Government fuels
International Viewpoint # 228 • May 11, 1992
GERMANY: Anti-racism its campaign and the SPD leadership agreed to a "national pact" which involved curtailing the time during which an asylum application is examined and the setting up of large camps (Sammellager - which translates literally as... concentration growth of far right camp!) for refugees without the constitution being amended. However as soon as the pact had been signed the government resumed its campaign for a constitutional
THE racist wave that has been sweeping across Germany since last summer has resulted in substantial electoral growth for right wing and fascist parties. While the bourgeois press talks of protest votes, the reasons for the far right's successes lie elsewhere.
DAVID MÜLLER
HE Republikaner's ("Republi-
T cans") score of more than 10% of the vote in the elections in the
Baden-Württemberg Land (state of the German federation), traditionally held by the Christian Democrats, and the
Deutsche Volksunion (DVP — German
People's Union) vote of over 6% in
Schleswig-Holstein, a traditionally Social
Democratic Land in the north, show the far right capitalizing on the wider crisis in
Germany.
This crisis is both economic and political. The German state debt will soon amount to more than 2,000bn Deutschmarks (DM). This implies interest payments of DM 200bn - half of the annual budget. Although it has been able to push through reunification, the Christian Democrat/Liberal coalition has been unable to formulate a coherent programme for restructuring the economy of what was once East Germany (the former GDR).
Instead the government is pursuing harsh austerity policies, including higher taxes, pressure to keep down wage rises, proposals for social spending cuts and so on.
They intend to take what they can from the working class, if they do not meet strong resistance.
Government launches campaign
In order to distract attention from this, last summer the government launched a campaign against Scheinasylanten (take asylum seekers) in order to whip up racism and deepen divisions within the working class. And it began to work.
After August 1991 the state was joined by a second force: fascist terrorists organized an attack on an immigrant hostel in
Hoyerswerda in the former GDR, with the support or at least tolerance of much of the local German population. Such attacks
26 have continued, with the gangs using different tactics in East and West Germany. In the East, where organized resistance is quite weak, they have openly attacked immigrants and refugees. In the West, where both racism and left resistance to racism are stronger, they have carried out hit-and-run assaults by night to terrorize refugees.
This violent racism was at first used by the government to step up its own racist campaign to force the SPD (Social Democrats) to agree to a change in the constitution to amend article 16, which guarantees that "people who are politically persecuted will be granted the right to asylum". Thus the fascists have effectively been used as a pressure group. The government claimed it was against violence but could nonetheless understand it since there were too many refugees.
CDU has three goals
In this way the ruling CDU (Christian Democrats) sought to achieve three goals:
• to distract attention from their austerity policies;
• to force the SPD to agree to a change in the constitution, for which a two thirds majority in parliament is needed;
• to win the elections in the city state of Bremen and the municipal elections in Lower Saxony and defeat the SPD in the two Land elections in Baden-Württemberg and Schleswig-Holstein, thus breaking up the SPD majority in the Bundesrat (Germany has a two-chamber system, with the
Bundestag being the federal parliament and the Bundesrat the representative body of the Länder, able to veto Bundestag deci-
The CDU won the elections in Bremen and although it was not able to replace the government there (which is made up of a
Social Democrat/Liberal/Green coalition), its increase in votes made it look like the winner. The government then stepped up change.
However October 1991 saw a slight shift in government policy. The elections in Lower Saxony, which is governed by a Social Democrat/Green coalition, registered a defeat for the CDU, with only the far right and the Greens increasing their vote. At the same time the fascists had been stepping up their attacks to a point where they were becoming an increasing embarrassment for the government, above all abroad. And thirdly a movement against the racist terror was developing.
The ruling party reacted by sending prominent figures to visit refugee hostels to "express their solidarity with refugees" without, however, abandoning the calls for a change in the constitution.
