Viikkosanomat, July 07, 1986

              "Ydinaseeton maailma vuonna
2000" vvas the slogan under vvhich the
Finnish Peace Committee held their
annual Congress at the beginning of
April
The Finnish language may be one of
the more obscure languages in the
Western vvorld but the sentiments
are'nt "For a Nuclear Weapon-fre- e
World in the year 2000" is a slogan
vvhich peace movements ali over the
vvorld support
The thirty thousand-stron- g Peace
Committee brought together over 400
people in the Northern Finnish city of
Oulu to discuss the struggle for peace
and Strategies for the peace movement
Opening the two-da- y session chair
of the Finnish Peace Committee Matti
Ruokola declared "Patriotism in the
1980's is patriotism vvhich has internal
dimensions
"We must ask ourselves in the
1980's vvhether patriotism can mean
not being a member of the peace
movement"
Congress
of Finnish Peaee Committee
WARSAW TREATY:
TASKS ROLE AND PEACE INITIATIVES
The military and political defensive alliance of the People's
Republic of Bulgaria the Hungarian PeopIe's Republic the
German Democratic Republic the Polish PeopIe's Republic
the Socialist Republic of Romania the Soviet Union and the
Czechoslovak Socialist Republic vvas founded in the spring
of 1955 in the Polish capital in response to the increased
threat on the part of the NATO bloc set up six years
earlier
The internationalism solidarily
and unity of the socialist coun-trie- s
liave more than once played
the role of decisive force in foiling
the aggressive schemes of impe-rialis- m
and its accomplices
The Political Consultative Commit-tee
(PCC) is the embodimcnt of
equality and sovereignty of the
nllied states On the basis of a
friendly exchange of opinions
participants in the PCC work out
a common approach to the key
problems of international relations
In the framevork of an agreed
political course the Varsaw
Treaty member stalcs take collec-tiv- e
actions and come np vith in-divid-ual
initialives at the UN at
the conferences in Stockholm and
Gcneva and at the Vicnna talks
Tlie stales of the socialist commu-nit- y
cnmc out for developmcnt of
mutually beneficial relations vith
the capitalist and developing coun- -
Terrorism
How are we to understand Reagan's rec-e- nt
words that the US strike against Libya
vvas "a single engagement in the long battle
against terrorism"
We should remember what it has meant
of late when the Reagan Administration has
used such language It has meant war
death and sufferiiig somevvhere in the
vvorld
Such vvas the excuse for the US invasion
of Grenada- - an act of naked aggression
Could the Reagan Administration have
picked a smaller nation to attack?
Such vvas the excuse for the US arming
and financing Israel for its 1982 invasion of
Lebanon vvhere so many innocent people
vvere killed vvounded or made homeless
lf the Reagan Administration vvants to
combat terrorism it can begin by cutting off
ali funding to the Nicaraguan CONTRAS
vvho are nothing but terrorists
If the Reagan Administration wan's to
combat terrorism let it stop supplying the
military regimes in El Salvador and Guate-mala
vvho have slaughtered thousands of
innocents
lf the Reagan Administration vvishes to
make a contribution in the "long battle
against terrorism" let them stop supporting
General Pinochet in Chile vvhose hands are
stained vvith the blood of thousands of Chi--
lean patriots since 1973
If the Reagan Administration vvants to
help in the battle against terrorism let it
enforce real sanctions against US corpora-tion- s
doing business vvith the Apartheid
Regime in South Africa
And if the Reagan Administration vvants
to be considered an Administration that has
contnbuted to vvorld peace it must join the
Soviet Union in a bilateral ban on the testing
of nuclear vveapons Rob Prince
12
In a speech vvhich aroused much
controversy in Finland Mr Ruokola
hit out at the West German decision
to co-opera- te in Star Wars research
and reminded people of the Finnish-Sovi- et
treaty vvhich states that in the
event of a military threat from West
Germany the Soviet Union vvould
come to Finland's aid
General Secretary Johannes
Pakaslahti stressed the dangers of
Finland being dravvn into high tech-nolog- y
