=

Socred decision on S.A.
Wines termed “shameful’

‘week, denounced as “shameful” the recent decision of the Social
‘Credit government to bring back South African wines and liquors to

|
Blockade,
‘Score fare hike.

‘has tripled costs with the simple

-C. liquor store shelves.

fb Africa

rally indefensible.”

ed about South Africa.

cott of South African liquors. A campaign to win similar legislation
tario and Manitoba has also been undertaken by the Canadians

ood and Zimbabwe African People’s Union representative
alistus NdLovu were addressing the conference prior to a public
eting and conference on southern Africa organized last weekend by
Southern Africa Action Coalition. —
response to a lengthy campaign AC, th
nment moved in October, 1974 to remove all South African wines

liquor store shelves but the Social Credit administration, not long —
er its election, reversed the decision and placed new orders with

waged by SAAC, the NDP

le Socreds had earlier opposed the NDP decision, arguing that it
stituted ‘‘selective ethics.” The wines were brought back, pur-
Medly, ‘toreturn freedom of choice” =
Anyone who takes that stand is very clearly giving tacit and open -
ort to the South African government,” Wood declared.
added that the Socreds’ arguments of ‘‘selective ethics”

. r . .

Ndlovu later went with a television camera crew to tour a liquor

where he reiterated opposition to the Socred decision, pointing —
the appalling conditions under which South African laborers work.
t month, the Blakeney government in Saskatchewan added its
to the protest against racism and apartheid and imposed a

‘Cont.d from pg. 1

Informed as to the problems of this

area, When he (Davis) was repre-
Senting this area in Ottawa, he told
Us that we lived on an island, which
Was news to us.”
Glassford said that the govern-
Ment was ignoring its respon-
Sibility to provide highway service
the area, and that by raising
fares they have effectively cut off
€ only means of access to the
Sunshine Coast from Vancouver.
This ferry service is nothing more
7 an an extension of. the highway
_ 8Nd should be subsidized as such,”
She said.

~ Interior connected to the highways
System, one across Kootenay Lake
&nd the other across the Arrow
“akes, but again these two ridings
are represented by Socreds in
Ictoria,’’
Another organizer of the event,

» River

Ocal camera store owner Ian

ss Corrance, said that thousands of

Names have been collected on a

| Petition, and people have gone to

'ctoria in the past, but have never
Met with satisfaction. He said that
€ demonstration at the terminal
Was ‘a last-ditch effort to focus
attention on their problem.
€ said that demonstrations
Ould continue in various forms
Until their demands for rollbacks in
€ increases. are met.
Similar demands were put
forward the day before in Powell

_ “Wer where 300 people met in an

saa air rally and marched to the
Owell River ferry terminal in a
€monstration organized by Local

{8 of the Canadian Paperworkers

hion,
Frank Garden, president of
cal 76 of the CPU, said that over

000 names had been collected on
_ 4 betition demanding a rollback in

rates in less than one week. Powell
has a population of only
10,000 he said.
He explained that an inexpensive
_ “try service was essential to the
Working people of Powell River.
€ have absolutely no access to
“jor health or dental care,
thout those ferries. Already we
&ce an extremely high cost of
'Ving and you can be sure that any
Xtra costs in transportation are
80ing to be passed on to the
Working people.”
, Garden told the rally at the
: b inal that the increases could
© termed nothing less than
Itive and callous. “I can’t
call anytime any government

“There are two free ferries in the °

march

stroke of a pen as this government
has.”

The union ,had invited Socred
transportation minister Jack
Davis to attend the rally to explain
his reasons for the increase
Garden said. “‘He said that he was
unavailable but we'll extend that
invitation to allow him to come at
his convenience. If it takes six
months, that’s alright because we
can’t afford to go anywhere, so
we'll be here.”

Another aspect of the’ ferry
service came under sharp
criticism from Garden. ‘‘As trade
unionists we’re extremely con-
cerned with the fact that in ad-
dition to increasing costs, - the
government is increasing unem-
ployment and cutting services on
the ferries by laying off 420
workers.’

“This will not be the end of the
protest. We want to see something
tangible. If necessary, we will go to
Victoria and picket the Legislature
to get a rollback in rates.”

The demonstrators turned over
their 6,000-name petition to Don
Lockstead, NDP ,MLA for
MacKenzie with instructions that
he table it in the house and demand
some answers from Davis as .to
why the increases were in-
troduced.

a

Their parade stretching _back along the main street, demonstrators than 300 people joined the demonstration, organized by Local 76 of

Curbing South African
rule key to liberation

“In Namibia, the blacks have no

vote, their education and medical -

facilities are inferior. They can
move around the country only with
passes.

‘‘Anyone who knows what it is to’

be human must object to that great
injustice in the most strenuous way
possible.”

Bishop Richard Wood, whose
words those were, has practised
that belief himself. And for his
belief, for his ‘‘strenuous ob-
jection” to white supremacist rule
in southern Africa, the Namibian
authorites expelled him from the
country, at the same time branding

him ‘“‘an agent of SWAPO” (South.

