Gluckstein ---- [ ] I would like to sign the appeal for the Open World Conference in Algiers
[ ] I would like to contribute a text for the preparatory bulletin for the Algiers conference [ ] I would like to make a financial contribution to the Algiers Conference Name: Address: Country: Telephone: Email: ******************************* UNITED STATES
Nancy Wohlforth: On November 4, 2008, the labor movement and the American people gave an electoral mandate to Barack Obama to implement an agenda for jobs, peace, and justice for all. One year later, the millions of people who gave Obama this mandate for change are angry. Those tears of joy are now tears of anguish. Wall Street and the banks have been bailed out, but unemployment continues to mount. Foreclosures are increasing and our social services and infrastructure are being decimated. The promise of true healthcare reform -- through single payer healthcare, or at the very least a robust public option -- is dwindling.
When he ran for office, President Obama told labor and its allies that the obstacles to implementing such a mandate for a change would be immense. "Make me do it," he told labor and the millions of African Americans and youth who voted for him, echoing the statement made decades earlier by Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Wohlforth: I helped to organize the Open World Conference in San Francisco in 2000 and have been an active participant in all the major campaigns promoted by the International Liaison Committee for many years. But this Open World Conference comes at a particularly crucial junction for working people all over the world. It is not one more conference. One year ago, we in the United States elected a president who promised change. There were great hopes for change not only in the United States but internationally. But this change clearly hasn't come. In fact, things have only gotten much worse for working people at home and abroad. Banks and speculators have been bailed out to the tune of trillions of dollars while our cities and public services are being starved for funds, and more and more jobs are being destroyed. More funds have gone to the warmakers to promote wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and beyond. The list goes on. We cannot allow the hopes for change to be dashed. We need to redouble our efforts, to reclaim our rights, our jobs, our working conditions. We need to assert our independent power as working people and force the powers-that-be to implement the change working people demanded on November 4, 2008. This requires an independent strategy for mobilizing working people in our own interests. And this strategy must be international, as our adversaries are organized internationally. The Open World Conference in Algeria can be a pivotal moment for us to organize and fight back. ************************ AFGHANISTAN
Thus, the Obama administration not only does not seem to reduce the
tensions and warmonger policy around the world but also is following
the exact footpath of G.W.Bush who led closer the US government to sooner
degeneration. Of course this dangerous game and world war strategy of
US government which already has led the government and people of America
to military, economic and social crisis will cause the anger and uprising
of its citizens, youth and workers. The people of Afghanistan recognize the US/NATO troops as invading
and occupier troops who have been advancing barbarous mission in Afghanistan
and possibly in the region. They will be not offered hospitality by
the people of Afghanistan. The final victory will be with the Afghan
popular resistance because they are not alone; they are sure about support
and solidarity of world youth and workers from their fair and legal
resistance against US/NATO imperialists in Afghanistan. GERMANY Correspondence Dirk Frohne, SPD, president of the AFA of Recklinghausen, staff representative of IG Metall at the Opel plant in Bochum HW Schuster, president of the AFA of Dusseldorf, staff representative Ver.Di Just in the year 2008, 8% of all jobs were destroyed in General Motors / Opel in Belgium, Germany, France, Great Britain, Austria, Poland, Sweden, Spain and Hungary - about 31% in Antwerp, Szentgotthard 27%, 20% in Trollhättan, etc. - more than 4,500 jobs in total. In 2009, 2 500 more were lost. In Europe, there were another 48,000. All the "concessions" which have been extracted in the form of an ultimatum to employees in recent years did not save any jobs. On May 29, 2009, the "collective agreement" between United Auto Workers (UAW) and GM entered into force. In exchange for a union participation of 17.5% of the restructured GM , there was a decrease in wages, the dismantling of health insurance for retirees (VEBA) and particularly the removal of one third of the 60,000 jobs. In exchange, the government of the United States has given 50 billion dollars in state aid and meanwhile maintains its 60.8% stake in GM. GM and the government of the United States needed almost a year, using the pretext of bankruptcy and billions of dollars from the state to cut jobs and to "restructure" in the United States. Based on this, they are seen again in position to end the farce of sales in Europe. They take are now directly calling the shots. Whether GM directly takes over management or by way of a sale to investors, the goal of GM and the U.S. government is also in Europe to "re-structure" the European production of Opel / Vauxhall / Saab, i.e. via the "reduction" of 20-30% of "excess capacity", the destruction of 10,000 jobs, and closing sites. They are leaning on Commission of the European Union, which agrees with the Obama line, which says that any financial assistance paid by a State should not go towards saving jobs, but rather for the "reduction of overcapacity. "He absolutely wants cooperation with us," said the President of German and European works council, Franz (Rheinische Post, 8 / 12) after a meeting with Whitacre, the head of GM in Detroit. The same day, we were informed of the transformation of Saab into five corporations (enterprises, individual components, property, equipment and investments) (Handelsblatt 9 / 12). This the starting point for future waves of layoffs across the automobile industry, including sub-contractors, in Europe. In North Rhine-Westphalia alone, 200,000 