Contents

LEADING EDGE ...... 1

NAMIBIA IS UP FOR GRABS ...... 3

APARTHEID WON'T BUDGE ...... 4

PLUNDER OF A COLONY: WHO GETS THE DIAMONDS ...... 7

NAMIBIAN POLITICS: DAY OF THE CHAMELEONS ...... 13

THEY WENT TO WINDHOEK ...... 20

SWAPO PRINTSHOP TRAINING BEGINS 25

THE WINDS OF THE PEOPLE -a poem ...... 26

LEFT PROFILE: LA PENA ...... 27

FAMILY PLANNING IN MOZAMBIQUE ...... 33

UNITED STATES JOINS THE WAR IN EAST TIMOR ...... 38

"THE WAR IS A TREMENDOUS SCHOOL FOR EVERYONE" - interview with Jose Ramos Horta of FRETILIN ...... 40

LSM NOTES ...... 49

BOX 2077 ..•...... •..••••. 51

© 197-Z LSM Information Center, P.O. Box 2077, Oakland, CA 94604. All Rights reserved. ISSN 0315-1840. We encourage reprinting and quoting from LSM NEWS but please credit LSM NEWS by name. Please identify reprinted photographs as fol lows: "Liberation Support Movement 11 • LSM NEWS is indexed in the Alternative Press Index, P.O. Box 7299, Baltimore, MD 21218 LSM Annual Meeting LSM News to Suspend Publication

At the end of September 1978, sources for a stronger journal members of Liberation Support in the future, and suspend LSM Movement held our Annual Meeting NEWS. This is the decision we to make major decisions charting made. the organization's work over the There are other factors in coming year. At the meeting we the decision. In the coming discussed LSM's strengths and year two of our writers will go weaknesses, evaluated the chang­ to Africa and tour North America ing conditions in North America afterwards. Others have heavy and the world, and made some im­ responsibilities completing book portant decisions. manuscripts. LSM's writing For some time we have been capacity will be severely dissatisfied with the small audi­ strained even without the pres­ ence reached by LSM NEWS and our sure of mee~ing LSM NEWS dead­ other publications. We discussed lines. three possible alternatives: As you will see elsewhere in the first is to radically improve this issue, two SWAPO memb~rs the journal. This solution would are now training at our print­ mean larger and more frequent shop. This is an important re­ issues, a more popular writing sponsibility; we are completing style, and reconceiving the the last phase of the SWAPO journal as a voice of the larger Printshop Project which many of internationalist solidarity move­ our readers made possible with ment and not merely of our organ­ their contributions. ization. But LSM now lacks the The Annual Meeting made other capacity for such a bold venture; important decisions as well. we do not have enough trained One is to step up our partici­ writers and editors or enough pation in the growing solidarity capital to launch a viable movement with Southern Africa. magazine. We have already begun by working The second alternative is to in the newly-formed Bay Area combine our resources with Southern Africa Coalition which others. We are open to this hopes to build a strong, united possibility but initial inves­ movement around a series of acti­ tigations show this solution to vities in the San Francisco area. be more likely in the long term. we hope to link this type of The third alternative is to practice with our writing and cut back on our publishing work, publishing work more than in the aim to build the necessary re- past. ( FINANCES AND LSM NEWS just send out cash refunds for SUBSCRIBERS all unfilled subscriptions. There are three ways we can Though the political consi­ square our accounts. First, you derations mentioned above were may donate your credit. Second, primary in our decision to sus­ you may use your credit to pur­ pend publication of LSM NEWS, chase LSM publications: back there are qlso compelling fi­ issues of LSM NEWS, the 1979 nancial facts we had to face. Africa Liberation Calendar, or With its circulation of less than other books and pamphlets. Third, 2,000, we found we were subsi­ those who have no choice but to dizing our journal even though ask for a cash refund, please all labor - writing, production, let us know. You can figure out and distribution - was unpaid. how much you are owed by looking We recognize an undischarged at your subscription label to obligation to LSM NEWS subscri­ see how many issues are left in bers. But we cannot afford to your subscription. Leading Edge

Welcome to the 17th and final readers of the News. issue of LSM NEWS. Liberation Support Movement has learned * * * * much about ourselves and the world we are trying to change This issue begins with a in four years of publishing the series of short articles under News every three months or so. the heading, "Namibia is Up for Both LSM and the world have Grabs." SWAPO's fight to win changed a lot since 1974. freedom for Namibia is at a cru­ We do not feel our work has cial stage. Recent developments, been wasted. Though we have such as South Africa's unilateral reached only a small number of decision to hold its own elec­ people, we believe some have tions in December and Western been inspired, some have been diplomatic support for this moved to action, and many have South African move, compel the critically reexamined their own solidarity movement to increase ideas as we have tried to do pressure both on the apartheid ourselves. And though we have regime and on the Carter Admin­ decided to suspend this publi­ istration. cation, we are confident that LSM's writing and publishing * * * * skills can continue to make an effective contribution to inter­ When two of us were assigned nationalist solidarity work and to do a profile of La Pena, the fight for socialism. Berkeley's combination restau­ The coming period is one of rant/cultural center, we imme­ experimentation for our organi­ diately knew that one visit zation. We will be testing the would not be enough. Our re­ waters of the larger solidarity search reguired us to return movement and attempting to reach again and again .to soak up the much broader audiences by chan­ atmosphere and the beer, to neling our writing through lar­ sample the wide variety of poli­ ger publications. But as our tical and cultural programs, and practice changes, we hope to to try a Brazilian, A.rgentinian, maintain contact with the or Peruvian dish. We finally interviewed two La tiny East Timor has refused to Pena workers, Eric .and Niva, the quietly disappear into the ocean day of the center's third anni­ between Indonesia and Australia. versary. Mu~ic by Pan Fever, a After the Portuguese pulled out steel drum group giving. an after­ in 1975 Indonesia thought it noon concert, · blared from the could annex the territory with speaker over our heads. We are little fuss. But the Indone­ publishing this article because sians miscalculated the deter­ we believe La Pena is a very mination of the young but re­ important unifying institution sourceful liberation movement, for the left community in the FRETILIN. San Francisco Bay Area; it pro­ In a cramped office tucked vides a place for political away in the back of our print­ events, relaxation, and cultural shop, Jose Ramos-Horta, performance free of much of the FRETILIN's representative to sectarianism and isolation which the United Nations, discussed plague the North American left. the East Timorese liberation struggle, the affairs of his * * * * party, and his personal history with refreshing candor. We met Portugal's African colonies him as a comrade but soon came attracted so much attention that to regard him as a personal its Asian possessions have friend. largely been overlooked. But

2 Wheeling and dealing Western foreign ministers fly in and out ■ of South Africa trying to shape a solution to the problem of Namibia IS .Namibia, the mineral-rich colony ruled by South Africa. The South African government recently issued an ultimatum: the apart­ heid regime will hold elections in December 1978. Then the South Up Grabs Africans say they will "advise" For the winners to permit a UN­ supervised election later. This plan excludes SWAPO, the inter- nationally recognized liberation movement that has fought for in- dependence for the last twenty years. SWAPO is now fighting a widening guerrilla war. The Big Five, the Western countries with large investments in Namibia, seek a compromise "moderate" regime that will protect their interests and end the war. ~ ~!,~Jt' The following series of •· ,.,.,.,~ articles highlights basic ~ features of the battle for Namibia. "Apartheid Won't Budg gives a nutshell history and an overview of recent diplomatic maneuvers. "Who Gets the Dia­ monds?" discusses the foreign grip on Namibia's natural wealth and tactical differences between the plans of South African and Western capitalists. "Day of the Chameleons" un­ ravels the complex scramble for the post-independence spoils. West Germany, for instance, is already seeking a key role in the upcoming phony elections. "They went to Windhoek" is a remarkable account by a visitor into SWAPO-controlled parts of northern Namibia where firmly entrenched SWAPO guerrillas prepare to prove that any South African-directed independence is a sham. ______

3 Namibia Is Up for Grabs

On the southern fringe of the "Ovamboland Expressway," units of the South African army poise for another round in their in­ creasingly bloody war against Namibian guerrillas. The "expressway" is a cleared strip of land one kilometer wide - a "free fire" zone that marks Namibia's border with Angola. South of the five-strand barbed­ wire fence marking the border, the tall, lush grass should make ideal pasturage. Yet no life can be seen because the edgy South Africans are likely to blast away at the smallest movement in the grass. The well-equipped soldiers of apartheid outnumber the guerril­ las by five to one, and the war costs the Pretoria government $2 million a day. But containing the enemy is a frustrating task. "Ovamboland Expressway" Many of the freedom fighters are not across the border in Angola, but well established in forests and villages behind South Afri­ can front lines. The Namibians "are more aggressive, better Apartheid Won't Budge disciplined and know how to use their weapons better" than any Africa to move Namibia toward other African liberation army, independence. When the apart­ admits one well-known South heid government instead pro­ African military writer. ceeded to annex its northern neighbor, the UN terminated the Colonial Beginning mandate in 1966 and officially and Namibian Resistance assumed jurisdiction over Namibia. South Africa began adminis­ But the UN lacks the power to tering Namibia - then called enforce its decision, and the South west Africa - in 1919 South African occupation con­ under a mandate from the League tinues. So the actual libera­ of Nations. Following World War tion of Namibia has been left II the United Nations, the to the South West African Peo­ League's successor, urged South ple's Organization (SWAPO) which,

4 since its formation in the late bring majority rule to Namibia. 1950s, has challenged South African rule. When years of peaceful protest proved useless, The Balance Shift& SWAPO finally opted for guer­ The white colonial strangle­ rilla war in the mid-1960s, hold on the region was broken by though the movement also con­ the 1974 collapse of Portuguese tinued legal political work colonialism. By the end of the within Namibia. With support following year, SWAPO's ability from all corners of the country to use independent Angola as a and weapons from a wide range of base improved its position tre­ socialist and African states, mendously. At the same time, SWAPO fighters are now pushing African and socialist countries their South African antagonists pressed the UN to step up its hard. activities; Security Council Because of South Africa's Resolution 385 called for com­ great economic and military re­ plete South African withdrawal sources, as well as Namibia's from Namibia and for free, sec­ geography and sparsely distri­ ret elections after a transition buted population of about a period controlled by the UN million, · SWAPO cannot win itself. Namibian in<'iependence by mili­ The UN, of course, is ana­ tary means alone. Therefore thema to all right-thinking SWAPO's strategy includes white South African National­ negotiations and international ists, and their dour denunci­ diplomacy, though it is the ations of the world body were guerrilla campaign which gives predictable. South Africa's SWAPO its political clout and Western allies, on the other forces the South Africans on hand, saw the long-range ef­ the defensive. fects of Pretoria's intran­ But SWAPO and the Pretoria sigence: growing hostility regime are no longer the only from African and Third World participants in the dispute. countries toward the West and The struggle for control of the the escalation of the Namibian mineral-rich country intimately war. The US, Britain, France, affects the whole of Southern West Germany, and Canada (exact­ Africa, and thus it is part of ly those countries which control the worldwide conflict that pits Namibia's economy together with crude capitalist domination South Africa) consequently against economic independence launched their own campaign to for Third World countries. bring some sort of independence Namibia's African neighbors - to Namibia. the so-called Front Line States - Discreet discussions aimed at and Western powers with large bringing SWAPO and South Africa economic and political stakes in to the negotiating table alter­ the subcontinent, have therefore nated with tougher methods. joined the UN in the campaign to Near bankrupt Zambia, for in-

