INTERNATIONAL WESTERN EUROPE Euro-election results ELECTIONS for the 518 seats in the European parliament were held on June 18, with a number of the Fourth International's sections standing candidates and participating in slates:
• In Belgium, the Socialist Workers' Party (POS/SAP) won 10,116 votes in Wallonia (compared to 10,471 in 1984). In Flanders, the section participated in a joint slate, the Regenboog, which won 26,471 votes. This alliance also included the Belgian Communist Party (KPB); Doorbraak, a wing of the Christian workers' movement; and a series of well-known cultural, intellectual and trade-union personali-
In spite of the unitary nature of the Regenboog campaign, it was unable to make a real breakthrough as an alternative left force, in spite ot some signiticant results, notably 1.4% In Antwerp and 1.1% in Ghent. Nevertheless, the Regenboog slate was able to show that it represented a real perspective to the left of the Socialist Party. The other main far-left organization, the Belgian Workers' Party (PTB, of Maoist origin), refused to participate in the Regenboog and its vote fell generally
• In Italy, the list presented by comrades from the Italian section of
USA Spanish language a "security threat"! MARK CURTIS, a member of the Socialist Workers' Party sentenced to 25 years on trumped-up charges of burglary and sexual assault, has been refused the right to receive material in languages other than English, even language manuals and dictionaries, by the prison authorities.
Curtis, who speaks Spanish, worked in a plant where there were many Spanish-speaking workers. He was badly beaten up by police at the time of his arrest because of his association with Hispanics. A campaign of protest against this prohibition has forced the prison ofticials to retreat. The following article is from the June 23 issue of The Militant, a weekly that reflects the point of view of the Socialist Workers' Party:
On June 13, authorities at the state prison in Anamosa, Iowa, finally tured over his Spanish-English dictionary and 501 Spanish Verbs to political frame-up victim Mark Curtis...Prison officials had argued that non-English materials are a "security" threat because the prison does not have the personnel to review such literature.
"This victory in the fight to allow Curtis and other prisoners to receive written materials in languages other than English is a result of the international protest campaign we've waged for the past month, " said Defense Committee leader John Gaige.
"This success should cause all of us to redouble our efforts to flood the warden's office with protests demanding that Curtis — and all prisoners — be allowed all non-English language material of their choice, including material that had been previously denied."
the Fourth International, the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR). The slate won 1.3% of the vote, but lost support in Rome and Milan to the Greens' "Rainbow" slate, which won 2.4%. (This latter list was supported by some of DP's leaders -see /Vs 163 & 164.)
• In Greece, the International Communist Organization (OKDESpartakos) won 7,500 votes, or
• In Portugal, the comrades in the Revolutionary Socialist Party (PSR) won 32,000 votes, or 0.8%, winning 4,000 votes more than in the previous Euro-election. Their results included 4,000 votes in Oporto and 8,000 in Lisbon, where they won votes at the expense of the UDP, an organization of Maoist origin, whose vote fell from 80,000 in 1984 to 44,000 in this election.
• Finally, the Revolutionary Socialist Party in Luxemburg practically doubled its vote, with just over 0.6% of the poll. * July 31, 1989 • #168 International Viewpoint
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