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A
scenario of the anti-war offensive
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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14, 1971
NIGHT EDITOR: SARA FITZGERALD
Vietnamization: Nixon's
folly
V OR ALMOST a year now the anti-war
movement in America has disap-
peared from public view.
However, the course of the war in Indo-
china has not paralleled the de-escala-
tion of the anti-war struggle.
On the contrary, the past year, begin-
ning with the invasion of Cambodia, has
been marked by the expansion and inten-
sification of the U.S. war effort with
the invasion of Laos, renewed bombing
of North Vietnam and the increased use
of genocidal tactics in South Vietnam.
Despite this new escalation of the war,
the anti-war movement has failed to ex-
pose the Nixon Administration's Viet-
namization plan for what it really is: an
attempt to win a military victory in Viet-
nam.
Dr. Eqbal Ahmad, defendant in the
Harrisburg 6 conspiracy trial, presented
an excellent analysis of the Vietnamiza-
tion policy in a speech here last week.
Ahmad saw the Vietnamization policy as
based on four assumptions:
-that the costs and casualties of the
war must be lowered to a level acceptable
to the American people;
-that an effective counterinsurgency
struggle in Vitenam can be carried out
only if the war becomes a forgotten war;
-that the American people will not
object to the war on moral grounds;
-and that the cost of the war to the
enemy must be increased.
The problem of increasing the cost of
the war to the Vietnamese while at the
same time lowering American costs and
removing the war from the public eye has
been solved through Vietnamization; or
so the Nixon administration would like
us to believe.
THE REALITY of the war in Indochina
contradicts the Administration's
claim that the Vietnamization policy has
been successful. The rout of the Saigon
government's troops during the invasion
of Laos is only the most blatant evidence
suoporting Dr. Ahmad's assertion that
"Asian boys are not willing to fight for
Mr. Nixon's adventure."
The consistent defeat of the S a i g o n
government's troops is not merely a
nilitary problem. it is a reflection of
the political isolation of the Saigon gov-
ernment. The jailing of thousands of
South Vietnamese as political prisoners
and widespread press censorship are clear
indications of the Saigon government's
lack of pooular support.
The belief that such a government will
ever be able to defend itself against the
just liberation struggle of the Vietnamese
people is ludicrous.
THE ADMINISTRATION recognizes the
failure of Vietnamization, but rather
than abandon the policy, Nixon has chos-
en to give a new meaning to its name.
Vietnamization has become synonymous
with military victory in Indochina
through technological escalation of the
war.
American ground troops are with-
drawn, but they are replaced with in-
creased air power, artillery bases, sophis-
ticated electronic sensing devices, chem-
ical weapons and perhaps in the future
with tactical nuclear weapons. This stra-
tegy has taken a heavy toll of civilians
in Indochina, but that is part of the
Vietnamization plan also. In counter-
insurgency warfare the people are the
enemy.
The determination of the Vietnamese
people to resist American intervention,
whether it takes the form of ground
troops or technological support for the
Saigon puppet army, clearly shows that
an American military victory in Indo-
china is impossible. The Vietnamese have
done their part in exposing Vietnamiza-
tion for the cruel hoax that it is. The
American, anti-war movement must now
do the same.
THE ACTIVITIES of the Spring Offen-
sive against the war in Indochina
a.re an excellent opportunity to once
again focus national attention on the
war.
The April 24 mass demonstrations in
Washington and San Francisco sponsor-
ed by the National Peace Action Coalition
(NPAC) and the People's Coalition f o r
Peace and Justice (PCPJ) are designed
to mobilize broad-based support for the
anti-war struggle.
The mass demonstrations will show the
American people that the war in Indo-
china is not over, and that it will not
end until all American forces have with-
drawn from Indochina. And it will show
President Nixon that the anti-war move-
ment is still a viable force in American
politics.
JN A SIMILAR fashion, the Mayday ac-
tions in Washington, sponsored by
the People's Coalition represent a new
level of struggle in the anti-war m o v e-
ment. The action's tactic of civil disobed-
ience with the goal of stopping govern-
ment operations in Washington demon-
strates the serious commitment to end-
ing the war of those involved - a com-
mitment made necessary by the horror of
American genocide in Indochina.
Both the April 24 demonstrations and
the Mayday actions are worthy of the
supoort of all those who wish to end the
war in Indochina, though it must be
emohasized that no demonstration alone
will end the war.
Demonstrations in the past have been
resoonsible for small changes in t h e
course of the war, but have been unable
to bring about the only meaningful
change, the withdrawal of all U.S. forces
from Indochina. If the anti-war move-
ment is to be successful it must not stop
with demonstrations as it has done in
the past. The Sring Offensive must con-
tinue into the summer, and beyond, until
the war is over.
Efforts must be made to involve t h e
majority of Americans, who now favor
immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from
Indochina, in the anti-war struggle. Per-
haps most importantly the anti-war
movement must prepare to enter the
arena of electoral politics in the 1972
election to elect a government that will
put an end to American intervention in
Indochina.
THE ACTIVITIES of the Spring Offen-
sive must be seen as a rejuvination
of the anti-war movement, a rejuvination
that U.S. war policy makes necessary. It
should not be ;seen as an end in itself,
but as a single step in a protracted strug-
gle against the war in Indochina.
-CHUCK WILBUR
The following article is written by
the Ann Arbor Students for the Peace
Treaty.
THIS SPRING the United States
will see more anti-war demon-
strations. involving more people,
feeling more anger, and acting out
of more knowledge a n d under-
standing, than has ever been seen
here before. Groups representing
a rainbow of constituencies and
political beliefs are moving against
the war.
Two huge national demonstra-
tions are planned for April and
May in Washington. These have
been called by the People's Coali-
tion for Peace and Justice (May-
Day) and the National Peace-Ac-
tion Coalition (April 24), two
groups which have been some-
what at odds, but are working to
overcome sectarianism within the
an i-war movement.
Of these events, Mayday is
more than just another 1 a r g e
demonstration - it is a w h o 1 e
series of actions by a variety of
organizations, from the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference
and the National Welfare Rights
Organization to the Youth Inter-
national Party. The timing and
nature of these actions is derived
from a carefully thought-out an-
alysis of the situation in Vietnam
and America, and is based on the
fact that an acute political and
military crisis links the American
and Indochinese people t h i s
spring. After eight years of un-
precedented devastation in Indo-
china and social conflict in Amer-
ica, the U.S. government finds it-
self with few alternatives. To un-
derstand the rationale behind
MAYDAY, it is important that we
understand why this crisis exists,
IN VIETNAM, the U.S.-Saigon
military position has deteriorated.
Desperate gambles to save the fal-,
teringhVietnamization program -
,like the invasion of Cambodia and
Laos - have resulted only in op-
ening up major new fronts of the
war. Vietnamization h a s deeply
eroded any support in South Viet-
nam for the Thieu-Ky-Khiem re-
gime - through high casualties,
the total militarization of society,
and social and economic chaos.
The coming South Vietnamese
elections, were they free and were
all Vietnamsse allowed to partici-
pate, would result in a tremen-
dous victory for anti-war candi-
dates and a defeat for America
and the Saigon government.
At the same time the US gov-
ernment faces a major crisis of
public confidence as 73 per cent
of the people (according to a na-
tional poll) favor an end to the
war by the end of this year. The
growth of movements of the noor
and of Third World people, who
are making strong demands on
the resources now used for war,
has led the government to mount
a campaign of political repression
with Bobby Seale, Erika Huggins,
and Angela Davis as its m o t
prominent victims.
Perhaps most threatening to the
Nixon administration and the
Pentagon is that they are losing
control of the .Army, as indicated
by "fraggings" (the killing of an
officer), high desertion rates, and
low moral.
Faced with these overwhelming
problems; Richard Nixon has only
two alternatives - find a quick
military solution or get out. His
military options are limited to the
invasion of North Vietnam, satur-
ation bombing of the North, or us-
ing tactical nuclear weapons to
seal off the Ho Chi Minh trail and
the DMZ. It is our responsibility
to see that he can choose none of
these military alternatives: to do
this, we must act together now.
TO BE REALLY effective, how-
ever, our action must be based on
what has been learned through
years of anti -war struggle. We
can't afford to repeat .nistakes
other people have made before.
We can not leave Nixon any loop-
holes. We must project a <.ono rete,
programmatic, step-by-step way
to end the war, not just a slogan
as in the past. The American peo-
ple must have a reasonable alter-
native to hold up to Nixon's Viet-
namization program.
