Win Magazine Volume 14 Number 12

PEACE

E( F

I

April6,

1978

/

40(

REEDOM TH RU NONY'OTENT,{CT'ON

Extremely "Right" on
the Panama Canal

ì

The California Tax Initiative:
A Wolf in PopulÍst Cloühing
Georgetown Poems
by Daniel Berrigan
drt h

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ir

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-S'

Nuclear Weapons
Labs on Trial

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'i

ìheresistancetoihewar.

I

I nced to tell you about my experierices, I want you to know what resistanc€ "in exilè" was like. And I want

LET

to

recbrdthetruth about an important
aspect ofthe resistance to thè war.
There is a lot to be said about mv
personal experiences and the polilical
mcaning of my resistance. There is a lot
for me to learn about other people's experiences. I'd like my lettef to ierve as
an invitation to begin a dialogue about

tho meaning of res-istance.
My "exile" is over. I have the .,privilegel'now of walking in places likei
Ber&eley. A year ago-, I would have been
arrested for iloing lhe same thins. But
I'm not satisfiedíust to "be backY' in the
USA. I want to reãch out to find out what
you were doing while I was away and I
want to tell you what I was doing during
those years we were parted.
There is much morè to sav and to

rearn'

of
lVtN, makes a statement that I find very
disturbine. In her review ofJean Bakei
Miller's foward a New Poycholog¡r of

TYcncn, \Yendy starts out, "One
wonders if it were a large number of men
whg iuffered from chronicfeelings of
alienation, inadequacy and depression
would there not long ago have been a redpffnition of fulfi llrnent and success.
Since, however, it is only women who so

resistonce was

vidualswhotook
positions of
of you whowere indhe

suffef...."

This statement just isn'ttrue. To
assume that onlv women suffer from the
masculine definitions of 'fulfillment and
success' in our society is to ignore the
factthat many men sufferequallyfrom
these same definitions. Ask almost any
man who tries to reject these definitions
whether or not he suffers 'chronic
feelings of alienation, inadequacy and
deprçssion'-I'm sure he'll say that he
docs ifhe is at all honest.
It is useful hete to distinguish bètween
thç trjrms male/female anil
inasóuline/feminine. The former are
physiological terms, the latter are
sociotal and psychological. The former
referto basic physical differences, the

\

that we are
out in his

Politics
manifestid in
failure torecall
eventsand

lctt€r to socially defined role-models.
BoírXg a male person doesn't mean that
onÊ i$ masculine any more than being a
Êmgle person means that one is

fcr.ni4ine; but since society expects
lrdividuals to fït these roles (and trains

government

çqpte from birth

serves us the

'm4sculinity' can

to
be

fit them),
just as oppressive to

man as 'femininity' can be to a woman.
I can best illustrate my point with a
personal example. A year and a halfago I
&

mass
years ofwar
cover up the

was working as a

our
communicate

orderto
understand
the future, we
we
2

mustknow

WIN April 6, 1978

'volunteer' on the

Continental Walk and then later on
amnesty and the B-1 ; while I found this
personally satisfying, I was defïnitely
not the 'breadwinner' in our household. I
was lpither earning a high salary nor
loo&itg for ajob that paid one; and in
Vïashington, that is certainly opposed to
the societal definition of 'fulfillment and

\üe've

.

'.1i-

¡

ì

'_1..

',

wish Wendy would be more
cateful in her use of words-it is not men
that oppress women in this country; it is
masculine and feminine role-models that
oppress both men and women.
I do

ifrä::#

-otffi#STlrT

\gtrendy Schwartz,
in the March 9 issue

forms.

success.' Whenever.Ijudged myself
against the surrounding social patterns
and those of my own background, I had
to deal with feelings of 'alienation,
inadequacy and depression.' From the
experience I learned to measure myself
by my own standards, not those ofñrasssociety (though I still don't always
succeed in doing to); and I also learned
fitst-hand the pervasiveness in America
of the masculine/feminine models as I
constantly ran into them in my surroundings and my own being. These models
oppress men just as much as women,
force men into role:patternsjust as
unsatisfying personally and spiritually
as those imposed onwomen.

In response to John Cort's letter about
my r_eview of Toward a New Psychology

of IVomen (WIN

3/9/78) I might say tñat

your points about my review are yelltaken. I really was talking about roles,
not people ofa specific gender. I still
believe, howeyer, that the men who
grapple with role problems are notthose
about whom society is generally concerned. Most mainstreâm men'(i. e.,

corporate executives, doctors, laborers,
etc.) acceptthe American dream and
atternpt to frll the male role model. It
would be the revolt of this sector which
would create redefinitions. Our people,
if I can be so presumptuous, simþty withdraw from thè main ánd create pêrÉonal
and subculture alternatives. therebv not
affecting society at large. Ai a ivomän,
what Ifïnd particularly disturbing is the
increasing numbers of women who are
aspiring to traditional male roles, rather
than working to eliminaþ them. The
rash ofbooks on "how to become a
woman executive" demonstrates that a
Iot of women want a piece of the oie: thev

don'fwant to changé the ingredfenis.

Toobad.

-Wnxoyïcnw^ARu
NewYorkrN.Y.

write to respond to the two centlemen
who have so gallantly defentíed "freedomof speech" inthematterof Snuff.
(John Lauritsen, Y,IIN2/9/78. and John
Hevelin, WIN3/16178.)
Congratulations to both ofyou on your
moral purity in your refusal to "stand on
the side of censorship, " but, like many
civil libertarians with a vested interest in
the status quo (in this case, male caste
privilege), you continue to confi¡se
I

"freedom to speak" with ''freedom to
" Snuffand films like it are but

abuse.

reinforcements of the socialization of
men to view womyn as less than human,
and to see their own mascullnitv as
contingent upon their ability arid desire
to subjugate womyn, other men, and the
earth itself.
Mr. Hevetin wrote, "To embrace

archaic and oppiessive legislation such
as theobscenity statutes . . . will
ultimately prove ineffectual against the
evils we are trying to eradicate. " I'm not
sure what evils you are lrying to eradicate, Mr. Hevelin, but womyu are trying
desoeratelv to save each other's lives.
Frhirs like Snuffcelebrate the rape,
destruction, and degradation of womyn.
They are actions against us in
themselves, and they are part of a daily
thre.at against our bodies and a continual
patriarchal challenge to our very right to
exist. Like so many more ot less subtle
violationS of our humanity, they are
weapons in the wàr against ouicaste. As
such, we must struggle againstthem.

Mr. Lauritsen wrote, "It does not
matter whether you call yourselves

lngly tells us that Cuban work compensations stem most intimately wrlh
capitalist standards of evahiations of
productive labor rather than socialist

assumptions."

'

Here Linden is taking an idea out of
Marx's context and disregarding his
historical perspective. I shall quõte from
Marx's Crltlque of the Gotha
Programme (International Publishers,
1938, pp.8-10):
"What we have to deal with here is a
communist society, not as it has
developed on its own foundations, but,
on the,contrary, as it emergee from
capitalist society; which is thus in every
respect, economically, morallv and in-

April6, 19781Vol. XlV, No.12
4. Extremely "Right" on the
Panama Canal

tellectually, still stamped witli the birth-

.'feminists,''paðitists,' rr *nu,"u"¡3you
are in the camp of the enemy!" No, sir;
you are in the camp of the enemy. And
you will stay there until you decide to
take seriously the absolute threat to our
lives which Snuffrepresents and until
you stop your talk of "sexual freedom"
when what you really mean is "sexual
caste privilege"-your own. (You might
not be so glib about freedom if we were
dealing, instead, with a porno film which
showed a male being castrated.)
.I'd like to suggest toboth ofyou that if
you truly took violence against womyn
seriously you wouldn'tbe writing letters
to WIN to question our methods of trying
to stay alive because you wouldn't have
time. Instead you would be trying to
counterthat violence by dealing with
your own sexism and your own socialization, by listening to and learning from
what womyn have to say about our
oppression, and by entering into
dialogue with other men about your lives
and about ways to overcome the lies
you've absorbed about the values you
should embrace. Only when you begin to
do these things conscientiously and consistently will there be any room fot discussion between us.

JOAIICAVANAGH
NewHavenrCt.
This is in reply to Lou Línden's acidic
criticisms of Cuba in the March 16th
WIN. I happen to believe that Cuba is
giving us a commendable example of
building a socialist society. Ofcourse not
everything there is perfect, and there
always is room for constructive criticism.
But the main thrust of their revolution is

to solve many of the terrible social prob.
lems that afflicted Cuba before 1959.
Let me concentrate on one obvious
distortion in Linden's letter. He writes
about Marx's Crltlque of the Gothohogramme: "This work, in its conclusions.
reads'from each according to his abilit5r,
to each accordins to his needs (emphasis
added). The Miriistry of Labor hasìt:
'from each according to his ability, to
each according to his work' (emphasis
added). Thus we have been given a
.

pragmatic distorting substitution from
Marx's clarifying analysis, that reveal-

marks of the old societyfrom whose
womb it emerges. Accordinglv the

individual proãucer receiveõ6ack from

DanielSchirmer
10. Nuclear Weapons Labs on Trial

Jonathon Class

society-after the deductions have been

made-exactly what he gives to it. What
he has given to it is his individual amount
of labor. . .The same amountof labor
which he has given to society in one
form, he receivesbackin another. . .The
righi of the produce,rs is proportlonal to
the labor they supply . . . .
"In a higher phase of communist
society, aft er the enslaving subordination ofindividuals under division of
labor, and therewith also the antithesis
between mental and physical labor, has
vanished; after labor, from a mere
means of life, has itself becomethe
prime necessity oflife; after the productive forceÉ have also increased with the
all-round development of the individual,
and all the springs ofco-operative wealth
flow more abundantly-only then can
the narrow horizon ofbourgeois rightbe
fully Ieft behind and society inscribe on
its banners: from each accordins to his

ability, to each according to his ãeeds t "
obviously Linden has distortal,Ìittl

Cllnton,N.Y.
I appreciated your special issue of WIN,
March 9, 1978, for International
Women's Day. I went through your list
of Readings on Feminism and found

that, as usual, any mention of Women
and Judaism rryas completely omitted.
You might have included: Charlotte
Baum, The Jewlsh Womar ln Amorlca
(Dial Press, 1976).
There is also a Task Force on Women
in Reform Judaism, coordinated by
Annette Daum, New York Federation of
Reform Synagogues, 838 Fifth Ave.,
New York, NY 10028. As for magazines
and special issues, the Jout¡al of World
Educotlon had an issue on Women-Vol.
5, Nq. 4, lYinter 1974. Ifany copies
remain, they can be obtainèd ffom:
Association for \Yorld Education, 3

Harbor Hill Drive, Huntington, NY
11

743 ($1 .00 plus postage, please).

Thankyou, also, forthe special issue
with the article on the Jamesport
Nuclear Power Plant. I formerly lived on

Longlsland.

-LEAHR.KARPEN
V[orvervllle, N.C.

12. Ceorgetown Poems

DanielBerrigan
14. The Cal'ifornia Tax lnitiative:

:

A Wolf in Populist Clothing

MichaelBerkowitz

17. Changes
20, Review/ P atr ick Lacef i eld

Cover: Statue of Theodore Roosevelt in front of New York
Museum of Natural History.
Photo from LNS.

