Letters
Universal Jogging
When you think about it the
physical is related to everything in
life — the emotional, spiritual,
moral, intellectual, political and in
cluding all of the earth and uni
verse.
And it seems since these things
are physical they are part of the
huge, intricate pattern of nature.
To experience this subtle but
powerful rhythm inside nature
takes countless hours of intense
concentrated work on the tech
nique of your specific task—be it
swimming, walking, tennis, jog
ging or whatever your physical
exercise is that couples your body
to intellect.
From this perspective of being
eventually unified with the uni
verse, exercise would in time build
the awareness of body and envi
ronment to the point of sheer ec
stasy—when your imagination
has to join your ethereal physical
awareness just to stay balanced.
One pathway for this old yet
rare realm of physiological con
sciousness would start on a very
difficult day when your body is
run-down. And if you can muster
enough mental concentration to
fine tune on this day you force a
new discipline to emerge — the
playing with a pain or perfection
threshold, and following a far
more advanced structure than or
dinary hard work.
In this way the average morning
jogger is temporarily forced to
subsume this new path of energy
under a new lifestyle in order to
stay reasonably comfortable.
Yet to establish such a strong
foundation is only the beginning
—as in the athlete, who, after
years of hard, intense work on his
discipline and form, is still missing
something. He needs a structure
to work with that will open his body
and mind to the subtle yet power
ful kinetic energy in the biosphere
and that big room called our uni
verse.
The athlete can work long and
hard to achieve these rare natural
occurrences. Still, all too often we
dismiss these occurrences as
luck, karma or even a miracle ...
when a distance runner picks up
a sudden stream of energy to kick
in the last five laps of a 10,000.
Looking back you may curse all
those years of wasted potential
yet relish the rock-hard foundation
you have laid down from which
you can start.
John Baehr
Senior, Fine Arts
Bell tolls for thee
In response to David Greene’s
“Dear protester...” letter of Jan.
30: your premise that "individual
choice; individual voice” is the
only form of rational protest is, I
believe, true... in symbols of ink
and in the vacuum milieu of the
distant planet simplistic. As much
as you and would enjoy reveling in
our own individual realm^, we live
among, with and for other people.
You propose that these “vile”
protesters should quiet the Uni
versity to ultimately test the valid
ity of their convictions. No, Mr.
Greene, that’s much to simple.
Everyone who owns a car,
watches T.V., flies in a plane or
uses a calculator to compute de
bits and credits indirectly supports
South Africa. All of these pro
ducts, the quintessence of our
Page 4 Section A
way of life, contain chromium.
This element is not found just
anywhere.
Because this country lacks a
credible amount of chromium, we
have to import this strengthening,
high-technology alloy from the
Soviet Union and South Africa.
Please forgive the absence of any
statistical data, Mr. Greene; I am
not an economics major.
Yes, Mr. Greene, life is absurd.
But we have to start somewhere.
And the bell tolls for thee.
Richard Lee
Graduate, Fine Arts
Courageous protest
The members of the Black Stu
dent Union commend the protest
ers for the courage they por
trayed at the sit-in at Johnson Hali
last week. Although we don’t al
ways agree with the tactics used
by the Revolutionary Communist
Youth Brigade, we thank them for
keeping the issue of the South Af
rican divestment alive. Without a
display about South Africa every
week, the student population and
administration seem willing to let
the issue lie unattended in the
hope that it will quietly disappear.
We want everyone to know that
the racist regime governing South
Africa can not be ignored, and we
will not let them rest until they
change their brutal policies and re
turn the governing of that country
to its original owners.
Marva Fabien
Junior, English for the
Black Student Union
Can’t flee the issue
The apathetic complacency and
smug self-centeredness es
poused in David Greene’s letter
(January 30) ironically found its
ally in the “Me First!” cartoon on
the same page. To propose ac
tivism merely on the basis of self
interest is to propose callous indif
ference to the struggles of all
abused and victimized persons. If,
as Greene propounds, one is to
refuse to acknowledge any obliga
tion to justice and humanity, the
prevailing selfishness would exalt
Mussolini as hero and totally pre
clude the extension of human
rights witnessed in the 1960’s.
It is folly to challenge the protes
ters to leave the university, just as
the “If you can't stand the heat, get
out of the kitchen" philosophy was
not viable against the anti-war
movement during the Vietnam
conflict. Indeed, constructive
change never resulted from flee
ing a disturbing situation nor any
other acts of cowardice. In fact,
the effectiveness of opposing a
policy from within greatly out
weights outside criticism.
Perhaps the most vital point to
remember regarding such groups
is that, despite objections one
may have with their tactics and
procedures, to dismiss their cause
merely on the basis of these ac
tions is an unaffordable luxury.
Just as the fact that Thomas Jef
ferson owned slaves cannot ne
gate the premises of the Declara
tion of Independence nor can Sir
Thomas More’s wealth invalidate
his Utopia, it must be recognized
that beneath the external issues
lies an injustice far more important
than having one’s studying inter
rupted.
William Farrell
Freshman, Undeclared
opinion
U.S. supports Iran’s tyrant
mv/fSHMSTON? THIS HERE'S NEW YORK! HBU’W BROKE AGAIN AND IF YOU, 50NT
saap we A Big,tat relief check at once, i'w Gonna hang wtself.'5
Submitted by
Shagerd Shariati for the
Muslim Student Association
On Monday, Jan. 9,1978, once again the Shah
and his international terrorist allies (U.S. and Israeli
military advisors) aimed their guns toward thousands
of innocent demonstrators in Iranian cities. On this
bloody day, the police attack left 162 killed (among
them 80 students), 400 wounded, and a thousand
arrested in Qum; and 5 killed, a hundred wounded
and some 400 arrested in Mashhad (The Washing
ton Post, Jan. 11, 1978). According to the most re
cent news from Iran the number of people killed in
this blood bath has exceeded well over 1,500, mostly
because of government’s refusal to allow the criti
cally wounded people to be accepted into the hospi
tals!
This is certainly the bloodiest brutality by the
Shah’s police since June, 1963, when more than
15,000 peaceful demonstrators were killed in the
streets by the Shah’s American trained and sup
ported army.
The recent cold-blooded murder took place after
two days of public boycott, sit-in, and peaceful de
monstrations by men and women protesting the crim
inal and widespread suppressions of social, civil and
human rights in Iran and demanding the return to Iran
of the great Muslim leader, his Eminence, Ayatollah
Khomeini, the consistent supporter of human and
civil rights and liberation of workers and peasants,
from his 13 years of exile in Iraq.
It is significant to note that this bloody violence
and shooting of peaceful demonstrators at Qum and
Mashhad, which was also accompanied by mass
closure of stores and universities all over Iran took
place:
1) At the dose of President Carter's trip to Iran,
after which he praised the Shah as being “deeply
concerned about human rights, and that in some
aspects of human rights Iran has experienced con
siderable progress over the last 20 years!!" (The
Washington Post, Jan. 11, 1978;) and
2) Just before Farah’s (Shah’s wife) trip to New
York to be entertained, as a “Guest of Honor" by
some of the most powerful U.S. capitalists and politi
cians (The Washington Post, January 13, 1978)!!
Condemning such murderous operations by the
Shah’s notorious dictatorship, the Muslim Student
Association (MSA) calls upon all freedom loving
people of the United States to demand that their
government stop aiding this puppet regime’s con
tinual mass murder of Iranian people who are bravely
resisting his Fascism.
Particularly, demand that President Carter (the
smiling hypocrite) explain whether such brutal viol
ence by his so-called “powerful ally” is the result of
an agreement between the Shah and his administra
tion during his recent visit to Iran?!!! Does this rep
resent Mr. Carter’s human rights policy in Iran?!!!
We strongly condemn the communist camp’s
shameless and opportunist silence, and hence
aiding the barbaric regime of the Shah.
Along with the desire of the poeple of Iran, the
MSA demand that the U.S. Government censure the
exiling of his eminence Ayatollah Khomeini, and the
recent violent attack, as well as all the Shah’s furious
and gross violations of the human and civil rights of
the Iranian people.
Down with U.S. Imperialism!
Down with "Red” Imperialism!
Long live the heroic struggle of the Iranian peo
ple against the neocolonialism of the East and West!
Victory is near!
Shagerd Shariati
The Muslim Student Association
(Persian Student Group)
Eugene Chapter
Parallel process?
It has been brought to the atten
tion (Emerald, Jan. 31) of the
R.C.Y.B. that the State Board
plans to increase tuition for the
umpteenth straight year. It is our
informal legal opinion that they
lack the authority to do so.
Whereas the increases in tuition
are making college attendance
more and more a question only for
the wealthy, and whereas the Uni
versity has systematically butch
ered minority programs and elimi
nated minority recruitment, we
feel that their “legality” should be
questioned.
The next step is for the State
Board to spend two months draft
ing a letter to the R.C.Y.B. posing
all possible questions concerning
the legality of the proposed tuition
increase. Then our legal research
staff will spend two to three
months thoroughly researching
the matter so that we can present
our formal legal opinion.
Meanwhile, the State Board
must cancel all plans to raise tui
tion — just as they jumped at the
chance to stall their divestiture of
the Southern African stocks.
Jonathan Draper
for the Revolutionary Com
munist Youth Brigade
Right to life
I would like to criticize the
Emerald for its biased reporting of
the recent decision by the Legisla
tive Emergency Board not to use
state funds for abortions in
Oregon.
The prevalent attitude of the ar
ticles in the last few days has been
"Isn’t it terrible that lower income
women can’t have the abortions
they want.” The arguments used
by the proponents of abortion
funding have been horrible. They
stress that it’s cheaper to provide
abortions than to pay welfare for a
woman and her baby or to put the
child up for adoption. Have we
sunk so low that human life is
measured by state dollars? It is
always easier to exterminate life
than to sustain it. The same argu
ment can be used to put away the
old and the sick who may no
longer be contributing economi
cally to society.
Since the 1973 Roe v. Wade
decision by the Supreme Court,
the state cannot prohibit abortions
during the first trimester. How
ever, the state does not have a
duty or obligation to expend state
funds to further abortion. Rather,
state funds should be utilized to
promote life by encouraging and
developing adoption services.
No person has an absolute right
to control his or her body or life. By
its decision, the Emergency Board
preserved “human rights’’ for
thousands of unborn human be
ings. Let us hope that our state
legislature will also vote to limit
abortion and choose life.
Rob LeChevallier
Third year Law
Wednesday, February 1, 1978