Besides that, we m u s t force
Nixon to accept thatalternative.
Our actions must raise the social
costs of the war to those who are
carrying it out. We must demon-
strate to them that the costs of
maintaining control and order
within American society will ex-
ceed the loss they will suffer by
giving up a bit of their empire.
The People's Peace Treaty is a
strategy f o r protracted struggle
which meets both conditions. The
treaty itself is a document nego-
tiated by students from the U.S. American peace movement, com-
and Vietnam (both North a n d ing one year after the invasion
South). It is based- upon the as- of Cambodia and the murders at
pirations of the people of the U.S. Jackson and Kent State.
and Vietnam, as manifested in the
on one more opportunity to accept
the treaty.
FOR THE next three days there
will be public declaration of tar-
gets for civil disobedience a n d
non-violent disruption. Each re-
gion or national constituency
group ' will have assumed the re-
sponsibili'y of interfering w i t h
the functioning of specific bridg-
es, traffic arteries, or government
buildings during the 7 to 9:30 rush
hour.
The manner in which this is to
be done will be determined by the
various groups, but t h e overall
discipline will be non-violent, the
tactic disruptive a n d the spirit
ioyous and creative. We very
strongly discourage random acts
of violence or trashing of prop-
erty in Washington. All actions
will take place in the white-con-
trolled federal areas, i.e., south of
Massachusetts Aye,, so as not to
interfere with the black commun-
ity.
On May 5, as part of a national
moratorium on "business as us-
ual," we will march on and en-
circle the Capitol, insisting that
Congress stay in session until it
has ratified the treaty.
THE STRENGTH of this May
Scenario comes from its close re-
lationship to local and national
efforts both before and afterwards.
A combination of events in Indo-
china and the U.S. may well mean
that sufficient power is generated
to force an end to the war. If not,
the stage'will be set for even more
massive education and ratifica-
tion campaigns, and other forms
of implementation during the
spring and summer.
The People's Peace Treaty is
not a one-time, speeches-and-a-
band-and-a-march-and-rally effort
- it is a protracted struggle to
get the American people to force a
just peace settlement on the US
government. It may take many
months.
Some people will react to this
scenario as a significant step for-
ward in anti-war strategy a n d
tactics; others may think it is "old
wine in new bottles." Most of us
have marched, signed, or , bee n
busted many times already and
our exhaustion has occasionally
blinded us to our success. All the
years of talking, walking, arguing,
and .disrupting have finally had
their effect. The peace movement
really does represent the people.
We are the majority. Now we must
bring our power to bear.
SISTERS A N D BROTHERS
who have been in the movement
for a while sometimes become a
bit cynical and believe that no
single event or time particularly
matters, that it is not courage
which is required, but endurance.
In fact, we do need courage; not
the macho courage of individual-
istic action, but disciplined cour-
age to understand the critical per-
iod we are in and the political and
personal risks which must be tak-
en, and the sacrifices which must
be made, in solidarity with our
sisters and brothers in Indochina.
Provisional Revolutionary Govern-
ment's negotiating position and
the program of the popular Front
for the Defense of Peace.
Educational campaigns around
the treaty are closing the Adminm-
istration's loophole bytpresenting
a logical, realistic political settle-
m e n t. Ratification encourages
millions of Americans to assert
their right to make peace, when
their government won't do it for
them. Treaty implementation pro-
vides every sector of the popula-
tion with the chance to develop
creative ways of exercising power
against the war-makers.
The Ann Arbor Peace Treaty
Conference in February called for
intense struggle to implement or
enforce the treaty throughout the
spring and summer, and especially
during the first week of May. This
period was not chosen arbitrarily,
but because of its strategic sig-
nificance and the expressed sense
of urgency of the Vietnamese peo-
ples. The dry season is coming to
an end in Vietnam then, and U.S.
air support will have to be sharp-
ly reduced. The growing strength
of the NLF, the Pathet Lao, and
the Khmer Rouge, and the emerg-
ing peace forces in the cities could
unite i n t o a decisive offensive.
