Page 4-Sunday, September 10, 1978-The Michigan Daily
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Eighty-Nine Years of Editorial Freedom
Vol. LIX, No. 4 News Phone: 764-0552
Sunday, September 1, 1978
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
tS a copforanyway
5 years of repression can't
obscure Allende's camelot
WATEVER HAPPENED to the
cop on the beat, the friend of
the community, the one person
everybody knew and respected. He;
seemed to symbolize, to the law
abiding citizens he served and
protected, authority and safety when
he walked down the street twirling his
night stick.
He was the judge and jury for most
small infractions of the law often
imparting fair penalties or strong
warnings with a wisdom questioned by
few, unlike his modern day
counterpart who mechanically
blankets the car-filled streets with
tickets.
But times have changed and that
inspiring picture of our men in blue has
gone the way of Times Square.
Nonetheless, we still can't help
believing that this is what an officer of
the law should be.
However, a recently implemented
incentive program in the Ann Arbor
Police Department is geared toward
keeping that ideal cop a thing of the
past. Under this new incentive
program officers will be evaluated
periodically' on the basis of
achievements in eight areas including
how many tickets written, for parking
or moving violations and the number of
felony arrests.
High scorers will be rewarded with
stints on different jobs learning to
investigate various crimes such as
breaking and entering and narcotics.
The ratings also will help determine
promotions.
Policy Chief Krasny said he hopes
the new program will make the force
more efficient and reward officers
without raising their salaries. Krasny
said the program should increase
productivity for the man hours spent in
the patrol car or on the street. He said
also the program will provide an
analysis of the officers strong and
weak areas.
But some of the cops on the street
disagree with Ann Arbor's top law
enforcement officer. One officer said
he thinks the program will force him to
write a ticket rather than just issuing a
verbal warning. He also said he feels
like his superiors are imposing a quota
system.
We agree with the sentiments of this
officer and feel a ticket or quota
system of any type is unfair and does
not serve the public interest. This
program is not really a quota system,
however, it certainly does encourage
officers to write more tickets to "beat
the other guy."
The department is to be commended
for the reported drop in the crime level
by 10-15 percent per year fot the last
four years. But increasing the number
of tickets issued and arrests made does
not necessarily ensure that the crime
level will continue to plunge.
We think the force can become more
responsive to the community in ways
other than the more obvious tickets
and arrests. Warnings can be just as
effective as tickets without relaying
the message to the citizen's
pocketbook.
To create a type of dog-eat-dog
competition in the police departent
detracts from its primary function -
to protect and serve the community.
Moreover it makes the department
less responsive to the needs of the
community.
What Ann Arbor needs is a little
more of the "old-time cop" out on the
street working with people, not against
them. The community needs police
who use a little tact and discretion. We
need officers who are, quite literally,
public servants in the true sense of the
phrase.
Police departments in other cities
have the right idea. In Detroit and
Kalamazoo officers are rated on
relations with the community,
judgement, maturity, lack of
prejudice, patience, reliability, and
resourcefulness. These qualities-
should be promoted, not an officer's
ability to write traffic tickets.
Like many areas in our society,
financial gain has replaced pride and
satisfaction in one's work as an
incentive to do a good job. The new
incentive program in the Ann Arbor
police Department is based on
personal gain. Such a program can
only help to further deteriorate
already borderline relations between
the police department and the
community it serves. The program
should be closely re-examined and
altered to make the Ann Arbor police
more responsive to the community.
Monday, September 11, will mark the fifth
anniversay of the end of democracy in Chile.
On that day in 1973 the constitutionally-
elected government of President Salvador
Allende was overthrown in one of the
bloodiest coups in the history of Latin
America. Allende's Popular Unity
government had drawn world attention in its
unique and unprecedented attempt to bring
about a peaceful transition to socialism. This
transition, known as "la via chilena," was to
be accomplished through legal and
constitutional means. Since the coup,
however, all constitutional rights have been
abolished and Chile's military rulers have
been cited again and again by the United
Nations and Amnesty International for
flagrant violation of human rights.
