• Several Italian groups have organised a national and European meeting in Venice on 13 September (see p 19). • A wide range of organisations is expected to participate in the counter-summit which will accompany the EU Summit on Employment. Some trade unions are considering participation in some sort of 'alternative' event. Activities are also planned by the networks of economists opposed to the neo-liberal strategy dominating the European Union According to Christophe Aguiton of the EuroMarch secretariat "it is also important to organise national and local events to coincide with these initiatives, so that the whole network remains motivated and involved." [JD] *
Sweden
Salvation for Europe's jobless?
An important conference for unemployment activists will take place in
Västervik, Sweden on 3-7 September. Peter Lindgren reports.
The conference is supported by the ECG Europe network, and is a continuation of the conference in Manchester, Britain in March this year. Participants are expected from several north European countries. The stated goal is to "in a positive way share the experiences of various organisations and find means both nationally and internationally to fight unemployment"
While welcoming the initiative, the Socialist Party (Swedish section of the Fourth International) warns that the conference is unlikely to fulfil its potential.
The Salvation Army is co-sponsoring the conference, together with an unemployed organisation and the Broderskapsrörelsen ("Brotherhood movement") of the organisation of the Christian Social Democrats).
The conterence will also be received at a dinner in the Town Hall and offered a tour of Västervik. It seems that relatively little time during the four days will be spent on important discussions.
On the other hand, the Social Democratic Minister of Labour, Ms Margareta Winberg, will participate - though only for one hour. She is expected a rough time since she is planning to cut the country's unemployment insurance funds. * For more information contact fax/ (+1 46) 490104 69, or e-mail <[email protected]>
21
* France Cranco party on which the PS government depends.
As for the Greens, they sacrificed most of their political independence in exchange for an electoral agreement with the PS that brought them four seats. With this political "debt" to the PS and their modest overall election results (less than four percent), it will be difficult to resist pressures for compromise with the new government4
At the end of the day, the task of forging an inclusive radical political alternative for critical-minded sectors remains an urgent one. The goal is to force the PS government's hand and to prepare for eventual disappointment and the turbulence that follows. The PCF, the left of the PS, the Greens and points left - alongside the social movements, unions and left-wing currents in academia — all have a pivotal role to play?s
Let there be no mistake. If the progressive dynamic of the past one and a half years is broken by some combination of PS betrayal and unfavourable political and economic circumstances, it will not be the social ecological reminist anti-milifarist democratic CIviC FOR the Europe of Maastricht and the multinationals
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</[email protected]> 22 International Viewpoint #292 critical Left that gains the upper hand.? If the new government cannot significantly reduce unemployment while preserving the population's social and democratic rights, the door will be left wide open for the worst elements in French political life — purveyors of a poisonous brew of mean-spirited neoliberalism, xenophobic stupidity and batonwielding authoritarianism."
The political Right is in disarray and smarting from a well-deserved defeat at the polls. For the moment, the "left" (in the person of Philippe Séguin) has taken over the leadership of the RPR, much to President Chirac's dismay. But the initial signs of a rightward realignment can already be detected. The rank and file and some leaders of the main right-wing parties are already pleading openly for closer collaboration with the neo-fascist FN. The maths is not very difficult: together, the Right and far-right won a slight majority of the popular vote in the elections. The lack of a stand-down agreement between the two camps probably cost them 40 seats. Forty seats with which they would now be back in power.?
The FN has adopted a long-term, national level. It increasingly sets its sights on taking power, alone or in alliance with major splits it expects from the traditional Right. In the meanwhile, it takes one municipal government after another in the south of the country. It is only kept out of parliament (it has one seat) by an undemocratic voting system. The far right has learned the lesson of December 1995, and has turned its attention to setting up FN trade unions and soup kitchens in order to boost its "social" image.
