Open
World Conference of Workers
In Defense of Trade Union Independence & Democratic Rights
Report on International Emergency Conference Against the War in Paris
January 23-24
Contents:
1- Introduction
2- Manifesto of the Committee "International Labour Movement against
War"
3- Call for a day of International mobilization on March 8th, 2003
4- Appeal for an International Liaison Committee of Youth Against War
5- Report on the Discussion of the Emergency International Conference
Against War: Excerpts from the Plenary Session
6- Messages to the Conference
**********
1) Introduction:
The Emergency International Conference Against War took place in Paris on
January 23-24, 2003.
Delegates coming from 25 countries discussed how to organize the struggle
against war.
They decided to form the committee "International labour movement
against war" and they voted a Manifesto as the basis of that
committee.
They supported the call of working women to celebrate the 8th of March by
organizing an international day of struggle against war, for peace and
social justice. Youth present at this Conference also adopted an Appeal to
form an International Liaison Committee of Youth Against War.
We publish below those three documents.
Several messages were addressed from around the world to the Emergency
Conference. They will be published in the coming issues of this bulletin.
**********
2) Manifesto of the Committee "International Labour Movement
Against War"
Around the world, workers and people already burdened by much suffering --
hunger, poverty, unemployment, child labour, epidemics, wars ... all
imposed by the system of oppression and exploitation based on the private
ownership of the means of production -- are turning towards the Middle
East with ever-increasing anxiety.
War or peace?
That is the key question.
The war prepared by the Bush administration against Iraq, with the support
of numerous governments around the world as well as international
financial institutions (UN, IMF, World Bank, WTO) is not just any war.
We delegates of labour organisations have come from Germany, Belgium,
Spain, France, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Ukraine,
Yugoslavia, South Africa, Algeria, Burkina-Faso, Burundi, Cameroon Chad,
Tunisia, Brazil, United States, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Bangladesh, India,
and Sri Lanka. We have also received messages of support from Korea,
Hong-Kong, Pakistan, Congo, Morocco, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico,
and Switzerland. We have convened in Paris today, 24 January 2003, in an
International Emergency Conference Against War and Exploitation, initiated
by the International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples. In our own
countries, we have waged a fight in defence of workers' rights, social and
democratic rights, and in defence of the independence of working class
organisations.
We have discussed the situation. On the basis of the facts, we hereby
solemnly declare: All the speeches to the effect that the impending war
would be motivated by the defence of freedom and democracy are untrue.
* War against Iraq would be first and foremost a war for oil: Iraq
possesses the second largest oil resources in the world.
* War against Iraq would not be a war for democracy; it would be a war
against independence and against national sovereignty. That is true even
inside Iraq; indeed the meeting of the "Iraqi opposition" --
convened in London, monitored by the US, and composed of a majority of
ayatollahs -- stated in their final declaration that the future Iraqi
state would be an Islamic state with a sharia-inspired constitution. They
claim that they are bringing "democracy" to the Iraqi people,
whereas the plans that are on the agenda for a constitution would set Iraq
back centuries. That would be equally true for every country where, in the
name of the so-called "war on terrorism", the number of measures
threatening liberties and democracy are multiplying.
* War against Iraq would first and foremost mean carving up nations. The
official plans concerning the future of a "post-war" Iraq make
provisions for a division of Iraq into 4, 5 or 6 chunks. The excuses put
up for the carving process are "ethnic", "religious"
or other such criteria.
This is a fact in a much broader way.
All over the world, when faced with peoples that state their determination
to create free, sovereign nations, world imperialism wants to impose the
carving up of nations. This applies to Iraq, but also to Africa, to Asia,
to Latin America, to Europe.
Twenty-seven Yugoslav union delegates, who gave a mandate to their
delegate to our conference, sent us a warning:
"We workers from the Balkans have drunk the bitter cup of war for the
last twelve years. Deaths by the hundreds of thousand, refugees by the
millions, towns and facilities laid to waste, governments serving as mere
puppets on strings in rump "national" states - such is the
aftermath of the war in former Yugoslavia. With this war, many of our
political and social conquests have been ruined".
It is fact in Europe. At the very moment when the "Europe of the
Regions" is being put into place to dismantle the European nations,
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld levels his criticism at France and
Germany, deriding them as being part of the "old Europe". The
"New Europe", according to Bush, is one where the eight
central European countries joined an enlarged Europe by joining NATO in
order to assert their allegiance to the USA; it is a Europe integrated
into NATO, which, in turn, integrates it into its drive toward war.
What do they want?
If Iraq is carved into seven "states", plundering oil will be
much easier than if Iraq is a single sovereign nation! (We have already
witnessed the result of such a policy in Somalia, in AfghanistanŠ The
nation is carved up, the state is non-existent, the population is prey to
endless war.) Once Iraq is carved up, this will be the starting point for
the dismantling of all the countries in the region; not one will be
spared: from Turkey to Afghanistan, from Syria to the republics of central
Asia. No one can say when or where the process will stop.
A France and a Germany broken up into regions will make it much easier to
put an end to all the rights won by the workers through struggle within
the framework of the nation: labour codes, collective bargaining
agreements, social protection and welfare!
This is exactly the sort of war that imperialism is determined to wage in
order to dismantle all the nations across the world, the better to exploit
the working classes and to avail itself of the countries' natural
resources.
What is the purpose of all this? We know: what is at stake is to implement
the plans of the IMF, of the European Union, of the World Bank, of NAFTA,
and concerning the Americas, the threat posed by the ALCA-FTAA -- all
those plans dictated by the system of oppression and exploitation based on
the private ownership of the means of production. This is the goal
announced by the Bush administration: endless war in the name of a fight
against terrorism. Yesterday, it was Afghanistan, today, it is Iraq,
tomorrow, which country, what people will be the target? What is at stake
is to use those plans in order to impose deregulation, privatisation, de-industrialisation,
the end of all rights. What is more, they would like to harness the labour
organisations to this destructive policy!
Peoples say NO to war!
We already know the results of that policy: Two billion human beings live
on less than one dollar a day, and, according to the World Health
Organisation, 40 million people will die of AIDS in Africa in the next few
years. The majority of African, Latin American and East European states
are crushed under the burden of a foreign debt that often swallows up over
40% of their domestic budgets just to pay the interest on the debt.
We can see it: throughout the world, more and more peoples are standing up
to say NO to war.
We read the founding resolution of the coalition "US Labor Against
War" that was set up on 11 January 2003 in Chicago in the United
States, by representatives of trade unions regrouping over two million
members. Among other points, the resolution states:
"Members and union leaders have the responsibility to inform all the
working people on issues concerning their lives, their work, their
families and to get their voices heard in the national debate over those
issues. [They have to say that] the main victims of any military action in
Iraq will be the children and families of the working class who will be
drafted, as well as innocent Iraqi civilians that have already suffered so
much; that there is no feud opposing us to the ordinary Iraqi working
class men, women and children nor of any other country; that the billions
of dollars spent on organising and realising that war are taken from our
schools our hospital, our Social Security; that war is merely an excuse to
hit the rights of workers and democratic rights."
Then, it is up to labour organisations in every country to take the lead
in mobilising against war, in other words for social justice and labour
rights.
Our brothers and sisters of the American labour movement are showing the
way forward; they are setting an example to the international labour
movement.
For our own part, we have decided to set up together the committee
"International Labour Movement Against War"
Our committee does not stand in the way of any initiative or organisation
mobilising against war; it does not try to compete with any of those.
Rather, what we want is to contribute to uniting all efforts against the
war. There is nothing more important than peace.
As we set up our international committee, we demand:
* An immediate end to the military escalation against Iraq;
* An immediate end to the embargo and the sanctions that hit the Iraqi
people;
* An end to military budgets, and that all those sums be allotted to works
of peace, of social protection and of education;
* The dismantling of military bases across the world, and that all the
troops return to their home countries;
* That the unity and sovereignty of nations be respected, an end to any
form of "intervention" of whatever kind aimed at dismantling
nations;
* We take a stand in favour of the unity of workers and peoples, as the
only possible way of preventing the murderous plans that pose a deadly
threat to the entire human civilisation.
