Summer Daily
Sunmer Edition of
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Edited and managed by students at the
University of Michigan
Saturday, June 16, 1973 News Phone: 764-0552
Indochina exit
in sight
IN DECLARING an end to his support for Nixon's war
policies in Indochina Thursday, Senate Republican
Leader Hugh Scott emphatically declared that: "I have
had it!"
And so have, it appears, many other former Nixon
supporters in Congress. By a 67-15 Senate vote Thursday,
Congress moved ever closer to pulling the U. S. out of
Indochina once and for all.
We strongly applaud the Senate vote, and can only
impress upon the House of Representatives the urgency
for quick, affirmative action on this measure. As provided
by the Church-Case amendment to a State Department
authorization bill, no funds would be appropriated to fi-
nance U. S. military activities in Indochina, unless spe-
cifically authorized by Congress.
This would mean an end to the bombing in Cam-
bodia, and would finally prevent any further escalation of
Nixon's war activities.
IT IS INDEED ironic that the Senate vote came a day
after "peace negotiator" Henry Kissinger wrapped up
yet another agreement to cool the situation in Vietnam.
Unfortunately however, early reports indicate that he
Norh and South Vietnamese are still strongly engaged in
combat despite the new cease fire.
And in Cambodia, where another civil war rages on,
Kissinger defends the bombing as necessary to pressure
the insurgents into giving up. This attitude only reflects
the stupidity of U. S. leaders, who after almost a decade
of bombing, refuse to accept its ineffectiveness in bring-
ing an end to the Indochinese conflict. It also shows us
their supreme arrogance in believing that the U. S. has
the right to decide which side of a civil war should win.
Hopefully, because of the Senate action, this will be
the last time we will have to demand: OUT NOW!
Summer Staf
ROLFE TESSEM
Edi tor
MART'Y STERN
Edi orilPageEdi tor
Terror and violence strike at
a group
By PETER LaFRENIERE
BEING DISILLUSIONED with
academic gamesmanship and in
need of a breath of really fresh
air, I left Ann Arbor after the
semester ended to make a pilgram-
mage. After traveling down the
road for nearly a month through
the South and West, I was ready
for some peace and tranquility. So
I turned homeward and drove 24
hours straight to New Vrindaban,
completely unaware of the terrify-
ing events that had just occured
there.
Vrindaban is India's most aus-
picious village, for it is the birth-
place of Lord Krishna and the
site of His pastimes with the cow-
herd boys and His beloved Gopis
(milkmaids). New Vrindaban is
sne of the oldest (founded in 1968)
and most successful of America's
communal farms. It is actually
rural Vedic village situated in the
foothills of West Virginia near the
Ohio river, patterned after its
namesake.
WHEN I REACHED the turnoff
at Limestone road my conscious-
ness was almost instantly trans-
formed. My eyes leaped across the
lush green pastures dotted w it h
grazing cows to the wooded high-
lands of the surrounding country-
side. As I drove up the front drive
everything seemed peaceful and
normal. The men could be seen
cultivating the fields and gardens,
while the women were engaged in
chores around the main ashram.
However, I soon found out differ-
ently as the devotees quietly nar-
rated the story of the terrorism
which had taken place two days
before.
It happened at dawn. As usual,
the devotees were into their third
hour of meditation and t h e i r
leader Kirtanananda Swami w as
about to begin the first morning
lecture. Suddenly a gun barrel
burst through a temple window
of Krishna disciples
shattering the early morning still-
ness. Radha Kanta reacted swiftly
by grabbing the barrel and wrest-
ling with the unseen attacker,
eventually breaking the rifle. But
there were five heavily armed men
and before long they were keeping
the devotees at gunpoint as they
shouted obscenities and began tear-
ing apart the inner temple, pis-
tol whipping the harmless a n d
shocked devotees who got in the
way.
KIRTANANANDA, the represent-
ative of the Spiritual Master of the
Hare Krishna movement was led
Suddenly a gun barrel
burst through a tem-
ple window shattering
the early morning still-
ness.
outside the temple, where he too
was abused and beaten. Meanwhile
the attackers completed the job of
destroying the temple room, fin-
ally stripping garments and orna-
ments from the marble images of
Radha and Krishna, pushing them
off the altar, smashing them and
making crude jokes.
The devotees, including women
and children, continued chanting,
offering no resistance. The phone
had been cut and the farm is in
an isolated area, 12 miles from
Moundsville, the nearest town. Al-
ready 4 devotees had been shot
and wounded. The statue of Rad-
harani was held high in the air
and dropped on the marble floor
creating a frightening crash. Start-
led out of his wits, the gangleader,
who was outside guarding t h e
Swami, hastily got his men to-
gether and left. The police at their
leisure arrived one and one-half
hours after the nick of time.