STAFF

. Robert Ellsberg
Patrick Lacefield o Lauri Lowell
Susan Pines o Murray Rosenblith
Susan Beadle

Atlantic Ave; / Sth Floor
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503
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lephone ; (212) 624 -5337, 624 -gSgS

UNINDICTED
CO-CONSPIRATORS
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. huth
Dear . Ralph Dic¡a' . W¡ll¡am Douthardr r Dwight
.
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Ernest Ruthann Evanoff Chuck Fager r J im
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Kyper r Elliot Linzer' o Jackson MacLow o D¡vid
McReynoldsr . MaryMayo . Dav¡dMorr¡s . Mark
Morr¡s . Jim Peck . lgal Roodenko. . Vick¡ Roveief
WendySchwartz' o MarthaThomases . ArtWaskow
Coffi¡

Susan Wilkins

r

BeverlyWoodward

*Member of WIN
Editorial Board

WIN is published every Thursday except foi the f¡rst

week in January, the fourth week in March, the second
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W.l.N. Magazine, lnc. with the support of the War
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Second class.postage paid at New York, NY 1ünl and
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Prihted in USA

April 6, 1978WlN 3

Vietnam, and Watergate and Angol¿of reasserting

Map from LNS

the glory of this country. People once more see a
chance for Americans to stand up as Americans."
(Walter La Feber, The PanamaCanal, Oxford
University Presss, New York, 1978, p. 190. )
The comments of Reagan's staff suggest what the
ultra-right is up to in opposing the treaties. Their
goal is certain ly,not primarily economic. lndeed the
powerf ul ecónomic forces most directly concerned
support the treaties. The goal of the ultra-right is
primarily political. On February 25 Covernor
Meldrim Thomson told New Hampshire Republicans: "lf you wantthe Republican Partyto take
control of the Un ited States Congress and the
White House, we can do it by taking strong stands
on issues that move the American people, " and he
urged attention to the PananlaCanal. (Boston

â,

PA

PANAMA

'.Madden

atun

Extremely "Right"
on the
Panama Canal

^

by Danielschirmer

a

eldrim Thomson, the governorof New Hamp-

M shire who visited South Af rica and found

apartheid to his liking, opposes the Panama Canal
treaties and proclaimed February22 "Savethe
Canal Day" in his state. Thomson's opposition tells
the story.
The ultra-right is the main organizing force
against the Panama Canal treaties. Eight conservative organizations make up the Committee to
Save the Panama Canal. This Committee sponsorgd the so-cal led "truth squad" of 20 Congresspeople who went around the country speaking
againstthetreaties. Richard Viguerie, who specializes in mass mailings for conservatiye causes
and who worked for Ceorge Wallace, has sent out
two million pieces of anti-treaty mail. The Veterans
of Foreign Wars and the American Legion, consistently hawkish in foreign policy, are active against
the treaties.
ln one long sentencê, Robert Welch of the J ohn
Birch Society, framed the message of the

ultra-ri ght on'this issue:
. . . tlre'most

powertul nation on earth is supposed

Daniel Schirmer isthe author of Republicor
Empire: American Resistance to the Ph i I ippine
War lSchenkman,19721.

to be giving in to this blackmail by a poor little pipsqueak domain, with a population about one-foùrth
that of the city of Los Angeles, because of threats
and disorders which the police force of Los Angeles
alone could wipe out in a week iÍ our own govern-

mentwere not encouraging Torriios, Castro, and
Brezhnev to instigate and build up such riotous
forayS by their Communistagents. (NewYork
Times, 2/10/78.)

Hamilton Fish was once a Congressman f rom
New York who thought thatthe United States
should have supported Hitler in World War ll; on
February 10 th is former America Firster came out
of retirement to writethe New York limes that
treaty ratification would "turn independent
nations such as J amaica, British Cuinea (sic) and
possibly Trinidad toward Communist governments. The Soviet inf luence would rapidly extend

throughoutCentral America. . . . "
Butof course Ronald Reagan has been ttre main
champion of the ultra-right against the treaties,
using the issue for all it was worth during his 1976
presidential bid. Then someof Reagan's staff
people expressed their understanding ofthe issue
in a waythat was revealing. To them itwas a
"symbolic issue." Oneof his top aides said,
"People sense in this issue someway, after

Sunday Clobe,2/26/75.) As Thomson's remarks

indicate, the ultra-right sees the Canal as a symbolic issue to use in order to seizecontrol of-the
Republican Party, turn the country around polrtically, and recoup their waning inf luence. They
believe the Canal issue can be counted on to
unleash the most chauvinist and backward sentiments in the country at large and so help them
achieve pol itical rej uvenation
Despite the rhetoric of the right, the fact is that
the issue involved is not communism, but
imperialism, naked and unashamed. This was
brought home to me on a visit to Panama three
years ago with a group of concerned US citizens.
On our f irst day in Panama we met with a member
of the Panamanian Supreme Court, a black man.
He saidto us: "Doyou knowwhat Panama's most,
valuable natural resource is? lt is her geographical
position." Bythis he meant Panama's position as
"the gatewayof the world," possession of a narrow
isthmus of land that serves to connect the Atlantic
and the Pacific Oceans, and the countries of the
East and West.
For some 70 years the rulers of the United States
have held Panama's greatest natural resourceher geographic position
-and have exploited it to
theirown advantage. The historian Walter La
Feber testifies to the prof it this has brought US

business:

ln aconscious policy of subsidizing North
American shipping, the United Statesdid notraise
tolls between 19'14 and 1973 . . . . The low tolls and
the nearly 8,000 milescutfrom atrip between New
York City and San Francisco enables a ship's owner
to spend for Canalcharges only one-tenth thè
amount required to move a vesse/around the tip of
South America. (La Feber, p.61 .)
US

treaty negotiator Ellsworth Bunker said that

the Canal has been of "incalculable value" to the
United States and other nations. (lJniting Panama:
A New Cana I Treaty; EPICA, Washington, DC,
197 4, p .90 .) Pan ama en g i neer Franci sco Morales
told an êngineers'conferencethere in May 1976
that tolls raised only twice since 1914 have saved

world sh ipping 57 bill ion in that time, $4.6 bill ion of
it benefiting ships boundtoorfrom US ports.
But Panama has received at best some $2 million

annually in direct payment forthe Canal.'
(Washington Post,1/9/77; La Feber, p.227 .)
US shipping and industry have so far been the
main beneficiaries of Panama's geographic
position, and the relationship of US ðorporate
interests to the Canal has, in its way, been as
imperialist and exploitive as was once that of the
Spanish conquistadores to the gold and silver
mines of Lati4 America. The people of Panama now
see that th is must end. They wish to reclaim their
nation's most i m portant resource for themselves.
To believethatthe Panamanians cannot do so
because so many areof a darker skin color and'so

cannoi develop the necessary skills for Canal
operation ¡s to adhereto one of the most outdated of
all imperial myths -that of wh ite supremacy.
But it is not only white supremacy that has
clouded the issue of the Canal , The very technological achievement that the,Canal represents
has also obscured its imperial exploitation by the
US. The Canal was and is a major engirieering feat;
US scientists did much to combat yellowfever and
malaria in Panama. lt is onething to be proudof
these achievements of US engineering and
medicine. lt is anotherthing to letthe ultra-right
use this pride (as the empire-builders have done all
along) to blind the people of the United States to
the exploitive relationship US corporate interests
have had to Panama over the years.
The ultra-right also takes advantage of another
belief sponsored for half a century by those who
have ruled the country- namely, that the Canal
must be identified with patriotism, with pride in
what is noble and elevating in our nation's pàst.
Nothing could be more fraudulent. Truthfully, the
Panama Canal must be identif ied with a period in
our nation's past that i s thorou gh ly di shonorable. tt
is that time around the end of the lasl century when
the corporate and financial rulers of the United
States foined their European counterparts in
carving up the wqrld amongst themselves,
subjecting the peoples of Asia, Africa, and Latin
America to modern forms of colon ization .
The rulers of the Un ited States grabbed the
PanarnaCanal in 1903, just afterthey had snatched
the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Cuba from their
decrepit imperial rival, Spain. ln fact the US grab of
the Panama Canal, along with US intervention in
Cuba and Puerto Rico, was intended to tellthe

other imperial powers, "Keepoff ! Latin America is
reserved for the US ! "
During this era, the United States carriedon
military intervention in the Philippines, Cuba,
Puerto Rico, a¡d Panama under the banner of
"the white man's burden. " At home this racist
ideology was ref lected in the lynching of 100 blacks
a year.
Today, from a post-Vietnam perspective, there
seemr to be only one source of legitimate pride in

\...'

4WtN April6, 1978

,t

April6, 1978WlN

5

tI
this period:the fact that Mark Twain, J ane
Addams, /\4assachusetts Republican Senator
George Frisbie Hoar, and many others opposed the
US government's policies. The liberal Nation often
spoke for men and women such as these and at the
time it wrote of Theodore Roosevelt's Panama
poliqy: "Even the buccaneers who sailed the
Spanish Main would havefound ittoo much for
them.'f (Thomas A. Bailey, A Diplomatic History
of the Amer ican People, Appleton, New York,
1946,p.542.)
The m¡hology surrounding Theodore
Roosevelt, the chief agentof the Canal grab, repre-

proved that you were guiltyof rápe." (La Feber,
pp.34,57 .)
Roosevelt was the prototypical imperiat president ("1 tookthe Canal and let Congress debate,,),
and he.was, in the bar.gain, somethingof a bully "
and a demagogue, as the comments of those who
knew him wellsuggest. (Bailey, p.545.) But Big
Business profited from his empire-building and
elevated him into the pantheon of the nation's
heroes. Every school child knowsthat his head is
carved on Mount Rushmore, along with those of
Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln-men who,
whatever thei r h i storical I im itations, honestly

Rather, bn occasion, theytryto use it'bn theirown
behalf . So President Carter, in hís fireside chat,
attempted to throwthe mantleof Theodore Roosevelt over the treaties. (New York I imes , 2/2/78.)
(lf members of the establishment had to rewrite
history once to make Roosevelt a hero, they are evidently prepared to do so again, to keep him one.)
Establ i shment supporters al so yield ideological
ground to the ultra-right when they too try to revive
the anti-Communism of the Cold Waryears. The
ultra-right says, "The Communists r,yill take over
in Latin America if thetreaties pass."
Establ ishment supporters tal k of a "Communist
takeóver" if the treaties fail !
For example, President Carter has recently
converted Senator Richard Stdn€, Democratof
Florida, to treaty support. Senator Stone came
away from his White House conference to warn of
the existence of "a very h gh ly organ ized i n surrectionist movement," and to threaten that in case of
the treaties' rej ection " Those Castro-s u pported
movements . . . would go out of con trol .' ' (Christian
Science Monitor, 2 / 13 /78.)
Here, too, it is necessary,to move beyond the
anti-Communist rhetorictci discern the real
concern of the establ ishment supporters of the
treaties: th'e $1S billion worth of ÚS investment in
Latin America, 1.8 billion of which is in Panama
itself . (Senate Committeeon Foreign Relations,
Peggy Musgrave, Direct I nvestment Abroad,
Covernment Printing Office, Washington, DC,
1975,p.12; La Feber, p.226.) Elitetreaty
supporters are worried that a hostile climate for US
investment in,Latin America may develop if the
ultra-right nullif ies the treaties in the Senate, and
rèfuses concessions to Panama.
That is whythe US State Department in1975
gave its blessing to a conference in Washington of
more thän two dozen multinational corporations
that fornled the Business and Professional Committee for a New Panama Canal Treaty, with a halfm i I I ion dol ar budget for propaganda and lobbyi n g.
B.y1977 , the Councilof the Americas, comprising
over 200 United States corporations with holdings
in South America, was lobbying each senator individual ly to support the treaties. ( La Feber, pp.21 422s.)
Two things especially convinced these powerf ul
economic groups that the time had come to make
concessions and negotiate a newtreaty-the explosive growth of Panamanian nationalism in the
1960's, and the wide popular support for Panamanian nationalism in the rest of Latin America.
When Theodore Roosevelt told the ruling
Panaman ian oligarchy they would have to accept
Bunau-Vari I la' s treaty granti n g titular soverei gnty'
in the Canal Zone to the Ui¡ited States or he would
withdraw US support for their new nation, the
oligarchy submitted. Theircontinuing submission
defined US-Panamanian relations for nearly half a
century.
ln the 60's, however, a new Panamanian middle
i

1.

