EE Friday, Sept. 25, 1981 ;

Ss ‘

ie +
30° Vol. 43, No. 35 re

iT Bank for blocks, Solidarity Day viaketiet® ‘dale their way up to
Westie ine nner setching BOTTOM: In an earlier action, Washington members of the United
‘| Food and Commercial Workers showed graphically how Reagan’s phony tax cuts will give those
| earning $100, 000 a 1 year an 1 extra Aldi a ee wie those oars $20, pees wilt get a meagre oe:

DR NEE Pa es

Quarter million demonstrate |
against Reagan's | policies

_ fight.”

McDonald
Commission:
challenge

to the left

WASHINGTON — In stirring
and historic protest, more than a
quarter of a million people march-
ed on Solidarity Day Sept. 19 to
demonstrate against U.S. president
Reagan’s wholesale slashing of so-
cial programs and his attack on
union and civil rights.

Led by AFL-CIO. president
Lane Kirkland and other labor
and civil rights leaders, the mar-
chers filled the city’s Constitution
Avenue and later formed a huge
sea of demonstrators outside the

White House where speaker after |

speaker rose to therally platform to
denounce the Reagan policies.
But the massive protest refuted
anya such claim, as virtually every
union in the country was
represented with hundreds and
sometimes thousands of members.
The march was organized by the
AFL-CIO which broke from its
traditional business union ap-
proach in the face of the Reagan at-
tack programs and in response to a
challenge from Reagan himself

that union leaders were ‘‘out of |

touch”’ with their membership in
opposing White House policies.

But the massive protest refuted
any such claim, as virtually every

Significantly, Reagan was away
at his Camp David retreat for the
day and a White House statement,
read by an aide, confirmed the ad-
ministration’s bias and hypocrisy.
“The president believes,’’ it said,
“that working men and women
clearly need a break from high in-
flation, high taxes, high interest
rates and high unemployment.”

In a thunderous response, Sam
Church Jr., president of the United
Mine Workers whose members
had come from as far away as the
Appalachian coal -fields, told the
rally: ‘“He (Reagan) may be out of
town today but he is going to have
to eventually face up to the damage
he is doing to the men, women and
children, of this country who will
bear the burden of his economic
programs while the rich reap its
rewards.”

AFL-CIO president Lane |

Kirkland told the thousands of
demonstrators: ‘‘We have come

too far, struggled too long, sacrific-
ed too much and have too much
left to do to allow all that we have
achieved to be swept away without

Pa BARTS EA a at

— page 9 —

The deployment of the neutron
bomb would add a ‘‘whole new di-
mension to the nuclear danger’? —
bringing the potential for initiating
a nuclear war right down into the
hands of the field commander, a
retired British general warned an
audience in Vancouver Saturday.

Brigadier general Michael Har-
bottle, a former chief of staff for
the UN peacekeeping force in Cyp-
rus and now the general secretary
of the British Campaign for Dis-
armament (CND), emphasized
that the new weapon announced by
the U.S. would increase, not di-
minish, the risk of an all-out nuc-

lear exchange.

“The neutron bomb is a quick

Tesponse weapon,”’ he said. ‘“‘And

there’s no way that. a commander is
going to get on his handset tele-
phone, ring up the White House
and say: ‘There’s an attack coming
over the hill — should I fire it?’

“*He’s going to fire.

‘*And once you press the button
on any nuclear weapon, the escala-
tion to all-out nuclear holocaust is
automatic,’’ he warned.

Harbottle’s address, before an
audience of 200 in Christ Church
Cathedral, was part of a two-day
conference on disarmament action
organized by the Coalition for
World Disarmament which
brought together 110 delegates
from 25 peace, environmental,
trade union and church organiza-
tions.

See NUCLEAR page 11

The government of Angola
has appealed for emergency aid
to provide medical supplies for
more than 130,000 refugees
displaced by the South African
invasion last month. Many of
therefugees have been injured.

Angola launched the appeal
through the Oxfam office in
Britain, emphasizing that
100,000 pounds of medical sup-
plies are needed.

Donations can be sent to Ox-
fam Canada, 2524 Cypress St.,
Van., V6J 3N2, and should be
clearly marked as aid: for
Angola, Donations are tax

deductible.

ed