Welfare or warfare

PHYLLIS CLARKE

in contrasts were the
last week in Ottawa
: Welfare Coun-
sent on Social Policies
and information from
ground papers being

‘jatter indicates that the
remaining in NATO is
: on annually. “As a
ndication,” it says, “it
estimated that about a
our defense budget
utable to our member-
ATO. Of this total,
120 million is in the
foreign exchange ex-
Europe.”
in the direction of
in NATO as was
Defence Minister Leo
speech last week.
st, the Welfare Coun-
ment reflects the
acceptance of the view
in rights are basic to a
ciety. Its theme is that
are entitled to certain
and conditions of living
tter of right, rather than
rtain privilege bestow-
ting for a continued
of $423 million an-
n mean that the pro-
the two-year Welfare
statement remain only
neil bases its propos-
the concept of social
t is, those primarily
with social security,
standard of living, cul-
, etc. As such, social
distinct from civil and
‘rights. The latter alone
protect man from the im-
rapid social and econom-
nge, nor allow him to
full potential in dig-
Council says. It de-
that acceptance and
tion of the concept
l rights would constitute
approach to social poli-
programs for Canada.
uncil contends that with-

the suicide of Jan Palach,
old student, murder?
the question being asked
as new facts are un-
red surrounding the immo-
of Palach on Jan. 16.
York Times reporter Al-
uster, wrote enthusiasti-
n the Times of Jan. 26
Prague that “Jan Palach
vy given the people a new
new courage and enthu-
and, hopefully in their
jome new leverage.”
being probed is whether
-Nachazelova committed
as a result of threats.
ory in journalistic ranks
Palach was one of a
15 persons who had
to commit suicide public-
‘political protest.
were drawn to decide
ould be the first victim.
was the first.
@ newspaper Vicerny Praha
on Tuesday Palach had
that the fuel which he
use would produce only
d flame” and lumine-

he had set himself afire,
ed for aid as he ran
site. “Throw an over-
fer me,” he was reported
e shouted. A dispatcher of

out adequate income, social
rights have virtually no meaning,
and indeed can make a mockery
of civil and political rights. It
therefore devotes a good deal of
space in the statement to discus-
sion of the guaranteed income,
and sees it as a sound socio-
economic objective for Canada.

Their concrete proposals in-
clude the following:

@a_ substantial increase in
federal family and youth allow-
ances;

@ old age security payments
should be increased by the full
amount of increases in the con-
sumer price index and that they
be supplemented to take account
of rising per capita standard of
living in the country as a whole;

@a_ public, earnings-related
sickness insurance program;

@ maternity benefits for the
working mother;

@ extension of unemployment
insurance and workman’s com-
pensation to cover all members
of the labor force;

@ an adequate guaranteed an-
nual income.

Reuben C. Baetz, executive
director of the Council com-
menting on the guaranteed in-
come said, “If the just society is
ever going to be anything more
than a meaningless and flimsy
abstraction, it must be based on
certain tangible, fundamental
rights, including social as well
as civil and political rights.
Among social rights, no right is
more important than that of an
adequate income. We should
build this socio-economic goal
into our value system now. The
method of administering the
guaranteed income can be work-
ed out later. If necessary, it can
be introduced in stages.”

Mr. Baetz says that the Coun-
cil’s recommendation is based
on the conviction that:

@ All Canadians have a right
to an income sufficient for ade-
quate standard of physical and
social well-being.

@ Every Canadian cannot pro-
vide for all his needs in our
complicated society by his own

the Urban Transport Service,
named Spirek, threw his over-
coat over Palach but it was too
late.

Jan Palach died on Jan. 19.
Three days later Blancha Nacha-
zelova, 18-year-old girl student,
committed suicide in the Prague
district of Sporelov.

She left a note intimating that
her action had been forced on
her.

