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&iiM».m\x&*& HMJiDM 2 Vancouver Status of Women celebrates 11 years of work in the feminist community this month. Two former staff members cast a fond look back 4 Joe Borowski has taken on the Canadian abortion law, saying he represents the interests of the unborn. This is fight back time 9 Is Telidon out to make dinosaurs out of workers and activists? Emma Flyer takes a hard look at technology 10 Jill Bend has a thought-provoking response to Kristin Penn's views on non-violence 13 TOWARD A NON- NUCLEAR WORLD: a packed-with-information pull-out feature by members of Women Against Nuclear Technology 25 Is public appreciation something we activists need — or get? Lou Nelson suggests we think about it 26 In the first of a series of feature articles on B.C. women artists, Michele Wollstonecroft introduces Robin Campbell of Victoria 27 Lesbian Fiction has brought together some ground-breaking short stories. Whet your appetite on this book review by Cy-Thea Sand COVER: People worldwide are protesting the nuclear arms race. Join the wave of the future. Drawing by Jeanne Taylor FEBRUARY '82 KiMESIJ news about women that's not in the dailies SUBSCRIBE TO KiMMJiJ\ Published 10 times a year by Vancouver Status of Women 400A West 5th Ave., Vancouver, B.C. V5Y 1J7 Subscriber Member/Subscriber Institution Sustainer $10 By donation $20 $50 _ Payment Enclosed Please remember that VSW operates on inadequate funding — we need member support! 2 Kinesis February 1982 ORGANIZING Vancouver Status of Women: a look back on our work by Diana Ellis and Debra Lewis Those of us who work in the women's movement often have little time to reflect on the past. There are always new issues to face, and old ones at which to keep plugging away. Nevertheless, our past is important. Understanding our successes and failures — and why — is a crucial part of continuing our work today. Has the organizing work of the Vancouver Status of Women (VSW) changed over the years? If so, how? What have some of the external impacts on VSW been and how have they affected the way our work was done? What about internal factors — staff changes, physical space — what effect have these had on the way VSW does things? Finally, how is VSW responsive to.the needs of women, and have those responses changed over the past 11 years? Work shaped by funding changes With VSW's 11th anniversary upon us, former staff members Debra Lewis and Diana Ellis and ongoing staffer Nadine Allen got together one evening to discuss our own experience in relation to these questions. KINESIS KINESIS is published ten times a year by Vancouver Status of Women. Its objectives are to enhance understanding about the changing position of women in society and work actively towards achieving social change. VIEWS EXPRESSED IN KINESIS are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect VSW policy. All unsigned material is the responsibility of the Kinesis editorial group. CORRESPONDENCE: Kinesis, Vancouver Status of Women, 400A West 5th Avenue, Vancouver, B.C. V5Y 1J8. MEMBERSHIP in Vancouver Status of Women is by donation. Kinesis is mailed monthly to all members. Individual subs to Kinesis are $10.00 per year. We ask members to base their donations on this, and their own financial situations. SUBMISSIONS are welcome. We reserve the right to edit, and submission does not guarantee publication. Include a SASE if you want your work - returned. WORKERS ON THIS ISSUE: Jan Alexander, Janet Beebe, Janet Berry, Johanna Clark, Jan DeGrass, Cole Dudley, Dorothy Elias, Pat Feindel, Penny Goldsmith, Nicky Hood, Judy Hopkins, Sandy Kalmakoff, Alleson Kase, Kristin Penn, Jeanne Taylor, LezlieWagman, Michele Wollstonecroft. DEADLINE FOR NEXT ISSUE: February 15 for February 28 publication. Late copy printed as space permits. Vancouver Status of Women offices are located at 400A W. 5th Avenue, Vancouver V5Y 1J7. Office hours are Monday to Thursday, 9-5:30 (some evenings by appointment). Our phone number is 873-1427. Diana Ellis and Nadine Allen, VSW staffers, June 1975. Some of the external forces shaping VSW were identified easily — funding, government and other women's groups among them. Consistent core funding, despite the fact it has to be fought for each year, has certainly been c stabilizing influence, enabling VSW to claim itself one of the oldest status of women groups in the country. We have had an office and staff since 1972, developed projects that build on previous experience, and flexed with the changing needs of members, staff and women in general. At-the same time, inadequate core funding has also shaped our work. From 1975 to 1980 the amount received each year stayed the same. Meanwhile, the cost of living and of working rose. Hence decisions were made to redesign some of our services and decrease the number of staff. . In 1978, for example, the staff was reduced from 8 to 5 members. The ombudservice was eliminated and office priorities rearranged to reflect an emphasis on work with groups and on issues, rather than responding to individual problems. We also developed a legal referral service at this time. Strategies reflect changes in government The shift vas partly successful, but it did leave a gap in advocacy work with women, "/e approached City Hall for additional funding in 1980 and were turned down because of our position on abortion and lesbian and gay rights. In 1981, a change in city council combined with our support in the community led to our winning funds for an advocacy worker. With the increase in staff from 5 to 6, we reclaimed a bit of lost ground. However, while the number of staff was on the decrease, the workload was going up — a trend caused in part by the change in government in 1976. Many social services have been cut back, eliminated, or made less effective for women since that time. As a result, VSW sees more women, takes more phone calls, and involves itself more in organizing efforts around these cutbacks. Because there is always so much to do, priorizing has always proved difficult; staff burnout has sometimes been the result. Looking even further back, the NDP years in Victoria also shaped part of VSW's work at the time. There was definitely a sense that our briefs, our demonstrations, our letters and bur press releases might be heard and have some,, effect. Despite the difficulty in dealing'with any government, VSW knew at the time that the constituency of women was one that some NDP MLA's took seriously. Certainly we worked hard on many issues during those years. For example, VSW staff and members sat on the Berger Commission on Family and Children's Law and the Provincial Advisory Committee on Sex Discrimination in Public Education — shaping the way later policy, matrimonial law and non-sexist education were developed. Limited successes perhaps, but successes nonetheless. Staff and members also became involved with the newly formed Human Rights Branch and Commission. Above all else perhaps, there was far more interaction between VSW and all parts of government — both bureaucracy and legislators. Many of us learned much about the way the system works and were able to apply that knowledge to ongoing organizing and issue development. More recently, we have put less emphasis on approaching the government. One reason, of course, is that there are fewer forums where we can be heard. There is no committee on sex discrimination in education, no provincial co-ordinator on the status of women, few other places soliciting our input. We have less manoeuvring room, and we have learned not to beat our collective head against the wall. In the mid 1970's, the formation and existence of other women's groups also influenced VSW work. The proliferation . of women's centres that began in 1974-75 certainly affected the shape of VSW's work in the lower mainland area. Early VSW members went on to organize women's groups -\n North Vancouver, Richmond, Delta and Port Coquitlam. As a result, in 1976 VSW was able to begin to organize more strategically in the neighbourhoods of the city of Vancouver. And although VSW still receives many requests to provide speakers, there was a time when the bulk of our speaking engagements were outside of the city. Now, that work can often be done by local women's groups in the area. Members play a strong role Internal forces on VSW, such as membership, staff and actual physical space have also played a part in shaping our work. Obviously, each new staff person brings her own special interests and skills to the work. As well, with a small staff, each staff person is key. So staff turnover, difficulties and burnout also play Continued on page 30 February 1982 Kinesis 3 ORGANIZING New programs, old battles — the work goes on at VSW A 7% Suzanne Gerard of Women in Trades with VSW staffer Patty Moore. Vancouver Status of Women will soon enter its twelfth year of providing services, facilities and support to women in B.C. To mark our eleventh anniversary, Jan DeGrass spoke with two VSW staff members, Patty Moore and Nadine Allen, about their work and thoughts about future directions for VSW. Jan: What programs are you currently involved in? Patty: I'm working with a consciousness- raising group at present, and also planning assertiveness training programs to be held at family place drop-ins in February and Marcy, and at VSW. Another program we're working on right now, Women About Women, will be an evening discussion series on specific topics (see page 32 for details). Our programs are all free, and we provide childcare. Nadine: Besides the regular programs we're all involved in, we do a lot of general work that I would call 'reactive'. We respond to telephone calls, gather information, answer questions from the media and from women who visit us. Since we have acquired our new office space and there's so much room for programs to take place, we've been able to share it with many other groups. The Women's Building Committee uses it; so do the Welfare Rights Coalition, the Women's Self-Help Counselling Collective, and Women in Trades. Jan: Who is VSW aimed at - single parents, working women, career women? Patty: I feel we're really broad-based. It's true we don't do much for the few high-profile career women - we're not necessarily working on getting women into high places. A large part of our mandate is poorer women, women on welfare and women in low-paying jobs. We believe women have a right to choices about where they work and how they live; a right to better working conditions and decent pay. Nadine: Broad-based doesn't mean middle-of- the-road. It doesn't mean we don't have a stand on which groups we support; remember we're starting from a politically left perspective. But we support anyone who wants to operate a valid program within the broad scope of the women's movement. Patty: I'd like to see us develop more ties with women in unions. They have been working on some really pertinent issues, like equal pay for work of equal value, paid maternity leave, health' and safety, and the effects of micro-chip technology on the jobs of women. Kinesis volunteer Cole Dudley at work on the paper. Jan: Do you get a lot of support from the Nadine: We do, but we could use more help. That's been a bit of a low point with us. It's often more work finding the people than doing it yourself. We'd like to have everyone who is interested doing something useful. Some women phone us to say "I'm available" but it's hard to tell them what to do. The best way they could help is to focus on something - one issue - and keep us informed about it. A woman phoned the other day and offered to attend the daycare coalition meetings and report to us, and generally act as a liaison so we could see how best to help. That was good. I know that the housing coalition could use a VSW rep too, and our library could really use some volunteer help. Patty: The consciousness-raising group I'm involved in is a good way for some women who are new to the women's movement to become involved. They can try out new ideas, and find areas they're interested in working in. Jan: How does all this': : paper like Kinesis fit into Patty: Oh, it's vital. It helps women become involved and keeps everyone informed. By reading Kinesis, you can get a pretty good idea of VSW's priorities. Information from an anti-feminist perspective is presented only too frequently in the regular media. The major papers are all biased against women. Kinesis is a chance to present our own views and lives in print. Nadine: That letter to the editor printed in the Sun a while ago was a good example. He said, "Why isn't the women's movement lobbying for rights in the constitution? I'll support them if they'd only do something ..." It makes me mad. The only reason someone like that thinks we aren't doing anything is because it isn't reported in the regular media. The fact is we're work-' ing very hard. You'd never know it to read the daily papers though. Jan: Is the work satisfying? Patty: Yes. Working in a collective has been good. I can say what I think and explore new ideas. A lot of the work we do in outside programs is difficult; it's satisfying to plan it together and come back here and know there are women who will be there to support you. We offer each other respect for the work we do. It's also satisfying when something like the welfare rights activities turn out so many people. Jeanne Taylor, Kinesis volunteer and ''resident artist". Nadine: The only problem is that it's never quite manageable. Every week you think, "I'm going to get control of the work this week", but there's so much to do. We keep having to re-do things we've already struggled with before, like the pro-choice fight. But we're not going to give up the fight. Patty: It seems like there are more women than ever before working on different issues in this city. We've really branched out, opened up. The work load has increased so you can tell that the women's movement is having an impact. Nadine: One thing I would say has changed in the last few years is that we're placing more emphasis on strengthening ourselves, widening our knowledge, learning skills and supporting each other. We're not forced into an adversary position all the time. Jan: What issues do you think will become very important for women in the near future': Patty: Welfare rights is crucial right now. Organizing among immigrant women and domestic workers is also on the increase, and we will be offering whatever support we can to these women. Nadine: Our legal work is still important, and continues to involve a lot of lawyer referrals. We also manage to produce a steady flow of briefs and articles on legal rights issues, like family law and pensions. One thing that's always a concern is our funding. It's never secure. Once again we'll have to ask for support letters from our members and friends. I'm sure people get tired of it, but that's the reality of working here. We ask readers to write letters in support of VSW's current funding applications to the provincial Attorney General, and to the City of Vancouver. Tell them how our services are important to you, and how imperative it is to the women of B.C. that a service like ours continues to exist. Write to: Alan Williams Attorney General Legislative Buildings Victoria, B.C. and Mayor and City Council City Hall 453 West 12th Avenue Vancouver, B.C. Please send us a copy of your letter(s). Thanks. Kinesis February 1982 HEALTH Borowski suit presents a grave threat to abortion rights by Ann Thompson A showdown is approaching between the Canadian ruling class and the organized anti-abortion movement on the one hand, and on the other, women fighting for the right to control our own bodies and lives. On December 1. 1981, the Supreme Court of Canada agreed to hear a suit brought by Joseph Borowski of Manitoba against the 1969 amendments to the Criminal Code. Those amendments make it legal to perform abortions as long as they are done in major hospitals and follow very restrictive guidelines. Borowski wants the law declared invalid on the grounds that the Bill of Rights protects fetuses. hundreds of thousands of Canadians. Yet these demands are not acknowledged in the Supreme Court's December 1, 1981 ruling. This is the same court that twice held hearings and handed down decisions in the case of Dr. Morgenthaler in 1975 and 1976. Morgenthaler has been uncompromising in his thorough defense of abortion as a woman's right, and in his denunciation of the abortion laws. Yet despite the familiarity they have with th^se arguments, the judges are ignoring the demands of women. Their approach is to emphasize that they consider abortion to be primarily illegal. The Majority Opinion of December 1, written by Justice Martland, states: "The Help Organize an Abortion Rights Action for Mother's Day " Attend the Lower Mainland Planning Meeting Trout Lake Community Centre 3350 Victoria Drive Saturday, February 13, 1982 1 - 4 p.m. Borowski's challenge to the validity of the abortion laws is the Canadian equivalent of the U.S. Human Life Amendment. Both aim to supplant women's rights with the supposed rights of the fetus at a constitutional — ie inalterable — level. We face a grave threat. But we can beat it if we waste no time and get busy organizing the majority of Canadians who are on our side. Borowski will likely bring in doctors and scientists to testify that human life begins at conception. Similar testimony was offered last spring at hearings in Washington, D.C. on the proposed Helms- Hyde Human Life Bill, the text of which is identical to the Human Life Amendment. Should the Borowski suit succeed, the door would be opened to prosecuting women who have abortions, and doctors who perform them, for murder. Use of birth control such as the IUD, which prevents the implantation of the fertilized egg, might also violate the law. And of course there would be no more abortions performed in hospitals. It would be back to the days of the wire coathangcr. Abortion considered primarily illegal There are alarming features to the thinking of the judges who will deliberate and rule on Borowski's challenge, as revealed in the documents handed down December 1. Nowhere in the ruling are women spoken of as independent beings with basic rights. Feminists have challenged the validity of the abortion laws since the 1969 amendments were adopted. This challenge has been repeatedly made in Parliament, beginning with NDP MP Grace Maclnnis' private member's bill calling for repeal in the early 1970's, and continuing with similar bills put forward by such MP's as NDPer Svend Robinson in 1979. More importantly, repeal has been demanded by innumerable large rallies, demonstrations, conferences, tribunals, and public meetings across the country, involving legislation under attack here...provides that in certain specified circumstances conduct which otherwise would be criminal is permissible." They then ruled that this permission should be questioned, and they empowered Borowski, a notorious anti-abortionist, to do so. Borowski granted 'standing' despite lack of qualification The crux of the December 1 decision is to confer legal "standing" on Borowski, thus entitling him to present his case to Court. The rule on standing excludes a person from bringing an issue to court unless "he" has the "most direct interest" in it. Borowski, who can neither get pregnant nor perform abortions, has no such relationship to the law. The judges have this to say about fetuses: "The legislation proposed to be attacked has a direct impact upon the unborn human fetuses whose existence may be terminated by legalized abortions. They obviously cannot be parties to proceedings in court and yet the issue as to the scope of the Canadian Bill of Rights in the protection of the human right to life is a matter of considerable importance. "There is no reasonable way in which that issue can be brought into Court unless proceedings are launched by some interested citizen." And thus the door was opened for Borowski and the anti-abortion movement to go before the Supreme Court. Only twice before has a member of the public been allowed to challenge the validity of adopted legislation which did not directly affect him. Most of the 25-page text of the December 1 ruling is an examination of these two precedents, and of how various groups of Canadians 'stand' in relation to the abortion laws. The groups given consideration are doctors who perform therapeutic abortions and doctors who do not; similarly, hospitals that appoint therapeutic abortion committees and those that do not. None of these, in the judges' opinion, have reason to attack the abortion laws. A symphathetic view is taken toward "the husband of a pregnant wife who desires to prevent an abortion which she desires." But the judges conclude that the pregnancy would run its course long before such a husband could bring his challenge to the courts. All women are affected by restrictions The judges exclude the possibility that women might challenge the validity of the law by choosing to ignore all but the woman who is pregnant and who manages to surmount the bureaucratic obstacles to obtaining a legal abortion. "There is no reason why a pregnant woman desirous of obtaining an abortion should challenge the legislation which is to her benefit." Thus the judges close their eyes to the fact that women of all ages, pregnant or not, are directly affected by the restrictive legislation on abortion. They make no apology for the admitted inequities in the application of the law and concede nothing to the demand for the fundamental right to choose. The nearly thirteen-year campaign by women against the inadequacy of the 1969 reform on abortion now faces its most serious challenge. Indeed, the Borowski suit is a threat to the climate of support for feminism that our efforts have created, and to the progress made so far against women's oppression. In this emergency, we call on 'all feminists to join in defeating Borowski One option is to apply to the Supreme Court for intervener status in the hearings; that is, for the right to make pro-choics presentations to the Court. The Canadian Abortion Rights Action League (CARAL) in Toronto is looking into this, and other groups may be as well. While it is rare for the Court to permit interveners, it may do so in this case. It is important for us to remember that while the Supreme Court may aim for lofty objectivity, it is in fact susceptible to strongly-voiced public opinion. The decision to waive the rule on standing for Borowski is a clear-cut example of this: the Court has been affected by the high- pressure campaign being conducted by the anti-abortion movement. His objections to the law differ from ours For feminists, the strongest and best defense against the Borowski suit is to mobilize supporters in a massive, continuing expression of the demand for a woman's right to choose on abortion. Coupled with this is the demand for repeal of the existing anti-abortion laws. It is important that the women's movement not allow Borowski to trick us into defending the existing laws. He wants these laws declared invalid for wholly anti-woman reasons. Women want the laws repealed for feminist reasons, so that choice will not be hampered by legal and bureaucratic restrictions. We should not support these horrendous laws just because Borowski is attacking them. We must press our demands for repeal and for the fully-legal right to choose forward all the more vigorously. We do not know when the case may come to Court, although Bo-rowski's lawyer is claiming it may be as early as this spring. It Continued on page 12 February 1982 Kin ACROSS B.C. Aboriginal women still waiting for the real decision Concerned Aboriginal Women won a partial victory January 12 when the remainder of 53 mischief charges laid against the native people who occupied Department of Indian Affairs offices last July were dismissed. Because separate charges were laid against every individual arrested after the occupation, the occupiers faced 53 separate trials. However, when the first case came up for trial December 18, arresting officers were unable to identify Mary Louise Williams, the woman they had arrested. The charge was dismissed as a result. At the second trial January 6, of Lillian Basil, the judge again dismissed the charge. The defense has based its case on the fact that Basil had a right to be in the DIA offices during the occupation because (1) she felt negotiations were underway between Concerned Aboriginal Women and Indian Affairs Minister John Munro, and (2) Senator Ray Perreault (acting on behalf of Munro) had telephone Munro at the time of the occupation, and Munro had not returned the call. At the third trial January 12, charges against Karen and Leonard Anderson were dismissed for the same reasons. With three trials thus completed, the Crown decided to withdraw the remaining 49 charges. The same defense would have applied in all cases. Concerned Aboriginal Women think the criminal charges and trials were a diversionary tactic - they are still waiting for Munro to contact them. Their demands remain the Sunshine Coast Transition House opens The Sunshine Coast Transition House officially opened December 23, 1981. The house will be run by one full-time coordinator, two part-time staff and 15 volunteer staff. The house office can be reached by calling 885-2944- The house opening is the result of five months work by a committee of local women. The funding for the Transition House came as a result of an educational questionnaire done two years ago on the Sunshine Coast. The top four needs listed by women on the questionnaire all dealt with crisis intervention and emergency shelter for women. The results of the questionnaire were given to local MHR supervisor Harvey Bist, who then budgeted money for a Transition House. Affirmative action in Vancouver shipyards pending Late last year, th- Canadian Employment & Immigration Commission reached an affirmative action agreement with Vancouver's major shipyards. The shipyards, after talking it over with union, provincial and federal government representatives, have agreed to increase the number of women working in the shipyards. But B.C.'s CEIC affirmative action promoter, Bill Rapanos, is hesitating about whether to run a full-page ad in the Vancouver Sun to bring potential women out of the woodwork. He's afraid it would be a waste of money, that very few women would respond to such an ad. Women in Trades disagrees, and is lobbying to change Rapanos' mind. They cite the example of World War II, when women res ponded to similar ads by the thousands. Extensive advertising, well-financed training programs and good quality childcare will do the trick, says Women in Trades. They add that trades opportunities for women should be advertised where women will see them - in offices, in union halls, and on city buses, for starters. It is a fact that serious obstacles remain for women entering the trades - management resistance, inadequate training programs, and lack of support services for women are just three. To illustrate the state of federal commitment to trades training for women, the government in 1980 allocated just $2 million out of a total training budget of $834 million to wage subsidies for women apprenticing in non-traditional trades. As for affirmative action agreements with industry (a voluntary affair), only 26 such agreements have been signed across the country so far. Considering the rate at which traditional jobs for women are becoming obsolete, this kind of affirmative action is clearly inadequate, (from Linda Eossie/Vancouver Sun) City of Vancouver's EEO back in action The City of Vancouver's Equal Employment Opportunities Program has been revived as of December 1, 1981 under new co-ordinator Reva Dexter. Parts of the program had continued on a low key basis ever since Shelagh Day''s thwarted efforts over three years ago. Day received little support from.the mostly NPA-dominated City Council and was hounded by columnist Doug Collins and others of his ilk. A push from Mayor Harcourt has led to the reinstitution of the program which will probably follow the guidelines set down in 1977. Dexter anticipates "a lot more support from City Council this time around." "I've also been on the Vancouver Show and Webster lately and I've found the response from the media to be quite positive." The program includes recruiting the city's women workers into non-traditional jobs by providing training programs for them and offering help with advancement, promotions and transfers. Training courses will also be provided for disabled employees and an assertiveness training class will be underway soon. The program is also sponsoring a drive to recruit nurses for the health departments. First task on the agenda is to collect data relevant to men's and women's comparative positions and salaries. Analysis is taking place now and results are expected by February. "I'm trying to delegate a lot of the data collection," said Reva. "It's important that the various departments get involved and pass information on. Only then can they be aware and committed to working on the results." The program encompasses three sectors: -the disabled, minorities and women. "But their needs are all different", wailed Reva, only two months into the job. "People assume their needs are the same, but how can you count minority workers when they're not even supposed to write that they are in a minority on the application form? And who's to say who is disabled?" "Personally, I would prefer to work with just women." Reva Dexter is a former VSW staff member. Forum forces reversal of training cutbacks The Manpower Cutbacks Forum story of last November has a surprise ending. It worked! It would seem when the feds are directly affected, they take action. Don Henslowe, manager of Institutional Training at CEIC (Canadian Employment Immigration Commission), has confirmed that all previously funded pre-employment courses have had their funding re-instated. Cliff Worthy, training consultant for CEIC pre-apprenticeship programs, also confirmed that all but four pre-apprenticeship courses have been re-funded. The four courses have been either been dropped by the schools or re-classified as pre-employment programs. Eight seats are now sponsored by CEIC in the Women's Exploratory Apprenticeship Training (.WEAT) program, and funding has been restored to Basic Training for Skills Development (upgrading) courses. As before, two spaces in all pre-apprenticeship and pre-employment courses are reserved for women until two weeks prior to the start of the course. However, it appears that CEIC is still not taking seriously its obligation to fill them with women. CEIC apparently does not always bother to consult its waiting lists for women, nor does it always ensure that a woman dropping out of a course at the last minute is replaced by a woman. This situation is currently being documented. Here is where CEIC living allowances stand: Single person living alone...$70/week Woman with one child, living alone or with non-working spouse...$90/week Woman with two children, living alone oh with non-working spouse...$105/week Woman with three children, living alone or with non-working spouse...$120/week Woman with four children, living alone or with non-working spouse...$135/week Dependent care allowance for children under school age is an extra $20/week for the first child, !315/week for each additional child. A living-away-from-home allowance of $40/week is available for courses under two months long, if you are maintaining yourself and the residence you left. There is a commuting allowance of 7i^/mile if you must travel more than 15 miles away from home each day. And a relocation grant of 7i^/mile is paid if you must move out of town to take a course. Finally, if you qualify, you can collect unemployment (UIC) benefits while you take your course. In this case, you would not receive the living allowance described above. 