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Publications > Nonviolent Sanctions
vol. 3, no. 2
Fall 1991
Nonviolent Sanctions
vol. 3, no. 2
Fall 1991
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Contents
Defense minister with nonviolent strategy
Can CBD deter?
Soviet coup resistance
Connaire joins staff
Sharp delivers CBDA keynote
Bond appointed PNS director
Nonviolent sanctions in the news
Defense Minister with a Nonviolent Strategy
by Stephen Kinzer
VILNIUS, Lithuania, Sept. 3 — In Lithuania, where no one has experience in running government agencies, it is perhaps not surprising that the Minister of Defense is a 31-year-old psychotherapist dedicated to nonviolent resistance.
The Minister, Audrius Butkevicius, is charged with defending Lithuania at a moment of great uncertainty.
His most immediate duty is to protect his emerging country against a last-minute Soviet intervention. But if no intervention comes, and Lithuania is able to establish its full independence, the challenges may become even greater.
"This part of the world is entering a period of great instability," Mr. Butkevicius said in an interview. "It is going to be a very dangerous time. For a small country like Lithuania, traditional ideas of defense do not apply."
"We are never going to have an army big enough to defeat an invader. Our goal has to be to win not physically, but morally, economically, and politically."
Mr. Butkevicius cuts an unusual figure, even among the earnest amateurs who are leading Lithuania toward independence. His youthful appearance, slight stature, and thin mustache make him seem quite out of place at the Defense Ministry, where soldiers snap to attention and salute as he passes.
Unlike most senior officials here, he employs no bodyguards. He also refuses to wear a uniform, and has rejected suggestions that he assume a military rank.
Most unorthodox of all, however, are his ideas about how Lithuania should defend itself. In the event of an attack, he says, the Lithuanian Army will play only a small and relatively unimportant role in national defense.
"There are a few objectives we would have to defend militarily, and that would be the army’s job," Mr. Butkevicius said. "The rest of the population would then paralyze the entire country with strikes and other actions. This is all being organized. I have people in every town and village."
"I even have radio systems that can broadcast directly into Soviet tanks, so we can transmit information and disinformation to the soldiers inside."
At this point, and for the next few years, Mr. Butkevicius believes that Lithuania’s greatest security threat comes from the 90,000 Soviet soldiers still stationed here. They will probably remain on Lithuanian soil for some time to come, and he is worried that some of them may lash out in frustration over what is happening to their crumbling country.
Future threats, he believes, could come from Soviet republics like Byelorussia or the Ukraine.
"The Soviet threat exists for us only as the threat of processes now occurring in the Soviet Union," he said. "I am not so optimistic. There are going to be some very difficult situations within the Soviet Union. I don’t mean necessarily full-scale war, but troubles, definitely."
During much of its history, Lithuania was a warlike and aggressive state. In the Middle Ages, Lithuanian armies conquered large territories and expanded their empire as far as the Black Sea.
Today, however, Mr. Butkevicius is building an army he says will be geared exclusively to defense. He is not interested in buying tanks, for example, but rather antitank weapons.
"In conventional defense, we need to rely on collective arrangements with other countries," he said. "We want to join the European security system, and possibly create a new regional defense structure with our Baltic and Scandinavian neighbors."
"Beyond that, we need to improvise. We want a military force based on a new model, our own model. There will be a paratroop unit of about 500 men for rapid response to crises, a unit to deal with environmental disasters, and various units trained in psychological warfare.
"Most important of all, we will have a highly organized civil defense structure. Every citizen will know what to do in case of an emergency."
Mr. Butkevicius developed his ideas on military strategy during his work as a clandestine organizer for the pro-independence group Sajudis. His family’s involvement in military matters, however, extends back nearly 200 years. He has ancestors who fought in the Napoleonic wars, some on one side, some on the other. His grandfather, now 95 years old, was a colonel in the Lithuanian Army in the 1930s.
"Instead of bedtime stories, he used to read me Clausewitz," Mr. Butkevicius recalled.
Copyright ©1991 by The New York Times Company. Reprinted by permission.
Can Civilian-Based Defense Deter?
by William Vogele
The collapse of the cold war political system has expanded intellectual and policy space for exploring defense alternatives. One of those alternatives is civilian-based defense, a policy in which a country’s population and institutions are prepared to deny an attacker his objectives through massive nonviolent resistance and noncooperation.
