0 OPINION Monday, November 4, 1985 Page 4 The Michigan Daily sIbc 3idigan iBailQ Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Vol. XCVI, No. 43 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board The plight of peasant farmers Blackout T HE NEWS blackout imposed Saturday by South Africa's white minority government is yet another insidious ingredient in what is already a foolproof recipe for disaster. The restrictions, which were published in a government document giving them the force of law, bars television crews, radio reporters, and photographers from covering unrest in the townships that have been under a state of emergency since July 21. Such censorship of the words and pictures which allow the inter- national "audience" an objective view of the situation in South Africa, is, in one respect en- couraging. Apparently Botha and his cohorts feel that the attention of the international media is making it more difficult to maintain legitimacy and order. On that score, the ban should be seen by apartheid protesters, those individuals and institutions that have divested, and the U.S. congressmen who have supported stiff sanctions as a concession of sorts: Botha is feeling the pressure of the international community to stop the bloodbath in his country. . But beyond this evidence of the potency of international pressures and protest, the ban must be recognized as a dangerous obstruc- tion of the freedom fo the press. This attempt to hide the desperate social realities currently wracking South Africa must be met with a vigilance on the part of the press corps and heightened awareness on the part of the public. As the editors-in-chief of several major news organizations have stated, the ban will make the work of their reporters nearly im- possible. What little news that leaks out will be garnered by repor- ters forced into potentially dangerous situations, in confron- tation with government police. Clearly Botha is seeking to stem the tide of bad press that has already prompted rhetorical redress from influential inter- national government and business leaders, and now threatens to hit harder with economic sanctions. The blackout suggests that the flow of news from South Africa will be reduced to a trickle. But dwindle as it might, that doesn't mean Americans are excused from an awareness of the issue. Members of the international community and individuals committed to human rights should only have their appetites whetted for information on South Africa however frustrated Obviously, Botha is tired of being exposed with his hand in the cookie jar. But the ban only escalates his self-incrimination. If he isn't doing anything so nasty, why can't we see? By Kathryn Savoie I worked on the hacienda over there, and I would have to feed the dogs bowls of meat or bowls of mild every morning, and I could never put these on the table for my own children. When my children were ill, they died with a nod of sym- pathy from the landlord. But when those dogs were ill, I took them to the veterinarian in Suchitoto. You will never understand violence or non-violence until you understand the violence to the spirit that happens from watching your children die of malnutrition. -A peasant in El Salvador, from Witness to War by Dr. Charles Clements The economies of all Central American countries are based on agriculture, yet many people go hungry and malnutrition is the leading cause of death and disease. A major cause of so much hunger in countries so rich in agricultural resources is the inequity of land distribution. In the 1970s in Central America, the richest 10 percent of landowners, both wealthy individuals and corporations, controlled 80 percent of all farmland. These wealthy landowners replaced food crops with more profitable export crops such as cotton, coffee, bananas, and sugar. While such exports make the rich richer, they do little to feed the hungry majority of the people. Peasant farmers lose their land to these large landowners and are pushed on to smaller, more marginal lands, making it ever more difficult to provide sufficient food for their families. Many, unable to grow suf- ficient food on their inadequate plots of land, Savoie is a graduate student in the University of Michigan Division of Biological Sciences, specializing in agricultural ecology. or unable to find land, are forced to work on the large plantations, often suffering miserable working conditions and inadequate nutrition. Malnutrition is thus abundant in countries wealthy in agricultural resources. These conditions are, of course, not restricted to Central American countries. In many countries, more and more land and resources are devoted to agricultural export crops, while production of food crops suf- fers, even in the face of increasing hunger and malnutrition and growing national dependence on imported food, or food aid, to feed the people. The images of starving people with which we have been continually confronted in the media are a constant reminder of the failure of many countries to provide solutions to the problem of hunger. Nicaragua before 1979 was an extreme example of this situation. The land- controlling elites produced exports while thousands of tons of basic food products were imported; onlyabout 10bpercent of agricultural credit was available for local food production. Since the Nicaraguans fought to free their country from the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza, the new government has made great strides in improving the nutritional standards and availability of food to the people. An agrarian reform has returned over 1.5 million acres of land, owned by the Somoza family, to over 30,000 poor families who now work it as their own. Fully 80 per- cent of all farm loans now go to families with small farms. Production of basic food crops (corn, beans, sorghum, rice) is upd50 percent since prior to the revolution, and consumption of these foods has also in- creased. The infant mortality rate, recognized as an indicator of nutrition and health service availability, has been reduced by one-third. Nicaragua's achievements in increasing food production and reducing hunger stand in sharp contrast to other developing coun- tries. Nicaragua is breaking the mold,. of- fering an exciting alternative - feeding its people and trying to become food self- sufficient. Nicaragua is trying an alter- native path of development that doesn't rely entirely on an export-oriented agriculture. The idea is to produce a strong agriculture that can both feed its people and provide an economy healthy enough to provide health care, education, and other human needs without dependence on foreign aid. But Nicaraguans need our help now. Their ambitious plans and outstanding accom- plishments are threatened by the U.S.