EDITORIAL/OPINION
!R hodesia ; Stalemate at London Conference
Coalition has its p lace
1
Does the Community Coalition fOf Scnoot fn..
tegr1t>Of'I still have a ~ to ,-y 1 With the advent
of the Black Unrted Front. the dnve for equitab6e
school desegregation hat passed from the
Coalit>Of'I to the Black Unrted Front
The Coalition rs rather late ir, deciding to sup-
port and assist the BUF. It should have been the
first No other Ofganization understood so vMdty
the injusticn suffered Black children in the
Port1and Pubfic Schoots and had the facts to
support their findinga. But rather than come for.
ward in that t,me of crlSIS the Coetition remained
silent
Some of its members chose to make their
move through a new coalition Schoots fOf the
City the League of Women Voters, and
Ecumenical Min stries. Through these groups
they "' I attempt to educate the white com-
munity Th s IS a proper r°'8 fOf those groups -
and an effort that ,s needed •· but it is almost hke
the blind leading the blind•· the white leading the
whte
True. many of the same peopNt are invofved -
the same ttle Schools fOf the City group was a
decisjon making e+ement in the Coalition But in
the CoalitiOI"' they were exposed to the few
8 ~cu who d d regularty participate-- like the
light 1n the darkneu o, the V04Ce crying in the
wildemeu
Those who are left in the Coalition intend to
make their ,1oeces heard•· to support the wont of
the BUF and to assist where pouibie. Wrth some
of the more conservative I Of reserved J etement
out of leadersh p roiel, the Coalition may find it
has wortc to dO aftef all
The Coalition has establ'Shed credibility over
the past two years It has earned the right to be
hard. As the only truly nter-racaal group on the
scene 1t will have a role to play, both in
educating the wnrte community and 1n support-
ing the Black community.
The recommendations the Coalition made to
the School Board were largely rejected by the
district, but the real culmination of the Coalition's
work will be seen 1n the victory of the Black
United Front. Those members of the Coalition
who are willing to take a subordinate position to
the Black United Front and support its efforts will
be richly rewarded.
The drink you take ...
from th~ A 1/01110 lnquir~r
one party have some adverse effects? A. definite
possibility.
What 1s known, aside from the fetal alcohol
syndrome, 1s that if the expectant mother
becomes drunk at a party, her unborn baby
becomes drunk as wefl But, of course. the tiny
developing system of the fetus is not nearty as
equipped handle alcohol as the system of the
mother
The unborn baby becomes drunk because the
alcohol disgested by the pregnant woman readily
crosses the placenta to the fetus. But the un-
developed liver in the fetus can burn up alcohol
at less than half the rate of an adult liver. That
means that the alcohol remains in the fetal
system longer than ,n the adutt system .
Unfortunately, the unborn child can't say
"no" when it's had enough
While the risks of moderate and binge drinking
are just beginning to be appreciated, the effect
of amoking and diet defic,enc,es tied ,n with
drinking are retat,vely unknown Of course, any
drugs being taken by the pregnant mother may
interact in various negative ways with any
alcohol that is consumed. Pregnant mothers
should consult with their physicians about
mixing drugs and alcohol.
Until all the facts are in about the effect of
alcohol on the unborn, it makes sense to exercise
caution.
You wouldn't get a child drunk, would you?
No. WeH, how about an unborn baby? Would
you let it get drunk?
Of course you wouldn't Yet. many unborn
babies are overloaded w,th their mother's
ak:ohol Not just to the point of getting tipsy. but
a so to the point of developing birth defects.
The startling facts are these: Studies have
shown that heavy drinking by the mother can
result in a definite pattern of physica•. mental
and behavioral abnormalities. So definite is the
pattern that researchers have named it the "fetal
alcohOI syndrome". The babies produced with
this syndrome have birth defects and are, among
other symptoms, shorter and lighter ,n weight
than normal, and didn't "catch up" even after
special postnatal care was provided.
