PEMO gjc EONOMC AL2' ATiv!
Spai
By PAUL O'DONNELL
IN THE LONG and slow pro-
cess of liberalization which
has been taking place in Spain
since the early sixties, there
have been numerous setbacks
and crack-downs. One day the
Francoist regime seems ready
to accept the inevitable politi-
cal and social evolution of the
"last dictatorship in Western
Europe," the next day the re-
gime seems to be controlled by
those who are nostalgic for the
traditions of the Civil War and
the fascist Falange Party.
A period of stagnation, repres-
sion, and reaction is currently
taking place in Spain; over the
last few months, an "endureci-
miento" (hardening) has been
noted in government policy.
This hardening is reflected by
the arrest of 67 people attend-
ing a political meeting in Sa-
badelly near Barcelona, 1 a s t
September. The recently an-
nounced political associations
law which is much less liberal
than many had originally hoped,
and the departure of two rela-
tively liberal cabinet members;
but the most outstanding proof
that Spain has not become a
liberal and democratic nation
is the arrest and torture of Eva
Forrest Sastre. Both a femin-
ist and a political militant, Eva
Forrest is also the wife of Alfon-
so Sastre, one of Spain's most
important living playwrights.
EVA FORREST was arrested
on September 16 of last year at
her own home in Madrid, and
was taken to a police station
where she was delivered into
the hands of "young athletes"
who began the "treatment":
first insults and obscenities, then
systematic torture. The athletes
punched, slapped, and jabbed,
sparing no part of her body
and concentrating on her breasts
and sexual organs.
One newspaper reports t h a t
she was kept from eating and
sleeping for nine days, and that
she spent 24 hours standing up,
and was beaten each time she
weakened and began to fall.
Her hair was pulled out by
tufts, and electro-shock w a s
used. She was forced to lick up
her own vomit. At one point,
she was, of course raped. More
than a month after her arrest,
she was finally allowed to see
her lawyer. Other lesser known
activists or members of the op-
position have suffered similar
treatment, among them lawyers
Lydia Falcon and Maria del
Carmen Nadal.
SURPRISINGLY enough, in
n: Fascism,
February of last year it looked
as if 1974 would be the year
of the "big liberalization."
Spanish Prime Minister A r i a s
N a v a r r o 's 12th-of-February
speech proclaimed the begin-
ning of an era of "aperture"
(liberalization): the most con-
troversial of his proposals w a s
the plan for legalizing certain
political associations.
The quality of the press has
also improved greatly since Pre-
mier Arias Navarro arrived;
such publications as Trifuno,
Sabado Grafico, and Cambio-16,
and the humorous Hermano Lo-
bo, have recently offered com-
mentary, criticism, and surveys
which certainly would h a v e
been censored a few years ago.
Even certain foreign publica-
tions, such as the foreign Ob-
servateur, which were formerly
the victims of occasional cen-
sorship, can now be acquired
more easily in Spain.
Around the time Franco re-
. > ::::: .... . .. .. .. . . . .... .. . . ... ..i:s
Another excuse. for
governmental tough-
ness was provided by
the Puerta del Sol ex-
plosion in downtown
Madrid, which caused
numerous deaths and
injuries. Government
spokesmen accuse left-
wing extremists of
causing the explosion;
nothing seems less cer-
tain than this accusa-
tion.
turned to his post as chief of
state after a two-month absence
caused by illness, sixty-seven
members of the clandestine Ca-
talonian Assembly were arrest-
ed in a convent near Barcelona;
many interpreted this as the
end of a period of relative tol-
erance towards political opposi-
tion groups. It was the f i r s t
sign that a political crack-down
was taking place, and other
such indications followed soon
after.
THE ILLEGAL opposition is
increasingly well organized, es-
pecially since the creation of
two important political groups
last summer; the government's
response is to increase t h e
number of "preventive ar
Another excuse for goverr
al toughness was provid
the Puerta del Sol explos
downtown Madrid, which<
numerous deaths and in
Government spokesmen
left-wing extremists of c
the explosion; nothing s e
less certain than this a
tion.
