Open
World Conference of Workers
In Defense of Trade Union Independence & Democratic Rights
1) Letter
of Introduction by the OWC Co-Coordinators
2)
Endorsement/Financial Pledge Coupon for the Campaign in Defense of the
Venezuelan People and their Sovereignty
3) Presentation by
Julio Turra (Brazil), who traveled with the first ILC delegation to
Venezuela in late June 2004
4) Appeal in Defense of the Venezuelan People and
their Sovereignty; Stop U.S. Intervention in Venezuela!
*******************
1) Letter of Introduction by the OWC Co-Coordinators
Dear Sisters and Brothers:
Please find below an Appeal in Defense of the Venezuelan People and their
Sovereignty. It is accompanied by a letter of presentation by Julio Turra,
a leader of the CUT trade union federation in Brazil.
This appeal -- with an initial list of signatories from Peru, Ecuador,
Mexico, Brazil and the United States -- was taken to Venezuela in late
June by a delegation of the International Liaison Committee of Workers and
Peoples. The ILC, as you may know, is one of the many organizations that
make up the Open World Conference Continuations Committee (OWC).
We urge you to endorse this Appeal in Defense of the Venezuelan People and
their Sovereignty and to help us distribute it as widely as possible for
further endorsement in the U.S. and international trade union and
anti-intervention movements.
Please return the filled-out coupon to us as soon as possible at ilcinfo@earthlink.net
and at julioturra@cut.org.br.
The ILC is organizing another delegation -- this time of 8 to 10 trade
unionists from across the continent -- to Venezuela on August 12-17, 2004.
This is the week of the U.S.- imposed recall referendum aimed at ousting
legitimately elected President Hugo Chávez. The ILC will be coordinating
its activities in Venezuela with the newly formed National Union of
Workers (UNT).
We call on all labor and anti-intervention leaders and activists to make a
financial contribution to the $2,000 Travel Fund for this delegation.
Unionists in Peru and Mexico have requested our support to help cover
their travel and lodging expenses for this important delegation.
Please fill in the pledge section in the coupon below and send your
checks, payable in U.S. dollars to "OWC," to OWC Continuations
Committee, c/o San Francisco Labor Council, 1188 Franklin St. #203, San
Francisco, CA 94109.
We thank you in advance for your support to this campaign.
In solidarity,
Alan Benjamin and Ed Rosario,
OWC Co-Coordinators
*******************
2) Endorsement/Financial Pledge Coupon for the Campaign in Defense of
the Venezuelan People and their Sovereignty
[ ] Please add my name as an endorser of the Appeal in Defense
of the Venezuelan People and their Sovereignty.
[ ] I pledge US$ ____ to the $2000 Travel Fund for the ILC
Delegation that will travel to Venezuela on August 12-17, 2004
NAME
UNION/ORG
Title (list if for id. only)
CITY
STATE/DEPT
COUNTRY
EMAIL
Please return the filled-out coupon to us at <ilcinfo@earthlink.net>
and at <julioturra@cut.org.br>.
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3) PRESENTATION by Julio Turra (Brazil)
- Defense of Venezuela's Sovereignty!
- No to U.S. Intervention in Venezuela!
- For the Victory of the "NO" in the Recall Referendum of August
15!
Dear Sisters and Brothers:
The united-front Appeal below was presented by a delegation from the
International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples (ILC) to Venezuelan
political and trade union leaders, as well as to advisers to the
government of Hugo Chávez, in Caracas this past June 21-25.
The Appeal also was presented at a plenary session of the newly formed
National Workers Union (UNT) on June 24. At that meeting the ILC
delegation took note of the identical goals we share with the UNT trade
unionists around the slogans of "U.S. Hands Off Venezuela!" and
defense of Venezuela's sovereignty against all forms of interference by
the U.S. government in the internal affairs of our sister nation.
The recall referendum aimed at revoking the mandate of duly elected
President Hugo Chávez has been set for August 15th. We in the ILC join
our sisters and brothers in Venezuela in calling for a victory of the
"NO" vote on August 15th. If we were Venezuelans, we would vote
"NO!" No to U.S. intervention! Sovereignty for the Venezuelan
people and nation! The oil and the land belong to the Venezuelan people!