NOW, ONE WEEK later, life
goes on at the farm as naturally as
ever. The only difference - a tear
in the eye of a devotee singing the
evening Aratrik, or a quiet and
quickly hushed sob as a devotee
remembers that morning. Three of
the four who had been wounded
have recovered. The fourth h a s
lost the usage of his left hand. And
at a small fortress overlooking the
farm, a 24 hour watch is being
kept to protect Radha and Krishna
from further abuse.
The significance of the incident
analyzed from a devotee's point of
view is .awesome. The injuries to
the devotees and the destruction of
the temple is certainly bad enough.
However, the abuse to the person
who purely represents the m o s t
confidential servant of the Lord,
and the demoniac treatment of the
deities or arca- vigraha form com-
pletely dwarfs the injuries and de-
struction.
Though the all inclusive Vedic
philosophy appears different from
that of Christianity, the parallels
between the shotgun terrorism of
1973 America and the persecution
of the early an'd devout Christians
of Rome are striking. Both fear-
lessly put forward the truth that
theirs was a materialistic age, an
age of hypocrisy and quarrel. Both
suffered persecution and ridicule
at the hands of those who were
the most degraded and material-
istically inclined. Both accepted the
abuse passively, almost joyously,
as the inexplicable will of the Su-
preme. Both developed strength as
a result.
ONLY TIME will be able to re-
veal what the future holds. Hare
Krishna.
Peter LaFreniere will be
teaching a Course Mart course
this summer called Intro. to
Vedanta.
U.S. frustrated by attempts to
-achieve 'negotiation with honor'
DAN BIDDLE ...... ..
DAV EBURHENN ..
CHRISTOPHER PARKS
GORDON ATCHESQN
LAURA BERIMAN...
KATHY RICKE
SUE SO.\ \ER . .
nAVi s AR(OLICK
-TF' ','RY MCARTHY ..
Ass't.
Ass't.
STits
Night Editor
Night Editor
Night Editor
Night Editor
Night Editor
Plo an erl
By DICK WEST
~HE WATERGATE-weary world
was cheered this week by a
new Vietnam cease-fire agreement
under which both sides agreed to
cease firing in violation of the old
>c>
Op
Now that I think of it, there may have been
some abuse of Phase 3 wage guidelines.'
cease-fire agreement. The second
cease-fire, known as Pause It, is
expected to bring North and South
Vietnam a step closer.
But closer to what?
Only time can answer that ques-
tion. Pause It could bring'the Viet-
nam a step closer to peace. Or it
could be a step closer to another
peace agreement.
For if the new agreement to stop
violating the old agreement is vio-
lated, a third agreement Pause III
may also be negotiated. And if it
also should be violated?
"WE ARE prepared to negotiate
as many cease-fire agreements as
may be necessary to bring about
a cessation of hostilities," a source
close to the negotiations told me.
Pause I, the original cease-fire,
rolled back the fighting to the ap-
proximate level of 1962, when the
Vietnam War was being fought by
the Vietnamese.
If Pause II and any subsequent
agreements are equally effective,
we may eventually find the Viet-
namese fighting the French again.
IN ANY EVENT, continuation
of the Vietnam peace negotiations
could have a. heavy impact on
American politics.
During the 1968 campaign, Pres-
ident Nixon won many votes by
confiding that he had a secret
plan for ending U.S. involvement
in the Vietnam War.
By 1976, one of the candidates
may be telling the voters he has
a secret plan for ending U.S. in-
volvement in the Vietnam peace
agreements.
There are, of course, a number
of advantages in American partici-
pation in the negotiations, one of
them being that it provides Henry
Kissinger an opportunity to visit
Paris.
NEVERTHELESS, there is strong
sentiment in favor of a ceasefire
Vietnamizatio program. Under
that formula, U.S. negotiators
Dick West is a writer for
United Press International.
would gradually withdraw from the
peace talks and turn the bargaining
over to the South Vietnamese.
There would not be a total dis-
engagement. America would con-
tinue to supply South Vietnamese
negotiators with briefcases, scratch
pads, ball-point pens and other par-
ley hardware.
Additionally, American advisers
would be on hand to instruct the
South Vietnamese in modern hag-
gling techniques. Otherwise, how-
ever, the South Vietnamese would
be assuming full responsibility for
protecting themselves at the con-
ference table.
Until they are prepared to speak
for themselves, the "generation of
peace" sought by Nixon. could well
become a generation of negotia-
tion.
God bless
America
WASHINGTON (UPI) - The
next three weeks - until
July 4 - have been proclaim-
ed an "honor America" period
by President Nixon.
Nixon issued his proclamation
saying that "this year, for the
first time in a dozen years,
America will be at peace on In-
dependence Day."
"This should not be a time
in which we ignore our coun-
try's problems," Nixon said,
"but it should be a time in which
we gain renewed appreciation of
those physical and spiritual re-
sources which can enable us to
meet those problems - and so
make our nation greater still."