OPINION


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Page 4
Edited and managed by students at Thl University of Michigan
420 Maynard St.
Vol. XCI, No. 8 Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Editorials represent a majority opinion of The Daily's Editorial Board
On Darwin and ticket lines

Friday, September 12, 1980

The Michigan Doily



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by Robert Lence
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YOU'D THINK the way major
concerts are arranged at this
University, you have to be born to run
to the box office four days before
tickets go on sale to have a chance to
see your favorite rock star.
Bad puns involving song titles aside,
however, the upcoming Bruce
Springsteen concert scheduled for Oc-
tober 3 at Crisler Arena raises anew
some recurring questions about ticket
sales policies.
Since Tuesday, a sort' of
"Springsteen Hills Campgrounds" has
sprouted around the Crisler Arena box
office-more than 800 campers were
expected by this morning, when the of-
fice actually opens.a
Similar open-air tent communities
have been formed for most other
major concerts here in recent
years-including Bob Seger, John
Denver, and the Grateful Dead (we
beg your pardon: Denver seems
somehow out of place sandwiched bet-
ween the other two).
Each of these communities has
established its own crude system of
civilization and government-a kind of'
Lord of the Flies situation.
The Springsteen government in-
volves a list-not officially recognized

by the box office, but diligently main-
tained by those at the front of the
line-and intermittent roll-calls: If you
miss a roll call, you lose your place in
line.
You can relax in your tent or rotate
with friends-just as long as you make
the roll call.
Clearly this ad hoc civilization is
constructed for the benefit of the cam-
pers and to the detriment of those
eager to see the performer but unable
or unwilling to stay in a line for three
days.
If a little Darwinian biology were
applied to the primitive Springsteenian
society, a much fairer situation could
evolve.
The Office of Major Events need only
prohibit camping near the box office,
and the ticket-seekers need only agree
to refuse to recognize lists and roll
calls, and then natural selection would
take over-you drop out of line and you
lose your place.
Few people would stand-mind you,
stand, not'sit or camp or rotate-in a
line for three days to buy tickets for a
concert. Lines would form only a few
hours before tickets would go on sale.
It would be survival of the fittest in a
much more reasonable fashion.

V.Wmvw I

.......



Libya and Syria take aim

T HE LIBYAN and Syrian merger
proclamation is a very peculiar
document. It makes no mention of
what the new state will be called. It
does not say whether the state will
have a single president, a revolving
presidency, or some other
arrangement for the executive officer.,
Nor does the document indicate
whether the capital of the new state.
will be in Beirut or Tripoli.
Strangely enough, though the
merger statement neglects these fun-
damental internal issues, it does
manage to find space for the new
state's foreign policy: "This unified
state will be the base and means of
confronting the Zionist presence and a
means of liberating Palestine."
Libya and Syria clearly have not
merged for the purpose of settling any
domestic or economic problems,
though both nations have quite a few.
In fact, the very raison d'etre of the
new union is to lead the Arab world in
the annihilation of the Jewish state.
The irrefutable arguments for

Israel's right to exist have been hashed
out here many times before, and cer-
tainly will appear again. What makes
the current situation especially
ridiculous is the nature of the two
states that are mounting the current
drive to wipe Israel off the map.
Khadafy claims the Israeli gover-
nment is guilty of denying the rights of
Palestinians. To his own people,
however, he denies any semblance of
freedom. After warning Libyans living
abroad to return home some months
back, he proceeded to have many of
those who refused exterminated.
Assad's human rights accord, while
not marred by such ruthless slaughter,
is no prize either.
There have been eight mergers
enacted among the Arab states in the
last 22 years, and only one-now called
the United Arab Emirates-still stan-
ds. With luck, the current murderous
plan will go the way of its
predecessors, and wiser leaders will
steer the Arab bloc toward peace in-,
stead.

