12) WFTU REPORTS ON SOLIDARITY MISSION TO MALI
Following the 2nd meeting of Panafrican affiliates of the World Federation of Trade Unions, held in Sudan in February 2013, a WFTU delegation travelled to Mali on May 19-21.
More than half of Mali's 14.5 million people survive on less than $1.25 per day, even though Mali is the third biggest producer of gold in Africa. Eighty percent of the population are involved in agriculture; cotton is the main product.
Mali has seen continuous instability and suffering following the autonomist extremist movement of jihadist groups in Northern Mali, the coup d'état of March 2012, and the French‑led imperialist intervention supported by NATO forces as well as African countries. The French government has announced that it will sustain a force of 1,000 soldiers indefinitely, adding to the 5,000 soldiers at its four bases in Africa. A "Donors Conference" is taking place in Brussels to decide upon the future of the country.
The mandate of the WFTU delegation was to examine the living and working conditions of the people of Mali, to hold bilateral discussions with the trade union movement, and to help strengthen international solidarity for the struggles of the Malian people.
The delegation included Abdou Isaaka from Niger, a representative of WFTU's Francophone African affiliates and a member of the WFTU Youth Secretariat, and Alexandra Liberi, representative from the Central Office of WFTU.
In Bamako, the capital city, the delegation visited the headquarters of the Malian Confederation UNTM, which was attacked during the coup in March 2012. They had a fruitful discussion with UNTM General Secretary Siaka Diakite, and Tibou Telly, General Secretary of the Education Union.
The UNTM leaders spoke about the conditions of the workers, the reasons that led to the conflict, and the problems of the displaced populations today, in the context of an election announced for July 28th.
Wider geostrategic developments were discussed, from Afghanistan, to Libya, to the conflict in Mali. In the UNTM's view, the profile cultivated by the French as "liberators of Mali" hides the imperialist interests for control of the region and its resources. Siaka Diakite denounced the strings attached to "donor funding for the reconstruction of Mali". His view was in agreement with the WFTU's analysis of the imperialist motives for intervention in the region.
The WFTU delegation visited the state textile industry to meet with the local trade union and the administration of the enterprise. At the Institute of Rural Economy, they discussed agricultural development and the WFTU campaign against high food prices.
A meeting was also held with local WFTU affiliates, to discuss the struggles of workers in Mali, as well as trade union coordination in the French‑speaking region of Africa and across the continent.
Ibrahima Toure, the 2nd Deputy General Secretary of UNTM, and General Secretary of SYNAPRO, one of the biggest affiliates of UNTM, welcomed the delegation to this meeting.
Alexandra Liberi, head of the WFTU Media and Communications Department noted:
"The people of Mali have suffered long from lack of education - since only 15% are enrolled in schools, from diseases that could have been made extinct if not for the multinationals' control of medicines, from food insufficiency, from a life expectancy which is only 53 years, from lack of access to water, even from slavery in some regions. Only half of the population has some access to electricity. All this misery was dramatically increased since the Malian people have been caught in the middle of regional and international imperialist plots. On top of that, those who created the problem are presented as `liberators', and will be given as a gift the whole country, its resources and the future of the Malian people under their full control, continuing their colonial grab."
She added: "We cannot forget that it was the imperialists who created the extremist groups against the popular movement in Afghanistan. It was the imperialists who had common goals with the extremist groups in Libya, aiming at control of oil resources, and it was their imperialist intervention in Libya that pushed these groups towards Northern Mali. A new fragmentation of the region would not be a surprise."
Abdou Isaaka stated that: "We have seen that the imperialists don't do favours. They have interests, and they want to protect only their interests. The `reconstruction' planned through the `Donors Conference' in Brussels will not solve the problems of the Malian people. We see it more like a modern day slave‑market. As WFTU, we will stand in solidarity with the people of Mali as our internationalist duty. The African people must become truly strong and independent, to control their present and future and provide complete solutions to their suffering. The positions of WFTU reflect the reality and the interests of the African people. WFTU's voice is the voice of the 90% of the African people."
Based on a report issued by the WFTU delegation, www.wftu.org.
(The above article is from the June 1-15, 2013, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)