‘We must take stand against |
U.S. in Vietnam’ —Mowat

justify the brutal application of _
Teddy Roosevelt’s big stick,
which in Mr, Johnson’s time has
become the big cattle prod being
thrust into the vitals of a small,
backward, colored nation which
‘has only recently escaped from
the grip of French colonialism
and now finds itself fighting des-
perately to prevent itself being
mastered by the American ver-
sion of economic and political
colonialism,

Farley Mowat, author of “People
of the Deer” and other popular
Canadian books, sent a passionate
denunciation of the Vietnam war
to a conference in Toronto on Feb.
19 to discuss “Canada’s Role in
Vietnam.” Following are his con-
clusions:

The United States is the ag-
gressor in Vietnam. It is an
invader and occupying power in
South Vietnam, It is guilty of the
killing of many thousand Viet-
namese, It is guilty of the de-
struction of the way of life,
homes and means of support of
many tens of thousands more of
this Asian people,

I say this to Canadians, If we '
are a nation, if we are a people
who place any value in ethics
or morality we must take an
unequivocal stand against the ac-
tions of the U.S, in Vietnam,
Our government will not act for
us, since it is subject to the will
of the United States. We must,
therefore, act individually and

z “
Se

FARLEY MOWAT

hensible, utterly inexcusable and
completely avnorrent to anyone
who pretends to any of the vir-
tues of civilization.

It engages in the barbaric use
of gas and in chemical weapons
and in the inexcusable use of
such weapons as napalm and white

| Qeen

Vietnam

Lily Greene, Toronto, writes:
On Feb, 9th, there were. 1700
determined women who travelled
to Washington from several East-
ern States and from as far away
as" (Canada) Qhio and Oklahoma

and demonstrated for an immed-

iate ceasefire in Vietnam... in
front of the White House, They
lobbied their Congressmen and
assembled later to hear the wo-
men report,

Dagmar Wilson spoke here and

also Senator Wayne Morse’s —

daughter who had also partici-
pated all day, unknown to those
present, This historic protest
was. sponsored by the Women’s

Strike for Peace. 3

-.. There .were -two-of us who

came from “far away Canada.”
We represented chiefly the Tor-
onto Association for Peace. We
travelled by bus for 18 hours,
But we want to let your PT
readers know that this effort was
very much worthwhile, because it
gave a tremendous morale lift to
the U.S.A. wives, mothers,
grandmothers, sisters and child-
ren to know that they were not
alone in this seemingly endless
Struggle to put an end to this
Senseless war in Vietnam,

Space does not permit more -
except to say that we know Can-
adian peace workers will contin-
ue to do everything possible to
convince our Canadian govern-
ment to act immediately as an
independent member of the
Control Commission to bring
peace to the Vietnamese people,
Let us all turn out en masse to
Ottawa on March 26th - Interna-
tional Vietnam Day.

Doesn't agree
Jerry Shack, PT Circulation

Manager, writes: Charles Boy-
lan’s letter in last week’s PT

- intrigued me, criticizing as it did

the coverage given by our paper
to Boylan’s election to council at
UBC, He makes three criticisms:

” Herluf Bidstrup in the Danish Land og Folk

ORUM

(1) A general charge of “blatant
editorializing;” (2) Only 1900
out of 15,000 students voted for
a radical; (3) It is sectarian
to suggest Communists have a
special “respect” in the growing
radical student movement,

His first criticism, of course,
begs the question,
paper is the PT? Should it re-
strict its coverage of news
merely to reporting, without
drawing conclusions? Is it to
be reporter, or agitator? (Or
both?)

In connection with his second

point, there was no attempt made
to paint Boylan’s victory as a
“mass movement of student rad-
icalism,” as he charged, But to
dismiss its significance by tritely

* stating only 1900 students voted

for a Communist is to miss the
whole point. It?s who was elec-

‘ted that counts - or isn’t that

what elections are for?

Thirdly, Boylan’s letter im-
plied that a Communist is just
another candidate, Would that it
were so! But after having lived
through 20 years of vicious anti-
Communist cold warring, I find
it difficult to agree with such
an assertion, Communists long
to be treated on an equal basis,
they fight for equal treatment,
they demand it from the CBC
and big newspapers, But do they
get it?

I do agree that how they stand
on issues is also important, but
this is not yet the determining
factor, If it were, wouldn’t we
see more Communists being
elected?

