l1je itI$9an IBath
Eighty-Six Years of Editorial Freedom
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Princely dilemma ...
... to execute or not to execute
Thursday, November 20, 1975
News Phone: 764-0552
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
k n
By STEVE WEISSMAN
AS ECHOES OF outrage settle over Europe after
Spain's recent execution of five alleged terrorists,
15 more accused terrorists sit in Spanish jails await-
ing trial.
Their fate - to live or to die - will be the first dra-
matic test of Spain's future under Prince Juan Carlos
de Bourbon y Bourbon.
If the government - and Juan Carlos as head of
state - stop the expected executions and spare the
lives of the 15 men and women, most observers here
and in other European capitals will see the Spanish
rulers as breaking with the fascist regime of Gen.
Francisco Franco. This could move Spain toward a
new era of national reconciliation and reform and
closer integration with NATO and the Common Market
nations.
But if, as seems more likely, the government and
Juan Carlos permit the executions to go ahead, Spain
will be seen as succumbing to pressure from her right-
wing hawks and hunkering down for a last-ditch de-
fense of the old regime-"el Bunker;" as the Spanish
now call it.
The 15-and the number may even be higher-are
all alleged members of revolutionary groups, par'tic-
ularly the Basque nationalist E.T.A.-Euzkadi Ta Az-
katasuna, or Homeland and Liberty. Each of the 15
stands accused of killing one or more policemen, or
of participating in the December 1973 assassination of
Spain's prime minister, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco.
THE TRIALS HAVE not yet been scheduled, at least
publicly. But they could begin almost immediately,
and government prosecutors have already requested
the death penalty. In past terrorist trials, which most
observers found largely pro forma, the judicial tribu-
nals generally went along with prosecution demands.
The previous execution of five alleged terrorists Sep-
tember 27 led to a strong plea for clemency from Pope
Paul IV, a wave of boycotts and bombings throughout
Western Europe and a widely supported two-day gen-
eral strike in the Basque provinces of Spain.
In response, hardliners within the regime cried out
for even tougher measures, and in a largely unreport-
ed "mini-coup," a group of right-wing generals tried
to oust more moderate colleagues from key military
posts.
Any further executions could fling Prince Juan Carlos
into the midst of even more violent crosswinds, damp-
ening the widely voiced hopes for reform that greeted
his succession to the position of head of state following
Franco's recent illness.
Death sentences, especially in the cases involving the
accused assassins of the former prime minister, could
also put the prince on the spot personally, since the
final power to grant clemency is now his.
UNDER EXISTING Spanish law, the military tries
cases of illegal strikes, sabotage or terrorism, and
the trials are speedy affairs. Defendants have few
rights compared to the U.S. or Western Europe. And
according to a recent report by the London-based Am-
nesty International, "There is strong evidence . . . that
torture is used systematically whenever the individual
does not immediately confess voluntarily."
As a rule, little time is lost between sentencing and
punishment.
The terrifying swiftness of Spanish justice was
demonstrated in the recent military trial of two Basque
militants, Angel Ortaegui and Jose Antonio Garmendia,
who were accused of assassinating a member of the
Para-military Guardia Civil. Ortaegui was one of the
five alleged terrorists executed September 27.
Ortaegui, though charged only with lodging Gar-
mendia and giving him information, was convicted on
the strength of a confession extracted from Garmen-
dia at the hospital after he had been shot in the head
during his arrest. The prosecutor offered few witnesses
and little material evidence beyond the confession.
LATER GARMENDIA'S death sentence was com-
muted on grounds of "diminished mental capacity" -
but the man his confession had convicted was shot. The
entire process, from trial to execution, took less than
a month.
Another of those executed September 27-Juan Pa-
redes Manot ("Txiki") -- only came to trial Septem-
ber 19, and was tried under the even hastier provisions
"Any further ex-
ecutions could fling
Prince Juan Carlos
into the midst of
even more violent
crosswinds, dampen.
ing the widely voic-
ed hopes for reform
that greeted his suc-
cession to the posi.
tion of head of slate
following Franco 's
recent illness."
of the new Decree-Law for the Prevention of Terror-
ism announced August 26.
