Page 2 Portland Observer, September 24, 1981
EDITORIAL/OPINION
Exposing the Paper Tiger
by N. Fungal K ambula
Elderly poor getting poorer
While the Reagan Adm inistration proposes
cuts and delays in Social Security and other pro
grams to aid the poor and elderly, the Black
elderly are already worse o ff than they were two
years ago.
Census figures show that in 1980 two out o f
every five Black people 65 years and older lived
in poverty. This is an 18 per cent increase over
1978. The poverty rate o f elderly Blacks rose
from 33.9 to 38.1 per cent in those two years.
Poverty level is $3,941 fo r a single person or
$4,954 fo r a coupie.
Aged Blacks are nearly three times as apt to
be poor as elderly whites and poverty figures
only represent the tip o f the iceberg, w ith
310,000 more described as “ marginally poor’ ’—
that is, having incomes o f $4,926 or less fo r a
single person. Therefore, 1.1 m illio n elderly
Black people live in dire poverty or so close to it
that they really cannot appreciate the difference.
Blacks and other minority people must live in
poverty in their later years in large part as a re
sult o f discrim ination during their w orking
years.
These are the same people who w ill be hurt
most by Reagan’s determination to cut govern
ment costs by wrenching crumbs from the poor.
Organization starts at home
The Solidarity Day demonstration in Wash
ington, D.C. involved unions and more than
200 non-labor groups marching in concert to
protest against the Reaganite budget cuts. The
Reagan administration has already cut $35 bil
lion from the budget for fiscal year 1982 and
plans are now being made to announce $74 bil
lion in additional cuts planned for fiscal year
1983 and 1984.
The rally in Washington w ill draw the atten
tion o f many in Congress who already sympa
thize with its goals, but Reagan was not hang
ing out the White House windows to watch. In
fact during the demonstration Reagan was at
Camp David, Md. In a statement issued in La
bor Secretary Raymond Donovan’ s behalf spe
cial assistant Earl G. Cox said:
“ The Administration wants to work with all
Americans to improve the economy. And we
want to work closely with the leaders o f organ-
ized labor. But we can’ t do that when they put
on their partisan p o litic a l hat and set out to
oppose our program indiscriminately.”
The point to be made is, one im portant au
dience for the Solidarity Day demonstration is
the participants themselves. As the members
o f each group marched, they were loo kin g
around at the other marchers. Perhaps they
asked themselves if they had more in common
than just common concerns over the adminis
tra tio n ’ s disregard for each o f their particular
causes. I f yes, then the next step is to collect
and make common concerns felt on the p o liti
cal scene. The collection can begin righ t in
your own back yard. There are many small
groups, each working on their own agenda. It
is important that the activities o f the different
group' be consolidated for a unified e ffo rt as
was ‘demonstrated in the S o lid a rity Day
demonstration march on Washington, D.C.
SaLut-day. S ep t. I I
i chu ' t
BffTHeneo
rusts, fm
UI0RKÊRS OUT-
sioe uho ufi*.*.
ee
with
going - Toj
CfitnP DAVID
FOR A R.É.ST.
you
KB
grand
Monday. 5e.pt.. 21
\ ß
** ~
5106 AND WÄKTA j
jo
you
'T€U HY
eu e r H m
om !
T y M /tfE
Letters to the Editor
To the editor:
Many thanks to the Observer for
the courage to support free speech
for radicals (E d ito ria l/O p in io n ,
Sept. 3). The fascist-like attack on
the Communist Party-USA booth is
but one o f the escalating incidents
o f harassment and physical attacks
on leftists who exercise their Consti
tutional Rights.
All of us who, because of race, na
tional origin, sex, sexuality, political
belief or affiliation, are now targets
o f mounting right-wing terror, must
heed the Observer's call and stand
up for our mutual self-defense.
Jamie Partridge
Portland, Ore.
Portland Observer
ut«»«.
