Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 2, 1985)
Moses Malone Page 10 Hearty soups Civil rights Page 7 Page 2 Volume X V , Number 10 January 2 , I9K5 25c Copy 7 W fc Seel ion* W S «ft«»«» r isr « .. /*. ,«M Rev. Jackson to speak by Lamia Duke Most recently, Jackson assembled the Rainbow C o alitio n in his bid to win the Democratic presidential nom ination. G R A S S R O O T N E W S , N .W . — Jesse Jackson, recent presidential candidate for the Democratic nom ination, w ill be in our sister city — Seattle, W ashington — January 16, 1985, at the Paramount Theatre. Jackson will honor the memory of Dr. M artin Luther King, Jr. His ap pearance is at the in v ita tio n o f the Pacific Northwest Bell C entral C ity C om m unity Relations T eam . H e is the featured speaker at the Central City C .R . Team's seventh annual Dr. King Birthday Celebration. This years p ro gram , "R e n e w in g The D re a m ,” w ill be held at 6:30 p.m. at 907 Pine St. Tickets are avail able at no charge by sending a self- addressed. stamped envelope to: M L K T ic ke ts, P .O . Box 2027, Seattle, Washington 98101. "R e v . Jackson has done more to keep alive the dream o f D r. K in g ," said M ary M oore, Central City C .R . ^chairperson. " W e are honored that he has agreed to participate in our pro gram.’’ Karen LeVasseur, also o f P N W Bell, said, " W e wanted to do some thing special, and there is nothing as special as listening to Rev. Jackson.** Jackson gained n atio n al p ro m i nence in 1966 when he and others founded Operation Breadbasket. He Portland started the naw year w ith a naw City Council: (l-r) newly elected Commissioner Dick Bo- 9,e- Mike Lindberg, newly elected Mayor Bud Clark. Mildred Schwab and Margaret Strachan. (Photo: Dan Long) served as national director of the Sou thern Christian Leadership C o n fer ence from 1966 to 1971. In 1971 he New Right eyes anti apartheid movement by James Ridgeway W A S H I N G T O N , D .C . — A n t i apartheid dem onstrations have by now become a permanent feature o f the W ashington landscape. South A fric a has also been the focus o f events which are much less visible but may be fare more significant. This city still has not recovered from the sharply critical letter sent the South A fric a n am bassador by 35 conservative House m em bers, f o l lowed soon th ereafter by President Reagan's ow n c ritic a l com m ents. Ever since, conservatives have been arguing among themselves about the correct policy toward South Africa. Conservatives now dom inate the political scene here, but liberals have not disappeared. M ic h ig a n D e m o crat John C o n yers, an in flu e n tia l m ember o f the Black C aucus, has charged that current policies o f "con structive engagement" toward South A frica are, in effect, a cover for ac tions that encourage repression by the ruling white minority. In their letter, the 35 Republicans, many o f them " N e w R ig h tists ,” threatened to support economic sanc tions against South A fric a unless there was an im m ediate end to the current violence and "willingness to move more progressively and aggres sively towards real human rights re forms.** T he letter originated in the C o n servative O p p o rtu n ity Society, a group o f 15 New Right House mem bers, and was d ra fte d by R obert W alke r o f Pennsylvania, w ho con sulted w ith Black Caucus members before releasing it. T h e actio n u p staged later efforts by main-line Re publicans like Senators Richard Lugar and Nancy Kassebaum who w rote the President privately urging greater d ip lom atic effo rts but staying well clear o f a call for sanctions. O n the most obvious level. W a lk er’s letter is part o f a parliam entary g u e rrilla w ar being waged success fu lly by N ew t G in g rich and other COS members. They want to project an unconventional "firebrand" image to build a far broader political base than conservatives have ever im ag ined. Blacks are viewed as potential allies o f this new campaign Some conservatives also reason, more narrowly, that opposing apart heid is p o litic ally advantageous be cause it deflects criticism that the Right is racist. In foreign policy, the argument goes, such a position frees the New Right to vigorously back anti-communist forces in such places as M o za m b iq u e , A n g o la and N a mibia. And at home, it may provide some p olitical cover against liberal criticism s that e ffo rts to cut social spending hurt minorities. A ll in all, the C O S letter probably represents a drift toward pragmatism by people who now see themselves on the threshold of greater political pow er Certainly, the President felt prod ded to fo llo w . “ W e feel a m oral re sponsibility to speak out on this mat ter," he said on International Human Rights D ay, " t o emphasize our con cerns and our grief over the human and s p iritu a l costs o f a p a rth e id .” H e w ent on to say th at sometimes "quiet diplomacy is not enough.