OPINION
Page 6 Friday, June 3, 1988 The Michigan Daily
- mH I; East-West hypocrisies
Vol. ALVIII- - ." 5
Unsigned editorials represent the majority views of the Daily's
Editorial Board. Cartoons and signed editorials do not
necessarily reflect the Daily's opinion.
Of homes and war
THE UNITED STATES has over
3000 Harpoon anti-ship missiles
and plans to buy 4000 more. The
cost of only one of these missiles
($940,000) could build four duplex
homes, renovate ten units of aban-
doned apartments and weatherize 22
homes.
To dramatize the link between
militarism and homelessness, the
Ann Arbor Build Homes Not
Bombs Campaign will sponsor a
rally at the Federal Building on
Monday, followed by the erection
of a tent city and a sleep-out at City
Hall.
Held in conjunction with a
national network of similar rallies,
this demonstration seeks to protest
both the shrinking federal funds for
housing (down 78 percent under the
Reagan regime) and the gargantuan
increases in military spending
(more than doubled in the last eight
years).
On a national level, the Build
Homes Not Bombs Campaign con-
fronts people with the ways in
which arms spending is used to
wage economic warfare. United
States citizens dying of exposure on
park benches and under bridges are
asked to make do without a roof
over their heads because the federal
government has decided that con-
structing a leaky Star Wars shield is
of higher budgetary priority.
On a local level, the campaign
forces Ann Arbor to ask how the
University is serving its commu-
nity. The University accepted 1.7
million dollars in Pentagon funds
last year while the Ann Arbor
Homeless Action Group estimates
that at least 500 homeless people
now roam Ann Arbor's streets.
Students last year were forced to
sleep in lounges for lack of dormi-
tory space while the University
contributed 45,000 dollars for a
chemical weapons project.
The demands of this campaign are
reasonable and humane: A perma-
nent site must be found for the Ann
Arbor day shelter. Single room oc-
cupancy must be made available to
minimum wage earners. The Uni-
versity must stop building facilities
for attracting military research and
start building dormitories for its
students. The City Council must
endorse the Omnibus Housing Bill
now before Congress.
Ann Arbor has become a com-
munity in which University scien-
tints develop new and interesting
ways for killing people inside spa-
cious buildings while just around
the corner people with no roof over
their heads scrounge for bottle in
the garbage. This situation is unac-
ceptable. On both a local and na-
tional level, the message is clear
and uncompromising: Stop forcing
people from their homes. Build af-
fordable housing. Pay for it out of
the military budget.
The Build Homes Not Bombs
events will begin at 5:30 p.m.this
Monday, June 6, at the Federal
Building on East Liberty. A dinner
and sleep-out on the lawn of City
Hall will follow. For more infor-
mation contact Ann Arbor Build
Homes Not Bombs at 936-3076 or
763-6876.
PRESIDENT REAGAN conducted
what may be his last official sum-
mit with Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev this week. Both leaders
were very anxious for success, if
not diplomatically at least in the
eyes of their respective publics.
However, the foci of the summit -
the Intermediate Nuclear Forces
(INF) Treaty and the arguments
over Soviet human rights viola-
tions - are both based on faulty
premises, and Reagan and Gor-
bachev need to stop posturing and
start working more earnestly to-
wards international peace.
First of all, there are several
problems with the INF treaty itself.
Although eliminating a class of
nuclear weapons and removing a
link in the nuclear escalation chain
is an accomplishment, it is hardly
sufficient. Only a fraction of the
superpowers' nuclear stockpiles
will actually be reduced, and both
possess long-range missiles that
could be used instead of medium-
range weapons against the same
targets. Also, the INF Treaty only
eliminates missiles, not nuclear
warheads. Once the missiles are
dismantled, the nuclear warheads
may be retained and used for alter-
nate purposes.
There is no stipulation in the
treaty regulating research for the
Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI),
because Reagan refuses to use it as
a bargaining chip. Reagan's stub-
bornness about even discussing SDI
research not only limits U.S. bar-
gaining power, but also undermines
the treaty itself by providing an av-
enue for use of more exotic and de-
suctive weapons in the future.
