Page 4 -The Michigan Daily - Friday, April 6, 1990 * cijbe ~irigan faiIy EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 ARTS 763 0379 PHOTO 764 0552 NEWS 764 0552 SPORTS 747 3336 OPINION 747 2814 WEEKEND 747 4630 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. j') IP IN V 1.. Al~ O.Q AMR)CAP " LA CM CWEW PJEt Mr IMFMI4 I Ai~W ThPY zC~oA'i PI( 1p UNAi 427U, 5.Q1C-UFPVICNJ AS DIi. El Salvador MOUJO At IA4CWA ARC, IT ALL 7R~t._& 0+ U.S. should do more to prosecute murderers IT HAS NOW BEEN MORE THAN four months since the murders of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter by the armed forces of El Salvador. Despite the fact that Salvado- ran president Alfredo Cristiani has admitted the military's guilt in this crime, there is no indication that the officers responsible will be prosecuted. Even more to the disgrace of the U.S. government, there is no sign of any impending cuts or even restrictions of the more than $1.5 million of U.S. tax dollars going to the government of the death squads every day. This should not be surprising, since U.S. policy has consistently allowed free rein for murder and torture of op- ponents to the Salvadoran government. Despite the extra-judicial killing of more than 70,000 civilians in the last decade, including Archbishop Romero in 1980, not a single officer of the Sal- vadoran armed forces has ever been convicted of human rights abuses. The strategy has had some success, from the White House point of view, in forcing the opposition to go into exile or to take up arms with the guerillas of the FMLN. Thus the U.S. hopes to win militarily what it could not win in an open political contest: a dependent client government for El Salvador. Because of international outrage over the killings of the priests, which were committed in front of witnesses by the military, the Cristiani govern- ment arrested seven lower ranking offi- cers and one colonel for the crime. But there is little doubt that the order for the murders came from high-rank- ing government officials. On January 19, the New York Times cited diplo- mats and other sources close to the in- vestigation as stating that Colonel Be- navides, the highest ranking officer arrested, could not have ordered this atrocity without approval from his su- periors. It seems that the Salvadoran and U.S. governments are able to vindicate themselves with the arrest of a few un- derlings. Soon after the January 19th article, the idea of higher officers' guilt began to disappear. The focus of sub- sequent articles was that Cristiani had initiated a new era in which the military was no longer immune from prosecu- tion and was instead subordinated to civilian rule. This is of course what the U.S. State Department would like the public to believe, so that Congress can con- tinue appropriating money to the Sal- vadoran government without fear of embarrassment. However, nothing could be further from the truth. According to the 1989 report of the Catholic Church's legal aid office in San Salvador, more than 3,000 political assassinations took place during that year. Most of these were government-sanctioned murders. The professional cowards that now occupy the overwhelming majority of the U.S. congressional seats will need tremendous public pressure to reverse the brutal and murderous course in El Salvador. r 4 G I Israel shouldn't be linked with South Africa By Roxanne Meadow Last week in the Fishbowl, the show- case contained a display, entitled "Strug- gles in Solidarity," which made a fundamentally misguided analogy. In this display, the governmental policies of Is- rael and South Africa were linked, and Zionism was compared to apartheid. A list of "differences" between the two nations was proposed. Unfortunately, this list was incomplete. It lacked several truly dissimilar aspects of the policies and ide- ologies of Israel and South Africa: Zionism is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people. It con- tains neither reference to race nor advocates discrimination. Apartheid is a policy of ra- cial segregation perpetuated by the gov- ernment of South Africa. Its roots lie in the concept of racial inferiority and lack of inherent rights of Black people. The government of Israel is a democ- racy with a multiparty system. Each citi- zen, Arab and Jew alike, is granted one vote and is eligible to be elected to public office. In South Africa, a non-white ma- jority, which possesses virtually no polit- ical rights, is ruled by the force of a white minority. Minorities in Israel share freedom of re- ligion, equality before the law, unlimited domestic travel rights, and use of public Meadow is an LSA senior. facilities with the Jewish majority. The segregation and severe restrictions imposed on Blacks in South Africa are in complete contrast to these Israeli policies. Israel has not annexed the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It is therefore prohibited, by international law, from granting Israeli citizenship to the territories' Arab resi- dents. The South African government re- frains from granting full citizenship to its non-white majority throughout the coun- try, solely for racist reasons. In addition to misperceptions regarding these distinctions, Israel is often criticized for its trade and diplomatic relations with South