Letters

The Missing Half

I was very impressed with an article in your May/June edition which addressed the feminist viewpoint in relation to the Gulf War and The New World Order. The article, by Sandra Whitworth, was titled, "What's So New About the New World Order?: A Feminist Analysis."

This article echoed my sentiments exactly. The exclusion of women's issues from most political discussions, theories and agendas just serves to highlight the restricted nature of these discussions. I strongly urge you to include at least one feminist article in each issue of Peace Magazine. Peace will never be achieved with one-half of the world's population.

Let me finish by letting you know that Peace Magazine has been teaching me and introducing me to many important and valid perspectives in world affairs. Please keep up the excellent work!

Lisa K. Valencia-Svensson, Toronto

Prejudice in Romania

I am grateful for Andrew Pakula's Romania article, particularly his remarks that Uniunea Vatra Romaneasca "is probably the most powerful political force in Romania."

To facilitate a better understanding of the character of this neo-fascist force, I present the following excerpts from their manifesto published Feb. 20/90, three weeks before they went on a killing spree against Hungarians and Gypsies in Tirgu Mures.

"As far as possible, Vatra Romaneasca supports the continued existence of the former secret police, the Securitate, because we need competent people.....who have been trained to demonstrate absolute loyalty to well-defined goals."

"Vatra Romaneasca guarantees to everyone of its members that it will, using its own special methods, secure the necessary financial support for propaganda.....from several more or less clandestine organizations abroad, particularly French and Canadian ones."

"......we want every Romanian to be clear about our final goal: a Great Romania in which alien elements have no place and will not be tolerated. The moment has come to use any and all means to solve the minority problem, definitively, irreversibly and forever."

".......this Holy Romanian land is still soiled by the Asiatic hordes of Huns, Gypsies and other garbage.......out with the Gypsies, who are the shame of our country. We want a cleansed and pure Greater Romania! Do not be afraid to fight and spill their filthy blood. The hairy apes have no business in our beloved homeland."

"........it will become inevitable for the Holy Romanian land to be purified of its shameful blots through the emigration of these elements. Afterwards, those remaining behind will be annihilated through the most effective means."

Vatra's reach extends into the office of President Iliescu, who had shared the stage with Vatra's leader, Radu Ciontea, last December 1, Romania's National Day, when it celebrated the ceding of Transylvania and Wallachia to Romania. While Iliescu looked on approvingly, Ciontea demanded the return of Bessarabia and parts of Moldova, which had passed over to the USSR as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Treaty-the audience of tens of thousands cheered wildly.

In light of Vatra's connection with Canadian-based supporters, and its connections with the highest political forces in Romania, surely there should be some vigorous questioning of Canada's complicity in the construction of CANDU reactors for such a regime.

Wally Keeler, Budapest

Pentagon Policy

Erik Poole's article on Military Welfare in Canada outlined very well the distortions created by politicized military procurement. His primary focus on the distortion of confederation by the geographic distribution of defence money is significant since a strong defence can only be based on a sense of national values and purpose.

However the article did not deal with the distorting aspects of the Free Trade Agreement which under the definition of subsidy exempts military and energy subsidies from that process.

The Free Trade Agreement ties us into an economy which is based on the myth of a marketplace where the "level playing field" is available to all. This myth has driven the North American economies toward their present precarious state. Industrial policy agendas and subsidies hide behind a vast system of military grants and Pentagon-driven policies.

This was well illustrated in an example given by Martin Walker of the Guardian. He said that at the beginning of the Patriot missile program, United States' industry held 70 percent of the world consumer electronic market but by the time the Patriot was put to use it had only 11 percent of the market. Surely Pentagon-driven industrial policy has become the real enemy of not only the American worker but of its myth-bound capitalists and entrepreneurs. Neo-conservativism has managed to gain a stronghold because of the Cold War mentality which has driven American foreign and industrial policy for 45 years.

Neil Aberle, Bond Head, Ontario.