HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1980-10-22, Page 6.1.•••••••10
Violent 'dOttnit
rom Queen's Park
Page 6,--Ilateknow $eiatinell„ 'Wednesday, October 22, 1980
TINEI.
JOCELYN WRIER. - Publisher
SHARON J. D1RTZ r Editor
ANTHONY N. JOHNSTONE - Advertising and
General Manager
PAT LIVINGsroN - Office Manager
MERLE ELLIOTT - Typesetter -
Business and Editorial Office Telephone 528-2822
Mailing Address P.O. Box 400, Lucknow, NQG 21-10
Second Class Mail Registration Number 0847
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Although few people in the western world are presently
overlflowing, with sympathy for the OPEC nations, the
history of the Arab world is one of tragic disunity and
warfare.
During this year of 1980, when the Arab nations have a
strangle-hold on the rest of the world and an opportunity to
advance their own national causes to heights neyer before
dreamed possible, two of their Most powerful members
have preferred to embroil themselves in a sucidal war. Iran
and Iraq, two neighbouring countries which, between
them, possess a gigantic share of the World's producing oil
resources, are bombing each other's oil refineries and
trying to destroy each other's capital cities.
One of the most drainatic campaigns of the First World
War was the unification of the Arab world, largely through
the dedicated efforts, of Col,• T. E. Lawrence, the famous
"Lawrence of Arabia". Anyone who has read the story of
his patient campaign to unit,e the Arabs in 'a common
cause, as contained in "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom",
knows what a gargantuan task that was. Despite the fact
that Turkey held most of the Arab world in cruel bondage,
Lawrence struggled for years to persuade the various Arab
leaders to forget their jealousies and petty differences,
When, at last, he succeeded with the key rulers, the Turks
were overthrown and for the first time in centuries the
Arabs were free of foreign domination,
Sadly enough new and tragic events in Europe were
shaping .a second destiny for the Arabs, Britain, at
Lawerence's urging, had promised to support, the new
Arah nations and was awarded the control of Palestine as a
protectorate. However, during the years of the Hitler
regime in Germany new forces were building which,
eventually made a drastic change in Arab expectations as
far ..as Palestine Was_Concerned. The horrid treatment of
Western European Jews, not only Germany, but in its
conquered lands during World War II was the catalyst for
Jewish determination to seek a homeland of their own,
where never again could such -ate-cities occur.
Thousands of Jews entered Palestine illegally and
termed the fouildations -of the land we know .today as
Israel. Since Palestine was the Holy Land not only to Jews
and Christians, but to Muslims as well, the stage was set
for the violence which has taken place and, indeed,
continues to this day. Racial war became inevitable when
the United Nations, in 1948 voted to partition Palestine,
thus providing a legitimate State of Israel.
We are all too familiar with the violence which has
accompanied the activities of the Palestine Liberation
Organization (PLO) and the negative opinion those acts
have bred in the western world, particularly in the United
States, where a large and powerful Jewish block of
population has a considerable influence on the course of
American politics.
Another, sad fact is apparent: if the Jews and Arabs
could agree to live togehter in peace within the bounds of
the total area of -Palestine they could probably -achieve
prosperity of great magnitude. The State of Israel has at-
tracted a brilliant phalanx of citizens, leaders in the world
of finance, science, technology and military strategy.
Israel has already proven how productive ,a barren piece of
real estate can become under intelligent management. The
Palestinian Arabs, largely a nomadic people, could benefit
tremendously from a peaceful association with thoSe whom
they consider to have usurped their homeland.
And now, when the Arab nations have finally awakened
to the reality of their oil power, they once again cast all the
bright promises aside to exercise their traditional hatieds
of one another. The Iranian-lraqi war has already
guaranteed further curtailment of energy supplies to the
industrialized nations; Necessity being the mother of
invention, the nations threatened with oil starvation are
bending their considerable energies and scientific
knowledge to the development of alternatives to Arab oil.
