[The following article appeared in the August 19-25 issue of Rouge, the weekly newspaper of the Revolutionary Communist League, French section of the Fourth International. The translation is by Intercontinental Press.]
French imperialism has struck for the second time since May 1981 [when the present government was elected].
The sending of troops to Beirut last summer was wrapped up in humanitarian bombast about protecting the orderly retreat of the Palestinian fighters.
Now the government is sending the French army into action in Chad.
Yesterday's anti-imperialists — Yves Montand, André Glucksmann, Bernard Kouchner,
* — are
Jacques Lebas, and Jean-Paul Escande doing the dirty work by assuring the government of the support of "French public opinion." They egg it on, and even find that it has not gone far enough: "Yesterday, an intervention by the French air force still sufficed to keep Libyan planes out of Chadian airspace.
Nor are they far from anticommunist hysteria: "Behind the Libyan invasion, the Soviet presence is evident. As everyone knows, this has already been seen in Angola, Mozambique, Ethiopia, etc."
They have clearly chosen their camp, that of imperialism. In their statement published in the August 12 issue of Libération, they add their voices to those of the U.S. rulers, who called for French intervention since the region is part of France's "sphere of influence."
[French Defense Minister] Charles Hernu, not satisfied with such propagandists, simply lies: "We are there as instructors, as the trainers of the Chadian army."
Let's be serious: What role do such instructors and trainers have when there are 700 of them — soon to be more, undoubtedly - for an army of several thousand men at most? What does training amount to when fighting is under way? The troops sent to Chad are not only specialists in training but also belong to
*French artists and intellectuals who published a statement in the August 12 issue of the Paris daily Libération supporting the government's intervention Libération supporting the government's intervention in Chad. — IP
elite fighting units.
Setting up the Rapid Action and Assistance Forces (FAR) was one of three priorities set forth in the military planning law adopted in June. The law established French military policy for the next four years. One of three priorities, which means that the French army is to be reorganized with the FAR forces as a central pillar, explicitly designed for action abroad, either in Africa or as part of the forces of NATO.
The FAR come on top of forces already in existence, elite corps like the Sixth Light Armored Division and the Fourth Airborne Division, totalling 47,000 men with tanks and combat helicopters. Just when the FAR is being set up, the government shows by its intervention in Chad what kind of priority it is talking about.
The permanent presence of more than 20,000 troops on African soil and in the socalled overseas territories and departments no longer suffices. The FAR must fill the gap by providing a standing threat against the African peoples and against growing pressure in France.
So a decisive task for the entire workingclass and democratic movement is to respond without delay against the French paratroops in Chad. They are a foretaste of what is in the works regarding reinforcement of France's imperialist presence in Africa.
We are not surprised at this: François Mitterrand was minister of the interior at the beginning of the Algerian War. As for the Com-
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munist Party, it sang the praises of the French Union at the start of the first Indochinese War. They are showing that they live up to their past in an exemplary fashion.
Those who support this policy today, in the name of mythical Soviet meddling through Libya or in the name of solidarity with the government, will find all kinds of reasons to support other such interventions in the future. Perhaps they will soon assert that, after the Malvinas and Central America, the moment is evidently not right for
"North-South dialogue." By announcing the halt in arms sales, however symbolic, to threatened Nicaragua, [French Foreign Minister] Claude Cheysson shows us what camp the government proclaims itself part of when the tensions mount.