Era Frances Schoen-Nesspaper Rooa
U n iv e rs ity o f Oregon L ib ra ry
tugeno, Oregon 97403
Section I Page 4
Sect. II Page 3
Below
THE NEW
Crisis in
Zimbabwe
Selling
Oregon
Coup
in Iran?
PORTLAND OBSERVER
Volume XIII, Number 30
May 11, 1983
25C Per Copy
Two Sections
MX one step closer
The House Appropriations Com ­
mittee voied Wednesday to release
$560
m illio n
for
research,
deselopment and testing ol the M X .
The money was appropriated in
December but the A dm im siration
was barred from using it u ntil a
basing plan was approved.
The Reagan Administration says
the new multi-warhead, long-range
weapon is needed io survive a Soviet
attack, but the controversy over
siting the missile has extended over
several years. Currently, the plan is
to use Minuteman silos.
The N atio n al Security Council
Tuesday indicated that it might
emphasize warheads rather than
missiles in talks with the U .S .S .R .
Ml
(Photo: Richard Brown!
JESSE JACKSON
minds, money and vote. This is why
we must stay sober and sustain our
sp irit. You can expand your
economic options with money, but
you can be a solid person by staying
clean and helping people other than
yourself.”
Jackson believes the grassroot
populace has the power to beat the
national political machine the same
way that Harold Washington beat
the political machine in Chicago.
“ Harold Washington d id n ’ t beat
the machine all by himself. It took
seven hundred thousand people who
offered him their shoulders to stand
on. Way out here in Portland there
is some sense of alienation. But you
still are a part o f the national life
and there are eighteen m illion
eligible voters and only ten million
registered. I f some people are
reading this and they are in that
eight m illio n , they are letting the
rest of us down. Every vote counts.
Less than three million votes elected
three presidents in twenty years. So,
we must not allow people to break
our spirit and convince us that we
don’t count.”
He urged an alliance with whites
in the Pacific Northwest who are
interested in a new public policy and
morality. “ We did not overcome by
ourselves. In this area you have
whites with a profound interest in
the nuclear freeze movement. A ll
human beings ought to be interested
in that. Black people ought to
assume leadership in it. There are
people out here who know what it
means to re-industrialize, given the
heavy dependence on the lumber
industry. We should not create such
event the Soviet Union would nave
more nuclear warheads. All right,
we are prepared to reach agreement
on the equality of nuclear potentials
in Europe both as regards delivery
vehicles and warheads with due
account, of course, for the corre­
sponding armaments ol Britain and
France,
“ In other words, we stand for the
U.S.S.R to have no more missiles
and warheads mounted on them
than on the side of N A T O in each
mutually agreed period."
The count of warheads, rather
than missiles, is considered crucial
because it would remove first strike
potential. Theoretically, the nation
making the first strike would need at
least twice as many warheads as its
opponent in order lo prevent a retal­
iation strike
The House move is an attempt lo
tie funding for the M X to the
desired change in negotiations over
medium range missiles based in
Europe.
Coup in Iran?
I Am Somebody.
Crassrool News. N .W . — Re*.
Jessie Jackson, founder and presi­
dent o f P U S H (People U nited to
Save Humanity), addressed the 17th
Annual National M igrant Educa­
tion Conference. The possibility of
Jackson running as a presidential
candidate clung to every interpreta­
tion.
W ith the fiery o ratory and call
and response of a Southern Baptist
m inister, Jackson indicted the
Reagan administration for diluting
democracy. "The great sin in demo­
cracy is detachment. Democracy
does not guarantee domination but
it does guarantee access. It guaran­
tees opportunity. Whenever oppor­
tunity is threatened, democracy is
threatened___Democracy does not
guarantee a perfect choice. It guar­
antees a personal choice. When you
try you may fail; if you don’ t try
you are guaranteed to fail. That is
why we must run for every office
democracy makes available. In
running, you may lose the numbers
but you always gain your self-
respect. Nothing is more fundamen­
tal to learning than having a healthy
sense of, I Am Somebody!’ ”
Rev. Jessie Jackson remains a
folk hero to the dispossessed. In an
exclusive interview his message to
the grassroots was this, “ Life is dif­
ficult with reduced options. There
appears to be a lot o f indifference
towards poor people. And yet,
where there is life, there is hope. We
must use these two factors to their
maximum in order to bring about
change. No matter how far down
you are, you cannot justify doing
less than your best. We must use our
The President’ s move toward a
new
negotiating
position
is
reportedly a response to C o n ­
gressmen who want the change in
exchange for their support o f the
M X . The current emphasis on
numbers of launchers has led to the
production of missiles with multiple
warheads.
