= ollowing the breakdown of the talks se:meen lan smitn and vosnua INkomo the moderate ANC* taclion), the Z mbabwean resislance Tigniers nave escalated their guerrlila war againsi : -e white racist regime. encouraged - = doubt by the recent military victory c' :he MPLA in Angola, majority black •-le no longer appears a pipe-dream s-: a reality just over the horizon.
According to Martin Meredith, in the s--day limes, 'the mountainous region . :h Mozambique, which stretches for "i miles. is ideal guerrilla territory. ioout 1000 guerrillas have now infiltra:ed across ine trontler ana me drea •'operation, once confined to northeast, now extends to the south-west'.
:- addition to the guerrillas already - ahting in Zimbabwe, another 3000 in M'ozambique are reported as ready to in Tanzania and e gage in action ana, Zambia which borders on Zimbabwe, :_-ther 10, 000 to 20, 000 recruits are es: imated to be in training. Protected Villages -ne Smith regime, while trying to buy i'me with its negotiations with Nkomo, meeting this mounting 'threat" with arce. The entire zone along the Mozambique border has been declared a 'no go' area in which anyone can be enot on sight. The Zimbabwe blacks are constantly being terorised and ¡arcible 'resettlement' of the rural copulation is underway along ine dorcers to 'separate' them from infiltrat- = guerrillas.
-he 'protected villages' into which :-ey are being herded are, as reported - February's Washington Post, little se:ter than concentrated camps based "- :he Istrategic hamlet' principle used =: :he US in Vietnam to 'protect' the Essulation from the freedom fighters.
R-odesian Irebel leader' lan Smith is, - siever, in an unenviable posttion.
'le re-asserting the continuation of ..'se supremecy to calm the ultra-right a-o mould be quick to denounce him tor The is coming increasingly -3 .. , --ce- pressure from imperialist powers frightened that his 'intransigence!
=s-ld lead to a race war exploding the mecarious stabllity in souln Alrica.
Majority Rule - -e imperialist powers recognise s: he attainment of majority rule in -Dabwe is now an inescapable fact, =-- hat 250. 000 whites can no longer er: their 'baascap' supremacy over The hand - over of = m ilion blacks.
:xer to the moderate faction of the :.C (led by Joshua Nkomo) would, in • a r opinion, be a small price to pay Jane maintenance ot their vast ec→ - amic interests in Zimbabwe and in • #'enbouring states.
E.er the past few months, they have =: been slow to pressurise lan Smith :o coming to some sort or agreement sore it is too late. London's point "a: smıth coula expect no nelp in ine Cent of a war lon behalf of the minagainst ine majorlly was SOOn) :oed by Washington which spelt it 'We are calling Mr smiin ana Ine . -ie regime to negotiate realistically - d seize what may be their last oppm.unity for a negotiated settlement'.
".hat the imperiallsı •owe s are, of concerned with is not the pri-inle of Imaioritv rulel ( which they aie turned a blind eye to in the past)
-• the fact that refusal to negotiate :ould lead to what London calls -oneral race wari that could spread -roughout Southern Africa and severupset their interesis there.
Vorster -nis is also the reason why South ¿rican Prime Minister Vorster, • -e maior backer of the Smith regime - as himself put pressure on the rebel »=cer to come to terms with the moder a:e faction of the ANC. Recently, in carefully worded tormuld, it was =a-ted out to lan Smith that 'under no '-r imstances could it (South Atrica)
mmi: its army to defence of Rhodesia augh it may continue to supply arms!.
. orsier realises the need for swift ==: 07. A growing race war in Rhodes= could spread like wild-fire into S.
already, * * c a ơn zc vc à .
-subled by SWAPO guerrillas. Intere-: on by South Africa in such a war .- cer pressure from the ultra-right •=: gralis: Party, could then explode = cerente policy with neighbouring = ac< s:ales wnicn nas already receiv== = se:-back with the Angolan fiasco African freedom fighter For Vorster, pressurising lan Smith to concede majority rule in Rhodesia is a small price to pay for assuring stad liy Southern only too aware that his detente policy _ pressurising neighbouring states to collaborate with him at the price of massive economic loans - is the most effective way of maintaining imperialist interests there. argued that loss ot Anodesla as a Ibuffer! state would be advantageous since it would result in a reduction. of the border to be 'patrolled'. Britain's Role Despite the fact that both London & Washington have condemned Smith's 'intransigence!, has not been Africa. Together with the US which Vorster and Jaunda after the Victoria Falls talks vestment has continued, Africa. He is in power.
uggle.
the vorster regime can even be the same pressure brouaht to bear on south off neighbouring black states. This indespite the fact that a Labour government Is now The eventual liberation of blacks in •Ine South Africa will be by their own strSocialists in Britain, however. can make that task easier by isolating and attacking the props that keep it in existence. The sale of arms and investment serve to bolster apartheid and help it extend its economic tentacles over the wnoie southern African continent.It is for this reason that socialists must call upon the Labour government to turn its verbal attacks on racism into action: to halt all military and economic aid for orsteris regime now. More than eighty Soviet political prisoners staged a hunger strike in late February and said they would continue tor the duration of the 21s congress of the Soviet Communist Party.
According to the Feb 29th United Press International dispatch from MoscoW. the prisoners had been denied the dissident sources " said right to present their demands directly to the congress. They complained of harassment, threats of Ipsychiatric reaearch' and of under nourisnmenl The hunger strike involved thirty prisoners at Vadimir jail, nedi Moscow, and about eight inmates of the prison camps in the Urals and Siberia.
ABORTION FIGHT Abortion has emerqed as a major issue for the new , minority government ot Fremier Aldo moro In Ilaly.
Last year, more than 500, 000 signatures were collected to force a referendum on Italy's reactionary aor onaw 'adopted' under the fascist regime of Mussolini. an attempt to avoid this referendum.
which they feared would end in a defeat for them as did asimilar one on divorce, the ruling eristiar Democrats worked out a compromise Bill with the Communist Party last December.
The compromise proposai, which put the final decision on abortion in the hands of the doctor and not of, was rejected by the wondn Socialist Party. In January, Ine old aovernment fell before it coulc push through the proposed law.
new law is needed by the end of April if the Christian Democrats are to avoid the referendum they tear. In sucn a reterenauir main allies of the Christian Democrats would de ine tascisls. The pressure on the Christan Democrats c na care. ve lac al docu.
800,000 illegal abortions take place every year in Italy.