THE Michigan Daily Edited and managed by Students at the University of Michigan Thursday, May 9, 1974 News Phone: 764-0552 Censorfp and ei specter of Fascism Ypsi law obscene ONE WOULDN'T EXPECT to find much in common between Ypsilanti today and Puritan Boston. This is 1974, and Ypsi has a five dollar weed law. All the same, a district judge has just upheld an ordinance in the city which prohibits "any material or performance whose predominant appeal is to prurient interest." Puri- tanism is not dead. Among the most compelling recent arguments against the suppression of "obscene matter" were presented from night club stages by Lenny Bruce, during the 1950's and 60's. Lenny had vested interest; he was repeatedly busted for his allegedly obscene act. Though his own material did have "redeeming social value", he often argued in favor of "dirty" material that did not have this value. This was one of his arguments: "Now, the stag movie, the dirty movie ... Let's in- spect the subject matter. What are they doing, that couple? "I can't think of anybody getting killed in that picture. I can't see anyone getting slapped in the mouth, rapped around. Is there any hostility in that film? No. Just a lot of hugging and kissing. And the first time one instrument of death appeared - that pillow that might have smothered the chick - it went under her ass .. . ")LEASE TELL ME what the hell the couple is doing that's that rank, vicious, rotten. The only thing I find offensive in that film is that from an art concept, cinematically, it's a bore. Yeah, those schtup pictures--I forget it, man. No idea of the sensual, no music track, you know. But as far as hurting your child -- what are they doing, that couple?" "The prurient interest is like the steel interest. What's wrong with appeal to the prurient interest?" The Ypsi ordinance is a violation of the First Amend- ment. There have been no reported cases in the city of people being forced to view or purchase predominantly prurient material. Why not let each individual decide what forms of expression he or she should be exposed to? -STEPHEN IHERSH Ford: Letting go rjsnE GRADUATING SENIORS and their families who packed Crisler Arena last Saturday were witness to an event unusual in national politics, and particularly unique in graduation ceremonies. Ford, the cleanest of a rapidly dirtier-looking admin- istration crew, seems to have viewed his visit here as a wholly political mission. Although he never referred to Watergate directly. Ford wove his speech around an ela- borate plea for unity and "discipline," and he drew a roar from the crowd with a plug for President Nixo. Ford's defense of Nioxn looks suspiciously like a retreat stemmilg from the Mitchell-Stans acquittal last week. Although analysts like to portray Ford as the man who played too many football games without a helmet, it is more likely that his public comments are based on a careful search for a 1976 constituency. With Mitchell and Stans off the hook, the tide seemed to have turned a bit in Nixon's favor, increasing his possible usefulness to Ford. AND ALTHOUGH the Vice President offered the obliga- tory personal reminiscences at his commencement address, he remained a campaigner. Far from the stereo- typed successful citizen offering counsel to graduating neophytes, Ford at his campus appearance Was a politician on the make. Doubters of the impact of the Watergate scandals would do well to study Ford's reception here. Although the Crisler audience remained respectful during most of the address, they erupted in disapproval at his defense of Nixon. Even a few of his fraternity brothers were less than delighted with his connection to the President. -REBECCA WARNER By PAUL O'DONNELL s AN AVID movie and thea. tre goer, and a "newsprint addict," literary, artistic a n d journalistic censorship h a v e been of great interest to me during my foreign studies, es- pecially since my arrival in Spain. When Carrero Blanco was assassinated on December 20, 1973 is was perhaps the news coverage of the event (banning of certain foreigntnewspapers, official govemnment announce- ments on TV and radio rather 'than the regular news pro-. 'grams,, etc.) more than the increased security contingents and repeated I.D. checks on Barcelona streets that caused me to write my article of Jan- ury 30 (Spain 1974: Fascism in tourist town). When thetaforementioned ar- tidle was attacked by one Uni- versity Professor of Spanish and Portuguese (Daily, Feb. 19) as being "replete with ambivalent and sometimes inaccurate de- tails," as well as "his own pre- judices and some cliche factual material," I felt obliged to re- but some of the criticisms in that letter (and to admit the validity of some others) WHILE MANY of the profes- sor's comments are worthwhile and even compatable with the main themes of my article, I fear that in labeling my ar- ticle "sometimes inaccurate" and reflective of my own pre- judices about Spain, that he him- self has fallen into some of the same faults that he had accused me of. Some examples: " His statement that I was incorrect in reporting that there were "no news broadcasts a 1 1 day" on the day of the assas- sination. All the Barcelona ob- servers (profesors, journalists) to whom I showed my article supported my statement that there were no regular news pro- grams on December 20, 1973. What the Spanish and interna- tional TV and radio audiences heard were official government announcements, broadcast by state-controlled mass media. Ac- cording to the December 29 edi- tion of the Spanish magazine Triunfo, the original announce- ment of the Spanish president's death (made more than two hours after the explosion) con- tained no reference to the fact that Carrero's death could have been the result of a planned assassination (calling it "an im- portant explosion whose ca's s are yet unknown"). The newss that Carrero's death had not been accidental was not made public until approximately 4:30 p.m. (seven hours after the ex- plosion). Can this kind of gov- ernment coverage be called "news broadcasts"? * His statement that "One does not have to go to France to find out what is happening in Spain." This, and not his claim that foreign newspapers a r e easily available in Spain, are, unfortunately, not always true. I can cite several instances in which foreign newspapers were banned in Spain becatse they contained unfavorable