Drawing by Ed CntSst¡ILNS

sents another powerful ideological hold imperialism has on this question. The facts of Roosevelt's
role are well known. When Colombiaturned down
the US offer of $10,000,000 for rights to the canal in
the Colombian provinceof Panama, President
Roosevelt denounced the Colombians in racist

terms as "contemptible little creatures," "jack
rabbits," a "corrupt pithecoid Iape-like]
comm un ity. " (Bai ley, pp. 538-539. ) He encouraged
Panamanian nationalists to revolt against Colombian rule, and then the Navy, on his orders,
intervened to prevent Colombian troops from
putting down the revolt. A French adventqrer,
Bunau-Varilla, drew up atreatythat gavethe US
titular sovereignty in thé Canal Zone and hurried to
sign it on behalf of Panama six hours before representatives of that nation reached Washington. (See
WlN, 11 /17 /77, for an historical analysis of the

treaty.)
Characteristically, Roosevelt tried to defend the
proprietyof his actions. The members of his Cabinetlaughed in his face. His Attorney-Ceneral,
Philander Knox, said: "Oh, Mr. President, do not
let so great an ach ievement suffer from any taint of
legality." Elihu Root, the most astuteof his associates, told him, "You have shown thatyou were
accused of Seduction and you have conclusively
1903

advanced the nation's independence and democratic development.
The þowerf ul effect of all these ideological levers
can be seen in the diff iculty the Panama treaties
have had in winning wide public support. But it
would be wrong to interpret this lack of popular
enthusiasm as a new surge of conscious support for
a US policy of imperiàl intervention, as does the

ultra-right. Manyof those who are reluctanttoday
to give support to the treaties are the same people
whoturned against US intervention in Vietnam and
forced Johnson to withdraw his candidacy for reelection and Nixon to end the war. Popular reluctance about the treaties is the result of the strength
that adheres to an imperial ideology hanging over
our nation from the past. Many US voters do notyet
fully realized that this imperial ideology
contradicts thei r domi nant pol ¡ticál experience of
the last decade: opposition to the Vietnam war. The
situation can be seen as a cultural lag, subject to
evanescence. (Carter's defense of the treaties
brciught a standi n g ovation in the heart of Meldrim
ThÒmson's territory.)
The ultra-right has an advantageon this score, of
course. By and large the establishment supporters
of the treaties prefer not to challenge the imperial
ideology that bolsters the treaties' opponents.

¡

I

class along with the new Panamanian student

population developed a new, more militant Panamanian nationalism. (La Feber, pp.80-81.) This
new nationalism came forward with dynamicforce
in 1964. ln that year several hur¡dred Panaman ian
students went into the Canal Zone to raise the
Panpmanian flag alongsidethe US flag, according
to a þrevious agreement w¡th US authorities. The
US residents of the Zpne (ardent colonialists then
and now) attacked th'e students and drove them
backto Pariama City, the nation's capital, adfacent
to the Zone. Thèreupon 30,000 Panamanians
joined the students in the streets. Rifle f ire broke
out betweeen US troops and panamanians, For
four days there were nationalist demonstrations.
The US lnformation Agency was burnt to the
ground, Pan American and Braniff officeswere
destroyed, and the tire plants of Coodrich and
Firestone were ruined. ln the interior, in United
Fruit country, the,Chase Manhattan Bank and an
Esso station were burned, and United Fruit made
preparations to flyout all US personnel. All
together, $2 million worth of property was
destroyed. Twenty-four Panamanians ând four US
soldiers were killed. (La Feber, pp.13B-140.)
These circumstances led to the present negotiations and to the proposed treaties and the cohcessions they embody.
The peoples of Latin America have given
virtual ly unamimous support to the Panaman ian
nationalist struggle. The ultra-right in this country

is unwilling to make changes in the status quo
because US control of the Canal has for so long
been a symbolof US imperial hegemony in Latin
America. This is the very same reason the peoples
of Latin America supportthe Panamanian dernand
for change so enthusiastically. The US multinational corporate leaders fearthat should they not
make some concessions to Panama,

demonstrations on theorderof 1964 would break
out th roughout Lati n America, causi n g destruction
to many millions of dollars worth of US investment
in plants and property.
Would the developmentof such hostility bethe
result of the manipulations of Castro and other
Communists as some maintain? The Cuban social
revolution took that country out from under the
protectdrate of the Platt Amendment andthe
dom i nation of the US m ultinationals. So Cuba and
its leader Castro tend to be a source of inspiration
for Latin American nationalists. That is a fact of life
today. But if there is popular anger atthe United
States because of treaty reject ion'or n u I I f ication by
the US Senate, the ultra-right will have to bear the
responsibility, for such hostility will have corre as
the result of the deliberate rebuff the ultra-light will
have given to Latin American aspirations.
To th ink that treaty passage will somehow
reward "Communism" in Panama is alsowideof
the mark. Torrijos is above all a Panamanian
nationalist; the 1968 boup d'etat that put him in
power regi stered the decl i ne of the old ol garchy
i

i

6WlN Apr¡|6, 1978

April6, 1978WlN

7

t

.if,.

and its policyof submission. But his domestic
program is nota socialistone; at most it isoneof
populist reform. Moreover it should be
remembered that his government,s lax financial
regulations have made Panama a haven for US
bankin g operations
- the Switzerland of the
Western Hemisphere. (La Feber, Chapter6.)
The concessions that the Torrijos government
has been able to win from the United States in the
treaty negotiat¡ons are limited. They areiwo-fold:
the treaties state that after the year 2OOOttre
United States will trânsfer the ownership and
operatìon of the Canalto Panama, with panámanians to be brought into ever-increasing administrative control in the intervening period. Secondly,
the treaties call for a two and one-half year transition period after which Panama will take over from
the United States the functions of government
(courts, police, fire department, sðhoolb, post
office., etc.) ¡n the CanalZone, doing awaywith
what has been a virtual colonial enc-lave since 1903.
That is the limit to the concessions, for the
treaties also allowthe United States to maintain
. mìlitaryinstallations in Panama until the year
2000. {There are 14 of these installation3 now,
including the US Southern C.ommandoutof wh¡ch
the asCass i n ation of Che C uevara was òrgan íz-èd,
some years back, and the School of the Americas, a
train ing ground for many of the reactionary m iti-:
tary dictatorsh i ps i n. Lati n America today. )' After
the.year 2000 the treaties, by i m þi icatiön, g i ve the
United States the r:ight of unilaterat military
intervòntion under the rationale of defensebf the
Canal andits neutrality. ln addition thetreaties -'
expressly give the US Navy the privilege of going to
the head of the I inê for tran sit of the Canat in timãs
of emergency. (New York Times, B/1J /77 .)
The treaties are, consequently, a contradictory
affair: they make concessions to Panama in the
ownership of the Canal andthecontrol of the Zone,
at the same time that they reassert US imperial
pri.vileges in bases, canal transit, and the¡ightto

,¡
Friends Service Committee, and other groups.
As support for the treaties has grown iñ the
Senate the ultra-right has begun to call for amendþC them in such a way as to make acceptance by
Panama doubtful, if not impossible. Two such

amendments have gathered support, one spelling

out the US unilateral right of military interventioñ,
the other highlighting the privilege of transit for
the US Navy.
As a result of pressure from the ultra-right
Carter prevailed upon Torrijos to sign an rlnderstanding last summer aff irming thesetwo points.
But that was not enough for the ultra-righq they
demanded explicit amendments, andthe Senate
Foreign Relations Committee reported in their
favorwhen it recommended passageof the

.

\

military intervention
Shortly after the treaty p:-cvisions were
announced last summer a popular referendum took
place in Panama. Some 70olo of the population
voted i n f avor of the treaties, some 30% opposed'
them, Doubtless manyof those whooppoiéO ¿¡O so
because of the cláuses reasserting thé imperial
position of the US military.
lh.e nF!-Ç O, the \at ion al Coúnci l'of Ch urches,
and the US Catholic Conference are in favorof the'
treaties. Many who today feel the need for a moro
democratic and non i ntervention i st forei gn poliçy
give the treaties what can be seen as criticai
support, calling fortheir passage bythe Senate,
while at the same time expressing dissatisfactiOrl
with their "big stick" provisions. Such isroug{lÎy,
the position of the Washington-based Coalit¡õi,¡ fbr
a New Foreign and Military Policy, composedcrf,',;
representatives from churches, the American :.
I

r

SWlN April6, 1978
I

treaties.
'According

to Ñewsweekof January 2,1978,
Torrilos has warned that if the treaties are
amended, another Panamanian referendum would
be reqúired, with less assurance this time of
approval.
Certainly if the treaties are rejected, and
possibly if they are amended, confrontation in the
mode of 1964 could develop in Panama, with
resultsthat would be impossibleto foretell. Last
August J ames Reston wrote in the New York Times

"There is no reasonable way to vote against this
treaty without taking into account not only the
possibility butthe probabilityof guerrillawar and a
crippled canal if thetreaty is rejected." (New York

Times,B/13/77.)

reviewthe 193rd lnfantry Brigade. I cannot forget,
however, the,meeting we attended in a smalltown
in'the Panaman ian interior. A h i gh school auditorium held an overflowcrowd of students and
parents. Young men and women, one after
another, mounted the stagetotellthe US visitors
that they would eladly shed the last drop of blood to
reclaim the Canal and the Zone, and eaéh avowal
was metwith passionate enthusiasm bythe
Panaman i an audience. I bel ieve that th is meeti n g
represented the spirit of many if not most,Pana,

manians.
The New

Re publ

ic' sWash

the.issueof February

11

in

gton diarist wrote in

t

won'tbe surþiised it we areíghting a nasty little
war again soon . . . . The rightturn has already
begun.. . . Wespend 50,000American lives
proving how tenacious we are, but the pressure is
on again to prove our nerve. For some reason
I

liberals want us to do it in Af rica, whereas conservatives wantashowdown in Panama.
On February 23 treaty proponents barely passed
their f irst test in the Senate on a procedural
question as opponents mustered 30 Votes -only
four short of the 34 needed to block the treaties
altogether. The Boston Herald reported "mounting álarm" among proponents that head counts

were becoming "uncomfortablyclose'"

"Of

,

particularconðern,'l continuedtheHerald, "'7rg' :'
Senators Edward Brooke, R-Mass., and Charles
Mathias, R-Md. . . . Both senators voiced strong
andperuas¡ve doubts about the tredties
(Boston Herald, 2 / 24 /78.)
'- Íiã ."t" of tr¿aésch useits Senator Edward :
'
gråäk" ii"tirates the way the ultra-right uses the '
Canal issue to strengthen its influence in the
Republican Party. The Senator comes up for
l
r"-ã|".t¡on in197ï,and aformer radio
against
commentator, Avi Nelson, threatens to run
him in the Republican primaries. Nelso¡1is an archcon servative who previousiy al i gned hi mself with
the racist oppositiòn to busing in Bostoñ; now hq is
outspoken againstthe Canal treaties. On J anuary
27 aietter appeared in the Boston'Globe
Euggestingiñat Brooke was leaning towards
opposition to the treaties in order to head off Nelson's
candidacy. lf this isthecase, as seems morethan
likely, the ultra-right has gained a hold on the
Senator by means of the Canal issue.
The C/obe letter:writer summarized the case
against the ultra-right opposition to the treaties, as
he concl uded, " lf they vote to reject the treaties,
Brooke andthe conservâtives must be prepared to
accept responsibility for the Panamanian and

American Iives that will be lost."

