OPINION

The Michigan Daily
Vol. XCV, No. 45-S
95 Years of Editorial Freedom
Managed and Edited by Students at
The University of Michigan
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the
Doily Editorial Board
Destructive engagement
L AST WEEK, South African President Pieter Botha
agreed to meet with black Anglican Bishop Desmond
Tutu to try to find a way to restore peace in the racially-
divided nation.
This week, Botha refused to meet with the Nobel Peace
Prize winner. Apartheid goes on.
In this country, the Reagan administration has denoun-
ced apartheid - as all smart politicians must do - and
last month, President Reagan recalled the American am-
bassador to South Africa.
However, the U.S. still has diplomatic ties with South
Africa. It still allows trade to flow freely between the two
countries. The administration continues to allow U.S. co-
porations to have about $2 billion invested in a country
whose white-dominated government oppresses the black-
dominated population.
The U.S. House voted Thursday to impose economic
sanctions on South Africa, but conservative members of
the Senate and President Reagan are expected to water
down these sanctions, if they are passed at all.
The sanctions include banning the importation of
Kruggerrand gold coins for sale in the U.S., prohibiting
loans to the South African government, and blocking the
sale of some computer materials. American companies
currently dominate about 70 percent of the South African
computer market.
Ironically the Reagan administration supports
"freedom fighters" in Afghanistan and Angola, but
refuses to help those in South Africa.
The economic sanctions passed by the House are a first
step, but the U.S. should be ready for further action. If
President Reagan truely opposes the policies of Botha and
his henchmen, he should be ready to disassociate this
nation from them if Botha remains unwilling to seek
changes.
American policy must change drastically. Botha has
recently banned large open-air funeral services and im-
posed a curfew to prevent boycotts. Botha proclaims
proudly that South Africa lifted restrictions that prevented
blacks and whites from marrying. In was a new develop-
ment, but as Nelson Mandela recently said in an interview,
"I don't want to marry a white woman. What I want is
political equality."
The right to vote, the right to hold office, and the right to
protest must be granted to the black population of South
Africa. If not, President Reagan should be ready to cut off
all diplomatic relations with South Africa, impose com-
plete economic sanctions, and pull out every American
dollar in South Africa.
When a government begins arresting blacks on a whim
and brings down a black curtain in front of the eyes of the
press, enough is enough. We must stop supporting apar-
theid - -.. . -.... . *. ...__ . . . .

