### Solidarity success
The Workers Aid to Bosnia convoy, initiated by an alliance of British socialist groups in which the Fourth International's British supporters play a leading role, has scored a major success. The fourteen trucks on the convoy, including ten from Britian, and two each from Sweden and Italy have arrived in Jesenica, Slovenia, and have already begun distributing aid to Bosnian refugees in Croatia. They have won the support of Slovenian trade unions. Sixty people are now with the convoy, including supporters of the Fourth Intemational from Britain, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and Italy. The Workers' Aid for Bosnia campaign defends the right of multi-ethnic Bosnia to exist and brings a message of solidarity to the people of Bosnia. The convoy has had an important impact both in Britian and the rest of Europe. It set off for France after its successful tour through Britain culminating in a visit to the Trades Union Congress on 9 September. The convoy split into two in order to visit more countries but even so it has not been able to respond to the flood of requests coming in from all over Europe. The organisers even considered not visiting some of the towns on route as the lorries are full and the pressure of the schedule is tight. But this option was avoided as the response on the ground has been so tremendous. In Brescia, Italy, the whole of the left has united around the campaign, including the Party of the Democratic Left (PDS — one part of the former Communist party. Fifty trade unions are giving support, having organised their own lorries to join the convoy. Morale was high and as the convoy travelled through Europe the teams became better organised and more cohesive. So far the convoy has collected over £70 thousand in cash and tens of thousands of punds worth of material aid. The convoy has agreed to take in two-thousand tons of goods collected by British Muslim Aid following agree ment that it would distributed to all the people in Tuzla - Muslim, Serb and Croat. In Paris, the Communist party (PCF) gave the campaign a free stall at its annual Humanité fete and 25 thousand leaflets were distributed. The General Confederation of Workers (CGT) allowed the campaign to collect at their conference, something which is unprecedented. The Mayor of Montreuil (on the southem edge of Paris) has donated a permanent warehouse to store aid Negotiations and plans are currently being made to set-up a similar warehouse in Berlin. Members of Workers' Aid have also established a permanent office, warehouse and bank account in Jesenica, Slovenia. Two juggernauts from Scandinavia joined the convoy in Berlin on 15 September. These two vehicles toured Denmark and Sweden collecting £18 thousand in addition to filling the lorries with essential goods. In Courtrai Belgium the norther leg of the convoy held a very successful press conference and appeared on national television. In Hungary, the National Miners Union and the Socialist party have agreed to support the convoy and a series of events have been organised. The convoy route currently covers the following cities: Lille, Liege, Courtrai, Antwerp, Oberhausen, Hamburg, Cologne, Berlin, Vienna, Graz, Paris, Charleroi, Nancy, Strasbourg, Basel, Geneva, and Brescia. At the same time Irish Solidarity with Bosnia is organising support for the convoy. Irish postal workers have managed to get information distributed by the Post Office and members of the National Union of Joumalists have persuaded RTE (Ireland's radio and televison station) to stop describing Bosnia as a "Muslim" state but to refer to it as "multi-ethnic Bosnia". Politically the campaign has huge significance. The co-operation of the French Communist party, support from the Hungarian Socialist party and from the Italian PDS in Brescia for a convoy which not only brings material aid but carries a political message of support for the "multi-ethnic state of Bosnia" and solidarity with its people, is a remarkable breakthrough for a campaign launched by small organisations in Britain. The significance of the convoy lies in its conscious attempt to rebuild workers' internationalism. Discusions are under way about the possibility of making Workers Aid a permanent framework for international solidarity. A major conference of Workers' Aid will take place in Manchester on 30/31 October - the second day being devoted to an intemational meeting of supporters. The convoy project will continue so long as the war in ex-Yugoslavia does. — Helen Shaw *
Tuzla, where the Bosnian multi-ethnic resistance was strongest — has not yet reached its destination. But it has reached its goal: that of finally beginning to break the passivity and paralysis of the working class movement. *
International Viewpoint #249 October 1993
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