I Eighty years of editorial freedom Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan A fast end to genial chats with Kissinger 420 Maynard Sty, 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, MARCH 17, 1971 NIGHT EDITOR: LYNN WEINER .0 * 0 , .", -04- . -! - , I II I ki "The thought that 10,000 committed people would mass in Washington's Lafayette Park to begin a long fast is enticing and exciting. Perhaps the government and the public would take notice if their children were carried off in ambulances, faint from hunger, rather than in police paddy wagons." -Tony Schwartz Michigan Daily March 13, 1971 r* *r*r By WALTER SHAPIRO THE UNSHAVEN, early morning face of the President of the United States fills the screen. Nixon, dressed in a silk bath- robe, sits with his lovely wife and ever- so-marriageable daughter enjoying a White House breakfast. In the background, at first almost imperceptible, then becoming steadily louder, is the mournful wail of an ambulance siren. The camera focuses close- ly on Nixon wolfing down a typical break- fast of cottage cheese and ketchup. As Nixon wipes the accumulated pink break- fast residues from his jowls, the ambulance siren becomes almost ear piercing and the picture fades out. Across the street from the White House, Lafayette Park is filled with gaunt figures - looking like extras from a medieval pas- sion play - huddled on blankets, sipping water and fruit juice, as they sniff the cherry blossoms of a Washington spring. Moving among them like snowflakes on a windy day, are white-gowned teams of doctors and nurses, checking pulses, carry- ing a few emaciated bodies to stretchers, and generally ministering to the simple health needs of a tent community of 10,- 000 who haven't eaten food for over a month. What is so tactically appealing about these cinematic visions are their unabashed emotional appeal.. These scenes are vis- ceral, rather than cerebral, and one sus- pects they would have a profound impact on America's appetities when presented by Walter Cronkite on the 6:30 news. One fears that such a co-ordinated, emo- tionally arresting hunger strike would be an impossible feat for today's fragmented, and rather moribund, anti-war movement. (Even the phrase "antiwar movement" has taken on the same vintage flavor of con- cepts like "Stevensonian liberal" and "Rockefeller Republican"). Today the anti-war movement seems split among "influentials" who look to the 1972 elections and, in the interim, hope to begin a rational dialogue with the Nixon Administration; the dispirited and leader- less masses who are torn between a desper- ate search for an effective tactic and cyni- cism; and the young devotees of mass de- monstrations, little afraid of either the often attendant clashes with the police or thei effect in re-enforcing Middle Americans stereotypes. A RECENT SERIES of articles detailing the forays of Henry Kissinger into the in- tellectual enclaves of the Northeast pro- vide telling evidence of how pervasive the seemingly perverse desire for a dialogue with the war-makers remains. Mary McGrory reported in the Wash- ington Star last week that Kissinger had held a friendly discussion with three peo- ple named but not indicted, as co-con- spirators in the Berrigan brothers' alleged plot to kidnap Nixon's principal foreign policy advisor. The three visitors were quoted by the New York Times as describ- ing Kissinger in almost affectionate terms. One called him "a guy you could talk to, a guy you almost started to like . .. Another went even further and depicte Kissinger as "an excellent listener . . . (who) . . . never took advantage of the weaknesses in our presentation." The image of Kissinger conveyed by these deep opponents of the Vietnam War is so thick and sticky that one suspects he is made out of marzipan. Kissinger emerg- es as a genial, warm, compassionate man, attempting to explain policies over which reasonable men may differ, but these dif- ferences should never be clouded with rancor or emotionalism. The Nixon Administration has learnt many lessons from the follies of the John- son Administration. Perhaps Nixon's most adroit trick has been to perfect the John- son technique of media mismanagement, while attempting to maintain the illusion dle class and the working class together in their fear of rampant, hedonistic radical- ism. In the long run confrontation poli- tics has merely set the War in opposition to the law and order bias of middle Amer- ica. One does not have to be a devotee of electoral politics to realize that the tradi- tional media images of anti-war demon- strators merely strengthen Nixon's hand. And any attempt to end the carnage before January 1973 rests solely with the hope of convincing Nixon that his political self- interest lies in withdrawing from South- east Asia. Politics are therefore import- ant - not because they have any intrin- sic value - but because they are Nixon's all-consuming interest and little that he does as President is not devoted to this end. Daniel Ellsberg (for those amused by the incestuousness of it all, he was the one who attempted to ask Kissinger the diffi- cult question at MIT) argues convincingly in the March 11th New York Review of Books that Nixon's overwhelming fear is being accusedrin 1972 of losing "the rest of Southeast Asia to Communism." Despite all the rhetoric- about Vietnam- ization and all the implied hopes of an Al- lied military victory, Nixon's policies in Laos and Cambodia are merely desperate attempts to minimize U.S. casualties, while postponing the inevitable defeat until after the 1972 elections. WE ARE FAST