Union of Education Workers of the State of Rio de
Janeiro
Rio
de Janeiro, Brazil
Motion of Solidarity from Striking
Education Workers with the Six Youth Arrested in Violent Attack by New York Police on
Protest Against War Criminal David Petraeus
[Translation -- See original statement in Portuguese below]
[Translation -- See original statement in Portuguese below]
We education workers in the Rio de Janeiro State Network are on strike to
defend the most basic rights of students, education workers, and the
working-class population, against attacks on public education.
The violent response of the ruling class was shown once again on October 1st,
when our strike was violently attacked by the police. We are passing this
resolution to express our solidarity with the students and workers who were
violently repressed and arrested by the New York police during a protest
against the militarization of the largest urban public university in the United
States, CUNY (the City University of New York).
As part of capital’s world offensive against public education, CUNY is the
target of a campaign of open militarization, combined with tuition hikes and
other measures aimed against students from poor, working-class, black, Latino
and immigrant families.
The center of this militarization campaign, at the present time, is the CUNY
administration’s decision to hire, as a “professor,” the former head of the
CIA, and former commander of the imperialist wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,
David Petraeus (originally offering him a salary of US$200,000 to “teach” three
hours a week for one semester).
Petraeus is a war criminal who directed the creation of death squads and
torture centers in Iraq, using for this task Colonel James Steele, who worked
directly with the death squads that carried out the extermination of peasants,
workers and indigenous people in Central America. As head of the CIA, Petraeus
directed drone attacks against civilian populations, and as head of the war
against Iraq and Afghanistan he was responsible for the imperialist forces’
massacre of thousands of people. The CUNY administration has also reinstituted
the armed forces’ Reserve Officers Training Corps.
On September 17, a protest against an event by Petraeus and representatives
from high levels of the bourgeoisie was violently attacked by the New York
police. Brutally beating students, the police arrested six demonstrators, who
are now facing false charges in the courts.
Here in Brazil, we workers and youth have direct knowledge of the meaning of
those three bloody letters: C.I.A. This infamous agency of spying and
assassinations participated directly in the organization of the 1964 military
coup, which led to more than two decades of terror in Brazil, and also
established a pattern for other dictatorships throughout the region. We know
very well what is meant by the militarization of education, which was carried
out to its full extent here during those years. We know in our own flesh (em
carne própria) the meaning of the death squads sponsored by the CIA and the
local bourgeoisies, in their dirty wars against the unions, the workers, the
peasants and students.
The cause of the struggle against these war criminals, and against the
militarization of the schools and universities, extends from New York to Brazil!
From the picket lines of our strike, we send our international solidarity with
the “CUNY Six” and with all those who protest against militarization and
imperialist war criminals. Together with you, we say: Defend the CUNY Six! Drop
all the charges! Stop the militarization of schools and universities!
Original statement in Portuguese:
Statement of solidarity for International Longshore and Warehouse Union activist Jack Heyman:
International
Solidarity from Striking Mexico City Students to the CUNY Students
Arrested
for Protesting David "Death Squad" Petraeus
The following resolution
was passed last night by the students on strike at Mexico's National School of
Anthropology and History (ENAH). The strike at the ENAH, located on the south
side of Mexico City, has been going on since last Friday (Sept. 13), as part of
the fight to mobilize a huelga nacional (national strike) of labor, together with
students and other sectors, in support of the "teacher insurgency"
gripping Mexico for the past several weeks. The Spanish original of the
resolution, which was submitted by our comrades of the Grupo Internacionalista,
is printed following this English translation. – Sándor
Comrades:
We have been informed that
yesterday [September 17], the New York police brutally attacked the peaceful
demonstration you were carrying out in repudiation of war criminal David
Petraeus at the City University of New York. The attempt to militarize CUNY in the
service of the U.S. imperialist murderers must not and shall not pass! As the
result of this violent attack by the racist New York police is the arrest of
six comrades. From the Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia (ENAH –
National School of Anthropology and History), on strike since September 13, we
send you a warm salute of internationalist solidarity. We demand that all the
charges against you be dropped immediately.
We would like you to know
that here in Mexico City we are mobilizing in defense of public education.
Since August 20, tens of thousands of valiant education workers from the Coordinadora
Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación (CNTE – National Coordinating
Committee of Education Workers) have been in Mexico City mobilizing in defense
of public education. Last Friday, their plantón [tent city] of protest in the Zócalo [Mexico
City's central plaza] was destroyed in a police/military arrack so that the
president could carry out the annual ritual of the flag-waving [patriotera] independence day commemoration. The
capital city's government solicitously participated in the repression against
the teachers, also unleashing its granadero riot police to repress us with their
billy clubs and tear gas when we blocked the Periphery Ring roadway while the
repression was taking place in the Zócalo.
It was against this
repressive onslaught that we decided to start a strike of unlimited duration. Various
schools throughout the Valley of Mexico are joining this strike: the Faculty of
Philosophy and Letters, the South campus of the College of Sciences and
Humanities, the National School of Music, and other parts of the UNAM (National
Autonomous University of Mexico); three of the four campuses of the Universidad
Autónoma Metropolitana (Autonomous Metropolitan University), the four campuses
of the Universidad Autónoma de la Ciudad de México (Autonomous University of
Mexico City), etc.
Comrades: Your struggle
inspires us. We hope that you will also make the struggle we are carrying out
here your own struggle too. Down with capital's attacks on education throughout
the world!
ENAH students on strike
Cuicuilo, Mexico City, 18
September 2013
Spanish original:
Compañeros y compañeras,
Hemos sabido que el día de
ayer la policía de Nueva York atacó con saña la manifestación pacífica que
realizaban en repudio del criminal de guerra David Petraeus en la Universidad
de la Ciudad de Nueva York. ¡El intento de militarizar CUNY al servicio de los
asesinos imperialistas norteamericanos no debe pasar! El resultado del
ataque violento a manos de la racista policía neoyorquina es de seis
compañeros arrestados. Desde la Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia, en
paro desde el viernes 13 de septiembre, les enviamos un caluroso saludo de
solidaridad internacionalista. Exigimos que todos los cargos en su contra sean
retirados inmediatamente.
Queremos que sepan que en la
Ciudad de México estamos movilizándonos en defensa de la educación pública.
Desde el 20 de agosto, decenas de miles de los valerosos
trabajadores de la Coordinadora Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación han
estado en la Ciudad de México movilizándose en defensa de la educación pública.
El viernes pasado su plantón de protesta en el Zócalo fue barrido en un ataque
policíaco-militar para que el presidente pudiera realizar el rito anual de
conmemoración patriotera de la independencia. El gobierno capitalino participó
solícito en la represión del magisterio, lanzando también a sus granaderos a
reprimirnos con toletes y gases lacrimógenos cuando bloqueamos el Anillo
Periférico mientras sucedía la represión en el Zócalo.
Fue en contra de esta
andanada represiva que decidimos lanzar un paro indefinido. A este paro se
están sumando diversas escuelas en todo el Valle de México: la Facultad de
Filosofía y Letras, el CCH-Sur, la Escuela Nacional de Música, entre otras
escuelas de la UNAM, tres de los cuatro planteles de la Universidad Autónoma
Metropolitana, los cuatro planteles de la Universidad Autónoma de la Ciudad de
México, etc.
Compañeros, compañeras: su
lucha nos inspira. Esperamos que ustedes también hagan suya la lucha que
estamos dando aquí. ¡Abajo los ataques del capital contra la educación a
escala internacional!
Estudiantes de la ENAH en
paro
Cuicuilco, Ciudad de México,
18 de septiembre de 2013