Allende was elected on September 4, 1970.
While he considered himself a Marxist,
Allende led a broad coalition of Chile's major
leftist and center-left parties known as the
Popular Unity. All the efforts of this
government were directed at a radical
transformation of Chilean society: major
industries (including U.S.-owned copper
mines) were nationalized or expropriated,
extensive, radical agrarian reform was
implemented and unemployment was brough
to a record low. Ultimately, the government
hoped to redistribute wealth throughtout the
country and redirect the economy towards
satisfying the basic needs of the Chilean
people.
Indeed, the initial results of this program.
... the effort of the United
By Eliana Loveluck and
Peter Kornbluh
supporter of the Chilean constitution and
committed to the political neutrality of
Chile's armed forces. His murder was the
first political assassination of a major public
figure in Chilean history.
Despite such clandestine operations,
Allende was inaugurated. Rather than abate,
the effort of the United States government
accelerated in an attempt to "destabilize"
Chile's economy and make it impossible for
Allende to govern. These efforts, which
included cutting off all bilateral and
multilateral aid to Chile, were directed
mainly by Henry Kissinger, with the help of
several U.S. corporations, such as ITT.
Within Chile, Allende's enemies organized a
virulent campaign against the government.
Allende faced an opposition Congress and an
extremely hostile media, led by the largest
Chilean daily newspaper, El Mercurio. This
paper was owned by the Edwards family, the
wealthiest family in the country. Taking
advantage of the Popular Unity's scrupulous
respect for freedom of the press, the media
openly attacked Allende, going so far as to
call for his immediate overthrow. Many of the
newspapers and radio stations involved in
such slanderous activities received CIA and
U.S. corporate funding.
A CIA-supported truck owners' strike, food
shortages, and inflation exacerbated Chile's
economic crisis in 1972 and 1973. Of course, no
aid was forthcoming from the Nixon
administration, which only provided $12.5
million in grants to the Chilean military. The
culmination of the crisis was the military
coup d'etat on September 11, 1973. Allende
and thousands of other Chileans lost their
lives on that day. With them died all of Chile's
long-standing democratic traditions.
Since its assumption of power, the Chilean
military junta, led by Augusto Pinochet, has
shocked international observers with its
ruthless methods of eliminating all opposition
to its rule. In contrast to Allende's respect for
all freedoms in Chilean society, the military
junta institutionalized political repression
and made the violation of human rights
systematic. Both the United Nations and
Amnesty International have documented the
fact that tens of thousands of persons have
been killed or herded into jails and camps
where torture has been routine.
Academic fredom and university
autonomy, as well as cultural freedom in
general, have been eliminated by the
generals.
Economic repression is also endemic in
Chile. For the majority of Chileans, the
economic situation has become unbearable,
as consumer prices have risen over 400 per
cent and unemployment has reached
unprecedented highs. Still, the junta is
following the severe austerity measures
recommended by University of Chicago
economist Milton Friedman, measures that
place the burden of the crisis on the Chilean
working class.
As a result of this political and economic
repression, approximately 1 million
Chileans-roughly 10 percent of the entire
Chilean popultion-have been forced into
exile during the five years of military rule.
The junta's brutality was demonstrated on
September 21, 1976, when Orlando Letelier
Chilean ambassador to the U.S. under th
Popular Unity government, was assassinted
in Washington. A bomb placed in Letelier'r
car exploded, killing the former ambassador
and his co-worker Ronni Moffit. The ensuing
investigation has traced the assassinatior
In contrast to Allende'
respect for all freedoms i
Chilean society, the military
junta 'institutionalize
political repression and mad
the violation of human right
systematic.
orders to General Manuel Contrera
Sepulveda, an intimate friend of Pinochet'
and former head of the Chilean secret polic
DINA. The bomb was made and placed in th
car by a U.S. citizen living in Chile an
working for DINA, Michael Vernon Trownle
According to Newsweek magazine, Townle
was a former CUA contact at the U.
embassy in Santiago.
