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OPINION
Page 4 Monday, October 13, 1986 The Michigan Daily
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
History
behind
By Daniel Blank
Vol. XCVII, No. 28 420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Unsigned editorials represent a majority of the Daily's Editorial Board
All other cartoons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily.
In the Middle East
EVERYBODY WANTS to blame divides them should be s
somebody in the Arab-Israeli pragmatically and quickly. V
conflict. The Israelis blame the hope, however, that all par
Arabs. The Arabs blame the the conflict understand two
Israelis and the United States. The realities, even if they
,United States blames the Arabs, acknowledge them publicly:
2but it also takes a few jabs at the *Israel is not going to go
)Soviet Union. And the Pales- Since its creation in 1948,
Stinians are virtually ignored, except has had to defend itself a
when it's politically expedient to unprovoked attacks from
;invoke their cause. states and what amounts to g
Each of the above groups has warfare by the. PLO. Ini
:their proponents in Ann Arbor. Arabs and Palestinians swo
The Middle East wars are carried they would push the Jews in
bout on the sands of the Mideast and sea. That goal is ludicrous
'on the Michigan Daily's Opinion Israel has a right to exist, and
Page. In both places morality takes who don't believe that mu
a back seat to ideology and dogma.- least recognize that Israe
One student said Zionism is a continue to exist because it h
"badge of honor and pride, while support of the United States.
its antithesis"-Palestinian *The Palestinians are mor
nationalism-"is a badge of a propaganda tool for the
shame." The writer condemned the states. That doesn't mea
Palestinian nationalist movement as Arab countries don't us
nothing more than a front put up by. Palestinians as pawns i
the Arab states to undermine Israel. conflict-the fact is that Jord
The Daily also receives letters control over the West Bank
from the other side of the 1948 to 1967 and did not
spectrum, when writers propagate consider giving it up to Pale
the anti-Israeli rhetoric which nationalism.
pervades much of the discussion of It is also clear tha
the conflict. One letter called the Palestinian cause is n
massacres at Sabra and Shatila in fabrication of the Arab states
Lebanon "the logical outgrowth of Palestinians cannot be
Zionist philosophy"-even though rhissed-as they often a
Israeli soldiers were not directly Americans and Israelis-as
involved in the attack. Another eyed terrorists who blo
letter criticized all Jewish liberals schools and hospitals.
for a political stance that Jewish Actually, the Palestinians
and non-Jewish liberals hold. under another kind of "terro
Unfortunately, that sort of self- On the West Bank, they are c
serving grandstanding does voting rights and are trea
nothing to resolve the Middle East second-class citizens. Th
conflict. Few of the actors in the ostracized and scorned inI
gedy of the Middle East seem to although, many Israelis s.
ave the capability for pragmatism; Palestinian rights. And the
to them, their side is utterly right, states, despite their rhetori
and compromise is out of the more interested in using the P
question. The extremists on all a public relations weapon tha
sides of the conflict-the means to establish a Pales
(Palestinians who vow to destroy state.
'Israel, the Israelis who deny There are no saints i
alestinian nationalism, the Middle East conflict. Most
Americans who see the Midle East there-and here-have ci
onflict as nothing more than an sides without looking for rea
xtension of the Cold War-are the solutions to the problem.;
reatest enemies of peace in that say solutions don't exist. B
egion. only way for peace to h
It would be naive to believe that, chance there is if the leadersd
the Arabs, Israelis, and to deal with political reality i
alestinians will suddenly realize of dogmatically rejecting the
Gone day that the conflict that side.
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Drugs have recently overtaken
immigration and corruption as the most
popular issue regarding Mexican-
American relations. What is not as
commonly recognized, however, is that in
the past few weeks of debt negotiations
between Mexico and the international
banks, some of the most important
financial decisions regarding all of Latin
America have hung in the balance. The
most interesting development is the plan
that debts to the United States be
exchanged for equity in Mexican
companies. Sixteen new programs for
absorbing about $200 million in debt,
have been announced by the Mexican
government, along with unofficial plans
to approve $1 billion worth of swap
projects this year. Perhaps $5 billion
could be negotiated under this scheme.
The overwhelming question now is why
the sudden rush to reschedule Mexico's
payments and the great reluctance to call
bad debts bad debts, and what are the
implications of these negotiations for the
other major Latin American debtor
nations, Brazil and Argentina?
Daniel Blank is an LS&A junior.
working on an Interconcentration
Program honors thesis in regional
development, specializing in Latin
America.
Wasserman
* The "debt problem" in Latin America
is not a new phenomenon. 'Most Latin
American nations have owed vast
amounts of money to the industrialized
world ever since their wars for
independence. Britain and the United
States first lent capital for the
development of monocrop export
systems. As the sugar or coffee or gold
was booming, the exporting nations
expanded their production, borrowing
against future growth. But when the
market turned, thesexporters were left
with an unwanted surplus and massive
debts.
More recently, when the idea of Import
Substitution Industrialization was in
vogue, nations that previously ran into
balance of payments problems tried to
produce at home the machinery and
finished products that they were
importing. Unfortunately, to do this they
had to import the parts and technology
necessary to build and operate the
machines, again the result was a huge
debt as well as high inflation.
The recent drop in the price of oil,
which has been such a boon for
importing nations like the United States,
has been the final blow for Mexico. The
greatest share of Mexico's exports had
been oil, and it was this revenue that
financed the possibility of further growth
necessary to begin to pay back the
incredible debt that has been amassed.
This is to say nothing of the few social
debts
programs and plans for internal
development that depended on a favorable
balance of payments.
The interest alone on current debts is
substantially more than the shaken
Mexican economy can hope to support,.
and international lending institutions have
become increasingly concerned about the
possibility of Mexico defaulting on its
loans. What has traditionally been the
deterrence to this is the threat of
commercial and financial ostracization..
