protest against land reform
In the last five months the Egyptian countryside has been the scene of a mass movement of poor farmers, shaking the stability of the IMF-backed regime.
The struggle started after the publication of a new law regulating the letting of agricultural lands. Agriculture reforms in 1954 and 1961 permitted a farmer to sign a contract renting a parcel of land for his natural life. These contracts could be inherited by farmers' widows and children. Annual rent was fixed at seven times the official valuation of the land for land taxes.
After 1977, however, Egypt came increasingly under the influence of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Their first
4th Congress of the Fourth International
Transformation and regroupment
Reactions to the socio-economic crisis all too often take the form of reactionary tendencies of an ethnic, nationalist, racial or religious character. Hence the urgent need to rebuild a world-wide movement of anti-capitalist struggle.
Regroupments of forces determined to continue, against the winds and the tides, to fight against capitalism are being realised in a number of countries. The organisations of the Fourth International are ready to be part of the regroupment process. We consider this as an important step towards the recomposition of the anti-capitalist left on a world scale. At the international level, the Fourth International is an active participant in regroupment, bringing with it the advantages of a long tradition of combat against capitalism and Stalinism. * Price: £5/S10/60FF plus 10% postage charge
Order from your loca agent, or directly from International - Viewooint. BP 85. 75522 Paris cedex 11. France Viewpoint, BP 85, 75522 Paris cedex 11, France ! 26 International Viewpoint #293 advice was the suppression of price subsidies for basic needs, particularly bread. The reaction of the people was immediate, with bread riots in January 1977.
During the 1980s the privatisation of industry began, and was met with large resistance within the state apparatus and from the population. However, under IMF pressure, and desperate for new loans, the Egyptian government continued selling off the public sector for next to nothing Multinationals profited from the corruption in the public sector.
In the 1990s Egypt's farmers became the latest victims of neo-liberal policies. By now parliament governed with a talse majority, elected under the pressure of the use of violence by the state and the Mafia. This corrupted majority decided on a new land rent law. This stipulated that land owners were now free to determine the period of rent contracts and annual rents.
The majority of Egypt's landowners are no longer real agricultural investors, but people who live and work in the city. Their interest, reflected in the new legislation, is to Palestinian refugees f
Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan and Lebanon struck and demonstrated on September 9 to protest cuts in the budget of UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.
Students and teachers of UNRWA-run educational institutions went on strike in all refugee camps in the region.
This was the first time that Palestinian refugees dispersed in Palestine and in three Arab host countries succeeded in sending a united message to the foreign governments responsible for the current budget crisis at UNRWA.
Some of the donor countries meeting in Amman, Jordan on September 9 are diverting their aid from UNRWA to the Palestinian Authority. Others are simply cutting back on their aid to Palestinians. UNRWA's budget next year will decrease by more than 25%. Natural population growth, and an increase in the number of refugees, implies an annual 5% increase in demand for UNRWA services. Israel's prolonged closure of the occupied territories is also contributing to increased poverty among refugees.
In Palestine, the protest activities were conducted in all districts of the West Bank jointly by refugee students, UNRWA employees, the Union of Youth Activity Centres, the Service Committees in the Refugee Camps established by the re-establish their control over the land, in order to sell it to the richest farmers. This can only lead to a concentration of agriculture, something international market forces have been demanding. An estimated five million poor peasants will then threatened with the loss of their homes and livelihood
In many villages, poor farmers have started mobilising to demand the cancellation of this unjust law. Meetings and demonstrations took place to organise a national march to the capital. The reaction of the government was consistently violent. "Forces of order"
have killed many farmers and at least 600 people have been arrested. In Cairo, many left-wing militants have organised solidarity committees with the farmers movement.
Again, many have been arrested.
An increase in the level of violent confrontations and state repression are expected when the law comes into effect on
October Ist. [H/JD] *
The national co-ordination of poor farmers in Egypt is appealing for international solidarity. Contact: Hony, c/o SUD. fax (+33) 144621234,
E-mail: <aguiton@sud.unions.eu.org> protest UNRWA cuts PLO/Refugee Department, local popular refugee committees, members of the Palestinian Legislative Council, and Palestinian political and social personalities.
In the Bethlehem district, approximately 500 students from the three refugee camps in the area (Deheishe, 'Azza, 'Aida) conducted a joint protest march to the UNRWA District Office. They demanded the immediate stop of the cuts of UNRWA services and repeated the refugees' demand for the recognition of their right of return.
The Gaza Strip witnessed strong protest marches with thousands of students participating. The protesters were joined by numerous officials from the Palestinian Authority and PLO. The strikers said that refugee protest will spill over to all countries hosting Palestinian refugees, unless donors change their policy.
In Jordan about a thousand representatives of women and student organisations in the refugee camps demonstrated in al-Bag'a refugee camp. Refugees held a sit-in in front of the regional UNRWA headquarters, demanding a rapid policy change so as to calm the explosive situation.
In Lebanon, hundreds of Palestinian refugees protested in front of the UNRWA offices located in Beirut. * Source: Union of Youth Activity Centres/West Bank Source: Union of Youth Activity Centres/West Rank