Mole surfaces among
International Viewpoint #172 • October 30, 1989
HUNGARY/ ISRAELI STATE against the Constitution and agitation hostile to the state." I was supposed to have
"agitation"
and these carried out this
"activities" while I was stilll in prison!
Israeli youth
Note that "hostile activity" carried a heavier sentence than espionage. A truly nightmare universe.
I was released on February 13, 1956.
My wife stayed in prison for four years, and my daughter for five. Subsequently I
POLARIZATION in Israeli society is sharp among youth of have been completely rehabilitated. First high school age. There has been rightward movement among in 1957 I was exonerated of the charges brought in the 1953 trtial, and then in young people impatient with the continual insecurity of the
1989 of the 1946 charges. I received on
Zionist state and looking for "decisive" answers. But it has these occasions a number of documents become evident that there is also a radicalization of youth clearing my name.
rebelling against authoritarianism, militarism and racism and a generally rightward moving society. At the beginning of the
• What is your view of the 1956 revyear, a new group of radical teenagers appeared, and has since grown to a significant size. It is called "The Mole." At the
I was unable to take part personally, because I was seriously ill after my long end of the summer, an activist of this group, "Tintin," gave the years of captivity. It was a real popular following interview to Gerry Foley in Paris.
revolution, carried out above all by young workers and supported by virtually all the workers of Budapest and the other big cit-
Obviously there were lumpen types and criminal elements who tried to lake advantage of the events, but that happens in every revolution, and such things cannot be used to define the character of the revolution.
The great majority of the soldiers and the municipal police went over to the side of the insurrectionary popular masses.
Having said that, it was not a realistic revolution; it had no immediate political perspective. Soviet troops were in the country. Moscow had no intention of withdrawing them and abandoning Hungary. They feared the destabilizing effects that a Warsaw Pact withdrawal from Hungary would have on Eastern Europe.
• What do you think of Imre Nagy?
What do you think about his rehabil-
Imre Nagy was an old communist, sincere and devoted to communism. At the beginning, furthermore, he was a communist who was obedient to Moscow. After
1953, he took his distance and became a communist whose first loyalty was to the working class and people of Hungary.
He tried to save what could be saved of the Hungarian communist movement, by putting himself almost despite himself at
He was an honest communist leader. He behaved with dignity in front of his mur.
derers. His rehabilitation is an indispensable act of justice.
• What do you think of the multi- party system that is being established in Hungary?
Long live the multi-party system! In
10 itself it is no danger to the survival of socialism.
*
W hen was the Mole group set up? About twenty years ago, there was a communist group named "the Molc." There were some other groups named "the Mole." After all those groups broke up, some teenagers went to start a group where teenagers would have their teenage power, where they would not be oppressed by grownups.
They decided to call it "the Mole." It started with around ten students and people from the army, young people between 18 and 21. They were mostly Israelis.
They decided that it was time for teenagers to start speaking for themselves. The group was set up at the beginning of 1989. It held two-tier meetings. The first was an open session. The second session was for members, to plan demonstrations and so on. People started coming, and we started having contacts with Palestinian people from the territories, especially East Jerusalem. The group started growing slowly, until it came to be about 50 • Are these people new to poli-
It started with people who were involved in politics, some of them were in Ratz (a liberal Zionist group], some of them were in Matzpen [the Israeli state section of the Fourth International], all sorts of groups. I myself did not come from any group. I visited a number of groups where I did not feel comfortable before I found this group. All think for themselves. We don't say that we are anti-Zionist or anti-Israel. All have their own ideas. What we are against is the occupation, unemployment and racism. • Do you have a program of your own?
We started writing a program. But there is no exact political solution. We don't call for two states, or one state. The program has 14 points. One is to get all of the Israeli army out of the territories, another is solidarity with the Intifada. We are trying to start a students' union in Israel. So, we have been trying to work out an idea of what schools, junior high schools and high schools, should be like.
We are teenagers, and we want our rights also. We focus a lot on that. This year, 1989-1990, we are going to focus especially on that, and we are going to have demonstrations on that in Israel.
On that we have a program with some detail. We do not want to go too much into details, because we want to be general enough so that most people can come in with no problems. Most of us are communists and socialists. • How are you viewed by the authorities; are you viewed as an anti-Zionist group?
Yeah. Most of us are anti-Zionists. We don't say we are. But because we have friends and members from Matzpen, from Hala ha-Kibush, all sorts of groups that are anti-Zionist, people think we are anti-Zionist. I am anti-Zionist. But the government seems to think we are the most radical group in Israel. We are the one that is the most active for teenagers. We are seen as anti-Zionist by the government. • Are you able to hold organized activity in the high schools, be recognized as a school club and so on?
We have not tried to do so until now because we were just getting started. We are going to try to do that in the coming school year. We want the students to know
October 30, 1989 • #172 International Viewpoint that there is someone who wants to fight for their rights by holding conferences, demonstrations. But I don't think we will be able to hold meetings in the schools. No political groups are really organized in the schools. But that doesn't matter. We can mect anywhere, even in the streets • In what cities does this group exist?
It started in Tel-Aviv, and I think that there is one in Beersheba, and we are trying to start one in Jerusalem, and in some Palestinian villages. • How often does your publication come out?
Whenever we have the money. It averag es once a month or once every six wecks. • Do you have an editorial board?
No. Wedon't want that. We think we can do it ourselves. All can write what they believe in. He or she might be a Zionist; you don't have to agree, but he or she is allowed to write it. • What's the basis for the existence of the group, then, this 14 point program that does not take a position on the state of Israel?
It doesn't oppose Zionism as such. As for the Intifida, as long as they recognize the PLO as the leadership, we recognize it. When that group no longer recognizes it, then we will have a discussion.
The program doesn't say anything about Zionism, just that we want democracy, a stop to interference with demonstrations, the Israeli army to get out of the territories right away.
• What sort of activities have you engaged in?
We wanted to see some Palestinian teenagers in East Jeruslem. So, meeting them. That was one of our greatest achievements. For once, we could talk to Palestinians. We had an exchange of opinions, and were able to understand each oth-
We want to continue these meetings with Palestinians. Then, we held demonstrations against the occupation.
We participated in a lot of demonstralions. Almost every demonstration there is, we participate in it. The one that was really great was for the second anniversary of the Intifada. We were the only Israeli group that went to a Palestinian village to demonstrate.
• Do you go to these demonstrations under your own banner, or do you work with broader committees?
Normally, we don't like to go to demonstrations as the Mole, because we do not exactly have a program. When we come, we sell our newspapers, and we talk to people. But it's complicated, because once we start talking politics we break up.
• So, how do you participate in these demonstrations?
Normally, we walk with another group, the Shministim, that is a group of people who are going to serve in the army but do not want to serve in the occupied territo-
• Why do you walk with them, because they are the same age?