Already conservation practices, made popular by vaulting
oil prices, have left the Arabs with vast stockpiles on their
hands. Within a few short years other forms of energy,
from hydrogen, electricity, natural gas, solar power or
harneSsed wind, will spell the end of profitable markets for
Middle East oil.
Tragic indeed are these age-old enmities which seem to
persist despite all reason. The Turks and the Greeks in
Cyprus; the Protestants and the Catholics in Ireland; the
Arabs and the Jews - all destined, it seems, to wipe
themselves out for sheer tove of hatred.
—The Whigharn Advance-Times
BY Pon Campbell
On the larger sailing ships, which, plied the trade
routes of the nineteenth century; the sailmaker was an
"----iinportant--tnetribrerthe crew, a man was
continually employed in the repair and replacement of
`the canvas, which was constantly being damaged by
Wind and salt..
The brig Mavis was only a small ' ship and the
sailmaker also acted as ship's carpenter, as well as being
forced into other, somewhat distasteful chores. fie was in
his early fifties, but his grey beard and weather-beaten
face might; at first glance, have indicated a much older
man, HIS name was "Chippy". Chisholm, no doubt a
reference to his woodwOrking activities!
On a calm day, Chippy: would work en the open deck
surrounded by the materials of his trade - canvas, rope,
stringing cord and beeswax, With a large pair of scissors
he cut and shaped the sails. Sitting • crosslegged and
contentedly puffing on a brown stained clay pipe, he
would Sew. for hours with a large bent shaped needle.
The inunigrant children watched him work and
listened wide eyed to his tales of horror .and adventure.
With his pipe 'in his month, he would speak through his
teeth about sailing around the Cape of Good trope, of
Masts' torn off the deck by hurricane force winds and
shipwrecks on desert Wands. Sometimes he spoke• of
I strange places in the mystic east.. So vivid were these
tales that one could almost smell the perftirne of burning
joss sticks in a Burmese temple, or hear the rustle of, a
Mandarin's silken robes, as he strolled. through a palace
in Peking.
Beneath this veneer Of sentimental nonsense however,
Chippy was a man of cold reality, who had revolted
against the cruelty he had endured from childhOOd. Like
so many other Highlanders, he knew humility, poverty,
and the hunger which drove him'to sail before the mast in
the Royal Navy before he was 14. 'Miraculously, it
seemed, he had escaped the ever beckoning clutehes of
the ruthless sea. He recalled climbing a stiff; 'frozen'
rigging, and clinging for life to a yard arm, Whilst bare
feet tried to balance on an icy footrepe.
He remembered 'too,' the debts he had paid for the
revolutionary spirit of youth. In -his mind's eye, he still
saw the grim faces of his shipmates mustered before the
quarter-deck to witness, punishment and how he counted
the strokes whilst the cat-o'-nine-tailes tore into the flesh
BY MURRAY GAUNT
The Ontario Government has introduced a five-point
program to protect workers in/plant closings, with the
chief feature the provision of pension benefits for those
close to early retirement.
But labour Minister Robert Elgie did not specify how
close to retirement a 'worker would have to be to get
that protection. He said Consumer Minister Frank Drea •
will introduce those changes next month.
The plan announced byeMr. ,Elgie includes creating
an all-party committee to study severance pay and plant
closings, forcing companies to set up employer-govern-
Ment committees to help displaced employees find jobs
and empowering a Government co-ordinator to study
closings and help employees.
The Ontario Federation of Labour plans a rally at
Queen's Park to demand government action on plant
closings. Labour criticism will focus on the failure to
meet four demands.
They pre: requirements for public justification by
employers of plant closings, six months' advance
notice, severance pay at the rate of one week's pay for
each year of service and complete portability of pen-
sions,
Health Minister Dennis Timbrell has outlined the
plans of his Ministry for the introduction of legislation
during the next .few months.
