13 million
uprooted people
in Europe
There are 13 million immigrants living and working in European Community (EEC) countries today. Most of these had neither vote nor vojce in the European elections in June. Racists and chauvinists, however, were throughout the campaign. Many people in Europe were given a huge jolt when the racist and fascist National Front of Le Pen in France got 11 per cent of the vote and a total of 10 deputies in the European parliament. In Italy, the fascist MSI (Movimento Sociale Italiano Movement of Italy) gained one more seat. But is it not Just the far which immigrants have to fear. Indeed support for an oufit like Le Pen's has been engendered by the chauvinist policies of successive governments including the present Socialist Party government in France.
When it comes to immigrant workers, the policies are the same in most European countries: to penalise immigrants for the crisis; to build up repressive legislation against them; to facilitate deportation procedures; 14
Underlying all these false and racist arguments designed to get the support of the indigenous workforce, the main objective is clear: to divide the European working class between indigenous and immigrant workers and set them up one against the other to make them forget who the real enemy is.
The reformist parties blithely accept these arguments and the racist and divisive policies that go with them, even, as in France, at the level of government.
The immigrant populations are not going to just sit back and accept the filthy propaganda of Le Pen or the policies of the bosses and governments of Europe. A campaign of action was launched during the European elections to fight racist propaganda.. dinated at a European level by FASTI (Federation of Organisations in Solidarity with Immigrant Workers) (1) and culminated in a rally of 600-700 in Strasbourg on the eve of the elections.
The demands of FASTI are:
- For the automatic right to permanent residence for all immigrants.
- For the right of immigrants' families to join them.
- For freedom of movement for all immigrants in EEC countries.
- For equal social, political and cultural rights for all immigrants - of whatever nationality, male or female.
- Against forced repatriation.
At this last meeting, which was attended by over 100 representatives from immigrant organisations in Belgium, Luxembourg, Norway, France, the Netherlands, Germany and Great Britain, several initiatives were proposed following on from the European elec-
All organisations were urged to campaign on in their own countries and direct demands to the European parliament. This activity 1s to culminate in an international day of action on March 21 next year. A conference of European organisations is planned for June 1985 in Britain.
This type of action, drawing together the different organisations and nationalities and directed toward the labour movement is vital to fight the racist menace and to establish basic human rights for immigrants. 1. For further information about FASTI write to Secretariat de la coordination European, FASTI, 4 Square Vitruve, 75020 Paris, France Telephone: 360-8441.
International Viewpoint
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IMMIGRANT DOSSIER
cept boring and repetitive work on the production line as well as night work. That is, the bosses wanted people who would take the low-paid, dead-end jobs. Moreover, since immigrant workers generally cost less in terms of training, retirement and social security payments, the advantages of exploiting them were manifold. Immigrant labour in France was therefore used immediately in specific industries, in specific firms and in selected regions.
The image of the unskilled immigrant worker on the production line (the Ourier Specialise - OS) became deeply ingrained in the consciousness of French workers, many of whom, in a period of expansion, even found some advantages in the situation in terms of promotion and wages, with unskilled vacancies being filled by immigrants.
The huge presence of immigrants in France offered the ruling class the added advantage of having a section of the workforce gripped in a tight and repressive legal vice. In France, discrimin-
Mitterrand orders a police raid of an immigrant neighbourhood (DR)