Executions spark Fascist phobia

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By CARL CAPRESCHET
SAN FRANCISCO,
Oct. 1 (PNS) -
THE SPONTANEOUS PRO-
TESTS all over western
Europe against last Saturday's
five executions in Spain spraing
from a horror of fascism that
still grips millions of Europeans
30 years after the fall of Nazi
Germany.
While the U. S. government,
fearful for the future of its
bases in Spain, avoided the
slightest gesture of criticism,
the streets and chanceries of
western Europe reacted, for
once, in unison. As demonstra-
tions erupted in city after city,
at least 12 governments with-
drew their ambassadors from
Madrid.
The executions fanned fears
West Europeans have harbored
for a quarter century. Fascism
was not just a passing pheno-
menon that suddenly engulfed
Germany and Italy and then
was swept from the scene by
Allied victory. It was a pow-
erful current with millions of
adherents that flourished in vir-
tually every country in Europe.
The largest fascist demonstra-
tion in the 1930s occurred not in
Germany or Italy but in France
in 1934, when one million
French rightists protested the
corrupt establishment revealed
by the celebrated Stavisky fi-
nancial scandals. French fas-
cism was so powerful that his-
torian William Shirer accord-
ed it major blame for the
French defeat in 1940 by the
Germans; much of the French

military, Shirer has written,
actually wanted Hitler to win.
EVEN SOBER BRITAIN
had a fascisteparty, readysto
welcome Hitler if he had suc-
cessfully invaded. When Hit-
ler's armies occupied Europe,
tens of thousands of fascists
from over the continent joined
his forces to fight in Russia,
and thousands more eagerly
joined the fascist police and
the S. S. to help exterminate
"undesirables." F a s c i s m
to Europeans still means a po-
lice state systematically killing
its opponents.
Today all of western Europe,
including the liberal democra-
cies of long tradition, fear the
revival of fascism. As recession
w o r s e n s, unemployment
lines grow and speculation en-
riches the few while inflation
grinds down the middle classes,
not only leftists but fascist
forces have grown. Behind the
scenes, small movements have
infiltrated police and military
units, seeking power through
subversion, fanning the flames
of civil war.
With the overthrow of the fas-
cist regime in Portugal, Fran-
co's regime in Spain represents
the last vestige of fascism in
Europe. For millions of tourists,
Spanish police - or Guardia
Civil - with their charcoal uni-
forms, three-cornered Napo-
leonic cockades and fearful re-
putations - are vivid reminders
of Franco's enduring police
state. It was, in fact, the Guar-
dia Civil - not the Spanish ar-
my - that executed the Basque

" s
"
" " .
f a
s
_ s .

and Spanish revolutionaries.
NOW THE EXECUTIONS
have deepend the gulf between
opain and its European neigh-
bors. For years, Britain,
France, West Germany and
other nations have resisted U.S.
efforts to get Spain involved in
NATO - even as the Commu-
nist countries have resumed
cordial relations with Franco's
regime.
While the U. S. remains
Spain's only ally, that relation-
ship too is fragile as Franco,
facing growing internal resist-
ance, has appealed to powerful
Spanish nationalist instincts for
support. Much of the nationalist

sentiment has been directed
against the U. S., for which
Spanish nationalists have held
a smoldering dislike since their
turn-of-the-century defeat in the
Spanish - American war. Thus
even when the U. S. pressured
Spain to sever its relations
with Castro's Cuba, Franco re-
fused. But Spain, still fearful in
1949 of being toppled by other
western European governments,
traded military bases for U. S.
economic assistance and diplo-
matic support.
Now, the Franco regime is
determined to extract maximum
advantage from the U. S. need
for military bases there. It is

requesting huge arms ship-
ments and a U. S. military alli-
ance in case of threats fron
abroad.
UNTIL RECENTLY, the only
threat came from a Portugal in
revolution. Now, the five execu-
tions may have unleashed pow-
erful new opposition forces,
drawing on deep anti-fascist
feelings in the streets and em-
bassies of western Europe
Carl Capreschet, a writer
who has travelled widely in,
Spain and western Europe,
monitors European affairs for
PNS.


tS A Si~lr4-itn ;Dm111
Eighty-Six Years of Editorial Freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan

PNS.

