AROUND THE WORLD FRANCE Hue and cry over Habash THE orgy of orchestrated rage which greeted the arrival of Palestinian leader George Habash in Paris at the end of January should serve as a warning to anybody prepared to give credence to the occasional "pro-Arab" posturing of France and certain other EC states.
Habash, long-time head of the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), arrived in the French capital for medical treatment following a serious cerebral stroke; his visit had been arranged through an agreement between the Palestinian Red Crescent and the French Red Cross. In circumstances that remain unclear, news of the visit was leaked and seized upon by the media and the French right.
These people had not shown a notable concern over "terrorism" or "innocent lives" when the French state bombed the Greenpeace yacht "Rainbow Warrior" in New Zealand, nor when Haiti's dictator, "Baby Doc" Duvalier, was welcomed into his gilded exile in France, nor when the likes of Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir have visited the country; but suddenly the hospitalization of a gravely ill old man was treated as a serious threat to national security, with virtually every "terrorist" incident of the past 20 years being laid at his door.
Although it is at least two decades since the PFLP has had any involvement in armed actions which might come under the imperialist-dictated rubric of "international terrorism" , a hysterical French press accused Habash of masterminding outrages universally known to have been organized by others: for example, the string of bombings and shootings in France in autumn 1986 (in fact inspired by Iran, a country which French President Mitterand is soon to visit) and the anti-Jewish attacks in the 1980s in Rome and Antwerp (which were carried out by the Abu Nidal group, then based in Syria: a new book by British Middle East expert Patrick Seale also shows that this renegade outfit, which has no connection with the PFLP or the PLO, has been heavily infiltrated by Israeli intelligence, and its activities have certainly done more to further the cause of Israel than that of Pales-
AROUND THE WORLD tine).
In contravention of the solemn agreement between the two humanitarian organizations, Habash was then placed under surveillance in his hospital bed before being expelled from France on February 2.
Georgina Dufoix, the head of the French Red Cross and a presidential adviser, who had been responsible for the agreement, was forced to resign both positions, saying that neither the President nor the prime minister's office had been informed of the arrangement. Four other government officials have had to resign and the Socialist government is facing a censure motion from the opposition.
This strange "affair" has multiple aspects. To a large extent it reflects the chaotic situation within a palsied Socialist government visibly crumbling before an increasingly confident right. The attempt to make Habash a scapegoat for attacks fully known to have been organized under Iranian or Syrian inspiration also ties in nicely with the West's new charm offensive towards these formerly isolated regimes following the Gulf War (as does the sudden transference of guilt
Out for the Lockerbie bombing from Iran/ Syria to Libya — see article page 3).
But more than this, the humiliating treatment meted out to George Habash -who is not just the leader of a current which enjoys substantial support among the Palestinian people, but an individual who is universally respected, indeed venerated, across all currents of Palestinian opinion - provides an eloquent reminder of the deep-lying contempt of Western governments for the most basic aspirations of the Palestinian people, behind all the vague hyperbole about Palestinian rights which is accompanying the current "peace process". * GERMANY Wage confrontations A LOOMING strike by Germany's 130,000 steel workers appeared to have been averted by a deal between unions leaders and employers reached on Monday February 3. The offer of 5.9% on the basic wage plus an across-the-board bonus of DM175 ($110) was claimed to amount to an effective rise of 6.35%, against a background of an official inflation rate of 3.5% for 1991 and an estimated 4.5% this year.
The steelworkers had voted massively for strike action in pursuit of a claim for a 10.5% rise and the deal falls far short of that. However, the German and international pro-big business press have seen the proposed settlement as highly problematic; it is above the rate of inflation and it represents an improvement (won by a threat of strike action) on an original offer of 4.5% from the employers.
A series of other big wage claims are in the pipeline, including by 2.7 million pubNow!
AL-MITRAQA
Number 8, January 1992
Arabic language publication of the
Tunisian, Lebanese and Israeli sections of the Fourth International
- de
Contents include:
* Dossier on the effects of the
Gulf war in the Arab World
* Articles on the situation in
Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon and Jordan
* And on the collapse of "Communism" in the Soviet Union
For further details and copies of AL-
MITRAQA write to
Al-Mitraqa, 2, rue Richard Lenoir,
93108, Montreuil, France.
AROUND THE WORLD lic servants (demanding 9.5%), 4 million engineering workers (9.5%) and one million building workers (9.8%), and the steel settlement is felt to be sending out the signal that a militant stance may pay. German Chancellor Helmut Kohl has expressed his wish that public servants should not "get the wrong message" on pay.
The current tendency towards confrontation between workers seeking wage rises, on the one hand, and the employers and the state on the other, is rooted in the latter's determination to pass the costs of the unification with the former East Germany onto the West German working class.
