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Thousands of demonstrators from New York, Philadelphia, Boston, St. Louis, Chicago and other U.S. cities

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took part in the March of Protest Against Unemployment and Inflation, which took place in Washington,
D.C. early in April. The protesters are shown here marching in the U.S. capital.

[The following story by Tom
Foley appeared in the U.S: Daily
World just before Henry Kissinger
left for his African tour. It provides
an interesting background on this
week’s events].

By TOM FOLEY

Henry Kissinger left Friday for a
two-week trip to Africa to try to
patch up imperialism’s tattered
African policy. After Angola, his
chances are close to zero. He will
not find the welcome mat out in
many places he visits.

Kissinger said defensively
Thursday in Washington that ‘‘we
are certainly going with an attitude
of good will.’”’ He said: ‘“‘We are not
going with the intention of at-
tempting to set up puppet
regimes.’’ The U.S. Secretary of

State is to visit Kenya, Tanzania,
Zambia, Zaire, Ghana, Liberia and
Senegal.

He was-to have visited Nigeria
also, but on April 7, the Nigerian
government abruptly cancelled his
invitation. Nigeria is the most
populous African state, with 80
million people. It is a major
African oil-producing state and a
member of the Organization of
Petroleum-Exporting Countries
(OPEC), a group Kissinger has
often attacked.

Nigeria also is a member of the
47-national Organization of African
Unity (OAU) and played a crucial
role in swinging the OAU mem-
bership to the side of the People’s
Republic of Angola. The Nigerian
government also closed down the
notorious CIA radio station at
Kaduna in northern Nigeria.

Labor protests hit
Ottawa wage freeze

Cont’d from pg.-1

major centre of protest this May
Day week was the province of
Quebec where the 280,000-strong
Quebec Federation of Labor called
on the unions to step up protests
against ‘‘the repressive anti-labor
laws of the Bourassa and Trudeau
governments. The QFL has called
for a one-day protest April 30 and is
considering a possible general
strike later.

Meanwhile, the Bourassa
government remains adamant in
its refusal to settle with the 150,000-
member common front of public
service unions with whom it broke
off negotiations following a 24-hour
strike by the common front against
the government’s anti-union Bill 23
last Friday.

Brought down in an attempt to
smash the publish service unions
and their strike for a decent con-
tract, the Bill bans all work
stoppages in schools for an 80-day
cooling off period, and effectively
forbids strikes for the duration of
the current academic year. Unions
defying the law face fines of up to
$50,000 a day.

Despite the vicious anti-labor
bill, the teachers and_ hospital
workers staged a province-wide
walkout last Friday in defiance of
the law and to reinforce their
demand for an early agreement.

The Manitoba Federation of
Labor has called for a demon-
stration of all of its affiliates at the
Manitoba legislature on Saturday,
May 1 to protest wage controls.
Meeting in Edmonton on April 21-
23, the Alberta Federation of Labor
condemned Bill C-73, set up a
solidarity committee to aid any
local which needs it, and called for
a general strike to protest the bill.

OFL president David Archer who
presented labor’s brief to the Tory
government.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—APRIL 30, 1976—Page 20

Shortly thereafter, Gen. Murtala
Ramat Muhammed, the Nigerian
head of state, was assassinated in
an abortive coup attempt by a
small group of Nigerian Army
officers. The new Nigerian head of
state, Lt. Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo,
has continued Gen. Muhammed’s
tough policy. Just before Nigeria’s
cancellation of the invitation to
Kissinger was announced, Gen.
Obasanjo made an official public
declaration that Nigeria would
intensify its ‘‘material, financial
and other assistance”’ to southern
African liberation movements.

William Eteki-Mboumoua, the
OAU_ secretary-general, said
earlier this month that Kissinger
“is not going to dictate the events
taking place in southern Africa or
the tempo of changes sweeping
through the continent.” Eteki-
Mboumoua, who is from the West
African republic of Cameroon, said
Kissinger’s threats against
socialist Cuba were ‘“‘nonsense.”’

Last Monday, Kissinger was
denounced as an “‘arch-enemy of
Africa” in a telegram sent to
Eteki-Mboumoua by President Idi
Amin Dada of Uganda. Amin said
Kissinger’s aim is to try to ‘‘divide
and disorganize the OAU”’ and to
work out a new U.S. imperialist
strategy for giving military sup-
port to racist regimes. Amin also
said Kissinger was particularly
aiming to try to weaken OAU
support for OAU member-states
supporting liberation struggles in
Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) and
Namibia (Southwest Africa).

Kissinger will find little or no
comfort in the most recent
developments among countries in
Africa which tend to support U.S.
imperialist policy in some degree
or other: Senegal has just played
host to the joint meeting of the
OAU and Arab League which
vowed common support for ‘the
Palestinian and southern African
liberation movements.

President Kenneth Kaunda of
Zambia just recognized the
People’s Republic of Angola. Zaire
is edging toward normal relations
with Angola, and President
Mobutu Sese Seko is in deep
economic trouble because of the

-fall in the world copper price.

Kissinger is scheduled to make
what is billed as a major policy
speech in Lusaka, Zambia, but
student demonstrations are being
planned which may force the
speech to be cancelled.

The B.C. Teachers Federation is
standing by its initial position that
if local school boards effect budget
cuts in line with the reduction in
the provincial share of education

- costs, teachers will be laid off and

the quality of education in local
districts will suffer.

The Federation outlined the
position in response to statements
made in the Legislature by
education minister Pat McGeer
that teachers’ jobs ‘“‘are not in
jeopardy.”

“If he’s guaranteeing a position
for every teacher, that’s well and
good,’’ BCTF president Bill
Broadley said this week. ‘But
what he’s really saying to local
school boards is: Leave your
budgets the way they are and in-
crease local taxes to make up for
the shortfall in provincial
revenues.’ ”’

McGeer’s statements in the
House were clearly intended to
offset the criticism levelled at his
department by both teachers and
trustees but in responding, he
attempted to shift the onus of
maintaining present education
programs on to the local boards.

“T’m sure that with a reasonable
approach on the part of our school
boards throughout the province,

.we canmake substantial savings in

our school costs without limiting
the opportunities for our teachers
and without limiting in any way the
quality of education that we offer,”
he told the House.

He also sought to place some of
the burden- on teachers them-
selves, suggesting that they should
have jobs providing they are
willing to relocate in other areas of
the province.

To what extent teachers’ jobs
and education programs will be
affected has yet to be seen as local
school board budgets, initially
submitted February 15, were to be
finalized at the end of this week.

In order to maintain the basic
education program in the facé of a

BILL BROADLEY

$60 million shortfall in}
provincial share, local b0#
would have to set the basic lev
32.5 mills, an increase of six
over last year. The BCTE
predicted just such an incre
a result of the provincial PI bu
cutback.

Broadley said that most S@%
boards seem to be commit)
maintaining present lev
education despite the substaly
increase in the mill rate that SY
program will entail.

However, the tea
federation president reiterate
organization’s criticism of
provincial education depar
for failing to cover increasing ©
and forcing local boards to a
the tab.

“Tt seems to us an impof
to be made is that the ministéf
agreed the decision to inc!
local taxes is a provincial po”
decision, one that he take> Ph
responsibility for makilith
Broadley stated. J

AQ.

“The government is not cov’
the cost of inflation in the §
service.”

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