\

The ultra-right evidently feels that Panama is
small enough (onlyone quarterthe population of .
¡
Los Angeles, as Robert Welch saysjforthe USto
defy with impunity. They seem to believe that a
provocative display towards Panama would
redeem the United States in the eyes of the world
after its defeat in Viétnam. Nothing could be
f urther from the truth. Such provoCation woutd.
speedily lead our country into a diplomatic isolation
well nigh complete.
As was the case with Vietnam, the ultra-right
underestimates the Panamanian will and capacity
to resist. Dean Rusk, former Secretaryof Státe, hãs
warned that the United States had better be
prepared to send a division to Panama if ratification
fails. The J oint Chiefs of Staff say it would take over
100,000 men to defend the Canal in the face of
Panamanian hostility. But John\Wayslik, Commander-in-Ch ief of the Veterans of Foreign Wars,
after a tri p to Panama last fal l, told h i s fol lowers :

Photo by M. Montelino/l-iason

lfoundthe 5,5Nman 193rd lnfantry Brigadetobe
hard-driving, tough, professional force f ully
capable of meeting any credible threattothe Canal
or the Zone. . . . Talk aboutthe need to,,send a
a

" i s scar e tai k p u r e a n d s i m piã. f ñã*
Times , 8/28177; lettei of Waystik to VFW Nationat
Off icers, 11 /17 /77.)
d i v i s ion

iorl

The group I accompanied to panama did not

/

April6, 1978W|N9

I
h

T".

. ..,'Ì
:
a4l

--!:.

.l.Ii:'

r

'.i.

:-r,

lr

l

Nuclear Weapons Labs on Trial
by Jonathon Glass with design by Susan Beadle

.¡;ì;! l.-'
;r*:,i 1l'
.''.'.':'.,,'

s'*

f t is not often that people can successfully
I challenge the intransigent and unresponsive

nature of our "public institutions. " The small but
decisive court victory çf six members of the
University of California Nuclear Weapons Labs
Conversion Project (UCNWLCP) is one exception.
These six people, who conducted a sit-in at the
University of California on November 4, were

\

acquitted after an eight-day trial of trespassing,
charges on February 9 by an eight-woman,
four-man jury in a Berkeley-Albany municipal
court.
The UCNWLCP was organized by a coalition of
Bay Area peace groups in the fall of 1976 in order to
challengethe University's renewal of its five-yeaf
contractwith the Energy Research and Þevelopment Administration (now the bepartment of
Energy) to oþerate the nation's two major nuclear
weapons research labs, at Livermore and Los
Alamos. We had pressed the tJniverslty to solicit
public input into the contract renewal process and
io engage in public educational forums abqutthe
arms race and the University's part in it. (See WlN,
1O/6/77 Íor background on UCNWLCP's past
efforts. )
When we sat-in at Univeriity PrEsident David
Saxon's office for 30 hours, after whichtsix of us
were arrested, our demand, backèd up by a year of
Jonathon Class was one of the defendants in the

\JCNWLCPtT¡al.
-l

10

W¡N April 6,

1978

futile corresondencewith the University, was,
ply that Saxon appoi nt someone to off ici al ly
represent in public debatethe University's policy
on its involvement in nuclear weapons r:esearc\.
Saxon's response to our year-long efforts has been
to declare repeatedlythat public {ebate would
serve "no usefulpurpoqe." Afterfailing in his
attempt to quash the subpoena, Saxon acknowledged on the witness stand that his response to
demands for publiç discussion from the
UCNWLCP, not to mention Congressman Ronald
Dellums (D-CA), State Assemblyman Bates and
other University personnel, was to arrange forthe'
signing of the contracts even more "expeditioussi m

ly."

Saxon has consistently arguedthat ttie
University's negotiatioh of this contract was just an
"administrative issue" and posed no moral
questions. He has also maintained that noone is

ableto representthe University's position since its
200,000 personnel hold diverse opin ions on the
subject-as if the regents'agreementto manage
thê labs does not represent aconscious University
policy.
. ln otherwords, Saxonís arguments notonlywere
unconvincing, butthey did not even address
directlythe community demand for public discus'sion of the policies of a public institution. The true
characterof the University is revealed in its useof
police intimidation to stif le the determined and
awf u I pol itical busi ness of Cal iforn ia citizen s.
I

,j

:

{.

Saxon's remarkto oneof the sitters when she
politelyapproached him to arrange an appointment
tells it alli "co away, go awaY, go awaY ."
ln almost four days óf defense testimony-which
inctuded that of the six defendants, California
Assemblyman John Vasconsellos and Daniel
Ellsberg-we managed to ref ute Saxon's position

theb¡strict Attorney's "law and order"
argumentthat we posed a security riskto a shorthanded potice force. The iurors received an extensive education on the escalating destructive
characterof the arms race andthe environmental
hazards of the tabs'work and especiallyon the
dan gers of secrecy and el iti sm in the government's
formulation of weaPons Policies.
The jurors became.convinced that the real issue
in the trial was the University's involvement in
nuclear weapons research'and its secrecy about
that involvement. Despite J udge Sweeney's
narrow interpretation of the trespass statute-, they
exercised independent iudgement and voted to
acouit after two and a half hours of deliberation '
Thåir decision aff irmed our legal rightto occupy
Saxon's officeto press this demand' The jurors
rejected and even expressed their personal disapprôval of the University's insubstantial responses
and bureaucratic tactics in reply to our legitimate
ooliticaldemands. When these 12 strangers,
representative of widespread publicopinion, left
the courtroom saying that, "The wrong people
and

University cohtinue

Thecompliciti;
tion, corporate

administracóntinues

to be exposed, as

University
UCNWLCPPlansto
tofulfill its roleof ed
issues ratherthan
behind our
other

the University
ic on

critical

in secret dealings

toworkwith
tðcohvertthe
ofthis country

oordlnating a
activities
sites this
organizing

€nerEy'

I

What ASilly Question, Why Of Course We Have A,
Superior Ethic
At the universitv
'they say maybe when

they mean no
they say maybe when they mean yes
the.noble life of the mind, light of the mind
they reduce to a 2O-watt beepbeep, maybe,

According to the university theologians
Christ said to petrified history, maybe.
He infected Constantine, def led.ed the arrow.

The Trouble With Our State

He played craps on the temple steps
with the hucksters and hustlers; maybe.
,

The tróuble with our state
was not civi I disobedience
which in any case was hesitant and rare.

.He said maybe the pure in heart will possess the land,

maybe.

Civil disobedience was rare AS kidney stoneno, rarer. lt was disappearing like kidney stone
or imm igrant's disease. lt was almost conQueied
like cancer.

You've heard of war on cancer?
There is nowar likethe plagueof media
There is no war like routine
There is no war like 3 square meals
There is no war like a prevailing wind
it treads softly, peddles one message

\

Won't You Tell Us please What Keeps You Going
The frailest of suppositions
keeps me af loat-

me-

Frail suppositions
keep me testing the air
imagine a voice, undef lected, at hand

Followme!

1

A f rail supposition
keeps me sane on the earth
imagine someone walking ahead, not far ahead

beckoning meon
making sense,
sowing seed
speaking the truth
for such

our trouble
the trouble with our state
our stateof soul
our state of seige
was

civil
obedience.

-

a one I would take my next clown

tumble

The university theologians trumpet the testament;
thou shall not kill!
but the narks advisewatch theirf ingers and lips
they're signalling the real message; maybe.

;r
One Keeps ThinkingOf Friends ln Trouble Elsewherei,
Or: Changethe Regime But Keep The Prisoners By

All Means

The new political prisoners were given thetask
of whitewashing the walls of the cells
pol luted, pockmarked by the despair
of political prisoners of the old regime.
The same cells, it goes without saying.

The new political prisoners were given the choice

t

The trouble with our statewe only learned ít afterward, when the
subservient dead resembled the squads of living
and civil virtue shone like paint on tin
and tin citizens and tin soldiers marched
to the common whip-

imagine a man walking thewatery path
the dolphin's cunning opens

straight toward

Don't Rock The Boat. The sails are obedient,
the ship of state sails on.

Life is apqloved; death is outlawed? maybe.

of whitewashing the slogans of the old regime
of preparing the ideology of the new regime
or residing indef initely in the whitewashed cells
of political prisoners of'the of d regimethe same cells, it goes without saying.

The lies were different, it goes without saying
until you examined them; then they were the same.
The prisoners were different, it goes without saying
untjlyou examined them; infected wounds,
malnourishment, bro(en jaws; then they were the same
The cells were different, whitewashed,

odorless, it goes without
l

saying-

until the prisoners scratched their coda with bloody
f ingernails, and found
like a buried city
or the cry of a walled in prisoner
the lives, thetorture, theoutcome
were the same
like the f ingers that make a word
and the f ingers that make a word
(yours, that blood brother
named you)
in 2 sides of a crazy mirror.