The full-bloom syndrome has only been iden-
tified ,n offspring after heavy drinking by the
mother Heavy drinking is described as three or
more ounces of absolute alcohol per day. That's
equivalent to s,x average-sized drinks.
But, recent research has shown that drinking
,n lesser amounts (starting at about 1 ounce of
absolute alcohol) during pregnancy can harm
the unborn baby, rnutting ,n some of the syn-
drome's symptoms. "Binge" drinking, par-
ticularty at a sensitive time fo, the fetus, can also
have negative effects. Can overtippling at just
PORTLAND OBSERVER
1st Piece
Community SeMce
The l'onww ~ USll'S &es> •
_.., _ . , r ""
~
220, ~ ii: .,ga,,ortt,
.... _..., 17211 "'-1 Office low 3137 l'onlancl 0rllgOft
f72lll Second dal po.raga~ a t ~ °"9"
::.::~
ONPA1973
eorno.n.,
1st Piece
Best Ad Resulta
S -.:-.,.or:: t7 50 w tW
Tr, ~ • • .. 00 pe, ,,_
outam T r , ~ • • ~ - - - S a n d . . , , _ ~ 90
.,,_ l'on'-ttloe.r..,, ,. 0 loir JIJ7 '"or1lend (),..,on 17201
ONPA1973
5th Piece
Best Editorial
••p,-, °"'Y • ,ta
~
tdufflfl Airy - - ,.,.,.,... llwaughout !tie -
• !tie
_,,,_,q1.,_..,..,_,._,_o,~lfld,toea,-,_..
The ""'11-W ,
•
_.., ..._,hClpftor,
ALFRED L. 'HENDERSON
Editor/ Publisher
offc:<11
l)Olltlon
°' !tie "°"1-W°'1wnff
.....
213-2481
~........
_.......
,,
ONPA1973
Honor_,.. Mention
Hemdr Edltonal Award
. ......
NNA1973
--
2ndPlece
Best Editonel
llewY ...
~
UA . . NAL
•I WEftPl"IPER
...... .,_
,_..., ,_
=
I
lrdPlece
Communily l•---... •"""llp-
ONf'A lffl
lrdPlece
Community LNdetlhlp
ONPA1978
All &JOn,, tJw qucsuon tw been
the .:onfcr~c
would bot dowu Sc,11,
tw The
coafereecc •u called • the nC'411
Comcrvau..,c IO"lff1llllfflt to ..., and
rnol..,c the 14 , cu old Rh • ~ a
deadJcx:k It broupt 01et
~c
currently • arnna f~•
on ·1c
one band Abel ~u.zorc,i,a and Ian
Smith represent 01 • c I - cr-
runcnt' u1 S&Jub_-. -
- ~
•
•as 1mtalifd after tM • . ~ ' •
March 'decoofts and ri.e 1uern -
reprnaned •nr . • ,- c Pa·
Front
The 1\1Cff1ll&1 l\&~c
Al ~, rrw
l&lllcd that tllC I
~ C ~
,.
•ere a fraud and a ~ ~d
did not .:bAn1c an .· • Ill a J. .,
Rhodesia n.;cc, • u a .. c
• "c
enemy Tbc cncm • ''lllcr • ~,
directly t:,,.. thro . .. pu;:-i,cu
,tc ,
why W'ltn
aund
•~ easy
tee that the ~fcnni:c •as Joomed
before 10< off•he sr •~- •
They 1ia ... c Ottn nqot
n, un~
September 10th and o~cr ·nc •eek
some c,roarcss • as reported It
wu considered u,ruficant hat they
came totcthcr at all Howc-,er each
side came ..,1th a hardlinc policy
Mworcwa rcf1mn1 to y,cld to n~
dcalOIU u proposcc1 DY me tsnmn
wnllc the Patnouc Front, 1nismm1
that the Muzorcwa rc1,mc .., a
illqal indicated u 11,ould accept
nodun, shon of a total diJmantlina
of the Smnh-"1iuor~a clique
Bntam ctwnna the n,caouauom.
