= SSS

§

‘

| Hof, in the

neo’ is a photo of the start
€ historic talks between the

5 Federal Republic of Ger-
hy in the Interhotel Erfurter
city of Erfurt, on
“tch 19, 1970.
initia meeting took place on the
crati Ive of the German Demo-
the gercPublic. Walter Ulbricht,
the pate Council Chairman of
ae SDR wished the meeting
vase So that it may become
; re point for further talks
discrj Teaty of mutual and non-
asi Minatory relations on the
§ of international law.”
With Stated that as is normal
eee states, relations of
that a co-existence require
an € G.D.R. and West Ger-
ic. Tecognize each other in
on we international law and
fevan qo Germany abandons all
Be claims.
act that such a meeting
between the two German states

By VIVIAN RAINERI

tit news from Port of Spain,
Bric a that Prime. Minister
the illiams has announced

ba €-over of Canadian own-
Cent nks. and his support of re-
tion lack Power demonstra-
the illustrates dramatically
People Pe and breadth of the
S uprising there.

Soke aad that uprising. We
Of it eg young militant leaders
On x,t the time we were there,
Thoyre Ch 11, for a few short
Cover Sir Eric Williams and his
ing pment had been maintain-

the meet was characterized by
In

| blag tence” on demands of the
Mo, (lberation movement for
Sestiny nto! over their own

Sir pe:
emmee tie Williams’ black gov-
3 = had been elected some
Promicts 880 on the basis of
that, os of reform, promises
tain a, Vere told over and over
‘ » “had not been kept.”

80vernment, it was
bY the people’s move-
'8nores us, insults us

S .
brutatiieetS us to black police

the a It is in this context that
Ney The chouncement must be
, Teot A € step was taken in di-
| Rifle SPonse to a new: strong,

a Moye novement for change —
- ut doyrett that would not be
+ py blac sCVEM: as we were told
| tie for icaders, “if we have to

__,, MAIN LEADERS
Ing sou
- jgcldene

8h a fortunate series of
sey

ewett amazing story in
_' ”€ were able in the few

S$ Of government of the Ger-

"nidad Press as a “disturb--

took place is, of course, a posi-
tive step towards that achieve-
ment. Enormous pressures are
on to prevent its realization, as
evidenced by the mounting
frenzy of the attack on Willy
Brandt in the West German par-
liament.

The G.D.R. and West German’

delegations agreed to meet again
in May of this year in Kassel, in
West Germany.

Erfurt, the site of the recently
concluded meeting, is famous
because it is where the German
Social Democrats accepted
Marxist theory in 1891, when
they accepted Marx’s Erfurt
Program.

Willy Brandt, West Germany’s
chief of state, made an impor-
tant pronouncement at the Er-
furt meeting when he said that
peaceful coexistence of the so-
cialist and capitalist countries
will never be successful unless
the two Germanys live at peace

short hours we had there to
make contact with main leaders
of the liberation and black pow-
er movement. —

It is perhaps’ important to
note that the slogan ‘Black Pow-
er’ in the colonial nations has

a much different connotation.

than in the United States at
present,

The black liberation struggle
in the U.S., after going through
a necessary phase of raising the
cry “Black Power!” has now, as
exemplified by the most militant
sector of the movement, the
Black Panther Party, moved to a
class-based slogan of “Power to

the People — Black Power to

Black People!”

This is to meet specific condi-
tions of oppression and formu-
late programs to combat the
racist U.S. “mother country.”
The U.S. Black Panther Party
considers that the black people
in the States are in fact a colony
surrounded by the “white mo-
ther country.”

In the West Indies, by con-
trast, it is the whites, who are
the “colonial masters,” a tiny
minority completely controlling
the economy, helped along, in
the main (and except when
pushed by the people as current-
ly in Trinidad), by puppet gov-
ernments.

PROTESTS MOUNT

Thus, it is in this context that
we heard over and over, through
the Panama Canal and in Trini-
dad,. the call and the greeting,
“Black Power!”

The night before we arrived in
Port of Spain: 20,000 people had
demonstrated in the streets. We

together. He claimed all other
efforts would be meaningless,
unless this was achieved.

At the right side of the table
was the German Democratic
Republic’s delegation, from
front right to left, Dr. Hans
Voss, department head of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Dr.
Michael Kohl, State Secretary of
the Council of Ministers; Willi
Stoph, G.D.R. Prime Minister;
Ottow Winzer, G.D.R. Minister
of Foreign Affairs; Gunther
Kohrt, State Secretary of the
Foreign Ministry; Dr. Gerhard
Schuessler, deputy head of the

The West German delegation,
from front left to right, Dr. Ul-
rich Sahm, Ministerial Director;
Conrad Ablers, State Secretary;
Willy Brandt, Chancellor of the
Federal Republic of Germany;

Egon Franke, Federal Minister; —

Wolfram Dorn, Parliamentary
State Secretary; Jurgen Weich-
ert, Assistant Ministry Director.

saw the still-smoking ruins of
foreign-owned businesses.

At least three Canadian banks
had been fire- bombed. The
church, primarily Catholic
(which controls most of the
educational system in Trinidad)
was being attacked — including.
the ‘beating of some priests —
for “siding with the authorities.”

Protests over basic issues of
self-determination were trigger-
ed by the Montreal trial of Trin-
idad students. They had been
long - smouldering, and what
happened was like an explosion
that could no longer be sup-
pressed.

The protest movement is led
by the National Joint Action
Committee, a coalition from all
sectors of the population, in-
cluding workers, students and
the unemployed. Unemployment
is an acute problem in Trinidad.

