Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit LOVE AND RAGE Electronic Edition APRIL/MAY 1993 Part 2 ABORTION ACCESS ERODES IN EAST BLOC by Elizabeth Batiuk ACROSS CENTRAL AND EASTern Europe, women's access to abortion is being attacked by the Catholic Church and right-wing nationalists. The capitalist market system in former Communist regimes has unleashed new forms of oppression on women. Women are being pushed back into the domestic realm, into the role of mother and wife. Women are being systematically excluded from the political processes of their countries and communities. Women are experiencing rising rates of sexist violence. The State needs to control social relations and women's bodies in order to organize the economy and the government for maximum profits. Displacing women from the work force and curtailing access to abortion reinforces the ideal of the nuclear family. Reports on the current situations in Poland, Hungary, the Czech and Slovak republics, Albania, Kosovo, Bulgaria and Germany were given at a recent meeting of the Network of East-West Women (N.E.W.W.) in New York. (See the end of this article for a summary of these reports.) Attacks on reproductive freedom in Eastern Europe are being shaped by three major reactionary political forces: nationalism, capitalism and social morality. Reproductive freedom varies according to the area a woman lives in and her ethnic identity, according to the reports given on Croatia, Albania and Kosovo. For example, though once part of Serbia, Kosovo has a large Albanian population. Albanian women in Albania had access to abortion. But Albanian women in Kosovo were under heavy social and religious pressure not to abort any pregnancy, in order to bolster the Albanian population in the region. Indeed, there were popular rumors that doctors induced Albanian women to miscarry against their wills when they went for routine physical or prenatal exams. Nationalist ideaogies are more concerned with increasing their ethnic populations and with enforcing moral and cultural homogeneity, than they are concerned with the economic strategy of the nuclear family. Under Communism, women enjoyed legal equality and participation in the labor force. Some attempts were made to socialize housework. But all of Central and Eastern Europe still depends on the compulsory domestic labor of women. Women carry a double burden, typified by the phrase "working mother," in both capitalist and Communist industrialized societies. Abortion was freely available in Eastern and Central Europe under the Communists. In many places it was used regularly as birth control, due to the lack of decent contraceptives. These policies were regulated demographically by the State. Now, reproductive freedom is at the mercy of the market rather than the State. In places such as Hungary and the Czech republic, price increases have severely limited abortion access. An abortion costs up to 80 percent of an average monthly wage. Because health care is no longer free and abortion is now considered "non-essential," choosing to have children is no longer considered a real choice in Eastern Europe. There is an understanding that abortion is "something you take care of yourself," according to one woman's report on Albania. This is the experience of women's lives. Our rights are treated as less inalienable; our autonomy is subordinated to the interests of the State. For example, in the G.D.R. women had easy access to abortion, childcare facilities and domestic services. Yet women still suffered horrendously from the double burden of wage-work and house-work. The nuclear model was the only model of family. Uncritical acceptance of what is included in the private or unofficial realms perpetuates inequality. Culture and social traditions are not likely to change by legislation alone. It is ineffective to simply politicize social relations: They are products of traditions, deeply ingrained ways of understanding ourselves. We must seize political and social power in order to have a material effect. It is clear that the nation-state is not a political structure which faithfully serves the interests of women. While women should continue to fight for increased participation within the current structure, we must keep the long-term goals of women's liberation in sight. The Network of East-West Women represents a type of new political activism which is taking off from the social movements of the 1970s and '80s. This activism organizes across culture, economic status and political ideology. N.E.W.W. tries to change society through collective action, try to define our identity as women in progressive ways. The Network includes women from various political orientations. They pay attention to the process of change on both theoretical and material levels. They discuss things in the academic realm. But they also provide the practical supplies, such as phone numbers and stickers to the S.O.S. crisis-line in Zagreb. Feminism is revolutionary if it truly seeks to liberate all women. Because women's sexual oppression is carried out through government, gaining participation in government will not be enough to win liberation. Reproductive freedom is hindered by economic and social institutions and by a singular view of morality. Therefore our interests lie also with those people fighting capitalism and struggling for self-determination. Limiting our struggle to the goal of participation in existing structures will lead us back to where we are now. We will be left cleaning up after