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Page 4 Portland Observer, January 14, 1962
a
EDITORIAL/OPINION
by Funga i K urn bula
Citizen Achievement Awards
T he O b se rve r is p ro u d to present C itiz e n
A c h ie v e m e n t A w a rd s to person s w ith o u t
standing achievement in th e ir fields.
Each is an e x a m p le o f in d iv id u a l
acco m p lish m e n t in his fie ld o f endeavor and
each serves as a ro ll m odel fo r youth.
We present the M an and W om an o f the year
— R o n n ie H e rn d o n and L in d a W illia m s —
selected f o r o u ts ta n d in g se rvice to the
co m m u nity; R uth H aefner fo r her m any years
o f w o rk fo r others.
In the va rio u s fields: C o rp o ra te E xecutive,
E a rl W a n t,a n d ; F inance and B a n k in g , V .F .
B o o ke r; S ports E xe cutive, H a rry G lic k m a n ;
Sm all Business, C ora Sm ith.
S ta te G o v e rn m e n t, G re tc h e n K a fo u r y ;
C o u n ty G o v e rn m e n t, D o n C la r k ; C ity
G o v e rn m e n t, C h a rle s J o rd a n ; C o m m u n ity
Service, Edna Robertson.
It w ill o u r pleasure to present these awards
at o u r firs t a nn ual aw ards banquet in A p r il.
Each year we w ill lo o k fo rw a rd to h o n o rin g
those w ho serve.
Prisons or milk?
President Reagan has proposed additional $1
b illio n cuts in the A id to Dependent C h ild re n
(A F D C ) p ro g ra m . This w o u ld be added to the
$1 b illio n already removed fro m the program in
fiscal 1982.
The adm inistration says the reductions, along
w ith reductions in other social and educational
programs, w ill help erase the projected $150 b il
lion deficit.
Am ong the suggested methods to absorb this
cut is to te rm in a te A F D C to ch ild re n over 16
years. This w o u ld mean th a t the fa m ily w ould
receive no m oney to feed and clo th e teen-age
children who are still in school. The result would
be to force the child out o f the home o r deprive
younger children in the home.
This is a heartless propo sal— to force young
people out o f their homes and in to the streets. It
comes at a tim e o f high u n e m p lo ym e n t, espe
cially among young people, and a time when op
portunities fo r tra in in g and education are being
eliminated.
A long w ith this proposal come drastic federal
cuts in education and employment training, and
state and lo cal cuts in edu ca tio n , v o c a tio n a l
training, rehab ilita tion services, social services,
etc.
W hat are young people deprived o f home, ed
ucation and em ployment supposed to do in this
country? Join the g ro w in g num bers o f p ro s ti
tutes, addicts, beggars and thieves and spend the
m a jo rity o f their lives in jail?
W o u ld we re a lly ra th e r b u ild prisons than
feed our children?
Consider state lottery
Governor Vic Atiyeh has proposed a series o f
budget cuts to meet the expected state budget de
feat. These reductions cut deeply in to the educa
tion and human services programs.
The Dem ocrats— w ho tra d itio n a lly have a t
tempted to develop and protect programs to as
sist the disadvantaged— have arrived in Salem
for the Speical Session o f the Legislature that be
gins M onday w ithout a program .
H a vin g a lrea dy gone th ro u g h budget cuts
some o f the state agencies serving the poor, chil
dren, and the elderly are unable to absorb addi
tional cuts and still provide even basic services.
The g o v e rn o r’ s budget also proposes such
drastic cuts in higher education, in economic de
ve lo p m e n t, in fo re s try research, in e n v iro n
mental protection that future generations w ill be
endangered.
As opposed to m aking these drastic cuts the
Legislature w ill have to consider other sources o f
revenue. L im ita tio n o f p ro p e rty tax r e lie f to
only those o f low-incom e w ould return m illions
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to the general fund. Increased corporation taxes,
luxury taxes and a sales tax w ill probably be con
sidered and rejected.
The Legislature should also study the poten
tial revenue that could be raised through a state
lo tte ry . O regon is conservative w ith respect to
gam bling— o u tla w in g everything except racing
and Bingo games operated by n o n -p rofit organi
zations.
