The Guardian of Liberty - Nemzetőr, 1989 (12. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)

1989-07-01 / 4. szám

12 Youth Festival Delegates Assaulted F oreign delegates to the recent 13th World Festival of Youth and Students were systematically harassed if they tried to demonstrate in support of any cause of which the North Korean authorities disapproved. Some delegates were assaulted. For example, thugs, apparently acting under police supervision, attacked four Scandinavians when they began unfurling a banner which merely said "Amnesty International." In another of several similar incidents, a Dane was forcibly prevented from displaying a notice saying "Human rights for North Koreans too." Censorship was fight throughout the Festival. However, in a live broadcast of the opening ceremony the North Korean State televeislon service showed three Scandinavians carrying banners declaring "Solidarity with the Chinese students,” "Where is Amnesty?" and "Let Amnesty in." On the following day almost the whole of the long ceremony was re-televised with the pictures of these demonstrators cut out. The Festival was held in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, from July 1 to 8. It was the only big event attended by foreign visitors that had ever been held in North Korea since President Kim ll-sung became its Communist ruler more than 40 years ago. Although the North Korean authorities claimed that about 20,000 foreigners took part, Western observers estimate that not more than 15,000 did so. According to North Korea's Strictly controlled media, the 150,000 seats of Pyongyang’s May Day Stadium were occupied during the closing ceremony by "delegates of 180 countries, delegations and delegates of some 60 international and regional organisations, guests of honour, and youth, students and working people in the capital." Like all the previous World Youth Festivals, the 13th was an expensive extravaganza dominated by speeches promoting so-called "antiimperialist” themes chosen beforehand. The carefully stagemanaged event was a slavish copy of its 12 predecessors, different only in that its main speaker was North Korea’s 77-yearold Stalinist ruler, President Kim. Hungary's official news agency, MTI, commented in an English-language report on July 9 that "highly extremist views" had been expressed at the Festival, where there had also been complaints of "a lack of opportunity for constructive debate." In Press articles several non-Communist delegates have said that the North Korean authorities forbad them to listen to Western broadcasts even in the privacy of their own bedrooms, or to accept invitations from Pyongyang residents to visit their homes However, the authorities themselves arranged a few closely-supervised home visits. For example, one group of foreign delegates was taken to meet a champion sportsman and his family. Outside an apartment block the visitors were greeted by a regimented crowd. All these well-rehearsed "welcomers" were smiling broadly. Some were clapping and others were waving artificial flowers. "Wave back," the guide ordered. Inside the sportsman’s apartment the foreigners were televised and the sound of martial music was coming in through a window. "Ask questions/’ the guide urged, but, embarrassed by all that was happening, everybody was struck dumb. "Do you like sport?" the sportsman asked in an attempt to break the silence. ’No, I hate It," somebody was unwise enough to reply. Leaving the apartment block, the visitors were given another dose of obviously false "international fraternity.” With music blaring from a loudspeaker, the welcomers grabbed several of their "guests", and, holding them firmly, forced them to dance in a concrete courtyard. A young West German woman, known in her homeland as an advocate of feminist causes, was appalled by being compelled by a muscular Korean to take part in this mockery of friendship. The 13th World Youth Festival and the 12 others in the series, held between 1947 and 1985, were organised by two Soviet-controlled bodies which claim to be ’independent" - the World Federation of Democratic Youth and the Internationa! Union of Students, based respectively in Budapest and Prague. The first six and the ninth, tenth and 12th Festivals were held in European Communist capitals. The 11th (1978) was in Havana. The only ones in non-Communist capitals were the seventh in Vienna in 1959 and the eighth in Helsinki in 1962. Much of the vast cost of Staging the 13th Festival, the only one in Asia, was borne by the USSR and other Communist countries. However, North Korea's contribution to the bill is estimated to have run into the equivalent of at least 3,000 million dollars, causing a massive strain on the country's under-developed and debt-burdened economy. Most of this money was spent on building a "Festival Village" with 20,000 apartments for delegates, a big sports centre, hotels, a tenlane highway, theatres, a cinema and a circus. The construction of these and related projects was done mainly by vast gangs of "volunteers” supervised by Kim Chong-il, President Kim’s son and heir-apparent. AN OPPORTUNITY FOR YOUR RBENDft IF YOU HAVE friend« who you think wowld be interesed in THE GUARDIAN OF LIBERTY (NenaetOr) we will gladly eend ychww» copine free of charge. Ail you need do ie to fill in nonwe oddrene. below ond send (hem to us. We do Ike reel. Flea»« eend specimen copies of THE GUARDIAN OF LIBERTY (Ns—etftr) to the following: K. ... L 4. / ■^YGrű^^N KTÍEÍOTOÁZA JdNTvrÍA THE GUARDIAN OF LIBERTY (NEMZETŐR) Cvsrj »sshmfn ^k»lsijse<<ÍBRh«WÉWMIÉÍ|^l ivHMiTnl i " Erscheint 2monatlich. 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W. 10. U. S. A. Mrs. Helen Szablya, 4416.-134th PI. S. E. Bellewue, WA. 98006. Tel.: (206) 643 1023. AUSTRALIA Mr. Jenő Beák, 3/50 Warrandyte Rd., RINGWOOD 3/34 Victoria, Australia. PRICES: Surface mail: 1 copy AFRICA 1.80 Sh (100 CFA); GREAT BRITAIN 60 P.; AUSTRALIA, USA, CANADA $ 2.—; GERMANY DM 4.—. ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION: AFRICA Sh 10 (500 CFA); Britain 3.— £; Germany / Europe: DM 20.— (or equivalent; Australia, USA, Canada: $ 10.— For air mail add 25 %>. For students 50% discount. Our BANK ACCOUNT: No. 2605756, COMMERZBANK AG., Munich, Federal Republic of Germany. JULY-AUGUST, 1989 EASTERN EUROPE 40 YEARS AGO (Continued from page 11) (August, 1947) of the last indendent opposition leader, Nikola Petkov, who was executed the following month (XVII). Already, however, in August, 1947, Dimitrov had incurred Stalin’s displeasure by meeting Yugoslavia’s Marshal Tito at Bled and reaching an agreement that envisaged co-operation between their two countries, including a customs union, with a view to gradual progress towards a federation. (XX) Early in 1949 Dimitrov’s health began to fail; in April of that year (XXVII) it was announced that he had gone lo the USSR for treatment. He died there in July, raising the usual question whether his death was natural.