Saturday, August 3, 1985

Page 5

The lesson of August
ads for "back to school" sales in twines with the shortened twilight of
By Matthew R. Kerbel papers like the Daily and think to our- mortality to show that the two can,
selves that these things appear indeed must, go hand-in-hand. It is a
Listen carefully and perhaps you'll earlier every year. Either way, the rich lesson when taken in the manner
hear a message from nature con- paradox: in summer's finest hour are in which it is presented, as it makes it
tained in a paradox of the season. the seeds of something new. possible to find and feel summer's
With the summer solstace now well IF A CALENDAR year were a vitality long after the down vests have
behind us, with the leaves on the trees lifetime, August would be that point returned without feeling that
securely rooted in middle age, it goes at which we are still active and in- something has passed us. by. The
almost without saying that we in the volved and yet for the first time alternative is the illusion of endless
northern latitudes are enveloped aware that we are not here forever. If summer, attractive and compelling
most of the time in steamy heat. you find this depressing, you're not but, like most illisions I know,
Damp nights follow damp days. It is listening carefully enough: the sum- ultimately disappointing once the
summer at its strongest. mer is no less vital despite signs that leaves start to float to the ground. Of
We wear shorts in August and swim it will be- ending. Really, the days course, years are lifetimes only in
outside and rarely think about down have been growing shorter since metaphors and we all know that the
jackets, if we think of them at all. Yet, summer began only for so long this real summer will come again. But
sometime in August we suddenly was easy to overlook because the years in the plural are lifetimes in
realize that night is falling much change was imperceptible compared fact, and we can find a good way to
earlier than what we've come to ex- to the illusion of endless summer. look at them contained in the lessons
pect and that twilight is much shorter And, there is vitality in autumn if we of August, upbeat in its realism, this
or perhaps we become conscious of so chloose. month and for all days.
leaving summer jobs or summer This is the lesson of August, when Kerbel is a doctoral student in
friends or summer places. Or we see the bathing-suited spirit of life inter- politicalscience.
Peace group in the Soviet Union
By Norman Solomon Soviet state," Medvedkov noted.
y __Such a mix offers little grist for propaganda mills, East
MOSCOW - When a small group of Russians gathered or West. The 50 active "non-critical non-dissidents" in
in a living room here one recent July evening, their Moscow are annoying to the Kremlin, but they are worlds
worries about personal jeopardy seemed inseparable apart from the virulent anti-Sovietism of exile writer
from their concerns about the future of the Soviet Union. Alexander Solzhenitsyn and a far cry from famed Soviet
"This is an absolutely crucial, formative phase for our dissident Andrei Sakharov.
society," said Yuri Medvedkov, a 57-year-old geographer THE WHITE HOUSE, for its part, could only support
who, together with his wife Olga, hosts gatherings of the the Group by ignoring its advocacy of the current system
Group to Establish Trust Between the US and USSR. "We and its call for substantive steps toward nuclear disar-
exist very much asa symbol," he added. mament.
THE NIGHT BEFORE, police had taken into costody "It is tremendously wrong to paint the Soviet Union with
Vladimir Brodsky, 41, a physician who is a member of the one color," Medvedkov said, deriding as dangerous non-
group's 11-person "contact core" and a frequent visitor to sense depictions of the USSR as an "evil empire."
the Medvedkov's apartment. Charged with Group diembers have proposed a ban on children's war
"hooliganism," Brodsky could remain in prison for up to toys that resemble modern military weaponry and ex-
five years. pressed active interest in non-violence, particularly in
There is no clear evidence yettas to Soviet leader Mikael Gandhi and Martin Luther King.
Gorbachev's attitude toward the Group - which has IN AN INTERVIEW two days before he ws taken
organized numerous public vigils and private gatherings into custody, Vladimir Brodsky urged ex-
on the theme of nuclear disarmament in its three years of changes between the United States and the USSR in-
tenuous existence. But there is no doubt Ronald Reagan volving doctors, pharmacists and other health care
would find many of their views distinctly unpalatable. professionals. He felt the symbolic value of such personal
One difficulty facing the Group - and perhaps in the long life-saving interaction could be psychologically impor-
run one of its greatest strengths - is that it disappoints tant.
the preconceptions of almost all concerned. The Soviet government crackdowns are not due to the
For example, group activists sometimes encounter Group's positions on nuclear disarmament and peace -
harassment from the KGB but they categorically reject many of the same themes are sounded by the officially-
being labeled as dissidents. "From the very beginning, we sanctioned Soviet Peace Committee which conducts
wanted it known that we are not dissidents," Medvedkov massive educational campaigns and rallies..
says. "Our goals are direct people-to-people contact and Members say they hope the new Soviet leader will halt
diminishing of hatred between East and West, which can the repressive moves against them. They expressed the
be achieved rightnow." conviction that Brodsky's indictment and other recent
MEDVEDKOV AND other members of the Group harassment involved not the Kremlin hierarachy but fac-
frequently speak with pride about achievements of the tions within certain bureaus eager to seta particular tone
USSR. They say that they are "non-critical" of the Soviet at the start of Gorahevs leadership.
system and opposed to any effort to "destabilize" the Solomon is the disarmament director of the
Soviet government and society. National Fellowship of Reconciliation. He wrote this
"We emphasize not criticizing the structure of the for the Pacific News Service.
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