FEATURES Arts cuts prelude to sell-out of Canada Canada’s arts community should be praised and encouraged for the stand it has taken against current and impending federal and provincial cutbacks, and for the mobilizing it has undertaken, not simply of its own members, but of sup- porters and the Canadian public at large, to try and force Mulroney’s federal To- ries and provincial governments to change their policies. Many excellent points have been made: government funding, is key to the survival of Canadian artistic and cultural institutions which currently have little other protection against the stream of cultural garbage we receive from the United States; the arts industry is Canada’s sixth largest in terms of employment and 1 Ith in terms of the re- venue it generates, and at a time of high overall unemployment, arts cutbacks will put more Canadians out on the street; Canada’s cultural identity will be threatened by more cutbacks, especially a the lines of those now slated for the Be The CBC is currently at the centre of the controversy, as its annual $890-mil- lion budget (to be cut this year by about $85 million) makes it our largest single cultural institution, and largest single employer. Also extremely relevant is the fact that the CBC is publicly-owned, created and mandated 50 years ago by a Tory government to, among other things, help give Canadians a sense of national unity and identity and to bring broadcasting to all corners of the land, which commercial broadcasting was not willing to do because it was unprofitable. Now this mandate is being questioned by another Tory government. Federal Secretary of State for Finance Barbara McDougall told the high-powered Commonwealth Society last week that the CBC has no ‘“‘special priority as an element of national unity and Canadian identity’’. Budget- cutting, she said, should be seen as a “‘positive force’’ in the direction of *‘reconsidering the bases of national identity’’. News comment with two basic priorities of the Tory government. One is the privatization of the public sector, the selling off of its institutions to private enterprise. The other is Mulroney’s announced sell-out of Canada holus bolus to the United States. Cultural imperialism and cultural denationalization are the prelude and partner of economic imperialism and economic denationalization, and the loss of political independence. If one looks at the developing world over the past cen- tury, one will find that as well as the economic and political domination of it by the colonialist and imperialist powers, there has also been cultural domination to shore this up. Entire countries and continents saw their culture ravaged and degraded. Communist Party says: Mark Sydney Even today, when most of the former colonial world has liberated itself from direct colonial rule, cultural dependence on the former colonial masters is still very strong. In recent years, UNESCO has taken a very high-profile position against what it officially calls ‘‘informationimperialism”’ —the fact that most of the Third World’s information and media institutions are dependent on programming, information and news from the West’s monopoly- owned media and broadcasting cor- porations such as the big three U.S. TV networks (CBS, NBC, ABC) and foreign press agencies (AP, UPI, Reuters, AFP). It is generally recognized that these are threats to the developing countries’ na- tional identity, and to their national and political independence. At the end of last year, the Central Cultural Commission of the Com- munist Party of Canada issued a statement warning Canada’s arts community what was in store under the Tories. The statement pointed out that as arts cutbacks filter down through the provinces, ‘‘theatre, dance music and other arts groups will be starved or the Atlantic Ballet — the maritime region’s only professional ballet com- pany — which is out of money and has disbanded.) writers will be cut down. Young graphic or fine artists will in effect be told to get lost”. — It pointed to other, as yet unreveal- - ed components in Ottawa’s anti-cul- Can't let Tories succeed — ~ killed off (as has since happened to— The statement continued: “New tural barrage, such as ‘‘the distinct possibility of introducing reactionary — new ideological content into our na-~ tional life, a push to foist Ottawa’s undemocratic Reaganist outlook onto our culture, a new drive to com- mercialize culture, to ‘privatize’ the arts, an intensified continentalism to ‘*Americanize’ Canada’’. The consequence of the Tory politi- cians succeeding is that ‘‘Canada can lose its spirit, its identity and its inde- pendence’: = = Calling on Canadians not to let this happen, the Communist Party says that this is an issue ‘‘not only for our artists to address, but for all con- cerned Canadian progressive citizens — farmers, trade _ unionists, educators and the public at large.’’ ‘threatened by the policies of the Tory _ _ government to privatize the arts and to The same is true of Canada as well. American domination of our air waves, information media and cultural institu= tions are just as much a threat — and perhaps even more so — to Canadian — . national identity and national indepen- — «dence as they are to the Third World’s. A country without a national identity — cannot assert its independence, eco — nomic, political or otherwise. A country — without a cultural identity cannot assert its national identity. This is why the To- ries’ cultural cuts are so insidious. Veiled by the Tories as part of the country’s “survival strategy’’ of cutting expendi tures, arts cutbacks are in fact part of the — necessary trappings to facilitate Mul- roney’s economic and political sell-out of Canada to the United States. The arts community should bear this in mind. Equally, in English-Canada, it should be recognized that Quebec’s na- tional identity and culture are also Americanize Canada. The coalitions that have sprung up across