Much of the FN vote can no longer be described as a mere "protest" vote, but rather as a vote "for" the party's brand of radical xenophobic and authoritarian populism. It now has real roots in the urban, working class areas where it does best.?*
Within the FN itself, a realignment is underway. Long-time leader Jean-Marie Le
Pen is losing ground to a slicker and politically more astute wing around Californiaeducated Bruno Mégret. Mégret wants to take full advantage of the crisis in the mainstream Right, without abandoning the most extreme elements of the FN programme and ideology. He expects to test this strategy in key Left-controlled areas in regional elections to be held in 1998.31
The Left victory in France is a defeat for the Right and the neo-liberal project. It creates real opportunities for those seeking a pities for those seeking a progressive response to the challenges of capitalist globalisation and restructuring, in the European Union and beyond. Failure, however, could pave the way for a defeat of historic proportions. * 1. "Un "nouvel élan' de façade," Jean-Michel Thénard, Notes Libération, April 22, 1997. 2. Ever that shameless champion of neo-liberalism, The Economist saw a Right victory as "a chance over the next five years to shove the country irreversibly along the path to reform." "Chirac and Juppé hope for change, The Economist, 24 May 1997. The following week, it expressed its dismay over first-round result in "Those mutinous French," The Economist, 31 May 1997. 3. Honest neo-liberal commentators now say there is no economic justification for the rapid creation of the single currency as such. Rather, the "external constraint" of the Maastricht criteria (and now the Stability Pact) has become a much-needed pretext for national governments and corporate sectors unable to use the normal democratic channels to win domestic public opinion over to their regressive programme of austerity and restructuring. For a summary of the views of neo-liberal maverick Elie Cohen, see "Dans l'étau de l'euro," Bernard Cassen, Le Monde Diplomatique, May 1997. 4. The institutions of the Fifth Republic concentrate tremendous power in the hands of the president. Chirac's dissolution was widely criticised as an unprecedented abuse of these powers. "Le bon plaisir," Jean-Michel Colombani, Le Monde, April 23, 1997. 5. "Jacques Chirac tente de rétablir son autorité sur les partis de droite, Jean Louis Saux, Le Monde, July 3, 1997. Chirac's seven-year mandate ends in the year 2002. The 1995 presidential campaign created a tremendous amount of bad blood within the Right. Chirac adopted a "social", more traditionally Gaullist image to outflank the front running rightist candidate for the post, the more explicitly neo-liberal Eduard Balladur, who served as prime minister between 1993 and 1995. 6. See this author's "December 1995: the first revolt against globalisation," Monthly Review #48, May 1996. 7. "D'un décembre a l'autre," Daniel Bensaid, Le Monde, December 13, 1996. 8. "La République, l'extrême droite et nous, " Gérard Noiriel, Le Monde, March 12, 1997. 9. There are three stages in the neo-liberal project: first, the liberalisation of capital and commodity flows; second, the privatisation of state-owned companies; third, drastic cuts to social security and labour-market regulations. France, Germany and much of continental Western
Europe are seen as being "stuck" somewhere between the second and third stages. This has provoked the ire of the OECD and the World Economic Forum. See "L'Europe continentale de nouveau épinglée pour les rigidités de son marché de travail," Françoise Lazare, Le Monde, May 23, 1997; and "Les fausses vertus du libéralisme en Europe," Yves Durrieu, Le Monde, April 29, 1997. 10. "Le "centrisme radical' de Tony Blair," Philippe Marlière, Le Monde, May 6, 1997; "Lionel Jospin et Tony Blair, deux gauches pour l'Europe," Olivier Schneid, Libération, June 7, 1997; and "Strategie della rosa," Raffaella Menichini, Il Manifesto, June 7, 1997. 11. " 'Changeons d'avenir, changeons de majorité : nos engagements pour la France'. " PS election programme, Le Monde, May 3, 1997. 12. "Les principaux points de la déclaration du Premier ministre Lionel Jospin," Agence France Presse, June 19,
Ex-Yugoslav human rights seminar
The Croatian Helsinki Committee for human rights held its Second International School on Human Rights from August 24 to 31, 1997 on the island of Lastovo.
