Speech by M.G Suresh Kumar, Centre of Indian Trade Unions, India at the opening of the BRICS Trade Union Forum meeting at Durban on 23 March 2013 M.G Suresh Kumar, Centre of Indian Trade Unions, India, 24 March 2013 Chairperson of the session, Honourable minister, And other comrades present, receive our greetings. >From the onset of this meeting, I wish to congratulate COSATU and other trade unions of South Africa on behalf of CITU, the Indian trade union movement representing the revolutionary traditions for a well organized meeting. At this juncture, I wish to identify the context of this togetherness. We can see the upsurge of trade union movements all over the globe. There are joint struggles around the world against the anti-labour, anti-people policies, whether it is in the name of bail-outs, or in the name of financial restructuring or some other so-called developmental agenda. Unions are more and more understanding that they cannot save their interest just by engaging the neo-liberal developmental agenda or becoming a silent partner in the globalized economy. The struggles are gaining momentum since the struggle is not only about economic benefit of the workers but about linking these issues with a broader agenda to fight against neo-liberal policies and the oppression by imperialist forces. On BRICS trade union forum, as the Moscow declaration stated, the trade unions are on one side to foster together the locomotive to the world economic development, but with a creation of decent jobs, protection of labour, defending workers interest and attainment of social justice. BRICS, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa are having diverse interests, some times conflicting, coming together to foster cooperation between them. Such a movement can bring positive signals suggesting pluralism in the so called unipolar world. But just coming together and having bilateral, multilateral agreements alone can be viewed positive, it is not having a political content out playing the imperialistic interests in the region. We can not assume the position mechanically. We have to assess the class interests of the partners of this movement also. I, from the Republic of India, have seen a danger posed by the capitalistic capture of the national economic agenda by the newly emerged transnational corporations of my country. The Reliance, TATA, MITTAL, ADANI etc. the real characters behind the ruling class of India, they are trying to drive the agenda of BRICS towards their advantage. But on the other side, BRICS means that about half of global population controlling one fourth of the global GDP. Here comes the importance of a plan to drive a new agenda of cooperation among the people. The BRICS trade union forum should represent this fraternal unity among our people, as a mean of dialogue and cooperation. We the Center of Indian Trade Unions support this forum with this sense of understanding. We will be with all its activities, fostering trade union unity for increased cooperation among people and to fight out imperialism in this region. With these words let me conclude. Thank you.
-- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
