Eighty-three years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
off the record
Oglesby looks
back at the New
Le ft
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mi. 48104
News Phone: 764-0552
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1973
SGC and, minority allocations
STUDENT GOVERNMENT Council re-
established Its reputation for poor
judgement and spendthrift policies dur-
ing last week's meeting-this titne with
an appropriation that will squander $200
for a Jewish newsletter.
The proposal is by no means a new
one. For its sponsor, SGC member Matt
Hoffman, the motion has become an an-
nual event. This year's proposal is mere-
ly a dusted-off version of a similar mo-
tion last year that was rejected by the
Jacobsonian Council in one of its saner
moments.
Even back in riotous Council sessions
that characterized the Bill Jacobs ad-
ministration, certain criteria were con-
sidered in allocating. funds -- usually
need, the group's ability to seek funds
from other quarters, and how imperative
the project (in this case, newsletter) was
to the organization or group.
Whether the Jewish organizations will
flounder and eventually dissolve without
the unity provided by a central informa-
tion service is not even within question.
JEWISH GROUPS on campus and
elsewhere are highly-organized and
self-supporting, with everything from He-
brew classes to social gatherings to bind
them together culturally.
The backers of the proposal have also
chosen to ignore the fact that these
groups already have a newsletter.
Published monthly by the Hillel Foun-
dation, the "Nefesh" informs its readers
of local Jewish activities and events -
presumably the same function Hoff-
man's proposed newsletter will perform.
The redundancy of the second news-
letter is even more frivolous in light of
SGC's dwindling financial resources.
The night the proposal was discussed,
Treasurer Rosemary Mullin announced
that SGC is now running $5,900 to $7,200
in the hole.
The Jews heavily outweigh almost
any other "minority" in financial re-
sources. The Jewish community's capacity
to raise money for Israel, for example,
exceeds that of the Arabs by 100 to 1.
THE $200, IN ANY case, is a drop in the
bucket compared with the funds the
Jews have been able to generate on their
own or the amount needed to produce a
newsletter on a regular basis. It is little
more, in fact, than a token allocation.
This is precisely what the backers of
the proposal had in mind - still another
opportunity to carry their "If you're a
minority, I'm a minority" policy to its
absurd extreme.
Some members have registered their
disapproval for any minority allocations
this way. By finding pretexts to include
as many proposals as possible under the
minority umbrella, they attempt to make
all minority allocations ridiculous.
SGC has neither the time nor the
money for this childish game-playing.
By TED STEIN
"We regard men as infinitely prec-
ious and possessed of unfulfilled capa-
cities for reason, freedom and love. In
affirming these principles we are aware
of countering perhaps the dominant
conceptions of man in the twentieth
century: that he is a thing to be mani-
pulated, and that he is inherently in-
capable of directing his own affairs."
Port Huron Statement, 1962
* * *
HERE IS a strangeness to Carl Oglesby's
feverish talk as he sits on the Aud. A
stage in late autumn afternoon. A torrent
of words is pouring out of his drawn,
mustachioed face. He has just lectured
about the religious aspects of student rad-
icalism, and he looks to the casual eye
more the part of theology student t h a n
firebrand.
More than a decade ago, as a University
student and SDS leader, after his talk
he would have been telling the handful
of attentive students who remained about
Vietnam and how to organize around it. But
that was in a time of answers.
Now the talk is of ruling class "yankees"
and "cowboys," of how power is divided
between an old Eastern elite and the bur-
geoning Texas oil and California aerospace
interests.
No more rhetoric about "participatory
democracy" or fulfilling human potentiali-
ties. The expectant idealism of SDS' found-
ing Port Huron Statement is long gone. The
commitment of those years still burns in
Oglesby, but it's different.
NEVERTHELESS, he illustrates h o w
much we've lost in such a short time. For
a moment we might be able to con our-
selves into believing that Tom Hayden
filled Hill Aud. because South Vietnamese
are still tortured for their beliefs, and
not because he came with Jane
Fonda. But for Oglesby there can be no
illusions.
"You can't rule out the fact that the
New Left was murdered," Oglesby says.
"If we had known we would get infiltrat-
ed and then subverted we might have done
things with a different consciousness."
from the
Something profound was afoot in the early
sixties and that's what frightened the
"manipulators" into exploding the New Left
from within. A power to humanize Amer-
ica was growing and that's what was most
tragically snuffed' out.,
THE NEW LEFT promised to be a me-
dium for cultural social commitment, and
in the early going, when Oglesby, Hay-
den, and, a few other SDSers here at the
University were finding themselves politi-
cally, it seemed it just might work. "It
really sang then", as Oglesby puts it.
