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December 06, 1985 - Image 4

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The Michigan Daily, 1985-12-06

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OPINIoT

Page 4

Friday, December 6, 1985

Nelson Mandela may h

South African civil rights leader Nelson
Mandela may be the recipient of an
honorary degree from the University if
campus activists can influence the degree
granting committee to support the proposal.
Thomas Holt, a professor of history and
director of the University's Center for
Afroamerican and African Studies has sent
a letter of nomination to University
President Harold Shapiro, who will pass the
recommendation on to the Honorary Degree
Committee for consideration at their meeting
next spring.
The Week
in Review
In the meantime, members of the Free
South Africa Coordinating Committee
FSACC will be circulating petitions within
the University community to prove wide
support for the nomination.

According to Barbara Ransby, a graduate
student and director of the FSACC, "If the
University is serious about its opposition to
apartheid, this would be a powerful way to
demonstrate that symbolically."

Action vs. graffiti

has received "very strong support" from
the University administration, Josephson
said, although starting an Introduction to
the University course is still in the planning
stages.
The United Front Against Racism is also
considering having a "public clean-up day,"
when students and others would demon-
strate their opposition to racist graffiti by
cleaning it off campus buildings.
The group hopes to have the clean-up day
early next year, Josephson said.

Officials from a fraternity and a sorority
that were defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti
over the Thanksgiving holiday say the graf-
fiti was erased by Wednesday night, but the
incident may increase support for an ad hoc
group known as the United Front Against
Racism.
The group, composed of representatives
of the Michigan Student Assembly, LSA
Student Government, and campus minority
groups, will hold a public meeting today in
the Michigan Student Assembly Chambers
at 3:30 p.m.
MSA President Paul Josephson said the
group will discuss ways to prevent the type
of incident that occurred last weekend. One
idea being kicked around is instituting a one
or two credit mandatory course that would
discuss racism and male-female relations.
The course would also deal with other
campus issues like how the University is
governed, Josephson said. So far, the group

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Computer fees

The Michigan Student Assembly delayed
taking an official position on the Univer-
sity's controversial computer fee this week,
making it even harder for the Assembly to
plan concrete steps to oppose the fee next
term.
Several individual assembly members
have privately opposed the $50 fee for next.
term and $100 each term thereafter. The
Board of Regents approved the fee
assessment in September. MSA members in
turn introduced a proposal that the Univer-
sity pursue more private funding resources
before charging the student fee. After the
Assembly voted to table the proposal,