6 Kinesis February 19! ACROSS CANADA Associations demand ban on Depo-Provera for retarded women TORONTO (CP) - The Canadian and Ontario Associations for the Mentally Retarded have demanded an immediate ban on the use of the drug Depo-Provera, a synthetic form of the hormone progesterone. The associations called for the ban after a study tabled in early November in the Ontario legislature showed that three severely retarded women died of breast cancer while taking the drug. (Depo- Provera is given to mentally retarded women in many cases to stop menstruation for hygienic reasons.) During its annual meeting in Quebec City, the Canadian association unanimously passed a resolution saying "no citizen who is mentally retarded should be subjected to the potential hazards of this drug." The association also asked the health protection branch of the federal Health and Welfare Department to extend the moratorium throughout Canada. Depo-Provera is used in more than 70 countries in Europe and the Third World as a contraceptive. It is not approved for such use in North America because studies have found high doses in beagles produced breast cancer. But can he type? According to Crown Zellerbach News, on Ontario chemical manufacturer recently told the annual conference of the University of Western Ontario Business School that the time is approaching when typing skills will be stressed in executive recruitment ads. George Hagen of Reichold Ltd. told the conference that an executive who can type and use a small portable computer will soon have a competitive advantage in the job market. Need we say more? Edmonton women fight pornography Three screaming women recently disrupted a one-night only showing of the sadomasochistic film Story of 0 at Edmonton's Princess Theatre. The women, members of a group called Women Fight Back, distributed literature protesting the film outside the theatre and asked patrons their reasons for attending. (Vancouver Sun) Non-violent rape still rape A non-violent rape is still rape and warrants a four-year jail term, the B.C._ Court of Appeal ruled in November. Three appeal court judges upheld a four- year jail sentence for a man convicted of raping a 31-year-old woman after he spent an evening drinking with her in a North Vancouver bar. Justices P.D. Seaton, E.E. Hinkson and W.A. Craig rejected defence lawyer Howard Brad- brooke's argument that the accused deserved lighter sentence because he did not physically "abuse" the woman. "I would suggest the abuse was rape, the worst kind of physical abuse," said Justice Seaton. Bradbrooke added that the accused, a 200- pound truck driver was "sobbing and crying afterwards" and was not "callous, vicious or depraved" in his behaviour towards the woman. "Sexually assaulting a woman is a callous, vicious thing to do, so you're telling that to the wrong judge...perhaps she wasn't hurt physically but emotionally she was (obviously) pretty seriously injured," replied Justice Craig, (from Victoria Times- Colonist/Flagrant) Carpenters' paper adopts non- sexist usage On the Level, the newspaper of the B.C. Provincial Council of Carpenters, has launched a new editorial policy designed to eliminate sexist language from their pages. The move follows a decision by the annual convention of the B.C. Provincial Council of Carpenters to attempt to remove all sexist language from Carpenters' collective agreements in British Columbia. The new policy will include words such as chairman which will become chairperson, tradesman which will become trades worker, and journeyman which will become journey- person. Although these changes are only small steps in the campaign to achieve equal rights , for women they are nevertheless important, primarily because they symbolize a willingness to recognize the need for change and improvements. The changes have also been promoted by the B.C. Federation of Labour, the Canadian Labour Congress and the B.C. Human Rights Branch and have already been adopted by several unions. (On the Level) . EVER NOTICE WHEN THE ECONOMY TIGHTENS... SO DO THE DRESSES ! Manitoba unionists plan occupational health clinic The Manitoba Federation of Labour, at its last annual convention, decided to launch a major fundraising drive in order to set up an occupational health clinic - to be controlled by workers and run for the benefit of workers. Currently, the only physicians specializing in occupational medicine in Manitoba are employed by companies. The clinic would provide treatment to workers who believe they have an occupationally induced illness or accident. In addition, the clinic would offer educational programs about the hazards of substances, occupations and workplaces; computerized access to relevant international data banks; and consultations for other interested health care workers. (Healthsharing) Women CAs are tops In a recent issue of the CAmagazine (a chartered accountants' publication) it was noted that in the December 1979 Uniform Final Examinations for CA status, the four highest scorers nationally were women - Penelope Smiley, Elaine Stewart, Joan Davison and Eleanor Hirvey. Not only that, but women have taken top scores in three of the last four annual exams. (Homemaker's) Quebec bankworkers back on the job Employees of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce at East Angus, Quebec, members of the United Food and Commerical Workers, won their first contract last month after 16 months on the picket line. In support of their campaign, the CLC had urged all affiliates to withdraw union funds from CIBC branches across Canada. This likely persuaded CIBC management to offer the East Angus branch benefits equal to those in other branches. The UFCW members in East Angus, near Sherbrooke, were locked out in April, 1980. (Peer C/ Canadian Labour) Pioneer woman doctor dies Dr. Elizabeth Bagshaw, a pioneering Canadian woman doctor who started her medical practice in 1906, died,last month in Hamilton, Ontario at age 100. In 1924, Dr. Bagshaw helped to found the Federation of Medical Women of Canada. In 1932 she became a founding members of Canada's first birth control clinic, and served as its medical director for thirty years. In 1973, Dr. Bagshaw was named a member of the Order of Canada, and in 1979 was awarded the Governor General's Persons Award in recognition of her efforts to advance the status of women, (info from Vancouver Sun) Kingston Pen relocates women prisoners Three provinces have agreed to accept women prisoners being relocated from the federal penitentiary in Kingston, Ontario. B.C., Alberta and Quebec will house 155 to 165 of the 205 women prisoners at Kingston in new or existing facilities. The federal government has been pressured for years to close down Kingston penitentiary because of the poor conditions there, Added weight was given by a Canadian Human Rights Commission ruling that women prisoners are victims of discrimination in the federal pentitentiary system. Because Kingston is the only federal prison for women in the country, and because the numbers of women in federal prison are so few relative to the male prison population, they have had less access than men to rehabilitiation programs, and because they are housed only in Kingston, they are more likely to.be far from home. For the up to 45 women remaining in Kingston, Solicitor General Robert Kaplan says he hopes to announce plans soon which will upgrade rehabilitiation programs for the women there, (info from Vancouver Sun) February 1982 Kinesis 7 INTERNATIONAL Breast cancer treatment may not make significant difference A doctor writing in a recent issue of Mother Jones magazine has asserted that despite the many new techniques for treating breast cancer, "there is no compelling evidence that one is better than any other or that any is significantly better than none at all." Dr. Hugh Drummond contends that in order to make a difference, local treatment would have to be done on the narrow group of cancers that are going to spread to other parts of the body but have not yet done, so at the time of diagnosis. "The subgroup of treated women for whom the surgery might have been 'in time' is apparently so small that it does not create a significant difference between the treatment and non-treatment groups," he says. Drummond's conclusions are based largely on a summary of more than 300 research papers which was published in The New England Journal of Medicine. "There is a dramatic diagram in the article," he writes, "which compares survival rates for two groups of patients charted against years after the appearance of the first symptom. One group was treated with radical mastectomy; the other had no treatment at- all. The two curves are extremely close, and for the first two years (which is the median survival rate) there is no difference." What about the figures touted by the cancer research establishment? First of all, women who live five or ten years after the initial diagnosis are generally considered cures, even if they eventually die of the disease. The increased emphasis on early detection is also a factor: "Early diagnosis results, by definition, in greater survival rates without a change in actual longevity." Finally, in the comparison study referred to above, some of the untreated patients lived for nearly 20 years, and five percent died of causes other than breast cancer. Drs. Craig Henderson and George Canellos, the authors of the New England Journal study, discovered that positive responses to hormone therapies occur primarily in women more than five years beyond menopause - that group of women with the best overall prognosis. The majority of patients undergoing chemotherapy will show some tumor regression for an average duration of eight to ten months and an average survival after treatment of 14 to 18 months. "However," writes Drummond, "for many of these months patients are plauged with nausea, vomiting, anemia, poor resistance to infection, bleeding tendencies, hair loss and fatigue that are toxic effects of the drugs themselves.' Drummond also rejects the widespread conviction that breast cancer is hereditary, pointing to a study by Ido de Groot of the University of Cincinnati. De Groot's data suggests "a stronger relationship in breast cancer between neighbours than between daughter and mother." Drummond points the finger at environmental and dietary factors. His advice to women: "stay away from hair dye; take a break from birth control pills; get rid of the fat in your diet; don't take tranquilizers; get angry about pollution; and avoid unnecessary X-rays." For women who already have breast cancer, Drummond asserts that it is as important to "consult, join with or organize other women with the illness as it is to see a physician." He argues that women should not passively accept whatever the doctor recommends. "Ask him or her to justify - in terms that take your individuality into consideration - whatever is done. Ask about and complain about side effects. If the doctor acts as if you are some kind of lunatic for challenging a medical judgment, then maybe you have got the wrong doctor." Silkwood award overturned Last December 12, a 3-judge appeals panel in Oklahoma City overturned a lower court order which had awarded a record $10.5 million to the heirs of Karen Silkwood. Silkwood was murdered in 1974. Her car was rammed and run off the road as she was on her way to meet a New York Times reporter with evidence of nuclear safety violations at a plutonium processing plant of the huge Kerr-McGee Corporation. Her death became the focus of national attention in the anti-nuclear movement and more broadly. A civil suit was filed, and in May 1979 - in the wake of events at Three Mile Island - a federal court jury quickly awarded the Silkwood estate $500,000 in personal damages and $10 million in punitive damages against Kerr-McGee. This was an unusually large award which was allowed to stand at the time by the trial judge. In overturning the award, the Appeals Court first threw out the $10 million punitive damages against Kerr-McGee, alleging that the 1954 Atomic Energy Act pre-empts any civil actions for punitive damages. If this ruling stands, it means that no nuclear industry company could be sued for punitive damages, no matter how flagrant, deliberate or avoidable their "accidents" might be. The justices then tossed out the $500,000 award for personal damage, ruling that Silkwood's heirs should have instead filed for workers' compensation: {Revolutionary Worker) Tubal sterilization does not eliminate risk A recent finding suggests that as many as six women in every 1,000 who undergo tubal sterilization will subsequently become pregnant. Dr.'David Grimes, reporting for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, says however that tubal sterilization is still a safer bet than birth control pills or other methods. Grimes says tubal sterilization increases by "severalfold" the risk of ectopic pregnancy, in which the fertilized egg remains in the Fallopian tube instead of moving to the uterus. However, there seems to be no adverse effect on babies born to women who have undergone tubal sterilization, (from Vancouver Sun) Killing "in defense of honour" Protests- by feminists in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, have caused the reversal of the acquittal of a man charged with killing his lover "in legitimate defense of his honour". He now faces a 15-year jail sentence. Raul "Doca" Street, a playboy who had married and left three Brazilian heiresses, killed wealthy Angela Diniz when she ended their two-month-old relationship, during which she had spent considerable money on him. She wanted to have the freedom to have relationships with other men and women. In October 1979,,Street was acquitted. His lawyer had described Diniz as "a luscious Babylonian prostitute" and "a scarlet woman of the kind we have been warned about in the Apocalypse". Brazilian feminists pressed for a new trial which began in November 1981. During that trial, a feminist study was presented which maintained that 772 women in Sao Paulo alone were killed by male lovers as a "legitimate defense of honour" in the two years since Street's acquittal. In the last ten years, the number of Brazilian women attending universities has increased fivefold, and the proportion of women defined as workers has risen from 19% to 30%. However, most women work in low-paying jobs. Brazil's only woman senator, Eunice Michilis) from Amazonas, is sponsoring a bill that would revoke a law permitting automatic annulment of a marriage if the husband discovers that the bride was not a virgin. (off our backs) Labyris makes women's safety its business London now has a fleet of feminist cabbies. The company, called Labyris, has a fleet of 20 mini-cars, all driven by women, and carrying only women (men may ride only if accompanied by women). According to Margaret Anderson, founder of the company, Labyris provides safe, comfortable and slightly less expensive travel for women, who in the past have had to risk propositions and harassment from male cab drivers. The existence of Labyris has aroused the ire of many men (the address of Labyris' dispatch office is unlisted), and some male cab drivers have complained of discrimination, saying they stand accused of being rapists. London's public transportation is reportedly so unsafe for women that feminist organizations such as Women Against Violence Against Women are lobbying for segregated cars in the subway and on passenger trains, (from Linda Yiossle/Vancouver Sun) Kinesis February 1982 WORK Domestic workers organize, demand equal status by Susan Hoeppner A domestic workers' union became a reality recently when more than 40 domestics, from all parts of the world, met December 20 at the Vancouver Status of Women to create the Domestic Workers Union of B.C. (DWU). Domestic workers at the founding meeting of the Domestic Workers Unions of B.C. Newly elected president of the union is Daphne Williams, a Jamaican domestic who has been working in Canada for eight years. Last year Ms. Williams was the focus of a public campaign organized by INCAR (International Committee Against Racism) in which she won a battle over a deportation order. At the founding meeting of the union, Daphne pointed out that decision to unionize "did not happen overnight. It came after a lot of hard work and individual battles." According to the union, domestic workers represent one of the most abused segments of Canada's work force. The domestic work permit system sets up immigration conditions different from those of landed immigrants. Domestic work permits must be renewed periodically, and this allows government and employers to (overtly or surreptitiously) blackmail workers because of their fear of deportation. Our silent acceptance permits exploitation Secondly, domestic work is not recognized as real work. Women who do domestic labour are treated by society and by individual employers as second-class workers. This is manifested in long hours of work, with little or no time off, low pay, and an appalling lack of privacy. The stories that domestic workers have to tell are horrifying. Yet there is silent acceptance by Canadian of this exploitation. The constitution of the Domestic Workers Union, passed unanimously, advocates the following objectives: To unite all domestic workers in British Columbia in a single democratic organization. To achieve for all domestic workers the best standards of compensation and other conditions of employment and to protect the rights and interests of all domestic workers; and in particular to organize to achieve: • better wages • fewer hours of work without lessening compensation • overtime pay • medical and dental benefits • sick leave and benefits ■ maternity protection and maternity leave • workers compensation for accident and injury ■ other leaves To negotiate contracts of employment with employers to ensure fair employment standards and a right to grievance and appeal procedures. To represent and promote at all levels of government such changes in laws and regulations which improve the conditions of domestic workers and to enforce the promotion of existing laws and regulations which affect domestic workers. To obtain and ensure the right of all domestic workers to change their employer regardless of their status in Canada. Ms. Williams acknowledges that achieving objectives is a formidable task. "Fear is the biggest obstacle for domestic workers. Many domestics are afraid of being fired or deported. We have been treated like dirt for so long, we don't believe we have any rights. Only by getting together will this situation change." One of the biggest problems the union faces right now is lack of funds. Because domestics' wages are so low, they cannot afford the budget that effective organizing requires. Yet in order to have a strong beginning, money is crucial. The Domestic Workers Union asks unions, groups and individuals to contribute what they can. Donations can be directed to: The Domestic Workers Union of B.C. c/o 1992 West 1st Avenue Vancouver, B.C. V6J 1G6 Telephone: 733-8764 Q The Domestic Workers Union will be holding a benefit sometime in March, which will be a good opportunity for friends and supporters to show that support. See next month's Kineses for further details. The past year was one of militancy for union women by Marion Pollack In 1919 the B.C. Federation of Labour convention passed a resolution calling for a six-hour work day, to be achieved by a general strike. If this resolution had been placed on the floor of the 1981 convention, the leadership would probably have pulled out all stops to defeat it. 1981 was a year of growing militancy for women workers. In the early part of the year, CAIMAW members at Canadian Kenworth won an equal pay for work of equal value - settlement breakthrough. In February, telephone workers occupied the premises of B.C. Tel and subsequently held out for a long and bitter strike. The spring and summer saw civic workers strike to attain equal pay for work of equal value, and a very successful strike •by immigrant workers at Windermere Lodge. And in August 1981, postal workers won paid maternity leave. Yet the 26th annual convention of the B.C. Federation of Labour neither reflected nor attempted to channel this militancy. Technological changes such as office computers will radically alter women's work in the near future. It is estimated that the word processor will reduce secretarial jobs in Canada by l|-2 million. The Women's Right Committee of the B.C. Fed drafted an excellent paper on this issue. But while it provided a clear analysis of the situation, the report did not begin to outline the labour movement's response to microchip technology. The . nearest thing to response was promise of an upcoming conference on technological change and unemployment. Equal pay issue could spark widespread militant action With the exception of a number of topical comments, the 1981 Women's Rights Committee report could have passed for an earlier version. There was virtually no analysis of the gains and defeats of the past year, nor was there any direction as to how to build on the momentum.. If the Women's Rights Committee would take more active leadership, the women's movement inside and outside trade unions could dramatically increase in strength. For a start, the Committee could mount support picket lines for striking workers, could hold meetings throughout the province for women to share ideas and experiences, and could work with community groups to fight for daycare and abortion rights. The B.C. Federation of Labour is committed (on paper at least) to support all unions fighting for equal pay for work of equal value. Furthermore, the B.C. Fed has undertaken to hold a conference in the near future to discuss all aspects of equal pay. The equal pay issue has the potential to attract many women to unions and militant action. The winning of equal pay on a province-wide basis will mean that the position of all women, inside and outside the paid labour force, will be drastically improved. Other resolutions dealth with by the convention included support for the FDR and FMNL of El Salvador, a call for free 24- hour quality childcare, endorsement of the B.C. Organization to Fight Racism (BCOFR), development of an anti-racist program, opposition to the Coal Deal, condemnation of franchise! childcare centres, a call to re-hire the Pratt 3, and affirmation of support for the Canadian Farmworkers Union. This convention showed that women's concerns are becoming more and more rooted in the trade union movement. It is clear that for women's issues to be taken seriously within the Federation, we need to continue to mobilize both within and without the labour movement. 0 February 1982 Kinesis 9 TECHNOLOGY Telidon promises obsolescence for workers, social movements by Emma Flyer Telidon. It sounds like some prehistoric animal. In fact, it's technology that gives government and business the means to make dinosaurs out of the labour force. Telidon is the ultimate in computer programming. It makes Information flashed on the screen of a video display terminal (VDT) look like a cartoon, rather than a boring set of letters and numbers. And if B.C. Tel and the Canadian government have their way, within 10 or 20 years every home will have a Telidon keyboard attached to its television. It's going to change our lives. It's becoming rapidly apparent that advancing technology has real potential to entirely alter our way of life - thousands of workers may well become redundant, a liability to "society". What's perhaps less immediately apparent is the isolation people will experience in a "Telidonized" society. Don't worry about getting there For instance, there will be no need to shop. By punching in the co-ordinates of your favourite store, your TV screen will flash the pages of its catalogue. You make your choice, punch in the co-ordinates and your bank account number, and the money is automatically transferred to the store's account. Wipe out needless hours of browsing. Wipe out retail and banking jobs at the same time. Want to get a book from the library, or read a newspaper? Punch"in the co-ordinates for the library and your favourite reading subject. The screen will display book covers or newspapers, until you stop at the one you're interested in. Page by page, you can read it from the screen. No need to go to the library, or buy a paper. No need to leave home. Books, newspapers and magazines will become obsolete. There will be drastic reductions in the need for library workers, and workers in the pulp and paper and printing industries. Want to write a letter to a friend? With a Telidon terminal, it'll be cheaper and faster to punch it in your keyboard and have it appear on her screen. No delay. No letters cluttering up your hall. No need for postal workers. No need to leave home. Want to work for pay? Some banks are already experimenting with computer cottage industry. You have the VDT installed in your home, so you can do your house/mother work as well as your bank work. The bank doesn't have to pay you sick leave when your kids are sick. If you don't get all your work done during the day, you can finish it after the kids are in bed. And if you refuse, another woman down the street will take the work. After all, jobs are going to be hard to find. Prepare for life in the dinosaur patch. Don't worry about getting there; government and big business will pay for the ride, on Telidon. Don't worry about taking the handout; for them, it's a cost-saver. Telidon would replace woman-to-woman contact The federal Department of Communications (DoC) is very interested in acceptance of Telidon as a way of life. Along with B.C. Tel, it has approached a number of community groups suggesting that we participate in a Telidon experiment. They want each women's group to have a Telidon computer terminal for two years. To begin with, a description of each organization, the work it does, its address, phone number, and perhaps the name of a contact person would be fed into the data bank. Then, for example, a worker at the women's health collective, instead of phoning Vancouver Status of Women to find out if they have access to information on sexual harassment, would simply punch in "VSW" or "sexual harassment" on the Telidon keyboard, and wait for the information to appear on the screen. Some groups see the project as a community- based autonomous information network, a grass-roots alternative developed by women for women. And although that sounds awfully like what we already have, they are enthusiastic about the possibilities for freedom of information that they see in the project. <&>' <-^~ .& - ^ & *ti& ¬• ^ ,v>> <**>?>* For at no cost to us (DoC would be footing the bill), we would be provided with training and practice in using computer systems. DoC would also pay for the terminals ($300- $400 each) installed in our offices and in selected libraries and recreation centres. However, as I see it, there are a number of ways that our participation in this project could do serious irreparable damage to the women's movement. There would be a loss of woman-to-woman connection in our daily organizing. Yet it is the frequent contact in our work and the resulting trust among us, that is the basis of our information network. An accidental personal remark can start a discussion, an update of information, a new idea. But if we could get the information we need from a computer terminal, we might not bother to make contact personally. We'd lose that contact and the concomitant sense of being part of a mutually supportive, informal network. In fact, after two years on the computer, chances are we'd have lost a good deal of the network that keeps us connected. Those of us with networking skills now would probably not lose them, but new women wouldn't have the same experience, might not find their way into the network without woman contact. Consider our rate of burnout and turnover. It's quite possible that two years down the road, many of our organizations will be staffed almost entirely by new women. What if their experience in connecting with other feminist organizations consisted mainly of automatic updates on a video screen? When funding for the project reached its cutoff date, those dependent on the computer would have to switch fundraising priorities. They'd have to find money for terminals, computer time, training new members. New members would have to be women who didn't object to computer technology, and who weren't intimidated by it. Would we even recognize our own organizations in five years? Hazard to health, control of communication It seems ludicrous that we're being offered the chance to learn computer skills in our own offices on machines that we've been protesting, that we don't trust, that are wiping out jobs where we earn money to subsidize our political work, that we're certain do damage to our eyes and central nervous systems. There are a number of issues that probably haven't been examined by groups being approached about Telidon. One of these is, do we want to experiment with a new toy built under incredibly exploitive conditions? An article in the magazine "Second Class, Working Class" describes how the eyesight of Asian and Indonesian women who manufacture microchips severely deteriorates after two years on the assembly line, effectively ending their work-life, and how employers are able to refuse responsibility and compensation for this loss. Another issue is government access to centralized information about the women's movement. Is this the first wave of an avalanche of information about us that will be fed into government computers? And who will control what information goes in and what doesn't? If one group refuses to provide information, will another inform on them? How much will they tell? If your name comes up as a contact for more than one group, what will that mean if the government suddenly becomes more repressive? The RCMP are still building files on lesbians and gays, even though they've been advised by the Solicitor General that it's no longer illegal to be gay. Feminists are often accused of being lesbians. Are you getting nervous? Do we want government computers to have the ability to monitor how often information is requested by one group from another, ie. who has strong links? What does it mean when we submit proposals for other kinds of funding? Will only those "on the computer" be considered "legitimate"? Why has the Department of Communications approached us? We've been offered access to people who can use computer terminals in libraries and recreation centres, and jobs and skills for a handful of women - small advantages when weighed against the damage which might be done- to the women's movement. We must be solid in our resistance to this project. Groups who are considering participating must realize they are putting other organizations and individuals at risk, without our consent, and for short- term advantage to themselves. If some are co-opted by the project, while others resist, there will be deep splits in the women's movement, in Vancouver and nationally. Our communications network as it stands is in fact one of the strengths of our movement. Let's keep it that way. Q 10 Kinesis February 1982 ARMED STRUGGLE Revolution a complex mix of hope, justice, violence by Jill Bend The two articles on non-violence in the last issue have spurred me to write. I hope to be able to open some minds to the dangers of pacifist ideology, and to divert any trend towards the equating of feminism with pacifism. I don't agree that feminism is intrinsically a non-violent movement. If people want to talk about violence/non-violence, they should outline exactly what they mean by those terms. I have encountered people too often who believe that chanting slogans is violent (in which case most of us are violent immoralists! ) or that destroying property is violent. It is a real knee-jerk liberal reaction to rave on about how abhorrent violence is. That is far too simplistic a way of dealing with a complex issue. It shows how fearful people are of the question. Regarding the B.C. Organization to Fight Racism (BCOFR) rally, feminists can support or not support what goes on at rallies from other positions than whether violence was used. I don't support what went on because I don't need to be involved in rivalry between two hierarchical, Marxist, male-dominated groups. Those characteristics are the source of the problem; violence is just the result. Reality necessitates the means Women can work against racism, or other oppressions using other methods, in other groups and at other rallies. So it doesn't concern me whether there was violence at that rally. My heart and support isn't behind either of those groups, whose motives I believe are questionable. People should stop freaking out at the fact that violence happened at the rally, and consider that maybe they were freaked out at being caught in the middle of a violent situation, perhaps being used. We should be saying that this is not acceptable. Obviously, violence between two anti- racist groups is not okay, it's absurd. Political violence between left and right, progressives and reactionaries, and the need to defend ourselves as a movement, is what the issue should be. For