General strike evokes Guinea’s independence struggle

A five-day general strike was suspended in the West African country of Guinea on March 4, after the government, the business association and the two union confederations that called the strike reached an agreement on relatively substantial wage increases.

The unions—the National Confed er ation of Guinean Workers (CNTG) and the Labor Alliance of Guinean Workers (USTG)—reserved the right to renew the strike if the government or businesses fail to live up to the agreement. Workers had been demanding a fourfold increase in wages. The protocol of agreement sets as an aim the doubling of wages.

This sounds like a tremendous pay increase, but most workers in Guinea bring home less that $1 a day. Prices have shot up ever since the government made an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and started floating its currency March 1, 2005. Even though Guinea has a vast agricultural potential, with rich, well-watered soil, the price of rice—a staple—has shot up to $22 for a 110-pound bag, well beyond the reach of most workers. Rice is generally imported.

Working people in Conakry, the capital, are so poor they are unable to buy food in advance and generally shop for each meal.

Besides agriculture, Guinea is endowed with diamonds, gold, iron ore, rare metals and uranium. It contains two-thirds of the world’s aluminum ore, bauxite. But except for the African countries hit by war — Angola, Liberia, Congo, for example — it is one of the poorest countries on the continent.

Guinea’s poverty, even though it has been independent for nearly 50 years, can be traced back to French President Charles de Gaulle’s reaction when Sékou Touré, a union leader who was leading Guinea’s struggle for independence, said no to remaining in the neocolonial trading bloc France wanted to construct in West Africa. Touré said, “We prefer liberty in poverty than riches in slavery.”

In retaliation, the French did not even leave a light bulb behind. They took records, rolling stock, cars and trucks, office furniture, telephones and any move able telephone equipment. They emptied pharmacies, piled up their medicines and burned them. They imposed a nearly total financial and economic blockade of Guinea, which survived only with limited aid from the Soviet Union and lost two decades of development.

When Lansana Conte took power in 1984 in a military coup, Touré’s economic policies had already moved towards a free market, capitalist model. Even after Conte ran and won two elections, the narrow elite that had established itself maintained a tight hold on most of Guinea’s available income, after the demands of the World Bank and IMF were satisfied.

The organizing and support for the strike ending March 4 was extremely solid. One of the few gas stations that stayed open in Conakry was between the barracks for the military police and the parliament build ing. Despite the police presence, youths attempted to close it Feb. 28, the second day of the strike. Banks, most transportation, and mining as well as most government offices were closed and stayed closed until the strike was suspended.

Both the CNTG and the USTG held a meeting the day the strike ended in the main Trade Union Hall in Conakry, where Guinea’s independence was proclaimed in 1958. Radio France International carried some of the meeting live, and the cheers, applause and satisfaction of the leaders over their victory was evident.

Hadja Rabyatou Sera Dialla, leader of the CNTG, said, “This hall is historic. The independence of Guinea, it was proclaimed here and today, we are still here! I am crying because, for me, today is 1958... . All Guineans observed the strike, even the beggars who came to this Hall to say that they were observing the strike because the people who gave them food didn’t have any. Today is your victory. Thanks to you, we have been heard. We told our lenders that we no longer have any debts, the African people have already paid our debts... .”

Luis M’bemba Soumah of the Free Union of Teachers and Researchers of Guinea, said “Today is historic. Guineans were blocked by fear, but we have swept it aside. Now it is finished! I hope that things are going to get better. We are going to keep our eyes on them, the members of government. They asked us to stop the strike and we said ‘Nyet’ but when the union leaders said stop, we did!”

El-hadj Ibrhima Fofana of the USTG said that Sera Dialla was a woman that unions could count on to stand up to the pressures of the government, the parliament and even women’s organizations, which didn’t support the strike. Fofana added, “The unions have given the government a choice: pay off our debts or nourish the people of Guinea.”

A general strike that lasts for five days and stays solid indicates that the people of Guinea are fed up with the hunger and poverty they face every day and will take strong measures to improve their lives. The strike was suspended but the vigilance will endure.