approaching the latest round of Washington demonstrations , against the war. Mass demonstrations, even when focused around the gimmick of a People's Peace Treaty, are likely to be vacuous and repetitious. Planned c i v 11 disobedience, although far more emotion- ally satisfying for the participants and far less likely to degenerate into liberal ineffectuality, is also far more likely to driving Middle America into a law and order frenzy. Such a frenzy among the Silent Majority would be the easiest way to convince Nixon that continued escala- tion. is his best electoral strategy for 1972. Herein lies the tactical appeal of a mass fast. Far more militant than a" mere de monstration, and far less hedonistic than street-fighting, such a fast could have a deep emotional effect on average Amer- icans, without alienating their sympa- thies. It is easy to dismiss such a mass fast as merely a new form of romantic bathos. But it is a serious tactical suggestion and its strategic possibilities should not be ig- nored. The fast would not just be a week long, nor would it merely be a conversion to a liquid diet. The fast's primary purpose would not be to demonstrate moral com- mitment, nor lead to spiritual insight, but -Daily-Jim Judkis M* A* S H Rack ham rstudent governance GROUP OF graduate students has drawn up a constitution for a propos- ed Rackham Student Government. The proposal, which will be up for ratifica- tion during SGC elections late this month, attempts to avoid the structural prob- lems, which have contributed to the de- cline of Graduate Assembly (GA). Al- though the plan has merit, it must be recognized that o n 1 y if graduate stu- dents are willing to work for the things that everyone wants will this organiza- tion be effective in obtaining significant benefits. for its constituents. As of yesterday, no one had yet filed for the nine positions on the Rackham Student Government's executive council which will be filled in the coming elec- tion. It is hoped that by Thursday, the new deadline for filing for these posi- tions, enough students will apply so that the council can start operations imme- diately after the election, assuming the proposal for the Rackham Student Gov- ernment is approved. GA is currently defending itself against a suit demanding its dissolution, filed be- fore Central Student Judiciary. The suit charges that GA is undemocratic and not representative of the constituency it claims to serve. It points out that GA leaders are elected by GA members, rath- er than by graduate students as a whole; that the GA constitution does not allow for direct action in GA by students; and that graduate students outside of Rack- ham (whom GA also purports to repre- sent) are better represented through the existing governments of these groups. A's FAILURE is apparent first in the lack of involvement of GA members - its meetings draw an average of about 20 people, while the constitution provides for an assembly of o v e r 100 members. The constitution of the proposed Rack- ham Student Government seems to be carefully constructed to avoid these and other specific problems. Under the pro- posed constitution, t h e leaders of GA would be directly elected by Rackham students. Secondly, it limits the new gov- ernment's constituency to Rackham stu- dents, which would hopefully encourage more effective concern for the problems of the group. In addition, t h e constitution's allow- ance for direct student action through the. initiative, referendum, referral and recall procedures should encourage stu- dent involvement. IT SEEMS CLEAR that the proposal for the n e w Rackham Student Govern- ment has the potential for creating a more effective organization than the floundering GA. However, a new organ- ization in itself is not the answer to the problems of graduate student influence in University decision-making, and it is not intended to be. The only thing this proposal can offer is a more efficient or- ganization through which the interests of graduate students can be pursued. Un- less graduate students make use of their opportunity to work for change through this government, they cannot expect any improvement in their current ,political position within the university community. --JANET FREY of having an "open Administration." It is this semblance of openness which Kissing- er has been so active in fostering among the intellectuals. Kissinger himself said last week's meeting was designed to give "concerned people the sense, of being listened to." THE VACUITY OF such pseudo-dia- logues is effectively portrayed by Derek Shearer in the March 8th Nation. Shearer described in detail a meeting on the eve of the Laos invasion between Kissinger and an elite group of war foes, held on an SIT-owned rural estate near Boston. Present. at the meeting were the usual amalgam of Ripon Society stalwarts, committed (but well-mannered) students, former Kennedy officials, intellectual radicals in suit and tie, and socially concerned business lead- ers. Despite the aura of candor w h i c h Kissinger was so careful to cultivate, both his prepared statement and the dialogue which followed portrayed the almost comic absurdity of attempting to rationally dis- cuss the War in Southeast Asia. Almost all of Kissinger's interrogators were either too polite, inexperienced or timid to even attempt to ask questions which might penetrate Kissinger's care- ful surface of official lies. Even when a stray question held the glint of acci- dentally eliciting a revealing answer, the gentlemanly, clubbish atmosphere enabled Kissinger to duck the query with a friend- ly smile. The only