OUR IDEOLOGY IS NOT FOR SALE!

 (Extract from the speech of the WFTU General Secretary, G. Mavrikos in Abuja, Nigeria, during the great Panafrican Conference of WFTU with 41 African Countries.)

" For example, have you ever wondered: Why do all German governments finance Friedrich Ebert Foundation with 100 million euros every year? Have you wondered why do Friedrich Ebert's bureaucrats send part of this money to Third World countries that have a rich subsoil? Why do German bureaucrats travel to Uruguay, Peru, Nicaragua, Nepal, Bangladesh, Tunisia, Mali and everywhere? Are they interested in developing struggles or are they interested in increasing their country's profits by exploiting your own countries? This is also the case for the Foundation of AFL-CIO from the USA.

You already know Mr. Friedrich Ebert, after whom this reformist and divisive mechanism was named. Have you read how many workers he killed during the German Revolution (1918-1919), how many he imprisoned, how many he betrayed in order to save the German Social-democracy and support the German monopolies? You know who are the leaders of such foundations. I suggest that you search on your own. We trust you. Search. Read. Get informed!

Us, as WFTU, as class-oriented trade union movement we say to the leaderships of such Foundations: Our ideology is not for sale. The history of WFTU is not for sale. Our leaders are not for sale. Their euros and dollars are dirty. They want to poison the workers' consciences with opportunism, corruption and division. Their goal is to promote the profits of their countries' monopolies; to steal the diamonds of South Africa, to rob Ghana of its coffee, to plunder the oil of Nigeria, to loot the gas of Libya, etc. They are instruments, mechanism of the capitalist exploitation. We emphasize that the natural resources belong to the peoples, to workers. "The land belongs to those who work it..."

We know, of course, that the majority of African trade unions, like on every continent, have great financial difficulties. Their members are poor and cannot pay fees. This situation is utilized by many European governments who try to buy off the militant character of trade unions through various channels. The struggle against bribery and corruption is crucial for our trade unions. For us, apart from describing the suffering of African workers, which is something that anyone can do, it is important to discuss effectively how to organize at African and international level a movement that will create effective demands and dynamics against these conditions and especially against the causes that generate this situation. If the militant trade union movement does not confront decisively such foundations of mainly ideological corruption, the risks of degeneration and trapping of the trade union movement will be very serious."