The Michigan Daily -Wednesday, January 16, 1991 - Page 3
Soviets tighten control over
breakaway Baltic republics
r
RIGA, U.S.S.R. (AP) - Soviet
commandos stormed a Latvian police
academy and seized weapons from
cadets yesterday as unrest surged
through the Baltics.
In Moscow, Mikhail Gorbachev
clashed head-on with a hot-tempered
military hard-liner who demanded the
Soviet president take even harsher
measures against the breakaway re-
publics.
Thousands at a Communist
Party-led rally in Riga roared for a
pro-Kremlin group to take power in
Latvia.
In Lithuania, a military heli-
copter circled parliament and workers
dug a long trench behind the build-
ing to protect it from Soviet tanks.
A government official said 80 people
were missing after Sunday's military
assault on the republic's television
tower. Fourteen people are known to
have been killed in the attack; 230
were injured.
About 5,000 Kremlin loyalists
rallied in the Estonian capital of
Tallinn, condemning the separatist
Estonian government.
Gorbachev has been striking back
at pro-independence forces he says
are violating the Soviet
Constitution. Yesterday, he made a
fiery speech to the Supreme Soviet
legislature.
The president spoke of the need
for negotiating ways of disarming
civilians who have amassed weapons
to defend themselves. Suddenly Col.
Nikolai Petrushenko stood up
stiffly, pumped his right arm up and
down and shouted: "No negotiations!
The bandits must be disarmed
tonight!"
Gorbachev, who has been under
great pressure from impatient hard-
liners such as Petrushenko to take
tougher steps to restore order, shot
back angrily, "Before you stands a
man who understands the full re-
sponsibility and full acuteness of
this problem."
Latvian Interior Minister Aloizs
Vaznis accused Soviet "black beret"
commandos of staging attacks that
"are designed to provoke armed con-
flict to prompt the intervention of
military units, which are combat-
ready."
The commandos attacked Latvia's
only police academy at 2 a.m. and
took pistols, automatic weapons,
sniper's rifles and grenade launchers
that Vaznis said, "could be used in
provocative actions" against the re-
public's government.
Some commandos arrived at the
academy disguised as traffic police;
talked their way past a night guard
and disarmed him, Latvian radio re
ported. Other commandos seized the
building, disarming the cadets and
severely beating two, the report said
They left a short time later.
On Monday, commandos in black
berets seized a police precinct station
in a Riga suburb but left quickly and
later returned the captured weapons.
The commandos also occupied d
heating facility in a Riga suburb.
The black beret units are
controlled by the Soviet Interior
Ministry, which is headed by Boris
Pugo, a former head of the Latvian
KGB secret police.
"I have come to the conclusion
that these actions were planned by
the Soviet Interior Ministry" in
Moscow, Vaznis said.
MICHELLE uUYaiiy
Engineering Senior Cynthia Tarr (left) and LSA Senior Nahid Karim (right) join hands while singing "Lift Every
Voice and Sing" during the 6th annual candlelight service in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., held yesterday
evening at the Trotter House.
175 students gather for vigil
to honor ing's birthday
by Shalini Patel
and Lisa Sanchez
'Daily Staff Reporters
While many students gathered
last night to protest possible war in
the Gulf, others gathered to honor a
man of peace - Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr.
On what would have been the
62nd birthday of the civil rights
leader, about 175 people assembled
-for the Sixth Annual Candlelight
Service at Trotter House last night.
Throughout the service, the
threat of war persisted as the United
Nations deadline for Iraqi with-
drawal from Kuwait drew near. The
impending deadline only seemed to
reinforce the importance of Dr.
King's vision of liberation and
,peace.
Song, prayer and speeches
marked the celebration and vigil.
The University's Gospel choir
struck a chord dominant in the
minds of many with "The Storm
Will Pass Over," a song which per-
sonified the Gulf conflict.
The Reverend Mark Wilson, a
sociology graduate student, deliv-
ered the keynote address, drawing
parallels between King's position
on U.S. involvement in Vietnam
and the current situation in the
Persian Gulf.
