94c Afr gigan Onog Seventy-ninie yeairs Of e(Iitorial free(IO1nI Edited and managed by students of the University of Michigan Beyond the purse lay an oppressive society 420 N jynard St., Ann Arbor, Mich. 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, OCTOBER 1, 1969 NIGHT EDITOR: MARTIN A. HIRSCHMAN I The white majority: Oppressed, alienated? By JIM FORRESTER MJICHIGAN is a pocket-b o o k school. Since I arrived on the campus in the summer of 1966, almost every issue students have em- braced has directly concerned their own interests rather than the wrongs which may or may not exist in society. From the 1966 class-ranking controversy to the bookstore, Michigan students have seen fit, not to fight for their rights, but to struggle for a more privileged place in an already sick society. But for those involved in yes- terday's strike, intimately invol- ved - not just carrying signs but examining problems and situations they have but previously glossed over - the issue has become the society. THE FORCE behind, this broad- ening of the issue is frustration. The involved students cannot un- derstand why the Regents exalt themselves as the representatives of the people when they ignore the very people that the bookstore af- fects most - the students. They look at the Regents a n d find, for strange and unexplained reasons, that every one of them comes from the upper crusts of the society. They talk to them and find their over-riding con- cern is for the values and func- tion of "free enterprise." They see them in Arn Arbor only two days of the month, eleven months of the year, and suspect their field of greatest expertise is the Uni- versity's football team. THESE STUDENTS admit their confusion and frustration and be- gin to wonder if their observations about the Regents and the book- store are not also observations about the reasons the world is in such miserable shape. The repression, epitomized by Fleming's actions during the LSA Building sit-in is forcing many to realize that the society is ulti- mately oppressive. They see as the first tool of repression t h e arrogant disregard of the people by "democratic" institutions os- tensibly constructed to protect them, and as the second tool they see force. . When either of these tools are put in use, the people have no recourse but struggle, and t h e latest manifestations of that struggle at Michigan ar° the North Hall take-over, the L S A Building take-over and the strike. You might remember this: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among Men, deriv- ing their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Gov- ernment becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abol- ish it, and to institute n e w Government, laying its foun- dations on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, .is to thi m shall s em most likely to effect t h e i r Saf ty and happiness." The Re':ents and, in fact, the entire structure of government, have b-come "destructive of these ends." The problems of blacks. workers, and other oppressed people in the society are system- atically, bureaucratically shuffled to the bottom of the deck. Perhaps the agitation of the past week will cause the Regents and Fleming to re-shuffle, cut again, and offer a "new deal" in attempt to ease the conflict now taking place. BUT THE struggle these in- volved students have entered upon will continue. They have asked an ultimate, fatalistic question- Why? Why can't the blacks in Pitts- burge, or any place else, get jobs in the building trades? Why, when workers spontan- eously lash out against the cor- poration they are enslaved by, do their own union internationals put them down, as at the Sterling Stamping Plant in April, 1969? Why, wh, n th° government of Iran responds to political dis- sent with imprisonment and mur- der. does the United States arm and train that government? And why have thousands of Americans died in a futile at- tempt to preserve an admitted- ly corrupt government in South Vietnam when hundreds of thous- ands of Vietnamese have died to end it? These questions are not answer- cd by the struggle for a book- store; at best they are raised by it. But free discussion and active dissent are not possible in a so- ciety that works to protect privi- lege at the expense of rights. Struggle has become the only way to cast off the chains t h a t bind us all, yet some look at struggle as a re-enactment of Nazi fascism. Well the fascism, brothers and sisters, is all around you, and time is the only factor standing between you and your being-consumed by it. The promise of struggle is the end of oppression: the promise of apathy is death. How do you think the whites like my- self feel when we see Black Power flags or when we see them give their Black Power salute? . . . They can wear their hair in the Afro style, but I don't think I could get away with wearing my hair like my ancestors did and I think my culture is as important as theirs. They can organize their Ju-Ju and Mau-Mau clubs, but what would happen if whites tried to organize a Klan or something? . . . THIS IS THE angry complaint of t he "oppressed" white middle class major- ity. And their wrath is directed at the lib- eral politicians whom they feel give pre- ferential treatment to blacks, Puerto Ri- ans and welfare recipients of all hues. These sentiments are not new. T h e y have been presented and analyzed in magazines and newspapers