WORLD

SED-SDP issue
call for NWF area

By GERRY VAN HOUTEN
Tribune Berlin Correspondent

BONN — In what has already been described as a significant
agreement, the Socialist Unity Party (SED) of the German
Democratic Republic (GDR) and the Social Democratic Party
(SDP) of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), issued a joint
manifesto and communique calling for the establishment of a
nuclear weapons-free corridor in Central Europe.

This corridor would extend 150 kilometers on both sides of the
West German border with the GDR and Czechoslovakia. It
would create a 300 kilometer wide zone from which all nuclear
weapons would be withdrawn.

The manifesto and joint communique were made public in
Bonn by the joint heads of the SED-SDP working group. The five
member SED group was headed by Herman Axen, member of
the Politbureau of the SED, and Egon Bahr, member of the
Presidium of the SDP and chairperson of the sub-committee on
disarmament and arms control for the West German Parliament.

The manifesto, entitled ‘Principles For A Nuclear Weapons-
Free Corridor In Central Europe’’, also outlines the ways of
controlling, guaranteeing and verifying that this corridor would
genuinely be nuclear weapons-free.

In their joint communique, the two parties appealed to gov-
ernments in both east and west “‘to support negotiations on the
creation of a nuclear weapons-free corridor at the earliest pos-
sible date. Such a corridor would supplement the negotiations in
Geneva, particularly on the reduction of medium range missiles
and provide more security for both sides.”

The two party, 10 member working group was set upas a result
of a meeting in September, 1985 between GDR leader Erich
Honecker and SDP Chairperson Willy Brandt during which they
agreed to work toward the formulation of constructive con-
fidence building measures between the Warsaw Pact and NATO.

If implemented, the corridor would turn 60 per cent of the
territories of the three countries into nuclear weapons-free zones.

ltalians protest Star Wars

ROME — Halfa million Italians demonstrated in Rome against
Star Wars and the militarization of outer space on Oct. 26. Trade
Union, youth, women’s and political organizations participated
under the slogan ‘‘Disarm the seas, sky and earth.”’

Demonstrations also took place in 10 other Italian cities. These
—— were preceded a week earlier by a demonstration in

ilan.

From the
Caribbean

Norman Faria

ST. GEORGE’S, GRENADA — The walk up
the steep hill from the Careenage harbor to the
Maurice Bishop Patriotic Movement (MBPM)
headquarters on Lucas Street saps your strength.
Even at 10 in the morning the heat from the sun
weighs heavy on your soaked shoulders.

In a back room of the modest building, Einstein
Louison, 29, is busily at work getting radio equip-
ment ready. It will be used for one of the many
public meetings which the Movement is mounting
to mark the fateful October day in 1983 when
Maurice Bishop, the well-loved leader and Prime
Minister of the Grenadian people, tragically lost his
life along with several of his cabinet ministers fol-
lowing factional in-fighting within the New Jewel
Movement party.

Louison, the brother of former Agriculture
Minister George Louison of the People’s Revolu-
tionary Government (PRG) of Maurice Bishop,
talks while he gets the wires ready and collects the
party’s Indies Times newspaper to be distributed.
He doesn’t seem any different from the several
MBPM members who come and go as the morning
wears on.

However, there is a difference — he is the only
Grenadian whose passport is currently being held
by the ruling Herbert Blaize regime. For over a
‘year now, the ruling New National Party (NNP)
which came to power in December, 1984, following
a fixed Yankee-financed election campaign has
virtually deprived Louison of his right to move-
ment, his right to travel overseas.

In an interview with the Tribune, Louison, who
is the former Chief of Staff with the now disbanded
People’s Revolutionary Army (PRA) of the PRG,
argued that the withholding of his passport was “a
clear case of victimization’.

‘*In the period between the invasion and the time
they seized my passport last year I travelled to
several countries and was very careful about what I
said. Why now did they choose to take action?”’
Louison asked.

Louison: singled out by the Blaize regiingl

‘‘T am a member of the Executive of the Maurice
Bishop Patriotic Movement and I make speeches
here in the island on the party’s platform. Why are
they so scared of letting me go Overseas.”