really difficult question for Kissinger - prepared with almost a logician's craft in attempting to discover whether Kissinger's staff had ever estimat- ed the Asian dead and wounded that would result from Vietnamization- was snuffed out by a chorus of "thank you, Mr. Kis- singer" and'a well-deserved round of ap- plause. A Mount Holyoke girl summed it all up when she concluded judiciously, "I think he's sincere." DESPITE THE ARTIFICIALITY of the interchange and the lack of insight which Kissinger provided (no clue regarding the then-imminent Laos invasion passed his lips), many intellectuals and influentials still remain willing to docily listen to Kis- singer's circumlocutions as he attempts to explain why this country has been devast- ating Southeast Asia for over a decade. What these innocents, so proud of their own reasoning and debating abilities, fail to comprehend is the folly of attempting to carry on a rational discourse with re- presentatives of an Administration who have no compunctions about lying and will- fully distorting in attempting to justify the nightmarish world of America's mili- tary excesses. Any irritating question which, cannot be ignored or denied, can always be parried with a misleading comparison or an invented statistic. The press - when they choose to play an adversary role - must devote their full efforts to just keeping pace with the,,steady stream of Ad- ministration misinformation. When intellect fails to establish contact, emotional action remains the only way to attempt to elicit a response. That's why it's so easy to understand Shearer's frus tration when he explains, "one wanted to yell at him or douse him in blood." The same feeling of frustration afflicts a regular viewer of Nixon's press confer- ences. One only wishes that just once a cor- respondent, admittedly placing his job on the line, would try to probe beneath the bureaucratic justifications of mass murder to attempt to get at the emotional reali- ties underneath. Blunt questions like, "Why are you murdering people in Vietnam?" Can you sleep nights with all these lives on your conscience? Do you ever think that perhaps you are wrong, perhaps you are causing hundreds of thousands to die in vain? How many Asians equal an American life?" Instead press conferences are filled with such obsequious drivel as, "Do you care to tell us anything about this, Mr. President?" AGAINST THIS BACKDROP of official impenetrability, against the continuing spectacle of regional genocide, it is small wonder that the anti-war movement long ago turned to emotionalism. But the emo- tionalism of. large demonstrations, draft card burnings, and police confrontations have only catered to the emotional needs of the anti-war movement. There has been almost no concern about the effect of demonstrations like t h is on the emotions of Middle America. At- tempting to build a revolution when you don't even have a movement which can stop the War, the left has united the mid- Henry Kissinger rather to provide the nucleus of effective political action. Few protests could have more emotional potency on television than a mass fast.- set against the backdrop of the White House - designed to last until the war ends, or until the participants are too close to physical collapse to continue. ADMITTEDLY such a fast would require a deeper personal commitment than mere- ly traveling to Washington, or even risk- ing arrest. It would require a much deeper personal commitment than most of us have ever given to ending the war. But after ten years of war, after all these years of radical hijinks, isn't it time we finally started playing for keeps? r FSTL(RCATI) FOER Al'. FCOI -ro I VL r~~ 1ir G0AT LS IT fVICT G,)UM o II ? ROTS. t FoOQL lWG TtfE &VA 1WATI0tJ 4: OR 11~v JEM V W I. ThiK /UE A WItiHdIt4'tf$$ UtA 4()CC-&SS. Tt6NJ WhAT IS p Of AJ FO R /7 ij TO Letters to The Daily 1 m u A Individual choice To The Daily: RADICAL STUDENTS suppos- edly killed the doctrine of in-loco- parentis several years ago, b u t radicals themselves are bringing it back to Michigan for a gala re- turn engagement. The radicals' de- mand for an end to on-campus re- cruiting by corporations with of- fices in South Africa is the latest case in point. They would like to take the decision of whether or not to interview with Ford, Gen- eral Motors, General Electric, et al. out of, the hands of the indi- vidual students. In other w o r d s, kiddies (stu- dents), you are not mature enough +-A M o ..srivnf : nl*rvn interview should be left to the in- dividual. We all know that the old doc- trine of in-loco-parentis proved that thinking at the University of Michigan is best done by blanket University policy, not by an indi- vidual student. --George T. Wilson '72 Feb. 21 Sexist policy To the Daily: PRESENTLY, I AM an L S A sophomore at the University, un- der 21 and a woman.Because of these conditions, particularly be- ing under 21 and a woman, the Regents have ruled that I must 1, n tw no .r.4.a l nna'.vnl o4 n . l .1ive forming the necessary co-signine of the lease to the daughter or son's apartment. Therefore, in my opinion it is none of the Uni- versity's business as to whether I choose to live in or outside of' the dorm. Although the University claimr it is making efforts to end sex discrimination, this policy c o n- cerning women under 21 certain- ly provides incriminating evidence that it simply it not. I will refuse to submit to this sexist policy and I encourage oth- ers to refuse to do so. -Katy Koffel '13 Feb. 23 4 HAVE wS(YcES MCC W4-O 8Efk) TO I Wv~S~cu$ COtTO C0 )TOX WM-r AW ACl& N vJLZ~(&i C.%,' GAMGVC6: V6RY 81f6(44 1 i