30/12/2007

The Peace Calendar Vol.1 No.06, July 1983


Table of Contents
1. Griffiss AFB protest walk
2. Greens’ problems not unique to Canada
3. Taking the first step
4. Cruise testing request: Free vote refused
5. Battle not over
6. That’s Not the Point!
7. Hiroshima relived
8. Please read this!
9. Network News
10. REVIEW: When The Wind Blows
11. REVIEW: WarGames
12. The Sound of Peace
13. Resources

1. Griffiss AFB protest walk

On December 16th last year, at a location on the Griffiss Air Force Base known only as “Category A Area,” five B-52 bombers became the first in the US to be equipped with the latest nuclear weapon from the Pentagon — the cruise missile.

Each B-52 carries 12 missiles and is on alert status 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Each missile is 15 times as powerful as the Hiroshima bomb.

The Griffiss AFB is located at Rome, New York, 240 miles southeast of Toronto. If the June 13 US request to test the cruise is approved by the Canadian government. B-52s equipped with the air-launched cruise missile will take off from Griffiss and fly to the Primrose weapons-testing range in Alberta where the test will take place.

The Alliance for Non-Violent Action, a collective of non-violent direct action groups dispersed across Ontario and western Québec, is planning an international march and protest against the deployment of the ALCM and the impending testing of the cruise guidance system later this year. This protest action includes co-ordinated American and Canadian marches from the Canadian border to Griffiss, and a demonstration and civil disobedience at the base.

The joint Canadian-American action is called the International Days of Resistance, and has three objectives; to protest testing and deployment of the cruise; to draw attention to the ways in which national borders are used to protect the interests of the powerful; and to strengthen links among movements resisting militarism in Canada and the US and those struggling against the deployment of the cruise and Pershing II missiles in Europe.

The International Days of Resistance will begin on July 19th with art American march from the Canadian border near Thousand Islands toward Griffiss.

The Canadian part of the march will begin in Kingston on July 21, and arrive at the Thousand Islands Bridge. east of Ganonoque, on the evening of July 22.

After an international peace picnic on July 23, the Canadians will be joined by members of New York State peace groups for a joint US-Canadian border crossing. If the crossing is permitted, people will either proceed by bus to join the American march, or go directly to the Rome-Syracuse area to prepare for the July 27th action.

The march and demonstration are being planned to accommodate the possibility that the July 23rd joint border crossing may not be permitted. In preparing people for the action, emphasis has been placed on the significance of the international borders, and the reasons why peaceful protesters and people with different political views are often refused entry into a country, while cruise missiles, military advisors, and transnational capital can cross the border at will. If the march is stopped at the border, an action of some sort will take place there rather than at the base.

Organizers are hoping for a large turnout for the rally and picnic on July 23rd, and supporters are expected to come from southern Ontario, Québec, upstate New York, and the women’s peace camp at the Seneca Army Depot near Geneva, New York.

For more information of the walk and Griffiss action, contact the Cruise Missile Conversion Project at 416-xxx-xxxx. Buses for the July 23rd border rally and picnic are available for $12 return.

2. Greens’ problems not unique to Canada

By Beth Richards

“Think globally. act locally” is the catch-phrase for a new voice in Canadian politics — the Green Party of Canada.

Several months ago, while a fledgling British Columbia Green Party prepared to run candidates in the May 5th provincial election, Ted Mousseau, a Vancouver airline pilot, flew across the country using routine lay-overs to contact anyone interested in forming a federal party. The response, says Mousseau, was overwhelming. Within a short time embryonic parties were formed in Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba and Québec.

Green Parties have formed already in West Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Sweden and Australia as the peace movement seeks to develop an independent political focus, distinct from the traditional left vs. right orientation.

Peace, ecology and life are what the Green Party of Canada stands for, say its organisers. But ask any NDP, Liberal or Tory supporter and he or she will tell you that their party stands for the same things.

