================================================
01 TschuschenPost: Familienzusammenführung
From: "TschuschenPower Wien" <tschuschenpower@hotmail.com>
================================================

Integration/Soziales

Quotensenkung- Migrantinnenorganisationen unterstützen Protestnote an
Regierung

Familienzusammenführung ist wichtigste Voraussetzung für Integration

Wien (OTS) Die Migrantinnenorganisationen Peregrina ( Beratungs-, Bildungs-
und Therapieeinrichtung für Migrantinnen), LEFÖ (Lateinamerikanische
Emigrierte Frauen in Österreich) Orient Express ( Beratungs- Bildungs- und
Kulturinitiative für Frauen) sowie der Verein Miteinader Lernen ( Birlikte
Ögrenelim) schlossen sich heute Donnerstag der Kritik des Wiener
Integrationsfonds an der von ÖVP/FPÖ angekündigten Reduzierung der
Familiennachzugsquote an. Die vier Organisationen beteiligen sich damit auch
an der Protestnote des Integrationsfonds an die Bundesregierung.

Migrantinnenorganisationen fordern Abschaffung der Quote für
Familienzusammenführung
Dazu Mag. Gamze Ongan, Vereinsobfrau von Peregrina: "Als
Beratungseinrichtung für Migrantinnen arbeiten wir an der Basis und wissen,
was die Quotenregelung für Familienzusammenführung für die Betroffenen
wirklich bedeutet. Daher fordern wir seit etlichen Jahren die Abschaffung
der Quote für die Familienzusammenführung als extrem frauen-, familien- und
integrationsfeindlich.".Betroffen von dieser Regelung, so Ongan
weiter, seien vor allem Frauen und Kinder, die zu ihren Partnern bzw. Eltern
nachziehen wollen. Derzeit betrage die Wartezeit auf einen Quotenplatz in
Wien 2,5 Jahre, in NÖ sogar 5, in Kärnten 6 Jahre. Das bedeute unter
anderem: Kinder, für die die Familienzusammenführung beantragt worden sei,
als sie noch 13 Jahre waren, dürfen nach Ablauf der Wartezeit trotz freiem
Quotenplatz doch nicht ihren Eltern nachreisen, weil sie schon über 15 Jahre
sind, betonte die Vereinsobfrau von Peregrina. Ähnliches gelte laut Ongan
auch für Frauen, die nach jahrelanger Wartezeit einen Quotenplatz bekommen,
unter Umständen aber dann doch nicht einreisen können, wenn z.B. der
sogenannte "Ankerfremde" zum Zeitpunkt der Bewilligungserteilung
gerade arbeitslos ist oder seine Wohnung verloren hat. Dass die
"Rückstände" abgebaut seien, stimme einfach nicht. Momentan werden in Wien
noch Anträge von März 99 bearbeitet, kritisierte die
Peregrina - Obfrau weiter.

Plan der Regierung grenzt an Menschenrechtsverletzung
Ongan abschließend: "Österreich ist das einzige EU-Land mit einer
Quote für Familienzusammenführung. Der Plan der derzeitigen Regierung, die
Quote für Familienzusammenführung <weitestgehend> zu reduzieren,
grenzt schlicht und einfach an Menschenrechtsverletzung. Laut Artikel 8 der
EMRK (Europäische Menschenrechtskonvention) ist das Recht auf Familienleben
ein Menschenrecht. Es stellt sich die Frage, wer in Österreich als Mensch
definiert wird. Die ÖVP schreibt auf ihre Fahnen, eine Familienpartei zu
sein, meint offensichtlich aber nur rein inländische Familien. Die Regierung
macht alles, um Familien zu zerstören, Paare zu trennen und Kinder elternlos
aufwachsen zu lassen. Die Zerrissenheit der Familien führt zu
psychosozialen, familiären und ökonomischen Problemen.
Es macht überhaupt keinen Sinn, auf Kosten der Familien Quotenplätze für
spezielle Fachkräfte zu schaffen. Ganz im Gegenteil widerspricht dieses
Vorhaben der offiziellen Regierungspolitik <Integration vor
Neuzuzug>. Familienzusammenführung ist kein Neuzuzug, sondern eine der
wichtigsten Voraussetzungen für die Integration." red/schluss

Rückfragehinweis:
Peregrina - Beratungs-, Bildungs- und Therapieeinrichtung für
Migrantinnen,
Tel. 408 33 52;
e-mail: beratung.peregrina@netway.at

================================================
02 Neues vom AusländerInnenwahlrecht!Jetzt!
From: peter.xyz@gmx.at
================================================

von peter.xyz - teil der zivilgesellschaft
e-mail: peter.xyz@gmx.at

infos auch auf www.ballhausplatz.at

---------------------------

Wahlrecht!Jetzt! - alles wartet auf die SPÖ ....

die spö hat seit 25.03.01 die absolute mandatsmehrheit im wr. landtag - 52
mandate von 100. mehr als zwei monate sind vergangen - die spö wird nach
eigener ankündigung das ausländerInnenwahlrecht erst nach verhandlungen /
gespräche mit anderen parteien in angriff nehmen -- diese verhandlunegn und
gespräche
hat die spö aber noch nicht einmal begonnen .....

am 27.04.01 - nach den wr. wahlen, bei denen wie bekannt die spö die
absolute mandatsmehrheit erreicht hat - hat die konstituierende sitzung des wr.
gemeinderates bzw. wr. landtages stattgefuden. die grünen haben einmal mehr
einen
initiativantrag bzgl. ausländerInnenwahlrecht eingebracht, der dem
gemeinderatsausschuß für integration, frauenfragen, konsumentenschutz und
personal
zugeleitet wurde (ohne abstimmung, ist so in der geschäftsordnung vorgesehen).
dieser gemeinderatsausschuß hat am 11.05.01 getagt und hat einen unterausschuß
eingesetzt, der diese frage weiterbehandeln soll. die övp und die grünen
hanem ihr unterausschußmitglied bereits nominiert, wahrscheinlich auch spö und
fpö (keine rückmeldungen bisher von diesen parteien wegen nominierungen
erhalten).

dieser unterausschuß wurde bisher noch nicht einberufen - wird von der spö
stadträtin mag. renate brauner einberufen. das letzte mal wurde dieser
unterausschuß am 16.03.01 (vor den wr. wahlen) eingesetzt hat aber tatsächlich
niemals getagt.

position der spö

spö ist dezidiert für das wahlrecht für nicht-eu-bürgerInnen auf
bezirksebene (eu-bürgerInnen haben dieses wahlrecht auf bezirksebene bereits).

spö will dieses wahlrecht in dieser legislaturperiode einführen - ist ein
dezidiertes spö wahlversprechen, steht auch im spö wahlprogramm.

spö will aber dieses wahlrecht für nicht eu bürgerInnen an eine bestimmte
auffenthaltsdauer (5 bis 8 jahre) koppeln (bei eu-bürgerInnen ist das wahlrecht
auf bezirksebene an keine aufenthaltsdauer gekoppelt).

die spö hat angekündigt mit den anderen parteien verhandlungen und gespräche
bzgl. des ausländerInnenwahlrechtes zu führen.

der spö klubobmann hr. christian oxonitsch hat peter.xyz. am 27.05.01
wörtlich gemailt: "und noch vor dem Sommer werden die ersten Gespräche mit den
anderen Parteien aufgenommen. (...) Ich persönlich halte eine Wahlrechtsreform
bis Jahresende für sinnvoll und möglich."

stadträtin fr. mag renate brauner hat peter.xyz. am 22.05.01 wörtlich
gemailt: "Wir haben angekündigt das Wahlrecht für AusländerInnen auf
Bezirksebene
einzuführen, wir werden es tun,(...)wir haben angekündigt die Verhandlungen so
rasch wie möglich aufzunehmen mit dem Ziel sie rasch zu beenden, auch das
werden wir tun. (...)der Weg ist jedenfalls gesetzlich genau vorgesehen,
so korrekt und wird auch so eingehalten."

------------

position der grüne

die grünen verlangen das wahlrecht für nicht-eu-bürgerInnen auf bezirksebene
seit 1992. die grünen haben zahlreiche anträge bzgl. dieses wahlrecht seit
1992 gestellt, die auch mit den stimmen der spö immer in der minderheit
blieben. die grünen fordern eine gleichstellung der nicht-eu-bürgerInnen
mit den
eu-bürgerInnen.

die grünen werden die gespräche / verhandlungen mit der spö abwarten. die
grünen werden sich anhören, was die spö letztlich für vorschläge macht bzw.
ihre eigene position einbringen.

nach verhandlungen / gespräche mit der spö - fallls ein ergebnis vorliegt -
werden die grünen über dieses verhandlungsergebnis diskutieren und danach
wird der grüne club (bestehend aus den 12 stimmberechtigten grünen
abgeordneten)
zusammentreten und abstimmen, ob der grüne club im landtag diesem
verhandlungsergebnis mit der spö zustimmen wird oder nicht.

--------------------

position der övp

die position der övp

trotz mehrmaligem nachfragen ist die övp ausgangsposition sehr unklar.

zum einen hat das ausländerInnenwahlrecht für die övp keine priorität,
sondern andere punkte wie die einführung der briefwahl. hr. mag. alexander
lesigang (övp wien, politische abteilung) hat am 31.05.01 gemailt: "... hat
nach
Auffassung der ÖVP die Zuerkennung des Wahlrechtes an nicht
EU-Ausländer auf Bezirksebene keine Priorität."

und sowohl hr. alexander lesigang (övp wien, politische abteilung, als auch
fr. mag. sirvan ekici (övp wien)haben gemailt - hr. mag. alexander lesigang
am 31.05.01 und fr. mag. sirvan ekici am 06.06.01 - daß die position der övp
bzgl. ausländerInnenwahlrecht im Integrationspapier" Heimat ist Menschenrecht"
nachzulesen ist (beschluss des landesparteivorstandes der övp wien vom
07.Dezember 2000)

im diesem övp integrationspapier steht auf s.8 unter "Politische Mitwirkung
und Mitbestimmung"

"Politische Rechte, wie z.B. das aktive Wahlrecht für Ausländer
(Drittstaatangehörige) auf Bezirksebene sollte längerfristig im
Gleichschritt mit den
derzeit laufenden Entwicklungen in der EU in Erwägung gezogen werden"

dies ist nicht gerade ein sehr aussagekräftiger satz und somit bleibt die
position der övp weiterhin im unklaren.

---------------

position der fpö

fpö ist strikt gegen jegliche weitere ausweitung des wahlrechtes

------------------

wie weiter

spö hat gespräche und verhandlungen mit anderen parteien bzgl.
ausländerInnenwahlrecht angekündigt. lt. informationen der övp und den
grünen hat die spö
bis jetzt weder gespräche / verhandlungen mit der övp noch mit den grünen
begonnen.

alles wartet wieder einmal auf die spö .....

es ist jetzt juni 2001 im juli und august ist im wr. landtag offiziell
sommerpause (ausschüsse und unterausschüsse tagen trotzdem manchmal in dieser
sommerpause).

stadträtin fr. mag. brauner hat oftmals gemailt, wie lange ein "ordentlicher
gesetzwerdungsweg" dauert - spö klubsekretär christion oxonitsch hält ja
eine "Wahlrechtsreform bis Jahresende für sinnvoll und möglich."

in dieser bisherigen spö verhandlungsgeschwindigkeit - verhandlungen haben
noch nicht einmal begonnen - wird das ausländerInnenwahlrecht auch in dieser
legislaturperiode nicht eingeführt werden.

