Page 4-Tuesday, January 29, 1980-The Michigan Daily
es
r
Olympic6
Perhaps President Carter's threat to boycott "First," s
the MoscowOlympics will prove to be a stand that
;blessing in disguise. In the end, its chief effect betrayed by
.may be to focus world attention on the widely in .the gam
known (but never admitted) fact that the boycott, othe
games have long been thoroughly politicized. policy they
Ever since the Russians began competing in American so
the games in 1953, a good part of the Olympics Asia withoi
has been an extension of the cold war, an athletes shot
athletic brawl between the so-called "free pics are not
world" and the communist bloc. showcase fo
Only the most blatant hypocrisy about the muscle and
dangers of mixing sports and politics has political obe
enabled Americans to continue to believe in the
purity of the games. Such rhetoric was respon- "IF THtES
sible for the fact that no one protested may have
America's participation in the Olympics of redesigned a
1964, 1968 and 1972, despite the American of the Soviet
military presence in Vietnam. moved, the h

have been politicalfor a long time

says Edwards, "we must under-
American athletes have been
Carter. Those who prepared to be
es may have no real reason to
er than a need to go along with the
had no role in making, just as
oldiers went off to die in Southeast
ut ever knowing why. But the
uld learn from this that the Olym-
thing more than a centerpiece, a
ir Russia and the U.S. to exhibit
d to bully other countries into
dience.
SE GAMES are not held, the world
an opportunity to see them
without the arm-twisting influences
Union or the U.S. If the games are
hope should be that they are held in
rld country where all nations and
be able to return to a truer spirit of
that isn't based on the continuing
teen two countries seeking to
stead of to participate."
nerican media, sterling individual
es by foreign athletes are often en-
ed-while daily medal counts com-
verall success of the U.S. and the
the sports pages. The Soviet press
begun describing the selection of
he site for the 1980 games as a vin-
f Russian foreign policy. In
and in the Kremlin, the Olympics
nother episode in the long saga of
showdowns.

By Clayton Riley
The politicalization of the games began when
Hitler presented the U.S. with a political
motive for performing well. "The U.S. is still
embarrassed by its participation in the 1936
Berlin Olympics, which went on without the pr-
esence of socialist countries that chose, in-
j -
"*ST .

stead, to hold their games in Barcelona," ex-
plains reform advocate Dennis Brutus, of the
South Africa Non-Racial Olympic Committee.
Like the Russians, the Nazi regime consisten-
tly pictured the games as a showcase for their
political, as well as athletic, prowess.
AT THE 1959 games in Melbourne, Australia,
the bitterness that lingered from Russia's en-
try into Hungary spilled over into the water
polo finals between the countries and left theh
pool where the match was held colored with the
blood of the players. That alone should remind
the free world of the often primitive quality the
Olympic games have assumed in modern
times.
Theoretically, the Olympics are a com-
petitfon between free individual athletes, not
governments. However, when James Gulkes
of Guinea petitioned at Montreal in 1976 to run
as a man free of the restrictions of a national
flag, he was turned down by every decision-
making body associated with the games. Yet
what Gilkes asked for will perhaps prove one
day to be the salvation of the Olympic games.
Eventually, athletes should be encouraged to
compete as individuals or as members of
teams that are not necessarily drawn up with
regard to national borders. The art of sports
should not be harnassed by politburos or state
departments that can't tell a hammerthrow
from a hammer and sickle, or an anabolic
steroid from a nautilus machine. If the games
were truly what they are supposed to be, in the

last Olympics, U.S. swimmers would not have
cried about being beaten by East German
robots. Nor would American journalists s
easily have written off a boxer as classy a
Teofilio Stevenson and a runner as brilliant as
Alberto Juantorena, because both happened to
be Cuban.
The Olympic games might well be the last
place on earth where different human
capacities can be tested against each other in
peace. But nobody will find that out if
American hysteria is allowed to intimidate
sports figures into taking political stands when
they should be more concerned with physical
condition and peaks of athletic concentration.
Whether the Soviets quit Afghanistan should
not be a matter for shot putters and equestrian
teams to consider. By demanding a boycott,
Americans have boxed themselves in. Though
they hate losing, they cannot win in Moscow
unless they send a team there this summer.
The only way out of the box of no games or
rump games might be to see the Olympics
redesigned altogether.
Clayton Riley is a New York-base
freelance journalist who writes regularly
for the New York Times, Newsday,
Ebony, and the Village Voice. He has a
fervent interest in sports and wrote this
piece for the Pacific News Service.

