AROUND THE WORLD
AROUND
THE
WORLD
ISRAELI STATE Appeal for international solidarity International Viewpoint has received the following statement from the Revolutionary Communist League, section of the Fourth International in the Israeli state:
"The heroic uprising of the Palestinian people in its struggle for independence stands in the middle of its third year. Every day the Palestinian people sacrifices the best of its daughters and sons in the struggle against the colonial regime, the regime of occupation, exploitation, expulsion and murder, a regime which enjoys massive support by imperialism and supportive international system of propa-
"The popular movement in the occupied territories deserves every possible support, irrespective of the character of its leadership. It is one of the few liberation movements in the world which still finds itself under a regime of direct colonial-
"We call on all revolutionary and progressive forces worldwide to take urgent action on the following axes:
1. Participation in forums and congresses organized by various bodies supporting the Palestinian struggle while paying spenationality in the Palestinian liberation
2. Struggle for the Palestinians' and the expelled Palestinians' right to return, and struggle against the migration of Jews to Palestine — a migration which comes to continue the exploitation of the Palestinian people.
3. Organizing consignments of help and support to the occupied territories.
4. Organization of activity in the fields of information, solidarity and protest outside the Middle East in order to expose the racist, repressive and inhuman character of Zionism.
5. Organization of a campaign on university campuses protesting against the destruction of Palestinian education and demanding the reopening of all educational institutions in the occupied territories.
6. Calling professional unions to solidarity activity in support of the freedom 24 of organization of the Palestinian unions.
7. Application of pressure on municipal International Viewpoint #187 • June 18, 1990 representatives of the left to act towards the adoption of Palestinian cities and villages in the framework of twinning.
8. Activity within feminist and women's organizations to promote solidarity with women's organizations in the occupied territories.
9. Struggle for the exclusion of Israeli representatives as representatives of an apartheid state from all international forums and congresses dealing with human rights, law, education or any other issue. It has to be stressed that representatives of a state which is consistently disregarding the rights of a whole people has no place in these forums." * EAST GERMANY Debate on future of socialism Over a thousand debate in East Berlin on May 25 between Ernest Mandel, a leader of the Fourth International, and Gregor Gysi, leader of the East German PDS (Party of Democratic Socialism). The meeting was jointly organized by the PDS and German Trotskyists. The subject of the debate was; "Does socialism still have a
Mandel explained the historic roots of the crisis and collapse of Stalinism in the GDR and several other Eastern European
He insisted that, although the immediate political conjuncture today might be unfavourable for the working class, there is no reason to doubt that socialism has a future, particularly if the Soviet working class, the largest in the world, can reforge its socialist traditions. Finally, he warned the PDS that there would be no political space in a united Germany for a socialist current which did not situate itself clearly to the left of the SPD and the Greens.
Gysi argued that, as the restoration of capitalism in the GDR was now practically inevitable, a defensive fight was necessary to ensure that the German working class did not pay the bill for this; like Mandel, he stressed the importance of the struggle for the demilitarization of Germany and the dismantling of the repressive apparatuses.
Contrary to Mandel, Gysi argued that socialists must base their strategy on the global menaces which exist to humanity rather than the internal contradictions of capitalism, and claimed that it was necessary to reassess the role of social democracy, given that revolution was practically excluded for a long period in the principal countries of the world and the struggle for reforms would be paramount.
The meeting concluded with the singing of the "Internationale". The next day, Neues Deutschland, the daily newspaper of the PDS, carried a report of the debate on its front page, as well as a long interview with Mandel on the origins, politics and current implantation of the Fourth International. * FOURTH INTERNATIONAL International youth summer camp The seventh international camp organized by youth organizations in political solidarity with the Fourth International will take place at Louvain in Belgium from July 22-29, 1990.
The camp will take place in the aftermath of the historic events of the past year in Eastern Europe, in which youth have played a massive and dynamic role. But it takes place also in the context of of Italian students against a project to "reform" the universities in the interests of capitalism; the anti-militarist struggles being led by youth in the Spanish state, Portugal and Switzerland; the need to build a massive and unitary opposition to racism and fascism in countries like France and Belgium; and a general situation where youth remain hardest hit by unemployment, lack of housing and all the other aspects of the capitalist crisis.
This year's youth camp will attempt to reflect all these struggles, and for the first time significant numbers of youth from
East Germany, Hungary Czechoslovakia will be able to attend the
Throughout the week forums will take place on such themes as the events in the East, the struggle against the capitalist project for European "unification" ' the international fight for women's liberation, the need for a European-wide response against militarism and NATO, and the campaign for the cancellation of the third world debt.
A series of "Marxism for Beginners" educational discussions will also be organized. Finally, the camp will climax with a forum on the future of socialism -speakers will include Ernest Mandel, from the Fourth International, Thomas Klein, of the East German United Left, Angela Klein, of the West German United Socialist Party, and a representative of the Sandinista Youth from Nicaragua.*