▪ ▪ 4

30 Friday, November 16, 1984 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

14 For 12
JOIN B'NAI B'RITH
TODAY

AND GET

14 MONTHS OF MEMBERSHIP THRU

FRONT
DISC
i BRAKES

ei ■ •••

• ••

,.....

*--:--

•• ik.

▪

••

with coupon

. ••• • i . :. .

Regular
$69.95

• • •

$59.95

Semi-Metallic
pads extra

• •

••

•:•

•••

•••
•
•••

• •

DEC. '85 IF YOU JOIN NOW

JOIN 500,000 MEMBERS AROUND THE WORLD

"

I

LOCAL NEWS

New Pads • New Seals
Turn Rotors • Road Test:::
Repack Bearings

41.0

:. BIRMINGHAM TIRE

FIGHT ANTI-SEMITISM
HELP JEWISH YOUTH

.:1104
S. Woodward, Birmingham::::
••

••

:: ED STONE
•

10,000 MEN & WOMEN MEMBERS
IN METRO DETROIT

642-3116:::;

••

FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL
552-8177 (M-F 9-5)
"Offer does not apply for Oakland-Century Lodge"

r

im-

eimi---mm- ----------

I
I
1

Don't Let
Medical
And Dental
Costs Back
You Into
A Corner.

y

1

1

I
1ti
1

Protect Yourself With B'nai B'rith's
$500,000 Major Medical Plan With
Dental Option.

■

I

I

I

1

I

I

I I

1

I
I

I
I

■

Members under 65 and
tligh lifetime maximum benefit
Choke of deductibles: choice of
their families may apply
With Dental Option!
room and board limits

■

■

For B'Nai B'rith members only. We enroll new members. B'nai B'rith offers
many other insurance plans. Call or write for details.

Underwritten by
B'nai .11111.
to w
t
/
NSAW CO
B'rith's

THE MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE
MPANY OF NEW YORK
17 40 B ROADWAY
NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10019

Group Insurance

Mail to:

KEITH L. EPSTEIN
MONY Associates
3331 W. Big Beaver Rd., Suite 108
P.O. Box 327 Troy, Mi. 48099 643-8901

Please contact me by phone or mail. I'm
interested in full details of B'nai B'rith's
Major Medical Plan with Dental Option.

Name

I

Address

I

City/State/Zip

I

Age

I

home Phone

Work Phone

116mmommommossouommummulsos .§......m...........111

B'nai B'rith Men

B'nai B'rith Women

invite you to
Bring in the New Year with
i cil iip m.
ity joi Ze

c

Dance to the music of the Jerry McKenzie Orchestra
9:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.
Monday, December 31,1984
Shaarey Zedek 27375 Bell Road Southfield

$18.00 a couple in advance

$22.00 a couple at the door

Bring your House Party to Us!

For Information or Tickets Call:

B'nai B'rith Council 552-8177 • B'nai B'rith Women 552-8150

Party Favors!

Door Prizes! Light Refreshments! Cash Bar! Coffee and.. .

