} Since before the opening of the
summit meeting of the
Non-aligned Movement in Hava-
Sept. 2, Canada’s big business
lédia have been doing their best
Conjure up a split over the de-
finition of non-alignment.
| 4 800d deal of light is shed on
Meaning of non-alignment by
| accompanying excerpt from a
speech made in Kingston,
*aMaica-in March of this year.
The Speech (which was followed
Y that of Jamaica’s Prime Minis-
Wichael Manley) was given by
orld Peace Council president,
Omesh Chandra at the WPC’s
ternational Seminar on Non-
+? ent and the Struggle for
7 -*aCe, National Independence
: 4nd Social Progress.
e 3 * * +
ds Why did this Movement come
mo existence? Because, when
i. Won our political indepen-
poe (in India as elsewhere) the
| he forces of imperialism which
: ed the blood from the
les of our children were still
j chi Pe to allow us and our
eS dren to enjoy the fruits of our
h °Wn riches. They had been com-
0 Pelled to yield and say yes to polit-
rp Wal Independence. But they de-
i ated a share in the loot of our
Ches; and the way to do this —
fy re was only one way which
if ey knew — was the way of mili-
Might. And so they exercised
the pressure they could on all

i Mperialist military pacts.
nob Temember the days when the
aff » uted States sent delegation after
“legation. to Jawaharlal Nehru,
1. Prime Minister-of indepen-
f the. India, and asked him to join
¥..¢ USA in a military pact to
g, Protect’. India. But Nehru
al Bey? as did all the founders of
4+. sOn-aligned Movement, that
Minn valism was not asking us to
Le A military pact for our “‘pro-
lon’, but in order to enable
: IMperialists to continue the
Mination of our countries and
Rat Cularly to rob us of our
erihy resources.
uments of Neo-colonialism
Nehny or alignment meant, and
Bact Said this a hundred times,
4,;. 20d foremost our refusal to
cane rtialist military pacts.
Use imperialist military pacts
© continuation of our op-
n, the continuation of
: pelle in new forms, non-
i was a refusal to join
f ane who had ruled us for so long
# thro ished to continue to rule us
p and Ugh new forms of colonialism
| Mili Ne€o-colonialism. Imperialist
: Mena Pacts were the instru-
e Of neo-colonialism . . .
foun ted ‘the privilege of those
With ng days of meeting . . . also
li founders of the Non-
Abdel Movement ... Gamal
| Who er of Egypt, a man
impen; Sod not for surrender to
fiche tism, but who stood for
its haa imperialism in all

} Pressio

, — did any of them say: we
that ie ‘ot with imperialism,
: atime We shall not align with

“eng either! They
taken : Ools, they were not
direct IN by the lies of the media

ation” by imperialism and re-

€ countries to join their.

lhi. This was indeed the founda-
tion, the starting point of the great
Non-aligned Movement of later
years. That was in 1947...

Distortion of Non-alignment

On what basis did the Move-
ment grow? Did it grow by being
neutral between war and peace —
being neutral between the libera-
tion movements in southern Af-
rica and the racist regimes?”

Some would like us to say that
we are ‘‘non-aligned’’ between
the African National Congress of
South Africa and the South Afri-
can racist regime. Today some
people would want us to be non-

aligned with regard to the

Pinochet regime and those who
are fighting against the fascist re-
gime in Chile. What a distortion of
the whole concept of non-align-

ment! These lies are being spread —

to make out that non-alignment
means neutrality between good
and evil.

The Non-aligned Movement is
a movement for the economic in-
dependence of our countries.

The Non-aligned Movement
supports the liberation struggles
of every people unconditionally,
everywhere, for there are still
countries in the world where the
people have to fight for their in-
dependence. That is why in the
first place the Non-aligned
Movement throws its entire
weight behind the liberation
movements in South Africa,
Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Pales-
tine and all other liberation

. movements which are fighting for

their people’s right to live — such
as the liberation movement of
Puerto Rico, a country which is
still under the colonial bondage of
the United States. The Non-
aligned Movement supports all
who fight against neo-colonialism
all who fight for the New Inter-
national Economic Order.

Divide and Rule Policy

Imperialism seeks to weaken
our forces. ...

First of all ... there is the
imperialist policy of de-
stabilization, using the most re-
actionary forces of a fascist, a
neo-fascist nature. Imperialism
seeks to prevent countries from
moving forward in the difficult
battle to achieve sovereignty over
their own natural resources.

Imperialism’s second way of
weakening the Non-aligned
Movement is to divide it, to put
one non-aligned country against
another — the old ‘“‘divide and
tule’ policy.

The third way ... is to try and
separate the Non-aligned Move-
ment from those who support it,
those who fight together with it.
Throughout the history of the
Non-aligned. Movement, the
Soviet Union and the socialist
countries have supported the
Non-aligned Movement, and be-
cause they support us, it is only
natural that we support them.

What can we do, if the Soviet

Union has no. transnational cor-
porations? The imperialists, who
want us to be ‘‘neutral’’, would
like to create imaginary trans-
national corporations’ in the
Soviet Union, so that we, in our

There are those who declare
glibly that because the Non-
aligned Movement is against all
military pacts, the non-aligned
countries should not join military
pacts of the United States, nor
military pacts of the Soviet Un-
ion. But did the Soviet Union or
any socialist country ever ask any
non-aligned country to join a
military pact? Did they ask them
to join the Warsaw Pact? Did they
set up new pacts in Asia like
SEATO or CENTO or ANZUS?