The continuous provocations and threats by the Bush administration against
the inalienable right of the Venezuelan people to decide their own destiny
are aimed at overthrowing a government that was elected freely and
legitimately by the Venezuelan people.
Why is the U.S. government hell-bent on this course?
The reason is that the Chávez government prevented the privatization of
Venezuela's oil and returned PDVSA (Venezuela's national oil corporation)
to the Venezuelan people, thereby defying the interests of the large
multinational corporations (mainly oil conglomerates) that for decades
have pillaged the natural resources that belong to the people.
The reason is that the Chávez government distributed land to the landless
peasants, thereby defying the interests of the large landlords who own the
bulk of Venezuela's lands.
The reasons that provoke the wrath of the U.S. government, the
multinational corporations, and the privileged elites of Venezuela against
the Chávez government are, in fact, the very reasons that must lead us to
intensify our campaign across the continent in solidarity with the ongoing
struggles of the Venezuelan people.
We call upon all our sisters and brothers across the Americas to endorse
and promote widely the united-front Appeal below in Defense of the
Venezuelan People and their Sovereignty. It is crucial that we step up
this solidarity effort because on August 15th it is not only the fate of
the Venezuelan people that is at stake. On that date, the fate of all
workers and peoples across the Western Hemisphere is on the line.
In Solidarity,
Julio Turra,
Member of the ILC Delegation to Venezuela and
Co-Coordinator of the Continuations Committee of the
Western Hemisphere Conference Against the FTAA
*******************
4) APPEAL:
- IN DEFENSE OF THE VENEZUELAN PEOPLE AND THEIR SOVEREIGNTY
- STOP U.S. INTERVENTION IN VENEZUELA!
We -- trade unionists and activists across the Americas who are
committed to the ongoing struggle for the sovereignty of the peoples, for
democracy and for social progress -- issue this solemn appeal.
At a time when the most serious threats, hateful provocations and attempts
of subversion are carried out daily against our sister nation of
Venezuela, against its sovereignty and against the Venezuelan people, we
call for:
- Unconditional support for the Venezuelan people, its workers and its
youth!
- Unconditional support for a free and sovereign Venezuela!
- The Venezuelan people, and only the Venezuelan people, have the right to
determine their government!
- Venezuela's oil belongs to the Venezuelan people, not to anyone else!
Nations are not for sale! Oil must be defended!
Since Hugo Chavez was elected in 1998 as the legitimate president of
Venezuela, the people and nation of Venezuela have been hounded by
provocations, threats and attempts at coup d'etat -- all aimed at
overthrowing the government which the Venezuelan people elected freely.
The main objective of those behind these acts of subversion is to take
over the immense oil riches that belong to the Venezuelan people and
nation.
2001-2002: Four so-called "general strikes" were set in motion
and financed by Venezuela's powerful employers' association, the
Fedecamara.
April 11-14, 2002: First attempt at a coup d'etat. The New York Times,
one of the leading newspapers in the United States, revealed that the U.S.
Ambassador to Venezuela, who had arrived only a few days before the coup
d'etat, was the first and one of the few diplomats to visit the
"government" of Carmona Estanga, who was installed in power by
the perpetrators of the coup. During his visit, the U.S. Ambassador was
accompanied by two high-ranking U.S. military officers. This followed on
the heels of a barely camouflaged intervention over many months by U.S.
agents in Venezuela oriented toward preparing the coup d'etat. The New
York Times also mentioned the close and open relations between the
so-called "opposition" and the U.S. State Department, especially
Secretary Otto Reich.
December 2002-February 2003: Another so-called "general strike"
-- again instigated by Fedecamara, the employers' association, sent the
country into chaos, with multiple violent confrontations that resulted in
the deaths of dozens of people. These violent demonstrations were staged
by the "opposition" forces -- that is, by the large landlords
and big business owners, by the powerful, all of whom came down from the
wealthy neighborhoods of Caracas to express their rejection of the Chávez
government.
