File spoon-archives/marxism-international.archive/marxism-international_1997/97-03-04.021, message 16


Date: Sun, 2 Mar 97 10:41:15 UT
From: "James Hillier" <Jim_Hillier-AT-msn.com>
Subject: M-I: What is the function of marxism-international?



Just so nobody gets me wrong right from the start, I am not a member of the 
Workers World Party, I am not a sympathiser of the WWP, and I do not belong to 
an organisation that has international ties to the WWP - or any other 
Trotskyist organisation.

And I am not forwarding this post in order to start a tide of third party 
forwarding.

But when marxism-international was created, I thought it was going to be a 
forum where marxists from different parts of the world could debate and keep 
each other informed about what was going on. Where we could rationally discuss 
what is going on, why, and what the nature of the different political forces 
at play are. I think the old m-1 did this pretty well during the Turkish 
Hunger Strike.

Some comrades do use the list for this purpose - I won't give a list because 
it will obviously be partial.

But the vasy majority of posts on the list have nothing to do with the 
international struggle of the working class and the peasantry. They are 
instead to do with the personal vendettas and petty personal concerns of petty 
bourgeois leftists in the imperialist countries. 

The Internet is an amazing resource that the US bourgeoisie has created for 
us, unwittingly. To squander it in this manner if unforgivable.

Now, there are people on the list who must know more about what has been going 
on in Ecuador than I do, and who will have something meaningful to say on 
these - and other - developments. In Turkey, Zeynep, if she has the time, has 
plenty to comment on and to keep us informed about. And since we all come from 
different backgrounds, this can lead us into concrete, constructive debates in 
which marxism is used as a tool for understanding the world, in order that we 
can learn to change it. And if it can't, then I can see no real purpose for 
this list.

I am sick and tired of the amount of veryone's time that Jerry Levy, for one, 
is wasting. I am particularly sick of the amount of time Louis P is spending 
on it, since when he devotes himself to more seriousmatters - for example the 
Cuban Revolution - was can all benefit. I'd have preferred to see him - or 
anyone else who considers themselves Castroite (as he once did on this list, 
or m-l) answer Adolfo's and Luis Arce Borja's firce critique of their methods 
and their goals. These critiques from Peruvian communists could have provoked 
a discussion on Castroism - its origins, its development, etc. Instead we 
ended up with endless waste of bandwidth thanks to Jerry L and Paul Z.

Maybe I am wrong, and it is marxism-news that should carry this kind of 
reports. Trouble is, the only thing I seem to get from it is the occasion 
advert telling me that New Worker Online, a new service for the working class, 
is available for my perusal. It's nice to know, of course, and I'm not 
knocking it, but I'd prefer to also be hearing about the FPMR comrades who are 
on hunger strike in prison, for example.

Anyway, enough moaning from me.

For communism

Jim 
CAG
London


Forwarded message:

BEHIND THE FIGHT FOR ECUADOR'S PRESIDENCY

By Andy McInerney

In the wake of mass demonstrations that toppled a 
president, the labor unions and popular forces in Ecuador 
are struggling to consolidate their gains. But the bankers 
and industrialists and their political parties have 
maintained the upper hand in the developing political 
situation. And they are striving to continue their program 
of economic austerity.

Politics as usual was shattered when 2 million people 
walked off their jobs on Feb. 5 in a "civic strike." That 
demonstration was the culmination of weeks of protests 
against President Abdala Bucaram's austerity program.

Gas prices had soared by 350 percent. Telephone rates went 
up by 800 percent after Bucaram slashed subsidies to public 
services.

Demonstrations began in early January, when thousands of 
students took to the streets against the austerity measures. 
The Single Workers' Front (FUT), Ecuador's main union 
federation, also held mass demonstrations in the capital 
city Quito and the biggest city, Guayaquil.

Hundreds were arrested and dozens wounded in clashes with 
the police.

By February, all social classes had joined the protest 
movement. United in a coalition called the Patriotic Front 
(FP), over 500 groups joined called for the impeachment of 
Bucaram. The coalition included the FUT, the Confederation 
of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), women's and 
student's groups and other mass organizations, as well as 
the Catholic Church. 

