ABBA EBAN, 28 January, 1968 Zionist movement knew nothing stinian resistance can serve of the Arabs existence and when speed this victory. But how it discovered it, it realised that it you conceive of the victory of the could not live except by getting Arab revolution? rid of them, that it is a question I must first define the objectives of them or us. of the Arab revolution. I have an During what they call the wat international view of revolution. of independence', the Zionists and a conception which flows from an the embryonic state of Israel con- analysis of the present stage of sciously pursued a policy which capitalist development, The capi could be termed genocide. But talist world market and the laws instead of committing cold-blooded which govern it are a reality. These murder like Hitler, they forced an laws can only be combated and exodus. replaced on a world scale. Until From the outset, Israel pursued a these laws can be changed interpolicy of liquidation; but instead nationally, the immediate obiceof making the Palestinian Arabs tive of the revolutionaries and into soap it made them into refu- revolutions is to strengthen those gees. There is not a great deal of international forces which seck to The development of the Arab re- difference. Sociologically speaking replace these laws.
They On the basis of this analysis, then kept 250,000 Arabs-whose activi- I define the short- and intermedi. ties were kept under close surveil. ate term objectives of revolution. lance to assure their harmlessness aries in the Arab countries not as —just as the Americans kept some building socialism-an objective CZECHOSLOVAKIA IS EMBARKED upon a scrupulous and public re-examination of its recent history, economy, political structure, the relations between the Communist Party and the State, industry, social institutions -every aspect of life in the country during the period 1948-1967.
debate about the past and the future to the Czech people. It is acknowledged that the economy deviously and mystifyingly evaded: for has run down. the administration. hor the objects of power-the people--to relapsed into a petrifying bureaucracy, accept responsibility was often resigned-have come to turn Tha beoble-crown cynical their and become those exercising dangerously power, and best backs on a political system which they avoided. Above all the gulf between felt powerless to change. Despite the reality alleged by the Party and huge and positive achievement actual reality experienced by the socialisation. Crech people became as obvious been tragic oppression, waste, apathy. it was acute. irrationality in handling the means of production and distribution. Power In April the Czech Communist Party has been divorced from accountability published Programme--a responsibility. formidable document in which these For those in power, responsibility was questions are exhaustively analysed and remedies postulated. Separation of Party from State and social organisations; a new role for Party members as working for the aims and obiectives Party by perssasion ander. DAVID MERCER rather preoccupied with what is hap-/nition that Socialism has not delivered pening here.' Understandably, it seems the goods like Capitalism. Their sysamazing to many of them that what tem has not worked. It must be made they see as material affluence could to work —but the criteria of success have such a bloody and bloody-minded appear to be not those of revolutionoutcome. Cuba? That is not social- ising human relationships, they are the ism. China? They couldn't get away values of technological efficiency oper with that except in their own condi- ating under the fait accompli of public tions of total and universal poverty. ownership in a climate of scepticism Czechoslovakia? We have to proceed towards the humane fundamentals of on a basis of material incentives. Egali- revolution. This is curiously facilitated tarianism is a futile myth. Don't come by the absence (due to ideological from Western Europe saying you are rigidity and dogma) of those very traMarxist, and criticise us for wanting Editions of criticism which in the Wes things.... have contributed to the undermining Indeed, the Action Programme itself of public muths and mystifications says at one point; We are for the post-Freudian psychology, sociolory. skilled, the talented, the hard-work- Marcusian pessimism and so on. ing' At this point the Czech view be- The revulsion of a minority of Eurogins to sound more like the techno pean youth for their world of gadeets. politicians of the West than anything toys, the playground of the techno else. Tough luck on the unskilled, the cratic idiots and their time-serving to untalented and the lazy. On the basis. the profiteering patrons, the substituof public ownership-consumer Com- tion of roles for lives and induced munism. The sense of demoralisation greeds for needs--this seems to be in. and failure seems to rest, not on some comprehensible to the Czechs at this careful historical analysis of the per- moment. now experience new Man, Bo There is no New Man, version of revolutionary ideals and objectives, but rather on a weary recog- must breathe."
the objectives of the Arab revolution. There are classes in the Arab countries which live off the existing fragmentation, which want to maintain the status quo, and which profit from it. But taken separately our countries cannot be independent.
