‘ I Sante neanineenenaenneniamanins SI SR SR nr Ee a * > . i ue — ‘ a a ‘ Ry = “ . i eT a I Ar Friday, June 18, 1982 40° pS Vol. 44, No. 25 Despite some not-so-subtle ef- forts at sabotage from - authorities, thousands of Cana- dians and Americans gathered at Peach Arch park on the .interna- tional boundary line Saturday to ’ Sive living testimony to the grow- Ing groundswell of peace senti- Ment around the world. An estimated 10,000- people filled the large grassy area in front of a stage erected on the Cana- dian side beside the high Peace Arch monument while thousands More sought the shade of trees on higher ground to contribute to a total of more than 15,000 who Cheered speakers and singers assembled to mark the United Nations second Special Session On Disarmament currently under- Way. : It was the second major peace event this year, following the April 24 Walk for Peace in which More than 35,000 marched through Vancouver streets. This time it was ‘‘Unite for Peace’’, a : ont effort of the Lower Mainland’s End the Arms Race Committee and the Peace Arch Rally Project in Seattle. - “It gives us great heart in Bri- tain to see that this movement is truly world-wide. I’d like to bring that sympathy with me back to Europe,”’ declared guest speaker Dr. Michael Pentz of the British Campaign for Nuclear Disarma- ment. Pentz, fresh from the mass Peace initiative caps N.Y. march A declaration from the Soviet Union renouncing first-strike use of nuclear weapons at the United Nations special disarmament ses- sion Sunday has given meaning to the 1.1 million strong weekend peace march in New York and numerous others around the con- tinent. Resounding applause and a lineup of delegates offering con- gratulations greeted the message contained in a letter from Soviet % Part of the crowd of 15,000 jammed into Peace Arch park peace rally which saw more than 250,000 gather in London’s Hyde Park the previous Sunday, read with growing enthusiasm the declaration of the European Peace Movement adopted at that rally. ‘*We in this generation hold in trust the future, and we accept our trusteeship,’’ he quoted to the hushed crowd. ‘*We reject all nuclear weapons president Leonid Brezhnev and read to the assembly by foreign minister Andrei Gromyko. The pledge marks a turning point in world disarmament ef- forts. If an agreement on the no first-strike principle were signed by the USSR, the United States and other nuclear powers, it would constitute a virtual ban on the use of nuclear weapons. ion of Soviet Socialist Republics Saturday. and all weapons of mass destruc- tion; we reject all ‘deterrent’ arguments and all justifications of the arms race; we call on our friends in the East and West to refuse all arms; to refuse the deployment of weapons on their territory; we refuse the cold war — let refusals proliferate.”’ Pentz asked for the throng’s See 15,000 page 3 assumes an obligation not to be the first to use nuclear weapons. This obligation shall become ef- fective immediately, the moment it is made public from the rostrum of the UN General Assembly. “Gf the other nuclear powers assume an equally precise and » clear obligation not to be the first to use nuclear weapons, that See PEACE page 12 \ TRIBUNE PHOTO—SEAN GRIFFIN -would be tantamount in practice The message stated: ““The Un- ~~ * om : Invasion protested The Canada-Palestine Asso- ciation this week condemned the Israeli invasion of Lebanon as ‘‘an attempt to annihilate the Palestinian people’ and urged support for its protest rally in Vancouver this Saturday, June 19.at 1 p.m. in Robson Square. The: ofganization “has ‘called on the federal government to impose sanctions. against Israel ‘to. compel that ‘country to with- draw its troops. Tsrael out, page 9 ~ Also this week, delegates to the Vancouver and District La- bor Council added their voice to the world-wide condemnation of Israel’s invasion and called onthe Canadian Labor Con- gress to use its influence to en- ' sure that ‘‘all Israeli troops are '- withdrawn and -that hostilities cease so that peace discussions can commence.”’