AROUND THE WORLD taking place today struggles that are throughout the world; the resistance to austerity and the wardrive in Europe;
the Central American revolution;
the struggle of the Polish workers; and the
Caribbean anti-imperialists meet Thursday, July 19, was the anniversary of the victory of the Nicaraguan revolution. On July 17, 18, 19, this year it was therefore most appropriate that a Caribbean-wide conference of solidarity with anti-imperialist struggles was held in Martinique.
Altogether one hundred and fifty people representing 15 different organisations came together at the initiative of the Martinique Committee of Solidarity with the peoples of the Caribbean and Central America. Organisations present were: the Liga Internacionalista de los Trabajadores (International Workers League) of Puerto Rico; the Revolutionary Marxist League of Jamaica; the Socialist Workers Party of the USA; the Popular Committee for the Independence of Dominica; the Progressive Labour Party, a split-off from the Saint Lucia Labour Party and various groups from Guadeloupe and Martinique including the Revolutionary Socialist Group (GRS), the Antilles section of the Fourth International.
Among the many organisations which sent greetings to the conference but were not able to attend was the Maurice Bishop Foundation of Grenada and individuals of the Maurice Bishop Patriotic Movement. George Louison and Kenrick Radix (surviving members of the Bishop government) wrote that they were not able to attend because they could not get visas.
The conference was marked by a feeling of unity in the fight against imperialism. Everyone was united in the following decisions:
- the need to support and popularise the Cuban and Central American revolutions against American intervention.
La resolution denouncing the French government for using Martinique and Guadeloupe as an imperialist stronghold in the Caribbean and calling for the release of political prisoners in Guadeloupe.
against the US role in Puerto Rico and for self determination.
to give practical support to the peoples of Haiti and the Dominican Republic in their fight against the policies of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in those countries.
The participants in the conference also discussed the lessons of the events in Grenada. A full resolution on this issue was not adopted wholesale by the delegations, some of whom wanted more time to think about it. 'The resolution applauded the record of the government in power since March 1979, denounced the actions of Coard and his supporters and condemned violence between
It affirmed the need for freedom of discussion and decision-making in the mass organisations. The conference did, however, agree on practical measures of solidarity such as: troops; for the restoration of trade-union rights and social programmes.
to support the demand for the airport at Point Saline to be called Maurice Bishop Airport.
- for an end to restrictions on the rights of former Bishop supporters to move around freely.
The overwhelming feeling for unity was expressed in many of the practical proposals for coordination at the end Firstly, there was a proposal that despite ideological differences, the organisations should unite against French, American and British imperialism. In order to break the isolation imposed on them by these powers the different organisations present would try to increase mutual contact and circulate information, etc.
Secondly, delegates agreed to try to organise a Caribbean solidarity trip to Nicaragua.
They further agreed to look at the possibilities of a common journal of debates and exchange of views and information and to set up a coordinating committee to coordinate and prepare anti-imperialist activities and support those struggles going on.
4,000 people hear
Ernest Mandel in Brazi Between August 13 and 17 this year, Ernest Mandel visited Brazil at the invitation of the revolutionary Marxist newspaper Em Tempo. During his visit, public meetings were organised in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Porto Alegre and Belo Horizonte, the four main industrial centres of the country. Many workers and trade unionists attended these meetings, in which Mandel spoke of the mass rise of the mass movement in Southern Africa. The discussions following these contributions ranged over the conceptions of the Fourth International on the construction of parties and of a mass revolutionary international.
All the meetings were organised by Em Tempo in collaboration with other forces from the workers' and popular movements. In Rio de Janeiro the local section of the Workers Party (PT) was in- note Mad volved in the organisation of the meet-
While in Rio de Janeiro, Mandel made a report on the economic crisis at an international conference of university economists. The union of Brazilian economists jointly organised the meetings in Porto Alegre and Belo Horizonte. In Sao Paulo, the economics department of the Catholic university, together with the comrades of Em Tempo, organised a meeting , that drew a thousand people. In all, four thousand people attended the five reports made by Ernest Mandel on his first visit to Brazil.
New Inprecor for the Southern Cone Since last May, our comrades of the Socialist Workers Party of Uruguay (PST-U) have been publishing, in collaboration with Brazilian comrades a monthly journal, Inprecor, for the Southern Cone. Alongside articles from International Viewpoint and our French-language sister publication Inprecor, emphasis is given to articles concerning the situation in the Southern Cone countries. The contents of No 3/4 of July-August, include a balance sheet of the Workers Party in Brazil; an analysis of the democratic struggle and dialogue in Uruguay; an article by the Peruvian PRT on the third assembly of the United Left; an appeal by the POR-U in Bolivia to Bolivian workers; the appeal of the FSLN to consolidate the workers and peasants alliance; an article on the popular rebellion against the IMF in the Dominican Republic.
This publication will make it possible for the positions and documents published in the press of the International to become more widely known, more quickly in Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Paraguay. The extensive coverage on the Southern Cone countries will also allow us in turn to improve our coverage of this region in International Viewpoint.
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