Since then the government has remained consistent, and a law has been passed drastically restricting the rights of refugees. It has also put massive pressure on SPD mayors by cutting federal payments for social spending for the long-term unemployed (which is also paid to refugees) which has to be paid by the local districts. This led to many SPD mayors taking up the CDU's position.
But so far the CDU has not been able to capitalize on this electorally. Indeed, it lost many votes in the two recent Land elections, with only the far right making gains.
There are tens of thousands of organized fascists and members of far right formations. Terror against refugees helped to create a racist climate and fascist groups have been able to influence public opinion.
Fascists face obstacles
However, although there is a danger of the emergence of a real mass fascist movement, there are also considerable obstacles:
• Despite the weakness of the left, an anti-fascist movement could emerge.
• At the moment, the "electoral" far right formations are unable to build a movement on their own. The Republikaner have no clear orientation towards this;
their cadres are more or less oriented to parliamentary politics. The DVU is explicitly fascist, but is mainly supported by wealthy fascists, despite links with terrorist elements.
• Although the bourgeoisie and the
Conservative/Liberal government are in crisis they are still able to control society by "ordinary" forms of ideology, integra-
Strikes highlight unification crisis
THE attempt by West German capital to use the costs of German unification as a means of undermining the wages, conditions and organization and selective repression. Although the Republikaner leader Schönhuber has had several meetings with small capitalists, big capital is so far not trying to approach the fascist or far right groups. It is true there is a conflict between the unions and the
GERMANY: Anti-racism tion of West German labour is reaching a critical point, as West German government, but the union bureaucracy's workers resist attempts to pass the bill for German unity on to them.
control of the working class is still strong
Rejecting their employers' offer of a 4.8% wage rise, public sector enough to mute possible radical struggles.
workers launched a programme of selective strikes on Monday April 27 in pursuit of a 9.5% claim, after an 89% vote in favour of strike action. Two
Racism gains ground days later some 190,000 engineering workers took various forms of
Nonetheless, racist ideas are steadily gaiindustrial action, both to support the public sector workers and to express ning ground in the German working class their rejection of a 3.3% pay offer. In the next week it will become clear if and the left has been unable to mount an the 3.5 million IG-Metall engineering union is ready to take full-scale adequate counter-offensive. This is due to two reasons, one of a structural and the
The Chancellor, Helmut Kohl, has expressed his full support for the other of a more localized nature:
public sector employers' stance, which is justified by the sharp increase a) As in all imperialist countries the in public debt as a result of unification. Kohl had insisted that the unificamajority of the ("white" or Japanese)
tion could be carried without tax rises or public spending cuts, but it is population is much better off than the now clear to everyone that huge sums of money will have to come from majority of the population in the rest of the somewhere, whether through squeezing public sector wages, raising world where political repression is much taxes or cutting social programmes. Kohl's economics minister, Mölleman worse. These facts are given a racist has now publicly demanded drastic cuts in public spending and privatiza-
"explanation" by the majority of the population ("blacks are lazy", not
"ripe for democracy" and so on).
While at the moment the strike movement looks immensely powerful, b) There is no strong or credible left the German capitalists have some powerful political cards in their hands in the first place the situation in the former East Germany. They are both alternative which could give a perspective able to play on the argument that the strikers are selfishly refusing to play to those willing to fight and neutralize their part in realizing the national goal and will certainly at some point use racist feelings to a degree. Instead the SPD the mass of unemployed in East Germany as a tool to undermine wages and union leaders have defended social and conditions in the West. It is not at all clear that either the West Gerpartnership and "national well-being". The man unions or the Social Democratic Party have policies that can far right's line of "foreigners out" thus address these issues in the interests of workers in both parts of the coun seems to offer a quick solution to many who feel the need for radical change.
The union leaderships have verbally pro-
International Viewpoint will be covering developments closely. C.M. * tested against the racist attacks but there has been no campaign against racism in
The immigrant communities themselves have remained more or less passive. This is on the one hand due to the lack of support, especially from the unions, and on the other to a right wing shift inside the immigrant community, where religious
(although not fundamentalist) groups have the upper hand.
