EDITORIAL - End Pinochet connection While the federal Government talks out of one side of its mouth about human rights, it is using the other side to approve sales of military and para-military equipment to prop up fascism in Chile. That is the natural outcome of the Tory doctrine that what is good for the military-industrial corpora- tions in Canada cannot be questioned. Evidence shows that some $7 million in instruments of oppression, intended to crush the Chilean people’s resistance to fascist rule and arbitrary jailing and exe- cution, have been approved for export and shipped Over the past year. It shows the utter falsity of the Mulroney crew’s bleating about human rights. It also reveals the omi- nous Tory intent to make of this country, which once earned plaudits as a peace-keeper, a profit-grubbing exporter of police and military goods. This military equipment is for use against civilians. No country is threatening to invade Chile. External Affairs Minister Joe Clark has ordered a review of the policy that permits this outrage. Mean- while, the friends of Brian Mulroney, the corporate elite, and the most reactionary of the political right who always back fascism and would back it in Can- ada, are plying their grisly trade. That does not mean that Clark is free of blame. He pretends to believe connivers in his department when they tell him that, to quote one newspaper, “the exported Canadian goods posed no risk to Chilean civilians.” That is handy propaganda for the corpora- tions who benefit, but it’s no truer now than when they were feverisly supplying Nazi Germany and militarist Japan in the ’30s. The political right wing’s hatred not only of social- ism but of people’s liberation from regimes of their own ilk leads to excusing any extreme in human rights violations if it brings profit and sustains a right-wing stranglehold. Providing the instruments of oppression for fascism in Chile and apartheid in South Africa, echoing U.S. policy on the Middle East and Afghanistan puts the Mulroney government squarely in the camp of right- wing reaction. The attitude of such a government toward human rights in those countries is bound to be applied at home at appropriate times. Only the massive demand of people across Canada for new policies condemning Chilean repression, and refusing the fascist regime’s mountains of exports, as well as cutting of supplies of military equipment to it, will stop the obscene game being played by Mulroney. Let the Tories back up their human rights mouth- ings with deeds, and stop supporting fascism in Chile. Need for Mideast policy The foreign affairs committee of Canada’s Senate on June 26 tabled a report on the Middle East which, from first reports appears to be an effort to find some balance in the situation. It lags far behind the United Nations and the majority of the world’s governments in failing to call for recognition of the Palestine Libera- tion Organization as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. However, it does criticize Israel for imposing harsh controls on 1.3 million Palestinians living in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, and calls for withdrawal of Jewish settlements from occupied territory. That was enough to bring complaints from those who champion the Israeli government in all circumstances. : What is central to the entire swirl of Mid-East events, whether the Senate committee and it detrac- tors realize it or not, is a necessary guarantee to the Palestinian Arab people of their own independent State. Central 'to peace in the Middle East as well is calling a halt to repeated Israeli aggression, occupa- tion and denial of human rights. Israel is able to do what it does because its banker, the U.S. government, pays for it. Canada, and any other state which genuinely wants to see peace achieved in the Middle East, should be speaking out for an international conference on the Middle East which includes the PLO and the Soviet Union, as well as the U.S., Israel and other states. This the Reagan administration views with horror, and Israel with contempt, for it would interfere with con- . stant encroachment,.and would remoye.the unstable « .} * conditions which the U.S. has exploited to maintain a military presence. It could also establish the anti- imperialist Palestinians as a force for progress on their own territory. The Canadian Senate’s report may be found to be inadequate, but if it can set off a public demand for an independent and equitable Middle East policy for Canada, that will be a small step forward. - E z co > r te a Oe w ored glasses’. Baton Broadcasting Inc., owns TV stations in Toronto and Sas- katoon, and radio stations in Toronto, Windsor and Ottawa. The news may be managed, the commercials irritating and the content wearisome but Baton’s after-tax profit for nine months ended May 31 was $12,938,000. A year earlier: $11,048,000. __IRIBUNE Editor — SEAN GRIFFIN Assistant Editor — DAN KEETON Business & Circtitati6n Manager “PAT O'CONNOR Graphics — ANGELA KENYON Published weekly at 2681 East Hastings Street Vancouver, B.C. V5K 125 Phone (604) 251-1186 Subscription Rate: Canada — $14 one year, $8 six months Foreign — $20 one year; Second class mail registration number 1560 ying votes on issues to campaign con- tributions is nothing new as far as elec- tion practices go in North America. It’s