9e Sirfiogan Bez
Eighty-one years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by stualenlts at the University of Michigan
superscription
Winning office as well as the vote
I
420 Maynard 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.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1971
NIGHT EDITOR: ALAN LENHOFF
Defeat of the foreign aid bill
IN A CONFUSED moment and for vari-
ous reasons, the Senate of the
world's wealthiest nation voted Friday to
stop most of its giving. Period. Over 22
years of steady, if controversial, eco-
and military aid was ended by a tired
Senate, a third of whose members had
already left for their weekend rest.
Those who defeated the $3.5 billion for-
eign aid bill formed a not-so-unique coa-
lition: fiscal conservatives anxious to
pare the nation's budget, anti-Vietnam
liberals, conservatives angered over the
expulsion of Nationalist China from the
United Nations, a few isolationists and
those fed up with the long and bitter de-
bate over parts of the measure. The one
thine they shared was a feeling that the
rationale behind foreign aid had lost its
former appeal.
REASONS for such disillusionment
are not heard to see. At the root of it is
the basic contradictions between the stat-
ed purpose of our aid and its applications.
From Harry Truman's Marshall Plan to
the current president's "Nixon Doctrine,"
the avowed aim has been to "help" the
poor nations of the world progress and
In so doing, aid the cause of world peace.
However, it has never been a desire for
peace as much as an irrational fear of
communism that has guided our efforts:
Thus, the bulk of governmental aid has
gone to anti-communist regimes, many
of whom are undemocier't. And the aid
has come in either outright military as-
sistance or grants with strings attached.
In either case, the result has been the
same-a convenient and unsubtle device
for the expansion of U.S. military and
economic interests abroad. Apparently,
safeguarding this potential for exploita-
tion was foremost in the thoughts after
Editorial Staff
ROBERT KRAFTOWIT2,
Editor
the bill's defeat Friday. President
and Secretary of State William I
lashed out first at the damage dc
"national security" rather than th
lief aspects of the bill.
Even so, there have been and st:
genuinely humane and productiv(
programs. But their presence as 1l
defined line items in bills like th
defeated Friday place liberals in th
sition of sacrificing their oppositi
militarist efforts in order to see the
tinuation of U.N. aid and certain
programs.
NOW, HOWEVER unwittingly, this;
has placed itself in a position o:
ing to do something about it.
"cleansing cathartic" which Idaho
ocrat Frank Church called the defea
now force Congress to formulate a
ternative to the current situation.
Nixon, for his part, has give:
weight, to nothing new. Surprised I
defeat of a bill he did little arm-twx
for, Nixon met hurriedly with th
tional Security Council Saturday t
vage his program.
Offering nothing in the way of a
tion, the Administration concluded
it would simply be best to ask for a
tinuation of last year's bill into
January's session along with an
tional $250 million for Pakistani reli
forts, as well as $150 million worthr
to South Vietnam to "maintain the
tively stable economic and social c
tions" there.
The Senate seems likewise unpre
with any new offering besides the s:
consensus against present p o li c 3
demonstrated in defeating the me.
The positions of most opposing Sei
had become so affected in the yea
debate that when the generally unex
ed victory came, the group retire
mass to-as one Senator put it-"di
the situation.
WHEN CONSIDERED in earnest,
understanding must come that
generosity has been quite small
compared to our disproportionate
of the world's wealth, and that ou
structive aid has predominated.
that is changed, our foreign aid pro
will continue to be a farce.
-MARK DILL
~ion and
The National Women's Political Caucus
formed this summer in Washington to sup-
port the election of feminists to office in
1972. Three women who attended the forma-
tive caucus meeting discuss here the potential
impact of a woman's political movement.
IF WE ACCEPT the premise engraved
in our high school texts that America
is a "representative democracy", then we
must conclude from our representatives
that America is overwhelmingly white,
middle-aged, power-mad, and male.
But these representatives mirror only a
portion of the American population, and
disaffected groups - including women -
are organizing for a more equitable voice in
the political offices which affect their lives.
The National Women's Political Caucus
- a non-partisan group formed this sum-
mer by 300 women from diverse b a ck-
grounds and interests - is currently back-
ing a grasroots movement to elect femin-
ists to office in 1972.
