Sunday, June 27, 2010
INTERNATIONAL LABOUR:
GENERAL STRIKES ROLL ACROSS EUROPE:
Following previous general strikes in Greece and Spain unions in Europe are increasingly reaching for the weapon of the general strike to protest government austerity measures across the continent. Recently workers in France and Italy held one day general strikes, and Greek unions have set a date for yet another such strike as well. Here's news from the Epoch Times of the strike in France last Thursday June 24.
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Millions in France Protest Raising Retirement Age to 62
Workers from both the public and private sectors joined hundreds of organized protest activities, reported AFP.
Bernard Thibault, head of France’s biggest union CGT estimated “about 2 million” protesters turned out. About 1-in-5 civil servants did not go to work, shutting the doors to some schools.
Authorities said 50 percent of train service was interrupted coming in and out of Paris and 15 percent of flights to city airports had to be canceled Thursday morning.
Striking print workers asked national daily newspapers to scrap their Friday editions.
On June 16, Labor Minister Eric Woerth announced plans to raise the retirement age to 62 by 2018 as part of a program to save the country US$55 billion.
Unions say the proposal puts an unfair burden on workers. Woerth said Wednesday the reform was “necessary and fair” and the government would stick to its plan. The bill will go before cabinet next month and Parliament is scheduled to vote on it in September.
In 1995, Paris had to drop a savings program after weeks of strikes.
France currently has one of the lowest retirement ages in Europe.
Millions in France Protest Raising Retirement Age to 62
Workers from both the public and private sectors joined hundreds of organized protest activities, reported AFP.
Bernard Thibault, head of France’s biggest union CGT estimated “about 2 million” protesters turned out. About 1-in-5 civil servants did not go to work, shutting the doors to some schools.
Authorities said 50 percent of train service was interrupted coming in and out of Paris and 15 percent of flights to city airports had to be canceled Thursday morning.
Striking print workers asked national daily newspapers to scrap their Friday editions.
On June 16, Labor Minister Eric Woerth announced plans to raise the retirement age to 62 by 2018 as part of a program to save the country US$55 billion.
Unions say the proposal puts an unfair burden on workers. Woerth said Wednesday the reform was “necessary and fair” and the government would stick to its plan. The bill will go before cabinet next month and Parliament is scheduled to vote on it in September.
In 1995, Paris had to drop a savings program after weeks of strikes.
France currently has one of the lowest retirement ages in Europe.
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On Friday June 25 it was Italy's turn. Here's a report from Deutsche Welle.
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Italians protest Berlusconi's austerity plans
Italian workers walked out in a protest against austerity cuts, disrupting transport services across the country. Italy's largest union organised the day of strike action, with marches in nearly every major city.
Italy's largest union staged a national general strike on Friday in a protest against austerity measures by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right government. Transport services across the country were disrupted, though support for the strike was not universal.
The left-leaning CGIL union, which has six million members, staged rallies in nearly every major Italian city in a bid to force the government to rethink a 25-billion-euro package of cuts. Berlusconi has defended the package as “absolutely necessary” and hopes it will help save the euro currency.
The austerity measures include a 10 percent budget reduction for ministries, 4.5 billion euros in reduced transfers to regional governments, a partial amnesty on illegal building and a 3-year wage freeze for civil servants.
"No one denies that we need to make cuts, but they must be cuts which are fair and look to the future, rather than just slashing spending," said Susanna Camusso, deputy leader of the CGIL, at a rally in Bologna.
The strike was a key test of strength for Berlusconi, whose poll ratings have reached new lows as unemployment has risen and the euro zone's third largest economy has struggled to emerge from recession.
Loyalties divided
The strike split Italy's trade union movement, which is roughly divided along political lines. The other two main unions asked their members to stay on the job.
While most private sector CGIL workers went on strike for four hours, public sector members demonstrated their anger by staying off work all day. Bus, subway and rail services were disrupted throughout the country, although support for the strike was patchy and some services continued to run. Airport staff also planned to strike, but flights at Rome's Fiumicino airport appeared to suffer little disruption.
The strikes followed union protests in France and Greece this week against plans for pension reform and budget cuts. Members of the 16-nation euro zone have rushed to approve austerity measures in a bid to restore confidence in the single currency and stop Greece's debt crisis spilling over into other countries.
Thousands marched in Rome on June 12 to protest against the government's austerity measures. Polls say a majority of Italians believe the cuts are unfairly distributed, even though part of the package includes pay cuts for parliamentarians.
Author: Joanna Impey (AP/Reuters)
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Italians protest Berlusconi's austerity plans
Italian workers walked out in a protest against austerity cuts, disrupting transport services across the country. Italy's largest union organised the day of strike action, with marches in nearly every major city.
Italy's largest union staged a national general strike on Friday in a protest against austerity measures by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right government. Transport services across the country were disrupted, though support for the strike was not universal.
The left-leaning CGIL union, which has six million members, staged rallies in nearly every major Italian city in a bid to force the government to rethink a 25-billion-euro package of cuts. Berlusconi has defended the package as “absolutely necessary” and hopes it will help save the euro currency.
The austerity measures include a 10 percent budget reduction for ministries, 4.5 billion euros in reduced transfers to regional governments, a partial amnesty on illegal building and a 3-year wage freeze for civil servants.
"No one denies that we need to make cuts, but they must be cuts which are fair and look to the future, rather than just slashing spending," said Susanna Camusso, deputy leader of the CGIL, at a rally in Bologna.
The strike was a key test of strength for Berlusconi, whose poll ratings have reached new lows as unemployment has risen and the euro zone's third largest economy has struggled to emerge from recession.
Loyalties divided
The strike split Italy's trade union movement, which is roughly divided along political lines. The other two main unions asked their members to stay on the job.
While most private sector CGIL workers went on strike for four hours, public sector members demonstrated their anger by staying off work all day. Bus, subway and rail services were disrupted throughout the country, although support for the strike was patchy and some services continued to run. Airport staff also planned to strike, but flights at Rome's Fiumicino airport appeared to suffer little disruption.
The strikes followed union protests in France and Greece this week against plans for pension reform and budget cuts. Members of the 16-nation euro zone have rushed to approve austerity measures in a bid to restore confidence in the single currency and stop Greece's debt crisis spilling over into other countries.
Thousands marched in Rome on June 12 to protest against the government's austerity measures. Polls say a majority of Italians believe the cuts are unfairly distributed, even though part of the package includes pay cuts for parliamentarians.
Author: Joanna Impey (AP/Reuters)
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Meanwhile Greece which has seen four general strikes this year is set to repeat its protests on June 29. Here's the story from the Wall Street Journal. This strike is likely to be the most widely observed one of the current batch.
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Greece's Largest Unions Plan Paralyzing Strike For June 29
ATHENS (Dow Jones)--Greece's two largest unions, which have about 1.2 million members, have agreed to hold a 24-hour, combined paralyzing strike on June 29 to protest prospective labor and pension reforms.
This confirms what the unions had said to Dow Jones on Wednesday.
The Greek ruling socialist government has said that it has no choice but to impose tough measures that it has agreed to in exchange for the EUR110 billion bailout package provided by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
Some of the proposed reforms that unions fear will lead to easier layoffs at a time of high unemployment, rising retirement ages and lower pensions.
Unions see the reforms as a denigration of workers' hard-earned rights and the dismantling of the welfare state, while the socialist government argues it has no other options.
This will be the fifth general strike this year and is likely to again bring the country to its knees as businesses, public services and transportation, among several other sectors, will grind to a halt.
The private sector umbrella union Greek General Confederation of Labor, or GSEE, which has 800,000 members, said in a statement that it's taking this action to oppose the prospective bills to liberalize the labor market and to protect pension entitlements that they see as being undermined.
"We need to reject these anti-worker and anti-pension legal initiatives, as well as the government's inflexible and negative stance," the GSEE said in a statement.
The GSEE added that the strike was also being organized to express workers' dissatisfaction that a national collective-bargain wage agreement looks unlikely to be achieved soon due to the intransigence of employer groups.
The second largest union, ADEDY, which has 400,000 members and represents public sector employees, confirmed to Dow Jones that it will also participate in the strike even though a formal decision has not been made yet.
