4
OPINION
Page 4 Tuesday, March 8, 1988 The Michigan Doily
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
Vol. XCVIII, No. 105 420 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.
To address the trade deficit. candidates should stress:
Education, not taxation
Sister school reps visiting 'U
AMERICA'S STATUS AS the
world's foremost economic power
is falling into question, and ana-
lysts see our trade deficit as a vivid
example of these concerns. Recti-
fying the trade situation is conse-
quently a major issue of the 1988
presidential campaign and, as might
be expected, several candidates of
both parties have prescribed protec-
tionist measures.
Although Americans have time
and again heard the arguments
against protectionism, many have
obviously fallen prey to deceptive
advertising and rousing, ethnocen-
tric speeches.
Richard Gephardt, (D-Mo), has
parlayed this economic jingoism
into a surprisingly strong political
force appealing especially to the
{displaced workers of the heavy in-
dustrial sector. These workers, be-
set with long-term unemployment in
the face of a flood of foreign manu-
factured goods, are susceptible to
Gephardt's plan to restrict imports
from those nations which do not
increase their intake of U.S. ex-
ports.
The efficacy of Gephardt's mes-
sage became evident in Iowa as
Gephardt pulled off an unexpected
coup in that state's Democratic pri-
mary. He garnered a surprising
victory after a media blitz which
claimed that a $10,000 Chrysler
could cost as much as $48,000 after
taxes in Korea. The commercial
stated that Gephardt would attack
El Salvador Week
The U.S. government gives El
Salvador over $300 million a
year in aid, most of which goes
to the Salvadoran military. De-
spite the huge U.S. influence,
North American media coverage
of the civil war in El Salvador is
curiously lacking.
MSA is sponsoring "El
Salvador Week" this week to
publicize the state-sponsored
repression, sanctified by U.S.
tax dollars, in El Salvador.
Students should take this
opportunity to make themselves
more aware of what is really
going on in El Salvador. In
addition, money raised during
El Salvador Week will benefit
the University of Michigan's
sister school, the University of
El Salvador.
such discrepancies with import
fees.
Beneath the rhetoric of the adver-
tisement, however, lay the fact that
comparable automobiles produced
and sold in Korea cost over
$30,000 as well. Gephardt failed to
mention that luxury taxes in Korea
make all autos, whether Korean or
American, extremely expensive.
Gephardt's commercial, while os-
tensibly factual, neglected details
which would significantly weaken
his claims.
Gephardt's tactics continue to
succeed. A New York Times/CBS
News poll released last week found
that 18 percent of southern Demo-
cratic voters viewed Gephardt fa-
vorably, but the favorable rating
rose to 41 percent among those
Democrats who had seen
Gephardt's commercials.
Gephardt's plan is flawed in
many ways. It would punish other
nations for their cultural traditions
and domestic policies while failing
to address those practices in the
United States which hurt the world
economy. For example, Gephardt's
plan could conceivably punish
Japan for not purchasing enough
U.S. armaments and Germany for
not importing enough American
beer. But Japanese and German
citizens have exercised their
prerogativeanot to demand these
products. Actual tariffs do not con-
stitute much of the perceived barri-
ers to American goods.
Conversely, the rest of the world
may choose to retaliate for Ameri-
can domestic policy which drains
international monetary resources to
pay for the United States' cultural
liability - profligacy.
Rather than punish the world for
the United States' economic woes,
candidates with protectionist ten-
dencies such as Gephardt and Re-
publican candidates Bob Dole and
Jack Kemp should present plans, as
have Jesse Jackson and Paul Si-
mon, to rebuild America's edu-
cational system and provide re-
training for the millions of workers
formerly in manufacturing trades
but now unemployed.
The United States can only revive
its economic pre-eminence by
helping its citizens acquire the skills
necessary to produce high-quality,,
high-technology exports, not by
raising trade barriers and thriving
on its internal consumption.
By Cathy Haybach and
Tina Meldrum
On October 20, 1987, the Michigan
Student Assembly established Sister Uni-
versity relations with the University of El
Salvador (UES). The University of El
Salvador is the only public university in
El Salvador, providing education to over
35,000 students. Like the University of
Michigan (and most university campuses),
the University of El Salvador is an
institution where students organize for
political causes and rise to positions of
leadership. Unlike the University of
Michigan, however, because students at
the University of El Salvador practice free
speech and organize to better express their
beliefs, the University of El Salvador has
been the target of military police in-
vasions, occupation, abductions, and
indiscriminate harassment.
