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Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
LOVE AND RAGE
Electronic Edition
APRIL/MAY 1993
Part 2
ABORTION ACCESS ERODES IN EAST BLOC
by Elizabeth Batiuk
ACROSS CENTRAL AND EASTern Europe, women's access to abortion is
being attacked by the Catholic Church and right-wing nationalists.
The capitalist market system in former Communist regimes has
unleashed new forms of oppression on women. Women are being pushed
back into the domestic realm, into the role of mother and wife.
Women are being systematically excluded from the political
processes of their countries and communities. Women are
experiencing rising rates of sexist violence. The State needs to
control social relations and women's bodies in order to organize
the economy and the government for maximum profits. Displacing
women from the work force and curtailing access to abortion
reinforces the ideal of the nuclear family.
Reports on the current situations in Poland, Hungary, the Czech and
Slovak republics, Albania, Kosovo, Bulgaria and Germany were given
at a recent meeting of the Network of East-West Women (N.E.W.W.) in
New York. (See the end of this article for a summary of these
reports.)
Attacks on reproductive freedom in Eastern Europe are being shaped
by three major reactionary political forces: nationalism,
capitalism and social morality.
Reproductive freedom varies according to the area a woman lives in
and her ethnic identity, according to the reports given on Croatia,
Albania and Kosovo. For example, though once part of Serbia, Kosovo
has a large Albanian population. Albanian women in Albania had
access to abortion. But Albanian women in Kosovo were under heavy
social and religious pressure not to abort any pregnancy, in order
to bolster the Albanian population in the region. Indeed, there
were popular rumors that doctors induced Albanian women to miscarry
against their wills when they went for routine physical or prenatal
exams. Nationalist ideaogies are more concerned with increasing
their ethnic populations and with enforcing moral and cultural
homogeneity, than they are concerned with the economic strategy of
the nuclear family.
Under Communism, women enjoyed legal equality and participation in
the labor force. Some attempts were made to socialize housework.
But all of Central and Eastern Europe still depends on the
compulsory domestic labor of women. Women carry a double burden,
typified by the phrase "working mother," in both capitalist and
Communist industrialized societies.
Abortion was freely available in Eastern and Central Europe under
the Communists. In many places it was used regularly as birth
control, due to the lack of decent contraceptives. These policies
were regulated demographically by the State.
Now, reproductive freedom is at the mercy of the market rather than
the State. In places such as Hungary and the Czech republic, price
increases have severely limited abortion access. An abortion costs
up to 80 percent of an average monthly wage. Because health care is
no longer free and abortion is now considered "non-essential,"
choosing to have children is no longer considered a real choice in
Eastern Europe.
There is an understanding that abortion is "something you take care
of yourself," according to one woman's report on Albania. This is
the experience of women's lives. Our rights are treated as less
inalienable; our autonomy is subordinated to the interests of the
State. For example, in the G.D.R. women had easy access to
abortion, childcare facilities and domestic services. Yet women
still suffered horrendously from the double burden of wage-work and
house-work. The nuclear model was the only model of family.
Uncritical acceptance of what is included in the private or
unofficial realms perpetuates inequality.
Culture and social traditions are not likely to change by
legislation alone. It is ineffective to simply politicize social
relations: They are products of traditions, deeply ingrained ways
of understanding ourselves. We must seize political and social
power in order to have a material effect. It is clear that the
nation-state is not a political structure which faithfully serves
the interests of women. While women should continue to fight for
increased participation within the current structure, we must keep
the long-term goals of women's liberation in sight.
The Network of East-West Women represents a type of new political
activism which is taking off from the social movements of the 1970s
and '80s. This activism organizes across culture, economic status
and political ideology. N.E.W.W. tries to change society through
collective action, try to define our identity as women in
progressive ways. The Network includes women from various political
orientations. They pay attention to the process of change on both
theoretical and material levels. They discuss things in the
academic realm. But they also provide the practical supplies, such
as phone numbers and stickers to the S.O.S. crisis-line in Zagreb.
Feminism is revolutionary if it truly seeks to liberate all women.
Because women's sexual oppression is carried out through
government, gaining participation in government will not be enough
to win liberation. Reproductive freedom is hindered by economic and
social institutions and by a singular view of morality. Therefore
our interests lie also with those people fighting capitalism and
struggling for self-determination. Limiting our struggle to the
goal of participation in existing structures will lead us back to
where we are now. We will be left cleaning up after the false
promises.
THE FOLLOWING IS A BRIEF overview of reports on abortion access in
Central and Eastern Europe, as delivered at the Feb 3, 1993,
meeting of the Network of East-West Women:
ALBANIA & KOSOVO
PRESENTED BY: SHIQIPE MALUSHI
BEFORE THE COMMUNIST REGIME, abortion was self-performed. The
Communists legalized "choice" by providing abortion in cases of
rape, threat to a woman's life, or health problems for mother or
child, including a woman's inability to feed and care for the
child. Incest was considered "not an issue." There was no birth
control or sex education under the Communist regime.
