A-Infos (en) WHC - AFRICA TRIBUNAL

[Western Hemisphere Conference <theorganizer@labornet.org>]

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Toward An International Tribunal on Africa

By NORBERT GBIKPI-BENISSAN

Note: In mid-November 1997, Norbert Gbikpi-Benissan, general 
secretary of the Federation of Independent Unions of Togo, gave a 
presentation to the plenary session of the Western Hemisphere Workers' 
Conference Against NAFTA and Privatizations.

During his presentation, Gbikpi-Benissan invited all conference 
delegates to attend and support a meeting in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, 
aimed at preparing the International Tribunal to Judge Those 
Responsible for the Murderous Course Imposed on the Workers and 
Peoples of Africa .

We reprint below the report on the Abidjan meeting by Brother 
Gbikpi-Bennisan. A bulletin with all the adopted resolutions and reports 
has been published by the Western Hemisphere Conference 
Continuations Committee and can be ordered for $6 by writing to 
WHC, c/o San Francisco Labor Council, 1188 Franklin St. #203, San 
Francisco, CA 94109. -- ALAN BENJAMIN (WHC Assistant Coordinator)

************

On February 27-March 1, 1998, trade union leaders and political 
activists from 17 African countries gathered at an "International 
Symposium on the Globalization of the Economy and its Consequences 
in Africa." The meeting was held in Bingerville (near the capital city of 
Abidjan) in Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast). It was called by the Gas and 
Electrical Workers Federation of Côte d'Ivoire (SYNASEG) and the 
International Liaison Committee for a Workers' International (ILC).

The decision to convene such a gathering was taken at a conference of 
trade unionists in Geneva, Switzerland, in June 1997, on the occasion 
of the yearly assembly of the International Labor Organization (ILO). At 
that gathering, a draft appeal was drawn up for an International Tribunal 
to Judge Those Responsible for the Murderous Course Imposed on the 
Workers and Peoples of Africa. The Abidjan symposium was thus 
centered on the preparation of this tribunal.

A delegation of the ILC participated in the discussions, as did French 
trade unionists who are members of the French sponsoring committee 
for the International Tribunal.

The resolutions and reports adopted by the delegates to this conference 
are of extreme importance insofar as they represent the collective 
thinking of trade unionists and activists committed to genuinely 
independent labor and political action on a continent devastated by the 
plans of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. 

The International Tribunal projected by the delegates was not, of 
course, exclusively an African tribunal. The disastrous situation in 
which the African continent has been plunged is the result of a 
worldwide process fueled by global capitalism -- particularly by U.S. 
capitalism.

This is why all the delegates at the Abidjan conference enthusiastically 
welcomed the greetings sent jointly by the coordinators of the Western 
Hemisphere Workers' Conference Against NAFTA & Privatizations and 
a leading Black trade union activist in San Francisco Bay Area.

In the same vein, the delegates adopted an Appeal in Support of the 
Iraqi People, in which they hailed the growing opposition to war among 
American workers and people as well as the courageous stance taken by 
the San Francisco Labor Council (AFL-CIO) against U.S. intervention 
in Iraq. In their own appeal, the Abidjan conference delegates called 
especially on "Black workers in the United States to fully play their role, 
as they have been doing, in preventing any U.S. military aggression 
against Iraq."

The Abidjan Conference organized its work around three 
commissions:

(1) Preparation of the Appeal for an International Tribunal;

(2) Gathering the first elements of the Act of Accusation on the basis 
of the delegates' presentations and a memorandum; and

(3) Preparation of a resolution on the meaning of the defense of the 
international norms defined by the International Labor Organization 
(ILO) for the labor movement and the workers of Africa. This resolution 
would serve as a contribution to the forum convened in Geneva on June 
7, 1998, on the occasion of the 86th session of the yearly ILO 
assembly.

The resolution in the defense of ILO Norms and Conventions states in 
part:

"The offensive by global capitalism is aimed at lowering the cost of 
labor in every country. This implies the destruction of the rules and 
norms codifying the rights won by the workers in all sectors. This 
offensive aims at generalizing deregulation and flexibility -- and even 
jeopardizes the very existence of wages, as shown by the way in which 
civil servants' wages often go unpaid by the African States.

