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*
An bpen Letter to Patricia Hearst:
Although a number ofyears separate
our lives, there is a definite patterh to
our experience. Mine took place many
ãso in the véar of 1940.
-vears
That"was the year that I received my
letter which invited me to a party to be
held at a place called Fort Dix, New
Jersey' The invitation bore the signature of the President so I went in a spirit
of trust. My age then was equal to yours
totally nonviolent. George found the
root of economic injustice in the private
ownership of God-given land-land that
is the starting poinl for the production
,
trust wai aþrowing thing,
My disillusiõn began when they put
me in a room where they made me disrobe prior to the tortures. They inserted
needles and filled bottles with my
blood. Next they issued me some weird
Khaki-colored, ill-fitting clothes which.
closely resembled yours. They put me
outside into a smal! tent which had no
heat and woke me up at the ungodliest
hours, to march. I, too, was issued 4
of every item of wealth and services, He
recommended the abolition of the landowning privilege by the government
collection of community-created land
values. He further urged the abolition of
all other economic privilegès (a¡iffs,
patents, restrictive licensing);.the .,
government ownership of natur4l
-monopölies
(telephonê, railroads, etc.) ;
and the complete abolition of all taxe$
on producers (income tax, sales tax,
etc.). BUT George drew the line'At the
invasion of indivldual economic rights:
the right to own things produce$ È"y
labor and capital; the right to work as
one pleases; to make a profit; to buy and
sell; to get ahead; to use one's natural
talents and inclinations in,the earning of
if we didn't, was also there.
\{hen I escaped the ordeal,
combines thè best of the truths and insights contained in what are today
.called "the left" and "the right" political ideologies
I strongly urge WIN readers,to read
George for themselves (espçcially
"Progress and Poverty" and "Social
Problems") before accepting aqy
blanket write-off of this radical
so
E
As a male "radical," I want to thank
Gary Wandachild for his forceful ;
qiticisms of the male f,eft, [WIN;
l/22/761, our ignorance of womenrs
struggles, and our lack of commitment
to Feminist Revolution. Yet I finished
the article feeling that the very
processes he decried in Leftist men,
Gary adopted for himself in writing his
criticisms of us.
The fïrst step toward living a
Feminist process-the repudiation of
patriarchal cock privilege-means affirming the Redstockings' statement,
"Our politics begin with ourfeelings."
This statement is as valid for men as for
women.
For a man to write a statement on the
relationship between men and
Feminism and not include any personal
experience of how he as a màn has
responded to the imperative Feminism
gives to men, is to deny his own historical relationship to patriarchy, and
renders his entire criticism suspect.
Equally dangerous as the male Left's
refusal to challenge patriarchy in any
meaningful way, is the tendency I have
observed in some men to put women on
a pedestal for their oppression and their
struggle, as I think Gary does to some
degree. Both reactions have their
source in men's defensive refusal to ,
deal with their personal historical roots
within patriarchal society.
Rather than criticising Leftist men
from his patriarchal disiance, I wôuld
rather see Gary join with other men in
creating new meanings for lrprds like
"men'' and' lbrotherhood"-meanings
that challenge patriarchy by affirming
our womanselves. For men, Feminism
means a personal and political commitment to fiee women frõm the viólence of
patriarchy, and to free men from the
patriarchal misogyny oppressing our
womanselves, which keeps us,
ourselves terrorizing, imprisoning, and
murdering women and each other.
JIMTIPPETT
Florence, Macs.
2
a
gun and had to sleep, eat and live with
it. My luclr was not as good as yours for
I was herded into 4,boat and sent overseas. There I was forced to kill people
who I never got a chance to meét. They
were not even bank employees so we
actually killed them for nothing. The
same fearof being killed by our captors
as yotr
have, the publicþ was not as great
yours. I returned to fïnd ml friends had
made big money, bought large homes
and climbed to the top of the woik
echelon while I was gone. They looked
down their noses at me just as they do
as
you, but I'm certain.you will survive.
You won't have to work as hard, for
yout story will sell many times more
than rnine. You have the proper people
working on your side and the old draftee
who won the battle but lost the war is
forgotten for now. . .
_ERNEST STAFFORI)
,
Whv hasn't there been more research
donä on the Social Security tax? It is the
most fraudulent part of the government
there is.
For example, my father is forty*ix
years old and has already payed in
$141,000 (information from the Depart-
mentof
'
-CATHYCOVELL
Franclsco, Callf.
San
Miriam Wasserman's article arrived
while our household was still in the
throes of intense discussion about the
Wandachild piece. lYe are utterly delighted with her cookbook!,And, iome
gigles are in process, so we know we're
on the right revolutionary road.
theories. In a way this is true because
academic economists do largely ignore
George. But it does not mean that
George has ever been successfully
refuted, by acadeniics or anyone elsel I
have read every supÞosed refutation I
_TIIELIUTIilANS
Ann Arbor, Mlch.
dangers of founding contemporary
feminist theory upon personãl
interpretations of history. But his
response to Garv Wandachild is tvoical
of frale reactionï to attacks on oair^iarchal interpretations of history.
Those who tell women that they
"must wait until after the revolution,"
must surely know nothing of revolution.
Similarly, I feél, those who regard
temrnisfn as simply one more among
could fïnd since firõfbecoming acmany basic issues (and therefore no:t
quainted with George in l968fEvery
deserving of special attention), have
one either misrepreients George's
fpiled to comprehend the nature of the
position or presents an argument based sttuggle for nonviolent social change.
on ludicrous suppositions. I challenge
Thank you Leah, Andrea, Barbaia,
Mr. Bass or anvone else to tefute
and the röst ofyou, for crying out the
George's singlé-tax ideas on the basis of truth: A "revolution" that is not
founded upon the principles ofradical
human ethics, economic corfectness,
practicality, andlor whatever other test feminism is no revolution; a movement
that is not initiated in the kitchens and
they choose.
I recommend George as the theorist
offices ofour dàily lives cannot be nonviolent and cannot bring us a more
that radicals should study today. His
pERnY
human society.
analysis is clearer and mõre coisistent
-DAVID
Durango, Colo.
.
than that of Marxists, and his remedy is
MARSIIELT
-RACHELIE
Stanford, Calif.
ì
4. Why We Should Support the
Kastenmeier Bill /'Steve Trimm
5.'A.Response to Steve Trimm
Don Luce
7. US-Panama Relations: Treaty
The WIN Staff
$47 313.41
YN
I
for What? Treaty for Whom?
Mary Day Kent
11 . Movþg South with the
Continental Walk / Blaine
Metcalf and Steve Ladd ;
12. A Nuclear War in Thailand?
Harvey Wasserman'
14. Lettuce Crowers Experiment
' with X-Ray Treatments in the
Fields / Donald Monkerd
ì
16. Changes
19. Reviews
Cover: Drawing by Mariquita Platov.
STAFF
Maris Cakars Susan Cakars ¡ l
Dwight Ernest Bob Freeston j
Mary Mayo Susan Pines
t
Fred Rosen Murray Rosenblith
UNINDICTED
CO.CONSPIRATORS
bettèr than ever.
Love,
I
March 4,1976/ Vol..Xll fN
ó?Iorrru, wlN contin,ues to dance on the edge of poverty. we
always have, and no mätter how hard we plan, we never seem to
be able to move very far from that edge. That's capitalism for you.
So while your overwhelming generosity allows us to erase the
debts of prior years, the debts oÍ 1976 are already mounting up.
This fund appeal has reachedits successful end. The next one
won't start for a while; if you find yourself with some spare cash in
the meantime, we can always use it.
Our deepest thanks to all of you who've made WIN's tenth year
of service to social change possible and our prospects for another
decade of promoting peace and freedom thru nonviolent action
Julius Lester's letter [tNlN, 2 / 2 / 7 6l is
perhaps "helpful" in pointing out the
12/ l8/75l,says "academic economists
'
no longer bother to refute" George's
Julius Lester's lucid and informative
letter [WIN, 2/12/76]-about race, sex,
, and Frederick Douglass-was a perfect
'anti-dote to the rèpetitive, hardly-readable articles on women that sometimes
appear in WIN. Lester's criticism of
doctrinaire approaches toward this and
other subjecti was eloquently made.
to
Doyúona.Beach, Fla.
Henry Bass, in his dismissal of Henry
Georle in his review of Albert Jay
Nock's "Our Enemy The State" [\{IN,
offf What can be
HINCY
-ELIZABETH
Fort Worth, Tex.
Do you see the rip
done about this?
When we sat down last March andiigur:ed out we needed to raise
$50,000 this yéar, we were worried¡ We had never tried to raise
anywhere near that muöh money before.
The f igu¡es were clear. Wþ had.adef icit of almost $10,00O carried over from 1974 and we projected a similar situation for 1975.
After all, the price of printing, mailing, electricity, oil, telephones,
êtc. was only going one way: up. That would mean cartrying debts
of over $20,000 into 1976. We knew our credit wouldn/t stretch
that far. The choice was clear: either we ra¡sed the money or WIN
would never see its tenth anniversary
ft'ã"t r ö vã", *"ìrä rliii r,"ie.lt'is continually reassuring to
see the value you place on the work we do. We're like anyone else
when hassles come up (once a week minimum around here); we
throw up our hands and wonder if it's worth it,
This year, as WIN readers, contributors and supporters, you've
answqred the question decisively.
Not that we haven't recently had our close calls. Like last week
wheh the man from the electric company came to either collect a
sizable check or shut us off . We smiled and wrote the check thanks
living. Ther-efore, his philosophy,
economist.'
HEW). I
He has l9 more years to go and I
wonder how much he will have in his
account by the time he is 65 years old,.
and how much he will draw. ' ,
n
.
lrn Barry L¡nceBelville JerryCoflinr
Lynnc Sh¡tzlin C¡lfin' Ann D¡vidon Diana Oavies
Ruth fÞ¡r RCoh DiGi¡' 8r¡an Dohcrty
W¡lli¡ñ Doutlirrd' K¡rcn Durbin' .Chuck Fa¡cr
Sah Foldy J¡mForcet L¡iryGar¡ foan LibbyHawk'
Ncil H¡r6rth Ed Hcdtm¡nn Gr¡dc Hcdcm¡nn
í
ÞlcndrikH;rtrbcrl' Karl¡J¡y M¡rtljezcr'
Bccky
fohn¡on N¡nc1 Johnon Paul lgþnron
Alion Kerpcl Cr¡it K¡rpcl John Kypci
Elliot Linzcr' Jrck¡on M¡clow, David lkRçvnold¡'
D¡vidÀiorri¡ M¡rklr{orris' limPcck T¡dRichrrd¡
l¡¡l Roodenlo' NencyRorcn EdSandcr
{$\'
Wcndy Sd¡w¡rtzt M¡rthe Thoma¡es Art Warlow
Allcn Youn3 tJèvcdy Woodward
. 'Àisnbc¡of WIN Editorial
'Box547
t
Board
New Yú*12471
/ Rifton /
Tcleplronc: 91 4-339"0585
'1.