Letters

to

Irlie

Saturday, October 4, 1975

News Phone: 764-0552

420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mi. 48104
Grading system senseless

EGARDLESS OF THE ultimate
merits of the plusses and minus-
es in the new LSA grading system,
one part of the new arrangement
immediately strikes us as ridiculous,
and indeed deleterious to the sanity
of our professors and the grade-
points of our students.
Under the old grading system, an
A was converted to a 4.0 and averag-
ed into the grade point as such. The
student who now receives an A-plus
or an A-minus would still have re-
ceived a plain old A in the old sys-
tem. Now, however, the lucky profes-
sor is presented with three choices
for evaluating his A students. The
highly superior student can be re-
cognized with an A-plus. The slightly
less than superior student can be
given an A-minus, while simulta-
neously being admonished that course
work is not quite up to snuff. And in
the middle, somewhere between high-
ly superior and less superior, the av-
eragely superior student will get an
unadulterated A.
In principle, if it could ever be de-
coded, this system might theoretic-
ally make some sense. However,

there is one crucial point that the
Graduate Requirements Commission
(GRC), the people who originally de-
signed the system, evidently over-
looked, a point which renders the
system nonsensical.
A N A WILL BE averaged into the
student's grade point as a 4.0,
sensibly enough, and an A-minus will
be averaged as a 3.7. This makes
sense, if one is willing to accept the
GRC's assumption that it is possible,
to distinguish between work of A
quality and work of A-minus quality.
But what of the "highly superior"
student who receives an A-plus?
Under the new system, this para-
gon of brilliance will get a nice plus
after the A on his transcript, but
nothing better than a 4.0 will be av-
eraged into his GPA.
Though perhaps we are missing
some fine distinction seen in all its
clarity by the GRC, it seems to us
that a 4.0 by any other name is still
a 4.0, and we are rather at a loss to
understand the rationale behind the
adoption of such a meaningless
grade into the new system.

athletics
To The Daily:
Open Letter to Marcia Feder-
bush:
IT'S HARD FOR ME to be-
lieve that my high school days
may already qualify for the
nostalgia craze, but, golly, the
way things change nowadays
you can't tell. ,
I have friends who, for one
reason or another, have never
quite escaped Iowa. They may
have travelled the world and
learned languages other than
English, but they always re-
turn, and settle down. And they
tell me that Iowa is not, nor has
it ever been, the bastion of mid-
western conservatism t h a t
President Ford and other Re-
publican politicians like to as-
sume. Even President Ford
may be wondering these days.
Iowa probably has the highest
per capita representation of lib-
eral Democrats in the Congress.
But that's not the point. Are
Iowans reasonable people? I
think they probably are. I know
they used to be.
Back in the old days, when I
played high school basketball in
a town of 800 freezing Ameri-
cans on the snow-crusted prai-
ries, the team travelled by
school bus. We were not the
only team on the bus. The girls'
basketball team went along. Or
we went along with them.

THE GIRLS' TEAM played
first, the boys team played sec-
ond. The girls usually won their
games. The boys sometimes
didn't do very well. We also did
less well in the box office de-
partment. There were always
more paying customers for the
girls games than for the boys,
and not because the area farm-
ers were desperate for a
glimpse of barely-clad female
teen-aged bodies. In fact, some
of the girls who played basket-
ball were not lovely at all. They
were damn good{ basketball
players.dThey generally provid-
ed a more interesting sporting
spectacle, that's all, and, at
least in my town, they usually
won.
Often, they won a spot in the
state girls basketball tourna-
mentn, televised live statewide,
and better attended than the
equivalent boys tourney.
My favorite girl in high school
had a better shooting average
than I did. She was a star. I
did a little better at rebound-
ing.
Naturally, there was a lot of
comforting and celebrating in
the bus on the way home. When,
as usual, the girls won and we
lost, it was a lot easier to get
through the long ride through
the Iowa night. If we both won,
the celebration was even bet-
ter. If we both lost, the bus was

quieter, but there were always
shoulders to lean, on.
NO Q U E S T I O N S
WERE ever raised about equal
participation by men and wo-
men. There was equal partici-
pation. In fact, we often scrim-
maged against the girls team,
to the benefit of both. They
learned to be a little tougher
under the boards. We learned
that it's probably more import-
ant to shoot straight than fight
over rebounds. There was never
an objection from parents or
guardians about the mixture of
the sexes on the bus. We were
all athletes and lovers and
friends, and even students.
We did not learn, of course,
that we were equal. We learn-
ed that some of us were better
basketball players, or better
lovers, or better friends, or bet-
ter students, than others. And
we learned that there are clear
physical, and perhaps even
emotional, differences between
boys and girls.
These are importnat things
to learn, and sharing the joys
and sorrows of sport is a rea-
sonable way to learn them. It is
also quite reasonable to expect
that when colleges and univer-
sities begin to support women's
athletics in the same way they
s'pport men's they will add an
important experience to every-
one's college days, and in-

