EDITORIAL

B.C.’s budget a warning

The B.C. Socred budget brought down last week is an all-out attack on the pro- vince’s working people, their living stan- dards, job security, trade unions and democratic rights.

It is a typical monopoly way out of the crisis — a crisis of their own making — which is taken at the people’s expense.

The budget is a danger not only to British Columbia, but should be viewed as a prelude to an all-out onslaught Canada- wide should a neo-consérvative- govern- ment (Tory or Liberals who subscribe to conservative economics) be elected in the next federal election.

B.C.’s budget is a grim warning. It calls for a powerful people’s movement in the province headed by labor to beat back this attack. This response is beginning to take shape now as the full impact of the Socred proposals sink in. A powerful people’s

coalition is emerging which could set Ben- nett back on his heels.

The fightback is immediate and angry. The emerging coalition includes all sectors hit by the budget — and that means the vast majority of B.C. working people, tenants, students and consumers. The B.C. Federa- tion of Labor put it plainly: We must or- ganize, it said, “against the madness this government is trying to perpetrate against the average B.C. citizen.”

Events in B.C. emphasize the need for unity of action of all working class and democratic forces, including the national and democratic movements in Quebec, di- rected to heading off and defeat the at- tempt of neo-conservative forces to do on a federal scale what monopoly is trying to do in B.C.

Cooperation of the NDP and Commu- nist Party around a common program to take Canada out of the crisis would be an important step in that direction.

Saving nazis for ‘freedom’

On July 17, 1945, U.S. president Harry Truman signed the Berlin Declaration on behalf of the USA. Also signing were Joseph Stalin for the USSR and Winston Churchill for Great Britain.

The Declaration set out the status of Germany and, in great detail, outlined the step-by-step destruction”of the Nazi party, its institutions and influence in post-war Europe. It also said this:

“War criminals and those who have participated in planning and carrying out Nazi enterprises involving or resulting in atrocities or war crimes shall be arrested and brought to judgment...”

While Truman was signing this impor- tant document, obviously because of mas- sive world revulsion, his secret services were already actively involved in saving nazis. Important nazis were recruited in the newly-resurrected Crusade against Communism: All systems were “go”.

_ Thousands of war criminals live today in

security due to the efforts of the United States. Many live here in Canada, brought in by the well-oiled escape routes -de- veloped by the U.S. Counter Intelligence Corps.

While Truman was signing documents like the Berlin Declaration and ‘making pious speeches (along with Canada’s Mac- Kenzie King and Britain’s Churchill) the Cold War against the USSR and the resis- tance movements in Europe, led by the Communists, was already in full cry.

The details of how the U.S. shielded, recruited and then spirited nazi Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie to safety are out on the table now. It’s a shameful, sordid story. It’s a study in treason. It’s a crowning insult to the millions of murdered victims of the camps. It’s a betrayal of the thousands of Canadians who died fighting fascism.

It’s a commentary on what rabid anti- Sovietism and anti-Communism can lead to. And while all this hits the press, Solicitor-General Robert Kaplan says Canada’s laws prevent extradition of war criminals living here (even to Holland).

Kaplan is far too busy pushing through Bill C-157, a nazi-style bill to set up a new state secret police — a Gestapo — to spy on Canadians.

Maybe we'll develop our own, home- grown, Klaus Barbies in the name of “freedom and democracy”.

A bad law vs women’s rights

The police raids on the Toronto and Winnipeg clinics set up by Dr. Henry Morgenthaler have further insulted wo- men’s rights in this country, rights already mocked by our abortion laws.

Enacted in 1969, Section 251 of the

Criminal Code legalized abortions per-

formed in accredited hospitals having committees, and only if a woman’s life or health were endangered. At the time, it was a mini-victory for Canadian women — the result of intense protest in response to the thousands of women, maimed and killed in

their desperation to end an unwanted

pregnancy.

Eight years later, again as a result of pub- lic pressure, the federal government com- missioned the Badgley Report. Its authors

revealed grave inequalities in the law’s en- ©

forcement. There is no means of obtaining a legal abortion in entire regions of the

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JULY 22, 1983—Page 4

country. Women in the Maritimes, in the North, Native women and the poor have no, or seriously limited access. Even in large metropolitan centres, limited facili- ties and quotas have made waiting lists dangerously long.

Morgenthaler’s clinics are here at the

behest of Canadian women. They’re here

out of a need. The recent controversy sur- rounding them has brought to public ex- posure just how archaic the law is. The unprecedentedly large protests in re- sponse to the raids are a warning to government of the need for change.

Winning an acquittal for Morgenthaler and his colleagues will not only be a tribute to their courageous and humanitarian stand, it can be a catalyst in forcing the government to strike a very bad law from the books.

“You're right, General. This is more fun than cowboys or jelly beans.’’

‘3

NEWS ITEM July 14: “Reagan one step closer to B-1 bomber pro duction and development of nerve gas weapons.”

25 years .-

LPP PROTESTS U.S. LANDING

The national executive of the Labor-Progressive Party has wired Prime Minister Diefenbaker:

“The Labor-Progressive Party views the landing of U.S. Marines in Lebanon as an action directed against all the people of the Middle East and a most serious threat to world peace, running counter to the interests of Canada.

. “We urge the government to instruct Canada’s repre- sentative on the UN Security

’ Council to condemn the U.S.

action in Lebanon to demand their immediate withdrawal.”

Tribune, ~

July 21, 1958

Flashbacks

50 years

HIT FRAME-UP

OF TIM BUCK

Tim Buck, found guilty of rioting at Kingston peniten- tiary in the frame-up to fas~ ten another sentence on him and weaken the mass de- mand for his release by dis- crediting him as a criminal and a thug, will be sentenced

on July 18. The workers must raise 2 mighty voice of protest

against his conviction and against another sentence. -

Flood the Attorney- General of Ontario with pro- tests! Demand that this latest conviction be quashed! De- mand the release of Tim Buck and_ his: seven comrades!

Tribune, July 15, 1933

Rothmans of Pall Mall Canada Ltd., had an after-tax profit of $39,086,000 for the year ended March 31; but not all the product went up in smoke; some of it went down the hatch. Some $18- million of that came from their ownership of Carling O’Keefe. They like most those who both smoke and drink. :

Editor — SEAN GRIFFIN Assistant Editor — DAN KEETON Business and Circulation Manager — PAT O'CONNOR

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