Sadly, Louison is prevented from being with his"
wife, Irma, a Cuban translator who remains in
Havana. Sa

The case has been brought before the courts but,
according to Louison, no judgement has been writ-
ten up. Louison would like to know why. The
passport was snatched away on May 21, 1985 by
NNP officials as he was about to leave Grenada’s —
airport for the German Democratic Republic to
attend a conference of the Free Democratic Youth
organization there. :

Besides the on-going representation being made
by the MBPM to the NNP, Louison has asked that
letters be sent to Grenada’s Prime Minister Her-
bert Blaize, St. George’s, Grenada, Caribbean to”
protest and deplore the undemocratic retention of
Louison’s passport and the resulting restrictions
on his right to freedom of movement. Copies of
such correspondence should be forwarded to the
MBPM headquarters, Lucas St., St. George’s,
Grenada. :

Tribune Caribbean correspondent Norman Faria is
now on assignment through several eastern Caribbean
islands. This is the first of several reports. Next:
Grenada: three years after the invasion. ;

INTERNATIONAL FOCUS Tom Morris

sabotage unleashed by Wash-
ington which saw little Gre-
nada’s example as far more
dangerous than its actual
strength and size.

Comparing
revolutions

Before the U.S. Marines
blitzkrieged Grenada on Oct.
25, 1983, most of the news

And so today, rather than
former news of revolutionary
celebrations, down-to-earth
political speeches, mass peo-
ple’s gatherings, we see the

coming from the Spice Island
concerned its struggles to build
a new social system during the
years of its short-lived revolu-
tion.

Maurice Bishop and _ his
comrades stunned the world
when, on March 13, 1979, the
New Jewel Movement toppled
the decrepit Gairy regime and
declared:

“This revolution is for work,
for food, for decent housing and
health services, and for a bright
future for our children and grand-
children. ..”’

The Grenadian people had
little time. From a dirt-poor,
economically backward is-
land, they achieved much. It
was a communal effort in
which the people ran _ their
lives, built their organizations,
made the decisions. '

Problems abounded, not
least of which were connected o-
to the unflagging hatred and
open economic and political

8 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, NOVEMBER 5, 1986

The late people’s leader Maurice Bishop in 1979: “This revolution
is for a bright future for our children...”

Ci

pitiful spectacle of Grenada’s
new/old rulers, ensconced by
American bayonets, marking
their return to power with a
message from Reagan, a mili-
tary parade and a church ser-
vice.

The current crowd of trait-
ors who run the island for Rea-
gan might well declare:

“This counter-revolution is for
unemployment, for hunger, for
slums and sickness, and for a
bright future for U.S. regional
power and profits...”

The reality
of Star Wars

When Reagan calls Star
Wars an ‘‘insurance policy’,
you can just hear the ‘‘amens”’
and ‘‘hallelujahs’’ from the
likes of General Motors and
Lockheed. :

The U.S.-based Council of
Economic Priorities revealed
last week that more than 90 per
cent of SDI spending in 1985-
86 went to states where sena-
tors sit on key funding commit-
tees (California, New Mexico,
Massachusetts, Alabama and
Washington state).

The group which concerns
itself with corporate social re-
sponsibility will be releasing a
book, ‘‘Star Wars: The Eco-
nomic Fallout’’ next spring.

Its study says the top 20 con-
tractors and. laboratories re-
ceived 75 per cent of the funds —
since 1983 ($5.7-billion of the —
$7.7-billion awarded).

Top hog is the government’s ~
own Livermore National
Laboratory’ which received
$612.7-million. Second is Gen-
eral Motors ($612-million),
then Lockheed ($580.5-mil-
lion), then Boeing ($373.7-mil-
lion), etc.

CEP president, Alice Tep-
per Marlin, in the understate-
ment of the month, calls the
exercise, ‘‘Pork barrel politics
at work.”

And, the CEP study pointed
out, ‘“The companies that won
the largest contracts to pro-
duce nuclear weapons in the
last decade are the same ones
winning the largest SDI con-
tracts to make nuclear weap-
ons obsolete. ..”” a

Talk about hedging. your -
bets... ;