15-07-2011

Note I once made about the uprising in Tunisia

The objective of the uprising in Tunisia? “Parliamentary democracy”...as in France?

Although the “fall of the regime Ben Ali” is the final result of the angry revolt of the young unemployed Tunisian workers, there are also inter-imperialist contradictions - competition - involved.
What is concerning the reporting of the overall imperialist-interests-defending institution – the IMF, Ben Ali regime was praised as a good follower of the IMF instructions. Not a word about corruption or repression. Just one remark: “the high unemployment of the young Tunisians”....
And one has to know that capitalist competition (in capitalism in the stage of imperialism) is just in theoryhonest”, just “doing-fair-business-like”, “free” or with “gentleman-agreements”. Competition under imperialist conditions means: corruption, fraud, espionage, bribing, embargo, stealing, ... and armed intervention or WAR.
So for those imperialist monopolies which were favoured by Ben Ali (while he was being paid by them) it is a pity that he must go. For competing monopolies which did not get a “honest” chance, they are hoping that the “corrupt” regime will be replaced of a fair, democratic chosen regime with whom they can do business. Because it would be chosen, the “business-climate” will be quiet, no political unrest.

This revolt was started by young unemployed workers who wanted “revolutionary change” but were not able to formulate concretely the program and strategy for that revolution. And they knew it themselves.... The images showed in the days after the “exile” of Ben Ali, long rows for the bakeries and stores. At the same time they showed young people, discussing, surfing on Internet, seeking of “what now has to be done”..tired without enough sleep and having no time to eat or to look after food.
So there was no ruling power coming out of the revolt itself, no leadership of that revolt itself which could take provisional power, and there was no revolutionary program to implement. In fact in the installing of a provisional government which has 'to change the constitution and to prepare elections (and to install to what is called “parliamentary democracy”)

I say that the revolution is already taken out of the hands of those who began it. The discussion if representation of the old regime is possible and if and which “opposition-parties” or if “representation of the existing union” is allowed, is just a discussion how - for the people who want “radical change” - the masquerade of the in fact bourgeois dictatorship has to be organised.
It nowhere said clearly if the new installed provisional government, because not coming out of the revolutionary movement  itself (....and because the revolutionary movement had itself no clear revolutionary program or concrete revolutionary strategy) will accept the reality of the  rules of the financial institutions of imperialism.
It is certain that they accept those rules (even the UGTT was always NEGOTIATING how those rules would best be implemented as “transformation of the system and financing of the retirement-system and of social security”) and therefore want to get as soon as possible rest and legality restored because the “credit-worthiness rating” is already decreasing, which means that the interests to be paid on  loans will increase. And there is still that “external debt  putting pressure on whatever “democratic chosen government” on following the rules of the IMF.
But perhaps they will allow now COMPETING monopolies to invest, not hindered anymore by the selective (“corrupt”) old regime.

And those who claim to be the heirs of Bolsheviks of the October revolution in the SU, the self-declared “communist” party has just joined this betrayal. Nothing is said about the necessary resistance against imperialism, to expropriate all enterprises linked with imperialist monopolies, to  make public enterprises under control of the revolutionary power.
.....And nothing is said about a principally position  against the colonialist (Zionist) front-post of imperialism in the region: Israel.
....because who knows, perhaps one of the conditions of getting good loan-condition for the Tunisian economy is .....the formal recognition of Israel?
So is done what has to be done to create a quiet environment to do business as usual: a “parliamentary democracy” will be installed (with parties that won elections to form a government and parties who lost elections to form an opposition... so like France, Greece, not yet Belgium, Portugal, Spain,...) within the “Tunisian” borders, which were the result of colonial competition: the colonial power France (with Algeria as colony) could lay his hands on what is now Tunisia, which was wanted by Italy to be taken (to added it to its colony Libya?) ... there were already a lot of Italian colonists living in that region that later became Tunisia.

And the young unemployed young workers who started the revolt?
They know already that for a real change in whole North Africa, the revolts in Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt has to become one, to which the future revolts in Morocco an -why not- Libya will join. That future revolt has to be build on an organisation of ALL workers (working in all those enterprises and mines and producing for the global imperialist production-lines) General strikes and site-occupation, blockade of all transportation-facilities (as harbours) has to  a part of that fight, not “only” street-demonstrations. But in the whenever street-demonstrations, to which those workers and miners will participate, they will take their equipment, vans and Caterpillars with them to protect against police- and army-attacks. The strikes and site-occupation has also to divide the repression-forces.....And certainly when this is happening in the whole North African region.
But this will be the outcome of the realising, FOR and BY that united workers-organisation, of a concrete elaborated anti-imperialist programme and for the installing for a “own” workers-power installed BY that overall struggle-organisation of the workers, which will control all expropriated enterprises and mines, oil-pits and oil-refining-installations, and control all the harbours and all means of transport. The young engineers and scholars once unemployed or once working for those imperialist monopolies have to join this revolution (realising that they are just a part of the working class), so they can help to transform the economy working in function of a purchase-powered demand ( so no INCOME, no ability to BUY what you need) in a socialist plan-economy producing in function of real individual and social NEEDS.

Two forces which tried to steal and recuperate the uprising of the Tunisian people for a radical change: the self-declared “vanguard” - the Tunisian Communist Party and the reformist leadership of the union UGTT: “every real anti-imperialist orientation of the struggle has to be prevented”. The imperialist dictatorship will be masked by “parliamentary democracy” and the “democratic republic”....as in France, Great Britain, Italy and the US.