A good case can be made for the potential defense capability of this policy by looking at historical cases of nonviolent resistance to invasions and coups d’état. But what about its potential deterrence capability? Can civilian-based defense deter a potential aggressor from attacking in the first place? One approach to answering this question is to apply the standards of traditional security analysis to civilian-based defense.
Gene Sharp has argued that civilian-based defense possesses significant deterrent capacity because of the ways social resistance can raise the costs of an occupation. By withholding its cooperation a population can significantly increase the effort that an occupier must exert to achieve his goals. If the demonstrable capability to impose these costs can be made credible, then any rational aggressor should be deterred from attack in the first place. Thus the arguments favoring civilian-based defense appropriate the logic of traditional deterrence analysis: aggression is opportunistic; potential adversaries, however, are goal-driven and rational; rationality assumes that decision makers undertake some kind of cost-benefit calculation that can be manipulated by a defender.(1) The key elements for successful deterrence are the maintenance of a balance of power and the communication of a credible willingness to resist aggression.
Can a nonmilitary defense strategy demonstrate sufficient capabilities to dissuade an opponent? It is generally assumed that successful military deterrence requires a balance of military power between adversaries. But what happens when one side employs a nonmilitary strategy of civilian resistance? How can the relative power capabilities of the two sides be assessed then?
The dynamic involved in civilian-based defense is the application of "social powers" by the defending population to deny the effectiveness of military force as a coercive instrument to gain political or economic ends. In assessing the deterrence potential of civilian-based defense, relevant "powers" that should be compared might include: the mobilization potential of the population, the degree of legitimacy possessed by the society’s institutions, the level of economic and physical resources available to wage the struggle, and the degree of advanced training and preparation for defense. Similar factors are considered in evaluating a potential military conflict: Is the military well trained? Does it have the logistical capability to carry out its missions? Does it have sufficient popular support to make the costs of war acceptable? The deterrence potential of civilian-based defense hinges on the degree to which factors such as mobilization potential, legitimacy of institutions, resources, and training are demonstrable, observable, and able to be communicated as a credible threat of resistance.
Mobilization Potential of the Population
A systematic appraisal of these factors can be done by looking at past cases of improvised resistance to armed aggression. For example, both the German resistance to the Franco-Belgian occupation of the Ruhr in 1923 and the Czech resistance to Warsaw Pact forces in 1968 show that it is possible to mobilize large sectors of a society for nonviolent action quite quickly. When a society already has demonstrated its capacity for mobilization, the credibility of its commitment to defensive mobilizations in the future increases. The "velvet revolutions" of the 1980s and the Soviet Baltic republics’ resistance that led to independence in 1991 provide recent, credible evidence of mobilization potential.
Legitimacy of the Society’s Institutions
The Czech and Ruhr cases also suggest that when the existing political institutions and leadership have a high degree of legitimacy the maintenance of those institutions (and conversely the undermining of occupation-derived institutions) is possible. In 1968, even while the republic’s president and Communist party leadership bargained with the Soviet rulers in Moscow under conditions of virtual imprisonment the population took direction from and struggled to maintain the Czech institutions of governance. The National Assembly was convened and maintained through the occupation, and the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia assembled in extraordinary session. During the Ruhr occupation, the German government in Berlin directed portions of the resistance as best as it could, the provincial parliament of the Rhineland met in exile, and the headquarters of the leading industrial associations were moved. Similarly, Norwegian teachers’ resistance to the Nazis centered on the maintenance of allegiance to the legitimate principles of their vocation and nation.
Physical and Economic Resources Available
The resources available to wage the struggle also can be measured. Any defense struggle, military or civilian, must have some means of support for both the near and far term. As Paul Kennedy has noted, most of the major wars of the modern era have turned not on the balance of technology (or the means of struggle) but on which side could muster the resources to hold out the longest.(2) Material resources include the ability of the economy to absorb the shocks of deprivation and remain resilient under occupation. These may be augmented by access to international assistance, although it may be difficult to obtain under occupation. Both the Ruhr resistance of the 1920s and the Palestinian uprising during the 1980s suggest the difficulties of maintaining a nonviolent struggle when the occupation regime controls crucial material resources. Lithuanian leaders recognized that they were relatively unprepared for the economic sanctions imposed by Moscow in 1990 and that they needed to pay greater attention to the issue of resources in future defense planning.