The P o rtland Observer IU S P S 989 680) in published a„ery
Thursday by Exto PubHehirvj Company, Inc , 2201 North KiHinga
worth, Portland, Oregon 97217. Post Ottica Bo« 3137, Portland
Oregon 97206 Second cleet pottage paid at Portland, Oregon,
MS «SPARÌ■
B a ti!i
Suoecr.pt.ona 910.00 par year in Tri County area Poetmaatar:
Sand address change« to the Portland Observer. P.O. Bo» 3137,
Portland. Oregon 97206
M IM M »
i:
ill
■
’’l
283-2486
Bruce Broussard
Editor/Publisher
A g ain , the raiders make a clean
get-away. A nother "m assive man
h u n t" is launched and two years
later, there still has not been a single
arrest. It is tacitly acknowledged
that the attackers more than likely
simply merged in w ith the general
population and are only waiting for
an o p p o rtu n ity for a repeat per
1 Oregon
Newspaper
Publishers
¡Association
i
1
1
MEMBER
National Advertising Representative
A m algam ated Publlahers. Inc.
New York
Aaaoc/at/on - Founded 1668
1
formance.
A police station in the second
largest city in the country is attacked
with automatic weapons and in the
exchange o f fire , three policemen
are k ille d , one o f the attackers is
wounded and the rest (however
many o f them they were no one
knows) get away. Another "massive
m anhunt" proves as fruitless as the
others before it.
This time the target is none other
than an arm y barracks and it is at
tacked w ith rockets and grenade
launchers. The barracks suffers ex
tensive damage and three security
men are killed but, would you be
lieve the attackers get away? The at
tackers raid an arm y barracks
housing what your Western press
touts as the strongest and best
equipped'army in sub-Saharan A fri
ca in broad daylight and they man
age to get awayl
A friend called the South African
army a paper tiger and for a second
I was skeptical but just for a second.
Logic: i f the South Africans are as
good as they claim to be, how could
they allow the above goofs: not once
but time and time again? It suddenly
dawned on me that, yes. the South
A fricans do have the hardw are
thanks to their unscrupulous West
ern allies but they are not very com
petent at using it. It is a lot safer for
the A N C guerillas to hit economic
targets all over South A fric a now
than it was for Z A N L A and
Z IP R A to do the same at a similar
stage o f the armed struggle.
South Africa has relied heavily on
its bombastic propaganda machin
ery that blows out o f all proportion
her raids on neighbouring territories
and her outrageously in fla te d k ill
ra tio . A n yb o d y can p ilo t a jet
bomber and go d ro p o f f bombs
from 20,000 feet up. A lm ost any
body can invade another’s country
backed by massive air power and ar
moured personnel carriers especially
when the country being invaded
happens to have isolated pockets o f
internal resistance.
I f South A frica were so great and
the A fricans so in e ffe c tu a l, how
come she has failed to apprehend
even one o f all those people who
have embarrassed her by penetrat
ing her strongest defenses and h it
ting some o f her most sensitive
targets? The Western press, duped
as usual, focuses on South A fric a ’s
over-blown m ilitary "s u p erio rity"
while ignoring her glaring weak
nesses. That’s good for us, however,
because as long as South A fric a
fools (he w orld into believing she
has the upper hand, it will make our
victory all the sweeter when the
"boys" and the "girls" roll into the
streets o f P reto ria and Johannes
burg and East London and Port
Elizabeth.
Prime Minister Mugabe is a much
respected man today because up
until his forces rolled into Salisbury,
the West never took him too seri
ously. The Eighties could very well
be the Decade o f C o m p letin g The
Unfinished Business— The Decade
o f Exposing The Paper Tiger.
