[FI-P] Statement and call for solidarity with Tunisian General Strike

[FIBureau]

For the defence of the Tunisian revolution,
solidarity with the general strike of December 13th!
 
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


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