Letter of information No. 8 for the 2. International Miners' Conference in Ramagundam/Telegana in India from 2 to 5 February 2017

icg logoDear participants of the 2. IMC,
the 2. International Miners' Conference will take place in Ramagundam/Godavarikhani in the federal state Telangana/India from 2 to 5 February 2017.

1. Character, Tasks and Goals of the 2. International Miners' Conference
The 2. International Miners' Conference has the goal to promote the international coordination and cooperation of the militant and class militant miners' movement of the 21 million miners worldwide. That includes to get to know each other, to learn from each other, to strengthen the trust into each other and to draw conclusions from for the development of the coordination to a higher level. Therefore all the important questions of work, life, struggles, organization, environment, youth and families and so on shall be the object of deliberation and decisions. A center piece of the conference will be the deliberation and decision about an international practical program.
The homepage „www.minersconference.org" is a means for the mutual worldwide exchange of the miners and for the preparation of the conference. All important documents for the International Miners' Conference will be published here.
The 2. International Miners' Conference will be prepared and self organized in an international process of discussion and preparation by all participants on equal terms, democratically and ueberparteilich (non party affiliated). Each participant makes a contribution and takes on responsibility for a successful preparation and realization of the conference according to his possibilities. The 2. International Miners' Conference is closely connected to the rank-and-file and includes it broadly in the preparation and implementation.


Ramagundam/Godavarikhani is one of the centers of the miners in India (about 250 km away from Hyderabad). This venue is a good precondition for a successful conference.
In order to implement the tasks and goals of the conference, the 2. International Miners' Conference stands on three pillars:

  1. The General Assembly of the Delegates is the center piece of the conference and has a complex set of tasks. It discusses and makes all the decisions around the International Miners' Coordination including the passing of the practical program.
  2. Plenums and open forums which enable the participation of all the participants. They serve the mutual understanding and development of the coordination to a higher level. They are a preparation for the 3. conference, too.
  3. Cultural events serve the fraternization and to get to know each other better. They especially turn to all the miners, their families and friends in the region and India.

The Conference is financially independent and by this autonomous in its decisions – it finances itself independently by most manifold initiatives based on the mass of miners and their friends. It willingly accepts donations if they are given without reservations and conditions.
Basis for the financing of the travel of international delegations are financial activities (for instance collections of donations and other activities) in every participating country without exception. The travel of the own delegates shall be financed by every country itself if possible and a sum surmounting this for the mutual support in solidarity should be given.
The contributions for the mutual support in solidarity from all the countries are given to a fund under the administration of the ICG.
In cases where the travel expenses can not completely be financed by the possibilities of a country, an application for the support by the solidarity fund can be sent to the ICG. Based on these principles and within the frame of the ICG decisions, the main coordinator and the financial officer of the the ICG decide commonly and consensually about the payment of money from the solidarity fund. The money at disposal and the total of applications for support must be considered appropriately in this process.
The highest priority is to enable the participation of at least one miner delegate from as much countries as possible.

2. Course of the 2. International Miners' Conference
Date Event
01 February
until 12.00 am Travel of the delegations to Hyderabad (airport)
The national preparatory committee in India organizes the continuation of travel to Ramagundam/Godavarikhani from there
1st day
02 February 2017 10.00am to 12.00am Registration
03.00pm Demonstration and mass event as start of the conference
08.00pm Cultural event
2nd day
03 February 2017 09.00am Opening ceremony welcoming all the delegates and participants
09.30am Plenum with country reports
02.30pm Start of the General Assembly of the Delegates
07.00pm Cultural evening organized by the National Preparatory Committee from India
3rd day
04 February 2017 09.00am Forums 1 to 5
14.00pm Forums 6 to 10
07.00pm Cultural evening organized by the International Coordinating Group (ICG), where the international delegations and participants introduce their culture.
4th day
05 February
2017 09.00am continuation of the General Assembly of the Delegates
End 4.00pm 02.00pm Closing plenum

3. Country reports
The country reports aim at giving the participants of the conference an overview on the situation, the conditions and the struggle of the miners in the individual countries.
For the country reports we propose:
At the beginning of the reports it makes sense to shortly introduce the country, the dimensions of the mining and the situation of the miners:
What kind of raw materials are extracted with what kind of methods (open pit or underground mining, fracking) and under which conditions?
Which international mining monopolies oppose the miners?
How many miners exist in the country, in which sectors resp. branches do they work?
What is the impact of the mining on the working and living conditions (living situation of the families, future of the children and youth)?
The current struggles of the miners and the special set of problems to be solved should be in the focus of the reports:

  1. What was the goal of the struggles, your main demands?
  2. How was the struggle fought? Which forms and methods of struggle have been developed? What special experience in struggle does your miners' movement have?
  3. Which questions resp. problems arise about organizing the miners? How is the influence of the International Miners' Coordination in the country?
  4. How are the women and families included in the struggles?