Her letter, published in Rude
Pravo, Communist Party organ,
and other newspapers, said:

“When you will read this let-
ter I shall no longer know about
this. Believe me, I have acted
not on my own conviction. I
have been forced to this. I
choose this means for my death.
This means is much easier,
though it is terrible for myself.
I want to live so much! When at
8:30 the black ‘Mercedes’ hoots
three times, I shall draw the
curtains and open the gas. I do
not want to do so but I must. I
have no way out. This is better
than having acid thrown into my
face. :

“Goodbye and forgive.”

A dispatch to the New York
Times, from Prague, dated Jan.
24, cited the newspaper Neme-

efforts, or through private pro-
grams. ’

@ Assurance of adequate in-
come can improve the produc-
tivity of people and assist in
the development of our colntry.

@ The needs-testing or means-
testing required to administer
selective social assistance pro-
grams stigmatizes people, and
when applied to large numbers
is unduly costly and cumber-
some,

@ The Council notes that a
uniform income floor could be
provided by extending demo-
grants (flat-rate payments such
as family allowances and old age
security) or by application of the
negative income tax, such as we
have now with the guaranteed
income supplement for the aged.

The challenge before the
government is obvious—the far-
reaching proposals of the Wel-
fare Council for the betterment
of our country or the dubious
benefits from remaining in the
war alliance which is NATO.

While increasing numbers of
Canadians are calling for with-
drawal from NATO, pressure
from Washington to stay in may
also be stepped up.

A meeting was held over last
weekend of the national policy
panel of the United Nations
Association of the United States.

Dr. Henry A. Kissinger, na-
tional security adviser to the
President, Theodore C. Sorensen,
special counsel to the late Presi-
dent John F. Kennedy and for-
mer President Lyndon B. John-
son, John J. McCloy, former
High Commissioner in Germany,
and Thomas K. Finletter, former
ambassador to the North Atlan-
tic Treaty Organization, were
members of the panel.

The panel’s report called for
early Presidential affirmation of
the importance the United States
attaches to its relationship with
Western Europe. It suggested
that the 20th anniversary meet-
ing of the North Atlantic Coun-
cil in Washington in April be
converted into a summit meeting
“designed both to develop and

In Prague— was It suici

delske Noviny as reporting the
death of Blanka Nachazelova
and saying that her motives
“were the same as Jan Palach’s.”
The New York Times reporter
Jonathan Randal quoted “in-
formed sources” as saying “she
had a medical history of mental
instability.”

Tortured Greek
youth face death

The trial of nine leaders of
the Youth Patriotic Front open-
ed last week before a military
tribunal in Athens.

The nine accused, all mem-
bers of the Lambrakis Youth
Movement are: S. Anastasiadis,
producer, D. Dariotis, C. Man-
taios, students, J. Petropoulis,
engineer, C. Reclitis, worker, N.
Armaos, comedian, M. Kaller-
gei, B. Theophylaktopolou, stu-
dents and M. Pittaka, hospital
attendant, are accused of “plot-
ting”. They have been subjected
to atrocities and tortures in the
cells of the Surity in Athens and
at the Dionysos camp.

At the beginning of the case
there was a gross police provi-
cation: the 30th of November,
1967 a bomb was exploded on
the terrace of the Minister of
Justice in Athens. The slabs of
stones and tiles falling into the
street killed a young passerby.
Six days later the police accused
Anagtasiadis and Dariotis of be-
ing “communist dynamiters” and
of having placed the bomb

Sought from April 21, 1967, the
two accused wrote in December
1967 to the court attorney an
appeal declaring that they had
no connection with the outrage,
that they were being sought by
the police, because of their de-
mocratic convictions and for

to reinforce a new sense of
solidarity in the alliance.”

To strengthen NATO after the
proposed summit conference, the
panel proposed close and con-
tinued consultation between the

United States and its allies on

new political and military com-
mitments and developments in
weapons technology, taking into
account Europe’s “options and
dilemmas.”

