WORLD

‘New Year without torture’

CHICAGO — The Rev. Dennis O’Mara, a Chicago-born
priest-missionary who was expelled from Chile by the fascist
Pinochet regime shows reporters a sketch of the greeting cards that
prompted his expulsion. O’ Mara was arrested in a Santiago church
on Christmas eve and imprisoned for three days for passing out the
cards asking for a ‘‘New Year without torture’’.

SANTIAGO — In the largest public demonstration since
Pinochet imposed a state of seige-on Chile Nov. 6, thousands of

people

carrying red carnations and Communist Party flags turned

the funeral Jan. 7 of Matilda Urrutia, widow of Nobel laureate
Pablo Neruda into a protest against the dictatorship. A crowd of
more than 2,000 waited at Santiago’s general cemetery for the
procession of 1,000 which carried the coffin from the Neruda’s
house. Mdme Neruda died of cancer Jan. 5 at age 70.

Since Oct. 30, 1984 the regime has conducted mass repression
against working class neighborhoods, rounding up thousands of
people. Hundreds have been transferred to 59 isolated regions of
Chile, others to concentration camps in the north. Santiago’s soccer
stadium where many patriots were murdered in 1973 has again

been transformed into a prison.

Soviet, Japanese CPs agree

_ Struggle for peace prime task

MOSCOW — Although the general trend over
the past decade in the world communist movement
has been towards closer unity, there have been
political differences in terms of evaluation. For
example, the Communist Party of Japan has pub-
licly taken positions which were at odds with the
common assessment of international issues.

That is why the recent top-level talks held here
between the CPSU and the CPJ are considered to
be quite significant. The joint statement issued
after the December meeting contains the following
passage: “The CPSU, as a party of a country, 20
million of whose citizens fell in the struggle against
fascism, and the Communist Party of Japan —
whose country was the first to suffer from nuclear
arms — solemnly declare that in the present situa-
tion, when the danger of nuclear war is increasing,
they veiw the task of radical measures aimed at
averting nuclear war and attaining the total pro-
hibition and liquidation of nuclear arms as urgent,
as vitally important for mankind, as central to the
anti-nuclear and anti-war movement, to all of
world politics.”’

Both Konstantin Chernenko, General Secretary
of the CPSU, and Kenji Miyamato, Chairman of
the Central Committee of the CPJ, emphasized the

Making it better

One of the big issues in the USSR is labor pro-
ductivity — making it increasingly higher in order
to boost production and to take up the slack for the

declining number of new people entering the work-'

force. As well, higher labor productivity under
socialism means technical change and moderniza-
tion, more challenging and stimulating jobs, and
higher earnings.

A high point of the Soviet Union’s economic
results of the first three-quarters of 1984 was that 95
per cent of its economic growth was generated by
higher labor productivity — without anybody los-
ing his or her job into the bargain.

From Moscow
Jack Phillips

exceptional importance of the question of war or
peace in 1985. Both parties agreed on the necessity

to make this year ‘‘A turning point, a landmark in ~
the struggle for averting nuclear war and fully pro-

hibiting and eliminating nuclear weapons.”
The key points of agreement are:

e The parties are prepared to do everything —

within their power to further intensify the struggle
to eliminate nuclear weapons, and urge Com-

munist and Workers parties of other countries, and

all peace-loving forces, to do the same.

e The present situation demands the isolation of

all those who are clutching at nuclear weapons and
who would like to use talks as a camouflage to —

cover up the continuing arms race.

e The two sides welcomed the intention to make 4
August 6, 40th anniversary of the atom-bombing of _

Hiroshima, a day of international joint action for —

the scrapping of nuclear weapons.

e Agreeing that the prime task was that oftotally _

prohibiting and eliminating nuclear weapons, both

sides agreed to work for the realization of partial —
measures that would facilitate this objective, such —

as: conclusion of an international accord on non

.use of nuclear weapons; prevention of the mili-

tarization of outer-space; a total ban on nuclear
weapons tests; no use of atomic weapons against

non-nuclear states; creation of nuclear free zones |
in Asia and other continents, and adoption by all _

nuclear powers of a commitment not to be the first
to use nuclear weapons.

International Focus

Tom Morris

A-Team for
the White House

News that the U.S. is train-
ing an elite force of 2,000 men
to “strike back at terrorists
who threaten U.S. interests at
home and abroad”’ raises some
questions.

The force, “‘to attack and
kill’, according to Reuter’s,
“tare being trained to use laser
weapons, submarines and
helicopters to jump onto

YZ
Me TERRORIS m

Anywhere, anytime with
submarines and _ laser
beams.

