ALGERIANS SUPPORT VIETNAMESE (The following editorial, translated from the March 2oth 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). 66 OU 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 chancellories of the countries concerned, particularly the African countries. On Monday, February 8th, “escalation” (in plain words, day after the beginning of the dumping of tons of bombs on the peaceful and defenseless North Viet namese inhabitants), the .press fea tured 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.
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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 im-
perialists 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 bis 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 neighbouring countries, and his repeated aggressions 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. 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 warmongering and criminal policy indefinitely. Here, too, the progressive and peaceminded forces have not yet made imperialism retreat; instead, it seems to be hardening in its aggressiveness. The repetition of the crime does not make it less reprehensible. Resignation must not give the stamp of acceptance to actions that increas-
ingly 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 circum-
stances.
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
manoeuvres 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 Con-
akry, where President Ben Bella
worked to block imperialism, in our
firm attitude with regard to the neo-
colonialist manoeuyres in Palestine,
in our complete support to the
patriots of South Vietnam. — In like
manner, our representafive at the
United Nations tirelessly appeals for
concrete measures against the
colonialism of Salazar and the racism
of Verwoerd.
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 imperial-
ism, the sooner world public opinion,
the power of which needs no under-
lining in the twentieth centry, 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. “escala-
tion” 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.