BULGARIA
PRESENTED BY: CHRISTINA KOTCHEMIDOVA
UNDER THE COMMUNIST REGIME, abortion in Bulgaria was available to
unmarried women and married women with more than two children.
Bureaucratic corruption, as in many areas of life in the
Soviet-style societies, gave women access to abortion. In 1990,
abortion in the first trimester became available when performed in
a hospital under a doctor's surveillance. It is most comon for
abortion to be performed with only local or no anesthesia. There is
no sex education, and a lack of decent contraceptives. There is
strong resistance to condom-use. Sterilization for women is
illegal. Opposition to abortion is not focused on the fetus.
Kotchemidova attributed this attitude to the more-tolerant
Christian Orthodox religion in Bulgaria.
CROATIA
PRESENTED BY: VINKA LJUBIMIR
THE CHURCH ATTEMPTED TO INitiate a campaign to limit abortion, but
the Minister of Health refused to bow to the pressure. He pointed
to the lack of economic resources, to the State's inability to
provide necessary social services if abortion were restricted.
Abortion is free, if a woman is pregnant by 10 weeks. A woman must
get approval for abortion from a medical commission if she is
between 10 and 24 weeks pregnant. Minors need the signature of one
parent to obtain an abortion. Abortion is not available for
non-citizens.
CZECH AND SLOVAK REPUBLICS
PRESENTED BY: BELINDA BLUM
THE CZECH REPUBLIC RAISED THE price of an abortion to 3000 crowns,
approximately 79 percent of the average monthly wage. This is the
first time in 40 years that people are paying for health care and,
since abortion is not considered an "essential" service, it is not
covered by insurance. There is a fee-waver if a woman's health is
in danger or in instances of rape.
In Slovakia, permission for an abortion must be granted by a
committee whose duty it is to "make known to the women the negative
consequences of abortion." Abortion is illegal except in cases of
rape, incest, medical complications and "social problems that are
impossible to solve." Conservative forces within the Slovak
republic are threatening to enact the "Law on the Protection of
Human Life," which would further limit access to abortion.
GERMANY
PRESENTED BY: NANETTE FUNK
UNIFICATION OF EAST AND WEST Germany sparked an extensive debate on
abortion because the two countries had irreconcilable laws on
abortion, the West having the more restrictive of the two
legislations. To date, these laws have not been reconcilled. Debate
has been postponed again until April, with no plan for new laws to
go into effect until the end of 1993.
HUNGARY
PREPARED BY: DOROTTYA ORL™SI
PRESENTED BY: AGNES
THE NEW LAW, AS OF DEC 17, 1992, allows abortion under these
conditions: if the woman or fetus is in danger of life-threatening
health problems, if the pregnancy is the result of a rape, or if
the woman claims that the pregnancy causes her "serious crisis."
This law requires women to undergo counseling on alternatives to
abortion. The cost of an abortion has increased to two-thirds of a
monthly income. The Feminist Network has been started collecting
signatures in support of liberal abortion guidelines.
LITHUANIA
PRESENTED BY: LAIME SERKSNYTE
ABORTION HAS BEEN LEGAL HERE since 1956, and there appears to be no
threat of impending restrictions.
POLAND
PRESENTED BY: KRYSTYNA ZAMORSKA
SENATE VOTED IN JANUARY TO criminalize abortion in all cases except
for pregnancy resulting from rape or incest, or in cases of a
threat to the life of the mother. The new law mandates a two-year
jail term for doctors who violate guidelines. A million and a
quarter signatures were gathered in opposition to this law. (Since
this report was given President Walesa has signed the restrictive
legislation into law.)
SLOVENIA
PRESENTED BY: RENATA SALECL
UNTIL TWO YEARS AGO THERE was no public debate on abortion. Women
successfully defeated the conservative Christian Democrats' attack
on abortion rights.
-30-
FIERY VIRUSES COMMUNIQUE
On the night of Aug 10, 1992, a field of genetically manipulated
corn was destroyed in Rilland, Holland. At the same time, at the
Floriade, an agricultural exhibition on bio-engineering was
"dismantled." These actions were claimed by the Vurige Virussen,
the "Fiery Viruses." The following is their communique, edited by
our Production Group.
HOLLAND -- A HANDFUL OF multi-national corporations, with the help of
bio-engineering, want to capture a monopoly on life, increase
their profits, and further oppress people, both here and in the
Three Continents.
The biotechnology industries promise that in time there will
finally be enough food, produced in an environmentally friendly way
with the help of bio-technology. Science is saying that
bio-engineering is no more than just the newest plant-improving
techniques. The government promises keep this science under control
through a commission of "experts." This is propaganda. There is a
serious problem: the surplus of population and food-shortages of
the world. The exhibition [at the Floriade] can't be visited
anymore. The World Wonder Garden has lost a myth.