5 stance, is so deep in hock to tables suddenly turned when the the IMF* that it has little room Front Line States and SWAPO left for political maneuvering jointly accepted a modified ver- (as the reopening of the border sion of the Western plan - de- with Rhodesia demonstrates). spite its falling short of Reso- Angola, which desperately needs lution 385 on several points. peace to reconstruct its economy, The UN Security Council immedi- was openly threatened last sum- ately dispatched a delegation to mer when President Carter's ad- Namibia to work out a plan for viser Brzezinski attempted to elections and the transition to resume American support for the independence. anti-communist groups waging war That plan was approved by the on the MPLA government. south world body and by SWAPO. Now Africa, too, was coaxed to modify South Africa, caught unprepared its stand. But "the Five" care- by SWAPO's diplomatic flexibil- fully avoided applying economic ity and fearing the movement's pressure on their recalcitrant election victory, suddenly re- ally, nor did they interfere fused to accept its allies' with its stepped-up repression mediation. "We will negotiate and military build-up within with the West and the UN Secre- Namibia. tary-General," said newly elected SWAPO certainly received its Prime Minister Pieter Botha, share of Western pressure, but "but we refuse to negotiate on rejected the Five's early pro- any possible handover to Marxists posals which would have left the and subsequent chaos." South Africans in effective con- That, apparently, was good trol. "We are willing and pre- enough for the Five whose foreign pared to take political risks ministers accepted, in mid- inherent in negotiations," SWAPO October, the South African plan President Sam Nujoma told the UN in return for the possibility General Assembly last April. that South Africa and Namibia's "What we will not do, however, government-to-be might hold is to commit the crime of na- UN-supervised elections next tional suicide." Nujoma spoke year. After all, the West's of the dangers of a large South common economic interests African presence during the with South Africa and its fear transition period and of South of a radical government in Africa's insistence on keeping Namibia count for more than any Namibia's only port, Walvis Bay, obligations to a small nation. which is vital to the country's With SWAPO and the Front Line economy. States' rejection of this "com- Eager to isolate SWAPO vis-a- promise," the Five's diplomatic vis't::he West, South Africa ex- campaign is likely to lose the pressed agreement with the Five's momentum of the past year. The plan. Then, last June, the people of Namibia are already bracing themselves for another *International Monetary Fund.------escalation of the war.

6 r Namibia_ Is Up for Grabs ! f ' Plunder of a Colony

i I

Consolidated Diamond Mines at Oranjemund Who Gets the Diamonds? The diamonds, uranium, and Namibia than do all the people other minerals buried under the who live there. Neither the Namibian desert make this coun­ corporations nor their govern­ try one of the richest in Afri­ ments want Namibia's indepen­ ca. If each of the one million dence to interfere with this Namibians shared equally in the arrangement. wealth they produce each year, The South African regime their income would be four times cannot afford the breakaway that of most other Africans. of its colony either. Namibia But two-thirds of this wealth has been made dependent on the leaves Namibia, exported by a colonial power's goods and ad­ handful of giant corporations ministration. South Africa, on whose stockholders - South Af­ the other hand, depends on the ricans, Britons, and Americans natural riches of the "South receive greater profits f-rom West" and the revenues they

7 bring on the international mar­ comes obvious why the Pretoria ket. Namibia's exports generate government spends $2 million a huge amounts of foreign exchange day to wage its war against to help the hard-pressed South SWAPO. African economy.

In 1973, a typical year, Namibia's $190 The African Economy Ninety years ago the Namib­ million surplus more than counterbalanced ians, from the Ovambo tribes­ South Africa's own $52 million balance of people in the north to the Namas in the south, lived off their payments deficit. cattle and their fields. The German occupation at the turn of In 1973, a typical year, the century decimated the south­ Namibia's $190 million surplus ern peoples, killing over 150,000 more than counterbalanced South people or more than half the Africa's own $52 million balance population in the soutb., and of payments deficit. The South forced them into barren "re­ Africans also make considerable serves" where even subsistence profit by investing Namibia's farming was impossible. In order surplus tax revenue in South to survive, African men migrated Africa. By 1970, $100 million to work in the Police Zone, the had been used this way. vast and rich area expropriated More important still is trade. by the European masters. Namibia imports ninety percent of The South Africans, who took its goods - from pins to locomo~ over in 1919, continued what the tives - from the South. The Germans had begun. The Boers South Africans, of course, do destroyed what was left of the not like the idea of their independent African economy be­ trains returning empty, and so cause the opportunity for self­ they oblige Namibia's white set­ employment merely "affords these tler farmers to send their cat­ vagrants and loafers an easy tle to be slaughtered in Cape means of-livelihood which re­ .Town or Johannesburg. The South lieves them of any need to work," Africans pay for the meat at according to ·a 1921 government fixed prices based on the ani­ report. Using political and mals' weight on arrival in the economic pressures, the new re­ South, ten days after their last gime then set out to strangle feed. The farmers pay the trans­ the self-sufficient regions in port. Meanwhile, Namibia's own the north. three slaughterhouses work at During recent decades, at any half capacity. · given time about half of all In addition to its economic Ovambo men were working "on con­ contribution, consider Namibia's tract" _in the white-settled Po­ strategic importance as a buffer lice Zone •. By the -mid-50' s all between South Africa and inde­ of Namibia's African "homelands," pendent black Africa~ · It be- including fertile Ovamboland,

8 had to import food. Their con­ But it was riches from the tribution to the official 1967 mines which propelled Namibia Gross Domestic Product was 3 out of its prewar backwaters. percent, compared to the 70 to Rapid economic expansion in 80 percent earned by the South Africa and throughout the foreign-run export sector. Af­ capitalist world multiplied de­ rican commercial activity is now mand for the country's minerals. monopolized by the government's The South African government Bantu Investment Corporation built roads and gave generous whose biggest project to date is land concessions to mining com­ a soft drink factory! panies. Tax rates were low and But though Namibians were re­ restrictions on profit repatria­ duced to cheap labor and mar­ tion few. Super-cheap labor was ginal consumers in their own an added attraction for the country, even the white economy Western corporations which rushed did not immediately flourish. in to tap the wealth. Until re­ The Germans dug out many gem cently, Namibian contract work­ diamonds but did little else. ers earned only half as much as The South Africans suppressed their South African counterparts. the South West's mining activity By the late 1950s, mining had to protect their own from compe­ become the country's largest tition. And though the govern­ economic activity and in 1975 ment encouraged Afrikaners to mineral production was worth settle in the new territory, ag­ twice that of fishing and agri­ ricultural production grew slowly culture combined. for the first 20 years. In fact, Namibia's mining industry is agriculture - mainly raising cat­ remarkable for its concentrated tle and karakul sheep for fashion ownership, its complete control clothing - remains a neglected by foreign companies, and its sector of the economy. Equally great profitability. Of the important is the fishing indus­ fourteen concerns - South Afri­ try, which since World War II can, American, British, Canadian, has harvested the sardines and French, and West German - that crayfish that thrive off the take part, the three or four ports of Walvis Bay and Luderitz. largest take more than half the A half dozen South African com­ total profit. panies control fishing and can­ Their traditional leader is ning operations which, like ag­ the South African-owned Anglo­ riculture produce almost en­ American Corporation which mines tirely for export. In the US, Namibia's high-grade gem dia­ Namibia's fish are marketed by monds through its De Beers sub­ Del Monte. While Walvis Bay's si~iary. Each year its net cannery workers live on corn profits "exceed investment capi­ meal, the protein-rich sardines tal by far" in the estimation of they process are shipped over­ a West German economist. Profits seas as delicacies or animal for 1974 were $96 million, none feed. of which was distributed or re-

9 Cannery worker invested in Namibia. Starting view of the general uncertain=--­ wage for black workers in the ties," their report stated. The diamond fields is $3.50 a day. same approach is taken by the Anglo-American also controls. South African owners of the the SWACO company which mines Klein Aub copper mine. They re­ zinc, lead, tungsten, vanadium, covered their initial $6 million and tin in its Berg Aukas and investment in two years? Brandenburg concessions. In an­ Copper, as well as zinc, lead, ticipation of Namibian indepen­ silver, arsenic, and cadmium, dence, Anglo-American is report­ has brought wealth to Newmont edly stepping up production Mining and American Metal Climax everywhere. When the firm con­ (AMAX), the American owners of sidered buying into the Tsumeb the Tsumeb Corporation, who Corporation a few years back, bought their Namibian property, management looked for a 20 to 25 the famed "Jewel Box" mine, for percent annual return on invest­ $3 million at a government auc­ ment. "It. was felt that a quick tion in 1945. With total capi­ payback would be desirable in tal investment at $70 million,

10 Tsumeb's 1974 net earnings were The West Enmeshed $19 million - a profit rate of nearly 30 percent. Its high di­ By this open door policy, the vidends were distributed in the Pretoria government has involved United States, Britain, and the major capitalist countries South Africa - not at the mines, in the struggle for Namibia, where the starting wage is $1.25 much as in South Africa itself. a day, rising to $3.50 after But while both South Africa and four years. its Western allies want a Nam­ The attraction of diamonds ibia friendly to private enter­ and copper has been dwarfed by prise and foreign investment, the recent discovery of uranium they differ on important ques­ in the desert sands near Walvis tions. For reasons of self­ Bay. The scarcity and growing preservation, the Afrikaner demand for the strategic element Nationalists insist on continued in the Western market drove political control of the con­ prices up four-fold between 1974 glomeration of economically im­ and 1976, with the three main potent "homelands" they plan for producers - Canada, Australia, the future Namibia. Tribal ad­ and the United States - using ministrations would be guided their uranium exports for poli­ by Boer bureaucrats, police, and tical purposes. By 1980 Namibia troops until a class of African will be able to supply enough officials and businessmen has uranium to supply 10 to 15 per­ been reared in the master's cent of the Western countries' image. South Africa would re­ energy requirements. tain the power to intervene po­ The first company to sniff litically and militarily in the the uranium scent was the Bri­ new nation if the South African tish Rio Tinto Zinc (RTZ), which government feels its national now, together with a French firm interests threatened. and a South African state com­ Western governments and cor­ pany, operates the Rossing mine. porations, supported by a few RTZ has wasted no time; in Feb­ "liberal" South Africans such as ruary 1978 the first load of Anglo-American boss Harry Oppen­ Namibian uranium ore was air­ heimer, have more confidence in freighted to Britain for proces­ economic power. They argue that sing and re-export by the Bri­ a Namibian government, regardless tish government. Other buyers of political orientation, will include French and West German be in no position to make revo­ private companies. Rossing will lutionary changes. How will it reach full operating capacity by replace South Africa as a source the end of this year; shortly thereafter it will have paid back the undisclosed, though "The sooner the fighting stops and the tradinq necessarily huge, initial in­ starts, the quicker we win." - Andrew Young vestment. Black workers' wages range from $2.25 to $14 a day.

11 of imports? Who will provide port goes on, is a government jobs if not the giant corpora­ which, "rejects any political tions? "We don't have to fear experiment aimed at altering the communism in the area of economic economic order" since this would competition," Andy Young said "scare off private economic last year, speaking of Southern initiative ••. and overseas Africa. "The sooner the figbt­ capital." The future Namibian ing stops and the trading starts, government must also "prevent the quicker we win." rises in the factor costs - Corporations such as RTZ have especially rises in wages and even sought out SWAPO in attempts salary costs - which endanger to come to an understanding with the competitiveness of Namibian the liberation movement. Having products." National indepen­ failed to do so, they simply dence is inevitable - but it shrug it off and wait for ano­ must be kept within bounds. ther opportunity. Rich and diverse natural The·united States and the resources do not guarantee European countries feel that the Namibian people a better peace and political stability future. South African-imposed will promote, not obstruct, and controlled "independence" their long-range interests in would not much alter the lives Namibia. It is time for South of the majority of peasants and Africa to relax the reins. For migrant workers. For SWAPO, the instance, a policy paper from nation's wealth does lend hope the corporate-sponsored (West) to the vision of "building a German Development Institute of classless, non-exploitative Berlin concludes that "the ties society." To return Namibia's of the Namibian economy to Soutl wealth to Namibians is the Africa obstruct the development towering challenge of the of the former." What independ­ country's liberation. ent Namibia "requires," the re-

Namibia: SW APO Fights for Freedom In the mineral-rich colony of Namibia, apartheid rule is being viciously defended by 50,000 South African troops. Bui 5,000 guerrillas are winning the war with the support of the Namibian people. Interviews, articles, and documents about and by SWAPO's president, Central Committee, guerrilla commander, women militants, and labvr organizer provide the most current in-depth information on the war in Namibia. Map, photos, 124 pp. 1978. •2 911

12 Namibia is up for grabs

Turnhalle Constitutional Committee led by Dirk Mudge. Namibian Politics: Day of the Chameleons

Cheering throngs greeted Uni­ nervously patrolled the street ted Nations Commissioner for separating the rivals. Namibia Martti Ahtisaari last Confrontation between these July as he arrived in Windhoek, two groups has not always been capital of Namibia. Thousands so peaceful. After the shooting of SWAPO supporters, sporting death in March 1978 of DTA leader red, blue, and green T-shirts and Herero chief Clemens Kapuuo, and slogans such as "Black bands of DTA members with old Power'' and "We Stand Behind British .303 rifles attacked the Nujoma," lined one side of the contract workers' quarters in street, facing off against Demo­ Windhoek's Katatura township, a cratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA) SWAPO stronghold. Forty people sympathizers, dressed in black were killed. "At the moment it's and white, on the other. Though too risky for us to start cam­ a carnival atmosphere prevailed, paigning," said SWAPO's Lucia armed white policemen with dogs Harnutenya. "DTA supporters have

13 ------~------threatened to shoot one bf us in pire have all contributed to the revenge for Kapuuo." Pretdria government's admission In northern Namibia, Sou~h that the old form of cdntrol Africans command the black will no longer work. The Turn­ troops of the Owambo bantustan halle Conference was launched in army fighting against SW~PO 1975 to prepare the ground for guerrillas. Owambo Prime Mlni­ some form of South Africa-direc­ ster and tribal chief Cornelius ted self-rule. The Vorster gov­ Ndjoba welcomed South Africa's ernment appointed delegates from May attack against SWAPO bases Namibia's eleven population in Angola. Ndjoba is also a groups, including whites, to the member of the DTA Executive conference. Council. The Turnhalle Conference was Is civil war brewing in Nami­ to implement South Africa's ban­ bia? South Africa intends to tustan policy in Namibia. This let the blacks of the bantustan policy was to set up "self­ governments increasingly take governing homelands" for each the front lines in the war black ,"nation" on a total of 40 against the liberation movement. percent of the land, while re­ In this way, the 50,000 South serving the rest - the most fer­ African troops and police in the tile and mineral-rich parts - country will appear to simply for white control. Investments maintain "law and order" amid were to consolidate the scheme. bloody infighting between black "The Republic [of South Africa] Namibian factions. South-Afri- has much interest in all the schemes for great developments SWAPO's political and military strength dwarfs there [Namibia], because it will benefit from them, both econom­ that of any other Namibian organization. ically and politically," stated then Prime Minister Verwoerd. ca's problem, of course, is that The Turnhalle delegates SWAPO's political and military bickered among themselves for strength dwarfs that of any two years before South Africa other Namibian organization. demanded a conclusive indepen­ Thus South Africa is forced to dence proposal. The final plan stay on as occupying power. The recommended a weak multiracial "elections" planned for December central government, designed to will not change this reality. please the Western powers. Most administrative and legislative powers would be divided accord­ Turnhalle Turncoats ing to "ethnicity"; i.e. each Ruling Namibia is no longer racial and tribal group was to easy for South Africa. Popular be responsible for its own resistance, international pres­ affairs with little say in the sure, and changes throughout development of the country as a Southern Africa following the whole. The tribal leaders would collapse of the Portuguese em- maintain their authority and

14 privileges, while the tiny white week; others joined together in minority together with the for­ blocs to stay in contention. eign corporations would continue Luxuriously appointed air­ the extraction of Namibia's craft for in-flight conferences, natural wealth. Independence helicopters and light planes for day was set for 31 December 1978. fast cross-country travel, a To oversee Namibia's political fleet of trucks. with mine­ emasculation the Vorster govern­ detecting equipment, a bullet­ ment appointed a South African proof Mercedes and flak jackets judge, Marthinus Steyn, as Ad­ to protect top officials, ministrator-General. Steyn was closed-circuit television in the given dictatorial powers which main shops of the capital: are he has since zealously applied. these the resources of a govern­ Scores of SWAPO members have ment or a multinational corpora­ been jailed without charges; tion? No, just the campaign ac­ prison terms of three years plus cessories of the Democratic $4,000 fines have been set for Turnhalle Alliance, the prime anybody who "discourages" or contender in the planned elec­ "intimidates" voters in the up­ tions. If Namibia had more coming election. rivers and lakes, the joke goes, Responding to Roman Catholic the DTA would certainly have Church complaints of violence by submarines at its disposal. police under his command, the The DTA was formed in late judge lamented: "A few cases of 1977 as an alliance of the Turn­ torture against prisoners will halle delegations. Strongly unfortunately happen from time pro-South Africa and in favor of to time; human beings are what racial and tribal separation, the they are." alliance nevertheless "planned to reach across all racial bar­ riers to keep SWAPO out of Campaigning in Style power," wrote the Johannesburg South Africa's search for Star. Its leaders include Dirk indigenous caretakers for its Mudge of the white Republican Namibian estate opened the Party, Owambo head Ndjoba, and floodgates to self-serving and Herera chief Kuamina Ruruako, opportunist politics. Overnight who recently left his home in the rush for collaborators' the trs to take the position le.ft crumbs was on as scores of ambi­ vacant by Kapuuo's death. tious petty bourgeois, black and In rural areas the DTA relies white, each gathered a few exclusively on South African­ friends and formed a political financed tribal administrations "party." Between them they to drum up support. Huge amounts covered the range from the of money have been spent - on white-supremacist right to SWAPO planes, cars, and fancy parties - defectors now weary of the lib­ to sell the bantustan idea. In eration struggle. Some of these the towns, those whites of South parties lasted no more than a African descent who suddenly see

15 approximately 20,000 German descendents there. CSU leader and big-game hun­ ter Franz Josef Strauss had this to say during his recent visit to Namibia: "I've heard nothing to indicate that the South Afri­ can security forces interfere in .j.J the domestic politics of the tll country. On the contrary, their ~ ·,; task is to provide law and order, r::i to prevent the population from l1S C) being terrorized." And who does ·,; J:: the terrorizing? Strauss de­ ~ scribes "an organization led .c: from abroad, namely from Moscow" .j.J ::, whose goal is "to establish a ~ police state largely dominated Cornelius Ndjoba by the Soviets." Not all the West Germany the need to establish some kind money flows through the overt of "Namibian" identity are now CDU-CSU conduit. Six months joining Mudge's party, as is the ago an obscure Westphalian powerful Interessengemeinschaft, publisher suddenly bought the German-speakers' Representa­ Namibia's two largest daily tive Committee. newspapers, the German-language Through the German-language Allgemeine Zeitung and the committee the OTA has close ties English-language Windhoek Adver­ with the conservative West Ger­ tiser, and promptly turned them man COU-CSU* political parties into straight OTA mouthpieces. which have opened an office in "I take my orders from Bonn," downtown Windhoek. The function the German blurted out when of this office, says one of its criticized for the heavy-handed staff, is to "give political and takeover. technical training" to the OTA Though the OTA is the strong­ groups and to "join in the poli­ est 0£ the anti-SWAPO parties, tics of the country [Namibia] by observers predict it could win financial aid and political ad­ no more than 20 to 30 percent of vice in the election campaign." the vote in an open election CSU election posters, models for (with SWAPO winning more than 50 local adaptation, are stacked percent). To strengthen its po­ high in OTA offices. The West sition, the alliance has reso.rted Germans have large investments to intimidation. Two Finnish re­ in Namibia and close ties to the searchers who visited Namibia last May observed the following: *Christian Democratic Union and "Outside the onandjokue mission,­ Christian Social Union. ary hospital OTA men distributed

16 membership cards to incoming pledges to battle exploitation patients, saying that they would and "ensure that all the major not be treated unless they took means of production and exchange the cards. In other places peo­ in the country are owned by the ple have been threatened with people." the loss of their pensions, cat­ By offering this striking al­ tle, jobs, etc. unless they take ternative to South African rule DTA cards. When we visited some and foreign economic domination, very poor families on a farm near SWAPO has won the majority of Windhoek, the people showed us popular support even in the view DTA cards saying that the farmer of most neutral observers. Many compelled them to take the cards. small parties, from all ethnic Those people actually thought groups and all parts of the that they had already voted." country, have allied themselves Some Namibians who objected to with the movement. the cards were told: "Go ask But though SWAPO has been SWAPO for a job." able to work legally aboveground With a DTA ballot victory, inside Namibia at the same time South Africa and the giant cor­ as it prosecutes the military porations will have set up their struggle, this situation will Namibian front. On the other not likely last for long. Har­ hand, the alliance's close as­ rassment, arrests, and murders sociation with Pretoria serves of SWAPO militants are on the to undermine its popularity with increase - one price paid for most Namibians. If it formed a legal political activity. And government would it be any more capable than Rhodesia's "Internal The liberation movement has no choice Settlement" regime of ending the but to· step up its guerrilla war. guerrilla war? many expect that immediately after the South African election, SWAPO's Program from which SWAPO is barred from In contrast SWAPO's goals and participation, the winners will methods are clearly enunciated immediately outlaw SWAPO. Thus in the movement's program. Its the liberation movement has no tasks are outlined as "(a) The choice but to step up its guer­ liberation and winning of inde­ rilla war. pendence for the people of Nam­ ibia, by all possible means, and the establishment of a demo­ Room in the Middle cratic people's government and With the advocates of revolu­ (b) The realization of genuine tion and reaction locked in bat­ and total independence of Nam­ tle, a "third force" inevitably ibia in the spheres of politics, sees its chance. The Namibian economy, defence, social and National Front (NNF) is a loose cultural affairs." SWAPO alliance of liberal whites in

17 Abrahams, just returned after fifteen years in Sweden, com­ menting on the DTA. On the other hand, according to lawyer O'Linn, who serves as the front's secretary-general, SWAPO will only substitute a black dictatorship for the present white one. The NNF partners also stress the need for indi­ vidual liberties and a "mixed economy." The NNF hopes to rally much­ needed support through the prominence and gregarious per­ sonality of Andreas Shipanga, head of SWAPO-Democrat. Shipanga is one of the founders of the Namibian nationalist movement and during his early years as a SWAPO organizer traveled a great deal in the country. As a member of SWAPO's leadership abroad, he later established wide-ranging con· tacts throughout Africa and Europe, contacts which he used in his 1976 attempt to undercut SWAPO's guerrilla war and take the movement into a compromise with South Africa. Expelled SWAPO's initials scrawled on a from SWAPO and jailed for two window in Swakopmund. years in Tanzania before re­ turning to Windhoek last August, Bryan O'Linn's ·Federal Party, a he now pursues this same course few returned exiles calling in the NNF. "It's dangerous themselves SWAPO-Democrats, and nonsense to believe that the the South West Africa National South African army can be de­ Union (SWANU), a small group of feated militarily," he told a black intellectual radicals­ Swedish journalist. "If we turned-moderate. today can achieve the same by The NNF presents itself as diplomacy as by armed struggle, the reasonable alternative to then why not?" right and left extremism. 0 we According to some reports, are opposed to anything that Shipanga has been in touch with smacks of racism and ethnicity," ONITA to "borrow" some guerril­ says SWAPO-Democrat Othilie las to be presented as SWAPO

