The Michigan Daily Edited and managed by Students at the University of Michigan Thursday, May 5, 1977 I I- Letters to The Daily News Phone: 764-0552 ' U'I bilsshould oppose Mobi' 01 suppy to Rhodesia HE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN currently owns some $1.9 million worth of Vobil Oil stock. Mobil wholly owns two subsidiaries, Mobil Oil Southern Africa and Mobil Refining Company Southern Africa. The Treasury Department is now investigating charg- es by the United Church of Christ that Mobil Oil, through its subsidiaries is providing petroleum to the white su- premacist government of Rhodesia in violation of both the U.S. and U.N.'s ten-year-old sanctions against the sale of products to Rhodesia. As a stockholder the University will be asked to vote on a proposal at today's Mobil Oil stockholders conven- tion which, if passed, would assure no oil is sent to Rhodesia by Mobil. University Chief Financial Officer James Brinkerhoff has indicated the University will vote with management unless "we seriously disagree with the recommendations of management." The Daily disagrees with Mobil Oil management and urges University President Robben Fleming to cast a vote against Mobil Oil management and support the resolution by the United Church Board for World Min- istries. The Church Board's proposal would order Mobil to take all necessary action to make sure "no Mobil prod- ucts are supplied, directly or indirectly, to Rhodesia," and would require all sales to be accompanied with 'verifiable guarantees by the purchasers that said prod- ucts (petroleum) are not destined for resale or transfer to Rhodesia." A vote for this proposal would clearly be a vote against apartheid in Southern Africa and a vote for hu- man rights for black Africans. The University does not own enough Mobil stock to force passage of the Church resolution, nor does the University's $1.9 million invest- ment provide enough leverage to influence Mobil to move out of South Africa and Rhod'esia. But, a vote against management would be a major step that would embarrass Mobil and even hurt the huge corporation financially if other stockholders follow suit and eventually sell their stock. If the University were a private stockholder it could financially justify an investment in Mobil Oil because it makes money. But this investment makes money at the expense of the freedom of a majority of South Afri- caps and Rhodesians. AKTSIA Action To The Daily: On behalf of- the student or- ganization AKTSIA Action for Soviet Jewry and Human Rights ee would like to express our sincere disappointment that The Daily would print such errone- ous and distorted information as in Joshlia Peck's article "Let (All) My People'Go" which ap- peared in The Michigan Daily on Saturday, April 16th. Peck's account of the high percentage' of Jews granted exit visas fails to consider the vani- o'ts systematic means of the So- viet secret police to discourage visa applications. Those Jews applying for visas may be fired from their jobs, expelled from the universities, forced into military service, subjected to public ostracism and prison sen- tences as parasites of the state. Many Soviet Jews would rather accept the injustices of their society than apply for visas. Peck also ignores the peculiar plight of the Jews who are the only national group in the USSR systematically denied support to develop their languages and cul- ture (in fact, the study of He- brew is a crime). The inability to educate one's people added to the general suppression of relig- ion in the USSR makes Peck's synagogue argument irrelevent. In fact, if we were to open 500 new synagogues in Detroit to- morrow, they would also close soon afterwards. Finally, if Peck would have attended the recent "Symposium on Human Rights in the USSR," he would have discovered that the Soviet Jewry Movement is concerned with all dissident groups which are subject to So- viet persecution and denied their rights of freedom. In any case if Peck should ever find it useful to examine the 4,000 years of Jewish his- tory, he will discover that if Jews don't -make the effort to protect their own, certainly no outside group will ever do it for them. Richard A. Isenberg Brian L. Miller Amy L. Schussheim Lori Lippitz Joel V. Moses Neal Marder Brenda Kaplan Soviet Jewry To The Daily: On the evening of April 8, members of the local Jewish community met at Beth Israel for a model Seder on the theme of Soviet Jewry. The event had two main purposes: to relate the themes of the holiday of Passover to both the hardships experienced by many Soviet Jews and the recent exodus of over 100,000 Jews from the So- viet Union, and to welcome and hear from newly ,arrived Soviet Jewish immigrants. The event was a congregational observance and not a political program. The booklet we read from that evening spoke of hardships ex- perienced by many Soviet Jews. A good part of the booklet was taken from the writings of So- viet Jews themselves. The