"What's the problem? The large number of poor people, or the 23
percent of the world which uses 80 percent of the natural
resources?" asked Vandana Shiva, during the opposition's shadow
conference to the United Nations Conference on the Environment and
Development (U.N.C.E.D.).
The bio-technology industries claim that bio-engineering will
banish world hunger. This is a myth. The industries claim that by
creating disease-resistant grains, more people will be fed. The
world food problem is thus reduced to a technical problem. But to
claim that bio-technology is the solution to world hunger is to
deny that social structures and historical relations produce
hunger. Moreover, the industries also claim that bio-technology is
neutral and value-free and that technology is developed out of
charitable motives and the best intentions. This vision of
"Bio-technology as The Good" is a lie.
Developing a technology requires an extensive program, a program
that carries specific interests with specific values. Technological
industries carry the power to (re)define the nature of the problems
in question. They reproduce the power-relationships and values in
which they were developed. A capital-intensive technology, for
example, forces a dependency upon banks and financiers. This
dependency is "built in" to the technology.
Bio-engineering is not free of values, nor is it a solution to
hunger. It increases the exploitation which already characterizes
the relationship between the North and South. It is within this
relationship that bio-technology will do its work.
HUNGER
In 1887, Italian priests brought a ship with Italian cows and bulls
to Eastern Africa. They also brought a form of hoof-and-mouth
disease which eradicated 90 percent of the East African cattle
stocks. Because of this, all of Eastern Africa was threatened by
starvation, yet those in power called this a natural disaster.
After centuries of intensive Western interference with the
countries of the Third World, millions are now facing starvation.
Images of swollen bellies, dry fields and dried-up acres fill our
TV screens regularly, but there is no critique of why these
millions are starving. The structures of exploitation are hidden.
Poverty and hunger are apparently uprooted, their causes reduced to
too little rain, too many children and stupid farmers. "The African
agriculture is backward," stated Aart de Zeeuw, the Dutch chairman
of the agricultural commission of the General Agreements on Tariffs
and Trade (G.A.T.T.) as quoted in Onze Wereld, Dec 1987. It is
exactly this racist notion of superiority that paved the way for
centuries of exploitation and oppression.
THE GREEN COUNTER-REVOLUTION
In the 1960s many countries set up large agricultural programs.
Institutional giants, like the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford
Foundation, the International Monetary Fund (I.M.F.) and the World
Bank, invested in these programs. This "Green Revolution" meant
large-scale intervention in the agricultural structures of the
Third World. Local farming methods gave way to "modern" technology.
The use of plant varieties with high yields and mono-cultures, and
the large-scale and intensive use of fertilizers extended crop
yields. But after a period of time, it became known who the real
winners and the losers are. These high-tech farming methods carry
many hidden costs and are squeezing small farmers out of the
industry. Mono-cultures are more disease-prone and require more
weed-killer. Acres with artificial fertilizer need more water,
demanding irrigation projects. But because no drainage systems
exist, large areas are permanently flooded or have changed into
deserts. A few years later, farmers are left with the results: a
destroyed agriculture, spoiled soil and water, genetic erosion,
high debts, crops with an over-sensitivity to all kinds of
diseases, and an increasing use of expensive Western products like
artificial fertilizers and weed killers. For the losers, technology
has created a vicious circle of misery and hunger, has created a
new class of poor, landless slum-inhabitants. The winners, of
course, are the big industries.
In agriculture, two-thirds of the work is done by women. Statistics
and official reports usually conceal this by qualifying this work
as domestic work, or unpaid work. Bio-engineers followed this
patriarchally beaten-path and denied the importance of women's
knowledge and women's work. The large-scale intervention in the
social structure, under the pretext of "modernizing," has been
exclusively directed to male farmers. The consequences of this
modernization has mostly affected women. Men have left and gone to
the cities or to the large plantations as agricultural laborers.
Women, who do most of the work already, have even more work to do.
Women have lost their land to big companies and have gained the
burden of providing their own food.
AGRICULTURAL POLICY
Swimming in a milk lake, sitting on top of a butter mountain and
speaking about food shortages is Orwellian. Hunger is not a problem
of too little food, rather it is a problem of how the food is
produced and distributed. Traditional self-supporting agriculture
in the Third World countries has been and continues to be
systematically ruined in favor of Western agriculture.
Enormous agricultural yields from the South are produced and
exported for Western markets, often as raw materials for cattle
food. The southern countries are often forced into this
relationship by the I.M.F. and the World Bank. Production has to
bring in foreign currency, which is needed to pay off debts to
Western banks. The World Bank is currently sitting on profits of
1.7 billion U.S. dollars. These are the real results of
bio-technologies.
U.N.C.E.D.
