The Michigan Daily
Edited and managed by Students at the
University of Michigan
Friday, May 13, 1977
News Phone: 764-0552
Protest corporate politics
NHITE DOMINATED southern African nations are be-
ing supported, legally and illegally, by American
corporate activity.
Prodded by international church organizations, stock-
holders in such corporations are beginning to protest.
And the protests register in terms the corporations can
understand: stockholders' resolutions.
Most recently, Mobil Oil aid Ford Motor Company
have been faced with such resolutions. The resolution
against Mobil prot e tedl lbs)t company's allegr'd provi"-
inns o petntrolm to the Rh rdesian government, de-
spite U and U1 N sactions. The Ford resolution pro-
tested that rompany's investments in South Africa.
Stanford Univ'r ity 'sod this University are stock-
holds rs in Frrl and Mobil, respestively. and cast bal-
lots on th(' resolutions. Stanford abstainsed, saying Ford
could possibly he a progressive force iis South Africa.
But this University supported Mobil management's
position rather than the resolution.
J)OLITICAL REASONING was totally disregarded in
such economic votes. Human rights, justice and per-
sonal conviction were subordinated by the stockhold-
ers,' iterests ini matking profits; and reaping dividends.
Student protests at Stanford apparently did not af-
fect that university's decision to abstain. In the first
day of protets, 294 of 500 protesters were arrested. The
second day, 900 students protested the university's vote..
This university's vote met no organized student pro-
test.
If American stockholders truly think more of hu-
" Osi profits, such resolutions againt ques-
tionable corporate activities and investments need to
be supported.
We seriously question the priorities of both this
and Ford, not only through investment, but in their
University .and Stanford in, their support of Mobil Oil
refusel to support resolutions calling for ethical cor-
porate practice.
Working within te system
to rebuild the poliical left
By BOB ALEXANDER the left had to choose between races, and then, Wheeler for
(Last of a four part series) HRP candidates and liberal Mayor.
Democratic candidates.
The demise of the Human
Rights Party (HRP) as an ef-
fective political force was al-
most as swift as its beginning.
Although Ann Arbor has a
clear political left, that left com-
prises only about 20 percent of
the voters. Problems of low
voter turnout developed when
I I
Letter
To The Daily:
I wrote the following in a letter to
mate from LSA class of '75.
It was most bizarre to visit old A
24 hours, two weeks ago. I hit Pizz
a "pineapple and mushroom" on whol
watched the frisbee players in the
there's a strange stillness and soles
place - the hippies seem to realiz
chronistic they've become.
There's a conscious conformity, a
namism - it translates into medioc
former creative bastions as The Daily
The freshmen and sophomores,l
seem tired and humorless. All the 1
fought long ago, and no one quite
whether they were won or lost.
Sexuality is still in the air, and t
for Romanticism falters, but it's n
What is?
Politics are long dead - nobody
Gino's furor, or the Ann Arbor Ban
ment in the 1970 rent strike. What's
It's all sad, and somehow strangely
I'm glad I escaped when I did.
- Gary Kreiss
LSA, '75
To The Daily:
Again the University's maligned po
me to speak out,
Recently, the university has, under1
community safety (collective security
instituted a program of fear.
Around campus and in the busses'
s to Te ailY
alumnus constantly confronted with an ominous pair of
Big Brother-esque eyes telling us to WATCH
OUT! The caption tells us of increased crime
fellow class- and for our own good we shouldn't walk alone
at night or talk to "strangers". Granted, there is
-squared for a crime problem, but if it is bad enough to war-
ia Bob's for rant warnings such as these then our commun-
e wheat, and ity has a most dire and far reaching dilemma.