CARTER's CALL FOR a boycott because of
the Russian invasion of Afghanistan drives the
point home-and also suggests a solution. Yes,
let's boycott the Moscow Olympics-and the
Lake Placid Olympics, too. In fact, let's end
the whole charade,
The idea comes from an expert, if controver-
sial, source. Harry Edwards, a former athlete
and now professor of sociology at the Univer-.
sity of California at Berkeley, helped make
some Olympic history in 1968 when he con-
tributed to a celebrated black power protest at
the Mexico City games. Now he thinks the,
games should simply be abolished and
replaced with a new, non-political forum.

a Third Woi
athletes willl
competition1
battle betw
dominate ins
In the Am4
performance
tirely ignore
paring the o
U.S.S.R. fill1
has already
Moscow as t
dication of
Washington
are simply a
super-power

U - I

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Il

Ninety Years of Editorial Freedom

Carter opens the door to the
draft as roommates shiver

Vol. XC, No. 97

News Phone:. 764-0552

By Bruce Brumberg

Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan

. rri rrrr. n r .

S.
Ford s legal

muscle could

r'
reek
d thre
dian
For
its
the
plod

win it an innocent verdict
iHE FORD Motor Corporation is According to news reports, presiding
currently standing trial for Judge Harold Staffeldt has barred the
kiess homicide in the fiery deaths of state from presenting about 35 per cent
?e girls a year-and-a-half ago in In- of its evidence against Ford. Included
na. Lawyers for the state claim that among the barred documents are
d's poor design of the fuel system of some obtained from the Ford files that
compact Pinto greatly increased examine the integrity of the Pinto fuel
likelihood that the car would ex- sytem.
le in a rear-end collision.
Other defense motions Judge Staf-
he current case being a criminal feldt has granted have limited the
Ford doesn't have a great deal to testimony of the pathologist who
But the result of the trial could in- examined the crash victims and
nce a barrage of similar suits that limited the current testimomy of a
pending in various courts nation- consultant on automotive safety, who
e, whose outcomes could cost the is extremely critical of Ford's design
n manufaeturer man millions of of the Pinto.

i w

TI
suit
lose
flue
are
wid
autn

My roommates and I huddled around the
television. The beer and chips began flowing.
We had just ordered a pizza.
However, we were not preparing to watch
the Super Bowl. We were waiting for the
President's State of the Union Message. Was
he going to reinstate the draft?
MY ROOMMATES are a motley bunch.
Their opinions vary on the desirability of the
draft.
One of them, Larry, is a vehement anti-
communist. He has been practicing push-ups
and sit-ups since the Russian invasion of
Afghanistan. Larry wants to lead the brigade
that frees the hostages.
Obviously, he favors reinstating the draft.
Larry feels we must strengthen our conven-
tional forces. And he wants to be in charge..
STEVE ALSO FAVORS the draft. He is an
avid MASH fan and thought war would be fun.
Being pre-med, he imagines himself Hawkeye
Pierce.
Steve, however, feels college students
should be exempt from the draft. I thought
this was very brave of him.
Sandy is the'apartment dove. He hates all
forms of violence and is morally opposed to
war. Sandy is against the draft and
registration.
AND THEN THERE is me. A moderate
Republican who believes in a strong military.
Yet I have no opinion on the draft.
If Soviet aggression continues, I could sup-
port limited military intervention. But I
remember Vietnam. I remember people my
age returning from battle in body bags or as
paraplegics.
The President came on the tube. He began
speaking about the hostages, the Russians,
and the invasion of Afghanistan.
All mundane matters.
FINALLY HE GOT to the part about
military preparedness.
"I am convinced that out volunteer forces
are adequate for our current defense needs. I
hope that it will not be necessary to reimpose
the draft."
A sigh of relief spread through my body.
But Carter continued.
"However, we must be prepared for that
possibility. For this reason, I have deter-
mined that the Selective Service System must
now be revitalized. I will send legislation and
budget proposals to the Congress next month
so that we can begin registration and then
meet future mobilization needs rapidly as they
arise."

