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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 27, 1985)
editorial Give your support to African relief Hunger in Africa is a topic that Americans have heard a lot about during the past year. Newspapers and magazines have carried a succession of stories about the need for food aid to help relieve famine victims in Africa. On television, scenes of human misery in places like Ethiopia and Sudan have become commonplace as aid organizations seek dona tions, and news stations show footage of refugees searching for a place to find food. Faced with such a crisis, many Americans have been left stunned as they try to comprehend what starvation means. Many become overwhelmed by what they see and hear about the victims of starvation. Some people have been overcome by a sense of helplessness, brought about by the feeling that nothing can be done for the 10 million people now facing hunger and starvation in Ethiopia. But something can be done, and in a small but extreme ly important way, University students are doing it. Groups like the International Studies Association, the Foreign Students Organization, the EMU Cultural Forum, sororities, fraternities and others have all joined in campus efforts to . aid famine victims in Africa. We should be proud of these groups, and of those individuals who have contributed their time and money to such an important cause. As a Universi ty, we should continue to do as much as we can to educate ourselves about the problems of hunger in the world, and to support famine relief and indigenous efforts at grassroots development in places like Africa. One aid organization that deserves all of our support is Oxfam America. Unlike many government-sponsored aid organizations, Oxfam supports indigenous programs in underdeveloped nations aimed at growing more food, ob taining better health services, and stengthening economic self-reliance at the grass-roots level. They have especially focused on the needs of women, many of whom are the poorest of the world’s poor. During the current African Relief Week on campus, we all have a chance to contribute towards Oxfam and their ongoing efforts to bring assistance to the world’s poor. When you pass by the Oxfam table in the EMU lobby, give whatever donation you can afford. Furthermore, learn about the problem of hunger in Africa and elsewhere by attending the educational events being held as part of African Relief Week. On Saturday, there will be a benefit dance at the W.O.W. Hall, located at West 8th Avenue and Lincoln Street. Two bands, Shumba and the Balafones, will be there to pro vide good dancing music, with the proceeds from the event going towards an important and urgent cause: famine relief in Africa. There are many reasons for poverty and hunger in the world today. Social, political, economic and natural events all play their part. But we do not live in a world that is fated to hunger and starvation. On the contrary, with ad vancements in technology and science made during the past two centuries, humankind is in a position as never before to eradicate starvation from the planet. Solutions to the pro blems of economic distribution and political cooperation between nations will not come overnight. It will take years of joint international effort to work through our social dif ferences for the common good of all people. But technology has provided humanity with the ability to achieve abun dance on all levels: food, clothing, housing, medicine etc. We must now find a way to share this abundance, placing human need beyond profit motives and political objectives. A good way to start is by taking the time to learn about the issue of world hunger, and by supporting African Relief Week to help those for whom tomorrow may be a day too late. Oregon doily emerald The Oregon Daily Emerald is published Monday through Friday except during exam week and vacations by the Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing Co., at the University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, 97403. The Emerald operates independently of the Universi ty with offices on the third floor of the Erb Memorial Union and is a member of the Associated Press. General Staff Advertising Director Production Manager Classified Advertising Controller Susan Thelen Russell Steele Vince Adams Jean Own bey Advertising Sales: Laura Buckley, Tim Clevenger, Jen nifer Fox, Marcia Leonard, Rick Martz, Nancy Nielsen, Laurie Nobel, Roberta Oliver, Brett Pickman - Intern, David Wood. Production: Kelly Cornyn, Stormi Dykes, Julie Freeman, Kathy Gallagher, Dean Guernsey, Susan Hawkins, Rob Kraft, Ross Martin, Karin McKercher, Lauri Neely, Kelly Neff, Kara Oberst, Curt Penrod, Michele Ross, Alyson Simmons, Peg Solonika, Tim Switiinger, Colleen Tre maine, Hank Trotter. Editor Managing Editor News Editor Editorial Page Editor Photo Editor Sports Editor Sidelines Editor Friday Edition Editor Entertainment Editor Night Editor Associate Editors Administration Higher Education Politics ASUO Student Activities Community Features Michele Matassa Mike Sims Michael Kulaga Costas Christ Michael Clapp Brent De La Paz Sheila Landry Kim Carlson Michael Duncan Michael Kulaga Jolayne Houtz Michael Hosmar Paul Ertelt Julie Shippen Diana Elliott Cynthia