SWEDEN / AROUND THE WORLD
AROUND
THE WORLD
ZAIRE
Corruption and "chaos"
NUMEROUS observers have spoken of
"chaos" in relation to the crisis now gripping Zaire. There is without doubt nothing worse for a state than to see its own troops, discontented at not being paid, invading and pillaging the towns - followed in this by a population exhausted by repression, economic crisis and penuгу.
The state of Zaire has for a long time been a skeleton state; Mobuto's autocracy has only ever been a caricature of power. Brutal force and generalized corruption have acted as methods of government for 26 years. If it seems now that the last resources of the regime are exhausted, it is the extreme weakness and confusion of the opposition which, in its turn, feeds the chaos, and no social and political force appears capable today of filling the vacuum.
Imperialism is fully aware of this. The decision to once again send French and Belgian troops to "assure the security of foreign residents" no longer intended to save the Mobuto regime as seems such.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has long since given up on negotiating anything with Kinshasa; the principal Western powers have given up hope of any structural reform of the regime. Paris, Brussels and Washington will now issue many communiqués expressing their profound "concern" at the deaths that the current crisis will undoubtedly bring.
But how many thousands of murders has the Mobuto regime committed since 1965, under the protection of its American, Belgian and French friends - the regiment which has just revolted in KinShasa was commanded by French officers!
The foreign troops will without doubt then proceed to the evacuation of the 10,000 western residents of Kinshasa — there are some tens of thousands throughout the country - who have greased the wheels of the machine, at all levels, for the foreign companies, for their own profit and for that of the regime. The latest intervention is another episode in twenty six years of complicity with crime by the "democratic" West. *
MAURITIUS
Landslide victory for bourgeois coalition
THE recent general election in Mauritius saw two big right wing coalitions competing for the vote of the electors; that of the outgoing government, comprising the
Mauritian Socialist Movement (MSM)
and the Mauritian Militant Movement
(MMM), and that of the Labour Party
(PT), allied to the Mauritian Social Democratic Party (PMSD). In reality, the two groupings were indistinguishable in economic policy, as well as relations with imperialism and the role of the Mauritian
Free Trade Zone.
The outgoing coalition had demagogically tried to appear as less authoritarian and more populist than its adversaries. Finally, the MSM-MMM front won a crushing victory with 56.77% of the votes and a majority of parliamentary seats — the PT-PMSD lists won 39.23% of the votes, 4% going to other lists.
A similar electoral tidal wave took place in 1982, in favour of the opposition (then essentially embodied by the MMM; this time it is the outgoing government that has won.
This confirms that, in a situation of full employment and accelerating industrialization, the workers can, to a considerable extent, lose sight of the class references still present ten years ago; the polarization of votes between the two bourgeois lists is the expression of this.
In this context, the Parti Militant Travayer (PMT) took the decision to put forward candidates in six seats and to campaign for the defence of working class and democratic rights.
This list was the sole independent workers' expression during this campaign. One of the candidates of the PMT obtained 1.24% of the votes and another 1.15%. Following the victory of the outgoing government, the Parti Militant Travayer insisted again on the necessity of rebuilding an independent workers' movement. It is, on the other hand, unfortunate that the revolutionary left did not succeed in mobilizing on a unitary basis in the course of this campaign. 27 The other organization of the indepen-
AROUND THE WORLD
Army coup in Haiti
ON MONDAY September 3C, 1991, following some bloody confrontations, the chief of staff of the Haitian army, Raoul Cedras, who had been appointed by the new president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, seized power in the country. Aristide was arrested by the putschists, before leaving the country under the protection of the French embassy. At the time of going to press, there remains great confusion about the situation in Haiti.
The claims by the military that Aristide had the intention of installing a "new dictatorship" and the promises of a rapid return to constitutional normality are the commonplaces of any coup. The fact that the United States has condemned the coup does not necessarily prove either that it has clean hands in the affair. But numerous questions remain. Why did the army, which had remained quiet during the attempted coup by the "macoutes" which preceded Aristide's assumption of power in January 1990, act now? Could the Haitian army, and above all its current leaders, who are close to the
United States, act without, at least, the consent of US imperialism -which, it should be remembered, still keeps Its Marines al the Guantanamo base in Cuba?
