Israel
By ZACHARY SCHILLER
THERE IS OFTEN a tendency in this
country to view Israel as a nation
that can do no wrong. This viewpoint
is used to justify Israeli military policy,
but it also obscures the reality of eco-
nomic and social conditions in Israel
today.
Like the United States, Israel runs
on the profit principle. And during the
intervals when war does not obscure
the divisions in Israeli society, the
same problems fostered in any society
run on that basis make themselves evi-
dent in Israel.
The National Insurance Institute has
estimated that a fifth of the popula-
tion lives in poverty; a quarter of
Tetl Aviv lives in slum dwellings.
The poorest areas are inevitably in-
habited mostly by Sephardic (some call
them oriental) Jews, the 60 per cent
of the population who emigrated from
Arab countries. They have darker fea-
tures than their European Ashkenazi
counterparts, who almost exclusively
dominate the upper echelons of Israeli
society.
THOSE WHO POINT out the stark dif-
ferences in conditions of Ashkenazi and
Sephardic Jews and the continued exist-
ence of poverty are told that Israel is
a society under seige, that security
must come before social welfare.
But Arthur Hertzberg, a lecturer on
Jewish history who is prominent in
American Jewish circles, pointed out
in 1971 that "during the four years
from 1967 when the country was under
siege; the standard of living of the mid-
dle class has doubled . .. It seems the
country is only under siege when it
Profit motive corrupts the promised land'
comes to the needs of the 20 per cent
of the population who are below the
poverty line."
In the quarter of Tel Aviv called
Hatikva, most might agree with Hertz-
berg. Living four and five to a room in
tin-roofed shacks, 60,000 persons - 90
per cent of them Sephardic Jews -
must bear the stench of the sewers.
Yet, while these people must wait
for new housing to be constructed, the
Israeli press has seen a plethora of
articles on the new elite in Israeli
society.
ONE NEWSPAPER reported this fall
that the country had 200 millionaires.
But the figure only amused Baruch
Braude, head of an accounting firm:
"Two thousand is more like it," he
says. "The 200 are just the ones that
admit it."
Industrialists, bankers, contractors,
diamond merchants - all have risen
high on the boom following the 1967
wor. Foreign investment and govern-
ment subsidies have helped along the
new money makers, and the sudden ex-
pansion of post-war markets did noth-
ing to dampen the profit taking.
Ben-Abaron commented in April,
1972, that a frenzied "rat race" for
personal enrichment was under way.
"One of the major problems which has
arisen in the economy today," h: said,
"is that the income to be dervied from
non-work - that is, speculation -
is greater than that which can be de-
rived from work."
Among those who have reaped much
under the present system -re the very
generals who commanded Israel to vic-
tory in the 1967 war.
"OLD SOLDIERS neither die nor
fade away in Israel," said the New
York Times in August. "Instead, they
manage the nation's largest industrial
enterprises, head up its universities
and, in increasing numbers, run for
political office."
Dan Tolkowsky, former air force
chief, is now general manager of the
powerful Discount Bank Investment
Group. Meir Amit, former chief of the
operations branch and for seven years
head of Israel's security service, re-
signed five years ago to become presi-
dent of Koor Industries. That congo-
lomerate operates a fifth of all indus-
trial enterprises in the -ountry, and
Ait has brought seven former officers
into top company management.
Ezer Weizman, another former chief
of the air force, retired three years
ago and now chairs the right-wing
Herut party; Gen. Ariel Sharon, lead-
er of the southern command, resigned
to announce his candidacy for the Is-
raeli parliament, the Knesset.
THE ISRAEL ELITE, with its inter-
changing membership of generals and
industrialists, has developed a whole
subculture according to the dean of the
Tel Aviv University Law School. And
their influence, the New York Times
says, "extends far beyond their im-
mediate fiefdoms."
What we might call "clout" goes by
the name of "Proteksia" or "Vitamin
P" in Israel. It consists of the ability
to reach the right person in the right
government ministry to cut through red
tape and get a project under way.
This is important in a country whose
premier has acknowledged that it is
not unique to Israel and we did not
invent it," Premier Meir has said. "But
we do have unenviable achievements in
the field."
