World

Canadian money helps bolster
British rule, says Sinn Fein

Canadians should demand that there be
government accountability for Canadian
contributions to an international fund that
is being used to polish the international
image of the Thatcher government despite
its continued occupation of Northern Ire-
land, a leading spokesperson for the Irish
nationalist movement Sinn Fein said in

_ Vancouver April 20.

Sinn Fein cultural affairs spokesperson
Bairbre de Brun said that the International
Fund for Ireland, set up in 1985 purportedly
to foster better relations between the two
communities in Ierland, is in fact being used
by the British government for private invest-
ments and to replace funds previously pro-
vided under state programs. The fund was
established as part of the Hillsborough
Agreement of 1985 by which Britain agreed
to devolve certain powers to the republic of
Ireland but rejected any changes to the exist-

“ing constitution which partitions the coun-

try.
Because the money for the fund is pro-
vided by the U.S., Canada, New Zealand,

_ Australia and the European Community,

the British government also uses the fund as

__ an international demonstration that its pol-

icies towards Northern Ireland are endorsed
by the other governments.

And despite its contributions to the fund
of $5 million a year over a five-year period
that began in 1986, the federal government
has made no accounting to Parliament as to
how the funds have been spent, de Brun
charged.

_~ Among the allocations from the fund,

she said in an interview, were ‘$3,000 to the
Allied Bank to decorate its office, $2 million

| .to the British government for an oceano-

graphic survey ship and $110,000 to a dis-
tillery in a predominantly Unionist area to
convert part of the premises to luxury
apartments and a bar. ,

“Canadians need to question why their

i

eGR,

BAIRBRE DE BRUN...Canadians should
question contributions to Irish fund.

TRIBUNE PHOTO — SEAN GRIFFIN

government contributes to an international
fund which is being used to buy goodwill
abroad for British rule in Ireland,” she said.

De Brun, who was to speak at a public
meeting April 27 sponsored by the Irish
Solidarity Committee, was in Vancouver as
part of North American tour to highlight
Sinn Fein’s continuing campaign for civil
rights in Northern Ireland and against the
British occupation of the country.

It has become increasingly urgent for
Irish republican groups to present their view
of events in Ireland abroad, she said, noting
that news coverage about Ireland that was
available during a tour she made of Canada
three years ago “far outstrips what is avail-
able now.”

The main reason for that near-blackout is
the broadcasting ban imposed by the
Thatcher government in October, 1988,
which prohibits the British media from
broadcasting news about, or comments by,
any representatives of 11 different Irish

May Day Greetings
to all our sisters and brothers in the
labour and solidarity movements.

CH ISAZE SY BG CANADA-HONDURAS
a

Informing Canadians about Honduran realities. Helping to build
active support among labour, community and church groups.
P.O. Box 24743, Station C, Vancouver, B.C. V5T 4E9, 872-1382.

INFORMATION & SUPPORT ASSOCIATION

Kl

MAY DAY 1990

CHILE

In Chile, the power of the junta has not yet ended, but the voice
of the people is being heard. With sincere thanks, Canadians for
Democracy in Chile, salutes our many supporters.
VENCEREMOS — a dream now within the reach

’ of the Chilean people.

CANADIANS FOR DEMOCRACY IN CHILE
P.O. Box 65664, Station F, Vancouver, B.C.

organizations, including Sinn Fein.

The ban has been the target of a massive
campaign in both Britain and Ireland which
has charged that it is a fundamental viola-
tion of the right of free speech and should be
scrapped. The campaign received new
impetus last October when the British
Court of Appeal overturned 1974 murder
convictions against the Guildford Four,
three men and one woman who had been
falsely convicted of pub bombings in Woll-
wich and Guildford and had been impri-
soned for 15 years for crimes they did not
commit.

The Manchester Guardian weekly re-
ported Oct. 29, 1989 that evidence at the
trial revealed that police officers had fabri-
cated confessions — the main means by
which the four were convicted — and the
Director of Public Prosecutiéns had
instructed his office to withhold crucial alibi
evidence from defence lawyers.

“But the methods that were used to jail
people, such as the Guildford Four, ... are
still being used,” de Brun said.

