Page
Fridav. Januarv 10. 1969
Letters
5 lilt lyrcnt-J)
THE DAILY TAR HEEL
(m mm i
76 Years of Editorial Freedom
Wayne Hinder, Editor
Bill Staton, Business Manager
"VILA Should Take Sides
On Critical Problems
i he objections of a group of
UNC professors to the events of the
recent Modern Languages
As ciation are wrong.
. lie two main objections that
have arisen so far seem to be over
whether the MLA should take
political stances and over whether
the resolutions are valid since only
500 of the 28,000 members of the
MLA attended the session at which
the resolutions were passed.
In connection with the last
point, it would seem to us that
since 27,500 members didn't
bother to show up for the business
session they don't care whether a
minority enacts legislation. The
only problem is that this apathetic
majority didn't like the particular
resolutions that came out of the
session. If they really care so much
they should have attended the
session.
The other point, one that is very
important, is whether this formerly
apolitical organization should take
i political stand, either to the left
-t!" lit.
h :r opinion, when there are
'.'xtrcmc importance to our
wuei , Mich an organization as the
MLA should debate the issues and
take a stand on them.
The basis for this need is
explained by Noam Chomsky, a
noted linguist and radical.
lie explained once that a person
had ask him "should universities be
ivory towers?"
His reply: 'that's like asking
'should professors be human
beings.' If they're not human beings
they shouldn't be professors. I
don't see how a civilized being in
UNC Women
Only When They Want To Be
Women students are being
allowed in men's rooms and being
allowed to invited males into theirs.
Student Stores
Study Will Aid
Students
The Student Stores have
finally decided to turn over
to the Student Stores
Committee a report on the
finances and operation.
We are very pleased to
sec that they are finally
doing this; hopefully it will
be the first step to
improving the service the
students get from the
Student Stores system.
The report will be
studied by a Business
Administration major or a
member of the faculty of
the School to determine
exactly what their financial
status is and whether,
within that status, they are
doing their best to be a
student service.
At the least, if the study
shows that they are not
making excessive profits, it
-v ill allay the suspicions of
Nfudents who have often
thought that prices at the
stores were being jacked up
too much.
I
Dale Gibson, Managing Editor
Rebel Good, News Editor
Harvey Elliott, Features Editor
Owen Davis, Sports Editor .
Scott Gocdfellow, Associate Editor
Kermit Buckner, Jr., Advertising Manager
the United States cannot be
involved in issues which are tearing
society apart and which could
destroy the world."
For too long America's social
and physical scientists have sat
around doing their academic work,
seldom questioning its relationship
to the society and the world. As a
result there has been a proliferation
of research laboratories that
develop nerve gases, defoliants,
techniques for psychological
warfare, etc. The whole time the
scientists have done nothing
because they felt it would harm
their objectivity by doing so
ng so.
iSs
or in merelv
However, in reality
any question of losing
by taking sides on the
have already done so, for in merely
working for the federal government
or in failing, both individually and
as an organization, to scrutinize the
behavior of their society, they are
taking a side-in favor of that
behavior.
For this reason we are glad to
see the MLA pass the resolutions it
did. It's unfortunate there was not
more discussions of the resolution
at the time but that should not be
blamed on the leftist that
introduced the resolutions. The
blame for that lies on the 27,500
members that didn't bother to
attend the session.
If some elements in the MLA do
not like the resolutions, that were
passed they should wait until next
year arid seek their repeal.
Hopefully they . can then fully
discuss the problems of our society
and realize their own need to take a
stand on the critical issues of our
time. ;
Will Be Free
Starting next semester some will be
allowed to have unlimited closing
hours. Sound like women on
campus are beginning to be treated
like the equals of males, are
beginning to get some freedom?
Well, don't get carried away
thinking they are becoming
emancipated.
For instance, there's a friend of
ours who found out how free she is.
She was preparing to leave for the
vacation and left the addresses of
all the places she was going to be
over the vacation with the . house
mother, like a good girl.
