Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 5, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press tuesday. May 5, 1981 religious Divide is a Stone Wall focus by Robert a. Erlandson Baltimore Sun Belfast Mommy what s a plastic four year old Niall Davey asked his Mother. They did t shoot any plastic bul replied Ann Davey 44, a slender attractive housewife who lives on the peace line Between protestant Anh Catholic Belfast. They were All talking about the shooting at said Bridget Davey 11, when they came to col Lect the kids just the shots involved were fired a few blocks away on the Springfield Road at a passing armoured land Rover of the Royal Ulster constabulary. The Bullet pocked car with its contingent of armed policeman had stopped in front of the Davey Bombay Street Home blocking the path of the taxi waiting for the reporter inside the Davey Home. While the officers radioed for identification checks on the taxi Driver arid the reporter mrs. Davey an ardent and angry Republican ordered one con stable out of the shelter of her doorway and slammed the door behind him. The officer who wore a flak jacket and carried a carbine moved next door where Teresa Magee came out quickly to scoop her two week old granddaughter from her Carriage and hurry her inside. Other Heads popped out of upstairs windows along the Street to order children inside. It was just one More incident in a growing list More serious some less accumulating As tension Rose during the death watch on Republican hunger striker Bobby Sands. Bombay Street where the houses were burned out in sectarian rioting in 1969 and rebuilt in the 1970s As a Row of four bedroom houses is on the Cath Olic Side of the Belfast a High Wall of Stone and corrugated Iron and barbed wire that blocks off streets and separates the Falls Road area from the protestant Shankill Road area. It is a known Flash Point for potential violence. From their rear windows the Davey can look across at the old Brick two up two Down houses on the other Side of the line on protestant Cupar Street. Barbed wire coils along the rear Walls Between them the Back windows Are covered with wire Grilles and there Are Grille arrangements Over the Small rear patios to catch the missiles bricks bottles even Small pieces of broken furniture that Are heaved Over in both directions. Armed soldiers in flak jackets Elizabeth Wallace Grey haired sprightly and protestant has lived on Cupar Street for 41 years. She says she is Over 20" and has been a widow for 27 years. According to one of her few remaining neighbors she is Well Over 80. Mrs. Wallace has Only lived in her present House about 10 years. Until the 1969 riots she lived farther Down the Japan s minor concessions by Joseph Kraft special to the free press Washington after a Long Wran Gle with Japan the . Has once again obtained a trivial Concession on a Domestic sore Point Auto exports. The japanese have once again come away uncommitted on a major International Issue Security in the Pacific. But to that familiar imbalance there is now added a new and disquieting feature. On the eve of a state visit prime minister Zenko Suzuki has raised Japan s voice against the . In a tone of unmistakable irritation. Achieving a fair balance Between this country and the land of the rising Sun to be sure is intrinsically hard. The . Emerged from the second world War As the Only Power in the Pacific by wiping out Japan with atomic weapons. The japanese recovered by organizing their Economy for International Competition particularly in the ., which retained a relatively disorganized Economy. The atomic experience provided Japan a place to hide on larger issues of International politics. Even now the defence budget consumes about one per cent of japanese output a fifth of the comparable american figure. Economic disorganization repeatedly led american officials negotiating with Japan to emphasize symptomatic aches and pains As distinct from under lying disease. For most of the 1960s and 1970s, the . Concentrated on such matters As limiting japanese textile exports and promoting the Sale of american planes to Nippon airways. In the last years of the last decade events created an opening for a better balance. A surge of soviet air and naval strength in the Pacific aroused apprehension in Japan. American Power was drawn away from the Pacific toward the persian Gulf. After the soviet inva Sion of Afghanistan Japan responded to american pleas for sanctions by curbing Trade. With Russia far More than other allies. The Reagan administration seemed ideally placed to continue the favourable trend. As a free Enterprise enthusiast the president promised to keep hands off competitive trading patterns. He and his advisers emphasized instead the importance of stronger efforts by . And its allies against the soviet Union. But the Reagan administration was pushed by american manufacturers into a negotiation with Japan on Auto exports. At length despite disclaimers american officials went to the extent of transmitting to Tokyo numerical tar gets for voluntary limits by Japan. Specifically the . Sought a reduction of Auto exports from Over 1.8 million to somewhere Between 1.6 and 1.4 million annually for a period of three years. Moreover the president under pressure from farm interests and in deference to a Campaign pledge but without any foreign policy justification lifted the Grain embargo which the . Had applied As a chief Sanction against Russia after Afghanistan. Thus the stage was set for a reversion of japanese american relations to the familiar pattern. The Auto agreement was announced in Tokyo on May 1, with an american official special Trade