I
WIN is psblirh.d weekly crcc¡ fo¡ thc lirst trvo weeks
in ,¡nu¡ry, thc last weck in March, thc fir¡t wcck in
Iunc, the l¡¡t two weeks ¡n AuSust, and the first trvo
¡rccks in Scptcmber by W.].N. Me3azine lnc. w¡th thc
support of thc W¡r Rcsisters Lea3qÀ. Subscriptiont rre
tll.lD pcr ycer. Second class posttge p¡¡d ¡t ¡,1ür
York, NY 1ûþ1. lndividu¡l writëri erc responsiblc for'
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a sclf-addrc¡scd ¡t¡mped e¡vclooc. Printcd in USA
WIN
WIN 3
National Amnestv week (February 23-29) appears to have
touched a responsive chord in Arierica. over
n'uvòri r,uuã i";"d óð.I",n;Jñ;; ¡;¿önition of this week of concern.
over 100
california clersv have agreed to i.ãã-r".ñons on t-hã iãöiCòiá""esty
on tl.r" *åäÈðnd of February
28-29' Four high schoolJin Mt. ctement, Mich. ;* ;r;;;;;ãä
on the subject of amnesty
with a first prize of 100 Bicentennial silvér ¿otiãrr.irìäi'än-uä'n"tty
"rruy'.ontest
rally in Boston an ex-Marine who
,,
10 governors and'16
i:1"î:::
iåtï'Jiï,îi'f;:X
nU,:;ü.iì;t"ãì;ä;;ii,i;l;iiiliåihå;t",hï[iL:
;
I:':
:i
on s,näay ãnryìo
The full breadth of rèsponse to National Amnesty week will
only be known after it is ôver.
The renewed concern about amnestv trãs atsó reT¡n¿lø åäüuì".óu"r.
specifiã bilis'befo.re cengress, in
particular the Kâstenmeier biil (HR 9s'e6l *ñ¡.¡, ii'i'f,"-ànãiñi6"
Uãri p.irìriö;Ë'ü" öarse¿. Critics of
point
the bill
out that the majoriìy
är" u".lrded
For our readers the case is argued
"f by steve Trimm *hoirinãJhfi;Tii; from its brovisions.
prosram.after six.years in canaãããnãbãi r_;i.", ól;;i;;;Ì'öt".sy
and Laity concerned.
Moreinformation about the Kastenmeier ultl ánd
ãqìr9ar or tñe à'r¡vð ïòiãrnurtv can be
iú;äl; ;;;lí;i;;;iy
i|åi'i"S^*i
T!îìååtläarcounciiroi
uniuã'iur
äi'#"Èå;j;i#;.y
"tËç¡é;
únä"dliil""rïñ;ty;
Ë
Ë ;ö ó,., Nu*
iãi(ñv
WHY WE SHOULD
SUPPORT
THE KASTENMEIERB¡TI
underground and into exile becauSe I truly
l,-*",ll
thought that things were hopeless. The qovern_
ment continued to commit atroc¡tíes in Sóutheast
ôtlg,. t"r,q¡ning de.af to our pleas andirãg;;d¡"g
rnotvtduat human lives as expendable. At the
same tim.e, the Peace.Movdment, while pustring in,.
a.generally positive.direction, coúld not itop to3t!en! to the wounds of its ináIiv¡dual ,..U"ü.
Which is to.say, the Movement treateâ inA¡uì¿îats
as expendable too.
\
As we work fon Amnesty, we are finallv eettinc
around to attending to somê of our *ounåä.-fhË'
nsl( we run is that truly caring for the wounded
will becomepubordinated to targer politüal Còn_
siderations-that the Amnesty si.úgglä lilt Ue_
come a mere chess piece in a largerþólitical
game.
For example, during the war á lot of facts were
unearthed and publiciied. Among them, the faci
that thou.sands of people were rotting in South
Vietnam's jails, more especially the Íiger Cages.
!Í*gr,.l feel a good thing to expose allif,at, Uii-'
the tact ot the matter is that exposure served one
primary purpose: to help build'sentiment against
the war. The prísoners were not mentionedle_
cause we cared very rñuch about them as indi_
viduals..As prisoners they were useful to us
politically (or at least their situation was). As
people,
.we didn't think all that much abóut them.
Certainl.y we,didn't think much about thã peojle
held by the North Vietnamese-their s¡tuätio;,
their plight, wasn't useful to us polit¡cailv.
. Nory.l.can agree that.the,achieving of jsweep_
ing political revolution holds out the-potãntial fbr
improving the lot of masses of peoplé. nn¿ ¡n tñis
context the individual and his fãteieem ¡niig_ nificant. The.danger with this *uv oii¡,inlirig,
howeve.r, is that it could dívorce ús from com_
passion-which ought to be the thing that guides
our politicalaction.
. Once we have forgotten the sanctity of the in_
dividual human life, we lose our focuj. We betin
4WtN
BY STEVE TRIMM
,
playing a numbêrs game, we begin to speak and
act in generalities. lf 100 lives have to be lost to
save.1,000, that's acceptable. lf the ends are
good, the means doñ,t matter. All very well if we
are LBj and Richard Nixon
can láv waste
Vietnam in order to save the-we
pacific rim for, the
West-but do we really want to become reflec_
tions of our oppo¡ents?
Once.we shrug off the importance of the in_
,.
drvldual, our political actions for a more humane
y_ojlg:_i" þo.und to go awry, to becomeliot"rqr"
ano a tragtc farce.
_ I exiled myself in 1969 because I felt thatthet
Peace Movement was the f lip side of the policy_
makers-in Washingtön-that neithãr iirll carea
for the tate of the individual human beins
l'm afraid that the Amnesty t\,loueräni is on the
same road. l'm afraid that it,s just another issue to
be exploited by the Left, with t'1.,ã gutr:äiìt_the
human suttering-all but ignored.
The Amnésty Movement-,s reaction to the
.Kastenrneier Bill is a case in point. I wholly agree
that the bill does not reach nearly iar" enãrâf,lni!þe sa^m.e time, lsee it as a step ¡n tt,"i¡ãf..,idirec_
tton. Adoption of the billwould allow home manv
thousands who are now exiled (including those
within the USA). lr woulcJ signiÌicantly Ëãr."
tnerr.s.uttering. lt seems to me that the Movement
could.leg¡timately support the bill as a good first
s.tep. lt the Movement could adopt the position
that the bill is a good effort, if it òould dôp-lurä'tn"
legrslators tor sticking their necks out and en_
courage them to go f arther next time, then the
Movement could have its cake and eat it too. Or,
more precisely, if the.Movement is motivated bú
compassion, it's political action would have
consistency.
As we have it noyv, however, the Movement is
scorning the Kastenmeier Bill and sayine ,tAll or
nothing." With the bill being attacked bi the
f ight,.ignored by.the.Center, and no* ãtiããt"a Uy
the Left, nothing is what we will get-and the
,
Carfr¡on by Ron Cobb
eÍiles will have not choicê"but to stay exiled. The
suffering wi I I continue.
It seemå the Movement is more concerned with
ideological vlctory than with alleviating suffering.
Anything short of total Amnesty?ight now-however humane the repercussions-according to our
strategists, will undercut the usefulness of Amnesty as an issue, as a device for explaining our
political analysis of the war to the public.
Having our analysis of the war'accepted by the
public, the theory goes, will inevitably lead to
great social/political changes. And.that is the
truly important thing, for social revolution will
improve things for the mass of mankind.
Friends, we can put forward our political , .
analysis without using the exiles as an attentiongetting device. We can mäke our political case and :
su.pport a stage-by stage march toward Arñhêsty'
too. The two are not mutually exclusive. To keep ,.. t,.',
the exiles locked in eXile because this helps
promote social revolution is to employ bad means , :
t
to reach good ends.
We must stop separating means and ends. lf we -.ii.,
don't, our revolution will have.no humanity to it. lf ir¡l
',
we cannot sincerely try to ease the pain of our
wounded âs we advance, we are advancing into a
quagmire of contradictions. And few will follow- , ,
¿
us.
A RESPONSE
TO STEVE TRIMM,
/
BY DON LUCE
i agree! We cannot let caring for the wounded in
spir:it and soul become subordinated to Larger
Folitical Considerations. But I don,'t think we
have. We in the Amnesty Movement spend hours
listening and responding to each other. We make
collective decisions because we feel the importance of what each person has to say. Most movement campaigns are organized around one person
because we feel the injustice toward Martin
Sostre, Hurricane Carter, J ane Kennedy and
Charlotte Salawati describe the overall injustices
¡n.ways we can all understand. And, because we
want to see these people out of jail.
The Tiger Cages became famous because of
what happened to individuals, real people.
Americans saw and felt with the Buddhist monk as
he looked up at us through the bars of the cages.
People wrote their congressiorral representatives
about one imprisoned person. When Bella Abzug
went to Vietnam, she demanded to see Cao Thi
WIN-5
Que Huong and Huynh Tan Mam. . . not ,,the
politicalprisoners."
'
-1*
The students at Wellesley Colleee convinced
Rep. Margaret Heckler to work for-the release of
Thieu Thi Tao because of a letter she had
smuggled out of one of Saigon,s insane asylums to
me.
"Like more than a hun'dred of thousands of
p.olitical.prisoners in South Vietnam,,, Tao wrote,
"l'm suffering a hellon earth. For six vears in
prison, I have lost health, knowledge, íntélligence,.memory. Six years constantly seeking for
affronting torments and repressions, seekin! for
the way to live in peace, but not a minute seient!
And on the result, l've been sent to the Bien Hoa
lunatic asylum. "
The students organized themselves out of concern for one person transferred from the Tiger
Cages to the Bien Hoa lnsane Asylum. Andlhey
con vi nced a moder-ate. Rep u bijcan representat i ve,
'
Mar^garet Heckler, to heckle the Statè Dept. and
'the Saigon reàime.
The point I am trying to make, Steve, is that
within three months Thieu Thi Tao was released.
Sure, her case was politically usef ul. Because of
thousands of letters about Tao, Mam, eue Huong
and many others, Congress came to ásùciate
political repression and the Saigon regime. And
they made drastic cuts in aid to the Saìgon regime.
The question, then, is: "Did,the moùement use
Thieu Thi Tao?" Of course we did-because we,
were concerned about her and 200,000 simitar
cases. Thieu Thi Tao and her fate became significant to us because her letters had made her ieal to
us. And she beca¡ne significant in the larger
political context.
I cannot divorce compassion for individuals
from political action. Nor can I disregard the views
of one individual from a political action that I take.
This, however, does not mean that we will always agree. The Kastenmeier Bill is an example. t
cannot put my energies into that bill because I feel
that it is designed to help the most articqlate, the
ones from the most privileged backgrounds. ln
puttihg our energies into this, the work for a universal, unconditional amnesty would suffer. tt
would lessen the chances to receive VA hospital
and educational benefits by those who havethe
greatest need.
discharge up-grading counselor
in Syracuse, none
have been in contact with any amneéty group.