-------------

wahlrecht!Jetzt! wird daher eine neue unterstützungserklärung auflegen,
indem wir unserer forderung nach einführung des ausländerInnenwahlrechtes und
gleichstellung der nicht-eu-bürgerInnen mit den eu-bürgerInnen nachdruck
verleihen werden

----------------

bitte fragen, infos, meldungen, ... etc. an
peter.xyz@gmx.at

--------------------------------------------------

================================================
03 AusländerInnenwahlrecht!Jetzt! - Chronologie einer Kampagne
From: peter.xyz@gmx.at
================================================

von peter.xyz
peter.xyz@gmx.at

Wahlrecht!Jetzt!

Chronologie einer Kampagne- mit dem aktuellen Stand der Dinge nach den
Wiener Wahlen

infos auch auf www.ballhausplatz.at

++++++++++++++

Jeder, der hier lebt, soll zumindest auf Bezirksebene wählen dürfen. Eine
bunte Vereinigung von zivilgesellschaftlicher AktivistInnen erhob dies mit
einigem Erfolg zu ihrem "Wahlkampfthema". Derzeit ist angeblich sozusagen
wieder
ein "ordentliches Gesetzgebungsverfahren" im Gange. Mißtrauen ist weiterhin
angesagt. Die Unterschriftenliste sollte daher immer noch erweitert werden.

=================================
Der Status:
=================================

Die AktivistInnen haben zahlreiche Zusagen seitens der SPÖ, das Wahlrecht
für MigrantInnen auf Bezirksebene nach den Wahlen einzuführen. (Bürgermeister
Häupl, Stadträtin. Mag. Brauner, Hatzl (jetziger Landtagspräsident, früher
SPÖ-Klubobmann - bis hin zu zahlreichen SPÖ MandatarInnen und SPÖ
FunktionärInnen).

Mit der absoluten Mehrheit ohne bösen Koaltionspartner fallen mindesten 50%
der 101 Ausreden aus der Vorwahlzeit weg. Unmittelbar nach den Wahlen wurden
daher zahlreiche SPÖ-FunktionärInnen von Wahlrecht!Jetzt!-AktivistInnen
kontaktiert um die Umsetzung des Wahlversprechens einzufordern.

11.05.01: Der Ausschuß tagt (nach Einberufung durch Mag. Brauner)

Anwesend nicht nur die Ausschußmitglieder sondern auch die SPÖ amtsführende
Stadträtin Mag. Brauner (nicht stimmberechtigt im Ausschuß) und die nicht
amtsführende GRÜNE Stadrätin Mag. Maria Vassilakou (nicht stimmberechtigt im
Ausschuß). Lt. unseren Informationen hat die SPÖ Stadträtin Mag. Brauner nichts
bzgl. AusländerInnenwahlrecht gesagt - außer Fragen beantwortet.

Der Ausschuß beschließt einen Unterausschuß, der die Sachlage erörtern soll.

Die Grünen haben Ihr Unterausschußmitglied bereits nominiert. Inwieweit die
anderen Parteien ihre Unterausschußmitglieder nominiert haben ist noch nicht
geklärt

Per Mail erklärt Stadträtin Brauner einem Aktivisten auf seine Anfrage hin,
daß die Causa ihren "gesetzlich vorgesehnen Weg" gehe. Wer den Grund für
Skepsis kennen möchte, lese den Gang des "gesetzlich vorgesehnen Weges"
1996-200o
nach. So lange werden AktivistInnen und MigrantInnen nicht noch einmal
warten ...

==================================
Wahlrecht!Jetzt! - Kurze Chronologie
==================================

22.01.01 AktivistInnen bewegen die GRÜNEN für die Landtagssitzung am
23.01.01 einen Initiativantrag zum AusländerInnenwahlrecht (Wahlrecht auf
Bezirkesebene für Nicht-EU-BürgerInnen) einzubringen.

23.01.01 in der Landtagssitzung wird dieser Initiativantrag ohne Abstimmung
(ist so in der Geschäftsordnung vorgesehen) dem Gemeineratsausschuss für
Integration, Frauenfragen, Konsumentenschutz und Personal zugewiesen. In diesem
Ausschuss hatten SPÖ 7 und GRÜNE 1 eine rechnerische Mehrheit (8 von 15)

23.01.01 bis 13.02.01 AktivistInnen machen Druck (Unterschriftenlisten,
Mails an SPÖ FunktionärInnen, an Stadträtin Mag. Brauner ..... etc), daß die
Stadträtin Mag. Brauner den Gemeinderatsausschuß einberuft und den
Initiativantrag bzgl. AusländerInnenwahlrecht im Ausschuß zur Abstimmung
bringt.

Die Wiener SPÖ signalisiert Unwilligkeit, den Ausschuß vor den Wahlen
überhaupt noch einzuberufen. Ein Aktivist studiert die
Geschäftsordungsparagraphen
und entdeckt, daß der Gemeinderatsausschuß lt. Geschäftsordnung bis 23.03.01
tagen muß - sonst liegt Geschäftsordnungsbruch vor - wieder werden die Medien
informiert.

13.02.01 Ein Journalisten konfrontiert bei einer Pressekonferenz Stadträtin
Mag. Brauner mit der Frage, ob die Geschäftsordnung einzuhalten gedenke -
andernfalls der Ausschuß noch vor den Wahlen einzuberufen wäre. Wenige Stunden
später erkärt Mag. Brauner mittels einer APA Aussendung, daß der Ausschuß
fristgerecht tagen werde.

13.02.01.-16.03.01 AktivistInnen machen weiter Druck, damit der Ausschuß
endlich einberufen wird, bzw. damit die 7 SPÖ Ausschußmitglieder in der
Ausschußsitzung für den Initiativantrag der GRÜNEN bzgl.
AusländerInnenwahlrecht
stimmen und somit für das eigene SPÖ Wahlprogramm bzw. für den eigenen SPÖ Wien
Parteitagsbeschluß.

15.02.01 Der damalige SPÖ Klubobmann Hatzl (jetziger Landtagspräsident), hat
einem Aktivisten am 15.02.01 telefonisch garantiert, daß die SPÖ das
AusländerInnenwahlrecht sofort einführen wird, wenn die SPÖ mindestens 51
Landtagsabgeordnete innehat.

16.03.01 Gemeinderatsausschuß tagt und beschließt auf Antrag von Hrn.Godwin
Schuster SPÖ und Hrn.Prof .Karl ÖVP mit den Stimmen von SPÖ, ÖVP und FPÖ u.a.
diesen Initiativantrag der GRÜNEN bzgl. AusländerInnenwahlrecht in einem
Unterausschuß weiter zu behandeln. Dieser Unterausschuß wird eingesetzt und 9
Unterausschussmitglieder bestimmt: 5 SPÖ, 3 FPÖ, 1 ÖVP, wobei die SPÖ 1
Mitglied an die GRÜNEN abtritt. Aufteilung der Unterausschussmitglieder,
wie folgt:
SPÖ 4, FPÖ 3, ÖVP 1, GRÜNE 1.
Die AktivistInnen drücken ihre enntäuschung öffentlich u.a bei der
Demonstration am stephansplatz am 16.3.aus. Sie bezeichnen nun ihrerseits
das Vorgehen
der SPÖ als wahlkmapfbezogene Ausflucht. Dieser Unterausschuß tagt
tatsächlich niemals.

25.03.01 : Riesenwahlerfolg der SPÖ und der GRÜNEN in Wien. SPÖ erreicht
absolute Mandatsmehrheit

==================================
MigrantInnenwahlrecht im Wiener Landtag 1996-2000
==================================

was im vorigen Jahrtausend an "gesetzlich vorgesehenem Weg" zum Thema
geschah:

1996: am 19.November 1996 gab es einen Antrag des Landtagsabgeordneten Herrn
Prof. Karl, indem SPÖ Stadträtin Frau Mag. Brauner aufgefordert wird, bzgl.
AusländerInnenwahlrecht is Ende 1997 einen Gesetzesentwurf vorlegen soll -
dieser Antrag wurde von SPÖ und ÖVP angenommen ...

1996/97: der Bürgermeister Dr. Häupl hat sich dafür ausgesprochen, daß bei
den Verhandlungen bzgl. AusländerInnenwahlrecht, Ende 1997 eine
Abschlußperspektive deutlich zu erkennen ist.

1998: am 01.12.1998 in der 16. Landtagssitzung verleiht der Bürgermeister
Dr.Häupl seiner Hoffnung Ausdruck, daß vor Weihnachten 1999 bzgl.
AusländerInnenwahlrecht nicht dieselbe Frage (wann es kommt) gestellt
werden muß

2000 am 20.10.00 in der 28. Landtagssitzung gab es eine dringliche Anfrage
der GRÜNEN u.a. bzgl. AusländerInnenwahlrecht auf Bezirksebebene für
Nicht-EU-BürgerInnen und einen Resolutionsantrag, der auch unter Mithilfe
der SPÖ in
der Minderheit blieb.

In dieser Sitzung hat Lhptm Dr. Michael Häupl wörtlich gesagt (wörtliches
Protokoll S..49): "Ich habe bereits in der letzten Sitzung des Landtags vor dem
Sommer, am 30.Juni 2000 festgehalten, und ich betone es hier ausdrücklich
nochmals: Beide Regierungsparteien haben im Koalitionsübereinkommen, damit wir
in der zeit noch ein bisschen nach vorne gehen, ihre grundsätzliche
Bereitschaft zu einer reform des Wiener Wahlrechts bekundet. Derzeit ligen
keine
akkordierten Vorschläge vor, sodass bislang keine ausformulierten
Gesetzesvorschläge zur Reform des Wiener Wahlrechts dem Wiener Landtag
vorgelegt werden
konnten."

Erhebt sich die Frage: Sind die Initiativanträge und Resolutionsanträge der
GRÜNEN keine Gesetzesvorschläge, die dem Landtag vorgelegt worden sind ???

(Hinweis: Initiativanträge und Resolutionsanträge sind genauso wie
Regierungsvorlagen schriftliche und somit formulierte Gesetzesvorlagen)

------------------

infos. anregungen, kritik, meinungen, ... etc. bitte an:
peter.xyz@gmx.at

================================================
04 Wie nehme ich an der online-demo gegen Abschiebungen teil?
From: online-demo <online-demo@gmx.net>
================================================

Betreff: WIE NEHME ICH AN DER ONLINE-DEMO GEGEN ABSCHIEBUNG TEIL?

Let´s go/to.online-demonstration against deportation business -
Lufthansa goes offline!

WIE NEHME ICH AN DER ONLINE-DEMO TEIL?

DOWNLOAD der software bis zum 19.6.01
START der Demo:
20. Juni 2001 10.00 Uhr deutsche Zeit (8.00GMT):

DAS ZIEL der Online-Demonstration ist es, durch massenhafte
gleichzeitige Zugriffe auf die im world wide web öffentlich
zugänglichen sites der Lufthansa AG deren Internetpräsenz zu
beeinträchtigen und somit unseren Protest gegen das Abschiebegeschäft
der Lufthansa AG zu äußern.

