BACKING DOWN IN FACE OF THE CRIMES OF IMPERIALISM
[The following editorial,. translated from the March 20 issue of the Algiers daily Le Peuple, indicates the attitude of the Ben’ Bella government and the Algerian: people to the American imperialist aggression in Vietnam, The title of the editorial is "Pas de résignation devant les crimes de l'impérialisme."
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"You can get used to anything," a popular saying has it. Are we then going to become accustomed to the crimes of imperialism, to the assassination of Congolese patriots, to the bombing of peaceful villages in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam?
When the armed aggression of the Belgo-American imperialists in the first part of November enabled Tshombe to re-establish his tottering position, there was ‘a general outcry of indignation among the peoples concerned about freedom and peace. Innumerable meetings were held throughout the world, particularly in Algiers, to denounce the foreign intervention and to demand an immediate halt to it. Intense activity stirred the chancelleries of the countries concerned, particularly the African countries.
cect On Monday , February 8, the day after the beginning of the “escalation” (in plain words, the dumping of tons of bombs on the peaceful and defenseless North Vietnamese inhabitants), the press featured the event in "scare" headlines and the number of columns was insufficient for the progressive newspapers to speak out against the criminal aggression of U.S. imperialism.
Today, the news concerning these questions is relegated to page nine, sometimes the space is doled out grudgingly. Perhaps as a result, public opinion has little by little lost interest. The protests have become so rare that one could imagine the problems had been resolved.
Nevertheless nothing has been settled, neither in the Congo _
nor in Vietnam, and not only are the imperialists persisting in their aggression, but they are committing more numerous and more odious crimes. Thus the puppet Tshombe, still supported by the Belgo- Americans, without the aid of whom he would long ago have been liquidated by the Congolese people, continues to utilize foreign mercenaries to suppress them, and is multiplying his assassinations in order to perpetuate the exploitation of his masters, the monopolists of Washington and Brussels, Still worse, believing that he now has the situation "well in hand" in the Congo, and in accordance with the advice of imperialism which wants to sabotage African unity and .to reconquer its lost positions no matter what the price, this puppet is now attacking the neighboring countries, and his repeated aggres-~ sions against Uganda and Congo-Brazzaville betray the real objectives of those who work the strings on which he dangles.
Far from disappearing, the threat in Africa is only growing and becoming more definite -- imperialism is becoming more virulent, encouraged by its first successes, The situation is worse than last November after the fall of Stanleyville. nie
In Vietnam, thirty school children were ‘murdered a few days ago, killed by bombs made in the USA. Regularly, and each time farther to the north, American planes violate the territory of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, bombing this peaceful country.
The ‘Pentagon aggressors even publicly avow their. intention of continuing this warmonger ing and criminal policy indefinitely. Here, too, the progressive and peace=-minded forces have not yet made’ imperialism retreat; instead, it seems to be “hardening in its aggressiveness. a
The repetition of the crime does not make it less reprehen-= sible. Resignation must not give the stamp of acceptance to actions that increasingly threaten to unleash a world catastrophe, Any giving way is a victory of imperialism which counts precisely on the “force of habit" and its ominous effects in such circumstances,
As for Algeria, she never gave up during the eight years of the war for liberation imposed by colonialism. Now free, thanks to the perseverance and the spirit of sacrifice of which the Algerian people gave proof, our country does not intend, for its part, to close its eyes to the maneuvers and aggressions of the imperialists, who in the Congo, in Palestine and in Vietnam place our own freedom in danger, inasmuch as they strike at the freedom of our brothers and seek to sabotage our unity and to provoke a world war.
The consistency of the struggle of our people and our leaders is to be seen in the recent meeting at Conakry, where President Ben Bella worked to block imperialism, in our firm attitude with regard to the neocolonialist maneuvers in Palestine, in our complete support to the patriots of South Vietnam. In like manner, our representative at the United Nations tirelessly appeals for concrete
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measures against the colonialism of Salazar and the racism of Verwoerd, whom some people, consciously or not, too much tend to forget, although both of them continue their foul rule in our continent.
But Algeria's consistent policy, which is likewise followed by other progressive countries, will be crowned with success the sooner all the peoples, all the revolutionary forces, energetically face imperialism, the sooner world public opinion, the power of which needs no underlining in the twentieth century, refuses to give up, to lose interest in the crimes of Tshombe's mercenaries, _ the hangings in Pretoria, the police raids of Salazar, the U.S. "escalation" in Vietnam, the misery of the Palestinian refugees, and in general all the crimes of an imperialism whose virulence increases the nearer it approaches its end,
No, we must not become “habituated.” On the contrary, we must reinforce our struggle! Our final victory depends on this.