the false promises. THE FOLLOWING IS A BRIEF overview of reports on abortion access in Central and Eastern Europe, as delivered at the Feb 3, 1993, meeting of the Network of East-West Women: ALBANIA & KOSOVO PRESENTED BY: SHIQIPE MALUSHI BEFORE THE COMMUNIST REGIME, abortion was self-performed. The Communists legalized "choice" by providing abortion in cases of rape, threat to a woman's life, or health problems for mother or child, including a woman's inability to feed and care for the child. Incest was considered "not an issue." There was no birth control or sex education under the Communist regime. BULGARIA PRESENTED BY: CHRISTINA KOTCHEMIDOVA UNDER THE COMMUNIST REGIME, abortion in Bulgaria was available to unmarried women and married women with more than two children. Bureaucratic corruption, as in many areas of life in the Soviet-style societies, gave women access to abortion. In 1990, abortion in the first trimester became available when performed in a hospital under a doctor's surveillance. It is most comon for abortion to be performed with only local or no anesthesia. There is no sex education, and a lack of decent contraceptives. There is strong resistance to condom-use. Sterilization for women is illegal. Opposition to abortion is not focused on the fetus. Kotchemidova attributed this attitude to the more-tolerant Christian Orthodox religion in Bulgaria. CROATIA PRESENTED BY: VINKA LJUBIMIR THE CHURCH ATTEMPTED TO INitiate a campaign to limit abortion, but the Minister of Health refused to bow to the pressure. He pointed to the lack of economic resources, to the State's inability to provide necessary social services if abortion were restricted. Abortion is free, if a woman is pregnant by 10 weeks. A woman must get approval for abortion from a medical commission if she is between 10 and 24 weeks pregnant. Minors need the signature of one parent to obtain an abortion. Abortion is not available for non-citizens. CZECH AND SLOVAK REPUBLICS PRESENTED BY: BELINDA BLUM THE CZECH REPUBLIC RAISED THE price of an abortion to 3000 crowns, approximately 79 percent of the average monthly wage. This is the first time in 40 years that people are paying for health care and, since abortion is not considered an "essential" service, it is not covered by insurance. There is a fee-waver if a woman's health is in danger or in instances of rape. In Slovakia, permission for an abortion must be granted by a committee whose duty it is to "make known to the women the negative consequences of abortion." Abortion is illegal except in cases of rape, incest, medical complications and "social problems that are impossible to solve." Conservative forces within the Slovak republic are threatening to enact the "Law on the Protection of Human Life," which would further limit access to abortion. GERMANY PRESENTED BY: NANETTE FUNK UNIFICATION OF EAST AND WEST Germany sparked an extensive debate on abortion because the two countries had irreconcilable laws on abortion, the West having the more restrictive of the two legislations. To date, these laws have not been reconcilled. Debate has been postponed again until April, with no plan for new laws to go into effect until the end of 1993. HUNGARY PREPARED BY: DOROTTYA ORL™SI PRESENTED BY: AGNES THE NEW LAW, AS OF DEC 17, 1992, allows abortion under these conditions: if the woman or fetus is in danger of life-threatening health problems, if the pregnancy is the result of a rape, or if the woman claims that the pregnancy causes her "serious crisis." This law requires women to undergo counseling on alternatives to abortion. The cost of an abortion has increased to two-thirds of a monthly income. The Feminist Network has been started collecting signatures in support of liberal abortion guidelines. LITHUANIA PRESENTED BY: LAIME SERKSNYTE ABORTION HAS BEEN LEGAL HERE since 1956, and there appears to be no threat of impending restrictions. POLAND PRESENTED BY: KRYSTYNA ZAMORSKA SENATE VOTED IN JANUARY TO criminalize abortion in all cases except for pregnancy resulting from rape or incest, or in cases of a threat to the life of the mother. The new law mandates a two-year jail term for doctors who violate guidelines. A million and a quarter signatures were gathered in opposition to this law. (Since this report was given President Walesa has signed the restrictive legislation into law.) SLOVENIA PRESENTED BY: RENATA SALECL UNTIL TWO YEARS AGO THERE was no public debate on abortion. Women successfully defeated the conservative Christian Democrats' attack on abortion rights. -30- FIERY VIRUSES COMMUNIQUE On the night of Aug 10, 1992, a field of genetically manipulated corn was destroyed in Rilland, Holland. At the same time, at the Floriade, an agricultural exhibition on bio-engineering was "dismantled." These actions were claimed by the Vurige Virussen, the "Fiery Viruses." The following is their communique, edited by our Production Group. HOLLAND -- A HANDFUL OF multi-national corporations, with the help of bio-engineering, want to capture a monopoly on life, increase their profits, and further oppress people, both here and in the Three Continents. The biotechnology industries promise that in time there will finally be enough food, produced in an environmentally friendly way with the help of bio-technology. Science is saying that bio-engineering is no more than just the newest plant-improving techniques. The government promises keep this science under control through a commission of "experts." This is propaganda. There is a serious problem: the surplus