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ay Farah, head of the Cuban delegation to the Habitat conference,
akes the podium to deliver his address.

—Sean Griffin photos

.

| , By 1980, wewill have completed
the transformation of the rural

areas of our country.”

th hat is one of the main goals of
© Soviet people, G. N. Fomin,
ad of the Soviet delegation to

eat told a Vancouver press

imucrence, emphasizing that

a Creases in the standard of living

n both rural and urban areas were

Central objectives in the recent

P Congress of the Communist
arty of the Soviet Union.

Fo the wide-ranging conference,
Min discussed problems of
abitat as well as a number of

national and international issues.

f Ousing cannot be separated for

| Yerall plans for the development

“te Soviet economy, he said.

ih; €, in the Soviet Union, want to

of takes balanced development
| facili € economy which will

ai. itate and encourage im-

| ,,°’ements in human settlements.

'S is coming about through the

Velopment of regional planning

n tems which will fit in to an
©rall plan for the whole country.

all Oday, more than 90 percent of

cee and over 70 percent of

al centres are guaranteed
oe access to all facilities
rec as theatres, exhibitions, and

. T€ational centres. This is a vast

but ovement over five years ago,
aS it must be improved so that

fi ‘ : :
facilities » will enjoy the same
A key factor to overcoming that
en is the improvement of the

Sai. ransportation system, he

2 ay min explained that one-half of

| b Ousing costs are paid directly

and th State in the Soviet Union,

; 55 at rents constitute no more
eur or five percent of a
a: S income. ‘The rent paid by
sti Ividual covers a very small

On of the total expenditures
Fomi, M maintaining that home,”
by N Said “The balance is paid

© State as well.”

Uring the press conference, the
str x Minister of housing con-
World On repeated his call for

at tg disarmament in order
bein € vast amounts currently
treed poet on the arms race be
housin Cope with the problems of

Most countries in the world
With. have enough money to cope

a eir housing problems, but
: ney is not being used in that
ea Th “

“ *he arms race, and inflated

Rural, urban equality
aim of soviet plans

defence budgets, both require vast

expenditures.”
He emphasized the Soviet Union
has submitted numerous

resolutions on disarmament to the
United Nations General Assembly,
including one which called upon all
states to reduce arms expenditures
by 10 percent per year in order to
better. utilize their resources.

“‘We’ve got to settle once and for
all the question of nuclear disar-
mament — either wholly or in a
piecemeal fashion so that these
vast resources can be utilized for
the good of the people,’’ he
declared. ‘‘But,’’ he warned, ‘“‘the
problems of the arms race can only
be solved through international
agreement. Each revolution must
be able to defend itself against
imperialist aggression, and the
Soviet Union and other socialist
countries find our arms ex-
penditures determined by that
fact..’

Fomin also addressed himself
directly to one of Habitat’s main
points of contention: the control of
and use of land. ‘‘Either land must
be nationalized, or states must
regulate firm control over the
manner in which land is to be
used,”’ he said.

He urged more international
cooperation in the field of human
settlements, which he said would
enable the solving of most of the
world’s housing problems in a
“relatively short period of time.”

G.N. FOMIN .. . heading the Soviet delegation to Habitat.

The Cuban delegation to Habitat
has warned that the United Nations
conference will not achieve any of
its desired results unless pressure
is brought to bear.upon im-
perialism to end its wholesale
exploitation of the third world.

Levy Farah, Cuba’s construction
minister and leader of the Cuban
contingent at Habitat, told the
eighth plenary session of Habitat
that Cuba has always offered “‘her
solidarious support to all op-
pressed peoples that struggle to
achieve liberation from the
colonial yoke” and favors the
rights of underdeveloped peoples
to fully exercise their sovereignty
and to use without restriction their
natural resources.

“We see with satisfaction that
these aspects are included in the
draft declaration of principles of
this international conference.”

Farah continued: ‘Lacking
these great changes in in-
ternational relations, there can be
no human settlements policy, for
decorous living conditions in
countries which at present are
underdeveloped cannot’ be
established since these countries
have been exploited and their

’ natural resources have for cen-

turies been sacked by imperialist
countries which at present: make
boastful shows of wastefulness in
their consumer societies in face of
the impoverished majorities.”

The Cuban national statement
was one of the strongest con-
demnations of imperialism
delivered to the assembled
delegates in the plenary sessions,
and drew upon the experiences of
foreign domination of the Cuban
people by Spanish and U.S.
colonialism and neo-colonialism,
and warned that eliminating im-
perialism is not a simple act of
wishing it away.

“It is not an easy matter to speak
the language of international
cooperation with those whose only
law is the exploiting interest of the
transnational companies.

“It is not easy to imagine the
higher human community to which
we all aspire when at present
enormous class_ differences,
racism, discrimination of women,
illiteracy and other social evils
rule.

“Tt is not easy to reconcile the
high concern for man which rules
this assembly and the bloody
tyrannies supported by crime,
torture and the most brutal
smothering of human dignity.”

In a later press conference
farah elaborated on many of his
statements to the plenary session.
He said that a major redistribution
of world wealth could be brought
about only when control over the

means of production and resources _

..but on the © society.

rest in the hands of the people of a
country and not in the hands of
huge foreign conglomerates.

However, despite the role
presently played by many
developed western countries*

Farah said that there is a great
deal which these countries can do
to speed the redistribution of
wealth.

“The first help which developed
capitalist countries can give to the
underdeveloped nations is to put an
end to their exploitation of these
less developed countries. The
second help they can give is
through extending cooperation in
economic and technical
assistance.”

He stressed however that it
would be incorrect not to dif-
ferentiate between developed
countries themselves. ‘‘There are
two types of developed countries;
the socialists countries of the world
which historically have never
exploited less developed countries,
but have been most generous in
extended aid and assistance to the
underdeveloped world, and the
imperialist nations of the world,
primarily U.S. imperialism which
continue to rape and exploit the
third world.

“As long as the imperialist
countries exploit other countries
we cannot speak of the third world
as developing states, but rather as
underdeveloped countries.”

Farah said that many of the
problems associated with im-
provements in urban develop-
ments are mirror images of
problems of society. He explained
that Cuba was proceeding with the
development of multi-family
highrise dwellings at a time when
many countries are experiencing
great social problems in these
developments because in the
Cuban scheme of housing man is
fundamental.

“Our houses, our cities, are
planned to accommodate all of the
requirements of children, young
people and adults. It’s impossible
for us to have a single family home
for everyone because we need
every acre of land for agriculture.

“But the social problems which
many countries have experienced
are not reflections on the buildings
We’re not
talking about buildings causing
social problems, but about class
societies where one class exploits
the other. That’s the root cause of
social ills.”’

Referring .to Cuba’s own
economic growth Farah explained
that had Cuba not been faced with
the threat of U.S. military invasion
and acts of economic aggression
such as the blockade, her growth
would have proceeded at a much
more rapid pace. “‘If we could have
expended the energy and resources
used in defending our revolution on
improving the quality of life for the
Cuban people, our growth would
have been much quicker.

“But you must remember, it is
not the decision of each country to
expend energy on defense. That
decision is imposed on them by the
aggressive stance of im-
perialism.”

As Habitat enters its final, days,
the general plenary sessions have
begun debate on recommendations
from the three working com-
mittees which have drafted
proposals for national action, in-
ternational cooperation, and a
general statement of principles to
guide further work in the field of
human settlements.

One of the more contentious
issues to be debated, and one of
particular interest to Canadians
revolves around the question of
land speculation. After a series of
shifts in Canada’s position, a

wg End exploitation of third
= world Cuba tells Habitat

proposal. which would make
unearned profits accumulated
through public decision or in-
vestment subject to ‘“‘appropriate
recapture’’ will be debated.

Canada had originally stood
opposed to any form of recapture
of unearned land profits, but after
this proposal was soundly rejected
by most of the other delegations it
jumped to the position being put
forward by the drafting com-
mittee. The amended Canadian
position still falls far short of
banning land speculation, leaving
the decision as to what represents
“appropriate recapture’ to in-
dividual governments.

Canadian observers at Habitat
said that even though Canada had
changed its position on the land
issue, it probably would not be
reflected in a serious curbing of
land speculation. in this country.
The fight now, they said, has to be
a political one which will wrest
control of governments away from
speculation interests.

FRENE GINWALA

Remark called
‘presumptuous’

‘“‘Presumptuous and ill-advised”’
was the opinion of Dr. Frene
Ginwala, delegate from the
African National Congress of South
Africa to Habitat, regarding an-
thropologist Margaret Mead’s
criticism of the International
Federation of Settlements for
excluding South Africa from its
conference.

She was referring to a speech
made by .the well-known an-
thropologist at a dinner held for the
200 Federation delegates in which
Mead stated: “To be _ bigoted
against bigots is still to be bigoted.
Non-governmental organizations
don’t need to get, into this kind of
nonsense.”’

Dr. Ginwala opposed this saying,
“the isolation of the apartheid
system in all spheres’ of in-.
ternational activity has come
about at the direct request of the
people of South Africa, and this
request has received the en-
dorsement of the Organization of
African Unity, and the over-
whelming majority of the member
nations of the U.N.”

There are many professed
liberals, she added, who-claim that
they are more competent to decide
what is in the interests of Black

people than the Black people

themselves. To suggest that the
people of South Africa do not know
the conditions in which they live, or
are not competent to determine the
strategies for their. liberation, is a
compound of arrogance and
racism.

The African National Congress"
has commended the International
Federation of Settlements for its
stand against the participation of
South Africa.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JUNE 11, 1976—Page 3