Then, at the last minute on the
day she was to leave she found out
that she couldn't go to the one city
that she had said she would. It was
too late to change the notice she
had left with the housemother and
too late to contact the Dean of
Women's office to make a change.
That night, instead of going to her
originally stated destination she
stayed in Chapel Hill, intending to
call the Dean of Women's office the
following day. Unfortunately,
before she could do someone
turned her in for violation of the
regulations. Now she faces a trial in
student courts and the possibility
of an official repremand or
probation.
These regulations strike most
male students as extremely foolish.
Apparently it doesn't strike too
many women students as foolish as
they have tolerated them for so
long, and it is only when they begin
to want some freedom that they
will begin to get it.
For the sake of our friend we
hope that won't be too long.
fesf yon fr
1o
) Our
Eugene Sarver
Israeli Holding Pattern
V
Eighteen months after the "Six Day
War" peace in the Middle East appears as
elusive, or even more elusive, than ever.
Rather than providing a temporal anvil on
which a permanent Middle East peace
could be forged, these long months of
uncertainty puntuated by Arab guerilla
raids and Israeli retaliation have seen the
emergence of a new status quo in that
troubled region.
While the volatile instability of the
Middle East gravely concerns a world
already burdened by a Cold War breaking
into flame in Vietnam and
Czechoslovakia, Israel, lying at the center
of Middle East tensions remarkably
resembles the quiet eye of a hurricane.
Accustomed to living under a virtual
state of seige for the last twenty years
and with shorter more defensible borders
than ever on the Golan Heights in Syria,
the Jordan River in Jordan and the Suez
Canal in Egypt (due to the smoothing out
of the former jagged Israel-Jordan border
and to the fact that the Suez Canal
borderline ending at the broad Gulf of
Suez is shorter than the old Sinai desert
J UNC Failings Show
X
While in Boston over the Christmas holidays my wifje and I went on a
wild shopping spree. You may imagine that we flew around buying the
exotic things one doesn't find here in Chapel Hill, but actually we shot
our wad at the Coop (MIT-Harvard's counterpart of Student Stores),
stocking up on the ordinary little things which, in Chapel Hill, go at
exotic prices.
To give some idea of what a rich Harvard lad pays to stave off bad
breath and headaches, here is a list of toiletries selected at random (not
cut down so as to display only the more outrageous discrepancies). The
first price column gives the price we paid, i.e. the price to the general
public. Column 2 gives the price a student pays at the Coop (As members
of the cooperative society which runs the store, students get 10
discounts. Memberships cost a buck). Column 3, as one might expect from
comparing it with columns 1 and 2, shows the Student Store price as of
Jan. 7.
Student
COOP COOP Stores
public member's the
Crest (reg. flav.) Price prke Price
3.25 oz 5-53 $.48 $.65
Alka Seltzer
25 tabs .57 .51 .69
8 tabs .33 .30 .39
Bayer Aspirin
24 tabs .33 .30 .41
50 tabs .51 .46 .65
Band Aids
32Asstd. .55 .50 .67
34 Wide -63 .57 .77
Dristan
12 tabs 1.19 1.07 1.49
Head & Shoulders
fam. size tub 1.33 1.20 1.65
lg. size jar 1.49 1.34 1.85
In some cases, moreover, Student Stores carries only the relatively
expensive small packages. Example: At the Coop a package of 15 Gillette
Super Stainless Steel blades costs, including discount, $1.43. At Student
Stores one can only buy 5 packs at $.79 each. Total cost for 15 blades?
$2.37, or roughly 1 64 of the Coop price.
Or consider book bags: The only one you can get here is a fancy all
rubber job for five bucks. At the Coop a less classy bag may be bought for
$1.69. The Coop's bag is definitely shabby in comparison to the fine
variety of the Student Stores, but it is still good enough to take a couple
of years abuse, and is at least within the reach of a student of average
means. So high priced: That is the Student Stores' bag, and that is what
we learned on our shopping spree in the big city.