"We have to take to the streets to protect our members from these harsh and unfair changes that are looming," Ilias Iliopoulos, secretary general of the public sector umbrella union, told Dow Jones.
"Greece is a test case for these neo-liberal ultra-conservative policies, and if they succeed here, they will be imposed across all of Europe--to even the wealthier Northern European countries--at the expense of workers and for the benefit of big business," Iliopoulos added.
-By Nick Skrekas of Dow Jones
Greece's Largest Unions Plan Paralyzing Strike For June 29
ATHENS (Dow Jones)--Greece's two largest unions, which have about 1.2 million members, have agreed to hold a 24-hour, combined paralyzing strike on June 29 to protest prospective labor and pension reforms.
This confirms what the unions had said to Dow Jones on Wednesday.
The Greek ruling socialist government has said that it has no choice but to impose tough measures that it has agreed to in exchange for the EUR110 billion bailout package provided by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
Some of the proposed reforms that unions fear will lead to easier layoffs at a time of high unemployment, rising retirement ages and lower pensions.
Unions see the reforms as a denigration of workers' hard-earned rights and the dismantling of the welfare state, while the socialist government argues it has no other options.
This will be the fifth general strike this year and is likely to again bring the country to its knees as businesses, public services and transportation, among several other sectors, will grind to a halt.
The private sector umbrella union Greek General Confederation of Labor, or GSEE, which has 800,000 members, said in a statement that it's taking this action to oppose the prospective bills to liberalize the labor market and to protect pension entitlements that they see as being undermined.
"We need to reject these anti-worker and anti-pension legal initiatives, as well as the government's inflexible and negative stance," the GSEE said in a statement.
The GSEE added that the strike was also being organized to express workers' dissatisfaction that a national collective-bargain wage agreement looks unlikely to be achieved soon due to the intransigence of employer groups.
The second largest union, ADEDY, which has 400,000 members and represents public sector employees, confirmed to Dow Jones that it will also participate in the strike even though a formal decision has not been made yet.
"We have to take to the streets to protect our members from these harsh and unfair changes that are looming," Ilias Iliopoulos, secretary general of the public sector umbrella union, told Dow Jones.
"Greece is a test case for these neo-liberal ultra-conservative policies, and if they succeed here, they will be imposed across all of Europe--to even the wealthier Northern European countries--at the expense of workers and for the benefit of big business," Iliopoulos added.
-By Nick Skrekas of Dow Jones
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There is also a planned general strike on June 29 in the Basque countries in Spain. This one will likely also be well observed as a previous one on May 21 was a success despite the opposition of Spain's two largest union federations the UGT and the CCOO. In the Basque countries independent local unions outweigh the larger national federations. The anarchosyndicalist CGT has come out in support of this strike, and they have been pressuring the larger unions for some time to not wait until the end of September but to come out with the Basque unions at the end of the month. The CGT has also been calling for some time for a general strike of unlimited duration.
When all is said and done, after all, a one day general strike is of only symbolic value. Sometimes the duration of the supposed general strike is even less than a day (see the article on Italy above). The following article originally published in the English anarchist paper Freedom and reproduced at the Libcom website gives the cautionary warning from the Spanish anarchosyndicalist CNT that only a real general strike with no time limit is an actual way to make governments back down from their austerity "reforms".
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CNT: Make Spain’s general strike indefinite
Submitted by Rob Ray on Jun 23 2010 20:43
As a general strike is mooted to coincide with Europe-wide action, the anarcho-syndicalist CNT union is warning that one day outings will not be enough to deter deep public sector cuts
Spain's fifth general strike has been set for September 29th amidst massive public sector cuts and attacks on job security passed by the ruling Socialist Party - and the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo is calling for it to be made indefinite.
Following a one day public-sector strike earlier this month the union is warning that “gesture strikes” will not be enough to force the government to change course.
In a statement after the June 8th event they said: “The government’s plans to stabilise the economy through reducing the public deficit by 11% have placed the cost of the economic crisis on the shoulders of the disadvantaged.
“It is evident that the proposals are designed to satisfy banks and employers by compromising with the neoliberal designs that prevail in the EU.”
“If there had been earlier mobilisations the government would not have dared to present the measures announced and would have had to cut elsewhere. It would have had to seek income where the money really is – on the bench, through corporate taxes, inheritance, hedge funds etc.
“We believe it is a mistake to continue ‘negotiating’ labour reform, which is simply a concession to employers. The only possiblility for correcting this situation is to fight this economic aggression through social confrontation, to continue and expand protests to all sectors.”
“These great evils can only be treated with great remedies, and such remedies do not include, of course, a 24-hour general strike which, assuming that UGT and CCOO (the two major reformist unions in Spain) dared to actually convene one, would act only as a giant safety valve for employee discontent.
“An indefinite general strike paralysing the country until the government withdraws anti-worker and anti-social actions would by contrast act as a binder for workers to recover their class consciousness and act together, with an eye to the destruction of the capitalist system through social revolution which is the only truly effective medicine against congenital diseases of the system.
Larger TUC-style unions called the public-sector strike on June 8th, which the left claimed got 75% of public sector workers out (state sources put it 16%) and saw tens of thousands of people on the streets in protest. The public sector accounts for around 2.5 million jobs in Spain. However the measure has made little impact on narrowly-passed plans to slash 5% from public sector pay, part of a 15 billion euro package of austerity measures being implemented in the next few years.
Other measures include the uncoupling of pension payments from inflation, an end to tax breaks for new parents and cuts in public investment and development aid of up to 6 billion euros. The Party is also taking the opportunity to “free up the labour market” by making it easier to hire and fire workers, a measure which would be likely to help drive a general strike outside the public sector.
Its actions, taken as Spain is threatened by international markets over its debt ratio, are widely seen as a betrayal of the electoral promises which put the Socialist Party (PSOE) and Jose Zapatero into power in 2004 on the back of widespread discontent with the right, though anarchist groups in the country have pointed to the situation as emblematic of party politicians’ inability to represent working people.
In an editorial for the periodical CNT, the union noted: “Economic crises are inherent in the capitalist system and will, unfortunately for humanity, regularly occur as long as the system exists.
“At the end of the day, the problem lies in the balance of power between two social classes with conflicting interests - the bourgeois class, which holds exclusive ownership of the means of production and distribution, and the proletarian class, which has no more than their manual and intellectual labour to sell as dearly as possible. The salary of the employee, and therefore the worker himself, is just another cost of production like machinery, electrical power or fuel.
“And when the worker is considered this way, not as a human being but as a cost to be cut without a second thought, you can do with them what you will, without remorse. That is neither more nor less than what capitalists do with us now.
“We can not remain silent before these measures announced by the government, which will result in yet more desecration of labour right to add to a long list of infamies imposed since this pompously-named “democracy” came into existence. Lowering the salaries of officials and freezing or eliminating pensions, among other measures, are not appropriate ways to solve the so-called crisis, and will have the determined opposition of the CNT.”
- Discussion thread on libcom.org
- An edited version of this article first appeared in Freedom anarchist newspaper
CNT: Make Spain’s general strike indefinite
Submitted by Rob Ray on Jun 23 2010 20:43
As a general strike is mooted to coincide with Europe-wide action, the anarcho-syndicalist CNT union is warning that one day outings will not be enough to deter deep public sector cuts
Spain's fifth general strike has been set for September 29th amidst massive public sector cuts and attacks on job security passed by the ruling Socialist Party - and the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo is calling for it to be made indefinite.
Following a one day public-sector strike earlier this month the union is warning that “gesture strikes” will not be enough to force the government to change course.
In a statement after the June 8th event they said: “The government’s plans to stabilise the economy through reducing the public deficit by 11% have placed the cost of the economic crisis on the shoulders of the disadvantaged.
“It is evident that the proposals are designed to satisfy banks and employers by compromising with the neoliberal designs that prevail in the EU.”
“If there had been earlier mobilisations the government would not have dared to present the measures announced and would have had to cut elsewhere. It would have had to seek income where the money really is – on the bench, through corporate taxes, inheritance, hedge funds etc.
