ckaihatsu
19th June 2008, 02:56
MEXICO: Call to Discuss Urgent Need for Independent Political Representation for Working People (Saturday, June 28 in Mexico City)
1 message The Organizer <[email protected]> Wed, Jun 18, 2008 at 2:51 PM
To: List Suppressed <Recipient>
June 28: National Meeting for an Independent
Political Representation for Working People in Mexico
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
With every passing day -- in our city streets, neighborhoods, factories, and farms -- we are witness to the crying need for an organized political expression that represents the aspirations of the nation and its working people.
Our country is facing one of the most crucial moments in its history. The initiatives aimed at privatizing Mexico's oil resources presented to the Congress by the illegitimate government of Felipe Calderón will lead inevitably, if passed, to the destruction of the material bases of the sovereignty and unity of our nation.
Oil is one of the fundamental sources of the wealth of the Mexican people. Taxes paid by Pemex represent 40% of the federal budget. Oil revenue, given the price of oil today, is the highest in our nation's history. If this wealth were turned over to the foreign corporations (Exxon-Mobil, Shell, Halliburton Š), our country would be condemned to an unprecedented economic and social decline.
The nationalization of oil and the agrarian reform of 1938 represent the material basis of the struggle for sovereignty and national independence waged by the Mexican people during the revolutionary process of 1910. The privatization of Pemex would represent a qualitative step in the process of dismantling our nation.
Given the growing resistance of the Mexican people to this privatization onslaught, the imperial government of the United States, with the collaboration of the Fox government and now of the illegitimate Calderón government, has imposed the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP, or ASPAN in its Spanish acronym) and the Mérida Initiative, both of which provide the basis for the military occupation of our country. This is done in the name of the "war on drugs," but in reality its main purpose is to contain the resistance of the nation to this corporate pillaging of our resources. Already, in seven states in the north of Mexican, troops are occupying the streets, under the supervision of CIA and Pentagon officials.
The PRI and the PAN, along with their satellite organizations (Green Party, Panal Š), represent the Mexican political and economic oligarchy. They are the direct agents of the imperialist corporations.
For its part, the PRD, finds itself immersed in a profound political crisis. How can one explain the crisis in this party?
Is it not due to the political orientation implemented by the PRD leadership? Was this not expressed, for example, on June 1, when the PRD national leadership supported the proposal by Acosta Naranjo, who declared that the PRD needed to join forces with the PRI in the Congress to present an "alternative" energy reform plan? Isn't this "alternative" reform plan in fact nothing but a disguised privatization plan?
Isn't the crisis in the PRD directly related to the policies implemented by the PRD governors, who supported the counter-reforms of the ISSSTE [Mexican public sector national healthcare and Social Security plan] in their own states, and who even sent in the police to repress the mineworkers' strike in Lázaro Cárdenas in the state of Michoacán?
This is why we ask: Is it possible to repeal the counter-reform of ISSSTE and to defend Pemex and social security while recognizing the illegal and country-selling government of Felipe Calderón?
The goal of our open meeting on June 28 in Mexico City is to initiate a dialogue among leaders and activists in the struggle to defend our oil and natural resources, to defend the very existence of our nation, around the following question: What political expression do the Mexican people need today to defend and advance their interests?
Is it not necessary to take as a programmatic reference point for such an independent political representation what Andrés Manuel López Obrador stated on September 16, 2006, at the first National Democratic Convention (CND), to the effect that new political institutions are needed in the country given that the legislative chambers of the PRIAN are fraudulent, illegitimate and only serve to provide cover to the government's privatization of pensions and of Pemex by the imperialist banks and oil corporations? From our point of view, the struggle for democratic institutions requires the struggle for a Sovereign Constituent Congress.
Similarly, is it not necessary to reaffirm what López Obrador said on April 6, 2008, at the Monument of the Revolution in Mexico City to the effect that "we will not accept the privatization of Pemex in any form whatsoever; the oil in Mexico belongs to the Mexicans"? Should we not add to this the need to struggle for the renationalization of all the sectors that have been privatized (electricity, gas, petrochemicals, etc.) and to fight for the repeal of the counterreforms of the ISSSTE and IMSS?
