© by JOHN WEIR I must apologize, but it’s very, hard in times like these to quip— even though ridicule, satire is one of the most killing of weapons— when words of anger clamour to be spoken instead. How can you “poke fun” at the terrible U.S. war in Indochina, the murders of students and black people in America, the pollution-narcotics- pornography-crime-sexpotism and all the other inhuman phenome- na with which we are beset, Trudeau’s unemployment plus high prices plus don’t grow wheat plus sellout to Uncle Scrooge policies, etc.? : So, with your permission taken for granted, we'll turn over our column this issue to some expressions of their views and senti- ments—in verse—by other people. This is the more excusable be- cause as yet we don’t have another outlet for this invaluable sort of contribution in our paper. : Our old (he insists he’s 79 and not 83 as we have written) friend Charlie Lane of Hamilton makes the wry comment: What’s in a name? Hitler and Nixon Do the same! And as for Canada’s official reaction—Mitchell Sharp’s attempt to whitewash Nixon’s war in Indochina—the well-known verse by Joe Wallace can bear repeating: Canada is a sovereign nation Bows to no foreign will But whenever they cough at Washington . They spit on Parliament Hill. One of the greatest poets of our century is Pablo Neruda of Chile, who is one of the foremost humanitarians, fighters for peace and social advance (he is a Communist) of our age. Here are his lines of passionate warning to North America: You are wide and beautiful Northamerica your workingmen’s blood is what we love and your people’s hands full of oil. But if you arm your troops Northamerica_ to destroy this pure appearance, to make the slaughters of Chicago rule over the music and the order we love— we shall come out of the stones and the air to bite you, we shall climb from every window to throw fire on you: we shall emerge from the deepest sea to gore you with fish bones: we shall preceed to deny you bread and water, we shall proceed to burn you in hell. i Under the heading “Head of the Holy Family” Torontonian Jeff Hurley is caustic about a matter of more than local significance: In an editorial recently, the Telegram, A newspaper purchased with funds Of the Eaton family, Commented that university staffs. Had rejoined the human race Because of their interest In the Spadina Expressway Which leads from the heart Of the city to Eaton’s store In the Yorkdale shopping centre. In the 1940’s it was Timothy Eaton’s Family who smashed an effort by his Store clerks to organize themselves Into a union. ~ : A writer in the city, A middle-class intellectual, — “ Has written a book praising Timothy Eaton. No middle-class intellectual in the city Has done as much for Jesus Christ. During the Vietnam Moratorium demonstration in Washington last November each marcher held a lighted candle and wore a pla- card that bore the name of a U.S. soldier killed in Vietnam. Edith Segal wrote this moving “March Against Death”: We held our flickering candles in the freezing darkness. The restless little flames, like young lives, fought the death blows © of the Washington winds and swiftly died only to be re-lit again and again by sturdier survivors. From Arlington Cemetery our illuminated line / of the dead and the living wave endlessly on in the solemn night into the heart of the nation. At the heavily guarded White House gate I cried out my soldier’s name: DAVID BROWN and the President watched his football game. On and on, the March Against Death wage silently to the distant, domed Capital barricaded against us, its advancing accusers. Before it, I placed my son gently © in his crowded, unpainted coffin. I wept for him, and for the Vietnamese, and for my country! I am sure that the readers will agree that it was right and proper for me to substitute the above for any quips and quirks I could have churned up—at least for this issue. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—-FRIDAY,.MAY.22, 1970—Page 8... see cia ao vey ‘ < Pry ve Lam & Ges ek isting AeA aetpect eu S=40X >> : : ‘Stop Nixon bloodbath’ U.S. Communist appeal AT KENT STATE U. In ringing words, the Commu- nist Party of the United States calls for unity of the people of United States to meet the great challenge before them. The party declares that the present situa- , - tion is one of those moments in history that challenge the pro- gressive forces to act and there- by win an outstanding victory for peace and social progress. The U.S. Communists . warn that Nixon is cynically waiting for the present outcry against - his actions to. die down before taking further steps to escalate the war in Indochina. : - President Nixon’s effort “to meet every question with the barrel of a gun has thrown the nation into an explosive crisis,” declared the call. Stating that President Nixon’s military attack against Cambodia has plunged that country into a crisis un- parallelled in modern times, it — charges that Nixon, fascist-like, has ignored the American Con- stitution and took his action on instructions from the military in- dustrial complex without con- sulting the Senate, the House, or even all the members of his own Cabinet. The statement says, ‘He has confronted the people with a Nixon-Agnew policy of attempt- ing to intimidate 200 million Americans through repressive measures that are climaxed by murder. | “The blood of My Lai reaches out to the blood of Kent, to the blood that has been shed of the youth in the ghettos. “Americans may well ask what guarantees does the country ED