from basque country to the world 03 (2010)

8/8/2019 From Basque Country to the World 03 (2010)

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I2Dear fraternal union organizations:

Here we are again publishing the third issue of the magazineEuskal Herritik mundura (From the Basque Country to theworld). More than six months have gone by since we publis-hed the last issue and much has happened in the BasqueCountry during this time. On the one hand, in that issue wedemanded the release of Rafa Dez and now he is back amongus again, although awaiting trial as the Spanish courts areattempting to criminalize his trade union and political work.Furthermore, in our Land we can feel that we are on the pointof facing a new era. The Gernika Agreement, the Zutik EuskalHerria Declaration (The Basque Country standing), in whicha commitment is made through exclusively political anddemocratic means, the statement by ETA in which they pledgeto promote a process of goodwill in a bid to facilitate a nego-tiated and democratic solution to the political conflict thatexists in our Land, as well as the build-up of power betweenthe pro-independence people and the leftists in the BasqueCountry are just a few examples. In this issue of the magazine you have the contents of the aforementioned statements andinformation of the present political situation in our Country.

But, unfortunately, its not all good news. The level of harass-ment, repression and persecution by the Spanish State againstthe Basque leftist independence movement has not yieldedone iota. There are many examples, but here, in black andwhite, we want to publicly condemn in particular, the raidagainst the Basque internationalist organization, Askapena.Eight members of Askapena were arrested for the only crimeof explaining the situation in Euskal Herria abroad and, simi-

larly, for informing about the struggles of other Peoples inEuskal Herria. Through the internationalist approach develo-ped by Askapena in their almost 25 years of existence, there arethousands of Basques, youth and the not so young, involved inthe world of internationalism and thereby who have becomeaware of the struggles and the hopes of Cuba, Palestine,Bolivia, Sardinia, Scotland, Mexico, Nicaragua or Catalan-spea-king countries, to name but a few examples.

For all this, there are thousands of us who have been directlyaffected by the raid on Askapena and those of us who havepublicly condemned it, as was proven on 16th October in theInternazionalista Eguna held in Gernika. Here, in black andwhite, we demand the immediate release of the members of Askapena, Walter, Gabi, Unai, Aritz and David, since internatio-nalism is not a crime and because feelings and hopes cannotbe imprisoned. This issue of Euskal Herritik mundura wishesto acknowledge their work and Askapenas internationalistwork.

Likewise, we wish to publicly condemn the media campaignthat Spanish mass miscommunication media have been carrying out lately against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, rel- ying on statements by Basques achieved presumably under tor-ture, as reported recently by detainees. The persistence of tortu-re against the detainees for political reasons is a known fact inthe Basque Country, since there is an abundance of testimonialsunfortunately, and this has recently been corroborated by theUN Rapporteur of Human Rights and even last September in aJudgement by the European Court of Human Rights. But thisreality is deliberately hidden in the Spanish and foreign mediamuch too often. We ask the unions worldwide and in particular,unions in Europe and Latin America to defend the Right toasylum for Basque citizens, and that they publicly condemn thepermanent state of exception and violation of civil and politicalRights that we are permanently experiencing in the BasqueCountry, the likes of it seen nowhere else in Europe.

In addition, this campaign against Venezuela aims to distortand misinform about the process of social transformation thatis being experienced in Venezuela and that Chvez is heading,since major Spanish transnational companies and Spanishbusinessmen are seeing a threat to their economic and/or per-sonal interests. And some cannot put up with the fact that theeconomic and social interests of the people are put ahead of private interests, as is happening in the present day in theBolivarian Republic of Venezuela. They are realising that theircushy little number has come to an end, with which they haveplundered many countries in Latin America for decades; theyare resorting to lies and distortion in order to attack the pro-cesses of social transformation, just in case other countriesfollow suit.

Furthermore, in this issue of the magazine we will also inform you about the General Strike which took place on 29 June in theBasque Country, and of the current situation of the trade unionstruggle in our Country. Also in the area of the trade union strug-gle in the Basque Country, it has its own agenda, regardless of the pactista (consensus-seeking) and yielding trade unionismcarried out by the Spanish CCOO and UGT trade unions. You havinformation on all this in this digital magazine. Similarly, we alsoexplain in another article the struggle that our trade union isfighting in the northern Basque Country (French State), whereLAB also operates and it is the third largest trade union, againstSarkozys anti-social, anti-labour reforms of which he hopes tomake cut-backs on pensions and raise the retirement age.

But, in addition to trying to share the reality of our people with you, at Euskal Herritik mundura we want to show other strug-gles in the world from the perspective of internationalism. Thisis why we are, once again, making a jump into the big, wideworld, and in this issue you will find, among other things, areference to the events which LAB has participated in at aninternational level, in the section entitled nondik nora. Theclass-based trade unions in Greece and Andalusia have madeus directly aware of the workers struggles that are taking placein these countries. In both interviews we bring you closer to therealities of Colombia and Argentina, and we bring you infor-mation on the current situation in Greenland. We also explainthe work of the International Association of Metallurgy andMining Trade Unions in their two years in operation. We alsopublicly condemn the unjust situation that the five Cuban poli-tical prisoners incarcerated in the U.S are suffering and, as noteverything is going to be denunciations, we want to celebratethe Peoples of Latin America 200th anniversary of their libera-tion, leaving space for this topic to be covered. We are takingthis opportunity to pay homage to Simon Bolivar, whose pater-nal ancestors were Basques, from the city of Bolivar in BiscayJust like 200 years ago when many Peoples from Latin Americawere liberated from the burden of Spanish rule, sooner or laterit will be the turn of the Basque people. We are confident of this.

We hope you enjoy reading the magazine. Equally, we wouldappreciate if you sent your contributions and articles to this e-mail. [email protected]. We are waiting on them.

You can also check out our website: www.labsindikatua.organd the www.gara.net website to keep up-to-date on the dailyreality in the Basque Country.

Regards to all you revolutionaries. Let us join in the struggletogether.

Euskal Herria, November 2010

GREETINGSfrom the land of the ancestors of simn bolivar


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Igor UrrutikoetxeaSecretary of International Relations of LAB, the Basque trade union)

On 29th June, another GeneralStrike was held in the SouthernBasque Country called by LAB and byclass-based trade unionism in theBasque Country. This was the secondgeneral strike since the outbreak of the capitalist crisis in late 2008.

From that standpoint, the 29th JuneGeneral Strike was not the begin-ning of anything, but rather the con-tinuation on the path that theBasque union majority started onsince the beginning of 2009, andhas experienced several importantmilestones: the General Strike on21st May 2009, the demonstrationsand general strikes in variousregions of the Basque Country, thecollection of more than 132,000 sig-natures in workplaces in favour of adecalogue in which ten urgent mea-sures were put forward to thevarious governments in a bid tocombat the crisis, the demonstra-tions of 27 March this year, at whichmore than 20,000 people gatheredon the streets of the BasqueCountry, or the national demonstra-tion which also brought togetherthousands of people in Bilbao on12th June.

When the Basque trade unionscalled the General Strike on 21st May

2009 against the anti-social policiesthat the government of Vitoria andPamplona were developing, to thedictates of the Government inMadrid, which were based on cut-

backs in social spending, on tax poli-cies favouring the higher earnersand detrimental to the workingclass and based on increasing jobinsecurity, the governments, socialdemocracy and the right-wing par-ties, mass miscommunicationmedia, as well as the Spanish CCOOand UGT pactista (consensus-see-king) trade unions, accused us of being unnecessarily alarmist and of distorting reality. We said then thatif there was no change in publicpolicies, in the areas of employmentand taxes and trends in public spen-ding, the crisis that we were alreadyexperiencing and their effectswould be accentuated in a nearfuture.

Unfortunately, time has confirmedwhat we had said would happen,although we would prefer that ithadnt been like that, unemploy-ment had risen gradually throug-hout 2009 and 2010, doubling therate of unemployment in theBasque Country and exceeding 20%in the Spanish State. Thats the way

things are in Zapateros social demo-cratic Spanish government, alsogoing back on his word on this issueand he has continued to legislateagainst the working class in 2010.Salaries for public sector employeeshave fallen by 5%. Pensions havebeen frozen for two years. They havemade redundancy cheaper, reducingby a sizeable amount the compen-sation in the case of unfair dismis-sals, and as such, illegal dismissals,

etc. Furthermore, soon they aregoing to address the pensionsreform, where they are going toincrease the retirement age andincrease the number of years of tax

contributions that are taken intoaccount when calculating the pen-sions with the intention of reducingamount paid out. Similarly, theCCOO and UGT are negotiating acollective bargaining reform, inwhich they aim to eliminate the pro-vincial collective agreements, whichregulate the conditions of morethan 70% of workers in the BasqueCountry, usually containing betterconditions than those established inthe state agreements.