R
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I

Wasserman

E it a t at Un t Ma
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan

Vol. XCVI, No. 65

420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109

CoNGWE *NN- NEDS A ?FTITION
M~ouT CAMPNA6N CONTRIBUTIONS

\NG WAN4T YOU
t'ow MUMIEA

Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board

Hidden holocaust

Beyond

T
N{
The Michigan Daily
onor University
riowever, assembly members agreed that which will automatically put a student (or
;hey could have little impact on next term's students) on the State Board of Regents.
assessment with classes ending next week. MSA president Paul Josephson is hoping
At Tuesday night's meeting, Douglas Van that this action will prompt the University
Flouweling, the University's Vice Provost Board of Regents to adopt a similar:
[or Information Technology and the man measure.
g
responsible for the fee described it as a In the past, students have been rejected
necessary attempt for the University to cat- from this position for a number of reasons.
:h up with peer institutions in computer ac- It has been difficult for students to gather
2essibility. He regreted having to charge widespread political support since they are
students, he said, but added that his staff often viewed as too young and inexperien-
aad found no other alternatives. Van ced to be taken seriously.
Flouweling did say, however, that his office Under the current proposal, the governor
s "vigorously" pursuing private funding would appoint the student (or students) to
for the University's computer expansion. the Board.
Assembly members seemed impressed Another obstacle students have faced is
with Van Houweling's remarks, and Matt the conflict of interest problem. But.
P'ucker, co-author of the proposal objecting proponents argue, student concerns can best
to the fee, said the assembly is unlikely to be represented by students, who should be
endorse a boycott of the fee, which had involved in the decision making process.
previously been mentioned by assembly For the past 20 years, students at the
leaders. University have been vainly striving for a
- Board seat. If Bullard's proposal passes,
Student regents? Josephson and other proponents of the bill
expect the University to ride on the state
The all powerful University Board of coattails and follow suit.
Regents may be infiltrated by a student The Week in Review was compiled by
epresentative if state legislation suppor-
ing student regents is passed early next opinion page editor Jody Becker and
iear. staff writers Eric Mattson, Susanne
Perry Bullard is organizing an initiative Skubik and Jerry Markon.
r
a,
To P'UT A CA? ONl "/oU N\EAN EACPI (bNGECS.N \1&ULD ThEN 'tN4EQE'S *'fE INCEt4TNVE
pcrd o~ You CAN AcXE.rT BE umA1TEP TO ThE &AME NAOUNT?
-M
the summit
'een the two countries take responsibility for their ac- tackle any of the crucial
full-time operation, tions in it," said Russell Sch- problems that separate the
the ARK foundation weikert.. "If we have a future, it United States and the Soviet
ncisco which afunds is because we take responsibility Uniotn. hr' lotacn
SSR, Perhaps in a scious decision to suspend
Summit euphoria, judgment," says Gloria Duffy. '
rnent of Commerce "Doctors the world over have "The basic premise is if you can't
K permission to con- taken the oath of Hippocrates," abstract your enemy, he's less
nputer line only two says Annie Head, a recreation likely to be your enemy.
it was requested. therapist and director of volun- But, Duffy adds, the way power
Esalen Foundation teers for the Stanford University works is different in the two coun-
the first live satellite chapter of Physicians for Social tries. "I'm not sure that a lot of
enting a jazz group Responsibility. "And part of that people that (the citizen's
w to the US Rock can be seen as doing everything diplomacy movement is) dealing a
outhern California. they can to prevent what's been with ever will end up in positions
"first" is the called the final epidemic, nuclear of power . . ."'
of Space Explorers, war. One way to do that is to meet On the other hand, says Nancy
October by Apollo 9 with Soviet physicians and work Graham of the Institute for
ussell Schweikert and on cooperative projects Soviet-American Relations, "our
astronauts from the whenever possible." point is you don't start off talking ,~
and eleven other Yet despite the good intentions, about confrontational things. You $
f
taims to encourage the citizen diplomacy movement start off talking about some 'i
efforts in the ex- seems limited. Sch weikert's common interests, and then work
space and develop- Association of Space Explorers is toward the confrontational items. ai
hsources. conspicuously silent on the most Otherwise the conversation never
Houth University's important space issue of today: starts."

ool, Project Cork is Star Wars. It appears that the Quinones wrote this ar-
ing to organize ex- only reason citizen's groups are tide for the Pacific News Ser-
n the problem of able to work is because they don'tr
"We want to set up vice.
ommunication on q
concern to both coun-
lains project staffer
ne Valliant, "and"
hat cuts across, at a
level, a wide variety )
m those countries."
eft for Geneva, Pres.
ealed for a student
program with the
n. But programs like
hich sponsors univer- \,
both countries - and
R Youth Exchange
e already way ahead-
t summer, the YEP
Americans and ten ~.
chool students to the !!*-_
brus in the Caucasus,
hest mountain.
for Social Respon--
U.S. affiliate of the -
International -
for Prevention of
, is one of the leading
groups in the field of
macy. This summer
d a conference in
ich examined areas
tors from both coun-
work together to at-
and disease.
involved in citizen1W4
ilso known as Track
macy, motivation ,
the feeling that they d krNow, VuKETEY Ust oa ntHE OCEAN VIEWa M LI ui0p4E4A S
lifference. ccr'i
conviction is that the
because individuals

DECEMBER 7th, 1985 marks
the 10th anniversary of one of
the most grisly invasions in con-
temporary history. Indonesia in-
vaded its neighbor East Timor and
left somewhere between 100,000
and 250,000 dead out of a population
between 600,000 and 700,000.
Congress uses the figure of at
least 100,000 dead. Amnesty Inter-
national says 150,000 to 200,000 and
the Fretilin guerrillas and other
observers from East Timor say
200,000 or more died. Despite East
Timor's dwindling population In-
donesia is implementing a birth
control program as "one ex-
tremely decisive aspect of
resolving the population problem in
the territory."
Indonesia crushed a short-lived
Timorese republic that had just
gained independence from Por-
tugal. East Timor's first governing
party - Fretilin - has militarily
engaged the Indonesians since the
invasion. Today, there are between
7,000 and 20,000 Indonesian troops
still occupying East Timor, which
Indonesia annexed in 1976.
Fretilin has been described as
"populist Catholic" in a mostly
Catholic country, "Marxist" and
"non-communist.'' Whichever
label applies, it is clear that
Fretilin is a fiercely independent
nationalist movement that has had
to rely on its own resources.
Indonesia has prevented in-.
formation about Fretilin and East
Timor from reaching the outside
world by keeping out journalists
and even forbidding a survey by
the International Red Cross. The
media of the United States also fell
silent for a number of years after
1976 according to New York
Senator Daniel P.atrick Moynihan.
One Congressional report said that
the issue had died except for the ef-
forts of one congressman.
The United States bears respon-
sibility in this silent holocaust.
Most indicatively, past President
Gerald Ford and Henry Kissinger
had visited only 12 hours before the
invasion. Only the most naive
wnuld nht that Fnrd and

