NEWS FROM
THE FOURTH
Paris and Coventry.
Last year, the international organizing committee nearly blew apart over a preemptive invite to Eastern European communist parties by Ken Coates, which would in effect have meant the non-attendance of representatives from the independent peace
AROUND THE WORLD • F I NEWS
INTERNATIONAL movements of Eastern Europe.
This tension between advocates of "dialogue from below" among rank-and-file peace activists and "dialogue from above"
among the politicians and bureaucrats has been very much a feature of END conventions. It remains to be seen what this year's convention will make of Gorbachevism and the INF treaty. Many leaders of the
European peace movements have been cock-a-hoop over this year's developments and even claimed the super power summits as a success for themselves. Most peace activists will be very sceptical, however, and will want to hear what the independents from Eastern Europe have to say about the
There are also other developments, as in
Denmark, Indonesia, the Philippines and
Central America, which need to be discussed. One of the features of END conventions, since the Greenham Common women stormed the platform at the Brussels meeting, has been positive action for women. At least 50 per cent of the participants and platform speakers are women, there are women-only areas, workshops for women and led by women.
The registration fee is 300 krona (£27).
Accommodation can be found in the area at no cost or in the student halls at 120kr per night. To register, send money to END Office, Box 1682, S-221 01 Lund, Sweden
T 46 11 21 24. * Dave Spencer
SUPPORT THE UNITED NATIONS
THIRD SPECIAL SESSION ON DISARMAMENT
MARCH!
SATURDAY,
JUNE 11, 1988
TO ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS TO STOP MILITARY INTERVENTION FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
FRANCE
Between two barricades
THE BARRICADES, topped with red flags, were built from bricks and stones that had covered the only site the City of
Paris, of which Jacques Chirac is mayor, had agreed to rent to the Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire (LCR, French section of the Fourth International) for its two- day fete celebrating May 68-88. Between the difficulties of installing marquees and other facilities on a cleared building site and the intermittent sun and showers, conditions were far from ideal!
One of the main political forces active in
May 68 in France, the LCR was alone in re affirming its continuity with the May events on the twentieth anniversary. The old "sixty-eighters" and the young "eightysixers" from the student struggles of December 1986 were not there primarily to listen to the music and taste the regional specialities from the different stalls. The thousands of people who attended were also there to discover or rediscover an organization at the heart of the struggles and
A varied programme of forums involved a broad range of speakers, including international guests. A forum on workers' strug. gles brought to life experiences ranging from women workers in the massive postal workers' strike of 1968 to railworkers in the winter 1986 strikes. Healthworkers and car workers met together to discuss their experiences in more detail.
The rise of racism and the far right is a big question in France after the 14% vote for the National Front in the May presidential elections. Unsurprisingly this was one of the biggest forums. Internationalism was a constant theme throughout the weekend, and there was a forum on internationalism today with Tariq Ali and Hugo Blanco speaking. On Sunday morning a large audience listened attentively to women's experiences in Mexico, Brazil, Uruguay and other Latin America countries, where the first problem is "to struggle for the right to
One round-table discussion brought together activists from May 68 both from the LCR and other political currents. Another considered the perspectives today following the presidential campaign and the experiences of the developing movement initiated around the candidacy of Pierre Juquin. Alain Krivine for the LCR, Pierre Juquin, Jean-Claude Le Scornet of the PSU and Robert Cremieux of the Communist rénovateurs participated in a frank and sometimes heated discussion on the the usefulness of a revolutionary party, the relevance of Marxism and the need to continue to act together.
The weekend closed with a big international rally featuring Ernest Mandel from the United Secretariat of the Fourth International, messages from the Czech revolutionary Marxist Petr Uhl and the Nicaraguan embassy, a leader of the Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front, Jimmy Ounei, a representative from the Committee Against the Occupations in Israel and Alain Krivine for the LCR. *
68MA 88
11 June 13, 1988 • #143 International Viewpoint
FINEWS
988
DENMARK Fourth International anniversary celebration A COMMEMORATION of the fiftieth anniversary of the Fourth International was held in Copenhagen on May 10. It brought together revolutionary Marxists from the Scandinavian countries and, to some extent, from West Germany. More than 400 people gathered in the voluminous hall in the Nørrebro community center, which had been decked with large red banners bearing
After a revolutionary song, the meeting was opened by Göte Kilden, a leader of the Swedish section of the Fourth International and trade-union leader at the Göteborg Volvo plant. He was followed by Hugo Blanco, the legendary Peruvian peasant leader, who stressed that there was no barrier between the fight for democracy and the fight for
Betty Heathfield, a leader of the British Women Against Pit Closures, gave a speech filled with hope for coming
1938-1988
oar
workers' struggles. Despite the defeat of the miners' strike, she said, those who participated in it looked back on that year as the best in their lives. Their horizons had been broadened by it. They had learned to understand the struggle for Irish freedom, Black and women's liberation, among others. "We have no choice but to struggle," she said. There are also speeches by Gitte Hesselman, a member of the leadership of the Danish section of the Fourth International and Poul Petersen, trade-union secretary of the Danish Left Socialists (VS).
The Nicaraguan ambassador in Scandinavia, Ricado Pasos Marciacq, expressed warm greetings to "those celebrating the anniversary of the Fourth International." Greetings also came from Tulio Lima, international secretary of the Salvadoran trade-union organization UNTS, Duke Moleigo from the ANC office in Copenhagen, Mahmud Issa from the Palestinian Workers' League, as well as from ex-
Turkish, Iraqi and Iranian revolutionists.
A recorded speech by the Czech anti-bureaucratic fighter Petr Uhl was played. Ernest Mandel gave the keynote speech on the perspectives of the Fourth International and received a prolonged standing ovation.
A festival against racism was organized in the evening, with 500 people attending. It interspersed entertainment with speeches, the keynote one being given by Tariq Ali. * DENMARK
SAP headquarters fire-bombed
DURING the night of May 23/24, the headquarters of the Socialist Workers' Party (SAP, Danish section of the Fourth International) in central Copenhagen was attacked. The windows were smashed and two fire bombs were thrown inside. A newspaper seller spotted the attack in time and warned the neighbors, so the material damage was limited.
The Socialist Workers' Party has become known for its consistent anti-racist and anti-fascist work. In Denmark, the government's policy toward refugees has become increasingly restrictive, and has even been as inhuman by Amnesty
In parliamentary elections a few weeks ago, the anti-immigrant ultra-rightist Progress Party made big gains [see /V 142]. Against this background, the SAP has seen the fight against racism and xenophobia as one of its main tasks.
Recently, the SAP has been subjected to various threats as a result of its anti-racist work. On May 14, the Rock Against Racism festival (see report above) organized jointly by the SAP and the Socialist Party (Swedish section of the Fourth International) in connection with the celebration of the Fourth International's fiftieth anniversary received a bomb threat. And in the past week, the slogan "Kill SAP!" has been painted on walls in Copenhagen. The SAP sees this latest attack as an extension of
"This is an attack against the entire antiracist and workers' movement," Michael
Voss, a member of the SAP's executive committee said in a press statement. "We call on everyone to respond to this act of error by extreme rightist forces by streng.
hening the anti-racist movement
During the recent election campaign, a well-known far rightist, newspaper columnist Søren Kraurup, accused the SAP of terrorism because the party took part in demonstrations against racism. "The [May
24] attack shows that the real terror comes from the circles that stand a lot closer to
Søren Kraurup," Michael Voss comment-
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