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06 Kluft zwischen Arm und Reich weiter vergrössert
From: Claudia Volgger
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aus: info@linkeseite.de
______________________________________________
Kluft zwischen Arm und Reich weiter vergrössert
________________________________________________

Entwicklungszusammenarbeit/Unterrichtung
"DIE KLUFT ZWISCHEN ARM UND REICH HAT SICH ERNEUT VERGRÖßERT"

Berlin: (hib/WOL) Die Kluft zwischen Arm und Reich hat sich im letzten
Jahrzehnt weiter vergrößert, erklärt die Bundesregierung in ihrem 11.
Bericht zur Entwicklungspolitik, den sie in Form einer Unterrichtung
(14/6496) vorgelegt hat.
Danach lag die Einkommenslücke zwischen dem reichsten Fünftel der
Weltbevölkerung und dem ärmsten Fünftel im Jahr 1997 bei einem
Verhältnis von 74 zu 1, während es 1990 noch 60 zu 1 und 1930 nur 30 zu
1 betragen habe.
Einem Beispiel des Berichts zufolge verfügen die drei reichsten Menschen
der Erde über ein größeres Vermögen als das gemeinsame
Bruttoinlandsprodukt der 49 ärmsten Entwicklungsländer. Insgesamt
verlaufe die Grenze zwischen Arm und Reich allerdings nicht mehr
zwischen Nord und Süd oder Ost, sondern zunehmend zwischen Gewinnern und
Verlierern der wirtschaftlichen Globalisierung.
Das gelte sowohl für Staaten oder Regionen als auch für die
unterschiedlichen Chancen von Männern und Frauen.
Laut Regierung müssen weltweit drei Milliarden Menschen ihr Überleben
mit weniger als zwei US-Dollar pro Tag bestreiten. Von den knapp 1,2
Milliarden Armen, die mit weniger als einem Dollar täglich auskommen
müssten, lebe knapp die Hälfte in Südasien und etwa ein Viertel im
südlichen Afrika. Die Zahl der Hungernden wird mit 800 Millionen
Menschen angegeben.
Insgesamt sei das weltweite Problem von mangelnder Bildung,
Bevölkerungswachstum, Ausbreitung von Krankheiten sowie der
Veränderungen wirtschaftlicher und politischer Strukturen gleichzeitig
Folge und Ursache der Armut. Laut Bericht können etwa 880 Millionen
Jugendliche nicht lesen und schreiben, dabei seien Frauen und Mädchen
überproportional benachteiligt.
Während Landflucht und die Ballung der Bevölkerung in den Megastädten
der Entwicklungsländer zu Gewaltkonflikten und verstärkten
Strukturproblemen führe, gefährde vor allem in Afrika die rasante
Verbreitung von Aids/HIV bisherige Fortschritte und mache künftige
Chancen zunichte.
Wirtschaftlich stellten die Auslandsverschuldung der ärmsten Länder,
ihre unzureichende Beteiligung am Welthandel und Auswirkungen
internationaler Finanzkrisen entscheidende Hindernisse und Risiken dar.
Im Politikbereich gefährde die Zahl gewaltsamer Konflikte, der Mangel an
guter Regierungsführung, die geringe Beteiligung der Bevölkerung am
sozialen Fortschritt und die Ungleichheit der Geschlechter vielfach die
Chancen für eine positive Entwicklung. Hinzu komme es in Folge von
Klimaveränderungen verstärkt zu Naturkatastrophen.
Dabei wird auch ein Zusammenhang zwischen dem Wirtschafts- und
Konsummuster der Menschen in den Industrieländern und den Folgen für
Entwicklungsländer angesprochen.

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soschautsaus 015: ERICH FRIED über Ottokar-Kernstock-Orte
From: audimax.europa@aon.at
================================================

So schaut's aus! [VAU-HEUTE]
Texte / Dokumente / Programmdiskussion / Fortbildung / WWW-Tipp / Downloads
[Versender: AUDIMAX PUNKT EUROPA audimax.europa@aon.at]

Der große Schriftsteller und Lyriker österreichischer Herkunft, ERICH FRIED,
hat in seinem autobiographischen Werk über seine Jugendjahre in Wien
(Mitunter sogar Lachen, Berlin 1986) sich auch eigens in einer der
Geschichten mit Ottokar Kernstock, dem Schöpfer des Hakenkreuzliedes und der
österreichischen Bundeshymne ab 1929, befasst. Er schreibt als Schluss
dieser Geschichte:

"Als viele Millionen tot und ermordet waren und das Dritte Reich zertrümmert
war, entstand die Zweite Republik Österreich, mit einer neuen Nationalhymne
von anderer Hand. Aber dem alten Wechselbalg Ottokar Kernstock haben
mindestens einige Österreicher ein liebevolles Andenken bewahrt. Bis heute
gibt es einen Ottokar-Kernstock-Platz und eine Ottokar-Kernstock-Straße. Wie
hieß doch die Inschrift auf den alten Dolchen der Hitlerzeit? "Die Treue ist
das Mark der Ehre."

Ob es in überrascht hätte zu erfahren, dass es in Österreich 54 Plätze,
Wege, Gassen, Strassen und eine Allee gibt, mit denen Ottokar Kernstock "ein
liebevolles Andenken bewahrt" wird? Ob es ihn wirklich überrasch hätte, dass
sogar vier Landeshauptstädte mit Straßennamen des Wechselbalgs Ottokar
Kernstock gedenken?

Dabei müssen es zur Zeit der Erscheinung des Buches mehr gewesen sein.
Zumindest in Wels ist es engagierten Bürgern gelungen die Ottokar
Kernstock-Straße in Thomas-Mann-Strasse umzubenennen
(http://www.antifa.at/antifa/bilanz.htm).

Die Treue ist das Mark der Ehre - Orte in Österreich:

Aber auch anderswo geistert Kernstock weiter: So gibt es in der Steiermark
eine Alpenvereinshütte
(http://www.alpenverein.at/huette/ottokar-kernstock-haus.htm) und gar ein
Kernstock-Museum (http://www.stmk.gv.at/verwaltung/lmj-dir/server/mus-42.stm).

