IWC Newsletters (April 5th, 12th and 19th, 2024)

[Note: Following are the three recent issues (Nos. 258, 259 and 260 of the Newsletter published weekly by the International Workers Committee (IWC) Against War and Exploitation, For a Workers International. For more information on the IWC, see the “Who We Are” section at the end of this posting and/or go to: (IWC web)

Arabs and Jews united in a single democratic and secular Palestine

• AFRICAN REFUGEES

63,000 dead on the roads of exile in 10 years

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• IRAN

Netanyahu wants war

“It was the Iranians who attacked Israel”, boldly declared Séjourné, French president Macron’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, on April 14. He had to justify French participation in Israel’s defense, when Iran fired 300 missiles on the night of April 13-14. “Iran’s fault”? The facts indicate otherwise.

Since the start of the genocide in Gaza, Netanyahu has been seeking to open a second front, multiplying his provocations against Iran and its allies. The aim: to force the United States, which supplies him with arms and means, to go one step further and openly engage in war at his side.

Let’s just mention a few facts: on December 25, 2023 in Damascus (Syria), an Israeli bombing killed an Iranian general. On January 20, another bombing in Damascus killed four high-ranking Iranian military officials.

On April 1, again in Damascus, Israel bombed the Iranian consulate, killing 16 people, including several Iranian military leaders. According to “international law” – invoked by the great imperialist powers (when it suits them), bombing a diplomatic representation is forbidden by the Vienna Convention. Just imagine if Iran had bombed an Israeli consulate!  But neither Biden, Macron nor the European Union protested against the bombing of the consulate.

The United States, on the other hand, claimed that it had “not been forewarned” by the Israelis. The implication was that Netanyahu alone had taken the initiative. The Iranian authorities then warned that they would retaliate, firing 300 missiles and drones — over 99% of which were intercepted inflight by Israel, with the help of Western armies and Arab regimes.

“Militarily, the Iranians did everything to ensure that (their retaliation) would fail. They notified the Americans, directly or indirectly via their contacts in Oman. They gave Israel ample time to set up a kind of umbrella, with the help of the Americans, which would intercept these drones. They wanted to deliver a message, but not an open war”, explained a journalist from Le Monde on France Inter radio station (April 15).

The head of Iranian diplomacy was quick to invite Western countries to “understand the implications of Iran’s restraint over the last few months” (April 15). “After this sequence of frontal attacks,” noted RFI (April 15), “Iran says: ‘We can leave it at that.’ And Washington explained to Israel: ‘Going any further is out of the question’.”

All the more so, adds France Inter (April 15), as “the Iranians know that the Americans don’t want to get involved in a new war in the Middle East. They are much more interested in shifting their focus to Asia — in other words, their preparations for war with China.

So, who is trying to provoke war with Iran? Israeli journalist Gideon Levy has accused, in Haaretz (April 14): “If Iran were to launch a serious attack against Israel, the responsibility would fall on those who approved the assassinations carried out in Damascus.”

In other words, Netanyahu and his genocidal government. — Dominique Ferré

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PALESTINE

“It is impossible to quantify the suffering in Gaza” (Israeli journalist Amira Hass)

Israeli journalist Amira Hass wrote in Haaretz (April 10): “Due to the limits of the human imagination (as opposed to the imagination of warmongers and arms manufacturers), and in the absence of a whole new dictionary, there is no real way to describe the destruction and loss suffered in Gaza after six months of war.

“In theory, it would suffice to view the hundreds, if not thousands, of videos showing trembling children – unable to control their shaking – after Israeli bombardments: in hospitals, in the street, some of them sobbing, others unable to utter a word. They are covered in dust and blood. It’s a detail that’s enough to describe the disaster.

“According to UNICEF, at the end of January, 17,000 children were “wandering round” in the Gaza Strip unaccompanied by an adult. Their parents had been killed, they could not be pulled out of the ruins. Or the children got lost during the mass displacement to the south.

“And that’s not counting the 14,000 children (out of a total of around 33,000 recorded dead) who have so far been killed by Israeli bombardments. Added to this are thousands of children who have lost limbs, suffer burns, walk around with wounds that have become infected in the absence of bandages and medication, and will suffer from post-traumatic disorders for the rest of their lives. What does the future hold for them? It’s impossible to quantify the suffering. …

“Here’s another figure: “Palestinians in Gaza now represent 80% of all people facing famine or severe hunger in the world”, according to the joint interim report – published last week – of the World Bank (WB), the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN).

“At the end of January 2024, material destruction in the Gaza Strip was estimated at around $18.5 billion. That’s the cost of the 50 fighter jets the Biden administration wants to sell to Israel, subject to Congressional approval, as reported by CNN.” — Amira Hass

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AFGHANISTAN:

Free the imprisoned women activists!

The Spontaneous Movement of Afghan Women reports on the continuing repression by the Taliban (reinstalled in power by the US administration in August 2021) of women fighting against its obscurantist politics.