example, what would we do if the KKK attacked our rally? Historically, the progressive community has gained a certain amount of strength by organizing peacefully. Then at a certain point, right-wing elements and the state attack them violently. This does not happen because the common people have used violence or guerilla warfare, it is just how the right responds to the legitimate and democratic development of radical ideas. We should note here that recent arrests of members of the Black Liberation Army and Weather Underground after the Brinks robbery in New York have given the FBI and state police the go-ahead to harass, invade and terrorize radical, Third World, and feminist organizations and communities throughout the area. It is a clear example of how we must stand together against police tyranny; otherwise our apprehensions about violence and armed resistance are used against us to implicate and convict other members of progressive movements. So when we talk about violence, let's talk instead about the millions of indigenous people of North America who have been systematically wiped out through disease, military attack and cultural annihilation. And that attack still continues. It's not a trivial matter. Let's talk about how the majority of people in North America who are not white are forced to live. In this "land of opportunity", there are people who starve to death, who freeze to death, who are brutalized by hysterectomy and lobotomy. Phenomenal numbers are totally abused, destroyed and killed each year. This is violence! Let's talk about it. This is the ultimate, sickening evil. But are pacifists talking about that, or is it all just an abstraction? I believe you can't be a true pacifist and live off the fruits of a violent society. If you consume any of the goods that come from the violence of this obviously violent society, then you are participating in violence and cannot be a pacifist. Pacifists are generally dogmatic types. They say that means (strategy or tactics) determine the end, but in so believing they are only looking at the physical act, rather than seeing also the spiritual aspects of resistance and development. The act of hope, the beliefs we want to teach our children, are all part of any revolutionary's means. But pacifists reduce means to the merest factor of whether or not violence is involved. For example, Amnesty International refuses to support political prisoners if they have used violence. No matter how much they believed in their struggle or loved their people, Amnesty remains aloof from their life and pain. And that is because, though conscientious, A.I. remains a middle-class liberal organization. I believe you have to look at the total being of a person or movement. It is true that the means create the end, but the means can only be an amalgamation of all the elements of your work and personal life. Inner strength, compassion, a sense of justice — all these factors work to create the end. It cannot be reduced to one nefarious moral thorn of righteousness. Believing in peace does not automatically make someone especially good. Look at what bastions of patriarchal, hypocritical, war-like attitudes most religions are. Pacifists make a religion out of their .pacifism and, as I see it, religion usually foments fascism. What does it really mean to say that you are for peace? Rockefellers and Reagans all say they are for peace. Better to say that you are for freedom of people from the chains that bind them. It is often said that people who believe in the use of violence also believe that "the end justifies the means", but this shows misunderstanding. Their position is rather, that "the reality necessitates the means". It is important to understand this difference because it says we must look with naked minds at the reality of the enemy and the power for and against us, assess the situation and act in whatever manner necessary to ensure victory and survival. When you see that freedom from oppression is what people are working for, you realize that any talk about "ends" is only artificial and static. What we are fighting for is not a goal, but a process and way of living, and it is clear to me that any "means" of moving forward must be honourable. Progressive people who use violence are talking about the need for freedom, the need to defend ourselves and overcome obstacles in our path to freedom. The real violence comes daily from those who would do anything to stop us from reaching freedom. Revolutionary violence (armed resistance is used to keep, or regain any rights we've had. It gets ridiculous when people put down the use of revolutionary violence. The amount of fighting that goes on to defend ourselves is quite minimal compared to the enormity of the attack that goes on continually-against the earth and its people. Does the very use of violence warp a person? This is quite a theoretical criticism. After all, we could claim that your unwillingness to stand up and put your life on the line shows that you are warped — sort of like a robot; with the lack of commitment to risk your life or take a life, for the sake of larger humanity. No-one wants to build a new society through violence alone, as critics of violence accuse. Rather we have to build it through people, changing the way we want to live, becoming strong and spiritual individuals. To admit to anything less is to reduce our desires and actions to one facet only. To take violent action in defence of your human rights may even offer you more morally and spiritually than being passive, and not acting. For oppressed people especially, resistance is the most important thing. And it comes in different forms. For some people, it is nonviolent; for others, it is violent. There is nothing to be lost, and everything to be gained, by taking action to resist and stand up for your rights. Kristin's article, about experiences in her own life, is valid for her but it has been experienced only by her. A personal view is crucial but there is more than that. I didn't see much reflection about the question of non-violence from a world view. Continued on page 11 February 1982 Kinesis 11 ARMED STRUGGLE REVOLUTION continued from page 10 It's strange to see how some people will stand behind individuals and groups (so often women) who are "victims". Yet when these victims stand up and fight to take some power back, they suddenly become reluctant to show support. I don't agree that women have always been nonviolent. Many political prisoners are women. In the U.S. and Europe there are many women who have been part of guerilla groups who are dead or in prison now. There is also a history of strong actions taken by feminists. Women have acted against pornography and sexism in advertising, and some people would call their actions violent since it involves force, property destruction, and/or other illegal elements. What is violence? Is property destruction violent? If we don't believe we must inevitably arm ourselves, then what do we believe is inevitable? Mass slaughter? Apathy? Acquiesenee? Kristin mentions with respect to the film about Nicaragua, "Women in Arms", that she "wasn't heartened to hear women discuss what kinds of guns they prefer" and that she didn't think it "liberating for women to kill next to their male comrades." Women already participate in "war" The point is not that the women were killing, but that they were defending themselves and their people! They were fighting for freedom, not because they liked to kill. And why shouldn't women discuss gun preferences, if they are welcome to discuss food, and movie, and car preferences? For the Nicaraguan people to free themselves from the rule of a dictator, somebody has to fight. There's no reason why women shouldn't have been participating, and there is nothing immoral or degrading about it. It was necessary for the women to participate along with all the people at that time, in order to change the quality of their lives, and to ensure that they and their children had a future. It's important not to be afraid to learn what a gun is. As long as women refuse, because of principles or fear, to learn what a gun is, and while men learn as children what guns are about, we are always going to be victims! The society we live in is already a warlike one. Women already parti.cpate in "war" and unfortunately we usually lose. Through my work in the anti-prison'movement, I have seen that the state has categories for crimes committed by women. They claim more women are committing violent crimes these days. Yet most of these "crimes" are in fact self-defence. Women are fighting back against abusive relationships, and are being locked up and classified as violent for it. When feminists support Inez Garcia, Joan Little, Yvonne Wanrow, and the many more women who've been through the same, we should realize that those women have been made to serve time for killing a man who brought terror into their lives. Our support of these women has been concrete and we have known exactly what we have supported. I don't see any difference between what Inez Garcia did (she killed one of the men who raped her) and what a group working against rape might decide to do in terms of carrying weapons. As women, we should acquaint ourselves with the use of weapons like knives and guns — learn how to use our own bodies for self-defence. It is empowering to to learn these things. To not do it, to be unwilling to deal with the violence in our world, is to leave ourselves sitting ducks, more vulnerable than we ever should be. Pacifists, by taking a strict position on the issue of violence, ignore the reality of changing modes of organization. As the world around us changes, and as political situations change, so do our ways of responding to it. It's not an either- or situation. Instead, we have to judge the situation for what is most needed, most appropriate. My major criticism of pacifists is that they are more concerned about their position on nonviolence than they are about other things going on in the world. It is more upsetting to them that people are standing up for their rights in a "violent" manner, than that the Earth is being totally decimated. I believe that all energy must be put towards ending the inhumanities that are the most crippling and destructive. When you are about to be devoured by a behemoth monster, you try to eliminate it, you don't contemplate subtleties and abstractions in the heat of the moment. Around the anti-nuclear movement there are a lot of peace oriented people, but I find many are more concerned about whether or not you are violent than whether or not we can stop the nuclear menace. They are only willing to go so far in any struggle, before they stop short ... right at the point where they might compromise their pacifism. If you saw a woman being brutalized by someone, and you knew you could only save her by using violence, would you hesitate? Would you be so selfishly moralistic in refusing to use violence that you would, in fact, commit violence by allowing the attack against her to continue? If you would do whatever necessary, then you can't be a pacifist, because you acknowledge the need for violence as a response to some situations, and that realization has far-reaching implications. People fight back against what they perceive is violence to them. Surely femin-. ists must know that there are many different kinds of violence. Women are victimized in many ways, within a lot of "approved" institutions. But society would never say that marriage is a tradition of violence for women. Feminists have challenged a lot of society's preconceptions and values. Why do we still accept the propaganda that armed resistance is a degenerate, uncivilized tactic? People in North America look to the changes in the Third World in their political work, but they aren't willing for the same changes to happen here, and will usually oppose local guerilla activity. They oppose it because it means a change in what they've always had. It means insecurity, instability, and that threat of losing what privileges they ave. Their Third World-ism also shows they think it isn't bad here, only in the Third World, as if our society is bad only because of what it does in the Third World. They don't see the total connection. A country isn't democratic at home, and fascistic in the Third World. A corrupt system is corrupt and repressive every way and everywhere. It must be c and fought at its heart. Violence, a male tradition I think most feminists would agree with Kristin's concerns about what is going on in Iran, Afghanistan, Bulgaria, China and Vietnam, and agree it is not progressive. Communist violence is no better than capitalist violence. In fact it further supports my position that most violence comes from men trying to impose their rule over others. The women's movement has always known the institution of patriarchy as a death- dealing one. How can Kristin say she has "no illusion that if we confront authority non- violently, they will fight us peacefully. Far from it, the revolution will be violent ", and at the same time believe we must only respond with "moral force, overwhelming numbers and non-violence"? She then goes on to say that many nonviolent methods have been used successfully. There is a contradiction here — perhaps between what she knows is necessary and what she hopes will work! If, as Kristin says, it is not easy to plan alternatives to the use of violence, then she must be responsible for her advocacy of non-violence. If non-violence is not a viable alternative to the use of violence, and I don't believe it is, then it should not be advocated. It is important to question where the belief and desperate hope that nonviolence will work comes from. Is it from within, or is it a value perpetrated through society to keep us down? Future is not in the ozone The last thing the rulers want is for us to believe we have the right to defend ourselves with arms. Many people are under threat and attack right now, yet pacifists continue to proffer hypocritical Christian tenets like "thou shalt not kill" and "love thy enemy". Pacifists want to place faith in people who have never proven themselves to be anything other than dishonourable. Nonviolence has become a privileged bourgeois position for those who don't want to dirty their hands. They want peace, I'm sure we all do, but just peace? Life is a struggle. It's not pretty or peaceful but it is the reality for now and the foreseeable future. For those who find it too real and seedy, they'd better look somewhere else. Out in the ozone. Continued on page 30 12 Kinesis February 1982 HEALTH Midwifery Task Force asserts integrity of midwifery by Louise Mangan Unlike European countries, Canada has no provision for comprehensive midwifery education or care. We are one of only nine countries within the World Health Organization which do not educate and license midwives. Canada's birth figures do reflect a high standard of living, early termination of many unwanted pregnancies, and medicine's attempt to provide "total care". Yet few doctors or nurses can offer the respectful philosophy, diagnostic and support skills, or time for preventive care that midwives can. Crisis intervention dominates childbirth Instead, our obstetric system substitutes emergency treatment for preventive caring, often achieving results by artificial means. In B.C., doctors now "rescue" half our babies artificially, using forceps or Caesarian. Midwifery expertise is "crisis prevention', pregnancy, birth and the early weeks of parenting, the midwife combines human vision and technical expertise to watch for problems, using conversative skills where necessary /^TTT^T^^f to prevent them./' '/ ' \ \ \V^ %! ii ially harmful drugs and procedures substitute for continuous personal monitoring. Inadequately trained professionals offer fragmentary care, and anxious women labour with only brief attendance by strangers, often battling the physical effects of fear. Thus it is not surprising that doctors and nurses rarely see a spontaneous birth, or a woman whose perineum has not been cut, or the unfolding feelings of a family with their newborn in the hours after birth. Other countries achieve better results with a fraction of the damage to body and soul. Experience in the Netherlands and in Scan- danavian countries validates the traditional midwifery premise that all woman and their babies benefit from thorough antenatal education, sensitive assessment, continuous encouragement, and respectful protection for the natural process. Midwifery expertise is "crisis prevention". Through pregnancy, birth and the early Through The medical system gleans what it can from midwives educated in other countries by hiring them to work as obstetric nurses. But nowadays, few midwives are willing to work as obstetric nurses, because the job nacks appropriate responsibility and recognition. Midwives on hospital staff have no contact with mothers before or after labour, and may not assist the birth unless no doctor arrives. Only in northern nursing stations (where doctors don't go) can midwives practise in Canada. Without midwives to affirm the birthing abilities of women and to provide early detection of problems, "crisis intervention" dominates childbirth. Disruptions to the natural process aggravate maternal and fetal distress. Potent- BOROWSKI SUIT continued from page 4 is vital to use the time ahead to good advantage to show that the majority of Canadians support our demands. In this emergency, it is timely that the B.C. Federation of Women convention last November voted to sponsor province-wide actions for abortion rights to be held the weekend of Mother's Day, May 8-9, 1982. A BCFW Action Committee, together with Concerned Citizens for Choice on Abortion (CCCA) in Vancouver, have begun organizing for these events. We want to inform all our supporters about these plans and urge them to take part in making the Mother's Day actions for abortion rights hugely successful. In the Lower Mainland, a planning meeting has been called for Saturday, February 13 at Trout Lake Community Centre in Vancouver, from l-4pm. Nearly 200 organizations have received letters inviting them to send participants. The meeting is also weeks of parenting, the midwife combines human vision and technical expertise to watch for problems, using skills where necessary to prevent them. In this way, couples safely enjoy the least possible intrusion, an enriched ability to give birth and be parents, and an awareness of their own role in childbirth. Participants in conference found common ground In February 1980, the Maternal Health Society of B.C. sponsored a conference called "Midwifery is a Labour of Love" in Vancou- Organizers believed that a critical analysis of Canadian obstetrics would lead to recognition of the need for midwifery, and that respect for diverse contributions would alleviate fear and balance different visions of midwifery. Conference speakers were drawn from Europe, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. The three hundred midwives, nurses, parents and doctors who attended the conference found unexpected common ground. They agreed to work together to make quail fied midwives available to families through the health care system, and to provide for the education and licensing of midwives. A petition for provincial circulation was developed to document public support. An Interdisciplinary Midwifery Task Force was created to plan optimal education and services, and a provincial association of midwives formed to consolidate the vision and momentum of midwives. The Interdisciplinary Midwifery Task Force has become a model health planning organization, with a representative board of parents, obstetricians, general practitioners, and midwives (with and without formal training). Nursing background not necessary The strength of agreement among these diverse perspectives, even in areas of potential controversy, has been inspiring. First, the integrity of midwifery was established as a common goal. "Nurse" and "lay" midwives (the Task Force does not accept the distinction) agreed that formal education of midwives, by midwives, will maximize the safety and well-being of childbearing families. Medicalization of midwifery in other parts of the world has only jeopardized the status, role and skill of the midwife. European experience has shown that nursing background is not necessary to quality care, and that the status of the "nurse- midwife" is in fact threatened by the traditional doctor-nurse relationship. Similarly, Task Force members reached consensus on out-of-hospital midwifery practice. Those members committed to a range of birth options believe that midwifery expertise will make birth safer in hospital and out, and that out-of-hospital options, with medical backup, can be shown to be safe. Those who fear birth outside hospital are reassured that midwifery practice will begin in existing institutions and expand as safety,is demonstrated. Q open to individuals who support abortion rights. It will decide on the type and format of the Vancouver area action and will - strike committees to begin organizing the program, publicity, fundraising, and soliciting of endorsements. At the same time, contacts are being made with women's and other organizations around the province that might organize local actions on Saturday, May 8 or L'cther Day, May 9. The date and choice of action may vary and should be decided locally. But public actions are strongly suggested, as these have the most impact. Possible actions might be: * a public meeting with speakers from the women's movement and from important organizations in your area * a larger-scale conference, at which workshops as well as speakers could be featured * a demonstration in the streets, culminating in a rally with speakers. BCFW and CCCA seek to involve as many organizations and individuals as possible in these province-wide actions. Contacts are currently being made with the labour movement, community organizations, and other groups. Support has been pledged by the NDP Women's Rights Committee. Interested readers are invited to contact us through: Concerned Citizens for Choice on Abortion, P.O. Box 24617, Station C, Vancouver, B.C. V5T 4E1 (phone (604) 876- 9920. Remember that poll after poll over the past decade has shown the majority of Canadians support women's right to abortion. Our task is to mobilize this support and make it vocal and visible. Together, we can win. Q This we know. The earth does not belong to humanity — humanity belongs to the earth. This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family. All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons and daughters of the earth. We did not weave the web of life, we are merely a strand in it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. " — Chief Seattle - 1854 We are now in a state of profound disharmony and imbalance with earth and with each other. Our air, land and water are dangerously polluted. Many species of animal and plant life are disappearing forever from the earth. We live under the increasing threat of nuclear war which could destroy all life as we know it. This situation is the inevitable result of a value system that promotes domination and exploitation of the earth and of people rather than co-operation and mutual respect. Just as there are fundamental connections that bind all life, so are there close inter--connections among the causes of the crisis that we now face. In the same way that humans have manipulated and controlled the environment, so men have subjugated women, whites have dominated people of colour, technologically developed nations have exploited third world nations, and corporate interests have used workers to produce profits. Patriarchal mentality promotes domination Nuclear technology is the latest and potentially most destructive manifestation of domination. The same mentality which has supported a "power-over" ownership attitude on the part of men towards women over the ages now allows the rape of the earth through uranium mining, the dumping and unsafe storage of nuclear and chemical wastes, nuclear weapons testing and nuclear power plants which leak radiation. The same mentality that is behind the nuclear industry and the nuclear arms race operates in our government, our economic system, in our legal and educational systems, in industry, in the mili tary and in our social and cultural value system. This set of values promotes domination and exploitation and is known as "the patriarchal mentality." The patriarchal mentality perpetuates inequalities of all kinds. It shapes our educational system, preparing some children to be assembly line workers and others to be executives. It allows viable, profit-making companies to lay off hundreds of employees without concern for their welfare. It maintains a prison system that hides and restrains the worst victims of these inequalities. It allows more to be spent on weapons of mass destruction than on any other single endeavour. And it promotes the destructive attitude that men have a "natural right" to dominate women, that whites are superior to people of colour, that it is in the best interests of the third world to have their land, resources and people exploited by industrially developed nations. People, environment considered expendable It is not that all peoples in all times have incorporated this attitude of domination into their way of living. Native people on this continent, for example, did live in close harmony with the environment before the white people came (and are the only ones today who must deal with uranium mining on their land and the resulting destruction of their health and environment). There is a native saying: "As the earth is treated, so is the woman." It is no accident with the patriarchal mentality as the dominant cultural value in the world today, that women, aboriginal peoples and the environment are all considered expendable in the pursuit of power and technological "progress". Our system values the production and consumption of commodities over the quality of human life. The health and welfare of the earth, of women, native peoples, workers, people of colour and third world peoples are increasingly threatened by the many expressions of the patriarchal mentality — sexism, racism, capitalism, imperialism and the inhumane uses of technology. None of these are in the best interests of a healthy and satisfying life for any of us. The issue is quality of life The problem of nuclear technology is one part of the same issue. The issue is the quality of life, not mere survival in a violent world where women live under the threat of sexual assault, where the already low life expectancy of native peoples is being further decreased by uranium mining and wastes on their lands, and where there is a continual increase in cancer and birth defects from low-level radiation and environmental pollution. The -patriarchal mentality is not confined, to the powerful men who control the economic, political and military systems of the world today. Because of its pervasive influence in every aspect of society, everyone to a greater or lesser extent has absorbed some of these values. For this reason, it is necessary that we support each other's individual work to unlearn these values and rid ourselves of sexist, racist and exploitive behaviour as well as working together to change societal values. As feminists, we do not accept the right of men to have power over women, of any race or nationality to consider itself superior to another, of any group of people to use the labour of others and the natural resources of the earth for its own profit. It is not enough, however, to merely change who dominates. We must challenge the very notion of domination itself. Contrary to much popular belief in our society, the "drive to dominate" is not an innate characteristic of human beings. Human society is basically a co-operative endeavour — and must be to survive. Transforming the prevailing values of our culture means rejecting the idea that anyone can have "power over" anyone or anything else; it means reclaiming our own non-exploitive power, acquiring control of our own lives and working together within the context of a co-operative and respectful community. Q 14 Kinesis February 1982 NUCLEAR POWER 'A' is for atom — a primer on atomic energy What is nuclear power? For most of us, the answer to this question is riddled with scientific terminology to the point that we would need a code book to decipher it all. "Electron", "isotope", "half-life" and "chain reaction" are all terms relevant to the nuclear industry. An understanding of the nature of nuclear power is necessary if we are to consider how it affects all of our lives. Let's start at the beginning ... Atoms are the basic building blocks of matter. A cluster of atoms is known as a molecule. Water, wood, glass, oxygen and all other matter is composed of molecules. An atom consists of an extreme1/ dense nucleus surrounded by an orbiting swarm of electrons. The nucleus consists of a certain number of positively charged protons and neutral neutrons. The protons and weight of an element is the total of its protons and neutrons. Nuclei (plural of nucleus) which have the same number of protons (same atomic numbers) but different numbers of neutrons (di fferent atomic weights) are called isotopes. Uranium, which is the fuel for nuclear reactors, is a common element which has Figure 2: Fission produce an unstable Up,,. u",, then flies apart into two large pieces called fission products. During the fission process, several neutrons and gamma rays (radioactive waves) Figure 3: Chain Reaction © fRoTON r=5> f\IUO-£U5 CaNsIS^ HAS * CBN^fM- ^i£^- ,St'^ of p^s ANP #^ o ^'O </ 9,0 jx. °H y^ -i u,u | • 7 .235 Figure 1 neutrons are held together by a very powerful nuclear force. For each positively charged proton, there is a corresponding negatively charged electron. This makes the atom neutral in terms of charge. Currently, there are 104 different kinds of atoms, called elements. The first 92 element-s occur naturally and the rest are man-made. The number of protons in the nucleus of the element gives us its atomic number. While the nucleus of an element has a fixed number of protons, it can have a different number of neutrons. The atomic several different isotopes. The two uranium isotopes Up,, and Up,,, are the most abundant in nature. Up,, is the most valuable for its use in atomic and nuclear fuel but it makes up only 7% of natural uranium. Any element which has an atomic number of 83 or more is unstable or radioactive. This means that these atoms can spontaneously eject or radiate neutrons from their nuclei. The basis of nuclear energy is the capturing of energy released when the nucleus of an atom is split apart. This splitting is called fission. Nuclear power plants derive their energy from the splitting or fissioning of Up. When Up,, is bombarded by neutrons, this element will capture a neutron to 235* are also released. Fission products form part of the waste of the nuclear power and weapons industry. Each time a U?,, nucleus fissions, 2 or 3 neutrons are set free. These neutrons may be captured by other Up,, nuclei causing them to fission. If each fissioning U? nucleus causes on the average more than'"' one additional Up,, to fission, an uncontrollable reaction occurs. This is known as a chain reaction which can result in an atomic explosion. However, if some of the neutrons are removed by a neutron absorbing material (e.g. graphite) so that each U",, causes only one Up,, to fission, then the chain reaction is controlled. Nuclear power plants use controlled chain reactions to produce power. The smallest mass or amount of fissionable material that will sustain a nuclear chain reaction is called critical mass. The critical mass of U0,, is 10 pounds, which would be approximately the size of a grapefruit. The information in this section is from No Nukes — Everyone's Guide to Nuclear Power by Anna Gyorgy. Women Against Nuclear Technology (WANT) is a feminist anti-nuclear organization that started in Vancouver in the fall of 1979. We came into existence because we saw an absence in the anti-nuclear movement of an analysis which clearly defined the connection between sexism, racism, capitalism, imperialism and the development of nuclear technology. Our role has been primarily educational and has included organization of a feminist anti-nuclear conference and Holly Near concert, presentations at environmental, anti-nuclear and women's conferences, public speaking, preparation of original material for distribution, and a film showing. In addition, we have actively .participated in the April 26 International Day of Nuclear Protest Coalition for the past three years. We try to raise anti-nuclear awareness in the women's movement, and to demonstrate that militarism and the abuse of technology are feminist issues. We also try to raise feminist awareness in the anti- nuclear movement by pointing out the relationship between the exploitation of the earth and the oppression of women, people of colour, workers, third world and aboriginal peoples. We are available to speak to groups and are currently open to new members. If there are enough interested women, we hope to have a street theatre group soon. For more information, call 255-0523 or 734-5393, or write 1774 Grant-Street, £7, Vancouver, V5L 2Y7. The following W.A.N.T. members wrote the articles which appear in this feature: Annette Clough, Sandra Kalmakoff, Miriam Moses, Kristin Penn, Lezlie Wagman, and Maggie Zeigler. Copies of this feature are available from Women Against Nuclear Technology, #7-1774 Grant Street, Vancouver, B.C. Cost is 50^ per copy or 30jzf per copy for orders of 10 or more. February 1982 Kinesis 15 NUCLEAR POWER Nuclear technology at home in B.C., despite moratorium We live in a country that is deeply committed to nuclear production. - Saskatchewan and Ontario are major centres of uranium mining and exploration continues constantly. Some of this uranium goes to power nuclear power plants and projects in Canada but the vast majority of it, about 90%, is exported. The Canadian government is committed to the export of uranium and nuclear technology, as evidenced by the overseas sales of Canadian designed CANDU reactors. This stance of the Canadian government results in environmental destruction, massive nuclear waste disposal problems, disruption of world peace, and the encouragement of nuclear weapon production. The export of nuclear reactors and uranium provides nuclear technology to countries that do not possess it. Plutonium, a byproduct of reactors, and raw material for nuclear weapons, is then available. Sometimes these issues seem far away, but they affect all of us and we have a responsibility to act. Here in British Columbia, we have no nuclear reactors, there is a moratorium on uranium mining and there seems to be a plentiful supply of hydro electricity. This situation lends itself to a feeling of security. But there are local issues that are cause for serious alarm and we need to educate ourselves as to what they are. We need to lend individual and organized support to the protection of our environment, our province's resources and our health. Nuclear power, nuclear weapons and nuclear waste are British Columbia issues. Looking first at the military connection, the Canadian government itself owns or produces no nuclear weapons. But this does not stop us from playing host to the American military on the strategic Pacific coast. This presence has an environmental as well as a military impact. Nuclear weapons do not need to be exploded to be hazardous. Accidents happen, leakages occur, radiation is released, and, unbelievable as it may seem, weapons are lost. In the 1950's, a U.S. military plane in trouble jettisoned its nuclear cargo into the Pacific Ocean off the B.C. coast and went on to crash on land. The cargo has never been located. Prior to the B.C. moratorium on uranium mining, three people were arrested in Genelle B.C., the site of a proposed uranium mine, for blocking uranium exploration work in the China Creek watershed, the town s water supply. All three were Cominco workers in Trail, one of whom had personal experience with cancer. The judge handed down an absolute discharge, commending the three for their integrity and motivation to protest. There are several areas for concern: Nanoose Bay on Vancouver Island is the largest underwater weapons testing facility in the world. American nuclear submarines are regularly tested there for radiation leaks and instrument performance. The base is staffed jointly by American and Canadian personnel. The Canadian Forces Base at Comox on Vancouver Island is a storage facility for - BRITISH COLUMBIA (0) URANIUM EXPLORATION >j>W PROPO Qj}'"e;wT*s< SEO URANIUM MINES and.lClearwaler) ? X Bugaboc Monash Lassie L ake (Beavetdell) S\ PROPOSED NUCLEAR REACTORS I'W I Ccmox \R WEAPONS BASES br>Nanoos Bay L^ J HANDLING Nuclear hot spots in British Columbia and Washington American nuclear warheads. In case of radiation leakage or accident, there is no comprehensive emergency evacuation plan. The United States government is negotiating with Canada for access to three miles of water north of the Queen Charlotte Islands. They want to build a Trident submarine base on the U.S.