Europe's public protests war trend
by Jon Stewart
Pacific News Service
SIR, THfRf AKe
wo.ooo flmeRicaM
'SIR, THC
OF
jUWTrt IS OUT-
Three raiders open fire with A K -
47s in the open m arket at 12:00
noon and then slip away into the
crowd, never to be seen again. The
police launch what they call " th e
most massive m anhunt in the his
tory o f the c o u n try ’ s urban w ar
fare." Two years later, the manhunt
is still on (there never was an an
nouncement to say it had been
called o ff) and still not one o f the
three gunmen has been apprehend
ed. It might also be added that this
m arketplace was in the m iddle o f
the dow ntow n area o f the second
largest city in the country and,
theoretically, the most "secure.’ ’
H a lf a dozen or so saboteurs (no
one knows exactly how m any be
cause no one saw anything except
the ensuing explosion) slip through
what is considered a foo l-p ro o f se
curity system and attack the coun
try ’s nerve centre. They manage to
blow up three S A S O L c o a l-to -o il
gasification plants the third one 100
miles away. The ensuing explosion
lights up the night sky for hundreds
o f miles around, causes an acknowl
edged $8 million in damage and sets
the project back several months.
seriously. The central, postwar role
o f the United States in European af
fairs is rapidly eroding.
The m ovem ent’s expansion also
may be related to a shift away from
N A T O ’s tw in-pillar policy o f " d e
fense and d e te n te " to the recent
view that the alliance is primarily a
military instrument— and a nuclear
one at that.
" T h o s e A m ericans w ho argue
that nuclear wars are winnable are
not very p opular over h e r e ," o b
served D eVries. " T h e Reagan ad
m in is tratio n seems to th in k that
detente is a lie, that the only thing to
do is build up your armaments. For
us, that doesn’t promise anything.
W e live on this continent and we
know there will not be peace unless
there is some kind o f cooperation
and understanding. D etente has
brought Europe a lo t."
THE
HAGUE.
NETHER
L A N D S — " A s far as pacificism in
Europe is concerned, I d o n ’ t see
many signs o f it. W hat we have is
activisim o f a new kind. I t ’s a very
positive movement.” declared Klaas
D eV ries, a leading D utch p a rlia
mentarian who serves on N A T O ’ s
Atlantic Council.
The observation came amidst a
mounting storm o f European p ro
test over N A T O policies, a storm
which touched ground w ith more
than 50,000 demonstrators to greet
U .S . Secretary o f State Alexander
Haig in West Berlin this week.
I f N A T O defense policy only in
frequently inirudes into the public
p o litic a l debate on the A m erican
side o f the Atlantic, all across north
ern Europe it has moved to center
stage, generating a massive popular
Not far from D eVries’ o ffice in
"peace m ovem ent” supported by
Parliam ent is the headquarters o f
m illions o f church workers, trade
one o f the largest and most influen
unionists, students and leading po
tial peace groups in Europe today—
litic a l figures. O rganizers o f a
the IK V , or In te rd e n o m in a tio n a l
planned O ct. 10 dem onstration in
Peace Council o f the Netherlands.
Bonn, for example, confidently pre
Sponsored by a c o a litio n o f nine
dict it will be the largest mass rally
churches, including the Dutch Re
in post-W orld W ar II German his
form ed C hurch and the C ath o lic
tory.
C hurch, the group works through
The recent wave o f terrorist a t
some 400 local organizations to pro
tacks against U .S. and N A T O per
m ote a foreign p olicty based on
sonnel in West Germany is not apt
"critical membership in N A T O and
to mar the essential respectability of
an independent policy for peace,"
the European peace movement, nor
said IK V director Mient Jan Faber.
slow its growth, say observers here.
The "independent p o lic y" con
" W e abhor the terrorism, and it can
sists o f (he total denuclearization of
only give the authorities an excuse
the N eth erlan d s, meaning the re
to crack dow n,” said Oliver Schru-
moval o f all nuclear weapons from
offeneger, a young activist in West
Dutch territory and a refusal by the
B erlin ’ s A ltern a tive List p o litical
governm ent to p artic ip a te in the
m ovem ent. " B u t these acts have
planned 1983 N A T O deployment o f
nothing at all to do with what we are
U .S. Pershing II and cruise nuclear
trying to accomplish."
missiles. This unilateral move is de
Indeed, any efforts to dismiss the
signed to encourage other nations to
European peace movement as insig
follow suit, leading eventually to a
nificant, Communist-controlled or
nuclear-free Europe and the crea
terrorist can only lead to an even
tion o f new alliances— especially of
greater gulf between N A T O policy
the smaller European states, in the
makers and the public they are sup
East and West, committed to bring
posed to be pro tectin g . G ro w in g
ing disarmament pressure on both
numbers o f political leaders in West
N A T O and the Warsaw Pact.