under the heading of the "Taxpayers Revolt" or the "Need for Law and Order." And the se- curity minded politicians are beginning Mouth money [N THIS TIME of escalating tensions it is time to consider ultimate, if not un- likely, tactics. What if a general strike fails? What if the Regents ignore it? How can the Regents be convinced to allow, give, bequeath greater student control of their lives? Hit them where it really hurts. Organ- ize a student tuition strike. Keep daddy's money out of clutches of the imperialist administration, keep your own money in the Student Credit Union. Those with state scholarships cannot participate. POSSIBLE goals of a tuition strike could be an end to ROTC on campus, a stu- dent book store, and low-rent University housing. Slogans are easy. How about, keep your money where your mouth is. MICHAEL THORtYN Junk KUDOS TO Roger Staples, Grad, who has discovered a new way to cut off the flow of "junk mail." The U.S. Post Office has told the Ann Arbor branch office to stop delivering such mail to Staples' house because he has declared that he finds it erotic and sexually arousing. I'm going to go look at my Sears Roe- buck catalogue again. -MAYNARD to heed the warnings of disgruntled whites ("The blacks c a n study African culture if they want to, but they had also better get in touch with America's cul- ture, because that's where they will be stopped if they don't.") and are no long- er hailing themselves as civil libertarians or humanitarians, but are waging their campaigns as the savior of the common man. THE MAYORAL election in New Y or k will provide an initial indicator of the actual political influence of this new po- litical bloc, since the election is largely a popularity contest between the styles of "Everyday People" Mario Angelo Procca- cino and "Beautiful People" John Vliet Lindsay. Ironically Lindsay supporters are a seemingly unlikely coalition of "fun people" and the malcontents they cham- pion, whereas the "Little Proc" plays on the sentiments of the average m a n- "the guy who works h a r d all day and maybe comes home too tired to move, but has to moonlight in order to pay h4s bills" --and late entrants into the middle class, who are insecure about the permanence of their new found wealth and status. The white majority claims they are tired of their taxes being used to support blacks and browns too lazy to work, to bus minority children to their schools, to build low income housing units in the middle of their suburbs, to initiate work programs which will not hire their own children. PRESIDENT NIXON, with index finger on the nation's pulse, seeks to assuage the frustrated whites by issuing a go slow order on school desegregation, by slicing anti-poverty programs in half, .by ignoring the relatively moderate requests of "responsible" Afro-American leaders. Unfortunately, "oppressed" whites will not find themselves more "liberated" or their pay checks fatter if the president continues the $26 billion American ego trip in Vietnam, morale building ventures such as the $5 billion supersonic trans- port (SST), the $10 billion moon rock gathering picnic and $50 billion boogey men defense complexes like the anti-bal- listic missile system (ABM), while he grants oil companies 26 per cent depletion rights. THE DISAFFECTED white majority would better achieve its goal of tranquil- ity and general prosperity if it does not allow itself to become the pawn of buck- passing, scapegoat-seeking politicians who will divert its pleas and dissipate its energies by encouraging the majority to vent its frustration against an alienat- ed minority. -LORNA CHEROT LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Strike To the Editor: AFTER CAREFUL considera- tion, the undersigned members of the history department have de- termined to participate in the na- tionwide October 15 Moratorium in protest against the continuation of the Vietnam war. Our intention is to suspend all routine academic functions on that day, and participate instead, as educators and scholars, in ac- tivities designed to examine the relation between the war, our uni- versity, and our society. We do not adopt this form of protest lightly. Our belief is that the horror of Vietnam, among o t h e r things, is contributing to the turmoil on our campus and mocking our values. We feel we h a v e a special responsibility as faculty to try and make our voic- es heard. We urge our colleagues to join us. -Mary Anglini -John Bowditch -Kenton Clymer -John W. Eadie -Albert Feuerwerker -John V. A. Fine, Jr. -Raymond Grew -William B. Hauser -Ralph Janin -R. P. Mitchell -William G. Rosenberg -G T. Scanlon -Roman Szporluk -Robert Sklar -Thomas Tentler -William Toll -G. A. Waggoner -Sam Bass Warner -Ernest P. Young -Marilyn B. Young Sept. 30 Irresponsible Editors To the Editors: IN THE early hours of this (Friday) morning, the normal calm around Markley hall was disturbed by an amplified mes- sage: "WE NEED YOUR HELP." The need for bodies to block the service of a temporary restraining order against occupation of the LSA building was proclaimed. As the message progressed, it became garbled and incomprehensible due to electrical flaws in the public address system. The whole effect for a « J vas something surrealistic unbelievable. Likewise was the effect o editorial by The Daily'ss editors in Friday's Michiganl extra. Only the editorial n of the comments saved them attack as irresponsible journ a defense which is not ava to the authors of slanted re elsewhere in the edition. AS A concerned liberal,l shocked that the behavio thoughtless radicals is cond nay supported, by college se on The Daily editorial staff cause of student control o decision-making process at university is a valid one. But it must be interpret student participation in co We are neither the only no most important participant university affairs. We are no only people with a stake in these affairs are conducted. The students participatin the LSA takeover, to the e that they have examined Alk moratorium taken count a many< { * on the may no are pre booksto existin It isc takes t terests is the ? -si tuatio jstores market. - context ly unin But V1S' - simple Univers control This is terest. -- fdoes fno student ing prc In f~ tion wN now, a * ""."|",". The D ment o unders and question at all, must believe that "leader the right of student dissent, albeit ning tl f the an important one, legitimately in- attemp senior cludes the right to prevail and to cesses Daily force prevalence with violence and iature illegal means if necessary. ONE from This is a frightening conclusion this wh alism if closely examined. As applied to fail to illable other interest groups, such as the suming eports faculty or the Regents, the con- knuckl cept that the "establishment" who re should have these rights would be Can t I am decried as fascism by student conced )r of radicals. But I fail to see how pens t oned, such a right can be otherwise in- hand,, eniors terpreted with respect to students mainin . The themselves. dentsv f, the We ca: this THE DAILY EDITORS entirel, dentsf misconstrue the decision-making which ed as process when they contend that More ntrol. there is an "administrative rejec- dents r the tion of legitimate student demands confor ts in for equitable participation in this can on at the process." The list of student means ministr how of participation in university af- Daily i fairs on this campus is too long to neg ig in to list. that, a xtent Certainly with respect to the was m this bookstore issue, the Regents have willingr in student interests at every step. A fa of the students n Diag or at the LSA at realize is that th pared to support re even at the ex g private bookstor certainly this supp the legitimate stu to heart. The who for a university1 need to break tl on existing with th as a result ofa . Student "contro t is a nebulous and mportant issue. who can fail to business interest ,ty in maintainii over its own expe hardly an illegit and as thusly in ot reflect generally ,role in the decis ocess. act, means of coi ith the administr end always have b aily's report on the of the LSA incider cores the fact tha s" spent more tit heir own "strategy ting to utilize t of communication IMPORTANT a hole question which take into accoun that the Univer; e under to student epresents studenti he University le e to one faction w] o mobilize and at the expense o g 99 per cent of which do not get nnot assume that favor the cause o take action. fundamentally, v assert the riaht mance with their ly be expected tha ation will fight b nterprets this as otiate, but it is cli s no tender of n ade. Negotiation d ness to bargain a Vietnam into ac- assert one's ,view unbendingly and act which with violence. riobilizing building THE DAILY'S attack on Presi- e Regents dent Fleming was therefore totally a student unjustified. We should be grateful xpense of that we are blessed with a liberal, es. compromise-oriented president. His career as a laboi' mediator testifies ort which to his emphasis on conflict resolu- ident in- tion, and if that is not enough, le justifi- his very liberal views about Viet- bookstore nam and society should endear he cartel him to the rest of us. ese book- a captive It is because he is a liberal that " in this he cannot condone anarchy and relative- the use of force to achieve goals which must be achieved only with an awareness of the legitimate see the rights and interests of other in- of thte terest groups. ing some nditures? Fleming clearly did not desire imate in- arrests. He made every effort to iterpreted attemot to dissuade students from upon the forcing the issue. He did not ion-mak- "force this confrontation"; the students brought arrest upon themselves. umunica- ation are THfE MOST distressing point is een open. that students generally do not develop- seem to be examining the under- nt clearly lying issues. Violence for violence's t student me plan- sake may become a norm on this " than in campus among those who, in the hese pro- name of a cause which does not . justify a building takeover, proceed spect of to do just that. we often The cause of student participa- it is, as- tion in University affairs can only sity must be hurt by this sort of irresponsible demands,- interests? conduct. This sort of action can gitimately realy only be based upon a con- hich hap- cept-lacking need for aggression- force its release and social action. Why f the se- don't we have more panty raids? the stu- involved? -J. Michael Harrison all stu- Resident Director f the 600 Scott House, Markley Sept. 29 vhen stu- to coerce I'-ti'stof revoliitioii views, it IC 0 u!l t the ad- To the Editor: ack. The A word to the wise campus rebel: a refusal A little Lenin is a dangerous thing. learly not, egotiation -J,mes H. Meisel emands a Political science dept. nd not to