Worth reading. They appear to have a smoking gun on AFL/ACILS collusion in preparatory events for the coup and AFL lying about it to their members in California.
-Robert Naiman, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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This Resolution has been passed by the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council, the San Francisco Labor Council, the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council and several unions. It will be on the agenda at the California State Federation of Labor Convention in San Diego July 13-14. The resolution will need the support of a majority of unions and delegates to carry. If you are a delegate to the Convention, your support is vital. The issues surrounding AFL-CIO activities abroad have been pending for many years, It is high time to make some changes.
RESOLUTION TO BUILD UNITY AND TRUST AMONG WORKERS WORLDWIDE
WHEREAS, the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council (SBLC) and its affiliate, Plumbers and Fitters Local 393 presented the ³Clear the Air Resolution² at the July 24,2002 California State Federation of Labor Convention (CalFed). Though many delegates had current concern about Venezuela, ³Clear the Air² outlined an AFL-CIO role leading to the 1973 coup in Chile and, among other things, called upon the AFL-CIO, ³to fully account for what was done in Chile and other countries where similar roles may have been played in our name, to renounce such policies and practices..., describe, country by country, exactly what activities it may still be engaged in abroad with funds paid by government agencies and renounce any such ties that could compromise our authentic credibility and the trust of workers here and abroad and that would make us paid agents of government or of the forces of corporate economic globalization²; and
WHEREAS, leaders of the State Federation presented a substitute resolution, ³Looking Ahead on AFL-CIO Policy Abroad,² calling ³upon the AFL-CIO to convene a meeting with the State Federation and interested affiliates in California to discuss their present foreign affairs activities involving government funds. The aim of the meeting will be to clear the air concerning AFL-CIO policy abroad and to affirm a policy of genuine global solidarity²; and
WHEREAS, leaders of the State Federation, the SBLC, Local 393 and UFCW Local 428 negotiated an agreement to accept the compromise ³Looking Ahead² resolution, based explicitly on the understanding that the meeting with the AFL-CIO had the burden of satisfying the outlined concerns and if it failed to do so, then the original ³Clear the Air² resolution would require implementation. In calls for unity, that understanding was clearly stated on the floor of the convention without discord or disagreement; and
WHEREAS, when, after 15 months of delays, the meeting with the AFL-CIO finally took place on 10/14/2003, those in attendance were assured that the AFL-CIO¹s total ³solidarity program² with the Venezuelan Labor Confederation (CTV) - top leaders of which had acted in pivotal collusion with the employers association (FEDECAMARAS) to try to force the democratically elected president, Hugo Chavez, into exile in April 2002 - amounted to less than $20,000 in support of the Confederation¹s internal democratization process; and
WHEREAS, newly released government documents reveal that the AFL-CIO¹s American Center for International Labor Solidarity (ACILS) received a 2002 grant of $116,001, awarded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) under ³the authority contained in P.L. 98-164, as amended...and Grant No. S-L MAOM-02-H-0054 between the United States Department of State and the National Endowment for Democracy..,² part of $703,927 that had been granted by NED to ACILS between 1997 and 2002 for ACILS work in Venezuela. During 2001 NED granted $154,377 to ACILS as part of a massive increase in NED funding that year to $877,000 for activities which coincide directly with the efforts of the Bush administration leading to the April 11, 2002 coup in oil rich Venezuela; and
WHEREAS, according to ACILS ³VENEZUELA: QUARTERLY REPORT 2001-045 January to March 2002,² ³The CTV and FEDECAMARAS...held a national conference on March 5...to identify common objectives as well as areas of cooperation...the culminating event of some two months of meetings and planning...during which the two organizations announced a Œnational accord¹...The joint action further established the CTV and FEDECAMARAS as the flagship organizations leading the growing opposition to the Chavez government² ONE MONTH BEFORE THE COUP; and
WHEREAS, in that report ACILS said it helped to ³support the event in planning stages, organizing the initial meetings with...FEDECAMARAS... Solidarity Center (ACILS) provided assistance for the five regional preparatory meetings ...held between January 22nd and March 1st... The March 5 national conference was financed primarily by counterpart funds." (Money from ACILS); and
WHEREAS, this appears to contradict what we were told on 10/14/03 by the AFL-CIO International Affairs Department (IAD) and indicates that either the IAD was not candid with us, or that ACILS, directed by Harry Kamberis, whose background is in government foreign service, is operating in the name of, but beyond the knowledge and control of the AFL-CIO as part of the Bush administration¹s drive for regime change in Venezuela, a replay of the Nixon administration¹s bloody collusion in crimes in Chile over 30 years ago; therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, that we do not consider that taking U.S. government money and passing it abroad in pursuit of the policies of Corporate America and George W. Bush to be honest international labor solidarity and we call upon the AFL-CIO to halt any ACILS intervention in Venezuelan electoral processes or to support efforts to depose the democratically elected government of Venezuela; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we reiterate our support for the ³Clear the Air² resolution and its basic demand to call upon the AFL-CIO ³to fully account for what was done in Chile (and Venezuela) and other countries where similar roles may have been played in our name, to renounce such policies and practices..., describe, country by country, exactly what activities it may still be engaged in abroad with funds paid by government agencies and renounce any such ties that could compromise our authentic credibility and the trust of workers here and abroad and that would make us paid agents of government or of the forces of corporate economic globalization²; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this resolution be sent to all affiliates and all California central labor bodies, to seek their support for bringing it before the next convention of the California State Federation of Labor and, upon passage, that this resolution be sent to all state federations and affiliated national and international unions asking them to pass similar resolutions to change AFL-CIO foreign policy and operations and to send such resolutions to the Federation for immediate attention in order to move forward together in creating trust and unity among workers worldwide.
For background information, see articles by Kim Scipes at http://labornotes.org/archives/2004/02/articles.b.html <http://labornotes.org/archives/2004/02/articles.b.html> http://labornotes.org/archives/2004/04/articles/e.html http://lists.topica.com/lists/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/read/message.html?mid=17 16286342
and
http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=5074 http://lists.topica.com/lists/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/read/message.html?mid=17 16279498 http://lists.topica.com/lists/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/read/message.html?mid=17 16475579 http://lists.topica.com/lists/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/read/message.html?mid=17 16638021 http://www.publiceye.org/research/Group_Watch/Entries-11.htm http://www.antiwar.com/paul/paul79.html http://www.zmag.org/ZMagSite/May2004/berkowitzpr0504.html <http://www.zmag.org/ZMagSite/May2004/berkowitzpr0504.html> http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/031404B.shtml
<http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/031404B.shtml> A number of related articles are available on the USLAW website in the archive at http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/search.php?q=National+Endowment+for+Democra cy--
Robert Naiman
Senior Policy Analyst
Venezuela Information Office
733 15th Street, NW Suite 932
Washington, DC 20005
t. 202-347-8081 x. 605
f. 202-347-8091
(*Please note new suite number and telephone*)
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The Venezuela Information Office is dedicated to informing the American public about contemporary Venezuela. More information is available from the FARA office of the Department of Justice in Washington, DC.
