. Gres:

Fighting for a world where
| 00d is cheap but life is dear

TORONTO — “We are, in es-
sence, fighting for a world where

_ food, instead of being so expen-

sive, becomes cheaper, and life,
which is so cheap these days,
becomes more valuable,” Karen
Talbot, of the World Peace Coun-
cil told the opening session of
the World Conference on Mult-
National Corporations, Nov. 14.

The Conference was organized.

by the World Peace Council, the
Canadian Peace Congress and Le

Conseil Quebecois de la Paix, and _

endorsed by the Graduate Stu-
dents’ Union of the University
of Toronto. In its four plenary
sessions and 16 workshops, the
conference called for “the con-
trol and defeat” of the multi-
nationals, warning of the “dan-
gers posed”’ by these giants.
The historic meeting opened
with the executive secretary of
the Canadian Peace Congress,
Jean Vatour, welcoming the dele-
gates and expressing a hope for
“decisions that will help us in
the struggle. to advance the in-
terests of the people of all our
countries, and the peoples all

around the world.” :
Chairman for the opening ses-.

sion was Dr. Francesco Pistolese
of Italy, an authority on energy

-€conomics. Karen Talbot, North

American representative at
World Peace Council headquar-
ters in Helsinki, and a member
of the WPC Secretariat; Rev.

John Hanly Morgan, president of

the Canadian Peace Congress;
and Edward Martin Sloan, presi-

‘dent of Le Conseil: Quebecois de

la Paix, spoke on behalf of their
Organizations. Enver Saloojee,
African National Congress (To-

~ ronto), reported on the plan of

work. Mrs. Talbot brought per-
sonal greetings from World
Peace Council president, Romtesh
Chandra.
Major Responsibility
The explorations by the con-

ference would seek to “advance

world-wide struggles for the in-
dependence, sovereignty and
equality of nations,” Karen Tal-

_ bot said. It would seek out ways

to “advance the struggles for
€conomic development of nations
against hunger, poverty and the
deprivation of hundreds of mil-
lions of people in the developing
Countries,” and “advance the ef-
forts of peoples in more devel-

JEAN VAUTOUR, Executive
retary, Canadian Peace Con-
s.

progressive

KAREN TALBOT, secretariat,
World Peace Council, Helsinki.

oped countries to overcome the

critical economic burdens of un-
employment, inflation and the
general crisis in living, for which
the multi-national corporations
bear a major responsibility —
how to advance the struggle for
peace,. for. cooperation. . among
nations, for relaxation of the in-
ternational tensions, for detente.”

She said that a new mood -

among people recognizes ‘the
super profit-making manoeuvres
of the multi-national corpora-

Australia s crisis is an

Special to the Tribune

SYDNEY, Australia — On No-
vember 11, Australian Governor
General Sir John Kerr dismissed
the country’s democratically
elected prime minister in a
“bloodless coup.”

The prime minister, Gough
Whitlam, was replaced by Lead-
er of the Opposition Malcolm
Fraser, who misused the upper
house to prevent passage of
labor and money bills, in effect
preventing Labor from govern-
ing. 3

Whitlam’s ouster — despite

electoral victories twice in the .

past three years — immediately
evoked mass protests as a scale
rarely seen in Australia. Tens of
thousands rallied in all major
cities, calling for the dismissal
of Fraser and the governor gene-
ral.

Many Australians are shocked
by the discovery that under the
Constitution, the government
has no redress once the prime
minister is. dismissed by the
crown. The monopoly media is
debating the legal and constitu-
tional aspects in the unpréce-.
dented sacking, attempting to
confine discussion to this-sphere.
However, the real reason for
coup are the monopolies, which
control Australia, deciding they
would take power to reverse the
measures of the
Labor Government, particularly
in the sphere of the economy.

Initially rightists sought to
create a scandal around Labor's
attempts to raise loans from

tions, coupled with astronomical
military spending, as the root
causes of inflation and all the
economic ills which working
people are expected to bear the
brunt of.”

