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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 18, 1986)
Ballot measure would prohibit nuclear component production In brief Sister University meeting Assisting tho National University of El Salvador in its goal for freedom of education was the broad-based goal of the University Senate when it voted to establish a sister-university relationship with the Central American institution last October. Attaining that goal will be the subject of tho second meeting of the Sister University Committee today at 3:30 p.m. in EMU 337. said Steve Nelson, student senator. When the UKS was occupied by the military in 1980. the campus was gutted and destroyed Even though the constitution of El Salvador guarantees fun ding for UES, tho operating budget was severely cut in 1985. and the financial outlook for 1988 does not look . much better, Nelson said. Supplying the campus with much-needed books and supplies for classroom instruc tion is part of the committee's goal • • • ? "We will be making appeals to University depart- • meats for materials and equipment they may not be. us ing that could be donated;" Nelson said. The commit- • . tee will be conducting fund-raising events to'promote, awareness of the UES arid its’ problems'. The Sister University Committee will also makfe presentations, to. .• groups interested in the UES. .. ^ ' I. • ' • V "We want a broadrbased coalition nS a. strategy ."to” make the problem visible." he said'. “Freedom- sf. education is the issue. Instead of us .nipping down to- . - City Hall and yelling, this is A constructive'wav load; ■ dress a problem.” ..' •. . . Following a two-month tour in .the. Pacific Nor thvvest by two UES students, eight. Northwest univer sities have adopted a sister university relationship, with „ the UES. Nelson said. The .tour-'culminated^ with the passage of a resolution in, support of the funding.for^ education ai:the" UES by the IJidtedfStates Students'of .: .' ; America, a Washington- O.C.-basadjitudent lobby r-’ . ■ ■ "We’re .doing this because if enqugh* universities ' '• in the U.S. show support for the UES, then maybe the El .Salvadoran government will.dec.ide;that education'is .important."'Nelson said, . • . ' By Scott McFetridge OMklamM Billions of do rs are poured into the testing and production of nuclear weapons in the United States each year, hut in Oregon, only a few busi nesses manufacture components used in these weapons Oregon's limited financial investment in the production of nuclear hardware gives the state an ex cellent opportunity to phase out all production of nuclear weapons components, said Etonald Skinner. One erf the chief petitioners of the Oregon Economic Conversion initiative. Skinner, who live* in Ashland, has organised Citizens for a Nuclear Free Oregon to gather the 62.500 signatures needed to get the initiative on the November ballot. The Economic Conversion Initiative would call for a 30-pewssnt tax credit to companies that convert from the production of nuclear weapon components to the manufacture erf consumer products The in itiative also would create a Governor's Task Force to help companies make the conversion. All production of nuclear weapon components would be illegal by 1990. Skinner said he believes only four Oregon com panies and no more than 100 workers would be directly affected by the initiative if approved by voters, which means the state could make a state ment regarding nuclear weapons without severely harming the local economy. "People see that Oregon has a unique oppor tunity.” Skinner said. ''People are tired of basing an economy on the production of nuclear weapons.” The measure would also contain a clause that would eon the production of raw materials used in nuclear weapons, whose byproducts are radioactive wastes. This clause could force Teledyne Wah Chang, located in Albany, to phase out production of titanium, which is used in the construction of nuclear weapons. Skinner said. Skinner admitted the measure might force some businesses into financial difficulties In the short run. but he said the tax credits would allow for a fairly smooth conversion to the production of another v S'Vi w "We went the companies to know that their In put. .. is really essential." Skinner said. "1 can't see that if these companies took this seriously, and they would have to. that they couldn't accomplish some kind of a conversion in that two years they're allowed." But many people, including Oregon guber natorial candidate Neil Goldschmidt, argue that the initiative would give out-of-state investors the wrong picture regarding the state’s business climate. Skinner, however, believes passage of the initiative would send out a positive message to potential investors. "There are businesses that would be very at traded to (a nuclear-free) economy." Skinner said. State Rep Wayne Fawbush, 0-Hood River, agreed with Skinner and believes that because Oregon would be the only state in the country with a ban on the production of nuclear weapon com ponents. people opposed to such production would be drawn to the state. "How else are you going to get people focused on this issue, which people often don't even want to talk about?" Fawbush asked "This is the first effec tive way in which people can have a practical effect on the nuclear arms issue." ‘Brazil’ satirizes the bureaucratic jungles of technological societies "Brazil” is neither a time nor a place. It has nothing to do with the country. Its reference comes from a popular song of the '30s. but its place in the film refers more to a fantasy paradise in the dreams of its nominal hero Sam Lowry (Jonathon Pryce), his