April6,

.1978W1N

13

|'
,1

[)l¡rrlrr bv Roberl lsaacs

California's progressives have
used the initiative process to place before the
state's voters the issues of conservation, nuclear
power and legalization of marijuana. This yea¡ it
seems that right wing activists have taken the
i n itiative. Ultra-conservatives have succeeded n
placing on the ballot the J arvis-Cann Property Tax
I n itiative ( Proposition 1 3), a far-reach i ng proposal
which will res\apethe structureof local government, wipe oudvital social services and shift the tax
structure to a more regressive base. The mass
media has called Proposition 13 the most radical
plan in California historyfor slashing taxes and
cutting state and local services.
At a glancethe proposal looks innocent enough.
It would reduce property tax rates from four
percent to one percent of assessed val uation,
require a two-thirds majority of voters to pass a tax
increase and require a two-thirds vote of the state
legislature to increase any state taxes. The bill
seems to make sense since California's legislature
and Covernor J erry Brown have not been ableto
agreeon propertyfax relief . Meanwhile, táx
increases have been skyrocketing. ln some cases
market vâl ues have risen over 2oo/o i n a si ngle year.
Many low-income homeowners unable to pay taxes
have been forced to sel I out to speculators. Even

f
I

n past years

¡

The California

Tax

Initiative:
AWotf in
\

Populist
Clothing
by MichaelBerkowitz

those who could afford the taxes have been
outraged, since the state treasury has atthe same
time accumuláted a sizable surplus. And elected
politicians have appeared complacent about the tax

burden.
Civen these circumstances, the J arvis.Cann
initiative qualif ied forthe J une 6 ballot with the
highest numberof signatures any initiative has
ever accumulated. Although itoriginated in conservative Orange County, its support appears to be
state-wide. Polls showthe proposal's support
running over atwo to one margin. Even in
"liberal" San Francisco, a recent straw poll
showed 95% of those questioned supporting the
measure. Thetoneof that supportwas highlyenthusiastic.
To many of those questioned, the J arvis-Cann
in itiative was a simple, one-issue measure: propertytax relief . Buttwoother strainsof thought
were reveàled in the comments of voters. A strong
anti-government bias surfaced again and again.
Government has been unresponsive. Covernment
has grown bloated, corrupt and ineff icient. The
second strain of thought resembled the red herring
arguments against welfare cheaters and was
strongly linked to resentment against government.
The people surveyed complained that government
is subsidizing the poor: it is providing too rnany
.

free services.
Social services have always been the soft underbellyof government spending, usuallythe last ser-

Michael Berkowitz is awriter and communfty
activist in Berkeley, CA.
14WlN April6, 1978

vices to be offered, the first to be cut. Neitherthe
public, nor politicians seem to have much sympathy for services. Wh ile welfare may be the most

obvious target, everything from public health to
public education has suffered decreasing support.
School bond issuesr once a "motherhood and apple
pie" matter, are'now commonly defeated, teachers
cut back, schools clobed. The J arvis lnitiative
would dr:amatically acceleratethis trend. To cope
with the fiscal effects of J arvis' passage, Los
Angeles plans to cut back half its teaching staff .
San Francisco threatens simply to shut down its
entire system. lf the initiative passes, warns legislative analyst William Hamm, "it is likelythat 58
counties, 41 4 cities, 1 044 school d i stricts, 70
commun ity college districts and {900 special
districts will immediately descendbn this legislature seeking relief ."
But morethan public education is at stake. The
contingency plans made byone cityoffer an insight
into the total impact of the J arvis-Cann lnitiative. A

medium-sized northern California city, Berkeley
would receive approximatety $t+.4 million as its
197 8-197 9 sh are of co u nty property tax reven ues .
With the passage of Proposition 13, Berkeley
would receive only $3.2 million, or less than25o/o of
its usual share. ln thewords of City Manager Elijah
Rogers, "The implicationsforthecity, if this initiative passes, are catastrophic." His contingency
plan ref lects catastrophy. Elim inated would be the
city's entire Comprehensive Planning
Department , all recreation programs, the city's
much honored Departmentof Public Health and all
city branch libraries. Police, f ire and publicworks
departments would be cut back 30%. Allother
programs and city departments would be cut
between ten and 30%. Furthermore, it would be
unlikely that the Berkeley Redevelopment Agency
would beableto payoff itsoutstanding bonds.
Civen these conditions, it is not surprising thatthe
city's entire innovative program for f unding
community service agencies will be scrapped.
These 56 agencies include three health clinics,
three mental health programs, four senior centers,
four drug abuse treatment programg, two
emergency þd projects, two emergency shelter
facilities and extensive programs to aid the
physically disabled. These services are c,urrently
provided by grassroots com m u n ity organ ization s,
using community workers who labor long hours at
low pay to provide services at a fraction of the price
that local government or professionals could,
reaching a clientele that is often ignored or neglected, The J arvis initiative would result in the
ci.ty abándoning its contracts with these agencies.
Confronted with the initiative's social
displacement ¡mpact both on those served and on
those providing the services, Howard J arvis and
Paul Cann are callous. ln the words of Howard
J arvis, " I don't give a damn. " Public education,
one of the pri nciple targets of the bi I I is, accordi n g
to Jarvis, "oneof the biggest Mafia rackets in the

Photo by George W. Gardnei

country." The progressive incometax is "abusive,
unfair and unequal." J arvis' John Birch Society
ties and right wing political activity arethe ideological underpinnings informing his social
perspective. Th is view explains why the in itiative
was written so that large corporations will receive
four million dollars in tax relief at the expense of
government services.
Downplaying J arvis' ultra-right politics, the
media has portrayed him as a folksy populist. One
correspondent reported that J arvis "talks too loud,
wears wrinkled suits with shiny seats, spits into his
lower desk drawerwhen the need arises, calls 65-

year-old ladies 'girls,'says exactly where people
can shovethings andtalks aboutthe days when he
rode the campaign train with Herbert Hoover. "
Apparently J arvis learned little from Hoover's

follies.
For some, these portraits have created the image
of a cham pion of the underdog, battl in g to cut the
taxes of the little person. But what he has done is to
pit the iñterests of the middle and part of the lower
middle classes (the homeowners) against a sizable
portion of the lower class. Any ben ign impression
is grossly misleading. J arvis hardly acts the part of
an underdog. Of atelevision interviewerwho
applauded him as "fantastic," he explained
"when you get on a show with a yokel like that you

it." Far from being an underdog,
personal
wealth and substantial rightarvis'own
J
wing backing will enable him, he estimates, to buy
$600,000 worth of television, radio and newspaper
advertising to f lood the media during the initiahaveto dominate

April 6.

1978 WIN 15

tives's home stretchi during the end of May and
beginning of J une.
The prospects for J arvis-Cann's passage have
looked so strong that "liberal" and even progressive legislators have kept silent untilonly recently.
The only legislative alternative is a weak compromise propertytax initiativeoffered by State Senator Peter Behr, who is less vulnerablethan his
colleagues because he is retiring. His bill would
originally have provided propertytax relief
financing through two sources: the state's huge
treasury surplus anda newtax on the sales of nonowneroccupied homes. This tax would have served
to discourage the very speculation which drives up
the price of homes and causes the hike in assessments and propertytaxation. Thistax plan was
withdrawn, however, after Cal iforn ia's h uge real
estate lobby had vowed that it would be stopped.
The California Association of Realtors had
dispatched what it calls a "red alert" warning to
25,000of its key members urging them to fight the
Behr bill. Oneoutof every4g 4dults inthe state
(320,000) is a licensed real estate agent. The Behr
bill, now stripped of this source of revenue, relies
entirely on the state treasury surplus.
Even if this bill succeeded in becoming law, the
passage of Proposition '13 would supercede it.
Therefore a coalition of unions, politicians, aird
even business representatives has begun to form
an al I iance to combat the J arvi s-Gan n I n itiative.
Key members includethe California State Employees Association, the California Teachers As.

\

sociation, and the California Federation of Labor.
Qut also included in the coaltion are representatives of the Bankof America, Pacif ic Cas and
Electric and the president of the Los Angeleò

ES

Chamber of Commerce. The J arvi s-Gan n

I n itiative
written so that not only homeowners, but business would stand to gain four billion dollars in
propertytax'relief . Yet so unsettling would bethe
infl uences on government that the business
community appears split on the proposal. Howard
Allen, vice presidentof Southern California
Edison, fears it would "ruin local governments.
Any advantages business would receive from this
initiative would be short-term at best. That's why
responsible state business leaders are against it."
But such a corporate liberal response has been far
from uniform, andtheroleof business inthis
uneasy coalition bears close scrutiny. Certain
services-such as police and fire-are more in the
interests of corporate America than are social services forthe needy.
Meanwhile, Howard J arvis and Paul Cann are
already mapping out their f uture campaigns and
strategy. After cutting off revenues from property
taxes, they are aiming at freezing income taxes.
They have already prepared initiatives to th is
effect, hopi¡e to serve as models for conservatives acr'oss-the couñtry who seek to cut out gevernment services. As to their plans after these car¡,1paigns succeed, Howard J arvis laughs and says:
"We're going to send the le$islature a case of
Preparation H."

is

FILMMAKERS FIGHT COR.
PORATION LAWSUIT AGAI NST
SILKWOOD FILM
Larry Cano andBuzz Hirsch, two
California f ilmmakers, had been
engaged in preparing a feature
film on Karen Silkwood, a unioß
"
activist whose mysterioqs death in
an automobile wieck sev'eral years
ago has received national
altention, when they were
confronted bAan unexpected obstacle. Silkwood's death, just as
she was about to reveal irregularities in plutonium processing at

the Kerr-McCee nuclear plant in
Oklahoma, prompted her father to
f ile a suit against the large energy
cònglomerates whom many have
suspected of complicity in her
death. ln an effortto stiflethe
production of the Cano-Hirsch
film, Kerr-McCee has retaliated
by sùbpoenaing all the f ilmmakers' records and materials.
Cano and Hirsch fought KerrMcCee.on First Amendment
grounds and won but now face
lengthy and expensive appeals. A
committêe of support from the f i lm

community has rallied to their
cause and is fundraising on their
behalf . To contribute to the
defense f und or for more
i nformation, write Larry Cano,
227 0 Laur el Canyon Bou levard,
Los Angeles,

cA 9@4j.*"*rd""k

FOLKSINGER.ACTIVIST
MALVINA REYNOLDS DIES

Malvina Reynolds, radical social
activist turned singer and songwr.iter, died in Berkeley, California,
March 17 at age 77 . Untiltwo days
before her death, Reynolds was
busy with community organizations
and songwriting.
"Ticky'tacky" became a partof
the language with Reynolds' most
widely recorded song, "Little
Boxes," sung by Pete Seeger. lt
16WlN April6, 1978

poked f un at rows of identical
houses in Daly City bordering on
San Francisco. She f irst became
nationally known with "Turn
Around, " a sensitive song about a

little girl growing up. ltwas
recorded by Harry Belafonte in
1956. Others were "What Have
They Donetothâ Rain?" aprotest
against nuclear bomb testing,
"Morning Town Ride" and "Cod
Bless the Grass. "
Malvina Reynolds was very
active in the anti-Vietnam war
movement, taking part in countless meetings and demonstrations
while often carrying her guitar and
leading protest songs. ln recent
years, she appeared often in
support of left organizations and
causes.
Last year she wrote a verse

called "Wake for

a

Singer" to

serve as her obituary: "Celebrate
my death for the good times l've

had, for the wórk that l've done
and the friends that l've made.
Celebrate my death of whom it
could be said, 'She was a workingclass woman and a red.' My man
was the best. A comrade and a
f

riend, f ighting on the good side to

the very end.'My child was a darling, merry, strong and fine and

allthe world's children were

mine."