Is it not necessary, moreover, to struggle for the repeal of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), so that millions of Mexicans are not forced to migrate to the United States because of the lack of jobs caused by the destruction of Mexico's industrial and agricultural sectors at the hands of a U.S.-imposed corporate "free trade" agreement?
Also, shouldn't a statement of principles of a genuinely independent expression for working people take up the demands of the Mexican mineworkers' union, and of the labor movement in general, with respect to "the right of union members to decide for themselves, without any government or bosses' interference, who will be their leaders" and also with respect to the defense of the right to strike, as stipulated by ILO Conventions 87 and 98, both of which have been ratified by the Mexican government?
Is it not also necessary that in any statement of principles the demands of the peasants must be highlighted, beginning with their right to the land and to cheap credits, as well as the right not to emigrate? Is there not a need for an independent representation of working people to fight for the defense of the free and secular national educational system, as demanded by the education workers, and to fight for the interests of our youth?
Shouldn't an independent political expression of the people fight for the unity and the defense of the sovereignty of the nation? And in that sense, should it not form a united front with López Obrador and the National Movement in Defense of Mexico's Oil Resources (MNDP) in support of the national referendum, so that the people, in their own name, can say "No to the privatization of our oil!"?
In a word, is there not a need for an independent political representation that puts front and center the defense and reconquest of national sovereignty and of the labor and social rights of working people in the cities and countryside?
To discuss all these questions, we invite you to join us Saturday, June 28 at 4:30 p.m. in Mexico City. [For exact address and directions, please contact <[email protected]>.]
We will conduct this discussion, which could result in the publication of a Bulletin through which all the participants in this meeting, and all supporters of this project, can put forward their own views on the questions raised in this letter of invitation, so that in this manner we can offer collectively an independent political perspective -- a perspective that is so urgently needed by working people today.
* * * * *
INITIAL SIGNATORIES (titles and organizations are listed for identification purposes only, unless specified otherwise)
*******
BAJA CALIFORNIA: Mario Gómez Ocampo, miembro del Movimiento Nacional Organizado Aquí Estamos, PRD (Mexicali), Movimiento de Resistencia de la Sección 2 del SNTE, Blanca Margarita Quiroz Miranda e Ignacio Gastélum, Gema López, Investigadora de la UABC.
CHIAPAS: Faustino Martínez, PRD (Tuxtla Gutiérrez). Gildardo Pérez Arias, secretario general de la Delegación D-II-98, Sección 7 del SNTE, Jorge Luis Galdámez Estrada, trabajador del Cecytech, Carlos Hernández Chávez, Coalición de Trabajadores del INEGI, Genaro Vázquez Toala, Cecytech, Francisco A. Pérez Martínez, C-PEJE, Ezequiel Vázquez Martínez, C-PEJE, Gustavo Grajales Robles, miembro de la sección 40 del SNTE, David Cupertino Cameras, miembro de la sección 7 del SNTE, Carlos Misael Palma, miembro de la sección 7 del SNTE, Griselda Hernández Alcaraz, Cecytech, Genaro Muñoz Valencia, miembro de la sección 7 del SNTE, Ángel Díaz. secretario general delegacional, sección 7 del SNTE (Ocozocoautla), Azariel Hernández. Miembro del Comité en defensa del petróleo de Ocozocoautla, Pavel Castro Villarreal, CND (Tuxtla Gutiérrez),
DISTRITO FEDERAL: Rosalino López Ruiz, secretario general de la delegación CT-SNTE-54, Sección 10 del SNTE, Humberto Martínez Brizuela y Luis Vázquez Villalobos, en nombre de la coordinación del Partido de Trabajadores Democrático Independiente (PTDI),
ESTADO DE MÉXICO: Salatiel Rodríguez Ríos, Comité de Jóvenes, Chimalhuacán. José Víctor Rodríguez Ayala, PTDI Chimalhuacán (Edo. de México),
MEXICANOS EN EL EXTERIOR (Mexicans Living Abroad): Al Rojas, Frente de Mexicanos en el Exterior (FME), Armando Vázquez-Ramos, Long Beach, California, Armando Bolaños, miembro de la Organización Estado 33
**********
ENDORSEMENT COUPON OF JUNE 28 CALL FOR A MEETING IN MEXICO CITY TO PROMOTE INDEPENDENT POLITICAL ACTION
NAME
ORG/TITLE
CITY
STATE
COUNTRY
EMAIL
(fill out and send to <[email protected]> with a copy to <[email protected]>)
1 message The Organizer <[email protected]> Wed, Jun 18, 2008 at 2:51 PM
To: List Suppressed <Recipient>
June 28: National Meeting for an Independent
Political Representation for Working People in Mexico
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
With every passing day -- in our city streets, neighborhoods, factories, and farms -- we are witness to the crying need for an organized political expression that represents the aspirations of the nation and its working people.
