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EDITORIAL

Reviving the cold war

It is indicative of the thrust of the Tories’ white paper on defence, “Challenge
and Commitment — A Defence Policy for Canada,” that only three of its 89
pages address arms control, disarmament and the peaceful resolution of dis-
putes.

This is all the more disturbing because the paper’s introduction grandly
announces: “Canadian security policy has three major components: defence
and collective security, arms control and disarmament and the peaceful resolu-
tion of disputes ...”

What follows is a Tory agenda to propel Canada into a major leap of
state-of-the-art weaponry, a more active continental junior partnership, a more
belligerent posture in Europe, a boosted military presence at home, a nuclear
submarine fleet and a foot firmly in the door of Reagan’s Star Wars program.

The Tory white paper is a program for vastly expanded military spending
(estimated at $180-$200 billion) and increased NATO/NORAD commitment
based on the hoary old lie of a Soviet military threat.

Without blinking, without a mention of any Soviet arms control or disar-
mament proposal or unilateral measure to reduce tension, the white paper says:
“The principle direct threat to Canada continues to be a nuclear attack on
North America by the Soviet Union .. .” The fact the USSR has pledged never
to be the first to use nuclear weapons, and the U.S. has publicly defended its
“right” to first strike, has escaped the paper's authors.

Other fundamentals of Tory/Pentagon thinking are to scoff at the 1970s “in
which detente was the watchwork,” or to get us ready to link up with SDI,
“looking ahead to the end of the century and beyond, space will increasingly be
utilized in support of national defence aims ...” Iteven ties economic growth to
a burgeoning arms industry!

The philosophical thrust is clear: it is firmly based on the “Soviet threat”
concept and the imperative of escalated arms spending to meet that “threat.”
The paper’s premise argues that our future lies in reliance on and cooperation
with U.S. strategy and to build Canada’s miltary forces for and increased role in
it — particularly in the Arctic, on the oceans, in Europe and in space.

The fatal flaw, of course, is that the threat isn’t Soviet — it’s American.

It is U.S. imperialism’s first-strike, war-fighting strategy and Canada’s role as
a springboard for the northern thrust of that strategy which threatens Canada’s
security and survival.

Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev proposes a world without weapons by
2000. The U.S. and NATO deliver ever-higher arms budgets and sophisticated
new weapons’ families. “Amen,” say the Tories in Ottawa — a $200-billion
amen designed to put Canada on the tip of Reagan’s nuclear lance.

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THE rE CONOMICS OF

MiIHIARTZED fEAG
LWAVING

FEAG $5
sub t409000,000

ee rats yoo, 00%, oos

Editor — SEAN GRIFFIN
Assistant Editor — DAN KEETON
Business & Circulation Manager — MIKE PRONIUK
Graphics — ANGELA KENYON

Published weekly at 2681 East Hastings Street
Vancouver, B.C. V5K 125
Phone (604) 251-1186
ISSN 0030-896X

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Second class mail registration number 1560

t the Tribune, we don’t usually print
those often pleasant notes that
accompany readers’ cheques at subscrip-
tion renewal time. But we've received a
few recently of such a laudatory nature
that they really made our day, and we
couldn’t resist sharing them.
From U.S. reader Phyllis Patterson

comes the following comment: “I want to

tell you we think that your pa is :
‘s yee i, Se “T hope that you will continue to find

splendid — well written, informative, and
(it) covers much — no ridiculous pad-
ding! It is a vast improvement over the
plastic garbage appearing here in the U.S.
Reader Patterson tells us she received
the “great gift” of the Tribune from a sister
in Vancouver and tells us, “I wish we
could afford to make a big donation, but
for the time being, on our retired income,
renewal is the best we can. Best wishes for
your continued survival and vitality.”

And from B.C. reader Monty Bruce we
received these words: “I have just finished
receiving the Pacific Tribune for a three
month trial period, during which time I
have had a chance to evaluate the paper
for my own interests.

“The enclosed cheque for $16 for one
year of publications should let you know
what I think of the paper.

“You are doing a very good job of try-
ing to keep people informed on important
social issues. Your articles tend to focus
(on) the source of the problems, or the
motives for and the values of action that is
taken on those problems.

the resources necessary for publishing
good quality news on such a wide variety
of topics. Especially when so many of our
positive efforts seem to be expended com-
bating negative forces.”

As far as resources go, we'd have to say
that a key element in producing the Trib-
une every week is encouragement. The
two readers quoted above provided that in
spades with their unsolicited comments.
Thanks, folks.

* * *

hey bill it as a “cheap trip to a dozen or

so countries.” They are the Vancouver
Folk Music Festival organizers and the
cheap trip referred to is the “early bir
price for a weekend of entertainment at
the festival July 17-19.

Alas, that offer is soon to expire — this
Saturday, June 20, in fact. But for Lower
Mainland readers at least, this notice may
provide enough time. That price for three
evening concerts and two full days of mini

People and Issues

ss ___

concerts and workshops is $45. The full
weekend advanced ticket price is $50, for
more than 60 acts from around the world.
Other than that, it’s $17 for the Friday
evening concert, and $25 for all day Satur-
day and Sunday. Youth 13-18 years are
charged $15 per day, children 3-12 years
cost $3 daily (free Friday night), fixed
income tickets, available only at the Folk
Festival office, are $40, and seniors over 65
get in free.

Aside from the question of price, there’s
the question of quality. This 10th annual
festival features England’s working-class
rocker — or folker, if you prefer — Billy
Bragg, along with countrymen and fellow
topical singers Frankie Armstrong, Roy
Bailey and Leon Rosselson. Arthur John-
stone is a Scottish trade unionist and a
singer of contemporary and traditional
songs. American southern singers and
trade unionists Hazel Dickens and Si Kahn
return, and from Chile, there’s Amauta,
young musicians who were children at the
time of the fascist coup, and representa-
tives of Latin America’s “New Song”
movement. —

Several Canadian performers are fea-
tured, including Bim, Connie Kaldor,
Native singer Winston Wuttunee, Japan-
ese-Canadians Takeo Yamashiro and
Teresa Kobayashi, Shari Ulrich, Themba
Tana, and the Gaelic Cape Breton Show.

The festival is at its traditional location,
Jericho Beach Park, on West Fourth
Avenue in Vancouver. The organizers
note that in the event of a mail strike,
tickets can still be ordered by phoning
VTC/CBO at 280-4444 or the festival
office (3271 Main St. in Vancouver),
879-2931.

Mee Kk

till on the cultural front, and as a

reminder — we noted this in an arti-
cle on Nicaraguan theatre a few issues
back — be ready for two nights of per-
formances by Nicaragua’s Teyocoyani
theatre collective this Saturday and Sun-
day (June 20-21).

The seven-member group performs
plays for workers in factories and peasants
in the field on their country’s colonial and
revolutionary history, and on contempor-
ary problems. They’ve been bringing those
plays to Canadian audiences during a
national tour for the past three weeks. In
Vancouver, they’ll be performing one of
their two plays, Luna Oculta, Luna Clara
(Obscure Moon, Clear Moon) at the Van-
couver East Cultural Centre. Locally the
production is sponsored by the Tools for
Peace project aiding Nicaragua.

Tickets are $9. For further information,
phone 873-1755.

4 PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JUNE 17, 1987