To the teachers organizations
Dear fellow militants
The global capitalist crisis, the imperialist wars, the international economic organizations and associations, attack the rights of all the workers and, of course, also the rights of the teachers.
The problems of education and teachers are being more acute every day. Shrinking of school units, teachers’ layoffs, salary reductions, trade and labour rights violations, limitation of trade union and democratic freedoms, police attacks against teachers who demonstrate, are some of the measures implemented by the most governments in the five continents.
The content of education at all levels is being adapted to the decision of OECD that wants education to be a commodity. A commodity which gives money to the capital, but which primarily seeks to deprive the children of the working class of the formation of class consciousness and knowledge about the historical, scientific truth that inevitably reinforce the fight against the exploitation of man by man.
The forward leaning teachers in every corner of the globe, we are worried about the low quality of education provided to the new generations of children. Parents are also understandably concerned about whether their children receive essential knowledge and useful qualifications in schools. Teachers and parents, we are both concerned about the continuous privatizations in education. The education sector is of strategic importance and the education should be free, public and compulsory for all.
In many corners of the five continents students and underage children are killed within the classrooms by the bombings and the military conflicts, thousands of children become immigrants and refugees to escape from the areas where the imperialists produce poverty and wars.
In these circumstances it is necessary to accelerate and coordinate the action of the teachers unions. To defend the labour, salary, social security rights of teachers at all levels and simultaneously to demand beneficial education and decent teaching conditions in safe buildings, with the appropriate logistic equipment. We want to teach the truth and scientific knowledge to children. To provide them with the tools to move forward in their lives. To teach them to respect the history of their country, the culture, the traditions and customs of other peoples. To teach the internationalism, the solidarity, the collectiveness, the need for militant attitude in their life. To teach them to love the children of the world regardless of their colour, religion, sex and language.
After the successful and dynamic 17th Congress of the WFTU held in S. Africa, in Durban, in which 1,300 delegates from 112 countries from around the world took part, we understand that it is necessary to have a better coordination, sharing experience, strengthening of solidarity among unions, an increase of militant initiatives, the organization and the increase of the fighting spirit of all sectoral organizations that belong to the large militant and internationalist family of WFTU, like FISE.
We are organizing the 18th Congress of FISE at the beginning of September in Algeria. In this congress we invite all teachers unions that defend the interests of our class, each union that opposes to the attack on education and teachers. The 18th Congress of FISE will be a democratic militant congress that will elect the new leadership, we will discuss about the serious problems of workers in education and we will decide the action plan and the strengthening of FISE for the next five years.
We invite all the militant teachers unions, regardless of their ideological and political position, to join us, to come along with the militant movement of the teachers to fight for a better future for us all. For a future without wars and without the capitalist barbarity.
Together with our teachers colleagues of CLA in Algeria who have accepted with pleasure to host this important congress of the teachers around the world, we will try so that this congress in the beautiful country of Algeria with its rich militant history through the centuries, will be worthy of the hopes of the teachers and the needs of education in the modern world.
January 2017
Comradely greetings