“We believe it is a mistake to continue ‘negotiating’ labour reform, which is simply a concession to employers. The only possiblility for correcting this situation is to fight this economic aggression through social confrontation, to continue and expand protests to all sectors.”
“These great evils can only be treated with great remedies, and such remedies do not include, of course, a 24-hour general strike which, assuming that UGT and CCOO (the two major reformist unions in Spain) dared to actually convene one, would act only as a giant safety valve for employee discontent.
“An indefinite general strike paralysing the country until the government withdraws anti-worker and anti-social actions would by contrast act as a binder for workers to recover their class consciousness and act together, with an eye to the destruction of the capitalist system through social revolution which is the only truly effective medicine against congenital diseases of the system.
Larger TUC-style unions called the public-sector strike on June 8th, which the left claimed got 75% of public sector workers out (state sources put it 16%) and saw tens of thousands of people on the streets in protest. The public sector accounts for around 2.5 million jobs in Spain. However the measure has made little impact on narrowly-passed plans to slash 5% from public sector pay, part of a 15 billion euro package of austerity measures being implemented in the next few years.
Other measures include the uncoupling of pension payments from inflation, an end to tax breaks for new parents and cuts in public investment and development aid of up to 6 billion euros. The Party is also taking the opportunity to “free up the labour market” by making it easier to hire and fire workers, a measure which would be likely to help drive a general strike outside the public sector.
Its actions, taken as Spain is threatened by international markets over its debt ratio, are widely seen as a betrayal of the electoral promises which put the Socialist Party (PSOE) and Jose Zapatero into power in 2004 on the back of widespread discontent with the right, though anarchist groups in the country have pointed to the situation as emblematic of party politicians’ inability to represent working people.
In an editorial for the periodical CNT, the union noted: “Economic crises are inherent in the capitalist system and will, unfortunately for humanity, regularly occur as long as the system exists.
“At the end of the day, the problem lies in the balance of power between two social classes with conflicting interests - the bourgeois class, which holds exclusive ownership of the means of production and distribution, and the proletarian class, which has no more than their manual and intellectual labour to sell as dearly as possible. The salary of the employee, and therefore the worker himself, is just another cost of production like machinery, electrical power or fuel.
“And when the worker is considered this way, not as a human being but as a cost to be cut without a second thought, you can do with them what you will, without remorse. That is neither more nor less than what capitalists do with us now.
“We can not remain silent before these measures announced by the government, which will result in yet more desecration of labour right to add to a long list of infamies imposed since this pompously-named “democracy” came into existence. Lowering the salaries of officials and freezing or eliminating pensions, among other measures, are not appropriate ways to solve the so-called crisis, and will have the determined opposition of the CNT.”
- Discussion thread on libcom.org
- An edited version of this article first appeared in Freedom anarchist newspaper
Labels: CGT, CNT, current events, Europe., financial crisis, France, general strike, Greece, Italy, LibCom, Spain, strike., tactics
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
INTERNATIONAL POLITICS-EUROPE:
THE NEOCONOPTICON:
There's an interesting new report being published by the folks over at Statewatch, an European outfit dedicated to keeping a close eye on those who keep a close eye on the rest of us. The Neoconopticon details how much of the total surveillance state is already in place and how much more is yet to come. The title comes from Jeremy Bentham's 'Panopticon', a design for a "perfect prison" where there is total surveillance and control of all the inmates. It should be noted that Bentham was a liberal reformer. Like so much so-called "reform" the idea of total surveillance began as an idea beloved by the left for its sheer stupidity and later taken over by the right for its sheer viciousness. Far too much of statist politics lives out its life in a similar way. Here's the announcement from Statewatch.
{++}{++}{++}{++}{++}
Neoconopticon - the EU Security-Industrial Complex:
Major new report by Statewatch and the Transnational Institute:
NeoConOpticon - The EU Security-Industrial Complex by Ben Hayes (pdf):
"Despite the often benign intent behind collaborative European ‘research’ into integrated land, air, maritime, space and cyber-surveillance systems, the EU’s security and R&D policy is coalescing around a high-tech blueprint for a new kind of security. It envisages a future world of red zones and green zones; external borders controlled by military force and internally by a sprawling network of physical and virtual security checkpoints; public spaces, micro-states and ‘mega events’ policed by high-tech surveillance systems and rapid reaction forces;‘peacekeeping’ and ‘crisis management’ missions that make no operational distinction between the suburbs of Basra or the Banlieue; and the increasing integration of defence and national security functions at home and abroad.
It is not just a case of “sleepwalking into” or “waking up to” a “surveillance society”, as the UK’s Information Commissioner famously warned, it feels more like turning a blind eye to the start of a new kind of arms race, one in which all the weapons are pointing inwards. Welcome to the NeoConOpticon."
Press release: Defence industry dominates EU’s security research programme (pdf
Contacts for further information:
Ben Hayes +44 (0) 20 8802 1882 (ben@statewatch.org ) or
Nina Brenjo +31 (0) 63 484 2129 (nina.brenjo@tni.org )
Labels: Europe., freedom., Jeremy Bentham, liberty., Neoconopticon, Panopticon, state surveillance, Statewatch, statism, surveillance, surveillance society
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-EUROPE:
A SUMMER OF RESISTANCE:
After protest against the upcoming NATO summit, what then ?
Here's a call for a "summer of resistance". The following comes from the English language section of the Polish anarchist news site Centrum Informacji Anarchistycznej. the following has been slightly edited for English grammar and spelling.
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Collapse the security architectures!
Against NATO, G20, G8, Frontex and the “Stockholm Programme”!
Since the end of the last millennium a modification of the “security architecture” within the EU has taken place, which has been accelerated by the attacks of 11 September 2001 in the United States. Visible phenomena are, for example, the entanglement of internal and external security, a “pooling” of prosecution authorities and intelligence services and a simplified data exchange. At the technical level we are confronted with new digital surveillance cameras, satellite surveillance, biometrics, drones, software for intelligent search in databases and new broadband networks to manage this huge flood of digital data.New institutions and authorities have been created, including the “European Police Office Europol, the police academy CEPOL, the border agency Frontex and the” Committee for the Management of Operational Cooperation " of all police agencies of the EU within its intelligence operation assessment center.
Since the end of the last millennium a modification of the “security architecture” within the EU has taken place, which has been accelerated by the attacks of 11 September 2001 in the United States. Visible phenomena are, for example, the entanglement of internal and external security, a “pooling” of prosecution authorities and intelligence services and a simplified data exchange. At the technical level we are confronted with new digital surveillance cameras, satellite surveillance, biometrics, drones, software for intelligent search in databases and new broadband networks to manage this huge flood of digital data.New institutions and authorities have been created, including the “European Police Office Europol, the police academy CEPOL, the border agency Frontex and the” Committee for the Management of Operational Cooperation " of all police agencies of the EU within its intelligence operation assessment center.
At the initiative of former French Defense Minister (and current Interior Minister) Michèle Alliot-Marie the "European Gendarmerie Force (EGF) was founded and has been established in 2004. The EGF shall ensure the “public order”, combat insurgency, obtain intelligence information and protect property in conflict areas.
The security industry is likely one of the few branches that profits massive from the current crisis of capitalism and the resulting battles.
Europe’s police forces are preparing themselves for protest and resistance against the impact of the crisis. Even the chairman of the International Monetary Fund IMF admits that in future more riots are expected.
The institutions of the “leading economic nations” are forced to re-organize themselves. The “summits” of NATO, G8 and G20 are of central importance for this reorganization. Topics such as climate, migration and agriculture are considered as threats to the security of a “western lifestyle”. Within the European Union, domestic political changes are taking place, whose effects are currently difficult to predict.
Every five years, the interior and justice ministers of the new EU adopt new directives for a common domestic policy. The “Tampere Program”, terminated in 1999 under the Finnish Presidency, was primarily a “management of migration flows”: In addition to the appreciation of the police authority Europol was established a “Task Force of EU Police Chiefs’” which deals with “international terrorism” and “violent political activism”.
With the “Hague Program” in 2004, it has been agreed upon for the creation of an “area of freedom, security and justice”. Again it was decided on intensification of migration policy, including the construction of the Border Agency “Frontex” and the interception of refugees already in their home countries. “The Hague Program” puts the “defense of terrorism” in the center. At the level of information exchange and cooperation we can now count on the “principle of availability”.
