BERLIN @. ROME ¢ .

More strife

certain»

Legacy in Nigeria
of divide and rule

Special to the Tribune

PERIOD of strife and up-

heaval in Africa’s largest

country, Nigeria, has _cul-
minated in the recent military
takeover by Col. Gowon, who
deposed the former ruler, Gen.
Tronsi.

The nature of the new regime
is indicated by its annullment of
the May Decree «No. 34, which
had abolished the federal sys-
tem of government.

This means that once again
Nigeria, with its population of
56 million, is returning to the
internal regional divisions in-
herited from British colonial
rule. ;

A conference of representa-
tives of the country’s four main
regions, originally scheduled for
Sept. 7 but postponed indefinite-
ly, will try to define the degree
of connection between the se-
parate parts of the country.

Political tensions in Nigeria
had mounted since 1962. Last
January they reached the stage
of an armed uprising led by a
group of young, radical officers,
in which Major-General Ironsi
-intervened and took over mili-
tary control of the country.

Gen. Ironsi could not ignore
the mass opposition to the re-
actionary federal regime. There
was no alternative but to dis-
solve the federal government

and assembly, together with all
four regional governments and
assemblies, and declare Nigeria
a “unitary state”.

This was a serious blow to
all the old, corrupt feudal poli-
tical leaders, most of all to the
Northern feudal emirs, who held
the dominant position in the
federal system devised by Bri-
tain as early as 1947.

The feudal emirs threatened
that the North would secede.
They staged protests early in
June in which 100 persons were

killed, more than 500 wounded.

and 300 arrested. This resulted
in a similar threat to secede by
the military governor in the
East.

Instead of taking drastic mea-
sures against the emirs, Gen.

Ironsi had “friendly talks”. He-

assured them there was no in-
tention to abolish permanently
the federal system and that the
“unitary state” was only a tem-
porary measure.

At the same time all political
parties and tribal associations
were declared illegal. But this
left intact the repressive feudal
administration in the North.

In August, Gen. Ironsi was
deposed and most likely killed.
Gen. Gowon, a Northerner, took
over.

This is the background for the
latest developments. —

Some representatives of the
colonialist powers of the West,
masquerading under the guise of
“well wishers”, have
strongly hinting that the Nige-
rians would do well to give up
the idea. of any type of federa-
tion whatsoever.

But sharp clashes are now
taking place between the for-
ces which understand the coun-
try’s true national-interests and
those who would like to perpe-
tuate the domination of the re-
actionary feudal powers.

In December 1963 and in June
1964 the rival trade unions ‘in
Nigeria came together with their
joint action committee with suc-
cessful strikes which forced sub-
stantial concessions from the
former federal government.

It is from the united action of
these progressive forces that Ni-
geria can look to a progressive
future. .

cently. He is Eddie
Shaw of Chicago, a Negro
worker with a “project”.

Mr. Shaw is very proud of
the fight for the civil rights of
his people. He is acutely con-
scious that numbers. have
given their lives. He thinks
there will undoubtedly be
more to make the supreme
sacrifice in fighting for their
ideals. :

Mr. Shaw wants a monu-
-ment in Washington to honor
these dead.

In 1964 he wrote to Presi-
dent Johnson. He said, “The
basic unity of Negroes and

* whites should be symbolized
in this Memorial through an
inscription on a plaque at the
base of the statue, honoring
the names of Medgar Evers,
William Moore, the children
‘who died in Birmingham, Ala-
bama church, the late Presi-
dent Kennedy, Andrew Good-
win, James Cheney, Michael
Schwerner .. .”

<=

= 7 ae
_ Visitor from Chicago

By PHYLLIS CLARKE ~
N interesting visitor came
to the Tribune office re-

He wants this statue placed
at the end of the lagoon fac-
ing the Lincoln memorial. As
he says, “an honor to the
memory of Abraham Lincoln
who 101 years ago issued the
Emancipation Proclamation”.

- Since writing to the Presi-
dent, Mr. Shaw has’ been
sending his letters to sena-—
tors, congressmen, govern-
‘ors, mayors, civil rights lead-
ers and other public indivi-
duals.

He has found that although
there are many who agree
with his idea in principle
“there is a large body of opi-
nion that the time has not
yet come to build memorials.
“We first have to win the
fight,” he said, “and I’m
afraid I’m a bit ahead of the
times.”

He is very confident that
the struggle will be won, al-
though he sees some tough
fights ahead, like in Cicero.
He himself lives in the ghet-
to in the south side of Chi-
cago and is most concerned
to see an.end to police bru-

“my ghettc let me have my
- own representative, my own

these years.

tality and provocation in Chi-
cago, an opportunity for the
Negro people to have decent
housing and jobs.

