EDITORIAL

; Astep toward nuclear war

West German ruling circles, carrying out
the policies of the U.S. Pentagon, pushed
the world closer to the brink of nuclear
catastrophe, Nov. 22, when the Bundestag
voted to allow immediate deployment of
U.S. Pershing 2 nuclear missiles on the
territory of the Federal Republic.

Washington is said to have expressed
“pleasure” at the ghoulish achievement
when Chancellor Kohl's Christian Demo-
crats, supported by the Christian Social
Union and the Liberal Free Democrats
(colorful titles for atomaniacs) defeated by
a vote of 286 to 226 the combined opposi-
tion of the Social Democrats and the
Greens.

The sell-out of FRG sovereignty and
German lives to U.S. imperialism’s world
ambitions is already igniting bigger pro-
tests, and sharper resistance.

Canadians, who have brought together a
powerful peace movement, and demon-
strated their overwhelming opposition
both to the U.S. deployment of nuclear
missiles in western Europe and its testing of
Cruise missiles in Canada, are called upon
to respond to this latest conspiracy against

ace.

The Canadian Government should cease
to be part of that conspiracy, which is a
conspiracy as well against the Canadian
people and their future generations.

We can take inspiration from the
courageous people of the FRG and of Bri-

Peace plan

Whatever shortcomings there are in
Prime Minister Trudeau’s peace package
their basis is far removed from the carping
by some unnamed “North American de-
fence experts” meeting in New York. The
Pentagon obviously doesn’t want some
visionary getting tangled in the strings and
ruining the puppet show.

In plainer terms, the Pentagon wants
Canada to dump more dollars into arma-
- ments in addition to Canada’s current
$8.6-billion a year. Whatever prompted

External Affairs Minister MacEachen, he

‘Said: :
“That misconception would seem to rest

on the idea that the sole way of promoting
_ peace is through arms build-up. That is not

tain who vow never to acquiesce in the use
of their countries as pawns in U.S. nuclear
war plans.

The Washington/Bonn nuclear intrigue
struck not one but two blows for bringing
closer the danger of planetary ruin. It set
the machinery in motion for deployment
of first-strike weapons with Reagan’s un-
stable finger on the trigger. In the same
disastrous stroke, it destroyed the Geneva
disarmament talks on which humanit
placed so much hope.

The USA is guilty of disrupting those
talks. It was the USA and its hirelings in
Bonn who stubbornly, against all urging,
escalated the nuclear arms build-up with its

Pershing 2 deal. And that should not be.

forgotten by the people of the world.

It should not be forgotten in Canada
where we hear from the prime minister
about the need for serious steps toward
peace. That should begin with the
Government of Canada ceasing to do the
dirty work of U.S. imperialism in testing its
Cruise nuclear weapon. The government
should reverse its stand and voice its op-
position to any deployment of Pershing 2
or Cruise missiles in Europe. ;

In practical deeds, not endless words,
Canada should become a force for enhanc-
ing the fast disappearing chances for
peace, by declaring its own policies, in-
dependent of Reaganite USA. —

U.S. style?

the only way.” That is not at all the way, but
MacEachen makes a point.

The USA under Reagan has shown the
world its version of how to keep the peace,
by armed intervention, hiring of mercen-
aries, destabilization, and escalation of the
nuclear weapons build-up. It might be ar-

ed that anything Trudeau comes up
with would be an improvement.

However, none of the long-struggling
peace organizations, and the new and
broader sectors of the population they are
attracting will be or should be content to
leave it at that.

More effort is needed by the peace
movement. The matter cannot be left to
Prime Minister Trudeau — and certainly
not to Tory leader Mulroney.

Whitewash of the RCMP

__ To the ordinary Canadian, untrained in
_ the razzle-dazzle of big-time law, it doesn’t
_ Matter what fancy terms are used, the
_ Montreal court’s whitewashing of Royal
_ Canadian Mounted Police wrongdoers is
just that — a whitewash.

On November 17, a Quebec Superior
Court judge, Mr. Justice Melvin Rothman

quashed proceedings against seven mem-
bers and former members of the RCMP,
ostensibly because they were not brought
to trial within a reasonable time. The judge
cited as well, the strong language of
Quebec Premier Rene Levesque, who re-
ferred to one of the federal cops as “a
skunk”.

In June 1981, the Quebec Justice
Department laid more than 40 charges
against persons accused of illegal activities
against “suspected” subversives in Quebec
PACIFIC TRIBUNE—NOVEMBER 30, 1983—Page 4

in the early 1970s.

Eleven were charged with theft of com-
puter tapes bearing Parti Quebecois
membership lists. The accusations were
widely known. What was not widely
realized was that a court could drop the
charges by saying too much time had pas-
sed. This ignored the prosecutor’s valid
argument that two commissions of inquiry
— the McDonald Commission, and the
Quebec Keable Inquiry — had to be al-
lowed to do their work if the facts were to
be clear. Perhaps the facts became too
clear.

The accused were charged with theft of
dynamite, kidnapping, forcible confine-
ment, arson, burglary, and theft of docu-
ments and computer lists. One wonders
what other members of society, having
committed those crimes, would be excused.

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Flashbacks

25 years

LUMBER

SHUTDOWN

COCHRANE — The strike
movement of the lumber
workers is spreading in
Northern Ontario. Inspired
by the victorious lumberjacks
‘strike in Kapuskasing where
930 workers after a militant
mass struggle forced the
powerful Spruce Falls Power
and Paper Company to agree
to their demands another
700 workers have followed
suit. Others are making pre-
parations in Spruce Falls at
the Abitibi and Newaygo
plants. In the history of the
region there has not been’
such a mass revolt of work-
ers. An important feature of
this strike is that more than
half the workers are French
Canadians who previously

were totally unorganized.
The Worker,
November 28, 1933

50 years

50,000 SAY
NO TESTING

Two couriers left
York for Geneva bearing
50,000 signatures on an ap-

peal addressed to the Men at |
Geneva. Among those who —
signed were Mrs. Franklin D. |
Martin —
Luther King; Dr. Herbert J. |

Roosevelt; Rev.

Muller, Trygve Lie, Bertrand
Russell; Dr.

the internationally inspected |
ending of nuclear weapon |
tests. This vital beginning 18 |
now your responsibility. TO | ~
that beginning we now invest |
our hopes, make known our —
mandate, and wish you well.” —
Tribune; —

November 24, 1958 —

Profiteer of the week

- For Imperial Oil Ltd., Toronto, the nine months ended Sept. 30
brought in $226,000,000 in after-tax profits, to add to $220,000,000
for that period a year earlier. Despite the bonanza capital spen
ing declined from $750-million to $540-million.

Editor — SEAN GRIFFIN
Assistant Editor — DAN KEETON
Business and Circulation Manager — PAT O'CONNOR

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New

Albert |
Schweitzer and Dr. Martin ©
Neimoller. It declared: “An |
important begining has to be —
made on one vital part of the —
problem of world peace —_