THE SEIGE of Sarajevo by Serbian militias has been a heartless and brutal aftair. It is the culmination of Serb nationalist aggression unleashed on Croatia. Bosnia-Herzegovina Slovenia by the degenerate Milosevic regime in power in Belgrade.
socialist Outlook has argued for a year that despite reactionary nationalism on all sides, the primary responsibility for the spiral into bloodshed lies with the decision by Milosevic and his cronies to utilise nationalism to stay in power in Serbia.
Turning point
The turning point in the fraught relations between the lifferent republics was the of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo in the late 1980s. This of course was When Slovenia and Creatia declared inde pendence in 1991 the only possible response or socialists was to support their right to national self-determination, and to oppose Serbia's military attacks.
There was one important qualitication which had to be made to that. Socialists cannot support the idea of an 'ethnically pure Slovenia or Croatia. The of the Serbs in these republics, their right to live there, without national oppres sion and harassment, had to be defended.
This was not the response of the Tudjman leadership in the Croat capital Zagreb. hua man and com pany, as well as some of the right-wing Croat militias, did their part in turning the legitimate struggle for self-defence into an ethnic combat. Massacres of serolan civians. although not on the scale of Milosevics butchers, have ocand Milosevic unleashed Serb nationalism curred.
It is a real tragedy that interethnic strife has now been unleashed Bosnia-Herzegovina, where Croats, Serbs and Muslims have lived without conflict for decades. Again the prime responsibility But once the conflict started, the Croat cadetship played it role in Milosevic's game, turning on the Muslim community and trying to conquer Croat zones in Bosnia.
The EC and the United Namons have been under pressure take action to stop the slaughter and suffering ir Sarajevo. Part of that pressure has been the demand for military action, even the use of US aircraft, against the Serbian forces.
The relief effort must be supported. At one level there appears to be no strict boundary between the relief effort and military intervention. Canadian UN t10ops have secured Sarajevo airport; and the planes coming into Sarajevo with rellef supplies have to be defended.
But there is a clear distinction between the use of minimal force to derend une rener sup plies and secure their distribution, and a US or EC attempt to use military force to impose a political solution.
There are no imperialist knights in armour who could be unleashed to defend the communities - serb, Croat or Mus lim - currently under threat, or guarantee national self-deterWhen British troops went in to Ireland in 1969 they went ostensibly to defend the Catholic sneroes beins savased or Protestant mobs and police. That they nationalist community surprista some people, out wat a predictable result of the fact that British imperialism had its own agenda, not identical to defence of the Catholic ghettoes.
The way forward for the republics in ex-Yugoslavia has been shown by the growing peace movement Milosevic in Belgrade. recognition of the right to self determination, and above all of the war, will ecreate the basis for co-opera tion between the peoples of the area Imperialist intervention will not bring about these objectives; in the long-term it would only frustrate them. • No. 25 - July 11, 1992 .. Page 3
In a massive display of solidarity and strength, men marched in Lesbian and Gay Pride on 27 June. Up to 100,000 took part in the festival which followed in Brockwell Park, making it the largest Pride over.
Some of the racist overtones of Europride '92' had been removed as a result of work by anti-racists, but the event retained the theme, and much work remains to be lesbian and gay campaigning.
internationalist direction.
Building the Lesbian and Gay Rights Coalition demonstration on 31 October is the next objective. Victory seems certain for 450 Birmingham NALGO workers on strike for two weeks over under staffing at neighbourhood offices The dispute stems from the council's decision to extend its neighbourhood office network from 39 to 64 offices without employing more workers.
Shortage of staff has also hit housing workers, burdened with increased work though the poll tax. Housing Work were compelled to ecome involved in an 'interview service for 'off the street' inquiries at the neighbourhood offices.
NALGO members hit back with limited industrial action on 15 June, but an attempt to wallet. , issues): I I include a donation of £..
Name..
Address -------July 11, 1992 victimise workers taking industrial action at Washwood Feath Frousing Vice tea to an all-out strike from 16 June. ine strike was called off on 30 June following council commitments on more staff. No illusions NALGO branch officer Martin Tolman said: We have won a victory here, but weshould be under no illusions. Management will probably give extra staff to the neighbourhood offices through redeployment within the existing workforce. about how Labour councils are dealing with the local government crisis and their own staff. , Yes! I want to take out a subscription to Socialist Outlook, Subscription rates ¡ EC Europe (including Britain): 1 year's subscription (24, Send to Socialist Outlook, PO Box 1109, London N4 2UU No. 25 Home News For much of this dispute we were faced with a council refus"Labour councils are just implementing cuts; for workers there is little difference between cal The Tore is ented previous "dented shield" strategy is in tatters.
"The strategy of tellins workers not to rock the boat and wait for the election of a Labour government has been proved to e disastrously wrong. With the re-election of the Tories, Labour RECENT articles in Socialist Outlook have given a distorted account of the new queer politics' and failed to address the key material issues which gave rise it.
First, the question of language... Language is powerful, as anyone who has been called a queer, a slag or a nigger will testify.
The feelings that flow through your body in times of abuse touch you to the core. And the issue of how you respond is crucial to your whole pride ana austusyWhen you're called a queer, you can't engage in some linguistic debate about how the word is gay. That is fine in the security of meetings, but 1s completely useless on the street or in the playground Defiance You must either claim the else deny it to your shame.
There is no other choice The terms 'gay and lesbiar elatively powerless precisely because they are the terms of polite society. On the the struggle is engaged, the term is 'queer. councils either have to fight the government or attack their own workers.
'There is little doubt what their choice will be. Even's in Birmingham, Islington and many other local authorities show us what the reality of the situation now is. Local government workers now have a massive fight on their hands to prevent the destruction of tens of thousands of jobs and defend IN OUR last issue, Rebecca Flemming argued that the movement towards a new conception of 'queer politics' was a retrograde step, an apolitical move away from the struggle for lesbian and gay liberation. Here TOBIE GLENNY takes up the debate, arguing that it is a positive move, bringing together a coalition of the sexually oppressed.
It is the language of the op pressor, the anguage of power. That is why many or us : laim it for ourselves.
But there is another issue at the heart of queer politics, and that is unity.
In the mid-1980s lesbian and gay politics got taken over by a 'right-on' clique, who tried to define the terms "lesbian and gay to the exclusion of half of the movement:
• Lesbian and gay groups bers were excluded from lesblan and say vertues - Lesbian and gay sadomasochists were excluded from demonstrations and meeting places, and subject to Transvestites and transsexuals were rejected and ridiculed.
- Many others who didn't fit into the nice, neat categories of 'right-on' erebian ento lead were made to completely unwelcome.
Consequentiy a large number of those who had identified as lesbian and gay stopped seeing the lesbian and gay movement as belonging them and lookea eisewnere And elsewhere was queer.
Diversity
Queer politics is a politics of liversity It reaches beyond he old definitions of lesbiar and gay'r seeking to draw together in struggle all those who identify as sexually op pressed.
If the right-on minorities want to be want to carry on alone, then But either way they should stop lamenting the fact that those they sought to exclude are now reorganising themselves, independent of right-on control.
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