May Day in Belgium
Ben Bella honored at Workers Party fete
By John Catalinotto
Brussels, Belgium
Some 2,500 activists and workers from around
Belgium filled a building outside Brussels on May 1 to
celebrate the workers' holiday with the Workers Party of
Belgium.
The day had two major themes: the struggle to "stop U.S.
aggression," with emphasis on the Pentagon's crimes during the
invasion and occupation of Iraq; and an effort by the WPB to
elect some special activists as representatives to the Belgian
Parliament in the May 18 elections.
Keynote speaker for the anti-war theme was the leader of
Algeria's liberation struggle from France, former Algerian
President Ahmed Ben Bella. The 86-year-old Ben Bella described
the war on Iraq as "a war decided by the group of oil barons
who lead the United States today.
"But it concerns more than Iraq and its oil," he said. "It's
also a struggle for the domination of the world. The United
States sees Europe as a growing power that it wants to
control." But an even greater danger, he said, is the U.S. plan
to restrict China's access to energy resources.
Ben Bella also described "people like Rumsfeld, Ashcroft and
Cheney" as being "part of a Christian religious current that
represents a fundamentalism much more dangerous than that of
Bin Laden.
"After his war on Iraq," Ben Bella continued, "Bush plans to
hit Syria, Iran, Korea. It's an endless war. This system is no
longer tenable. There must be another way. We live in the time
of the beginning of the end of the capitalist system. We have
to change it."
About Palestine he said: "Sharon is the little cousin of
Bush! The United States supports Israel unconditionally because
this country plays the role of regional gendarme for the
Americans." He added that "the Iraqi people will also make
their Intifada."
Ben Bella also linked the struggle against the war with that
against capitalist globalization. He called attention to the
large demonstrations in London and other European cities
against the war.
Regarding the Belgian parliamentary elections, WPB Secretary
General Nadine Rosa Rosso focused on three leading candidates
who represent different sectors of the Belgian working
class.
One is Dyab Abou Jahjah, a dynamic young man of North
African origin who has been a leader of the anti-racist
struggle and for immigrant rights.
Another is Maria Vindevoghel, who has been a leader of the
struggle of the workers at Sabena Airlines, laid off when the
state-owned company declared bankruptcy, to fight to regain
their jobs and rights. Vindevoghel wrote a book about the
Sabena workers called "I Accuse."
The third was Dr. Colette Moulaert, who had just returned
from Iraq. There she, along with three other doctors from the
Belgian progressive movement, had both cared for the injured
and wounded in Iraqi hospitals and confronted U.S. tanks in the
streets of Baghdad.
Reprinted from the May 15, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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