Page 4 Portland Observer, October 26, 1983
EDITORIAL/OPINION
Ethnic politics in the E vil Empire
by Dr. Manning M arable
A common characteristic o f the
infantile mind is the lack o f subtle
ty, an inability to recognize distinc
tions. Politics in the real world is the
sum total of ideological, cultural
and social conflicts, rooted within
the economic organization of socie
ty. For the simplistic and the dog
matic, politics is reduced to a con
test between good vs. evil, black vs.
white.
Ronald Reagan and the leading
foreign policy advisers in his admin
istration clearly adhere to the infan
tile, dogmatic tendency o f political
discourse. Late last year, the Presi
dent stunned millions with a ram
bling and somewhat incoherent ad
dress delivered in Orlando, Florida
Dubbed the “ Darth Vadar” speech
by the media, Reagan lashed out
against the Red Menace, claiming
that the Soviets were responsible for
virtually every conflict in the world
today. Russia is an "E v il Em pire"
bent on world domination, the Pre
sident declared, squinting at his
frayed and yellowing J-by-5-inch
notecards. Since then, Reagan has
repeatedly declared that Central
American turmoil is fundamentally
the product o f Cuban and Soviet in
terference and subversion.
For veterans of the Civil Rights
Movement,
Reagan's
rantings
sound distinctly fam iliar. Whenever
historically oppressed people rise up
to challenge their oppressors Am eri
can reactionaries claim that C om
munism is the source o f the rebel
lion. When the sit-in movement
erupted twenty years ago, former
President Harry Truman denounced
desegregation as a "Communist
conspiracy.” When challenged by
M artin Luther King and Roy W il
kins, Truman admitted that he had
no proof. However, " I know that
Rainbow Coalition demonstrated
Today’s demonstration against the invasion
o f Grenada was a spontaneous, angry reaction
to the latest manifestation o f Reaganism. O r
ganized in less than 24 hours, it showed that
Portland is blessed with a group o f determined,
active, politically aware citizens who are in
touch with each other and who can work to
gether quickly and effectively.
More, the demonstration made plain that
there exists a coalition o f people—a Rainbow
Coalition—who are conscious o f the pressing
need to get Reagan out o f the White House in
’84.
A Rainbow Coalition? Yes— the crowd
spanned all racial hues. And the leading speaker
— Ron Herndon, a Black man—brought a Black
perspective to the invasion, pointing out that it
was the Reagan administration’s response to the
spectre o f a Black, English-speaking, liberation
movement.
This is the shape o f the coalition it w ill take to
beat Reagan—a Coalition spanning all the issues
o f the Rainbow it contains, with Black issues
and a Black perspective in the forefront.
Portland’s own Rev. John Jackson, in last
A p ril’s March Against Racism, was the first to
call attention to this Rainbow Coalition. And
another Jackson— the Rev. Jesse Jackson— is
the only politician o f national stature to publicly
recognize its existence and its significance in
beating Reagan.
Whether or not Jesse runs— he’s to say next
week— today’s action at the Federal Building
was an important step in showing the existence
and vitality o f the Rainbow Coalition in Port
land and in the United States.
W hy Grenada?
The brutal invasion o f a small Caribbean is
land with only 110,000 people, nearly all o f
them Black, by the powerful U.S. Marines is
blatant racism.
Accompanied by token troops from nearby
islands—all economic and political puppets o f
the U .S .— the Reagan adm inistration launched
this all out m ilitary attack on people who have
had independence for less than ten years, who
lived through a crim inal dictatorship imposed
by the British Empire, and who gained real
freedom and independence less than five years
ago.
Why? The people o f this small, poor island
are no threat to the U.S. or to its neighbors.
They have not forced out or nationalized U.S.
investments; they have welcomed U.S.
citizens.
What the Grenadians have done too well is
to serve as an example, an inspiration, to
Black people in the U.S. They achieved their
own liberation and used their resources to help
their people. They became the first liberated,
Black, English speaking nation in this
hemisphere. And that was their crime.
This is an invasion that strikes at every
individual in this country, especially those who
arc Black. It demonstrates that every progress
ive movement, every attempt at reform , w ill be
crushed by the might o f the U.S. m ilitary.
Following the expample o f Grenada, we
must seek our liberation and use our power to
end this murder and subjugation o f our
brothers and sisters around the world.
usually when trouble hits the coun
try the Kremlin is behind it ," he de
clared.
