wiibiisaasi WORLD Call for increased solidarity marks 12th year of Chile coup OTTAWA — A 24-hour fast (from 1 p.m. Sept. 10 to 1 p.m. Sept. 11) outside the Chilean embassy | here marked the 12th anniversary of the 1973 fas- cist coup which destroyed the Popular Unity government of Salvador Allende. Eighteen persons from the Ottawa Chilean Association took part in the all-night vigil and were joined Sept. 11 by some 300 supporters from To- ronto, Montreal, Quebec City and others from Ot- tawa who demonstrated at the embassy with slo- gans calling for ‘‘Pinochet Out!’’ and ‘‘An End to Fascism’. Speaking at the demonstration were Cyril Keep- er, NDP; Warren Almand, former Liberal Solicitor General; NDP member for Ottawa-Centre, Mike Cassidy and Egide Maltais, vice-president of CEQ. * * * Chileans-inexile and the many supporters of Chi- lean democracy in Canada have renewed their call on the Mulroney government to cut all ties with the Pinochet regime. Welcoming all steps to revise Canada’s ties with apartheid South Africa, the Bureau for Solidarity With the People of Chile points out that Ottawa’s abhorrence of the oppressive system of apartheid and its ‘‘cozy relationship’’ with Pinochet’s regime Is contradictory. ‘In fact, while Canada has formally condemned Pinochet’s gruesome human rights violations in the UN and other forums, it has and continues to main- tain a clear policy of support’ including Export Development funds to Canadian firms doing busi- ness with Chile and continuing massive imports from there, the group charges. It urges Canadians to press Ottawa around three main demands: e Condemnation of human rights violations at the upcoming UN General Assembly: e Implementation of a ‘‘Nothing for Pinochet; Nothing from Pinochet’’ policy; e Declare Pinochet's representatives persona non grata”and recall’ Canada’s ambassador for consultation and revision of ties with Pinochet. * * * A new and dangerous step taken by the regime in granting the United States armed forces access to the Eastern Island was condemned. In a Sept. 2 press release, the Bureau of Soli- darity with the People of Chile charged that the deal, taken without public consultation, was a vio- lation of Chile’s sovereignty. ‘‘Their plans,”’ the group says, ‘‘are to convert the Mataveri airport into a military strategic point, for use by the Pentagon, creating an aggressive bloc consisting of South Africa, Chile and Great Britain (Malvinas Islands) as a counterpart of NATO.” Sitting 2,600 miles off the Chilean coast, Easter Island is of great value in anthropological and archeological terms and will be placed in danger by military installations to be used in directing bomber and submarine warfare against the USSR. “Tt is in this way that Pinochet has included Chile in the Pentagon’s global plans (and) Easter Island will become an aggressive base aiming to repress the democratic upsurge in the South American cone. Easter Island is a cultural treasure that pertains to humanity, not only to the Chilean people,”’ it concludes. The U.S.-Chile deal is being conducted behind the smokescreen of use by NASA for space shuttle monitoring. NASA has allotted $7.6-million for airport runway extension at Mataveri. Students at the University of Santiago in Chile block the streets near the campus during an anti-Pinochet demonstration there last week. The Pinochet dictatorship, backed by U.S. military and political aid, is under increased fire from labor, students and political organizations in Chile. All-Korea Games proposed for 1988 The government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has proposed that the 1988 Summer Olympics, scheduled for Seoul, Republic of Korea, become a joint north-south Games. In a letter circulated by the DPRK Permanent Delegation to UNESCO in Paris, the government outlines its pro- posals: e North and South Korea jointly host the Games; e Competitions take place equally in both North and South; e North and South Korea field a unified Olympic team; e The Olympics be called either the ‘“‘Pyongyang-Seoul Olympic Games’’ or the ‘‘Olympic Games of Korea’. This proposal, the DPRK argues, would help promote the concept of national recon- ciliation in Korea and contri- bute to overcoming obstacles now present for the full partici- pation of all athletes from all nations in 1988. It will also con- form to the Olympic ideal, the DPRK letter says. Responding positively to this idea, the Central Execu- tive of the Communist Party of Canada, in a letter to the Workers’ Party of Korea, Aug. 29 ‘‘fully supports’’ this position. ‘‘These proposals,’ the CPC letter says, ‘‘are in line with the basic position of your party to achieve the peaceful unification of Korea.” The DPRK proposal is now the subject of discussion in many capitals. Outlining Cu- ba’s position on the matter re- cently, President Fidel Castro placed the argument this way: ‘“‘We’ve addressed the Olympic Committee, raising the need to share the Games between the two parts of the Korean territory, because we