Faced with this scenario, the Basqueunion majority, representing as wedo 70% of the working class in ourcountry, we decided to call the June29 General Strike. A strike thataimed and managed to provide con-tinuity to the mobilizing dynamicsour class-based and militant tradeunionism is carrying out in theBasque Country, regardless of thereactionary and pactista trade unionmodel that the CCOO and UGTunion bureaucracies are conductingin the Spanish State, and also in ourland. A strike, the June 29 strike,

which represented a forceful res-ponse against the PSOE governmen-ts labour reform, since more than80% of the Basque working classsupported the strike. A strike thatshows that, in the Basque Country,we, the working class and class-based trade unionism have our ownroad map, and that it is possiblethat trade unionism can be coherentregardless of what the CCOO andUGT dictate.

For all these reasons, we also deci-ded not to call the Strike on 29thSeptember. In spite of not sharingtheir call to strike by CCOO and UGT,

29th JuneGENERAL STRIKEn the basque country: another step forwardin the fight for social and political change


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at LAB we respect the viewpoint of class-based tradeunionism resulting from other Peoples of the SpanishState who decided to call the Strike on 29th September,and also of those from a standpoint of critical class to apactista model of the aforementioned trade unions theydecided not to support the strike. This is why we demandthe same respect for our viewpoint. Just as we do notdecide that trade unions from other Nations or Peoples of the State may call a Strike for the same day that a GeneralStrike is organized in the Basque Country, neither do wenecessarily have to call a one-day strike when called bythe Spanish State or somewhere else. Not when we, theBasque trade union majority, have decided not to yield tothe agenda of the CCOO and UGTs pactista trade unio-nism. In straightforward terms, this is about respectingthe scope of the Basque decision also in the labour andsocial field, just as we respect the decision of other tradeunion forces in other countries.

In the Basque Country we are very clear that the coherentclass-based trade unionism called the General Strike on29th June and that is how the working class understoodit when they turned out to show massive support for thecall on 29th June and not to support the strike on 29thSeptember in our land. Whats more, we shouldnt justtalk about unity just for the sake of making a goodimpression. Unity, and also that of the working class,should be based on content. We are very much fear thatthe call to strike on 29th September was nothing more

than a clean-up carried out by the CCOO and UGT tradeunion bureaucracies, with regard to the unions logically,and that they are going to use in the not too distant futu-re in an attempt to strengthen their role of valid interlo-cutors with the government and employers in negotia-ting the reform of the pension system and in the reform

of collective bargaining. Both issues in which they willlikely reach regressive agreements which will lead to aloss of Rights for the entire working class (Lets hope weare wrong!).

If this situation occurs, if they intend to further examinethe loss of Rights of the working class, and of pensioners, youth, women and the immigrant community, in theBasque Country and in LAB, we will continue to fight iworkplaces and on the streets, shoulder to shoulder withthe Basque trade union majority, and with the class-based and militant trade unionism across the whole of Europe, as we did on 7th September within the frame-work of the one-day strike organized by the WorldFederation of Trade Unions (WFTU), on organizing the siin in the Pamplona branch of Banco Santander for twohours, a sit-in which saw seven colleagues being arrested.

Our struggle is in favour of real social change and in thecase of the Basque Country it is inextricably linked to political change that must first respect the Right to decidethat we, the Basque people are witness to. We decidedthis because we are sure that in a Basque Country that isin control of its own destiny, where decisions in economic,social and labour terms would be adopted here, the corre-lation of forces would be more favourable to the workingclass and would enable improved living conditions. Andthis despite the class interests of the great bourgeoisieand of the conservative sectors that are also in our

country. That, amongst other things, was what remainedevident on 29th June when production and economicactivity ground to a halt in the Basque Country and morethan 60,000 workers turned out to demonstate in Bilbao,San Sebastian, Vitoria and Pamplona under the motto Indefence of our rights, no more enforcements!.

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The Abertzale Left has examined the current situationand the Basque political process. It has debated. Notamong few people or in a dark room. On the contrary, wehave brought the debate to the assembly room of oursupporters and social base. It has been a democratic exer-cise; a useful democratic exercise which will also serve todefine our political strategy.

It has not just been a debate. In the meanwhile, theAbertzale Left has been active in and has influenced thepolitical situation. We could not stay at home isolatedwaiting for problems to suddenly solve themselves. Wehad to be among the people and involved in the debate,we had to drive forward initiatives. In the end, in order toimplement effective strategies, the Abertzale Left has hadto clarify its political position and its activity. Thats whysince the very beginning of the current political period westarted to define our political position with concrete pro-posals and actions. And we will continue working in thatway over the coming months. We alone have the respon-sibility to face it.

Time needs to be understood in political terms. The cha-llenges are established by the political and social condi-tions of the moment. Nowadays, the conditions to moveforward exist, achieved after a huge effort. That is why weare moving forward now. The presentation of the docu-ment Clarifying the political phase and the strategy andthe launching of the Declaration of Altsasua has been aresponse both to the internal reflection and a drive forsteps to be made in the political process. Both documents

have been reaffirmed with the very broad support of oursocial bases, taking into account that different opinionsare part of the Popular Unity. The Abertzale Left believesthat the discussion opened by the document Clarifyingthe political phase and the strategy and the Declarationof Altsasua has shown clearly the will of the AbertzaleLeft to achieve political change and to be part of thedemocratic process.

In fact, thanks to this debate, we have seen what we haveto do, what we did correctly and also what mistakes wehave made. Hereby, we confirm the political position andactivity until now. But we have also made a deep self-cri-ticism. With our mistakes and achievements, we havemanaged to bring the liberation process towards politicalchange. Now, our challenge is to make real change irre-versible. This political change also requires that we chan-ge ourselves.

The Basque Country and the Basque citizens, foundationsof the liberation movementThe Basque Country. Basque citizens. Basque women andmen. Basque society. Those are the only points of referen-ce in our approach to political action. The Abertzale Leftcommits itself to work among the people and citizens, totake their ideas and wishes as our reference, to respectthe will of the Basque Country and ensure that is respec-ted by others.

It is time for commitments. It is time to move forward. Atthis moment, the Abertzale Left is conscious that the keyis not waiting to see what other political actors do, ratherto act ourselves. In this sense, our strength and our argu-ments will create new situations, has the potential tocondition the behaviour of others and, even more impor-tantly, will more and more increase the support for a libe-rated Basque Country.

The current political challenge has been our decisionbecause it is the effective way to move forward with theliberation process and it responds to the wish of our peo-ple. Our decisions must always be the result of our willand the peoples wishes, not obliged by something elsenor a result of the will of someone else.

The repression and injustice that the states have usedwill never be part of the political project of the pro-inde-pendence left. We are not like them, neither when weface savage repression nor when we try to oppose to theassimilation of our people. We were never so and we willnever be.We give our word. We will not miss the opportunity, norbetray the hope and the conditions created over the years, to achieve a democratic situation. In that sense, therecent popular mobilisations have shown clearly thatthere is a critical mass in order to channel the democraticprocess by political means. Furthermore, the AbertzaleLeft can affirm that other political actors, in the BasqueCountry and at international level, are ready to travel thisroad together, each based on its own decisions. Thewhole Abertzale Left has to create conditions in order to

make this process strong. We will not let our historydown. We will not let our people down.

Starting today we have to win our future. The opportu-nity for independence is open. In Europe, states have beencreated and the debate is totally open in some places. Thecreation of new states is a realistic prospect as long asthere is the capacity to define strong democratic majori-ties. The Basque Country is a well organized country,dynamic and prepared, with sufficient political maturityand with strong political, social and economic bases.More than anything else, we have total confidence in ourpeople.

Political precedents, reasons to be confident50 years ago, the Basque Country was nearly dying andduring this time, thanks to the struggle, we have mana-ged to make possible the creation of a Basque state. Now,

Stand up

EUSKAL HERRIAZutik EUSKAL HERRIA


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having overcome the political operation designed afterthe death of Franco which had the assimilation of theBasque Country as its goal - we are in the first stage of achieving a democratic framework During decades, wehave achieved many partial victories and have made stepsforward.

Moreover, responding to attacks from the states, we havemanaged to develop our political position. We have oppo-sed the intention to destroy the pro-independence move-ment, and in the meanwhile we have been able to openand win debates and place concrete ideas and proposalsat the heart of the political landscape.

