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Letters

SOIT METI eae et ols na eee ai gs a

A long, sorry record

Richard Clements, Vancouver, writes: In a
little noted action in August, U.S. President
Reagan signed a Congressional bill ordering
a cut in the U.S. contribution to the United
Nations budget from 25 per cent of the total
of 20 per cent unless weighted voting
according to an individual nation’s contri-
butions to the UN is introduced on budget
matters. Since its inception, the UN has
assigned dues on the basis of ability to pay
and followed a one nation-one vote proce-
dure so the “weighted voting” rider has little
chance of being adopted and the U.S. con-
tribution to the UN will therefore inevitably
be cut back.

While the estimated U.S. contribution to
the UN in 1985 is miniscule compared to the
Reagan administration’s huge defence
expenditure — some $196 million, repres-
enting about what the Pentagon will spend
On military marching bands — the UN
budget cutback puts into stark relief the
growing anti-UN trend that has become

- increasingly marked in the US since the

early 1970s.
The US has found itself isolaied most
Clearly on peace and disarmament issues.
According to an article by Daniel Arbess
and William Epstein, in the May, 1985 Bul-
letin of the Atomic Scientists, entitled ““Dis-
armament role of the United Nations”, “the
United States has been almost alone in
Opposing successive resolutions calling for a
comprehensive (nuclear) test ban — resol-
utions which have received greater support
from the United Nations throughout its his-
tory than any other disarmament issue.
Despite the international community’s evi-
dent acceptance of the verification provi-
sions in the trilateral negotiations (U.S.,
Britain and the USSR) as sufficient, the
United States continues to cite verification
issues as a stumbling block, and in 1982 it
actually abandoned the (trilateral) negotia-
tions. .. However, in testimony in 1983, the
U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament
Agency stated: ‘Nuclear tests are specifically
required for the development, moderniza-
tion and certification of warheads, the
Maintenance of stockpile reliability and the
evaluation of nuclear weapons effects.” ”

Poverty the
real problem

Tim Pelzer, Vancouver, writes: The issue
of panhandlers is really a social problem.
Recently this matter has become controver-
Sial as various businesses along Denman
Street in Vancouver’s West End are com-
Plaining that beggars are driving away
Potential customers and are demanding
Stricter laws to deal with them.

First of all, I find that the panhandlers on
Denman Street are less aggressive or about
the same as on any other street. So I think
the problem is overplayed.

But there’s a reason why they are begging
for money. There aren’t any jobs and wel-
fare Tate are way too low to ensure even a
basic standard of living.

You can’t ban panhandling any more

an you can prostitution. Realistically,
What can the police do? Arrest them? They
Could impose a jail sentence for several days
ora month asa penalty — but what would
that achieve? When they were released,
what would be different?

Tougher laws won't solve the problem; it
will only hide it. People should be demand-
Ing that the government at both federal and
Provincial levels use our wealth to create
Jobs. Pressure should be put on Human
Resources Minister Grace McCarthy to
Talse welfare rates to the poverty level. Then
People wouldn’t have to beg for money.

In response to the five-month Soviet
moratorium on nuclear testing announced
in July, Reagan administration officials
confirmed that U.S. nuclear testing is
“needed to develop an X-ray laser for a
strategic defence against nuclear missiles
and to find ways to fight a long uuclear
war,” the New York Times reported July 30.
The paper added that, specifically, the Rea-
gan administration “‘plans to equip the MX
missile, which will become operational next
year, and an accurate new submarine-
launched missile called the D-5, which will
go into service in 1989, with new designs for
(nuclear) warheads.” The officials consider
“continued underground testing vital to
developing ways to protect weapons and
communications links — including those
for ‘Star Wars’ — against nuclear weapons
that release large pulses of damaging elec-
tromagnetic energy. Without such research
and testing, there would be little confidence
that the complex system of command and
control would permit what Defence Secre-
tary Caspar W. Weinberger has called a
“protracted nuclear war in which the Uni-
ted States could prevail.”

In their article in the Bulletin of Atomic
Scientists, Arbess and Epstein also observed:
“During the 1984 session of the UN Gen-
eral Assembly, the United States and all or
several of its NATO allies found themselves
in a small minority voting ‘no’ or abstaining
on resolutions calling for a nuclear weapons
freeze, prevention of an arms race in outer
space, and prohibition of the use of nuclear
weapons, and inviting governments to
submit to the (UN) secretary-general views
on steps to expedite action on the preven-
tion of nuclear war. The United States cast
the sole ‘no’ votes on seven resolutions,
including one calling upon the Conference
on Disarmament to.adopt concrete mea-
sures on the specific priority issues of disar-
mament on its agenda, and another
requesting the secretary general to prepare a
study on the impact of deterrence on the
arms race, arms control, and international
security. All of these resolutions except one
were adopted by a majority of more than
110 of the 159 voting nations of the General
Assembly, including, in every case, the
Soviet Union.”

