GIANT RALLY ANSWERS "EMERGENCY" DECREE IN CEYLON
A mass rally was held on Galle Face Green in Colombo March 21 at which union spokesmen warned the Ceylonese working people that a reactionary coup dtétat might be attempted in their country. Be~ sides denouncing this plot, they advanced twenty-one demands, promin-~ ent among them being an immediate pay increase of a rupoe ($.21] a day, or thirty rupees a month , for all employees.
Fourteen unions participated in the demonstration, which police estimated to involve a crowd of 50,000. The “list of organizations was as follows: Government Technical Officers Trade Union Federation, Public Service Workers Trade Union Federation, Ceylon Meroan~ tile Union, Ceylon Bank Employees Union, Government Workers Trade Union Federation, Ceylon Workers Congress, Central Council of Ceylon Trade Unions, Ceylon Federation of Labour, Democratic Workers Congress, Government Clerical Workers Union, Sri Lanka Jathika Guru | Sangamaya, Public Service League, Ceylon Trade Union Federation, - and the Ceylon Federation of Trade Unions,
This is the first time that all: the unions, including Ceylonts most oppressed sector, the plantation workers, shared the same platform, Another noteworthy feature was the proad band of political tendencies represented by the speakers, These included Trotskyists as well as Communists of both -the pro-Khrushchey and pro-Peking variety.
Dr. Ne Me Perera, the head of the Lanka Sama Samaja party [cey~ lonese section of the Fourth International], who presided at the mammoth meeting, said, "We meet today when Parliament has been prorogued and the Government is facing a.crisis. Political adventurists may try to stage a coup and establish a dictatorship. But this rally tells them now that they will be smashed if they resort to. such action. "
oN, Sanmugathasan, head of the Ceylon Trade Union Federation, who was expelled from the Communist party last November because. of. his "pro-Chinese" views, said that the sinking ship of the government had sought the aid’ of leftist leaders but he was sure that there were no fools among the leftist leaders who would accept the ~ erumbs of office in this government which was bankrupt and which had lost the confidence to face the Parliament and the people,
If anybody tried to join the government, he continued, and be their appendages to. assist the government's antiworking-class aotivities, they would not only be traitors but would be guilty of a
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crime of the greatest magnitude, THe workers would not forgive such
In his opinion the workers had now realized that the unity and the solidarity of the working classes were the main ingredients for their liberation from the bonds of slavery. They had been once and for all united and that unity could not be shaken by any power on earth, however mighty it might be,
Referring to the twenty-one demands, Sanmugathasan said that no demand of the workers could be achieved by peaceful means, A cone certed massive struggle is required, The workers must at the same time be prepared for any eventuality against the repressive measures of the capitalists and the antiworking-class machinery of the government.
“Pieter Keuneman, leader of the Ceylon Federation of Trade Unions and a prominent pro-Khrushchevist, said: "The government is at a stendstill, There is no Parliament as it now stands in prorogation., Nothing can be done. But one thing this has done during the last few days is the clamping of an emergency, unwarranted and unjustifiable, and-it is being continued shamelessly.
“We demand that the Emergency be immediately withdrawn, Under this, no worker in any factory, office or estate could strike, how~ ever * justifiable his. demands are and whatever the injustices done to him by their employers may be, The democratic liberties and the freedoms of the people have been forcibly taken away.
“Some people expect to use the Emergency powers -to try similar tactics which were abortive in January 1962, If they attempt to play that game phe workers will not spare them but teach them lessons of their life,
P, Bala Tampoe, leader of the Ceylon Mercantile Union, said that the unity displayed by the workers had been answered by the government through the declaration of a state of "emergency" and the initiation of maneuvers seeking to draw parliamentary representatives of the workers into a coalition government,
“Whoever may have been involved in these maneuvers," he said, "one thing can be said categorically. and that is that whoever goes to the side of the government in this situation will be no more, no less, a traitor to the entire working classes."
The twenty-one demands constituted a bill from the working class to the government and the capitalist class, he said. Settlement of that bill was essential, The workers would not allow themselves to be thwarted by diversionary tactics or threats that the government might make,
tthe newspapers have had their mouths stifled under the Press
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censorship and the Emergency powershave given the Government the legal right to deny any or all-of our democratic liberties at any time, This is a situation we must not tolerate for any moment if we are at all serious about the demands that are ratified today in this historic rally. No doubt that there is always inherent in such a situation the possibility of an attempt to establish a naked dictatorship. Such an attempt can only succeed if the working-class organisations surrender without giving battle,"
If any such attempts were made, he said, it would give the working class the opportunity of a revolutionary counterblow which would smash through the false facade of democracy under which capi-~ talism and corruption rule hand. in hand,
"Cowards in high places may join together with cowards in robes and jointly seek to stab at us with the bayonets of reactionary groups formed in secret in the army and the police. But those cowards will miserably fail. The workers will win and of that I am certain,"
One of Ceylon's principal Trotskyist. leaders, Dr. Golvin R, de Silva, representing the Ceylon Federation of Labor, | gave what was described as one of the most forceful speeches of the day.