You mention El Fatah. Could you tell me what this organisation is?
El Fatah is the reversed initials of - Palestinian Liberation Movement" (HTF in Arabic).
El Fatah and its paramilitary organisation El Assifah were created well before the 5 June war with the aim of liberating occupied Palestine. As an organisation, El Fatah arose around 1963-64. El Assifah began its activities toward the end of 1964 or the beginning of 1965 Initially, its objective was to prevent the Palestinian problem from being forgotten or from being used simply as a political pawn by various Arab countries.
The instructions which were given to the commandos told them never to attack the Jewish population.
At the beginning, El Fatah worked by infiltration, since the Arab population had largely been driven from the Iraeli-occupied territory.
Israel based itself on the principle that the Palestinian problem had lowing the June war. More prebeen completely eliminated. Pale- cisely, there was in my opinion a stine was wiped off the map! It cause-and-effect relationship be. was replaced by Israel and Jordan, tween the development of the re* It lies upon the people's shoulders to prepare for the war, but it lies upon the Israeli army to carry out the fight with the ultimate object of erecting the Israeli Empire.' MOSHE DAYAN, 12 February, 1952.
the latter being only an outgrowth fact that the present government, of Transjordan, which moreover which constitutes a radical élite, had itself been carved out of Pale. was not completely representative stine by a British decision. Having of the society. It is apparent that become refugees, the Palestinian there are pressure groups in Syrian Arabs were to be both absorbed society, the bourgeois and merand policed by the countries in chant classes, which helped by the which they took refuge. June defeat, had regained sufficient This was the Israeli view; but it strength to challenge the team in must be said that certain Arab power. There is no doubt that the countries took the same view growth of the resistance caused this problem. El Fatah was created these groups to lose ground. They precisely to remind both of them can no longer offer any opposition that a national community cannot except by wearing a false mask, by be wiped off the map by a decision presenting themselves as being of alien authorities. even more intrasigent; and this is By reminding them of the exis- the phenomenon which is occurrtence of the Palestinian commun- ing. ity, El Fatah found itself in con- In Egypt, there is a possibility that flict with these countries, so that if the resistance had not developed it had not only to combat Iscael at the rate it has Nasser would and the Israeli view but also some, have had to yield sistance movement and the radical- | keiry. You know that today he no| combat isation in the UAR and Syria. longer heads the Palestinian LiberIn the case of Syria, it is a clear ation Organisation. It is true that Indians on reservations. these threats had a very great Today, the policy is the same but psychological role. But this is prithe situation is different because consider impossible except on Israel had " inherited' Arab-occu- world-wide basis-but as strengthpied territories. In these circumstances, the resistance cannot but or position seek to combat these be a popular phenomenon. The laws. Thus, in short-and mid. only way to eradicate it is to attack term, the objectives I attribute revolution; it the Thus, this genocide to the Arab revolution and to Arab will continue. revolutionaries are those of antiThis vear on 10 April 1968, we imperialist struggle. commemorated the twentieth an- You must not simply declare yourniversary of the massacre of Dmir self anti-imperialist. You Yassin, a Palestinian village where women, old people, and children interests of imperialism in the were massacred along with able- region in practice. It is impossible bodied men. This Palestinian to call yourself anti-imperialist and Oradour had the same objective as its historic predecessor in the rise of the term "genocide, for- or the Arab groups or social clas cing the people to flee by a few ses which profit from these im such small operations. perialistic interests.
Where will the struggle to liber- If the Arab feudalists and bourg. ate Palestine end? You know that cois lavers could successfully lead in Europe this struggle has often been understood as a holy war to would be ready to consider them drive the lews into the sea? Cer- sincere and honest anti-imperialist tain statements by Palestinian lea- forces. But they are incapable of ders like Shukeiry have been this because their interests are quoted in this regard. bound up with those of the imperand the pro- Many of te fought against Shu- ialists. Arab revolutionaries cani victory.
De removca rom une soncre or a0. stract directives and submitted to the actual necessities of interplaying economic forces; independence of Judiciary; confinement security operations to real questions of SUIC security, and their debarring from issues of opinion and personal liberty in speech, writing and general cultural activities: Parlament to have a rea and concrete function, , being the ultiresponsible DOdy and not rubber-stamp fiction.
