Seventy-Sixth Year EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN UNDER AUTHORITY OF BOARD IN CONTROL OF STUDENT PUBLICATIONS Military Coup in the Cradle of Democracy - _* Fj here Opinions Are Free, 420 MAYNARD ST., ANN ARBOR, MICH. Truth will Prevail NEWS PHONE: 764-0552 Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints. WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, 1967 NIGHT EDITOR: JOHN GRAY Detroit Devastation: A New Breed of Riot RIOTING NEGROES in Detroit are demonstrating to the rest of the nation that the trends of violence are shifting away from simply spontaneous responses to the environment to a much more widespread and devastat- ing form of expression. The internal disorders of recent years from Harlem and Rochester to Watts. and Newark have all demonstrated a remarkably similar pattern. In all cases there was a triggering incident - an actual or fantasized intimidation by police-on a hot summer's day or night, in the worst part of the respective city's ghetto area. In all cases the rioting was limited to that area, and the vast majority of the looting, sniping and arson was restricted to only a portion of the Negro slum area. The racial over- tones in all cases were easily discerni- ble. The current chaos in Detroit is of a wholly different nature. Although the disorder occurred in a depressed area and began with the "police-intimida- tion" triggering incident, its similarity to other riots ends there. " First, Detroit is different from most other large cities in the nation. While there are Negro slum areas, to be sure, they are not nearly as de- pressing as the ghettoes of Newark, Harlem, Watts, et al. While gangs of black youths will curse "whitey" on cue in times of tension, race hatred is of a much more subtle nature in De- troit-it is, at least, less overt. More- over, unlike other urbanized areas, De- troit's Negro population is spread throughout the city. " Detroit is often referred to as a "rich man's city," implying not total affluence, but very few areas of total decay. Because of the fact that 90 per cent of the nation's automobiles are produced in the Detroit area, there is a relative abundance of job opportuni- ties. The unemployment rate in the nation's fifth largest city is noticeably lower than that of other similar urban areas. THE SETTING for the rioting in De- troit, then, is not one of seething hatred, but, more basically, one of the have-nots trying to equalize themselves quickly with the haves. Thus, when the triggering incident occurred on Detroit's near Northwest side, Sunday, circumstances peculiar to Detroit were bound to color the fol- lowing actions. The rioting was not to be contained in any one well-defined area; Detroit police were unable to restrict the dis- turbance. Where first-day rioting is generally vented against police stations with some concurrent looting, Detroit witnessed widespread looting and even more widespread arson. The Negroes were obviously not venting themselves against the white man so much as they were trying to make things better for themselves. Instead of stealing only liquor and guns to fire up and "get whitey," De- troit's Negroes were showing a much better understanding of things than their predecessors in earlier riots: they looted guns and liquor stores first, but continued to loot all stores, noticeably forgetting to give the customary def- errence to "soul brother" shops. Within 48 hours over one thousand businesses were cleaned out. It also must be understood that the looting was not confined to Detroit's black population; whites joined in too, producing the effect of "integrated" theft. A case in point: the first two deaths attributed to the rioting were white looters shot by police on the southern fringe of the riot area. Only after the pillage was complete in a given block would the fires be- gin. As there was no one area in which the disturbance could be restricted, the rioting spread rapidly throughout Ne- gro neighborhoods. Within 12 hours from the outbreak, five square miles of stores and houses was leveled by the fires. The damage in this area alone was estimated at over $150 million and the rioting still continues. THE DESTRUCTION of private prop- erty in Detroit, then, tends to make the aftermaths of Watts and Newark look like picnics by comparison. Where the property loss in Watts was esti- mated at $35 million, Detroit already has run up a bill of nearly $200 mil- lion for fire damage alone. When the totals from looting are compiled after the rioting ends, totals could easily ex- ceed $250 million, making this single civil disorder more costly in terms of loss of private property than all riots in the previous three years combined. Rioting has not been peculiar only to Detroit proper either. "Sympathy" riots have sprung up in Pontiac, Flint and Grand Rapids, and the situation is noticeably tense in the suburbs of Roseville, Inkster and Ypsilanti. This, also, is apparently caracterist- ic of the new style of rioting. Where before utter spontaneity ruled supreme, and disorder was easily restricted to a comparatively small area, now the whole mass of the region's Negroes is illustrating some de facto organiza- tion, in that they are