From: imnet@u.washington.edu (Islamic Movement Network)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.afghanistan
Subject: ISLAMIC WORLD NEWS (19th)
Date: 22 Nov 1992 00:08:55 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu


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I     IN THIS ISSUE:                                                     I
I                   *NEWS UPDATE                                         I
I                   *ISLAM &SCHOOLS OF ECONOMICS                         I
I                   *ANNOUNCEMENTS                                       I
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PAKISTAN
There was trouble in many parts of Pakistan as a result of protest
rallies launched by the opposition parties to bring down the
government headed by prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
Benazir Bhutto, leader of the People's Party, and several other
opposition leaders were detained in Rawalpindi on November 18 and
prevented from leading a march into Islamabad, the country's
capital.
Benazir and her mother Nusrat, were sent to Karachi and placed
under house arrest. On November 19, the provincial government in
North West Frontier Province, placed a ban on Benazir's visit to 
Peshawar to lead a protest march.
According to reports from Pakistan, there were rallies in
Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Lahore.
The government is standing firm against the opposition's demands
for fresh elections which it claims were rigged. Most observers
dismiss the rigging charges as unfounded.
The two-year-old Sharif government is facing its most serious
challenge but observers believe that it will be able to
weather this latest storm. It has a comfortable majority in
parliament.

IRAQ
Turkish government sources announced on November 19 that they had
reached agreement with the Iraqi Kurds for joint security in
northern Iraq.
Last month Turkey launched a massive operation against guerrillas
belonging to the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), a marxist group,
battling the Turkish government.
In the operation, at least 1400 Kurds were killed and several
thousand driven from their sanctuaries. The Kurds in Iraq who
depend for their food supplies through Turkey, have
agreed to Turkish demands to prevent the PKK guerrillas from
using their territory.
Northern Iraq is now virtually a Kurdish State.
Over the weekend of November 14-15, foreign ministers of Iran,
Turkey and Syria met in Ankara to review the situation created
as a result of the Kurds establishing their own western-backed
autonomous region in northern Iraq.
All three countries are concerned that the division of Iraq would
destabilize the entire region.

BOSNIA-HERCEGOVINA
The Bosnian Serbs presented a plan at the Geneva conference on
the Balkans on November 19, proposing to partition Bosnia along
ethnic lines.
The Serbian plan calls for dividing the republic into three
ethnic zones in which each ethnic group, the Serbs, Muslims and
Croats will have their own separate areas.
The Muslims have rejected the partition of their republic along
ethnic lines. The co-sponsors of the Geneva conference, Cyrus Vance
and Lord Owen, also rejected the partition of Bosnia along ethnic
lines.
The Serbs who constitute only 30 percent of the population in
Bosnia have occupied 70 percent of its territory. They now want
to formalize their occupation through the Geneva conference.

ANGOLA
Jonas Savimbi, the UNITA rebel leader, in a letter to the UN, said
on November 19 that he now accepts the election results of September
29 in which he lost to the MPLA candidate, president Eduardo dos
Santos.
The ruling MPLA had won about 57 percent of the vote in the Angolan
assembly but in the presidential race, the result was a lot closer.
In his letter to the UN, however, Savimbi alleged that the elections
had been rigged, a charge the UN observers have rejected.
Foreign observers have maintained that the elections were fair and
free from major irregularities.
Within days of the elections and the announcement of the results,
fighting broke out in Luanda, the Angolan capital, leaving several
hundred, perhaps a thousand, people dead. Savimbi moved out of the
capital to start his guerrilla war again.
The US and South Africa, his main backers, however, appear to have
prevailed and told him to accept the results. With the end of
the cold war, Savimbi has lost much of his appeal and usefulness.

ALGERIA
The military  regime has  removed the Justice minister, Mahi
Bahi, from  office. The  Junta's decision  could be related to
Bahi's  efforts   to  investigate    those  involved  in  the
assassination of  the former  president   Boudiaf.  There  was
more indications  that the  leadership of  the military junta
was directly  involved in this murder.   Meanwhile, the regime
has reduced  its number of diplomats in  Tehran and requested
that the  Islamic Republic do the same.   The Algerian foreign
ministery accused  Iran of  using its ambassy as a `house of
espionage.'   Iran was  the only  country  that condemned the
grab of  power by  the military  and the  cancellation of the
electoral processes  last Junuary  after  the  victory of the
Islamic   Front    for   Salvation.    Since    then,    the
Iranian/Algerian relations have deteriorated.
In similar event, The Egyptian government is blaming its incopetance
on foreign nations.  In a statment released Nov 17, the regime has
accused Sudan, Afghanistan and Iran of campaigning to `hurt' the
Egyptian economy by supporting the fundamentalists who are in full
war with the regime since the beginning of the so-called peace talk
in Madrid.
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              @ ISLAM & SCHOOLS OF ECONOMICS @
              @ By M. Baqir al-Sadr          @
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PART VI

               HOW TO SOLVE SOCIAL PROBLEMS


      Now we know the problem and the basic question with
which humanity has been confronted since the beginning of
social life, let us see whether the present conditions are
favorable to find a right answer to it.

