-opinion
Peace Corps aids CIA
In response to the advertisement that has been appearing in
the Emerald regarding the recruiting of Peace Corps volunteers,
we, as citizens of third world countries that have suffered and are
suffering from the influence of such American organizations, feel
that it is our duty to inform the public about the true nature of the
Peace Corps.
The Peace Corps was created by the late John F. Kennedy
with the aim of improving the American image abroad, particularly
in underdeveloped countries where the population was growing
more and more discontent with the policies of U S. imperia'ism
The program was presented to the American public in general,
and its youth in particular, as an effort to bring "help" — through
leadership and technical know-how — to our "backward coun
tries." Due to the idealism of young Americans at the time, the
program got successfully started, and its popularity grew with the
years, attracting in the process people with other motivations. For
some, it represented an alternative to the draft; for others, a
paid-for, exciting adventure in exotic lands, etc.
The truth is, right from its beginning, the Peace Corps was
nothing else than a cover-up used by the American system to
perpetuate its imperialistic policies and suppress any attempt of
self-determination in our countries. Unpopular direct military in
tervention gave way to the proliferation of institutions such as
Alliance for Progress, AID, CARE, Meals for Millions and many
others. The Peace Corps represented the ultimate and perfect
cover-up, due to the delusions of thousands of adventurers re
presenting themselves as "goodwill ambassadors out to help
their “less privileged fellow humans." These naive instruments of
capitalism helped (sometimes unknowingly) to perpetrate at
rocities in the minds and the bodies of our people. The Peace
Corps, as well as other similar American organizations operating
abroad, have been and are plagued with CIA agents and other
reactionary elements whose sole purpose is to crush the natural
course of our development towards a more just social order.
In Bolivia, in 1968, the Peace Corps carried out a
U S.-imposed population control program, which sterilized
Quechua Indian women without their knowledge or consent. This
follows the pattern of other murderous population control prog
rams administered by the U.S. in Third World countries, such as
the mass-sterilization of Columbian peasants by the Summer
Institute of Linguistics. In Ecuador, the Peace Corps director is
none other than a CIA collaborator exposed by former agent
Philip Agee in his book “Inside the Company."
Progressive governments in some of our countnes have
managed to ban the Peace Corps. But in a good number of places
the military puppets and the local watchdogs of American in
terests still represent a very strong force Peace Corps volunteers
continue to get drugged (as a result of the frustration of dealing
with a culture they do not or will not understand) on American
taxpayers money, and continue to damage in many ways our
most valuable and precious resource; the people.
The backwardness of our countries is not a mere result of
chance, and neither is the wealth of imperialistic nations. The
prodigality of American refrigerators takes place at the expense of
the emptiness of our tables, the hunger and oppression of our
masses. Years and years of neo-colonialsim have ransacked the
natural riches of our lands. This, for the enemy, is not enough
Now the Rockefellers of the earth want our lives. The blood of our
people shall quench the thirst of the corporations. And they are
asking you to join them in the task.
To use a paraphrase, he who is not on our side is with the
enemy. If you feel it is your duty to help, you are welcome to do
so— we need the aid of conscientious people all over the world in
our struggle against injustice. But joining the Peace Corps is not
the way. Your role is right here, within this society of yours;
opposing the imperialistic policies of the U S. government, refus
ing to take part in its slick maneuvers to suppress freedom and
justice. Submitted by
Latin American
Students Association
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Page 4
-Words from Was*
Put equity in de system
There's an amendment
floating around the House
Elections Committee that
would give all us poor folk a
break. It's Rep. Wally
Priestly's. D-Portland,
proposal to expand the polit
ical contribution tax credit
program and put a bit more
equity in an all too often ine
quitable elections frame
work.
A kind of back door ap
proach to public campaign
financing, the contribution
tax credit allows taxpayers
to contribute up to $25 to a
political campaign and then
get it back from the state at
tax time The catch under
the current system is that
someone who doesn't owe
the state at least $25 worth
of personal income taxes
can't get the money back
from the state
Priestly would make it so
any voter required to file a
tax return (right now that
means anyone making over
$600 a year) would be eligi
ble for the program, tax lia
bility or no tax liability
"This amendment," exp
lains Priestly, "would make
rich and poor stand equal in
their claim on the General
Fund (the state's money
cache) for making a political
V
contribution and receiving a
tax credit.”