The Soviet Union has offered to
reduce its nuclear medium-range
forces in Europe to N A T O levels
and to include the numbers of war­
heads as well as missiles and air­
planes.
The U.S.S.R. had previously of­
fered to reduce its missiles to 162.
the number maintained by France
and Britain. This offer would also
reduce the number of warheads.
The Trench and British have about
300 warheads aimed at the U.S.S.R.
The U.S, plans to deploy 572 new
U.S. missiles in Western Europe by
the end of the year. The U.S. has
refused to count French and British
missiles and wants the U.S.S.R. to
remove all of its missiles in exchange
for a U.S. agreement not to deploy
its new missiles — the “ zero option."
Yuri Andropov said on May 3rd,
“ The Soviet Union has stated readi­
ness not to have in Europe a single
missile and a single plane more than
possessed
today
by
N A TO
countries. We are told that in this
hv Ed Mason
a sense of psychological isolation
that we cannot relate to other people
(Second in a series)
with similar interests."
In his address, Jackson said white
With a speed that has bewildered
male superiority is a threat to|
most observers Iran has quickly
America’s business status. “ While
moved to the political right.
we massaged our national ego and
The show-down between the two
got someone to go to the moon to
main factions of Iranian clergy, as
carry rocks into space, Japan and
reported last week, has come sooner
Germany were following the laws ot
than expected. It has come in the
supply and demand, making
form of a full-fledged coup d ' elate.
products for the real w orld. We
Although the government has done
have inferior and greedy manage
its best to keep a semblance of unity
ment at the highest level — an over
and cohesion there is little doubt
dependence on foreign sources of
energy. We are unable to compete in | that a coup has occured in Ira n ,
albeit a "palace coup” .
a free world market. Today, there is
There have been reports of major
a collapse in auto, steel, electronics,
defections, large scale arrests and a
lum ber, rubber and textiles. And
there were no migrants running any
o f those industries. W hite male |
superiority is a threat to the ability
of this nation to survive in the world
market."
W ith in the ideology o f black
political thought o f the 1980s is
P an-A frican ism .
Does
Jessie
Jackson believe we can relate this
philosophy to our urban setting?
"The basic point is to heighten our
national consciousness. We just
didn’t happen to be here. We are the I
original boat people. We arc
international people by definition.
Just as the Irish people relate to
Ireland and the Jewish people relate
to Israel, then black people likewise
ought to relate to Africa, it is signi­
ficant for the esteem of black Amer
¡cans and the geopolitical interest in
Am erica. When you consider the I
strategic value, size and resources of |
A fric a , it is significant. The most
I Please turn to Sect. ZZ Page 5)
pervasive m ilitary presence every­
where. Below are some of the main
events that came in the wake of last
week's crisis:
• While insuring the compliance
of many leaders of the Revolution­
ary G uard, the more recalcitrant
ones, numbering in the hundreds,
were detained.
• Iran's number two man, Aya­
tolla Rafsanjani, who is the speaker
of the Parlimcnt, was detained for a
few days until he came out condem­
ning
the
“ w orld-devouring”
Communists.
• The left-leaning Elellaal, Iran's
most widely read daily, was closed.
I t ’ s chief ed ito r, the in flu ential
A yato lla D o a 'i, was put under
arrest.
• Over 60,000 Communists were
brought into custody.
Analysis
• Many reforms instituted after
the revolution were reversed.
Already there are reports that
thousands of the urban poor have
been evicted from the luxurious
hotels and mansions they had
occupied for the last four years.
There also are widespread rumors
that the government is getting ready
(Please turn lo page 4 col. I)
M inority set-aside under attack
The minority set-aside in the law
providing a raise in the federal gas
tax is already under fire across the
nation. The gas tax provision, ex­
pected to raise $71 billion in the next
four years for highway construction,
road repair and mass transit, carries
a 10 percent requirement for small
businesses owned and controlled by
“ socially and economically disad­
vantaged individuals." Most of the
qualifying companies are minority
owned.
Transportation Secretary Elizabeth
Dole will decide in May whether to
ask for modifications in the rule.
Complaints are coming from states
that have low numbers of minorities,
rural states such as Idaho and Utah,
but also from states with high
m inority populations. Several
southern states claim they do not
have sufficient numbers o f black-
owned companies to meet the pro­
vision.
Many large contractors, who, as
prime contractors will be required to
use minority subs, say there are just
not enough minority sub-contractors
available. These contractors, many
of whom have fought every effort to
assist the development of minority
contractors, now say they fear the
development of many dummy com­
panies that w ill operate as fronts
and (hat law suits and investigations
will delay work.
