AROUND THE WORLD
AROUND
THE
WORLD
TURKEY Yeniyol seized WHEN we announced the publication of Yeniyol ("New Course"), a new revolutionary Marxist monthly in Turkey (see IV 152), we said that, "Despite the fact that opportunities for legal work have opened up... the situation of the progressive press remains precarious".
Unhappily, these fears have rapidly been confirmed, and the fourth issue of Yeniyol, December 1988, was seized for "communist propaganda" due to an editorial on the need for class independence in the trade-union movement and the reproduction of an article by Trotsky on the unions. Legal proceedings are underway that could remove Yeniyol's authorization to publish. The magazine's editor also risks
During the last few weeks, many left journals such as Sorun, Yeni Cözüm, Demokrat arkadas, Yönelis, 2000'e dogru and so on have been seized or taken to court following accusations of communist or separatist propaganda, or for "insults to Atatürk" (the founding father of Turkey). At the same time, the big press dailies like Milliyet, Günaydin, Yeni Nesil and Cumhuriyet, as well as the Limon satirical revue, have been prosecuted for "insults to the prime minister". * SOUTH AFRICA Mayekiso released TRADE unionist Moses Mayekiso will be spending his third Christmas away from home this year — despite being released on bail just before the holiday.
Mayekiso and his co-accused in the Rand Supreme Court treason trial — his younger brother Mzwanele, Paul Tshabalala, Richard Mdakane and Obed Bapela — are all Alexandra residents. However, they are prevented from entering the township in terms of tough bail conditions.
On Monday, December 19, Mayekiso was granted R10,000 bail and the other four bail of R5,000 each. They have spent more than two years in jail.
The case, which has attracted international interest, centres on allegations that the five men tried to usurp the authority of the state by establishing "organs of people's 18 power" in Alexandra. The five made their first court appearance on January 26, 1987.
In February 1987, bail applications were refused after the state had successfully applied for a certificate in terms of section 30 of the Internal Security Act, which gives the attorney-general powers to refuse a bail application. An application the following May challenging the validity of the certificate was dismissed by Justice Strydom.
The trial got under way in October 1987, and early last year the accused made written and oral representations through their lawyers to the attorney-general, requesting him to withdraw the certificate - but to no
On November 30, the trial was adjourned until February 1, 1989, and the accused made yet another written representation for the withdrawal of the certificate. The attorney-general gave his assent, but the five are bound by a number of conditions:
• They must reside in Hillbrow, and report to the local police station every day;
•They must not attend or address any gathering of more than 10 people or conduct, attend or address any press conference or issue any press statements;
• They must not enter or remain in Alexandra township;
• They must not leave the area of the Witwatersrand local division of the Supreme Court without the permission of the investigating officer in their case.
Up until their release, the five had lived in a common cell in Johannesburg's Diepkloof prison. When the trial adjourned, the five had finished giving their evidence, and the defence is expected to begin its argument when the hearing resumes in Febru-
[From the Weekly Mail, December 22, ISRAELI STATE Help the refuseniks AS THE intifada enters its second year, the number of Israeli reservists refusing to fulfill their military duties in the occupied territories mounts daily. The following statement is from Yesh Gvul:
First Sergeant (res.) David Golan, age 36, has been jailed for a 28 days for refusing to serve in the Gaza Strip. Prior to sentencing, Golan declared: "I am a scion of the Jewish people which has fought throughout its history for the right to independence, without being dominated by another people. I find no moral right to deny others the dignity and independence I seek for myself. "That which is hateful to you, do not do to others. ' I do not wish to engage in repression, or in the physical degradation of someone fighting for his dignity. I believe in the Palestinians' right to a dignified existence, just as in our own selfsame right."
Golan is the son of Holocaust survivors: both his parents were inmates of the Auschwitz extermination camp. He lives in Jerusalem, where he graduated the Hebrew University with a degree in philosophy and education. He is married and has a year old daughter. Golan supplemented his three years of compulsory military service in the Navy, during which he served in the Yom Kippur war, by voluntarily signing on for an extra year. In the reserves he serves with an armored infantry unit.
Another refusenik, Dudu Palma, aged 39, of Kibbutz Kfar Hanassi, got 35 days (21 suspended) in his third conviction for selective refusal, after a 28-day sentence earlier this year. Palma likewise is the son of Holocaust survivors. He is married, has four children, and is the editor of the literary magazine Shdemot.
Palma served with the paratroopers; as a reservist he saw combat in Lebanon, taking part in the battles of Sydon and Beirut. Again posted to Lebanon in 1983, he refused, drawing a 35-day jail sentence.
Palma: "...Feeling responsible for the future of Israeli democracy, I can no longer be party to anti-democratic acts verging upon war crimes. The immediate choice was either join the herd (like the humansturned-beasts in lonesco's anti-fascist play Rhinoceros) or to protest....
"It is incredible that a people which so recently savored its own political independence, should so lightly deny it to members of another people. By this step, I believe I am defending our fragile democracy which is being swept to the precipice by the rising tide of nationalism and Khomeinist fundamentalism."
The imprisonment of Golan and Palma brings the number of Yesh Gul members jailed since the onset of the intifada to 50 However, numerous commanders being reluctant to prosecute refuseniks, their actual number is believed to be very much larger, probably running into the hundreds.
Yesh Gul extends moral and material support to jailed refuseniks, whose families receive a modest grant ($500) to see them through the period of imprisonment: it works to bring their protest to the attention of the Israeli public as part of its campaign against the occupation.
Yesh Gul also tries to arrange for inclividual refuseniks to be "adopted" by sympathizers in other countries. It foresees a sharp increase in refusals, with numerous reservists finding their military duties in with the dictates of
For more information, please contact Yesh Gul, PO Box 91068, Jerusalem 6953, Israel. *