AROUND THE WORLD
Canada Anti-intervention campaign THIS SPRING'S protest against the US war in Central America will incorporate an exciting new dimension -unity with the growing movement against the racist system of apartheid in South Africa.
The Toronto Anti-Intervention Coalition, (TAIC) which unites over ninety labour, church, anti-war, solidarity and women's rights organizations, has selected Saturday, May 24, the day before Africa Liberation Day, for a mass demonstration and public fair.
And now the TAIC is working with anti-apartheid and Africa solidarity organizations to broaden the base and scope of the day.
In a 'call to action' issued by TAIC in January, groups and individuals across English Canada and Quebec are encouraged to demonstrate in support of the following demands:
- Stop U.S. economic and military intervention in Central America and the Caribbean.
- End apartheid in South Africa.
- Oppose Canadian support for apartheid and U.S. intervention.
"Our decision to link the situations in Central America and South Africa is a response to stepped-up efforts by Washington and its allies to attempt to block and reverse movements in the forefront of the international struggle for self-determination, peace and social justice," states the call.
Around the world the struggle to defend self-determination in Central America is increasingly linked in action to solidarity with the struggle for the liberation of the non-white majority in South Africa. This was clearly the case in protests held across the United States that mobilized over 140,000 people on April 20, 1985.
And this is the perspective that the TAIC hopes will spread across English Canada and Quebec.
But such an outcome cannot be taken for granted.
TAIC itself was beset by six months of divisive internal debate over perspectives. One rather defeatist current in the debate bemoaned the alleged ineffectiveness of demonstrations. Some TAIC members urged the coalition to adopt as its major activity the promotion of 'peace initiatives by forces in Central and
International Viewpoint 24 February 1986
South America, including various bourgeois governments, and downplay any criticism of the role of the Canadian government.
But the December general membership meeting of the TAIC decisively rejected those views. It opted instead to maintain an independent, mass action perspective that would focus opposition on U.S. intervention and Canadian involvement in U.s. militarism.
The attempt to link solidarity with the freedom struggles in South Africa and Central America was the other major decision to emerge from the December meeting (which marked the first anniversary of the TAIC), accompanied by plans for filmshowings and concerts to raise funds.
While Prime Minister Brian Mulroney lines up behind President Reagan to attack Libya for alleged terrorism, May 24 gives working people and their allies here the opportunity to demonstrate our opposition to the real terrorists, those who uphold racism, poverty, repres sion and U.S. intervention.
All out for May 24! (For more information, contact TAIC by writing to: 427 Bloor St. W., Toronto, Ontario M5S 1X7, or phone (416) 535-8779) Netherlands Irish republicans arrested AFTER a tip from Internal Security (Binnenlandse Velisheidsdensurior January 16 Amsterdam police, in collaboration with a team of national police, arrested three Irish republicans. Even before this arrest, the British government had demanded the extradition of two of those arrested.
In a statement, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams called on the Netherlands government not to extradite these men. In breaking into the home of the three in Buitenveldert the police, among other things, used noise grenades in order to deafen the three. McF. and G.K. are threatened with extradition to Great Britain. They had been sentenced to life in prison, but managed in September 1983 to break out of the Maze prison near Belfast.
"If the men whose extradition is being demanded by Great Britain are in fact Brendan 'Bic' McFarlane and Gerry Kelly, then these are men with deep political conviction and integrity" [retranslated from the Dutch], Gerry Adams said. Both were involved in hunger strikes in prison.
If the two do not resist extradition, then it is only a question of a few days. But if they appeal to the High Court [Hoge Raad], the procedure can take several months. [They have appealed.] The Dutch government would be happy to get rid of these three "so that there will be no speculation whether the IRA will undertake an action," said a representative of the Public Ministry [Openbaar Ministerie].
The president of Sinn Fein has called • on freedom-loving and anti-imperialist forces in the Netherlands to get the government not "to take the side of Great Britain in her terrorist campaign aimed at denying the Irish people their right to national self-determination." [Retranslated from Dutch.]
Gerry Adams stressed that the giving in to such a demand for extradition meant recognizing the British claim to a part of Ireland, approving British aggression, and supporting the British war in Ireland. Denmark EEC referendum AT THE end of February, Danish voters face a referendum on changes in the European Economic Community (EEC) treaty, which would give the EEC parliament the right to impose Common-Market-wide regulations on working conditions and oblige member states to coordinate their foreign and security policies.
The Danish employers are waging a scare campaign to assure approval of the changes, threatening voters that they will endanger their jobs by voting 'no.'
Danish factory health standards are notably higher than in other EEC countries. For example, the EEC court has sought to bioc declaring 42 substances carcinogenic. By its extraordinary strength, the Danish workers' movement has achieved many gains that would be threatened if the EEC bureaucracy could impose rules over the heads of the Danish working people.
The Danish section of the Fourth International is campaigning for a 'no' vote in the referendum, which will be a major test also for the right-wing Schlueter government.
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