Germany, Holland, Belgium, Scan
While the new Dutch government
dinavia and England recognize this
is not expected to expel N A T O ’s nu
fact. They recognize, too, that their
clear weapons from Dutch territory,
own political futures are largely in
it is a certainty that it will indefinite
the hands o f this new generation o f
ly "postpone” the acceptance o f the
peace activists, for whom the hor
new American missiles— an implicit
rors o f W orld W ar I I and the post
form o f rejection.
war menace o f the Soviet Union are
A 1981 po ll in the N etherlands
distant m em ories, i f they are re
showed 54 per cent o f the popula
membered at all.
tion in support o f the I K V ’ s p ro
The growth o f the peace m ove
gram and tw o-thirds in support o f
ment in north ern E urope has oc
total denuclearization and rejection
curred q u ie tly , and suddenly. In
o f the new A m erican missiles. A
part, it emerged out o f an increas
m in o rity o f the Dutch population
ingly strong, affluent and self-confi
believes that N A T O is contributing
dent postwar Europe which has pro
to better East-W est relations. In
vided a generation new entering the
fa c t,
p o litician s
throughout
po litical mainstream w ith a sense
northern Europe complain that they
that its own ideas about Europe's
find it increasingly difficult to per
role in the world should be taken
suade the public that N A T O is more
friend than foe.
The churches themselves have
played a key role in this m obiliza
tion o f opinion, especially through
participation in the annual "Peace
W e e k " activities throughout H o l
land. Last year the Dutch Reformed
Church, the largest in H olland, is
sued a pastoral letter in support of
IK V ’s campaign to denuclearize the
Netherlands unilaterally. Pax Chris
ti, the Catholic Church's own peace
group, supports a similar program,
which the church itself is soon ex
pected to support publicly.
IK V recently has reached out to
church groups in other N A T O coun
tries, and in the Eastern bloc as well,
to encourage sim ilar campaigns.
Meeting have been held with repre
sentatives o f the East German Evan
gelical Church which, within its own
strict lim its, also supports a disar
mament movement. A recent docu
ment distributed in East Germ any
by an " a d hoc c o m m itte e" o f the
Evangelical Church goes so far as to
call for " u n ila te ra l disarm am ent"
by East Germany.
In West G erm any, the E vangel
ical Church also is at the center of
the anti-nuclear protest. A church-
a ffilia te d group, known as Action
R ec o n ciliatio n , now provides a
broad umbrella for the many dispar
ate peace groups active in West Ger
many, ranging from communists to
young Christian Democrats.
" W e can take the in itia tiv e be
cause we don’t belong to any one of
the traditional streams o f the peace
m o v em e n t," said V o lk m a r D eile,
secretary o f Action Reconciliation.
"W e are acceptable to everyone.”
The group has been instrumental
in organizing massive protest dem
onstrations throughout West G e r
many and the com ing O ctober 10
dem onstration in Bonn. They also
claim partial responsibility for the
50,000 West Germans who refused
induction in the armed forces last
year.
The Scandinavian N A T O coun
tries, D enm ark and N o rw a y,
already are free o f nuclear weapons
in peacetime by virtue o f their pol
icies against allowing foreign wea
pons o r troops to be stationed on
their territories. Sweden, which is
officially neutral, also remains free
o f nuclear weapons. In these
countries, the peace activists have
concentrated on form alizing their
nuclear-free status by campaigning
for a Nordic Nuclear Free Zone, in
which nuclear weapons would be ex
cluded even in wartime.
" W e would not give up anything
but the o p tio n o f having nuclear
weapons in the event o f w a r," said
Oert Peterson, head o f the Danish
Socialistic People’s Party. " B u t ,”
(Please turn to page 3 column I)