As we set up our committee "International Labour Movement Against
War", as we appeal to you -- men and women -- to join us and
circulate this manifesto:
We state that we trust the capacity of peoples worldwide to break free
from the chains of exploitation and oppression, their capacity to build a
world in which the harmonious collaboration of nations and workers will
replace the determination to send us reeling into a world of barbarism.
We hereby declare: no one can know what precise form the events will take
in the days, weeks and months to come, but we commit ourselves, whatever
may happen, to follow up on what has been undertaken. We pledge to
continue the fight to prevent the shattering of the Iraqi people.
DOWN WITH WAR! DOWN WITH EXPLOITATION!
UNITED, WORKERS WILL BRING PEACE TO THE WORLD!
The committee will have its headquarters and contact address in Spain, in
the name of comrades, union leaders Roberto Tornamira (rtornamira@madrid.ugt.org)
and Luis Gonzalez (luisgon@arrakis.es)
I wish to join the Committee "International Labour Movement Against
War"
First signatories:
Algeria: Amar Takdjout, Executive Board, Cloth and Garment Federation,
UGTA; Rachid Matassi, Executive Board, Oil Workers Federation, UGTA;
Youcef Merrouche, Workers Party; Louisa Hanoune, member of the Algerian
Parliament, spokesperson of the Workers Party.
Azania-South Africa: Tiyani Lybon Mabasa, President, Socialist Party of
Azania (SOPA).
Bangladesh: Tafazzul Hussain, General Secretary of National Workers
Federation of Bangladesh
Belgium: Philippe Larsimont, MDT.
Brazil: Julio Turra, member of the Executive Commission of CUT; Markus
Sokol, member of national leadership of Workers Party.
Britain: Stefan Cholewka, editor of The Link, member of Labour Party
Burkina Faso: Richard Tiendrebeogo, trade unionist, Deputy General
Secretary of General Workers Confederation (CGT-B).
Burundi: Paul Nkunzimana, member of the Executive Board of University
Workers Union (STUB).
Cameroon: Martin Mbille, member of the Executive Bureau of CGT-Liberté.
France: Michèle Simonnin, trade unionist; Marie-Edmonde Brunet, trade
unionist, education; Véronique Pepers, trade unionist, chemical industry;
Olivier Doriane, Workers Party; Jean-Claude Loew, trade unionist, chemical
industry; Jean-Charles Marquiset, trade unionist, public sector; Subhi
Toma, activist, Against the War on Iraq; Jean-Pierre Barrois, activist,
Against the War on Iraq; Daniel Gluckstein, National Secretary, Workers
Party, co-ordinator of the International Liaison Committee of Workers and
Peoples; Patrice Sifflet, Le Manifeste des 500 pour l'indépendance
syndicale; José Nicol, trade unionist, Post Office workers; Marie-Claude
Schidlower, Working Women Commision of the International Liaison
Committee, Workers Party; Patrick Hébert, trade unionist; Jean-Jacques
Melloul, railworker, Workers Party.
Germany: Cornelia Matzke, former member of the Saxony Parliament, member
of Verdi trade union; Klaus Schüller, DGB official, member of workers'
commission of the SPD in Thuringen; Michael Altmann, workers' commission
of the SPD in Hesse, member of "Social Democrats' Initiative against
the War"
Greece: Dimitri Koumas, trade unionist, public sector.
Guadeloupe: Jocelyn Lapître, Movement for a Workers and Peasants Party of
Guadeloupe (MPTPG); Serge Apatout, Administration Secretary of the General
Workers Union of Guadeloupe (UGTG).
India: Nambiath Vasudevan, General Secretary of the Blue Star Union.
Italy: Guido Montanari, Permanent Committee for the Defence of Public
Services and Workers Gains
Portugal: Carmelinda Pereira, former member of the Constituent Assembly;
Joaquim Pagarete, POUS.
Romania: Florin Constantin, editor, Tribuna Sociala.
Spain: Angel Campabadal, trade unionist, services federation, General
Workers Union (UGT); Luis Gonzalez, trade unionist, Healthcare Federation,
Workers Commissions (CCOO); José Miguel Villa, trade unionist, services
federation, General Workers Union (UGT); Roberto Tornamira, trade
unionist, services federation, General Workers Union (UGT); Juan José
Llorente, trade unionist, Public Function Federation, CCOO; Isabel Cerda,
trade unionist, Public Services Federation, General Workers Union (UGT);
Yagoba Álvarez, student unionist; Blas Ortega, trade unionist, Public
Services Federation, General Workers Union (UGT); Jesus Bejar, trade
unionist, Metalworkers Federation, CCOO; Jesús Mª Perez, trade unionist,
Allied Industries Federation, UGT; Vincent Alcover, trade unionist, Public
Services Federation, General Workers Union (UGT).
United States: Clarence Thomas, International Longshoremen Workers Union (ILWU,
local 10) San Francisco.
Sri Lanka: Mallawa Avachelinge, JVP; Saman Mudun Kotuwage, JVP; Prasan
N.-H. Chathurara, JVP.
Tchad: Gami N'Garmadjal, General Secretary of Teachers Union (SET).
Ukrainia: Vitali Kulik, "Borotba".
Yugoslavia: Pavlusko Imsirovic, Alliance for a Workers Policy.
I hereby agree to be a member of the
Committee "The International Labour Movement Against War"
---
The conference also received messages of support from:
Yugoslavia: 27 trade unionists;
Brazil: Joao Felicio, President, Workers Unity Central (CUT);
Brazil: José Genoino, President, Workers Party;
Brazil: Claudio Willer, President, Brazilian Writers Union;
Brazil: Heloisa Helena, Senator, Workers Party, state of Alagoas;
United States: Michael Eisenscher, coordinator, Bay Area Labor Peace and
Justice Committee, member of the Continuations Committee of US Labor
Against the War.
United States: Larry Duncan, TV producer (Chicago);
United States: Hal Sutton, United Auto Workers (personal capacity);
United States: Marta Ames, Executive Director, Pride at Work, AFL-CIO;
United States: Michael Letwin, on behalf of the "US Labor Against the
War" (New York);
United States: Fred Glass, Executive Board, CFT (Oakland);
United States: Connie White, Labor Party activist (Los Angeles);
United States: Julian Kunnie, Free Mumia Committee (Tucson, Arizona);
Ecuador: Fernando Guerra, General Secretary, Electricity Workers Union
central region.
Ecuador: José Limaico, on behalf of Revolutionary Socialist Workers
Organisation.
Mexico: 30 trade unionists and personalities;
Mexico: Mexican committee "No to war, not in our name".
Costa Rica: Pablo Hernandez Arias, Executive Committee, POS;
Switzerland: Christine Sayegh, lawyer, former President of the
Confederation Parliament and of Geneva canton.
Great Britain: Dave Green on behalf of the National Executive Committee,
Fire Brigades Union
Morocco: the co-ordinator of Continuations Committee, Conference against
Deregulation.
India: H. Mahadevan, Deputy General Secretary, All Indian Trade Unions
Congress (AITUC);
Pakistan: Rubina Jamil, President, All Pakistan Trade Unions Federation (APTUF);
Aima Mahmood, Secretary of the Working Women Organisation (WWO); Shabbir
Hussain Shah, General Secretary of the Cloth and Garment Federation; Nasir
Gulzar, President of the Progressive Youth Organisation; Fazal-E-Wahid,
General Secretary, Railworkers Union;
Belgium: delegation of General Workers Federation's (FGTB) section in
Cockerill-Chertal; Roger Somville, painter; Hefida Bakious, physician;
Jean Cornil, senator; Denise Vindevage, filmmaker; Henri Jean Ruttiens,
trade unionist SETCA Industry (Brussels);
France: Roger Sandri, retired trade unionist; Jean-Paul Neau, trade
unionist;
Hong-Kong: Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU)
**********
3) CALL FOR A DAY OF INTERNATIONAL MOBILISATION ON MARCH 8TH, 2003
- STOP WAR, STOP THE GENOCIDE OF THE IRAQI PEOPLE
- FOR PEACE, FOR DEMOCRACY, FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE,
- FOR THE RIGHTS OF WORKING WOMEN!