Diag. But The solution to which I'm certain would not be
unity to the paranoia stimulation.
e how ana- I can't believe the administration is so obli-
vious to reality or naive not to recognize the ob-
lack of dy- vious side effects of this program, all of which
rity at such are bound to be anything but good for the com-
and WCBN. munity head. The only conclusion I can therefore
particularly, draw is they do understand what they do and
battles were plan for the reults.
remembers This frightens me to think the university may
have an unspoken program of paranoia. The way
the struggle they react to any form of dissent borders on to-
the strule. toletarianism. Think back to the GEO thing,
ot an issue. AFSCME, the Hash Bash, the attempt to union-
ize technicians fall of 75.
recalls the I find is also curious they seem to have no
k's involve- qualms in regards to raising tuition and fees.
a strike? Their salaries remain astronomical while send-
funny, and ing the cost of attendance far over the heads of
all but the upper upper middle class. This too
man helps them with dissent "problems," for this stra-
ta of stundents are also quite into elitism and
have very few complaints, aside from the losing
security Rose Bowl record.
Although I find it increasingly difficult to re-
main here, I see the reality of my own situation
'licies cause which economically makes it impossible to trans-
fer out-of-state. So, I will remain here for two
the guise of more years becoming deeper in debt, more and
for surety), more paranoid, and painfully aware of this coun-
try's fatal "class"-ification.
we are now -.IN. John Godla
WRAPPED IN McGovern's
cloak, the Dems won several
close races in 1972. But difficul-
ties with maintaining HRP's
separate identity and early mi-
nority and working class sup-
port caused alienation among
workers and supporters. The
last strong HRP electoral ef-
fort was in 1975 when their
council candidates were re-
soundingly defeated.
It was the last year under the
preferential voting system
which allowed voters to indicate
a second preference in local
elections. That system gave
Wheeler the plurality he need-
ed to assume office. The HRP
dwindled to nothing more than
a ballot position.
Meanwhile, a few Democrats
adapted some of the task func-
tional techniques and attitudes
which aided the HRP's growth.
But the city Democratic Party
did not unite to institute its
platform or modernizesits struc-
ture to benefits from a city
committee.
FORMER Council candidates
and campaigns were, in part,
responsible. The all too predict-
able campaign sequence was
the decision to run, followed by
development of the candidate's
style, then some work on the
programs. This "political indi-
vidualism" has resulted in can-
didates unable to attract the
essential components of a leftist
movement.
Gradually, more Dems are
developing a clearer understand-
ing of political change.
The re-emergence of a leftist
movement within the Democra-
tic Party began in the fall of
1975 when Fred Harris' New
Populism came to Ann Arbor.
Harris' platform addressed the
collective frustration of many
left groups, and provided an
area for Democratic campaign-
ers Ed Pierce and Perry Bul-
lard and their supporters to
unite with formers RPers,
The Harris effort gave way
to Udall, then the Pierce-Steeh
WITH THE exception of pub-
lic power and returnable bottle
efforts, most recent leftist ac-
tivity has been spent in cam-
paigns.
With Wheeler's victory, and
those of ken Latta and Leslie
Morris in Council races, there
is an opportunity to rebuild a
left movement with the Demo-
cratic Party. While their cam-
paigns were not as unified as
those of the HRP, these Demo-
crats and their supporters did
run a more closely coordinated
campaign than the Dems have
run in a long time.
Key to the growth of a Demo-
cratic left movement is the
state-wide Democratic Socialist
Caucus. This, hopefully, should
be the group capable of pro-
viding the vision necessary for
issue and program development.
But the effectiveness of these
efforts depends on the partici-
pation of the larger left com-
munity. A political left move-
ment could flourish or flounder
on the participation of students,
faculty and other people or
groups.
After June, there will be
eight months without an elec-
tion to work on issues, develop
programs and build left wing
within the Democratic Party.
Those currently frustrated with
the present situation, would find
time and energy to build that
coalition. And the effort to
build a political left certainly
has potential for social change.
TODAY'S STAFF:
News: Stu McConnell, Ken
Parsigian, Barb Zahs
Editorial: Linda Willcox
Photo: Christina Schneider
Sports: Cub Schwartz
Arts: David Keeps
Editorials and ceartoons thot
oppear on the right side of
the EdiPoiol poge the
odenso of the a u~thear or
artist, e"d "n n*cesserit
the opinion of the power.