People Before Profit blog

A new movement sweeps the globe

Fri, 28 Feb 2003 05:54:00 +0000

Many of us sensed that there was something new on Feb. 15, when millions around the globe marched against the U.S. government’s drive to war on Iraq.

This sense of profound change in the world was noticed by The New York Times. A front-page Times news analysis, headlined “A New Power in the Streets,” compared the global outpouring against war to the revolutionary upsurge that swept Europe in 1848.

It’s a comparison worth thinking about. Out of the 1848 upsurge came the international working class and communist movements that gave rise to today’s labor movement, and also to efforts to construct socialist societies based on human cooperation and fulfillment instead of capitalist greed.

Now, 155 years later, a movement seeking people’s power and alternatives to capitalist-driven war and exploitation is again sweeping the globe. This movement is embodied in the World Social Forum.

The Feb. 15 global anti-war mobilization got its start at the European Social Forum in Florence, Italy, last November. The meeting issued a call for the movements and citizens of Europe to start “continent-wide resistance to war” and to organize “enormous anti-war demonstrations in every capital on Feb. 15.”

War on Iraq, it declared, “should be opposed by everyone who believes in democratic, political solutions to international conflicts because it will be a war with the potential to lead to global disaster.”

This January, the third World Social Forum meeting in Porto Alegre, Brazil, made that initiative global, issuing an “International call to action against the war in Iraq,” starting with worldwide actions on Feb. 15.

The World Social Forum arose out of the international movement against corporate globalization that emerged in the late 1990s. A group of Brazilian and European intellectuals and activists came up with the idea of bringing together the diverse groups that were springing up, to share ideas and figure out how to change the world. Symbolically the meeting was set in a “third world” country at the same time as advocates of capitalist globalization met at their annual World Economic Forum in Davos, a luxurious resort in Switzerland.

The idea took off. About 20,000 people from 117 countries participated in the first World Social Forum in Porto Alegre in 2001. WSF 2002 drew about 50,000 people from 123 countries. This year, 100,000 people from 156 countries participated, representing 5,717 organizations.

Under the banner “Another World is Possible,” this year’s Forum packed 1,500 panels, conferences and workshops into four days. The participants jammed into stadiums and conference halls to listen to speakers and debate just about every issue on the minds of the people of the world: stopping war and militarism; labor rights and human rights; control of land, food, and water; saving the environment; standing up to the transnational corporations; democracy, equality and diversity; survival of small farms and farm workers; culture and politics; migrants and refugees; education and health; control of media and information; fundamentalism and intolerance.

The next World Social Forum will be in India in January 2004. Before then, regional and thematic forums will take place around the world. This is people power on a global scale.

Porto Alegre, Brazil, Jan. 23-28, 2003

Lovemore Matombo, president of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions: In the World Social Forum there are quite a number of key things, especially the sharing of experiences with other trade unionists. But what is most striking here is that everyone is unanimous against globalization driven by capital. Everyone is unanimous on an anti-capitalist approach to the social world. And we have learned about the manner in which the labor movement in Brazil consolidated itself for the last 20 years until it accomplished the historical mission of the working class, electing Lula [Brazil’s worker President] to the position of head of state. For us it’s quite an inspiration. We have a lot to learn from the Brazilian workers especially.

Analia Penchaszadeh, Jobs with Justice national staff: We helped coordinate a U.S. grassroots delegation of 120 rank-and-file workers, religious organizers, youth organizers and others. The World Social Forum has been a powerful experience for me and our delegation. Just being able to participate in a mass gathering like this demonstrates it’s possible to build power. It’s a shift from thinking about issues to showing real power. The opening march of 100,000 people from so many different backgrounds, with so many different demands, shows we can agree on one thing: the world is not functioning for the needs of working people. Being able to be here when Lula is taking power – like wow! This can really happen – a worker taking power! And there were a lot of amazing one-on-one conversations.

In the U.S. we are really isolated from broad-based world social movements. It has been really amazing to learn from other countries. These people have a lot to teach us. Just being in Brazil, we recognize that in the U.S. we are so far behind. We need to do a lot more popular education about what globalization really means. We need to integrate that into our organizing. It’s not a separate thing. The global justice movement is people fighting every day for equal justice.

Fred Azcarate, executive director, Jobs with Justice: We have a lot to learn and a lot to share. So much is about global corporate power. We need to build greater international solidarity. We need to do broader education about the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). We are starting to figure out mobilization for the FTAA ministerial meeting in Miami, Nov. 20-21. We have a big job – there has got to be a broader and deeper number of organizations engaged.

Prathima Panuelka, from Mumbai, India: I represent an international network, ENDA – Environment and Development Action in the Third World. We are a group of like-minded professionals, academics, grassroots workers, activists, people who represent farmers’ unions, women’s organizations, youth groups in various countries. ENDA works in Latin America – in Brazil, Colombia, Santo Domingo; in French-speaking Africa; and on the Asian continent in India and Vietnam.

The ENDA philosophy is respect for basic traditions, a strong belief that communities, neighborhood groups can resolve their own issues, can find solutions provided they are able to evolve the right technology. We are not against technology but are definitely for technology that strengthens people’s hands rather than diminishing their power. … I’ve been involved in activities related to the open slum areas, where the major issue is assisting communities to access proper water and sanitation and the right to land – land tenure. Currently a major concern of mine is forceful eviction of communities. ...

As people working at the grassroots level we are continuously looking to the various examples that Latin America has thrown up, of small community groups coming together, finding their own solutions, and also battling larger giants. It’s appropriate that this is the continent that brought these forces together in the World Social Forum.

I think the World Social Forum and other forums that have taken place in the last two decades may converge, unless, like in the Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development, those get totally hijacked by multinationals. I attended Johannesburg and one of the major problems was the overbearing presence of the multinational companies and the push towards privatization and globalization. Therefore perhaps it will be forums like this that will really represent the voice of the people. So there is good hope.

tTwo Belgian trade unionists: We are from FGTB, what we call the Socialist union. We are here because we also want worker justice, equality between the people.

Mario and Marcela, from Incarnacion, Paraguay: We have the Paraguayan Forum, a regional forum, in our city. Our organization wants to be at these kinds of events to be a conscience for our people. We need change because in our country we have a corrupt government, the most corrupt in Latin America, and we want to change that. The young people want that. That’s why we are here. The election of Lula is a big step for Latin America and for us. We really hope that Paraguay can take that step too. … About the negative U.S. role: everybody in Latin America thinks that it’s not the people of the U.S., it’s the government of the U.S.

tTwo French delegates from the Catholic Committee Against Hunger and for Development: Our objective is to work with people of the third world, to help them. In France we belong to a network that each year launches campaigns to sensitize people to the problems in the Third World. We think the election of Lula here in Brazil is something that can change the relation of forces in the world for the better. He brings hope to many people and this is very interesting for the French people.