representative William Brock standing by As witness to the fact that a formal Deal had been done. Japan gave far less than the . Had asked. The Accord stipulates a reduction to 1.68 million autos during the first year a lesser reduction the second year and a wait and see Posi Tion for the third year. The Relief is not enough to be of significant help to the distressed american Auto makers. The More so As the administration in keep ing with its ideological impulses has not pushed the Domestic Industry to be More competitive on prices and wages. The in commitment on Pacific Secu Rity was announced by prime minister Suzuki in a press conference with american correspondents held in Tokyo on april 28. Suzuki rejected Point Blank suggestions for a serious increase in Japan s defence role. He said though an economic Power we Are determined not to become a Mili tary Power. We would not conceive of for example filling the void created by the seventh Fleet moving to the persian Gulf. In addition Suzuki took the . To task for lifting the Grain embargo. He called the decision and said it left him but he made Plain Japan would now move to in crease Trade with the soviet Union. 1 cannot remember nor can anybody i know so Clear a negative statement about the . From a japanese prime minister in the Post War Era. While some tactical and personal factors May involved Suzuki is also saying that Japan is fed up with paying penalties for doing things Well. Suzuki s remarks Are a reminder that the Reagan administration has not yet developed a systematic White House operation for managing the interplay among Campaign promises economic interests and foreign policy. Block but she said hoodlums from both wrecked and looted her House and All those near it. In the few blocks of Cupar Street Only five houses Are still occupied mrs. Wallace s and the two beside her and two houses on the other Side of the narrow litter strewn Street. The other houses have their windows and doors sealed with Concrete blocks. But Many of the roofs gape open to the sky their slate torn away the victims of Young vandals according to David Bell 67, a retired shipyard worker and mrs. Wallace s next door neighbor. Mrs. Wallace showed the stones bottles cans and debris in her Patio. The police know about it but they told me not to disturb it until they can Check it More closely but i think that will take a one missile was a Large red Brick. I Don t know How a youngster could have thrown she said. The called the Berlin Wall by some people was set up in 1972 to prevent sectarian attacks and counter attacks. But life on this Frontier remains tense especially now because of the hunger strike. There were some whistle blasts As the police officers prowled around Bombay Street. They gripped their weapons tighter As their eyes checked Over the House fronts. It was apparently an Effort by some residents to Discon Cert the policemen. Over mrs. Davey s front door is a Black Stone plaque with an inscription in proud memory of Gerard Mcauley who died defending the people of bom Bay Street August 15, 1969." in her front window is a Large poster urging support for Sands 27, a Leader of the provisional Wing of the Irish re publican army jailed for 14 years for weapons Possession. Over mrs. Davey s Mantle hangs a Large picture of a Stem faced Young Man. There Are provisional Ira me Morial documents on the Wall. The Man was her brother Charles Hughes who was 26, mrs. Davey said and a provisional Ira commanding officer when he was gunned Down in 1971, not by the British army or the Ulster police but by gunmen of the so called official Wing of the Irish Republican army As a result of the bitter split Between the two factions. Mrs. Davey s bitterness and hatred for the British is strongly evident but Willicm what about the murderers of her brother i Don t have any time for them she replied but not with the same venom. The people on both sides of the peace line had nothing but Good to say for their neighbors on the other Side but while or. Bell has a picture of Queen Elizabeth ii in his front room mrs. Davey has the provisional Ira memorials. All our lives we be lived with those British people s foot on our mrs. Davey said. We Are not sectarian but we the catholics could Only get the most menial jobs and now there Aren t Many jobs at All. I Don t like having to live like this with the Wall. It s just not Normal. You can t bring up your children pro Perly like that. Our children Are looking at the army and the police with their guns. You can t keep kids in All the time. It worries us when they Are mrs. Davey said. To Back up her anti British feeling mrs. Davey declared if it meant civil War to get great Britain out of Ireland to break Britain s Back i would go to the barricades. But i would love to see a peaceful Way out of the peaceful Way out she said she wants is an United Republican ire land. The people interviewed on both sides of the peace line denied that they had been stockpiling food in anticipation of Street violence if Sands or three other hunger strikers died. They said they did not have enough Money to be Able to buy enough food to Hoard. While All of them said they Are keenly aware of the Waves of rumours sweeping Belfast alleging plans for both Republican and loyalist attacks mrs. Davey said we really have no idea we Are All just sitting Back waiting. The Security forces Are up and Down Here a said mrs. Wallace. Unlike her neighbor to the rear mrs. Davey she welcomes them As protectors. We Don t even think about violence any she said we have been living with it for so Long. I Don t know whether there will be violence time or not. I m a Christian for years