-Guardian

DEMONSTRATION MARKS
SECONDANNIVERSARYOF

ARGENTINIAN FASCIST RULE
More than one hundred protestors
picketed the consulate of
Argentina in New York City on
March 24 to commemorate the
second anniversaryof martial law
in that country and draw attention
to the repression visited on the

Argentinian people bythe fascist
junta headed by Ceneral J orge
Videla. Aftertwo years of military
rule, more than 20,000 pol itical
prisoners are being detained by
the government, 10,000 have been

murdered by the ri ght-wing
" secu rity fgrces" and over 30,000
people have quite simply disappeared in violation of all internationally recognized human rights.
ln addition, widespread misery
and hunger, particularly among
the working class and poor, has resulted from the 60olo decrease in
realwages, the2Do/o yearly inflation rate, and the outlawing of
opposition political parties and
trade unions.
A numbei of American peace
and religious organizations have

initiated a campaign to f ree Adolfo
Perez Esquival, oneof Latin
America's leadi ng nonviolent
activists and secretary of Servicio,
who was arrested by the Argentinian governmenton April 4,1977
and remains in detention.
-Newsdesk
OLIN CORPORATION INDICTED
FOR SHIPPING ARMS TO

SOUTHAFRICA
TheOlin Corporation, oneof the
leading US exporters of arms, has
been caught with its pants down.
On March 14, Olin corporation was
indicted on 21 counts by the
J ustice Department on charges of
illegally shipping arms tothe racist
government of South Africa from
iszt through1975. Olin was albo
indicted for f i ling 20 fraudulent
statements with the State Department that masked the true destination of the arms.
ln order to conceal its

arms

1

,

deliveries to South Africa, Olin
doctored its export documents by
saying thatthe arms were going to
othercountries, when in facttheY
were going to South Africa. lf
convicted on all the counts, Olin
could face a f ine of half a million
dollars.
The Olin corporation, operating
through Winchester I nternational,
a long-established small arms
manufacturer, sold a reported
April6. 1978WlN

17

,

I

o

I
'

3,20ofireàrrhs; 20 million rounds

make it more applicabletothe

of ammunition, and2,00O nonautomatic ànd sem i-automatic
rifles to an unnamed South Afiican
firm. No doubt, the South African
police are now using these arms in
their attempted suppression of the

nêeds of today's veterans.
The veterans, who plan to pitch
tents across from the White

House, will be armed with,,the
most sophisticated of
weapons-the voting records of
all House and Senate members.,,
"We have no intention of going
home with more empty prom-ises],,
says Thomas Catlow of the City
College of New york, chairman of

mounting black resiitance
movement.
Although Olin isthefirst US

co!'porat¡on to be charged bythe
US government for violatinI the
arms embargo since itwentlnto
effect in 1963, several other US
firms have secretly supplied South
Africa with a substantiál part of its

¡

arms. According to testimonv
before a House Committee by

economist Sean Gervassi, who has
studied South Africa,s arms deals
extensively, the usual arrangement for selling arms to the ãpartheid regime is through l¡censäd

production byforeign
manufacturers in a third country.
Lockheed, Bell Helicopterand '
Ford Motor, to name a few, have

consistently used this method.
,

_tNs

VIETNAM.ERA VETERANS TO
STAGEJUNEMARCHON
CAPITOT

\

'ü

,?,

A call to the nation's veterans to
join in a 10-day assault on the
Capitol to demand jobs, housing,
'
and health care for al I has been issued by a group of national and
local organizations concerned with
justice for veterans.
lD what is expected to be the
';rlargest
protest action since the
1960's, the veterahs are asked to
come to Washington for a ,,march
and tent-in" to take place continuously from.J une 1st through
the 1Oth.
Early sponsors of the.march
include the National Councilof
Churches/l nterrel igious Working
Croup on Vietnam-Ceneration
Ministries, the National
' Association of BlackVeterans,
American Legion Post 526, and the
Association of North East Veterans
Counseling Organizatlons.
ln'an intensive lobbying effort,
the veteran s will demandÍul I
employment, compfete health care
and adequate housing for all, and a
redevelopment of theC. l. B¡ll to
18

WIN April 6, 1978

the steering committee.

-Newsdesk
BAD APPLES OR THE BARREL?
J

ack Anderson reports in a recent

' column that "an astonishing 42olo
of recruits (all branches) are"
weeded'out before they complete
theirenlistments. ln the Navythe
dropoutrate is47o/o."
. Anderson says off icially the
brass blames the voluntary recruitment system for these alarmin!
statistics. Off the record, however,
some Defense Department off icials "confess that only poor
leadership could be responsible for
such a high dropout rate." Military commanders have been
warned to be on the lookout for
men with "twisted personalities."
According to Anderson, "the
mental misfits, sex perverts, bitter
loners-the kind of men who
resent discipline and run away
from their proble,ms" are being
purged from the mil itary.
Concluding his case for why the
dropout rate is so high, the celebrated columnist gives two
examples of deranged military
personnel and how they are dealt
with.
More astonishing than the
dropout f igure is Anderson's belief
that.the Pentagon rel ieves 1 68,000
peopleof dutv annually because
they suffer from "twisted personalities. " The enormity of the
figures themselves beg a more
complex qxplanation than
"they're all bad apples."
Anderson fails to ask some
basic questions. What attracts a
young person to the military?
What other opportun ities do
non-college-bound youth have?
What image of the military do
recruíts have when they enter?
When they leave? How are they

,

similar and dissimilar?
Youth unemployment is realistically chart ed at2ío/o overall and
4Oo/o to 6Ù0/o for ni i norities. J ob
training programs for many
,non-college-bound youth are not
available. At the same tíme, recruitment advertising is the best
money can buy. the recruiting staff
swells atovèr 30,000 members.
Meanwhi le the military claims that
it achieves fourteen "exposures"
of its message per month to90%o of

the "target population." Atthe
heart of this promotional effort are
promises of skills training, visits to
cafes in Europe, and swimming
pools in Hawaii, and a placefora
young person with an uncertain
future to belong. Rev. Eileen W.

Lindner, in Christianity and Crisis,
assessed recruitment as "A high
pressure con game executed with

much skill, limitlèss funds, and
Iittle conscience. " Dave Cortright,
a veteran and author of Soldiers in
Revolt , asserts, ' 'Nowhere in th is
huge promotional effort. . . can a
young person gain a sober assess-

mentof the realitiesof military

life."

So only a short while after assignment to active duty many
young people find that they have
been conned. lnstead of skills :
training they are carrying a gun,
pushing a broom, or doing a job so
special ized'that poss i bi I ities for
skill transfer to a civilian job are
remote. Adventure and tiavel
consist of field maneuvers, long
duty hours, often in countries
whose people resent the presence
of the United States military. As
for a place to belong and feel a part
of the team, recruits f ind that
racism and sexism are pervasive.
Also, authority is sometimes exercised in dehumanizing ways.
Not everyone is conned into
joining; not ever enlisted person
finds he or she has been cheated or
that military life is disagreeable.
But with nearlythe highest AWOL
rates in history and thousands of
formal complaints of broken promises each year, we f ind that
explaining 42%o of enlistees being
urged from the military because
they have "twisted personal ities,,
is misleading.

I

O
t

public. All programs held at
7:30pm, Union Federal Community Room, 221îc. Main in Craw-

presented to David Berkingoff and
Praf ulla Mukerji and reservations
for the dinner should be sent to

fordsville. For more information,
contact Roger Padgitt, 709 CurtiE
St. Crawfordsville, lN 47933 (31,7)
362-47ffi.

WRL, 339 LafayetteSt;, NewYork,

,

NY10012,, ,:,,,.'r :'j

PHIIADELPHIA, fA - Transpqrtation activists trai n ing workshop
will be held on April 14-16. For
more information, contact: Free

BOSTON, MA- Core Vidal will
speakon 1'Sex and Politics in
Massach usetts" on Wednesday,

LOS ANGELES, CA-Conference
on the Freedom of lnformation Act

on Saturday, AprilS sponsored by

People's Transit, Stone House,

Boston/Boi

the Citizen Commission on Police
Repression. For more information,
contact Linda Valentino at (213)
487-1720.

1006 S. 46th St., Philadelphia, PA
19143 (215) 387-7863 .

April 5, 7pm, atthe Arlington St.
Church for the benef it of the
se Comm

ittee. Adm i s-

sion is $5 at the door.

CAMBR¡DGE, MA- " Disar¡nament, Security, and Economic'
J ustice, " a Northeast regional
conference of the Epi scopal Peace
Fel lowship on Fridåy anil
Saturday, April 7-8 atthe
Episcopal Divinity School, 99
Brattle St. For more information,
call Henry Morrison at(617)
266-9294.

CAMBRIDGE, MA- Dr. Philip S.
Foner will ipeak on "The Cuban
Revol ution : Background and

Development" on Sunday, April9,
1 1 gm, at Morse"Auditori um, 602
Commonwealth Ave. Sponsored
by the Community Church of
Boston.

CHICAGO, tL- Rev. William
Sloane Coffin will keynotethe
annual meeting of Clergy and Laity
Concerned on Tuesday, April 4,
8pm at St. Paul's Church in Lincoln
Park, Chicago. His topicwill be
" Di sarmament and Development:
Challenge for the' BO' s." For more
i nformation, call 922-8234.

CRAWFORDSVILLE, lN 7 "Human Values in the Nuclear Age," a

four-part series co-sponsored by
Crawfordsvi I le Citizens for
Survival and the lndiana
Committee for the Humanities.
April 3: Film, "The Nuclear
Dilemma"; April5: Byron Himmel heber of Paddlewheel Al liance
and Dr. J ames Coughlin of Public
Service lndiana discuss nuclear
power plants in lndiana; April 17:
Films, "A Short Vision," "Living
with Nuclear Weapons," and
" H iroshima/Nagasaki August
1945"; April 19: Samuel Day and
another speaker (TBA) will discuss
nuclear weapons. Free and open to

NEW YORK CITY- "Grupo
Moncada," oneof the premier
Cuban folk groups will kick off
their American tou,r on Saturday,
AprilS, 8pm at HunterCollege
Auditorium, 69th St. and Park
Ave. Tickets are $5 e4ch and can
be ordered from Center for Cuban
Studies, 22OF.23rd St., New
York, NY 10010.
NEW YORK CITY-Women
Strike for Peace luncheon
featuring Midge Cóstanza and
Bella Abzug will be held on Saturday, April B, 12 noon at the Hotel
Roosevelt,45th St. and Park

Ave. Tickets are $19.78 and can be
obtained from WSP, 799 Broadway

NewYork, NY.
NEW YORK CITY-'"4 Lament
for Three Women," a feminist
drama by Karen Malpede showing
weekends from April 7-t6 at the
New Cycle Theater, 657 Fifth

Ave., Brooklyn, NY. Formore
information and reservations call
7BB-7098.

NEWYORK CITY-Artists to End
Cancer will sponsor a balloon
release atthe Columbia University
nuclear reactor, 114th St. &
Amsterdam Ave., Friday, April
14, at12:15 pm. For more information, call (914)688-7084.
NEW YORK CITY-The Annual
War Resisters League Dinnerwill
be held on Saturday, April 15,
6:30pm at St. Luke's Chapel, 475
Hudson St. (between Christopher
and Barrow Sts.). Admission is $2
per person for those br.inging a
potluck dish and $5 for those who
choose not to. The Eighteenth

Annual WRL Peace Award will be

PHILADEIPHIA, PA-"The
Furies of Mother Jones," a production by the Little Flags Theatre
will be presented on Friday, April
28,8pm at lnternational House,
37th St. and Chestnut. Tickets are
$5 and all proceeds benefitthe
local campaign for Namibian independence. For more information,

call474-9592.
SPR¡NGFIELD, lL-Citizen Conference on J ustice with workshops
on survei Jlance, rape and civil
liberties on Wednesday, April 12,
9:30am-5pm, at the Forum Thirty
Hotel, 7th and Adams, For more
information, contact: Al I iance to
End Repression,40T S. Dearborn,
#505, Chicago, 1L60605 (312)
236-55U.

WASHINGTON, DC - National
March to Overturn the Bakke Deci:
sion on Saturday, April 15 in
Washington. For more information, contactthe Peoples Alliance, '
339 Lafayette St., NewYork, NY
Í0012.
WASHINGTON, DC - National
Conference on the I nternational
Arms Trade on April 22-23 at the
Carnegie Endowment for lnternational Peace, 11 DuPont Circle
NW. For more information, contact the lnstitute for Policy Studies

(202)234-9382.

1,

WHITE PLAINS, NY- Demonstration to support the Nestle
Boycotton Nationallnfant *
Formula Action Coalition Day,
Friday, April 13. Meet atthe
White Plains train station at
3:40pm for march to Nestles headguarters. For more information,
contact J ane (914) 693-1926or
Rose (212)948-5752. Sponsored by

CALCand INFACT.