The guidelines of 2004 are already implemented by many EU member states:
Standardization of the “terrorism” legislation, data retention, expansion of existing databases and shared access, cross-border police cooperation , for example at sporting events or political mass protests, “Border Management”, fingerprints when applying for an EU visa,; from 2009 new biometric identifiers in identity documents, the development of security research, cooperation in criminal matters, police abroad etc.
"The Hague Program" is running out and a new program should be decided on in the autumn of 2009, in Stockholm under the Swedish EU Presidency. During the 2007 German EU Presidency , the German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble created with the, then. European Commissioner for Internal Affairs ( “Justice and Home Affairs”), Franco Frattini, the “Future Group”. This “Future Group” describes itself as “informal body” of European interior ministers, which drafted guidelines for European home affairs.
To adopt the new “Stockholm program”, the “Future Group” submitted a wish-list for "police cooperation, the fight against terrorism, management of missions in third countries, migration, asylum and border management, civil protection, new technologies and information networks ". Priorities are the maintenance of the “European model”, “coping with the growing interdependence between internal and external security” and ensuring of an Europe-wide best possible data network”.
The measures which shall be decided in Stockholm will be noticeable by the member states within its ratification in a few years. There are profound changes in the game:
Development and standardization of police databases, a central population register, "cross-border online search", more control of the Internet, better satellite tracking, risk analysis “software, ”e-borders" and “e-justice”, common deportation planes and flights, new refugee camps in “third countries”, the use of the military defense of migration, more police interventions outside the EU, the expansion of a paramilitary “European Gendarmerie Force”, more cooperation between domestic and foreign secret services, etc.
The aim is a kind of domestic NATO, with the creation of an “Euro-Atlantic cooperation in the area of freedom, security and justice” by 2014.
Also NATO attaches value to the central role of European domestic politics.
On one hand, more and more police missions in “third countries” were launched, which perform there military tasks , strike down local uprisings and train local police units.
On the other hand, NATO-strategists play the ball back to the European interior ministers and refer to the importance of European “Homeland Security” without which a “strong defense” against the outside wouldn’t be possible. NATO sees itself within member countries as the guarantor of security of “critical infrastructure” (like energy, transportation, communication).
The strategy document “Towards a Grand Strategy for an Uncertain World” authored by five ex-generals, who are anchored in the defense industry, calls for the expansion of “civil-military cooperation”. Considered as a “civilian elements” are for example police, intelligence, research, academies, civil protection but also the private security industry. NATO wants to intensify the fall back on the “European Gendarmerie Force”.
With the “civil-military cooperation” the militarization of social conflicts is increasing, underpinned by domestic political rearmament and new" anti-terror "laws.
The former EU Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs, Franco Frattini, has changed in Berlusconi’s Cabinet after the elections in Italy 2008. As the new foreign minister, he is now responsible for the G8 on the Sardinian island of La Maddalena. Frattini sees “security” as the central profile of the new G8 structures: “Europe can, rather than be just a consumer, be a producer of safety. But EU and NATO need to integrate, rather to interfere with each others. We back up these thoughts in the context of the G8”.
Italy adopted a “security package” in May 2008 with far-reaching tightenings for migrants. After the EU already equipped Libya with financial help for refugee defense, Italy also signed a new cooperation agreement.
The Italian arms corporate group “Finmeccanica” delivers speedboats and the Interior Ministry is pleased that migration would now be diminished to "zero".
Frattini traveled early 2009 to Angola, Sierra Leone, Senegal and Nigeria to negotiate over “readmission agreements” for migrants, to equip the countries with refugee camps, and to introduce tamper-proof passports. It’s again all about the securing of raw material and police enforcement: In return Frattini acknowledges an audience with the G8 summit for the countries, to “promote the dialogue between oil producing and - consuming countries”.
In the delegation travelling with Frattini, was the Italian police chief who immediately implemented new contracts for police training and cooperation procedure.
As the consequence of the collapse of global capitalism around the world, more uprisings are expected. With the recent riots in Greece, Iceland, Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, Bulgaria, France, Guadeloupe and Lampedusa, the EU became the venue of intense contradictions and militant struggles with, in the numerous directives, bilateral agreements and treaties, of the past few years concerted measures for “Europe as an area of freedom, security and justice”, are
being brought into position against resistance and radical projects, and movements are covered with investigations and prosecutions for "terrorism". “Joint investigation teams” research - supported by Europol - international networks. Manuals and databases on “Troublemakers” will aim at bringing protests at major international events under control.
Resistance against the increase in surveillance and control, against repression and anti-riot is still stuck too much often on a national level. Therefore we call to push for the development of a transnational struggle against the “security architecture”, in 2009 at several cross-border mobilizations, whether they are promoted by NATO, the G8 or the EU.
We see the action day at the NATO summit as the kick off of the campaign for a “Summer of Resistance 2009” against the global “security regime”:
¡No Pasarán! France Gipfelsoli Dissent! France NoLager Bremen Resistance des deux rives / Widerstand der zwei Ufer transact six hills Berlin kein mensch ist illegal Hanau
Collapse the security architectures!
Labels: anarchism, anti-militarism, Centrum Informacji Anarchistycznej, Europe., immigrants, international anarchist movement, militarism, police state, repression, Summer of Resistance
Sunday, February 15, 2009
ANTIMILITARISME/ANTIMILITARISM:
CONTRE LE RADAR DE 'STAR WARS' DANS LA RÉPUBLIQUE TCHÈQUE/MANIFESTATION À BRUXELLES///AGAINST THE 'STAR WARS' RADAR IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC/DEMONSTRATION IN BRUSSELS:
Ce qui suit est du site Web tchèque ' ; La force de Non-Violence' ;. Ils sont un groupe opposé à la guerre en général et spécifiquement à la construction de le radar anti missile dans la République Tchèque. Ils espèrent faire pression sur le nouveau gouvernement des États-Unis pour abandonner ce projet provocateur.
...............................
The following is from the Czech website 'The Force of Non-Violence'. They are a group opposed to war in general ans specifically to the construction of the anti missile radar in the Czech Republic. They hope to pressure the new US Administration to abandon this provocative project.
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Bulletin de News - 02_2009 / News Bulletin:
February 02_2009
Chers amis,
[The English version of the newsletter is below.]
Dans l’attente que le Président Obama prenne position clairement, pèse un climat d’incertitude par rapport à la réalisation en Europe du dénommé « Bouclier spatial ». Néanmoins, notre protestation continue et elle a permis que le Gouvernement tchèque n’ait pu ratifier définitivement à ce jour l’accord avec les USA.Nous vous remercions tous pour le soutien reçu.
À Bruxelles, le 18 février 2009, une rencontre au Parlement Européen aura lieu entre plusieurs députés et 20 maires de la république tchèque, membres de la Ligues des Maires contre le radar, Giorgio Schultze (Europe for peace) Jan Tamas (Humanistes tchèques contre les bases) et des délégations de plusieurs pays européens. À l’initiative de Bruxelles, participeront aussi des maires de plusieurs villes de Belgique et seront également remis à cette occasion des messages de soutien de maires italiens en solidarité avec les protestations en République tchèque.
À 14 heures, une manifestation commencera devant le Parlement et tout au long de la journée des manifestations similaires auront lieu dans de nombreuses villes européennes.
La manifestation s’appellera « Les invisibles » car 70% de la population tchèque est contre la base radar des usa. Ils sont invisibles pour les médias, de même que restent invisibles à leurs yeux 95% de la population mondiale qui sont contre les guerres.
Vidéo de la manifestation déjà réalisée à Prague :
http://www.europeforpeace.eu/news.php?id=1036&country=
Mais surtout nous voulons vous informer de la Marche Mondiale pour la Paix et la Non-violence, la Marche la plus grande jamais organisée dans l’histoire humaine. Elle commencera en Nouvelle-Zélande le 02 octobre 2009, proclamé journée mondiale de la non-violence par les Nations Unies. Elle traversera une centaine de pays sur les cinq continents et se terminera dans les Andes argentines le 2 janvier 2010.