of population and food-shortages of the world. The exhibition [at the Floriade] can't be visited anymore. The World Wonder Garden has lost a myth. "What's the problem? The large number of poor people, or the 23 percent of the world which uses 80 percent of the natural resources?" asked Vandana Shiva, during the opposition's shadow conference to the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development (U.N.C.E.D.). The bio-technology industries claim that bio-engineering will banish world hunger. This is a myth. The industries claim that by creating disease-resistant grains, more people will be fed. The world food problem is thus reduced to a technical problem. But to claim that bio-technology is the solution to world hunger is to deny that social structures and historical relations produce hunger. Moreover, the industries also claim that bio-technology is neutral and value-free and that technology is developed out of charitable motives and the best intentions. This vision of "Bio-technology as The Good" is a lie. Developing a technology requires an extensive program, a program that carries specific interests with specific values. Technological industries carry the power to (re)define the nature of the problems in question. They reproduce the power-relationships and values in which they were developed. A capital-intensive technology, for example, forces a dependency upon banks and financiers. This dependency is "built in" to the technology. Bio-engineering is not free of values, nor is it a solution to hunger. It increases the exploitation which already characterizes the relationship between the North and South. It is within this relationship that bio-technology will do its work. HUNGER In 1887, Italian priests brought a ship with Italian cows and bulls to Eastern Africa. They also brought a form of hoof-and-mouth disease which eradicated 90 percent of the East African cattle stocks. Because of this, all of Eastern Africa was threatened by starvation, yet those in power called this a natural disaster. After centuries of intensive Western interference with the countries of the Third World, millions are now facing starvation. Images of swollen bellies, dry fields and dried-up acres fill our TV screens regularly, but there is no critique of why these millions are starving. The structures of exploitation are hidden. Poverty and hunger are apparently uprooted, their causes reduced to too little rain, too many children and stupid farmers. "The African agriculture is backward," stated Aart de Zeeuw, the Dutch chairman of the agricultural commission of the General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade (G.A.T.T.) as quoted in Onze Wereld, Dec 1987. It is exactly this racist notion of superiority that paved the way for centuries of exploitation and oppression. THE GREEN COUNTER-REVOLUTION In the 1960s many countries set up large agricultural programs. Institutional giants, like the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the International Monetary Fund (I.M.F.) and the World Bank, invested in these programs. This "Green Revolution" meant large-scale intervention in the agricultural structures of the Third World. Local farming methods gave way to "modern" technology. The use of plant varieties with high yields and mono-cultures, and the large-scale and intensive use of fertilizers extended crop yields. But after a period of time, it became known who the real winners and the losers are. These high-tech farming methods carry many hidden costs and are squeezing small farmers out of the industry. Mono-cultures are more disease-prone and require more weed-killer. Acres with artificial fertilizer need more water, demanding irrigation projects. But because no drainage systems exist, large areas are permanently flooded or have changed into deserts. A few years later, farmers are left with the results: a destroyed agriculture, spoiled soil and water, genetic erosion, high debts, crops with an over-sensitivity to all kinds of diseases, and an increasing use of expensive Western products like artificial fertilizers and weed killers. For the losers, technology has created a vicious circle of misery and hunger, has created a new class of poor, landless slum-inhabitants. The winners, of course, are the big industries. In agriculture, two-thirds of the work is done by women. Statistics and official reports usually conceal this by qualifying this work as domestic work, or unpaid work. Bio-engineers followed this patriarchally beaten-path and denied the importance of women's knowledge and women's work. The large-scale intervention in the social structure, under the pretext of "modernizing," has been exclusively directed to male farmers. The consequences of this modernization has mostly affected women. Men have left and gone to the cities or to the large plantations as agricultural laborers. Women, who do most of the work already, have even more work to do. Women have lost their land to big companies and have gained the burden of providing their own food. AGRICULTURAL POLICY Swimming in a milk lake, sitting on top of a butter mountain and speaking about food shortages is Orwellian. Hunger is not a problem of too little food, rather it is a problem of how the food is produced and distributed. Traditional self-supporting agriculture in the Third World countries has been and continues to be systematically ruined in favor of Western agriculture. Enormous agricultural yields from the South are produced and exported for Western markets, often as raw