B3-Sunday News, April 27, 1980

by Andy Fraser

.

That ‘courageous’ act

With that tremendously courageous act of the

Canadian government,

Canadian athletes can

take pride in the knowledge that they are the only
bastion the great leaders can come up with to
fight that slavering monster called communism.

Por the next litthe while we
shall have our senses of-
fended by the righteous and
pious statements of
politicians and their un-
derlings lamenting with their
crocodile tears at the great
sacmfices the athletes have
to make in the cause of
freedom.

And while all this verbal
diarrhoea spews forth, the
government, both here and
in the U.S. (not that there is
much difference) will
continue to sign and carry
out their trade Contracts
with the Soviet Union. As

Hitting

An estimated 1,500
bicycle mders will be out on
the streets May 4 in Greater
Vancouver to participate in
the sixth annual Canadian

Diabetes Association
(C.D.A.) Bike-A-Thon.

The cyclists are hoping to
raise $60,000 to contribute
to the Canadian Dhabetes
Association for the con-
tinuation of its many services
to those with a- chronic
metabolic condition — af-
fecting the body's ability to
use carbohydrates.

Each cyclist is canvassing
friends. relatives.

the Canadian government
did as recenuy as March of

this year.
And the athletes are
sacrificed.
Sports Minister Gerald
Regan talks about the

‘sacrifice of our athletes’ but
neglects to say just what the
government will sacrifice, or
what the minister will
personally sacrifice. You
can bet your bottom wor-
thless Canadian dollar that it
isn't very much. Politicians
don't operate that way.

The politicians sacrifice
will be just about as great as

those sport writers
downgrade the Olympics
and its ideals, and those
individuals who sacrifice so
little of themselves as long as
there is some other person
who can serve as_ their
cannon fodder.

Amateur athletes do not
have political ‘clout.’ They
do not have a central voting
power block. They belong to
a small, select group of
individuals who by their
nature are loners. Therefore
they make an ideal target for
those spineless elected
leaders and others who
would use anyone other than
themselves for their
interests.

Nationalism at its worst
can be a frightening spectre.
Nationalism for the sake of

who

own

some hyped-up political step
is sordid and cheap.
However, politicians have
never been very high on the
ladder of hope and idealism
and dedication.

Refusing to allow athletes
the nght of choice 1s tan-
tamount to taking away their
freedom.

And yet the claim is that
this action is being done
because the Soviets are
denying the freedom of
Afghans. Somewhere the
logic has become more than
a little convoluted.

Political expediency
which infnnges on the mghts,
hopes and dreams of others
is a denial of individuals
rights. It is a form of op-
pression.

To assume that once this
apparently fabricated (if it is
not fabncated why 1s there
not more action being taken
economically and
politically?) is ended that we
will all go back together and
the poliucans can pat the
athlete and others on the
head and say ‘go and do your
thing for your country’
would be a drastic mistake.

The pohtrcal manipulation
and twisting of the athletes is
a dirty trick which makes
one wonder just how many
other individuals are
trampled on in the false
name of freedom. It also
breeds distrust.

the road for diabetes

colleagues, and others to ask
for a money pledge for each
kilometre mdden along any
of six designated 20-. 25-, or
30-kilometre routes in
Vancouver, the North
Shore, Coquitlam,  Rich-
mond, Surrey/Delta and
Burnaby.

Starting time for the mde 1s
8:00 a.m. Sunday with pnzes
to the nders who collect the
most money. First prize is a
Craig Sound System

Today. there are 100.000
diabetics ain British
Columbia. 25 per cent of
whom are juvenile cases —
those that have been af-

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The number of persons
suffering from diabetes is
growing — in fact, the
number of diabetics in
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DI ANE
OWSKI,
foremost amateur athlete,
bitterly said that she will
defy the
government's -

the Moscow Olympics and
will compete as an in-
(UPI Wirephoto)

dividual.

JONES-KONIH-
Canada's

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