usually dismissed with a knowing shrug by people who have grown weary of seeing the same pro-business, pro-war faces at People and Issues the polls. The following information would con- stitute one of those what-else-is-new sleazy stories, if the subject weren’t so dangerous - for the future of humankind. Ina recent review, the wire service Assoc- iated Press (AP), surveying the political action committees (PAC) linked to the United States’ 20 leading military contrac- tors, found that most of the congressional candidates who received campaign dona- tions from the contractors were big sup- porters of President Reagan’s $1.8-trillion arms buildup. In return for their largesse, those contractors were repaid in interest. For example, the Rockwell International Corporation’s PAC hiked its contributions to Congress hawks by 450 per cent between 1980 and 1984 — from $59,625 to $328,440. During that period Rock- well’s military contracts rose to $8.4 billion from $1 billion. : In the same period the fifth largest mil- itary contractor, the Lockheed Corpora- tion, hiked its contributions to pro-war candidates 325 per cent, in return for which the corporation received a hike to $5.2 billion from $2 billion in Pentagon contracts. Overall, campaign contributions from military hardware manufacturers rose by 100 per cent in the last four years, to $3,636,587 in 1984 from $1,819,298 in 1980. Over the same period, government contracts to the corporations rose almost 150 per cent, to $69 billion. The AP report also found that 17 of the 20 congressmen who received more than $15,000 from military contractor PACs backed Reagan in the recent decision to build 21 more MX missiles. Of the 14 senators who received more than $30,000 in funding, only one failed to back Reagan on the MX. * * * hey have been among their country’s strongest unions when it comes to , defending the jobs of their members against encroaching automation. And, they’ve shown admirable working-class solidarity, such as the time when Britain’s printing trades union refused to run an inflammatory headline defeaming Mine Workers Union leader Arthur Scargill. Now it appears the printing trades unions along Fleet Street — the news- paper publishing centre in London — will face stiff new opposition with the incur- sion into the British press of Canadian megabusinessman Conrad Black. The financial papers have been full of the news lately about Black, who heads the multi-million dollar Argus Corporation and its holding company, Ravelston, is purchasing a 14-per cent interest in one of Britain’s most prestigious dailies, the Daily Telegraph. The move comes at a time when Fleet Street, including the Telegraph, is engaged in wholesale modernization of the printing plants and editorial offices, with one of the objects being the elimina- tion of hundreds of jobs. Cutting jobs is something about which Black knows a good deal. The financial empire he controls with his brother, Mon- tegu, has eliminated companies such as the farm implement manufacturer Massey- Ferguson, or has liquidated the assets of others such as Dominion Stores, without regard for the livelihood of thousands of employees, while the Blacks’ personal for- tune has skyrocketed. Conrad Black also has the mentality to go with the job. Described by the Financial Post as an avid player of war games and chess, Black considers himself a Canadian William F. Buckley, and once considered buying Saturday Night magazine to turn it into a version of the American ultra-right " winger’s National Review. We can only speculate on how Black’s share in the Telegraph will be expressed in the editorial line. But his move to Fleet Street and his certain efforts to cut jobs may give Canada’s Buckley a run for his multi-millions. * * x t often happens, when we’re down to the wire on press night, that some people inadvertently get left out of our issues. So it was with our story last week on the protests against de-indexing in the federal budget, when we overlooked the names of Dave Janzen and Steve Gidora. Dave chaired the speakers who spoke against the partial de-indexing of pensions and family allowance at the Surrey rally. Steve, who heads up the municipal group, the Surrey Alternative Movement (SAM), pledged his organization’s support at the civic level. We have a positive footnote to add, in SAM’s case. Following a petition from the civic group, Surrey council — not known for progressive views — voted June 24 to oppose the Tory government’s removal of three-per cent inflation indexing from pensions and family allowances. * %* * itto for our coverage of the successful Tribune Victory Banquet June 22. In the rush to meet our deadline, we ho everyone whose efforts put us over the top -of our target, at $100,510 — except the press clubs. Winner of the shield for the province, for the second year running, was the Nanaimo press club, sharing that award with Powell River. Also tops for the second year in a row was the North Vancouver club, which again took the award for fund- raising in the Greater Vancouver Region. Our apologies to the clubs for the over- sight. It’s through their efforts that the Tribune has been able to expand its cover- age over the years, and maybe someday, we'll have enough space and staff to avoid such mistakes. PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JULY 3, 1985 e 3 =