Page 2, The Herald, Wednesday. April 11, 1984

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<egibe

Letters to
the Editor

To the Editor,

The report of the government's
Special Committee on Visible
Minorities is a travesty. The title
says it all‘ Equelity Now. AH must
be equal, whether they are
qualified or not, whether they have
appropriate Canadian experience
or not, |

The report makes much of the
fact that visible minorities are not
as well represented in senior
management positions as native
Canadians. There’s nothing
sinister in that. It doesn't prove
discrimination or unfairness. All it
indicates is that newcomers often
lack the language or educational
skills or the relevant Canadian
experience to march into the top
jobs.

Canadian parents and young
people hitting the job market
‘should be alarmed at the Com-
mittee's ‘‘affirmative action'’
recommendations that it wants
both government and private in-
dustry, under the threat of losing
government contracts, to adopt.
“Affirmative action” is merely a
jumped up way of saying racist
discrimination. Preference must
be given to visible minorities, says
the committee. Where does that
leave young Canadians seeking
work? They and their taxpaying
parents who built this country
should demand an accounting from
the politicians who made these
proposals,

' The word from this committee is
that Canadians must: change:their

way of life to accommodate visible ©

minorities. Police dress
requirements must change to
accommodate turbans. The law
about, offensive weapons must
make. exceptions for “ceremonial
knives.” Even free speech -- the
right to criticize certain minority
activities - must be curtailed, if the
committee gets its way. Gone i is
any notion. that newcomers should
be prepared to adapt themselves to
their chosen Jand, rather than the
other way around. ;
Paul Fromm,
Research Director

Defosses
found
guilty

KAMLOOPS, B.C. (CP) —
RCMP Const. Loula Desfosses was
found guilty in provinctal court
Tuesday of dangerous driving in
connection with the highway death
last May of biker Rocco Cervo,
fined $400 and forbidden to drive
for six months.

The conviction and sentence
were handed down by Judge Bill
Blair in a courtroom filled with
police officers and bikers. Carvo's
parents were mej ronan

12-page judgment, Blair
ruled that Desfosses did not drive
his car with the intention of run-
ning down a group of five bikers
near Lytton in the Fraser Canyon,

Blair said the victims were, to
some extent, authors of their own
misfortune in that they had crossed
a double solid line on the highway.

The judge added that the
dangerous driving in this case waa
momentary and minimal
neture,

Cervo, 31, a member of the
Satan's Angels motorcycle club,
was killed in the incident and four
of his companions lost control of
their bikes when Desfosses' un-
marked police cruiser sped into the
highway’s passing lane to force the
motorcyclists back into their
proper lane.

Cervo’s father, Leo Cervo,
described the sentence as a slap on
the wrist and said he will take civil
actlon in the courts,

Hesald that ina great sense he Is
relleved that the case ls over’, but is
“absolutely dlamayed at the price
ofaman's death — $400 dollars and
six months’ suspension of a
driver's licence.”

He said that if he were to pull a
stunt like Desfoases, he would be in

fall “enHt hell frave aver

-gddition,

dn.

Demo

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) —
estimated one million Memon
strators jammed into the city
centrefor a rally demanding direct
presidential elections, An

position leader called it the largest .

political protest in Brazil's history.

The rally Tuesday in this city of.
five million was the latest and
largest in a ‘series of demon-
strations across the coun
pushing for direct election of the
president, which was abolished by
the military regime that seized
power 20 years ago.

. Demonstrators packed the final
five blocks of the 12-Jane Prealdent
Vargas Avenue leading to a
speaker’s platform in front of the
Candelaria Roman Catholic
church.

State police Col. Videl da,
Silveira Barros, in charge of crowd
control, estimated the crowd at one
million and called it ‘‘a record,”

Brazil’s most important elected
opposition figures attended _ the

rally, including Leone] Brizola, ©

governor of Rio de Janeiro state,
whose administration helped
organize the demonstration. He
had appeared on television
beforehand to promote the rally
and arranged free public tran-
spertation to the city centre.

