Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 20, 1979, Winnipeg, Manitoba 6 Winnipeg free july 1979 Winnipeg Freedom of Trade Equality of civil rights Liberty of religion published my a tips week Al 300 Winnipeg r3c 3c he f p Western Telephone 9439331 second in Iii req Lulion number u Poonai publisher is of t r Murray Bur i or mail Rich of Stern Oil flow editor r h Ford pro Tiloi in forum Liberal and sensible the new refugee policy announced by external affairs minister Flora Macdonald and immigration minister Ron Ald Atkey on wednesday is sensible and deserving of it is also in the sense that a Public opinion in favor of much More vigorous measures was already but this is not a particularly serious criticism government is bound in these matters to be More cautious than if policy is to be it must have Public the important thing is that the ministers have been responsive the plans outlined this week will permit an inflow by the end of 1980 of Home seekers from Indochina a total Well in excess of the numbers who came Here from Hungary following the soviet invasion of that unhappy apart from the new target if to reassessment in late 1980 the plan provides for a Matching a Canadian refugee transportation and inter Nal staging for each individual sponsored by private the government will sponsor this arrange ment will apply also to sponsorships already the refugee fund will be set up As a charitable organization under the chairmanship of a prominent Canadian funds flowing in will help to defray the costs of transportation and resettle ment staging being established in Edmonton and will receive the immigrants who will then be passed on in an orderly fashion to their Canadian Destina the policy should be of value in strengthening miss Macdonald hand at the forthcoming International refugee More is involved than the important matter of setting an example and inviting others to play a full what is plainly needed is a meaningful Assurance to the states of first Asylum such As already swamped by refugees and unwilling to accept More without some guarantee that they will not become a permanent and insupportable the number of the homeless is already estimated at while recognizing that resettlement in these circumstances is certain to be a Lon term the conference must act immediately to dispel the crisis Atmo sphere if International action is to be something must also be done to achieve a political it is As the Tokyo Summit to induce the Vietnam government to halt the in this Canada cannot Hope to achieve if by unilateral but it will be an important task of the Geneva conference to explore possible ways in which the Western acting in can bring a salutary pressure to Bear on the Hanoi without a change in vietnamese an already serious problem will become while the end is obvious and it May be difficult in the present state of Southeast Asia to develop an effective membership guaranteed rather than threatening to place Canada manpower students at a disadvantage if Ottawa refuses to pay student Union organizations such As the red River Community College would do Well to reexamine their own positions in student Union the College has an agreement similar to those in effect in the two universities in whereby students Are in that membership in the student association is the learning which Are supported for the most part by Public have set themselves up As enforcers to guarantee it appears that the Federal before the last general had decided to continue to pay tuition fees for students enrolled with the backing of Canada but decided that it would Stop paying Union it was a Correct decision by the Federal and one that has been by the new what the Federal government is in is that it has no right to commit Public Money to the support of a special interest or for its the decision has caused some concern among officials of the red River Community College student who claim that the refusal by Ottawa to pay association dues will Cost the group about a it is interesting to note that the organization is not arguing that Union membership is necessary to the educational it prefers to hide behind the skirts of the the school administration is behaving strangely a senior administration source has listed the ways in which the school can make it difficult for students who do not pay their they can be denied Access to the school denied parking denied the use of physical education equipment and prohibited from participating in student association social in transcripts of Marks and standing certificates can be apart from the participation in student association social or activities that Are in any Way funded by it is difficult to see what grounds a tax funded such As red River Community has for denying such a wide Range of services to students simply because they refuse or Are unable to join a separate organization that has nothing to do with providing Basic it would seem that any student who is Basic rights As being Able to use the school or of obtaining his Marks and should seek Relief in the the decision by Ottawa that it cannot spend tax Money supporting a special interest association is the majority of who contribute the do not expect their taxes to support their special Manitoba Law allows for the payment of Union dues whether or not an individual is a member of a certified bargaining but this Law applies where an individual is paid for work he it should not be interpreted by colleges and universities As a licence to deny the Opportunity for education on the basis of membership in a special or the Lack of secret one of the most surprising and ominous decisions Ever reached by the supreme court of the United states is the recent 5tcm ruling that Ordinary americans have no constitutional right to attend criminal this decision Means that a trial judge in the United states will now have the right to bar the Public and the press from the it will be possible to conduct secret trials that could be As detrimental to the rights of some defendants As was the notorious Treu trial in Montreal some months the justices upheld a decision of the new York state court of appeals that had affirmed the right of a trial judge to hold a pretrial hearing in secret if he found a reasonable probability that pretrial publicity would reduce the defendants chances of getting a fair they vastly extended the scope of this by also holding that trials May be held in secret if the the prosecution and the judge All agree to do pretrial publicity has Long been a matter of controversy in the United the press often goes a great Deal further in publishing material before a trial than would Canadian radio and but the right of the press to publish without prior enshrined in the Constitution As the first was regarded by those citizens