Why this commitment by the champions of the old order to remove the Chávez
government? It is because the people of Venezuela, the downtrodden and
dispossessed, have decided to take their destiny into their own hands. The
millions of Venezuelans who work for meager wages or who are part of the
large army of unemployed in the crowded shantytowns have made it known
they wish to live freely and to have a job at a living wage so that their
families can live decently. They want to rise out of their squalor and to
get their country out from under its submission to the IMF debt and
Washington's orders.
Venezuela has been targeted by the U.S. government because of its
tremendous oil wealth. It is the third largest supplier of oil to the
United States and one of the principal members of OPEC alongside another
major oil-producing country, Iraq, which has been ransacked and devastated
by a heinous war and occupation unleashed by Bush and the U.S. government.
The fate of our sister nation of Venezuela, of our sisters and brothers in
Venezuela, is bound up with the fate of our entire continent, from north
to south, from Alaska to Patagonia!
Through the open veins of our American continent, submitted to plunder
over decades by imperialism, flows the blood of workers and youth of the
whole continent, of the landless peasants in Brazil, of the miners in
Bolivia, of the enslaved workers in maquiladoras in every country.
Either by force, by coup d'etats or by devastating dictates from the IMF,
the World Bank and the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), the U.S.
government wants to impose its protectorate as the only alternative for
the workers and for all the peoples.
We the undersigned say: Enough is Enough!
- Stop the U.S. intervention in Venezuela!
- Stop all attempts at a coup d'etat, stop all attempts at subverting the
will of the people!
- Only the peoples have the right to choose their destiny!
We call upon all workers, youth, and supporters of democratic rights and
self-determination, from north to south, to endorse this appeal and to
take whatever initiatives are deemed necessary to make these common
demands prevail.
- Unconditional support for the people, the workers and the youth of
Venezuela!
- Unconditional support for a free and sovereign Venezuela! The Venezuelan
people, and only the Venezuelan people, have the right to determine their
government!
- Venezuela's oil belongs to the Venezuelan people, not to anyone else!
- Chiclayo, Lambayeque (Peru), June 12, 2004
INITIAL SIGNATORIES FROM THE UNITED STATES
(for a list of the initial signatories from the other countries of the
Americas, please visit the owc website at www.owcinfo.org)
(all titles are listed for identification only)
Alan Benjamin, Co-coordinator, OWC, San Francisco Labor Council, San
Francisco, CA
Ed Rosario, Co-coordinator, OWC, San Francisco Labor Council, San
Francisco, CA
Walter Johnson, Secretary-Treasurer, San Francisco Labor Council, San
Francisco, CA
Nancy Wohlforth, Co-President, Pride at Work (AFL-CIO), Washington, DC
Mike Garcia, President, SEIU Local 1877 (Justice for Janitors), San
Francisco, CA
Michael Eisenscher, Labor Committee for Peace and Justice, Oakland, CA
Fred Pecker, President, ILWU Local 6, Oakland, CA
Fred Glass, Communications Director, California Federation of Teachers,
Oakland, CA
Fred Hirsch, Vice President, UA Local 393, San Jose, CA
Rodger Scott, Past President and Labor Council Delegate, AFT Local 2121,
San Francisco, CA
Denis Mosgofian, Labor Council Delegate, GCIU Local 4-N, San Francisco, CA
Roger Rivera, President, UFCW Local 428, San Jose, CA
Ron Dicks, Labor Council Delegate, IFPTE Local 21, San Francisco, CA
Lee Artz, Purdue University, Hammond, Indiana
Dan Kaplan, Executive Secretary, AFT Local 1493, Berkeley, CA
John O'Connor, Secretary-Treasurer, American Federation of Musicians Local
1000, New York, NY
David Walters, Member, IBEW 1245, Pacifica, CA
Millie Phillips, Editorial Board, The Organizer newspaper, San Francisco,
CA
Marc Rich, House of Representatives, UTLA; Delegate, LA County Federation
of Labor, Los Angeles, CA
Tim Stinson, The Organizer newspaper, San Francisco, CA
Krista Husar, Dialogue Review, San Francisco, CA
Chris Kaihatsu, Community organizer, Chicago, IL