European research projects
such as the "Eureka" project vvhich
has close links vvith Star Wars deve-lopme- nt
This he emphasised could threa-te- n
Finland's neutral status in
Europe "Economic and technologi-ca- l
co-operati- on has to be deve-loped- "
he told the congress "but Fin-nish
national and political identity
has to be maintained"
In far-reachi- ng discussions run-nin- g
through the congress the issues
of neutrality national Security nuc- -
tries including in the political
sphere and consistently pursue
this line
The Warsaw Treaty member coun-trie- s
communist and vorkers'
parties are consistently and reso- -
lutely vorking for the pcaceful
coexistence of states for honest
and constructive negotiations on
the basis of equality
OVER THE 30 YEARS OF THE
WARSAV TREATY ORGANIZA-TION'- S EXISTENCE ITS MEM-BER- S
HAVE PUT FORTH UP-VAR- D
OF 100 INITIATIVES
AND PROPOSALS AIMED AT
THE REDUCTION OF ARMA-MENT- S
AND THE STRENG-THEN1N- G OF UNIVERSAL
PEACE HERE nE JUST SOME
OF THEM:
© 1956 Proposal on crcating a
collective security system in Euro-pe
as a subsiitute for military
groupings
© 1958 Proposal addressed (o the
NATO countries on concluding a
nonaggression pact
© 1966 Proposal on convening an
ai!-Europe- an conference on Secu-rity
and coopcration in Europe
© 1974 The Political Consultative
Committee of the member states
once again expressed its readiness
to disband the VVarsavv Treaty Or- -
ganization simultaneously vvith
disbandment of the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization or as the first
step to dissolve their military or-ganizati- ons
© 1976 The VVarsavv Treaty mem-ber
countries called on ali states
not to take steps vvhich could lead
to the expansion of already exist-in- g
or creation of new Indepen-dent
groupings and niilitary-poli-tic- al
alliances
© 1978 The socialist countries
came out for the reallzation of the
follovving measures:
— concluslon of an international
agreement on nonuse of force in
international relations
— realization of a proposal accord-in- g
to vvhich ali states — partici-pants
in the all-Europe- an conferen-ce
should pledge not to be the'
first to use nuclear vveapons
— measures for strengthening
guarantees of the security of non-nucle- ar
states
© 1983 The VVarsavv Treaty mem-ber
states adopted the Praguc Po-litical
Declaration vvhich proposed
in particular to conclude an agree-ment
vvith NATO on mutual
nonuse of military force and main- -
w
lear disarmament and how to build
the peace movement dominated
The question of how far the peace
movement should involve itself in the
domestic policies of the country vvas
also a topic for discussion follovving
the Finnish Peace Committee's expe-rience- s
earlier in the year over the
country's proposed investment in a
Chilean copper mine
News vvas leaked to the press of
the state-ovvne- d mining corpora-tion- s
intention to buy a copper mine
in Chile vvhich sparked a spontene-ou- s
and effective campaign initiated
by the peace committee to prevent
this happening
Pertti Voutilainen General Direc-to- r
of the company vvhich is called
Outokumpu Oy reacted by publicly
denouncing the Finnish Peace Com-mittee
as being comprised of "terro-rists"
On other issues such as South
Africa Nicaragua and the situation in
the Middle East the Finnish Peace
taining relations or peace
© 1984 Proposal addressed to
the NATO countries to hold talks
on freeing Europe from Chemical
vveapons as vell as on non-increa-si- ng
military spendings and on
their reduction
© 1985 The USSR proposed to
the USA to reach agreement on a
complete ban on striking space
vveapons for both sides and on re-duction
by 50 per cent of their
nuclear armaments reaching each
others' territory
Canada
CPA Campaigns to
Stop Star Wars
At its spring meeting in Calgary
Alberta the Canadian Peace Alliance
(CPA) decided to initiate an ongoing
campaign against any Canadian
involvement in the American Star
VVars programme
The CPA campaign opposes any
direct or indirect Canadian participa-tio-n
including Star Wars contracts to
Canadian companies formal Canad-ian
government backing for the pro-gramme
integration of existing
NORAD infractructures vvithin the
