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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 15, 1978)
Letters Letters Letters Israel racist This month marks the 30th yeai since the establishment of the state of Israel. The "celebration of this event has been seen in and outside of Israel and has been witnessed on the University cam pus. The act of raising the Israeli flag on campus, in particular, is a point worthy of discussion. The Israeli state was estab lished in 1948 on the principles of the Zionist idealogy. Zionism is an extreme view of Jewish na tionalism whose aim is the crea tion of an exclusive Jewish state in Palestine. (It is most important to note that all Jews are not Zionists and that Zionism is not Judaism). This state will be exclusively Jewish only when all non-Jews are absent from the country and, therefore, the Israeli policy has been one of dispossessing the in digenous Palestinian population. The nature of the Israeli state is a racist one. Discrimination is not limited to Arab people: the "Orien tal Jews" (i.e. the non-European, non-white Jews) are also treated as second class citizens. There fore we can compare the condi tions in Israel with conditions in South Africa. In both cases the in digenous non-white people are dominated and oppressed by people of European nationalities. Israel, however, goes one step further than South Africa (which relies on the indigenous people for cheap labor, ect.) by aiming to ex pell the native population from their own land.When the Univer sity campus joins in the celebra tion of Israel, we are, in fact, celeb rating the oppression of the Pales tinian people. Would we also celebrate the anniversary of the South African, Iranian, or Chilean regimes? It can be argued that the Zionists are only faction within Is rael but since that party has histor ically dominated Israel's racist government policies we must rec ognize that the Israeli state rep resents the Zionist aspirations. We should, instead, celebrate the Palestinian struggle that aims to create a democratic secular state for all people of Palestine — Jews, Moslems, and Christians of all races. Let us celebrate this movement that aims not to ex clude any one group of people but aims to work and live in a just soc iety. Sioux Thompson Senior, CSPA We love you As a newly chosen member of the 1978-79 rally squad (and former ‘Kamikaze Klutz "), I am glad to take the opportunity to pub licly respond to James Aiken's let ter which appeared in the May 11 issues of the Emerald. His criticism and concern re garding the quality of this year's rally squad and dance team is well taken, I assure you, but I feel there exists no inherent need to dwell on what has already passed. Granted, we must learn from our mistakes, but it is time to look ahead! In light of Aiken's reservations concerning the quality of the rally and dance advisors, I can only say that ineptness is in the eye of the beholder. I worked throughout this year with our two advisors, who both hold full-time teaching jobs in Eugene in addition to their advis ory capacities, and found their tal ent to organize and advise first rate. They stepped into the pro gram for their first year and began a monumental task. Well, we have had our year to make mistakes and have learned -opinion Warren: A victim of the establishment Submitted by David Herbert Senior, CSPA/Political Science Indications are that the current ASUO Executive does not want to count the votes from the Institute of Marine Biology at Charleston. Why should this be so? Why does Suite 4 want to disenfranchise the Univer sity students on the coast? It is alleged that the votes shouldn't count because these students knew the results while voting. This has to be one of the most ridiculous and asinine arguments I’ve heard yet. First, there is reason to believe that the ballots did not arrive in Charleston until Thursday morning. Secondly, when people vote in national elections, the results of other states are known well in advance before one particular section of the couptry finishes voting. Thirdly and most importantly, it is the responsi bility of the Elections Board to keep the results quiet until all the votes have been counted. The only fair way to end the problem is to have a runoff. I'm sure Ramon would feel apprehensive taking office with less than 50 percent of the vote. It is bad enough that only 8 percent of the students vote. But if the university is to get a student body president with less than 4 percent support, student politics will surely be a farce. In my opinion, the only reason that our current ASUO Executive wants to disallow the votes (of Charleston) is because he supports Ramon. The vendetta Feldman has waged against Jeff Warren has resulted in electioneering the contest in favor of his candidate. The vendetta I speak of has to do with the complaint Warren filed against Feldman for his hiring practices which ignore the Affirmative Action process. Last June, Gary hired the highest paid person in the ASUO administration without going through Affirmative Action. Grudgingly, Feldman agreed togo through the process after the complaint was filed. Nevertheless, this retaliation cannot result in making Jeff Warren lose the election. If Ramon is going to win, let him win fair and square. I find it ironic that Jeff was labeled the “candidate of the establish ment.” Now it is obvious that he has become the victim of it. Unfortu nately, it seems as though the only candidate representing the estab lishment is Ramon, since Feldman is pushing so hard to see his man put in office. Gary, let's have a fair election. We know you re anxious to leave office but surely an extra week or so won’t matter. The election should be done right. Let’s have another runoff. And though I hate cliches, may the best man win. a great deal. I am ready, as is the entire 1978-79 rally squad, for a. new year packed with fresh faces and ideas. And