nMta tiian aang l
EigLty-Six Years of Editorial Freedom
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Passage of Ozone
laws looks doubtful
Thursday, January 29, 1976
News Phone: 764-0552
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
Reps do well on Angola
MAYBE THE WIND has started to
change.
Tuesday's decision to halt any fur-
ther aid to pro-Western factions in
Angola was a prudent and praise-
worthy act on the part of the House
of Representatives. The fact that
Republicans joined Democrats in a
resounding defeat of White House in-
terventionist policies, especially in an
election year, is a sure sign of one
thing. Our representatives are con-
vinced that the American people want
no part of any African adventures.
Could there be any doubt of that?
Sooner or later, the hauling out of
flags and the bellowing of the gen-
erals wears thin. Sooner or later a
nation gets weary of gore.
WHEN THE Angolan people were
struggling to be free of an op-
pressive colonial regime, the leaders
of the United States s m il e d and
quietly armed the Portuguese colon-
ists. Now that Angolans are engaged
in a political conflict among them-
selves, we are told: "Here is a bat-
tleground of democracy. Freedom is
on the line."
But Americans h a v e heard that
tune before.
They have seen the butchered vil-
lagers, the s t a r v i n g babies, the
countless living men with dead faces.
And big words don't go over so well
anymore.
Representative democracy w o r k s
slowly, if and when it works at all,
but the House has finally responded
to the wishes of the electorate.
WHEN HOUSE Speaker Carl Albert
called Administration plans to get
involved in the Angolan Civil War,
"about the most useless enterprise I
have ever seen undertaken," he spoke
for all of us.
By yesterday, predictable reactions
were being heard. P e n t a g o n and
White House officials were warning
that the House action is the last
straw in l e t t i n g the anti-Soviet
forces lose their battle in Angola.
As we have stated before, this
argument fails upon closer inspec-
tion: it is the Soviet-backed faction
that has the greatest claim to "de-
mocracy" in Angola. For the ump-
teenth time, the United States is not
only taking the wrong action but
backing the wrong side.
TODAY'S STAFF:
News: David Garfinkel, Jay Levin, Rob
Meachum, Sara Rimer, Jeff Ristine,
Karen Schulkins, Bill Turque
Editorial Page: Dan Biddle, Stephen
Hersh, Tom Stevens
Arts Page: Kevin Counihan, Jeffrey
Selbst
Photo Technician: Steve Kagan
By MICHAEL YELLIN
A committee vote is sched-
uled today on State Rep. Perry
Bullard's (D-Ann Arbor) bill to
ban in Michigan the sale of
aerosol sprays using fluorocar-
bon propellants.
But due to heavy lobbying by
the state Chamber of Com-
merce, it seems doubtful that
the bill will survive.
RECENT research supports
the claim that the release of
fluorocarbons into the atmos-
phere, and eventually the upper
atmosphere, causes a decompo-
sition of the protective ozone
layer.
Concern about the effects of
the depletion of the ozone layer
first surfaced with research
showing that the ill-fated SST
would have a disturbing effect
on the natural balance of gases
in the atmosphere because of
nitrous oxides in its exhaust.
One of the first scientists to
publish findings in this field
was the University's Dr. Ralph
Cicerone. In hearings by a
Senate sub-committee investi-
gating the ozone problem, Cicer-
one said last year that a 3-5
per cent reduction in ozone
could be reached by 1990 even
if a ban were to be effective
immediately. Cicerone calls
ozone "a natural resource, ab-
sorbing ultra-violet rays that if
permitted to penetrate, would
harm all plant and animal tis-
sue." He says, "Excess doses
of ultra-violet light causes skin
cancer in light-skinned people,
harmfully affects the ocean's
phytoplankton, and even the
slightest increase affects DNA."
FLUOROCARBONS
released by aerosol sprays or
from leaky refrigerators and air
conditioners ascend rather
slowly to the upper levels of
stratosphere. Then they are de-
composed by short wave ultra-
violet light. In this process at-
oms of chlorine are released.
