What is clear is that all the new union members are CFDT members. Some accuse us of treachery, but only 20 members have resigned. And I expect we will win many more in the next 12 months. Seven or eight years ago the CFDT had 3,000 drivers, now we have almost 15,000. Twenty percent of who have joined since the 1996 strike. * Interviewed by Dominique Mezzi. for Rouge, 13 Nov. 97 Denmark Red Green Copenhagen
The Red-Green Alliance did relatively well in municipal elections across Denmark on November 18th. It scored a record 10% in the capital,
Copenhagen. Nationally the Alliance won 2.8% of votes, compared to 1.5% at the previous local elections in 1993.
Refugee and immigrant issues have dominated Danish politics recently.
The extreme right, the big bourgeois parties and the Social Democratic party (which is in government) have been effectively campaigning against refugees and immigrants for several months. Several proposals have been made to limit their social rights, and place further restrictions on the right to
Not surprisingly, an important part of the election campaign of the Red-Green Alliance was opposition to this trend: against racism, in defence of refugees, and demanding better social conditions in the areas where large numbers of immigrants and refugees live. One of the candidates for the Red-Green Alliance in one of the suburbs of Copenhagen was the spokesperson for Denmark's Somali community - a group which has faced particularly severe verbal attacks
Opposition to the privatisation of social welfare and ecological issues, particularly traffic problems, were the other main features of the Alliance
The Alliance got it's best results in the capital and its suburbs. In Copenhagen itself the list got nearly 10% of votes, electing seven members of the city council. According to one opinion poll, the Alliance was the most popular party among first-time voters in the
The list also kept or strengthened its representation in four other local councils in the Copenhagen area and in four other towns.
Those elected for the Red-Green Alliance included one member of the SAP (Danish section of the Fourth International) in the town of Roskilde. while another SAP militant was reelected in one of the suburbs of
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