Electoral victory for for women, and showed some concern for the plight of non-Muslims (like Pakistani
Sindhis, who were forced by fear and intimidation to leave Pakistan, and long to
ARENA in El Salvador return home).
Socialists must defend
Salman Rushdie
THE VICTORY of Alfredo Cristiani, Alliance for National
Renewal (ARENA) candidate in the March 19 presidential
Unfortunately, the anti-Rushdie Muslims have now been joined in Britain by the "I election, must not be interpreted as a sign of popular am against censorship, but..." brigade, support for this ultra-rightist and militarist bourgeois and the lobby for the extension of the blasphemy laws [which apply only to blasphemy against the Christian religion]. This
In the first place, most Salvadorans did not vote. A dangerous and ill-advised group of people million people are supposed to have voted out of a total are unwittingly playing into the hands of the reactionary elements, many of whom of 2.2 million entitled to cast ballots, from a population of would happily step up such censorship but
6 million. That indicates the support for the Farabundo equally happily drive out Britain's Muslims — along with any other Black people,
Marti National Liberation Front (FLN) and the National and any representatives of "alien culture".
Union of Salvadoran workers (UNTS), who called a
An equally dangerous response comes boycott and a widely observed transport strike.
from Labour member of parliament Max
Madden, who has joined Hashem El
Participation in this election was even lower than in the
Essawy and others in demanding that a previous one in 1984. Cristiani has declared that he got short statement from Muslim critics be
"inserted in the book or displayed in book-
54% (500,000 votes). His main rival, Chavez Mena of the shops or libraries", explaining to those
Christian Democratic Party (PDC), claims 30%. Moreover, who choose to buy or borrow the book the vote for ARENA first of all reflects a rejection of the why some Muslims find it offensive. This they term "a modest right to reply".
outgoing president, Duarte, and of the PDC. In the
Why do they stop at The Satanic Verses?
absence of a sufficiently credible left alternative, the
What about Darwin's The Origin of the
Species (still banned from schools in parts tactical vote against Duarte went to ARENA, as in the of the USA)? What about the Communist
Manifesto, or the holy books of all the
Finally, ARENA focused its campaign against Duarte, main religions — each of which contains passages that followers of other religions temporarily putting aside its line of confrontation with the find offensive? If this ludicrous suggestion mass movement and the FMLN. It even claimed to be in were taken to its conclusion, almost every book would include at least one "short agreement with the popular movement, moderating its statement" and bookshops would need to erect new walls on which to pin up objec-
In the days preceding the elections, Washington tions to books on sale!
Socialists must defend Salman Rushdie;
seemed to have given up on a Christian Democratic but by no means all his would-be defendvictory (and the massive electoral fraud that that would ers are socialist or progressive. [Press baron] Robert Maxwell, for example, in a have involved). A US spokesperson said that he was signed editorial in the Sunday Mirror on awaiting the result of the elections tranquilly because,
February 19 urged the British government, while the Christian Democrats were not being among other things, to tell the Iranians that
"all Iranians, except proven enemies of abandoned, he was pleased to note that that ARENA had
Ayatollah Khomeini, will be sent home".
"moved toward the center." 1 Nonetheless, ARENA's
With "friends" like Robert Maxwell,
Salman doesn't need enemies. * victory is going to increase the social polarization.
• This article is reprinted from the
British monthly Socialist Outlook,
March 13, 1989.
International Viewpoint #160 • April 3, 1989 force.
1988 legislative elections.
privatization proposals.
ARNOLD BERTU
----- photo credits and running heads -----
6
T HE FMLN's political and military
offensive dominated the presidential election. For nearly two months, the FMLN has been taking a daring political initiative. For the first time in nine years, it pledged not to boycott the elections if they were postponed for six months so that they could be held in a democratic way. That meant ending the repression; no intervention by the army during the election campaign and that it stayed in barracks on voting day; including Convergencia Democratica into the Central Elections Commission; amending the election law to make it more democratic; and finally making it possible for exiled Salvadorans to vote (at least 500,000 live in the
This proposal aggravated the crisis of the ruling-class parties and put the new Bush the spot. In fact, it caused such disarray that all the political parties and authorities of the regime, including the army general staff, had to take positions and act in the greatest
Initially, President Duarte declared that the FMLN's proposal could not be considered because it was unconstitutional. (According to the constitution, Duarte has to turn over his office to his successor in June 1989). He had to go back on this quickly, when US vice-president Quayle visited El Salvador and said that the FMLN proposal had some positive points.
So as not to be left behind, ARENA, which could expect to win if the elections were held on March 19 as scheduled, proposed a temporary amnesty to enable the FMLN commanders to come to the capital to participate in dialogue with the Legislative Assembly. Of course, this was a maneuver designed to mollify the US and the Salvadoran people, who are enthusiastic supporters of dialogue.
Existence of real dual
Nonetheless, the mere fact that such a proposal was made — for welcoming "terrorist criminals," as they are called in the propaganda of all the right-wing parties, into the Legislative Assembly - reflects quite well the existence of real dual power
Finally, the ruling-class parties [see box). unable to reject the FMLN's offer out of hand, went, together with Convergencia Democratica, to Mexico February 21-22 to meet the guerrilla commanders. After many other vicissitudes, the elections went
At the same time, in the people's camp, an initial form of unity (a very fragile one, to be sure) was achieved between the main anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist mass organization, UNTS, and what remains of the people's organizations that supported Duarte — the National Workers' and Peasants' Union (UNOC). UNTS, which has more than 400,000 members (wage workers, peasants, students, and so on) and UNOC, which has about 200,000 members and is subsidized by the US, joined together on February 11 to declare that there had to be dialogue with the FMLN and to challenge the ruling parties' monopoly on representing the masses.