ijjePendulum
Wednesday, April 30, 2008 / Page 11
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Opinions
students for Peace and Justice
stands behind its protest
A collective message from
Students for Peace and Justice
Students for Peace
and Justice has been
organizing around the
issue of sweatshops for five
years now. We have held
meetings with students
and administrators,
distributed petitions,
staged conferences and
all of the other soft tactics
that should have worked,
but didn’t. We decided as
a group that the time had
come to be more severe. Our
requests were simple and
our steps gradual.
What we want now,
and what we have wanted
for years, is for Elon to
join the Workers Rights
Consortium (WRC),
something that nearly 200
other schools have done.
The WRC is a transparent,
independent organization
that inspects factories
where client schools
garments are made and
then reports the findings
to the world. The Fair
Labor Association (FLA)
is an organization started
by client companies and
run by client companies.
It inspects few factories,
gives warnings before it
comes and doesn't report
its findings to the public.
That’s good enough for
some but not for us and
not for a university that
prides itself on civic
engagement.
Critics are legitimate
in questioning the time
and place of our actions
and why they weren’t
officially sanctioned.
SfPJ has been around for
years. We understand that
there are procedures, but
we didn’t want to run the
risk of being told “No.” We
also didn't want to seem
disrespectful when we did
it anyway. In times past we
have been denied actions
because of time and place
considerations and we
needed to talk to incoming
students.
Public protests are
held when going through
legitimate channels doesn’t
create the necessary
change. Taking to the
streets is fun but fun is
not the reason we do it.
We are not special. We
are not above reproach or
regulation because every
student group should be
empowered to do what
they think is necessary to
ensure that the university
remains a place where
ideas can flow.
Our actions may have
seemed attention-seeking
and perhaps inflammatory,
but we are OK with that.
We wanted to start a
conversation. We wanted to
inform incoming students
that they are entering
an institution that has
taken only the smallest
steps to distance itself
from sweatshops, while
exciting incoming and
current students about the
possibilities for activism on
campus.
The FLA is the easiest
step imaginable aside from
no steps at all, and in the
information age, ignorance
is no longer an excuse.
Joining the WRC is another
step in a long trip that will
eventually, with Elon’s help,
invigorate local and foreign
economies. Sweatshops
present a complicated
question and there are no
easy answers.
SfPJ is an activist
organization. It is our
place to start a fuss and
to act out. We respect
organizations like Elonthon,
SGA, Invisible Children and
Model UN; they have their
place and we have ours. We
are a network of activists
and we embrace the
difficult complexity of the
issues we face. We are sure
people were offended and
affronted but we only told
the truth: Elon does support
sweatshops. If that’s hard
to digest we can help you
change your diet.
We dream of and work
towards a day when Elon
is no longer complicit
in oppression, when all
Elon students understand
their place in the world
and when SfPJ can divert
its energies into climbing
trees, knitting, cooking
and singing. Until then,
we will do what we must
to bring the changes that
we can.
Don’t be quick to dismiss Mrs. Clinton
Derek Kiszely
Columnist
The highly-anticipated do-or-die
Pennsylvania primary has come and
gone. April 22, a date we waited six
weeks for, has been replaced by May 6,
when Indiana and North Carolina hold
their primaries.
But when will it end? Will the
“monster" that is Hillary Clinton
take this thing all the way to the
Democratic National Convention in
Denver as she
has threatened?
Don't tell
me that people
actually want
this thing to be
over! If they did,
why couldn’t
Obama win
Pennsylvania?
It could have
gone one of two
ways: Either
the almighty
Obama would
pull off an upset effectively ending
this thing once and for all or Hillary
the “horrible” would have to win by at
least 10 points to die another day. And
she did.
So 1 wasn't surprised to see Obama-
tnaniacs start wearing “Stop the
drama, vote Obama!” T-shirts after
April 22. They're just bitter. And who
can blame them? In the immediate
aftermath of the Pennsylvania primary,
instead of asking why Clinton won't
drop out, reporters started asking
Why can't Obama close the deal?"
Now as much as I’d like to believe
that North Carolina may play a more
‘'|''PO''tant role than Pennsylvania,
North Carolinians shouldn’t let it go
to their heads. It certainly isn't as
exciting as the News & Observer makes
It. They sell more papers by making it
seem like a competitive race.
Unfortunately that’s not the case,
tveryone expects Obama to win
Orth Carolina. So even though North
rolina has more delegates, Indiana is
getting more attention.
But it’s not too late. North Carolina!
^ can still help Hillary Clinton pull
off the upset of a century! And if we
help her win N.C., we’re guaranteed at
least another month of political drama!
All Hillary has to do is beat
everyone's expectations by closing
the gap just a little, and she'll make
front-page news. At this point in the
race, it’s not just a matter of whether
or not a candidate can win a state, it is
how they win it. And Obama has to win
big in North Carolina because polls
have consistently shown him beating
Clinton by double digits.
But when Hillary Clinton challenged
Barack Obama to a debate in North
Carolina, his campaign issued a press
release that said the Illinois senator
“wouldn’t be able to fit it in his
schedule."
