PERSPECTIVES
Friday, August 15, 1986
The Michigan Daily
Page 7
Culturalfreedom
By Manning Marable condemned a story about a boy who
cooked at home as a negative sex role IA RON ?
The New Right and many religious reversal, and termed a simple picture
fundamentalists distinguish them- of "Jack and Jill" dancing as a
selves from an earlier generation of possible depiction of "Satanic rites."
American conservatives by their Frost also refused to accept the
zealous advocacy of anti-intellec- presentation of non-Christian
tualism and educational intolerance "religious views" in class textbooks,
of cultural and ideological diversity. on an "equal (basis) to our own"
Rightwing leader Phyllis Schlafly, for religion. Finally, she echoed Schlafly
instance, has condemned what she and Falwell, in spirit if not in words:
terms "descriptive classroom "Our children's imaginations have to
discussions of fornication, be bounded."
homosexuality, contraceptives and There is no guaranteeta
abortion as though they were normal academic freedom and intellectual in-
and acceptable practices." The New tegrity will prevail in this controver-
Right demands that social history sial case. Testifying on behalf of the
reverse itself - that any discussion of local school board, Professor Robert
contemporary social problems and Farr of Indiana University stated that
issues should be banned, especially in he did not "believe there are any of - jD'i,
the public schools - and that the the public school readers which would
sterile, white male dominated culture be acceptable to the plaintiffs." The
of the early twentieth century should textbooks are being defended by \ ;4epAN
be firmly restored. several prominent lawyers, including
In the Moral Majority Report, Tnes' H FAdvocae eGeneral o
Schlafly has called for a restoration of William H. Farmer. However, the I
the male-dominated workplace: "It fundamentalist parents have the legal
should certainly not our social support of "Concerned Women of
poiy amvewve no h lbrAmrca"aWahngoD.-asdferu ights bac4
plctomvwieinitthlao AmrcaWahntn C.bsdforce... Who is then going to raise the organization established by Beverly fil
children?" The Reverend Jerry LeHaye, wife of right wing television
Faiwell, founder of the Moral evangelist Tim LeHaye.
Majority, extends this traditional If Frost and other plaintiffs win, By Roberto Frisancho
sexist logic to embrace a reactionary what next? It is only a short step to
social policy which looks backward in widescale book bannings and bur- Despite a recently expressed opinion to the contrary
all educational economic and nings, and perhaps the attempted (Daily, 7/18/86), the Peruvian rebel group "Sendero
political areas. "It is easy for people purge from public schools and univer- Luminoso" is undoubtedly a terrorist organization. The
today who are violating God's law and sities of faculty and administrators fanatical group of Maoists known as the Shining Path,
man's law to ridicule those who op- who do not adhere to narrow, fun- "Sendero Luminoso," have been trying to overthrow the
pose them by simply saying. 'That damentalist beliefs. Throughout the democratically elected government of Peru. They have so
fellow's repressive; he is suggesting a country, Waldenbooks stores recently far been virtually unsuccessful, on June 18, 1986, about 250
return to where America was fifty laid out displays of books which have of them died in a prison riot at Lurigancho, El Fronton
years ago, morally'," Falwell states, been censored or banned during and Santa Barbara prisons in Lima, wounding nine police
"That is exactly whatIeamp sins. the past few years. Among the books officers and guards and taking nine hostages. The rebels
aproposing, are "Uncle Tom's Cabin", "Brave also planted bombs and killed several police officers in the
The logical culmination of this in- New World", and believe it or not, the streets.
tellecta rigidity and social back- "Living Bible." The new Bible tran- The prison rebellions were a well-coordinated mutiny,
wardness was on display several slation was burned in Gastonia, North and the inmates were equipped with submachine guns,
weeks ago in a federal district court in Carolina, in 1981 because it was automatic rifles, and explosives. For the time being, the
Greenville, Tennessee, where seven allegedly a "perverted commentary onrebels, who had constructed a maze of tunnels, were in
families sued a local school board for the King James version." control of El Fronton. The Peruvian troops had to use anti-
teaching "disrespect" for parents, the The intellectual poverty of the tank missiles to destroy the concrete barricades there
"theory of evolution", "magic" and radical and religious Right is only and at Lurigancho prison, naval helicopters also had to
other "un-Christian" themesOne surpassed by its intolerance of attack the guerrilla strongholds with rockets to make
self-proclaimed, "Born-Again pluralism. The debate over cultural holes in the defenses which allowed Peruvian marines in.
