x) ae ees nT ema LU | || Wit WORLD By DEBORAH McDONALD MOSCOW — Solid support for one another, curiosity and a common desire to break down cold war mythology combined with a high level of genuine interest in the everyday life of Soviet women made the World Congress of Women, which concluded last week here, a powerful emotional and educa- tional experience. The second largest delegation attending the congress was that from Canada, and this was strengthened by the high quality showing of Canadian delegates in the various working commis- sions. Canadian women fre- quently were seen to be assuming leadership roles and_ taking strong positions on issues rang- ing from human rights, women under socialism, protecting the family and the crucial, all- embracing goal of winning world peace. Experience and evidence were brought into all eight commis- sions by women from 150 coun- tries, who related testimony of growing social insecurity, under- development, poverty, hunger, disease, war and_ repression around the world. Women and families disproportionately bear the strain of these evils, they pointed out. The.major aggra- vating factor of all these prob- lems is the global arms race and the astonomical waste of re- sources that it brings. In this context, virtually all delegates voiced support for the construc- tive and far-reaching arms con- trol agenda put forward by the Soviet Union. An opening address by Soviet leader Gorbachev brought tears to the eyes of many, and opened the eyes of others to the deep and abiding commitment to peace and dis- armament, which has become the pivot of Soviet foreign pol- ‘icy over the past two years. During the four-day con- gress Canadian delegates had the chance to meet three times with their Soviet counterparts. _It was evident in these formal meetings that Soviet women display great pride in their achievements, a passion for life to equal that of women anywhere, and that they were deeply touched by the interest shown by the Canadians. They spoke to us in considerable de- tail about their gains under socialism, such as legislated political rights, free education, medical care, universal child care, equal property rights, and broad political access — for instance, the fact that there are 473 women members of the Supreme Soviet (the Soviet parliament). These discussions visibly jolted some Canadian dele- gates, who had come with fixed preconceptions about Soviet life. Some were also surprised at how openly Soviet women discussed their problems: progress in relations between men and women has _ been slow, they noted. In general, Soviet women bear the double burden of career and house- work. This is partially because after the war, men were a minority and Soviet women were happy to stay home and mind the chores. The unfavour- able demographics persist, for different reasons today, along with the attitudes they foster. In some ways, women’s values and the fight for domestic equality has stagnated, even though equal rights are legis- lated. There has been movement toward dealing with these is- sues in recent years, greatly accelerated by the decision last year to organize ‘‘women’s councils”’ nation-wide to deal more effectively with women’s questions at the local level. “It has been a difficult emancipation for us due to the lack of co-ordination of our so- cial roles, mother and wife roles and that of worker,”’ Val- entina Koval of the Soviet Women’s Committee told us. Legislation of child care and ~ equal rights are not the only solution. The problems we face today require different strategies from those of 10 years ago. Our needs are today more social needs than’ eco- nomic ones . ‘‘Ror instance,’’ she con- tinued, ‘‘our divorce rate is very high. The consciousness of the male population is not high enough and we have many DEBORAH McDONALD traditional cultures in our country — such as Asian patri- archal communities. The inter-relation between tradi- tional culture and contempor- ary male chauvinism compli- cates our problems. To deal with this, we have put much emphasis on family life educa- tion and legislated divorce laws for the next generation. It is important to realize these rights, not just in theory but in practical ways, so we will de- velop better families, relation- ships, and more satisfied women who will freely choose her work inside or outside of the home.” During the -discussion of higher divorce rates, it was explained to us that there are laws designed to protect wom- en, for instance, a husband may not divorce his wife within one year after the birth of a child, as this period is seemed » too stressful to allow such a trauma to be added to it. Women are granted four Soviet, Canadian women meet _ discrimination, exploitation months maternity leave with full pay, and a further 10 months at reduced pay with no loss of seniority in their jobs: Generous bonuses and other benefits also accompany the birth of a child. All Soviet women seem 10 have the same message: thal they are now ina period of free ing and activating their lives; and becoming involved in the process of restructuring Soviet society. As our days and nights be came longer with meetings 20 dialogue, it grew apparent that our delegation was undergoing a change. It was more all more difficult to sustain the imagery of the ‘‘enemy’’. 