Passing up: It's
terrifying and
imagine yourself in a crowd in the northern
end zone of Michigan Stadium on a sunny, ByTryC lo
crisp football afternoon. You leave your
friends for a moment to get a Coke at the Doran, and Thon
refreshment stand. As you walk up the steps
you are suddenly grabbed from behind and ther from the truth. We p
knocked to the concrete steps. Still feeling the viewed 28 women last fall wi
pain from your bruised knees, you find your- their being dropped or set d
self whirled nearly ten feet in the air above passed up. Only two "didn't:
the hard concrete and hard wooden benches. 26 conveyed to us emotiona
You are suspended there by four or five pairs from depression through hys
of male hands which are rapidly poking, few were actually unable t
probing, and squeezing every part of your they were so shocked by the e.
body. (2) "No one gets hurt." N
Hundreds, maybe thousands of people can get hurt-some seriously-e
see you, you know, and you are embarrassed being passed up, but each
at the thought that they might think you wan- passed up feels a lot of pain.
ted this to happen, or that you are enjoying it. bruised, especially if they a
As you are passed on up, dozens more male are dropped at one time or an
hands squeeze and pinch you. (3) "It's all in fun." It is n
SOMEONE TRIES TO unfasten your pants up constitutes both Assault
but you are passed on up before he succeeds . Second Degree Criminal Sex
in doing so. Your new sweater is already rip- illegal. The women who are
ped. Several times you begin to fall when not have "fun." Anyone who has
enough hands are on you and you see diz- sophomore boy sidling anxi
tying glimpses of the crowd, concrete, seated spectators, a vacuou
reaching hands, and are really afraid that you as he tries to get close enou
might be seriously hurt. You remain as still breast or mash his hand int
as possible so that no one will drop you. You woman being passed up, ca
despise but cannot do anything about the grin or herself how -much "fun
of fear and hysteria which your face has Several of the women we int'
taken on. even told us that they wer
Just when you think you've felt the worst of ched or hurt by men who s
it all a fist comes from out of nowhere and mind just that: causing pain
punches you so hard in the groin that your "I had my wind knocked ou
pubic area is bruised for a week. Finally, just punched me,"one confu
what seems like hours later, you are let (4) "It's part of the game.":
down-or dropped. with the game. The game is
You are exhausted, in pain, sore and played by athletes especiall
bruised all over, embarrassed, so shocked has rules and referees. Pas
that if someone spoke to you right then you 'and it hurts people against t
might not even be able to speak. You are in IN ADDITION TO the
great fear and embarrassment from knowing assing up other factors m
that to rejoin your friends you, must travel top. Many of the women
back down past the people who have just pressions which look like sm
joined in assaulting and battering you. You but are actually due to fea
have just been a TYPICAL passing up victim. very few women do like pa
WE, THE SMALL and temporary help to perpetuate the myth.
organization called Stop Passing Up Now arrange in private to have h
(SPUN), estimate that in the 1970s alone as men grope their bodies at on
many as five or six thousand women have usually confined to the nort
been assaulted in this way. As far as we know, only students usually sit. T
not one individual responsible for the passing often drunk or stoned and
up has ever suffered from even so much as Group interaction is 'certai
social approbation, much less eviction from a problem. From elsewhere i
game, loss of ticket holding privileges, difficult to see what is going
University disciplinary procedures, criminal Most people who have ne
prosecution, or civil law suits. someone being passed up a
We do know that just in the last two years mythology.
(in addition to emotional stress and the small In the past, both stadium
cuts and bruises suffered by nearly every ten, police, have benign:
passing up victim) at least two women have situation. We were never so
been injured enough to require serious we saw a policeman grinni
operations. One had nerve damage to an arm and kicking young woman
and shoulder; another's vagina was torn passed up within yards of I
while being passed up and required emergen- season last year the police
cy surgery. A few more women have suffered some passing up but were
such "minor" injuries as broken elbows. crowds and, to us, they se
THERE ARE SEVERAL dangerous myths fective.) Disciplinary a
that contribute to the continuation of the prac- because identifying offen
tice of passing up. crowd is nearly impossib]
(1) "Women like it. They want tonbe passed ding them even more diffic
up." This kind of statement could not be fur-

un, Sheila
mas Hurley
personally inter-
thin moments of
down after being
mind," the other
al states ranging
teria to anger. A
o speak because
experience.
ot only do women
every year from
woman who is
Most are cut and
re dropped. Most
nother.
ot in fun. Passing
and Battery and
ual Conduct. It is
passed up do not,
watched a young
usly past several
s leer on his face
gh to squeeze the
to the crotch of a
n deduce for him-
n" is being had.
erviewed last fall
e frequently pun-
eemed to have in,
or harm to them.
t by one guy who
sed woman said.
It has nothing to do
on the field; it is
y trained for it; it
sing up is illegal
heir wills.
se myths about
Hake it difficult to'
show facial ex-
iles of enjoyment
r and hysteria. A
ssing up and thus
(We suggest'they
hundreds of young
ice.) Passing up is
th end zone where
hese students are
usually in groups.
inly a part of the
n the stadium it is
g on in any detail:
ver been close to
tually believe the
officials and, of-
ly neglected the
outraged as when
mg as a screaming
was grabbed and
him. (Later in the
attempted to stop
hampered by the
emed totally inef-
ction is difficult
nders in a latge
le, and apprehen-
ult.

