hae t the going down of the sun and in the morning we

ae will remember them?” Then we turn the minutes
eet : set aside once a year as Remembrance Day to glorify
| militarism, war and profits; to prate about the ‘‘supreme
sacrifice” of the 150,000 thousand of Canada’s dead in two
world wars in due obeisance to the gods of Mammon and War.
In this we observe a strict humility by never relating how
many new millionaires such sacrifices have produced.

At cold stone monuments all across Canada (and
elsewhere) ‘‘Holy’’ men dressed in all the habiliments of a
seeming ‘‘Christianity’’ recite prayers and praises in
“remembrance’’ of these countless dead, to the end that the
living youth of today may emulate their example when the call
goes out for more “‘cannon fodder.”

A goodly portion of these Pagan-robed prelates spend
much of their time calling down God’s ‘‘blessing’’ upon the
latest battleship, jet bomber, tank or what have you,
militaristic engines of mass death, built to. kill en masse, the
while depriving millions of their jobs, their food, clothing and
shelter!

““. . . If ye break faith with us
Who lie in Flanders’ Fields
We shall not sleep, tho poppies blow”’ :

So pleaded Col. John McCrea from those fateful years of
1914-18, (World War I) the ‘“‘war for democracy’’, the ‘‘war to
end all wars’’ etc. and ad nauseam. Yet we, hourly and daily
for the duration of those 53-years have broken faith; have made
a gigantic commercial mockery of all the Remembrance Days
in between, continuously and consistently. World War II — and
all the others that followed, confirm that betrayal. Hitler was
only one of the end results of that betrayal. The dead of Korea
and Vietnam — and of America itself, cry out against its
monstrous savagery and cynicism.

There have been moments in history when it was thought
men might keep faith with Col. John McCrea and eschew war
and its attendent horror and barbarisms. Nuremberg was one
of those moments. So also were the trials of Japanese generals
and other high command personnel for their savage war
crimes, a ‘‘normal’’ sequence of war itself.

An article in the Japanese paper Asahi Evening News
abridged and re-printed in a U.S. magazine, draws a parallel
between U.S. General Westmoreland’s responsibility for the
mass murder of Vietnamese villagers in Song My, and that of
Japanese General Yamashita and 920 other Japanese military
leaders for their massacre of Philippine citizens in Manila_

during World War II,

Now the Japanese are wondering, and many thousands of
decent Americans are wondering with them, why General.
Westmoreland and others higher up on the U.S. military totem
pole should be the exception— and leave the lower brass, such
as First Lieut. William Calley, Jr. to take the “‘responsibility”
for the My Lai and countless other wanton massacres of
Vietnamese citizens. If they could speak, perhaps the 50,000
American dead in Indochina would ask that same question.

Or, perhaps they would find the answer, as the living are
now doing, in the harsh and brutal treatment, in the violence
and worse being meted out to American G.I.’s, veterans of the
Vietnamese and Korean wars, who have awakened to the
disastrous end results of a military-industrial Establishment
which, having press-ganged them into an adventurous debacle
in Indochina, now repudiates, spurns, rejects and kicks them,
simply because they oppose war. ° =

A U.S. military collossus talks of ‘‘peace’’, but continues
its murderous bombing of Vietnam; it talks ‘“‘peace’’, yet
spurns its own and world opinion on its perfection of new and-
terrible weapons of overkill, as its Amchitka blast confirms.
Yet its foraging wings are being clipped and its talon claws
blunted by a hitherto U.S.-dominated UN — now freed from its
war and dollar blackmail.

World humanity has now a better opportunity to keep
“faith” with peace, and to say with a much deeper and firmer
sincerity, —‘‘At the going down of the sun and in the morning
we will remember them’’; with a greater determination that
no more such sacrifices will be laid on the altars of Mammon
and War.

War Act Inquiry coming

The Citizens’ Commission of
Inquiry into the War Measures
Act will hold hearings in
Vancouver on December 3 and
4th. Commissioners include
Woodrow Lloyd, former premier
of Saskatchewan, Fernand
Daoust, Prof. Laurier LaPierre,
and Prof. Richard Dunlop,
among others.

Terms of reference of the
inquiry are: Why the Act was
invoked; how it affected. civil.
liberties; abuses of civil liberties
beyond the scope of the Act; the
roots of the crisis in Quebec and

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1971—PAGE 2

Canada: whether the War
Measures Act should be
repealed, etc. .

The Communist Party of B.C.
will be one of the groups
presenting a brief to the inquiry.

Sittings of the Commission are
being held in the major cities of
Canada, and are scheduled to
end in December. The
Commissioners will produce a
published report based on’
evidence gathered through
research and hearings at the
conclusion of the inquiry.

Town planning group

needs citizens’ voice

By ALD: HARRY RANKIN

Vancouver’s town planning
commission has become an
anemic and virtually useless
appendage of the NPA majority
on City Council. It’s not only
toothless, it’s bloodless as well.
It wasn’t meant to be that way
but that’s what the NPA has
done to it.

