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business talks with ankers, but tell li ged 3 San little about € leafed through is- su gh several is a the London Times — not ae eeu the International Crimes ae of Inquiry into the Sa, poule’s Military Junta. ratio, Ooked through the In- : nal Herald Tribune — the Go about the work of A Psion either,

@ ig rmational Herald Trib- Was in Jointly published by Yor pan Post and the New able ne which are respect- of ae informed papers. One news “suai that it carries all Not see a fit to print. We did ne Spape Trespondents of these Where on the Dipoli Hall,

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respondent of the Hsinhua News Agency at the session, although he didn’t have to fly to Helsinki from Peking, because Hsinhua has its own correspondent here.

Not far from the Dipoli Hall, “champions” of the struggle to save human souls from the tyranny of socialism offered us, in not very fluent Russian, a printed biblical story about the return of the prodigal son. We advised these “champions” to speak up in defence of the Chileans living under fascist rule. :

“In defence of whom?”, they asked with surprise. “Those who live in Chile,” we replied. “And where is that?”, one of them asked. “Oh, I know,” another shouted. “It’s a national minor- ity in the Caucasus, right?”

MONTREAL — A hemis- pheric Conference for Solidarity with Democratic Chile will take place here from June 7-9, it was announced here at’ a press. con- ference April 2.

The announcement of the Hemispheric Conference was made following a meeting in Montreal March 30 of a number of organizations from English Canada and Quebec. These in- cluded the three Quebec ‘trade union centers (QFL, NTU and QTC), the Quebec Peace Coun- cil, Canadian: Committee for Solidarity with Democratic Chile, Canadian Peace Congress, Latin American. Working Group, Communist Party of Canada,

and others. Also in the initial list of sponsors are NDP MP Andrew Brewin and Jacques- Yvan Morin, leader of the Parti Québécois parliamentary group.

Also attending the March 30 meeting were Alfredo Varela, member of the secretariat of the World Peace Council, and Ho- mero Julio, former Chilean am- bassador to Romania, from Chile Democratico in Rome. Each an- nounced the full support of their respective organizations for the Hemispheric initiative.

“Spokesmen for the Hemis- pheric Conference initiating committee said that they ex- pected 400 delegates represent- ing. political parties, trade unions and church groups.

The purpose of the Hemis-

pheric Conference, it was an- nounced was to begin building *the most massive, coordinated and effective support for the people of Chile in their struggle against the fascist junta. Actions towards the release of political prisoners in Chile, how to isolate the junta, and others will be discussed.

About 200 delegates from Latin America and Caribbéan countries are expected to attend, with an equal number from the United States and Canada. :

A secretariat to begin work

on the Conference has been established, and an appeal to organizations of the Western . Hemisphere to send delegates and contribute to the success of the event will be issued shortly.

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ficiaries of defence contracts handed out in a single year. We'll repeat just a few. Lockheed — $1,848-million, General Dynamics — $1,183-mil- lion, General Electric — $1,000- million, American Telephone & Telegraph — $933-million, Uni- ted Aircraft — $874-million, Westinghouse Electric — $418- million, Honeywell» — $398-mil-

‘lion, General Motors — $386-

million, Ford — $346-million, RCA — $263-million, IBM — $256-million. These corporations and their shareholders, fattening on the misery created by war products are a key reason why the arms race goes on. Degrees of Horror

One should have in mind in assessing the ministers and members of governments who contribute to the proliferation of ‘war material, that included be- side guns and hulking tanks, are

nuclear weapons, capable of .

ending life on earth, and several degrees of horror in between.

There is napalm, the jellied gasoline that clings, burning, to human flesh until the victims are dead or half devoured. The United States used thousands of tons of this in Vietnam and is still using it in Cambodia. Israel has used it. The Thieu regime uses it to wipe out populations unfriendly to the dictator. And NATO supplies it to Portugal for use in Africa.

There are the monstrous bac- teriological weapons capable of inflicting disease plagues and paralysis on whole populations judged politically unfriendly.

Must’ Cease

The millions of sane people in this world say that the prepara- tion and dissemination of these death instruments, must cease. The UN General Assembly, on Dec. 18, 1973, set up an Ad Hoc Committee “to examine all the views and suggestions express- ed by Governments on the con- vening of a world disarmament conference, and related prob- lems . . . and to submit, on the basis of consensus, a report to the General Assembly at its twenty-ninth session . . G(ResOs lution 3183)

Canada is a member of that .

Ad Hoc .Committee; and. the people of Canada have every right and a universal duty to prevail upon Ottawa to act in good faith and with vigor to

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PANS TATION

ENGELHARDT St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Delivery Systems

bring about in the shortest pos- sible time,.a world conference on general and complete disarma- ment.

“as reported, the federal gov- ernment’s arms budget shows a dedication of a different sort. The Canadian people have no easy, but certainly a challenging — and fulfilling — task.

Gunboat ‘Influence’

But we accept that task under the long shadow of chief U.S. trigger man, Defence Secretary James Schlesinger who,* on Feb. 4, rolled out his bristling $86-billion 1974 defence budget. $86-billion! For one year! What deprivation this foists upon the U.S. people and all who are tied to the U.S. apron strings!

U.S. News and World Report, seven days after the Schlesinger announcement, warned: “The latest request for new billions (a $7-billion increase in one year) is expected to be only a forerunner. of even bigger bud-

gets ahead.” The reason, says U.S. News, is that “waning U.S. military power will undercut America’s ability to influence events abroad.” (My emphasis)

The arms budget .of the anti- Soviet North Atlantic Treaty Organization to which Canada has been committed by succeed- ing weak-kneed governments, is increasing by between $2,000,- 000,000 and $3,000,000,000 a year. And NATO has been ex- posed using this gold-plated wand to prop up dictatorships in Greece and Portugal, to beat down the peoples striving for democracy and liberation, and to

muster the fascist rabble of the

world against socialism.

Canadians in all walks of life, of all persuasions, have to ask themselves: is it worth the price? Is it worth it to give up the standard of life this money could provide in Canada? Is it worth winning the enmity in- stead of the wealth of sound re-

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 1974—PAGE 7

lations high among the develop- ing countries? Is it worth plung- ing, with the militarists, into the morass of human degradation?- Is it worth giving over Canada’s independent development to a clique of militarists in that queer-shaped building in Wash- ington? Can You Answer?

In suggesting activities for Disarmament Week around the world, the NGO Committee on Disarmament asked a series of questions. Perhaps you would like to answer.

; What action has been taken in your country to promote the proposal for a World Disarma- ment Conference? What is the attitude of your government to it? What is the attitude of your country towards the proposal for a 10% cut in arms budgets?

Is public opinion in your coun- try aware of the fact that many of the “conventional” weapons in current use contravene the regulations. agreed upon by “civilized nations” as much as a century ago?

Has your country ratified the Convention on Bacteriological Weapons? Is it a party to the Geneva Protocol of 1925? Is pub- lic opinion in your country still alive to the risks involved in stockpiling chemical weapons,

‘let alone the dangers of their

possible use?

Does public opinion in your country really believe that wea- pons of destruction are the best thing that industrialized coun- tries have to offer the needy de- veloping nations?

‘Can the answers of Canadians be anything less than a vow to fight to the finish for general and complete disarmament — starting now — in Canada?