WORLD World meet considers life in the nuclear age By VACLEV GEIKL WARSAW (ORBIS) — Humanity has probably only 20 years of life left — then a nuclear catastrophe should (not might, but should) come. And with it the end of life on earth. This conclusion was reached jointly by scientists from several countries when they took into account all factors posing a threat to the present-day world — from the fast development of new generations of weapons to the escalating crises in various parts of the world; to the possibility of technical malfunction or of a fit of madness in which a mentally-ill soldier will launch the first missile. Optimists among scientists give humanity several more decades of life, pessimists fewer. Twenty years was the average. These two paragraphs sum up part of the discussions in one working group of the International Congress of Scien- tific and Cultural Workers in Defence of the Peaceful Future of the World which was held January 16-19, in Warsaw’s Victoria Hotel. It was attended by several hundredintellectuals, philosophers, physicists,chemists, physicians, writers and others, from 54 countries. The purpose of the congress was to look for ways of solving — despite different political and ideological views — the most serious problems of human civilization: the arms race, protection of the environment, the need for a new economic order, hunger in the developing world... The congress attempted to define the role and position of intellectuals in the defence of peace, as the fundamental Prerequisite for solutions to all the other pressing world problems. Warsaw Chosen by UN . It was no coincidence that Warsaw was chosen and that it was held in mid-January 1986. The United Nations declared 1986 International Year of Peace, and Poland has been making efforts at the UN to win support for the idea of a meeting of intellectuals devoted to the questions of world peace, to create conditions for an absolutely free and creative exchange of views, and thus to initiate a process of gradual reshaping of the thinking of people on a global scale. The Polish initiative was based on the fact that over millenia, humanity has become used to war, and that peace is being automatically regarded only as a mere interval between wars. If, given the present level of mili- tary technology, nuclear catastrophe is to be averted, the thinking of all people must first change. That is why the United Nations entrusted to Poland the organization of the first world-wide event of the Inter- national Year of Peace. In his message to the congress, Secretary-general Javier Perez de Cuellar said that humanity stands at a crossroads and its future depends on whatroadit willchoose. One roadleads to peace, the other to suicide. Warsaw deserved the honor of hosting the event. Many European cities were destroyed in the last world war, but Warsaw was destroyed by Hitler’s armies methodically, in a plan-based way. House after house, street after street, quarter after quarter were blown apart, burned down, razed to the ground. The congress began on the eve of the 41st anniversary of the liberation of Warsaw, and none of the participants could remain indifferent to the fact that more than six million Poles perished in the Second World War — one in every five inhabitants. In Warsaw alone, 700,000 people (of the population of 1.3 million) were killed; 85 per cent of the city was destroyed. Virtually everything the congress participants saw in Warsaw — houses, palaces of Polish kings, churches and monuments were rebuilt from ruins and ashes, literally stone by stone. Picasso’s Peace Dove Poland also hosted the first post-war Congress of Intel- lectuals in Defence of Peace in August, 1948in Wroclaw. It was attended, among other great personalities of world science and culture, by Pablo Picasso who drew his first white dove, since then the symbol of the world peace movement, ona flame-scorched wall of a Wroclaw house. Although the western media made systematic allega- tions to the contrary, this year’s Warsaw Congress was neither organized nor financed by the Polish government. For months, preparations for it were made by hundreds of volunteer organizers, headed by professor Bogdan Suchodolski. A national organizing committee was set up, consisting of representatives of the Union of Polish Writ- ers, the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Warsaw Peace Committee, the Polish Institute for International Rela- tions, the Polish Ecumenical Council, and of other social organizations. Of course, the peace mission of the congress was fully in line with the peace policy of the Polish government. Its opening session was addressed by Roman Malinowski, Chairman of the Polish Parliament and participants were received by the highest Polish representative,. Wojciech Jaruzelski. Those western journalists — of whom there were sur- prisingly many at the congress — who looked for sensa- tional evidence of governmental, communist stage- managing of the event were, of course, disappointed. In contrast to the descriptions by the western press and television, Victory Square and the adjacent streets where the Victoria Hotel is situated, were not sealed off by large units of police. In fact, the presence of normal traffic police was insufficient, which was an oversight by the organizers. _The advanced capitalist states expressed their views of the congress quite clearly, through their Journalists who made their presence known in War- saw. There was not a single press conference at which they would not ask questions to which they did not really expect answers. They were not at all interested in the congress and in the serious issues discussed by scientists from all parts of the world. The New York Times correspondent, for ex- ample, wanted to know what had been done for the security of the