The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

THE WEEKEND OUTLOOK Friday Page 11 Peoples Forum Radical feminist replies Dear Editor In The Peoples Forum of your weekend edition was a letter from Mr GuLseppi question ing feminists radical feminists Since I regard myself as a radical feminist I guess I had better reply Mr Gon quoted various feminists to show how bizarre is their moral code It is always tempting to lift some statement out of context to support a point I have done it myself on occa sion I do not know in what con text these statements by now Dr May Jo Bane or Margaret Sanger were made I do know that Margaret Sangers work to legalize birth control brought hope to millions of poverty stricken women who were ill and dying because they were having babies every year I also know that feminists of every persua sion give serious consideration to the problems afflicting society particularly women and children They could hardly be seen to be jumping on bandwagons My own feminist stance has developed slowly with much agonizing and soul searching over a number of years The heading of the letter read Feminists Questioned What do feminists want Here are five items on our wish list 1 Safety of person for all women That means an im mediate end to rape incest wife- beating and sexual harrassment The vast majority of these crimes are perpetrated by heterosexual males It means having as much access as males to travelling walking at night in lonel places and living alone It means being able to return to university at night without fear of being murdered or getting out of ones car in an underground garage without fear of being hacked to death All these freedoms men take for granted 2 An end tc victim blaming That means calling family violence It means calling abusive males to account forcing them to take responsibility for their own violent actions making them face the knowledge that they chose whom to attack how to do it and when to do it It means handing out appropriately stiff sentences to them Giving women complete charge of their own sexuality This means each woman gets to decide whether or not to have children how many to have and when to have them Her decision should be free of coercion from family friends state and church That means free access to con traceptives While many feminists do not like abortion and deplore it as a method of birth control they do know all about the womanunfriendly world we inhabit and demand medically safe abortions for women who need them The right to equal human dignity with men This means an end to demeaning advertisment pornography sexrole stereotyp ing in media portrayal the use of language that is maledominated e mankind instead of humanity anything that would suggest women are second grade human material there to be controlled or ex plotted for sex or profit this consumeroriented society A more equitable of power and the profits of labour between the sexes This means that if women make up fif ty percent of the worlds popula tion perform twothirds of the worlds work yet only receive ten percent of the worlds pay and own less than one percent of the worlds property a UN statistic then they should receive twothirds of the worlds pay and own twothirds of the property It means that if society remains the same as it is now women should make up fifty per cent of personnel in senior management corporate business and government They should have as much political and economic clout as males Since our society right now condons the abuse of women most feminists are strong ad vocates of social change They know that the kind of world they want for women cannot come about within the traditional framework So yes feminists are a radical lot if radical is taken in its true sense meaning rooted Right now theyre busy critiquing every human institu getting to the roots if you will of ageold unjust patnar chal structures that really could bring about the end of our species if left to run on unex and unchecked More power to them Yours sincerely Joan Davison Patriarchy rule of the fathers This is the word used by feminists to indicate the per vasiveness of male dominance -Opinion- Finance rebuttal The Editor I have only just seen Mr Massons spirited defence of contentious of 72 I was not quibbling with decimal accuracy and the payment of interest annually monthly daily or hourly does not change the elegance of the lemma used in the original letter Lets use an example which caught my eye in scanning papers following a short holiday The doughty Justice Sopinka listed his house for but would now settle for since house valued have deteriorated He paid 39500 for the dwelling in He must live in Ottawa since his appointment and needs to be recompensed for the establishment languishing on a soft market How realistic is he in expecting the public to pay the interest associated with either his asking or settling price There is nothing in the interest tables by any of the authorities quoted by Mr Masson to come to any conclusion on this issue The lemma handles it beautifully Heres how A B BA Term Original Final Ratio Yrs 23 19 0 The public can reasonably decide that the good Justice is asking plausible interest rates and not be distressed that this is another rip- off The number also suggests the interest penalty paid for just slightly higher interest rates on our public debt a mere 380 billion My financial acquaintances know a rule of to double money but Bogen is an unfamiliar authority The Rule of 72 which comes to mind to these people is the day in for evaluating stocks to pay capital gains tax Since the death penalty was abandoned for usurers covens of witch doctors have offered arcane advice on how to get without benefit of much logic or thinking We prefer people to think and use good universal tools to manage information effectively The lemma is logical elegant and universal Thanks to the opportunity to rebut Yours very truly Bill Hyde HaltonHdls Interest Ratio RateYr 12 8 Write us a letter The Herald wants to hear from you If you have an opi nion you want to express or a comment to make send us a letter or drop by the office Our address is Guelph Street Georgetown Ontario 3Z6 All letters must be signed Please include your ad dress and telephone