Page 2- The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March 22, 1990
Cokely film sparks controversy
9
IN BRIEF
Compiled from Associated Press and staff reports
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by Ruth Littmann
Daily Staff Writer
One month after Steve Cokely's
visit caused heated student debate on
campus, a video-tape featuring the
Black activist sparked controversy in
East Quad.
The tape, titled "A Discussion on
Political Zionism," covered a lecture
by Cokely, an independent Black re-
searcher who equates political Zion-
ism with racism.
Members of the Black Student
Union, a sponsor of the event, said
they revere Cokely as a human
rights activist, while other students
claim he is dangerously anti-semitic.
BSU sponsored the event with
the Palestinian Solidarity Commit-
tee (PSC), and ABENG, the minor-
ity council in East Quad.
During a forum after the video,
Black, Palestinian, Jewish, and other
students exchanged angry words
against and in defense of Cokely's
historical analysis of Zionism.
In the video, Cokely said
Theodore Herzl - who founded the
first World Zionist Congress in
1897 - gained financial support for
Zionism from the Rothschilds, a Eu-
ropean family of wealthy Jewish
bankers.
"The Rothschilds were the fi-
nances of those who were bringing
on political Zionism," Cokely said.
"Those who have the purse strings
have the power."
These political Zionists and racist
institutions such as the British colo-
nial government used their power to
"kill people of color and take the
land," Cokely said, referring to
Palestine and areas of Africa.
"If Herzl is for Zionism," asked
Cokely, "is Zionism racism? Damn
right!"
BSU members agreed with
Cokely that the Bible didn't grant
the promised land to today's Jews,
but to their ancestors, some of
'If Herzi is for
Zionism, is Zionism
racism? Damn right!'
- Steve Cokely
whom were Black. Racists ignore
the Black ancestry of Jews by chang-
ing the name "Shem" - which
refers to the Black elder son of Noah
- to "Semite," Cokely said in the
film.
"It's important for students to
discuss the use of lies in the support
of the state of Israel," BSU members
said, and agreed with Cokely that "if
Israel was a colonist organization, it
was a white supremacist endeavor."
But not everyone in attendance
was convinced by Cokely's argu-
ments.
"It's a real tragedy that Steve
Cokely as a Black leader and as a
public speaker mixes about 90 per-
cent radical political perspective and
bonafide political analysis with
about ten percent anti-semitic, para-
noid fantasy," said University gradu-
ate and WCBN radio talk show host
Des Preston.
"Cokely clearly made statements
about Judaism as being a religion
that was made up," said RC first-
year student, Matthew Stein. "I don't
see how [BSU] members can hide
behind the belief that this was just
about Zionism."
BSU members declined to com-
ment after the speech.
Homeless question
accuracy
DETROIT (AP) - Word passed
among the homeless people that
census takers were trying to count
them, but in the grim streets of De-
troit's Cass Corridor, some didn't
see the point.
"They ain't helping anybody,"
said William Jackson, crouched by a
fire in a rubble strewn lot in the in-
ner city neighborhood of gutted
houses and boarded-up businesses.
"What do we get? Nothing,"
Jackson said. "There's got to be
somebody care about us, because
we're human beings. We've got to
have some jobs. We want to work."
But he said he didn't expect that.
What he expected was that the cen-
sus teams and news teams would
leave the boarded-up neighborhood.
And, he said, "I'll be here tomor-
or census
row."
The national homeless count be-
gan at 6 p.m. Tuesday. In Michigan,
526 shelter night census workers set
out with lists of 523 soup kitchens,
churches, alleys and abandoned build-
ings likely to hold homeless. The
count stayed until midnight. At 2
am., census workers serarched the
streets and at 4 a.m. yesterday, they
sat in cars waiting for homeless to
emerge from abandoned buildings.
They didn't always welcome cen-
sus takers. One team withdrew form
a Salvation Army Shelter in Ann
Arbor at the manager's request, and
was asked to complete its count
later, regional spokesperson Jerry
Blocker said.
The nationwide results will be
announced in 1991.
COURSE
Continued from Page 1
don't want to take it, so they don't
learn (the language) at all," he said.
Rubina Yeh, a current MAC
member and Art School senior, said
the requirement is "good for now,
but a change away from a eurocentric
focus for all classes is more impor-
tant."
The president of theLAsian Amer-
ican Association, LSA junior
Lawrence Wu, agreed the requirement
should be passed. "A lot of people
come to the University of Michigan
from different backgrounds.
"Coming to this kind of diverse
community, people won't be aware
about different ethnic backgrounds,"
Wu said. This is something any stu-
dent coming out of Michigan should
have."
CODE
Continued from Page 1
Duderstadt's use of the bylaw raised
a new concern for opponents of the
code. They said if the president al-
ready has the power to discipline
students, he does not need any more
authority.
"There's no reason for a code,"
said Jennifer Van Valey, a Michigan
Student Assembly member and LSA
sophomore.
"Right now (Duderstadt) can en-
act 2.01 in a case of an emer-
:iuts and Bolts
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gency..." Van Valey said. Because
the bylaw is not designed to be used
unless the circumstances are serious,
the president takes a "risk" by using
it, she explained. With a code, there
would be no risk; punishing students
for their non-academic behavior
would become legitimate, she said.
Duderstadt has said he feels stu-
dents would support a code of non-
academic conduct if they were more
informed about the issue.