The package of core programs to be introduced will
be embedded in a new Health Protection Act which Mr.
Timbrell plans to introduce next spring, to replace the
Public Health Act. A white paper covering these
programs will be released this fall for comment by
public health units and others in the health system.
These core programs are being looked .at under six
broad categories, which include immunization, prey-
of his, baek, 'Often he had counted the lashes until
mercifully he could count no more, and had hung limp, in
his unconsciousness, whilst.' the bosun finished the
punisfunent. These dayso he only harboured one hatred,
and that he reserved eXcflisively for the captain of the
Mavis.
AiltoB0 Chippy was not a Skye man, he Was
nevertheless a Highlander; and the Reverend Duncan
MacLeod saw him as one of his peOple. From time to
dine, the minister visited the sailitialter and watched him
work. Ott such occasions, he learned of the tragedies of
previous voyages and what the immigrants might expect
in the new land. Canada, MaelLeod was told, was indeed
a land of prosperity for' those who had overcome the -
initial hardship of settlement, but for. the newcomers it
would be far from a land "flowing with milk'and hooey".
One day, the, minister discovered" Chippy engaged in
what appeared to be a most unusual task, From old,
weathered canvas, he ,was cutting small' rectangular
pieces. They were too large for patches, and too small to,
be used in any part of the rigging..
`"May 'I be so rude as to enquire what purpose those
pieces of canvas will serve?" MacLeod asked.
Chippy took his pipe out of his mouth as a mark of
respect for the minister and when he spoke, revealed an
unevenly spaced row of tobacco stained teeth.
"Aye Sir," the sail/miter said, with an air of resigned
sadness. "I suppose yeti might as well I do this on
every voyage when we are'o week or so out. They are'
wrappings for the poor souls who cannot' afford a coffin.'I
make very few coffins. It seems that the Lord choosEs his
people from the steerage passengers."
Although MacLeod knew only too well that some ef his
people were at the point of death, he had tried to .put the
inevitable out of his Mind. The very thought filled him
with deep sorrow and revulSion. But the minister was
also a practical man.
"How do you .cause the - er - the bundles to sink?"
Chippy smiled sadly and produced a rounded stone or
large pebble. "We use these," he said, handing it to the
minister. "Stones -are carried as ballast - deep down in
the bilages."
MacLeod shook his head slowly from side to side, and
as if trying to soften 'the blow the sailinaker added,
"Stone from ;the coast of Scotland. It's only a thought,
but when they go to their last rest, it's comforting to
think that a little of the old country goes with them!"
entative dentistry, environmental sanitaticas, family
health, home accident prevention and nutrition.
The Healing Arts Radiation Protection Act will be
introduced to strengthen the provisions covering the
operation of x-ray equipment,
Amendments to the Chiropody Act were also
introduced by the. Minister of Health, which will
provide the legislative framework for developing
improved foot care services for the people of the
province.
In conjunction with the Ministry of Colleges and
Industrial Waste
Environment Minister Harry Parrott has announced
a crackdown on illegal dumping of liquid industrial
waste and other unusual cases of pollution: His
Ministry is hiring 13 people who will be trained in
investigative techniques to serve as a special
environmental police unit to enforce Ontario's
environmental laws.
1'
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Universities, courses will be set up to train chiropodists
in Ontario. The first courses will begin in the fall of
1981, and will be of, three years' duration.
In the 'meantime, as a pilot project, six registered
nurses will be given an intensive six-month course in
chiropody, beginning in 'January of 1981. After
completion of this course, it is planned that these
• registered nurses will teach registered nursing
assistants the principles of foot care hygiene, in courses
of three to four weeks' duration, beginning later in
1981.
After assessment of this pilot project, it is hoped that
the program will be made available province-wide.
A regulation will also be proposed to recognize
chiropodists registered in the United Kingdom, so that
such practitioners may be recruited to teach and work
in our hospitals.
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