This conference has been convened at the initiative of the ILC and organized by the PT of Algeria

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The 230 delegates from 42 countries adopted the following declaration:

The situation is marked by the greatest world upsets, an unprecedented crisis for imperialist domination, opening the way for the most dangerous adventures for Humanity.

Governments and regimes, even when fragile and in crisis, attack the workers and the oppressed peoples in order to maintain the capitalist system.

The conference, at the very start of its plenary session, unanimously and with great seriousness adopted the following resolution:

”We, the 230 delegates meeting in the 9th Open World Conference (OWC) of the International Liaison Committee, supported by nearly 700 political and trade union officials and anti-imperialist militants from 60
countries, condemn with the greatest force the provocation by D. Trump regarding his announced intention to transfer the US embassy from Tel Aviv to El Qods (Jerusalem) with a view to making the latter the capital of the Jewish State. We express our unconditional solidarity with the Palestinian people in their struggle to gain their national rights.”

Throughout the conference, the speakers hailed the fight of the Palestinian people for their inalienable rights. Numerous speakers stressed the overwhelming responsibility borne by international institutions and, over and above their crocodile tears, that of the reactionary regimes and governments of the Middle East.

The participants in the conference reached the same conclusion. Everywhere, the workers and the oppressed peoples are confronted with a terrible crisis as a result of the decomposition of the capitalist system. And they are resisting with dogged force. On the pretext of ”fighting terrorism”, imperialist wars dismembering nations and sowing chaos are spreading on behalf of the big multinationals which are competing ferociously with each other in order to loot natural resources and basic commodities.

These wars are throwing millions of workers and young people onto the roads of exodus. At the sametime as the imperialist governments attack the oppressed peoples, and increase their military spending in order to do so, these same governments, in the name of the crisis, are seeking to destroy all the gains of the workers in the imperialist countries.

This offensive by imperialism dismembering nations is notably expressed by the ”coup d’Etat” process in Brazil and the threats against Venezuela. Colonial and imperialist oppression is clearly continuing and worsening, with the complicity of those regimes concerned to preserve their links with imperialism.

All the democratic and social conquests of the working class are under attack, increasing the exploitation of workers and particularly women: privatizations, undermining of labor law, of collective agreements, of the right to education and social protection, of the right to healthcare, provoking the resistance of the workers with their organizations.

The delegates of the 9th OWC hail and support the struggle, waged internationally and in each country, to defend social security systems.

The right to strike is being systematically thrown into question.

The independence of trade union organizations is being attacked, thereby threatening to destroy them through their integration.

Everywhere, the workers and the peoples are seeking to counter this offensive and defend their most vital rights, their social gains, the national sovereignty of oppressed countries, drawing new forces into resistance against the policies of imperialism, policies of decomposition which particularly hit the youth, driving them into precariousness, war and emigration

Particular national situations aside, this resistance tends to come up against the pressures which are brought to bear upon the leaders of the popular and workers’ movements to make them accept, accompany and even participate in all the low blows prepared and implemented by the various governments which serve the interests of Capital and which argue that ”there is no alternative”.

The OWC holds that, on the contrary, the bankruptcy and chaos into which the capitalist regime is dragging Humanity are not inevitable. That was what the more than 80 speakers at the conference expressed. All of these speakers expressed the resistance of the workers and peoples with their organizations and who – on their own ground, that of the class struggle – are searching for the way forward.

In this situation, the OWC hails all the struggles of the workers and the oppressed peoples for their rights. It believes that nothing is more crucial than to help preserve or strengthen the independence of the organizations of the working class and the youth and of all the processes of resistance which are under way within the workers’ movement, as explained by numerous speakers.

This conference, the richness of its debates and the quality of its participants has demonstrated the need to maintain contacts, to exchange all information and to continue this open discussion among all the participants. The unity of the problems which are posed, the need for international solidarity and of help for the struggle to be waged in each country confirm this.

On January 4, 1991, the manifesto adopted by the International Liaison Committee of Workers and Peoples at its founding conference in Barcelona affirmed the confidence of the participants ”in the capacity of the workers of the whole world to free themselves from the chains of exploitation and oppression, their capacity to build a world where harmonious cooperation between nations and workers will replace this world whose barbarity increases by the day (…).”

The OWC adopts for itself the conclusions of the 8th OWC held in Algiers in November 2010 and reaffirms: ”This confidence is reinforced by the events which have taken place: in spite of all the suffering and all the destruction, the will of the workers and peoples to resist and to fight, and who refuse to disappear, remains the essential element upon which the future of Humanity reposes (…).

‘We reaffirm: peace and brotherhood between workers and peoples can only be made real by the workers and peoples themselves. They can only be realized on the basis of the satisfaction of their most basic needs, which clash with those of the class of exploiters, class which bears within itself war and bankruptcy.”

That is why we support the proposal of the coordination of the ILC to examine the possibility that, in the coming months, representatives of all the countries present meet again in order to constitute an International Liaison Committee of the 9th OWC in order to continue our exchanges and organize joint action and international solidarity.

Against war and exploitation

For the defense of:

• the socio-economic rights of workers and young people;
• the independence of trade union organizations;
• democratic freedoms;
• the sovereignty of peoples and nations.

Algiers, December 10, 2017