-owned Prince of Wales Island, but American waters are too shallow to allow passage. Because the missiles Trident carries have the capacity and accuracy to destroy a distant missile base before retaliation can be launched, the Trident is a key component of ''first strike limited nuclear war" in'which, theoretically, only one "shot" will be fired and one side will "win". The first Trident nuclear submarine is due to arrive at Bangor, Washington early in the summer of 1982. Besides posing a direct missile threat to our safety, the Tridents will utilize sea lanes along the Canadian-American border and will pass through Canadian waters in the Juan de Fuca strait. Radioactive contaminated coolant is likely to be released into the ocean on a regular basis. There are also non-military projects in British Columbia which produce radioactive waste. In Vancouver, radioactive wastes from the University of British Columbia's TRIUMF cyclotron, as well as from hospitals, must be transported through city streets and stored at some disposal site. At Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, plans are being considered for the construction of a SLOWPOKE nuclear research reactor (SLOWPOKE stands for safe, low power, critical experiment). SFU is located on an earthquake fault line, which makes it a particularly dangerous place for a nuclear facility. SLOWPOKE will require uranium for fuel, which necessitates all steps in the nuclear fuel cycle from mining, milling and enrichment of uranium to the transportation and storage of radioactive materials and waste. Health and safety hazards will be posed at every stage. What makes SLOWPOKE especially ominous is that it is a prototype for the small scale nuclear reactor envisioned to provide heat to small buildings or neighbourhoods. The Canadian nuclear power industry may bail itself out of financially unviable large- scale reactor production by promoting SLOWPOKE as "your friendly neighbourhood reactor." One of British Columbia's major industries is mining, and there are several existing and planned mines that are hazardous. The AMAX mine at Kitrault is one of these. The molybdenum mining and milling operation there has proceeded over widespread opposition from the public, as well as from the Nishga Indians who live in the area. Continued on page 21 16 Kinesis February 191 NUCLEAR POWER Nuclear fuel cycle adds up to a deadly legacy The nuclear fuel cycle involves six major steps: mining, milling, enrichment, fuel fabrication, nuclear power plants, and nuclear reactor wastes. The purpose of the nuclear fuel cycle is two-fold: 1. To produce bomb-grade materials for developing nuclear warheads. 2. To produce steam which generates electricity in commercial nuclear power plants Mining Uranium deposits are found in U.S.A., Canada, South Africa, Namibia, Australia, France and the U.S.S.R. In North America, major sites of uranium ore have been discovered on aboriginal lands, particularly in Saskatchewan, the Dakotas, and the American southwest. These lands have been exploited by the nuclear power industry thus laying to waste large areas of arable land, and polluting rivers and streams. Ultimately, there is the destruction of the natural ecosystems which the aboriginal people rely on to live. Uranium ore is mined from both underground and surface mines. It is found mineralized in sandstone deposits and other rock formations. High grade ore is rapidly being exhausted so that ore with minimal amounts of uranium is now being mined. During the mining of uranium, two carcinogenic radioactive substances are released; radium and radon gas. Radium affects the bone marrow and radon gas is a danger to the lungs and the body as a whole. Milling Once the ore is extracted, it is ground to a sandy consistency at mills. Sulfuric acid is them mixed with the ground ore to produce a substance called yellowcake. Four pounds of yellowcake are extracted from an average ton of ore. Yellowcake contains 85$ uranium oxide, the raw material of reactor fuel. This process creates vast amounts of wastes known as tailings. These tailings contain radium and radon gas and consequently emit radiation. These wastes have been indiscriminately used as fill material in communities near mines and mills, leaving homes and buildings with radioactive foundations: Piles of- discarded tailings blow around and pollute run-off water and air with radioactive particles. Enrichment A high concentration of uranium is needed for reactor fuel. ^ The process used to increase concentration is known as enrichment. Yellowcake is turned into a highly corrosive gas and must be stored in special containers. Uranium enrichment plants have been built in Britain, France, the U.S.S.R. and China. They are the largest industrial plants in the world, each taking up hundreds of acres. These plants circulate millions of gallons of cooling water daily and consume vast amounts of electricity. It has been estimated that the three U.S. enrichment plants consume about 3% of all electricity produced in the U.S. Since nuclear energy provides only 8% of the electricity needs of the U.S., over a third of the electricity produced by nuclear power goes into the enrichment process! Fuel Fabrication This process involves solidifying the uranium gas into small ceramic pellets the size of pencil erasers. These pelletes are then loaded into metal fuel rods approximately twelve to fourteen inches long and one inch in diameter. The core of a common reactor would contain about one hundred and sixty fuel assemblies with each assembly holding around two hundred rods. The total weight of the fuel is approximately one hundred tons. Fuel fabrication is highly radioactive needing remote control machinery for the process. Nuclear Power Plants The reaction inside the fuel rods creates vast amounts of heat which turns water into steam. This steam turns turbines to generate electricity which is sent along transmission iines. Nuclear power is a very expensive, complex and dangerous way to boil water. As one nuclear critic said, "Using nuclear power to produce electricity is like using a chain saw to cut butter!" Continued on page 22 Health hazards of radiation are well-documented, wide-ranging Radioactivity is a problem at every stage of the entire nuclear fuel cycle. The waste products of nuclear power and weapons production find their way into rivers, lakes and oceans and contaminate the food chain. Even in their usual course of operation, nuclear power plants emit some radiation. Most plants are not trouble-free; leaks and other malfunctions significantly increase the amount of radiation emitted. The mining and milling of uranium produces mountains of tailings — unshielded piles that are continuously releasing radioactive radon. Nuclear wastes and other radioactive materials are transported by truck, rail, etc., fallible vehicles that can and do leak. Another significant source of radiation is fallout from nuclear weapons testing. This kind of radiation is known as ionizing radiation. Ionizing radiation harms us by altering the electrical charge of the atoms and molecules comprising our body cells. A very high dose of ionizing radiation causes brain cells to swell and enlarge, leading to confusion, delirium, loss of control of muscles, fever, and sudden death. A less high dose causes radiation illness, in which all actively dividing cells in the body are killed, hair falls out, skin is sloughed off in big ulcers, vomiting and diarrhea occur, and white blood cells die. Lower doses of ionizing radiation can cause leukemia five years after exposure: cancer, twelve to forty years later; and genetic diseases and abnormalities in future generations. Research suggests that the most widespread effect of chronic low-level radiation in terms of numbers affected, is the lowering of the body's capacity to fight infection, leading to pneumonia, bronchial infections and influenza. Long-term low-level radiation has also been linked with premature agmg. Manmade radiation comes from a wide range of sources. X-rays, radiation therapy, the burning of certain types of coal, colour tv sets, microwave ovens and towers smoke detectors, and luminous watch and clock dials are other soureer of ionizing radiation. Continued on page 22 February 1982 Kinesis 17 NUCLEAR POWER Nuclear power and the arms race are intimately linked The 'peaceful' use of nuclear power as a source of electricity cannot be considered separately from the development and spread of nuclear weapons. These two uses of nuclear technology are now and always have been closely connected. In fact, nuclear weapons came first. The original nuclear reactors were built during World War II to create enough pluto- nium for the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 19-45. Plutonium is an artificial element produced in the processing of uranium fuel by any nuclear reactor. It is also the raw material of any atomic bomb. The average commercial nuclear reactor produces around 500 lbs. of plutonium each year. The bomb that destroyed Nagasaki was made with -10 lbs. of plutonium, an amount the size of a tennis ball. Normal operation of power reactors worldwide currently produces some 30 tons of plutonium a year, enough for about 10,000 bombs. 'Peaceful' technology a cover-up for nuclear arms race After the war, the atomic establishment that had built the bomb (American military and industrial interests) tried to allay its guilt and justify its continued existence with the promise of unlimited electrical power. 'Atoms for Peace' became an element of American foreign policy, offering technical and financial assistance to other countries in setting up civilian nuclear programs — at the same time that the nuclear arms race was beginning. Thus, the non-military uses of nuclear power originated as a by-product of the military uses. 'Peaceful' nuclear technology was promoted both to cover up the on-going production of nuclear arms and to justify the huge military expenses involved in developing the technology in the first place. Today, 4/5 of the nuclear industry in the world is devoted to weapons production. The technology for producing both nuclear arms and nuclear power is controlled and operated by the same multinational companies. One reason these companies can afford to lose money on power plants (and they do) is that they are assured of government subsidies to keep them in the weapons business. Weapons production is getting easier Nuclear power and nuclear weapons production are technically as well as financially related. Most of the knowledge, much of the equipment, and the general nature of the systems used in making bombs are inherent in civilian nuclear activities. Almost all instruments and theories used in nuclear pov,rer production have some military application. Not only is it theoretically possible to make nuclear weapons using the technology of a civilian nuclear reactor — it has been done. In 1974, India exploded a nuclear -,'arhead using materials from a CANDU research reactor purchased from Canada. Reprocessing plutonium from any reactor for use in weapons is technically possible for national governments and other groups with similar resources. And it's getting easier. At the sixth international exhibition of the nuclear industry (NUCLEX 81) held in Basle, Switzerland, Americans announced the development of a method to isolate explosive material for nuclear weapons from used fuel rods, with the help of laser beams. Little control over plutonium extraction Another new development exhibited was a micro explosion unit which makes it possible to carry out tests for atomic bombs in laboratories instead of underground. Such research programs are not subject to international control. What control there is leaves much to be desired. In 1956, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was set up. Part of its purpose was to keep the plutonium produced by commercial reactors ^^^^ under control and prevent it from being used to make bombs. But the IAEA has been worse than ineffective for several reasons. For one thing, plutonium that has been extracted from spent reactor fuel (reprocessed) is hard to measure precisely and is therefore easy to steal or divert to military uses, even if reactors' plutonium inventories are inspected. In 1976, the IAEA was nnable to verify spent fuel inventories in 13 out of 45 reactors. The IAEA's regulatory activities are poorly funded and understaffed, so the checking of plutonium inventories has been infrequent in any acse. When discrepancies in inventories show up, the IAEA has no way to enforce its regulations or punish violators. There is evidence that a black market in bomb materials already exists. The main obstacle, however, is that part of the IAEA's mandate is actually to promote nuclear power; it has consistently done so, in spite of the obvious conflict of interest with its regulatory role. Electrical energy is inappropriate to our real needs Because of the amount of plutonium produced, and the relative ease of diverting part or all of it to weapons production, power reactors can be considered large- scale military production reactors with an electricity by-product, rather than benign electricity producers with an unattractive plutonium by-product. Many governments that have bought commercial reactors are strong regional powers with local rivalries and imperial ambitions, e.g. Brazil, South Africa, Pakistan and the Philippines. Since commercial reactors (as distinct from arms production reactors) can thus be operated so as to produce significant amounts of weapons- grade plutonium without increasing costs, decreasing efficiency or risking detection, there is every reason to believe that these countries are developing nuclear weapons using their spent reactor fuel. The assumption that, whatever the risks, nuclear power is essential for meeting energy needs is false — for any country. Electrical energy (the only kind that nuclear power provides) is inappropriate to the real needs of Third World and 'developed' countries alike. The high cost of going nuclear and building an electrical infrastructure will increase Third World dependence on foreign capital and technology, and close the doors on development rather than open them. Danger of nuclear accidents is extreme Selling reactors to non-industrialized countries on terms of credit that will leave them in debt for decades only helps the wealthy supplier nations strengthen their hold on the resources of the Third World. Nuclear energy is proving too costly even for rich nations. The alternatives are numerous, feasible and safe. The dangers of manufacturing, handling and storing nuclear weapons and non-military nuclear technologies are the same. Radiation leaks from weapons installations, including nuclear submarines and strategic bombers, pose the same threats to the people working with them, the general public and the environment as do leaks from power reactors. (Less than one millionth of a gram of plutonium, if inhaled, can cause lung cancer). Testing of nuclear weapons spreads radioactive material over large areas, and the danger of accidents with nuclear weapons is extreme. Since 1950, there have been at least 32 accidents involving American nuclear weapons; in many of these nuclear bombs were lost and a few came close to causing major nuclear explosions. There is a strong possibility that such an accidental detonation would be misinterpreted as the first strike of a nuclear war. Present known nuclear arsenals (in the U.S., U.S.S.R., U.K., France and China) contain over 15,000 'strategic' weapons; total nuclear firepower is well over a million Hiroshimas. For several years, the U.S. has been manufacturing components for the neutron bomb (a weapon that kills people but leaves buildings and property relatively undamaged), and is now openly begininning to produce the bombs themselves. In Europe in recent months there have been massive demonstrations against the build-up there of nuclear weapons, and the growing likelihood that Europe will be used as a nuclear battlefield by the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. "Popular disarmament movements are growing everywhere. The intimate links between nuclear power and nuclear arms must be recognized and exposed if these efforts are to succeed. 0_ 18 Kinesis February 1982 February 1982 Kinesis 19 NUCLEAR POWER Resistance to nuclear technology and the arms race is an international phenomenon Since Hiroshima, people from all over the world have been protesting the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Since the mid- 1950 's people have also opposed the domestic, 'peaceful' use of nuclear technology. The world-wide anti-nuclear movement has taken different forms and developed in varying ways according to local circumstances, but anti-nuclear activities around the world seem to have at least three things in common. One is that, throughout the movement, women as individuals and in groups, have played major roles of initiative, leadership and continuity. Another is that the most successful actions have been firmly by each other's successes and begin to foster our own international network. Britain led large-scale resistance The world's first large-scale anti-nuclear weapons movement was born in Britain. In that country, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) mobilized hundreds of thousands of people in the fifties and early sixties in 'Ban the Bomb' demonstrations. No mass anti-nuclear power movement grew directly out of that mobilization, partly because the CND campaign of that time was based on the idea of 'Atoms for Peace' — conversion of military technology to peaceful 'progressive' civilian use. Today, Britain has three major disarmament RftDiO- RCTiFS grounded in grassroots resistance to a nuclear presence in local communities. The third is that these local and regional struggles are all being waged against the same international forces: the multinational corporations and military interests that control nuclear technology. These forces (representing a few world powers, particularly the U.S.) influence and maintain strong links with each other even as they compete. By contrast, anti-nuclear movements around the world have only had tenuous links with one another. Communication on the grass roots level between people of different countries is difficult, partly for reasons of language and culture. Our similar struggles go unreported More importantly, the established media of all countries are always influenced and largely controlled by the same powerful groups that have financial and political interests in the development of nuclear technology. So it is no accident that we in North America have heard little or nothing in the daily news of the major anti-nuclear/ecological movements in- Western Europe, of the growing Japanese resistance to nuclear development, or of the opposition to uranium mining in Australia. Though frequently unrecognized, the similarities and connections between these struggles are as real as the transnational links in the nuclear industry itself. In order to succeed against this global oppression, it is crucial for us to understand the ways in which we and our counterparts around the world are fighting the same fight. Only in that <rray can we learn from each other's experiences, be inspired groups.. The CND is still active, campaigning for Britain to get rid of nuclear weapons and get out of NATO. The World Disarmament Campaign (WDC) wants all nations to give up nuclear weapons and disarm. European Nuclear Disarmament (END) is a new movement focussed on grass roots activity both in Western and Eastern Europe. Although these three groups take somewhat different approaches, there appears to be some co-ordination of activity —END and CND worked together on an Easter anti-war march in 1981. Since about 1975, conservationists and environmentalists in Britain, led by the U.K. section of Friends of the Earth, have been actively opposing all forms of nuclear technology, first by involvement with government inquiries into nuclear reactor safety and subsequently with demonstrations The Republic of Ireland is the only European country in which the trade union movement is strongly anti-nuclear. Workers' opposition is instrumental in keeping Ireland nuclear free in the face of tremendous pressure from the European Common Market to develop nuclear power. and a parliamentary lobby by a coalition of environmentalists and trade unionists. The British Campaign Against Sea Dumping and Greenpeace have been active for several years in the fight against the dumping of radio-active waste in the Atlantic. Several radical groups are working with trade union members on nuclear issues. One such group is the Socialist Environment and Resources Association, whose slogan is, 'Create jobs not plutonium'. Recently Britain's powerful Trades Union Congress issued a declaration calling for the closing of all nuclear bases in Britain and for unilateral nuclear disarmament. Women's groups are increasingly evident in British anti-nuclear activities: Feminists Against Nuclear Power, Mothers Against the Bomb, Women Oppose the Nuclear Threat (WONT). WONT is a country-wide network of groups working in various ways, from staging 'events' at military shows to participating in national demonstrations. The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (founded in 1915) and Women for Life on Earth are groups that are active on both sides of the Atlantic. In June 1980, more than 25,000 people marched in London to protest the government's plans to increase military spending and station U.S. cruise missiles in England. This was the first major demonstration on nuclear weapons since the 1960's, marking a new upsurge in the British peace movement. In October 1981 an estimated quarter of a million people marched in London in one of many massive demonstrations against the deployment of nuclear weapons by NATO. European movement led by ecologists,. environmentalists Continental Europe has been the scene of continual anti-nuclear organizing and ' actions since April 1971, when 1300 people participated in the first European demonstration against the construction of a nuclear power plant at Fessen- heim in France. The chronology of the European movement makes it evident that the recent massive demonstrations (while primarily a response to U.S. plans to place cruise and Pershing II missiles in NATO territories) have many precedents and years of organizing An active anti-nuke movement in Denmark has had enough influence to cancel six planned reactors in 1975, and Denmark still remains nuclear free, largely due to adverse public opinion. Danish feminists were the first to protest against the Swedish nuclear reactor located 20 kilometers from Copenhagen. behind them. In the past ten years there have been hundreds of marches, co-ordinated demonstrations, occupations of plant sites, sit-down strikes, utility rate witholding actions, information fairs, referenda, tractor blockades, peace tax campaigns, petition campaigns and more, involving hundreds of thousands of people in struggles against nuclear facilities in every country. Much of the European anti-nuclear movement, particularly in France, has been led by ecologists and environmentalists, who usually.favour decentralization of political power as well as of energy production. In France, ecologists and members of various Amis de la Terre groups have put forward their own candidates for presidential elections since 197-4. These candidates have received small but growing percentages of the vote. The German 'Green Party' has also run ecology/anti- nuclear, candidates in national elections. In Sweden, the nuclear issue has been a focus of elections for several years. The country has six reactors, and with half the uranium in Europe, it is definitely part of the international nuclear system. Changing governments have variously slowed and promoted a strong nuclear program. The 1980 referendum won majority support for another 25 years of nuclear energy perhaps because it was worded in such a way as to make an essentially pro-nuclear position seem anti-nuke. Anti-nuclear forces in Sweden view this referendum defeat simply as a milestone in a long fight. The referendum result has not stopped citizen efforts to shut down one of the most dangerous nuclear plants in Europe, at Barsebaeck in Sweden. This reactor is just 20 kilometers from Copenhagen, Denmark, and has long been opposed by Danish and Swedish activists, led by Danish feminist groups. Denmark remains nuclear-free, largely due to public opinion. In her book "Nuclear Madness", Dr. Helen Caldicott, an Australian pediatri- tion, describes how a letter to the local newspaper was the starting point for a national protest against the French atomic tests in the South Seas. Thousands of people demonstrated, wrote letters to politicians, boycotted French products, and petitioned the U.N. until eventually the French suspended their atmospheric atomic tests. A Women's Petition for Peace originated in Denmark in February, 1980. It was presented to the United Nations Conference on Women in July 1980, with the signatures of 500,000 Nordic women. Since then, it has been taken up by many countries. The new goal is to present 500 million signatures to the Second UN Special Session on Disarmament in 1982. West German debate has been open, sometimes violent West Germany has seen militant local and national action against nuclear power. At the same time, the anti-nuclear movement there has seen an escalation of police power and suppression of civil liberties unequalled in any Western country. West Germany is very industrialized, with little open space, so nuclear plants cannot be hidden from view in unpopulated areas. The nuclear debate has been open and sometimes violent for several years. The basic model of citizen organizing is the 'Burgerinitiativen', the citizen initiative or citizen action group. These groups oppose nuclear power and are also active on other ecology issues affecting them locally. There are at least 400,000 people in hundreds of.such groups all over the country. The first international occupation of a nuclear power plant site took place in Wyhl, West Germany, on February 23, 1975. Local activists were supported in the first week of their blockade of construction by 28,000 people from all over Germany and from France. For more than a year people occupied the construction site. Eventually an inquiry was held, and construction of the reactor was cancelled. The Wyhl occupation became a model for citizen direct action, and inspired occupation-type demonstrations from Malville, France, to Seabrook, U.S.A. In 1977 a similar site occupation took place in Gorleben, where the country's first reprocessing plant and waste disposal dump was planned. Activists set up an 'Anti-Atom Village' which, for mere than a year, served as a local information/education centre while keeping attention focussed on the issues surrounding construction of the plant. When police finally dragged off 2500 people and destroyed the village, the response was immediate: demonstrations happened in every major city of the Federal Republic. The facility was finally cancelled in 1980, as a result of scientific critiques and the strong public protest. The anti-nuclear movement in West Germany continues to grow. Cn October 10, 1981, in West Germany's largest post-war" demonstration, 300,000 people gathered in Bonn in another European protest against NATO's nuclear weapons program. Women have been active in anti-nuclear groups for years Anti-nuclear groups are also active in Spain, Switzerland, Holland, Greece, Italy and Austria. Since 1975, the European anti-nuclear movement's International Coordination Conference (ICC) has encouraged and co-ordinated activities all over the continent around the 'Common International Demands' of stopping the production and export of nuclear^ plants