crease, not decrease, the
nue produced by sportin
tests.
I'LL BE GLAD when t
versity of Michigan Athle
partment becomes as r
able as your average Iow
I wish you every succe
Tom Rieke
Oct. 1
To The Daily:
I AM WRITING this le
response to David Faye's
of Oct. 3. Faye's big con
is that SGC is "severe
stricting" student particip
SGC is very open' to s
participation. The SGC of
open from 10-4 Monday ti
Friday. People are welco
come to the office any
during these hours. If
times are not convenient
of council members and
phone numbers are ava
so a member can be con
at any time.
Faye complains that th
very little facility for co
ent participation at ci
meetings. Most governing
ies that I am familiar
place limits on constituen
ticipation at their meeting
reason for this is obvious:
must be some semblance
der at these meetings if
thing is to get done. Last
council may have allowed
constituent participation
meetings, but they didn
much done and the me
often seemed to be moreI
circus thana council mee
SGC MEETINGS are nx
council members to confi
problem for the first tim
are supposed to have don
"homework" before the
ing. The most effective ti
talk to a council memb
during the week befor
meeting. SGC meetings a
to confirm secretly made
sions. but most of the res
and discussion should take
before the meeting at wI'
decision is made.
Constituent's time is s
part of council's meeting
da. As - Faye stated, co
ent's time is limited to
minutes per speaker. This
is not kept as strictly as
would lead one to believe,
minutes is plenty of tir
present an idea. If a De
concern takes longer tha
minutes to express, perhai
problem should be disc
more fully at a different
and in a more casual situa
COUNCIL MEMBERS
CERELY want to hear
fellow students. Please dr
our offices and see what
can do for you and wha

f
reve-
g con-
he Uni-
tic De-
'eason-
van.

David Sichel
SGC Member
Oct. 3, 1975
rebutta

Clumsiness: It could be big

can do

for student government.

as. To The Daily:
A LETTER APPEARED fies-
terday questioning Student Gov-
ernment Council's awareness of
its constituency. In reply I must
SGC outline actions of SGC which
prove that the contentions
made were false. First, SGC is
tter in making every attempt to keep
letter the students aware of its ac-
nplaint tions. Council and committee
ly re- meetings are listed in the re-
pation. cord. Arrangements are now be-
tudent ing made to make minutes of
fice is council meetings available to
hrough students at the libraries. A
)me to newsletter is curreptly being
time planned and should prove to be
these quite informative. $GC m-em
, lists bers are speaking to groups of
their students, especially the dorms,
ilable, fraternities, sororities, etc.
tacted They discuss SGC structure,
funnctions, goals and explain
. how the students can become
ere is involved. SGC members have
nstitu- office hours and welcome con-
eouncil tact with .constituents. A Major
wit obiective of the current coun-
with cil is to generate student inter-
t par- est. I think that it is evident
s. The that the constituents have more
there than ample means of making
of or- their views heard.
year's AN ALLFGATION HAS also
lmore been made concerning. proce-
at its dures used in SGC meetings.
't get The allegation was that consti-
etings tuents are not allowed to speak
like a during council business.
eting. As a new president, Debi
ot for Goodman has used tight proce-
ront a dure during the first few meet-
ings. This was partially due to
e our David's Faye's attack on
meet looseness of SGC's procedure.
[meet- Debi has always baeen respon-,
me to ve to making procedure work-
er is able. At the beginning of the
re no meeting held on 10-2-75 Debi ex-
deci- plained that constituents are al-
earch lowed to speak during council
plach business.
Mich a I ALSO WOULD like to re-
mind David Faye that constitu-
ent time is no place for name
tiln calling or any other tactic he
alslaaage n- wse to use for the purpose
stitu-of hindering council business.
five Those issues can be taken up
imit on his own time with council
Five members. The current council
e to has been very cooperative and
is making great progress.
rs five The council will continue to
ps make every effort to be repre-
ussed sentative.
time Jeffrey Schwartz
ition. Co-Chairman
SIN- Communications Com-
from mittee
op by Student Government
SGC Council
t you Oct. 3, 1975

A legislative step backward

THE NEWS THAT Congress has tary complex will be

. given in to administration ef-
forts to reinstate arms aid to Tur-
key is both predictable and eminent-
ly regrettable. This approval-voted
yesterday by the Senate and Thurs-
day by the House - marks the ap-
parent end of an eight-month long
controversy, in which both House and
Senate members voted on the issue
nine times in all.
American taxpayers' money should
not be spent on arms sent to nations
who plan to use them in wars against
one another. In this case, Turkey
has clearly demonstrated in the past
that it has less than honorable in-
tentions towards Cyprus, and it seems
clear that the United States should
not involve itself in any way in this
conflict.
The arms embargo, originally ap-
proved in February, stands as one of
the few progressive actions that Con-
gress has taken in recent years to cut
back on excessive American military
commitments and overseas arms
sales. We realize that it will be a long
struggle, uphill all the way, before
America's huge international mill-
TODAY'S STAFF:
News: Tom Allen, Gordon Atcheson,