Africa. A 1987 U.S. State Depart- ment report to congress showed that many countries, including Israel, the United States, France, Great Britain, Italy, and several Arab nations, have maintained rela- Italy, Great Britain, and Jordan. Only Is- rael, however, has been singled out for di- rect individual criticism. This double stan- dard reflects an anti-Israel, not an anti- apartheid, agenda. Israel, like any other nation, desires. peaceful relations with as many countries as possible. Israel was, however, placed in a complicated predicament by the eco- nomic isolation imposed on it by its Arab neighbors, and subsequently by Black African nations under pressure from the Arab world in 1973. South Africa was one of the only nations in this region to man- tain ties with Israel. Despite these ties, Israel does not con- done South Africa's racist practices. The Israeli government has repeatedly repudi, ated South Africa's apartheid policy. Suspicion should be raised when mdi- Only Israel, however, has been singled out for direct individual criticism. This double standard reflects an : anti-Israel, not an anti-apartheid, agenda. Enrollment 'U' is doing little to attract minority students tions with South Africa. In 1986 and 1987, Israel's commercial ties with South Africa totalled $142 million, approxi- mately 1 percent of South Africa's overall trade. In contrast to this small amount, the Arab world's trade with South Africa to- talled $2-3 billion, including 95 percent of South Africa's oil shipped directly from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Egypt, and Iran. Most of South Africa's arms have come from France, viduals either single out Israel for criti- cism or try to equate Israeli policy with South African policy. President of tle Soweto Civic Organization, Dr. Nthatd Motlana, recognized this when during his recent visit to Israel he said, "it is muchl too simplistic to equate the Israeli-Pales; tinian problem whith the Black-White problem in South Africa. That is one of the things I've learned since coming to Is, rael." "I GUESS YOU SEE MORE BLACK faces because there are more of us out there," said Regent Nellie Varner, who was one of 200 Black students at the University of Michigan in 1964. She sees the University today as being no different than the one she knew 26 years ago. Varner feels that despite the Black Action Movement strike in 1970 and despite President Duderstadt's Michi- gan Mandate for making Michigan more diverse, the status of Black stu- dents has not changed. In 1970, when the BAM strike oc- curred, activists were demanding an increase in minority enrollment to 10 percent (a figure the University has never achieved), the intensification of recruitment of qualified Black students, and an increase in supportive services for minority students. It seems odd that these demands are almost exactly what the United Coali- tion Against Racism is demanding in 1990. One reason that significant pro- gress is not being made is that although attitudes may have changed, the Ad- missions Office still relies on policies which are geared towards admitting a white student body. This is not a new idea - the admin- iStration has shown us that they have an interest in maintaining status quo. In January of 1988, then-LSA Dean Peter Steiner said "Our challenge is not to change this university into another kind of institution where minorities would naturally flock in much greater num- bers." Steiner never retracted his re- marks and Interim President Robben Fleming stood by him through the "crisis." Steiner took an early retire- ment from his job later that year. A very real problem is that the Uni- versity does little to recruit from any high schools in Detroit other that Cass 4 You" AMtsTo epOWImeCOCA 4 Technical and Renaissance. The Uni- versity needs to broaden its recruitment practices and redefine what it means to be "qualified." There are plenty of qualified Black students, but they are not being recruited and they are not coming here voluntarily because Michigan has not made itself attractive to minority students. Additionally, the University does very little to aid mi- nority students financially. Things have not gotten much better in Duderstadt's administration. Just last week in the University Record, Dud- erstadt wrote, "But why are we and other universities experiencing inci- dents of group conflict, prejudice, and hostility? At least part of the reason is that we are becoming more diverse." Where is the logic behind this state- ment? It is the lack of diversity that causes these incidents, not any sup- posed increase in minority enrollment. In the same essay, Duderstadt wrote, "Our intellectual work benefits from an expanded vision of the world that comes from new ideas. We also grow individually as we learn to see new perspectives and hear new voices formerly closed off to us." He is as- suming that "we" are a white institu- tion. It seems to indicate that whites can benefit from hearing others. It also gives the impression that the voices and perspectives that were "closed off' were done so by nature or some force beyond our control, when, in fact, mi- nority enrollment is very much in our control. The situation for minorities at the University of Michigan will continue to until the administration assumes a dif- ferent