Sincerely,
J. W. Losse
404 Pittsboro St.
Chapel Hill
iacfr
i i
border), as well as facing weak Arab
military forces, Israel feels secure.
RAID PROBLEM
While Arab guerilla raids are a
continual problem, it is not a serious one
as the highly mobile Israeli military has
reduced guerilla escape time to a mere
twenty minutes while inflicting casualties
running as high as 80 on El Fatah and
other fedayeen raiders.
Even night provides no cover for Arab
terrorists as the Israeli army has begun
using infrared equipment for night vision.
Nevertheless, the growing ability of the
terrorist organizations to attract
college-trained Arabs from Europe and
distant parts of the Middle East is likely
to lead to growing effectiveness in their
operations.
On the economic side, Israel is moving
ahead at the phenomenal growth rate of
14 per year, well ahead of the high
growth rate of 10 it posted in the
1950' s. Moreover the current growth rate
is especially impressive in view of the
ttV t. . A p.- : ..
The
7
1 ir
"your jrer
n k
ou(( did
Y
economic stagnation in the five year
period proceding the "June WTar" when
no increase in Gross National Product was
recorded.
ECONOMY CHANGES GOOD
The current qualitative changes in the
Israeli economy are as impressive as the
quantitative growth. While Israel relied
primarily in the past on exports of citrus
fruits, polished diamonds and
pharmaceuticals; now its economy is
being geared to the high growth
potentials of computers, electronics, jet
aircraft and aerospace. Already Israel
ranks third in the world in the relative
number of computer programmers
(behind the United States and Sweden).
With computer and electronics
industries, etc. enabling Israel to take full
advantage of its largest resource-skilled
people-Israel's deficit trade balance
should be increasingly narrowed.
Moreover, the high wages and salaries in
such industries are significantly raising
the standard of living in IsraeL
Already per capita income in Israel of
$1,100 compares favorably with France
and Germany, while reducing the
previously marked difference between the
standard of living of Jews in Tel Aviv and
such centers of affluence as New York,
London, Montreal and Johannesburg.
The occupied territories presently held
by Israel constitute both economic assets
and liabilities. Oil pumped from Sinai
wells as well as the agricultural products
of the West Bank contribute to Israel's
exports. (Israel continues to buy oil from
Iran in order to maintain its traditional
petroleum source.)
In addition, Israel has established some
quasi-military agricultural settlements in
all the occupied areas. On the other hand,
military and administrative costs in the
occupied territories are high, as is the
overall military spending that Israel is
required to undertake because of the
continuing state of tension until the
present Middle East situation is resolved.
NON-RUSSIAN
While defense spending is high for this
nation of under three million people,
such as $200 million for U. S. Phantom
Jets, this is to come extent compensated
for by the sale of captured Arab military
equipment of Russian origin. Sales to
Yugoslavia and Rumania have been brisk
because the Soviet Union declines to sell
those nations spare parts for the Russian
equipment they have.
At the same time that Israel is
enjoying prosperity and relative security,
the Egyptians face much the opposite.
Cut off from Sinai ofl, their Suez Canal
closed, tourism markedly down and the
industrial towns along the Canal
evacuated (due to the threat of Israeli
artillery), Egypt has been in a state of
economic crisis. Moreover, much of the
remaining resources have been allocated
to the military, further depressing the
Egyptians' low standard of living. WThile
some subsidies are received from Saudi
Arabia, Kuweit and Libya, they are not
nearly enough to compensate for the
economic losses disabling the Egyptian
economy.
A similarly dark economic situation
casts a haunting shadow over Jordan. Cut
off from the rich agricultural area of the
West Bank as well as the area's religious
sites with their strong attraction for
tourists, Jordan's economy is kept going
only by the infusions of Arab and
Western aid.
SYRIAN ECONOMY OK
Alone among the vanquished Arab
nations, Syria's economy has not been
seriously damaged by the territorial
changes, etc. wrought by the "Six Day
fe
To the Editor.