used in the invasion came from
Washington. That arms supply
continued after the invasion. Ac-
cording to Noam Chomsky, United
States government representatives
at a Congressional hearing
claimed to have enacted a six mon-
th arms ban to Indonesia after the
invasion; however, Indonesia
never knew about it and arms in
fact continued to flow.
The United States voted against
a victorious resolution for self-
determination for East Timor in
the United Nations and still does
not support self-determination for
East Timor. Since the invasion, the
UN has condemned Indonesia 10
times with the United States'
dissent on each occasion.
Even if those Americans who
know about East Timor do riot sup-
port American policy, the United
States government has its own
reasons for unconditionally sup-
porting Indonesia. Indonesia has a
population of 150 million people.
East Timor is down to 550,000. In-
donesia has oil, and is a strategic
ally of the United States.
As always, the United States is
soft on its friends and prefers to
criticize repression elsewhere and
where it can have relatively little
practical impact - Afghanistan or
Poland. The Nation published one
comment by an individual who said
that "if the world '"press were to
converge suddenly on Timor, it
would not improve the lot of a
single Cambodian."
While the State Department is
quick to link Soviet and other
brands of communism with the
slaughter in Cambodia, it says
nothing about genocide involving
supposed American allies.
Genocide or even the slaughter of
200,000 to 1 million Indonesians by
the Indonesian military coup of
1965 have little to do with the con-
cerns of American policy-makers
intent upon supporting a pro-
United States Indonesian military.
Calling Fretilin reactionary
terrorists, Indonesia claims that
some clerics have been mislead in

By Sam Quinones
While the Fireside Summit is
widely seen as forging a "fresh
start" in people-to-people contac-
ts between the Superpowers, in
fact thousands of individuals and
scores of groups across the coun-
try have already woven their own
personal ties with counterparts in
the Soviet Union.
The result is a "citizen
diplomacy" movement that has
exploded over the last six years.
United Campuses to Prevent
Nuclear War (UCAM) is one
such effort whose aim, according
to its director Sanford Gottlieb, is
to "see what happens when live
Soviet people meet live American
people."
Gottlieb tells of taking the head
of the Soviet Union's Student
Council to speak at Ball State
University in Indiana early in
November. During the speech, a
farmer stood up and asked
several hostile questions. But
when it was over, he invited the
Soviet guest to see his farm.
"So Nikita went to the farm,"
Gottlieb recalls. "On the way, the
farmer turns to an American
organizer and says, 'I can't
believe this. Here I am a hawk
and I'm driving this Russian to
my farm.' Then when they go to
the farm, Nikita was looking for
all these exploited migrant
workers, which he couldn't find.
What he found was a computer."
These are the realistic kinds of
impressions UCAM is trying to
bring to people from two coun-
tries so long at each other's
throats, Gottlieb explains..
Ironically, such efforts began
to take off precisely at a point
when U.S.-Soviet relations hit
their lowest ebb. "The intensity
of citizen efforts to make contact
with the Soviet Union is in inverse
proportion to the civility of
relations between the U.S. and
the Soviet Union," says Gloria
Duffy, head of Global Outlook, a
research and consulting firm
specializing in Soviet-American
relations.
The Institute for Soviet-
American Relations in
Washington, DC, is a clearing
house for information on the
movement. Two years ago, it
counted 187 organizations in the
U.S. sponsoring exchanges with

hookup betw
went into
initiated by
in San Fra
groups est
with the U
moment of
the Departi
granted AR]
nect the cor
weeks afteri
In 1982,
established t
linkup pres(
from Mosco
Festival in S
Another
Association
founded in1
astronaut Ri
made up of
U.S., USSR
countries. It
cooperative
ploration of
ment of its re
At Dartm
medical sch
just beginni
changes or
alcoholism.
ongoing c
problems of
tries," expl
Dr. Carolii
something ti
non-political
of people froi
Before he]1
Reagan app
exchange1
Soviet Union
UCAM - wh
sity tours in1
the US-USS
Program, ar
of.him. Last
took eight,
Soviet high s
top of Mt. Eli
Europe's hig
Physician
sibility, the
renowned
Physicians
Nuclear War
professional
citizen diplo
it sponsore
Budapest wh
in which doc
tries could v
tack hunger
For most
diplomacy, a
Two diplo
comes from
can make a d
"My own c
world works

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