AROUND THE WORLD
Beloium Belgium Belgian abortion trial ON FEBRUARY 27 the three defence witnesses were heard in the Ghent abortion centre trial, in which 60 people are charged. These witnesses put the debate very clearly on the level of a general political discussion about the legalization and practice of abortion in Belgium. The quality of the witnesses and the figures they cited ensured that the press gave significant coverage to the matter.
Seventeen centres and several hospitals in the country practise abortion in excellent conditions, and in spite of the legal ban. Thanks to the work of these centres there are now practically no deaths resulting from backstreet abortions.
What is more, the "ad hoc tourism" to the Netherlands continues. Doctors send women for the operation itself just on the other side of the frontier whilst the accompanying preliminary and follow-up treatment take place in Belgium. The centres are non profit-making and guarantee good information on contraception. So they have an equally important preventive role - with the goal of reducing as much as possible the need for abortion.
Particularly in the Catholic environment, abortion continues to be a social taboo. Sixty-eight per cent of women deciding to have abortions, however, declare themselves to be Catholics.
It other courts were to apply the same methods as the courts in Ghent, hundreds of doctors, including Catholic institutions, would be prosecuted for having helped women to obtain abortions in safe conditions. In 1985, 7.7 per cent of pregnant women sought abortions.
Renee Coen and professor Lambotte, in their capacity as witnesses, openly admitted to performing abortions without being prosecuted.
On March 20, eleven doctors are due to appear before the court at Ghent, accused of false declarations. Their insurance counterfoils said only "consultation" where an abortion had been carried out.
At the same time as defending women and doctors accused under the outdated abortion laws, the women's movement and a certain number of political parties are supporting the proposed more liberal law put forward by the Socialist Party member Lallemand and HermanMichielsens of the bourgeois liberal party the PVV. South Africa Black strikers need support THE SARMCOL strike in Howick, Natal province, over trade-union recognition was the culmination of thirteen years of bitter struggle against the giant British-owned BTR multinational. This company is renowned for its anti-unionism and willingness to use the institutions of the apartheid state to oppress and exploit cheap black labour. BTR, both before and after the strike, has refused to meet union officials and shop stewards to negotiate a settlement of the dispute.
The strikers have suffered enormous hardship since their dismissals - ten activists (including their children) have been shot and killed by the police and Inkatha supporters. Individual homes have been burned, disease and malnutrition is rife among children in the community, the police have taken over the township and strike leaders are subject
WE'RE USING ALL AVAILABLE HANDS TO DEAL WITH SOUTH AFRICA...
to constant harassment.
But despite all this the Sarmcol strikers have carried on meeting weekly, planning and coordinating campaigns to sustain the strike and to get BTR to the negotiating table or out of South Africa.
The Sarmcol Workers Cooperative (SAWCO) - which is supported by the metal workers' union MAWU - was set up in 1985 in the wake of the mass dismissal of nearly 1,000 striking workers. One of five current SAWCO projects is the T-shirt and Button Coop, which employs 2040 strikers, depending on demand. It sells T-shirts and badges to the trade-union federation of COSATU, MAWU and a range of progressive organizations.
You can help support the Sarmcol strikers by buying badges and T-shirts from the cooperative. Details and price lists can be obtained from SAWCO, c/o 22 Shaftesbury Road, Coventry CV5 6FN, Great Britain (Tel: 0203-78877); or direct from SAWCO, PO Box 156, Howick, Natal, South Africa 3290 - please send all air mail by registered post. D Netherlands Revolutionists campaign ELECTIONS were held on March 18 in the Netherlands for the 12 provincial parliaments. The provinces are subdivided into election districts.
In general there was little interest in these elections. Less than a year before, on May 21, 1986, the national parliament was elected. In that vote, the right held its majority, and thus the right-wing parties, the CDA (Christian Democrats) and the VVD (free-enterprisers), were able once again to form the government. Since then, the Lubbers Il government has continued its cutbacks and its attacks on social security.
But the March 18 elections were not a test for the government. The Christian Democrats deliberately opted for a campaign in which the policy of the national government played little role. Premier Lubbers refused himself to take part in a TV debate on the eve of the elections because the vote was not a national one.
The biggest opposition party, the PvdA (the Labor Party), was not ready to make the state parliament-
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ary elections into a test of strength with the government. The social democrats want to return to the government in 1990, alongside the CDA or even the VVD. A polarized campaign and strong opposition did not fit in with that objective.
So the non-voters were the biggest party on March 18, representing 34% of the total. The two government parties lost by comparison with the 1986 elections, and together got well under 50%.
The PvdA also lost by comparison with the 1986 elections, somewhat unexpectedly. Because of the party's weak role in opposition, many traditional PvdA voters failed to go to the ballot box in these elections. And some tens of thousands voted for one or another of the smaller parties to the left of the social democracy. These parties gained by comparison with the 1986 elections, which were disastrous for them. At the time the Communist Party itself went out of the parliament altogether. (See IV No 109, November 24, 1986.) So, some sort of a comeback for them was expected.
The Socialistiese Arbeiderspartij (SAP - Socialist Workers' Party, Dutch section of the Fourth International) ran candidates in 23 of the 96 election districts and gained votes by comparison with 1986. At that time, 4,000 people voted for the SAP nationwide. This time, in a small part of the country, it was almost 3,300 representing a significant advance.
In Deventer, the SAP got 0.3% of the vote; in the Hague, 0.2%; in Rotterdam. 0.2%: and in Eindhoven. Rotterdam, 0.2o; and in Eindhoven, 0.3%. In the Hague, it got a good vote in three traditional working-class neighborhoods. Like the other parties, the SAP opted for a modest campaign.
Nonetheless, 125,000 papers were distributed free in the neighborhoods, in actions, factories and institutions. Posters were put up, and some tens of thousands of pamphlets distributed.
On March 7, together with the youth organization Rebel, the SAP organized a successful national rally in Rotterdam. The motto was "Let the rich pay for the crisis!" That was the central slogan of the SAP's campaign. About 150 people took part in forum discussions with left parties (including a PvdA member of parliament) and trade-unionists. This was followed by speeches by the docker Jan Viola on the recent dockers' strike, by Sandew Hiri from the Surinam Left Movement (BFL) on the situation in Surinam, and by Edgardo Sanchez of the Mexican section of the Fourth International (PRT) on the student actions in Mexico. 26