-Counter-Pentagon
April6, 1978WlN

1Q¿

'

o

rev I

. KING

Written and directed by Abby Mann.
Starring PaulWinfield, Cicely Tyson, Ossie Davis.
NBC.TV

\

For a special embroiled in bitter controversy fiom the
very beginning, it should have been a surprise to no
one tl¡at King, the three-night, six-hour biography of
Martin Luther King, J r. airedon NBC-TV in midFebruary, was, to paraphrase Dickens, "the bestof
dramas and the worst bf dramas. " Touted by the network as the equal to "Roots," the f ive million dollar
documentary proved to be a ratings disaster according to Nielson's. AndrewYoung and Corretta King
sprang to the defense of writer-director Abby Mann
and what he cal led " a dr amatized account of 1 3 years,
'
of thecivil rights movement," while Reverend Ralph
Abernathy, Dr. King's closest associate, and a whole
covey of other movement activists were quickto point
out distortions and shortcomings and charged Mann
with playing fast and loose with the facts. " l've no
doubt ít's going to be a powerful iilm," said Abernathy. " lt's just not an accurate one."
Those of us who hold memories of those years
either as participants or observers mighttend to
underestimate the impact that King makes on a whole
generation of American young people- black and
white-too young to remember the intensity of the
strugglb and the status quo in the South before Rosa

Parks' arrest sparked thè previously quiescent and
overly legalisticcivil rights movementto action. ln the
school textbooks of today, King and the movement he
led meritonly a few paltry paragraphs squeezed
between Sputnik and the Vietnam War. Seen in this
light, we cannot help but welcome Abby Mann's
attem pt to resurrect i m portant h i stgry that the powersthat-be would prefer to ignore in acôounts of the
Patr¡ck Lacef ield is on the staff of WtN and was born

in the South
20WlN April6, 1978

period. Worse yet, they would

that for wh ich
(inevitably in
the black section of the city) Martin Luther King
Boulevard while paying only lip servicetothose ideals
for which he lived and died.
Few people would have predicted prior to the
events of December ,1955, that the struggle for black
civil rights would be touched off in the South, and that
nonviolent direct action ratherthan litigation and
legislation would be the tactic with whích to confront
entrenched Southern segregation.
Abby Mann captured the force and power of
nonviolence, as expressed through the black
churches, to a remarkable extent, so much so that we
can excuse his minor shortcomings. The willingness
to suffer injustice ratherthan inflict iton others and
the determination to not retaliate against violence and
terror is well-illustrated by several scenes: the scene
in wh ich King confronts an angry black crowd outside
his bombed home, many of them armed and ready to
wreak vén geance on Montgomery wh ites if on ly he' ll
saythe word.'King pulls out his own pistol (which he
indeed kept in his house for security according
to his book Stride Toward Freedom) and demands that
they take it he holds no brief with violence and
hatred and neither should they, he asserts. Convicted
by a Montgomery court of restraint of trade in the
midst of the 385-day bus boycott and ordered to pay the
f ine, King ref uses and asks to betaken to jail.
"You're not going to pay it?" the judge asks incredulously. King's immortal "Letterfrom a Birmingham
J ail)' statement is portrayed as wellwhen a delegation of white ministers pleads with him to cancel his
civi I disobedience campaign in Birmingham in 1960.
"You're trying to push things too fast, " they tel I King
in an all-too-familiar refrain, chastising him for using
children in his marches and accusing him of preaching nonviolenceeven while praying in.his heartfor
violence. We all know the rest-where violence would
have further inflamed prejudices and passions and
öost many lives, nonviolence dramatically turned the
tables and wiped clean the slate of institutiona¡
violence against blacks, invisible tothosè white
Birmingham clergy. ln the words of historian Arthur
Schlesinger: "BulI Connor's police dogs accused the
conscience of white America in terms that could no
longer be ignored."
Mann's shortcomings in dealing with nonviolence
stem mainly from the flaws inhèrent in the genreof
the docu-drama itself . Nqnviolencç comes across onedimensionally. lt appears to stem solely f rom moral
precepts requiring a leap of faith rather than being
understood as a political concept arising out of the
specif ic objective conditions and needs of the mass
movement. Mann presents King's faith in
nonviolence as exclusively morally based and
divorced from questions of polítical analysis. "Don't
make me a saint," said King to Mann shortly before
h is death, "or people won't believe that they can go
outand do what I did." Despitethis warning, Mann
slips into the trap of personifying nonviolence in King
ratherthan highlighting its mass essenceand
san iti¿e

he stood by naming yet another street

application. Thê blur between fact aríd f iction is such
thåt those who lack suit¡ði"nt historical background
m ight well disbelieve that the famous Birmingham
scene when the police ref used to obey Bull Connor's
orders to f ir.ehose black demonstrators is historically
factual. Such adisplayof thetransforming powerof
nonviolence is so fäntâstic as to run the risk of being
passedoff asanotherof Mann'sdramatizations
rather than the truth.
The striking weakness of King (and the facet that

Subcômm ittee to detail the poisonous innuendo and
slander unleashed against King and the continuous
efforts to lin k the movement with the omn ipresent
" international Commun ist conspiracy. " A previous
CBS special, "Attack on Terror: The FBI versus the Ku

Klux Kla.n," aired lastyeartoutedthe Bureau as
agents of social change in the struggle against racial

terror-in King, "alltheyeverdoistakenotes."

Mann tarnishes the Camelot image still further with
his portrayal of J ohn.and fobgrt Kennedy as cynical

hasdrawnthãmostfirefromactfvists)wasthesingle- polsinterestedinholdinghiehthebannerofcivil

minded focus on King and the Southern

Christian
of
the

Leadersh ip Conferen-ce as the source of the myriad
civil rights campaigns. On the right wing of

rights so long as it was.politically advantageous and
could be contained within the narrow interest-group
realm of politics rather than thrôugh direct action. As

movement,littl'ecied¡tistossedlnthedirectionofthe KingsaystoA.PhillipRandolphuponemergiágfrom
NAACP, which prôvided much,of the legal resources a meeting with the Kennedys, "The 'New Frontier'
during civil rights actions as well as engaging in
sounds a lot like the old and the f rontier is too close to

valuable suppãrt and f undraising work through its
the rear. "
vast netwoiks in blackcommunities across the nation. . King's political evolution brought about his public
Likewise, Abby Mann distorts or omits altogether the opposition to the Vietnam War as early- as 1965, long
before Fu lbright, ñlcCovern, or any others were- .
contributions of gror-ips to the left of King and the
SCLC. The special gives'one the impression that King question ing it and against the ádvice of nearlyall his
colleagues in the civil rights movement. They feared
initiated the'Freedõm Rides; the credit belongs
(CORE).
hisoppositþn would be taken as "a slur on black
instead to the Congress of Racial Equality
patriotism" and the New York fimes editorialized
registration
voter
And the lunch-counter sit-ins and
drivei *"i" ipuã.ft"u¿"d by the Student Nãnviolent that "Civil Rights and Peace don't mix. " But King
Coordinating Committee (SNCC) rather than SCLC, had the foresìght to realize that "the bombs in
as Mann imp"lies. CORE ii not mentioned at all in the Vietnam expl.o{e at home-they destroy the dream
and the.possibility for a decent America. " Those
ri*-trorr tpéiiul, while SNCC exposure is lim ited to
a.mong h.is advisors, such as Bayard Rustin (loosely
with
ulian
r¡nã
co*erå¡ng
.rrrory urjiroJàr J
Bã;¡; ånã tutài.rcing bä¡ne shoutel dowñ by SNcc depicted by!he Damon Lockwood compositecharacter
in the special), were to see their dream of " gu.ns and
activists after SñCC ienouñced nonviolence, and
i'black
butter"
and the "Creat Society" fall among the f irst
power"
lei
it
be
and
as
its
slogan,
ãAápteá
known in no uncärtain terms that there was no rooni casualties as the war escalated.
lron ically, King was timely not only in that it
for whites in that organization.
appeared
on the tenth anniversary of King's assasrights
The dynam ics of the conf lict with in the civil
movemént is only h inted at vaguely in the conf ronta- sination but also a decade after the Kerner
Commission declared that America was evolving
tions with SNCC and King's conversation with
toward two separate societies-one black and one
Malcolm X. Mann gives t-he impression that King

failedtoadjusthistacticsandstrategytomeet white. lnthetenyearssincethatpropheticreport
changed ciicumstances and that the ','black

power"

there has been little substantive improvement toward

activistsweremoreintunewiththetenorofthetimes. closingthegapbetweenblackandwhiteAmerica.

Wh ile perhaps they did better ref lect the turbulence Moreover, a paucity of creative black leadership has
of thosã yea.i, developments since 1968 have shown ialong with otherobjectiveconditions, of course)

thattheviolenttacticsandghettorebellionsborelittle
lasting fruit. Moreover King showed considerable
foresiiht and political acumen in sh ifting f rom the
tÈhi fõi UtãCk civ¡l rights to building blaãk political

crippledattemptstorightthissituationandrecreatea

mass movement. Now we have Vernon J ordan,
trumpeting the view that " involvement in.the
corporate hierarchy signals a step forward for
blacks," .f esse J ackson wooing th.e Republican .
pivotal
po*".lur
demonstraîèd
in
his
uñ¿
NationalCommitteewithapeptalkabouthowthey.,
".ònori.
iòiéi"i"r"inL'oritfrãblackvoteinlg6TtoelectCarl
Stokes of Cleüeland the f irst black mayor of a major can win the black vote and Mississippi civil rights
leader Aaron Henry.standing arn¡-in-arm withÃrn"ri.ãn ã¡iV, anA nit efforts to drawiogether aSenator
gut
J ames Eâstland, calling him the best f riend
people
economicìssues
on
along
coalition of tó6|
- blacks have
in the US Senate. SCLCtoday is largelya
class ratheithan'racial linel in the Poor Peoples'
hollow shellwith thedepartureof Ralph Abernathy.
Campaign.
Mänil s treatment of the role of the Kennedys and and Andrew Young; SNCC is long since gone, and the
NAACP has entered into an unho.ly allia.nce with the
.
J Edgar Hoover and the Federal Bureau of lnvestiin.supportof ñaturalgas
energymonopolies
is
in
starkcontrasttoprevioustreatmentof
ãatioñ
deregulation and nuclear power. As Abby Mann's
íheir actions toward King and the civil rights
movement. Sure, everyone knew that Hoover was not King faded f rom my television screen, I found myself
1'what ifs?" and
f ílled with
þrecious few answers to
one of King's biggest fans, but Mann has drawn on
documents from Senator Frank Church's lntelligence pair them with.
- Patrick Lacefield
April 6,

1978 WIN 21

I

Why Nonviolence: Nonviolence Theory and Strategy
for the Anti-Nuclear Movement by Bob lrwin &
Gordon Faison (Philadelphia Macro-Analysis Collect¡ve). Free. Send 251 postageandhandlingto
Movement for a New Society, 4722 Baltimore Ave.,
Box l, Phila., PA 19143. (Multiple copies available.)

