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.