The so-called Bio-diversity Treaty, which was signed during the
U.N.C.E.D., clearly reflects how bio-technology is a tool for
exploiting the Third World. The treaty, which was designed to
protect the world's bio-diversity, forces many Third World
countries to give their genetic reserves to bio-industries. And
moreover, Third World countries are deprived of the products of
their materials and labor.
...The world is more and more dictated by economic values.
Everything revolves around the market instead of around life. The
poor don't count because they are not consumers. We neglect
Africans with A.I.D.S. because this does not bring enough,
economically speaking, and the blood of the poor doesn't give ink.
"De Volkskrant, July 11, 1992
THE NEW WORLD ORDER
It is not really new, Bush's New World Order, at least not to the
poor countries who merely notice that they are being squeezed just
a little tighter. Five hundred years after Columbus, the Western
world has its hands free to cheerfully exploit the last bits of the
world and of life. "Until now, genetic modification was a science
which promised uses without any bad sides," states Prof.
Schilperoort in Transferneiuws, June 1992. Nonsense! This statement
reflects how those in power are allowed to not only define the
problem, but also to patent the solution. The trade in hunger is a
very lucrative business kept hidden by the "experts."
Discussions around bio-technology are silenced, or dominated by the
terms of the oppressors. We want to place matters in a political
context. Thus we unmask bio-technology, showing it to be the
political weapon which secures profits through the misery of
millions of people. When asked how bio-engineering should be
controlled, the C.D.A. (the Dutch Christian Democratic Party
"trans.) spokesman Reitsma answered: "Drawing boundaries is not in
the first place a matter of politics, but rather a matter of
society," as quoted in Biotekst, March, 1992. These words have
affected us deeply, and we have done our best to draw one small
boundary.
Greetings, Fiery Viruses
-From Arm The Spirit, No. 14
For a complete version of this communique, which includes more
extensive analyses of the topics covered here, contact autonome
forum via e-mail: aforum@moose.uvm.edu
-30-
ANTI-FASCIST-ACTION EDINBURGH
by Rachel Rinaldo
SEVERAL YEARS AFTER THE MILItant poll tax riots and demonstrations,
it looks like political resistance in Britain is at a low point.
Few serious squats remain, most of the anarcho-punks have been
disillusioned or caught up in the New Age Travellers' movement, and
even Class War could not raise a contingent for a demonstration at
the European Summit in Edinburgh. As in the rest of Europe, though,
fascism is alive and well here in Britain, recruiting on the
housing projects of cities like London, Glasgow, Manchester, and
Edinburgh.
Anti-Fascist-Action has chapters throughout England and Scotland
and is probably one of the most active groups around these days.
They are dedicated to fighting fascists, such as the British
National Party (B.N.P.), and nazis, through propaganda and if
necessary, physical confrontation. A.F.A. started the autumn with
a successful action in London, where they prevented hundreds of
nazi skinheads from getting to a Blood and Honour gig where the
band Skrewdriver was playing.
I've been involved with A.F.A. Edinburgh for several months, but
they formed about a year ago. In that time, they've plastered the
city with stickers and graffiti (and wiped out B.N.P. graffiti), as
well as held gigs at the Unemployed Worker's Center, had stalls at
local clubs, picketed a bookstore for selling a book by a nazi
revisionist historian, and written letters to the local B.N.P.
members. A.F.A. Edinburgh and Glasgow were also at an annual
anti-racist march in Glasgow , which 25 seig-heiling B.N.P.ers
tried to disrupt. Most recently, we've put up posters all over
town, with a picture of local B.N.P. members and their addresses
and phone numbers, urging people to write nasty letters and harass
them by phone. A.F.A. members have been known to make annoying
phone calls to local fascists and nazi skins at odd hours of the
morning.
A.F.A. is an alternative to mainstream/liberal groups, most of
which won't even recognize the existence of fascism in Britain.
Groups like the Anti-Nazi-League are mainly fronts for various left
parties and do little besides carry placards at big demonstrations.
A.F.A. especially concentrates on rooting out fascism in working
class communities, the favorite recruiting place of the B.N.P.. The
mostly wealthy fascist leadership targets disaffected youth in such
areas, turning their anger away from the establishment and towards
neighboring minority communities.
Not surprisingly, A.F.A. gets a lot of criticism from to so-called
"left." An editorial in the left University of Edinburgh student
newspaper called groups like A.F.A. "the violent fringe" and
"leftist thugs." Other groups within Edinburgh have sharply
criticized the anti-B.N.P. posters and our confrontational tactics.
But it is a pipe dream to think that merely by distributing
leaflets and holding demonstrations, the fascists will go away.
This kind of thinking on the majority of the left has fed the
recent rise in fascism and nazism in Germany, France, Italy, Spain,
and even Sweden, where Jewish cemeteries have been desecrated. Mass
demonstrations are important, but the reality of fascists on the
streets must be dealt with before they can terrorize the local
community and recruit vulnerable youth.