vvider Star Wars plans deployment
of comprehensive air defences in
Northern Canada
CPA alternatives to Star Wars inc-lud- e
strengthening the 1972 Anti-Bal-list- ic
Missile Treaty betvveen the US
and the USSR immediate agreement
on a Comprehensive Nuclear Test
Ban and support for an International
Satellite Monitoring Agency
The campaign vvill use a petition
directed to Prime Minister Mulroney
establish a Star VVars VVatch Commit-tee
to monilor Star Wars contracts to
Canadian companies government
grants to subsidize those companies
and any parliamentary developments
related to Star VVars
The petition vvas launched at the
Vancouver Peace Festival in April
vvith the deadline for the collection of
signatures UN Disarmament Week in
October
Canadian companies avvarded Star
Wars contracts vvill be targetted by
the CPA vvith vigils letters and tele-gra- ms
of opposition
Pedal Povver to end
the Arms Race
A number of people from Canada
Czechoslovakia the USSR and the
US have joined together to hold an
international Bike for Peace '86 tour
to mark the United Nations Inter--
Committee has been outspoken in its
demands for justice and peace Inter-national
appreciation for their sup-port
vvas reflected in the presence of
guests from these countries and
regions at the congress
In a series of final declarations at
the close of the congress the Peace
Committee stated clearly that it sees
mobilising opposition to Star VVars as
one of its central tasks
The Committee demands that the
political leadership of Finland should
condemn the SDI programme and do
everything possible to oppose it in
international arenas They should
also ensure that corporations in Fin-land
do not participate in any vvay
vvith Star Wars development
In a further declaration the Peace
Committee reiterated its support for
economic co-operati- on betvveen Fin-land
and the Soviet Union This co-operati- on
is in the vvords of the Fin-nish
Peace Committee "practical
everyday peace politics"
fter more than tvvo
tlecades the devel-opment
stage in the
iMrW& establishment of
Finnish banks overseas has
novv reached a peak No further
big dramatic steps can be ex-pect- ed
A milestone vvas
marked this year vvith the es-tablishment
of branches in
London and New York by the
tvvo big Commercial banks
Kansallis-Osake-Pank- ki and
the Union Bank of Finland
Finnish banks have been
vvell to the fore in this foreign
expansion The first units vvere
operating vvell before the rapid
upsvving in Euromarkets at the
beginning of the 1970s
The trend is unlikely to stop
novv and the near future vvill
obviously see new but small
strides fonvard Tokyo is the
next on the agenda where re-presenta- tive
offices are already
being strengthened and re-sour- ces
developed for banking
proper
A change in status is ex-pect- ed
in Singapore Actual
branches are likely to replace
or operate side by side with the
present subsidiary banks
There are no official barriers to
this move and the decision is
up to the banks themselyes
New units could additional-l- y
spring up in the latest off-shore
centres but in their ex-te- nt
capital and operations
they vvill remain limited Like-wis- e
associate banks may in-cre- ase
their shares or alterna-tivel- y
reduce their presence or
withdraw entirely
Capital irnported
The establishment of Finnish
banks abroad began well be-fore
the burgeoning of Euro-markets
Finland especially in
the 1960s was a country that
irnported capital The develop-ment
of industry required huge
investments and funding had
to be obtained on foreign capi-tal
markets The state also ex-ploit- ed
the money and capital
markets
Establishment started off in
Europe first in Switzerland and
France in the mid-196- 0s It was
the turn of London at the end
of the decade The pioneers
were KOP and UBF but others
have followed suit although
progress has not been uni-for- m
national Year of Peace
Starting this spring the tour vvill
run from Kiev- - Prague- - Montreal-Ne- w
York under the motto of the IYP:
To Safeguard Peace and the Future of
Humanity Other slogans adopted by
the cyclists call for a hait to the arms
race the use of outer space for peace
and a nuclear vveapon free vvorld by
the year 2000
mM I wm