18 defectors who have rallied to But whatever NNF's approach the NNF. (UNITA is a Sqµth to elections, the main question African-backed rebel group remains: In a country run by fighting the Angolan government.) foreign capital and internally "His sole aim was to come and polarized by civil war, how much split SWAPO, put he doesn't. middle ground is left? stand a chance," .said the move­ ment's ·vice president. Try:i,.ng.hard'to find.its place SWAPO Perserveres -between SWAPO ... and the DTA, the While the DTA, NNF, and others NNF has been careful not to jockey for positions through the· alienate South Africa and Western ballot show, Namibia's main poli­ economic interests. A Front tical force - SWAPO - is evefy­ delegation visited W~st Germq,nr where and nowhere. Its official last July while the l_eader of · · leaders are either in exile or the German..;South African As1:10- in prison, locked up on special ciation promised £up.ding for th~­ order from Administrator-General NNF-as well as. the OTA because_­ Steyn. · "We' 11 beat them, ,i he · "the crutcome: of the :forthcoming· crowed after dispatching his str~ggle i:>e:.fween liberal · demo_c.;. security squads last April, · "and racy and m~ixJst dictatorship we'll beat them again until they [i-nNamibial, wili· hi!ve a bearing no longer.have any power." ori;~ the -destiny of Southern A:(:rica But the administrator-general as, a whol:e. ,; _· _ -··· may be beating little but empty lfeaviiy---dominated by ··in.tel:-. _ space. See.:Jningly spontaneous lec:t::uais:and without-an-apparent workers' strikes, flash demon­ mass b~:SeJi ?{NF\s domestlc support strations,, and a general air of remains'. untested. The~. Front . contemp,_tuous indifference toward needs more timer: to organize aI_ld those who play South Africa •·s ·· says it will boycott th~ South game clearly show the Liberation African-organized electic,:,ns set movement's Qmnipres.ence. : With for December. The South African DTA cards in their pockets,'SWA,PO plan "will certainly lead -us to-· organizers move about the country, another Rhodesian, Angolc!n,' or preparing the population for true even Vietnam situat..ion in this independen.ce, · f;ree of South · country," O'Linn warned in Africa, the Western Five, and September. --=------the mul tin0a tional corporations.

19 Namibia is up for grabs

In March a Swedish TV film crew marched into Namibia with combatants from PLAN (SWAPO's army), fil~ing their work among They Went the people in .SWAPO-controlled areas in the north. Per Sanden, who led the film crew, had been in the operational area before, to Windhoek in 1'97 3-4. He writes, of the developments in the war of lib­ eration in .the last four gears. The commander came in his red cap with the Lenin badge on it. He had- just been to inspect the border. We were waiting for him, hiding in a 1ditch. Some miles away was Elundu, under heavy fire from a PLAN unit who had gone with the commander. He ordered our defence to take their positions. We were on our way in~o Namibia. With Elundu under heavy at­ tack, our unit expected to cross without any problems. We were given our positions in a line. In front of me was Comrade Peter Nanyemba, SWAPO Secretary for Defence, and behind me was Com­ rade Jesaya Nyamu, SWAPO Deputy SWAPO Secretary of Defence, Peter Secretary for Information and Nanyemba, with Per Sanden. Publicity. In a wide circle around us were our defence - 250 hours. The blasts from the well~trained and heavily equipped South African artillery and guerrillas of PLAN - the People's SWAPO mortars increased in Liberation Army of Namibia. strength all the time. We were When I swam across the Cuando definitely into the war of lib- river into Namibia on the last eration in Namibia. day of 1973, there was no There is a stretch in the frontier to be seen - no fence, northern part of Namibia, close no guard towers and no sound of to the Angolan border, where the heavy artillery fire. This South African military presence time, here in the Kaokoveld area -is considerable. We were told of Ovamboland, there was all of that we would be safe as soon as that. We walked for some four we got through that area, and

20 into a SWAPO liberated area, shells were lying all around. further to the south. That be­ Many of them had been fired by came apparent to us ten hours FAR automatic rifles, weapons later. But with 250 dedicated used by the South African tr.oops, guerrillas from PLAN, the cross­ supplied to them by NATO-member ing of the border seemed no more countries. Something else was dangerous than the crossing of also noticeable in the area of any street in a crowded city in the former base - ant-heaps Europe - probably far less so. where the ants were tunnelling We crossed the border in down into the earth. They broad daylight. What the South marked the spots where there African regime had planned to be were graves. The South Africans a wall against "black Africa" is bury their dead on the spot. It no longer in their control. The would be too embarrassing and South African troops in the far demoralising for them to take north of Namibia stick to their back to South Africa all their bases. They dare not venture out men killed in action. Their into the Ovamboland countryside numbers are in the hundreds. unless there are many of them, Walking along, I noticed an and they have the full protection open tin, and reached down to of armoured cars, tanks and air­ check what it had contained. A borne support. The day we crossed comrade from PLAN hastily into Namibia, they must have grabbed my hand to stop me, ex­ thought that they were safe in plaining to me that the tin was their base at Elundu. a trap. It was a grenade that At the point where we crossed would have exploded as soon as there used to be a South African someone picked it up. The South base until November last year, Africans have long been using when it was attacked and destroyed this kind of warfare against the by SWAPO forces. Signs of the local population - tactics which South African presence were still they themselves describe aster­ visible. Army food and Fanta rorism, and blame on SWAPO. As cans glimmering in the sun. And well as planting anti-personnel the trees and bushes around us mines, they poison the water were all distorted by bullets supplies. and grenades. Comrade Petrov, We crossed a major road link­ one of the PLAN guerrillas ac­ ing Oshakati with the Angolan companying us was there that day border. The fighting at Elundu in November when PLAN decided to had died out. Two days later, clear the area of the occupying we met the captured Boer sol­ forces. He kneeled down beside dier, Johan Van der Mescht. He me and said: "I aimed at that was lucky. He survived the at­ tree with my bazooka," pointing tack at Elundu and became the at a stump in the middle of the first white South African sol­ former base. That became a dier to become a prisoner of war signal for the rest of the PLAN in the Namibian war. He had unit to open fire. Cartridge served guarding the water supply

21 to the base of Elundu. All his very much at home - they probably fellow soldiers at that post knew every tree and bush in the were killed. With three slight area. I walked into a thorn, wounds, he had laid down his the kind the Boers call "wait a rifle and given himself up to minute." There was no time to the unit that had gone with our wait! It went into my eye, commander the night before we which I covered with my hand, crossed into Namibia. Johan Van only to notice no difference. I der Mescht is 24. When his base closed the other eye, and found was attacked, he did not expect that whether I kept my eyes open to become 25. Even after he was or closed, there was nothing to captured, he thought he was fin­ see. It was completely dark in ished. But SWAPO recognises the Ovamboland that night. A guer­ Geneva Convention on prisoners rilla soldier took hold of my of war. van der Mescht had his hand, and holding it we marched wounds attended to by a SWAPO for another five hours. I came doctor, and he was brought out to think a lot, holding his hand. of the war zone. We later met I come from Stockholm in him in Luanda, where he was Sweden, one of many industri­ presented at a press conference, alised countries with electri­ looking very much at ease. He city, flashlights and all other had been given facilities to kinds of commodities. Here, in communicate with his wife and the bush of Ovamboland, I of family in South Africa. If and course could not switch on my when he is released is up to the flashlight. But neither could South African government. A the South Africans. They must prisoner of war is freed in ex­ feel even more deserted in the change for other prisoners of world than I felt that night. I war. But will South Africa give was with the guerrillas. And the up SWAPO militants in South Af­ night belongs to them. It made rican prisons? me even more convinced that this Continuing our journey south­ war will never be won by South wards after the border crossing, Africa. the African night swallowed us We did reach the SWAPO base. up, and we had not yet reached No search for it - we went right the SWAPO base that was our goal into it, passing into the liber­ the day of our crossing. The ated areas of SWAPO in Ovambo­ rain came, welcomed by the far­ land. The base is not very far mers in Ovamboland, but not so from Oshakati. Close enough for welcomed by us. When it rains us to reach a shop selling in Africa, it rains a lot. But beers - Windhoek lagers. Comrade we had to proceed. Would we Nanyemba bought it for me, and it find the base? Could we avoid was very welcome that night. getting trapped and ambushed? I In 1973-74, we once approached did not feel my best as we made a village in the Kalonga district our way through the darkness. of the Caprivi region. It was Not so our defence. They were not far from a village that had

22 Namibian villagers greet SWAPO militants. been burnt out by the South Af­ a village near Kongo in eastern rican troops, and 150 people Ovamboland. It was not com­ massacred. The villagers of the pletely destroyed, but five peo­ still-existing village.saw us ple were killed and all the coming. They saw two white men, crops burned. We arrived at and even though we were accom­ this village the day after this panied by black people, they attack. The villagers first fled, as white people in that made an attempt to flee, until area meant terror and bloodshed. they realised that we were with After a while, the SWAPO offi­ a PLAN unit, and then they cials who were with us calmed stayed on. Indeed they gave us them down and they returned to a very warm reception, which in­ the village. I noticed one of cluded omaongo, a very tasty the small children staring at drink made from Marura. Omaongo me. He said something and is served at most of the PLAN everyone laughed. He had asked bases in Ovamboland. Wheat is his mother: "Does it hurt?" grown at SWAPO agricultural The mother asked what, and, schemes all over the north of still staring at me, he replied: Namibia. Today, PLAN are so "to be without skin." many that they cannot possibly In the village that we stayed rely on feed supplies from th~ in this time, the villagers had civilian population. So they been warned that we were coming grow their own crops and raise and the children were used to their own cattle. It is probably white people. But a similar more common for PLAN to provide incident did happen in another the local population with food village. The South African than the reverse. troops had just made a raid out­ Where SWAPO is operating side one of their bases, with militarily, in northern Namibia, armoured cars and artillery, on is also the area that is most

23 densely populated. This is a and we can rebuild our own significant fact. A guerrilla streets. I only return to these war must rely on intimate rela­ areas from time to time to re­ tionships between the people plenish our ammunition supplies." and its armed forces. Where SWAPO President Sam Nujoma there are many people living is said to me in 1973-74 that "this where PLAN is strongest and will be a long and bitter war, SWAPO politically well-rooted. but we will go on fighting for The task of PLAN, as the mili­ centuries if necessary to achieve tary wing of SWAPO, is primarily our independence from fascist to defend the people against South Africa." In 1974 in the terrorism of the occupying South Caprivi, he asked me my impres­ African forces. This is most sions. I said, "you will not important in the north since have to fight for centuries, one that is where the majority of generation will do." Now, in the Namibian people live, and March 1978, right in the centre also where the majority of the of Ovamboland, the night before South African troops are. It is President Nujoma had to start his where SWAPO has created large journey out of Namibia to get to liberated areas, and succeeded Lusaka for a meeting of the in its first task. United Nations Council for A PLAN officer, Comrade Pando, Namibia, he asked me if I still who had just joined us at the believed it would take SWAPO a base where we were, pulled a generation to achieve their packet of cigarettes from his goal. I said I felt ashamed for pocket. Lexington. Where did what I had said only four years you get those from? I asked. ago. He replied: "Don't feel "From Windhoek," he replied ashamed. Sometimes progress is matter-of-factly. "That is made very quickly, sometimes where I spend a lot of my time! progress takes a long time. But You see our enemy still fight in what is important is the people's our territory (the north) and willingness to sacrifice for then return to the safety of the freedom and independence. And cities. We cannot allow him any this I think we are, so the end rest wherever he goes in our will be what we want it to be." country. We have to follow him I could only say "Yes, I think where he does not expect to hear that I have to hurry back to about the war. And that is Sweden to complete our film right there, in the beer halls of before you are already in Windhoek. If our land, our Windhoek. trees, our waters are destroyed Next morning he had gone. So during the course of this year, had Comrade Pondo. "Where is it will have a crucial effect on Pando?" I asked. the future free Namibia. But if "He went with Comrad·e Petrov we move the battle into the beer and his unit." halls and the streets of our "But where? I would like one enemies, that is better. The of his Lexingtons." Namibian people can do without "They went to Windhoek." beer halls after independence,

24 SWAPO Printshop Training Begins

LSM is pleased to announce be set up in Luanda, 'Angola. that two comrades from SWAPO Now that the training is under­ arrived at our printshop in way, we need your help to raise California in October and have additional funds to cover sub­ begun training in graphics sistence for the two trainees skills. This project would not while they are in the United have been possible without the States. You can help in several support of many people, including ways. LSM will be organizing our readers; we know those who benefits. Groups can organize have contributed to the print­ their own events and publicize shop project share our excitement the renewed fundraising campaign. and enthusiasm. But we also need an increased As much as possible, training flow of contributions; we would will be done on publications like to revive the idea of donat­ prepared by SWAPO. Areas of ing one day's pay per month, training to be covered include perhaps for six months. You can design and layout; lithe camera; also help by purchasing and dis­ stripping; plate burning; print­ tributing SWAPO posters and ing; and the final stages of T-shirts; proceeds go directly folding, binding, and trimming. into the project. Your support The objective is to develop two now will help push the project cadres capable of running a over the top. printshop on their own, produc­ ing complete books, and training others. LSM and SWAPO had determined that LSM's printshop would be the best place for the training to take place. The process of ob­ taining visas was time-consuming, but the visas finally came through in September.

