Break-up of Belgium=Prelude to Break-up of UK

[conspiracy analyst]

Unionists in Belgium explain how the break up of the country will dissolve certain rights guaranteed by people. In Britain we have the opposite being done. Rights are maintained in Scotland as reported in yesterdays Independent and are being taken away in England. A campaign is then made basically to push for Scotland going it alone. Coupled with Prescotts attempt at creating a Northern Parliament and the BBC's move to Manchester we are heading for the break up of the UK. This will have an effect of creating tiered regions with different standards for health, pensions, education provision as are evident now.

BELGIUM

"No to the break up of our rights and the country!"

Every day, Belgium sinks deeper into crisis. Three months after the
June 10 legislative elections - while the leaders of the victorious
political parties try, in vain, to form a "coalition government" -
this crisis threatens to break up Belgium itself and all the federal
social conquests, particularly Social Security.

Behind what the international press presents as a "communitarian"
conflict, there is in reality all the policies of social destruction
that the European Union and the capitalists defend. The intervention
of the working class united in and with its organizations is the only
force, in these conditions, capable of offering a way out. It is with
this perspective that the following appeal was launched by 10 Flemish
labor activists and 10 Walloons labor activists.

To the workers, to the youth, to the trade unionists:

The moment is serious. What is at stake in the current political
crisis are our social rights!

What force can end this march to dislocation and the destruction of
our rights?

>From the north to the south of the country, they are in the process of

conditioning the people for the break-up of Belgium.

What is the goal of all this?

All of the declarations of the bosses call for a radical undermining
of the rights of workers. Since the beginning of the "negotiations"
following the June 10 elections, there have only been violently anti-
social projects on the table. These projects come as much from the
partisans of the regionalization and separatism as from those who
claim to want to maintain an important federal power.

The president of the FGTB, Rudy De Leeuw, was right to say: "Who will
benefit from a big communitarian reform? I am still waiting for
somebody to show me how such a reform would serve the interests of the
workers. If they break up Social Security, poverty will increase in
Walloons; but in Flanders, too, the gap between the rich and the poor
will rise. I do not see any advantage for the Flemish economy. Most of
the Flemish proposals for a state reform come from the Flemish
employers. These folks rarely mobilize for social improvements. When
the VOKA calls for regionalization of unemployment benefits and pre-
pensions, you can well imagine what it is going to
collect." (September 4, 2007)

Careful, we're in danger! Wages, collective bargaining contracts, the
right to work, and Social Security are threatened. That is why it is
the duty of the leaders of the SP and the SP.A to refuse to associate
with a "reform of the State" that would go against the objectives of
the FGTB. The union would benefit greatly from bringing together the
leaders of these two parties to demand that they pronounce together,
clearly and publicly, this perspective.

Neither the plague nor cholera

Today, those who prepare for the break-up of Belgium want to make us
choose between the plague and cholera: Either a governmental agreement
to break up our social rights, while pretending to "save Belgium" (for
a short period: the country would not survive a long time if the
federal social rights are dismantled) or the immediate break-up of
Belgium, with the effect of directly getting rid of our social rights
guaranteed nationally.

That we have reached this point is the result of the policies of
social regression dictated by the European Union and the European
Central Bank, which is subordinate to the American financial markets
in crisis, as the recent news demonstrates.

All the parties willing to "negotiate" are situated on the respect of
the demands of the European Union. Already, the essence of the laws
voted on in Belgium are only the transcription of European directives.

For years, we have seen a serious social retreat in Belgium, as in all
of Europe. Today, the European Union, as a relay for the financial
markets, wants the governments to go even further and get rid of all
the social conquests. But this objective comes up against the Belgian
working class.

Of course, the workers have suffered blows, but they have not lost
their strength - close to 3 million workers are unionized in our
country. That is why the current political offensive aims to dismantle
the working class to more effectively dismantle its rights.

In our opinion, the same people who want to break up the unity of the
Belgian working-class and its conquests are the same people who,
throughout Europe, threaten the existence of nations, which are the
framework in which all the collective and social conquests have been
won. Are we exaggerating?

Asked by Le Soir (August 14), a researcher of the Institute of
International and Strategic Relations (Paris) responds to the
question: "Why does the European Union not react against these
separatist drives?"

The researcher responded: "The European Union has a rather ambiguous
attitude. This movement of ethnic secession does not really handicap a
liberal Europe, which is nothing other than a big market. It does not
see this as an important obstacle. Š At the end of the day, the result
will be the break-up of social and national cohesion."

Bart de Wever, of the NVA, confirms this analysis by responding to a
question of the Telemoustique weekly (September 5), which asked him:
"Do you want to see Belgium disappear?"

