Daily Independent, Nigeria.png
Foreigners' lust for natural resources major challenges to Africa - WFTU Silvester Enoghase, The Daily Independent, Lagos, Nigeria, 4 July 2014 The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) has lamented the persistent lust among multinationals and foreign governments for natural resources feeds, imperialism, wars and promotion of terrorist organisations, which it said are the greatest challenges to Africa. Spokesperson of WFTU, Alexandra Liberi, while reviewing sidelines of the just concluded 103rd International Labour Conference (ILC) in Geneva, Switzerland at the weekend, told international journalists that plans are afoot by WFTU to demand actual solutions and improve quality of life on the Continent. WFTU, she continued, is worried about the ongoing wars and activities of terrorist organisations funded from, and with "connections from abroad, such as Boko Haram causing suffering to the people of Africa. "We have worked hard and collectively with our African affiliates to implement the Action Plan that we decided in 2013 in order to expose the problems of the African working class, to organize the struggle against their real causes and demand actual solutions for the betterment of the quality of life." According to Liberi, the deep and prolonged crisis of the capitalist system generates poverty, unemployment and suffering for the workers and big profits for the capitalists. "We are very worried about the rise of the neo-fascist political parties in Europe, about the strengthening of racism and xenophobia. It's the duty of all unions to isolate the fascists in every sector and in all workplaces", she said. Speaking on the main causes of problems in the African continent, and how they can be tackled , Liberi said "in November we are calling the trade Union Organizations in Africa, namely our affiliates and friends, to meet in the third Pan-African Trade Union Meeting in Sudan to analyze the developments and take important decisions" On the future plans of the WFTU, she said "I hope that COSATU will have joined us by then, having fulfilled its Congress Resolution to affiliate to the WFTU, despite the undemocratic tactics of part of its leadership. "This section of the COSATU leadership, including its General Secretary, blocks the democratically concluded Congress Resolution since 2012 to serve petty self-interests. I am confident because such tactics are strange with the militant traditions and the revolutionary spirit of COSATU's trade unions and members", she however stressed. Meanwhile, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) says a WikiLeaks exposé has revealed the true intent behind secret 50-country negotiations on a new financial services chapter of the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) at the WTO in Geneva. ITUC General Secretary, Sharan Burrow , while disclosing how the draft agreement being discussed by government officials is aimed at weakening financial regulation and giving extra market access to hedge funds, banks, insurers and other providers, described the revelation as deeply disturbing. "Governments are negotiating away financial regulation in secret, instead of tackling the unfinished regulation task that triggered the current global economic crisis in 2007. It defies belief that they are actually planning to help the already 'too big to fail' banks and other financial conglomerates to expand", she said "The negotiating governments even ignored the stipulations of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the usefulness of capital control measures both to prevent and to deal with crises," said John Evans, ITUC Chief Economist and General Secretary of the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC)", she however said. From: http://dailyindependentnig.com/2014/07/foreigners-lust-natural-resources-maj or-challenges-africa-wftu/ -- -- 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/d/optout.
