The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.61/No.44           December 15, 1997 
 
 
In Brief  
Czech premier forced to resign
Vaclav Klaus resigned as prime minister of the Czech Republic November 29 at the insistence of President Vaclav Havel. Klaus is currently enmeshed in a scandal over a large campaign contribution from a businessman who won the privatization bid for a major state steel factory. Klaus has been widely praised in the big-business press for his role in spearheading the Czech government's privatization drive and other "market reforms."

The Czech regime, which is a candidate for membership in NATO and the European Union, has faced a growing economic and political crisis over the last year. The country's gross domestic product is predicted to grow by less than 2 percent this year, the government's current-account deficit stands at 6.7 percent, and the value of the Czech koruna has dropped 10 percent against the German mark this year. The government insists it plans to move ahead with bank privatizations and further austerity measures projected for 1998.

Farmers in Italy protest EU fines
Hundreds of farmers unleashed truckloads of sheep into downtown Rome November 25, and marched beside them demanding that the government pay the more than $200 million in European Union fines slapped on Italian farmers for the so-called overproduction of milk. In Turin, Vincenza, Brescia, Florence, and other cities in the north of the country, thousands of farmers disrupted traffic by blocking highways and railroad tracks with their trucks. Protests began on November 19, when negotiations broke down between the unions and the government on lowering the fines. On November 28, Prime Minister Romano Prodi backed down and announced the government would reimburse farmers for the penalties.

Government collapses in India
The coalition government in New Delhi headed by United Front prime minister Inder Kumar Gujral collapsed after the Congress Party withdrew its support November 28, forcing Gujral's resignation. This is the third government to fall in India in the last two years. Officials of the Congress Party, which lost power two years ago after nearly five decades as the ruling party, claimed the United Front had dealings with forces that killed former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The Congress Party is now trying to paste together its own government along with fragments of the 14-party United Front. If this fails, a new election will need to be called three years ahead of schedule. The right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party, which won the largest number of seats in the last parliamentary vote, is gearing up for new elections.

Palestinians reject pseudo peace
Under accords previously signed between Tel Aviv and the Palestine Liberation Organization, Israeli troops are supposed to withdraw from chunks of the West Bank three times between April 1997 and mid-1998. Having refused to comply with the first two of these deadlines, the Israeli Cabinet approved a proposal by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu November 30 to carry out one withdrawal over the next five months. The latest scheme would only give back about 8 percent of the occupied territory to Palestinian control, and Netanyahu says it will only happen if the Palestinian authority moves decisively against so-called terrorists.

Palestinian officials denounced the plan when Netanyahu first announced it at a November 27 news conference. "If Netanyahu wants to give out test balloons to tackle his problems with the Arabs, the United States, and the rest of the international community, we tell him we will not negotiate through the media," said Saeb Erakat, chief Palestinian negotiator. Tel Aviv is also "reneging or canceling signed agreements and then going into the oblivion of negotiations without a genuine commitment." Some rightist forces also condemned the proposal. A new Zionist group, Idea Front, posted a picture of Netanyahu with Arab headdress with "Liar" written as a caption. Tensions within the ruling Likud Party are escalating. This is reflected in the Israeli newspaper Jerusalem Post, which has recently carried opposing views on whether Netanyahu should be ousted.

Winnie Mandela faces Truth Commission, runs for ANC post
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela faced more than a week of hearings before South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission over charges of her involvement in the killing, abduction, or torture of half a dozen youth in the late 1980s, during the fight to overthrow the racist apartheid regime. Madikizela-Mandela was earlier found guilty in a criminal trial and fined in the kidnapping of 14-year-old Stompie Seipei; one of her former bodyguards was convicted of his murder.

Madikizela-Mandela, who is the president of the African National Congress Women's League, is currently running for deputy president of the ANC. The election will take place during the ANC's congress in December. Her campaign has focused on attacking the ANC leadership for not doing enough to resolve problems of housing and crime, and she has called for reinstating the death penalty.

Cuban court sentences terrorist to 15 years in prison
Walter Van der Veer, a non-Cuban member of the U.S.-based counterrevolutionary group Commandos L, was sentenced to 15 years in prison by a Cuban court November 26. He was arrested in 1996 and charged with organizing a terrorist act - which carries a maximum penalty of death -while gathering material for Molotov cocktails. When seized by Cuban authorities, he possessed a commando knife and U.S. military garb. Tony Bryant, one of Van der Veer's counterrevolutionary cohorts said he wanted Washington to step in and force Van der Veer's release, saying the man "posed no threat." The defendant confessed to distributing anti-government leaflets and said he went to Cuba as a militant and a missionary, but denied trying to organize the overthrow of the government.

Sugar strikers rally in Mexico
About 100 striking sugar workers in Mexico stormed the Congress floor November 26 demanding the return of $780 million in union benefits they had not received. Chanting "Down with the government!" and "We demand our money," the protesters squared off with several dozen guards, who attempted to block their entry using sticks and fire extinguishers. More than 20 people were injured, and the legislature was suspended for two hours. Some 700 sugar workers in the National Sugar Workers Union have camped outside the Congressional building since September 10, demanding that the government reimburse funds allegedly swiped from them by a union official.

Cops attack anti-`Pilgrim' rally
On November 27 hundreds of protesters attempted to march through Plymouth, Massachusetts, to Plymouth Rock - a site where for more than a quarter century the United American Indians of New England and their supporters have held an annual National Day of Mourning to remember the genocide against their ancestors. Local cops attacked the demonstrators with mace and arrested 25 activists, most of them Native Americans.

Diaper baron will cut 5,000 jobs
Kimberly-Clark, a leading U.S. paper tissue company, in the name of battling "stiffer competition" announced plans to lay off 5,000 workers and shut down or sell as many as 18 plants. Huggies diapers and Kleenex tissues are among their well-known products in competition with Procter and Gamble, who produces Pampers.

- BRIAN TAYLOR  
 
 
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