materials for cattle food. The southern countries are often forced into this relationship by the I.M.F. and the World Bank. Production has to bring in foreign currency, which is needed to pay off debts to Western banks. The World Bank is currently sitting on profits of 1.7 billion U.S. dollars. These are the real results of bio-technologies. U.N.C.E.D. The so-called Bio-diversity Treaty, which was signed during the U.N.C.E.D., clearly reflects how bio-technology is a tool for exploiting the Third World. The treaty, which was designed to protect the world's bio-diversity, forces many Third World countries to give their genetic reserves to bio-industries. And moreover, Third World countries are deprived of the products of their materials and labor. ...The world is more and more dictated by economic values. Everything revolves around the market instead of around life. The poor don't count because they are not consumers. We neglect Africans with A.I.D.S. because this does not bring enough, economically speaking, and the blood of the poor doesn't give ink. "De Volkskrant, July 11, 1992 THE NEW WORLD ORDER It is not really new, Bush's New World Order, at least not to the poor countries who merely notice that they are being squeezed just a little tighter. Five hundred years after Columbus, the Western world has its hands free to cheerfully exploit the last bits of the world and of life. "Until now, genetic modification was a science which promised uses without any bad sides," states Prof. Schilperoort in Transferneiuws, June 1992. Nonsense! This statement reflects how those in power are allowed to not only define the problem, but also to patent the solution. The trade in hunger is a very lucrative business kept hidden by the "experts." Discussions around bio-technology are silenced, or dominated by the terms of the oppressors. We want to place matters in a political context. Thus we unmask bio-technology, showing it to be the political weapon which secures profits through the misery of millions of people. When asked how bio-engineering should be controlled, the C.D.A. (the Dutch Christian Democratic Party "trans.) spokesman Reitsma answered: "Drawing boundaries is not in the first place a matter of politics, but rather a matter of society," as quoted in Biotekst, March, 1992. These words have affected us deeply, and we have done our best to draw one small boundary. Greetings, Fiery Viruses -From Arm The Spirit, No. 14 For a complete version of this communique, which includes more extensive analyses of the topics covered here, contact autonome forum via e-mail: aforum@moose.uvm.edu -30- ANTI-FASCIST-ACTION EDINBURGH by Rachel Rinaldo SEVERAL YEARS AFTER THE MILItant poll tax riots and demonstrations, it looks like political resistance in Britain is at a low point. Few serious squats remain, most of the anarcho-punks have been disillusioned or caught up in the New Age Travellers' movement, and even Class War could not raise a contingent for a demonstration at the European Summit in Edinburgh. As in the rest of Europe, though, fascism is alive and well here in Britain, recruiting on the housing projects of cities like London, Glasgow, Manchester, and Edinburgh. Anti-Fascist-Action has chapters throughout England and Scotland and is probably one of the most active groups around these days. They are dedicated to fighting fascists, such as the British National Party (B.N.P.), and nazis, through propaganda and if necessary, physical confrontation. A.F.A. started the autumn with a successful action in London, where they prevented hundreds of nazi skinheads from getting to a Blood and Honour gig where the band Skrewdriver was playing. I've been involved with A.F.A. Edinburgh for several months, but they formed about a year ago. In that time, they've plastered the city with stickers and graffiti (and wiped out B.N.P. graffiti), as well as held gigs at the Unemployed Worker's Center, had stalls at local clubs, picketed a bookstore for selling a book by a nazi revisionist historian, and written letters to the local B.N.P. members. A.F.A. Edinburgh and Glasgow were also at an annual anti-racist march in Glasgow , which 25 seig-heiling B.N.P.ers tried to disrupt. Most recently, we've put up posters all over town, with a picture of local B.N.P. members and their addresses and phone numbers, urging people to write nasty letters and harass them by phone. A.F.A. members have been known to make annoying phone calls to local fascists and nazi skins at odd hours of the morning. A.F.A. is an alternative to mainstream/liberal groups, most of which won't even recognize the existence of fascism in Britain. Groups like the Anti-Nazi-League are mainly fronts for various left parties and do little besides carry placards at big demonstrations. A.F.A. especially concentrates on rooting out fascism in working class communities, the favorite recruiting place of the B.N.P.. The mostly wealthy fascist leadership targets disaffected youth in such areas, turning their anger away from the establishment and towards neighboring minority communities. Not surprisingly, A.F.A. gets a lot of criticism from to so-called "left." An editorial in the left University of Edinburgh student newspaper called groups like A.F.A. "the violent fringe" and "leftist thugs." Other groups within Edinburgh have sharply criticized the anti-B.N.P. posters and our confrontational tactics. But it is a pipe dream to think that merely by distributing leaflets and holding demonstrations, the fascists will go away. This kind of thinking