4A -The Michigan Daily - Monday, March 6, 2006 OPINION U be Lirb~i gun tIl DoNN M. FRESARD Editor in Chief EMILY BEAM CHRISTOPHER ZBROZEK Editorial Page Editors ASHLEY DINGES Managing Editor EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com NOTABLE QUOTABLE I'm proud to be out of touch." - Actor George Clooney, accepting his award for Best Supporting Actor, addressing Hollywood's historical willingness to tackle controversial themes such as civil rights and AIDS before the public is ready to accept them, during last night's Academy Awards ceremony. KATIE GARLINGHOUSE -ousE ARREsT 6 Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their author. e When will the Daily learn? MARA GAY CoNfN1O SENSE a0 hen will the Daily learn? Almost four years after a plethora of student groups boycot- ted it for its racial insen- sitivity and the lack of diversity among its staff, The Michigan Daily continues to publish a newspaper much of the campus's black community sees as racist. The Daily has made attempts to improve its reputation and better serve the entire University, but even the most promising among them have failed. The Daily's Multicultural Commission, for example - a temporary committee created to help the Daily become more accountable to minority communities and increase diversity within its ranks, which I was a member of - is one of these attempts. Even after the Commission made official recommendations to the Daily's editors, cartoons some in the black community denounced as racist continued to be published, coverage of positive events within the black com- munity was hard to come by, and the threat of a boycott loomed near once again. Although the Daily is in no way absolved from its responsibility to work honestly toward such a feat, it is incredibly difficult to foster a sense of understanding about racism and the insidious ways in which it presents itself in the face of a staff so devoid of diversity. At a University where just getting through the day without confronting racial prejudice and the ignorance of classmates can be an exhausting feat, the anger, resentment and sometimes just plain indifference with which much of the black community regards the Daily is not an overre- action. But the overwhelming consensus among the community to do little more than verbalize its disgust for the Daily is a grave mistake. Sorry to disappoint, but the Daily features no smoke-filled rooms where The Man puffs a cigar behind ornate mahogany doors and plots to destroy the black community. The Daily's editorial board - the group that decides the newspaper's official opinions - holds open meetings twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays at 6 pim. Anyone is welcome. It is not a conspiracy to further disenfranchise minorities that prevents the Daily from serv- ing the entire University community fairly. The greatest obstacle is a staff that is as predominant- ly white and affluent as it is largely ignorant of the experiences of minority students at the Uni- versity. How can the Daily be expected to fairly cover minority communities if so few of its staff are students of color? There are many students working hard within the black community to create positive change. From holding a Black State of the Union as a way of assessing where progress needs to be made to supporting the extensive volunteer organizations on campus, there is no doubt that there are stu- dents committed to seeing the campus's black community - and by extension, the University - move forward. But vilifying the campus newspaper is coun- terproductive and reactionary. No campus com- munity can ever hope to hold equal membership in the University by shunning its greatest oppor- tunity to speak out and be heard. The Michigan Daily is one of the greatest tools for creating progress in the black community, but it is also the most underused. Those who are interested in journalism, business, photography, politics or simply speaking their minds should be encour- aged to join the Daily, especially if they hail from communities that are chronically underrepre- sented and misrepresented in the news. At Michigan, where issues surrounding race and racism seem to be never-ending, the task of educating our white peers about minority issues seems daunting. It would be far easier, of course, to mouth off about how racist the Daily is, how steeped in privilege its members are and how hopeless the situation appears. Few are the moments when you are able to truly be an indi- vidual in the classroom; rare are the days that do not include defending your right to attend the University, justifying the right of every black and minority student on this campus to belong. The situation is unfair and it is exhausting, but it is the reality people of color have come to know all too well in America. With the constant battles over affirmative action, the seemingly endless stream of racist incidents and the silence from a student newspaper that is supposed to represent our voice as well, the prospect of joining the Daily can be overwhelming. But according to the 2001 edition of Black Issues in Higher Education, only 8.7 per- cent of blacks in America hold a bachelor's degree or higher. We have a responsibility to make things better for our communities, even though doing so means hard work and painful interactions at the boundaries of our comfort zones. The contemptuous regard for The Michigan Daily is reasonable, but it is not productive. It is self-censorship of an already silenced com- munity. And it has got to stop now. Gay can be reached at maracl@umich.edu VIEWPOINT Forget Tibet, free Burma Besides geographical proximity, Bud- dhism, isolation and vocal opposition groups, what do Tibet and Burma (also known as Myanmar) have in common? Not much - except that one needs a few moments of your time and the other won't be freed before the end of one-party rule in China. Your