Once freed, a single chlorine
atom may convert as many as
100,000 molecules of ozone into
molecular oxygen in a single
year. With the production of
freon in America at 800 mil-
lion pounds a year, many scien-
tists agree that we may be de-
stroying ozone much faster than
under natural conditions - at
a deadly rate, in fact.
In June, 1970, a task force
representing 14 federal agen-
cies recommended a ban on the
use of fulorocarbons by 1978.
Satellite observations of the
stratosphere support the hypo-
thesis that such chemicals, used
as propellants in aerosols, may
be depleting Earth's protective
ozone shield. Other experiments
including rocket probes and di-
rect sampling of gases by bal-
loon - borne devices add sup-
port to proposed theories.
THE FUTURE OF the aero-
sol industry employing fluoro-
carbons remains in doubt. Last
year, after a quarter century
of growth in which aerosol pro-
duction rose from 4.3 million
cans in 1947 to an outstanding
2.9 billion in 1973, production
dropped to 2.7 billion cans, re-
flecting both the ozone contro-
versy and the current economic
slump.
R. II. Powey, marketing man-
ager for aerosols at the Ameri-
can Can Co., says, "The aero-
sol business in America and
throughout the industry is down
about 25 per cent. I'd say about
one third of that drop repre-
sents a loss to the ozone issue."
The three - billion - dollar
aerosol industry, in the hopes
of postponing additional eco-
nomic decay, has started its
own study, is conducting intense
lobbying against restrictive leg-
islation and has expanded its
research and development pro-
grams.
The industry asserts that like
everyone else, it does not want
to see more skin cancer cases.
The companies argue that flu-
orocarbon production should not
be stopped without conclusive
proof of damage done to the en-
vironment. They contend that
they have been sentenced guil-
ty before proved innocent.
With the production of freon at 800 mil-
lion pounds a year, we may be destroying
ozone much faster than under natural con-
ditions at a deadly rate, in fact.
: :,,F: a v.:i"v;..;r tii;"";";;yar..{6S ;F:,;y,"",,.."wSY.4:":4ii:. .... ..
Dr. Ralph Cicerone
A FEW COMPANIES have
taken action already assuming
fluorocarbons will be banned.
Johnson Wax has removed all
fluorocarbon propellants from
their production lines in the
United States. Gillette and Bris-
tol - Myers have opted to re-
instate the old fashioned pump
sprays instead of using alterna-
tive propellants.
About half of all aerosols
manufactured are not propell-
ed by fluorocarbons. Freon is
comparatively expensive and
usually accounts for 45-95 per
cent of the ingredients in an
aerosol can.
A report by the National
Academy of Sciences is due late
in February. This study will
probably decide what actions
the government will take con-
cerning the ozone issue. No ma-
jor national legislation is ex-
pected to become effective be-
fore 1978, and it looks like
Michigan will follow suit.
Michael Yellin is a Resident-
ial College sophomore and a
new member of The Daily staff.
Carl Albert
We wonder a litle about Congress'
reasoning. It may be that some poli-
ticians see Angola as an insignificant
battleground - where a loss to the
R u s s i a n s would be insignificant
enough to not warrant a big Ameri-
can commitment.
The "Angola isn't important" line
is wrong, too. One of the reasons for
American disengagement should be
the importance of free choice for the
Angolan people, and the moral bank-
ruptcy of U.S. support for South Af-
rica's racist regime-support which
has taken the form of aid to South
Africa's allies in Angola.
NOW THAT the House has acted
sensibly on the single issue of
Angola, we can be more hopeful that
our representatives will see through
the larger, ongoing mistakes of U.S.
global p o 1 i c y and goals that made
Tuesday's vote necessary.