Wilson said King had noted the
disproportionate number of people
of color in the military during
Vietnam and the devastating effects
of a war economy on poverty. A
parallel situation exists in the
Persian Gulf conflict, Wilson said.
"My friends, we have a night-
mare tonight," Wilson said. "White
money is being sent out of our
country. Our neighborhoods are
falling down and our families are
falling apart."
Wilson challenged students to
actively protest the impending war.
"I have a dream that the students
will get involved with this Persian
Gulf situation. I have a dream that
every military base will be leveled
down so that we can build up
schools and educational institu-
tions."
Wilson also called the U.N.
deadline date, which falls on Dr.
King's birthday, a "slap in the face
of Dr. Martin Luther King."
LSA sophomore Laurita Kaigler
agreed with Wilson's speech.
"(The deadline) is a slap in the
face of Black people, the Black
community has no vital interests in
Saudi Arabia," she said. "Bush has
made clear that he has no respect for
the Black community."
LSA sophomore David Payne,
who attended the vigil, disagreed.
"I'm sure it was a coincidence," he
said.
Another of the event's speakers
was George Davis, a School of
Education graduate student. He ex-
pressed dissatisfaction with the
U.S. Persian Gulf involvement and
the preservation of the New World
Order as its justification. "The New
World Order," he said, is "nothing
but a tightening of white control of
people of color across the world."
As the lights dimmed at the end
of the vigil, participants joined
hands and voices in "Lift Every
Voice and Sing."
Symbol of war
Ann Arbor resident Linda Diane Feldt protests the use of force in the Persian Gulf at a noon rally yesterday.
~PBS documentary film to feature teach-in creator Bergmann
by Chris Afendulis
,Daily Staff Reporter
In 1965, a young University
faculty member helped originate an
innovative plan to help students un-
,derstand the heightening Vietnam
,War - the teach-in.
Twenty-five years later,
,University students flocked to simi-
*lar sessions on a different conflict -
the Persian Gulf.
University Philosophy Prof.
Frithjof Bergmann, who continues
to teach and research at the
University, was the young professor
who helped develop the teach-in
concept.
"You can mention the word
teach-in in China or Germany and
people will know what you're talk-
ing about," said Bergmann, who
helped organize the nation's first
teach-in in March of 1965.
His fame has recently attracted
major television networks for inter-
views, and his contributions to the
turbulent Vietnam era will be show-
cased in a television series on PBS
this month.
Due to Bergmann's commit-
ment to current research, he has been
unable to collaborate on the
University's current wave of teach-
ins. "I don't want to spread myself
too thin," he said.
He still believes in the effec-
tiveness of teach-ins, however.
"The idea (behind the original
teach-in) was that intelligent opposi-
tion is much better than unintelli-
gent opposition," he said. "It had a
permanent influence on people's
lives... people were left with the
feeling, 'Yes, I can change the
world."'
He estimated that at least half of
all the colleges and universities na-
tionwide held teach-ins during the
Vietnam War.
Bergmann holds higher hopes
for the current wave of teach-ins, ex-
plaining that while opposition to the
Vietnam War was marginal in 1965,
today's widespread anti-war senti-
ment gives educators much more to
work with.
He also believes attitudes have
drastically changed since the mid-
'60s, explaining that many saw the
Vietnam War as a struggle between
freedom and tyranny.
"Now," he said, "there is hardly
anyone who believes in that
fantasy."
Many of Bergmann's opinions
about the Vietnam era will be exam-
ined in "Making Sense of the
Sixties," which will air on PBS
January 21st, 22nd, and 23rd at 9:00
pm.
Television producer David
Hoffman contacted Bergmann over a
year ago to examine his role in the
'60s, which included not only his
teach-in activities, but also a body of
philosophical work dealing with the
time and its legacy.
"I've worked to make more co-
herent some of the impulses of the
'60s," he said. He felt that the intel-
lectual climate of the decade deterio-
rated in its later years, leading to a
fragmentation of its hopes.
His work in philosophy during
the '70s sought to make order of the
chaos of the previous decade and re-
capture the idealism of its early
years.
