Page 4 Section I Portland 0 beery er, May 4, 1963
EDITORIAL/OPINION
The three groups have determined to work to­
gether on a legislative program that includes: the
medically needy bill; two-parent A D C ; South
Africa divestment; the deadly force bill; a home­
stead exemption for property tax relief; and op­
position to the sales tax.
O ther groups who support the co alitio n ’s
"Grassroots Legislative Agenda” are invited to
join the coalition, even though their political
Catholic
philosophies and methods of action may be dif­
ferent.
The unhappy truth is that too often the inter­
est groups that can finance smooth-talking lob­
byists backed by volumes of research have the
greatest influence in the legislature. The poor
and oppressed, and the organizations that work
to assist them, are not able to compete with
money. Therefore, those most in need o f the
help and protection of the State are left without
a voice.
The new coalition—and those who will j o i n -
can become a powerful force for the poor and
dispossessed.
¡shops lead offensive
The C atholic Bishops o f the United States
have come out with a strong statement against
nuclear weapons, calling for a halt to testing,
building or deploying these weapons.
The Bishops call the potential to destroy the
world a moral issue and state their obligation to
speak out as pastors and peacemakers.
Whether the Catholic people of this country
will accept this as a mandate for action is yet to
be seen, but if they do, they can be a powerful
force for peace. Already, one Bishop is inter­
preting it to mean that a Catholic in the armed
services should refuse to use a nuclear weapon.
“ T h e ‘ new m o m e n t’ which exists in the
public debate about nuclear weapons provides
a creative opportunity and a moral imperative
to exam ine the relationship between public
opinion and public policy,” the Bishops said.
T h a t root is the very fo u n d a tio n o f our
g o vern m en t. The E x a m in a tio n should be
extended to opposition to all U.S. military and
covert action, whether in C entral A M e ric a ,
Afghanistan, Asia or the Middle East.
bv M anning M arvble
P a n I o f a Two P a n Series
Historic coalition first step
A significant coalition was formed last week
by the Black United Front, the Albina Minister­
ial Alliance and the Citizens Party to support
legislation in the Oregon Legislature.
Crisis in Zimbabwe
m ilitary; Congress is divided. I f the religious
people of the United States are to have any in­
fluence over the future now is the time to act.
What better witness to the power of God than
an outpouring of action against war?
It is imperative that the Protestant churches
and the Jewish synagogues follow suit. W hile
the churches teach love, peace and justice, their
members cooperate to promote an arms race
that can only lead to the destruction of all hu­
In recent months. the American
media has delivered a grim eulogy
for the "democratic experiment” o f
Zimbabwe. The government of
Prime Minister Robert Mugabe has
received intense criticism from the
right and, not surprisingly, from
some elements o f the left sympathet­
ic to Mugabe's rival Joshua Nkom o,
leader o f the opposition Z A N U
party. Over a thousand people have
been killed since December in the
fighting between the nation's two
major ethnic groups, the majority
Shona and the minority Ndebele.
Western aid and investment in Z im ­
babwe has been halted; reporters
and opponents o f Mugabe's dom i­
nant Z A P U party talk of the creation
o f a "black police state."
N o analysis o f Zimbabwe's pres­
ent crisis is possible outside o f a brief
review o f the fundamental historical
burden facing all African nations
today: the legacy o f colonialism and
systemic underdevelopment by the
capitalist West. The brutal realities
can be summed up in a brief set o f
statistics: 22 o f the 30 poorest na­
tions in the world are in black Africa;
from 1970-1980. the economies of
eight black nations sharank, and
the combined debt of all 30 countries
in these years soared by 1000 per­
cent; only 3 countries currently
grow enough food to feed their
indigenous populations. Even W all
Street Journal
noted
recently,
" A fric a is a continent o f poor soils
and unfriendly climates. Markets
arc too small and scattered to sup­
port local manufacturing. Distances
are too vast for effective transporta­
tion and communication. . . . Africa's
economies are based on external
demand, on prices set by the West
for raw materials that, with few
exceptions, can be bought from any
number o f sellers.” None o f the
countries "m ake the manufactured
goods the others need. None of them
want the weak, overvalued currencies
o f their neighbors. And it's cheaper
anyway to buy maize and sugar,
manity.