Two autonomous agencies, for in-
stance, handle immigration to the coun-
try. Why aren't they combined? "Be-
cause," says one agency official, "that
would mean giving up part of our bud-
get allocation, and the more money we
manipulate the more power we have.
Nobody gives up power without a
fight."
entangled in red tape. "Bureaucracy is
ALONG WITH bureaucracy, resulting
partly from massive government in-
volvement in the private economy,
comes corruption. Two years ago, a
government oil geologist alleged that
there was "rot, corruption and dishon-
esty spreading throughout our social
and economic life."
He pointed to what he said was the
theft of million dollar equipment by
Netivei Neft, the government oil com-
pany, laxity of high government offic-
ials in acknowledging information im-
plicating friends and associates, <. n d
financial manipulatoin of government
funds.
The government commissun appoint-
ed to look into the charges chastised
the geologist for making the charges.
But nevertheless, Mordechai Friedman,
head of Netivei Neft, resigned. And
among the commission's findings were
an elusive corporation in the Bahamas
and bank accounts in Switzerland in
which Friedman's funds and govern-
ment funds seemed to have been merg-
ed and drawn interest without proper
accounting.
IN RESPONSE to the original charg-
es, the comment of Deputy Finance
Minister Zvi Dinstein, who is also co-
ordinator of Israeli oil production, was
hardly reassuring. "There are thefts
everywhere," he said, "but that does
not amount to corruption."
The broadening of the profit motive
has had other effects on the country.
Among them has been the metamorpho-
sis of the kibbutz into what the direct-
or of the inter-kibbutz economic ad-
visory unit called "a capitalist enter-
prise."
The chief financial officer of a kib-
butz cannery observes that some see
the formation of a two-class system in
the kibbutzim - "those who give or-
ders and those who work." But what-
ever the changes on the kibbutz, the
overwhelming number (85 per cent)
iggle or
Not all the factory workers stayed,
like Shelton, to fight the harrassment.
Not all were allowed to.
Several quit. Others fought back,
sometimes verbally, sometimes physi-
cally, and were fired.
Roughly one third of the active Cau-
cus members were no longer working in
the plant by the time Shelton had his
personal encounter with the foremen.
On June 28, Shelton was put on no-
tice for not wearing his safety glasses
-allegedly in a work area.
Shelton recalls the incident some-
what differently: he claims his glasses
weren't on, but also adds that ne was
on a break in the designated break
area.
"They just lied," insists Shelton. "My
word didn't mean anything."
SHELTON CLAIMED his right to
consult with his UAW committeeman
following the incident.
Either the committeeman was never
summoned, or he never chose to ap-
proach Shelton on the matter. Shelton,
after one-and-a-half days without un-
ion representation, ran across him by
chance in the plant.
Eventually UAW filed a grievance on
behalf of Shelton. Tensions in the plant
rose to new heights.
of Israelis now live in urban areas.
Only about thre per cent of the coun-
try's 3.3 million people live on the kib-
butzim.
IN CERTAIN WAYS, some aspects of
Israeli society now mimic the United
States. Despite a law requiring equal
pay for equal work, for instance, one
study shows the average full-time an-
nual income of women is between 42
and 67 per cent of men's, depending on
the field.
Only 12 per cent of university fa-
culty are women (compared to 20
per cent in the U.S.), and seven wo-
men sit in the 120-member Knesset be-
sides Meir. Women cannot initiate di-
vorce proceedings, and divorces can
only be granted with the husband's con-
sent.
A number of women, such as lawyer
and writer Shulamit Aloni, see a thin
facade of public relations equality pap-
ering over the actual differences in
Israeli society. "We have been brain-
washed by our own legends of pioneer-
ing equality," Aloni says.
While the Israeli people believe they
are living under siege, the Sephardic
Jews may be temporarily less resentful
of discrimination against them. The
shanty-dwellers of Tel Aviv may agree
to shelve their demands for better hous-
ing, and the uproar over flagrant use
of Protesksia may die down.
But as the leaders of Israel them-
selves know, the dissipation of protest
cannot be a permanent condition.
justice
When Shelton told a foreman, "We
have our rights," emphasizing his point
with a clenched fist, the foreman claim-
ed Shelton had "threatened" him.