Brizola, a member of the
Socialist-oriented opposition
Democratic Labor party, called
the rally “the biggest political

demonstration in Brazilian
history.”
CALLS FOR CHANGE

' At the rally, he declared that
Brazilians “‘want a change of men,
of methods and of orientation in
this country.”

President Joao Figueiredo has
said. he favors direct elections in
the future but has insisted that his
immediate successor be chosen by
the 68¢-member Electoral College,

which is heavily weighted to favor *

small, rural, pro-government
states. Figueiredo is to step down
next March following a January
presidential election,

Huge signs .and pennants
proclaiming, I Want'to Vote for
President hung over the speaker’s
platform. Some people carried

- signs reading Direct Elections

Right Now, We Shall Overcome,

_ Baha’
News

The spiritual assembly of the
Baha'is of Kitimat Stikine C,
meeting on April 6, were deeply
saddened by recent news of con-
tinued acts of torture and violence
against their fellow-baha’is in
Iran,

Ken McGregor, chairman for the
Baha'is Assembly of Kitimat
Stikine C, said that last year's
mass hangings in Iran of Baha’i
women and the regime’s official
ban on the practice of religion in
that country attracted world-wide
as well as local attention. Now,
early in 1984, less spectacular, but

- equally despicable acts of violence

are occurring in the regume’s
relentless, well-orchestrated
campaign to force Baha'is to
recant their religion and convert to
Islam.

It was reported by Canadian
Baha'i headquarters, Ken
McGregor said, that there have
been 250 more Baha'is arrested
throughout the country, among
them infants and young children.
Two elderly Baha'is died recently
after being confined in prison. In
a well-known -and
Yespected Baha’i man. was killed
by amobin Isfahan. Word has also
been received that in Dizful, Mrs.
Rahimpuw was killed by a mob
after giving birth to her child,

Revolutionary guards are now
being permitted to break into
Haha’i homes at any hour to
terrorize the occupants and seize
any and all personal: belongings.

Ken McGregor explained further
how the regime is attempting to
pressure and extort money from
imprisoned Baha'is who had been

dismissed from their jobs because.
. They are”

af their religion.
promised their freedom if they pay -
back all the salary paid to them
‘sinee beginning their employment,
some up lo thirty years. At present
some 700 Beha‘'is including very
young children are suffering in
jails throughout Iran,

The Baha'i Is an independent’
religion with 3-4 million adherents
worldwide, 20,000 in Canada who
come from all ethnic and religious -
backgrounds. Since the faith
began in Persia (Iran) in the mid
19th century, it haa been regarded
as a heresy by the Shi'ite Muslim
clergy who now rule the country
and who are outraged by the faith’s
modern teachings of equality of
men and women, universal
education, and the harmony of
religion and science. The various
factions of Mullahs who are now in
power have made the eradication
of this largest of Iran’s religious
minorilies a common goal,

For further information clal Bee
Richard 825.0705

sot The Last Oe ta'Soe x pathe
Box was Grandma.

‘The throng of protesters, packed

_, shoulder-to-shoulder, stretched as

op- far as the eye could Jee from. the
Candelaria ‘church’ that was the

focal point of the ‘rally: Brazil's

green and yellow me waved fram
thousands of hands,

some of the “349: People - who
disappeared or were killed.in the

most repressive days of the
milary government,

Solidarity —
| report :

WHAT DOES THE. NEW
REALITY MEAN TO B.C.’S
PEOPLE?

by FATHER JIM ROBERTS,
Co-chair, Solidarity Coalition
‘Human Resources Ministe et
‘Grace McCarthy has agai
tightened the screws on the people
hardest hit by this breakdown of
our economy. As of April, Ist,
several new regulations came into
effect’ which will mean increased
hardship for people now on income
assistance and those likely to be
recipients in the future. We must
remember that this decision by
Premier Bennett and the cabinet
comes when jobs are disappearing
everyday, economic growth. «is
almost non-existent, and op-
portunities for people, especially

those on social aasistance, are
close to zero.