MORE FUNDS NEEDED We slowed fundraising work while we waited for the visas. Enough money had already been raised for supplies, airfare, and the equipment for SWAPO's printshop which is waiting to

25 Winds of the People

Winds of the people speak fo me Winds of the people carry ·me They scatter my heart And blow through my throat. So the poet wiU go on singing As long as my spirit breathes Dow11 the roads of the people Both now and forever.

Victor Jara

26 LEFT PROFILE:

Where the Meet

Burned out by long meetings La Pena From the Outside and politics drained of their human content? Tired of sit­ Walking down the block to La ting on your butt thinking only Pena's converted garage, you of abstractions? Then why not pass the Aquarius Massage Parlor, try tonight's program at La Pena Clint's Liquors, and Ned's. Bar­ Cultural Center. It could be B-Que. It is a rundown neigh­ salsa or reggae music, the San borhood on the edge of Berkeley Francisco Mime Troupe, a Nicara­ next to Oakland - home of the guan poet, or a forum by an Black Panther Party whose na­ anti-nuclear power group. tional headquarters used to be La Pena shows one creative across the street. The Bay way of injecting life back into Area's large leftist and ethnic flabby politics. Arise from populations and Berkeley's your overstuffed armchair; go 30,000 or so University of Cal­ out into the street among the ifornia students provide a people toward whom our politics natural constituency for La Pena. is directed. Join us pn a visit The front of La Pena's build­ to La Pena. ing is covered by a huge wall

27 painting. The focus of the re­ the walls1 political art and cently completed mural is a posters are displayed in the raised relief portrait of the cultural hall. The intent is severed hands of Victor Jara, to avoid an environment in the father of the Chilean New Song restaurant which might intimidate Movement and martyr of the 1973 some people. "We don't want to coup. His hands continue to fall into the common problem of strum his guitar. isolation where people on the The message of the mural and left talk only to each other," the overall atmosphere is clear: says Eric, one of La Pena's the Americas meet here. La Pena collective members.· consists of a·· restaurant and a · Eric is a stocky, balding man large hall for dances, fiims, in his early thirties who looks music, theater, lectures, and the serious organizer type~ He penas. The restaurant serves talks in a long rapid flow of inexpensive Latin American meals words which is partly his style p~us wine and beer. and partly because of ~is inti­ mate knowledge of and enthusiasm La Pena's Activities for his subject. "Lots of people who have never From the outset the focus of been interested in Latin America the center ha.s beeri solidarity or any progressive issues are work - especially supporting re­ attracted by the restaurant," sistance to the Chilean junta. adds Niva, another member of the The center is available to all collective. "Then they look progressive community and poli­ around and see something else tical groups. In addition to taking place - political programs informational programs, dances, and cultural events. So they etc., La Pena provides facilities start attending and some become for benefits orice or twice a week involved." for groups such as AIM, the Black Niva is a delicately boned man with a thick shock of gray­ "We don't want to fall into the common ing hair. His voice c.ontrasts problem of isolation where people on Eric's; it flows more softly the left talk only to each other." and slowly through a Brazilian accent. "One mistake most political Panthers, Z1\NU, etc. Some 150 organizations make is to separate ~roups have raised over $50,000 politics from other aspects of in this way since La Pena opened human life," he continues. "I its·doors three years ago. also had this experience in La Pena is one of the few Brazil. It is important to re­ places iri the San Francisco area late political work to culture. where people from different back­ Our presentations, music, films - grounds feel comfortable together. even food is a part of culture - In the restaurant, only decora­ are important for the people who tive hats and blankets hang on come here. Some programs may

28 not seem political because no one sihgs a song with a clear political message or comes to the microphone and makes a speech. But they show a differ­ ent reality and help to destroy

"Latin America is not some place far away which has nothing to do with what's happening here." some of the stereotypes that people have of Latin America. We've had Cuban and Brazilian folklore programs which showed the struggle of black peoples in Latin America to keep their iden­ tity and to survive as a com­ munity, as a culture, in spite of Spanish colonialism and US imperialism." La Pena is a cultural bridge between North and South America. holidays. Even though capitalism Not exclusively Latin, it em­ forced many off their land and braces a political and ethnic­ into the cities for jobs, they cultural diversity. La Pena brought their penas with them. also attracts Anglo and black Old homes were converted into people and has become an im­ social centers where people met portant outlet for progressive to drink wine, eat empanadas, black cultural expression in the and play and listen to music. Bay Area community. Different During the 1960s and early 70s, international and local concerns penas in Chile provided a forum are linked together in a way for artists such as Victor Jara which shows that "Latin America to address the needs and prob­ is not some place far away which lems of the people through folk­ has nothing to do with what's loric songs, synthesizing ideas happening here ... so people of social change through popular can see the relationship between music. here and there," says Eric. "The coup in Chile was a tre­ mendous stimulus for solidarity Starting a Pena work,·" says Eric. "People who were active around Latin America "Penas" began in the country­ began having political-cultural side of Argentina and Chile where events to denounce the military peasants made communal huts, government. But they also com­ "penas," for their fiestas and municated the flowering of cul-

29 ture which took place in the early seventies; the new music Behind the scenes by artists such as Victor Jara, in the kitchen of La Pena. Quilapayun, and Inti-Illimani and the role they played in Chile's economic-social trans­ formations. These events were Americans such as Eric, who had very popular and many kinds of studied in Chile during the people from different ethnic Allende government, and Janice backgrounds came. But instead Teruggi, whose brother Frank was of one or two events, here and murdered by Pinochet's troops in there, we needed.a more perman- the football stadium-prison. "Before La Pena," says Niva, "Before La Pena there was no place in "there was no place in the Bay the Bay Area where people from Latin Area where people from Latin America could go to enjoy their music America could go to enjoy their and their own culture." music and their own culture." "We knew that we couldn't duplicate exactly what was going ent place to maintain this in­ on culturally in Latin America," terest in Latin America." says Eric, as Niva rocks his Berkeley's La Pena was founded tiny baby on his knee. "We live by Chileans, Argentinians, and in a different reality and had Brazilians as well as North to integrate this concept with

30 the struggles of our own com­ doing, but not everyone is gung­ munity.'' ho-support-liberation-movements "When this place became avail­ or have-solidarity-24-hours-a­ able, 11 Eric admits, 11 we shook our day-with-people-all-over-the­ heads a lot and wondered: 'It's world," says Eric. A lot of so big - can we ever fill it up? volunteers are not leftists at Will it work?'" The original all, but their work at La Pena idea for La Pena was a small folk­ is a good introduction to prog­ loric cafe with guitar music and ressive politics. The work is beer and sandwiches. Three years interesting, often fun, and ago, with $10,000 borrowed from people work in cohesive volunteer friends, they made the leap to units getting involved at all their restaurant and huge hall in levels. To help develop discip­ Berkeley, the community they knew line and understanding there are and lived and worked in. Two of frequent discussions within the Chileans in the group, Hugo these work units. and Patricia, were professional Many activists in other prog­ cooks who chose La Pena over job ressive groups around San Fran­ offers from top restaurants. In cisco got their start at La Pena. the beginning the restaurant But some volunteers are politico­ enabled La Pena to become self­ types who are "burned out by sufficient, paying minimum wages long meetings, theoretical work, to several full-time staff peo­ or sitting on their butts think­ ple. Recently, however, the ing out things without a lot of restaurant was legally separated human content. La Pena is a from the cultural part of the space for mellowing out, getting operation and renamed Cocina de to know people - a different los Andes. This was done so kind of environment," Eric that La Pena could obtain non­ explains. profit status for its educational In early 1978 the building activities. which houses La Pena went up for Facing the same economic laws sale and La Pena's lease was as other restaurants (three out threatened; but in one month of four fold in their first year), thousands of small contributors, the odds for success did not listener-supported radio station favor La Pena. But community and KPFA, and progressive Berkeley volunteer support made the dif­ merchants helped La Pena raise ference. Every night eight peo­ over $20,000 to buy the La Pena ple contribute their labor; building. they work in the kitchen, run Pragmatism guides most busi­ the bar, and wait on tables. ness decisions because the Pena The average stint is six to staff is convinced that economic eight months, though some people stability is important to the have been working as volunteers politics of the pena. But know­ since La Pena opened. ing when to make the exception "Everyone who works here is is part of the challenge. For interested in what La Pena is example, La Pena does not carry

31 cheap draught beer because that after three years, La Pena's would compete with the progres­ potential is just beginning to sive Irish pub on the corner flower. Plans include reaching and counter efforts to create a out into the multiracial, but community spirit in the neigh­ predominantly Chicano, commu­ borhood. And they refuse to nities in East Oakland and the carry Chilean wine. When cus­ San Francisco Mission district tomers ask for Chilean wine, for special fiestas. La Pena it creates an opportunity to will not only provide space for explain the reasons for boy­ outside programming but will cotting Chilean products. move into cultural productions And business relations can themselves. Popular music with be used to apply political socially relevant lyrics, multi­ pressure, as happened when La media presentations, community Pena pointedly informed Pepsi mural projects, children's that they would substitute programs, and daytime music or Dixie Cola for Pepsi after the salsa dance lessons are some of revelation that Pepsi president the planned ingredients of La Donald Kendell was involved with Pena's strategy to promote the Kissinger's 40 Committee in development of popular culture Chile. within the Bay Area. La Pena must operate within Spirits were understandably the bounds of capitalist econo­ high following the huge wave of mics but, as Eric ironically ob­ community support which saved La serves, "companies and distri­ Pena's building, and the third butors deal with us the same way anniversary celebration was extra most corporations and capitalist special. Balloons, strung states deal with socialist coun­ through the bar and restaurant, tries: as long as they make a reflected the golden evening sun profit, they sell to us. Another streaming through the skylight way to look at it is that they and windows. sometimes finance us. Because we A "Marxist magician" per­ built up a decent credit rating, formed dialectical tricks for a they have at some times extended family eating dinner. From his us lines of credit which is more top hat he pulled lessons in money than La Pena started with." political economy. Savoring eggplant with tomatoes, mush­ Pena Plans rooms, and cheese, this reporter thought about the tremendous con­ La Pena has become so well tribution to the Bay Area left known in the US and Latin Ameri­ community packed into the rich ca that Cuban and other Latin experience of La Pena's 1000 groups ask to play La Pena when days. they come to California. Yet

