94c MLid itunDat
Eighty-Seven Years of Editorial Freedom
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109

U.S.

ignores

Puerto

Rican

Wednesday, November 17, 1976

News Phone: 764-0552

Edited and managed by students at the AJniversity of Michigan
P oplr will should shape
Federal Reserve policies

WE ARE COMFORTED to know
that Arthur Burns will cooper-
ate with Jimmy Carter; but we are
disturbed to know that he has the
option to not cooperate.
Successful economic policies tend
to require the cbordinatin of mone-
tary policy with fiscal policy. Fail-
ures can be expected when the Pres-
ident and the Congress move in one
direction while the Federal Reserve
Board pulls in the other. Yet under
our system now, such a catastrophe
is a definite possibility. And as con-
servatives and liberals increase their
ideological distance that possibility
becomes more likely.
What would happen if a liberal-
radical president began serving a
term in office at the same time that,
an ultra - conservative chairperson
reigned over the Reserve Board?,
Each might think it was his or her
duty to "save' 'the \country and the
value of bur money and our jobs
might well go down the tubes as each
person steadfastly refused to coop-
erate with the other.
WE BELIEVE THAT the mainten-
ance of a semi-independent Reserve
Board reflects a lack of faith in the
American people. Economics often
plays a key role in the election or
unseating of presidents. When we go
to the polls we are often voting for
or against a certain economic policy.
And the will of the electorate need
not be tempered by another agency.
innoculatioli

I
right
By ALBERTO ROLDAN
TN 1960, at the United Nations,
the United States govern-
ment supported and sponsored
resolution 1514, calling for the
right of self-determination in
all nations of the world. At the
same time this event was hap-
pening, a nation's right of self-
determination had been re-
moved by the United States.
Puerto Rico's right to freely
determine her own political, eco-
nomic, and social direction was
violated by the United States
government.
What is the right of self-de-
termination? It is the right to
choose the direction one wants
to take without influence. Unit-
ed States policy in Puerto Rico
has been characterized by open
disregard for this unalienable
right that every nation have.
In 1898 the United States in-
vaded Puerto Rico. Although
the "blessings and the progress
of the United States" was prom-
ised to the Puerto Ricans, a
military government which be-
came a colonial government
over a period of seventy-eight
years, was the only blessings
Puerto Ricans got. From 1898
to the present day Puerto Rico
has been a colony of the United
States.
For most North Americans
the termimperialism is fore-
ign to their vocabulary. They
have been taught since their
earliest days that in the past
England and France were im-
perial powers. For most North

ofIS
Americans today, imperialism
either does not exist or it is
limited to non-western nations
and rising Third World nations.
IMPERIALISM exists, and 'is
practiced by the United States
government in Puerto Rico. The
United States government has
tried to cover its imperial poli-
cies by making, of Puerto Rico
a "Free-Associate State" (in
the United States it is known
as a Commonwealth). Most peo-
ple today tend to forget that
'direct' dependency (ie. colon-
ialism) has been replaced in
most cases by 'indirect' depen-
dency (ie. neo-colonialism). The
neo-colonialism of today repre-
sents imperialism in its most
dangerous stage. For those who
practice it, it means power with-
out responsibility, and for those
who suffer it, it means exploita-
tion without redress. In the, days
of old-fashioned colonialism, the
imperial power had at least to
explain and justify at home the
actions it was taking abroad.
With neo-colonialism this is not
the case.
In the last two years the Puer-
to Rico Independence Party has
gone to the United Nations to
get international support for
Puerto Rico's right of self-de-
termination. The United States
government has opposed these
attempts claiming that any in-
terference by the United Nations
or any other international forum
will be considered an interfer-
ence with the "internal affairs"
of Puerto Rico and the United

States. The imperialist policies
of the United States govern-
ment in Puerto Rico are an in-
ternal affair of the United Stat-
e. as the "apartheid" policies
of the South Africa government
are its internal affairs.
THE PUERTO RICAN people
have been oppressed through-
out their whole history. First
by Spain, then by the United
States. Under the former, the
right of self-determination was
recognized; under the latter this
has not happened. Throughout
all of the seventy-eight years
of North American occupation
of Puerto Rico there has not
been a single North American
political leader, of either party,
who has identified himself with
the Puerto Rican nationalist-in-
dependence movement. Even
the most liberal presidents have
shown themselves incapable of
recognizing in any way the mor-
al contradiction between demo-
cracy at home and colonialism
abroad. On June 27, 1917, Presi-
dent Wilson imposed then;Jones
Act on Puerto Rico. The Jones
Act provided for a bill of rights
and a popularly elected legisla-
ture. Nevertheless, the most
fundamental piece- of coloniza-
tion remained practically unal-
tered; the plenary authority of
the United States Congress to
legislate for Puerto Rico on
those matters "not locally in-
applicable" remained inforce.
The absolute veto of the gov-
ernor (appointed by the Presi-
dent) was retained, but if the
legislature overrode the veto,
the President of the United Stat-
es had the final veto. In addi-
tion, Congress reserved the
right to annul any legislation

