Commentary
OSPIRG carries on tradition of local, global activism
Guest commentary
In regards to concerns about OS
PIRG’s budget, I would like to delineate
a few things about the organization.
Our society is not perfect, and stu
dents have historically been at the
forefront of social change. From the
civil rights movement to the peace
movement to the environmental
movement, students have been instru
mental in instituting progress on a lo
cal, national and global scale.
The students who launched the
Oregon Student Public Interest Re
search Group here at the University in
the early 1970s took on some of the
most pressing problems facing the
public, from consumer rip-offs, to
hunger, to pollution in our air and
drinking water. They were idealistic,
yet realistic enough to know that while
these problems affect the student
body, they could not be solved if work
is limited to campus boundaries.
Students established incidental fee
funded chapters at other Oregon
schools, pooled their money and hired
lawyers and experts to address the is
sues. This enabled students to solve
problems without having to lift a fin
ger. As they nevertheless wanted to,
the students hired additional full-time
campus staff to provide them with
leadership training and organizing
skills essential to running successful
projects on campus.
Today, students are no different. We
want to make a difference but do
not have the time, money or cre
dentials to influence decision-mak
ers. We do, however, have access to
the student fee, which allows us to
pitch in #2 per term to generate
#400,000 dollars worth of social
change. Because of OSPIRG’s dis
tinctive funding mechanism, the
student group can do more than
hold meetings and pizza parties.
The organization views students as
citizens and offers opportunities to
make a lasting change.
OSPIRG is needed on the Univer
sity campus now just as it was 30
years ago. It is the leading student
group fighting such critical prob
lems as homelessness in Eugene,
potential drilling in the Arctic Na
tional Wildlife Refuge, logging, min
ing and road building in our forests
and national monuments, and toxic
dumping in the Willamette River.
Seeing that 105 new students at
tended OSPIRG’s fall general inter
est meeting — we didn’t even serve
food — and turnouts for our other
events have been equally large, OS
PIRG’s campaigns are well received
at the University. Furthermore, OS
PIRG continues to be a popular re
source to students when it comes to
renter’s rights, credit card hazards
and loan debt.
Contrary to misconceptions
some have expressed, OSPIRG
skimps on administrative costs and
staff salaries. It does not have an of
fice in Salem and does not use stu
dent fees to finance partisan politics
or lobby the Legislature. If you have
met any OSPIRG students, you
know that we are honest and con
scientious, and we put our heart,
soul and grueling unpaid hours into
the work that we do, simply be
cause we care.
OSPIRG’s funding structure is
what gives us the ability to make an
impact and get results, and has
been proven effective for 30 years.
Vivian Vassall is the board chair
of OSPIRG, pending the officers'
election. She lives in Seattle.
U.S. companies, officials partly responsible for war crimes
Guest commentary
For the Bush administration,
the question is embarrassing: Who
supplied Saddam Hussein with
materials of mass destruction?
Where did his military regime,
known for its atrocities against the
Iranians and Kurds, acquire fight
er planes, helicopters, tanks,
germs and lethal chemicals — an
arsenal of terror?
The answer is no longer in dispute.
In violation of the Geneva Protocol
of 1925, which outlaws chemical
warfare, the Reagan administration
authorized the sale of poisonous
chemicals and deadly biological
viruses throughout the ‘80s. In 1982,
while Hussein constructed his ma
chinery of war, Reagan removed Iraq
from the State Department list of ter
rorist states.
As special envoy for Reagan,
Donald Rumsfeld met with Hus
sein in December 1983 to offer
U.S. military backing in Iraq’s war
against Iran, during which millions
of civilians were slaughtered. Ac
cording to newly declassified doc
uments, Iraq was already using
chemical weapons on an “almost
daily basis,” when Rumsfeld con
solidated this military alliance.
The Pentagon supplied logistical
and military support and the CIA,
using a Chilean conduit, increased
Hussein’s supply of cluster bombs.
U.S. companies also supplied,
ironically, the types of weapons
materials for which the U.N. Secu
rity Council is now searching.
U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D
Ohio, head of the Progressive Cau
cus, uncovered more information re
cendy. As late as 1989 and 1990, U.S.
companies, under permits from the
first Bush administration, sent mus
tard gas precursors and live cultures
for bacteriological research to Iraq.
U.S. companies helped Iraq build a
chemical weapons factory, and then
shipped Hussein hydrogen cyanide
precursors and parts for a new nu
clear plant.
The infamous massacre at Hal
abja — the gassing of the Kurds —
took place in March 1988. On
Sept. 19, 1988, six months later,
U.S. companies sent 11 strains of
germs to Iraq, including a microbe
strain called 11966 developed for
germ warfare at Fort Detrick in the
‘50s. When Hussein’s atrocities ful
filled U.S. strategic aims, war sup
plies flowed unendingly. Bush
turned against Hussein only after
he threatened Western access to
oil in the Gulf.
The vast, lucrative arms trade in
the Middle East laid the groundwork
for Hussein’s aggression against
Kuwait. Without high-tech weapons
from Europe and the U.S., Iraq’s
wars against Iran and Kuwait would
never have taken place. Revelations
of the U.S. role in Iraq’s arms
buildup spawn a host of questions:
Why aren’t U.S. and European sci
entists, who invented and produced
lethal materials for Hussein, subject
to interrogations, like their counter
parts in Iraq?