Photography Staff
KEN FINK yPAULINE LUBENS
Chief Photographer Picture Editor
Editorial Staff
GORDON ATCHESON CHERYL PILATE
Co-Editors-in-Chief
DAVID BLOMQUIST................Arts Editor
BARBARA CORNELL .. Sunday Magazine Editor
PAUL HASKINS ........ Editorial Director
JOSEPHINE MARCOTTY Sunday Magazine Editor
SARA RIMER .................. Executive Editor
STEPHEN SELBST .................. City Editor
JEFF SORENSON ......,...... Managing Editor
Sports Staff
BRIAN DEMING
Sports Editor
MARCIA MERKER ........ .. Executive Editor
LEBA HERTZ.........Managing Editor
JEFF SCHILLER .......... Associate Editor
CONTRIBtJTING 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
Brazil s 'economic miracle' is a failure
By FRANK MAUROVICH
and KOOS KOSTER
RIO DE JANEIRO (PNS) -
From South Korea to Peru, In-
donesia to Argentina, the "de-
veloping world is collapsing un-
der the staggering weight of its
debts. And in Washington and
New York, concern is growing
that the capitalist world's major
banks - holding roughly $40 bil-
lion in private bank loans to the
underdeveloped countries -
could sink with them if they
start defaulting.
At the core of the crisis is the
failure of the "development
model" vigorously promoted by
U. S. officials to the Third
World -- bring in foreign capi-
tal, gear production to export,
and guarantee political stabil-
ity. Brazil - long a close ally
of the U. S., favorite investment
spot for American and Euro-
pean businessmen, and touted
as one of the Third World's eco-
nomic miracles - is the most
striking example of that fail-
ure.
For seven years, the "de-
velopment model" brought Bra-
zil's booming export trade and
oil imports skyrocketing, the
country faces a trade gap in
the billions; its growth rate is
plummeting toward zero; and
35 per cent of its export earn-
ings are going to pay back for-
eign loans and credits.
Compounding the financial
crisis is growing political un-
rest -- the inevitable result of
the model's priority on rapid
economic growth at the expense
of wages and social spending.
In the past year alone, Bra-
zil's military government has
scrapped its program of grad-
ual democratic reform a n d
jailed hundreds of opposition
leaders.
The key to Brazil's economic
boom and bust cycle was al-
most total dependence on for-
eign investments and foreign
markets - built into the "de-
velopment model."
OFFERED GENEROUS in-
centives and a minimum of re-
strictions, multinational cor-
porations poured into Brazil ov-
er the past decade - bringing
with them their advanced tech-
nology and marketing tech-
niques. The result spurred the
economy but also kept local
competition from developing or
forced existing competitors out
of business.
Ten years ago, for example,
Brazilian manufacturers sup-
plied 70 per cent of the local
market for radio and television
sets. Today, 80 per cent of that
market is controlled by foreign
firms - and 60 Brazilian com-
panies involved in the electron-
is field have gone bankrupt.
Three new companies are
formed every day in Brazil with
foreign capital, according to
economist Jean Benet.
Foreign interests control 95
per cent of the automobile in-
dustry, 90 per cent of phar-
maceuticals and 59 per cent of
the production of heavy ma-
chinery. Last year Brazil pro-
duced 900,000 motor vehicles,
virtually all controlled by Volks-
wagen, General Motors, Ford
and Chrysler.
MUCH OF THIS foreign in-
vestment was aimed at the ex-
port market rather than the
Brazilian consumer - with the
result that sophisticated pro-
ducts like computers were fa-
vored over basics, like textiles.
The theory was that these
products would find a market
in neighboring underdeveloped
countries not equipped to make
them and in industrialized na-
tions which could not produce
them as cheaply because of
higher labor costs.
The theory worked. The U.S.
began ordering automobile en-
gines, Japan bought ships, West
Germany purchased precision
instruments and Switzerland
even imported watches.
share for the poorer half drop-
ped to 10 per cent during the
same period. Today, one twen-
tieth of the population divides
more than one third of the na-
tional income.
Nearly half of the 19 million
Brazilians in the labor force
earn less than $80 per month,
not enough to feed and clothe
a family of three at current
prices.
And due to the lack of medi-
cal services, from 30 to 40 per
'At the core of the economic crisis of the
Third World is the failure of the "develop-
ment model" promoted by U.S. officials...
Brazil, touted as one of the Third World's
economic miracles, is the most striking ex-
ample of that failure.'
r?:%::n}:v:^.:t{4:a '... .; . . . . . . :?
ically raised to keep pace with
inflation w-as recently scrap-
ped in favor of a diluted ver-
sion.
The government has also an-
nounced a series of austerity
measures, including a 25 per
cent increase in gasoline prices.
And food prices are rising as
more and more food is designat-
ed for export to alleviate the
trade deficit.
Even if the Brazilian govern-
ment favored increasing social
spending and wages at this
point, such a move would be
impossible. With foreign firms
so important to an economic
recovery, wages and taxes must
be kept low enough to attract
renewed investment.
Meanwhile, massive military
and police expenditures contin-
ue to eat up the bulk of. Bra-
zil's annual budget. 1974's mili-
tary budget was $1t2 billion -
almost double that of Argentina
and 10 times more than Chile.
Brazil's anti-subversive police
apparatus - justified in terms
of maintaining internal stabil-
ity - is one of the largest on
the continent.
Like South Korea, Mexico, In-
donesia, the Philippines and a
host of other underdeveloped,
non-communist countries, Bra-
zil is now in much the same po-
sition as our own New York
City. In debt over its head and
forced to repay if it ever hopes
to borrow again, Brazil has lost
not only its "economic miracle"
but its freedom to determine its
own economic future.
Frank Maurovich and Koos
Koster work for Latinamerica
Press in Lima, Pern, Mauro-
vich as editor and Koster as a
reporter.
But with the decision to at-
tract foreign capital and pro-
duce inexpensive export pro-
ducts came the need to keep a
lid on wages and corporate tax-
es. Strikes were outlawed and
labor unions tightly controlled
by the government. And with
the, emphasis on reinvestment
of profits rather than taxation
for social spending, low prior-
ity was given to social serv-
ices, medical care and educa-
tion. The result - while the
economy boomed, the gap be-
tween rich and poor widened.
THE LATEST census figures
shows that while the wealth-
iest 10 per cent of the popula-
tion increased its share of the
national income to almost 50
per cent from 1960 to 1970, the
cent of the population suffer
tuberculosis. Brazil has the
highest TB mortality rate in the
Western Hemisphere.
With the low priority given to
education, only 4 per cent of
eligible age young people attend
universities. Thirty per cent get
to high school and 53 per cent
are enrolled in primary schools.
Urban development is also
neglected. Nine million people
live in Sao Paulo, but only half
the homes have running water
and only one third ar linkd to
the municipal sewer system.
WITH THE economic crisis,
Brazil's poor are being hit even
harder. Their one protection -
a price indexing system where-
by all wages, pensions, rents
and other values were automat-
i
Letters
Angola
To The Daily:
This is a response to the As-
sociated Press article by Larry
Heinzerling, "The MPLA'S 15-
year struggle," which appeared
in The Daily on January 22.
At present a U.S. aircraft car-
rier, Independence is off the
coast of Angola ,alongside other
US warships. The U. S. govern-
ment has denied this. Indepen-
dence is loaed with "several
thousand tons of napalm",
among other things. What is
happening in Angola?
