_Kditorial
Wall falls in wave
of glasnost reform
Five years ago it would have been impossible Six
months ago it would have been unthinkable. Three
weeks ago it would have been improbable
Hut Nov. ft. 1989 will be listed in history as the day
the Wall came down.
It came without notice and caught nearly every
body by surprise. The Hast German government's an
nouncement of open borders left many Western observ
ers in shocked amazement
Hast German Communist Party leader Kgon krenz
had to do something to keep his countrymen home.
His work force was draining away. Nearly 1 percent of
the entire population most of them highly-trained
workers had emigrated, without any end in sight to
the attrition. Having most of the government resign
seemed to have little effect.
So the Wall was torn down and free- elections were
promised And so far, krenz. s gamble appears to have
paid off. Kxit visa applications arte way down Hast Ger
mans didn’t necessarily want to leave their country;
they just wanted the ability to.
Mikhail Gorbachev's fflasnosl era has turned West
ern notions ol the Gold War, Eastern Europe and "Ihe
Evil Empire” completely upside down. Hive years ago,
with the Cold War at its chilliest, who would have
thought we’d see a freely-elected legislature in the So
viet Union, a non-communist government in Poland.
Hungarian c alls lor open elections and the; end ol the
Wall?
Democratic reforms have; taken the* Soviet bloc by
storm. Long-standing credos arc; being challenged.
Gorbachev has c alled for the dismantling of NATO and
the Warsaw Pact. Ethnic: Germans on both sides ol the
border, caught up in the* passion of the; moment, have
asked for the; reunification of the; halved Germany
However, both Soviet and American officials have* said
this isn't feasible. At least not yet.
A dav after East Germany's border opened, another
c rac k appeared in the Iron Curtain. Bulgarian President
Todor Zhivkov, one of the last of Eastern Europe's
hardliners, suddenly resigned
Apparently, Zhivkov fell behind the* times. With
East Germany going along with Corbae hev's reforms.
Bulgaria is one of the last outposts of Stalinism left
Zhivkov was replaced with a younger protege; for
mer Foreign Minister Petar Mladenov who is sup
posedly as hard-nosed as Zhivkov was. But then again,
they said the same* thing about Erich Honneeker and
krenz.
About i!8 years ago, John F. Kennedy stood in front
of a mass of newly-constructed concrete and steel, and
turned the Wall into a Cold War symbol by declaring
"Ich bin ein Berliner". Now the symbol has been de
stroyed and no one can Lx; sure of just where this re
form will all end.
Who would have thought?
wcwa&o^'o
^ iimiu
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\
ali
TOGETHER
NOW
Deng's resignation doesn't signal change
With .ill th.it happened in Last Permam
last week, thi* announcement utittr with lit
tic l.mfarc and was relegated to the inside
pages of most newspapers II the stoi\ of the
decade (the Berlin Wall coming down)
hadn't c nine along, it probablv would have*
heen the stnrv of the week
Last Lridav. M.Vvear-old (Chinese I’artv
Leader Deng Xiaoping stepped clown
Politic al experts sa\ the aged leader s
move* leaves I lie People s Republic of ( liina
rudderless and without sullic ient leadership
in higher positions llis hand-picked re
placement. liang Xc-min. is untested and has
v irtualh no power base*
So w hat does this all mean '
Deng garnered headlines last veai with
his bloocK suppression ot the student's dem
ocratic uprising While Kastern Lurope is
mo\ mg toward more freedom. < lima c ontin
ues on its ow n path ol Marxist doc trine*.
While vounger leaders in the Liiminn
msl bloc have* signaled the start of demur rat
ic reforms, this probably won't happen in
Phina. To keep the oountr\ in line, Jiang
will have to depend on his mentor's polili
i al i lout and legacy ol patronage.
)i.ilia's only political experience is as
mayor of Shanghai hardly qualifying him
for leader of the largest population on earth
lie will not have the politic al base to launc h
reforms, as have Communist leaders Mikhail
Corhac hev and Egon keen/. before him.
A few years ago. China was seen as pro
gressing toward a free-markel economy Hut
Deng and his cohorts objected, and the
country has reversed itseil While the Iron
Curtain (.rumbles. China remains stagnated
in political theories long-proven outdated
Hard-liners are securely in command of
the Chinese government, but there is some
question of which faction actually is in
charge The military still wields its own
power and it is highly likely that Jiang, to
keep his post, might have to make comics
sions to the generals
A i hange in leadership could mean the
start of ,i new era, but it seems unlikely in a
country that has massacred thousands of its
oyy n countrymen.