It has not been an easy way. Suffering has been the horri-ble consequence of this long cycle of political conflict andarmed confrontation. Even though some would like todeny it; the origin of this suffering is obvious: the denial of

the rights of the Basque Country. This has created thepolitical conflict, and the security response has encoura-ged it. Our priority is to overcome this situation.

These years, the Abertzale Left has done a huge amountof work. We have formulated the new political phasebased on the confidence given by the path and politicallogic used in that work. Our history and our argumentsare the grounds of our self confidence.

The political phase, the phase of changeThe political phase we are in is coming to the end, andthat, obviously, gives our national and social project anhistorical opportunity. The situation in the BasqueCountry is defined by theopportunities for political andinstitutional change. These opportunities both in thesouth and north of the Basque Country are different inform and intensity.

It is true that the situation of political blockade is gettinglonger than we expected and that has happened mainlybecause the states have decided to prioritise the use of security measures. Therefore, and precisely in the south of the Basque Country, we continue to be at a crossroadsbetween political cycles: Between a political cycle coming

to an end and a new political cycle not yet fully defined.The current main political battle is on the direction andform of the new cycle which is opening.

The Abertzale Left is convinced that a deep political chan-ge is now possible, overcoming the existing cycle of auto-nomy. The opportunity for a democratic scenario is totallyopen.

Consequently, the challenge, now, is to use the opportu-nity opened following decades of struggle to achieve thepolitical change. There are sufficient conditions to do it.The key issue is to benefit from these conditions and toestablish an effective strategy to achieve this politicalchange.

In the north of the Basque Country, Paris retains a totaldenial and maintains an aggressive approach. But popu-

lar mobilisations on institutional demands, defending theBasque language, national building or for social changehave shown the will to live of this people and their deter-mination to achieve its recognition.

The bases for the recognition of the territoriality of theBasque Country are well rooted in the societies of the pro-vinces of Lapurdi, Behe Nafarroa and Zuberoa. OpposingParis, through accumulations of forces, we must open anew phase to win the institutional recognition of thethree provinces and respect the wishes and decisions of the Basque Country.

The political phase is the phase of political change.Indeed, the existence of conditions for change means thatthe change must be realised. Thus, the goal of this politi-cal phase is to achieve a political change; achieve a demo-cratic scenario with sufficient bases for the establishment

of a Basque state.The democratic process, lever for a change of cycleThe democratic process is the lever for the change of cycleand the basic tool of the political phase. This process hasto be articulated based on negotiation, political agree-ment and Peoples participation. The correct developmentof such a process is the only way for a change of the poli-tical framework

It is time to define the democratic process. And the demo-cratic process has a very clear goal: Once the Gordianknots of the self determination and territoriality areuntied, a democratic framework can be built. This demo-cratic framework has to make it possible to realise all poli-tical projects, including the pro-independence projectthat we support. The political result to be achieved by thedemocratic process is a decisive political agreementamong the different forces in the Basque Country whichthe states will be obliged to respect. On the other hand,the main actors to begin the process, to drive it forward,to ratify agreements and to take the final decisions con-cerning our internal structure and foreign relations arethe Basque citizens and the Basque Country.

As the Declaration of Altsasua states, the activation of thedemocratic process is a unilateral decision of theAbertzale Left. Despite problems, the democratic processmust be the challenge we will have to face without anyway back. In order to develop it, bilateral, multilateralagreements; with Basque political actors and the interna-tional community have to be found. Agreements mustalso be found with the states In order to solve the ongoing conflict.

Consequently, deliberately and with self confidence, toge-ther with other political forces and in opposition topowerful interests the Abertzale Left can already antici-pate three stages in the activated democratic processconcerning the south of the Basque Country. And in thenorth of the Basque Country we must build up a new poli-tical balance towards Paris with the support of thesociety. Those are the three stages:


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Minimum democratic bases. These are the democra-tic basics which will enable a development of thedemocratic process. Agreements and decisions concer-ning equal rights among the parties should be gua-ranteed and exceptional political measures ended.

Democratic agreement. Agreement should be deve-loped on the basis of the recent negotiation process.i.e.: recognition of the Basque nation, a guarantee thatit is possible to realise all political projects and thedefinition of political/juridical ways to change therelation between the Basque territories amongthem and with the state.

Democratic framework. It should be based on the juridical and political implementation of the democra-tic agreement. It should be created by the willingnessof the people and should guarantee the overcoming of

the structural denial of the Basque Country. Theefforts of the Abertzale Left to achieve the right todecide are based on the one hand on the Anaitasunaproposal for autonomy for the four provinces in theSouth of the Basque Country, and on the other handthe Ustaritz proposal towards the creation of auto-nomy for the three provinces in the North of theBasque Country.

New strategies and tools, the means to go forwardWe face a new phase and we require new strategies andtools. In order to achieve political change, it is absolutelynecessary to channel an increasingly broader accumula-tion of forces and to drive the confrontation forward towhere the states are weaker: to the political field.

The outcome of the debate has guided all forms of acti-vity in favour developing the challenge that the new poli-tical phase will bring; in favour of the accumulation of for-ces that the new cycle demands. Thus, the only tools of the democratic process, having as its goal the accumula-tion of forces, will be the mass, institutional and ideologi-cal struggle, the change in the balance of forces and theachievement of international support. Popular supportwill be the only guarantee and the popular movement the

most effective tool.The democratic process must be developed in the com-plete absence of violence and without interference.Dialogue and negotiation among the political forcesshould be governed by the principles of Senator Mitchell.No-one will use force or threaten the use of force in orderto influence the course or result of the multiparty nego-tiations nor to try to modify any agreement which resultsfrom them.

The democratic process will have to bring greaterpopular support, struggle, accumulation of forces andorganisation. Thanks to them, it will be possible toachieve partial goals and create initiatives: to achieveminimum democratic freedoms and to make steps torelease the political prisoners, renew national cons-truction and the national structure, strengthen the

international political offensive and drive forward thepolitical negotiation.

The strategy we are setting out has concrete areas of work. It is practical and opens the opportunities to takenew steps. Gathering forces in favour of independenceand sovereignty, speeding up dynamics for the politicalprisoners and democratic freedoms, channelling the toolsand initiatives in order to develop the democratic process and concretely to reinforce the field of negotiation - andstrengthening the Abertzale Left are our main politicaltasks.

Developing and defining them will be the practical andtheoretical task of the coming months.

We believe national construction and the democratic pro-cess are linked. National construction has also a special

importance in the current political phase. In fact, it will bethe tool to accumulate forces and keep the process goingin the correct direction. We have to place national cons-truction in the change of cycle. Furthermore, the changeof cycle has to facilitate the way to improve national cons-truction together with the work in the popular movementand the institutions. National construction should alsoenter in a new phase.

The Abertzale Left wants to add social change to politicalchange, because that is the way to guarantee them.Political change without social change will be incompleteand social change without political change is impossible.

Therefore, and moreover confronting the injustices impo-sed by neo-liberalism, the left struggle we have to develophas to facilitate the political change taking the right direc-tion and the accumulation of popular and worker forces.

The work to be done by trade unions is fundamental.The pro-independence left want a social change and itsachievement requires the energy of the popular move-ment, feminist praxis, a new language policy, new educa-tion systems, the work of cultural actors and the streng-thening of the youth movement.

In order to move forward in this political challenge, theAbertzale Left will need a legal political party to work at apolitical and institutional level as well as to be part of thepolitical parties negotiation table for a definitive resolu-tion of the conflict.

Therefore, and independently of the name and legal struc-ture it will have, the Popular Unity will be the reference forall socialist and pro-independence people in all theBasque Country in the coming political activity, to developthe democratic process, in mass-mobilisation, ideologi-cally and at the institutional level.

Abertzale LeftBsque Country, February 2010


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The Basque Country is facing the opportunity to take thepolitical conflict and the violent confrontation.

towards a scenario of peace and democratic solutions.On that direction, we have to settle a non violence situa-tion with guarantees and a first stage of political norma-lisation based on the following contents:

Declaration by ETA of a permanent and unilateralcease fire, verifiable by the international community, asan expression of will of a definitive cessation of itsarmed activity.

Recognition of civil and political rights, allowing theactivity and development of all political projects, takinginto account that the recognition and protection of allrights is their fundamental base. Therefore we demandthe abolition of the Politic Parties law, as it embodies a juridical instrument on which the violation of basic

rights is supported. End to all kind of menaces, pressures, persecutions,arrests and tortures against any person motivated byhis political activity or ideology.

