GLW: Australian DSP encourages a global network of left parties

[Green Left Parramatta <glparramatta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2001/433/433p15.htm

http://www.dsp.org.au

Essential for struggle: a global network of left parties

 BY SUE BOLAND

 Capital isn't the only thing globalising. The revolutionary left is
also, on the basic
 premise that if capitalist ruling classes play off working people in
one country
 against working people in another, then the solution is international
collaboration
 and solidarity between working-class movements and revolutionary
parties.

 For more than a decade, the Democratic Socialist Party has been part of
a growing
 international network of socialist and left parties, particularly in
the Asian region, which has
 sought to share experiences with, learn from and work with each other
in the struggle against
 global capitalism.

 Many of these parties came together for the first time at the Asia
Pacific Solidarity
 Conference organised by the DSP in Sydney in April 1998, and then again
at the Marxism
 2000 conference in January 2000, also organised by the DSP.

 The next Asia Pacific Solidarity Conference is being organised by the
People's Democratic
 Party in Jakarta, Indonesia, in June. The January 3-7 congress of the
DSP resolved to host
 the following international solidarity conference, in Sydney at Easter
2002.

 The impact of the growing collaboration within this network of left
parties has been
 immediate, the party's national secretary, John Percy, pointed out in a
report to the congress
 on the DSP's international relations.

 For example, increased left collaboration helped internationalise
solidarity with the East
 Timorese people in 1999 when Indonesian-backed militia began its
genocidal massacres in a
 vain attempt to end hopes of Timorese independence.

 The collaboration between revolutionary parties has also helped form a
counterweight to
 efforts by reformist and pro-capitalist forces, like the Australian
Labor Party, the Australian
 Council of Trade Unions and the US trade union federation the AFL-CIO,
to isolate the
 militant wing of the trade union movements of Indonesia, South Korea
and the Philippines by
 backing and funding union conservatives in those countries.

 Increasing collaboration between revolutionaries, Percy pointed out,
will also strengthen the
 radical current within the global movement against neo-liberal
globalisation. Successive
 waves of demonstrations, from Seattle to Melbourne to Prague, have
shown an increasingly
 clear division between the reformists, particularly the big
non-government organisations and
 trade unions which seek little more than a ?seat at the table?, and the
radicals, who favour the
 abolition of the institutions of globalisation and have adopted
militant, mass mobilisation
 tactics.

 The participation of different revolutionary parties from around the
world in the January DSP
 congress helped take the process of international collaboration another
step forward.

 For the first time, a representative of the Communist Party of Cuba
came from Havana to
 participate in the congress. Abelardo Cueto Sosa, the head of the
Asia-Oceania bureau of
 the international department of the central committee, was present
throughout the congress
 and participated directly in several sessions.

 Cueto's presence was significant for many reasons. The congress was
dominated by
 discussion about the new movement against neo-liberal globalisation. As
Cueto pointed out,
 Cuba has played a significant role in this movement already by seeking
to build an alliance of
 underdeveloped countries which refuse to abide by the unjust rules of
imperialist financial
 institutions and Cuban leader Fidel Castro has been one of the most
trenchant opponents of
 global capitalism.

 Cueto's participation also proved invaluable to the congress's
discussion on a new party
 resolution on Cuba, which both underlines the DSP's backing of the
revolution but also
 attempts to come to grips with the many challenges now facing it.

 His presence also underlined the possibility of a humane, democratic
and socialist alternative
 to capitalism, the idea which motivates the DSP's members. The survival
and success of the
 Cuban Revolution is an antidote to claims that there is no alternative
to neo-liberalism. If
 Cuba can strike out on a different path, why can't others?

 Also present at the congress were representatives from South Korea's
Power of the
 Working Class, the Worker Communist Party of Iraq, the Worker Communist
Party of Iran,
 the US socialist group Solidarity, the People's Democratic Party of
Indonesia, the Acehnese
 radical group Student Solidarity for the People, the Bangladesh
Agricultural Farm Labourers'
 Federation, the Dutch Indonesia and East Timor solidarity group
SOLITIN, the Socialist
 Youth League of Norway and the Chilean Popular and Indigenous Network.

 There were also dozens of messages of solidarity and greetings sent by
parties, organisations
 and individuals who were unable to attend: Communist Party of India
Marxist-Leninist
 (Liberation), Labour Party Pakistan, Socialist Party of Labour
(Philippines), Socialist Party
 of Timor, Scottish Socialist Party, Lalit (Mauritius), Revolutionary
Communist Group
 (Britain), Resource Centre for People's Development (Philippines),
South African Municipal
 Workers Union, Afghanistan Labour Revolutionary Organisation, OSPAAAL
(Cuba),
 Alternative Information and Development Centre (South Africa),
Communist Workers Party
 (Finland), Communist Party of Bangladesh, Left Alternative (Hungary),
James Petras (US),
 Dale McKinley (South Africa), Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR -
Chile) and the
 Irish Republican Socialist Party

 Interviews with some of the international guests will be featured in
future issues of Green
 Left Weekly.