working together to gain for themselves what they feel they are unable to achieve through peaceful methods. While not all Ne- groes are taking part in the looting and arson, certainly enough are-enough to necessitate over 15,000 police, army and National Guard members to reinstitute law and order. Violence has its positive effects in forcing members of the white and Ne- gro power structures to re-evaluate their positions, and in hastening what- ever progress there is to be made with- in the present system. While we may abhor the alternative of violence, we must recognize that black men are now using this as a last recourse, over 100 years after "emancipation." The riots of the past several years have been a direct response to the inadequa- cies of white America to rectify the "Negro problem." DEATH, OF COURSE, is the unfortu- nate aspect of the riots. Indiscrim- inate violence assumes that innocent people will be killed; and death, unlike injury or destruction, is irrevocable. Still, violence appears to be the option chosen by young Negroes who, unlike their elders, refuse to stagnate and die in a system which works, however un- intentionally, to destroy them. The Detroit-centered riots are dem- onstrating to the nation that a new form of violence has erupted. Not only the most deprived of black men are rioting now, and they are not rioting totally for destructive purposes. They are taking what they can from an area before they destroy it, and they are destroying unparalleled amounts of merchandise. ' If this trend continues the nation should prepare for future riots of a much more devastating nature than those of recent years. As is always said after the first day of rioting, things will get worse before they get better. -JOHN LOTTIER By VAN COUFOUDAKIS Daily Guest Writer The author is with the politi- cal science department of the University, and is a member of the *Committee for the Restora- tion of Democracy in Greece. On July 15, 1965, a government crisis erupted in Greece when Pre- mier George Papandreou, elected to office in February of 1964 with the largest popular majority in modern Greek history, was forced to resign in a dispute with King Constantine. Their disagreement was over the handling of a De- fense Department inquiry into a secret army oficers group, in which Mr. Papandreou's son was im- plicated. In reality, the political crisis of 1965 brought to a climax the long debate of Greek politics regarding the extent of royal prerogative and, constitutional powers, as the Greek Royal House has arbitrarily con- sidered itself an active factor in the political arena. This political conflict was further complicated by the United States and British political and financial interests in Greece and by the close identification of the leadership of the Greek armed forces with the Royal House. The political crisis of 1965 was unduly prolonged by the King's in- sistence in creating a series of weak cabinets supported by the right-wing parties and various Pa- pandreau defectors. Popular elec- tions were finally set for May 28, 1967. In expectation of another Papandreou landslide, on April 21, Greece found itself under a mil- itary junta of four senior officers of the Greek army. The junta de- clared that their missionvwas " ... to impose law, avert division and the threatened social and moral edstruction, and restore internal peace and calm in order to pull the nation out of its present im- passe .. ." IN SPITE OF THIS lofty decla- ration by the Greek military, the means currently employed to sup- press democracy in Greece show that their true motivation is their ambition for absolute political power. This is supported by the fact that only vague references have been made about the possi- bility of re-establishing democ- racy in Greece. The Parliament has been dissolved and on May 3, Brig. Patakos indicated "uncer- tainty" as to whether the "new state of Greece" was in need of a parliament. Meanwhile, the Greek constitu- tion and its "Bill of Rights" have been indefinitely suspended. The Army High Command has been purged of 60 per cent of its senior members. All political parties have been abolished and their leaders are in conditions ranging from "house arrest" to exile in remote A large crowd views one of Greece's many theatre festivals. The new military junta has banned the plays of Euripides and Aristophanes "to protect the moral, spiritual, artistic and cultural standards of the people." task of economic and social reha- bilitation without resorting to a dictatorship. WHAT ABOUT THE position of the United States government in this affair? It's original reaction was one of "regret." Unfortunately the "selective embargo," imposed on some arms shipments to Greece soon after the coup seems to be almost over, according to a recent State Department announcement. The mnilitary aid provided by the United States to protect Greek democracy from external threats has been used to suppress democ- racy from within. The stability so far maintained by the junta seems to satisfy the State Department, while the United States' strategic interest in the area overrides any consideration for open American pressure on the junta to return the country to