I
14e £irytgan Dadi
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FRIDAY, APRIL 21, 1972
NIGHT EDITOR: JAN BENEDETTI
}
On strike. End the wart
The not-unique story
of Hunyh Tan Mam
By MARNIE HEYN
IT's not a long story. It's not even unique.
Hunyh Tan Main lived twenty-six years. He attended medical
school. He was elected student president 'of the Medical College of
Saigon University. Then he was elected to bigger and better things-
president of the Saigon Student Union, president of the Vietnam
National Student Union, chairperson for the Provisional Student
Representative Board for Vietnam.
He chaired the Fourth Annual Vietnam Student Congress in
August, 1970. He, along with more than a hundred others, was ar-
rested there, placed in a tiger cage, blinded by lye, beaten, deafened by
blows to the head, and crippled by sodium pentathol injections com-
bined with electrical charges applied through electrodes.
He began a Fast to Death or Freedom, along with others. He
was released through demonstrated public sentiment.
IN NOVEMBER and December of 1970, he helped draft the, Peo-
ples Peace Treaty. On May 27, 1971, he and others were indicted for
treason and rebellion. He was imprisoned and tortured.
He was released when a civil court overturned a military tribunal's
conviction and sentence of death.
He was arrested again on January 5, 1972, beaten and tortured
because he refused to sign a confession of being a Communist.
On March 23, 1972, ten student leaders were indicted for treason
and rebellion.
One young man slashed his wrists and died in the courtroom. The
other nine dipped pens in his blood and signed a declaration vowing
resistance until death.
On April 5, 1972, a National Student Strike began in South Viet-
nam. Students in Hue and Da Nang are still on strike.
ON APRIL 14, the Provisional Revolutionary Government an-
nounced that Hunyh Tan Main died under torture on or about April 10.
We cherish not how long he lived, but how well. He is mourned.
He must not be forgotten.
Marnie Heyn is a former Student Government Council inember
and long-time activist against the war in Indochina. Much of the
information for this article came front Provisional Government
sources in Saigon.
4
WE STRONGLY urge students on this
campus to join in a nationwide
class strike today to demonstrate op-
position to President Nixon's expand-
ing air war in Indochina.
Students must inform the govern-
ment that its plan for a military vic-
tory in Indochina will be met with
stiff resistance at home. The bolstering
of Saigon's saggingg forces and corrupt
government with American resources
must end.
In the past year, many students have
turned away from the anti-war effort,
instead focusing their energies on con-
sumer and ecological pursuits.
These movements are important,
but recent developments in Vietnam
have given a sense of urgency to the
anti-war criess It is time to return our
attention to the war.
IT IS DIFFICULT to account for the
malaise that has overcpme Ann
Arbor. Like Berkeley, and other cen-
ters of anti-war activity, Ann Arbor
has seemed quiet and embittered.
But mass anti-war actions this week
at Harvard, at the University of Mary-
land, at the University of Wisconsin
and at other universities are encourag-
ing signs that student activism is re-
turning.
We hope it is. Certainly the President
and his coterie of policy makers could
use a loud and firm reminder that the
students of this country are against his
war - in even greater numbers than
ever.
IF STUDENTS merely boycott their
classes, the strike will not be a suc-
cess. Workshops and discussions are
planned throughout the day, with a
rally scheduled at 1 p.m. on the Diag.
Thus, it is most important that ev-
eryone come to cgmpus today - to
show renewed commitment to an anti-
war effort that has been tragically
weak in recent months.
-THE SENIOR EDITORS
- f
-a
7 [MS7
III n~e S S: Leae u alne -we'e ging
"OThe ntep-sysgneav-eus alone LivingrendoUn-g
employment . . ,.
Letters to ThDal
The war, the phones andyou
SUPPORT THE strike today but there is
something more that you can do -
Project Overload."
-It won't shut down the Pentagon and
it won't wipe GE off the face of the earth.
But it will scrape the nerves of the peo-
ple whose business it is to grease the air
war in Indochina. And if you join in, it
could put some steam in the- anti-war,
movement.
A vast communications network brings
together ITT, IBM, General Electric and
all the rest. And we can use our phones,
which are hooked up to the same system,
to tell the makers of war products and
war policy that we disapprove.
Just dial O, the area code and the
number and tell the operator its person-
to-person or collect. It doesn't have to
cost you a penny, and it's FUN.
TOLD A state department secretary
that I was calling person-to-person
for Secretary Rogers because I was con-
cerned about the air war. She said she
was, too, and mentioned the similar calls
she had already answered yesterday.
I called the products division of .one
Congfress:
big defense contracting firm and asked
for the explosives division - collect. They
accepted and we talked about cluster
bombs, machine guns and anti-personnel
gravel mines.
If 'you're lucky the secretary will ask
why you're calling and you can rap about
the war until someone hangs up - all
at no cost to you.
