Page 2 Portland Obaarvar, January 11.1 « 4
U.S. policy'self-fulfilling prophecy'
by K o b trl Lotfuan
Larry Boyd, a journalist and
former Portland resident who has
been living in Nicaragua for four
years, says the U .S . policy toward
Nicaragua is having an effect just
the opposite from what it intends.
“ U .S . policy results in a self-ful
filling prophecy,” in helping to con
solidate the revolution, he said dur
ing a talk at Portland State. The
U .S . economic blockade, the C IA -
financed border war and the threat
o f intervention are keeping the spirit
o f the revolution iiltact, according
to Boyd. Nicaragua’s population is
rallying under the threat, he said,
and pushing revolutionary changes
leu than 6,000. They have been able
to generate a small folowing, ac
cording to Boyd, by telling peasants
things like, "T h e Cubans are going
to come and carry your children
away to Cuba and turn them into
through.
" T h e Sandinistas say that U.S.
imperialism is going to invade and
kill us. I t ’s causing programs o f the
revolution to happen faster,” in
cluding land reform , said Boyd. The
government gives land to the pea
sants and says, " H e re ’s your land,
here's your rifle, now defend your
land,” and the peasants are rallying
behind the Sandinistas, he said.
Peasants who had moved back
into the hills are moving back down
to form cooperatives and commu
nities, according to Boyd. "T h e y ’re
being socialized,” he said.
Nicaragua is "experimenting with
every kind of organizational fo rm "
in setting up a socialized agricultural
system, including large cooperative
farms, peasant buying co-ops and
state-subsidized
fam ily
farms.
"T h e y haven’t settled on one model
y e t," said Boyd.
Land which lays fallow can be re
distributed to those who need it a f
ter they go through a petition pro
cess, he said. Peasants who get land
are not allowed to subdivide it, and
"T hey can’t sell I t ," he said— but it
can be passed on to fam ily mem
bers.
Peasants who make up the bulk
o f the contra forces, said Boyd, are
the victims o f “ religious-based,
counterrevolutionary propaganda."
Contras numbers are greatly exag
gerated. he said, and probably total
athicsts.”
Such tactics aren’ t successful with
many people, said Boyd. “ The Con
tras have no organization inside the
country.” he said. "T h e re ’s no way
they will be able to overthrow the
Nicaraguan government."
The border war is probably the
best known "secret w ar” ever, he
said. " W e know w hat’s happening
The Nicaraguans know what's hap
pening. But all you get from the
State Department is ‘ N o com
ment.’ "
He added that the much-publi
cized Kiuinger C o m m iu io n ’s re
port, as reported in the New York
T im a , recommends continued U.S.
aid to the Contras. It also asks for
$400 million in military aid for El
Salvador for 1984 1985. a three fold
increase over I98J, and for reopen
ing military aid to Guatemala.
Boyd likened the situation to " a
giant elephant with its head in
W uh in g to n and its tail down there.
I ’m supposed to report to you, how
much and how hard it h its."
W hat those in foreign countries
must do, he said, is "lo o k and de
cide whether it's a good or a bad
government," and ask whether the
U.S. has the right to try and over
throw that government.
Boyd said that solidarity efforts
like the W itn e u for Peace program
and the international coffee bri
gades are constructive ways for
North Americans to support Nicara
gua.
Witness for Peace volunteers, he
said, go "rig ht into the heart o f the
trouble” for two-week shifts to pro
tect the Nicaraguans from Contra
attacks, and the Nicaraguans are
"very excited” about the program.
Boyd said the Sandinistas are just
now beginning to try and solve
problems o f racism and national mi
norities. Racism involving Indians
and Blacks on the Atlantic coast
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wasn't considered a big problem in
the past, he said, because the Sandi
nistas thought o f the entire popula
tion as poor and needing help equal
ly-
Meskito Indians, he said, have a
long history o f "being suspicious of
Spanish-speaking people with guns"
dating to the time of the Spanish
conquest. Now, he said, “ they want
both the Sandinistas and the Con
tras to go aw ay.”
Boyd described Honduras, on N i
caragua's northern border, as a
"very sad. pitiful country."
