Page 4-Thursday.;May 10, 1979-The Michigan Daily Michigan Daily Mass protests won' Eighty-nine Years of Editorial Freedompjfl 420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Ml. 48109 e e r t pow r bloc I Vol. LXXXIX, No. 7-S News Phone: 764-05521 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan Fishing rights rule a judicious move C HIEF U.S. DISTRICT Judge Noel Fox's rul- ing not to restrict two upper peninsula tribes' rights in the northern halves of Lakes Huron and Michigan is a refreshing display of justice at work. Two 19th century treaties between the U.S. and the Sault Ste. Maire and Bay Mills Chippewa tribes provide perpetual fishing rights in the waters adjacent to lands forfeited in the treaties of 1836 and 1855. Fox's ruling upheld the treaties' sanctity and granted Native Americans some rights which non-Native Americans do not have. Native Americans no longer must tolerate state intervention. This aspect of the ruling is most valuable, for it finally recognizes Native Americans as sovereign residents of this con- tinent-a long-awaited breakthrough. Politicians and conservationists charge that Native Americans will unscrupulously exploit the cherished stocks of lake trout, steelhead and brown trout in those lakes. But even if Native Americans do not employ utmost scrutiny in exercising these rights, they could not possibly match the harm done to the environment by white men. Modern commercial fishing methods are clearly more injurious to the proliferation of aq uatic life than those of Native Americans. Commerical fishing is one of the few avenues left open for Native Americans to earn an income which does not force them to swallow the white man's culture or pay any stipends to the U.S. grvernment. White men have stolen lands and ex- ploited Native Americans for centuries, precluding further practice of the hun- ting/gathering lifestyle inherrent in their culture. Michigan United Conservation Clubs executive director Tom Washington said Native Americans do not know the meaning of conservation. He also said treaties with Native Americans should be abrogated just as the ones with Panama and Taiwan. Washington's myopia and lack of a sense of history display the naive attitude white Americans have held for centuries. If Washington can prove that white Americans-the true foreigners here-have practiced conservation through complete rape of land and waters as well as the extermination of countless species for the sake of "progress", then he must adhere to a dif- ferent definition of the word. Also, abrogating treaties with Taiwan and Panama certainly does not justify severing more treaties with those who have already been persecuted for centuries. We would rather trust Native Americans to judiciously exercise their fishing rights than to steal one of few which remains. We believe Bay Mills band president Art LeBlanc's promise to police their own fishing rights and sincerely hope Native Americans will disprove the pessimistic predictions of their opponents. I JOINED OVER 100,000 Americans on the Capitol.Build- ing lawn in Washington Sunday. We were there to protest against nuclear energy, but the people we were hoping to influence were not with us. The Capitol Building was empty, and President Carter, though he was in town all day, declined to stop by to answer our demands. So instead, we ad- dressed a magnificent, if somewhat overwhelming building, the best symbol of our country's "democracy" we could find. Now we wait for a response. Carter has already spoken. In the middle of Sunday afternoon, he told reporters, "I understand the concern about nuclear power and we're doing all vse can to reassure people that what nuclear reactors we do have are safe." CARTER HAS BEEN a staun- ch supporter of the nuclear in- dustry since he was elected, and it appears that Sunday's demon- stration had little effect on his views. It's too early to see how Congress will respond, but I doubt they will do much. Demonstrators and speakers alike were confident that their actions will achieve concrete results. "When Congressmen see num- bers, they begin to respond," said former Congresswoman Bella Abzug in a backstage press con- ference. "Demonstrations lead to other actions, including letter writing and lobbying," she ad- ded. Ralph Nader argued, "Carter knows all the evidence is against him. He just can't stand up to the giant nuclear industry, so the American people must help him to stand up. If he doesn't do something, he's going to have a difficult time in 1980." These bright individuals assumed that a large turnout in Washington would miraculously break the links between the government and the nuclear in- .dustry, links that have kept nuclear power alive years after damaging