ASLE, Switzerland. — German, French and Swiss opponents of nuclear weapons plan to meet here Monday, April 19th, the day after Easter, to stage a big demonstration against war and for peaceful collaboration among all peoples. Basle was the site of the famous 1912 Socialist Peace Congress. The anti-nuclear fighters plant to come to Basle after participating in demonstrations in their own countries against nuclear armaments. Meeting in the outskirts of the town, they will march to the square in front of the cathedral. One of the main speakers will be the chairman of the Cantonal government of Basle. The demonstration is being sponsored by the Swiss Movement Against Atomic Armament as the climax of a two-and-a-half day march under such slogans as “Bread for the Peoples’ “Not War,” “Switzerland to Act for Denuclearised Zones in Europe,”
“Against
“We Shall Overco-o-ome”
Atomic Weapons Both East and
West,” and others of a more local
nature.
The Basle trade union federations
are actively supporting the march
and the rally, much to the annoyance
of the leading newspaper Neue
Zurcher Zeitung. This journal
along with most of the Swiss
press, has persistently denounced.
the Swiss Movement Against Atomic
Armament as “antimilitaristic” and
“Trotskyite - Communist” inspired,
and has slandered it as being a “tool
of Moscow.”
Backers of the Movement hope
that the encouragement offered by
the Basle unions will help inspire
similar support for the anti-nuclear
movement in Germany. The move-
ment there suffered a serious setback
when the Social-Democratic party
gave up its campaign against
“atomic death”; and since then the
unions in Germany have been reluct-
ant to support anti-nuclear activities.
THE WEEK — April 14, 1965