So what is the difference?

According to Trevor Hancock of the Green Party of Ontario. “There is a vertical political axis in addition to the usual horizontal (left vs. right) axis. This vertical axis runs along another political spectrum — that of large- vs. small-scale. In our experience, the Big Left has more in common with the Big Right than the Big Left has in common with the Small Left, and so on.”

Despite their distinction an immediate question raised by the creation of this new party is how the Greens will relate to the NDP. A more fundamental issue is whether the Green Party should exist as a separate party at all. It may simply split the NDP vote.

These problems are not unique to Canadian politics; they have arisen wherever a Green Party has come into existence. In West Germany, the peace movement became thoroughly disillusioned with the SDP before it broke ranks and formed a new party. In Britain, there are so many differing perspectives that the peace movement has cooperated with several different parties whenever possible or necessary. In other words the situation in each country is unique, and the green movement has responded accordingly, cooperating at times, and standing firmly alone at others.

The Green Party of Canada, younger than all the rest, has yet to formulate firm policy, or even so develop a defined party structure. These deficiencies will perhaps he rectified in September when the Greens hold their first general convention.

In the meantime, Green Party organizers hope to attract supporters from all sides of the political spectrum. “We know the NDP seems to be more concerned with environmental issues than the other parties.” said Ontario Secretary Jutta Keylwerth, “but we think you shouldn’t have to be socialist to pursue these goals.” The NDP, say the Greens, has a vested interest in representing labour. The other parties have their vested interests as well. The Greens, by contrast advocate decentralisation of power.

This stance has received its share of criticism. As one Toronto ecologist put it, “Ultimately we all want to decentralize, but to pretend you aren’t aligned with any particular political force is highly idealistic; it doesn’t fit in at all with what’s going on in society.”

Many activists see the Green Party not as a viable political alternative, but rather as the voice of human conscience in Canadian politics. As such, the Green Party may have a valid role to play. In their obsession with day-to-day decision-making, the other parties would do well to get a little prodding from a party concerned with more fundamental human issues.

In B.C., the Greens have run candidates in four provincial ridings. Although they managed to gather only 3,000 votes, they saw their participation in the election as a success.

The Greens don’t seem especially concerned about winning votes in an ‘all-or-nothing’ electoral system. Without the benefit of proportional representation enjoyed by their West German counterparts, the Greens’ prospect of winning parliamentary seats is dismal indeed. But Ted Mousseau is not perturbed. “The process itself.” he says, “the whole way politics is practised in thus country, verges on the immoral. We’re going to try to improve the political process just by virtue of out naivete and innocence.”

We’re not interested in defending a particular quality of life,” says Mousseau. “We’re interested in defending life itself.” Survival is by no means a new concern. But the whole prospect of annihilation has never been as appalling as it is today. As a reflection of an emerging consciousness and a global perspective, the green phenomenon is a welcome element in the political arena. Even if the Greens don’t win in a traditional sense, they may eventually play a valuable role in influencing the policy of traditional parties.

3. Taking the first step

By Eudora Pendergrast

In a dramatic show of unity and conviction, over 200 groups representing hundreds of thousands of Canadians have endorsed an open letter to Prime Minister Trudeau opposing cruise testing in Canada and calling for “an initial unilateral gesture towards a nuclear freeze.”

The open letter was drafted by peace activists in Toronto, and is accompanied by a list of 90 endorsing groups, 14 of which are networks or coalitions representing as many as 40 member groups.

The letter was delivered to Prime Minister Trudeau. House Leader Erik Neilsen, P.C. Leader Brian Mulroney, NDP Leader Ed Broadbent and the president of the Press Association on June 27, and has been distributed to the press across Canada.

In Toronto, Lee Axon, of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, was one of the principal organizers behind the letter. She notes that the letter deliberately presented the case for the West’s taking an initial unilateral gesture that would be more than just words, and would thus be different from policies, such as no first use, proposed by the Soviets.

