VIET

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muc
debate h regret that the

On foreign affairs has
© long delayed and |
regret that now it is
d it is to be so short...

1
i ae to begin by reminding
th a that we have to re-
ee there is a racial re-
nd that pone On in the world
hite oy Or three centuries the
y Beat has ruled the world
Periorite Of its technological
eld, Pe chlarly in the
thaneee arms. That era of
oy alism and imperialism is
atanend...

5 i SR is
ao 80 on. It has nothing
urge Communism. Com-
wat Of course, fish in troub-

d tS as they always do,
“Any aa ally themselves with
Sie movement. But if we

eS a es Communist coun-
Nd all the Communists
con World this afternoon
termin eo of the right of self-
Peoples “ae by the colored
tieg Of the earth in Asia,
and South America

Stil] hays ue and we would
A ve to face the problem.
owin.” form of colonialism is
“Matter: Up. It is no longer a
Ing Of the white man becom-
é Sovernor of a backward

hi Fecked by the bayonets
See one country. Instead we
“ipportin, CL the great powers
hich 78 Puppet governments
ene Pliable to their will

: oe ie accept political
oat Powers emanation by the

Gid to the people of the
ae “We seek no

Sent; a return to the es-
Rotien® of 1954,” he has for-
Wean Rt the division be-
Mm wach and South Viet-
Pas - temporary, and that
South Boe United States and
eq the eae who first violat-
Ing €neva Accord by refus-
é agree to elections in
S had been provided for
Geneva Accord . ..

der

Mpt has been made to

€ revolt in Vietnam as

1 aggression from North

. There can be no doubt

ae Vietnam has given

$0 Renae and training
“Sout, +, 10 the Viet Cong in
No oie There can be
Party ; t that the Communist
' called South Vietnam which
lly the’ if I remember correc-
. €ople’s Revolutionary
ibee Supported the Na-
ta €ration Front, but the
Partial commentators |

have been able to secure indi-
cate that the National Libera-

tion Front has been a broad co-
alition: <2. :

The Secretary of State for
External Affairs (Paul Martin)
continues to tell the House the
same myth that the China Lob-
by and American propaganda
have been peddling all over the
North American continent, that
the United States intervention
in South Vietnam is at the re-
quest of a sovereign power under
attack from the outside.

fC Rie aS es a)
Throughout this

long crisis the
Canadian government
has assumed

a deferential

position of supine
subservience.

In the first place one ques-
tions South Vietnam as being a
sovereign power. From the very
beginning it has been a puppet
government supported militarily
and financially by the United
States, and to say that the
United States was invited in by
South Vietnam is like saying
that Edgar Bergen was invited
to dinner by Charlie McCarthy.
The fact of course is that the
reason the United States had to
intervene is because the puppet
government it had set up did
not have the support of its own
people, and that today two-
thirds of South Vietnam Is oc-
cupied by the National Libera-
tion Front who collect taxes,
who run the villages, and who
operate the greater part of the
country...

It is undoubtedly true that the
guerrillas have had military as-
sistance. from North Vietnam,
but in the main this has been
relatively small. This afternoon
the Minister said that North
Vietnam has given military as-
sistance on a grand scale. I
would like to see some evidence
of this grand scale .

The Secretary of State keeps
referring to the report of the
International Commission dated
June 2, 1962, but the only re-
ference he makes is to the fact
that... the (paragraphs) which
point out that the United States

T. C. DOUGLAS

and South Vietnam have violated
the agreement to a much great-
er extent... bringing in arms
. . . bringing in aircraft carriers,
helicopters, building airports in
violation of the Geneva Ac-
cord...

This attempt to make the war
in South Vietnam a holy cru-
sade against Communism is: an
invitation to swallow propagan-
da wholesale and shut one’s
eyes to the facts. The Secretary
of State for External Affairs
said in the House of Commons
. .. “No one can suggest that
the intervention of the United
States in these circumstances is
illegal.” How can he stand up
in the House of Commons and
say that, in view of the fact
that Canadian representatives
on the Truce Commission state
that an agreement amounting to
a military alliance exists be-
tween the United States and
South Vietnam in violation of
the Geneva Accord? How can he
say such a thing when the Unit-
ed States insisted that the Diem
government refuse the holding
of elections, though the elec-
tions had been agreed by the
Geneva Accord?