and years and i Don t know what it is to be Soldier watches Belfast child skipping beside bricked up House. For the British is strongly evident but Soldier watches Belfast child skipping beside by Constitution brought into a s estimates time was running out. Although the Rio hic time was running out. Although the supreme court already was consider ing the Constitution questions the provincial government had yet to Intro Duce its Resolution on the Issue and Many feared they would not have an Opportunity to express their views be fore the matter was resolved. Consideration of estimates for the attorney general s department appeared to provide that Opportunity since Gerry Mercier had played an integral role in the provincial Battle against the Federal action and Mem Bers of his staff were involved in the current hearings. Nip critic Brian Corrin was particularly disturbed when Mercier failed to refer to the entrenched charter of rights during his introductory com ments. Because the department was involved with the entire concept of Justice he was amazed at the silence. There was a responsibility on All elected representatives to discuss in a constructive manner those things which were so important to the fabric of the country he said. The charter was a major problem and Corrin admitted to some agree ment with the tory argument that legislators in a democratic institution should express the rights of people in a democratic manner. It s hard to conceive of a better mechanism than we under the dome Arlene Billinkoff however he did not believe they fully represented All people and wanted safeguards built into the system in order to ensure rights of minority groups. The Federal government s Deci Sion to work through the courts was Correct and rather than usurping legislative prerogative he believed it would Only Widen the scope and ambit of general rights accorded to people and would provide a real forum. He understood the concern of those who feared judges would Only maintain the status quo but was certain that process would be More stable than the political process which was subject to nevertheless Corrin was willing to Compromise. Perhaps a Bill of rights could be unilaterally rescinded by government on a particular legislative initiative he suggested because at least that would be better than the tories stonewalling. After that criticism Mercier was defensive. The problem might have been resolved if there had been an agreement to make the existing Bill of rights Paramount which allowed amendments by the Federal govern ment and the Legislatures when court decisions were not appropriate interpretations of certain legislation. How Ever Ottawa had not been amenable to that approach. As for Corrin s accusations about the provincial performance Mercier insisted their position had been Clear since last september and the opposition should Stop accusing the govern ment of refusing to listen the Resolution would be debated. Saul Cherniack asked when it would be debated. He was appalled at the arrogance of the government proceed ing without consultation with the legis lature. By the time they did debate the Issue the supreme court might have heard All the briefs and might even have made a ruling. The debate would be superfluous. So Why not debate immediately Sid Ney Green believed these estimates provided an excellent Opportunity to discuss the Protection of legislative rights to make Laws. With an entrenched charter of rights there would be virtually no room for compromises Between the Legislatures and the courts he said but there was a possible com Promise about a charter of rights. Despite his Lack of Faith in such a concept he was prepared to yield his opposition to the Federal proposal As Long As it was established that the next government could change it. Unfortunately that Opportunity did not exist under the current Federal scheme but Green still hoped there might be a change and the Constitution would be returned with the existing amending formula period. The essence of the democratic pro Cess was respect for those who disa greed a facet which was lacking in the Federal scheme Green said As he provided examples of the negative aspects of entrenched rights and dependence on the courts. That did not mean courts never did anything right but in the last analysis if they did something doonesbury which society opposed society should have the right to change it and it should not be an amending formula which is virtually impossible to placing the Power in the hands of the judiciary might be like appointing a dictator immune from political whims. Green said. After All there was As much a philosophically sound argument for a beneficial dictatorship As for parliamentary democracy. While there were sincere differences of opinion he disliked the prime minis ter s argument that anyone who opposed the charter of rights was reactionary. Unlike Trudeau he would not say those on the other Side did not have a sound motivation for their arguments. Instead Green wondered where was the most Power for the people. Was it a beneficial dictator a court or does it lie in their right to kick anybody out who they Don t feel is doing a Job for he believed it could be accomplished through the legislative process and that is being taken away from Green s approach was greeted by applause from the tories and silence from the nip but at least he had offered his opinion. Unless the govern ment introduced its constitutional Reso Lution in the near future others might not have the same Opportunity. Hatcha Wrkich a press 4 comp eve 1anwn6. A i is Fol th55hk diff Bif uiimnerof1h5 Fyk snafus Jackow Mowl. Pip Mem his reasons Stan Rohiy tows ;