Zionist Gangsters Gun Down Civilians

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Pickets demanding restoration of right to demonstrate and organise free trade unions in Queensland. Auszzli do not belong to the yellow 'union' federations run by the bourgeois parties have been banned.

They include the Bogota bus drivers' union. Hundreds of workers have been sacked for participating in the strike.

This degree of repression, however, has not stopped the upsurge of action by the Colombian workers. Since the general strike there have been several important prolonged strikes in various sectors, including the militant teachers.

A major strike of oil refinery workers has caused problems for the government since August. The police laid seige to the town where it took place and arrested most of the leaders.

Nationalised

The demands of the strike, which came to at least a temporary end last week, have been not only for increased wages to protect workers against the cost of living which is rising at about 40c a year, but also that the nationalised oil industry should not be handed to the Private sector.

Seiehbouring Ecuador was In writing last week of the recent changes in the Israeli administration we referred to them as a government of former gangsters.

Events of the last week have clearly shown that Begin and his accomplices remain as much gangsters as they ever weIe.

The air raids on villages and refugee camps in Southern Lebanon on Wednesday 9 November which razed a number of small settlements to the ground and killed over 100 people was a clear part of the normal Zionist tactic of improving its diplomatic position over heaps of dead bodies.

During the previous week the Israelis began to bombard the town of Nabatieh, still largely deserted since the civil war in the area.

When a number of people were killed, Palestinian forces retaliated by directing Katyusha rockets into the northern Israeli town of Nahariyah.

After two civilian deaths, the Israelis then retaliated with their bombing raid.

They razed to the ground a number of hamlets such as Hazzleyah, just south of Tyre.

Nearby orchards were avoided and delayed action bombs, a favourite device of the Americans in Vietnam, were left for those who survived the morning raid.

The purpose of this calculated and deliberate carnage was to prepare the way for the 'peace' proposals of the Zionist government.

Lebanese fascists issued statements blaming the Palestinians and calling for them to be driven out.

However, the most important aspect of this was to get US President Carter, who has been making accomodating statements about the Palestinians, to admit that he could not condemn the Israelis who had been 'under severe provocation' Furthermore, the Israells were able to time their raid for the same day as the statement of President Sadat of Egypt that he would attend the Knesset, Israel's parliaSuch a visit would naturally pay nothing more than lip service to the interests of the Palestinians.

Sadat, under strong pressure from Saudi Arabia and the USA, has now clearly become the front runner in efforts of the Arab bourgeoisie to ditch the Palestinians and settle with the Zionists.

In further bombing raids as we go to press Israeli forces have killed another 11 civilians. These moves show the lengths they are prepared to go to in order to reinforce their version of "peace" repressive intentions are far from invincible.

It is a decisive moment to build up the struggle inside the British workers' movement and solidarity with the working class of Latin America through economic and arms boycotts against the dictatorships to be imposed by working class action.

WiNG regime might have had something to do with the attempted killing after Achour's "union" took the unprecedented step of calling a one-day strike of phosphate workers on November 3. This split at the top of the Destour Socialist Party reflects huge working class resistance to Bourgiba's semi-dictatorial regime.

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are for different reasons un- though that doesn't mean "For us the way out of the maintain a combative attitude crisis has to be by a different to wards the economic pact".

In cahoots: Suarez with PSOE leader Felipe Gonzalez Santiago Carrillo: "No party could find its whole programme in the pact but we can and will find a part of our programme, together with concessions we have had to make... The agreements of Moncloa are a step towards social justice".

Mundo Obrero, (weekly organ of the Central Committee of the Spanish Communist Party:

"Note that, contrary to what happened in other European countries at the end of periods of fascist dictatorship, here, since the elections of June 15, no dominant political force, or alliance of forces, has emerged.

"No political party can legitimately say: the electorate has given a majority mandate for this or that particular programme, these solutions, these methods.

What the election did show was a mandate for democracy.

"But a democracy to be constructed in the actual conditions and in a struggle with vested interests, positions of strength and habits from the immediate Francoist past.

"In the context of these concrete aspects of the problem, the discussions and agreements between the government and the political parties in the parliamentary spectrum constitute an important democratic triumph..

Marcelino Comacho (General Secretary of the Communist Party-dominated Workers Commissions):

"With one hand Felipe Gonzalez signs the Moncloa Pact with the other he pushes Nicolas Redondo to attack the Pact. That shows the internal incoherence o1 the diversions within it, and the Bilizar, (fortnightly journal oi Workers Commissions):

"Politically speaking, it is easy to recognise the positive nature of this agreement at a time of renewed violence and old threats, but the key question which has to be asked of the trade unions is different: does the declaration mean a step forward for the workers? The Workers Commissions have answered at all levels: we believe it does.

'We think that even though the document talks of sacrifices, although it has insufficiencies (on unemployment), serious omissions (pensions, minimum wage) and even frankly unacceptable measures (a maximum wage increase of 20-22% and the threat to cut down manning by 5%).

"In spite of that we still think the agreement is positive for the workers.

"Because it affirms that sacrifices have to be made by all.

"Because it recognises the CODE OF WORKERS RIGHTS and WORKERS' CONTROL in the working out of measures to deal with the crisis, and in key organisations such as SOCIAL SECURITY.

Because it recognises the need for CHANGES IN THE PRESENT FRAMEWORK OF LABOUR RELATIONS.

'That is decisive. Because IF IT IS PUT INTO PRACTICE it would mean democracy would enter the factories, would reach the power centres of the economic bunker and open up a new model of growth."

El Socialista, (weekly organ of the Socialist Party (PSOE) ):

"Our country is going through a difficult period in the political field, related to the problems of transition from a dictatorship to a fully democratic situation; and in the economic fleld because of the inability of the previous government to introduce a coherent economic policy, something for which the socialists, of course, bear no responsibility whatever.

"At this difficult moment and given the incoherence of the government, the socialists were faced with two options equally unacceptable, though tor ditterent reasons.

"On the one hand a deepening of the social crisis with the idea of later enjoying the power today held by others; but the relation of forces in this country today make that option unviable.

"On the other hand the acceptance of what has been called the "Social Pact" which would make the workers pay for the whole of the economic crisis, which manld he insamiceihlo acceptable to the socialists. route so that the burdens do not tall as they always do, on the working class.

"So that these burdens be equitably shared and at the same time enough is got in return from the government to justify the sacrifices which are asked for.

'We socialists have discussed the programme presented by the government, we have improved it and sent it back where it came from so that the government, under parlamentary control, can administer it.

"Will they know how? In any event the historic change which our time demands will not permit manoeuvres whose only objective is mere survival in power.

Nicolas Redondo (Secretary general of the UGT, the Socialist trade union).

"Flexibility in the size of the workforce (ie uncontrolled sacking) is unacceptable and we maintain our reticence about the wage ceiling imposed in the Moncloa Pact . . . The UGT cannot psychologically [sic] pact Lne that the UGT is going to

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ment, if necessary, in order to negotiate 'peace'

BRING DOWN PETERSONS REACTIONARY REGIME

eager acceptance Both options, as we said, seasons already indicated,