Toronto
Rally in solidarity with Colombian workers
An emergency picket was held on Oct.
23 in front of the Colombian Consulate in Toronto in
solidarity with a 24-hour work stoppage by affiliates of
the Colombian Central Trade Union Federation, and with
rallies being held by the Colombian student movement.
The Toronto protesters raised their voices to demand
strict observance of human rights in Colombia, and also
chanted “hey-hey, ho-ho, the FTA with Colombia has got
to go”.
Common Frontiers-Canada and the
Colombia Action Solidarity Alliance (CASA) organised the
event on short notice, along with the Toronto and York
District Labour Council, the Canadian Union of Public
Employees (CUPE) – International Solidarity Committee,
and the Alternative Democratic Pole (PDA) – Toronto
Support Group.
Speakers representing the organizing
groups, the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), KAIROS:
Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiative, and the Ontario
Secondary Schools Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) – Human
Rights Committee, brought messages of solidarity and
called for an end to the state policy of genocide
towards trade unionists, indigenous people and the
social movement. The speakers also called for support of
the ongoing cane cutters strike, for striking public
sector unions, and for the indigenous march to Cali.
The labour and community activists
at this rally were one in denouncing and repudiating the
Colombian government’s use of violence and repression to
respond to legitimate and peaceful social protests. The
Toronto picket endorsed the call coming from Colombia
that international labour and social justice
organizations back Colombian popular movement demands
for the observance of workers’ rights, for improved
wages and for putting a stop to neo-liberal economic
policies.
Several speakers put
the Harper government on notice over its complicity with
the Uribe regime in Colombia. The rally ended with a
final call for Canadian labour and the social justice
movements to increase the pressure on the newly
re-elected Conservative Stephen Harper government to
repeal the signing of the Canada-Colombia Free Trade
Agreement – a closed-door deal that is opposed by
significant sectors of civil society in both Colombia
and Canada.
\