on the majority of the left has fed the recent rise in fascism and nazism in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and even Sweden, where Jewish cemeteries have been desecrated. Mass demonstrations are important, but the reality of fascists on the streets must be dealt with before they can terrorize the local community and recruit vulnerable youth. -30- ASIAN STUDENT MOVEMENTS OF THE '90s IN THE '70s, STUDENTS DREAMT OF socialism as an alternative to the capitalist and imperialist systems. In Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, millions of people died under the hands of Uncle Sam's troops. This genocide forced the Vietnamese people to accept U.S. imperialism. The U.S. failed, and students in Asia celebrated. However, at the turn of the '80s, confusion over socialism set in. People witnessed the ruthlessness of the Khmer Rouge on televisions, and condemned it as communist terror. The victory of Vietnam over an imperialist power was followed by its own invasion of Cambodia. A war began, fought between two Asian socialist countries: China and Vietnam. Capitalist forces adopted more subtle forms of oppression. Imperialist forces relied more on indirect control: economic imperialism. This tactic included the economic blockade of socialist states and supporting client states in the Third World -- often military regimes and collaboration with local elites to implement pro-Western policies, protecting and enhancing the powers of multinational corporations. In response to these changes, many leftists and progressive student activists in Asia shifted the focus of their struggle, which had been internationalist, to one more national-centered. Despite the problems of existing socialist states, student activists generally concluded that these problems came from misguided practice rather than from socialist theory itself. Therefore, they tended not to go into deeper discussions about the causes of these problems, but retreated to fighting at the local front, against the ruling class. The priority was thus the removal of the local repressive regimes rather than the destruction of the global capitalist system. There were vigorous student campaigns against military regimes and dictatorships in the '80s. This includes Korean students and workers bringing down Chun Du-hwan in 1987 and Filipino students and masses toppling Marcos in 1986. Burmese students fought against 23 years of Ne Win's military rule in 1988; Chinese students attacked corruption and the lack of democracy in 1989 in Tiananmen; Nepali students dismantled the "panchayat system" and King Birendra's absolute rule in 1990; and in Bangladesh, General Ershad was deposed after leftist student fronts united to fight his dictatorship. Student movements in these countries tend to fight for more democratic space in a "liberal democracy." However, the focus on "liberal democracy," as the major, or only, goal of students' struggles is not without problems. The first problems are the limits of "elections" and "political freedom" in really empowering the people in Third World countries. What is common about electoral politics is money politics: the rich and the powerful can easily mobilize support by threats and rewards. There were more austerity policies imposed after "democratic elections" than before. After dictators were deposed in the Philippines and Korea many students returned to "normal studies" and forgot about the sufferings of the marginalized. The focus on "liberal democracy" also tended to play down internationalism, liberation at the global level. In the '80s, international solidarity was defined, sadly, as nothing more than giving support to one's own liberation movement, rather than struggling together. Moreover, this electoral fever has had an alienating impact at the campus level. Student activists today can only make political speeches " they no longer like to dance, to laugh, or to be humorous. Given that politics is only a facet of our cultures, the student movement is also condemned to become "one-dimensional" rather than multi-faceted. Apart from "liberal democracy," the other trends of student movements in the '80s was anti-imperialist. These campaigns have been defined in negative terms, removing an external threat or occupation, rather than in a clearer positive form, such as new relations of production, culture, economics and politics. There has been a shift in the imperialist tactics, from that of a colonial control to one of economic imperialism and "information imperialism." In the era of colonial rule, the character of Third World struggle was national liberation and armed struggle. However, economic and "information imperialism" are more subtle than this. To tackle economic imperialism, we need to redefine the economy. The strategy is two pronged: weakening the dominant economy and building up an alternative. Students should spread the message that the "growth economy model" of the First World not only deprived the Third World people, but also assaulted ecology to such an extent that we have to stop such insane economics now. The information age is also being used to enhance imperialism. Progressive movements in the Third World need to think about ways of utilizing this information technology on our own side. The resistance to this military, economic and information imperialism is the vision of a peoples' alliance: that students should integrate with marginalized classes for a common struggle and also develop a vision of an international network of resistance. It