AROUND THE WORLD
Communique to the Salvadoran people from the FDR-FMLN
The current talks between President Duarte and the FDR/FMLN in El Salvador appear to have reached a deadlock.
At a press conference on January 23 president Duarte rejected any notion of continuing the talks, blaming the so-called intransigence of the FLMNFDR. In fact all that Duarte could offer was participation in the elections in March, 1985...in exchange for the putting down of arms by the rebel forces.
Guillermo Ungo, president of the FDR was quoted in the February issue of Latin America Weekly Report as saying that Duarte's offer was simplistic and comparing it to tying a basketball players hands and inviting him onto the court to play.... With a permanent state of seige.....These elections are a bloody masquerade, by the right and for the right.
The following communique on the state of the talks at that time was issued by the Executive Committee of the FDR general command of the FLMN on December 7, 1984.
The Democratic Revolutionary Front (FDR) and the Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation (FMLN) of El Salvador use this medium to communicate to the working class and peasantry; to teachers and students; to the honest military of the Salvadorean Armed Forces; to activists and revolutionary combatants and to all the Salvadorean people, the following points of our positions on the dialogue with the government of El Salvador: 1. The Meeting in Ayagualo The second dialogue meeting, which took place on November 30 in Ayagualo constituted a step forward in the difficult process in the search for a Global Politcal Solution to the conflict which our nation is living.
In Ayagualo we faced a more complex and difficult situation than that of La Palma given the confrontation of two resolution projections based on different analyses of the national problems and the discussion of the first concrete agreements in the search for peace. 26
2. The Perspectives of the Dialogue The precipitate attitude of Engineer Jose Napoleon Duarte in rejecting our proposal for a political solution based on an inconsistent and summary judgement of unconstitutionality over-shadowed the possibilities for peace and reinforced the positions of the more reactionary sectors of private business and the army.
Engineer Duarte's refusal to admit that at that same point in the process the problem of the two presently existing armies of El Salvador must be addressed is contradictory to the recognition, which in multiple forms has made the existence of the revolutionary army a fundamental reality of the situation in the country. Refusal to accept such a powerful reality would deny the very existence of the war and, therefore, deny the REAL possibilities in searching for peace.
Engineer Duarte's pretence to reduce the dialogue to an imposition of his 'offer' of peace which evidently does not take into account the more urgent realities of the war, nor the most important problems in the country is negative and also contradictory. After La Palma, with a more constructive attitude, Duarte had indicated that none of the parties could impose his proposal unilaterally.
For their part, the oligarchy has begun to let loose all their resources against the dialogue. To do this, they have reprinted the old argument of defending the constitution - which they have always violated - and defending the army, which they have always orchestrated. But in reality - now as in the past - the only thing they are interested in is defending their unjust minoritarian privileges. It is no accident then that D'Aubuisson congratulates Duarte on his rejection of our proposal.
Nevertheless, the will and strength of all the national sectors that support the dialogue are imposing themselves on the minoritarian interests that are creating obstacles to the search for peace.
We hope that Engineer Duarte understands that with this abundant popular strength backing the dialogue, it would be an historic error with very serious consequences to continue looking for the viability of process for a political solution through concessions and subordination to the ultra-right and fascist oligarchy.
In fact - despite all the difficulties - since La Palma and Ayagualo, the dialogue process has been strengthened as the path to peace. 3. The Will for Peace on the Part of our Fronts In this difficult moment when the confrontation between understanding and the difficulties about the possibilities has been emphasized, our Fronts (FDRFMLN) consider it opportune and necessary to reiterate to the Salvadorean people the sincere will for peace that is motivating us.
We have introduced a proposal for a solution which addressed the central problems of the country without ambiguity or evasions; in that proposal, we have expressed our disposition to compromise within a solid framework of guarantees of popular interests; we have proposed a gradual and realistic beginning to allow all the fundamental aspects for its realization.
In Ayagualo we reached agreements -small but of great historical significance - with the government delegation.
In fulfilling these agreements, in concrete fashion we communicate the following to the Salvadorean people:
On Thursday, December 11th, we will turn over to the Catholic church 42 soldiers who were taken prisoner by units of our army on December 1st in the proximity of El Salto in the department of La Paz. 4. Call to all National Sectors The installation of the dialogue is a conquest for our people, at the same time, the success and direction to a successful termination of the dialogue process is an aspiration of all the democratic and patriotic forces of the country.
Our Fronts consider that only through organized and active participation of all people will we be able to move ahead in the dialogue process.
The proposals of the government and of our Fronts (FDR-FMLN) have already been made public. We call upon all organized sectors of the country to demand their participation and freely express their positions on the political solution to the national crisis.
Our Fronts reiterate their irrevocable decision to make every effort to move the dialogue forward towards producing concrete and progressive results in such a way until peace with independence and justice, so strongly desired by our people, is achieved.
International Viewpoint 25 February 1985
Protest against persecution of 87-year-old Bulgarian Trotskyist
The following is a statement issued in Paris, France, in January 1985, condemning the persecution of Dimitar Gatchev, Bulgarian socialist. (See International Viewpoint, No. 8, January 21, 1985).
Founder of the Bulgarian Communist Party and then of its Trotskyist opposition and the driving force behind the League for the Rights of Man in Bulgaria, Dimitar Gatchev is today a new vietim of persecution in his country. Certain 'unknown assailants' Plovdiv in fact know very well, attacked him in the street and ransacked his apartment. Once again the Bulgarian regime is trying to break an opponent.
