CANADA — = ANC won't heed Mulroney’s advice to change tactics Canada softens stand on apartheid TORONTO — ‘‘Prime Minister Mul- roney was not interested in listening to us in terms of the kind of pressure the inter- national community can apply against apartheid in South Africa, but rather in asking us to sacrifice, to give him a commitment to backtrack on the armed struggle’’, Yusuf Saloojee, chief representative of the African National Congress in Canada, told the Tribune fol- lowing the tour of ANC president Oliver Tambo to Canada August 26-29. “He said it was ‘advice’ he was giving us”, said Saloojee. ‘‘I think the reason Mulroney wanted to see the ANC presi- dent was that he could explain how hard he had fought on this issue with his allies, including Reagan and Thatcher, but they always point to the ‘violence’ and the ‘Communist links’ of the ANC. ““However, the ANC president was not prepared to agree to Mulroney’s request that we backtrack on the armed struggle. We went to great pains to explain our his- _ torical alliance with the South African Communist Party; we explained our relationship with the Soviet Union and the socialist countries’’, said Saloojee. “T don’t know what made the prime minister think he could get us to renounce. our armed struggle — no other Western leader has been able to. Perhaps he thought he could score some kind of diplomatic coup at the francophone sum- mit. Maybe he does not fully understand our struggle’, he added. ‘‘Judging by our meetings with Mul- roney and Clark, I would agree that apartheid, to look more like moving to- YUSUF SALOOQJEE wards the British and West German posi- tion. That is, to say: no, we should not apply sanctions or pressure; maybe we should find some other way”’. Saloojee said he did not know any other way. However, the kind of movement by the Canadian government over the past year and a half, especially since Mul- roney’s UN speech in October 1985 where he said that if South Africa does nothing to dismantle apartheid, Canada will apply full sanctions and cut diplomatic ties, im- plies that it is changing its attitude. “Of course, the Western countries have been forced to take a much more serious view of the situation in South and southern Africa’, the ANC representative added. “‘They have for the first time come to rec- ognize that the ANC isa leading force, and that nothing can come about in South Af- rica minus the ANC. “This is the context in which the ANC thought it should speak to Western lead- ers, Prime Minister Mulroney among them’’. During his visit, Mr. Tambo also met representatives of labour, NGO and people’s organizations, where the re- sponse was quite different. “Perhaps we should remember the words that the ANC general secretary spoke to a conference of over 500 Cana- dian activists in May 1982’’, said Saloojee. ‘“‘He stated: ‘The ANC believes in two Canadas. The people of Canada and the government of Canada’. — ‘‘We have always appealed to the people of Canada, and they have always responded very positively and warmly. The problem we have always had is with the ‘other Canada’. “T think the recent meetings indicate that whereas Messrs Mulroney and Clark seem to have ‘softened’ their attitude to apartheid, the meetings with other Cana- dians, such as with CLC president Shirley Carr, with churches, with NGOs, was to- tally different. “The height of the visit was certainly the Toronto rally, where on short notice, over 3,000 people turned up. This shows the feelings of warmth, support and sol- idarity for the ANC and for the struggle against apartheid in South Africa’’, Saloo- jee concluded. “Ttis important for those Canadians, for those who have a genuine heart, a human heart, to understand that we have reached the stage in South Africa where we can see liberation is near. They must intensify their struggle as Canadian people by ap- plying the maximum pressure on the Canadian government, telling them this is no time to ‘soften’. It is up to the Canadian Ls is beginning to ‘soften its stand’ on people to ensure this does not happen’’. By KIMBALL CARIOU REGINA — Four Saskatche- wan farmers have launched a legal battle to recover about $300,000 total in interest over- charges from the Canadian Impe- rial Bank of Commerce. Other farmers in the province and ac- ross Canada are watching the case with interest, and many are calculating the amounts they were overcharged as they prepare for their own lawsuits. Last year Ontario farm activist Allen Wilford had his $650,000 debt to the Royal Bank halved when he won a similar case, throwing light on a massive ripoff by the major banks. Estimates of the total excess interest charged in the period up to 1982 range from $500-million to up to $3-bil- lion if small business people are included. “In Wilford’s case, his loan agreements specified a fixed in- terest rate, but the Royal Bank instead charged a floating rate of prime plus one per cent. When interest rates took off, reaching 24 per cent in 1981, many borrowers were charged accordingly, regardless of the agreements. As the practice became known, | banks began changing their pro- cedures, without admitting they had acted illegally. Farmers were often refused access to their own files. But the persistence of Wil- ford, ‘‘borrower’s