is important for student activists to reach out to the peasants, workers and other marginalized groups in our society, but ultimately who can organize the students if not the students themselves? Excerpted from The Asian Students Association Bulletin, Sept 1992 -30- REPRESSION OF MOLDAVIAN ANARCHO-SYNDICALISTS MOLDAVIA -- Confederation of Anarcho-Syndicalist members Tamara Burdenko and husband Igor Hergenreorder are suffering under the ex-USSR Moldavian regime. Both have published articles denouncing the government's authoritarianism and nationalism and the growth of fascist ideology. Tamara was fired from her job April 29, 1992. Igor was questioned and physically threatened by the KGB July 22. On July 24 an unknown person rang their bell and gave Igor a sock that contained a severed dog's head. On July 25 Moldavian TV news warned of those "creating anarcho-syndicalist groups". Shortly after this Tamara and Igor's lawyer refused them further service. They have also had break-ins, their phone line has been cut, and their neighbors have been warned about them. The Confederation of Anarcho-Syndicalists in the Commonwealth of Independent States have organized a support campaign for these two. Please send letters of protest to the following: The People's Court for Buyukan Sector Moldavia, Kishniev-1 ul M.Vistyazul, d.2 Persident of the Court Parliament Moldavia, Kishniev-1 ul Stefan cheu Mare, d.105 Secretariat of the Moldavian Parliament Human Rights Commission President Moldavia, Kishniev-1 pl Velikogo Natsionalnogo Sobraniya, d.1 Mircha Ion Snegur Info from the US Workers Solidarity Alliance and the Moscow Confederation of Anarcho-Syndicalists -30- Sendero Verde can't go home! Orlando Polo and Mercedes Paez are activists and members of Cuba's only green/anti-authoritarian opposition group, the Eco-Pacifist Movement "Sendero Verde" (Green Path). After touring the U.S., the Cuban government refused them permission to return. Neither East Nor West-New York City launched a letter-writing campaign on their behalf, and because of that Cuban officials met with the Green Panthers. But permission to return is still denied, so another round of letters is being called for. Please write letters demanding that Orlando and Mercedes be allowed to return home, and address them to the Cuban Interest Section in Washington D.C. Mail them to N.E.N.W.-N.Y.C. who'll get them to Cuban officials: 528 5th Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11215 Tel. (718) 499-7720 -30- IRISH BORDER PROTESTS: BRITS OUT OF IRELAND IRELAND -- On Jan 1, 1993, there were protests all along the British state-imposed border between the north-eastern six counties of Ireland and the remaining 26 counties. Thousands of people took part in actions which included reopening roads and bridges, demonstrating at British barracks and posts, and marching through military checkpoints. Since the early 1970s, British forces have been closing roads (with craters and barriers) and destroying bridges along the border. As a consequence, the daily life of border communities has been massively disrupted, with people having to make a detour of several miles to visit their neighbours just across the border. In the last few years border communities have been taking direct action to secure unrestricted access back and forth across the border, reopening roads and rebuilding bridges, often in the face of severe harassment from the crown forces. The Border Roads Campaign has now been established with the support of the Combined Community Associations, and they organised the day of action on January 1. Lackey Bridge near Clones (on the Monaghan/Tyrone border) has become the symbol of the border resistance campaign. It has been reopened by local people and closed by the army, on numerous occasions since the start of the present campaign. On January 1, 400 people turned out to reopen the Lackey Bridge crossing. With supporters from the U.S., Wales, Germany and Brittany, local people maintained a 72-hour vigil to keep the crossing open. From ECN-UK -30- GERMANY: PARCEL BOMB KILLS ACTIVIST Freiburg, Germany -- On friday, Jan 22, 1993 Kerstin Winter was killed by a parcel bomb in Freiburg. The 24-year-old Kerstin was a politically active lesbian in Freiburg. She was the first chair of the "Support Association for Subculture", which is active in support for an autonomist leftist youth center in Freiburg. She was also active in antifascist groups. By the same evening a spontaneous demonstration was taking place in the inner city of Freiburg, in which 600 - 700 people participated, expressing their sorrow and anger. Afterwards, the demonstration marched to the house in which Kerstin had been killed, where a vigil was started. Another solidarity demonstration took place in Heidelberg. On Monday, Jan 25, a state-wide demonstration took place with over 8,000 participating. The background of the attack remains unclear but the nature of Kerstin's political work and the nature of the murder suggest that it may have been the work of fascists. From comrades in Germany -30- REPRESSION IN GREECE CONTINUES: MILITANTS ARRESTED ATHENS, Greece -- On Wednesday, Dec 2, Jiorgos Balafas, Wasiliki Michu and Andreas Kiriakopulos were arrested in Athens and charged with crimes, including founding a terrorist organization, assassinations and bombings. They are charged with participating in "Anti-State Action," (now called the "1st of May Commando"), "November 17," and "Revolutionary Resistance." Prior to the arrest, November 17 became active