‘Where the youth expressed re-

petal EO an a a es iO tN Nin oe

Czechoslovakians protest
Charter 77 slur.campaign

PRAGUE — The reply of the
Czechoslovak people to the “‘re-
cent appearance of a bankrupt
stoup of  counter-revolu-
tionaries’’ is an intensified effort
to implement the policies of the
Communist Party of Czecho-
slovakia.

In a wave of indignation at the
Charter 77 gang’s effort to denig- :
rate socialist life, working people

' of several Prague districts asked

for a meeting with foreign
journalists.

Protests over the gang’s ac-
tivities and the eager ‘spreading
(of) untruth and fabrications” by
the western information media,
had come from factories, agri-

Culture cooperatives, scientific

institutions, from people on the
cultural front, and in schools,

sentment. :
Through the intermediary of

‘the Czechoslovak Ministry of

Foreign Affairs, representatives
of various walks of life met re-
cently in Prague’s Inter-
continental Hotel with journalists
from 30.countries.

While giving great attention to
human.rights in Czechoslovakia,
people here point out, the West-
em mediaseemed ‘“‘not concerned
about the millions of unemployed
in their countries who have not
even the right to work, about per-
secution and arrests of those who
are demanding the fundamental
human rights.

Among those at the resulting
press conference were repre-
sentatives from various Prague
enterprises: Aritma Vokovice,
Laboratorni pristroje (Laborat-
ory Instruments), Tesla radio-
spoj, Czechoslovak Airlines, ar-
tists of the National Theatre, rep-
resentatives of scientific institu-
tions of the Czechoslovak
Academy of Science, from the
Philosophical Faculty and Law
Faculty of Charles University,
the college of agriculture and the
chemical-technological college.

Vladimir Hynek, chairman of
the Prague Trade Union Council,
spoke of the campaining of certain
Western mass media around the
so-called Charter 77, and its effort
to slander the. Czechoslovak
Socialist Republic. (About 96% of
Czechoslovak workers are in
trade unions.)

- Denouncing such efforts, he
pointed to the unequivocal oppos-
tiion of the Czechoslovak work-

ing people to the disruptive policy

of ‘‘a group of enemies of our sys-"
tem.’ He asked foreign journa-
lists to inform the*world public
truthfully about life in Czecho-

Slovakia.

““We are giving full support to
the policy of the Communist
Party of Czechoslovakia and we

The capitalist press in Canada

has generously given space in aidof |

a group of counter-revolutionaries
in Czechoslovakia as a means of
attacking socialism, attacking’ the
idea of détente, tearing down the
positive qorth of the Helsinki Con-

‘ference of 1975, and without doubt

of the people of Czechoslovakia
who do not draw their sustenance
from foreign reactionaries and

agree with it,’ Hynedk said. *“We
shall never allow anyone to raise
his hand against our socialist
achievements, our friendship

with the Soviet Union and the~

“fraternal: socialist countries. We

shall not allow our socialist repub-

lic to be subverted and disrupted. .

No one in our country has such
rights and no one is going to have
them!’’ he said. os
The nearly 60 newsmen from
abroad were then invited by Mi-
lan Kadnar, head of the press de-
partment of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, to ask questions.
' Replying to a question from
Neues Deutschland (GDR), chief
of the drama company of the
Prague National Theatre, Vaclav
Svorc, stressed that *‘all members
of the large collective of the
theatre, even those who in the
crisis years were unable to find

their bearings, regard the latest -

attempt of the bankrupt expo-
nents of the fight as having suf-
fered another great defeat.”’

He noted that all artists of
Czechoslovakia’s foremost
theatre have every possibility to
engage in peaceful creative work,
and are enjoying all the rights and
achievements provided by. the
socialist society.

Jiri Vala, of the National
Theatre Drama Company, laid
low the charge of no freedom of
artistic expression: 2

“Our theatres will never give

scope for nihilism and morbidity-

which deny the substance of life.
Nor will there by scope for sadism
and pornography, which contra-
dict the ethical principles ’ of
socialist man. We want to bring
people light, joy and beauty,
without the help or counsel of the
signatories of the Charter 77
pamphlet.”

Contempt for the pamphlet’s
authors was expressed by Bozena
Taborikova on behalf of the in-
struments plant workers.

The Bulgarian news agency,
BTA has asked about the kinds of
people who signed the anti-social-
ist attack. Pensioner Antonin
Cerny, former secretary of the
Central Committee of the

Czechoslovak Socialist
Academy, said:

“We do not judge people ac-
cording to their words, but mainly
according to the deeds. And the

authors of the slanderous piece

are well known from their ill-

famed activity in 1968, when they
brought our country to the verge
of catastrophe.”

‘Cerny said that nearly all of the
241 signatories (in Canadian pap-
ers it grew from 300 to 400) were
members of KAN, K 231 and

‘other counter-revolutionary or-

ganizations. They are recruited,
he said, from the ranks of the
former bourgeoisie, millionaires
and bankrupt politicians. | —

Jozef Uhlarik, an airline pilot,
saw no difference between the
Charter 77 program and that of
right-wingers in the crisis years.

