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January 20, 1976 - Image 4

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Publication:
Michigan Daily, 1976-01-20

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Cipe Iiigan DaU
Eighty-Six Years of Editorial Freedom
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Tuesday, January 20, 1976 News Phone: 764-0552
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
Williams cleared - fnally

Local Motion:

Too much, too soon

IRONICALLY, the name of Robert
Williams draws little recognition
even from many supporters of the
civil rights and black power move-
ments. Unlike Malcolm X, Eldridge
Cleaver or Martin Luther King, his
name conjures up no dramatic mem-
ory.
Williams, in the sad American
tradition of Eugene Debs and W. E.
B. DuBois, was a man ahead of his
time. In 1960-61, as president of the
Monroe. N.C. chapter. of the National
Association for the Advancement of
Colored People, Williams was the un-
thinkable radical fringe.
While Rev. King and leaders like
Roy Wilkins fought quieter battles
with nonviolent means, Williams
called for blacks to defend them-
selves, with arms if necessary,
against the onslaught of white ra-
Thus he quickly took the image of
a fanatic when compared to the rest
of the movement. When he was ar-
rested on a kidnaiing charge in an
August 1961 incident, it was easy
to picture him as a criminal and view
his cause as irrelevant to the rest of
the movement.
T AST WEEK, 15 years of fleeing U.S.
authorities and fighting extra-
dition ended for Williams. Monroe
District Attoi'ney Carroll Lowder
dropped the kidnap charges, citing
the illness of the key prosecution
witness. Williams could not be
reached for a response - he was
already en route to Monroe from his
Baldwin, Mich., home after losing his
last extradition battle.
But his wife Mabel, who traveled
with 'him to Cuba, China and East
Africa before their return to the U.S.
in 1969, almost shouted her relief:
"Oh my goodness! That's wonderful
news!"
Lowder, reportedly eager to gain
publicity by reviving the case, took a
parting shot at Williams, calling him
"a man who has spent a lifetime
speaking ill will, distrust, and hatred
among his fellow men."
In 1961, even in 1966, Lowder could
have gotten away with such a slur.
No one would have challenged an at-
tack on a black militant - even in
a form so unethical as a district at-
torney's decision.
But just as Robert Williams was
ahead of the times, the likes of Car-
roll Lowder have been passed by
events. Now we can look back
TODAY'S STAFF:
NEWS: Mitch Dunitz, Andy Lilly, Jeff
Ristine, Tim Schick, Stephen Selbst,
Jeff Sorensen.
EDITORIAL PAGE: Michael Beckman,
Dan Biddle, Stephen Hersh, J o n
Pansius, Tom Stevens.
ARTS PAGE: Jeff Sorensen.
PHOTO TECHNICIAN: Ken Fink.

By MICHAEL BECKMAN
LOCAL MOTION, Ann Arbor's
answer to the lack of gov-
ernment funding of free or
cheap, non-profit human serv-
ices, gets most of its money
from scattered orange cannis-
ters and a voluntary two per
cent surcharge on area consum-
er goods. Between 50 and 60 per
cent of the total comes from
the city's two Peoples' Food
Co-ops with Pizza Bob's donat-
ing an extra $100 a month.
Since its beginning in Febru-
ary 1975, however, of the ap-
proximate $8,000 Local Motion
(LM) had collected to work
with, only $980 was disbursed
to the services that it was set
up to fund. What happened to
the other $7,000?
The story is basically one of
overzealousness and misman-
agement.
LM's structure should first be
examined: it is a totally inde-
pendent group, receiving no
state or federal aid. Though it
has applied to the state for non-
profit status, it now pays its
taxes. As a result of LM apply-
ing to be considered non-profit,
they are eligible for state audit
of all their financial records,
but so far this has not occured.
Local Motion is governed by
its Board of Directors, consist-
ing of 18 reps from various
member organizations, and
three reps each from contribu-
ting businesses and at-large
members of the community.

