April 8, 2006

A panel discussion jointly organized by Adana People’s House and Dev Sağlık-İş (Progressive Health Workers Union) was held in Adana. The speakers, Çetin Uygur, the President of Maden-Sen (Miners Union) and investigative reporter Metin Yeğin, addressed an audience of one hundred interested listeners. The same program was repeated in Mersin on April 7.

In his discussion on workers’ struggles, Uygur pointed out the inadequancy of unionized organization. He explained that workers in today’s world can not be excluded from the dynamics of the society as a whole and continued “grounds should be created where a worker can organize and co-struggle with the owner of the grocery where he shops, the driver of the bus he rides in and the teacher who teaches his child”.

Uygur said this was the result of lack of political leadership and the solution was to learn from and adopt the Latin American experiences to the conditions of the country.

Writer Metin Yeğin, who is known for his documentary work on Latin America, underlined the destruction caused by the privatization policies of neo-liberalism. He said the implementation of GATS policies in the 90’s led to increasing destruction in Turkey and warned that the worst was coming in the next phase. The closure of strategic industries such as PETKIM (petrochemical), TEKEL (alcohol monopoly) and SEKA (paper) would have total destructive effects not only on the workers who have lost their jobs but on all, starting with the owners of the shops where they shop, their landlords, and spread all over the land.

Yeğin talked about how workers took over their closed factories and started producing, won the right to have a say in management and proved to the whole world that plants could function without bosses. He gave examples of how the landless fought to prevent the plunder of public land and stated that Turkey should learn from these struggles and organize to stop the plunder in education, health care, energy transportation sectors.

He concluded his talks with a quotation from Marcos, the subcomandante of the Zapatistas. When asked what their demands were his response was, “Our houses are in ruins. We want them rebuilt. We want doctors for our hospitals. We want jobs. We have none now and we want the world”.

Sendika.Org/Adana

EK