Page 4 Portland Observer, September 22, 1982
Quixotic search fo r economic alternatives
EDITORIAL/OPINION
The black elite vs. Reaganism
U.S. must share blame
The U nited States is deeply involved in Is
rael’s actions against the Palestinians and Leb
anon and must share with Israel the blame for
the massacre of Palestinian civilians.
• There is evidence that the U.S. government
was aware o f Israel’s plan to invade Lebanon
and supported that invasion. Throughout the
siege o f West Beirut the U.S. repeatedly vetoed
United Nations efforts to halt the invasion and
even vetoed e ffo rts to allow food, water and
medicine to be taken into the city.
• The U.S. heavily finances and supplies Is-
by Dr. Manning Marable
"From The Grassroots"
Part One o f a two-part series
rael’s arms—supposedly for defense—and has
refused to withdraw that support.
• The U.S. provides economic aid to Israel,
without which that nation could not continue to
exist, yet the U.S. has not threatened withdrawal
o f that support in light o f Israel’s expansionism.
•The U.S. guaranteed the safety o f the Pales
tinian civilians left behind in refugee camps
when the PLO agreed to leave Lebanon.
• The U.S. declined to send troops, requested
by Lebanon to ensure that another massacre
does not occur, unless approved by Israel—the
invader.
Chamber chooses white men
The P ortland Chamber o f Commerce, a l
though a private organization, represents the
C ity o f P ortland and all its citizens in many
ways. It projects an image o f the city, encour
ages business, trade, and tourism.
the Chamber has come under criticism for its
luncheon invitation to the South A frican A m
bassador a few years ago and for the recent trip
of the editor o f its Portland magazine to South
Africa and the resulting glowing report on that
nation in the magazine’s pages.
A little light can be shed on the Chamber’s in
sensitivity by observing its board o f directors.
The new board members to be elected in N o
vember are all white and include one woman,
the hold-over board members are all white men.
The new president has the authority to appoint
board members, and among them are the reap-
pointment o f one black person, Dr. Matthew
Prophet.
So we have a total board which includes one
minority and two women.
A more diversified board might encourage the
Chamber membership and staff to take a broad
er view of the world and to be more sensitive to
those citizens who are not white male business
men.
Editorial racism_____
Shame on the Oregonian for its reference, in
its September 21 issues, to Indian “ squaws.”
With its new format and new staff, the Oregon
ian is still not alert to the racism in its pages. We
had hoped for more.
Letters to the Editor
Attack problem, not women
To the editor:
We have formed the group.
Friends o f Sisters On the Street
(Friends o f S.O.S.) to protest the
callous treatment o f the women on
the street (prostitutes on Union A v
enue) by the establishment, the me
dia and finally by their own commu
nity. We hope to align ourselves
with them against hypocrisy and
bigotry.
Instead o f attacking the economic
and sp iritu al problems o f society
(unemployment, alcoholism, drug
addiction, degradation o f women,
loneliness), these groups have a t
tacked one o f the most oppressed
and exploited groups, the symptom
rather than the problem. Little em
phasis was put on the Johns who
leave their plush, secure homes to
come to our neighborhood and win
dow shop for a sister.
The main solution suggested was,
as one official put it, to correct the
problem o f “ inadequate female ja il
space,” spoken as if cages were be
ing added to the Humand Society.
To see a group with the stature o f
the Black United Front and other
groups from the black community
marching side by side with the same
people who rehired the ‘ possum
squad’ was a shock.
The presence o f churches was a
surprise since Christ had the greatest
compassion for women persecuted
in this way.
Trying to have some o f His com
passion, le t’ s look at her point o f
view. The average woman on the
street is not there because o f lust.
She does not love “ turning tricks.”
She feels she must do it to survive.
Usually she is the only victim in the
crime, the hurt being done to her.
No woman would risk rape, dis
memberment and death (a fear she
must face every time she jumps into
a car) if she thought she had some
thing better.
We hope the Black United Front
and especially the Christian churches
will find a better way to show com
passion for their sisters than “ ade
quate female ja il space.”
We hope we can together offer
them an alternative: jobs, shelters,
counseling, and above a ll frie n d
ship.
Friends o f S.O.S.
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The struggle against Reaganism
within the national black communi
ty has sparked a rebirth o f a wide
variety o f economic strategies to
cope w ith unemployment, black
business failures and accelerated ur
ban decay. W ith the exception o f
the black reaganites (e.g., econo
mists Thomas Sowell and W alter
Williams, etc.), black opposition to
the present A dm inistration's p o li
cies is virtually unanimous. But the
specific economic programs which
the black petty bourgeoisie are now
proposing are neither original nor
very progressive. Few attack the
root causes fo r black undervelop-
ment, and all are an expression o f
the theoretical and program iatic
poverty which h istorically has
plagued the black middle class.