Bundesland Ort Straßenkennzahl Straßennamen

Burgenland (1) Pinkafeld 3959 Kernstockgasse
Kärnten (3) Klagenfurt 4790 Ottokar-Kernstock-Straße
Villach 5360 Ottokar-Kernstock-Straße
Völkermarkt 7657 Ottokar-Kernstock-Straße
Niederösterreich (17) Bad Vöslau 10016 Kernstockgasse
Berndorf 10359 Dr.-Ottokar-Kernstock-Straße
Brunn am Gebirge 16969 Ottokar Kernstock-Gasse
Deutsch-Wagram 12002 Kernstockgasse
Gablitz 21906 Kernstockgasse
Gars am Kamp 13969 Ottokar Kernstockgasse
Gloggnitz 18136 Kernstockgasse
Gmünd 13118 Kernstockgasse
Klosterneuburg 22471 Kernstockgasse
Mistelbach 16405 Kernstockgasse
Neunkirchen 18390 Kernstockgasse
Perchtoldsdorf 17749 Dr.-O.-Kernstock-Gasse
St.Andrä Wördern 20318 Kernstockstraße
St. Pölten 8571 Ottokar-Kernstock-Straße
Strasshof an der Nordbahn 12923 Kernstock-Weg
Waidhofen an der Thaya 20817 Kernstockstraße
Wiener Neustadt 9084 Kernstockgasse
Oberösterreich (1) Grein 28171 Kernstockstraße
Steiermark (29) Bruck an der Mur 34673 Ottokar-Kernstock-Straße
Burgau 46337 Kernstockgasse
Feldbach 35325 Ottokar-Kernstock-Straße
Feldkirchen bei Graz 35528 Ottokar-Kernstock-Gasse
Fernitz 35629 Kernstockweg
Fohnsdorf 36641 Kernstockgasse
Frohnleiten 35705 Kernstockweg
Fürstenfed 45741 Kernstockgasse
Gleisdorf 39046 Kernstockgasse
Graz 33760 Kernstockgasse
Hartberg 36533 Kernstockplatz
Haselsdorf Tobelbad 54306 Kernstockweg
Hausmannstätten 60310 Ottokar-Kernstock-Weg
Kalsdorf bei Graz 36007 Kernstockgasse
Kapfenberg 34795 Kernstockgasse
Knittelfeld 37112 Ottokar-Kernstock-Gasse
Krieglach 38174 Kernstockweg
Langenwang 38213 Ottokar-Kernstock-Straße
Leibnitz 37327 Ottokar Kernstock-Gasse
Leoben 37664 Ottokar Kernstock-Gasse
Lieboch 36151 Kernstockgasse
Liezen 37992 Kernstockgasse
Mariazell 34904 Ottokar Kernstock-Gasse
Mureck 38548 Ottokar Kernstock-Allee
Mürzzuschlag 38279 Kernstockgasse
Pinggau 70490 Kernstockstraße
Sankt Lorenzen im Mürztal 34958 Ottokar Kernstock-Straße
Voitsberg 38943 Ottokar-Kernstock-Gasse
Vorau 65857 Kernstockstraße
Tirol (1) Innsbruck 39459 Kernstockstraße
Vorarlberg (2) Dornbirn 43690 Kernstockstraße
Hohenems 44002 Kernstockstraße


VAU-HEUTE Partei n BGBl1975/404 idgF/Zl45.341/4-V/7/0 v18.4.01
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
BERNHARD AMANN
Stadtrat
Im Sohl 1, 6845 Hohenems
Tel. 0664 340 20 10

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
KONTAKT/ WWW / VERSAND
mailto:b.amann@nextra.at
http://www.hohenems.at/rathaus/rathaus5_8.htm
Versand: mailto:audimax.europa@aon.at

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AKTIONEN UND ANKÜNDIGUNGEN
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08 WORKERS POWER GLOBAL WEEK E-newswire of the LRCI
From: "newswire"
================================================

WORKERS POWER GLOBAL WEEK E-newswire of the LRCI
3 August 2001
Subscribe to: newswire@workerspower.com
http://www.workerspower.com
============================================================
>> WELCOME TO ISSUE #58
Workers Power Global Week is the English language e-newsletter of the LRCI.
To unsubscribe mail to: unsubscribe@workerspower.com. Please forward this to a comrade.
============================================================

>>ARGENTINA: MORE PROTESTS AS SENATE PASSES "ZERO DEFICIT LAW"
>>ITALY: MORE ACTION THROUGHOUT EUROPE AGAINST GENOA REPRESSION
>>IRELAND: BOMBS AND BOMBAST AS ASSEMBLY FALTERS
>>CZECH REPUBLIC: UK SETS UP RACIST CONTROLS AT PRAGUE AIRPORT
>>SOUTH AFRICA: COSATU LEADERSHIP SIDETRACK STRIKES
>>BRITAIN: REPORT EXPOSES POLITICIANS¹ ROLE IN RACIST DIVISIONS
>>AUSTRALIA: SOCIALIST ALLIANCE AND BY-ELECTION DRY RUN
============================================================

>>ARGENTINA: MORE PROTESTS AS SENATE PASSES "ZERO DEFICIT LAW"
Partido de los Trabajadores por el Socialismo, Buenos Aires
On July 31 Argentina witnessed another day of massive blockades and a 24-hour strike of the civil service sector as a protest
against the economic adjustment plan. The public sector union ATE supported the actions. The leaders of the official unions (CGT, CTA)
did not support the actions. The CGT has failed to call for any actions either in place of the ones that are occuring.
Public sector workers and the unemployed blockaded nearly 50 main routes and streets throughout the day. Protests and pickets were organised
all over the country, from the main working class districts of Buenos Aires, to the north-east provinces of Jujuy and Tucumán,
to the western province of Misiones ­ only a few miles away from the Iguazú Falls where Blair met President de la Rúa ­ to the southern
provinces of Neuquén, Chubut and Tierra del Fuego.

Altogether some 20,000-25,000 people joined the protests throughout the country. Some of the largest demonstrations were in
Buenos Aires province: the main routes were blocked by 1,200 pickets in La Matanza, one of the most combative areas, 1,000 in
Florencio Varela, and 500 in La Plata City which included a sizeable contingent of public sector workers.

At an assembly of pickets in La Matanza and they voted to co-ordinate action plan starting with 24 hours action next week and 48 hours
the week after and then 72 hours in the third week. The demands they have raised are: to scrap the zero deficit law; release of all
protestors arrested and detained.

The government¹s response has been to threaten the leaders of the unemployed movement with legal action and imprisonment.

The national day of protest was part of a series of actions against the various attempts made by the government to overcome the economic
crisis ­ Argentina has an external debt of $130 billion and has been in recession for more than three years.
Finance Minister Domingo Cavallo¹s medicine to suit the IMF and World Bank demands is to reduce salaries.

The Zero Deficit Law, which was passed by the Senate last Monday, is designed to eliminate the public expenditure deficit ­
and in practice means a 13% reduction in the salaries of any public sector worker or pensioner whose earnings exceed $500 per month.

As part of his 6-day tour of Latin America, Blair visited Argentina briefly on August 1st to discuss with President Fernando de la Rúa.
Only 10 days after thousands of workers and youth demonstrated in Genoa against free trade, the G8 and international financial institutions,
Blair¹s message to de la Rúa and other Latin American leaders was for them to "work together to fight for a successful
World Trade Organisation round due to be launched in Doha, Qatar, in November" (Financial Times, Wednesday August 1 2001).
Following the passing of the Zero Deficit Law, Argentina was promised additional help from the IMF.

The adjustment plan represents a high risk strategy for de La Rúa since it jeopardises the already unstable government¹s coalition.
The road blockades are not the only expression of working class opposition to the plan: students have occupied universities and
lecturers have call an assembly to discuss further action; there is also a call for a 24-hour teachers¹ strike for next week.