The other main issue at the
summit was President Reagan's at-
tacks on Soviet human rights
abuses. Reagan is challenging Gor-
bachev to improve Soviet condi-
tions by reuniting separated fami-
lies, increasing emigration, and
ending political and religious sup-
pression. Amnesty International and
other human rights organizations
have documented many Soviet
atrocities in Afghanistan, in the
Soviet satellites, and within the
USSR itself.
While the Soviet regime has cer-
tainly committed its share of brutal
acts, any holier-than-thou pontifi-
cating by the President of the
United States - especially Ronald
Reagan - smacks of true hyp-
ocrisy. Across the globe, thousands
have fallen victim to U.S.-spon-
sored dictatorships or terrorists.
The Reagan-backed contras in
Nicaragua have a long record of
murdering, raping, and destroying
homes of the people they are trying
to "liberate." Guatemala, which was
cited as the among the most repres-
sive countries in the world, receives
most of its arms from the Reagan
administration. In the Unites States
itself, Reagan encourages mining
companies to take the land of
Americ Indians for strip mining
- and these are only a few of the
atrocities conducted or condoned by
the United States. Reagan is in no
position to preach to anyone about
human rights violations.
The summit did not raise the
hopes of the free and not-so-free
world. The threat of nuclear des-
truction or war by other exotic
weapons still looms over human-
ity, and though President Reagan
would have people believe other-
wise, his administration is just as
guilty as the Soviet Union when it
comes to violating human rights.
Non-profit booths are reduced:
Art Fair limits groups
LIMITING THE NUMBER of
non-profit group booths at the Ann
Arbor Street Art Fair will greatly
detract from the social, political and
cultural diversity that has character-
ized the event in the past. Art Fair
has traditionally included a variety
of non-profit community groups,
ranging from the Revolutionary
Communist Youth Brigade to the
Mormon Church. This year, how-
ever, its broad scope is being
threatened.
The non-profit tables usually oc-
cupy the space near the East Engi-
neering Arch, but construction on
that corner has forced the groups to
be placed in a new location. The
Mayor's Art Fair Planning Com-
mittee, which includes representa-
tives from Art Fair, the City
Council, and the University, says
that there may only be enough
space for 50 of the 80 groups who
have applied.
The mayor should have appointed
a representative of the non-profit
groups to the committee. However,
even without someone to voice the
interests of the non-profit groups,
the committee should realize the
importance of accommodating
them. Certainly, having a space in
the Art Fair benefits the groups
themselves - many of them count
on this annual event to do commu-
nity outreach, education, and fund-
raising - but the presence of the
non-profit groups enhances the Fair
and benefits the entire community
as well.
The wide range of non-profit
groups that have traditionally par-
ticipated in the Art Fair help to
create a diverse environment which
fosters the open exchange of ideas.
Both the University and the Ann
Arbor community should be con-
cerned with promoting and main-
taining such an environment. The
University has taken responsibility
for the non-profit groups in the
past, and it should continue to do
everything in its power to ensure
their full participation in the Art
Fair.
In addition to the potential ex-
clusion of non-profit groups from
the Art Fair, the University is
instituting a dramatic price increase
for student and non-profit groups
who want to set up food booths
outside the Union. Last year, the
Michigan Union Food Services
charged these groups $125. This
year, the price has escalated to $500
for student groups and $600 for
community non-profit groups. All
groups will be also be charged a
$100 mandatory fee for electricity,
and a refundable $100 payment for
clean-up costs.
This policy is untenable. It is
equivalent to charging students
$600 to set up lemonade stands.
Clearly, the University's intention
is to reduce the number of groups
with food booths, and its motive is
one of profit. The food stands out-
side the Union compete with those
inside, which the University owns.
In instituting this policy, the Uni-
versity is again overlooking the
needs of student and non-profit
groups, and the needs of the com-
munity that is served by these
groups. The message implicit in
the new policy is that, for the Uni-
versity, increased profit is more
important than the needs of the
community.
To make the Art Fair as mean-
ingful and successful an event as it
has been in the past, the University
must retract its new price policy,
and all non-profit groups must be
allowed to participate. Profit and
non-profit organizations should
work together, not against one an-
other. The Art Fair is a community
event, and it is an event in which
the entire community should be in-
cluded.
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