The Guilfordian
Guilford College, Greensboro, N.C.
Korean Policy Condemned
by Jon Hiratsuka
Jan. 16--America's attempt
to make South Korea into a
model of democracy has
brought the Korean people
nothing but repression and
poverty, Nicola Geiger told a
group of students and faculty
in the choir room of Dana
Auditorium.
Mrs. Geiger, a Quaker, has
been to Korea many times and
knows many Korean activists
personally. In an evening
lecture Mrs. Geiger bore
witness to Korea's recent
history of widespread repres
sion and worsening economic
conditions. She accompanied
her talk with slides of tanks,
troops, imprisoned resistance
leaders, wretched market
places, and slums.
Mrs. Geiger expounded on
the denial of civil liberties in
Korea. Backed by the military
and the Korean CIA, South
Korean President Park prac'
tices one man rule.
Through "state of emer
gency provisions," he has
imprisoned numerous indivi
duals, given judicial power to
the military, censored the
press, and periodically closed
the universities. Student
demonstrations are punish
able by death. It is illegal to
petition for revision of the
current Korean Constitution,
an act which allows Park
almost unlimited power.
Such repression is possible
only because of massive U.S.
military support, Mrs. Geiger
See related Story Page S
said. America has spent 35
billion dollars on Korea since
World War 11, and 38,000
American troops remain in
Korea today.
Many Americans feel they
are protecting South Korean
democracy against Commu
nist aggression from the
North, but Mrs. Geiger
suggested that economic
interests largely account for
American involvement in
Korea and all of East Asia.
Mrs. Geiger quoted from a
National Security Council
report which described the
East Asian nations as
essential sources of rubber,
tin, and other raw materials.
The report also said these
countries would serve as
markets for the goods of
industrialized nations, and as
locations for investment.
Given its strategic and
economic interests, the United
States seeks to control the
East Asian nations as
satellites, Mrs. Geiger said.
She also criticized Japan for
acting as a "junior partner" of
the U.S. in this venture.
Japanese owned industries in
Korea exploit teenage work
ers.
Mrs. Geiger asked concern
ed people to write their
Senators and congressmen
and urge them to cut off
military aid to Korea until free
elections are held and civil
liberties restored.
Cont. on Page 7
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Dr. Husscini | left | discusses Philosophy with a Greensboro Zionist
Palestinian Speaks at Guilford
By David Green
Thursday night January
16th Dr. Hatem Husseini,
First Secretary of the Arab
Information Center in Wash
ington, D.C., spoke to a
capacity crowd in the Moon
Room on the subject of
"Prospects for Peace in the
Middle East: An Arab View".
The lecture and following
question-answer period was
sponsored by the Guilford
College International Rela
tions Club.
Dr. Husseini decried the
American portrayal of Arabs
as power hungry barbarians.
He stated that, "Arabs are
like any other people; they
demand only basic human
dignity and a chance to live
out their lives in peace."
Dr. Husseini stressed that
the war in the Middle East is a
conflict of political forces and
not a war between religions.
"The Palestinians are at war
with Zionism, not the Jewish
People," according to Dr.
Husseini. He traced the cause
of what he called the
Palestinian Tragedy back to
the British involvement in
Palestine during the early part
of this century. He said, "The
British, like all colonialists,
took care of only their own
interest, setting Arabs and
Jews against each other by
issuing conflicting promises."
Following the 1948 Arab-
Israeli war which insured the
creation of the State of Israel,
displaced Palestinians fled in
terror to camps in Lebanon
and Jordan, Husseini said.
400,000 Arabs have remained
in Israel and Husseini
denounced the treatment
which these Palestinians have
received from the Israeli
government since 1948. He
described Israeli Arabs as
"suffering terribly under the
oppression of military occupa
tion." The violence which has
erupted so often over the past
26 years is" a manifestation of
the frustration of the Palesti
nian people inside Israel and
in the surrounding refuge
camps," according to Hussei
ni.
January 21, 1975
Referring to periods in the
past in which Arabs, Jews,
and Christians have lived
together in peace, Husseini
called an open secular society
the only hope for a just and
lasting settlement. He would
not deny the right of Jews to
live in Israel but rejected the
colonization by Zionists.
Domination of Israel and the
Arabs by the superpowers has
prolonged and expanded the
conflict, he claimed, and
pointed to the lack of official
United States policy towardthe
Palestinians.
In conclusion. Dr. Husseini
compared the struggle of the
Palestinians to that of the
Americans who fought for
"life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness."
Dr. J. Floyd Moore, who
introduced the speaker and
served as moderator for the
question-answer period, an
nounced that a speaker
representing the Israeli point
of view will also be on campus
this semester.