Saturday, July 17, 1976 WHE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Seven Saturday, July 17, 1976 ~HE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Seven N ghting the old ene seventies erview. But Davis makes it quite or from the start that she is here, t to pose as a media star, but to - about politics. m just another sister involved the struggle, it just so happened t I was singled out," says Davis, in explanation of how she and the oy others involved with her 1972 art r;eTense came to realize that rcse was only the "tip of the nHEY SAY jail will either make you or break you. But I got -on41h from the movement on the side. Jail strengthened my dedi- ion to the movement." to a communist, a revolution- , aserts Davis, "I'm convinced at the only way we can fundamen- t+ alter the situation of masses of cle in this country is through a olotionarv overturning of the sys- itself." Still Davis's own commit- at to revolutionary action seems have broadened over the years to lude working with groups who ye cotns somewhat divergent from own. As a .communist, my goal is a ialist United States of America," explains, "but at the same time cognize that it would be counter- doctive for me to refuse to work th anyone who doesn't agree with and so she has banded tovether fin Alliance). with dozens of organ- tions and members raninz from .ocrat John Convers of Michigan to the most radical black nationalist groups. "IT (THE ALLIANCE) does not have a political ideology," continues Davis, adding, "although what we are involved in is intensely political. We all understand the need to join to- gether for the purpose of providing a people's defense, against the re- pression which often doesn't make those political distinctions. "They (the government) see all of us as a threat. Therefore any one of us has a chance of being made a vic- tim . . . If we can't manage to do somethine about noitical persecu- tion and racism, there is no way in the wnrld we can organize a socialist revolution." But the revniition has been, so far, lone in comina And when she pan s to take a sin of coffee then set the- "n hack with a drink she has stanlin on the deck. I ask her if she fOeas hr "constitnecv" is apathetic there daV. "T don't think neorne are anathe- tic." she renConda. her voice deepn- in, and her tune becomin, firmer. "The nrohlem is we don't have the oreaniationai forme to channel our sense of ontrawe. So many of our or- eanizera hat'e been rinned off that we simnhl haven't ber doin as much on our inhs a woe ahonid have been: in re,ai,inr the 00'apa that was .r' in de-ainnin na-T tnners. new n niincieannrl no,,, n-a~r5ar flAVIS. HERSELF has been a so- cialist since her adolescence, when she left home in Birmingham, Alabama to attend high school in New York City on a scholarship. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Bran- deis, Davis studied there under Her- bert Marcuse, the well-known Marx- ist philosopher. After more schooling abroad, Davis returned to the U. S. during the peak of activism, by the Black Panther Party and the South- ern Christian Leadership Confer- ence, both of which she joined. Now thirty-two, Davis conveys an abiding love and solidarity with black people, other pelople of color and op- pressed whites. Though she feels that certain gains were made by blacks during the civil rights movement in the sixties, she is quick to add, "they have been rolled back in large part due to having a Nixon - appointed Supreme Court. All the things we worried about two years ago are worse now." Davis calls North Carolina in par- ticular, "a laboratory for racism and political repression - it's the worst spot in the country insofar as peo- ple of color and working people are concerned" - Which is one of the reasons why the Alliance plans to hold its march there. "North Carolina has more prisons than any other state, more prisons per-capita, the lowest percentage of unionized labor (7.8 per cent), and the lowest industrial wage rate, plus the largest military base in the coun- try," points out Davis. "Foreign in- dustries are even moving in to take advantage of the cheap labor," she adds. It is an ironic reversal of the usual situation. "IT SEEMS TO US that because there are these giant corpora- tions so intent on making as many profits as they can, they have to in- sure that no movement is organized. And of course the way to do that is us with the key to the city," she says, laughing - "something of a change from the kind of reception that we usually get. But "the import- ant thing of course is the involve- ment of masses of people." She's back on the track. "You can have well- known individuals involved, but if there's nothing at the base, nothing will happen." It's all very direct. y$ he zoaturday Magazine to nip it in the bud," continues Davis. "Every time a political- activist emerges, crush that person, destroy that movement before it gets off the ground. We've seen this pattern in North Carolina for at least the last five years. I note that repression is every- where, in capitalist countries - and then add, probably in socialist coun- tries too. She checks me and says, "I don't know about that," before we go any further in the conversation. One hundred per cent politicized, Davis is quick to set us back on the track whenever we begin to deviate from that subject. We are talking casually about her reception in De- troit. "He (Mayor Young) presented But though Davis remains a celeb- rity; having toured Europe and now the U. S.; still on the edge of the limelight created by her 1972 court case ,she seems reluctant to continue in a public role for much longer. More than anything she wants to re- pay her debts to friends and fellow comrades. But there are things she'd like even more than that: to finish her Phd - "on women through a Marxist perspective," she adds - and finally, to go back to teaching. MiaCael Yr/llais a Daily staff wri/er saUaasaering1 in Nea York.If' seae back to Dr1 rot recently for a weekend to inter- vitew Anti/a Dacis.