Advance Training and Preparation
Effective strategy and training in civilian-based defense may be the most difficult factor to measure and the most difficult capability for a nation to demonstrate. As with military defense, the proof is in the doing. To the extent that defense strategies and plans are discussed and known, they can be evaluated. Plans can be compared with historical experiences to build strengths and avoid weak choices. An effective strategy of civilian-based defense also will require observable active participation of the citizenry, which can add to credibility.
A good deal of research remains in refining the measurements of social capabilities in ways that are relevant to the strategic analysis of deterrence. Similarly, a more refined study of historical evidence made with these questions in mind is required — including a look back at the paradigmatic cases of nonviolent resistance to aggression, the Ruhrkampf and Czechoslovakia. The more explicit application of the tools of deterrence analysis to civilian-based defense, however, is fruitful and should advance both our understanding of nonviolent action and our knowledge of how deterrence operates.
Notes
1. Gene Sharp, Civilian-Based Defense: A Post-Military Weapons System (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990), pp. 83-115, especially pp. 86-88.
2. See The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers (New York: Vintage Books, 1987).
William Vogele is a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University’s Program on Nonviolent Sanctions. His current research effort is to develop more rigorous theoretical and empirical approaches for analyzing defense strategies of civilian resistance.
Nonviolent Resistance to Soviet Coup Took Many Forms
by Alexander Pronozin
The August coup was not a surprising event. Political reforms about to culminate in the signing of the Union Treaty on August 20 would have led to a fundamental weakening of the central party apparatus. Those who had monopolized power were not likely to relinquish control without a fight. The real surprise was how quickly the coup was brought down and that the "weapon" that won the day was nonviolent resistance.
The coup leaders immediately took control of the mass media, using it to give legitimacy to what they had done and to spread disinformation about Gorbachev’s health. But six years of glasnost and perestroika had taught people to separate truth from lies. Within a few hours thousands of demonstrators gathered at the White House, headquarters of the Russian republican government. The White House was quickly surrounded by a dense human ring, an event not expected by the junta.
The A-Team Said No
The junta drew up a detailed plan to storm the White House and kill Russian President Boris Yeltsin and 11 other senior Russian leaders. A special section of the "KGB Department for the Struggle Against Terrorism," code-named Alpha, was given responsibility for the operation and was equipped with powerful weapons, including grenades and antitank weapons. But when it became clear to them that they would have to kill hundreds or even thousands of unarmed civilians, the entire subdivision refused to carry out the order despite the danger to themselves. Thus the weapon of nonviolent resistance appeared not only within the public but within the armed forces. This proved to be the greatest asset to the defenders of the White House.
The junta had no time to "re-educate" the rebellious unit. Substitutes were called up from the KGB special force who reportedly were "real zombies," capable of fulfilling any order. But time was lost and the Russian government had already demonstrated its capability and resolve. Peoples’ Deputies located inside the White House maintained constant contact with the demonstrators. The central message of the Russian government expressed through edicts and appeals was the illegality of the junta. Repeatedly, Yeltsin and other republican leaders called on supporters to refrain from using violence, a message repeated from below by various peace, democratic, and religious groups. People saw they were defending more than just bricks and mortar.
Parallel structures: By the second day a back-up government formed by the White House began fulfilling their duties from an underground bunker near Sverdlovsk in the Urals far from Moscow. In addition, plans were made for the creation abroad of a Russian government-in-exile. These measures fundamentally devalued the meaning of the capture of the White House itself and forced the junta to slow its operations. In these efforts, another classic method of nonviolent opposition was used—the organization of parallel reserve structures of power.
Strikes
Following Yeltsin’s call for a general strike, a series of organizations in many regions of the country stopped work on the next day. This happened in spite of the blockade of independent channels of mass communication and the officially announced prohibition of strikes.