There is also a single full-time
salaried coordinator, Don Lau.
(There were originally two, but
one was dropped to save mon-
ey.) The board votes for all
decisions concerning fund dis-
tribution, collection and bureau-
cratic matters.
Everything seems in order
here, but the nagging question
remains omnipresent. Where did
all that money go?
"I've only been 'working at
Local Motion two months," said
Rick Nudell, a representative.
from the Wildflower Communi-
ty Bakery, "and one of the
first thinks I did was to put
the books in order."
From the books' balance,
roughly one third went towards
coordinators salaries.
Though this may seem like a
large percentage of the total
budget, it really -isn't all that
much in actual salaries. It
amounts to about $80 a week,
hardly a staggering sum. In ad-
dition to this figure, another
$600 went into taxes and Social
Security.
The next largest chunk of
money was spent on advertis-
ing. This totaled about $2,000
or 20 per cent of the budget, of
which about half was spent on
brochures, stationery and the
like, and membership cards.
The rest was spent on business
ads. The rationale behind this
large expenditure was that as
a new organization, it was deem-
ed necessary to make the com-

munity aware of its presence,
and that the best way was
through heavy advertising. It
appears to have been a rather
dubious decision, in that they
failed to heed the old maxim,
"actions speak louder than
words."
The remaining money has been
spent on renting office space,
office supplies, paper work and
other miscellaneous expenses.

'It should be noted to Local Motion's credit
that they did not attempt to justify their
mistakes. The budget figures mentioned
were not forced from them; they were freely
given Mr. Lau and his associates admitted
that serious errors of judgment were made.'
:{ :-yt;::r?}:i' iin ' !- ,.i '- ::M ,: ti -

pretty poor judgments as a
group."
Dianne MacLeod, a rep from
the womens' newspaper Her-
self, positively added, "We're
starting to evolve budgets at
last and set goals about what
we're going to disburse."
But discontent with the amount
and limited distribution of the
first disbursement is spreading
among the business members.

continuing it, and it would just
be a matter of the next disburse-
ment. We're just trying to come
to terms with it, so that we are
still supporting it."
Another potential mistake is
that the businesses that Local
Motion has solicited support
from so far are mainly youth-
oriented. This was done because
LM felt that these types of
businesses would be more re-
ceptive to their purposes. Which
may be so. But in order for
them to gain true acceptance
into Ann Arbor as a whole, it
desperately needs the support
of some of the more establish-
ed businesses in town. As of
late, they have started to do
this, and now the Cornell Mor-
ris Real Estate Agency is among
Local Motion's list of collectors.
The next few months will do
much to show whether or not
Local Motion will be a success.
They have many things going
for them. They are honest about
their performance, and run a
very open organization. IM ap-
pears to have all the necessary
requirements to became a viable
force in the community, and it's
honed that their supporters'
faith will not waver because of
the growing pains of a new or-
ganization.
Michael Beckman is a mem-
her of the Daily Editorial staff.

Obviously a disbursement of
only 10 per cent of the funds
collected is a pretty poor per-
formance. It should be noted
to, Local Motion's credit, that
thiey did not attempt to justify
their mistakes. The budget fig-
ures mentioned above were not
forced from them, they were
freely given. Mr. Lau and his
associates admitted that serious
errors of judgment were made.
Commented Nudell, "We did
not do an indefensible job, we
did a poor job. We made some

There are complaints that they
don't receive as much informa-
tion as they need to accurately
gauge Local Motion's perform-
ance. While support has wav-
ered, none of the owners of the
businesses that I spoke to, show-
ed any sign of intending to dis-
continue support for Local Mo-
tion.
Deborah Sipos, a coordinator
at the People's Food Coop, when
asked if the Coop would contin-
ue to support Local Motion, re-
plied, "At this point we're still