. There is, t think a good exþla,n"tlõn't\i ou,
Íailure to reach the vets with LTHD,s (fesi ihan
Honorable Discharges).. most of us are sotidtV
middle class, educated, politicallv,'sophistil
cated;" most of thìem aiire Írom workinä class or
low income backgrounds (manv are gt'aã/<ã-õi
other minorities), have /ess edûcation, have not
been active politically. We are sociailí and
economically secure-they are struggling to
surv.ive. To rls they are invisible-llthlm, we are
irreleupnt .to their rnost pressl ng needs as íhey
perceive them.
The Kastenmeier Bill is "our,'bill; itreflects
our strengths (our concern for the-dráiii"iiJtä
with whom we are in c/osest contact), as well as
our weaknesses (esÞecially our inab-ílìtv to communicate with the vets with LTHDs). ihe flaws oÍ
the Kasten meier Bill are the flaws óf our amnesty
movement-to accept that biltis to refuse to facé
the need for improvement in ourse/yes. and in our
ability to reachout and then to communicate that
reaching out to others like ourselves. . . .
. We need to be confronting the reality of wþat
the military dìscharge systeñr really isl one òf the
worst forms of c/ass and race discrimination in our
society. A less-than-honorable dischàrse is a
life-time sentence to second-c/ass citjzãns hip with
little if any due process and equally slishtcriancãs
ot appeal. How long do you think this system
would last if white, middle-class, col/ege-educated
people were the main ones getting these dis-
U.S.-PRNRMR RELRTIONS
r,rT
,
r
Drawing by Nuez/Cranma/LNS.
,
charges?
I do not intend to spend fime opposing the
Kastenmeier Bill and I do not recommeñd that to
anyone else. Along with its weaknesses. it hd a
lot of merit. What I propose is that we sôend our
time working for a f ull amnesty for all. Let,s have
an amnesty that does not leave out all those
individuals with Less Than Honorabte Discharges
or the civilian resisters.
America's middle and upper straight-whitemale class has a tradition of'taking cãre of itself .
The result has been the failure to develop a feeling of trust with people outside the Crèat White
Male Fraternity. We have to be especially careful
., to avoid hurting other people's chances for justice
as we work for justice for oursefves.
ln 1903 the United States and Panama signed a
treaty authorizing the United States to build,
maintain, and prõtect a canal and canal zone
across thô isthmus of Panarna. The 1903 treaty has
t
been revised in the intervening years but revisions
have never satisfied Panama's fundamental dissatisfactions with the original agreement. Since
1964 the United States has been,committed to new
treaty negotiations which actually began in 1974
on lines agreed upon by Henry Kissingerfor the
US and J uan Antonio Tack representing Pa4ama.
ln spite of attempts by conservatives in the US
Congress to block them, negot¡ations have continued and the issues involved are now beginning
to attract public attention in the United States.
The cuirent debate in the US on ¡ new canal
träaty with Panama has been cast primarily in
termó of US defense needs,the US role in the
world, and US relations with Latin America. There
irãri.i i O"uate in Panâma about the treaty
negotiations which is summarized as "Treaty for
whóm? T-r.eaty for what?" (",Tratado para quien?
John Maddaus of the Syracuse Peace Council
described many weaknesses of the Kastenmeier
Bill in a letter to an off icial in his church:
'.
We never were and stilt are not in touch with
lJntilrecently Marv Dav Kent was Assistant
Director of the Latin American program of the tnternationalservrce Division of the American
Friends Service Committee' She has traveled extensively in Latin America.
the vets with bad discharges-there must be
1.5,000 such vets in upstate New York,,but aside
from a dozen who have spoken with a'nAFSC
0
6WIN
Cartoon f rom Amex-Canada/LNS.
o
development be directed primarily for Panama's
well-being, or be secondary to economic interests
of the US and other industrial countries? \
ln Panama the canal as fact and symbol is in the
forefront of the national consciousness of the 1%
million Panamanians. Every schoolchild, banana
j
worker, bankèr, or street vendor has a stro.ng :
oo¡nióri on the Óanal. The national anthem hãs
r' '
practiially
'Americana.been replaced by a new sofìg, "Colonia ;
. . no! Es nuestro el canal"
t;;Àr"i¡iãn colony. . . ño! The canal is ours").. ' :
ihe tune and words are ubiquitous f rom school .'
uirãrnUl¡"i tò casual humming in the streets. Al- ,.11; I
though the government of Panama is military and ' 'i
unrepresentative and treaty negotiations are
secret, the issues are widely discussed and all
Panamanians will haúe the oþportunity to vote on'
a new treaty before it can take effect. By contrast,
in the United States'public-awareness and attení
tion to the issue havé bee'n n'egligible. The policy
!
debate on Panama has been carried on at the
highest government levels: in the Senate,rthe ,-r' '
Stãte Oe-partment, within the Pentagon, ând in
high business circles.
îhis situation accurately represents the relationship of Panama and the United States. The
Canal and United States military and economic
presence in Panama have together been the most
determining force in the country's.life from independence iñ 1903 to the present. The US relation
to Panama is essentially colonial: colonial in the
most iomplete traditional sense in the US Panama
BYMRRY DRY KENT
wtN
7
Canal Zone, and neo-colonial in the country as a
whole in the form of US transnational corpórations
and banks and a deluge of US media ana ãuit*ái'influence. The US presence in panama ãfGii -'
nearly all Panamanians but touches onlv a few
North Americans in any dir:ectly perceiveà way.
Although the US presence in'panama as a whole
is signif icant (US banana companies a"d'Uan[s -'have been prospering there for nearly Zl yearj),
the Canal and the Zone hav_e the. qtroñgest impãct
on the life of Panama. The Canal and t"he Zonöàió
the largest single source of income for the
Panamanian economy. Approximatelv 3oo/o of the
Paóamanian Cross Nât¡oñäl lncome té 2õná-- -'derived. The.11,000 panamanians employeO in ttre
Zone earn salaries as much as five or iix iimes the
minim.um wage in panama although they earn
much less than the US citizens
q
The Canal cuts across panama "rnptoyuá'tro-i".
¡n the óeñtËiär tt,"
country, creating a division between t¡re hãlveiói
the nation. The Zone is a large untapped resource
of land and waters, and the lãcation'of ihe Zone
blocks urban and commercial development of
Panama4s two port cities, panarna arid ColoÀ.
The Zone is in many ways a ,,peculiar institu_
tion." 680/o of Zone land is used-for US military
p_urposes and the Zone as a whole has the
character of a military base. The governor of the
Zone is always appointed from thé US Army
!1grnger 9o.rp.r,. All police, courts, postal särvice,
anct schools in the Zone are North American and '
operate without regard to panamanian law or
institutions. Only Canal Zone emplovees. US
military and dependents are allowed'to live in the
Zone. US civilian Zone employees are often
second or: third generation Zone residents and
they enjoy a privileged existence relative to
comparable workers in the US as well as to
Panamanian standards.
North American Zone residents lcalled
'.' zoni an s" by panam an an sl àiå b ùiãilvopposeA
!9 uny change in the status of the Canal2one and
live i.n great insecurity about threats to their posi_
tion from Panama and from US governm"ni
ölãn,
for changes. Civic,associations ñave bòeÀ ioimäJ
in the. Zone to lobby against tieaty negotiations
and US State Department representatives sent to
speak on the negotiation process in.the Zone have
been met with verbal and physical abuse. There
are widely accepted reporÈs that since the iast
major violent incident between panama and the
Zone, in l,anuary 1964, private gun ownership in
the Zone has risen dr:amatically.
The US military presence in the Zone was
originally jusJilied
þV the clause in rhe 1903 treaty
allowing the US to bring in troops and set-Cânal
up
fortif ications when needed to däfend the
against attack. Panama and the US have both ad_
mitted that the Canal, under modern circumstances, is essentially indefensible. The massive
military establishmeàt in the Zope is onu óf it, most intensely objectíonable features for panàrnanians. They feel it mortgages panama to US
mrlttar.y strategy and implicates her in US actions
over which they have no control, such as the in_
¡
vasion of the Oomin¡)an Republic in 1965, and the
training given to soldiers from repressive'¿ovãin_
ments at the lnter-American.Training Schõol in
the Zone.
The US military in the Zone has never carried
out an action to defend the Canal but they have
been turned against panamanian, Àurn"row
. times. Often^the US military intervention
in
Panama ha-s been formally requested bv
Panarnan ian authorities. îhe èlose relaiionsh i p
between the US and panamanian rnit¡lãi¡ur.on_
tinues even while the prese4t military government
of Ceneral OmarTorrijos takes publió änti_US
positions on some issues. panamanians anxious
for. "grass-roots" social change feel if,át tt eìJõ
military backing of the presen-t goveinment ¡s
stronger than ever and acts as ibrake againit any
radical social reforms.
,,Eight
.S¡n.g th.e Tack-Kissinger agreement on
_
principles"
for negotiations, announced in Feb-ru_
1974, treaty talks have been underway.
ly
Despite early expectations of a swift resolltion
and the substantial progress that hás been made
on some. issues, Panamanian negotiators now sav
tney teel the negotiations are about ,,half _way .,,
As the question of the treaty has attracted coi_
gressional opposition in the US, the pace of nego_
tiating has slowed and there is a strone oossibiitv
the US side in the tatks woutd prefãi tãåelãt;;_ '
nouncing any treaty until
1976 elec' t¡ons to avoid the treaty aftei the US
becoming a partisan cam_
paign issue. While they admit thõre'coüld be
tactical advantages to this, panamanians also see
thrs as one more instance of panama,s concerns
being subordinated to priorities detãrmined i¡ il.,u
United States.
_ Under the eight point agreement the US and
P,anam9. are agreed to negotiate a new trcatf
a.brogating the treaty o{ 1!0!, which would
[ut.a
time limit on US control of thô Canal, ena US, -'jurisdiction over the non-military áióuit, of ihe
Zone, provide for increasjng pariamänian partici_
pation in running.and defending the Canai, anJ
9vÇntual return of the Canal anð Zone to fúll
Panamanian control. Within this framewoi[of
agreement (opposed by conservatives in the US
and radicals in Panama), there remain major areas
of difference to be workód out.
These differences concern the duration of a new
treaty, the pace of retu-rning the Canal Zone tô Panamanian jurisdiction, tlie extent of lan¿i àì¿
waters in thq
Zo-ne to be returned immed¡aiãlv lã
Panama, the.future and nature of US military
presence in the Zoñe, and conditions for posiible
construction by the US of a new sea-level'canal in
Panama.
Despite the official secrecyof the negotiations,
general outlines of the agreed-upon arãas have
t¡een revealed by both siðes. As'sãu" Uv tf,"
negotiators at this stage, a new treatv would
provide for continuing US control of the Zone and
the.Canal for another 25 years for to if,ã Vòar 2000)
with increasing panamanian pàrticioátioh ¡n
running and defense of the Canal. JLrisdiction
over the Canal Zone, other than areas strictly
f
,,
Drawing by Nick Thbrkelson/LNS..
t
necessary for canal operations, would return to
Panama within three years of a new treaty. This
would entail Panamanian legal, educational, and
postal systems being applied to the Zone.
