Brussels, Belgium – A packed house of several hundred people witnessed a dramatic legal proceeding this past weekend. May 18 and 19. An International People’s Tribunal was held, initiated by the International Association of Democratic Lawyers and the Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle.

In its conclusion, the tribunal named Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., former President Rodrigo Duterte, U.S. President Joe Biden and the U.S. government all guilty of charges of war crimes and violations of international humanitarian law.

Over two days, testimony was presented by activists and victims from different parts of The Philippines about violence, torture and murder committed by the Armed Forces of The Philippines (AFP), or by paramilitary groups working under the direction of the government.

The organizers of the tribunal described these violence acts as war crimes. Experts opened the weekend explaining that there is, in fact, a war taking place in the Philippines. The government in Manila is carrying out a counterinsurgency strategy, and even using a counterinsurgency guide designed in Washington against the guerilla New People’s Army (NPA).

International legal experts, occupied communities combine efforts

The tribunal included distinguished attorneys with expertise in international law. Some acted as jurors, others as prosecutors. Heading the panel of jurors was Professor Lennox Hinds. Formerly the U.S. attorney for Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress, Hinds also represented Assata Shakur, and was a founding member of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

The other jurors included Suzanne Adely, President of the National Lawyers Guild (U.S.); Severine De Laveleye of the Chamber of Representatives of Belgium; Julen Arzuraga Gumuzio of the Basque Parliament; and Archbishop Joris Vercamen, former member of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches.

Much of the two days consisted of emotionally jarring testimony of torture, extrajudicial killings, mutilation of the bodies of political activists, and attempted murder of other activists.

One dramatic video statement came from Brandon Lee, a U.S. citizen who survived an assassination attempt by members of the AFP in 2019. Multiple gun shots left Lee paralyzed from the chest down. He recounted how the military threatened him over the course of several years to end his advocacy for the rights of the indigenous Cordillera people he was working among. Like his adopted countrymen, Lee refused to back down in the face of tyranny.

Another witness was Eufemia Cullamat, an elected member of the House of Representatives from the Bayan Muna slate, and a leader of the indigenous Manobo tribe.

Her daughter, Jevilyn Cullamat, was killed by the AFP in 2020 in Surigao del Sur, Mindanao. Eufemia Cullamat learned about it on Twitter, when soldiers used photos of Jevelyn’s dead body like a trophy, posing her with a rifle in her hands. Her daughter was reportedly a medic with the NPA.

Cullamat also reported how in 2015, the AFP carried out the Lianga massacre of their community. Jevelyn witnessed the killing of her Uncle Dionel and Grandfather Jovillo.

After the first day of testimony, reflecting on the activists who struggled through their anguish to get on the historic record, Professor Hinds commented, “What we see is a community resisting.”

Background: Two figures from Philippines revolutionary history

To put the human rights violations in context, testimony was presented by Juliet De Lima, head of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) negotiating panel for the stalled peace talks with the government in Manila. De Lima noted that there is an underlying objective for the heinous crimes of the regime in the logic of counterinsurgency: to “Drain the water to expose the fish.”

The NDFP is the revolutionary united front organization of the Filipino people fighting for national freedom and for the democratic rights of the people. It includes the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army. The AFP typically justifies the atrocities it commits against civilian activists they have targeted by claiming they are members of the NPA.

Early on in the tribunal, Connie Ledesma, also a member of the negotiating panel for the NDFP, explained why the national democratic movement has committed to a peace process with the government in Manila. For almost four decades the government and the NDFP have been engaged in peace negotiations. “From the perspective of the NDFP this could be a viable arena to achieve basic social, economic and political reforms in Philippine society,” Ledesma explained, and noted that the negotiations have resulted in 38 major agreements and joint statements.

Tribunal: Justice through solidarity

Prosecutors and jurors explained that while they use the laws that govern war and international human rights, the impact of the tribunal is political. The tribunal has no power to sentence Marcos, Duterte, or Biden to prison.

On the other hand, as has been seen in the case of the Gaza genocide being carried out by the U.S. and Israel, the court systems – whether in the Philippines, the U.S., or in existing international accountability structures like the International Court of Justice – are influenced by imperialist interests.

The International People’s Tribunal gives a voice to the oppressed Filipino people and can be used to help the national liberation movement, the peasants, indigenous people and workers to exact accountability on their oppressors. The national democratic forces know that it is the solidarity of those groups, along with youth and students, that will hold accountable the bureaucrat capitalists.

But a story from the solidarity movement with South Africa is worth recalling. Edward Said, the Palestinian intellectual, wrote in his 2000 book, The End of the Peace Process, about a visit with Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu of the African National Congress (ANC) in 1991.

Said had gone to see them to learn about using international boycott, divestment and sanction tactics against apartheid. Speaking with Sisulu, at that time the head of the ANC, Said writes, “He paused for a moment and then said something that I shall never forget as long as I live: ‘Every victory that we registered in London, or Glasgow, or Iowa City, or Toulouse, or Berlin, or Stockholm gave the people at home a sense of hope, and renewed their determination not to give up the struggle.’”

The International People’s Tribunal in Brussels is a victory for the people in Bicol, Cota Bato, Panay, Surigao del Sur. The legal process of collecting and presenting evidence of international human rights abuses and war crimes will be a tool to end the repression that emanates from Manilla.

#International #Philippines #Duterte #Marcos #NPA #IADL #FFPS #Belgium #Feature

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following message of condolences from the leadership of Freedom Road Socialist Organization to the Workers Party of Belgium.

November 16, 2022

To: Workers Party of Belgium

From: Freedom Road Socialist Organization

Dear Comrades,

We were saddened to hear the news of the passing of Jean Pestieau, and we send out condolences to the Workers Party of Belgium and Jean’s family and friends.

As a leading comrade in the PTB International Department, comrade Jean was friend, advisor and inspiration to revolutionaries around the world. He had was extremely knowledgeable, yet modest. He was friendly and diplomatic, yet firm on issues of principle. Jean was always ready to answer questions and explain his point of view in a down-to-earth way. He was an example of what a communist should be.

Many leading comrades of Freedom Road Socialist Organization had the opportunity to met with Jean, and the comrade played a role in the development of our organization. We benefited greatly from his political clarity and helpful advice. When we met with the PTB in the mid-1990s, a period before the internet, it made a huge difference to find comrades who were thinking along the same lines as we were.

Comrade Jean was an outstanding fighter for socialism who never doubted that humanity has a socialist future. He will be missed by many.

In solidarity,

Mick Kelly

Political Secretary of the Standing Committee of the Central Committee

Freedom Road Socialist Organization

#UnitedStates #WorkersPartyOfBelgium #Belgium #Europe

After a phenomenal and social campaign, the Belgian Workers' Party (PTB-PVDA) has confirmed its progress throughout the country, with results ranging from 6.6% in Flanders to over 12% in Brussels and 13.5% in Wallonia. The genuine left thus sends 12 members to the federal parliament, 1 member to the European Parliament, 11 members to the Brussels Parliament, 4 members to the Flemish Parliament and 10 members to the Walloon Parliament. In addition, the PTB will have 4 senators. The number of PTB parliamentarians therefore, increases from 8 to 42. At the national level, the PTB has become the 5th largest party among the 12 parties with elected representatives. In his victory speech in Antwerp, PTB chairman Peter Mertens said: “He who fights can lose. He who does not fight has already lost,” said Bertolt Brecht. We fought. Like David against Goliath. Well-paid people said Goliath would win. They said they would bury David. They said that in Flanders, this would not happen. Well, no, no. We are David. We fought. And we won!” After the 2 seats in the federal parliament won in 2014, with Raoul Hedebouw and Marco Van Hees, this is the first time that the PTB sends deputies to the federal parliament from Flanders, where the situation is much more on the right than in Wallonia.