All Latin American nations depend upon
loans as well as trade with the United
States and other developed nations for
their livelihood. To be cut off is such a
radical step, that the "d" word is not even
mentioned.
There have been other radical
proposals however. The cocaine barons in
Bolivia made it clear to the government
that, if left alone, they would solve the
debt crisis, to which the government in
effect replied, let's talk. Also, the notion
of a -debtor's coalition has been
vigorously discussed at times. If the
major debtor nations all defaulted
together, with the ideas of trading
amongst themselves for the imports that
they need, perhaps they could tell the
north to go to hell. This might explain
the great enthusiasm with which the
international banks have pursued a
settlement with Mexico, and may yet
with Brazil and Argentina.
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LETTERS:.
Home lessness edit is irrespnsle
IDEOLOGICAL ATTACKS ON A
Public Broadcasting System (PBS)
series called "The Africans" hosted
by University Political Science
Prof. Ali Mazrui threaten the
independence of Public television.
The series deals with a variety of
issues involving the African
;continent from the viewpoint of
:Mazrui, a Kenyan. The destructive,
effects of Western imperialism
come under specific attack.
After viewing the series Lynne
Cheney, the recently appointed
head of the National Endowment
for the Humanities which helped
fund the series, demanded that the
NEH' s name be removed from the
credits. She criticized Mazrui's
anti-Western bias and said that the
NEH was unaware of the content
of the series when funding was
approved.
What Cheney's opposition
are undeniably biased and
unpopular in the U.S., it is
important that they are heard
.nonetheless.
Equally disturbing is the view of
the role of Public television
reflected in Cheney's attack.
Cheney feels that since the program
was partially federally supported it
should not criticize U.S. policy.
The NEH, however, is getting its
money's worth when by promoting
alternative views it facilitates the
free flow of ideas.
PBS is most valuable when it
shows things which would not
appear on commercial television,
educational programs such as
"Sesame Street" and cultural
programs such as "Masterpiece
Theater." Commercial networks
already present the Western view
of Africa; PBS should be a forum
for other views.
To the Daily:
After reading the editorial in
Wednesday's edition of the-
Daily about the homeless man
arrested in West Quad, I found
myself wondering how the
Daily could print such an
editorial based on information
taken from an old memo.
Being the RA on the
court floor of Wenley House,
where "the lounger" lived, it
was with great resentment that
I read "the approach that was
taken seems unnecessarily
harsh." First of all, many of
the residents were aware that
this man was living in the
lounge and they didn't have any
problem with the situation.
When the staff of Wenley
House was finally made aware
of the situation, we felt that
the man was just an
unfortunate individual in need
of help. In fact, we had
approached the man and we
were planning on informing
him about alternative places to
stay when we discovered that
not only had he stolen the
property of Wenley House
resident, but that a man fitting
his description was seen
entering an occuppied woman's
shower in West Quad. He had
seen. the woman, and was
walking toward her, when,
fortunately, the woman
screamed and he ran away.
However, had this innocent
resdident been molested, what
would the editorial staff of the
Daily have then said about our
lenient attitudes.
It is ridiculous, but of
course typical of the Daily, to
make a complex social
problem seem extremely
simple. I agree with the
Daily's assessment that
"generally, if people are
stealing it is because they have
relinquish.
This man, then, was not
just a homeless individual. He
was also a thief and a
potentially dangerous sexual
offender, though the Daily does
not acknowledge this in their
editorial. The residents of
West Quad, and of any other
dorm, should be entitled to a
living environment free from
crime. This "lounger," was
also a criminal, had keysto
West Quad. Had tose keys not
been confiscated, "the lounger"
would have continued to live in
the TV lounge. It seems to me
that the actions of Wenley
House staff were not
"unnecessarily harsh" but rather
the only methods possible to
maintain a safe living
Congressman Pursell
misrepresented
To the Daily:
I am writing in response to
Nancy Stoke's letter, "Pursell's
strategy is embarassing"
(Daily, 9/23/86), regarding
Congressman Carl Pursell's
appearances in Ann Arbor this
year. The letter contained yet
another piece of
misinformation. Congressman
Pursell's appearance at the
Great Peace March on,
September 6 was neither
unannounced nor a surpnse.
He appeared at the personal
request of Mayor Ed Pierce.
After checking with
Congressman Pursell's office, I
discovered he responded
favorably to the invitation
soon after it was received.
Further, he certainly did not
decline an offer to speak at the
tree planting. In fact, as
reported in the Ann Arbor
News on Sunday September 7,
Congressman Pursell was not
given an opportunity to speak,
unlike Democrats Lana Pollack
and Perry Bullard. This is
unfortunate particularly be-
cause, of all the elected
officials present, Congressman
Pursell is the only legislator
who has a continued and direct
effect on the arms control and
peace issues by his votes in
congress. It is a shame that an
embarrassment to all the
people of the Second
Congressional District as
Stokes contends.
-David Goodsir
September 26
Editors' note:
The Ann Arbor News
article indirectly quoted
Congressman Pursell to the
effect that he was not given the
right to speak at the Great
Peace March tree planting in
September The Ann. Arbor
News did not comment on the
accuracy of that statement.
.According to Great Peace
March organizers, congressman
Pursell had the opportunity to
speak .with the understanding
that Democratic candidate Dean
Baker, who is seeking Pursell's
seat in the House of Re-
presentatives, would also
speak. Under these conditions,
Pursell refused the opportunity
to speak.
0
environment.
Inmthe future, it would
be appreciated if the Daily
would check out all of the facts
before an editorial is printed.
-David Elkin
Resident Advisor
Wenley House
West Quad
October 12
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