"People there are not accustomed
to having a voice in the govern
ment," said Boyd. There's not much
o f an organized opposition, he said,
and no one speaks out. “ The H o n
durans are used to being dominated
by the U .S ., and most people think
that’ s the way it’s supposed to be.”
Most Hondurans "really don’t
care" about the Contras on their
border. " T h e y ’re pretty apathetic."
said Boyd.
"T h e re’s not much Nicaragua can
do about it ," when it is accused of
being subversive influence in the re
gion, according to Boyd. "W hen
Nicaraguan peasants get land for
free, that’s subversive” to dictator
ships in El Salvador, Guatemala and
Honduras, he said.
Wood heads PCC craft program,
Northeast Portland resident C liff
Wood has been named supervisor of
the Professional Crafts Program at
Portland Com m unity College ef
fective immediately.
According to Bob Hilger, who ad
ministers separate projects for PCC ,
W ood's duties will include setting
up new training programs for dis
abled veterans and injured workers
in Oregon and southwestern Wash
ington.
The Professional Crafts Program
is a statewide program whereby
P C C contracts directly with employ
ers who retrain injured workers.
"W o o d will work directly with stu
dents and be responsible for approv
ing the various training sites state
w ide," says Hilger. Over J00 stu-
dents currently are enrolled in the
program.
"T h e Professional Crafts Pro
gram has been around for quite a
w hile," says W ood. " I t ’s just been
on the back burner." He explains
that the college is now in the process
o f directing more resources into the
program.
One of the ways W ood believes
the program will attract more parti
cipants s through working with
high school students. "There are a
number of students who don t feel
comfortable about going on to col
lege." he says. "1 want to identify
the student who doesn’t want to
handle the English-math-science sit
uation but who would feel com fort
able in a crafts type setting. There’ s
a good future in that fie ld ."
A native o f Washington, D .C .,
Wood first came west on a basket
ball scholarship to a small college in
Wyoming. He transferred to Pacific
University during his third year of
college and later participated in the
B-2 program through Oregon State
University, training out o f Adams
High School.
He coached junior varsity at
Roosevelt High School and worked
for two years in Portland grade
schools. H e’s worked at Portland
Community College since 1977,
most recently as a job developer and
counselor through the Refugee Em
ployment Program at the Ross
Island Center.
________ CUFF WOOD_________
Portland NAACP
features Miner
Darrell M illn er, chairman o f the
Portland State University Black
Studies Department, will speak at
the Portland Branch N A A C P meet
ing this Sunday. M illn er’» talk will
focus on his work in multi-ethnic
education and ways citizens can
contribute. He w ill also discuss Dr.
M artin Luther King’s contribution
to Black Studies.
Dr. M illner has lived in Portland
since 1970, coming to Portland
from Southern C alifornia to work
in the Teacher Corps Program at
Jefferson High School and to com
plete doctoral studies in Curriculum
and Instruction at the University of
" It All Started on a Bua” la the thama of a Trl-
Mat/Scanner
sponsored
campaign
calling
attention to the fact that Dr. Martin Luther King’s
Involvement In the Civil Rights Movement began
In Montgomery Alabama In 1MB when Rose Perks
refueed to take a seat In the beck of the bus.
School District. City and Tri-Met officials road
the bus to King Neighborhood facility to honor
King. There Mayor Ivancle proclaimed Dr. Martin
Luther King week In Portland end Jim Loving.
Facility director, announced the commleelonlng of
a plaque of King for the Facility.
(Photo: Richard J. Brown)
Oregon.
He has been a member o f the
Black Studies faculty at Portland
State since 1974. teaching courses in
Afro-Am erican History, A fro -A m
erican Literature, and A fro -A m eri
can Oregon History.
Since 1978 he has been involved
with the community based efforts to
upgrade the treatment o f Black and
other ethnic experiences in the
public schools. This involvement
evolved this year into the assign
ment to revise the School District's
basic curriculum documents from
the inclusion o f multi-ethnic and
multi-cultural inform ation as well as
the design of related teacher-train
ing activities.
The meeting will be held at the
M t.
Sinai Comm unity
Baptist
Church, 602 N .E . Prescott, 4:00
p .m ., Sunday, January 15th.
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