Groups such as FRAF
treme leftists) and the
,Basque separatists), usua
to avoid civilian deaths
costs when planning a
ing or other terroristE
The most common policy
warn the authorities by
before the incident takes
or to attack a specific p
figure. Only one policema
killed in the Puerta delE
plosion. Could the tragi
dent have been part of
to stop the government's
alization program, and t
:redit newly formed opp
groups in the eyes of the S
public? Many responsible
nalists in France and else
seem to think so. The r
given by the authorities f
arrest and incarceration c
Forrest were her alleged
cipation in the planning
Puerta del Sol bombing a
Carrero Blanco killingi
cember, 1973.
PIO CABANILLAS, f o r
Information and Tourisn
retary, represented the1
in regards to the press
Spanish government, esp
ed to resign from this,
other publications. He wa
eralization forces within
late October; his success4
pened to be a man whoI
ten been connected to the
try's repressive forces.
departure of Pio Cabanill,
lowed by the voluntary (o
seems) resignation of th
tively liberal Finance M
Barrera de Irimo, wasn't
igovernmenital change.
ministerial reshuffling al
presented the failure of ti
liberal forces to attain t
goals.
On December 2 of last
when Premier Arias N
presented the preliminar
sion of the political assoc
law, many were disco
and disappointed. The pr
which could have legalize
political parties for the
time since the Civil War,
change much of anythin
ended by the triumph
Spain's progresive forces,
the "ultra" (extreme
more or
rests." wing) forces.
nment-
ed by FROM AN economic point of
ion in view, the situation in Spain,
caused as in most of the western world,
juries. is not excellent. Much evidence
accuse shows that the Spanish economic
ausing miracle, heavily based on funds
e m s brought in the country by fore-
ccusa- ign tourists, is over. In times
of economic recession, vaca-
P (ex- tions in foreign countries a r e
E T A among the first luxuries to be
illy try eliminated.
at all According to the German pap-
bomb- er Die Welt, "Spain just spent
attack. the most Spanish of its recent
is to summers." While crisis-stricken
phone northern Europeans stayed at
place, home, an increasing number of
olitical Spaniards, enjoying the advant-
In was ages of the enormous economic
Sol ex- expansion of the 1960's were
c inci- visiting restaurants, hotels, and
a plan resorts in different parts of the
liber- country. For many of them,
to dis- this is a recently acquired lux-
osition ury.
panish But not all Spaniards a r e
jour- happily spending their leisure
ewhere time on the beach or in the
easons mountains. The words "social
for the unrest" appear often in t h e
of Eva European press when the sub-
parti- ject is Spain; the reasons for
of the this unrest are evident.
nd the
in De- SOME Spaniards spend up to
12 or 14 hours a day trying to
earn their living, (this is the
r m e r case of many urman taxi driv-
n Sec- ers; it is also true certain res-
pro-lib- taurant and hotel employes dur-
a n d ing the tourist season.) Many
ecially Soaniards even hold two jobs
job in to earn decent wages; this well
is forc- known system is known as
t h e "pluriemplo." A Spanish secre-
or hap- tary explained to me her sys-
has of- tem for increasing her income;
coun- by skiping lunch, she was able
T h e to work straight through from
as, fol- morning until afternoon.
)r ro it Strikes (in Spain called a
e rela- "work stoppage") lockouts,
jiuster shut-downs, and demonstrations:
just a all these are becoming com-
This mon phenomena in a country
[so re- where independent labor unions
he pro- are illegal, and where the right
Sh e i r to go on strike doesn't exist. At
the SEAT motor plant in Barce-
year, lona, there have been numerous
avarro cases of lay-offs and firings
y ver- of labor activists. Spanish car
:iations sales have dropped 30 per cent
uraged over the past few months, and
oposal, auto workers are not protected
ed real by the outdated labor laws and
f i r s t government-organized labor un-
didn't ions.
g. 1974
not of THERE HAS been consider-
but of able tension in the large oopula-
right- tion centers, like Madrid, Bar-
less
'Follow me! Uh, as soon as I figure cut where I'm going.'
tt an
Eighty-four years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
Gen. Francisco Franco
celona, and the Basque city of
Bilboa. Even a ; smaller city
like Pamplona, famous for its
bullfights and bull-rings, was re-
cently the scene of massive de-
monstrations.