So- viet suppression of Jewish cul- ture is well known. So is the fact. that many Jews have lost their jobs upon applying to emi- grate and have been denied exit vsas. The Soviet Jewry Seder did not purport to be a general discus- sion of human rights in the So- viet Union or of the Soviet na- tionalities policy. The reason for this lay in the nature of the ob- servance and not in any lack of concern for these vital issues. The local Jewish community had supported the Symposium on Human Rights in the USSR, held at the U-M three weeks ago, where the question of So- viet Jewry was seen in its wider context. It is unfortunate that Mr. Peck (Daily, April 17) did not see fit to cover that event. It is especially distressing that he did not discuss the con- text of the Soviet Jewry Seder with any representative of the congregation. Had 'he done so he may have learned that at the four Seders conducted at our Religious School the universal meaning of Passover was stress- ed. For the past two thousand years Jews have been guided by the saying of Hillel: "If I am not for myself, who will be? But if I am only for myself, what am 1?" If we do not show con- cern for Soviet Jews, who will? Allan Kensky, Rabbi, Beth Israel Congregation homosexuality To The Daily: Gregory S. Hill, in his recent letter, provides us with an al- most peerless example of preju- dice and bigotry .in pure form. He is surpassed perhaps only by Anita Bryant herself (who, it should be noted for the rec- ord, it NOT - despite her ap- pellation as the Orange Juice Queen - a female impersona- tor). Mr. Hill quite rightly states at the outset he does not un- derstand homosexuality. Yet the rest of his letter is a diatribe with many specific conclusions about gay persons (prejudice is prejudging). He also states openly he is profoundly disin- clined to learn anything about homesexuality (Webster, 1961, defines 'bigot' as a person "ob- stinately or intolerantly devoted to his own .. belief, or opin- ion"). John-walls are a most peculiar place, Mr. Hill, to seek a representative sample of in- formation about anyone. Hetero- sexuals do not, in their graffiti, display their most appealing, humanistic traits - in case you haven't noticed. After telling us he is ignorant, Mr. Hill proceeds to assail our sensibilities with his conclusions about gay persons, couched in the most anal of metaphors (scrubbing, wallowing, disgust, stench, etc.) worthy of Pontius Pilate himself. But, of course, he is not hateful Despite his statements about all the places where "perverts" should not be permitted, he has the temerity to,state that he does "not hate individual homosexuals." With his attitudes and recommenda- tions for society, he doesn't NEED to. I am certain most gay people will be gratified to learn that it's nothing PERSON- AL. And no, Mr. Hill, disgust is not a "perfectly normal, health- ful and reasonable reaction" to people you know little or noth- ing about. It is in the truest sens a perverse reaction, for it hatefully reduces -human be- ings to one aspect of their be- havior - and an aspect which is basically wrought of your own ignorant fantasies. With your feelings dominated by disgust, you are in no position to "help" anyone "overcome" anything - even if that were desirable. I'm sure most gay persons would appreciate your keeping your so-called Christian charity to yourself. The issue here is civil rights. Sexual and affectional prefer- ences have no ' demonstrable connection to any genuinely anti- social behavior. Not too long ago, other bigots said they wouldn't allow a black person to teach their children; they were worried about cultural "pollution" or "perversion." It takes someone like an Anita Bryant or a Gregory Hill, for whom proselytizing is a major commitment, to develop the paranoid fantasy that gay peo- ple are after their children. What gay people are "after" is their civil rights - the right to be judged on their own merits and treated as individual hu- man beings. That is what Anita Bryant and her ilk are trying to deny gay people, like bigots have done to almost every group at one time or another through- out history, and with similar ra- tionalizations bred of their own disowned fantasies and wishes. If Mr. Hill wants to help his children, he would do better to go to the library with them and study the concept of "projec- tion" in the vast literature on the psychology of prejudice. Joel D. Hencken info, please To The Daily: I am writing a book about the Fagan family of East Lansing, Michigan (198-1948). I would very much like to correspond with anyone who knew Peter, Sarah, Ruth, Mary, Ann, or Jean Fagan. Every reminiscence enriches the story! Ann Fagan Ginger --- - --WA KrE JOR /-// // TODAY'S STAFF: News: Lori Carruthers, Stu McConnell, Ken Parsigion, Barb Zahs Editorial: Linda Willcox, Mike Yelin Photo: Christina Schneider Arts: David Keeps Sports: Tom Cameron 'Shhhh! Can't you see the president is busy looking for ways to conserve gas?