Dutch military launches attack on peace movement and soldiers rights
Holland has been one of the major centers of the antinuclear and antimilitarist movement in West Europe. vember, half a million persons demonstrated against the stationing of more U.S. nuclear missiles in Europe. Draftees in the Dutch army also have a strong trade-
Now, the NATO authorities seem to have chosen the Netherlands as a for an attack on the movement and the democratic Dutch military police arrested three leading activists of the soldiers union and the antinuclear movement. One of them was Peter van Wijk, national action director of the VVDM (Vereniging voor Dienstpligtige
Association). Another, Oscar van Rüswijk, was hauled in in the early morning hours. The third was Steef Boot, a soldier activist working at a NATO installation.
Subsequently, Frans Mass, member of the Soldiers Comrested. All were charged wins adan-
All were charged with The accusation was that the soldiers were involved in the theft of documents dealing with the role of the Cannerberg NATO base in the south of the country, which is supposed to be the NATO command center for Northern Europe in the event of a war with the Soviet Union. Boot was alleged to have actually taken the documents.
However, the function of the Cannerberg base has long been public know-
The Belgian military weekly Vox published an article on this facility a year and a half ago. And in January 1981, the Dutch weekly De Tijd published five pages of documentation about it, includ-
The fact is that "military secrecy" in Holland has meant the authorities concealing from the Dutch people decisions that could be fateful ones for their future and that of their children.
For example, it was only as a result of a question in parliament in 1978 raised by the representative of a small left party that it became known that the Dutch navy had been given responsibility ten years before for atomic mines. Dutch authorities deliberately organized a frameup. For example, before this, draftees have not been assigned to the post
At the time of the arrests, Volksrant, one of the country's major papers,
"One gets the impression that this was a well prepared operation directed against Öskar van Rijswijk especially. Action Coordinator Van Wijk had been in
"Van Rijswijk, on the other hand, has been deeply involved in the various actions against nuclear weapons. He is a member of the Bond voor Dienstpligtigen (BVD-the Draftees Union), the active left wing of the VVDM. He also is a member of the Soldiers Committee Against Nuclear Weapons, which has called on soldiers several times to come out to demonstrations in uniform."
Van Rijswijk was held three weeks incommunicado in the military prison, before he was released on bail toward the end of the first week in July, along with the rest of those held. Van Wijk was re. leased earlier. In the memory of the guards at the prison, no prisoner was ever held incommunicado before more than a addition, during his incarthreatened by the military security per-
Under the first impact of the arthe VVDM leadership retreated, suspending the jailed activists. However, very quickly a broad response developed against the attack on the peace movement the democratic rights of soldiers. On July 5, a united defense committee was set up, including the VVDM, all the peace organizations, left parties, a number of youth organizations, and the national trade-union federation. On July 8, by a unanimous vote of the leadership, the VDM, rescinded the suspension of the soldier activists and decided to undertake a campaign in their
The military authorities, however, are still pressing their charges and a major test of strength continues to develop in Holland between the peace movement and the capitalist warmakers, one that has a key importance for the international antiwar movements. An international campaign in defense of these soldiers, therefore, is essential.
Protest telegrams and petitions should be sent to Defense Minister van Mierlo, Plein 4, Den Haag, Netherlands, with copies to the VVD, Hojelkazerne, Croeselaan 39, Utrecht, the Netherlands.