THE CAUCUS - considering its wide-
ly-based constituency - has adopted as
its statement of purpose a surprisingly
radical platform. Among its guidelines:
-Repeal of all laws that affect a woman's
right to decide her own reproductive and
sexual life;
-Immediate withdrawal from Indochina,
and a resolution that the U.S. will never
again violate any nation's right of self-
determination;
-An end to war, and support for inter-
national agreements to end the arms race,
and an end to the use of physical violence,
the traditional "masculine" method of re-
solving conflict,
lines are party Republicans, Democratic
congresswomen, civil rights leaders, a n d
union officials. And despite their political
differences, they are united on the issue
of female participation in governmental
affairs - and so hold the potential to
strongly affect the political games of 1972.
The Caucus stresses the importance of
the grass roots organizing - attempting to
elect local school boards as, well as a
president of the United States.
In Michigan, the Caucus will convene
in Lansing Nov. 6 to organize state activi-
ties, and, hopefully, women from across
the state representing a broad range of
racial, economic, age, and social differences
will unite to develop a potent feminist
political movement.
A basic concept of the Caucus is that
it can elect feminist women - women
not conditioned to "masculine" precepts, of
aggressiveness and domination, who for
this reason will enact legislation geared
towards a society liberated from the de-
structive, traditional world view.
And this will happen, Caucus leaders
argue, if a real "representative democracy"
is effected - where at least 50 per cent
women and at least 20 per cent non-
whites are elected to political office.
EVENTUALLY, we may achieve the
right representation and place the political
coloration in its proper place on the spec-
trum. Groups like the National Women's
Political Caucus are clearly a beginning
towards the reordering of our politicians
and our priorities.
-Courtesy of Chicago Sun-Times
REP. SHIRLEY CHISHOLM (D-N.Y.) announces her candidacy for the presidency
last month at the Black Expo in Chicago.
Also included are demands for revisions admits, "but we believe that this coun-
in health and child care, welfare, and try's enormous resources could be more
housing. than enough. They need only be reorder-
"We recognize the economic burden of ed to pay for life instead of for death."
such sweeping social change," the Caucus Among the women endorsing these guide-
omen 's politics: A new American ethos
By BELLA ABZUG
WE ARE HERE to serve notice
that, as we approach the
200th anniversary of our nation.
we will no longer take second
place or last place to anyone. We
are going to demand and win
equal status iii politics, equal pay
and recognition in our work, full
equality in our civil rights and
in every aspect of our lives.
And we are going to build a
practical, realistic political move-
nent with the strength of millions
of women behind it to win our
objectives. Of course, we're going
to have opponents, many of them
very important men.
Just last week Manny Celler
who is 80 years old, a very sweet
man, and the head of the House
Judiciary Committee, repeated at
a committee session his favorite
saying that "you can't change
nature," that women are differ-
ent. And besides, he said, women
weren't even at the last supper.
When I heard about that, I told
him, "Maybe we weren't at the
last supper, but we're certainly
going to be at the next one."
Though we may disagree on or-
ganizational and tactical prob-
lems, those of us meeting here to-
day are agreed on one point:
Women should be fully represented
in the political power structure, in
all branches of government, at all
levels - and they should be re-
presented as a matter of right, as
a matter of simple justice.
WE KNOW THE facts. Women
are a majority of the population.
Yet throughout our history and
now, 50 years after the suffrage
victory, they are still almost in-
visible in government, in elected
posts, in high administrative de-
cision-making positions, in t h e
judiciary.
Just as Lincoln asked whether a
nation could endure half slave and
half free, we must ask whether
our nation can endure with its
population only half represented
in government. And, as that, half
is an exaggeration.