Yet Bush's official declarations are increasingly firm — aid will be suspended and the junta will not be recognized. Moreover, French imperialism is trying to profit from this affair to increase its influence in Haiti in the event of a return to power of Aristide.
At the same time, this army coup should surprise no one who was aware of the limited room for manoeuvre that Aristide has enjoyed (see IV
211). He was confronted by a state apparatus and an administration trained under Duvalierism; he had no real majority in the Assembly, no real party; his trusted supporters were not in the majority in his own government; an economic crisis is raging and the Haitian bourgeoisie is profoundly parasitic; the absence of an organized mass movement also weighed heavily. Finally, the "de Duvalierization" of the army, which has certainly been weakened by the different coups of the past few years, was limited to the retirement of six of its top leaders - while soldiers with close links to the United States were placed in key posts - and an attempt to put the rural police under the control of the Minister of the
Interior.
Aristide is currently in the United States; after having appealed to the
Organization of American States, which will send a mission to Haiti to demand that the military leave power and has refused to recognize the
Junta, he will address the Security Council of the United Nations.
However muddy the circumstances of the coup, the tasks of socialists are clear - to demand the departure of the military junta and give total support to the Haitian people. - Cecilia Garmendia. * and already this year five stateless Palestinians were deported from Lebanon to Syria (where they were arrested) under the terms of a new security treaty between the two states.
Protests should be sent to Danish embassies or to the Ministry of Justice, Slotsholmsgade 10, DK-1216 Copenhagen K.
Copies and other messages should be sent to Asylaktivisterne, Blaagaardens Medborgerhus, Blaagards Plads 3, DK2200 Copenhagen N. * Zillesy.. FOURTH INTERNATIONAL Eighth summer camp held in Czechoslovakia MORE than 750 young people from all over Europe participated in the 8th international summer camp of revolutionary youth organizations in solidarity with the Fourth International, held this year at Hradec Nar Moravici in eastern Czechoslovakia. Around 40% of the youth present were attending their first Fourth International summer camp and almost 50% of the participants were not members of revolutionary youth organizations.
For the second time, delegations of youth from Eastern Europe participated in the camn and this vear the content of the the camp, and this year the content of the debates and political exchanges marked a clear advance, the question of feminism and women's oppression in particular coming to the fore.
This year, the political programme was essentially axised around the upheavals in eastern Europe and their economic, political and social consequences in the new
Europe; the transition in the East, the formation of the Europe of the Single Act, nationalism and socialism, not forgetting the problems of the Third World. The week ended with a day devoted to our revolutionary project, based on self- management and democracy.
The success of the eighth camp shows what it is possible to do despite limited resources and above all faced with the ideological and economic offensive of imperialism, in the East as in the West.
The new Europe demands that revolutionaries, if they wish to win youth to their project, adopt a new practice of which international meetings like this are, without doubt, one of the possible forms. * dent Mauritian left, Lalit, chose, in the name of the "danger from the far right" symbolized in its view by the PMSD, not to weaken the governmental coalition by putting forward a candidate. * DENMARK Palestinians wage fight against mass deportation THE Danish government is threatening 125 stateless Palestinians with deportation to Lebanon, where they face persecution by the Syrian authorities or different militias (See /V 211).
Seventy have sought refuge in a Copenhagen church, an action which has made national headlines and has mobilized trades unionists, religious people, artists and writers in their support.
The Socialistisk Arbejder Parti (SAP -Danish section of the Fourth International) organized a demonstration on Septem28 ber 12 sponsored by 16 Copenhagen trade union chairs and vicars, which attracted about 700 people around the slogans "Withdraw the expulsions!", "Lebanon is no safe country!" and "Asylum for the Palestinians threatened with deportation!"
While a parliamentary majority has now spoken out against the expulsion of the Palestinians, the decision remains in the hands of the Minister of Justice, Conservative hard liner Hans Engell.
Behind the current wave of expulsion orders lies an extreme tightening of asylum policies. Since 1989 Palestinians have no longer been automatically granted asylum.
Many of the Palestinian refugees are former members of Fatah or other PLO groups which the Syrian forces have tried to stamp out in order to ensure their hegemony in Lebanon. Some are wanted by different militias for desertion.
Amnesty International and Danish Refugee Aid (a semi-official organization) have documented the fact that the Syrians control airport arrivals and departures
International Viewpoint #214 • October 14, 1991