Croatian activists were joined by colleagues from Slovenia, Macedonia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Sandjak).
The primary aim of the school - financed by the Swedish Helsinki Committee and the Open Society Institute from Zagreb, Croatia - is the practical education and harmonisation of working metodology of activists for human rights in the field, and a mutual exchange of experience. [CHC/BK] *
1997.
13. The new policy will be released in the autumn. The new Minister of the Interior, Jean-Pierre Chevènement, the letter and spirit of the Pasqua and Debré laws, is has said it will be "firm but generous" '. He is hostile to against expulsions, and wants Islam to acquire some type of official status, of the kind Christianity and Judaism currently enjoy. "M.Chevènement : pour une 'politique républicaine'," interviewed by Philippe Bernard and Nathaniel Herzberg, Le Monde, June 26, 1997. In the meantime, the national police force's (CRS) favorite sport of attacking protesting undocumented immigrants continues, as do the expulsions. "Sans-papiers : expulsion violente à Paris," L'Humanité, June 30, 1997. 14. Given the tremendous weight and mobility the financial sector has acquired, many wonder if any progressive economic measures are feasible without national and coordinated regional policies aimed at tightly restricting capital movements. "Quelles marges de manoeuvre pour une autre politique ?", Thomas Coutrot, Le Monde, May 10, 1997. 15. "Renault ferme Vilvorde, désespère la gauche," Isabelle Mandraud and Hervé Nathan, Libération, June 30, 1997. Renault shares rose 13 percent following the announcement of the factory closing. 16. "Lionel Jospin face à un lourd déficit des comptes publics," Laurent Mauduit, Le Monde, June 20, 1997. 17. "Amsterdam: le pacte signé mais l'emploi fait son entrée," Okba Lamrani, 'Humanité, June 17, 1997 18. "Un chancelier en équilibre instable sur l'euro," Lorraine Millot, Libération, June 14, 1997. 19. " 'Le bulletin de vote ne suffit pas"," R.L and Isabelle Mandraud, Libération, June 11, 1991. 20. "Une initiative nationale des communistes," PCF statement, L'Humanité, June 10, 1997. 21. "E un abbaglio," 331 economists against the EMU, II Manifesto, June 12, 1997. 22. "Les communistes confortent leur influence mais butent sur le seuil symbolique des 10%," Ariane Chemin, Le Monde, May 27, 1997. 23. "La campagne du PCF met en concurrence deux "lignes' très différentes," Ariane Chemin, Le Monde, May 22, 1997. 24. "Des députés Verts ? Pour quelle politique?", François Duval, Rouge, May 29, 1997. Four seats also went to allies in other ecological parties. The charismatic and respected Green Party leader Dominique Voynet was made a minister, so the seat is now occupied by her nonGreen alternate. Voynet and the party were initially opposed to her joining the cabinet, in the interests of maintaining a strong Green presence in the Assembly. Rumour has it that enormous pressure was brought to bear by her new PS "allies" 25. A section of former PS-leaning Left intellectuals threw their support behind the PCF in these elections, due to ongoing bitterness over the Mitterrand experience and hostility to the Socialists' pro-Maastricht stand. Most social movement and trade union leaders merely called for a vote against the Right, and hoped a Left victory would be followed by a "June 1936 scenario" in which the population would go on the offensive to force the government to act more quickly and decisively than it had planned to. See "Les intellectuels de gauche, éprouvés par la fin du mitterrandisme, se méfient du PS." Ariane Chemin and Agathe Logeart, Le Monde, May 9, 1997; and "À gauche du PS, on compte sur 'les gens" pour imposer le changement," Ariane Chemin and Michel Noblecourt, Le Monde, May 15, 1997. 