____By JIM SAVAGE
CORK, Ireland — Politicans’
Sensitivity to people’s real needs
lines after an election. Little

Ae Te eC cee | le ann

Ireland faces housing crisis

government, used a vote-winning
gift of £1,000 to first-time buyers
of new houses, but this is not the
crock of gold it was a year ago.

high prices. The building indus-

deposits and pay exceptionally

try, notoriously cyclical, may
have been thrown out of gear just

OPPOSITION TO SHAH HEIGHTENS IN IRAN

TEHRAN — Mass demonstrations and fierce opposition continue in
Iran despite the imposition of martial law by the Shah’s regime. Latest
reports indicate that hundreds of demonstrators have been killed by the
Shah’s troops. The Tudeh Party (Communist Party) has stated that
“the struggle of the Iranian people has struck serious blows at the
dictatorship. The continuation of the struggle can overthrow the
Shah’s regime and bring to power a government which will ensure the
independence of the land, democracy and well being of the people.”’

The imposition of martial law followed close on the heels of an
official visit of Chinese leader Hua Kuo Feng.

when its contribution to employ-
ment is most needed.

The course being followed by
thé present government is not
likely to succeed. Borrowing has
been increased in the 1978 Budget
and is now at a record 13% of
Gross National Product. A coun-
try in the short term, might sus-
tain a level of high borrowing if it

Earlier this year the average gross

Moré than a year ago the promise
price of new houses passed the

of the new government was to
Make it easier for young people to

y houses, and make it more at-
active for builders to build them,
and thereby employ more labor.

The reality now is that house
Prices have soared, mortgages are
M critically short supply, and
there are reports of building slow-

== SS Se YS A

ing down or even suspending ac-
. lvity on some schemes. -
Fianna Fail, who are now in

Sagan

military head

Lt. Gen. F.W.K. Akuffo has

Come head of the Supreme
Military Council of Ghana. In a
Peaceful change Akuffo assumed
leadership in July of this year.

Akuffo announced that basic
foreign policy tenets of the new
80vernment would remain the
Same. He called for friendly rela-
tions with all countries based on
Mutual respect for each others in-
dependence and sovereignty, and
¢ Non-interference in the internal
affairs of other nations. In matters
affecting Africa, he stated that.
i Ghana’s existence is inextricably
| linked with the independence of
) all Africa. He pledged full support
i for the Organization of African
Unity and for the liberation
movements in Zimbabwe,
Namibia and South Africa.

Elections will be held in July

5, 1979 to install.a civilian. govern-
ment.

prices is not to be blamed entirely
upon the
beyond the general inflation rate,
and must surely be due in part to
the sudden availability of this
extra deposit money. The minis-
ter’s proposed remedy for the
situation is to ask the building
societies to put a limit on the size
of mortgage allowed to any one
borrower. But building societies
are in business to make money,
not to help people. Should they
try to get the minister out of this
tight spot this temporary measure
may help at this stage where
people, particularly young
people, desperately anxious to
buy houses, have no hope of a
mortgage. Buy why no drastic ac-
tion before now?

Many have suffered hardship
over the past three months, either
through not, getting mortgages at
all, or through having to find large

were specifically for capital de-

velopment and job creation. On ~
the contrary a great part of the

13% being borrowed is to finance

the current accounts side of the

1978 Budget.

Ina year or two when this gov-
ernment has to reduce the level of
borrowing to a more acceptable
level it will result in mass un-
employment and substantially in-
creased taxation on workers.

No amount of juggling with
figures or with definitions such as
“jobs created’’ or “‘jobs filled”’
will solve the real crisis for any
person who cannot find a job un-
less to continue on the dole
queue. The present unemploy-
ment figure in the republic stands
at 140,000 (population about 32
million), which is a warning of the
danger to democracy if real and
full-time jobs are not created for
the many young people seeking
work.

An educated electorate will no
longer accept emigration as the
easy way to solve this problem. If
the government refuses to accept
this challenge and solve the terri-
ble problem of unemployment
among youth, then the future of

_Ireland..and..democracy..here.is

Qazvin® °
Kara} © TEHRAN

bleak. g :
CHINA TO CANCEL TREATY WITH USSR

PEKING — Vice-Premier Teng Hsiao-ping of China has announced
that the Peking regime will cancel its 1955 military treaty with the

Cullen plans program to accept

; Soviet Union by next April. Teng also said that the Peking leaders will
). announce the cancellation of the 1950 Soviet-Chinese Friendship Tre-
y A ti iti / a aty at the same time.