The denouement came when Shelton
was summoned to his foreman's of-
fice. On his way to the office, Shelton
was pulled aside by six foremen who he
said beat him, then called the police to
arrest him for assault.
Since his arrest, co-workers and sym-
pathizers have organized the Shelton
McCrainey Defense Committee, a group
that has arranged speaking engage-
ments across the state, including, ear-
lier this month, Ann Arbor.
IDEOLOGICALLY, they seek unity of
all working people against what they
view to be the real enemy: not fore-
men, but the system of entrenched cor-
porate wealth that has pitted them
against one another, and threatens to
impoverish each of them before it giv-
es an inch.
"Even if it takes the rest of our
lives and our children's lives, we'll do
it," said Shelton. "We recognize that
it is a job that has to be done."
In the meantime, however, he and
his committee will settle for having
Shelton leave the courtroom tomorrow
a free man.
Shelton McCrainey:
One man's stri
By CINDY HILL
A TRIP TO Shelton McCrainey's
home on Detroit's west side takes
you through some of the grimier sec-
tions of the city.
Smoke belches forth from omnipre-
sent smokestacks, almost obscuring
the vast rows of dismal grey factories
from a roadside view.
Even smog, however, cannot blur a
few images that are distinctively De-
troit: a sign proclaiming "Ford -
World Headquarters" rises arrogantly
out of the murk.
It's the birthplace of the American
automobile - Motor City, whose rich
suburbs house the country's auto bar-
ons, and whose poorer sections, includ-
ing Detroit's west side, house the fac-
tory workers who make the autos and
the auto barons.
The tentacles of auto-power extend
beyond Detroit, its rich suburbs and
its poorer sections, reaching into the
small towns throughout southeastern
Michigan -like Belleville.
Travellers are introduced to Belle-
ville miles outside the little commun-
ity. Another highway sign pictures a
silhouette of a sailboat, advertising the
"pleasure living" in the city.
IRONICALLY, IN another dingy auto
factory - Belleville's General Motors
Plant 10 - Shelton McCrainey was ar-
rested for attacking a foreman "with
intent to commit bodily harm."
Shelton claims he is innocent of the
crime and that he is being framed.
Tomorrow, the 34th District Court
will decide whether Shelton's claim is
true, or whether he will serve up to
15 years in prison for the alleged as-
sault. ,
For Shelton, the issue is as basic as
they come: freedom.
For his fellow workers, the issue has
assumed racial, economic, social and
political implications. And regardless
of the outcome of this particular case
- and the 60 others like it now on the
dockets - their struggle for equality
and improved working conditions will
continue.
Shelton's story began two years ago
after his discharge from the army when
he rejoined his wife in Detroit and his
father and his brother at the Belle-
ville plant.
CONDITIONS AT the plant, accord-
ing to Shelton, were deplorable.
The plant was without windows and
many of the machines, still gasoline-
operated, lacked necessary safety fea-
tures.
Moreover, the plant, drawing workers
from across the largely black Detroit
area was reflected by only 50 black
workers out of 500, one black foreman
out of 20, and no blacks in the skilled
trades.
Shelton joined the Justice f >r the
People Caucus - a group dedicated
to upgrading black positions in the fac-
tory, and improving working conditions
through petitions, strikes, and o h e r
non-violent action.
The Caucus' demands were occasion-
ally met, more often given the "run-
around," but usually, claims Shelton,
they were simply ignored.
"It's management's position to get
the most out of the least," explains
Shelton, "not to look out for people's
safety."
The addition of a third McCrainey to
the ranks of the protesting factory
workers - which included the active
support of his father and brother -
didn't exactly endear Shelton to his
supervisors.
INEVITABLY, THE RACIAL epithets
appeared on bathroom walls: "The
KKK want you, McCrainey," and "We
are gonna get you, you dirty nigger."
Shelton, however, was not the only
one singled out for such "special at-
tention."
An uneven warfare developed between
the Caucus and the management -
with the bets riding heavily on the
management.
The foreman of Plant 10 began a
campaign of harrassment, assigning
Caucus workers to unfamiliar ma-
chines, more strenuous jobs, reassign-
ed them to new teams, and even re-
sorted to calling workers "nigger" and
"boy,"
Shelton claims that, in another man-
agement strategy, another foreman lit-
erally followed him around the plant,
timing him on breaks, at the drinking
fountain, in the bathroom and during
lunch hours.
