(The following interview is reprinted from the May 10 issue of La Brèche, French-language fortnightly newspaper of the Socialist Workers Party (PSO), Swiss section of the Fourth International. The translation is by Intercontinental Press.]
Sunday, April 13, at Romont, about 150 people, a majority of them farmers from the region, took part in an evening meeting with Chantal Bianchi, the companion of Maurice Demierre, the Swiss cooperative worker murdered in Nicaragua by the contras.!
Swiss farmers in solidarity with Nicaragua! The fact may seem surprising, but when they speak about their solidarity, it expresses profound truths, about the injustice of the war waged by Reagan as well as their struggle here for the right to separate recognition as producers who are indispensable to the daily life of our society.
La Brèche met with two of them, Charles and Martin, members of the Union of Swiss Producers (UPS).2
2. The UPS is an independent organization of working farmers, in contrast to the Swiss Union of Farmers (USP), an official and paragovernmental body. 404
Question. How have Swiss farmers come to feel solidarity with Nicaragua?
Charles. The initial mover here was Maurice Demierre. I knew him for a long time. He learned to work the land among us. We were very friendly. He had taken part in the UPS and he had been a conscientious objector. We knew his integrity and that he was not afraid.
When Maurice was in Nicaragua, he wrote to us, explaining what he was experiencing. We knew that he spoke the truth. He told us that the best way of being in solidarity was to continue the struggle at home.
Martin. In the Christian circles there is a lot of discussion about the problems of the Third World. We knew that Nicaragua was an oppressed country where the people could not say and do what they wanted. I was in Colombia and I saw the land owned by the big landlords.
Everywhere, not being able to work the land is the biggest tragedy: industrialization eliminates the farmer. And over there, the peasants cannot even have the land. They are exterminated; they are made to die of hunger.
Maurice was very well known in the region. He worked on different farms. The people know of his honesty, and what he said made it possible to understand things here.
Maurice was the best example of concrete aid that respects people, that begins from their experiences. Too often people have wanted to impose our European methods, and this deand the peasants find themselves unemployed. Even in the United States today, the small farmers are driven to the wall, and some commit suicide.
Charles. I came to understand that Maurice was involved in a revolution. But most of the people have never understood it. They see very well, however, the injustice that goes so far as to kill peasants.
Martin. You have to put yourself in the position of thinking like the farmer. It is very contradictory. The farmers are scorned, like the other workers, for the profit of the banks, the intellectuals. They can see that things are going badly, but they think that their neighbor is the one who will be eliminated, not them. Their consciousness must be awakened, because they do not know how long it will take for this to happen to them too.
O. In the final analysis, in your view solidarity also means making the small farmer conscious of his situation and is not simply an act of charity.
Charles. It's anything but an act of solidarity-charity. Our struggle here is the same as over there: to defend our well-being, our land, without always being pulled around by someone, a bank to which you have to pay interest.
Martin. To be recognized for the function we farmers have in society, it is necessary to try to defend the whole collectivity instead of each one trying to always produce more. Because how long does that work? To produce more, you must invest, then buy new land and pay interest to the bank. The cost of farming rises endlessly, while the small farmer is closer to the land, easier to maintain and to defend.
Solidarity creates links among the peoples. What is important is to get away from the official lines, the big aid organizations. To create a direct solidarity with grass-roots groups, saying the hell with governments whether they be left or right. Establishing sister cities, like they did at Delémont with Trinidad in Nicaragua, is excellent.
Q. You took part in the action of selling bananas from Nicaragua. Did this action give you the chance to explain what is happening in Nicaragua?
Martin. The village here has 200 inhabitants. We took four cartons. The milkman agreed to sell them in his store. They are all gone already. The women wanted to have them for the Lent soup, to replace the apple that they ordinarily use. But there were not enough of them. We explained the action in terms of sympathy for Maurice and in terms of solidarity with Nicaragua. There were not big discussions, but happily things changed.
Some feel Reagan wants to destroy Nicaragua. Others do not want to accept that, in fact, through fear for their situation. They say to themselves: if it is true, we are going to have to turn our backs on America, and they don't want to turn their backs on it. It is a way of ridding themselves of the problem. But these people are not candid.
Furthermore, this concerns Reagan, not the whole American people. I know that many Americans are in solidarity with Nicaragua. I have always been revolted by injustice, starting back in school when the principal wrongly punished us. In Nicaragua, the freedom of people is in danger.
Q. Thank you for having agreed to speak to us about your involvement in the solidarity work.
independence rises up to mock the present trend to follow Thatcherite London and Reaganite Washington."
Carroll refuted allegations that the Catholic church was being prosecuted in Nicaragua:
"Oscar Romero was not murdered in Nicaragua nor was Jean Donovan. But innocent men, women, and children are being killed every day in Nicaragua by the contras with the support of the United States."
Standing ovation
Miguel D'Escoto was welcomed to the podium with a standing ovation from the crowd. He said that he has always wanted to visit Ireland:
"I know about the solidarity in Ireland for our struggle. I know about your history, and I know that your history makes you, more than any of our friends in Europe, able to understand what it is that Nicaragua is going through and what it is that motivates our struggle."
Notes
1. Maurice Demierre. a volunteer from Brothers Without Borders, was killed by Nicaraguan counterrevolutionaries on February 17 in an attack in which five Nicaraguan peasants were also murdered. His death provoked widespread outrage in Switzerland, with pickets and silent marches in many towns. - IP