Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - November 26, 2000, Winnipeg, Manitoba B4 Winnipeg free november 2000 1 suis Day Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights editorial t l going instead of Home Iet there be no More War or bloodshed Between arabs and let there be no More suffering or denial of let there be no More despair or loss of those words were spoken by egyptian president Anwar Sadat at the signing of the egyptian israeli peace treaty in two years he was assassinated by islamic in israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin signed a palestinian israeli peace agreement and said we Are destined to live together on the same soil in the same the soldiers who have returned from the Battle stained with who have fought against the palestinians we say to you today in a loud and a Clear voice enough of blood and tears enough two years later he was assassinated by a jewish the Hopes of and Many other israelis and arabs were clearly not shared by everyone then neither Are they shared by everyone last the government of Egypt recalled its ambassador to because of the War and bloodshed on a Brief truce Between palestinians and israelis ended with the bombing of an israeli school two adults were and More than a dozen children were Israel responded to this Barbaric act by bombing palestinian targets in since then the violence has enough is not enough in the Middle there Are two wars going on in Israel one takes place on the streets of the West Bank and Gaza in a new Intifada encouraged by the palestinian leadership under Yasser the other War is fought for International Public Opin and in that Arafat has been far More israeli Chil Dren were still being rescued from the ruins of a school bus As Egypt ambassador was heading the egyptian action is a major blow to any Hope that the peace process can Israel has no friends in Arab but the largest and most influential of the Arab has also been the most moderating influence on the islamic Side of the by its action last it has diminished its own importance and added fuel to the crisis by encouraging the palestinian it is a measure of How successful Arafat has been in winning the War for Public last Canadas Liberal government voted for a United nations Resolution condemning israeli last it voted for 10 separate resolutions condemning Israel As the guilty party in the Middle those votes will Puzzle canadians who cannot understand How pales Tinian the bombing of school buses and Public can be somehow worse than israels fundamentally defensive reaction to that foreign affairs minister John Manley could per haps palestinian have been killed during this they Are sent out to die by their own Sheik Kerima the Arafat appointed Mufti of Jerusalem and of spoke recently of How the mothers of such children who die Are filled with Joy at their martyrdom i talked to a Young Man who i want to marry the blackened women of the next Day he became a i am sure his Mother was filled with Joy about his heavenly such a son must have such a Israel sends its children to school in armoured buses to protect Arafat sends his children into the streets to be martyred for his there is a profound differ ence both palestinians and believe that they Are fight ing for their jews sought a Homeland in the Middle East that was realized More than 50 years ago in the creation of Israel As a palestinians have been seeking to go Home Ever since they were Dis located in the Ara israeli wars they have been offered their own Homeland now under the Oslo accords and in the Camp David plan agreed to by Israel in but the arabs appear to be less interested in going Home than in going it has been said that one can never go it would be More True to say that you can never go neither Israel nor Palestine can Ever be the same As they once but they can be Home to both Peoples if the extremists on both sides would let if the Middle East could abide the Wisdom expressed by Anwar Sadat and Yitzhak Rabin and move into a bet Ter Perus Best president became a cheap thug Alejandro the Man who would have won the peruvian election last Spring if president Alberto Fujimori had not cheated at every stage of the got it exactly right Alberto Fujimori government will be Ille Giti a source of permanent and i dont think it can last More than six to 12 its Only six months after he dragged Peru through a huge political Cri Sis in order to win an illegal third term As Fujimori has phoned Home from Japan to say that he has in he is probably going to stay in if he went he might end up in Fujimori is not a Nice but he was not your classic latin american Strong the son of japanese Immi Grants to he came out of the darkest of dark to win the presidency in 1990 and took Over an impoverished country reeling from the twin scourges of hyperinflation and a Savage guerrilla he beat them and won the gratitude of poor peruvians who were the chief victims of both As one of the protesters at his inauguration for a third term last july said if hed gone in hed have been remembered As Perus Best president in Fujimori methods were in the so called self coup of he Dis missed the Congress and effectively destroyed the country traditional Polit ical to get military backing for that he promoted his own sup porters into key command and his defeat of the shining path guerillas involved tactics As ruthless As those used by the insurgents them Fujimori key instrument in defeating the guerillas was a disgraced Earmy officer called Vladimiro Mon who created and ran the National Intelli gence service with a ruthless combi nation of bribery and Montesinos won the intelligence War that is the heart of any guerrilla Only a Quarter of the people who were disappeared by the army were killed after Fujimori came to Power in but they included the key leaders of shining by the organizations founder and guiding Spir Abimael was captured and jailed for Fujimori also ended the economic chaos by Savage cuts in spend and in 1995 a grateful nation voted him a second term by a the problem was that the monster he had created go Montesinos sat at the Centre of his silent and controlling the the and the tame Congress with his bribes and his and tucking a Fortune away for and since this hidden Empire could Only sur Vive so Long As Fujimori stayed in he be allowed to there is no evidence that Fujimori had grown weary of but Perus Constitution clearly forbids a third term As would Fujimori have put him self and Peru through the grotesque manipulations necessary to get round that fact including holding an election where the votes cast outnumbered the voters by million if Montesinos haunt insisted on it nobody in the end it bought Montesinos Little for in september a tape came out that showed