The cessation of the ongoing penitentiary policyagainst Basque political prisoners, conceived until nowas part of the confrontation strategies, and the adop-tion of the following measures as a first step towardsthe amnesty, that will lead us to the total absence of prisoners and exiles caused by the political conflict:

- Transfer of the prisoners to the Basque Country,ending the dispersal policy.

- Release of prisoners affected by serious illnesses.

- Release without bail of all those prisoners held inprison awaiting a trial.

- Release on parole of all condemned prisoners whohave fulfilled all legal requirements.

- Application without restrictions or arbitrariness of all legally established penitentiary benefits

- Abolishment of the legislation that impones 40 years sentence.

Revision of those judicial processes against personsand organizations structures based on their politicalactivity.

Closure of special jurisdictions and tribunals, of allexceptional legislation and the disappearance of incommunicado detention.

Lifting of restrictive or/and prohibitive measures onpolitical activity of Pro-independence activists andorganisations.

Encourage participation of international agents inorder to verify that there is not any kind of HumanRight violation.

These political, trade union and social organisationsdemand ETA and Spanish Government to take those deci-sions and initiatives that would allow the creation of an

scenario of this kind, an scenario of non violence withguarantees and of progressive political normalisation.

In the same way, the endorsers believe that in the frameof a process of these characteristics, where that scenarioof peace and enough political normalisation would beconsolidated, it will become essential to activate spacesof political dialogue and negotiation in order to fullyaddress the reasons and consequences of the conflict.

This process of political dialogue and negotiation has tobe based on the following principles and contents:

Dialogue and negotiation in all fields would be ruledaccording to the commitment established on theMitchell Principles.

- To democratic and exclusively peaceful means of resolving political issues

- To oppose any effort to use force, or threaten to useforce, to influence the course or the outcome of all-party negotiations

- To agree to abide by the terms of any agreementreached in all-party negotiations and to resort todemocratic and exclusively peaceful methods intrying to alter any aspect of that outcome with whichthey may disagree

Agreement for aSCENARIO OF PEACAND DEMOCRATIC SOLUTION


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The negotiation process to reach political agree-ments will exclusively belong to political, trade unionand social agents.

The contents of the political dialogue will look foran inclusive agreement among all politicalcultures of the country, regarding the recognition of both theBasque national reality and the right to decide, andalso to the respect of the democratic popular willregarding internal juridical and institutional model,and regarding the type of relation with the states,including independence.

Need of recognition, reconciliation and redress of allthe victims caused by the political conflict and recog-nition of the reality of the multiple violences. Womenand men of the Basque Country, in a frameworkwhere equality of their rights will be recognized, willbe active subjects in the compromise for democrati-sation and peace recorded in this agreement.

Now a days, as a consequence of the existing socialmodel, participation of men and women is not equal.Therefore, women must be an active subject in the solu-tion, because they are not outsiders to the political con-flict.

All postulates addressed in this document are assumedby those trade-union, political and social organisationssigning it, and commit themselves to fulfil them, trans-mit them to the international agents and work for thepopular activation of Basque society, so that its citizenswill adopt them and take their place as the only guaran-tor of the evolution of the process of democratic solution.

Gernika,Euskal Herria Basque Country,25th September 2010

PRESS RELEASE BY LAB

ON THE LATEST COMMUNICATION BY ETA

The announcement released on September 5th, Sunday, by ETA, where they announced their decision to stop offensive armed actionsin order to build a democratic process, is an important and positive step towards the opening of a new political scenario for the Bas-que Country. ETA's decision, which is guaranteed by the absence of the armed actions, undoubtedly gives a significant boost to the political commitment of the Basque pro-independence left party and requires the other implied agents to take a position on the issue.

The change in the political cycle that the Basque Country needs and requests is in progress, despite the immobilism of Spain and Fran-ce and their stubbornness on war and repression strategies. The political, trade union and social agents are in charge of carrying outthis process and it is about time each of us took on our responsibilities without waiting for others to act. It is in our hands.

With regard to the reactions on ETA's announcement and decision, we cannot ignore that the lack of willingness of Spain and all theagents that take part in its strategy is just one more example of the disastrous attitude after a year of hindering every initiative towardsa solution based on dialogue and negotiation. They are wrong. The Basque society asks for solutions, claims the right of freedom todecide our future, asks for negotiation and agreements. Spain and France cannot carry on ignoring this claim; therefore, we demandthem to respect the minimum democratic requirements that are vital to walk this path.

The Basque pro-independence left, in its whole, must and is going to fulfil the commitments and steps that are necessary to achieve anew political framework that will allow to build a Basque state democratically.

LAB will direct its commitments and strengths towards achieving that aim. We require the working class to commit actively in the pro-cess of getting a democratic scenario. The political and social change that the Basque workers need is possible and now is the mo-ment to make it a reality.

Basque Country. 6 September, 2010National Committee of LAB


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Gaizka Rial (Delegate of Metal Workers Union)

We find ourselves in a belligerent offensive against theemancipation of America:

U.S bases that fairly point to the processes of integrationon the Continent (UNASUR and ALBA), the ongoing attackon Cuba and Venezuela to destroy the liberating will of the people, the coup in Honduras, the humanitarian mili-tarization of Haiti, the political and national situation inGuadeloupe, Martinique and other overseas territoriesunder French domination and so on and so forth.

Two hundred years from the beginning of the struggle forthe Independence of Our America, colonialism conti-nues to be an economic, social and cultural reality.

So, the Spanish State is attempting to reconquer LatinAmerica, in this case by economic means, since the early90s with the presence of their banks, energy companies,telecommunications, tourism and wishes to address thecommemoration of important events in their history: the200 years of Napoleons invasion of the peninsula, thewar of Independence against France, (1808 to 1813), theConstitution of Cadiz in 1812, the restoration of themonarchy in 1813What is also omitted at the same timefrom the Spanish governments official discourse is thecommemoration of the 200 years of uprising and loss of the majority of the its colonies in America, the era of colo-nization and the disappearance of 70% of the originalpopulation. From the beginning, it has been proved thatSpain has interest in manipulating the bicentenary put-ting all the mechanisms of diplomatic pressure, politicalinfluence and economic persuasion into action.

The colonization of America was a first globalizationdue to the extent that the expansion of the commercialcapital involved and whose wealth served to incubate thecapitalist system.

In the Spanish colonies, the get-rich-quick resource of thecolonists was based on mining; and once this ran out, thishad an impact on civil servants and military to the servi-ce of Spain. Their children, Creoles, must be satisfied withfarming where enrichment was slower and is giving rise

to conflicting interests. The rivalry between the Creolesand Spaniards and the establishment of a regime of monopolies and obstacles that hinder the developmentof the American economy, its trade and curbing thegrowth of its productive capacity neglects the situationof the Creoles. The dilemma was who got to take respon-sibility for the natives and slaves under the encomienda

labour system.There were the liberal economic measures that werebeing established from the eighteenth century that sti-mulated the Creole bourgeoisie in a growing desire forcommercial freedom.

The U.S Declaration of Independence and the FrenchRevolution served as models.

The Netherlands had already shaken off the Spanish burdenin 1579 and went on to be a model for economic development

American Independence was favoured by the politicaland ideological situation that Spain went through. Thesuppression of the Bourbon dynasty and the invasion of Napoleons troops, which gave rise to the Spanish War of Independence, allowed for the emergence of assembliesthat were set up in major American cities. The assembliesthat began by acknowledging royal authority (FernandoVII) led to the beginning of the independence process.The confluence of liberal Creole thought (influenced byFrench, English, and North American liberalism), the

Enlightenment of the XVIII century and the developmentof revolutionary theories with the drive of the insurgentpopular masses will be formed in the first decade of theXIX century and will culminate in a great independencemovement. This anti-colonialist offensive period began inthe late XVIII century and culminates with the death of Bolivar in 1830.

The absolutist reaction in 1814, produced by the return tothe Spanish throne of Fernando VII and the return to thecolonialist system (Spanish power in the hands of themonarchy and the aristocracy as a parasitic class), was a

key element that produced a radical change of the factsand the outright war for independence. The Creoles, whodid not need emancipation, as they were free and slave-holders and had economic power of the colony, tookadvantage of the Spanish internal contradictions to gain

BICENTENARIO


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access to political power, in exchange for a neo-colonialrelationship.

They came to power with their own operating model,without popular participation and without promoting

social changes that threatened their own domination,betraying and murdering those who were the mostimportant liberators. They created alliances betweenlocal oligarchies and English and U.S colonialism-imperia-lism, that lead to the current situation of subjection tothe logic of neo-liberalism and privatization.