-30-
ASIAN STUDENT MOVEMENTS OF THE '90s
IN THE '70s, STUDENTS DREAMT OF socialism as an alternative to the
capitalist and imperialist systems. In Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia,
millions of people died under the hands of Uncle Sam's troops. This
genocide forced the Vietnamese people to accept U.S. imperialism.
The U.S. failed, and students in Asia celebrated.
However, at the turn of the '80s, confusion over socialism set in.
People witnessed the ruthlessness of the Khmer Rouge on
televisions, and condemned it as communist terror. The victory of
Vietnam over an imperialist power was followed by its own invasion
of Cambodia. A war began, fought between two Asian socialist
countries: China and Vietnam.
Capitalist forces adopted more subtle forms of oppression.
Imperialist forces relied more on indirect control: economic
imperialism. This tactic included the economic blockade of
socialist states and supporting client states in the Third World --
often military regimes and collaboration with local elites to
implement pro-Western policies, protecting and enhancing the powers
of multinational corporations.
In response to these changes, many leftists and progressive student
activists in Asia shifted the focus of their struggle, which had
been internationalist, to one more national-centered.
Despite the problems of existing socialist states, student
activists generally concluded that these problems came from
misguided practice rather than from socialist theory itself.
Therefore, they tended not to go into deeper discussions about the
causes of these problems, but retreated to fighting at the local
front, against the ruling class. The priority was thus the removal
of the local repressive regimes rather than the destruction of the
global capitalist system.
There were vigorous student campaigns against military regimes and
dictatorships in the '80s. This includes Korean students and
workers bringing down Chun Du-hwan in 1987 and Filipino students
and masses toppling Marcos in 1986. Burmese students fought against
23 years of Ne Win's military rule in 1988; Chinese students
attacked corruption and the lack of democracy in 1989 in Tiananmen;
Nepali students dismantled the "panchayat system" and King
Birendra's absolute rule in 1990; and in Bangladesh, General Ershad
was deposed after leftist student fronts united to fight his
dictatorship.
Student movements in these countries tend to fight for more
democratic space in a "liberal democracy." However, the focus on
"liberal democracy," as the major, or only, goal of students'
struggles is not without problems. The first problems are the
limits of "elections" and "political freedom" in really empowering
the people in Third World countries. What is common about electoral
politics is money politics: the rich and the powerful can easily
mobilize support by threats and rewards.
There were more austerity policies imposed after "democratic
elections" than before. After dictators were deposed in the
Philippines and Korea many students returned to "normal studies"
and forgot about the sufferings of the marginalized.
The focus on "liberal democracy" also tended to play down
internationalism, liberation at the global level. In the '80s,
international solidarity was defined, sadly, as nothing more than
giving support to one's own liberation movement, rather than
struggling together. Moreover, this electoral fever has had an
alienating impact at the campus level. Student activists today can
only make political speeches " they no longer like to dance, to
laugh, or to be humorous. Given that politics is only a facet of
our cultures, the student movement is also condemned to become
"one-dimensional" rather than multi-faceted.
Apart from "liberal democracy," the other trends of student
movements in the '80s was anti-imperialist. These campaigns have
been defined in negative terms, removing an external threat or
occupation, rather than in a clearer positive form, such as new
relations of production, culture, economics and politics.
There has been a shift in the imperialist tactics, from that of a
colonial control to one of economic imperialism and "information
imperialism." In the era of colonial rule, the character of Third
World struggle was national liberation and armed struggle. However,
economic and "information imperialism" are more subtle than this.
To tackle economic imperialism, we need to redefine the economy.
The strategy is two pronged: weakening the dominant economy and
building up an alternative. Students should spread the message that
the "growth economy model" of the First World not only deprived the
Third World people, but also assaulted ecology to such an extent
that we have to stop such insane economics now.
The information age is also being used to enhance imperialism.
Progressive movements in the Third World need to think about ways
of utilizing this information technology on our own side.
The resistance to this military, economic and information
imperialism is the vision of a peoples' alliance: that students
should integrate with marginalized classes for a common struggle
and also develop a vision of an international network of
resistance. It is important for student activists to reach out to
the peasants, workers and other marginalized groups in our society,
but ultimately who can organize the students if not the students
themselves?
Excerpted from The Asian Students Association Bulletin, Sept 1992
-30-
REPRESSION OF MOLDAVIAN ANARCHO-SYNDICALISTS
MOLDAVIA -- Confederation of Anarcho-Syndicalist members Tamara
Burdenko and husband Igor Hergenreorder are suffering under the
ex-USSR Moldavian regime. Both have published articles denouncing
the government's authoritarianism and nationalism and the growth of
fascist ideology.
Tamara was fired from her job April 29, 1992. Igor was questioned
and physically threatened by the KGB July 22. On July 24 an unknown
person rang their bell and gave Igor a sock that contained a
severed dog's head. On July 25 Moldavian TV news warned of those
"creating anarcho-syndicalist groups". Shortly after this Tamara
and Igor's lawyer refused them further service. They have also had
break-ins, their phone line has been cut, and their neighbors have
been warned about them.