The student body has not been
polled on their feelings about a non-
academic code of conduct since win-
ter of 1988 when MSA put the ques-
tion on its winter election ballot. At
the time, a majority of students op-
posed the Code.
Last Tuesday, the Assembly ap-
proved a similar referendum for the
April MSA elections which would
ask students whether they approve of
a code.
Duderstadt said last month that he
would not take steps to develop a
code this term and students and fac-
ulty members would be consulted
before a code was implemented.
MANDELA
Continued from page 1
schedules before we know when he's
coming," he said.
"Everybody in the country is try-
ing to get Nelson Mandela to come
and speak," said Jay Hershenson,
vice chancellor of the City Univer-
sity of New York which also
awarded an honorary degree in ab-
stentia to Mandela. Hershenson said
he would "be delighted" if Mandela
visited his university.
The University is approaching
the issue quietly, said Walter Harri-
son, director of University Rela-
tions. "We'd be honored to have
(Mandela) come, but we're not going
to enter some kind of sweepstakes to
get him."
DAILY
CLASSI FIEDS
Windham Hill Jazz Recording Artist
The performers, who are influenced by a
global array of musical and cultrual styles,
translate classical jazz pieces to the quartet
format - a skill which is butressed by abundant
improvisational verve. By rerouting the
streams of modem jazz, bebop, bluegrass,
Indian and world music, and 20th century
claosicism, the Turtle Island String Quartet
seeks to map its own musical landscapse.
Bush ensures Polish borders
WASHINGTON - President Bush told Polish Prime Minister
Tadeusz Mazowiecki yesterday his country's borders must not be altered,
by the reunification of Germany.
Bush delivered his assurance at a sun-splashed ceremony at the White
House welcoming Poland's first non-communist prime minister since the
Second World War.
At the top of the agenda are Poland's fears that a reunified Germany
might try to claim territory ceded to Poland by Germany after the Second
World War. Moreover, Poland wants a greater role than it has been granted
in international discussions about German reunification.
Bush played down disagreement over Polish participation in unifica-
tion talks. "We're really not that far apart," he told one reporter.
Bush was applauded by hundreds of people attending the welcoming
when he declared, "In any decisions affecting the fate of Poland, Poland
must have a voice."
Romania accuses Hungary
of inciting ethnic tensions
BUCHAREST, Romania - The provisional government accused
Hungary yesterday of inciting tensions between Romanians and ethnic
Hungarians that led to bloody street battles this week in Transylvania.
In a strongly worded statement released to news media, it charged
Hungarian officialdom with "propagandistic actions... that present
Transylvania as a Hungarian component."
Clashes between the Romanian majority and Hungarian minority left
several people injured yesterday in the Transylvanian town of Tirgu
Mures, scene of Tuesday night's bloodletting that killed at least six peo-
ple and and injured about 300.
Tanks cordoned off all highways into the city of 165,000 northwest of
Bucharest and patrolled downtown, where the pitched battles Tuesday fea-
tured men swinging scythes surging into crowds to beat other men.
Tirgu Mires was reported quiet last night.
Judge refuses to subpoena
Reagan's 'unessential' diary
WASHINGTON - The judge in John Poindexter's Iran-Contra trial
reversed himself yesterday, saying that former President Reagan does not
have to produce diary entries sought by his one-time national security ad--
viser.
U.S. District Court Judge Harold Greene issued the ruling as the jury
began watching eight hours of videotaped testimony by Reagan.
Greene had ordered Reagan to turn over the diary, but said after reading
the three dozen entries sought by Poindexter that the material was not
"essential to the achievement of justice in this case."
Poindexter said he needed the excerpts because Reagan, in his taped tes-
timony, "professed a total inability to recall" the diversion of Iran arms
sale proceeds to the Nicaraguan Contras and a 1985 Hawk missile ship-
ment.
Poindexter is charged with five felony charges of conspiracy, making
false statements and obstructing Congress in connection with the Iran-
Contra affair.
Clean air amendment fails
WASHINGTON - The Senate turned back a third attempt to
strengthen the compromise clean air bill yesterday, defeating a proposal
supporters said would close "loopholes" in the battle against urban smog.
Opponents argued the amendment, which lost on a 53-46 vote, would
burden too many small businesses with expensive pollution controls and
require unnecessary federal involvement in urban air pollution plans.
The vote marked the third unsuccessful attempt by a group of senators,
mainly from urban areas with the dirtiest air, to add tougher environmen-
tal controls to a compromise bill worked out between Senate leaders and
the White House.
The proposal would have preserved the federal government's authority
to impose air pollution reduction plans if states and local officials failed
to act.
EXTRAS
No beer means no firefighters
SKANDIA, Mich. - Firefighters in an Upper Peninsula community
quit after leaders from area townships, fighting for control of the depart-
ment, threatened to ban beer drinking in the fire hall.
The Skandia-West Branch volunteer fire department had been pretty
much running itself before township officials tried to take over and pro-
hibit beer.
Les Johnson, chief of the Skandia-West Branch Fire Department, who
resigned Tuesday night along with most of the 21 firefighters, said volun-
teer fire departments commonly have beer around for social activities.
"We've operated for 26 years with no problems," said Johnson, chief
for the last 11 years. "They've made a big issue of that (beer). They've
even called the Liquor Commission on us."
Larry Merrill, deputy executive director of the Michigan Townships,
said yesterday, "Because of a lack of ongoing fire activity, the volunteer
fire departments tend to become more of a social club."
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