Referendum victory
'No' to European Union !
On 27 and 28 November 1994 52% of Norwegian voters rejected a government proposal to enter the European Union. Our Oslo correspondent Bjoern Mertens spoke to Anders Ekeland, a supporter of the Fourth International in the Red and Green Electoral Alliance.
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Question: Isn't the no vote a withdrawal into nationalism? No, on the contrary! Without a doubt the "no' victory is positive. It's a victory of Red and Green values. It is the conservatives and the ultraliberals, the self-styled 'party of progress' who have suffered a defeat. So did the Social Democratic Workers Party, which for a long time has strived to represent the interests of capital more effectively. It's a magnificent day! You should see the sad expression of the elite in power Where was the opposition strongest ? Only Oslo voted 'yes,' like in 1972. In the rural areas the "no' was massive: people there understood that they had a lot to lose in concrete terms - support for agriculture in our special climate, and protection of fishing against practices which destroy the fishing industry. The working class faced incredible pressure from Capital and the Social Democrats. Even so, the majority voted "no'. There was a marginal victory for the
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"yes' vote in working class districts, but the dominant classes still suffered an overall defeat. Nationwide the balance was in still in favour of 'no', even though today there are fewer industrial jobs. Above all it was the young and women who voted 'no." They were motivated by eminently progressive values: the environment, internationalism and protection of the welfare state. Analysis of the vote shows a marginal preference for 'yes' among men and a clear 'no' from women. Particularly important were women in public service jobs, who defied the pressures and promises of Premier Brundtland. Nurses and creche staff voted *no' to protect their social conditions. Many middle-ranking civil servants also campaigned actively for the 'no' vote How did you organise the 'no' campaign? There has been quite a wide spread feeling of disgust among the people towards integration with the EU. Even the supporters of a 'yes' vote no longer really know why we ought to enter. Only the elite in power really wanted it. In
1972 these people predicted every calamity under the sun if we didn't decide to enter. In fact, we experienced the biggest economic growth in the history of our country. It was in this context that we built a very real organisation with 130 000 members (Norway has 4 million inhabitants). In addition there are a dozen specific initiatives including even Blonds against the EU' and Witches against the EU'. The most important initiative is Social Democrats against the EU'. Unlike in 1972, trades union militants were supported by a resolution of the congress of trades unions affiliated to the Social Democrats, which defied party policy and called for a no vote. And 3,000 women trades unionists published a two-page advertisement in the Social Democrat's newspaper. For its part the labour and Social Democratic leadership did not manage to use its bureaucratic weight to support its 'yes' campaign. Speaking more generally, the popular movement was simply stronger and more active than whatever the well-established but inflexible political parties could muster. In the last fortnight of the campaign a four-page daily paper entitled 'Ikke dytt nytt' (What they don't tell you [in the EU]) was
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distributed free of charge in Oslo. A week before the vote 25,000 people from all parts of the country demonstrated in Oslo for a 'no' vote. Without the 'domino effect ' of the Swedish "yes" vote we would have achieved 60% for the Norwegian 'no' vote. It was worth experiencing such an opposition to the elite in power and to the media. What now? The bourgeoisie will want revenge! Restrictive social measures have already been announced. Norway's participation in the European Economic Area, which we were made to join just in recent years, no doubt as a stepping stone towards the EU, also has consequences for the working population. We have to organise opposition to the attacks being planned against us. *
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RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Hands off Chechnya!
The Russian intervention in Chechnya is not only an act of aggression against a people that has the right to independence after over 100 years of Russian -Tsarist and Stalinist -
It is also an authoritarian move to president Yeltsin. Even the pro-capitalist themselves from Yeltsin's adventure.
But as Alexander Buzgalin and Andrei
Kolganov report from Moscow, the organised anti war movement is small, an