Owen-from obscurity to obscenity _ABOUR

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hundreds of political enemies of what he calls Owen in countries that are the crisy and reaction of the of the "Labour" government.

Owen has carried his opportunism from the internal politics of the Labour Party into his glamourous new international job.

Needless to say, there is nothing in Owen's monumentally tedious and hypo critical book about human rights in his own country.

There was nothing about the record of his own government in introducing the Prevention of Terrorism Act, about torture in Northern Ireland, about the hundreds of political prisoners in Northern Irish jails, about the expulsion of Philip Agee on charges which he wasn't even permitted to know let alone defend himself against or about press censorship through the Official Secrets Act now being used in the scandalous ABC trial in London.

countries No, for Owen, human rights are things they don't have in other countriesand mostly, of course, in the Soviet Union and other workers' states; because the underlying motive of Owen's book and of all his reactionary policies is anti-communism.

And in the last week he has made it clear that he doesn't give a damn for 'human rights'-his main interest is in preserving the interests of capitalism and imperialism, however_that can tactically best be done.

That has been clear for a long time in Southern Africa where, behind a mask of verbal anti-racism, he has been the leading agent of imperialism's plan for an engineered compromise between the white racists and the black nationalists.

But in the last week on the question of Iran the truth has come out even more plainly.

For Owen, it seems, 'human rights' only matter enemies of what he calls 'the West' (i.e. imperialism). 617. _ TIT -"Friends of the West" can trample on 'human rights' as much as they wish.

Take the Shah of Iran for example. A good friend of the West.

He is the kingpin of the imperialist military alliance in the Middle East, CENTO.

He has given aid to the British in suppressing the national liberation struggle in Dhofar. He has given economic aid to the British government in its hour of need.

And he is one of the best customers in the world for British arms, sold to him directly by his friend, Labour Defence Minister Fred Mulley.

These arms he then uses against 'communism' and against the struggle of and peasants for freedom.

For 20 years the Shah has headed a regime which denies every basic democratic right. Trade unions and political parties are illegal; there are 100,000 political prisoners.

All resistance is met by the Shah's army and police with a brutality unsurpassed in the world today. Last week 3,000 anti-government demonstrators were shot down in cold blood in the You would think, wouldn't you, that a much vaunted book on human rights by that valiant little campaigner for justice, David Owen, would have a word or two to say about one of the world's bloodiest tyrants.

But no, there is not a word on the Shah. Nonetheless Owen couldn't completely back out of saying something about Iran when he was challenged about it by an interviewer on television.

But instead of being lamed into attacking th utcher Shah, Owen brazen ly defended him. He said:

"I have made it fairly clear that the Shah must take account of the criticism that is made of human rights in Iran. But I believe you must get it in perspective. If you are a government, what you say publicly about a particularFood relater an a moe ly friendly country like good relations and a working partnership in CENTO, to be some. what moderate.

"I don't think that has meant that we have not shown concern for human rights there. But you have to judge it against the broad prospectus. • you look at what the Shah has done over the last 20 years in ran, and the general tren‹ has been very much towards breaking down some of the very large landholdings, and other things like that.

"It is fashionable to criticise the Shah. Some points are justified. But you must also recognise that there is merit in the regime that has operated there; as well as recognise the differences in culture in hol and recognise that the concept the Shahanshah is rooted in The only worry about 'human rights' in Iran which this 'socialist' has is that the Shah's repression should not provoke an upheaval which would threaten the interests of world capitalism.

Demonstrators risk their lives in Fran He has now carried his concern for the survival of reaction in the area into an international campaign.

Last Thursday found this busy, little imperialist agent in Bonn for a meeting of the EEC Foreign Ministers.

There, according to the Financial Times, he 'expres-: sed concern... that a con-: tinuation of political unrest in Iran could lead to instability developing in neighbouring countries and in Owen added that "the Nine faced a sensitive problem in defining their attitude to the Iranian situation.

Most European governments disapproved of some of the Shah's internal policies, but they also had a strong interest in the preservation of stability in the region.

'Liberalisation'

It was important that European governments should encourage the Iranian authorities to pursue their internal liberalisation programme (sic!) and not enforce more repressive policies which could aggravate political unrest'.

Well, what a terrible dilemma for the poor human rights campaigner. Who said that hypocrisy and opportunism were easy?

In solidarity with the oppressed masses of Iran, who are bravely struggling against the bloody regime of David Owen's friend, we say that Owen should be put out of his misery.

He should be thrown out of the leadership of the Labour Party along with Fred Mulley, arms salesman to the dictators, and the whole reactionary Labour leadership who have in practice shown themselves to be the enemies of democratic rights, in Britain, in Iran and around the. world.

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PHOTO: Derek Speirs, IFL PHOTO: