Letters
Oregon minority?
I realize the danger of sticking
too many irons into the ERA fire.
Nevertheless, I would also like
to see “Oregonians' recognized
as a minority entitled to equal (or
greater) rights — at least in our
own state
In March, I will set out on my
serious quest for that life
sustaining/fulfilling job. I would
like to find it here in Oregon.
But. as an Oregonian, I know I
must tuck my chin and walk to the
rear of the bus. And fight the
feculent fumes. New York,
maybe?
Perhaps not in my own lifetime.
But I have a dream that one fine
day all Oregon job listings will
carry the tag line, “Equal
Opportunity Employer. Oregon
ians and other minorities en
couraged to apply.’’
Jeanine Holly
Senior. Engiish-Joumalism
A Response...
As members of the South
University Neighborhood As
sociation (SUNA) Executive
Board, we felt it necessary to
respond to and clarify your
editorial of January 25, “Another
Bad Parking Plan.”
The South University area is
frequently clogged with
automobiles and automobile
congestion from student
commuters looking for parking
spots. At the University, a few
blocks away, many parking spots
are empty because of an $18
parking fee.
Students don’t want to pay the
parking fees because they have
our neighborhood to park in. But,
what is fair about expecting the
SUNA residents to subsidize
student parking fees at the cost of
an automobile-cluttered neigh
borhood?
The SUNA planning goals
support high density residential
development. The trade-off for
high density residential housing is
that there are very few provisions
for parking, except for on-street
spaces. This is OK. except that we
feel that neighbors living in the
area should have first priority to
this limited resource. Ecologically,
we feel that owning a car is a
luxury Caring for and keeping a
car includes all sorts of expenses
— including parking fees! But
what about other modes of
transportation? Why aren’t those
students biking, walking or taking
the bus to get to school? This
would greatly reduce automobile
pollution of all kinds in the
neighborhood.
Finally, if students are so
concerned about the parking
problem, as indicated in your
editorial, why aren’t they
demanding that the University do
something about this? We feel
that the parking problem, or lack
thereof, is clearly the University’s
responsibility. Our neighborhood
is looking for a solution to this
problem. Maybe the students are
interested in a solution too, or
maybe they aren’t. But whatever
the results, everyone isn’t going to
be happy.
Then again, they don't have to
park there.
Denyse McGriff
for the SUNA Executive Board
Letters policy
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1 opinion "
Gold and the S. African crisis
Submitted by Walt Sheas by.
Roger Waike, and Bruce Bowers for
the People for Southern African Freedom
The resolution against the sale of the South
African gold coin, the Krugerrand, will come before a
closely divided Eugene City Council this evening for
discussion and a final vote. A large turnout might
sway those on the council who are not yet
convinced that the active concern of local citizens
has turned the Krugerrand into a local issue, just as it
has in Portland, Denver, Dayton, San Antonio,
Chicago, Madison, and Milwaukee, all cities that
have passed similar anti-Krugerrand resolutions.
Those who have looked closely at the
Krugerrand issue have seen that such resolutions
are not simply moral gestures, but important
weapons in the struggle for southern African freedom.
In order to withstand international pressures, the
Pretoria regime has embarked on a campaign of
making its economy invulnerable to boycotts.
Foreign exchange is an essential part of this
strategy, with Vorster claiming that “every South
African product sold is a brick in the wall of
apartheid.” Gold sales abroad provide 40 percent of
South Africa’s foreign exchange and pay for nearly
50 rarcent of its imports. As Business Week reports,
“the Krugerrand is becoming a major part of South
Africa’s gold marketing strategy.” Coin sales push up
the price of gold in the London and Zurich exchanges
by tapping what promoters call “the nervous
school-teacher type of investor.” But Krugerrand
sales are also important in their own right, and have
soared in recent years to between 14 and 21 percent
of total gold exports, paying for $1 out of every $20 of
South African imports.
As Sipho Butheiezi pointed out to the city
council, “Krugerrand sales enable the South African
government to purchase the foreign technology that
it needs to build up its military and industrial base.”
South Africa's military budget has soared from $397
million in 1971 to $1.5 billion in 1976, and arms
imports have gone from $450 million in 1973 to $1.2
billion in 1977.
This military build-up has come at a time when
the South African economy is in deep trouble. The
world recession has kept South Africa from
expanding its other exports, and the regime faces
double-digit inflation, a no-growth economy, and an
estimated 40 percent black unemployment.
Beneath the surface of the slick $1.2 million
promotion of the Krugerrand is a fear that the
economic crisis could lead to a toppling of the
regime. Demonstrations and city resolutions have
led firms like Merrill-Lynch to drop Krugerrand sales.
New York City affiliates of ABC, CBS and NBC have
banned its advertising.
In the last six months, apartheid divestment on
college campuses in the U.S. have alarmed the
South African government. So far, the campus
struggles have had varying successes: the Stanford
University trustees, after months of demonstrations.
adopted guidelines that will prevent investment in
firms whose activities cause ‘‘substantial social
injury." The Universities of Minnesota, Illinois and
Boston, along with Amherst, Hampshire, Haverford
and Oberlin Colleges, have approves stockholder
resolutions favoring corporate withdrawal from
South Africa. Smith College has dumped more than
42,000 shares of stock in Firestone because of its
operations there, and the University of
Massachusetts has sold $620,000 worth of stock in
20 firms with investments in South Africa.
In January, the Attorney General of Wisconsin
applied a state law against discrimination-related
investments to the University of Wisconsin, ordering
to dump its South Africa-related stock. But, as the
Chronicle of Higher Education reported (Dec. 19,
1977), “the most sweeping action so far has come in
Oregon.” If the Oregon divestment is upheld, the
action will have an unsettling effect on South Africa,
which fears other University divestments.
The embassy of South Africa has tried
recently to stem this tide by sending propaganda
material to U.S. college administrators warning of the
effects of divestment on South African blacks. The
letter reads: “Individuals and groups have for some
time now applied pressure on various universities in
this country to sell their stock of American business
corporations involved in the Republic of South Africa.
You might have been approached by groups who
profess to act solely on behalf of the peoples of
South Africa.”
One does not have to look very far to find the
reasons for this concern over the divestment move
by universities, churches and labor unions. Four
major banks have responded to public pressure by
discontinuing loans to South Africa, and two banks
have withdrawn from loan commitments. Many
aanks helped bail out the South African government
when foreign capital fled the country after the 1960
Sharpville Massacre.
Most corporations want to hold their
investments in South Africa, but the recession and
political instability there, along with growing pressure
from anti-apartheid groups in the U.S., have
dampened business ardor. In May, 1977,
Weyerhauser pulled out for financial reasons, selling
four plants to local interests. In November, Polaroid
severed all sales to South Africa in response to an
expose of the company’s involvement with the hated
"pass cards". General Motors has frozen its
investment, while several firms have sold controlling
interests to local capital because of losses: Chrysler
sold 75 percent, ITT 64 percent and Phelos Dodge
51 percent of their South African operations last year.
Clearly, this is a time of crisis for the regime, and
the liberation support movement in the U.S. must
redouble its efforts. We urge everyone to register
their support for the anti-Krugerrand resolution by
calling the City Manager’s office (687-5010) today
and by attending the City Council meeting tonight at
7:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall.
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