Still, the public exposure of the frame-up
against the Guildford Four and the enor-
mity of the injustice has created “a growing
unease among both the Irish and the British
people” about continuing British rule in the
Six Counties of Northern Ireland, she
noted.

Sinn Fein is continuing to campaign, both
at home and internationally, around civil
rights issues, demanding that police stop the
use of plastic bullets and cease their degrad-
ing strip-searching of women prisoners.

De Brun said the current tour will also be
aimed at putting renewed international
pressure on multinational and Irish com-
panies to accept the “MacBride Principles,”
employment standards devised by Nobel
laureate Sean MacBride that would reduce
employment discrimination against Cathol-
ics in Northern Ireland. Currently, Cathol-
ics are 2.5 times more likely to be
unemployed that Protestant Loyalists, a
Statistic which helps perpetuate division
between the two communities.

In response to the campaign for adoption
of the principles, de Brun said, the British
government “brought in its own fair
employment legislation which states that
hiring can only be done on the basis of
merit.

“Tt means the status quo — and it means
that any affirmative action is effectively ille-
gal,” she said. The legislation sparked pro-
tests from both the Irish and British trade
union movement.

The Thatcher government also spent an
estimated $15 million in an unsuccessful
attempt to stave off votes in several U.S.
legislatures, as well as Boston city council,
which called for bans on state or city
investment in U.S. firms which do not fol-
low the MacBride guidelines for equity in
employment.

During the current tour, Sinn Fein is also
going after both Canadian and U.S. contri-
butions to the International Fund — the
U.S. provides the bulk of the money, $50
million a year — because the British
government uses the agreement to “tell
people that the U.S.government and the
Canadian government approve of the
Hillsborough Agreement and see it as the
way forward ....

“But that agreement was based on British
insistence that the existing constitution must
be perpetuated ... that talks could only be
held on the basis of existing rule in Ireland,”
de Brun noted.

If there is to be a change, she emphasized,
“talks must be aimed at changing the consti-
tutional arrangement. Only that way can
you open the way to peace in Ireland.”

World News

Nepal topples
absolute monarchy

KATMANDU, Nepal — King Biren-
dra last week lifted a 30-year ban on
political parties after a mounting wave of
democracy protests. An interinr govern-
ment has been established and a new
constitution will be drafted.

Addressing a 200,00-strong rally the
day after the king conceded total power,
the Nepali Congress Party stressed that
the victory was “only the first phase of
our campaign.” Both parties called for
more reforms and for the transformation
of the king into a constitutional monarch
subject to an elected parliament.

Region urges
hew Panama vote

MEXICO CITY — Brazil, Argen-
tina, Venezuela, Peru, Colombia and
Uruguay joined Mexico in calling for
new elections in Panama “without for-
eign interference” at the sixth ministerial
meeting of the Group of Eight. Panama
had belonged to the organization, but
was suspended in 1987. The group also
rejected the U.S.-installed Endera govern-
ment’s application for re-instatement.

Concerning continued U.S. military
operations in Panama, the Group stated:
“Foreign troops should limit their activi-
ties exclusively to their military bases and

abstain from undertaking actions that go
against Panama’s national sovereignty.”

Chilean CP
seeks legality

SANTIAGO — The Communist
Party of Chile (PCC), illegal since the
1973 fascist Pinochet coup, has had its
request as a legal political party
approved by the Chilean Electoral Ser-
vice. The decision, which defines the
PCC as “a party in the process of forma-
tion,” was taken on March 28. The party
is now in the process of collecting the
signatures needed under law to achieve
the status of a legal party.

Joint ventures
for cheap labour?

HO CHI MINH CITY — Women
employed at a diamond factory here
struck against low wages and appalling
working conditions last month, raising
the issue of the state offering cheap
labour to attract foreign investors. The
plant is partly financed by Belgian capi-
tal.

The women complained of inhaling
diamond dust due to lack of protective
clothing and because “contributions” to
various funds were costing up to 30 per
cent of their pay. The strike pointed to
glaring weaknesses in Vietnam’s 1987
legislation concerning expanding foreign
economic ties and the finger is being pub-
licly pointed at officials for permitting
such excesses.

Pacific Tribune, April 30, 1990 « 25

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