Many details of this return to Panamanian
jurisdiition are still being worked out, particularly
those touching on the educational system and application of Panamanian labor law. Panamanian
jurisdiction in the Zone is one of the greatest fears
of the US residents of the Zone and among the
highest symbolic þriorities for Panama. Lands and
waters not needed for Canal operations or defense
are to be returned to complete Pänamanian
control immediately. Panamanian estimates claim
25o/o of Zone land is now unused so the amduirt
regained could be substantial. The definition of
1'necessary" lands is still being discussed and is
proving a'diff icult aspect to agree on.
, The Panamanian government would like to see
a process of shared military defense of the Canal
and is willing to allow the US to maintain three
bases in the Zone during the duration of the new
treaty. Although a reduction to three bases from
the present '14 seems a major advance, some
Panamanians point out that this would legitimize
permanent US bases in the Zone for the f irst time
by giving Panamanian consent to them. US military and government sources imply that they
would accept the limitation to three bases without
protest because it would lead to consolidation and
greater eff iciency than the present situation.
Radical Panamanians are opposed to the three
bases and the joint defense agreement because
they fear the joint defense will be used against
Panamanians pushing too hard for social change,
and because the issue of removing the US
Southern Command and its lnter-American Training School from Panama is not dealt with.
A major question still faced by the negotiators.is
the Uniied Stut"s demand for an extensi-on of
primary US responsibility for the defense of the
Canal beyond the end of the new treaty duration,'
perhaps up to 50 years. Panama's position is that
the total contr'ol and responsibility for the Canal
should be in Panama's hands at the end of the new
treaty.
The question of the 25 year option the US would
like to have on the right to build a new sea-level
canal in Pahama has not yet been dealt with in
detail by the negotiators. Panãma is reSisting thiS
demand but has indicated willingness to consider
a f ive year option during which time studies and
negotiations on new canal works could beçarried
out.
ln spite of Panamanian student and radical opposition to aspects of the new treaty and some
popular cynicism about the Torrijos government's rhetoric on the Canal issue, there is little
likelihood the Panamanian people will reject the
new treaty if and when it is negotiated. The
possibility of rejection b! the US Senate is much
more real and of much greater coîcern to both
sides of the negotiations. Henry Kissinger and
Ellsworth Bunker (chief US negotiator) have
:
warned of anti-US violence in Panama if a. .
satisfactory new treaty cannot be reached without
much more delay. There is talk of Panama
threatening to become "a new Vietnam" if the US
should decide to maintain its present colonial
privileges by force. tt is frequently pointed out
that the Canal is in reality indefensible and the '.
possibilities for sabotage are obvious to the most
casual visitor.
Ceneral Torrijos has said that if there is an
anti-Us "exploíion" in Panama, he will have to '
lead it or be overthrown by it, and h'e would prefer
to lead it. However, despite tþe repeated
,
references by US government figures to the thiept
of a violent situatión, the P*ramãnian view of
their strategy is not primarily oriented to violence '"' ..
or armed struggle. Rather, Panamanians of vaiying views and sectors agree on looking to international support for their cause as their best
weapon. Although the US has never accepted international arbitration of US-Panamanian
disputes, Panama has repeatedly taken its àase to
international forums and this has been effective.
After the J anuary 19M t!Ílag riots" in which 21
Panamanian students and three Zone police were
killed, Panama broke off diplomatic relations with
the US and then went to the Organization of
American States to denounce the US aggression.
8 WIN
wtN9
t,
The United States responded by vigorously denying the charges and the right to prelent this bi- '
lateral concern to the OAS, but in April 1964 the
US agreed to negotiate a new treaty'and diplo-
t
matic relations were resumed.
ln'1973, after nearly ten years' statemate on the
newtreaty, Panama began a new phaseof her
appeal to world support by invitinþ the UN
Security Council to meet in Panama, the first
Sgcurity Council sessions held away from UN
headquarters. The resolution presented by
Panama to this session called for progress on the
treaty negotiations, Panamanian jurisdiction over
the Zone, a process of Panama assuming total
control of the Canal and for effective neutralization of the Canal. The US strongly objected to the
resolutiqn, again claiming that tfris was a
bi-laterál concern that was not properly the l
provinçe of the United Nations. The Panamanian
resolution passed overwhelmingly with only three
abstentions and one negative vote. The one negative vote was the US veto of the resolutìon. Wit-hin
a year the Kissingei.-Tack agreement on the ',8
points" negotiating framework was announced
which included many of the terms called for in the
vetoed resolution:
Since 1973 Panama has continued to take ¡ts
'c.ase to every available forum, including recently
the UN Conference for lnternational Wómen's
Year in Mexico City. As an example of Latin
American support for Panama; Argentina Will step
aside in its turn for the UN Security Council in
1976 so that Panama can take its píace, 11 years
ahead of normal rotation. Panama will also host in
1976 a meeting of American foreign ministers to
commemorâte the 150th anniversary of the first
Pan American Congress, held in Panama under
the sporlsorship of Simon Bolivar ín 1826. The
driginal congress discussed construction of a
canal, and the Canal will undoubtedly be a most
important issue for the.1976 gathering.
Asked what the response to US rejection of a .
treaty might be, Panamanians do not exclude the
possibility of violence, but they do not respond at
all accbrding.to the US-promoted image of ,,all
hell breaking loose;" Their first reactions are
turned to arbitration by the lnternational Court of
J ustice, to the United Nations, the OAS and world
opinion. A second line of response focuses on
possibilities for nonviolent pressure on the US,
such as a Panamanian boy.ótt of the Zone.
Panamanians of all clasies and politics are
united in believing the cause of panamanian
control of the Canãl is just. The strong
Panamanian nationalism that goes wñh this.belief
has also a genuinely poetiç anð visionary side.
Panamanians speak in moving terms of the¡f
original ideal of offering their land to be useil for
the commerce and,communication of the world on
a truly neutral basis. The motto on the shield of
Panama, " pro beneÍicio mundi ," represents a living ideal. Thê:pain Panamanians feel about the
impositions of the US control of the Canal and
Zone is deeper than economic fr'ustration or even
national pride. There is a constant recurring
physical imagery and identif ication with the violation of the country's unity represented by the
Canal. lmages like Nerüda's of the canalwhere
"water passes in you like a knife and separates
love in two halves," the canal as sword that
divides the rich and the poor, are spontaneously
expressed by many.
It is impressive that this poetic, idealistic vision
of the Canal and faith in international organizations and world opinrion to move the US on the
Canal issue still persist as strongly as they do. The
US ppp0sition to the new treaty and even the US
supporters of negotiations, by their constant
references to a scenario of violence, sabotage, and
US military intervention reveal a lack of vision and
in fact are preparing the grbund for violencé.
The Panamanian preference for negotiation,
international arbitration and nonviolent tactics is a
surprising and encouraging example for North
Americans, particularly coming from a þeople who
have lived for decades in day-to-day confrontation
with a massive imposition of military and
economic power on the part of the United States.
/[,[ovinÉ South
with the
Continental
Walk
!:
For three months, California had been going
through the worsi drought in its rêcorded. history;
but oñTuesday morning (Febr¡çry 3rd) the
climate had chânged. The morhlng fouri.d walkers
leaving Palo Altoãt B am and it was cold and
foggy.
A/ O'fO am we had walked 2Vz miles and joined
with demonstrators who, that same morning, had
leafleted the Lockheed Research Labs in Stanford
lndustrial Park. We gathered together for a few
minutes to share the news of the day, before the
group of 75 walkers begán again towards Sunnyvale.
Fifteen minutes down the road, Scott Ullman,
Jeriy Súllivan,, Ann Hitchens and myself, stopped
ãt a ðoffee shop. Our conversation was rnarked
with commenti about the day añd about the Walk
in seneral. As we talked, the waitress serving our
tab"le occasionally joined in our talk. She was unsure of our politics and the llfe we proposedtò'
lead, but she was warm and'caring in her remarks.
The rest of Tuesday proved to be long and cold;
we spent lunch tqgether on the wet grass of a
park. The afternoon brought out 100 or so people
for a Lockheed/Sunnyvale demonstration.
So far, we have had few uncomfortable encounters with'people. We found generosity from
people in towns like Watsonville and Marina,
lowns hardly anyone has ever heard of . Marina is
on the çoast, on the Monterev Éay; sinall town
"
(under
with a somewhat conservative population
in nearits
employment
10;000) that finds most of
bv Fort Ord (Army). February 10th, in Marina,
wãs the f irst night that walkers.tvere expected to
buy and cook their own dinner' When a local
m¡nistér heard of this, he quickly and quietlyasking no praise or thanks-called members of his
congregation; before we knew it, around 20.
towñspèople prepared potluck meals for us and
brought them to ihe church *" *":";l:il'åf,ii*",,
Organizers in San Francisco have consciously
tried io seethe Walk not as an end in itself , but
¡ather as a beginning step towards building a
stronger movement for disarmament and a
re-ordering of priorities
Drawing by Nuez/Cranma/LNS
lill¡mr.t,-...lOWIN
Steve Ladd is on the staff of WRL/Weçt. Blaine
Metcalf is a long distance walker. Late breaking
news about the Walk appears on page'16.
t
Because of this perspective, we held a nurnber
of walk-related events.in the San Francisco ârea
prior to the Walk itself, an'd we plan to follow-up
in a number of ways the energy and içterest that.
the Walk generated.
i
The most exciting and important of these preWalk events was an evening of Women's Culture'
held a week prior to the WalKs leaving:San Erancisco. A cauéus of feminist wómen met regularly
as an essential part of the Walk organi/ng, '
struggling to insure a feminist analysis in the
¡ssuelthãWalk focused on and a feminist style in,
the organizing process. Out of this group of
womeñ was oiganized the trqmendously energizinâ ánd creativä Women's evening. The.event
ã.ã* ou"t 400 people, mostly women, who packed
a huge converted warehouse known as T-he Farm
for a-n evening of film, songs, dance, talk, and
thought. Theirowd greeted every aspect of the
even-ing with incredible enthusiag¡n and appre.c.iãtion. ;J anie's J anie," a f ilm of a wóman's selfdiscoverv led off the event. Local singer
Ànn-vai¡e Hosan followed with her gentle but
oowerfui ballads, iniluding one on Káren Silkwood. Women who had helped organize the Walk
sooke about the connections of sexism to militar'
iim and feminism to disarmament. And the f irst
part of the evening ended with the always
splendid musib of Holly Near and J effrey Langley.
' Other pre-Walk events inclu$ed some potluck "
ì
:
meetingi with Dave McReYnolèls in
mid-November, and two speaking gigs by Dan
Ellsberg in late November and early December.
Both of-the Ellsberg talks brought together a total
ãlzoo people to heãr about theWalkãnd'whv it
was imporîantto keep politically active, Malvina , ' !
ä;t";iã; .i;o performäd at one'of these events ir¡
Berkelev.
:- '
We pían to follow-up the Walk in a number of
ways. People who participated in the Walk will be , ',:
infórmed óf ongoing projeits that they can get in- '
volved in, such as the campaigns to stoP the B-1 ..