Williams

and see: Williams\ was one of the
earliest advocates of a militancy and
consciousness that was ultimately
required to solidify black America
and force concessions from white
America.
1E WAS A revolutionary before El-
dridge Cleaver and Bobby Seale
made it fashionable. He preached
black power and self-defense before
most black leaders came to under-
stand the real need for such policies.
When he led parades with Mao
Tse-Tung in 1966, none of those who
branded him a traitor could have
guessed that Richard Nixon would
soon win votes for walking with Mao.
In 1970-71, Williams worked as a
consultant to the University's Center
for Chinese Studies: since then, he
has continued writing and lecturing
about his experiences and ideas.
As Mabel Williams said, her hus-
band's exoneration is no huge victory.
For him and for us, many battles lie
ahead.
PUT PERHAPS in the future we will

Sanjay Gandhi: Indira's rising son

By MICHAEL CHINOY
NEW DELHI, Jan. 15 (PNS)
-Barely a half year after his
mother declared a state of
emergency and assumed dicta-
torial powers, the 29-yar-old
son of Prime Minister Indira
Gandhi has become the second
most powerful figure in India.
And in recent weeks, young
Sanjav Gadhi has made a ma-
jor effort to increase his inflli-
ence by adontin'g for the first
time an active public posture
and by inserting his loval no-
litical allies into key govern-
ment positions.
Until this fall Sanay had on-
erated behind the scenes, tak-
ing part in the daily meetines
of Mrs. Gandhi's emergency
council and generally acting as
her chief confidante and advis-
or.
But starting in late Novem-
ber, his name began to apnear
regularly in India's controlled
nress, and in the past month
he has been frequently extolled
in the newspapers as. a wise
and dynamic leader of the fu-

ture.
Sanjay's developing public
presence appears to have been
carefully orchestrated. The first
news stories about him were
simply reports of his assorted
speeches, appearances, and ac-
tivities. Then, in mid-Decem-
ber, with considerable fanfare.
he was made a leader of the
youth wing of the ruling Con-
gress Party, and was lauded in
print by several national fig-
ures as a rising star on the In-
dian scene.
AND AT THE Congress Par-
tv's national convention held in
early January, the papers re-
ported that Sanjay received
nearly as warm a reception as
Mrs. Gandhi herself. The pres-
tigious Times of India noted on
several occasions that "huge
crowds" greeted Sanjay with
shouts of "Sanjay Gandhi zinda-
bad!" ("Long live Sanjay Gand-
hi!") - an acclamation prev-
iously reserved only for his
mother. One political figure
was prominently quoted as say-
ing, "Mr. Gandhi's entry into

public life will pave the way
for the progress of the coun-
try."
At the same time, Sanjay also
helped install two of his closest
supporters as - minister of de-
fense and chairman of India's
largest newspaper.
The new defense minister,
Bansi Lal, was instrumental in
helping Sanjay set up a con-
troversial automobile plant near
Delhi four years ago to produce
a car called the Maruti, which
Sanjay himself designed. (In
his youth, Sanjay had been
trained as an auto mechanic.)
AS CHIEF MINISTER of
Haryana state, where the plant
was located, the 48-year-old
Bansi Lal was responsible for
the razing of six villages and
the forced removal of their in-
habitants in order to acquire
the 297 acres of choice farm-
land for the factory site. Apart
from the brutality with which
the local peasants were evicted,
accusations of scandal were
raised when, after four years,
not a single Maruti had rolled

off the assembly line.
The allegations of corruption
intensified last spring when it
was revealed that K. K. Birla,
one of India's wealthiest indus-
trialists and a long-time backer
of Mrs. Gandhi, had given San-
jay millions of dollars to invest
in the project - and that, with
no cars produced, Sanjay had
somehow become a millionaire.
Serious questions about the
disposition of Birla's money still
remain, but with India's strict
press censorship the issue is
no longer discussed publicly.
Now; K. K. Birla has just
been made chairman of the
board of the Indian Express,
the country's largest newspap-
er. Birla's appointment climax-
ed a bitter six-month campaign
of threats and intimidation by
the government that forced the!
Express' owner for the last 43
years, R. N. Goenka, to give
up control of the paper. Birla
already owns the Hindustan
Standard, another leading In-
dian paper.
ALTHOUGH THE decision to
assume control of the Express
was Mrs. Gandhi's, Sanjay re-
portedly played a more active
operational role in the takeover
than his mother.

