AROUND THE WORLD
France 'Télé est a vous?' THE PROPOSAL of the new French minister of culture and communications, Francois Leotard, to sell off the main public TV channel, TF-1, has shaped up as the first major battle over the rightist government's policy of privatization.
On May 21, 50 per cent of the personnel of TF-1 participated in a one-day strike against privatization. Thousands rallied at the Eiffel Tower to protest against the proposal.
Today, the French public broadcasting service employs 18,000 people, divided among three channels (TF-1, Antenne-2, and France Regionale-3); a public broadcasting department, TDF; a TV production company, the Societe Francaise de Production (SFP); a national radio corporation, Radio France (which includes also Radio France Internationale and Radio France Outre-Mer, an overseas territories service); two computer management agencies (GIRATEV); and a communications service, FMI.
This figure of 18,000 employees in French public broadcasting compares with 24,000 employees of the two BBC channels in Britain.
In all, the French public broadcasting system has an annual budget of 14,000 million francs, about 2,000 million US dollars. For the sake of comparison, the turnover of the major US TV network, CBS, was 360.6 million dollars in 1985.
The proposed sell-off of TF-1 was clearly intended to be the wedge for a much wider privatization. For example, about 50 per cent of the SFP's orders come from TF-1. That is only one indication of the snowball effect that the privatization of TF-1 would have.
What the TF-1 workers feared in particular was that privatization would lead to layoffs, since the American networks have been re- have heen re. ducing their staffs considerably in the context of the economic crisis and lower advertising revenues.
The government, moreover, apparently chose public broadcasting the first battleground of privatias zation for ideological reasons. In this area, it thought it could present a sell-off to private capitalists as an extension of individual freedoms. Leotard claimed that his proposal would "increase the spaces for freedom and healthy competition in the country's communications system."
In fact, the major buyer is likely to be the press moghul Robert Hersant, who has not distinguished himself as a contributor to the expansion of human freedoms, any more than Rupert Murdoch.
So, the rightist government's attack on public broadcasting has tended to rebound. Before the proposal for selling off TF-1, public opinion polls showed a majority favorable to privatization. Now they show a major shift against it. That has led other sections of public workers threatened by privatization schemes, such as postal and telecommunications workers, to tend to rally around the defence of public broadcasting.
The unpopularity of the privatization scheme is also shown by campaigns in defence of TF-1 launched by mass-circulation magazines such as Telerama, Evenement de Jeudi and l'Autre Journal.
Furthermore, the rightist partisans of "liberty" could not hide their reactionary big teeth. For example, the secretary of state for tourism, Jean-Jacques Descamps said on May 17: "The TV is the most socialist, the most rotten economically and socially."
After the May 21 strike in Paris, the regional broadcasting personnel took the lead in the fight, which is being led by an "Inter-Union Coordinating Committee of the CGT and CFDT" (the majority union in the industry) and the National union of journalists (SNJ), as well as an action committee formed at TF-1 called "La Tele est a vous" ("The TV
DiSEASE IGNORAN
Belongs to You").
On Saturday June 7, 10,000 people rallied in the Place de la Republique in Paris against the privatization. There was also a significant demonstration in Toulouse. Other actions are proposed later in June.
The fight in defence of public broadcasting in France also has an international significance, since it comes in the context of attacks on public broadcasting in a series of European countries — for example Britain, as well as Sweden, where there is a proposal to open TV to advertising for the first time. Nicaragua Exemplary healthcare INFANT mortality in Nicaragua has been reduced by a third, from 120 to 80 per 1,000 live births. This advance was noted by UNICEF, the United Nations children's aid organization, in its "Report on the Situation of Children in the World in 1986," as the most spectacular gain that could be pointed to in the underdeveloped countries.
In 1984, 60% of children under one year of age were vaccinated against chicken pox and 76% against polio. UNICEF attributed these results to the health policy of the Sandinista government. In only four years, the number of clinics has tripled, providing free medical care for 80% of the population.
[From the May 29 issue of Was Tun paper of the German section of the Fourth International.]
HELMES TO
REP THINGS
NICARAGUA
SINPLE
'NO, THAT'S NOT THE GANG I'M LOOKING FOR, MA'AM - I'M AFTER COMMUNISTS!'