M any states and local ju ris d ic tio n s use a lo t
tery to supplement their general fund budgets or
to s u p p o rt specific program s. There has been
much opposition to a lottery here based on m o
ra lity, on the idea that the poor are more like ly
to abuse it, that com pulsive g a m bling w ill de
p riv e th e ir fa m ilie s . Perhaps these are v a lid
fears.
The Legislature should study the issue and de
termine whether some type o f lottery would be a
v a lid m e th o d to raise fu n d s to p ro v id e fo o d ,
shelter and m edica l care fo r the sta te ’ s m ost
needy.
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Newspaper
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MEMBER
MtoclaHon - Foundad IMS
Portland Observer
Comrade Mazordze's
unfinished agenda
(N ote: Z im b a b w e ’s M inister o f
Health, D r. M azordze, died on De
cember 5th, 1981, after having been
in o ffice for just over three weeks.
Previously he had been the deputy
M inister o f H ealth . Thousands o f
grieving Zimbabweans attended his
funeral.)
“ But where I think we have been
Ministry had decreed that those peo
misunderstood, and deliberately
ple earning less than U .S. $210 per
too. 1 think, because it makes it eas
m onth should be entitled to free
ier to discredit us, is the idea that we
medical care. A subsequent surve
are going to take the trad itio n al
carried out by the M in istry found
healers and mix them with the doc
that less than 5 per cent o f the peo
tors. This is not at all what we are
ple in the rural areas were making
trying to do.
more than $140 for a whole year.
W e are trying to get the tra d i
So, the M in istry felt ju stified in
Before his appointm ent as the
tional healers to come out into the
making this decree some objections
M inister o f H ealth o f Zim babw e,
open, to talk about their secrets,
notwithstanding.
follow ing the dismissal o f D r.
and how they can use them to the
The people raising these objec
Ushewokunze, the late C om rade
benefit o f all. The two systems, the
tions and who needed convincing
D r. M azordze had granted the fo l
Western style medical practice and
about the inequality o f health care
lowing interview in which he had
the traditional healers are complete
for the masses were mostly doctors
spelled out some o f the M inistry o f
ly separate. We want to encourage a
and other similar health profession
H ealth's objectives. These objec
system where there is an interplay
als, according to the M in istry o f
tives are designed to overcome the
between th e m ," the good Doctor
H ealth. A fte r the M in istry stood
imbalances and inequities in health
explained.
firm , however, D r. Mazorodze con
care inherited from previous coloni
O f the recent government ban o f
cedes the objectors did begin to see
al regimes.
things the same way even though it
the controversial contraceptive
B riefly: fully 75 per cent o f the
Dcpo Provera, which has attracted a
took them a year-and-a-half to do
three hundred or so doctors in p ri
so.
lot o f attention abroad, Com rade
vate practice in the country were
M azordze said the brouhaha was
Asked whether a lot o f doctors
based either in Bulawayo or Salis
had not chosen to leave the country
unfortunate and, again, a matter of
bury. Further, Salisbury’s hospitals,
rather than follow the M inistry’s di
being misunderstood. The govern
though serving only about ten per
ment had decided last year to phase
rectives, Comrade Mazorodze said
cent o f the population, were gob
this was not the problem at all. The
out Depo Provera, not to ban it out
bling up a whopping 30 per cent o f
M inistry was more concerned with
right. It was the vested interests in
the national health budget. There
the reorientation o f the emphasis
volved in the marketing o f this drug
was, therefore, a definite need to
placed on manpower.
that raised all the ruckus.
correct this imbalance so all Z im
So far, (his emphasis has been on
It had been decided that since the
babweans can be more equally
curative rather than preventive med
drug had not been proven to be 100
served.
icine. A lot o f the diseases in Z im
per cent medically safe, it would be
In the said interview . Com rade
babwe are preventable and so more
safer to phase it out over tim e and
M azordze touched on the work the
time and resources should be spent
the Fam ily Planning Association
M in istry o f H ealth was engaged in
on teaching the people in the rural
was advised to put patients on alter
in restoring the rural hospitals that
areas how to improve their general
native and proven contraceptives.
