People's Democracy
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
No. 39
September 30, 2012
|
Vol. XXXVI
No. 39 September 30, 2012 |
WFTU Calls for Actions on
Peoples’ Demands, Oct 3
A K Padmanabhan THE
World Federation of
Trade Unions (WFTU), the only class oriented trade union
organisation at the
international level, has called upon the working people of
all the countries to
observe October 3, 2012 as the International Day of
Action. One may
note that October 3 is the Foundation Day of this 67 years
old organisation. The
call has been given to highlight the demands of the
working people regarding the
basic necessities of life. Some of these, to be
highlighted through mass
actions, are food, water, health, education and housing. These
basic demands are
not the demands of the workers alone but the demands of
the toiling masses as a
whole. The
WFTU has pointed out
that in the present day condition of neo-liberal offensive
on the livelihood of
the masses, it has become very much necessary for the
trade union movement to
raise these issues and expose the efforts of the
multinational corporations to
exploit the natural resources and loot the public with the
connivance of the
ruling classes in various countries. As
a part of this
neo-liberal offensive, all the existing practices of state
intervention in
these areas are being curtailed. The WFTU has called for
taking up these issues
and fight for ensuring the rights of the people for decent
livelihood. FOOD The
issue of food security
is being discussed at various forums at the national and
international levels.
With the prices of essential items going up in every part
of the world, “food for
all people” has become an important demand. The
food prices started
increasing dramatically in 2007 and in January 2011 the
Food Price Index,
prepared by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of
the United Nations, reached
the highest level so far. Even the World Bank had
cautioned in 2008 that an additional
50 million people were made poor because of the high food
prices. According
to the World
Bank’s index, global sugar prices reached a 30-year high,
after increasing 12
per cent since January 2010.
The price
of wheat, the bread of every people, has increased the
most --- more than double
between June 2010 and January 2011. These
increases, as the WFTU
has noted, have pushed the lives of the masses into peril
while the super
profits of the MNCs in food sector are soaring high. A
handful of these MNCs
have been looting the poor people all over the world and
amassing huge assets. The
Nestle, Cargill, Kraft, General Mills, PepsiCo, Coca Cola
are some of the
monsters in this category. The
result of this loot
has been that more than 850 million people are
undernourished or starving
because of low income. Even the countries among the
so-called developed world
are no exception to this. About 11 million Americans are
undernourished and
another 22 million find it difficult at times to meet
their nutritional
needs. This
is taking place at a time
when the The
WFTU has pointed out that
this is a contradiction of the capitalist mode of
production itself --- that
the products rot in the fields and in storages while
people do not have the
capacity to buy their essentials. Another
issue is that
large quantities of foodgrains are being diverted to
biofuels. In addition to
this, large scale purchases of lands are going on in the
third world countries for
production of biofuels, thereby denying the traditional
farmers and others
their right to exist. On
the whole, a people
oriented policy of ensuring increased food production,
ensuring food security
and guaranteeing the right to life is the essence of the
WFTU demand on the
issue of food. WATER Right
to clean, potable water
is a basic and universal right. But today it has become a
saleable commodity
for the big business houses. A small number of the MNCs
have taken over this
natural gift in many of the countries for the purpose of
amassing huge profits. The
WFTU has noted that
more than 460 million people around the world are
depending on private
companies for water supply today, while their number was
only 51 million in
1990. Just 10 big multinationals are dominating this
sector. Trade
agreements and loan
conditions are the tools through which the governments in
the third world countries
are forced to accept the privatisation of water resources
and of supply
schemes. The
WFTU has demanded that
water should be made available to each and every citizen,
as a public good.
Water for human use should not be treated as a commercial
product and should not
be made amenable to the laws of market. With
the environmental
disasters threatening the ecosystem in various parts of
the world, water has
become a precious item in the world, and sustained
struggles are required to
ensure that the needs of the people are adequately met. EDUCATION Literacy
and education are
one of the major issues in the world even today because
the great achievements
in science and technology and the numerous innovations
have not eradicated
illiteracy in the world. One out of eight children does
not attend even a primary
school. The number of illiterates in the developing
countries is more than 75
million and 55 per cent of them are girls.
The number of those who leave the school halfway is
increasing, as
unemployment and hunger spread. Even
in the developed
world, education and related issues have become serious
issues, leading to massive
struggles of students.
Public education
system is being dismantled everywhere. To
top it all, as the WFTU
has noted, education systems and their products are being
commercialised and made
less and less people oriented. It
is not just a question
of extending solidarity to the students. The trade unions
need to be in the
forefront of struggles for free, public and qualitative
education for all. HEALTH The
WFTU is of the firm belief
that health is not a commodity for business. The life of a
worker or any other person
cannot be used to amass profits and do speculations. Social
security was one of
the foremost achievements of the trade union movement in
most of the developed
world and in some countries of the developing world.
Today, however, people are
facing retrograde attacks in this sphere as well. Health
has become a big
business of the MNCs. Social security schemes are being
dismantled almost
everywhere. The
WFTU has demanded that
in every country there should be a public, universal,
obligatory system of
social security with full coverage, free medicare, a
reduction in the retirement
age and an increase in pensions. Production
of medicines
should be brought under the state and the loot of the
people, which often endangers
even their lives, should be brought to an end. HOUSING The
WFTU has demanded that
everyone should be ensured the right to housing, which
means that all the persons
have the right to occupy a safe, secure, habitable and
affordable home in peace
and dignity, free from forced eviction. This
has become an urgent
need as the world as a whole is experiencing a global
housing crisis. According
to an estimate, about 1.6 billion (160 crore) people are
living today in
substandard housing in slum areas while 100 million (10
crore) are homeless. WFTU
CALL AND It
is clear at the very
first glance that each one of the above demands raised by
the WFTU are of prime
importance to every section of workers in India and to the
other toiling
masses. Therefore
the Indian
affiliates of the WFTU and other, friendly organisations
have decided to
observe the International Day of Action and ensure massive
participation in the
related actions on October 3. Meetings, rallies,
demonstrations and seminars
are to be organised in this connection --- in work areas
and also in
residential areas. The message of the International Day of
Action and its
demands have to be taken to each and every worker. As
the government of As
the WFTU has noted,
these campaigns are to be a part and parcel of our
campaign and struggle
against the barbarity of the capitalist system itself. BOX ITEM WFTU
Action Programme The
Presidential Council
of the WFTU has decided upon the following broad programme
of action for
the International Day of Action on October 3, 2012. 1)
We must unite the
workers, poor and other peasants, the indigenous
populations on our militant
platform. 2)
We must publish handbills,
posters, articles, memorandums, letters of protest that
will add to the information
base of the working people. 3)
We must organise
activities in workplaces, e.g. in factories. 4)
We must present our
demands to the national governments as well as
international organisations, and
demand immediate solutions. 5)
We must link our
campaigns with the contradictions and limitations of the
capitalist system and
the crisis that has engulfed it, and we must put forward
our clear-cut pro-people
alternatives.