32 Family Planning in Mozambique

The light of the lingering retly at home. African sun paints the raw wood So many abortions occur out­ of the village clinic in long side the hospitals; the doctor red rays. Inside a doctor works has no way of knowing just how to complete his notes in the many. But he does know that the dimming light. Periodically number of abortions have sharply dipping pen to ink, he writes increased since independence. about the child who came to the And he is concerned that the op­ clinic that morning. She was tion of abortion is being misused eleven years old, much too young both by those who induce it with for her body to support a preg­ crude methods and by those who nancy. There had been no choice endanger their future fertility but to induce an abortion. At by using it as a substitute for least she had come in time. Nor­ birth control. Of course, he mally, women, and often girls, realizes that those who know came only when complications about birth control in his arose from inducing labor sec- country are exceptions and that

33 the-abortion problem,is only workers, representatives of the symptomatic of the need for a Mo~ambicab Womenis Organization national program of sex educa­ (OMM), and women who have decided tion and family plan11._i.ng. for abortion, the article pro­ But for a soc;iet'li Jn which vides in.sights into some of the sexuality is wrapped in myth a11d particular probl;.ems o_f women in taboo, the solution;is n~t ~· · Mozambique. ''Why ·-Abortion?" was simple. And some 500 c6lonial ·tran•lated anc;l editea .by LSM years did not leave_ behind the with·assistance-:from-Deii.nis economic resource$: tieeded fbr Me·rcer. such a campa"J,gn. · ·' · · Transforming Mo"zambiqu(# ip.to - a developing .s_ociety which_ dan WhyAbortion?The Need for Family Planning provide i.ts people wi t-h;:a 'bet fer·•-· Since independence, the number life will; ·:be, a .J.o,IJ.f intensive' -­ of abortions, whettier· spontane­ effort, r~qU:ir,_i;ng/poth women and ous or induced, ha$.risen sub­ men in the la·b6r tprciL' 'Bid" . · • stantially· in,, ail hospitals. before wdmen •'_qan ~t;if'ke.i'their,, But most induced-abortions are places in sc;hoois a,,p,c;l 'jobs} the · still done "secretly at home," first steps :towa-rd '°e{llancipation and. the woman com-es'fo the hos­ must be tak~n. Pa~hers md~t be pital only when there:are com­ stopped from sel1(pg tb.eit: . plications. For .thiS>reason daughters, somet{ines.less thail Mozambique's $ta:tistio~l:i1nfor­ twelve years 6i-d~ i~to marriage. mation is incomplete: . -· . The economy mcist have jobs fdr Induced cibortions are costly w6nieif wHo ~ant 'to 1eav"e poly­ tor society, whet.her in surgical gamous husbands~ Women's lives resources, _human loss'es, or ·•"; ,_ . - must no lori

34 would do to me if they saw me pregnant. They don't know I have a lover, and my lover and I can't afford to marry yet," declared an eighteen year old student who was prepared to speak out once we agreed to respect her anonymity. "I haven't been lucky with the men I get," explained a young single mother. "The first got me with child and left; the next one did the same thing. That's why I had an abortion when I got pregnant the second time." Before coming to work in Maputo, she had known nothing of avoiding pregnancy. When her parents, who live in the inter­ ior of their rural province, tried to marry her to an old man who already had one wife in ex­ change for lobolo (bride price), she ran away to the city of Family scene in a workers' quarter. Manhica and then on to Maputo. nant, I get sick and suffer a This young student and the great deal. In my last preg­ single mother represent the up­ nancy I thought I would die. I heaval in Mozambique where tra­ didn't know there were ways of ditional, feudal, and colonial­ not getting pregnant," said a capitalist ways of life are twenty-five year old peasant being transformed into a totally women. different type of society. Sex education should begin Youth are renouncing traditional by providing women with the taboos and prejudices and the means of spacing or limiting family of the past is dis­ the number of children. But integrating. even many health personnel, who This has created an urgent are either inadequately trained need to accelerate sex education or rooted in tradition, have in the schools, adult literacy refused to counsel women about courses, and ba1rro (neighbor­ birth control. hood) discussions. To avoid Mozambique does not yet have offending and alienating parts the economic capacity to launch a of the community, these forums massive family planning campaign, are guided by health and social but it could begin moving in this workers. direction by providing counseling "I have five children al­ and contraceptives to couples or ready and my husband always women who desire it. The concept wants more. Whenever I'm preq- of preventive medicine also ap-

35 plies to abortion. Unlike some day care will become clearer. capitalist countries, in Mozam­ bique abortion is not a legal or moral question. However, a Taboos and Traditions health strategy is needed which The increasing participation will seek out and eliminate the of both men and women in the roots of the problem. productive process will provide the basis for destroying the whole complex world of ancestral, Day Care Centers anti-scientific traditions and Inadequate day care facili­ customs - impediments to human ties could be a factor in the development and freedom. Tra­ traumatic decision of many ditionalist sentiment and prac­ single women who, uncertain of tices have their greatest their ability to raise children strength among the peasants who alone, choose abortion. Juvenile still work their small isolated courts will also influence their plots making just enough to get decisions as they require fathers by. Outside the development of to share responsibility for their industry and agriculture, they children's development. see no need for change. In socialist countries day A peasant who lives with his care fills a great social need. three wives and twelve children Centers provided by the state typifies this attitude: "We go for a minimal fee care for or­ get a woman to give us many phans and children of working children. And we like to have parents and single mothers. more boys than girls. The girls This is a significant accomp­ go to other houses, boys bring lishment by peoples who have more family to ours, and so, chosen to set out on the so­ when a women can't give many cialist road. Yet Mozambique, boys, we go fetch another woman." poor and underdeveloped, has a Many of the women and medical long way to go in creating enough workers interviewed for this ar­ facilities to meet the needs of ticle discussed the widespread its people. negative attitude toward birth Day care is still something control among men. "Many new for most Mozambicans and mothers have come to me for some people are hesitant to use birth control," a doctor from it. Previously only people in Sofala reported, "but they insist zones liberated during the armed that their husbands must not know struggle benefited from day care about it." centers. But as these facili­ One thirty-two year old mother ties improve in number and qual­ explained how this problem has ity, people will begin to shed affected her: "I asked the doc­ their reservations. As Mozam­ tor to help me stop having chil­ bican women become increasingly dren. I have seven children al­ involved in the country's pro­ ready and don't want any more. ductive work, the necessity for But I had to lie to my husband

36 because, if he suspected,· he are preoccupied with this problem, would probably become very angry the only concerns raised by women and abandon me." for discussion are those related Although it is still common to lobolo, separation, or divorce. for husbands to be more concerned Recently, Tempo was able to with having many children, show that not everyone hides in "especially boys since they their own little world. A round­ bring home wealth," than with table discussion on abortion was their wives' well-being, this held with men and women workers attitude has begun to wane. from a manufacturing unit. The Increasingly women are accom­ subject was discussed at length panied by their husbands in and many other questions of seeking birth control counsel­ social tradition were raised. ing. However, the prevailing Certainly the practice of abor­ practice of limiting births tion and the problem of sex continues to be induced abortion education must continue to with all its negative conse­ generate new and deeper discus­ quences. sions among the people.

Breaking Down the Taboo If the abortion problem is to be solved, the many taboos around the question must be broken. This question involves thousands of couples and women Zimbabwe: in general, but it continues to be a forbidden subject of dis­ The Final Advance cussion. "No one ever raises this problem," reported Joaquina Interviews with co-leaders Joshua Arauljo, the Mozambican Women's Nkomo (ZAPU) and Robert Mugabe Organization representative at a (ZANU) probe the history of the clothing factory on the outskirts Patriotic Front, political work in the liberated areas, and strategies for of Maputo. Co-workers, she ex­ the new year. Map, photos, 50 pp. plained, are aware of abortion­ September 1978. related problems, but no one ever raises these at factory discus­ sions on social problems. Albertina Mondlane, an OMM cadre from Maputo Province, re­ Send ported that the organization is aware that there are many cases s200 of abortion. Yet the question (postpaid) has never been raised in the social affairs section meetings or in seminars on social prob­ lems. Even thouqh many people

37 contested Indonesian control of the island. But Suharto's first visit to East Timar lasted less United States Joins than 24 hours and he went only to the capital city of Dili and to a border town from which the press was barred. the War in East Timor US military advisors (FRETILIN claims from the CIA) and pilots In 1973 five US intelligence participated in two battles close agents visited a small island to Dili in early 1978 according near Australia to make maps. to Alarico Fernandes, Minister Posing as prospective investors of Information and National they hired a young journalist to Security of the Democratic Re­ travel with them for several public of East Timar (DRET). In weeks as a photographer. As June 1978 Fernandes reported that they flew over the lush country­ two American military advisors side and circumscribed the had arrived in Dili in December coastline in a rented airplane, 1977. Fernandes estimated that he took thousands of photos of more than ten Americans were the mountainous terrain. fighting in East Timar by June, The island they visited was and he charged that American East Timar, then a Portuguese pilots were flying OV-10 Bronco colony. The young photographer bombing missions. was Jose Ramos-Horta, now a US support goes much further. leader of East Timor's libera­ President Gerald Ford visited tion movement. The five agents Indonesia the day before its turned out to be a scouting mission for US troops who have now joined Indonesian occupying forces. The Bronco "workhorse". Indonesia invaded East Timar on December 7, 1975, only nine days after FRETILIN (Revolution­ ary Front for the Independence of East Timar) declared indepen­ dence from Portugal. Only a year before, Indonesian Foreign Minis­ ter Adam Malik had pledged Indonesia would respect East Timor's right to self-determina­ tion. US forces joined the Indo­ nesian army on the eve of Indo­ nesian dictator Suharto's July 1978 visit to East Timar which was intended to demonstrate un-

38 East Indies, they began to push Thumbnail Sketch of East Timor out the weaker Portuguese. East Timer's tropical climate After centuries of war, the 1904 is the basis for its agricultural Portuguese-Dutch treaty defined economy. The Portuguese first the present boundaries between came to Timor in the early six­ Dutch West Timor, now part of teenth century in search of its Indonesia, and Portuguese East famed sandalwood. They later Timor, now the Democratic Repub­ introduced coffee which the lic of East Timor. peasants still grow in the moun­ Under Portuguese rule the tains. Between 1968 and 1972 death rate for children under coffee accounted for almost 90% five years of age was 40%. The of East Timer's exports; one DRET government estimates the third goes to the us. population at about one million When the Dutch arrived in the of whom 95% are illiterate. invasion of East Timor began. location near Australia, Indonesia, As soon as he came to power, and their waterways. The channel Jimmy Carter increased US mili­ just north of East Timer is the tary aid to Indonesia in March deepest, safest route for US 1977. More recently Carter nuclear submarines traveling be­ authorized the sale of F-5 jets tween Guam and the US base at to the Suharto regime. And dur­ Diego Garcia in the Indian ing his May 1978 visit to Indo­ Ocean. Giant oil tankers must nesia, US Vice President Walter also pass by East Timer on their Mondale announced the sale of a way to Japan. squadron of A-4 counterinsur­ Indonesia claims East Timer gency ground attack bombers. would get Soviet facilities The sixteen bombers were sold at under FRETILIN. Horta explained the bargain basement price of $3 that the Front's principles of million, well below their normal nonalignment and sovereignty pre­ price and well below the $7 clude such a step. Nonetheless, million limit which requires he told LSM that the us govern­ congressional approval. ment has stated that a friendly Only three years after the anti-communist government in end of the long Indochina war, control of East Timer is the Americans may wonder what the US best guarantee of US interests. is up to in little-known, far­ FRETILIN believes the US is away East Timor. One person worried and displeased about knows only too well: the young Indonesia's handling of East photographer, now FRETILIN's UN Timer whose resistance shows representative, Jose Ramos-Horta. that Indonesia cannot be relied Horta told LSM that the US on as a regional power. As government considers an indepen­ Horta expressed it: "If dent East Timor under FRETILIN Indonesia cannot cope with tiny leadership totally unacceptable East Timor, how can they cope because of the island's strategic with the entire region?"