It was a time when being a radical
meant more than raising an angry, clenched
fist. Then a handful of radicals struck out
as mavericks to preach the new human-
ism, shunning the more comfortable road
of professional schools. Somehow they would
bring the war home, fight poverty and rac-
ism, and throw the power-mongers out of
government.
Beyond this, there was a spiritual quality
to SDS' political quest, according to Ogles-
by, which may explain why Rennie Davis
gave up politics to follow a 15-year-old guru.
"How could we imagine we had a right
to revolution without somehow undergoing
it internally. Whether we're talking abont
salvation or revolution, we're really still
talking about the same thing," Oglesby
says.
OGLESBY'S MESSAGE is not delivered
in the high-pitched tones of the sixties any
longer, but if it was we'd hardly listen. It
has a distinctly middle-aged ring to it. It is
a "step-by-step" process that he advocates.
"What we have to do it develop the idea of
the critical life, the critical imagination."
In the sixties, Oglesby had a context
from which to work. Now he is alone,
quietly committed to fighting the system.
To an audience that has dwindled down to
a sparse few in Aud. A, he launches into
a hatful of conspiracy theories.
Oglesby talks of James McCord as a
double agent hired by the Kennedys, and
how Nixon got the Serelli Mob to down
a United Airlines Jet carrying NHoward
Hunt's wife and untold Republican secret
documents.
It's more than a little bit perplexing.
A
lesson
Los Angeles fire
U.S. aid props 'liberal' junta
By GORDON ATCHESON
PERHAPS ONE resident heard
an unusual noise. Then he
stepped into the second floor hall-
way to investigate. Impenetrable
black smoke filled the corridor as
a roaring inferno engulfed t h e
stairs.
He opened his mouth to scream,
but before he could the fiery air
burned out his lungs. Death was
instantaneous.
Of the 24 people who perished in
the blaze, which destroyed a Los
Angeles apartment building 1 a s t
week, that man may have been
the luckiest.
One floor up, a baby slowly as-
phixiated. She struggled helplessly
in her crib, bleating for h e r
mother. When a fireman found the
body several hours later, he near-
ly vormited. The stench of char-
ed flesh blanketed the bedroom.
Eight other children died in that
firetrap.
THE CONFLAGRATION w i 11
claim victim number 25 this after-
noon. She will succumb to a frac-
tured skull suffered when she
jumped from the top of the build-
ing to avoid the flames. But the
effort came a second too late. Her
hair and clothes caught fire - she
became a human torch as she
plummeted to the ground.
If the fracture didn't kill the
woman, the third degree burns
which covered her body would
have.
Several other people who now
lie in the same hospital were not
burned as badly. They will live.
Still, they will face years of ex-
cruciatingly painful treatment and
before the process is complete they
may wish they had died. Years
later when one of them walks by
people will look the other way in
self-defense.
This fire appeared to be at least
partially the result of negligence.
The landlord allowed the structu e
to deteriorate. It could not meet
the Los Angeles housing code and
he had been told to make repairs.
But indLA there are too many hous-
es and too few inspectors. There
just wasn't time to follov-up the
case and make sure the improve-
ments were made.
ANN ARBOR has been fortun-
ate - no tragedies yet. However
the conditions are ripe. The hous-
ing inspection department is un-
derstaffed and overworked. There
just isn't time to follow-up all the
cases.
The inspectors make finding fire
hazards their top priority and do
a pretty fair job on the nouses they
get a chance to check. Unfortuin-
ately, the nine inspectors are hu-
man while their task has become
Herculean.
Ann Arbor had 20,000 rental units
alone,each of which should be
checked every two years. Last year
the inspectors got to 1,610 rental
units. The year before that about
twice as many.
In 1974 the total may be lower
still. To save money, the city may
cut back personnel and the hous-
ing inspection staff has been men-
tioned as an expendable area.
Three inspectors probaoly won't be
retained.
GENERALLY the public and City
THE CURRENT STUDENT uprisings in
Greece are symptomatic of the pent-
up fears and hatred of a populace that
for the last six years has been victimized
by a repressive and dictatorial govern-
ment.
Student demands, originally centering
on the issue of greater academic free-
dom, have telescoped into a full-scale
condemnation of the Greek government.