Tunisia: For a Constitutional Assembly to Lay the Foundations of a Democratic Republic
by Hamma Hammami, Tunisian Communist Workers Party, Tunisia, 15 January 2011.[1]
1. (....) achieving the desired democratic change and implementing it on the ground.
2. Democratic change cannot spring from the same party, figures, institutions, apparatuses, and legislations that maintained the dictatorship and deprived the people of basic rights for more than half a century, 23 years of which under Ben Ali.
3. Interim President Fouad Mebazaa is one of Ben Ali's clique and the president of an appointed body which does not represent the people in any way whatsoever, and the plan to hold presidential elections in 45-60 days has no purpose but to ensure the continuity of the dictatorial regime through one of its former leaders.(...)
5. Democratic change, with all its political, economic, social, and cultural dimensions, demands putting a real end to the repressive regime by taking a direct step to form a provisional government or any other body with executive powers and to undertake the task of organizing free elections for a Constitutional Assembly which would establish the foundations of a real democratic republic in which the people would enjoy freedom, social equality, and national dignity.
6. All the forces that have played an effective and decisive role in toppling the dictator, whether they are political organizations, trade unions, human rights groups, cultural organizations, or other organizations, as well as the people in general, have the task of deciding Tunisia's future, and no party or entity could supplant them in their negotiations or communications with the authority.
7. It is urgent that the democratic forces form a national and unified body to carry out democratic change, charged with the tasks of protecting the gains of the insurgent Tunisian people and of negotiating with the authority so the latter will peacefully yield power to the people.
8. All the democratic forces across the country must unite their ranks in organizations, committees, or local, regional, and sectorial councils in organizing the popular movement, in order to undermine the manoeuvres of the forces of reaction and to stop the acts of looting and vandalism perpetrated by hidden groups seeking to spread fear among citizens, to threaten their safety, and to frighten them of democratic change so as to compel the people to surrender to the repressive apparatuses.
9. The armed forces, which consists in the main of the sons and daughters of the people, are asked to preserve security for the people and for the motherland and to respect the people's choices and aspirations for freedom, dignity, and social justice, which requires lifting the state of emergency as soon as possible so that it doesn't become an excuse that prevents the Tunisian people from continuing their struggle and achieving their goals.
For a provisional government, For a constitutional assembly, For a democratic republic

Tunisia:  UGTT Demands Dissolution of Government - by Abdulsalam Jarad
The Statement of the National Administrative Commission of the General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT)
1.  The General Union of Tunisian Workers is a national organisation necessarily interested in political affairs, given its history of struggle during the colonial epoch and the period of the construction of the modern state, considering the dialectical links among economy, society, politics, and culture in the process of development, but out task has become more urgent than ever.
2.  The UGTT National Administrative Commission recalls that the withdrawal of UGTT ministers from the government is due to the government's failure to respond to the conditions set by the UGTT Executive Office in its 15 January 2011 statement, a position whose correctness has been proven and which corresponds to the demands of masses of demonstrators and the rest of the civil and political society.
3.  In view of massive demonstrations across the country demanding the dissolution of the government and rejecting the participation of RCD representatives in it; also in view of numerous resignations in response to the rejection by various political parties and currents; and because of the urgent need to restore the confidence of all in order to proceed to the effective preparation for the reforms that have been announced; the members of the UGTT National Administrative Commission demand the dissolution of the government and the establishment of a "national salvation" coalition government which responds to the demands of demonstrators, political parties, associations, NGOs, and all the people.
4.  The National Administrative Commission decides, with a view to effectively taking part in a commission for political reforms, to create trade union committees composed of experts and specialists to work out UGTT proposals on political, economic, and social reforms necessary for the establishment of democracy, as well as transparent elections to ensure the freedom of choice, to lay the foundations for a parliamentary government, and to permit dissemination of accurate information.  Moreover, the UGTT demands that members of its National Administrative Commission be represented in the commission of inquiry on the killings of innocent citizens during demonstrations, to bring those responsible for them to justice, and be also represented in the commission of inquiry on corruption and other crimes.
5.  The UGTT calls upon all workers to oppose all attempts to disrupt the normal functioning of institutions and to obstruct their return to normal activity, as well as to be on guard in defence of our achievements and to ensure the continuation of necessary mechanisms for the management and conduct of daily functions, in order to preserve the vital interests of the people and to avoid the vacuum that does lasting damage to workers and citizens.
6.  The UGTT reaffirms its commitment to continue to wage the legitimate struggle, whether by striking or demonstrating peacefully, until the government is restructured according to the conditions set by the UGTT, which correspond to the demands of all segments of the political spectrum as well as of the people.
7.  The UGTT demands that the 14th of January be proclaimed as national holiday, for the public and private sectors, for civil service, and for all the sectors of people.
8.  The UGTT urgently appeals to all trade unionists and workers to preserve the unity of their organisation in order to ensure the continuity of the struggle and achieve the workers' demands, in interaction with the demands of protesters and the general public, and to remain vigilant against all attempts to split our ranks and to divide the unity of our decisions at this sensitive stage in the history of our country.
Long live the struggle of our brave people on the path to dignity in Tunisia.
Tunis, 21 January 2011
Secretary General
Abdulsalam Jarad


[1]          http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/hammami190111.html

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