The Greens have retreated from their
"open borders"
position and are now promoting an extended right to asylum and quotas for immigrants.
After the Hoyerswerda attacks a left anti-racist movement appeared, with committees being formed in almost every town. The peak of this mobilization was on
November 9, 1991, the anniversary of the
Krystallnacht. Afterwards deep problems made themselves felt in the movement, which split into two wings. One wing, which mainly consists of liberal forces
(employers' associations and so on), Social
Democrats and some Greens, campaigns
"against violence and hatred" and gives practical help to refugees but avoids criticism of government policy. Many in this current are firmly opposed to alliances with the far left.
The other current is made up of whatever remains of the far left, libertarian autonomen, many refugee or left immigrant organizations and a minority of the Greens. They continue to defend slogans like "open borders" but are divided into two sub-currents, one more anti-nationalist, making propaganda against "the Germans", the other adopting an economistic approach — "one class, one
So far, largely due to the "decentralist" ideology which is strong on the far left, it has not been possible to establish regional or federal anti-racist structures, and only the moderate wing has this kind of co-ordi-
The movement has been more centred on anti-fascism than anti-racism, mobilizing mainly young people and the traditional left against fascist attacks, around democratic and predominantly defensive slo-
Given the attacks on living standards planned by the government and the public service workers strike underway, it is highly likely that the racist campaign will be vigorously renewed; racism is going to be a permanent issue in German political life. It is thus important to develop a radical long-term anti-racist campaign focussing first of all on immigrants, but also on German workers and youth, around the slogan of legal and social equality between Germans and immigrants. Here special attention should be given to the local groups of young immigrants which have arisen in the
This has to go together with the working out of social demands related to the material needs of all working or unemployed people, including cuts in working time until everyone has a job and decent housing.
While such a campaign would at the moment only be supported by the left wing of the movement, the left wing should take the initiative in promoting joint action wherever possible - in defence of refugees or against certain laws.
Groups and activities also need to be developed in workplaces and schools, either around general anti-racist work or in opposition to certain especially outrageous 27 actions by the far right or the state. * May 11, 1992 # 228 International Viewpoint
AROUND
EUROPEAN DEPUTIES CONDEMN CUBA BLOCKADE
DEPUTIES to the European Parliament have recently addressed a letter to Frantz Andriessen, the European commissioner demanding that the embargo against Cuba instituted last January by the European Economic Community (EEC)
be lifted. We publish below the principal portions of that letter.
"Your office has indicated that over the past eight days you have issued precise instructions to prohibit all direct or indirect aid to Cuba because the Cuban government does not respect human rights.'
"This decision has probably been made following the one reported in the January 23 edition of El Pais to suspend all plans for cooperation and that published in Le Monde on January 25 reporting on the cancelation of the planned trip of a commission to Cuba charged with studying the possibilities of cooperation. This decision, taken to protest the recent application of the death sentence, has shocked us. Firstly, because the EEC has close political and commercial relations with many states that still apply the death penalty. Secondly, because it holds a people hostage for the actions of its government. We see this action as a pure and simple indication of support for the American blockade against Cuba.
"Last October, 78 European deputies demanded in the pages of Le Monde that the blockade be lifted
"Your decision, taken at the end of January, to prohibit even humanitarian aid has shocked us even more. As a consequence, thousands of innocent people will be condemned to death or to malnutrition!
"We demand that these disastrous decisions be reversed and that food assistance be delivered to Cuba's children,
D. Piermont (Germany); L. Castellina (Italy); Ken Coates (Britain); A. Falconer (Britain); M. Elliott (Britain); A.
Smith (Britain); H. Verbeek (Netherlands); R. Bontempi (Italy); M. Hindley (Britain); P. Napoletano (Italy); C. Oddy
(Britain); R. Imbeni (Italy); R. Barzanti (Italy); D. Dessylas (Greece); R. Piquet (France); H. Barrea (Spanish State);
M. Simeoni (France); L. Van Outrive (Belgium); P. Canavarro (Portugal); K. Tsimas (Greece); R. Roumeliotis
(Greece); J. Vandeumeebroucke (Belgium); N. Blaney (Ireland); S. Santos Lopez (Spanish State); V. Ephremidis
(Greece); R. Brito (Portugal); F. Wurtz (France); S. Elmalan (France); M. Gremetz (France); S. Ribeiro (Portugal); J.