An example of such a gesture would be a decision by the West not to deploy cruise and Pershing II’s in Europe.

Axon also emphasised the importance for the peace movement of openly acknowledging its support for the kind of initial unilateral gesture called for in the letter.

Copies of the open letter and the list of endorsing groups are available at the CANDIS office in Holy Trinity Church.

4. Cruise testing request: Free vote refused

By Eudora Pendergrast

On June 13, the United States formally requested permission to test the air-launched cruise missile in Canada. The request was made under the terms of the umbrella weapon-testing agreement between Canada and the US signed by Defense Minister Gilles Lamontagne last April 21.

Despite the fact that polls show that a majority of Canadians oppose testing, and despite repeated calls for an open debate on the issue, government refused to permit a free vote on the US request.

Instead, the debate in the House of Commons on June 14 was on a resolution put forward by NDP Leader Ed Broadbent, calling on the House to express its opposition to the escalation of the nuclear arms race by any country and, in particular, to the testing in Canada of any nuclear weapon, including the cruise.

Any motion put forward by an opposition party can be put to a free vote if the leaders of all parties represented in the House agree. In this instance, the Liberal leader would not agree, and the motion was predictably defeated by a coalition of Liberals and Conservatives.

Several MPs refused to be bound by their parties, however. Liberal MP Warren Allmand, along with Conservative MPs John Fraser, Doug Roche, Jack Murta and Walter McLean, voted in favour of the motion.

Liberal MPs David Weatherhead, Doug Frith, Peter Itinnuar, Ron Irwin. Paul McRae and George Baker abstained.

In Toronto, local disarmament groups and peace activists held a press conference on June 14 at the CANDIS office in Holy Trinity Church. ACT (Against Cruise Testing Coalition), CANDIS, the Canadian Friends Service Committee, the Cruise Missile Conversion Project, Science for Peace, the Toronto Disarmament Network, and the Voice of Women all called on Prime Minister Trudeau to refuse the request.

Written statements were read from Bob White of the United Auto Workers Union of Canada and United Church Moderator Dr. Clarke MacDonald, opposing the testing of the Cruise and calling for a free and open debate in Parliament before a final decision is made.

According to Matthew Clark of the TDN, “The Liberal leadership might win a debate in the House of Commons with Tory support, but they would lose in the eyes of the public — a majority of Canadians Oppose cruise testing, and the polls prove it.”

Metta Spencer, sociology professor, said that it was up to the Canadian people to “send a message to the government that they may not gamble with the survival of the human species and the life of the planet.”

All those present agreed that it is imperative that Canadians of all political parties continue to express their opposition to Canada’s involvement in the nuclear arms race, regardless of the outcome of a partisan vote in the House.

Bert Keser of ACT noted that the process has already been delayed by months as the result of Canadian protests, and that the actual tests could be delayed or even halted by widespread reaction to an agreement to test the cruise, He said that massive demonstrations would be held on the Saturday following the signing of the agreement.

Demonstrations planned to occur before a decision has been reached, are also crucial if Canadians are to affect government policy.

The August 6th Hiroshima Day demonstration at Queen’s Park in Toronto will have opposition to the cruise as a theme. October 22nd demonstrations in Toronto, across Canada and around the world will be specifically directed against the deployment of the cruise and Pershing II missiles in Europe.

These demonstrations will permit Canadians to tell their political leaders that they must act in good conscience in the interests of the Canadian people and the human race, and not simply in accordance with the dictates of party politics.

5. Battle not over

Québec MP Warren Allmand has said “… I encourage Canadians to continue their campaign, to continue their lobbying. The battle to stop this weapons testing in still on and until they actually sign the cruise missile agreement, we’re going to keep pushing.”

He feels the government may be influenced by recent statements made by Canada’s chairman of NATO’s military committee, Admiral Robert Falls, who has said publicly that the West could unilaterally reduce its nuclear arsenal without affecting deterrence.