Of the present defendants awaiting possible death
sentences, two are extremely well-known here as lead-
ing Basque militants - Jose Mugica Arregui and
Pedro Perez Beotegui ("Wilson"). Both face several
charges, including participation in setting off an ex-
plosion under the passing car of Prime Minister Car-
rero Blanco, hurtling the car and its occupants some
five stories into the air.
The E.T.A. organization has claimed credit for the
assassination and published a detailed account of how
it was done in a clandestinely distributed book called
Operation Ogro.
THE ASSASSINATION of the prime minister cre-
ated enormous anger here, especially among the right-
wing, and it would take decisive political will for either
the government or Prince Juan Carlos to spare the
lives of the accused assassins.
Steve Weissman is a freelance writer based in Lon-
don who covers European politics for PNS. Copyright,
Pacific News Service.
Put student rep on Board
THE REGENTS WILL vote today or
tomorrow on a Committee to
Study Student Governance (CSSG)
recommendation. This particular re-
commendation, on whether a non-
voting representative should be elect-
ed to the Board of Regents, is one of
the most important ideas to come out
of the regent appointed committee.
If the regents are concerned about
the rights of students ,about the
right to at least a student voiced
opinion on the policies instituted by
the University, they will vote in fav-
or of the recommendation. But if
they surrender to a fear of complica-
tion, of creating a precedent which at
some future point may work against
them, they will vote no.
At this point there is some power-
ful opposition to the proposal. Presi-
dent Fleming and some regents have
voiced their disapproval because,
they believe if students get a seat,
even a non-voting-one, every other
faction in the University will begin
clamoring for a similar position on
the board of regents - everyone from
TODAY'S STAFF
News: Glen Allerhand, Bev Jackson,
Jo Marcotty, Jeff Ristine, Jeff Sor-
ensen, Bill Turque
Editorial Page: Marc Basson, Paul
Haskins, Debra Hurwitz, Linda
Kloote, Mara Letica
Arts Page: James Valk
Photo Technician: Pauline Lubens
the faculty to labor to the students
on the Flint and Dearborn campuses.
RUT STUDENTS ARE a unique con-
stituency. They have no contract
to protect their rights, they are not
salaried and therefore have none of
the protection inherent in salaried
positions.
The fact that the administration
fears similar demands from the Flint
and Dearborn Campuses is indicative
of their sentiment toward the, CSSG
proposal. Why should'n't they have
a voice? They too are students at the
University.
This University should exist be-
cause of and for the students, but
presently, they have no, or very lim-
ited means of being heard - a pe-
culiar form of tyranny.
To believe labor and faculty would
demand a position on the board is
absurd. They have contracts. Stu-
dents don't and to be a student at
this University is to be subject to ad-
ministrative control. That is why
there should be a student representa-
tive on the board of regents.
Ideally, even this proposal is not
enough. A student member should
have the 'right to vote. But this mea-
sure is a start.
However, in the tradition of the
University, all we can do is wait and
see. For right now there is no stu-
dent to tell the regents what the stu-
dents want.
MECHA
To The Daily:
IN REFERENCE to a poster
that has been tacked up all over
the university by one, Bob Mat-
thews, we the membership of
MECHA, the Chicano's Umbrel-
la organization, and members
of the Student Organizing Com-
mittee, wish to state a position
about Mr. Matthews lack of
knowledge as to what he at-
tests to in the poster.
Not only is SOC an equal op-
portunity organization, as we
can easily prove, but SOC is
in our opinion the only student
Letters
party that has demonstrate4
true awareness of other people
different than they, not just
tokenism. Mr. Matthews obvious
ignorance comes as no surprise
to non-white members of SOC,
his easily used terminology such
as "white racist" comes from
long practice of just such a
position.
As for Mr. Matthews totally
unfounded statement that SOC
"abolished and destroyed SGC
minority affairs committee,"
our position is that had SOC in
fact done this it would have been
as, a favor to all minorities.
