La reign of terror in the streets of Oaxaca. Right-wing death squads prowı une night and have carried out drive-by shootings as well as opening fire on several demonstrations.
In Oaxaca, as elsewhere, right-wing government forces are trying to create the atmosphere for future bloody crushing of the movement by the army or police. The situation LUW extremely dangerous for the mass movement, especiauv as lacu- The huge cal divisions have
political crisis in emerged, with the teachers abandon- Mexico is rooted ing their 44-day
in massive social strike without having achieved inequality, their objectives. deepened by
une rate or le nearly twoOaxaca struggle is closely linked decades of with that against
neoliberalism electoral fraud centred the and occupation of cen- subordination of tral Mexico City.
Mexico to the
In the run-up to the July 2 presi- needs of US dential multinationals the two leading candidates, Felipe Calderon of the PAN, and Manuel Lopez Obrador of the PRD appeared to be neck and neck, but with some polls putting Lopez Dorador slightly ahead.
In the event, when the final result was posted, the official result gave a slight advantage to Calderon, leading to widespread suspicions of electoral fraud. As Mexico City journalist and left-wing activist Peter Gellert points out:
"Given the close vote and AMLO's (Lopez Obrador's) charges of electoral fraud, a tions can be found.
Unfortunately, the (Zapatistas') Other Campaign, while condemning the fraud, has abstained from the mass demonstrations.
During the election campaign, the Other Campaign centred most of its fire on AMLO and the obvious deficiencies in the PRD's program. melnoos. Some organisations that participated in the Other Campaign are, however, involved in the
anti-fraud protests." The huge political crisis Mexico is rooted Lne massive social inequality. This has been deepened by nearly twodecades of neoliberalism and intensified subordination of Mexico UNer needs of US multinationals and agri-business. Regrettably the poor and oppressed of Mexico lack nationally structured anti-capitalist political
that Dally Cal COICSCUL them, co-ordinate the struggles and intervene on the nanonal pontical terrain
The Zapatistas and the Other Campaign can to a certain extent play the role of a substitute leadership, but only partially, occasionally and inadequately.
While the far left in Mexico has been correct to support the Other Campaign, the key question is: what lasting political results will it lead to? Kathy Lowe "Femicide" is the new word in Latin America. A new word for an old crisis. It refers to an epidemic of rapes and murders of women in the region that for years have gone unsolved and unpunished.
Violence and sexual abuse against women remain rife across Latin America. But they have reached horrific extremes in Guatemala City and in Mexico's bleak, free trade town of Cuidad Juarez across the border from the US. In these two notorious centres of femicide, ine abduction and orutal Killings of women have become almost routine.
In Ciudad Juarez, according to human rights organizations, over 4UU women nave met volen deaths since 1993. Hardly a week goes by without another body being discovered dumped in the desert or on waste ground behind the town. The murdered women are nearly all young and poor - students, domestics, or factory workers from the local foreign-owned assembly plants known as maquiladoras. Most have been raped and tortured to death.
The picture is almost identical in Guatemala City. Guatemala's femicide has claimed the lives of nearly 2,200 women and girls since 2001. In the lawless capital women live in constant fear of being snatched from the streets by gangs or forced off buses at gunpoint into empty lots.
A dawn police patrol regularly recovers from alleyways and rubbish dumps bodies often unrecognizable due to torture and sexual mutilation. In the killers' methods there are strong echoes of ferocious attacks on women used by US-backed government troops and death squads in Guatemala's long civil war that ended in 1996. Most of the perpetrators of those wartime crimes are still at large.
In both Guatemala City and Cuidad Juarez, the dead women's tamilies and advocacy groups have themselves been threatened as they have tried to seek justice. Says Amnesty International: 'Turning to the police is often not a safe option as so many officers have themselves been implicated in corruption and violent crimes.'
The Juarez outrages have provoked national and international protests, a stream of human rights reports, condemnation by the UN Human Rights Commission and delegations to the Mexican President. Actors Jane Fonda and Sally Field are among the celebrities who have made solidarity visits. Hollywood, it seems, even plans a film starring Jennifer Lopez as a reporter investigating the murders.
NGOs and human rights activists have helped distraught relatives of the slain Guatemalan women to publicise their cases. The mother of Maria Isabel Véliz, murdered in 2001 at the age of 15, brought her case to the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in January 2005. And in March this year the Organization of American States heard testimonies from a number of families.