In a related article on U.S. voting patt-
erns at the UN by the former U.S. deputy
Secretary of State George Ball, entitled
“Erosion of U.S. foreign relations” and
published in the August 1985 Bulletin of the
Atomic Scientists the author noted, “‘in shift-
ing its Middle East policies after the 1967
(Israeli-Arab) War, the United States
became so out of step with the opinions of
other nations that it could no longer prevail
by persuasion. Having once cast a veto in
1970, the United States became hooked on
the habit. Thus, since 1970, the United
States has cast 40 vetoes, of which 16 have
been to prevent censure of, or sanctions
against, Israel; five to prevent the expulsion
of or sanctions against South Africa; five on
the issue of Namibian independence; and
five to defence positions regarding Viet-
nam.”

The U.S. administration’s rhetoric about
the necessity of improving the international
political climate is belied by such statements
as that by former American UN delegate
Charles Lichenstein who told UN members
two years ago, after criticism of U.S.
actions, that they would find him and other
Americans “down at dockside waving you a
fond farewell as you sail into the sunset.”
Reagan endorsed the remark by stating that
it had “the hearty approval of many people
in America” and that, “if they chose to
leave, goodbye.” Reagan has never apolo-
gised for his intemperate statement.

With such an ignorant and fundamen-
tally paranoid view of the UN and the host
of problems it addresses so entrenched in
the Reagan administration, the prospects
for a substantially improved international
political climate seem dim.

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COMING EVENTS OBITUARY

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“Track Two" and “The Times of Harvey Milk.”

VICTORIA
OCT. 17 — Unity to Defeat the Socreds. Hear
Maurice Rush, B.C. Provincial Leader, Com-
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OCT. 19 — Benefit dinner and dance. Spon-
sored by Canadian Farmworkers Union. Guest
of honor: Cesar Chavez, president of United
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dinner, free child care. Tickets: $10, $7 stu-
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OCT. 20 — COPE FILM FESTIVAL. 2 p.m.
Vancouver East Cinema, 2290 Commercial Dr.
“Controlling Interest” and “Seeing Red”.

HARRY (BUD) SIMPSON passed away Sun.
Sept. 29 at Shuswap Lake General Hospital
after a lengthy illness. Bud was a member of
the Plumbers and Pipefitters union since 1942
and kept his dues in good standing after retire-
ment. His progressive links go back to the Post
Office sitdown of 1938. Bud's strong support of
labor and progressive forces will be sorely
missed. Memorial was held Mon. Oct. 7.
Hazelwood Cemetery, Abbotsford. Donations
in lieu of flowers to the Pacific Tribune.

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ELECTRICAL PLUMBING, appliance repairs.
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OCT. 23 — Is there a future for B.C. resource
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OCT. 26 — Coffee House, 805 E. Pender St. 8
p.m. Entertainment and refreshments. Adm.
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PORT ALBERNI
OCT. 27 — Introduction to Marxist Philo-
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7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sponsored by Socialist
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FOR SALE

“WHERE'S THE BEEF?” Coming down in
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1982 NIVA Lada, 4x4. Excellent condition.
Family too large for it. Loath to sell our “baby”.
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888-2362.

TO RENT

2 BDRM. upper suite, 49th & Fraser. Fridge,
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~RANKIN
&
COMPANY

Barristers & Solicitors

4th Floor, 195 Alexander St.
Vancouver, B.C. V6A 1N8

682-2781 |

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LEGAL SERVICES

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es See 2nd Floor, 157 Alexander Street,
-3621.

DIRECTORY

COMMUNIST PARTY OF CANADA offices

located at 102, 2747 E. Hastings St. Vancouver.

Phone 254-9836. Office hours: 9:30-12 noon;

1-5 p.m. Mon to Fri. For information on political

issues or assistance in political activity.
HALLS FOR RENT

RUSSIAN PEOPLE’S HOME — Available for
rentals. For reservations phone 254-3430. -

UKRAINIAN CANADIAN CULTURAL
CENTRE — 805 East Pender St. Vancouver.
Available for banquets, weddings, meetings.
Phone 254-3436.

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Bookstore
JUST ARRIVED

The Tory Budget and the Corporate
Plan to Restructure Canada.
By Ben Swankey $6

Star Wars: Delusions and
Dangers: $1.50
Overseas Expansion of Capital.
By Andrei Gromyko $10
We Can Do It.
_A Kid's Peace Book. $1
Mail orders please add 50¢.

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Vancouver, B.C. V5L 3X5
253-6442

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_ (Committee of Progressive Electors)

FILM

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