Canada/World

—.

Rather than breaking the labour move-
Ment’s fighting spirit, the Tory government
and employer offensive has been met from
One end of the country to the other with an
fagerness to struggle in defence of living
Standards, democracy, trade union rights
and the fight for Canada.

This is shown in the determined fight
cing waged by the Communications
Vorkers of Canada against Bell; the Postal

Mmunications Employees at Canada
Post; the Newfoundland pulp and paper
Workers; the B.C. Government Employees

Mion squaring off against the Vander

M regime; and in strikes and other forms
Of resistance and actions on the bargaining
front from coast to coast.

It is being shown in the mobilization of
the trade unions leading all Canadians in
the fight to save the country from being
swallowed up by the American empire.

These struggles take place in an environ-
Ment coloured by the capitalist drive for
iicreased productivity” and management

flexibility” in the service of de-regulation
and privatization. With the treacherous
ulroney-Reagan trade pact, these consti-
tute the main planks of the neo-conservative
agenda.

Tn the free trade agreement and the arro-
8ance with which the Tories have sought to
Tush it through Parliament, the callous logic
Of profits-before-people has been given full
Teign. The Tories are committed to going all
the way, even if it means sacrificing Canada
Itself on the altar of super profits and mega-

ucks for the transnationals.

The growing resistance to this attack on
the economic front coincides more and
More with a ripening political crisis for the
Tories, Canadians haven’t forgotten Michael

ilson’s bid to cancel old age pension

ee

CP: Mobilize to defeat free trade

Tory policies of de-regulation and privatization responsible for postal strike, Com-

munist party says in Labour Day statement.

indexing; the tainted tuna fiasco; a seem-
ingly endless string of scandals and the con-

‘sequent resignation of platoons of cabinet

ministers and government members; the
deHavilland, Canadian Teleglobe and now
Air Canada sell-offs; the shakes and shin-
gles surrender; the Oerlikon affair; the use
of scabs and police against the letter carri-
ers; back-to-work legislation against inside
postal workers and railway workers; the
proposed splurge for nuclear-powered
submarines to escalate the arms race; the
disastrous Meech Lake Accord and the free
trade deal.

This Labour Day reveals a government
sliding uneasily toward a fall election, des-:

perately searching for another parliamen-
tary majority so it can lock us irrevocably
into the free trade deal and the completion
of its reactionary agenda.

In fact, the growing majority sentiment
to have the trade deal stopped, the anger
building up throughout the country over
the nuclear submarines, and the govern-
ment’s dishonest record and scandal-ridden

"past, all indicate that Canadians are increas-

ingly open to a progressive alternative to
what the transnationals have in store for
Canada.

The Tories can and must be defeated if
the trade deal is to be stopped. Canadians

need a new government committed to a new

economic direction for Canada. We need a
new policy aimed at strengthening Cana-
dian independence based on public owner-
ship and control of our resources and the
planned development and extension of our
manufacturing base.

Canadians want secure jobs, and regional
economic development geared to improv-
ing the conditions of life that is not tied to a
lethal arms race through the U.S. military-
industrial complex and its Canadian
branches. They want a universal accessible
national child care program instead of
nuclear subs.

They want a foreign policy that is in tune
with the global trend towards disarmament
and peaceful resolution of conflict, not a
cold war policy moving, as the Tory
Defence White Paper does, in the opposite
direction.

But achieving this requires immediate
mobilization and action on two fronts. The
broad anti-free-trade movements linking
organized labour, the churches, women,
indigenous peoples, farmers, academics and
youth have to be given a new impetus to
move into action right away to deepen the
understanding of the dire consequences of
free trade for Canada and to strengthen
opposition to the deal.

Second, these forces, with labour in the
lead, must pull out all the stops when the
vote is called to ensure the election of a
government with a democratic alternative
to the Tories’ neo-conservative agenda.

There is a mood developing throughout
the country on Labour Day 1988 for resist-
ance to the corporate agenda and for a
change of government. Labour has a lead-
ership role to play in transforming that
mood into an irresistible force for progress.

re

Omar Latif is a member of the Commit-
tee of Progressive Pakistani-Canadians,
and a member of the Communist Party of
Canada. The death of Pakistani ruler Zia
ul-Hagq will have great repercussions for that
country and the entire area. Latif talked to
the Tribune about some of these.