him bribing an opposition member of the newly elected Congress to defect to Fujimori Fujimori response was to pull the whole Temple Down around his he fired a Pitsinos and closed Down he Cut his term Short and decreed a fresh election in april in which he would not he replaced the three armed forces and then he left the what drove him to do All this Canad an Diplomat Peter who has been the special envoy of the organization of american states to Peru during this years suggests that he was look ing for a face saving Way to undo some of the damage his reputation has suf he paraphrases Fujimori Posi Tion this Way in a Spanish speaking politician in latin but my entire background is i was raised in that my duty and my sense of honour Are High flown senti ments from a Man who often behaved like a cheap and whose righthand Man was a corrupt and murderous on the other even gangsters in Japan have a japanese sense of at any Hes and the forthcoming elections will bring ale Jandro Toledo to just one year behind what was said the red Deer advocate said in an editorial yesterday the Alberta government is determined to pass a Law that helps get children out of the sex away from the clutches of sexual it has the support of the overwhelming majority of Alber tans in this All it has to do now is to create a Law that passes Muster with the Bill introduced in the Legisla Ture this is a solid step for Ward on both the Bill is an amendment to the protect or of children involved in prostitution which was passed Early last year and was found this year to be the Protection of children act allowed child prostitutes to be taken into custody out of the clutches of the pimps who dominate them and held for 72 the premise underpinning the Law is that child prostitutes Are Vic Tims of sexual the Hope was that by removing them from the control of sexual they could return to their families and Start to put their lives on a More positive the legality of the Law was challenged by two teenager who contended that they were being denied their Legal a family court judge in Cal Gary said the Law violates the Char Ter of rights and tossed under Bill child prostitutes who Are apprehended will have the right to see a to see written material detailing the accusation that they Are in the sex and to have a court hearing if they equally the initial period of custody following apprehension has now been stretched to five social service professionals say that will give the Chil Dren time to rest in to seek counselling and to reflect on their this Bill is about protecting Chil time will Tell if it will pass constitutional if it it will have to be rewritten time and again until it this is not a Law that Premier Klein can give up the charter of rights has to be but no More than the lives of children in grave in its Over before fat lady sings it int Likely that tomorrows Federal election will produce the the degree of Boring political drama and the multitude of talking television Heads that the recent elections unleashed upon a Long suffering there will be no teams of Blu suited lawyers attempting to Stop a recount or charges that somebody is try ing to steal the Canada int like for one we dont use Vot ing there will be no talk of chads and dimples when our vote is of Joe Clark pulls off a we vote the old fashioned we make our Mark on a paper drop it in a and then somebody counts it while scrutineers look election customs Are More or less uniform across the coun with one supervising unlike the where every county has its own idea of How it should be it is also True that the Man who becomes Canadas prime minister when All the votes Are counted will not be described by us or anyone else As the Leader of the free in who or what he or she leads will be an open question and any attempt to Rule the planet will have about As much Success As the american president has on that particular unlike the we dont get to vote for our people May say in voting for Alexa or my vote goes to Doris Day or Chretien is my but in reality most of us will be if we vote at for some minor some one in the unlikely event that they top the will probably spend four years in the obscurity of the Back benches cheering on Cue when the big shots get up to pump if we elect enough nobodies from one their Leader will become our prime that is what parliamentary democracy is All it gives us order and Good govern ment and Nowa Days it makes election night a lot duller than it used to there is nothing in either the British North America act or the Canada act of 1982 that states that elec Tion night has to be there is nothing about fun in the charter of although at one time election nights were widely held to be a lot of crowds gathered and Bon fires were lit As the voting results came slowly in earlier times there were torchlight parades and candidates were serenaded by their supporters or burned in effigy by their Days often went by before the final results were known As ballot boxes were mushed in by dog team or transported across the Wilder Ness in ballot boxes were occasionally found floating Down Rivers and the charred remains of stolen ballots were some times found in Back in Many elections of the dead Rose on election Day to vote again and some of the living contrived somehow to vote twice or even three election nights could be fun As the results trickled there were often exciting races in various parts of the cliffhangers that kept us on the edges of our chairs until Well after mid some families used to make a party of serving sandwiches and Beer and following the vote on election maps supplied by the of we simply vote and when we turn on the television two minutes after our local polls Mansbridge or Robertson tells us that the election has been settled for hours and that the new prime minister has already gone to this is most Likely to happen if you live West of the Ontario Manitoba Border and is most profoundly Felt by voters in British Columbia who often learn even before they vote that the Battle is All is there any advantage in knowing in a hurry who won the election do we really want to know that 10 minutes after the polls closed in Toronto the Csc Deci Sions desk had decided on the Winner who Are these people what makes them so qualified to announce the results even before Many of us have actually voted those of us who watched the so called debate involving the top party leaders not Long ago will undoubtedly approach Tomor rows election with More than a slight sinking the if you can Call it consisted of the Lead ers All shouting at a Foo fight would have been More order civilized and and to think that one of those rappers is going to be prime perhaps it is just As we that mans Bridge and Robertson will get it All Over with ;