Our country is facing one of the most crucial moments in its history. The initiatives aimed at privatizing Mexico's oil resources presented to the Congress by the illegitimate government of Felipe Calderón will lead inevitably, if passed, to the destruction of the material bases of the sovereignty and unity of our nation.
Oil is one of the fundamental sources of the wealth of the Mexican people. Taxes paid by Pemex represent 40% of the federal budget. Oil revenue, given the price of oil today, is the highest in our nation's history. If this wealth were turned over to the foreign corporations (Exxon-Mobil, Shell, Halliburton Š), our country would be condemned to an unprecedented economic and social decline.
The nationalization of oil and the agrarian reform of 1938 represent the material basis of the struggle for sovereignty and national independence waged by the Mexican people during the revolutionary process of 1910. The privatization of Pemex would represent a qualitative step in the process of dismantling our nation.
Given the growing resistance of the Mexican people to this privatization onslaught, the imperial government of the United States, with the collaboration of the Fox government and now of the illegitimate Calderón government, has imposed the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP, or ASPAN in its Spanish acronym) and the Mérida Initiative, both of which provide the basis for the military occupation of our country. This is done in the name of the "war on drugs," but in reality its main purpose is to contain the resistance of the nation to this corporate pillaging of our resources. Already, in seven states in the north of Mexican, troops are occupying the streets, under the supervision of CIA and Pentagon officials.
The PRI and the PAN, along with their satellite organizations (Green Party, Panal Š), represent the Mexican political and economic oligarchy. They are the direct agents of the imperialist corporations.
For its part, the PRD, finds itself immersed in a profound political crisis. How can one explain the crisis in this party?
Is it not due to the political orientation implemented by the PRD leadership? Was this not expressed, for example, on June 1, when the PRD national leadership supported the proposal by Acosta Naranjo, who declared that the PRD needed to join forces with the PRI in the Congress to present an "alternative" energy reform plan? Isn't this "alternative" reform plan in fact nothing but a disguised privatization plan?
Isn't the crisis in the PRD directly related to the policies implemented by the PRD governors, who supported the counter-reforms of the ISSSTE [Mexican public sector national healthcare and Social Security plan] in their own states, and who even sent in the police to repress the mineworkers' strike in Lázaro Cárdenas in the state of Michoacán?
This is why we ask: Is it possible to repeal the counter-reform of ISSSTE and to defend Pemex and social security while recognizing the illegal and country-selling government of Felipe Calderón?
The goal of our open meeting on June 28 in Mexico City is to initiate a dialogue among leaders and activists in the struggle to defend our oil and natural resources, to defend the very existence of our nation, around the following question: What political expression do the Mexican people need today to defend and advance their interests?
Is it not necessary to take as a programmatic reference point for such an independent political representation what Andrés Manuel López Obrador stated on September 16, 2006, at the first National Democratic Convention (CND), to the effect that new political institutions are needed in the country given that the legislative chambers of the PRIAN are fraudulent, illegitimate and only serve to provide cover to the government's privatization of pensions and of Pemex by the imperialist banks and oil corporations? From our point of view, the struggle for democratic institutions requires the struggle for a Sovereign Constituent Congress.
Similarly, is it not necessary to reaffirm what López Obrador said on April 6, 2008, at the Monument of the Revolution in Mexico City to the effect that "we will not accept the privatization of Pemex in any form whatsoever; the oil in Mexico belongs to the Mexicans"? Should we not add to this the need to struggle for the renationalization of all the sectors that have been privatized (electricity, gas, petrochemicals, etc.) and to fight for the repeal of the counterreforms of the ISSSTE and IMSS?
Is it not necessary, moreover, to struggle for the repeal of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), so that millions of Mexicans are not forced to migrate to the United States because of the lack of jobs caused by the destruction of Mexico's industrial and agricultural sectors at the hands of a U.S.-imposed corporate "free trade" agreement?
