re WORE ‘Nichol visits Beirut, sees Arafat Nichol left Vancouver last month 10 attend the Transport, Port and Fishery Workers Trade Union In- ternational conference in Damas- Cus he did not expect to find himself ~ S€ated beside Yasser Arafat in the | Palestine Liberation Organiza- tion’s well guarded headquarters in Beirut. This was only one of the experi- €nces that made a deep impression On him during his week’s stay in the ian capital and his brief visit to - _ War-scarred Beirut in Lebanon. Questions of peace or war, de- tente or confrontation, dominated deliberations of the delegates from 88 countries. As Jim Slater of Brit- | > ain, who presided over a discus- Sion, pointed out, “Living stan- ds cannot be raised without Peace, but on the contrary will be . forced down, and hunger and pov- _ &tty cannot be eliminated from half the world so long as billions are be- Ing squandered on arms.”’ “It was,”’ Nichol said, ‘‘quite an _ €Xperience to go from a conference Where trade unionists from around __ theworld were discussing how their Organizations could strengthen the tt for peace and disarmament to ~ 4 city in an area of conflict where Peace is under constant threat. “Tn my own speech on this issue to the conference I said that the conomic crisis in Canada and the U.S., part of the ever deepening _ Grisis of capitalism, was fertile 8tound in which to sow the seeds of Delegates to the eighth conference of the Transport, Port and Fishery Workers Trade Union International are seen » here in session at Damascus. UFAWU president Jack Nichol, wearing light jacket, is seated in fifth row at right. The conference was held Oct. 25-30. . a global war and I properly de- scribed the Reagan administra- ‘ion’s policies as inane and un- workable, with destruction of Beat the monopoly rip-off! Do your shopping at | 4 Sunday, Dec. 6, Ukrainian Hall, Int'l food mart @~ handicrafts q Noon to 5p.m. } 805 E. Pender | @ books home baking @ plants °@ = white elephant All welcome! a hewals. — | Help us get more | of these around... With only a month left in our circulation drive we still need 123 new subs and 449 re- < | |Buy a sub. Sell a sub. Lebanese and Palestinian trade un- ions, whose representatives had planned to take us on a tour of what has become known as the "Palestinian refugee camp outside the city, but we didn’t take the - shorter paved road. Instead we went by a circuitous route along back roads, stopping to identify ourselves at one checkpoint after _ another. ‘Going up a steep hill, we stop- ped the cars and got out to stretch our legs. Suddenly we heard gun-~ fire somewhere at the top of the hill. Our hosts bundled us back into the cars and the drivers turned back in a hurry.” To meet Yasser Arafat-at his headquarters in Beirut, Nichol and some of his fellow delegates were taken, as he described it, ‘‘through what seemed to me to be long base- ment corridors guarded at every point to a conference’room where Arafat greeted us.’” Nichol was the last to enter, hav- ing lagged behind to check his cam- eras, and no seat was left. Seeing him standing, Arafat came over to him, asked an aide to get another chair, and invited him to sit with escalation of the arms Iron Trianglein southern Lebanon _ him at the head of the table. ee n aim. — they call it Hell’s Triangle be- From Arafat, who outlined the 5 e433 cause the entire area has been dev- PLO’s struggle for self-determina- “In Beirut, I was in an area a-+ated. But they had to call it off tion and creation of an independ- where peaceis so fragilethatatany — because the Israelis were reported _ent state in the Palestinian people’s time it can be destroyed by ProvO- - +4 have massed four divisions fora “national homeland, and a Leban- cation and aggression. Signs of jew incursion into southern Leb- ese cabinet minister, who expressed fighting were everywhere, although = anon, his government’s fears that at- hotels, stores, restaurants were “We didn’t have to go outside tempts might be made to partition open and people were going about —_Reirut to be conscious