democratic rule. Senator Claiborne Pell's (D-RD, suggestion that it would be in the long-run interest of the United States to have a neutral and dem- ocratic Greece rather than a gar- rison state ally supported by Unit- ed States money and arms, went unnoticed. With the United States' inaction in the early days after the coup and at a time of a larger crisis in the Middle East, American and world attention was diverted away from Greece. The junta'thus succeeded in consolidating its posi- tion of absolute power. We would like to point out to the reader that in the Committee for the Restoration of Democrary in Greece, we are above party pol- itics or support of particular polit- ical personalities in Greece. We are alarmed by the lack of any serious official American reaction against the first military takeover, of a democratic state in western Europe since the Second World War. We are concerned because the Greek communists may have now found the cause they have been searching for in their own repeated attempts to destroy the Greek democracy. We are finally alarmed because in the last thirty years we have seen the rise of dictatorships out of international apathy, because as a result of this we have lived through wars and civil unrest, be- cause we are now once more wit- nessing history repeating itself, this time in Greece. We are not mislead by the "tranquility" that exists in Greece since April 21. When the freedoms of the Greeks were forcibly sup- pressed, silence became the ulti- mate protest for a people who took pride in their freedom to speak, write, and be politically active. Greece will find no tranquility in the future until its military have returned to their barracks, leaving it to the Greek public alone to decide their political fu- ture in free and competitive elec- tions for all political parties. island prisons, where many are currently awaiting trial by "un- biased" special military tribunals. The number of political prisoners as reported by The Economist (June 17, 1967) in an interview with Brig. Patakos, reached at one time the figure of more than 10,000 men and women. The Greek press is completely censored. Of the sixteen daily newspapers of Athens, two have been permanently closed down by the junta. In protest, four others are not publishing, but the re- maining daily papers are currently filled with uniform praise for the new regime. The censorship has expanded to include even the Greek theater to "protect the, moral, spiritual, artistic and cul- tural standards of the people." This was done by reviving an "ex- isting law," a decree promulgated during the 1942 Nazi occupation of Greece. Now, twenty-five hundred years after they were written, the masterpieces of Aristophanes and Euripides have been banned in their native land. Freedom of assembly and speech are also denied to the Greeks. Meanwhile Greeks living abroad, who do and can still criticize the new regime, have been branded as "traitors" who "have denied their own country" and as "communists or paid foreign agents' by Brig. Patakos. Melina Mercouri lost her Greek citizenship and had her property expropriated in Greece because, while in the United States, she has publicly condemned the military dictatorship. Greek stu- dents abroad have been given a stern warning not to criticize the new regime, with implied threats on their parents in Greece, in a Greek bulletin distributed by the Embassy's Information Service from Washington on June 26. No one is thus allowed to disagree with the moral and political editcs handed down by the infallible leaders of Greece who have just rediscovered the Divine Right of Kings. THE UNIVERSITIES and col- leges in Greece are purged of pro- fessors who show "disloyalty to the prevailing social regime or na- tional ideals." The music of Mikis Theodorakis, a world famous Greek composer, has been banned from the state radio, and playing his records is a crime punishable by a military tribunal. Yannis Ritsos, an elder poet of Greece, with many Euroepan literary prizes, is also under arrest for his free verse. The ilegal Greek regime, backed by the force of Americansupplied armor, is now attempting to revise the constitution it suppressed. A handpicked "Committee of Ex- perts" is now working to apply the junta's guidelines into a constitu- tional framework, which may be put to a referendum, if approved by the military. It is doubtful whether a constitutional revision, approved by a referendum under present conditions can truly claim thte public's support. Assuming that certain constitutional amend- ments may contribute toward fu- ture political stability in Greece, this can be more effectively done by a freely elected assembly. Ref- erendums have been used by other dictators and their political in- variably met with unqualified "popular approval." Whatever the claims of the junta may have been about the serious- ness of the Greek political and economic conditions prior to April 21, the means chosen by them to bring about changes are unwar- ranted by the actual situation. In the late forties, Greece met Com- munist aggression in three full years of fighting and faced the I 4 4 4 .................. 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A..". M.. }.... . ....5.. .r .4.5. .1"L.h.