AROUND THE WORLD activists - the
FNAS members who distribute the bulletin Lalit Travayer within the MMM.
They were even refused the right to have a general meeting
TOWARDS EARLY ELECTIONS IN MAURITIUS
Barely a year after the landslide victory electoral coalition between the Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM) and the Mauritian Socialist Party (PSM) in June 1982, their electoral promises and, more importantly, the hopes of the popular masses, have been completely betrayed by the new government.
The disorientation of the toiling masses is that much greater because they expected a radical change in society, even a march towards socialism, as the leaders of the MMM had been promising them for
The first electoral advance by the MMM in 1976 demonstrated the rise in the class struggle in this small island in the Indian Ocean. The June 1982 electoral victory marked a new stage, with every single seat going to the MMMPSM coalition. But there is a danger that the new period of class struggle opened by this overwhelming victory (the famous 'sixty to nil') will end in demobilisation and demoralisation, because of the attitude of the MMM and PSM leaders. Their policy has in the final analysis had only one common denominator - to waste the potential for struggle and combativity in order to impose policies that serve the interests of the bourgeoisie.
After governmental crisis after governmental crisis came the split between the MMM and PSM in March. Then parliament was dissolved a few weeks ago, and early elections called for the end of Aug
The rejection by the mass of workers of the government's economic policy, which was based on the advice of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and carried out by Paul Berenger, then minister of finance, was the determining factor in the governmental crisis last March. This popular discontent was most notably demonstrated through the forming of a trade-union front against austerity, including the main federations in the country. The opposition activity of this front threatened to force a break in the traditional links between the MMM and the General Workers Federation.
Moreover, the radical activists of the MMM organised around the bulletin Lalit Travayer (Workers Struggle) and working within the National Front Against Unemployment (FNAS), an organisation which contributed greatly to 26 mobilising for the victory of the MMM (see International Viewpoint No 12, August 2, 1982) found a growing response to their campaign against austerity.
Thus the government faced a difficult situation for pushing through an austerity budget. Confronted, on the one hand, with the resistance of a section of the traditional bourgeoisie opposed to his policies of economic rationalisation, and, on the other, with the disapproval of the masses, Paul Berenger decided to take the initiative during the last governmental crisis. He resigned from the government, along with eleven other ministers, and broke up the MMM-PSM alliance.
Thus, in the space of a few months the political scene has changed profoundly. The MMM is once again in the opposition, while its former president, Anerood Jugnauth, has set up his own organisation, the Mauritian Socialist Movement (MSM) and formed a government with members of the PSM.
The most serious effect of these political manoeuvrings is a certain drop in the level of class consciousness among the workers compared with the level at June 1982, and a revival of the poison of communalism bringing a resurgence of conflict between the various ethnic and religious communities.
It is in this context that parliament has just been dissolved, and new elections called for August. None of the formations coming out of the MMM-PSM government can claim with any justification to represent the interests of the workers.
Jugnauth's MSM has just made an electoral agreement with the Labour Party, which was swept from the political scene
On his side Berenger is leading a campaign for a rightwing technocratic managthe economy, presenting petty bourgeois technocrats for the workers
Moreover, to demonstrate its reliability to the bourgeoisie and the imperialists, the MMM leadership recently expelled the most radical rank-and-file to deal with this question.
From this point these comrades have turned towards building a real socialist workers organisation, as the masthead of their weekly journal, Konba Travayer (Workers Fight), states. Since May 1, the press run and sales of each issue have been in the thousands. These militants are mobilising against the holding of early elections, and for respect to the popular mandate workers in June 1982.
In Konba Travayer No 7, June 10, 1983, published before the dissolution of parliament was even announced, the militants of LT-FNAS defined their perspectives in this way:
1. Immediate mobilisation of the trade unions, workers, youth and all activists against the holding of early elections. Our '60 to 0' should not disappear to the benefit of the capitalists. In our mobilisation and struggle we need these '60 to 0' to strengthen the nationalisations, get the Industrial Relations Act and Public Order Act revoked, to ensure that Cargo Handling (the management structure for the nationalised port) is set up, and the workers demands are satisfied.
2. If, despite everything, we find ourselves faced with early elections, should not the militants of LT-FNAS, the trade unions, all the militant left in general, stand jointly on a single workers slate, based on an anti-austerity, anticapitalist, anti-imperialist programme?
3. We should strengthen the initiative that has already been taken to build a mass revolutionary organisation, as a third way, a way for the workers, who are faced with bankruptcy of the social-democratic alternative, to block the right.
On June 19 the militants of the Lalit Travayer tendency in the MMM announced the creation of the Militant Organisation of Workers (OMT), which already has several dozen members, and the transformation of their mass front, the FNAS, into the Fron nasyonal anti-soufrans (National Front Against Poverty), which appeals not only to the young unemployed but the whole of the working population. •
DEMAND RELEASE OF ANTI-ZIONIST
ISRAELI POLITICAL PRISONER
CHIŃSKIE ECHA SIERPNIA 19es
With the development of a more critical attitude toward Zionism among the Israeli Jewish population as a result of the Lebanon war, Uri Adiv's family launched a campaign for his release.
Adiv was sentenced to 17 years in prison in 1972 for going to talk to the PLO. The charge against him was that he "damaged state security."