Whitfield Lori Steinhauer Reporters: Sean Axmaker, Dave Berns, Kirsten Bolin, Michelle Brence, Dave Carlson, Robert Collias, Thomas Henderson, Robin Joannides, Allan Lazo, Capi Lynn, Scott McFetridge, Stasia Scarborough. News and Editorial 686-5511 Display Advertising and Business 686-3712 Classified Advertising 686-4343 Production 686-4381 Circulation 686-5511 tags^sawBwefsimemei^ letters Strong case I believe I should elaborate that an overwhelming case for the passage of the Community Right-to-Know Bill was built during the public testimony, which the Emerald did not stay to cover in its story (ODE, Feb. 20). Over 20 different people, including toxic victims, citizens of communities with toxic waste dumps, medical and health agencies, and groups such as OSPIRG and Oregon Fair Share built an alarmingly strong case in favor of the passage of this bill. A few examples: Morris Sweet, a toxic victim from Molalla, Oregon developed lung damage as a result of ex posure to Pentaclorophenol us ed to treat lumber where he worked. Paul Pather, a railroad worker in Troutdale developed cancer of the bladder due to the use of 245-D, 245-T, and diesel oil to kill blackberry vines forty feet from the sides of the tracks. The first two chemicals are the ac tive ingredients in Agent Orange, a chemical which in jured numerous American ser vicemen during the Vietnam War. Finally, Dr. Phillip Levee, a physician and toxicologist from Molalla claimed to have diagnosed some 40-45 cases of pentaclorophenol poisoning in the Molalla area alone, a number which he believes is the largest in the world. Levee referred to numerous cases in which toxic victims were told by ignorant doctors that their problem was "psychological” or that it did not exist at all. These are but a few of many cases. It is clear from such testimony that a Community Right to Know Bill should be passed. Sean Nelson OSPIRG Far enough? The Women’s Referral and Resource Service obviously hasn’t pushed you far enough, Vince Adams (ODE. Feb. 22). Your knee-jerk response to the pornography display indicates that a lot more work, which you call “women crap,’’ is needed. While you may have a strong case against the displaying of pornography in the EMU lobby, name calling and attempting to degrade the work of the WRRS is hardly the way to get your point across. I find your disclosure about reading Playboy and your argument about juvenile exposure to por nography quite interesting. Por nography is all around us, on movie advertisements, billboards, and in magazines. Those magazines are often found at very low levels in grocery stores, drug stores, etc. Any curious child has ample ac cess to pornography in our society. And while the connec tion between consumption of pornography and sexual assault is continually denied, it is children who often suffer the brutal consequences of this connection. Hiding pom magazines bet ween the spring and the mat tress doesn’t change the fact that pornography has violent implications, particularly for women and children. People are shocked and revolted to see pornography displayed in the full light of day, but it is an aspect of our darker side that needs exposure. Condemning the WRRS for exposing what ex ists only contributes to the con tinuing unwillingness of socie ty to deal with this important issue. Pat Dixon Eugene Clean killing It strikes me as strange that when the Marines, the smallest of the Department of Defense armed forces, puts up a recruiting table in the EMU, everyone of the radical chic per suasion raises holy hell about it. But when the Navy trucks in a big, blue tractor-trailer, plunks it down beside Friendly Hall, and keeps churning its motors to maintain an air-conditioned and sophisticated recruiting sta tion, no one bats an eyelash. Maybe students like the idea of killing the neat and clean Navy and Air Force way: thunder from offshore eight and sixteen-inch naval guns; the lat ter which, in a single salvo, can blast an entire square kilometer free of the enemy, rice paddies, desert villages, dogs, cows, and children. Better yet, witness the magnificent aria, as Randy Floyd called it, of an air strike by Navy Fighter-bombers; their graceful peregrine dives follow ed by lovely orange and black blossoms. Or best of all, watch a B-52 strip-bombing mission. Picture the air crews from miles high, safe, clean, and above all else so serenely disassociated from what they do, silently rain ing thousands of bombs, eradicating square miles of earth. How clean it is, being able to kill so indiscriminately, miles away without having to face your enemy or your actions. But let's not worry about that. Those big, bad Marines kill the old-fashioned, dirty-handed way, and we just can’t have all that mess lying about. So let’s kick those crew cut Prussians off the campus, right? Michael Peterson Graduate International Studies Letters Policy The Emerald will attempt to print all letters containing fair comment on topics of interest to the University community. Letters to the editor must be limited to 250 words, typed, signed and the identification of the writer must be verified when the letter is turned in. The Emerald reserves the right to edit any letter for length or style. Letters to the editor should be turned into the Emerald office, Suite 300, EMU.