8 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JANUARY 16, 1985

foreign soil’. To date, it ex-
plains, the Pentagon lacked

“such means.

Flowing from Reagan’s
“‘anti-terrorism’’ legislation

last year, the elite force ‘“‘will -

no longer leave unanswered
any acts of terrorism against its
(U.S.) interests.’’ Two such di-
lemmas cited are the 1983
bombing of U.S. marines in
Beirut and last year’s highjack-
ing in Tehran.

The White House isn’t fazed

by the views of Americans on-

the highjacked aircraft who re-
ported that officials acted cor-
rectly thereby saving their
lives. Iranians, by Reagan’s

racist logic are always wrong. -

Also left hanging is the ques-
tion of how (and against whom)
the force would have helped in
the Beirut incident. The battle-
ship New Jersey bombarded
Beirut with impunity; the
French and Italians were
there, as well as the invincible
U.S. Marines.

But practical matters seem
not to be involved. What
Reagan wants and is getting is a
gung-ho unit, a sort of Penta-
gon A-Team, to project Macho
America with laser beams and

‘submarines. It might satisfy

some late night fantasy for the
president, but the implications
of U.S. troops landing
wherever, whenever and how-
ever they choose go far beyond
machoism.

The only thing missing at
this point is John Wayne.

Aconcrete act
of friendship

irrational.

haviour often borders on the

It calls for non-union actors
to perform without pay who

rie pie ads tbo

Reagan speaks with lasers
and death, other Americans
speak with sanity and friend-
ship.

A few days ago, on a motion
by Seattle’s Mayor Charles
Royer, City Council voted 9-0
to establish ‘‘sister city’’ ties
with Managua, Nicaragua. The
resolution “‘expresses the hope
and desire of the people of
Seattle for peace and friend-
ship with all the citizens of
Managua.” The city said it will
promote trade and cultural ex-
changes .as a practical ex-
pression of friendship.

It was noted that support for
the move existed because of a
Nov. 1, 1984 vote by the citi-
zens of Seattle for Initiative 28
which called onthe U.S. to end
its war in Central America and
transfer the military effort into
social programs at home.
Noted also was the fact that
Port Townsend, Washington,
had previously established
‘sister city’’ relations with
Jalapa, Nicaragua.

Can you
believe it?
Harold Ballard owns the

worst team in the National
Hockey League, which might

partly explain why his be--

Ballard is the sports tycoon
whose anti-Sovietism is legen-
dary. He has banned from his
Maple Leaf Gardens in To-
ronto such dangerous groups

as Soviet national teams and

the Moscow Circus. We’re not
sure if the bar in the place
serves vodka. :

Last week, saying that he
had relented to government
pressure, Harold permitted a
match between Canada’s
Olympic team and Moscow
Dynamo — the first time since
1976 that Soviet skaters had
brightened up the place where

the dismal Maple Leafs stum-

ble around.

With just over one minute
left in the game Ballard pulled
his stunt: the scoreboard
flashed a message about the
Korean airliner urging the fans;
“Don’t cheer, just boo —
Harold’’.

‘What a jerk.

‘Cheerful’ —
and ‘non-union’

Reagan’s Presidential Inau-
gural Committee, the group
charged with his coronation
ceremonies Jan. 21, has stirred
up a hornets’ nest with an ad
placed in Backstage, a New
York entertainment trade
paper.

have been put to.

are required to be ‘‘attractive,
clean-cut, all-American
types’’.

Being able to interpret the
‘English language as well as
anyone, American labor
charged that the PIC’s ad viol-

ates the country’s minimum -

wage laws ($3.35 an hour) as
well as promoting racial and
ethnic bias. ©

Not so, protests PIC which
pleads that its $12-million
budget (can you believe it?) is
too small to throw the kind of
extravaganza befitting the oc-
casion. :

The show will use 200 ac-
tors; such big names as Frank
Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor,

James Stewart and Diana Ross ©

will perform. Twenty-five or-
chestras will play and ABC-TV
will bring it in living color to a
breathless country.

As for “‘racial bias’, a PIC
spokesman explains the ad’s

intent was simply to attract ac--

tors who are ‘‘cheerful and
outgoing’.

Smiling, cheerful, clean-cut,
all-Ameraican, non-union
types — they missed God-fear-
ing — sounds just like the crew
that should lift Reagan onto his
throne. .

The great unwashed mul-

titudes can only reflect what —

other uses $12-million could