Here are the names and numbers of
some folks who might be interested in
discussing their business with you:
-Henry Kissinger: 202-456-1414;
-Harold Geneen, chairman, Interna-
tional Telephone and Telegraph: 212-752-
2000;
-Frederick Borsch, chairman, General
Electric: 212-750-2000; and
-James Binger, chairman, Honeywell,
Inc.: 612-332-5200. There are other peo-
ple you should taglk to as well, including
your friends.
BUT BY the way, don't call General
Westmoreland at 212-545-6700. He
won't be back until Monday.
ARTHUR LERNER
Editorial Page Editor
Strike!
THE RECENT BOMBING of
North Vietnam is an outrageous
act against the peoples of Indo-
china and America. We deny the
legitimacy of the present govern-
mental processes which serve the
interests of corporate and military
elites in blatant disregard of hu-
man life. It is not enough to say
that we object to the war but can
do nothing.
At this crucial time we cannot
allow past frustrations in dealing
with the war machine on national
and University levels to dictate a
course of inaction.
Now is the time for massive
protest against re-escalation of
the war. In this election year
President Nixon cannot ignore a
show of strength directed against
his foreign policy.
As students at the University. it
is particularly important that we
direct our protest against the Uni-
versity as well. For it is the clas-
sified research conducted under
the auspices of that institution
which has enabled the Pentagon
to shift the emphasis of the war
to the air and perpetuate new and
more horrible crimes against the
people of Indochina.
There is no such thing as a non-
partisan institution. This univer-
sity is actively involved in the
perpetuation of the war.
As student representatives from
the LSA governmental body we
-Support the strike that has
been called by students, faculty.
administrators, employes of the
University and the community at
large in conjunction with the Na-
tional Student Strike on Friday,
April 21;
-Support the closing of the,
University until the complicity is
ended; and
-Strongly support and encour-
age efforts to bring about an im-
mediate end to all U.S. involve-
ment in Indochina.
-LSA Student Government
April 20r
Don't strike!
To The Daily:
WEDNESDAY NIGHT THE
LSA Student Govt. Executive
Council passed a resolution pur-
suant to U.S. involvement in the
Indochina war. We members of
the L.S.A. Executive Council op-
pose this resolution.
We view the purpose of LSA
government to be an agency which
acts on behalf of legitimate stu-
dent interests. We deem the pas-
sage of political resolutions to be
totally outside the scope of proper
LSA government activity.
Furthermore, as the representa-
tive body of all literary college
students, we oppose the notion
that the LSA Student Government
has the right to take political
stands (with which many liter-
ary college students may dis-
agree).
As for the resolution itself, we
find ourselves in substantial dis-
agreement with most of its con-
tent.
We oppose a strike of the aca-
demic community to protest U.S.
involvement in Indochina. Quite
apart from the moral status of the
involvement, we must oppose the
notion that University services
should not be available for those
not in sympathy wit~h the strike.
Politicization of the University,
for whatever goal, is wrong.
Additionally, we believe, con-
trary to what the resolution states,
that the bombing of North Viet-
nam was not an escalation of the
War. It was clearly a response
to a dramatically increased North
Vietnamese reign of terror and
destruction in the South.
We also favor an end to U.S.
involvement in Vietnam. We be-
lieve that U.S. troops should come
home as quickly as possible, with
due regard for their safety. How-
ever, we recognize that we have a
right to speak only for ourselves,
and not for the entire body of
literary college students.
Therefore, we, who constitute
fully one-third of the literary col-
lege student govt. Executive Coun-
cil, must make our opposition to
this resolution known.
-Alan Harris
Stuart Weiner
Patrick Heller
William Crawforth
Mark Wood
April 20
*'
SARA FITZGERALDs.r
f
Niton: Conducting
Saturns and SAMs
RICHARD NIXON is a magnificent conductor.
With the wave of his baton, the maestro draws out the crescen-
does, puts the trumpets at forte, the violins at pianissimo and muter
a too-tinny media.
After years of practice, he knows just how to put the pieces to-
gether - like sending up Saturn rockets to the moon while he sends
bombs over North Vietnam.
On February 5, 1971, the headlines roared with the news that the
Apollo 14 mission had landed safely on the moon. The same day the
United States confirmed that it had provided air support to the South
Vietnam invasion of Laos.
And last Sunday as network television's best assumed their spots in
their paneled anchor rooms at Space Center, Houston, U.S. journalists
in South Vietnam were blocked from the besieged city of An Loc.
MORE IMPORTANT, while Richard Nixon assumed a no-comment
stance on the current action, we were diverted by one more example of
the all-American exploit.
Admittedly moon shots aren't what they used to be. If you've
seen one, you've seen them all.
But then the conductor doesn't have to worry. For after all, the
war's gotten pretty boring too.
But he keeps throwing in new trills and flourishes anyway. And
we get moon rovers, golf shots for the Sunday enthusiast, and comic
banter routines - all in new-and-improved moon-to-earth color each
time.