Des centaines d’organisations et de personnalités ont adhéré telles que la Président du Chili, Michelle Bachelet, le Dalaï Lama, l’équipe de football de l’Inter de Milan, l’acteur Viggo Mortensen (« le Seigneur des anneaux ») et beaucoup d’autres...
Participez et rejoignez la Marche pour dire définitivement non aux guerres et à toute forme de violence !
Informations :
http://www.marchemondiale.fr/
Conférence internationale contre « la Défense par les Missiles » à Séoul, en Corée du Sud, du 16 au 18 avril 2009 :Informations :
http://www.space4peace.org/actions/gnconf_2009.htm
Autres informations Brève présentation sur le bouclier spatial, utile pour informer de façon simple des institutions, des amis, des associations :
http://www.europeforpeace.eu/documents-detail.php?id=1050&country=fr
Lettre ouverte aux maires et aux organisations à propos de l’activité du 18 février :
http://www.europeforpeace.eu/news.php?id=1044&country=fr
Appel de la présidente du Chili à participer à la Marche Mondiale et pour un monde sans guerres (en espagnol - en anglais) :
http://www.nenasili.cz/en/3039_video-president-bachelet-endorses-the-world-march-for-peace-and-nonviolence
Entretien avec Noam Chomsky sur le bouclier spatial en Europe (en anglais, en italien)
:http://www.europeforpeace.eu/video-detail.php?id=1034&country=it
Entretien avec Noam Chomsky sur rôle possible de l’Europe pour éviter une catastrophe nucléaire (en anglais) :
http://www.europeforpeace.eu/video-detail.php?id=1029&country=
Conférence au Parlement Tchèque du député euro-parlementaire G. Chiesa : “Le bouclier divise l’Europe“ (en anglais)
http://www.europeforpeace.eu/video-detail.php?id=1030&country=
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Dear Friends,
With the expectation that President Obama may take a clear position, there is an air of uncertainty regarding the materialisation of the so-called Space Shield in Europe. Nevertheless, our protest continues, and this has allowed that until today the Czech Government has been unable to definitively ratify the agreement with the USA. We thank everyone for the support received.
In Brussels, on the 18th of February 2009, there will be a meeting in the European Parliament among various MEPs and 20 Mayors of the Czech Republic, members of the League against the Radar, Giorgio Schultze (Europe for Peace), Jan Tamas (Czech Humanists against the bases) and delegations from various European countries.Mayors of various Belgian cities will participate as well in the initiative in Brussels and messages of support will be handed in from many Italian Mayors expressing their solidarity with the protests in the Czech Republic.At 2 pm, a demonstration will start in front of the Parliament and throughout the same day similar demonstrations will be carried out in numerous European cities.
The demonstration will be called “the invisibles”, because the 70% of the Czech population that is against the US radar base are invisible for the media, as are the 95% of the world’s population that are against wars.
Video of the demonstration already held in Prague:
http://www.europeforpeace.eu/news.php?id=1036&country=
But above all, we would like to inform you about the World March for Peace and Nonviolence, the biggest march ever organised in human history.It will start in New Zealand on the 2nd of October 2009, proclaimed by the United Nations as the International Day of Nonviolence. It will pass through a hundred countries on five continents and will end in the Argentinean Andes on the 2nd of January 2010.
Hundreds of organisations and personalities have already endorsed the March, like Michelle Bachelet, Chilean President, the Dalai Lama, the Italian football club Inter Milan, the actor Viggo Mortensen (from “the Lord of the Rings”) and many others. Participate and join us in this March to say “no” decisively to wars and any form of violence!
Information:
http://www.worldmarchforpeace.org/
International conference against Missile Defence in Seoul, South Korea, between the 16th and 18th of April 2009. Information:
http://www.space4peace.org/actions/gnconf_2009.htm
Other information:
Video bulletin about the World March:
http://www.marchamundial.org/en
Brief presentation about the Space Shield, useful to inform institutions, friends and groups in a simple way:
http://www.europeforpeace.eu/documents.php?country=&keyword=documents
Open letter to Mayors and organisations about the activity on the 18th of February:
http://www.europeforpeace.eu/news.php?id=1040&country=
Call of the Chilean President to participate in the World March and for a world without wars:
http://www.nenasili.cz/en/3039_video-president-bachelet-endorses-the-world-march-for-peace-and-nonviolence
Video with Noam Chomsky about the Space Shield in Europe:
http://www.europeforpeace.eu/video-detail.php?id=1027&country=
Video interview with Noam Chomsky about the possible role of Europe in order to avoid a nuclear catastrophe (in English):
http://www.europeforpeace.eu/video-detail.php?id=1029&country=
Conference in the Czech Parliament with the MEP G. Chiesa: “The shield is dividing Europe”:
http://www.europeforpeace.eu/video-detail.php?id=1030&country=
VIDEO: Interview of Russia Today with Jan Tamas - US Radar provokes wars:
http://www.nenasili.cz/en/2921_us-radar-provokes-wars
http://www.nonviolence.cz/
Labels: american empire, anti-militarism, Brussels, current events, Czech Republic, demonstrations, Europe., events, Star Wars
Sunday, November 16, 2008
HUMAN RIGHTS-EUROPE/LIBYA:
PETITION AGAINST MIGRANT DETENTION CAMPS:
The following is for our European readers.the pseudo-socialist regime of Libya has long held intercepted African emigrants trying to make their way to Europe in hellish conditions, both for reasons of their own racism and to curry favour with European governments of a similar flavour. The following from the Fortress Europe site asks you to petition to end this atrocity.
................................
Libya: sign the petition against migrants detention camps:
Fortress Europe support the campaign for an international investigation on the detention conditions of migrants and refugees arrested in Libya on their way to Europe. The petition was launched by the directors of the documentary Come un uomo sulla terra. You can sign directly on this page. If you want you can also ask for signatures in your own town, downloading here the paper in Pdf version. After you'll have collected the signatures, contact the directors by email writing to
Fortress Europe support the campaign for an international investigation on the detention conditions of migrants and refugees arrested in Libya on their way to Europe. The petition was launched by the directors of the documentary Come un uomo sulla terra. You can sign directly on this page. If you want you can also ask for signatures in your own town, downloading here the paper in Pdf version. After you'll have collected the signatures, contact the directors by email writing to
TO:
*the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of Italy- Hon. Gianfranco Fini
*the Speaker of the Italian Senate- Hon Renato Schifani
*the President of the European Parliament – Mr Hans G. Poettering
*the President of the European Commission – Mr. José M. Barroso
*the Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security- Vice-President of the European Commission, Mr. Jacques Barrot
*the UN High Commissioner for Refugees- Mr. Antonio Guterres
After listening or reading (thanks to the documentary film COME UN UOMO SULLA TERRA) the stories told by African refugees residing in Italy about their journey through Libya,The undersigned
Believe it is necessary to bring to a halt the violence against thousands of human beings arrested and deported by the Libyan police, to prevent their migration to Europe
Believe that Italy’s responsibility in this framework must be clearly stated. Considering the well- know bilateral agreements entered into by the Italian Government since 2004 whereby Italy provides financial and technical support to Libya for the “control of illegal migration flows”
With this petition we call upon
THE ITALIAN PARLIAMENT AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES
To promote the establishment of an independent, international committee of enquiry to investigate the procedure for the control of migratory flows in Libya, under the terms of the bilateral agreement with the Italian Government.
In light of this emergency to rapidly send an international humanitarian mission to Libya to verify the conditions of detainees in the prisons and the detention centres for foreigners.
Labels: Europe., European Union, human rights, Libya, migrants, petitions
Friday, June 13, 2008
FRANCE:
INVITATION TO THE EURO-MEDITERRANEAN COUNTER SUMMIT:
The following is a callout from the Frence CNT (the CNT-Vignoles), one of the most active anarchosyndicalist unions outside of Spain. The following item has been reprinted from the A-Infos website, but it was originally published at the website of the CNT. The following has been slightly edited for reasons of English grammar and spelling.
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France, Invitation to the Euro-Mediterranean counter summit in Paris (5/6 July)
Comrades,
CNT* has launched, with other French associations of solidarity with struggles in the Mediterranean zone countries, a counter-summit in Paris on 5th and 6th of July.