As Mrs. Gandhi has retreat-
ed into an ever smaller coterie
of trusted lieutenants, sources
in ; Delhi say that Sanjay has
expanded his role as her chief
advisor. Some observers even
believe that Sanjay, by threat-
eningvtotreveal various skele-
tons hanging in Mrs. Gandhi's
closet, has intimidated his
mother into lettingdhim hate
an equal say in virtually all
major decisions.
But even with his growing
power, Sanjay remains an un-
popular figure among most In-
dians, who associate his name
more with the Maruti. scandal
than with wise national leader-
ship. And although there is
crowing speculation here that
Snjov is grooming himself to
assume a formal government
nosition in the near future, one
long-time observer of Indian
politics notes that, "If anything
ever happened to his mother,
Sanjav would simply be lynch-
ed." Until and unless that hap-
vens, however, Sanjay appears
to have become the key deci-
sion - maker within the court
of Indira Gandhi.
Michael Chinoy is travelling
on assignment for the Pacific
News Service in-india.

seek to fight alongside
like Williams rather than
them.

people
against

mlf lt 1wlt Daily
Photography Staff
KEN FINK , PAULINE LUBENS
Chief Photographer Picture Editor
Editorial Staff
GORDON ATCHESON CHERYL PILATI
Co-Editor-in-Chief
DAVID BLOMQUIST ................ Art. Editor
BARBARA CORNELL .. Sunday Magazine Editor
PAUL HASKINS .... . .. . .. Editorial Director
JOSEPHINE MARCOTTY Sunday Magazine Editor
SARA RIMER .......... Executive Editor
STEPHEN SELEST City Editor
JEFF SORENSON ............ Managing Editor

I

h~. ;-I

NNW

Contact your

reps-

Sen. Phillip Hart (Dem), 253 Russell Bldg., Capitol
Washington, D.C. 20515.

llu,

Sen. Robert Griffin (Rep), 353 Russell Bldg., Capitol 1ill,
Washington, D.C. 20515.
Rep. Marvin Esch (Rep), 2353 Rayburn Bldg., Capitol Hill,
Washington, D.C. 20515.
Sen. Gilbert Bursley (Rep), Senate, State Capitol Bldg.,
Lansing, Mi. 48933.

I

ii

wThe Lighter Side'
Secrets: In
short supply
r:..::. Dick West

R-y"Im"m

Rep. Perry Bullard (Dem), house of Representatives, State
Capitol Bldg., Lansing, Mi. 48933.

Photography Staff
KEN FINK
Chief Photographer
.STEVE KAGAN.............Staff
PAULINE LUBENS ..........Staff.
DEBORAH NOVESS

I

p1' . It

Photographer
Photographer

Birth control gains abroad

TiTHIIZEMNP IZWAR P
K AMPANT rAN'fl-AA1PF(WAW5M ~ ~
Oa0PARM! r5 THE .N ASAFO U FR WE
~\'OPP 'FROM

By BRUCE STOKES
Pacific News Service
POPULOUS NATIONS OF the
Third World, some of whom
criticized the U. S. emphasis on
population control rather than
economic development, are now
asking for aid to establish fam-
ily planning programs - and
finding that the purse is no
longer full.
Early this year Rafael Salas,
Executive Director of the UN's
Fund for Population Activities
(UNFPA), was forced to an-
nounce a freeze on grants for
new programs until 1977. In-
creasing costs for existing pro-
grams will absorb budget in-
creases scheduled for 1975-76.
While UNFPA's five other
major' supporters upped their
contributions by 30 percent, the
U. S. increase was only 11 per-
cent, barely enough to keep
up with inflation. The U. S. pro-
vided about $20 million to the
fund in fiscal 1975, approxi-
mately onequarter of the to-
tal of all countries. A year be-
fore its portion of the total was
almost 45 per cent.
At last year's World Popula-

