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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