- directed contra war and economic pressure. Food storage facilities and agricultural cooperatives and workers are among the contra's primary targets: in 1984 alone, 55 agricultural cooperatives were attacked, and more than 500 farmers and far- mworkers killed. And now an economic em- bargo makes it even more difficult for Nicaragua to obtain agricultural equipment and supplies, much of it produced in this country, needed for continued food produc- tion. Nicaraguans are working to feed their people. We can help. Humanitarian Assistance Project for Independent Agricultural Development in Nicaragua, (HAP-NICA), an Ann Arbor-based group af- filiated with the Guild House Campus Ministry, is coordinating a national cam- paign to help Nicaraguans build their agriculture, by providing material aid and technical assistance. HAP-NICA feels that helping Nicaraguan agriculture, which of- fers hope and a good example for other developing countries, is important to finding solutions to the problems of hunger. In addition to giving our material support to Nicaraguans in their efforts to feed their people, it is just as important that we work to create a situation in which changes on behalf of the poor majority can take place. It is our responsibility to urge our gover- nment to work for constructive rather than destructive relationships with Nicaragua, and to ensure that our government's policies and actions do not prohibit changes needed by the hungry and poor in order to free them- selves from hunger. a er 0 Anguished Eritrea TWO WEEKS ago in a speech to the United Nations, President Reagan asked the Soviet Union to stop fomenting trouble in hotspots such as Nicaragua, Afghanistan and Ethiopia. Thus the New Right charges of "Soviet imperialism" gained international attention on the 40th anniversary of the United Nations. Cuban troops have aided the Ethiopian regime in political repression since it came to power in the Ethiopian Revolution of 1974. Today, the Cubans train the Ethiopian commandoes who are fighting to suppress the Eritrean independence movement in what Ethiopia regards as its province and only sea lane. Before the Revolution of 1974, the Cubans aided the Eritreans in their struggle against the Washington- backed Ethiopian regime. The Soviets directly shell the Eritreans from the sea and supply the Ethiopian regime's air force of MIGs that have bombed and napalmed over 700 Eritrean villages to the ground. There are more than 3,000 Soviet military ad- visors in Ethiopia. Until Reagan's United Nations speech the situation of Ethiopia's colonies did not receive much media or gover- nment attention in the United States. After all, the direct Soviet military intervention against the Eritrean, Tigrean and other in- dependence movements seems analagous to the military interven- tion in Afghanistan. The Americans began training the commandoes that now suppress the Eritreans before the Cubans did. Indeed, two-thirds of A . ,. , : P. Ethopian Foreign Minister to "iron out differences." Hence, the United States is only criticizing the Soviet half of the phrase "Soviet imperialism." The United States has no interest in boasting of its support of Haile Selassie before 1974. Moreover, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), which claims military control of 85 percent of Eritrea has no love for "United States im- perialism" and regularly denoun- ces both superpowers. Fact-finding missions by the British Labour Party, the German Parliament and the European Economic Community substantiate the EPLF's claims of control of most of Eritrea, the Soviet inter- vention and most recently the diversion of food aid to Ethiopian troops fighting in Eritrea. The Eritrean critique of the Ethiopian regime's responsibility for the famine ring true. According to Entrea: Never Kneel Down which was published as a result of the British Labour Party's fact- finding mission, 50 percent of the Ethiopian regime's budget (25 per- cent by Ethiopia's own figures), and 30 percent of the Ethiopian gross national product goes to the military, mostly to fight the Eritreans, who have 40 to 50,000 troops in the field. It is disheartening that Ethiopia has not accepted the EPLF's peace offer of an internationally super- vised referendum on Eritrea's in- dependence in conjunction with a guarantee of access to the sea. A recent EPLF communique states that Ethiopia even refuses non- aligned observors in the secret peace negotiations of the EPLF fttot /14C/,A'D /F aim '." . 5" } LETTERS: Military To the Daily: t An open letter to SusanneU Greenlee ("Daily Should Drop a Military Advertising", Daily, Oct.29): ' ' I am amazed that any person hi living in this day and age can f show such a complete lack of un- derstanding of the world situation. Your hackneyed rhetoric of "moral responsiblity" and "evil institutions" are all well and good, but may I suggest you take an objective look at the world around you? We would all like to live in a world free of violence and threats, but history and experience show us such aspirations are a pipe dream. Such nastiness exists in our world, and your hopes and prayers for the "ideals of youth and morality" will not change Snot perfect, hey would have gotten one hell of don't think J rude shock. guarantee. If you could guarantee the U.S. think it's ti would not be subject to any form more in tou s aggression for the rest of military isi istory, most people would be in means, and avor of abolishing the military. I casionally di BLOOM COUNTY but necessary . you can make such a So, Ms. Greenlee, I me you got a little ch with reality. The n't perfect by any ltheir duties are oc- Astasteful, but try and do without them when you need them, and you'll find knee-jerk anti-military rhetoric won't produce much in the way of results. -Hal Irwin October 29 by Berke Breathed A WW M2AYTOnWINI? CU' YOUYR 370 M/#MM 6 Of 596C/AL BLOW COUNTY AE OOIC5 1/57V .506/V WP/N& 4A UMC I RON... Om / W!ET'5 CiET PH15/Cn , FLABB~Y CooA1/R EADERS .,, Ifitf&ff5 AREN T A4AILAX E, 4LMO5T ANY7A1A6 HEFTY WILL 5UffJCE OH, YOU ARE NOT 5ERl4tl5.,. f C Ar 771 fE wA, nWORK acp 7lT pO57qREgcB6/c FO/N Nil R tIRIV rY, BW/5K W4AK I fi9S ,Pp L RI*,/ .,C J' E pI ,F _ ° TglK tA " ArVP 7H' REpVR6AP Y)WRW tF Wily A CIC*KK SA~i'LAD AND AVOC#79 I Yo6U~R .tx' P60~6 i1W1 IH.! r, 8/k5ER.lHcEAvy pRA5 c . p / !/-2