Obviously, Mr. Matthews would
to
HEALTH SERVICE HANDBOOK
Morning routine:
Floss, don't flush
like to see minorities separated,
segregated, isolated, fumigated
and finally gased out of exist-
ence.
WE WISH TO make all minori-
ties aware that "minority affairs
committees" are crumbs and
token efforts by a racist ele-
ment of society trying to make
us think that they are aware
of minorityhneeds and this is
their way of "getting us off
their backs and pacifying us
for awhile."
Mr. Matthews statement im-
plying that SOC and anyone else
associated with whomever was
responsible for the misplacing
of $19,000 is just as guilty; is
without a doubt a truly assinine
assumption. Mr. Matthews alleg-
es that Lee Gill, a black stu-
dent was the scoundrel, would
he then also assume that since
Mr. Gill is black that all black
students would be as guilty;.
based on his assumptions it
leaves no room for doubt that
he does. Again he proves his
racist attitude toward all minori-
ties.
Chicanos on this campus are
asking that everyone think about
the necessity of existing togeth-
er in this world without preju-
dice, racial hatred or separa-
tism. We feel that is the only
way to progress towards a posi-
tive and productive future.
MECHA
Movimiento Estudiantil
Chicano De Aztlan
November 19
The Daly
SOC bors and they were exiled -
To The Daily: represented a promise of free-
dom to those Jews who had long
RUTH GERSH'S letter of Nov. suffered under the anti-semitic
14, 1975 condemning Zionism policies of hostile peoples and
ignores the context in which the governments.
Zionist philosophy and goals
developed, and consequently has World War II and its after-
a myopic and distorted vision math illustrated once again the
of Israel and its purpose. need for a Jewish homeland.
To speak of a country that is Thousands of survivors from
designed for Jewish citizens as Hitler's death camps were
"racist" and "built on the as- herded into refugee camps and
sumption of a certain superior- confined there, for they had no
ity of the Jews" indicates that where to go, as the nations of
Ms. Gersh has a complete mis- the world had very restricted
understanding or ignorance of quotas on Jewish immigration.
history. Only through the relentless ef-
forts of Jewish organizations -
When Zionist beliefs caught which defied armed opposition
hold in Europe in the late 19th did these refugees escape to
and early 20th centuries, the the safety of Israel.
Jews were being terrorized and
slaughtered by pogroms in Rus- That such a refuge for Jews
sia and Eastern Europe (and is still vitally needed today is
the Dreyfus case had revealed evidenced by the plight of the
the latent anti-semitism of Russian and Syrian Jews.
Western Europe). Wholesale
slaughter and rape of Jewish Zionism was - and is - the
villages caused Jews to flee in promise of freedom to Jews
search of safety and new homes. throughout the world from per-
Oppression and forced emigr secution through inquisitions,'
tion was nothing new forhe pogroms, and Hitlers. Israel is
Jews: in previous centuries they the embodiment of that promise.
had experienced much the same Gale Chameides
treatment in many nations of Nov. 19
Western Europe (which was the
reason for their original emi-
gration east). Letters should be typed
THE ZIONIST GOAL -- to and limited to 400 words.
returtH ohendTwGeAe-Jew The Daily reserves the
return to the land where Jews right to edit letters for
once existed as a nation, before , length and grammar.
it was conquered by its neigh- __________
NYC: More give than take
By KEVIN STIERS
WNE OF THE BIGGEST political hdt po-
tatoes in recent months has been the budget
crisis of New York City. The Republicans
accuse the Democratic administration of
N.Y.C. as being squanderous and wasteful.
The Democrats accuse the Ford administra-
tion of being callous and impervious to the
needs of New Yorkers. The banks keep ex-
pressing their concern over the city's sol-
vency, threatening to stop investing in the
tax free bonds which the city must sell in
order to raise cash to meet it day-to-day
expenses. And the labor union leaders are
mostly quiet, musing philosophically that a
few thousand workers laid off today may
mean jobs for all tomorrow.