I NEVER HEARD the remainder of Car-
ter's speech. I was confused. What would
registration mean? Was it meant for
domestic political consumption or was it a
step toward the draft?
My roommates were also stunned. Even
Larry seemed upset. We tried to joke about
registering for the draft. It was hard.
"Just think," Steve said, "you'll have
another form of I.D. to use in cashing a check
at Village Corner."
WE LAUGHED nervously, trying to
rationalize a fate beyond our control. After
finishing our pizza, we continued our
homework.
That night I didn't sleep well. I imagined I
was in a helocopter heading to battle. It

seemed too corney, and also too real.
Classes the next few days erupted i
discussions on the draft and registration.
as the pipe was passed at parties last
weekend, the topic was also discussed. Either
you completely opposed registration and the
draft or you favored the draft with student
deferments. Everyone was worried.
Journalists have dubbed us the Me
Generation because we are selfish and self-
centered. They are right. We care only about
our classes, about ourselves and our friends,
and about getting a job.
But we are also a generation that grew
with war scenes from Vietnam on TV. And we
are now very scared.
Bruce Brumberg is a junior honors
political science major. His roommates do
not necessarily approve of his charac-
terizations.

C o1G 1C11LM.L C 1C1y 1111A0 V
dollars in fines and auto sales.
Ford's attorneys are understandably
using every legal maneuver they can
come up with to fight the charges that
the company built the Pinto negligen-
tly, and further, that it was well aware
of the car's fault and choose to do
nothing about it.
Clearly, Ford is within its legal and
moral rights in employing whatever
tactics it can muster to fight the ac-
cusations. But it seems unfortunate
that through Ford's vast resources of
legal funding (and therefore, legal
talent) it has managed to prevent cer-
tain testimony from being heard by the
jury.

The judge's reasoning in granting
the Ford attorneys' motions is
unknown to the public, and it must be
assumed that the arguments for doing
so were legally sound, but it is rather
doubtful that so much of the
prosecution s evidence would have
been shunned if the state of Indiana
had at its behest as much legal quality
as Ford evidently possesses.
Clearly, there can be no legislation
preventing an alleged wrongdoer from
using as much of his or her wealth as
he or she chooses for legal defense, but
it is to be hoped that the Ford trial's
outcome is determined not by the
question of which side wields greater
legal muscle, but by the relative
merits of the two sides' arguments.

PRESIDENT CARTER SPEAKS to Congress during his State of the Union message last Wed-
nesday night. Thousands of students here and across the country watched as Carter announced
that he would re-institute the draft registration process.

LETTERS TO THE.DAILY:
Compulsory social services plan is a viable draft alternative

To the Daily:
In light of President Carter's
State of the Union address, the
question of national conscription
has once again emerged as one of
the most salient issues of the day.
The ramifications of such an act
are obvious to all Unfiversity-age
men and possibly women. Carter
has taken to saber rattling at the
Rnsians .a tthe enense nf

nothing to get excited about. It is
only a measure that will expedite
the process if a real draft
becomes reality.
But the registration does have
tangible implications. Men will
have to report to the post office to
establish residency and to inform
the government every time there
is a change of address.
What mill ha the resnonn nf the

potential problems of a full
military draft. This would be the
establishment of a social service
conscription.
Every man and woman upon
his or her eighteenth birthday
would be obligated to serve a
minimum of one year in some
form of social service or military
duty. Some examples of these
services include: community

national spirit, or lack of interest
in other options. The military op-
tion could be sweetened by of-
fering financial aid for college for
an equivalent amount of time
served in the army.
This concept is not intended to
simply provide an alternative for
To the Daily:
Meeting after meeting, year af-,

those who do not want to do
military service, but rather it is a
system that will install a sorely
needed sense of national pride. If
every eighteen year old had to
spend one year of his or her life
in work that somehow benefits
the quality of life in America, a

true spirit of patriotism would
emerge.. The personal rewards
would be tremendous and like
many who have done such work,
it will probably be remembered
fondly for the rest of their lives.
This plan would also strike a blow
for equal rights, putting men and

women on the same footing. This
form of national conscripti
could provide America. with aP
adequate amount of military per-
sonnel as well as a youth which
feels a closer attachment to the
society as a whole.
-Bruce Derman
Jan.25
divest itself of one single com-
pany. Is it because, having

No 'U' divestment yet
the apartheid state. All this The percentage of blacks in
evidene fe11 on the ePeminglv managerial positions declined