WORLD

‘PPP is at centre stage’ — Jagan

_ The People’s Progres-
Sive Party (PPP) is at centre
Stage today. Many sectors
of the Guyanese people,
unhappy with the present
€conomic and_ political
Situation, see that without
the PPP no change is possi-
ble,’ said Cheddi Jagan,
PPP General Secretary and
Opposition Leader in the
Country’s parliament.

Jagan was in Canada last
week where he spoke at a
public meeting in Toronto
and held several news con-
ferences and interviews.

“The new factors which have brought about a new
Political situation,’ he said, ‘are, 1. removal of the
Tuling People’s National Congress (PNC) party from
Control of the Trade Union Congress, 2. the PNC letter
to the PPP proposing a dialogue, and 3. the death of
Prime Minister Forbes Burnham in August.”

“At the juncture of Guyana’s development, the PPP

lieves the best solution to the massive economic and
Social problems we face would be to find a political
solution — the creation of a democratic front with in-
dependence, democracy and a_ socialist-oriented
Policy,’ Jagan said. “It would include all sectors which
Subscribe to its program: other political parties, church,
business, labor, and professional groups.

Such a democratic front, Jagan continued, would be
faced with immense tasks. It would be required to solve
the economic crisis and social deterioration; it would
face the need to overcome racial and political discrimina-
Hon. It would also face the need to defend the country’s
Independence and security.

Jagan emphasized that the removal of the leadership of
the Trade Union Congress from PNC-government con-
trol was acrushing defeat for the ruling party. **Based on
the deterioration of workers’ living standards and the
PNC’s inability to provide for the needs of workers,”’ he
Said, *‘the delegates removed the old leadership.”

PPP leader Jagan

This was done, he explained, despite PNC use of the
courts to resurrect a dead union and shift votes away
from progressive unions within the TUC congress. Ina
secret ballot, - notwithstanding the PNC-controlled
unions had 125 votes out of a total of 212, the cengress
elected a new president, vice-president, organizational
secretary and treasurer.

**TUC policy lines, as a result of the congress,’ Jagan
said, ‘‘now coincide with those of the PPP — in favor of
free and fair national elections, in favor of a political
solution to the country’s crisis, opposition to denational-
ization of key industries and for socialism.”

In response to questions concerning PPP-PNC talks,
Jagan outlined his party’s long-term and present views.
‘‘Our efforts to achieve a political settlement of the poli-
tical/economic/social crisis have gone through several
Stages. In 1975 the PPP developed a position of ‘critical
support’ toward the PNC government.

In 1976 formal talks between us collapsed, and in 1977
the PPP advanced a proposal of a National Patriotic
Front. This proposal was rejected by the PNC who
continued to rig elections in order to retain power.

In reply to the PNC letter for a dialogue with the PPP,
we have agreed to talk, Jagan said, ‘‘But we will not
enter such talks with any pre-conceived agreement with
PNC plans. We will not go into any government as a
minority.”

Jagan explained the PNC problem: it knows it would
lose a free and fair election, yet to continue rigging
elections, as it has done since 1968, would heighten the
crisis. They would like a negotiation settlement with the
PPP in the minority and postponement of elections
scheduled for next year, he said.

While agreeing to talks with the PNC, the PPP is also
talking with other sectors of Guyanese society, Jagan
said, with a view to building a democratic front alter-
native government and entering a new, free election.
“Consultations are underway with the TUC, Chamber
of Commerce, Forest Products Association, Association
of Guyanese Industry,”’ he said, *‘and we hope to meet
with such groups as the Manufacturers Association and
Guyana Council of Churches.”

The PNC faces a choice, Jagan said. It either makes an
accomodation with the International Monetary Fund or
with the PPP. An accomodation with the IMF, which
will bring ever harsher economic conditions can only
result in a sharpening of the class struggle, he explained.
It would mean a turn to the right, more rigged elections,
denationalization of industry. It would mean confronta-
tion between the mass of the people and the ruling PNC
elite.

Such a situation, the PPP leader concluded, would
open the door to the CIA and the danger of a right-wing
military coup. “‘We are socialists. The PNC has power.
Our task is to reach a political solution, create a broad
democratic front, to try and save the country from the
danger of a civil war and to proceed toward socialism
peacefully.”

— T.M.

‘U.S. responsible’

Hearings into U.S. aggression against Nicaragua
opened at the Internationai Court of Justice in The
Hague Sept. 15 with testimony from American citi-
zens who charge that Washington’s backing of the
contras makes the U.S. responsible for murder, rape
and kidnappings.