evidence against it fir- t began to roll in, links that have kept even the Harrisburg disaster from shutting the in- dustry down. Robert Pollard, a nuclear engineer who resigned from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 1976 when he realized they were lying to the American people, called the NRC "an agen- cy, controlled by people who routinely put the financial in- terests of the nuclear industry ahead of your health and safety." He also said, "the facts don't make any difference to the in- dustry or the government." But he failed to show how a mass demonstration would alter the structure of the NRC or in- crease the responsiveness of the industry or the government to safety questions. MOST OF THE protesters I spoke to said they had come to Washington -to "fight nuclear energy," assuming that their very presence -would mandate a By Mike Taylor change in policy. Since many admitted this was the first oc- casion on which they had taken part in a demonstration, I hope they aren't too disappointed if change takes longer than they expect. A couple of folks did take a more realistic attitude, however. A woman from Harrisburg said, 'I'm 65 years old and I've never felt stronger about anything in my life. I'm against nukes and I came down here to do something about them. Even if it doesn't do anything, at least we got off our bus and didsomething." Greg Kost, an LSA senior from Grand Blanc who came down in the same van as myself, said, "I guess I'm still idealistic enough to believe that coming here can do something. If nothing else is gained, then a moratorium on new construction would be suf- ficient." When I asked him what he would think if that didn't hap- pen, he added, "If nothing else, there will be greater public awareness that a lot of people are pissed off." AS AN OPTIMIST and one who desperately desires change, I would love to think that we will get rid of nuclear power as easily as many of my fellow demon- strators and the speakers believed.rButhI spent the Satur- day before the march walking around town with Rob O'Brien, a Residential College junior from Battle Creek who also came down in the van, and what we saw was enough to convince both of us that what we were up against would not be toppled by a lone demon- stration. and then it introduced the U.S Marine Band, who played "The Star Spangled Banner." "The whole thing was designed to arouse some kind of patriotic fer- vor in us," O'Brien commented. Later, he predicted, "Western civilization is going to crumble in 20 years because of the way we're using up and abusing the Earth. Unless we make a drastic tur- nabout'inrthe future, which I doubt, we're going to be thrown into another dark ages. As things start falling apart and we start feeling the effects of dumping nuclear waste into the ecosystem, there's going to be general chaos. The state is going to want to step in to keep control over the masses. We're already going in that direction. We're seeing those declines beginning, so we're becoming more fascist all the time." If one buys his scenerio, then one must also question the effec- tiveness of mass demonstrations. From our own history, we know that big protests were instrumen- tal in stopping the Vietnam war. But that struggle took ten long years. There have been protests against nuclear power on the local level for years now, and there is little evidence to indicate concrete accomplishments. We live in a society where decisions are generally made in favor of those with money, and we cannot get away from that fact. Control and obedience is the norm in this country;ddemon- strations are tolerated, but it takes a great many of them to achieve any real change. This is not to say that we should not demonstrate, for we must, as it is one of the few options open to us - A !)~ HowSooN CAN ' i e ceno wE GET T154 malor reasnOr ONE v4ONG? W no+ ri( +a - O1 r%~IY We were stunned to see for expressing our views. But we thousands of school children must also begin to think seriously marching in militaristic of challenging the patterns of precision in a "Safety Patrol" ownership and control that parade. "I saw the youth of govern our country. In a real America being indoctrinated into democracy, demonstrations will a militaristic way of thinking," no longer be necessary, for the O'Brien said. "They all want to people will have no problem be part of a great machine. No registering their beliefs through one's out of step." the normal channels of gover- WE VISITED the White House nment. and marveled at all the people pl eering through the stern iron fe ce to gaze at their palace. A tinny voice, rose from little speakersplanted.in the lawn to Mike Taylor is a former telf'isthehistoryof the mansion, ,.Daily Arts Editor.. . - - .