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OPINION
Monday, October 23, 1989
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Oage 4
The Michigan Daily
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
420 Maynard St.
Vol. C, No. 34 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.
omen fight back
One week for the rainforests
low
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AFTER MONTHS of hard work or-
ganizing, rallying, defending women's
clinics, and sponsoring educational
forums, pro-choice forces saw the po-
litical climate in this country shift in
their favor during the last few weeks.
Last week, Florida's traditionally
anti-choice legislature drove this point
home, soundly rejecting calls by Gov-
ernor Robert Martinez to tighten re-
strictions on abortion. A Senate
committee killed bills designed to limit
a woman's right to control her own
body, including a bill that would have
banned the use of state employees and
facilities for abortion, a bill that would
have required women to wait seven
days after making their choice before
they could receive an abortion, a bill
that would have mandated expensive
and unnecessary fetal testing, and one
a that required parental consent for
women under eighteen years old who
are seeking abortion.
Governor Martinez claims that his
opposition to abortion comes as a result
of his religious training. "The concern
I've got," he declares, "is that
[abortion] makes life disposable..."
Pretending to value life, Mr. Martinez
sees no contradiction between his sup-
posed concern for yet undeveloped fe-
tal tissue and his support of the death
penalty.
Yet his constituency - increasingly
critical of his performance - recog-
nizes this contradiction for what it is:
an effort to conceal legislation that dis-
criminates against women behind
rhetoric which plays on genuine human
anxieties about the alienation and vul-
nerability many face in a contemporary
U.S. society that places precious little
value on life. This anti-women discrim-
<ination must be exposed if pro-choice
k' forces are to prevent their recent victo-
ries from becoming tomorrow's de-
feats.
The latest anti-choice bill in the
Michigan Senate would not only re-
quire parental consent for women un-
der eighteen who choose abortion, but
it would also prohibit teens from using
oral contraceptives.
The birth control pill - as dangerous
and cancer-causing as it is - remains
the most effective contraceptive
available. If used properly - if a
woman takes her pill at the same time
every day, if she doesn't take it with
antibiotics, if she doesn't throw it up
when she has the flu - the pill is still
only 99 per cent effective. This means
that one per cent of all women - or at
least 10,000 women worldwide- who
take the pill in order to prevent
conception, will become pregnant each
year. This means that at least 10,000
women trying to control their
reproduction with the most effective
contraceptive available will face un-
wanted pregnancy and the choice of
whether or not to have an abortion.
If the pill becomes illegal, the num-
ber of women facing this choice will
increase, as will the number who opt
for abortion. History has shown that
women will choose to control their re-
productive lives even if abortion is ille-
gal and therefore unsafe. Currently, le-
gal abortion is extremely safe - seven
to ten times safer than carrying a preg-
nancy to term, and three times safer
than a tonsillectomy. Still, over
200,000 women die worldwide each
year from botched illegal abortions
(Fund for a Feminist Majority).
Pro-choice forces must take the of-
fensive against those who are not only
anti-choice, but anti-life. After all,
those who support a woman's right to
choose abortion are the true defenders
of life and its potential richness.
By Laura Harger, Rosemary
Romaker, Amy Merrill, and
Bill Foerderer
It is burning season in Brazil. Vast
clouds of smoke billow above the Ama-
zon, and thousands of fires are visible
from space. At the same time, loggers and
industry carve deeper into the rainforests of
Indonesia, Hawaii, and the Pacific North-
west. Each minute of each day, another
100 acres of irreplaceable ecosystem van-
ish forever from the planet. The images of
destruction are familiar to the public mind
by now. Yet the rainforest is slipping
from the headlines and from the lips of
world leaders. The issue may be losing its
sex appeal, but the problem remains as
threatening to2the planet as ever.
October 2 1-29 is World Rainforest
Week. It will be celebrated in 25 coun-
tries, as it has been for the past three
years. During this week, people can make
a special effort to help rescue the forests.
