Dear colleague,
The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) in collaboration with the affiliated members and friends of the WFTU in D.R. Congo, is organizing the 5th Pan-African Conference, which will take place from 1 to 2 November 2019 in Kinshasa, in the D.R. Congo, under the topic: “Our vision for Africa, mother language, culture, civilization, tradition”.
The Pan-African Conference is a great moment for the African trade union movement and an initiative which will give a new impetus to the militant trade unionism of the class struggle in the African countries. The activation of the trade unions and friends of the WFTU introduces the discussions, criticism, self-criticism and democratic disagreements, the exchange of experiences for problems of common interest for all the workers and trade unions of Africa: the lack of access to Health Services, transport, decent housing and clothing, education for all children, etc…
Since its foundation , in October 1945, after the end of the World War II and under the influence of the defeat of fascism and the victory of the Red Army, the WFTU fought by the side of the African workers against the enslavement, colonization, apartheid, against racism and every kind of discriminations. The WFTU continues to support the organization of African workers and the creation of trade unions. The emancipation of the members of these trade unions and the reinforcement of their ideological and trade unionist level through trade union trading.
The Pan-African Conference of Kinshasa is a proof of the strengthening of the presence of the WFTU in Africa and of the efforts made from it in the framework of the emancipation of the African workers, under a class orientated vision through an essential support to the African workers’ movement.
Together, the WFTU and the African trade union members and friends of WFTU, we have to build a strong and powerful trade union movement, which will correspond to the contemporary needs of the African workers, and which will fight against the selling-out of the vital interests of the African nations, against the blatant exploitation of man by man, exercised by the multinationals and the western monopolies: The wealth belongs to those who produce it and has to be used for the benefit of the African workers and not for the benefit of multinationals and neo-colonists.
The Organization of the Pan-African Conference in the African territory of Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is the expression of the priority given by the Central Offices to the African Continent.
It is for this reason as well that the affiliated trade unions and friends of the WFTU in the D.R. Congo and the WFTU count on your effective participation.
Dear comrade,
We are aware of the difficult working and living conditions for the African workers today, in the era of globalization. For this reason, during this Pan-African Conference in Kinshasa, together we must examine the contemporary needs of the African workers so as to understand them. The results of our analyses will allow us to build our priorities, so as to better organize our future struggles.
After the 17th World Trade Union Congress, held on 6-8 October 2016, in Durban, South Africa, and its resolutions, included in our Action Plan 2016-2021, the African Trade Union members and friends of the WFTU must continue the struggle with special attention focused on the specific problems of women and young girls, young people and migrants from Africa and with firm solidarity translated into action from the African proletarian internationalism.
Due to its geostrategic place and population, Africa is the second largest Continent of the world, rich in natural resources, which provide the West with raw materials, but at the same time it has workers and populations who languish in an unimaginable misery and dreadful poverty, because of the abusive exploitation of Africa’s natural resources, only for the benefit of the multinationals.
The more the imperialist aggressiveness exacerbates, as a consequence of the systemic crisis of capitalism, and so does the inter-capitalist antagonisms which provoke wars, the more there is the need for the African trade unions and friends of the WFTU to give a class orientation, based on revolutionary thought in their struggles: We need trade unions that will be massive, democratic, uniting, trade unions that will be internationalist and in solidarity with all workers of the world, trade unions that pay special attention to the issues of women and young trade unionists so as to ensure their continuity, trade unions that claim the workers’ rights through economic demands in favor of the utilization of the produced wealth for the benefit of the Africans, trade unions that denounce the discrimination by the ILO against the African trade unions affiliated to the WFTU.
The organization of the 5th Pan-African Conference in Kinshasa is a wise decision which takes into consideration the political history of this big and beautiful country, a country with rich potentials in the soil and subsoil, the population of which is very poor, a country with high capitalist interests since its foundation in 1885.
In Kinshasa, during the works of the 5th Pan-African Conference, the African trade unions, members and friends of the WFTU, must strengthen the capabilities of the African Labor Movement, and concentrate these works on the vision for Africa, promoting its mother languages, popularizing the culture, the civilization and the African tradition, consolidating in this way the massive class movement being expressed in a militant spirit of the vision we have for Africa and its growth.
Frantz Fanon said: “Africa has the shape of a gun and Zaire is its trigger”, the actual Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is in this country which disposes of a population composed by young people and women, rich in mining, agricultural, hydrological and solar potential, in flora and fauna, in culture and mother languages, that we will strengthen the capacities of the African trade unions.
We have the pleasure to invite all WFTU affiliates and friends trade unions to this event which will take place in Kinshasa KEMPINSKI Hotel River Congo, Colonel TSHATSHI Avenue No 119, Kinshasa/ Gombe, Democratic Republic of Congo. Phone: +243999221458 / 808500600, E-mail: [email protected], website: www.kempinski.com.
Each Trade union will be represented by one delegate who will have 7 minutes to present the situation in his/her country.
The delegates of the WFTU trade union members and friends will arrive at Kinshasa on October 31, 2019 and will leave from Kinshasa not later than 3.11.2019.
The accommodation, food and local transport expenses will be covered by the trade union members and friends of the WFTU in the D.R. of Congo. (The coordinating WFTU/D.R. Congo).
Each trade union will cover the round-trip air ticket of his-her delegate. They can send their email to the following address so as to confirm their participation:
[email protected]
[email protected]
Looking forward to welcome you at Kinshasa, receive our militant, fraternal and revolutionary greetings.