attitude. Until the students make effective and relentless demands, the University will continue in its racist and unprogressive policies. I Balloons pollute area To the Daily: The rally commemorating Lesbian and Gay Men's Awareness Week 1990 was successful in many respects, but failed miserably in onelarge one. The failure of this rally, and one which is inexcusable given the circumstances, was the release of helium-filled balloons into the air at the end of the event. This action was not the result of igno- rance of its impacts, but rather something much worse: complete disdain for envi- ronmental responsibility, the unwilling- ness of the organizers to do what they knew was right. David Horste, the host of the event, in- formed us that the rainbow of balloons decorating the library steps would be re- leased at the end of the rally. He added, in a sarcastic manner, that the balloons would "pollute the environment." It is clear that he knew this action was not en- vironmentally sound. His mockery is deeply offensive. Not only is helium a rare and irreplaceable re- source that should not be wasted in such a trivial manner, but when the helium escapes or the balloons burst, the remain- ing litter does not degrade and is often ingested by aquatic and terrestrial wildlife, resulting in choking and death. When I approached Horste and asked him not to release the balloons because they would in fact damage the environ- ment, he consulted with his colleague, Ron Wheeler. Both declared that the bal- loons would be released. It seems to me that the progressive group of people attending the rally would have been more than happy to accept that the balloons not be released and that they be disposed of properly. Horste and Wheeler could have preserved their in- tegrity by not releasing the balloons and explicitly stating the reasons. By doing so, they could have demon- strated their ability to move beyond nar- But the damage has been done. The 20 foot wall of balloons has been released and has polluted the environment and poten- tially harmed wildlife throughout south- eastern Michigan. Elise McLaughlin School of Natural Resources Daily should be more cautious of stereotypes To the Daily: Congratulations. Between the editorial "A step back" (3/29/90) and the Wasser- man cartoon below it, you managed to slur Mormons and Moslems, along with Idahoans in general in the course of an otherwise legitimate criticism of Right to Life movement tactics. The cartoon depicted an American-look- ing man walking with a veiled wife past a bench with two ladies sitting on it, one of whom remarks, "You can always tell folks from Idaho." What's this supposed to mean? Well, referring to the article above, it is the "Mormon population at large" pushing for the abortion restrictions, so the married couple, I figure, is Mormon, but the wife is dressed as a stereotypical Moslem wife. The message that comes across is, "The residents of Idaho are anti-women's rights because they're Mormons, which is equiv- alent to being Moslem." Now I realize that this statement may not represent the opinion of the majority of the Daily's editorial board, but the mes- sage was nonetheless implicit in your placement of the Wasserman cartoon. In the future, please remember to not play with stereotypes. They can produce harm- ful editorial side-effects. Alex Eulenberg Residential College sophomore Daily omitted facts from Arabs living in the Galilee, where- upon a number of Arabs decided to hold ,a peaceful protest against the expropriatio. The Daily failed, however, to mention that the expropriated land was part of a large, project to develop the Galilee. Two thirds of the land expropriated be- longed to Jews, and all the land owners were given compensation, as is required by Israeli law. The expropriated land was used to build schools, widen roads, and con-, struct an industrial complex. The Daily's use of the words "peaceful protesters" to describe the Arab response to the land expropriation is somewhat questionable. They began their "protest" by throwing rocks at other Israeli civilians and vandalizing Jewish-owned property in the Galilee. When the Israeli army arrived to contain the violence, the "peaceful protesters" threw Molotov cocktails at the soldiers. Thirty eight Israeli soldiers were wounded, and the barrage of petrol bombs caused the army to fire on the protesters. Six Arabs were killed and 32 were wounded. It is interesting that the Daily decided to draw attention to this particular protest by Palestinians against Israel. Palestinians have protested in Israel rather frequently since the beginning of the Intifada, so there is surely no lack of recent protests for the Daily to commemorate. Why should the Daily choose to commemorate this extremely violent protest against an Israeli government plan to build schools, rather than some more recent protest? I should point out that the Land Day protest of 1976 was the only violent anti- Israel protest ever held by Palestinians in- side the 1967 borders of Israel. The current violence associated with the Intifada is oc- curring in Judea, Sumeria (the West Bank) and Gaza, which Israel captured in the de- fensive war of 1967. In Israel, there are a number of Israelis on the political left who believe that a *~ ARE. WEIDEE OF 111% youa U~SA.