39 '•The War Is a Tremendous School for Everyone''

Interview with Jose Ramos Horta of FRETILIN

In 1970 a thin young man with denly aware that he was speaking a bushy head of hair impulsively to an empty room. rose to speak at a large party The fears of the party-going in Dili, capital of East Timor. East Timorese were well-founded. The Eastern part of the island The day after the party Horta was then controlled by the Por­ was called in by the PIDE who tuguese whose dreaded secret had a transcript of his remarks. police, the PIDE, had informants Horta was exiled for two years everywhere. In a long, rambling in Mozambique. speech, Jose Ramos-Horta de­ Despite the PIDE, Horta and nounced Portuguese rule and pre­ his comrades built a liberation dicted that East Timor would soon movement. Starting as a discus­ have a liberation movement like sion group, they formed the those in Angola, Mozambique, and Association of Social Democrats Guinea-Bissau. Horta was of Timor (ASDT) of which Horta slightly drunk and so he did not was Secretary-General. The notice the steady stream of ASDT began by organizing strikes people leaving until he was sud- and sending Horta abroad to seek

40 international support for inde­ "Open Letter to My Brother pendence from Portugal. Horta's Maubere," which closed: "Maubere, activities led to a second exile my brother, the sun is rising; order but before he had time to it's time to get up." leave, the 1974 Portuguese coup intervened and dealt a death Fretilin's Unique Phiilosopny blow to Portuguese colonialism. In September 1974 the ASDT LSM: WHAT IS MAUBERISM? became FRETILIN and rapidly won the support of the East Timorese HORTA: Among the Mambai people people with its firm stand for of East Timar individuals have independence. On November 28, just one personal name of which 1975, FRETILIN declared the inde­ the most common is Maubere. The pendence of the Democratic Repub­ Mambai are the largest ethnic lic of East Timor. Jose Ramos­ group in the country, some Horta became one of three Central 80,000 people spread throughout Committee representatives func­ the central highlands. This tioning outside the country. area has been a center of tradi­ Today he serves as FRETILIN's tional resistance to colonial permanent United Nations rep­ domination for centuries. The resentative. culture, tradition, and religion LSM interviewed Jose Ramos­ of the Mambai people are uninflu­ Horta during a visit to the enced by the Portuguese. West Coast in February 1978. Because the Mambai opposed all Jose is unafraid to speak and forms of cultural domination, act on his convictions but when the urban elite called them he does speak it is with a stubborn and ignorant. modesty and lack of ego rarely Because the name Maubere is encountered in the United States. so common, the Dili elite began Horta's father was a Portu­ to call everybody who was ignor­ guese democrat deported to Timor ant and poor, "Maubere." The in the 1930's. Jose's Timorese name became an insult. For in­ mother belongs to the Mambai stance, if I, an educated man ethnic group which has resisted from Dili, did something wrong, Portuguese domination for almost my boss would say, "You are 500 years. Jose grew up among Maubere." the peasants in the mountains But who are the Maubere peo­ near Dili. ple? They are the peasants who At the age of 14, Horta chose constitute 95% of the East his career; he became a journa­ Timorese population. They are list with the Portuguese govern­ those who cannot read and write. ment newspaper. After his return They are those with no access to from exile in 1972, he went to medical assistance, those who work for the government radio suffer from malnutrition. They station but was fired because of are exploited by the coffee his Timorese accent. In frus­ plantation owners, by the cattle tration he wrote an article, ranchers, by the government,

41 which forced them to work build­ Our people want revolution, but ing roads, bridges, and houses people do not fight for empty without pay. They were forced slogans. They fight to improve to pay annual taxes which did life in their villages. They not benefit them or help develop want schools where their chil­ the countryside. dren can learn to read and write. we of FRETILIN thought that a They want medical assistance, genuine East Timorese liberation clean water, better housing. movement must respond to these Mauberism, then, according to problems felt in the flesh, in our definition, is social, cul­ tural, economic development of People do not fight for empty slogans: the countryside with strict ad­ herence to the traditional cul­ They fight to improve life in their villages. tural values of the people. It may sound very simple to sophis­ ticated Western theoreticians, the daily lives of the Maubere but from Mauberism we can go on people. In order to mobilize to explain complicated economic the people, we had to work out a matters. philosophy, a theory that they could easily understand. If we talked in terms of com­ MauberismMeans Socialism plicated Marxist-Leninist theo­ We say that the Maubere suf­ ries, they would not understand. fer; they are hungry and lack

ATAURO ISLAND

TIMORN MACADADEl OJACO ISLAND

0 R

0 20 40 60 80 100 ~=-===-=...... ,.,.~== Km.

Areas held by Indonesian forces as of January 4, 1976, according to radio broadcasts from Fretilin, monitored in Darwin, Australia.

s

42 education. We mus~ explain why, lishment of coffee plantations that it is the result of a deca­ and the influx of Portuguese dent, colonial, capitalist sys­ settlres who took over the land tem. So Mauberism cannot toler­ and disrupted the lives of the ate a colonial, capitalist sys­ people. tem which is based on private We still have some difficul­ ownership of land, of enormous ties in solving this problem herds of cattle, of coffee plan­ near Viqueque. A very strong tations, and so on. individualistic feeling persists; In order to solve the problems everyone wants their own piece of hunger and inequality in East of land, their own crop. Timorese society and respond to This is a very rich area, the aspirations of the Maubere well-developed with good fields; people, these fundamental steps it could completely feed East must be taken: expropriation of Timor. It is also strongly private ownership of cattle, of Catholic with some feudal rela­ land, of every source of wealth tions. Chiefs were very power­ in East Timor and their redistri­ ful there. For this reason the bution throughout the country. Apodeti party* had some influ­ And how will we redistribute ence. them? You get a buffalo; you eat FRETILIN's solution was to it for a month but what then? We establish cooperatives in the have to have a plan, a substitute areas surrounding Viqueque. for the existing system. Prop­ Slowly the people of the region erty must be redistributed to saw the benefits. Before, the the villages, but the people great majority of the people had must be organized to produce and not benefited from the wealth of increase with it. So we estab­ the area. Through the peasants' lish joint ownership of land and experiences, the situation cattle and cooperative produc­ slowly changed. tion. The issues quickly clarified when the landlords supported the LSM: HOW DO YOUR COOPERATIVES Indonesian occupation. We still COMPARE WITH TRADITIONAL METHODS have some problems in Viqueque, OF FARMING? but Mauberism now extends to most of East Timar. HORTA: Cooperatives are not new. For centuries people worked to­ gether in the traditional way Timorese Women's Liberation which included common ownership LSM: WITHIN THAT PHILOSU~tlY, HOW of land. No individual owned DO YOU STRUGGLE WITH NEGATIVE land in a village. There was one exception, in *Apodeti, led by a former World the region near Viqueque, where War II collaborator with the in the past fifty years the tra­ Japanese, is a pro-Indonesian ditional joint ownership of land party. It has failed to win was interrupted by the estab- much support in East Timor.

43 ASPECTS OF TRADITION? Women run most of our schools. Since the war started, the il­ HORTA: The principal negative literacy rate has been lowered aspect of tradition is the role from 95% to 70%. Women also of women. Throughout East Timor, participate in campaigns of women had a very important role health, hygiene, and nutrition. in production; but they had no Women are especially active control of production, profit, in fighting. Even before the or income. Central Committee decided to set Women were considered double up a women's army, 100 women near slaves: slaves of the settlers, the border went to a representa­ the colonial power, and slaves tive of the Central Committee in of the men, their own husbands the region and demanded weapons. and other relatives. They had to They said: "We do not need look after children and cook and training. We just want weapons." during the day they also went to Their first operation was suc­ cessful; they captured the first Women were considered double slaves: Indonesian soldiers in that region. Now there are about Slaves of the settlers and slaves 3,000 women fighters with their of their own husbands. own officers. Of the 519 members of our during the day they also went to People's Congess, about 230 the fields to work., Men worked women were elected. In the in the fields too but that was Central Committee, 30 of the 67 all they did. It was a frequent members are women. In the near sight to see a woman with a future we will have even more child on her back bent over the women cadres because we have a ground planting or weeding. lot of women students abroad in Women had no voice in the Portugal and Southeast Asia. decision-making process in vil­ lages, in solving problems, in LSM: HOW WOULD YOU COMPARE THE elections. CONSCIOUSNESS OF EAST TIMORESE How were we to solve this WOMEN AND MEN TO THE WOMEN'S problem? In peaceful times, MOVEMENT IN NORTH AMERICA? many years of political educa­ tion would be required to make HORTA: The struggle for men realize that women are human women's liberation in capitalist beings who must have an equal countries, the United States, is share in the political process, much more difficult than the in the economic and social sphere, struggle in East Timor. For in­ and so on. stance, what are the priorities The war is a tremendous school here? Equal pay, equal opportu­ for everyone. In our two years nities for jobs, problems of of fighting there are already abortion, divorce: these things valiant women, heroines of the do not exist in East Timor. armed struggle. In East Timor we don't have

44 the complexity of the capitalist learn to respect them and to system. Colonialism has been give them equal voice in poli­ dismantled, broken up by the war. tical affairs. We know our enemies and our If during the armed struggle friends; the situation is clear­ there had not been continuous cut. So it's very difficult to parallel political education, compare. Women make up about there might be setbacks after 55% of East Timer's population. the war. It is always easier And it's a small country so it's to solve problems when ~verybody easier to solve such problems. is concentrating on the enemy. After the armed struggle a LSM: SOMETIMES GAINS MADE BY lot of problems will surface WOMEN DURING THE ARMED STRUGGLE again. There will be crises ARE ERODED LATER. HOW DEEPLY over ideology, political line, ROOTED ARE THESE CHANGES? the course of economic develop­ ment, emphasis, and this ques­ HORTA: During the armed strug­ tion of men/women's relationship gle, the women can impose them­ will inevitably come out. selves by force of arms. Not So long as class contradic­ that they threaten to shoot the tions persist, there will be men; they have weapons and are class conflict and there will also defending the country. So certainly be conflict over the men are forced by reality to question of women's emancipa-

plained how the people of Oecusse A Woman Versus a Chief were exploited. They had to grow The enclave of Oecusse is a rice and give 70% to the chief. FRETILIN stronghold. The other She told them that she herself parties had only a half dozen had been raped by the chief. followers. But the chief was When she was through, the very powerful. He was strongly people marched to the Portuguese backed by the Portuguese and headquarters and demanded the had a lot of support from the replacement of the chief. The Indonesians. Nobody dared ex­ Portuguese bad to fly in para­ pose him as a feudalist or a troops from Dili. corrupt leader. Later the chief was replaced1 One day in March 1975, we they elected a new one. But if held a big rally in Oecusse it hadn't been for that single attended by several thousand woman, the people would not have people. A twenty-four year old been mobilized. They were aware woman took the floor. She was of their suffering. But it was illiterate. Nobody knew where necessary for somebody from she was from but she was known their own ranks, a peasant, a in the village as a prostitute. woman, to articulate for them She spoke for about two hours what they felt. denouncing the chief. She ex- - Jose Ramos-Horta

45 tion. This conflict can be finally solved only when the question of class is solved. Some setbacks are expected, but there is no way we will return to the old wavs. Political Education LSM: HOW DOES FRETILIN CONDUCT POLITICAL EDUCATION?