1M® ingrained stereotypes of Soviel life began to collapse under the) weight of reality. It was obvk ous that Canadian and Soviet women have very much common. a The message of the women § congress is that we must all reach beyond our homes: beyond our lives, to work to- gether against injustice, and war. What we all share 18 much greater than our dil ferences, and what we have '0 fight for is the most important of all: the right to live in peacé and develop according to ov! own free choice. Deborah McDonald, a ccw delegate to the Moscow congress: is a member of the F ishermen § Union and an occasional contr butor to the Pacific Tribune. ee ae INTERNATIONAL FOCUS Tom Morris f- Perrin Beatty’s $3-billion toys There have been several good reasons advanced in opposition to Canada getting into the nuclear submarine race, a proposal advanced by Tory Defence Minister Perrin Beatty’s white paper. Conceptually, there’s an argument advanced that pur- chasing four nuclear-powered submarines is as effective as kissing your sister. With 72,000 kilometers of coastline on three oceans, where do you put them? And, should one of these nu- clear wonder machines inter- cept someone else’s sub ( say, a U.S. navy submarine in arc- tic waters which Washington says are international and Ot- tawa says are Canadian) what would it do? Sink it? Declare world war three? But, Beatty warns, it’s the Soviet threat the subs are de- signed to meet. Really? Put aside for a moment the fact that Canada hasn‘t com- plained about one single Soviet sub in our arctic waters, what would we do if we found one there? Sink it? 6 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JULY 8, 1987 Young Perrin has had his ear filled with war stories by those who stand to make a fortune from the useless (and dan- gerous) arms race. He’s silly and inexperienced enough to believe the cabal of generals, industrialists, Tory MPs and their U.S. friends who whisper dire warnings of Russians pouring over the polar cap. Or in this case, sail- ing under it. The cost for four of the cheapest nuclear subs, the French-built, 2,700-ton Rubis, runs at about $3-billion (with training, spares, pens, etc.). Imagine the price tag on four U.S. Ohio-class U-boats, which are six times as large at 18,700 tons? Gas OWL Ee NES © Ee 2 Pe a ? 0 € BACK TO wg "an IT IN ABO , Fa A.C qs 0B HAD A BIT = ENGINE TRou BLE 5000 YEARS Expensive toys to make the little boy happy. _ Ten billion dollars, by the way, would pay for a Cana- da-wide child care program. And another $2-billion worth Playing with subs isn’t enough. Perrin. also wants Canada to spend $2-billion for 250 new battle tanks. Who needs school buses anyway? Protecting the torturers One problem with right wing regimes is what to do with the personnel when the regime falls. In the case of the nazis in 1945, the U.S. accepted many under the simple logic that the USSR was now ‘‘the enemy”’ and what better anti-commu- nists than nazis? Operation Paperclip was the U.S. code for bringing in thousands of nazi criminals in contravention of U.S. law. Ottawa played the tr Same dirty game. o- ~ “ > Washington saved the Mar- cos family, the Duvalier family (by flying them to France), countless Vietnamese gen- erals, including former South Vietnamese generals. The U.S. is a haven for Somoza killers from the 1979 Nica- raguan revolution and Batista killers from the 1959 Cuban revolution. * * * Now there’s former Ar- gentinian general Carlos Suarez Mason, leader of the army corps in Buenos Aires, who today lives in San Fran- cisco. He’s described as ‘‘a ghoulish character who roamed La Plata prison’’ per- sonally conducting torture dur- ing the 1976-1983 ‘dirty war’’ in which thousands of people were murdered and dis- appeared in a right-wing mili- tary orgy. Argentina wants him extra- dited to face tiral for his crimes. Mason, of course, like Klaus Barbie (who the U.S. also saved from justice for 40 years) denies any wrong-do- ing. - But there’s more. Mason, it turns out, was Major Ollie North’s pal, a CIA conduit in the deal under which the Argentine military trained Nicaragua contras. Naturally he would flee to the U.S.