Original message posted to the "Truckers Unite" e-group.
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----- Original Message -----
From: mart
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 2004 10:21 PM
Subject: TRUCKERS UNITE! Fw: Emergency Appeal:
Free Michel Madassamy, Unionist in Guadeloupe!
Forward from mart.
PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY!
International Labor News
- Urgent Solidarity Appeal: Free Michel
Madassamy, Trade Unionist in Guadeloupe!
TRUCKERS UNITE!
UNION NOW! TEAMSTERS NOW!!
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----- Original Message -----
From: OWC [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: Recipient List Suppressed:
Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 2004 4:53 PM
Subject: Emergency Appeal: Free Michel
Madassamy, Unionist in Guadeloupe!
OWC CAMPAIGN NEWS - distributed by the Open
World Conference in Defense of Trade Union
Independence & Democratic Rights,
c/o S.F. Labor Council,
1188 Franklin St., #203, San Francisco,
CA 94109.
To SUBSCRIBE, contact the OWC at
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Phone: (415) 641-8616 Fax: (415) 440-9297.
Visit our website at www.owcinfo.org
Emergency Appeal from Ed Rosario, OWC
Co-Coordinator:
Free Michel Madassamy, Trade
Unionist in Guadeloupe!
Tuesday, November 2nd, 2004
Attention:
All Supporters of the OWC,
All Supporters of Labor & Democratic Rights
Dear Sister and Brothers:
Last October 8, I sent out a letter informing you about the unlawful arrest and
detention of Michel ("Mada") Madassamy, a leader of the General Union of Workers of
Guadeloupe (UGTG).
Guadeloupe, as you may know, is a French "Overseas Department" -- that is, colony --
in the Caribbean. The UGTG union federation has been especially targeted for
repression by the French authorities because of its intransigent defense of workers'
independent interests and because of its call for the independence of Guadeloupe from
France.
As I reported in my last letter, on Monday, October 4, several heavily armed men in
masks brought in directly from France forcibly removed Mada, as he is known widely,
from his vehicle and took him to the colonial jail in Baie-Mahault. They had no order
for his arrest.
Mada is being detained in violation of the French government's
own due-process regulations on two charges:
1) organizing a peaceful demonstration on May 27, 2001, which demanded that this Day
of Remembrance of the Abolition of
Slavery be made a paid national holiday;
and
2) allegedly breaking the windshield of a Texaco truck in 2003 during a union protest
over the layoff of three Texaco union drivers following a bitter strike.
For these "crimes" -- all of which were rammed through a kangaroo court without
witnesses, cross-examination, or even the admission of evidence -- Mada was sentenced
to 13 months in jail and ordered to pay 60,000 Euros in fines.
According to Article D 49-1 of the French penal code, Mada should have been brought
before the court for his sentencing and incarceration; instead, he was literally
kidnapped by special French security forces and locked up without any legal recourse
whatsoever.
The day after his detention, on October 5, Mada began a hunger strike. Today, his life
is in grave danger. He already risks suffering irreversible brain damage.
I had the honor and privilege of traveling to Guadeloupe in December 2002, where I
participated in a Caribbean Workers' Conference sponsored by the UGTG union federation
and the International Liaison Committee. There I met Brother Mada, who took me to
visit the striking workers at Texaco Oil Corp. I was honored to have met Mada and
these fighting unionists.
I am deeply concerned about Mada's failing health.
In response to this arbitrary and brazen act of repression against Mada and against
the entire UGTG federation, mass protests have broken out across the island.
The UGTG and 18 other major trade unions and political organizations in Guadeloupe, as
well as leading personalities, constituted a Committee Against the Repression of the
Trade Unions and called on the people of Guadeloupe to mobilize.
Mass demonstrations of 7,000 people -- the equivalent of 500,000 people in France --
took to the streets to demand Mada's release from prison.
On October 11, a general strike was declared by the UGTG -- a strike which three days
later had won the support of all the other trade union bodies of Guadeloupe. The
longshore workers have shut down all the ports -- which is the primary commercial
activity on the island. All the commercial centers, banks, steel plants, construction
sites, public offices, movie
'theaters, small shops, restaurants and schools have been closed. From every quarter,
the people and workers of Guadeloupe are demanding freedom for Mada.
