The peace movement
Flemish VAKA, newly tounded in the wake of NATO's double track decision, defends a principled programme of unconditional refusal of any cruise missiles in Belgium and a correct strategy of mass action directed against the government as well as very clever united front tactics.
challenges the Martens' government
The peace movement is preparing for a new demonstration on October 20 destined to influence all political parties before the election. The aim is clear and that is to get the missiles out. The means to do this are also clear and that is to deprive this government of its majority. All opinion polls thus far indicate a
On Friday March 15, the Belgian prime minister, Martens, announced the government's decision for the immediate deployment of the first set of 16 cruise missiles on Belgian soil, with the other 32 arriving in 1987. Only three hours later a US Air Force Galaxy delivered them to the base in Florennes.
On Sunday March 17, 150,000 people turned out in an impressive demonstration in Brussels, angry but not despairing, confident in their political strength and determined to continue their struggle for reversing the decision and withdrawing the missiles.
government defeat and a demand for every party to commit themselves to the removal of all cruise missiles as a precondition to participation in the government. The Flemish social democrats, the SP, expect to become the biggest single party in the country and, together with the Ecology Party, which is expected to attain 10% of the vote, are already campaigning on this issue. The other oppos-
Guy HENDRIX
BRUSSELS — At the time of NATO's has been the support of the Christian double track decision in December 1979, the Belgian and Dutch governments exsome timid reserve themselves a six-month delay before deciding definitively. Under the rising pressure of the peace movement, delay in Belgium was finally extended for more than five years. With general elections scheduled for December 8, tensions are rising inside the government, with an important section of its majority advocating further delay until 1986. Reagan in January, it became clear the neither the USA nor the NATO alliance would accept any change in their deployment plans which had timed the first Belgian deployment of cruise missiles for
It still took 16 weeks of extreme tension and major crises developing in the government and in its biggest party, the Flemish Christian Democracy, the CVP, for a decision to be reached just a few hours before the deadline.
In the meantime, the anti-cruise coordinating bodies, the Flemish VAKA and the Walloon CNAPD were already preparing a mass demonstration on October 20 to coincide with the run-up to the elections. After the Washington visit by Martens when the risk of rapid deployment became clear, they immediately decided to organise an emergency demonstration on March 17, at the same time maintaining the long planned October 20 demonstration.
With a turnout of 150,000 people the success of the action is undeniable. Nobody expected more than 100,000. The most striking feature was the clear anti-government character of the demonstation. It was not only a general outery for peace and against nuclear destruction but a directly political action. We must get rid of this right wing government, that was the main message of the day.
An important aspect of the achievements of the peace organisations to date,
This movement includes the largest trade union in the country and is historically linked up to the main bourgeois party, the CVP.
Notwithstanding of the trade-union movement has mobilised its troops for previous anti-missiles demonstrations. For evident political reasons they refused to join this demonstration in order to avoid a confrontation with their friends in the CVP. But tens of thousands of their membership did, thereby revealing on a large scale the increasing crisis inside the Christian bloc and strengthening in an unprecedented way, the left wing of the Christian labour movement. This left wing wants to split up the CVP along class lines by founding an independent Labour Party of the Christian
This perspective is a threat to the entire bourgeoisie as became evident following the demonstration, in the reaction in the editorials of the bourgeois press.
A further feature worth noting was the massive participation of youth in the demonstration and in the movement as a whole. Whilst all the opinion polls over the last few years have revealed 65 to 70% rejection of the missiles amongst the population as a whole, they have also shown a 90% rejection among the youth. The determination of the youth is fast becoming the key driving force in the fight for withdrawal. In the course of this struggle, youth are beginning to lose all illusions in the so-called peace-keeping nature of NATO and in bourgeois democracy. The dispelling of such illusions signifies the removal of two real obstacles to developing a truly anti-capitalist strategy.
Finally it should be mentioned that the movement is much stronger in Flanders than in the Walloon area. This is mainly due to the differing approaches of both the peace organisations. While the CNAPD still sticks more to a traditional and gradual disarmament policy, the ition parties, especially the Walloon Social Democrats, PS, have so far refused any kind of commitment. They do not want to handicap their perspective of forming a government with the CVP. In fact, despite its courageous stand on the withdrawal issue, the same political perspective of a new coalition government with the CVP, is not at all ruled out by the SP (Flemish) leadership. Since nobody can imagine a government with the CVP withdrawing the missiles, the SP policy does not offer sufficient guarantees to the peace movement.
In this political situation, the mass movement still feels that a real possibility exists to reverse NATO's militarist plans. It will depend on the movement's capacity to mobilise for October 20 and on the progress of this issue inside the trade unions whether this possibility can become a reality.
International Viewpoint 8 April 1985
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BELGIUM.