Governmental discourse revolves around the age-old clichés: Iraqi and Turkish Kurds seeking asylum are linked Algeria: PST Congress
The Socialist Workers Party (Parti socialiste des travailleurs - PST) brought together more than 600 delegates for an extraordinary congress on 5 March
The only Algerian party to send a high-level delegation was the Berber Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD). Representatives of the Association for Women's Emancipation (AEF) and the trade union federation's National Federation of Retired Workers (FNTR-UGTA) also received a warm welcome.
France's Revolutionary Communist League (LCR) sent a representative, and there were written messages from a number of organisations in Europe and the Americas. 4 International Viewpoint #299 to the Mafia, suspected of terrorism or dismissed as mere pawns of the Turkish government. This type of accusation is always launched against unwanted
Italian authorities have tightened legislation considerably to fall into line with the demands of the EU's Schengen Agreement. But they are being accused of laxity and irresponsibility because they dare to consider an individual and collective examination of Kurds' asylum requests (as required by the United Nations Convention on Refugees) rather than follow the lead of other EU countries - particularly France - and reject applications from these countries automatically.
The presence on the Italian coast of asylum-seekers from nearby or more distant lands is nothing new. Hundreds, if not thousands, of asylum-seekers or undocumented immigrants fleeing dictatorships and poverty have already died in the Mediterranean: in Italian waters, along the Greek coast and in the Straits of Gibraltar which separate Spain from Morocco.
On several occasions in recent history, Italy has accepted tens of thousands of Albanian refugees. But on this occasion, we have witnessed outright hysteria, and a broad-based scenario of repression. A police summit was held in Rome on January 8" in efforts to cement over the cracks that had appeared in the southern flank of Fortress Europe. During this repressive meeting, the police forces of the eight states involved in Kurdish migration (Italy, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Holland, France, Turkey and Greece) decided to strengthen co-operative efforts to combat "clandestine immigration" even more fiercely. The aim was to intensify surveillance at the borders of the European Union and, above all, to step up the
The PST was obliged to hold this congress, in order to register as a legal party, under discriminatory new legislation which requires parties to prove that they have at least 100 members in at least 25 of Algeria's 48 willayas (adminis trative regions).
The PST finally submitted to the authorities proof of over 4,000 membership requests from 44 willayas.
In Algeria's current situation, with the impoverishment of the population, this has been a major challenge for the PST, a small organisation, which has no source of funding apart from its members and sympathisers.
exchange of secret information among the different police forces, largely via the inter-mediation of Europol. This is also one of the most important aspects of the Schengen convention, which led to the establishment of a vast computer database located in Strasbourg.
A number of factors explain why, within the general framework created by the establishment of Fortress Europe, this episode has been blown so far out of pro-
• Italy has finally joined the Schengen convention, three years after its creation. This obliged the Italian government to considerably tighten its anti-immigration policy, which had traditionally been less repressive than that of the northern nations. But this turn of the screw did not satisfy the upper echelons of the European police system, which additionally want Italy to extend more brutal treatment to asylum-seekers. Italy's neighbour, France, has one of the most stringent anti-immigrant regimes in Europe.
• According to EU police chiefs, Italy's long coastline and many islands make it easy for boats to dock; it is close to the countries of origin of refugees; and the population, familiar itself with the notion of migrating toward northern Europe, has a tradition of welcoming refugees. Austria's recent entry into the Schengen convention was preceded by a similar pressure campaign waged by the German authorities and particularly by the government of Bavaria.
The French and German governments have brought most pressure to bear: Germany faces a parliamentary election later this year. Chancellor Helmut Kohl and the right are in a tight corner and have focused strongly on xenophobia and security concerns in order to regain ground. Minister of the Interior, M. Kanther, presented a battery of measures stepping up control over foreigners and restricting their access to social services. According to SocialDemocrat legislator and leader, G. Verheugen, "The Kurdish problem is nothing new. An international problem is being exploited for the purposes of internal politics. Fears are manipulated to create the belief that suspect foreigners are undermining the well being of Germans. This type of psychosis lays the foundations for the far-right." His statement makes it all the more regrettable that the Social Democrats should have allied themselves to the right-wing Christian Democrats in 1993 by voting to restrict asylum rights and that certain SPD leaders should have joined in the xenophobic campaign.
Meanwhile, France's SocialistCommunist-Green government is taking a strong line with asylum-seekers and has drastically restricted their admission in
• £2.50/$4. Cheque payable to P. Rousset, IIRE, Postbus 53290, 1007 Amsterdam, Netherlands.
recent years. Minister of the Interior, J.P. Chevènement, who represents a particularly jingoistic faction, has explained that unless the borders are hermetically sealed, France will be flooded by Iraqi Kurds and Algerian refugees.