FOR MORE ON THE ANTI-GLOBALISATION MOVEMENT SEE:
http://workerspower.com/wpglobal/genoabalance.html
http://workerspower.com/wpglobal/gothenburgbalance.html
http://workerspower.com/wpglobal/Nicesummit.html
http://workerspower.com/wpglobal/gttenburgG8.html
http://workerspower.com/wpglobal/globalisation.html
http://workerspower.com/wpglobal/FTAA.html

============================================================

>> ITALY: MORE ACTION THROUGHOUT EUROPE AGAINST GENOA REPRESSION
Workers Power Global, Berlin and Paris

Throughout Europe during the last week thousands have demonstrated against paramilitary repression in Genoa during the anti-G8 protests.
Thousands on demonstrations in about 30 cities in Germany. The events in Genoa also stirred up the mood of anti-capitalists all over
Germany, starting with spontaneous demonstrations on J21, occupations of SPD-headquaters and TV-stations in several German cities.

The biggest demonstrations occurred in Berlin, where on J26 and J28 each
time about 2,000 protestors were on the march. On J26 the police started
some provocations (e.g. trying to catch people who were posing as
Carlo Guiliano on the street because of disguising their faces), but were
stopped in doing so because of strong resistance.

The mood was one of great anger and militancy (a lot of the slogans alluded to the militant struggles of the 1970s in Germany).
The heightend political motivation was also demonstrated by the fact that a public meeting on J27 on the
Genoa-events organized by on of the Genoa-Commitees attracted more than 300 people, with a lot of interested people forced
to stand on the street, because the booked room was much to small for the amount of people who turned up.

The discussion was heavily dominated by the question of the tactics of the "black bloc". Gruppe Arbeitermacht expressed
what a lot of people in the meeting were thinking: that in the face of the concentrated attack of the bourgeois states against
the movement we should not allow the bourgeoisie to split us on the "question of violence", but that the adequate means of struggle
against the bourgeoisie and its state on demonstrations are a matter of tactics not of
principle and have to be determined within democratic and effective
structures of united coordination of the actions.

We had more problems in the meeting to make the point that the most important and strategic aim is to orient the movement
towards the working class and its organisations.
But no doubt - a lot more activists will learn this lesson quite soon!

In France there have been two demos during the last week: a series of ones on Monday 23 July, all around the country
(Marseilles, Nice, Toulouse...) and a bigger on Thursday 26 in Paris with 2000 people.
They were supported by all the unions, LO,LCR, PCF, Attac etc. The Socilaist Party has even been critical of G8 and Berlusconi.
François Holland, their national secretary, said that "the G8 died at.

LCR leader and Euro-MEP Alaine Krivine has called for a parliamentary commission of enquiry, but this appeared to be directed to Italy,
not the Europarliament which is what he should obviously have been doing - promising to put down resolution as soon as parliament
reconvenes, trying to get the signature for an emergency meeting of parliament etc.

LO have been the worst. Their editorial - put out in all their factory bulletins while drawing a clear class line between the demonstrators
and the G8,sneered at the Genoa protests:

"First and foremost, it is this dictatorship of the capitalist class over
the world economy that needs to be criticised, and not only globalisation,
which is merely one of its superficial aspects and is merely a new name for
a phenomenon that appeared at the beginning of the last century. And it is
not enough to symbolically oppose this system during world conferences,
which may be going to be abolished without anything being altered. We must
attack economic injustice, the super-profits that produce misery and
unemployment. And that must be done first and foremost here, against our
own bosses and our own state."

This is the response of a sect that demands that the unfolding of the class struggle takes place according to their own schema
or they will refuse to engage. To continue to ignore and chastise the global anti-globalisation movement will lead to the further
marginalisation and fossilisation of the LO in the months and years ahead.

FOR MORE ON THE ANTI-GLOBALISATION MOVEMENT SEE:
http://workerspower.com/wpglobal/genoabalance.html
http://workerspower.com/wpglobal/gothenburgbalance.html
http://workerspower.com/wpglobal/Nicesummit.html
http://workerspower.com/wpglobal/gttenburgG8.html
http://workerspower.com/wpglobal/globalisation.html
http://workerspower.com/wpglobal/FTAA.html
============================================================

>>IRELAND: BOMBS AND BOMBAST AS ASSEMBLY FALTERS
Workers Power Global, Galway

The "Proposals of the two Governments" issued by London and Dublin was pulished this week. This is the most up-to-date proclamation
of the ruling classes in Britain and the Republic of Ireland on pulling the Belfast "Peace" agreement out of the fire ­ by implementing it.
The Agreement (which the Irish section of the LRCI have both opposed and analyzed with equal intensity) went into deep crisis in June
this year when the Unionist first minister ­ David Trimble ­ resigned from his post having already illegally vetoed the meetings of the
North/South bodies which were one of the most important sops to the IRA, as it ceased to be a revolutionary nationalist guerrillaist force
and as it took the road already traveled by Collins in 1922.
This aspect of the crisis facing the agreement was added to by the intensification of loyalist attacks on nationalists which are always part
of the celebration of the victory of William of Orange ­ a protestant and unionist ­ over James 11 ­ a counter revolutionary feudal
Stuart Monarch in Britain ­ as far back as 1690.
The pro-imperialist loyalist guerrillas ­ the right wing of which merges with the British National Front and BNP, who are fascist forces,
went so far as to assassinate a youth who was a very popular anti-sectarian protestant athlete ­ Gavin Brett ­ whom they mistook to be
a catholic because he mixed with nationalists/Catholics.

To save the agreement Blair and Ahern brought all pro agreement parties together in Weston Park near Birmingham, at the end of June ­
including two mandated emissaries of the Provo IRA ­ who were put up separately but close by for obvious reasons.
The document which is the focus of this communiqué from WPI is the take it or leave it "final" proclamation of the Blair/Ahern Governments.

What do the proposals say?
Section 6 of the proposals states the four main issues at stake:
"The outstanding issues relate to policing, the stability of the institutions, security normalisation and decommissioning".
Let¹s deal briefly with each of the four issues above:

(a) The Northern Ireland Assembly ("Parliament"), it¹s executive of Ministers and its North/South bodies is what¹s referred to by Œthe stability
of institutions¹. At present all are on long summer holidays ­ called "recess" as for the "Mother of Parliaments". But before recess
Trimble had already dealt the Assembly two body blows by illegally suspending the operation of the North/South bodies,
pending the start of IRA disarmament; and by resigning himself as the Assembly¹s First Minister.

The Weston Park proposals have no concrete proposals on this ­ not to talk of any re-establishment of the meetings of the North/South
bodies, whose suspension by Trimble the Courts of British Imperialism have judged as illegal.
As to "security normalisation" Blair/Ahern at least use the phrase popularised by the IRA and Sinn Fein as their substitute for
the revolutionary nationalist demand "Troops Out".