26. Although divided and largely stagnant in organisational terms, the far-left and critical Left remain viable currents with a small but real presence and influence in French political life. This contrasts with the situation in most Western countries, and is linked to the persistent influence of the generation that radicalised during and in the decade following May 1968. The critical Left is made up of small groups like the Red and Green Alternative (AREV), the Convention for a Progressive Alternative (CAP), and the left-Republican split from the PS, the Citizens Movement (MDC), which is led by the current Minister of the Interior Jean-Pierre Chevènement. The Refondateur current in the PCF can also be included in this category, as can left currents in the Green Party. The far-left is made up of three groups of Trotskyist origin, Workers Struggle (LO), the Workers Party (PI), and the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR). Of the three, the LCR is most open to working with other left groups and participating in broader social movements. It has real roots in the trade union movement, especially in new formations like SUD, the radical FSU teachers federation and the "In Struggle" wing of the CFDT confederation. Its main public spokesperson, Alain Krivine, was a key figure in the May 1968 student revolt and is wellconnected to the various strands of the political, social movement and academic Left. LO candidate Arlette Laguiller polled more than five percent in the 1995 presidential elections and the party averaged three percent in this year's legislative elections. However, LO is extremely hostile to working with other groups, going so far as to boycott the "petty-bourgeois" and "pro-PS" mobilisations against racism and fascism earlier this year. When coupled with its highly secretive and rigid internal regime and its largely demagogic, "workerist" attacks on the PS and PCE, this kind of
Europe * behaviour makes it difficult to see how it will ever translate its electoral success into a serious project for bulding a radical left alternative. For more information about the LO campaign and results, see http://worldnet.fr/~lo-uci. The PT is the least-known and weakest of the three, although it carries some weight in the FO trade union contederation. Lıke LO, it ıs hostıle to working with other groups and in social movements, although it recently compromised on its traditional Stalinophobia to build a demonstration against the Maastricht Treaty with the conservative wing of the PCF. Taken together, the far-left and critical Left scored between five and ten percent in a large number of constituencies, and as much as 20 percent in a few places. This does not include those Refondateur and MDC candidates that actually won their seats. Clearly, these forces will have to overcome their divisions if they hope to influence political life in proportion to their collective strength and the apparent receptiveness of a section of the electorate. See "Une nouvelle donne politique," C. Picquet; and "Gauche alternative, un espace significatif," Pierre François, Rouge, May 29, 1997. 27. Much could be said about the explosive economic and social situation in the country. Corporate profits have dramatically rebounded since 1995, yet wealth is distributed in an increasingly unequal fashion, while unempBritain loyment, part-time employment and homelessness continue to grow inexorably. See "En 1996, les grandes entreprises francaises ont retrouvé la forme," Martine Orange, Le Monde, April 19, 1997; "Plus de 6 millions de pauvres," Nicole Péricaut, Libération, June 28, 1997; and "Chômage : la maxi-hausse après les minibaisses," R.L., Liberation, July 1, 1997. 28. "Juppé passe la main, Séguin attaque Jospin," E. Aeschimann & Gilles Bresson, Libération, June 12, 1997. 29. "S'allier au Front national, la dernière tentation à droite," Renaud Dély and Vanessa Schneider, Libération, June 19, 1997. 30. A recent book on the progression of the FN is Le Front national en face, M. Soudais, Flammarion 1996. 31. "Mégret fait ses offres a la droite," Rémi Broute, L'Humanité, June 11, 1997. Many are bewildered by the FN's deep hatred for President Chirac, who the FN has even accused of being "in the pay of French Jewry". This is linked in part to Chirac's (largely dishonest and failed) attempts to embody the anti-fascist and Bonapartist features of the Gaullist legacy. Chirac was also the chief architect of the mafia-esque world of Parisian politics and city government contracts. He is therefore a symbol for FN leaders, who like to portray themselves as anti-corruption crusaders. If the Right gets the discredited Chirac out of the way, this will eliminate another obstacle to closer co-operation with the FN.