The pro-rector of Charles Uni-
versity, Prof. Vitezslav Rzounek,
replied to a question of the Daily
World about alleged discrimina-
tion against the children of expo-
nents of the right, noting that the
children of Dubcek, Smrkovsky
and others had studied or were
studying at universities.

“JT do not understand, for ex-

‘ample, the impudence of Jiri

Hanzelka, whose son began
studying at the Faculty of General
Medicine of Charles University in
Prague, just this year,”’ he said.

The main criteria for admission -

to university is ability and other
study pre-requisites, together

with attitude to socialist society, .
but, trade union chairman Hynek

pointed out, that 50% of students
come from the families of workers

- or co-op farmers corresponds to

the composition of our society.
Reuter wanted to know
whether the television program
on the activities of Western es-
pionage groups (Jan. 23) was con-
nected with the arrest of Otto
Ornest. The investigatién was
still in progress and, as irf Canada,
comment could not be made.
The | Hungarian paper,
Nepszabadsag, the Polish PAP
agency and Prensa Latina en-
quired about material support for

the intelligentsia and about cul- .

tural relations abroad.

National Theatre director Pre-
mysl Koci, with Prof. Rzounek
and Milan Kadnar responded in
these terms.

In the spirit of the Helsinki
Agreements, our state partici-
pates in a rich cultural exchange.
Some 60,000 Czechoslovak ar-
tists travel to the whole world
each year, and about 30,000 ar-
tists visit Czechoslovakia.

Press chief Kadnar stated that
there was no doubt the money and
planning for ‘such ventures as
Charter: 77. came from: Western
sources dedicated to the extinc-
tion of socialism.

Col. Viktor Gorbatko and Lt.-Col. Uri

SOVIET COSMONAUTS LINK: UP
WITH SPACE LAB
MOSCOW — Soviet Cosmonauts

Glazkov have linked up in space with
the orbiting Salyut-5 space laboratory.
They are the first men to board Salyut 5
since the Solyuz-21 shot. The Soviet
space program is putting its emphasis ©
on protracted flights by cosmonauts
aboard orbiting research stations. Th-
ese missions. are aimed at earth and
weather observations, medical exper-
ments and testing inorganic and living Flight commander,
things in the weightlessness of space.  Gorbatko

Viktor

CUBA TO INTEGRATE WITH CMEA

HAVANA — The signing of a protocol by all the permanent repre-
sentatives of the socialist countries which belong to the Council for
Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA), and Yugoslavia marked the
end of the 79th meeting of the executive committee of that organization _
which was held here in January. é

The main topic they discussed was the cooperation of the CMEA
states with the Republic of Cuba aimed at contributing to the economic
development of the country and speeding up the process of its integra-
tion with the economies of the other member states.

INDIA CP WANTS ‘STATE OF EMERGENCY’ ENDED

NEW DELHI — The Communist Party of India wants the 19-month
“state of emergency’ ended, reports the CPI English language weekly,
New Age.

The CPI said it ‘‘welcomes the positive response by the government
to the popular urge for the restoration of normalcy . . . and hopes that
the process of relaxation of the state of emergency will be accelerated.

‘The indefinite continuance of the emergency invariably
strengthens anti-demcratic trends, encourages bureaucratic high-
handedness and excesses, breeds corruption and, undermines‘ the
working of a democratic system such as our.””

INDONESIA INVESTIGATES U.S. BRIBES
JAKARTA — Indonesia ordered charges of U.S. bribes of Indone-

sian officials to be fully investigated. President Suharto ordered the

investigation following U.S media reports that officials of Hughes
Aircraft of the U.S. gave a bribe of $40 million to an-Iindonesian leader
to get a contract for $330 million for telephone equipment to Indonesia.
The charges have led to strong public reaction in Indonesia, particu-
larly among students in Jakarta and Bandung.

WASHINGTON — The Panama-U.S. talks re-opened here when
Panamanian Foreign Minister Aquillono Boyd met with Secretary of
State, Cyrus Vance. The meeting Is the first to take place under the new
adminstration of James Carter and comes after seven heads of state of
Latin American countries expressed to Carter their support for Pana-
ma’s sovereign aspirations concerning the Canal.

BEING A PRESS OFEICK

HAS ITS PROGLENS

Ae
MAKE Press RECA Ses
puouT ovr PEOPLE 7 Our

PLOYNEST NO INEUA
Ih H SCCIALIST COOWTY [FOLK EN ae eisincin vient

DUAL WEALTH , oun |

_ feconons, ©

wo (NPIME
Bs cTeM AL aADvADcEes , oY nv
sc rEewTiFic SyccEessSES..+++

pA
qHE WE sTeren HE
[ON ORES gp, ME f

BUT WERE 1 TosAy,\;
RS AeA OPN Se

aN

*

DISSIDENT"

Nou See WHAT
{ MEAL

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FEBRUARY 18, 1977—Page 9