     In other words let us see how the modern man can find
out which system is the best for example, Democratic,
Capitalistic, Proletarian Dictatorship or any other else.
Suppose we pick up one of them, as the best one. Still we
have to see whether it is applicable to all the levels of
human life, as in many cases applicability depends on
factors which are not constant in all human societies.
Further, the comprehension of all the relevant points
depends on a certain view one holds regarding the nature of
the universe and owing to variations in this view the mental
attitude of various people differ for the solution of that
problem.


                   Marxian Solution

    According to the Marxian point of view man changes
intellectually and spiritually with the changes in the
implements of production, for he cannot think in isolation
from them, nor can he secure a social system higher than
that which is determined by the prevalent conditions.
According to Marxism, human thinking is an exact reflection
of the development of Production Implements. In the days of
windmill, Feudalism was considered to be the best system.
When the steam mill replaced the windmill, Feudalism
became obsolete and Capitalism came to be recognized as the
best social system. In the end with the development of
electric and atomic energy human thinking again changed and
Socialism was accepted as the highest social system.

    Hence man's capability to recognize the best system is
equivalent to his capability of recognizing the social
reaction of the productive forces. Ideas are only a
reflection of the Implements of Production.

    According to Marxism, the propriety of a system and the
human recognition of it as the best system are matters
dependent upon the march of history. From the Marxian
point of view history continuously marches forward, covering
new stages of development. Therefore the latest social
system is always the best and the old traditional system is
to be regarded as absolute. On this basis the Russians
system which portrays the modern social concepts and is the
reflection of the latest stage of history, must be the most
sound system.

    Undoubtedly some latest social concepts Seem to be
modern, but that is not a universal truth. Take the case of
Nazism, which appeared in the first half of the twentieth
century. At that time it was believed that this school was
the product of the historical progress but before long it
was found that the Nazi views were not a new discovery but
actually speaking had been in existence since long.

    Marxism stresses that as long as history continues its
evolutionary march, the modernity of the social concepts is
a sufficient proof of their propriety.

    At the same time according to Marxism it is not enough
rationale for the enforcement of a system that has been
recognized to be the best. A class war should precede the
implementation of a new idea. For example, the discovery of
the socialist theory is not enough justification for its
enforcement. There should first be a struggle between the
workers and the employers. Such a struggle is a part of
understanding the system. The higher the understanding the
more intense the class struggle. The Marxists have based
their theory on historical Materialism, the details of which
we have given in our book `iqtisaduna'. At present it is
sufficient to point out that history proves that social
concepts are not inspired by the Implements of Production.
Man himself has a creative faculty which has no connection
with these implements. Otherwise how Marxism can explain the
emergence of the theories of Nationalization, Socialism and
State Ownership during periods far apart from each other. If
it is true, as the Soviet leaders assert that the doctrine
of Nationalization is the outcome of the development of
Production Implements, how did this doctrine emerged
previously when the people did not at all possess that
production power which the west enjoys now.

   It is not a fact that Plato believed in communism and
considered this system to be the source of creating a
paradise on the earth?
   Even two thousand years back not only some thinkers
and politicians had socialist views, but they even tried to
enforce them. A famous Chinese warrior Woo dee, who
  belonged to the Han tribe, found through his own
experience that the Socialist System was the best and
prepared and determined himself to enforce it, He handed
over all the natural resources to the people and
nationalized the production of salt, iron and liquor. To
eliminate the retailers he enacted a special law according
to which the transportation of goods was brought under the
control of the government. To control trade and prevent
undue fluctuation of prices the government itself
transported goods to all parts of the country. Surplus goods
were stored in the government godowns and when the prices
went exorbitantly higher these goods were sold. If the
prices went down a reasonable limit, the government made
purchases. He set up big factories to provide employment to
those who were unable to get jobs in small factories.

   Similarly Wang Mang who came to power in the beginning
of the Christian era took a bold action and abolished
Slavery. Like the Europeans, in the early stages of
Capitalism who rooted out the Feudal System, Wang Mang was
successful in setting the slaves free, in withdrawing the
land from the feudal lords and distributing it equally among
all members of society. In addition to that he banned the
sale and purchase of land and eventually nationalized all
mineral resources and some big industrial units.

   It is possible to imagine that the social and political
reforms of the Woo Dee and Wang Mang were inspired by
steam, electric or atomic energy which is considered by the
Marxists to be the basis of their scientific views?

This shows that the recognition of a system as the best at
any time is not related to the Implements of Production.

    Similarly constant evolutionary search of history, which
according to the Marxists is a proof of the soundness of the
latest views, is a baseless theory, for there are too many
instances of the retrogressive march of history and
disappearance of cultures.


                          NON-MARXIST SOLUTION
                               (NEXT)


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