Wayne State prof. makes first-hand
study of Nicaraguan social climate

BY JEFFREY GUYER
Staff Writer

Francis Shor, 39, an assistant
professor at the Wayne State
University College of Lifelong
Learning, spent two weeks in
Nicaragua this fall as a member of
the Michigan delegation of Wit-
ness For Peace. What was a "nice
Jewish boy" doing in Nicaragua,
currently one of the most politi-
cally unstable regions in the
world?
That was the topic of Shor's re-
cent slide and lecture presenta-
tion at the Workmen's Circle in
Oak Park.
Addressing an audience of
about 40, Shor expounded upon
the social, political and cultural
conditions and evolution in
Nicaragua, taking time to deal
with the causes and resulting
problems of an American
presence and influence there and
in Central America in general.
Witness For Peace pamphlets
claim the organization is a "non-
violent, faith-based movement,
committed to changing U.S. pol-
icy in Nicaragua."
The movement was originally
founded 18 months ago by Chris-
tians to maintain a "continuous,
prayerful presence in Nicaraguan
war zones." The organization has
since evolved into an ecumenical
unit.
Theie is definite scope to this
group. According to Newsweek
magazine, "Not since the anti-
Vietnam War movement of the
mid-'60s have such a broad range
of American Christians locked
arms to thwart U.S. foreign pol
icy." This is accmplished in part,
according to Shor, "by demon-
strating and supporting solidarity
for the Nicaraguan people."
American involvement in
Nicaragua began with a U.S.
Marine invasion in 1912. Their
presence was maintained until
1933, when the Somozan dynasty
began. According to Shor, the
United States government main-
tained their presence and kept the
Somozas in power for economic as
well as geo-political reasons. In
the early 1920s, Nicaragua was
considered a prime site for an al-
ternative to the Panama Canal.
Augusto Sandino, for whom the
Sandinista movement was
named, is considered to be the na-
tional father figure of the Nicara-
guan revolution. All over the
country, in black and red — the
colors of the Sandinistas — signs,
billboards, posters and placards
proclaim, "Sandino vive!" —
"Sandino lives!"
Sandino and his following were
the major catalysts of social and
cultural change in Nicaragua in
the 1920s, leading to the forma-
tion of the Sandinista National
Liberation Front (FSLN) in 1961.
According to Shor, the FSLN
was known for guerrilla activity
in the 1970s, and became the rul-
ing party in Nicaragua under the
leadership of Daniel Ortega in
1979. The movement draws from
Marxist ideals and tenets, yet is
not quite as dogmatic as Marxism,
Shor said.
Shor stressed that Nicaragua is
"not a Marxist, Leninist, totalita-
rian dungeon as our President
would have us believe." Shor
added that Marxism in Nicaragua

is used "pragmatically to elicit so-
cial change."
In a land where over 50 percent
of the population is below the age
of 15, it seems only natural that
the "somewhat socialistic party"
has a strong committment to
youth and education. In the five
years of Sandinista rule, said
Shor, 6,000 schools have been es-
tablished.
When Somoza fled Nicaragua,
many of his staunch allies fol-
lowed. Their large estates and
mansions were converted into
schools and day care centers.
This emphasis on youth, how-
eveer, has led to some controversy
among Jews of Nicaragua as well
as those in America. The Man-
agua Synagogue was taken over
by the Sandinista government
and converted into a day care cen-
ter. Ortega's government has as-
sured the small Jewish commu-
nity that the synagogue will be

'Granted, their lives
have been improved,
but the overall policy
and presence of the
United States in
Nicaragua is wrong.'

restored to them, but no action
has been taken.
It was the synagogue take-over
and the subsequent expulsion
from the country of the 50 Jew's of
Nicaragua that led the Anti-
Defamation League of B'nai
B'rith to charge that the San-
dinista government is anti-
Semitic.
"Follow-up visits and investi-
gations by other groups, the New
Jewish Agenda for instance, have
pretty much proven those allega-
tions baseless," Shor said.
"Charges that the small Jewish
community of Nicaragua picked
up and left because of hounding by
the Sandinistas are untrue." (The
New Jewish Agenda report, how-
ever, is suspect because a minor-
ity opinion was not permitted.)
In connection with the Man-
agua Synagogue, Shor said that
"the property was taken - over be-
cause it belonged to a Somozan
supporter — not because it be-
longed to a Jew."
"There really are no practicing
(Jewish) religionists in the coun-
try, and the Jews there do not feel
oppressed. They really don't feel a
need for the synagogue."
Shor, who says he "put his life
on the line" in Nicaragua, spent
much of his time talking with
peasants (over 80 percent of
Nicaraguans), government offi-
cials and newspaper editors. He
left the country with strong feel-
ings about the United States, its
foreign policy in Central America
and the censorship of the Nicara-
guan press.
The United States has con-
tinuously opposed the Sandinista
government, a view which is op-
posed by Witness For Peace.
The Sandinistas swept to an
easy victory over minor parties
Nov. 4 in that country's first elec-