Mertens: “During this campaign, the PTB imposed a debate on matters of concern to the people: 6% VAT on energy, free public transport, the cost of health care, tax injustice. Having to work longer years, the people are fed up with. Having to work more flexibly, the people are fed up with. The people are fed up with a society where the rich are getting richer and richer and the poor are getting poorer.”

But we also have to face the rise of the far right, with Vlaams Belang coming second in Flanders, tripling its score and getting 18.5% in northern Belgium. “The rise of the far right must incite all traditional parties to reflect,” continues Peter Mertens. “They have an important responsibility. And they repeated that the N-VA [the largest party, Flemish nationalist and right-wing] was a barrier against the far right. But it's a bridge for her! The far right divides people, spreads hatred. We, the authentic left, are fighting for solidarity, for the unity of the workers. Our social security is united, our country remains united and the PTB is united. The far right has nothing to offer the people. It is up to us to prove it: fascism will not pass!“

Raoul Hedebouw, national spokesperson and federal member of Parliament for the PTB, talks about “a major bright red breakthrough on May 26”. He continued: “We need a real break for social and fiscal justice. This is an important signal for all traditional parties. But what do we see? None of them are currently questioning themselves. “

For the first time in its history, the PTB will send a representative to the European Parliament: Marc Botenga, with 14.5% of the vote for the French-speaking constituency. He congratulated all those who “propelled this ‘spicy’ left that appears everywhere, in companies, in neighborhoods, .” “Now we have a left locomotive that will be able to move the lines also at the European level. The genuine left will be necessary to offer an alternative to the far right and to the policies of Macron or Merkel, which open the way to the far right with their Europe of competition, austerity and money. “

The PTB considers that it conducted its best election campaign ever. On this point, the party chairman, Peter Mertens, said at the election evening in Antwerp: “What a dynamic, what an enthusiasm, what a commitment! And I would like to begin by applauding all the volunteers and militants who have worked in all the provinces, often in the shadows, often under difficult circumstances. They are people who make a difference, ordinary people, extraordinary people who act together... We can only do it together. Together, we have a world to win! “

#Belgium #PeoplesStruggles #PTB #WorkersPartyOfBelgium #Europe

Minneapolis, MN – The political secretary of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Steff Yorek, expressed condolences to the people of Belgium and Pakistan, especially those who lost family or loved ones in the March 22 Brussels bombings, the March 27 Lahore bombings, and others who suffered in similar anti-people attacks.

Yorek stated, “We stand in solidarity with the people of Belgium and Pakistan, and send out condolences to the families and friends of the victims. We condemn those responsible for these attacks on the innocent, be the attacks in Belgium, Pakistan, Turkey, Nigeria, Iraq, Lebanon, or anywhere else.”

“Unfortunately, reactionary, racist and anti-immigrant forces are attempting manipulate people’s grief, concern and fear to promote an agenda of war and repression. Politicians such as Trump and Cruz are working overtime to fan the flames of Islamophobia and using the attacks in Belgium as a pretext to urge more repression against American Muslims and Arab Americans. We reject this,” Yorek continued.

“The U.S., Western imperialist powers and their partners in the Middle East such as Israel and Saudi Arabia have set the region on fire by waging cruel, brutal and destabilizing wars, in Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen. We can see the results everywhere we look and we cannot allow this to continue. We need to do more to more to build the anti-war movement and we will make every effort to shut down bigots like Donald Trump,” Yorek concluded.

#UnitedStates #PeoplesStruggles #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganization #Belgium #Pakistan #Socialism

Tuesday, April 22, public services in Belgium were on strike, responding to the call of the socialist trade union CGSP (General Central of Public Services, Member of the FGTB), exactly seven months after the citizens movement “Hart Boven Hard” conducted its first actions against austerity in Flanders. The next day, September 23, 2014, the trade union front held its first demonstration. At the time, the federal government was still in its infancy.

Where is the government now, after seven months of social resistance?

The federal government has tried to break the resistance by undermining the strong points of the movement: the united front of the trade unions, the interprofessional nature of the movement, the unity between the North and the South of the country. But this did not prevent the CGSP to call for a 24 hour-strike. On 29 March, no less than 20,000 participants at the Great Parade of “Tout Autre Chose / Hart Boven Hard” didn't let themselves be intimidated by this government. As did not the 35,000 militants the week after, when they organized protest actions, from March 30 to April 1. For seven months the social resistance stood firm. No struggle movement in Belgium has held for so long.

The government under pressure

Seven months of social struggle has held the government constantly under pressure. The N-VA (the largest party in Flanders and in government, very Rightist and nationalist) dreamed of a Flemish government and a federal government that would quickly and drastically implement a whole series of fundamental socio-economic reforms. The federal government, formed in October 2014, started like a bulldozer : skip the adjustment of salaries to the price index, a wage freeze, raising the age of retirement to 67, the dismantling of all advanced pension systems, reduced allocations for public utilities ( railways, culture,...) And all this for the benefit of big business and the super-rich.

But after seven months of social struggle, the government yet had to leave its bulldozer in the garage.

During the March 2015 budget control, no drastic measures were announced yet – such as a rise in

VAT or 1.2 billion in new cuts.

The Flemish government – led by Minister President Bourgeois, N-VA – suddenly even wanted to

allow for a budget deficit of 550 million, while the Flemish government agreement expressly advocated a balanced budget. Seven months of social resistance has meant that the famous speech of N-VA president Bart De Wever – “this is not part of the government's coalition agreement” – landed in the trash can.

Also the Walloon government faced social opposition to its austerity measures, such as the decision not to replace four civil servants of every five that would go on leave.

Why did these governments have to take a break? Why did the bulldozer remain in the garage at the recent exercise of budget control? For one reason: social resistance.

The big employers have more reservations regarding the government

It’s the big employers who wanted this government. It’s the employers' federations which dictated the coalition agreement. But the strikes have given them the fear of their lives. The daily De Morgen noted in its file on the availability of early retirees: “The N-VA believed to have the employers eat from its hand. But in recent times, this alliance seems somewhat floundering. (...) There is a divergence of views on how to shape policies. If it can buy them social peace, the employers opt for the path of gradualism.”

The big bang did not happen

Media commentators also noticed this change. De Standaard wrote on March 5: “The N-VA was convinced that a government without the Socialist Party would be able to implement important socioeconomic reforms. Now it turns out that this big bang did not take place. At most there is an opportunity to advance slowly, step by step, through the back door, we can read from the lips of

Timmermans, the head of the FEB (Belgian Employers Federation).”

Cabinet bickering and profiling

Another fallout of seven months of social struggle is the permanent bickering between the N-VA and

CD&V (Flemish Christian Democratic Party, also member of the government). One has the impression that since the strike of 15 December, their opinions differ on almost everything: the activation of early

retirees, skipping the index for housing rental, the “tax shift”, the VAT increase, the mistery calls (to detect racist recruitment practices by companies), start-up jobs, the presence of paratroopers in the streets,... With these quarrels, the government is trying to achieve two things.