Bomber and the Trident Submarine, the effort to 'r:j;.Í
:!
pass the Nuclear Safeguards initiatiVe, and war
tax resistance. We are also working on some new ""
projects as part of follow-up. They include focusing-major program efforts around feminism and'
nonvioienèe; Iutting together educational'forums
on the issues raised by,the Walk; doing research
into the connection of the'Un'ìversity of Califor'nia
to nuclear weapoi'ìs development; ahd pushing for
a national debate on nuclear policy (a project it.' '
initiated by Jonah House with their dig-ins in
Washington, DC).
We aie aléo continuing to evaluate the work we
did on the Walk in this area, and hope to have a
wrítten report out soon. Right now we are questioning whether the results were worth suih intensive work, and how we can create a more
satisfactory, fei¡inist work-style. But we are sure
that we succeeded in energizihg many people and
in pushing disarmament and a reordering of
priorities to a much higher place on the local
,
agenda.
-Steve Ladd
wtN
11
A Nuclear
War in
Thailand ?
HARVEY WASSE RMAN
ln the midst of profound instability and upheaval,
another volatile issue has been adðed to the Tha¡'
politicalscene-nuclear power. On the basis ofã
leaked secret government report, Tahi student
groups have unexpectedly begun an anti-nuclear
campaign here that cor¡ld havé strong repercus_
sions throughout the Third World. ,The contr.oversy Cates back to the early 197Os,
when the military dictatorship of Thanom
Kittikachorn maintained a plan for a massive
J apanese-sponsored petro-chemical complex to be
built on the Culf of Siam, about 50 km southeast of
Bangkok. The complex was to include a nucleái qowej. plant about 1 km fr:om the tiny village of
Ban Phra.
Thè petro-chemical complex met
environmentalist and anti-J apanese opposition
and was shelved in 1973, just before the ffranom
regime itself was overthrown by wídespread
{.,Ð
student demon strations.
. Thanom's successor, Sanya Thammasak, inherited the plan for the nucläar plant and ðommissioned a study by his chief economic advisers.
The results of the secret report, which was
finished in late 1974, may consiitute the first clear
rejection of nuclear power by a Third World
government.
The Sanya report criticized the nuclear plan for
th ree basic reasons environ mental damäge,
economics and e eopolitics
It noted that h of water from nuclear cooling
systems has damaged natural waters throughout
When not being a radical histor
Harvey Wasserman reports on the world-wide movement
against nukes Íor WIN
tl.',
the)world, and that the Culf of Siam, a shallow,
tropical body, might be particularly þrone to
thermal pollution.
The report also cited the poor performance of
.
pl_ants in others countries, ánd questioned
whether a plan in Thailand coulä be expected to
save as m.uch money as hoped for. The'report
wondered about the rising cost of uranium as a
potential money drain.
Finally, and perhaps most significantly, the
report stated that a nuclear plant would put
Thailand into a colonial position with the United
States and J apan. Under the Thanom plan, construction would begin with a loan from the'US
Export-lmport Bank. Thailand would thus be
obliged to buy an American-made plant. Tþe report stated that Thailand would clearly be unable
to train enough technicians to build or run the
plant, and would thus become dependent on
American and Japanese expertise. Thev would
also be forced to depend on the US for uranium.
As a result of the report, the plan for a nuclear
plant was shelved. The aciual cbntents of tf,ã
'report were kept str.ictly secret, although its
existence and general tone were well known.
Despite the shelving of the plant, a weather
tower to check wind conditions has been maintained at Ban Phra, and the actual. site is guarded
and blocked to the public
ln addition, student sources claim the Thai
government still has 50 million Baht ($2.5 million)
on deposit with the US government for a future
uranium enrichment plant.
. Thetriumph of revolutionary movements in
Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam ánd the general
instabilitywithin Thailand would appeã, to make
the issue of nuclgar power somewhãi petty and
irrelevant.
f
The weather tower at the Ban Phra nuclear power plant
s ¡te.
'^'t
But student activists have decided to make the
plant an issue in the coming April4 election. For
one thing, they have learnel that the government
plans to revise the Sanya Report. This, they claim,
is a clear signal that something may be afoot.
ln an inteîview with the Associated press
(which carried the Sanya Report leak on its international wire), a high government official contirmed that the Sanya Report would be revised by
the end of 1976. The students tsok th¡s to mean
the likelihood of a nuclear plant in Thailand was
hardly as remote as it once seemed. ln a press
conference held in Bangkok February 7, f ive university conservation clubs issued a blistering antinuclear statement and vowed to campaign against
the plant.
The press release said: We have been opposing
this proiect and will continue to do so. The return
of this project will meet a bigger protest than last
time, with a better-informed public.
Besides the argument against the /ess
expensive electricity as claimed bv ECAT [E/ec-
The village of Ban Phra, Thailand. The
sign in the r¡ght foreground points to
the nuclear plant site. photo¡ bv
Harvef Wasserman.
12WtN
Copyrighl G) 1976by Harvey Wasserman
tricalCenerating Authority oÍ TahilandT, the
building of the.plant would not be ecohomically
feasible. The plant may have to c/ose lor some
mechanical problems very often as has happened
in other countries.
The socialcost of the plant is a/so incalculable.
For instance, the radiation will affect the
balance of nature. So will the heat. Both ECAT
and the government could not guarantee that
cancer viciims and birth defects will not increase
f rom the building of the plant . . . . . They even accepted the danger, but they also want to bring it
home without considering the saÍety of the people
What would happen iÍ the plant would be
sabotaged anA bombed? We'could not do anything 'in that case. Ihe plant would work like an atomic , i
bomb
j
itselÍ.
What a country in the Third World like Thailand " .
has to be cautious about is the inf iltration Írom 'ì i',.:
imperialist USA and Japan. . . . . Once the nuclear
plant is built in Thailand, the US military base will
never go back. Our other valuable raw materials
and mlnerats will be sto/en by these imperialists
until we have nothing left. Meanwhile, we will
have more and mor'e'of rela¡jves who suffeied and
died of cancer and birth defécts.
;:
Privately, the studênts expect a right-wing !t.
government to emerge (temporarily) from the
present political chaos in Thailand. With it they
expect a concerted effort to build the Ban Phra
plant.
Thus they are canvassing the national universities for support in an educational campaign, and
are planning to demonstrate at Ban Phra within
the month. ln effect, they are inaugurating the
Third World's first campaign against nuclear
power. How they fare wilf be of immense importance-for Thailand and the world-for a long
time tô conle.
.
wtN
,
13
;l
lf the US.Department of Agrículture and major
growers have their way, every head of lettuie will
soon be harvested with the aið of radioâctive
gamma-ray machines. lnitiated by growers pressuring their congressmen, the USDÂ began'in
1968 to experiment with radioisotopes in a lettuce
harvesting machine. The machine ðoutd revolutionize the lettuce industry, cause unemployment,
and endanger þublic health.
_ Growers' hopes are pinned on the lettuce
harvester as a way to defeat rising labor costs and
unionization of workers, and to boost their profit
margins. And profit margins in this giant iÀdustry
are huge.
ln thePajaro and Salinas Valleys, lettuce is
aptly called "green gold." With a growing season
of seven months, rich soils, and irrigation;th¡s
region produces 40o/o of the lettuce õonsumed
each year in the US. Total crop value exceeds $140
million yearly,.six times morethan any other crop.
Understandably, other growers in California ancj
Arizona, which accountÍor 9Ùo/o of the lettuce
\
Dol4ld Monkerud is awriter
California
þa,sed in Northern
level. There's no deteitable effect on the lettuce.
Gamma-rays are the same as X:râ|s except they
come trom a radioisotope. The only additional
hazardwith the gammá.-rays is if sôme would
a drive to get the cost down as-much as possible
b"iurt"
' i¡ i : rì'11Jt'''
pfices are determined by supþly and de-
'
mand."
much the lettuce harvesting machines will
increase growers' profits is questionable.
".irãllv
iñé mách¡nes will cost between $50,000 and
$100.000 each. Lettuce is a perishable'staple and
is suôported by a complex transportation and
marketing industry whose costs are set. (lt's so
efficient that lettuce harvested in the morning in
Salinas can be on supermarket shelves in LA the
iame afternoon. ) A chaotic marki¡t makes prof its
uncertain -prices fluctuatpQ last year between
$2.25 and $7 a carton. Weather changes affect
maturity times, consumer tastes, and market
value. A hot spell will cause lettuce to-mature.
rãpidlv and go to seed. n cóld spell will cause
people to switch from salads ttfoups. Although
maior growers have records for the past 30 years,
thev can't accurately forecast the market.
'iYou can't control the weather and you can't
control the grower who tries to out-guess the
fu;
leak."
Several companies
.beginning
are currently interested in
to manufacture the maóhines. proto-l
types have been delivered to several fields in
Santa Maria and the lmperiál Valley to "work the
bugs out." USDA policy is to reseaich and
develop the machines and to provide all plans free
of charge to the companies.
Lenker refused to provide any estimates on the
cost the government has investðd because it isn,t
"public information." But he did say two research
' engineers spent % of their timefor 71/z vears and
had the use of government facilities, eqúipnient,
and workers to bring the project to BO%o còmple-,
tion.
The lettuce harvester is only a small part of the
research the USDA does for aäri-businäss. in I i197O, the budget of the Agricultural Research
Services of the USDA was $158 million, The
Agricultural Engineering section alone received
over $7 million to work on machines such as the
tomato harvester which Cut háivés4¡ne õ;*rïy
60%. Millions more were contributed to the
lettuce industry with developmentssuch as the
new variety of Calmar lettuce which now accounts
tor 80-90o/o of all lettuce grown.
. .Currently, lettuce harvesting is a back breaking
job done by lechugeros who arég\o/o Mexican
green card holders working for piece rates. A good
worker works bent over in ihe hbt sun cutting ãnd
trimming as many as 20 heads of lettuce a mlnute.
These elite seasonal workers follow the harvest
across California and Arizona making as much as
$6or$Ban hour. These "groundcrews,i, t
numbering around 3500 workers, would-be entirely eliminated with the introduction of the harvesting machine. Their replacements would be
hourly wage workers, who represent.the bulk of
farm labor, currently making'between $2.10 and
$2.85 an hour.
"The lettuce harvesting machine is about the
o¡fy ryV.lhe industry can-go," says Bill Huffman,
of the Salinas Extension Service. i,l_abor is arounä
39o/o oÍ the cost and all costs are going up. This
means either increasing the use of mãchines or
increasing the cost of lettuce. There will always be
,
market. The unfortunate thing about lettuce,l'
relates Norman.Welch, Farm Advisor for the
Pajaro Valley, "is you're.either making a hell of a
lot'of money or you're losing it. You have to have a
cast iron constitution to stay in vegetablesgrowers are just business gamblers. Two years
ãgo and the year before the gamblers were rolling in the dough. This year they're barely breaking even."
/ltime per head,"
"Man minutes per carton,'./
and "bottlenecksi' are some of the terms used in
reports describing the lettuce harvesters' solution
to the marketing, costs, and prof its situation.
There is no concern with making the work easier
or safer for the workers. Possible effects on
vi.tamin aird mineral content of gamma-rayed and
x-rayed lettuce aren't mentioned. Accidents and
handling of radioisotopes or of itray machines
arenlt considered. Effects on a head of lettuce are
iaid to be "undetectabie" but the fact that the
machines would go over the f ields from four to
seven times and that per capita consumption is
more than 22 pounds per year aren't examined.
