The people of Afghanistan are determined to defend the revolutionary gains won in the last year. Demonst-

rations against the counter-revolutionary forces have been held in Kabul and other cities.

Counter-conference in Calgary

Perspectives on Latin America

By DAVID WALLIS

- Calgary last week hosted two
conferences, CALA (Calgary As-
sociation — Latin America) and
PPLA (People’s Perspectives on
Latin America). The first repre-
sents the interests of big business,
the other the toiling and dem-
ocratic peoples in Latin America.

CALA is an organization
jointly sponsored by the Cana-
dian government and Canadian
monopolies whose aim is to find

Ways -of increasing investments

and, therefore, profits in Latin
America.
PPLA is a conference or-

ganized by labor, church, and
other progressive organizations
to show the true face and reality
of Latin America.

Miguel Ablizures, who is a
former President of CNT, the
Guatemalan labor congress, said
that Guatemala is a country
where there is no democracy,
where the machine gun: and the
whip replaces dialogue; where
65% of the people are illiterate
and where 2% of the population
owns 75% of the land.

He talked about the activities at
Coca Cola of whose factory
workers were imprisoned. for 600
days, where goon squads im-
. posed terror on the workers and
where two union leaders have
been recently killed and a ‘third
one forced to flee the country. He

also said the clique who runs his °

country met with 500 large corpo-
rations to inform them that
Guatemala was a country ripe for

Investment with a guarantee of no
local labor conflicts, as the right to

“strike does not exist; a country
where labor organization, though
legal, are not permitted to func-
tion.

Orlando Caputo, a Chilean
economist in exile in Mexico,
explained how capital invested in
Latin America causes the back-
wardness and underdevelopment
of those economies. He said that
profits taken out of Latin America
far exceeded the jnitial invest-
ment and that instead of diversify-
ing and developing the economy,
equipment and machinery is
made in the major capitalist coun-
tries preventing the development
of industry and jobs.

The conference, April 22-25, -

was preceeded by a march of 400
people in Calgary demanding an
end to Canadian investment in
Latin America and a boycott of
goods from fascist regimes.

The conference in listening to
the personal testimonies of Latin
American refugees heard of the
crimes being perpetuated through
torture upon individuals in
Uruguay and Chile.

In speaking at the PPLA con-
ference, Herberto Castillo, a pro-
fessor at the National University
Mexico and a director of the Party

#

Israel’s occupation
program goes on

One of the key issues, if not
the key issue, avoided by the
Israel-Egypt-U.S. peace treaty
was the Palestinian rights ques-
tion. Feeble protests by Egyp-
tian president Sadat on this
issue during the’ negotiations
resulted in Israel’s equally-
feeble promise to, discuss the
‘matter at a future date.

An indicator of Israel’s real
intentions is its settlements
program in Gaza, the West
Bank, Sinai and the Golan
Heights — all-occupied Arab
land seized by military force

and held by occupation troops.

It should be recalled that the

_ Forth Geneva Convention on
the protection of persons in
times of war forbids occupa-
tion forces building

on occupied
territory. Israel's program to °
build permanent towns forci-
bly evict the Arab population

“settlements”

3

International focus

of Mexican Workers said the
majority of governments in Latin
America were imposed by the
military, with Guatemala being
under reactionary rule for 20
years, Brazil 13 years and Chile
five years. He’said that we must
change this radically; we must
propose an alternative and that
Cuba is the only exception and
inspires our struggle.

In Chile, he said the task i is to

- seek for a way to return the road

of Salvador Allende and the Popu-
lar Unity Government.

KABUL (APN) — The Afghan
Republic celebrated the first. an-
niversary of its revolution and in
that short span of time much has
already been done in the interests
of the people:and their economic
and intellectual emancipation.

In the very first months of the
revolution the burden of debts
was removed from 11,000,000
land-hungry and landless peas-
ants. As a result, poor peasants

’ have been freed from the payment

of 30,000 million Afghani to
money-lenders.
The new government has proc-

‘laimed equal rights for all
Q nationalities of the country.

Now every citizen will be edu-
cated, will read newspapers and
listen to radio programs in Soo
native language.

-Much has been also déne for
the fundamental improvement of
the status of Afghan women. The
payment of bridal money has
been banned. Equal rights of men
and women in social, economic,
political, and cultural fields have
been legislatively guaranteed.

Land reform, started in
January 1979, has been one of the
most important steps towards the
abolition of feudal and pre-feudal
relations. According to statistical
data, there are about 1,200,000
landholders in the country. Big
feudal lords constituting merely
4% of all landholders, had 41% of
arable land in their hands: Peasant
leaseholders working for the land-
lords received merely one-fifth of ,
the harvest or even less.

