APRICA result of capitalism Food riots in Morocco, Tunisia

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Pretoria suffers losses ACCORDING to the Spanish press, 40 or 50 people were killed in the riots against food price rises in Morocco last week.

Machine-gun fire from helicopters, as well as from ground troops, was used against the demonstrators. The towns mainly affected are now being patrolled by tanks and thousands of troops, with security road blocks round the working class districts.

The agitation began on January 5 with student protests against rumours of increases in their fees and further food price rises lon top of the 13% or so announced in August).

It culminated in a demonstration in Morocco's main city, Casablanca, on January 22. A few hours later King Hassan announced on radio and TV that he had ordered the government to drop all plans for price rises.

In Tunisia the government has been forced to reverse food price rises. After repeated street demonstration in which some 50 people are reported to have been killed, President Habib Bourguiba repealed the rises for three months.

Increases of 70 to 120% in the prices of bread, pasta, and semolina had been decreed in late December.

Behind the price rises in both THE SOUTH African invading force consisted of nine battalions or around ten thousand troops, four units of heavy artillery, and tanks, supported by some 100 fighter bombers.

It was probably the largest of the four mounted by South Africa since 1975 (although South African military actions have been almost continuous).

South Africa's operation began in earnest on December 6 1983, but the current fighting can be traced back to August 1983, when a large UNITA force attempting to take the Angolan town of Cangamba was rebuffed by FAPLA and suffered extremely heavy casualties (UNITA, South Africa's surrogate force in Angola, has failed to capture a single important settlement in Angola).

In August 1983 South African troops began attacking frontline Angolan troops under the pretext that they were sheltering SWAPO guerrillas. On November 4, a statement by ANGOP (the Angolan press agency) said that UNITA's continued setbacks 'forced Pretoria to come to defend its protegees (and) use non-conventional weapons' a refernece tonapalm and chemical weapons employed by the South Africans.

Only after a black Namibian soldier of the South African army and considerable quantities of South African equipment were captured by FAPLA did Pretoria admit its forces were deep inside Angola. According to General Viljoen they were. engaged in 'hot pursuit and preemptive raids' against the Namibian liberation movement . PHOTO: ROUGE Tunisia and Morocco stands the International Monetary Fund.

Cutbacks in such 'distortions of the free market as food subsidies are part of the conditions it imposes for its 'assistance' to debt-stricken states.

In both countries, the regimes combine a brew of populist demagogy (rather more substantial in Tunisia than in Morocco with repression of independent working class organisation. Tunisia has a powerful trade union federation, the UGTT, but it is under heavy government control.

SWAPO.

But there was repeated bombing and shelling by South Africa forces of the towns of Cassinga, Caiundo, Cahama, Mulondo and Cuvelai.

South Africa has discovered to its dismay that its latest military adventure has proved extremely costly. its official casualties are now 27 dead; at least ten aircraft (including two Mirages) have been: shot down; numerous armoured vehicles have been destroyed, and one of South Africa's newest weapons, the mobile 155mm G-5 cannon (developed with US technology) was captured by FAPLA on December 29.

South Africa's claim to have killed 324 SWAPO, FAPLA and Cuban soldiers, made on January 7, can be safely dismissed.

A SWAPO press release coming shortly after the South African announcement of the 'destruction of SWAPO headquarters' near Lubango, states: 'Contrary to the claim of the South African army, the area is definitely not a SWAPO military headquarters. There was neither a single Namibian nor any SWAPO anti-aircraft batteries as claimed by Constand Viljoen at ., his press conference.' (SWAPO press release, 29.12.83).

South Africa's generals have found themselves involved in battles on a scale they had not anticipated from which they will be able to extricate themselves only with considerable difficulty. As yet the main burden in terms of human life has been borne by the Angolan civilian population, for which Pretoria is directly responsible.

(Abridged from Namibia . News Briefing Special).

That - together with the fact that very many workers are unemployed, semi-employed, or casually employed — is why protests take the form of street fighting.

Over the last 10 or 20 years Tunisia has been one of the fastest-developing countries in the Tunisia's populist dictator. Habib Bourgulha. Third World. Manufacturing output grew 12% per year between 1970 and 1981, and 32% of the workforce was in industry by 1980, as against 18% in 1960.

But that development has gone together with growing inequality, leaving the mass of the people little better off than in Morocco. IRISH Militant is a clone of Britain's Militant, with identical politics.

One of the special tenets of Militant is the belief in the possibility of a peaceful socialist revolution in Britain - and, presumably, in Ireland, both 26 Counties and 6 Counties.

Militant is a very legal-minded organisation. The Irish Militant, like the English, is extremely hostile to Irish republicanism.

Irish Militant supporters in the 26 Counties are members of the Labour Party, junior partner in Garret Fitzgerald's coalition government.

Last week the offices of Irish Militant were raided by armed 2o county police, carrying submachine guns. They said they were looking for a fugitive but refused to name him. Some reports say they claimed they were looking for Dominic McGlinchey:

Irish Militant put out a statement on the raid which said:

"For the past 12 years Militant Irish Monthly and its supporters have always made clear our opposition to acts of individual terror. It is our position that activities of this type do not advance the struggle for socialism one iota.

''This well-publicised position of Militant is well known to all political activists in Ireland, and throughout the labour movement". It denounced the raid as a "gross act of harassment by the State of left-wing members of the Labour Party.

Militant Irish Monthly says that the raid is connected with a proposal by the leadership of the coalitionist Labour Party to barr supporters of Militant from membership of the Party. them — and the Labour Pa members do - would credit for an instant.

So far the raid has help Militant Irish Monthly with the Labour Party rather th harmed it.

In response to the charge th the raid was harassment link to the proposal to expel thei Labour Party leader Dick Spri said he was now against goi ahead with the expulsions, al that action against them wou be deferred.

Accordingly, at the meeti of the Party's Administrati Council last Thursday, 19th, t motion to expel Militant 'w was not reached'. So the inexp cable raid has brought Milita Irish Monthly a (probably shor reprieve.

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As Britain's Militant puts it: rth