1.............. ._. at,... az...... .. ...

however, witholding
nations as Turkey is

ar.

dismantled;
ms from such
necessary first

step.
THE WILLINGNESS OF Senators
and Congressmen to compromise
on the "principles" they talked about
last winter with such vigor is partic-
ularly disturbing. If the Democratic
majority in Congress is not willing
to stand up to the President on ma-
jor issues like this one, the American
public may be forced to look forward
to another year of divisive ineffect-
ual leadership from their legislative
representatives.
Sports Staff
BRIAN DEMING
Sports Editor
MARCIA MERKER ............ Executive Editor
LEBA HERTZ Managing Editor
JEFF' SCHILLER ............... Associate Editor
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Al Hrapsky, Jeff
Liebster, Ray O'Hara, Michael Wilson
NIGHT EDITORS: Rick Bonino, Tom Cameron,
Tom Duranceau, Andy Glazer, Kathy Henne-
ghan, Ed Lange, Rich Lerner, Scott Lewis, Bill
Stieg
ASSISTANT NIGHT EDITORS: Enid Goldman,
Marcia Katz, John Niemeyer, Dave Wihak
DESK ASSISTANTS: Paul Campbell, Marybeth
Dillon, Larry Engle, Aaron Gerstman, Jerome
Gilbert.Andy Lebet, Rick Maddock. Bob Miller,

By ANNETTE HISBY
IT'S A BIRD! It's a plane! It's a frog! No! It's
Super President! Able to fall down steps in
a single trip. Able to stop speeding bullets with
only a shove of a secret service agent's hand, or,
failure of the gun to go off, which ever the case
may be.
Apparently President Ford doesn't care
much about living out the rest of his term, or
perhaps he cares more about living happily
through the '76 election. Americans have always
loved a hero, and when the 6 o'clock news starts
resembling the latest episode of S.W.A.T. they
don't care how many pieces of good legislation
Ford has vetoed.
Ford knows when he has a good thing going.
Why should he stay in the White House and pro-
pose some legislation, when he can boost his po-
litical career by simply going out and getting
shot at?
IF YOU FOLLOW the analysis, it is conceiv-
aoie that there will oe a thira attempt on the
President's life. From looking at the last two at-

tempts, it is possible to construct a third. Here
is my version:
The setting is on board Air Force I, enroute to
Chicago's O'Hare airport, approximately 10 min-
utes before landing. The President is busy con-
versing with his speech writer, and at the same
time is practicing putting on. the portable, roll-
out, putting green Betty gave him for Christmas.
(complete with plastic clubs and balls.)
Speech Writer: I think we should go over this
speech for "The Republican Women for a Moral
Society". We seem to have a problem .. .
Ford: I just don't understand it.
S. W.: What, the speech?
Ford: No, why my putting's off. Ever since I
played with Ronny . . .
A VOICE COMES over the loudspeaker. We're
going to land now Mr. President, you had better
sit down and fasten your seat belt.
Ford: Oh Boy! I love landing. Could you help me
fasten my seat selt? I can never figure these
things out,
The President sits by the window and looks out.
He takes out a pack of gum and puts three pieces
in his mouth. The plane sets down and eventually
reaches the crowd of people waiting to see the
President.
Ford: Gosh! The Motor City!
S.W.: I think you mean the Windy City.
The speech writer helps Ford unfasten his seat
belt. He takes the gum out of his mouth and puts
it under the seat. The door opens, and Ford
rises to meet the crowd. He steps into the door-
way with outstretched arms, and the crowd goes
wild. After the crowd calms, Ford begins to de-
scend the stairway, towards the waiting limou-
sine. Suddenly a shot is heard. Almost at the
same instant, the cleats in the President's golf
shoes get caught in one of the steps, and he falls
the rest of the way down the stairway, just miss-
ing a bullet intended for his forehead.
TI DRRu'1[fT,',i 'N-1TRACL'of-a -

Contact your reps-
Sen. Phillip Hart (Dem), 253 Russell Bldg., Capitol Hill,
Washington, D.C. 2051S.
Sen. Robert Griffin (Rep), 353 Russell Bldg., Capitol Hill,
Washington, D.C. 20515.

I