Declaration of the Fourth International

Armed police firing into the crowd, mass demonstrations that grew
larger and more powerful with each passing day. These were the images
seen by workers and peoples the world over. They saw and heard the
Tunisian people as they took to the streets, defying the repression,
victimized by the violence, to state, "Down with the Regime!” These
were images of a people on the rise.

The Fourth International salutes the movement of the youth, the

working class and the people of Tunisia, who over the course of
several weeks -- despite the repression, the killings, and the arrests
– drove out Ben Ali, demanding, "Water and Bread -- NOT Ben Ali!"

This was the slogan around which the Tunisian people rose up to oppose
the misery, poverty and oppression imposed by the dictatorship of Ben
Ali. This is why they were met with such ferocious repression.

The people of Tunisia regained their right to speak in this movement

that linked the social, working class, democratic, and national
demands. The youth of Tunisia, who reached out to the General Union of
Tunisian Workers (UGTT) and its structures to organize this movement,
paved the way for the workers and the entire population. The Fourth
International salutes the memory of the dozens upon dozens of people
who died in order that the revolution could live.

For working people all around the world, these images of the Tunisian
revolution brought to mind the images of earlier proletarian
revolutions: the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Spanish Revolution of
1936, the Portuguese Revolution of 1974 (with its mobilization of
youth and workers with their unions, their committees, and their
scenes of fraternization with the soldiers). These images are those of
revolution and class struggle, which is international in scope.

The People Organize Themselves

To defend themselves from the death squads of the Ben Ali regime, the
youth and workers -- together with their UGTT affiliates and union
councils -- built their defense committees in their neighborhoods and
communities. They did all this alone – in opposition to all the
international forces that joined together to support Ben Ali.

The defense committees then took it upon themselves to organize their

pressing immediate tasks and the administration of daily life. They
met in the offices of the UGTT branches. They rose up against the
institutions of a regime entirely constructed to serve the interests
of a tiny, corrupt minority in the service of imperialism. These
committees are one of the highest forms of democracy. Within them,
expressing the intense ferment sweeping the country, the Tunisian
people discussed freely and in full sovereignty their own future, that
is, the defense of the revolution.

These aspirations were expressed throughout the country. The Regional

Committee For the Protection and Supervision of the Revolution in the
city of Kasserin, said in a statement:

"We must take note of the fact that the enemies of the revolution are
both inside and outside. They are attempting to confiscate the
revolution of our people, thereby trampling upon the blood of our
martyrs, by creating a new regime on the basis of all the forces of
the old regime. They want to seize the gains of our people and to
continue to serve imperialism, Zionism and the reactionary Arab
regimes."

In its Declaration, the Committee of Kasserin defined its tasks as

follows: "Defeat the ruling party [RCD] and all its structures,
including its militia, and freeze its assets -- and restitute to the
people all the goods that were stolen from them."

The Declaration also calls for the creation of "a Government of

National Public Salvation" that "is entrusted with ensuring the
election of a Constituent Assembly mandated to adopt a new Destour
[Constitution] that breaks with the old regime."

As stated in the Declaration of the Committee of Kasserin, the

revolution is threatened by the external forces of imperialism but
also by their relays inside Tunisia, who are seeking to patch up the
old regime by maintaining at the head of the State the top officials
of the RCD, the ruling party of Ben Ali regime, such as Mohamed
Ghannouchi, former Prime Minister of the Ben Ali government and also
former director of the World Bank programs responsible for the
privatization onslaught in Tunisia.

The working class, reclaiming its historic organization – the UGTT --

has brought the UGTT to the forefront of the political scene in
continuity with the class-struggle traditions of this union
federation, founded by Farfaht Hached (who assassinated in 1952). In
1955, the UGTT had adopted a convention resolution calling for the
nationalization of all colonial holdings and an agrarian reform law.
The Revolution Has Begun in Tunisia

Yes, it is a revolution that has begun in Tunisia. It is not only a

“democratic revolution,” as the Western media write. It is a
revolution in defense of popular sovereignty and national sovereignty,
for the defense of the rights of youth, workers and working people in
general against a tiny corrupt minority in the service of imperialism
-- particularly French and U.S. imperialism. Through the Association
Agreements with the European Union and the plans of the IMF, these
imperialist powers called into question the sovereignty of Tunisia, a
country that had emancipated itself from colonialism but later engaged
in the over-exploitation of the Tunisian workers.

