to deploy the Cruise
But nothing is going to happen in
Woensdrecht before November 1, 1985.
So, the government is trying to win time and confuse and divide the peace movement. They have tried that before with
AMSTERDAM — At 3:00 a.m. on the morning of June 14, the Second
Chamber of the Dutch parliament approved the decision of the Lubbers' gevernment to deploy the Cruise missiles. The cabinet's bill included the
To decide finally on November 1, 1985, how many Cruise missiles will be deployed in the Netherlands.
- To decide definitively also on that date to deploy the missiles:
If there is an arms reduction agreement between the Soviet Union and the United States in which the Netherlands should accept a "fair" share of the nuclear weapons to be stationed in Western Europe. That could mean less than the planned 48.
Mb) If there is no accord, but the Soviet union stations new SS20s or SS21s anywhere in the world after June 1, 1984
Not to begin construction on the Woensdrecht base, where the missiles are to be deployed.
In short, this decision means that the missiles will be deployed, unless the peace movement can prevent that in the months between now and November 1, 1985. The government deliberately formulated this decision in terms that would mean that the missiles would inevitably be deployed and which would promote divisions in the peace movement by putting the responsibility for it on the Russians.
The fact that the government did not decide to deploy the missiles here and now is purely and simply a result of the strength that the peace movement has developed in the past years. On May 10, 1984, there was a national strike against Cruise.
But not everyone in the peace movement is convinced of that. Since the decision in parliament, a debate has been taking shape very rapidly.
The most important spokesperson for the IKV (Interkerkelijk Vredesberaad, Interchurch Peace Council), the nationally and internationally, Mient-Jan Faber raised a big hue and cry against the PvdA (Partij van de Arbeid, the Labor Party) taking too rigid a position against deployment.
The PvdA has taken a stand categorically opposing the Cruise missiles, one of the few unambiguous stands it holds at the moment. Faber said that he thought that some Cruise missiles could eventually be accepted in the Netherlands if this was in the form of a contribution to overall arms reduction, it, for instance, it were part of an agreement between the US and the Soviet Union.
Faber's statements aroused a storm of protest. In the national unitedfront committee, the KKN (Komitee Kruisraketten Nee, No to Cruze Missiles Committee), he was called to account in particular by the PdA and the FNV, labor confederation that organized the May 10
Even the churches, to which the IKV is closely linked, made it clear that they did not appreciate Faber's statements.
Fred van der Spek, leader of the parliamentary fraction of the Pacifist Socialist Party (PSP), which has three seats in parliament, said that Faber's statements were designed to back up the right wing of the PvdA in its attempts to water down the party's opposition to the missiles. necessary, he said, to open up the way for a PdA-Christian Democrat coalition government after the 1986 elections.
So, a tull discussion on strategy is developing in the peace movement After the summer vacation, in a national activists' conference there will be discussion of plans for the period leading up to November 1, 1985. is from the June 20 issue of Klassenstrijd, paper of the Dutch section te, The following article, written just before the parliamentary the Fourth International.
The deployment of the missiles has at least been postponed. might be said about the government's
"face" of the peace movement det yet bene thin buda se have that the "preparations" are going to be carried through. But that is empty talk.
little success. In fact, the peace movement has got time to build up the pres-
As tired as we have been by the tension of the past months, that is precisely what we have to do now.
It was not pleasant to see on the TV how Nijpels and Van Aardenne were
"victors" at a VVD election rally in The Hague. And it was not any more agreeable to see de Vries assure tbe country that the majority in parliament will support the government. (1) Down-to-the-wire mobilizations
However, it is possible and necessary to make another massive demonstration of our opposition to deployment of the missiles before the vacation period. In places actions day before The idea is to make this a Holland Tuesday, to gather people at peace rallies and then to take them from place to place to build a snowball demon-
That is to go to schools, offices and factories and appeal to the people to
That could build up to a massive march in a couple of hours.
The Komitee Kruisraketten Nee (KKN) is calling for delegations to go to The Hague with protest messages. door canvassing is one way to collect for such statements. It can also be done on the job and in the organizations you belong to. This activity should spread like an oil slick. Posters should be put up in windows and banners hung out at offices and factories.
Where it is organizationally possible, it is a good idea to hold indoor rallies. This was a big factor in the success of the national work stoppage against the mis-
In these rallies, the parliamentary debate can be followed and commented on. And, most important, this will be a first opportunity to discuss together plans and ideas for further actions after the
At worst, the government's decision means that we have got another year and a half to build such actions. no reason now to start thinking that "the whole thing was useless." To the contrary. In the past week of action, 4,600 is the main leader of the VVD, Van Aardenne is a memVVD, minister of economic affairs, Vries is a leader of the divided on the missiles question.
International Viewpoint 16 July 1984
actions were held. A million people participated in the National Work Stoppage, twice the number of those who participated in the massive demonstrations of October 29.
