------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the July 10, 2003 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
PERU--THE STRUGGLE IS BACK: NATIONAL STRIKE ACTIONS GROW
By Silvia Tello
As Washington was preparing to invade Iraq, the Peruvian people decided not to remain silent in the face of such an injustice. Having experienced years of oppresion and uprising, student, religious and environmental movements and socialist parties spoke out with protests in Lima and other Peruvian cities.
Starting on March 28, widespread calls were made on television and radio for big marches to make the people's voices heard.
The chants at these protests were reminiscent of the days when Peru, as a suffering Latin American country, rose up frequently. They reflected a culture still carrying in its blood the desire for socialism, freedom, a better society and, above all, struggle.
Demonstrators marched on the U.S. Embassy, which had tried to prevent their presence. A few minutes of silence were held for the innocent blood spilled and the lives lost. That was the only moment of silence; the protest continued until dawn with dances and chants such as: "We don't want to be or feel like a U.S. colony," "The people of Iraq, our innocent friends, Peru is with you," and "Alert, alert! Anti-imperialism is loose in Latin America."
The choice in the 2001 presidential elections was between a liar and a thief: Alejandro Toledo or Alan Garcia. Garcia, a former president, ran again despite six years of looting the treasury and human-rights violations. Toledo was elected and became president on April 8, 2001. He promised salary increases for teachers, part of what he called his "government of education," but two years later teachers' wages stand at a miserable $120 a month.
So on May 12 a teachers' struggle began, with a massive protest and a very strong, never before seen, national strike demanding their rights. Teachers took to the streets and the plazas. And many other public- sector workers joined the fight to demand dignity, recognition and the salary increases they deserve.
The president has assigned himself a monthly salary of $18,000; members of Congress get $15,000 and regional presidents $10,000, while the teachers survive on less than $200. That is why the people are saying: Yes, there is money. You give handfuls of it to the International Mon etary Fund for the payment of a fraudulent foreign debt.
The IMF imposes policies on Peru that regard education as a burden on the national budget--which is why the politicians say there is no money-- and at the same time see it as a business opportunity for some people. So while they try to cut the budget, they also encourage privatization. In Peru, while for-profit schools increase, public education has been virtually abandoned by the government.
Two weeks of powerful strikes by some 280,000 teachers demanding a doubling of their salaries cornered the government and showed its weaknesses. The strength of this movement attracted other sectors. It ended in a strong national strike that brought the Toledo government to the edge of collapse.
Toledo called on military troops and tanks to take care of the situation. He declared a state of emergency--in the name of democracy. Despite this, some groups of teachers still came out and continued protesting, refusing to return to work. The government threatened that those continuing with the protests would be fired.
With the conclusion of this strike--though not the teachers' or the Peruvian people's struggle--the government launch ed the paquetazo. This is a package of neo-liberal economic measures against the population that is supposed to achieve fiscal equilibrium while resolving the problem of social demands.
The regional fronts are now organizing a July 17 national strike against the paquetazo. The people are saying no; they will try to prevent the IMF's "adjustment" policies and the deterioration of the lives of working people
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