But the British ruling class, whom Blair and his arse-licker Ahern serves, know they are faced with a renewal of anti imperialist action
and violence sooner rather than later. So they make any "security normalistion" conditional. Here it is from the horse¹s mouth ­
if that is not an insult to that "noble" beast:
"These steps depend on the continuing implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and the Chief Constables assessment of the threat
at the time." (Note this speaks volumes about the Blair/Ahern¹s views of how deep police reform is to go c.f. (c) below).

"Provided the threat is reduced, The British Government will carry out a progressive rolling programme reducing levels of troops
and installations in Northern Ireland". Section 14 Weston Park Proposals
None of these preconditions of "Normalisation" have been mentioned in the Republic¹s media!
As to so-called police reform the Weston Park proposals commit the British and Southern Irish ruling classes to a closer implementation
of the Patten report than the present legislation passed in the commons earlier this year.
There are a few sops thrown in to wheedle "the bold IRA" to disarm. These include the amnesty and the conditional promise of a
judicial inquiry into the murders of Rosemary Nelson and Pat Finucane.
And as for the toughest nut to crack, the Weston park proposals, apart from re-stating that de commissioning is
"Šan indispensable part of implementing the Good Friday AgreementŠ" leaves the matter to be worked out by the De Chastelain Commission.

But the Unionists will not settle for any form of words nor tokenistic measures on disarming.
Only real concrete steps to destroy arms dumps will heal the division within Unionism to keep the Assembly afloat.
The Provo IRA leaders will be meeting this weekend. Will they find enough in the Weston Park proposals to de-commission
in the immediate future and give the Unionists what they demand?
The success of the Real IRA in sustaining a bombing campaign in Britain (whatever their weakness in Ireland)
suggests that there are enough republicans around with enough support and money to take advantage of the disillusion
of the anti-unionists in the so-called Peace process since 1998.
The LRCI opposes a return to urban and rural guerrilla war in Northern Ireland to achieve justice for the nationalist minority
and a united Ireland. But we understand the disgust of many in the Hillsborough Agreement of 1998; we rejected then when many signed
up for it. We did so because it gave the Unionists a veto on progress, enshrined the right of Britain to stay in Northern Ireland and made
any progress on de-sectarianisation of the Northern statelet on disarming the anti-unionist population while leaving the RUC intact
as a force for repression against Catholics.

Only mass working class movement ­ north and south ­ mobilised on the streets and around the fight for an all-Ireland revolutionary
constituent assembly, could break up Unionist and British intransigence while offering the Unionists the prospect that in return for giving up
their privileges they will be granted all democratic rights, including autonomy in a united Ireland. This remains the only real progressive way
forward out of the current impasse.

FOR MORE ON IRELAND SEE:
http://www.workerspower.com/wpglobal/irishpeaceprocessdec2k.html

============================================================
>> CZECH REPUBLIC: UK SETS UP RACIST CONTROLS AT PRAGUE AIRPORT
Workers Power Global, Prague
The discussion was sparked in Czech media when British immigration
authorities set up their office at Prague airport of Ruzyne. Already more than 50 people were not allowed to fly to Britain just in few days,
vast majority of them Roma.
The spokesman of British embassy said that this is not racial discrimination as among this people were people of various colour of skin,
ethnic and national origins" but he didn't forget to add that Roma abuse British asylum system. Two employees of Czech TV - one Roma
and one "white" ­ with same amount of money and same invitation to Britain wanted to fly to Britan
Everybody can estimate the results - Roma was not allowed. This is a clear racist policy of British state.
In fact Roma from Czech have many reasons to refuge. They are strongly discriminated in Czech Republic with majority unemployed and
with big pressure on them to leave their flats from private owners. The number of racist attacks is still quite high. Most recently Roma
was murdered by Nazis in town of Svitavy in East Bohemia. This happened despite in Svitavy the co-existence between Roma and "white"
communities belongs to the best in the country.
Ordinary Roma long time ago resigned to demand action from government but also from Roma leaders whose best efforts are made to stop
Roma from self-organisation and self-defense against racist attacks.
Revolutionaries in Britain must fight for right of Roma from Eastern Europe to obtain asylum status in Britain.
They are political refugees escaping racist murders and heavy discrimination. Emigration is not the solution to the problem,
but right of those who became desperate must be defended by workers¹ movement.

The solution is to organise self-defense among Roma with all anti-racists involved and fight with determination against racial discrimination.
This task lies with revolutionaries in Czechia and other Eastern European countries who must win oficial workers organisation to fight
oppression of Roma, win the trust of Roma in possibility of effective united action and to fight existing Roma leadership whose main strategy
is collaboration with Czech rulers for stinking provision.

* Down with immigration controls!
* Fight racism in Britain and Czech Republic!
* Organise self-defense to drive the fascist murders off the streets!
* Fight for militant anti-racist policies in trade unions and workers
parties!

MORE ON MARIO BANGO CAMPAIGN SEE:
http://www.workerspower.com/wpglobal/Marioappeal.html
http://sop-lrki.webpark.cz/

FOR MORE ON OPPRESSION OF ROMA SEE:
http://www.workerspower.com/wplobal/romaoppression1.html