DIE ONLINE PROTEST SOFTWARE
Damit eine breite und effektive Demonstration zustandekommen kann,
wird etwa ab dem 10. Juni unter der Adresse http://go.to/online-demo
oder http://stop-depclass.scene.as eine - natürlich kostenlose -
Online Protest Software angeboten, die sich
DemonstrationsteilnehmerInnen von dieser Seite vorab herunterladen
können - und sollen. Am Mittwoch, 20.6.01 soll pünktlich morgens um
10.00 Uhr, nachdem eine Verbindung mit dem Internet hergestellt worden
ist, das Programm von den eigenen Rechnern aus gestartet werden.
Die Software fragt aussschliesslich von der Lufthansa bereitgestellten
Internetseiten ab. Sie automatisiert das Zugreifen auf die
Internetseiten der Lufthansa. Die Zugriffe mit Hilfe der Software
geschehen in einer Geschwindigkeit, die manuell, d.h. etwa durch das
wiederholte Laden der Lufthansa-Seiten in einem Internetbrowser, nicht
möglich ist. Die Software dringt weder in fremde Rechner ein, noch
werden durch sie fremde Daten zerstört oder verändert. Auf dem eigenen
Rechner verursacht sie weder Registrierungseinträge noch nimmt sie
Veränderungen vor. Sie kann einfach durch Löschen wieder vom Rechner
entfernt werden.

An der Online-Demo können alle teilnehmen, die Zugang zu einem Rechner
mit Internetanschluss haben: von zu hause, von einem Internetcafe, der
Uni, einer Firma.
Die software ist auf die gängigsten Windows-Betriebssysteme sowie für
Unix/Linux-Systeme zugeschnitten. Da es für die verschiedenen
Betriebssysteme unterschiedliche Programme zum herunterladen gibt,
müssen alle TeilnehmerInnen klären, welches Betriebssytem der
Computer, an dem sie sitzen, benutzt. TeilnehmerInnen, die keine
Möglichkeit haben, Dateien aus dem Internet lokal zu speichern
(downloaden), oder andere Betriebssysteme wie z.B. MAC benutzen,
können ein anderes Programm direkt von der homepage aus starten.
Genauere Informationen hierzu auf der homepage.

So gehts!
Die Software sollte rechtzeitig VOR der Aktion auf den eigenen Rechner
heruntergeladen werden. Um ein gleichzeitiges Downloaden zu vieler
Menschen kurz vor der Aktion zu vermeiden, ist es wichtig, diese
Vorgänge soweit wie möglich zeitlich zu streuen. Deshalb bitten wir
euch, das Programm früh genug, irgendwann in der Zeit bis zum 19.6.
herunterzuladen. Zudem rufen wir alle Gruppen, die die online-demo
unterstützen und selbst websites haben, auf, das Programm auf ihren
eigenen Seiten zum Herunterladen anzubieten und sich dafür mit uns in
Verbindung zu setzen. Wir veröffentlichen dann alle Seiten, auf denen
das Programm zu finden ist, auf unserer homepage.
Eine weitere Möglichkeit ist, dass wir euch das Programm per e-mail
schicken. Hierfür müsstet ihr uns ein kurzes Mail an unsere
Kontaktemailadresse online-demo@gmx.net senden (hieraus muss die
emailadresse, an die das Programm versandt werden soll, sowie das
Betriebssystem eindeutig hervorgehen).

Ihr findet eine Beschreibung und Anleitung für die Software auf der
homepage nach der Sprachauswahl unter der Rubrik ''ACTION'' bzw.
''README'', das Programm selbst unter ''DOWNLOAD''. Das Programm ist je
nach Betriebssystem maximal etwa 1,0 MB gross. Das Herunterladen auf
deinen Rechner kann also einige Minuten in Anspruch nehmen. Genauere
Infos und Anleitungen gibt's auf der homepage!

mailto:online-demo@gmx.net

================================================
05 EU muß gegen Paragraph 209 vorgehen
From: Christian Hoegl <office@hosiwien.at>
================================================

Homosexuelle/EU/§ 209/HOSI Wien
EU muß gegen
Paragraph 209 vorgehen

Europäischer Lesben- und Schwulenverband ILGA-Europa fordert die kommende
belgische EU-Ratspräsidentschaft auf, gegen die Menschenrechtsverletzungen
an Homosexuellen in Österreich aktiv zu werden.

(BRÜSSEL/WIEN) Im Rahmen eines Gesprächs mit VertreterInnen des
bevorstehenden belgischen EU-Vorsitzes (der am 1. Juli beginnt) haben
gestern nachmittag, 8. 6., im Brüsseler Außenministerium die beiden
ILGA-Europa-Vorsitzenden Jackie Lewis und Kurt Krickler neben für Lesben und
Schwule relevanten europäischen Themen auch die fortgesetzten
Menschenrechtsverletzungen an Homosexuellen in Österreich durch § 209 zur
Sprache gebracht.

"Konkret haben wir darauf hingewiesen, daß Österreich bereits vom
UNO-Ausschuß für Menschenrechte aufgefordert wurde, den
menschenrechtswidrigen § 209 aufzuheben, daß Amnesty International begonnen
hat, wegen § 209 Inhaftierte als Gewissensgefangene zu adoptieren, und daß
Amnesty diese Menschenrechtsverletzung in ihrem jüngsten Jahresbericht
angeprangert hat. Die Aufrechterhaltung des § 209 stellt eine schwerwiegende
und anhaltende Verletzung der im Artikel 6 EU-Vertrag festgelegten
Grundsätze dar."

"Für die EU ergibt sich hier auch ein riesiges Glaubwürdigkeitsproblem in
Zusammenhang mit der Osterweiterung. Denn von den Beitrittsländern verlangt
die EU die penible Einhaltung der Menschenrechte. Das Europa-Parlament hat
in einer Entschließung bereits angekündigt, der Aufnahme eines Land mit
strafrechtlichen Diskriminierungen gegen Homosexuelle (wie der § 209 eine
ist) nicht zustimmen zu wollen", berichtet Krickler, der auch Generalsekretär
der HOSI Wien ist. "Würde Österreich heute in die EU aufgenommen werden,
müßte wohl zuerst § 209 abgeschafft werden."

Gezeichnet: Homosexuelle Initiative (HOSI) Wien - 1. Lesben- und
Schwulenverband Österreichs.
Rückfragehinweise: Kurt Krickler: 545 13 10 oder 0664-57 67 466;
Helga Pankratz: Tel. 893 75 70; Christian Högl: 06691-18 11 038;
office@hosiwien.at; www.hosiwien.at

================================================
06 Das neue Internetgesetz; eine Information der IG Kultur Steiermark
From: ig-kultur-stmk.<ig-stmk@mur.at>
================================================

Die Hiobsbotschaft die u.a. die IG Kultur Steiermark heute mehrmals erhielt,
möchten wir keinem vorenthalten:

Jetzt wirds ernst... von EU bereits beschlossen und von unserer
Regierung nocht verschärft...

Durch das neue Internetgesetz müssen wir alle Transaktionen am Server
bis ein Jahr speichern (emails,...) und diese der Polizei zugänglich
machen ..... wie sollen wir uns verhalten.
im PS eine mail von www.spurlos.at zu diesem Thema:

PS: From:Helmut Poller <helmut.poller@chello.at>

Sehr geehrte Dame,
sehr geehrter Herr,

bitte entschuldigen Sie die Belästigung, aber die österreichische Regierung
plant, folgende Berechtigungen für verschiedene Behörden zu legalisieren:

Alle E-Mails lesen. (Klartextdaten)
Alle Verbindungsdaten lesen.
(Wer mailt wann wem? Wer besucht welche Webseiten?)
Alle Verbindungsdaten sollen sieben Jahre lang von den Providern aufbewahrt
werden.

Die Internetprovider sollen dazu gezwungen werden, Hardware zum Mitlesen
der Klartext- und Verbindungsdaten direkt bei den Web-Servern anzuschließen.
Die Gesetze sollen Mitlesen ohne richterliche Genehmigung ermöglichen.
Die Technik funktioniert so, dass der Provider gar nicht merkt, bei wem
mitgelesen
wird, was mitgelesen wird, nicht einmal, welche Behörde mitliest. Die
Datenflut kann automatisch mit Analyse-Software bewältigt werden, welche
ähnlich einer Suchmaschine mit bestimmten Fragestellungen programmiert werden
kann.

Privatsphäre ist ein Menschenrecht, je mehr Menschen zeigen, dass Sie dieses
Recht auch wahrnehmen, desto besser kann politisch und technisch gegen die
drohende Zerstörung der Privatsphäre vorgegangen werden.
Ausführliche und gut dokumentierte Infos über die internationale und
österreichische Überwachungspolitik und -technik und die möglichen
Gegenmaßnahmen finden Sie auf

http://www.spurlos.at

Bitte engagieren Sie sich gegen den drohenden Überwachungsstaat, wo immer Sie
elektronisch kommunizieren: Arbeitsplatz, politische Organisationen, Verein,
Kirche und so weiter. Bitte machen Sie die Menschen, mit denen Sie oft Mails
austauschen, auf diese Information aufmerksam.

Mit bestem Dank für Ihre Hilfe und freundlichen Grüßen

Helmut Poller

PS: Dies ist ausnahmsweise eine nicht angeforderte Mail.
Sie werden nur auf ausdrücklichen Wunsch wieder von mir hören.
____________________
IG-Kultur Steiermark
ig-stmk@mur.at

Sandra Abrams: 0664/21 42 475
sandra@mur.at

Ilse Weber: 0316/38 22 81
weber@mur.at

Mit Dank der Unterstützung von:

http://esc.mur.at
http://mur.at

============================================
http://www.igkultur.at/organisation/mit.html

================================================
07 Stadtwerke/Weise/Honorare
From: Parteder Franz <Franz.Parteder@stadt.graz.at>
================================================

"Für unsere Stadtwerke - Privatisierung NEIN!"
8054 Graz, Trappengasse 52 Tel.0664 47 47 374
www.dsw.at/fuerunserestadtwerke
email: stadtwerkekomitee@hotmail.com

Die 5 Weisen kassieren

Ein Honorar von 15 Mio. S, samt Mehrwertsteuer 18 Millionen, wird an die 5
von der Stadt Graz bestimmten Verkaufs-Berater bezahlt, die Utility
Consulting Group GmbH. Wird nicht verkauft, erhalten die "5 Weisen" noch
einmal 3 Mio. Abschlagzahlung.
Werden die Stadtwerke aber privatisiert, dann gehen noch einmal 3,5 Promille
des Verkaufsvolumens an die Berater. Das sind bei einem angenommenen
Verkaufserlös Milliarden S immerhin 21 Mio.

Darauf weist des Komitee "Für unsere Stadtwerke - Privatisierung Nein" hin.
Weiters betonen wir, dass die derzeitigen Stadtwerke-Bediensteten ganz akut
von Arbeitsplatzabbau, Kündigungen und Lohnkürzungen bedroht sind.
Mit der vorgeschlagenen Ausgliederung von Müllabfuhr und Kanal aus dem
Magistrat sollen weitere gewinnbringende Bereiche langfristig für die
Privatisierung vorbereitet werden.
Wir hoffen, dass die politischen Parteien in Graz und die
Belegschaftsvertretungen von Stadtwerken und Magistrat erkannt haben, dass
jetzt die Zeit zum Widerstand gekommen ist.