We -- women union activists present at the Emergency Conference Against
War convened by the International Liaison Committee of Workers and People
-- launched an appeal "Women against War" and we now call on
women all over the world.
Faced with the imminent threat of war against the Iraqi people, we propose
to take up the anti war traditions adopted by our sisters during the first
World War and re-establish the historical tradition of the working class
movement in the forefront of resistance to the barbarities of war.
This coming 8th of March, let us organise an international day of
mobilisation against war and for our rights, in whatever form each
of us chooses.
* 500,000 Iraqi children have died as a result of the embargo between 1991
and 1998. That is not enough for them. They intend to destroy and reduce
to dust all the people, a whole nation.
* 200, 000 U.S. soldiers are already massed in the Persian Gulf. The
British government has just called up 20, 000 reserves.
* According to a "strictly confidential " UN report that reached
the CASI (Campaign against Sanctions against Iraq in GB) they are getting
ready for a true genocide of the Iraqi people: The coming war, states the
report, should not be compared to the 1991 war: It would be "a
vast and lasting operation on land, supported by air attacks and
conventional bombing."
The consequences are dramatic, judge for yourselves
Still, according to the confidential UN report:
"500,000 people would need medical care as a result of wounds
and trauma."
The food situation for 3.3 million people would be critical. This figure
includes 2.3 million children under five suffering from severe
malnutrition and a million pregnant or nursing mothers."
The destruction of the water supply, of the chemical treatment of water
has been planned leading to " cholera, and dysentery epidemics
with widespread outbreaks of mumps and meningitis."
STOP THE WAR, STOP THE GENOCIDE OF THE IRAQI PEOPLE!
WE WON'T LET THEM KILL THE IRAQI PEOPLE!
WE STAND BESIDE THE IRAQI WOMEN!
We -- women, union activists present at the Emergency Conference Against
War -- stand alongside the North American working class movement
against war . We are with all those who in Germany, Spain, France, Great
Britain, Brazil , India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and in the African
countries ... are saying Stop the war and are summoning their governments
and the U.S. embassies through actions of all kinds, doing everything they
can to stop this war.
This war is a war against all the people of the world , including the
working class and their organisations in the U.S., France, Germany, Great
Britain, Spain ... as their rights and social gains are also
threatened by the same powers that threaten the Iraqi people with
destruction, alongside the other people of the area.
We have our place in the International Committee of the "Labour
Movment Against War"
Arms budgets are on a massive increase as they prepare for war.
Billions are subtracted from school and hospital budgets, which are
already largely underfunded.
Not a cent for war, funds for our schools, our children our
hospitals!
Billions are spent in preparing for this war, which is used as
an excuse for undermining social rights and destroying the right to work,
the ILO conventions, the statutes and collective bargaining conventions,
pensions and social protection systems.
Hundreds of thousands of workers are being laid off or are going to
be laid off. Women are often the first victims. Aren't these
workers right in saying: "We have worked hard for years, for
wages at poverty level , we've been exploited and now we are thrown away,
like a kleenex. What shall we do with our children ?"
STOP FIRING WORKERS!
Everywhere insecure jobs are on the increase, as are part time jobs. Jobs
in the informal sector now concern millions of women throughout the world
and no rights are recognised. Is this legal ?
STOP PRECARIOUS JOBS, STOP INFORMAL JOBS!
THE ILO CONVENTIONS, LABOR LEGISLATION. MUST BE APPLIED TO THE
"INFORMAL SECTOR"!
REAL JOBS! REAL WAGES ! EQUAL JOBS! EQUAL PAY !
And they are the ones who talk of equality between men and women, and who
dare, in the name of equality, reintroduce night work for women in
industry and denounce or otherwise undermine the ILO conventions while
applying European union directives without any consideration for
people's health. Millions of women are today forced to do night work
and this leads to night work becoming commonplace for all.
Stop night work for women in industry!
And our pensions! No, the pensions we have earned through years of
work, and won in the framework of the Nation State cannot be undermined:
All women's specific rights must be maintained.
A Pension is a right not a privilege!
Women give birth, nothing is more precious than their children. The
don't want war, they don't want their children to die under bombs. They
don't want their children to be thrown on the streets subject to
drugs and sexual exploitation. They want their children to
have the right to schooling , they don't want their children to have to go
out and work.
Stop child labor ! A child's place is at school, not in a factory! Not in
a workshop, not in an office!
We all know that this right is being undermined in every country. Cases of
pregnancy tests, of promises not to get pregnant when taken on, of
the firing of pregnant women, especially in insecure jobs are on the
increase. In Great Britain hundreds of thousand of women in insecure jobs
are excluded from maternity protection by the Law . That's why we do not
give up our fight to maintain ILO conventions 3 and 103. That's why we say
"Don't ratify convention 183."
In Spain, the administration is putting on pressure so that women
"come out early" after giving birth -- between 24 and 28
hours after! There won't be time to do all the prevention
tests on the new-born children . Their medical check-up and follow-up
won't be done in hospitals.
In France, where the social protection system --including
maternity insurance, maternal and infant protection -- has meant a
great decrease in mothers' and infants' mortality rates, the right to give
life is being threatened. Doctors are launching a cry of alarm.
"Pregnant women are in danger". We can no longer assure their
follow-up. "Deaths could have been avoided. "We have had
to refuse premature new borns in our hospital ."
Women and doctors cannot allow this.
Maternity protection is an inalienable right. No maternity clinics should
be closed!
For the right to complete social protection for women and their children!
Funds for our hospitals, not for war!
Let us get down to preparing the 8th of March 2003:
* Against war, for Peace
* For democracy, for social and economic justice
* For women's rights
I endorse this appeal
Name
Address
Organisation/Title
E mail
The international women's conference convened on February 21st 2002
in Berlin to win back the ILO convention 103, for women workers right
launched an appeal to make the 8th march 2002 a first day of international
mobilisation.
We invite you to make known our proposals; we shall be publishing them in
a review in preparation for the 8th March.
For all correspondence : The International Liaison Committee's Women's
Commission.
C/o Parti des travailleurs
87, rue Faubourg-Saint-Denis - 75010 Paris - E mail : eit.ilc@wanadoo.fr
**********
4) Appeal for an International Liaison Committee of Youth Against War
We young people from the United States, Ukraine, Spain and France
participated in the International Emergency Conference convened in Paris
on January 23-24, 2003, by the International Liaison Committee of Workers
and Peoples. As young people from 20 countries, we had endorsed the appeal
to youth throughout the world titled "NO TO WAR" initiated by
the Revolutionary Youth International (IRJ).
In this month of January 2003, the threat of murderous war against Iraq is
closer than ever. Louder than ever, we say:
Young people as well as all the peoples across the globe do not want war!
No! We say NO to the decision by Bush and the international institutions
(the IMF, the United Nations, the European Union) to slaughter an entire
people for the sole interest of the oil multinationals.
No! We do not accept that young people by the tens and the hundreds of
thousands should be sent to kill other young people!
Those American unionists who say that impending war is not just targeted
at Iraq and that it is also a "domestic" war are right.
True, the war against Iraq is pretext for another war -- a war
against youth and working people.
In Spain, after universities have been privatised, after the entire public
education system has been reduced to poverty, the Aznar government
condemns young people to casual labour.
After accusing the Ukraine of selling weapons to Iraq, the U.S. government
has decided to put the country into isolation: no visas are to be granted
to Ukrainian students and workers.
In France, Nicolas Sarkozy, the Minister of the Interior, has just placed
before the parliament a bill that threatens any young person "guilty
of loitering in a staircase" of his tenement building with a
two-month term in jail. Right at the same time, two universities have
announced that they would close down for three weeks to save money on
heating and electricity.
NO! We say NO to war! We demand the right to have a future! We must
prevent this war!
