Page 4 Portland Observer. August 25, 1902
EDITORIAL/OPINION
Boycott of Greenberg is racist
Arms sales help corporate profits
by Bayard Rustin
“ The sale o f American arms to other nations
complements the defensive forces o f the United
States and serves as an important constructive
element in U.S. policies,” said James Buckley,
Under-secretary o f State for security and techni
cal assistance.
Differing from previous administrations that
lied, hid or at least did not offe r inform ation
about the external sale o f arms, the Reagan ad
ministration not only boasts about its course o f
action but even proclaims the sales as a “ con
structive element” o f its foreign policy.
Jimmy Carter said, shortly before his election
in 1976, that the sale o f arms is “ a dangerous
and cynical business.” But he forgot his words
soon after being installed in the White House,
elevating exports o f arms by $3 billion. It is not
known for certain whether there were additional
sales since the government did not boast about
such business.
The U.S. has been gradually accelerating its
export o f arms, in the process gaining advan
tages for the administration and for the military-
industrial complex, and is selling more sophisti
cated and destructive arms, especialy to NATO
members.
Between 1950 and 1980 the U.S. government
exported 26,800 airplanes and helicopters,
32,300 tanks, 50,000 transport vehicles, 31,900
ships, 29,700 pieces o f a rtille ry, and about
240,000 miscellaneous rockets.
During the 1970s the U.S. government sent
arms and war material to 131 countries, at a cost
o f $123.5 billion. O f this total, $47.7 billion was
sold to Middle East nations, generally to Israel
and Egypt.
The sale o f arms increased from $4.5 billion in
1970 to more than $20 billion in 1981.
These figures arc probably low, since true sta
tistics are not offered by the Pentagon. This also
does not include non-governmental sales o f
arms.
Another factor that does not appear in the
statistics is the export o f arms for "police” acti
vity. In the last five years the U.S. has sent tens
of thousands o f light arms to Chile, Haiti, Uru
guay and South Korea, for example—also ar
mored cars, tear gas bombs, communications
equipment, cars, airplanes, bludgeons, gaunt
lets, and other equipment used by rightist gov
ernments to repress their people.
This commerce directly benefits the military-
industrial complex and its large corporations.
The German magazine Der Spiegel said, “ The
profits o f these firm s from arms in relation to
their capital were three times greater than the av
erage p ro fits o f the U.S. industrial corpora
tions.” A Senate commission found that 164 of
the 169 companies involved in the war industry
made profits from 50 to 200 per cent. Three cor
porations made more than 500 per cent and
another more than 2,000 per cent.
With this type o f profit it is obvious that these
corporations and their supporters in government
put their own interests above the peace and se
curity o f the peoples of the world.
market patterned after the Europe
an Common Market.
•A two-pronged national black
selective patronage campaign: 1.
Directing black consumer dollars to
businesses that engage in meaning
ful trade with black America (e.g.,
h irin g practices, advertising d o l
lars); 2. W ith h o ld in g black con
sumer support from those busi
nesses who do not engage in recipro
cal trade with black America.
•Creation o f a black development
fund that would loan and invest
capital to launch and maintain black
business ventures. Initial operating
capital would be secured through
co n trib u tio n s from the n a tio n ’ s
black community.
•Preparation o f a legislative agen
da. Its firs t p rio rity would be the
passage o f a Revitalization Bank.
G overnm ent-operated, it would
The Executive C ouncil o f the
AFL-C IO voted last week to grant
loan money to all American busi
the George Mcany Human Rights
nesses, emphasizing black business
Award for 1982 to two champions
development.
o f black rights in South Africa.
•Establish a committee to moni
Dr. Neal Aggett, a white officer
tor the flow o f black contributions
o f the A frican Food and Canning
to labor unions, including their pen
Workers, a union o f black workers,
sion funds, to assure that dollars are
was honored posthumously. He was
p ro p o rtio n a te ly invested in the
only 28 years old when found dead
black community through employ
in Johannesburg jail.
ment opportunities, venture capital,
Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi is
urban re vita liza tio n and sim ilar
head o f the 350.000-membcr Na
practices.
tional C u ltu ra l Liberation move
•Establishment of an Afro-Amer-
ment, a black rights organization in
ican/Caribbean and an Atro-Amer-
South Africa, and is currently under
ic a n /ln te rn a tio n a l Development
tremendous pressure from the
Services Fund; establishment o f an
apartheid regime.
A frican Business Inform ation Ex
Last year, the inaugural award
change.
was presented collectively to Soli-
Mayor Hatcher, major convenor
darnosc, the Polish labor federa
and host o f the conference, said a
tion. Lech Walesa was scheduled to
form al committee w ill be named
accept it at the November 1982
within a few weeks to set about car
AFL-CIO Convention, but was un
rying out the specifics o f the plans.
able to attend. Martial law was im
posed in Poland a few weeks later.
Aggett and Buthelezi are the sec
ond recipients. Buthelezi has been
notified and is “ delighted" with his
selection.
Neil Aggett was found dead in his
cell in John Vorster Square, Johan
nesburg, on the m orning o f
in the public’s interest.