Main spokesman for the com-
mittee is Geddes Granger, a
graduate of the University of
Trinidad. Movement people took

us many places looking for him, |

but due to the big job involved
in planning for the next day’s
march to the sugar plantations
in solidarity with the Indian
cane workers, Granger was ex-
tremely busy and we were not
able to make direct contact.

It was very apparent to us
that there was a network of se-
curity woven through East Dry
River, the working Class district
of Port of Spain, for the protec-
tion of movement leaders.

We were told that the militia
had been disarmed in the cur-
rent struggle, for two reasons:
the people might take away the

Lead ordinary lives

Deaf-mutes in Sovietland

By BERT WHYTE

The last Olympic Games were
held in Belgrade in 1969. True
or false?

True—only the Olympics we
refer to were for deaf-mute
athletes only. The U.S.S.R. with
80 sportsmen, captured gold me-
dals in six of the 12 events on
the program and were the unof-
ficial ‘winners.’ America’s 160
sportsmen finished in second
place. Canada held 13th spot in
events contested by 25 coun-
tries. Main events were football,
track and field, Graeco-Roman
and free-style wrestling, gym-
nastics, shooting and swimming.

There are an estimated 32
million deaf-mutes in the world
today. An international organiz-
ation, founded in 1924 and with
headquarters in Rome, concerns
itself with the needs of these
handicapped people. The present
general secretary is an Italian,

the president a Yugoslav. A_

world congress is held every
four years—the last took place
in Warsaw in 1967 and the next
is schieduled for Paris in 1971.
The Russian Federation, - the
Ukraine and Byelorussia are all
members of the international fe-
deration.

Recently we visited the spank-
ing new building of the Society
of Deaf-Mutes in a suburb of

arms and, secondly, the young

forces in the militia might side
with the movement. :

ECONOMIC REFORMS

Active in the Joint Action
Committee is the Trinidad Black
Panther Party. We were taken
to see Aldwin Primus, main
leader. He told us that “Black
Power” in Trinidad “does not
mean overthrow of the society”
at this point. The party is cur-
rently demanding a more bal-
lanced distribution of the eco-
nomy, including land reform
measures. :

He’ reiterated that what is
basically a reform program of
the party is “our program now.”
In light of the Prime Minister's
action, it is most ihteresting
that a major point was for the

‘government “to govern or get

out.”

He said, “We will do our own
thing: and we will deal ruthless-
ly with anyone who stands in
our way.” And he added, ‘Quote
me on that.”

Primus added that they saw
their struggle as part of the in-
ternational struggle of peoples
of color for self-determination.
He expressed support for the
U.S. Black Panther Party and
told us, “Tell the people where-
ever you go that we need sup-

port, we need solidarity with

our cause.”

One thing is sure: the strug-
gle will go on, the people have
a unity they have never had be-
fore. —

(Vivian Raineri is special
European correspondent for the
San Francis¢o progressive paper
People’s World.)

Moscow and talked to the direc-
tor. The society unites 142,000
deaf-mutes in the Russian Fede-
ration — 92 percent of those
afflicted. The remaining eight
percent live in remote districts

_far from major cities and towns.

The society has top-level organ-
izations in 70 regions, 600 dis-
trict boards and some 5,000
primary groups.

“Our cultural club is one of
500 in Russia,” the director said.
“As the central body we lead
the educational, political and
cultural work of the entire re-
public.” :

“Our whole program is based
on the theory that deaf ang
dumb people must not be isdl-
ated from public life. A- mag
with weak» eyes has to wear
glasses, but no one considers -
him different from anyone else.
Our members. are handicapped,
but with help they can lead or-
dinary lives. Our socialist soci-
ety gives them the opportunity

- to do: so.”

He produces facts’ which
proved his contention. Some 70
Russian technical schools teach
deaf-mutes carpentry, metal- .
work and other skilled trades:
and 70 factories have connec-
tions with these schools. For the
past 10 years these plants, staff-
ed with deaf-mutes, have oper-
ated'at a profit. They have not
had to ask the state for a single
kopeck; indeed, the plants make
a considerable financial contri-
bution to the state. “We're a
ministry,” joked the director.

Many deaf-mutes work in or-
dinary factories as well. Accord-
ing to Soviet law, plants must
provide an interpreter for every
20 deaf-mute employees. Alto-
gether about 15,000 of these
handicapped people,. male and
female, work in factories.

Life of the Deaf, a monthly
magazine published by the Rus-
sian Federation Society of the
Deaf, has a circulation of 42,000.

Moscow’s Central Club of
Culture boasts a Jibrary, read-
ing room, gymnasium, chess
club and so on, but the pride of
the establishment is the “The-
atre of Mimics and Gesture,” a
unique institution, the only the-
atre in the world where classical
plays are producéd in sign lan-
guage. True, there ist a panto-
mime theatre run by deaf-mutes
in the United States, but it can
hardly be considered a rival. The
Moscow group stages plays by
Shakespeare and Shiller, and
modern dramas such as “Baltic
Deputy.” An interpreter trans-
lates the hand gestures into the
Russian language for the benefit
of genera] audiences.

One yardstick for judging a
society is its treatment of its
handicapped citizens—the blind,
the crippled, the deaf, the aged.
In this respect Soviet society
has a record second to none.

ANNIE BULLER IN
NEW HOSPITAL
Annie Buller Guralnick, who.
is. seriously ill, is now in Room
446 at Baycrest Hospital, 3560.
Bathurst St., Toronto. ~
Asking the Tribune to in-
form Annie's mony friends and
wellwishers of her new ad-
dress, Harry Guralnick also ex-.
pressed the family’s thanks to |
all thosé who have written or.
visited her, ee

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—APRIL 10, 1970—Page 9