Land reform has been com-
pleted in a number of provinces to
date. In the past two months more
than 100,000 peasant families

*

for Afghanistan —

have received land free of chat
All in all, it has been plan’
provide 680,000 families wil
plots of land. If we take into 60!
sideration that Afghan fi
usually have many children, ™
can see how many people ha
thus been given an opportunity
work for themselves and not gi
their bread to feudal lords. __

The new system has inherit
from the past a very low perce
age of literate people, especial allyi
rural localities. The govern
has launched a nation-wide lite
acy campaign. About 800,00
people attend the classes all ye
the country. Young and old, ™
and women learn to read d
write. The organization of educt
tion is being improved, too. ol
schools are being repaired. vel
schools are being built. A
event in the country’s history we
the inauguration of the Academ
of Sciences of Afghanistan. _

Revolutionary developmet!
inevitably spell struggle. Ne
wonder all these reforms hav
evoked the fierce resistance of
reactionary forces. The plo!
woven around the power 0
people have derived not ofl
from neighboring, but als
Western countries, the Unité
States in the first place. That th
current leadership of China ha
been siding with them is no si
prise to anyone.

The intrigues of the interm®
and the international reactional
forces cannot’ hinder
development of the young repl
lic. There’s no bringing back #
past. The people who have e
perienced the joy of freedom!
not permit this.

has been consistent and
carefully-planned.

Figures show that Israel has
built 77 permanent settlements
on the West Bank, 18 in Gaza
and Northern Sinai, and 26 in
the Golan Heights. And if
Sadat or anyone else thinks
this is the end of it, Israel an-
nounced two more new settle-
ments will be built on the West
Bank this year in areas
‘“‘designated’’ by the phoney
“peace treaty’ for eventual
Palestinian ‘‘autonomy.”’

Here’s what a “‘settlement”’
program means: in the West
Bank 28% of the total area is
already confiscated by Israeli
authorities. Israeli settlers now -

comprise 14% of the territory’s

population — and they live on
the best agricultural lands.

What’s behind
Zimbabwe’s phoney vote
The phoney ‘‘elections”’

held in Zimbabwe which re-
sulted in Bishop’ Abel
Muzorewa’s United African
National Council taking most~
of the seats has already begun

- to come apart at the seams.

The other so-called Black
“leader’’, Sithole, has already
charged * “gross irregularities”
in the polling.

So the internal bickering be-
gins even before the sell-out
leaders can assume office.

The real liberation forces,
the Patriotic Front, which has
been engaging Smith's troops,
long ago called the ‘‘elections””

a fraud and just another effort
by the white racist regime to
stay in power. They pledged
the armed struggle will con-
tinue until real liberation
comes to Zimbabwe. —

The “‘elections’’ were held
under martial law with 100,000
Smith regime troops, police
and auxilliaries escorting vot-
ers to the polls. The Times of.
Zambia in Lusaka said the fake
elections were the beginning of
a new and more bloody era in
the-history of southern Africa.

The overall aim of the racists
is to present the fake vote as
representative of the will of the
Black majority while continu-
ing to hold real economic,

_ political and military power.
They further hope to persuade
other nations to lift the sanc-
tions now imposed on the il-
legal regime in Salisbury.

Destabilization
Iranian style

The Iranian revolution has
been a tremendous shock to
imperialism. Once the West’s
strongest ally and policeman in
the Middle East, and a source
for super-profits, Iran toppled

_ the corrupt Shah and has em-
barked on a new path.

However, progressive-
minded people know that
imperialism doesn’t surrender
easily. The latest wave of
assassinations of members of
the Revolutionary Council is a

_ pened in Iran?”’, has been re-

-_ colonial past.

_ warning that internal and ex

ternal forces are working h
to create a situation of chaos”
and pave the way for counter
revolution.

Iran’s Communist Party
(Tudeh Party) has charged that
some 8,000 SAVAK agents
(The Shah’s secret police) are”
still operating in the country-
The deposed wealthy owners |
of industry and their foreigt
supporters are busy as well. —

The frustrated cry in the
Pentagon during the massive
demonstrations that forced out
the Shah, ‘‘What the hell hap-

placed with actions to defeat ”
the revolution. |

We can recall the ‘‘destabili-
zation’”’ activities carried out
by the CIA and the Chilean
right that resulted in the fascist
coup in 1973. Washington
would like nothing better than
a similar result in Iran (and Af-

_ghanistan).

~ The repatriation of Iranian
oil, the end of U.S. spy stations
against the USSR, Iran's posi-_
tion toward Israeli.expansion- |
ism and South African apat-_
theid are all bad news in”
Washington and other NATO™
capitals.

Iran’s communists have ap-

. pealed for the broadest unity to

protect the revolution’s gains —
and extend them. They and
other revolutionary forces are
determined that Iran will not y
return to its feudal, semi-

. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MAY 11, 1979— Page 6

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