The reason :
One week later, Nicolas Sarkozy and the European union will organize the Euro-Mediterranean Summit to create a new institution : The Union For the Mediterranean
---- Here's the declaration and the program of this initiative called "For a Mediterranean Union of peace, freedom and social justice".
The idea is also to give an international aspect to this initiative, because the project of Sarkozy concern all the countries of the European Union.
---- For this, we ask you, if you agree, to sign this declaration and to participate to this initiative.
At this counter-summit will be present syndicalists and activists from Palestine, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Turkey and Europe. The CNT invites you also to come and participate to this two days of mobilization.It'd be good that you tell us as soon as possible how many members of your union would come, to be able to organize for housing, welcome etc...
Red and Black Regards
CNT International Committee
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DECLARATION :
A Mediterranean Union of Struggle.
Far from being a new idea the Mediterranean Union is actually a direct descendant of the 1995 Barcelona declaration and conference. The French foreign affairs minister, Bernard Kouchner, has presented it as a renewal of the Barcelona agreement. The conference was attended by all the members of the EU along with 12 countries from the south and east of the Mediterranean: Morocco, Egypt, Israel, The Palestinian Authority, Jordan,Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Albania and Mauritania.
Although the aims and objectives of these talks may be worrying they are far from surprising.
The main focus was on economic issues, namely the creation of a free trade zone and the liberalisation of markets over the next two years. This will mainly translate into privatisation of southern businesses and very likely takeovers of these business by capitalist groups from the north. The dramatic social consequences of these policies are well known: lay-offs,increased inequality and the development of the local bourgeoisie, reduced access to services and increases in prices. The French foreign affairs ministry has clearly stated its position on relations between France and the Maghreb region "The Maghreb countries (Morocco, Libya, Tunisia,Algeria and Mauritania) are a market and an economic partner. We are the main exporter to Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria. The entire region has very good prospects for the future: reforms, privatisations, major construction projects and new markets linked to modernisation.
"There are also issues of 'security' notably the so-called struggles against terrorism and corruption. In the second case there is never any progress because far too many interests are at play and in both cases used as an excuse to throw militants into prison and to increase classic repressive measures (police, army) and new technological methods (notably DNA databases). We can of course also see the spectre of immigration behind these questions of security. The region has developed a certain expertise in migration: methods of control and repression have been increased (naval patrols), sub-contracting of the management of migratory flows to countries on the front line (notably Morocco, Algeria, Libya and Mauritania) to prevent the arrival in Europe of African migrants. Freedom of movement is good for capital and good for the bosses, but not for human beings, especially the poorest. The French Foreign Ministry has also said "We have a cultural proximity to these countries and we have many common interests: links with France and with the EU, the challenge of globalisation, Islamist pressures, Migratory pressures (as countries of emigration and, increasingly, as a point of transit) and terrorism(especially as a target).
All of these forms of repression are also used against any protest movements: trade union rights are under atttack, sacking and even arrest of militants (those arrested in Morocco on May 1st for example) Thi is far from the supposed respect for and defence of human rights that ths union is supposed to develop and that the Barcelona conference is supposed to have advanced.
Finally this union is supposed to ensure peace. But on what basis? On the status quo as it seems to be so far or on the end of the exertion colonialist and imperialist power, of the north against the south, Israel over Palestine, but also between the southern countries, in sum the right of people in these countries to control their own lives?
This 'new union' is a tool for the powerful and their interests, so we call for the creation of a Mediterranean union of people in struggle,aiming to further the following causes:
-the respect and development of basic freedoms, notably in terms of trade union rights and freedom of expression and organisation.
-the release of all political prisoners, the end of regimes of terror and the right to a fair trial.
-the end of policies of privatisation of public services and of attacks on
workers rights and living conditions.
-the free movement of people, the closure of detainment centres and the annulation of anti-immigration laws.
-An end to the effective political, economic and social colonisation of the south by the north and also within the southern region.
-The respect of non-official and non-state-sanctioned cultures.
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PROGRAM:
Here's some information about the concrete program :
- a demonstration on Saturday 5th of July from 14 PM to 18 PM in a popular place of Paris ;
- a meeting-concert on 5th of July evening with speeches of international people that we invited (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Palestine, activists for human rights and migrants questions);
- 6th of July morning: Euro-Maghreb coordination meeting
- 6th of july afternoon,meeting to discuss about Mediterranean struggles and how to organize together for international solidarity ;
_________________
Coordination mailing list
================
* An antiauthoritarian anticapitalist syndicate
Labels: anarchism, anarcho-syndicalism, CNT-F, Europe., events, France, immigrants, mediterranean
Sunday, June 01, 2008
EUROPE:
HANDS OFF OUR COOPS:
The European Commission is presently hearing complaints lodged against cooperatives in France, Spain and Italy. The complaints have been filed by large corporations that claim the coops are "not competing fairly". The following is a petition addressed to the European Commission demanding that the EC keep its hands off the cooperative sector.
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Hands off our Coops! - they compete fairly!
10879 Signatures
Published by coopseurope on May 05, 2008
Region: GLOBAL
Target: President European Commission -Jose Manuel Barroso and Competition Commissioner - Neelie Kroes
Web site: http://www.coopseurope.coop/spip.php?article561
History:
The complaints against French, Spanish and Italian cooperatives that are being looked at by the European Commission are made by large shareholding companies. They are trying to get changes to the national tax rules for co-operatives. Any changes to these rules would reduce competition and would steal the coops' business. The Commission's decisions on the complaints may not just concern a few large co-operatives but they could also badly effect all coops across Europe.
Cooperatives are specifically written about in the EU treaties. Twenty five European Union countries have their own laws for co-operatives. Co-operatives are a different kind of business. Cooperative businesses rely on the principles of democratic control, self-responsibility, equity and solidarity. Co-ops have a unique legal and financial structure that needs to be recognised. The Commission cannot be allowed to pretend that they are comparing the same things when they compare co-ops with private sector businesses.
If you believe that attention has to be paid to the social and human dimension in economic activities and that a strong political message needs to be given to the European Commission, please sign the following petition.
You can read the Petition text HERE in EN/DE/ES/FR and IT
Petition:
Hands Off our Coops! - they compete fairly.
You can read the Petition text HERE in EN/DE/ES/FR and IT
Petition:
Hands Off our Coops! - they compete fairly.
We the undersigned, believe that:
The current legal cases that are before the European Commission are attempts to challenge national co-operative laws and tax rules. They are attempts by our competitors to reduce consumer choice, to steal the coop market share and to end their ethical challenge.
Any Commission decision that appears to side with the private share holding companies may not just affect a few major co-operatives but it could present a risk to the whole co-operative system in all the economic sectors of the EU. Are we to be told that our 'cooperative values and principles' are worthless?
Today, 263000 cooperative enterprises are serving their 160 million members (1 in 3 EU citizens). They actively contribute to the economic and social objectives of the European Union.
Cooperatives do not want privileges, they want to compete equally in an open market that acknowledges their 'cooperative difference'.
Sign the petition
Sign the petition
Labels: cooperation, Europe., European Union, petitions
Thursday, May 15, 2008
EUROPE:
THE RIGHT TO STRIKE:
The following article is originally from the Spanish CGT and their newspaper Rojo Y Negro. It was published in an English translation at the A-Infos anarchist news site. I have slightly edited the following for reasons of English grammar.
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CGT: The right to strike
According to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the right to strike is superceded by the right to the freedom of establishment (of enterprise) (Article 43 EC Treaty) and the right to the freedom to provide services [1]. -----
THE FACTS
In 2003, the Finnish shipping company Viking decided that it could gain advantages over its competitors by re-registering a transport ferry sailing under a Finnish flag so that it could sail under an Estonian flag, replacing Finnish workers with an Estonian crew.
---- The reasons alleged by the company: competition from Estonian ferries sailing the same route (Helsinki-Tallinn, on the Baltic Sea) was having a direct effect on costs and unless it worked under the same conditions, it would have to retire the ship.
The Finnish union FSU and the International Transport Workers Federation called a strike to prevent the company from re-registering the ferry and force it to apply Finnish working conditions (union agreement).
