ANC attacks installations

“The African National Con-
gress claims full responsibility-for
the acts of sabotage carried out by
units of Umkhonto we Sizwe (the
ANC’s military wing) in South
Africa against the strategic oil-
from-coal plants,’ said Yusuf
Saloojee, ANC Chief Representa-
tive in Canada to the Tribune,
June 2.

Explosions ripped through two
synthetic fuel depots June | in a
well-planned attack which de-
stroyed several fuel tanks at
SASOL, the South African Coal,
Oil and Gas Corp. in the Trans-
vaal and Orange Free State.

“This was a major attack,”’

out with high-level precision.”
The ANC Chief representative
continues:  -

‘*This act was carried out at a
time when the masses of our
people, students, workers and
churches, have engaged the state
in open confrontation. It is an in-
dication that the ANC is well-
organized and ready to hit at the
enemy where it is most vulnerable
and at any time.

“‘The ANC has in recent
months increased its activities in-
side South Africa. Despite the ra-
cist regime's statement it intends
to place 500,000 men into
strategic areas and at strategic in-

continue to challenge and attack
strategic and military targets.
Undoubtedly, there will be an es-
calation of both people’s action
and military action.

“*South Africa is rapidly reach-
ing a crisis situation. Those who
denounce the legitimacy of the
armed struggle of our people and
call for a peaceful solution should
take note that the last call for
peace by every section, by every
organization including the
churches, was turned down by
the racist regime.

‘*The South African regime has
left the people no choice but to

Soloojee said,
highly coordinated and carried

‘well-planned,

stallations, our people, the ANC
and Umkhonto we Sizwe will

fight
manner.”

Arlene Harrison is one of the young women involved in a new organization called
the Committee for Women for Progress in Jamaica. In a recent interview with.
Tribune staff reporter Kerry McC uaig she outlined conditions facing Jamaican
women and their struggle for eeomarec and national liberation.

In 1976 a group of women Seca
with the lack of job and social facilities
for women joined to form the CWP.
Our aim is to expose the conditions of
Jamaican women, to lift up their status
and to educate women about the inter-
relationship of the struggle for women’s
rights with the struggle against exploita-
tion, for social progress and economic
independence. We also have the vital
a of exposing imperialism as the

to our economic inde-
Penance

Women suffer the greatest un-
employment in the country. For every
man out of a job there are three women
without work. Of young women 14-24,
62% are jobless.

When women do find jobs, they get
the lowest-paying ones that require the
least skills. Although 35% of the labor
force is women, which is high for a
developing country, they are con-
centrated in the domestic and marginal
service ‘industry.

A woman's incomie is essential in
Jamaica where one-third of all house-
holds are headed by women and where
another third depend on the women’s
income for survival. Yet 73% of our
women earn under $15 (Can.) a week.
This situation is severe, especially
when one considers the average
Jamaican family has four to five chil-
dren.

Jamaica depends on foreign trade for
many essential items, such as wheat,
drugs, machinery and equipment. In
1977 the Manley government ap-
proached the International Monetary
Fund in the hope of gaining more
foreign currency. The conditions set by
the IMF had disastrous effects on our

economy.
IMF INTERFERENCE

To meet EMF standards the govern-
ment had to cut back on social pro-
grams. They demanded an immediate
devaluation of the Jamaican dollar
causing runaway. inflation. In 1978 it
reached 50%. There were 100 essential
items on the price control list, including
basic foods and drugs, The IMF in-
sisted price controls be removed.

They insisted on . wage controls,
when the bulk of our population makes
below poverty wages. Twenty per cent
profits had to be guaranteed to busi-
ness. Most of these profits went out of
the country to the head offices of the
transnational corporations. Instead of
more foreign currency there was a
foreign currency drain. An estimated
Serie si the mSounnty aepty.

*

*

The CWP and other workers’ organi-
zations including the Workers’ Party of
Jamaica launched an immediate educa-
tional campaign exposing the IMF to
the people, and called on the Manley
government to drop the program.

Jamaica went through repeated IMF

‘*tests”” which checked the relationship -

of production in the country to
government expenditures. In 1980 we

failed the test. The IMF demanded an |

immediate cut of $150-million in

government spending including the lay-

ing off of 11,500 civil service workers.
The government said ‘‘no’’. The $30-
million that was supposed to come in
January was cancelled.

