Welcome to the Black Sheep Republic
Over 600 militants gathered in Amarante, Portugal in July for the annual camp organised by the European youth organisations of the Fourth International and a range of fraternal organisations. The main theme was "for a Europe of the peoples." Worker and student struggles, anti-racism, and the reactionary Schengen accords for European Union were at the centre of debate.
Everyday life was suspended for one short week, creating a setting for networking, reflection, and debate. A giant poster of Che Guevara in pink lipstick marked the disco tent, reflecting the increased visibility of the lesbian and gay contingent within our youth organisations, as well as the more holistic conception of revolution which has developed among revolutionary youth in the 13 years the Fourth International has organised this unique gathering.
Amarante, in Northern Portugal, was one of the first towns where the revolutionary left began to organise against the Salazar dictatorship. The local branch of the Socialist Revolutionary Party (PSR) was formed before the 1974 revolution. As a result of the PSR's solid local work, the town hall donated use of the municipal campsite, and co-sponsored a concert in the town attended by a large number of local young (and not so young) Portuguese.
With 604 participants, the Amarante camp was smaller than in previous years. This is partly due to its location in the South West corner of the continent (50 hours by bus from Denmark and Sweden!). But it also reflects the difficulties facing a number of youth organisations, and the lack of effective campaigns to build the camp.
On a more positive note, there were over 140 participants from Portugal itself (50%
-WELCOME DIE O PLACK SHEEA higher than in 1992, the last time the camp was held in Portugal). And, while financial reasons prevented a larger number of Polish delegates, almost half the German delegation came from the former GDR. For the third year, and despite the distance, a small group of Greek comrades participated actively. Other participants came from Quebec, English Canada and the USA.
As in previous years, less than half of participants were members of the sponsoring organisations, which demonstrates the implantation of our youth organisations in the few areas of radicalisation which do exist. For 60% of the participants., this was the first International Youth camp. Message to the Chiapas Intercontinental Meeting for Humanity
[...] "These are difficult times to struggle for utopia. Hard times for justice, liberty and dignity. And a hard mission for revolutionaries here in Europe, and everywhere else in the world where neo-liberalism shows it ever-more ferocious consequences.
From this corner of Portugal, over 700 young revolutionaries, militants and friends of the Fourth International, send this fraternal greeting.
We want another reality. More human, and more just. This is what we fight for, and what we live for. " [...] Signed: Jeune Garde Socialiste/Socialistische Jong Wacht (Belgium), Liberation (Britain), Socialistisk Arbejderparti (Denmark), Rebel - Zaragoza (Spanish State), Revolutionär Sozialistischer Bund (Germany), Bandiera Rossa (Italy), Jeunesse Socialiste Révolutionaire (Luxemburg), Rebel (Netherlands), Anty-Nazi Front, Nurt Lewicy Rewolucyjney (Poland), Partido Socialista Revolucionario (Portugal), Ungosocialisterna (Sweden), Alternative Solidaire/Solidarität (Switzerland), Gauche Socialiste (Quebec-Canada)
Portugal *
Young women were 49% of participants this year, the highest proportion on record. And women co-presented all the workshops and forums, (except the ecology forum).
In previous years, some participants suspected that our selection of an all-women panel for the closing meeting was an attempt to compensate for women's underrepresentation in the rest of the camp. This year, it was clear that we were simply choosing the most appropriate speakers!
The day dedicated to the feminist struggle was the best prepared and best attended part of the camp, with considerable interest in the two women-only meetings, and the women-only cabaret-disco that evening.
One participant left the camp early, so as to participate in the Zapatista-sponsored intercontinental Meeting for Humanity and Against Neo-liberalism. He carried with him a statement of solidarity [to the left] which emerged from the intense discussion of Zapatismo and solidarity at the camp.
The representative of Italy's Party of Communist Reconstruction accepted our invitation to address the camp. He invited participants to support Rifondazione's campaign against unemployment.