Sept. 29 Forgive your friendly neighborhood fascists By TOBE LEVA r1'HE LATEST revolutionary vogue has been a blind hatred of police as the inveterate enemies of peace and progress. But Friday morning at the LSA Building the police w e r e more hilarious than hateful, for their demented over-reaction to our "po- tent" threat to campus security and international peace. T h e weird melange of helmeted law-enforcers seemed better adapted to the foxholes of Normandy or Ko- rea. Most were locked in an ideologi- cal ghost town - Iwo Jima. Our sup- porters outside told them "the whole world was watching" but sloganeer- ing was obviously useless. How does one induce guilt in people who clos- ed their minds when they were six? Besides they were only following or- ders. Actually they were more fatigued than we, and they weren't even being paid overtime. We deluded ourselves w i t h fantasies of revolution while they pondered Pork Chop Hill. Some of us were incensed at their procrastination in arriving. Doug was 100 per cent right. It would have been infinitely better to have arrest- ed us early and not to have "fiddle- laddled around with those flaming but obviously our virile law-enforc- ers did not want to dawdle over sissy tactics. They grabbed the first peo- ple they approached by the back of the collar, jarring them off balance and yanking them rapidly toward the steps. The cops did nothing of an overtly illegal nature; they merely tried to be as brutal as they thought Larcom. Harris and Milliken would tolerate - or would have to tolerate. Police brutality convictions aren't everyday occurences. Their semi- brutality was very successful, the rest of us walked out u n d e r our own steam. The more unfortunate receiv- ed elbows and fists in the small of the back as they passed through the cop gauntlet by the door. AND THE ILL-FEELING didn't even compare with the animosity the cops showed for the street-people in June. Our ranks included sorority girls, fraternity boys, and cleancut freshmen - a general cross-section of the student community minus the ROTC cadets and perhaps the En- gineering School. Few of us resisted arrest and our singing exhibition on the first floor of the LSA Building solidified our gene Staudenmier, only less gabby. Marty McLaughlin describes this kind as "Your friendly neighbor- hood fascists." He informed me the Germans and Japanese had wanted to change the world just like me. Moreover, he said Korea was no different from Ger- many and Vietnam was no different from Korea. If America declared all out war on Venus he'd volunteer to- morrow to fight algae. ANOTHER OFFICER added an anecdote from his tenure in Vietnam. "I'm telling you that she was j u s t hanging there with her stomach rip- ped open, her fetus hanging out and her eyes ripped from their sockets, those V.C. a r e all animals." He'd probably acted with equal bestiality over North Vietnam, only ftr o m an airplane so he felt infinitely m o r e humane. The cops drilled me about the de- struction of property. Any destruc- tion which may have occurred was unplanned and unencouraged. We were obviously canny enough to know destruction could only provide am- munition for police, courts and med- ia. At no time had the b o d y of us voted to dismantle doors, break win- THE ARREST and detention pro- cedure were a drag, like going through registration after having taken final exams the day before. First we were fingerprinted a n d photographed at City Hall, and then fed into a detention room from which we were driven to the County Build- ing. We slept in a cold garage f o r ninety minutes before we were frisk- ed, allowed to make a phone call, and questioned about prior arrests a n d physical disabilities. We were chan- nelled into a regular cell until we were finally bailed out. The sheriff's deputy who drove us to the County Building informed us "Doug can be a really nice guy when you get the know him. I hate the Uni- versity with a passion and would live elsewhere if I could," he explained dispassionately in the tone he'd use to describe yesterday's ballgame or the weather. Another friendly neigh- borhood fascist. FIFTY MILLION Americans 1 i k e him hate us for what we did, a n d perhaps another fifty million think we were merely out of our minds. To either group we a r e indistinguish- able from any person in any cause which smacks in any way of anti-es- must be balanced with those of the alumni, Pentagon and Lansing? May- be he's convinced himself of the righteousness of his tactics to alle- viate mental stress and prevent manic depression. Of course a tool with fairly good intentions is still more tolerable than a Hayakawa; We might instigate an- other student strike if Lansing at- tempts to dump Fleming for an out- and-out reactionary. THEN WVHO ARE the villains of the whole enterprise, or are there any? The cops are hopelessly anal-re- tentive and Fleming is either that or hopelessly tooled by circumstances. There are no out-and-out villains nor should there ever be. But never- theless those students and faculty who asked why we acted so "mili- tantly" (sic) or thought is was the "wrong way to go about things even if you were right," or think academia should be separate from politics, or would rather strike for Vietnam (since by now its infinitely more respectable) are proper targets for anger. I am angered by those who endorse sitting back and conducting rational . _. : :.