Denmark

Today June 12, Socialistisk Standpunkt and Hands off Venezuela protested outside the Brazilian embassy in Denmark against repression at the CIPLA factory in Brazil. At the end of the protest a letter was handed to the Embassy, which we reproduce here with a photo.

To the Ambassador of the Brazilian Embassy in Denmark

We write this letter to inform you about, and protest against, some events in Brazil that we find very disturbing. We hope you will read this and take it up with the people in charge in Brazil.

The workers of the occupied CIPLA factory were surprised on the morning of May 31 by 150 heavily armed men of the Federal Police, who invaded the factory in order to arrest the members of the factory committee.

After almost five years of struggle to save their jobs and protect their rights, all the time calling on the federal government to nationalise the factories as proposed by the BNDES (National Social and Economic Development Bank) the workers now find themselves threatened by the Federal Police and with the risk of losing their jobs.

The only "crime" of the CIPLA workers was to fight for the right to work and to earn a crust of bread for their families. The owners had brought the factory to the point of bankruptcy and ruin, making closure inevitable. The workers saved the factory and have kept it running under democratic workers' control. Their fight was an inspiration to workers in the whole of Brazil and the rest of the Americas. They established model conditions for the workforce, including a 30-hour week, while continuing production with great efficiency.

We want the persecution of the workers and the management of the CIPLA factory to stop immediately. We request that the Federal Police be withdrawn from the factory and allow management to enter the factory without threat of arrest, and that the workers be allowed to meet in an assembly and freely determine their own fate.

The Federal Police must be directed against the corrupt and the narco-traffickers and not against the workers!

Greetings,