feel that if the 1988 Games were held in a country in which a bloody war was waged — a war in which hundreds of thou- sands of people from many na- tions died — which caused de- struction and inflicted deep wounds on the Korean people, those Olympic Games as they have been planned would be sectarian. ‘Rather than uniting, they would divide. Rather than healing wounds, they will in- fect them. They won't serve the purpose of peace and cooperation among peoples. For this reason, Cuba has pro- posed to the President of the International Olympic Com- mittee that the 1988 Summer Games be shared between the two parts of the Korean ter- ritory as the only possible solution.” The Cuban leader added that holding the Games in the south only, ‘‘under a_ repressive, bloody regime ... crawling with U.S. military bases and troops’’ would create a very serious problem for the Olym- pic movement. He said that in talks with several world lead- ers the idea of joint Games is being well-received. International Focus Tom Morris lay Sich About ketchup and kenneling Shortly after taking office in 1980, Reagan’s budget-cutters defined ketchup a vegetable as part of their drive against School food programs. In the Swath of cuts that followed, almost every social benefit for the poor, the youth, women and the elderly were axed. Last week the U.S. Centre on Budget and Policy Priorities Tevealed the gap between rich - and poor in the U.S. was grea- ter than at any time since cen- Sus began in 1947. And Reagan, true to form, cut a further $636-million from Food Assistance programs this year. Medicare is to be slashed by $20-billion in the next three years, farm subsidies by $9-bil- lion and student aid by $5.5-bil- lion. The aim of the exercise, of course, was to boost military spending — an aim Reagan has achieved with a vengeance. The choice: “‘guns or butter’’, in U.S. terms, has definitely come up “‘guns’’. Every major military prog- ram has been given the green light — from the MX missile to Star Wars. The arms industry is bloated, but never satisfied. It’s A war-spending pace in the U.S. without a war. Then there are embarrass- ments: General Dynamics re- cently got caught overbilling taxpayers by $158-million, with executives’ hotel tabs and dog kenneling fees added in. Never mind. Last week all was forgiven and the Pentagon awarded the firm a $658-mil- lion contract for another Tri- dent attack submarine with $500-million in additonal or- ders soon to come. The same Pentagon just bought 65 ‘‘Sergeant York” anti-aircraft guns from Ford Aerospace — just to find out they can’t shoot. The bill? A mere $1.8-billion for the gun and another $54-million for tests. With all this public money down the drain, ad- ministration officials could only see the bright side. After all, they contend, the complete “Sergeant York’’ bill would have been $4.8-billion. Aren’t the taxpayers lucky? Wondering about the ketch- up? U.S. Federal guidelines stipulate that school lunches provide a balanced diet. Sub- stitution of ketchup for a veg- - etable seemed an answer, easier than changing guide- lines. The savings, it turns out, paid for some dog’s kenneling. The dance of death When 45 tons of methyl iso- cyanate leaked out of Union Carbide’s plant in Bhopal, In- dia, last December, 2,500 people died. Another 200,000 residents who inhaled the gas await long-term, unknown re- sults. Bhopal gave us a glimpse of what awaits in the never-never Bhopal shows us how world of chemical and nerve gas warfare. This prospect may have prompted Thomas Etzold, deputy-director of the U.S. Arms Control and _ Dis- armament Agency to say last June: ‘‘The U.S. goal is to rid the world of chemical weapons.” And it also is why the current Geneva talks in- clude debating an agreement to scrap and ban chemical weapons. At this, very moment the U.S. army has 217,000 tons of chemical weapons stored in bases in the U.S., West Ger- many, Britain, Italy and the Pacific. A mere 1,000 tons un- leashed on Europe in the event of a war would wipe out civi- PACIFIC TRIBUNE, SEPTEMBER 18, 1985 ¢ 9 lians at a rate of 20 for each soldier. So we have talk in Geneva about banning the weapons and hear Thomas Etzold give us the U.S. view. Why then is the U.S. em- barked on a 5-year, $10-billion update program for chemical and nerve gas? How can it be that a new plant is under con- struction in Pine Bluff, Arkan- sas which will produce new, lethal binary weapons at a rate of 70,000 a month? What’s behind the U.S. military's plans to deploy Cruise missiles with chemical weapons, to develop “Big Eye” chemical bombs aboard aircraft carriers in the Atlantic and Mediterranean? Why will the U.S. Congress be pre- sented with a $125-million authorization bill for chemical weapons this month? Words and deeds. Gone but not forgotten Pol Pot retired last week at 60. He can now spend his twi- light years in that special place in hell reserved for mass mur- derers and butchers. But for budget cuts, he may have been able to apply for a U.S. pension.