190,000 West Germans march against missiles BERLIN — The two main groupings in West Ger- many on peace have now stripped down for action. The right-wing conservative government of Chancellor Hel- mut Kohl has stated openly and clearly that it intends to instal its portion of the 572 new U.S. medium-range nuclear rockets called for under the NATO decision of 1979. With equal clarity, the West German peace move- ment has come into the streets over the Easter weekend with the challenge that it ‘will not permit 1983 to become the year of the new nuclear rockets’’. . The Easter peace demonstrations were on a mass scale that confirmed what no informed observer would deny: the majority in the FRG remain committed to a policy of reversing the 1979 NATO decision, reducing armaments in East and West, and for negotiations for peace in the world. Despite all the attacks by West German right-wing media and government sources, over 750,000 people took part in the Easter peace marches and demonstra- tions in all parts of the FRG. The demonstrations were supported and participated in by trade unionists, a num- ber of Social Democratic leaders, Communists, the Greens, the non-party ‘‘alternatives’’, Christians, intel- lectuals, women’s organizations and others. Emphasizing their scope, the West German Commu- nist daily, Unser Zeit wrote: ‘“‘The Easter marches made it indisputably clear that, following the election of the nght-wing conservative government, the fight against the stationing of new U.S. atomic rockets in our country has not become weaker but stronger. From ‘Nuclear hostages’ Soviet Defence Minister Dmitry Ustinov, April 6, said the U.S. is making Europeans “nuclear hos- tages” ofits first strike strategy by offering its NATO allies as targets in the hope it might survive a nuclear war. “If Washington thinks (the USSR) will retaliate only against targets in Europe they badly delude themselves,”’ he warned. From Berlin Fils Delisle north to south in the Federal Republic, in the large population centres just as in the rural regions, people with different world outlooks demonstrated together in protest against the atomic armaments insanity.”’ Here in the GDR, the official attitude towards the new right-wing government at Bonn continues to be based on the desire to continue promoting normalization between the two German states and to work together for coexis- tence and peace. State Council chairman, Erich Hon- ecker said after the elections that the GDR was prepared to go along with Chancellor Kohl’s own election slogan: “peace with less weapons.’’ The GDR, Honecker pointed out, was also for peace with less weapons, for agreements on disarmament and the planned reduction of weapons of mass destruction. There is a great gulf, of course, between Bonn’s pre- election slogan of peace with less weapons and its pres- ent position of supporting Washington’s program of more and more missiles. That was clearly understood by the peace marchers and demonstrators in the FRG. Oskar Lafontaine, for | example, Lord Mayor of Saarbruecken and a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) national executive, told peace marchers in the Ruhr district that U.S. war strategy “‘means the end of all security policy’’. He declared that whoever follows President Reagan’s strat- egy ‘can no longer claim for himself that he represents the security interests of his own people.”’ The West German peace movement's Easter activities were matched by similar parades and demonstrations in Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland, Great Bri- tain and elsewhere. In the independent enclave of West Berlin, over 40,000 people went into the streets to pro- test the NATO nuclear missile plan. Separate from such Easter activities, the Young Socialists, the youth organization of the SPD, adopted a resolution opposing the stationing of new nuclear mis siles in the FRG. So did the Young Democrats, the youth organization which broke away from the parent orgat | ization, the Free Democratic Party, after the lattet switched from a government coalition with the SPD 0 the right-wing coalition. The West German Communists (DK P) wholehearted- ly supported the Easter Peace activities and communist leaders and rank-and-file marched together-with mem bers of other groups in the parades. International Focus Tom Morris raaansn It depends on who’s in charge On Apmil 19 the country will hear Lalonde’s new budget which will undoubtedly feel like a cold shower. It