4 OPINION Page 4 Tuesday, March 11, 1986 The Michigan Daily, I Woolson Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Vol. XCVI, No. 108 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Unsigned editorials represent a majority of the Daily's Editorial Board Women's work =s T4 EIT' UYN 112 CAO HEP VDyU 6 ;Y5 v)H? 4 Friday March 7 marked the beginning of the 19th annual Women's Weekend and correspon- ded with the announcement of Georgia O'Keeffe's death at 98. O'Keeffe's life is an appropriate subject for Women's Weekend. She was a leading contemporary American artist whose abstract paintings of white roses and animal skulls are among the most memorable. Women's Weekend celebrates the accomplishments of women in history and decries the gross neglect of their contributions in art, literature and the shaping of society. According to former director of the Whitney Museum of American Art, Lloyd Goodrich, "her art is an individual one, expressing personal emotions and perceptions in a style that combines strength and crystalline clarity." Georgia O'Keeffe received the Presidential Medal of Honor in 1977. Many art critics consider her works as precursors to much con- temporary American art. Many women artists are not so well known, or fortunate to have the backing of a Stieglitz - an in- novative photographer and patron of the arts - as O'Keeffe did. A common misconception persists, that if a woman artist is really great, everyone will know about her, no matter what. En route to raising money and collecting paintings by women ar- tists, Wilhelmina Halladay, an art historian who plans to establish a new National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, and her husband, Wallace Halladay, discovered many omissions and oversights in the history of women's art. They found cases where works of women artists were attributed to the men they studied with, or well known artists whose works suddenly became "anonymous" when credit was due. Janson's "History of Art," a premier text on art history, left out Clara Peeters, a young prodigy, and Vigee Lebrum, court painter to Marie Antoinette, to mention but a few. According to Ms. Halladay: "If people don't believe that women can be great artists, we will simply show them." The National Museum of Women in the Art's first exhibition, "American Women Ar- tists 1830-1930," is scheduled for April of 1987. Carol Berkin, an American history professor who spoke on campus as a part of Women's Weekend, explained that historians often neglect the important role women have had in history. Typically white and middle-class, male historians have excluded things that are unfamiliar or of only indirect interest to them. Worthy projects such as the National Museum of Women in the Arts and the Annual Women's Weekend are beginning to reshape public awareness of the major roles women have played in history. This knowledge will enable future generations to draw from the strength and accomplishments of both men and women in American heritage. -E rv Z . - -- f .- : ,\ r LETTERS: Not just yuppies support U. S. policy Taking sides To the Daily: Peter Rosset's letter criticizing CIA activities as well as U.S. support for the Nicaraguan con- tras (Daily 2/4) contains several assertions which I find bother- some. His sweeping condem- ,iation of the CIA asna "terrorist organization" not worthy of using our campus as "a forum" implies that Rosset believes that the CIA serves no useful function. Even if Rosset isucorrect in contending that CIA terrorist activities are "widespread," this does not mean that our nation's primary intelligence-gathering body should not be allowed to recruit personnel to carry out what even LASC would consider legitimate state functions. The detection of factors that could affect the safety of Americans abroad, such as airport bombings in Europe, is just one of those functions. Rosset also discusses the behavior of Nicaraguan contras and urges us to stop supporting their efforts. Despite his self- righteous preaching, Rosset's ac- counts of contra atrocities do remind us of the need to con- tinually evaluate the implications of U.S. support for the contras. Yet an unbiased examination of this complex issue will be necessary before the messages ar- ticulated by Rosset and LASC gain the credibility for which their organization is so desperate. For example, if there are Nicaraguans who want to bring about a transition to democracy after centuries of repression, don't they deserve our support? One need only look at the past few years under Ortega's rule to con- clude that the freedom of ex, pression and the freedom for the people to choose their leaders will never exist under his leadership. Such freedoms have never existed in nations whose leaders espouse Marxist-Leninist doc- trine. Are we not also obligated to protect the burgeoning democracies in El Salvador, Guatemala, and elsewhere from Nicaraguan attempts to under- mine their success? It is no longer possible to deny the moun- ting evidence that Soviet-backed Cuban proxies are using Nicaragua as a base for arms ex- ports to insurgents in El Salvador and other Latin American democracies. Finally, our willingness to sup- port democracy in Central America will be an important test of Americanbresolve. In our negotiations with the Soviets, where a Soviet perception of American resolve is vital to the peace process, U.S. support for freedom fighters throughout the Movemen t against war needs planning 6 N OMINOUS trend is developing that threatens to effectively clampdown on campus political ac- tivities that question authority. Police followed protesters who op- pose the recruiting efforts of a nuclear weapons contractor; President Shapiro is demanding a more restrictive code of non- academic conduct for students and the effort to harass anti-CIA protesters continues months after the demonstration against the CIA's recruiting efforts. Eleven students remain in legal entanglements for their efforts to charge the CIA with supporting political murder and torture of civilians, but legal efforts to squelch dissent have failed so far. One person had charges dropped and a jury found the group charged with "disorderly conduct" in- nocent. The