The Confederation of Anarcho-Syndicalists in the Commonwealth of
Independent States have organized a support campaign for these two.
Please send letters of protest to the following:
The People's Court for Buyukan Sector
Moldavia, Kishniev-1
ul M.Vistyazul, d.2
Persident of the Court
Parliament
Moldavia, Kishniev-1
ul Stefan cheu Mare, d.105
Secretariat of the Moldavian Parliament
Human Rights Commission
President
Moldavia, Kishniev-1
pl Velikogo Natsionalnogo Sobraniya, d.1
Mircha Ion Snegur
Info from the US Workers Solidarity Alliance and the Moscow
Confederation of Anarcho-Syndicalists
-30-
Sendero Verde can't go home!
Orlando Polo and Mercedes Paez are activists and members of Cuba's
only green/anti-authoritarian opposition group, the Eco-Pacifist
Movement "Sendero Verde" (Green Path). After touring the U.S., the
Cuban government refused them permission to return. Neither East
Nor West-New York City launched a letter-writing campaign on their
behalf, and because of that Cuban officials met with the Green
Panthers. But permission to return is still denied, so another
round of letters is being called for. Please write letters
demanding that Orlando and Mercedes be allowed to return home, and
address them to the Cuban Interest Section in Washington D.C. Mail
them to N.E.N.W.-N.Y.C. who'll get them to Cuban officials:
528 5th Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11215
Tel. (718) 499-7720
-30-
IRISH BORDER PROTESTS: BRITS OUT OF IRELAND
IRELAND -- On Jan 1, 1993, there were protests all along the British
state-imposed border between the north-eastern six counties of
Ireland and the remaining 26 counties. Thousands of people took
part in actions which included reopening roads and bridges,
demonstrating at British barracks and posts, and marching through
military checkpoints.
Since the early 1970s, British forces have been closing roads (with
craters and barriers) and destroying bridges along the border. As
a consequence, the daily life of border communities has been
massively disrupted, with people having to make a detour of several
miles to visit their neighbours just across the border.
In the last few years border communities have been taking direct
action to secure unrestricted access back and forth across the
border, reopening roads and rebuilding bridges, often in the face
of severe harassment from the crown forces. The Border Roads
Campaign has now been established with the support of the Combined
Community Associations, and they organised the day of action on
January 1.
Lackey Bridge near Clones (on the Monaghan/Tyrone border) has
become the symbol of the border resistance campaign. It has been
reopened by local people and closed by the army, on numerous
occasions since the start of the present campaign. On January 1,
400 people turned out to reopen the Lackey Bridge crossing. With
supporters from the U.S., Wales, Germany and Brittany, local people
maintained a 72-hour vigil to keep the crossing open.
From ECN-UK
-30-
GERMANY: PARCEL BOMB KILLS ACTIVIST
Freiburg, Germany -- On friday, Jan 22, 1993 Kerstin Winter was
killed by a parcel bomb in Freiburg. The 24-year-old Kerstin was a
politically active lesbian in Freiburg. She was the first chair of
the "Support Association for Subculture", which is active in
support for an autonomist leftist youth center in Freiburg. She was
also active in antifascist groups.
By the same evening a spontaneous demonstration was taking place in
the inner city of Freiburg, in which 600 - 700 people participated,
expressing their sorrow and anger. Afterwards, the demonstration
marched to the house in which Kerstin had been killed, where a
vigil was started. Another solidarity demonstration took place in
Heidelberg. On Monday, Jan 25, a state-wide demonstration took
place with over 8,000 participating.
The background of the attack remains unclear but the nature of
Kerstin's political work and the nature of the murder suggest that
it may have been the work of fascists.
From comrades in Germany
-30-
REPRESSION IN GREECE CONTINUES: MILITANTS ARRESTED
ATHENS, Greece -- On Wednesday, Dec 2, Jiorgos Balafas, Wasiliki
Michu and Andreas Kiriakopulos were arrested in Athens and charged
with crimes, including founding a terrorist organization,
assassinations and bombings. They are charged with participating in
"Anti-State Action," (now called the "1st of May Commando"),
"November 17," and "Revolutionary Resistance." Prior to the arrest,
November 17 became active again, bombing Athens' financial district
in response to tax increases.
When the three militants were arrested, police claimed to have
seized a cache of weapons, hand grenades, false documents and
drugs, as well a car with a fake license plate. Shortly after the
arrests, however, Greek TV uncovered a scandal when the head of the
police and a high-ranking general gave conflicting accounts of what
had been seized. In the end, the Greek interior minister resigned
and publicly apologized for some of the false information.
Balafas has been sought by the cops for several years now, and the
Greek press has been portraying him as a "leading terrorist."