His planning goes beyond the war though. We'll all remember how
we sat in front of the tube on a hot Sunday night in the summer to
/ hear the master himself proclaim the plans of his wage-price freeze.
SO IT SEEMS that the North Vietnamese have no need for a
CIA or highly developed intelligence network.
For, like soldiers. of old, they can plan their attacks - not by the
movement of the moon - but to it.
Helping executives fight the freeze
By PETER MUNSING
[F YOU ARE disillusioned with
the American political pro-
cess you may be wondering why
I am writing this article. After
all, the news of the creation of
another tax break for large cor-
porations will bring a response
of "So, what else is new?"
Except that this is potentially
the largest single loophole in
American tax history, averaging
about one billion dollars per
year, and it may stimulate some
to work actively against Nixon
in the Fall. But above all, it is
too good an example of Mur-
phy's law in action to go untold.
The story begins in 1969, when
the proposal to create the DISC
(Domestic International Sales
Corporation) was sprung upon
Congress in a rider to the Tax
Reform and Relief Bill. Natter-
ing nabobs of negativism have
claimed that el Presidente was
starting to pay back his contrib-
utors so that their phone service
wouldn't be cut off due to lack
of funds.
Anyway, the proposal became
bogged down in the Senate Fi-
nance Committee (SFC) where
panderers of pessimism such as
Sen. Albert Gore (D-Tenn.) felt
that IRS was creating another
tax loophole. Then it tried to
sneak in the back door in 1970
as part of the Trade Bill, but
failed SFC 2, DISC 0.
HOWEVER WITH THE un-
stopable momentum of a wart-
night cleaned out their files.
Since no one in the White House
could understand the proposal,
it was decided not to stifle it."
The proposal was to allow the
establishment of a DISC a dum-
my subsidiary through which
any corporation could funnel its
exports.
Setting up a DISC entitles a
corporation to a 50 per cent tax
break on its export sales pro-
fits, though according to Har-
vard Law School Prof. Stanley
Surrey export profits "would
very often include manufactur-
ing profits . .. The DISC money
is simply made available to the
companies and the Treasury will
ask no questions on how it is
spent."
This is because the only re-
quirements regarding the 50 per
cent break is that the money be
spent on "export-related activi-
ties" which includes loans to the
parent companies-naturally in-
terest free.
Sen. Gaylord Nelson (D-Wisc.)
pointed out that "The funds can
be used by large manufacturing
companies who are presently ex-
porters, for purely domestic ac-
tivities where the favored com-
panies are able to compete with
tax-free DISC money against
companies not so favored."
IF THE COMPANY is smart,
it will combine the DISC with a
Swiss or Panamanian tax-haven
subsidiary and reap even greater
benefits. thus avoiding a law
panies to lower prices or in-
crease advertising and thus
create Jobs.
In answer to the question of
loopholes, its supporters pointed
out that the tax break was ac-
tually a "deferral," neglecting to
point out that as the deferral
was "indefinite" in length by the
time the company paid back the
government the actual cost to
the company would only be $20
on each $100 deferred.
AS FOR THE EXPORT and
job creating potentials; studies
by two large corporations sub-
mitted to the Treasury Depart-
ment prior to passage of the bill
showed that the creation of a
DISC would have little if any
effect on the amount of exports
and the amount of promotion.
Studies by the SFC also showed
that the expected rise in exports
was largely unfounded.
Even if the companies did
lower their prices, it's like sell-
ing certain public offices on the
basis of the bribes to be obtain-
ed - you'll get a large number
of applicants of limited public
service. Exports could be great-
ly stimulated without any of
these gifts simply by devaluing
the dollar but that might make
us a pitiful giant.
The bill was onposed by Sens.
Church. Fulbrivht. Hart. Hartke.
Kennedy. McGovern. Monodale,
and Muskie. It was smoorted by
Sens. Eastland. Goldwater. Grif-
fin, McClellan, Stennis, and
Thurmond. Need I say more?
next year they would probably
continue this policy, because
there would only be a one per
cent tax advantage (read in-
crease in profits) from DISC
and this was really too insignifi-
cant an amount to lower prices.
And to think he worked for
two long years to get a 10 per-
cent tax advantage.
WHEN ASKED AFTER the
panel discussion whether, in
view of the lack of a govern-
ment watchdog, it would seem
that he and the top five or six
people at Ford could get incre-
mentally richer, he replied that
while this was a complex issue,
if he had to give a nutshell
answer, yes, they split it up.
Sure, there are only so many
bonuses an executive can get
in a wage freeze year, but there
are other ways of spending the
money besides loans to the par-
ent company.
There's export promotion,
such as a chalet at Gstaad
where clients can have confer-
ences. There are company cars
and company jets. There's even
tax deductible contributions to
various charities, not to mention
aid to urban areas such as San
Diego.
All cynicism aside. as Sen.
Fannin (R-Ariz.) said in de-
fense of DISC: "We are not just
talking about increasing exports
-we are talking about saving
the companies that are export-
ing.
TO WTHITC I can only add