Alternative media
Journalists responded with courage and creativity. Employees of eleven banned newspapers united to publish a "general newspaper" printed on photocopiers, laser printers, and mimeograph machines. Large quantities of the newspaper as well as copies of the Russian President’s orders and appeals were pasted on Metro walls, at bus stops and street corners, assuring not only the rapid distribution of accurate information, but creating gathering places where people exchanged opinions about the coup. Such unplanned gatherings had a great psychological impact and added a special mood to the city.
Soldiers’ strikes
At the Moscow Military Institute of the Ministry of Defense, 101 students barricaded themselves in their barracks, announcing their unwillingness to participate in the overthrow of the government.
Dialogue with soldiers: Mingling with soldiers occupying the city was another important type of nonviolent action. Spontaneous meetings took place around military vehicles and tanks. Few displayed hostility to the soldiers—rather they gave soldiers cigarettes and food—it turned out many soldiers had been without sleep for two days and were hungry. The attitude of goodwill, and the imparting of otherwise unavailable information, had its effect on the conscripts. Such actions created the necessity for a constant rotation of military units patrolling the city. Units that had been persuaded by the local population not to engage in repression were taken out and replaced with fresh arrivals.
Barricades
Barricades were built from trolley buses, delivery trucks, and rubbish. If nothing more, these were important symbols of resistance. While not presenting an impassable barrier—most barricades could be breached by armored assault in a few minutes—they provided a line for dialogue with soldiers. Protesters who spoke the languages of non-Russian nationalities were selected in order to appeal to soldiers in their native tongue while the tanks attempted to storm the barricades. As a result of such discussions, six tanks ordered to seize the White House defected to the Russian side. They hung Russian flags on their antennas and turned their gun turrets 180 degrees away from the White House.
Ignoring the curfew
On the night of August 20–21, when the curfew was officially imposed, there were no fewer people than usual on the Moscow streets after 11 pm. Public transport continued to operate. An outside observer would never have imagined that a curfew was in force. This collective act of insubordination by Muscovites may well have been the decisive psychological factor that demonstrated to the coup leaders the futility of their efforts to bring "order" to the country. August 20 was the junta’s last night.
All in all, Muscovites showed not only themselves but the whole world what can happen when people refuse cooperation with those who use fear as the main tool of social organization.
Chris Connaire Joins AEI Staff
The Einstein Institution has hired a new development director. Chris Connaire, a British-born Quaker, joined the AEI staff in September. She succeeds Helen Brown, former development associate, who resigned to take a position at Boston College, and Kristen Engberg, former foundation relations associate, who moved to England to attend graduate school.
Ms. Connaire comes to the Einstein Institution from Radcliffe College, where she was assistant to the financial vice president and treasurer. She brings to the position twenty-five years of fundraising and administrative experience, having been executive director and fundraiser for a variety of arts organizations in Massachusetts. She also brings to her work a personal commitment to nonviolence and a deep interest in national and international affairs.
Born in Britain, Ms. Connaire moved to the United States as a teenager. She graduated magna cum laude from Hope College in Holland, Mich., and holds masters degrees in theater and English from Smith College and Brandeis University respectively.
Gene Sharp Gives Keynote
at CBDA Conference
Gene Sharp, senior scholar-in-residence at the Einstein Institution, gave the opening keynote address at a conference on "Civilian-Based Defense and People Power," organized by the Civilian-Based Defense Association with assistance from the Stanley Foundation. The conference was held September 6–8 at Holy Redeemer College in Windsor, Ontario.
Dr. Sharp spoke to an audience of 450 on "The Relevance of Civilian-Based Defense for the 1990s." He also gave a presentation entitled "Promoting Civilian-Based Defense: Lessons from History."
Douglas Bond Appointed Director
of Program on Nonviolent Sanctions at Harvard University
Douglas Bond has been appointed director of the Program on Nonviolent Sanctions at Harvard University’s Center for International Affairs. Also, Herbert Kelman, a senior faculty member of the Executive Committee of the Center for International Affairs, has agreed to serve as chairman of the program’s newly formed Advisory Committee. The committee, on which Anne D. Emerson and Robert Paarlberg also serve, will meet quarterly to provide ongoing guidance to the program.
Dr. Bond succeeds Christopher Kruegler, who became president of the Albert Einstein Institution earlier this year. Bond has been affiliated with the program since 1988. Last March he became the program’s associate director. He was appointed program director in October.