The city faces y budget deficit because
its expenses have risen faster than its tax
revenues. That much is self-evident. First
of all, inflation has pushed up the cost of
everything the city buys. Second, unem-
ployment and the general decline in busi-
ness activity have cut down the city's tax
income. But is the real problem that the
city government has been "too generous"
with social services and wage and welfare,
payments?
Residents of Harlem, Bedford-Stuyves-
ant, the South Bronx and the Lower East
Side might disagree with such a statement.
They might suspect that their "excessive"
living standards are not the cause of the
crisis. And they would be right.
FOT. DESPITE ALL the talk about the
fAd(rrl oreirnment "hailing out" New
York, the simple truth is that New York
the main reason for the crushing tax bur-
den on working people. And they are a
vast drain on resources that could be used
to provide jobs and improve the quality of
life in the cities.
Furthermore, there is the problem of
debt service to investors in city bonds.
Since the interest payments on the bonds
are completely tax free, they are a favorite
investment of wealthy individuals looking
for tax shelters. The major New York
banks have an estimated 10 to 15 per cent.
of their total capital in N.Y.C. bonds. New
York's annual interest payments have sky-
rocketed from $470 million ten years ago
to an estimated $2 billion for this year. The
immense burden of interest payments is to-
day the biggest single cause for the New
York budget crisis!
ONE DOESN'T HEAR too much about
these aspects of the crisis from either the
Republican and Democratic politicians, or
the bankers, or the labor bureaucrats for
that matter. Nor should one expect to hear
much about this from them in the near
future. As workers and consumers of New
York continue to receive pink slips and
cuts in social services, however, they will
undoubtedly begin to look for alternative
explanations. If a sentiment of bitterness
and anger should be coupled with an aware-
negs of whence the crisis originates, we
will be hearing a lot more from New York-
ers in the coming months, and the bankers
pa' noliticians will have a difficult time
dishing out the same old song and dance.
For a further examination of the roots of
the crisis, and what can be done to pro-
By SLYVIA HACKER
and NANCY GARWOOD
Question: I dropped a com-
plaint into the question box last
week. Does anyone ever read
those things?
Answer: Not only are they
.read by our ombudsperson
-whom we recently described in
this column, but the Xerox
works overtime on things like
that. All parties concerned get
a copy and then it is brought
up to the medical staff. Many of
the physicians here have told
us that they would like to dis-
cuss some of these complaints
personally, but unfortunately
most of them are thrown into
the question box unsigned. We
urge you to be brave and come
forth openly. Sign your com-
plaint and you will be contacted
to talk about it. You will also
be pleasantly surprised at the
amount of warm blood circu-
lating around here. Didn't we
say this was the service with
a heart?
Question: I always thought a
woman was supposed to douche
regularly to clean her vagina
but now I hear that this is un-
necessary. What do you think?
Answer: Although it is ex-
tremely important for women
(and men too) to be concerned
about the cleanliness of their
external genitalia, douching,
which involves washing the in-
sideof the vagina with water
or other preparations, should
never be a routine procedure.
As was noted in an editorial
appearing in Obstetrics and
Gynecology, the cleansing of
the healthy vagina is unneces-
sary and should "never be a
part of the daily toilet of wom-
en. The wholesomeness of the
vagina rests on, its acid state.
This depends on the organ's
natural flows ... Patients must
be told that not only is it un-
necessary to douche, but also
that such a habit is potentially
harmful because it may inter-
fre~ with the vainai's own aerrn-
Question: Even though I brush
my teeth after every meal, I
still get cavities. My dentist
says I should use dental floss.
How much better is that than
brushing?