and weapons and the stationing of nuclear weapons in Europe, a ban on uranium mining, full employment and safe working conditions. The ICC secretariat continues to function as an information exchange. Western European phenomenon. So far there is no popular grassroots anti-nuclear movement in the USSR or other Eastern European communist countries. The blackout of news about Western anti-nuclear In September of 1981, Boston Edison was forced to cancel plans for its second nuclear reactor because of astronomical construction costs. A company official said, "We cannot expose the company and our customers to the financial risks and uncertainties now associated with continuing this unit." (Van. Sun,Sept. 25, 1981) movements and a complete lack of public discussion within these countries of technological and safety problems are at least partly to blame. The first major indications we have had of popular reaction to nuclear technology in Eastern Europe were the recent large demonstrations in Rumania and East Germany against NATO's nuclear .plans for Europe. Japan and the Pacific focal points of nuclear activity Beginning with the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and post-war American, British and French testing of nuclear weapons in Micronesia and Polynesia, Japan and the Pacific have been focal points of nuclear activity and the site of numberless nuclear tragedies. Women's peace and disarmament groups have been active all over Europe for years. Recently, their struggle has been joined by many women with a specifically feminist perspective. Women for Peace in Oslo organized last year's Peace March '81, which started in Copenhagen in June and covered 700 miles in 45 days, through Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium, arriving in Paris on August 6th. On International Women's Day 1981, 2000 women demonstrated at the Ramstein Atomic Military Base, the largest U.S. Military installation in Europe. Last fall about 10,000 women held a silent torch-light procession through the Hague to protest the deployment of new nuclear weapons in Europe. Female MPs received a petition from the women calling on the Dutch government to refuse to station cruise missies in the Netherlands. The European anti-nuclear movement is a The blasts from more than a hundred nuclear tests have shaken the Pacific, showering radioactive fallout on the islands, destroying fishing grounds and rendering uninhabitable the homelands of thousands of people. The plight of the Pacific Islanders has largely gone unheeded, in part because they lack both the numbers and international influence to make heard their case. In Japan, the story has been different. Trying to forget the horrors of atomic war, the Japanese people apparently welcomed the 'peaceful atom'. But in 1971 when radioactive emissions from the first plant at Tsuruga were found in sea water and marine life in the area was seen to be affected, people began to be alarmed. Cause for concern has continued to grow as Japanese nuclear plants carry on operations in spite of on-going technical Continued on page 20 20 Kinesis February 1982 NUCLEAR POWER RESISTANCE continued from page 19 problems and continual leakages and accidents. In the heavily-industrialized country, which has suffered a depressing array of ecological catastrophes (including mercury poisoning and extreme air pollution) nuclear power is rrobably now the primary environmental issue. Japan's history of resistance to nuclear power has seen many dramatic and partially successful actions. In 1974, a reactor ship called MUTSU, built by the Japan Nuclear Ship Development Agency, was to be launched after a two-year delay caused by local opposition. Before the ship could leave the harbour, it was surrounded by 300 small fishing boats. While 20,000 onlookers cheered from the shore, the fishing people lashed their boats together in a giant blockade. After some hours, rising winds forced the blockade to disperse and the ship left. No sooner was it fired than the reactor began to leak and had to be shut down. mination. An expanding network of these locally-based struggles against individual power plants is making it increasingly difficult for the industry to find reactor sites, while at the same time spreading awareness of the dangers of atomic energy. Following the latest series of accidents and cover-ups at the Tsuruga plant, the Japanese Socialist Party, a significant force in Japanese politics, joined one of the country's largest unions in calling for the shutdown of all nuclear plants in the country and a ban on new construction until the technology could be made safe. Opposition also continues to the Japanese government's plans to dump radioactive waste in the Pacific Ocean. Japanese groups have joined with representatives from the Pacific Islands of Guam, Belau, Tonga, Vanuaatu, Fiji, the Marshall Islands and the Marianas to petition the Japanese government to reconsider its dumping plans. The dumping was recently postponed until late 1982. Greenpeace volunteers (in inflatable rafts) protest the arrival of the aircraft carrier USS Ranger in Vancouver's English Bay October 30,1981 during United Nations Disarmament Week. The Ranger has nuclear weapons capability. Meanwhile the people had blocked the harbour with sandbags and they refused to let the ship return. Eventually an agreement was reached and the ship was allowed to dock on condition that a new home port be found within six months and the old facilities be dismantled. As a new port In June of 1978, a west coast group called the Crabshell Alliance tried to occupy the site of the Satsop Nuclear Plant in Washington state. 148 of the demonstrators were arrested. Coincidentally, they were scheduled to stand trial in April 1979, two weeks after the Three Mile Island accident. The prosecutor dropped the charges deciding that a "fair trial" would be impossible because he would "be asking people [the jury! to put aside fears at a time when they are being inundated with negative news about nuclear reactors". Had the trials gone ahead, the jury would have been chosen from residents of Grays Harbour County, 95¬∞7o of whom had indicated concern about the Satsop plant. was sought, the MUTSU incident raised public opinion against nuclear power all over Japan. Numerous struggles against land reactor sitings have been waged with equal deter- A growing'Nuclear Free Pacific (NFP) movement is now giving a stronger voice through co-ordinated action to the numerous resistance fronts in the Pacific and Pacific Rim countries. The first Nuclear Free Pacific Conference, held in 1975, formed an international movement based on two principles of unity: all nuclear development is harmful and must be stopped; and foreign domination, or imperialism, ' is at the root of the nuclear disease. These unifying principles allow the NFP movement to unite separate struggles and avoid the trap of single issue politics. Indigenous peoples' land rights struggles (such as those of Australian Aborigines, New Zealand Moaris and Native Indians from Canada and the U.S. ), national liberation movements and independence efforts (such as those in Belau and New Caledonia) all fall under the movement's rubric. All fuel-cycle and military developments are part of the movement's concern. The Pacific Concerns Resource Centre, established in Honolulu in 1980, acts as the movement's nerve centre (Hawaii is the home base for the U.S. Pacific Command, and the hub of American military activity over half the globe). On March 1, 1981, the third internationally co-ordinated Nuclear Free Pacific Day saw actions and meetings in Hawaii, Japan, Australia and the American west coast. In Tokyo, a coalition of citizen and labour groups rallied to protest nuclear power and reprocessing plants and show solidarity with Pacific peoples' struggles. In Honolulu, women from the island of Belau gave a slide presentation and panel discussion on the new Belauan constitution, which bans nuclear testing and waste In Whyl, West Germany in 1975, several hundred people occupied the proposed site of a nuclear power plant. Police evicted the occupiers, but they kept returning and soon their numbers grew to 28,000people, blocking bulldozers and halting construction. The occupation lasted for 2 years. Occupiers finally agreed to leave if a judges' panel would hear testimony on the dangers of the plant. The judges' panel heard the testimony and agreed that the plant should not be built. And it wasn't. storage on the island. This position is now threatened by U.S. efforts to supercede it with a new status of 'free association1 , which would permanently protect U.S. military interests in Micronesia. As a Pacific Rim country, Australia has been affected by radioactive fallout from Pacific testing and by the increasing militarization of the region. But Australia's main connection with the nuclear issue is the fact that the country has 27$ of the world's 'reasonably assured' reserves of uranium. The vast bulk of these reserves is found in an area of the Northern territory which is also the traditional home of several Aboriginal tribes. And so, as in so many other places where uranium is mined, opposition to nuclear activity is part of the struggle for a people's self-determination and cultural identity. Uranium mining and waste disposal have been disputed in Australia over the past 20 years by Aboriginals who oppose destruction of their native lands, by labour unions alarmed at the hazards of handling dangerous materials, and by anti- nuclear and peace coalitions, including active Women Against Nuclear Energy groups. Many groups opposed to uranium mining are affiliated with the Movement Against Uranium Mining (MAUM), started in 1974. Trade unions have taken stronger stands against nuclear power in Australia than in any other country faced with nuclear related development. Opposition to uranium mining has been expressed by the Australian Railways Union, the Builders Federation, the Metal Trades Union, the Trade and Labour Councils and the Watersides Workers. In 1977, following police violence against demonstrators who went to the Melbourne docks to protest the presence of a ship carrying uranium oxide to West Germany, the Victoria branch of the Waterside Workers refused to handle any more ships carrying yellowcake. In August, 1980, Darwin Waterside Workers voted to ban yellowcake traffic through the port of Darwin and asked the Darwin City Council to declare the city a nuclear free zone. At present an anti-Trident project, initiated by an Australian group, is dramatizing the interconnection of all Pacific anti-nuclear struggles. A ship called the Pacific Peacemaker has begun a voyage that will take it from Australia to New Zealand, 'French' Polynesia, Hawaii, and the west coast of the U.S. arriving there around May 1982. Continued on page 21 February 1982 Kinesis 21 NUCLEAR POWER RESISTANCE continued from page 20 The purpose of the voyage is to educate people about the nuclear missiles that Trident carries, and to participate in non-violent actions at the Trident base in Seattle. The Pacific Concerns Resource Centre and American peace groups are organizing a four-month speaking tour along the west coast for the ship's crew. News from U.S. still the most accessible Even though the links between anti-nuclear groups in Canada and the U.S. are not as strong as they should be, news of anti- nuclear activities in the United.States is still more accessible to Canadians than that from anywhere else. It is beyond the scope of this article to describe the long, involved history of anti-nuke activities in North America. A few significant points are worth noting, however. As everywhere else, women have often led and always been active in the struggle. In the 1960's and early 1970's, most of the anti-nuclear work in the States took the form of intervention in Atomic Fnergy Commission regulatory hearings. These interventions, which led to the imposition of stricter safety standards on the nuclear industry, were largely organized and carried on, often for years, by groups of women. Helen Caldicott, the Australian doctor and anti-nuclear activist who founded Physicians for'Social Responsibility, has recently started a Women's Party for Survival in the States. Women's Pentagon Action raising awareness of militarism Among the most inspiring actions of recent years were the November 1980 and 1981 gatherings of women at the Pentagon. Women's Pentagon Action (WPA) includes many feminists from many backgrounds, with many concerns, in all a network of more than 50 groups that make a connection between feminism and peace, as well as other issues such as racism, poverty, and destruction of the environment. In 1980 more than 2000 women marched through the streets of Washington to the Pentagon, and, in an act of empowerment, encircled the building. Awareness of militarism was raised by the action, and networks were formed. A parallel soli- In December of 1973 NU, a private utility company, announced plans to build a reactor at Montague, Massachusetts. Sam Love joy, a nearby organic farmer tired of the lengthy and often unproductive procedure of intervening in hearings, single handedly topped a weather tower NU had erected on the Montague site, then hitchiked to the police station and turned himself in. During his court case on malicious damage charges, he presented expert witnesses on the dangers of nuclear power, making the courtroom an anti- nuclear showcase. Charges were dropped on a technicality, but not before he had influenced local public opinion. In the November 1974 election, a majority voted against construction at Montague, and the project was postponed for 5 years, and perhaps indefinitely. darity demonstration was held at the same time in San Fransisco. Again in 1981 3000 women participated in a 2-day non-violent demonstration that encircled the Pentagon. The WPA statements drew clear links between militarism and the oppression of women and people of colour, as well as denouncing U.S. military involvement in El Salvador. In the U.S., as in Australia and in Canada, an important focus of anti-nulcear work is uranium mining. Those most directly affected, the indigenous peoples on whose land most mines 'happen' to be, are taking the lead on this front. American Indian movement 'forced to understand' link between repression and resource exploitation Land-based struggles are being v/aged in several American states of the west and southwest, as well as in Saskatchewan. The Black Hills International Survival Gathering in South Dakota in the summer of 1980 brought a wide range of activists together at a site sacred to many North American Indians, in an area which is threatened by uranium mining activities. Here was launched a decentralized international campaign against the multinational uranium miners, Rio Tinto Zinc and Union Carbide. Women are evident, in these struggles, too. In 1978, a group called Women of .All Red Nations (WARN) was founded, as part of the American Indian Movement, to restore the position of Indian women as leaders in Indian culture. According to one of its founders, Winona La Duke, one of WARN's main concerns is how the exploitation of uranium affects the well-being of their people. 'We are forced to understand the link between repression of the people and theft of the resources.' All over the world, anti-nuclear activists are making similar connections, recognizing the similarity of their struggles, and joining forces in a steadily strengthening international network. 0_ TECHNOLOGY AT HOME from page 15 (AMAX, an American multinational, is also being opposed by native people in various parts of the U.S. and Australia.)- The Kitsault mine releases radioactive radium, uranium and thorium, since molybdenum is always found with uranium and cannot be mined without bringing the uranium to the surface. AMAX has government permission to dump 12,000 tonnes (a tonne = 2200 lbs. ) of toxic waste daily into the waters of Alice Arm. Besides the Kitsault mine, there is a proposed molybdenum mine for Atlin in northern B.C. and a molybdenum"and copper project proposed for Gambier Island in Howe Sound. The Atlin mine is a Placer Development project which over 20 years would produce 200,000 tonnes of waste tailings. Eight thousand tonnes of this would be uranium and thorium. Despite strong public opposition, the government has allowed Placer to show preliminary mining data before heeding community requests for an environmental impact assessment. Uranium mining in B.C. is under a seven year moratorium, announced by the Social Credit government in February 1980. Not many people realize, however,that there is no real legal base to this moratorium. A Mines Act passed in August of that year states that an order-in-council could limit or prohibit developments when uranium ore exceeds threshold limits. In September such a regulation was passed, establishing threshold limits for mining minerals containing uranium ore. However, the Mines Inspector has the sole authority to re-open and initiate mining operations. There is no democratic process. If uranium were mined here, it would be transported elsewhere, as there are no nuclear reactors in British Columbia. There is, however, no policy against building them and B.C. Hydro has done preliminary research in this area. It is impossible to separate the issue of nuclear power from the issue of energy, and B.C. Hydro's energy policy is clearly one of expansion. As a way of justifying their policy, their projected increases are consistently higher than actual usage increases. Part of B.C. Hydro expansion is the Cheekye-Dunsmuir transmission line, which will supply power to Vancouver Island and which is part of a massive power grid being developed throughout the province. This line to the island would make possible nuclear power plants. Feasibility studies have been done and three sites named — Crofton, Port McNeill and False Head. The coal generating project being planned for Hat Creek is also part of this energy expansion. In addition to causing acid rain and other environmental damage, it will release radioactive emissions of thorium and uranium. Hydro's expansion projects also include massive hydroelectric developments whichare unacceptable either as alternatives to or complements of nuclear power plants. There are projects planned for the Fraser River and estuary, and dams proposed for the Stikine, Iskut and Laird rivers in northern B.C., and for the Peace River. The Site C dam on the Peace River would flood thirty percent of B.C.'s best quality farmland.. All these river projects cause loss of farmland, forest, wildlife habitat, fishing and recreational resources. Most of these projects as well, like the mine projects, encroach on native lands and are extremely damaging and disruptive to the native way of life and self-sufficiency. There are energy alternatives to nuclear power and the damming of British Colum-' bia's rivers. We need realistic assessments of our energy needs and reduction of energy requirements through conservation and through economic pressure on large industrial and business users. We need modes of energy production that are . ecologically and economically sound and we need limitations on energy exports to the United States. 0_ 22 Kinesis February 1982 NUCLEAR POWER FUEL^CYCLE continued from page 16 The Core - Cooling water is used to keep the fuel rods from overheating. The heat is excessive and if there is an interruption of the cooling water, the core containing the fuel rods and the fuel assembles can melt, causing a disaster. The fuel would melt into the ground releasing deadly radiation. This situation is known as a "melt down". The nuclear industry has named it the "China Syndrome" because theoretically, the molten fuel could burn its way through the earth towards China. PLUTONIUM LIFE SPAN -500,000 YEARS Plutonium - Plutonium is one of the major by-products of the nuclear fuel cycle and did not exist on earth until it was produced in nuclear reactors. It is a highly toxic, radioactive, carcinogenic element that will continue to exist in its radioactive state for half a million years after it is produced. If it gets into our lungs, one-millionth of a gram will cause cancer. Plutonium was originally developed for use in the construction of atomic bombs and nuclear warheads. It takes only one kilogram to create a bomb. It is estimated that by the year 2020 there will be 20-30,000 tons of plutonium in existence. Breeder Reactors - Another use for plutonium is as fuel for the breeder reactor. The reactor's outstanding quality is that it produces more fuel than it consumes. However, it takes approximately ten years for a breeder to produce a quantity of plutonium and the lifespan of a breeder reactor is often not much longer than that. Breeders are the most dangerous kinds of reactors for two reasons. First, they require a large amount of highly radioactive fuel, a mix of both uranium and plutonium oxides. Secondly, the core which is immensely hot is cooled not by water, but by liquid sodium which can explode on contact with air or water. Breeder reactors are expensive, pose additional safety hazards and require and produce plutonium, the deadliest of all elements. Radioactive wastes are a dangerous end to the nuclear fuel cycle. They are toxic and once released into the environment they contaminate land and water virtually forever. There is no safe disposal and storage of nuclear wastes. There are three categories of nuclear wastes, as well as the mining wastes (tailings) mentioned earlier. Low-level wastes include anything that has picked up radiation during any part of the fuel cycle. Also included are medical wastes contaminated by hospital use of radiation, as well as tools used in mining and gloves and uniforms of workers in enrichment and reprocessing plants. Another low-level waste is the radioactive plant cooling water. Between 1946 and 1962, 47,500 55-gallon drums of low-level radioactive waste from atomic weapons and research were dumped into the ocean. So-called intermediate wastes are liquids and materials contaminated with fission products, including uranium and plutonium. These are not necessarily less dangerous than high-level wastes, but are less concentrated. High level wastes contain uranium-235 and plutonium-239.- They are highly radioactive and dangerous in .any form. They can be used to make explosive weapons. About 75% of U.S. nuclear waste is stored at the Hanford Reserve in Washington State. Leakages have occurred there which have contaminated the Columbia River and eventually the entire food chain in the surrounding area. DecommissIoning - One of the most overlooked and ignored aspects of nuclear power has befen the decommissioning of a nuclear power plant. The lifespan of a plant is only thirty to forty years. After that it becomes thousands of tons of radioactive waste. Since many plants have not been decommissioned, we have not yet experienced the full impact of the problem. There are two methods proposed for decommissioning a nuclear power plant: mothballing and entombment. If mothballed a used-up reactor would be closed, welded shut and guarded for an indefinite period of time. Theoretically, however, the concrete of the containment vessel would be long since turned to dust before the reactor contents would be safe. Entombment is the covering of a reactor with concrete. This entails the same problem as moth- balling. Decomissioning nuclear power plants can be as expensive as the original construction. The issue of radioactive waste is an overwhelming problem we must now face. The effects on our health and the balance of the entire ecosystem is incalculable. It is a deadly legacy we leave for our children and future generations. Q The information in this section is from No Nukes — Everyone's Guide to Nuclear Power by Anna Gyorgy. HEALTH HAZARDS continued from page 16 Video display terminals and radar equipment emit non-ionizing radiation, which does not change the molecular structure of body cells in the same way as ionizing radiation, but which still appears to cause a variety of biological disorders. About the degree of our exposure to most of these sources of radiation, we have some choice; nuclear power, however, does not offer a voluntary choice — the radiation released by nuclear technology is imposed upon people. No level of radiation is safe. All levels of radiation adversely affect the body. It takes only one radioactive atom to damage a cell and cause cancer or genetic mutation. Even natural background radiation affects the aging process of cells and probably accounts for some cancers. A certain amount of natural or background radiation comes in ultra-violet rays from the sun and cosmic rays from outer space which have filtered through the ozone layer. Background radiation also comes from radioactive elements found naturally in rocks, soil and air. Man-made radiation adds to the level of radiation to which we are exposed. The cumulative effects of many small doses of radiation are as serious as those of one large exposure; the more exposure, the greater the chance of cancer and genetic defects. The establishment by the nuclear -industry and government regulatory agencies of "safe" levels of radiation exposure for workers and the general public is therefore misleading. The fact these standards keep changing (the amount of radiation deemed safe is being reduced) demonstrates how arbitrarily they are determined. Studies on nuclear workers, on uranium miners, on soldiers exposed to atomic tests in the fifties, and on patients who have . received diagnostic x-rays have all found significantly higher cancer death rates among people who received legally allowed radiation dosrs than in the general population. Despite the claim of the President's Commission on the accident at Three Mile Island nuclear plant in March 1979 that the radioactivity released was not enough to cause cancer, developmental abnormalities or genetic ill-health, there is evidence to the contrary. There was a significant rise in infant deaths in Pennsylvania shortly after the accident, as well as an increase in miscarriages and other health problems in people and animals. We can expect the incidence of cancer in North America to keep increasing as the cumulative effect of exposure to radioactivity takes its toll. 0_ February 1982 Kinesis 23 NUCLEAR POWER Feasible alternatives to nuclear power do exist Nuclear power plants generate energy only in the form of electricity. However since electricity represents only about 13-15% of cur energy needs, it is clear that nuclear power cannot solve our energy problems in any meaningful way. There are and always have been alternatives to nuclear power. The trouble is that, while many of these alternatives are most effective as small-scale decentralized operations, the multinational corporations and government agencies which control the nuclear power industry depend for their profits on centralized energy sources — a few large power plants producing huge quantities of energy distributed to much of the mass media and hence have the power to influence public -opinion. Thus, many people accept at face value the claim that nuclear power is our only alternative to freezing in the dark. Furthermore, multinational corporations control much of the funding and expertise available for research and development of the alternatives. Needless to say, when corporations profit from centralized energy, they do not use their profits to research cheaper, safer and less centralized sources. Nuclear power plants are capital intensive; to make them work, they require a huge initial investment in buildings, land, and equipment. The alternatives described below are labour- intensive; that is, they require human input in manufacturing, installation and maintenance. Nuclear power plants actually destroy jobs because they tie up huge amounts of capital which, if invested in any other energy form, would result in major creation of employment. Some of the alternatives suggested are already in use in varying degress in different parts of the world. For instance, most of the hot water in Tel Aviv has been heated by solar collectors. A 40-foot wind tower on Cortez Island has the capacity to supply electricity for 9 neighbouring cabins. And there are many solar collectors on houses and buildings in Vancouver. Alternatives would produce clean, safe power Other alternatives are new, with problems inherent in implementation. But none are nearly so dangerous as the threat of meltdown or the presence of radioactive waste. Conservation Better design of existing heating and lighting systems and some appliances can save a large percentage of total energy requirements without reducing output. Many buildings and appliances, designed in the days of cheap energy, were not made with an eye to conservation. Passive Solar New buildings can be built with large glass panels on the south side. By keeping the windows uncovered in daylight and covered when there is no sun, the building can derive much of its heat from the sun as opposed to an internal heating system. Covering windows during the hottest hours during the summer can keep a building cool without artificial air- conditioning. The Solar Co-op at Vine and Broadway in Vancouver was built to maximize passive solar energy. Active Solar Solar collector roof panels attract the sun's heat and use it to raise water temperature. The water is then stored in insulated containers and is pumped through conventional heating systems to provide heat. In other active solar systems, the solar collector is used instead of a hot water tank. Solar collectors are inexpensive and easy to build. Both the Solar Co-op and the Vancouver Energy Information Centre (SPEC) heat most of their water with a solar collector. a two-chambered heat exchanger. A liquid with a low boiling point, such as ammonia, is enclosed in a 2-chambered heat exchanger. One chamber is warmed close to the surface, causing the liquid to vapourize. The vapour escapes with enough force to turn a turbine, is forced into the cold chamber where It liquifies, then is pumped back into the warm chamber where escaping vapour again turns the turbine. The electrical current produced by the turning turbines is delivered to consumers through power lines. Windpower Windtowers can be an excellent source of power in B.C.'s coastal climate. They are easy and inexpensive to build and require no fuel. During periods of high wind, turbines spin to generate power, which is then stored in batteries hooked up in series for use in periods of calm. Oil companies know the value of windpower — Alberta Gas and Oil has commissioned the building of windtowers to-supply power along the northern pipeline route. Biomass Biomass refers to the conversion of biological waste matter (i.e. weeds, manure, crop residue and surplus) into fuel. Organic matter is 'digested' by bacteria to produce methane gas which is similar to natural gas. High quality fertilizer or cattle feed is the byproduct, so this method of energy production is especially suitable to agricultural areas. Photovoltaic Cells These are cells made of silicon or cadmium through which sunlight passes and is converted directly to electricity. Photovoltaic cells can be used much like solar roof collectors; however, there is no efficient way to store this energy for use outside of daylight hours. This technology was originally designed by NASA for use in the space programme. Ocean Thermal Energy It is possible to utilize the wide temperature variance between the surface level and the lower levels of the ocean by using Geothermal Energy There are vast quantities of energy stored in the earth's hot core. In areas where the molten core has pushed close to the surface (i.e. volcano areas and sites of natural geysers and hot springs) it is possible to tap underground steam so it turns turbines to produce electricity. A geothermal plant in California generates electricity at half the cost of a nuclear reactor. There is, however, danger of environmental damage due to removal of water from beneath the surface. More research is necessary before we can use geothermal power to its fullest safe potential. Small Scale Hydro Electricity Given conducive geographic location (i.e. proximity to a small natural waterfall) and a moderate investment in labour and equipment, it is possible to build one's own hydro-electric generator and never have to pay a utility company for power. Small scale hydro generators preclude the necessity for the huge dams and diversions with which large power companies such as B.C. Hydro do irreparable damage to the environment. There are at least 50 and probably many more small scale generators in remote parts of B.C. 