Plans For Participation In Vietnam Protest

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31501, 16 October 1967, Page 14

Plans For Participation In Vietnam Protest

About Im Americans from all walks of life are expected to converge on Washington on October 21 to demand the withdrawal of troops from Vietnam and an end to the conflict in that country. It is expected to be one of the largest mass demonstrations in American history.

In support the Joint Council on Vietnam will hold a service of intercession in Christchurch Cathedral between 7.30 p.m. and 8.30 p.m. on Friday. During the week-end more than 100 members of Vietnam protest bodies distributed to Christchurch householders a leaflet outlining local plans for participation in the worldwide protest. Members of the Citizen’s Vietnam Action Committee has sought permission from the City Council for a cavalcade of cars through Christchurch on Friday evening. The vehicles will bear posters carying slogans opposing the Vietnam war. Permission has also been sought by the committee for a demonstration with banners.

The committee, in a statement yesterday, welcomed “the forthright action of the Wellington Trades Council in

calling on all affiliated unions to participate in demonstrations against the Vietnam war and the council’s decision to call for a one-day stoppage in the event of conscription being introduced.” The Joint Council on Vietnam is sponsoring the visit to New Zealand of General H. B. Hester, a distinguished American soldier of two world wars, who is a bitter opponent of the war in Vietnam. His tour of Australia will end on November 4 and the council expects to arrange for him to speak in the main centres in New Zealand. Also in November the joint council hopes to screen a film entitled “Sons and Daughters,” which is the American protest movement’s documented indictment of American involvement in Vietnam.

The leaflet says in a footnote, that the screening in a Christchurch theatre will cost more than 200 dollars. General Hester’s air fare will cost 200 dollars and, with his tour expenses added, the council may require $6OO. To allow this programme to continue freely it suggests that the householder guarantee, say, $lO or $2O, to be called on only if the council finds it necessary to do so.