number for verification The Herald reserves the right to edit letters due to space limitations Welcome progress appears in GATT talks OTTAWA While the world is preoccupied with war welcome progress seems to be occurring on another major issue that has divided nations Just over a month ago alar mism was rampant over the future of world trade A deep- rooted dispute between the United States and the E- opean Community EC Tver agricultural subsidies ared to have wrecked reform the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade Trade War Looms headlines shouted as talks in Brussels came apart But today theres a glimmer of hope again for GATT the referee that oversees about 5 trillion of world trade each year Another chance for the Uruguay Round of talks is good news for Canada which depends more heavily upon trade than most other countries Its also a positive development for the world economy Recession in North America has been spreading threatening to bring the economic temple crashing down on the rest of the world A combination of reces and protectionism as coun tries raise barriers to foreign pro ducts could be disastrous Its too soon to be complacent Protection of the subsidies that support 10 million European farmers retails broad appeal among the political leaders of Western Europe But a recent visit by EC vice- president Andnessen to the S and Canada suggests Europe may be prepared to place a better offer on the table Although details are sketcy so far the EC executive commis sion has approved radical farm Ottawa Bureau by Vic Parsons Hews Service reform that could mean cuts in European dairy quotas and beef and grain prices BREAKTHROUGH POSSIBLE S Agriculture Secretary Clayton the key person to be convinced has said the EC seems serious about reform and that GATT could be on the verge of a major breakthrough Canada and other exporters of farm produce such as Australia New Zealand and Argentina are also pleased with the softening of the EC position Trade Minister John Crosbie believes a changed attitude on the part of the Euro peans could lead to settlement but cautions that hard work lies ahead Crosbie incidentally deserves a good deal of credit for Canadas creative role this GATT round Much of the work was technical and unglamorous the private sector NorthSouth Institute said m its latest review but Canada contributed substantially to the drafting of texts and the building of bridges between the industrial and developing countries Not all members of the 12- country EC have taken the hard line on subsidies represented by Germany and France Others in cluding Britain do not wish to see the process on many other issues lost because of inflexibility on agricultural trade GERMAN CRITIC There has also been internal criticism of the EC position Hans Peter Stihl president of Ger manys National Association of Chambers of Commerce argued in midJanuary that the EC and German position had obstructed world trade Germany added should be aiming at a successful GATT round Farmers would be better helped by direct income grants rather than subsidies for storage of production surpluses This stance is similar to that argued by several Canadian experts who have surveyed the domestic farm scene If the dispute continues to block agreement the world trade en vironment will suffer Converse ly a breakthrough promises a Border inspectors facing ever- increasing violence OTTAWA On a bad night after the shadows melt into darkness around his border crossing Jacques will lock the door to his customs booth and recall his night of terror Two shots fired from the edge of the forest surrounding the isolated Herdman Que cross ing struck the glass of the booth that night and sent the veteran customs inspector diving for cover I was lying on the floor I was like a cat or a dog sitting in the comer shaking I didnt know what would happen Its a feeling you never forget Its a feeling that is infecting more officers who find themselves working alone on night shifts at remote incident- prone crossings On several after reporting for work and thumbing through the lookout lists that warn of dangerous people in the area Lemay has abandoned his post out of raw fear More customs of ficers are following him We get phone calls Don stand in the window because well put a bullet in your eye Ive seen incidents so serious the my should have been there he said WALKED AWAY walked away from his booth at the height of the crisis in nearby Kahnawake and Oka last summer after learning two Americans were coming through his crossing in a car loaded with weapons and ammunition Arms smuggling and the warn ing notices at the halfdozen remote crossings the district had increased Police had pulled Ottawa Bureau out of the area to reinforce posi around the three Mohawk reserves in the region after arm ed natives set up barricades near Oka ana Kahnawake A sym pathetic US border guard gave a bulletproof vest but he was denied permission to wear it in an ensuing dispute that in volved Revenue Canada and Labor Canada a public service adjudicator dismissed Lemays claim that his life was in danger that night But the adjudicator supported recommendations that inspectors work in pairs on night shifts and that they be provided with bulletproof vests and ade quate police protection The final ruling of the Public Service Staff Relations Board recognized the dangers that can arise at remote ports And even when inspectors work in pairs and can communicate with another crossing they should be able to count on a quick police response whenever the need arises says the boards final report says the U S customs service has identified his stretch of the Quebec border as a major problem area But there have been reports of violence at various crossings spread along thousands of kilometres of border Shotgun blasts have shat tered windows on a tour bus at Cornwall Ont Inspectors have been assaulted in New Brunswick and stabbed shot at and dodged firebombs in southwestern Ontario The department has introduced a post trauma counselling ser vice for inspectors considered victims of violence Legacy national president of the Customs Excise Union said it is similar to services provided to police officers And while he welcomes the concession he wants more