As is abundantly clear by now, in ICL all decisions are made from the bottom up. That means that they are made by individual members in the sections and the local unions and that all formal bodies (like the Working Groups or the Liaison Committee) are only tasked with implementing them. This is achieved through congresses and referendums.
Coordinating comrades from so many different countries can take time. The Liaison Committee has to work out a timeframe that allows matters to be discussed at the local and national levels. Of course, dates can be different each year, but the period of time allowed for deliberation is always the same (as defined in our statutes, available in the following link: Statutes – ICL-CIT). We are pleased to say that this process has worked seamlessly once again and now we have an outcome for this referendum.
This time, a number of questions were put forward to our individual members, but likely the two most important ones concerned the formal membership of the new ICL sections:
FGWM from Myanmar membership: approved unanimously. As you probably know, ICL has been working with this union and supporting its initiatives for a long time. However, they didn`t request their formal membership until a few months ago. This has now been granted. ¡We are happy to welcome them in our ranks!
FOB from Brazil membership: approved unanimously, but for one section which abstained. Some time ago we cheered the decision of this union to join ICL, but it was pending a formal vote. Now, their membership has been ratified.
Once again, we are extremely happy about these decisions. Not only because of the outcome itself, but also because we have been able to agree on all points by consensus, proving once more that making decisions from the bottom up is possible, and because of the undeniable fact that the global working class continues to organise itself non-stop.
It will be a pleasure to work with these comrades, and we look forward to their contributions to the development of the International. Welcome!