Toronto protest planned on S. Africa, C. America

Scan page 13

TORONTO-The call has gone out to individuals and groups throughout English Canada and Quebec to participate in a mass demonstration and fair here on June 14. This demonstration, in protest of U.S. policy in Central America and Canadian complicity, will incorporate an exciting new dimension-unity with the movement against apartheid in South Africa.

The call was issued in January by the Toronto Anti-Intervention Coalition (TAIC), which unites over 90 labor, church, antiwar, solidarity, and women's rights organizations. And now, the TAIC is working with anti-apartheid and Africa solidarity groups to broaden the base and scope of the day.

The attempt to link the Central American anti-intervention struggle with the anti-apartheid struggle was approved at a general membership meeting of TAIC last Decem -ber. The conference took place on the first anniversary of the founding of the organization. Before the meeting, TAIC had been beset by six months of divisive inter -nal debate over the group's perspectives.

One current in the debate bemoaned the alleged ineffectuality of demonstrations. Some TAIC members urged the coalition to adopt as its major activity the promotion of "peace initiatives" by forces in Central and South America-including various capitalists governments. They also wanted to downplay any role of the Canadian (continued from page 16: “Howard Wallace: 'We have to remain constantly visible'”) year in which we did not have a demonstration."

One of the more successful demon -strations was against the San Francisco school board. "It was proposed," Wallace recalled, "that they pass a resolution banning discrimination based on race, sex, religion, or sexual orientation. They passed a motion that included everything except sexual orientation. We were enraged when we heard about it. The board passed the motion late at night after the gays had left the meeting.

"So at a following meeting we came back with about 350 people and packed the chamber. We put our banners up on the wall. We had labor people lobby the union representatives on the board. We had religious people lobby a priest on the board and we had professional people lobby a doctor. We were very methodical. government in support of intervention.

But the December meeting decisively rejected those views. It opted instead to maintain an independent mass-action perspective that would protest both U.S. intervention and Canadian involvement with U.S. military activities.

Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney was one of the few world figures to line up "The outcome of the meeting was that the board unanimously reversed itself.

"We even received an apology from the priest admitting his cowardness at the previous meeting.

"It was a considerable victory, exten -sively covered by the media. The victory demonstrated that it takes a combination of tactics to win the big fights. Lobbying alone would not do it. Mass action alone would not be enough."

New campaigns Wallace continued, "The campaigns of BAGL developed thousands of activists politically. New organizations sprang up. One was the Butterfly Brigade. This was a street patrol to deal with gangs who were attacking gays. We have a modern offshoot of that in the Community United Against Violence. It has a $100,000-a-year budget.

"We became a strong force behind the boycott of Coors beer, which is still continuing. In this period from 1975 to 1978 we had actions almost every week. If in support of President Reagan after the U.S. bombing of Libya in April. The June 14 demonstration will give people throughout Canada the opportunity to demonstrate our opposition to the real terrorists-those who uphold racism, repression, and U.S. intervention.

For more information, contact TAIC: 427 Bloor St. West, Toronto, Ontario MSS 1X7. Telephone (416) 535-8779.

we heard of the slightest anti-gay or antilesbian act or comment anywhere we had a demonstration. This established direct action and mass action as a workable tactic.

"Attacks on us in San Francisco spurred us on to the offensive and made our movement grow. When Anita Bryant led a campaign to repeal gay rights legislation in Florida, we got even more active in San Francisco. We had over 7000 people in the streets. They marched not for just one night but for five nights in a row.

"Bryant's campaign in Florida was a defeat for the homosexual movement. But in San Francisco we made it an opportunity to mobilize our forces. It taught us that we should never accept any defeat as final. We should just get up and fight again."

"We should not be limited in our tactics," Wallace concluded. "Lobbying, direct action, civil disobedience, mass marches, legislative action, court suits, and general propaganda and education-these are all legitimate tactics in the struggle for our rights. We have come a long way. We are not turning back."

Scan page 14

George Breitman, an internationally renowned leader of the American Trotskyist movement, died on April 19 after many years of severe illness. He was 70 years