The Guatemalan government set up a National Commission on Femicide with senior officials and politicians. In Mexico too the chamber of deputies created a Special Commission on Femicide and the attorney general established a prosecutor's office for violent crimes against
Yet there have been few arrests and even fewer convictions. The women go on dying.
The Mexican and Guatemalan governments blame gang violence, drug-trafficking and corruption. These problems of lawlessness affect everyone, they argue, not just women.
But while acknowledging that the number of men killed is much higher than women in Guatemala, the UN Special Rapporteur Yakin Erturk concluded after a 2004 investigation there that the female cases "have a different dimension". This, she said, was due to the way in which women are being killed. "They are raped, mutilated, and this has a terrible impact on women and society in general."
Some Mexican women's groups argue that the sight of young single women migrants from the poor south of the country working in Juarez factories and living independently may have made them a particular target in a protoundly misogynist society.
Women's lives come cheap suggests Yanette Bautista, Amnesty International's investigator of violence against women. Last year, at a presentation of Amnesty's investigation of the killings of women in Guatemala, she argued: 'The atmosphere of tolerance by the (Guatemalan) state and societal indifference toward all forms of violence against women contribute to the "femicide".
Clearly in these neo-liberal metropolitan wastelands with their social disintegration and, in the case of Guatemala, a recent history of war, there are few brakes on the most ferocious expressions of machismo. By contrast in Venezuela, Bolivia. parts of Brazil where the left has not been defeated and class solidarity is strong, women are helping to lead inspiring struggles. Violence against them may not have been eliminated but where they are respected and valued as equals by men and able to organize themselves to articulate their demands, they are in a much stronger position to pursue their liberation. www.marxsite.com/Mass%20m urder%20in%20Guatemala.htm www.amnestyusa.org/countries/guatemala
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split by Sheridan
Both the SWP and the CWI immediately lauded the decision of the court as a "fantastic '. No doubt for Sheridan it was. But for the Scottish left it is a disaster. It is also a setback for the British and European left, given the positive influence the SSP has had on the statement August 27 2006 Former Convenor of the Scottish Socialist Party lommy Sheridan won the first round of his defamation action against the News of the World (NoTW) in the Scottish Court of session in early August, on a majority (7- 4) decision of the jury.
He was awarded his claimed £200,000 in damages. The NoTW has said it intends to appeal and an investigation by police has begun into allegations of perjury committed during the trial: this inquiry is expected to last six months or more.
Sheridan has movea quickly to split the SSP. He has called a rally for Sunday September 3 to form a new party. Both the major platforms in the SSP, the Socialist Workers Party and Committee for a Workers International platforms have met, declared support for his call, and are building for the September 3 rally.
Socialist opposed to this split and supports the United Left and others who are appealing to the members to stay in the SSP and continue to build it. The unity of the Scottish left, on which the SSP was built, has to be defended.
It was not just Tommy Sheridan and the NoTW who were involved in this trial. Others were drawn into 1t whose integrity has been trashed. There were the 18 witnesses for the NoTW, including 11 members of the SSP EC, dragged into court against their will.
1 nese sor members nave been branded as liars by their decision to tell the truth to the court. They now face possible perjury charges.
Both the SWP and the CWI immediately lauded the decision of the court as a "fantastic victory". No doubt for Sheridan it was. But for the Scottish left it is a disaster. It is also a setback for the British victory". and European left, given the positive influence the SSP has had on the development of the European left since its foundation eight years ago.
Sheridan's decision to take the NoTW to court, and his refusal to consider any other course of action, was the cause of this disaster. Once he went down that road the SSP was certain to be dragged in and the outcome disastrous development of the European left since its foundation eight years ago. had taken.
Mistakes were no doubt made by the EC, who were desperately trying to deal with the crisis Sheridan created, but the responsibility was his.
sneridan s unilaterallsm reflects the idea that a party is built around a central charismatic leader, who in the end regards himself as bigger than the party, and unaccountable to it. This is one of the dangers which small mass parties like the SSP face. Articles
This crisis was triggered by two articles published in the NoTW in November 2004. These claimed that Sheridan had had extra-martial affairs, engaged in group sex at a Glasgow hotel, and had visited Cupids (a sex club in Manchester).
In response to defamation charges filed by Sheridan, the NoTW defended the articles as "substantially true". They cited five women witnesses who claimed to have either had affairs with Sheridan, or having group sex in a hotel in Glasgow.
The evidence of two of these as witnesses was tainted in that they had sold their stories to the NoT'W. But this is not proof that they were telling lies.
