-editorial
Poetic justice
Question: how can the U.S. avoid picking the losing side in
the internal political struggles of a country? Easy, don't pick any
side. This solution isn't that easy to follow, however, given the
present mentality in Washington towards U.S. foreign policy. In
the case of Angola, mentality seems to dictate that whenever
possible the U.S. must act to tip the balance of power in favor of
the "pro-western'' faction. Despite the desirability of having such
a faction in control, what this mentality does not take into consid
eration is the advantage the U S. could enjoy if it maintained a
“clean-handed," neutral position in Angola. Now unfortunately,
the U.S. is closely identified with the two factions being supported
by troops of white supremacist South Africa; not the best position
to be directly identified with on a largely Black-dominated conti
nent.
Last year when the Portuguese attempted to withdraw from
their former colonial possession of Angola by granting it indepen
dence, the transition of power quickly degenerated into a three
way civil war. Three factions attempted to assume control. The
Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) became
identified with the Soviet Union. The National Front for the Libera
tion of Angola (FNLA) attracted Western support and became
allied with the National Union for the Total Independence of
Angola (UNITA) which enjoys Chinese Communist support. All
three had been active in the effort to drive the Portuguese out but
couldn't agree how to share the pie after the Portuguese left.
The political instability created attracted the attention of
Washington, Moscow and Peking. All three are interested in the
strategic importance of Angola. The most direct and convenient
route for the shipment of copper from Zaire and Zambia is the
British Benuela Railway which transverses Angola from its east
ern border with Zaire and Zambia to Angola's west coast ports on
the Atlantic. The most severe fighting has occurred along this
railway as the rival factions seek to control it. Incidentally the
leader of the Western-backed FNLA, Holden Roberto, is the
brother-in-law of the president of Zaire. The advantages to Zaire
of having the FNLA control and safeguard the railway are obvi
ous.
To complicate the situation even more, it appears that the
alliances may be shifting. Last week secret talks were underway
in Zambia among several African states who seek a peaceful
solution to the conflict. Reports from the meeting indicate that
UNITA feeis it has more in common ideologically with the Soviet
backed MPLA than its present ally, the Western-backed FNLA.
and that it may be prepared to accept second place to the MPLA
in a united Angolan government. If accord is reached, the two
factions could claim the political allegiance of 58 per cent of the
population with 20 per gent loyal to the FNLA and the remaining
22 per cent undecided.
Even though the U.S. Senate has cut off any further funds for
military aid to Angola, tne damage has been done. The stigma of
covertly meddling in Angola’s internal affair is attached to us. We
will be forced to deal with any emerging government from the
position of a former antagonist. While it is true that a hands-off
position on our part wouljJ not have kept the Russians out. their
scope of involvement would have been severely restricted. If our
involvement hadn't forced other factions into the Soviet camp,
how well would have blue-eyed, fair-skinned European (Russian)
troops been welcomed by African nationalists who are just now
casting off the remnants of European colonialism?
One course of action, however, offers some hope. We must
clearly disassociate ourselves from any direct military involve
ment in Angola. From this_position we can then work diplomati
cally through the Organization for African Unity and with other
African countries to publicize the presence of Russian troops in
Angola. Their presence would then be even more obvious and
less justifiable in the absence of our involvement. With us out of
the picture militarily, how long would they be hailed as liberators?
Given Rnsgig’s use of a similar tactic in Vietnam, it would almost
be poetic justice^
■! I y-, l«i-.. II. ' ■ —
titirs tow
; to$wn pole ot jjtjot Kies
lmH»e\0»ViMe(she)
he one that incurs pay
me^liM»y imptovement'rn con
’^££8igMtait^4fW or univer
sity facilitiesV This ha§ gone on
long enough.
'
By instituting a Onion for stu
dents, we can gain an important
voice in what we must pay for in
tuition and fee hikes. We can en
sure that faculty and staff posi
tions will not be enhanced at the
cost of our education. And we can
ensure that programs and policies
controlled by the university will
have the students interest in
mind.
I urge you to let the ASUO know
your feelings about a student
union. The sooner they know
where students stand, the sooner
they can institute the union and
Page 4
start protecting our rights
Michael Stepka
Recreation and Park
Management
Please lead
I have been confronted several
times in the past two weeks to sign
petitions for various campaigns
that have been circulating around
campus. By observing the
petitioners, I became aware of
many students who for some obs
cure- reasons sign without even
reading the petition. Now I would
like to promote a petition not for
anybody to sign, but only to read.
To all U of O students that have
been or will be approached by fel
low petitioners. Please and I em
phasize please for your own well
being, read what you're signing!
Don't feel ignorant by asking
questions. Many times petitioners
highlight certain points in order to
“Thank heavens
for a few
disrespectful
young brats!’’
a,)
*
vj
VI
y
li
‘You vill do as ve say, Liebchen!’
get signatures, but disguise the
true motives of the petition or fail
to state critical issues that are also
included above your John Henry.
Ask for information such as who
they are associated with or what
their main objectives include.
Without a careful understanding
of the petition you may be promot
ing a violent demonstration or
communist movement without
being aware of it.