Delegate from a women’s organization in the Sudan: We are working in the field of women’s and children’s rights. We offer legal services helping women and children in the courts. I’m here as part of the African Social Forum.

Under the structural adjustment policy – the package of policies imposed by the IMF as a condition for granting loans – the country has to devalue its national currency and cut the budget, cut expenditures. So automatically the government cuts employment, cuts services, and privatizes a lot of industries and institutions, and a lot of people have been thrown out of work. The privatized company “modernizes,” computerizes, and will not train the old employees, instead they throw them out and bring in new staff.

Sudan has been following these “reform” packages since the late 1970s, and our currency has been devalued more than 100 times. With the new system of “cost recovery” in the health sector and in the schools, the dropout rate is very high because the people are poor, they can’t pay for services. Ninety percent of Sudanese people are living under the poverty line.

It’s high time to put pressure on the leaders of developed countries – they are shaping the economy of the whole world but we are not part of this, we just receive their instructions: do this, don’t do that, grow this, don’t grow that. In the case of Iraq, nobody likes Saddam Hussein, he’s killing his people, destroying his country, but the American government doesn’t want to throw him out because he’s a bad ruler, it’s because of its interests, regardless of the Iraqi people’s interests.

Cynthia Rodriguez, vice president, City Division, Service Employees International Union Local 73: We represent public workers and we’re most concerned about privatization of services. The World Social Forum is a crash course in globalization: To go to Latin America and see how they’re fighting privatization of utilities, water – just survival! The thought that electricity is a basic right, and in South Africa they’re fighting for that – while we don’t even think about it!

Students from the University of Guadalajara, Mexico: We are here to see the protest of civil society against the system that has continually created more poor. It’s very interesting for us to see how the richness of diversity is manifested here, and how the youth are very interested in this movement. Also, this event is important because it’s like a festival. A festival in which all those in the world who think in more or less the same way, who believe there has to be a change in the way we are governed, we are all here to propose alternatives, to construct a new world. We don’t have all the answers. But this is a space that will give us strength; we will leave with the strength to create a new world.

Interviews by Susan Webb

The author can be reached at suewebb@pww.org

International notes

Fri, 28 Feb 2003 05:35:00 +0000

S. Africa: March to U.S. Embassy

Some 4,000 people representing 60 organizations – including the governing African National Congress, the Communist Party of South Africa and the Congress of South African Trade Unions – brought a powerful anti-war message to the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria Feb. 19. Chanting, “No to war, yes to peace,” the demonstrators rallied as a delegation including ANC Secretary-General Kgalema Motlanthe, United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa, Tshwane Mayor Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, COSATU President Willie Madisha, and SACP General Secretary Blade Nzimande went inside to present the Declaration of South Africans United to Stop the War in Iraq. The action is part of the Stop the War campaign.

Colombia: Deaths and threats continue

Trade union and social justice organizations are protesting last week’s assassination of Sintraemcali union activist Fredy Perilla Montoya, and renewed death threats against Sintraemcali’s former president, Dr. Alexander Lopez Maya, according to information from the Committee for Labor Rights.

Perilla was shot to death Feb. 21 when he refused efforts by unknown persons to force him to get into their truck. Dr. Lopez, now a member of the Colombian Congress who has been a leading opponent of privatization and of government anti-democratic measures and human rights violations, has received death threats over many years. The latest was made in a phone call to his office, also on Feb. 21.

Send protest messages to: President Alvaro Uribe, auribe@presidencia.gov.co, or call the Colombian Embassy at (202) 387-8338; fax (202) 232-8643.

Italy: Protesters will block arms shipments

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi professes strong support for the Bush administration’s drive to attack Iraq, but polls say 7 out of 10 Italians oppose war even if the UN okays it. So it is no surprise that the union representing 90 percent of dock workers says it will refuse to load or unload all shipments of U.S. weapons coming through Italy’s ports.

“We don’t want our workers involved in the transport of arms,” union head Guido Abbadessa said in an interview published by La Stampa Feb. 23.

The previous day, over 1,000 anti war protesters squatted on railway tracks across northern Italy, forcing the re-routing of military cargo. “We’re taking matters into our own hands,” protest leader Luca Casarini told Reuters Feb. 23. “We’re taking stock of all shipments between U.S. bases planned this week and we’re going to try and block them all.”

Haiti: Former soldiers arrested

The Haitian National Police on Feb. 19 arrested four former members of the military, in the country’s Central Plateau, according to Agence Haitienne de Presse. The four, accused of involvement in the killing of police office Patrick Samedi, belong to an armed group that has been terrorizing the small village of Pernales.

At the same time, armed individuals identified as former members of the military shot up the residence of Villier Barbeau, the legislative deputy from Lascahobas. Barbeau, who was away at the time, accused the local directors of the opposition Democratic Convergence of responsibility, and asked police and judicial authorities to redouble their efforts to end the violence in the Central Plateau.

Venezuela: Pro-Chavez workers attacked

In mid-February, 30 tire factory workers in Barquisimeto were attacked while riding to work in a bus operated by their employer. Two workers were injured – one hit in the eye with a glass splinter, and the other shot in the arm. The attack occurred in front of a police officer, and the driver, who slowed just before a burst of nine bullets was fired into the bus, seemed to be in cahoots.

The workers at the Covencaucho tire factory occupied the plant in January to protest their employer’s attempt to make them take “unpaid holidays” as part of the business-led lockout in opposition to the government of President Hugo Chavez. The action inspired other workers to occupy the neighboring Semosa factory in early February, demanding full payment for the time they also lost in the lockout.

Australia: Building trades will strike over war

The Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) is planning a strike by as many as 10,000 workers on building sites in Sydney on the day any war is declared against Iraq. The union has called a special Feb. 25 meeting of 300 delegates from the city’s building sites to work out a plan of coordinated industrial action. If war breaks out, unionized building trades workers would be expected to stop work immediately and join other protesters in demonstrations. The CMFEU has also designated one of its chief campaigners to work full time for an anti-war coalition of unions, churches, community groups and political parties.

International notes are compiled weekly by Marilyn Bechtel, Communist Party USA international secretary.

She can be reached at cpusainternat@mindspring.com

Sharon presents new Greater-Land-of-Israel govt

Fri, 28 Feb 2003 05:28:00 +0000

TEL AVIV – Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will present his new government to the Knesset, Feb. 26, to ask for a parliamentary confidence vote. This follows the announcement on Feb. 24, that the Likud had signed an accord with the Shinui (Change) Party to join a Likud-led coalition, composed of Likud, Shinui and the clerical-Zionist, far right National-Religious Party (NRP). These three parties control together 61 of the 120-member Knesset.

This new government is one with an outright Greater-Land-of-Israel policy, as well as a radically, reactionary and anti-labor background. It also means more religious coercion against the secular majority in the Jewish population.