ed - and that their present un-
derdevelopment was not due to
overcrowding but to their un-
favorable economic relations
with the industrial world. This
was the issue they wanted to
discuss, not family planning.
Despite the rhetoric,.however,
the conference marked a turn-
ing point in attitudes toward
population control. The continu-
ing world recession has chang-
ed even the position of coun-
tries that once viewed growing
populations as an important
asset - providing new soldiers,
workers and settlers for jungle
and , desert territories.
In the past two years, re-
quests from Latin America for
family planning aid have in-
creased seven times, despite
traditional Roman Catholic op-
position to all birth control.
Brazil, long opposed to any
brake on population growth be-
cause of its ambitious plans for
developing its vast interior
lands, reversed its position at
Bucharest. While expressing
concern for national sovereign-
ty and a strong domestic econ-
omy, the Brazilian delegate an-
nounced that his government

Meeting in Geneva last spring
to discuss the future of multi-
lateral efforts to slow popula-
tion growth, the UNFPA's Gov-
erning Council confronted a
stark contradiction between aid
requests and available funds.
-This year's $80 million budget
can provide only half the re-
quested family planning clinics
and contraceptives. Next year
the Fund will have $90 million,
with demand projected at $200
million.
UNFPA officials fear that de-
lays in meeting requests will
slow the enthusiasm for popu-
lation control generated during
World Population Year. They
estimate the cost of providing
family planning assistance to
every family in the develoning
world - outside of China,
which already has its own pro-
gram - at about $2 billion.
In recent years, UNFPA has
suggested that industrial coun-
tries provide half this eventual
amount. UNPFA grants have
gone primarily to new pro-
grams - regirded the most
effective way to create interest
in familv planning -- on the
;4Giomntion that indostrinl na-

WASHINGTON (UPI) - Russell Baker, distinguished observer
for the New York Times, has observed that the govern-
ment is in danger of running short of secrets.
Apparently, a plethora of leaks, particularly from congress-
men investigating the intelligence services, has been exposing
past clandestine activities faster than new covert operations
could be undertaken.
Since information about the number of secrets in the gov-
ernment stockpile is itself classified, we don't know how bad
the situation really is. However, it is difficult to believe a severe
shortage could have developed in so short a time.
Just a few years ago, we were experiencing what some his-
torians have called "the golden age of secrecy." The govern-
ment, we were assured,, had enough classified data on file to
provide adequate supplies for the foreseeable future and possibly
well into the unforseeable future.
THE VIETNAM WAR alone produced enough secrets to fill
several warehouses. High point of that -lush period was the secret
bombing of Cambodia.
That secret was so closely guarded not even the Cambodians
knew they were being bombed.
The decline began with Watergate era secrets, many of which
were hastily thrown together and fell apart under the slightest
scrutiny.
After Nixon left office, production dropped off drastically.
Then some of the better kept secrets in the CIA and FBI start-
ed to unravel, and the backlog was further depleted.
If a secrecy crisis is now at hand, something must be
done. For, as Baker wrote, "How can a great democracy hope
to survive if people know what the government is doing?"
AND THAT ONLY COVERS the domestic implications.
There also are international repercusions to consider. Such as
the impact on detente.
Everything nowadays has an impact on detente.
It is no secret that secrecy in the Soviet Union is, as per-
vasive as ever. There is, indeed, strong evidence that the
Soviets have been stepping up the output of secrets even as
U.S. production waned.
The obvious ultimate upshot is a secrecy gap that will make
it all the more difficult for our negotiators to win any conces-
sions at the bargaining table.
As you can see, the knowledge that our government doesn't
have any secrets would give the Soviets a tremendous ad-

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