Despite important steps made
towards liberalization over the
past ten to fifteen years, and
the amazing economic boom
which catapaulted Spain into
the tenth position among t h e
world's industrial nations, the
heritage of the bloody, Spanih
Civil War of the 1930's is still
an important factor. Certain
political figures, Juan Antnio
Giron and Blas Pinar for ex-
ample, seem to have nostalgic
memories of the "hard and
pure" days during and after the
Civil War. And the importance
of these two men in government
affairs seems to be increasing.
Such incidents as the arrest
and torture of Eva" Forrest Sas-
tre, accused of crimes which
nuimerous sources claim she pro-
bably didn't commit, as well as
the execution of anarchist Puig
Antich, the twenty-year prison
sentence which labor organizer
Marcelina Camacdho is current-
ly serving, and the reinforce-
ment of the repressive social
and Tolitical brigades, provide
excellent examples of the re-
gime's heavy-handed tactics.
The dictatorial nation which
his Open Letter to Generalis-
exiled playwright and novelist
Fernando Arrabal describes in
simo Franco has not dissappear-
ed, despite the wishes of a large
majority of the Spanish people.
Paul O'Donnell is a Daily
Furopean correspondent study-
ing in Aix-en-Provence, France.
Tuesday, February 4, 1975
News Phone: 764-0552
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mi. 48104
Don't call us, we'll call you
IT IS DIFFICULT to conceive of peo-
ple who would wish Richard
Nixon to hit the campaign trail again
as a spokesman for the Republican
party; in fact, it's as suspect as Pon-
tius Pilate running a public relations
program for Jesus Christ.
The only people who might bene-
fit from such a campaign, are Demo-
cratic candidates for elective office,
and all logic would dictate that they
flood the Republican National Com-
mittee office with telegrams sup-
porting such a venture.
Surely for the vast majority of
Americans, Richard Nixon will be
permanently exiled in their memo-
ries in infamy, a man to be mention-
ed in the same breath as Benedict
Arnold; quite rightly they want
little credence in a man who direct-
ed the single most pervasive assault
on our government in our history.
He can not, nor should he be, of
course, stopped from making such a
series of appearances; the laws, as
we are perpetually reminded from
kindergarten on, apply and confer
freedoms to all - at least thearetic-
ally. In essence this means allowing
those considered loathsome by the
body politic to make their views
known.;
AND WHILE IT might be tempting
to manipulate the legal process
to prevent him from opening his
mouth before an audience of greater
than 100 persons ever again, (the
irony would be rich; he was after all,
the architect of a policy which con-
sistently denied civil liberties to those
who opposed his ideas) his case pro-
vides and excellent example of just
why such rights must be protected.
For once you start silencing politi-
cal opponents, where do you draw the
line? The answer as Nixon and his
cronies found out, is that you don't;
the mentality of repression spreads
and spreads, it's an incurable cancer
of the spirit.
But even granting the man his in-
alienable right to do as he sees fit,
one can only hope that those close
to him, and those who pass judgment
on the advisability of such a series
would take into account the depth
of passions, and the ugly associa-
tions mere mentions of his name
brings to mind.
A MONG OTHER THINGS, one
would have to conclude that he
would do far more harm than good to
the nation. The chance that he
would have anything useful or im-
portant to say is nil; far more likely
would be another series of self-serv-
ing pronouncements along the lines
of his resignation speech.
Certainly one fears for his secur-
ity, and fervently hopes that such
security would be successful. The
impact of a martyred ex-President
on the national psyche might prove
both more tragic and more irrenar-
ably divisive than even his ruinous
Presidency. It might well constitute
Richard Nixon's most ghastly re-
venge.