actions from abroad can help free the peoples of Burma. In 1990, after 28 years of military dicta- torship, Aung San Suu Kyi and her party, the National League for Democracy, won an over- whelming majority in nationwide elections. The Burmese military junta has blocked the assembly of elected parliamentarians. After a near assassination by junta-backed thugs three years ago this May, Suu Kyi remains in "pro- tective custody" - the only Nobel laureate under house arrest. Though powerless in Burmese military cir- cles, Burmese political parties remain active inside and outside the country. Networks of opposition media expose the continued human rights abuses, forced labor and environmental destruction the junta perpetuates. They prove that Burma is a lot worse than Tibet. Burmese farmers are tortured for failing to provide rice to the army. Villagers are con- scripted for government projects like massive shrimp farms, the clearing of natural gas pipe- line corridors, strip mining and timber harvest. For their work, the people get to live another day. Army officials get the cash. No matter how much the government earns, Burma has never developed an infrastructure - unless you consider domestic suppression techniques. Burma spends 40 percent of its gross domestic product on a military with no foreign engagements. The United Nations's 2003 statistics indicate that Burma's education and health spending is 0.5 percent and 0.4 per- cent respectively, both of which rank among the lowest in the world. The West's reaction to Burmese military tyr- anny has focused mainly on aiding the Burmese opposition and isolating the regime through sanctions. Burma's neighbors, contrarily, employ a "strategy of engagement." Thailand, India, China, South Korea, Bangladesh and others - if they try to justify their trade poli- cies at all - argue that market forces will lead to greater Burmese democratization. Concern for human rights, the environment and the rule -of law still effectively fall on the shoulders of countries with sanctions regimes. These American and European Union sanc- tions are not enough. There are many every- day steps that you can take to help free Burma from military rule. Just as boycotts and university divestment cam- paigns helped push South Africa under apartheid to the brink, so can similar efforts further isolate and choke Burma's illegitimate rulers. Avoiding Burma's few but lucrative products -is simple. Most of the world's emeralds, rubies, jade and teak wood come from Burma. Teak timber is especially difficult to track because it is often sold illegally to Chinese timber com-. panies. These products should be avoided. Travel to Burma aids the regime, not the people. Many corporations do business in Burma. Among the big offenders include Sony Erics- son, DHL, the Coca-Cola Company and Dae- woo International. These corporations should be held accountable. You can find a complete list at www.global-unions.org/burma. You can support exile groups. Last year, the U.S. Campaign for Burma (www.uscam- paignforburma.org) released a compilation of songs titled "For the Lady," dedicated to Suu Kyi. The SHWE Gas Campaign (www. shwe.org) aims to stop an international gas pipeline that could inject more foreign capital in the Burmese regime than any other single source. SHWE and other groups encour- age writing letters to complicit corporations and governments, a cheap way to make your voice heard. And if you really want an experience that goes beyond student government or campus activism, you can volunteer with the one mil- lion or so Burmese refugees on the Thai border. Many programs, such as the Burma Volunteer Project (www.geocities.com/maesotbvp) and EarthRights International (www.earthrights.org), allow three-month stints or summer internships for people who want to work in health clinics, teach English or network with refugee and exile groups on the border. And unlike most volunteer programs, many projects actually pay volunteers a small stipend. Thank you, George Soros and the Open Society Institute (www.soros.org). Of course, Tibetan exiles on the borders of - the Tibetan Autonomous Region need help as well, and international efforts to preserve Tibetan culture should be applauded. But don't hold your breath about Tibetan refugees returning to their region to assume the reins of government any time soon. Work on Tibet is a stop-gap measure, like throwing a bum loose change, or driving a smaller SUV. Just because it makes you feel , good to put a "Free Tibet" sticker on your bumper doesn't mean you're helping a Tibetan. The Burmese junta is vulnerable. Your efforts could tip the balance of power in this small Asian nation. The author is a former Daily editor who has spent the last two years working with Bur- mese democracy groups. The author has been granted anonymity to protect his or her ability to continue work with the Burmese democracy movement. You can read a longer version of this piece online at www.michigandaily.com. LETTER TO THE EDITOR Send all letters to the editor to tothedaily@michigandaily.com. Editorial Board Members: Amy Anspach, Andrew Bielak, Kevin Bunkley, Gabrielle D'Angelo, Whitney Dibo, Milly Dick, Sara Eber, Jesse Forester, Mara Gay, Jared Goldberg, Ashwin Jagan- nathan, Mark Kuehn, Frank Manley, Kirsty McNamara, Rajiv Prabhakar, Katherine Seid, Ben Tavlo-r lessicai Tene, Raichel Waexner. Student Conservative Party is misguided and radical' Tn ur n & ur v- think that the Coke Coalition has insistedr that every single student not buy any Coca- Cola products, ever. In fact, the coalition onlyl intended to suspend the University's businesst tins. wivth C i.n-Cnlan untl it noe stocenrtt The Coca-Cola Corporation has not complied with this basic doctrine and thus its contracts has been suspended. The suspension of Coca- Cola's contract sends the clear message that the Unvemity will hono~r its onnnrinc'inlesg I