remaining group of students faces pre-trial March 18 for supposedly trespassing at the Student Activities Building. A hung jury on their case represented another failure in the University's seemingly desperate efforts to suppress dissent. The effort to convict anti-C.I.A. protesters has already wasted enough of the taxpayers' money. Worse, it is not the dissidents who should be on trial. Charges against the C.I.A. are much more serious and include international terrorism. By refusing to drop charges against the remainder of the C.I.A. protesters still threatened with legal repression, the University and prosecution take sides with an organization whose 'disorderly conduct' should be seriously assessed. world will greatly enhanceSoviet cooperation at the arms control talks. These factors must be weighed against the serious issues of con tra terrorism and international law which Rosset discusses. But Rosset must learn that not everyone who doesn't share his views is a "mindless, apathetic, future yuppy." Some of us can support U.S. policy in Nicaragua with a clear conscience. -PeterC. Cook February 7 To the Daily: The world situation is tense. TV shows - "real" news and pseudo-documentary movies - are terrifying. Most of us know that with increases in the arms race and new, more dangerous, weapons, nuclear war could be close, and most of us know that nuclear war would destroy us and all we value. Even without nuclear war, the highlevel of military spending is destroying our social servicesseducational system, and public transpor- tation. But'what can we do? Help work for peace, and learn how to reach out to people to tell them that we are not helpless.eNuclear weapons are relatively new, but many generations before us worked to give us a better world. Surely we can do the same. Efforts for peace need planning and creativity. On Thursday, Mar ch 6 the Michigan Alliance for Disarmament had its plan ning meeting for March-Septem- ber. We talked about the we will be talking about your Michigan Peace Walk, the Invest ideas of how to work for peace. in Peace Campaign, and other -Janis Michael projects now in progress - and Imperialism at the movies 0 Champs need no cheers To the Daily: Americans' imperialist ten- dencies can be seen in the two movies that won most of the recent award nominations, Out of Africa and The Color Purple. Most Americans loved these movies; some criticized them, but few noticed the profound ethnocentricity of both. First look at Out of Africa. Both Robert Redford's and Meryl Streep's characters are obviously imperialists. We are supposed to forget this fact and pay attention to their relationship, but I can't. Whether Redford settles down or Streep deals with his freedom strikes me as a whole lot less im- portant than their blatant ex- ploitation of Africa. He helps wipe out areas of wild game; she stakes the fate of an entire tribe, the Kukuyo, on her personal finances. They pay lip service to anti-im- perialism, but no more. I'm not impressed with her efforts to get the Kukuyo a new piece of land at the end of the movie because it is her fault that they lost their land in the first place. His communion with the animals he shoots im- presses me about as much. They are rich, while poverty increases all around. "But you're missing the point," somebody might say to me. I say the movie misses its own point. Karen Blixen, who wrote Out of Africa, wrote an imperialist book. The movie reproduces that imperialism, making it clear that these two characters are the heroes. Kenyans, on the other hand, are portrayed as child-like. What amazes me is that Americans have little trouble ac- cepting this. "You must remember that we are only guests here," Redford says at one point. These two guests came over to Africa's house; he shot the dog and she tried to steal the silver whip America sat at the table and ate it up. Great guests. The same ethnocentric bent of Americans shows up again in The Color Purple. Africa is nothing but a badly put together collec- tion of stereotypical images in this movie. Somebody mentions Africa and suddenly giraffes running across the open savanah appear. Later Celie's sharpenin a razor in order to kill her cruee husband is parallelled to tribal initiation rites, as if these actions are related. Suggesting this similarity down-grades a cultural element of some African tribes to the stereotype of "savage." Somebody might think the nineteenth century ended in 1900, but it didn't. The same basic im- perialist philosophies carry on today, now cloaked in thin robe printed with neglected aphorism about respecting other people's cultures. Art's lip-service to such ideas disguises the reality of im- perialist philosophy as well as talk of the cold war disguises im- perialist politics. The nineteenth century carries on. -William E. Pflaum March 3 SIT To the Daily: According to Tom Keaney's most recent column, "Hey you...how 'bout some noise" (2/11/86), the Wolverine Basket- ball squad is losing sleep over the apparent ho-hum attitude of their fans. It seems the crowd remains seated too much and shouts too infrequently. I am over- whelmingly disappointed if the article truly reflects the team's opinion and was not simply an at- tempt to fill space on a slow day in the world of sports. First, in comparing Michigan fans to fans from Purdue or Min- nesota, Keaney lost sight of the nature of competitive basketball. The battle involves an orange sphere, 10 very tall athletes, and a few nets - no fans. Sports female athletes ever give less than 100 percent because their few devoted observers can't manage to "blow the roof off the building?" Or, focusing on the real game of life, do wheelchair- bound individuals stop struggling to open doors when others fail to take notice? True champions of life are seldom recognized or applauded. They don't concern themselves with who is seated and who is standing. They don't work for the praise of others (though your pet dog probably does). The cham- pion's ultimate reward is self- respect, achieved through the hours of sacrifice, hard work, and dedication necessary to realize his or her full potential. I congratulate Coach Frieder and his team on their highly sue- _Q T1 0 " oW o v A