HORTA: In each of the over 400 villages in East Timar, someone leads a dynamization cell. Poli­ tical education occurs every day through discussions of texts distributed by FRETILIN's poli­ tical committee on various issues: agriculture, health, the role of the army, women. These are short texts, a page or so, written in very simple language. We have a weekly newspaper, East Timor, printed in the coun­ tryside. We have complete print­ ing facilities which we stole from the Portuguese. Some re­ gional committees have mimeo machines to produce daily bul­ letins. Since the illiteracy rate is still high, the politi­ Learning to reaa ana write cal commissar reads the news­ On our radio programs we not paper aloud in the villages and only have political education discusses its contents. Our but also information about health, papers are printed in Tetum and short programs to teach people Portuguese. the importance of keeping clean, Our best means of political how to prevent malaria and other education is radio. Radio diseases, how to look after Maubere broadcasts three times a babies. week. We have a broadcast in We also have what we call English for Australia and local revolutionary brigades, groups broadcasts in Tetum and several of five to sixty young men and other dialects such as Mambai. women, mainly high school stu­ We also have radio programs in dents, twelve to eighteen years the Indonesian language aimed at old, who conduct political edu­ West Timar and at Indonesian cation, work with villagers in soldiers. the fields, and help them build

46 schools and houses. This is one We explain these decisions way of overcoming the differences to the people; they will remem­ between peasants and students. ber after liberation. If the Not only students do this. leadership falls short, the Our president, Nicolau Lobato, people will know that they are along with our other leaders, corrupted with power. is all over the country working Over 100,000 people have barefoot in the ricefields already been killed; women and alongside the peasants. children die every day for our country. They follow the The President works barefoot in the leaders. If, after liberation, the leaders start driving a ricefields with the peasants. Mercedes in the capital, live in nice houses, or wear nice shoes Even after liberation, it is while thousands of people are FRETILIN's program that, once a still recovering from the wounds year, our president will have to of war, this will be an outrage. travel around the country to But only when the people are live as the peasants live. He educated and mobilized can they must not sit in a palace in the prevent this from happening. capital and forget that there are peasants in the countryside Battlefront Report who fought for independence but still go barefoot. The cadres, LSM: WHAT IS THE PRESENT STAGE members of the Central Committee, OF THE ARMED STRUGGLE? DO YOU will do the same. STILL USE GUERRILLA TACTICS? Our program also states that HOW MUCH TERRITORY DO YOU we will never have salaries for CONTROL? members of the Central Committee and members of the government. HORTA: We can report, with They will have enough food to figures confirmed by the Indo­ eat and plain housing supplied nesians, that about 90% of the by the state but are not entitled population live in our libera­ to luxurious housing of their ted areas. You must understand own. The former Portuguese gov­ that the majority of our people ernor's palace in Dili will be­ are subsistence farmers who come a cultural center or hos­ never lived in urban centers. pital. The city names on the map are We don't advocate a return to just small concentrations of a primitive ways; but, if I am an few thousand people at most. engineer, I have to work in a During peacetime the people proper place but with no unneces­ would come to the towns only sary luxuries, no special privi­ for marketing. leges. If I need a car to get East Timar is a mostly moun­ to my workplace, I can use one, tainous country with peaks over but after work the car returns 10,000 feet high. The entire to the garage. territory controlled by FRETILIN

47 amounts to about 85% of the one of our best military com­ country. The Indonesians, for manders was recently killed in instance, control the town of a six-hour battle in Dili. But Maubisse but don't go out more our strategy is first to have than one or two miles from complete control of the country­ there. They control Dili, the side, better weapons, operating capital, but not the surrounding schools and production; then we villages. From Liqui~a to Dili, will have the final assault. both of which are on the coast, We have to be sure that once they cannot move by land, they we attack Dili, we can hold it. have to take a helicopter or The city is in a narrow valley travel by boat. surrounded by mountains on three In general we use small guer­ sides. The Indonesians can es­ rilla groups. But sometimes we cape only by sea. If they do are able to put columns of 100 not escape or surrender, they . to 500 fighters into the field. must be annihilated. This is These larger units are becoming some time off, but not very more standard. We have a well­ long. Once we have better trained, mobile army of 15,000 equipment, a good group of which operates throughout the saboteurs country. We also have a people's mili­ * * * * tia, between 20,000 and 30,000, not so well-equipped. They use World War II rifles, mausers, East Timar Action Note and even some World War I rifles. For more information and to find out how you can support LSM: IS DILI UNDER SIEGE? the East Timer independence struggle and FRETILIN, contact HORTA: Our forces attack Dili the East Timer Defense Committee, regularly but it's hit-and-run. P. 0. Box 251, Old Chelsea They have been able to destroy Station, New York, NY 10010. tanks inside the town. In fact

East Timar: The Hidden War by Richard Franke, Describes FRETILIN's (Revolutionary Front for the Independence of East Timor) war against Portuguese and Indonesian colonial domination. East Timor Defense Committee, 1976. $1.SO(postpaid)

48 LSM Notes

ANC Needs a Mimeo regions of southern Africa." In addition to Namibia, South Afri­ The Dar es Salaam headquarters ca, and Zimbabwe, the final sec­ of the African National Congress tion of the book "will be dedi­ of South Africa recently wrote to cated to peoples that suffer op­ LSM: pression from racist-apartheid practices in other societies, We have an acute problem here be­ including the United States." cause our GESTETNER duplicating The deadline for submissions machine is worn out. We need one for "FROM EVERY CONTINENT: desperately. We have contacted a WOMYN VOICES AGAINST APARTHEID" local dealer here who has one for is January 1979. Write for 15,957 Tanzanian shillings. One more information to Zoe Best, US dollar is approximately 8 Tan­ P. Box 948, Amherst, MA 01002. zanian shillings (so the sum is o. about $2,000). We ourselves can­ not afford to pay for this because our Treasurer-General is channel­ ing most funds toward our war Resources effort inside South Africa. California Newsreel's Southern Readers who would like to Africa Media Center has recently raise funds for this purpose acquired three new films: Six can contact the ANC at P. o. Days in Soweto, a documentary Box 2239, Dar es Salaam, reconstruction of the 1976 up­ Tanzania. rising; Bullets Are Beginning to Flower, a Dutch film on the Women Against Apartheid educational system in Mozambique; and Free Namibia!, a 1978 United Zo~ Best, a progressive poet Nations film on the contending living in Massachusetts, is com­ forces in South West Africa. A piling an anthology of poetry copy of the 1979 catalog is and short works "written by available without charge from womyn from wherever in the world California Newsreel, 630 Natoma that speaks in particular to the St., San Francisco, CA 94103. resistance against and the con­ ditions within the apartheid * * * *

49 MAGIC, the Mozambique, Angola Ba Ye Zwa the people live is and Guine Information Centre, a collection of sketches and announces a new series of Eng­ prints, poems and news clippings, lish translations of key state and commentaries on South Africa papers and party proceedings by Judy Seidman, an American­ from MPLA, FRELIMO, and PAIGC. born painter who has lived half The 1978 series includes one her life in Africa. Basil document from each. Subscrip­ Davidson described the book as tions: Individuals, $6 surface, "memorable, urgent, and impor­ $10 airmail; Libraries, $10 tant." Available for $4.50 surface, $15 airmail to MAGIC, from South End Press, Box 68, 34 Percy St., London WlP 9FG, Astor Station, Boston, MA 02123. UK. * * * * * * * Ireland is the source of a very interesting new theoreti­ cal journal, The Ripening of Time. The journal mainly fea­ tures articles on a strategy for Irish liberation and Marxist analysis of conditions in Ireland and the world with a strong em­ phasis on class analysis. Pam­ phlets are also·available. A six issue subscription costs ~2 or about $4. Write to Ripening of Time, 5 Henrietta St., Dublin 1, Ireland. * * * * Africa News is a weekly digest of African affairs which pub­ lishes brief, up-to-date articles on the politics and economy of the entire continent from a pro­ gressive perspective. Subscrip­ tion rates are $20 per year for individuals with an introduc­ tory rate of $15. To subscribe or for more information write to Africa News Service, P. o. Box 3851, Durham, NC 27702.

so BOX 2077

Ethiopian Criticism their lackeys (such as the so­ called EDU, which are a group of We have read with interest feudal lords led by the once [the] LSM NEWS winter/1978 ar­ crown prince of Ethiopia, EPRP, ticle entitled "Hurricane in the whose members are by and large Horn." It is to our surprise to sons and daughters of the feudal find such a prestigious journal and military aristocracy, ELF which has dedicated itself in and EPLF - reactionary, seces­ support of Liberation Movements sionist groups who are bought by especially in Africa to present petrodollars) try to spread such erroneous analysis on [the] false and distorted propaganda Ethiopian Revolution, based on in the capitals of the world to propaganda materials put out by undermine the Ethiopian Revolu­ anti-people, anti-Ethiopian tion and misguide the progres­ Revolution and reactionary sive and democratic organiza­ groups supported by American im­ tions and individuals. perialism to undermine the Having read your article we struggle of the Ethiopian peo­ came to the conclusion that LSM ples and their achievements. NEWS has fallen prey to the .•. Though imperialism and malicious propaganda of these reaction were humiliatingly de­ reactionary circles .•.• feated in the eastern and Dear Friends, southern fronts of Ethiopia, Our Center is always ready to they have now refocused their help in providing information attention in northern Ethiopia and clarity on issues when you with the objective of stifling may deem it necessary. the ongoing Ethiopian Revolu­ With revolutionary greetings, tion and making Ethiopia a weak Ethiopian Revolution Infor­ and landlocked country. This mation Center, P.O. Box 2549, imperialist aggression as well Addis Ababa, Ethiopia will meet the fate it deserves - HUMILIATING DEFEAT - for the Whose Socialism Ethiopian masses have arisen in unison as one man. I enjoy reading LSM NEWS and While such is the reality, I look forward to receiving it the imperialist mass media and in the future. I must take

51 severe exception to the state­ tions; but in this respect their ment in point eleven of the LSM systems have played a parallel political platform in which you role to capitalism - they have "support both the USSR and China created a mass industrial base as progressive social formations which provides the requisite compared to capitalism." I do conditions for workers' control not feel that this posture is (soviets), but have accomplished justifiable in view of the re­ this at a terrible but histori­ pressive state nature of both of cally necessary price: dehuman­ these societies which have em­ ization of the worker, war, ex­ ployed anti-working-class strat­ ploitation, and everything else egies that would do credit to associated with a profit-based the CIA. The imperialist for­ economy. . . . eign policies of these nations In solidarity, can be described as nothing less KI, Alaska than reactionary. You report that "each country has made sig­ * nificant contributions in im­ * * * proving the lives of its popula­ Ed. - LSM's position on these tion and in advancing socialism questions is outlined in LSM internationally." Whose social­ NEWS numbers 13 and 15 and in ism is this refering to? A so­ our pamphlet: Liberation Sup­ cialism which is imposed on the port Movement Our Unity and workers from an elitist ruling Practice. Our position on class? It is clear that the Ethiopia and Eritrea is stated material conditions of these in LSM NEWS numbers 15 and 16. nations has improved and the Copies of these numbers are populations have benefited in still available. this respect since their revolu- Back Issues of LSM News

Sino-Soviet Split Socialism Dawns in Africa presents the case ror critical The liberation movements in Moz­ nonalignment with the Soviet Union ambique and Angola have formed and China regarding international Marxist-Leninist vanguard parties. line. The Article evaluates the We explain how socialist ideas foreign policies -- in theory and developed in the movements and the practice -- of China and the USSR class basis for socialism in the and puts forward LSM's independent liberated colonies. This issue line of support for genuine lib­ includes "Internationalism on the eration movements and socialist Waterfront," an evaluation of anti­ revolution. imperialist work in the longshore union in the San Francisco Bay 13: Summer 1977 Area. 14: Fall 1977

Hurricane in the Horn: Eritrea, Zimbabwe: Neocolonialism Ethiopia, Somalia. or Independence provides the analysis underlying examines the conflicting groups -­ our support for the Eritrean na­ the settlers, Western capitalists, tional liberation struggle and an and the Patriotic Front -- shaping open assessment of the Ethiopian the outcome of the war in Zimbabwe. and Somali regimes. Wilfred Burchett looks back over his life as a radical journalist and a young cadre of the liberation 15: Winter 1977 movement in Guinea-Bissau,recounts his experiences during the war against the Portuguese.

16: Summer 1978

Each issue $1.00 plus 50¢ postage & handling. Africa Liberation Calendar 1979

Poetry, quotes complement colorful photos and drawings. 10" X 14"

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