CTB National Political Council Resolution

The CTB National Political Council gathered in Sao Paulo on 3 may 2016 with the purpose to analyze the political conjuncture and adopted the following resolution:

1- Brazil is going through a serious political moment and particularly dangerous for the Brazilian workers;

2- There is currently a coup d ‘état underway in the country, concealed by an impeachment process without any legal basis, which constitutes a serious threat to democracy, the national sovereignty, the CLT (Consolidation of Labor Laws) and the secular achievements of the working class;

3- The putschist conspiracy comes from afar, it was present in the 2013 and 2014 demonstrations (under the slogan “the World Cup won´t happen”), manipulated in order to create an environment of social chaos and to weaken and destabilize Dilma´s Government. The offensive was redoubled after the re-election of Dilma with the impeachment process led by a defendant in the Supreme Court;

4- A more comprehensive analysis of the reality suggests that it is not a movement restricted to our country, but a much more extensive conservative wave, that has as a background the economic and geopolitical crisis of capitalism and international imperialism hegemonized by the US. Recent electoral setbacks for the democratic forces in Argentina, Venezuela and Bolivia, as well as coups in Honduras (2009) and Paraguay (2012), are events that are part of the same phenomenon;

5-Here, as in other countries of our America, the union of the bourgeoisies and the local landowners with the international financial aristocracy, is captained by the US imperialism in a reactionary enterprise. Those are the same social classes who were behind the military coup of 1964. The unclear goals of the scammers appear between the lines of their government projects;

6-In the document titled “bridge to the future” (PMDB party) vice-president Temer promises the patronage to end with the CLT (Consolidation of Labor Laws), establishing primacy of the market over the law and imposing unrestricted and widespread outsourcing of the economy. It beckons a a tough fiscal adjustment, expansion of the DRU and consequently the reduction of the the already scarce resources for health, education and social programs; the end of the policy of valorization of the minimum wage, reduction of the social security benefits and the fixing of a minimum age for retirement. The right-wing PSDB party follows the same path with a letter of 15 points forwarded to the putschist vice-president. It was not without reason that the FIESP- Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo, NCA- National Confederation of Agriculture and NCINational Confederation of Industry and hundreds of business entities supported and sponsored the impeachment;

7- The foreign capital, and particularly the US (who remained silent about the coup, supporting it behind the scenes), would be rewarded with the delivery of the pre-salt oil, privatization (including Petrobras), and notably the change of foreign policy, which tends to turn his back on Latin American and Caribbean integration, sabotage of the MERCOSUR, the CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) and the BRICS, to restore the diplomacy of the former Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso. Therefore, the coup goes along with the US strategy to recompose its imperialist hegemony in the Americas and around the world;

8-By interdicting a democratic, patriotic and popular project that, rightly or wrongly, was being implemented in Brazil since 2003, the pro-coup Consortium intends to restore a neoliberal program that confronts the national interests and the social rights. The process that is taking over the Presidency is illegitimate and markedly anti-democratic. We should have no doubt that to impose the conservative agenda they will appeal to the criminalization of the struggles and the social movements, restricting democracy and increasingly resorting to authoritarianism. The undemocratic, anti-national and anti-popular character of the coup is obvious.

9-Before this reality, the CTB National Political Council guides the entire militancy and leadership of our class-oriented Central to intensify the efforts of enlightenment and mobilization of the bases to fight relentlessly against the scammers, in defense of democracy, the national sovereignty and the social rights. In this sense, it is necessary to organize in the trade unions and in the grassroot committees the defense of the CLT-Consolidation of Labor Laws, and to begin immediately the preparations for the national day of Fight and Paralysis on 10 may organized by the Brazilian Popular Front and People Without Fear Front. Only through great class struggles, will we be able to reopen the way for a new National Development Project with Democracy, sovereignty and valorization of work proposed by the CONCLAT (National Congress of the Working Class)

São Paulo, 3 may 2016

CTB* National Political Council (*Central of Male and Female Workers of Brazil)