'Alternative energy', 'appropriate technology' and 'soft energy' all refer to methods of producing clean, safe power. Research, development and implementation of .alternatives to nuclear power will create many safe, long term jobs for people who don't necessarily possess highly technical skills, and will lead to a cleaner, healthier environment. Q 24 Kinesis February 19i NUCLEAR POWER Our hope for the future lies in working together for change For some of us the possibility of nuclear war is so frightening that it can lead to a feeling of hopelessness, a feeling that we can't change the world fast enough, so why even try. The thought of nuclear war is overwhelming but it is crucial that we continue the struggle with a firm conviction that we can change the future. Our hope for the future lies in all of us working together to build a safe world for ourselves and our children. Many of us who are concerned about the escalating arms race and the hazards of nuclear power plants cannot make a major time commitment to anti-nuclear work. Despite this, there are many things we can do without joining a group that can have an impact. Here are some ways that you can help: LEARN - The government and the nuclear power industry try to intimidate and invalidate us by saying that we cannot possibly understand nuclear power or that we do not have the information to judge the "national security" issues around nuclear weapons. But we do not have to be nuclear physicists to understand the basic principles and hazards involved in nuclear power. Nor do we have to be politicians to understand the consequences of nuclear war. • Read - refer to the bibliography for books and magazines on the nuclear issue • Join or organize an anti-nuclear study group. SHARE INFORMATION - We are barraged by so much false pro-nuclear propaganda (that nuclear power is harmless, that we will freeze in the dark without it, that we must continue the arms race) that most of us simply do not know the facts. • Share what you have learned with friends, relatives, co-workers and neighbours. • Circulate a petition for one of the anti-nuclear groups — it's a good opportunity to talk with people about the issues. • Ask librarians to order anti-nuclear books. • Wear an anti-nuclear button or t-shirt • Bring a-film or speaker to a group or class you are already involved in. SUPPORT existing anti-nuclear groups by • giving a financial contribution • taking out a membership in one of the organizations • subscribing to a newsletter • going to a demonstration, event or workshop. WRITE - Writing letters will not change the world, but sometimes we forget that it can have a significant effect. • Write a letter to your MLA and/or the premier about B.C. issues such as the Cheekeye-Dunsmuir Line, the AMAX Corporation, and the Comox military base. • Write to your MP and/or the Prime Minister to have Canada declared a nuclear free zone. • Send a letter from your group, class or union as well as individual letters. AGITATE - -You can help to raise public awareness of nuclear issues. • If you are in a union, propose an anti-nuclear resolution (AUCE has passed on.e in opposition to the nuclear research reactor proposed for SFU) • If you are in a political party, work to get an anti-nuclear resolution through (the NDP has passed one on the federal level). • Work within your women's organization, class or any other group you are in to draw up an anti-nuclear resolution and send copies to government officials and anti-nuclear groups. JOIN - If you want to become an active member of an anti-nuclear group, here are some you can contact: • Women Against Nuclear Technology (WANT). 1774 Grant St., #7, Vancouver. Phone 255-0523 or 734-5393- A feminist anti-capitalist women's group opposed to nuclear power and nuclear weapons. • Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility (CCNR), 2148 Cornwall, Vancouver. Phone 734-8915. Primarily educational group opposed to nuclear power and weapons. General meetings the first Tuesday of the month. Newsletter available for $5 a year. • Coalition for World Disarmament, 210A-1811 W. 16th Ave., Vancouver. Phone 731-5626. Currently working toward the United Nations Special Session on Disarmament in the spring of 1982. ■ Ploughshares, 1955 W. 4th Ave., Vancouver. Phone 733-0141. Working on a national campaign to make Canada a Nuclear Weapons Free Zone. Newspaper, "Monitor", buttons and posters. • United Nations Association, 2524 Cypress, #204. Phone 733-3912. They have bulletins and pamphlets on disarmament. Some work in secondary schools. ■ Voice of Women'. Phone 687-6510 or 253-3625. A women's group working for world peace and disarmament. Active petitioning drives. • B.C. Peace Council. Phone 873-6697. Works on issues of disarmament and world peace. • Hat Creek Action Group. Phone 874-0994. A direct action group against B.C. Hydro mega-projects. • Greenpeace, 2623 W. 4th Ave., Vancouver. Phone 736-0321. Environmental group that does some education and direct action around banning nuclear testing. • SPEC, 2150 W. 6th, Vancouver. Phone 736-7732. Environmental protection group. Resource centre is open to the public. • Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace (CC0DP), 150 Robson, Vancouver. Phone 683-0281. Some educational work through Catholic organizations on militarism and Canada's nuclear role in the world. • Haney Alliance for Nuclear Discouragement, 13210 232d St., Maple Ridge. Phone 467-9089 or 467-9064. • Fraser Valley Peace Council, 16124 9th Ave., White Rock. Phone 531-4178. • Unitarian Church Social Responsibility Committee. Phone 224-1698. All phone numbers are in Vancouver, unless otherwise indicated. Q RESOURCES Books Ain 't Nowhere We Can Run — A Handbook for Women on the Nuclear Mentality. S. Koen and N. Swaim, WAND, Norwich, Vt. The Anti-Nuolec and Karianders •> Handbook. Stephen Croall Pantheon Books, NYC., 1978. Nuclear Madness — What You Can Do. Helen Caldicott, Autumn Press, Random House of Canada, 1978. Energy/War: Freaking the Nuclear Link. Amory Lovins, Harper & Row, NYC, 1980. No Nukes - Everyone's Guide to Nuclear Power. Anna Gyorgy, South End Press, Boston, 1979. Soft Energy Paths: Towards a Durable Peace. Amory Lovins, Pelican, 1979. Magazines Win Magazine. 326 Livingston St., Brooklyn, NY 11217. Non-violent activist magazine with news of the anti-nuclear movement. Published every other week. $15 per year. Peace News. 8 Elm Ave., Nottingham 3, England. 5-issue trial sub for 2 pounds. Published every other week. The World Information Service on Energy (WISE) 'Bulletin'. 1536 16th St. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036, USA. Provides international information and resources on safe energy, uranium and nuclear power and weappns from the news service of the grass roots movement world-wide. $10/yr. Films We Are The Guinea Pigs. IDERA, 2524 Cypress St., Vancouver. Phone 738-8815. The Last Slide Show (slides and cassette) and Making a Killing: the Arms Industry in Canada. Coalition for World Disarmament. 733-9018. No Act of God (on nuclear power). National Film Board, 1155 West Georgia, Vancouver. No Nuke Women. (video) Metro-Media Association, 1037 Commercial Drive, Vancouver. Phone 255-1833- Anti-nuclear videos are also available through Video Inn, 261 Powell Street, Vancouver, or phone 688-4336. February 1982 Kinesis 25 MOVEMENT MATTERS Recognizing our labour or the dinner party that never was by Lou Nelson Once upon a time, four women were sitting in a kitchen, drinking tea, exchanging stories and talking about movement politics. It's difficult to reconstruct exactly how we got onto the topic that is the subject of this article, but there we were, right into it — appreciations, celebrations, toasts, tables and dinner. It seems we went from controversies in the movement to current gossip, to group process to burnout. Then one of us trundled out an idea she said she'd been thinking about for a while — wouldn't it be great to have a dinner of appreciations. That is, a dinner AND appreciations. Sort of like this: ask collectives to pick one or more people from their collective they want to say some good things about, find people to get up and say appreciations, rent a hall and microphone, have food, wine (and juice), perhaps a mistress of ceremonies, and do it up. Charge $5.00 at the door and give the net proceeds to Press Gang. The initial response to this idea was positive so we played it out as if it were a real project. That's when we started running into problems. Too many collectives, too many women, too little time. Given a large number of collectives, how do you structure the evening so the celebration does not become overwhelming? One a minute was not the effect we were looking for. So why not change the structure? What if we simply honoured some individuals? Certainly there are more than enough women who deserve our recognition and appreciation. Moving right along (and now sitting at the Waldorf with a round of beer), we came up with a list of seven women, and set about thinking of women who could do the appreciations. It was shaping up to be a celebration with a focus. Another round of beer later, we set a date for a supper meeting to pull together the initial publicity. Star making or public appreciation? Well, before we met again, we talked with a few friends, and found resistance to the idea. Some women objected that the celebration would create stars, would set up leaders, had aspects of giving power away. At our supper meeting, we talked about these objections and our responses. We decided that without support there was no point in going ahead, but we still liked the idea. We need to talk about ways and means of doing public appreciations. We are not wedded to the specifics of our idea, but one element is key: group or community recognition of individual women, women we have all worked with, who are our own friends, sisters, lovers, co-workers. I would like to outline some of my reasons for wanting such a celebration. The women we chose for the first dinner were Dorrie Brannock, Sarah Davidson, Pat Smith, Prabha Khosla, Muggs Sigurgeirson, Gloria Greenfield, Ces Rosales. It is important for me to acknowledge these women because a) they have served as an inspiration to me; b) they are continuing to do political work and they have been fighting for a long time (some longer than others, but all more than five years); c) having experienced burnout myself, and having seen women stop doing political work, I know what forces are against them continuing, and d) I want to give these women public credit for the work they have done, and the roles they have played in the movement — maintaining continuity, each one in a different way, continuing to fight for her vision of the future. These are not the only women I would so toast. But we have to begin somewhere. One seemed too few, ten too many, seven a compromise. I mean, there are only so many ways to slice up an evening. Validating ordinary struggle We need to recognize that we in Vancouver have a distinct history, and our own story to tell. We have a place in history, and we are making it. We are delighted to see films such as Wilmar 8 or Union Maids or Women in Arms. Other women's stories of their lives somehow become larger than life through being filmed and told as a story. We look at them and say, "Ah now, how wonderful that was, how great those women are!" And then I am reminded that we are wonderful too, but so few stories get told. How do we validate our own Canadian, B.C. lower mainland struggle? It all seems so ordinary and humdrum. It seems to me we can begin by appreciating the work that women are currently doing and encouraging them to continue. To do this in a public way has an impact and a significance that personal appreciations do not. I could go to each of these women and say how I appreciate the work she is doing, but somehow that is not enough for me. It is also that they add to and extend our history of struggle as a movement. I want other activists to join me in toasting their dedication, their courage in the face of discouragement, their day- to-day plugging along and coping with life's hassles. We honour other women, those who are easy to honour — famous writers, political theorists, revolutionaries. Who doesn't have a poster on her wall, or a quote on her fridge? Celebration a way of taking ourselves seriously But there are many more women who will not receive any recognition. Women like us. Women who are not writers, not politicians, not famous, not noticeable. Women who work at organizing, continuing to make links with other women; women who work to maintain the few structures the women's movement has; women who work across and in different cultures, striving to make new connections. Do we let these women remain anonymous? To me that is to rob ourselves of our history in process. Always looking to the future goal — working, struggling, organizing — never accomplishing enough, always seeing what needs to be done... when do we stop and say "Good work."? Women spend years of their lives organizing for women, and are expected to continue on the strength of personal satisfaction, knowing they are working for a good cause Well, perhaps that's not enough. We don't want to create stars, or leaders, or to be elitist, but to honour the work that is being done. Celebration is a way of taking ourselves seriously. So, guess who's coming to dinner? 0 \ H vt // t Shari Street February 19-27,1962 26 Kinesis February 1982 CULTURE Female imagery in wood: a profile of Robin Campbell by Michele Wollstonecroft Robin (Heather) Campbell originally trained in Montreal as a printmaker (she moved to Victoria 3s years ago). Robin chose to make wood sculpture, primarily because wood is reasonably safe and convenient to work with, and does not require dangerous chemicals or elaborate, expensive equipment. Robin uses hand tools and collects most of her materials from the beaches around Victoria. Robin is a member of Xchanges, an artist- run co-operative gallery and studio. There, in August 1980, she held an exhibition called Sanctuaries. Robin's sculpture is profoundly female in form, style and imagery. Much of her work reflects pre-historic (i.e. non- patriarchal) images and shapes. This show transformed the Xchanges gallery space into an environment somewhat reminiscent of matriarchal religion, ritual, and earth-oriented pantheism. One creates oneself through one's sculptings Sanctuaries included five female figures. Mama is a stylized voluminous female figure, with a bird-like head and a small bird nesting in a hollow on her chest. X'm is a horned.goddess with a delicate face, and an elongated flattened body that contains the head of an axe embedded on its side in her lower abdomen. Spring is a stylized muscular female figure, with a beak-like head. In Sanctuaries, she sat upon, as if emerging from, 800 pounds of earth. The earth was carefully placed in a circle, and surrounded by an outer circle of earth. Mermaid, accompanied by a suspended fish, is a folk-art styled musical figure. Her belly is hollowed out and engraved with a spiral, and she is strung and tuned for playing. Alpha, the fifth piece, is a stylized tall, slim female form surrounded by a circle of stones and mimicked by similar cut-out figures on the wall behind. Of this work Robin says, "This show of fine female figures in wood offers to its perceivers self-expansive sanctuaries of being. The source of the images and to an extent the forms is the pre-historic female figure/goddess. I was originally drawn to the steatophagous figure 5 and then recently have been exci- * ted by the more joyful Egyptian and Mino- an y) I? 'dancers' . "The forms' other source is my self in process. Important here is my belief, somehow reinforced by the Tibetan Book of the Dead, that one creates oneself through one's breathings, noisings, postures, and shape makings (sculptings). "The dominant shape of my art has been an embryonic Q comma, a shape readily perceivable in the steatophagous goddess I have been struggling throughout the past five years to work through that shape. I am now in the process of standing up into a new form Yl inspired by the breathing/noising V of 'Alpha'. The polysyllable-polymorph now replaces the monosyllable-(Om-like ) monomorph comma." (Robin Campbell, Sanctuaries Artists, August 1980) The made becomes the maker Robin is very sensitive to the innate qualities of wood. Because "found" wood (predominantly fir) often has an eccentric character, Robin has at times com- "Spring" from Sanctuaries (left), "Headstone" (top right) and "Bier" (bottom right) from Graveposts and Headstones. Wood sculpture by Robin Campbell. promised her purity of expression in order to retain certain features of the wood. In the Sanctuaries pieces, this eccentric character of the wood served to reinforce the pantheistic implications of the show. X'm and the Mermaid displayed some painted surfaces, as well as bright stones for eyes. The Mermaid's fish (also wood) displayed a glittering scaley surface of ornaments, tacks and beads, and this ornamentation added a sense of folk art. Recently Robin has been working on a body of work entitled Graveposts and Headstones. These pieces are more concerned with pure form than her previous work. Robin states: "Each person has, as they develop, a peculiar shape or. form which they find comfortable. This form is a substratum which emerges as composition in painting or drawing, as one's characteristic physical posture, as a recurring form in an artist's sculpture. It informs one's handwriting style. Spiritually it shapes a person's chant or mantra. "This form can not only express or describe a spiritual state or mode of being; it can evoke or prescribe, in its manifestation as sculpture, one particular mode. Cause and effect can reverse roles and the made becomes the maker. The viewer identifying with the form is remade." (Robin Campbell Graveposts and Headstones, Statement 1981) The Graveposts and Headstones pieces are intended to be seen as positive spiritual feminine forms for people to contemplate and internalize. It is important to Robin that these sculptures "are objects that exist in space without becoming phallic — they are receptive — ... giving/receiving, "feminine", listening/hearing, opening/ closing, erotic and spiritual forms." (R. Campbell) Recent work a graveyard encounter The Graveposts and Headstones literally represents a graveyard scene. It is Robin's intention that these pieces, upon installation, shall be placed in the order that one would really encounter them in a graveyard. The first piece the viewer will see is the Guardian, a large horizontally-lined block that is U or V-shaped and painted in the centre. The fifteen Graveposts are next. They are like the "dancers" Robin mentioned previously, and symbolize the mourners. The Graveposts are relatively stylized in their form; however, individually they differ. Their heads are a U (receptive) form, and they are painted within the U and on the abdomen. The Headstones are fashioned after the U- shaped heads of the Graveposts. At present there are two Headstones — hollowed out half ovals that retain their woodiness on the exterior but are painted bright pink and bright orange in the U-shaped centre. They have names like "Raspberry Sherbet" and are reminiscent, of a ripe piece of canteloupe. The four Tombs are long blocks of wood. In the centre of each is an egg-shaped hollow that is painted a cool light pink. Both the Headstones and the Tombs retain their mass and appearance of strength, yet are also extremely delicate. The Bier is a boat-like shape. It is hollowed across the top and unlike the Tombs, the hollowed surface is textured. The surface is painted a more flesh-like pink than the other pieces. The Bier is not as massive and block-like as the Guardian, Headstones or Tomb. Robin has had numerous solo and group exhibitions including at Powerhouse Gallery (Montreal), Galerie des Artistes Independents (Montreal), the Musee de Quebec (Quebec City), and Circle Craft (Robson Square, Vancouver). She also won fifth prize for wood sculpture in the 1980 International Wood Carving Competition, held at the Canadian National Agricultural Exhibition in Toronto. She has received two grants, one from the Community Arts Council of Victoria in 1980, the other from the Quebec Government's AID to Artists' programme in 1978. At present Robin is collaborating with artist Nina Welles to produce an installation of game boards and drawings entitled Absurd Endeavours. The games are meant to be played, but in order to play and even win the players must cooperate with each other. The Show opens April 1st at the Xchange Gallery in Victoria. 0_ This article is the first in a series featuring B.C. women artists, by Michele Wollstonecroft. February 1982 Kinesis 27 REVIEWS Lesbian Fiction moves beautifully into new territory by Cy-Thea Sand One of the most challenging aspects of living outside the dominant culture is what I call simultaneous seeing: being sensitive to the truth and beauty of my life while knowing that the powerful few, with the complicity of the many, would destroy that life. Lesbian Fiction, an anthology. Edited by Elly Bulkin. Watertown, Massachusetts: Persephone Press, 1981. 295 pp. $8.95 paper. So it is with lesbian literature. While I celebrate the diverse intelligence of lesbian literary culture, I am aware that our lives reflect only sexual perversity in the minds of most people. The word "lesbian" is still unspeakable outside of women's communities. When it is uttered, charges of sexual obsessions and abnormal desires are generated. I hope that the publication of Lesbian Fiction will help to change this perspective. Meanwhile, I am impressed with the depth of concern and talent that exists in the American lesbian writing community. Lesbian Fiction includes twenty-eight short stories as well as an historical review of lesbian fiction and an essay on teaching lesbian short fiction in the classroom, both by editor Elly Bulkin. Established writers such as Audre Lorde, Jane Rule and Jan Clausen are presented, as well as lesser known authors (at least to me), such as Aleida Rodriguez and Sauda Jamal. Irene Klepfisz' experimental work, "The Journal of Rachel Robotinik", is an interesting example of genre blending. This .piece begins with a letter to the reader, explaining that the journal entries to follow are the work of short story writer Rachel Robotnik. Her editor, and author of this letter, is Mary M. Arnold. She explains that Ms. Robotnik's collection of short stories has been well received by literary critics. However, Rachel Robotnik has failed in her attempts to get her journal published. (It was written while she worked on the short stories). Arnold tells the reader that Ms. Robotnik believes "that most reviewers as well as readers could not understand (her work) if they did not understand how it came to be", and that "lovers of great art are pure poison. They live for the single moments, for epiphanies, for great revelations. They want to forget what happens in between; they don't want to see the process, the conditions, the dead flies stuck to the half dry canvas." Mary Arnold has retained the unpolished quality of the journals, editing for clarity only. The journal excerpts themselves are interspersed with newspaper headlines and stories as well as with excerpts from Rachel's works in progress. The journal details the practical aspects of the writing process for most women: the squeezing in of solitude between a job and domestic life, the anxiety about economic security gnawing at one's aspirations to greatness, the frustrations of creative individuals bound by the economic/emotional fragmentation of post-industrial society. Klepfisz is an astute and angry writer — her words sting as well as inform. Dorothy Allison Julie Dlockwomon Sandy Doucher Maureen Dtody Jo Corrillo Jon Clousen Flying Clouds Jewelle Gomez Jud Lesbian FICTION Grohn Saudo Jomol Froncine Krosno Irene Klepfisz Audre Lorde Elizabeth A.Lynn Ju dith McDaniel Lynn Michaels Oarboro Nodo an anthology edited by: Elly Dulkin 1 Diana Rivers Aleida Rodriguez Jane Rule 1 Darbora Sheen Ann Allen Shockley Koth jerine Sturtevant Pat Suncircle Kitty Tsui "Lovers of great art are pure poison. They live for the single moments, for epiphanies, for great revelations. They want to forget what happens in between; they don't want to see the process, the conditions, the dead flies stuck to the half-dry canvas." One of the most appealing features of Lesbian Fiction is its complexity. Lesbianism, women-identification, are taken for granted by the artists; they are intellectually free to explore the multi- faceted nature of living. They are without the debilitating self-consciousness of the fifties and sixties writers of popular lesbian literature, and without the political zealousness which marred much of the lesbian fiction (and poetry) of the seventies. Loving women is a fact that is basic to these writers' lives and work. It is the vital force of their creativity but not its raison d'etre. Their woman-love inspires their concern with violence against women (Judith McDaniel - "Present Danger"), the nature of illusion (Barbara Sheen - "Twins") and the triple horror of racism, poverty and drugs (Sauda Jamal - "A Mother That Loves You"). Domestic violence is dramatized in Dorothy Allison's excellent work, "A River of Names". And in Allison's story, "I'm Working on my Charm", the idlosyncracies and perils (respectively) of Southern culture and waitressing are presented in a humorous way. It is in its representation of different racial and class experiences that Lesbian Fiction excels. The majority of North American literature is of the white, male middle class reality. My literary educa tion as a white woman has been saturated by these monolithic images. (A school of radical working class literature exists, but is male-identified). One of the joys of reading autobiographies for me is learning the intellectual influence on people's lives. But most of these influences have been ethnocentric — devoid of knowledge or concern with working class women, black children, Mexican culture or Japanese tradition. When I read stories like Jo Camillo's "Maria Littlebear" my mind moves into new territory: it does not lie stagnant in comfortable familiarity. When Barbara Noda's poetic prose honours her grandparents, I am enriched by its beauty and simplicity. Lesbian Fiction is a fine collection of contemporary short fiction. Its concern with the grit of life, what Mary Meigs calls the "dark truth", is indicative of the universal ism of women's, of lesbians' thought and visions. Cy-Thea Sand is an editor of THE RADICAL REVIEWER. She encourages women to submit articles and reviews for the upcoming issue concerning the art and literature of Canadian women. Submissions are due by March 15, 1982. Send to THE RADICAL REVIEWER, P.O. Box 24953, Stn. C, Vancouver B.C. o. r Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women f^^^ Conseil consultatif ^B canadien k^^J de la situation _ _ de la femme Publications PENSION REFORM WITH WOMEN IN MIND Describes the Canadian pension system and emphasizes women's needs with suggestions for concrete and realistic reforms that will provide fair and adequate pensions to all women. By Louise Dulude, 111 pages Write for your free copy to: LES FEMMES ET LA REFORME DES REGIMES DE PENSIONS Une analyse de la situation des femmes face au systeme canadien de pensions et des reformes concretes et realistes qui s'imposent pour accorder aux femmes les pensions qui leur reviennent. Par Louise Dulude, 128 pages Obtenez-en gratuitement un exemplaire en ecrivant a: CACSW PUBLICATIONS Room 1005 151 Sparks Street Ottawa, Ontario K1P5R5 y -^m PUBLICATIONS CCCSF r^' Piece 1005 ij^mk 151, rue Sparks ^ ^ Ottawa (Ontario) ■ ■ K1P5R5 Kinesis February 1982 REVIEWS Holly Near returns to Vancouver in aid of anti-nuclear work On March 19, Women Against Nuclear Technology (WANT) brings Holly Near and her accompanist Adrienne Torf to Vancouver. Proceeds of the concert, to be held at the Orpheum, will be distributed between WANT and AMNLAE (the Nicaraguan Women's Association). See Bulletin Board for details. by Marcia Meyer Throughout the ages, artists and musicians have reflected the ideas, philosophies and advancements of the eras in which they lived. In our time, Holly Near, songwriter, performer and recording artist, has gone one stop beyond . Her lyrics and music not only portray what is happening around us but reveal an attitude and awareness affective of progressive change. Holly's melodies and harmonies are as beautiful as the philosophies her lyrics represent. And her inventiveness is well matched by the ingenious adeptness of her piano arranger and accompanist Adrienne Torf. In the early 70's, Holly toured the U.S. and parts of Asia singing anti-war songs for the Free The Army Show. Before this, she performed in prisons; she has long recognized the problems of classism and racism. In the past decade, Holly has evolved a songwriting style that combines brilliant musical composition with lyrics representing commitment to women's rights, world peace and an environment free of oppression and nuclear technology. Her songs do not play into the stereotypes that see women as dependent possessions, nor do they condone alcohol and drug abuse, hopelessness, sexism or racism. What Holly sings about is real. With respect to nuclear power, radioactive wastes are being emanated, transported and stored within our very cities and nuclear power projects are being built while officials falsely assure us that nothing can go wrong. Holly sees nuclear technology as "similar to all oppressions that have ever existed. This is just a highly technological version." Yet, in the face of this, Holly reminds us that we do have the power to organize and affect change. She sings, Learn the lessons of the past We're not the first And we're not the last To sing about freedom To live our lives for freedom This feminist health book is recommended reading by Ani Arnott How to Stay Out of the Gynecologist 's Office by the Federation of Feminist Women's Health Centres (Women's Health in Women's Hands Series) Women to Women Publications, Los Angele; paperback, 1981. This book is the result of years of self help and lay health research by women at the Los Angeles Feminist Women's Health Center, (these women also printed the book themselves. ) In language that most English-speaking women will find understandable, they present positive and quite radical views of gynecological anatomy. They tell us how our systems work, suggesting a whole range of normal ways for our bodies to be, rather than presenting one stereotypic "perfect" model that leaves the rest of us wondering whether we're really working right. The illustrations are wonderful, showing all kinds of women taking care of their own and each others' health. The big, old women in the pictures are from many races, and take all the natural rambling shapes that women do really, again an exciting reflection of the woman-loving view that shapes this book. It's a fine contrast to the illustrations from a 1971 UBC medical text where women are posed and dressed (nude in high heels) as if for a 1940s girlie calendar. The sections on odours and secretions are recommended reading for all. For probably the first time, a medical book has printed information on why we smell and secrete the way we do, giving us a solid respect and understanding of what is natural and functional about these taboo aspects of our female bodies — ammunitition against the barrage of attitudes that we are sexually somehow 'dirty' because of them. A large part of the book is taken up with describing and explaining what can go HOW TO STAY OUT of the GYNECOLOGISTS OFFICE v* By the Federation of Feminist Women's Health Centers wrong in our healthy systems, common disturbances, how to notice them early and what we can do for ourselves. For each problem they first say what is going on in the body that's causing irritation and what may be the reasons behind the disfunction so we can take preventative measures in future. Then they present alternative treatments they have used or heard of. They tell us how widely, and with what varying degrees of success these home remedies have been used, to their knowledge. They say how they think the remedy works. Finally the standard medical treatments are outlined and critiqued — including additional effects of drugs commonly prescribed, and