MR. JEREMY LEE, NATIONAL SECRETARY OF THE INSTITUTE OF ECONOMIC DEMOCRACY, REPORTS FROM NORTHERN VICTORIA

It was a singular privilege to be one of the guest speakers at the Annual dinner of the Murray Electors' Association. Over 100 people attended the function, which was ably chaired by Tom Fielder, the Association President, who, with the dedicated support of his wife Peg, and a small team of volunteer actionists, has made the Electors' Association into the most potent political organisation in this part of the world.

Having endured the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" in his first lonely efforts to build a dynamic association of voters to replace the widespread apathy and cynicism generally found in so many Australian electorates, Tom must have felt proud and gratified last night. The dinner was notable for a hard-hitting address by Victoria's National Party leader, Peter Ross-Edwards. One of the few politicians with the initiative and courage to go to Rhodesia to see for himself, Mr. Ross Edwards gave a graphic account of the real situation in Rhodesia, and observed that the ingenuity, enterprise and friendship he found everywhere - amongst black and white - impressed on him the close similarity to Australian communities.
He pulled no punches in describing Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe as "front men" for Soviet and Chinese aggression.

It was like a breath of fresh air to hear an Australian political leader speak in so forthright a manner. Answering questions at the end of his address, Mr. Ross Edwards assured his audience he would continue to speak out on Rhodesia, and was not the type of politician who tailored his views to his audience. "If you think I am the sort of politician who will say one thing to a dinner such as this, and another to my parliamentary colleagues, you don't know me," he said.

Mr. Ross Edwards is one of a growing number now speaking with increasing force on the Rhodesian situation. Former State Chairman of the National Party in New South Wales, and member of the Upper House, Mr. Adrian Solomons has also spoken out strongly on Rhodesia. His Federal colleague, and one time Chairman of committees, Phil Lucock, who did his R.A.A.F. training in Rhodesia during the war, has also been outspoken. Further - and surprisingly - two Labor Politicians in Canberra have also spoken out. One was Senator Wheeldon, who tore the Fraser Government to ribbons for its selective policy of opposition to Rhodesia and South Africa, while ignoring the brutalities in such regimes as Uganda and Ethiopia. He went further in commending the efforts of Ian Smith, Bishop Muzorewa, and Ndabaningi Sithole to reach peaceful agreement.

Referring to the tragic airline disaster in Rhodesia, Senator Wheeldon said in the Senate: "It was an outrage that somebody should shoot down an airliner full of people and then boast of it, even making some sort of joke of it to the effect that, 'we thought General Walls (Rhodesia's military commander) would be in it - so he is at fault for not catching the plane'. Certainly if Smith did it he would be condemned and justifiably so.
Anybody who did that ought to be condemned, even Mr. Nkomo, with whom our Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser, seems to have achieved some kind of rapport."

Senator Wheeldon was even more scathing about Foreign Minister Peacock: "The foreign policy statement offers us nothing but the platitudes and bromides that we ought to work for a bit of peace here, we ought to work for a bit of peace there, and we should not overdo it. We ought not to push too hard, and not upset the Chinese, not upset the Russians and not upset anybody and in the end it will all pan out as long as we keep a pleasant smile on our faces...." Senator Wheeldon was equally scathing about the United Nations.

On the same day, another A.L.P. member, Dick Klugman, made a similar speech in the House of Representatives. Included in his remarks was the following: "...Unless the pressures in the so-called Third World change dramatically I predict that many countries will start to concentrate on us when South Africa and Israel have been eliminated. ... I used to believe that wars were caused only by the failures of capitalism. This is obviously not now true ... with Soviet troops occupying nearly all of Eastern Europe, and with Cuban mercenaries fighting in much of Africa, Communist countries have a hide to talk about interference in other countries ... It should be the aim of this country to try to encourage other democratic countries to act together...

There is something quite nauseating and ugly about the silence of Liberal Country Party men who know about Rhodesia, when even A.L.P. politicians are now speaking out against the Soviets and the Chinese. What are we to make of Ralph Hunt, who spoke out so forcefully on Rhodesia before he became a Minister? Or John Macleay, whose silence is now deafening? Or, worst of all, our present Minister for Defence Jim Killen, who once said that he would put his parliamentary career on the line on the Rhodesian issue?
A man who knows the truth, but whom now prefers the quietude of passive conformity to the hard facts. -As Lincoln said: "Silence when we should speak out makes cowards of us all." Let us all hope that Mr. Ross Edwards' example will shame his Federal counterparts into acknowledging the reality of Rhodesia today.

FROM BRITISH "ON TARGET"

March 19th, 1979. "Vigilia" Reports on The Shah of Iran's Downfall
"In a recent issue of (British) 'On Target' I drew attention to the financial attack on the Shah, then being master minded by the Rockefeller controlled Chase Manhattan Bank. During the weeks ahead patriotic journals will doubtless draw attention to a variety of contributing factors. Thus, excellent 'Hilaire du Berrier Reports (Jan. 1979) draws attention to such factors as the Shah's need to rearm after Britain's abandonment of the (Persian) Gulf, the fanatical Moslem opposition to modernisation, the domination of the universities by Communised students, American interference with Iranian attempts to crush subversion, American pressure for liberalisation, the Communising of students sent to Western universities and the vicious Western press.
"In my view, while these are valid arguments, they ignore the basic causes. The primary cause was the treachery and weakness of the Shah himself. Twenty-five years ago it was the political right, which restored the Shah after he had abjectly fled the country from Mossadegh. The real test occurred two years ago when a top Russian pilot flew his plane to Japan. Fired by his example a Russian helicopter pilot flew to Iran. The great anti-Communist Shah promptly had the pilot handed over alive to the Russians. By this act of gratuitous treachery alone, the Shah placed himself outside the company of great men.
At the moment of writing (Feb. 20th, 1979) the Shah's generals and ministers are being daily executed. Why are they in Khomeiny's hands? In most cases they had already been put in prison by the Shah to appease the Red mob. Yes, it was the Shah who arrested them and delivered them to their enemies. Thus, not only did the Shah by weakness deliver Iran to her enemies but by treachery delivered his own loyal friends to their deaths. Charles I, before his execution, regarded his downfall as prime punishment for his betrayal to execution of his loyal Minister, Stafford, who, alive would almost certainly have crushed the Roundheads. The Shah, by cowardice and treachery most foul, has brought ruin to his country, and death to his most loyal supporters. The failure of the Shah, and later failure of his generals to blast the mob off the face of the earth, can properly be laid at the feet of what Caine, in his book on the French Revolution, described as 'the refined horror of bloodshed', which pervaded the governing classes. "

Madagascar: "The press won't tell you, but the U.S. weekly "Review of the News" (Jan. 17th 1979) reported that Madagascar, reluctant to be on the side of a West that lacks the will even to save itself, has permitted Red Air Force bases to be set up." (end of "British On Target" items).

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