Balafas responded in a press release: "I have not killed or wounded
anyone. I demand that these lies be publicly set right. I have not
made a statement to police because I do not want to become a victim
of their so-called 'anti-terror campaign.' Cops lie today, just as
they always have, just because my ideas and my way of life are
radically opposed to the existing system and its values " and many
people think this way! " that makes us dangerous to them. But it
has nothing to do with these charges."
From Interim #220
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PARTIAL VICTORY FOR NIGERIAN ANARCHISTS
CAMPAIGN CONTINUES
by Bob McGlynn
ANARCHISTS POLITICAL PRISoners from Nigeria's Awareness League
(A.L.) -- Udemba Chuks, Garba Adu, Kingsley Etioni, and James
Ndubuisi -- won some reprieve Jan 29, when they were conditionally
released on bail. (They must report to the State Security Service
each week.) Arrested seven months ago during a wave of
worker/student unrest protesting I.M.F./World Bank-imposed
austerity plans, the anarchists were detained under the notorious
"Decree No. 2" - a catch-all "preventative detention" law.
At a Calabar court hearing Jan 25, their lawyer, Ifeanyi Nnajiofor,
demanded a grant of bail. On hand were 100 A.L. members plus
(according to a Feb 1 A.L. communique) "scores of journalists,
activists, members of the Nigerian Bar Association, and interested
members of the public." Then on Jan 29, "we won our greatest legal
battle yet ... [when for] the first time we set our eyes on them in
seven months. They looked badly emaciated, weak and sick." Setting
a legal precedent, poking a hole in Decree No. 2, the judge granted
bail, and set the next court appearance for Feb 18. Then as the
four left court "there was an attempt to have our colleagues
re-arrested outside the premises, but this was stoutly resisted by
the crowd." They were then promptly hospitalized for two weeks.
The A.L. has info that the military may try to have the men
re-arrested once again. This would not be uncommon in Nigeria where
the judiciary and the military are constantly at odds.
The U.S. Workers Solidarity Alliance (W.S.A) and Neither East Nor
West-New York City (N.E.N.W.-N.Y.C.) have successfully spearheaded
a worldwide campaign for the A.L. A week of protests at Nigerian
embassies was called for Feb 22-26, with actions by anarchists in
Moscow, Dublin, New York, San Francisco, London and Hamburg.
Petitions and protest letters have been received from Turkey, South
Korea, Russia, Italy, Brazil, Canada, Poland, the U.S., South
Africa, Bulgaria, Germany and the U.K. Anarchist publications
worldwide have covered the story. Special thanks to Love and Rage
newspaper, who mailed an international appeal for A.L., and the
International Workers Association and Spain's National
Confederation of Labor (C.N.T.) for sending $500 each to A.L. for
legal fees.
The question of money is of special priority. Ifeanyi, the A.L.'s
lawyer must travel 1000 kilometers from Lagos to Calabar, Nigeria.
As of last December, the A.L. had a $12,000 debt to him. Ifeanyi is
being extremely thoughtful and generous according to the A.L., but
his expenses must be paid. Over $1000 has been received by A.L.
from anarchists abroad. The international campaign played a part in
A.L.'s bail victory, possibly saving the lives of these men.
(Prisoners don't get fed in Nigeria.).
International Money Orders or U.K. Bank Checks can be mailed
directly to:
Awareness League, c/o Samuel Mbah, P.O. Box 28, Agbani, Enugu
State, Nigeria.
Foreign currency goes a long way now in Nigeria with $1 equaling a
third of a months wage. Communiques will be made available for a
contribution sent to:
N.E.N.W.-N.Y.C., 528 5th St., Brooklyn, NY 11215, U.S. (A.L.'s
letters are available for a dollar's worth of postage and a
xeroxing fee, but please try to send more to help the defense.)
For more info: W.S.A, 339 Lafayette Street, Room 202, New York, NY
10012, Tel (212) 979-8353
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INFOSHOPS: THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE
INFOSHOPS ARE PREVALENT IN Europe, especially in Germany where
there are over sixty. The infoshop structure, comprised of regular
national and international meetings and cooperative projects, forms
an integral part of the autonomist movement there.
An infoshop is across between a bookstore and a library. Activists
can go there to read or buy movement papers and books; buy
paraphernalia such as stickers, masks and spray paint; attend
meetings, lectures or films, or just plain hang out. Most infoshops
rent a space, but many are in squats. Others use part of a cafe or
center. Some are run by one collective, while others have a
different group in charge each day. None of them have paid
positions. Most infoshops have a women-only day either weekly or
monthly.