• ~ ~ Sidestep thac earlier
,:
_ •1cs · , 1cmna both sides to
nca ate on a nc.., .. onst1tu11on
.., .,
uJd t,,c the basis ror n~
cia.1:
and .. onscquenuy a nC'411
1 er-men ' \\ le 1n t
botn
. de, had rcJe .. tcd nu •1th
\liuorc-a,a .:Wffllna ., 1o~cmment
11,a; dc\."ted by the people of Zim-
ab • c and · ne PF n s· n1 on
n~ouauna the mcchanum • the
po,.er •
tney had later
- Wied abo~ a con.sutUtlOD fint
Br • a n nen drafted a .. on-
• onal propo,al •ll1ch did not
~
~ ·,er c11m1natc the dominant
r c • the n tn but ~urtailed 1t
wmC"' hat In the old document, they
had held 2.8 100 sean and effective
eto po,.cr tn this new one tbcy
• nold 24 of 120 W'lthout the
, cto pro so Tbouah 1n1tially
adamant oHr 1h1 . '.\.fuzorcwa,
d«rytna the cumn1 ba.;k of wh.ita'
prmlqes. had finally been forced to
accci,, 11 So a., not 10 be left out. the
PF lw1 also tmw1vdy M;Ccpted the
proposed document
La.tt Friday, Bnta1n pushed for
final acccpuncc of the coastituuonal
draft by bo(h sades Muzorcwa and
Smith had accepted but the PF wd
So! • 1ruut1n1 tnat it did not make
sense to discuu a con.sutuuon before
d.is.:uum1 the m01t 1D1ponan1 wuc
of all conuol of the armed forces.
Apparently, the constitutional draft
wlw11 rather t ~
R
had avoided all mention of this
pr-M:kly issue Euspcrarcd, Bn~n
supposedly bas ll'IICD an uhunatwn
to the PF "Acccpc tbu dcxwncnt or
ctsc " "" hat the
or cbe. " IS no
one really know1
\\ hat opuons docs Bn~n ha,c?
Rccopuc the .:urrcnt Smith rqunc
and clinunatc sanct1oru u MuzorAa
has bcged for so ton,? \\ hat •ould
Bntaui do about stopp1n, the war?
Send 1ft BritJSh soldiers to bobtcr the
,au1n1 Smatb-!'tluzorn,a alliance?
The • two opt1om she mipt un-
dertake. hOWC\'CT, the wamm1 from
the Lusaka ~onfcrcncc that came
from Bla.:k Afnca not to scil their
brothers and sutcn IS still too fresh
and cannot be taken too liptly. Ac-
.;cptan1 Rhodesia would almost 1m-
mcdlatcly alienate all Afnca.
The se1:ond option IS not C"\offl wor-
th con.sidcrin1. Britain abdicated her
role 1n 196$ •hen she failed to show
up W'lth the necessary troops to qudl
t.hc Smith rebellion . By rcJcctm1 this
coruutuuon. the Africans arc only
actin1 m their own best interests.
They have to ha'llc control of the ar-
my before there can be any transfer
of po11, er at all. It 1s also the first
ume I ha'llc heard of when one coun-
try not onJy wmcs out an entire con-
sutut1on for another but also ac-
tually tncs to force It on the people
concerned. Smells of a return to
sla'llc clays to me.