My "A'What ls To 8e Done' " examines the partial
failureof the Movement for a Néw Societyto "live
the revolution now" and suggests how an effective
and authentic h uman ist¡c revolutionary community
m ¡ght yet be created. Send $1 .00 for the 44-page
artice or stamped, self -addressed envelope for

abstract. Morris Friedell, 67244bregof,106, lsla

vista, c493017.
The ContinentalWalk Book reducedto $2.50for
lim ited time on ly! Checks should be made payable to
"Continental Walk." WRL, 339 Lafayette, New
York, NY 10012.

Community healtll center seeks medical professional for month of May to replace vacat ion ¡ng
Physicians Assistant. Primary care, mostly CYN,
part-time. Contact CMHCr 14 Creen St., Brattleboro, VT 05301, (802\ 257 -1135.

REPRESSION INFORMATION PR.OIECT

announces the publlcatíon of a new quårËerLy Journal on rePressÍon by AmerÍcars

reactionary Right.

HELP!

*The Preníer issue
Provldes an in-dePth
analysís of RÍghEíst
informant grouPs
(NCIC); an exPose of
Rep. llcDonaLdrs blac
listíng ne!ùeletter;
and a Proflle of the

oel Agee and Michael Friedman are editing an
anthology of stories about the period of social,
cultural and politiçal ferment'commonly referred to
J

"the Sixties": personal reminiscences, vivid
accounts, or f iction. Pèople, time and texture, rather
than pureanalysis; not'arficles' but'stories.' Upto
8,0o0 words. Subiect matter need not be str¡ctly
as

polit¡cal. Send manuscripts and self-addressed
stamped envelopes to J oel Agee, 263 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn NY 11238.

MAW, aMagazineforAppalachian Women, seeks

the
P

ye'

ic

cult personallty.
*hhe next fssue lrill

use of women's press anywhere i n the mountains to

PUBLIC NOTICE
lf you àre interested in disarmament, feminism, war
tax res¡stance, nonviolence or organ izing a WRL
local chapter and you live in the South, then please
contact the new War Resisters League Southeast
Regional Office, 108 Purefoy Road, Chapel'Hill, NC
27 51 4. (91.9)967 -7 244.
SOME OF US DID SURVIVE THE SIXTIES! There
are thousands of us in the Fellowshipof Reconcil ial ion who conti n ue to work for a iust and peaceful

world. Join us! Writeto: Fellowshipof Reconciliation, Box 271-W, Nyack, NY 10960.

Peace Seminar to U,S.S, R. D¡sarmament and detente d¡scuss¡ons with Peace Commmittees in the
Soviet Union are being arranged for a Peace Seminar
to the USSR August 6-27 ,1978. lnterested people
are ¡ nv¡ted to partic¡pate. For details and application
write to Promoting Enduring Peace, Box '103,
Woodmont, CT 06460.

\

Operalion Gamma: wereyou a Cl assigned to anyof
the 20O nuclear blasts, conducted between 1945 and
1963? lf so, we'd I i ke to interview and possi bly assist
you. ContacÌrCit¡zen Soldier, 175 Fifth Ave., #1010,
N.Y. r NY 1oo1o (212)777 -3470.

SWORDS INTO PLOWSHARES, Biennial FOR
Conference will be held in New York City, May
25-10. For more information write Richard Deats,
Box 271, Nyack, NY 10960.

PUBLICATIONS
lnterested in the Early Days of the Free School
movement? I have a nearly complete set of New
Schools Exchange Newsleller from issue #44
(undated)thru issue#110, Jan.31,1974. I will be
haÞpy to pass it on for the cost of postage (5 lbs.). l'll
be happier sti I I if you'I I sènd a bit extra to help our
anti-nuke efforts here! Mark Reeve, P.O. Box 9891,
Savannah, CA31402.
Movemenl for a New Society " No Nukes" Resource
Packet. Ten best articles ava¡ lable on al I aspects of
people'.s energy movement. $3.00 postpaid. Write:
Fresno Friends of MNS, 345 N. San Pablo, Box A,
Fresno, CA 93701.
STUDY KIT FOR NONVIOLENT ACTION,
produced by War Resisters League/West contains
articles on the theory and practice of nonviolence,
both personally,and pol itically as well as accounts of
the successes and problem s of contemporary
nonviolence. Articles and pamphlets byCamus,
Candhi, Cene Sharp, Barbara Deming, Mark
'Morris, Ceorge Lakey and the WIN Double lssueon
Seabrook are to be foun d and much more as wel l.
Send $2.50 per study kit to WRL/West, 1360
Howard St., San Francisco, C494103. Special rates
are available for bulkorders, so order them for your
st udy groüp. teach-in, or classroom.

Altern ative publ i sher seeks book man uscripts on
social change, environment, community, sexual
polit¡cs, etc. Query first; Times Change Press,
Albion-M7, C495410.

BOTH SIDES NOW, an alternative iournalof New
Age,/Aquarian transformations, offers a unique
sp¡ritual/polit¡cal synthesis toward a holistic viewof
today's world. 5 i ssues,/$'|, 1O issues/$z, 6 issues
each additional $1 . ( Rates double putside U S. )
Please note if back issue with articles on the Left and
sp¡ ritual ¡ty is desired. Order from Free People I nc.,
Box 13079, Jacksonville, FL32206.

print MAW in exchange for hours workedon other
jobs; or other ar¡angement lo be worked out.
Contact soon, desperation threatens! 6448th
Huntin gton, W. V a. 257 01. (3O4)523-8587 .

NCLC: Amcrico

Streetcries of the Merchants of D'eath/graphic postcard series/baker's dozen, $1 .75. S-1437, Graphic
I-Shirt, white, yellow, red (largeonly), $3.95.
Craphics by Ceorge Knowlton, The Flats Workshop,
P.O. Box13, K¡ngston, R102881.
sERV¡CES
The Brandywine Peace Community and Altern¿{ive
Fund is a nonviolenl resist ance comm un ity (bot h
live-in and extended). We are working for peace,
disarmament, and a chdnge of val ues and priorities
away from war and its preparation to an emphasis on
peace, social just'ice, and people's needs. Brandywine sponsors educational programs, action
campaigns, and publ ic demonstrations in order to
highlight the moral, political, and economic imperatiue of disarmament. Additionally, the group is
making a positive statement with its alternative
fund. Th i s fund, com prised of refused war taxes, personal savings, and group depos¡ts makes interestfree loan s to social change and service groups (primarily in Delaware and,Chester Counf ies, Pa.).
Contact Brandywine Peace Community and
Alternative Fund, 5 l Barren Rd., Media, Pa. 19063.

LIVINC ALTERNAIIVES
Work and live in a sp¡ritual/educational community
as canning & freezing coordinaior (5 months), office
person (3-6 months), child care coordinator and
assistant buildings and grounds person. Room &
board and small morithly st¡pend. J ane Bishop (301)
486-6262. Koinonia, P.O. Box5744, Pikesville, Md
2120,4

Leavitt Hill Farm, New Vineyard, Me. 04956: land
trust, comm un ity, ch ildren, work for social change,
orchards, gardens, greenhouses, aquaculture,

forestry.
EMPLOYMEÑT OPPORTU NTTIES

COI}üTELPR o f I les
va Èe c orP ore t 1 n

'Ë,

l-fgence gathering;

survelllance of 8nÈfnuke groups; 8nd the
right-wÍng Ehreet to
ïTomenr

PRISONERS
These prisoners have wr¡tten to WIN requesting
cont act wit h I he "out sicle, " hopi n g you can give

them morethan acell andanumber. Someofthem
are in the "hole;" manyofthem are polit¡cally
aware, all are WIN readers. Take a few minuteswr¡te to a prisoner.

s ríght8.

suBscRrBE TODAY: $8/Year' $2/issue
RIP, PO'Box 3278, Ì'lash. D. c. 20010
(202) 234'024L BuLk rates

In fortbcoming issues:
Stanley Aronowitz: MaÌxism and Contcmporary Social Theory
Bübarâ Easton: Feminism, Patriarchy and the Contcmporary

Family
D¿vid Mandel' Israel, the Palestinians, and thc Middle Eæt
Michael Reich and Richard Edwards: Political P¿rtics ¿nd thc
Amcrican Statc
Eli Zaresky; Psychotherapy and Politics in American Culturc
Articles on political panies, trade unions, and,social movements in the United States

In ¡ecent issues:
Deniel Ben-Horin, Tclevision
Rich¿rd Lichtmm: Marx and Freud, thrce part scrics
Lucio Magri' Italy, Social Democacy, ¡nd Revolution
Ellcn M¡los: Housework and the Politics of Womcn's Libcration
Devid Plotke: Ame¡ican Politics ¿nd Cless Forces in thc 1970's
Nicos Poulantzas: The State and the Transition to Soci¿lism
Harold Beron¡ Robert Allen and the Retreat f¡om Bl¿ck
Nationalism

Socìølist Reoìeu,
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WIN ls looklng foranew ty¡lecetterr
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our rd tbus fsrh¡s been un¡ble orunwllllng to work for WIN wegesr etpeclally slnce typesetters c¡¡r easlly ñnd
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herd on your shouldorst ln tddltlon ûo
¡n lntere¡t ln worklng collectlvely ln
fhe novoment for nonvlolent socld
ch¡nße, then you c¡n get on-the-þb
tralnlng ln r useful sklll: we wlll te¡ch
yoû to tlreset! We ¡sk for ¡ 6¡e-yetr
commltrnent rId hope for more.
Mrybe you'll llke lt here. If you rre
lnterecûed, plerse wrlûet tolllng uc
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mlght w¡nt to. But otherwlset lt cu
beã re¡tloy to work herer ¡nd the
nature of the worklng sltuatlon rnd
the value of our commltlnent morc
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t¡pe well (atle¡st

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Ray L. Wilson, 8-00000 W-'11, PO Box 2000, Vaca-

new

50314.'

examíne the FBIrs

oñ Left for the
Thc New

York.

Patr¡ot, a semi-monthly newspaper covering local
investigat ive report ¡ng, con sumer news, & non-rhetorical coverage of progressive & community issues.
Duties: Mostly investigative report¡ng, some
editing, layout, working with volunteers. Subsistance pay, health benefits, Send resume, wr¡ting
samplesto215 Alexander St. Rochester, NY 14607.

Teacher, certified K-9, looking forteaching position
in rural communiy. Experienced in multi-culçural,
individualized instruction. Contact: Malcolm lan
MacKenzie, 1721 College Ave., Des Moines, lowa

lsuc

ln
retworkl

Please send one-page no-nuke slalements to Dale
Bailey, c/o The Mustard Seed, 93 Piedmont St.,
Worcester, MA 01609. He is compil¡ng them ¡nto
book form and they will be presented to the UN
during the Special Session on Disarmament ¡n New

WANTED: Managing Editor for the Rochesier

FAiIM MANACER-Position open in Quaker high
school to manage smal l, organ ic dairy farm and to
instruct in draf{ horses, tractor work, and field
crops. Write Box FC, The Meeting School, Rindge,
NH or call (603) 899-2806.

Larçst

on the

Feminist seeking women's nonviolent self.defense
anecdotes for art ¡cle suggest¡ng alternatives to
martial arts. Wr¡te Pam,420 Dean St., Brooklyn
11217.

PRODUCIS

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a

a

You already had your last chance to get a life'
time subscription for only $1@, but we'rq
extending the offeÍ because response was so,
good and we really need the money. Nowyou
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Aprilt'. 1(ì78WlN !.ì
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WIN April 6, 1978

¡

PEACE&FREEDOMTHRUNONVIOLENTACTION

å.

ìvlafii'tuv Lulhr/L
l?z?-1969

w

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