Representative Barren Mitchell,
sponsor of the 10 percent require­
ment, ridiculed the notion that suf­
ficient m inority businesses do not
exist. Many minority construction
companies are dying due to lack of
w ork, he said M in o rity firms do
not have to be in roadbuilding to
q ualify, he said. They can be law
firm s,
food
concessionaires,
suppliers, architects, accountants,
etc.
Rep. Mitchell said a similar pro­
vision in the 1977 Public Works Bill
was highly successful.
The U .S . D epartm ent o f C om ­
merce’s Minority Business Develop­
ment Agency lists 27,000 minority
businesses in 95 metropolitan areas.
Minority firms have been getting
a larger piece o f the U .S . D epart­
ment of Transportation funds than
in past years, but minority business
contracts in the fiscal year ended
September 30, 1982, totaled about
$415 m illio n , or approxim ately 5
percent of the $8 billion in highway
contracts awarded. For the 1980-
1981 fiscal year, the figure was about
half that.
(Please turn lo Seel ZZ page 5)
While U.S. makes war, Latin American ecomomies crumble
V V I I I I WX
•by Nelson Valdes
Pacific News Service
The Reagan Administration clear­
ly believes that the fate of all Latin
America hinges on who governs
Central America, as was evident in
the President’s decision to state his
policy case before an unusual joint
session of Congress. The battle lines
between capitalism and communism,
he argues, have been drawn in the
jungles of El Salvador. Guatemala.
Nicaragua and Honduras.
Yet the series of food riots which
rocked Sao Paulo. Brazil, and La
Paz, Bolivia, in early April may be
much mofe accurate indicators of
what the future holds in store for
Latin America. From Mexico to
Argentina, the entire region is con­
fronted today by its most profound
and widespread social and economic
crisis since the Depression. Il poses
far more dangers than the political
conflict in Central America.
In 1982. the overall gross national
product of Latin America registered
negative growth, something which
had not occurred in more than 40
years. Every country was affected,
regardless of its social or political
structure.
Military dictatorships fared worst;
Chile's economy declined by 13
percent, Uruguay's by 9.5 percent,
Bolivia's by 7.5 percent and Argen­
tina's by 5 percent. But civilian
democracies did little better. Costa
Rica, in fact, rivalled the dictator­
____ ______
ships with a negative growth rate ot
6 percent. While some others enjoyed
small economic advances — Brazil.
Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and the
Dominican Republic — population
growth rates mitigated net improve­
ments. The highest growth rate in
Latin America during the last two
years occurred in Cuba, where the
explanation lies less in the social
system than it does in Havana's
isolation from the troubled global
market.
Most troubling is the fact that the
economic giants of the region —
Brazil, Mexico and Argentine — are
in especially serious trouble, and
show few prospects of shaking it.
Each of these nations must over­
come a similar set of difficulties in
s .
the ____
present crisis: t The
international
recession has led to lower commodity
prices, and a reduction in the demand
for Latin American products But in
the meantime, the cost of imported
goods has risen. The results are
serious trade deficits.
Last year, the cumulative value of
Latin American exports declined by
10 percent, while the price of prod­
ucts from developed countries
climbed seven percent. Countries
depending on one product, as the
Dominican Republic docs on sugar,
for instance, experienced a trade
decline of nearly 53 percent.
As income from exports drops,
purchasing power necessarily suffers.
Latin Americans are forced to buy
less and pay higher prices: Argentina
t it« its im
norts in in half.
has m cut
imports
half, Chile
Chile bv
by
39 percent, Mexico by 38 percent
and Bolivia by 31 percent.
Nevertheless, in 1982 Latin Amer­
ica marked up a total deficit of $14
billion in its balance of payments.
To meet these debts its countries
have sought more and more loans
from international financial institu­
tions. both private and public. Cur­
rently, the entire region must pay
$34 billion yearly for interest and
principal on outstanding loans. The
accumulated debt has reached $274
billion, and is growing by about 10
percent annually.
In 1976, 48 cents of every dollar
Latin America borrowed went to
pay old debts; today it is more than
85 cents. In effect, the region now
borrows only
only to pay the interest on
borrows
previous loans.
Costa Rica has defaulted on the
payment of some loans. Mexico,
Argentina, Venezuela. Ecuador,
and Cuba had to renegotiate with
lending agencies when they lost
their capacity to pay. Brazil, Chile
and Peru have been forced to request
special contingency funds, and
Bolivia has been unable to resched­
ule its debt. In any case, rcschedul
ing merely delays the breaking point.
On April 8, the Fifth Ministerial
Meeting of the Group of 77, which
represents
the
underdeveloped
countries at the United Nations,
issued a document describing this
situation as a “ time bomb.” The
(Please turn lo page 4 column I)