“The struggle for economic
development and national inde-
pendence is related to, and de-
ends upon, the struggle for de-
tente and disarmament,’ she
said, ‘and the success of the
struggle for disarmament and
detente is very much dependent

.-upon achievements toward de-

velopment and national indepen-
dence.”
Economic and Military,

John Morgan, president of the-

Canadian Peace Congress, point-
ed out that the “largest single
foreign investment by United
States multi-national corpora-
tions is in Canada, . estimated
presently as some $28- to $30-
billion. They now control some
seven to eight thousand corpora-
tions,” he said.

He pointed out that the “great

bulk of petroleum, natural gas,
-and manufacturing (in Canada)

has been controlled from the
United -States.-Thus . integrated
economically, Canadian foreign
and military policy . . . have also
been largely integrated into Unit-
ed States .. . policies . . .”” Mor-
gan condemned the constantly
escalating and “largely non-pro--

Arab sources. The “loans scan-
dal” was: Fraser’s pretext for
blocking the budget. When this
failed — largely due to mobili-
zation of the working masses —
the sham scandal was dropped
in favor of a blatant seizure of
power.
Anti-Labor Conspiracy

Maneouvers by the opposition
and the governor general clearly
reveal a detailed anti-Labor con-
spiracy. Whitlam was sacked
without ultimatum and while
there were still several options
for securing passage of the Sup-
ply Bill 11 open to the governor
general. Whitlam was excluded
from discussion with the gover-
nor general, and Fraser was re-
ceived before Whitlam was noti-
fied of his impending dismissal.
Fraser’s return to Lower House

was greeted with a vote of no |

confidence by the Labor major-
ity, in itself enough to force re-
signation of the new prime min-
ister, but the governor general
igncred this.

Later, Labor was unable to
buy prime TV time for election
advertisements: all available
time had been booked by the
Liberal Party weeks prior to the
“unexpected” announcement by
the governor general.

From the beginning the collu-
sion of international capital has
been apparent. Reports here in-
dicate Wall Street’ financiers
were closely involved in the
crisis. Their interference was

‘based on Labor’s steps toward

achieving real economic inde-

ductive employment of resources
and people for armaments.” .

Edward Sloan, president of Le
Conseil Quebecois de la Paix,
said that the people of Quebec
understand the morality of the
multi-national corporations. He
expressed pleasure that Le Con-
seil “was involved right from the
beginning in the planning .and
participation of such an inter-
national conference. This is re-
cognition,” he said, “that the
people of Quebec are a national
entity.”

Millions for Incentives

He referred to “the year-and-
a-half strike at United Aircraft,

JOHN MORGAN, president,
Canadian Peace Congress.

& ~ “-
Australi

ti-labor conspiracy

while the Government of Canada
was giving the corporations mil-
lions of dollars from our pockets
in the form of incentives and tax
breaks.” -

He said political parties were
competing to make deals with
the multi-nationals while asbes-
tos workers were dying of di-
seases in their profit-producing
enterprises, Auto workers in the
St. Therese strike won all their
demands except the right to
speak French, he pointed out.

re A
EDWARD SLOAN, president,
Conseil Quebecois de la Paix.

ian prime minister Whitlam speaking to supporters in. the

current election. He was ousted in a “bloodless coup” despite two
election victories in ‘the past three years.

pendence, especially Australian
control of the country’s vast mi-
neral resources. Anéther reason
was the expected worsening
next year of the economic crisis
here. Inflation and unemploy-
ment are expected to increase,
and moncpoly-is moving for
direct control to ensure that the

- effects of the crisis are borne by

the working people.

The immediate struggle is to
return Labor on. December 13.
The election campaign is already
under way and public opinion
polls show increased support for
Labor. However, a Labor vic-

tory will not end reaction’s as-
sault on Australian democracy.
A right-wing defeat-at the polls
will certainly lead to more ruth-
less attempts to grab power.
Labor movement leaders are
already drawing a parallel be-
tween the situation developing
here and similar tactics used by
rightist in Chile and India.
Australia could well be fac-
ing a prolonged period of impe-
rialist-engineered sabotage and
“destabilization,” leading to a
mcre serious future power grab

by imperialism’s Australian ser-,

vants. |

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—NOVEMBER 21, 1975—Page 7