One. Everyone plays his own role to serve his own base. The N-VA acts as the defender of harsh austerity policies, while the CD&V assumes the “social” role. This also has an electoral dimension.

The business paper De Tijd explained how, for example, the hate speech that Bart De Wever used against the Berber people was meant to “to keep voters on board who in recent years had left Vlaams

Belang (the openly facsist party) for the N-VA”. De Tijd continued: “But it's not just the Flemish nationalists who think in terms of strategy. Open VLD (the liberal party) and CD&V also have the firm intention to win back some of their voters that have switched to the N-VA. This explains why not only the opposition parties but also the coalition partners have made venomous remarks against De Wever.

“Some days ago, Flemish Minister President Geert Bourgeois suddenly said he wanted to take another close look at the money transfers between Flanders and Wallonia. This Flemish nationalistic remark was meant to keep Vlaams Belang voters on board or, as Le Soir said: “He must regularly address the nationalist electorate.”

Two. All these squabbles are also used to confuse the social resistance, by camouflaging the fact that N-VA and CD&V continue together to try and shape their anti-social policies.

Wanted: a new plan of action and a reaffirmation of the 4 breaking points

This mystification also shows that this government has not been successful. Le Soir wrote: “Charles Michel is in need of everyone in order to deal with a social movement that has not really exploded, but that does not weaken either; and that remains a potential threat to the government.”

It is the strength of a new action plan and the reaffirmation of the four breaking points that can reinvigorate the movement or, to put it in the words of Le Soir, let it “explode” and force the government to withdraw its anti-social measures. The social movement can defeat this government

#Belgium #Labor #Europe #PeoplesStruggles #WorkersPartyOfBelgium

On Monday, Dec. 15, Belgium was paralyzed by a general strike, organized by the major trade union centers, after a series of regional strikes, to protest the Rightist government's harsh austerity measures.

“This is the biggest strike in Belgium in thirty years”, said Peter Mertens, chairman of the Workers' Party of Belgium (PTB), who paid solidarity visits to several picketlines. “Action took place in almost all sectors, the roads were deserted, the active population decided not to go to work. The people have thus given a clear signal: it is really time for other policies, in which the people take center stage, and that dare to invest in social renewal.”

Throughout the country and in a united front of the trade unions, railway workers, nurses, teachers, metal workers, dockers, artists, students,... showed their rage and made the general strike of Dec. 15 the most 'generalized' general strike since 30 years. All major industrial sectors, the transportation sector and the public services came to a standstill, but also many small and medium enterprises, shopping centers, schools, hospitals and other non-profit institutions were on strike – some of them for the first time in their existence.

And all this notwithstanding the heavy pressures the employers brought to bear on the workers: invitation to stay overnight at their workplaces, financial pressure to come to work, the use of notices of default by bailiffs and even the threat of delocalization. Peter Mertens: “Today, by the force of their numbers and using the weapon of the general strike, the workers have put pressure on the godfathers of the Rightist government of Michel (liberal) and De Wever (Flemish nationalist): the large corporations and their employers' federations.”

A new and encouraging phenomenon is that the citizens' movements 'Heart above Hard' (Dutch-language) and 'Tout autre chose' (French-language, meaning 'Something entirely different'), together representing more than 1000 organizations, joined the strike movement, with bicycle tours and visits to picketlines in several major cities. The extent of the strike movement in schools and universities is yet another indication of the broadness of the movement, that even got the support of magistrates, small shop keepers and medical associations.

Peter Mertens: “At the picketlines we could feel the growing dissatisfaction with the government's deafness for the workers' demands. But also the great determination to continue the movement after the winter truce, if the government doesn't retreat on key elements of its plans, such as the postponement of the age of retirement to 67 years of age, the skipping of an indexation of salaries to price rises, or the dismantling of public services and social security.”

Meanwhile, in the protest movement the need for alternatives is growing. Five years after the PTB launched its campaign for a millionnaires' tax, there is a much larger support base for such a measure, with 85% of the population supporting the demand to tax fortunes above 1 million euro. “A genuine tax on fortunes is the only way to really diminish the increasing inequality in society”, according to Peter Mertens. “The only reason that the government has never thought of implementing such a tax measure, is the fact that the influence of the very rich on the government circles is too important. The government rests fossilized in its own tunnel vision that 'there is no alternative'. But the problem is that Mr. Michel and Mr. De Wever refuse to see the alternatives that exist.

Instead of the deadly austerity policies, destroying the social and cultural fabric of society, we plead for new investments in the social, ecological and industrial spheres. Instead of handing over ever larger parts of society to the market, we want strong public services to be the backbone of a democratic renewal. And instead of grabbing the money from the pockets of those who need it, we propose to activate the dormant wealth of the transnational corporations.”

Raoul Hedebouw, PTB spokesman and member of the federal parliament, was also present at several picketlines in the provinces of Limburg and Liège. He noted: “Everywhere we go, we observe a great openness for real alternatives. The more than 900 PTB militants were received very warmly at the more than 1000 picketlines they visited in solidarity. In the coming days and weeks, they will continue to invest in the broad and ongoing movement to make the anti-social government retreat.”

#Belguim #Europe #generalStrike #Belgium #WorkersPartyOfBelgium

Antwerp, Belgium – On Nov. 24 a regional general strike was organized in four Belgian provinces by the trade unions. This is part of a broader strike movement, to culminate in a national general strike on Dec. 15. The protest movement is directed against the harsh austerity measures imposed on the workers by the rightist government of Prime Minister Charles Michel and the leader of the Flemish nationalist party Bart De Wever, who is also mayor of Antwerp.

This first day of action was a success: the strike was almost complete in Antwerp, the industrial heart of Belgium, in Hainaut, the historical center of social resistance, and in the provinces of Limburg and Luxemburg. Transportation by boat was completely paralyzed and the docks of the port of Antwerp came to a complete standstill. Also public transportation, buses and trains, were largely on strike.

“Today, everybody has learnt a lesson of economy: without the workers, no wealth! And the strikers are well determined to make the government withdraw, affirming that the strike will be even larger on 15 December, the day of the national general strike,” said Workers Party of Belgium (PTB) chairman Peter Mertens, who visited the picket lines in the Antwerp region from 5:00 a.m. onward.

The strike paralyzed the major industrial sectors in the affected provinces: from Caterpillar (Hainaut) to Ford Genk (Limburg) and Van Hool and Daf (Antwerp); and from the petrochemical industry in Antwerp to that of Feluy and NMLK in Hainaut, passing by Tessenderlo in Limburg and up to Ferrero in Luxemburg.

The strike also touched many small and medium enterprises, while also numerous industrial 'zonings' were blocked. Many schools, day care centers and municipal administrations were closed, as were major hospitals and shopping centers. In several towns, meetings and demonstrations were held, with a remarkable participation of groups and associations from the cultural and academic world, small businessmen and shop keepers, pensioners and jobless.

A movement carried by diverse layers of society

Personalities from the cultural world were present at picket lines in Antwerp. A cycling tour organized by the citizens' movement Heart Above Hard gathered more than 1000 people in Antwerp, who thereafter joined the trade unionists at a meeting in the Roma hall, which was completely filled. There were also actions of the network fighting poverty, and from employees of the homes of the elderly.

“The strike movement is to a large extent carried by diverse layers of society who all put into question the project of society of the Michel-De Wever team. A project tailored to the needs of a small group of big stakeholders, while the rest of society has to pay up. Everywhere we heard the same demand: this time it is up to the wealthiest, to the millionaires to pay, as they have been completely spared by the government up till now”, Peter Mertens added.

“The strikers also defended the right to work of the jobless, who are being chased by the government, and of the thousands of public sector workers at the municipal, regional and federal levels, who are threatened in their job security. They defended the right of the youth to have a stable job and future, and the right to rest of the elder workers, who don't want to see their job careers prolonged with two to seven years. They clearly and loudly voiced out that their salaries are part of the solution, not of the problem, and that skipping their indexation to the cost of living or blocking the salaries will not pass. The government's measures, copied from the German or Dutch models, will plunge the country in a recession. This day of action is an encouragement for the upcoming days of strike on 1, 8 and 15 December. Yes, the pressure is mounting to make the government and its godfathers, the Flemish and Belgian employers' organizations (VOKA and FEB) withdraw,” concluded the PTB chairman.

In the four provinces involved in the strike, PTB delegations visited no less than 314 picket lines, bringing their warm support and solidarity to the strikers.

Raoul Hedebouw, PTB deputy in the federal parliament, who crisscrossed the province of Hainaut, said: “Everywhere we were received most warmly. Everywhere we felt the anger against the measures regarding the end of the job career and the pensions, the indexation and the salaries, the destruction of public services. But we also felt, in the North as in the South of the country, the strikers' desire to offer another perspective to their children than that of austerity imposed by the government of Michel-De Wever. The popularity of the alternative to make the big fortunes pay is growing. After the demonstration with 120,000 people, on Nov. 6 in Brussels, today's strike is yet another important democratic action that shows that a large part of the population is questioning the legitimacy of this government which, since its very inception, has sided with the wealthy. A movement of social resistance, with a real alternative, is on the march.”

#AntwerpBelgium #Antwerp #Labor #WorkersPartyOfBelgium #Belgium #strikes #Europe

On 25 May three elections took place in Belgium: for the federal, regional and European parliaments. The main winner turns out to be the Flemish nationalist party N-VA (Rightist), obtaining more than 33% of the vote in Flanders. But there is also the major advance of the Workers' Party of Belgium (PTB), making its entry in the federal parliament and in the regional parliaments of Wallonia and Brussels.

Raoul Hedebouw, for the province of Liège, and Marco Van Hees, for Hainaut, have been elected to the federal parliament on the list PTB-go! Raoul Hedebouw, the PTB's spokesman, “For the first time in 25 years, a new political family, genuinely Leftist, and active in Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels makes its entry in the federal and regional parliaments. We send two deputies to the federal parliament, two to the regional parliament of Wallonia and four to the Brussels parliament. “

In Wallonia, the PTB-go! gets 5,81% of the vote (and in the province of Liège 8,30%), making it the fifth political force in the South of Belgium. In Brussels, the list gets 3,84%, and thanks to a technical agreement with some small lists, the undemocratic threshold of 5% could be surpassed, giving the PTB-go! no less than four seats in the Brussels parliament.

In Flanders the PTB has waged an exemplary election campaign in a very difficult political context, with the dominance of the Flemish nationalist N-VA, the existence of the fascist party VB and the Green party in a comfortable situation of opposition. In these conditions, and with the 5% threshold, unfortunately the PTB was not able to get its chairman, Peter Mertens, elected, although it got a honorable result of 4,52% in the province of Antwerp and 8,85% in the city of Antwerp, making it the fourth largest party there.

As regards the elections for the European Parliament, the PTB-go! received 5,49% of the vote, largely insufficient to obtain a seat (Belgium has only 21 seats in the EP, to be divided over the different language groups).

On election evening, Peter Mertens told party militants gathered in Antwerp, “120 years ago, the first Belgian socialist, Edouard Anseele, who hailed from the Flemish city of Ghent, was elected in the Walloon city of Liège. Anseele spoke the language of the working class. Today, Raoul Hedebouw has been elected in Liège as well, and he will also speak the language of the entire working class. We are a national party that cannot be divided, nor by place of birth nor by the language spoken at the kitchen table. For us, what prevails is the social interest of the people, of all people in this country.”

“During this long election campaign, we have laid the foundations for a strong social current at the grassroots level, and we will absolutely need this in the years to come. Our commitment is to defend the interests of the working class, in all its diversity; of the youth, with all its dynamism; of the voiceless, of those whom this society considers as nothing but numbers; of all people who are going through difficult times. “

Raoul Hedebouw, national spokesman of the PTB, echoed these words at the party meeting in Liège, “As member of parliament elected for a national party, I will also be the representative of the workers of Flanders, in Antwerp, Limburg and Ghent. And no, the votes for the PTB are not protest votes, they are votes of hope. Votes for a Left that refuses austerity policies, that believes that we, the workers, will further build up self-confidence in order to be able to write the social history of this country. We warn the traditional parties: if you plan to impose more austerity measures as is the case elsewhere in Europe, you will find yourselves confronted with the PTB deputies, as with the workers who want to stop these policies of budget cuts.”

With these election results, and on the basis of an enthusiastic campaign, the PTB commits itself, in the words of its president Peter Mertens, “to build, stone upon stone, a social future.”

#Belgium #BuildingSocialism #WorkersPartyOfBelgium #Europe

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following resolution on Syria that was signed by many of the parties present at the 22nd International Communist Seminar. Freedom Road Socialist Organization was among the signers. Resolution on Syria

We, the undersigned parties present at the 22nd International Communist Seminar

1) reaffirm that the subversive policies and activities of imperialism in order to impose its hegemony in the Middle East are the main reason behind all conflicts, tensions and wars in the region. US and EU imperialism and the NATO, along with Israel and the pro-imperialist reactionary regimes of the region (such as Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia) share a common responsibility for the crimes against the peoples of the region.

2) condemn the instrumentalization by imperialism and its allies in the region of inter-religious divergences and conflicts. Imperialism intervenes brutally in the internal affairs of states, supporting domestic reactionary forces, and does not hesitate to intervene directly, supporting provocative fundamentalist and terrorist organisations under the pretext of “humanitarian interventions”.

3) condemn the Israeli military aggression against Syria, in blatant violation of international law and condemn imperialism’s unconditional support for these bellicose acts.

4) support the absolute right of the Syrian people, who suffer from subversive attacks and terrorist actions supported by imperialism and the reactionary regimes of the region, to determine their political path and leadership without any foreign interference. We declare our complete and unreserved solidarity with the people of Syria.

