Peace Network News

Anonymous — November 1984

The Winnipeg Coordinating Committee for Disarmament has begun a campaign to make Manitoba a Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone, Martin Zeilig reports. They think their chances are good. The provincial government is already open to the idea.
Wilma Needham has sent forth a call for proposals for Women and Peace, an exhibition of visual art to take place late next year. The exhibition will feature visual art by women from across Canada to survey their resistance to militarism in the nuclear age. 1985 is the end of a United Nations decade for women. During this time, women’s voices and actions have emerged as key expressions of the outrage towards a war mentality, she says. The work selected may include drawing, photography, textiles, posters, video, collage, documentation of performance, etc. The key factor is the focus on women’s struggle for peace. Letters of proposal are due January 15, 1985. Applicants will be informed by March 1, 1985, on the results of the review of proposals. Send proposals’ to The Art Gallery, attention: Wilma Needham, Women and Peace, Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, NS, B3M 2J6, or write for more information.
Representatives of diverse Canadian youth organizations are uniting their efforts to form the Preparatory Committee of Canada for .the 12thWorld Festival of Youth and Students. This Committee, which includes student, political, solidarity, cultural and peace organizations, will be working to organize a representative delegation of young people from all regions of Canada to participate in the coming Moscow festival to be held from July 27th to August 3rd, 1985.
Canadian youth representatives of various. political, philosophical, religious and cultural interests are invited to become involved in the Preparatory Committee. For more information, contact Vicky Holloway, 290 Danforth. Ave., Toronto — xxx-xxxx (mornings) and xxx-xxxx (evenings) — or Montserrat Escola, 4368 Clark St., Montreal — xxx-xxxx (evenings).
Job Opportunity: Christian Movement for Peace (CMP) in Toronto requires an office coordinator for 3 days/week starting December I, 1984 to January I, 1985 (negotiable). Requires skills in volunteer recruitment and development, office administration, bookkeeping, and accurate typing. Detailed description on request. Salary $10,200. Closing date November 12, 1984. Call xxx-xxxx.
Karen Thorpe (xxx-xxxx) is looking for contributions from children for Parents for Peace newsletter. Cartoons, articles, pictures, etc.
In 1982, the Turkish government, acting under the terms of martial law, arrested the fourteen members of the executive committee of the Turkish Peace Association. They had worked against the neutron bomb and were at that time opposing the Pershing II and cruise missiles.
The 14 were accused of communist activities. Some were accused of having ties with the World Peace Council. Quite apart from whether membership in such an organization ought to be considered a criminal offense, the testimony of their friends suggests that it was not actually the case. Instead, they seem to have been mainly idealistic, liberal people who attended a World Peace Council meeting and, without making any commitment to that organization, found their names subsequently listed as officers.
The fourteen were tried in 1983, but on a legal technicality the outcome of this trial is still pending and they remain in jail. Further information can be obtained from Helsinki Watch in New York City. Phone 212/xxx-xxxx.
NATO’s war games have been taking place in the air over Labrador, greatly to the distress of the inhabitants of that land, the Innu people. The planes carry out loud simulated battles, terrifying the children, disturbing the caribou, and spewing some kind of chemicals that sicken people and damage the lakes and rivers.
The Innu people have asked that these .activities be stopped, but have been told that the war games cannot be carried out in Europe because that continent is too densely populated.
Those who support the rights of the Innu people have been circulating the following petition:
“We the undersigned ask that the violation of the rights of the Innu people, as represented by the unauthorized conversion of Ntesinan (the Quebec Labrador Peninsula) into a special military training area for low-level, high-speed, flying exercises and bombing practice by foreign armed forces, be halted immediately to prevent further traumatization of Innu families in the interior, to cease the ecologically irresponsible disruption of one of the world’s last great natural areas, and to prevent yet more damage to the caribou and other species upon which the Innu people depend. We ask that exercises and training by the Luftwaffe, USAF, RAF, Canadian Forces, and other foreign armed forces over Ntesinan stop forthwith and plans to establish bombing ranges in Innu territory be scrapped.”
Innu Kanantuapatshet Sheshashit, Labrador AOP 1MO
For further information, call Peter Armitage, 709/xxx-xxxx.

The Peace Calendar

Canadian Disarmament Information Service, 1983-1984

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