The NAACP mirrors the econom
ic contradictions o f the black petty
bourgeoisie. Since I934, when
W .E.B. DuBois left the organiza
tion when it failed to develop a radi
cal program to deal with the Great
Depression’ s devastating impact
upon Afro-americans, the NAACP
had never proposed major economic
initiatives to assist blacks. Under the
direction o f Benjamin Hooks, in the
last five years, the NAACP has re
cruited 50,000 new members, 300
new branches and a budget S I.5 m il
lion larger. W ith the recessions o f
1981 and 1982, Hooks authorized
the creation o f an economics analy
sis unit and a task force to assist lo
cal branches to help black small en
trepreneurs and black unemployed
workers. In K okom o, Indiana,
NAACP members have responded
to Reagan cutbacks in foodstamps
by organizing a food cooperative.
N A A C P members in G alloway
Township, New Jersey, pressured
local officials to set aside half o f all
new m unicipal jobs fo r blacks,
women, and handicapped people. In
Memphis, NAACP leaders persuad
ed the Nissan C orporation to buy
supplies fo r its local autom obile
plant fro m black vendors. A t the
NAACP convention o f June 28-July
2 in Boston, delegates endorsed
“ O peration Fair Share,” a cam
paign to hold nationwide boycotts
against businesses that resist a ffir
mative action efforts. Despite these
new economic initiatives, however,
the general thrust o f the organiza
tion remains the same: support for
liberal Democrats, voter registra
tion, affirm ative action, and other
modest social democratic efforts.
Even with its new “ anti-Reagan
economic agenda,” the N A A C P
still suffers from its traditional crisis
o f confidence. When William Perry,
the N A A C P President o f M iam i,
Florida, introduced a proposal for a
“ Black Monday” —a plan to have
blacks and whites to buy exclusive
ly from black business on June 28,
1982, national officers were furious.
Local whites in the N A A C P op
posed the idea, and Earl Shinhoster,
Southeastern Regional director o f
the N AAC P, sent a testy inailgram
to Perry on June 23, suspending him
“ im m ediately and in d e fin ite ly .”
Perry's explanation that the Black
Monday “ was not intended to be a
boycott, just a campaign to support
black businesses" did not satisfy his
authorities. Shinhoster argued that
"any unit o f the NAACP is a subor
dinate unit to (he national organiza
tion. A utonom y (o f the local
branch) only extends to issues that
are within (he scope o f (he organiza
tion.” Hooks gave Perry “ five days
to explain what happened and why
his suspension should not be made
permanent.” Meanwhile, Perry re
signed as president, and promptly
organized an O peration PUSH
chapter in M iami. Perry informed
the Miami Times that Jesse Jackson
and PUSH “ provide its local units
w ith more autonom y than the
NAACP gives its branches."
The Urban League has continued
its role as the right wing o f the black
movement. When Reagan was elect
ed, former League director Vernon
Jordan made the most pathetic con
cessions to the conservative trend.
Reagan deserved "the benefit of the
d ou b t," and it was "dangerous" in
Jordan’s words to criticize him. Jor
dan was willing to wait and see whe
ther “ equality can be achieved by
conservative means, to look at con
servative approaches to see if they
w ill help black people." Jordan’ s
successor, John E. Jacob, has
moved the organization only slightly
to the left. Jacob denounced the re
cent draft report of the Department
o f Housing and Urban Develop
ment which called for an end to Fed
eral aid to inner cities. He revived a
20-year-old proposal developed by
League d ire ctor W hitney Young
which called fo r “ massive federal
efforts” combined with "local pub
lic-private sector e ffo rts” to retard
unemployment and urban decay.
Jacob called for jo in t Democratic
and Republican party efforts to en
courage “ investments in human
capital, urban infrastructure, and
economic resources needed to get
the national economy moving
again.”
In Philadelphia, on June 9, 1982,
the “ H ire One Y o u th ” Program
was launched by the Rev. Leon Sul
livan, chairperson o f the Opportun
ities In d u s tria liz a tio n Centers
(OICs). The stated goal o f “ Hire
One Y o u th " was to encourage the
private sector to hire 300,000 “ dis
advantaged young people” during
the summer, und an additional
700,000 youths by the middle o f
1983. “ I am appealing to the patri
otism of American companies, large
and small, in this critical and urgent
time o f need to put the youth o f
America back to w o rk ,” Sullivan
explained to the press. “ Immediate
bipartisan action on the part o f
President Reagan, (he Congress,
and the private sector is necessary."
Behind Sullivan's appeal for jobs
was an omnipresent threat o f urban
rebellion. “ America must act now
to put the unemployed youth in jobs
before chaos and disorder erupt in
our cities," Sullivan states bluntly.
"The unemployed youth problem is
social dynamite and it is about to ex
plode." Sullivan reminded corpora
tions (hat a $3,000 tax credit was
available to all employers who hired
Vietnam-eia veterans, cooperative
education students, in vo lu n ta rily
terminated CE TA workers, and
teenagers from “ economically dis
advantaged" areas. " I f every Amer
ican corporation, business, school
puts just one (youth) to w ork,
we can get idle youth o ff the streets
and into the productive mainstream
of the American workforce."
For all the media and p o litic a l
support, it seems unlikely that the
effort will generate one-fifth o f the
number o f permanent jobs it seeks.