Until now, the substitution of West German for East German products in the former GDR has meant that the West German working class has enjoyed conditions of continuing growth when the rest of the industrialized world has been in recession. Furthermore, for political reasons, the impact of the collapse of the East German economy has been cushioned by a variety of costly state measures. The capitalists' intention now is to reverse that trend. The creation of mass unemployment in the east will put pressure on employed workers to moderate their demands, while the budget deficit incurred to pay for unification will be compensated for by drastic cuts in social spending. In this way the united Germany will be made ready for the European single market and, above all, competition with US and Japanese industry.
For this programme to be carried through, however, the German working class needs to be defeated or at least demoralized. This is to be achieved through a pro-recession policy, embodied by high interest rates and justified by the "fight against inflation".
However, high German interest rates, as the Financial Times of February 5, 1992 observes, hamper "recovery from recession in Britain and France and elsewhere...
"But pressure from these countries has failed to shift the independent central bank in Frankfurt from its insistence that the squeeze cannot be eased until there are clear signs that inflation is under control, and, preferably, on its way down to 2%." *
### ITALY
Outcome of PRC Congress
THE second part of the founding congress of the tallan Party of Communist Refoundation (PRC) (see /V 220 for an account of the first session) took place as planned on January 18/19, 1992. The session discussed two questions, the election of the National Political Committee and the participation in the legislative elections which will almost certainly take place on April 5.
The congress voted unanimously for the presentation of lists of PRC candidates In every constituency in the country both for the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, In Italy these two chambers have the same powers and are elected on a proportional basis. The main themes of the electoral platform will be the most urgent social and political problems, from defence of the indexation of wages to the battle against attempts to restrict democratic rights by Increasing the powers of the executive and manipulating the electoral system.
On the international level, the PRC will campaign against NATO and any military bloc or intervention as well as against the agreements on the future of the European Economic Community (EEC) reached last December at Maastricht. It will renew its solidarity with the Cuban revolution and demand an end to the US imposed blockade of the island.
The National Political Commitiée (NPC) is made up of members elected at two different levels. 80% of its members - around 180 — were elected before the second session of the congress at the level of the organization's provincial federations, which have the right to recall them. The other 20% 45 persons - were to be elected by the national congress.
The congress carried out this task on the basis of a proposal made by its electoral commission which was accepted by a large majority after debale. All the members of the outgoing executive committee were reelected, the best known among them being Sergio Garavini and Armando Cossutta. Parilamentary deputles, Including Lucio Magri and senators, including Rino Serri and Ersilia Salvato, were also elected as well as the three Euro-MPs, among them Luciana Castellina. The 45 also included members of the former Democrazia Proletarla organization such as Marlda Bolognesi, Livio Maitan, Giovanni Russo Spena and Luigi Vinci. The
NPC went on to elect Sergio Garavini as the party's national secretary 8 and Armando Cossutta as its president. * International Viewpoint #222 • February 17, 1992
INDIA Tribal peoples face eviction (IV has received the following appeal from its correspondents in India) FACED with continuing construc tion work in the controversial Sardar Sarovar Dam Project (SSP), the people of the village of Manibeli, the first to be affected by the project in Maharashtra state, are refusing to move from their lands and forests.
The SSP would cause the largest ever population displacement in India, affecting over 1,500,000 people, mostly tribal peoples and peasants, from some 248 villages in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
The people and activists stationed in Manibeli are engaged in a war of nerves with the state. At any time armed police can descend on the village. The government made an abortive attempt to evict in the first week of December. The plans were almost finalized to drive the people out with the help of armed police with orders to shoot. However the instant mobilization within and outside the valley, along with an interim order from the Gujarat High Court, deterred the rulers from going ahead with their plans.
However plans are afoot to mask the forcible eviction with legal sanction and eviction notices have been issued to tribal families in Manibeli. The notices can be "implemented" with the help of armed police at any time.
The people of the valley are ready to meet any repressive move by the government.
We appeal to you to oppose these evictions
Send telegrams/letters etc to
The Prime Minister of India, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra (Mantralaya, Bombay, India) and V. C. Shukla, Minister for Water Resources (Shram Shakti Bhavan, Rafi Road, New Delhi-1, India) condemning the step. Ask them to "Immediately stop any action leading to the eviction of Manibeli, forcible or otherwise, and initiate a dialogue on fundamental issues with the Narmada Bachao Andolan".
Send copies of such messages to Rohit Prahapati, c/o "Parivartan" Nimbalkar Chambers, Dandia Bazaar, Baroda, Gujarat, India, phone: 91-265-554979; fax: 91-265 66984. *
HONG KONG Return of a political prisoner LAU SHANCHING touched the ground of Hong Kong. He returned to his home town after ten years in the Huai Jai prison in the province of Guangdong. Two hundred cheering supporters and friends met him at the Hunghom train station. "Long live democracy" was Lau Shanching's first message to the crowd.
At the following press conference he stated: "I am not a counter-revolutionary, I have never taken part in antirevolutionary activities. I have only taken part in national revolutionary activities."