Answer: Among our rich sup-
ply of resources here at Health
Service, we have a dental clinic
which has furnished the follow-
ing mouthful in response to your
question:
There is a disagreeable sub-
stance known as dental plaque
which is a tightly adhering film
consisting of bacteria along with
their secretions of protein and
sugar, and which collects on the
teeth daily. It is thought that
plaque, unless gotten rid of
thoroughly, may cause tooth de-
cay and gum disease (pyor-
rhea). Even the most efficient
toothbrushing technique fails to
remove all plaque from the sur-
faces of the teeth adjacent to
each other since it is physically
impossible for the bristles to
reach deep into the in-between
spaces. Waxed or unwaved den-
tal floss is supplementally used
for oral hygiene to aid in re-
moving dental plaque from ap-
proximating sides of the teeth
beneath the contacting area. The
floss is passed gently between
the teethpand underneath the
edge of the gum tissue. While
being held tightly against the
side surface, it is pulled slowly
toward the chewing surface of
the tooth. Both sides of every
tooth should be cleaned in this
manner with dental floss. Clean-
liness is, readily evidenced by
a squeakingsound as the floss
slides along the tooth surface.
It should be pointed out that
incorrect or careless use of
floss may be harmful. It must
be placed carefully and not
moved back and forth in a
"sawing" fashion. People inter-
ested in good dental care have
a motto, "if you've got 'em,
floss 'em."
Send any and all questions to:
Thealth Educantors
SGC NOTES
Participation breeds power
By DEBRA GOODMAN
TODAY MARKS THE last day
of the SGC election, and no
matter what the results of this
election may be I feel that they
mark the beginning of a great-
er interest and participation in
the Student Government Coun-
cil.
Many half-term SGC members
did not run for re-election in
this election, but will continue
to participate in the affairs of
the student body through the
council. Many candidates who
are running for council have
indicated an interest in playing
an active role on the council
whether they win or lose. So
regardless of which seven peo-
ple are elected to the council
our ranks will be swelled with
hardworking concerned people.
The second positive result of
this election is the increased
awareness among students that
SGC exists. Student Government
Council has been working very
hard doing research and talking
to administration and the state
legislature about the problem
of high tuition at the university.
We have represented and sup-
ported groams fighting for af-
firmative action, for quality edu-
cation, and for innovative or cul-
tural programs like the Teach-
In, the African Students' Asso-
ciation. GEO, and LS&A student
place for student movements to
organize and grow. It is, per-
haps, unfortunate that the struc-
ture of elections can, while pro-
viding us with a democratic,
choice of leadership, be ex-
tremely divisive, and therefore
a destructive experience in the
life of a student government
system. While most of the stu-
dents campaigning in this elec-
tion are trying to run serious
positive campaigns without
name-calling and interference
with other candidates' cam-
paigns, it is difficult for those
of us who care not to get
caught up in the in-fighting that
goes on during an election.
I hope that at the conclusion
of this vote, we remember that
our major goal is to work to-
gether on the issues that con-
front us daily as University of
Michigan students. Rumors of a
December tuition hike are cir-
culating. The CSSG report,
which would provide a more
powerful structure for student
input on campus, is not even
on the Regents' written agenda
this month almost a year after
its completion. The hiring freeze
promises increasingly over-
crowded and unwieldy classes,
and in LS&A, where the execu-
tive board's agenda is not even
available for inspection by the
LS&A student government, all
of council members, those of us
who are working on SGC al-
ready will stop to take a look
at what we've done this year,
and how we can be more ef-
fective. This is the prime time
for increased positive input in
student government affairs.
The all campus constitution
guarantees students the right to,
form and maintain a student
government, for good reason. A
student government provides the
forum for individuals and groups
to come together and act as a
body on issues that affect them
all. A funded student govern-
ment (also provided for in the
bill of rights) has the resources
to publicize, research and build
a movement around these cru-
cial problems.
Our government has no guar-
anteed power -- and for that
reason our outspokenness on the
issues, our 'research, and our
lobbying are all ineffective un-
less it becomes evident that we
really are working with large
numbers of students at the uni-
versity to pressure the admin-
istration and the state.
THE ADMINISTRATION ex-
pects a small voter turnout in
this election to reaffirm their
knowledge that students are not
organized on campus in any
large numbers. There is still
time to vote in the SGC elec-