framing the Constitution As one of the most vital guarantees against As far As criminal trials Are the intention of avoiding tyranny was also Crystal Clear in the sixth Amend ment made binding on the states of the Union by the later fourteenth amendment which said in All criminal prose the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and Public both these safeguards would appear to have been trampled by this extraordinary decision of the supreme it is almost As if the ghost of King George Iii had been sitting in the room coaching the justices on How to distort and destroy the protections that were put in the Constitution in reaction to his tyrannical the four justices who dissented Felt that the majority decision had overstated the nature of the pretrial publicity that led to this they also that secret judicial proceedings would be prejudicial to the of must be seen in that context is a series of recent decisions by a conservative majority on the court aimed at and reducing the rights the american some of these justices would appear to Harbor deep personal animosity toward the most notably chief Justice Warren at a recent Legal conference to which he had been his face was seen to become contorted into a mask of rage when he saw television cameras he staged a furious walkout seen by millions of american television agreeing to return Only after the press had been thrown the supreme court has a crucial role to play in the system of checks and balances that includes the the executive and the the press also has a crucial a role recognized by the first beyond any current tension Between the court and the press there is the far wider implication of this decision in the International if secret trials can be held in the bastion of the free what complaints can then be made by politicians about secret trials in the soviet Union and in the Ayatollah Khomeini Iran a Gazan rules Gaza by Nehemia Meyers special to the free press Israel Egypt and Israel Are still wrangling Over the question of autonomy in the West Bank and the Gaza a Gazan is already ruling he is major general Moshe israeli military governor of the whose family lived in Gaza for Many and whose ancestors Are buried they and other Gazan jews were forced to flee because of the 1936 Arab in which they probably would have been killed As were dozens of Hebron jews in the 1929 riots had they not been shielded from mob violence by the Elshawa one of whose Rashad Al is the present mayor of senior positions general who Speaks the Lan Guage of Gazan arabs in More ways than runs an administration in which they Only 171 of the people employed by the military government Are israelis All the rest Are Gaza and some of the latter hold very senior so that a decision to give them Complete responsibility for would change very because they essentially run them in an autonomous for health services would no longer be under the supervision of israeli Eli lash and Gazan Hari Abrama but Only of at the same time he would presumably still have available to him the advice of israeli doctors and the continued possibility of sending Ganzans who required special treatment or particularly sophisticated operations to israeli Hospi while much has changed during the 12 years of israeli the refugee Camps some of the people in the Gaza strip still live remain depressing with by the Gaza most depressing of crowded together within its con fines Are half of them children under the age of As Ganzans thanks to a 75 per cent reduction in infant mortality under israeli administration have the highest net reproduction rate in the in an attempt to alleviate suffering and pave the Way for an eventual modes Visendi with the the military government some ten years ago initiated a resettlement program at five Sites along the within its refugee families were encouraged to buy specially constructed Semi detached Homes at heavily subsidized prices or to obtain plots again below Cost they could build their own Homes in accordance with their own but for a Long while there was limited response from the mainly because the Palestine liberation organization branded participation in such schemes As collaboration and did its Best to kill the since the egyptian israeli talks attitudes have changed and families have Al ready been rehoused or at least allocated plots All this without losing their refugee status and some of the Homes built by the ordinarily with family Are surprisingly Lux boasting imported italian tiles in the Kitchen and several spacious at the same toilets Are still of the traditional squat labor shortage Given political stability and adequate there is no reason Why the refugee families still in the Camps should not obtain decent housing just As they have obtained decent the where before the six Day War unemployment was almost is now suffering from a labor shortage thanks to virtually unlimited jobs for Ganzans in Israel and stepped up development in the strip to be has been modernized and requires less Man pow but a modern Industrial zone with 25 enterprises built on israeli initiative near the pre1967 Border provides jobs for some 800 to people and even the old 7up As the sign at its Entrance in is enjoying new with most of its bottles being distributed in the Tel Aviv another indication of the changing times is the thriving Gaza Gold where several dozen craftsmen Mer chants make and sell their expensive and despite the rocketing Cost of sales Are because residents of the strip most of whom earn a great Deal and spend very Little Trust Nei ther conventional Banks nor paper cur thus it is common for local women to serve As walking with two dozen Gold bracelets on each while this might seem these human Banks Are reasonably Safe from Are the other people who live in or visit in contrast to the situation that existed before the Tough and severely criticized antiterrorism Campaign carried out in the Early 1970s by israeli general Ariel who is now serving As minister of the area is today for than Jerusa Lem or Tel this is plainly visible on the where one no longer sees patrols of tense israeli soldiers with their guns at the and where people seem completely at Plo presence statistics Back up this visual in for in the last six years not a single jew and Only a handful of arabs have been killed by terrorists in the though they have by no Means the Plo presence made itself Felt a few weeks ago when its members murdered Hashem he a moslem religious dignitary and Leader of the pro egyptian ele ments in As a most Ganzans keep their ideas to but it appears that the great majority want to get rid of the israelis losing the benefits of israeli employment and in that respect the example set by the egyptians after they took Over the Sinai town of Al Arish subsequently forced residents to give up their jobs in Israel has been most Nehemia Meyers is Public relations director at the Weizmann Institute at unfair to Jerry your second editorial on Jerry Rawl Ings of Ghana although much better than the first still suffered from twisted Gross misrepresentation and unfair evaluation of you seem to have very Little appreciation of the Gravity of the problems of corruption and social injustice in May i refer you to a political corruption the Ghana by Victor Levine Stanford University your reference to the late and former head of As an unfortunate victim or As a sort of sacrificial Lamb was rather ill con Cei Ved and How would you feel if you were diabetic and rushed to the Hospital Only to be told that there was no foreign Exchange to import insulin yet your head of Acheam is alleged to have stashed away Over million of Public Money in Swiss and other foreign Bank accounts and All attempts to repatriate this Money have met with Little Success perhaps million May seem insignificant to you but that is about 10 per cent of Ghanas Export proceeds 10 per cent of Canadian Export proceeds is about How would you feel if you were lying in Hospital awaiting blood transfusion but the refrigeration equipment had broken Down no foreign Exchange to import the spares yet the wife of a ghanaian general managed to carry in a suitcase to London for shopping Ashanti december How would you feel if after being bitten by a Rabid dog you were told that there was no anti rabies Medicine no foreign Exchange for its import but one of Acheampong Captain diverted to his own personal use the foreign Exchange proceeds of a whole shipload of Ghanas Export crop West August How would you feel if you were told that you could not have some non elec Tive surgery no foreign Exchange to repair the broke Down surgical ment and that some with the Connivance of certain Central Bank had swindled the country of million in foreign Exchange ghanaian August these Are hypothetical medical questions to dramatize the Issue of venality but they could have Well this was Why i asked in my first do you know How letters the Winnipeg free press welcomes letters from the authors name will be and All letters Are subject to Jerry Rawlings Many ghanaian died indirectly As a consequence of his inanities and megalomania now to no hypothetical How would you feel if your wife or a was jailed for 12 months for Selling a packet of sugar for above the control yet Acheampong was running an automobile Dealership with the monopolistic privilege of Selling expensive Audi cars to government establishments at inflated prices what would you think when you read that two rogues were jailed 30 years 15 years each for breaking into a House and stealing some of its con tents ghanaian August but former minister of was Only to forfeit five houses and refund unlawfully acquired during his term of office to the state daily november what would you think if you read that Acheampong and his commissioner for were negotiating for Ghana a billion loan from a private one mauritanian by name of Gafoor residing in and that under the terms of the agree ment if Ghana refused to proceed with the loan it was nevertheless liable to pay Gafoor million May How would you feel if your pay Cheque was shrinking because of inflation estimated to be More than 100 per cent Legon january and that Acheampong interfered with the Normal operation of the Central Bank causing the Over printing and Over Issue of Money Legon May and he used Public office and Money to distribute largesse posh cars to More than 14 girlfriends what would you say As a if seeing your tax Money squandered and you vented your frustrations and anger publicly Only to become one of the Over 451 persons unlawfully detained in preventive Cus Tody in their own interest West Afri january or you joined University students and professors on a demonstration to protest the injustice and inanities of the regime but you were brutally suppressed and As even denied medical attention for your injuries West Jan uary also Jan uary then you heard that Acheampong has been ousted from office but As a punishment for All his perfidious atrocities and injustice Akuffo merely re leased him from stripped him of All his military honors and restricted him to his not a single cent of his Fortune has been made available to the ministry of health so that you can have your Insu anti rabies shot and nonselective of that you were Lucky to be you said Acheampong was put to death without due process of which Law made by whom a civilian Law which was selectively applied to favor the Rich and corrupt you wrote that there was no pretence of a hear ing or of any possibility of a Legal defence for the unfortunate this is a Gross the armed forces revolutionary Council set up a military court to try persons found to have committed various crimes against the state Ghana Ghana High Otta june As to the fairness of the trial or the severity of the punish ment under military Law i do not have sufficient information to pronounce let us not lose sight of the fact that the military everywhere operates by a much More stringent disciplinary code than that of the a soldiers duty is to protect and serve not to plunder and rape Jerry says he wants to fight social clean up the army and step Down in your attempt to Brand him As a bar Baric dictator or despot constitutes a premature and insipid prejudgment on a highly Complex since 1966 the system of government in Ghana has been one of Kleptocracy government by armed Rob ghanaian experience with corruption has indeed been we have tried your so called civilized since 1961 Ghana has set up More commissions of enquiry into Trade and account ing malpractices than any other devel Oping country a total of More than 54 including about 11 currently How would you feel when these com missions merely ask corrupt officials who have stolen Public property to refund or forfeit such property to the state stealing Public property is not a crime but stealing private property attracts in some cases penalties As severe As 15 years in is this Justice Are these corrupt officials repentant or remorseful this letter should not be misinterpreted As a Blanket endorsement of the executions by Jerry Al though i regard corruption As de Spica i personally find executions morally revolting and i wish lives had been your uninformed and unguarded editorial with out any appreciation of the complexities of the situation or the atrocities and Preda City of the Acheampong regime was morally unacceptable it was treacherous and unfair to the victims of Acheampong Meg Aloma dead or alive including some of my relatives and George a Wittey department of economics University of Manitoba Winnipeg Happy 85th birthday Campbell born july ;