NRP leader Effi Eitam, ill-famed for his racist anti-Arab expressions, makes no secret about his radical Greater-Israel positions, advocating an escalated occupation of Palestinian and Syrian territories through more Jewish settlements and “voluntary” expulsions of Palestinians from their lands. It is this extremist and advocate of illegal settlements in the occupied territories who will be sworn in as the Minister for Housing and Infrastructure, responsible for the development of the Greater Land of Israel.

The Shinui is a conglomerate of leading personalities with very different political and ideological backgrounds. Not all fit into the features of their chairman Lapid. Not all of them are such fire-headed chauvinists and right conservative anti-labor fiends, as Lapid. Quite a few of their 15 Knesset Members have their roots in the Labor or Meretz Parties, and some in Likud.

The Labor Party headed by Amram Mitzna rejected (for the time being) Sharon’s offer to join his government coalition on these Greater Land of Israel guidelines. Mitzna is confronted with an opposition from some members of his party’s leadership. Shimon Peres and the former war minister in Sharon’s cabinet, Ben-Eliezer, seem to miss their comfortable ministerial chairs.

The question remains, how long will this coalition hold? Many contradictions exist. Sharon has said he wants a long-term interim agreement with the Palestinians, saying that Israel’s economy would not survive a prolonged conflict with the Palestinians. “We will not make it. Our economy will not make it. Without a peace agreement, it will collapse,” Sharon said, according to the Yediot Ahronot daily.

The signed draft guidelines for the government policy does not mention anything about the agreement for a Palestinian state on part of the territories from which Israel would have to withdraw.

U.S. war plans on Iraq and the Bush “doctrine” in the Middle East are also tied to the political and economic landscape for this new far right government. The Bush Administration implies it would support a Palestinian state as a bargaining chip for Arab acquiescence on an Iraq war. So when Sharon’s envoys went to the White House for more dollars – $4 billion in straight “aid” and $8 billion in bank guarantees for credits from the World Bank, they returned home empty-handed, for now.

The author can be reached at pww@pww.org

Tripura, communists face terror and violence

Fri, 28 Feb 2003 05:25:00 +0000

TRIPURA, India – The Northeastern section of India consists of seven states: Tripura, Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. These states, known as the “seven sisters,” are rich with beauty and natural resources. Tea and jute plantations, which extend throughout this lush land, are basic to the economy there. However for the last 14 years all of these states have been facing far-right extremism and terrorism.

Among the worst affected is Tripura, where extremist groups like, All Tripura Tribal Force (TNV) and National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT), use violence and terror to divide Tripura’s population. The main division comes between tribals, who are the majority and non-tribals, who are mainly Bengali-speaking Hindus.

The Tripura state government, led by Communist Party of India (Marxist)-(CPM) leader Manik Sarkar, is trying its best to end this multi-faceted ethnic problem. But, from the beginning, these extremist groups have been targeting the left, especially CPM workers, using terrorism and violence. Forty-five CPM cadres were killed since the beginning of the year. On Jan. 26, NLFT fired indiscriminately to a CPM election rally in west Tripura and killed 11 persons including five women. On Feb. 4 the same group killed a CPM worker and his five-year-old grand child.

With the announcement of the assembly elections, the armed extremist gangs have stepped up their activities targeting CPM workers and supporters. The CPM had already approached the Election Commission requesting that adequate security forces be deployed given the special situation in the state. Tripura state assembly election will be held on Feb. 27. Early trends suggest that CPM-led government will be re-elected. Hundreds of cadres from both CPM and Communist Party of India (CPI) are now engaged in election work, seeking to block the far-right Hindu nationalists from entering the state assembly.

The CPM has been very critical of the Congress Party for working in coalition with the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT) against the left. The INPT supports the same aims as the outlawed terrorist group, NLFT.

Equality for tribal peoples has been a part of the communist movement’s program and history. Communists organized around issues such as land distribution and the lack of access to forests, which are key to the survival of the tribal peoples, along with language and cultural rights. Under the left-led Tripura government land ceiling and reform laws were enacted and more than 7,000 acres had been restored to tribal people, However left parties oppose NLFT’s and INPT’s demand for a separate tribal land.

Now extremists among the non-tribals are also taking arms in their hands. United Bengali Liberation Front of Tripura (UBLFT) is such an organization.

Tripura and Bangladesh share an 856k-long border with Bangladesh on three sides of the state. A number of terrorist training camps function in Bangladesh with help of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan and the Bangladesh government. Bangladesh receives millions of dollars in U.S. military aid each year.

The NLFT operates from Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Cox Bazaar, a port town in Bangladesh is NLFT’s weapon transit point. NLFT president Biswa Mohan Deb Barma lives in Chittagong, Bangladesh, in a government-owned housing colony well equipped with mobile phones, computer networks and satellite televisions.

The right-wing BJP-led government in Delhi is doing nothing to tackle the terrorist situation in Tripura. The fervent pleas of the state government for additional forces have been ignored. Nor has the Centre helped in the development of the state. The absence of which becomes a breeding ground for disaffection.

There is an urgent need for the deployment of adequate security forces along the Indo-Bangladesh border and forthright diplomacy with the government of Bangladesh to dismantle the training camps situated there.

The author can be reached at pww@pww.org

Greek protesters bar NATO fleet from port

Fri, 28 Feb 2003 05:23:00 +0000

Thousands of protesters, organized by the Piraeus committee of the Greek Committee for International Peace and Détente, massed for two days of demonstrations against the presence offshore of the NATO Standing Naval Force of the Mediterranean. Protesters also targeted the Greek government and the presidency of the European Union with their slogans. Other initiators included Youth Action for Peace, the Action-Thessaloniki 2003 campaign, the left-led labor federation PAME, and dozens of other organizations.

Very early in the morning on Feb. 19, the Communist Party of Greece and the left-led PAME labor federation hung two huge banners visible from the sea, saying “NATO killers go home” and “NATO fleet is not welcome.” The first march, which started at 10 a.m., was followed by another at 5 p.m., with protesters staying far into the night, holding torches that could be seen from the ships.

On the evening of Feb. 20, the protest continued with one of the biggest demonstrations in the city’s history.

As a result, the Greek government was forced to appeal to the commander of the fleet of U.S., Spanish, Turkish, Dutch and Italian vessels, not to enter the harbor.

On Feb. 20, the German vessel tried to dock at a secondary port in a suburb of Piraeus to take on supplies. Members of the seamen’s unions immediately gathered at the dock, together with area young people. As a result, the ship left in midday, empty-handed.

During a press conference, Feb. 20, aboard the NATO fleet’s flagship, Greek journalists presented U.S. Admiral Gregory G. Johnson, commander of the NATO forces in Southern Europe, with a statement protesting any attack on Iraq, opposing the role of NATO and emphasizing the popular opposition to the fleet’s presence in Piraeus.

