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; TOR KERRY McCUAIG

litte oO — Sadako Sasaki,
Hears 4 apanese girl who died 31
Wing ve this October, is still in-
Rope v°W Senerations of young
0 struggle for a nuclear
pee world.

Ohr, wasn’t even born

N Says

sek died, but he is taking
Sane, aay: the folded paper
Eo. the second leg of his

Sada Ss Canada for peace.

4 Momed te two when the U.S.
Hitashim € first atomic bomb on
the a By the time she was

hley ate of radiation left her

ifs Bae. A Japanese legend
ark Person folded 1,000
me an that person would

4) 8 to Ba Sadako was only

Mr lag 644 before she died.

ds SMates folded the rest

Todays buried with them.

nds." Statue in her memory

_p/2 Hiroshima’s Peace

De ety year thousands of

a are placed at its

i SYmbo} the crane a univer-

} Moh, -. °f Peace and hope.

Mig... 27-year-old doctoral

Tom the University of

» eldert, learned of Sadako from

acon. Woman when he left
svg last summer on the

“7 41,0! his ride to Ottawa.

apes of the immense

Ver 5 this little girl frequent-

1k pan, next six weeks. And
m me pace the thought of her

“Ounts, 0m stopping’’, Mohr

sigust 6, Mohr will com-
ll 2,500 kilometre trek,

. : ough 19 centres and
th t. John’s on Sept. 3.

€me for the final leg is

ent} :
. 28 Children with a Vision

T loo

of Hope in a Nuclear Age. In
keeping with the theme, Canadian
children have been asked to fold
paper cranes which will be sewn
into peace leis and presented to
each member of parliament in the

fall.
The focus was born out of

Mohr’s experiences last summer.
After speaking to students at a
high school in Napanee, Ontario
he found ‘‘many of them crying.
They clearly felt they were being
let down by the Canadian
government who they saw wasn’t
doing enough to prevent a nuclear
war ... they also felt let down by
adults”’.

This and other experiences
with children along the way
prompted Mohr to find a means
‘to allow children to participate
in the peace struggle’.

The response has already been
encouraging. Over 5,000 cranes
have already been gathered for
the ride. In Winnipeg one class
made cranes and sent them to
Hiroshima to be placed on
Sadako’s monument. In Ottawa
children made 1,000 cranes and
presented them to their member
of parliament. :

Several studies have indicated
that even very small children
have.a-deep.seated.fear of nuclear
war. According to Mohr that fear
has to be combatted with a vision
of a peaceful future. To this end
he is calling on the Canadian
government to play its part.

‘““Our government must rethink
its concept of ‘security’. To date it
has always thought of security in
collective or national terms.
These terms are outdated today.
There is only common security.

TRIBUNE PHOTO — KERRY McCUAIG

&

Waterloo University student Doug Mohr stands in front a table laden with 5,000 paper cranes. The

cranes, made by Canadian school children were presented to the Ride for Peace.

Either each nation is secure, or no
nation is secure’’.

The best contribution Canada
can make says Mohr is to declare
itself a nuclear weapons free
zone. This would far reaching
consequences: preventing in-
volvement in U.S. Star Wars pre-
parations; it would halt cruise
missile testing and scuttle plans to
export tritium to the U.S. war
machine.

On the immediate agenda is
pressuring Ottawa to support the
motion for a nuclear freeze when
it comes before the United Na-
tions again this December.
7

*‘Canada is among a handful of
nations which has refused to sup-
port a freeze. This has hurt our
prestige in the international com-
munity. We have to ensure this is
xeversed in December’’.

Mohr will in no way feel like a
lone rider when he sets off later
this week. Behind him he feels is a
peace movement which has
grown in size and maturity.

For example he points to the
success of his first run which in
addition to educating Canadians
about our involvement in the
arms race was intended to raise

money for peace ‘ads’. The re- -

sponse has been so successful
that the ads will be aired on radio
stations in 35 communities, reach-
ing a_ potential
Canadians.

They will address Star Wars
and the nuclear weapons-free
zone and encourage listeners to
contact: their local peace
organization.