The U. S. claims to be re-
sponding to Soviet moves to
supply MPLA with arms. In
fact the US arms lift to FNLA/
UNITA began (at least on the
present scale) in January 1975,
three months before the first
large - scale arms supplies to
the MPLA (April 1975). The
USSR response - which it what
it is - was also preceded by
President Ford's orders to the
CIA (last spring) to organize
"the largest covert operation
ever undertaken outside south-
east Asia" (see London Observ-
and South African armies as the
only real military threat to the
colonial regime. Venter, offic-
ial South African reporter,
wrote in 1968: "The Portuguese
military authorities admit the
MPLA threat is the most ser-
ious they have encountered
since the start of the war. This
was even true in northern An-
gola, supposedly the FNLA
stronghold. The Johannesburg
Star (of South Africa, that self-
appointed guardian - and sym-
bol-of western civilization and
70 per cent of the world's gold
etc.) described MPLA "as the
most effective group" (May 13,
1971). In 1970 Holden Roberto's
CIA-supported FNLA claimed to
have an army of 30,000 men in
control of one-sixth of Angola.
In 1972 a revolt broke out in
the FNLA's Kinkuzu camp in
Zaire. The army, it turned out,
consisted of 1,000 men, none of
whom had been entrusted with
arms - which is why they re-
belled against Roberto. In nor-
thern Angola, writes Basil Da-
vidson in 'The Eve of the
Storm', the UPA (FNLA) "has
undertaken the lob of eliminat-
to Th o
trolled over one-third of Ango-
la, contrary to your report that
they had been wiped out.
ROBERTO'S commitment to
Angola's liberation is evident by
his career. During the 60's he
set himself up in Zaire - ruled
since 1965 by CIA installed dic-
tator Mobutu - as a Zairean
businessman / politician. le
bought several properties in
Kinshasha, Zaire, paid for in
part by U.S. 'aid'. At the same
time Agostino Neto, MPLA lead-
er, established a number of
medical clinics in the refugee
camps there, until Mobutu / Ro-
berto, alarmed at his popularity
and 'radicalism', threw him out.
Heinzerling claims that the
U. S. refused aid to MPLA be-
cause Neto was a "communist".
Neto did come to the U.S. (1961)
and was refused aid to fight the
Portuguese colonialists. The U.
S. turned him away - as it did
Ho Chi Minh - because the
U. S. was committeed to prop
up the Portuguese colonial re-
gime in Angola. In 1974 the
U.S.'s Gulf oil gave Portugual
royalties of $400 million, with
e
Daily
in 1972 alone the U. S. gave
Portugal over 4,000 times as
much as it gave Roberto in the
previous ten years. Roberto was
bankrolled in case of Portugal's
defeat at the hands of MPLA.
The Portuguese did lost, so the
CIA "activated" its agent, Ro-
berto.
PERHAPS we should read the
record of these groups, and
base our judgements of what
they did for/to the people they
claimed to be fighting for.
Jane Bergerol, who visited
the MPLA's southern front in
December 1975, reported "evi-
dence of high morale of MPLA
forces and of efficient organiza-
tion. Women soldiers have been
integrated into mixed units.
Soldiers are being organized in-
to study groups on "the divi-
siveness of tribalism and the
cultural oppression of African
women." FNLA / UNITA have
always been tribally based and
seccessionist; MPLA is a na-
tional movement committed to
a non-racial, non-tribal, society.
Of the FNLA/UNITA, the
New York Times wrote "that
THE ABOVE is confirmed
by other reports. A. J. Venter
('The Terror Fighters') inter-
viewed a Portuguese captain in
Angola in 1968: "Whereas MP-
LA men will ask villagers for
food, UPA (FNLA) fighters
will take it. MPLA guerrillas
rarely touch the women of their
hosts - something apparently
drummed into them while they
undergo training. UPA men
have no qualms whatever about
;ttemnting to seduce women-
one of the reasons why they
have alienated so many tribal
Africans in northern Angola."
Venter continues: "young MP-
LA guerrilla trainees are more
reliable than both the Portu-
guest officials with whom they
have fleeting contact and the
grab-all-UPA terrorists. Hope is
the supreme motivating force of
Africa and the MPLA offers
oodles of it."
The U. S. has consistently
tried to destroy the MPLA and
consistently failed - precisely
because the MPLA are support-
ed by the people, they are the
people, because they are fight-
ing for an indenendent Angola
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