Had the foreman found any delin-
quencies in Shelton's record, Shelton
could have been subjected to disciolin-
ary action,
Apparently no such discrepancy was
ever found to justify the harrassment:
no complaint was ever filed.
SHELTON COMPLAINED to his own
foreman, who first told him he had no
authority over his peer, and later,
after Shelton complained a second time,
said he would look into it.
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4e 3ftrIPtn PuuZUf
Eighty-three years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mi. 48104
News Phone: 764-0552
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1973
Attacking the Bill of Rights
YESTERDAY'S Supreme Court ruling
that police can thoroughly search a
person under arrest without a search
warrant goes a long way towards the de-
struction of Fourth Amendment protec-
tion of citizens against unreasonable
searches and seizures.
The Fourth Amendment states ex-
plicitly that "the right of the people to
be secure in their persons, houses, papers
and effects, against unreasonable search-
es and seizures, shall not be violated, and
no Warrants shall issue, but upon prob-
able cause, supported by Oath or affirm-
ation, and particularly describing the
place to be searched, and the persons or
things to be seized."
At this point, persons under arrest
have no Fourth Amendment rights what-
soever, for according to Justice William
Rehnquist, writing for the majority, a
full search of the person under arrest "is
not only an exception to the warrant re-
quirement of the Fourth Amendment, but
TODAY'S STAFF:
is also a 'reasonable' search under that
amendment."
JN ADDITION, as Justice Thurgood Mar-
shall noted in a dissenting opinion,
the court has now turned its back on the
previous Supreme Court principle that
each case involving alleged violations of
search and seziure rights should be de-
cided individually.
Yesterday's decision thus effectively
cut off any chance that appeals could be
made on the basis of illegal searches, for
it implies that special circumstances in
any particular instance are irrelevant.
But more importantly, yesterday's rul-
ing continues the process of whittling
away at the constitution that has been in
process under the Nixon Administration
and the "Nixon court."
Decisions by the "Warren court" that
were blasted as "handcuffing the police"
the steadily being reversed. As those de-
cisions are dropped, so are the rights of
citizens they were meant to protect,
while the police are left to act as irre-
sponsibly as they might wish.
Letters
To The Daily:
WE CALL ON all prisoners to
join in a nationwide prisoners boy-
rott of the traditional Christmas
dinner.
We prisoners are expected to
pause at Christmas-time with Mid-
dIe America: to eat and be merry
and feel thankful. But all across
America, hidden behind the myths
and the dollar signs and fancy tin-
3el, there is hunger of body and
spirit. The system-enforcers are
everywhere; repressing people, vio-
lating the Bill of Rights, protect-
ing and enforcing the priorities
and lifestyles of the profit-mak-
ers. Forty million people live in
poverty.rMillions more can1barely
make ends meet. There is massive
inflation, unemployment, broken-
down neighborhoods, outrageous
price-tags on everything from the
basic necessities of life to civil
rights. And for the millions of Third
World and poor white people, the
injustices of poverty, institutional-
ized racism, inequality of oppor-
tunity, exploitation and oppression,
is what life is all about. We pri-
soners know this. These injustices
are what prison is all about.
Attica is to the prison syst-m'
what the American police-court-pri-
son business is to capitalism. At-
tica is the reverse side of the
American dollar. Attica is poverty
is inequality is injustice is racism.
Attica is My Lai is ITT is Water-
gate is abuse of power is Behavior
Modification. Attica was no mis-
take. The machine-gun butchery
carried out by the self-righteous
mercenaries is officially sanction-
ed. Nixon, Rockefeller, Oswald,
those in power, clearly understood
the effect that widely publicized
negotiated settlement at Anica
would have on other contained
ghettoes. Attica is Law and Order
is Status Quo is every prison is
every ghetto is Attica. There will
Prison
nor sing praises to the survivors.
Too many of us are still dying
-thousands of us are buried alive.
We refuse to take the Christmas
meal as a gesture of solidarity with
the 60 Attica Brothers who are
taking the weight. We are protest-
ing everything Attica represents.