According to Allmand, several cabinet ministers are arguing against the cruise testing.

6. That’s Not the Point!

In a taped interview broadcast June 15, US Ambassador to Canada Paul Robinson assured Canadians that any flaws in the Cruise missiles’ delivery systems “will be worked out before there’s any testing over Canadian soil.” He went on to say “I shouldn’t think there would be any danger whatsoever in Canada or to Canadians.”

We’re so relieved, Mr Ambassador!

7. Hiroshima relived

By Ian Orenstein

On August 6, 1945, the city of Hiroshima was hit by one of the Earth’s first nuclear weapons. Three days later another bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Two hundred thousand people were killed immediately by these explosions. 130,000 more died soon after from wounds and radiation-induced cancer, People in those cities still die from the residual effects of radiation.

For years now, August 6, Hiroshima Day, has been commemorated around the world. The group Hiroshima and Nagasaki Relived have, in the part, commemorated the day here in Toronto. This year the group plans a “War Crimes Tribunal,” to be held on August 9, the date of the Nagasaki explosion. On the same day the Cruise Missile Conversion Project plans to picket Litton Systems Industries,

On August 6, Hiroshima Day, a coalition of the Toronto Disarmament Network (TDN) and ACT (Against Cruise Testing) will sponsor a major demonstration under the slogans “Hiroshima — Never Again” and “Refuse the Cruise.”

“Hiroshima symbolizes what could happen to the whole world,” says Matthew Clark, Chairperson of TDN. “As people become more concerned with the nuclear arms race, they look to Hiroshima Day as a way to express concern.”

Anne Adelson, a member of the TDN Coordinating Committee and active in the Planning Committee for Hiroshima Day, says “Everyone in the world must ensure that Hiroshima never happens again. If it did happen, the world would be a Hiroshima. Computers are eliminating human intervention, making retaliation immediate.” Regarding the second theme of the Day, “Refuse the Cruise,” Adelson says, “To test the cruise is an endorsement of the arms race.”

On the morning of August 6, people are asked to gather at two different places: outside the Castle Frank Subway, and at Christie Pits at 11:00 am. People will march from both points at noon, and will meet at the corner of University Ave. and Bloor. From there they will walk to Queen’s Park for a major demonstration which will begin at 1:00.

The focus of the 1:00 demonstration will he a “die-in” to commemorate the destruction at Hiroshima. There will also be a program of events and speakers, including a Hiroshima survivor. People are requested to wear black arm bands.

8. Please read this!

If you’re reading this, it’s a miracle. We have been plagued by every conceivable problem in producing this issue of The Peace Calendar. We won’t bore you with the details, but if we’ve spelled someone’s name wrong, or made a mistake in the listings, please don’t judge us too harshly.

This fact brings up an important point. Last month, we printed a plea for your support. We want to take this occasion to thank the new staff members for their invaluable help. However, we didn’t receive all the help we need, as evidenced by this month’s production difficulties. There are several positions that particularly need to be filled by volunteers.

In addition, we have several odd jobs and 1-day-a-month jobs that need to be done. And we need names of a few people we could call on in a pinch for each type of job: volunteer labour is erratic because of other time constraints.

If you’d like to contribute your energy to the Calendar, please call. Ask for Jon Spencer at xxx-xxxx. Thank you for reading this.

9. Network News

Peace Petition Caravan Update

Plans for the Peace Petition Caravan have consolidated now with the main caravan taking place in late spring 1984.
On June 29th the National Committee of the Peace Petition Caravan met in Ottawa to elaborate and confirm these plans. Headquarters for the Peace Petition Caravan are now in Ottawa at the Peace Centre.
Contact: Jamie Scott, Tony Webb or Dave Langille at (6l3) xxx-xxxx.

