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Ont. Tories trade with slavery

TORONTO — The announce-
ment by the Ontario government
that an official trade mission
would be sent to South Africa
to investigate business opportu-
nities and trade possibilities by
Ontario corporations has been
met with a storm of protest, in-
cluding a demonstration outside
the Ontario legisature Oct. 25
initially called by the African
National Congress (Toronto
Committee) . ;

Among the other sponsoring
organizations were African Lib-
eration Support Committee, the
Toronto Committee for the Lib-
ertaion of Portuguese African
Colonies, the United Nations As-
sociation of Canada and the
Voice of Women.

Carrying signs reading “Trade
with South Africa equals trade
with racism,” “Ontario govern-
ment trade mission to deal with
South African slavery,” “Ontario
trade mission defies UN resolu-
tion on South Africa,”. and oth-
ers, the demonstrators handed
out a leaflet with an open letter
from the ANC to the trade mis-
sion.

It asked Ontario to honor our
commitment to the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights...
“by calling off this trade delega-
tion to apartheid South Africa.
The goods you will help import

will be stained with the blood
of honest, freedom-loving peo-
ple. We know they will not be
welcome here. This act would
much enhance the fair ‘image of
eae in the eyes of our peo-
p e.” F :

Stephen Lewis, NDP provin-
cial leader, was on hand to ad-
Gress the rally. “We have not
succeeded,” he said, “in prevent-
ing the trade mission frém un-
dertaking the trip . . . It can
only be said that nobody in the
Cntario cabinet understands
what’s going on in South Africa.
They understand only one thing
— that the mission will bring in
dollars for Ontario corporations.

“For the sake of dollar value
in trade, they. don’t care a whit
about the human suffering in-
volved.”

On behalf of the Ontario
Federation of Labor, John Eleen
pointed out that the decision
to send the trade mission to
South Africa was condemned by
the OFL. “What the government
should be doing,” he said, “is
not send a mission, but making
a protest to the government
of South Africa for its vicious
policies of apartheid.”

Labor has traditionally sup-
ported trade, he said, because
it means jobs. “But the trade
union movement of Ontario

would rather starve,” he went.
on, “than support the regime in
South Africa by ‘buying, its
goods.”

Don Taylor .of the ‘United
Steelworkers of America, point-
ed out how the government has
cynically chosen to ignore the
resolutions of the United Na-
tions and the Canadian trade
union movement. “The attitude
of the Tories is as follows:
‘Looks like a good deal — let’s
get a piece of the action. To hell
with principles and all that’.”

Jojo Saloojee, chairman of the
ANC Toronto section, read out
a Canadian Labor Congress
statement deploring the trade
mission. The CLC called for a
diminishing of trade with South
Africa, and stated that before
any negotiations. with South
Africa begin, six conditions
should be met. Among these are
freedom to organize trade unions
of one’s choice, equal pay sys-
tem for black and white work-
ers, and an end to apartheid.

A delegation of four demon-
strators met with Ontario Indus-
try Minister Claude Bennett
after the demonstration, but
with little success. Bennett in-
sisted that the mission “would
benefit the people of Ontario in
creating jobs here.”

d first step to Mideast peace

Wigeli troops dri
‘peen refusing
i

" they say. ---

g
return of that territory from
1
et the present crisis, the
" nt difficalty, cannot be laid

rael’s door.” “
Mr, Brewin gaid, apologetical-
go"I do not mean, by speaking
¢ the problem of the refugees
of the necessity of its solu-
to blame the existence of
problem on the State of
be
| three parties made it clear
they put the interests of
tel ahead of the interests of
while ostensibly

I
: the resolution
Wa really the basic part of the
®hlution is the withdrawal of
1 from ajJl occupied Arab
j jtories .. . But the way it is
 asented by the leaders of the
F parties in the House of

all

ving into Arab territory. For over six years Israel
to withdraw. “The Golan Heights are necessary
hecurity reasons, Jerusalem is non-negotiable for religious reas-

Commons is as if security entails
occupation of strategic Arab
territories; and we know that
this is false because Israel can
only have real security if there
is a just solution.”