From 1980 to 1984, the military occu-
pied the university. During the military
occupation, much of the university
equipment was sold on the black market;
most of the remaining books and equip-
ment that was not sold were destroyed by
the military. University buildings were
also destroyed. Furthermore, since 1980,
1,314 students have been assassinated, 265
students have been captured, and 301 stu-
dents have disappeared. More often than
not, these atrocities have been connected
to the Salvadoran Armed Forces or right-
wing Death Squads.
On October 11, Maria Victoria Hernan-
dez Gonzalez, a student from the Univer-
sity of El Salvador, was arrested and tor-
tured for allegedly working with the Non-
Governmental Human Rights Commis-
sion.
Salvador Ubau, President of University
Unity, a coalition of students, faculty, and
workers at the University of El Salvador,
Cathy Haybach and Tina Meldrum are
MSA representatives
was abducted on October 1, 1987. His
whereabouts are still unknown.
On January 11, Moises Eliezar Pena, a
student from the University of El Salvador
at Santa Ana, was harassed at his home
and later gunned down by the Treasury
Police, leaving him in serious condition
in a hospital in Santa Ana. Moises is a
member of the student government and a
prominent student leader.
These are only a few of the many gross
human rights violations which commonly
occur at the University of El Salvador.
Although the university is public and is
therefore theoretically allotted a set budget
by the constitution of El Salvador, the
university actually receives very little
governmental aid. In 1986, an earthquake
destroyed much of El Salvador, and further
devastated the university; because of the
lack of financial assistance from the gov-
ernment, reconstruction of the university
has been minimal. Currently, because
many of the buildings have not been re-
paired, classes are often held in tents or
shacks. This type of environment is cer-
tainly not conducive to quality education.
Education at the university has also
been greatly strained due to a lack of sup-
plies; students are forced to share the very
limited materials that do exist, e.g., in one
class of over 200 students, only five
books are available for student use, and at
the medical school, only twenty micro-
scopes are available..
The Michigan Student Assembly has
established sister university relations with
the University of El Salvador in order to
promote better conditions at the Univer-
sity of El Salvador. Many other universi-
ties around the country and the world have
also sited the need to promote better
conditions at UES and have established
Sister University relations, e.g., Harvard
University Medical School, University of
Pennsylvania, University of California
Santa Barbara, Brown University, Rutgers
University Engineering School, Univer-
sity of Oregon, and the university in
Frankfurt, Germany.
Because the University of El Salvador
has been our Sister University, students at
the University of Michigan have raised
money for material aid which has been
sent to UES, have had student exchanges
with the UES, have sponsored letter-writ-
ing campaigns and opinion-grams
denouncing human right violations di-
rected at members of the university, and
have provided education at U of M about
UES through inviting speakers from the
University of El Salvador, as well as
through workshops in dormitories and or-
ganizations.
Because the situation at the Universitys
of El Salvador is not rapidly improving
through indigenous means, it is impera-
tive that this type of work continues. The
week of March 6-13, the Michigan Stu-
dent Assembly Peace and Justice
Committee and the Latin American Soli-
darity Committee are sponsoring El Sal-
vador Week. The week will entail educa-
tion for U of M students about our sister
university and El Salvador, i.e., Dr. Char--
lie Clemmons, M.D., author of Witness4
to War, Dr. Gustavo Adolpho Noyola,
President of the University of El Salvador
at Santa Ana, Oscar Chacon, worker for
the resettlement of Salvadoran refugees,
and Victor Rubio, member of the FMLN-
FDR, will speak about the situation in El
Salvador, an information table will be set
up in the fishbowl, and videos will be
shown in the fishbowl throughout the
week. Also, students at U of M will work-
to raise money for material aid to send-to
the University of El Salvador, mainly
through a benefit which will be held on
Sunday, March 13 in the U-Club, begin-
ning at eight o'clock; the Trinidad Tripoli
Steel Band will perform at the benefit. For
more information about El Salvador Week
or El Salvador in general, please contact
the Peace and Justice Committee of MSA:
764-3241.
I
LETTERS,
Daily incorrect on Nicaraguan Church
To the Daily:
Once again, the Daily edito-
rial board takes its apologies
for the Marxist-Leninist San-
dinista government of
Nicaragua to an extreme. In its
editorial "Religious freedom"
(Daily 2/15/88), the Sandin-
istas are describes as being
"remarkably fair and humane"
to the Catholic Church. In
support of this claim, the
Daily editorial board uses the
following examples:
They describe Nicaragua's
Archbishop Obando y Bravo as
being a former supporter of the
Somoza dictatorship. This is
completely ignoring the fact
that Obando negotiated the re-
lease of numerous Sandinista
prisoners and publicly asked
Somoza to resign. In addition,
Obando was well known for
his work with the poor,
including organizing Nicar-
agua's first peasant unions.