The President is pushing for additional nu­
clear arms and an overall strengthening o f the
O n Saturday, April 30th, the
annual March Against Racism spon­
sored by the Black United Front
ended in a rally outside the M artin
l.uther
King
Center.
Several
speakers delivered talks and urged
us to keep on svorking against
racism.
During one of the talks, a speaker
used the phrase "quiet as a prosti­
tute in church," referring to the
M ayor of Portland's lack o f sup­
portive
statements
during
the
Harriet Tubman controversy. A l­
though I certainly understand the
speaker's point in making that state­
ment, I believe the speaker does
prostitutes a disservice to talk about
them in that way, and in the same
breath as Portland's M ayor who is
using his persecution o f prostitutes
as a main clement o f his "w ar on
crim e."
A prostitute can mean a woman
or man who sells their services as a
sexual partner for money. A prosti­
tute can also mean a person who
"sells out” some principle they
believe in in order to make money.
Sometimes there is a fine line be­
tween
normal
everyday
compromises we make to survive
and the prostitution o f our souls.
Prostitution in this second sense is
clear when we, for example, lake a
job m a corporation which directly
does substantial business with the
upartheid, racist country of South
Africa.
■A. M H l •
In
this
larger
sense
of
"prostitute" we may well find many
people who have sold out their
beliefs and principles and yet who
have the audacity to speak up in
church. However, women who by
circumstance are in the "business”
of prostitution are expected to keep
quiet. I have been told that St.
Paul's exhortations for women to
keep quiet in church were made in
order to prevent a small group of
women, ritual pagan prostitutes,
from speaking.
W ith all due
deference to St. Paul, why did he
not enjoin all men to not speak,
since some men, and not a small
group I am guessing, used the ser­
vices o f those prostitutes?
Again, with all due deference (I
certainly like that phrase "w ith all
due deference," don't I?) to the
speaker at the rally last Saturday,
his use o f the phrase "quiet as a
prostitute in church” was really an
ironic use. for there were present at
the rally men who have often
spoken in churches, who I know
have used the services of prostitutes.
I'm not guessing. I know. That
speaker may well know, too.
I think that all persons, within the
rules o f their religions, ought to be
able to speak in their churches.
Those o f us who are Christians
especially ought to recall that Christ
had to rebuke the apostles who were
scandalized by Mary Magdalene
wiping Christ's feet with her oil and
her hair. Christ was honored by
by Margaret M oore
Mary Magdalene's honest display of
respect for him. Christ in fact had
strong silent protest for those who,
in another incident reported in the
new testament, would “ judge,” and
even stone, the woman with “ many
husbands.”
I offer this letter as a request to
that speaker at the rally, and to
others who have used this phrase, to
think about the meaning o f what
they are saying. Speakers might use
instead the phrase "quiet as a
general at a peace rally" or perhaps
the somewhat longer but descriptive
phrase, "quiet as a politician when
old people freeze and children go
hungry.”
Rose Gangle
Girls die
Re: Apnl 27 article on Res . Herbert
Daughtry. There is a wealth o f sad
truth in Rev. Daughtry's statement
( " A black child in America has a
one in two chance of being born in
poverty. He is twice as likely as a
white baby to die during the first
year of life. I f a black child survives
his first year, the odds are against
him growing up healthy, wealthy or
wise.” ). However, his perhaps un­
consciously sexist language under­
lines an important qualifier to the
scenario: I f " h e " is in fact a "she” ,
her chances for success are even
more slim.