Für das Komitee:. Dr. Eveline Kirchner 9.Juni 2001
Tel.: 67 89 67

================================================
08 KPÖ/Irisches Referendum
From: <baier@kpoe.at>
================================================

Baier (KPÖ): "/Irisches Nein ist mehr als ein Hoppala"

"Das ist mehr als ein 'Hoppala'" erklärte KPÖ-Bundesvorsitzender, Walter
Baier zum mehrheitlichen Nein der IrInnen bei der Volksabstimmung über den
Nizza-Vertrag. "Dabei ist nicht nur das Abstimmungsergebnis selbst eine
bittere Pille für die EU-Gewaltigen, sondern auch die katastrophal
niedrige Wahlbeteiligung. Geht man von dieser aus, so haben weniger als ein
Zehntel der Wahlberechtigten für die Ratifizierung des Vertrages gestimmt.
Neun Zehntel aber waren dagegen oder sind daheim geblieben. Dem autoritären
und militaristischen Charakter der Entwicklung der EU wurde damit in
doppelter Hinsicht eine Abfuhr erteilt.
Das Ergebnis der irischen Abstimmung bestätigt, worauf Meinungsforschung
und politische Analysen schon geraume Zeit hinweisen: Für einen
bürokratischen, strikt an den Interessen der Konzerne ausgerichteten
Superstaat EU gibt es in den Bevölkerungen der Mitgliedsstaaten keine
demokratische Legitimation.
Man muss gleichzeitig jenen Stimmen entgegentreten, die das irische
Abstimmungsergebnis für eine nationalistische und rassistische
Argumentation ausnützen wollen, und insbesondere, um gegen die Öffnung der
EU-Grenzen zu agitieren. Die Alternative zum Europa der Konzerne liegt
nicht in einem Rückfall in den Nationalismus sondern in der
Internationalisierung und Globalisierung des Widerstands, das heißt im
Kampf um solidarische und demokratische Verhältnisse in Europa und
weltweit", schloss Baier.

><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><
AKTIONEN UND ANKÜNDIGUNGEN
><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><

================================================
09 keine donnerstagsfotos mehr?
From: el awadalla <el@awadalla.at>
================================================

der standard hat offenbar genug vom widerstand. von widerstandslesung
und donnerstagsdemo gibt es diesmal keine fotos. das war schon einmal so
- ein bißchen protest hat genügt. vielleicht genügt es auch diesmal,
wenn sich ein paar leute beschweren.

gleichzeitig schlage ich vor, nicht nur zu protestieren, sondern zu
überlegen, welches andere online-medium die fotos bringen könnte.

--
widerstandslesung jeden donnerstag von 17 bis 19 uhr bei der
botschaft der besorgten bürgerInnen, 1010 wien, ballhausplatz 1a.

http://www.awadalla.at/el/kalender

================================================
10 Pressekonferenz ANAR Tirol
From: "hardy ess" <hardy.ess@gbw.at>
================================================

AUSTRIAN NETWORK AGAINST RACISM - Tirol
Einladung zur Pressekonferenz VERTRIEBEN - VERSCHOBEN - VERSTECKT am
Dienstag, den 12.06.2001 um 10.30 am Platz vor dem Ferdinandeum
Am 12.06.2001 wird das Flüchtlingsheim Kleinvolderberg geräumt und
geschlossen und die Flüchtlinge in andere Heime verschoben, u.a. in das
weit abgelegene Heim bei Fieberbrunn.
Anstatt Flüchtlingen die Integration zu ermöglichen, ist es die Praxis des
Landes Tirol, sie ständig von Heim zu Heim zu schicken, und sie möglichst
weit entfernt von unterstützenden und beratenden Einrichtungen in
Großheimen unterzubringen.
Wir würden Sie gerne über die Lebenssituation von Flüchtlingen in unserem
Bundesland informieren. Mit einer Installation wollen wir Desintegration,
Ausgrenzung und Unsichtbarmachung, die das Leben von Flüchtlingen in
unserem Land prägen, verdeutlichen

Wir vom "Austrian Network against Racism" (ANAR) verurteilen die
Flüchtlingspolitik des Landes Tirol auf das Schärfste und stellen Ihnen
unsere Forderungen vor.

Hardy Ess
(ANAR Tirol)

================================================
11 Seminare in Kroatien
From: "Marion Thuswald" <marionth@web.de>
================================================

13. August bis 1. September 2001 in Mrkopalj / Gorski Kotar / Kroatien

AUSBILDUNG der Österreichischen Friedensdienste
(Konfliktanalyse, psychologische Folgen von Kriegen, Geschichte und
aktuelle Situation im ehemaligen Jugoslawien,...)

PROGRAMM

Teil 1

Mo, 13.08 .- Do, 17.08.01
Konfliktanalyse und die zivilen gewaltfreien Optionen
Analyse und Möglichkeiten der Bearbeitung von Konflikten anhand von
aktuellen Bespielen aus Geschichte und Gegenwart
ReferentInnen: Diane Hendrick, Pete Hämmerle, Internat. Versöhungsbund

Sa, 18.08.01 Exkursion nach Zagreb: Besuch bei lokalen NGOs, Minenschulung

So, 19.08.01 FREI

Teil 2

Begleitung: Hans Peter Graß, Friedensbüro Salzburg

Mo, 20.08.01 Persönliche Motivation und Psychohygiene
Sich selbst kennenlernen (eigene Geschichte, Motivation Konfliktverhalten)
Selbstwahrnehmung - Fremdwahrnehmung, eigene Stärken und Schwächen Umgang
mit Unsicherheit, Angst und Aggression
Referentin: Barbara Preitler, Verein Hemayat, Wien

Di, 21.08. - Do, 23.08.01
VM: Psychologische Folgen von Kriegen
Information über persönliche Schicksale, Verarbeitung von Traumata,
Hinweise für das Zusammenleben mit betroffenen Menschen
Referentin: Barbara Preitler, Verein Hemayat, Wien

NM: Sprachkurs Bosnisch/ Kroatisch/ Serbisch

Fr, 24.08.01 Sprachkurs Bosnisch/ Kroatisch/ Serbisch

Sa, 25.08. - Di, 28.08.01 FREI (für Ausflüge ans Meer, nach Zagreb...)

Teil 3

Begleitung: Marion Thuswald (Österreichische Friedensdienste)

Mi, 29.08. - Fr, 31.08.01
Geschichte und politische Situation des ehemaligen Jugoslawiens Geschichte
bis zum 1. Weltkrieg, Jugoslawien bis 1991,
Krieg in Kroatien und Bosnien und Herzegowina,
aktuelle politische Situation in Kroatien, BiH und Jugoslawien
Referent: Karl Kaser, Institut für Geschichte Graz

Sa, 01.09.01
Rolle und Kooperation lokaler und internationaler Organisationen
Peace buildung von unten
ReferentInnen: noch nicht fix
Abend: Evaluierung der Ausbildung

Mögliche Abendprogrammpunkte: Besuch des Projekts Friedenschule in Mrkopalj
Treffen mit Franjo Starcevic (Gründer der Friedensschule)

Kosten
Ein Tag: 1.000 öS
Die ganze Ausbildung: 10.000 öS
Beides inklusive Quartier (Einzelzimmer) und Halbpension (Frühstück und
warmes Abendessen) im Seminarhotel in Mrkopalj: 10.000 öS

(Wenn die Teilnahme aus finanziellen Gründen nicht möglich sein sollte,
kann es in Ausnahmefällen eine Ermäßigung geben)

Mrkopalj liegt in der Region Gorski Kotar/ Kroatien zwischen zagreb und
Rijeka und ist mit öffentlichen Verkehrsmitteln erreichbar.

Rückfragen und Anmeldung bei:
Wir bitten Sie /euch um rasche Anmeldung (die TeilnehmerInnenzahl ist
begrenzt) spätestens aber bis 25.Juni.2001 bei:
(Personen die an der gesamten Ausbildung teilnehmen, werden bevorzugt)

Friedensbüro Salzburg (Hans Peter Graß)
Steingasse 47
A-5020 Salzurg
Tel/ Fax: 0043-(0)662-873931
Email: friedensbuero@salzburg.co.at

von Marion Thuswald
marionth@web.de

><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><
LINKS, VERWEISE, HINWEISE
><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><

================================================
12 anti-eu-aktion unterstützt von einem rechten schweizer psychoverein
From: el awadalla <el@awadalla.at>
================================================

zur ankündigung

SA - 09.06. 10:00 - Gabriele Wladyka - Aktion EU-Austritt

die angebliche bürgerinitiative wird massiv unterstützt vom verein zur
förderung der psychologischen menschenkenntnis (vpm), einer aus der
schweiz stammenden vereinigung, die vorallem (ultra)rechte positionen
salonfähig machen will.

knapp vor dem stichtag es anti-eu-volksbegehrens ende letzen jahres
wurde in wien material des vpm von der angeblichen bürgerinitiatve
verteilt. mehr über vpm und volksbegehren hier:

http://www.awadalla.at/el/vsantieu.html
http://www.awadalla.at/el/texte-vpm.html

--
widerstandslesung jeden donnerstag von 17 bis 19 uhr bei der
botschaft der besorgten bürgerInnen, 1010 wien, ballhausplatz 1a.

http://www.awadalla.at/el/kalender

><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><
SOLIDARITÄT WELTWEIT
><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><

================================================
13 WORKERS POWER GLOBAL WEEK 8 June 2001
From: newswire <lrci@easynet.co.uk>
================================================

WORKERS POWER GLOBAL WEEK
E-newswire of the LRCI
8 June 2001
Subscribe to: newswire@workerspower.com
<http://www.workerspower.com/>http://www.workerspower.com

============================================================
>> WELCOME TO ISSUE #50
Workers Power Global Week is the English language e-newsletter of the LRCI.
To unsubscribe mail to: unsubscribe@workerspower.com. Please forward this to a
comrade.

============================================================

>>BRITAIN: WHAT DOES BLAIR'S VICTORY MEAN?
>>BRITAIN: SOCIALIST ALLIANCE AND THE ELECTION
>>PALESTINE: DFPE ACTIVISTS MUST BREAK WITH STALINISM
>>BRITAIN: OLDHAM ASIANS FIGHT BACK AGAINST FASCISTS AND POLICE
>>FRANCE: JOSPIN'S TROTSKYIST PAST
>>EASTERN EUROPE: THE NATIONAL CHARACTER OF THE ROMA (PT4)
>>AUSTRALIA: MELBOURNE RIOT POLICE ATTACK NIKE PROTEST
>>AUSTRALIA: SOCIALIST ALLIANCE CONTESTS BY-ELECTION
>>AUSTRALIA: TAKE THE YALLOURN FIGHT OUT ONTO THE STREETS
>>RUSSIA: LEFT UNITES AROUND PROGRESSIVE DRAFT LABOR CODE

============================================================

>>BRITAIN: WHAT DOES BLAIR'S VICTORY MEAN?
Woorkers Power Global, London

Tony Blair's new government will launch a wave of attacks on the working
class.

He has already taken the scalpel to what was left of old Labour in the cabinet
- neutering Robin Cook and the punch-drunk Prescott. Next he will take the axe
to our public services.

A report from the Institute for Public Policy Research, leaked to The
Guardian,
outlined the key objective for Labour's second term: accelerating the
privatisation of public services.

Any new money for schools and hospitals will be tied to increased private
sector involvement, in the shape of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) or
the
sort of "public/private partnership" that looks set to be the future of London
Underground.

PFI means multinational corporations not only designing and building
facilities
but managing them for 25 or more years at a hefty profit guaranteed by the
taxpayer. As at Dudley in the West Midlands, where hospital workers fought for
nine months, tens of thousands of ancillary and domestic staff face the
prospect of transfer to private sector bosses keen on cutting the wages bill.

The cabinet reshuffle confirmed a further rightward shift in this government.

But more important than the changes in individual names and faces was the
decision to abolish the Department of Social Security and replace it with a
Ministry of Work and Pensions, to be headed by Alistair Darling, a man who
revels in hounding people on benefits. This move heralds a fundamental attack
on what remains of the welfare state.
The long-rumoured shift of David Blunkett to the Home Office finally happened.
He has already pledged in pages of The Sun a harder crackdown on "asylum
cheats".

Blunkett's appointment signals that the second term will be marked by even
more
social authoritarianism and racism than the first.
Millions of workers backed Labour - many in the belief that in his second term
Blair would be "bolder" in serving Labour's traditional working class base.
Blair will be bolder alright - but in the other direction.