** Conyers’ charges followed hard on the President’ s speech. H e says the State Department is ignoring a 1977 arms em barg o, w hich the U n ited States has signed, and that the ad ministration has also permitted South A fric a to im p o rt equipm ent which can only be used for internal repres sion. But whether challenges come from liberals or conservatives, there is con siderable question as to whether eco nom ic ties between South A fric a and the United States can be changed. O pp o sitio n to the new right in i tiative, for example, came not from liberals but from corporations long linked to the region. By mid-Decem ber, ad hoc meetings were being held in Washington involving representa tives from the U.S. Chamber o f Com merce and the N a tio n a l Assn, o f M an u factu rers, as well as c o rp o ra tions like M o b il, Dresser In d . and C a te rp illa r. The executives quickly agreed to lobby as a group against proposals banning new investment, or bank loans, or imposing any re strictions on U .S . firm s in South Africa. Perhaps the most im p ortan t eco nomic relationship between the two countries is in the area o f minerals, which conservatives here have long argued are vital to our defense. For example, the Soviet Union and South A fric a are the w o rld ’ s largest producers o f manganese, essential in the manufacture of steel, and chrome, needed for the stainless steel so vital to armaments and aircraft. Shutting o ff South A frica, the argument goes, would leave the west to the mercies of the Soviets South A fric a is the w orld 's third «larg est producer o f u ra n iu m , and, again along with the USSR, the larg est producer o f platinum — used in catalytic converters and upgrading gasoline, both essential in U .S . e f forts to curb air pollution from auto mobiles. But on examination, the case is not so strong. Manganese is found else where — in B razil and even hard- to -fin d chrome exists in large if de clining deposits in Zimbabwe and in small low-grade deposits in Turkey, Pakistan and the Philippines. A c tu a lly , U .S . dependence on South A frica has grown not because o f its m ineral deposits but because U .S . firms have established refining operations there. Under the current setup, even if platinum were mined in U ta h it w ould have to be sent to South Africa for refining. Beyond this is a much larger ques tion — the lit tie-not ices rise o f South A fric a ’ s business as an independent element. Its mining companies have considerable global influence — the AngloAm erican C o rp ., for instance, owns the U .S -based Engelhardt M in erals C o ., w o rld ’ s largest precious metals firm. And South Africa’s third largest co rp o ratio n , the R o th m an / Rembrandt G roup, accounts for one in 12 cigarettes sold in the non communist world. In the past, the new conservatives have not been u nw illing to rally rhetorically against the "eastern busi ness establishm ent,” yet when push came to shove they lined up as loyal supporters o f big business interests in Congress. But with the apartheid issue com m anding so much atten tio n , some observers wonder if the game will have to be played according to new rules this time. Although he fell short of the nom in a tio n , Jackson rem ains a strong force in national politics. His speech at the Dem ocratic C o nvention was considered to be the highlight o f the year. JESSE JA C K S O N founded O peration P U S H (People United to Save Humanity). "Jackson has been instrumental in bringing many previously disenfran chised groups into the American po litical system," M oore said. " H e has brought hope to those who had none.” Jews oppose apartheid by Robert Lothian A coalition o f Jewish groups led the d em onstration in fro n t o f the South African embassy in Washing ton, D .C ., on Christmas Day. Representalivca o f the groups said they wanted to a ffirm the close ties between Jews and Blacks in the strug gle for justice and human rights, and to give C h ristian s involved in the demonstrations a day off. Somex:hanied Jewish prayers and carried menorahs (candle holders) m arking the celebration o f H an u k- kuh, an eight-day Jewish holiday. The seven-week-old d em o n stra tions have brought many arrests and are spreading across the country, but South African leaders appear as un moved as ever. One 61-year-old Jewish woman compared South A fric a ’ s leaders to Nazis. " A p a rth e id is precisely the same thing as the control o f Jews in the ghettos o f Europe by the Nazis," she said. "A s a Jew, I know what dis crim in a tio n and prejudice are all about. That's why I ’m here." P artic ip a tin g in the W ashington demonstrations were the Am erican Jewish C om m ittee, the New Jewish Agenda, the Jewish Labor C o m m it tee, and the Washington Association of Reformed Congregations. About 250 persons took p art (Condensed fro m the L .A . T im es-W ash in gto n Post Service). Sandy Polishuk, board member of the New Jewish Agenda in Portland, said " a lot o f our members are in volved” in the local demonstrations. The National group has endorsed the protests and the local group will discuss taking a stand in early Janu ary, said Polishuk " I certainly would like us to be associated w ith it. I would be surprised i f they didn’t en dorse it ," she said. She said her group received a piece o f hate m ail recently " fr o m people calling themselves fascists,” w ith a message that was an ti-Jew , an ti- Black. anti-gay and anti-communist. The Christm as dem onstration in Washington was in a long tradition of Jewish people volunteering on Christ mas to give Christians the day off. said Polish u k. New Jewish agenda members have been active in the Rain bow Coalition and in the Herb Caw thorne campaign, she added. A ttorney Beverly Stein, co-chelr of the Dem ocratic Soclallate of America end Pequlta L. Qaretee, student employee In the Bieck Stu dies Department end history ma|or at P.S.U ., receive citations after being arreeted tor treepeeelng at the business office of Calvin Van Pelt, who Is also the Honorary Consul to South Africa. Outside, about 60 people proteeted treatment by the minority white government of the country’s Bieck majority under the system of apartheid. (Photo: Rlcherd J. Brown) Sar related story ' 'AJncan an d Black A mencan connections'' on Page 4.
