ZANU-PF drops Marxism
Zimbabwe's ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) has formally dropped allegiance to Marxism-Leninism from its constitution, the party's newspaper announced on October 26. Party spokesperson Eddison Zvogbo said the politburo decided the words "guided by Marxist-Leninist principles" no longer reflected "practical and realistic aspirations given the country's economic structural adjustment program and liberalisation of the economy." The government has been at loggerheads with the country's trade union movement over deteriorating wages and conditions for most of the year. In reaction, the ZANU-PF recently engineered a pro-government split in the movement, with the Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions breaking away from the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. The ZFTU is openly affiliated to ZANU-PF and is pledged to working closely with the government.
Plutonium leaking into Bering Sea
Plutonium and other radioactive materials are leaking into the Bering Sea, the result of a major flaw in the design of the largest underground nuclear test in US history, according to a report released on October 30 by Greenpeace. Americium-241, a decay product of plutonium, and plutonium-239/240 were found in plant samples at the site of the 1971 Cannikin test at Amchitka, Alaska. The Atomic Energy Commission claimed at the time of the test that nuclear waste from the detonations would be contained for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Since then, information about leakage at the Cannikin site has been withheld.
Japan begins annual 'scientific whaling'
The Japanese whaling fleet set sail on November 2 for Antarctica's pristine Southern Ocean whale sanctuary. Japan plans to slaughter 440 minke whales for "scientific research". Japan is carrying out this thinly disguised commercial whaling under the pretence of research, a loophole in the International Whaling Commission rules. Since the hunt's inception almost nine years ago, Japan has turned a deaf ear to the many countries which have condemned the annual slaughter. This whale meat collected for "research" brings up to US$100 a pound at the docks in Japan. Much of it ends up ends up on dinner plates at the fanciest restaurants in Tokyo.
Jail for Korean students
South Korean prosecutors are demanding jail sentences of 2½-3 years for 62 students, the first batch of 444 awaiting trial since their arrest more than a month ago for participation in the August 15 independence day rally which was turned into a 12-day stand-off in the Yonsei University against the riot police. The action, which called for reunification of South and North Korea, was ended amidst a great deal of brutality and a record arrest of 5597 students.
Sympathy towards North Korea is a crime under South Korea's repressive national security laws. Sentences for the remaining students are expected in mid-November.
Chinese pro-democracy dissidents
Guo Haifeng, a leader of the 1989 student protests in Tiananmen, has been secretly tried and sentenced to seven years' imprisonment, two years after he completed a five-year jail term for his activities in 1989. Guo was arrested in August for helping dissident Liu Gang to escape to the US, but is now jailed for "hooliganism".
Veteran dissident Wang Xizhe, an author of a famous 1974 Li-I-Zhe political critique of Mao Tsetung, fled to the US last month after new threats of arrests and announced shortly after his arrival his intention to apply for membership of the Kuomintang in Taiwan. Wang was a prominent thinker and organiser of the dissident movement in southern China, especially during the Beijing Spring wave of activities between 1979 and 1981. He spent over 10 years in jail for those activities and has been repeatedly arrested for shorter durations since his release.
Another 1989 activist, Liu Xiaobo, was sentenced last month to three years of "re-education through [hard] labour", a summary proceeding which does not require a trial and is frequently used by Beijing to punish opponents.
Tong Yi, secretary of veteran dissident Wei Jingsheng, described as "very harsh" the terms of 2½ years of "re-education through labour" from which she was released last month.
Meanwhile, the European Parliament announced on October 24 the awarding of the Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought for 1996 to Wei Jingsheng, a veteran dissident who is currently serving a 14-year sentence. Wei was released in 1993 after completing a 15-year jail term for his pro-democracy activities in the late 1970s. He remained active politically after his release.