The truth is that although
women are the largest group to be
shut out of political power, they
are not the only ones. A n e ws-
paper columnist (Clayton Fritch-
ey) pointed out the other day that
the U.S. House of Representa-
tives has the distinction of being
the most unrepresentative body in
JIM BEATTIE
Executive Editor
DAVE CHUDWIN
Managing Editor
STEVE KOPPMAN .... .. Editoria Page Editor
RICK PERLOFF Associate Editorial Page Editor
PAT MAHONEY ... Assistant Editorial Page Editor
LYNN WEINER ........ Associate Managing Editor
LARRY LEMPERT.......Associate Managing Editor
ANITA CRONE................. ........ Arts Editor
JIM IRWIN:................. Associate Art Editors
ROBERT CONROW .............. . . ... Books Editor
JANET REY ....................Personnel Director
JIM :JtJDKIS...... .......... ... Photogra; 'v Editor
REP. BELLA ABZUG (D-N.Y.) speaks to the women's caucus of
the state Democratic party last month.
On
liberal
political
By PAULA PAGE
F THE SOLE avowed function or pur-
pose of the National Women's Po-
litical Caucus is to elect women to lo-
cal, state and federal office, to achieve
a more equal representation of women
in government, then I feel it is a super-
fluous, and even a dysfunctional organ-
ization. It is counter-productive for any
,woman who is genuinely concerned
about eliminating sexual stereotyping,
about expanding opportunities for her-
self and all her sisters, and about re-
structuring the social roles of this so-
ciety.
To paraphrase Malcolm X, if you want
a revolution you don't ask the oppres-
sors to let you join them.
If we want a transformation of wom-
en's lives, if we believe in women's lib-
eration as a means toward total human
liberation, rather than as a useful ideo-
logy to support or rationalize the ego-
tistical desires of some women to in-
crease their privileges and prestige,
then we cannot commit ourselves to any
group which will endorse candidates on
the basis of physical equipment alone,
or which is still playing the political
game by men's rules.
We must create our own power base
and structure, to challenge that which
has been developed by the masculine
mind, and to offer a real alternative to
traditional American politics, both in
content and form.
WOMEN'S OPPRESSION must be re-
cognized as only one aspect of a care-
fully constructed system of domination
and oppression which must be com-
pletely restructured. The irony of the
women's liberation movement is that
some of its most vocal proponents have
failed to appreciate the revolutionary
implications of some of their seemingly
liberal demands,
-Associated Press
s truggle
A REAL VICTORY LIES in the edu-
cation which women would receive from
setting up and carrying out their own
program and actions, the experience
they would accumulate by working with
their sisters and for their sisters with-
out direction from men, the insights
they would gain from presenting a real
challenge to the macho-power struc-
ture of our society. This kind of ex-
perience would be the most potent con-
sciousness-developer possible for women
within the system of electoral politics,
and consciousness-raising is in turn the
most powerful and vital means of build-
ing support and solidarity among
women.
I would like to finish with a quote
from a paper by Roxanne Dunbar,, en-
titled "Female Liberation as the Basis
for Social Revolution" which indicates
the basic function which I believe the
National Women's Political Caucus can
serve. In this article she speaks of the
"clear field" which the winning of legal
rights for women will establish, the un-
ambiguous background which legal
rights will create and against which the
real meaning of women's liberation will
become clear. She cautions that these
rights are not the answer to women's
problems and needs:
We now operate within the demo-
cratic republic (capitalist govern-
ment) which Marx and Engels right-
ly saw as necessary to the revolution-
ary process in an industrial economy.
Women will soon have nominal equal
rights, and perhaps will even gain
rights to their own bodies through
legalized abortion. These legal rights
do not mean much in reality for
women (or for anyone) and such
rights are never really won, but given
by the system to preserve itself, as it
needs to absorb pressures. But equal
rights give women confidence to fight,
the West-and the Senate is not
much better.
Both houses are dominated by
a male, white, middle-aged, middle
and upper class power elite that
stand with their backs turned to
the needs and demands of our
people for realistic change to
create a society with human and
healthy values.
A RECENT survey showed that
large numbers of Americans be-
lieve our country is headed for a
breakdown. They see enormous
problems in our society, and only
the most limp and ineffectual ef-
forts by the congress and admin-
istration to deal with them. And
they are deeply troubled.
Women look at a nation run by
a male executive branch, a male
Congress, a male Pentagon, and
male corporations and banks, and
they rightly ask:
Would we, if we shared equally
with men the authority of gov-
erhment, would we condone the
spending of more than a trillion
dollars in the past 25 years for
killing and useless missiles when
Congresswoman Bella Abzug,
(D-N.Y.), is a member of the
Policy Council of the National
Women's National Caucus.
our cities are dying of neglect -
when families go homeless a n d
hungry - when our young people
are becoming more and more
alienated from a society they re-
gardas without soul or purpose?