Therefore my plea is not for stu
dents to disregard all petitions, but
to take interest and make sure you
understand the arguments, both
pro and con of the petition before
you sign.
Kevin Knode
Bus. Ad., Soph.
Let us know
This is in reply to a letter to the
Editor in the Emerald of January
21, 1976, by John Billingsley re
garding the shortage of texts for
certain courses.
Your complaint is not new, in
fact, most bookstores around the
country have been listening to this
for years. Unfortunately, n® one
has come up with the perfect solu
tion. During the opening rush of
winter term "we had a professor
come in saying that he had or
dered 25 books for a class and felt
that this was adequate^ Much tp
h**-Sur prise 75 students regis
tered for this class. Tkps was only
onw^ instance in this particular
school where many classes sud-,
dej% swelled way beyond expec
tations. How do you suggest the
bookstore take care df such-a
situation?
Our overstock of Text books for
winter exceeded 25*per cent of our
purchases. This means thatout of
every four books we purchased
for classroom use'we had one left
on the shelves. This is adout the
national average for college
bookstores today. This happens
to us at the end of every quarter.
Four times a year. Returning
books to the publisher is a very
costly process considering the
fact that we have already paid
freight to get them and then have
to pay again to return.
Come in and examine our text
shelves and look at the thousands
of books left over. We carry 3,200
different titles for the opening of
school. If we followed your sug
gestion and expanded every fa
culty member's order by 5 extra
copies, this would amount to
16,000 extra books with no
guarantee they would all sell. This
would just aggravate our costly re
turn problem. The American
Bookseller's Association figures it
costs somewhere in the neigh
borhood of 50 cents a copy to re
turn a book to the publisher This
covers freight, packing materials
and labor
Our text department is already
operating at a loss with the 10 per
cent discount to students Any
further losses mean higher prices
for other items in the bookstore
We do not like to run out of books
Our sole purpose is to serve the
students. So. if you can help us
with a solution which is economi
cally feasible, please let us know.
We would like to bring to your
attention our new SOUNDING
BOARD in the main lobby of the
store which was activated by the
Board of Directors. Whenever you
have a criticism or suggestion,
you can drop it in the box next to
the board and you v" hove an
answer on the board within ten
days.
A copy of this letter will be on the
board along with a copy of Mr
Billingsley's letter.
G.L Henson. Manager
UofO BOOKSTORE. INC.
Bear in mind
I would be very interested to
hear the Revolutionary Student
-Brfjjadfes definition of the word
“oppression. According to their
repent leaflet commemorating
ChoO€n-iai and the Chinese Re
volution. the people of Communist
China have largely succeeded in
Mheir war against oppression The
leaflet gpes on to infer that this
“aSpdJtion'' is in fact ever-present
in our country and exists, to a
large extent, because of our
capitalistically-oriented system
Bearing in mind that the people
of this country enjoy many more
freedoms than do their Chinese
adversaries, and hence have far
greater control over the direction
of their lives, I find it hard to recon
cile that we are an oppressed
group and have still to attain those
victories enjoyed by the Chinese
people.
Mitch Carter
Business
Sin committed
I fail to see the point of all the
emotional controversy regarding
the Concorde SST Anyone famil
iar with the place knows that its
only advantage over conventional
passenger aircraft is its super
sonic speed, up to 1400 m.p.h. To
achieve this speed, the cabin is
very narrow resulting in an aisle
just 14 inches wide, and the two
seats to either side scarcely wider
All seats would be first class, too
meaning that for one s discomfort
one would have to pay outrageous
fares much higher than on present
aircraft
Boeing engineers are currently
working toward the goal of an effi
cient, clean burning, quiet and
confortable SST They have
stated, though, that it is not tech
nologically possible at this time
with fuel prices as high as they
are, to build a cost-effective SST
How long, then, do the British
and French think they could sub
sidize this aircraft's operation
given the critical economic situa
tion? I fear they have committed
the sin of making the same mis
take twice The premature opera
tion of the de HaviUand Comet in
the earty 1950s brought disas
ough operation of
trie ___ — ,*iOuld prove to be
less spectacutar. few. if any, air
lines Will be able to make a profit
by it. ; *h
The man cry against the SST
regards its potential damage to
the ozone. About two weeks ago.
the World Meteorological Organi
zation stated that, based on their
studies, flights of 30 to 50 SST s
flying at 60.000 fpet would not af
fect the ozone
I feel then, that unfit a reasona
ble SST is built, the Concorde
should be allowed to fly scheduled
service into the United States.and
so to fait, economically, on its own
merits. Such#pokey rntght settle
both envronhienU^end diploma
tic squabbles
Brace E Si mill
Sr., geology
Letters policy
The Emerald will accept
and try to pnatj0yleUci.
containing fafreo/rtfiienton
ideas and topics of concern
or interest to the University
community.
Because of space timita
tions. tetters must be no
more than 200 words,
typed, triple-spaced, dated
and signed with the
perons s ma/or No un
signed letter will be pub
lished.
Longer opinion columns
will be published whenever
possible after being sub
mitted to the editorial page
editor
The limit on opinion col
umns is 800 words, using
the same format as letters.
Monday, .January 26, I!'7'’