The Antilles newspaper is accusing the union of promoting chaos, claiming that the
strike -- as one headline put it -- is responsible for a "daily loss of seven billion
euros."
On October 21, the 19 organizations comprising the Committee Against Repression,
issued a communiqu� in which they denounced "the colonial power's arbitrary arrests of
political and trade union activists and its
disregard for the appeals of elected officials."
Indeed, countless high-ranking elected officials on the island -- including the mayors
of the main cities of Guadeloupe -- issued a press release demanding Mada's immediate
release. They stated:
"We, the undersigned elected officials, consider that the release of Michel Madassamy,
who has been on a hunger strike since October 5 and has placed his life in danger, is
necessary to restore civil peace. ... This arrest and the risks run by Madassamy by
his hunger strike have provoked
the greatest uneasiness in the Guadeloupan community."
Likewise, the City Council of Port-Louis, issued a press release in which it "offers
its support to Michel Madassamy and invites the people of Guadeloupe to mobilize to
end the repression against trade union leaders in Guadeloupe."
For all these reasons, I appeal for your support. We must act now to save the life of
Michel Madassamy and to ensure that trade union and democratic rights are respected in
Guadeloupe.
Please add your name (and list your title, for identification only) to the Open Letter
below to French President Jacques Chirac, urging the immediate release from jail of
Michel {"Mada") Madassamy.
We will be sending this letter to the French Embassy in Washington, DC tomorrow,
Wednesday, November 3rd. We need your signature and that of your organization, if at
all possible.
Please fill out the endorser coupon following the letter and return it to us ASAP to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] , and also please send a copy to the UGTG federation to [EMAIL
PROTECTED] and to [EMAIL PROTECTED] as soon as
possible.
Thank you for your anticipated support.
Always In Solidarity,
Eduardo Rosario
Open World Conference Continuations Committee
************
Open Letter to French President Jacques Chirac
(sign-on letter; please endorse!)
Jacques Chirac
President of France
Palais de l'Elys�e,
55, rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honor�,
75 008 Paris.
Fax: 011-331- 4292-8117
Dear Mr. President,
We, the undersigned, have been informed of the arbitrary
arrest last October 4 of Michel Madassamy, a trade union
leader of the General Union of Workers of Guadeloupe
(UGTG).
Michel Madassamy's life is in grave danger, as he has
been carrying out a hunger strike since October 5.
We join all the trade union federations, political
organizations, civic associations and elected officials in
Guadeloupe in their call for the immediate release of
Brother Madassamy from the Baie-Mahault jail in
Guadeloupe.
We also call on the French authorities to put an end
to the repression against all UGTG trade unionists and
to ensure the full respect of trade union rights in
Guadeloupe.
Sincerely,
Initial List of Signatories:
Ed Rosario *
President,
GCIU Local 4-N;
Co-Coordinator,
Open World Conference
Continuations Committee
San Francisco, Calif.
Alan Benjamin *
SFLC Delegate, OPEIU Local 3;
Co-Coordinator,
Open World Conference
Continuations Committee
San Francisco, Calif.
Clarence Thomas *
Executive Board, ILWU Local 10;
Co-Chair, Million Worker March
Oakland, Calif.
Ralph Schoenman
Co-Producer, Taking Aim, Pacifica Radio
Chair, Publicity Committee, Million Worker March
Vallejo, Calif.
(* = for identification purposes only)
-----
cc. Union Generale des Travailleurs de Guadeloupe
rue Paul-Lacav�, 97 110 Pointe-�-Pitre,
Guadeloupe.
Fax : 05 90 89 08 70.
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
and
Entente internationale des travailleurs et des peuples
87, rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis,
75 010 Paris.
Fax : 01 48 01 88 36.
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
*****
SIGN-ON/ENDORSEMENT COUPON
[ ] Please Add My Name to the Open Letter to French President Jacques Chirac Demanding
Freedom for Michel Madassamy of Guadeloupe
NAME
UNION/ORG
TITLE (for id. only)
CITY
STATE
EMAIL
(please fill out and return to [EMAIL PROTECTED])
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