No. China will continue to plod on its
ideologn al i nurse, shut out from the loosen
ing of Marxist ties all over the world. Re
formers have gone into hiding once again,
and things appear to be the same as before.
_Letters_
Correct errors
W'o'd like to correc t some er
rors in your recent .irtn le about
the new CITI'I-' i onlrai I ("(‘. I'l l
Takes (liter Krum University"
l)l)E. Nov »>)
You state " llie $ 150.000
health supplement tunil will
pav for aliout ttl pen ent of ev
erv t.JTK’s health rare costs
The $150.11(10 is to he shared
among approximately
1.000 1.200 HTFs over an 1H
month period This means only
20-23 pen ent of the cost of
health insurance for a single
(ITF is < overed (at 1‘iHU rates)
Of course, health care costs
for the same period may l>e
much higher than just the price
of health insurance Kxamples
of additional health care costs
many include (and are certainly
not limited to) the insurance
deductible, a percentage of
health care costs after the de
ductible. preventative check
ups. eye care and dental c are
If one further considers that
(hiring the period smi e tin' List
C l I K < untrai t was negotiated
(i t- . l‘»H7 H*>). tin- cost of stu
dfiit he.dth insurance has risen
fiO peri i'lit for a single student,
the average cost of renting an
apartment in Fugene has in
creased 22-28 (lercenl. and the
overall i ost of living nationally
has risen almost ‘I percent,
while the C. I I salaries went up
only i 5 percent in each year of
the contract, it might become
clearer why many (iri s, even
with the new contrai l, are feel
ing borderline desperate
Kathleen Freeman
Frick Mala-Montero
(JTFs
None needed
In response to Clary Darby’s
letter on men being treated like
scapegoats by women who ac
cuse them of using exclusive
language [ODE. Nov t>). a more
valiant response would have
been. "Yes. I am responsible
lor perpetuating oppression
through language anti you
are loo Together we should in
troduce a more ini lusive lan
guage th.it acknowledges the
other '15 peri ent ol the popula
lion that is not young, white,
able-bodied. heterosexual, pro
fessional and male all rolled
into one
Mv point with regards to us
ing exclusive language is that
plat mg hlame on either sex is
hardly the issue; as male and
female, multi-colored and ca
pai dated speakers, we are all to
blame lor supporting the mon
strously dysfunctional vehicle
of thought called language.
I.uckilv for us. many people
are learning they don’t have to
play with the hand they're
dealt They realize that lan
guage is not static, but rather
mutable and dynamic if we
learn to mold it to include our
selves instead of letting it mold
us into undesirable stereotypes
At least 95 percent of us have
and continue to be subliminally
manipulated by oppressive Ian
guage. hut I am confident that
it can he (‘radicated As targets
of language discrimination, we
■lr> peri ent should support this
movement.
Discrimination implied by
some words and phrases isn't
as transparent as that in others,
vet no matter how covert these
words' undertones are. uttering
them reflet Is the mentality and
world views of both our ant es
tors and ourselves, and we are
therefore all guilty if the same
crimes of prejudice
We. the majority, must ac
knowledge our crimes and let
education and reform begin. No
scapegoats necessary.
Megan Taylor
Student
Overshadow
I am writing in response to
the cartoon accompanying the
article on the Counseling Cen
ter on the front page of the
Nov f» Emerald The particular
illustration I found to be offen
sive to the quality of the article
itself
The "Monday In-Depth" arti
cle (entitled "Help on tile
Way") written by one of your
reporters, Polly Campbell,
comes across as a soft, caring
sort of writing It pictures the
Counseling Center as a very
comfortable place to be in for
any student who needs profes
sional counseling help for any
problem they might encounter
This was a lively and colorful
article.
Not so much with the cartoon
included with it Stephen Mos
ley's drawing is way too harsh
for the article. It shows a dark
overshadow which is too much
of a contrast. 1 feel that a car
toon that seemed a little more
alive would have been more ap
propriate.
Maybe this will give you a
little something to think about
in your decisions of which car
toon should go with which in
dividual article.
Kurt Brown
Student