Coupled with other dangers of radioactivity in
foods and in the environment, consumers may
find it healthier in the long run to grow their own
lettuce or forage for wild salads in their own
backyards.
\ry
l ¡rtrrvorkt'rs in
a California lettuce
fielcl
Photo bV Bob Fitch/LNS
ith
X-Ray Treatments in, e Fields
By Donald Monkerud
14
WtN
WIN
15
the rest of the Walkers continued
.rent strike at the public housing
their southward trek toward Los
þroject.
Ã"""iãt. On FebruarY 27th theY
uruîr" to arrive in Santa Barbara
øiu ãuv of rest, and theY should
air¡ue in Los Angeles on March
ES
|tn
disruptions of business we had
encountered during most of the
last 10 years." The stores include
Market Basket and Fed Mart
(California), Pathmark (NJ ) and
Al lied Supermarkets (Detroit).
ln addition to US consumers,
the boycott is being taken to
overseas consumer and trade
councils, labor governments and
the European Common Market.
Exports amount to20o/o of the
market of these products.
UFW DEMANDS BOYCOTT
The UFW has called for a boycott
of Sun-Maid raisin and Sun-Sweet
prunes and dried fruits because of
the role those growers played in
the recent sabotage of Òalifornia,s
t-:.
Agricultural Labor Relations Act.
The Agricultural Labor Relations
Board, which supervises farm
labor elections, ran out of money
February 7 after the growers
exerted enough influence in the
legislature to block extended
funding. lf the work of the Board
is not resumed it will be a heavv
blow against farmworkers. Moét
of the progress under the law will
be wiped out.
Cesar Chavez said, "lf the
growers want to fight, we,ll fight.
I he growers can't have it both
ways. They have to have war or
peace. They can,t have both.
"We'll beat them with the bov_
cott and pin them to the wall.
I hen they'll come back to Sacra_
Teto crying for the money (for
the Board).
. "The growers went back com_
pletely on their word. An agreément was made. lt was notihe
b.est bill (the ALRA) for anyãne.
We compromised and the growers
compromised.',
Chavez said that when the
growers and the Teamsters
16WtN
couldn't defeat the United Farm
Workers through the secret ballot.
even by using threats and intimidation and firing workers with
union sympathies, they then took
away that democratic process.
The workers are left with only the
strike and boycott to achieve justice. "The growers can have the
law and elections, or they can
have no law and strikes and boycotts. They have chosen the boycott. ' '
Sun-Maid and Sun-Sweet are
the bi ggest agribusiness
operation in Fresno County, perhaps the biggest agribusiness
county in the US. They should not
be confused with Sunkist, the
largest citrus growers' co-op,
which has reversed its earlier
position and called for renewed
funding of the ALRB, saying that
some changes are needed in the
law but the board should not be
closed down while changes are
being considered. Sunkist chose
to avoid a boycott which was already under consideration.
A number of supermarket
chains have urged releasing of
funds, saying that since the ALRA
went into effect last August they
have enjoyed, "a period of welcome relief from the picketing and
WHAT TO BOYdOTT: Sun-Maid
raisins, Sun-Sweet prunes, other
dried fruit bearing the Sun-Sweet
label. Please also continue to boycott Callo wines (ANY wine made
in Modesto is Callo) and nonUFW table grapes and head
lettuce. Tell the manager of the
store where you shop you won't
buy scab products. ThBn {on't!
Neil Fullagar
EICHT WALKERS ARRESTED
4T NUCLEAR POWER PLANT
Eight members of the Continental
Walk were arrested Feb. 22 at the
El Diablo Nuclear Power Plant in
San Luis Obispo County, California, for failure to move for a police
vehicle and for trespassing. Those
arrested were taking part in an act
of civil disobedience on the
grounds of the plant, attempting
to obstruct the delivery of fresh
nuclear fuel. The El Díablo plant
has been the focus of controversy
for months, since the disclosure
by the company operating the
plant that it was built without
adequate safeguards directly over
a fault line.
Five other Walkers were left
behind to assist those arrested.
-Dwight.Ernest
WRI URCES SUPPORT OF
JAILED SPANISH COs
lnside the Carcel Modelo in Barcelona, the prison where Lluis
Xirinacs, the radical priest,'has
been conducting his daily demb$
for amnesty for all political
prisoners, there are six prisoners
who have not received the publicity which Xirinacs has. They are
COs who, since last August had
been working in a voluntary
service project OKd for COs by a
J ustice & Peace Commission but
never approved by the Spanish
government, which does not
recogn ize conscientious objection.
They face sentences of three to
eight years.
Letters urging their release
should be addressed to Sr. D.
Manuel Fraga lribarne, Ministro
de la Covernacion, Madri-d, Spain.
"J ust be sure to list the six names
so there will be no question as to
what the letter is about," cautions
the WRI support appeal. (There 'i
stillare so many political
prisoners in post-Franco Spain!)
The six names are: Vicente
Amurgo Calan, Ov¡dio Bustildo
Carcia, Cuillermo Louis
Cereceda, Jesus Vinas I Cirera,
Jose Diez Faixat and Esteban
Zabeleta. And if you þave time,
you also can write them at Carcel
Modelo, Barcelona, Spain.
..
-Jim
Peck
NEW YORK C¡TY TENANTS
RALLY IN SUPPORT OF
CO.OP CITY STR¡KERS
Fifteen hundred New Yorkers
attended a rally at Co-op City in
the Bronx Saturday, February 7 in
support of the massive ongoing
Since J une, 1975, 85o/o of Co-op
City's '15,000 families have withheld their rents from the Riverbay
Corp., the New York State-superVised managing company of the
giant housing development. Since
'1970, rents have increased6}0/odespite an understanding when
tenants moved in that the rent
would remain low-and more increases have been scheduled for
the future.
Co-op residents, sol idly
working class,25o/o black and
Latin, and a large percentage of
elderly people on f ixed incomes,
are demanding a f irm program for
rent stabilization and, by running
the development the.rnselves, an
end to state housing corruption
and mismanagement.
The rally was sponsored by
City-Wide Tenants United, a
coalition of New York City tenant
groups, and was hosted by the
Co-op City tenants' steering committee which has led the eight
month long strike.
An estimated 1500 people f illed
the Truman High School auditorium (Riverbay has closed the
Co-op City community center),
cheering and waving banners
supporting tenants' rights.
Several speakers emphasized the
need for tenant unity and pointed
out that tenants everywhere are
inspired by the Co-Op City rent
strike, the largest in US history.
Larry Dolnick, ùice-chairman of
the Co-Op City Steering Committee, told the crowd that each of the
strike leaders was f ined $25,000
plus $1,000 a day for as long as
the strike continues (not to mention a collective fine of $250,000
which grows by $5,000 each day).
When he declared that the
committee "had no intention ever
to pay the f ines,l' the crowd
responded with chants of "No
Way, We Won't Payl" , which has
become the slogan of the Co-Op
strikers.
J ane Benedict of the Metropolitan Councilon Housing explained
the symbolic value of the Co-Op
strike for smaller, previously
isolated tenant groups f ighting for
their rights. "The attempt of the
government to brek the rent strike
at Co-Op City is an attempt to
break the strikes of anyone in the
city," she saici, and "the attempt
is clear because tenants are on the
move."
Stating that the current system
of housing produçtion is "geargd
toward"profit, not human need,"
Daniel J ameson of the Brooklyn
Ad Hoc Mitchell-Lama Coalition
called for a'complete overliaul of
existing public housing programs.
Mitchell-Lama is the name of a
New York State program, established in '1955, which calls for the
construction of housing by private
corporations with public
assistance. The state aids the real
estate developers through local
real estate tax cuts, and through
the sale of bonds to fund the
projecis. Co-Op City is the largest
Mitchell-Lama þioject in the
state.
The savinþs from public assistance were meant to be passed on
to tenants, whose eligibility for
Mitchel l-Lama housing is
determined by a maximum
income formula. But J ameson
demánded the establishment of a
public commission to investigate
the Mitchell-Lama program, the
city and the state because of the
ever-i ncreasi ng costs and
administrative " irregularities" in
the program.
Charles Rosen, the chairman of .
the Co-Op City Steering Com- r
mittee, received a standihg ovation when he approached the lectern. Rosen was one of the
original tenant organizers at
:
Co-Op City, helping to form the
Steering Committee, meeting ..:'. I
with state bureaucrats. ârìd most'," i'l
importantly, convincing his
neighbors to stand fast under
pressure.
"We weren't keenly politically
conscious at the beginning.of the
strugglè,'"' Rosen explained, J'but'
that has changed now and the 'r
strikers identify with each other a¡.
a group. People came to Co-Op
City expecting to live quietly, but
the struggle was forced upon
them. lt was their only chance for
self-preservation. "
After reading a message of
solidarity from the United Farm
Workers in Delano, California,
Rosen declared, "Everything is
related. . . it's the same struggle,
the same f ight, against the same
people.
"
wrN't7
,
- "There's more of us than
[hem," he continued. ,,Thã real
strength is in our hands. We wílt
not win because we,re right; we,ll
win because we're organi-zed.,,
{'a
souTH DAKOTA "JUST|CE"
SPREADS TOWISCONSIN
Menominee County Sheriff
"Paddo" Fish has admitted
killing Menominee Warriors John
'-tNs Waubanascum,
J r. and Arlin
Pamanet on February 3. Fish had
just returned from a trip to the
Pine Ridge Reservation in South
Dakota, where he apparently
learned firsthand the Dick Wilson
rnethod of dealing with those who
GRAND CANYON URANIUM
are willing to speak out against
LEASES GRANTED TO EXXON
illegitimate power and brute
The federal government has
torce. Waubanascum was one of
quietly granted the Exxon corthe five Menominees who had
poration three leases which perbeen on trial on state felony
mit Exxdn to begin searching for
charges arising out of the
possible uranium mine sitesin the Menom i nee Warrior Society
Crand Canyon.
repossession of the Alexian
The leases were granted by the
Brothers Abbey.in Cresham last
National Park Service without any
J anuary.
public announcement on Sept. 10
The incident occurred at
1975.
Wauby's house, located in an isoAccording to Friends of the
lated, deeply wooded section of
Earth, which uncovered the Exxon the reservation. Wauby and Arlin
Park Service agreements: "The
were both shot in the back. Taken
public was completely excluded
in the police car to the Shawano
from the decision to grant the
hospital, Wauby was dead on arleases; there was no notice of the
rival, shot in the heart. lt was at
proposed leasings, no opportunity
least two hours later before Arlin
for public comment, and to this
was brought to the hospítal. lf
date no disclosure of the reasonthere had not been this inexcusing that led to the leasing
able and unexplained delay, Arlin
approval."
would have lived.