The mobilization of the Tunisian people has raised the need to

expropriate the wealth of the corrupt minority, of which Ben Ali was
the main leader, and that of his "party," the RCD, which is a real
gangrene upon Tunisian society. This is a workers' revolution that has
burst forth against Capital and the system based on the private
ownership of the means of production.

Indeed, the regime led by Ben Ali faithfully served the interests of
the major powers via the plans of privatization and deregulation, and
the fire-sale of national assets. This paved the way for the
transformation of Tunisia into a free-trade zone, driving the youth,
workers, and small peasants and all the people into abject poverty on
behalf of the multinational corporations, which in Europe and
elsewhere closed their factories to relocate to Tunisia.

This is why the imperialists -- and particularly the French and U.S.
governments of all political stripes -- have supported for 23 years
the regime of Ben Ali. They have continuously presented Tunisia as a
model for the so-called "emerging nations.” On many occasions they
even had the gall to sing the praises of a "democratization on the
march" at the very moment that the Tunisian people were living under
the boot of the police militia of the dictatorship of Ben Ali. French
and U.S. imperialism continued to back the Ben Ali regime until the
very last minute, only later, once Ben Ali was forced out of power, to
try to patch up the old regime. The overthrow of Ben Ali by the
mobilization of the people represents first and foremost the defeat of
the imperialist powers.

Shame on the Socialist International, which waited till the last

minute – that is, January 17, 2011, three days after the ouster of Ben
Ali -- to expel from its ranks the RCD, which had been a member of the
Socialist International since 1989! Shame on IMF Managing Director
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who, in 2008 while visiting Tunisia, dared to
say that the country was "the best model to follow”!
Shame as well on the forces of the so-called left and far-left in
France, which in a joint statement called upon "the European Union to
support a genuine democratic transition in Tunisia." They dared to
call upon those who had given Ben Ali his marching orders, crushing
the Tunisian people, to now to come to their “aid” today.

The Fourth International affirms the following: The only true demand
today is: "Government of France, U.S. imperialism, European Union,
IMF: HANDS OFF TUNISIA!" It is up to the Tunisian people to determine
their own future. Today, all the political forces and all the
governments of the major powers oppose this right to self-
determination when they launch an appeal for a so-called "democratic
transition".

What kind of democratic transition are they talking about?

Faced with the so-called government of national unity that was formed
with the approval of the major powers, the youth, workers and people
of Tunisia took to the streets to demand: "Water and Bread, NOT the
RCD!" Because they want the wealth of Tunisia to belong to the people,
they took to the streets yet again to demand the dissolution of the
RCD. Who else but the Tunisian people should decide the future of
Tunisia?

Voice to the Tunisian People!

The youth, workers, and people want jobs; they want to be able to live
from their work. They don’t want the wealth of their nation to be
plundered by the foreign multinational corporations and their agents
in Tunisia, which for so many years fueled a corrupt regime. They want
to smash all the institutions of the regime. They are creating their
own committees in opposition to the corrupt regime precisely because
they want to take affairs into their own hands; they want to decide
matters for themselves.

And they are seeking to coordinate these committees. At the same time,
they are turning toward the UGTT unions with the expectation that they
will be a vehicle to express their aspirations.

On January 18, in the aftermath of the formation of the government of

national unity, the National Administrative Committee of the UGTT
trade union federation adopted a resolution that states:
"Consider[ing] that the coalition government does not correspond to
our ideas, that it does not express the demands we have put forward
and that it does not represent the aspirations of the people and
workers, [the UGTT] decides to withdraw our representatives from the
coalition government; to have our elected union officials resign from
the National Assembly, from the Assembly of the Council, and from the
local councils; and to suspend the participation of the UGTT in the
Economic and Social Council."

