Билл Уэйланд пишет нам из Вашингтона

Дорогие товарищи!

На массовых демонстрациях против в МВФ, проходивших в Вашингтоне 15-16 апреля,
мы распространяли следующую листовку Международного центра действий

МВФ, РУКИ ПРОЧЬ ОТ ВОСТОЧНОЙ ЕВРОПЫ И БЫВШЕГО СССР!
". . .  14 апреля, эмиссар МВФ Стенли Фишер объявил, что Россия идет в
"правильном направлении."  В обмен на отсрочку долговМВФ и Мировой
Банк потребовали от России принятия нового трудового кодекса, который
уничтожает 8-часовой рабочий день и другие трудовые права остающиеся с
советского времени.  Руководители антикапиталистического профсоюзного
объединения "Защита Труда" заявили, что новый кодекс отбросит трудовое
законодательство страны ко временам царизма.  "Защита" призвала к массовым
протестам 17 мая."

On April 14, IMF emissary Stanley Fisher declared that Russia
was
>heading in the ?right direction.?
>The IMF and World Bank
>have linked debt relief to Russia's adoption of a new labor code that
>abolishes
>the eight-hour day, collective
>bargaining and other labor rights in place from Soviet times. Leaders
of
>the
>independent anticapitalist labor
>  federation Zaschita Trud (Defense of Labor) have said the law brings
>Russia's
>workers? legal status back to
>tzarist times. Zaschita has called for mass protests May 17.

Ваш
Dear comrades,
We distributed the following flyer at the anti-IMF protests in
Washington DC
last weekend

>
>Freedom for Labor Activists in Kazakhstan
>
>IMF HANDS OFF EAST EUROPE
>AND THE FORMER USSR!
>The International Monetary Fund is inflicting devastation on East
Europe
>and the
>  former Soviet Union.
>From Berlin to the Bering Straits, IMF-imposed "restructuring" has
raised
>prices, destroyed social services,
>shut down entire industries and wiped out millions of jobs.
Once-thriving
>industrial centers have become
>  ghost towns where workers survive on homegrown potatoes. Many live
on $10
>to
>$15 a month.
>Hunger and disease have cut life expectancy into the 50s.
>      As the IMF meets in Washington this week, Secretary of State
Madeline
>Albright will be touring
>the former Soviet republics, preaching the gospel of "democracy" Wall
>Street-style.
>      Here are some examples of the "democracy" Washington and Wall
Street
>have
>brought to the former
>  Soviet Union:
>KAZAKHSTAN: On the eve of Albright
>
>?s visit, the regime of Nursultan Nazarbayev
>imprisoned leaders
>  of the Kazakhstan Workers Movement. KWM opposes privatization and
the
>handing
>of the country's vast
>  oil resources over to US monopolies. Among those arrested last week
are
>Madel
>Ismailov, Ainur Kurmanov and N. Furmanova of the KWM and Irina
Savostina of
>the
>retirees movement
>Pokolenie. They are charged with
>"organizing an illegal meeting." Ismailov, who just survived one year
in a
>concentration camp, is on hunger strike.
>Nazarbayev refuses  to allow the Kazakhstan Workers Movement to
register as
>a
>legal organization. Demands for
>the freedom of these imprisoned labor activists can be addressed to
the
>Kazakhstan embassy in Washington:
>tel 1-202-232-5488, e-mail [email protected]
>UKRAINE: Albright calls Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma a ?partner
and a
>friend? and will make
>Ukraine the first stop on her
>  trip. No wonder. About 1/3 of Ukraine?s income goes for interest
payments
>to
>Western banks while retired
>Ukrainain workers live on $13 a month. Kuchma is trying to abolish the
>country's
>  elected parliament,
>  which has blocked the IMF?s program.
>He is also wants to ban the Communist Party of Ukraine, which wants
Ukraine
>to
>leave the IMF  During last
>  November's election campaign,  Progressive Socialist candidate
Natalya
>Vitrienko, who also opposes the IMF,
>was wounded by a hand grenade.
>RUSSIA: On April 14, IMF emissary Stanley Fisher declared that Russia
was
>heading in the ?right direction.?
>The IMF and World Bank
>have linked debt relief to Russia's adoption of a new labor code that
>abolishes
>the eight-hour day, collective
>bargaining and other labor rights in place from Soviet times. Leaders
of
>the
>independent anticapitalist labor
>  federation Zaschita Trud (Defense of Labor) have said the law brings
>Russia's
>workers? legal status back to
>tzarist times. Zaschita has called for mass protests May 17.
>CANCEL THE DEBT WITHOUT CONDITIONS
>      Zaschita Trud in Russia, the Ukraine Workers Assembly and the
>Kazakhstan
>Workers Movement are
>part of a growing resistance movement against corporate tyranny and
>"capitalization" in the former Soviet republics.
>You will not learn about their struggles in the corporate news media,
but
>they
>need our solidarity. The looting of East
>Europe and the former Soviet republics?like that of Africa, Latin
America,
>the
>Caribbean and Asia?has been very
>profitable for US banks and corporations. The people of these
countries
>don?t
>owe Western bankers a dime.
>ABOLISH NATO, STRIKE FORCE OF THE IMF
>Behind the the IMF stands NATO?s iron fist. Last spring?s brutal
bombing of
>Yugoslavia had nothing to do
>with Washington?s claim of concern for ?human rights? there.It was a
>warning to
>the people of the former
>socialist bloc not to resist the dictates of Wall Street and the IMF.
Now
>NATO
>is planning exercises in Ukraine.
>How long before a new and bigger war?
>This leaflet is issued by the International Action Center
>39 West 14 Street New York NY 10010 tel: 212 633 6646