The three leases were granted
Covernor Lucey, the Attorney
despite the fact that the National
General's office, and the WisPark Service, just one year ago,
consin J ustice Department had all
rejqcted one of the uranium mine
been warned time and time again
sjtes as unacceptable. At the time, that so long as Fish remained in
the Park Service stated that access office, he was a threat to the
roads proposed by Exxon leading
safety of innocent people. A
into the potential mining site
known drunkard, loser in a
"would irreparably scar the
previous election for sheriff, Fish
land."
was nonetheless appointed sheriff
No reason has been given by
last winter by Cov. Lucey. By the
the Park Service for its Sept. 10
fall, known incidents of his
policy reversal.
dangerous behavior had become
The areas in question lie within
so outrageous that Alexander
the Crand Canyon recreational
Askenette, Sr., a former deputy
area rather than in the national
sheriff, filed a suit to order the
park itself . Mining is permitted in
Covernor to suspend Sheriff Fish.
recreational areas under caref ul ly
Despite nearly two dozen
regulated conditions, but is never
affidavits attesting to Fish's
permitted in a national park.
drunken behaviorwhen he ,
However, all three sites lie
brandished loaded pistols and
within an area that is being
rif les, shooting into the air, pointrecommended for permanent
ing the wèapons threateningly
inclusion in the Crand Canyon
into faces of innocent people, the
National Park. The mining leases
Covernor refused to suspend
were granted to Exxon despite a
Fish-despite a Wisconsin statute
congressional request that the
requiring him to do so whenever
sites be permanently added to the
he has been credibly informed
national park.
Times
that
the sheriff has committed a
-Borrowed
felony. The State J ustice Department finally sent investigators to
the reservation. But their report
has. not been publicly releasäd,
and neither Askenette nor his attorney has been allowed to see it.
The Menominee Legal Defense/
. !1-
Offense Conimittee then found
out that several deputies had lied
to the investigators in order to
protect Fish, but this information
had no effect either.
The same J ustice Department
investigators are again on the
reservation, for another', i nv.estigation." The State through its off icials seems to be sanctiõning the
spread of the Dick Wilson plague
of violence to the MenomiñeeReservation. This is the same
state which continues to prosecute
f ive- now four- people who tried
to convert an un ¡sed monastery
into a desperately needed
hospitäl. The Abbey defendants
tace over 90 years each. But
t' P addo" Fish goes {ree.
-Phyllis Girouard
EVENTS
¿
DETROIT: I DOMIND DYING;
A Study in Urban Revolution
Dan Georgakas and Marvin Surkin
St. Martirl's Press / 1975 /$10.00
.'-,
NYC- HOMACE TO MICHAEL
BAKU N I N *Centennial Memorial
1876-1976. Speakers include Same
Dolgoff, Olga Lang and Paul
Avrich. Friday, March 5,7 pm at
Workmen's Circle Center, 369 8th
Ave. (29th St.), New York City.
SYRACUSE - "Eyewitness to
Revol ution
-A Changing South
Viet Nam," with speaker Sophie
Quinn-J udgq. Syracuse
Un iversity, Maxwel I Auditorium,
4 pm, Monday, March 8.
NEWARK-A week long demonstration and vigil, 3 /1 /76-3 /5 /76,
to protest the present course of
our nation's policies, and demand
disarmament and social justice at
Military Park, Newark, NJ. CONTACT: Glenn Pontier,855 Papen
Rd., Bridgewater, NJ 08807,
526-1304 or Al Swenson,324
Bloqmfield Ave., Montclair, NJ
07042,744-3263.
This is a remarkably good book, a sort of clinical
study of the dilemmas faced by radicals as they try to
find o¡ganization form for revolutionary ideas.
Among its virtues, it is refreshingly free of cliches
and the conventional wisdoms of those on the Left
who have the unassailable blueprint. What it does is
recite the radical politics of a particular city, Detroit,
at a particular time, 1967 to 1973, as a running
chronicle-and you, the reader, can take it frõm
there,
The chronicle begins with the "Creat Rebêllion,,
that swept the black community of Detroit in the
summer of 1967, çausing 41 people to lose their
lives,34.7 to be injured, ]pO.Q to be arrested, and
leaving in its wake a half billion dollars of property
damage.
On the morrow of thes.e events a black community
new.spaper, self.stylqd the "voice of revolution,,,
made its appearance in the city with a press run of
10,000. The Inner City Voice (lCV) brought together
a group of people, exemplif ied by editor JohnWatson, with former ties to qNCC, UHURU, the.
Trotsky.ists, who then fanned out into a multiplicity
of açtivities. They were nationalistic in the sense that
they.believed blacks would be the vanguard.of the
revolution and they were in some respects quite
sec!.arían
-many ref used, for instance, to distribute
leaf lets to white workers.. But they also had a faiility
.
for connecting their problems in the Detroit auto
factories to world problems. The first issue of ICV :
called on blacks to join the anti-war march in Washington, and its editorials often tied the struggle of , '
black people in America to world-wide struggles
against imperialism, such as those waged bythe , :,
-Vietnamese
.
and Koreans.
The newspaper, moreover, served as a link
.i;.
between political insight and political action. One tjf::i
those who joined witlithe pulilishers of ICV in an
informal study group of 30 people, was Ceneral
Cordon Baker ("Ceneral" was his true first name), a
radical worker at the Dodge Main plant (which I recall picketing during the sitdown sirikes of 1937).
i
W.ith no faith in Chrysler'or capitalism, and litth
faith in the leaders of the UAW, Baker'and his as.'
sociates organized the Dodge R'evolutionary Union ..Movement-DRUM-which was to be a prototype of .
a number of such organizations throughout the
g¡e.a-!LDRUM (Eldon Avenue Revolutionary
Union Movement), FRUM (Ford's River Rouge
Revolutionary Union Movement), J ARUM,
,
MARUM, CADRUM, MERUM, etc.
From the spontaneous violence of the Creat
Rebellion young black leaders now turned to militant
stnk€s (mostly wildcat) against speed-up, safety
conclttions, and other hor¡ors of factory life- some of
them emcompassing 4000 to 5000 workers and
almostall without the blessings of UAW,s leadership
at Solidarity House.
18WlN
WIN 19
"The black revolution of the sixties," writes
authors Ceorgakas and Surkin, "had finally arrived
at one of the most vulnerable links of the American
economic system
-the point of mass production,. the
assembly line. And the DRUM militants were not
simply another angry caucus of rank-and-f ile
workers. . . DRUM's anger was the anger of the
Creat Rebellion and its vision was that of a new
soc¡ety.
4"
"
ln short order the various revolutionary union
movements were grouped into an areawide League .
of Revolutionary Black Workers, heailed by an impressive coterie of young leaders-Baker, Watson,
Kenneth Cockrel (a man who would make legal history in Detroit), etc. Like all angry movement's some
of the anger turned inward against "Toms,"
"honky dogs," etc., and lost vital support for the
League from equally revolutionary whites or older
blacks. The chapter in which John Taylor, a radical
white, relates his relationships with the black leftists
is a priceless description both of factory conditions
and some of the problems of new movements.
From the strikes at the point of production,
Ceorgakas and Surkin take us on a fascinating
journey which includes the conversion of a Wayne
State University paper into a radical sheet for the
general public. Cockrel's sensational legal victories,
the election of a Marxi'st judge, J ustin Ravitz, a
number of cultrlral efforts, and above all J ames
Foreman's stillborn attempt to pyramid the Detroit
experience into'a national black political movement,
the Black Workers Congress.
This short saga poses interesting questions for the
American left. Will a new, new left emerge bottomup from such localcoalitions as those that formed
themselves in Detroit? Will such a new, new left be
led by blacks, as some in the antiwar movement
believed back in the late 1960's? Will the old left or
the present Maoist left play any role in this process?
Aird what is the relationship between the politics of
the streets (or factories) and electôral politics?
Ravitz' victory and the ambitions of Cockrel to run
for the mâyorality hint at.the idea that in due course
street politics finds a ballot-box outlet. There are
many leftists who would reject this perspective.
ln any event, what has been served by Ceorgakas
and Surkin is a heady brew of issues that deserve
wide discussion. I would.have liked them to have
posed those issues more explicitly and in greater detail. But that is only a matter of personal preference.
As a "study in urban revolution" this book is top
notch, an excellent sfarting point for many corollary
studies and discussions.
-sidney Lens
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT
ON TORTURE
Noonday Press
/
1975
/ 285 pp. /
ç3.45 paper
have seen the torturer's face at close quarters. lt
was in a worse condition than my own bleeding, livid
face. The torturer's was distorted by a kind of
twitching that had nothing human about it. He was
in such a state oÍ tension that he had an expresslorí
very similar to those we see on Chinese masks. . . /t
I
l's not an easy thing to torture people. tt requires
'inner participation.
ln this situation, !turned outto
be the lucky one. I was humiliated. t did not humiliate others . . . I wasn't the one in the worst position. I
was simply a man who moaned because he was in
great pain. I preÍer that. Atthis moment tam deprived oÍ the joy of seeing children going to school or
playing in the park. Whereas they havelo look their
own children in the face.
-
t¡,Tå:l:
ceo Man gaki s
"'
5iig,i"tr'; ;
Amnesty lnternational was organized in 1961 in
London for the purpose of combating the war thatnever ends: the humiliation of human beings
imprisoned, throughout the world, for the t crime"
of possessing an active conscience. On Human
Rights Day, 1972, Amnesty lnternational began a
world-wide campaign to end thè systematic use of
torture by governments.
As this Report on Torture makes chillingly clear,
"the use of torture has by all indications increased
over the last few years. The continual limited wars of
our time-civil wars, colonial,wars, and [cold]
wars-account for part of this, but an increasing
proportion is accounted for by states who use torture
as a means of
governing."
As indeed it has been throughout histqry,
"Torture today is essentially Jstate activiiy. . . For
those who govern without the consent of the
governéd this has proved to be an effective method
of maintaining power., To set torture as the price of
dissent is to be.assured that only a small minority
willact."
Like small pox, torture is one of those human
diseases which has no other cause, no other earrler.
Amnesty lnternational aims to isolate outbreaks of
torture and eradicate it, as a medical campaign
recently succeeded in doing with small pox.
But f irst the disease must be identif ied and
reported in all its varieties and locations. Country by
country, from AmericatoZambia, this book presents
a "world survey of torture" in addition to reports on
"medical and psychological aspects of torture" and
"legal remedies."
Perhaps the most immediate, and most hopeful (as
well as seemingly most hopeless) chapters are
special reports on Chile and the rise and fallof
government by torture in Creece, 1967-73.
Another important examination is of the cycles of
torture in history. The most infamous and perhaps
longest institution of torture was Surely the lnquisition, which began in 1233 and lasted into the 19th
century, reaching its peak of hypocrisy if not horror
under Pope lnnocent lV. The grip of the rack on the
people of E.urope was finally broken by such forthright attacks on it as the Declaration of the Rights of
Man.
Since the rise (and fall) of the Nazis, however, a
new inquisition has been sweeping much of humanity like a medieval plague. What this book calls the
"cancer" of torture will not easily be halted. First,
like any other epidemic of contagious disease, we
must break the chain.
-Jan Barry
f¡
SEVEN BEAUTIES
Written and directed by Lina Wertmuller (ln ltalian
with English subtitles). r.i
Seven Beauties is Lina Wertmuller's dazzling, tour
de force of human horror and political despair. lt is a
stunning and-in a visual wâ|-€t beautiful picture
that should establish Wertmuller (her other f ilms are
Swept Away, Allscrewed Up, Love and Anarchy,
and The Seduction of Mimi) as one of the great f ilmmakers of our time.