The main victims of the process of colonization were theindigenous populations who suffered the loss of all theirrights and who would be the basis of colonial exploita-tion in order to maintain the parasitic monarchy. TheIndependence process is preceded by indigenous upri-

sings in the XVIII century: comunero rebels of Paraguay(1717-1735) and Colombia and Venezuela (1781), TupacAmaru in Peru (1780-1781) The Creoles were allied tocrush Spanish absolutism. The fear of the example of theIndependence of Haiti, converted on 28th November 1803in the first free Black republic of America, weighed heavilyon the attitude of the ruling classes.

As such, in spite of the frequent clashes between theSpanish crown and the Creoles these did not break withthe ideology of Spanish national unity until the crisis of the empire was irreversible. The hegemony of the Spanishempire was run under a structure of feudal dominationfrom when Europe had already begun the transition tocapitalism.

Meanwhile, the conquest of the Basque Country by theSpanish State was happening at the same time as theAmerican conquest. In 1512, there is a military conquest of the Kingdom of Navarre and incorporation of the crownin Castille in 1515.

The subsequent consolidation of the Spanish and French

states marks the abolition of the historical rights of theBasque people. This centralized uniformity is answeredwith a large number of riots in the Basque Country(known in Basque as matxinadak).

The emergence of the U.S as a power and their desire forhegemony and expansion gives rise to the MonroeDoctrine (1823-America for the Americans). From 1845 itwill be the official policy in U.S relations with LatinAmerica. The same basic pattern as the current FTAA (FreeTrade Area of the Americas).

In 1948, under the framework of U.S hegemony over LatinAmerica, the Organization of American States is created(OAS) in order to subordinate it to the interests of the U.Sand capitalism. It was a legal mechanism to implementin the Monroe Doctrine practice.

It is with the triumph of the Cuban revolution and gue-rrilla development on the continent with a Marxistapproach when one begins to talk about the 2nd inde-pendence.

Today, we find ourselves with a Latin America with moreindigenous, political clout than ever and with clearly lef-tist governments in a large number of countries, that forthe first time in their history are making an effort toachieve real economic independence, based on social jus-tice. Efforts to reach the objective with the tools and wea-pons available nowadays, ALBA is now primarily the engi-ne of American integration, of the decolonization and forthe second independence. To be ensured, it has to bedeveloped in the framework of the so-called Socialism of the XXI century.

There are two pathways in the America of the bicente-nary: to continue with servile integration to the economyand interests of the U.S through the FTAA and the FTAs, orto become integrated in mutual solidarity that ALBArepresents, transforming the methods of production andcreating new ways of organizing social relations; crea-ting, out of the hope that is reflected in the bicentenaryof independence, more organization and unity, for thatstruggle for dignity and sovereignty. And today with thecommemoration of the Independence movement a greatmovement of political and historical awareness is beinggenerated, one that aims to solve the immediate, dailyproblems of the ordinary people, the working class of Latin America and the popular classes.

Meanwhile, the rotten Spanish State continues to be a jail of peoples in years gone by as well as nowadays (wehave the cases of the Basque Country, Catalonia orGalicia). To this end, they do not hesitate to exerciserepression against the sovereign aspirations and to denythe right to decide its future to the different oppressednations by stifling Spanish centralized government. Thegreat social backwardness of the Spanish State, with theworst rates in the whole of Europe in social spending, taxfraud, unemployment, working conditions, democracydeficit, repression shows us the pressing need to free our-selves from their burden. A servile state playing to thedictates of the powerful and aggressive against the wor-king class.

Latin America shouted Independence 200 years agoand established the means to rid themselves of theSpanish occupation. Nowadays, the struggle provides for

achieving a more just social model on the continent,based on socialism. In the case of the Basque Country, wealso need our independence, in short, a shift in the politi-cal paradigm in order to achieve real social change thatguides us towards socialism.


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fully by the advancement facilitated by the dictatorshipsfrom 1955 until the last in 1976, which led to us to a situa-tion where there were more than 30,000 missing compa-nions. The dictatorship opened the way for progress in the90s towards the model of plunder and domination of theeconomy and society that they were looking for. I alsoremarked that there was considerable trade union andworker resistance against the dictatorships and when theyengage in formal democracy in 1983. As a result, unem-ployment rose. We have three generations living off han-douts, without that culture of working, jobs are being lost.

In some reports, even in Argentina it is saidthat a portion of the population are sufferingfrom hunger. Is this correct?

Yes. Another problem we are suffering from is hunger.Today in our country a movement in favour of food sove-reignty is growing, because a country like ours where theeconomic matrix has not changed is allowing the plunderof our natural resources, whilst hunger and exclusion areincreasing. In this case, we agree with defending foodsovereignty, because we have lost large tracts of land andcrops, while our children are still dying of hunger, in nor-thern Argentina, yes they are. We have a high rate of dependence on genetically modified soya. They are takingthe nutrients for forage to Europe, while child malnutri-tion is still a problem. The coffers were increased withexports, but the welfare system is still very strongly main-tained. There are palliative measures, but the underlyingproblems have not changed in Argentina.

What is the rate of unemployment in yourcountry?

We reached a rate of 25% in 2001 and it has been goingdown to between 10% and 11%. But these percentages arenot real because the welfare programmes count as part of the occupation. However, it is not a constant income fromactual labour. In Argentina there is a lot of job insecurityand a lot of seasonal work. The youth and women are thegroups that are most excluded from the labour regimeand from the possibility of access to employment. Nor dowe achieve decent levels of income for the citizens, fromthose dire times of adjustments and privatizations. Theyhave not improved retirement pensions.

Spanish multinationals such as Santander,BBVA Basque origin- or Repsol have a lot todo with this process of privatizations that hap-pened in your country.

They were part of the crisis in those years when thecorralito, (economic measures taken in 2001 in order tostop a bank run) broke out, where Argentinas middle classtook to the streets because of the withholding of funds

during the financial crisis. The real economy is in thehands of foreign capital. The financial system, our ban-king, continues to be privatized, our central bank is at theirdisposal. Spanish Banks have had and have been part of the looting.

Does the current crisis affect the Argentineworking class more?

The recession is masked by a strong welfare system butdoes not create genuine employment. With the issue of the external debt we have fallen further into recession.With the new era of governance, the external debt for uswas an almost closed case following the various rulingsthat indicated that it was an illegitimate, immoral debtthat was contracted by governments not elected by thepeople during the military dictatorships. The various

democratic governments accepted that the external debtwas illegitimate. But, in the present time, to free them-selves of these pressures from the IMF and other agenciesthat have exacerbated our economic crisis, they havereversed these principles and they tell us that that debtmust be paid. With the effort of the entire nation, whichhas risen once again and has increased the coffers of thenational treasury, they are now being derived from thepayment of the external debt and, sooner rather thanlater, these resources are not going to be in our hands inorder to modify our economic and political structures thatserve the population from the very roots.

Are the IMF and other international agencieslooters?

Yes. They continue to do so. Not as openly there as herelike the adjustments. There, they are continuing to plun-der the reserves and the riches in Argentina in a more insi-dious manner. In our country, debt payments at this timeof financial crisis impact us, because they are in receipt of loans. We are continuing to borrow. We are not an econo-mically independent country, in spite of having enormousresources. .

What does ATE-CTA propose to do in view of such a serious and growing problem that istaking place?

Historically, we have been demanding the recovery of national sovereignty, economic independence throughthe Central de Trabajadores de Argentina. We have acountry that has the resources to carry it forward. Weneed to nationalize the companies that were privatized. Iam sorry to say that here where there are many compa-nies, lobbied by the Spanish State, but we need to recoverand nationalize the banks, and to be able to rid ourselvesof the agro-export production model based on geneticallymodified soya. We need to recover our crop rotations andour direct fishing. Fishing in Argentina does not touch


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Argentine soil; it is brought directly to the factory ships and continues along. We need comentary economies with other countries that need our raw materials, and by exporting raw materials we will incentivize domestic industry that will once again generate real jobswill focus on development and invest in domestic consumption and the income of each wker, i.e. the investment in salary increase, that is committed without fear and international tacles to greater development and greater independence.

Do you believe the Argentine Government is yielding to economic interests

There is a double standard. Those very latent years of 1945 and 1955 of protectionismstrong Keynesian developmentalism where the working class participated a lot still remThey are playing with that memory as if they were carrying out that protectionism and nnal economic development, but the same pattern is a fraud that we are suffering from. Atsame time, this political fraud, that lie that is sustained through social welfare, generatesocial movement of unemployed who are pushing to create a unique and genuine projSooner or later the Government will have to enter into talks with the forces that are propoa real output in production, or it will not make the mark. But as it is subject to the casystems and to the foreign monopoly interests, it will be just another Government that continue like others. It is a challenge: either we completely trust in the very forces of the uployed and social movements or we continue to look elsewhere.