risks of surgical or diagnostic procedures. The second part of the book, "Taking the Mystery Out of a Medical Visit", could actually subtitle the whole thing. It is written primarily for an American audience, so much of the information is not directly applicable to Canadian women. But it addresses a lot of the non-medical issues that confront a woman who must see a medical specialist. They supply a lot of information about common diagnostic tools and tests, from the taking of blood pressure to urine tests to pelvic examinations, so we are more informed about what is happening to us and can ask relevant questions. And they make a lot of concrete suggestions about how we can maintain equality and be assertive in a usually very unequal situation. The third part of the book is a glossary of medical terms, containing full, plain language explanations of what physicians are talking about. The income from How to Stay Out of The Gynecologist's Office will go to support the ongoing operation of the Los Angeles Clinic whose funding is under attack by "right to life" lobbies and professional interests. These same "professional interests" one time sued a woman in the clinic for practicing medicine without a licence when she put yogurt in a woman's vagina to counteract a yeast infection. The book is available at the Vancouver Women's Health Collective and at the women's bookstores. Q February 1982 Kinesis 29 CONFERENCES Highlights from the BCFW convention The British Columbia Federation of Women (BCFW) convention held November 6-8 in Vancouver was a contentious one in many ways. Perhaps not surprisingly, given that this convention aimed to re-structure the federation based on a task committee model (eliminating the old standing committee), and stronger representation from regions. One of the first issues to arise at this convention was that of voting majority, an important issue since convention deci- 'Ģ sions are often close ones. The motion proposed raising majority from 50%+l to 1%. Those in favour thought that 75% more closely approached consensus (our ideal, but difficult to achieve in such a large group) than did 50#+l. However, many others were convinced that such a large majority would make it truly difficult to conduct business in convention. That view defeated the motion - later on in the convention, a compromise motion using 66% as majority did pass. Individual membership was another issue which sparked much discussion. It arose because some women who have been committed to BCFW work do not belong to a member group, or their group disbanded during the course of the year, leaving them without official status. Women who supported the concept of individual membership thought it was a positive move to enable women who are not in groups to join BCFW. They pointed out that women who belong to member groups typically devote almost all their energy to that member group. Consequently, there is very little energy to carry out the task of the federation. Those opposing the motion thought it attacked a fundamental principle of BCFW - that which encourages member groups to work together as groups to fight the system. Individual membership was seen to water down collective organizing. As well, feminist groups do ascribe to a basic unity which requires they be accountable to one another. Some feared that individual membership would have much less accountability built in. The motion supporting individual membership eventually passed, but a directive was appended dealing with the accountability issue. What this says is that a sponsorship letter from a member group must accompany an individual's application for membership within a region. Individual members must re-apply annually, and fulfill duties as do member groups. The directive recognized that individual membership is a distinct advantage for isolated and/or rural women. Another structural change concerned childcare. The Lesbian and Feminist Mothers' Political Action Group (LAFMPAG) proposed additions to the constitution which, for instance, would require member groups to "address the needs of chidren and women with children, provide childcare for each meeting, share expenses as necessary and evaluate the childcare provided for the previous meeting using information from those directly involved, including the children." Those in favour of this stressed that collective responsibility for childcare is a fundamental principle of feminism. Specifically, one woman stated that as a minimum requirement, each member should contribute money to cover childcare expenses in order that mothers could attend meeting's; that it is completely incompatible with feminist principles not to address this issue. Some were concerned that the wording of the motion contradicted the BCFW preamble which reads in part, "we are committed to the autonomy of member groups", and that "requiring" groups to do this would set an unwanted precedent in the constitution. This was the only opposition, however, and the motion carried. Other amendments to the constitution concerned regional responsibilities. Regions are now responsible for ensuring member groups fulfill their responsibilities to BCFW, and for supporting women responsible for children to become involved in, or form member groups. In addition, regions will ratify new individual members and groups in the region, ratify regional action committees, decide how to be represented on the coordinating collective, and coordinate and implement regional work. The new childcare policy noted above also applies to regions. A motion in favour of creating an outreach liaison committee for regional organization was also defeated. However, a motion requiring that the next convention planning committee include at least two women to plan childcare passed unanimously. The issue of whether BCFW conventions should be "open" or "closed" was resolved for the time being by deciding that convention may be designated open to all women who wish to attend by the coordinating collective before convention, with workshop facilitators having the right to close their workshops. The Sunday session began with the report of the incorporation committee, which recommended rejection of the idea of incorporating BCFW. Some expressed hesitation, fearing it could jeopardize our hopes for funding in the future, Most delegates, however, were willing to accept the committee's recommendation, agreeing with the speaker who suggested we tell Secretary of State to change their policy if it seems bent on denying BCFW funding. In the end; the committee's recommendation carried. Following that decision came new policy proposals. Childcare policy was first on the agenda. Aside from revision of existing policy, three new policies were proposed. One states: "We encourage member groups organizing feminist events to take responsibility to make the ideas and actions that are the focus of that event accessible and useful to children." Another proposed, as set out previously, that all member groups and BCFW meetings provide childcare. The third recommended that as "we are in the process of learning to be responsible for childcare as a group we encourage member groups to set aside time at every meeting to evaluate childcare provided for the previous meeting, using information from those directly involved, including the children." All these proposals were passed by delegates. The policy on anti-racism which followed engendered much discussion. All but one section of this resolution was passed by delegates. In part, the resolution asked individual members and member groups of BCFW to be responsible for acknowledging, defining and acting upon their privilege, racism and classism; that member groups actively work to educate themselves and others about class and white privilege, strive to involve more third world women in member groups, and encourage third world women's groups to join BCFW; and, that member groups form working alliances with anti- racist groups and take direction from third world people/women in fighting societal and institutional racism. The section defeated by delegates asked that every BCFW member share their knowledge and skills with and learn from third world women, regionally, provincially and across the country. Objections to it centred around the fear of tokenism, with member groups asking third world women to do the work of educating them. Some speakers referred to the anti-racism workshop held the previous day. They stressed the need to see the connection between sexism and racism, and said that third world women would not encourage women of colour to join BCFW until member groups had taken some initiative to work on racism. The anti-imperialist policy passed by delegates asks, in part, that BCFW support efforts by third world women to rid themselves of imperialism and repressive political systems in whatever way they see fit; that members become more aware of the problems third world women face both in Canada and abroad; that BCFW recognize the oppression of aboriginal women in Canada and encourage member groups to actively support them in their efforts to gain both equal and aboriginal rights; and, that BCFW encourage members to work with native and third world women's support groups organized by solidarity groups whose goals and practices are mutually compatible with BCFW policy. The issue of autonomy of member groups came up frequently during the convention. The structure committee especially, was concerned about passing policy which contained intent to force member groups to comply. They think we must look seriously at the role we want BCFW to play before departing in such a way from past practice. At times this objection was made during emotion-laden discussion such as that surrounding the anti-racism resolution, so that those who brought it up ran the risk of appearing to be against incorporating anti-racist policy. The minutes of the convention provide a complete record of decisions made at the convention. This report is only a summary of some of the issues. If member groups have not received minutes, copies are available from Press Gang. A revised constitution and policy handbook is not being printed this year, so handbooks will have to be revised on the basis of the minutes. FEB 22-26 , U.B.C. WOMENS WEEK ?, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 23: Abortion Technology & Ethics : Suzuki - Impact of Science 24: Beer & Women's Bluegrass : W.A.N.T. 25: Margaret Benston : Women in Science Panel : Wine & Cheese & Women Profs 26: VDT Technology : Judy Smith - Empowering Women, feminist analysis of science For info: 228-2163 Presented by U.B.C. Women's Centre 30 Kinesis February 1982 ORGANIZING VSW: A LOOK BACK continued from page 2 a part in determining how the work gets done. Members of VSW have always played a strong role in the work of the organization. Many members have joined VSW and immediately become active in some aspect of our work — KINESIS, answering phones, serving on the executive, volunteering time, developing issues — or in bringing their own concerns and skills to the forefront. On the other hand, the decision made by many members to simply join VSW and receive KINESIS prohibits VSW from being a purely membership-based organization. Rather, it allows us to move out into the community of women in neighbourhoods and communities throughout Vancouver, and sometimes in other parts of B.C. A forum and a meeting place No social change organization can do effective work without a base. VSW's base has always been politically varied, and this has shaped our representation of women. We have always tried to begin our work with any woman "where she is at" and move with her in a certain direction. At the same time, we have struggled hard to develop a realistic and consistent political "line" that would work not only for reform, but for real change for women. This has not been an easy road to travel. We seldom please everybody with our statements and issue development. However, we do present an analysis that is thoughtful, challenging, meaningful and possible. Certainly not all of our members agree with all parts of our analysis. After all, women are not a monolithic body. But it is important that there be opportunities for those wanting to agree and disagree, to speak. VSW has always provided such a forum, and that has been a major strength. The actual physical space from which we work has also had an impact on how VSW has developed. Obviously it affects the ability of the staff to get things done efficiently, but there is more to it than that. This was especially evident when we moved from West 4th to West 7th. The 4th Avenue offices were cramped but open, with a meeting room downstairs. We were able to respond to changing numbers of staff (each summer brought at least 3 or 4 students working on projects) and, most importantly, we were able to offer meeting space to members and other women's groups. Much of this changed after we moved to West 7th. The closed offices and lack of meeting room prohibited drop-in activity and the sharing of meeting space with REVOLUTION continued from page 11 Do any of us living in this comparatively rarified, privileged world have any right to comment upon the means anybody else takes towards freedom? Living here in Vancouver, many of us white and middle class, do any of us have the right to comment upon what the blacks in the ghettoes of New York act upon? Do we have any right to comment on the directions the indigenous peoples of Nortn America have taken to try and preserve a future for their people? This is perhaps the most crucial message I want to convey. I suggest that pacifism is an ideology that can only be held, these days, by people who have race and class privilege. It is not a luxury that poor people and people of colour can have anymore. The severity and finality of the attack upon many of us leaves no room for choice in deciding what to do. Current VSW staff members Janet Beebe, Patty Moore, Susan Hoeppner and Hilarie McMurray. Missing are Nadine Allen and Cat Wickstrom. other women. Now that we have moved to much larger premises, evening activities have once again stepped up. VSW space is being used by other groups nearly every night of the week and three other women's organizations who can't afford space of their own have had phone lines installed in various corners of our new premises. VSW a training ground for feminists VSW's ability to be responsive to women's needs is one of the great strengths of the organization. Perhaps the telephone information and advocacy work has been one of the most constant services VSW offers to women. And it's a two-way street. This ongoing work has given VSW a way to monitor women's needs and concerns, and to act on them. Because we remain involved in the day-to-day problems of women, we keep in perspective what is important. To our work with women, we add the monitoring of government and private sector statements about women, and of pending legislation. To this work, we bring the actual experience and knowledge VSW has gained over the years. For example, when the recent throne speech mentioned the need for a women's office in the Ministry of Labour, we knew that nothing new was being proposed. We knew what efforts the provincial government had made on behalf of women, and with what results (or lack thereof!). This kind of information exists not only in the heads of the staff and other workers at VSW, but in the library as well. The library, developed since the early years, is constantly used by a whole range of people who need easily accessible information on issues of concern to women. VSW is also responsive to women in that it exists for people to use as they see fit. Many women have come to VSW because of a strong personal or political need. They have been able to have that need met at VSW. Finally, VSW has helped other groups form and grow, and offers itself as a training ground for feminists. Many women active with VSW have gone on to work with other groups, or have sought employment dealing specifically with women's needs. Others have simply found themselves better able to speak up about women's Issues. When we three first sat down with the tape recorder to talk about being staff and members of VSW, we fell into an all too familiar pattern of remembering our failures. But as the evening progressed, we reminded ourselves of the successes. Eleven years later, we are still here. Many, many women have passed through VSW — some for a solution to a problem, some to volunteer their time, others as staff members, and some for all three! . We are confident that all of us have gained as well as contributed to VSW's life and growth. There is still much work to be done, but we have a solid history on which to build. 0. If you're poor or non-white, prison is pretty much your guaranteed future, so what amount of choice or decision-making is there? What do morals or ideologies mean in the face of that future? Might as well act while you can. Get some justice done before you're killed or imprisoned. This is the real-life attitude of many people, though it probably seems alien to those living fairly sequestered lives in the mainstream. You won't find people who have nothing being moralistic about how to fight for a better life. Only people who have property believe that property destruction is violent. It means nothing to people who possess nothing. People who believe in resisting in whatever ways are available are also involved in co-operation, mutuality, powersharing, collectivity and non-hierarchy. These aren't values and st7,ategies reserved for pacifists only. I think there is something called hatred, and it is a destructive emotion. Anger, on the other hand, is avery real and necessary response to the conditions people live in. Angry people will bring about change. Revolutionary violence that comes from angry people is very different than violence that comes from hateful people. I have deep respect for all sisters and brothers who have acted upon their beliefs, done what they feel is right, and been imprisoned or killed in the process. It is important that all people throughout time who have risked and died so that we may live and fight, be remembered. Q February 1982 Kinesis 31 HEALTH Women's Health Collective updates health practitioner directory by Vancouver Women's Health Collective The health practioner directory rt Vancouver Women's Health Collective is in need of expansion and updating. In search of new input, we've enclosed with this month's Kinesis our revised practitioner evaluation form. We want to increase the information we have on doctors currently listed, and open more files on practitioners other than MDs, such as chiropractors, naturopaths, and physiotherapists. We also want more files on health practitioners in outlying areas, the suburbs, and a wider range of locations in Vancouver. Practitioner directory now an index file The directory originally grew out of discussions by a group of about ten women who met in the early 70's to express their dissatisfaction with the medical profession. Through their discussions and further investigation, these women gained a heightened awareness and anger at the treatment of women under the present system. They found that women were not informed of risks of various treatments, drugs and methods of birth control. Nor were we treated as equals in decision-making around our health. So the group went door-to-door in one area of Vancouver to get other women's experiences for a doctor directory. At first the directory was supposed to provide assistance to women looking for a good doctor, by making available other women's experiences with doctors. The Health Collective originally gave out doctor's numbers over the phone; however, BULLETIN BOARD continued from page 36 — CONFERENCES B.C. HEALTH COALITION SEMINAR on the future of medicare in Canada, Saturday, March 6 at Hotel Vancouver, 8:30-4pm. Fee $15, includes lunch. Registration and fee must be in by Feb. 19 to: CU&C Health Services Society, c/o D. Schreck, 22 E. 8th Avenue, Vancouver V5T 1R4 ABUSE, AWARENESS, ACTION: A women's conference on Violence. Friday March 12, 7-11 p.m. and Sat. March 13, 9am-12 midnight, in Kamloops. Education/action oriented workshops. Billeting for out of town participants. Fee: $20 (subsidies available). Childcare provided on Saturday. For further information: Women's Access Centre, Box 3010, Kamloops, V2C 5N3 (374-0123) WOMAN'S WORK CONFERENCE at Cariboo College in Kamloops, March 12-14. Sponsored by the Women's Access Centre. For more info, contact Lynn Thompson, Cariboo College, P0 Box 3010, Kamloops, B.C. V2C 5N3 (374-0123) PENSIONS: FOCUS ON WOMEN, March 6 at Hycroft, 1489 McRae Ave., Vancouver, 9am to 5 pm. reception follows. This is a delegate-only conference, but if there are places left after Feb. 15, they may accept individual registration. Fee: $15. Childcare provided for a fee (subsidies are available). For more information call Joan Wallace 736-6368 or Jillian Ridington 738-0395. two things influenced us to change our policy. First, we found only a handful of women whose experience with their doctors was positive enough that they wanted to recommend them to other women. Second, the few "good doctors" whose numbers we gave out were soon flooded with patients, and we began to get complaints like: "I thought you said she was a good doctor, I had to wait forever and then she spent hardly any time with me." Not only that, sickness is big business. The epidemic proportions of unnecessary surgery, drugs with "side effects" of dependency, cancer, or other disease, and ioatrogenic (physician-caused) illness all point to the abuse of power by a profession operating under conditions of monopoly for private profit. So do the long waits that inconvenience the ill person so doctors won't run the risk of seeing less than a full load of fee- paying patients. Medical technology it- We found that women were not informed of risks of varous treatments, drugs and methods of birth control. Nor were we treated as equals in decision-making around our health. What we have now, instead of direct referrals, is a health practitioner directory, a reference file where women's evaluations of their practitioners are made public, indexed by speciality (i.e. urologist, obstetrician, GP) and again by geographic location. As our analysis of the health industry grew, we began to revise our belief in the existence of the "good doctor". In Canada, as in most western countries, health care is provided by highly paid professionals who treat sickness rather than trying to maintain health. Doctors share an allopathic theory and training that stresses treatment of illness or symptoms rather than the whole person, and resorts to drugs, radiation and surgery that frequently do more harm than good. self is developed and promoted by profit- making corporations whose interest is selling more products. As a result, women have had to take responsibility for our own better health. We all have medical emergencies we don't have the expertise to meet. In seeking the help of professionals, we need to work from an informed position, knowing the most respectful, capable professionals to approach. We would appreciate your taking the time to send us your comments and experience with professionals you have consulted. Please use copies of the enclosed form, and mail them to us at 1501 West Broadway, Vancouver. 0_ DIALOGUE FOR ACTION, a conference on the status of immigrant women, sponsored by the B.C. Task Force on Immigrant Women. Friday March 19, 8:30-4pm and Saturday March 20, 9-2:30pm. At Hycroft University Women's Club, 1489 McRae, Vancouver. Pre- register by February 25 to Sat Devi, 622 Seymour, Vancouver V5B 3K4. Registration is $15 (includes lunches). Subsidies may be available to those from outside Lower Mainland. For childcare, call Sharon Wilms, 688-2531. For more details, call Jenny Pride 688-4157. JUST OUT PORNOGRAPHY & PROSTITUTION by Jillian Ridington and Barbara Findlay. Published by Vancouver Status of Women. 28pp. $1.00 ($1.50 by mail) Available from VSW 400A W. 5th Ave, Van., B.C. V5Y 1J8 (873-1427) KNOW, INC. CATALOGUE of pamphlets, published by this feminist organization from 1969 through the present. For a copy, write KNOW, INC., Box 86031, Pittsburgh, PA 15221-0031. COURSES DOUGLAS COLLEGE is offering the following programs for women. Bursaries are available. Call Margaretha Hoek, 521-4851 for details and registration: Effectiveness Training for Women, Jan. 26 - Mar. 30 Wen-Do for Teenage Girls, Jan. 27- Mar. 3 Assertiveness Training for Teenage Girls Feb. 6 & 13 Making Your Own Job, Feb. 27 & Mar. 20 Assertiveness Training for Single Mothers Feb. 27 & Mar. 27 The Changing Job Market, Apr. 26. VIDEO & FILM, Women in Focus' 1982 catalogue. 24pp. $2. from Women in Focus, #204-456 W. Broadway, Vancouver, B.C. (872-2250) FLAGRANT, VOL. 1 #1, by the Vancouver Island Lesbian Newsletter Collective. Soon to be monthly. Subs, are $8.50 a yr. individual, $12/yr organizations. Write P.O. Box 1604, Stn. E, Victoria,BC WHITE ROCK WOMEN'S PLACE, 821 Kent St., White Rock is offering the following courses for women. For details and to register, call 536-9611. Massage for Relaxation, Feb. 6 A Place in the Garden: a sexuality workshop for women, Feb. 12-14 Meditation workshop, Feb. 20 Introduction to Reflexology, Mar. 20 GLOBAL LESBIANISM, third issue of Connexions, an international women's quarterly $3 (or subscribe for $9). Write: Connexions, 4228 Telegraph Ave., Oakland CA 94609. PEOPLE'S LAW SCHOOL offers free law classes in Cantonese, Japanese, Punjabi, Italian, Vietnamese, and possibly French and Russian. Contact Nerissa Yue at 734-1126. The Law School public support in the form of tax-deductible donations to maintain their public legal education programs. 32 Kinesis February 1982 MOVEMENT MATTERS In February and March, Vancouver Status of Women will host*a Tuesday night discussion series. The evenings are intended to be both informative and stimulating, and ideas for future topics are welcomed. The series is open to all women, and is free of charge. Images of Women Tuesday, February 23 bach day we see images of women in media, entertainment and advertisements that portray popular myths about women, and shape our thinking about ourselves, our mothers and our sisters. Images of Women will be a slide presentation and discussion celebrating the images that women have created for ourselves. Included in the slides are sculptures, paintings, graphics, banners and other visual symbols of the women's movement. The slides were assembled by Michelle Wollstonecroft who will show them and begin the discussion. WOMEN ABOUT WOMEN A FEMINIST DISCUSSION SERIES Lang, Arms, Kitzinger) as well as the voices of millions of birthing women are ignored? Birthing should be organized around the needs and experiences of the woman giving birth. We must reclaim birthing. Maureen Minden will discuss women, birthing and the status of midwifery in B.C. today. A short film, Midv.'ives, will be shown. Domestic Workers Women and Music Tuesday, March 2 Music is a part of our everyday lives. However, much of the music that surrounds us does not reflect our unique experience as women. Women and Music brings together women who have been tapping, strumming and humming alone to talk about and experience music that is our own and to third: about using our music for change. Other topics could be: why women find it hard to get involved, what compromises women have had to make to play their music, feminist musicians and production companies and Festival '82: A Celebration of Women in the Arts Rose; ; Moran, singer and songwriter, will organize the evening and facilitate the discussion. Women in Trades Tuesday, March 9 An evening for women who are interested in learning more about non-traditional jobs. Two women from the Women in Trades Association of B.C., Suzanne Gerard, a welder, and Colleen Penrowley, a construction labourer, will be speaking on their own experiences in the trades. There will be information on the different trades, training courses, wages you can expect, financial assistance, physical ability required, pre-employment and pre- apprenticeship programs, unions, health hazards, and sexual harassment. Midwifery - A Women's Issue Tuesday, March 16 Isn't it incredible that those who do not give birth have come to control it! How is it that all the famous birthing experts are men (Dick-Read, Lamaze, Leboyer), and , how is it that our women authorities (Mead Tuesday, March 23 Domestic workers suffer incredible abuse in Canada due to discriminatory immigration laws and the lack of recognition of domestic labour. The work permit system is an effective way to use domestic workers, many of whom are third world women, as cheap and portable labour. Recently, domestic workers in Vancouver have formed a union. During this evening the issues that the new union will be grappling with will be discussed. Some of them are: the right to landed status, decent wages and hours of work, and the right to privacy. We will also talk about ways to support the union. Daphne Williams, President of the Domestic Workers Union, and Susan Hoeppner, of the Vancouver Status of Women, will facilitate the discussion. Tuesday, 7:30-10:00 p.m. Vancouver Status of Women .400A West 5th Ave. (at Yukon), Vancouver Co-ordinated by VSW. For more information call Patty Moore, 873-1427. No charge, donation welcomed. Childcare provided (please call ahead to arrange). Women only. Q_ Support Rape Relief house with pledges, goods Vancouver Rape Relief is an organization that provides for the needs of women and children who have been violently assaulted. In Canada, 54% of women who live with male partners are battered, a woman is raped every seventeen minutes and one woman in four will be sexually assaulted sometime in her life. In one step in the fight against violence against women, Vancouver Rape Relief has decided to open a house that will serve as a refuge for raped and battered women and children. Rape Relief, the Ad Hoc House Fund- Raising Group, has raised $85,000 in two years towards the purchase of such a house. This money was raised through Walkathons, benefit dances, unions and donations from groups and individuals. We are continuing to approach people who we believe are aware of the need for this shelter. At the moment we have the house and are getting it ready for opening. We are asking for support to help us open the house and ensure its continued survival. We welcome contributions whether it be cash (a donation or on-going monthly pledge ), or a donation of furniture, bedding or pantry supplies: FURNITURE: area rugs, straight back chairs, coffee tables, table lamps, floor lamps, freezer, industrial vacuum cleaner, cribs, high chairs, play mats, children's books BEDDING: sheets, towels, blankets, bed spreads, pillow cases PANTRY: canned goods, garden produce, meat for freezing, bulk flour, rice. If you wish to make a donation call Nicole at 872-8212. EMERGENCY: Women's Studies at VCC, Langara is eliminated in the new budget. We need letters of support, to bring to the College's Board of Directors underlining the necessity for maintaining Women's Studies in the College, or showing how you were benefitted by this program. Write now c/o Co-ordinator, Women's Studies, VCC Langara, 100 W. 49th Ave., Vancouver, B.C. Without support, Women's Studies will no longer exist at Langara. B.C.