advocate’’ Larry Whaley and others has en- couraged many farmers to pre- pare to fight back. The four pressing the suit in Saskatchewan included Paul Hoffman of Spalding, and Martin, George and John Harrison of Pierceland. If they are successful (and their lawyer, Whaley, says the case is a strong one), more court cases will soon follow. ~ The banks, however, are pre- pared for a long fight; the interest overchages represent a big chunk of the over $9-billion debt owed by Canadian farmers to the banks. A legal victory for the farmers ~ would give producers deeply in debt a better chance to survive, but with an average of 5,000 farm- ers a year being forced out of the industry across Canada, time is running out for many. esis to swap | info: end deal, urges CP WINNIPEG — The NDP gov- ernment of Manitoba and the fed- eral surveillance and ‘‘spycatch- ing’’ agency, the Canadian Secur- ity and Intelligence Service (CSIS) have signed an agreement to exchange information between the CSIS and 19 provincial government departments. Among the departments that will be exchanging information } with CSIS are Manitoba’s Civil Service Commission, vital statis- tics branch, Manitoba Telephone, Manitoba Hydro, the motor vehi- cle branch, and labour and health departments. A strongly worded protest from the Manitoba Committee of the Communist Party of Canada to - Premier Pawley calls the ex- change of private and often con- fidential information from the files of these official government 6 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, SEPTEMBER 16, 1987 bodies ‘‘a violation of the. civil rights of Manitobans’’. ~ It demands that the Manitoba government ‘‘terminate the agreement with CSIS_ un- conditionally’. In June, the federal govern- ment’s review committee re- ported that CSIS, which has 30,000 operative files on indi- vidual Canadians, ‘“‘had trouble telling the difference between subversion and lawful dissent’’. Canadian security services, both the CSIS and its RCMP pre- ~ decessor, have been constantly exposed over the years for illeg- ally wiretapping, opening letters, infiltrating legal organizations, using agent provacateurs and carrying out other. activities against law-abiding Canadians. and organizations. The Manitoba CP protest points out that in the 30,000 files are the ‘‘names of trade unionists, peace activists, human rights ac- tivists, native activists, com- " munists, and yes, members of the NDP”’. It asks to what use the informa- tion will be put, and points out that the provision that “‘requests for information will be vetted by an officer from each side is little consolation’’. The Manitoba CP concludes: “As to receiving information from CSIS, which has been pub- licly proclaimed as a benefit to Mantioba, one should ask ‘what information?’ We suggest it will be used against ‘undesirables’ who are now members of the pub- lic service and to screen people classified as ‘undesirables’ from joining the public service.”’ ey eae Pe COC seeks aid to fight free trade TORONTO — The Council of Canadians took out a page ad September 8 in the To ronto Star to appeal fol financial support for its cam paign against free trade. The CoC needs support be cause it lacks ‘‘the financial re sources necessary to respond to the $12 million in gover ment ° propaganda and the powerful corporations’. It points out that a free trade agreement will seriously com promise Canadian sovereignty ‘‘and could eventually force Canada into union with thé WES = Condemning the sales o major Canadian companies a road- and the takeover in tht past two years of 1,200 Cana dian companies by non-Cana dians, the CoC calls on people across the land to stand oF guard for Canada and oppos free trade. Manitoba CP hits premier WINNIPEG — The Man itoba Committee of the Com munist Party of Canada sen sharply-worded letters, AU gust 26, to Premier Howat! Pawley and Winnipeg May® Bill Norrie condemning the! participation in the avowed! anti-Communist and neo-naz ‘*Black Ribbon Day’ commemorations. Under the signature of Mat itoba party leader Lorne Rot son, the letters point out thé the rally was a “‘crude attemf to rewrite history’ and stir U animosity against people in th socialist world. “‘We find it appalling,”’ Rol son chides Pawley, ‘‘that th premier of this province thé has been declared a nuclea! weapons free zone would as sociate with those calling fc ever more arms and accef without comment those wh openly proclaim ‘I love killin Communists’’”? — a sign cal ried at the rally. Tories exploit rightist CFL OTTAWA — Bob Maclin tosh, assistant to the presiden of the Brotherhood of Boiler makers, an affiliate of tht right-wing Canadian Fed eration of Labour, has bee! appointed to the Canad‘ Employment and Immigratio! Advisory Council (CEIAC) a the ‘‘recommendation of thé GEE Immigration and employ ment minister Benoit Bou chard, announcing _ tht appointment, said the CEIAC — one third each of worker: (sic), employers and non aligned groups (sic) — “‘plays: vital role in advising me 0! employment and immigratio! matters.” No doubt MacIntosh wil advise the minister on how bet ter, based on his long record 0 right-wing syndicalism, t screw Canadian workers: an‘ potential immigrants and re fugees from fascist dictator ships.