Unions challenge Colombian president

Thu, 20 Feb 2003 14:15:00 +0000

International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) General Secretary Guy Ryder, on Feb. 7, asked Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to take action to protect human and trade union rights and to bring those who violate them to justice. With the spiraling of murders and death threats against them, Colombian trade unions are critical of the purely security-oriented policy of their government.

Human rights activists say most of the killings in the past decade have been committed by paramilitary groups associated with right-wing business interests.

During 2002 around 180 trade unionists were assassinated, making Colombia by far the most dangerous country to be a trade unionist. But no one has been tried or convicted.

“Unless and until the authorities make a real effort to investigate these crimes and bring them to an end, the suspicion must remain that the gunmen are not acting alone,” says Fred Higgs, general secretary of the 20-million member International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers Union (ICEM).

The militarization of civilian institutions and the declaration of a state of emergency have done nothing to improve matters. Over 70 Colombian non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including many trade unions, have therefore expressed their concern over the worsening human rights situation following measures adopted by the new government in a joint statement. These measures range from the declaration of a state of emergency last August to the exclusively security-oriented public policies that are undermining humanitarian law and human rights.

In view of this exceptional violence and the numerous trade union rights violations reported to it, the ICFTU asked President Uribe to give serious consideration to the human rights situation, to amend his policies and to respect the rule of law.

The ICFTU represents 158 million workers in 231 affiliated organizations in 150 countries and territories.

In Jan., as many as 100 U.S. Army Special Forces arrived in Colombia to provide more “security-oriented” training to Colombian troops. The U.S. soldiers are being dispatched as part of a $94 million counterterrorism aid package intended to protect an oil pipeline used by Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum.

The September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States have allowed the administration of George W. Bush to escalate the U.S. military role in Colombia under the guise of the war against terrorism.

Bolivians demand presidents resignation

Thu, 20 Feb 2003 14:13:00 +0000

Thousands of Bolivians heeded the call of trade unions for a 48-hour general strike Feb. 17-18, to demand the resignation of President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada. They were protesting the government’s handling of the country’s worsening economic crisis, and protesting the deaths of at least 22 people in protests last week.

The entire cabinet resigned on Feb. 18 as a result, and the president was expected to announce a new cabinet later in the day.

The farmers and trade unionists gathered in La Paz’s downtown Plaza San Francisco at the call of the Central Bolivian Workers Union – the country’s largest labor organization. They denounced the military’s use of force during a protest by thousands of police. The officers, who are seeking a 40 percent pay raise, had walked off the job over an unpopular tax plan the government sought to implement under pressure from the International Monetary Fund.

Evo Morales, the indigenous leader who forced Lozada into a runoff in last year’s elections, called on farmers and peasants to join the strike. “We will march until the president resigns,” he said.

Bolivia’s budget deficit reached 8.5 percent last year, but international lenders are demanding it be cut to 5.5 percent before they will provide bridging loans.

Though Bolivia was the first South American country to adopt IMF and U.S.-sponsored free-market reforms, the measures have met with great resistance.

Three years ago an IMF program to privatize water utilities – selling them to a foreign firm – brought on violent protests in which five were killed and 30 injured. The contract with Britain’s International Waters was cancelled after three months.

Lozada claimed the tax increases were unavoidable to cut the deficit. But the protests forced him to cancel the increases and give the police a raise. On Monday, during the protests, Lozada was reported to have met with top aides to try to identify other ways to cut costs – among them a reduction in the number of cabinet positions and tightening staff expenses.

Six out of 10 Bolivians are poverty-stricken, and in rural areas, nine of 10 are poor.

France, Germany propose alternative to war

Fri, 14 Feb 2003 05:34:00 +0000

CHICAGO – Indicating the widening gulf between the Bush administration and much of the nation and world over the administration’s drive to war, a leading Republican senator is saying the U.S. should let Iraq weapons inspections work.

Beth Lee, press secretary for Senator Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told the World the senator feels “time is on our side” and we should work with our allies, including France and Germany, through the United Nations to “let the inspections work.”

Hagel’s view was echoed by people on the streets of a gritty working-class neighborhood here, who were willing to stop on a freezing cold day and give their opinion about the possible U.S. war on Iraq. When asked if the U.S. should consider a plan proposed by France and backed by Germany and others as an alternative to war, many readily agreed.

Dorothy Coleman, 50, told the World she hadn’t heard about the plan, but “we should try to stop from going to war.”

Pat Kamradt, 70, said a war with Iraq could be avoided if the president gave inspectors more time. Clarence Morgan, 48, said he wasn’t for war, but he wasn’t for dictatorship either. “I would love to see an alternative [to war] to dispose of any threat from Iraq,” he said.

Even Terrie Tantillo, 26, who said there should be a war “after what they did to us on Sept. 11,” agreed that if disarmament could be done peacefully that would be preferable.

The French proposal, which has the backing of Russia, China, Germany, Mexico and several other UN Security Council members, would increase the number of weapons inspectors and give more time and technical support to the inspection process. The proposal was to be presented to the Security Council on Feb. 14, after a second progress report by chief weapons inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei.

The Bush administration war drive got support from 10 eastern and central European countries. But Secretary of State Colin Powell’s much trumpeted UN presentation was met with much skepticism. A British television station exposed that parts of Powell’s “evidence” were plagiarized from a doctoral thesis written 12 years ago.

International peace efforts gained momentum with reports of the French alternative plan. French President Jacques Chirac stated flatly that “nothing … justified a war.”

The split between the Bush administration and some of its key allies widened at a NATO meeting as France, Germany and Belgium refused to consider military action to defend Turkey from possible Iraqi reprisal in the event of a war, saying it was premature since war could still be avoided.

Millions of people in Europe and the world over oppose the Bush administration’s drive to war. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was met in Germany by thousands of protestors who made it clear they were “anti-war, not anti-U.S.” Susanne Breit Kessler, a German church leader, criticized any rush to war: “We know all the arguments for war, but we want to know that all the political possibilities for a peaceful resolution are first being pursued.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow was “almost completely in agreement” with the French proposal. Chinese President Jiang Zemin said weapons inspections are “effective and should be continued and strengthened.” Jiang said, “Warfare is good for no one, and it is our responsibility to take various measures to avoid war.”

Beijing’s support means three permanent Security Council members – with veto power – are now lined up against the U.S. and Britain in opposition to war with Saddam.

U.S. officials on Feb. 11 laid out plans for a two-year military occupation of Iraq and told wary senators that “enormous uncertainties” made it impossible to say whether troops might stay even longer or how much it would all cost.

In imperial language, Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, “The administration has not yet decided on the organizational mechanisms by which [the oil] sector should be operated. We shall be consulting on this important matter.”

State Department spokesman Marc Grossman said the Iraqi opposition in exile would not be “allowed” to control decisions for Iraq. “While we are listening to what the Iraqis are telling us, the United States government will make its decisions based on what is in the national interest of the United States,” he added.