What do these regulations mean?
The levels of assistance for
people under twenty-six’ years of
age will be cut. Again, the people
most victimized by youth unem-
ployment are to be_ financially
punished. Why? Premier. Bennett
spoke to us of the “new reality" but
if this is it, we cannot call it “new,”

This is the same Approach | used
in the ‘dirty thirties.” The results
of that Depression are best sum-
marized by the book Ten Lost
Years, A whole generation of
young peopte last ten years of their
lives, What is the point in following

* similar Policies today?

“oat ainiother “ie egy
orders that Ihose Who ‘need!

gocial
assistance exhaust every other
possible source of help. This
Means that volunteer groups in
churches ‘and food banks will be.
swamped with people directed to
them by the provincial govern-
ment. The Vancouver Food Bank
and many others throughout B.C.
are already unable to meet the
demand. Yet government policies.
are sending more people to them:
Sylvia Russell, Director of the
Vancouver Food Bank, has had to
turn people away and stated
“Things are going downhill
fast...we have reached the limit of.
our capacity...(picking. up the
Slack) has become impossible for’
us.” But the government is sa
to these community volunteers “‘do
more, so that cabinet can do less.”

This approach is wrong. There is a

moral responsibility on a govern:
ment to treat those without. jobs,
without material. wealth, without
power or opportunity; in,a fashion
that will lead toa life of ‘hope and
some material security.

All of the different regulations
are designed to increase burdens

‘upon those already carrying the

heaviest loads of this recession, .
The so-called restraint program
has meant unnecessary cutbacks
‘in certain public services, Money
is still flowing in almost unlimited
quantities to other areas deemed
by the cabinet as more worthy:
high-priced “‘consultants:" ad-
vertising ($19 million dollars a
year); the B.C. Railway; and
certain projects such as’ North-
East Coal that are on extremely
shaky economic foundations.

The Solidarity Coalition is
challenging this false “‘either-or”
solution posed by the government.
Increased suffering by the needy
does not rebuild our wrecked
economy. The shift away from
needed public services can only

‘lead to greater doclal dislocation,

not to the necessary economic
growth, .

Our Coalition has recently made
constructive proposals in ‘three

briefs to the Task Force on Legal
- Bervices, the Task Force on the

Allocation of Health Resources, -

.and the Progressive Conservative |
. Task Force on Income Tax. We

asked for a restoration of jegal aid
funding, pointed out that money
spent to alleviate poverty will
reduce health costa, and suggested
that if the federal government
closed tax loopholes for the
wealthy, we'd have more money to
help these in need. Coplea of our
briefs are available on request
(call 979-6322).

We urge all citizens to join with
us to communicate to the govern-
ment the need for a reordering of
public goals; a rebuilding of our
public life; and a restructuring of -
economic initiatives to put people
as the Priority.

: destruction to Nicaragua

From ~ Moedeate ‘where
Figuelredo is on a.state visit, his

military chief ‘of staff’ Rubem -
Ludwig said of-the rally: “It is”

unfortunate that they are creating
unrest in a Peeltie and orderly

people,”
./Aupellano
Chaves, who is deting president

while Figueiredo . is. out of the -

country, said only. that he was
satisfied - with. the. ‘orderly

character" of the rally; Chaves is a:

candidate to succeed |

Sponsared ae

‘amendment: thuit would establish
‘direct presidential elections Nov.
_16, A vote on the bill is set for April
4%, although-it is not expected. to

a receive -the necessary two-thirds
‘approval.’

. jtuesday’s demonstratica | was |
aimed . - part at persuading
congressmen of the government .

: party to.go against Figueiredo.and —

approve the direct elections Bill. '

_/ Gov, Andre Franco, Moritote of

: Sho Paulo, thé most populous and
‘Figueiredo. - pow state in Brazil, said::

Political opposition leaders have .

‘Constitutional :

“This demonstration is proof the
struggle for direct election con-

"tnues, There will be no dempctaty

ifthe Brazilian people cannot elect
their president.” -

Ulysses Guimaraes, president: “at
the largest opposition group, the
Brazillian Democratic Movement
party, sald: “Weare going to bury,
arbitrary goverament once and for :
all." oe,

During ‘the rally, there was’ a
symbolic burial. of Planning

‘Minister Antonio Delflm Netto, the

man many Brazilians blame for
the country’s 230-per-cent Inflation
rate and Ate S-billion forelgn debt.

wf

Mondale pulling away

PHILADELPHIA. (AP) =
another |

pulling away from G
the midpoint of the - Democratic

senator says the econd half of the - .

nomination race is “‘yery,
favorable to my candidacy,”

Pennsylvania primary moved him
delegates needed to aecure the

Democratic presidential
nomination.

convention . convenes | in
Franclaco on July 16, the former
vice-president sald,

With another outpouring of black

Nicaragua
thanks. U.S.

