More declarations of internationalist solidarity for the Tekel workers

The recent struggles of the Tekel workers in Turkey (Turkey: Solidarity with Tekel workers' resistance against government and unions!) has shown that workers are not willing to lie down and accept the worsening conditions imposed upon them by the economic crisis. We have recently published a statement of solidarity from the Nucleo Proletario in Peru (Solidarity from Peru for the Tekel workers) . Below we publish two more statements of solidarity which show that the struggles of the workers in Turkey are not just a local affair but are the concern and inspiration for workers of all countries. The first is a joint statement from two groups in Peru the Grupo de Lucha Proletaria and the Organización Anarco Punk, the second from the Internationalist Discussion Circle of Ecuador-South America. As with the statement by the NPP, the one by the GLP and Organización Anarco Punk contains a certain overestimation of the degree to which the Tekel workers succeeded in creating their own independent organs of struggle, but this does not diminish the importance of these documents as expressions of a growing awareness that the class struggle has the same fundamental needs all over the planet.

Declaration of internationalist solidarity

The militancy of the Tekel workers is an example to all of us!

The Tekel workers have given to the workers of the world an example of unequalled struggle, at a time when the crisis of capitalism is worsening the living and working conditions of millions of workers throughout the world. At a time when the decomposition of decadent capitalism is making the development of workers' consciousness difficult, we have seen that against all predictions the proletariat of Turkey has developed its consciousness and strength, showing that they have the weapons with which to struggle against the state, its parties, the unions and capitalism. They have made their solidarity, their confidence, their lessons and reflections constant tools in their struggles.

This letter is a salute to the titanic effort that the proletariat of Tekel/Turkey has shown in its present struggles. What we have to highlight here is the workers' capacity to self-organise their struggle with full class autonomy and showing an unrivalled development of consciousness. This is an example that the workers of the world have to take up.  The Tekel workers' have shown:

1. That the unions are state and management organs who are always at their service like dogs, and who act as a hindrance to workers' struggles and who only represent the interests of the bourgeoisie and the state.
2. The proletariat of Tekel have demonstrated the self-organisation of their struggles, faced with the unions, political parties and the state.
3. They have counter-posed proletarian internationalism to nationalism and fascism
4. They have demonstrated self-confidence, in their strength and capacity to develop their struggles beyond frontiers.
5. Furthermore they have been doing all they can to develop their struggle in an expanding collective manner and spread it to other struggling workers
6. The workers have developed important weapons for their struggle such as solidarity[1] and mutual help.
7. The Tekel workers have shown a development of consciousness despite the difficulties of their struggle. Furthermore they have put forwards the idea of the mass strike amongst the workers something, we have also seen in Egypt, Spain, Greece and China...
8. The struggles of the Tekel workers against the capitalist order show the workers of the world their future path.

The struggle of the Tekel workers is an example of the struggle for life, for dignity.

From our Turkish brothers we can take the example of their forms of self-organisation of the struggle, of class autonomy. Capitalism trembles when it sees its proletarian enemy awaken and fiercely shake itself in order to break its chains of servitude and exploitation. The working conditions (reduction of wages, precarious work, increase in working hours, massive unemployment) that face the workers in Turkey are the same as those throughout the planet and are without a doubt brought about by the prevailing mode of production: the capitalist system of exploitation. This living experience of struggle continues.

Solidarity with the struggle of the proletariat of Turkey; proletarians of the rest of the world, follow their example! Workers of the world unite!

Grupo de Lucha Proletaria / Organización Anarco Punk, Peru 23/02/2010

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Solidarity with the strike of the Tekel workers -Turkey

Dear comrades:

Please accept the fraternal greetings of the Internationalist Discussion Circle of Ecuador-South America.

Through unofficial means of communication, in this part of the world, on the other side of the Atlantic, we have learnt about the struggle that you have been waging for more than a month. As proletarians from this part of the planet we recognise in your struggle against the capitalists of the TEKEL factory, demands that are absolutely just, honest and necessary.

The working class is the same in all countries and the bourgeois exploiters are the same in Ecuador as they are in Turkey; with our hands the workers create the wealth on every continent and unfortunately for us have to exist miserably on slave wages which we do not allow us to live with dignity as human beings. The bourgeoisie is not content with exploiting us; they also want us to believe that workers are different by race, religion and nationality. But unlike the bourgeoisie we are not Ecuadorians, Mexicans, Germans, Turks, Kurds, Chinese, French, we are workers. The earth is worked by labour, therefore proletarians have no homeland because our destiny is the same: to struggle everywhere for a better future for humanity, of which our and your children are part.

We know that the bourgeoisie will use and is using every means at its disposal: repression, the unions, parliamentary negotiations, etc in order to demoralize you with the clear intention of weakening your struggles and your fighting spirit. However, the fact you have resisted for more than a month is the clear proof that your unity is not only worthy of applause but will serve as an example to other proletarian comrades in Turkey and in other countries such as this one.

Dear comrades, the capitalist mode of production which organises the world in all our countries, and whose disastrous effects are not different in the Americas, whose mechanisms of exploitation we already cannot bear, will in the not too distant future probably lead to the most spectacular proletarian uprisings that modern humanity has seen. Capitalist decay permeates every country, and its effects are impossible to hide through deception and intimidation. That is why your struggle is evidence of what is awaiting the world bourgeoisie

It is time to take back from the bourgeoisie what they have robbed from us: our freedom as human beings.

The proletariat of Turkey is not alone. There are thousands of workers who identify with your situation and who salute your actions as living proof that the working class is still standing and will not stop until it gets what by right belongs to it.

Long live the workers of TEKEL

Long live the unity of the workers of the world

Down with the bourgeoisie and its nations

Discussion Circle of Ecuador-South America 2/10.
 

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[1]     "Solidarity is a practical activity of mutual support between human beings in the struggle for existence. It is a concrete expression of the social nature of humanity. As opposed to impulses such as charity or self-sacrifice, which presuppose the existence of a conflict of interests, the material basis of solidarity is a community of interests. This is why solidarity is not a utopian ideal, but a material force, as old as humanity itself." (International Review No 111 Orientation text 2001: Confidence and Solidarity in the proletarian struggle, part one.)