Now that the IMF has been rejected
we have undertaken an alternative path
of economic development based on
self-reliance and economic in-

dependence. Because of the education- —

al campaigns conducted by ‘the pro-
gressive forces during the IMF period
the people had no problems rejecting it
and accepting this new path.

FIGHTING HOARDING

But our problems are not over. The
IMF left its legacy of increased unem-
'

ployment, inflation and shortages. As a
short-term program, currency ex-
change bureaus have been set up at the
airports to @ounter the black mar-
keteers who pocket an estimated $30-
million a year in foreign currency. We
are going to friendly countries for loans

‘and cutting back on non-essential im-

ports.

in the most militant

apartheid regime.

The capitalist sector deprived of their
20% guaranteed profits have stepped up
their campaign to undermine the
government by hoarding goods. A re-
cent study determined that there was a
real shortage of 30% in the country. On
the supermarket shelves it is 100%.
From November to this April there was
no cooking oil in the stores, soap would
appear every month or so. The Work-
ers’ Party of Jamaica caught one of the
big distributors trying to ship a truck-
load of these goods to Canada.

Price controls have been re-intro-
duced so companies hoard goods in
hope of forcing up prices. Items will be
scarce for weeks, a price increase will
be announced then suddenly the
supermarkets will be flooded. Dis-
tributors will withhold food from Man-
ley supportive areas and channel them
into opposition strongholds.

Our women’s organization is mount-
ing a campaign against these artificial
shortages. We are demanding the
government use foreign currency to
purchase food and drugs first, then pay
off debts. Suspension of all applications
for price increases, especially on basic
foods is among our demands. Women
must be authorized as voluntary price
inspectors with powers to inspect
warehouses and issue warrants to ar-
rest hoarders. Tough legislation to deal

Rally by the women’s section of the pepe $s ‘National Party ss: Jamaica an
food be distributed to the people.

with hoarders must be enacted. The
government must buy larger quantities
of basic food and distribute them in
mobile units in the countryside.

WINNING MATERNITY LEAVE

This is. our current struggle, but I
would like to share with you one of our

recent accomplishes: In December

IMG, sais

1979. the Maternity Leave Law was
signed by Prime Minister Manley after
a two-year campaign. It represents one
of the most progressive steps taken by a
Caribbean government during the
International Year of the Child.

This struggle was launched by the
CWP and the People’s National Party
(Manley is head) Women’s Movement
and other women’s organizations.

It was fought for in the face of pres-
sure from the IMF to cut social ser-
vices, and charges from. the capitalist

sector that they couldn’t afford it. The —

commercial media tried to convince the

people that the law would encourage}

‘‘over-population”’.

At that time and estimated 50% of :

pregnant and nursing mothers were
anemic and malnutrition was still a
major cause of death for children under
five. The government has launched a
program to get mothers to eat nutritious

foods and breast feed their babies up to ~

four months. But with no paid mater-
nity leave and so many families reliant
on the mother’s income this campaign
was meaningless.

We held public meetings, distributed
pamphlets and collected over 9,000 sig-
natures in our call for maternity leave.
We did economic analysis to show be-
yond a doubt that the employers could
indeed afford to pay and we broad-
casted our findings. It was a non-stop
battle until the law was passed in De-
cember of 1979.

Now every Jamaican working
woman over 18 is guaranteed three.
months maternity leave, with a 14
week extension for medical reasons.
The law makes it a crime for any

- woman to be fired for pregnancy. Be-
fore women would bind their bellies to _

hide their pregnancies through fear of
being fired. It guarantees job security
for up to six months. A pamphlet out-
lining the law’s provisions has been
mass distributed so all Jamaican

women are made aware of their rights.

This campaign taught the CWP and

‘Jamaican women in general valuable
lessons. In the same way that the IMF —

and the reactionaries were pressuring
the government not to pass the Mater-
nity Law, they are now trying to pres-
sure the government to raise prices, and
create more unemployment. During the

two hard years, when some of us —

thought of giving up on the maternity

leave struggle, when the opposition was

trong and the government wavering,
we learned one thing — never give up;

never stop struggling and fighting for

our rights. The maternity leave law in-

spires us to struggle harder for unity —

and for benefits for our women and all
our people.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE JUNE 13, 1500 Pepe 6

The SASOL fuel depots attacked by the osvaniony wing of the ae
National Congress (SA) as part of its increased actions against ©

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