Democratic Palestine : 6 (ص 22)
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- Democratic Palestine : 6 (ص 22)
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1. Jordan’s policy of
development plans, which
increased need for labor.
2. The inability of institutes to adopt
vocational training programs at a fast
enough pace to fill this need.
3. The foreign contractors from
more developed countries that are in
charge of Jordanian projects prefer to
hire cheap expatriate labor.
Though we are not dealing with the
Jordanian economy as a whole, we can
at least point out that the first reason
given is patently false:
The development plans referred to
have not led to any real growth for the
country. Rather for over a year now, the
regime has been adopting austerity
measures. Also the present plan for the
period of 1980-85 is threatened with fai-
lure according to some economic obser-
vers.
The second and third reasons given
are only the results of the government's
economic policy which entails depen-
dence on the capitalist countries in
adopting
led to
implementing any projects, and neglect-
ing the development of indigenous
Capabilities. The other side of this is the
regime's failure to establish viable rela-
tions with the socialist countries. Of
course, this policy is in line with the Jor-
danian comprador which works hand in
hand with foreign capitalist companies
to plunder the country’s resources.
Deflecting class and national
struggle
The Jordanian General Workers
Union has demanded that the govern-
ment put limits on the import of labor.
This led the government to decide
quotas whereby Jordanians should be
25% of construction workers and 50%
of workers in production. This however
was never implemented. Moreover,
such quotas obviously do not resolve the
essence of the problem. Rather this
decision was intended to passify the Jor-
danian workers in order to avoid expo-
sure of the regime's real intention in hir-
Jordan Releases Some of the
_ Political Prisoners
The Committees for the Defense of
Democratic Freedom in Jordan issued a
communique on September 19, 1984.
Stating that the Jordanian authorities
have released a number of political pri
oners. Among them are some cadres of
| both the Palestinian Resistance and the
| Jordanian National Movements.
The release came as a result of the
long struggie of all nationalists, democ-
ratic ee and es in oe
an Gaesners an “addition | the nite e
Committees were quite active in initiat-
ing and following up the work for the
| defense of these prisoners.
eee of mer ae py of the
TIE itical eer
‘Eade the prisoners ton the
ve Bar - ned es
authorities, were forced to declare a
hunger strike since September 13th
after the authorities retreated their posi-
tion.
The communique also mentioned
that the Jordanian authorities have
moved 13 prisoners from the Mahatta
oe F ee and sees men to
The Co fiiees for the Defense of
Democratic Freedom in Jordan, extend
thei
the politic al prisoners and call on the
Jore n authorities to release the
temaining tens of prisoners detained for
unjust reasons. The Committees also
demand the government to end all mea-
sures that aim at dispersing and disunit-
ing political prisoners. The Committees
call for the release of the tens of
thousands of Jordanian citizens whose
passports have been confiscated and
are denied employment and basic
democratic rights due to their political
ideology.
Finally, ‘the Defense Committees |
full support for the demands of all
aT
extend their apprees avons and Mek to |
the release of all oe politica oe
ing expatriate labors at the expense of
Jordanians. Still, discontent persists
among the Jordanian working class
which faces the competition of cheap
imported labor. This has led to a drop in
wages, which of course pushes more
Jordanian workers to emigrate. Further,
it led to a real unemployment problem
that has hit not only laborers but also
professionals. Recent Statistics
released by the Union of Jordanian
Engineers indicate that the number of
unemployed engineers has reached
4,200, which is almost half the union's
total membership. The union's study
also noted that 17,512 persons are now
studying to be engineers, in addition to
those engineers now doing their military
service. By government count, there are
420 foreign engineers in Jordan.
In conclusion, we emphasize that
the aim of the Jordanian regime’s
policies is to disperse and weaken the
working class in order to prevent it from
playing its role in enacting revolutionary
change. The regime moreover hopes
that any discontent among native work-
ers can be deflected against expatriate
workers rather than focusing on the
regime itself. Thus a dual responsibility
is thrust on the vanguards of the working
class to direct their struggle against the
cause of these policies and not be
diverted into secondary contradictions
from which the regime can profit. The
struggle must continue to end the
policies of the regime for importing
cheap substitute labor. At a minimum,
the regime is required to guarantee the
right of Jordanian workers and profes-
sionals to work within their own country.
As iS apparent from this study, the
regime’s policy on importing and export-
ing labor is a product of its overall politi-
cal and economic policy. Consequently,
the workers’ struggle for their right to a
job cannot be separated from the overall
popular struggle for democratic rights
and social change in Jordan. @
Note: The statistics in this study include
the Palestinian refugee population in
Jordan who hold Jordanian passports.
Obviously a large part of Jordan's labor
force which is affected by the regime's
policies for exporting labor is Palesti-
nian.
Footnotes:
" Al Rai (Jordanian daily). May 17, 1984.
* Paper presented by Dr. Mansour Al Atlum at the Sym-
posium for Population and Development.
3 Al Rai, April 5, 1984.
* Al Rai, May 29. 1984.
° Al Rai, April 22. 1984. - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 6
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