“The head of. Nicaragua’ 8 leftist

junta thanked the U.S. Senate for *-.
opposing use of CIA funds to mine ,

Nicaraguan ports,. and. a: ‘Soviet

diplomat said Moscow, will ‘‘cer- .

tainly consider”- any requeat to
clear away the mines...

The Soviet ambassador to the
United Nations called the'1i

operation -by § U.S,backed
guerrillas “a new chapier-in the
history . of ‘International
terroriem.” .

Later, after the Senate approved
a resolution calling for an end to
the use of CIA funds to assist in

mining Nicaragua's ‘ports, junta -

coordinator Daniel Ortega

thanked jt-for its opposition tothe. cause. panic in the, pixeeta in. dhe, .: | Christians
“undeclared. .war..by.the. United. Moslem, western , sacle ¥
States against, Nicaragua,”... ..:;-....(LARE

The Senate approved the non-
binding resolution by a vote of 84-

ortega, emerging from a8

meeting in Managua with External,
Afiairs Minister Allen MacEachen,
contrasted the attitude of the’
Reagan administration to that of
Canada, .

“While the United States brings:
» Canada
provides constructive ve help” he“
said, ‘We expressed to. him our
appreciation for the valuable aid
that Canada: is providing for
reconstruction of the country.”

There has been a stream. of
criticism from -foreign govern-
ments since it was reported: the
United States had a hand in the

mining operation. _ - :
Britain’s Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher _ told

Parliament on Tuesday — her
government had “made it very
clear to the United States... that

we are against mining the ports of
Nicaragua.”

CANADA CONCERNED —

The issue also was discussed in
the Canadian House of Commons,
and International Trade Minister
Gerald Regan said the Canadian
government was concerned the

mining escolated tensions in the fl

region.

help Nicaragua clear the ports.
At least seven ships have been
damaged, three small. vessels

sunk, and 15 crew members in- -

jured by .the. mines, which have
Breatly reduced. the number ‘of
ships willing to call on Nicaraguan
Po

‘Two rebel groups trying to topple

the Sandinista government have
said they placed the mines, and
this week It was reported the
operation was accomplished with
CIA assistance, under the guidance
of Americana.

However, a Nicaraguan rebel

leader sald Tuesday the. United «

States had to part in the operation.
“Tt wasn’t an American action;”’
sald Alfonso Robelo, head of the

Democratic Revolutionary

Alliance, known as. ARDE. “Gur. |
organization mined the port of’.

Corinto" and also the port at El

Bluff, Robelo said from Rome, -

where he is visiting, | ;
Soviet Ambassadcr . Oleg

Troyanoveky told a news -con-

ference at the UN his country will

consider any Nicaraguan

to clear its harbors but that it

_to the Nicaraguans - to. any

“whether they want to accept
French assistance or... . whether
they would ask for asalstance from
other quarters."

Asked if Moscow woud. un-
dertake the task, Troyanovaky
replied: “If there is a request, we
would certainly conalder It..1 don’t -
know what the reply would be.”

—~ With | -
state victory in -
Pennsylvania, Walter ary tae: Is. campaign. maintains momentum.”

at -

» Hart is scheduled ‘to
. “Thuraday. .

France earlier had offered to

votes, ‘Jesse Jackson carried”
Philadelphia . ‘and: said: “Qur.

With 66 per cent of the precincts ©

: ivanta totals -
presidential race, but the Colorado reporting, the Penny vanta

were: .
_Mondale: 612, 276 or ‘8 per cent.

very ".:- Hart 457,115 or 94 pet cerit.-

my . 18 per. cent.
"Mondale’s sold “win ia the ~ Jackson. 294,591 o 18 per.