The Daily cites America's
Watch as "proof' of the lack of
religious persecution in Nic-
aragua. This leftist human
rights organization is so soft
on the Sandinistas that their
estimates of political prisoners
in Nicaragua are actually lower
than those of the Sandinistas.
So much for credibility.
The Daily points out that the
Sandinistas have reopened the
Catholic radio station (which
Shouldn't have been closed in
the first place) but ignores that
the station is still forbidden
from broadcasting anything
p o litical. The Catholic
Church's human rights agency
and social welfare office still
remain shut down.
Roberto D'Abuisson, the
extremist death-squad leader in
El Salvador, is described as a
"close ally of President Jose
Napoleon Duarte." If this is so,
why has Duarte publicly ac-
cused D'Abuisson of plotting
to murder Archbishop Romero
._ , nn1.. r _. -
in the murders of ministers
Alfonso Galeamo and Daniel
Ocum in 1982, the murder of
religious worker Yamilet Se-
quira de Lorio in 1983, and the
attempted murder of protestant
pastor Pruderrio de Jesus
Baltodano Selva in 1984. Bal-
todano was left for dead after
being tied to a tree, having
been stabbed in the neck, and
having had his ears chopped
off.
The purpose of the "Popular
Church" in Nicaragua is not to
"emphasize Christ's solidarity
with the weak and his teach-
ings of social justice" but
rather to indoctrinate the people
with Sandinista propaganda-.
Followers of the "church" are
taught to worship such "saints"
as Karl Marx, Che Guevara,
and Sandino. One member, of
this church who holds a posi-
tion in the government, Ernest
Cardenal, is an avowed Marx-
ist-Leninist. In his book "In
Cuba," he dexcribes Castro-
land as a kingdom of God.
Cardenal was quoted as saying
to a cadre of Sandinista troops,
"you boys have to understand
that God does not exist, that
Jesus Christ does not exist ei-
ther, that God is the revolution
and Jesus Christ are you, are
all the Sandinistas. . ." It is no
wonder that he was reprimanded
by the Pope.
The Daily owes its readers an
apology for printing such a bi-
ased and misinformed editorial.
Next time they attempt to
apologize for a a communist
dictatorship I suggest that they
get their facts straight.
-Josh Shackman,
, February 18
Editor's Note: The Daily wai
incorrect in naming
D'Abuisson an ally of Duarte.
However, D'Abuisson is
closely linked with the Sal-
vadoran military.
Laws attempt to curb homosexuality
Psychology department exploits student labor:
Pay,
MONDAY MARKED
.for students currently
.introductory psycho
sign up for required
These experiments do
ily provide studentsm
experience although
educe free data for ps
partment studies.
Students are c
"volunteering" fort
ments even if the ex
unrelated to the cla
Those who do not w
pate must opt for a tin
alternative project, u
form of a paper.
Althomneh the~ course
for experiments
gone through these experiments
THE deadline have said that they were treated
enrolled in an well. The department does allow
logy class to students to choose non-deceptive
experiments. experiments if they wish. But just
not necessar- because the experiments do not in-
vith a valuable volve pain and suffering does not
they do pro- mean that this is a just requirement.
sychology de- The real benefactors of this policy
are not the students who pay to take
oerced into the classes with their tuition, but the
these experi- department and the graduate stu-
periments are dents whose research relies on stu-
ass material. dent participation. Normally they
ish to partici- would have to pay between five and
ne-consuming ten dollars per experiment hour; in-
usually in the stead they get four free hours per
student.
e descrintions The requirement is nierhans a
To the Daily:
I would like to raise a ques-
tion about a comment in a let-
ter, "Accept sexual orientation"
(Daily 2/17/88). In the context
of advocating a slight release of
the discrimination our society
places on homosexuals by re-
moving such explicit forms as
are in the Regental Bylaws, the
letter says: "It is a common
misconception that being gay
is a choice."
This itself is a commonplace
about what it means to be ho-
mosexual but it seems this
statement might actually play
into the hands of those who
would repress homosexuals. It
depicts the homosexual as a
victim of their uncontrollable
"innate" urges. One such reac-
tion could be to say that we all
have urges that we must sup-
press to live in society and
homosexuals must learn to
control theirs as well. A simi-
larly wrong-thinking attack
would be not to persecute ho-
mosexuals, since that "can't be
helped" but make homosexual
acts illegal thus restricting
something that can be
"helped." The state might
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of my homosexuality but I am
completed and defined by it." It
seems only in this second
framework could there be any-
thing like "Gay Pride." The
relationships then become
clear; The homosexual is not
"abused" by nature but by a
culture that is majoritarian.
Perhaps a better, more truly 4
pluralistic society can be forged
out of America, but it will re-
quire a restructuring of thought
as well as of bylaws.
-Jim Leach
March 2
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