The peace movement has been expanding its network of activists quite rapidly. In particular, in the unions that belong to the Federatie Nederlands Vakbeweging (FNV - The Netherlands Union Federation), a lot of people have become active in the fight against the missiles. In and of itself, that is a great gain. It is something that we can build on solidly after the vacations. The first target is the Peace Week at the end of September.
It is important to bring the broad peace movement together. So, as soon as possible after the vacations, an action conference must be organized. In order to build the most effective one, we should learn from the mistakes that were made in organizing similar gatherings in February 1983 and 1984.
must be built That means that everyone should be able to present their views and proposals in writing. These documents should be distributed to the local groups in good time before the conference. They should be diseussed at local which the delegates to the national conference should be elected.
This would also make it possible to go deeper into a number of questions we face now. There has not yet been any serious discussion in the peace movement about developments in the field of conventional weapons and the war threats in Central America and the Middle Bas for example.
In the FNV, a discussion is to start after the summer on an answer to the Lubbers government's Defense Memorandum. This can link up with a similar discussion in the peace movement as a whole.
This sort of broad discussion can deep en the understanding of the peace movement and buttress it against the wave of propaganda about SS20s, gas prices, etc. that is being spread by the government and Nato. It would also be an opportunity to take up preparations for campaigns around other issues than just the Cruise missiles. In this respect, we need to think about the other six tasks
Netherlands in Nato's
We also have to think about the recent observations by Mient-Jan Faber that it is becoming clearer and clearer that the Dutch peace movement, like the CND in Britain for example, actions not just against Nato's decisions but against Nato as such.
Similarly, we can and must broaden the resistance to the setback dealt to the peace movement. A vote against the deployment of the Cruise missiles in parliament would not win the battle. A vote for deployment will not lose it either. Now is a good time to revive an old idea from the KKN headquarters - the proposal for a people's petition. This very above only a few weeks before the parliawhen the question is going to come before parliament again, in. November 1985. So, we can start the groundwork for a people's petition campaign now and launch it in January 1985. What can peace movement do now?
There is plenty of time to take up this question not only in all the peace groups but in all the organizations affiliated to the KKN. So, it is organizationally possible to get the signatures of millions of people to support a categorical rejection of deploying Cruise missiles. This massive petition campaign could be concluded with a mass demonstration on a weekend
Jctober 1985.
In this way, the race movement could be further broadened. And the basis would be laid for a new work stoppage against the nuclear madness. over, in his comment on the government's decision, Wim Kok (leader of the FNV) by no means excluded the possibility of another such action. The time available now can also be used to take up this question in a thoroughgoing way.
The experiences of the May 10 work stoppage, among other things, showed that where work to build the action got underway in time the majority of people followed the call. But this was not done
From Denmark an initiative has been launched for a European people's strike against the missiles to be organized by the trade-union movement and peace movement together in various countries. Now the government has given us until at least November 1985 to work on this. So, we should begin to discuss it seriously in the FNV and in the peace organizations
This sort of preparatory work and systematic approach to building new, broad mobilizations can increase the pressure on the parliament and on Nato. There is no reason to be pessimistic about the result in November 1985. the elections will be approaching, even if this cabinet does not bite the dust before
And, as everyone knows, in election times politicians make unexpected
We also have to prepare for the possibility that the government will decide to build Cruise missile storage silos in Woensdrecht. Further actions against this now in preparation. Thousands of people have already signed "Don't Help Pay the Bill" lists, pledging to refuse to pay taxes if active preparations for de-
As such, this is But for many people, it is a determined step the peace movement's path of opposition to abuses of public powers. In addition to this, there is the blacking campaign, that is declaring a boycott of everything and everyone that has anything to do with building a Cruise missile base in
Already a series of building firms have declared a boycott. ing and Wood Workers Union has prepared a memorandum in which it proposes alternatives (including a hospital in Roozendaal) to wasting millions of guilders in Woensdrecht. initiative deserves support and imitation. In particular, in the FNV there is a lot of work to be done in this area.
A series of activities could be planned in advance, and boycott declarations made public. In particular, the peace movement could support consumer boycotts. Under the slogan "The Netherlands Is Not Cooperating with Deployment of the Cruise Missiles," a number of preparatory steps could be undertaken in
Some of these are
Women are an important element of the peace movement (DR)
International Viewpoint 16 July 1984 generally, far from it. So, there is a lot of potential to be exploited there.
FROM THE
BOYS the coming year and a half.
Lubbers and his cohorts are banking on the peace movement throwing up its hands and giving up. Lubbers wants to create the impression that we can carry out any action we want, but that the decisions will be made at the top political level. He can say anything he wants. Before him, Van Agt (2) always pointed to the Geneva negotiations as the place the decisions had to be made, and he got his comeuppance. Lubbers has to get it into his head that we are going to keep fighting until the Cruise missiles are thrown out, and his government with them. 2. Van Agt is the former Social Democratic premier.
17
PEACE MOVEMENT
balance of forces that emerged at the end of the Second World War between the imperialist countries and the East European bureaucracies, the two traditional bastions of colonialism, Britain and France, were forced to loosen their grip on the eastern basin of the Mediterranean.