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Perspectives
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Sarah Kickler
EDITORIAL EDITOR
Mike Schmierbach
NIGHT EDITOR
Mike Schmierbach
The unfit side of the IMF bailout
The New York Times and
other media have ignored key
aspects of Indonesia’s crisis
sia deepened the crisis.”
The IMF is the International Mone
tary Fund, the crisis in question is the
economic collapse that has struck
throughout Southeast Asia, and the
admission is that IMF demands for
bank reform may have fueled finan
cial difficulties in Indonesia.
On Jan. 15, readers were told In
donesian President Suharto “signed
an economic reform package today
that is expected to help pull Indone
sia out of its financial slump.” That
package is the combination of a $40
billion IMF loan and an agreement to
obey the agency’s reform rules.
Even to the editors of the Times,
something about this should have
seemed odd. One day, the IMF was
admitting its reformist tactics don’t
always work, and the next it was
compelling an economically and so
cially troubled nation to swallow
more of its possibly toxic medicine.
Perhaps something did seem odd.
The Jan. 14 story sounded a cautious
note, readily accepting IMF argu
ments that the blame for the collapse
in fact lay with Suharto’s govern
ment, “which [the IMF) castigated for
failing to enact promised reforms in
exchange for the $40 billion.”
Times readers may not know this,
but Indonesia’s government certainly
deserves to be castigated. Suharto has
slaughtered civilians in actions that
can easily be described as genocide,
including an invasion of East Timor
that strove to wipe out the native
population. All of this was done with
the backing not only ofU.S. and IMF
dollars but also with U.S. arms.
A Times story on Jan. 16 dedicates
almost a page to an exacting discus
sion of the Suliarto family. While
readily noting that Suharto has gotten
rich from his dictatorship, leaving his
people in poverty, the story ignores
the violent, U.S.-backed atrocities
that have taken place. This shouldn’t
be surprising — Noam Chomsky and
Edward Herman’s “Manufacturing
Consent" documents the paltry
amount of coverage of such events
that has appeared in the Times over
the years.
Nothing about the coverage of the
latest tango between the murderer
and the money-lenders is really sur
prising. After all, we should expect
nothing less from the solemn (albeit
no longer gray) manifesto of the elite
class.
Nevertheless, there is something
infuriating about the way the Times
and the media as a whole have ap
proached the Indonesian situation
and the bailout overall. The ongoing
n Jan. 14, readers ofThe
New York Times discov
ered that the “IMF now
admits tactics in Indone
CHRIS HUTCHINSON/Emerald
question asked by the media has been
whether the economy can be
“saved,” when they should be asking
who it’s being saved for.
The Times plainly conveys the
opinion of the pro-business press: “If
enacted, some reforms may strongly
affect the lives of Indonesia’s 202
million people at a time when unem
ployment and inflation are rising.
The armed forces have said they are
ready to deal with any unrest the eco
nomic crisis might set off.” In a relat
ed story, the Times notes that the
Pentagon is pledging increased mili
tary support for Suharto, presumably
to help repress any civilians who
might be so uppity as to demand food
or wages.
This is the only mention given of
how the reform package might affect
the people of Indonesia, and the con
text is clearly how public reaction
might adversely affect the efforts of
businesses to save themselves.
Prior to the crash, domestic and in
ternational companies had been en
joying marvelous conditions in In
donesia and throughout Southeast
Asia. The only complaint the United
States had about the vast wealth of
cheap labor and dearth of environ
mental or labor restrictions was that
the markets weren’t open enough.
Weak regulations weren’t enough;
U.S. businesses wanted no regula
tions.
Now, with the leverage of foreign
capital, the U.S.-dominated IMF
might achieve just that. Never mind
that foreign investment was a signifi
cant factor in the original collapse.
Never mind that the bailout makes no
provisions to help those starving be
cause of the situation. Never mind, in
short, that people already hurt by
IMF influence are now going to see
their future sold for good.
According to the United States me
dia, this isn’t the story. The only
question is whether the marvelous
marketplace that was Southeast Asia
can be restored and improved. Im
ages of starving civilians only come
into play when they can be used as
symbols of why capitalism of that
uniquely American sort must be
saved; the images are never tied to
the question of whether capitalism
might have left the people hungry in
the first place.
Something certainly needs to be
done about the economic collapse in
the region. People cannot be allowed
to starve. The situation is not as sim
ple, however, as the media portrayal
of free-market heroes rushing to save
the masses while behind-the-times
isolationists sit and watch the people
starve.
There is a real debate that needs
to take place in the pages of the
Times and the halls of Congress; it
is not whether Southeast Asia needs
help but what form that help should
take. It might be leaving the region
alone, or it might be massive inter
vention of a fundamentally different
sort.
The story was there on the front
page of The New York Times: The
IMF screwed up. The story, however,
slipped through the editors’ fingers
as they and everyone else continued
to offer only two options for the fu
ture. For the people of Indonesia and
elsewhere in the region, both “sides”
the media have chosen to show make
up the same proverbial coin, and
however it lands, it will crush at least
some of them.
This editorial represents the opinion of
the Emerald editorial board. Responses
may be sent to ode®oregon. uoregon .edu
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Environmental education
I am an intern with OSPIRG and am interested
in promoting awareness in the Eugene communi
ty. A critical element in environmental and social
activism is public support. The public must be
aware of both local and global issues. This aware
ness comes through education. Children are very
interested in new ideas. They are constantly ex
ploring their options and forming their own views
and ideas; they have an insatiable curiosity.
OSPIRG understands the importance of educat
ing children on environmental issues. Until recent
ly, there was very little information available about
the increasingly important problems of endangered
species, pesticides, deforestation and water pollu
tion. The OSPIRG Environmental Education Pro
ject shares their knowledge with local elementary
school classes through presentations and active
participation. The children love learning new facts,
such as 85 percent of the rivers in the United States
are too polluted to fish or swim in.
Students can take this information and share
their new knowledge with family and other
friends. The volunteers are reaching not only
these children but also those around them. It is a
wonderful opportunity to spend time with ele
mentary school children who love having “older
kids” teach them. If you are interested in envi
ronmental education, contact OSPIRG at
346-4377.
|
Meredith Singer
OSPIRG
Quoted
“Americans
with college de
grees have sex
less often than
those who fin
ished only high
school, and those
who went to
graduate school
get even less, ac
cording to a
study in Febru
ary's American
Demographics
magazine.”
From an Asso
ciated Press sto
ry in the Jan. 15
Oregonian. Less
sex and poor job
prospects. Why
am I going for a
Ph.O. anyway?
“That has not
stopped Ms.
Croft—whose
tanned, volup
tuous cyberframe
is the equivalent
of 34-24-34 —
from becoming a
popular female
icon. She is a far
cry from Betty
Boop, and she is
no Barbie doit.
She is more like a
female Indiana
Jones, but
pumped up, ver
tically and hori
zontally, in the
fashion of the
1990s."
me ms.
Croft” The New
York Times was
talking about on
Monday is Lara
Croft, the digital
“sexsymboT'
who stars in the
videogame
'Tomb Raider."
And people are
worriedabout
human cloning?
“Trademarks
are proper adjec
tives and should
be capitalized and
followed by a
generic noun or
phrase. ...Trade-,
marks are never
verbs.”
From an adver
tisement in the
January/Febmry
Columbia Jour
nalism Review
encouraging
writers to refrain
from “misusing “
trademarks. I for
one will write my
self a post-it to
remember to xe
rox a copy so I
canhi-liteitand
tossitinazipioc.