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NEW YORK — She was only 10

years old when she died, the victim of leukemia. The mutant gene which car- Ned the fatal disease was passed to her Tom her mother — a _ survivor of the bombing of Hiroshima. Before her death the child vowed to make 1,000 Paper swans to carry the message of Peace around the world. She finished 00 before she died. Her classmates car- Ned on her task, and today in Japan Memorials to the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are covered in thousands of paper swans.

One of these swans was pinned to the hat of Canadian Michelle Renioux. It had been presented to her as she crossed the Quebec-New York border to attend the Saturday, June 12 Rally for Dis- armament in New York City. The Japa- Nese delegation which was denied entry to the U.S. passed them along to the Canadians who were allowed to attend, Urging them to take the message of the little, A-blast victim to the United

ations.

Renioux, 25,-a college librarian made the trip from Quebec City with four friends and a dog. Their battered red van was dwarfed by the 2,000 buses Parked alongside in the lot outside Yan- kee Stadium.

“Few things have made me more angry”’, said Renioux. ‘My friends and . Were thinking of making a protest at MMmigration about them not allowing the Japanese in. Can you imagine such . insult? But then we decided bringing

se swans here would be a bigger pro- test than any we could make at the tder.”’

Many Canadians speculated whether €it trip to the disarmament rally would Short circuited by U.S. immigration. the weeks preceding the United Na- ed opening, several prominent nadians, including Dr. John Morgan, President of the Canadian Peace Con- ora and Kay MacPherson of the Voice the men were denied entry, although Sion tories later reversed its deci- othere MacPherson. U.S. immigration - lals interviewed prior to the rally ceed that all Canadian participants Ould be turned back.

th

Switch in Policy

h While buses from the Maritimes were ronte po! five hours, others from To- ae Ottawa and Montreal that rolled ae the border Friday evening, were MikG speedily and allowed through jou the exception of one individual, a Reo from the Montreal French Buiage daily Le Devoir. aN sources speculate that pro- aa Om the Canadian Government to ' ington were responsible for the Minute switch in U.S. policy. See the official reception was oe cool, once on the streets of enthu ork the Canadians were given an e pang welcome by the thousands the UN the streets of Manhattan from arri N building to Central Park. Most of a Signs calling for the withdrawal anada from NATO and NORAD

test 5

and the creation of a nuclear weapons- free zone on Canadian soil.

Seventy-three year-old Daisy Blythe, from Guelph, Ont., mother of seven and grandmother “‘to so many I’ve forgot- ten’’ carried her own personal message urging “‘Women Unite to Stop Nuclear War’.

Marching under a banner ‘Youth for Peace”’ about 40 young Canadians from Toronto came organized by high school student Maria Louladakis. Sean, 11, marched with his mother and younger brother, ‘‘I’ve been in lots of demons- trations but this is the very best. They'll have to listen to us now.”’

Children’s Campaign

The spectators were visibly moved by the 1,500-strong Japanese contingent. Buddhist monks with shaven heads and saffron robes pounded on drums while others carried huge vertical flags in Japanese reading “thou shall not kill or make others kill’.

Catholic priest Father Nughiba of Tokyo made the peace sign to the crowd as he helped carry the 25-foot banner which stretched across Fifth Avenue. “T’ve always felt a little anti-Ameri- can,’’ Nughiba confessed, ‘but today when I see so.many Americans here

who want peace I think maybe some-_

thing can be done to save our world.”

Ahead of the international delega- -

Canadian delegation from the Canadian Peace Congress in Toronto received an enthusiastic

tions, the children’s contingent led the six-hour long parade. Among them was Merilee Johnson, 13, with the Chil- dren’s Campaign for Nuclear Disarma- ment.

This group was founded last year by the older sister of Merilee’s classmate, and some of her friends. The Phila- delphia teenagers had heard Boston pediatrician Helen Caldicott speak of the impossibility of surviving a nuclear war.and decided they. had to do. some- thing.

Walking hand in hand with her father, Peter, a stock-broker, both carried bright yellow balloons reading, “‘Arms are for hugging’’. Merilee said that at first the group decided to stage a walk- a-thon from Philadelphia to the White House ‘‘but my dad said he wouldn't let me go, so we decided to start a letter- writing campaign to the President instead.” ;

Last October, armed with nearly 3,000 letters, members of the. CCND stood outside the White House and read aloud the children’s message.

‘‘They had tried for weeks to meet with the!President or one of his rep- resentatives but that was refused’’, said Peter. ‘“‘And right before they were scheduled to hold a press conference on the White House lawn, the sprinklers were turned on.”’

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“ae protests: life size inflatable whale bears the legend “Save the humans”.

welcome along the route.

Merilee said they later got a letter of apology from Reagan for their treat- ment, ‘‘but he said that in order to have peace we need a strong defence, and that makes me even more scared”’.

Helen Caldicott and her Physicians for Survival have been an obvious mov- ing force in the momentum which was built for the rally. Mike Rufalo of Louis- borough, New York, said there had been no peace organization in the town of 9,000 before Dr.. Caldicott spoke there in April. On the morning of June 12 ‘‘a train-load”’ from Louisborough left for the New York rally. .

The nuclear freeze movement has caught on particularly in the New En- gland states. Marching with the Ver- mont contingent led by a banner reading ‘‘Vermont, votes 100% for a nuclear freeze’’, Ellen David, a hospital worker from Chelsea, carried her own sign ‘*Red is okay, dead is not.’ Asked what inspired her message she replied, “‘the problem is the arms race, not com- munism. And that’s been the overriding fallacy in Reagan’s argument all along’’.

Sit-in protest

misled — Chandra

NEW YORK — More than 1,700 people have been arrested in front of various UN missions in the: past days in acts of civil disobedience to draw attention to their opposition to the arms race.

Led by the U.S. War Resisters League, the people attempted to blockade the: missions of the U.S., USSR, Great Britain, France, China, Israel and South Africa.

Commenting on the actions during a speech in Toronto, World Peace Council president Romesh Chandra said they have received a ‘‘great deal of pub- licity’’ because of their position ‘‘against all the nuclear powers.”’

The action, Chandra said, tries ‘“‘to confuse public opinion that the fault lies equally with the U.S. and USSR. It is amazing,” he continued, “‘that this is done ser- ously’’ when the USSR supports a freeze and disarmament and the U.S. opposes it. He suggested the participants are well-meaning but

are being misled. ‘‘They’re marching in the wrong direction.” j Sauer wea

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JUNE 25, 1982—Page 7