AROUND
THE
WORLD
SENEGAL Revolutionaries contest elections PRESIDENTIAL and legislative elections will be held during February in Senegal. In allowing political and trade-union pluralism, Senegal is unusual for an African country, and is generally put up as an example of "Western-style" democracy. President Abdou Diouf uses and abuses this label on the international scene. The ruling Socialist Party, a member of the Socialist International, finds in the French Socialist Party an attentive godfather. A good example of the duplicity of official ideology was the organization of an international anti-apartheid show in Dakar in 1985, from which the opposition was banned and at which a demonstration of those in favour of Black South African rights was suppressed.
Senegalese institutions have been one means of channeling the very diverse opposition, going from bourgeois currents to small far-left organizations. This apparent freedom of expression, however, has led many organizations into an impasse. Having obtained the right to have a public existence, they have never challenged the framework of the ruling party and have avoided moblizations so as not to put their "legality" in peril. This is how the three pro-Soviet factions have been carrying on. fighting over some teachers trade-union groups, but incapable of carrying out real mass political activity.
In this context, the Senegalese elections obviously retain a very formal character. Tampering with the electoral lists is certainly very generalized, but the ruling party also has a real base that transcends the general corruption.
A number of opposition organizations set up the Senegalese Democratic Alliance (ADS) in order to lead an ongoing and united battle around democratic freedoms.
(See /V 130.) But the pressure of the coming elections has broken up the Alliance.
The leader of the PDS,
Wade, has presented himself as the sole
Organization (OST), Senegal section of the Fourth International, who are now running a joint campaign with And-Jeff in support of their candidate, Landing
In a joint declaration the two organizations called for a "left alternative". Going beyond the ups and downs of the elections, they spell out that: "This unity must last past the elections with all the components of the revolutionary movement, so that we can struggle together hand in hand against the attacks of the state and of imperialism, and discuss together the ways and means of building a revolutionary party".
Withdrawal of French troops from Senegal
Their campaign will be organized around a platform entitled "Serving the People". This document takes a position for the withdrawal of French troops from Senegal, annulling present agreements for military cooperation and for pulling out Senegalese forces stationed in neighbouring Gambia. It also calls for agrarian reform, cancelling the external debt and for independence of the workers'
And-Jeff and the OST anticipate the for-
İNTERNATIENAL MARXIST REVIEW Vol. 2, No. 4 The significance of Gorbachov Ernest Mandel
AROUND THE WORLD mation of local support committees. Although most far-left organizations have opted for supporting a "democratic" candidate or have simply been paralyzed, the
And-Jeff/OST initiative appears as a new step forward. Indeed, it is the first time in a country like Senegal that two movements of such differing political formation have sought to collaborate.
It is also the first time that an alliance of this sort has not just limited itself to formal protests, but proposed to continue to organize and reflect on the possibilities for building a revolutionary party. *
Assault on Nicaragua
The publication of this new book, subtitled "The untold story of the US *secret war' ", was reported in our last issue on page 26, but at the time we did not have the details of the price. The book costs $4.95 and is available from
Walnut Publishing Co., 3435 Army St.,
# 308, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA
(add on $1 for post and packing). *
Errata - IV 132
MANY apologies to our readers for the following errors that occurred in our Xmas issue:
• Please note that page two and page five of the 1987 index were ac cidentally transposed
• On page 19 of "Imperialism and the Gulf war" the first line of the page was missing, and should read:
"towards Iraq and the firm
American..." THE WINTER 1987 issue of International Marxist Review contains reports from the 1987 International Executive Committee of the Fourth International: • The significance of Gorbachev
Ernest Mandel • Feminism in Latin America
Heather Dashner • First lessons of the Philippine revolution P Roman (with alternative positions by S. Brown, FIT, USA and Socialist Action, USA) • Revolutionary strategy in Western Europe
Antoine Artous & Daniel Bensaid
Subscription rates: Britain £8.50; Europe 120FF; USA & elsewhere (airmail)
candidate representing the opposition. Not-
$20; all countries (surface) E10/120FF/$17.
ing the more and more rightward drift of
Please make cheques payable to PEC. Bank transfers to PEC, BNP this party (Wade has become president of
Robespierre Acct 120179/90. Postal transfers to PEC CCP no 2 322 42 T Paris.
the International Liberals!), two other organizations belonging to the Alliance have decided to run their own election campaign. The first is And-Jeff, of Maoist origin, and the second the Workers' Socialist
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27 January 25, 1988 • International Viewpoint
No peace in