They can write a letter; attend a demonstra-
tion; inventory their consumption habits.
This week is an ideal time for both inter-
national outcry and for small changes in
one's own lifestyle.
While international issues demand im-
mediate attention this week, we can begin
to address the sources of rainforest destruc-
tion locally. Learn about rainforests abroad
and at home. Try a small action this week
- ask your professor if his or her
coursepacks were printed on recycled pa-
per. Ask for recycled paper in the copy-
shop. Does your company use recycled let-
terhead? Find out and ask them to change.
At breakfast, look at your orange juice
container and see if the oranges were
grown in Brazil, if they were, next time
select another brand. Bypass McDonalds
(which may use beef grazed on cleared
rainforest land) and eat something healthy
instead. Bring your own chopsticks when
eating at Chinese restaurants instead of us-
ing disposable chopsticks made of tropical
woods. Learn to read labels, and think
about the global impact of your consump-
'Try a small action this week - Ask your professor if his or
her coursepacks were printed on recycled paper. Ask for re-
cycled paper in the copyshop. Does your company use recycled#
letterhead? Find out and ask them to change. At breakfast, look
at your orange juice container and see if the oranges wele
grown in Brazil, if they were, next time select another brand.'4
tion habits. We as United States citizens
must realize that ecological responsibility
begins in our own backyard. We can not
hope to persuade Brazil to preserve its
rainforests if we wantonly destroy our
own. And this is precisely the situation.
Presently, the last tropical lowland rain-
forest in the United States, the Wao Kele
o Puna forest in Hawaii, is under attack
from True Geothermal Company, which
plans to build a geothermal generator on a
volcano in the heart of the forest. Indige-
nous Hawaiians believe that the mountain
the renegotiation of two economically and
environmentally deplorable logging con-
tracts, as well as an end to the mandatory
appropriation of tens of millions of dollars
for imprudent land management and the
mandatory cuting of billions of board feet
of lumber this decade. On July 13th the'
bill passed overwhelmingly in the House
of Representatives (356-60) and now needs
a boost to secure ratification. There are
presently 49 Senate co-sponsors -we
need a majority to secure passage. Write or
call your Senators and tell them to co-
is the home of the goddess Pele, and to
them it is sacred. The generator will not
only destroy the rainforest, it will emit
toxic hydrogen sulfide gas, and when
vented will create a noise comparable to a
747 jet taking off. Hazardous waste dis-
posal problems are expected. The generator
is the first step towards industrialization in
the forest, which will include a missile-
launching facility, condos, and a metal-
smelting plant. Hawaii's "true" energy
needs can be met through a combination
of environmentally sound alternatives.
Presently, the project is blocked by a re-
straining order until the case is heard in
court in November.
To save the forest, public outcry must
be immediate. Another small project for
the week: write a letter to: H.A. True,
President, True Geothermal. P0 Box
2360, Casper, WY 82602.
Farther north, the Tongass temperate
rainforest in southeastern Alaska has long
beer, the victim of reckless logging.
This week, the Tongass Timber Reform
Act (S. 346) will be presented to a Senate-
House Conference Committee. As it
stands, the act will temporarily protect 23
key fish and wildlife areas. It provides for
sponsor The Tongass Timber Reform Act
(S. 346). Ask that they designate the 23
key areas as wilderness and that the timber
contracts with Ketchikan Pulp and Paper
Co. and Alaska Pulp Co. be terminated.*
Key Senators include: Carl Levin (De m.
MI 202-224-6221) John Glenn (Dem. (I
202-224-3353) and Charles Grassley (Rep.
IA 202-224-3744).
World Rainforest Week is an opportu-
nity to effect change, but as importantly,
it is a week in which you will have: a
chance to educate yourself about the causes
of cures for rainforest destruction. Locally,
the Rainforest Action Movement is spop-
soring a week of educational programs,
speakers, and films on rainforest issues.
