Peace Congress convention urges PM to oppose N-bomb TORONTO — Urging Prime Minister Trudeau to oppose the production, testing and deploy- ment of the neutron bomb, the biennial conference of the Cana- dian Peace Congress, March 11-12, mapped ways to extend and sharpen its participation in the anti-neutron campaign across Canada. ‘Security can be assured not by stepping up the arms race, but by stopping it through agreed dis- armament by all countries,”’ a re- solution sent to Trudeau, de- clared. It urged the PM to resist the pressures of the NATO milit- ary command, and to call upon President Carter to prohibit the N-bomb’s testing and production. The Peace Congress, which will mark its 30th anniversary later this year, views the cam- paign to outlaw the neutron bomb as the central demand on its councils across the country for the immediate future. The most thorough-going and detailed dis- cussion of the entire biennial meeting was reached around the questions — how best can the Canadian Peace Congress contri- bute to the anti-neutron tide that is rising in Canada as around the world? And what are the most ef- fective means to be taken to acti- vate those who are morally and intellectually opposed to the neut- ron bomb, and to bring this horror weapon into focus for those who STOF neutron initiatief ‘Stop de Neutronenbom’, secretariaat: N. Schouten, Derde Hugo de Grootstraat 16, Amsterdan Tet. 020 — 863988. Postgiro t.n.v. N. Schouten 1956719 1o i v J 2. = ) =. Cc c I @® John Morgan, re-elected presi- dent of the Canadian Peace Con- gress at its biennial meeting. have not yet comprehended the danger it presents. The conference endorsed the call to Ban the Neutron Bomb as expressed in a newspaper adver- tisement sponsored by a number of prominent Canadians, includ- ing Mayor David Crombie of To- ronto; June Callwood, radio and TV personality; Grace Hartman, president, Canadian Union of Public Employees; Dr. Donald Anderson, general secretary, Canadian Council of Churches; and Walter Pitman, president, Ryerson Institute. The ad carried a message to be signed by as many Canadians as possible, urging Prime Minister Trudeau to op- pose the neutron bomb. Leaflets ee 2 1 “No to the Neutron Bomb!” urges this Dutch poster. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—APRIL 7, 1978—Page 8 with the same message will be widely distributed in Canada by peace councils, cards for indi- vidual signing are in circulation, and all who agree are urged not simply to sign, but to collect sig- natures, and to have their organi- zation print a similar card for mass circulation. Much of current Peace Con- gress activity, including the widespread card campaign, is aimed at input into two forthcom- ing events. Based on the meet- ing’s collective decisions the Congress will present its ideas at the Canadian Assembly on Dis- armament, which will be held in Ottawa, March 31-April 1-2. That Assembly, bringing to- gether a wide spectrum of organi- zations is expected to work out a peace package which the federal government will be asked to carry to the United Nations Special As- sembly on Disarmament, scheduled for May and June of this year. The March 11-12 conference had before it as well the discus- sion of a number of resolutions on - crucial issues, domestic and in- ternational. One, Canada’s De- fence Budget and the Economic Crisis, urged Ottawa to make a drastic change in allocation of funds from so-called defence spending to spending on the peaceful needs of Canadians. This, it was argued, would not only vo:..ribute to détente and world peace, but lay the basis for the social attributes of a peace- oriented economy — jobs, homes, social benefits. Reports were heard from Canadian Peace Congress dele- gates to three international con- ferences, two in Europe and one in Mexico. Eduard Martin Sloan, president of the Conseil Québécois de la Paix, reported on the recent Quebec Disarmament Conference. The Peace Congress executive elected for the coming two years, was headed by Rev. John Hanly Morgan, president, Jean Vau- tour, executive secretary, and Ar- thur Jenkyn, treasurer. FRG leaders say no neutron BONN — Leading members of West Germany’s ruling So- cial Democratic Party (SPD) have come out publicly against the neutron bomb. In a nation- wide radio talk, Alfons Pawelczyk, SPD chairman of the Bundestag (parliament) Disarmament Subcommittee, said the Soviet proposal for mutual renunciation of neutron bomb manufacture is important and should be given serious con- sideration by West Germany; he said discussions should start right away. He also said he was against first building the N-bomb, and then negotiating about it, as the U.S. is suggest- ing. Egon Bahr, SPD federal secretary, in an interview here, said, ‘‘Development of neutron weapons does not serve the cause of progress, and I am against them.”’ WORLD NEWS FRENCH COMMUNIST PARTY COMMENTS ON ELECTIONS PARIS — The French Communist Party (PCF) got 700,000 more votes in the recent elections than it did in 1973. This was pointed out in a statement by the PCF Political Bureau, analyzing the two-round parliamentary elections March 12 and 19. ; The ruling rightist coalition in France has preserved its majority 0 the national Assembly, but it is a reduced majority. The French left made substantial gains in seats. The right preserves its numerical advantage ‘‘only due to the highly unfair electoral law,’’ the PCF said. “Both in the first and second rounds,” the PCF said, ‘‘the right and the left forces received roughly the same number of votes. In other words, the balance of political forces is more or less even.” The anti-Communist campaign of the right was a failure: the PCF got 20.6% of first-round votes. The election results were disappointing, however, to millions of people who wanted change. The PCF fully observed the 1972 left coalition Common Program, but its partners did not, the PCF Political Bureau statement said. STUDENT KILLINGS SPARK PROTEST STRIKE ISTANBUL, Turkey — Over 1,500,000 workers affiliated to tur- key’s left-wing trade union confederation DISK held a two-hour strike in major cities March 20 to protest at the killing of six students at Istanbul University. : The students died- when unknown assailants threw explosives and opened fire on them March 16 in Turkey’s worst incident this year, in which political violence has so far claimed about 80 lives. In Ankara police clashed with students marching in protest at the killings. More than ten people were reported to be injured and there were a number of arrests. Anestimated 10,000 students took part in the marches. a UN, ANGOLA CALL FOR INDEPENDENCE FOR NAMIBIA UNITED NATIONS — A joint communique from the Angolan — government and the Mission of the UN Council on Namibia recently reaffirmed the Namibian peoples’ non-negotiable right to self- determination and territorial integrity. The statement puts full support behind the South West African Peoples Organization (SWAPO) as the sole legitimate voice of Namibia. The communique firmly rejected South Africa’s so-called **constitu- tional settlement,’’ which it said is aimed at setting up a puppet gov- ernment in Namibia. Namibia’s division into bantustans and the South — African-initiated creation of tribal armies is characterized as an effort | to foment civil war. a The communique condemned South Africa’s annexation of Nami- — bia’s deep-water port of Walvis Bay, and demanded that the apartheid — regime give up its false claim to the facility. STRIKES, LOCKOUTS HIT FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY — BERLIN — The Tribune’s Berlin correspondent reports that 2 — series of unprecedented strikes and industry-wide lockouts have hit the — Federal Republic of Germany especially in the publishing and metal industries. Almost no newspapers were published last week in West — Berlin and the FRG and almost 80,000 metalworkers are on strike. 10,000 MARCH FOR THE WILMINGTON TEN WASHINGTON — Some 10,000 demonstrators marched at the White House March 20 demanding freedom and justice for the Wilm: — ington Ten. They came from all over the East Coast, Midwest and — South as well as a large group from North Carolina, the state where the Ten are imprisoned. Simultaneous demonstrations — took place in California, New Or- leans, St. Louis, Denver an Honolulu. Top bie shows the main banner of the Washington march. Photo right: Folk singef Pete Seeger, long-time fighter for justice, lends his support.