The vast majority o f ethnic and
national conflicts in the twentieth
century have nothing directly to do
with Soviet Communism. Indeed, if
recent experiences are reviewed, one
rinds a complex pattern o f religious
and national turmoil which is rooted
in the political and economic expan
sion o f ihe West into the Third
W orld.
Since early in the summer, Sri
Lanka (formerly Ceylon) has been
the scene o f brutal politcal violence
The largest national group, the Sin
halese, have pursued a policy of
genocide against the minority Tam il
community. Laws have been passed
restricting Tamils from decent jobs
and education, and Tam il farms are
being illegally seized for the Sinhal
ese. Probably one thousand Tamils
have been murdered in cold blood
this year, and tens of thousands are
homeless The Sinhalese-controlled
government has tortured its Tamil
critics, and poll, e bury bodies o f its
victims without any official in
quests.
The root of this violence is, how
ever, British colonialism. The Brit
ish brought the Tamils from India
originally 150 years ago to work on
their plantations. The Tamils were
then placed into the colonial govern
ment to dominate the majority Sin
halese population by (he British.
And English corporations still con
trol the lucrative tea trade in Sri
Lanka, and profit from the low
wages and terror which is created to
oppress local workers.
In other parts o f the world a simi
lar pattern emerges. In Northern
Ireland, the conventional view is
that religious differences are the ba
sic factor in the state's political un
rest. In fact, the origins o f the con
flict are found in England's eco
nomic and political exploitation of
the Irish nation, and the colonial
partition imposed there in 1921. In
Kenya, last month's parliamentary
elections shifted power away from
the dominant Kikuyu group, toward
the small Kalinjin and Kamba na
tionalities aligned with President
Daniel arap M oi. Although what the
West calls "trib alism " is a factor,
the real sources o f unrest in Kenya
are economic and political. The
country has the highest birthrate in
the world, a dictatorial regime allied
with the U.S. and England which
suppresses political dissent, and a
ruling Black elite which exploits the
peasant majority. In neither o f these
instances is political unrest fostered
or created by the so-called Red M en
ace.
Oppressed people will not remain
oppressed forever. Religious, cul
tural and social distinctions divide
natural allies from each other, as
they are individually exploited of
their human and economic re
sources by outside powers. But the
practical necessity for resistance has
overcome
historic
differences
among the exploited nations o f the
world.
Reaganites may still blame all
their troubles on the “ Evil Em
pire." Bui for a Black child growing
up in rural Mississippi, the Evil Em
pire is the United States. For w ork
ers in Jamaica under Ihe Reagan-
backed Seaga regime, for the pea
sants o f El Salvador, for the mine
workers in Chile under the bloody
military junta, and for our sisters
and brothers in South A frica— Ihe
Evil Empire is the United States.
South Africa pay-off scandal
(C ontinuedfrom page I, column 3)
provided with the free trips were
some of the nation's most powerful
and influential reporters, column
ists, and newspaper and magazine
editors.
•T h e South African government
purchased an interest in a chain of
more than 60 newspapers in the
U.S. to use as propaganda outlets in
this country for their own regime.
The South African government pro
vided more than $11 million in sub
sidies to Michigan newspaper pub
lisher John M cG o ff to increase the
holdings o f his newspaper company,
the Panax Corporation. Subse
quently, articles favorable to South
Africa appeared in publications
controlled by M cG o ff.
• Beurt and Cory SerVaas, the
two chief executives of The Satur
day Evening Post, entered into busi
ness deals engineered by the South
African government. Following the
business arrangements, The Satur
day Evening Post routinely wrote
favorably about South Africa In
some
instances,
the
magazine
printed articles written by paid
propagandists on the South African
government's payroll.
•The South African government
funneled a secret $900,000 to the
overseas enterprises o f Rev. Sun
Myung Moon and his Unification
Church in exchange for a part-in
terest in The Washington Times,
which is being published in the na
tion's capital.
•A fte r accepting a free trip to
South Africa from the government
there.
conservative
syndicated
columnist James Kilpatrick at
tempted to persuade U.S. govern
ment officials that there was no
basis for Justice Department investi
gations into the operations o f a
South African government front or
ganization.
