AROUND
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WORLD
CZECHOSLOVAKIA Witch-hunt THE Federal Assembly of Czechoslovakia, under pressure from the Finance Minister Vaclav Klaus and the Democratic Civic Party, passed a law on December 20, 1991, which threatens with one to five years in prison "any person supporting or promoting... fascism or communism"
In May 1990 a text decreed the expropriation of the property of the former Communist Party.
The lustrace ("exposure") law of October 1991 targeted people who had collaborated with the old regime, members of the former militia and greater or lesser "dignitaries" of the Communist Party who are to be excluded from public employment for five years. A thoroughgoing witch-hunt is underway in Czechoslovakia.
Both inside and outside the country voices have been raised in protest, including the Open Letter to Vaclav Havel pub-
"The amendment to the penal code adopted by a majority of the deputies in the Prague parliament criminalizes those who promote "communist "class hatred" assimilated to fascism and racial hatred. This denial of democracy could be used to burn Capital, and condemn individuals not for their acts but
"We, who expressed our solidarity with the victims of Stalinist repression, and who, for that very reason, supported Vaclav Havel's struggle for democracy, think that we have the right to ask the president of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic to use all his authority to achieve the abolition of this anti-freedom amend-
Initial signatories:
Madeleine Rébérioux, president of the Ligue des Droits de l'Homme; Gilles Martinet, French ambassador;
Gaillot, Bishop of Evreux, France; Petr Uhl, federal deputy from Prague; Yves Jouffa, honorary presiof the Ligue des Michel Vovelle, director of the Institut d'Histoire de la Révolution, France; Marc Terwagne, coordination of the international relations commission of the Ecolo Party in Belgium; Peter Van Oertzen, member of the leadership of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD); Daniel Bensaid, university professor, France; Gilles Perault, writer, France; Hugo Van Dienderen, AGALEV deputy, Belgium; José Luis Lopez Aranguren, writer, Spanish State; Carlos Saura, film-maker, Spanish State; José AntoHuman Rights Association, Spanish State; Antonia Garcia Santesmases, member of the Federal Committee of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party president of the Belgian Association of Democratic Jurists; Thierse, vice-president of the SPD of Germany. * SRILANKA Trade union opposes repression A GENERAL membership meeting of the Ceylon Mercantile, Industrial and General Workers' Union (CMU) was held in Colombo on January 29, 1992. Total attendance was about 5,000, with many having to follow the proceedings by loudspeaker from outside the packed CMU headquarters.
The meeting unanimously endorsed three General Council decisions calling, respectively, for: the withdrawal of the so-called Social Security Benefits Bill and opposition to the replacement of the Employees' Provident Fund with a Pension Scheme; the repeal of the Essential Services Regulations and other Regulaaffecting democratic rights, with particular reference to the Simca garments strike, and reinstatement of the workers who participated in the strike; the abolition of the Executive Presidency and of the power of an Executive President to make Emergency Regulations under Article 155 of the Constitution of
A resolution submitted by the General Council, condemning police interference with legitimate trade union activity, was also unanimously approved.
address to the meeting, the union's General Secretary, Bala Tampoe, stated that although the Social Security "shelved" by the government, the union
AROUND THE WORLD would have to consider calling a general strike, together with other unions, if there were any plans to reintroduce it.
He said that the Essential Services Regulations, supposedly introduced to combat terrorism, were in fact employed to attack trade union and democratic rights. Tampoe told the meeting that no politician should be invested with the powers currently enjoyed by the Executive President of Sri Lanka, as provided for under the present Constitution, and that it was for the people to demand the abolition by parliament of these powers.
With regard against legitimate trade union activity and
Tampoe cited examples of such action in the recent past, especially in relation to strikes now taking
Before the meeting began, it was announced that the CMU bulletin in Sinhala had been printed under a new name, Kamkaru Balaya ("Workers' Power"). A large number of copies were sold at the
The meeting ended with the traditional CMU slogan: "Long Live the CMU'" * Trotskyists celebrate anniversary THE Sri Lankan Trotskyist group, the Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP), celebrated its 14th anniversary on January 25, 1992. Over 3,000 people attended the meeting organized in commemoration of the anniversary, which was covered in all the daily newpapers, as was the decision of the Fourth International to accept the NSSP as its Sri Lankan section. * CATALONIA Report on abortion ABORTION is forbidden in Catalonia, as in the rest of the Spanish State, except in cases of rape, deformation of the foetus or a threat to the life of the mother. A recent offical report by the Catalonian government throws some light on the extent of the problems faced by women in this situation. In 1991, 200 young women had abortions each quarter - around 13 per thousand, according to the official figures which understate the real figure.
Nine out of ten young people from 1819 used no means of contraception and 88% had never been to a family planning centre (54% of women who had abortions had also never been to a family planning centre). Almost all abortions take place in private clinics because doctors refuse to perform them in public hospitals, citing "conscientious objections". . The situation is especially acute for women in the small towns or villages outside of Barcelona, and it is likely to get even worse in the light of the plans of the Spanish Socialist government to privatize the family planning centres or transform them into mere centreen gor arablogical education. * 25
The end of complacency