The non-aligned countries have
refused to align with the military
pacts of those who want to draw
us into their military plans — that
is the imperialist powers, and no-
body else but the imperialist
powers.

That is why the Non-aligned

a '

Romesh Chandra presents Jamaican president Michael Manley with

the World’s Peace Council's highest award at non-aligned seminar.

Movement must be described as
being non-aligned with imperial-
ism. The target set by the Non-
aligned Movement from its
foundation is the struggle against

imperialism, colonialism and
neo-colonialism. Imperialism
seeks to divert us into a hundred
different directions, and we re-
fuse to be diverted.

GDR APPRENTICES

When school’s over —a job

By JIM TESTER

This is the time of year when
our high school graduates spend a
large part of their vacation time
worrying about the future. They
speculate about their chances in
the world-of-work, wondering
and hoping for a meaningful and
rewarding career. If they can af-
ford it, they postpone leaving the
shelter of school by going to col-
lege or university. There, they
hope to increase their quali-
fications for the contest in the job
market. It’s a future that is
clouded with doubting and
uncertainty. :

Six time zones to the east of
Ontario, the 10-year school
graduates in the German Democ-
ratic Republic have worries of a
different sort. Of the nearly
250,000 students who have
successfully completed their
compulsory polytechnical educa-
tion, only about 10% of them will
continue through to Grade 12 and
matriculation. These will usually
be top students who .are in-
terested in the various profes-
sions outside engineering.
Another 5% of the top students,
whose interests lie in the en-
gineering professions, will take a
three-year apprenticeship in a
trade related to their professional
aspirations. It will also give them
the same university or college en-
trance qualifications as the Grade
12 grads. |

Another 5% of the GDR 10-
year school graduates will have
applied and been accepted for
3-year college courses to become
nurses, teachers and artists of var-
ious kinds.

That leaves about 80% or about
225,000 graduates. What happens

Fifth in a Series

to them? Less than one percent
will decide to get out of the educa-
tional system and go to work as an
unskilled worker. All the others
will take a two-year apprentice-
ship in oné of the 225 skilled
trades available to them.

In two years, usually at the age
of 18, the successful apprentices
will be certified as tradesmen
(women). They will be guaran-
teed jobs at their applicable trades
rates. 92% pass the stiff theoreti-
cal and practical examinatiqns on
the first try. Outstanding appren-
tices can graduate without a final
exam, and up to 4 months earlier
than the normal date.

For those whose ambitions run
higher, no doors are closed to
higher education...To the .con-
trary, further study is en-
couraged. About every fourth
adult in the GDR is studying in a
plant school, in evening. courses
or by correspondence to upgrade
their qualifications. Many are
working toward their master’s
certificate, which is required to be
a supervisor, or to teach appren-
tices. Others are seeking to com-
plete their Grade 10 education,
while others are studying for their
matriculation to gain college or
university entrance. (As skilled
workers, they are given prefer-
ence in the portals of higher learn-
ing! No fees are charged and liv-
ing allowances are provided,
hence the sharp competition!)

The big question is: how are the
225,000 10-year school grads slot-
ted into the 225 apprecentice-
ships? One has visions of com-

puters clicking away, sorting out
aptitudes and physical qualities,
then neatly typing lists based on
national requirements. That may
be the so-called computerized
scientific approach, but it cer-
tainly isn’t the way it is done in the
German Democratic Republic.
Their boasted scientific approach
is just the opposite, and in my
view, far more effective.

At the beginning of the last year
of their 10-year polytechnical.
schooling, usually before October
15, each student makes an appli-
cation for an apprenticeship to the
company which has openings in
the trade for which he (she) wants
to be trained. Selection commit-
tees composed of management,
union and the youth organization
(FDJ) deal with the applications.
Rejected applicants must be. in-
formed within 30 days, so they
may apply elsewhere. Most ap-
prentice contracts are signed by
the students, their parents and the
companies by January 1, six
months before school graduation!

How well does that work? It’s
obvious if a youngstér and his pa-
rents are to make an intelligent
choice, they must bé informed
about all the possible choices.
The key to that is vocational gui-

dance. The fact that 80% of the ~

students’ first choices for a trade
- are met, is an indication as to how
successfully the system func-
tions.

Another important factor is
that the requirements of industry
and agriculture for apprentices
are just about double those avail-
able. This puts the GDR students
in an enviable position as far as
choosing their future careers is
concerned.

desire to guard our “neutrality”, f :
would have to take position ¢

. Nobo,
joi, °OOdY was asking them to

pera): pacts, except the against the transnational corpora- =
e yilists, At that time, just.as tions of the United States, Bri- }
i Penden at to win our inde- tain, France, etc., also 9 :: a5
~lce, Ne i inst the ‘‘transnational corpo- os - = ae :
‘ations Conference in New De- nace of the Soviet Union. These young apprentices are guaranteed a job in their field on completion of their training.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—SEPTEMBER 14, 1979—Page 9