The National Administrative Committee of the UGTT in the same

resolution, demanded, "The dissolution of the RCD ... and the
rejection of any foreign intervention in the internal affairs of our
people, as they were the ones who overthrew a president that repress
the people. The union federation also called for the "nationalization
of all the property of the Ben Ali clan, which is tantamount to the
takeover by the Tunisian Republic of a large proportion of the
economy.

Toward this end, the UGTT also issued a call for "a Constituent
Assembly through free and fair elections that reflect the will of the
people."

The questions formulated by trade union federation were also raised

the discussions taking place in committees, neighborhoods, and
workplaces across the country. Many accounts of these discussions show
that the Tunisian people are seeking to determine the future of their
own country.

Democracy, they say, is a government that implements policies in the

interests of all the Tunisian people. Democracy means the rights of
workers. Democracy means respect for secularism and for women's
rights. Democracy means not accepting that the former officials of the
Ben Ali regime remain in power. Democracy means breaking with the
current constitutional framework. Democracy means the freedom to
express one’s opinion. Democracy means not allowing the revolution to
be confiscated. It is a government elected by the people and
controlled by the people.

On January 19, 2011 in Sfax, a general strike took place in response

to the call of UGTT, which demanded the dissolution of the RCD, the
party-regime of Ben Ali, and the seizure of assets of the corrupt
ruling minority. On January 20, the national leadership of the UGTT
called for the formation of a Government of Public Salvation.

At the Side of the People Tunisia Against Imperialism

The Fourth International believes that it is the responsibility of the

international workers' movement to defend the revolution that began in
Tunisia by taking a clear and firm stand against any foreign
interference in the affairs of the Tunisian people. It is no
coincidence that Standard and Poor's (the rating agency) is
threatening to lower the credit rating of Tunisia because, as it
announced publicly, it believes that "the current political
instability could affect the economy and therefore witness a
deterioration of its public finances.” The threat has been wielded:
The aim of French and U.S. imperialism is to press the new government
to continue the same policies as those implemented by the deposed Ben
Ali.

That's why they want to defeat the revolution in Tunisia, just as they
want to crush all the conquests of the workers, in the name of their
crisis. To do this, they want to use the question of the "debt" of US
$18 billion contracted by Ben Ali with the IMF. But this debt is not
the debt of the Tunisian people. It is Ben Ali’s debt. Cancel the
debt!

Workers throughout the world are at the side of the Tunisian people
because they have the same enemies. The revolution that began in
Tunisia is a leverage point for all the peoples of the world insofar
it was a blow to imperialism, the IMF, and the European Union. It was
a blow to a capitalist system in agony – a system that is leading the
peoples to barbarism. The revolution is a leverage point for the
peoples of the Middle East and Africa, who are threatened by war and
the breakup of nations, such as is occurring in Ivory Coast, Sudan,
Lebanon and elsewhere. War and the dismantling of nations only benefit
imperialism and the multinational corporations that plunder these
countries.

But the revolution that began in Tunisia is also a leverage point for
all the peoples of Asia, who face similar threats of dislocation and
of war, as in Afghanistan and particularly in Pakistan, the country
most threatened today by the same destructive logic.

It is a leverage point for the people and workers in Latin America

who, in their struggles for national sovereignty, are facing the same
enemies as the Tunisian people: imperialism and the institutions in
its service (IMF, World Bank, WTO), as well as the “free-trade”
agreements with the United States and the European Union.

It is a leverage point for the Palestinian people's legitimate

struggle for their national rights, which are trampled upon by the
existence of the Zionist state – a state that relies on the
cooperation of the Palestinian people’s so-called “fraternal”
regimes.
Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom openly acknowledged this
fact when he stated, “The fall of Tunisia’s regime headed by Zine El
Abidine Ben Ali could set a precedent that could be repeated in other
countries, possibly affecting directly the stability of our system.”
Speaking on an Israeli Radio interview, Shalom continued, “Israel and
most of the Arab regimes have common interests. ... A democratic
system in the Arab world would end this present allegiance, because a
democratic system would be governed by a public generally opposed to
Israel.” (Avram.org, January 15, 2011)

The revolution that began in Tunisia and that has risen up against the
French government and the other governments of the European Union is,
likewise, a point of leverage for the peoples of Europe who have been
subjected -- in the name of the crisis, the debt and the “reduction of
public deficits” -- to an unprecedented destruction of their rights
and conquests in all the countries of Europe.