Prior to his tenure at the Program on Nonviolent Sanctions, Bond was an assistant professor and a research fellow at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies, Kyungnam University, Seoul, Korea. He holds a B.S. in technical communication from the University of Minnesota, and an M.A. in communication and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. His dissertation, "Alternatives to Violence: An Empirical Study of Nonviolent Direct Action," applied the tools of quantitative analysis to the subject of nonviolent sanctions.
The Program on Nonviolent Sanctions, which is funded by the Einstein Institution, explores the degree to which, and how, nonviolent direct action may provide an effective alternative to violence in resolving the grave problems of dictatorship, war, terrorism, genocide, and oppression.
The program evolved from the pioneering work of Gene Sharp, who some twenty-five years ago articulated a seemingly simple premise about the nature of political power—that it is rooted in and continually dependent upon cooperation and obedience, and that this cooperation and obedience can be withdrawn. The Program on Nonviolent Sanctions has conducted basic research and policy studies from this perspective since 1983. The focus of these efforts has been on the strategic utility of nonviolent direct action in acute political conflicts.
The program’s "core" research for the 1991-92 academic year seeks to link theory and data development in the field. A proposition inventory is being compiled. Sharp’s theory of power is being refined, extended, and operationalized. Data assessment protocols are being developed. And longitudinal data are being collected on two empirical studies to test contending propositions and hypotheses. One study focuses on direct action (both violent and nonviolent) in different political systems. The other focuses on nonviolent actionists engaged in various campaigns. In addition, the program is collaborating on a study of the evolution of peace movement organization strategy and structure.
Each year the program brings up to four full and part-time researchers, visiting scholars, post-doctoral fellows, and others to the Center for International Affairs. An affiliate’s research may focus on a particular region or pertain to more generalized issues in the field. The program also works with a number of associates based at other institutions. Researchers may bring their own support or may have it provided through specific research grants. The program occasionally invites and funds proposals for new research when resources permit.
Three new researchers became affiliated with the program this fall:
Roland Bleiker is a special student at Harvard University studying international relations theory and comparative politics, especially in relation to reunification issues in Korea and Germany.
Myung-Soo Lee is a Harvard MacArthur scholar at the Harvard Law School. She is completing her dissertation on the reunification process in Korea under Professor Roger Fisher. Her research interests include international law and negotiation, particularly pertaining to divided states; international legal analysis, negotiation analysis, and the maintenance of peace.
Paul Routledge is a post-doctoral fellow whose research interests include social movements in South Asia, cultural expressions of resistance to development and militarization processes, and the use of nonviolent sanctions by social movements.
William Vogele is a post-doctoral fellow studying deterrence theory and alternative defense strategies, including civilian-based defense.
The program also conducts a bi-weekly seminar during the academic year that is open to the Harvard community and others who are interested in serious discussion of situations where the nonviolent prosecution of conflict may be a viable alternative. Seminars this fall included the following:
- "Nonviolent Sanctions and the Shifting Domains of Peace and Security Studies," by Christopher Kruegler, PNS Associate and President of the Albert Einstein Institution.
- "Man, The State and War: A Feminist Reformulation," by Ann Tickner, Professor of Political Science, College of the Holy Cross.
- "Defensible Space, Sense of Place: Militant Resistance in Baliapal, India," by Paul Routledge, Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Program on Nonviolent Sanctions.
- "From Armed Struggle to Electoral Mobilization: The IRA and the ETA in Comparative Perspective," by Cynthia Irvin, Doctoral Candidate, Duke University.
- "Defense and Nonviolent Deterrence," by William Vogele, Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Program on Nonviolent Sanctions.
- "Civilian-Based Defense in the Baltic States, Including an Update from Recent Travels," by Gene Sharp, PNS Associate and Senior Scholar-in-Residence at the Einstein Institution, and Bruce Jenkins, Dr. Sharp’s assistant.
Nonviolent Sanctions in the News
MANILA, Sept. 10 — President Corazon C. Aquino led thousands of Filipinos in a march through heavy rains to the Philippine Senate today to demand ratification of a new American lease on Subic Bay Naval Station, a day after a majority of the Senators announced their intention to reject the base agreement.