The Internet-based lobbying group “MoveOn.org” is securing U.S. signatures for a letter addressed to the European countries who are opposing war. The letter expresses appreciation for those countries’ “principled opposition to our government’s misguided and dangerous policy toward Iraq,” and calls on the people of Europe to demand that their governments support the French-German initiative for additional inspections.

The author can be reached at talbano@pww.org

PDF version of 'France, Germany propose alternative to war'

Peace leader: Most Israelis want peace

Fri, 14 Feb 2003 05:31:00 +0000

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil – Most Israelis want a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, and the Bush administration’s policies are “very unhelpful,” Galia Golan, a leader of Peace Now, Israel’s oldest and largest mass peace movement, told the World.

Golan, along with Shulamit Aloni, a member of assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s cabinet, and Ziad Abu Ziad, a member of the Palestine Legislative Council, participated in the World Social Forum here Jan. 23-28, speaking at a series of panels on the Israel-Palestine situation.

In an interview with the World, Golan, a professor of political science in Jerusalem, said polls show “a vast majority of Israelis agree with the idea of a two-state solution, a Palestinian state next to the state of Israel, and the vast majority are willing to see a withdrawal from the Occupied Territories, the dismantling of most or all of the settlements.”

Peace Now was founded in 1978 by 350 reserve officers and soldiers from combat units in the army. “It’s really quite unusual and significant: a peace movement founded by mainly young people who were in fighting units in the army,” Golan said. “I think one of the reasons it became a mass movement is that it came out of the center of Israeli society with young people who said they are willing to fight for the country but they must believe that the government is doing everything possible to reach peace. It grew into a movement of hundreds of thousands of people.”

“Today the vast majority of Israelis, whether they identify with Peace Now or not, do accept our positions. While we have not succeeded in bringing about peace, and we have not succeeded in bringing about a government that is willing to make peace, I think we have played a large role in changing attitudes within the country.”

The Bush administration’s strong support of the hard-line militarism of Ariel Sharon’s government has been a very serious problem for Israel, Golan declared. “Clinton didn’t do everything right perhaps, but he certainly was engaged and put forth ideas that I think were extremely helpful. The disaster for us is that the U.S. is really the only country that has influence over the Israeli government or the public, and the Bush administration has taken a very very firm position in support of Sharon’s policies, even to the point of supporting Sharon’s refusal to negotiate, Sharon’s refusal to meet with Arafat or to even acknowledge Arafat. I think this has been extremely harmful for us.”

Nevertheless, Golan told the World she is confident there will be a return to the peace process. “The reason I’m confident is that the public has come a long way and is willing today to compromise, does want to see an end to the occupation and an end to the bloodshed. And I think that we have the same thing on the Palestinian side. There is a majority on both sides that wants to see an end to this situation.”

A major problem for the Israeli peace movement, said Golan, is that it is identified with the European-born middle class elite and “we have had very great difficulty in breaking this image.” In addition, she said, the fundamentalist orthodox Jewish parties have directed their right-wing ultra-nationalist appeal to workers, playing on class divisions. Although there are movements for rights and ethnic pride among the oriental (eastern) Jews, who in addition to Israeli Arabs are the preponderant group in the working class, she said they tend to be allied with the ultra-orthodox and support the extremist right-wing government.

“One of the major things we have been trying to do is to demonstrate to people that the terrible rise in unemployment and severe hardship we have today inside Israel – where we have enormous numbers of people living below the poverty line and are now reaching 11 percent unemployment – there is a connection between this and the absence of peace, a connection between this and our absence of security and the monies going into the settlements and protecting the settlers.”

At the moment the biggest problem in Israeli society in general, said Golan, is that as a result of terrorism there has been a shift in sentiment, “on the one hand being in favor of compromise – a two-state solution – and on the other hand saying ‘there’s no one to talk to, all they want to do is throw us into the sea’. So these are the contradictions with which we have to deal.”

The author can be reached at suewebb@pww.org.

International Criminal Court to open

Fri, 14 Feb 2003 05:24:00 +0000

The International Criminal Court (ICC) will begin operations on March 11, despite the Bush administration’s worst fears. Under the Clinton administration the United States had signed the Rome Statute, which formally began preparations for the formation of the ICC. But over a year ago under the direction of the Bush administration, the U.S. pulled out of the treaty.

To date, 18 of the court’s judges have been selected. They are judges, which span the spectrum of legal expertise, country of origin and gender. The chief prosecutor, who will control the direction the court takes has yet to be named, but will be announced soon.

The latest country to sign into the ICC is Afghanistan, making a total of 89 nations agreeing to the necessity of a multi-lateral legal system to ensure global human rights. The Bush administration weighed heavily on Afghan officials to keep them from joining the worldwide consensus but the reality of life since the U.S.-lead bombing campaign has created an even stronger need of the rule of law.

The current administration has shown great disrespect for the ICC’s legality. However it has not managed to shake the resolve of the participating nations many of whom are U.S. allies.

Marie-Christine Likoff, a spokeswoman for Canada’s Foreign Ministry, told the press, “International support for the ICC continues to grow, and Canada hopes the U.S. will ultimately join in the process and support the court.”

In the end whether or not the U.S. supports the court as an alternate means of tackling terrorism, atrocities and aggression, today’s world dictates that a peaceful and orderly system of law take root.

The author can be reached at bkishner@pww.org

So. Africans act for peace

Fri, 14 Feb 2003 05:18:00 +0000

South Africa’s Stop the War Campaign – a broad alliance of organizations from different sectors of South African society – has launched a ten-day period of intense anti-war activity aimed at bringing the maximum number of people and organizations into action against the Bush administration’s drive to attack Iraq.

“The world has witnessed with alarm a growing resort on the part of leading western powers to unilateral and militaristic solutions to global problems,” the Campaign said in a statement Feb. 6.

“In particular the United States of America has increasingly exhibited a preference for acting alone in its own national interest, backed by military might and economic weight.” The Campaign warned that these developments threaten a “global conflagration in which the poor will be the main losers,” and called on the masses of South African people to act with peace loving people around the world in defence of peace, democracy and development.

Events began this week, with circulation of an anti-war petition, a press conference to announce signing of the Declaration of South Africans United Against the War, and prayer services in churches, synagogues and mosques.

The Feb. 15 International Day of Action against the war will feature marches in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Bloemfontein, Durban and many other cities.

On Feb. 16, churches around the country will hold prayer services for peace, while musicians and other cultural workers will march through the township of Mamelodi, under the auspices of Musicians United to Stop the War.

Actions will continue with a Feb. 19 march to the U.S. Embassy in Johannesburg, followed by a picket line and the presentation of a memorandum to the ambassador. That evening, drivers will turn on their headlights for peace, between 4 and 5 p.m. And on Feb. 21, organizations will gather to evaluate the actions and project the way forward.