Because in every country, we are the targets of that war, we have to stand
up against it in every country! To all the youth across the globe, to all
young people's organisations, we propose to set up together the
INTERNATIONAL LIAISON COMMITTEE OF YOUTH AGAINST WAR
And we propose to work jointly on an international bulletin to be
published regularly; it should give information and reports on the various
initiatives against war taken by youth throughout the world.
Here are the first items of information we wish everyone to have:
* The Campus Anti-War Network (CAN) was convened on January 17th in San
Francisco and Washington DC to coordinate the actions against war taken on
campuses. A second national meeting of the anti-war student coalitions is
to be held on February 22-23rd in Chicago.
* In Spain, the Convention of the Socialist Youth took a stand
against war:
* In the Ukraine, the Borotba Union of Young people organised picket lines
to circulate brochures against the war in universities and in
neighbourhoods.
E mail : USA : ricoblanc@hotmail.com
- Spain : jmacaubrey@yahoo.es
- France: irj@wanadoo.fr
- Ukraine : borotba@mail.ru
E mail : USA : ricoblanc@hotmail.com
- Spain : jmacaubrey@yahoo.es
- France: irj@wanadoo.fr
- Ukraine : borotba@mail.ru
**********
5) Report on the Discussion of the Emergency International
Conference Against War: Excerpts from the Plenary Session
The UN forecast is known: this war that Bush wants to unleash the war on
the Iraqi people come hail or high water will cost hundreds of thousands
of lives; And the UNO "experts" foretell that between 4 to 6
million people will not be able to get food.
When Iraq is carved up, 4.5 to 5 million of its inhabitants will be
forcefully displaced. "And reality will be far more horrendous than
the grimmest forecast" Daniel Gluckstein ILC co-ordinator stated
during the debates at the conference e.
He added: "Bush and the American administration are determined to
impose terror on peoples and pose a deadly threat to democracy, to the
existence of nations within which the labour movement has been able to
wrench its conquests and gains. Will this war be contained within Iraqi
borders? Isn't establishing the connection between war and exploitation
the labour movement' s only possible contribution as the labour movement
has always taken a stand against war? We have much to do. We must strive
our utmost to realise unity in order to prevent this war. In that
struggle, the working class has a decisive place. What can we do?"
B. Ortega, UGT activist in Spain explains in his turn: "Aznar needs
the war against the common struggle of our countries' peoples against all
the plans that turn the hands of the clock backward on the social level.
The lab our movement and its organisations must be in the forefront. After
delegations of unionists and various organisations to government's
headquarters to say "No to war, not a single peseta for war, not a
single man in Spain drafted for war!" we set up an action group of
unionists against war.
We call on the conference to propose that an international committee
should be set up "Lab our movement against war". Such a
committee could help labour organisations to organise the united struggle
against war."
According to Tiayni Lybon Mabasa, chairman of the Socialist Party of
Azania (SOPA) "when Bush said that this war was endless and
unlimited, we wondered whether the war was not on our doorstep. When its
aim is to secure total control of oil resources, it is a challenge for us
all. War will not stop at Iraq's borders. The axis of evil is Bush, Cheney
and American imperialism. All together we must stand up in determined
defence against their war because the target is a worker across the globe.
We have to help get through this deafening silence that, with the
exception of Mandela who no longer is in government, is up to now South
Africa's sole response to war threats".
Klauss Schüller, DGB and SPD activist in Germany, brought the greetings
of his country's workers. He recalled the demonstrations against war that
took place there: "Resistance is building up. DGB must take the lead
of the struggle against war"
For his own part, Michael Altman, unionist and SPD member comments Donald
Rumsfeld American defence secretary of state's recent threats. "He
considers that Germany and France are "old Europe" against which
a new Europe enlarged to the East must be imposed. "Old Europe"
is the Europe of peace, social conquests, unions, democracy. It is what
the Bush administration is determined to smash. "NO" to war was
expressed during the latest elections in Germany. Schröder and his
government have to abide by that determination."
All those who intervened are actively campaigning against war in their
respective countries; they recalled the situation workers have to undergo
everywhere. "India has already had to pay a heavy toll after the
first war in Iraq, said Nambiath Vasudevan, secretary of Blue Star Union
in India. As it was obliged to run a heavy loan from the IMF; the latter
has imposed its own convictions entailing increased sufferings for the
people".
"The impending war is waged against all the peoples", Richard
Tiendrebeogo recalled; he was speaking in the name of the Burkina Faso GCT.
For J. C. Loew, unionist in the field of nuclear power and research:
"In France, Chirac will produce the money for war whereas there is
none for wages, retirement pensions social welfare and education, whereas
12% of the population live below poverty level".
Jean-Charles Marquiset unionist in the regional public sector service
said: "To stand up to the war, the working class needs to stand up in
defence of its rights and gains".
Rachid Mataszsi (Algeria) member of the executive committee of the
federation of oil and chemistry workers said (UGTA):
"This pending war will have tragic consequences for the Iraqi people;
it will also have very serious consequences for the Palestinian people and
all the peoples. As you know, Algeria is going through a grim period.
Workers today have to cope with a tidal wave of lay-offs and a scheme
heralding privatisation of the oil-producing sector, which obviously is
favoured by the United States. For the time being, mobilisation and
industrial action have stood in the way. We cannot accept that the
country's wealth should be sold off and fall into American multinationals'
hands. That would be a harsh blow against the Algerian people. For all
these reasons the UGTA has to stand in the frontline against the war, in
solidarity with the Iraqi people."
Marie-Clause Schidlower speaks on behalf of the ILC Working Women
Committee. She recalls that on February 21st 2002, the women's
international conference convened in Berlin to reconquer ILO convention
103 for the rights of women had launched an appeal to make March 8th 2002
a first day of international mobilising. She introduces the appeal that
was launched this year to make March 8th 2003an international day of
mobilisation against war, for peace, for democracy, for social and
economic justice for women's rights.
As Julio Turra, member of the executive committee of the CUT, the
Brazilian trade union said: "For the whole of the American continent,
the march to war is accompanied by the implementation of "free
trade" treaties to impose the law of multinationals. If we adopt the
Spanish c comrade's proposition, I shall make sure that I present it to
the CUT's next meeting."
Delegates spoke about many other tragic consequences of the impending war
in their interventions. Tragic consequences especially for working women,
above all for Iraqi women as Subhi Toma said, one of those who took up
American academics' appeal "Not in Our Name":
"The American administration plans to substitute an Islamic state to
the current Iraqi state. Iraqi women have rights, during the twelve
year-long embargo they have suffered most. With the sharia, it will be
still worse, whatever rights they have will be wiped off."
War against workers and young people, war to dismantle nations, as many
delegates from Asia, Africa and the Maghreb said.
In response to the Tunisian delegates and to the message sent by a
Moroccan worker activist, Louisa Hanoune, spokesperson of the Algerian
Workers' party and member of the national parliament of that country,
declared: "For twelve years, workers have day in and day out
mobilised to prevent the privatisation of Algeria's natural wealth and the
destruction of the nation. Through all the strikes, the UGTA occupied its
legitimate place in those struggles. Despite slaughters, despite
abductions, people have continued mobilising. We shall fight to the utmost
against all the plans of privatisation and against any war that might be
waged between Morocco and Algeria, fanned by imperialism and
multinationals.
Pavlusko Imsirovic, militant of the Workers' Political Alliance, recalled
the dismantling and carving up of the Balkanic states that was the true
stake of the war waged in Yugoslavia. He said:
"We in Yugoslavia have learnt from experience. Deaths by the hundred
of thousands, refugees by the million s, ruined economy and many of our
conquests brought down, that is what the war amounted to in the Balkans.
When, in 1991, Baker, sent by the American government visited Belgrade, he
warned Milosevic: the Unite States will not give Yugoslavia any leeway for
independence. They drove Milosevic to wage war, so he attacked Slovenia
and Croatia.