International Viewpoint 16 June 1986
Guatemala Protest for the 'disappeared' "HECTOR and Rosario are here!" "Down with the army's amnesty!" "Justice!"
These slogans rang out in front of the National Palace in Guatemala City. A lot of the people were squinting to hold back the tears. The five speakers wept openly when they talked about Hector and Rosario and the other 38,000 people who have "disappeared" in Guatemala.
It was the Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo [GAM - Mutual Aid Group] that was demonstrating. This group was formed on June 4, 1984, as " a small light of hope in the long night of terror and death."
GAM says that it was love for a spouse, a relative or a friend that made it necessary to raise une made it necessary to raise the demand for an investigation and an accounting for the "disappeared" people.
The demonstration commemorated Hector and Rosario, two leaders of GAM that were murdered. Hector Gomez Calito was found on March 30, 1985. He had been murdered and tortured. On April 4, 1985, Rosario Godoy de Cuevas, her two-year-old son and 21 year-old brother were murdered. Their bodies showed marks of whips and were badly lacerated.
The demonstration expressed both sorrow and determination. The marchers, mostly Indians, carried two big wreaths of flowers bearing the names of Hector and Rosario. They also carried pictures of their murdered leaders.
The whole demonstration was filmed by a rotating camera on top of the entrance to the National Palace. Around it circulated heavily armed soldiers and members of Guatemala's secret police, largely built up by Israel, which is also the main military support of Guatemala.
"We did what we had to. We had to know about the disappeared people. Despite precise questions, the new president Vinicio Cerezo has not given us any answer," one of the speakers said.
Another demonstrator recounted: "Between January and March, under a democratic government, 300 people have disappeared. That is a little less than before, but the disappearances are continuing under this government.
"In 1984, 3,000 people disappeared. But the only information the authorities offer is 'your son has gone to the US to make money, he has gone off with the subversives,
International Viewpoint 16 June 1986
OH RONNIE - A WORLD
FREE FROM TERRORISM!
NAGASAKE
GREECE
SUET
ADEN
CHILE
MAM CAMBOOK
MALAYSIA
USIN
CAMBODY
LAOS NEPALES NICARAGU
GREN or your husband has found another woman.' "
The woman demonstrator continued: "The amnesty law, or Decree 8-86, that we are protesting against involves exonerating the military for any crimes committed since 1982. That is why we are demanding justice."
The demonstration broke up after an hour. Later, in the afternoon, a memorial mass was held for Hector and Rosario.
A few days later, I met two GAM members in their home near the university. They were two sisters who had lost their brother. San Carlos was murdered in 1981 at the university by the military. Soldiers stormed onto the campus and shot down 15 students. The women and I went into a little room in the middle of the house so that our conversation could not be heard outside.
"The organization has 50-60 members that show themselves publicly. Altogether, we have several thousand members active in different ways."
The younger sister closed the window. She was worried that someone might hear us.
"Yesterday, a policeman was here," she said. "He did not say anything. He just looked around."
I asked: "What is the importance of the European trip that your chairperson, Nineth Montenegro, has just undertaken?"
"For us, it is very important to spread information about our work
MANGOLA ANGOLA
B and about the situation in Guatemala," the elder sister said. "We hope also that we can get support for our work from other countries."
I asked: "Won't it be dangerous for Nineth Montenegro to return to Guatemala after her trip?"
"We hope and we trust that she will be able to return without difficulty. Members of parliament in Great Britain, France and West Germany have nominated GAM for the Nobel Peace Prize. The organization is worthy of it."
Goeran Jacobsson [From the May 22 issue of Internationalen, the paper of the Swedish section of the Fourth International.] West Bank Secure chickens! THREE residents of the Arab village of Artas in the Gush Etzion area on the West Bank appealed to the Israeli High Court of Justice on May 22 to return lands to them that were confiscated immediately after the 1967 war. According to the May 27 News From Within, bulletin of the Alternative Information Center in Jerusalem, the land was originally seized for what the Israeli government called "security purposes." But a few years ago, it was transferred to Jewish settlers who have built houses and chicken coops on it. C
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POLAND