Democratic Palestine : 20 (ص 33)
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- Democratic Palestine : 20 (ص 33)
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internationalists are giving priority to supporting Nicaragua
and the struggle against apartheid. The Danish Seaman’s
Union does alot of international political work as well as trade
union struggle. In coordination with other unions, they devote
much efforts to the fight against apartheid, and are part of an
international network to discover and stop arms shipments to
South Africa.
LIBERATION (BRITAIN)
Our correspondent interviewed Tony Gilbert, general secre-
tary of Liberation that was formed fifty years ago as the
League Against Imperialism. In Britain, all the major trade
unions are affiliated to Liberation, and over 100 MPs are
sponsors. Tony Gilbert told the following about the progress
of solidarity with the Palestinians in Britain:
«In the Middle East, the dangers to world peace are great.
Imperialism has got roots and the support of reactionary
regimes, chief of all, Israel. It is beginning to be understood in
Britain, that unless the struggle for the liberation of the Pales-
tinians, the ending of now 20 years of military occupation of
Palestinian lands, is resolved, there can be many wars in the
Middle East, but there could be an even greater one. Therefore
we are turning our attention in particular to the question of the
Middle East, and with success. Even five or six years ago, there
was confusion in the British labor and progressive movement.
Many progressive MP’s called themselves Labor Friends of
Israel, because the Israelis traded on the 6 million dead as if the
Palestinians were responsible for the deaths in the concentra-
tion camps. They have used the holocaust, but as they moved
into more and more aggression in the Middle East, people
began to realize that this is not defense. Sabra and Shatila will
never be forgotten. The Israeli occupation forces are now
treading the very same ground and using the very same
methods as the Nazis used in their concentration camps.
«Now we have helped to organize Labor Friends of Pales-
tine, Trade Union Friends of Palestine. We are beginning, in
Britain, to have the Zionists on the run. Our job now is to
expose them fully, so that everybody understands that peace
and justice in the Middle East depend in the main on freedom
for the Palestinians...» )
In general, the peace conference in Copenhagen presented a great opportunity to meet with progressive
forces from all over the world. In addition to those we have mentioned in the previous article, our corres-
pondent had the opportunity to interview: SWAPO of Namibia, ANC of South Africa, POLISARIO, the
Communist Party of India, comrades from Afghanistan, the Tudeh Party and Fedayeen Majority from
Iran, British Labor MP Ernie Roberts, leaders of the World Peace Council from different countries, the
Communist Party of Cuba, Farabundo Marti from El Salvador, comrades from Nicaragua, and the Left
Socialist Party of Denmark. Unfortunately, time and space limitations prevent us from printing more
than two of the many useful interviews.
Gus Newport
Interview with Gus Newport, mayor of Berkeley,
California, and US vice-president of the World
Peace Council
From your position in the World Peace Council,
how do you see the US’s role in world peace?
The US is certainly the no. 1 perpetrator against any peace-
ful solutions or reasonable agreement for a test ban, etc. It is
certainly the no. | violator of the rights of third world coun-
tries, because of its imperialist, expansionist tactics. One has
only to look at its support to ‘constructive engagement’ in
South Africa, its continued aid to the contras in Nicaragua and
to the government in El Salvador which is fighting a criminal
war, its use of Israel as a supplier of weapons to dictatorships
throughout the world. It has constantly responded only to
Israel in the Middle East, and won’t even consider or include
the Palestinian people in any negotiations for a peaceful solu-
tion... Our foreign policy is strictly dictated by protecting
investments and multinational corporations. Very few Ameri-
cans are aware of this, but I think more and more are becoming
aware, because it drains the resources of our cities. As the
defense budget increases, resources for human needs in the
United States decreases, so we have a high rate of unemploy-
ment, a lot of drug use, school drop-outs, people losing their
homes and sleeping in the street. The working class people in
the United States has become the victim of our foreign policies.
Doesn’t this put a direct relationship between
people in the third world and people in the US, who
are both adversely affected by this policy?
That’s a fact. I think that the freedom of the people of the
third world is tied directly to the freedom of the people of color
in the US, and vice versa. The US continues expanding its
world markets. It then exports blue collar industrial jobs to
cheap labor markets, to take advantage of paying slave wages
to people of the third world. These are the types of jobs that
Black people, Hispanics, Asian, people of color in general are
most qualified to work in the US. So it creates unemployment,
unrest, human disaffection, etc. The sooner that the people of
South Africa, the Palestinians and others become free, the
sooner the people in US inner cities become free, because those
jobs then revert back to our people, because as you people
become free, you will negotiate meaningful wages...
What is your view of the Palestinian question?
The Palestinians have received the worst treatment of any
people in the world. What’s happening in Palestine is another
apartheid situation. Often when you discuss the inalienable
rights of the Palestinian people, especially with people of the
Israeli lobby, they will suggest that to take a stand on the side
of the Palestinian people is anti-Semitic. I always remind such
people that the Palestinians and Arabs are Semites too. What
about them?
Furthermore, the facts being created in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip are more and more violating the rightful lands of
the Palestinian people... The Zionists always say that the PLO
has never respected their right to secure borders. My response
is that nobody knows what borders you’re talking about - those
of 1947, or those after the 1967 war? Of course, they always
define the Palestinians, Nicaraguans and Cubans as terrorists.
Terrorism is always defined from without, never from within. I
know what is happening in the case of the Palestinians and
other third world peoples is a political response, because of
their demand to establish self-determination for themselves.
The true terrorists are the United States, Israel and Great Bri-
tain who have chosen to make illegal strikes against Lebanese
civilians, Gaddafi, Grenada, etc. We have to redefine terrorism
in our words...
If we had some principled politicians in the US, they would
cut off all aid to Israel immediately, both because of its cri-
minal acts against the Palestinian people and as arms supplier
to totalitarian governments that are oppressing their people. I
33
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