-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the July 20, 2000
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
INTERNATIONAL NEWS IN BRIEF
IRELAND: ULTRA-RIGHTIST MARCH BARRED
The annual reactionary "Orange Order" march in Portadown,
County Armargh, has led to clashes in the six counties in
the North of Ireland still ruled by British imperialism. As
of July 10, most of the fighting has been between pro-
fascist demonstrators and the police.
The Orange Order--representing the most backward pro-
British elements--try each year to march on Garvaghy Road,
which is the center of the pro-republican community in that
region. Republican, in this context, means those who
support independence of all of Ireland from British rule.
It usually means they support the Sinn Fein party and the
fight for Irish freedom.
The Orange Order's demand to march there is roughly
analogous to a Ku Klux Klan demand to march on a Black
neighborhood in Mississippi or Alabama.
The British occupying troops and the local Royal Ulster
Constabulary, which were seen stopping the Orange Order
march this July, have in the past worked hand-in-hand with
the ultra-right group. They all share the goal of keeping
the six counties under British domination, and have often
acted with brutal repression against Irish republicans.
In the past decades, however, Sinn Fein and the Irish
Republican Army have made the old order too costly for
London to maintain. While the armed struggle waged by Irish
freedom fighters has not yet succeeded in driving the
British out, it has won concessions codified in recent
accords.
To protest its inability to march on Garvaghy Road, the
Orange Order called a general protest and set up roadblocks
and barricades in 120 places. In a few places they clashed
with the RUC. While the RUC contained these protests, it
did not use the rubber bullets fired at republican
demonstrators in the past.
ITALY: VATICAN, FASCISTS FAIL TO HALT MASSIVE GAY MARCH
On July 8, a confrontation took place in Rome between the
International Gay Pride Parade and an alliance of the
Vatican and neo-fascist groups. The day ended with a clear
victory for gay rights. Hundreds of thousands of marchers
overwhelmed the handful of fascists and the Catholic
hierarchy.
The confrontation, which had been building up for months,
focussed on the Coliseum. Lesbians, gay men, bisexual and
trans people had chosen Rome for their international
parade. In the early planning they had even won financial
support from the city government.
But the Vatican leaders--known for their anti-gay bigotry-
-complained that the parade challenged the Church's plans
for Jubileum 2000, when tens of thousands of religious
pilgrims were expected in Rome. Right-wing and ultra-right
groups rallied behind the Vatican's call. And the city
government pulled out its funding and refused a permit to
march on the Coliseum.
The lesbian/gay/bi/trans rights movement took up the
challenge. It won support--in some cases for the first
time--from all progressive and working-class forces in
Italy. By the time of the parade hundreds of thousands of
lesbian/gay/ bi/trans people were on the streets of Rome
with the kind of colorful and proud march that is most
often seen in New York or San Francisco.
In addition, a strong showing from all parties of the left
was on the streets with the movement, said the July 9 issue
of Manifesto. People openly identifying themselves as
Catholics--but in favor of gay rights--and even some
priests joined the rainbow parade.
Manifesto called it the most important political
demonstration since the December 1994 outpouring of retired
workers that threw the government headed by Silvio
Berlusconi out of office.
CZECH REPUBLIC: COMMUNISTS OFFER LEGAL AID TO YUGOSLAVS SUING
NATO
On June 29, a legislative caucus of the Communist Party of
Bohemia and Moravia--the Czech Republic--announced it would
offer legal aid to citizens of Yugoslavia who have been
damaged by last year's NATO air strikes if they sue for
compensation.
According to Vojtech Filip, the head of the party's
legislative group, the party is doing this in response to
demands raised by three international tribunals that took
place in Kiev, Berlin and New York concerning NATO's action
against Yugoslavia. All three tribunals found that 19 NATO
countries have violated their own laws, the UN Charter and
the Geneva Convention on the methods of conducting a war.
The U.S. tribunal, headed by former U.S. Attorney General
Ramsey Clark, also found NATO political and military
leaders guilty of crimes against peace. That is, these
leaders plotted aggression against Yugoslavia and launched
this aggression in violation of international treaties.
The Czech communists also will demand that the prosecutor
of the Tribunal for War Crimes in the Former Yugoslavia,
Carla del Ponte, report to the United Nations Security
Council her "absolutely different views on NATO atrocities
during its aggressive pact in Yugoslavia."
Del Ponte had reported that she saw no reason to charge
NATO with any war crimes or to investigate NATO actions any
further. Most observers were not surprised by del Ponte's
conclusions, as her tribunal was set up and funded by the
NATO countries that carried out the war against Yugoslavia.
Filip explained that under the status of the International
Tribunal for War Crimes in the former Yugoslavia, Security
Council permanent members have the right to dismiss del
Ponte or launch proceedings against her.
BELGIUM: BIG VICTORY FOR CLABECQ 13
Thirteen worker-organizers and union officials from the
closed-down forge in Clabecq, Belgium, won an important
legal victory in court July 11 when the Nivelles tribunal
trying the case was declared incompetent.
In effect the decision was that the prosecution had forced
the opening of the trial without following proper legal
proceedings. This disrupted the possibility of defense. So
the current charges against the defendants, known in
Belgium as the Clabecq 13, have been abandoned pending an
appeal by the prosecution to open a new trial.
The Belgian government was attempting to repress 13
militant union leaders it had put on trial under an 1887
anti-worker law that makes it just as much a crime to
incite an action by writing and speeches as by direct
involvement. These unionists have led the workers' struggle
to keep their jobs at the Forges de Clabecq. They were well
known for militant actions and their strong anti-racist and
internationalist positions.
The unionists have drawn widespread support among union
activists in Belgium, because their class-struggle record
has been a shining example of how it is possible to fight
when the enemy is both big capital and the government.
According to a report from the Workers' Party of Belgium,
which has been a staunch supporter of the defendants, the
courtroom was filled with workers, Belgians and immigrants,
Flemish- and French-speaking people.
When the good news was announced cries of joy and
fraternity rose. "All together, yes, yes, yes," they
shouted and started a rally right in the courtroom.
At the impromptu rally Roberto D'Orazio, the Clabecq union
leader, immediately drew the lesson that the workers'
movement must dare to struggle, dare to win. He called for
an immediate mobilization to stop all new closings of
plants and factories.
Roberto Marra, another union leader, took note of the work
that union delegates had to do with all the workers to win
their support for the struggle. "When the boss succeeds in
dividing the workers," he said, "he wins. When the
delegates succeed in uniting the workers, they win."
- END -
(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to
copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message
to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
------------------
This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>.
To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
