_very close to this once-picturesque | megaton nuclear explosion shattered _ the earth on the morning of Dec. 7. nightmare landscape: Spitak is a : early in the New Year. _ of Russian-Canadians, 600 Campbell _ Ave., Vancouver, V6A 3K 1. SPITAK, Armenia — It was here, north Armenian town of 20,000, that the energy equivalent of a 100- The earthquake, which registered eight points on the Richter Scale, left in its wake an almost unimaginable smoking sea of rubble, where rescue teams working feverishly around the clock have pulled more than 6,000 mangled corpses from the debris and still listen, with fading hope, for the characteristic moans of the living. Ten days after the catastrophe, the rescue work appears orderly and efficient. The workers include most of Spitak’s male survivors — the majority of women and all of the children have been evacuated — see VISION page 6 2 — iF a nae § The appeal launched in December by the newly-formed: Coalition for Armenian Relief has had a “very good response,”’ with some $20,300 raised to date in British Columbia, coalition treasurer Nadya Niechoda said this week. The money has been sent to Toronto to be added to the national campaign fund initiated by the Federation of Russian Canadians. ‘In addition, the Winnipeg-based Workers Benevolent Association has raised $50,000 with its appeal sent out to members and supporters across the country. WBA secretary Zenovy Nykolyshyn told the Tribune last week that a first cheque for $45,000 was given to Oleg Yershov, counsellor of the USSR Embassy, in a ceremony Donations for Armenian earth- quake relief can be sent to Federation _ January 16, 1989 SO Vol. 52, No. 1 Emergency plan needed for oil spills, says Fed 4 2 < ra) TRIBUNE PHOTO Members of the Canadian Association of Industrial, Mechanical and Allied Workers, Local 6, make their feelings known during demonstration outside West- ern Canada Steel's Vancouver plant Jan. 5. They heard speakers ranging from Richmond Socred MLA Nick Loenen to Vancouver and District Labour Council secretary Frank Kennedy call for government intervention to prevent the closure of B.C.’s only steel mill by its new owners, IPSCO Ltd. Story page 8. Charging that the response to last month’s oil spill was “totally inadequate,” the B.C. Federation of Labour Monday called on the federal and_ provincial governments to take immediate action ona emergency response plan that would pre- vent environmental damage of the kind that has already resulted from the Dec. 22 spill. “This has been a disaster because neither level of government has done any planning to combat an oil spill,” B.C. Fed president Ken Georgetti said in a statement Jan. 10. “There is no co-ordination between the Americans and ourselves and the provincial government simply does not take environ- mental protection seriously enough.” He called on the two senior levels of government to take immediate steps to avert the danger in the future: @ The establishment of an emergency task force, made up of environmentalists as well as representatives of government, industry and labour to frame an emergency response plan to combat oil spills; @ Communication and co-ordination between the U.S. and Canada on environ- mental issues; @ Enactment of strict regulations on the shipment in Canadian waters of any goods which represent a threat to the environ- ment. The federation was critical of the government’s lack of response to the Dec. 22 spill, charging that both environment ministries “‘sat on their hands passing the buck ... until a handful of desperate clean- up volunteers and the media turned up the political heat high enough.” see GOV'T page 2 Issue delayed Because of a breakdown in typeset- ting equipment and the difficulty in getting repairs, the Tribune was forced to cancel the first issue of 1989, which was to have been dated Jan. 9. We apologize for the delay in readers’ receiving their first paper for the New Year. ; ; ; Chris Frazer is leader of the Young Communist League of Canada, and recently visited the occupied territories with a delegation of the World Federa- tion of Democratic Youth, invited by ® the General Union iq of Palestinian Stu- dents, to observe the anniversary of the Intifada. This eyewit- ness report is the first of a Tribune series about the Palestinian uprising from the occupied West Bank. Entering Balata refugee camp _ is hazardous enough when it’s not under curfew or closed as a military zone. But FRAZER tensions were running high throughout Israel and the occupied territories, and on Dec. 10, the army closed Balata along with most of the West Bank and the entire Gaza Strip. The face of the Israeli occupation had turned extremely grim as it suffered one setback after another. While Yasser Ara- fat and the PLO scored successive points in the international arena, Israel limped along in a political crisis that even pre- vented the formation of a new govern- ment. To make matters worse, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) had, in the previous two days, failed to control or prevent Palestinian protests marking the first anniversary of their popular uprising — the Intifada. Balata and the Arab city near which it lies, Nablus, are well-known as “barome- ters” of the intifada, the popular Palesti- nian uprising in. the Israeli occupied territories. And it was here that we came to witness the strength of the intifada after one year. The road to Nablus is choked with IDF patrols and check-points, but it’s also on the way to Nazareth, a natural point of interest for many tourists visiting the Holy Land, and we bluffed our way through. Strolling through Nablus, en route to nearby Balata, the signs of the intifada were clear and fresh. As in every Palesti- nian city and village, graffiti and painted Palestinian flags adorn all available build- ings and walls. But in Nablus the IDF has failed to force the local population to whitewash the slogans from sight. © Women and young children greeted us ‘ constantly along the way with the two- fingered “V for victory” salute. But there were no young men around, and we soon saw the reason why. Around the next corner we stumbled across an IDF patrol searching for the young activists who had confronted the army in a demonstration only an hour before. We watched in shock as two soldi- ers turned back an ambulance rushing to the aid of a Palestinian youth shot during the demonstration. In the brief interval of seconds a crowd of young people rushed out to carry their fallen comrade to safety. Our shock became horror as the soldiers raised their weapons to fire on the youths retreating down side- see INTIFADA page 7