Tonight, two rainforest activists will be
leading a discussion on "U.S. Temperate
Rainforests in the Pacific NorthweSt:
Whose Are They Really?" at 7 p.m. in
Room 1040 of the Dana Building. More
events can be found in the List. With ef-
fort, the gains made during this one week
can extend for an entire year.
Laura Harger, Rosemary Romaker, A4y
Merrill, and Bill Foerderer are members'w
the Rainforest Action Movement of Aln
Arbor.
Jews are critical of
Israel
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Recvcling:
Complete the loop
CYCLE UM, a student organiza- front of recycling activities of The Big
that wants to create an effective Ten, could provide an enormous boost
efficient recycling system at the to the recycling movement by advocat-
ersity will present its agenda for ing the purchase of recycled paper
year at its mass meeting tomorrow. products on a university-wide level.
r many people, recycling is just a There are some encouraging signs of
ns of waste disposal rather than a development. For instance, letters of
ns of reusing raw materials. The welcome to students at the dorms stated
,e arrows" used to symbolize re- "Printed on recycled paper" at the bot-
ng represent collection, processing tom of the page, and the University
manufacturing, and consumer pur- Record is printed on partially recycled
e or reuse. While much attention paper. Some local copy shops have
een focused on the separation of started to provide recycled paper at the
es for collection, in order for the consumer's request, and with enough
cling process to be complete, mar- pressure from students and instructors,
for products made of recovered, will print coursepacks double-sided on
cled materials must be developed recycled paper.
promoted. Paper products made of Obviously, more needs to be done to
% recycled paper are available, develop markets so that local recycling
gh not on the scale that would be efforts flourish. University President
effective or benefit the largest James Duderstadt could set an example
ber of people. by sending out all his communications
-wspapers separated from other on recycled paper, as could all depart-
, until recently, received up to $30 ments at the University. The University
ton on the open market. Many purchases 25,000 boxes of computer
munities, eager to foster recycling paper annually, all of which is available
;rams, found that separated on recycled paper. We anxiously await
sprint was helping to recoup costs the day when The Michigan Daily, the
illection. They now find that there Ann Arbor News, Agenda, Michigan
glut of newsprint on the market, Today, The Michigan Review, Con-
iring those same communities to sider, and all University publications
for hauling and disposal of what and communications bear the words
previously collected. "Printed on recycled paper."
t the seeming lack of demand for Those interested in helping to im-
consumer recycled paper is only prove recycling at the University
esult of consumers' failure to cre- should attend Recycle UM's Mass
ne. Meeting tomorrow at 6 p.m., 1040
.e University, though in the fore- Dana Building (SNR).
See Dick See Dick run See Jane'
See Jane. See Jame run belly grow
-
By Dan Richter
People who believe that non-racist
material does not get printed in student
publications should fish the Opinion page
of October 12 out of the the bird cage.
Wipe that white sticky stuff off the
Opinion page.
Now look at it. If you realize that the
cover article entitled "In the service of the
state" is, in fact, trash, then put it back in
the cage, and read something else. If you
don't immediately see that the article is
trash, then hold on to it and read this one.
In this article by Professor Marc Ellis of
the Maryknoll School of Theology, an
argument is put forward that Jewish
theology has remained unphased to the
most recent expressions of the Palestinian
people to assert their national identity.
Ellis claims that Jewish theology is
expected to justify current Israeli acts of
aggression. This assertion clearly shows
the writer's lack of knowledge of Jewish
theology.
Instead of writing that Jewish theology
must support the Israeli government, Ellis
would be more correct to assert that
Jewish theology supports the existence of
a Jewish State, since Biblical writings
and modern liturgy make precise references
to the Return to the Jewish Homeland.
However, even this statement should
undergo scrutiny since there are elements
of the Jewish people who believe that
Israel as it is today, should not exist.
Now, there are absolutely no references in
either the Bible, the Talmud, or in current
or past liturgy that require Jews to be
silent in facing a tyranny that they may be
effecting on themselves or others. In fact,
Jews are taught that every individual is
responsible for the maintenance of the
ethics of the community.