He said that in the confusion that. prevailed one thing was.clear --the government was at the end of its tether, The leaders of this bankrupt government were trying to find other means of remaining in power, There would even be attempts to withdraw. the democratic liberties of the people and set up.a dictatorship, The possibility. of the use of the armed forces and the police for the purpose could not be overruled, The workers would be the first to rise up and fight such MOVES » DO
De Silva declared that the Times of Ceylon had said the twenty= one demands were put forward to harass the government. The speaker answered ironically that they were not put. forward to mollycoddle the government, They were not only prepared to harass the government but also to ‘Fight it if necessary.
NO SALE
Indonesian President Sukarno threw a scorcher at U.S,Ambassador Howard Jones during a public ceremony March 25: "There is one country threatening to stop its foreign aid to Indonesia, That country thinks it can scare Indonesia, I say go to hell with your aid, tt
One of the State Department policy-makers, it is rumored, thought it was a hot tip and, after investigating the status of Communism there, put through an inquiry to the exotic kingdom to which the Ambassador had been referred. Take American aid, he was told, and shove it. "Got enough trouble here as it is,
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AN “IRREGULARITY" iN THE ALEXANDER CASE.
The. Cape Town trial of Dr. Neville Alexander and ten other African defendants has scarcely been mentioned in the press of the "free world,” yet it has provided most illuminating material on the workings of South African "Justice," The trial, which opened Novem~ . ber 4, 1965, was adjourned December 13, After seven weeks it was resumed February Oe on the first day in court after resumptiom of the trial, Gerald: Gordon, Q.C., who heads the defense counsel, called the attention of the presiding judge, Justice van Heerden, to an "irregularity."
During the seven-weeks ad Journnient, Drs Alexander and the other men defendants were taken to the prison on Robben Island, making it quite difficult for their attorneys to consult with them, They were asked to draw up some answers to specific questions. ‘When these were finished the prison authorities held them for two days and then returned them to the defendants.
To their astonishment, they found a new page in the manusoript, some notes in the handwriting of Det.-Sgt. J.PeF. van Wyk of the Cape Town Security Police, an investigating officer in the case and one of the State's witnesses.
Mr, Gordon asked for the recall of this witness and put him under cross-examination, The detective readily admitted that the document was in his handwriting and that he had drawn it up in the middle of January. Moreover, he had not returned to Robben Island since he delivered the defendants there,
The judge asked him where he last saw the. document... -.... Lo...
ttn my office at Caledon Square."
Mr, Gordon established ‘that the documents drawn, up by the accused were held by prison authorities for two: days, January 135 and 14, He then asked: "Did you read thése documents?"
Sergeant van Wyk coolly replied, "What documents?" _
"These handwritten instructions to counsel from the accused,"
"No, a
Mr. Gordon, however, told the court that he wished to register Na very serious breach of privilege" which had seriously hampered the defense, "we put a series of questions to the accused, They wrote to me in answer and everything they wrote had been read,"
‘Who was it read by?" asked the judge. -
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"Tt is signed by the prison authorities. And when it was handed back to the accused this documént was found in it."
'T don't know what purpose will be served by this," the judge. said. "I am not sitting here to find out whether the prison author~ ities have committed a breach of privilege. All I have here is an ex parte statement from the bar,"
“This 60-page document was taken away from the accused for two. days," said Mr. Gordon... "I put it to Mr. van Wyk that the document was in his hands, If he did see it, it is a serious breach of privi-. lege," 7
The judge turned to the detective. "Do you deny that you had that document?"
"T deny it, was the 5 ebaponees.
The judge again questioned Sgt. van Wyk about his sheet of notes. “You say it was in your office when you last saw ite"
"Yes, | on my table,"
He added, according to the Cape Ar us. Lrepruary 5], “that on occasion documents were taken from Caledon Square to Robben Island, He was not suggesting that this did happen'in this case, but it could have happened.! ; eo
In a South African Court
A PHILOSOPHICAL DISCUSSION ON THE NATURE OF MAN
Gerald Gordon, Q.c -, who, with R.M, Marais and H.S.Strauss, is . representing the eleven non-Whites, headed by Dr, Neville Alexander, in the Cape Town "sabotage" trial, called as a witness, Dr. James McGregor, a neurologist and psychiatrist and acting head of the Department of Neurology at the University of Cape Town,
Justice van Heerden, who is hearing the case together with two assessors, Mr. H.A.Wollaston and Mr. J, Groenewald, wondered about the relevance of the testimony which the distinguished witness might offer, The February 7 Cape Argus report of what followed makes_ instructive reading: . ,
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Mr. Gordon said: Two of the major State witnesses have given evidence here on their detention and interrogation under the 90-day
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clause. JI am now going to put before your lordship expert evidence that evidence obtained this way..is unreliable. .