American anti-war actions at this
time could have the vital effect of
at least preventing or slowing the
almost certain American response
to that offensive. Furthermore, it
is an important t i m e for the
So that's why Mayday is go-
ing to happen. However, we still
have to deal with When, and, most
important, How it is going to oc-
cur. Following is t h e scenario
adopted by the Ann Arbor Confer-
ence and around which the Peo-
ple's Coalition is organizing:
FROM APRIL 26 to 30, there
will be a PCPJ-sponsored people's
lobby of Congress a n d govern-
ment offices, with small, special-
group sit-downs and other civil
disobedience by clergy, pacifists,
etc., if they are denied access to
government offices. The purpose
is to acquaint office workers and
others with what will be happen-
ing in May and to encourage them
to participate in some wiay.
On May 1, a People's Assembly
- a celebration of our signing the
Peace Treaty, where our :politics
and life-style unite - will be held
on a farm outside Washington.
This will be the first official day,
of the treaty's enforcement, an
occasion for world-wide demon-
strations of support for the Viet-
namese and our anti-war struggle,
including a march from K e n t
State and the arrival into Wash-
ington of car caravans from other
cities.
The next day a rally will be
sponsored by all the groups to en-
force the treaty. Th e National
Welfare Rights Organization, the
SCLC mule train from New York,
and all the people who have walk-
ed in from the farm will give Nix-
4#
X
Letters: Athletic funds should go to intramurals
To The Daily:
MAY I BE explicit in my reply
to the letter of Peter Newell (retir-
ing student member of the Board-
in-Control of Intercollegiate Ath-
letics) en March 29. His first two
points were directed at me.
Number one. The $147,000 re-
ceived annually by the Athletic De-
partment from General Funds
started in 1967, and is not pledged
to pay for Crisler Arena. However
a $5 fee per student per semester
is pledged to retire the oonds of
this epitaph. The fees in Financial
Year 1970 accrued $383.000. and
the debt service was $328,000 per
annum. A net plus of $55,000 to the
Board!
In addition student ticket sales
realized $248,000; whereas prior to
1962 (that is. before the Crisler
mausoleum) students received free
football tickets. Yet the 1971 Board
report expresses "concern at the
amount of charges that are assess-
ed against its funds in connection
with the Crisler Arena mainte-
nance, utilities and operation." The
$147,000 is a General Fund alloca-
tion to the Board's revenue for the
stated purpose of supporting the
intramural program, which has
been neglected by the Board i, the
past, especially since the building
of the Crisler mausoleum.'
I am sure that the present Board
wishes to rectify this. I advocated
a reduction of the $147,000 alloca-
tion of General Funds, and a policy
that football proceeds go to the
maintenance of intramural la;ili-
ties.
NUMBER TWO. I realize that
with only three sports (football,
basketball and hockey) on a var-
sity basis this would mean Michi-
gan's dismissal from the Big Ten
for insufficient participation (un-
der the present rules). However
CHARGES CLARIFIED
In defense of the Athletic department
there is historical. precedent for
Michigan being outside the Inter-
collegiate Conference (between
1908 and 1917). In addition, the Uni-
versity of Chicago withdrew in
1946-perhaps the University -of
Michigan is the Avis of the Mid-
West?'
Look at the financial report of
1971. Tenders may have gone down
slightly in FY 1970 compared to
FY 1969, but they were up 33 per
cent from FY 1968. Disbursements
to Sports went up 8 per cent in
FY 1970, but they were up 45 per
cent in FY 1969. Salaries and
wages were up 6 per cent in FY
1970, but were up nearly 17 per
cent in FY 1969. In addition foot-
ball costs skyrocketed by 30 per
cent in FY 1970.
And yet the 1971 Board report
states that "the Intercollegiate
athletic program ought not to be
expected to show a profit any more
than the Chemistry Department
should be expected to show a pro-
fit." Is it really worth it?
With the minor sports on a club
basis, tenders (about $200,000 per
annum) and team and games ex-
penses (about $100,000 per annum)
would almost be eliminated. Even-
tually the costs of salaries, wages,
etc. would be diminished by the re-
duction of coaches and staff. I es-
timate this to be the order of $400,-
000 total.
I have run a club sport on a
budget of $200 per annum with well
over 100 participants, of whom
-seventy-five played intercollegiate,
more than any varsity sport. And
do we need the Big Ten for this?
I advocated that the savings of
$400,000 per annum go to the fin-
ancing operation, and maintenance
of a new Recreation Building, in-
stead of the money losing varsity
sports.
Suggested reading, Mr. Newel.
the Faculty Senate's Report on the
Proposed Sports Service Building.