============================================================
>>SOUTH AFRICA: COSATU LEADERSHIP SIDETRACK STRIKES
Workers International Vanguard League, South Africa
The capitalist press and the Cosatu leadership are deliberately trying to depoliticise the current developments around strikes in the country.
Gold and coal mining face strikes, the Eskom strike took place recently, the strike at the Mondi and Sappi papermills were over an
extended period, the strike at Alexcor, a huge state-owned diamond mine was over an extended period as well; the engineering,
petrol attendants, tyre and rubber workers all came to the brink of national strikes.
The motor sector strike is on. The bosses in the clothing sector have come with low wage offers and there is huge dissatisfaction among
workers in this sector as well. At the time of writing the clothing workers were balloting. An extensive strike at Iscor is also due.
So what is happening? The strikes or threatened strikes reflect a political realization on a mass scale among the fighters/vanguard of the
industrial working class of the capitalist nature of the government.
Through their own bitter experience workers are labeling the government as being ambiguous on not stopping privatization of Eskom while
millions of people are without electricity, let alone houses. Since 1994 there has been a massive increase in unemployment while the
demands of the working class have not only not been met, the ANC government is spearheading the capitalist attack on the working class.
The cry of globalisation has been used as a stick to beat the working class to accept the most horrible of sacrifices. There is no alternative
to globalisation, the capitalists said. But globalisation is nothing but the rescuing of declining capitalists profits at the expense of the working
class. It is the route to the destruction of the fabric of the working class itself.
The working class has realized that in the light of the current never-ending economic recession that they are faced with a life and death
struggle. In this struggle, there is the increasing realization among the industrial working class that the ANC is not on the same side
of the barricades as the working class.
The dissatisfaction of the working class is reflected in workers labeling the ANC over their handling of struggles at Eskom,
the municipalities, Telkom, Iscor[state-owned iron and steel monopoly], Alexcor [state-owned diamond mine], as selfish and anti-worker.
It is also reflected in the Bredell land occupation, among others, and the formation of a landless people¹s movement. The Cosatu leadership
have attempted to deflect workers anger away from the ANC and the state towards the individuals running these parastatals.
Even parts of the Cosatu leadership are forced to admit in the heat of the moment that the ANC is behaving no different from when the NP
was in government. The huge anti-state/anti-Œsystem¹ sentiment of the working class is being re-awakened, having been blurred by the
whole negotiations process, and the TRC , HRC and multitude of Commissions, as well as the Popular front ANC government.
In this sense, although the strikes may be over economic issues, they have a strong political undertone to them. What the strikes show
is that although there was a period of political confusion in the minds of the working class over the political nature of capitalist democracy
under the ANC, the working class has by no means been defeated. The working class is in fact on course for a direct clash with the ANC
government.
It was this realization that made the SACP to hurriedly call bilaterals with Cosatu and the ANC.
At all costs the situation had to be brought under control. Soon after the bilaterals the Cosatu leadership signed deal after deal,
proclaiming victory but in essence doing their best to stop the wave of strikes.
The most important feature of the July Cosatu executive meeting has been the absence of any plan for the scheduled 29-30 August
general strike against privatization.
There has been no widespread mobilization and there is no plan to follow up In fact what is implied in the postponement of the alliance
summit scheduled for 18-19 August to the 22nd September is
TO LET THE STRIKE WAVE SETTLE AND TO HELP DEFLECT THE POLITICAL ANGER OF THE MASSES AWAY FROM THE ANC.
THE SCENE IS SET FOR ANOTHER SORT OF FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT WHICH WILL BE JUST ANOTHER DISGUISED WAY
OF LETTING THE PRIVATIZATION CONTINUE. COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN IS THE ORIGINAL INTENTION OF THE LIVING WAGE
CAMPAIGN, THAT IS, TO HAVE ALL MAJOR SECTORS NEGOTIATING AT THE SAME TIME SO THAT THIS COULD FORM THE
BACKBONE OF A GENERAL STRIKE FOR WORKERS DEMANDS!

Another important feature of this period has seen a significant number of white workers going out on strike, against sweetheart deals
as at Spoornet by Cosatu leaders [the state-owned railways] , and in solidarity with the Cosatu members at Eskom.
The current free capitalist relations provides the basis for a broader working class unity that was very difficult before 1994.
That the threat of Ocgawu forms part of the Cosatu discussions, shows that the Cosatu leadership is afraid of independent political
expression of the working class.
To understand current developments we need to go back to the period of the late 80¹s. The period of 1985 ­1990 was an (almost)
revolutionary situation in South Africa. This was a period of virtual dual ­ power ­ many street, block committees existed throughout
the country. In this period the COSATU industrial locals played a leading role in sustaining resistance against the system ­
the slave­capitalist state. This period could be described as having many similarities to the February 1917 revolution in Russia,
when the Czar overthrown. What was lacking in South Africa was a truly revolutionary working class party.
The SACP played a counter-revolutionary role through heading off the revolutionary thrust of the working class into negotiations
to transfer government to the ANC, then a petty bourgeois [middle class] nationalist movement. The height of the mobilization of the masses,
under these circumstances, set the scene for the rise of the Popular Front government led by the ANC. From the start this government
was a government of crisis ­ sooner or later the capitalist nature of the government would clash with the demands of the masses.
The bourgeois [capitalist] government was incapable of completing the democratic revolution precisely because it meant that they make
inroads into the profits of monopoly capital: thus for example the ANC could not even implement the diluted program called the R.D.P:
to redistribute 30% of the land in 5 years means going up against capitalist landowners; to solve the housing question means taking
on the banks and property & construction magnates; to solve the nutrition & education question means putting massive pressure on the
capitalists to increase wages (would someone who is guaranteed of basic food every day go and slave for a pittance from a capitalist ??).
As time has gone by since 1994, the Popular Front government has exposed itself, through non-delivery on the one hand and openly capitalist
policies attacking the working class on the other. The ongoing mass demonstrations against the instruments of imperialist control,
in Seattle, up to Genoa, although led by the middle class, reflect deteriorating conditions worldwide of both the working class and
middle classes; the general strikes in Zimbabwe; the defeated public sector strikes, and at VWSA in January-February 2000,
the mass retrenchment of 15000 at Telkom have all sharpened the exposure of the ANC government and sweetheart nature of the COSATU,
SACP leadership.
The 80th year of the SACP has seen top ranking party leaders, such as Radebe, Blade Nzimande, Moleketi, Yengeni, Erwin, Kassrils,
Shilowa, Cronin, all openly side with the capitalists. These one the type of leaders who justify R238 million package to Coleman Andrews
for selling off all SAA planes, while workers are starving. The SACP allegiance to Communism is really only for anniversary speeches,
while openly and behind closed doors they seek the way to betray the struggles of the workers.
The COSATU leadership, which is steered by the SACP, follows a policy of the begging bowl with the bosses.
This begging bowl politics has still seen a massive decline in the standard of living of workers and an ongoing bloodbath of retrenchments.
COSATU leaders are only leading/calling strikes because of the huge pressure of the working class. These leaders cannot be trusted to lead
any fight.
In fact they are deliberately trying to deflect the struggles into harmless deadends. This is why, after having abandoned Samwu workers
to fight privatization, virtually on their own, the Cosatu leadership are suddenly waking up, not to fight privatization but to gain leadership
of it and then betray the fight. Clearly the Anti-Privatization Forums are establishing a base among the working class beyond the control
of the ANC-SACP.
The situation calls for a workers Summit , uniting all workers in mapping out the way forward, including an extended general strike
against privatisation and for job creation! There should be minimal obstacles in the way of trade union unity [we say that as a minimum,
freedom of expression should be guaranteed].
All industries still retrenching should be expropriated without compensation and placed under workers control.
As part of their rescue plan for capital the government wants to manipulate inflation down to 3% or even less. This is why they are leading
the way with wage cuts. Only the united working class can stop them in their tracks. We reject the concept of Proud SA¹- we say
we are proudly working class ­ the working class of the world should unite against all capitalists, our common enemy.
The essence of the strike against privatization is a political fight against the ANC government and its policies.
Now is the time to break the chains of the SACP & ANC from the workers movement. Let us learn the mistakes of the 1985-1994 uprising!
Now is the time build a revolutionary working class party.
It is the only way the working class in SA can achieve its October! [Referring to the October revolution 1917 when the Bolsheviks
led the working class to power over the interim government of the Mensheviks and the Capitalist parties who had taken over from the
Czar in Russia]. Forward to the re-building of the Fourth International! We call on all working class fighters to join hands with WIVL
in achieving these objectives!

Workers International Vanguard League, 1st Floor, Community House
41 Salt River rd, Salt River, 7925 South Africa
ph 27 21 4476777 email: wivl@sn.apc.org
============================================================

>>BRITAIN: REPORT EXPOSES POLITICIANS¹ ROLE IN RACIST DIVISIONS
Workers Power Global, London

Local politicians and community leaders have exacerbated the divisions among the people of Bradford, reveals a recent report.
The report, Community Pride Not Prejudice, blames community leaders for reinforcing segregation between Bradford's ethnic groups.
It also highlights the role of local politicians in working hand in hand with local leaders in furthering divisions.
The study was headed by former Commission of Racial Equality chairperson Sir Herman Ouseley and commissioned by umbrella
group Bradford Vision.
The report is limited both by its remit and its politics. It does not look at the role of police in harassing young blacks and Asians;
it does little to examine the affects of national politics upon race relations in Bradford nor does consider the role of organised fascists
in attacking and harassing local Asian people. It fails to show how Asian and black people live in the worst areas, have the least resources
and the highest unemployment.
But what it does do is highlight how mainstream local politicians and have fostered suspicion, intolerance and division and have
contributed to the growth of racism in the area. And how they have been helped in this by community leaders - white, Asian and black -
who have reinforced the divide between communities in order to keep their own control.
The report attacks "community leaders who are self-styled, in league with the establishment key people and maintain the status quo of
control through fear, ignorance and threats." It goes onto say that these leaders power is maintained through the "segregated status quo."
Political leadership, says the report, is "weak in kowtowing to community leadership and operating within a doing-deals culture to avoid disturbances."
Both black and white working class people are "rarely told what is really going on by politicians or leaders and therefore form misconceived or wrong views
about other people." There is also a lack of consultation with ethnic groups over a number of issues, such as education.
The report states that "ethnic governors and teachers in schools are marginalised", and that there are few black and Asian people
on decision making bodies, councils, regeneration bodies and so on.
Interestingly, the report claims that the government's regeneration process is actually reinforcing divisions.
Resentments are fostered because the various communities have to bid against each other for funding for projects - instead of uniting
for common solutions.
For young people the picture is even bleaker.
The report states that there is open racial conflict in and around, which is not adequately dealt with by teachers and governors.
There is little attempt to teach children and young people differing cultures. All this occurs in a schooling system where there is a
"virtual apartheid".
Furthermore, Bradford Council, which is one of the biggest employers in the area, has done little to implement equal opportunities
staffing policies. For example, less than 10 per cent of the 3,532 social services staff are Asian or black.
The traditional political parties and their supporters have failed the working class of Bradford. And this report, while making
some correct criticisms, has little to offer the working class. A real struggle for social and political change that would include
combating the police and racism while fighting for more jobs and houses and a better environment is the only way forward to prevent
more riots and division in Bradford. And that needs a revolutionary leadership to replace that of the bankrupt politicians and self styled
community leaders.
============================================================

>>AUSTRALIA: SOCIALIST ALLIANCE AND BY-ELECTION DRY RUN
Workers Power Global, Melbourne

The Socialist Alliance went into its first election campaign with no branch and as rank outsiders.
We may have only scored 0.5% of the vote but this needs to be seen in perspective.
Aston is a safe Liberal seat and has been for many years. There was no actual Socialist Alliance branch in the area and the
campaign was being run on almost no funds.
We came out of the election with a real branch in the area, ready to fight for the seat in the federal election and 321 votes for socialism.
This in an election where the name Socialist Alliance didn't even appear on the ballot paper!
The Socialist Alliance is now on the map! We had excellent media coverage and staffed all election booths with over 150 members.
And we learned a lot of important lessons.
There are loads of practical lessons ­ but it is the political ones that are the most important. The first is about sloganeering.
The only slogan on the how to vote card and the one that was focused on during the campaign was against the GST.
There were good reasons for this. It was certainly a popular slogan while we were out campaigning ­ and as the Labor Party placards
on election day said ­ it has hurt working class families.
But is it sufficient to be the statement of a group of socialists on election day? We went into the election saying that the big issue
in Aston was public transport ­ whether to build the Scoresby Freeway. In the electorate of Aston there is a single train station and
the tram line does not even extend to Knox city. There are buses but they are infrequent and do not follow the most needed routes.
Other parties made the freeway issue a major part of their campaign ­ with the Liberals making it almost a point of principle that
they supported it. It was certainly a real local issue. The Socialist Alliances position of no freeway and huge spending on
public transport had real resonance with local people.
The other issue that was discussed early in the campaign and may have needed more attention was the whole issue of One Nation standing.
Maybe as the left we have become a little blasé about the real threat to the working class that One Nation is.
In the last election in Aston they scored around 4% of the vote ­ small but significant.
And though the vote was down in the by-election it is still clearly seen as an alternative or at least a protest vote by many people.
One Nation had people on most of the polling booths and though their campaign was far from professional there would have been
an important point to be made in having a much more own policy of opposition to them during the campaign.
Our job as socialists standing for election is not to get votes for ourselves ­ this may be a good indication of how successful
our propaganda has been ­ but it is not an end in itself. Our job is to make the arguments for socialism.
To show why the politics of the labor Party and of reformism in general is not an alternative for the working class.
Our job is to put forward a programme for socialism ­ a plan for how the working class can take control of society and use production
for need not profit. That means doing more than having a few decent slogans that people like the sound of. It means being able to present
a whole platform that makes the arguments for why only a socialist revolution can bring about working class power and why it is that only
in such a society can the needs of the working class be met.

Labor and the elections
The Labor Party ran a fairly typical campaign. Even LP activists considered the candidate not much more than a party hack who
got the candidature through cronyism. Their campaign materials made no mention of the GST and were printed in blue with a heading
about the RIGHT choice. Maybe its unfair to read too much into such symbolism but it is obvious that Labor were trying to run an extremely
conservative campaign.
That said, it should be no surprise that there was a considerable swing away from the Liberals and to the Labor party.
Aston is a very mixed electorate, but a large majority of it is working class households with low to medium incomes ­
exactly the people who suffer most from the GST, from cuts to pensions and benefits and from lack of access to adequate health care.
Labor may not have won the seat, but the closeness of the election should be enough to send a strong message to the
Liberals that their days in power are numbered.
But perhaps the strongest message should be to the Labor party itself. After a string of by-election wins there is no reason to believe
that they should not have been able to win in Aston as well. But the truth is that many people no longer see much difference
between the policies of Labor and those of the Liberals.
This is particularly true in Victoria where the experience of the Bracks government has been no more funding for health and education,
the beating up of S11 and Nike demonstrators, factory closures and attacks on trade union rights ­ with the power workers in the
La Trobe valley just the most obvious example.
It¹s little wonder that One Nation and even the ultra right wing Citizens Electoral Council received a small but significant
proportion of the vote. These racists pose themselves as the real alternative to the two party domination of Australian politics ­
and people vote for them as such.
That¹s one of the reasons that the Socialist Alliance is so important. It is the real alternative for the working class.
A party that will be willing to fight for working class needs and that will base itself on the power of the working class,
using class struggle methods, like strikes and demonstrations, and not the ballot box alone as a means to power.
Socialist Alliance Conference
The first conference of the Socialist Alliance will be an important step forward in cohering the new organization and giving
it direction based on the decisions of the membership. Up till now the organization has been run by a temporary National liaison
Committee made up of members from the various left groups who launched the Alliance at the beginning of the year.
As such the politics of the Alliance and its functioning has been dominated by the compromises that these groups have been able
to come to in order to work together electorally and on joint campaigns.
The Socialist Alliance needs to move beyond these ad hoc structures at its conference. The Socialist Alliance is more than the sum
of its affiliated parts ­ there is a constant stream of people joining who are not part of any of the original groups ­
whose allegiance is to the Socialist Alliance as a whole. These people are not independents ­ their politics is the politics of the
Socialist Alliance.
Workers Power have a number of proposals for the programme of the Socialist Alliance and for the way forward if we are to build
a real alternative for the Australian working class. We want more than a temporary electoral bloc.
We want more than a group of vote catchers where we all have to subsume our politics in the name of a false unity.
We want the best and most open and democratic debate on the way forward.
In this issue we publish a selection of the documents we are putting on the table at the Socialist Alliance conference.
FOR MORE ON AUSTRALIA SEE:
http://www.workerspower.com/wpglobal/wpapaperlist.html