Continue looking elsewhere?

In economic terms, yes; in social terms and human rights and with regard to the trials of thetatorships, it is on track; but human rights are also housing, health, education, work, that arebeing respected. This is what is being demanded in this time of crisis.

How do they contemplate the changes that are taking place in LatinAmerica in countries like Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia or Brazil?

They are helping the region. They pressure our Government to make more profound deciThose movements that went all the way to transforming their constitutions, such as Bolhelp us not to remain with superficiality. The region is helping so further progress can be mgetting to the bottom of the social and political changes, towards that sovereignty that need. Historically, there was always a regional emancipatory project, which is being reagain and obviously, in our formal democracies bipartisanship is also starting to go bellybecause this region is resurgent America, as is becoming clear in the proceedings and deb

Is Argentina progressing in relation to the trend that those countries in thearea are driving forward or is there still a lot that needs to be done? IsArgentina wakening up from the lethargy?

From 2003 onwards there is that intention to rebuild bipartisanship in ArgentinUnfortunately, the national Government could and did work hard with new forces beyondtraditional parties, but in the end, it remained a traditional party, but one thing we do hclear: that the possibility of articulating third or fourth electoral forces are not stopped in to change this situation. It is going to give diversity, in this case the shift that is occurthroughout the whole region of Latin America helps and on the other hand, raises an inteting debate internally. It is also what you are going through here, processes of change. Weunderstand what is happening in the Basque Country, the status of the union, political social actors helps us in this debate.

Interview conducted by the journalist Juanjo Basterra and published in Gara 8-8-2010

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GREENLANDfacing the challengeof deciding on its

futureIgor Urrutikoetxea (LABs Secretary of International Relations)

One more year and the summer isbeginning in Kalaallit Nunaat(Greenland), and the midnight sunmakes the Ilulissat glacier, the worl-ds largest glacier outside Antarctica,even more beautiful. We have cometo Greenland invited by theGreenlandic SIK trade union, withthe aim of getting to know firsthandthe economic, social, trade unionreality and also the political reality of this nation under Danish adminis-tration.

Greenland left the EuropeanCommunity (present day EU) in 1985,although in some areas such astrade, European regulation appliesand in spite of being part of theSchengen Area.

The population of Greenland ismade up of 58,000 inhabitants, of which 85% are of Inuit origin. Itshould be emphasized that not allthe Inuit live in Greenland, since thatthis population is found scatteredthroughout Canada, Alaska andRussia, as well as in Greenland.

The remaining 15% of inhabitantsare Greenlanders of Danish origin.Approximately 50,000 people speakKalaallisut, the Greenlandic dialectof the Inuit language which, in thepresent day, is the official languagetogether with Danish, although fordecades it was relegated into thebackground.

This situation changed throughpopular pressure which on 25thNovember 2008 resulted in theapproval of the extension of theGreenland Home Rule Statute bymeans of a referendum. In the afo-rementioned referendum the majo-rity of the population gave its appro-val for the development of self-government, by means of acquiringgreater economic resources, acqui-ring control over oil resources, esta-blishing preferential use of theGreenlandic language in govern-ment and services and, furthermore,the door was left open for the call toa referendum of self-determinationin a relatively near future.

This referendum was followed bythe coming to power, a year ago, of the lefist pro-independence InuitAtaqatiggit party (IA), which defendsthe practice of the Right to Self-Determination for Greenland. IA has13 parliamentarians out of a total of the 31 that make up the Parliament,and governs in coalition with twoanother minority parties.

The main opposition party is thesocial democratic party, Siumut, wholost the last elections having been ingovernment for three decades.Currently, it has 9 parliamentariansand also claims to defend the rightof Kalaallit Nunaat to decide on itsfuture.

In the struggle to defend the right toself-determination in Greenland, as

well as the political parties, our host,the Greenlandic SIK trade union,which was created in 1956, is playinga very important role (Organizationof Salaried People). It is the largesttrade union in this country and has amembership of almost 10,000 peo-ple. It is an organization in whichvarious political sensibilities conver-ge, but whose trade union activityrevolves around three fundamentalcore areas since the 90s, when itbecame committed to a socio-politi-cal trade unionism: defence of therights of the working class, defenceand demands of implementing theright to self-determination anddemand of the prevalence of theGreenlandic language in all spheresof economic and social life on theisland.

The majority of the population cle-arly supports self-determination forGreenland and, even, their indepen-dence. Nonetheless, in a nation suchas this, where the climate so stronglydetermines all aspects of life and theeconomy of the country itself, thedebate focuses fundamentally onthe current economic viability of apossible independent Greenland.Like that, Greenland has an unem-ployment rate of 6%, and an eco-nomy that is heavily subsidized bythe Danish State which annuallyinjects more than 400 million euro(8,000 euro per capita) into its eco-nomy, and fishing accounts for 80%of exports. The level of develop-ment on the island is also very high.

Nonetheless, this land covered by ice,which holds 7% of the worlds fres-hwater, has vast mineral resourcessuch as coal, zinc, gas and even oil,which together with revenue gainedthrough tourism, are displayed asthe main sources of economic reve-nue in view of possible independen-ce from Denmark.

And, paradoxically, just as our SIKcolleagues explained to us climatechange which is proof and whichconcerns us greatly as a People, if itcontinues at this rate, in the not toodistant future, it is going to havevery immense social and economicconsequences.The gradual melting of the perpe-

tual ice cap that covers 85% of theisland, together with warming seas,has seen some species of fish havingbeen drastically reduced in theirnumbers, and furthermore, it willmake the exploitation of mineralresources easier in the future (whichnowadays also occurs, but not on alarge scale). The same happens withoil, since it is easier to work at thepresent time in these waters, com-panies such as ExxonMobil orChevron, amongst many others, arealready prospecting for new depo-sits, with the ambitious objective of beginning to exploit these resourcesin about ten years time.

The political debate currently focu-ses, above all, on when to exercisethe right to self-determination. Theruling party says it is necessary towait some more years, claiming thatthe countrys economic future is notassured, but the SIK trade union and

other organizations contend that itis necessary to decide the politicalfuture as a People as soon as possi-ble, acquiring all the legal and politi-cal tools for this, with the aim of being able to start, from now, toensure balanced economic, social,political and cultural development,that respects the reality of the terri-tory with the lowest population den-sity on the planet.

Just as in the Basque Country thedebate to decide the future is acurrent topic in Greenland. Unlikethe Spanish State in the Basque case,the Danish State has stated repea-tedly that, despite not promoting orsupporting possible Independenceof Kalaallit Nunaat, it will respectwhat the majority of the populationdemocratically decides. The strug-gle therefore will be developed indialectal terms and within a frame-work of the democratic set-up.

The Ilulissat glacier, which alsostands out for being the most mobi-le in the world (19 metres per day) ismoving inexorably towards the sea,where it turns into great icebergs.Likewise, Greenland is moving inexo-rably towards its future, wheremaybe very soon, it will become ano-ther sovereign State.


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Can you give us some background details that willhelp us understand the current situation inColombia?

Colombia is a country rife with injustice. There are 46 millioinhabitants and 75% of the population lives in poverty. The violation of human rights is flagrant, structural. In fact, nowadays,Colombia is the country with the highest number of murders of trade unionists, journalists and human rights defenders. All this,because of state terrorism.

In order to understand this situation, it should be noted that inColombia, unlike in other places, land reform was not carriedout. The lands belong to only a few and in the past 50 years,there has been a very abrupt change, and the majority of thepopulation has left the rural areas to live in the cities, for fear omilitary and paramilitary excesses. And there we have the keyHistorically, power structures have used violence and fear tograb the lands from the peasants and to destroy the social andpolitical movements.

In order to justify its actions, the ColombianGovernment uses guerrilla action as an excuse...

Yes, thats the way it is. But we must make it clear that beforethe historic guerrillas came into being, the government alreadyused violence to drive out the peasants from their lands andexpropriate the lands from the peasants. The 1964 Act itselfencouraged paramilitarism. They were the peasants themselveswho set up armed groups to defend themselves against aggres-sion. That is how the guerrillas, as we know them today, cameinto being. Since then, in order to justify its policy of scorcheland, they have used the armed struggle and the coca planta-tions as an excuse.

In such a context, the work carried out by yourassociation is not easy, is it?