"I've persisted and worked out
ideas that are more coherent and vi-
able," said Bergmann of his endeav-
ors, which include working with two
Indian tribes, the homeless in Nqw
York City, and Detroit's inner-city
youth. Bergman said his most ambi-
tious project, called the Center for
New Work, attempts to help indus-
trial workers who have been increaW-
ingly displaced by technological i-
novations. ยง
_
_ z
WTHE LIST
What's happening in Ann Arbor today
MSA rejects Gulf anti-war resolution
Wk
rworda
Oft V.,I
All groups
appear in the
There will be
We apologize
Meeting
Undergraduate Ph
weekly discussion.p
History of Contempo
to be led by T. H
Angell Hall, 7:00.
VIA Hillel, bi-w
Hillel, 6:30.
AIESEC (Internatio
Students in Economi
weekly meeting. B-S
6:00.
Speaker
"Orthodox Chris
America," Fr. Jose
Union, 7-8:00.
"Robust Estimate
Hellinger Neighb
Wu, speaker. 451 Ma
"Hlghly Selective
who wish to have their weekly meetings
List must resubmit their announcements.
no automatic carry-overs from last term.
for the inconvenience.
is Furthermore
Safewalk functions 8-11:30 Sun.-
iilosophy Club, Thurs. Call 936-1000 or stop by 102
This week: "The UG1i.
rary Philosophy" Northwalk functions 8-11:30 Sun.-
Hinchman. 2220 Thurs. Call 763-WALK or stop by
2333 Bursley.
'eekly meeting. ECB Peer Writing Tutors avalible
to help with your papers Sunday-
nal Association of Thursday, Angell/Haven Computing
ics and Business), Center, 7-11:00.
chool, Rm. 1273, U of M Shorin-Ryu Karate-do
Club, weekly practice. Call 994-3620
for info. CCRB Martial Arts Rm.,
8:30-9:30.
U of M Tae Kwon Do Club,
s wednesday workout. CCRB Martial
Arts Rm., 7-8:30.
tian Unity in "Life on A Curve," a show about
f Abud, speaker. education performed by The Resi-
dence Hall Repertory Theatre Troupe.
s in Shrinking Mosher Jordan, 10:00.
orhoods," Coln Beans and Rice Dinner. Guild
ason Hall, 4:00. House, 802 Monroe St., 6:00.
Syntheses via Comedy Company Auditions. Call
by Jay Garcia_
Daily MSA Reporter
Despite the urging of its execu-
tive leadership, the Michigan
Student Assembly narrowly rejected
a resolution opposing war in the
Persian Gulf after a long debate at
last night's meeting.
The resolution, which supported
the planned actions of Students
Against U.S. Intervention in the
Middle East (SAUSI) for the day fol-
lowing a military attack, was voted
down by a roll call margin of 20 to
18.
MSA President Jennifer Van
Valey began the meeting by com-
menting on the impending war in
the Gulf and expressed her own feel-
ings against the actions of the U.S.
government.
"I'm not willing to support the
wholesale slaughter of Americans
and Iraqis," Van Valey said.
She expressed hope that assembly
members would set aside their differ-
ences to support the resolution and
also encouraged them to attend
SAUSI meetings and the "Troops
Out Now" vigil held last night.
It was clear from the debate that
the assembly was divided over the
resolution. Many representatives had
problems with the specific clauses
and wanted to see things deleted,
added, or changed.
Some assembly members were
concerned that the resolution should
express support for u.a. turoos ai-
ready deployed in Saudi Arabia.
"It hurts me to see people down-
play (the troops)," said.LSA rep.
Julie Davies, who explained that she
has friends in the Gulf area.
Engineering rep. Brian Kight said
he was strongly opposed to the reso-
lution because it did not necessarily
represent the ideas of the majority of
students on campus, who are MSA's
constituents.
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in the mouths of the students with a
resolution," Knight said. "I know i
lot of students would be mad if thi$
resolution passed." a
In response, Paula Church of the
Peace and Justice Commission re-
minded everyone that MSA is a pq-
litical body.
A motion was made to postpone
the resolution which would have
essentially killed it. It did not pass.r
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