Resolutions adopted at the Latin America & Asia Pacific International Solidarity Forum in Melbourne, October 11-14, 2007

International Solidarity Forum resolution: Statement of Solidarity

http://solidarityforum2007.org/?q=node/32

We came and met together from many different countries.
We came because we are some of those who have to struggle.
We have to fight the capitalists. We have to fight and win.

To fight we need to meet, and talk about our problems.
The ways we get defeated, the ways in which we are winning.

We have to talk together about our common struggle:
The issues that unite us, and where we don’t agree.
We need to make a plan that is a clear way forward.

The world is really ours. But capitalists have stolen it.

They steal the land, they steal the sea.
They steal the deserts and the forests. They even ruin the climate.
They steal resources, and the products of our work.
They steal our time, our health, our money and our lives.
They steal our freedom and our rights.
They steal our families and cultures.
They steal our dreams and smiles.
They steal our houses, our factories, our villages and cities.
They smash whole countries. They stop the chance of peace.
They steal the future from all children.

We have to stop this plunder.

Today we talked together. Today is a step forward.
Today we said together: United we can win.

We send our message out to comrades who are far, to say we’ll talk again:
We will build our plans - to win the biggest struggle.
We send out our commitment to stand with you again.

Another world is possible. Another world is ready.

Together we will win.

Resolution on Indigenous rights

The Latin America and Asia Pacific International Solidarity Forum declares its solidarity with the Indigenous peoples of the Northern Territory and its total opposition to the racist and paternalistic police and military invasion of their territories.

All across Australia, Aboriginal nations have struggled against genocide, dispossession and marginalisation since the arrival of the First Fleet. So too, Indigenous communities across Latin America and the Asia Pacific continue to fight for control over their own lands, for the survival of their cultures and languages, and for lives of dignity and freedom.

We support the right of Aboriginal nations to self-determination. We furthermore condemn the Australian government – along with the governments of New Zealand, Canada and the United States – for their failure to sign the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Troops out of Indigenous communities!
Self-determination, not invasion!
Always was, always will be Aboriginal land!

Resolution on Venezuela’s proposed six-hour day

The participants in the “Alternatives to Neoliberalism” major session at the Latin America and Asia Pacific International Solidarity Forum taking place in Melbourne from October 11-14, 2007, recognize the importance of the proposition that the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is putting to the people of that country in the next referendum regarding the shortening of working hours from 8 to 6 hours a day.

We call upon the workers, trade union movement and, in particular, the ACTU to applaud and implement this noble and just cause.

We call upon the workers of the world to start a campaign to shorten the working hours from 8 hours to 6 hours with no reduction in pay. For full employment, a 6-hour day is a must.

Resolution in solidarity with the Cuban Five

The Latin America & Asia Pacific International Solidarity Forum held in Melbourne 11-14 October 2007 salutes the five young Cuban heroes illegally held in US prisons. We call on the Bush administration to immediately release them.

In August 2005, the successful appeal before the 11th Circuit of the Atlanta Court of Appeals unanimously quashed their convictions. The court stated there was no possibility of a fair trial in Miami and ordered a new trial outside of Miami.

It is the belief of delegates at this forum that no crime was ever committed by these young people.

We call on the people of Australia to join the thousands of people around the world demanding the immediate release of the Cuban Five. The Forum also endorses and supports the worldwide campaign for the freedom of the Cuban Five from September 12 through to October 8 2007.

Resolution on lifting the US blockade on Cuba

This Latin America & Asia Pacific International Solidarity Forum held in Melbourne 11-14 October 2007 rejects the inhumane U.S. economic, financial, political and cultural blockade of socialist Cuba.

This is the longest blockade ever imposed on the peoples of any country and it has a direct effect on the well being of the Cuban people.

The United Nations General Assembly has rejected it time and time again. On every opportunity the peoples of the world have called for the elimination of the US blockade. It has been supported only by the United States, Israel and most recently also by Palau and the Marshall Islands.

This solidarity forum calls on the US Government to lift the blockade on Cuba and demands that the Australian Government puts pressure on the US to eliminate this political barbarism.

We stand with the Cuban delegation for the vote against the US blockade on Cuba to be heard at the UN General Assembly of the 30th October 2007.

Resolution on migrant workers’ rights

The Latin America and Asia Pacific International Solidarity Forum opposes the super-exploitation of migrant workers. In particular we condemn the creation of the so-called “guest worker” phenomenon in the advanced industrialised countries.

We commit to make it a priority to give migrant workers full citizenship rights that are not dependent on employer sponsorship. We will carry this demand into our respective unions.

Resolution on Burma and Pakistan

We, participants in the Latin America and Asia Pacific International Solidarity Forum, activists from around the world, offer our solidarity to the people of Burma in their inspiring struggle for freedom from the illegal military regime.

This offer of solidarity is extended also to the people of Pakistan in their struggle against the military dictatorship in their country.

Resolution on El Salvador

The Latin America and Asia Pacific International Solidarity Forum 2007 workshop “The Salvadoran refugees and keeping the revolutionary spirit in Ausralia”:

1. Condemns the Salvadoran government for its human rights violations and demands an end to impunity in El Salvador.

2. Calls on the Salvadoran government and the United Nations to fulfil the terms of the Peace Accord signed with the FMLN in 1992.