1. Algeria, Parti Algérien pour la Démocratie et le Socialisme (PADS) 2. Azerbaijan, Communist Party of Azerbaijan 3. Belarus, Belarussian Communist Workers’ Party 4. Belgium, Workers' Party of Belgium (PTB) 5. Bénin, Parti Communiste du Bénin 6. Brazil, Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB) 7. Brazil, Partido Patria Livre (PPL) 8. Bulgaria, Party of Bulgarian Communists 9. Cyprus, Progressive Party of the Working People (AKEL) 10. Denmark, Communist Party of Denmark 11. France, Union des Révolutionnaires Communistes de France (URCF) 12. France, Pôle de Renaissance Communiste en France (PRCF) 13. Germany, German Communist Party (DKP) 14. Greece, Communist Party of Greece (KKE) 15. Hungary, Hungarian Workers' Party 16. Iran, Tudeh Party of Iran 17. Ireland, Workers' Party of Ireland 18. Lebanon, Lebanese Communist Party 19. Luxembourg, Communist Party of Luxembourg (KPL) 20. Malta, Communist Party of Malta 21. Mexico, Partido Popular Socialista de México 22. Netherlands, New Communist Pary of Netherlands (NCPN) 23. Palestine, Palestinian Communist Party 24. Philippines, Communist Party of the Philippines 25. Portugal, Portuguese Communist Party 26. Serbia, New Communist Party of Yugoslavia 27. South Sudan, Communist Party of South Sudan 28. Spain, Communist Party of Spain (PCE) 29. Spain, Spanish Communist Workers' Party (PCOE) 30. Sri Lanka, People's Liberation Front – JVP 31. Sweden, Communist Party (KP) 32. Switzerland, Parti Suisse du Travail 33. Tunisia, Parti des Patriotes et Démocrates Uni 34. Turkey, Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) 35. USA, Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) 36. Venezuela, Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV)

#Belgium #BRU #AntiwarMovement #Cuba #Syria #InternationalCommunistSeminar #USImperialism

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following resolution on Cuba that was signed by many of the parties present at the 22nd International Communist Seminar. Freedom Road Socialist Organization was among the signers. Resolution on Solidarity with Cuba

We, the undersigned parties present at the 22nd International Communist Seminar, are expressing our solidarity with the Cuban people and especially with the five Cubans who were involved in the anti-terrorist struggle. They were victims of a rigged and hostile process, their most basic rights were violated and they were suffering injustice and excessive prison sentences in the United States.

We welcome Rene Gonzalez's recent return to his country as a victory of the international movement that took up the defense of his case.

The disclosure of this case, especially in the United States, and the international support for the struggle for his liberation are the only guarantees to attain justice.

Moreover, we reiterate our condemnation of the unjust economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States, that is causing suffering and deprivation for the Cuban people and constitutes the principal obstacle to its economic and social development. We reaffirm the profound rejection this injustice has generated in the international community.

1. Algeria, Parti Algérien pour la Démocratie et le Socialisme (PADS) 2. Azerbaijan, Communist Party of Azerbaijan 3. Belarus, Belarussian Communist Workers’ Party 4. Belgium, Workers' Party of Belgium (PTB) 5. Bénin, Parti Communiste du Bénin 6. Brazil, Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB) 7. Brazil, Partido Patria Livre (PPL) 8. Bulgaria, Party of Bulgarian Communists 9. Cyprus, Progressive Party of the Working People (AKEL) 10. Denmark, Communist Party of Denmark 11. France, Union des Révolutionnaires Communistes de France (URCF) 12. France, Pôle de Renaissance Communiste en France (PRCF) 13. Germany, German Communist Party (DKP) 14. Greece, Communist Party of Greece (KKE) 15. Hungary, Hungarian Workers' Party 16. Iran, Tudeh Party of Iran 17. Ireland, Workers' Party of Ireland 18. Laos, Lao People’s Revolutionary Party 19. Lebanon, Lebanese Communist Party 20. Luxembourg, Communist Party of Luxembourg (KPL) 21. Malta, Communist Party of Malta 22. Mexico, Partido Popular Socialista de México 23. Netherlands, New Communist Pary of Netherlands (NCPN) 24. Palestine, Palestinian Communist Party 25. Philippines, Communist Party of the Philippines 26. Portugal, Portuguese Communist Party 27. Russia, Russian Communist Workers' Party – CPSU 28. Russia, Communist Party of the Soviet Union 29. Serbia, New Communist Party of Yugoslavia 30. South Sudan, Communist Party of South Sudan 31. Spain, Communist Party of Spain (PCE) 32. Spain, Spanish Communist Workers' Party (PCOE) 33. Sri Lanka, People's Liberation Front – JVP 34. Sweden, Communist Party (KP) 35. Switzerland, Parti Suisse du Travail 36. Tunisia, Parti des Patriotes et Démocrates Uni 37. Turkey, Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) 38. United Kingdom, Communist Party of Great-Britain – Marxist-Leninist 39. USA, Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) 40. Venezuela, Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) 41. Vietnam, Communist Party of Viet Nam

#Belgium #BRU #Cuba #InternationalSolidarity #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganization #InternationalCommunistSeminar #Americas

Fight Back New Service is circulating the following statement from the Workers Party of Belgium (PTB).

The announcement of the elimination of 1,300 jobs at ArcelorMittal in Liège is a tragedy for the region. Seven out of twelve production lines will close down. After the announcement of the closure of the warm phase of steel production one year ago, Mittal now choses to reduce also the cold line production facilities to near to nothing. This concretely threatens the loss of 10,000 jobs, among direct and indirect jobs, for the whole of the Liège region.

For the Workers' Party of Belgium (PTB), it is still possible to save the steel industry with all its jobs. “It is not just a possibility, it is a necessity”, explains Damien Robert, municipal councilor for the PTB at Seraing. “The politicians who pretend to support the steel workers should now take an innovative decision. Mittal doesn't want to sell? No problem. The government of the Walloon Region can decree to put the company under public ownership for reasons of social emergency and of regional and national economic interest.”

The PTB has a strong presence in the municipality of Seraing (Liège) where ArcelorMittal is located. The party obtained five seats in the municipal council in last October's local elections, largely due to the vote of the steel workers. Over the years the PTB has also developed an intense work inside the factory, and has actively shown its solidarity with the strikers.

The PTB defends the public take-over of the entire company for the symbolic price of one euro. This is the only guarantee to maintain the jobs in the steel industry, as a structural industrial enterprise in the region. Mittal has received more than enough presents thanks to the notional interests (a unique system in Belgium, allowing companies to diminish taxes on the basis of virtual interests on virtual loans). Thanks to this most questionable system, for the years 2010 through 2012, Arcelor Mittal Finance paid 0 euro in taxes in Belgium! Thus there is no need to pay whatever compensation for the take-over, according to the PTB.

The PTB warns against the French example, where part of the socialist government also spoke of the buy-out of ArcelorMittal in Florange for one symbolic euro for several months on end, to finally avoid taking any concrete steps on the pretext of not disposing of the judiciary means to do so.

PTB spokesman Raoul Hedebouw also criticizes Belgian prime minister Elio De Rupo: “It is inacceptable to hear Mr. Di Rupo speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos and praise the Belgian system of notional interests, that would supposedly promote investments and job creation, only to see him, a few minutes later, write a Tweet message of solidarity with the workers of ArcelorMittal.”

The PTB appeals on the workers and their trade unions to remain extremely vigilant about the double talk and the promises that go not beyond mere words and do not lead to the only viable decision to save the jobs and the region: the public take-over of ArcelorMittal without compensation.

#Belgium #factoryOccupation #WorkersPartyOfBelgium #Capitalism #ArcelorMittal #Europe

The Belgian government has decided to participate in the military intervention of France in Mali, contributing two C-130 transport planes, two helicopters and 75 soldiers. The Western military force is avowedly aimed at stopping the advance of Islamist rebel groups in the North of the country, at the demand of Mali's government and with the support, provided only after the start of the intervention, of the UN Security Council.

With the military intervention of France, French President François Hollande plays 'cavalier seul'. By his act of war, he undermines a peace initiative the UN elaborated with several African countries. The fact that Mali has recently become a hornets' nest is largely due to the consequences of the NATO war in Lybia and of decades of Western political meddling in the country's affairs. In Mali's complex situation, the only chance for peace, stability and development to succeed is by extremely cautious initiatives that have a large base of support and are principally African.