For months the world's newspapers
have told of the ever-escalating starvation
in Biafra. In a November 17, 1968, news
release, Senator Ted Kennedy stated,
"The loss of life from starvation
continues at more than 10,000 persons
per day over 1,000,000 lives in recent
months. Without emergency measures
now, the number will climb to 25,000 per
day within a month and some 2,000,000
deaths by the end of the year. The new
year will only bring greater disaster to a
people caught in the passion of fratricidal
war. Crop exhaustion in combat areas wfll
put over 8,000,000 men, women, and
children in the clutches of total
starvation."
In the name of national unity, the
Nigerians have already destroyed over a
million human beings. Experiencing in
depth the animosity and wrath of the
Nigerians, the Biafrans fear for their lives
should they be conquered. So they
continue to resist.
Concerned by their own diverse tribal
nature, the nations of the Organization
for African Unity have endorsed unity in
Nigeria and starvation in Biafra. The West
stands divided between Great Britain
which is supplying Nigeria and France
which is supporting Biafra starve.
In 1945, a world, shocked and
horrified by 6,000,000 graves said, "It
could not happen." and "If we had only
known." Today in 1969, we know.
Today, it is happening.
Sincerely,
Joel Pol in
Biafran Children's
Relief-U.N.C.
Now
War". With a highly productive
agricultural sector and no overpopulation
problems as in Egypt and Jordan, Syria
has felt no alarm over Israeli occupation
of a few hundred square miles of its
territory around the Golan Heights.
Feeling no pressure to come to terms
with Israel, it has maintained a position
of "noble" aloofness from the peace
negotiations being conducted by the
U. N. mediator Jaring.
The final prominent actor in the
Middle East today is the Soviet Union.
Deeply disturbed at the bad showing the
Egyptians and Syrians made with their
Russian arms in the "Six Day War", it has
sent four thousand military advisers to
those Arab countries to prevent the';!
repetition of a Western arms triumph, :
(Israel uses French, American, British,
Belgium and Dutch arms as well as those
it manufactures itself.) In addition, it has
sent a thousand advisers to other Arab
countries such as Irag and Yemen.
Of equal or greater import, Russia now
has a large naval force in the
Mediterranean, based in Alexandria.
While the Russian ships represent
tremendous fire-power, they have not yet
caused acute concern among the Israelis.
This is because the naval force's lack of
air cover and long supply lines minimize
its value for any major conflict.
Moreover, the Israelis, by keeping the
Suez Canal bottled-up, make it impossible
for the Soviet ships to enter the Canal
and use their vast fire-power against the
Israeli forces on the east bank of the
waterway.
PEACE OUTLOOK DIM
Looking ahead the outlook for a peace
settlement in the Middle East is dim.
While both sides accept the November
22nd (1967) Security Council
resolution-proposed by Britain and
unanimously passed-calling for Israeli
troop withdrawal from the occupied
territories coupled with an Arab
declaration of non-belligerency vis-a-vis
Israel and recognition of its borders, the
interpretations given to the ambiguous
wording of the resolution by both sides
are so different as to render its
acceptance meaningless.
Of chief importance the Arab
countries feel that time favors them. In
the short-run they feel that the guerilla
raids will weaken Israel while for the
long-run they feel that the large Arab
world must emerge victorious over tiny
IsraeL For this "dream" they appear
willing to accept acute economic
hardships.
Israel, for its part, finds the status-quo
agreeable. With secure borders, a
powerful military and a booming
economy its short-run situation is good;
for the long-run Israel is confident that its
spiraling technology, probably including
nuclear weapons, will enable it to
maintain military parity with the large
Arab world. The only real danger that the
Israelis feel is that of a Soviet
intervention. However, they are confident
that the deep American commitment to
Israel, given substance by the powerful
Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean,
precludes the danger of a Middle East
"Czechoslovakia".
With both the Arabs and Israel
apparently willing to accept the new
status quo, it could well remain for an
extended length of time. Only a joint
American-Russian effort, owing to their
great influence over the adversaries, could
produce a resolution to the Middle East
conflict in the near future and that does
not appear in the offing!