Before the march, a rally in support of the agreement drew a enthusiastic crowd estimated by the police at 100,000 to 200,000 people, but there was no indication that Mrs. Aquino’s plea or the turnout had changed anyone’s vote in the 23-member Senate. (The New York Times)
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar, Sept. 11 (AP) — About 60,000 people rallied peacefully yesterday to honor 31 demonstrators killed a month ago during a protest at the palace of leftist President Didier Ratsiraka. A six-party opposition coalition called yesterday’s rally to commemorate the Aug. 10 killings, which were the bloodiest confrontation in a three-month campaign to end Ratsiraka’s 16-year rule. (The Boston Globe)
TORONTO, Sept. 13 (Reuters) — Toronto’s public transit system, the second-busiest in North America, came to a halt yesterday as workers launched the third major public service strike in Canada in as many weeks. Hundreds of thousands of commuters were forced to walk, cycle or find other ways to get to work in Canada’s largest city. The Toronto Transit Commission’s 8,600 drivers, mechanics and ticket takers walked off the job early yesterday morning after defying their leadership and rejecting a contract offer. Meanwhile, Canada’s first strike by government workers went into its fourth day, delaying air traffic, paralyzing grain shipping ports and stalling traffic at borders and airports. (BG)
NEW YORK, Sept. 30 (AP) — Thousands of abortion rights advocates marched along Fifth Avenue yesterday to counter a demonstration staged by abortion opponents. Organizer Christopher O’Hare, of the National Traditionalist Caucus, estimated 2,700 abortion foes took part. There was no police estimate. Counterprotesters organized by the Women’s Health Action Mobilization marched along Fifth Avenue. There were about 4,000 counterprotesters, said Police Officer Scott Bloch. They were separated from antiabortion activists by a line of police officers. No arrests were made, Bloch said. (BG)
WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 1 — Demonstrators chained themselves to the gate of the White House during a rally yesterday calling for government support to help fight AIDS. Some protesters were arrested and later released. (BG)
KINSHASA, Zaire, Oct. 5 (Reuters) — The opposition coalition plans to launch a campaign of strikes and civil disobedience to force the departure of President Mobutu Sese Seseko, the chief opposition leader, Etienne Tshisekedi, said yesterday. (NYT)
HARTFORD, Oct. 5 — State lawmakers told a crowd of more than 40,000, who gathered outside the Capitol today to rage against the state’s new income tax, that they had enough votes to repeal the tax in a special session they planned to call within weeks. The protest is believed to be the state’s largest and angriest political rally in decades, if not ever. (NYT)
ORLANDO, Oct. 7 — More than 300 advocates for the disabled yesterday stormed a hotel in Orlando, Fla., where representatives of the nursing home industry were holding a convention. Some wheelchair-bound demonstrators tried to break through barricades; 50 were arrested on charges of trespassing. The protest was part of a campaign to redirect Federal money toward in-home care and away from nursing homes. (NYT)
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Oct. 11 — The United States, responding swiftly to an appeal from the Organization of American States, yesterday began to launch a full-scale economic embargo against Haiti in hopes of reversing the military ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. (BG)
OSLO, Oct. 14 — Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who became the leader of the opposition to the Burmese military Government after returning to her homeland three years ago, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize today "for her nonviolent struggle for democracy and human rights."
Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of U Aung San, the assassinated founder of modern Burma, has been under strict house arrest in the capital since July 1989. She has been denied contact with her British husband and their two sons since early last year. (NYT)
ROME, Oct. 23 — Workers marched in downtown Rome yesterday as more than 80 percent of Italy’s work force joined a general strike to demand that government plans for austerity measures for the 1992 budget be dropped. The nationwide four-hour work stoppage was called a success by unions representing about 14 million workers. (NYT)
MOSCOW, Oct. 24 (Reuters) — About 5,000 people, many waving banners, demonstrated in a Moscow square last evening against rising inflation and low salaries. (BG)
PARIS, Oct. 24 — With France’s Socialist Government already reeling from a sharp drop in its popularity, rail, sea, air and road transportation was badly disrupted today by a 24-hour general strike of state employees protesting low wages and increased unemployment. (NYT)
WARSAW, Oct. 26 — Hundreds of coal miners, formerly members of the now defunct Communist trade union, demonstrated yesterday outside the Polish Parliament in Warsaw. The miners were protesting against new pension laws and worsening living conditions, as lawmakers inside prepared for tomorrow’s free elections. (NYT)
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia, Oct. 28 — European Community foreign ministers threatened today to impose economic sanctions on Serbia, Yugoslavia’s dominant republic, if it does not accept a European peace plan for Yugoslavia by next Monday. (NYT)
NEW DELHI, Oct. 28 (Reuters) — More than 300,000 Communists and poor villagers from across India protested in New Delhi yesterday against double-digit inflation, accusing the government of pandering to the International Monetary Fund.