-D.F.R. Mildner, Grad.
Member, Advisory Com-
mittee for Recreation, In-
tramurals and Club Sports
been the question of need for ad-
ditional housing. The Administra-
tion has continually played down
this need, particularly during the
Tenants Union "Tent-in" last se-
mester.
According to the 1970 Census, the
rental vacancy rate in Ann Arbor
is 3.6 per cent, as compared with
7.8 per cent for the State of Michi-
gan as a whole. Only 646 housing
units were vacant and available
for rental in all of Ann Arbor.
Moreover, the Census Bureau fi-
gures apply to Winter Sernester,
1970, and the housing situation has
deteriorated since that time. No
now student housing has been built
since then, while University en-
rollment has increased by over
3,000.
Ann Arbor's low vacancy rate hos
helped to perpetuate the structure
of artificially inflated rents that
residents are forced to pay. The
Census Bureau reports that median
rent is $152 in Ann Arbor, as op-
posed to only $95 in Michigan as a:
whole. Furthermore, the proportion
of rental housing that costs more
than $150 per month is 51 per cent
in Ann Arbor, three times the pro-
portion for the rest of Michigan.
Some may argue that these nigh
rents are due to larger and better
quality housing, but this is simply
not true. On the 88 cities in Michi-
gan with populations of 10.300 or
more, Ann Arbor ranks 85th in me-
dian number of rooms per housing
unit.
IT IS OBVIOUS from these fi-
gures that there is a critical short-
age of adequate housing in Ann
Arbor, particularly for areaus in
close proximity to the University.
Yet President Fleming balks at the
new apartment projectbbecause of
the cost of providing bus sere i
from central campus to the pro-
posed housing. In fact, bus service
has already been approved to
Northwood V and a short extension
of this service would suffice for
the new apartments. Thus, even
this argument of the Admmnistration
becomes specious, because the
marginal cost of the additional bus
service would be negligible.
The concept of additional hous-
ing was overwhelmingly opproved
by students in last year's SGC
referendum. The 1,000 apartirent
unit project was unanimously sup-
ported by the Ann Arbor City Coun-
cil at their March 15 meeting. It is
inconceivable that the University
should hesitate to approve this cost-
less project, which is potentially
so beneficial to students, staff, em-
ployees, and the community at
large.
-Fred Arnold
Grad.
Iarch 29
By MORT NOVECK
Sports Editor
THE CHARGE in an editorial in yes-
terday's Daily that Athletic Direc-
tor Don Canham would personally pre-
vent Rose Sue Berstein from taking her
seat on the Board in Control of Inter-
collegiate Athletics has since been ren-
dered superfluous. As an article in to-
day's paper states, the Board has already
decided to seat Berstein if her election is
certified. But several other charges, re-
garding the department's attitudes to-
ward women require clarification.
It was alleged that Canham and the
department have consistently ignored
women's demands for competition on
the intercollegiate level. The only evi-
dence cited was that there are no
year stating that it is in no way opposed
to such a concept.
ACCORDING TO the editorial, Can-
ham is interested only in football and
basketball and is ignoring the multitudes
of women who desire to compete for
Michigan. Aside from the failure of said
multitudes to make themselves visible,
there is an excellent reason why Can-
ham should concentrate on football and
basketball. These are the revenue pro-
ducing sports and without them the en-
tire athletic program would be fiscally
impossible. It is success in these fields
that make it possible to field the track,
baseball, tennis and other teams that
cannot support themselves. Besides, if
women's athletics is ever to become a
called press smokers, few members of
the press covering each game are in-
vited and an even smaller number ac-
tually attend.
ACCORDING TO the editorial, a fe-
male photographer from the Daily was
threatened because she dared to venture
onto the football field with her male col-
leagues. It is true that she was asked
to leave, but once she explained that she
was an accredited photographer, she was
allowed to remain. The person who asked
her to leave was not an official of the
athletic department and after rectifying
the situation the department sent her a
written apology.
On later occasions the department's
sport information director Will Perry,
has aided female Daily reporters in be-
ing accredited as membersof the press.
No woman sat in the Ohio State press
box until Perry forced them to admit the
Daily's executive sports editor last year.
Several years ago, Perry was the first
information director in the Big Ten to
admit all accredited female reporters to
his press box.
There nre certainlv spects of the cur-
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