Palestinian hunger strike in Zionist jails
decades. Yet it is only now that they come under levels in the Party. It is because they are now the strongest individual organisation on the left, and their arguments won over an entire Labour
Tin Liverpool numerically they were very small on
The message is clear - you can , put forward whatever ideas you want inside the Party — as long as no one listens to them. Once you start to win people over, watch out!
Witch-hunts are not new to Labour party. In the 1920s, 22 local Parties were suspended for refusing to expel Communists; in 1945 Ernie Roberts, now an MP, was refused endorsement; in the 1960s came the major attack on the Socialist Labour League-led Young Socialists; and individual constituencies suspended since — such as Man-
Without doubt, witch-hunts are used to try to maintain what the leadership sees as a cloak of respectability. Like Wilson in 1964, Kinnock has smelt the possibility of governmental office, and will stop at nothing in ditching socialist policies in hopes of
Palestinian
prisoners started a
strike on December 4 in protest
at increased Israeli repression
inside the prisons. According to
a press release issued by the
prisoners, the strike
was called for because "the become unbearable and be
prisoners were "willing to risk
their lives in order to put an end
to the "new
the prison.
The statement went on to say that: It is no secret that the prison
authorities decided to take advantage
release of more than 1,000
political prisoners, freed in the May
1985 prisoner exchange, to recover
ground lost to the prisoners over the
last year. This includes the require-
ment to stand for a head count in
Askelon Prison, the mixing of women
political and criminal prisoners in
Neve Terza prison and violent pro-
vocation leading to the unreasonable
use of tear gas in Askelon Prison.
These are only some examples of the
achieving it. Our role should be clear
• to expose both the leadership, and the "soft left" who support it, for what they are; and at the same time to increase our efforts to build an uncompromising and effective within the rank and file of the Party.
Keeping quiet will not make the witch-hunt go away. The only way to stop it is to build a serious base throughout the constituency parties and in the unions. For the witch-hunt in the Party is being waged by an alliance between Kinnock and almost the whole union bureaucracy: and it will soon be followed by a witch-hunt
positions in the unions in the way Communist Party members were years already a threat in the CPSA.
We must ensure that we do not fall into the trap adopted by some on the left — arguing that defence of Militant" means we can no criticise them politically. "Militant" themselves try to use the argument that anyone taking issue with them over political differences is joining the witch-hunters. Adopting this attitude does no one any favours.
We must continue to debate our differences, but unlike Kinnock and
By LUCY MATTHEWS
new order which is being imposed on
the Palestinian political prisoners...
The worsening of conditions is not
limited to any particular area and in-
cludes the quality of tood, health
care, the right to receive books and
newspapers and above all the
violence and humiliation. Socialist Viewpoint No. 10 February 1985 pl4
the "soft left" - whose opposition is to any form of class struggle beween now and the next election — we believe we can win our arguments with "Militant" supporters by convincing broader sections of the working class in the course of practical struggles. Kinnock's resort to bureaucratic manoeuvres to defeat the hard left is a
Apolitical weakness, witch-hunt should not be underestimated. It is a test of the real fighting strength of the hard left in the labour movement as a whole, as opposed to its ability to get paper resolutions passed. "Militant" will use it to build their support. We must use this period in a non-sectarian way to build the hard left and prepare for the struggles which will follow in the next Election and after, working with "Militant" where possible.
If you have information about want a copy of Witch-hunt News. c monthly bulletin with details of local experiences. contact Labour Left Co-ordination at 57. Lofting Rd.
The strike, which started in the Jnaid prison in Nablus immediately spread to the prisons in Hebron and Jenin (both inside the West Bank) and to Askelon prison inside Israel. In-
cluded among the demands of the
prisoners are: improvement of their
conditions; an immediate
stop to the violence and verbal
abuse; improvement in the quality
and quantity of food; greater freedom
of movement in prisons; admittance
of books and newspapers, and im-
provement of the lighting and ven-
tilation in the cells.
The reaction of the Israeli prison
authorities has been predictable. Ir
an interview with the Jerusalem Post,
the Director of the Prison Authority
Rafi Suissa characterised the hunger
strike as nothing less than an attempt
by prisoners to win autonomy in the
management of prisons and the con-
duct of routine activity there." He ex-
pressed his intention to act with ar
iron fist" to break the prisoners. Ex-
actly what this means is difficult to
tell, as the prisoners are being allow.
ed no visitors; even their own lawyers
are being refused access to them on
the grounds that they constitute an "inciting element".
One thing, however, is certain, and that is that whatever further repressive measures are being meted out against the hunger strikers, few of them will be experien cing this sort of treatment for the first time.
The history of Palestinian prisoners - over 3,500 at the end of 1984 has been one of constant struggles being waged in one form or another in an effort to improve their conditions and their treatment. such struggles have constituted an important part of political resistance activities within Israel and the occupied territories.
The hunger strike at Nafha — a top security prison in the middle of the Negev desert, where two prisoners died for protesting against overcrowding and bad ventilation - is one example which achieved particular prominence in because of the links made between the hunger strikers of Natha and the H-block hunger strike which was happening simultaneously.
Less well-known has been the stand taken by the Palestinian women in the Neve Terza prison, who have refused to cook for, serve, or wash up for their Israeli guards — part of their prison duties — for which they were viciously assaulted by the police who used batons to beat them and pumped tear gas into their overcrowded and badly ventilated leaving many with serious eye and lung problems.
While such brutal treatment tends to be reserved for more serious occasions (in this case when the strike was being spread to other prisons) the women in Neve Terza prison face long periods of solitary confinement and prohibitions on visitors, books, letters newspapers as part of their daily lives.