Miranda da Silva (Portugal); A. Alavanos (Greece); R. Barton (Britain); W. Ewing (Britain); D. Morris (Britain); H
McCubbin (Britain); G. Ruiz-Gimenez Aguilar (Spanish State); S. Mayer (France); S. Ainardi (France); P. Herzog
(France); D. Valent (Italy); W. Telkamper (Germany); N. Kertscher (Germany); S-Y. Kaufmann (Germany); R. Trivelli
(Italy); H. Breyer (Germany); K. Landa Mendibe (Spanish State); C. Roth (Germany); P. Crampton (Britain);
March 30, 1992
THE WORLD DENMARK Bomb attack on socialist group THE Copenhagen headquarters of the Danish revolutionary socialist organization Internationale Socialister (IS) was destroyed by a powerful bomb on March 16. The explosion, which took the life of 29 year old Henrich Christensen, was most likely the work of fascist circles who have been at the center of a racist and xenophobic campaign against immigrant workers in Denmark.
IS, along with other organizations that have been active in anti-racist work, such as the Socialist Workers Party (SAP) -Danish section of the Fourth International, the Left Socialists (VS), the Left Socialist Youth (VS) and the Federation of Immigrant Associations (IND-sam), has been victimized by threats and physical attacks over the last four years.
The Danish police have refused to take energetic measures to counter the climate of fear and hate whipped up by the far-right and fascist forces. For example, in the summer of 1990 Lubni Elahi, an immigrant woman and socialist city coun cillor in Copenhagen was physically assaulted by fascist thugs. Though responsibility was claimed by Albert Larsen, lea der of "De Nationale", a Nazi group, the police refused to bring charges against Larsen or his organization. This group has also threatened to bomb a mosque currently under construction in Copenhagen. Rather than pointing their fingers in the obvious direction of the fascist organizations, the bourgeois media has taken the occasion of the bombing of the IS headquarters to launch a scurrilous attack against the victims themselves. TV news reports and right wing papers have sug gested that IS itself was involved in fabricating bombs in spite of that organization's openly stated policy of fighting tascism through building broad anti-racist
Messages of solidarity can be sent to: Internationale Socialister, Ryesgade, 8, 3. DK-8000 Aarhus C., Denmark, or to the weekly newspaper Den Roede Traad (Fax: 45 33 33 86 56). * mothers, and elderly people."
AROUND THE WORLD UNITED STATES Mark Curtis Defence Campaign THE struggle against police brutality and for the vindication of Mark Curtis, the U.S trade unionist and socialist activist imprisoned in the state of Iowa after being framed-up on rape charges, has recently registered a significant victory.
On January 31, a U.S. federal judge ruled that the two police officers who had severely beaten Curtis on the night he was arrested — March 4, 1988 must pay $11,000 to Curtis in compensation for the damages he suffered
The court's judgement will strengthen the campaign to win Curtis' release from the Iowa prison where he is serving a twenty-five year prison term.
The ruling occured during a campaign to protest a wave of police brutality by the Des Moines police force that has spread terror through the city's Black community. Public meetings attracting hundreds of people in support of Curtis and against police brutality have been held recently.
The Mark Curtis Defense Committee has launched an appeal for funds to meet the expenses that will be incurred as this struggle enters a new phase.
Contributions and messages of support can be sent to the Mark Curtis Defence Committee, Box 1048, Des Moines IA 50311, United States of America. Please make checks payable to the Political Rights Defense Fund. * 28 • # 225 International Viewpoint