In an appeal from Tel Aviv June 4, Lea Lechem explained: "At the time [1972] the very idea of discussing with the PLO was almost inconceivable. those days, Golda Meir was proclaiming 'There is no Palestinian people. Intoxicated by the victories in the 1967 war and the economic prosperity that the new territorial gains made possible, every layer of Israeli society was gripped by chauvinism....
"In such an atmosphere, the initiative by Udi Adiv and a few dozen young Jews and Arabs provoked a real shock in Israeli society. An unprecedented witch hunt was launched against Udi and his comrades.
"The aim of the extremely severe sentence was clear - to frighten off any Jew who might have the idea of engaging in dialogue with the Palestinians."
Today, despite the different mood in the country, the Israeli security service are trying to veto any release of Adiv. Lea Lechem writes:
"The highest authorities (the office of the chief of state, the Ministry of Justice, the office of the chief of the bar) and even a number of well-known lawyers contacted have made it known clearly that the decision is in the hands of the security service.
"The security services in turn stress that Udi chose of his own free will to live among the Arab prisoners (the section where they are held in the Ramalah prison is notorious for the very difficult conditions that exist there and that he was elected to the Political Prisoners Committee that is fighting in the prison for betnote that Yasser Arafat mentioned Udi's name in his speech to the UN General Assembly in 1974 and that Palestinian commandos who have slipped into Israel have demanded his
"The truth is that the security services cannot forgive Udi Adiv for the fact that for ten years in prison, he has refused to bend and yield to the many pressures that he break his ties with the Palestinian prisoners and accept transfer to another wing of the prison. They have tried on many occasions to convince him, by various favors, special visits, the chance for a few days home leave, better conditions, even the promise of an early release. But Udi has refused all privileges that are not accorded to the Palestinian political prisoners. This is the real reason the security services oppose his release."
The campaign for Adi's release has gotten broad support. Thousands of persons have written the president on Adi's behalf. They included three judges of the Supreme Court that upheld his original sentence, Judges Haim, Cohen and Etsioni, as well as the present presiding judge of the court, Kahane, who conducted the inquiry into the Sabra and Chatila
Among the other personalities supporting the campaign are Y. Ben Aharon, former president of the Histadrut labor confederation, Sem Tov, general secretary of the Mapam Party, and prominent writers such as Amos Oz and A.B. Ye-
It seems clear that the Adiv appeal can be won and that this would have an important political effect in Israel. But Lea stressed, the broadest possible international support is essential.
Letters and telegrams calling for Uri Adiv's release should be sent to the President of Israel, Haim Herzog, Mishkan Nesiei Israel, Jerusalem. Copies should be sent to the Adiv family at Kibbutz Gan Shmuel, Israel.
continued from page 28
The big majority of Christians in my country are on the side of the revolution.
Pope's visit 700,000 people, that is, a third of the population of Nicaragua, welcomed him. And most of them were in favour of a coming together of the church and the
There were claims that it was who organised during the Pope's speeches, and that they do not respect religious freedom.
A. No other government did as much to ensure that the largest possible number of people could see the Pope. government gave over all its vehicles, and the necessary petrol, although we do not have too much. We, the Nicaraguan Christians, were waiting for the Pope to come out clearly for peace and in opposition to the invasion. This he neglected to do, and this disappointed and irshouts such as 'Christianity and revolution were made for each other' were spontaneous.
Then the Pope added fuel to the fire be demanding silence in a dry and authoritarian manner. The Sandinista leaders showed a lot of self-restraint. In Nicaragua there is absolute freedom in matters of religion. There is not another coun try in Central America where priests can live and work with as much freedom as in ours.
Q. Can one be Marxist and Chris-
A. In Rome it is always said that it is absolutely impossible for a Marxist to be a Christian because, as a Marxist, one is necessarily an atheist. But I do not think it is the business of Rome to decide who is Marxist and who is not. Marxism and Christianity have a common objective. We, Christians, call for building the kingwithout selfishness, where all the goods of the earth and the fruits of labour are shared fraternally. Authentic socialism, as Marx posed it, seems to us a lot nearer this aim than capitalism.
So, you do not see a contradiction between Christianity and revolution?
A. No, because real Christianity wants a profound change in all human society. This means a revolution. Such a radical change is going on in Nicaragua. Our
İNPREKOR
MIEDZYNARODOWA KORESPONDENCJA PRASOWA
Powracajaca fala walk masowych
Polish Inprekor
DOLNOŚLASKA LINIA FABRYK no 8-9
O MIĘDZYNARODOWYM WYMIARZE is now out!
POLSKIEJ REWOLUCJI
Christian duty is to participate in the revolutionary process, and to protect it against outside intervention.
Q. What are you expecting from us here?
A. Solidarity. We need financial aid for the schools, the health system, the tree-planting schemes. But, above all, we need political solidarity. This, for example, could take the form of a declaration parliamentary representatives against Reagan's policy in Central America, as the West German deputies have just done, or mass demonstrations like today's.
27
Nicaraguan minister, become more expensive. The health and education systems remain free.
Of course, we have had to stop certain projects. For example, we had a project to save a big lake in the middle of the country which was dying from pollution. Instead of being able to use the money
Ernesto C