The tragedy of this whole
affair is that the United Nations
has been bypassed. This is sig-
nificant . .. The United States
has never taken the Vietnam
problem to the United Nations.
The United Nations has been
bypassed repeatedly not only in
the matter of Vietnam but also
in the matter of the Dominican
Republic.

The argument made by the
Secretary of State for External

- Affairs is that we must support

the war in South Vietnam in or-
der to prevent the expansion of
Communist China. He accepts
wholesale the “domino theory”
expounded by the late John Fos-
ter Dulles several years ago...
The world situation has changed
radically since the days of John
Foster Dulles... =

It is significant that on three
separate occasions Communist
China has offered troops to
North Vietnam. These offers
have not been accepted. Why?
1 do not think that the Viet-
namese want Chinese troops on
their soil any more than the
Poles want Russian troops on
their soil. After all, the Viet-
namese had Chinese troops on
their soil for 1,000 years and
had a hard time getting rid of
them, and they do not want
them back...

\

I think the Canadian govern-

ment has been woefully lack-

ing in giving any leadership

Excerpts from the speech made

by the New Democratic Party leader
during the foreign affairs debate

in the House of Commons, May 28

throughout this whole Vietnam
episode. We were, and are, a
member of the International
Control Commission. We have
known as well as any country
what the situation is. We have
done nothing about it...

It is true that the Prime Min-
ister in Philadelphia made an
appeal for a pause in the bomb-
ing, and I was rather proud of
his temporary courage — until
I read the next day that at
Camp David, when he was treat-
ed somewhat brusquely by the
President of the United States,
the Prime Minister hastened. to
assure the press that Canada
approved and supported the
United States policy in Viet-
nam. Throughout this long cris-
is the Canadian government has
assumed a deferential position
of supine subservience . .

io GU aS ET RS RE |
We think

the time has come

to speak out, and

speak out boldly
before it is

too late.

I want to suggest two or three
things that I think need to be
done.

First, I think the Canadian
government should call for an
immediate end to the bombing
of North Vietnam. There is
nothing hostile to the U.S. about
doing that...

Second, Canada ought to call
for unconditional peace negotia-
tions. The Secretary of State for
External Affairs keeps repeat-
ing the myth that President
Johnston has agreed to uncon-
ditional peace negotiations. He
has greed to nothing of the kind.
He has imposed two conditions.
One, he will not talk to the Viet
Cong. To talk to the govern-
ment of North Vietnam does not
mean that they can call off the
revolt. They have no more con-
trol over the Viet Cong than
Stalin had over Mao Tse-tung.
If the United States is going to
sit down and negotiate peace,
it will have to deal with the

people who now occupy and

govern two-thirds. of. the terri-
tory of South Vietnam.

The second condition the
President has imposed is that
South Vietnam will continue as
a sovereign power. I am not op-
posed to their continuing as a
sovereign power if the people of
South Vietnam want it to con-
tinue as a sovereign power; but
that must be something for the
people themselves to decide.

Third, I think there has to be,
once a cease-fire is established,
a conference sponsored either
by the United Nations or by the
Geneva Accord powers...

Fourth, I think there has to
be, during an interim period, a
peace-keeping force in Vietnam
pending free elections, at which
time the people themselves
would decide whether they want
to join North Vietnam or whe-
ther they want to continue as
an independent state and elect
a government ...

It is true that to pull the
United States forces out over-
night would probably be to
cause a blood bath, because you
cannot have a civil war without
a great deal of animosity .. .
I would hope that the United
States forces would gradually
be withdrawn and replaced by a
peace-keeping force set up by
the United Nations or the Gen-
eva Accord powers, which would
maintain order until a govern-
ment could be elected and peace
and order restored in that un-
happy land...

Fifth, I think Canada should
signify its willingness to join
with other nations in making
very substantial contributions to
the development of the Mekong
Valley in order to help rehabili-
tate this devastated country and
to help them restore peace in
that part of the world...

We in this party are prepared
to support collective security to
resist aggression, but we do not
believe that any country has
the right to use military power
to force dictatorial and discre-
dited regimes upon peoples who
are seeking the right of self-
determination. We do not want
some new form of colonialism
masquerading as an anti-Com-
munist crusade...

Although the position I have
taken may be unpopular, and
although it may run contrary to
the great flood of propaganda
that is being peddled across
this country, it is not important
that one be popular. It is im-
portant, however, that one
should be able to live with one’s
conscience . . . We think the
time has come to speak out, and
to sveak out boldly before it is
too late.

June 18, 1965—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 5