as for Aiken's charge that this year's spirit promoting organi zations gave this "...Donald Duck University a Mickey Mouse look," I have just one comment for him: "M-I-C...see you fall term, K-E-Y...Why? Because we LOVE you...” Betty Jean Christensen Sophomore, Journalism Jus’ tumble Yes, well I just wanted to talk about ballot measure #51 and you know I mean the moral decay of rotten apples spoiling the broth and the virginity of our blond daughters. I think it's just awful and gross and I knew these two homosexuals that used to walk around together cause they went into the same apartment and I know because I used to watch them all the time from my window. I could even see into their window at night and they were always sit ting around and watching televi sion or something. I just don’t think it's right for people like that to al ways be flaunting themselves in front of normal decent people. Anyone who feels like I do, should vote Yes on #51. (This letter r brought to you by Haddie Nuff, Cottage Grove. Orygun). Jean Jacoby Graduate, Biology Reverse the trend Eugene is going to be a very important place on May 23. Since civil rights for gays have been re moved in Florida, Minnesota, and now Kansas, the country will be watching closely to see what Eugene voters will do with ballot measure 51. As voters, we can bolster this new fascist trend of denying minorities their civil rights, or we can provide the pre cedent to reverse it. I strongly favor the latter. The conservative (minority?) in America is making itself heard in 1978. I reach this conclusion be cause senate bill 1437 has gotten as far as it has, because the gov ernment will no longer fund wel fare abortions, because Roger Martin and Bud Kretsinger are running for the governorship, be cause Attorney General Redden believes that the law is not in any way associated with morality and now because in Eugene we have the audacity to vote on the civil rights of a minority. It seems pointless to go into a long argument about why ballot measure 51 must be defeated. All I ask is that the people of Eugene rise above their emotional re sponse to homosexuality, be cause the issue is much larger than that. On May 23 reverse the new trend of denying minorities their civil rights by voting no on ballot measure 51. Doug Thorne Sophomore, History Talent tally In response to Christy Bode s article on the results of last Wednesday s Greek talent con test: Let it stand for the record that Loralie Edmisten of Sigma Kappa sorority won second place honors along with Ms. Pollard and Hum phrey of Delta Delta Delta. Ms. Edmisten was the only sorority woman to perform a solo act; one of the songs she performed was in fact an original composition. Unfortunately, Ms. Bode failed to report any of these things in her article. Shame, shame! Factual accuracy is a reporter's credibility. Jo Nugent Senior, Journalism \ N \ ,/ 5 T /// 'Think Roomy, m,ez&r < when our nuclear-waste pisfosal plant blew up it also flOB&Y 7/ f£ WlPEP OUT EVERT "BU6BIE-HEADEP SOLAR ENERGY NUT IN THE COoNTPT!1 opinion A glimpse of the real Israel Submitted by Ahmed Altwaijri of the Committee for Justice in Palestine The University, joining the Zionist apparatus in the U.S., is celebrating the 30th birthday of the State of Israel. We are told we are celebrating the anniver sary of a country which is considered the "bastion of democracy’’, the "champion of peace ”, and the “pioneer of human freedom and liberty . These are the fabricated images of Israel that a persistent, well-financed and cleverly orchestrated propaganda campaign sells. The real Israel, however, is different. It is an offense to all ideals of democracy, human rights, and the respected moral and code of civilized international conduct. It is against the conspiracy of silence and deception that we introduce to the reader a glimpse of the real Israel. Professor Israel Shahak states: “While described as a democracy, throughout its history non-Jews in Israel (this is the official name for the Palestinians in Israel) have been expelled, put into prisons, limited in their movement, and have seen their property con fiscated. The laws of the State of Israel are com pletely, consciously and explicitly designed to further the interest of the Jewish population to the exclusion of the sizable existing Palestinian population." The exact description of such laws and their denounce ment by prominent Jewish and Israeli intellectuals are available and can be presented to anyone who wants to challenge or to educate himself on this issue. Israel erased literally 380 of the original 490 Arab villages of Palestine. Israel, in violation of the 4th Geneva Conven tion, and in defiance of repeated United Nation's Resolutions (by the General Assembly and the Sec urity Council), has continued to build Jewish settle ments in the occupied territories, has continued the policy of administrative and military detention, de struction of houses and properties, collective punishment, deportation, expropriation of land and population transfers against the inhabitants of the occupied territories. Israel s voting record in the U.N. is strongly sup portive of the special relation it has with the racist regime of South Africa, and against the just and peaceful aspirations of the people of the world. It is an irony that this University raises the flag of a state that has displaced, uprooted and cluster bombed millions of Palestinians and Arabs. The neutrality of the University requires that it should not raise the Israeli flag, nor celebrate its anniversary. The neutrality of the University also re quires that if the Israeli flag is raised, then the Pales tinian flag, which represents their legitimate national aspirations, must be flown also. We call upon all peace loving people who be lieve in integrity and the neutrality of this institution of high learning to demand the official flying of the Palestinian flag over the EMU