passed by the Legislative As-
sembly of Puerto Rico.
President Franklin Roosevelt
staunchly supported the absurd
policy of attempting the impo-
sition of English on the local
school system. A whole argu-
ment developed against the.
United States' arbitrary and
colonist approach. Reflecting
the general sentiment of Puerto
Ricans in 1946, both Houses of
the Legislative Assembly of
Puerto Rico approved a project
which would have made Span-
ish the. official language; the
then acting governor vetoed the
bill. In April 1946 the two hous-
es approved the project over
the veto, and this in turn was
vetoed by President -Truman
in October.
The United States has pursued
policies conducive to eliminate
the right of self-determination
of Puerto Rico. It is not un-
common to hear about how the
"people" of Puerto Rico have
"determined" their own way
by voting against independence.
The problem is that any type
of elections in a colony reflect
the oppressor's influence and,
not the people's choice. For the
oppressed, there seems to be
no choice, since they are under
the rule of the United States
and not self-rule.
Puerto Rico has been forced
to "develop" within the politi-
cal frame inherently in it co-
lonial relation vis-a-vis the Unit-
ed States. The United States
government has fostered the
rise and development of a
small bourgeiosie, a class that
has a colonial mentality. This
class is oriented toward the
life style of its counterparts
in the colonial power, a fierce
consumer of the mass media,

a tenacious defender of law
and order and fearful of popu-
lar elements, and is finally,
an anti - indenendestista group.
The Puerto Rican middle class
is in general as pharisaical and
anti-intellectual as could be ex-
pected of a class which grotes-
qitely imitates the most vulgar
asnects of North American mass
culture.
THE THEORY of Common-
wealth status amounts to a
claim for privileged status with-
in the North American federal
system. It is the fatal ambigui-
ty of the colonial person who, on
the one hand, is willing, indeed
eager, to play a collaborateur
role with the colonizing power;
yet on the other hand, is com-
pelled to adopt a posture of
political and cultural national-
ism in order ,to appease his re-
pressed susnicion that he has
betraved his people and his
country.
What is then the solution?
The answer is sirhple; the liqui-
dation of United States imperial-
ism. For this to occur there
must be support by the Ameri-
can public opinion, and from
the international community.
The liquidation of imperialism
is nothing but a prelude to com-
plete liberation and to self re-
covery. Liberation will not
come about in a year, nor in
two, but it will come about some
day for it is a natural evolu-
tion that can be retarded or en-
couraged but never destroyed.
Having reconquered all his free-
dom, the former colonial sub-
ject will have become a man
like any other. He will be a
self - determined person, whose
free life can direct a free Puer-
to Rico, "if so allowed.

If- determination

Arthur F. Burns
If a majority of people oppose the
policies after four years, they are
free to put an end to them through
a simple trip to the polls.
It is high time to give the control-
ling reigns of the economy , to the
President and the Congress. As long
as we can vote them in and out of
office we are safe. And we will have
more say about our economic policies
than we do when much of the deci-
sion-making power is delegated to a
Federal Reserve Board chairperson
that is appointed for fourteen years
at a time.
s a sfe I)et.

Mr. Roldan, a University graduate student in inter-
national relations, is the International Advisor for the
Puerto Rican Independence Party. He will speak at
the Latin American Teach-In tomorrow afternoon.


rationalization s a bad risk

TODAY IS THE last day for getting
your swine flu innocuiation. If you
have yet to get yours, we strongly
advise you take the few extra steps
and some spare minutes to get it
while you have the chance. After all,
it is free and essentially painless,
and there is little sense in taking a
chance of contracting the new flu
strain for some momentary conven-
ience.
We are encouraged by the high
turnout that has been reported on
yesterday; apparently people are
Business Staff
Beth Friedman..............Business Manager
Deborah Dreyfus; . Operations Manager
Kathleen Mulhern ... Assistant Adv. Coordinator
David Harlan ..... . Finance Manager
Don Simpson............... Sales Manager
Pete Peterson.......... Advertising Coordinator
Cassie St. Clair. ......Circulation Manager
Beth Stratford . .... . Circulation Director
TODAY'S STAFF:
News: Eileen Daley, Nancy Englund,
Anne Marie Lipinski, Jay Levin,
Mike Nolan, Bill Turque.
Editorial Page: Steve Kursman, Rob
Meachum, Jon Ponsius.
Arts Page: Mike Jones, Lois Josimo-
vich.
Photo Technician: Christina Schneider.