again, bombing Athens' financial district in response to tax increases. When the three militants were arrested, police claimed to have seized a cache of weapons, hand grenades, false documents and drugs, as well a car with a fake license plate. Shortly after the arrests, however, Greek TV uncovered a scandal when the head of the police and a high-ranking general gave conflicting accounts of what had been seized. In the end, the Greek interior minister resigned and publicly apologized for some of the false information. Balafas has been sought by the cops for several years now, and the Greek press has been portraying him as a "leading terrorist." Balafas responded in a press release: "I have not killed or wounded anyone. I demand that these lies be publicly set right. I have not made a statement to police because I do not want to become a victim of their so-called 'anti-terror campaign.' Cops lie today, just as they always have, just because my ideas and my way of life are radically opposed to the existing system and its values " and many people think this way! " that makes us dangerous to them. But it has nothing to do with these charges." From Interim #220 -30- PARTIAL VICTORY FOR NIGERIAN ANARCHISTS CAMPAIGN CONTINUES by Bob McGlynn ANARCHISTS POLITICAL PRISoners from Nigeria's Awareness League (A.L.) -- Udemba Chuks, Garba Adu, Kingsley Etioni, and James Ndubuisi -- won some reprieve Jan 29, when they were conditionally released on bail. (They must report to the State Security Service each week.) Arrested seven months ago during a wave of worker/student unrest protesting I.M.F./World Bank-imposed austerity plans, the anarchists were detained under the notorious "Decree No. 2" - a catch-all "preventative detention" law. At a Calabar court hearing Jan 25, their lawyer, Ifeanyi Nnajiofor, demanded a grant of bail. On hand were 100 A.L. members plus (according to a Feb 1 A.L. communique) "scores of journalists, activists, members of the Nigerian Bar Association, and interested members of the public." Then on Jan 29, "we won our greatest legal battle yet ... [when for] the first time we set our eyes on them in seven months. They looked badly emaciated, weak and sick." Setting a legal precedent, poking a hole in Decree No. 2, the judge granted bail, and set the next court appearance for Feb 18. Then as the four left court "there was an attempt to have our colleagues re-arrested outside the premises, but this was stoutly resisted by the crowd." They were then promptly hospitalized for two weeks. The A.L. has info that the military may try to have the men re-arrested once again. This would not be uncommon in Nigeria where the judiciary and the military are constantly at odds. The U.S. Workers Solidarity Alliance (W.S.A) and Neither East Nor West-New York City (N.E.N.W.-N.Y.C.) have successfully spearheaded a worldwide campaign for the A.L. A week of protests at Nigerian embassies was called for Feb 22-26, with actions by anarchists in Moscow, Dublin, New York, San Francisco, London and Hamburg. Petitions and protest letters have been received from Turkey, South Korea, Russia, Italy, Brazil, Canada, Poland, the U.S., South Africa, Bulgaria, Germany and the U.K. Anarchist publications worldwide have covered the story. Special thanks to Love and Rage newspaper, who mailed an international appeal for A.L., and the International Workers Association and Spain's National Confederation of Labor (C.N.T.) for sending $500 each to A.L. for legal fees. The question of money is of special priority. Ifeanyi, the A.L.'s lawyer must travel 1000 kilometers from Lagos to Calabar, Nigeria. As of last December, the A.L. had a $12,000 debt to him. Ifeanyi is being extremely thoughtful and generous according to the A.L., but his expenses must be paid. Over $1000 has been received by A.L. from anarchists abroad. The international campaign played a part in A.L.'s bail victory, possibly saving the lives of these men. (Prisoners don't get fed in Nigeria.). International Money Orders or U.K. Bank Checks can be mailed directly to: Awareness League, c/o Samuel Mbah, P.O. Box 28, Agbani, Enugu State, Nigeria. Foreign currency goes a long way now in Nigeria with $1 equaling a third of a months wage. Communiques will be made available for a contribution sent to: N.E.N.W.-N.Y.C., 528 5th St., Brooklyn, NY 11215, U.S. (A.L.'s letters are available for a dollar's worth of postage and a xeroxing fee, but please try to send more to help the defense.) For more info: W.S.A, 339 Lafayette Street, Room 202, New York, NY 10012, Tel (212) 979-8353 -30- INFOSHOPS: THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE INFOSHOPS ARE PREVALENT IN Europe, especially in Germany where there are over sixty. The infoshop structure, comprised of regular national and international meetings and cooperative projects, forms an integral part of the autonomist movement there. An infoshop is across between a bookstore and a library. Activists can go there to read or buy movement papers and books; buy paraphernalia such as stickers, masks and spray paint; attend meetings, lectures or films, or just plain hang out. Most infoshops rent a space, but many are in squats. Others use part of a cafe or center. Some are run by one collective, while others have a different group in charge each day. None of them have paid positions. Most infoshops have a women-only day either weekly or monthly. Besides the groups running the infoshop, other groups use it as a meeting place and as a mailing address. The latter is especially useful for