The 23rd ISA Conference Statement

We delegates coming from Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Belgium, Canada, the US and the Philippines declare the 23rd International Solidarity Affair a resounding success. We affirm the need to look deeply on the global pressures and attacks by monopoly capital. We deem it as imperative that the working class not only fight these fierce battles inside their own country but also must confront the assault of capital globally.

We, the foreign delegates were alarmed and awakened by the experience we were derived from the exposures and the conference. Similarly, the local participants learned that the issues confronting the Philippine labor, its movement and the people have many similarities with labor and political issues in other countries.

We note the devastation and intense exploitation being brought to bear on the shoulders of labor by the neo-liberal regimes of flexibilization of labor. Millions of workers around the world continue to lose their jobs as capitalists turn more and more to these flexible labor schemes, leaving workers to compete for low paying jobs with no benefits, the denial of rights to unionise and other labor rights.

Moreover there is increasing incidents of hunger being felt by workers in the Philippines and elsewhere due to low wages and rising costs of living. Wages are driven down in the race to the bottom. In Australia, 457 visa schemes are pitting foreign workers against local workers to drive down wages and earn more profits for capitalists.

Social security, healthcare and pensions like those in Canada, Japan and the US, which the workers themselves have won in the past, are being taken away from them to fuel the Bush administration’s war on terror.

The Gloria Macapagal Arroyo administration has shown to the world that she is the number one lackey of US imperialism. The US-Arroyo regime has rendered laws protecting the rights of the workers and the Filipino people almost useless. Workers are left defenseless against labor flexibility, low wages and the direct attacks against the workers’ right to strike and organize like the total war launched by the Cojuangco family and Arroyo against workers of Hacienda Luisita which escalated in mass murders committed by the military on orders of Cojuangco and Arroyo.

Hence the 23rd ISA theme: “Defend and advance the Rights of the Working Class. Fortify Trade Union Resistance in the midst of Intensifying Crisis of Imperialist Globalization” gains deeper relevance.

Since the US launched the global war on terror in Iraq, Cuba, Venezuela, Afghanistan and the militarization in Southeast Asia and elsewhere, human and labor rights are being violated with impunity.

Moreover, the extra-judicial killings of labor and progressive leaders in the Philippines show that the US-Arroyo government is complicit in these crimes, lifting no finger to address them. The Arroyo government must be held accountable for these crimes. Lawlessness abounds, with a president whose method of governance would put to shame many of the most wanted war criminals and dictators in the world.

Labor and human rights is challenged today in the midst of the US war on terror. With anti-terror laws such as Security Certificate in Canada, the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2005 in Australia, the Anti-Conspiracy Bill in Japan, the Anti-Terrorism Bill in Taiwan and many more.

The Human Security Act effective on July 2007and similar laws elsewhere, or “mini Patriot Act,” will go further to erode what’s left of the rights that Filipino people and other peoples of the world have. More alarming is that these laws could very well exonerate the monsters and butchers who have committed these murders of labor and progressive leaders in the Philippines, since the Human Security Act could render the crimes unpunishable by law.

We are committed to monitor the development of these violations in the Philippines as well as the growing militarism in Japan and elsewhere. We must stand against these attacks on our political and human rights.

In defending and advancing the rights of the working class we resolve to do our share by struggling against these attacks at home and internationally by educating or uplifting social and political consciousness and mobilizing the workers and continuing to share the experiences of each country.

In fortifying trade union resistance in the midst of intensifying crisis of imperialist globalization we resolve to do the following:

• Organize studies and research on the current labor trends in each country with the purpose of educating the workers to fight the attacks of imperialism with specific focus on flexibilization of labor and wage,

• Organize local and international campaigns and protest actions against attacks on labor and human rights of workers and peoples in each country with specific focus on illegal detention, abductions and extra-judicial killings, and,

• Conduct international conferences as venue for sharing of experiences and plans against imperialists attacks.

This is our responsibility as members of the international labor movement. The 23rd International Solidarity Affairs affirms our deepest conviction to heighten the struggle and resistance against imperialism.

End imperialist world hegemony!
Support peoples struggle for national liberation!
Long live international solidarity!
Workers of the world unite!