De Wever responded: "In my opinion, it has become superfluous in our
European context, without which I would not support the autonomy of
Flanders. Belgium will dissolve very slowly, like a pill in water,
because the era of borders is past and because it is wedged between
the power of regions calling for autonomy and the supranational
structures in Europe. Now that the Euro has replaced the Belgian
franc, there is no more natural barrier to this natural evolution."

What force can end this drive to dislocation, the destruction of our
most essential social rights?

We note that the leadership of the FGTB clearly has taken a position
in defense of the federal social rights. The leadership of the CSC has
been led to do the same.

The very existence of the FGTB as a national union federation,
bringing together into one organization the workers of Flanders,
Walloons, and Brussels, incarnating the unity of the working class of
Belgium, is a conquest.

In these conditions and because the moment is extremely serious, we
feel that the leadership of the FGTB has a major responsibility. It is
up to it call for a mass mobilization to prevent a disaster.

We address all the leaders of the FGTB to say: Call on the workers to
take to the streets, call for a huge national demonstration in
Brussels, uniting the workers of Flanders, Walloons, and Brussels (and
propose that the CSC join), around the demands:

- No to the break-up of our social rights and the country!
- Defend the unity of Belgian working class!
- Maintain all the federal social conquests!

As the FGTB demands in its May 2007 memorandum:
- The collective labor contracts should remain national!
- The same right to work should cover all the workers of the country!
- Social Security, with its unemployment, health, and family aid, must
remain federal!

There can be no doubt the workers and youth would respond massively to
such an appeal. This is the only path to stop this march to
dislocation and the destruction of our social rights.

First signers:

Eddy Baert, délégué ACOD Iris ;
Micheline Bruyninckx, déléguée BBTK (Dexia) ;
Jeanine CHAINEUX, vice-présidente CGSP-administration régionale
Verviers ;
Philippe de Menten, membre du comité exécutif de la CGSP enseignement
Bruxelles et du bureau exécutif communautaire de la CGSP
enseignement ;
Fayçal Draïdi, délégué syndical SETCa ;
Yves Eeckman, militant SETCa ;
Marc Goblet, président de la régionale FGTB de Liège-Huy-Waremme ;
Geert Haverbeke, délégué BBTK Dexia ;
Rudy Janssens, secrétaire fédéral CGSP ALR, région de Bruxelles
capitale (à titre personnel) ;
Philippe Larsimont, ex-délégué SETCa métal Liège ;
Raymonde LeLepvrier, secrétaire régionale SETCa Namur ;
Dirk Lodewijk, employé ABVV Liedekerke, adjoint au maire de Liedekerke
(sp.a) ;
Jan MARTENS, secrétaire BBTK Antwerpen ;
Serge Monsieur, vice-président CGSP Vivaqua ;
Jos Muris, délégué BBTK bij Veolia ;
Bernadette Mussche, secrétaire BBTK-SETCa BHV ;
Olivier PALMANS, délégué principal CGSP Télécom-Aviation ;
Antoine Ruggieri, président de la commission pensionnés-prépensionnés
métal FGTB Liège, ex-permanent FGTB Cockerill ;
Henri-Jean Ruttiens, permanent syndical SETCa BHV ;
Rik Steeland, membre de BBTK Kortrijk ;
Francis Stevens, secrétaire adjoint BBTK BHV ;
Michel Vandermaesen, délégué BBTK Citroën ;
Jan Vanderpoorten, délégué principal ABVV/FGTB Audi ;
Hubert Van der Voorde, délégué BBTK Dexia.

This appeal was launched by the Committee for Unity

CONTACT: Yves Eeckman - Rue Georges Raeymaekers, 13, 1030 Bruxelles -
yves.eeck...@skynet.be

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The motion adopted by the federal committee on pensions of the FGTB

As a proposal of Antoine Ruggieri (president of pensions committee of
the metal sector) a motion was adopted, which declared the following:

"Š We note that, every day, the political situation gets worse and
they are leading us into a wall. We cannot wait any longer to defend
what it has taken us a life to win (Social Security, the right to
work, collective conventions) nor to defend our immediate demands (for
example, linking social payments to living standards, which would
allow us to lively in a dignified manner and not drown in precarity).

Consequently, we address the leaders of the federal FGTB to ask them
to organize, as soon as possible, a big federal demonstration (as a
common front, if possible, or, if not, with FGTB alone):

- To maintain federal solidarity and, thus, oppose - as demands the
manifesto of the FGTB - any regionalization of Social Security,
collective conventions, and the right to work.
- To maintain the unity of working people, from the north to the south
of the country, faced with bosses who want to divide us in order to
better liquidate our rights.
- To defend the list of demands of the FGTB, particularly linking
social payments to living standards, which is more urgent than ever in
light of the degradation of the purchasing power.

September 24, 2007."

[conspiracy analyst]