That was the starting point of the war in the Balkans and the setting of
American military bases. In 1998, after a delegate from Clinton had
declared to Milosevic that the intervention in Kosovo was a Serbian
domestic intervention, he attacked Kosovo, with the known resulting
butchery.
Now, the Balkan's largest American military basis has been installed in
Kosovo. A new agreement was passed three days ago with the American
government for the use of air space for the war in Iraq.
That triggered a tide of protests against war especially among
workers."
That war will have tragic consequences too for young people who, in every
country are standing up against impending barbarism. A young man who
belonged to the Basque Country's Socialist Youth Movement was testifying
to the depth of mobilisation. "I participated in the convention of
the Federation of the Basque country's socialist youth. Delegates voted a
unanimous resolution saying: not a cent for war, all the money for health,
education, not a drop of blood shed for oil corporations and other
multinationals, NO to exploitation".
Vitali Kulik of the Borotba union (the Ukraine) explained: "Bush's
policy concerning the Ukraine is based today on the following principles:
"isolating the Ukrainian government, politically and financially
supporting the opponents, led by the American politician Iuchenko and
destabilising the Ukraine's domestic situation. What are they aiming at
with such policy? To force the Ukrainian government into accepting that
European and American capital get into the country's economy, the creation
of favourable conditions for multinationals and, for that effect, whatever
is left of the October revolution conquests have to be wiped off: free
healthcare, free education, social security. For twelve years, those
rights and conquests have been systematically torn apart. But, for Bush,
the process is still too long.
In their majority, Ukrainians are not in favour of the war. But no labour
movement organisation has yet undertaken any active mobilisation against
war. Workers and groups like mine that demonstrate in opposition to the
war need international support."
Saman Mudunkotuwage, JVP, Sri Lanka, informed the conference that
"last October 12th, we, together with the other left-wing parties and
trade unions appealed a huge demonstration against the war in Iraq, in
front of the United States embassy. Over 20 000 demonstrated (.) In Sri
Lanka, we are faced with two problems: the first one is privatisation.
Most state-owned agricultural societies have been sold, three major
companies have been closed down. American multinationals buy off state
owned lands. The second problem is our national sovereignty. There is a
reactionary separatist movement that accepts market economy and has just
announced it would collaborate with George W. Bush in his war against Iraq
and Afghanistan. They organised a conference with the support of American
imperialists and the Norwegian ally.
When one know the part played b y Norway in Palestine, one can raise the
question: what kind of "peace" for the Sri Lanka people? All
Asia is concerned by those problems, by the war in Iraq. Let us recall
Clinton's speech: "Next Bosnia is India".
In this conference, everyone was also able to gauge the consequences of a
war against Iraq that would lay a further burden on the Palestinian people
as a message from Palestine said:
"For the Palestinian people, the war on Iraq would amount to a vast
tragedy because, this time, the plan schemed against it would be carried
to its end: to drive the Palestinian people from their land for
good!"
After a two days' debate during which everyone could freely discuss, the
emergency conference adopted a manifesto of the committee,
"International Labour Movement against War", an appeal for an
international liaison committee of young people against war and an appeal
to make March 8th 2003 a day of international mobilisation for social
justice and for the rights of working women against war.
Clarence Thomas, officer of the San Francisco Longshore Workers' Union
Local 10, whose fight against war and in defence of longshore workers'
rights has been related in the publications of the ILC on several
occasions, was visibly moved when he stated "I feel honoured to take
part in this conference. That is a crucial moment for the American and
international labour movement. I am comforted by the first results of this
conference, it will strengthen the struggle we are waging. Only
international solidarity and labour solidarity can defeat that war."
The international emergency conference was prepared in difficult
conditions, it has been supported by numerous messages of militants who
were not able to come to Paris; it is a true success, it affords strong
leverage to continue the fight against war.
In his conclusion, Daniel Gluckstein explained: "All that can
possibly be done to prevent that war will be done. Let everyone circulate
the manifesto, let the discussion be led, let initiatives be taken. We
shall not let go. We are also realistic, as we know that within the very
labour organisations, there are obstacles.
The issue of labour organisations' independence is crucial, their
commitment into the fight against war is a determining factor. This
committee which is not set up against any other initiative against the
war, affords leverage for the fight. We shall fight to the end. And if
tomorrow bombs are dropped on the Iraqi people, we shall pursue that
determined fight against war, for democracy, for workers' rights and
against exploitation."
Article published in "Informations Ouvrières" (France) N° 574
January 29th
Delegates from 25 countries took the floor during the conference
Their interventions will be published in full in a brochure and also
interviews in our next issues.
***************
6) Messages to the Conference
Brazil
Message from Joao Felicio, president of the CUT of Brazil (Excerpts)
Dear friends and comrades
I am greeting the International Emergency Conference against war as well
as all the participants, especially the unionists from all over the world
that are present.
True, "everything that can be done to prevent that unfair, terrible
war, whose consequences would be impossible to assess, has to be
done", as the appeal to your conference says; we have to join all our
forces in a common action to ward off a new slaughter that would bring
about consequences for workers and peoples world-wide.
The demonstrations that were staged on January 18th in many countries,
that mobilised thousands people, in the United States included, show that
the responsibility of the warmongering policy pushed by George W. Bush's
government does not lie with workers nor with peoples.
In Brazil, the CUT has given its support to and participated in the first
initiatives and in the committees that have been set up against the war in
Iraq.
In the words of the manifesto issued by artists, writers and intellectual
in the United States that I had the opportunity and the honour to endorse
in Brazil, Bush government's and its allies' war policy is not made in our
name. It has economic interests, it aims at controlling oil resources and
at the same time, it aims at enforcing a social and economic pattern that
runs cross-grain with the interests of workers, unions and oppressed
people across the globe.
In my country, on October 27th, as you know, over 52 million Brazilians
elected the candidate of the Workers' Party, Luis Inacio da Silva,
president of the Republic. From the beginning, 20 years ago, the CUT was
operative in the activity that brought about the participation of a
representative of workers in the government.
The determination to bring about change expressed by the Brazilian people
through the ballot boxes, certainly included the wish to have a world free
from wars, in which peace grounded in the fraternity between peoples and
the respect of each one's national sovereignty, prevails.
We give a hearty greeting to all the participants to that international
conference.
No to war in Iraq, Yes to peace between peoples!
Joao Antônio Felicio
President of the CUT in Brazil
-----
Message from José Genoino, President of the Workers' Party of Brazil
When the threat to trigger the war against initiated by the Bush
government is coming ever closer, carrying in its wake death and
sufferings for people already harshly hit by a more than ten year long
blockade,
When the Bush government, despite people's opposition, even the public
opinion in the United States itself, insists to led the world into war,
When we quite well know that this war will only serve to worsen
international tension and the haggling over such resources as oil, when,
under cover of the impending war peoples' democratic, social and economic
rights are already under threat,
In the name of the Workers' Party, I heartily greet you, in the hope that
you will make us acquainted with the conclusions of the conference through
comrade Sokol, member of our leadership.
Against war and for peace!
José Genoino Neto
President of the Workers' Party
Sao Paulo, January 2003
-----
Message from Claudio Willer, President, Brazilian Writers' Union
As chairman of the Brazilian union of writers, I endorse the manifesto
"Not in our name" to respond to the appeal launched by
intellectuals and political persons in the United states; I also say that
I rejoice that the initiative of this conference against war was taken. I
recall a great American poet whose work I had the pleasure to translate
and to publish in Brazil: Allen Ginsberg. If he was alive now, he would be
in the front line of anti-military protests, at the same place he took
during the demonstrations against the intervention in Viet-Nam. His poem,
America, written during the fifties of last century, is now an
impressively burning issue. All his criticism levelled at manipulating
human beings, using them as if they were puppets and managing the world
through military logics is more appropriate than ever. We are standing up
to that, we are mobilising against that and we shall do so as long as
necessary.