This he hopes will build up to a
campaign by the peace movement
“to enfranchise itself. This can be
our trump card — to make peace
an election issue and vote for poli-
ticians who are concerned about
these issues. _

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Keeping up pressure on peace front

10-million ©

I) Pon By WILLIAM KASHTAN
; Us Y-one years have passed since the
Pie 7,,{0PPed the first atomic bomb on
anese cities of Hiroshima and
1. The anguish and pain of that
mot are still visible today but to
. © dropped the bomb the lessons
e inte en learned. The situation on
Nain py 2ational front remains uncer-
he is no relaxation of tension.
iH) oulg < Proposals of the USSR which
q Tham °pen the door to nuclear dis-
Beton. and the elimination of nuclear
W *teg b by the year 2000 have been re-
head the U.S. administration. An
Wea, UClear weapons testing, a ban on
Ve .uS in space, limiting ground troops
; Inste €n met with a flat ‘no’.
Micate’ the U.S. administration has
AL d it will not be bound by the
Md am agreement which in turn will
"hy S control and open up a new race

Ne, the Other hand, the Soviet Union,
ms Saag there can be no winners in an
Slat € or in a nuclear war refuses to
knies it door to negotiations and con-
*entah efforts at achieving a mutually

Cc © agreement on arms control.
HX pea wadian government while talk-
ce has renewed NORAD, the

back door to Star Wars. Yet within
Canada there are signs of a timid separa-

tion from the Reagan position.

Pressure Decisive

testing on Canadian soil.

The key question now in the struggle
for peace is the active intervention ofthe
people. Mass pressure is decisive today.
There must be no let up in the fight for
peace and its concrete aspects in Canada
— an end to nuclear testing, making
Canada a nuclear weapons free zone,
demanding a halt to U.S. cruise missile

The fight around these issues can be
furthered during events marking Hiro-
shima Day, at the Copenhagen Confer-
ence, the Canadian Peace Alliance Con-
vention and during the United Nation’s
International Disarmament Week.

It would appear that the Senate-Com-
mons Committee on Canada’s Inter-
national Relations has shied away from
breaking with U.S. foreign policy while
at the same time coming out in support of
the AMB treaty, the conclusion of a
comprehensive nuclear test ban, preven-
tion of an arms race in outer space and
tighter checks on nuclear proliferation.

These reflect the constant pressures of
the peace movements and of progressive

opinion. The positive elements coming

‘through the above report merit sup-

port. They must now become part of
government policy.

Still much work is required to win an
independent foreign policy for Canada. It
is related to the overall struggle for
Canadian independence in all its aspects
including nationalization of U.S. branch
plants and other forms of U.S. owner-
ship in Canada.

Solidarity and Peace

The extension of the fight for peace
goes together with the maximum exten-
sion of solidarity support to the heroic
peoples of Nicaragua, Chile and South
Africa whose struggles for defence of
their countries, for national and social
liberation are today reaching a new
stage.

The latest decision of the Reagan
administration to make $100-million
available to the contras has been correct-
ly assessed as a step towards direct U.S.
military intervention in Nicaragua.

In Chile the opposition is gathering
momentum. And as in South Africa, the
Pinochet regime is pulling out all stops to
crush the struggle for restoration of
democracy in Chile.

There is a new upsurge in the struggle
to end apartheid in South Africa. The
Botha government’s ability to stay in
power so far is due largely to the support
it gets from the U.S., British and FRG
governments, all of who stand in the way
of effective economic sanctions against
South Africa.

In the face of this new upsurge of
struggle the Botha government has im-
posed emergency laws and undertaken
the arrests of masses of people. Particu-
lar attention is being given to undermine
the trade unions. This is also so in Chile
and points out that far from being a spent
force, the working class is coming to the
fore in the many-sided struggles of the
people.

For Canada the struggle for peace
must go together with a further extension
of solidarity support. The government
must be compelled to press for economic
sanctions against the Botha regime with-
in the Commonwealth while implement-
ing sanctions now against South Africa.
It should go further and break off diplo-
matic relations with that regime. This
would be an important step which could
stimulate similar responses elsewhere.

William Kashtan is general secretary of
the Communist Party of Canada.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JULY 30, 1986 « 3

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