| t will not come as a great surprise to many, we’re sure, that the current renewed efforts by the White House to portray the Soviet Union as ‘‘society without human values”’ (U.S. State Secretary George Schulz’s tirade) and **a state based on callousness and mendacity’’ (U.S. am- bassador to the UN Jeane Kirkpatrick), comes at a time when there has been a new appraisal of Soviet policy in many circles — which, in turn has prompted some jour- nalists to question the traditional media presentation of the Soviet reality. One such indication of that questioning is the summer, 1983 issue of Sources, the twice-yearly special edition of Content magazine which includes a considerable collec- tion of articles together with a listing of hundreds of organizations across the country and persons to contact for each. Both Content and Sources are edited by Toronto-based journalist Barrie Zwicker. The current issue, which focuses on ‘‘War, Peace and the Media”’ contains a number of informative articles on the arms race, the consequences of nuclear war, the “‘big lie’ of the arms race as well as a particularly interesting piece about the U.S. withholding of 95,000 feet of color film shot after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. But particularly revealing is a survey carried out by Sources on the media presentation of the Soviet Union. Four researchers clipped Toronto newspapers over a six- month period, gathering news stories, editorials, cartoons and features about the Soviet Union. The period covered included the death of Leonid Brezhnev and the election of leadership of Yuri Andropov. The results said a lot about the media’s-vaunted objec- tivity. By far the largest number of clippings — 122 in fact — dealt with Soviet spying, real or imagined, past or pre- sent. That total, said Sources, was more that all the clipp- ings dealing with Soviet art, artists, culture, sports, daily living, foreign policy, media, science and travel combined. Stories on Soviet armaments and the ‘‘Soviet threat”’ also figured prominently among the clippings, with the first accounting for 57 items and the second 36. On the other hand, there were only eight clippings on the Soviet economy and just two on Soviet science. The magazine noted, in assessing the survey: “‘Im- placable opponents of the Soviet Union and warm ad- mirers of the USSR alike should equally be demanding better press coverage of that country . “Instead of anything’ approaching an informative, rounded realistic picture of a country the papers themselves repeatedly claim is so important, the public is being mistreated to a hodgepodge of distorting trivia, bor- ing Stereotypes and transparent bias parading as news.”’ t was obvious she had no appreciation of newspapers and deadlines — since she was eight days late — but when Aliya Roseanne Griffin, a new daughter for Tribune editor Sean Griffin and his wife Libby, did decide to come into the world, she was in a considerable hurry. She was born only a short time after her parents arrived at the hospital early in the morning Aug. 26 and weighed in at 3.5 kg. She joins a four-year-old brother Liam who has become something of a veteran of this column, his name having appeared in 1978 when he was born and then again only five months later, when he had to undergo open heart surgery. Ironically, Aliya’s arrival also highlighted some of the problems of health care visited on the province by the Ben- nett government. Grace Hospital, where she was born was touted by the Socreds as a new, modern facility when it was completed last year. Indeed it is, but with typical Socred shortsightedness and parsimony, it was intended to handle only 3,000 births a year — at a time when according to staff and doctors, it is receiving nearly triple that number. is is a history as rich in detail as it is in dedication, and that, coupled with the week’s rushed schedule, resulted in a few errors in the Sept. 2 account of John Starcevie’s contribution to the Partisan struggle in Yugoslavia during World War II. We stated incorrectly that some of the volunteers for that mission spent time in the concentration camps which, from 1940-42, held many Canadian Communists and other anti-fascists. While some volunteers, including -Stareevic, did time for. ‘labor pass none had been interned in the camps. We also erred in stating that John’s original job was to make contact with Tito’s Partisans. In fact, he and others were trained to parachute behind enemy lines and to mix with the local population, the plans for which were cancell- ed when contact with the Partisans was made and the British command discovered the considerable size and military strength of their forces. Apologies also go to John’s wife, Alma, who was incor- rectly identified as ‘‘Anna’’ in the Sept. 2 Tribune. BRITISH COLUMBIA —— Fraser Institute calls shots When the Bennett government in- troduced legislation to abolish human rights protection in B.C., it was carry- ing out the policies advocated by its advisers, the Fraser Institute. Anew book, Discrimination, Affir- mative Action and Equal Opportuni- ty, isa collection of articles by Michael -Walker, director of the Fraser In- stitute and adviser to Bennett, and other economists expressing total op- position to any and all human rights legislation.. They propose that the private sector be left to deal with the issue of human rights and this is exact- ly what the Bennett government has done. “The market test of profit and loss,’’ the authors state in their book, “tends to eliminate from the private sector (through bankruptcy) those who indulge in discriminatory prac- tices.’” This is, of course, patently false. The reason we have human rights legislation is precisely because the private sector engages in, and pro- fits from discrimination, beginning with low wages for women, minority and ethnic groups. They follow this up with the equally absurd charge that ‘“‘laws which con- trol rents, set minimum wage floors, compel equal pay for equal work, en- force union wage levels — all retard market forces which tend to reduce discrimination.”’ They don’t even believé that discrimination exists in Canada, stating that research on the subject is based only on ‘‘anecdotal evidence”’ and ‘“‘emotional reference to earlier periods.”’ Harry Rankin . They reveal their own prejudices when they assert: ‘‘Discrimination is nothing more than the expression of a preference the right to discriminate is a desirable feature of free societies.’ Equally obnoxious and harmful are the views of the Fraser Institute put ‘forward in its 1979 book, The Health care Business, which the Bennett government is now also beginning to implement. The institute advocates the dismantling of the medicare | system, nothing less, and an end to all government funding of health. In its place they propose a ‘‘market-]- oriented health system,’’ based on the following principles: @ Hospital services should be bas- ed on ‘‘stated fees for individual ser- | vices,”’ paid for by the user; : @ ‘Hospitals should be entirely dependent for their revenue on fees- for-service to be paid by individuals or by public and private insurance com: | panies.”’ @ ‘There should be no direct government subsidy for health in- surance or health services.”’ This is the direction in which the Bennett government is moving. It 15 taking its advice and direction from the Fraser Institute which, in turn, 1S | backed and funded by big private cor- porations. Unless the Bennett govkernment is stopped now our whole medicare system will soon be destroyed and health services will be available only to those who have the money to pay for them. — Parents plan public protest as VSB condemns Socred bills Outrage over the provincial govern- ment’s axing of millions of dollars for public education spilled across par-. tisan lines Sept. 6 when Vancouver school trustees from the Non-Partisan Association joined a demand that Bills 3 and 6 be withdrawn. NPA trustees William Brown and Ken Livingston joined independent Tom Alsbury in supporting a motion from the Committee of Progressive Elector’s trustee Pauline Weinstein opposing the ‘‘centralization of power and the erosion of the democratic ~ decision-making process by the pro- vincial government’’ regarding the Public Sector Restraint Act (Bill 6) and the new schools financing act, currently before the legislature. The motion carried 6-2, with NPA trustees Graeme Waymark and Bryan Han- nay opposed. Anger over the bills — one which chops an estimated $16-18 million from the VSB budget for 1984, and the other which allows the Socreds to fire public employees without cause — has also come from the District Parent Representatives, who unanimously’ agreed to call a public meeting on the impact of the cuts for Tuesday, Sept. McCarthy \ ‘upstaged’ at protest ‘Grace McCarthy’ turned up at a demonstration Sept. 6 to lay a few silken words on an audience which was not appeased or pleased at the axing of Ministry of Human Resources’ programs and other fallout from Socred budget legislation. The caricatured McCarthy spoke following a_ perfor- mance by the newly-formed Generic Street Theatre, whose outdoor skit on the legislation drew = ap- preciative laughter at Van- couver's Grandview Park. PACIFIC TRIBUNE— SEPTEMBER 14,. 1983~—Page 2 20, 7:30 p.m. at the Mount Pleasant School. DPR chairman Jake Eng stressed the urgency of the meeting in an inter- view: ‘‘We’re saying to people, ‘You can bring your family, and all the friends you want.’ ”’ The COPE motion follows closely the wording of a message to the educa- tion ministry representing the unanimous opinion of the Courtenay School Board last month, and reflects the position taken by the B.C. School Trustees Association. Its passage by the NPA-dominated school board followed a presentation by VSB senior staff. which roughly outlined the ef- fects of the cuts imposed by the educa- tion ministry. Parents’ and teachers’ represen- tatives packed the Sept. 6 meeting, the first public meeting of the school board since the Socred budget was in- troduced two months ago. While many were pleased at the opposition to the Socred legislation, they express- ed impatience and frustration with the board’s low-key response to a finan- cial crisis that will either chop numerous school programs and ser- vices or result in the firing of a? estimated 500 employees. ‘The board’s position has been thal they don’t want to go public with thé budget cuts,”’ said Weinstein later, ad- ding that COPE trustees have called for a widely-publicized information — meeting by the board. VSB staff are expected to present 4 clearer picture of the effects of the culs | before the parents’ public meeting Sept. 20. But even current estimate show. how severe the cuts are. For example, the ‘‘Ministry Acce? table Budget Level’’ for 1984 allows for 23 FTEs (full-time equivalent) principal positions, when there are some 80 elementary schools, each with |. a principal, in the Vancouver system. The ministry’s budget does not allow for heads of school annexes, or for vice-principals. In another example, the ministry chops by $10,377,000 the budget fo! the VSB’s ‘Function 100 K-7’’, which includes learning assistance» : Kindergarten and library services. . f Those cuts could be even deeper ! enrolment drops in September, t VSB notes.