Among the students demands are an
end to American support of the regime,
Editorial Staff
CHRISTOPHER PARKS and EUGENE ROBINSON
Co-Editors in Chief
DIANE LEVICK .. ......... Arts Editor
MARTIN PORTER.......... ..... Sunday Editor
MARILYN RILEY......... Associate Managing Editor
ZACHARY SCHILLER .............. Editorial Director
ERIC SCHOCH.................Editorial Director
TONY SCHWARTZ .................. Sunday Editor
CHARLES STEIN ..... ................... City Editor
TED STEIN...................... Executive Editor
ROLFE TESSEM ................... Managing Editor
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS: Marnie Heyn, Chuck
Wilbur, David Yalowitz
DAILY WEATHER BUREAU: William' Marino and
Dennis Dismacnek (forecasters)
STAFF WRITERS: Pmakash Aswani, .Gordon Atcheson,
Dan Biddle, Penny Blank, Dan Blugerman, Howard
Brick, Daye Burhenn, Bonnie Carnes, Charles Cole-
man, Mike Duweck, 'Ted Evanoff, Deborah Good,
William Heenan, Cindy Hill, Jack Krost. Jean Love-
Josephine Marcotty, Cheryl Pilate, Judy Ruskin,
Ann Rauma, Bob Seidenstein, Stephen Selbst, Jeff
Sorensen, Sue ttephenson, David Stoll, Rebecca
Warner
TODAY'S STAFF:
News: Prakash Aswani, Penny B I a nk,
Gene Robinson, Charlie Stein
Editorial Page: Zach Schiller, C h u c k
Wilbur
Arts Page: Diane Levick
Photo Technician: David Margolick.
which included $29 million in military,
aid in 1972.
The past months have seen the imple-
mentation of highly visible democratic
reforms which lack substantive value. The
reinstatement of martial law in an at-
tempt to stifle student demonstrators
-the so-called enemies of democracy -
further underscores the deception of the
Papadopoulos government's 'liberaliza-
tion.'
LAST JUNE, Papadopoulos proclaimed
himself president of a new republic
subject to approval in a voters' referen-
dum. The ensuing vote was later de-
nounced by King Constantine as "blatant
and shameful fraud.'
Continuing in this new found demo-
cratic tradition, President Papadopoulos
selected Spyros Markezinis as premier of
the first Civilian Cabinet since 1967.
Markezinis was virtually the only politi-
cal leader who did not denounce the mili-
tary junta when it seized power in 1967.
Now he believes he can lead the nation
to representative government.
Markezinis promises 'impeccable' par-
liamentary elections in 1974. However,
Papadopoulos still maintains absolute
control over defense, foreign affairs, and
internal security-hardly the conditions
for a free vote.
While Papadopoulos continues to hold
the real reins of power, the United States
remains his pillar of support. State De-
partment prattling about democracy to
the contrary, the U. S. - as it has in so
many other countries - has sided with
dictatorship and reaction once again.
Hall officials take services like
housing inspection for granted ur-
til a catastrophy occurs. Los An-
geles will now undoubtedly f i n d
some money and tighten up is tin-
spection procedures.'
While an effective fouaing in-
spection program cannot elihi-
nate fires, it would significantly re-
duce their number and magnitude.
Besides, the more inspections done,
the better the overall quality of
housing.
The city, however, seems to ig-
nore the necessity for a :7eason-
able level of housing inspection.
Nonetheless, by not having an
adequate housing inspection tearm,
the city has been playing Russia'n
Roulette and is now getcing ready
AP Photo
to lower the odds a little further.
Nobody can win at the game and
of course it's only a matter of
time until somebody loses. May-
be Ann Arbor will luck out for ano-
ther ten years. Maybe nor.
I
Gordon Atcheson is a,
writer.
Daily staff
Holiday forecast:
So ybeans an yone?
By MARTIN GELLEN
IF THE price of turkey is hav-
ing a bad effect on your holi-
day appetite, forget it and en-
joy. Next year, you may be eat-,
ing soybeans. But you will be en-
titled to wash them down with the
cheering reflection that you are
helping to boost U.S. foreign in-
vestment.
While citizens tighten their belts
and turn down their furnaces, U.S.
corporations are reporting record
profits, military spending is on the
increase, and overseas investment
is rising. The key to this paradox
is not hard to find. As a matter of
government policy, the cost of
steadying our long-unfavorable bal-
ance of payments is coming out of
your family budget.
When food prices began to soar
last year, the government blamed
the weather. The press blamed the
Russian wheat deal of July, 1972,
when giant wholesalers, report-
edly tipped off to Soviet purchas-
es in advance, held vast stocks
back from the domestic market for
shipment to the U.S.S.R.
MORE RECENTLY, government
spokesmen have been saying that
Americans are simply eating too
much. But the astronomic rise in
grocery bills is rightly seen, not as
a punishment for overeating, but
as the price of the fruitless war
in Indochina.
The most significant economic
consequences of the war have been
inflation and the fall of the dol-
lar. Inflation has so distorted the
price structure of the American
economy that foreign competitors
have penetrated deeply into key
markets such as autos, electric ap-
pliances, steel, chemicals, and of-
fice machinery. And it has wiped
out the competitive edge of Amer-
ican manufactured goods on world
markets.