of the fight- his country, Nichol obtained an their everyday lives as usual. ing. Frequently we heard machine- understanding of Middle East pro- “Our trip was arranged by the pun fire in the distance, and some- _blemsmarkedly different from that | timesit was quiteclose. Atnight the presented by the U.S. state depart- shooting seemed to be all around mentand Canadian external affairs us. department in their attempts to jus- “Weset outat one point to visita _ tify Israeli ageression and their own intrigues to strengthen U.S. mili- tary positions in the region. Among the causes taken up by the conference was that of the U.S. air traffic controllers. Delegates condemned the Reagan adminis- tration’s attempt ‘‘to destroy the organization which is the legitimate trade union of the air traffic con- trollers of the U.S.”’ and called on all its affiliates to send contribu- tions to the legal defence fund. The conference also voted to set up a commission for Latin Amer- ica and Canada, which plans to hold its first regional conference in 1983. : “You always return from such conferencés with a larger perspect- _ive, conscious of working people’s struggles throughout the world, how they. reinforce our struggles and how we can reinforce theirs,”’ said Nichol.» : a COMING EVENTS NOV. 21 — Peace petitioning downtown. Meet at B.C. Peace Council office: from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Rm. 712 - 207 W. Hastings St., Vancouver. NOV. 22 — Wind up the municipal elections with a banquet honoring Effie Jones, pioneer of the civic re- form movement. Guest of honor Ef- fie Jones. Speakers, ald. Harry Rankin, CP leader Maurice Rush. 6 p.m., 805 E. Pender St., Van. Tickets $8, OAP $6. Auspices Kingsway Club CPC. NOV. 25 — COPE report-back meeting with aldermen, school trustees and parks commissioners. A report on PNE, transit, school and parks issues. Rm. 9, Hastings Community Centre, Hastings Com- munity Centre, Hastings and - Lillooet Sts., Van. (use main en- trance) 8:p.m. NOV. 28 — C.O.P.E. Cabaret with Ash St. Players, 6:30 dinner and dance, at Peretz_School, 6184 Ash St. Tkts. — $15.00 or $10.00 0.A.P. available at Co-op Books, 353 W. Pender. All Welcome. NOV. 29 — Report-back and slide show from the World Congress of Women, 2 p.m. 600 Campbell Ave. Sponsored by the Federation of Russian Canadians. \ DEC. 6 — Christmas Labor Bazaar, Ukrainian Hall. See display ad for details. COMMERCIAL = Mad aden Jewellery & Watch Repairs 24-7678 CONDOR’S PAINTING & build- ing maintenance. Free estimate. Phone 433-1145. A progressive firm owned and operated by Chilean Canadians. Reasonable rates. ELECTRICAL, plumbing, appli- ance repairs. Don Berg. 255-7287. ROOF REPAIRS — New roofs. Reasonable. 277-1364 or 277-3352. GRAMMA PUBLICATIONS. Complete printing services. . Brochures, menus, leaflets, etc. Special rates for the progressive movement. A union shop. 1595 W. ' 3rd Ave., Van. 733-6822. HANDYMAN, reas. rates. Ken 437-8386. FOR SALE TYPEWRITERS. Olympia office manual, newly recond.; Smith- Corona Electra 220 portable, exc. cond. Also two old style Under- ~ woods, incl. one portable. Quote this ad and make an offer. 251-1186, 9-5 weekdays. C.0.D.E. CABARET Feast on baron of beef and baked B.C. salmon. (1 Enjoy a cabaret show with the ASH STREET PLAYERS. (1 Dance _to the Dixieland sound of the PHOENIX JAZZERS: Sat., Nov. 28, 1981 Doors: 6:30 p.m. 6184 Ash. St., Vancouver (One block west of Cambie at 45th) Tickets $15, OAP $10. Available at Co-op Books or ph. 876-2615, 681-3703, 987-1691. LEGAL SERVICES RANKIN, STONE, McMURRAY & BOND, Barristers and Solici- tors. 157 Alexander St., 2nd Floor, Vancouver. 682-3621. \ HALLS FOR RENT RUSSIAN PEOPLE’S HOME — Available for rentals. For reserva- tions phone 254-3430. WEBSTERS CORNERS HALL — Available for banquets,. meetings, etc. For rates: Ozzie, 325-4171 or 685-5836. UKRAINIAN CANADIAN CUL- TURAL CENTRE — 805 East Pender St., Vancouver. Available for banquets, weddings, meetings. Ph. 254-3436. _ PACIFIC TRIBUNE—NOV. 20, 1981—Page 11 4s ( CLASSIFIED | (ADVERTISING }