Sullivan's O1C is a product o f Lyn
don Johnson's Great Society pro
grams. From 1964-1980, the O IC
network o f job training and indus
tria l education programs received
more than $500 m illio n in Federal
funds. According to one source,
only 13 per cent o f those trained in
the Philadelphia OIC were working
in training related jobs. Many o f the
O lC ’s nationwide "suffer from mis
management and poor program per
form ance." Under heavy criticism
since the mid-1970s, the Reverend
Sullivan authored the so-called
“ Sullivan Principles” which p ro
vide loose guidelines to justify con
tinued U.S. corporated investment
in South Africa. Sullivan has been a
useful tool for both the Republican
Party and U.S. corporate interests
in a number o f ways. For example,
in early 1981, Sullivan testified be
fore the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee in support o f form er
Secretary o f State Alexander Haig.
Since the mid-1970s. G ulf Oil and
other major corporations have fun
nelled tens o f thousands o f dollars
to Sullivan. It would appear, given
S ullivan’s history, that “ Hire One
Y o u th ” is less a strategy to end
black joblessness than a program to
pacify the black ghetto while main
taining the process of capital accum
ulation within black America.
AFSC uncovers secret plans
P H ILA D E L P H IA — U.S. com
panies are involved in a secret plan
to help South Africa undercut inter
national trade sanctions, according
to a State Department cable released
under the Freedom o f Information
Act to the American Friends Service
Committee, it was disclosed today.
The cable gave few details but indi
cated that U.S. companies in the
white-ruled nation “ have already
made plans to camouflage their op
eration through subterfuges ar
ranged with affiliates in other coun
tries.” The document was revealed
in a new report on the arms embar
go and computer exports to South
Africa, released by the Quaker orga
nization in Philadelphia.
The new AFSC study, Automatic
Apartheid — U.S. Computer Ex
ports to South Africa and the Arms
Embargo, takes a critical look at the
loopholes in U.S. controls on ex
ports to South Africa and docu
ments the use of U.S.-supplied com
puters by the white supremacist gov
ernment. U.S. computer companies
“ virtually control the South African
computer market, a function which
allies them with the apartheid appa
ratus and involves them in the main
tenance o f white minority rule,” ac
cording to the AFSC research team
NARM IC (National Action/Re-
search on the Military-Industrial
Complex).
“ NARM IC has broken new
ground with Automating Apartheid
by ferreting out links between U.S.
corporations and Pretoria that have
never seen the light o f day,” wrote
Rep. William Gray III, PA, in a
foreward to the book.
The Quaker organization called
on the Reagan Administration to re
scind export regulations which allow
U.S. companies to do business with
the South African government, po
lice, military and arms-manufac-
turers.
"U .S . companies doing business
with South Africa say they are op
posed to the apartheid system. Yet
our research has turned up numer
ous cases which indicate that ad
vanced technology from the United
States is available to Pretoria’s gov
ernment, security apparatus and
military establishment,” said Thom
as Conrad, a staff researcher with
NARMIC.
• "C ontrol Data, IBM , Perkins-
Elmer, Sperry and Hewlett-Packard
have supplied hardware to South
A frica’s largest state-run research
facility which has been heavily in
volved in military work, including
missile research, computerized tar
get acquisition, and the develop
ment of poison gas, counter-insur
gency vehicles and fingerprint stor
age mechanisms.
• “ Since at least 1970, the South
African Department o f Interior has
stored details on seven million
South Africans classified as ‘Col
oureds,’ Asians and whites on a
computer provided by IBM which
serves as the basis for the ‘ Book of
L ife’ identity document (details on
Blacks for the passbook system are
stored on a British-made ICL com
puter). IBM, NCR and Mohawk
have also been helping computerize
South A frica’s white-controlled lo
cal government agencies.
• "Several o f Pretoria’s arms-
makers have computer installations
based on U.S. hardware. Among
the suppliers: Burroughs, NCR,
Data General, Hewlett-Packard,
IBM and Sperry.
• " A range o f U.S. security gear
is available on the South African
market, including a Westinghouse
microwave detector system, infrared
surveillance equipment from Barnes
Engineering and a computer-based
system to detect clandestine radio
transmitters made by Technology
for Communications International
of Mountain View, C A .”
In addition to spotlighting the
major U.S. computer companies in
South Africa, and providing a list of
the major known computer installa
tions in that country, Automating
Apartheid makes several specific
recommendations for tightening
and expanding U.S. controls on ex
ports to South Africa.
I hese include: I) a ban on sales to
the South African military, police,
government, and government front
groups; 2) a ban on sales of all m ili
tary-specification electronics and
equipment on the U.S. govern
ment’s Commodity Control List; 3)
an extension o f the export controls
to cover sales to South Africa from
U.S. subsidiaries in third-world
countries; 4, a requirement prohib
iting any export to South Africa un
less the U.S. exporter can prove that
the product has no potential m ili
tary or repressive application.
N ARM IC’s research into the flow
of high-technology equipment to
South Africa has spurred investiga
tions o f several corporations by the
State and Commerce Departments,
including Control Data, Burroughs,
IBM, Philips, Kistler and Telonic/
Berkeley.