Details Published on Saturday 22 December 2012 15:16
Written by Radical Socialist
Tunisia
For the defence of the Tunisian revolution, solidarity with the general strike of December 13th!
Statement by the Bureau of the Fourth International
Monday 10 December 2012, by
0n Thursday 13 December, for the third time in its long history, the UGTT (Tunisian General Labour Union) is calling a one-day general strike. In so doing, it is not only seeking to protest against the attack on its national headquarters by Islamist militias on 4 December. It is also to defend the very future of the revolution.
If the Ennadha party in power has encouraged its militia to attack trade-union buildings, it is because it estimates that the UGTT is the backbone of the resistance to its attempt to submit the whole of Tunisian society to its reactionary and religious model.
For months, Ennadha has been multiplying its attacks against workers, women and young people. It is obvious,that the fact of having had to make a partial retreat following the general strike of Siliana, the previous week, pushed Ennadha to seek from now on to terrorize trade-union activists.
If Ennadha wants to break the UGTT, it is because this trade-union federation plays an irreplaceable role in resistance to the continuation of the neoliberal economic and social policy inherited from Ben Ali. The government wants in particular to continue to be able to sell the public companies to its friends in Quatar.
If Ennadha acts in this way, it is also because the UGTT, which has longstanding ties with feminist organizations, constitutes an obstacle yo its desire to challenge the wide-ranging rights from which women have benefited since 1956.
The Tunisian revolution is today at a crossroads. By attacking the seat of the trade-union organization which was the basis of the movement for independence, Ennadha wants to found a rupture. It wants to write a new history based on reactionary and religious principles .
The long tradition of struggle of the Tunisian people makes a victorious counter-offensive to these attacks possible, as is proved by the extent of the regional strikes and demonstrations that immediately followed the attack on the UGTT’s head office on 4 December.
The Fourth International and its sections express their deepest solidarity with the general strike of Thursday, 13 December and undertake to do their best to ensure that the broadest solidarity with this strike is expressed.
Paris 9 December 2012