The NoTW also cited evidence from within the SSP Executive Committee (EC) concerning statements Sheridan had made, at a meeting of the EC on November 9 2004, called to consider allegations published in the first of the two NoTW articles.
These allegations referred only to a "married MSP", but it was clear from the context that it was Sheridan. He admitted to the meeting that he had indeed visited Cupids in Manchester on two occasions.
He made it clear nonetheless that if he was named by the NoTW he would sue them for defamation. It was on the basis of the stance - that he would sue over allegations which were none-the-less true - that he was asked to resign as SSP convenor by a unanimous vote of those present. It was his stance which created the depth of crisis in the SSP
He could have ignored the allegations, come clean, or denounced them and they would have blown over. The idea that the only way he could survive politically was to take the NoTW to court was nonsense.
The NoTW obtained a citation that the minutes of this meeting be used as evidence at the trial. They had controversially extracted the minutes from the SSP through the powers of the court after Alan McCombes went to prison in an attempt to keep them confidential. Open letter
Central to the process of letter Sheridan circulated at the emergency SSP National Council (NC) meeting on May 28 2006, called to discuss the situation and held whilst Alan McCombes was in prison.
The letter had been issued to tne meala prior to une meeling.
It said: "Today there exists an unsavoury cabal of comrades at the core of the leadership, their hands on the appalalus. who are more interested in pursuing personal vendettas, through vile lies and slander, than conducting the class struggle".
It goes on to describe them as: "akin to the dark days of Stalinism"; "McCarthyite" and "effectively acting for the
The was designed either to stampede a majority into supporting him at that meeting, which is what happened, provide the basis to lead a minority out of the SSP.
The open letter also contained a dangerous claim that feminism is alien to class politics. It attacked the SSP's 5050 policy which ensures equal numbers of women and men
elected DOSIDONS and insisted that: "We are a classbased socialist party. Not a gender-obsessed discussion group. Our socialist principles and class identity define us first. Not our gender or sexual orientation". 'Conspiracies'
In court Sheridan claimed that there were two separate conspiracies against him. The first, he said, was by the NoTW,the other was by a faction inside the SSP leadership who were out to oust him as part of a political take-over.
This neatly diverted the proceedings away from eye-witness accounts of sexual activities to political conspiracy theories which the to assess. There had been political tension in the SSP, but that is very different to a factional conspiracy.
The NoTW cited 11 of the 24 SSP members who had been present at the November 9 2004 EC meeting as witnesses. They were able to make these citations because of a fabricated set of minutes oI Ine meeling been sent to the NoTW anonymously, presumably by Sheridan or one of his supporters. These contained Sheridan's version of proceedings and included an incomplete list of those presCal.
These witnesses attended
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The starting point for Sheridan's new party is not good, based as it is on a wrecking action against the SSP over the refusal of SSP members to lie in court under the strongest proles. Bach was askea. under oath, if the official minutes were accurate, and if Sheridan had admitted that he had visited Cupids. They each confirmed that both welc the Cast. Sheridan promptly denounced them as liars and perjurers and the minutes as a fabrication. It was he said "the mother of all stitch-ups". It was not just the NoTW that Sheridan had put on trial - it was the SSP as well.
In fact of the 19 present at the EC meeting of November 9,15 have confirmed the accuracy of lne minules - lne 11 who appeared in court under citation plus four more who were not cited but who have issued a statement since to that effect.
The other four EC members appeared as witnesses for Sheridan and said exactly the opposite. They agreed with him that what he had actually said at the meeting was that he had never visited Cupids, an at Toe minutes a deed fabricated. Only one set of witnesses could be telling the truth -hence the perjury investigation.
The conclusion inescapable. Tommy Sheridan lied his way through the case and in the course of this repeatedly accused others of lying whilst knowing they were telling the truth. He had expected the entire EC, who had urged him not to take court acon. to new courtu order to back up his case. He then regarded them as traitors because they refused to do so. Moralistic
Sheridan was prepared to go to any lengths to defend lne moralsuc repulanon ne had cultivated as •a clean living sexually loyal husband.
Right up until the momentous NC meeting on May 28 -when everything changed in the SSP, when the framework was set for the trial and the split, and when the SWP and CWI platforms swung behind Sheridan - the validity of the minutes of November 9 2004 had not been in question.
Sheridan's open letter proposed, on the one hand, that the minutes be handed to the court and on the other questioned their authenticity -claiming that they were falsified as part of a conspiracy to remove him from office.