The company Viking Line ABP and its parent company (group of companies), OU Viking Line Eesti ,turned to the British courts to oppose the strike, arguing that it was contrary to the principle of freedom of establishment (article 43 EC Treaty) and the freedom to provide services laid down in EC Regulation 4055/1986, governing the application of the principle of freedom to provide services to shipping transport between member states and between member states and other countries.
At the request of the Court of Appeal (England & Wales) (Civil Division) (United Kingdom), the Court of Justice issued a decision on the request from the British Court of Appeal by means of the Decision of the Court of Justice (Grand Chamber) dated 11 December 2007, which reads as follows:
"...Article 43 of the EC Treaty should be interpreted as stating that strike measures such as those indicated in the matter at hand, whose purpose is to achieve a situation where a private company whose corporate domicile is located in one member state signs a working agreement with a trade union established in the said state and applies the clauses laid down in the agreement to the workers employed by a subsidiary of the said company established in another member state constitute restrictions in accordance with the said article..."
THE BACKGROUND AND PRACTICES IN THE CASES OF THE RELOCATION OF ENTERPRISE (IN ANY SECTOR AND ACTIVITY) AND COMMUNITY LAW
The last "famous" example of relocation in Spain was the multinational DELPHI in Puerto Real, which "shut down and fled" because the freedom of circulation of capital and the freedom of establishment of capital were raised to the category of fundamental rights in the European Community Treaty, as laid down in articles 14 (domestic market without frontiers and guarantee of free circulation of services), 43 (freedom of establishment) and 49 (freedom to provide services) thereof.
An identical case is currently occurring with the multinational NOKIA in Germany.
The EU and its European Court of Justice uphold and support the policies issued by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which require absolute freedom in the rules governing international trade so as not to distort free competition. This argument is the one used by the company Viking to oppose the strike called by the Finnish union and the International Shipping Transport Federation.
The freedom of the market (as the only freedom) and the defence of free competition, as a condition of the labour, social and environmental precarisation of workers is a REGULATION that governs social and labour relations in the single European market, where homogenisation, i.e. statutes protecting workers , is an attack against the only fundamental rights that are constituted by market regulations, regardless of where the goods are produced or where the services are distributed: the freedom of enterprise, its establishment and the freedom to provide services where it wants and under the working and employment conditions best for free competition. All in the name of a highly competitive social market economy.
The greater mobility of capital and its trans-nationalisation give rise to a more efficient allocation of world savings and cause the deterioration of working conditions in central countries and in the impoverished or "developing" countries, with the additional consequence of the dismantling of trade-union power.
THE EUROPEAN UNION AND ITS REGULATIONS IN CASES OF RELOCATION OR RE-REGISTRATION (CHANGE OF FLAG)
European companies resort more and more to the relocation of their services to low-cost countries with poor labour practices. This involves an absence of regulations that protect paid work; labour prices that are up to 60% cheaper; tax incentives and subsidies from the destination states of up to 120% of the investment in production (examples include the cantons in China, areas of Turkey, India, etc.); highly qualified labour in high value-added technology sectors (complex computer programs are outsourced to India by computer giants such as IBM).
The enlargement of the EU to 27 member states has meant that the countries receiving the highest amount of foreign capital are the ones that have recently been incorporated: Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, etc. The territorial replanning of the EU's intervention on world markets includes the countries of the Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, etc.), the markets of Eastern Europe and the third pillar of southeast Asia (basically, China).
Through a variety of European financial instruments, the European Commission sets up funds to subsidise business activities and, accordingly, it has introduced a new article (art. 51 of the aforementioned General Regulations of the European Development Fund), which states that the corresponding state must make sure that the aid given to an enterprise is used to co-finance a project that is not modified in any significant way during a term of seven years.
Modifications include the total or partial stoppage of production as a result of transfer to another country. In these cases, the Commission will require the enterprises to return the funds they have received (in the case of Viking, although it tried to soften the impact of its decision. The Court of Justice highlighted the possibility of resorting to the Finnish state to require the enterprise to return the subsidies received by the ship it is re-registering).
CONSEQUENCES AND... WHAT RESPONSES FROM THE UNIONS?
In this context of liberalism and deregulation; of unlimited competition between areas, regions, countries, blocks, workers in the first world competing with those of the other worlds... finding a place for social-trade union action is neither easy nor simple. However, either we react, and not only on a rhetorical scale (debate and discussion on this new attack against the right to strike), or the real situation will be more "miserable" than any present-future prediction we could make.
Trade union strategy must be capable not only of showing the seriousness of policies which, in the name of competitiveness and the free market, destroy any social relation based on respect for democracy and the collective rights of every man and woman and freedom, but also of acting and using sufficient force to put an end to this barbarism.
It is the trade unions that have to renounce to managing the conflict and acting as a cohort for the decisions taken by the European Commission and its legal wing, the ECJ, and understand that the reactivation of the conflict is the only possible solution for constituting a model of social/labour relations based on justice and solidarity sufficient for every man and woman.
1.- My thanks to Antonio Baylos, Professor of Labour and Social Security Legislation of Universidad Castilla La Mancha forhis involvement in this matter and his knowledge of the right to strike.To Raúl Maillo, lawyer, for his knowledge and militant commitment.
Labels: anarcho-syndicalism, CGT, Europe., Spain
Saturday, May 03, 2008
POLAND:
NO BORDERS POLAND: CALL FOR PROTEST AGAINST FRONTEX:
The following is a call for a protest in Warsaw Poland this coming June. It was originally published in the No Borders Network site and has been propagating through the internet. This is Molly's little contribution to this meme. You can read more at the No Borders site.
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No Borders Poland: call for Protest against Frontex
6 June we will show our opposition to the border regime with a demonstration in front of Frontex headquarters in Warsaw. ---- War, economic imperialism, civil conflict, environmental degradation and a host of other factors, combined with the increased technological monitoring and militarization of the borders, means that people will take even great risks to exercise the freedom of movement and settlement, to find safe homes or jobs with even a bit of economic perspective if they otherwise have none. The European Union has made itself a fortress and seeks to control immigration to fit its demands and the demands of world capital. It is, after all, in the interest of business to have captive labour markets in countries with poor wages and no labour organizing, to allow their capital and movement of goods to be mobile but to keep people immobile. In order to better control the flow of immigration, the European Union created Frontex.
What is Frontex?
Frontex is an EU agency with coordinates the activity, training and operations of the EU's border control. It also coordinates this activity with police, the military and secret services.
The Frontex-run RABITs (rapid border intervention teams) carry out military-like exercises with weaponry in preparation for operations against groups of migrants. There is growing likelihood that somebody will be shot dead for trying to cross the border.
Murder by Accident
As migrants are forced into more and more dangerous ways of crossing borders, the people smugglers and mafias are making good business. But the price for migrants is often death in the back of an overloaded truck or at sea. The latter is becoming more and more frequent thanks to the work of Frontex sea patrols. Instead of taking the shorter routes, migrants are choosing longer routes at sea and more are dying.
At the same time that dozens of dead bodies of prospective immigrants are washing up on beaches, many of the countries of the European Union complain that there are not enough workers and are busy trying to recruit people from Asia to come to work. By criminalizing migration, the authorities treat these deaths as the responsibility of the people themselves, those who chose to put themselves in danger and who broke the law. But it is the system itself which is murderous.
No One is Illegal
We maintain the idea that the resources of the earth belong to humanity collectively and that people must be free to live, work and to divide the products of their labour, as well as natural resources which must be used, in an egalitarian manner. The borders drawn on the earth to artificially divide us most often serve to protect the interests of those in power, not normal people. People must be free to go where they wish, or to stay home, free from the invasive and predatory policies of the state and businesses which drive people from their land and try to monopolize natural resources for their profits. For hundreds of years, business has gone everywhere, setting up plantations, sweatshops and mines, destroying communities, upsetting local economies, using people for slave or cheap labour. All of these things, and to a lesser extent, natural factors (sometimes caused by excessive use of natural resources), has created a world order with billions of the worlds population inhabiting places of exploitation-induced poverty. Nobody can wonder why anybody would like to leave these places.
We mustn't allow people to bear the brunt of all of these problems, we must not allow the continual criminalization, repression and deportation of migrants. What needs to be changed is the root of the problem.