It was on Christmas Day 1981 that Lau Shanching was arrested during a visit to the south China city of of Guangzhou. At the time of his arrest he was a member of the Revolutionary Marxist League, a sympathizing group of the Fourth International.
He was trying to meet the relatives of Wang Xizhe and He Qiu, two famous dissidents who had been arrested for their leading role in China's democracy movement in 1979.
Lau could tell the press that he in fact met Wang Xizhe, as well as other political prisoners, in the Huai Ju prison. Wang, who is serving a sentence of 14 years in prison, had told Lau that he had a serious heart problem, but has been refused parole for medical treatment.
Other political prisoners in the same jail where Lau served his sentence are HK citizens Lai Puising and Li Lunghing. Lau stated that he was determined to work for their release and for all other political prisoners in China. He said that he has "no remorse" and will resume his activity in the HK democracy movement which was interrupted by the Chinese police ten years ago.
Lau was presented in the HK press as "a communist who believes in a classless society" and was asked if he still held to the ideals of ten years ago. His answer was "yes". He said: "China is not practising true communism. It will end up like Eastern Europe and share the fate of other countries that practice Stalinism" (Sunday Morning Post December 29, 1991).
On January 1 a big rally was organized by the Democratic Alliance to celebrate the return of Lau Shanching. A crowd of 1,500 gathered outside the China News Agency where they heard Lau call for an end to one-party rule in China, as well as the chairperson of HK Democracy Alliance, who praised Lau for his determination to fight for democracy and not give up his beliefs.
In a comment about the reception of Lau by leading liberal politicians The Standard (January 3, 1992) wrote:
"Despite the warm welcome extended by liberal leaders to Mr. Lau on his return last month, major pro-democracy leaders
AROUND THE WORLD CIS Imminent ecological disaster THE socio-economic crisis of the republics of the former Soviet Union is intertwined with severe ecological probiems as a result of the waste, extensive growth model and reckless decision making by the bureaucratic system over decades. Recently the daily Izvestiya published excerpts from a document presented to the press by the Russian state secretary for ecology and health A. Yablokov, spelling out the serious state of affairs:
"The official zones of ecological distress are still the areas particularly contaminated by the Chernobyl disaster and also the southern part of the Urals.
On top of that, one must include some regions along the Volga, Kusbass, the central part of Yakutia, regions along the Amur (in the Far East), the Krasnoyarsk region and the Kola Peninsula." It should be added that the situation is the same or even worse in other parts of the CIS, for example, the Donetsk Basin in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Central Asia and the large areas of Belarus (formerly Belorussia) polluted by
Chernobyl.
One major source of pollution is the nuclear industry (both its civil and military branches): "Concerning leakages in areas where the so-called peaceful utilization of nuclear power is taking place: all in all there have been more than 120 incidents, for example, more than 20 along the Volga, 12 in Yakutia and so on. There is only rudimentary information about the serious radioactive pollution of areas caused by the production of nuclear arms in closed cit-
Lies - Chelyabinsk, six; Arzamas, 16; Krasnoyarsk, 45; Tomsk, 7."
Given the disarray in the nuclear industry, and the severe cutbacks in public spending (also affecting this sector) the situation is likely to deteriorate further. Such a state of the environment obviously has important implications for people's health and lives. "In 1964-65 the average life expectancy was 70.4 years. At the end of the 1980s it started to drop and by 1990 the average age was down to 69.3 years. 40% of the men who died in Russia last year were of working age. In several particularly polluted cities the average life expectancy is below the retirement age."
The breakdown of the infrastructure and the economic crisis deepen the ecological crisis, as is shown by the example of the oil industry: "every year in this country there are as many as 700 major leaks on gas and oil-pipelines. Because of this, according to different estimates, between 7% and 20% of all oil extracted is lost; that is tens of millions of tons."
The pollution inflicted on the cities, chiefly by unfiltered smoke from industry and cars, is also turning into a serious economic burden on society: "Already by now the bill for saving the existing buildings in the cities of Russia is on average 10-15,000 roubles a year for every person living there."
It is evident that Western aid and intervention will not profoundly alter this industry and forestry sector) could only aggravate the situation, through increased exploitation of natural resources.
Only a democratically controlled economy, giving priority to ecological considerations can reverse a situation where, (as Izvestiya puts it) "the ecological situation in Russia is close to a national disaster". (All quotes from Izvestiya, January 22, 1992.) —Poul Funder Larsen * have not extended much support to Mr. Lau during his decade-long incarceration. The liberal leaders, including some of those now elected to Legislative Council, did not join the "Save Lau Shanching" campaign until very recently."
The Standard quotes Lau Chilim, spokesperson for the HK April Fifth Forum, who criticized the liberal leaders for their "apathetic attitude". His impression was that they had refrained from joining the campaign because they thought that the "incident had been rather complicat- 9 ed." — Dick Forslund. *
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picture, and that a certain part of Western investments (for example, in the oil