Page 4-Thursday, May 4, 1978-The Michigan Daily
~michigan DAILY
Eighty-eight Years of Editorial Freedom
4204Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI.48109
Vol. LXXXVIII, No. 2-S News Phone: 764-0552
Thursday, May 4, 1978
Edited and managed by students
at the University of Michigan
Kent State:
Eight years after
T/ENT STATE University. Eight years ago to-
day, an angry battery of national guardsmen
called in by Ohio Governor James Rhodes
quashed a student protest leaving four dead and
eleven others wounded.
The killings sparked another round of national
demonstrations against the war in Indochina.
Protesters called for President Nixon to halt the
bombing of Cambodia; which he promised to do,
but he also argued that the Kent State shootings
should "remind us once again that when dissent
turns to violence, it invites tragedy."
Many of the national guardsmen involved in the
Kent atrocity reacted with a similar unsym-
pathetic rigidity. One guardsman said the violen-
ce was inevitable. "Maybe it'll make these people
wake up," he charged.
KENT STATE today faces a subtler, yet still
effective clamp on certain outlets for cam-
pus dissent. In September, the University trustees
hired a new President - Birage Golding - who
has taken a tough stance against left-of-center
political groups.
Golding embarked on a campaign earlier this fall
to rid the campus of political leafletting. And on
Tuesday, one student who had been arraigned by
the student kangaroo court for leafletting on cam-
pus, was expelled when he disrupted his own
hearing.
President Golding declared today a University.
Day of Observance. But he also called off classes-
to clear the campus while the May 4 Task Force
stages an all-night vigil, lectures and a march
around campus to remember the shootings.
So, after eight years, the campus at Kent State
University is still cloaked by an atmosphere or
repression. The repression is certainly not as
startling as it was eight years ago, but it is every
bit as reprehensible.
TERRORISM
A viable political weapon
By Michael Arkush
The mighty blow of terrorism has struck again in
Western Europe, this time with the kidnap of
Italy's former prime minister Aldo Moro and
demand for an exchange of 13 political prisoners for
his release. fo
The Red Brigades, an Italian terrorist group
dedicated to Communism and a return to original
Leninist revolutionary aims, abducted the former
Christian Democrat Party leader on March 16. And,
after holding a "people's trial," they sentenced him
to death and announced they would execute him
unless the government released the prisoners. The
Red Brigades threatened to kill Moro last week but
have kept him alive to increase their already
bloated claims on world attention.
MORO'S FAMILY and close friends pleaded to
the government, still led precariously by the
Christian Democrats, to release the 13 prisoners
and save the former leader's life but the gover-
nment has refused. The Christian Democrats and
all other parties from the Communists to the Neo-
Fascists have rejected any suggestions of a deal
with the Red Brigades. The Socialist Party is the
only major political force that is advocating a
"humanitarian approach" toward the Red Brigades
to free Moro. They have suggested that the gover-
nment ease conditions for political prisoners, in-
cluding members of the Red Brigades, and even an-
nouncing pardons for some of them.
Moro has accused the government of "ratifying
the death sentence" by not dealing with the
terrorists. He denies he is being coerced to plead for
his release and claims all states have acted
positively when dealing with terrorists except for
Israel and Germany.
The truth is that only Israel and Germany have
responded in the logical and sensible manner when
dealing with terrorists. These twd countries have
suffered the majority of terrorist attacks in the last
decade and have refused to yield to their wild
demands. The Israelis, in July, 1976, 'flew into the
heart of Africa and rescued more than so0 hostages
from terrorists in Uganda. The Germans have
repeatedly refused to comply with any terrorist
demands and have 'intensified their nationwide
search to "clean up the terrorist problem."
BY REFUSING the terrorists' demands, the
Italian government has followed the only right
course of action. If they were to yield to the Red
Brigades, they would be accepting terrorism as a
valuable political weapon in Italy. Pope Paul and
U.N. Secretary General Kurt Waldheim have
already "played in the terrorist's hands" by
begging for Moro's release.
Slowly in Italy, as well as in Israel and several
Western European countries, terrorism is gaining
legitimacy and recognition because of continuing
violent and treacherous actions. The Palestinian
Liberation Organization, a group whose doctrine
calls for terrorist actions, has become an integral
part in the Mideast peace process. Kidnappings,
hijackings, murders and other terrorist actions
have been termed by the various terrorists as
"political actions" necessary to achieve their aims.
In February 1975, Peter Lorenz, the leader of
West Berlin's Christian Democratic Party was kid-
napped by German terrorists. Lorenz was held for-
five days, then exchanged for five members of the
terrorist group who were in jail. Manfred Gan-
schow, Chief of State Security in the West Berlin
Police Department, thinks that the exchange was a
mistake and might have encouraged the terrorists
to continue their program of violence in the rest of
the country. Fearing the same consequences, the
Italian Christian Democratic Party has refused to
budge on their determined resistance. Italians
should respect and applaud their governient's
decision.
ALDO MORO: "ratifying the death sentence"
THlE GOALS OF terrorism depend more on the
reactions of the world's governments to the actions
than the actions themselves. Israel and Germany,
by forced resistance to terrorism, have prevented
the terrorists from achieving their goals. Therefore,
the terrorists will think twice before they initiate
their next action.
Though there is no guarantee they will cease their
actions, government resistance to the terrorists
lessens the chance of them striking again.
Logically, if the government gives in to the
terrorists it would be ridiculous for the terrorists to
change their tactics. The best way is to avoid their
demands and search for their members. Unfor-
tunately, some innocent people might get killed but
the alternative is constant terrorism and
widespread panic. It's a difficult decision to make
but one which is necessary.
Michael Arkush is a Daily staff writer.
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LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
Fetuses are human beings
To The Daily:r i Feeney, Filler and Gibson state human lives. The number of
In their letter of April 4, writers "There has been no definitive an- human lives destroyed by abor-
swer to ... when a fetus becomes tion in this country each year now
Lit& WTo 76 a human being." How so? If a equals the population of the city
T p X *t fetus is produced by the union of of Detroit.
COMMOo human sperm and ovum, it is a
human fetus and if it is alive, it SINCE WE WORK so hard to
has being. If it isn't alive and save babies' lives, where is the
human, it presents no problem so logicnaccusing pro-life people
far as abortion is concerned. If of considering pregnancy and
there is doubt in the minds of the motherhood a punishment? We
pro-abortionists as to the value of are well aware of the problems
the living, human fetus, shouldn't that pregnancy can cause.
the doubt be resolved in favor of Women do have limitless
thecdo fetus since life destroyed freedom to control reproduction
- wanot fe restored? through the most safe, effective
.Q3 t c oes dcontraception known to date: ab-
By what authority do the stinence. It is also the one method
writers speak for "anti-abor- of contraception that puts an
tionists?" I assure them we have equal burden and responsibility
- - no desire to punish anybody. Our on both sexes.
concern is with saving dives -' ''' ' ' I -Pat Rose
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