escape from the technological nightmare of "somewhere in the 20th century.” The setting of "Brazil" is a brilliantly imagined melange of ‘80s technology with ’40s costumes and Victorian iconography. The computer terminals used by the government officials (Sam belongs to the Ministry of Information) are hooked up to ancient underwood typewriters and viewed through huge magnifying lenses. Information is sent through a maze of pneumatic tubes that connect the endless, cat acorn bed halls filled with employees that bustle about only when being checked upon. Otherwise, their terminals are tuned to the escapist Hollywood black-and-white movies. Nothing can be done in this bureaucratic jungle without filling out 17,000 forms. The story that fateful ly winds around our everyman hero begins when a dead fly falls from the blow of a rolled up newspaper and causes a mistype in the Ministry of Information Retrieval. An order is mistakenly sent to find one Mr. Buttle on the suspicion of espionage. Formalities are followed, his house is destroyed in the capture, his wife is given a receipt and they are ready to question the man at his own expense. The real target was Mr. Tuttle, possibly one Harry Tuttle (Robert DeNiro), a free-lance repairman who in furiates the incompetent government servicemen who are unable to even keep up with the breakdowns in this fair land. Yet the mistake is discovered too late and the snafu causes the death of Buttle during questioning. Every department tries to throw the scandal off of them arid onto someone else, creating an even bigger bureaucratic mess that finally pools at the bottom. Lowry volunteers to help Information head Kurt zman (Ian Holm) cover himself, but finds himself pull ed into the foray just as he spots the woman of his fan tasies busily working to show the government its mistakes. Jill Layton (Kim Greist) is first on the Informa tion Retrieval hit list and our meek Lancelot decides to find and protect her. The Ministry of Information Retrieval bears more than a striking resemblance to George Orwell’s bureaucracy in "1984.” "Brazil” might be seen as an adaptation of the book as a black comedy. Monty Python alumni Terry Gilliam (who also solo directed “Time Bandits”) is no stranger to satire, but in this film he outdoes himself. Not since "Blade Runner” has a film been so carefully and so densely textured in every aspect so as Courts*)' photo Mrs. Ix)wry (Katherine Helmond) visits her plastic surgeon Dr. Jaffe (Jim Hroadbent) who demonstrates the next stage of surgery. to create a unique, alien and totally believable world. And you have got to love Lowry — the everyman pushed by his plastic-surgery freak mother Ida (Katherine Helmond). ■‘Brazil" is ultimately the story of a doomed man, a human being crushed by the weight of a dehumanizing society. Lowry is the oddball who can’t keep his emo tions out of his work, the loose nut in a tight machine. As portrayed by Jonathon Pryce, Sam is a helpless, hopeless man simply not equipped to deal with a life so destructive to human nature. "Brazil” is not for everybody, but its razor sharp satire will cheer those fed up with the glossy, Hollywood "everything is fine" movie. From our point of view, Sam Lowry can be con sidered a sane man in an insane society, but in the nightmarish world of Brazil, Sam can only be con sidered insane. So much for happy endings, but this is the real world, kids. Plays at Cinema World. Hurry, for it may not last long in Eugene. By Sean Axmaker Argentine speaker and film SuwmuBlatuslein-Munoz.aii Argentine filmmaker, will show her.film “las Madras" and speak about those who have disappeared .in Argentina’on|Tuesday.at. 7' p.m, in the Latin American Cultural Center, 1236.Kin- . caid.St. . -.1. ;' - TV •; The film is the story of the mothers;of those who v have disappeared at the hands of Argentine; security forces. The event is.part of the.Third Worfii women's project, which is sponsored by the institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.'C.., the Council for Human. Rights in Latin America and the Cehter.f^j the Study of..." Women in Society : -J •. * • . ^ »*>* ° o ■ • 0 * . . * . «=•. * . * ° The event, is free.' For, more 484-5887.. information^ call - Italian architecture talk The famous Italian city°of; Naples offers,some atC : chitectural lessons- -for, American cit'ies today- says Rosaria Hodgon. a: Uniyenrity. tfrchitectu’re^profes&or .* • • who will lecture'fodigh\ about *:.The Streets of-Naples: .. Architecture arid Tradition in Italy.."' . ■ ^ V • Color-slides will la;; featured in Jhe free public talk in the Eugene Conference Cebter'adjacent to the Hilton ' Hotel. The jecture begins at 8 p:m. and is sponsored by the University Forum. * ° • . • " “Until about the 1988a; Naples “enjoyed high repute as one of the great centers of European culture and as a base for visiting Pompeii and Vesuvius" says John Nicols. University Forum director. "An outbreak of cholera several years ago, industrialization and ter rorism have unfortunately tarnished that image.” he says. . ' . Hodgdon, who grew up and was educated in Naples, agrees. "My intention is to look beyond the chaotic modern seaport and regional industrial center and to focus on the magnificence of its setting and the sen suous contrast and harmony which characterize this ci ty,” Hodgdon says. Hodgdon. a member of the architecture faculty since 1979, has seved as a consultant to the City of Eugene and various other Oregon communities, The University Forum downtown program is spon sored by the UO Henry Failing Lecture Fund, the Na tional Endowment for the Humanities and the Hult Center for the Performing Arts.