The struggle for world peace “is a struggle for peace and development in our own country and our continent, for a new world order of peace, development, justice and prosperity for all,” South African Communist Party (SACP) General Secretary Blade Nzimande wrote in the current issue of the party’s journal, Umsebenzi. Pointing out that the masses of South African people have a direct interest in the peaceful resolution of the Iraq question, Nzimande called for the largest possible participation in the current actions.

Stop the War Campaign participants include the African National Congress, Azanian People’s Organization, SACP, United Democratic Movement and other political parties, as well as the Congress of South African Trade Unions. Also, religious organizations including the Catholic Bishops Conference and Council of Churches, the Muslim Judicial Council and Muslim Alliance against the War. And, the South African National Civics Organization, along with the country’s major women’s, student and youth organizations.

Besides this month’s activities, the Campaign is emphasizing the need to initiate a longer term movement in the country for peace and international human solidarity. It is also working closely with the Anti-War Coalition of non-governmental organizations to ensure the maximum unity in action of all South Africans opposed to war.

The author can be reached at cpusainternat@mindspring.com

Witness to history in Brazil

Fri, 07 Feb 2003 08:53:00 +0000

Early on the last day of the year, Dec. 31 2002, thousands of Brazilian workers were constructing platforms and mounting sound systems in Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia, the capital of Brazil. A historic event was about to occur in the next 48 hours – the inauguration of the new president, Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva, a left-wing metal worker. Hundreds of thousands of people celebrated in the new year with the expectation of new programs against “neoliberal” economic policies under the new government.

With thousands on their way to Brasilia to witness the event, one could see the red flags with a white star, the symbol of Lula’s own Workers’ Party. But one could also see the red flags with the hammer and sickle, and the rainbow flags of the gay community. Many wore T-shirts with Lula’s picture. They were all on their way to see a worker, someone who is like them, take power as the head of state of the biggest country in South America.

When the sun went down in Rio de Janeiro, two million people crowded the beaches to wait for 2003. Many prayed, asking the higher power “help us to help Lula, we need him to build a new Brazil.”

A man who was picking up garbage stopped to shake my hand and to tell me the new expectations for Brazil: Hope for the ordinary people.

It had been raining and a rainbow appeared over the capital as the New Year came in, as if to announce a new day for Brazil.

For me, to see thousands of people arriving from all over Brazil in buses, airplanes, carts, cars and on foot, to witness a historical event, was moving beyond words. Something that one only sees once in a lifetime. It was even more moving for the Brazilians.

A worker was so moved by the events that he went up to the car of the new president to try to hug him, while the people danced, sang, wept and celebrated as only the Brazilians know how to do.

I met a couple who had spent three nights sleeping in a palm grove next to their car so as not to miss this historic event. They had a three-month-old baby. When they saw Lula put on his presidential sash they began to weep for joy.

That’s what happened to everybody around me.

Lula was elected with 64 percent of the votes of the 98 percent of Brazilians who voted. But his party members have only 35 percent of legislative seats. The road to come will be difficult, but the Brazilian people are willing to fight.

Middle class people were buying and putting on T-shirts with Lula’s image. People from all sectors who suffer under neoliberal policies of austerity for the poor and more wealth for the rich are supporting the new government. This faith in the new government comes from the high levels of unemployment in the country and the hope for new jobs created under the new administration.

One thing that Lula said was that he will start working immediately to end the tremendous poverty in the country. He also said he is going to work with his new government in getting medical service for everybody.

Governments from around the world sent high officials to this event, including 23 heads of state or government, among them those of Venezuela, Cuba and South Africa.

It shames me as a U.S. citizen that the United States did not send a high-level representative. This must be because Brazil is going to join with other Latin American countries in an “axis of good.” But the Bush Administration is going to try to disrupt this new path for Brazil. So we in the U.S. need to show our solidarity to the Brazilian people and workers and their new government in the days and months to come.

Perhaps the future of Brazil will include difficult periods, but Lula and his government are going to try to work to solve the great problems of the Brazilian people. In the new president’s own words: “... first we will fight against hunger, then we will find jobs. This is the new path for Brazil: To fight against hunger and end injustice for all is our future ...”

Gary Dotterman is an activist in Boston and can be reached at Garydin1@aol.com

On Mart, war, peace and economic justice

Fri, 07 Feb 2003 08:19:00 +0000

The following is an edited version of Cuban President Fidel Castro Ruz’s Jan. 29 speech to the International Conference for World Balance, held in Havana in honor of the 150th anniversary of the birth of José Martí.

In addition to saluting the life and contributions of Martí to the struggles of the Cuban people, Castro used the occasion to speak of growing opposition to war with Iraq, especially among the people in the United States who, he said, were “friend and potential ally” in the battle for peace and social justice.

“We saw this during the war in Vietnam and in their support for the struggles of the Reverend Martin Luther King. We saw it in WTO protests in Seattle and Quebec City where they fought alongside Canadians, Latin Americans and Europeans against neoliberal globalization. We see it again in their opposition to an unnecessary war,” Castro said, “and we will see it tomorrow,” Castro said.

What does Martí mean to Cubans?

When he was barely 18 years old, Martí wrote a document entitled “Political Prisons in Cuba,” after his own experience of being cruelly imprisoned, with his feet shackled, at the age of 16. In it, he declares, “God exists, however, in the idea of good, which watches over the birth of every being, and leaves in the soul that embodies it a pure tear. The good is God. The tear is the source of eternal feeling.”

For us Cubans, Martí is the idea of good that he described.

Those of us who resumed the fight for independence first initiated on October 10, 1868, on July 26, 1953, precisely 100 years after the birth of Martí, had learned from him, above all else, the ethical principles without which a revolution cannot even be conceived. From him we also learned his inspirational patriotism and a higher concept of honor and human dignity than anyone in history could have ever taught us.

He was a truly extraordinary and exceptional individual. The son of a military man, born into the home of a Spanish father and mother, he grew into a prophet and forger of the independence of the land of his birth; an intellectual and poet, still an adolescent when the first great battle broke out, he was later able to conquer the hearts, the following, the support and the respect of old and experienced military leaders who had covered themselves in glory in that first war.

A fervent lover of peace, unity and harmony among men, he did not waver in organizing and initiating the just and necessary war against colonialism, slavery and injustice. His blood was the first to be spilled and his life was the first to be offered up as an indelible symbol of altruism and self-sacrifice.

For many years, he remained forgotten and unknown to a large part of the people for whose independence he had fought. But his immortal ideas rose up from his ashes, like the Phoenix, so that almost half a century after his death, an entire people took up a colossal battle, confronting the most powerful enemy any large or small country had ever faced.

Today hundreds of brilliant thinkers and intellectuals from throughout the world have rendered him an emotional tribute with the profound recognition deserved by his life and work.

Beyond Cuba, what did he give to the world? An exceptional example of a creator and humanist worthy of being remembered throughout the centuries.