{ .5.'iSfY."n !.:J'OM1LSM: ii:::i:.: '. } G a icac s Besse i*n Gray Flannel Sul*ts By BETSY TURNER What is a radical professional -and what does a supposedly "so- cially aware and politically con- scious" teacher, lawyer, doctor or social worker have to do to qual- ify for this title? Although a wide expanse of questions facing this "class of workers"-the radical profession- als-were discussed here last week at the Conference on Radicals in the Professions sponsored by the Radical Education Project, this one was inexcusably neglected, be- cause everyone attending thought he was already a radical. However, after taking a good look at the questions which gain- ed top priority positions at the conference, it is evident that no considerable radical social change will gain its momentum from the professional group as it now stands. JUDGING from those attending the conference, a radical profes- sional is a man who professes to support a "radical" analysis of so- ciety-and sees the need for dras- tic change-but also one who has a distinct stake in continuation of existing social institutions. He is often a doctor or lawyer who sym- pathizes with the community or- ganizer, but somehow can't bring himself to go out into the field. And, where is this man predom- inantly found? In the middle or upper middle class. Many members of the profes- sional group are sympathetic to the "movement" causes and many have made an effort to aid them. But few-and these few have long since left the middle class-sup- port it wholeheartedly. One difficult task. of the con- ference, and one which was nev- er accomplished -- was defining what it means to be "radical" and "professional" at the same time. In the traditional sense, a radi- cal, sometimes termed a revolu- tionary, is pictured by the out- side world, as well as by these rad- ical professionals, as sporting a torn workshirt, heavy boots and a three-dav growth of beard. He be found everywhere at the con- ference. One observer attending a workshop dealing with the health professions, noted: "Everyone discussed all the won- derful medical organizations in the slums and the anti-war move- ment among doctors, but, when someone frankly asked if the es- tablished doctors in the room would be willing to live on only a $12,000 income, silence sudden- ly prevailed." : ANOTHER SOLUTION to the dilemma of a middle class income and how "radical consciences" can be relieved, was offered by Mike Zweig, Grad, in a paper prepared especially for the conference deal- ing with radicals as University professors. "A starting assistant professor these days can expect to make on the order of $10,000 an academic year, more than three times the income of teaching fellows, re- search assistants or other student types," he stated. "If we learn to give away, say 10 per cent an academic year of this income quickly, before we learn to spend it, a substantial sum could be raised internally for the move- ment." Perhaps this is where radical professional must start-at the 10 per cent deduction level. The question of what it means to be radical and still maintain a middle class life style-and if, in fact, it can be done-was fin- ally met headon in a conference discussion, but not until late Sun- day afternoon. Only 25 people par- ticipated in the debate. SOME GENERAL, but impor- tant issues were pinpointed, and agreed upon, such as: -The deadening influence ex- ercised by the middle class way of life; -The time needed to support a middle class life style which de- ducts energy from radical work; - The extreme pressure to maintain, at all costs, the secur- ity which accompanies a middle class status which ultimately pre- vents expression of radical ideas. However, this idea was purely speculative and was not gener- ally viewed as a viable alterna- tive. IN SPITE of these observations, the Conference on Radicals in the Professions-though, perhaps mis- named-was useful in that it pro- vided an area for discussion of common problems, presentation of new concepts, and challanges and some re-evaluation of so-called ex- isting radical programs. A few community organizers, private community teachers and others working outside the sys- tem also attended. This provid- ed a means for valuable interac- tion between two groups that us- ually have little contact. Seventeen papers containing nu- merous constructive suggestions for action were prepared before the conference was held and dis- tributed to those attending. If acted upon, these also may prove valuable. The conference, then, made it painfully evident that radical pro- fessionals - or, more correctly, those who think they are radicals -are not, in any sense, compon- ents of a radical social movement. Some basic questions have yet to be answered, and in many cases, have not even been asked. Some of these questions were touched on during the weekend but, by no means exhausted. The conference was a begin- ning-but only a meager begin- ning. . Y yrer .> x.i. r a~r ! ,i ' ' * Ala 1 ' U""r idj~w Iar~ Summer Editorial Staff LAURENCE MEDOW ....................... Co-Editor STEPHEN FIRSHEIN........................Co-Editor MARK LEVIN ............ Summer Supplement Editor