Are U.S. companies sending
their deadly material to other dic
tators? Why are there no Congres
sional hearings on the companies
that profit from the traffic
in arms?
Now the world is faced with a
tragic irony: The world’s leading
merchant of death is taking us to
war to stop arms proliferation in
the region to which it shipped
chemicals and arms for more than
10 years. If a war crimes trial were
held today, U.S. officials and com
pany executives could be tried for
crimes against humanity along
with Hussein’s own regime.
Under the Nuremberg principles
and the laws of war, human rights
are measured by one yardstick. It’s
not just the buyers, it is the suppli
ers of death who are accountable
for their handiwork.
Paul Rockwell is a freelance writer from
Oakland, Calif.
Nigger has several meanings used to show accentance. kindness
Guest commentary
In reference to “Still just a
‘dream,’” (ODE, Jan. 21): My skin
color says I’m of the white race,
the word “white” holding numer
ous positive connotations: white
hat, white lie, etc. We may also call
a black person black, but “black’s”
connotations are negative: black
mood, black Sabbath. So, to soften
“black” as applied to people, we
use the foreign Spanish/Por
tuguese/Italian “negro.” Or one
might say “colored person” or
“person of color,” but the
words/expressions with the fewest
syllables tend to win out. African
American is doubly misleading be
cause some whites hail from Africa
and some negroes are native to
parts of Asia and the South Pacific.
We sometimes like to have a
separate term for our familiars, so
here we would use a derivative of a
French word for black, n£gre. In
fact, there is a lullaby still sung in
New Orleans, repeating soothingly
over and over, “Ti negre, ti nigre,”
where “ti” is short for petite and
the expression is literally “little
black” or “little nigger.” It’s a term
of endearment. In Jamaica,
“you’re my nigger,” is idiomatic for
“I love you.”
015698
University of Oregon
Athletic Department
teauftvork internship positions available
Become a member of the Oregon Athletic Department
and gain valuable experience in:
• recruiting process of student athletes
• graphic and layout design
• event planning
There will be an informational meeting on Wednesday,
February 19th in the football theater located on the 2nd
floor of the Casanova Center (next to Autzen Stadium)
Meeting will start at 7 pm.
Pickup your application in the football office
on the 2nd floor of the Casanova Center.
Applications available February 3rd, 8003.
Interviews will be held February 84-88,8003.
You can sign up for your interview time
when you pick up your application.
application deadline la February 21,2003 by 5*00 pa
MLK’s “dream” speech is per
haps misleading in that the origi
nal American experiment in equal
ity had little or nothing to do with
the equality of the races, but was
more concerned over whether
shopkeepers could run the govern
ment. Be that as it may, we have
embarked upon a new experiment
in racial equality.
It is understandable that ne
groes want to forget about their
heritage as slaves, where the famil
iar term applied to them as cared
for members of a slave-holder’s
household is not welcome in the
new experiment.
Furthermore, a personal term
I
M
applied to someone with whom
one is not on familiar terms can be
construed as an insult. You tell an
older man to get out of your way:
“Move it, pops” rather than “Ex
cuse me, sir:” That is degrading.
Thus the word “nigger” has been
used in some circles as an insult.
When my sister eloped with a
black man, our parents didn’t
much care for it, and for a time,
my sister was acting almost
ashamed of her husband to ap
pease the folks. This didn’t set well
with me, so I made a point of ac
knowledging him in our family,
which brought me flak from all
sides — parents and sister. At the
time, it seemed that the only side
that I was on was that of my new
brother-in-law.
In the “Still just a ‘dream’” article,
the columnist expressed shock at
hearing a friend refer to another
friend as “nigger.” I know on occasion
I have, in informal speech among
friends, used that word for my broth
er-in-law meaning only that he is ac
cepted by me as a brother, and I
might suggest that this friend’s black
friend may actually be cool with the
term. In the movie “My Big Fat Greek
Wedding,” the head of the house tol
erated no disrespect, but his son still
could call him “pops.”
Earl Gosnell lives in Eugene.
Virtual Office Systems, inc.
nip with UO Bookstore!
Celeron™
PROCKIIOR
Intel Celeron® 1.7 Gig
$599.99
• Genuine Intel 845 GRG Board
• 20 Gig Hard Drive
• On-board Intel Graphics
• 128 MB DDR Memory
• 48x CD Burner
• Monitor Additional
Want more Power?
Same system with a 2.0
Gig Pentium 4®
Processor only $130
more!
System includes A TX case, 250 Watt power
supply, Windows XP Home, 52XCD, 56K
V.90 modem, floppy, mouse, keyboard,
sound, and stereo speakers
Support Women’s
Basketball
Shoot to Win is Back!
You can win an
Executive Duck System
Visit
www.voscomputers.com
for more details.
Microsoft_
OEM System Builder
Gold Member 2002
3131 West 11th. Ave.
Call us at 343-8633 Open Mon-Sat 10-6
sos i