Claudio Willer cjwiller@uol.com.br
January 2003
-----
COSTA RICA
Dear comrades,
The Socialist workers' party of Costa Rica greets this effort of the
international union movement to confront the impending war of American
imperialism and its imperialist cronies against the Iraqi nation. Two days
ago, we were acquainted with the fact that the conference was to be held;
we are now circulating a manifesto in support of such a relevant
initiative among Costa Rica's various working class organisations.
A small-scale but significant movement against war has started organising
in our country, we are striving to enlarge it. Against imperialism's
onslaught levelled at the masses, it is imperative that all the forces
struggling against war be joined on the widest possible basis and be co-ordinated
on the international level.
Our commitment alongside the working class movement against the war is in
continuity with our struggle against the fact that our country's
government has allied with the USA's state department to set up an
international police training centre in Costa Rica, in the framework of
the so-called "war against terrorism" and of the "Columbia
plan"
We wish that this conference agree on joint and co-ordinated actions on
the world scale to stand in the way of this imperialist onslaught that is
increasing the barbarism of a worn out capitalism which can offer no other
scope that death, starvation, ruin, unemployment and war even if it can
get occasional sundry military success.
We put our hope in the rise of the working class movement in major
countries who take to the streets to fight that war with an ever clearer
conscience that this struggle joins the struggle we have to wage against
the economic, political, social, environmental struggle of capitalism in
its last phase characterised by decay, which demands that the working
class movement join forces on the international level.
For the executive committee of the POS
Pablo Hernandez Arias
-----
Ecuador
We the committee and the union of electric sector workers of the central
region of Ecuador greet the proud and determined stand taken by the
International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples concerning the
rampant global war situation initiated by the United States. We received
the invitation to the International Emergency Conference due to be held on
January 23rd and 24th 2003 and we deeply regret we cannot participate.
The undersigned, general secretary of the committee and of the union,
Fernando Guerra, will be in Spain during those days; he will be
participating in a world union meeting. I should like to meet comrades
from the ILC in Spain in order to discuss on the subject.
No to slaughter! Yes to life, to peoples' self-determination! Let us
prevent that unjust war.
I wish every success to this new struggle and I also wish that the
conclusions of the international conference be forwarded to us so that we
can circulate them in our country.
On behalf of the Committee and of the Union electric sector workers of the
central region of Ecuador
Fernando Guerra S. General Secretary.
The Conference received also a message from José Limaico, on behalf of
OSRT (Ecuatorian section of the Fourth International).
-----
United States
Michael Eisenscher, Labor Committee for Peace & Justice
Sisters & Brothers:
On Saturday, January 11 in Chicago history was made. More than one
hundred trade union leaders gathered there to found US Labor Against the
War (USLAW). These union officers, officials and activists came from
organizations representing more than 2 million members. Below you
will find the final resolution adopted unanimously after a lively and
thoughtful debate. Also below are remarks I made early in the
opening session.
Needless to say, this development is unprecedented and portends a
significant shift in the posture of the labor movement toward U.S. foreign
policy in general and the Bush administration's dual war strategy (war on
the world and war on workers) in particular.
The International Emergency Conference Against War and Exploitation is an
important initiative which will contribute to the international movement
to prevent a war against the people of Iraq. This is a war that can be
stopped before it starts, but only if there is a maximum and massive
moblization of peace forces around the world. The Emergency
Conference will help to mobilize working people globally to oppose the
Bush administration's 'total war' agenda. Congratulations on this
important initiative. I regret that I will not be able to join you
in Paris but look forward to learning the outcome of your deliberations.
Working together, we shall assure that peace and justice, not war and
corporate profiteering shall prevail.
Yours in solidarity,
Michael Eisenscher
Coordinator, Labor Committee for Peace & Justice
Member, Continuations Committee, US Labor Against the War
Sisters & Brothers:
----------
Larry Duncan, TV producer
I send this message of solidarity to the Emergency International Antiwar
Conference in Paris and wish you the greatest success in your efforts to
help organize a powerful international movement against the latest war
threat posed by the U.S. government.
I am the co-producer of the Labor Beat cable-tv series (in Chicago,
Rockford, Springfield, IL, and St. Louis, MO). We recently covered the
founding meeting in Chicago of U.S. Labor Against the War, which brought
together important union represenatives from around the country. Also,
just two days ago the Chicago City Council passed an anti-war resolution,
watered-down however by pressure from the Democratic Party's Mayor Richard
Daley. Also, the Chicago Teachers Union, the 3rd largest teachers union
local in the U.S., voted to hire buses to send their members to the
anti-war protests scheduled in Washington on Jan. 18. The Chicago Teachers
Union has never before taken an action like this.
These new developments in Chicago, coming more rapidly one after the
other, indicate an important sea-change in the Midwest, showing that a
transformation is rapidly taking place in the American heartland, where
working people and their organizations will be adding their forces to
oppose a possible war. We know that similar developments must be taking
place throughout the world.
Global solidarity forever,
Larry Duncan
-----
Hal Sutton, trustee UAW Local 1268 (in a personal capacity)
Dear conference organizers:
Greetings to the International Emergency Anti-War Conference. The
global labor movement is now coming forward to stop the U.S. war machine
in its tracks. The British locomotive drivers who refused to haul
war materials showed the way forward for the peaceloving toiling masses
throughout the world. Labor has the power to stop the war machine,
and everyone must make every effort to mobilize this power. Forward to a
global general strike to compel global disarmament and end war forever.
Global solidarity forever,
-----
Connie White, Labor Party activist, Los Angeles
At this time when the U.S. war machine is marching full force to war with
Iraq, and the U.S. government is providing the funds and the military
equipment for Israel's genocide of the Palestinian people, I greet the
ILC's Emergency International Anti-War Conference in Paris.
In convening this Emergency International Anti-War Conference, the ILC has
taken the necessary step to bring together the international working class
in opposition to war. War never benefits the laboring masses of the world,
but only serves to advance the interests of a capitalist system that
exploits and oppresses us. The recent demonstrations on January 18, 2003
in the USA against the war plans of the U.S. government -- estimated at
500,000 in Washington, D.C., USA and 200,000 in San Francisco, California,
USA -- exhibit to the international community that many in America are
opposed to the war plans of the U.S. government. The people of Iraq are
not the enemies of the American people. The U.S. government needs to be
checked or it will bring the international economic situation to
barbarism.
I am glad to see that the Emergency International Anti-War Conference has
been convened by the ILC, has participants from all over the world, and
that the labor movement of the U.S. is represented. I look forward to
hearing the decisions and plans for further action against war that result
from this historic event. We have a lot of work ahead of us in putting the
international working class in a position of controlling its own destiny.
I commend the ILC for continuing to exhibit a strategy of international
solidarity and coordinated action.
la luta continua,
connie white
-----
Michael Letwin, NY Labor Against the War
Unfortunately, NYCLAW will be unable to attend this conference. However,
please convey to the delegates our message of support for workers of all
countries that unite against the war. In Solidarity,
Michael Letwin Co-Convener, NYC Labor Against the War (NYCLAW)
-----
Pride At Work, AFL-CIO
Pride At Work, AFL-CIO represents lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender
working people and our allies. Our Executive Committee is proud to
have taken a stand against Preemptive Attack and War in October 2002.
We knew then that the labor movement must step forward in order to build a
broad coalition for peace and justice. Our members are involved in many
anti-war activities, at their workplaces, in their unions and churches,
and on the streets.
Please know as you work together here in Paris, we salute your efforts to
strengthen the international movement against war. We stand with
everyone here today united in the effort to stop greed and to stop war.
We echo your demands for education, health care, the freedom to organize -
and peace!
Pride At Work, AFL-CIO
-----
Julian Kunnie Free Mumia Campaign, Tucson, Arizona, USA Activist with the
Black Radical Congress
Dear Comrades:
We salute your efforts in the Paris Labor Movement to denounce the planned
U.S. war against the impoverished people in Iraq. I have just
returned from a mass rally in Washington D. C. on January 18, as we
commemorate Martin Luther King's struggle against the U. S. war against
Vietnam, where between 300,000-500,000 people participated. It is only
through mass action around the world that we can halt the mad drive by U.