I think not.
Sometimes as I go through the
rigorous and often very frustrat-
ing process of representing a half
million from my district, a district
with incredible problems of sim-
ple survival, I wonder about t h e
kind of America we could create
if we had a fully representative
Congress.
Suppose that instead of just, 11
of us women in the House, there
were more than 200; instead of
just one in the Senate, there were
50. And suppose that instead of
only 12 blacks, there were f i v e
times as many, and that spokes-
men and spokeswomen for the
Chicanos and American Indians
and other minority Americans were
there too.
And suppose that instead of
having just middle-aged and old
men on capitol hill, more t h a n
half of our representatives w e r e
under age 35, as is true of our
population as a whole. And in-
stead of mostly businessmen and
lawyers, we had representatives of
working people, trade unionists
and educators, migrant farmwork-
ers and health specialists and soc-
ial workers, artists, city planners,
scientists and Vietnam veterans-
Americans whose lives and ex-
periences have been molded in the
real. total America, in our tor-
mented, polluted, overpopulated,
scared, violent, divided but still
promising and magnificent land.
I BELIEVE that such a- con-
gress would be better equipped to
meet the problems of our society
than is our present house of semi-
representatives and our semi-sen-
ate.
I believe that such a congress
would. not tolerate the countless
laws on the books that discrimin-
ate against women in all phases of
their lives. But more than that.
Does anyone think that with that
kind of representation we would
have reached the twilight of the
20th Century without a national
health care system for all Amer-
icans?
Would a Congress with adequate
representation of women and oth-
er groups allow this country to
rank 14th in infant mortality
among the developed nations of
the world?
Would they allow a situation in
which millions of kids grow up
without decent care because their
mothers have to work for a liv-
ing and have no place to leave
theme - or else that condemns
women to stay at home when they
want to work because there are no
child care facilities?
Would they vote for ABM's in-
stead of schools, MIRV's instead of
decent housing or health centers?
And does anyone think they would
have allowed the war in Vietnam
to go on for so many years,
slaughtering and maiming our
young men and the people of In-
dochina?
YOU MAY wonder why I talk
about all these issues when we
have met here to plan how to get
more women into elected and ap-
pointive political office.
I do so to remind you that
women political leaders must also
represent the diversity of Amer-
ica, and that it is certainly not
my purpose to replace or supple-
ment a white, male, middle class
elite with a white, female, middle
class elite.
I believe very deeply that the
hope of an effective women's poli-
tical movement lies in reaching
See FEMINISTS, Page 7
$
SOCIALIST PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE Linda Jenness announces her
candidacy for the 1972 elections as
last week.
stopped -being full-time homemakers
and concomitantly full-time consumers.
There could be no satisfactory adjust-
ment of the economy as it now exists.
There is a conscious economic ra-
tionale that dictates and requires our
continued oppression, not just an his-
torically unconscious, psychogenic mi-
sogyny, and it is this same capitalistic
interest which has produced the horrors
of war, racism, poverty, pollution and
almost every other injustice which oc-
curs in America today. If the National
Women's Political Caucus is not ready
to take a positive stand on these is-
sues, if it does not recognize the inter-
relationship of these diverse forms of
oppression, then it fails to understand
what women's liberation is truly about,
or to address itself to the real needs
of women. .
she opens her campaign in Michigan
en's Political Caucus must insist, will
inevitably be suppressed or 'forgotten
within the larger pseudo-debates of in-
ternal party politics.
The other, broader issues which were
mentioned above will also be watered
down and eventually submerged, as
questions of party loyalty and previous
party commitments are raised. The only
way that the National Women's Politi-
cal Caucus can insure the purity and
survival of its principles is to organize
as an alternative to the existing politi-
cal parties, to form a group run by
women for women which offers a real
choice to the disillusioned and angry
people in this country.
The most common objection to this
idea, that a third party could not gain
enough strength and support to win in
:
w - .: