CANADA

No Star Wars, equal security
basis for successful Summit

TORONTO — Addressing a meeting, Oct. 23,
on prerequisites for the November summit meeting
in Geneva, William Kashtan, leader of the Commu-
Inist Party of Canada, described proposals recently
put forward by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev as
sound bases for progress. ;

He explained the importance of the Mulroney
government’s taking a positive stand on these and
Telated issues on which world peace may well
depend.

There are two “essentials that must be the basis for
an agreement,” Kashtan told the Tribune prior to his
evening meeting. “Without them there will be no
agreement.

“One,” he said, “is that Star Wars must be
abandoned — other than basic research. The Soviet
Union has made it clear that unless Star Wars is
abandoned there is no basis for arms control. And

- the reason for this is clear enough, because the Star

Wars program is an offensive/defensive mechanism
by the United States administration to assure it a
first-strike nuclear military superiority over the
Soviet Union.

“This is based on the conception that with this
Superiority the U.S. can win a nuclear war,” Kashtan
Said. “They haven’t hidden the fact that their objec-

- tive is, one of their experts said, to destroy socialism

or to change it so that it ceases to be socialism. The
first-strike weapon has this objective.”

He said that the U.S. efforts to achieve military
Superiority on the ground, had not been achieved.
“They believe that now, through the Strategic

Defence Initiative, they can achieve this first-strike

military superiority and change the balance of forces
between the Soviet Union and the United States to
the advantage of American imperialism.

The Reagan administration has said that it will go
beyond basic research. Their aim is to include test-
ing, development and deployment and, before too
long they will include its use. That is why the aban-
donment of this first-strike nuclear strategy of the
U.S. administration has to be abandoned.

Not Equal Responsibility

“The second pre-condition, in my view, is that
there must be\parity and equality of security between
the United States and the Soviet Union, and between
the NATO group and the Warsaw Pact,” he said.
“The Soviet Union has made clear that it will not
Permit military superiority over it and its allies.

“These two prerequisities, then, will determine the
Success or lack of success of the summit meeting,” he
Said,

“Tt is important that the peace forces, including
those who are temporarily taken in by the question
of equal responsbility take note of this basic fact. It is
the equality that exists up to now between the United
States and the Soviet Union — in a military
Sense — that prevents an outbreak of war. That’s
what the United States government wants to
Change,” he said.

__ “Those who proclaim equal responsibility, objec-

tively whether they will it or not, play the game of

Merican imperialism and weaken the forces of
Peace on a world-wide scale,” Kashtan said.

Bases for Arms Agreement

“The Soviet Union has made clear that it is deter-
Mined in every way to bring about an arms agree-
Ment, and this is made evident in its latest

Proposals,” he noted. They were:

© That both the U.S. and the Soviet Union reduce
Y 50 per cent their long-range nuclear weapons
Capable of reaching each other’s territory; AE
© That the USSR and the U.S. totally prohibit
Space strike weapons;
© That they conclude a speedy agreement on the
Teduction of medium-range nuclear weapons in
Uurope; ot
_ © That they reach an agreement for the prohibi-
©n of chemical weapons; j
._ Atthe same time, the Soviet Union has stated that
itis prepared to ngotiate separately with Britain and
Tance on medium-range missiles.

“This,” Kashtan said, “is a package that could

lead, if the United States agreed to it, to arms control.
And arms control based on reduction of arms, which
is implicit in all the proposals of the Soviet Union
would open the door to the eventual destruction of
all nuclear weapons, and strengthening the forces of
peace on a world scale.

“Yes, it’s true” Kashtan said, “that this proposal
which has been welcomed by public opinion
throughout the world has been kicked around in the
United States. Some have opposed it completely.

“There are other voices, however, who now state
that the proposals of the Soviet Union need to be
given careful consideration,” he pointed out. “There
are different currents of opinion in the United States,
in the administration, and outside it, from those who
want to prevent a summit, to those who think that a
summit, based on compromise would be a good
thing for the United States.”

A Role for Canada

“Prime Minister Mulroney is quoted as urging the
United States and the Soviet Union to ‘walk an extra
mile’. Well, the Soviet Union has walked more than
an extra mile, while the Reagan administration
refuses to walk at all — and prefers to walk back-
wards and away from any agreement.

“At the same time, Prime Minister Mulroney has

refused to say what is the position of his government

with respect to the pivotal point of the agreement, if
agreements are possible, that the Straegic Defence
Initiative must be abandoned, which suggests that he
still has an eye to the possibility of doing business
with the United States via the Star Wars program, at
the expense of peace,” Kashtan said.

“Canada and the Canadian government cannot
evade this question. It cannot be sidestepped. Peace,
for Canada, depends now on agreements arrived at by
the United States and the Soviet Union,” he said.
“Prime Minister Mulroney was right when he said
that while Canada is not in the negotiations, Canada
is there, because it will be involved in whatever is
decided. :

“What is crucial, however,” Kashtan stressed, “‘is
the role of the labor movement, the peace forces, the
trade union movement, the New Democratic Party,
all peace-minded people need to play in this process.

Unity of Peace Forces

“In all of this,” he stressed vigorously, “what is
important now is unity of the peace forces on a
Canada-wide scale around an agreed program. That
means, insofar as it’s possible to come to an agree-
ment, unity to press forward against Star Wars and
Canada’s involvement in Star Wars; unity to prevent
the renewal of NORAD by the Canadian govern-
ment by next spring; unity based on the acceptance
of peaceful coexistence of different social systems as
the basis for the maintenance of peace and, facing up
to the reality that there are in today’s world not two
forces that are orientating on arms programs and
war — there is United States imperialism.

“We have to speak up for the two basic questions
that were referred to at the begining — no to Star
Wars, no to Canada’s involvement in Star Wars in
any way, and today — which is becoming increas-
ingly evident — not allowing Canada to be sucked
into Star Wars through NORAD, which appears to
be the strategy of the Pentagon and the United States
administration.

“In short, Canada needs to speak up for an inde-
pendent foreign policy which is its best assurance,
but at the same time it cannot win peace for itself
without winning peace for the world,” Kashtan
emphasized. ;

“Tt is to be hoped,” he said, “that Canadians will’

rise to the occasion and strenghthen the forces of
peace in Canada and on a world scale to make the
summit work for peace and to open the door to a
new path of development — away from cold war,
away from confrontation — towards co-operation
and the utilization, for the good of humankind every-
where, of the enormous sums presently being spent
for arms.”

Ban war games,

say Muskokans

Special to the Tribune

GRAVENHURST — The Great Canadian Adventure Game
should be stopped in its tracks — by peaceful means — in the view
of a large number of Muskoka citizens and the Muskoka Peace
Group which addressed Gravenhurst Council at a recent public
hearing.

The peace group was among those opposing the rezoning of
property in Ryde Ward to allow the setting up of a war game in
which combatants stalk each other in wooded areas and shoot it out
with guns discharging paint pellets.

Harmless? The MPG point out otherwise, citing blindings and
other eye injuries, as well as severe psychological and social impact,
especially on children.

_ “Guns are displayed in every picture in the game’s brochure,” the
peace group pointed out. “The scenario is the player as an ‘armed
member of a crack tactical unit’. The selling point is the rush of
adrenalin.

“The issues get clouded,” it pointed out;*when the gun is called a
‘marker’. These ‘markers’ are so realistic that Toronto area police
are using them to train SWAT teams.

“Let’s be clear about this game,” the group said. “It is the guns
which draw the customers. The game is about the simulated killing
of human beings for fun and profit. It allows participants to buy the
‘thrill’ of battle without experiencing the horror of war.”

Noting a number of community programs with non-violent.
goals, the MPG quotes Section 2.1 of the District Official Plan
which seeks “to accomodate. ..growth...in a manner consistent
with the traditional and existing character of all. ..communities in
Muskoka”.

The killing game, on the other hand, has recorded 29 eye injuries,
12 blindings in one eye in 18 months in Ontario and Quebec alone.
“These injuries do not happen because goggles are taken off but
because someone fires at the head of a person with goggles off
Why? The answer lies in the game itself — in that ‘adrenalin high’
which leads to lack of control,” said the peace group. “Police in Peel
County have confiscated war games’ guns from children. Could a
real gun be brought into a game? There seems to be no screening
process, as occurs in gun clubs, to keep unstable or criminal types
out.

The peace group gave references from medical sources to show
the negative effect of such behavior ‘on both adults and children. It
listed several questions whch should be considered by the Solicitor
General, including the question: “Can children distinguish between
which adult behaviors are real life and which are the acting out of
fantasies?”

The, Muskoka Peace Group believes “war games give people
permission to practice violence. They raise society’s violence thre-

shold and make war and militarism a normal and inevitable fact of

life. The military response to problems in the nuclear age is obsolete
because it threatens the survival of the planet.”

The group noted that “This (Gravenhurst) council has. ..shown
vision — thinking globally and acting locally — by declaring
Gravenhurst a Nuclear Weapons-Free Zone.” It urged council to
keep this “a War Games Free Zone by turning down this applica-
tion.” It noted that nearby townships of Georgina and King were
banning the “games”.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, OCTOBER 30, 1985 e 5 =