Africa: Losing freedom to de.p,e ndence
( PNS>-\\ h1lc the .., h1tc mm
•
ruled nation
Sou•ncrn Afr ca
continue the 1tru111c for freedom
from colon,al,sm the people of
Black-ruled liberated' Ahca arc
losina thc1 r independence Ju st a
they were once sla H to forc11n
ao'llcrnmmu. they arc now shackled
10 forei,n dcbu
nus nc,. form or cns~\cmcnt 11
not only economic Many Africans
arc also los1n1 thc,r hard -.on
pohucal and Ct'llil libcrt1cs For the
,reater the popular discontent o,cr
economic problems, the 1rcater 1s the
intensity of social control and
repression com1n1 from Black
Afncan leaden strunJina to stay 1n
power
Tlus pattern has piqued Afnca,
and indeed all devclop1n1 countnes,
C\'Cr stncc independence The 300
million people of Afn~ currently
owe more than S600 b11lion-or
S2.<XX> for C'IICl"Y man, woman and
child-contracted on their behalf but
1Without their consent
The youna 1cncrat1on passing
throuah 1ts formative pcnod in po,t•
colonial Afnca 1s 1ct11n1 i""casinaly
restless, find1n1 ttsclf 11,ithout any
role to play
In colonial Africa, thc,c )oung
people would be amon1 the lcadma
cadres of political mo,emcnu, trade
union oraanizations and women •
dcUchmcnts, mobilizina tMir people
in the muaJc for indcpcndcncc
Now all thew mo'llcments arc un•
der firm central control, bow1n1 to
10..,crnmcnu which do not tolerate
di'lletlfflt opinion. The frustrations
of military or one- party stain leads
more and more youna people to ask :
Independence for whom?
Independence has indeed lost iU
meamna and direction. An clltrcmt
~pie IS the Bokassa syndrome ,n
the Central African Empire. A
colonial corporal raises hirruelf to an
emperor 1With a colossal and wstly
fanfare paid for m borrowed forei,n
currency. forcina millions of his un·
dcrfed sub~ and their offsprin1 to
bear the burden of scr'll1c1n1 and
rcpay1n1 the debt Emperor Bokassa
may be dismissed a., an eccentric, but
he is a reflection of a trend that has
sadly become universal in Africa, to
the deliaht of iu dctracton.
Most of the countries m Africa arc
virtually insol~cnt due mo\lly to
decisions which made no sense
politically or ea,nomically Not all
leaden 10 to the utent of in11allin1
themselves as emperors, but many
act and spend like emperors.
International bankin1 institution,.
ambicious forri1n invncon out 10
uploit the abundant national rc-
,ourca and cheap labor rorc:c, and
political no'll1cn combine to lead the
African people into a hopeless
economic aua,nurc.
The process of impo..,crishmmt n
happcnin1 under our very nose,.
""'11y 1n Zaire, c0¥fflly ctKWhcrc
International lenders mandate
abolmon of what liulc t«ial wdfarc
protrams ui,1, and dn:oncrol of
pncn of food and othcr IICl:CUIIICS
Al the ~me lime. 11,ey ,mpow 1ncrc
resma1ons on ,. aac increases. harsh
penalties for 11,orkcn ana student
• • ken, conunuous d~aluauon of
nat onal currcn1:1n. and as a final
nauonal humiliation, direct control
finam:1a1 and monetary policies
natu down to the IC'llcl of rC"\ocnuc
.. ollcction
The reliance on forei,n lenders af-
fects all types of cconom1cs, whether
they arc catcaorizcd u socialist,
capitalist. or humanut The coun-
tnc, that cncouraac pn'llatc cnter-
pr.sc arc confronted ,.ith a lack of
npon outlets, balance of pa)'fflent.s
~r sc and urban unemployment
Bu • he
-. ailed , c1alut and
human, t countnc, that hue
nauonahzcd some pri\atc cntcr-
pnsa ha\c dc\asta11n1 problems a.s
well
A Prime ~llnutcr Manley of
Jamaica lammu, "\\ c still produce
11,hat 11,e do not consume, and con-
sume 11,hat ,.c do not produce. •
Almost w 1thou1 uccption, the
MXial.Jst and humanist countncs arc
affected by cconom,c stqnaticn--
bccomina poor men's welfare statcs.