New Peace Groups

If you are forming or have formed a new peace group contact CANDIS at xxx-xxxx and we will announce your group in the next Peace Calendar.

NWFZ Campaign

Motion Rejected

In process

Motion Passed

The Peace Calendar will be publishing monthly tabs of all places in Canada attempting and succeeding at establishing Nuclear Weapon Free Zones. Please keep us informed of these areas by phoning us at (416) xxx-xxxx or writing us C/O CANDIS, to Trinity Sq.. Toronto, ON.

10. REVIEW: When The Wind Blows

By Raymond Briggs
Penguin Books $3.95

By Jon Spencer

James and Hilda Bloggs are two innocents affected by a situation beyond their control, even beyond their understanding. They find themselves in the midst of a nuclear war. They are well-intentioned, ordinary people trying to do what they believe is correct, but, like many of us, their attitudes and beliefs are relics from a pre-nuclear age remnants of wars gone by.

The Bloggs believe that by using modern scientific methods they can weather the storm. They prepare for several days before the bomb, and we find ourselves hoping foe a happy ending. But, because they don’t fully understand the nuclear bomb, they systematically do every single thing they are not supposed to do. Because the Bloggs live in the countryside, they are not killed in the blast. Yet they never really understand nuclear fallout, and the last few pages of the book prove the old cliché the survivors will envy the dead.

The naïveté of the characters is genuine, but it also reflects the naïveté of government leaders who speak of “winnable nuclear wars” and believe that there is security in nuclear parity.

James Bloggs is concerned about the international situation, and he tries to inform himself about nuclear war In doing so, he becomes a firm believer in the official rhetoric proudly reciting the litany of deterrence, even after the bomb has left its trail of destruction. He is proud of the scientists who developed such an effective killing device and is certain, in the beginning that the “good guys” will prevail over the Russkies.

Although When the Wind Blows is in comic-strip format, it is anything but a children’s book. To the contrary — the pictures provide a subtlety of expression that contributes to the impact of the story.

Wind has been described as a black comedy, hut this is not entirely accurate. The book is amusing, but the reader doesn’t laugh at the comic remarks; the humour simply gives the book char-character. Books with this personal a focus can easily slip into melodrama, a trap carefully avoided here.

Herein lies the real success of Wind; its message is powerful, but its delivery is anything but heavy-handed. This is a hook that should be on everybody’s reading list. Buy several copies, and give some to your friends. It takes less than art hour to read, but allow some time after reading to think, to cry, and to call your M.P.

11. REVIEW: WarGames

A John Badham film, starring Matthew Broderick, Dabney Coleman, Ally Sheedy and John Wood. United Artists 1983.

By Jon Spencer and Charlie Wiener

David is a product of the computer age. For him, technology is a series of challenges, none of them insurmountable. His home computer allows him to plug into the international information/ telecommunications network, a place more real to him than his home town. David routinely changes his grades by interfacing with the school computer, and he can function as his own bank teller or travel agent without leaving his bedroom.

In his search for greater challengers, David tries to break into a Silicon Valley software plant iii order to access an unreleased video game. Instead, he finds his electronic way into the NORAD defense computer’s war simulation program — code-named JOSHUA.

The JOSHUA program presents David with a master menu of games of strategy, from chest to global thermonuclear war. Needless to say. he chooses the latter, and, as he later learns, his choice starts the clock ticking toward World War III.

Computer assisted

Throughout the movie, David’s main assistance comes from computers — they even help him win a girl, Jennifer, when he ups her biology grade from a ‘D’ to an ‘A.’ But in the end. David must put his case before another human being, JOSHUA’s programmer, a middle-aged genius whose personal despair has desensitized him to the hopes of others, especially tire young.

David and his friend Jennifer are wonderfully familiar characters, and the first half of the film is filled with believable humour. What does a chief military adviser do with his gum when presidential aides arrive? (He gives it to his secretary, of course, who considers it for a moment. and pops it in her mouth.) Once the realism and rapport are established, they carry the film.

