The
pollution crisis of Europe
iXlc Airdtgun Daily
Eighty-Seven Years of Editorial Freedom
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109
By ED GIRARDET
Pacific News Service
Saturday, October 2, 1976
News Phone: 764-0552j
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
Sdfarewell w for Phil Hart
THE ADJOURNMENT of Congress
this week brings a sad and un-
timely end to the distinguished leg-
islative career of a giant on Capitol
Hill: Michigan's retiring senior sena-
tor, Philip Hart. Like the loss of a
parent, Hart's absence will be un-
questionably painful, for in place of
the uncommon excellence, vision and
sensitivity he brought to the upper
body of Congress will be a void no
other man can possibly fill.
Few, if any, of Hart's colleagues
would be embarrassed to admit that
they love him. As the Senate's quint-
essential gentleman, Hart drew re-
spect and admiration from Demo-
crats and Republicans alike. And in
stark contrast to the bloated egos of
most senators and representatives,
Hart's style was characterized by hu-
mility and even self-efficacy.
Hart, it has often been said, rep-
resented the conscience of the Sen-
ate. He was the only senator to vote
against the nomination of James
Eastland for Senate President pro
tem - because such a position put
Eastland fourth in succession for the
White House, and Hart considered
him unfit for the job. He was an
early and consistent critic of the
Vietnam War, and seized the cause
of civil rights as soon as anyone else.
Hart also fought for consumers'
interests, particularly in the area of
antitrust legislation. He has worked
long and hard for passage of a major
antitrust enforcement bill, which,
despite grumblings, President Ford
saw fit to sign just yesterday. The
legislation will allow state attorneys-
general to file lawsuits against anti-
trust violators on behalf of the citi-
zens of their states - and consum-
ers may benefit from such actions
by checks through the mail.
"GENATOR HART is a very rare per-
(son," said his colleague from
Washington, Sen. Henry Jackson,
Thursday. "One without any flaws of
character; in short, 'pure gold'."
Similar emotional tributes have
come from most of the Senate's other
residents. Mike Mansfield called him
"the noblest of us all." Robert Byrd
of West Virginia said the Michigan
Democrat is "a man of impeccable
character and integrity, absolute
fairness, and great compassion." Mis-
souri's Thomas Eagleton called Hart
"one of the most gentle and consid-
erate men I have ever known."
And yet these tributes seem like
understatements. Hart's great work
will make itself felt for years to come,
in the daily lives of countless Ameri-
cans. He leaves the Senate far too
soon.
TODAY'S STAFF:
News: Mike Norton, Jeff Ristine, Tim
Schick, Liz Slowik, Bill Turque.
Editorial Page: Michael Beckman,
Steve Kursman, Jon Pansius, Tom
Stevens.
Arts Page: Lois Josimovich.
Photo Technician: Pauline Lubens.
PRIOLO IS A SMALL, grimy town on the Italian
island of Sicily. The few trees that survive bear
dust-covered leaves, the air smells chemically foul
and the fresh linen hanging on the balconies turns
gray before it is even dry.
For years, Priolo's 12,000 inhabitants have stoically
accepted the bronchial and intestinal disorders caused
by the town's sprawling petrochemical factory, cement
works and chemical and magnesium refineries.
But now Priolo is beginning to have second thoughts,
in the wake of the disaster at Seveso - a town in
northern Italy where the accidental escape of TCDD
dioxin poison from a factory forced the evacuation
of 1,500 inhabitants.
Priolo's authorities are considering a mass evacu-
ation of the town because of its "intolerable" pollu-
tion rate.
In the rest of Western Europe, the press has zeal-
ously dramatized the Seveso disaster and examined
in glossy detail the "danger industries" and anti-pollu-
tion safeguards in their own countries, asking: can it
happen here?
.AND NO DOUBT a large part of the public has
been shocked to learn that not only could it hap-
pen "here," but it had been happening "here" for
years.
Western European countries like France, Italy, Por-
tugal and Spain have never considered the environ-
ment issue a high priority. Only in the Scandinavian
countries, Great Britain, West Germany and Holland
has there been a show of concern.
But unlike concern, pollution knows no borders. Bri-
tain's heavy industries in the south billow out toxic
fumes causing acid rains to fall on the pine forests
of Norway, retarding or destroying tree growth.
