Editorial

Step up the pressure

The release of former ANC general secretary Walter Sisulu and seven other
political prisoners from apartheid jails after a quarter-century of hard labour
was certainly a major victory, especially for the South African people whose
resistance and struggle has overcome the severest repression.

This latest concession, however, was won at high cost and should not lull
anti-apartheid activists into thinking the de Klerk regime has become either
benevolent or democratic. As the released leaders themselves emphasize, their
liberty was won, not given. And much remains to be done to win a free,
non-racial, democratic South Africa.

The African National Congress points out that:

@ Nelson Mandela, 71, the last of the Rivonia defendants, is still in jail after
26 years.

© There are hundreds of people in illegal detention — some long-term
political prisoners and others, including children, held for days, weeks, months
without charges or legal rights. ;

@ The South African Defence Force runs rampant in the townships, along
with police and vigilantes, bringing death and violence daily.

© The two-year old state of emergency is still in force. Civil rights are
non-existent; military law prevails.

@ Every basic apartheid law still exists, as does the racist machinery to
enforce the systematic exclusion of the overwhelming majority of South Afri-
cans from political life.

@ All people’s organizations are illegal.

© The media is muzzled.

© The regime actively sabotages neighboring states, including doing all it can
to prevent SWAPO from coming to power in Namibia.

Walter Sisulu made it abundantly clear in his first media conference that
tough international sanctions played an important role in exerting pressure on
the regime. He called on'the world community to step up sanctions, to cut
existing ties with Pretoria, to isolate and expose the illegal, racist regime.

Governments like those of Thatcher and Bush, who mask their basic support
of white privilege behind facile anti-sanctions rhetoric, are in danger of being left
behind by events. Others, like the Mulroney government which makes endless
pious speeches, but does little as commerce between Canada and South Africa
actually grows, are in danger of being exposed as hypocrites.

External Affairs Minister Clark made a speech full of self-congratulatory
praise on Sept.28 about Canada’s fight against apartheid. Mulroney spoke in
the same vein last week at the Commonwealth conference. Their self-praise is
ill-conceived.

In its place are needed tough, comprehensive, sanctions which, unlike Tory
talk, are not cheap.

VAS-~4.897-1C

WON'T THAT GIVE
AWAY OVR LITTLE
SECRET SIRC

VIS WARHEA

~

EDITOR

Sean Griffin

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Dan Keeton

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f only there was a little “glasnost” on this

side of the water instead of the selective
vision that passes for government infor-
mation in Victoria ....

Only days after Statistics Canada issued
its report showing that British Columbia

In another key index, per capita spendin
had registered the highest overall eco- 3 : Jee iG

on education, B.C. was last from 1985

nomic growth and employment growth in
the country, the Social Credit gang was
taking out full-page ads in the newspaper
trumpeting the statistics as a demonstra-
tion of their greatness. Of course, the ads
didn’t mention that section of the report
which noted that unemployment remains
stubbornly at the 10 per cent level. But
then, what the hell, what good is self-
congratulation if it’s marred by contrary
details?

And that’s only part of the selective
vision.

For some reason, we didn’t hear from
Victoria earlier this year when StatsCan
issued a report showing that British
Columbia ranked ninth among the 10
provinces in per capita funding for
hospitals — a statistic that had a direct
bearing on the state of labour relations in
the health care field.

And strangely enough, the government
isn’t taking out any ads to publicize the
latest figures from StatsCan which show
that British Columbia has consistently
ranked either last or near the bottom of
the pack in all aspects of education spend-
ing.

According to the report, summarized in
Education Leader, published by the B.C.

School Trustees Association, the province -

ranked dead last from 1985 through 1988
in its spending on education, expressed as
a percentage of Gross Domestic Product.

through 1987, before climbing out of the

basement to ninth place in 1988, barely

ahead of tiny Prince Edward Island.
StatsCan reports aside, we’re still wait-

: ing for the government to admit that jobs

are moving south as a result of the Free
Trade Agreement — as companies such
as Takahashi Industries and Executive
Dental Supply shift production to the
U.S — and we still haven’t had an
accounting of how many people were
added to the unemployment rolls as a
result of the “downsizing” of the provin-
cial civil service.

As William Winpisinger, president of the
International Association of Machinists,
remarked last year, what we get here is
“perestroika without the glasnost.”

* * *

f you’re like some of the parents around

this office, the accumulation of child-
ren’s toys, including many which are out-
grown while they’re still in good shape,
can be substantial. If so, an arrangement
that’s been made between the peace coali-
tion End the Arms Race and Garrison’s Toy
Bin in Vancouver might help create a bit
more elbow room.

The store will accept toys which are
clean and in good condition for resale and
will donate the proceeds to End the Arms
Race. Toys donated by the peace coalition
will be specially coded in the store.

People and Issues

They also note that recycling the toys
has some environmental benefits since
plastic toys in particular can remain in
landfill sites for hundreds of years without
decomposing.

Toys can be dropped off at Garrison’s
at 33rd and McKenzie or EAR offices at
1708 West 16th.

cosas oc, Seer, 3

ooking at long-time Tribune supporter

Glyn Thomas’s spare, wiry frame and
his age — 60 — you wouldn’t put him in
the high risk category for a heart attack.
But one struck him with devastating force
two weeks ago, placing him for a tense few
days in intensive care before he began to
recover.

Glyn is on the mend again but his doc-
tor still has him restricted in his activity.
He’d certainly welcome visitors now that
he’s out of hospital and staying with his
sister Betty. He can be reached at 941-
8662.

c eeenet, earaae, J

bout a month ago, the daily media

was awash in articles reflecting on
World War II, to mark the 50th anniver-
sary of the conflict that took 50 million
lives. But in perusing the reams of columns
and historical photos, one was hard-
pressed to find information on the real
causes of the war and its antecedents: the
rise of fascism, the re-armament of Ger-
many, the policy of appeasement, and the

key question: was the most ruinous con-
flict in history avoidable?

Labour historian and journalist Ben
Swankey will be examining many of those

questions in an upcoming talk at the Cen-.

tre for Socialist Education, 1726 E. Hast-
ings St. in Vancouver on Sunday, Nov. 12,
1 p.m. Swankey, a war veteran who
recently toured the German Democratic
Republic, will look at the Soviet-German
non-aggression pact, the “phony war” of
1939-41 and Canada’s role in the war,
among other questions.

sie Seer t, |

For the second year running, the
aforementioned Centre for Socialist
Education awarded bursaries to deserving
students from its Dan Godfrey Bursary
Fund. And the thank-you letters the centre
received from 1988’s two recipients shows
that the money was well used.

From horticulture student Maureen
Christensen in Olds, Alta., came these
words: “For the past two summers I have
been a field worker for various types of
farms. The prejudice and horrible living
conditions which the workers endured has
made me embarrassed that this is my
country.” Maureen, who received $300,
hopes to contribute to improving farm
labourers’ working and living conditions
and ending the indiscriminate use of farm
pesticides.

Meanwhile, Julius Fisher of Vancouver
writes his appreciation for the cheque
which helped him finish recording the
newly-released tape by B Cuadro, pro-
duced by Fisher’s Slim Evans Records and
Tapes. A student, Fisher supports himself
through recording and live sound services.

4 e Pacific Tribune, October 30, 1989