Look, nowadays, 10% of Colombians are domestic refugees whhave left behind their lands, homes and everything they had, all

Colombia is the state that murders

most trade union membersLast June, the Colombian Luz Helena Ramrez, spokesperson for the MOVICE movement (National Movemen Victims of State Crimes) visited Euskal Herria invited by the trade union LAB and the Ipar Hegoa Foundation,publicly condemn the lack of democracy in Colombia and to make us aware of the massive violations of humarights in that country. Read below the conversation we had with her.

Foto: MOVICE


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because of the armed forces. The figureof those missing reaches 300,000 andrecently a mass grave with 2,000 bodieswas found. The figures are spine-chi-lling. It is the largest mass grave everfound in the world. However, the media

do not want to even mention it becausethey are not interested. The fact thateight thousand people are owners of 85% of the lands is not supported bygoodwill.

Trade unionism is one of theobjectives of state terrorism...

Historically, in Colombia, trade unionshave been integrating elements of othersocial struggles; as such, they represent adangerous obstacle for the state to carryout its policy. If we make a brief historicaloverview, we can say that the labourmovements baptism of blood happe-ned in 1928: in the strike against theUnited Fruit Company, the army killed1,600 peasants and workers. That is, untilnow, the answer that has been given tothe working class. In the 30's and 40's,some union rights were achievedthrough tremendous struggles. In the50s, under the guise of the civil war, the

union rights obtained were backed downon. Finally, in the 80s, the struggle andthe social movement gained muchstrength to face up to the consequencesof the neoliberal phase of the capitalistmovement. So, state terrorism once againwas on the increase in order to deal withthe latter.

Has the state strategy changedsince then?

In the years 97 and 98 the number of murders of social and union activistsstarted to decrease. But that does notmean that violence has ended. While theUribe government sells it as the processof paramilitary demobilization, in allthese years, attacks on the headquartersof the union movement, persecutions,threats and forced escapes have increa-sed. In addition, we can say that, some-how, in the genocide against trade unio-nism the objective has been achieved,since all the reforms capitalism hasaimed for have come to light. On theother hand, we must not forget thatinternational pressure has also beenextremely significant in reducing thenumber of murders.

Which are the most affected sectors?

In Colombia, political violence is used tomaintain the privileges of only a few andto cruelly impose all the factors requiredby capitalism in order to continuallyincrease their profits. Thus, the ones whohave suffered the most have been theworkers in the strategic sectors: those inthe rural area, because they have landand strategic resources; teachers, becau-se they create awareness; public sectorworkers to facilitate privatizations; andthose in the area of justice. Colombia is acapitalists' paradise. Instead of negotia-ting, a cruel terror is spread, alwaysunder the pretext of the war againstterrorism.

What role do the multinationalsplay in this situation?

Around 700 transnational companies areinvolved in this. Within those companies,the number of union members is lessthan 7%, due to fear and impunity: 98%of murders are not investigated. In allother cases, when a culprit is declaredguilty, although it seems unbelievable, itis said that the motive was a crime of passion and the political link is hidden.Amongst those multinationals, there arealso some Spanish, for example, Aguas deBarcelona, Gas Natural or Unin Fenosa.There are 170 in total, a reflection of thegood relations between Zapatero and theColombian government.

The Colombian trade unionmovement has called for a boy-cott of the multinational com-pany, Coca Cola.Yes, the situation in this company hasbeen hard. Repression against the tradeunionists has also been difficult. Evensome of the murders have been carriedout in the company itself. The call toboycott is a very important step, becau-se it means that the workers becomeaware: they have called for a boycottagainst the company that pays theirsalary and they have filed lawsuitsagainst the U.S. As in other cases, in thiscase solidarity and international pressu-re to publicly condemn the Colombiangenocide are essential, but the involve-ment of businesses and governments isalso important.


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Dimos Koumpouris(Member of the Executive Committee of PAME in Greece)

In our country, just like in all the other capitalist countries,during the past 20 years, the working class and the grass-roots layers have been the targets of a coordinated attackby the capitalist forces. They have used the most barba-rous, anti-worker, anti-popular measures against the wor-king class that have deteriorated their lives in all aspects:work, social security, salaries, health, education, democra-tic rights etc.

With the outbreak of the capitalist crisis, some even morepainful changes for the workers are being accelerated, asa result of the additional demands put forward by theCapital system, based on the strategic options of the EU.The objective is to cut back on labour rights and to redu-ce salaries. All this, combined with new stronger advanta-ges for the employer, united towards further exploitationof the working class.

Simultaneously, it reinforces the dominance of monopolycapital to the detriment of small-scale production and of

the small-scale self-employed people in the cities andtowns. Small-scale farmers are also stripped of their land,in favour of the interests of the large multinationals. Theyalso significantly reduce social spending, and this comesin combination with large-scale privatizations by thecapitalist state.

All of the measures adopted by the government, in res-ponse to the demands of the capital system, enjoy the fullsupport of the opposition, and of the parties that supportthe EU. They also enjoy the unconditional support of themass media.

The leaders of the yellow trade unions GSEE (GeneraConfederation of Workers of Greece) and ADEDY(Supreme Administration of Greek Civil Service TradUnions), who are at the service of the government, are

THE GREEK WORKING CLASSin the fight against the capitalist crisisand the measures imposed by the europeanunion and the greek government


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aligned with those measures, and do everythingpossible to take the movement a back to a situa-tion of recession and surrender. The PAME (AllWorkers Militant Front) is openly at war withthese organizations.

In this period, facing such an attack, the PAMEpays much attention to the social alliance of the working class with the small and medium-sized self-employed businesses, the poor pea-sants, the women and the youth, in a commonframework of struggle that responds to theneeds of the working class and the grassrootslayers, against the demands of capital system.PAME gives priority to the organization of thepeoples struggle, with the aim of overthro-wing these policies.

The struggles organized in recent years by theclass movement, and also the struggles of thispresent year stand out for their magnitude, thecombative character and the coherence anddisobedience of the demands of the EU, the capi-tal system, the government and the state andemployer bodies and they are a point of referen-ce for the monitoring and development of thepopular worker movement.

PAME and the forces of the classist movement

pay great attention to the class orientation of the movement under development.

The capitalist crisis we are experiencing andtheir consequences have not happened by chan-ce: they are the result of a rotten capitalist modeof production, and therefore, there cannot be apopular way out in the context of this mode of production.

PAME, together with the allied popular forces,strengthen the front against the monopolies,

because they are the heart of capitalism, andagainst the EU and the political and trade unionforces that serve it. Our objective is to defeat theanti-popular policies and that the working classand the people achieve radical changes at thelevel of economy and power. The problems of theworkers, the people, the women and the youthare tackled from this perspective.

This route is the alternative exit route. Andthere is no other. The producers of all thewealth, the workers, the people with their acti-

vity have to collectivize the means of accumu-lated production, and make them publiclyowned, with planned production, to therebyachieve the well-being and improvements forthe popular classes.

The alliance is founded on all these aspects. Wereject the government arguments and propa-ganda, since any type of development it aspiresto is based on further exploitation of the workersand improvements in favour of the capitalsystem.

The struggles fought in the previous period hadpositive results and helped the participation,struggle and disobedience of the workers and of the people against the anti-worker policies.Nonetheless, the movement that developed withgood features, proper guidance, and class actionlags behind in the needs and demands of thisera, and in the attack being experienced by theworking class and the people.

PAME is based on the trade unions and unionorganizations that are united in their principles.At the present time, a great attempt is underwayand PAME is responding to these demands andthe forces of the class movement and the popu-lar alliance, the worker unions and other massorganizations are carrying out action on a dailybasis within and outside of workplaces, in theneighbourhoods, schools and hospitals, etc Todo this, it is necessary to organize popular strug-gle committees that act upon the situation of the popular needs of the working families, theunemployed, the poor peasants, the self-employed, targeting the direct and serious problems. Itis necessary to combine the various forms of struggle and the different initiatives to impedethe policies of the Government and the EU, whoare leading thousands of families into poverty inGreece.

All the forces of the social alliance and the orga-nizations that are grouped in their principles, areaimed at organizing a grassroots militant move-ment, a popular uprising and to carry out thestruggle in an organized manner. It is a move-ment of denial and of disobedience of the lawsand anti-popular measures, so that the monopo-lies and not the people pay for the crisis.

These initiatives, as well as many more arebrought into being every day through popularstruggle, create the conditions of developmentof a mass popular movement that addressesthe accountability sought by the capitalsystem and the ruling classes, and which pre-

pares the ground for awareness about thepower of the struggle and the potential thatexists for achieving a level of development inwhich the production serves the needs of thepeople and the workers.


