e-mail: also@also-zentrum.de
THE LIST OF DEMANDS FOLLOWING IN THE EUROPEAN ASSISES - BRUSSELS,
22nd-23rd FEBRUARY 1997
THE FIGHT AGAINST UNEMPLOYMENT, JOB INSECURITY AND EXCLUSION,
WE ARE MARCHING TO AMSTERDAM.
At the European Assisses in Brussels on the 22nd-23rd February
1997,
for the European March against unemployment,job insecurity and
exclusion, we have observed taken due notice of the disasterous
effects of the Maastricht Treaty and we reject the neo-liberale
convergences criteria. We have decided to act world-wide and to
organise the marchs on the Florence Appeal basis published in
June
1996, and which we confirm. Based on this collective text, we
have
decided to launch a debat for real alternatives which we have
already
started to discuss which we call the presentatin of demands. These
debats will be carried on all along the march and we will decide
on
the results of these actions what outcome we will give our debats
and
what future form will the European network for the struggle against
unemployment,
1. We the unemployed, and employed workers from all over Europe
have
decided to come TOGETHER to march on Amsterdam.
Amsterdam., because in June 1997, the representatives
of European
governments are meeting for the next InterGovernmental Conference.
Together, because we know that unity is strength and greater than
all
our differences.
2. TOGETHER, we are marhing to express our anger :
The whole of Europe has the economic drive of a global power.
And yet
unemployment and despair are growing alongside.
This winter, thousands of men and women died from despair.
Officially, the number of unemployed registered in the European
Union
has more than 20 million people officially unemployed. 50 million
people live below the poverty line. 5 million people have no homes.
Each and every one of us could become victim to this system, which
is
pulling wages, social rights andwelfare down to a level below
human
dignity.
Businesses throughout Europe are making more intense demands on
the
worker-force, while the more vunerable are being pushed out of
the
market place. This repression and regression of collective rights
gained over the past century, coupled with the submissive acceptance
of flexible work hours and job insecurity, is increasingly the
daily
lot of millions of workers.
Women are especially targeted : part-time jobs, lower wages, and
jobs
with no prospects of gaining qualifications are often the only
employment offered. They are the also first victims of any social
cut-backs. Men are now having to accept these same conditions
because they have no alternative.
Thousands of small holders are dragged down by bankruptcy every
year,
and are forced to leave their land in favour of larger groups
farming
massives areas with total disregard for the fine ecological balance
of the countryside.
Immigrants are heavily exploited and hunted down like criminals.
Unable to satisfy the draconian immigration laws andbecome legal
citizens, they are forced into a clandestine existence where they
work in deplorable conditions and live in unsupportable circumstances.
Families hit by unemployment and job insecurity find themselves
evicted from their homes and split up and forced into the streets,
while at the same time there are hundreds of thousands of square
feet
remain unoccupied in Europe's large towns and cities.
Young people have no chance of dignified employment, are left
without
a decent income, and deprived of any means of existence. Even
before
they experience working for a living, they have be shown the door.
Insecurity in all sectors of life is growing. The people in Europe
are increasingly fearful about the future because of the lack
of
realistic proposals and they are becoming increasingly insular.
The
social climate is encourages the seeds of nationalism,
fundamentalism, racism and xenophobia .
3. TOGETHER we are marching to express our anger, because this
social
crisis can be avioded.
Even though unemployment is rising the money supplied has
not dried
up. It has simply become more concentrated in the hands of the
few,
who are forcing their ideas on all countries : cynical ideals
of
larger profit; the supremacy of high finance and speculation;
a
concentration of production means, coupled with repression of
rights;
competition setting workers of one country against workers of
another; the relentless domination of market forces in every walk
of
life; all public services under attack and beingsqueezed throughout
Europe -education, health, social security, the arts, transport
and
communication, energy, etc.
At the turn of this century, the push towards capitalism (re-named
the free market or neo-liberalism), is forcing a division between
the countries of Europe and those of the East and South.This push
has
an objective -greater profits; a weapon -unemployment; a European
and
global result -a terrible social, human and ecological disaster.
4. TOGETHER, we are marching because we are against the way
Europe
is being built -without us and against us.
We are uniting beause we refuse to live in a Europe where
the
economic drive makes the rich richer and the poor poorer. We want
the
economy, society and politics to serve the well-being of men and
women.
Decisions taken while Europe has been coming together does not
follow
this line -they are quite oppposed to it. We condemn this
decision-making procedure as being profoundly antidemocratic decision
making process. This procedure is often takes place in secret
without
any real public debate, or any effective consultation process.
This
procedure is an illustration of our main grievane concerning the
future of Europe which we totally reject : institutions acting
unaccountabley and against the wishes of the people, with a
society virtually dominated by multi-national groups of financiers..
Statements about prioritizing employment often hide directives
which
are aimed at reducing the rights of employed and unemployed workers.
The economic convergence criteria contained in the Maastricht
Treaty
are being used by governments to justify anti-social measures
which
widen the inequality gap. We are marching against these criteria
which are squeezing the unemployed and workers across the whole
of
Europe.
5 TOGETHER the unemployed and employed workers from across
Europe,
are marching because we want a DIFFERENT Europe.
The Free market Europe prescribed by the convergence criteria
in the
Maastricht Treaty, does not appeal to us. We want another Europe.
We
want a Europe of solidarity, open and welcoming. We want a Europe
of
citizenship, of freedom, of democracy; incompatible with despair
and
massive unemployment. We want a Europe which is for the people
, open
to people from the world over, with equal relations with the East
and
the South.
