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.