security reasons. Members of many groups, not just those involved in "illegal" activities, don't want to be personally identified with their group. Instead of using a private address, which can be dangerous because of fascists and police repression, or apost office box which can be traced to a responsible individual, groups can have a mailbox at the infoshop. If the group has problems with their mail being opened or stolen, they can use a double envelope: inner addressed to the group and outer to the infoshop. (This is standard practice for criminalized papers in Germany.) If necessary, the infoshop needn't even know who is in the group. In case of a grand jury investigation, members of the group in question cannot then be identified by the infoshop collective. They in turn do not risk being in contempt of court by refusing to speak. Infoshops could play a useful role here as well. With all the anarchist and autonomist papers around, no person can subscribe to all of them. Infoshops, receiving numerous movement papers, would help keep the movement better informed. Infoshops can be equipped with a telephone, fax or a computer, making communications that much easier between groups. And infoshops are useful in maintaining movement security. For more on infoshops try contacting: Papiertiger Cuvrystr. 25 D-1000 Berlin, Germany Tel (49) (30) 618-3051 1-2-1 121 Railton Rd London SE24, England Tel (44) (71) 274-6655 -30- VERY SMALL INTERNATIONAL NOTES: BERLIN, Germany -- On Feb 8, the French philosopher and spokesman for the French neo-nazi group, "New Right," Alain de Benoist, was scheduled to speak at an intellectual gathering debating "A New Society For Literature." But as he arrived, about 15-30 young autonomists dragged Benoist down the street and beat him up. The nazi philosopher managed to get back to the venue, but his glasses were smashed so the event was called off. From Interim #227 JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Comrades in Johannesburg have set in motion the beginnings of what they believe to be the first openly operating revolutionary anarchist movement in South Africa. They have sent out a call for assistance, specifically in the form of advice, literature, and funds (when possible). Contact Renato & Elli at: P.O. Box 51465 Raedene, 2124 Johannesburg, South Africa KURDISTAN, Turkey -- On Jan 22, 1993, Stephan Waldberg, a freelance journalist with Radio Dreyeckland in Freiburg, Germany, was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison. Waldberg, arrested in October, is charged with being a courier for the Kurdish Workers Party (P.K.K.). Send copies of your letters to Turkish authorities and letters to German embassies to: Radio Drekeyckland, Alderstr. 12, 7800 Freiburg, Germany -30- IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: We are pleased to announce: AMOR Y RABIA ... MEXICO THE END OF THE SPANISH SECTION? A Production Group (P.G.) has been formed in Mexico City and they have produced a pilot issue of Amor y Rabia completely in Spanish. The P.G. Mexico is made up of members of Love and Rage supporting groups as well as members of other anarchist groups in Mexico City. They plan to publish a monthly paper and offer it for international distribution. The Coordinating Group of the Network supports this project. The P.G. Mexico has also asked that we discontinue the production of the Spanish Section in New York and that we distribute Amor y Rabia Mexico in its place. A decision has yet to be made and we would like to know what you, the readers of the paper, think. So please write to us. _ Yes! I support discontinuing the Spanish Section from NY, as long as the Mexican edition continues. _ No! Even if the Mexican edition continues, I want the NY paper to remain bilingual with a section in Spanish. _ I don't give a damn what you do with the fucking section, but... _ I would like a copy of the last issue of the Mexican edition with information about subscription (please send U.S.$1 plus postage of $0.50 U.S., $2 international) Return this form with your comments to: Love and Rage, P.O. Box 3, Prince St. Station, NY, NY 10012 If you are interested in more information about the new Mexican project or if you want to send a monetary contribution contact the PG/Mexico at: Amor y Rabia/Mexico, Apdo. 11-351, C.P. 06101, Mexico, D.F. Mexico -30- @ _Love & Rage_ is a Revolutionary Anarchist newspaper produced @ by the Love and Rage Network. The Love and Rage Network is a @ continental network of groups and individuals in Canada, Mexico, @ and the United States. Subscriptions to the newspaper cost: @ $13 for first class (fast, envelope), $9 third class (slow, no @ envelope), $13 international (outside of United States), free for @ prisoners, GI's, published bimonthly. @ @ Please write to us at POB 3, NY, NY 10012 @ email: lnr%nyxfer@igc.apc.org @ or: loveandrage@igc.apc.org @ @ Electronic Edition subscriptions are available for e-mail @ delivery to your mailbox. e-mail subscriptions are free, but @ we would appreciate a donation to help us and the NY Transfer @ News Collective to continue this service. @ @ Send your e-mail address along with a $10 suggested donation @ in US dollars payable to: Blythe Systems @ Attn: Kathleen Kelly @ NY Transfer News Collective @ 235 East 87th Street @ New York, NY 10128 @ e-mail: lnr%nyxfer@igc.apc.org @ -end part of 5- + Join Us! Support The NY Transfer News Collective + + We deliver uncensored information to your mailbox! + + Modem: 718-448-2358 FAX: 718-448-3423 e-mail: nyxfer@panix.com +