Charlie’s letter has opened up
the whole question of what kind
of paper the Trib is supposed to
be and comes at a time when we
are organizing a whole series
of Readers’ Conferences which
will begin to examine this ques-
tion rather deeply,

As such, the letter has per-
formed a valuable service to all
concerned, It should serve to
open up a wide ranging dis-
cussion on these pages of how
our readers see our paper,

What kind of ©

phosphorous against unprotected
people who cannot reply in kind.
It tolerates and perpetuates atro-
cities against individual Viet-
namese which are contraryto the
Geneva Convention and most cer=
tainly contrary to all standards
of sane and humane behavior,

It perverts the truth freely
within its own country and inter-
nationally. In short, its actions
in Vietnam are totally repre-

It does no good to reply that
the “Vietcong” are Communists,
that they, therefore, constitute
a threat to the peace of Asia,
that they too torture prisoners
and murder innocent noncom-
batants, that they are trying tc
seize control of their own coun-
try by the use of force,

These things may be perfectly
true, but they cannot justify the
actions of the U.S., they cannot

declare publicly and privately
in any and all company and as

frequently as possible, despite —

reprisals, the dangers ofrepris-
als, that the U.S, is guilty of
a great crime against mankind,
that she is perpetuating a fear-
ful wrong, that we individually
and collectively will have nopart
of her military adventure in Viet-
nam and that we condemn her for
that adventure before the eyes
of the world,

Concern for peace spotlights
International Women’s Day

By PEGGY CHUN

International Women’s Day on
March 8th is the product of the
struggles of American women in
the early 1900’s for better pay,
housing, the right to vote anda
decent standard of living, It was
officially adopted as the official
day of women the world over at
the International Socialist Con-
gress held in Copenhagen in 1910,

It is fitting that the land of
socialism, the USSR, has ac-
corded the highest honor to wo-
men by declaring that Interna-
tional Women’s Day will be a
public holiday, This wasa tribute
to the struggles of women for
their elementary rights, and to
the millions of women all over
the world who have participated
in the democratic struggles for
peace, independence and national
integrity,

the
| LEGISLATURE
es He and

; 7:05 P.M.
CKWX SUNDAYS
COMMUNIST PARTY’S

WEEKLY RADIO
COMMENTARY

by NIGEL MORGAN

Canadian women are equally
capable, and equally anxious to
work towards realization of the
kind of world envisioned by decent
folk everywhere, ‘

Our efforts must of necessity
at this time be directed towards
the preservation of peace, If
we place any value at all on our
own and our children’s livés and
future, we must demand that
Canada press for a settlement
of the terrible war in Vietnam by
a return to the 1954 Geneva
Agreement, We must aid the
people of Vietnam by sending
medical and other supplies and
give Canadians an avenue to ex-
press their desire to help and
to express their sympathy with
the suffering people of that small
country,

* OK

The cost of living has been
rising at an alarming rate, Since
1952, the average increase in the
index per full year has been 1.5%;
in the two-month period from Oc-
tober 1, 1965 to December 1,
1965, the Consumer Price Index
jumped 1,2% . . . almost equal to
a normal year’s increase! Here
again, Canadian women will bein
the forefront of the struggle

against big business monopolies ©

by demanding governmental ac-
tion at all levels to reduce the
cost of living, and protect the
health and welfare of their fam-
ilies,

Some other of the more press-
ing problems, more directly af-
fecting women, will require the
understanding and backing of men
and women right across our coun-

_ try: ... What ofthe young women

who work, who have small child-
ren needing day care but who find
a deplorable lack of proper facili-
ties to care for their children: ..,
What of the women, families now
grown, who want to work, but
have no training or skills to offer
on the labor market?

Celebrate: -
INTERNATIONAL
WOMEN’S DAY
at the
GOLDEN HORSESHOE HALL
2786 East Hastings
Vancouver, B.C.:

SUNDAY, MARCH 13,
1:30 p.m.
PROGRAMME

“SALE OF INTERNATIONAL.
PASTRIES

 ~Tea will be served — 75¢

All Proceeds to:

CANADIAN AID TO
VIETNAM CIVILIANS

« « e What of the women whoare
now working, but whose security
of employment is threatened by
automation, lack of trade union
protection, discrimination in
rates of pay despite legislation:
existing on the books? ...Whatof
capable efficient women, denied
promotion in their particutr
field of endeavour simply because
they are women?

More and more Canadian wo-
men are coming to the realiza-
tion that they must make their
own contribution to the develop-
ment of their country along the
path they wish it to take,

And as they participate in com-
munity organizations, or as cand-
idates in civic, provincial, or

federal elections, in struggle for -

better’ pay and working condi-
tions, they will come to under-
stand that only under Socialism
will women escape from the posi-
tion of second class citizens
which is her lot under capital-
ism, The celebration of Inter-
national Women’s Day will then
have a deeper meaning to thou-
sands of Canadians,

March 11, 1966—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 7 >