Nor has the community remained silent.
The "lack of intellectual clarity on the
most pressing issues" that Ellis wrote,
seems to be a personal problem of his
vision that blinds him of the branches of
Jewish thought that appear in the writings
of Amos Oz and Abba Eban and in the
widely circulated periodicals of Tikkun and
Moment Magazine. Perhaps his clarity
only functions on the right-wing articles
and somehow fails when he reads the
center and left-wing articles that appear in
the newspapers of America's and Jewish
community and in Israel.
Maybe the reason why Ellis wrote that
"not one major 'Jewish theologian' has
said what is obvious to 'many' Jews and
non-Jews alike" is because what he thinks
of as "obvious" to the "many" is really his
own racism. Ellis stated in one of his five
"obvious" points that "Jews have become
everything they loathed about their
oppressors." I call to those who believe
this racist accusation to question these
ideas. Have the Jews really become all like
their oppressors and force the worship of
one faith onto another people where
violators would be punished by death?
Have the Jews tortured to death leaders of a
people to submit them? Have the Jews
constructed camps whose sole, sinister
purpose was to annihilate vast numbers of
human beings? No, they have not
replicated the deeds of their oppressors.
Yes, I do have a bit of a Holocaust
complex, but shouldn't we all? And, yes,
Israel, in my opinion, is deeply at fault for
suppressing Palestinian nationalism, but
Marc Ellis is guilty of the same narrow-
mindedness that he attributes to the Jews
when he equates the deeds of the
aid." I've been searching everywhere foi a
school that will teach me how to be "in
the service of the state" so that I may bea4
blind follower of my "theology that leaOs
to torture and murder." Maybe this school
is in that consortium of the schools of
hate that teach students how to be servarts
in the service against Israel. Yeah, I mein
those schools of thought that delegitimie
Jewish nationhood by constanty
haranguing the Jewish people with
accusations of tyranny through often,
more often then you think, synthesized
facts.
Mr. Ellis denies the ability of toe
Jewish people to be critical of themselves.
I find this belief racist, not to mention
untrue. It's a shame that people only
know that "Jewish theologians" are critical
of apparent anti-Semites like Marc Ells
but don't know that many of them are also
critical of Israel's policies.W
I would like to commend Adam
Schrager's recent announcement "Message
from the Editor-in-Chief," (Dail"
10/19/89). In his statement, Adan
disassociated the article by Ellis and tioe
Daily by mentioning that his article did
'Now, there are absolutely no references in either the bible,
the Talmud, or in current or past liturgy that require Jews tv
be silent in facing a tyranny that they may be effecting ok
themselves or others. In fact, Jews are taught that every
individual is responsible for the maintenance of the ethics of*
the community.'
oppressors of the Jews to the present
situation in Israel and the Occupied
Territories.
I would like to express my artificial
sympathies to Marc Ellis for his difficulty
in finding "Jewish theologians" to support
his ultimatum. If he were to discard that
one line, I'm quite sure, with a fair search,
he would find many to stand by his
criticisms of Israel. It's as simple as that.
By the way, if someone could get me an
application for a Jewish "vocational"
school, I'd be much obliged. I have been
checking every college guide book for a
"Jewish vocational" school ever since I
learned from Ellis' article that the
"vocation" of the Jewish people is to
"serve that state in the United States by
lobbying for Israeli economic and military
not reflect the views of the newspaper.
The announcement was a breath of fresh
air in the wake of printed anti-Semitism
that has been propagated by campus
publications. Way to go, Adam!
Okay, you're done reading, and youre
going to have a dirty bird cage if you dop'
act fast. If you think that anti-Semitism
is for the birds, than put back Ellis' artiele
where you found it. If not, then I guess
the Jews on campus will have to continue
to take the crap that is dished out to them
by Michigan student publications. If ypu
don't have a bird cage, well, find one!
{
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Dan Richter is an LSA Freshman x
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