One way to counter U.S. pres-
sure is for ever wider sections
of Canadians to take up the
theme of pulling out of NATO
and letting the government
know that this is their opinion.

having been militants in the
Lambrakis Youth.

This trial now taking place in
Athens is one of the most im-
portant of any since the installa-
tion of the junta. :

The junta has decided to ask
for the death penalty. The tor-
tures suffered by the nine resis-
ters, far surpass the atrocities
usually practiced by the tormen-
ters.
Reclitis was tortured at the
Dionysos camp and then brought
unconscious to military hospital
403. The torturers had broken
the bones of his foot. He was
buried, sere in a hole filled
with thorns pieces of point-
ed wood so that with even the
slightest movement, his body
was lacerated. A sheet of zinc,
covering the hole, heated up in
the August sun. For 15 days, he
was buried in a grotto. He suf-
fered a simulated execution and
then was suspended, head down,
over a fire of straw which suffo-
cated him with the smoke. Plac-
ed in a bag, he was used as a
“ball” by his tormenters who
kicked him in all directions.

Petropoulos had his feet crush-
ed by bars. They stretched him
on four nails. Beaten in an in-
human fashion, he also suffered
stomach pains. Hung by his feet,
he was suffocated by a fire lit
near his head. In the Surity he
was kept four days with hands
tied behind his back without
water or food.

The body of Kallerghi was
burnt by cigarettes and iron
bars brought to white heat. Beat-
en, he was buried in a hole on
the two following days. They
let him lie in snow during many
hours.

Dariotis suffered four and a
half hours of beatings by a
“phalanga” on the soles of his
feet.

Anastasiadis received beatings
by the “phalanga” to the point
where the bones of his left foot
were broken,

e or murder?

A dispatch by Randal on Jan.
27 cited the newspaper Mlada
Fronta as refusing to publish
the text of Blanka Nachazelova’s
note “because the editors said
they ‘could not verify its authen-
ticity’.”

United Press International in
a dispatch from Prague by James

Communist Party statement on
Jan Palach

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czecho-
slovakia meeting on January 17 issued the following statement
on the immolation of Jan Palach:

“We understand the stirred up emotions of many young
people, their yearning for ideal moral purity and also their
fears for that policy of socialist development which our Party
has been pursuing since January 1968. The Central Committee
and the entire Party are daily exerting all their strength in
order to bring this policy to life and thus to honourably fulfil
the promise given to our working people. Despite the pain
which we feel over the tragedy of Jan Palach we cannot, how-
ever, but express our sincerest conviction that the thoughts
contained in the very principles of socialism in a humane and
democratically administered society can be best promoted by
young people determined to give their lives to full and fruitful
activity in implementing the post-January policy. Nothing
other than hard and selfless work, patient and organized ef-
forts towards the implementation of noble socialist ideas can
ensure what the young generation expects from society.”

(RUDE PRAVO)

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FEBRUARY 7,

O. Jackson, on Jan. 24, said that
“Prague Radio today reported
that a girl friend of Jan Palach
. . . had committed suicide.”

It simultaneously cited “in-
formed sources” as saying that
the report was false and had
been distributed by “provoca-
teurs.”

“The girl had been identified
as Eva Bednarikova, a friend of
Palach .. . The student sources
said Miss Bednarikova, 18, was
still alive, that she had not com-
mitted suicide by gas as report-
ed,” and “denied she was one of
the 15 members of a student ring
who had pledged to die for
political reforms.”

From Jackson’s story it is not
clear why Blanka Nachazelova,
who did commit suicide was
identified with Eva Bednarikova
who, apparently, did not.

Jackson reported that the Bed-
narikova “ ‘gassing suicide’ was
reported in a one-line obituary
in the newspaper Zeme Delske
Noviny and other morning. pa-
pers and also by Prague Radio..
The media had used only the
initials of her name but Czecho-
slovak journalists had identified
her privately as Eva Bednari-

kova.”

969- 7