-STEPHEN SELBST
Letters: Cobb affair p oorly handled!
Open input on budget policy
To The Daily:
WHEN YOUR reporter tele-
phoned me Friday evening for
the eighth time to push for a
statement about lyhe Deanship
and Dr. Cobb, I pited out that
I had no particularly authori-
tative voice or newsworthiness.
The fact that I had served on
the Deanship search commit-
tee was no basis for assuming
either since the committee
knew no more than anyone else
on campus about the adminis-
tration's actions and much less
than the Daily claimed to know.
The committee had not been re-
convened or informed by the
administration about its posi-
tion. Your reporter knew that I
did not have anything to say
and did not want to be quoted.
The fact that I was quoted
in a manner that was ambig-
ious and easily misinterpreted
bothers me. The fact that I was
quoted at all under the cir-
cumstances is outrageous: a
clear violation of the canons of
responsible journalism and of
my civil liberties.
The Daily can be sure that as
a member of the faculty, a
woman, and a responsible and
critical member of the search
committee, I have every inten-
tion of making clear my posi-
tion about the administration's
actions when I know the out-
come of the case. I told the re-
porter that I would speak out
when I knew what was happen-
ing. Now, however, if I do
speak, the article can be used
to discredit me as a person who
does not know restraint. The
effect of my criticism will sure-
ly have been blunted.
I AM particularly offended
that the reporter who abused
my humanity is a woman. Sis-
terhood is powerful, but it is
'which your reporter subscribes to
which yur reporter subscribes or
which she understands.
I am sending a copy of this
letter to the Board of Publica-
tions and I expect that you will
publish it forthwith.
-Elizabeth Douvan
January 28
Newberry
utilize West Quad's facilities,
orginally designed to serve 1200
people, and eliminate the need
to renovate Barbour's kitchen.
The University estimates t h a t
$27,958 can be saved through
this change.
We Newberry residents, while
not against monetary savings,
are disturbed that these plans
were not made known to us ear-
ler, and that we were not given
the opportunity to voice our
opinions. Mr. West felt that this
move would be beneficial to
both dorms, but didn't bother to
ask us what we felt about it.
During a phone conversation
with me, he stated, "I guess I
didn't need your opinions."
ANOTHER OBJECTION we
have is that he told our presi-
dent, Nia Kraud, "I can't guar-
antee meal hours." He says that
the meal hours possibly will be
shortened. This will make the
cafeteria more crowded; even
now between 10 and 50 women
have to eat their meals on the
living room floor in Barbour
every evening. A project to en-
large the dining room has been
scrapped as being too costly;
the cost estimate was $3,000.
Several residents feel that an
ontional meal contract would be
far more feasible, and less cost-
ly in the long run. Those resi-
dents who wished to retain their
meal contracts would go to
West Quad to eat, and the two
kitchenettes in the dorm could
be remodeled to accommodate
stoves. When annroached with
this alternative, West stated that
he had been informed by John
Feldkamp that Housing will not
spend money on kitchenettes.
They prefer to spend it on a
driver and truck. As to an op-
tional meal contract, it would
have to be anoroved by a ma-
jority of residents at a house
meeting.
Coni-s of a petition circulat-
ed within Helen Newberry stat-
ing our objections to the food
service plan have been sent to
members of the Housing Board.
A number of residents have
written individual letters, a n d
five of us have talked with Mr.
West personally to inform him
"We are both smart enough to
know that they (Barbour and
Newberry) won't be in opera-
tion much longer." We don't
feel the same way. Until West
took over as building director,
there was a 65 per cent return
rate of residents, but it dropped
to 30 per cent for 1974-75. At a
meeting of all the members of
the house, approximately 60
women thought they would be
returning, possibly a response
to some renovating Housing has
been doing in the dorm. When
the food service change was
made known, however, most of
these women had second
thoughts.
LEON WEST has agreed to a
suggestion made by Nia Kraud
to come to Newberry and Bar-
bour once a week for an hour,
alternating between the dorms,
and it's deplorable that we had
to go to so much trouble to be
recognized.