articles about the Franquist regime. (from Le Monde, January 6-) One such "banned" article is included with this article to the Daily, and is at the disposal of any student or faculty mem- ber who wishes to see what kind of articles the Spanishcensors prohibit. HERE IS what the Intern- tional Herald Tribane has to say about Spanish radio and TV news programs (from an arti- cle entitled "Spain Radio, TV Avoid News Of Conflict in Do- mestic Life"): "In the Spain depicted on radio and televis- ion, conflict of any kind - a strike, a demonstration, an op- posing opinion - almost never casts a shadow over the nation's political or social scene. If a misfortune is reported . . . it is always something beyond the control of those who lead the nation." The article goes on to discuss a greater journalistic freedom extent in Spain since the adoption of the 1966 press law which "abolished prior cen- sorship and theoretically estab- lished freedoni of the press." The article maintains, ht a w- ever, that the' reality of the cur- rent Spanish journalistic situa- tion is not what it should be under the 1966 law: "Editors al- so report frequent phone calls fromeofficials forbidding abli- cation of a news item, ordering the newspaper to take a certain stand, or prescribing how they should present newss... Papers were recently forbidden, in tele- phone calls, to print death no- tices on President Salvador Al- lende of Chile .. '." (these quo- tations taken from Herald Tri- bune of Nov. 23, 1973). . His observation that "ab- solute claim reigned" in Madrid when he arrived there, three days after the assassination. Al- though numerous observers were surprised at how little the Spanish people reacted to the event, there were places in Spain where the "calm" seen by visitors to Madrid was non-exist- ent, according, to the French magazine "LExpress": "Road- block security checks, search- es, arests; . . . for the moment, an extensive manhunt is taking place in Spain. In the Basque in asserting that almost any cheap transistor can receive foreign broadcasts, especially on clear nights. His references to and knowledge about foreign stations seems to confirm re&,- erathan contradict my claim that one needs to listen to foreign stations to be well informed about Spanish.affairs. . Although I can't agree that I "merely aired (my) own pre- judices" in my article, it would be lens than candid to state that there aren't certain aspects of the Spanish political scene that I find rather disturbing. More- over, I am not the only Ameri- can to be shocked by vestiges of what one writer for Le Monde called "Spain's flirt with Nazi Germany." T1he French maga- zine Le Point describes Vice President Gerald Ford as being "impressed and troubled" by the thousands of spectators whom he observed giving t h e raised-arm "Heil Hitler" salute during Carrero Blanco's funer- al procession. Ford is quoted as saying: "But what is this? You'd think you were in Nurem- burg." The article goes on to say that one shouldn't be fooled by appearances, that this "ul- tra" tendency has little real power in the Spanish govern- ment. It is worth noting, how- ever, to those who thought that the fascist salute was some- thing seen only in movies about World War II, that the specter of fascism is still extant in Spain. "Editors also report frequent phone calls from officials forbiddir j publication of a news item, ordering the newspaper to take a certain stand or prescribing how they should present news ... Papers were recently for- bidden, in telephone calls, to print death notices on President Salvador Allende of Chile .. provinces . .many people do not dare sleep in their own homes at night. All Basques un- der 30 years of age were order- ed to turn their passports into the >lice, until further notice", (from "L'Express" Dec. 31, 1973). . His comparison between the Spanish "forces of order" and the French police. Anyone who has visited the Latin Quarter in Paris since 1961 realizes that the CR.S. (French riot po- lice) are a very visible part of Parisian life;. these members of the "Republican Security Corps" are also known to be very vio- lent when in action. I would maintain, however, that they go into action much less frequent- ly than their Spanish counter- parts, the "grises." In the year I spent in a French university, called by many an "especially turbulent year," the p o ic e didn't once enter the university buildings, even when the Liter- ary School was occupied by stu- dents. In the less than t h r e e months that the Spanish univer- sities have been open this year, the Police have "cleaned out" the university at least twice; since the execution of Puig An- tich (see Daily March 16) groups of riot police in relative- ly large numbers (20-SO) are visible in front of the Univer- sity on the majority of school days. S1 must concede that t h e Professors criticism of my im- plication that one needs "a pow- erful radio" to listen to fore- ign broadcasts is totally justi- fied. The professor is correct I TIIANK the University pro- fessor for giving me this oc- casion to expand my original ar- ticle, but I'm afraid that through his sometimes v a I i d criticisms, he has managed to obscure the whole point of the article. The themes of my ar- ticles are rather simple: 1) that despite 35 years of Franquist "peace", Spain is still a re- persive dictatorship without denmocratic structures, 2) that despite the amazing boom that Spain has experienced during the past decade, Spain is still the poorest country in Western Europe beside Portugal. One example of this "obscur- ing process" in the professor's letter is his reference to Spain's "obsession .. with entry in the Conamon Market." In mention- ing the Common Market, he ne- glects to say what is obvious to him but which all Daily read- ers might not know: that Spain cannot enter the Common Mar- ket because it is run by a dic- tatorship. Here I am reminded of ano- ther University professor of the School of Social Work, whom I met in an airport in New York. When told that I was on my way to Spain, he eeptessed an opinion somewhat different from that of the University professor who wrote to the Daily: "I don't think that I'll ever got to Spain. I'm one of the war generation, and have friends who fought in the "Abraham Lincoln" bri- gade against Franco's forces. I wouldn't go to Spain while Franco is still in power."