Priestly tried to put his
rider on a bill the elections
committee sent to the floor
Friday, but fell a little short
of the support he needed,
ending up on the wrong side
of a 6-1 vote. This doesn't
mean everyone else on the
committee opposes the
idea; in fact the committee
chairer, Gratten Kerans,
D-Eugene, co-sponsored
the same legislation last
session But Kerans was a
fraid to burden the bill being
sent to the floor (a motion to
make contributions made to
political action committees
eligible for tax credits) with
Priestly’s plan.
There’ll be other bills we
can use,” Kerans said Let s
hope so. Kerans should,
and probably will, make
sure the amendment finds
another vehicle for the ride
to the floor
In effect, with the current
system the state is saying
those rich enough to pay
taxes can use state funds to
help their political causes,
but those that aren't can t
If our tax system has been
established fairly, a point
open to question, the
money in the General Fund
has come from those most
able to pay Why should the
rich have access to that
money to the exclusion of
the poor? To Priestly, the
answer is simple and unjus
tifiable
One thing I've learned in
over 12 years m Salem,
explains Priestly, "is that
this is the place where the
established interests come
to establish their interests.
Systems like this one are
set up to maintain the cur
rent political power struc
ture.”
The members of the elec
tions committee, and the
rest of the Legislature,
should do what they can to
rock those established in
terests Priestly's motion of
fers a chance to do a little
rocking
Letters
HEP changed life
I am a HEP student here at the
University. I am almost through
here, so I thought that I would
write a letter to the people I have
met and haven't met.
I came not knowing what was
going to happen Now that I am
going to leave in about a week, I
have got my future planned out
ahead of me And who do I have to
thank for it? HEP and the Univer
sity.
They have changed my life here
at the campus When I came here
I was a little prejudiced about the
color of peoples' skin But now
after knowing the staff and the
students at HEP and the Univer
sity, they have changed my way of
thinking to the better I have met
students from Peru, Vietnam,
Cambodia, Australia, Mexico and
Ethiopia. Just from talking to them
I have learned more about them
and that tends to help me see how
prejudice is really ignorance' Now
I don't have one ounce of pre
judice left in me To me. prejudice
is someone who is just jealous
Also when I first came here I
thought that I might be able to go
to college, but it was still a distant
dream. Now it is a reality
Larry Davidson
HEP Student
Helpful program
I am writing in reaction to Neil
Jacobsen's criticism of Dr. Peter
Lewinsohn's depression program
I also participated in this prog
ram in Fall, 1976, although in a
different treatment condition than
Mr Jacobsen. I found the program
quite helpful. It was my experience
that my therapist filled her re
quirements as a participant in the
research process, but went
beyond that in conveying to me a
sense of real concern for me as a
person. She, working with Dr
Lewinsohn and other staff, refer
red me to another agancy for
necessary help
It is indeed unfortunate, as Mr
Jacobsen points out, that approp
riate (and affordable) help is so
limited in availability for the poor
and for students. Waiting lists
seem interminable, and there are
times (particularly with severe de
pression) that waiting is not really
feasible It is pertiaps unfortunate,
but necessary, that the depres
sion project place first priority on
its research requirements.
Its mission is not to fill the
need in this community for a
treatment facility that would serve
the needs of those of us unable to
afford even short term private
therapy. They do have a respon
sibility not to place their "subjects
at risk, and I found that they went
well beyond this requirement in
treating me with consideration
Certainly their concern in my case
did not end with my simply provid
ing them with computer fodder
Daisy M. Reed
Grad uate—Education
Check out HEP
Randall Miller’s concern does not
seem to be for the victim, Ricardo
Villalobos, but rather for the
HEP. It is evident that he is not
aware of HEPs purpose or that he
has ever come in contact with the
program or its students Who is
he, then, to suggest an examina
tion of its validity? I suggest that
he pay a visit to the program and
see for himself.
A M. Frietze
Freshman—Political Science
Monday, February 21, 1977