More
Corruption, political games and anti-democracy
The Uribe's Referendum is
more than anything else a way of supporting the Government through the polling
stations, even if it is only a small 25% of citizens with the political rights
to do it. Which is a little over the six million people, a small minority, who
elected him.
The Oligarchy need to get a plebiscite in favour of Uribe Velez
which serves to "inflate" his leadership so that he can continue with
his vicious campaign of neoliberal ideas, his fascism and total war or state
terrorism.
At the same time the Referendum will help to legitimise his
policies, carried out under the command of Washington. It will also deceive the
poor by pretending to cut some of the tax concessions and high salaries of civil
servants and MPs while poverty increases and the financial parasite Oligarchy,
both national and foreign, increase their privileges and profits.
Alvaro Uribe Velez (AUV) knows that his plan to change the regime
or "Community State", neoliberal and fascist, disguising his demagogic
ideas under slogans or promises like: "Fight against political games and
corruption"- demands organising a social support beyond the nodding
approvals of the Oligarchy Trade Unions' meetings and the international forums
of the imperialism; of the fabricated opinion polls, the reinsertion of
paramilitaries, the "the million friends" or informers and the peasant
soldiers who increase paramilitary groups like CONVIVIR which legalise and
extend the number of paramilitaries.
Reality however has been clearing these affirmations. As the
anti-popular laws and policies of Uribe start appearing, his public image start
suffering. As time goes by Uribe's supporters worry more and more and some
already are beginning to wonder if it would be better not to have a Referendum,
so as not to "damage his image". Instead they believe they should
adopt legal and political tricks to help Alvaro Uribe Velez demonstrate the
seriousness and effort to fulfil his campaign promises, so in that way the won't
be defeated.
Fraudulent
contents
This Referendum is a fraud to democracy. One dishonest point is the
question geared to support the Government: "Do you agree with all the
Articles in the Referendum?".
Another trick is to do an unnecessary Referendum with high spending
costs (about 250 thousand million
of Colombian pesos).
In general this Referendum has the trick of linking, apparently
"positive things" with anti-democratic poison, full of corruption and
political games.
This is a Referendum that will impoverish more the workers with a
low level increase in their pensions, the freezing of pay rises and the social
spending by the State. While on the other hand it will increase the spending on
paying the public debt (national and international) and the war against the
people. It will also create more unemployment and instability for workers.
This Referendum will also strengthen the authoritarian President,
the political games and corruption involved in the management of public
spending, therefore affecting the local budgets while allocating more resources
to the Executive Power (President and Chancellor), also pretending to extend the
service period of Mayors, Councillors, Governors and Representatives, almost all
of which disapproved by the majority of people because of their corruptive and
inefficient practices.
In the name of saving from the national budget they will turn from
Uribe's " Community State" towards a Totalitarian State. With the
elimination of official bodies in charge of Treasury and local departments of
the exchequer, there is no political control from the Government not only on
treasury matters but also on human rights. The monopolies (big generators and
beneficiaries of corruption) strengthen while using the State to freeze spending
and privatise the Treasury controls with public funds.
The Referendum does not touch on the essentials that deny Democracy
like the criminalisation of organisations, the action and participation of
people in the political life of Colombia. Also absent from this Referendum are
the right to petition and the right to negotiate and strike, both closely
linked.
As part of their reactionary task they are looking to introduce an
electoral reform and also to reform the Parliament to try and "clean"
some Institutions of their bad reputation as bourgeois-pro-imperialist State,
strengthening the party politics at the service of the Establishment and
violating the organizations and other political parties that struggle from the
opposition to build other alternatives to this dominant system.
By penalising the drug use they would make youngsters a target for
the Police and the Army, making them more exploited and repressed, even if they
are not using drugs they can "plant them", making their parents pay
lots of money in fines and solicitors fees. Instead they should be looking into
the causes of drug addiction. By criminalising it they will be increasing the
huge profits made by the drug cartels and also aggravating the health issues of
the addicts avoiding the responsibility of the Government towards public health,
employment, education, entertainment and sports.
Abstention:
A massive democratic answer
It is very important to study thoroughly the debate about the
contents and significance of the Referendum. According to some opinion polls
Uribe abandoned a "very good idea" of his campaign: "REFERENDUM
AGAINST POLITICAL GAMES AND CORRUPTION".
Other people can see democracy only exists in the political games,
elections and Congress. A lot of people and Organizations consider the
Constitution of 91as a great democratic achievement and by defending it they are
fighting Uribe.
There are many wide and valid fronts trying to fight against this
Referendum amongst them is the Left whose duty is to maintain the independence
of political ideas, discussing and sharing its democratic convictions to destroy
the bourgeois lies about true democracy and to be able to exercise the right to
struggle to liberate the oppressed and have political freedom,
so that the majority of people, the proletariat, who have always been
excluded in the bourgeois-imperialistic order.
Alvaro Uribe Velez, the Oligarchy and the imperialism know that by
imposing Fascism that destroy the people, deceiving them with their demagogic
socio-political measures and using terrorism to crush the rest of people who
struggle for their rights. For this reason and to strengthen the Fascism process
deepening the Terrorism of the State they are promoting the false
"positiveness" of the Referendum.
They are trying to maintain an image of Uribe as the
"saviour", while at the same time launching a "reactivating
social plan" for a year that includes low reach and for which there is only
a 1/3 of the money.
The great majority of politicians at the service of the System
support the Referendum so that people can only vote YES, NO or BLANK. They are
desperate to obtain the 25% of participation of voters as they believe that with
the political games and fraud they would impose, on the small number of voters,
the YES that the Government want. That is why they want to disqualify the
popular opposition and create obstacles to the right to call people to abstain
from voting.
It is obvious that an active abstention, along with protest is the
only democratic and political answer in favour of the exploited workers,
teachers, intellectuals, poor peasants and small and medium owners and producers
living in cities; of youngsters and women and of everyone who has been excluded
by the powers of the State. Not going to the polling stations not only has the
political effect of taking away the validity of the Referendum but also has the
tremendous significance of disobeying the orders of the Corruptive, Stateless
and cruel ruling leader.
Communist Party of Colombia (M-L)