Fourth International Youth camp
This year's youth camp in solidarity with the Fourth International took place in France. The village of Launac, near Toulouse in the south-west of the country found its population doubled by the arrival of some 800 young people from all over western Europe and also from Poland and Slovenia. The opening meeting was an occasion to pay tribute to Ernest Mandel, who had died just two days before the opening of the camp. Though Ernest's name was certainly less familiar to this year's participants than to militants of previous generations, the evocation of his life and political contribution moved the hall, culminating in the singing of the Internationale in (at least) the nine 'official' languages of the camp. Every camp is an occasion for reinforcing internationalism, as participants explain the situation in their countries, and exchange their experiences of struggle against education cuts, racism and the growth of the far right, and attacks on women's access to contraception and abortion facilities. To make our international solidarity work as concrete as possible, the French comrades had made a special fund-raising effort so as to invite comrades from Chiapas, Mexico, and Dakar, Senegal to outline the situation in their coun tries, and the different forms resistance there is taking Adama Soumaré explained the disastrous effects of the IMF and World Bank-imposed Structural Adjustment Plan on Senegal. Together with the Swiss participants from Alternative Solidaire, he discussed the struggle of Senegalese students against the austerity measures, and presented the Swiss-run solidarity campaign to support victimised student activists. Gabriel Ramirez reported from the struggle of the indigenous peoples in Chiapas state, southern Mexico, and gave his impressions of the Zapatista (EZLN) uprising. He also explained the sense of the Zapatista-led national consultation. Those concerned with former Yugoslavia could also meet with Danish Member of Parliament Søren Sondergard (Red-Green
Alliance/Unity List), one of the leading organisers of the International Workers Aid (IWA) Bosnia campaign. For this camp the organisers had established a "permanent commission on international solidarity", which tried to bring participants from different countries together to plan common solidarity work over the coming year. Projects discussed included the organisation of an all-European "Caravan for Chiapas" and the co-ordinated preparation of demonstrations during the June 1996 G7 summit in Lyon, France. While international solidarity remained the central theme of the camp, other themes selected by the participating organisations included young peoples' struggles today, equality of rights, racism, the new moral order, and the fight for women's right to choose. Daniel Bensaid of the French Revolutionary Communist League (LCR) used the closing forum to sketch the lines of "the society we want", the criteria for assessing true egalitarianism, notably the elimination of oppressive relations between women and men. Not all the exchange of information and experience took place in the forums and workshops. Comrades from the region organised visits to the city of Toulouse and a local vineyard, and included local specialities like cassoulet (meat and bean stew), confit de canard (duck in lard) and French cheeses on the camp menu. The Danish delegation organised a "night run" for 100 enthusiastic participants. Others participated in the "penguin football" competition, or danced to the music of some 10 local groups, playing free of charge as an act of solidarity with the camp. Our camp can never really be an "island of socialism" for one week in the year. But we again proved that it is possible to provide a different setting for daily life. As in previous years, the evening of music, dance and games animated by the lesbian and gay participants encouraged all those present to reflect on how our behaviour is governed - and limited - by the sexual norms of society. The women-only space and party encouraged women to establish a solidarity and sisterhood between them. Having come together to express our internationalism and live in solidarity, the task before us is to build and develop working links over the coming year. As well as the solidarity campaigns mentioned above, work is under way on a common pamphlet outlining the state of the education system across Europe, and the prospects for student resistance. To get involved in these activities, and to reserve your place for the thirteenth camp next year, contact your local youth organisation ir solidarity with the Fourth International. Write to International Viewpoint for the address of the nearest group to you
International Viewpoint n° 269 - September 1995 35
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News Reports...