English Canada — are to be welcomed, but they must rec- ognize our bi-national character, and seek to work together with counterparts — in Quebec who are now equally menaced by Mulroney’s policies of sell-out and continentalism. Canada’s cultural institutions are — being raped by the Tories to help prepare — the ground for the economic and politic take-over of Canada by the United States. People in the arts have to realize this connection. First, it will help them — focus their own battle and put it into perspective. Second, it will help them find allies — other Canadians are also | being threatened by and oppose Mul- roney’s policies of continentalism. To- gether, they can work outside parliament for a popular majority in favor of Cana- dian independence, economic, political and cultural, to stop the Tories from tying us to the U.S. coat-tails, for an independent Canadian foreign policy; and for a Canadian culture and identity — accessible to all that is dynamic, demo- cratic, publicly funded and supported, and expresses the true aims and aspira- McDougall’s words should be taken tions of our bi-national country. very seriously, as they go hand in hand * Tallinn — old city that is always new MOSCOW — I have just returned after visiting Tal- linn, a jewel of acity on the Baltic coast and capital of the Estonian Soviet Republic. This compact city of 460,000 people is proud of its more than 700-year history as an important settlement on the Baltic, but, while carefully preserving and restoring the best memorials of the past, it is marching boldly into the future, along with every other city in the Soviet Union. The medieval core of the city is one of the USSR’s best preserved older cities. As an architectural museum, it is included in the list of historical towns in the USSR which are under special supervision and care. Some 15,000 people live in the old city, a large part of them in very old buildings whose facades have been restored and whose interiors have been modernized. The area has many pleasant restaurants and coffee houses — which blend with the general tone, but without over- doing it by the type of vulgar showmanship to be found in some western, period restaurants. The old defensive walls, towers and buildings feature every architectural style of the past 700 years. To those who believe that such a small city has nothing to offer in terms of the theatre, there is a pleasant sur- prise. At the opera and ballet theatre, Estonia, the cur- rent repertoire includes 18 ballets, 16 operas and seven operettas and musicals. A new theater is being built for the company which will cost 30 million roubles. Also under construction is a new conservatory at a cost of 10 million roubles. Some of my new friends in Tallinn found it hard to believe that in greater Vancouver, my home city with a population of 1.2 million, there is no such permanent . theatre. They just shook their heads in disbelief: but we 6 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, MARCH 13, 1985 From Moscow Jack Phillips have five theatres in Tallinn and other theatres outside of Tallinn. We should remember at this point that we are describing a Republic that has a total population of slightly less than 1.5 million. In this part of the city, just a few minutes walk from the historical core, I found a good number of restaurants at different price levels. The food was good and service quick. According to planners, the centre of the city has an adequate supply of restaurants, shops and service — establishments. When I enquired about buying on credit, | was told that 22 per cent of the sales were based on time pay- ments. To be eligible for credit, a customer must be a resident of Tallinn, be employed there and be in receipt of a salary large enough to cover his payments. The terms are 20-25 per cent down with the balance spread over 18 or 24 months, with interest at an annual rate of two per cent on the balance. A visitor from the West will notice that all street signs throughout Estonia are printed in both the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets. This is also the case in the other two Baltic republics, Latvia and Lithuania. That is because the Baltic people use the Latin alphabet and the Russians use the Cyrillic letters. Does this mean, as some enemies of the Soviet Union maintain, that the Baltic republics are being ‘*Russianized’’ by decree from Moscow? Not at all. But the fact remains that the Soviet Union, with more than | 100 nationalities and ethnic groups belonging to many — branches of two of the three main human races, is really 4 — unique country. While the different republics have theif own official language in each case, the Russian language, © which is the official language of the Russian republic, — with more than 50 per cent of the Soviet Union’s tot population, has become the international language — within the Soviet Union. Without such a connecting link in the spoken and written word, it would be very difficult for Russians, Estonians, Georgians, Armenians an Moldavians, to name only a few nationalities, to effec tively communicate with each other. In Estonia, students learn Russian as a second lan- guage, unless their parents choose to send them to 4 Russian school. In the latter case, Estonian is taught a5 — the second language and great pains are taken to guaran” tee that the student will learn it thoroughly. I came away so much impressed by this Soviet repub- lic, which in size is smaller than Nova Scotia, that decided to go back there for my vacation next summer. — Hopefully, we will be in Tallinn on July 20 for the Na-— tional Song Festival for amateur choirs in which 30, singers will participate. This festival has been held periodically for more that 100 years and is yet another example of the fascinating uniqueness and diversity to be found in the Soviet Union. Who knows, perhaps we'll meet some of ou! Canadian friends in beautiful Tallinn, at that time?