International news in brief
By John Catalinotto
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."
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