AROUND THE WORLD
Brazil Municipal elections THE MUNICIPAL elections, on November 15, the first since the country returned to civilian rule in March, were a mixed bag for the ruling Brazilian Democratic Movement Party. (PMDB)
The PMDB won 110 of the 201 municipalities holding elections. It lost, however, in capital cities where over 10 million of the country's 18.5 million registered voters live, that is in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, Fortaleza, Recife and Sao Luis.
The biggest surprise in the elections, and an important factor for the left was the victory of the candidate of the Partido de Trabalhadores (PT) Maria Luiza Fontanelle, in Fortaleza.
The PT's vote also grew in several other state capitals. The PT's candidate in Sao Paulo, Eduardo Matarazza Suplicy, for example, polled 20% of the votes. These election results, amongst other things, will be seen as an important step on the road to building a mass workers party in Brazil. • Austria Referendum campaign IN MID-NOVEMBER, the campaign against a purchase of fighter interceptors won more than the 1.6% vote necessary to launch a referendum against the deal. In order to get this "popular consultation," initially 18,000 statements of support had been collected. The Austrian section of the Fourth International. the the Revolutionary Marxist Group (GRM) played a spark plug role.
Franz Floss wrote in the November 15 issue of the GRM paper, Die Linke:
"It all started a little more than a year ago. Unsatisfied with the reaction of the peace movement, which conducted only a 'normal' petition campaign against the fighter interceptor, the GRM had a sharp discussion on this question. It was decided take to the peace movement the demand for a referendum on the lighter and to propose a popular onsultation...
"Soon after the peace movement ed taken up the demand for a refindum, it became clear that the memment was stonewalling. The ammunist Party and the Socialist outh dismissed any possibility of initiating a discussion in the peace movement of a popular consultation as 'unrealistic,' among other things.
"Among the Alternatives [the Austrian version of the Greens, more or less], in the Tirol Alternative, activists planned a popular consultation, although without demanding or wanting a referendum. The conscientious objectors and the Catholic youth organisations were interested in a discussion of a popular consultation against the interceptor. Left Socialist personalities such as Paul Blau initially showed interest but then dropped out because they did not see a chance of success, others such as Maria Berger dropped out because they were threatened with expulsion ...
In its editorial, Die Linke pointed out that this is the first time a popular consultation has been won in Austria without the backing of a big party or newspaper and without big money. (The total budget was only about 700,000 schillings, or US 35,000 dollars.) What is more, the electronic media blacked out the campaign, and there was slight mention of it in the press.
"The CP and Socialist Youth boycotted the popular consultation, the CP because it was supposedly a diversion from the campaign against Star Wars ..." and "the Austrian peace movement announced very officially that 'the popular consultation is not an action of the All-Austrian Peace Movement.' "
But "there were 12,000 people in the human chain in the spring of 1985 in Zeltweg against the fighter purchase, 7,000 in the fall at the rally organized by the peace movement in the Vienna Stadthalle, and 121,455 gave their support in the popular consultation.
"These figures don't tell the whole story .. Behind the 121,455 people who supported the popular initiative are discussions with tens of thousands of people, hundreds of rallies, 700,000 leaflets, and 70,000 posters that informed the most remote towns in Austria of the fight against the fighter plane.
"The popular consultation has laid groundwork, strengthened the fight around a referendum, hopefully together with all those who have stood aside up till now. The popular consultation demands a referendum before April 1986, before another 241 million schillings [12.5 million dollars], the next 10% of the purchase price is due to be paid to Saab-Scania. "O
Couth Afring South Africa Police repression ON OCTOBER 26, the South African police announced a series of new measures banning one hundred organisations in the West Cape and Boland regions. These measures were essentially of two types.
Firstly, it is now forbidden for a whole series of anti-apartheid organisations to hold meetings in areas reserved for Blacks, Coloureds and Indians. Secondly, severe measures were adopted to combat the schools boycotts in the Black and Coloured townships.
The ban on meetings affects practically all the Black, Coloured and Indian areas in the regions concerned. It applies to most of the organisations affiliated to the two main anti-apartheid groups, the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the National Forum (NF) and to dozens of other groups and associations. Among these are the National Forum Committee, the Cape Action League, the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS), the Azanian People's Orgapisation (AZAPO), the Federation of South African Women, the Release Mandela Committee, the Western Cape Teachers Union (WECTU), the New Unity Movement and the Athlone and Boland student action committees.
The measures against the schools boycott effectively confine pupils to their homes or class rooms on school days and prohibit activities outside the school curriculum. Once in school they must stay in their classrooms except at the prearranged times for changing lessons. All activity at school which is not part of the school programme and not supervised by a teacher is forbidden. Moreover in the Black and Coloured areas of Paarl or Worcester, it is an offence to be in possession of petrol or any container other than a vehicle petrol tank and or to siphon it off from there in to any other container. Nobody who is not a resident may enter the township of Mbekweni in Paarl or Zweletemba in Worcester without written permission from the security forces.
This wave of repression, which affects one of the most combative regions in the struggle against apartheid cannot be ignored. It is vital that international solidarity against this and any other moves by the Pretoria regime be stepped up. •
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International Viewpoint 9 December 1985
ARGENTINA