Jennifer E. Micheeu
Portland Observer
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Legislation to create an Oregon
Civil Conservation Corps is being
considered in committee in Salem.
Rick Bauman, District 11, M ultno­
mah County, Stale House o f Repre­
sentatives, is actively supporting this
legislation, known as House Bill
2757. There has been very little pub­
licity on this important issue, which
suits the soft drink industry just Tine,
because a one-cent tax on each con­
tainer of soft drink sold will be levied
to fund this program.
But it is not in Oregon's best in­
terest to turn away from this pro­
gram. The reasons for this lie in two
currently neglected areas o f concern
which this program will address: one
is the care-taking o f the state's natu­
ral, historical and cultural resources
which are now being neglected tie-
cause there is insufficient money to
spend in the area o f conservation.
The other is providing a means for
employment, social contribution and
economic independence for young
adults, ages 18-23, so many of
whom are dead-ended in their lives
because o f the lack o f jobs.
The proposed O C C C is modelled
on its highly successful predecessor
of the New Deal in the thirties, which
helped numerous young Americans
to make it through the Depression,
and provided substantial assistance
maintaining and improving resource
areas throughout the country. I f all
the people whose lives were positively
influenced by the New Deal C C C
would write one letter each to their
legislators or newspaper, that would
result in an impressive amount of
mail.
Today the economic situation is
similarly dreary, and it is especially
difficult for the young, inexperienced
worker who is at the bottom o f the
hiring list when older, more mature
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Western investment and technical
services are to some degree a neces­
sary and inevitable aspect o f devel­
opment, even under Marxist govern­
ments. Thus in recent months, for
instance. Mozambique has invited
technicians from U.S. and Dutch
companies to bid for oil concessions
under agreements which guarantee
50 percent of the profits to the state.
Specialists from France, Brazil, East
Germ any, Sweden and the Soviet
Union are prospecting for new coal
reserves, which are currently esti­
mated at 300 million tons. Star-Kist
Foods o f C alifornia recently met
with M aputo officials to initiate
fishing activities along the Indian
(K ean coastline. Zimbabwe is thus
following the path charted in part
by both Angola and Mozambique.
To date, there has been only one
major firm from the U .S ., the Heinz
corporation, which has established
an important factory since indepen­
dence. Zimbabwe's pressing need
for foreign exchange and for the
development o f a local industrial
and commercial infrastructure must
o f necessity involve relations with
the capitalist West.
Agricultural reconstruction in
Zimbabwe has been agonizingly
slow, but steady. Three years ago,
6,000 Rhodesian white settlers con­
trolled over one h alf o f Zim babwe*'
farmland. Under the Mugabe gov­
ernment, five million acres o f land
has been sold or seized, and then
given to 20,000 Black families. By
1985. the whites will control roughly
one quarter o f the land, and another
162,000 African families will re­
ceive farmland. As African journal­
ist Jean-Francois Lisee has noted,
"p rim ary education is compulsory
and free, and there are twice as
many children in classrooms now
than in white Rhodesia. Free medical
care for the poor has been intro­
duced, and, while doctors are in
short supply, rural women are being
trained in first aid and preventive
care."
At the highpoint o f white hege­
mony, about a quarter million whites
lived in Rhodesia. Since 1980, about
75,000 whites left in 1982 alone.
Mugabe has attempted to enduce
whites with administrative, agri­
cultural and technical skills to remain
in the country. Even today, most
white families maintain a host of
servants, and profit from a standard
o f living which in African terms can
only be described as decadent. To
ensure that their wealth remains
inside Zim babwe, the government
insists that an emigrating white take
only (1 ,0 0 0 in money and no furni­
ture.
Like other African Marxists,
Mugabe is desperately attempting to
improve the socio-economic condi­
tions for the masses while m aintain­
ing the necessary environment for
Western investment on a cooperative
basis. Given the destabilizing role o f
South Africa, the IM F , and the
presence o f many white settlers from
the ancient regime, it is a difficult
task.