The ICG proposes to produce the country reports in the form of power point presentations. You can find examples from the 1. International Miners' Conference in 2013 in Peru on the home page www.minersconference.org.
The country reports shall not be longer than 5 minutes. So all the delegations have the opportunity to introduce their countries.
The reports will be presented in the conference language English. Please discuss, whether you you can make a translation of the reports from your national language into English yourself. We offer you support in the technical production. Please turn to the ICG office early enough to make arrangements.
The country reports should be given to the ICG by 1 December 2016. The ICG would be glad and it would mean a lot of support if you yourself could make translations in more languages like Spanish, Russian, German and so on.
4. General Assembly of the Delegates
It is the decision making body of the International Miners' Coordination.
The „International Coordinating Group", elected by it, is accountable to it.

Organizations, movements and trade unions of the miners can become member of the international Coordination. They must acknowledge the Founding Resolution and the Final Communique of the 1th IMC in Arequipa/Peru 2013.
They are entitled to send delegates resp. To participate in the election of delegates on national, continental and international level. (The miners determine their delegates themselves).
They oblige themselves to participate in building the International Miners' Coordination according to their possibilities and to contribute to its financing.
Each participating country has a maximum of 5 delegates. Each delegation has 5 votes, irrespective of its number. Deadline for announcing delegates is 1 December 2016.

The General Assembly of the Delegates this time has a special task to deliberate on and pass the International Practical Program of the miners. The International Coordinating Group has agreed on a draft (see attachment). This draft shall be broadly discussed at the rank-and-file of the miners and motions can be given to the ICG by 1 December 2016 via the national delegations. The closing time for motions on 1 December 2016 was decided in order to hand over the different motions to the national delegations ahead of time. This enables a purposeful preparation in order to unify on a joint Practical Program and to pass it commonly in the time we have at the conference.
The national delegations can also make proposals for the new international Coordinating Group. They can also apply for the venue of the 3rd International Miners' Conference.

5. Discussion forums
The forums shall aim at implementing the program and the development of the coordination to a higher level. They are a preparation of the 3rd conference, too.
The forums are prepared by work groups from different countries. All participants are called to consider to actively participate in the preparation and chairing of the forums or how they can include their experience and knowledge. Please announce your cooperation as soon as possible, but by 31 May 2016 at the latest bindingly to the International Miners' Coordination.
An introductory contribution (10 to 15 minutes) shall give an orientation to the discussion. The moderators summarize the results and present them at the closing plenary. There are 10 forums on the following issues:
1. Building a joint struggle for wages, pensions, job security
2. Building regional coordination's of miners
3. Trade union movement and coping with positions directed against the workers
4. Protection of the environment and defense of jobs
5. State of the democratic rights of workers
6. Building the unity of contract and temporary with permanent workers as well as workers in handicraft and industrial mining
7. Living conditions, women and families
(The miners' wife's of Courage in Germany have applied for preparation/chairing)
8. Concerning the worldwide refugees' movement
9. Struggle of the workers, the population and the youth against the sellout of raw materials by the international monopolies
10. Politicization and radicalization of the miners' movement

6. Hints on the travel to India
It is important to begin with the preparation early.
- Flights are often very expensive if booked on short notice!
- Please inform yourself in time on the concrete conditions for entering India from your country. You often need to overcome protracted bureaucratic obstacles as well as different regulations for a visa (proof of finances and so on). Every traveler needs a valid passport which must be valid for at least 6 month at the date of arrival and include at least one free page.
Let us know if you have any questions or need support via the ICG office.

The ISG office can be phoned every Tuesday from 5pm to 7pm (MEZ) or you can write mails: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Glück Auf (Good luck)

Andreas Tadysiak
Main Coordinator of the International Miners' Coordination

Attachment:
Draft for the International Practical Program