Eugene Carroll (r) talks with Jim Foulks before addressing crowd (far right); Holly Near (I) and Ronnie Gilbert sing for huge rally. Peace rally speaks ‘in one voice’ “Here in this city of such outstanding beauty, with one voice we call on the Cana- dian government to refuse to test cruise missiles.”’ That was the message members of End the Arms Race read to the thousands gathered in the natural amphitheatre of Sunset Beach park at the end of the most powerful march and rally for peace ever held in Canada. “We call on every person here today to make this personal pledge: ‘I will never ac- cept cruise missile testing in Canada. I love this planet, and I dedicate my life to preserv- ing it. I commit my energy and my abilities - for as long as it takes to make the world safe from the ultimate tragedy of nuclear war,” stated the ‘‘Vancouver Declaration for Peace,’’ which was met with a mighty cheer of approval from the crowd who par- ticipated in the Walk for Peace Saturday. The declaration summed up the prevailing theme of the walk and signified that not only were the thousands — estimated to con- stitute between 80,000 and 100,000 — gathered to demand an end to the arms race, but with an understanding that the cruise missile is a major destabilizer that pulls the world closer to the nuclear brink. “That’s the best cruise missile I’ve ever heard of,”’ said retired U.S. Admiral Eugene Carroll, Jr., keynote rally speaker as he pointed to a 2-metre long replica of the first- strike weapon at the back of the stage. The wood-and-plaster replica was also part cake, a fact revealed during a cake-cutting ceremony conducted by Vancouver mayor Mike Harcourt earlier. Harcourt, who had been at the head of the eee May Day Greetings march, read from the stage a proclamation that Vancouver was now a nuclear weapons- free zone, due to a motion passed in city council the preceding Tuesday. A mighty ‘roar of approval went up from the vast au- dience. That proclamation introduced the second theme: Canada as a nuclear-weapons-free zone, a point picked up by Carroll in his speech. Carroll, deputy director of the Centre for Defence Information, a non-governmental research organization based in Washington, D.C., is a strong proponent of the nuclear freeze movement in the United States. “There are two things Canadians can do — you can protest, as you are doing today, and you must take action in the political arena.”’ Carroll said every candidate at the municipal, provincial and federal level can be questioned about his or her stand on the disarmament issues, and the nuclear weapons-free concept can be introduced into government debate. EAR president Frank Kennedy followed Carroll’s remarks with the observation, “‘Maybe they’ll stop contributing out ships to armadas which go around hassling Soviet bases,’’ a reference to a recent military exer- cise in the north Pacific. Carroll’s presence was significant in that the retired rear admiral represents an ele- ment that is clearly in favor of a strong ° American military, but opposes the nuclear- war preparations of the Reagan administra- HONS os He attacked the administration’s plans to DISARMAMENT deploy 5,000 new cruise missiles, noting that although America has an arsenal of 30,000 warheads, there are plans to create 17,000 new nuclear weapons. . A freeze on nuclear weapons manufac- ture, followed by a reduction and eventual elimination is the “‘most positive step’’ to take today, said Carroll, adding, ‘‘I’d like to see Canadians and Americans working together toward that goal.’’ Mike Kramer, secretary-treasurer and ac- ting president of the B.C. Federation of © Labor, spoke to affirm the support of organized labor and on behalf of the **220,000 affiliated members’’ of the B.C. Fed. Kramer acknowledged that some trade unionists were involved in the manufacture of arms technology, but noted that ‘‘if the politicians don’t listen, maybe then the inter- national labor movement will have to take things into our own hands, and employ traditional weapons of labor to make this a safe world.”’ Kramer said there was ‘‘one strike the labor movement won’t support — and that’s a first-strike, nuclear strike.” EAR vice-president Carmela Allevato noted that “‘the government, in spite of public opinion, is on the brink of testing the cruise missile.’’ Plans for cruise testing call for the missile to pass over the northern part of B.C. ‘‘and our air space is far too pure to be used for that purpose,’’ she declared. - Allevato urged everyone to use a specially prepared postcard demanding the federal government halt cruise testing, and praised TRIBUNE PHOTOS —SEAN GRIFFIN the participants for turning out in un- precedented thousands. End the Arms race has grown from 50 member organizations last year to more than 130 today, but ‘‘until every one of you is 4 member, we’re not strong enough, not broad enough,” she said. ‘*We’ll march again next year, and every year until there’s peace,”’ she promised. Reverend Morar Murray-Hayes, a United Church minister and teaching pastor at the Vancouver School of Theology, provided an apt and poetic description of the preceding : march, saying ‘‘Peace is running like a river through our city, and along its banks the seeds of peace are being planted everywhere.”’ Following the tradition of last year’s event, speeches were interspersed with enter- tainment. Katari Taiko, the Japanese- — Canadian drum group who played at the 1982 Walk for Peace and the summer rally at the Peace Arch, again received standing ova- tions. The children’s choir from L’Ecole Bil- ingue played a repeat performance, and labor singer Tom Hawken offered some of his many songs for peace. Special guests this year were the duet of social singer Holly Near and Ronnie Gilbert, ex-member of the famous Weavers, who opened with a rousing version of ‘‘Oh, What a Morning.” - Those who stayed until the end were treated to two versions of “Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream,” the world renowned peace anthem sung by its author, Canadian Ed McCurdy. Canadians for Democracy in Chile Salutes the workers both in Chile and Canada who are struggling for domestic union rights this May Day. e : Please come to Britannia Auditorium at 8 p.m., Tuesday, May 31, to hear Ana Gonzales Recabarren, a leader, of the ‘Families of the Disappeared’ organiza- to all our friends | Feliz Primero de Mayo! Dia International del Trabajo CANADIAN CUBAN h FRIENDSHIP ASSOCIATION tion in Chile. For information phone 254-9797 or 980-7263. SS en ee : PACIFIC TRIBUNE—APRIL 29, 1983—Page 4 4 ls a SS NNENG SENTERO ENE NTA NE NEC &: