European Marches against Unemployment - News and Archives
Dear friends,
We would like to introduce an initiative to you, which goes by the name of ATTAC and recently saw the light in France, based on an idea launched by Le Monde diplomatique, with a view to make proposals for an international campaign in parallel with a series of actions and meetings.
Our proposal is founded on a double acknowledgement: - The inescapable weight of international speculation and movement of capital increases day after day - the crisis in Indonesia is its latest expression - beyond the range of any type of democratic regulation. Both the States and their peoples are deprived of every effective means of intervention. - A great majority of instruments of resistance and countering forces are developed on a national basis whereas, should our efforts be co-ordinate d, our action possibilities would increase accordingly.
The "ATTAC" association was set up in France from a roundup of newspapers , associations and unions who not only wished to generate and circulate information on various aspects of the domination of finance capital, but also to engage in concrete action with the purpose of winning back the areas democracy has lost. This will to take action is not the exclusive prerogative of newspapers, unions or associations: on the contrary, even before the ATTAC association was constituted, thousands of letters from citizens throughout France and numerous other countries expressed their resolute will to militate in favour of such a project.
Our idea is to build up from precise proposals with a world-wide federative dimension, and in particular the "Tobin tax", which consists in levying a tax - albeit a minute tax - on each movement of capital on the foreign exchange market.
A further point would be to share experiments that are being developed in each of our countries and at continental level (American or European summit and counter-summit meetings etc.); to trigger a joint thought process on the principles of alternative options to the hegemony of capital outlined by those movements.
The ATTAC association in France refers to a charter, which you will find enclosed with the present letter. The founder members represent a variety of forces: first of all newspapers - in France, this is the first move of that type on such a scale - and trade unions (those taking part in ATTAC represent a significant fraction of the French union scene, otherwise quite divided); a farmers union; organisations of the unemployed, who were a driving force in the latest major action of the unemployed; movements fighting exclusion or defending womens rights etc.; and a comprehensive range of organisations, from Artisans du monde (World's Craftsmen) to the Confederation of Workers Co-operatives, and so on and so forth.
Our ambition is to be able to work in all the different countries with forces as diverse as those assembling in France are. We are aware that this may not be easy, since those liable to identify with our approach may be numerous in one country and very few in another. Action priorities can also vary significantly, depending on national or regional situation factors. Besides, association or union structures can already have other actio n prospects on their agenda. Of course the charter and prospects we bring to the fore can be subject to differences in appreciation. Therefore, we tend to be very careful in formulating our proposals.
Provided that an agreement emerges on the absolute necessity of running joint campaigns and organising joint actions against the dictatorship of financial markets and in favour of regulating international finance; on th e need of developing exchanges around the different mobilisation and resi stance experiments in our respective countries and continents, then all r emaining issues can be discussed internally. Therefore, we suggest that you discuss our proposals, consider whether prospective actions seem possible and then make contact with us. We intend to invite those who are able to come to an initial work session in Paris, in December this year, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Human Rights Declaration. The possibility of organising a great meeting on a world-wide scale, perhaps as soon as the month of July 1999, will be discussed there. We also envisage setting up a "counter-Davos" in January 1999.
The whole of the above proposals undoubtedly deserves close thought.
We suggest that you make contact with us to share your reactions on the core and with a view to arrange further debates relevant to these proposal s.
With our militant regards,
On behalf of the ATTAC Committee,
The chairman The general secretary
Bernard Cassen Christophe Aguiton
Contact:
"Marches europeennes contre le chomage, la precarite et les
exclusions"
104, rue des Couronnes
F-75020 Paris France
Tel : +33 1 44 62 63 44
Fax : +33 1 44 62 63 45
E-mail : marches97@ras.eu.org
URL: http://www.mygale.org/02/ras/marches/
Contact: "AC!", France, Voice/Fax: +33-1-43495037, e-mail: aguiton@sud.unions.eu.org.
Last Modified: October 1998