On March 27, in Kabul, armed Taliban stormed the home of the Rezaei family, arresting three sisters aged 25, 17 and 14 and their 22-year-old brother, accused of taking part in “illegal activities” for protesting against the arrest of their older sister Tamana. The Movement’s Kabul organization has launched an appeal for their release.

The Spontaneous Movement recalls that it is “an independent movement of Afghan women, created after August 2021 with the support of hundreds of intellectuals, feminists, teachers, former civil servants, human rights defenders, students and parents.

Over the past three years, hundreds of members of the Movement have been arrested, abducted and tortured during street demonstrations or in their homes. Some have been released, but dozens are still in prison and hundreds more are missing.”

The International Committee for the Defense of Afghan Women, set up in Paris in October 2022, has opened an aid fund for the protection of persecuted Afghan women. It is campaigning with the governments of the major powers, including France, for the immediate and unconditional reception in their countries of activists and women threatened by Taliban rule.

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KANAKY/NEW CALEDONIA

Unconditionally in favor of the Kanak people’s right to self-determination …

Unconditionally in favor of the Kanak people’s right to self-determination, Kanaky – the land of the Kanak people – has been under French colonization since 1853. At the end of the 1980s, the colonized Kanak people obtained, at least on paper, recognition of their right to self-determination, and a freeze on the electoral body for regional elections, to prevent them from becoming a minority in their own country.

But today, the Macron-Darmanin government wants to impose an “unfreezing” of the electorate, to integrate 25,000 new voters (essentially colonists from mainland France).

Macron’s stated aim, in July 2023: to permanently attach the island to France, secure its hold on its nickel reserves and develop the French military base.

On April 13, two demonstrations were held in Nouméa, each bringing together some 15,000 participants (representing over 10% of the island’s population).

On one side, the settlers, decked out in the French flag’s tricolours and chanting “On est chez nous” (“This is our home” — 17,000 kilometers from Paris!), reminiscent of the “ultras” of “French Algeria”.

On the other, in their thousands, the Kanak people and their political organizations and trade unions – as well as Melanesians and Europeans – demonstrated against the State’s “passage en force”, brandishing the blue-red-green-yellow flag of national independence.

For the French Parti des Travailleurs (Workers’ Party), the only stance consistent with democracy is: against the “unfreezing” of the electorate, unconditionally alongside the Kanak people for their right to self- determination. — Dominique Ferré

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• SENEGAL

A determination to break

Bassirou Diomaye Faye was elected in the first round of the presidential election with 54.28% of the vote. It was a slap in the face for the incumbent president, Macky Sall, whose candidate was swept aside, while his coalition exploded in mid-air, against a backdrop of disputes over the award of concessions for new offshore oil and gas fields. The Senegalese Socialist Party (which was part of the government, as was the “communist” PIT party) won less than 5% of the vote.

Just a few days ago, Diomaye Faye and his mentor, Ousmane Sonko, were imprisoned along with hundreds of other activists, and their party, PASTEF (Patriotes africains du Sénégal pour le travail, l’éthique et la fraternité), was banned.

The son of a peasant who graduated from Senegal’s ENA, Diomaye Faye was a trade unionist and then leader of PASTEF alongside Sonko, and enjoyed widespread popularity, particularly among young people. The press described the presidential election as an “anti-Macky Sall referendum”.

 The mandate of the ex-president, who is close to Macron, was punctuated by repression that left dozens dead. PASTEF activists and pan-Africanists were jailed by the hundreds during popular revolts expressing a powerful desire for change.

Young people want to live off of their work with dignity, and no longer be forced to emigrate at the risk of their lives to illusory El Dorados. The high cost of living is hitting workers and young people hard. Students are fed up with delays in the payment of scholarships and the lack of housing.

Corruption at all levels is unbearable. Inspired by events in Mali and Burkina Faso, workers, peasants and young people have seen in PASTEF a perspective for regaining national sovereignty, breaking with “Françafrique”, the presence of French troops and the CFA franc – remnants of colonialism.

After his first speech, the press hailed “a reassuring speech” (Le Peuple) by the new president, who “promises a clean break and national reconciliation” (L’Express) to his predecessors, as well as to his international “partners”. Relying on a growing aspiration for “pan-Africanism”, he promises a “more integrated” ECOWAS*, without however calling into question the nature of this alliance of States dominated by France.

The new president has promised to fight the high cost of living, but without calling into question the international treaties that are ruining the country. He has pledged to build an “exemplary” State free of corruption, but has already rallied behind him the PDS, expresident Wade’s party, and other clique leaders fed on the crumbs left by French imperialism. A fraction of the employers support him, including the C50PN (“Club 50 % de Préférence Nationale”), hoping to increase the Senegalese bourgeoisie’s share by calling on workers to “work more”.