"In Africa, the axis of this offensive is the destruction of labor codes, 
which are an integral part of the gains of the workers' struggle for 
national independence.

"The destruction of labor codes leads to wars and the disintegration of 
the States set up after independence. Therefore defending all the rights 
included in these Labor Codes, especially trade union rights -- 
particularly the right to strike, demands that the trade unions be totally 
independent from the international financial institutions as well as from 
the governments in their service.

"The defense of our rights, won through centuries of struggle by the 
labor movement, cannot be separated from the defense of the 
international norms codified by the ILO conventions."

Like the Western Hemisphere Workers' Conference Against NAFTA 
& Privatizations and, later, the Berlin Conference for the Abrogation of 
Maastricht, the Abidjan conference was organized to promote the 
worldwide resistance of exploited and oppressed peoples to the 
devastating course propelled by global capitalism's exploitation and 
speculation.

We hope you will send for the documents of the Abidjan conference -- 
especially the appeal to set up an International Tribunal. We urge you to 
assist in developing a strong network in every country in support of the 
work undertaken by the conference delegates. We particularly look 
forward to receiving your endorsement of the International Tribunal.

You can send all correspondence to my attention at the National 
Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Togo, at the following fax 
number in Togo (please phone before hand): Tel : 011- 228- 225- 054-
777; Fax: 207-413.

 Please send copies of your correspondence to the ILC, 87, rue du Fg 
St Denis, 75010 Paris, France, fax : 011- 331-48 01 88 36; e-mail : 
mjo@wanadoo.fr

*******************************************************


WESTERN HEMISPHERE WORKERS CONFERENCE 
CONTINUATIONS COMMITTEE

c/o San Francisco Labor Council, 1188 Franklin St. #203, San 
Francisco, CA 94109

Feb. 26, 1998

To the Organizers of the Preliminary Organizing Meeting of the 
African Tribunal Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

We send you fraternal greetings on the occasion of your Preliminary 
Organizing Meeting on Feb. 27-March 1 in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire.

We were pleased to meet Brother Norbert Gbikpi-Bennisan of the 
National Federation of Independent Unions of Togo when he was out in 
San Francisco last November at the Western Hemisphere Workers' 
Conference. We warmly welcomed his invitation to your gathering and 
were most glad to hear his report about the current situation in Africa 
and the very important initiative you have taken to judge those 
responsible for the murderous course imposed on the workers and 
peoples of that continent. 

Throughout the world, the multinational corporations are destroying 
the basic rights working people have fought so hard to win. They are 
seeking to destroy the trade union movement as such. In the case of 
Africa, it is clear that these attacks are far more devastating than 
anywhere else. The growing number of so-called "ethnic" wars -- 
resulting from the dislocation of the nation states by the IMF's structural 
adjustment plans -- is most alarming.

As we write you this letter, the U.S. government itself is fomenting 
war in the Gulf region. Although the threat of military intervention may 
have subsided for the moment, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine 
Albright issued a statement on Feb. 23 that the U.S. continued to 
"reserve the unilateral right to strike militarily against Iraq at any time we 
feel our interests are threatened" -- highlighting that the danger of war 
remains high.

A growing number of union members and working people in the 
United States do not endorse the bombing of the Iraqi people and the 
unnecessary killing and maiming of innocent people that this would 
mean. On Feb. 24, the San Francisco Labor Council adopted a 
resolution opposing the war in the Gulf. The resolution states in part:

"[T]he San Francisco Labor Council calls on the AFL-CIO and all 
local unions, international unions, state federations of labor and central 
labor bodies to publicly oppose the bombing of Iraq, and demand an 
immediate halt to the U.S. military build-up in the Gulf, and the lifting 
of the deadly sanctions against Iraq."

We are terribly sorry we are unable to be with you in Abidjan on this 
occasion. We wish you a successful meeting and ask that you please 
send us all your publications so that we can build support for your 
efforts in this country.

In Solidarity,
Ed Rosario,
Coordinator,
Western Hemisphere Conference
Karega Hart
Labor activist
Alan Benjamin
Asst. Coordinator
Western Hemisphere Conference







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