Also, shouldn't a statement of principles of a genuinely independent expression for working people take up the demands of the Mexican mineworkers' union, and of the labor movement in general, with respect to "the right of union members to decide for themselves, without any government or bosses' interference, who will be their leaders" and also with respect to the defense of the right to strike, as stipulated by ILO Conventions 87 and 98, both of which have been ratified by the Mexican government?
Is it not also necessary that in any statement of principles the demands of the peasants must be highlighted, beginning with their right to the land and to cheap credits, as well as the right not to emigrate? Is there not a need for an independent representation of working people to fight for the defense of the free and secular national educational system, as demanded by the education workers, and to fight for the interests of our youth?
Shouldn't an independent political expression of the people fight for the unity and the defense of the sovereignty of the nation? And in that sense, should it not form a united front with López Obrador and the National Movement in Defense of Mexico's Oil Resources (MNDP) in support of the national referendum, so that the people, in their own name, can say "No to the privatization of our oil!"?
In a word, is there not a need for an independent political representation that puts front and center the defense and reconquest of national sovereignty and of the labor and social rights of working people in the cities and countryside?
To discuss all these questions, we invite you to join us Saturday, June 28 at 4:30 p.m. in Mexico City. [For exact address and directions, please contact <[email protected]>.]
We will conduct this discussion, which could result in the publication of a Bulletin through which all the participants in this meeting, and all supporters of this project, can put forward their own views on the questions raised in this letter of invitation, so that in this manner we can offer collectively an independent political perspective -- a perspective that is so urgently needed by working people today.
* * * * *
INITIAL SIGNATORIES (titles and organizations are listed for identification purposes only, unless specified otherwise)
*******
BAJA CALIFORNIA: Mario Gómez Ocampo, miembro del Movimiento Nacional Organizado Aquí Estamos, PRD (Mexicali), Movimiento de Resistencia de la Sección 2 del SNTE, Blanca Margarita Quiroz Miranda e Ignacio Gastélum, Gema López, Investigadora de la UABC.
CHIAPAS: Faustino Martínez, PRD (Tuxtla Gutiérrez). Gildardo Pérez Arias, secretario general de la Delegación D-II-98, Sección 7 del SNTE, Jorge Luis Galdámez Estrada, trabajador del Cecytech, Carlos Hernández Chávez, Coalición de Trabajadores del INEGI, Genaro Vázquez Toala, Cecytech, Francisco A. Pérez Martínez, C-PEJE, Ezequiel Vázquez Martínez, C-PEJE, Gustavo Grajales Robles, miembro de la sección 40 del SNTE, David Cupertino Cameras, miembro de la sección 7 del SNTE, Carlos Misael Palma, miembro de la sección 7 del SNTE, Griselda Hernández Alcaraz, Cecytech, Genaro Muñoz Valencia, miembro de la sección 7 del SNTE, Ángel Díaz. secretario general delegacional, sección 7 del SNTE (Ocozocoautla), Azariel Hernández. Miembro del Comité en defensa del petróleo de Ocozocoautla, Pavel Castro Villarreal, CND (Tuxtla Gutiérrez),
DISTRITO FEDERAL: Rosalino López Ruiz, secretario general de la delegación CT-SNTE-54, Sección 10 del SNTE, Humberto Martínez Brizuela y Luis Vázquez Villalobos, en nombre de la coordinación del Partido de Trabajadores Democrático Independiente (PTDI),
ESTADO DE MÉXICO: Salatiel Rodríguez Ríos, Comité de Jóvenes, Chimalhuacán. José Víctor Rodríguez Ayala, PTDI Chimalhuacán (Edo. de México),
MEXICANOS EN EL EXTERIOR (Mexicans Living Abroad): Al Rojas, Frente de Mexicanos en el Exterior (FME), Armando Vázquez-Ramos, Long Beach, California, Armando Bolaños, miembro de la Organización Estado 33
**********
ENDORSEMENT COUPON OF JUNE 28 CALL FOR A MEETING IN MEXICO CITY TO PROMOTE INDEPENDENT POLITICAL ACTION
NAME
ORG/TITLE
CITY
STATE
COUNTRY
(fill out and send to <[email protected]> with a copy to <[email protected]>)