Now aged eighty-seven, Dimitar Gatchev has paid the price of his support for freedom and for socialism with 23 years in detention. From 1925 to 1932 he was incarcerated by the reactionary Tsankov dictatorship and in 1942 until 1962 he was in a Stalinist prison camp. He has never repudiated his beliefs.
We the undersigned, - demand that the Bulgarian authorities put an end to the persecution of Dimitar Gatchev. - request that Francois Mitterrand, the president of the Republic, on his forthcoming visit to Bulgaria, should obtain from his hosts an assurance that the persecutions against a man whose past history and age should protect him from such treatment, be ceased. Signed: Simone de Beauvoir, Daniel Bensaid, Claude Bourdet, Jeanne Brunschwig, Alain Brossat, Julien Desachy, Jean-Jacques de Felice, Daniel Guerin, Felix Guattary, Jean-Francois Godchau, Pierre Halbwachs, Alain Krivine, Georges Labica, Arlette Laguiller, Denis Langlois, Pierre Naville, Gilles Perrault, Yvonne Quiles, Bernard Ravenel, Irene Terrel.
### Kurdistan ahead
A new bulletin with information, news and articles on the Kurdish struggle has just been launched by the Collective for Setting up the Solidarity Committee with the Kurdish People, in Canada.
The first issue contains articles on the Iran-Iraq war, the plight of Kurdish refugees in Pakistan and on the execution of Kurdish militants in Turkey.
Copies available from PO Box 135 stn.
Henri Montreal, PQ H4C 3M3, Canada. International Viewpoint 25 February 1985
Youth protest repressive legislation in Italy
The Italian Revolutionary Youth Organisation (OGR), in sympathy with the Italian section of the Fourth International, recently launched a new youth campaign against a reactionary bill proposed by the government, supposedly against sexual violence.
In reality the legislation amounts to severe repression of youth sexuality, in particular for those under 14.
As a protest against this legislation and to demand the right to sexual freedom for all young people, very original sorts of protests were organised throughout Italy, in Brescia, Milan, Turin and Rome.
Young people went out onto the streets and had a mass 'kiss-in', because the law will prevent young people under 14 years of age from kissing in the street. The penalty for an adult who kisses someone under 14 will be three to eight years imprisonment. This law is clearly not designed to protect women from male violence.
The next stage of the campaign will be in March when the bill will become law. Young people will descend onto the streets again to make their protest 'kisses'
Attacks on youth sexuality are not confined to Italy. In Britain, Victoria Gillick, mother of ten, recently won a high court case to compel doctors to inform parents if young people under the age of 16 apply to them for contraceptives or for abortion advice.
A campaign against this infringement of democratic rights has also been launched in Britain by the National Abortion Campaign and other organisations.
### Dutch CP paper reassesses Trotsky The November 8, 1984 issue of De Waarheid (The Truth), daily paper of the Dutch Communist Party, carried a major article challenging the official Soviet version of Trotsky's role in the revolution.
For the first time, the Communist Party daily gives a fundamentally accurate account of Trotsky's role in the October Revolution and in the civil war period. On the question of the social fascist policy pursued by Stalin from 1929 to 1933, and Trotsky's call for a united front in opposition to the view of the Communist Party of the time, De Waarheid sides with Trotsky.
Trotsky's analysis of the character of the Soviet Union, in Revolution Betrayed, was also fundamentally correct, according to the Dutch CP.
The final section of the article dealt with the Moscow trials. "Trotsky and the other accused, says De Waarheid, 'were other accusea, says be warneta, were said to have worked with Hitler and the Japanese Mikado in organising industrial sabotage and poisoning Russian workers.
*An impressive list of left wing intellectuals, writers and politicians, such as Ehrenburg, • Khruchov, Feuchtwanger, Dimitrov, Aragon and the Gandhi-admirer Romain Rolland, issued public variations on the theme - Shoot the Mad Dogs!
"Trotsky submitted himself in Mexico to a public trial - and was found innocent. But this fact received no international recognition. And to this day Trotsky has not been rehabilitated or given his due honour in the Soviet Union.
*His books are still forbidden. And not a single West European Communist Party has protested against this, De Waarheid concluded.
ANZUS and democracy The following is the text of an editor from the February 13 issue of Dined Action, the paper of the Socialist Worl Party - Australian section of the Found International
The brutal February 8 assault of South Korean government secunty against returning opposition leader Ki Dae Jung bears a striking resemblancs the assassination of Filipino opporition Benigno Aquino.
Kim, like Aquino, had flown homeland to assist the struggle derm ocratic rights. Both had been jailed "political crimes" against military torships before being exiled.
While the result of the attack on Kim at Seoul airport was not immediately as tragic, the political framework is nemy similar.
Both the Chung and Marcos regimes imperialist-backed military juntas, brought to power to suppress the democratic and national liberation struggles of the Korean and Phillipines peoples
While both regimes are beholden primarily to US imperialism, the Aus tralian ruling class also has a direct stake in preserving the security of its in-
• and crushing the rising movements of workers and peas ants.
This is the real meaning of ANZUS -joint military cooperation between tbe US, Australia, and New Zealand, nod fundamentally to defend the "security" . of the three countries, but to counter national liberation movements in Asia and the Pacific.
About 100.000 people turned out to greet Kim, making the biggest anti-gorernment demonstration for at least five years. The labor movement should press for an end to Australian aid to the repees sive Marcos and Chun Doo Hwan regimes»
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NEW CALEDONIA