This is panly a result of distonion or
internal trade, scarcity or bu1c
ncccss,ucs, O'IICr-or1amzation t nat
obstrucu production, and a luac
public bureaucracy. But the
sta1nauon u C\Cn more a conse-
quence of ill-concei'lled policies mis-
understood by both the 1muaton and
the people for whom they arc made.
The characteristic weakness of
these cconomics 1s that they emulate
socialist oraanization only super-
ficially ,.ithout the ,uidancc of the
thcor)" ,.hich makes socialism a
di : inct w,orld outlook. Socialism 1s a
totality and it cannot be Clltracted m
biu here and bits there.
This lack of socialist totality-
such a.s socialist plannina and worker
conuol of state power, makes pre-
tenses to sociali,m ridiculous.
What 1s worse, II idcolosically dis-
arms the people and lca'llcs the coun-
try Clltremdy vulnerable to internal
and clltcmal pressures.
lncrcasin1ly, the pcuants of
Africa arc optin1 out of commodity
production and the cycle of depen-
dency by producina food only for
their own subsistence
lJ ndcr direct colonialism, the
peasants were forced to produce for
the world market to satisfy import
needs of the colonial po•er that
1
donunated them, and 10 earn cash
for the maintenance of the state
,.h1ch oppressed them.
A ftcr colonialism, the peasants sec
the same situauon, only now inten-
sified by nationalist fen-or. They sec
their standard of li'llin& fallin1, both
absolutely and rclati..,c to the bureau-
cracy and the military. They sec their
children "educated," which too of-
ten means tumin1 them into useless
material for a rural cconomy, and
unemployable in the urban enclaves.
They see prisons for their sons and
prostitution for their dau,titcrs. The
peasants arc dccidina that the game
isn't wonh the candle, and they arc
opun1 out of it.
In rctrca1in1 to subsistence.
however, the peasants not only .:case
to produce for the world market, but
they also narro-.. the home market
s111l further . Faced with 'llirtual
economic disintqration, more and
more African states have reverted to
the use of force to maintain produc-
uon.
The retreat to old forms, dic-
tatorial and despotic, needs neither
effort nor inacnuity in the ci1-
colonies. The state and its cocrci'IIC
apparatus arc all there, inherited
from colonialism .., hich the post-
colonial leaders nc~er bothered to
"smash" a.s they .:amc to power.
Thus, while we arc fi1htin1 to end
colonialism throuah the front door,
a nc-.. colonialism comes in throuah
the back door. The old colonialists
.:amc in with the connivance of the
old chiefs; the nc-.. ones connive
1With nc,.·, better-educated political
leaders.
Just as in lhc 1880s Africa was
di..,jded, carved up and offered for
sale. so in the 1980s Africa may Cll·
pcrience a nc-.. auction. The pity is
that while ow prcd«mon were forced
into colonial bondqc as free men,
we enter the new bonda1c totally
bankrupt-already half enslaved by
an enormous debt that our future
1cncrations can DC\Cr hope to repay.
•Babu has wrwd"' '"""'rows 1ti11t-
wwl /10SIJ "' t~ 1011,mm,nt of Tan-
tan1'1. H, wQJ lmprisonftl for Jix
YHN for PolitlC'tll c-rimn wltic-lt 1w
d,nin, '1nd was rrlroJ«J fast yHr
/ollowin1 plNS from Am11n11 /11-
trT1tat10N1/ tlltd Ol~r lt11ma11 ri1lln
1rowps. H, u n,~ntly t1 c-orrapon-
tt,111 for N,w Afria, ma1atin,
- ---- - --- - - - -- -- --
Subscribe Today
$7.50 per year - Tri-county
$8.00 per year - Other
NA.ME
A.ODRE~S~S- - - - - -- - -- - - - - - - - - -
CrTY _ _ _ _ _ _ _ STATE
ZIP _ _
------
213-2416
Mail to:
PortlandObaerve,
P.O. Box 3137
Portland, Oregon 97208
----- ---- --- - - --- -- ~- . ,
I
.J