The commission is an advisory

-body appointed “‘in camera’’ by

council. Its members act without
pay. Its purpose is to enable
knowledgeable citizens to advise
council on the complex problems
associated with planning and
development in Vancouver. That
purpose is laudable. To enable
concerned citizens to help decide
the direction of our city’s
development is the real meaning
of civic democracy.

The NPA majority on council,
however, has distorted the whole
purpose of the commission by
appointing to it political has-
beens and would-bees — NPA
candidates who have been
defeated in their attempts to
secure election to council, and
NPA members being groomed to
run for council. The NPA is using
the commission as a cheap
publicity bureau for its own
members, a shameful abuse of
council responsibility.

We have good men and women
in the city who could make an
excellent contribution to this
commission. But they’re not to
be found in the ranks of NPA
politicians. They’re to be found
among the citizens and citizen
groups who appear before
council taking up the needs of-

our people — those who led the
fight against the Four Seasons
sell-out, against an east-west
freeway, for rapid transit,
against the under-assessment of
big commercial and industrial

properties, against the Arbutus’

shopping centre, for a ward
system in Vancouver, for low
rental housing, ‘and for tenant
needs.

These are the citizens who are
really concerned about
Vancouver’s development and
who are doing something about
it. I’ve repeatedly tried to have
such citizens appointed to
various boards but invariably my
proposals have been rejected by
the NPA majority.

The NPA doesn’t want this
type of citizen because it would
mean a head on clash between
them and the NPA’s policy of
catering to big private
developers and the public be
damned. That’s why it appoints
its yes men to this commission.

In following this practice the
NPA is driving nails into its own
political coffin, but in the
process it’s also harming
Vancouver. The political future
of the NPA can be taken care of
by voters a year from now.

In the meantime, however,
citizens have every right to
demand that the political
appointees to the town planning
commission resign, and that
council appoint a new
commission from nominations
provided by citizen groups, one
that is truly representative of
the whole community on a non-
partisan basis.

‘Thanks, But No Thanks!’

—U.S. Daily World

McKnight ruts |
for re-electio!

Popular Port Albert
alderman George Mcknle. k
announced recently that he ™ |
run for re-election 1”. 4):
December 11 muni
elections. Also running fF 4,
election is well-know? | i, 9
unionist Mark Mosher we
seeking another term on
board. vie

Both progressive © 1g @
candidates enjoy widesPl 7
support among trade unio”
and home owners.

A contest is also expected
develop in the mayorally
where a challenge of the Pl
mayor is anticipated. :

Considerable attention ee
focused on Nanaimo wheré ‘
unionist Bert Ogden, ©%© 4d
member of the
Fishermen and Allied wort
Union, is running for te ie
time for alderman under
Nanaimo Civic Imprové
Association banner, 2 Te
formed civic reform body: W

In the Fraser valley the
Lennox, member nn
telegraphers union, 18 rent
for council as an indepe?
Surrey, where retired 14!
Harry Ball is also runnine:, of

In White Rock a trade Oe
Paul Winston, member ib
Canadian Union of
Employees, announced
he will run for mayor.

In Coquitlam, Eunice | fot

school board in a PE
election, announced last
that she will be a candid@
school board seat
upcoming election.
Kamloops Labor ©
endorsed Don Elsey>
North Kamloops may
for mayor in KamlooPe |
Also running are trade vel
Bill Ferguson and Ray ~
for school board.

Support for ward system urged ©

‘‘A ward system is the major
electoral reform needed in
Vancouver,’’ said Margaret
Chunn, executive secretary of
the Committee of Progressive
Electors (COPE) in a statement
this week.

“Tt will make it possible for all
areas of the city to have a voice
in Council decisions and to have
their needs taken up. It will
ensure representation of the east
end as well as areas heavily popu-

lated with ethnic groups, all of
whom are excluded by our
present method of electing 10
aldermen from one con-
stituency of 260,000 voters.

‘ “We want to see a full ward

system with all aldermen
elected from wards as is the
practice in almost all other
Canadian cities,’ she said. ““The
modified ward system suggested
by municipal affairs minister
Dan Campbell whereby half the
aldermen are elected by wards

COPE SOCIAL

°A social evening to meet
Alderman Harry Rankin is being
held by COPE on Saturday, Nov.
20 at 8 p.m. in the Teamsters
Hall, 490 East Broadway.
Entertainment and refresh-
ments will round out the even-
ing. Tickets are $1.00; students
and senior citizens, 50¢.

e
and the other half at 1aré"
the latter becoming @ © ith
super-government

sable:

Council, is not suitarn
believe all aldermen 5? ciple 9,
spor

equal and equally re

t
She urged public supp ph
the petition launched ne
for a ward system. Le4
to be distributed 9
COPE’s proposals, and 5 fe
door canvass for sig4
being undertaken. Pet ost
also being sent to all ri iM
groups. For further info oa
about the campaign cont ici!
Swankey, COPE PU
director, 433-8323.

jon
tion