‘Mondale picked up 124 delegates

ie Pennsylvania, compared to 16,
Halfway down the road tothe 1.967 for “Hart, Four’ delegates: were.
- uneommitted and three wert to
other.” candidates.

“I think now T've ge got a chance, 5, eegaies: ‘Faces were deft un: ”

just a-chance” to wrap up the
nomination before the Democratic .-:
"San

- Twenty-five

lecided early today when. election

‘officials in’ ‘Philadelphia stopped
‘counting for the night: :* °°.

‘Mondale’s. near sweep of the

. delegates pushed his national total

to 1,035.8. Hart has $74 and Jackson |

- 151.2, while 252 are uncommitted

anid 78 remain pledged to can-
‘didates no longer in the race, ©
The battleground moves West
into. Hart's turf this weekend-with
Democratic caucuses in Arizona.
- “We are headed ‘into our

r territory, folks," Hart told sup-

- porters in Denver, his hometown.
., Mondale and Jackson planned to
-campaign.in Arizona mer and

ere

- Coming on the heels of earller
wins in Illinois and New. -York,
Mondale’s Pennsylvania : ‘triumph
-widened. his delegate lead and
‘ restored an air of inevitability to

“his candidacy.

BLURRED MEMORY:

_For Hart, the Pennsylvania vite
" blurred the memory of the heady
days: after the senatot rolled ‘to
vietories - in New Hampshire,
Maine and Vermont and seemed on
the verge of knocking Mondale out
of the race,

Hart predicted thr race. will: be
‘decidedin San Francisco and sald:
““E. believe. that I will have a
- Majority of the delegates” "golag.
into the convention.” The senator
said Mondale now has had his best
states and “our best states remain ‘
ahead.”

Jackson sald: “The algnificance
of the large black vote is that it
‘triggers: the coalition the
rainbow coalition. For if blacks
vote In mass, the white allies can
win and conservatives cannot

The next hig test is the Texas
caucuses May 5, followed ‘by
primaries in Ohio, ‘Indiana,
Maryland and North Carolina. on
May 8,

Beirut peace fails

BEIRUT (Reuter) — Efforts to

restore peace to Beirut met a new

setback . Tuesday night . when ~
Christian gunners pounded the —

Moslem residential sector of the
city for the third time in five days.

The * 40-minute bombardment

‘The Lebanese * Forces have
pounded the western sector three
times since last Friday, saying
each time it was In retaliation for
Moslem shelling of eastern Beirut,

But the artillery exchange
Tueday night was the first time the

oy, Noy, 7 oa
he; e ms ata Rha ‘ts Monsey Ee t
esa capita, . sii fire alana ‘tifat it’ wad Bile w
unknown number of people. — & policy of instant retaliation. “

The . American ‘University
Hospital, . the main hospital. i

But from eastern Beirut, right-

fired

The shelling, one day after the
‘rival fotces formally endorsed a

plan to disengage forces along the
Belrut frontlines, underlined the
fragility of efforts to establish a
stable ceasefire as a

ite

to dialogue among the trdltion
distrustful pales fs factions. ally

‘The mutual terror shelling -has
overshadowed a disengagement

western Beirut, declined to issug. © agreement reached Monday night
casualty ‘figurea, State-run Beirut
Radio, normally quick :to. broad-.
cast the. toll, reported only “a
umber of people” killed.

by a “higher security committee’’
chaired by Christian President
Amin Gemayel. The committee
Sroups senior. representatives of
all rival forces in the war-torn

wing. Phalonglst’ radio said 49 | country.
people were injured and several
fires. started: in five hours of
shelling ofthe Christian area 5
before the gunners of the Christian conclusive peace conference in
ae Forces muilitia’

cl .

Establishment of the committee
was one of the few concrete
achievements of last month’s in-

Switzerland, The committee has
worked for two weeks to stop the
fighting and separate the com-
batants, |

‘But fighting has continued
throughout {ts deliberationa with
almoat routine mutual shelling of
residential districts. Before
Tuesday night it had claimed at
Mes 4 dead and 250 Injured since