Kditorial_
Mandela's release
a stunning change
Il u.is Kennedy vy.is still ill oftire. Dallas wax
still l.ii nvviiv l lm Yankees took the Senes. I lie Merlin
Wall was ,i ve-ir old And Nelson Mandela went to j.ul
Hut that was 'i7 years ago. Ceorge Hush is presi
dent the .Vs dominate baseball, and the U ill is no
more And finally Mandela is a free man oik e nime
Though South Airman President liederuk de
Klerk last week dei.hired Mandela's "imminent" re
lease. the at ttial event name sooner than most people
expected In Pllel Mandela u as eonvit led of sabotage
tor starting a guetnlla wai against the South Airmail
government On l iida\ he luul a private meeting and
posed for pit tores with de hleik
lust another < ase ot the tin redilde < hange that lias
overtaken the world in the past year
It s almost impossible to gauge the level ol Man
dela's important e to the African National Congress
movement liven while he was in |,iil the outlawed
ANt! saw him as then leadei lie still is < )ver atl.(lfll)
supporters black and white came out to Victor
Verstei prison and stood unshaded in a boiling sun to
see Mandela's release The moment lie walked through
the prison gate, he became one ol the most powerful
men m South Alin a
Hy releasing Mandela, de kleik has shown he is
i ommitted to reiorming South Africa and perhaps even
ending apartheid Hut while world leaders proclaim de
Klerk a hero the South Afrit an president is being curs
ed In a percentage o! the white minority in his own
i oiintry
The South African conservative party's policy is to
keep the country's 27 million blacks out ol power. The
recent decisions by de Klerk, they say. are "guaran
teed" to end white minority rule 1'hey have already
declared limit opposition to lilting tile ban on the
A.NC They have said they will tight am restrictions on
apartheid with force it necessary.
before Mandela's release. Conventional Wisdom
speculated on how long he would remain tree. Since
returning Mandela to jail would mean vehement poiiti
i,11 condemnation tor de Klerk (and possibly, revolu
tion!. that doesn't look likely Now. with the uproar
the decision has caused, the question is how long Man
dela w ill remain alive.
Mandela's release signals incredible change in
South Africa. The possibilities for the country are enor
mous However, the future is totally unknown. Anyone
who thinks they can predict yvhat yvill happen in the
next fey\ months is kidding themselves. De Klerks
concessions have created an unprecedented situation
in South Africa
Hut right now it's a joyous on asion After Mandela
y\as free. Hishop Desmond Tutu danced in the streets
His happiness is understandable We leel it too
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US. drags heels on helping disarm Europe
In ri'( cut years, < 1 <‘I>.«11' on three issues
has kept llit’ I nited St,ties <md Soviet l ninn
troin negotiating on sever,)l import,mt agree
ments ail and sea-taunt licit i ruise missiles,
and the < ontroversial Strategic Defense Ini
tiative or "Star Wars spine based anti-mis
sile system
The Soviet negotiators always had t roll -
hie bargaining with the I’nited States on
cruise missiles because the numbers of the
short-range weapons are tough to verity I'ur
instance the\ wanted the l nited States to
count eat h H-T>2 bomber as ( arrving 20 mis
siles, while the I S said it wanted to count
eat h plane as t arrving 10
The Soviets also did not want to neguti
ate on a long range missile treaty until the
I’nited States halted testing of SI)I systems
The t S government's answer no wav
t hen, suddenly Set retarv ol State (amt's
Maker, who had been meeting with Soviet
negotiators, announced late Iridav night
that tin1 two sides had overt.unit* the obsta
i les between themselves and the long-await
ed Strategic Arms Redtii lion Talks (S TAKT|
treatv
Most importantly, the Soviets have taken
awav theii Stai Wars ultimatum and on Sat
urdav . the path looked t leal for a major stra
legii arms treatv hv June 11, the target date
tor the next summit meeting between Mik
hail tinrhiK hev and (ieorge Hush.
Hut Maker lias linen criticized In Soviet
diplomats lor not really meeting the Soviets'
concessions in kind. Hush, since' the an
nouncement was made, has even told the
American people not to hold their breath lor
a pre summit treaty The most encouraging
quote from Maker was, "I think the relation
ship (between the ITS. and the U.S.S.K.) is
m better shape than it has been in the past
This is disappointing, especially in light
of the Soviets' most recent move: a complete
unilateral troop withdrawal from Kastern Ku
rope hv 1005. All 555.000 troops would go
home.
Recent events in Kustern Kurope and the
Soviet Union are good tidings for .ill who
have favored a relaxing of the superpowers'
trigger fingers. Sadly, however, these
( hanges in Kurope also have been largely ig
nored by the United States government The
promised "Peace Dividends" have tailed to
materialize as the defense budget continues
to grow, and it looks as it most of the Sovi
ets' offers wall remain as they are now uni
lateral and ignored
After 40-plus years of the (add War
standoff with Moscow, it is difficult to un
derstand why the United States is not doing
more to help speed the disarming of Kurope.
and thereby insuring the safety of the world
I he foot-dragging by Maker and Hush is ex
tremely disc enraging.
Letters
Distortion
All Alum's commentary
l()l)l I eh H) a hunt the sup
post'll muss.ii n- ot A/eibaijanis
sinac ks ol lliu media distortion
ho i nmplums about
I bust' tlif following minima
turn on reports m .Yeusiceek
l'hr Oregonian and /7>e {.7in.s
li.iu Si icni c Monitor I list, the
initial t ontlu t was not the
Azeris rising in ri'volt against
the Slava Russians but rather
ethnii lighting with Armenians
ol the region ()nl\ alter the un
rest had tiei nine practically
open warfare did the Soviet
army step in
Yes. tanks crashed through
barricades but people were
shooting at them from those
harm ades Also, there were
many reports ot general attai ks
on Armenians by Azeris, in
i luding a woman thrown from
a ball oily onto the street
In sin li a situation military
intervention seems reasonable
If the residents of Oregon anil
Washington started a shooting
war over the border would not
the military be railed in to
quell itf
I don’t doubt tlrat the Azeris
i onsider tbenrstdves oppressed
I be republic s of Latvia and Ks
touia are similar examples of
forced Russian integration with
the native cultures. In this c use.
however, one must remember
that it started as a regional dis
pule with the Armenians and
transformed into an armed i on
flit t
People were being killed It
IS quite possible that the Soviet
intervention stopped the
bloodshed from getting worse
lo say that Muslims were the
target of the action is ridic
u Ion s
David /artman
Kugene
Audience
A tew weeks ago, I attended
a theater performance put on by
the University's Pocket Play
house Being lar from theatre
i alls literate. I was at first hesi
t.int Tlif biology iit*p<«rtuifiit
you see is trying to tra< h me to
get i'M iti'il about mold i ultures
and mutant gene; not till' tim*
art ol dramatu presentations
before going. 1 was assured
that I’m ket IMavhou.se produi
tions .ire limited to an hour s
length and the onh cost is a
dollar donation This was a
gre.it i onifort to one who hates
to spend a lot ol money to fall
asleep in a padded chair
Ihe show was fantastic Mv
initially skeptical mind was
pleasantly surprised 1 enjoyed
it so much that I went hack the
next weekend and watched an
other show
The Pocket Playhouse is en
tirely student-direc ted and op
crated Their enthusiasm,
pride, and love of drama is
hard to ignore Do not overlook
this extraordinary opportunity
to see live theater. Take advan
tage of it Without an audienc e.
the show cannot go on.
Bradley Noren
Biology