Factories in Switzerland, West Germany and France
pour tons of mercury wastes into the Rhine River,
which carries pollution through Holland and into the
North Sea.
Threatened as well are historic towns like Venice,
whose buildings and statues are menaced not so much
by the rising tides of the Adriatic as by atmospheric
pollution from the industrial complexes at nearby
Mestre and Marghera.
AND IN BASEL, northern Switzerland, the town-
folk have suddenly become worried by a meterologi-
cal office report warning that their medieval town
could turn into the "filthiest in the world." The vil-
lain: sulfur dioxide waste products from local indus-
try and excess heat from the nearby Kaiseraugst
nuclear power station, Switzerland's largest.
What angered the Swiss most of all was the sup-
pression of the report by authorities for more than
three years, while environmentalists fought fruitless-
ly to halt the opening of the nuclear plant.
Among Europe's major pollution problems is the
Mediterranean, where the dumping of DDT, mercury,
cadmium, crude oil and high-level radioactive wastes
is threatening to turn a great sea into a dead mass
of water - much like some of America's Great
Lakes.
With more than 30 million tourists visiting the
Mediterranean every year, its death would be an eco-
nomic blow to the 18 European, Arab and African
states bordering it. Tourists are already feeling the
effects of pollution on their holidays.
SHORELINE WATERS in Greece are devoid of
life, polluted by the massive, uncontrolled industrial
complexes outside Athens. Beaches along the Italian
Riviera are littered with plastic and petrol wastage.
And fishermen in France are bringing in fewer fish.
In February of this year, 16 of the 18 Mediter-
ranean states agreed at a United Nations Environ-
ment Program (UNEP) conference in Barcelona,
Spain, to take constructive steps toward halting the
pollution before it is too late.
And in order to help the experts and the public
prevent further Sevesos, says Hans Mollenhauer, UNEP
director in Geneva, they are now preparing a special
register of toxic chemicals and ways to cope with
them.
But although the scientists may agree, it will be
up to politicians to apply the controls. And in the
wake of Seveso, environmentalists are still wonder-
ing if the public is aware or aroused enough to
make sufficient demands on its representatives.
For until Seveso, the public in countries like France
suffered, as a journalist at the Nouvelle Observateur
put it, "from 'he m'en foutisme' " (literally, "I
couldn't give a damn-ism).
ENVIRONMENTALISTS have tended to be scien-
tists, left-wing university and political groups or lone
crusaders such as Switzerland's Franz Weber, an en-
ergetic journalist often compared to Ralph Nader.
And with few votes at stake on pollution issues,
government officials regard environmentalists, especi-
ally the "non-qualified" ones like students, as little
more than a nuisance.
But a few groups have managed to overcome gov-
ernment or industry resistance and scored environ-
mental victories.
Last July, youthful demonstrators joined the farm-
ers of Lannenmezan - in the Pyrenees mountains of
southwestern France - to blockade a factory for al-
most two weeks and force the management to halt
the fluoride waste rejection that was ruining crops
and contaminating farm animals.
Similarly, despite the promise of newly-created jobs,
the people of Marcholsheim in the Alsace, in eastern
France, opposed the construction of a German chemi-
Waking n
factory which threatened to release dangerous
wastes into the atmosphere.
nd in 1975, the French Minister of Living Condi-
made a move to slow industrial pollution in popu-
areas by closing eight factories until they com-
with anti-pollution regulations.
N THE OTHER HAND, despite severe protest
thousands of French scientists, massive public
>nstrations and even opposition from neighboring
erland, the French government has chosen to
ue construction of a new "Super Phoenix" atomic
or 40 miles southwest of Geneva.
all environmental issues, nuclear power is the
controversial in Western Europe. In fact, oppo-
to the Social Democrats' ambitious nuclear pro-
in Sweden was one of the key elements in
recent electoral defeat.
t pollution is not a phenomenon that normally
the pocketbook as does inflation, the hottest
for most Europeans. And against the backdrop
erall apathy, many environmentalists fear their
will slip back to its former dormant state-at
until another two kilograms of TCDD escape from
unknown factory in some unknown town n north-
taly. Or France. Or Germany.