***

I wonder what thoughts would have flashed, at the speed of light, through the brilliant mind of a man like Martí, wounding him deep in his soul, had he been around to hear [the words of the president of the United States on unending war, the right of unilateral first strike, nuclear options, etc.] in a world now inhabited by over 6.4 billion human beings, all of whom, for one reason or another, from the super-rich to the super-poor, are facing a grave threat to their very survival.

***

The justification [for such policies]? The brutal terrorist attack of September 11, which cost the lives of thousands of people in the United States. The entire world joined in solidarity with the U.S. people and indignantly condemned the attack. With the unanimous support of world opinion, the scourge of terrorism could be confronted from every angle and all political and religious currents.

The battle, as Cuba maintained, had to be fundamentally political and ethical, in the interests and with the support of all of the peoples of the world. Nobody could conceive of the idea of confronting absurd, discredited and unpopular terrorist strategies that hurt innocent people, implemented by individuals, groups, organizations, and even some states or governments, by fighting back with brutal state terrorism on a global scale, with one superpower claiming the right to the possible extermination of entire nations, and perhaps even resorting to the use of nuclear arms and other weapons of mass destruction.

***

The vast majority of world opinion is opposed to this announced war. But what is most important is that according to recent surveys, up to 65 percent of Americans oppose an attack without the approval of the Security Council.

***

[On] Jan. 28, the president of the United States declared to the U.S. Congress: ”The United States will ask the UN Security Council to convene on February 5 to consider the facts of Iraq’s ongoing defiance of the world.”

“We will consult. But let there be no misunderstanding: If Saddam Hussein does not fully disarm, for the safety of our people and for the peace of the world, we will lead a coalition to disarm him.”

He does not say a word about prior approval by the Security Council.

If we move away for the moment from the terrible consequences of a war in that region, which the world’s sole superpower could impose at its will, the imbalance suffered by the world today in economic terms is an equally enormous tragedy.

Differences related to the rich and poor countries, both between them and within them, have grown and deepened; in other words, there is an ever wider gap in the distribution of wealth, the greatest scourge of our era, resulting in poverty, hunger, ignorance, disease and unbearable pain and suffering for countless human beings.

Why do we not dare to declare that there can be no democracy, free choice or real freedom in the midst of such horrific inequalities, ignorance, total or functional illiteracy, poor education and overwhelming lack of political, economic, scientific and artistic knowledge, accessible only for a tiny minority, even in developed countries, while the world is inundated with a trillion dollars worth of commercial advertising, pushing consumption and poisoning the masses with frustrated desires of unattainable dreams and aspirations, creating waste, alienation, and the implacable destruction of the natural conditions essential for human life? In barely a century and a half from now we will have used up all of the available energy resources and the known and potential reserves that it took nature 300 million years to create, without a viable substitute anywhere in sight.

What do the masses know about the complex economic problems facing the world today? Who has taught them what the International Monetary Fund is, or the World Bank, the WTO, and other similar institutions? Who has explained to them the economic crises, their causes and consequences? Who has told them that ... free enterprise and free competition barely even exist anymore, and that 500 big transnational companies control 80 percent of world production and trade?

Who has taught them about the stock market, the growing speculation with the commodities that the Third World countries depend on, and the buying and selling of currencies, totaling trillions of dollars daily? Who has informed them that the Third World currencies are pieces of paper that constantly decrease in value, while their reserves of real or almost real money flee inexorably to the wealthiest countries, like Newton’s law of gravitation. And who has told them of the terrible material and social consequences of this reality? Or why we owe trillions of dollars that can never be paid or collected, while tens of millions of people, including children between the ages of 0 and 5, die of hunger and curable diseases every year?

How many know that the sovereignty of states hardly even exists anymore, thanks to treaties that are drafted with absolutely no participation by the Third World countries, and yet are used to keep us ever more exploited and subjugated? How many are aware that our national cultures are being increasingly destroyed?

***

The economic order imposed on humanity by our powerful neighbor to the north is unsustainable and unendurable. The most sophisticated weapons can do nothing to impede the course of history.

Those who for centuries have supplied and continue to supply surplus value and cheap labor now number in the billions. They cannot be exterminated like flies. They are becoming increasingly aware of the injustices inflicted on them, through the hunger, suffering and humiliation they endure as human beings, rather than through the schools and education denied to them, and despite the worn-out lies with which the monopolistic mass media attempts to maintain them in eternal and impossible submission.

***

Let no one believe that individuals make history. Subjective factors have an influence, and historical processes can be speeded up when individuals have the right ideas, or set back when they are wrong, but they do not determine the final outcome. Not even a man as brilliant as Martí –or we could also mention Bolívar, Sucre, Juárez, Lincoln, and many other admirable men like them– would be remembered by history if he had been born, for example, 30 years earlier or later.

***

That is why I firmly believe that the great battle will be fought on the battleground of ideas, not of weapons, but without renouncing their use in cases like that of our country or others in similar circumstances if a war is forced upon us, because every force, every weapon, every strategy and every tactic has its antithesis borne of the inexhaustible intelligence and awareness of those who fight for a just cause.

In the people of the United States themselves, whom we have never viewed as our enemy, or blamed for the threats and aggression we have suffered for more than 40 years, we can see a friend and potential ally of the just causes of humanity, based on their ethical roots. We saw this already during the war in Viet Nam. We saw it in something that touched us as closely as the kidnapping of little Elián González. We saw it in their support for the struggle of Reverend Martin Luther King. We saw it in Seattle and Quebec City, where they fought alongside Canadians, Latin Americans and Europeans against neoliberal globalization. We have begun to see it again in their opposition to an unnecessary war, without at least the approval of the Security Council. We will see it tomorrow, as they join with the other peoples of the world to defend the only path that can save the human species from the insanity of human beings themselves.

In the face of the sophisticated and destructive weapons with which they seek to intimidate and subject us to an unjust, irrational and unsustainable social and economic world order: Sow ideas! Sow ideas! And sow ideas! Build awareness! Build awareness! And build awareness!

International notes

Fri, 07 Feb 2003 06:43:00 +0000

Russia: Battle of Stalingrad remembered

In a moving ceremony on Sunday, World War II veterans from across Russia were joined by political leaders and foreign ambassadors in marking the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Stalingrad.

The battle turned the tide of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, and started the drive by Soviet troops that forced the German army all the way back to Berlin. It ended Feb. 2, 1943, with the surrender of Nazi Field Marshal Paulus.

Ambassadors from the U.S., Britain, Germany, Italy and other World War II combatants joined veterans in placing wreaths and flowers at the imposing monument depicting a woman representing the Motherland, holding a sword high in the air. A million people were killed in the fighting around Stalingrad – now called Volgograd – and an estimated 27 million Soviet people died in the war.

In a message of sympathy, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder declared, “Stalingrad is a symbol for the immeasurable suffering that the attack of Nazi Germany on the Soviet Union brought upon millions of people.”