These and many other problems are submitted to a searching, honest and sophisticated reappraisal. There relatively few lapses into disingenue vness, and if the terrors and failures the past tend to be skimmed over, the document has none the less that SITOR of being 'forward looking and practical which is familiar in genuine reformist thinking.
From one may conclude that Czechoslovakia is in for a huge increase in personal liberty, freedom expression, and economic flexibility. 'period of darkness Czechs call it, has been flooded with and exposed to judgment. combination of economic disaster, intellectual dissent, student protest and Slovakian nationalism, has brought new men forward who seem to intend Stay. The conservatives" (ossified Old Guard, Stalinists, careerists, bureaucrats) bz one of those paradoxes Socialist countries, one to workers for support. The workers, they contend. will soon come to realise they haven't had it so bad-and when effectively heaval begins, reorganisation and they had general only by successfully struggling out. Also, they foment hostility better against the Arab allies of these wards. - • Prague intellectuals whom they accuse of preparing to sell out the interests. achievements of the revolution, thus Therefore, after defining the ob. invoking suspicions and atagonisms jectives of the Arab revolution, we with deep historical roots. can come back to the question of So far the conservatives are losing ening those forces which in power its nature, and say what its characground. The despised intellectuals teristics will be: that it will be have gone out to the factories to Arab, because it will be a popular explain themselves: the ugly record will be unifying. of the past twenty years is aired because it will be opposed to the classes which live off the present for all to witness; week by week fragmentation; and it will be soci- on television the tragic victims of alist, because in opposing imperia. police repression and the arbitrary violence of the Partv, confront must lism and the interests linked to it.
their former guards and prosecucombat the economic and political it will challenge the laws governing the capitalist system and world tors. This last is possibly the most market, moving and sombre indictment to When I say that possibilities exist which any communist party has at the same time defend or plead for the victory of the revolutionary exposed itself, and the proceedings neutrality toward the oil interests forces in Egypt and Syria and in display a dignity and humility rare certain other Arab regions, this enough on the part of officialdom is precisely because in the histori- in any. society. cal development of the class strug gle in these countries over the last The difficulty is to relate events Czechoslovakia to the evolution of retwenty years the process of elim- volutionary thought Western the struggle against imperialism, I inating the Arab allies of the im- Burope. At a tarantinn in Karlovy perialist interests has been begun Vary I heard a tired-looking woman with a certain success. This suc- official been in France recently. say to someone: They have But- I've cess is still not complete, however, everything they want. dont under and that is why I have not spoken stand what those students are on about Often, when asked about the May of victory but only of possible Barricades in Pacis, Czechs will shrug wryly-and perhaps We Erince has Just experienced a crisis which has shaken the old bourgeois the society from top to bottom. In the space of a few days the struggle of the students, then of the workever.
In the space of a few days, the workers who were said to be satisfied by the consumer society, occupied their factories, locked up their bosses, and demonstrated for the overthrow of Guallism. De Gaulle's ' strong ' regime was paralysed and for three weeks unable to react.
It owed its survival only to the reformist political and trade union organisations which accepted elections as the solution to the the crisis, while the real power was to be found in the factories and in the streets.
Work has been resumed, but the worker and student vanguard is refusing to capitulate and has decided to continue the fight. the After May 1968 things will never be the same, not only in France, but in all uplook the countries of western Europe.
It has been proved that bourgeois society can and must be overthrown, not only in the 'underdeveloped' countries, but in the advanced capitalist countries.
To do that we must reinforce the vanguard, and notably the JEUNESSE COMMUNISTE REVOLUTIONNAIRE, which today kindles the revolutionary struggle while the traditional parties of the working class have failed.
We must immediately provide it with financial solidarity to permit it to cope with the repression which is being prepared, and to extend its activities.
Meet this appeal! Set up a fund! Send us the maximum aid possible!
Solidarity with the fighting students and workers of France!
9 Tune, 1968. The National Committee of the TEUNESSE COMMUNISTE REVOLUTIONNAIRE Send donations to:
RENATE PRINCE, c/O BLACK DWARF, 7, Carlisle St, WI.
BLACK DWAR 13.3 ments have been continuously
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Everything is in question, and the papers, radio and television are playing a vital role in openly communicating what amounts to a running
ing class, has smashed to smithereens the " stability' of a society that was said to be 'bourgeoisified' for