Besides the groups running the infoshop, other groups use it as a
meeting place and as a mailing address. The latter is especially
useful for security reasons. Members of many groups, not just those
involved in "illegal" activities, don't want to be personally
identified with their group. Instead of using a private address,
which can be dangerous because of fascists and police repression,
or apost office box which can be traced to a responsible
individual, groups can have a mailbox at the infoshop. If the group
has problems with their mail being opened or stolen, they can use
a double envelope: inner addressed to the group and outer to the
infoshop. (This is standard practice for criminalized papers in
Germany.) If necessary, the infoshop needn't even know who is in
the group. In case of a grand jury investigation, members of the
group in question cannot then be identified by the infoshop
collective. They in turn do not risk being in contempt of court by
refusing to speak.
Infoshops could play a useful role here as well. With all the
anarchist and autonomist papers around, no person can subscribe to
all of them. Infoshops, receiving numerous movement papers, would
help keep the movement better informed. Infoshops can be equipped
with a telephone, fax or a computer, making communications that
much easier between groups. And infoshops are useful in maintaining
movement security.
For more on infoshops try contacting:
Papiertiger
Cuvrystr. 25
D-1000 Berlin, Germany
Tel (49) (30) 618-3051
1-2-1
121 Railton Rd
London SE24, England
Tel (44) (71) 274-6655
-30-
VERY SMALL INTERNATIONAL NOTES:
BERLIN, Germany -- On Feb 8, the French philosopher and spokesman for
the French neo-nazi group, "New Right," Alain de Benoist, was
scheduled to speak at an intellectual gathering debating "A New
Society For Literature." But as he arrived, about 15-30 young
autonomists dragged Benoist down the street and beat him up. The
nazi philosopher managed to get back to the venue, but his glasses
were smashed so the event was called off.
From Interim #227
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Comrades in Johannesburg have set in
motion the beginnings of what they believe to be the first openly
operating revolutionary anarchist movement in South Africa. They
have sent out a call for assistance, specifically in the form of
advice, literature, and funds (when possible). Contact Renato &
Elli at:
P.O. Box 51465
Raedene, 2124
Johannesburg, South Africa
KURDISTAN, Turkey -- On Jan 22, 1993, Stephan Waldberg, a freelance
journalist with Radio Dreyeckland in Freiburg, Germany, was
sentenced to three years and nine months in prison. Waldberg,
arrested in October, is charged with being a courier for the
Kurdish Workers Party (P.K.K.).
Send copies of your letters to Turkish authorities and letters to
German embassies to:
Radio Drekeyckland, Alderstr. 12, 7800 Freiburg, Germany
-30-
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:
We are pleased to announce:
AMOR Y RABIA ... MEXICO
THE END OF THE SPANISH SECTION?
A Production Group (P.G.) has been formed in Mexico City and they
have produced a pilot issue of Amor y Rabia completely in Spanish.
The P.G. Mexico is made up of members of Love and Rage supporting
groups as well as members of other anarchist groups in Mexico City.
They plan to publish a monthly paper and offer it for international
distribution. The Coordinating Group of the Network supports this
project.
The P.G. Mexico has also asked that we discontinue the production
of the Spanish Section in New York and that we distribute Amor y
Rabia Mexico in its place. A decision has yet to be made and we
would like to know what you, the readers of the paper, think. So
please write to us.
_ Yes! I support discontinuing the Spanish Section from NY, as long
as the Mexican edition continues.
_ No! Even if the Mexican edition continues, I want the NY paper to
remain bilingual with a section in Spanish.
_ I don't give a damn what you do with the fucking section, but...
_ I would like a copy of the last issue of the Mexican edition with
information about subscription (please send U.S.$1 plus postage of
$0.50 U.S., $2 international)
Return this form with your comments to:
Love and Rage, P.O. Box 3, Prince St. Station, NY, NY 10012
If you are interested in more information about the new Mexican
project or if you want to send a monetary contribution contact the
PG/Mexico at:
Amor y Rabia/Mexico, Apdo. 11-351, C.P. 06101, Mexico, D.F. Mexico
-30-
@ _Love & Rage_ is a Revolutionary Anarchist newspaper produced
@ by the Love and Rage Network. The Love and Rage Network is a
@ continental network of groups and individuals in Canada, Mexico,
@ and the United States. Subscriptions to the newspaper cost:
@ $13 for first class (fast, envelope), $9 third class (slow, no
@ envelope), $13 international (outside of United States), free for
@ prisoners, GI's, published bimonthly.
@
@ Please write to us at POB 3, NY, NY 10012
@ email: lnr%nyxfer@igc.apc.org
@ or: loveandrage@igc.apc.org
@
@ Electronic Edition subscriptions are available for e-mail
@ delivery to your mailbox. e-mail subscriptions are free, but
@ we would appreciate a donation to help us and the NY Transfer
@ News Collective to continue this service.
@
@ Send your e-mail address along with a $10 suggested donation
@ in US dollars payable to: Blythe Systems
@ Attn: Kathleen Kelly
@ NY Transfer News Collective
@ 235 East 87th Street
@ New York, NY 10128
@ e-mail: lnr%nyxfer@igc.apc.org
@
-end part of 5-
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