had been forced to close as the War
health through n u tritio n , hygiene
“ We have accepted the need for
o f Independence intensified. By the and im m unization programs. This
fam ily planning, and this govern
time the W ar ended, only four hos has involved retraining some o f the
ment has actually increased spend
pitals out o f a total o f sixteen were
resident nurses we inherited who
ing for it. But we also believe that
still operational and, even then,
tended sometimes to be incapable of
fam ily planning should be taken as
only at half capacity.
running rural health clinics on their
pasrt and parcel o f our whole devel
The M inistry had managed to se own. The medical assistants we are
opment e ffo r t.. . .
cure a grant from the government of
now training arc a lot more versatile
I f we can provide social benefits
the United States to restore these
because their training is geared to
during illness, or accidents, or guar
hospitals and clinics and bring them
wards serving the people.
antee education- and old-age-bene
back to I(X) per cent capacity.
On the publicity Zim babw e’s e f
fits, then the need for more children
“ To overcome the manpower
forts to integrate traditional medi
diminishes. That is much more
shortage, we have been using former
cine into the health system have
im portant in the long r u n ," the
guerrilla medics who had been the been getting in the overseas media.
Comrade said in concluding the in
only health professionals in the last
Dr. Mazorodze said that there really
terview.
stages o f the war a n y w a y ," added
wasn’t anything new in that. A ll
These are some o f the programs
Comrade Mazordze.
that his M inistry was doing was to
the late Minister had in mind when
He went on to add that there had
legalize their existence—-they were
he so suddenly and tragically left us
been a fair amount o f resistance
there (the traditional healers) before
barely three weeks ago. No doubt
when the M in istry o f H ealth first
the onset o f colonialism and they
the carrying through o f all these
broached the subject o f dem ocra
have survived to this day. Some o f
programs by his successors will be a
tising Z im b abw e’ s health services.
them are very good botanists and
fittin g tribute to this our departed
Towards the end o f last year, the
they excell in the area o f psychiatry.
Hero.
The nuclear war
by Manning Marable
Two things arc certain about the
Reagan A d m in is tra tio n — it has an
absolute contem pt for human life
and a total disregard for in tern a
tional peace. I f Reagan’s domestic
economic and social policies have
reaped massive unemployment and
human suffering, then his foreign
policies on the question o f nuclear
arms control must be viewed as a
similar disaster.
The first eight m onths o f R ea
gan's Adm inistration were not un
expectedly characterized by vicious
attacks on national liberation move
ments (in Nicaragua, Grenada, A n ;
gola, and other countries) and by a
call to establish U .S. nuclear super
io rity over the Soviet U n io n . The
justification for the $180 billion nu
clear arms budget was R eagan’ s
view that the only way to deal with
“ Soviet aggression’ ’ was fro m a
“ position o f strength.” Reagan ap
pointed Cold W arriors to sensitive
positions, such as Paul Nitze, chief
nego^Rtor for the Geneva arms lim i
tation talks with the Soviets, and
Eugene Rostow , d ire cto r o f the
A rm s C o n tro l and D isarm am ent
Agency. Reagan even made public
statements that argued in effect that
a nuclear war between the U.S. and
the U .S .S .R . could be "lim ite d ” to
certain geographical regions. An ex
change o f deadly 20 megaton bombs
would not destroy mankind.
By the fall o f 1981, however, Rea
gan was forced to retreat from his
C o ld W a r rh eto ric. C onservative
w hite voters in N evada and U tah
voiced opposition to the M X missile
Subscr,puons »10 00 per year in Tri County area Poetm eeter
system (originally proposed by Pres
Send address changes to the Portland Obstrvar, P.O. Box 3137
ident ( a rte r), and the plan was
Portland Oregon 97206
changed. On Veterans D ay th o u
sands o f students at over 150 college
campuses attended teach-ins on the
A. L et Henderson, Publisher
mounting danger o f a nuclear holo
A I Williams, Advertising Manager
A l McGilberry, Managing Editor
caust. On November 17, 1981, the
National Advertiam g Representative
N a tio n a l C onference o f C ath o lic
Am algam ated Publishers. Inc.