France's intervention is of course not devoid of self-interest. As the former colonial power, France continues to have huge economic interests in the region. Mali possesses gold mines and petroleum, while also uranium is extracted in the region, which is used for part of the French nuclear industry.

Just like with the deadly NATO bombing on Lybia two years ago, Belgium has been very quick to offer its participation to the French military intervention. And this without any democratic debate about its objectives, consequences or cost. In a period of painful austerity measures and cuts in the social budgets, any increase in the Defense budget is simply cynical.

The Belgian government is not clear about the duration of its military intervention in Mali. Defense Minister Pieter De Crem only informed the Belgian taxpayers that it could be of a « very short, short, or medium » duration. As a first evaluation will be made only at the end of February, the mission will take at least six weeks. That is, as a starter, because this period may be prolonged several times yet, as was the case with the Belgian military mission in Afghanistan. In the meantime, for how many deads, wounded and refugees in Mali the Belgian government of Di Rupo (PS) will be responsible ?

The Workers' Party of Belgium (PTB) is opposed to any imperialist intervention in Mali, as elsewhere.

#Mali #AntiwarMovement #Belgium #WorkersPartyOfBelgium #antiimperialism #France #FrancoisHollande #Africa

Today, Wednesday 24 October, the hard news arrived: the Ford factory in Genk closes shop. 4300 jobs at Ford will be eliminated, while another 6000 jobs will disappear indirectly. The municipality of Genk is located in the Belgian province of Limburg, in the midst of a region that was already devastated with the closure of the coalmines some twenty years ago.

At the beginning of 2010, Opel announced the end of its production in its Antwerp plant, resulting in the loss of 2600 jobs. Four months ago, there was the closure of the PSA (Peugeot-Citroën) factory in Aulnay, France, and the elimination of 8000 jobs. Everywhere, the difficult situation of the European automobile industry is invoked as the reason: too many plants for too small a demand and too high losses.

But the Workers' Party of Belgium (PTB) demands: “Why do the workers have to pay for this overcapacity? They are not responsible for this crisis. They are not responsible for the anarchy of capitalist production, based on the search for profit for the few rather than on the satisfaction of the people's needs.”

For the Limburg chairman of the PTB, Stany Nimmegeers, the situation is clear: “For years on end now, the workers have made sacrifices of all sorts, supposedly in order to assure the plant's future. In the latest collective bargaining agreement of 2010, they even lost 12% of their salary. It has been 50 years now that the workers of Genk have produced cars of a very high quality, resulting in enormous profits for the shareholders. In 2011, Ford realized a record worldwide profit of 8 billion euro. Just like PSA and Opel, Ford wants to make the workers bear the brunt of the crisis. With as a consequence the further decrease in their purchasing power and thus less consumption, leading to even more overcapacity in the long run. Overcapacity is not a law of nature, but the result of disastrous economic policies.”

Stany Nimmegeers recounts that the Antwerp plant of Opel had been sold and that the management had refused to allow for a genuine restart of the factory. “In 50 years' time, Ford has received such an amount of State subsidies, paid with the Belgian taxpayers' money, and Ford has made such an amount of profit with the sweat of the Limburg workers, that this plant in fact belongs to the workers. The public authorities need to seize the plant.”

The PTB has just reinforced its presence in Genk, obtaining 8.6% of the vote and 3 councilors at the recently concluded municipal elections. With all its force, the party will support the actions of the trade unions at Ford Genk, starting with a 24 hour strike in the only Ford unit in Limburg that currently remains in function.

#Belgium #Labor #WorkersPartyOfBelgium #Ford #Europe

PTB+ leaping in Wallonia and in Brussels, and growing in Flanders

“We are happy about the leap of the PTB+ everywhere in Brussels and in Wallonia” stated Raoul Hedebouw, spokesperson of the PTB+. “The PTB+ is also progressing in Flanders, especially in Antwerps, despite the huge success of the N-VA.”. As example the PTB+ obtained 4.2% of the votes in the county of Liège, 4.1% in Antwerps and 2% in Brussels area.

—PTB+ press service

“We are grateful to all the voters whom entrusted us. According to the first results we would be tripling our votes in Wallonia and in Brussels compared to 2007 and we would grow by 50% in Flanders,” added the spokesperson of the left party. “A left protest vote has been expressed towards the four big French speaking parties. With this result we are going to continue playing our role as a mosquito and be on the alert concerning cut plans to come and the political crisis the country is likely to face.”

“It is even more important to underline the signal given by the votes for the PTB+ in the city of Antwerps and in Flanders given the context of shifting to the right and nationalism.” says Peter Mertens, president of the PTB+. “Of course the score of the N-VA are alarming. The risk of the country being immersed in a month’s long deep crisis is even more dangerous given the context of an economical crisis of unseen proportions. History showed us where the mix of crisis and nationalism could lead to. With our party we want to resist that. We want to build bridges between the two communities with our national and bilingual party.”

Raoul Hedebouw, candidate for the House for Liège province stresses that results of the PTB+ for the province are above 3%. “With such results on the province level, it becomes possible to have one representative after the next national or regional elections. And with 4.2% for the Liège county, we could have our first City Council member by 2012.” Thanks to a 4.1% score Peter Mertens could become the first PTB+ Council member by 2012 in Antwerps, the largest city of Flanders.

#Belgium #PTB #WorkersPartyOfBelgium #Europe

Background – Anhauser-Busch InBev

The Anhauser-Busch InBev multinational (Belgian-Brazilian) is the world’s largest beer brewer. It employs about 120,000 workers in 25 countries with a total sales number of 39 billion US dollars. It is among the top 10 consumer products multinationals. Beginning this year, the company announced that it planned to cut 10% of its 8,000 workforce in Europe. In Belgium, AB InBev announced 300 layoffs at its breweries in Jupille and Leuven.

Between 1989 and 2009, the total production in Belgium tripled from 4 to 12 million hectoliters. During the same period, the workforce was reduced by half, from 6000 to 2800 workers. Three times more beer produced by half the numbers of workers. Hence, the productivity increased by 600%. In a call for solidarity, the union delegations of Jupille and Leuven asked, “Why do increases in wealth have to translate into disaster for the workers? What is the logic, if it is not profits over everything else?”

After have gone through several restructuring plans over the last years, the workers of AB InBev decided it was enough and that they had to “resist the logic of a perverted capitalism”.

Last year, AB InBev Belgium took advantage of 70 Million Euros in tax cuts to support the “creation of jobs”. With that money, they could have created 2000 jobs, or more than 6 times the number of jobs it wants to cut today. Why didn’t the multinational do so?

If AB InBev is cutting jobs, it is not because it is not making money. It is because it wants to make even more money. In 2009, the company made 4 billion dollars of profits and realized 18% in return on investment. For 2010, it plans to pay 945 million Euros to shareholders. AB InBev is not in financial trouble. It wants to come out of the recession stronger than it was before, with more profits and more assets, at the cost of their competitors and thousands of jobs. They are preparing for the aftermath of the crisis, which will lay the foundation of another, even bigger crisis.

The workers of AB InBev refused to accept this logic. For two weeks, they sealed off the entrances to the company's plants in Leuven and Jupille and demanded that the restructuring plan be completely withdrawn.