============================================================

>> BECOME A CORRESPONDENT FOR WPG
The LRCI has members across the globe - but there are many countries where we have no correspondents. Send us your news and views:
newswire@workerspower.com
============================================================
>> NOW FORWARD THIS TO A COMRADE >> NOW FORWARD THIS TO A COMRADE

-top-

================================================
09 Sharon schon bald vor Gericht?
From: "Eugene Sensenig-Dabbous
================================================

(English below) Beigelegt habe ich eine Stellungnahme zum Prozess gegen Ariel Sharon.
Es wäre zu hoffen, dass auch bald US-Kriegsverbrecher wie der ehemalige Botschafter in Honduras,
Leiter der amerikanischen Contra-Bewegung gegen Nicaragua
und jetztiger US-Botschafter bei den Vereinigten Nationen, John Negroponte, bald vor einem Gericht in der EU stehen.
Cheers, Eugene Sensenig-Dabbous
=====================
I can only hope that the same legal logic will soon be used in a European or international court
against the likes of Elliott Abrams (responsible for US Contra Project and future member of George W. Bush's National Security Council)
or John Negroponte (former US embassador to Honduras). "Negroponte is remembered in Honduras not only for his virgorous
support of the contras but also for his tolerance of murderous human rights abuses commited by the Honduran army.
He has been appointed United States ambassador to the United Nations" (sic & sick). (S.Kinzer, New York Review, July 19, 2001, p.31)
Maybe somebody can invite Negroponte to an weekend on the town in Brussels ;-)
Cheers, Eugene