And there is more. The National
Leader's 6,000-word story, being
printed over the next two issues, un
covers a wealth o f never-before pub
lished material linking U.S. citizens
and officials to unknown and ques
tionable links to the government of
South Africa.
The N ational Leader is available
at many newsstands. For a copy of
the next two special issues, how
ever, you may simply call (215) 563-
6688.
Crowd protests Grenada invasion__________
(Continued fro m page I, column 6)
Letters to the Editor
Understanding key to U.S./Soviet relations
To the editor:
In our relations with the Soviet
Union, we need to practice putting
ourselves in their position.
For example, between September
25 and October 5 the U.S. and Jap
an conducted joint military exercises
in Japan and the surrounding wa
ters, just o ff the Soviet Union's east
coast. This is a regular occurrence,
but this year’s exercises were the
largest ever, with Japan contribut
ing 150 ships, 117 aircraft and
JO,000 military personnel, and the
U.S. Seventh Fleet contributing ten
warships, two submarines, and an
undisclosed number o f aircraft
(Oregonian. September 23). I won
der how we would feel i f the Soviet
Union staged comparable military
exercises with Cuba in the Carib
ill
bean
Also, beginning next year, the
U.S. plans to base F-16 fighter-
bombers capable o f carrying nuclear
weapons in Japan and South Korea,
from where they will be able to
reach the Soviet Union. How would
we react if the Soviet Union based
such aircraft in Central America?
Meanwhile, on the other side of
the Soviet Union, we are getting
ready to install over 500 land-based
nuclear missiles capable of reaching
the Soviet Union, for the first time
since 1963. Some of these— the 108
super-accurate Pershing 2 interme
diate-range missiles— will be capa
ble of striking targets in the densely
populated western part o f the Soviet
Union within a matter of minutes
from their bases in, o f all places.
West Germany. I f the Soviet Union
were to install comparable missiles a
comparable distance from the U .S.,
I suspect that we would not stand
for it, as President Kennedy did not
when he learned o f the Soviet mis
siles in Cuba in 1962. It dismays me
that we are doing something to the
Soviet Union which we ourselves
might well regard as cause for war if
they did it to us.
Rupert Buchanan
The Observer welcomes Letters to
the Editor. Letters should be short,
and must contain the writer's name
and address (addresses are not p rint
ed). The Observer reserves the right
to edit f o r length.
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Franklin in order to avoid arrests
having to be made M ore than a
dozen protesters left (he office un
der the agreement that 15 could re
main to talk. As soon as only 15 per
sons remained Franklin said they
should meet with her in another
room— thus apparently violating the
agreement. The protesters remained
in the office and were taken, one by
one, to be arrested.
Then Senator Packwood called.
Once on the telephone, Packwood
simply repeated State Department
releases and restated his position
that "the U .S. Marines are at least
doing what they are trained to do
best— that is not what they are do
ing in Lebanon ”
Several media-persons were asked
to leave by Federal officers during
the course o f the continuous ex
change between Franklin and the
protesters. Reporters for the Port
land Stale Vanguard, the Portland
Observer, and the !L W C Dispatcher
were asked for their press cards.
Portland’s largest black-owned sewspaper.
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Portland Observer
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Asso. .ibón
m as," Herndon noted that the U.S.
is more afraid of the Grenadian rev
olution than those in Cuba or Nica
ragua because Grenada is 95 percent
Black and 100 percent English
speaking Speaking o f the Reagan
administration, he pointed out, " I f
they are so concerned with democ
racy then why aren't they sending
troops into South A frica?"
People began to move into the
Federal Building soon after Hern
don finished speaking. Their goal
was to enter Senator Packwood's
office and demand to speak with the
Senator by telephone. Once about
60 people had enetered the office
Federal officers blocked the door
way. For Ihe next two hours the
people in the office were threatened
with arrest, told that some could
stay, and then were in the process of
being arrested when the Senator
called.
An agreement had been reached
between the protesters and Pack
wood's
office
manager
Elaine
283 2486
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When none could be provided, the
reporters were told: "Y o u have a
choice: either you leave now or you
join them (the protesters).” A n O b
server reporter joined the protesters
and was one o f three prople being
placed under arrest when the Pack-
wood call came in.
The protesters disbanded shortly
after the conversation with Pack-
wood but promised to be back in
force at noon this Saturday in front
o f the Federal Building, 1220 S .W .
Third Avenue.
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