Girardet is a freelance journalist based in Paris.
e tightrope
in1 Galilee
of
coexistence
By MARCUS ELIASON
Associated Press Writer
TrEL AVIV, Israel - Galilee, a Biblical land of
hills and verdant valleys, is becoming a bas-
tion of Palestinian nationalism inside Israel's borders.
Many of Israel's 440,000 Arab citizens live in Gali-
lee. Their number is multiplying at twice the Jewish
birthrate, and some Israelis fear Jewish political con-
trol of the 2,000-square-mile area - a quarter of Is-
rael's territory - may ultimately be lost.
In the absence of peace in the Middle East, Is-
raeli Arabs are turning more and more to extremism.
A report published recently in Israeli newspapers
and written by the state director of Galilee affairs,
predicts that by 1978 Arabs will outnumber Jews in
the zone.
The author, Israel Koenig, triggered a storm by urg-
ing the government to encourage emigration of Arabs
and curb their social and economic advancement.
KOENIG'S SUPERIORS in the Interior Ministry
minimized the report's significance, calling it a lone
opinion with little influence on government policy.
But Koenig's memorandum has reopened the pain-
ful question of whether Arabs and Jews can coexist
in Israel.
Jewish mayors in Galilee voiced support for Koe-
nig. Galilee rabbis chanted special blessings for him.
Israeli liberals and leftists accused him of racism and
demanded his resignation.
The Arab question blew up five months ago with
riots in the Galilee protesting a state takeover of
Arab-owned land. Six Arabs were killed by Israeli
gunfire.
Last December an Arab mayor was elected by a
landslide majority in the Galilee town of Nazareth,
on a platform of Palestinian nationalism and pro-Mos-
cow communism. Simultaneously, Arab students at
Hebrew University dramatized their split loyalties by
refusing to do anti-terrorist guard duty on campus.
ISRAEL'S PALESTINIANS - those who refrained
from joining the Arab exodus from this country with
the establishment of Israel in 1948 - have always
been in a sensitive position.
They have full civil rights, including the vote, but
their loyalty to Israel exposes them to charges of trea-
son from their Arab brethren across the borders. Mate-
rially, their situation has improved greatly. Virtually
all are literate compared with S per c'ent in 1948.
Farm output, their main income, has grown sixfold
in 28 years.
Koenig's report contends that the era of coopera-
tion is ending. This poses a major strategic problem
for Israel.
Galilee borders on Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, and
a prime goal of Arab strategy against Israel has been
to reach the Mediterranean and sever Galilee from
the rest of the Jewish state.
There is also the fear, says one Galilee official,
"that one day the Arab states will claim Galilee is
Palestinian, with an Arab majority, and that Israel
should give it up, just as they say Israel should
give up the West Bank" which it has occupied since
1967.
Grand schemes to "Judaize the Galilee" so that
Jews will outnumber Arabs 442,000 to 360,000 in 1992
are expensive and move slowly. In western Galilee,
67 per cent of the population is Arab.
"WE ALWAYS KNEW Koenig wanted Jews in Gali-
lee," says Arab journalist Attallah Mansour of Naza-
reth. "Now we know he also wants fewer Arabs there,
and he would cut services and encourage us to emi-
grate to achieve that goal."
Government officials insist, however, their policy
is not to encourage a fresh Arab exodus but "to
integrate Arabs into Jewish government and society
as much as possible."
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right to editrletters for
length and grammar.
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Letters to The Daily
prison 'holes'
To The Daily:
"THE ONLY CERTAINTY is
that conventional commitment
programs usually fail." 'From
The Shame of the Prisons, by
Ben Bagdikian.'
A recent poll revealed that
65% of the respondents did not
believe this and favored tough-
er prison sentences and execu-
tion of certain offenders. King
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W~ANED To E.R4 .
1,
Henry VIII put eight thousand
persons to death with little ef-
fect on the crime rate more than
four hundred years ago.
Sixyears ago I circulated a
petition in Ppsilanti city to abol-
ish "the hole" in the county
jail. None of the men approach-
ed would sign, but most women
endorsed the effort.
Reading the Shame of the
Prisons, I learned that all the
prisons of this country had such
"holes." Often male prisoners
are confined in cells without
heat or clothing as punishment
for conduct.