3. Calls for supports for the FMLN and the organising of Australian – international observers to the local council, parliament and presidential elections in 2009.

4. Declares its total support for the popular movement in El Salvador.

5. Declares its solidarity with the Mauricio Funes, presidential candidate of the FMLN. Mauricio’s son was killed in Paris, France, on October 10.

Resolution on refugees

The Latin America and Asia Pacific International Solidarity Forum in Melbourne, October 11-14, 2007, condemns the recent brutal deportations by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship from the Baxter and Villawood detention centres.

It calls on the Australian government to free Ali Humayun, a queer Pakistani refugee locked up in Villawood, and to free all asylum seekers and close all refugee detention centres in Australia.

Resolution in solidarity with the Basque people

The Latin America & Asia Pacific International Solidarity Forum held in Melbourne, Australia, on October 11-14 declares its solidarity with the Basque people in the face of the recent arrest of 23 members of the leadership of the Basque nationalist party Batasuna.

The National Bench court, the successor of the former dictator Franco’s notorious Public Order Tribunal, is attempting, once again, to prevent reopening a dialogue for peace in the Basque country.

The ongoing repression of the Basque independence movement, including the outlawing of Batasuna and the arrest of its leadership, will not end the armed struggle for Basque self-determination.

We support the right of the Basque and other nationalities within the Spanish State to decide their own future. Repression of the independence movements is an affront to human rights and an obstacle to a democratic solution of the national problems facing the Spanish State.

Free the leaders of Batasuna!

Stop all repression against the Basque and other national struggles in the Spanish State!

Solidarity message from the Socialist Party of Malaysia

Greetings and Red salute from Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM)

PSM would like to extend our solidarity to all the participants of the Latin America and Asia Pacific International Solidarity Forum, which is being held in Melbourne between 11 till the 14 of this month.

PSM extend our heartfelt apology for not being able to attend this important conference as all flights tickets to Melbourne from Malaysia in direct and indirect flights has been fully booked since the last two weeks. We also like to thank the DSP for all their effort in trying to sponsor a member from the PSM.

We miss the chance to be with the trade unionist, social movement activists, progressive political parties and students who are from Australis and all over Asia Pacific and Latin America, the region where the struggle of ordinary people against imperialism and neoliberal attacks has been intensified in recent years.

PSM is in the view that the theme of the International Solidarity Forum, "Fighting and organising globally against neo-liberalism" is a timely call. Neo-liberalism has been haunting and slaughtering the working people and oppressed communities all over the world in the past decades as well as widening the gap between the rich and the poor by concentrating the wealth into the hands of a few.

We also witness with pride that people across the globe are rising up against neo-liberal agenda, from the workplaces and slums in the third world, to the streets of the developed countries. It is the time to consolidate the effort in resisting global capitalist through a better organization and movement from below.

In Malaysia, we are also at the crucial juncture in battling with neoliberal attacks, which has intensified in the last couple of years. More and more of our public services is being privatized while the ruling party continues is opening up doors for neo-colonization through the free trade agreements.

We are committed here like the rest of you to organize and fight back the system, in order to build a better world without class oppression and exploitation. We always see ourselves as a part of the global resistance against imperialism and neo-liberalism and for another better world. We also see the struggles of people from below in Latin America and our neighboring Asia Pacific countries, as our inspiration to move on.

PSM wishes comrades who participate in this International Solidarity Forum to have a fruitful discussion and continue to bring new idea and energy for the global resistance against imperialist war and neo-liberal attacks.

In Solidarity,
S.Arutchelvan
Secretary General
On behalf of the
Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM)
10 October 2007

Solidarity message to the forum from COSATU

Fraternal Greetings to the Latin American & Asia Pacific International Solidarity Forum

Dear Comrades,

We have learnt with great pride the news of this inspiring event, seeking to practicalise the ideal of international solidarity and the attainment of a new world.

On behalf of COSATU, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, we wish to convey salutations from the millions of workers in our country whose thunderous feets echoes the streets of our country calling for justice not only in our own backyard, but all over the world.

This gathering happens a few days before our own International Solidarity workshop taking place here in Johannesburg, South Africa from the 22-24th October, 2007 to discuss the very fundamentals of the struggle for a new world and the concrete task of building working internationalism as a living organism of the quest for a new and just world.

Therefore, we shall await with such keenness the outcomes of your esteemed gathering, pledging our fullest support and commitment to the marching orders that shall characterise this historic gathering. Indeed we have every reason to feel that the world is standing at the momentous threshold, providing massive opportunities for an advance in the direction of a new and just world order. This can only be realised if the poor and working people of the world create and sustain that momentum.

Finally, we extend our greetings to all the delegates gathered here today and the millions of working and poor people they represent, whose hopes are in the outcomes of this assembly.

Aluta continua!

Bongani Masuku
International Secretary &
Convenor of the International Solidarity Workshop
COSATU Head Office
Johannesburg, South Africa