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OPENING ADDRESS TO CONGRESS OF PEACE FORCES

“A glorious perspective opens —

a new world, a world of peace’

MOSCOW .— The World Con-
gress of Peace Forces opened
here October 25, with the presi-
dential .address ‘by Romesh
Chandra, general-secretary of
the World Peace Council and
chairman of the International
Preparatory Committee.

As well as detailing basic as-
sumptions of the international-

ly-planned Congress, he brought‘

into focus the factors under-
lying tensions in a number of
areas of the world.

The following is Romesh
Chandra’s address, slightly ab-
ridged.

The World Congress of Peace
Forces has begun its work. This
is our Congress, the congress not
of any one. organization or
movement, but a congress call-
ed by and prepared by thous-
ands of organizations, parties,
groups — international, national
and local. In the entire history
of mankind’s striving for~ a
world from which war and op-
pression, imperialism and exploi-
tation have been banished for
all time, there has never been
a congress of this special kind.

This Congress can well be call-
ed the first general assembly of
the peoples of the world.

Four words provide
meaning of Congress

We said, when we began the
preparations for this Congress,

* that four words could character-

ize best the meaning of this con-
gress of a new type, of an un-
precedented nature. I am going
to repeat these four words:

The first word is “together”.
We prepared for this Congress
together, all of us, belonging to
different organizations, holding
different political opinions.

The second word which char-
acterizes this Congress, which
has been a feature of the pre-
parations for the Congress, is
the word “open”. This Congress
is not a closed congress of peo-
ple who think alike, but it is a
congress open to all those who
stand for its aims, who want to
work together, who seek unity
and cooperaton, who do not
want to stand in their separate
fortresses, shouting against each
other. This Congress: is the
greatest, broadest assembly of
the workers for man’s best
causes ever held, open to all.

And the third word which de-
scribes this Congress — this
general assembly of the peoples
—is the word “dialogue”. We
seek to talk to each other, to
discuss with those who differ
from us, with those who have
different points of view from our
own. This is a great congress of
dialogue, and the entire prepar-
atory work in every country has
been in a way permeated with
this dialogue, with this ex-
change of views, with this open,
frank discussion.

And the fourth word is tne
word “action”. This also is a
simple word, Which means a
great deal. Our dialogue, our dis-
cussion, our coming together is
not for dialogue’s sake, but for
the planning of actions, actions
by the peoples, new actions for
peace and freedom, for interna-
tional security, for human rights
and social progress, for all the
good things that men and

women everywhere deeply de-
sire.

How has it been possible to
bring together a congress of this
new type, prepared for jointly
by so many different kinds of
organizations? Why was it not
possible before? What has hap-
pened that has created the con-
ditions to make this vast gather-
ing possible?

The answer is clear and
straight: A congress of this type
could only be held in this
period, when a new climate pre-
vails in the international situa-
tion, marked by victories for
peace and detente, for the cause
of peaceful coexistence, for the
cause of national independence
and international security.

We think today of the people
of Vietnam and of the great vic-
tory they won this year with the
signing of the peace agreement.
This was a victory not only for
the Vietnamese people,’ but for
every people on this earth. The
word Vietnam today has the
same meaning in all languages.
It means peace, it means inde-
pendence, it means that no peo-
ple can be destroyed, even by
the most barbaric imperialist
aggression, if they are united,
if they struggle together and if
they have the support and ssoli-
darity of all the other anti-
imperialist forces of the world.

We think today of the Arab
peoples, faced for years with ag-
gression, with the occupation of
their lands. We think of the peo-
ple of Palestine, deprived of
their homeland, driven from
their homes.

War is raging in the Middle
East. And precious lives are
being lost at this hour. There
are little children with little
voices, like those of your ‘chil-
dren and mine, lying still and
silent in Damascus and in Suez,
killed by the bombs and bullets
-manufactured in the same fac-
tories as those which killed the
children of Vietnam.

Today, as the Congress be-
gins, we are aware of the great
responsibilities that face us. The
peoples of the world can and
must, act to support the United
Nations efforts for peace ‘and
justice, to stop the aggression,
to ensure the return of the Arab
lands to their peoples and to re-

store the legitimate rights of.

the people of Palestine.

Our hearts are with
Chilean resistance

We think today of Chile, vic-
tim of a savage, brutal fascist
coup d’etat, victim of murder

d assassination, torture and
utchery, a country which is a
land of concentration camps.
Our hearts are with the resist-
ance of Chile. Our hearts are
with the fighters against fas-
cism.

For let this Congress pro-
claim: Chile lives and the fascist
junta shall not triumph.

We think today of Salvador
Allende and Pablo Neruda,
whom we knew and whose hand
we have shaken and into whose
eyes we have looked. The ban-
ner of President Salvador Al-
lende is a banner for every peo-
ple which seeks to build a new
life, which seeks to take its own
resources into its own hands, so

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1973—PAGE 8

ROMESH CHANDRA, PRESIDENT, WORLD COUNCIL OF PEACE

that its children may not be
hungry any more.

And we think of Pablo Neru-
da, a poet, a son of his soil who
loved his land, as you love yours
and I love mine, and who gave
us words which fill our yes
with tears and our hearts with
hope.

Can I read back to you, dear
Pablo, your own words:

I must speak to those dead

now as if they were here-
Brothers .. . it will go On
our fight will go on in the
land,
in the factories, in the farms,
in the streets the fight will go
on.
And then:
Out of the silence
your voices will rise in the
mighty shout of freedom
when. the hope of the peoples
flames into hymns of joy-
Salvador Alende lives! Pablo
Neruda lives! Chile lives! _

We think today of all the Peo-
ples of the world, the peopJes of
Europe, working to build a Sys-
tem of security and cooperation,
to end the division of this great
continent into opposing military
blocs.

People won't allow
cold war fo return

We recall with pride the great
achievements which have been
obtained, of the start of the
European Security Conferefice—
great victory for peace fot the
peoples of Europe and of the
whole world, a victory to Which

the peoples of Europe have
made a profound contribution.
Let the cold warriors know
that the peoples will not allow
the cold war to come back. We
fight to carry forward the spirit
of security and cooperation in
Europe, and we seek to carry
the spirit and the principles of
security to other continents. I
think of the people of Asia, of
my people of Asia, of their great
fight against imperialist domina-
tion and exploitation, against
neo-colonialism. A system of
collective security in Asia, bas-
ed on the principles of Pancha-
shila and of Bandung, on the
principles of peaceful coexist-
ence, is the urgent need of the

‘hundreds of millions of Asians

f all Asian countries.

‘ I think of the people of Afri-
ca, the great new Africa, newly
independent, proud and march-
ing forward to liberate the last
strongholds of imperialism and
domination on their continent.

We salute today the victories
of the African liberation move-
ments, and we. send our congra-
tulations first and foremost to
the people of the republic of
Guinea-Bissau, who have estab-
lished their own independent
state.

I remember the days when we
talked of this congress with the
great leader of the liberation
struggle of this country—Amil-
car Cabral. He is not here with
us today. How happy he would

-have been to see our Common-

ly planned Congress being held
—a success beyond our most op-
timistic estimates. And now we

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