Perhaps the simplest way to un-
derstand the current economic di-
The Greek student demand that
U. S. prop be eliminated is the onlyi
democracy will ever come to Greece.
the
way
lemma of the United States is to
imagine the nation as a wealthy
gambler who has been spending
more than he earns for far t o o
long. His lines of credit have be-
gun drying up, and bill collectors
are knocking at his door. Faced
with the choice of selling his es-
tates abroad, or drastically reduc-
ing his spending style, he d o e s
neither. Insteads, he mortgages his
family home and cuts down on
support to his wife and children.
IF "FOREIGN estates" s t a n d
for foreign investments, Pnd
"gambling" for costly military ad-
ventures, this is the situation we
are in. American corporations are
not going to give up foreign in-
vestment. Drastic cuts in the de-
fense budget are equally unlikely:
the Administration has asked for
an overall increase in military
spending for fiscal year 1974.
To right the balance of pay-
ments, the Nixon administration
has resorted to a second line of
defense - austerity at home coup-
led with a trade offensive abroad.
The United States is launching an
export expansion drive aimed at
achieving a trade surolus of $5 to
$6 billion annually. Since the de-
ficit in 1972 amounted to almost
$7 billion, this really means an
increase of some $13 billion a year.
OUR MOST competitive export is
food. With a vast area of prime
farm land in the temperate zone,
and the world's most highly de-
reloped agricultural technology, the
U.S. can grow food more cheaply
and in greater abundance than
any other nation on earth.
Over the past three years, ex-
ports of U.S. farm products have
soared to unprecedented levels,
climbing from $5.7 billion in fiscal
year 1969 to nearly $12 billion in
fiscal 1973. By next year, over
half the dollar value of all U.S. ex-
ports will come from food.
harvests in Russia and Europe and
this year's famine in Asia and Af-
rica.
AFTER THE first devaluation of
the dollar in early 1972, Peter J.
Flanigan, then assistant to the
President for international econo-
mic affairs, commissioned the De-
partment of Agriculture to aaafyze
policy alternatives for the coun-
try's agricultural trade. Complet-
ed by June, 1972, the Flanigan Re-
port argued that the United States
should seek trade agreements with
socialist countriesaand libarali za-
tion of agricultural trade barriers
with Europe and Japan. If such
agreements were reached, the re-
port argued, U.S. agricultural ex-
ports would rise sharply, reaching
$18.4 billion by 1980, and ". . . the
net balance of trade would be im-
proved by at least $8 billion."
The report envisions rising pric-
es as the "normal mechanism" by
which farmers would be encourag-
ed to expand production in order to
meet the growing export demand.
In other words, consumers' grcc-
ery bills must be doubled to guar-
antee large supplies for export.
ONCE SUCH a strategy is em-
barked on there is no turning back,
as Forbes Magazine, a praminent
investment journal, points out.
Perhaps the rise in prices will
level off, but if the N i x o n
gamble works, the American
people will never again know
food as cheap as they have had
in recent decades. The govern-
ment will have to see to it that
prices stay reasonably steady.
Consumers may be angry at
high food prices, until they
get used to them. But farm-
ers would never forgive a party
that encouraged them to expand
and then let their market col-
lapse.
From the very early days of the
out two freezes and four phases.
THE RESULT is that domestic
and foreign buyers are now heat-
edly competing for U.S. farm pro-
ducts, and price controls p u t
domestic buyers at a distinct dis-
advantage. Withno price restric-
tions to hinder them, and with a
billions of devalued dollars to fin-
ances their purchases, foreign buy-
ers have swept the market.
r., The policy has already backfired.
Last August, while farmers sold
huge quantities of grain and live-
stock to Japan and Europe, beef
all but disappeared from super-
market counters. Wholesale prices
of raw farm products -rose 66.4 per
cent, those of processed foods 37.4
per cent. Shortages finally forced
the government to impose export
restrictions - an embarrassment
to the Nixon Administration, which
wanted to demonstrate that U.S.
farms could be depended upon to
deliver the goods.
IN BASING the health of the
dollar on foreign demand for U.S.
food, the Administration is-making
the economy vulnerable to the kind
of instability that affects banana
republics. What happens if moth-
er drought of 1930's ,magnitude
should hit the Midwest? Or if
good weather, boosting foreign har-
vests, should produce gluts at
home? This year, the Russians re-
ported a bumper grain harvest of
215 million tons - 25 per cent
above their 1972 output.
Even Administration officials ad-
mit that the export policy is a
gamble. Carroll G. Brunthaver, as-
sistant secretary of agriculture,
said recently that if, ex',ort sales
fall, the whole 'Nixon farm policy
would fail and the dollar would
again be endangered . A switch to
soyburgers is no gurantee of. eco-
nomic security.
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