Two years ago, after montns of
being lied to, harrassed, ignored in
trying to negotiate their grievances,
1,200 men risked whatever tney
had - and revolted. That New
York list of 28 grievances has been
echoed for many years all over the
country, in every prison and city
uprising from Walpole and Wound-
ed Knee to San Quentin and Ne-
wark. They were the same die-
mands shouted for, inthe Tomos,
in Alderson and Leavenworth, in
Baltimore and McAlister, in Rhode
Island and Georgia, in N w Hamp-
shire and Illinois - demands for
those human and civil rights that
have long been denied to people
held under the iron heel of the sys-
tem, whether we be in ghettos or
reservations, in sweat shops or
mindless schools, or in prison.
Three million dollars and all the
fintastic resources of the state of
New York have been geared to
convict to 60 defendants to justify
the state's barbarity. They have
been indicted on 1,300 separate
counts, calling for thousands of
years, plus the death penalty. Their
lawyers are all volunteering serv-
ices, as are many people, but the
defense expenses will cost over
$500,000.
And so we call on people every-
where to join in solidarity with the
Atticarbrothers. We ask our people
who are not in prison ton buy one
less Christmas gift for each othcr:
and to donate the price of that gift
to the Attica Brothers Defense
Fund, c 'o the National Lawyers
Guild, 23 Cornelia Street, N.Y.
10014.
Christmas
ities committee: eliminan
The discussion of University bud- providin
get priorities has overlooked a bud- able sal
get item which is the source of --
continuing inequity: University se-
cretarial salaries.I
The level of secretarial salariesE
at the University has remained1
consistently lower than that of
other universities or civil service.
A survey of secretarial salaries has
disclosed the information shown To The1
below. This information was col-
lected from the various Personnel UNIC
offices. For t
CURRENT SECRETARIAL to Cam
STARTING SALARIES at sell
at the F
(Gradings equivalent to Senior of time
Secretary at U. of NI.) $10,000v
Organization (per year) year w
Amo'nt UNICEF
Wash. Comm. College $7,935 day, D
Mich. Civil Service . . 6,870 two Peo
Central Mich. University .. 6,760 thieves
Mich. State University .. 6,643 approxin
Eastern Mich. University . 6,250 cash.
UNIV. OF MICH.. ..5,520 It was
The salary table indicates that a incident
secretary with the same qualifica- pect pe
tions as a University secretary can is desti
start working in a clerical j u b (United
under Michigan civil service and uses the
earn $1,350 per year more than a poorer c
University secretary, while enjoy- whoever
ing comparable fringe benefits. as badly
For many University secretaries, aroundt
a salary of about $5,500 is their I wou
only income and the sole means of who help
support for themselves or their who bou
families. Why are secretaries will- you ha
ing to work for such low wages? UNICE
Openings in better paying jobs are by chec
scarce in the Ann Arbor area. write an
Thus, as the major em;) yer of replace
secretaries in Ann Arbor, the Unr-et
versity is in a positi )n to exploit the firs
the surplus of competent women by cash it.
paying low wages. Althougn Ui: UNICEF
versity secretaries have received Account
pay raises of from three to five per ion, c 'o
cent in each of the last two years, sociation
fast
te the current unfa'rness ly
g secretaries with reason-
aries.
Linda Pedell
Gail Klein
Kathryn West
and 24 others
Uov. 15
UNICEF
Daily:
EF has been robbed.
he past three years people
pus have been volunteering
UNICEF Christmas cards
Fish bowl. Over that period
a total of approximately
was sent to UNICEF. This
e were hoping to send
F over $3,000. Today, Mon-
7ec. 10 at about 4:05 p.m.
ople, or perhaps the term
would apply better, stole
imately $400 in checks and
a shocking and disgusting
. One does not usually ex-
ople to steal money that
ned for charity. UNICEF
Nation's Children's Fund)
money to help children in
countries. We just hope that
r stole the money needed it
y as many of the children
the world.
ild like to thank all those
ped sell the cards and those
ught them. Also if any of
ppened to have purchased
F cards Monday and paid
k, you could, if you wish,
nother check to UNICEF, to
the stolen one since I as-
hat the person who stole
t check would not try to
You can make it out to
F and mail it to the Student
s Office, 240 Michigan Un-
International Students As-
n.
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