1.2 m. Mexicans respond to EZLN Some 1.2 million Mexicans participated in the 27 August "national consultation" initiated by the Zapatista movement. With 41% of the votes counted as IV went to press, 56% of respondents had declared support for the central proposition that the Zapatista National Liberation Army transform itself into a political force. The massive pre-consultation discussions, the creation of over 1,000 voting stations, and the counting and analysis of the results - without one cent of public finance - is an event without precedent in Mexico. EZLN leader Subcomandante Marcos had previously said that the consultation could only be considered a success if at least 600,000 Mexicans, representing all regions of the country participated. In the event, 400,000 people participated in the capital city alone. While the response was much stronger in the more indigenous, more peasant southern states (Chiapas, Tabasco, Oaxaca, Veracruz) than in the industrial, 'white' north, participation was clearly nation-wide. *The provisional results demonstrate that the Zapatistas are not isolated", IV's Mexico specialist Braulio Moro reported on 30.08.95. "Large sectors of the population.... have sent a clear, precise message to the Mexican government: We want democracy and we will not wait passively and patiently." While a majority of participants seem to support the transformation of the Zapatistas into a political force, there is less support for the idea of a merger of the rebels with other political forces into a wider left organisation (48% against, 43% for). *When the EZLN announced this initiative in mid-June, some of us doubted the sense of the project, in that they proposed to realise the consultation at the internationa level too " continues Braulio Moro. It is now clear that the Zapatista leadership was right. "Obviously, the fact that a large layer of the population, despite its discontentment with the crisis in the country, remained outside the consultation should be something that leads to the redoubling of efforts to integrate such people into the popular democratic bloc which is emerging, not without difficulty, in the country." Direct negotiations between the government and the Zapatistas will continue on 5 September in San Andres de las Pobres, in Chiapas state. British Bosnia Solidarity Campaign An estimated 5,000 people marched through central London on 22 July, in the country's biggest demonstration yet in support of multi-ethnic Bosnia. Marchers demanded "Stop the rape of Bosnia!", "Break the arms embargo!", and "End UN collusion with genocide". Many marchers carried placards with the slogan "UN out!", though others seemed to be equivocal on this question. Speeches demanded the lifting or breaking of the embargo in order to enable the mainly Moslem government in Sarajevo to acquire arms. The march and meeting were called by the Alliance to Defend 36 International Viewpoint n° 269 - September 1995
News
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Workers Aid for Bosnia, the Muslim Solidarity Committee, and the Jewish Socialist Group. Dozens of other groups supported the march, including Socialist Outlook (British section of the Fourth International) and International Workers Aid. The various groups have now established a broad Bosnia Solidarity Campaign "to continue the political struggle for a multi-ethnic Bosnia and against genocide and fascism". As yet, the campaign has neither address nor telephone number. For more information contact Socialist Outlook. : 0181/800 7460 Dutch Internationalists Congress Delegates, party members and guests from all over the country met near Utrecht on 17-18 June for the first part of the 13th congress of the Socialist Workers' Party (SAP - Netherlands section of the Fourth International). The congress reflected many of the same debates and differences as the recent congress of the Fourth International (see International Viewpoint #268), as comrades try to grasp the new political situation. 30% of delegates supported a minority counterresolution concerning tasks and perspectives.
The main resolution dealt with tasks and perspectives in the framework of the offensive of the right, European unification and the resistance of the left. Congress also discused the reorganisation of SAP publications, including the production of a common monthly with a number of other publishers, originally from the anarchist-autonomous tradition, but having developed their political thinking since. Other aspects if the reorganisation of our press could also include a new party bi-monthly. The minority however presented a resolution to improve the current monthly, Grenzeloos (Without Frontiers', Without Limits'). Discussion on the press and on building the organisation will continue in the second part of the congress in September. Burmese Opposition leader freed Aung San Suu Kyi's unconditional release from house arrest on 12 July 1995 has raised the spirits of opponents of the ruling military junta. Yet the release of the Nobel Peace Prize winner may reflect the self-confidence of the regime, rather than its weakness Several of the armies of the seven ethnic minority groups in revolt have concluded separate peace agreements with the regime, relieving some of the pressure on government forces in the strategically important border regions, where tens of thousands of Burmese, mainly students and young Buddhist monks, fled after the 1988 repression of the brief "pro-democracy" movement. The student refugees found protection and common cause with ethnic minority armies which have been fighting separatist struggles against Yangon (Rangoon) for decades. These two forces formed a National Coalition Government for the Union of Burma. The regime had succeeded in making its two bitterest enemies into friends! Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won 392 of the 485 seats in the 1990 multi-
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