Once he had proposed handing the minutes to the court he either had to drop his defamation action or discredit the minutes which, until then, no one had questioned.
SUp
Sc ttish So ialist Pa ty
Sheridan also claimed, in his open letter, that he had never read the minutes. This is flatly contradicted by Alan the minutes were discussed in
between Allan Green, Colin Fox and Sheridan on May 12 2006 soon after they had been cited by the NoTW.
McCombes reveals it was Sheridan himself who proposed the adoption of the policy of refusing to hand the minutes to the court. This only made sense if he accepted that the minutes were accurate in the tirst place.
Sheridan, the CWI, the SWP and others argue that it is scandalous that 11 SSP EC members appeared in court as witnesses for the defence. But if they had refused they would have been arrested and charged with contempt of court.
If they had refuted the minutes and lied they would have risked perjury, which carries a heavy prison sentence. Were they to deny something in court which they knew to be the truth in order to protect Sheridan's image as a respectable married man?
There are certainly times when socialists would do otherwise, but this would be in situations where what is at stake was the defence of collective action or an issue of principle.
This was not an issue of principle. These comrades court in order to protect his personal reputation. were being asked to put the interests of one man above the collective interests of the SSP. They were right to say no. Allegations
The scandalous allegations of scabbing (1.e. crossing class lines) escalated after the trial finished. relates Sheridan's demagogic claims - taken up with relish by the SWP and the CWI - that the trial was a battle between capital and labour in the form of a battle between Tommy Sheridan and Rupert Murdoch. Socialists have to know which side they are on in such a battle, they have repeatedly claimed. This is simplistic nonsense. reduces politics to crude sloganising.
The treatment of some of the women witnesses by Sheridan was demeaning to say the least. After sacking his legal team Sheridan crossexamined them himself.
The minutes of the meeting of November 9 2004 should never have been taken in the way they were. But in the end it was not the minutes which
the problem still have been cited to appear and asked to explain what happened at the meeting and exactly why Tommy Sheridan had been asked to resign.
It is hard to see where the policy of withholding the minutes from court was going after the NC on May 28. The policy that the EC put to that NC was not sustainable. It was the non-viability of that policy which - although he had proposed it himself-gave Sheridan the opening in that meeling which ne seized uDon. Pluralism
This damaging split in the SSP does not in any way devalue the importance of building broad pluralist parties of the working class. Such parties are the product of objective political developments: the collapse (or semicollapse) of the communist parties; the march to the right ot social democracy; the decline of the Labour left; and the emergence of mass resistance in the form of the global justice and anti-war movements
The need for such parties is not about to go away. What has to be re-emphasised, however, is that genuine pluralism. gender equality, democracy and accountability - including the accountability of the most prominent members - are not an optional extra for such parties.
They have to be built into their culture and their practice if they are to have a longterm role
The starting point for Sheridan's new party is not good, based as it is on a wrecking action against the SSP over the refusal of SSP members to lie in court in order to protect his personal reputation.
It will be an alliance between Sheridan and the SWP not unlike the alliance between George Galloway and the SWP which forms the basis of Respect. It would be a huge step back from the democratic unity on which the SSP was constructed.
The CWI will be in an awkward situation given their hostile relationship with the SWP in England and Wales and the model they are pushing for their new mass workers party. These are all forces which were held together inside the SSP by the existence of the ISM which formed the core of the organisation from its inception.
These developments are a defeat for the radical left in Scotland and internationally. This is a defeat brought about by the determination of one man to put his ego, his desire to create an image of a respectaole family man, before the interests of the party he and others had worked for nearly a decade to build.
The only winners from a split in the SSP will be the pro-market forces in
The nationalists, and the Blarites. Socialist Resistance will stand with the comrades of the SSP in their determination to rebuild their party out of the debris. Useful links: Minutes of the November 9 2004 EC: http://www.scottishsocialistparty.org/Minutes/mins091104.r Statement from the United Left on the defamation case: http://www.sspul.org/defstat.html All Members Bulletin published after the end of the court case: http://www.scottishsocialistparty.org/pdfs/Bulletinsummer06 pdf.pdf Statement of the SSP EC on Sheridan's new party http://www.scottishsocialistparty.org/pages/ec_statement.ht Letter from Richie Venton to SSP trade unionists http://www.scottishsocialistparty.org/pdfs/SSPTU%20Letter.pdf
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Among the