Salem Update
Letters to the Editor__________
Objections to 'prostitute' use
bicycles and hoes from the West
than from each o ther."
The International Monetary Fund
has meted out its most severe
"m edicine" to the new African
regimes. Under IM F pressure, notes
the Journal, "Z im babw e devalued
its dollar by 20 percent in recent
months. It has frozen wages and
raised the price o f maize, its staple
food, by 40 percent. Suden devalued
the pound, introduced incentives on
its stale farms and raised the price
o f sugar The list goes on: Kenya,
Botswana, Zam bia, M alaw i, the
Ivory Coast, all o f them are acceding
to the IM F . " Zim babw e’s acquies­
cence to IM F demands followed a
series o f economic problems. Many
African workers’ salaries were in­
creased by one-third to two-thirds
after independence, while white pro­
fessionals earning above (20,000
had (heir wages frozen. The eco­
nomic recession o f 1982, a severe
drought which reduced agricultural
output and the decline o f gold prices
produced a burgeoning balance of
payments deficit. The growth rate
of Use G N P declined from 15 percent
in 1980 to only 2 percent in 1982.
(T h e Observer welcomes Letters
to the Editor. They must be signed
and include the writer's address. W e
reserve the right to edit for length.)
people arc competing for the same
jobs. The O C C C offers an opportu­
nity for young people to work, and
work hard, for minimum wage.
M ore than that, it offers a w ork­
living situation that insists on per­
sonal responsibility, self-discipline
and, for those who have not yet
completed their high school educa­
tion, mandatory study in the evening
toward getting their G E D .
California has had a Civil Conser­
vation Corps since 1976 and it is
paying back almost double in services
what it is costing the state to fund it.
Their motto is "H a rd W ork, Low
Pay, Miserable W orking Condi­
tions.” Given young people’s repu­
tation for idleness, why should they
even be interested in such a pro­
gram? Because chronic idleness is
not a human being's natural response
to the world. Sitting around on your
fanny day after day, with no future
goals, is boring and anxiety-produc­
ing. People need to feel there is a
place for them to do work that has
some end result to which they can
point with pride. It is only when
such opportunity is not available
that people become lazy, resentful
and anti-social. This situation is
often "relieved" by uncontrolled
use o f drugs and by activity in
criminal behavior which both pays
for the drugs and is a demonstration
o f contempt for an indifferent soci­
ety. While these ills can and do affect
people o f all ages, we need to be
particularly concerned for our young
people because they are particularly
vulnerable to a sense o f personal
failure, a sense that they are unim­
portant. Self-esteem, once experi­
enced, is a powerful force in the rest
o f one's life.
But self-esteem comes not from
hand-outs, but from accepting
challenges and accomplishing things
that have a recognizable purpose,
and that in return provide economic
sustenance and social support.
Can we in Oregon afford to turn
our backs on this kind of opportuni­
ty? The O C C C will affect all o f us.
Besides the young people and their
worried families, it affects those
who use wilderness areas and recrea­
tion areas, those who are concerned
with preserving endangered species,
not to mention roads and trails, those
who mav eed flood, drought or
storm rt
and assistance, those
who are
d of seeing vandalism,
pollution
d decay. Even those
whose lives will be complicated by
administering the one-cent tax must
perceive that the extra effort on their
part has a purpose and meaning. It
is something they can point to with
pride.
Is Oregon going to get a CCC?
Right, it looks dubious. There is
lobbying going on in Salem by those
who can " a ffo rd " to persuade legis­
lators that this piece of legislation is
unnecessary to the well-being o f the
state, meaning they don't want to
have to deal with it.
W ho will speak up for this pro­
gram? It is up to us who still believe
that government exists to provide
for the economic and social well­
being of its citizens. Letters, phone
calls, pulpcts all have their impact.
But we must do it — now!
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