S. imperialism towards war and bloodshed, all in the name of
"combating terrorism." The U. S. is the number one country
in the world that manufactures and distributes weapons of mass
destruction, with over 12,000 nuclear weapons and biological and chemical
weapons made in parts of New Mexico and Texas. It is also the number
one Outlaw State in the world because it has violated the U. N Convention
on Human Rights, by starving Iraqi children to death, over 500,000 thus
far. We must put a stop to this madness and not only stop the war
but dismantle the genocidal sanctions against the Iraqi people, all
documented in a recent book, Iraq Under Siege: The Deadly Impact of
Sanctions and War edited by Anthony Arnove (South End Press,
Massachusetts). Let us continue to organize protests and demonstrations
until the greatest threat to world peace, the United States, as Nelson
Mandela has cited, is forced to become a peace-maker.
A luta Continua! The Struggle Continues!!
Best wishes for a productive meeting.
-----
INDIA
Hyderabad, 16 JAN-2003.
" We in India, AITUC and other mass organisation are one with the ILC
in condemning the war preparations by US imperialism along with allies
against Iraq. In a joint statement of the mass and peoples movement and
organisations 7th January at Hyderabad we declared that the looming threat
of war on Iraq by the United States of America imperils all of us, who
have witnessed the Gulf War, the bombing of Afghanistan, and the
continuing occupation of Palestine. US political and military
interventions in Asia under its so-called War on Terror - particularly in
South, South East and East Asia - has brought us to the brink of nuclear
war. Meanwhile, all over the region, citizens are kept in check by
un-democratic and draconian laws imposed by colluding regimes. This
has promoted a false discourse on terrorism and security while
systematically marginalizing and assaulting people's struggles for
survival, livelihoods, rights, inclusion and self-determination. "
"We, therefore, resolve to carry forward and strengthen the
solidarity for resisting imperialist domination. It will be
necessary- and we will strive - in the coming days to include many more
social movements into this process of resistance and to evolve democratic
and transparent processes for coordinating activities and actions."
In particular, we resolve to carry forward the campaigns and struggle and
move towards common actions in the following areas:
Resist imperialism - the imminent US attack on Iraq, its escalating
militarist interventions in the region, a well as, and its possible
unilateral declaration of war against any country. Specifically, we
will organize a common day of protest action against the war in Iraq. We
demand the total elimination of all nuclear weapons."
We subscribe to the decision being taken in the International Emergency
Conference against war and exploitation.
Fraternally
H.MAHDEVAN, AITUC, INDIA
-----
Morocco
Lamin, Co-ordinator of the follow-up committee against deregulation.
Dear comrades,
After you informed us that the international emergency conference against
war is to be held on January 23rd and 24th in Paris. Because time is
short, we shall not be able to participate that is why we write this
letter of support to you, we declare that we shall consider ourselves
bound by all the initiatives that will be the outcome of it.
Dear comrades,
Because the war against Iraq is coming closer, taking into account the
troops that have already been deployed (over 200 000 US troops) we have to
take immediate action in order to say:
Down with war! Down with exploitation!
No blood for oil!
No money for slaughter
Money to improve life, not to destroy it.
For the right of peoples and nations to self-determination.
Dear comrades;
It is clear that the conference against war is in direct continuity with
all the conferences that set up the International Liaison Committee in
Barcelona in 1991 that voted a manifesto "against war and
exploitation" rendered more urgent than ever by the entire
international situation. More than ever it is urgent to help regroup the
oppressed, the exploited and organisations against war and exploitation on
the widest possible basis.
It is more than ever urgent to fight that loathsome war, against the
embargo that has already taken the lives of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi
children deprived of medicines, milk and the possibility to live beyond
five years of age, by "international right of law". The same
right today threatens to carve up the whole region, to break it into
pieces and cause still more victims, still further sufferings still more
deprivations.
Dear comrades,
We wish to be with you on the 23rd and 24th of January, but because time
is short and for want of adequate financial means we have not been able to
come but morally and with all our conscience we are with you and with all
those men and women who across the globe, in the USA, in London, in
Berlin, in Paris, in Rabat Š took to the streets to march and shout
"No to the War in Iraq!" "Not in our name!" and, in
advance we confirm that we are totally committed in the measures that you
will take during this international conference.
Dear comrades,
In our country and alongside the preparations to the war in the region, a
strong demonstration against war was organised in Rabat on that January
12th, it gathered tens of thousands of demonstrators who marched to the
shout of "no to imperialist war", an end to the extermination of
the Palestinian people" and alongside the threats of war against the
Iraqi people, US imperialism pushes forward "political" and
military plans in the Maghreb region, they are trying to get Sahara
separated from the national Moroccan territory; to that end, they are
trying to destroy our country, and destabilise all the Maghreb region, to
that end, they are trying to pit to brother peoples against each other:
the Algerian people and the Moroccan people. In that framework, the UNO
emissary, J. Baker who arrived this week in Morocco with a new
"solution" for Sahara in his brief-case aiming at awarding a
widespread "autonomy" to the Saharoui region, so that it falls
under the direct control of the US oil multinational and makes up a
spearhead for the dismantlement of the entire North Africa.
Dear comrades,
From the interests of workers and of democracy it is more than urgent to
mobilise against war on the international level and in each country. It
more than urgent to mobilise against war because it is war that causes
weakness in our organisations and causes disunity among workers and
oppressed. Finally, I greet you on behalf of the Moroccan working class
movement and on behalf of the Moroccan committee against deregulation that
was present with many of you in Berlin during the international Conference
against Deregulation and for workers' rights for all. I wish total success
for your conference.
-----
MEXICO
Comrades,
We totally side with you during this International Emergency Conference
against war.
We join our voices with yours to say "No to war !" Let us save
human civilisation from this mortal wound!
We know that together, with those who are at the moment convened in Paris,
with all those who across the world express their determination against
war, we can halt the crusade of barbarism that is schemed against the
Iraqi people, against all the peoples worldwide.
Unemployment, want, deregulation are stalking on the heels of that
crusade. But we can overcome with the unity of all those who eagerly wish
for a world in which priority is given to jobs compatible with human
dignity, with labour and social rights we who wish for peace and harmony
between nations.
We side with you. We are organising three actions; one in the North,
another in the centre and a third one in the south of our country to
publicise the work of the international conference and the world struggle
against war.
We already consider ourselves bound by the resolutions voted by the
conference and we are committed to promote joint actions.
Long live the international solidarity of workers and peoples!
Let us stop the war!
Mexican committee "No to war, not in our name"
-----
PAKISTAN
We, on behalf of All Pakistan Trade Union Federation and its hundred
thousand of members send our whole heartidly greeting and solidarity to
International Liaison Committee for holding an Emergency International
Conference on Peace January 23-24th 2003 in Paris.
Mr. Gulzar Ahmed, Chaudhary, General Secretary of APTUF was ready to
participate in this conference but due to his illness he could not join
the conference for whom we are very much regretted.
The American Imperialist and its allies who is threatening and ready to
attack on innocent Iraqi people, and its greedy wishes to control Iraqi
oil which is the second largest oil producer in the world. Not only
this but the imperialist forces have its evil design to capture the
economy of the whole world from Iraq to Palestine, Korea, Afghanistan,
Balkans and Africa along with all capitalist government and International
Financial Institutions. We strongly condemned the terrorist action
of the imperialist forces against the people of the whole world.
We salute to ILC Comrades and its members for holding this emergency
International Conference and taking every step to prevent this unjust and
terrible war of which the consequences cannot be evaluated. We
totally support you on behalf of the Pakistani working class and again
very much sorry that we could not participate in this important event.
In APTUF meeting it was also decided to hold anti war protest rallies and
meetings all over the Pakistan.
We heartily wish the success of the conference.
We want peace, prosperity and dignity for working class.
Stop the war! Stop the massacre!