Bishops denounced Reagan’s mas
283-2488
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Oregon 97208 Second cieee poetege peid at Portlend. Oregon
N e w York
sive arms b u ild u p and called on
g reater, not lesser, p o ssib ility o f
U.S. Catholics to support strategies
W orld War III .
o f international peace. In October
The U .S spends billions o f ta x
and November several million Euro
payers’ dollars every year for nu
peans. both in the West and in Com
clear weapons which could be chan-
munist states, held rallies and dem
nelcd more productively for health
onstrations against nuclear wea
care, Tull em ploym ent, education,
pons. Many Western political lead
agricultural production, and other
ers attacked the U.S. plan to deploy
human essentials. The cost o r the
572 Pershing II and cruise missiles
cruise missile alone is $ 1 1 b illio n .
in Europe in 1983.
Both the U .S . and U .S .S .R . build
Reagan’s next move was a publi
two to three nuclear weapons daily.
city g im m ick , designed to blunt
I f present nuclear arms production
Western Europe's criticisms o f his
continues, by 1991 there w ill be
insane nuclear policies. Proclaiming
75,000 nuclear warheads, fifty per
his new com m itm ent to w orld
cent more than today, with an ex
peace, Reagan proposed on Novem
plosive power o f over two m illion
ber 18 a “ zero-option" in Europe.
Hiroshima bombs. Perhaps a dozen
The Soviets had to dismantle their
m ore nations— in clu d in g racist
600 intermediate-range missiles al
South A frica, South Korea and Is-
ready in place in Western Russia,
r ,e '
possess nuclear weapons
and stop putting others into place.
by 1991.
In return, the U .S would agree not
We must understand that no one
to put their cruise and Pershing I I
wins In a nuclear conflict. A single
missiles in W estern Europe next
one-megaton bom b, dropped over
year. Reagan’s “ zero-option" was
any m ajor U .S. city would create a
hailed by the U.S. press, both major
fireball over one m ile in diam eter,
U .S. political parties, and by most
destroy 50 square miles o f city area,
Western Eurpoean political leaders
and permanently blind all persons in
as a genuine proposal toward peace.
a 1,000-squ are-m ile v ic in ity who
As in Reagan’s domestic policies,
looked at the fireball. A full-scale
the “ ze ro -o p tio n ” was hardly de
nuclear war would kill approximate
signed to work. Sufficient political
ly 100 m illio n A m erican s, and at
opposition had developed in Eng
least 50 m illio n m ore w ould die
land, H olland and other countries
from radioactive fallout or other in
to America’s proposed missiles such
juries within weeks.
that it was already doubtful that the
The only possibility for human
U.S. would be able to deploy all o f
survival is a clearcut end to the nu
its weapons. Soviet leader Brezhnev
clear madness. Both the U .S . and
had, tw o weeks before R eagan’ s
U.S.S.R must reduce and eventually
move, rejected the idea o f "zero-op
outlaw the production o f nuclear
tio n ." Reagan’ s own Secretary o f
weapons, dism antle existing sys
State Alexander Haig, hardly “ soft
tems, and adopt an intensive p ro
on C o m m u n ism ,” had previously
gram to halt the spread o f nuclear
termed the “ zero-option” unrealis
weapons to all nations. We have the
tic. And even if the Soviets agreed to
political responsibility in this coun
R eagan’ s term s, the A d m in is tra
try to force out o f office any politi
tio n ’ s next step would be to place
cian who does not favor the ultimate
the same cruise missiles in U.S. sub
destruction o f nuclear weaponry.
marines o ff Western Europe. Since
Building a broad opposition to Rea
missiles in submarines are impossi
gan s cruel domestic agenda means
ble to verify, the Soviets would be
that progressive people must over
forced to increase their missile pro
turn his foreign policies and nuclear
d u c tio n -le a d in g in evitably to a
agenda as well.