The judge: You can lead this evidence, but if I feel that it is irrelevant, I shall stop it,
Dr, MeGregor said in evidence that during World War II he had studied the effect, of solitary confinement on soldiers held prisoner by the Japanese,
He had investigated the question in rélation to false confes~ sions made by men in solitary confinement, His experience with men of_the United States armed forces, who confessed to their captors. that they had taken part in pacteriological warfare, had caused him. to investigate the question of fanciful behaviour in solitary con- Tinement.
-He quoted the case of a ‘capt. “Henry Schwabel, who confessed to running a school of bacteriological warfare; the Case of Cardinal Mindszenty who falsely confessed to being a spy; and other cases of false confession in confinement.
The judge: Why did they confess? What was it the result of?
Dr. McGregor: They confessed as a result of confinement and the continued pressure by. ‘their jailers,
Dr, McGregor said that in the early 1950s McGill University had begun studies on the effect of isolation on human behaviour,
. Two types of experiment had been conducted. In one subjects were isolated from all sensation, but in the other they were subjected only to perceptual deprivation,
Here subjects were shut up in a small room with nothing to read except sometimes the Bible, and out of contact with everyone except those who brought their food or interrogated them.
‘The judge: If the interrogation takes place during isolation it would make the effect of isolation less serious? -- It would make a difference,
The judge: If these-people could shout to each other through the ventilators in their cells would that make a difference? ~~ I would regard that as having a means of communication.
Dr. McGregor said the first effects of isolation was that the subject became anxious, then fearful and panic-stricken, He became subject to sharp changes in mood and regressed to a more childish level of behaviour,
‘The subject's memory could be affected and also his powers of
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logical judgment, "They are also subject to changes in bodily sensation," he said, "They can become de-personalized, feeling that they and their bodies are unreal,"
Many found that time Lost its meaning, and they could not tell which event came first in a sequence of events,
"They might even become hallucinated," he said, “Lights might take on strange shapes,"
-Dr. MoGregor said similar experiments on animals had produced even more remarkable results. Dogs had been found to lose the abil-~ ity to avoid harm, and would repeatedly burn their noses, while monkeys would continue to handle things ‘which would give them electric shocks,
Other factors coupled with perceptual deprivation could increase the effects of isolation -- factors such as continued bright light, the fact that subjects were unaware of how long the isolation night last, and the lack of physical exercise,
Uncertainty over the duration of the isolation would increase the effects of it, .
The judge: If somebody is isolated but told that as soon as he answers questions satisfactorily he can go? ~= I don't know what the effect would be, Suggestion comes into that and there is evidence that suggestibility is increased in isolation, :
But if he had already made up his mind to answer questions, and it was just a case of waiting. his turn? == it would lessen the effect of. isolation,
Mr, Gordon: If he is told that he will be let out if he answers satisfactorily, what is the effect of suggestibility on the type of answer he would give?
Dr, MoeGregor: There seems to be a desire to please those round about,. It might well be that the subject will alter his judgment.
Mr, Gordon then put to the witness a case where a subject was told that he would be released when he made a satisfactory statement under oath, to be told that each successive one was satisfactory and then asked: Could suggestion have played a part in the ultimate satisfactory statement he gave?
Dr. McGregor: It would be iikely’ that the statement would be altered by suggestion.
Dr. MeGregor said that one of the difficulties -of the ‘subjects in the experiments was to distinguish between reality and assumption, The suggestibility of a subject would be increased by suggestions from his interrogators,
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The judge: But how long would this suggestibility last? --» From a few days to about six weeks,
If somebody made a statement under conditions of isolation and gave evidence two months later on that statement, would he still be subject to sug ggestion? -- I don't think so, He might well be aware that the statement is not factual, :
Cross~examined by Mr. Nothling, [attorneys for the State are Jee Nothling and D,B, Brunette], Dr. McGregor said he had not seen the rooms in which the witnesses in this case had been confined,
Mr, Nothling: And you are not fully acquainted with the oxact circumstances of their so-called solitary..confinement?
Dr, MoGregor: No.
Mr, Nothling: Have you ever seen any of the witnesses who are supposed to have been in solitary confinement? -- Not as far as I know, -
Dr. McGregor said that he had been talking in general terms on the effects of solitary confinement and could not give opinions on particular oases, He said the fact that. detainees were released for a daily wash and exercise would mitigate the. effect. of solitary confinement.
The fact that they might also have visual communication with the outside world through the windows of their cells would also be a mitigating factor.
-Re-examined by Mr, Gordon, Dr. McGregor said the relationship between the person in solitary confinement and his interrogator would vary widely between extreme friendliness and intense dislike, It had been found that subjects had always shown a desire to please their interrogators.and to try to conform with their wishes.
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