=====================

The case against Sharon
Al-Ahram Weekly 2-8 August 2001
Rosemary Sayigh*
Examining the judicial concept of command responsibility, concludes that a mass of evidence points to Sharon and the IDF High
Command as directly responsible for the Sabra and Shatila massacres
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are bound to be difficulties and set-backs in store for the Sharon case.
Those who launched it knew that such a case could not be easy, given the diplomatic and political backing Israel can muster.
But they began from a belief in the independence of the Belgian judiciary and in the moral necessity of making this effort to claim
justice for the victims and survivors of the massacre. It is an effort 19 years overdue. However difficult it may be to bring Sharon to justice,
it is essential to rupture the amnesia that has overtaken the international community and much of the Arab world.
The concept of "command responsibility" as it bears on the current Belgian case against Ariel Sharon has appeared in several
legal commentaries lately, with some jurists taking the view that Sharon cannot be deemed guilty of direct responsibility for the massacres.
Such perspectives usually take their basic referencing in the Kahan Commission Report.
A great quantity of on-the-spot reporting, two international commissions of enquiry, and several historical studies have accumulated
a mass of evidence that points to Sharon and the IDF High Command as directly responsible for producing the massacres.
Of course no one will be able to produce a written order signed Ariel Sharon directing the Lebanese militiamen to slaughter civilians
in the Sabra/Shatila area. But such a document is not necessary. In most judicial systems -- and certainly in war crimes tribunals --
all that is necessary is evidence of control of the area in which crimes are carried out, and a hierarchy of military command.
Let us first remind ourselves of the notion of "command responsibility" as divided into three kinds: a) if the person concerned ordered
the criminal acts; b) if he failed to take action to prevent the occurrence of acts that he could reasonably foresee to be a violation of
international humanitarian law; c) if having discovered the commission of violations of humanitarian law by his subordinates,
he failed to take action to discipline or punish them.
Of the three, the first is of course the most serious, the second and third less so. From this some jurists have argued that while
Sharon may be accused of negligence, he cannot be accused of agency. I propose a counter-thesis, that Ariel Sharon knew perfectly
well what the Lebanese militiamen were likely to do in the camps, and that he intended the massacre, using non- Israelis as its instrument.
Based on historical sources, I will summarise briefly the main indications of Sharon's authorship.
First, Sharon's own autobiography supports evidence given in Ze'ev Schiff and Ehud Ya'ari's Israel's Lebanon War that long before the 1982
war began Sharon planned an invasion that would reach Beirut, "take out" the PLO and its infrastructure, and set up a Lebanese
government friendly to Israel. The US-brokered Habib Accords, by guaranteeing the security of the civilian population of West Beirut,
threatened Sharon's grand strategy. Only terror could bring about the mass flight that would deprive the PLO of any possibility of a
come-back. Sharon himself recounts how he proposed to Philip Habib "a swift, fast move...which will cause such heavy casualties
to the terrorists that they will not stay there as a military or political factor."
His plan for the operation "Peace for Galilee" (completed in November 1981) had as first aim "...the annihilation of the terrorist threat,
i.e., the destruction of their military strength as well as their entire infrastructure, including in particular in Beirut."
The International Commission of enquiry set up by Sean MacBride noted that the Israeli invasion had genocidal intentions
aimed at destroying "the national culture, political autonomy and national will" of the Palestinians. It recommended that all parties
to the Geneva Conventions and Protocols carry out their legal obligations to prosecute individuals guilty of grave breaches of the laws of war.
Such obligations seem particularly relevant to the apprehension of Israeli and Lebanese political and military leaders and participants
involved in the massacres of Sabra and Shatila.
Sharon's personal involvement in the invasion is clear from the 'Napoleonic' style in which he directed it, not from his office in
Tel Aviv but from the war front in Lebanon. He took at least two momentous decisions without passing them through the Israeli Cabinet.
It was Sharon who essentially gave the orders to the IDF to move into West Beirut after the assassination of Bashir Gemayel on
14 September, rupturing the Habib Accords. It was Sharon who gave the orders for the Lebanese militiamen to enter the camps.
Long denied by both sides, the so-called Bikfaya agreement between Ariel Sharon and president-elect Bashir Gemayel to "cleanse"
the Beirut camps (12-13 September) is established beyond any reasonable doubt. Benny Morris gives this account of their agreement
in his book Righteous Victims: "Sometime toward the end of the month. Israel and the Lebanese Christians were to uproot the remaining
'terrorist' presence in West Beirut."
Sharon himself, in his memoirs, describes the meeting thus: "Afterwards we went on to more substantive issues, first of which
was the steps that should be taken to clean the PLO cadres out of West Beirut and create an open, secure city...
It was in both our nations' interests we agreed, to make sure that West Beirut's stay-behind terrorists were uprooted,
a task that could best be handled by the Lebanese government in coordination with our own security services."
The genocidal hostility of these two men towards the Palestinians is amply recorded, and it is reasonable to assume that this formed
the core of their understanding. It should be recalled that Bashir Gemayel had formed the Lebanese Forces during the siege of
Tal Al-Zaater camp in 1976, and that the surrender of the camp was sealed with a massacre of an estimated 3,000 Palestinians.
The Kahan Report notes: "During the meetings that the heads of Mossad held with Bashir Gemayel, they heard things from him that
left no room for doubt that the intention of the Phalangist leader was to eliminate the Palestinian problem in Lebanon when he came
to power -- even if that meant resorting to aberrant methods against the Palestinians in Lebanon."
Given what Sharon in particular and the IDF in general knew about the Lebanese Forces, sending them into Sabra and Shatila
was to guarantee a massacre. Several IDF senior staff admitted as much to the Kahan Commission.
In assessing the question of "command responsibility" we need to scrutinise Sharon's movements on 15 September,
the day the IDF advanced into Beirut and established control of the periphery of Sabra and Shatila. In the early hours of that day
IDF Chiefs of Staff met with Lebanese Forces heads (Hobeika, Frem, Abi Nader) to secure their agreement to enter the camps.
Sharon himself met with some of them at 9am at the IDF headquarters outside Sabra/ Shatila. Yet after this he found it necessary
to go to the Lebanese Forces headquarters in Qarantina, before carrying on to Bikfaya to condole with the Gemayel family.
Since the cooperation of the Lebanese Forces for the "cleansing operation" was already secured, what was the reason for the
detour to Qarantina?
Lawyer and historian Karim Pakradouni, ex- Lebanese Forces spokesman, says that Sharon harangued the mourning militiamen,
telling them: "Why weep like women? Take vengeance like men."
Can such words be termed anything but incitement? Mossad's notes on Sharon's meeting with the Gemayels at Bikfaya have not been made
public but Sharon himself writes that Pierre and Amin knew and approved of the "cleansing operation" agreement.
Of primary importance in the issue of "command responsibility" is the document dated 16 September, issued by the
Israeli Ministry of Defence, stating "only one element, and that is the IDF, shall command the forces in the area.
For the operations in the camps, the Phalangists should be sent in."
This means that any military force acting within this area was de jure and de facto under IDF command.
The command to enter the camps was given by Sharon to Eitan on Thursday 16 September at 10am.
In the afternoon of the same day, around 16.00, Drori phoned Sharon (now back in Tel Aviv) to tell him that "our friends"
were entering the camps. Sharon congratulated him, and said that the operation was authorised.
Many questions that were not asked by the Kahan Commission should be asked now: what were the instructions given by the
IDF chiefs of staff to the Lebanese Forces command as to their purpose and mission in the camps? Sharon claims (in Warrior)
that he instructed the militiamen not to kill civilians but Schiff and Ya'ari report him as saying: "I don't want a single one of them left."
A second crucial question: if the Lebanese militiamen had been instructed to bring out the "terrorists" for interrogation, why was the IDF
command not surprised when, as hours went by, no "terrorists" were brought to them? Third, if the Lebanese militiamen did not know
they had an Israeli green light for a blood-letting why did they proceed at such a leisurely pace, taking time out to eat, drink and rest?
Fourth, if the IDF command really believed that there were 2000 -- or even 200 -- armed Palestinians in the camp, why did the first
Lebanese militia unit to enter the camp consist of only 120 men? Given their command view of the camps area, and the reports of
killings that began to reach IDF personnel posted around the camps as early as the evening of the 16th, is there the slightest degree
of possibility that IDF commanders did not know what was going on after the entry of the Lebanese militiamen into the camps?
All the evidence points to IDF command knowledge that what was going on in the camp was not arrests but killing; and that it was
civilians not "terrorists" who were being killed. If the IDF chiefs of staff knew this, and did nothing, it could only be because Sharon
intended what was about to unfold.
No military historian would believe, given the IDF's formal take-over of command over the Sabra and Shatila area before the massacre
began, that it did not have Israeli personnel posted inside the camps' area. Such evidence as they might give would certainly be
suppressed by the Kahan investigation in the interests of national security. If one day one of them retires, or is smitten by conscience,
we may know more. But there is absolutely no necessity to prove that IDF personnel took part in the massacre, or were inside the camp,
since evidence of their complicity and support is already overwhelming.
The militiamen could not have accomplished their "task" without IDF logistical and practical support, and such support could not have been
provided without orders from the top: they were conveyed to the camps through Israeli-controlled areas, conveniently sign- posted; IDF posted
around the camp prevented residents from escaping; night flares were dropped to illuminate dark streets; food and other provisions were
supplied by the IDF: Israeli bulldozers were used by the militiamen to flatten homes on top of the victims; the IDF cut telephone communications
between the camp area and the city.
The subordination of the militiamen to the IDF was evident to observers -- journalists and survivors -- who saw them helping the IDF
to round up men and herd them into the Sports City on Saturday 18 September. Another clear indication of cooperation is the positioning
of the commander of the Lebanese units, Elie Hobeika, next to the IDF High Command.
On the second day (17 September), the IDF command allowed a second unit to enter camp; killing continued for twelve hours after.
According to their own admission, the IDF High Command knew of the massacres. And even after the general "discovery"
of the massacre, the IDF made no move to arrest the Lebanese militia, as was their duty under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Finally, in relation to the Kahan Commission Report, it should not be forgotten that it accused Sharon of "personal responsibility,"
not just the more often quoted "indirect responsibility." It should also be remembered that evidence placed before the
Kahan Commission -- thought by many to be Mossad's notes on IDF and Lebanese Forces meetings including those between
Sharon and Gemayel -- has yet to be opened to the public.
For Sharon to be exculpated of intention to cause a massacre, i.e., of the first degree of "command responsibility",
he would have to prove that: i) the IDF allowed the Lebanese militiamen into the camps without giving them any explicit orders,
which would be extraordinary unless based on prior understandings; or ii) the IDF gave explicit instructions,
e.g., to round up -- or kill -- "terrorists" but spare civilians, and that these order were not obeyed. If Sharon claims the
second position, he must then prove beyond a shadow of doubt that the IDF were not aware that a massacre was being
carried out in the camps until it was almost over. This is equally incredible.

* The writer is a Beirut-based sociologist and author of Too Many Enemies: The Palestinian Experience in Lebanon, 1994.