Judicial authorities have issued threats to imprison the workers and
militants occupying the Cipla and Interfibra factories in the city
Joinville (state of Santa Catarina, in the south of Brazil). We publish
below the press release that was issued by the Factory Council of
Cipla/Interfibra, for the information of all labour organisations, as
well as workers and labour activists.
In 2002 the workers of Cipla and Interfibra occupied their factories to defend 1,000 jobs. In the last few days the possibility of imprisonment
of the coordinator of the Factory Council, Serge Goulart, and the
occupation by the police of these factories is increasing. We appeal to
all trade unionists and left politicians, to all the progressive
organisations internationally, to workers and youth in general, to send
resolutions demanding an immediate cessation to the threats against the
workers of the occupied factories in Brazil.
On Thursday, July 14, a group of Young Socialists and representatives of the Editorial Board of Der Funke
organised a picket in front of the Brazilian embassy to protest against
the threatened repression of the Cipla and Interfibra workers who have
occupied their factories to defend their jobs.
The victory of Lula well over a year ago in Brazil represented a dramatic shift
to the left in Brazilian society. However, the Lula government once elected
quickly moved to applying the programme of the bosses. This is preparing new
contradictions within the Brazilian labour movement.
The labour standards which the Brazilian workers have won over the years are once again
being threatened by the government of Fernando Henrique Cardoso. The unions organised in
the CUT (Central Workers' Union Confederation) are organising a nationwide general strike
for the beginning of March.
The recent gathering of the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre showed clearly how the
anti-globalisation movement is becoming more and more dominated by career politicians, and
groups and organisations that do not really represent the millions of youth who look to
this movement for an alternative to the capitalist system. The capitalist class
internationally is using a dual tactic. On the one hand, where they feel it to be
necessary (as in Genoa) they use the most repressive and brutal methods to try to crush
the movement. On the other hand they try to corrupt the movement and direct it away from
radical anti-capitalist ideas.