But the Chambers of Production and Commerce, representing 
the interests of industrialists and merchants, were also in 
the coalition. All traditional political parties outside of 
Bucaram's Roldoista Party joined the Front.

Motivations for opposing Bucaram reflected each sector's 
class interest. Workers and students fought his government's 
austerity policies aimed at satisfying international 
bankers. Meanwhile, the political and business elite was 
appalled at the corruption and nepotism of the Bucaram 
regime. 

Workers wanted an end to cutbacks and belt tightening. 
Bosses wanted the austerity program applied efficiently.

The protests' social force was concentrated in the FUT and 
the CONAIE-- which mobilized a million indigenous peasants 
and paralyzed the entire countryside. But the political 
leadership was concentrated in the traditional bourgeois 
parties, especially the FP. 

On Feb. 6, the Congress voted to oust Bucaram on the 
grounds of "mental incapacity," referring to his outlandish 
public persona, and named Fabian Alarcon president. On Feb. 
7, the FP called on the population to demonstrate in support 
of Alarcon--a call that the FUT rejected.

The motion to oust Bucaram was introduced by Franklin 
Verduga of the right-wing Social Christian Party (PSC). 
Bucaram defeated the PSC's candidate in the 1996 
presidential elections by running a populist campaign 
against the previous PSC administration's privatization and 
austerity program. After his election, Bucaram turned around 
and carried this program even farther than the PSC had.

In a settlement brokered by the Ecuadorian military, Vice 
President Rosalia Arteaga assumed the presidency for three 
days until the Congress voted Feb. 11 by a 57-to-two margin 
to re-install Alarcon.

U.S. ABANDONS BUCARAM

Bourgeois opposition to Bucaram in Ecuador might have been 
held in check if not for the open intervention of the United 
States in dumping the president.

On Jan. 21, Ecuadorian generals met with Wesley Clark, 
head of the U.S. Southern Command, and Ambassador Leslie 
Alexander. They discussed "problems the country was having," 
in particular corruption, according to the Quito-based 
business newspaper El Comercio.

The Ecuadorian press widely reported comments Alexander 
made days before the mass demonstrations about corruption in 
the Bucaram regime. "Unless a dramatic attack is initiated 
against the systematic corruption which afflicts this 
country, it will be my responsibility to officially notify 
Washington of the dangers in investing here," he said on 
Jan. 29, according to the Guayaquil newspaper El Universo.

On Feb. 14, after meeting with newly appointed Alarcon, 
Alexander said that U.S. companies operating in Ecuador were 
"very happy," according to Peru's La Republica newspaper.

The initial Congressional acts after Bucaram's ouster 
reflected the strength of the working class in the popular 
movement. They included a call for a Constitutional 
Assembly, canceling the austerity measures, respect for 
labor rights, a review of privatizations, and preparing for 
a National Council of Development of Indigenous and Black 
Peoples. The Congress also declared a moratorium on payments 
of the foreign debt.

CAPITALISTS CONSOLIDATE, WORKERS ORGANIZE

The new government immediately began to pull back on these 
promises. "Our country must fulfill its international 
commitments," Alarcon said Feb. 15. The privatization of the 
state telecommunications operation would continue, he 
pledged on Feb. 16.

In a Feb. 17 interview with El Comercio, new Finance 
Minister Carlos D=A0valos Rodas pledged that while the 
austerity measures would end, the new government's basic 
orientation would remain the same. The priorities would be 
controlling inflation, renegotiating the country's $14-
billion foreign debt, reducing the budget deficit, and 
stabilizing the economy.

The FUT has pledged to pressure the government to honor 
the popular mandate it gained in the course of the Feb. 5 
mobilization. Forces within the broader Patriotic Front 
announced on Feb. 23 that they were discussing calling 
street demonstrations or a May 1 strike if the Alarcon 
government turns its back on the popular forces.

                         - END -

(Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint
granted if source is cited. For more information contact
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
ww-AT-wwpublish.com. For subscription info send message to:
ww-info-AT-wwpublish.com. Web: http://www.workers.org)



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