The result of the presidential election thus expressed a powerful desire for a complete break. But for this break to materialize in life, workers, peasants and young people will have to impose it and rely on their own strengths. – With our correspondents in Senegal

• ENDNOTE: Economic Community of West African States

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BURKINA FASO

Attacks and intimidation against the trade union movement

While the military government in Burkina Faso has driven French troops out of the country and broken with ECOWAS, which was strangling the economy, it has also at the same time engaged in dangerous practices against democracy and workers. At a conference on 24 March, the spokesman for the CGT-B trade union center denounced these attacks: “While all the activities of political parties and civil society organizations are banned under the pretext of fighting armed terrorist groups, the transitional authorities and their supporters are flexing their muscles and organizing meetings and rallies (…).

Maneuvers such as threatening people with machetes are used to silence our people, preventing them from expressing any criticism of the management of the security crisis and, more generally, of the of the government’s rule.”

The government continues to unilaterally seize 1% of all wages to fund the fight against terrorist attacks and has prolonged the general mobilisation against terrorism for a year, while seeking to prevent workers from defending their interests. The communiqué adds: “Today, intimidation continues with attacks followed by death threats against workers at the Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Prospects, wrongly accused of preparing a coup d’état”.

On 27 March, a dozen democratic rights organisations denounced the “threats, abductions, arrests and arbitrary detentions” and called for abiding by the Constitution. n

• With our correspondents in Burkina

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NIGER

Niger breaks off military cooperation with the USA

The July 2023 coup in Niger received some popular support when the junta, dubbed the Conseil national pour la sauvegarde de la patrie (National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland, (CNSP), broke off military cooperation agreements with France. French troops were seen as the guarantors of the plundering of the country by multinationals such as Orano, which exploits the uranium reserves essential to France’s nuclear power plants. The U.S. administration was not averse to the elimination of French imperialism.

But on March 16, when the Niger junta decided to break off its military cooperation with the United States, Washington reacted. It has a drone base and 1,100 U.S.soldiers in Niger, the second largest American base in Africa after Djibouti.

It seems that it was the diktat that Washington tried to impose that precipitated the break. On the eve of March 16, an American delegation arrived in Niamey, including the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs and the Commander-in-Chief of AFRICOM (the U.S. Africa Command). The junta “forcefully denounces the condescending attitude of the American delegation towards the Niger government and people.“

According to the latter, the U.S. delegation accused the government of having signed secret agreements with Russia and Iran.

No more than in Mali or Burkina Faso, does the military power in Niger express the will of the workers and the peasants. But it is the Niger people’s inalienable right to get rid of foreign troops who are only there to guarantee imperialist plunder. – Jean Alain

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BENIN

Talon seeks to divide the peoples of Togo and Benin

President Patrice Talon is shutting down one border crossing after another between villages on the Benin -Togo border, building veritable walls of granite blocks. Village populations and families are separated on either side of the border, prevented from accessing their fields, and all trade is blocked.

With these closures, Talon is seeking to turn people against each other, our correspondents report. —Correspondents

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AFRICAN REFUGEES

63,000 dead on the roads of exile in 10 years

Over the last ten years, 63,000 refugees have died on the road to exile. More than half of them, 36,000, died in shipwrecks, including 27,000 in the Mediterranean, according to a report by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). The IOM points out that the actual figures must be much higher, given that collecting reliable data is a problem. — IOM Statistic

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International Workers Committee:

WHO WE ARE

Introduction

• The International Workers Committee Against War and Exploitation (IWC), For a Workers’ International, was set up on the basis of a Manifesto adopted at the world conference held in Mumbai (India) in November 2016 with delegates from 28 countries.

• In October 2022, a new world conference was held in Paris, preceded by an international conference of working women. Delegates from 43 countries signed an Appeal updating the Mumbai Manifesto to reflect the global situation. (*)

• Its continuations committee is composed of labour activists from all political/trade union backgrounds : Camille Adoue (France), Innocent Assogba (Benin), Alan Benjamin (USA), Colia Clark (United States / deceased), Adama Coulibaly (Burkina Faso), Constantin Cretan (Romania), Berthony Dupont (Haiti), Daniel Gluckstein (France), Rubina Jamil (Pakistan), Christel Keiser (France), Apo Leung (China), Nnamdi Lumumba (USA), Randy Miranda (Philippines), Mandlenkosi Phangwa (Azania), Liliana Plumeda (Mexico), Milind Ranade (India), Klaus Schüller (Germany), Jung Sikhwa (South Korea), Mark Vassiliev (Russia), Nambiath Vasudevan (India)

(*) List of 43 participating countries: Afghanistan, Algeria, Azania/South Africa, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Benin, Brazil, Britain, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Canada, Chile, China, Congo, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Haiti, Hungary, India, Italy, Mexico, Morocco, Pakistan, Palestine, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Senegal, South Korea, Spanish State, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, United States, Zimbabwe

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