Tribune: There are insinuations that the
crash that took the life of President Zia was
a plot of Moscow, Kabul or Pakistani
Communists.

Latif: That is extremely unlikely. I think
the crash was engineered by people in the
Pakistani army itself. (Since this interview,
nine military personnel have been arrested
and charged with complicity in Zia’s
death — Ed.) They felt Zia was unwilling
to honour the Geneva Accords on Afgh-
anistan, A lot of the army brass was tired
of that war. General Zia did not want any
form of elections, while some of the brass
felt elections were necessary, so that the
army could, as they see it “share power’ as

in the El Salvador model: limited demo-
cracy, some rights for the elected represen-
tatives, but with the army in fact holding
Onto power.

If it would not have come to pass this
way — via the devolution of power by the
military — it would have to come the
“hard way,” which would mean the army
would lose its privileges, benefits, etcetera.

Tribune: In other words, Zia himself was
seen as an obstacle to continued army domi-
nance?

Latif: Yes indeed. In their terms, Zia

Pakistan after Zia:
What lies ahead?

was risking everything to his own personal
ambitions. Many of the army brass knew
that were the Democrats to win the next
Us: presidential election, the U.S. would
not back the regime to the extent it has up
to now.

Tribune: So there was a rift in the army.
But the U.S. supported Zia.

Latif; For 11 years. I find it highly sym-
bolic that this man who came to powet 11
years ago with the U.S. ambassador at his
back went down to his death with the U.S.
ambassador beside him. That basically
sums up Zia’s career. He was recruited by
the CIA at the beginning of the 1970s, and
made his way up the top ranks. The
Bhutto government put him there to keep
the left in check and to appease the right.
He did that, but did even more: (He) over-
threw the Bhutto government itself.

The generals who have now replaced
him, provided it is not a mere power strug-

gle among personalities, but a question of

policies, are not by any means democrats
or progressives, but they want to protect
both their institution and their privileges
for a long time. :
Tribune: What is the popular reaction
inside Pakistan?
Latif: What the media here showed us

was the government- and army-controlled
town of Islamabad, where a lot of people
came out for the funeral. But as far as I can
tell, Zia’s death was greeted throughout
the country with great relief, and the hope
that this would be the first step toward

ZIA UL-HAQ ... the death of the Pakistani ruler Aug. 24 renews hope for a

democratic, elected government.

democratic, or elected, government.

Tribune: Are there going to be elections?

Latif: That’s a good question. I’m of the
opinion that the date of Nov. 16 was set for
the elections in Pakistan so it would fall
after the American elections. I believe that
if Bush wins, the elections (were to be)
cancelled; if Dukakis, they (were to) go
ahead, and an El Salvador-type model
installed, with elected representatives in
parliament, but real power exercised by
the army. -

Tribune: What are the demands of the
popular forces?

Latif: First, genuinely free and fair elec-
tions, with the transfer of power to the
elected representatives, and not power-

-sharing with the army. This is a reality,

given time, given unity, and given mil-

‘itancy. Second, the equality of all four

nations within Pakistan. Third, the resto-

ration of human, democratic, women’s
and workers’ rights. Fourth, an end to at
least the scale, if not completely, of the war
against Afghanistan. I do, by the way,
think there will be a scaling down of the
war, even without elections.

The war against Afghanistan has never

‘been popular with the people. It was popu-

lar with the U.S. State Department and the
Pakistani army. And it has become stead-
ily more unpopular. In certain parts of
Pakistan, one side of a street will be pro-
rebel, the other side will be pro-Afghan
government.

There are changes. As far as Washing-
ton is concerned, Zia ul-Haq had a certain
role at a certain period of history. That
role is over. Now other tactics are neces-
sary to maintain U.S. domination of the
country. If the form changes, such as
limited democracy, but not the basics,
Washington might go with it.

Pacific Tribune, September 7, 1988 « 3

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