He will complete what Thatcher started - the privatisation of services, the
attack on the welfare state and the atomisation of trade union resistance.

The lowest voter turnout in more than 80 years, down 12 percentage points
since
1997, reflected not only "apathy" but a deep disillusion with Labour's first
term.

The Liberal Democrats' victory in Chesterfield, and their increased vote
nationally, was one strong indication that large sections of the middle class
as well as workers reject privatisation and mounting inequality.

Like Margaret Thatcher in 1983, Tony Blair is spoiling for a fight with the
unions. His contempt for organised labour is clear. In particular he wants to
break the unions' strongest base - in the public sector. The Post Office, for
example, stands ready with a union-busting plan to drive through
privatisation.

The anti-capitalist youth are already fighting back against Labour's
commitment
to globalisation.

If we are to stop Blair's blitzkrieg on the public sector and workers' rights
rank and file workers should follow the example of the anti-capitalist
movement: don't wait for the leaders - organise a fightback from below
through
indepentent networks of activists.
The millions who voted Labour will be disillusioned. The money Labour has
earmarked for public spending will be used to sweeten a privatisation
programme
on a scale Maggie Thatcher could not have dared.

The election is over. But for the poor, the oppressed, the union activists and
the anti-capitalist movement, the real fight has just begun.
:
FOR MORE ON SOCIALIST ALLIANCE SEE:
<http://www.workerspower.com/wpglobal/workerspowerhomepage.html>http://www.
workerspower.com/wpglobal/workerspowerhomepage.html
============================================================

>>BRITAIN: SOCIALIST ALLIANCE AND THE ELECTION
Workers Power Global, London

The Socialist Alliance/Scottish Socialist Party achieved small but significant
votes. There was no breakthrough, but nine Scottish candidates and two in
England saved their deposits. Overall we failed to break significant numbers
from the Labour Party, but our impact in working class communities and the
unions was significant - and this is what points the way forward.

All across Britain the Socialist Alliance campaigned in workplaces and
communities that have never seen a sustained socialist presence for decades.
Millions of leaflets were distributed. But more importantly, tens of thousands
of working class people had the chance to hear socialist arguments and take
part in a grass-roots alternative to New Labour.

Kirstie Paton, the Workers Power supporter who stood in Greenwich, south
London
got 481 votes - 1.5%. "Yes, the vote is a disappointment," said Paton,
"Especially because a Socialist Labour candidate, whose campaign was
non-existent, took 350 votes away from us.

"But the campaign had a real impact in local communities. I visited the local
hospital and met shop stewards fighting back against the conditions
imposed by
private finance. I visited Fire Stations, the bus depot and the postal picket
lines. At a hustings organised by my union, the NUT and at another one
organised by a disability charity I got good support.

"We were always well received and listened to - but in the end we're a new
organisation and it is clear that many Labour-voting workers took the view:
we'll give Labour one last chance."

"Even at the polling booths, Labour activists were saying 'I'm here by the
skin of my teeth' - there was not much hostility from the Labour rank and
file.
Like the trade union activists, they are watching the Socialist Alliance but
not ready to jump. That's why the really important thing is what we do now, in
the struggles against privatisation," said Paton.

During the election campaign, the Socialist Alliance scored a big success when
the Fire Brigades union voted to decouple it's political fund from the Labour
Party. A similar move in the postal workers' union CWU failed, but got a third
of conference votes. These were real achievements - and were backed up by the
Socialist Alliance presence within the mass, unofficial walkout that paralysed
the Royal Mail two weeks before the election.

The SA's achievements in the unions prompted the Times to run a whole page on
the "left takes over the unions" scare - while London's Evening Standard
devoted a front page lead and a whole spread to witch-hunting SA candidate
Greg
Tucker, who led a railway workers' strike on South West Trains.

Another achievement of the Socialist Alliance was the way it took the campaign
into the parts of the working class that Labour has always ignored: to young
people, those living on "sink" estates, and the asylum seekers who don't have
the right to vote.

Paton says: "In Greenwich we mobilised young people to occupy the Cutty Sark -
a local landmark - in protest against privatisation. We toured the walkways
of estates like Ferrier and Cherry Orchard. There is real deprivation - but I
was inspired by the resistance and hope working class people can muster in the
face of poverty. I don't think any other party had campaigned on these
estates:
how could Labour show their face? The Labour council is the slum landlord
here!"

Paton says one of the main achievements was the SA's refusal to duck the fight
against racism: "In the shopping centres, on Saturday afternoons, we got a
great response to our speeches on privatisation - but some hostility when we
mentioned asylum seekers. An old-style Labour campaign would have said -
accentuate the positive and steer clear of the difficult issues. But we took
the asylum issue onto the streets: I put out 50,000 leaflets that said - in
big
red letters - Asylum seekers are welcome here. And the campaign has put us in
touch with refugee communities."

At the election count, in Woolwich Town Hall, Paton silenced Blairite hecklers
with an uncompromising concession speech. After the established parties had
given their customary thanks to the returning officer and the police, Paton
said:

"I thank the activists. I thank the council workers who've done this
exhausting
task of counting. But I won't thank the police. I will thank the Asian
youth of
Oldham and Leeds who have fought back against the police and the racists.
Because it is very sad that, tonight, we have to report a 15% vote for fascism
in Oldham. That vote was fuelled by the racism of the existing parties."

Paton continued: "The Socialist Alliance has put down a marker in this
election
- not just for future elections but for a working class fight against
privatisation.

"The socialists who voted to give Labour another chance will be disillusioned
as Labour moves to privatise the NHS and schools like John Roan where I work.

"We will organise massive resistance to Labour's privatisation plans. And I
call on all socialists - both those who voted for me and those who voted
Labour
- to join that fight."

The Socialist Alliance must use the momentum of the election campaign to
deepen
and broaden socialist organisation within the working class.

But how do we do this? Many activists are engaged in a debate about the
form of
organisation we need: loose alliance, party or something in-between.

You can't divorce that question from the kind of politics we need. Workers
Power has fought within the Socialist Alliance for a revolutionary action
programme and for making the alliance into a new working class party. Today
the
SA is far from both objectives.

The organisational form of the SA was a disadvantage in the election. While
the
campaign was vigorous and energetic it was not as well co-ordinated or as
nationally coherent as it could have been if we had been a party. We had no
paper to sell to our audience. We had no agreed methods of carrying out
election work and no way of coming to hard and fast agreements on how to work.
We had no means of deciding on the allocation of national resources to weaker
areas.
One example of why this was a disadvantage was in the row that blew up over
canvassing.

The Socialist Workers Party (SWP) opposed canvassing in a whole number of
areas. There was never any decision on this at either an executive or Liaison
meeting level.

Not canvassing at all was a mistake. Workers Power was in favour of targeted
canvassing on key working class estates where resources allowed for this. Not
canvassing ignored the crucial component of an election - talking to people on
their doorsteps about why they should vote for us and convincing them to
support us, as well as listening to their concerns and relating our
politics to
them. The canvassing issue was not decisive to the result - but it showed that
the SA lacked a way of resolving tactical disputes.

The Alliance has allowed groups and individuals who were formerly hostile to
work together. This unity proved a point of attraction for many new activists
who joined the campaign. That is something we should maintain and extend. To
deepen our unity we need to advance towards a common party.

The leadership of the Socialist Party (SP) is currently opposed to such a
move.
The SP's leaders counterpose an abstract formula - "a new mass workers' party"
- to the reality of an alliance that has reached out to thousands and could
turn those thousands into recruits to a new party.

The SWP's leaders argue that we should deepen the alliance as a "halfway
house"
- less than a party, more than a sporadic united front - but not push forward
to a party yet.

Behind that argument lie two different strands of emphasis: some say that the
need to bring reformist workers and leaders into the Alliance precludes it
turning into a party. Others suggest it is a question of "when" not "if" and
that the crucial factor is numbers. The problem is that the class struggle
will
pose, very sharply, the need for a party.

Does this mean that we should just "declare" the SA is a party at its next
conference. No. This is a caricature of the Workers Power position.

We should declare our intention to transform the SA into a party over the next
twelve months. If we do this then we will establish a common goal which the
organisations and non-aligned individuals can work
together towards achieving. This is the logical next step. We should:
o Maintain the national election committee as an interim leadership.
o Build borough-based Socialist Alliances as local campaigning units committed
to turning all of the contacts we have made into SA activists.
o Organise a conference in October of our trade union supporters to build on
the historic FBU vote on political funding and to help sponsor a united union
fightback against New Labour's privatisation plans.
o Launch a campaigning newspaper that can be sold to a wider audience of
workers. It should be under the editorial control of the national election
committee.
o Publish a discussion bulletin, open to contributions from all, to allow a
debate on the future of the alliance between now and 2002.
o Launch a recruitment drive and combine this with a discussion on the
programme of the new party
o Organise a national conference in January 2002 to debate the way forward.
Workers Power would argue there for a new party, and set out the timetable for
the formation of a party.

FOR MORE ON SOCIALIST ALLIANCE SEE:
<http://www.workerspower.com/wpglobal/workerspowerhomepage.html>http://www.
workerspower.com/wpglobal/workerspowerhomepage.html
============================================================

>>PALESTINE: DFPE ACTIVISTS MUST BREAK WITH STALINISM
Workers Power Global Occupied Palestine

On 7 June the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality opened its sixth
congress
in Nazareth. The mayor of Nazareth is a member in the leadership of the DFPE
and the DFPE has 49% of the seats on the city council.

The DFPE was established in 1977 as an alliance between the Communist Party of
Israel and other leftist groups and individuals. Over the last decade, the
DFPE
lost her dominant position in the Arab masses in Israel (as a result of the
collapse of the USSR), and haemorrhaged support to the Islamic movement, the
NDA (National Democratic Assembly), "the Sons of the Land", the Organisation
for Democratic Action, "Socialist Struggle" (CWI-Israel) and other small
groups. Today, the DFPE hold three of 120 seats in the Knesset, all members in
the CC of the CPI.

The problem for the DFPE is its refusal to change its political and
ideological
stance, and holding on to its traditional Stalinist line in many fields. The
DFPE calls for a wrong political solution to the conflict in Palestine: two
states - Israel and Palestine, and a democratisation of the state of Israel.

The heroic intifada in the face of the cruel war of Israel against the
Palestinian masses completely undermines the proposed solution suggested by
the
DFPE. On the contrary, the present situation in Palestine puts in a very large
question mark against the whole political history of the DFPE and CPI, and
reminds us of the real contribution the DFPE made to the present tragic
situation faced by Palestinian people.

In 1948 a representative of the CPI signed the "independence declaration" of
the state of Israel. The principled response to this action by Israel was that
of the Fourth International which demanded a united republic, socialist,
democratic and secular, in which all the inhabitants of the territory of the
mandate of Palestine could live together.

The DFPE refuses to admit that its actions in 1948 were wrong. The DFPE
refuses
to recognise that its Stalinism pushed it to serve the USSR's interests in the
area, and even resulted in the CPI channelling weapons from Czechoslovakia to
the Zionist forces in the 1948 war.

At its current congress, the DFPE invited a minister in the government of the
Palestine National Autjority and read out greetings from the PNA president,
Yasser Arafat. The DFPE ignores totally the crimes of the PNA leadership
against activists for human rights, journalists, left activists, critics of
the
PNA and others.

The DFPE ignores the corruption in the PNA, while millions of dollars goes to
the bank accounts of the PNA's leaders and not for welfare or public
infrastructure, thus confining millions of Palestinians to unemployment and
poverty.