participants, and why unauthorized Persons, such as Polish dissidents, couldn’t force their way into the Victoria Hotel. A congress Spokesperson pointed out courteously that the congress has the same rules as all similar events anywhere in the world, and that identification cards had certainly not been invented by the Poles. They were, of course, practical. Moreover, the Spokesperson continued, the danger of terrorism is comparably smaller in Poland than in some other countries, and the New York Times man has no- thing to fear. _ Questions were asked about political prisoners in Poland, why more Nobel prize winners were not present, why most of the participants were people of the older generation, and why — naturally — Lech Walesa was not invited. —— The Western media in full cry The spokesperson explained that scientists are usually not teenagers, and that when invitations were sent out, it was not a matter of titles but issues, not a matter of big names but the presence of those who were doing active work in the fields to be discussed at the congress. He noted, with elegant phrasing, that Lech Walesa could not be invited for the simple reason that the event was a congress of intellectuals. His explanations were in vain. There were new questions, loudly asked, with the obvious aim to divert attention from the main issues discussed in Warsaw, and to present to western readers, listen- ers and viewers a sensational picture of a ‘‘police state’’> and ‘‘communist propaganda’’ at the congress. One of the issues on the agenda was the respon- sibility of politicians and journalists for the destiny of the world. During the congress, the western press devoted substantially less attention to it than to the forthcoming meeting of the earth with Hal- ley’s comet. And yet the congress was part of the efforts of sensible people to ensure that humanity will see the comet not only this year, but also in 2061 when it is to return — provided that the earth still exists in 2061. — V.G. 12 ¢ PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JANUARY 29, 1986 Warsaw, host city of UN-sponsored Congress. In short, the congress was not a stage-managed show. It was no propaganda event, but a serious effort to start a quest for ways of building a better world. Greetings were received from prominent world poli- ticians and scientific and cultural personalities, including Soviet leader Gorbachev, Czechoslovak President Husak, Swedish Prime Minister Palme, UNESCO Direc- tor-General M’Bow, Argentine President Alfonsin, Mayor of Nagasaki, Motoshima; Mayor of Hiroshima, Ikeda; writers Erskine Caldwell and Alan Sillitoe; con- ductor Yehudi Menuhin and others. In a letter from the Vatican, Pope John Paul II said that in the International Year of Peace he regards it as his duty to reaffirm his firm conviction that peace is a value which knows no borders, a value meeting the hopes and aspirations of all people and all nations. New Soviet Peace Plan The congress devoted close attention to the new peace proposals of the Soviet Union, put forward on the eve of its deliberations. In the working groups, at press confer- ‘ences and in discussions in the hotel lobby, practically unanimous support for these significant initiatives was — heard. The well-known Soviet scientist, and Gorbachev's ad- viser on disarmament, Ronald Sagdeyev, an authority on Star Wars, stressed that the importance of the latest Soviet proposals rested primarily in the prolongation of the unilateral Soviet moratorium on nuclear testing. He pointed out that the United States was using two arguments to explain its refusal to join the moratorium: First, it claims that prior to August, 1985 (when the USSR announced the first moratorium, effective until the end of 1985 and now prolonged until March 31, 1986), the Soviet Union carried out a large number of tests in advance, in order to gain a lead on the United States and to be able to propose a moratorium for propaganda purposes. Secondly, Sagdeyev. said, the Americans claim that such a moratorium cannot be monitored. Unfortunately, the western public is acquainted only with these American arguments which are simply false. Their purpose is to convince people of the need for continuation of the U.S. Star Wars program. In reality, however, the Soviet Union carried out prior to August 1, 1985, virtually the same number of tests as the United States did (i.e. from January 1, 1985). In the whole period of the existence of nuclear weapons — from 1945 to today — the United States carried out 35-40 per cent more nuclear tests than the Soviet Union. As regards verification: all scientists and technicians know only too well that it is very easy today to detect, by means of existing instruments, any nuclear and non- nuclear explosion in any part of the world. In spite of this, the Soviet Union offered the possibility of on-site inspec- tions in the USSR, to remove all grounds for complaints. Nuclear Threat Key Issue In his message to the congress, Gorbachev said human- ity faces a number of complex and difficult problems — national, regional and global. But there is no more urgent task than the elimination of the nuclear threat, halting the arms race on earth and preventing its extension to outer space, preservation of the human civilization. *‘I can as- sure the participants that the Soviet Union is sparing no effort in this respect,’’ he said. Besides the plenary sessions at the opening and conclu- sion of the congress, discussions also were held in six working groups: Main threats to peace and international secunty — methods and means of overcoming them; Environment and health protection; Global prospects of world economy and the New International Economic Order; Cultural values — the common heritage of humani- ty; Education for peace; Actions in defence of peace — chances and prospects.