Interview with FIST activist
Sweden: Meeting extends solidarity to Palestinians
Special to Workers World
From Sept. 7-11, activists from Europe and the Middle East
gathered in Gothenburg, Sweden, for a conference in solidarity
with the Palestinian liberation struggle. Revolutionary Com
munist Youth (RKU) and Prola taren FF, groups that organize
Palestine solidarity work in Sweden, sponsored the event.
Julie Fry, a member of Fight Imperialism-Stand Together
(FIST) in the U.S., was invited to participate. Upon her
return, she spoke to Workers World about the conference.
Workers World: What was the purpose of the International
Conference in Soli darity with Palestinian Youth in
Sweden?
Julie Fry: One of the main purposes was for people in
Sweden to learn about the Palestinian liberation struggle from
activists in Palestine and to build on the ongoing efforts of
the RKU and Prolataren FF to give support to this struggle.
The solidarity conference was originally scheduled to be
held in Gaza last year, but it was cancelled after an Israeli
bombing attack.
The RKU has been building a relationship with a youth
organization in Palestine called the Palestinian Progressive
Youth Union (PPYU). The RKU and Prolataren FF invited 19
representatives of the PPYU to attend. However, only two of
them made it out of Gaza.
All the delegates were held at the Egyp tian border for four
days by the Israeli government. The two who did finally make it
were strip-searched and interrogated for hours before being
allowed to leave. They are still in Sweden now and both are
very worried about what the Israeli Army will do to them when
they return.
In addition to the PPYU, representatives from the Shatila
refugee camp in Lebanon came and spoke about their struggle. A
representative of the Iraqi Patriotic Alli ance in Denmark
shared information about the resistance movement in Iraq. He
said that when the resistance is successful in Iraq, they will
not give any contracts to the U.S., but they will give free oil
to Cuba. Cuba supported Iraq as a member of the United Nations
Security Council during the first Gulf War in 1991.
There were also representatives from Red Youth in Norway,
the Anti-Imperialist Camp in Austria and the Che-Leila Youth
Brigade in Britain, as well as representatives from the Basque
Country, Western Sahara and Cuba. We exchanged information and
ideas about building international support for the Palestinian
struggle.
What did you learn about the state of the Palestine
solidarity movement in Sweden and other parts of
Europe?
Both the RKU and Prolataren FF are working very hard to find
ways to support Palestine. Both groups have sent delegations to
Palestine and the Shatila camp. Prolataren FF, which is a
left-wing soccer club in Sweden, is developing a soccer program
for the youth in Shatila.
The RKU and all of the other European organizations present
were promoting a boycott of products made in Israel. They
talked about the successes they have had with this campaign.
Sales of Israeli products have dropped in several countries,
including Sweden, since the boycott began. The groups discussed
ways of taking the boycott campaign further.
One of the unique events that Sweden has every year in
support of Palestine is a "Peace Race" organized by Prolataren
FF. The race was originally organized 20 years ago as a
solidarity action against apart heid in South Africa. For
several years now it has been a race in solidarity with Pales
tinian. It draws hundreds of people every year. This year, it
coincided with the conference.
The race is important because it makes the link between the
historic struggle against apartheid in South Africa and the
current struggle against the racist Israeli state.
Before the race started, there was a "mini-tribunal" of the
U.S. government that featured speakers from Palestine, Cuba and
Western Sahara. There were also performances by a local
Palestinian dance group and Swedish bands.
The solidarity movement in Sweden is very vibrant, but it is
also under attack from right-wing forces. Several Swedish
newspapers denounced the conference organizers for supporting
"terrorism." A right-wing party in the Swedish parliament tried
to have the conference cancelled and threatened to stop
government funding that is provided to the organizers, as it is
to many political organizations in Sweden.
The organizers handled the attacks very well. They did not
back down at all. They were invited to debate a member of the
right-wing party on a national Swedish television show during
the conference. On the show, the representative of the RKU said
it's the Israeli state that is terrorist and that the
Palestinian people have the right to resist the occupation of
their land.
What was your contribution to the
conference?
I was invited to speak about the Pales tine solidarity
movement in the U.S. I spoke about the work of the
International Action Center and the struggle to promote the
Palestinian liberation struggle in the anti-war movement
here.
I also reported on the demonstrations during the Republican
National Conven tion, which I had just come from. All of the
conference participants were very happy to hear that there is a
vibrant anti-war movement fighting U.S. imperialism here.
What else did you learn about current struggles in
Sweden?
I had a lot of questions for the activists in Sweden about
the economic situation in their country. I told them that many
people in the United States think of Sweden as a country that
represents a successful "compromise" between capitalism and
socialism because of the broad welfare system there that
provides many of the same benefits to Swedes that people in
socialist countries receive.
The Swedish activists I spoke to explained that they felt
the welfare system in Sweden was created as a response to the
Soviet Union and was an attempt by the ruling class in Sweden
to keep the country from turning to socialism. They also
reported that, since the fall of the Soviet Union, and
especially since Sweden joined the Euro pean Union, Swedes are
facing massive cutbacks in salaries, health care and the public
pension system. All of these were major pillars of Sweden's
welfare system.
The youth from the RKU reported that there are more and more
attempts to try to privatize education by imposing school fees
or by making students pay for food at school, which used to be
free. There have been major demonstrations in Sweden recently
in response to the health-care cuts, which have affected many
major hospitals and clinics.
Basically, the Swedish situation shows that there is no
"kinder, gentler" form of capitalism.
Reprinted from the Sept. 23, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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