South Africa: Union federation opposes war

“The world should be particularly concerned by the threat from the Bush gang to jettison the entire United Nations system in pursuit of dangerous unilateral military action in the most volatile region of the world,” the Congress of South African Trade Unions declared in a statement Jan. 27. “COSATU, our government, the people of South Africa, and all progressive people across the world stand united in declaring: No Blood for Oil!”

The statement highlighted the Bush administration’s oil interests and its “hopeless performance” on the economy as underlying the drive toward war, and pointed out that “The strategy of using war and death as diversionary tactics is a well established part of American presidential politics.”

Mexico: Farmers protest vs. NAFTA

Tens of thousands of farmers, carrying banners and machetes as symbols of their defiance, gathered in Mexico City Jan. 31 to protest the threats to their livelihood posed by a flood of cheaper imports from the U.S. and Canada under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). They warned that a treaty clause which came into force last month, allowing agricultural and livestock imports to enter Mexico without tariffs, will have an especially negative effect.

Protest organizers warned that unless the government of President Vicente Fox withdraws from NAFTA and initiates a new agricultural policy, they will up the ante by blocking ports and border crossings with the U.S. A quarter of the country’s 100 million people make their living from the land, and since NAFTA was signed nine years ago, many farms have gone bankrupt under the pressure of cheaper foreign imports.

New Zealand: Unions ask to meet with U.S. ambassador

The Council of Trade Unions has asked U.S. Ambassador Charles Swindells to receive a delegation from the CTU’s 34 affiliated unions to express concerns over the increasingly worrying Iraq situation, and the implications for workers. The letter sent by CTU head Ross Wilson conveys the “concern and alarm workers have at the daily statements by President Bush and other U.S. leaders, suggesting the U.S. will take unilateral military action against Iraq outside any United Nations mandate and in apparent disregard of international law.”

Wilson said the CTU supports strengthening and implementing treaties and conventions to eliminate all weapons of mass destruction through UN processes, and mandated international inspection of all countries developing and producing weapons of mass destruction.

Haiti: Former army officers will stand trial

Former colonels Carl Dorelien and Hebert Valmond were deported to Haiti Jan. 27 by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). The two, former members of the High Command of the Haitian Armed Forces that was responsible for a violent military coup d’etat in September 1991, had fled to the U.S. after constitutional government was restored in 1994.

Valmond and Dorelien were taken to the National Penitentiary on their arrival in Port-au-Prince. The two had been tried in absentia and sentenced on charges largely relating to the April 1994 Raboteau massacre. They will now have the opportunity to defend themselves at a new trial.

India: Mass anti-war demo planned for Feb. 10

The Committee Against War on Iraq announced this week that a massive protest demonstration will be held at the American Center in New Delhi on Feb. 10. The Committee, which includes the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) along with a number of other parties, popular movements and prominent individuals, had organized an earlier protest last November.

At its Jan. 20 meeting, the Committee decided to greatly step up its activities, including calling on the Indian government to oppose the Bush administration’s drive toward war on Iraq.

International Notes are compiled by Marilyn Bechtel, international secretary of the Communist Party USA. She can be reached at cpusainternat@mindspring.com

Venezuelan workers say the tide is turning

Fri, 07 Feb 2003 06:36:00 +0000

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil – The principal actors in work stoppages in Venezuela are the bosses – particularly in the oil industry – who do not represent the workers, a group of Venezuelan labor leaders told the World.

“They played their last card in stopping oil production, but they did not succeed,” said Jacobo Torres, general coordinator of the Fuerza Bolivariana de Trabajadores (Bolivarian Workers’ Force – FBT), a new national labor federation. The workers took control and have been keeping the oil industry operating since December, he said. “Now we are producing 1 to 1.8 million barrels. We are building new technology to replace what was destroyed by the bosses. In two months, I believe we will double our oil production to 3 million barrels, equaling the production levels of last November.”

Torres said other industries are “fully functioning. Workers are working normally in Venezuela.”

The labor leaders, who were here for a Jan. 21-22 meeting of Latin American left and communist labor activists and to participate in the World Social Forum Jan. 23-28, included, in addition to Torres, Germanico Moyano, general secretary of SUPROBAUX, the bauxite industry professional workers union, Marisel Benavides, SUPROBAUX financial secretary, Carlos Rojas, labor director of the Venalum aluminum workers union, and Andres Rengel and Miguel Rodriguez, also from the Venalum union.

There is no “strike” in Venezuela, only sabotage, they said. In the oil industry, of the 35,000 employees, including 18,000 professionals and specialists, only 3,000 directors and managers went on “strike,” Moyano, Rojas and others explained. Before walking out, the bosses sabotaged the highly automated computer technology that controls not only production but also distribution and export, paralyzing the industry and creating chaos, Rojas said. Most workers could not work as a result.

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez, in a speech here Jan. 26, described how oil industry managers sabotaged computer controls. In the refineries, for example, they adjusted computerized temperature controls up to as high as 1000 degrees (centigrade), so things exploded. “We had a war of hackers versus hackers,” he said. The resulting disruption of electricity, gas and oil created a humanitarian crisis as people could not cook or get health care.

When oil workers reopened the plants, they had to go back to manual operation, “like we had 20 years ago,” said Rojas. But they are restoring the controls, and he expressed confidence that in four months production will be back to normal.

“Now we are in a new phase,” Torres said. “The opposition couldn’t bring down the republic, the country’s economy or its international ties. So they are resorting to terrorism. They put bombs in the oil pipes, and shoot holes in the pipes. Two weeks ago, they broke oil pipes to stop the flow of oil. Now, workers, the army and professionals are on guard to prevent more sabotage and keep the oil production going. People watch and when they see something suspicious they alert the army to prevent sabotage and protect the pipelines.”

The army is supporting Chavez, said Torres, because the generals come from ordinary people. The army chief appointed by Chavez, Gen. Garcia Carneiro, comes from the working class. This is a change from the old generation of military leaders who cooperated with Bush. Torres believes funding for the opposition is coming from Bush. Without the U.S. government, he said, “we would not be in this situation.”

The FBT was formed two years ago, Moyano said, to substitute an honest, democratic labor federation in place of the corrupt Confederation of Venezuelan Workers (CTV) headed by Carlos Ortega, an anti-Chavez leader tied to corporate interests. A majority of workers are leaving the CTV, which now represents only around 20 percent of the workforce, Moyano said, while more than 50 percent of Venezuela’s workers are now part of the FBT. The FBT is composed of 1,500 leaders of unions in basic industries, including transport, public services, iron and steel, aluminum and bauxite, electrical generation and distribution. SINUTRAPETROL, one of the oil industry unions, is a member of FBT, and the federation is also allied with the Christian Socialist-led FedePetrol union.

The author can be reached at suewebb@pww.org