That’s a pretty flimsy excuse. And
yet nine out of 10 voters in North
Carolina value “trustworthiness” over
experience, and Obama is somehow
seen as more trustworthy.
It certainly is surprising that North
Carolina voters trust Obama as much
as the polls suggests. 1 feel much more
comfortable with what 1 know about
Clinton than what we don’t know about
Obama. No, I’m not suggesting “B.
Hussein Obama” is a Muslim. It is just
odd to think that a man no one knew
two years ago would be viewed as
more trustworthy than someone who’s
faced years of public scrutiny and is
still standing after an all-out character
assassination by the Republican attack
machine. , . » u„
Is it because he admitted that he
snorted coke and smoked pot? Because
if that’s all it takes to be seen as an
honest, upstanding role-model m
society, I have a confession to make.
Other than that he has no record to
prove he can walk the walk. The fact
that he refused to debate Hillary shows
he’s a man of words, not action.
Of course, I wouldn't expect
anything less from Obama’s campaign.
His refusal to face Hillary in another
debate is a sound strategic decision. To
say he has a track record of less-than-
stellar debates is an understatement.
He o?ten times looks like a stuttermg
fool and his pathetic performance
at last week's Pennsylvania debate
probably cost him a percentage point
or two.
Sure, the man can deliver a pretty
speech, but he doesn’t do so well
candidly, which is why he doesn’t want
to have a conversation about the issues
that matter to North Carolinians: He
wants to tell us what matters, safe
and sound behind his podium, with
a pretty poster that says “Change You
Can Believe In.”
But how are we supposed to believe
Barack Obama is an “agent of change,"
when he won’t even let us see how he
handles himself in a debate? Does he
think it’s going to get easier if he's
the nominee? This extended primary
is essentially a test. If Obama is
complaining about having to debate
Hillary, what should we expect when
he has to debate John McCain?
I'm surprised he hasn't started
complaining about how his hair
has gotten grayer since he started
campaigning. It’s probably because
he’s too busy talking about how
rarely he gets to see his family, as if
he somehow deserves the sympathy
vote for abandoning his two little
girls at home so he can stage a
publicity stunt at a bowling alley
in Pennsylvania where he bowled a
pathetic score of 37.
But does that mean he should
deny North Carolinians and other
Americans one last chance to see him
on a nationally televised debate? It
sounds like Obama's the bitter one.
Hillary, on the other hand, has
said she’d meet Obama in a debate
“anytime, anywhere." She isn't going
to give up anytime soon. Whatever
its outcome, the May 6 primary will
come and go. Hillary will probably
go on to win West Virginia, Kentucky,
Guam and Puerto Rico. And Obama
will have to get over his bitterness
towards debates, because she's already
challenged him to two in Oregon,
which will take place on the soon-to-be
highly-anticipated do-or-die primary
held on May 20.
Your sex
shouldn’t
affect
your vote
Taylor Doe
Contributing Columnist
When studying abroad in
Ireland this Winter Term,
I encountered a strange
phenomenon. Everyone
I . wanted to talk politics with
■ the Americans and inevitably,
one of the first questions
asked was, "Are you voting
for Hillary?” When I would
respond with a very adamant
“No,” a look of shock would
be staring me back in the
eye. “But you’re a woman!” I
would almost always hear in
response.
This struck me as odd then
and as the primary season
has progressed, it has become
increasingly more frustrating
to me. Why, as a woman, am
I expected to vote for Hillary
Clinton? Am I supposed to
ignore her various policy
stances that I disagree with
and support a candidate based
on gender? And why is it that
if I don’t support Hillary that
I am casting a vote against
my gender and, as a previous
columnist in The Pendulum
stated, showing that I am
“content with staying home and
ironing my husband’s shirts for
the rest of my life"?
To me, this is the ultimate
form of sexism. To assume
based solely on my gender
that I will vote for Hillary
unfairly profiles me and the
rest of the women across the
United States. I feel like we've
progressed to the point where
we respect that women are
strong, independent thinkers
and can look beyond surface
characteristics when we decide
who to support. Are men ever
accused of supporting John
McCain because he is an old
white guy? No, because the
very notion of voting based
exclusively on gender is
absurd.
I recognize that women
still face challenges and
obstacles our male counterparts
don't deal with and Hillary’s
candidacy is proof of just how
far we have come as a society.
The fact that a woman is in
serious contention to take the
White House is amazing. But,
I also recognize that in this
campaign she is not the best
candidate and I give myself
and women across America
more credit than to look past
the weaknesses in her record
and vote for her because she’s a
woman.
I think it’s time that we stop
harassing the women who don't
support Hillary Clinton. We
are smart voters who cast our
ballots for the candidate we
believe can best address our
problems and lead the country
in the right direction, not based
on who looks the most like
us. Maybe in 2012 the most
qualified candidate will be a
woman and I can proudly give
my support to her, but this time
around I’ll be giving my vote to
Barack Obama.