- EDITORIAL

The Conference on Security and Co-
operation in Europe in 1975 produced for the
world the Helsinki Accords on Human Rights.
Since its birth the accords have been used for
“institutionalized Western scrutiny of the
Soviet human rights performance,” according
to a Nov. 14 Globe and Mail editorial.

Given this almost universally held interpre-
tation in the West, the Soviets announced at the
fourth round of the Conference on Security
now meeting in Vienna that it would be taking
the “offensive” on human rights issues.

Moscow’s view is the accords should be bind-
ing on all its signatories; these include the 33
European member-states plus the U.S. and
Canada. As to its own track record, it feels it
measures up just fine.

As surprising as it may seem to Canadians,
the Soviets hold a much broader view of human
rights than is ever discussed here, all of it
entrenched in their constituion. To them the
right to a job, to adequate low-cost housing, to
free education and health care, to equality
regardless of sex, race, nationality or religion
are the cornerstones of fundamental freedoms.

When assessing the level of development ina
country (i.e. its humaneness) — unemploy-
ment, literacy, infant mortality rates and aver-
age standard of living are the common
yardsticks used. But for some reason these
‘criteria don’t .nnlv when the Soviet Union is
- the object of scrutiny.

Could it be that capitalism realizes that in
such a toe-to-toe confrontation with socialism
‘it would most definitely lose?

There is another human rights category
_ where it is becoming internationally recognized

that the Soviet Union excels. The USSR was
born out of a desire for peace. The struggle for

this goal remains the first item in their constitu-

tion, binding on all its institutions and citizens.

Peace: the human right

This, the most fundamental of all human
rights, the Soviet Union has championed in
every international forum since its inception 69
years ago.

This is no easy task. It is the human right to
peace that capitalism most strenuously chal-
lenges. The short weeks following the Reyk-
javik summit are loaded with examples.

The current session of the United Nations
just passed a resolution in support of a treaty
banning all nuclear tests. The U.S. not only
voted against the motion, it responded with a

‘new nuclear explosion in Nevada, the 23rd

since the declaration of the unilateral Soviet
moratorium.

The UN members also called for an imme-
diate conference to draft a treaty forbidding the
development, production and stockpiling of
any type of chemical weapons and demanding
the destruction of existing stocks.

President Reagan ordered the U.S. delega-
tion to vote against the proposal, while he
signed a bill to establish a Pentagon program to
develop a new generation of binary weapons.

The UN General Assembly’s request that the
USSR and U.S. show an example in curbing the
arms race was answered with a cable from
Wyoming announcing that the first four (out of
a planned 50) MX intercontinental missiles
have gone into operational duty there.

Of the 28 resolutions aimed at curbing the
arms race approved by the Genral Assembly
during this session, the U.S. has abstained four
times and voted “no” on 21 others, most often
on its own, but frequently accompanied by its
NATO allies, including Canada.

We wish the Soviets luck in their latest offen-
sive for human rights. Our very survival
depends on its success.

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—]}

=. road to peace is never easy. But
hard work does pay off, and we're
pleased to report such was the case in the
city of New Westminster recently.

page that the members of the New West-
minster Peace Council were hindered in

People and Issues =: didagamanse i ae

We reported some weeks ago on this EE

elected with an overwhelming majority:
Ken Collins, supported by the local labor

within 28 votes of election. Next year,
we're told, the labor council will be look-
ing to run a full slate of candidates for the

their efforts to see their municipality be
declared a nuclear-weapons free zone
because of the reluctance — and the out-
right opposition — of some city council
members. Among those who balked was
mayor Tom Baker, who said he needed
more input from the public before consid-
ering the question again on Nov. 10.
Peace Council president Dian Dougan
reports that Baker was taken at his word.
The group wrote letters to the local paper
and contacted other organizations to write
| council stating their support for the decla-
ration and their request to appear before
council. By the time the date rolled
around, Dougan relates, 18 delegations
packed the chambers to call for the
nuclear-weapons free declaration for New
Westminster.

And those delegations by their diverse
nature were a convincing argument that
the community indeed supported the zone
declaration. They included the New
Westminster and District Labor Council,
the Car; enters Union, the Telecommunica-
tion Workers Union, the United Fishermen
and Allied Workers Union, End the Arms
Race, the Douglas College faculty and stu-

~ dent associations and the Canadian Asso-
ciation of Industrial, Mechanical and Allied

Workers. Additionally, there were indi-
viduals such as a man who brought his
children and spoke on behalf of his house-
hold.

The result was a unanimous vote from
council to declare New Westminster
nuclear-weapons free.

With full support of aldermen Betty
Toporowski and Ray Mercer (who did not
run in the Nov. 15 elections) even council
right-wingers — who had, prior to the
vote, argued that the issue was not approp-
riate for council to discuss — voted in
favor, a testimony to the value of
community-level organizing.

Dian reminds us that the declaration,
while a clear victory, does not mean the
job is done. The peace council will be
monitoring council to see that it puts the
declaration into action, including pressing
the senior levels of government to make
the same declaration, provincially and
nationally.

* * *

e’re philosophical over the electoral
setback of the Committee of Pro-
gressive Electors and the Unity candidates
in Vancouver on Nov. 15. We know that
the fight on the civic level for jobs, housing

and fair taxes — anda host of other gains _ available seats.

that must be made for working people and
small business — goes on, and _ that
defeats at the hands of a well-monied,
well-organized big business machine are
going to happen.

Still, it’s a pleasure to report good news,
on the civic front, and some late returns
we’ve received from other B.C. municipal-
ities are heartening.

We were pleased to find, for instance,
that in Prince Rupert, the two candidates
supported by the local labor council were
elected handily to school trustee seats. A
hand, please, for re-elected trustee Fred
Bell and newly-elected rural trustee, Larry
McKay, who captured the seat on his
second try.

Over on Vancouver Island, there’s
more good news, with the election of
Wayne White and Elizabeth Shannon —
both parent activists backed by outgoing
progressive trustees Wayne Bradley and
Clayton Bagwell — to the Comox-Court-
enay school district. They’re joined by
another successful reform candidate,
Danny White, which means a school board
with a majority of pro-education trustees.

And on the Sunshine Coast, regional
district director Brett McGillivray was re-

* * *

xtended-hour shopping — including
Sunday shoppping — are a reality
many B.C. municipalities these days. And,
with the election of a Non-Partisan ASSO”
ciation majority in Vancouver, We ca
expect much less in the way of regulated
shopping in B.C.’s largest city.
In the pro versus con argument over
extended shopping — which frequently
centres on the liveability of neighborhoot
— one factor is often overlooked. W°
like to acknowledge the recent comment
of a B.C. Supreme Court judge which pu
the matter on the public record.
In awarding nine months of back wages
to a former North Vancouver Sears § ee
employee she found was wrongfully 4 2
missed for refusing to work Sundays: ae
tice Mary Southin had this to say: the
e “.. It is only in recent years ¢ at ad .
public (and, we at the Tribune might?”
the corporations which push the concer is
has decided it is right to exploit pers fl A
in. ..especially low-paying, non-esser ite
occupations, by having them work * ke |
the more affluent members of society aR"

their ease.” — E

4 PACIFIC TRIBUNE, NOVEMBER 26, 1986