In recent months, revelations of Pinochet
involvement in the Letelier murder ha
shaken his regime. He has labeled the U.
investigations of the Letelier case a part of a
"international Marxist campaign" design
to undermine his regime. Contrary to t
general's proclamations, however, it i
unlikely that there are any Marxists in th
Carter administration. In fact, the Carte
administration, its rhetoric of human right
notwithstanding, has failed to significall
lesson official U.S. support for the Pinoche
junta. U.S. arms continue to flow to Chil
through the "pipeline" of unfilled past order
The government sends economic aid to Chil
and U.S.-dominated internation
development agencies still financially pro
up the junta.
International pressure, Pinochet'
complicity in the Letelier assassination ant
the beginnings of organized domesti
opposition to the junta's rule may be the firs
signs of trouble for the ruthless dictatorship
According to a leading Chilean magazin
Hoy, 10,000 copper miners called a strike foi
August 14,-protesting government economi
policy and demanding pay raises an
freedom for trade union activity. Discort
among the junta itself became evident in Jul
of this year when General Gustavo Leigh wa.
ousted from the junta by Pinochet. Leigh ha
become a critic of extended military rule it
Chile.
Under increasing international pressurE
the Chilean junta has tried to polish its image
It has become more "sophisticated" in it
methods, but its brutal character has no
changed after five years. Solidarity with th
people of Chile and their struggle to en
military rule musthbe continued an
strengthened.
0
Eliana Loveluck and Peter Kornbluh arE
members of the Ann Arbor Committee
for Human Rights ,in Latin America
The views expressed here do not neces.
sarily represent the views of the Com
mittee.
States
government
accelerated in an attempt to
''destabilize'' Chile's
economy and make it
impossible for Allende to
govern. These efforts, which
included cutting off all
bilateral and multilateral aid
to Chile, were directed mainly
by Henry Kissinger, with the
help of several U.S.
corporations, such as ITT.
were impressive. The purchasing power of
Chile's working class rose markedly: total
real wages increased by 40 percent in 1971. At
the same time, however, external and
internal opposition to Allende and the Popular
Unity began to undermine these advances.
The greatest foe of Allende's
administration proved to be the United States
government. Opposed to Allende even before
his election, President Nixon instructed the
CIA "to play a direct role in organizing a
military coup in Chile to prevent Allende's
accession to the presidency," according to the
Senate Committee on Intelligence. This
directive led to CIA involvement in the
assassination of the Commander-in-Chief of
the Chilean military, General Rene
Schneider. Schneider was a staunch
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Letters to
The Daily
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editorial naivete?
To The Daily:
I was deeply di turbed by the
sophomoric attit .ae guiding the
Sept. 9th editorial against
Rodesian Prime Minister Smith.
The African scene .had been
simplified to a conflict between
righteous black nationalists and
racist white oppressors.
Though the editorial began
with a mild condemnation of the
attack on a passenger plane, it
-- _ - -.-A -+_ a t "it
problems could be solved
peacefully if Smith simply
disappeared.
First of all, numerous
massacres have occurred in
Rhodesia with or without
Nkomo's approval, and it seems
unlikely that the passengers
murdered each other. Secondly,
using the white supremacy
charge and subtly linking this
situation to the truly tragic
oppression in South Africa only
serves to obscure the complex
niiti o 'l +, ;fi n Rhodesia.
guerrillas are given free rein.
The militant leaders have stated
that the only acceptable solution
for Rhodesia's problems is a
guerrilla-run military
government with all other black,
as well'as white, leaders dealt
with in a manner appropriate to
such a system.
Clearly, for Smith to simply
"stap aside and allow the
inevitable to occur" would be the
start of bloodshed such as
Rhodesia has never seen.
--Thomas Trent
EDITORIAL STAFF
Editors-in-chief
DAVID GOODMAN GREGG KRUPA
Contact your reps
Sen. Donald Riegle (Dem.), 1205 Dirksen Bldg., Washington,
D.C. 20510
n Inhart..G iirRn Rn I t Runel BIdgE. Canitol Hill.
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