We will go to the Frontex office with the slogans "No one is Illegal" and "No Borders, No Nations" to confront the migrant hunters with the consequences of their policies and show what it is that this institution is really protecting: misery, poverty, exploitation, racism, imperialism and global capitalism.
SHUT DOWN FRONTEX!
No Borders Poland
Protest Friday June 6 at 2PM
Frontex Headquarters in Warsaw
Rondo Onz 1 (corner of Swietokrzyska and Jana Pawla streets)
Contact: bezgranic@bzzz.net
Labels: demonstrations, Europe., immigrants, No Borders Network, Poland, Warsaw
Thursday, February 21, 2008
IMMIGRATION ACTIVISM:
FIGHTING THE BORDER REGIME IN EUROPE:
Anarchists across the world struggle against the artificial barriers to free movement set up by nation states at their borders. There have been numerous struggles and campaigns here in Canada and in the USA as well in support of immigrants and against impediments to the freedom to move. This is also true in Europe, perhaps even more so, and European anarchists have been prominant in solidarity struggles with migrants. This year activists in various European countries are planning a concerted chain of actions, from February to October and across the continent, in solidarity with migrants. The following report from the Polish anarchist news wire Centrum Informacji Anarchistycznej gives the story of what will be happening in the coming year.
"Common Call for a Transnational Chain of Migration related Actions In the "heart of the monster": Amsterdam, Sevilla, Torino, Bamako, London, Athens, Warsaw, Hamburg, Malmoe, Ceuta ...
Between February and October 2008 a series of events, protests and actions will take place in various cities and countries all over Europe and beyond : against the border regime, against detentions and deportations, against the exploitation of migrant labour and for legalization of all migrants. This transnational chain of struggles builds on the three action days for freedom of movement and the right to stay, which happened in previous years. But with this chain of events we are aiming for something more. We strongly believe that the transnational expression of migrants’ struggles against the “monster” of migration controls must be something more than a one day event once a year. We believe that the transnational space must be understood as an unified space of migrants’ struggles, happening everyday and right now.
This transnational chain of struggles is our attempt to find out what is “common” among the manifold differences experienced by migrants in Europe and beyond. Ranging from temporary seasonal workers who are exploited in the fields of Andalusia in Spain; to "legal" migrants who live and work everyday in Eurospace; undocumented migrants working in irregular jobs in Italy or the UK, in factories or in the home, as many women do; "tolerated refugees" living in an isolated "junglecamp" in Northern-Germany; migrants detained in a camp in Greece or Poland, or even in front of the externalized EU-borders in Marocco or Ukraine. They all are crossing and forcing the boundaries living inside and struggling against the same “monster” which is the migration-regime!
Of course, we do not ignore the differences in realities and struggles in various regions, countries or continents. But all over the world capitalist exploitation is unimaginable without the global differences, constructed through filters and zones, the hierarchies and inequality, and through the external as well as the internal borders. Illegalisation and deportations on one hand, selective inclusion and recruitment of migrant workforce on the other hand, are two sides of the same coin: migration management for a global apartheid regime, whose most precarious conditions of exploitation are based on the production of hierarchies in terms of rights and on racist discrimination. Low wage countries in the south are used to undercut wages through relocation of production, low wage sectors in the north are targeting young migrant workers: trying to keep them obedient by blackmailing them, as their right of residence is linked to their jobs.
The increasing movements and daily fights of refugees and migrants challenge the external borders of Europe as well as the social and legal borders within Europe itself. The manifold struggles undermine, crisscross and attack the brutal and murderous system of migration control and racist exploitation. This transnational chain of actions is a step toward the linking of these struggles, an attempt to build communication and organization across the borders, knowing that the demands for freedom of movement and the right to stay aim directly at the „heart of the monster“, which migrants everyday and everywhere are fighting against.
The stations:
• February 2nd in Amsterdam/Netherlands: Launching point for the chain with the conference „Migrant / Media / Metropolis - New labour struggles in the global city“ which will be showcasing the current union organizing campaign "cleaners for a better future" in the Netherlands where migrants from Turkey, Morocco, Suriname, Ghana, Capo Verde and Latin America are fighting for a living wage, respect and full time jobs.
• February 23rd in Sevilla/Spain : Demonstration in the frame of an action day for immigrants rights, coordinated through the countrywide network REDI, just two weeks before the general elections in Spain. Demonstrations, actions and meetings will be celebrated in Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Pamplona, Burgos...and the 3 demands of all events are: 1- Regularization of all immigrants, 2-Stop the police repression on immigrants, 3- Equal rights for all. In andalucia there will be a centralized demonstration in Sevilla with the central slogan: "Migration is not the problem, the problem is precarity", with the participation of buses from Malaga, Almeria, Cadiz and people from all andalusian cities.
• March 8th in Torino/Italy: Migrants? and antiracist networks, coming from many Italian cities, will meet in Turin for a public conference and assembly. They will discuss about the condition and struggles of migrant labour in Italy, referring particularly to the relationship between regular and irregular labour. The assembly aims at promoting the political debate and the struggles for migrants? rights and for a permanent legalization of all migrants. It will be the first step toward further mass mobilizations in Turin and other cities in Italy, and toward a migrant workers MayDay in Milan.
• March 15th and 16th in Bamako/Mali: Journées Ouvertes avec des travailleurs migrants expulsés et refoulés =Open Days with migrant workers who were deported or sent back The Malian Association of deported migrants (AME), member of the Euro-African network "manifeste euro-africain", will organize two days of meetings with migrant workers who were deported from Europe or sent back on their way. It will be an open space for migrants to tell their stories and for debates, where the local population and especially people who want to migrate are invited.
• March 29th in Athens/Greece: Actionday also in Thesaloniki and Volos, directed against border controls, police violence, detention, deportations, against Doublin convention and in solidarity to refugees who reach Europe. For their right to free movement, for their right to asylum and residence in every country they choose!
• March 29th in London/UK: Trade Union and Community Activist Conference Against Immigration Controls, coming together to build a campaign against the intensifying attacks on migrant workers and their communities in the UK. This gathering seeks to develop the capacity of migrants to resist the raids, detention and deportation of migrants, and to challenge workplace exploitation and migrants' exclusion from education, social services and health care.
• June 6th in Warsaw/Poland and everywhere: Actionday against FRONTEX! Protest and press-conference in front of the headquarters of Frontex in Warsaw, against European border regime and its externalisation to East and South, combined with a transnational online-demonstration against this "European Border Agency" on the same day...
• August 17th to 24th in Hamburg/Germany: Antiracist actioncamp with a focus on EU-charter-deportations to Africa from Hamburg Airport.
• September 18th to 21st in Malmoe/Sweden: Presentation and evaluation of the chain of actions in the frame of the next European Social Forum, discussing further perspectives of transnationalization of migrationrelated struggles.
• October 7th near Ceuta in Marocco: Manifestation at the fence of Ceuta. This is the anniversary of Ceuta and Melilla killings and was decided as an international day of solidarity with migrants in Nairobi (World Social Forum).
Signatories• Cleaners for a better Future/Holland; Justice for Janitors/Global Campaigns;• Sindicato Andaluz de Trabajadores (SAT); Oficina de Derechos Sociales (Malaga y Sevilla), Red Precarixs en Movimiento, Coordinadora de Inmigrantes de Málaga (CIM), Asociacion Pro Derechos Humanos de Andalucia (APDH), Centro Social La Casa Invisible (Málaga), Corriente Roja;• Tavolo Migranti/Italy; • Association Malienne des Expulsés (AME)/Bamako• No Borders Poland, Zwiazek Syndykalistow Polski, Warszawa (Union of Syndicalists, Warsaw), Praga Anarchist Group;• Network for Social Support to Immigrants and Refugees/Athens• London Noborders, No One Is Illegal (UK) and the Conference Against Immigration Controls Organising Committee;• Refugee Council Hamburg, No one is illegal Hanau, Caravan-Group Munich;• Reseau Manifeste Euro-Africain• Frassanito Network
www.noborder.org "
Labels: activism, Autonomy and Solidarity, Centrum Informacji Anarchistycznej, Europe., immigrants