West African
Organization).

Wood, an Anglican bishop, spoke
to a crowd of 200 in Christ Church
Cathedral Friday night, appealing
for international pressure to break
the domination by the Republic of
South Africa of the Southern part of
the African continent. ‘

His address was one of several
events organized by the Van-
couver-based Southern Africa
Action Coalition in conjunction
with a number of other
organizations, to highlight the
liberation movements in southern
Africa. A two-day conference and
workshop session Saturday and
Sunday heard representatives
from the Zimbabwe African
People’s Union, the South West
African People’s organization, the
African National Congress as well
as a representative of the govern-
ment of the newly-liberated
Portuguese colony of Mozambique.

“There is a great injustice being
perpetrated in southern Africa,”
Wood told his audience. ‘‘and the
great problem is to break the grip
of South Africa. There will be no
freedom until that grip is broken.”

He noted that on the day he left
England where he now lives, he
received news of the sentencing of
six blacks in Namibia — two of
them condemned to death. ‘‘All of
them were sentenced under the
Terrorism Act of 1967 — a terrible
piece of legislation imported from
South Africa and enacted by a
government (in Namibia) which
had been declared illegal by the
United Nations.”

Namibia — formerly South West
Africa — has a complex colonial
history going back to 1884 when it
was claimed as a German colony
but for most of this century it has
been ruled by South Africa. —

Following World War I, it was
declared a mandate of the League.

People’s

march to the ferry terminal in Powell River carrying a 6,000-name
petition voicing the town’s protest to the increases in ferry fares. More

BISHOP RICHARD WOOD

of Nations and was to be ruled “‘for
the benefit of all citizens.”’ “That
mandate was shamefully betrayed
by all the governments of the
country,’’ Wood emphasized.

Although its administration of
the country has. been declared
illegal by both the United Nations
and the International’ Court of
Justice, South Africa continues to
impose its white minority rule —
including the system of apartheid
— on the black majority.

“That rule has been maintained
through repression and torture,”
Wood declared.

Pointing out that he had: been
attacked for publicizing the op-
pression. in Namibia, Wood told the
meeting: ‘‘There will be those who
will tell you that you are being
selective. They will say: What
about human rights in Russia?

“Let me say at the outset: The
UN has already determined that
South Africa has no right to rule
Namibia. Canadians have every
right, and in fact, every respon-
sibility to insist that the decisions
of the UN be carried out in the
country.

“And the fact remains,’ he
added, ‘‘if I were a black in the
Soviet Union, I could, if I had the
qualifications, become a leader of
the country. In Namibia I could not
<= /-ne~ “‘matler:- wnat = my

» qualifications.”

Wood also warned of the danger
to world security posed by South
Africa which has for some time
been working on an uranium-
enrichment plant which will take
low-grade Namibian uranium and
enrich it for use in nuclear power

the Canadian Paperworkers Union.

stations — and atomic weapons.

“South Africa may soon have
atomic weapons,’’ he warned.
“Combine that with South Africa’s
close relations with countries like
Paraguay, Brazil and Uruguay and

you have a very dangerous
situation.
“That is why international

pressure is so important.”

Kalistus Ndlovu, representative
of the Zimbabwe (Rhodesian)
African People’s Organization who
appeared at Friday’s meeting with
Wood, paid tribute to the bishop,
pointing out that it was “very
difficult” for a man in his position
to identify himself with the
liberation movement.

He also responded to questions
on the struggle currently being
waged against the racist govern-
ment of Ian Smith and told the
audience that the victory of the
MPLA in Angola was “exactly
what the government in South
Africa wanted to avoid,” since it
weakened South Africa’s ability to
intervene in other countries, in-
cluding Rhodesia. :

He noted that the Smith regime
was increasingly unable to govern
the country and added: “I think the
guerrilla struggle in Zimbabwe is
going to succeed.” ;

Both Smith and Wood urged
support from Canadians in the
struggle to end white supremacist
rule in southern Africa. “It is a
system which is terribly wrong,’’
Bishop Wood declared. “It is a
system of injustice and oppression
— enshrined in the statute books.”’

PCL members
face charges

Three members of the Pacific
Life Community, all of them
women, were arrested and held in
King County, Washington, jail
Monday after several attempts to
cut down the barbed wire fence
surrounding the Trident base at
Bangor, Washington.

The PCL, a pacifist group, has
been waging its own campaign
against the Trident base, including
an action several weeks ago where
group members sought to bury a
mockup of the Trident submarine
outside the base. They, too, were
arrested but charges were sub-
sequently dropped.

Laurie Raymond, Jo Maynes and
Alice Ray-Keil -were to be

arraigned Tuesday on charges of
“depredating public property,”
following their arrest Monday.

ee

— Mike Gidora photo

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MAY 21, 1976—Page 3