The f ilm is rich in ambiguity. The most dreadful
horror scenes are directed with broad humor. But
Seven Beauties is no comedy; Wertmuller's worldview is one of relentless despair.
Seven Beauties is about the holocaust; the theme
is survival. I also took it as a statement by the f ilmmaker about the awesome staying power of patriarchy, but nothing she has said indicates that this
was her intent. And feminism is certainly not one of
her themes. The women in this film when they are
not as beastial as the men, are portrayed as active r
collaborators in their mutual decadence. lndeed,
nothing pdsitive comes through this film.
Wertmuller's political vision leaves no possibility of
change. Human consciousness häs become so
distoited that the most elemental forms of decency
are no longer possible. ln such a society, survival is
sufficient reward.
Two ltalian soldiers are separated from their units
during World War ll. One is a young idealist who
refuses to take part in the carnage. The other,
Pasqual ino- played superbly by Ciancarlo
Ciannini-simply wants to survive. To achíeve this,
he ends up killing his idealistic comrade. Along the
way, a socialist is shown being sent off to prison,
impotent against fascist rule, but certain of his
ideology, even as they take him away. An anarchist
chooses a most horrible suicide rather than submit to
the degredations of a Nazi concentration camp.
Revolutionaries do have their honor, but they are
powerless to stem the barbarian tide.
Pasqualino, however, is without morals, without
honor, without any trait of human solidarity. And he
is eoing to survive. ln a series of flashbacks, Wertmuller etches out his character. Pasqualino is the
brother of seven sisters who has killed the pimp of
the eldest one and (in an absurdly comical scene)
dismembered his body. He has become a soldier in
Mussolini's army to attain his freedom from a mental
hospital, where he has gotten into further trouble by
raping a woman patient whom he finds bound in bed.
Pasqualino is the ultimate in machismo; a ladies'
. man, whose identity comes.from his power over
women.
To survive the ovens, Pasqualino makes use of
this, his only talent. He sets out to seduce the fat,
ugly sadistic female commandant.of the death camp.
Askinny, starving haggard caricature of his once
debonair self, Pasqualino starts by giving this blonde
Hildegarde the eye. Pasqualino's plan dVokes both
admirãtion and disgust. Admiration for the chutzpah
men have in even the most desperate situations, and
disgust because our hero is sure that the way to
reaéh this woman, to soften her heart and persuade
her to spare his life, is through her cunt.
The f lirtatiori is absolutely outrageous. Perhaps
Norman Mailer would be the only other writer to '
conceive of such a seduction. But Pasqualino (with
food in his belly, fed to him by the commandant as if
he were a dog) manages to rise to the occasion.
ln triumph, Pasqualino has given away the secret
of his success. His commandant now knows the
measures that her lover will take to assure his survival. And she uses him with sadistic pleasgre, mak-'
ing him a participant in the murder of his comrades.
ln the end, all the honorable and decent people
have died. Pasqualino alone survives. Loving and
flirting, killing and fucking, our hero struts his stuff;'
'.
':
,
learning nothing from the experience.
."
Retuining home aftqr the war, he is the prodigal . ;:;:!.
son. The woman who has always loved him has ',"
waited. Of course, she has become a whore.'But
who, in war, survives untarnished? And what does
Pasqualino want from her as they blissfully enter the
peacef ul postwar years. Babies, dozens of them;
because the world is only going to get meaner and
more cruel and a man needs hèlpers if he is going to
defend his family, his honor, and most of all, hirn:
I
self.
.t
There is nothing redeeming about Seven Beautiei.'.
The holocaust was the decisive experience for
Western civilization and in Wertmuller's hands it
becomes a nightmare excursion into the Western
psyche, the ultimate metaphor that describes
Western life.
-Marty Jezer
Sidney Lens' /atest book is The Promise ahd Pitfalls
of Revolution,'t974. Jan Barry coedited Winning
Hearts and Minds: War Poems'by Vjetnam
Veterans. Marty Jezer isontheWlN Editorial
Board.
wlN
20wtN
j
21
i
.-.BLACK
t
ROSE
: BOOKS
etc. READ Gross and Osterman "The New
tProfessionals" pp 33-77,Sti¡ds Terkel "Work¡ng"'
pp 525-527 ,537-540, Claudia Dreifus "Radical
Lifestyles." Midwest lnstitute, 1206 N 6th st.,
43m1.
RJIIETIN.
important books
Anaicha-feminists seeking sisters for organic
f arr(t
ing collective sharinCfood, work, energy
w¡th¡n alternative rurel-urban netûþrk
,, tdf
politict¡l Women and men. Bor 562,
Cp€i5iã¡iõr', NYC; ft mr.
FNEE
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TF
NO E
WANT TO FINISHYOUR B.A.? Checkout
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environment; summer r€sidency, w¡nter
off
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OTILY
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rN
rHL spnNlsr¡
REVOLUTION by Gaston Leval
¡
I
I
t_.
SABATE-GUERRILLA
EXTRAORDI NARY by Antonio
368 pages-This book deals with
some of the ðollectiúes'thaf were
Tellez
set up in Spain during the',
struggle against Frdnco. There
were 400 agribultural collectives
in Aragon, 900 in Levante and 300
in Castile. ln addition the.whple of
industry in Catalonia ¡ and'70o/o in
the Levante was collectivised.
How was it done, and how did the
col lectives f unction ? Translated
anarchist guerilla movement in
183 pages-Deals with
the
:
Spain fr:om 1939 to 1960. Yes,
1960. Few people outside Europe
know that the resistence wai'
active for so long after the war and
revolution, only to start again a .
few years ago. Translated from
paper $6.fi1
the Spanish.
THE ART OF ANARCHY by
Flavio Costantini
43 d¡awiqgs by tþe war artist of
the anar:chist.movemeet, They are
so wonderf ully expressive and
evocative that we have deôidtid
not-to 'gild refined gold, to paint
the lily' and left them with their
original idptions. To understand
this art is t.o,uhdêrstand struggle.
' '
cloth''!8'25
'
from the Frenchl
paper $6.50/$11 cloth
Dept. WIN
3934 St. Urbain Street
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By Robert G. lngersoll (tS3t-tSg!r)
rl
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savages to each other, as.
t
' long as they put the laurel
t
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and the óak on the brows of
t
those who kill, just so long
t
will citizens resort to viot
lence, and the quarrels of
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individuals be settled by
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dagger and'reyolver."
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Subccribc
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þt$tgylfrica
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New Miäwest Research lnstitute seeks unseltish,
rociallv-conscious, non-career¡st, MA,PhD
MOVËMENT econom¡sts, Dolitical scientists, etc.
MUST be able to 8et Srants orraise funds.
lCr¡-r!!9!9[lJ:tud¡es on wqr-peace reconversron,
Orderfrom:
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Attn: DAE
Box547
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Foruet
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HEARTS AND MINDS, is aollect¡ng poetry, prose,
art and photos by lndochina Veterans for
companion antholoSy t¡tled DEMILITARIzED
ZONES. DMZ will examine the war after oming
home: the new veterans' struggle lor survlval,
sanity and dienity... ihe new army of
:
unemployed... the casualt¡€s of "readiustmmt;" of
a generation's collisions with Sovernment... the
strengths ¿ained from confrontation with öurÉlves
and with the causes of the continuation of th¡s
war. .. the change in our views of war, lndochina
and the oeoole there. Please send work (with
SASE), ór róqi.¡ests for further information to: Jan
Barry and W. D. Ehrhart, East River Anthology,
208 Dean Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217.
\{IN
ïrc
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Philadelphia Movement tor a New SociFtyf MNS) ¡s.
a series of Or¡entat¡on Weekends at
IñãFhilailõlphiä t-ife Cõnterlor people: who want
to understand the MNS andthe Life Center; who
are seeking a way of combining polit¡cal'struggle
with peisonal Srorvth; who are interested in putt¡ng
MNSapp¡oaches to work back home. The program
includèi: Nonviolence Trainin¡, Macroanalysis
Workshops, Sessions on MNS ã;d the Life Center,
p¡¡¡5 ¿¡d Qiscussions on Direct Action Camp.¡igns,
viiion-Sharing, Croüi Þrocess Skills, and a Partv.
Uócoming Dates: Maich 5-7. Aprilg-11, May 8-10,
iune 4-6, Friday Supper to Sunday Lunch. Cost:
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Lt^,itTED SP,qCE AVAILABLE: Confirm your
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wiiie aox 10ó, w¡llet, NY 138o3 or call 617-860
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lst Casualty Press, publishçr of WINNING
Tecumseh,
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better understand¡ n9 of Angola needs a cleaf understanding of what ts ¿t stake in the wholb of Southdrn
Africa. Each month wo cover the latest €vents tn South
Afríca, Namibia, Zimbabw¡, Guinea-8issau, MozamHquc,
and Angola. We report on the African liberation movÉ
ments and expose the nature of US imperialivn tn
FEMIN¡ST CRAFTSWOMEN: please contact me.
t'd like to establish a distribution/ommun¡cat¡ons
netuork. Laurie Fuchs, CR€ATRlX, 910 Cloandon,
Durham, NC27705.
Mrsc
MA 013ó2
WILL BEBUILD OUR COUNTRY TETÛ
TIMES MORE BEAUTIFUL.
WE
The Journalof SocioloBy and Social Welfare is
calling for unpublished papers, 5,dXÞ 8,ú0 r,rords
in length; for a Special lssue titled
"Warfare-Welfare: Jhe Unresolved lssue of the
70's," scheduled foi publication'in late 1976or
1977. Articles arê being solicited about: The nature
of the warfare-welfare state, patterns in the growth
and development of warfare and welfare
institutions; The analysis of natiohal pr¡or¡ties and
the warfare-wêlfare budget: lssues,
oioblems, and programs for demilitarization and
the enhancement of social welfare, which inrolve
social workers and allied professíonals. Ms's and
inquiries should be dlrectedto L. K. Norwood,
lssue Editor, School of Social Work-- JG-14, Uniy.
of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195.
Woolman Hill, a non-profit, educational èånter
under the auspices of the Religious Society of
Friends, is sponsoring a series of Winter
Workshoos. The tooiCof the next one scheduled is
The Art of Puópetri, with Eric Bass and Friends,
an oDoortunitv-to work with experienced,
profäisional puppeteers, March 5-6; begins with
Friday Suppór á¡id ends after Saturdey D¡nner'"
Contact fdrfurther info: Katie Winship at (413)
773-9065 o1 7724453; Woolman.Hill, Deerf ield,
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ANGOLA. a Report by the Genter
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you'd like to know about U.S. in-.
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iolvement. 12 pp ,
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In THE RECANTATION OF GALITEO GALILEI. Eric Bentley portrays Galileo:as¡
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scientitic and social revolutionary. Dan Berrigan calls it "A brave and skillful play.
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It sheds light on the dark .paces äf the soul añd the even darker spaces of the
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Win Magazine Volume 12 Number 8
1976-03-04