MONDAY, AUGUST 01, 2005

Educating the AFL-CIO about NED

[8/12/05; updated 10/13/05]

by Chuck Kaufman

This summer, Nicaragua Network joined other members of the Latin America Solidarity Coalition (LASC) and progressive labor activists to conduct a major education effort with the AFL-CIO.  The venue was the AFL-CIO convention in Chicago, July 25-28.  The objective was to persuade these unionists to stop taking NED and Bush administration money for the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center.

Working to support passage of the "Building Unity and Trust Among Workers Worldwide" resolution, which was passed by the CA State Labor Federation, the LASC:

* posted an internet petition that got 246 signatures

* mailed 5,000 letters to every Central Labor Council and many union locals

* organized a demonstration and march of 150 people in Chicago on Aug. 24

* handed over 400 delegates a packet of information

* distributed 250 flyers to delegates

* conducted numerous radio interviews including a segment on Democracy Now

While ultimately the AFL-CIO leadership violated its own rules and substituted its own pro-NED resolution for the one passed by the CA State Labor Federation, then prevented a floor debate by calling for a vote without allowing our supporters to speak, the effort was worthwhile.  Labor leaders and rank-and-file now know that their international solidarity work receives is funded 90% by the federal government and that the Solidarity Center played a central role in the failed coup against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.  Labor activists noted that the resolution calling for transparency and an end to dependency on US government money went further than ever before.

The next campaign for the NED Working Group, whose mission is to abolish the NED, is the International Tribunal on Haiti.  The first session, which was similar to a grand jury, was held in Washington, DC on Sept. 23 at George Washington University.  It looked at the NED and US government role in creating the conditions for the 2004 coup against President Jean Bertrand Aristide, the US role in the kidnapping and coup itself, and the crimes against humanity of the UN peacekeeping mission.  Indictments against UN personnel will be forwarded to the International Criminal Court in Geneva.  At the first session of the Tribunal on Sept. 23, a blue ribbon Commission of Inquiry led by Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, was announced.  The Commission of Inquiry is in the process of traveling to Haiti to interview massacre survivors and to gather evidence of crimes against humanity.

Funds are urgently needed to support the work of the Tribunal which will run through February 2006, including sessions in other cities and public information forums at universities and elsewhere.  Tax deductible contributions can be sent to LASC/CISPES with "Haiti Tribunal" in the memo line at PO Box 8560, New York, NY 10116.

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