February 5, 1982. Assertions by po
Congressmen W yden’ s and
lice that he had hanged himself are
S w ift’s testimony and a wide range disbelieved both inside and outside
o f views presented by industry, c iti South Africa. Aggett, 28 years old
zens and local government officials
when he died, is one o f over 50 peo
were presented in four hours o f tes ple and the firs t white person to
timony.
have died in police detention.
Portland Cable Access Corps, in
Neil Aggett was born in Kenya
cooperation with Cablesystems Pa and came to South A frica with his
cific, videotaped the meeting which
fa m ily as a child. He studied at
is being run on local access chan Kingswood College, Grahamstown
nels and Liberty Cable from gavel
to gavel. KOAP broadcast the meet
ing statewide.
Portland was put on the map as a
source o f leadership concerned with
this nationwide problem w ith na
tional attention drawn to this dis
cussion o f the pros and cons o f local
access federal cable legislation.
I encourage my constituents to
participate. For furthe r in fo rm a
tio n , please contact my o ffice ,
phone 248-5219.
Community control of cable TV
by County Commissioner Gladys McCoy
United States Congressman Ron
Wyden o f Oregon and A l Swift o f
Washington conducted a public
meeting on S2172, the proposed re
write o f national cable communica
tions legislation. This meeting was
held Monday, August 9, 1982, in the
Portland Building Auditorium.
S2172 would generally leave local
government powerless in terms o f
cable regulations. I support Con
gressman Wyden’ s and S w ift’ s ef
forts in holding this hearing because
I believe it is essential for our com
munity to keep control. We granted
a monopoly to cable companies to
provide services in the City o f Port
land and the County o f Multnomah.
Now it is in the best interest o f the cit
izens that we as local officials main
tain the a b ility to negotiate fra n
chise agreements and control the lo
cal cable companies.
Some o f the negative irv
■ of
this legislation mean nearly com
plete federal jurisdiction over cable
systems through the FCC; allows
the FCC to eliminate all free public,
educational, and governmental pro
gramming by fin ding "unreason
ably available a lte rn a tiv e s "; sets
specific and rigid limitations on the
number o f local access channels the
jurisdictions can require; and elim
inates any significant rate control
(without which we have no leverage
over a company’ s performance or
responsiveness to com m unity
needs).
A t this tim e, S2I72 is in the
United States Senate. This legisla
tion is unusual coming from a Rea
gan A dm in istratio n that has been
promoting a "new Federalism” pol
icy that returns to the states local
control. I f S2I72 were adopted, this
would have precisely the opposite
effect. In my view, this is clearly not
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4 / McGdherry, Editor/Publisher
AI Williams, Advertising Manager
and later at the University of Cape
Town Medical School, where he
qualified as a physician.
After completing his internship in
hospitals serving black patients in
Tcmbisa dn Umtata. he worked at
the Baragwanato Hospital serving
the black population of Soweto, O r
lando and its environs, where he be
came interested in the development
of the black trade union movement.
W orking as a doctor, Aggett
wrote, he saw "th e lim itations of
medicine in an oppressive society
What was needed was an end to
oppressive conditions, if the health
o f society was to improve. And the
key to this was in the organization
o f the people, especially the work
ers.”
A, the time o f his death, Aggett
was the Transvall Regional Secre
tary of the African Food and Can
ning Workers Union.
Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi,
C hief M inister o f Kwa Zulu, was
born on August 27, 1982, at Mahla
b a lin i, South A fric a , the son o f
C hief Mathole and Princess C on
stance Magogo Zulu. On his
m other’ s side he is a grandson of
King Dinizulu and a great grandson
o f King Cclshwayo. On his father’ s
side he is the great grandson o f
C hief Mnyamana B ulhelizi, who
was Prime Minister to King Cctsh-
wayo. The Buthelczis serve as here
ditary first ministers to Zulu ro y
alty.
Buthelezi, who was educated at
Adams College and at Fort Hare
University College and the Univer
sity o f Natal, has led relentless op
position to apartheid since 1957
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side the courts. It is ironic—indeed
perhaps tra gic—that they would
vent their rage on Jack Greenberg, a
talented and sensitive man who has
contributed in no small measure to
the freedom and dignity ol young
black Americans
There is something else underly
ing the black protest at Harvard. It
is the mistaken view that, somehow,
the issues o f civil rights is an issue
which is exclusively black. Nothing
could be further from the tru th .
Civil Rights is an issue of universal
significance and, as such, should be
im portant to ull Americans. C ivil
rights, moreover, is an area in which
progress cannot be attained without
the building o f a strong and wide-
ranging co alition o f blacks and
whites, Christians and Jews Blacks,
despite their large numbers, consti
tute a m in o rity in American life .