We call for exclusion to be out-lawed. We say that everything
which
causes millions of us to be confined to a life of despair,
unemployment and social exclusion should be out-lawed. We declare
illegal redundancies and dismissals; we declare illegal all
evictions, all refusal of civic and social rights.
The InterGovernmental Conference of Amsterdam will not set in
place
any effective action against unemployment and exclusion. It is
our
uderstanding that measures making employment a priority, will
further increase the insecurity of both unemployed and salaried
workers.
We are calling for a Europe-wide solution against unemployment,
providing a radical and determined approach. And we know that
major
changes take a massive mobilisation of forces, highlighting the
struggle by everyone hit or threatened in Europe by unemployment
and
exclusion, workers, and the unemployed, the young, the old and
small
holders.
For years, individually, in each and every European country, groups
of unemployed and employed workers, voluntary organisations and
unions have re-acted. Demonstrations, actions by unemployed groups,
job requisitions, squats of empty buildings, actions by those
people
without residency permits, strikes and demonstrations for social
rights or for the reduction of the working week, and the struggle
for
women's rights.
The international Marches in April May and June are an opportunity
to
show that Europeans can act TOGETHER WITHOUT FRONTIERS. Our actions
will multiply throughout Europe -taking over empty dwellings,
joint
demonstrations and actions by unemployed groups and workers in
their
place of employment, rallies where the population are invited
to have
their say.
6. Against Unemployment, Job Insecurity and Social Exclusion
in
Europe and throughout the world we are proposing :
6.1 The right to work
for everyone who wants one with a decent wage.
This will result in the end of imposed part-time and insecure
contracts.
6.2 The right to an income for all those not working, enabling
them
to live in a dignified manner.
This includes the young.
6.3 A massive and concerted drive to cut the working week throughout
Europe.
Without a drop in income, or an increase in individual output
and
coupled with the necessary job creation. The argument of
"International competitiveness" put forward against
this proposal in
each country, would disappear when we unite and fight together.
6.4 The additional creation of cultural, ecological and social
jobs.
6.5 A halt to the Free Market politics destroying social rights
throughout Europe, and the convergence of social advantages towards
those offering the highest amount.
The right to education; the right to full health care; social
protection
extended to all; equal access to a full range of quality public
services; the right to a decent retirement income.
6.6 The right to a dwelling for all throughout Europe.
A decent and permanent home. An end to evictions for tenants hit
by
economic problems. The end to bad housing and homelessness.
6.7 A Europe where men and women are equal.
Equality of income, rights and treatment. The refusal to accept
false
solutions to unemployment, which aims to force women to stay in
the
home or only take part-time jobs.
6.8 A Europe, open and free, without racism or xenophobia.
Unemployment is not caused by immigrant populations but by the
chase
for profit. We reject any notion of a "National" or
"European"
preference. We want a Europe with open frontiers where people
are not
lvictims of any form of discrimination, and where people have
full
citizenship. A Europe where asylum seekers and immigrants can
get
papers. Where the Freedom of Movement is not limited to capital
and
goods. The right to move freely and to freely set up home, regardless
of nationality.
7 An end to unemployment and soial exclusion can only happen through
a fundamental redistribution of wealth and a relentless struggle
against all forms of speculation. We call for economic solutions
which represent the well-being of the greatest number of people
preserving the human and ecological balances.
8 These propositions are not set in tablets of stone. We know
that
many of them will provoke discussion, and that is our aim. We
are
marching so a debate reaching the heart of our society, on the
nature
and practices of work, throughout Europe, across the world, are
not
held and resolved in secret. We are marching to acclaim to the
people
of Europe that now is the time, TOGETHER, to look after their
own
affairs.
We are marching on Amsterdam, on the InterGovernmental Conference
to
make our voices heard and to put forward the demands of those
"without a voice", the unemployed, the homeless, the
young and the
workers. We are marching ... and we invite you to join us. You
can
help us in our struggle. Make your voice heard, participate,
publicise our initiative, help us financially.
From every corner of Europe, come with us to Amstedam on June
14th
1997 : join in the demonstration to the very last day of the
International March against Unemployment, Job Insecurity and Social
Exclusion.
We are moving, united and TOGETHER, to re-invent the future!
Summary :
1 - This draft manifesto is for wide distributed in your organization
before the Brussels meeting of the 22nd and 23rd February 1997.
2 - This draft manifesto is included in the proposed agenda for
the
Brussels meeting, to be discussed as follows :
-Saturday afternoon during the workshops
-20 : 00, Saturday - A special workshop on the manifesto where
all
amendments should be handed in.
-15 : 00, Sunday - Presentation of the amended text by the manifesto
workshop in plenary session.
3 - All decisions at Brussels should be by
[[threesuperior]]consensus[[twosuperior]]... as we have little
time. It will
therefore be necessary to take all our
differences into consideration and to maintain an open mind and
not
to seek to put EVERYTHING into a document that is drafted under
such
circumstances.
4 - If you have any amendment propositions, please present them
at
Brussels, in a written and succinct format (taking into account
the
general balance of the text). Please provide the proposals in
English and French, if possible.
5 - All Associations and Trade Unions are invited to present a
text
putting forward their own analyses and propositions on a maximum
of
two sides of one page (A4).
European Secretariat of the EuroMarch in Paris, Contact: Christoph
Aguiton ( AC!), France, Voice/Fax: +33-1-43495037,
e-mail: aguiton@sud.unions.eu.org.