Mobilisation for Church

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ON FASTERN EUROPE - GZECHOSLOVAI NO ROOM -FOR WROCK * MUSIC SHORES MEDLEDE ATOROPOTIS GOLFSE Box 23. 136 Kingsland High St. London E8 TURKEY THE RETURN DEMOCRACY BM Box 5965. Lonc on WCIN 3XX protest at government plans to run down the coal industry from 56,000 jobs to 28,000 within four years.

The Mitterrand government started off with a policy of increased public spending and reduced working hours to cut unemployment. This attempt to tinker with capitalism failed to bring unemployment below two million - and also produced a galloping trade deficit.

Under pressure the Socialist-led government's policy has become more and more indistinguishable from Thatcher's and Reagan's. Now it is planning drastic rundowns in heavy industry - shipbuilding as well as coal-mining:

Unemployment in France is now 24¼ million and rising. Druze militiamen FOLLOWING an enormous amount of diplomatic manoeuvring between the Lebanese and Syrian governments, President Amin Gemayel is to abrogate the agreement with Israel made last May. The treaty had allowed for Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon only if Syrian troops were withdrawn as well.

ACCORDING to the organisers, there were up to 800,000 demonstrators in Versailles on March 4, defending the position of Catholic Church schools in France.

Bishops and right-wing politicians led the march.

The Versailles demonstration followed big protests elsewhere, including one 240,000 strong in Lille. And it looks like the SocialistParty-led government may be backing down under the pressure.

Before the 1981 election Francois Mitterrand promised to nationalise the Church schools and integrate them into a unified secular educa• Breaking the agreement is therefore a diplomatic coup for the Syrian government headed by A sail, and a blow to US policy - already floundering in Lebanon. The agreement had been patched up between Lebanon and Israel with US sponsorship.

It looks as if some tion system. Now the government is negotiating with Church leaders over much more limited proposals for a greater public say in the running of Church schools, and for giving teachers in Church schools the status of public employees.

Church schools have been a central issue in French politics since the 19th century.

The French Revolution at the end of the 18th century took on the Catholic Church hierarchy as one of the main pillars of the old regime. In 1790 the revolutionary government tried to make priests elected state officials. 'Church and King' became the slogan of the counterrevolution. of 'national unity' will be thrown together that will include current Syrian allies (such as Walid Jumblatt, leader of the Druze militias, or Nabih Berri, leader of the Islamic 'Amal movement) along with Gemayel's Falange. Such a government would be more broad At the beginning of the 19th century Napoleon declared a (secular) state monopoly of education. In the course of the century rightwing governments dismantled this monopoly.

As from 1904 there were two clearly distinct school systems: a secular public system (supported by the Left) and a Catholic private system (supported by the Right).

In 1959 De Gaulle's government instituted extensive state aid to the Catholic schools. That is the status quo which the Church and the right wing are defending.

About 17% of French schoolchildren currently attend Church schools. that collapsed last month; but it would be unlikely to remain very stable.

Diplomatic

The tensions in Lebanese society cannot be so easily healed whatever the diplomatic deals made by various Lebanese leaders.

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Organiser no. 169 March 1984 Pare ?

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based' than the Falangist one schools