[Via... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] . . ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, June 09, 2001 11:44 PM Subject: [downwithcapitalism] Dutch anti-privatisation demo report passengers demonstrate against railway privatization On Saturday, 9 June, many demonstrators gathered in the big central hall of Utrecht Central Station, the biggest railway hub of The Netherlands. They had come to protest the privatization process of the Dutch railways; which means less workers' rights, and higher fares and worse safety for passengers. A blond female conductor next to an African immigrant passenger; from toddlers in their parents' perambulators to students to pensioners. Papers were present, like Dusnieuws (Anarchist), Manifest (Communist), De Socialist; also cameras of national SBS6 TV. Led by a samba band including Brazilians living in The Netherlands, they marched through the station to the inner city of Utrecht, wearing banners proclaiming worker- passenger solidarity, and shouting: The railways are not for sale! When they arrived at the directors' building of the railways, hundreds of demonstrators went inside through the revolving door. A spokesman demanded to see Mr Huisinga, the CEO. The commissionaire said he was not in. The passengers' spokesman was surprised; as the new regulations of the railways, due on 10 June, are widely predicted to cause chaos. Apparently, the railway bosses were not meeting to prevent that chaos. The demonstrators then glued a giant railway one way ticket to Warsaw [Poland] for the railways management to the commissionaire's room. This was because the management uses money to gamble, buying assets in Poland, while neglecting public transport in The Netherlands. I can only hope for the Polish people this management does not become as powerful in Poland as in The Netherlands. One of the first fruits of the privatization process was that management voted themselves salaries, three times as high as a government minister. As the demonstrators left to continue the march, some pies were thrown against the directors' building: like in slapstick movies, pie-ing exposes foolishness among the high and mighty. After continuing to march through the city center, the demonstrators went to De Kargadoor hall. There, a spokesman for the Passengers' Collective and trade union paper editor spoke; then, a historian on the over one hundred years' struggle tradition of Dutch railway workers, including during Hitler's occupation; finally, a Socialist Party MP. Then, a declaration of solidarity from Zambian labour activist Ms Malele Dodia was read to loud applause (in Zambia, also major struggles against IMF imposed privatisation and other hardships are going on right now). Then, debaters from the floor emphasized the need to strengthen local actions everywhere. >From next Monday on, the railway workers will do "work to rule" actions to protest the anti-worker, anti- passenger "reforms" by the management. The Passengers' Collective will support the workers' actions, forming locally active groups everywhere. Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