Christian" plaintiff, Vicki Frost, freedom in our public schools and in- At that time, downtown Lima had been under tight
specifically criticized a textbook deed, in society as a whole, security to prepare for a meeting of leaders of the
which discussed Renaissance art. The distinguishes those of us who are Socialist International. Streets were blocked off, and the
objectionablesentence it he text was committed to real democracy from police had to patrol with submachine guns and bombsnif-
the following: "a central idea of the those social forces which wish to fing dogs.
Renaissance was a belief in the return to the Dark Ages. President Alan Garcia, of the American Popular
dignityand worth of human beings." Revolutionary Alliance (APRA) Party, had ordered 159
Frost claimed that this passage was a accused guerillas freed last year. One of them tried to fire
form of un-Christian "humanism" a homemade mortar at a convention center where Garcia
which "specifically denies God as the Dr. Manning Marable is professor had just arrived to open the congress of the Socialist In-
reor Frost then attackedtexts of political science and sociology ternational. Fearing for their safety, the prime ministers
for thr descition of the global oat Purdue University. Along the of Italy and Norway had to cancel plans to attend.
nateir es ner a afo Color Line" appears in over 140 Afterwards, it was revealed that some of the deaths
nature o airnaiat r as a orm o newspapers internationally, were not due to the fighting; President Garcia blamed the
angerous_inernaionaism." She Republican Guard, Peru's third-biggest police force, for
executing at least 100 Sendero inmates after they surren-
dered in the revolt. Soon after Gen. Maximo Andres Mar-
tinez was dismissed by being sent into early retirement.
We encourage our readers to use this space to discuss and In his speech, Garcia accused the guards of "horrific
respond to issues of their concern. Whether those topics cover crime" and vowed to punish all those responsible. He
University, Ann Arbor community, state, national, or inter- lived up to that by having 20 officers and 80 rank-and-file
members arrested.
national issues in a straightforward or unconventional man- President Garcia's swift actions brought about the
ner, we feel such a dialogue is a crucial function of the Daily. rumor of an impending military coup. Garcia failed to
reduce his dependence on the armed forced by offering
D.
LI
P
k against rebels
to negotiate with the rebels. The Shining Path despises
discussion and aims to destroy democracy.
An avowed human rights advocate, Garcia fired two
generals when an army patrol killed Sendero Luminoso
suspects in an Andean village. That incident diminished
enthusiasm for fighting the guerrillas among the military
which ruled Peru from 1968 to 1980 and has a historic
disliking to the APRA Party.
. What brought the guerrillas to El Fronton, as well as to
the other prisons involved in the June 18 violence, was a
series of jailbreaks that the Senderos made in the
Ayacucho area in early 1982. The government of former
President Fernando Belaunde Terry sought more secure
places, where guards and the judicial authorities would
feel safer. Gradually, through a combination of hostage-
taking, riots and appeals on human rights grounds, the
prisoners won control of the main cell block.
They created a system in which they received visitors of
their choice, did their own cooking, set up a library of
revolutionary books, made simple weapons and built a
network of tunnels and reinforcements to protect them-
selves from attack.
The uprising began because the Senderos wanted the
government to stop moving them to a new maximum-
security prison which would hamper their political and
military planning for their terrorist activities.
Unlike most Latin American guerrillas, the Shining
Path scorns international opinion. For example, there
was the attempt to fire a mortar at the hotel where Willy
Brandy, the former West German Chancellor who opened
ties to the East was staying. The rebels bombed a train
bound for the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu; a Texas woman
and six others were killed, and 39 people were injured.
A peace commission, former by Garcia, for a year now
has been trying to open talks. While Garcia punishes the
excesses of the military the Senderos takes no respon-
sibility for its atrocities. Although claiming roots in the
Communist Party, the Shining Path rejects Moscow,
Havana, Hanoi, and Managua as well as the Peking of
Deng Xiaoping as models. They're enraged that Mao
Zedong's sickening Cultural Revolution has been disman-
tled. (For more information on Maoism, see The Nation,
July 5/12, 1986, pages 20-22.) To put it bluntly, the Sen-
deros have no regard for human life and will stop at
nothing. They must never win.
Roberto Frisancho is an engineering freshman and
a MSA representative on the peace and justice com-
mittee.