In another aspect, the DFPE is not relevant any more to the social reality in
Palestine. The Palestinian uprising isn't only directed against the occupation
and the apartheid system of Israel; it is an uprising against the
globalisation, the dictatorship of the USA in the Middle East, the control of
the Palestinian bourgeois over the Palestinian workers.

This uprising demands socialism, social justice if a just peace is to
materialise. Many of the Palestinian youth are not aware of this meaning, but
their class conscience is maturing. Israel, the PNA and imperialism have an
enormous interest in exterminating the possibility of socialist revolution in
Palestine, which will be combined with a democratic national revolution.

The DFPE has no socialist vision or views; the CPI is a Stalinist and
degenerated party with a reformist ideology. A new revolutionary workers party
is urgently needed. Members of the DFPE and the CPI should leave their old and
degenerated party to help in this task.

The LRCI in Occupied Palestine notes that there were a few positive
elements in
this congress. First of all, the decision not to invite the Israeli president,
a member in the party of PM Ariel Sharon, and a supporter in the oppression of
the Palestinian masses.

In addition, there is no doubt that the call of the DFPE chairman, MK Muhammad
Barake, to the refugees of 1948, expelled when Israel destroyed their
villages,
to return to their villages and to rebuild their houses was a step forward,
made entirely under the pressure of the intifada.

The LRCI in Occupied Palestine send greetings to all those rank and file
activists of the DFPE who fights for human rights and social justice in the
face of Zionist repression.

But at the same time we call on them to recognise the mistakes of the past and
to consciously break with the Stalinist dogma that this struggle must proceed
through fixed stages: first, for national liberation and only later for
socialist goals and working class leadership.

The whole history of the international workers' movement (eg Spanish
revolution) since the 1930s proves that those who postpone the task of
fighting
for working class leadership of the democratic struggles end up supporting the
resistance of the bourgeoisie and imperialism to workers class demands and
organisations. In turn this fatally weakens the fight for the democratic and
national demands and solutions.
i
We call on all of the activists inside DFPE to turn resolutely to the
intifada,
break with those who will soon urge us all to end it in the name of another
Oslo process (i.e. reconciliation with Israel).

Join with us in the struggle for a bi-national socialist republic of the
Palestine, within the socialist federation of the Middle East.

http://www.workerspower.com/wpglobal/resonintifada.html

FOR MORE ON PALESTINE SEE:
http://www.workerspower.com/wpglobal/resonintifada.html

workerspower@hotmail.co.il

============================================================

BRITAIN: OLDHAM ASIANS FIGHT BACK AGAINST FASCISTS AND POLICE
Workers Power Global, Oldham

The fascist vote in Oldham - an average of 15% across two constituencies - has
sent shockwaves through the workers' movement.

The BNP achieved its biggest election success for decades by a classic
combination: it posed as a "respectable" Daily Mail-style racist party while
its supporters, together with the National Front, launched a street war on the
Asian community.

But the Asian youth fought back. On 25-26 May they organised self defence and
drove the fascists off their streets - together with their police protectors.

And they were right. The Labour establishment is wringing its hands about
Oldham - saying, in effect, that the mass self defence was what drove white
workers into the hands of the Nazis.

But it was not the fault of the Asian youth that some white workers voted for
the Hitler-loving BNP. It was the fault of the Labour Party, which has
pandered
to racism, attacked asylum seekers and backed racist policing to the hilt.

The task now is to organise self defence, take the fight to the Nazis by
driving them off the streets and launch a massive, trade union-backed
anti-racist demo. Oldham council must be forced to end its segregated housing
policy and the Labour party must hang its head in shame at the state sponsored
racist rhetoric that has fuelled the Nazi disease.

The Oldham uprising: An eyewitness account
The events began when a group of Combat 18 Nazi thugs came into Oldham on the
Saturday afternoon. After attempting to disrupt the anti-Nazi protest they
attacked Asian homes and shops.

Ahmed, from the Glodwick area, where most of the subsequent riots took place,
says:

"The most important point is that a group of twelve racists had broken into
the
house and shouting racist abuse and smashing things up. But what angered us
most was that the police didn't come for 20-30 minutes when normally they're
always cruising by and this time they were nowhere to be seen. Then when they
came they arrested two Asians rather than the racist thugs. That's when it all
kicked off."

This led to eight hours of street battles between police and youth.

"The police were calling us Paki and black motherfuckers! We won't put up with
that shit!" says Faruq, another local youth. The young people set up burning
barricades using beds, cars and dustbins to prevent riot vans coming in and
smashing up Asian youth.

"They were calling us Paki bastards and everything. I said to one of them the
next day, 'Why don't you arrest the racists?' and he said to me, 'Don't
tell us
how to do our job. We don't tell you how to clean the streets!' he was saying
to us we're scum only good for cleaning the streets. It's out of order!" says
Riaz.

But racism in the police isn't just down to the bigoted views of individual
officers. It's pervasive in the whole strategies of the police who exist to
maintain order, order for big business, for capitalism, to suppress working
class communities.

The bosses use racism to divide the working class - and the police implement
that policy. This is evident in the creation of the 'no go area' story. This
was started six months ago by Chief of Oldham Police, Chief Superintendent
Hewitt, when he claimed that Asian youth were responsible for 60% of racist
crime against whites and were in danger of making parts of Oldham no go areas
for whites.

This was faithfully reported by the local paper, the Oldham Chronicle, which
makes a big play of any street crime attacks by Asians on white victims.

The 'no go areas' is of course a completely racist myth, as evidenced by the
tremendous reception Socialist Alliance activists, black and white, have been
getting in Glodwick, Westwood, Coldhurst and other mainly Asian areas in the
week after the uprising.

"This is what we want!" said an Asian taxi driver, "white people walking
around
to show that it's a load of rubbish that we're racist here."

The relative success of the Nazi BNP in the general election where they got
about 14% of the vote across the town is due to the racist police and their
media apologists. From the Guardian to the Daily Mail, from Radio 4 Today to
Sky News, the media said these were "race riots".

On Sunday the 26th of May there were further clashes. Arif from a shop in
Glodwick explains.

"We heard a report that some racists had set up a burning barricade saying 'no
Pakis allowed here'. We weren't going to put up with that so we started taking
them on. All of a sudden all these police came out of nowhere and we knew
there
were too many so we ran back to Glodwick. They followed us and surrounded us,
not letting us out. One of them shouted: 'Where are your bombs now you black
bastards!' Later we took to the streets again. We're not going to put up with
that!"

That evening police were out in saturation policing but rather than prevent
further trouble it of course made it happen. By the Bank Holiday Monday Asian
leaders had been forced to act and negotiated with the police for a partial
withdrawal which meant that an uneasy peace was restored.
The mood of Asian youth is defiant and upbeat.

They have taken on the police and are in a state of rebellion. They know they
can win and beat the racists. One hundred people came to an Oldham United
Against Racism meeting, about 50 white, 50 black. A local Imam was loudly
cheered when he defended the actions of the youth. Speakers from the Fire
Brigades' Union and the NUT called for a massive black and white demo against
racism and to smash the fascists.

We also heard the Deputy leader of the Council, Liberal Democrat Chris Hilyer
come out with a disgustingly racist excuse for the council's inaction on
housing segreagation and poverty. "If some people choose to be poor and
live in
a certain area we can't help that!"

The next night a hundred and fifty people came to a Socialist Alliance meeting
which was even more militant unanimously agreeing to set up a Drop the Charges
campaign against all Asian people arrested and charged over the weekend (four
so far but police are examining video evidence to target more suspects), to
support organised community self defence, to call for a community controlled
public enquiry in to policing in Oldham and a community controlled monitoring
unit of racist incidents and policing in Oldham.

The Socialist Alliance should have stood in Oldham. It didn't because the
reformist wing of the Alliance said we might get fewer votes than the Nazis.

We will never know. But only a socialist answer to poverty and poor housing
can
take the ground from under the Nazis in the white slum areas. And only
socialists will back and organise self defence against the police and the
racist mobs.

FOR MORE ON ANTI-RACISM IN BRITAIN SEE:
http://www.workerspower.com/wpglobal/blackliblist.html

============================================================

>>FRANCE: JOSPIN'S TROTSKYIST PAST
Workers Power Global, Paris

Trotskyism is apparently flavour of the month in the French media. First there
was unprecedently intense media coverage of Lutte Ouvrière's annual three-day
fête - largely fuelled by the possibility that LO's candidate in next year's
presidential elections, Arlette Laguiller, might get more votes than the
Communist Party's Robert Hue.

Then, two days later, the press and TV returned to the attack over whether
Prime Minister Lionel Jospin had ever been a member of the Organisation
Communiste Internationaliste (OCI), commonly known as the "Lambertists" after
their leader, Pierre Lambert.

This story first appeared in 1982, one year after the Parti Socialiste (PS)
came to power on the coat-tails of François Mitterrand, and Jospin became PS
Secretary. It resurfaced regularly over the next 20 years or so, becoming
increasingly precise as it was backed up by serious accounts from
ex-leaders of
the OCI.

Jospin's reaction was to deny everything and to say that people were confusing
him with his brother, who was a leading Lambertist up until the mid-1990s (as
indeed was Jospin's wife). However, faced with the latest set of accounts,
which give precise details of Jospin's recruitment in the early 1960s and his
subsequent membership, the Prime Minister could no longer tough it out, and
admitted in parliament that he had been a member of the OCI in the 1960s.
To "explain" why he had lied over the previous 20 years, he simply shrugged
his
shoulders and said that he thought that nobody was interested!

The problem for the media, of course, is not that he was ever a "Trotskyist"-
many of the leading lights in the PS, as well as dozens of key journalists and
intellectuals have been past members of the three key Trotskyist organisations
(LO, the LCR and the Lambertists). Indeed, the current secretary of the PS
described cynically Trotkyism as "the fast road to the PS"!

Furthermore, the affair has prompted some journalists to give very fair
explanations of the nature of Trotskyism and the legitimacy of its struggle
for
genuine communism, and even the right wing parties have refused to make
much of
the affair (partly for fear of the fascist skeletons that lurk in their own
cupboards...)

The key question being raised by journalists, which Jospin has still not
clearly answered, is when he stopped being a Lambertist.

Despite his continuing denials, it seems clear that Jospin joined the PS in
1971 as a part of the OCI's "entrist" tactic. This policy involved sending
members into all the leading parties and unions - and even the freemasons!
- to
act as "moles" (or "submarines" in Lambert-speak). Their job was simply to be
there and keep their heads down.

Lambertists thus gained leading positions in both unions and parties while
masquerading as ordinary reformists. Far from being a way of furthering
revolutionary politics, this tactic became a way of gaining clandestine
influence - jobs, appartments, advantages of all sorts - for the party and its
members.

Thus Jospin rose to the head of the PS, without anyone being able to spot that
he was a Lambertist. So when did he break with the Lambertists (no one is
suggesting he is still a member, although how could we tell?!)? Leading French
paper Le Monde has suggested that he finally cut off relations in 1987 - six
years after taking control of the PS!

While this might seem a storm in a very French teacup, it tells us something
about the utterly rotten politics of Lambert and his gang. Like every group
that came out of the "International Committee", the Lambertists' internal
regime is highly bureaucratic, with regular purges that would not be out of
place in a Stalinist organisation.

The Lambertists' practice verges on the corrupt, with regular financial
scandals, and regular tales of physical intimidation. Their politics are
equally distant from those of Trotsky: as the case of Jospin shows,
"entrism" à
la Lambert was not aimed at winning the mass organisations to revolutionary
politics.