Opposition leaders threatened to launch a nationwide campaign if the minority government did not reverse its attempts to wrench India away from its ideal of socialist self-sufficiency. (BG)
JOHANNESBURG, Nov. 4 — A nationwide strike, described by its organizers as the biggest in the country’s history, paralyzed factories and businesses across South Africa today and left people without the basic services normally provided by black employees.
Several million black workers stayed home as part of a work stoppage to protest the Government’s recent imposition of a revised new sales tax. The strike is to continue Tuesday for another day. (NYT)
BEIJING, Nov. 6 — About 10 political prisoners in northeastern China are planning a hunger strike unless the prison authorities stop beating them and forcing them to work 14-hour days on a diet of hard bread and vegetables, a Chinese who has been briefed on their circumstances says.
The 10 are among about 35 political prisoners at a prison in Liaoning Province. They are serving sentences of up to 20 years for supporting democracy during and after the demonstrations in Tiananmen Square in 1989. (NYT)
BEIJING, Nov. 8 (AP) — Five organizers of a horn-blowing, traffic-snarling taxi drivers’ protest in the northwestern Chinese region of Xinjiang were sent to labor camps for one to three years, an official report said today. The drivers were protesting the high proportion of their fares taken by the city authorities in the territory’s capital of Urumqi " and other issues," the official Xinjiang Daily said. (NYT)
GROZNY, U.S.S.R., Nov. 9 (AP) — Militiamen and civilians in a separatist Muslim enclave in southern Russia blockaded streets and reportedly seized control of airports today to prevent Soviet soldiers from enforcing emergency rule by President Boris N. Yeltsin of the Russian republic. (NYT)
HALLE, Germany, Nov. 10 (Reuters) — Hundreds of neo-Nazis shouting "Seig heil" staged rallies yesterday as more than 100,000 Germans opposed to racism staged rival demonstrations on the anniversary of both the Nazi Kristallnacht pogrom against the Jews and the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Demonstrations in support of foreign immigrants who have been subjected to hundreds of assaults this year were held in Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich and dozens of other cities. Meanwhile, fringe neo-Nazi parties threatened disturbances reminiscent of the Nov. 9-10, 1938, Kristallnacht (Night of the Shattering Glass) pogrom, which presaged the Holocaust. (BG)
MOSCOW, Nov. 10 — Thousands of Muslim nationalists took to the streets yesterday in a breakaway territory in southern Russia to protest the imposition of martial law by Boris Yeltsin, the Russian president.
Russian radio said the situation in Chechen-Ingush was "extremely tense and explosive," but there were no immediate reports of violence yesterday. (BG)
THE HAGUE, Nov. 10 — The United States yesterday joined the European economic sanctions against Yugoslavia and will cosponsor a UN resolution that could lead to an oil embargo, President Bush said. But he expressed skepticism that the measures would bring an end to the ethnic bloodshed there. (BG)
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Nov. 11 (AP) — A delegation from Western Hemisphere nations pressing for Jean-Bertrand Aristides’s reinstatement as president landed yesterday to angry shouts and chants from opponents of the ousted leader.
The demonstration was broadcast live by the government television station, which had urged people to join in the protest against outside pressures to return Haiti’s first freely elected president. In the city’s slums, meanwhile, police chased pro-Aristide protesters down narrow, garbage-strewn streets. (BG)
NEW YORK, Nov. 13 — More than 300 senior doctors began walking picket lines at the Woodhull hospital in Brooklyn yesterday morning in what doctors and administrators say is the first strike by staff doctors anywhere in the country.
At the heart of the walkout at the Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center, the second-busiest hospital in Brooklyn, are two issues that are at the center of health-care debates throughout the country: money and quality of care. (NYT)
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