Police attack Grenadian demo Special to the Tribune WINNIPEG — ‘The unprovoked attack on _ peaceful demonstrators outside the U.S. Con- sulate here last week should not distract Manito- bans from the real tragedy in Grenada,’’ demonst- ration organizers said in a statement. “The death toll in the tiny Caribbean nation is mounting as the island’s sovereignty continues to be trampled by the invading U.S. forces,’’ the statement continued. More than 450 people from a broad spectrum of the community attended a rally, Oct. 28 to protest against the U.S. invasion of Grenada. Organizers said they were very pleased with the large turnout considering there was only three days’ notice of the event. Provocateurs Rush Demonstration However, they said, an unfortunate situation | developed when a group of six young men, dressed in army fatigues and carrying pro-U.S. signs, forced their way onto the speakers’ platform at the demonstration. The provocateurs wished to ex- press their support for Reagan’s policies. They have since been identified as members of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles, a militia unit. It has been acknowledged that these same young men were present at the June 11 Walk for Peace in _ Winnipeg, brandishing signs of ‘*Use the Cruise’. At the Grenada protest the provacateurs started scuffies with the demonstrators. The Winnipeg | Police then arrested several demonstrators using _ what mace -observers have described as ‘‘brutal : : \ > .) | ° The rally which began at the U.S. Consulate, - speeches, originally intended for the Consulate steps, were finished at the PSB. The Manitoba New Democratic Party govern- Ment sent a copy of a telegram to the demonstra- tion which they had sent to Ottawa protesting the invasion. Bruno Zimmer from the Manitoba Fed- | eration of Labor spoke, indicating the Labor | . Federation in no way supports U.S. action in Gre- nada. Canadian University Serivces Overseas (CUSO), Oxfam, the National Farmers’ Union in Manitoba, and the Marquis Project in Brandon were among those denouncing the invasion. Police Target Chileans The police brutality and violence which were directed against the Chilean people in the crowd |} was denounced, and an inquiry called for. __A defence committee was struck to begin to _ co-ordinate a public protest against the police vio- lence which left one of the seven arrested on _ crutches with severe leg injuries. _ The seven defendants, who have all pleaded not - guilty, issued a statement through their lawyer, Vic Savino, urging that the U.S. invasion of Grenada _ continue to remain as the focal point of attention. _ They, as well as the defence committee, are calling _ for an inquiry into police behavior which also in- cludes regular violence directed against other } communities in Winnipeg, particularly the Native and Filipino communities. As well, they are calling _ for the provocateurs to be charged by the police. | The Winnipeg Labor Council and the Irish Cana- dian National Association are among those de- _ mouncing the excessive police brutality. Manito- _ba’s attorney general has stated he will direct the -Manitoba Police Commission to look into the mat- = Ser. "New Demonstrations Planned Another demonstration was immediately plan- ned against the invasion of Grenada, which organ- _ izers are determined will be bigger than the first, and further condemnation of the U.S. actions are being sought throughout the community. | ended at the Public Safety Building (PSB) where _ - the majority of arrested were being held. The - Kardash tops polls but Tories retain hold on Winnipeg Labor Election Committee Trustee Mary Kardash has topped the polls once again in Ward 3 of Winnipeg's School Division Number One, winning re-election with 8,137 votes in the Oct. 26 civic elections here. LEC candidates for school and city council received a total of 14,000 votes showing their wide base of support in central Winnipeg for a strong reform coalition. However a pro-developer coalition, riding a wave of bigotted propaganda aimed at the Franco Manitoban minority and the provincial New Democratic Party government retained its firm grip on Winnipeg civic politics. The NDP slate running on a slogan of ‘‘accountability’’, provided only a weak and divided opposition during the campaign. The NDP lost one seat and now holds six of 29 on council, but half of the remaining NDP members ‘have made it clear in recent months that they will be accountable to no one. The victorious coalition members who ran as so-called independents have already met to divide up key city council appointments after claiming before the election that their group, the Independent Citizens Election Committee, was disbanding. Progressive forces in the north end suffered a temporary setback with the failure of the LEC to keep the Norquay seat vacated by councillor Joe Zuken who held it for 23 years. So-called independant Harry Lazanenko who dropped his NDP dis- guise for the two previous Norquay races, received 1,850 votes; Tory candidate Wayne Anderson won 1,424; Mike Gidora, LEC, 1,168; NDP candidate Audreen Hourie, 1,140. Anderson brought out a massive reactionary vote by campaigning almost exclusively against French language rights. The progressive vote was split when the NDP leadership rejectéd unity and decided to run a candidate against the LEC in Norquay. . Other LEC candidates were Trustee Kardash’s running mate Hans Mueller, who won 2,580 votes and Steve September who took 2,588 votes in Ward 2. Neither was elected. In Thompson, independent Anna Rodrigues, fought off a strong Tory campaign for