On Thursday January 21st, the board of AB InBev announced that it was completely withdrawing the restructuring plan.

The Workers’ Party of Belgium welcomes the withdrawal of the restructuring plan within the multinational brewer AB InBev and particularly applauds the tenacity of AB InBev workers in their struggle.

January 22d 2010

Raoul Hedebouw, spokesperson of the Workers Party of Belgium. “This struggle is an exemplary struggle. During 15 days, the workers showed determination to the board on the withdrawal of the restructuring plan. For the first time since it was introduced, a “Renault Procedure” (which is the legal procedure to be followed for restructuring) had to be stopped. This is a important victory!”

The WPB emphasizes the importance of union unity in this conflict.

Raoul Hedebouw. “The unity of the workers was a determining factor in this struggle. Over the past years, the union delegations of the north (Leuven) and the south (Jupille) of the country reinforced their relations, and their relations got even stronger during this conflict. Their unity allowed them to resist the pressure from the board of the AB InBev to accept the restructuring plan. This unity was further supported by the decision of the AB InBev workers of the Netherlands and Germany to refuse to bottle the Jupiler beer!”

Another important element emphasized by the WPB is the solidarity of the people. “Every day, dozens of workers and union delegations came to the picket lines in Leuven and Jupille to show solidarity. That a company like AB InBev, who makes so much profit, can lay off workers is an idea that is not accepted by the people.” says the young spokesperson. He adds: “In this context, the WPB is proud to have been able to support the works of Jupille and Leuven in their struggle, through our daily presence at the picket lines and the multiple solidarity delegations that we organized.”

In the difficult economic context, the WPB emphasizes the important character of this victory. Raoul Hedebouw: “Every single day, companies announce restructuring plans in the country. Even complete plant closure, such as the closing of the Opel Antwerp (General Motoros) assembly plant announced on Thursday morning January 21st. This victory shows that through struggle, it is possible to make employers retreat on restructuring plans that aim at making even more profits for the company.”

The WPB calls for the politicians to take responsibilities for their actions. Raoul Hedebouw: “The parliament needs to pass an emergency law that would stop layoffs in companies that make profits, distribute money to shareholders, give out bonuses or make cash reserves. We need to stop giving tax breaks, subsidies and public aid to companies to create jobs while at the same time, these same companies announce layoffs and restructuration plans.”

The WPB was the first party to denounce tax cuts for companies, which handed over 70 Billion Euros of tax payer money to AB InBev Belgium.

#Belgium #AnhauserBusch #WorkersPartBelgium

NATO is headquartered in Belgium.

The demonstration was called by the Anti-Imperialist League. A statement from the League noted, “While NATO claims to be defending 'democracy' by bombing the so-called dictator Milosevic, anyone raising their voice against war is confronted with a downright state of siege. There is more democracy in Belgrade than in Brussels at the present moment.”

#BrusselsBelgium #Brussels #AntiwarMovement #Yugoslavia #NATO #WorkersPartyOfBelgium #AntiImperialistLeague #Belgium #Europe

The complaint, filed on behalf of 20 victims of the U.S.-led war, was brought before the court by Jan Fermon, of the Workers Party of Belgium. The Workers Party of Belgium played a pivotal role in building the anti-war movement in that country.

The war crimes charges are directed against yet-to-be-identified U.S. soldiers, and cite Franks in particular for ordering the crimes, for not preventing troops from committing them and for providing protection to the perpetrators.

The victims were seriously injured or lost family members as a result of the use of cluster bombs, attacks on the civilian population (including journalists), acts of aggression against health services and other Iraqi infrastructure and looting protected by or under orders from the U.S. army.

One of the victims was being transported to a Baghdad hospital along with his pregnant wife and another woman close to giving birth. When they reached an American checkpoint, troops opened fire. The victim was shot in both legs, which later had to be amputated. The women, who remained in the ambulance, were burned alive when the vehicle caught fire.

The case against Gen. Franks has enraged Pentagon officials. Defense Secretary Rumsfield raised the possibility that U.S. military leaders might stop traveling to NATO headquarters in Brussels, and that unless Belgium changes its laws to suit Washington, NATO headquarters should be moved to some other country.

The Belgium-based coordination, Stop USA, has been working to build support for the case domestically and internationally.

U.S. organizations that have expressed support for the case include the Colombia Action Network, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, the Iraq Peace Action Coalition, the International Action Center and the Colombia Solidarity Committee.

#Belgium #News #Iraq #IraqWar #WorkersPartyOfBelgium #WarCrimes #MiddleEast

It reminds me of the shooting at the Palestine Hotel on April 8, 2003, when two journalists were killed. I was working in Iraq for Medical Aid for the Third World. At the time of the shooting, I was just two floors below. I helped out with the rescue operation. The U.S. army gave as their excuse that they had been fired at from the hotel. But nobody in or around the hotel had heard any shot. Later, a U.S. soldier explained to me how, from inside his tank, he could clearly see a person’s head from 2000 meters away. So, the soldier in the U.S. army tank that fired at the Palestine Hotel could clearly distinguish the journalists and their cameras. The secret U.S. military report found no fault on the part of U.S. troops.

That very same day, there was an air strike on the Baghdad offices of Al Jazeera TV. A journalist was killed in this incident. Paul Pascual of Reuters confirmed to me that the U.S. troops knew in which building Al Jazeera was housed. He himself had, upon the request of Al Jazeera, transmitted the GPS coordinates of the office to the Pentagon, so that it would not be targeted.

In March 2004, two journalists from another Arab TV station, Al Arabiya, were shot in the head while returning from a U.S. checkpoint, after having been identified by the soldiers. In August 2004, the U.S.-installed Iraqi government closed down the Al Jazeera offices for one month, after U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had accused the station of anti-Americanism.

In January 2005, CNN chief news executive Eason Jordan said at the World Economic Forum in Davos that several journalists in Iraq had been targeted by the U.S. armed forces. After that, Jordan resigned, under pressure. He said he had been misunderstood. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) accuses the U.S. of attempting to control and intimidate the media in Iraq. According to the IFJ, so far there has not been any proper explanation or investigation into the death of thirteen journalists – almost all of them not ‘embedded’ – who were killed in Iraq by U.S. soldiers.

Were these all army blunders?

What does the U.S. have to hide?

The U.S. forces in Iraq are confronted with growing resistance. A resistance they try to crush with a dirty war, clearing entire towns and villages of ‘terrorists.’ I have seen the cruel results of this ‘clearing,’ in the hospitals of Baghdad, Ramadi and Fallujah: many civilians killed or wounded – victims of cluster bombs or shot during house searches, at checkpoints or in the streets.

I experienced how the U.S. army is in itself a factor of insecurity. U.S. soldiers shoot at anything they deem suspicious. They even fire at ambulances. When I questioned a soldier about that, he told me, “Those ambulances might have been full of explosives.” Never mind the Geneva Convention. They know they can do that with impunity, while Bush himself set the example, with his pre-emptive strike on Iraq.

In August 2003 I asked an American MP what he would do if he saw suspicious people running away. “We’ll finish them off,” was his reaction. He told me that he doesn’t even have to make a report when a U.S. soldier shoots an Iraqi. And if ever a report had to be made, “Then we adjust the story in the sense that the guy was threatening us, or was firing at us while running away.”