taking the safe route and getting
their shots in the arm. In fact, the
response has been enough so that
the Washtenaw County Health De-
partment has had to call in the re-
serves, rushing in extra nurses and
aides to keep the freebie shot lines
flowing smoothly. The wait has va-
ried between five minutes in the
Central Campus Recreation Building
to considerably longer in the Mich-
igan Union, where the Health De-
partment has concentrated its extra
aorsonnel. All in all, the program
does seem to be going well.
The sticeegs of the innoculation
propgram and the prevention of a
widesnread epidemic depend on ex-
tfvzve particination by the people.
Apain, we urge our readers to take a
little time to take part: do not put
it off, for there is no time for that.
Do not rationalize an excuse, for that
i, 1o defense against the flu.
The innoculations are available at
the Michigan Union, the Central
Oamnus Recreation Building, and the
IM Building between 9 a.m. and 5
p.m.

To The Daily:.
AT THE LAST mass meeting
of GEO, a minority report from
the Executive committee called
for a new, "better," re-organi-
zation for a strike in January
1977. We were told by a spokes-
person for this group that a
union worth its salt is a union
which can get out and strike.
We were urged to mobilize
again, this time with better
organization and communica-
tion, for anew nstrike vote.
Your very painstaking and
accurate "news analysis" of
the events of GEO's campaign
for a new, and better contract,
was marred only by its seem-
ing endorsement of this same
notion. "Has GEO lost the will
to. fight?" it is titled, and "GEO
has lost the fight and the mem-
bers just don't care." Your
titles certainly are provocative
and journalistically enticing, but
they smack of the same mis-
guided "elitism" that pervades
the above mentioned GEO mi-
nority report.
A good union is not only a
union that is prepared to strike,
and by God, we've got mem-
ories etched in ice and frozen
toes to substantiate that we can
do that. A good union also
knows when not to strike. A
strike is our ultimate weapon,
and should not be used lightly,
nor when it may not be effec-
tive. It is the near-tragedy of
this last strike referendum, that
for six months and more the
GEO leadership was sufficient-
ly out of touch with their mass
membership not to understand
something that was agonizingly
clear across the campus, if only
you listened carefully enough.
The membership was not will-
ing to strike. They were not

Letters
willing to strike for the issues
on the table today, though they
had shown their mettle by stirk-
ing for four long weeks to give
birth to the union. In their col-
lective wisdom there existed an
understanding that now was not
an auspicious time to strike.
Nor were they ill-informed.
GEO's literature to its GSA's
was good, and all of us (un-
usual for some unions) can read
critically. But you, along with
the minority group would call
us cowards for reading the sit-
uation the way we did, and de-
ciding what we did. The impli-
cation of course is that the peo-
ple don't know, that we don't
understand. We need to be mo-
bilized, "educated," communi-
cated with. No! Clearly the op-
posite is true. The leadership
was found lacking, blind and'
deaf until the last weeks, to the
messages of its rank and file.
Letthe resounding and embar-
rassing "No" of the member-
ship be a lesson to all of us
in GEO to keep our ears more
closely to the ground and to its
grass roots, something we've
always claimed we want to do
in our open and democratic un-
ion. Let that be our learning
from the present debacle.
And should the University
mis-read our strike vote, and
believe that like the Clericals
they can wipe us out, let them
beware. For if they try to break
our union, we will be out there
again in our hundreds for an
issue well worth striking for.
And a bad settlement now by
the university, will only lead to
a more bitter confrontation
next time around.
I BELIEVE THAT we have
lost a battle through short-sight-
ed, badly grounded strategies.
We will be back again though
to fight another day for the
major issues we believe in, af-
firmative action for all, class
size and a fair wage. We have
not lost the will to fight for
these things that would enhance
the quality of life on this cam-
pus for all of us.
The real question is: Will the
undergrads, our students and
our comradesas fellow stu-
dents; - will the faculty, our
teachers, and at the same time
our colleagues as fellow-teach-
ers; and will the ether campus
unions, our fellow employees,
be there to fight with us? Or
will you stand by as passive
bystanders watching disinterest-
edly to see the final score-card
- who won, who lost? I see
all of us as being in the same
boat with similar if not identi-
cal concerns for this university.
GEO is in the vanguard. Where
are you undergrads, faculty,
and other unions?
Leonard Snransky
Steward - Education
November 15

to

session with the football play-
ers held in the dorm.
The intent of the program
was to provide an opportunity
for students to meet some of
the football players and discuss
the game as well as the team;
not to display the athletes be-
fore "swooning" females. We
think the program was success-
ful and followed the intended
structure, but The Daily made
it sound like a Wolverine group-
ie meeting. Many of the students
who attended are irate that re-
porter Jennifer Miller did such
sloppy work. by generalizing
from the remarks of a few
starstruck women. We antici-
pated and received an audience
of enthusiastic, but not "ador-
ing" fans; there was sincere
interest, as opposedto "faint-
ing" or "drooling." This is not
to undermine the appeal of the
six athletes, but to emphasize
that the session was NOT meant
to display football players like
choice sides of beef.
The Markley staff plans to
continue having sports programs
with male and female U of M