-Nicaragua Women's Support Group raffle results Thank you! After expenses were paid, we raised $2,564 from the BC-Nicaragua Women's Support Group. The proceeds were given to representatives of AMNLAE (the women's organization in Nicaragua). The money will go towards a daycare centre for a lobster packing plant which employs about 80 workers. The plant is located in Corinto, the largest port on the Pacific Coast of Nicaragua. A solidarity group in Germany is making monthly donations to the same centre. The results of the draw, held on Friday, December 11th at the Vancouver Status of Women, are as follows: Sculpture by Persimmon Blackbridge won by Karin Konstatynowiez, Vancouver. Dinner for two ' Vancouver. . by Rachel Epstein, 'Nicaragua' book of photographs won by Norman Chastain, Cranbrook. Boag Foundation calendar won by Ann Thompson, Vancouver. Record album by Yolacamba Ita won by Joanna Coosemans, Terrace. Guatemalan blouse won by Beth Abbott, Vancouver. To everyone who bought tickets, friends and sympathizers around the province and across Canada, we appreciate your support. This money will help reinforce the links being made with Nicaraguan women and men, and show our concrete, as well as moral, support for their ongoing battle for freedom and independence from U.S. imperialism. In friendship and solidarity, Diana Smith RFR plans a lesbian issue Resources for Feminist Research, a feminist quarterly, is soliciting material for a lesbian issue to be published in March 1983. The editors are interested in topics ranging from politics to unions, culture, work, lesbian history and health. The issue will contain research articles, discussion pieces, book reviews, bibliographies, and resources of all kinds. Completed articles, proposals, outlines, ideas and contacts would be welcomed. The deadline for submissions is July 1, 1982. For more information write: RFR, c/o Department of Sociology, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, 252 Bloor St. W.,.Toronto, Ontario M5S 1V6, or phone Kathy at (416) 533-3945. ' 2 February 1982 Kinesis 33 MOVEMENT MATTERS Video by Women: a 3-part series Women in Focus is presenting a video series titled "Video by Women: Exploring Feminist Video Styles & Aesthetics". In exploring the ways- in which feminist have utilized video, we have divided the series into three areas: - Documentary Video - Do Feminists Have a Sense of Humour? - Video as an Organizing Tool The series is open to the public, and at the end of each evening will be a discussion for women only. A facilitator and. several resource people will be on hand to provide their perspectives as well. DOCUMENTARY VIDEO, February 23, 7:30pm By the Skin of Our Teeth, 1980, 28 min. Examines the harsh life of single welfare mothers who live below the poverty line. T.W.U. Tel, 1981, 9 min. A look at the T.W.U. strike of February 1981, when workers took over B.C. Tel. Alternatives to Hysteria, 1977, 60 min. A contemporary and historical look at mental illness in Canada, framed by one woman's analysis of her own breakdown and subsequent treatment. DO FEMINISTS HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOUR?, March 2, 7:30pm The East is Red, the West is Bending, 1977', 20 min. What do imperialism and the electric wok have in < women's movement; the gay movement and lesbians; the record of oppression and specific repression to which we have been subjected, the fears we have about that and what actions we can take. "Amazons Then, Lesbians Now" is a video for lesbians only. This collective decision is a political position, taken to enable us to discuss our situation, our problems, and our specific aspirations among ourselves. The video was conceived, shot, and edited between March, 1979, and March, 1981. We wanted to reflect the particular reality of French-speaking lesbians in Montreal who make up our immediate family circle. This video is an attempt to make ourselves visible and to reflect our subjective experience. It is available in black and white, in French (i" tape) and English (i" or 3/4). The English version consists of a voice- over of the original French. It is 1 hr. and 45 minutes long. For further information or rental requests contact: Video Amazono, c/o Ariane Brunet, Boite 429, Succ. Station Victoria, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3Z 2V8. tel. (514)489-8392. Dance/Videotapes, 1975-80, 13 min. The Dying Swan; Deux Pieds; Minute Waltz; Duet for Tap and Galoshes. The Gloria Tapes, 1979-80, 53 min. The adventures and misadventures of a single mother on welfare. VIDEO AS AN ORGANIZING TOOL, March 9, 7:30 Lesbians Against the Right, 1981, 60 min. Lesbians discuss the attacks of the New Right and ways to combat it. A Respectable Lie, 1980, 30 min. Pornography and its connection to violence against women. Location: Women in Focus, #204-456 West Broadway. Phone (604) 872-2250. Tickets: $3/evening, available at Women in Focus Childcare: by pre-arrangement only; phone 872-2250. General admission / Refreshments / Discussion for women only following screening. Amazons Then, Lesbians Now "Amazons Then, Lesbians Now" is a videotape describing the territory of the Amazons of antiquity. It is also a cultural analysis of their impact on us and a political consideration of present day lesbian reality. With the participation of more than fifteen lesbians, we have addressed significant points in our evolution, from the beginning of our awareness, to political affirmation of our identity as lesbians. Included are: coming out; the question of roles; the history of lesbian bars in Montreal; the different choices we make in our relationships - the couple, monogamy, non-monogamy; the relation between feminism and our lesbianism and the importance of our role in the CARAL seeks new members CARAL (Canadian Abortion Rights Action League) is soliciting members right now. The purpose of CARAL is to ensure that no woman in Canada is denied access to safe, legal abortion. They state, "Our aim is the repeal of all sections of the Criminal Code dealing with abortion, and the establishment of contraceptive and abortion services, including appropriate counselling, across the country. We regard the right to safe, legal abortion as a fundamental human right." Membership fees are as follows: $10 individual, $15 family, $3 limited income, $25 affiliated group, $100+ sponsor, and $25-100 sustainer. Monthly post-dated cheques are welcome. Send your cheque and membership information (including a signed statement saying you agree with the objectives of CARAL) to CARAL, Box 935, Station Q, Toronto, Ont. M4T 2P1. They also need volunteers for work such as speaking, writing letters, and telephone .and clerical work. Let's protect our right to abortion. Workshop to explore racism This workshop is for white women who have previous peer counselling experience and want to work on their racism. Who is giving this workshop? We are four white women who have been meeting bi-monthly for the last 6 months to work on our racism. We don't have the answers but we do have some skills and we want to use them to explore ways to help us and other women to fight racism. Starts Sunday, Feb. 21 and continues for 4 weeks. 2-5 p.m. Fee: $20. For more information call Carol Evans at 254-3910 or Dorrie Brannock at 872-1940. Festival '82 will go on in July FESTIVALS A C€L€BRAT!ON C¥ WOM-eN rN TH€ ARTS FESTIVAL '82: A CELEBRATION OF WOMEN IN THE ARTS will take place in Vancouver this summer. The artistic accomplishments and creative talents of B.C. women artists will be presented at Robson Square Multi Media Centre July 5-18, 1982. FESTIVAL '82 will include workshops in the areas of music, literature, performing and visual arts, a juried art exhibition, lectures, plus evenings of entertainment featuring B.C. women dancers, theatre performers, musicians, writers, video and filmmakers. Our goal is to make contact with all women artists in Britich Columbia, and already an active network of artists has been formed provincially. Concentration on fundraising, publicity and generally getting the word out are some of our immediate priorities. Committees have been formed and are working to coordinate presentations in each area of art to be represented. Pamphlets are now available in the women's bookstores outlining the tentative schedule of FESTIVAL events, our objectives, and information for artists who wish to enter their work and become involved in this provincial project. For additional information phone 681-8557 or write to P.O. Box 1032, Stn. A, Vancouver. Lesbian archives solicits material The West Coast Lesbian Collections, located in Oakland, California, is a community-based library and archives for women. The Collections includes diaries, letters, journals and other personal papers, the records of lesbian organizations and projects, unpublished literary works and research papers, as well as books, tapes, magazines, records and photographs. Join with us in gathering and preserving the materials of lesbian culture, and visit the Collective when in the Bay area. All donations strengthen the continuity between generations of lesbians. To re- cieve our newsletter or for more information, please write or call WCLC, Box 23753, Oakland, CA 94623- (415)465-8080. 34 Kinesis February 1982 LETTERS CPC(M-L) replies Kinesis: The last issue carried two articles dealing with the violence at two anti-racist rallies in October and with the question of violence itself. Democratic Women's Union attended those rallies and must reply to these articles to correct the facts and give our view on the question of violence, and self-defence. Both of the authors, Dorrie Brannock and Kristen Perm, have not investigated the facts and give false information. At the October 4 demonstration, the People's Front Against Racist and Fascist Violence did not attack the other demonstrators. The spokesman of People's Front was himself brutally attacked while waiting his turn to address the rally. The entire donnybrook resulted from the physical attack upon the People's Front spokesman by the BCOFR marshalls. Neither author reports that People's Front members were also seriously injured in the BCOFR attack, nor that BCOFR leaders and the police are attempting to frame People's Front supporters with criminal charges. On October 17, by their own admissions, the BCOFR leaders and marshalls organized an intentional violent confrontation in order to "dump People's Front in the park" for its alleged crimes. On the spurious premise that People's Front and CPC(M-L) are disrupters, the BCOFR formed a private goon squad which attacked the People's Front contingent which included some 20 women supporters of D.W.U., and many East Indian working people. There were many serious injuries to People's Front supporters, including three women, two of them East Indian working women. nj>*j i*^ sfcx-M^^ T^e- &u <Lhc z9s" i«Ac^ Sa*jlLinjo 's >XkjA*lyJtr5 - ?■ tkc Wslu & Viirx^Jt thrifts - H.9C What harm could have been done by the participation of People's Front in either demonstration to the cause of opposing racism? Had that question been put to the hundreds of people assembled on Oct. 17, the vast majority would never have agreed to the exclusion of the People's Front contingent nor to the vicious brawl instigated by the BCOFR marshalls. To justify such vicious and divisive conduct the BCOFR supporters brand the anti- racists in the People's Front as "the enemy" and compare them to the fascist forces of Pinochet and Marcos, according to Penn. Yet in all the talk about violence, neither the authors nor BCOFR mention U.S. imperialism, Soviet or Chinese social-imperialism as the greatest enemies of the peoples of the world and as the source of untold devastation and suffering to the people's of the world. Those who are opposing violence as such are obscuring the issue of the source of violence. D.W.U. analyzes violence in this way: the system of exploitation of man by man is the source of violence and it is the oppressors and exploiters who are the most brutal organizers of systematic violence against the people. This violence is faced by women in their daily lives. This reactionary brand of violence has brought the world to the brink of the most violent event in human history — a third world war. This enormous danger leads D.W.U. to the conclusion that revolution is a necessity to eliminate this system of exploitation and with it the possibility of war, and if war breaks out, as the way to end war. D.W.U. opposes as a matter of principle the use of violence among the people. The people should not be fighting amongst themselves whether in domestic quarrels, youth gangs, between national minorities or amongst the various nationr. No one amongst the people benefits from the use of force as a method to resolve the differences among the people. It is the rich, the fascists, the KKK who profit from fights such as BCOFR organized. Far from its goal of outlawing the KKK, what the BCOFR has attempted is the banning of the People's Front from public demonstrations. This culmination of the abhorrent, communalist and sectarian brawling which characterized the so-called legitimate left in Vancouver, extended to organizing an armed force to prevent intermingling of the delegations on Oct. 17 and exchange of views, and has now resulted in the Vancouver police imposing a ban on People's Front participation in other public demonstrations where they are welcome by the organizers. This conduct has emboldened the KKK which, on Jan. 4, launched a physical attack on a lone member of the People's Front on Hastings Street in broad daylight. The anti-communist prejudice which these self-appointed censors are enforcing with arms is not foreign to the women's movement either. Last August two women supporters of CPC(M-L) who attended a women's demonstration were physically assaulted in an. attempt to expel them and prevent the distribution of communist literature. Democratic women do not support this kind of thuggery. In the face of such violence, self-defence is the only response. D.W.U. is proud to have participated on October 17 in an anti-racist demonstration and proud of its supporters who defended themselves when attacked. D.W.U. calls upon all serious women who want to fight against the violent attacks upon women to find a means to unite to fight the common enemies and the culture which oppresses women. We invite a polemic over how to solve the problems amongst the people in a rational and cool-headed fashion with democratic spirit and largeness of heart in putting aside our secondary differences of opinion. The question now facing the women's movement is: What are the norms of political behaviour amongst women and women organized in various groups? We all see the absurdity of the efforts of one French women's group to copyright the international women's symbol and the name- of the women's movement to ensure their political domination. We must both expose those who would claim private property rights of the cause of women and those who would split women over minor differences or on an anti- communist basis, and those who apologize for the enemy or preach illusions. We must be prepared to fight to defend the rights and liberties of the people and to accomplish the task of emancipating women. We call upon women in British Columbia to put aside sectarian squabbling and private interests, and to participate as a united force in the International Women's Day demonstration on March 8th to show our strength in numbers and our confidence that we can overcome all hindrances to our unity. Raj Dhillon, Secretary Democratic Women's Union of Canada, Vancouver Branch. Solidarity takes many forms This letter is in response to the article by Kristin Penn in the last issue of Kinesis. To start, I too wish for change in a nonviolent manner. However let's not be forever under the belief that we shall win the struggle in such a manner. To carry on such a belief is escaping from reality I am afraid. In the past, there has been no ruling class that has voluntarily given up its power/authority without a fight. " Nor should we expect the ruling class within North America Jo do so! It would mean suicide for them. So let's not function under such illusions. Instead we must face the cold hard facts of reality. I hear people all the time saying that armed struggle is okay for those people in and of the third world but not for North America. The only reason I find people say that is because they are afraid of losing their status and mythical standard of living under capitalism. To my train of thought, I believe that most are state collaborators, but at the same time perhaps do not realize that fact and through their complacency they maintain capitalism. In the long run, we are going to have to address the question of armed struggle in North America. If we do not address this crucial question, then we only perpetuate the exploitation within the third world in the interests of the North American ruling elite! Comrades, do not think for a moment that we will be able to throw off the chains which bind us through non-violent measures. No ruling class has ever voluntarily given up their power/control nor should we expect them to do so! Solidarity must and will appear in many forms and not necessarily one of nonviolence. Raven Will'amson February 1982 Kinesis 35 LETTERS Women's Building group needs help — or else Kinesis: The first annual general meeting of the Women's Building Society of Vancouver was held on May 31, 1981. Attendance, while consisting of a quorum as set forth in the Constitution of the Society, was quite low. Most of the women present had been active on the Planning Committee for the past two years and no longer felt their participation could be sustained at that level. So although all present became members of the Society,#less than half felt they could make a commitment for ongoing active participation to work towards the goals set forth. With some new input of energy, a small working corps continued to meet and plan towards a framework within which to build. Early in October 1981, we learned that the old Post Office (and former RCMP headquarters) at 16th and Main was up for public tender and we decided to submit a proposal. We contacted a number of women's groups to hypothetically allocate space and demonstrate the need for a Women's Building, and submitted a proposal we felt was well conceived and presented. We learned in mid-December that our bid was not successful. While disappointed, we weren't greatly surprised or chagrined. It had been a good and useful experience for us. Unfortunately, our core group has been further reduced due to changes in some of its members' working lives and necessity to drop active participation. Our attempts at recruiting haven't been very successful so we feel we have no choice but to call a meeting of members and supporters to determine the future. Unless some women come forward who can make a serious commitment to working to- ■ wards the goal of acquiring a Women's Building, we feel there will be no choice but to dissolve the Society and to decide which group or groups will benefit from our assets. If you still feel a Women's Building is needed in the area, then please come forward — in any event, join us to share in the decision of whether we can hope to pursue that goal or whether reality deems otherwise and our assets can be better put to use by groups promoting women's culture in the community. Time: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18 at 7 p.m. Place: VSW-400A W. 5th Ave., Vancouver Women's Building Society of Vancouver Planning Committee Addendum to Incest Survivors Speak Kinesis: I made some serious mistakes on last month's feature on incest, which are important to mention. The cover, which I drafted in rough, was left to Jeanne for improvements. I had not described the idea to her and this played a part in what was lost. Credit for the cover idea never went to Sky, who created the concept, and in my attempt to interpret Sky's image, her image was lost. The original idea was to have the box, Pandora's box of secrets, reopened so that the truth be known about what is really taking place. According to male mythology, Pandora's womanly curiousi ty unleashed evil to the world as a punishment for man stealing fire from other men. A In fact we are held responsible for keeping the secrets of incest, wife-beating, child pornography, satan worship, torture — all the brutalities of this system. At the time I was drawing the cover, I had not fully grasped Sky's description of the world splitting open, so that the evils of patriarchy would fall into the centre and burn. I hadn't seen the ways in which I was still trapped, but with anger at what I was beginning to understand, I drew our world split apart, leaving the worms (the evils of the world) floating in the atmosphere. I didn't see that solution because I hadn't seen my own way out of the seductive influence my own father and other men had over me. I had to see that their influence has twisted my thoughts, my understanding and my vision. I was fooling myself to believe they had no effect. The articles I wrote were about helping others, not about what was happening to me. I wrote about how incest is being handled by the patriarchal system, not about what women have done to heal themselves. I didn't write about the hours of discussion with Sky that deepened my understanding, and made our meetings with the survivors in California so worthwhile. Being a counsellor effectively blocked me ► from my own pain and understanding of what happened to me. It also put me in a position of power, and that took power away from the other women. By being part of the counselling system I was suggesting that women need others to help them. It removed me from them, from myself and from the women's movement. I felt sucked into the male system because they have the money. It made life easy for me, but the effects I now see are devastating. A misprint in my article reads that Seattle suggests that two to three years is enough for offender treatment. They have never said that. They do say that 2-3 years is a good time-frame to work in. For what has been done to us, no time frame is enough. What I want is a centre where we have places to meet, to share our lives and plan what we do — a centre where the rules are ours, where there are no men, wnere we can learn to neal ourselves. We need a place here in this city and we need one in the country too. I am tired of asking permission, explaining politely, of being silent and waiting. I want to demand what we have a right to. Marg Verrall P.S. Another important book on incest is "Michele Remembers" by Michele Smith and Lawrence Pazder. Non-violence an active vision Kinesis: I am writing in support of the two articles in the last KINESIS about the Oct. 17 BCOFR rally. I am excited to see the beginning of a discussion of non-violence as a way to live our visions. I too had been disturbed by reports of the rally, both from friends who saw it as a success, and some who were critical. In choosing this action, BCOFR put marchers in need of being defended, by in effect creating a "territory" to occupy against attack. It is important to be clear on the value of what is being defended. What role did pride or the need to prove strength play in the decision to hold a rally at that time? I suggest that this course of action will probably lead to an escalation of the violence, until one side really does smash the other. With tempers hot and your friend being hurt next to you, when you have a weapon you are going to respond in kind, not "defensively". Non-violence is not passive acceptance of violent attack, but involves finding ways to defuse the violence and acting in a way that does not escalate it. BCOFR could have chosen another way to continue to fight racism. I know how hard it is to even imagine other possibilities than fighting back with weapons — those examples where people have succeeded in non-violent resistance have not hit the headlines. We need to educate ourselves and begin to learn that it is possible. I agree with Kristen that visions are vital to what we are creating. We can help create those visions with inspiration from those who have gone before. Yes it will be difficult, the backlash will be violent, but we can be creative and resourceful and f.enacious. Following is a list of reading material on non-violence. Recommended: Gene Sharp. The Politics of Non-violent Action. Porter Sargent Publisher,1973. Worth getting library to stock. Pragmatic approach to how non-viob.-nt action works, with short descriptions of examples, plus analysis. Mulford Sibley. The Quiet Battle. Writing on the theory and practice of nonviolent resistance. Chandi. Non-violent Resistance. A full description of the theory and practice of Satyagraha. Old, but worthwhile if you can find them: A.J. Muste. Non-violence in an aggressive World. Joan Bondurant. Conquest of violence. Richard Gregg. The power of non-violence. I regret that none of these is very recent, nor do they make good feminist connections — perhaps someone in a larger place could research that. There's also a lack of Canadian materials, including the following organization which I am recommending as a resource. They do have contacts here, though, and may be doing training workshops in western Canada this year. Write for contacts and lists of publications. They do have a feminist analysis. Movement for a New Society 4722 Baltimore Ave Philadelphia, PA 19143, USA Beryl Clayton A W9MQN'S PAINTING BUSINESS REASONABLE RATES FREE ESTIMATES CYNTHIA 253-2212 876-9608 (messages) 36 Kinesis February 19! BULLETIN BOARD GROUPS VANCOUVER WOMEN'S HEALTH COLLECTIVE is looking for women who share our feminist anti-capitalist perspective to do volunteer shifts one afternoon a week in our Resource Centre. We will be offering a 5-session weekly training group for interested women, starting late Feb. Call 736-6696. THE RADICAL REVIEWER is soliciting copy for its special Spring '82 issue on Canadian Women Writing. Book reviews, articles, interviews and poetry are welcome. Deadline is March 15, 1982. Please send sase to The Radical Reviewer P.O. Box 24953, Stn. C, Van. B.C. INNER SOURCES of Healing & Creativity is an on-going group practicing meditation, visualization and energy circles. Allow yourself the gift of good feelings, beautiful thoughts and positive change. Guided by Cyndia Cole, Tuesdays 7:30- 9:30pm. You may attend on a drop-in basis. Fee is whatever you wish to contribute. Phone 251-2534 for location DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE WOMEN'S CENTRE is having its annual general meeting on Feb. 3, 2pm at the Women's Centre, 412 E. Hastings. Nominations for Board members, and ideas accepted by Joy, 255-1614. The Women's Centre is also setting up a childcare collective at the Centre. They need donations of: a crib, changing mat, rug, and other children's/baby equipment. Call Joy, 255-1614. She will arrange pickup. WOMEN'S SELF-HELP COUNSELLING COLLECTIVE can be contacted at 872-3122 from 7-9pm on Tuesdays. Some groups are beginning this spring. The Counselling Collective's aim is to provide an alternative to traditional therapy. It is a free service. BI-SEXUAL WOMEN'S GROUP is sponsoring an evening of bi-sexual culture, Feb. 24th at 8pm. For details, phone Joyce at 251-3725 or Georgia at.224-5614. EXHIBITION OF PACIFIC N.W. WOMEN'S ART is scheduled to take place in Seattle this fall. Stepping Stone, the women's organization sponsoring the show, is soliciting slides and resumes in a preliminary review. The theme of the show will be "In Our Own Image". Deadline for entries is March 15, 1982. For information, call Nancy (206)632-3506 or Tisha (206)523- 4041. Or write: Stepping Stone, c/o Pacific Women's Resource Centre, 4253 Roosevelt Way N.E., Seattle WA 98105. CLASSIFIED BONNIE RAMSAY, Accounting Services. Income tax, financial statements, bookeeping. Call 738-5349. FEMINIST CLASSICS: herstory, theory, fiction, poetry, wanted by Ariel Books, 2766 West 4th. Good prices for books in prime condition. Phone 733-3511 Ariel Books closed Friday nights until Spring. Now open Monday through Saturday, 10am -6pm. LESBIAN PHOTOGRAPHER seeks S/M lesbians to be photographed for positive, healthy images of sex. I will exchange photographs for your help. Anonymity guaranteed if desired. Call Jean at (206)324-5976. WOMAN WOULD LIKE TO cross-country ski with same during weekends and weekdays except Tuesdays and Thursdays. Call 299-6030, ask for Heather. f\l£XXrt£SS, CToMMiTMCur EVENTS POT LUCK DINNER & PARTY by the Cut-Rate Connection, a feminist social group formed to help women meet and have fun in an informal, inexpensive atmosphere. Sat. Feb. 6 from 7:30 pm on, at 2496 W. 7th Ave., Vancouver. All women and children welcome. MONEY IS INHERENTLY FEMALE, a workshop for women. Healing ourselves from poverty, guilt, scarcity, and greed. Allowing us to experience individual and collective economic power. Presented by Cyndia Cole, tax consultant, therapist, meditation guide, poet. Sunday, Feb. 7, noon-6pm. East Side Family Place, 926 Commercial Dr. Fee is whatever you wish to contribute. To register, call 251-2534. THE DINNER PARTY SPECIAL! Cheap trip to Montreal March 10-14 to see Judy Chicago exhibition. $308 return, must sign up before Feb. 10. Contact Hardial Parhar at Teletravel, 736-3364 (Vancouver) for details. For billeting , call Sylvia Spring, 539-5478. DANCE BENEFIT for Women's Programming at Co-op Radio, Saturday Feb. 13, 8pm - midnight at the West End Community Centre, 870 Denman. Live (all-women) bands - The Moral Lepers and Mystery Guest — and an art food auction. To pre-register for childcare, call 879- 7980. All women welcome. Tickets $4 unemployed, $6 employed. For more info, call the Women's Programming Caucus, Co-op Radio, 684-8494. BENEFIT FOR ISADORA'S Co-operative Restaurant, Friday, February 19, 8pm with Ad Hoc playing. Legion Hall, 727A E. 49 Ave. (at Fraser). Tickets $4.75 at Octopus East, Isadora's office (681-3748). RSVP childcare. SYBIL ANDREWS: a retrospective exhibition of linocut prints. "Andrews is an 82- year-old Campbell River artist with an international reputation in colour printmaking. Jan. 16-Feb. 28 at Vancouver Art Gallery, 1145 W. Georgia, Van. Free admission. EAST END STOREFRONT CO-OP BENEFIT Dinner Dance Extravaganza, Feb. 27 at the Oddfellows Hall, Gravely and Commercial. Two great bands, kids' entertainment. Tickets at EEGF, 1806 Victoria and at Octopus East. Call 254-5044 for more information. TWO DANCES by IWD Planning Committee. Feb. 26: a mixed benefit featuring AD HOC. 8:00 at the Legion at 49 and Fraser. March 6: Women's dance with two bands, Moral Lepers and Mystery Guest. 8:30, West End Community Centre. Ticket prices for these dances to be announced. Tickets to be available at the usual outlets. INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY activities will include: March and rally Saturday, March 6 downtown at mid-day; Information Day Sunday, March 7 at Britannia Community Centre Cafeteria, numerous workshops and cultural events, plus childcare. Watch for posters carrying more details. The theme for IWD this year will be a look at how women are continuing to create collective solutions to our oppression as women, ending the isolation we have faced. Our movement is growing stronger each year! HOLLY NEAR WITH ADRIENNE TORF & CARRIE BARTON will be performing at the Or- pheum Theatre March 19th at 8 p.m. For on-site childcare, phone 734-5393 or 255-0523. Interpreted for the hearing impaired, wheelchair accessible. $7.50 unemployed; $10.00 employed — reserved seating. Children under 12 free (ask for reserved seat) Proceeds go to Women Against Nuclear Technology and AMNLAC (The Women's Organization of Nicaragua) Tickets available at Women's Bookstore, 322 W. Hastings, Octopus Books East, 1146 Commercial Dr. and Vancouver Ticket Centre Outlets. ON THE AIR W0MANVISI0N on Co-op Radio, 102.7 FM, from 7:00-8:00 p.m. each Monday: Feb. 1- Mary Daly- Gynaecology. Feb. 8 - Preview of Women's Music in Vancouver. Review of the Benefit with interviews with M0EV, Magic Dragon and Moral Lepers. Feb. 15 - Feature on Occupational Health with the VDT Committee. Feb. 22 - Minimal Music: Women instrumentalists in jazz with guest Carol Rublack. IWD Planning Committee meets every Tuesday at the CRS warehouse, Oldam and Charles, at 7:30. All women welcome. THE LESBIAN SHOW on Co-op Radio, 102.7 FM, from 7:30-8:30 p.m. each Thursday: Feb. 4 - The Constant State of Coming Out: Are you out? A look at women who are out, women who aren't; how to, how not to. Feb. 11 - No Theme Show: Brief discussion of several topics and updates on the local scene. Feb. 18 - Humour Show: Beat the midwinter blahs with a chuckle at all the funny stuff on this show and save yourself the price of a holiday in Mexico. Feb. 25 - Music Show: This show will feature the music of two local women's bands, The Moral Lepers and Mystery Guest. RUBYMUSIC on Co-op Radio, 102.7 FM, from 7:00-7:30 p.m. each Friday: Feb. 5 - Connie Francis: The True Story. Feb. 12 - Ruby is warming up for Valentine's Day with a selection of the greatest love songs. Feb. 19 - Tom Tom Club, Sara Dash, The Belle Stars and more. Feb. 26 - June Millington. Olivia's newest recording artist. For CONFERENCES, COURSES, PUBLICATIONS see page 31
Preceding title: Vancouver Status of Women. Newsletter. Date of publication: 1974-2001. Frequency: Monthly.
Periodicals
Newspapers
HQ1101.V24 N49
English
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Vancouver : Vancouver Status of Women
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Original Format: University of British Columbia. Library. Rare Books and Special Collections. HQ1101.V24 N49
Women--Social and moral questions
Feminism--Periodicals
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