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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 18, 2000)
Student group questions foreign policy ■The MIC Working Group will discuss government decisions and military relations By Emily Gust Oregon Daily Emerald Congress’ approval ofa$1.3 billion aid package to Colombia earlier this year caught the attention of senior journalism major Seth Quackenbush. Supposedly meant to “fight the war on drugs,” the package delegat ed funds for several different pur poses, including human rights work. The biggest chunk of the $1.3 billion went to the Colombian mili tary for the destruction of drugs. But Quackenbush sensed some inconsistencies in the government’s action and its decision to give so much money to the military. r “What the government was say ing didn’t seem to explain what was going on,” he said. For instance, a bill that would have moved nearly a quarter of a million dollars from die Colombian aid pack age into rehabilitation efforts in the U.S. was defeated in Congress. A study commissioned by the Clinton administration in 1995 found that rehabilitation was the most effective of four ways to com bat the domestic drug problem. In contrast, source-crop eradication — destroying the drugs where they are grown, as in the case of Colombia— was found to be least effective. In search of an explanation, Quackenbush joined forces with University alumna and Survival Center volunteer Agatha Schmaedick to create the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) Working Group—a forum for students to dis cuss U.S. foreign policy and mili tary involvement. The idea of a military industrial complex has existed for years. For mer President Dwight Eisenhower warned against its influence in his farewell speech of 1961, and politi cal critic Noam Chomsky has talked about it as well. As Quackenbush described it, the military industrial complex is a “web of relationships” that have developed out of the mutual interests of the mili taries and industries around the world, especially in the United States. “A lot of private industries have profited enormously through making weaponry for the U.S. military and so 1 fiscmo Cot qlafifi? (ours is KICKASS) Sweet Potato Pie We've DOUBLED the glass room l Come cheek out glass from over 30 of the Northwest's best artists. We're GRATEFUL for your support! Mon-Sat 11-6/Sun 12-5 corner of 11th & Willamette PAT GRANEY COMPANY Wed, October 181 7:00 PM «Gerlinger Theater» UP campus SPECIAL PRESENTATION, 8Y •AT GRANEY 4ftjstic Director Take a closer look at the choreog nphy of the Pat Gnney Company Mwtc0.spm. * with a iecture/demonstration by _ sores by tneuo J Dance and Women’s Graney and Company dancers* stupes Departments Graney wiH share the ideas and let the Performing : inspiration that fdliptilHe themes tpyolvement Program! of women’s issues in her wori^ * Company dancers will perform excerpts of the bold, athletic ,*5% choreography the company is known for,complete with costume changes* Don’t miss an opportunity . to getlnsid* the Choreographer’s mind and glimpse the visually stun ning work of this company before its performances of ritfoolt the Huit Center on October 20 and 21. they have a tremendous interest in keeping it pumped up even if it’s un necessary,” Quackenbush said. “The reason we’re producing weapons is no longer for national defense. It’s to keep the money flowing. ” Schmaedick extends the definition to cover more than just the military weapons industry; she said that key industries such as oil, apparel and cash crops are also connected with op pressive militaries around the world. Military Industrial Complex Working Group What: A new student group stemmingfrom the ASUO Survival Center. It is a forum where students ran talk about US. foreign policy and military involvement while exploring the connections between world industries and military powers. When: Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. Where: Ben Under Room, EMU “Maintaining this mutually self serving relationship is more impor tant than respecting the rule of law and governments of the world,” Schmaedick said. The group’s focus will be on edu cating themselves, Schmaedick said. That does not mean, however, that it will avoid activity altogether. A plan is in the works to send six students to Georgia in November for the School of Americas (SOA) protests. SOA is a military training school that has been connected with human rights violators worldwide. On Oct. 27, the group is sponsor ing a speech by an East Timorese woman named Ajiza Magno, who is studying economics at the Univer sity. The speech, which Schmaedick said will cover military violence and labor standards in East Timor, will take place at 7 p.m. in Room 100, Willamette Hall. Schmaedick’s personal focus is East Timor, an issue she has been working on since she was 13 years old, but she emphasized that she wants the group to come up with top ics that the members are interested in. University alumni Takeshi Sen giku, a former co-director of the Colombia Support Network in Eu gene, said that his interest in the MIC stems from wanting to know more about U.S. foreign policy while also finding out which companies dictate what happens in other nations. “One of the things that somehow fascinates me is the structure of the U.S foreign policy, its military aids and the relationship among all na tion states in the international are na. [It is all] so far away from us [as] individuals,” he said. Debate continued from page 1 About 25 students and commu nity members from organizations including the College Republicans, OSPIRG, Black Student Union and Coalition Against Environmental Racism (CARE) gathered together in the EMU basement to observe the debate and discuss their differ ing views on the issues the candi dates spoke about. Many members from different political parties believed that Gore made the strongest overall impres sion this round, in contrast to the two previous debates. Ben Zublin, sophomore geology major and Democrat, said Gore’s confidence won him the debate and Bush’s answers weren’t sub stantial enough to hide his uneasi ness about many of the issues. “Bush was stumbling many times and had a hard time con structing answers,” he said. “Gore did a good job connecting with the people emotionally, particularly on issues such as education. Bush was good at handing out trite general izations and platitudes, but there wasn’t a lot of substance in what he was saying.” Casey Singleton, co-chair of the College Republicans, said that Bush was less confident in this debate because the issues discussed weren’t his strongest areas. “This was Bush’s weakest per formance, even though he won the others hands down,” he said. “He still drove home the points he needed to — for example, his belief in giving money back to the people ... But in general Gore has more ex perience in this forum.” Michelle Averbeck, a freshman journalism major working on the Nader campaign, also said that Bush’s lack of knowledge about specific issues was one of the rea sons he lost the debate. “Bush ducked the issue of affir mative action,” she said. “I believe that’s because he doesn’t even know what the definition of affir mative action is ... He isn’t in formed enough to be the president and that showed.” But Averbeck also believed that though Gore appeared cool and col lected, some of his answers were insincere, and this was a turnoff to her. She mentioned that Gore used his background of growing up on a tobacco farm to promote himself as an American farmer but later said tobacco companies should be regu lated. “Gore tried to emphasize that he keeps his words and promises,” she said. “But the fact is that he has a history of fraud and denial. He changes his platforms to suit his cause and then denies that he ever felt differently.” Lynn Teresa Williams, volunteer for CARE and environmental stud ies major at Lane Community Col lege, was impressed by Gore’s abil ity to answer questions in a straightforward manner as op posed to Bush’s “roundabout” re sponses. “I wish Bush would be more up front about issues such as affirma tive action and tax cuts,” she said. “When he’s not, it tells me that he’s not telling me the truth about what he’s going to do. I’m single, and from Gore’s answers about tax cuts, I felt like I would actually get some help.” Nader continued from page 1 Nader, the Green Party candidate for president, said excluding him again would put the bipartisan com mission “in hot water again.” He was denied access to the Oct. 3 event in Boston even though he had been given a ticket by a local college student. It was that event that prompted the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Boston against the Commission on Presidential Debates, the commis sion’s two co-chairmen, a commis sion “security consultant” and a state police sergeant. Nader called the lawsuit the first step in dismantling the commis sion. “By the time I’m finished with the debate commission, its ranking in political opinion polls will be be low the ranking of used car dealers,” Nader said.