WHAT CAN ANYONE DO?
Those who are inclined to pass someone up
can simply refrain from doing so. You simply
do not know who is sitting 30 rows behind you;
you may have the best intentions in the world
and then someone further up the stadium
might haul off and punch the woman in the
face. It happens! You can also consider that
you are committing Assault and Battery and
Second Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct (Ra-
pe). You are responsible in civil court for in-
juries and damages, including mental,
anguish, of the woman you pass up.
YOU SHOULD ALSO be aware that only an
insignificant number of other students ap-
prove of what you do when you pass a woman
up. Over one hundred student political groups
and other organizations, ranging from Air0
Force ROTC to the Young Socialist Alliance
have now gone on record as opposing any
more passing up, and have supported SPUN.
Those who might be passing up victims can
help by first expressing physically and ver-
bally their negative feelings about it. Tell
your friends that you do not want to be passed
up. Scream it at the guys who grab you, while
you exert yourself in fully justified self-
defense. If you are passed up anyway, com-'
plaint to a stadium official. Then go to the
police mobile headquarters in the northwest
corner of the stadium grounds and file a for-
mal criminal complaint. The best way to keep
from being passed up is to make it very clear at
the outset that you are not going to go along with it.
WHAT IF YOU are simply a spectator?
What can you do then? First, make it clear to
perpetrators that you find passing up
disgusting, that you do not approve. Second, if
a woman is grabbed near you or passed up
nearby, go to her aid. This is no different
from watching an assault in a dark
alley-help her, damn- it! If you have
photographic equipment, take pictures which'
can be used later to identify her assailants
and to assist in their criminal conviction. -
We at SPUN are trying to end passing up
this year. We will end it this year. But all we
can do is inform. The assailants, the victims,
and the community at large must cooperate
to end passing up. You all know now that it
hurts, it is illegal, it is done unwillingly. There
is no excuse of ignorance anymore. As many
as 100 or more women are assaulted and bat-
tered and raped each football Saturday in
Michigan stadium, in full view of over one
hundred thousand spectators.
Any woman who is passed up and who
wishes to find out more about her legal rights
vis-a-vis criminally prosecuting her assailants
or bringing a civil suit can call us for help at
995-2652. Any person with helpful suggestions
and ideas, or especially with good
photographs or movies of passing up in
progress, please call us also. Passing up is
going to end this year.
Terry Calhoun, Sheila Doran, and
Thomas Hurley are members of Stop
Passing Up Now, a group working to end
'the practice of passing up at football
games.

dangerous,


illegal assault


IM BEHIND
ISRAEL
1000% /

W-

--Mmwo-M"



IUMEHINP
ISRA2.

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IM BEHIND
ISAEL

LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
Trotskyist Party needed in Poland


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To The Daily:
Everyone predicted it was
coming. A restive, combative
working class, peasant strikes,
massive foreign debt, chronic
and widespread food shortages, a
powerful and increasingly asser-
tive Catholic church, the
burgeoning of social-democratic
and clerical-nationalist op-
positional groupings. All the
elements were there. Poland in
the late '70s was locked in a
deepening crisis heading toward
explosion, an explosion which
could bring either proletarian
political revolution against the
Stalinist bureaucracy or

forward in so far as it allows the
workers to struggle more effec-
tively against the Polish Stalinist
government. But while we of the
SYL call for the overthrow of the
Stalinigt bureaucracy in Poland
and in the other deformed
workers states, we defend the
gains of their anti-capitalist,
revolutions-nationalized proper-
ty, central planning, no unem-
ployment, and subsidized food
and rent against imperialist at-
tack and domestic coun-
terrevolution.
The Catholic church, based on
Poland's large class of non-
collectivized, small holding

rural isolation and backwardness
which allows the church to
preserve its hold on the minds of
the Polish peasantry.
Above all, what is needed in
Poland is a revolutionary Trot-
skyist party which could lead the
fight for socialism against im-
perialism, domestic reaction and
against the Stalinist
bureaucracy. Such a party would

fight for the revolutionary unity
of the workers of Poland and of
the Soviet Union in the struggle to
defend the U.S.S.R. against im-
perialigm while fighting to over-
throw the bureaucracy in Russia
itself.
-Irene Rhinesmith
Spartacus Youth League
September 9


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Editorial policies
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