Whether this affair will continue to dog Jospin remains to be seen. Outside of
the Parisian political and journalistic microcosm of ex-lefties, it seems
unlikely that the mass of the working class will be swayed one way or another.
Their judgement of Jospin and the PS will be based largely on the effect of
his
privatisation and flexibility policies on working conditions, and on the
refusal of the government to act to stop the current wave of sackings.

In other words, as a cartoon in the satirical newspaper Le Canard Enchaîné put
it - the key question isn't whether Jospin was on the far left in the past,
but
whether he is still on the left at all.

FOR MORE ON FRANCE see:
<http://www.workerspower.com/wpglobal/frenchstrikes2k1.html>http://www.work
erspower.com/wpglobal/frenchstrikes2k1.html
<http://www.workerspower.com/wpglobal/frenchstrikesjan2k1.html>http://www.w
orkerspower.com/wpglobal/frenchstrikesjan2k1.html

============================================================

>>EASTERN EUROPE: THE NATIONAL CHARACTER OF THE ROMA
Workers Power Global, Vienna

In the first three articles in our series we gave an overview about the
historic development of the oppression of Roma, its development under the
Stalinist rule in Eastern Europe and finally under capitalist conditions in
the
past 10 years. In this article we will deal with the question if the Roma
are a
nation, a "social backward part of the majority nation" where they are living
or if another definition is more appropriate.

Several bourgeois Roma organisations - particularly the International Romani
Union (IRU) - demand the recognition of the Roma as a separate nation which
should have representatives in the European Union.

On the other hand the Stalinist - e.g. the Slovak Stalinist Jaroslav Suzs in
his book published in 1961 on the "gypsy question" - stated that Roma have no
specific ethnic identity and are a "social backward part of the Slovak
nation".

To clarify this question it is necessary to get an overview about the
situation
of Roma today. Today there are approximately 10 million Roma living in the
world. 80% of them are in Europe and around 5,85 Million or roughly 60% of all
Roma are living in Eastern Europe (including the former USSR). In some Eastern
European states they are a significant minority. Despite there are partly
different and contradictory statistics - not at least because many Roma
fear to
declare their identity at the census because of the racist oppression - one
can
accept the following statistical proportion of Roma of the whole population:
around 11% in Macedonia, 10% in Slovakia, 9.5% in Romania, 9% in Bulgaria, 7%
in Yugoslavia (Serbia & Montenegro), 6% in Hungary and 2-3% in Czech Republic.

The systematically discrimination of Roma for several centuries - with the
geneozid by the Nazi-regime as the bestial highpoint - has denied the Roma
both
the integration into the society and the independent process of nation
formation. Their oppression which pushed them for centuries into social niches
and made them a "peoples class" (look at part 1 of our series) made the
formation of a people with class differentiation - as it is typically for
modern nations in capitalism - impossible.

Their integration into the modern production process - which often just began
under Stalinism - started late and went often hand in hand with the denial of
the recognition of the specific cultural identity of the Roma. When this was
partly accepted after 1989 it was again paralleled by a renewed degradation
towards the lowest strata of society because of the consequences of capitalist
restoration.

Their geographical scattered and the century-long pariah-position has lead to
the situation that Roma are in no country the majority population. It also
prevented that all Roma are speaking Romanes as the first language. (e.g.
around 60% of the Roma in Romania and 20% of the Roma in Hungary are speaking
Romanes as the first language.

According to Roma activists around 80% of Roma in Slovakia are speaking
Romanes
albeit not necessarily as their first language.) It should be also noted that
there are many different dialects of Romanes and the IRU has made major
efforts
to develop a unified written Romanes language. We can also not speak about a
national consciousness of all or even the majority of Roma.

Our organisation - the League for a Revolutionary Communist International
(LRCI) - bases its understanding of the modern nation on the works of Marx and
Lenin and we have developed further the Marxist definition:

"A nation is a product of the bourgeois epoch, that is, the rise and fall of
capitalism. It is a community composed of classes, dominated by a privileged
and/or exploiting class or caste. This community has a unifying territorial
and
economic basis, a common language(s) and culture, a common history (real
and/or
mythical). On the basis of these, a common self-awareness or national
character
has developed, with the political consequence that the nation has established,
or aspires to establish, some state form for itself."

For the reasons mentioned above the Roma therefor developed not towards a
nation or nationality in the Marxist sense.

But it would be also wrong - as the Stalinists did - to deny the existence of
the Roma as a special groups with a specific identity and some national
characteristics. The most important common characteristic is their racist
oppression. This has led to the social discrimination which we already
mentioned and includes also several reactionary words for Roma - of which
"gypsy" is rather harmless and also includes "Black", "crows" and similar
words. While there are a few isolated cases of assimilation it is nevertheless
a fact that most Roma are discriminated because they are part of the ethnical
group of Roma.

Furthermore Roma have a common ethnical identity (coming from India) which has
not changed because of the century-long oppression and social isolation. (This
is the reason why racists allude to their darker skin.) In this respect there
are similarities with the Black people in the USA.

But in opposite to the Black people in USA Roma have - at least part of them -
their own language. And despite they are no majority population in any country
they are not totally dispersed. The majority of them leaves together - in
urban
ghettos and villages/settlements - in specific regions. E.g. in Slovakia most
Roma are living in the East and the South; in Romania they are living in the
Northeastern region Siebenbürgen. One can even say that a minority of the Roma
see itself as a nation.

What is the cause for this contradictory phenomena of the national development
of Roma? As Marxists we look for the causes in the class society. We have
already identified their historical oppression as the reason. But let us look
to this question on another level: the specific oppression of Roma is
characterised by the fact that most of them are part of the lowest strata of
the working class (day labourer, workers in the "grew sector" with insecure
employment conditions) or even the lumpenised layers (i.e. people who have
been
expelled long-term from the production process). A very small minority of
patriarchs, intellectuals and rich bourgeois are separated from the broad mass
of impoverished Roma living in ghettos. This is by the way also a
characteristic of the Roma oppression: the conservation of patriarchal social
structures stemming from the pre-capitalist epoch. So racist oppression
results
in a specific, distorted class structures in the Roma community.

Therefor a summary definition of the national character of the Roma should be
something like: The Roma are an ethnical, racial oppressed group, which got
stuck in the nation formation process for historical reasons of its
oppression.
Some elements of its existence point in the direction of assimilation, others
in the direction of a nation.

Under capitalism a real assimilation of the Roma i.e. an abolition of their
oppression is impossible. Racism is historically closely linked with modern
capitalism. The capitalist states in Eastern Europe (but also Western Europe!)
need the Pariah status of the Roma since they are a "silent minority" on which
the social contradictions can be loaded. (i.e. they are the first who get
sacked and whose social benefits are cut.)

In addition to this bourgeois society - particularly in periods of crisis and
instability - needs an "evil". Since the Jews already were extinguished or
expelled from Europe today the "gypsies" and immigrants are used for this
purpose.

But also a free, organic development towards a nation is barred for the Roma.
For this racist capitalism would have to allow them the unobstructed formation
and diversification of different classes, the distribution of their culture,
language etc - an inner contradiction for this system for the reasons
mentioned.

As dialectical Materialists we see that there is more than one road to the
formation process of a nation. We particularly see that the subjective
factor -
i.e. the self-awareness of the Roma - plays a central role. We therefor can
not
exclude the possibility that the majority of Roma - against a background of a
sharp racist oppression, the formation of a broader middle layer and working
class - could develop such a national consciouness in a future period and
therefor become a nation. This could happen for example only in one or several
countries and not necessarily in all Roma at the same time.

For us as Marxists the creation of nations is not a goal in itself. We fight
for the biggest possible freedom of social an cultural development of a
people.
If the Roma want to be educate in their language we fight for this demand. If
the Roma demand their own TV station in their language we support this too.
But
our goal is the common struggle of the workers, peasants and youth against the
capitalist society and inter-linked racism. The struggle against the specific
oppression of Roma is inalienable part of the socialist perspective.

More on the program for the liberation of Roma in the next article.

FOR MORE ON MARIO BANGO CAMPAIGN SEE:
http://www.workerspower.com/wpglobal/Marioappeal.html
http://sop-lrki.webpark.cz/

============================================================

>>AUSTRALIA: MELBOURNE RIOT POLICE ATTACK NIKE PROTEST
Workers Power Global, Melbourne

More than 250 police and ten horses attacked protestors outside the Nike
superstore on June 1, the tenth Friday running in which nearly 300 people
gathered to highlight Nike's exploitation of child labour, slave wages and
anti-union attacks.

As protestors assembled, it became clear that we could expect something
different from other weeks. For the first time in ten weeks, two ambulances
and
television crews(tipped off by police) were present on the scene, while round
the corner to the north and south of the protest brawler vans(used for mass
arrests) and bus-loads of police were parked and waiting for the signal to
attack.

About thirty minutes after protestors formed a symbolic blockade of
NIKE(allowing shoppers in and out at either end of the picket lines), the
Police gave their first warning for the crowd to disperse. By the time of the
second warning protestors had agreed to move on. However just as protestors
had
broken their blockade lines and were assembling to march off, the police moved
in with force.

Police attacked indiscriminately, harassing and attacking shoppers, commuters
and protestors alike, and forcing the crowd onto the street. The police
continued to move in on protestors and the general public who were doing
nothing but standing on street corners.

They targeted anyone with a megaphone, forcibly seizing the equipment from
them. They then proceeded to make arrests while periodically charging in waves
at demonstrators who were either trying to observe those being arrested or
make
their way to the other side of the street. Meanwhile passers-by looked on in
digust at the actions of the Victoria Police.

In the end five protestors were arrested and charged with "besetting a
premises". A law that has been used against union picketers in the past -
making it unlawful to obstruct or deny "rightful" passage of persons into a
premises and carries a penalty, in this case, of up to three months jail.

The anti-NIKE 5 were forced to sign a bail condition stating that they would
not return to the Central Business District (basically the entire city area!).
In addition they were not to conduct in any activities or engage in nay
activities that would cause a "breach of the peace" or cause someone else to
breach the peace - meaning in effect that any political activity they
undertook
which could be considered unlawful (eg, organising a picket ) would land them
back in jail.

However, upon appeal the bail conditions have been quashed. The five arrested
protestors will be allowed to attend the Nike demonstrations, hand out
leaflets
and engage in their "lawful" right to protest but are not allowed to do
anything that may cause obstruction to the Nike entrance.

In cross-examination at the bail conditions hearing, the inspector in
charge of
the Nike protests admitted that the five protestors were singled out by police
as they were seen to be key organisers of the blockade. The inspector also
revealed that Nike had lost between AUS $10,000 and $15,000 each Friday that
the store has been shutdown.

In fact on June 1, Nike was forced to call off its annual "gala" event where
the Carlton Football Club(sponsored by Nike) was to be present at the store
for
a 25% discount shopping bonanza.

The protests are clearly having an effect on Nike's reputation and their
profits. And internationally the anti-sweat shop campaign is definitely
hurting
Nike. Over the last two Nikes profits have stagnated, causing CEO Phil Knight
pondering as to why. The GAP has also felt the effects of the international
campaign with for instance 25 GAP outlets recently closing in New York alone.

The police response last Friday was a direct result of the success of the
protests. And once again NIKE has shown that it cares more about profits than
child labour, slave wages, union rights and peoples well being.

However despite the police actions, nearly 200 protestors regrouped and
held an
emergency meeting after the arrests, at which it was unanimously agreed to
keep
the protests going and to build them bigger and bigger.

All were quick to recognise that the response by Nike and the Police were a
direct result of the impact the protests were having. The mood was clearly one
of defiance and determination to carry on. The campaign in now attempting to
win massive union and community support for continuing mass action against
Nike.