. argentine porntica PTISOMETS _sevecooyens or soviercneex nerations rocesns
/ The Minister of Employment | One hundred prisoners. is a ly. Prisoners hands and feet are MOSCOW — “Great potentials exist for the development of rela-

tions between the Soviet Union and Greece,” said Foreign Minister

and Immigration, Bud Cullen,
announced recently the Canadian
80vernment would embark on a
Special immigration program to
bring one hundred political pris-
Oners and their families to Canada
from the jails in Argentina.
__In announcing the program the
inister implicitly acknowledged
the serious violations of human
tights in Argentina today, and the
Precarious situation of thousands’
of political prisoners, who are

small number in face of the
thousands of prisoners in Argen-
tina’s jails. Pressure must be
applied to increase the size of the
program and the program itself
scrutinized to ensure that it oper-
ates to help those persons most in
need of assistance.

The Canada/Argentina bulletin
issued by the committee quotes
the Manchester Guardian which
described conditions in the con-
centration camps: ‘‘men and

women are kept in conditions of

chained most of the time.
‘Dangerous’ prisoners are per-
manently chained to stakes driven
into the ground and lie in their
own excrement.”

In July the military interventor
in the Argentine National Labor
Centre called for a meeting in ‘‘his
office’’ and told trade union lead-
ers present ‘‘ ... may I remind
you that all trade union activities
including public meetings, strikes
and collective bargaining are
strictly prohibited in this country, -

Gromyko of the USSR at a Moscow luncheon honoring Foreign Min-
ister Georgeos Rallis of Greece. ;

Commenting on the seats of tension in the area Gromyko stated,
‘The tension in Cyprus has existed for a long time. It is an open secret
that outside interference is the source of this tension. We stand for a
solution of this problem, a solution that would not damage the inde-
pendence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Cyprus. The Soviet
Union is prepared to give every possible aid to this.”’

CAMPAIGN GROWS TO SAVE SOLOMON MAHLANGU
PARIS — French president Giscard D’Estaing has intervened in an
effort to stop the execution of South African freedom fighter Solomon

Mahlangu. He issued instructions that diplomatic representations be
made to save Mahlangu’s life, it was announced at the International
Cone for Action Against Apartheid held in Geneva earlier this
month.

Anti-apartheid groups from France, West Germany, Switzerland,
Belgium, the Netherlands, Japan, the U.S., Ireland and Britain will
launch a joint campaign Sept. 20 in the mounting effort to save Mahlan-

gu:

from now on any meeting has to
be authorized by the military
government and its repre-
sentatives have to be present...”

tri
_ The government will be send-
Ing a special immigration officer
to Argentina to process the appli-
Cations of prisoners. Once the
immigration official has received
information that a prisoner wants
to come to Canada he will inter-
view that prisoner to see if he
qualifies under the program.
However even if the prisoner is
accepted by the Canadian
- BOvernment he must still hope
t the Argentine authorities will
Telease him from jail.
The Emergency Committee for
Argentine Political Prisoners and
efugees greeted the program
with favor. This committee was
Set up to coordinate action in
Canada on behalf of political pris-
Oners and refugees in. Argentina. af
They see the program as long |
Overdue but only a first step

achieved as a result of mounting
pressure.

ae detained without charge or

degradation and terror. They are
blindfolded at all times ... only
collaborators or those chosen for
execution are allowed to see free-

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BIKINI ABANDONED AS RADIATION REMAINS ~~.

BIKINI — The last child born in Bikini was carried by its mother toa
waiting ship Aug. 30 as the final step of the evacuation of the 139
residents was completed. Used by the United States as a nuclear test
site in 1946, scientists recently found that radiation has poisoned the
ground, water and coconuts and that it will take decades before Bikini
» is again safe for habitation. Critics of the tests have charged the U.S.
‘military knowingly used the Islanders as guinea pigs in its technical-
4 scientific research on the effects of radiation on humans.

DR. SPOCK ARRESTED IN NUCLEAR PROTEST
SEABROOK, N.H. — Dr. Benjamin Spock, world-known chil-
dren’s doctor, was among 11 persons arrested last week during a
protest against the construction of a $2.3-billion power plant here. He
"was arrested, along with the others for civil disobedience at the site
where four other anti-nuclear demonstrations have taken place over
the past month.

Police in Argentina

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—SEPTEMBER 22, 1978—Page 9