will rep- resent the combined input. of the Cabinet and those in high places who have the ear of Cabinet insiders. It will be a budget of the rich, by the rich, for the rich — with some sops thrown in to offset criticism from too many of the Great Unwashed. In short, it will be a budget that could have been produced by Lalonde, by former Finance Minister MacEachen or by Tory Finance Minister Crosby — because these people know which side their bread is but- tered on and speak the same language. The majority of Canadians will play the role of a squeezed lemon and be asked to keep on sacrificing. All this came to mind look- ing at the front page of Free West Indian last week. It’s the national paper of Grenada, and its banner headline reads: ‘20,000 Discuss Budget, Plan”’. The photos show large pub- lic meetings discussing the proposed 1983 budget. The story describes how everyone in the country, via their union or local group can take part, add their suggestions, make their criticisms, and propose r The National Newspaper of Grepada, Carriacou & Petit Martinique | _The National Newspaper of Greoada,Cariacou Petit Martinique REE WEST INDIAN = o' 1V_No 16 St George’s Grenada Saturday March 19 1983 50 cents - 20,000 * eg Bes a a PACIFIC TRIBUNE —APRIL 22, 1983—Page 10 changes before the budget is adopted. Lalonde would have a sei- zure if that happened here. How could he then play his cutsie hide-and-seek games while preparing to shaft us? Grenada’s budget debate had some other refreshing points: It’s arecord $254.8-mil- lion — 38% higher than last year. $145-million will go to- ward capital projects (includ- ing the new airport). Health and education expenditures will rise sharply and pensions will be upped 21.5%. And there will be a surplus. Some thoughts to remember as you listen to Lalonde report April 19 on behalf of the power elite. : : When ‘nay’ sounds like ‘yea’ Throughout the terrible battering Lebanon took (and is still taking) from Israeli forces last spring and summer, many charged that the United States was lurking behind the scenes. As Israel’s chief arms sup- plier, financial backer and apologist, it appeared impos- sible such a major military ac- tion could take place without U.S. complicity. ‘It was. In a lead story March 2, the Jewish Times in Miami reports that a leading Israeli military affairs expert claims Washing- ton gave Israel an implicit “‘green light’’ to invade Lebanon. Zeev Schiff, writing in the Israeli quarterly, Foreign Pol- icy, says: ‘‘The = Israeli government had good reason to believe that even when its representative heard ‘nay’ from Washington prior to the invasion of Lebanon, the words. sounded every bit like a ‘yea’. The Americans, having received advance information about Israel’s intentions — chose to look the. other way...” Schiff noted the U.S. knew well in advance about the Is- raeli build-up on Lebanon’s border, that former Defence Minister Sharon met with former U.S. Secretary of State Haig prior to the move and that Prime Minister Begin kept repeating he would ‘have no choice’ but to invade. Schiff is correct. Months, weeks and days before Israeli armor smashed into Lebanon in June, 1982, the clamour from Tel Aviv rose in intensity. All the warning flags were out. Today we’re treated to stories of Israelis ‘‘offering’’ military intelligence garnered during its invasion to the U.S. military and U.S. Marines ‘*keeping the peace’”’ in Beirut. Today, exactly one year la- ter, the same ‘‘warnings’’ are being given by Israel to Syria. Begin shows signs of going to the well twice (see story on op- posite page) but this time he may come up dry. The right to secure borders Since 1979, when the de- spised Khmer Rouge was kicked out of Kampuchea after nearly obliterating the land and people, their remnants have been camped along the Kam- puchea-Thailand border. From these positions, with Thai, U.S. and Chinese aid, they have carried out raids against Kampuchea and generally -have kept a high profile in the Western media. The reason isn’t difficult to find: led by the U.S. and sup- ported by many Western states, a campaign has been developed to hammer together an anti-government ‘‘govern- ment in exile’’ which includes _ former Prince Sihanouk and a rag-tag of Khmer Rouge killers. The latest round of fighting along the border is a con- tinuation of Kampuchea’s ef- fort to dislodge the estimated 45,000 armed Khmer Rouge and normalize the border reg- ion. It’s not an attack against Thailand.