For more information about the campaign internationally, go to:
No Sweat (UK)
http://www.nosweat.org.uk/
United Students Against Sweatshops (US)
http://www.usasnet.org/
Fairwear(Australia)
http://www.fairwear.org.au/

For more about the campaign in Australia, contact workerspower@bigpond.com, or
come to the weekly meetings in Melbourne where debates will be had about the
way forward for the campaign:
Campaign Meetings
Mondays 5.30 pm
Activist Space @ RMIT Student Union
Builiding 8, Level 3 (turn left at the start of the ramp)
Swanston St

FOR MORE ON THE ANTI-GLOBALISATION MOVEMENT see:
http://www.workerspower.com/wpglobal/Nicesummit.html
http://www.workerspower.com/wpglobal/globalisation.html
http://www.workerspower.com/wpglobal/gttenburgG8.html
http://www.workerspower.com/wpglobal/FTAA.html

============================================================

>>AUSTRALIA: SOCIALIST ALLIANCE CONTESTS BY-ELECTION
Workers Power Global, Melbourne

Socialist Alliance has existed for less than four months and already is
contesting it's first seat in the Aston by-election.

The Socialist Alliance, already close to the target membership for Federal
election registration has tapped into the victories of S11 and May Day 2001 to
begin building an alternative to the two main parties.

It couldn't come at a better time. Every day the media reports new factory
closures and huge job losses all over Australia - often in smaller
communities,
devastated by the loss of these jobs. The closure of the Arnotts Biscuit
factory is just the latest and largest in a series of closures which indicate
something much more deeply wrong with the Australian economy.

One of the main planks of the Socialist Alliance campaign in Aston will be the
call for no more job losses, particularly in an area that has been hard hit in
recent years.

Public transport is another important issue in this area. The electorate of
Aston contains a single train station - at Bayswater in the far corner of the
area. Bus routes are sporadic and not to the places the community needs. Trams
are almost non-existent. At the same time the new freeway proposal is almost
certain to be a toll route - in no way helping the thousands of commuters who
have to make the journey into the city each day.

Socialist Alliance will be campaigning for a massive increase to public
transport spending in the area. The extension of the tramlines to Knox
Shopping
Centre and the massive extension of train access to the electorate.

Another focus the campaign will need to address is the possibility that One
Nation will stand a candidate. If this is the case then demands against racism
and in support of refugees will also be important. The Socialist Alliance
draft
platform stands for opening the borders, a demand that goes further than
closing the detention centres and challenges the whole racist immigration
system and the idea that anyone can be an "illegal" immigrant.

The Aston by-election campaign is off to a good start with leafleting and
campaigning in shopping centres already begun and a candidate - Josephine Cox
selected by an all-Victorian meeting of the Alliance.

The practical issue that now has to be addressed is activating the paper
membership of the alliance to be out on the streets campaigning - not just in
Aston but in all the seats where branches now exist. Socialist Alliance has to
be a campaigning body - and not just electioneering. There are local issues in
every branch that Socialist alliance needs to be intimately involved in. And
this means all the people who have signed up need to be ready to take part in
these campaigns.

FOR MORE ON THE SOCIALIST ALLIANCE DOWNLOAD:
<http://www.workerspower.com/wpglobal/ozap.pdf>http://www.workerspower.com/
wpglobal/ozap.pdf
and JUNE PAPER
<http://www.workerspower.com/wpglobal/WPA22.pdf>http://www.workerspower.com
/wpglobal/WPA22.pdf

============================================================

>>AUSTRALIA: TAKE THE YALLOURN FIGHT OUT ONTO THE STREETS
Workers Power Global, Melbourne

Power workers at Yallourn Energy in the La Trobe Valley have been fighting
their employers for over two years for a decent contract. Last years
industrial
action brought the situation to a head with huge writs being handed out to key
activists and to the union as a whole. And since then the workers have been
stuck in the Australian Industrial relations Commission battling a series of
appeals.

The basics of the struggle are simple. Yallourn Energy (now owned by British
company China Light and Power) wants a series of concessions from the
workforce. These have been dubbed the seven deadly sins by the workforce.

They include further contracting out of existing jobs, no agreed duties or
demarcations, introduction of new technology without agreement and a
team-based
structure.

Workers at the company rightly see these as a major decrease in their current
conditions and the beginning of further job losses. But without acceptance of
these "fundamentals" the company has refused to negotiate.

With bargaining thus halted the company has been able to apply to the AIRC for
arbitration. At the same time this has prevented the workers from taking
protected industrial action. The bargaining period was supposed to re-open on
May 2 - on May 1 this was extended to July 31. With the arbitration itself
having begun on May 16, this effectively prevents the workers from taking
protected industrial action while the arbitration is happening.

The power industry in Victoria is key. The la Trobe Valley produces the
bulk of
the power for both residential and industrial Victoria. When power workers
pull
the plug - it closes down the State. That's why the bosses have made such huge
efforts to tie the workers up in the courts and cripple them with millions
dollars of writs. It's also the reason why support for this struggle is so
important.

There is a support group in Melbourne and there have been a series of public
meetings and rallies outside the AIRC on January 18 and May 16. These are
important shows of solidarity and proof to the bosses and the courts that they
are taking on more than an isolated section of workers.

But right now it might not be enough.

What has to be clear is that the AIRC is the bosses' court. Yallourn Energy
refused to negotiate and now are going to use the courts to force the new
contracts onto the workers. The court itself has tied the workers hands by
refusing to re-open the bargaining period. Only unprotected action is
possible.
And the workers and their union know that this will mean more writs and
injunctions.

That's why support from the rest of the organized union movement is so
important right now. If the AIRC comes down with an unfavourable decision
before July 31 then Yallourn workers will need to take industrial action. The
only other choice will be to give up a fight they have been having for over
two
years. And CFMEU national secretary John Maitland has set the precedent for
this by arguing that the union knows there can be no justice in the courts and
that the struggle will have to win on the streets.

Now is the time for Yallourn workers and for other rank and filers in the
CFMEU
to hold Maitland to these fighting words.

May Day this year showed the real force of the union movement in Victoria as
10, 000 workers took over the streets of Melbourne for the day. The
presence of
AMWU and other unionists at the weekly Nike pickets has been enough to
mitigate
police violence. With the power of the rest of the union movement behind them
the Yallourn workers can have the confidence to take the industrial action
that
will almost certainly be necessary to win.

FOR MORE ON YALLOURN SEE:
http://www.workerspower.com/wpglobal/WPA22.pdf

============================================================

>>RUSSIA: LEFT UNITES AROUND PROGRESSIVE DRAFT LABOR CODE
The Committee of United Action in Support of the All Union bill of Oleg Shein.

The Government of Russia is preparing to eliminate labor rights of
citizens. The critical moment in the struggle for the workers' Labor
Codehas arrived. Your support is urgently needed!

Three years ago, the Russian Government, fulfilling the will of the
Russian capitalists and the International Monetary Fund, attempted to
eliminate the existing Codex of Labor Law, which the fighting
workers'organizations used as a weapon against the arbitrary rule of
their new masters. Now the government is forcing the acceptance in
the State Duma of a barbarian bill on the Labor Codex, which throws
Labor legislation in Russia back to the beginning of the 20th century.

It legislates the 12-hour working day, overtime without compensation,
night work for pregnant women and the complete lack of rights for the
unions. National actions of protest of the independent unions, which
were carried out in 1999 and 2000, permitted the previous attacks of
the government to be beaten back, and to postpone the vote in the
State Duma on passage of the new Labor Code.

But now the old Trade Unions of Shmakov (head of the Federation of
Independent Unions of Russia) committed treason and came to agreement
with the government. They became coauthors of the so-called
"conciliatory" bill on the Labor Code, which is all the same
government variant, made worse, in authorizing compulsory labor. This
bill will be introduced into the State Duma on the 15th of June and
will be submitted for consideration at the end of the month. The
decisive moment in the struggle for labor rights of the workers of
Russia has arrived. All forces must be mobilized.

The bill on the Labor Codex of the Russian Federation, was developed
by the Fund of the Workers' Academy and the Unions, and introduced
into the State Duma by deputy Oleg Shein, supported by other deputies.
Its intention is the strengthening of the labor rights of the citizen.
This bill:

* Guarantees protection from unemployment;
* Reduces the working week to 35 hours;
* Raises the minimum wage to a living wage;
* Increases the portion of tariff in salary to 80%;
* Requires payment of wages on time, and only in money;
* Indexes salaries âo" protects against inflation;
* Develops the collective bargaining relationship;
* Protects free union activity of the workers.

Opposed to this bill is the bill on the Labor Code by the Commission
of Conciliation, lobbied for by the authorities, which strives to:

* Cut down the rights of workers;
* Legalize the arbitrary will of the bosses;
* Lengthen the working day;
* Introduce a priority of fixed term employment contracts
over open-ended contracts;
* Blacklist workers defending their rights;
* Firing at the whim of the employer;
* Deprive the worker of stability and guarantees;
* Undermine the collective bargaining relationship;
* Weaken the unions and play them against one another.

Coming out against the bill of the Commission of Conciliation that
would destroy labor rights, the authorized representatives of free
labor unions of Russia supported the progressive bill introduced by
deputy O.V. Shein at the Trade Union Congress on 6 June. They called
all workers out to participate in the national action on 19 June. On
this "Day of United Actions" for the progressive bill on the Labor
Code" short term work stoppages will be conducted, with factory
whistles and the signals of transport systems, workers gatherings,
demonstrations, pickets and other collective actions.

The Committee of United Actions in support of the national bill now
turns to workers abroad for help, to unions and other progressive
organizations, to support our 19 June actions by sending to the Duma
and President Putin faxes, telegrams and letters of protest against
the plans to liquidate the labor codex and in support of the all union
bill on the Labor Codex introduced by Duma deputy O.V. Shein, and
also where possible by holding pickets at Russian embassies.

The outcome of the actions will determine the fate of the workers'
movement in Russia for many years to come.

It is very important to send letters to the faction of the Communist
Party of the Russian Federation in the Duma, since the attempt to
drive back the government's attack this time will in large extent
depend on their position.

signed:
The Committee of United Action in Support
of the All Union bill of Oleg Shein.

translation - Mark Harris

Addresses for letters in support of Shein`s Labor Code draft and
protests against the plans to abolish the acting Labour Code

State Duma of Russian Federation:

Telegrams:
1 Okhotnyi Ryad, Moscow, Russian Federation, 103265
E-mail: priem@duma.gov.ru
fax: 7+(095) 292-85-08 - Speaker Gennady Seleznyov

President Vladimir Putin
fax: 7+(095) 206-02-66
E-mail president@kremlin.ru

Gennady Zyuganov, Leader of the fuction of the Communist party of
Russian Federation - fax: 7+(095) 292-56-85

Please, send copies of your faxes and telegrams to the deputy of the
State Duma Oleg Shein, the organizer of All-Russian Campaign for
Workers' Labour Code:
fax: 7+(095) 292-89-06
E-mail: shein@duma.gov.ru

FOR MORE ON FIGHT AGANST THE RUSSIAN LABOR CODE SEE:
<http://www.workerspower.com/wpglobal/1decemberappeal.html>http://www.worke
rspower.com/wpglobal/1decemberappeal.html

============================================================

>> BECOME A CORRESPONDENT FOR WPG
The LRCI has members across the globe - but there are many countries where we
have no correspondents. Send us your news and views:
newswire@workerspower.com

============================================================
>> NOW FORWARD THIS TO A COMRADE >> NOW FORWARD THIS TO A COMRADE

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Redaktionsschluss: 9. Juni 2001, 21:30 Uhr


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