Professor Michael Glennon of the University of
Cincinnati and former counsel to the foreign re-
lations committee of the U.S. Senate said his evi-
dence is based on a fact-finding visit to Nicaragua
where he gathered eyewitness testimony. ‘‘I con-
clude the U.S. Government is responsible for these
acts,’’ he testified.

A former CIA agent in the region, Dr. David
Macmichael, told the court his search for an ‘‘arms
flow’’ from Nicaragua to El Salvador’s liberation
fighters turned up nothing. I believe U.S. charges
are designed to justify its policy against the Sandin-
ista government, he said. The U.S. has officially
boycotted the World Court hearings.

————

International Focus

Tom Morris

Mitterand’s frappe is designed, though the __ tent, we suppose, was to show Repressive ‘another sovereign state, all in
“ fact French missiles point what pals we are with the U.S. P one swoop, the South African
many options eastward gives a clue. Events since have shown all and aggressive commander tells the Angolan

“Take those tests. back to
France,’ Australian Prime
Minister Robert Hawke chal-
lenged France’s Premier
Mitterand. ‘‘Have_ those
‘absolutely safe’ tests in
Metropolitan France’’.

Why not, come to think of it?
_ France's insistence in carry-
Ing out ‘‘absolutely safe’ nu-
Clear tests next to Australia
and New Zealand, not to speak
of the feelings of the people in
the South Pacific Islands who
have been nuclear guinea-pigs
for decades, has aroused a
Storm of protest.

Mitterand The Socialist
Stoutly defends the tests as
imperitive to French security.

€ doesn’t explain why and
against whom France’s force de

But back to Hawke’s invita-
tion: why not test the weapon
off the French Riviera. Why
doesn’t Paris convince Spain,
Italy, Morocco, Algeria and
Tunisia that the tests are ‘‘ab-
solutely safe’’ then hold them
in the Mediterranean? Maybe
Corsica would be ideal, it’s
French territory.

‘‘Absolutely safe’’ tests
could take place in the Cham-
pagne District, or perhaps in
the Bois de Boulogne. There
are some small French islands
at the western end of the En-
glish Channel — why not im-
press the hell out of the English
and test there?

Another thought: New-
foundlanders would probably
immerse themselves in anorgy
of pro-French revelry if Mit-
terand tested his nuclear
weapon on St. Pierre and
Miquelon, some few kilo-
meters offshore.

Boos from our
‘Best Friend’

It was a far cry from the
Shamrock Summit in Quebec
City as we watched two erst-
while Irishmen, Mulroney and

Reagan, belt out ‘When Irish
Eyes are Smiling’’. As painful
as that exhibition was, the in-

is not rosy along the *‘unpro-
tected border.”

Free trade worries Cana-
dians. Star Wars does even
more, forcing Mulroney back
from his ‘‘ready, aye ready”
position. The voyage of the
USS Polar Sea further strained
relations. Numerous charges
by U.S. protectionist interests
against Canada add more fuel
to the idea that Uncle Sam isn’t
all sweetness and light.

But history may just record
that it was New York Yankee
baseball fans who belled the
cat of the Mulroney-Reagan
love-in. It isn’t polite, you see,
to boo *‘O,Canada”™ in Yankee
Stadium. It’s even stupider to
hire a singer the next day who
knows neither the anthem’s
words nor tune.

But, after all the insults and

It’s hard to know whether to
give the South African regime
a “‘C” for chuzpah or an *‘S”
for stupidity.

On September 17 South Af-
rican troops and warplanes
swept into southern Angola in
a major attack. To get to Ango-
la’s southern border, the South
African military crossed over
some 1,500 kilometers of
another nation, Namibia.

Having violated (once again)
any semblance of Namibian
independence and attacked

government “‘not to inter-
fere™*.

Imagine the Canadian militia
crossing over the U.S. to at-
tack Mexico, then telling the
Mexicans ‘“‘not to interfere’’?

Little wonder, with that
mentality, the racist regime is
an international outlaw — re-
pressive at home, aggressive ©
abroad. This is the real face of
apartheid, the one Joe Clark
finds difficult to recognize and
Stephen Lewis employs a
thousand adjectives to
rationalize.

the “‘We’re Number One”
hype coming from New York
City, it’s absolutely unforgive-
able to lose the series against
the lowly Toronto Blue Jays.

That final act might reveal

the giant has feet of clay. At the
very least, Canadians know
they ve just received a taste of
what Reagan meant when he
called Canada ‘‘our closest
neighbor, our best friend”’.

‘
Ny

5

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H No BY
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OY tHe STARS EARniy

LACH T

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, SEPTEMBER 25, 1985 e 9