The revolution that began in Tunisia represents for workers in Greece,

Ireland, France, Portugal, Spain – all of whom have waged huge
mobilizations -- a magnificent encouragement to continue and deepen
their resistance to Capitalism, the very same system that has
exploited the Tunisian workers in sweatshops that were offshored from
Europe, where hundreds of thousands of jobs were destroyed in the
process. The interests of workers in Europe are the same as those of
workers in Tunisia.

Finally, it is a point of leverage for the youth and working class of

the United States, who continue to oppose the war in Iraq and
Afghanistan and who are seeking, despite all obstacles and
difficulties, to win the right to a true universal healthcare plan, a
Single Payer healthcare plan, and to defend all their rights and
gains.

Governments: Fear the Revolt of the People!

A few weeks before the revolution broke out in Tunisia, an Open World
Conference Against War and Exploitation was held in Algiers, at the
invitation of the International Liaison Committee of Workers and
Peoples (ILC). The conference was co-sponsored by the Workers Party
(PT) of Algeria and the General Union of Algerian Workers (UGTA). In
the final appeal from conference, one can read the following:
"Despite the terrible suffering endured throughout the world, the
resistance of peoples, youth and workers is coming to the fore. All
are seeking to reclaim their organizations to be able to struggle,
resist and take back all that has been lost. … We, the undersigned,
endorse the slogan that was launched at the founding conference of the
ILC in Barcelona, Spain, on January 4, 1991: "Governments responsible
for wars and misery: Fear the revolt of the people! Down with war,
down with exploitation!”

Yes, all "governments responsible for wars and misery”: You have every
reason to fear the revolt of the people, because the people of Tunisia
have risen up, together with their UGTT unions, and they have built
their revolutionary defense committees.

The Fourth International considers that the only greeting to be sent

by the international workers’ movement to the struggle of the Tunisian
people is one that states forthrightly, "Government of France, the
United States and European Union, IMF: HANDS OFF TUNISIA! It is for
the Tunisian people and them alone to decide their future."

The youth, workers, the people of Tunisia have shown that the youth,
workers, and peoples of the world have the capacity to open through
their own actions a solution and positive outcome for humanity, now
facing the threat of barbarism as a result of the perpetuation of the
capitalist system on the planet.

To push back this barbarism, there is no other path than the

mobilization of people united for their rights and sovereignty through
class struggle – that is, the struggle of working people against the
capitalists, imperialism and their agents. T

This requires that the organizations established to defend the

workers, primarily the trade union organizations, must be free and
independent; they must not be beholden to the demands of Capital. They
must be able to express and give voice, with full force, to the power
that exists in the labor movement in all countries. Only in this
manner will they be able to fight back and resist all the policies
which, in the name of “finding solutions to the crisis,” seek to
integrate the trade unions into implementing the dictates of the World
Bank, the IMF, the European Union, and the capitalist class as a
whole.

There is no possible way forward if the unions are subordinated to all

the “counter-reforms” directed against the workers and peoples. Quite
the contrary: It is through the united struggle of workers and
peoples, with their organizations, as demonstrated by the revolution
that has begun in Tunisia, that it will be possible to assert popular
sovereignty and national sovereignty. This is the only way for workers
and peoples, with their organizations, to roll back the barbarism, the
war, the dislocation of nations.

Putting an end to this barbarism requires putting an end to the

capitalist system, which is source of all the ills affecting
humankind, thus paving the way to socialism.

This is the way forward for workers and peoples on all continents,
with their organizations, in their struggle for popular and national
sovereignty. This is the way forward to roll back barbarism.

The Fourth International supports every step forward in this path,

just as it supports every step toward the formation of political
parties rooted in this perspective.

The revolution that has begun in Tunisia has not stopped shaking the
big powers, as they can see that their continued domination is
threatened.

Long live the youth, workers and people of Tunisia! Long live the
Tunisian revolution which has begun!