the

Daly
coaches and athletes. We hope
that future participants and au-
diences will not be turned off
by The Daily's inaccurate ren-
dering of our first session.
Debbie Whiting,
Assistant Building
Director
Cathi Suyak,
Head Librarian
November 7
in arkley
To The -Daily:
WE ARE SHOCKED by The
Daily s insensitivity in its de-
scription of the Women's Com-
mission's Sex-Biased Language
Committee in the issue of Tues-
day, November 9. We do not
know where the idea of our be-
ing "a place to bitch" evolved
but this is a total misconcep-
tion. The problem of sex-biased
language is a real one both in
the University community and
in society-at-large and should
not be treated s a joke. The
structure and usage of language
perpetuates stereotypes which
may have offensive, insulting,

degrading, or excluding effects
on many individuals. The re-
port neglected to include our ul-
timate goal - that is, after
gathering data (anecdotes and
related experiences) from the
University community, we hope
to culminate our efforts by de-
veloping an informative and use-
ful pamphlet familiarizing peo-
ple with the problem and with
the often unintended consequen-
ces.
We encourage everyone-stu-
dent, staff, and faculty - to
relay their experiences to us
(that doesn't imply "a place
to bitch," does it?) We regret
the image conveyed and hope
that future articles will be both
more accurate and serious.
Gail Reizenstein,
Chairperson
Sex-Biased Language
Committee
Letters should be typed
and limited to 400 words.
The- Daily reserves the
right to edit letters for
length and grammar.

Plains Baptist desegregates
By Marnie He'n_


~1

Editorial positions represent a
consensus of The Daily Editorial st

,.

aff.



US bVRZCFioNS TT hlA1N,
f t
III

A CONGREGATIONAL decision to desegregate
the Plains Baptist Church may not be Jimmy
Carter's largest diplomatic coup, but it is cheer-
ing. Although I keep feeling that I'm getting
sucked into something, I am continually pleased
that Carter is putting out none of those hair-on-
the-soft-palate annoyances that have been the
hallmark of liberal federal officials: he's not a
picky eater, he doesn't mainline golf, he reads,
he carriesluggage instead of Patton, his daugh-
ter is goinlg to public school in crime-riddled
Washington, D.C.
It may not seem like a big deal in the midst
of international terror and intrigue, but 113 good
Georgian citizens have switched to the desegre-
gation column since the last time the white
Baptist church members voted on the subject.
(Incidentally, the earlier decision to exclude
blacks included a-excuse the expression-rider
which excluded civil rights agitators as well. I
wonder what sort of reception they'll get now.)
Since everyone is tired of hearing that the Civil
War is over, let me phrase 'it another tray:
Carter may not be a pearl but he and his family
sure do act like sand in an oyster's craw.
I am gradually persuaded that charisma isn't
merely a detachable commodity which helps
market some candidates: rather it's a whiff of
the person behind the public image. It is, of
course, fatal to rely on that faint aroma in
assessing a. public official, but it would be charm-
ing if pleasant politicians could drive away the
stench of vengeful beasts like Agnew and Butz.
* * ' * n
AN ART CONSUMER'S eva~uation: On Satur-

The manager seated all thirty night-owl patrons
at about five tables, ignoring the empty balcony
and the half-empty main floor. When we asked
if we could move (my knees kept whacking some
strange gentleman in the, ribs, and I had to
slouch because a speaker wire ran low over the
table), the head honcho sighed and said, "I
guess so."
The sign out in front says Fine Food: ignore
it. Half the menu is dvoted to mixed soft drinks
like the Swamp Water (Coke and Vernors) and
a triple-threat concoction-the name escape me
-actually I let it go-of lemon-lime soda, wild
cherry soda and Vernors. No booze. We debated
between the cheese plate and the chips and dip;
we should have gotten the chips. For one dollar
and seventy-five cents, we were served five
broken Triscuits, eleven stale Ritz crackers, and
two teaspoon-sized dabs of cheese (one bad and
the other inedible) on a clinging bed of deep
beige lettuce. No telling what th~eir steaks are
like: I refused to sample them. Recommenda-
tion: Try to see performers elsewhere, or at
least take along your own munchies.
* * **
THIS WEEK'S CIVIC suggestion: My small
home town in southwestern Michigan had a prob-
lem with businesses and patrons fleeing to out-
lying shopping plazas rather than hassle with
parking and traffic. The downtown merchants
got together a petition to remove all parking
meters; in addition, the merchants proposed a
minite increase in the taxation of the central
retail zone. Everyone was pleased: new " busi-
nesses moved in. shooners came downtown to