In November last year we saw on TV how a U.S. marine finished off a wounded Iraqi in a mosque during the attack on Fallujah. The marine saw no wrong in what he did. Such behavior is not at all unusual in occupied Iraq. However, the pictures went round the world, and so he had to justify his action. At the end of February, the U.S. Army dropped all charges.

At least 100,000 Iraqis have already died in this war

Many more Iraqi civilians die in actions by the U.S. and British forces than in suicide attacks. Let’s be clear, nobody can approve of attacks on innocent civilians, neither those by the U.S. armed forces, nor those by certain groups in Iraq that have nothing to do with the legitimate resistance against the occupation.

According to the prestigious medical journal The Lancet, as of October last year at least 100,000 Iraqis had died because of the war.

Half of them died a violent death, attributable, in 84% of cases, to U.S. and British forces (and only 4% to the resistance). The U.S. is trying to hide this dirty war. During the siege of Fallujah, U.S. forces occupied the hospital in order to prevent accounts by doctors and pictures of the victims reaching the outside world. And so it’s the suicide attacks that get on the front pages.

Complete chaos reigns in Iraq. With Iraqi colleagues, I did research into Iraq’s health situation. Two years after the fall of Baghdad, the situation is dramatic. Nobody is safe anymore. Purchasing power, the food situation and living conditions have all seriously deteriorated. More than half of the population has no job, hence no income. Prices of food and transportation have more than doubled. There are major problems with electricity, drinking water, sewerage and garbage. As a result, child mortality has increased, while the medical infrastructure has not yet improved.

The occupying forces appear to be concerned only with their own interests and their own security. Any support for the occupation – including training of Iraqi military, police and justice personnel, in which Belgium and other NATO members are going to participate – will only strengthen the U.S. grip on Iraq. As a result, a large part of the country’s wealth – mainly oil – is likely to flow to the transnational corporations of the West. This will not benefit the Iraqi population. And the chaos in the country is likely to continue.

A large majority of Iraqis want the occupation forces to leave. The sooner the occupation ends, the greater the chances are for genuine progress for the Iraqi people.

#Belgium #AntiwarMovement #Editorial #Iraq #Editorials #IraqWar #killingOfJournalists #MiddleEast

Readers interested in the struggle of U.S. autoworkers should check out our pamphlet of interviews and articles at: www.fightbacknews.org/flyers/2006/autopamphlet.pdf

Volkswagen (Brussels): 12,000 Families on the Streets?

Press Service of the Workers’ Party of Belgium

21-11-2006

The Porsche family wants to sack 3700 blue-collar and 500 white-collar workers in VW-Forest (Brussels). Among with them, around 8000 wage-earners from the subcontracting factories nearby would also lose their jobs. In total, more than 12,000 families would be thrown on to the streets.

If the management’s decision to stop production of the Golf in Forest is maintained, that means a death sentence for VW-Forest. For if production of the Golf were stopped, the backbone of the factory would be broken.

The management and the big shareholders of VW are responsible for the near closure of VW-Forest. The new restructuring has been carried out on the orders of the Porsche family, VW’s largest shareholder

Throughout the group, thousands of workers have been sacked, while those who remain must submit to an infernal work pace, work longer for the same wages and be super-flexible.

The competition for the same market among the different automobile groups leads to overcapacity. The consequences in Belgium have been the closing of Renault-Vilvorde, the 3000 redundancies at Ford, the threat to 1000 jobs at GM-Antwerp and now VW-Forest.

The big parties in the North of the country have tried to put the responsibility for this social tragedy on the German trade unions. In Germany, 20,000 jobs have also been done away with. International solidarity among workers and unions is the only way to guarantee the preservation of jobs, through the sharing out of available work.

“The decision of the VW management can and must be withdrawn. The models must be reshared out and work redistributed over all the production sites. This is possible if the work pace is lowered throughout the VW group. And if work is redistributed through the diminution of working time with no loss of wages. It’s also reasonable if you realise that VW made a 1,2 billion euro profit in the nine first months of 2006. The downward spiral can’t be accepted when profits like that are being made.,” declared Raoul Hedebouw, Workers Party of Belgium spokesman.

The Belgian government has given tens of thousands of euros to Volkswagen in the name of jobs. In the form, among others, of lowered employers’ social security contributions and reductions in taxes on shift and night work. VW has also benefited from a land transfer from the STIB (Société des Transports Intercommunaux Bruxellois – Brussels public transport system) for the creation of a completely new Automotive Park. If the VW management and the Porsche family refuse to discuss a redistribution of work, measures must be taken.

“The state has invested a lot in VW-Forest. That can’t be destroyed by a private group. The WPB is of the opinion that in the case of a refusal by the VW management to go back on its decision, all the money and all the investments made in the name of jobs must be completely refunded. So that these means can be used for what they were intended for: preserving jobs,” concluded Raoul Hedebouw.

The Workers Party of Belgium supports the actions of the workers and unions of VW-Forest and the subcontractors in their determination to prevent the closure of the firm. The WPB appeals for national and international solidarity to support the workers of Forest in their resistance.

#Belgium #Europe #Statement

Statement of the Workers’ Party of Belgium

In a historical demonstration, 100,000 workers, coming from most of the country’s factories, marched through Brussels last Friday, Oct. 28. More than just a rally, Brussels saw a real social movement take shape, defending the right for older workers to benefit from early retirement and the right of the unemployed youth to get a job.

Belgium’s workers hadn’t taken to the streets in such large numbers since 1986. The current mobilisation is larger and more profound than the movement against the anti-worker ‘global plan’ of 1993.

The Belgium-from-below had started a strike movement ten days earlier, culminating in the Brussels demonstration on Oct. 28. That day a second general strike was held. The first one took place on Oct. 7.

Even as many trade union militants and shop stewards were present, tens of thousands of common workers from all major industrial plants came to demonstrate in Brussels last Friday, many of them for the first time.

Even as this movement is broad, it is also very profound and determined. Before the demonstration, those in power had warned: “You are selfish, you are not concerned about the youth but only about your pre-pension, you are against a pact of solidarity between the generations.” But the 100,000 marchers in Brussels have shown that the real solidarity pact between the generations was taking shape in the streets, in the form of class solidarity.

From the workers in the chemical industry, up to the saleswomen from the supermarkets, and including the metal workers from VW, the message was one and clear: “Don’t touch our pre-pension,” and “Pre-pension at 58 years, not at 60.” Can the government plans to reduce the pre-retirement age be stopped? “We have to stop them, this is really crucial matter. We are exhausted by the infernal work rhythm, the stress, the workload,” said one demonstrator after the other.

Young people spoke to us about their parents, exhausted by their job, wanting to take up their pre-pension in order to safeguard their health. At the same time, the elder marchers were mobilised for jobs for the youth, for their children. Both ways, they showed to be against the ‘war of the generations’ that the government is fomenting. “Why the hell work longer while 140,000 young people are waiting for a job?” was one of the main reasons invoked when asked why people came to demonstrate in Brussels. And many young people told us: “If we accept today the postponement of the pre-retirement age to 60 years, it will be 70 years when it will be us who are eligible.”

The current movement is showing that there certainly exists a clear class opposition between the world of the workers and the world of capital. And the Oct. 28 manifestation has been a milestone for the Belgian working class to show its solidarity and its strength. The working class is already getting organised for the weeks ahead, and will thus contribute to the unity of the workers movement in Europe, united against the imperialist European Union.

www.wpb.be, wpb@wpb.be

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