AROUND THE WORLD
AROUND judges, politicians and American military personnel in Greece:
The claim is made that Pablo, owing to
THE WORLD RWANDA Political trials ON January 3, 1991 Rwandan radio announced the trials of 13 political detainees. The 13, young peasants from the north east of the country, were among 1566 detainees who are to be tried this month. They received no legal assistance and their trials took place in the absence of any independent observer. For 12 of them, the prosecution demanded the death penalty; for the other, a prison sentence of 20 years.
The treatment of these 13 detainees indicates the kind of fate which can be expected by the thousands of people arrested in the course of massive round-ups aimed at alleged sympathizers of the Rwandan Patriotic Front-Inkotanyi, which has been Patriotic Front-Inkotanvi. which has been in struggle since October 1990 against government forces.
The main accusations against the 1566 political detainees, and against some thousands of others (9256 at the end of October), concern such crimes as having expressed an opinion contrary to the official line of the single party, having made a recent visit to Uganda, or having followed a course in martial arts.
The International Commission of Jurists as well as the Union of Central African Lawyers have denounced these trials. Messages of protest can be sent to: General Major J. Habyarimana, President of the Republic, Kigali, Rwanda. * TURKEY "No to war" ON October 19, 1990 a 16 year old school student was arrested in Turkey for writing "no to war" on the walls of her school. At the time, the Public Prosecutor demanded a jail sentence of 24 years for this peaceful act.
While awaiting trial, the young woman was held in the prison of Bayrampasa in Istanbul.
After being denounced by the director of the school, she was held by the police for nine days. Her father and sister, who visited her in prison, stated that she had been beaten up in the offices of the Political Department, while in police custody. According to the most recent information, she faces a prison sentence of between five and 15 years — Info Türk. *
GREECE Sinister campaign against Pablo MICHEL RAPTIS - better known as Michel Pablo - formerly secretary of the Fourth International and now leader of the International Revolutionary Marxist Association is currently the target of a very disturbing slander campaign.
A former deputy of PASOK (Socialists), Dimou M. Botsaris, who has gone over to the right, recently published a book entitled 17-N, the chief. The book presents Pablo, who lives in Greece, as the "conductor of the secret orchestra" of November 17, a Greek terrorist organization responsible for the assassination of his "Trotskyist ideas" and his "organizational experience" was the brains behind this organization. This accusation is grotesque, since anyone who has followed Raptis' political development from the Greek left opposition in the 1930s until today will know of his criticisms of authoritarianism in the name of socialist democracy and self-management. He is a Marxist militant who has always struggled openly for his ideas and who believes that it is only mass revolutionary action that can change the world. It is clear, however, that his positions, including opposition to the imperialist mobilization in the Gulf - have not endeared him to the Greek right and far right.
These slanders are dangerous, since they can give fascists and secret police agents the pretext for murder, as was the case with Henri Curiel in France. The latter was killed by a death squad shortly after the publication of slanderous articles presenting him as the "brains behind terrorism in the Third World".
Statements of solidarity with Pablo and further information can be obtained from Sous le drapeau du Socialisme, 42 rue d* Avron, 75020, Paris. *
Obituary — Tran Van Sam
(Extracts from the speech by Ha Cuong Nghi at the funeral of Tran Van Sam in Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris on December 18, 1990) "BORN on September 10, 1919 in the central region of Vietnam, you arrived in 1940 with 15,000 other Vietnamese workers requisitioned by the French government for the war... In August 1944, at the time of the liberation of France from the German occupation, you threw yourself into the mobilization for the creation of the Struggle Committees of Vietnamese Workers in French Camps. This mobilization led to a broad political movement which led in December 1944 to the formation of the General Delegation of Indochinese in France, representing 20,000 Vietnamese in France...
In January 1945, you joined the La Lutte group, which was led by Trotskyists....In December 19, 1946 you formed the first Trotskyist group in the Mazargues camp. In this period you were elected a member of the Executive
Committee of the Central Committee of Vietnamese Workers in France. After the dissolution of this organization, due to the repatriation of the majority of the workers to Vietnam, you took part in August 1951 in the creation of the
Association of Vietnamese Workers in France.... You were always in the front rank in the struggle for an open defence of Trotskyism and the Fourth International. Many times you criticized us for not openly asserting our identity, when for tactical reasons we had to circulate our press without this identification, in order that it might make its way into Vietnam.... Your final political acts were the signing of the "Appeal for the rehabilitation of Ta Thu Thau", ",which appeared in Le Monde on May 26, 1989, and our "Appeal Vietnam 1990" for democracy, pluralism and multipartyism in Vietnam, which appeared in Le Monde on March 6, 1990, and in Libération on May 1, 1990.
My dear Sam, with all your strength and tenacity you fought with us against Stalinism, which you considered the "curse of the international workers movement." You have died at the moment when this curse is being lifted in a number of countries. But the outlook for the world remains uncertain. You will not be with us to continue the common fight, for the fight for the future has only just begun.
I salute you and bid you farewell in the name of the Trotskyist Group and the
Fourth International."* 21 January 21, 1991 • #198 International Viewpoint
GERMANY