re-election to the Mystery Lake School Board, with the support of teacher, parent and community groups. Mayor Bill Norrie of Winnipeg an ally and former member of the winning Tory group, was re-elected by a margin of three to one over Brian Coran of the NDP and three fringe candidates. The overall results proved the main conclusions of the LEC during the campaign that the referendum on French language rights was designed to avert attention from the main issue of civic and school cutbacks, rising taxes and giveaways to developers; that the NDP alone cannot provide an effec- tive alternative or opposition to the pro-developer group; a genuine reform coalition of labor, community, senior citizens and others includ- ing the LEC and the NDP must be built to promote people-oriented 4 ‘policies and defeat the pro-business forces. Plebiscite brings out bigots, peace vote wins ‘the economic and political domain. WINNIPEG — The people of Manitoba have voted 76 per cent in favor of multi-lateral nuclear disarmament in 17 referenda held -around the province in the Oct. 26 civic elections. More than 170,000 voted ‘“‘yes’’ to nuclear dis- armament while 53,000 were opposed. This matches the national aver- age for similar referenda held ac- ross Canada last fall. ‘*Now it’s a matter of making sure something happens with legislature. The were pleased to be able to mobil- ize 50,000 voters (23.5 per cent) in Winnipeg to reject the demand that the provincial government withdraw its legislation for provi- sion of French language services. In rural areas about 5,400 people (21 per cent) voted no to the removal of the legislation which is now before the Manitoba Societe Franco-Manitobaine, said the re- sult was positive given the dis- torted and emotionally frenzied gressive drive to undermine and destroy _ the universal and non-contributory Old those results,’’ said Val Klassen, and executive member of Win- nipeg’s Co-ordinating Committee for Disarmament which spon- sored the referendum here. Klassen said the vote in the face of rapidly escalating world ten- sions, shows people are more determined than ever to achieve nuclear disarmament. For example, she said, the out- cry over the Korean airline inci- campaign run by those opposed to entrenchment of French language rights and the fact that Franco Manitobans make only about 6 per cent of the ute da, population. The Labor Election Committee condemned the language plebi- - cite as an unprincipled attack on fundamental minority rights and asa plan to divert voters’ attention from basic civic issues. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—NOVEMBER 9, 1983—Page 6 dent made people more firmly pro-disarmament. “This (type of incident) just proves how dangerous it can be, people realize the fallibility of these people who are supposed to be the experts. ~ _ Opponents of the plebiscite against Franco Manitoban rights The Manitoba Communist Party in a brief to a Legislature Committee Sept. 28 described the plebiscite as ‘‘the public trial of Fench-speaking Manitobans at . the bar of public opinion’’ and something which would only stir up bigotry and intolerance. the 1952 commitment by the federal government to institute a universal an¢ basic old age security pension, in ansertO _ build income security and dignity in old a age for all retired Canadians. Money for | The following brief was submitted by the Communist Party of Canada to the Parliamentary Task Force on Pension Reform. It outlines steps which must be taken to bring the thousands of pare eS living in poverty a decent income. At the very outset of this presentation we wish to point out that the private co porate sector (financial and industrial) in this country has always opposed retire- ment pensions of any kind. Their posi- tion has always been, that the level of income replacement upon retirement is a matter for the individual and not society to worry about. Whatever progress. has been made to provide financial security and a life o dignity in retirement and old age through pensions (public and/or private) has been For security and dignity in old age — CPC on pension reforms — won after long and tenacious struggles by _ the working people.Unfortunately, and | despite notable progress made, polariza- | tion of wealth and poverty has become | an increasingly difficult problem to grap- | ple with, both in Canada and elsewhere, | wherever private capital investors are in | the position to wield monopoly power in | During the past decade, the banks and other commercial and industrial — monopolies have undertaken a most ag- | Age Security (OAS) pension and, to re- | place it with the income-tested so-called } Guarantee Income Security (GIS) Supplement. This shameless drive has. | already condemned more than one-half — of our aged citizens to a life without dig- _ nity and much below the officially estab- | lished poverty line. Thismust be stopped! | * * * ' The government’s Green Paper states, (chapter 2-page 5) quote-un-quote: ‘‘The — foundation for all retirement income is | the federal Old Age Security (OAS) pen-— sion. It provides every resident of Cana- | da, as a matter of right, with a flat rate benefit at age 65 based on years of resi- _ dence in Canada. It is indexed to account — for inflation, though increases will be li- | mited to 6 per cent and 5 percentoverthe | next two years, respectively, because off the need foreveryone tocontribute tothe | economic recovery Program. ”. (Ema phasis added). % | The first part of this statement refers tO popular demand, as a base upon which to that pension was eventually to be derived