DISARMAMENT — SCENES FROM THE WALK (from top left, clockwise). ..New Zealand Labor MP Jim Anderton praises cities’ nuciear- larations; End the Arms Race booth gets support for postcard campaign on Star Wars; B.C. Peace Council members march, with musical accompaniment; Eric Hamber secondary school students with declaration, signed weapons free dec by 800. Rally launches Star Wars campaign When it comes to peace marches, Van- couver is still the tops. Some 80,000 Lower Mainland residents helped reaffirm Vancouver’s reputation as the “peace capital of North America” Sat- urday in the fourth annual End the Arms Race Walk for Peace. Moving out from Kitsilano Beach park promptly at noon under the now-familiar lead banners — “End the Arms Race” and “No Cruise” — anda new “Stop Star Wars” logo, the annual “river of peace” flowed out across the Burrard Street bridge, around the horseshoe route through Vancouver’s downtown, and on to the rally point in Sunset Beach park. With participants filling the entire width of the streets along the march route, for the second year running, the Apr. 27 Walk for Peace looked much the same as in the preceding years. Qualitatively, though, there wre changes. This year’s walk had the added co- sponsorship of the Vancouver School Board, which had promoted the event with the distribution of leaflets in class- rooms during the preceding weeks. As usual, Vancouver city council voted to underwrite the costs of policing and other civic expenses associated with the massive peace effort. The chief sponsor, End the Arms Race, has continued its phenomenal growth in the past year, to the point where the umbrella organization has a memberhsip of almost 200 locally-based peace groups. This year, as in 1984 and 1983, labor has increased its presence under the auspices of the Trade Union Peace \Committee, comprising several area unions. They turned out thousands of their members and once again paid for the large bill- boards that promoted the walk from stra- tegic points around Greater Vancouver. Most important, EAR used this year’s Walk for Peace to promote a new post- card campaign aimed at preventing Cana- dian involvement in the U.S. Reagan Administration’s Strategic Defence Initia- tive: the “Star Wars” plan for furthering U.S. attempts to dominate the arms race. At approximately 80,000, the participa- tion in the 1984 peace walk was less than last year’s record turnout. But the hard rains and leaden skies that continued from Friday to Saturday morning undoubtedly caused many — notably seniors and par- ents with small children — to reconsider taking part in the five-km walk. Miraculously, those skies cleared one hour before starting time, and when the walk began, the sun was burning its way through the cloud cover. Perhaps most significant for this year’s event was the message, born across the Pacific from the small Commonwealth nation New Zealand, that nuclear- weapons free zone declarations do make a difference. Keynote speaker Jim Anderton, labor Party MP for Sydenham, N.Z., told the thousands assembled at Sunset Beach that his government’s decision to ban ships carrying nuclear weapons from New Zea- land ports followed such declarations by municipalities representing two-thirds of the country’s citizens. “These movements grow from the bot- tom up. They have their strength in the local community. They can, as in the New Zealand case, come to greatly influence national policy,” he declared. Vancouver Mayor Mike Harcourt said Anderton’s comments show that despite the claims of some detractors, council’s declarations and peace initiatives have real meaning. Anderton praised End the Arms Race and the Voice of Women for sending mes- sages of support through the daily press in New Zealand, ‘“‘at a time when we were going through an international mauling machine. “It is indeed ironic to us that some of those who profess to uphold democratic values around the world would seek to deny us the democratic right to choose to be nuclear free,” said the MP of the threa- tened economic and political sanctions against New Zeland by the Reagan admin- istration. Despite those threats, which came after the Labor government denied entry to U.S. warships when their commanders refused to state whether the vessels carried nuclear weapons, the country will not “weaken its resolve. We cannot keep our economic heart in order by selling our political soul to anyone,” he declared. Dr. George Ignatieff, a former Cana- dian disarmament ambassador and repre- sentative on NATO, said unequivocally that Canada should reject any involve- ment in Star Wars. “If we become involved, we would con- tribute to the escalation of the arms race, without any likelihood of closing all the holes in the nuclear umbrella,” he warned. Ignatieff urged the Canadian govern- ment “to come out, without equivocation against participation in the costly and dangerous-Star Wars illusion. “We must press for a mutual verifiable freeze, or a moratorium on all nuclear testing. This freeze must include the testing of all destabilizing delivery systems, like the cruise missile,” he urged. “T call on the Canadian government to note our presence, as the clearest possible testimony to the priority which Canadians give to this issue of peace. The peace movement is alive and well. The public pressure on the government must be main- tained. We cannot fail,” Ignatieff declared to thunderous applause. Vancouver school trustee Carmela Allevato, a former vice-president of EAR, compared the school board’s fight with the provincial government for adequate funding with the “struggle to end the arms race and fund human needs.” “To the multinational corporations, to the military-industrial complex, I say, the people of the world demand peace, we want peace, we will have peace,” declared John J. Verigin of the Union of Spiritual Communities of Christ. The communities’ Doukhabor choir was one of a group of musical acts that included topical singer Bob Bossin, the political rock group Communique and Saskatchewan singer Connie Kaldor. Dr. Dorothy Goresky, national pres- dient of the Canadian arm of Physicians for Social Responsibility, called on people to organize peace groups based in their professions, and urged participants to “write and write and write” the prime min- ister and other members of Parliament to legislate for disarmament. 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