I feel if my representative in
Housing doesn't take the time
or trouble to find out how he
can best serve the residents of
this dorm by asking our opni-
ions on issues that affect us, if
he has the notion that the dorm
will be closing in a few years
(presumably to be utilized as
office space), then he is not ful-
filling his purpose as building
director.
-Edith J. Beauchamp
Resident of Helen New-
berry
January 31
proletariat
To The Daily:
WORD FROM Washington
says Leonard Woodcock is urg-
ing workers to march on the
nation's capital if the state of
the economy does not improve
soon. It immediately occurred
to me that the shoe is on the
other foot now for the b i g
businessmen, the big labormen,
and especially the ultra conserv-
ative, or ultra-apathetic work-
er. How many times did these
people curse the efforts of the
young and the black in the
1960's as they marched on
maaion -n apt noin
out and support the efforts of
the new "revolution"?
If they do, it certainly says
something about the desires of
those so recently referred to as
unpatriotic. Maybe they know
more of what "America" is
about than Leonard Woodcock
ever will. But if they don't, who
would blame them? The system
shunned them when they need-
ed it, and now when the same
system is in dire need, why
can't those who knew it was so
bad all along just sit back and
say "I told you so"?
-Mark E. Pontoni
January 30
Detroit
To The Daily:
I RESENT the Daily's com-
ment in Friday's (January 17)
page one "Today" column that
Detroit still ranks Number One
as "the murder capital of the
world." Such statements do a
great disservice to all Detroit.
ers. The Daily, as well as the
local news media in Detroit,
serve to perpetuate sensational-
ization of Detroit's homicide
problem and thereby give De-
troit a bad image. Detroit has
enough problems without news
media representatives planting
the seeds of this negative
image-making in anti-city senti-
ments.
The Daily's comment hits all
Detroiters right in the heart and
gives a bad name to a great old
city. I am especially disturbed
by this because the Michigan
Chronicle reported in Saturday's
edition two recent studies which
found that at least 20 other cit-
ies reported higher homicide
rates than Detroit. As the ar-
tidle points out, with "no solu-
tion readily available to cut
down the number of homicides,
perhaps it is actually only a big
numbers game." Nevertheless,
Friday's comment in the Daily
suggests that the "murder im-
age" still remains entrenched
in the minds of those who at-
tempt to present us with daily
information.
WELL, I CONTEND that the
Dailv made a serious error in
Friday's edition in light of the
Michigan Chronicle's revela-
tions. I believe that the Daily
owes a sincere apology to all
Detroiters.
-Nicholas Orlyk
January 18
Letters should be typed
and limited to 400 words.
The Daily reserves the
right to edit letters for
length and grammar.
THERE COULD BE at most only a
handful of people on this cam-
pus unaware of the financial squeeze
now facing the University. The dis-
mal aspect already surrounding this
year's financial prospects acquired
an even gloomier tint this last week
when Governor Milliken endorsed a
$102 million appropriation ceiling for
the University, a figure considerably
short of that projected by the more
pessimistic administration spokes-
man.
The reality of inadequate budgeting
is no longer up for debate. The ver-
dict has been delivered. Still to be
determined is how and through what
program the Administration will
enforce the new restrictions.
Over the past few weeks there has
been much speculation as to the toll
the budget cuts will take on student
rrnr-r- r*", D ,n - [ n mr-- - h- --
faced as one institution high on the
list of those most likely to fall before
the austerity axe.
ECONOMIC HARD TIMES have
always been a bitter pill to swal-
low, and when it comes to pulling in
the purse strings there is no way to
please everybody.
But before it begins dropping its
budgetary bombs on specific pro-
grams, the Administration should
first make a sincere effort to encour-
age student and faculty input on
priority items.
In a bureaucracy as large and in-
sulated as the University, we far too
often find those furthest removed
from student interests having the
greatest input on policy matters,
having a major impact on student
lives. It is a defect inherent to the
system, and one that only aggressive
- j
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