workers in 800 businesses are threatened. Against this, the working class throughout Europe cannot fight back unless it is united. Throughout the unions have been forced by GM into the role of giving their consent to ultimatums; in Germany, to "support socially acceptable" ways to destroy 5,000 jobs, to accept a wage freeze, and to disintegrate in the meantime the national collective agreement and the use of 265 million euros (representing about 10 000 jobs annually). Profits are being financed through workers wages. After the Social Democrat minister of labor said that "to Opel let die would be an unforgivable failure of the government" (Süddeutsche Zeitung, 21 / 3) and called on the government assistance to save Opel, l AFA of Southern Hesse said , in common with the workers council and IG Metall delegates at Opel: "Participation of the State Opel - for the protection of jobs - including for sub-contractors (...) * No plant should be closed; * No jobs should be cut; * No cent of benefits should be lost;" Now facing the ultimatum of GM and the government of the United States, officials of the AFA, and unionists in NRW have taken the initiative and declared that it is the political responsibility of the SPD is to conduct a "public policy campaign" on behalf of workers for a legislative initiative to the parliament of NRW:
- All layoffs are prohibited by law. We ask our co-workers to discuss this perspective and make it the basis of a coordinated response: jobs, factories, facilities and assets must be placed under the protection of the state and under the democratic control of workers and their independent organizations. Only then, on the basis of the defense of jobs, production, factories and agreed-upon wages, can unity be achieved in the struggle of workers in Europe, against the machinations of division pushed by GM and the Government of the U.S.: for more or less state aid, more or fewer concessions on wages, more or less layoffs- first in one country, then another. This view differs radically from that proposed by the Left Party (Die Linke), which seeks to make an Opel a "a social and ecological trust," to reduce jobs in a "socially acceptable" manner. The "ecological and social restructuring of jobs" means nothing other than destroying thousands of industrial jobs that do not contribute to the development of capital (and not because they are not green). Investment in research and development for modified products are in any case the weakest around. Under this "social and ecological" pretext, there is hiding the "restructuring" pushed by GM and the U.S. government and the European Union, for an enhancement of capital primarily in speculation. A true reorganization of production can take place only if all jobs and factories across Europe from the West to the East are put under the protection of the state, against the destructive decisions by owners and holders of capital, including the Mafioso forces, and only when production is democratically controlled by workers and their independent organizations. ********************** ALGERIA Young militants from Algeria, Bangladesh, Spain, France, Morocco, Palestine and Turkey who gathered at the 1st Congress of the Youth Organization for Revolution in Algeria on December 4-5, 2009 in Algiers issued a "Call to the Youth of the World Against War and Exploitation." This December 5, 2009, workers and youth around the world gathered in rallies and demonstrations in response to the call of 50 young Americans. They mobilized, in particular, against the occupation of Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and Haiti. Today, the masks have come off. By sending 30,000 soldiers to Afghanistan and calling for 10,000 more from NATO, President Obama has betrayed those who elected him. What are the consequences? They have lost count of the dead on both sides, and the country has become the world's leading supplier of heroin. The war has spread to Pakistan and forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes to escape the bombing. The youth in the United States and all NATO countries refuse to let these wars be waged in their name! We do not accept that young people should die for the large multinational corporations! The Palestinian people have suffered collective punishment. The Israeli occupation seeks with the support of the administration of the United States, the major powers and the complicity of the UN, to break its resistance; there are now in jail more than 10,000 Palestinian prisoners. For the right of peoples to resist, for the right of peoples to self-determination! We reject occupation and oppression. Palestine must be liberated from Zionist occupation! Foreign troops should leave Iraq, Afghanistan, Haiti and all the occupied nations! We do not want the sweat and blood of the youth to be spilled for their wars! Since the start of the crisis, according to the International Labor Organization, between 30 million and 51 million people have lost their jobs, and more than 200 million workers have become extremely poor. The IMF said that the peak in unemployment is still ahead. Through the IMF, WTO, World Bank and the European Union, they want the youth and workers around the world to pay for the exploiters, speculators, and mafia and for the perpetuation of their system based on profit. They want to find a way out of the crisis by spreading war and exploitation. How far can they go? We refuse to pay for their crisis. We consider it vital that workers and youth around the world preserve and build their own independent organizations. We propose that the youth of the world discuss and join in the preparation of the 8th Open World Conference Against War and Exploitation, at the initiative of the ILC, which the Workers Party of Algeria will host in Algiers in late 2010. Today is the starting point of our struggle. We call on workers and youth around the world: join us! Let us respond to the call of these 50 young Americans, and make March 20, the seventh anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, an international day of struggle and protest against war and exploitation, against the oppression of peoples, against the occupation and for the immediate withdrawal of all foreign troops around the world!
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Open World Conference of Workers