They cannot achieve progress by go
ing it alone. Attacks such as the one
against Jack Greenberg may have
the harmful effect of discouraging
idealistic whites from participating
fu lly in the battles for civ il rights
and social justice
We don’ t need to w orry about
Jack Greenberg He will not be dis
couraged and his organization w ill
continue to make a contribution to
the advancement o f racial justice
and human rights We have more
cause to worry about the leaders of
the Harvard Black Student C o a li
tion. Unless they change their per
spectives they will be ill-equipped to
serve the cause o f c iv il rights, a
cause which their recent actions
have served to undermine.
Fighters for black rights
in South Africa recognized
Action result of National
Black Economic Summit
In the closing hours o f the Na
tional Summit Conference on Black
Economic Development and Sur
vival, held in Gary, Indiana’ s Gene
sis Convention and Exposition Cen
ter, an economic game-plan was
adopted by delegates that stressed
action, not resolutions, to advance
America’s struggle to attain econo-
nomic parity. Gary Mayor Richard
Gordon Hatcher termed the conven
tion actions, “ a workable strategy
for the 1980s.”
Delegates w ho journeyed to Gary
for the five-day meeting, July 24-28,
1982, adopted more than a dozen
action recommendations which
echoed the persistent themes high
lighted in papers, speeches, w ork
shops and panel dialogue. C hief
among the adopted agenda items
are:
•In itia tio n o f a black common
Greenberg is eminently qualified
both to teach civil rights law and to
According to a recent report in
direct an important civil rights o r
the New York Times, the Harvard
ganization. Indeed, during his twen
Black Law Student C oalition and
ty years as head o f the Legal De
the Harvard Third World Coalition
fense Fund, M r. Greenberg has
are calling for a boycott o f a H ar
shown him self to be one o f our
vard Law School course on race and
country’s most effective fighters for
legal issues because that course will,
racial justice and civil rights. Over
in part, be taught by a white civil
the years he has directly participated
rights lawyer. The lawyer in ques
in many o f the landmark civil rights
tion is Mr. Jack Greenberg, execu
victories which have been won in
tive director o f the NAACP Legal
our nation’s courts.
Defense and Educational Fund.
What, then, one might ask, has
The leaders o f the boycott are
provoked the m ilita n t protest o f
protesting Jack Greenberg's ap
Harvard Law School's young
pointment for two reasons. Because
blacks? Today, black law students
he is white, the students believe that
at Harvard feel frustration at the
Mr. Greenberg, is, in the words o f
fact that their less privileged coun
the Third World Coalition, unable
terparts in the ghetto are suffering
to “ identify and empathize with the
unemployment rates approaching
social, cultural, economic, and poli
fifty per cent. They feel great unease
tical experiences o f the third world
over the current a dm inistration’ s
com m unities." Secondly, the stu callous disregard for such matters as
dents are opposed to M r. Green equal employment opp o rtun ity
berg’ s serving as director o f the
They are angry at what they rightly
NAACP Legal Defense and Educa
perceive as an abandonment by the
tional Fund, again presumably be
federal government o f its legitimate
cause he is not black.
role as a leading advocate o f civil
The objection to Mr. Greenberg's
rights. In this context it is entirely
role in teaching the Harvard course
understandable that these students
and to heading the Legal Defense
would seek to make their voices
Fund sim ply because he is white
heard. It is regrettable, however,
amounts to nothing more than bla that their militancy and sense o f so
tant racism, i.e., the denial of a per cial responsibility manifests itself in
son’s right to pursue certain activi this fundamentally destructive and
ties solely on account o f his race.
irresponsible way.
Blacks, as victims o f racial discrimin
Harvard's young blacks are pur
ation, should be the first to reject suing their education not only as a
the view that race can disqualify one result o f their abilities, but also as a
from any particular pursuit.
consequence o f the opportunities
Anyone who objectively examines opened to them by the civil rights
the record w ill conclude that Jack battles waited both inside and out
when he assumed the chieflanship
When South Africa imposed the sys
tem of "Bantustans” or homelands
on the Zulus as a prelude towards
giving them so-called independence,
Buthelezi accepted the position o f
chief minister in order to block this
"independence" move, which he
characterized as a sham and a fraud,
involving, as a price o f "indepen
dence," the surrender or abdication
o f the Zulus' claim to rights as
South African citizens Buthelezi in
sisted that if Kwa Zulu leaders were
to accept, "they would go down in
history as betrayers o f each and
every thing our forebears stood for,
suffered for, and fought lor There
can be no right more inviolable than
the right to be a citizen of the coun
try o f your b irth ."
In addition to hiv role as a leader
o f some 5 m illion /u lu s , Buthelezi
heads a potentially powerful nation
al political base, the Inkatha Ycnku
luleko Yesizwc (National C ultural
1 iberation movement). Inkatha has
a paid-up membership o f upwards
o f 350,000, making it the largest
black liberation movement in South
A frica, which includes many black
trade unionists. Inkatha has among
its aims: to help promote and en
courage the development ol black
people spiritually, educationally and
politically; to ensure acceptance o f
the principles o f equal opportunity
and treatment ol all peoples in all
walks of lile, to abolish all forms of
discrim ination and segregation
based on tribe, clan, sex, color and
creed; to ensure observance of fun
damental human freedom and trade
union rights.
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