Tried for Six Years

On the basis of “past experi-
ence” the Arab spokesman ex-
pressed some skepticism of a
cease-fire which doesn’t effect
immediate withdrawal of Israeli
troops.

“You cannot sit down with an
adversary who is determined to
keep Arab land,” he said.
“Egypt has been trying for the
last six-and-a-half years to get
from. Israel an acceptance of
Resolution 242, and Israel has
always refused. They said, ‘We
will negotiate but . . . the Golan
Heights is necessary for secur-
ity reasons, Jerusalem is non-
negotiable for religious reas-
Onsacs <

Mr. Mouammar suggested that
after Israel’s withdrawal from

. Arab territories “to show that

Israel is really willing to have
peace,” and a ceasefire is imple-
mented, ‘negotiations would
take place about the future de-
velopments in the area .. .”

Asked about his confidence in
Canada as a member of any pro-
posed peacekeeping force, the
Palestinian spokesman was
forthright. ©

“This is a lesson which I be-
lieve we have learned from
Vietnam,” he said. “I have seen
Canada there . . . and the Penta-
gon Papers have revealed that
the role of Canada in Vietnam
was that it was used as a tool
by the United States. I’m wary,
personally, of any role that Can-
ada would have there, because
they couldn’t be truly a neutral
there. They would be under U.S.
pressure all the time and they
would be thoroughly represent-
ing American interests. So I
would prefer a country which is
more neutral than Canada.” ,

Mr. Mouammar expressed the
dissatisfaction shared by many
Canadians over biased coverage
of the Mideast situation by
Canadian media.

“It is evident,” he said, “that
coverage is one-sided, in that
the whole issue is made to look
as if the Arabs are the aggres-
sor even though we all know
that the battle that’s occuring
now, is occurring on occupied
Arab territory.

Assisting Aggressor

“The assistance that the Unit-
ed States is giving to Israel is
pictured as if it is an assistance
to a country that is the victim
of this fighting, while actually
what the United States is doing
is assisting an aggressor . .
And this is where the distinc-
tion has not been made in the
press; they say that the Soviet
Union is supplying arms to the
Arabs and that this is interven-
tion on the part of the Soviet
Union, while the assistance that

America is giving to Israel” is
shown asNf it is: humanitarian.

“Any assistance that is being
given by the Soviet Union to the
Arab countries is being given
to protect them from Israeli ag-
gression and to safeguard their
territorial integrity . . . al

“We have no aim of exter-
minating anybody.-Our aim is to
regain our occupied territories
and to establish the rights of the
Palestinians. These are the aims
of the Arab people.”

Pressure of the People

The unity of the oil-producing
countries, eight of whom had
cut off all oil to the USA,
“would not have occurred, had
it not been for the pressure .of
all the Arab people,” Mr.
Mouammar believed.

“This is a good sign that the
Arab people this time are forc-
ing the governments that had
been sitting on the fence, to
engage, one way or the other in
this fight . . .”

“We've been fighting in the
Middle East for the last 25
years,” he said, “not because
the Golan Heights. were occu-
pied in 1967, or the Sinai occu-

‘

pied in 1967. The conflict has
been going on from 1948 to 1967
because of the racist, exclusivist
nature of the State of Israel and
the denial of the Palestinians
rights for equal representation
in government, for employment
and education.”
Treat Citizens Equally

Likening Israel to South Af-
rica, he said that, “if we want
to solve this problem for good,
(Israel will) have to come out
with a philosophy which is more
progressive within ‘that state,
which will accept an Arab, be
he a Christian or Moslem, on an
equal footing with a person who
happens to be of Jewish origin,
and will allow equal cultural op-
portunities for Arabs.”

He said that “the return of
the Arab territories would be
only the first step. The second
is that Israel must become 2
Middle Eastern _ state, which
means that it must live in har-
mony with its neighbors, treat
the citizens of Arab origin

equally, allow. those who want
to come back to come back —
those who were expelled — and
get rid of this racist ideology.”

~
RS cs eer

“The assistance the USA is giving to Israel is pictured as assistance
to the victim, while actually they are assisting the aggressor.”

>

Ey

s—

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1973—PAGE 7