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On 23rd September 2007, approximately five hundredrepresentatives for the workers met in Seville to form theAndalusian Workers Trade Union (SAT). Our analysidetermined that it was time to create a salutary lessonon the Andalusian trade union scene when faced withthe social, economic and labour situation that we havefound ourselves in. Amongst our most well-known inattendance were the Asturian CSI, the Catalan IAC and, ocourse we couldnt have it any other way, the Basquetrade union, LAB.

Both the Central Government, as well as the AndalusianGovernment, Capital Europe and official trade unionismpromote a socio-labour reality characterized by:

1. the dismantling of agriculture and the Andalusianindustrial framework.

2. the privatization policy in the public sector.

3. job insecurity that is affecting primarily women and youth.

4. the social vulnerability of the vast majority of ourrural population.

5. the emergence of a marginal subsistence economy.

6. the search for income by means of reprehensible,degrading or inhuman practices.

7. the overexploitation of natural resources and the loss

of environmental quality.8. the destruction of our rural culture and ultimately,

9. the exploitation of the Andalusian working class that

Andalusian workers trade union

(SAT)Luis Ocaa EscolarAndalusian Workers Trade Union


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is ranked right at the bottom of the scale, when com-pared to other European workers, in terms of livingstandards, job security, prospects and the quality of their employment.

Faced with this injustice and from a union perspective wedecided to rebel. This is why we decided to constitute SATas a tool for social transformation. We hail fromAndalusian trade unions (SOC, AUTONOMA OBRERA,SITAS, FORO SINDICAL ANDALUZ, COALICIN DE TRABAJA-DORES, ETC...), from class-based, self-employed and con-tractors, democratic and assembly, solidarity and interna-tionalist, anti-patriarchal and non-sexist, pluralistic tradeunions and with a clear, express and unequivocal inten-tion of intervention in the socio-political reality. Followinga process of unity of action and trade union relations,

where the current socio-labour situation in Andalusia hasbeen discussed and assessed, the confluence of the res-pective trade union principles and the need to convergein the work of defending the legitimate interests of theworking class has been established, overcoming this eco-nomic system based on the free market and the misap-propriation of the capital gains generated through thesalaried work of the workers. In a bid to overcome suchinjustices, we propose to make, manage and control themeans of production by the workers themselves.

We practice a CLASS-BASED, ALTERNATIVE ANDALUSIANTRADE UNIONISM that knows how to combine the tradi-tional methods of struggle with the new circumstancesimposed by the globalization of the economy, communi-cation systems and the current social dynamics and isable to incorporate the defence of values into its objecti-ves, not strictly labour values, which mean improvementsin the quality of life of the Andalusian working class.Ouraction is our only letter of presentation.

We are a union characterized by the following:

1. CLASS-BASED and ALTERNATIVE-Because we believe that unity of workers as a whole isnecessary to solve problems that arise and we do notagree with the principles of official and pactista (consen-sus-seeking) trade unions.

2. ASSEMBLY-ORIENTED and DIRECT ACTION.-We believe that PARTICIPATION and DIRECT DEMOCRACYthrough the ASSEMBLY of workers must be the core and

the unifying and indispensable principle of this way of understanding and conducting trade unionism.

We also trust in DIRECT ACTION as a way to resolve con-flicts, without delegating economic, social and professio-

nal struggles of the workers in any mediating institution.Direct action is our main tool of struggle.

3. AUTONOMOUS, SELF-SUFFICIENT AND INDEPEND

We defend the most absolute AUTONOMY and INDEPEN-DENCE with respect to the Institutions, Political Partiesand Employer Organizations. This independence is reali-zed ideologically as well as politically and economically.SAT has no connection with or any dependence whatsoe-ver on any other social agent. SATs commitment is todefend the rights of workers and workers groups thatmake up the union in its own manner.

4. SOLIDARITY.-

We believe that SOLIDARITY, both as a principle thatgoverns internal relations, as well as the attitude thatprevails over its projection towards the interests of theworking class as a whole, should, therefore, support ourtrade unionism.

5. PLURALIST and OPEN.-We are open and receptive to all experiences that, fromsocial, environmental, feminist, anti-militarist move-ments, etc., can enrich our discourse and practices of glo-

bal intervention.

6. ANDALUSIAN.-From SAT, we will intervene, together with other political,trade union and/or social organizations, in the dauntingtask of transforming the Andalusian society, cooperatingin the attainment of an Andalusia and a world that arefree from any type of oppression, discrimination andexploitation.

Since its foundation in September 2007, to date we havecome along an interesting route in terms of trade unionwork, working hard every step of the way, not withoutcomplications or union repression (we have 400 militantspending government fines and lawsuits stemming fromunion activity and 500,000 euro in fines as well as 40 years of requests for imprisonment). Faced with this, weare strengthening the trade union in the regions andlocalities, participating in sectors where there was pre-viously no union presence and we continue to maintainthe methods of fighting for the traditions from which we

came (sit-ins, direct union action, etc) Undoubtedly, weare facing a future filled with challenges which we willtackle from an assembly-oriented, nationalist and class-based model of unionism.And united we are in thatstruggle.


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Jess Mara Gete Olarra (Secretary General of the InternationalAssociation of Metallurgy and Mining Trade Unions)

The World Trade Union Federations InternationalMetallurgy and Mining Trade Union (hereinafter WFTUsIAU-IMMTU), was founded on 20th and 21st May 2008 inSan Sebastian at the founding congress organized by theLAB trade union.

It is important to report that the WFTUs IAU-IMMTUfounding congress was conducted in a context of organi-zational readjustment which the World Trade UnionFederation (WFTU) addressed following the resolutionsarising from the XV congress conducted in December2005 in Havana. The General Secretariat of the WFTUplaced their trust in LAB for the creation and developmentof this new trade union sector organization, havingdefined it as one of the cornerstones in the work of theWFTU itself.

At the founding congress, 38 trade union organizationsbelonging to 30 countries, which culminated in the wholeprocess of organizational and theoretical discussionsopen in the month of May 2007. The conference was suc-cessfully assessed in terms of international participation,

taking into account that more than a dozen organizationswere UNABLE to participate due to the obstacles in issu-ing the visas in various Spanish embassies, in a clear atti-tude of obstruction and sabotage of the internationalcongress by the Spanish government towards the inter-national class-based trade union movement.

At the congress, in addition to discussing and approvingthe seminars presented on the political-trade unionaction and the statutes of the new organization, we hadthe opportunity to learn more thoroughly about the dif-ferent socio-labour realities that affect the working classin the various countries on the different continents. Thenew leadership arising from the congress pledged tomake every necessary effort in order to start a renewedforce of international class-based trade unionism thateffectively fights against the degradation of rights andfreedoms of the working class, being aware that we mustvigorously fight the capitalist system and their transna-tional companies that now control more than 60% of world trade, and condition with their power and the exer-cising of their neoliberal policies not only working condi-tions, but even the very sovereignty of the states.

At the congress it was reaffirmed that we are going towork for the unity of the working class movement in thesector, regardless of the affiliations that may exist atinternational level, meaning that the struggle of theworking class is no stranger to the struggle of the peopleto defend their resources, territories, sovereignty, inde-pendence and social rights.The founding congress unanimously decided that theheadquarters of the WFTUs IAU-IMMTU should be locat-ed in the Basque Country and its executive council bemade up of seventeen members, with the President

Ardhendu Dakshi of the CITU organization in India andthe secretary general Jess M Gete Olarra from LAB.

We could define the IAU-IMMTU as an organizational toolof the WFTU designed to promote and strengthen the ide-ological rearmament of the workers and which aims toresort to direct action from the ongoing struggle for thedefence of the integral rights of the working class in thesector against capitalism and its ruling system. The IAU-IMMTU is a branch structure and international in nature,linked closely to the concerns and demands that are putforward and demanded by the working ranks worldwide.Their dynamics are developed from class solidarity thatthe WFTU advocates, and from class principles and soli-darity internationalism.

In spite of the resources that the IAU-IMMMTU still lack-ing, the general secretariat, with LABs commitment andsupport, has been involved in many activities related tothe sector and carried out in Latin America, Asia andEurope, also currently expecting progress in their relationswith organizations on the African continent.

The general secretary of the IAU-IMMTU forms part of thePresidential Council of the WFTU, and as such, is alsoinvolved in the preparation of the next XVI WFTU WorldCongress that will be held in April 2011 in the Greek city of Athens.In the IAU-IMMTU last executive council held on 22nd and23rd September in the Belarus city of Minsk, in addition toconducting an assessment on the activities of our organ-ization an

from basque country to the world 03 (2010)

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