Unfortunately, parts of the movie really need to be carried. Several of the adult characters — the jaded computer scientist, the general and the senior defense adviser — are not much more than cardboard cut-outs, stereotypes without dimension or depth. Never mind that many people see most generals as one-dimensional; it would have more reassuring to see a complex. rational person portrayed in the role.

The producers of WarGames have repeatedly stated that the events in the movie are all plausible. This is probably true. Gaining access to the defense computers, picking electronic locks, avoiding Ma Bell’s long distance charges — much of this is likely. What isn’t so likely are the James Bond/Walt Disney-style coincidences that guide David in his attempt to save the world.

Because WarGames starts off on the right foot, however, if is easy to become engrossed in the story. Hollywood, for all its faults, has been making this type of movie for years, and is very good at it.

The real importance of this film, however, is its audience. WarGames is not pitched at the peace crowd, but rather at people who will identify with its characters — teenagers and parents, bureaucrats and technophiles, video addicts and computer “hackers.”

The movie ignores the finer points of the theory of deterrence. and it doesn’t delve too deeply into any question. But it does give its audience a fundamental understanding of the problem: No, there are no winners in a nuclear war.

Because the intended audience of WarGames differs from that of “If You Love This Planet,” for example, many people will understand — for the first time — the reason for disarmament, Perhaps the real measure of the success of a film such as WarGames is its ability to motivate its audience. Leaving the movie theatre, several of the most unlikely people were heard to say makes ya think, doesn’t it? WarGames can plant the seed of concern in people’s minds, and many of them will now read those newspaper articles that never interested them before.

Like The China Syndrome, WarGames is an issue film, one which succeeds because of its captivating excitement and popular appeal.

12. The Sound of Peace

By Harriet Eisenkraft

Members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) added a harmonious note to the nuclear disarmament movement in a free outdoor concert at High Park on June 19. A crowd of 3,000 listened to a selection of international classical music, played for peace, and led by Andrew Davis, the orchestra’s conductor.

Davis, 75 TSO players and several additional Toronto musicians donated their time and considerable talent in an effort to promote bilateral disarmament.

“Many of us feel that the nuclear arms race is out of control,” said Davis, “and we are using the healing power of music, the best means we have, to make that statement.”

The concert was coordinated by Judy Loman, the TSO harpist, who came up with the idea while the orchestra was touring East and West Europe last winter. She said the musicians had opportunities to discuss antiwar events going on in Europe, particularly the women’s peace camp at Greenham Common in Britain.

As a result of this European tour, Davis and most of the The musicians decided to participate in the first peace concert by symphony players in Canada, entitled “The Sound of Peace.”

It was a perfect day for an outdoor concert and people in the audience clearly enjoyed themselves and appreciated the program. But many said they came for more than just entertainment.

“I’m here because I’m interested in the case,” said Gareth Blyth, who was celebrating Father’s Day with his daughter. “We must have peace or we won’t have any more music.”

Davis, who called himself a “new peace activist,” read telegrams of support from politician:, religious leaders and artists. Among these were the mayor of Hiroshima, Takeshi Araki, authors Margaret Atwood and Adele Wiseman, actor Paul Newman and Seiji Ozawa, former conductor of the TSO and now conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Loman said that “worldwide nuclear disarmament is the common consensus” amongst all who performed. She was elated with the audience turnout and response.

Before concluding the concert, with the last movement of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, Davis drew spirited and sustained applause when he told the audience, “It is time to stand up and he counted; we can no longer sit back.”

The 75-minute programme included Rossini’s Thieving Magpie overture, the second movement of Handel’s Water Music, the Blue Danube Waltz by Johann Strauss, Polonaise by Tchaikovsky and Leonard Bernstein’s overture to Candide.

13. Resources

Suggested Readings

Suggested Film

Educational Kit

[/peacecalendar] permanent link