“We are supposed to be the
most Christian country in the
world,” he added, “but we
are the most barbarian. Just
look at the way we wage un-
just wars as in Vietnam.”

Mr. Shaw had something to
say too about “black power.”
He commented that there are
those who distort what it
means. All it means, he said,
is that since you have me in ©

business. It’s nonsense, ac-
cording to our friendly visi-
tor, to say that “black power”
means the Negroes are going
to try and treat the whites as
they have been treated all

We wished Mr. Shaw suc-
cess in his project and assur-
ed him that Canadians would
like also to sea a memorial
to those great Americans who
have died in the battle for
equality of man.

been -

JOHN VORSTER, South Africa’s 50-year-old pro-nazi ministe
of justice, has been named the new prime minister of the countf
after the death of Hendrik Verwoerd . . . South Africa’s first nu
clear reactor at Pelindaba in the northern Transvaal is to be pr q
vided with nuclear fuel from Britain under a contract concluded —
between the South African Atomic Energy Board and the United
Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority...

* * *

INDIA and Indonesia have called for an immediate end to U.S:
bombing of North Vietnam as a prerequisite to a peaceful solutio
of the Vietnam war. A communique was issued in Delhi at the en
of a four-day visit to India by Indonesia’s foreign minister, Adam
Malik . . . Six students were arrested in Tokyo recently durin
demonstrations against the presence of the U.S. nuclear submarin
Seadragon at the U.S. Yokosuka naval base. Several policemé
were injured by flying stones during the scuffle with the demon
strating students. . . :

* * *

MORE THAN 70 top world scientists meeting at the smal
Polish Baltic coast resort of Sopot for the 16th Pugwash Con
ence were told that divergency of world views on the banning
nuclear testing was sufficiently, narrow to make an agreemel
possible in the near future ... A 23-year-old former British fashiO
model, Jill Stuart, said she was barred recently from Disneylan
because she wore a mini-skirt. “They offered to let me weat
helper’s smock to cover up my legs, but I refused,” she said. a
would be like admitting my clothes were indecent”...

* * *

BRITAIN’S general council of trade unions secured a mos
uneasy victory for the Labor government’s pay standstill at th
Trades. Union Congress which closed last week. The council’s rep9
recording the decision to acquiesce in the wage freeze was caf
ried by 4,567,000 votes for to 4,223,000 votes against . . . The Con
munist Party in Britain is launching a great autumn campai
against the government’s pay-freeze policy. The party plans 4
distribute hundreds of thousands of copies of a statement showin
how the country’s economic problems can be solved...

* * *

SYRIA’S GOVERNMENT has foiled a plot to stage a cou
d’etat, Damascus Radio said recently. A broadcast statemen
said members of the Baath Party “international leadership’”—ouste
last February by the Baath “national leadership’—had set up polt
tical and military organizations to-overthrow the government . -
This year there are some 6,500 exhibitors from some 60 countri
at East Germany’s Leipzig Autumn Fair, which opened Sept, 4 : +*

No capitalism —

in the USSR

By BERT WHYTE “The first tractor plant in 0

Tribune Staff Correspondent .

PROFESSOR Yevsei Liber-

‘man finds it amusing that

some foreign commentators

see in the construction of a

motor car plant by Fiat “signs
of a return to capitalism.”

When I interviewed the noted
Soviet economist in Kharkhov
on Sept. 7 he made these com-
ments on the Fiat deal:

“Lenin said long ago we must
take in full everything that is
good in capitalism and use it for
socialism. If it benefits us then
we must do this.

“The Soviet automobile in-
dustry has been lagging in tech-
nology behind world standards.
As time passes we shall estab-
lish favorable conditions for end-
ing the lag and having an indus-
try with an advanced techno-
logy. That is what we have been
doing.

country produced Fordson tra
tors, and the American Coo
helped us build the first hydr?
electric power station.

“Now that we want to Pp
duce a mass cheap car our be
teacher is Evrope.. We do
want Rolls Royce, but a car fo!
everybody, such as the Britis"
Motor Corporation makes.

“The Fiat agreement is a com
mercial deal. We receive a goo!
long term credit and we can, !
return, sell to Italy goods tha
we usually export. We are pa
ing for the equipment, tools a?
license to produce the Fiat c@
but the profits from making th
cars remain ours.”

By 1972 the plant in Togliat

-will be producing 600,000 ca

annually, making the Kuibyshé
area the country’s third large .
auto centre, after Moscow @
Gorky.

September 23, 1966—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Pag