Rubina Jamil, Chairperson - Aima Mahmood, Secretary , Working Women
Organization - Shabbir Hussain Shah, General Secretary, Textile &
Garment Workers Federation - Nasir Gulzar, President, Progressive Youth
Organization - Fazal-e-Wahid, General Secretary, Railway Workers Union
-----
Switzerland
"I am sorry I can not take part in the International Emergency
Conference organised by the International Liaison Committee of Workers to
say loudly with you that I am staunchly against the war on Iraq and
against the intimidatory manoeuvres which continue to aggravate the
suffering of an innocent population, victim to a murderous and scandalous
embargo. The purposes of those manoeuvres sacrify without any remorse
human rights on the altar of economic power. I agree entirely with the
arguments of your appeal and I mean to express you my endorsement, my
gratefulness and my congratulations for a constant struggle against the
hegemony of a power destructive to humanity."
Christine Sayegh, lawyer, socialist, former President of the Republic and
canton of Geneva
-----
YUGOSLAVIA
No to war! For peace and democracy!
We working class activists of Yugoslavia, unionists and political
activists of the independent working class movement, members of various
political and trade union organisations express our joint solidarity with
the resistance of peoples and workers world-wide faced with the war
against the Iraqi people and above all, our solidarity with the fight of
our American brothers against this war. We consider it an honour and a
duty to respond to the appeal of the international Liaison committee of
Workers and Peoples and to send our representative to the conference
against war in Paris on January 23rd and 24th of this year.
War and democracy are antagonistic. Democracy is a pre-requisite of the
working class movement. War for oil is war for profit, is war against any
social and democratic gain of peoples across the globe, it is war to
facilitate the protectorate of American imperialism against the peoples
over the world. The war in the Balkans shed light on those objectives of
American imperialism.
We workers from the Balkans drank the bitter cup of war during the past
twelve years. Deaths by the hundreds of thousand, refugees by the million,
towns and facilities laid waste, governments as puppets on strings in
dwarf "national" states -such is the aftermath of the war in
former Yugoslavia. With this war, many of our political and social
conquests have been ruined. There is no oil in the Balkans. The cause of
this bloody "humanitarian" war against all the peoples of former
Yugoslavia was essentially political and it resulted in the occupation of
Bosnia and Kosovo and the installation of NATO bases that pose a threat to
all the peoples of Europe.
We firmly oppose the adhesion of Yugoslavia to the Partnership for Peace,
which is nothing but an antechamber of NATO. We firmly oppose the presence
of any foreign troops in the Balkans any use of military troops beyond our
national borders.
Only the world working class movement's joint action can stand in the way
of imperialist barbarism and guarantee peace and democracy, the
sovereignty of peoples and the survival of mankind and its civilisation.
No to war! No to exploitation! For Peace and Democracy!
For fraternal cooperation between peoples!
In defence of the independence of working class organisations!
In defence of the right of peoples to self-determination!
For the withdrawal of foreign troops from the Balkans!
For the return of all the world's military troops to their barracks,
within their own national boundaries!
Belgrade January 16th January2003
-----
FRANCE
MESSAGE from Roger Sandri, trade unionist
Dear Comrades,
As the great French Socialist Jean Jaurès said: "Capitalism
carries with it war as the cloud carries a storm." The threat of war
which menaces once more the whole of mankind must be seen in this context.
The International Alliance of Workers and People , with its links
with other working class organisations at international level, is
permanently setting out the case against the state of the world
economy which is in full crisis as a result of the means of production
continuing to be private property.
This system represents an obstacle to the development of world productive
forces.
In spite of social rights and workers conquests, won over two
centuries of workers struggles, coming under constant attack , there are
segments of resistance continuously defying repression as they seek to
create a barrage to halt the flow of imperialist political and social
destruction. Out of the 6 billion men and women living in the world, half
of them live below the poverty level. There are innumerable examples of
capitalist waste, source of unprecedented human catastrophes.
This situation is organised in fact by world wide imperialism and
first and foremost by American imperialism, for historical reasons related
to the development of financial capitalism.
Argentina in South America is the perfect illustration of a developed
country , but completely ruined by financial speculation which
international institutions, such as the IMF and the World Bank , vassals
to the American Federal Reserve , just go along with.
After South East Asia which is only just recovering from the financial
crisis of recent years and the shock therapy reducing to poverty
half the population , it's now the turn of sub-Saharan Africa to be
submitted to the pillage and genocide organised by the multinational
groups, as their interests foster corruption and mafia like gangsterism.
Africa is becoming a continent on the verge of disappearance.
Industrial patents for medicine should be placed under the control
of a supranational political authority , instead they are maintained
in the private property sphere. The result is that the population of
Africa , ravaged by AIDS and the monopoly prices that are set by the
American companies , under US protection , cannot get access to these
medicines.
The situation is similar for genetically modified organs, when a handful
of transnational companies in the agro alimentary industry controlling
these products, establish a dictatorship over peasants who lose the
ownership and control of their seeds. This is in fact nothing but a
"hold up" on life.
But, as I said to begin with , in spite of this reactionary offensive, the
working class , the people are bust organising resistance. This situation
is unacceptable for capitalism. Thus, as in all periods of capitalist
crisis, several spokesmen among economic leaders have no hesitation in
advancing war as the only means of resetting the balance. The French
writer Anatole France wrote this about the "Great 1914-18 War"
"One believes one is dying for one's country when one is actually
dying for industrialists." Nothing has changed.
American Imperialism with G. Bush as leader, has, in spite of appearances,
a shy economic base, where there is a constant risk of uncontrolled social
repercussions. That's why they have recourse to the same old methods
already used in the 20th century in the way Hitler and Mussolini were a
capitalist fabrication intended to counter the revolutionary expansion of
communism , then to start a world war to get rid of it. Today, for the
second time it's Iraq and Saddam Hussein who are the new scapegoats of a
play set to the same music.
Just as Ben Laden , we know that Saddam Hussein, the bloodthirsty dictator
is a creature of US Imperialism charged with the job of stabilising the
Middle East , divided by ethnic and religious rivalry.
It is public knowledge that Saddam Hussein 's Ba'as party followed US
policy. It was also a question of setting up a barrage against Iran and
it's ayatollahs in order to protect the oil fields.
During the Iran Iraq war which followed tons of arms were delivered
to Iraq by the USSR, objectively an ally of the US, but also by Europe and
first of all by France. That war cost a million lives for both
camps. The Gulf War in 1991 ended in the way we know , Saddam
falling in the Kuwaiti trap that the US and their Middle East allies set
him.
The military operation was aimed at simply limiting his pretensions in the
area, at "clipping his wings" to avoid the danger he was
supposed to present for Israel as for other States in the Persian Gulf.
Paradoxically, these States count on him as an opposition to Iranian
pretensions on southern Iraq, dominated by the Shiite minorities,
and to Iraq's access to the Persian Gulf and its oil fields;
The United States continuing to present Saddam as a threat ,
increase their arms supply to the countries in the area as well as
their military presence , while they diversify their alliances because
Saudi Arabia appears less dependable since the terrorist attack of the
11th of September 2001.
The embargo , intended to limit oil supplies so as to control the
barrel price, has meant great suffering for the Iraqi people, placed
in a situation of victim paying for the crimes fomented by the
dictator Saddam Hussein. to be added to the 100 000 civilian and military
deaths directly due to the Gulf War.
At the same time the Kurd, Shiite and Christian opposition
minorities to Saddam Hussein , who had been encouraged to rebellion by
Georges Bush senior , had their rebellion put down with all the
modern means of chemical and gas destruction , while the
American forces, under orders from Georges Bush junior, quietly
looked on .
Luckily eyes are opening . Nobody to-day is duped by US policy as it is
applied in Afghanistan , Yugoslavia, as in the Middle Eats. Public opinion
world wide is mobilised. People world wide attached to peace ,
including the American people and working class , whose lucidity and
attachment to democratic values and peace we must pay credit to,
as the whole of the working class movement , must consider it a duty to
oppose the war mongering Bush Administration , spokesman for world
imperialism. Let us remember the watch word for the international
working class movement : for bread , peace and liberty.
Long live the Iraqi people ! No to War.
Fraternal greetings.
Roger Sandri