The French government has deployed special repressive units along the border with Italy. Two years ago, police here conducting a night-time "inspection" on a mountain road killed a Bosnian child travelling with a group of refugees.
European governments are using the Kurdish refugee "crisis" to accelerate the standardisation of immigration policies within the European Community. The
Hubert Vedrine played a central role in finalising negotiations with Turkey, thus re-securing Europe's link with dictatorial regimes - so highly appreciated when they guarantee both order and the surveillance of potential immigrants. In defence of the right to asylum
Human rights organisations are denouncing the many violations of rules for the right to asylum already being committed by the different EU countries. Amnesty International has pointed the finger at governments negotiating "re-adagreements with the Turkish regime; agreements which involve the forcible repatriation of refugees and even contemplate their return to Northern Iraq regardless of the threats faced by the population there.
The EU governments are collaborating to turn back asylum-seekers without even examining their requests, an approach that contravenes all international conventions. Underpinning these events is Europe's vast apparatus of control and repression; the Schengen accords and the treaties of Maastricht and Amsterdam have laid the foundations for a centralised system to deal with the entry of immigrants and refugees. Now governments are pressuring one another to toughen related legislation and are staging identical xenophobic campaigns. *
Analysis with Attitude treaties of Maastricht and Amsterdam, numerous conventions and accords shrouded in varying degrees of secrecy and the Schengen accords themselves all
There is only one magazine in the English language where point in this direction; the new "pillar" of the European edifice is intended to shift decisions about the entry of immigrants
• the leaders of France's trade union left debate how best to articulate the new mood of resistance to public sector cuts and unemployment.
and asylum-seekers onto the shoulders of ultra-centralised bureaucratic bodies and police forces. The most repressive norms
• Tahiti's NGO activists explain why they feel Greenpeace marginalised will surely be applied to the European them during the campaign against French nuclear tests.
borders in the name of freedom of movement within Europe itself. This is one of
• Indian activists argue that we shouldn't ban imports on countries with the essential reasons why such pressure is deficient environmental and labour legislation.
being brought to bear on the Italian
There is a striking parallel with the issue of the single European currency.
Here too, Italy has been assigned the role of the bad student who is admitted into the next grade only grudgingly, and subject to considerable pressures.
Another vital factor is the crisis of relations between the European bloc and
Founded by Ernest Mandel, International Viewpoint is the world's largest international Marxist news and analysıs magazıne. Correspondents in over 50 countries report on popular struggles, and the debates which are shaping the left of
VIERPOINT tomorrow. Direct from the front line in
Turkey. As the French newspaper Le
Monde commented in a January 5 editorial: "Can we shut Turkey out of Europe
This magazine is a window to radical alternatives worldwide.
on the pretext that she mistreats her
Kurdish community and simultaneously close Europe to Kurds attempting to land
For a free trial subscription (three issues), call us now, or mention this on the Calabrian Coast?"
A variety of sensationalist hypotheses has been launched by both media and
Australia: International Viewpoint, PO Box 1638, Collingwood 3065, Victoria governments: the asylum-seekers are
Britain: Outlook International, PO Box 1009 London N4 2UU © (081) 800 7460 undercover envoys of the Turkish govern-
Canada: Socialist Challenge, PO Box 4955, Main P.O, Vancouver V6B 4A6 ment which is seeking to avenge the Euro-
USA: International Viewpoint, PO Box 1824, New York, NY 10009 pean decision and threatening Germany
* BP 85, Paris cedex 11, 75522 France © +33 1/43792961 with an "invasion"; or else the refugees
Fax: +33 1/43792961 E-mail: 100666.1443@compuserve.com themselves are being manipulated by the guerrilla Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) to
• Australia $33 • Britain £25 • Canada $80 • Denmark 380 DKK • Ireland £25 • aggravate the differences between the
• South Africa R100 • Sweden 400 SEK • New Zealand $35 • USA $70 •
Turkish government and the European
Union. Those who have been obliged to use the services of "smugglers" in their the fight against neo-liberalism.
advert to our local sales agent!
flight have been called bandits.
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION
What is clear is that despite the ten-
Do the workers have a country?
sions, the Turkish government participated in the police summit in Rome, committed itself to preventing departures to community nations and proceeded to carry out raids in Istanbul. French foreign minister, by José Iriarte "Bikila"
5