To help concentrate debate in this extremely heterogeneous gathering, Daniel Bensaid's keynote speech to last year's camp, A socialism for our time (IVJuly 1996, pp.
October 1996 #281 31
17-20) was distributed in English French, German, Red Box Mail Order
The programme this year had something for everyone. The Place of Marxism in History
French activists analysed the difficulties in linking the
Ernest Mandel student mobilisation last November-December to the
The Chinese Revolution (Part One)
wider public sector strike. A Portuguese speaker in the
* PECI, PO Box 85, 75522 Paris, cedex 11 France e-mail 100666.1443@compuserve.com fax 331/43792961
* Portugal
Castilian, Portuguese, Italian, Danish and Dutch.
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2
£2.00
£2.00
Pierre Rousset media forum suggested that the mass media has replaced
The Chinese Revolution (Part Two)
the Church as the main institution of socialisation to
Pierre Rousset obedience and low expectations — TV is the kingdom of
Revolutionary Strategy Today the post-modern bishops!"
Participants from France and Italy described signs of
Daniel Bensaid growth of a new women's movement. They suggested that
Class Struggle and Technological Change in we are seeing the re-activation of veterans of the 70s
Japan since 1945 feminist wave, and a feminist current among women in
Muto Ichiyo the 15-25 age group But the 25-40 age group seems
Market, Plan and Democracy: The Experience of absent!
the so-called Socialist Countries
Outside the structured meetings, the camp also
Catherine Samary facilitated informal networking between comrades in
The Formative Years of the Fourth various countries concerned with the same area of work,
International be it anti-racist activity, student unionism or producing an
Daniel Bensald newspaper. Those
"underground" high school
Marxism and Liberation Theology participating for the first time were sometimes surprised to
Michael Löwy discover that there is great diversity across Europe in the way the left approaches even "universal" issues like un-
11/12. The Bourgeois Revolutions employment and racism. And while most Fourth
Robert Lochhead
International supporters are clearly in favour of the
The Spanish Civil War in Euskadi and decriminalisation of personal drug use, attitudes
Catalonia 1936-39 concerning the recreational use of drugs vary. This is only
Miguel Romero natural. In a similar manner, most participants from other
The Gulf War & the New World Order political traditions, like many of those from Eastern Ger-
André Gunder Frank and Saleh Jaber many, were less convinced of the central role of feminist
Italy: From the PCI to the PDS struggle than those more closely integrated into the Fourth
Livio Maitan
International.
Do the Workers have a Country?
As in previous years, lesbian and gay participants
José Iriarte "Bikila"
organised a range of activities to deepen our understanding
17/18. October 1917: Coup d'état or Social of their struggle, and integrate it into the regular work of
Revolution?
our organisations. "Veteran" participants noticed a growing presence and sophistication of the homosexual
Ernest Mandel presence at the camp, though the occasional comrade at the
19/20. The Fragmentation of Yugoslavia bar needed to be confronted with the contradiction
Catherine Samary between his revolutionary rhetoric, and aspects of macho
Factory Committees and Workers' control in or heterosexist prejudice.
Petrograd in 1917
As the world's largest international meeting of
David Mandel revolutionary youth, the camp continues to prove its worth
22. Women's Lives in the New Global Economy in the education of militants into a pluralist and inter-
P. Duggan & H. Dashner (editors)
nationalist anti-capitalist force. The improvement in the
Lean Production: a capitalist Utopia?
feminist dimension of the camp is proof that the year-
Tony Smith round co-ordination between the sponsoring organisations
24/25. IMF/World Bank/WTO: The Free Market can bring results, and that this very special event can continue to grow and adapt.*
Eric Toussaint and Peter Drucker (editors)
For the address of the sponsoring organisation in your country, contact International Viewpoint. The 1996 camp
Plus 15% p+p. Cheque, payable to Pierre Rousset, to The cost about £80/200 DM
Red Box, PO Box 431, Cardiff, CF1 9YA, Britain.
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