Stories such as these could be replicated for every prison in Israel and the occupied territories, as indeed they could for prisoners in Northern Ireland; and, given the level of oppression of the Palestinian people outside of the prisons, this is hardly to be wondered at.
But though this latest hunger strike is but one more chapter in a long history of prisoners struggles. it has a significance beyond this. The achievement of a hunger strike of 1,500, which spread within days to prisons both in the West Bank and inside Israel, indicates a level of militancy, unity, defiance and political organisation which those who currently are trying to bury the Palestinian revolution under a so-called "peace settlement" have been vigorously denying exists.
South Africa currently Indeed Britain Israeli cells receiving and "ONE federation." sion and resistance. African South plant in nearby itself from the outset to well political as objectives. still tional pressure, ment, to be stepped up as solidarity with liberation"
ONE COUNTRY ONE FEDERATION New union must take the lead By HARRY SLOAN country. one •It called The defiant unity of the best soldiers organised sections of the black working class of South Africa is of all the most decisive new factor as detainees. 1986 began with further repres The half million-strong Congress of Unions Trade Jority (COSATU), formed at a November 30 rally of 900 delegates at Natal Univer- sity (guarded by a security force of sacked strikers from the BTR-Sarmcol Howick), forged a semi-fascist united organisation which committed embrace • Delegates trade as union •It called for all forms of interna- jah Barayi: including disinvest- "an act of struggle for our Socialist Viewpoint No. 10 February 1985 pl5
• It demanded the lifting of the state of emergendy for the withdrawal of
Tand police from the townships, and unconditional release
Apolitical prisoners and
• It condemned the vicious system of bantuslans used by the apartheid state to divide and rule the black ma-
"with a view to thwarting the just struggle foor one person one vote in a unitary South Africa. " It accused "tribally-based organisations" (the most conspicuous of which is the
Inkatha movement of Zulu Chief Gatsha Buthelezi) of killing trade unionists.
Arose to applaud the ultimatum delivered by president Eli-
"COSATU gives Botha six months to get rid of passes. If that does not take place we will burn the passes of the black man... I want to give
South Africa *G&ALLIE CCI P.W. Botha a last warning to get rid of the pass laws to to withdraw the troops from the townships before the countinis burns.
It political COSATU's founding whichis the most encouraging new feature of a joint federation whose formation had only been delayed by frictions between the various wings of the main constituent organisations.
Leaders of the FOSATU federation in particular had to a considerable extent abstained from overt involvement in political struggles except in cases of massive pressure like the 2-day political general strike in the Transvaal involving 1 million workers in November 1984. always argued that the broad, cross-class composition of the main antipartheid umbrella campaign, United Democratic Front, ruled out union affiliation, since favoured a "working class" party.
The failure of FOSATU vervene as an organised force in the UDF in turn strengthened the hand of the UDF's petty bourgeois leaders at local and national level. the basic political line of the banned African National Congress, the UDF leaders see their task as harnessing black support to pites and the black middle "Hiberal" classes in the hopes of peacefully achieving democratic reforms South Africa.
This line is plainly losing the confidence of considerable black youth, who look to the ANC and UDF. but also see peaceful march after peaceful protest brutally attacked by the armed forces Botha's state. Even official figures
ORKERS UN show 650 dead in 1985 — 300 of them after the state of emergency was im- edge to conference violence - which has escalated whites have begun to fall victim to the leader of the UDF, Stone Sizani, went furthr than the customary line and called in December for the formation of black workers into urban militias "to protect our people". tional politics of the ANC focus on the role of the ANC's own armed wing to workers' militias. FOSATU had of the most militant youth in the townships who FOSATU violence and to organise rent strikes, to in- Following adherence to peaceful must start hitting back." pressure impression that Sizani, in layers of of ting
Mandela and courageous Winnie Mandela. militants. While Stalinist posed. Nearly 6,000 activists have with over 1,500 still rank and file Such is the mounting level of state the townships. From this carry through the struggle - it has Sizani however recognised the role are establishing specialist groups to combat police divisive. They are often accused by the present authorities of intimidation. But we democratic hve to look at the circumstances in which they are operating. If anything unionists as has been overdone. That's why I say we especially While it is hard to avoid the distinct ANC leader Tambo, is trying to bluff Botha with threats of armed action which he knows will not yet be delivered, the growing commitment and militancy of black youth is a major factor in the several situation. It is also a problem for the ANC, whose exiled leadership will recession. find it increasingly hard to control an It organisation which is clearly attrac new, independent-minded Socialist Viewpoint No. 10 February 2985 pl6
(Left) COSATU President Elijah Barayi: (right) ANC support focusses on jailed Nein
Othe ANC's bureaucratic, influenced leaders recol! from this new development, the key task is to ensure that the new militant
does not become isolated from the mass movement of black workers: It remains urgent to orgnaise and co-ordinate the strug gles across the various sectors of the black population, to bulld councils of action that can link the struggles of the industrial workers with those of the unemployed, and the students with the communities as a whole in
Tangle, the call at the beginning of December by the two main black unions that had not joined the COSATU federation for a general strike if Botha did not lift the state of emergency by the end of the year, could only be seen as adventurist and
The black working class needs to establish and test its new unity in common struggles. A host of issues
themselves not only demands, but material problems facing workers as trade
result of the South African economic crisis. Inflation at 17% is still rising. Food has risen
sharply in price, with bread 25% up and maize 30%, with preices of another 3,000 food items increased in December. One black worker in four Is out of a job across the whole country, with pockets of truly enormous unemployment and
key industries hit by remains to be seen whther COSATU wil live up to its pledges to link the political and economic strug-