SUCH TREATMENT is inef-
fective and is often combined
with beating, for many civilian
police have been recruited from
former Marines and ex-military
policemen.
Governor Ronald Reagan of
California dropped the program
for building ten new prisons and
turned to keeping many crim-
inals in their communities with
jobs there. In this way one-third
of the annual cost per prisoner,
six-thousand, five-hundred dol-
lars, was saved. California
saved almost two hundred mil-
lion dollars the first year. (Page
Governor Milliken!)
Many wardens thought two-
thirds, or more, of their pri-
soners "did not need to be be-
hind locked walls."
In South Carolina "Resident
Centers," or half-way houses, in
seven years had only fourteen
per cent returned to state pri-
sons of those selected for the
dormitories.
In Washtenaw County by 1976,
comparison for three years
c,hnwA tn nr rennt raltrno
court race
To The Daily:
I WAS GLAD to read in The
Daily that the 2 candidates run-
ning for Circuit Court judge
have vastly differing views
about howthetCourtdshould be
run. Usually the judge candi-
dates sing the same tune. It's
no secret that the Circuit Court
has failed miserably in helping
families through a stressful and
oftentimes painful divorce. The
Friend of the Court is terribly
overburdened; and the Circuit
Court judges seem to show lit-
tle compassion for children who
are used as pawns in a cus-
tody fight. The judges have not,
in the past, acknowledged the
"trade-offs" in divorce settle-
ments. For instance, if the wife
wants to have custody of her
children, she may have to "set-
tle" for less than her fair share
of marital property in order to
prevent a custody fight. And of
course, there's the continuing
scandel where the Courts turn
their back when financially se-
cure fathers fail to make child
support payments.
Candidate Conlin doesn't be-
lieve that the new Fifth Circuit
Court should address itself pri-
marily to family relations and
divorce cases, although these
are the most commonly seen
cases. This is a shame. We
need a better, more humane
way of dealing with families
in the process of divorce. At-
torney Burgoyne would like to
create a special family division,
if she is elected judge. Conlin,
who opposes this, stated in The
Daily that such a plan has been
proposed in the past but that
aan se --.L.. :a -
MICHAEL BECKMAN
HE CAME FROM THE NORTHLANDS, from the land between
the lakes. In his youth, he was educated in the land's finest
learning center, where he engaged in games of the gridiron when
the sun was in its autumn solstice. From there he went east
to the land of ivy to become learned in barristership. He trav-
eled back to the northlands to soon sacrifice himself to a ca-
reer in the domains of the public, and so he came to the capi-
tal city.
He remained in the capital city as the guardian of his
people for many years, always as the loyal supporter of his
party.
As the century moved into the second half of its third
score, his party came to be in power. But the philosophy of
Lord Acton held true, and the choice of the people came upon
hard times. The man a heartbeat away from the presidency
was sacrificed to the altar of the masses, and as a result of
his loyal support to the party, the man from the northlands
was chosen to be the new assistant.
When the power base of the choice of the people began
to crumble, and collapse was emminent, the party turned to
the loyal assistant and proclaimed him to be the guiding light
through the darkness.
AND WHEN THE choice of the people was deposed, the
choice of the party addressed the land. He would bring back
trust in the rulers. He would heal the schisms racking the
land. Unity and honesty, those were his watchwords.
And it came to be that his first act was to pardon the
man who had caused the dis-unity and the dishonesty. And the
light began to dim.
The man from the northlands knew not how to handle deal-
ings with foreign lands, as had the choice of the people. So
he kept the deposed ruler's envoy to foreign lands to maintain
the present policies, the man who had been accused of plot-
ting against kings. And the light dimmed more.
And the finances of the land were blighted. And the man
from the northlands devised a plan. And he spread word of
his plan to the people by way of little round inscriptions, to
be attached to their hearts. But the people's currency was be-
ing exchanged for less, and jobs were not to be found. And the
light dimmed further.
AND THE LAND WAS STILL suffering from the effects of
the great war. Many would not kill for their rulers so they
became exiles in foreign lands. The choice of the party offered
them the chance to return to their native land to repent their
sins. He told the youthhood of the land that they had sinned
and would not be allowed back to the birthplace until they
had recanted And the light dimmed still further.
.. Aut 7'R(ATl M'lE
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