Petrovich selected President's interpreter
MARCH 3, 1978
VOLUME NO. 90 ~ ISSUE 17
Communities fight nukes by Harvey Wassennan In the midst of the water crisis, as the Public Service Co. (PSC) was announcing its rate hike, and as the lobsters were dying in the harbor, t h e Clamshell Alliance proclaimed J u n e 24 as the date for its fourth occupation at the Seabrook site. The Alliance is a loose coalition of s o m e 50 a n t i - n u c l e a r g r o u o s f r o m a r o u n d New E n g l a n d . On Aug. 1,1976, when it was made up of just 15 groups, 18 Clamshellers marched onto tne newly bulldozed site and sat down. Three weeks later t h e r e were 180, and on Apr. 30, 1977, more than 2,000 people did it azain, with 1,414 arrested. Strictly committed to Gandhian non-violence, the Clamshell has required t h a t all Seabrook occupiers join "affinity groups" of eight to 20 people and undergo special training in the tactics oi peaceful resistance. The affinity groups, which i n c l u d e s u p p o r t e r s who camp out near the protest site but don't "occupy" it, are designed to function as a network of extended f a m i l i e s . Decision m a k i n g is by concensus, through lengthy group discussions r a t h e r than majorityrule voting. T h e C l a m s h a l l o r g a n i z a t i o n is s i m i l a r l y d e c e n t r a l i z e d . Local groups send representatives to a biweekly coordinating committee apportioned by region. The committee discusses major decisions and sends them back to the local groups, waiting for concensus to develop. The decision to reoccupy, f o r e x a m p l e , was m a d e at a Congress involving 300 people and requiring unanimity on all major decisions. The Alliance structure is designed to eliminate alienation; everyone has a say, and though t h e p r o c e s s is slow, m i n o r i t y rights a r e preserved. T h i s e m p h a s i s on c o m m u n i t y organizing prevails among the m o r e t h a n t h r e e dozen d i r e c t action alliances that have sprung up a c r o s s t h e c o u n t r y to f i g h t reactors, uranium mining, atomic waste storage and global weaponry. The anti-nuclear movement's f u t u r e a s a coalition t h a t can mature and survive to deal with other issues hinges on this popular participation. Mega-issues inevitably become local ones, translating into taxes and rate hikes, drained water and dead lobsters. One place the right and left have converged in this country is on the issue of community control, and the desire to make decisions in which individuals actually count f o r s o m e t h i n g . I n d e e d , if t h e movement is to survive both victories and defeats, it has to be built on that kind of scale, a network firmly rooted on grassroots needs as well as familiarity and trust. In t h a t l i g h t , o r g a n i z i n g t h e folks next door may be the most meaningful political act going. The atom can't hold a candle to the p o w e r of c o m m u n i t y a c t i o n . Nothing infuriates t h e conservative, working-class Seabrookers more than t h e fact t h a t their town voted against t h e plant twice - and it's still being built. With seven neighboring towns in agreement,
the New Hampshire seacoast has become friendly territory for the kind of m a s s civil d i s o b e d i e n c e that in anti-war days might have provoked a shower of brickbats. "No Nukes!" has become virtually synonymous with the demand for solar power, and beyond that, community control of a decentralized energy system. At its bottom line, one could paint the transition as purely mechanical. The numbers are there, and breakthroughs in the solar field occur a l m o s t m o n t h l y . Some experts argue that nuclear economics have already made the shift inevitable, and desperate corporate efforts to monopolize the new technology underscore that suspicion. In contrast to nuclear, the solar scenario promises no waste and accelerated growth, focusing on h u m a n n e e d s and l o n g - r a n g e survival, rather than short-term capital investment. Solar collectors, wind mills and small hydro plants can open the door to energy self-sufficiency. Cheap materials, elementary engineering and maint e n a n c e and a u n i v e r s a l fuel supply mean solar equipment can be owned and operated by towns, neighborhoods, tenants and even individual households. The barriers to this program are political, not technological. It is public powe r t h a t t e r r i f i e s t h e corporations, and gives the solar side its grassroots appeal. But none of it can really happen until the nukes are stopped. The r e s e a r c h , d e v e l o p m e n t and construction capital has to be freed, and t h e margin of demand preserved, before solar can really roll. And it will happen, as some key alliances are made -- the first one with organized labor. The AFL-CIO, and particularly the construction trades' councils, have been the nuclear industry's k e y s u p p o r t e r s o u t s i d e Wall Street. As a movement with clear middle-class roots, environmentalists have been remarkably uncons c i o u s of w o r k i n g - c l a s s n e e d s . Factory workers are, after all, the first to suffer from air-borne pollution. But ecologists rarely notice the problem until it surfaces downriver or downwind. Then factory workers again suffer as the plants are shut and jobs lost because of t h e d i f f u s i o n of c h e m i c a l s t h e y work with in concentrated form every day. Management has been more
Hope history professor Michael Petrovich has been selected to be President Carter's interpreter during the upcoming (March 5-9) state visit ot Yugoslavian President Marshal Tito. A native of Yugoslavia and a former escort interpreter for the U.S. Department oi State, Petrovich was selected a f t e r undergoing an evaluation in Washington, D.C. last week. None of t h e state department's present roster of escort interpret e r s "seemed up to this important task," according to Nora Lejins, chief of t h e l a n g u a g e s e r v i c e s division at t h e state department. " T h e n a m e of D r . Michael Petrovich was recalled as being a superlative escort interpreter b e t w e e n 1961-66, b e f o r e ne engaged in academic pursuits," said Ms. Lejins. "Dr. Petrovich clearly emerged as the best, both in interpreting ability and command of English and S e r b o - C r o a t i a n , " said Ms. Lejins following the evaluation in Washington. D r . P e t r o v i s h will l e a v e for Washington, D.C. this Sunday for a week's briefing prior to Tito's visit. "I am very honored to have been s e l e c t e d , " said P e t r o v i c h . " T h e Presidency embodies what America is all about and I am privileged to be able to do my part." Since being selected, Petrovich says he has spent a lot of time reading about President Carter and studying his use of words and speaking style. "An interpreter doesn't interpret words as much as he does the man; I guess you can say an interp r e t e r is the speaker's alter ego," said Petrovich. "An interpreter needs more than a knowledge of the language; it is important that he be aware of current social and political issues." Petrovich describes President Carter as a concise talker who is
than happy to lay the unemployment problem on environmentalists. But ecological problems-- and s o l u t i o n s - c a n n o t be s e p a r a t e d from worker control of industry. A s h i f t t o solar would d i r e c t a capital-intensive economy toward one built on labor. Few industries create as paltry jobs-per-dollar as nuclear power; t h e money goes for heavy e q u i p m e n t and exotic materials rather than human work and wages. S o l a r e n e r g y , r e c y c l i n g and c o n s e r v a t i o n c r e a t e , by many estimates, two to six times the jobs-per-dollar as either nuclear or oil. The jobs are safer, cleaner, closer to h o m e and f a r m o r e accessible to the basic skills of the general population. Moving from heavy, centralized energy to light, scattered sources would make a significant step on the road to full employment. The solar industry might not, U however, produce the high-paying, specializea jobs that make union organizing and dues collecting con" T h i n k i n g of H o l l a n d , " public v e n i e n t . Nor do t h e p o s i t i o n s television station WGVC's monthexist now, as they do at nuclear ly look at news of interest to West facilities. That's a problem that Michigan's Dutch community takes won't be overcome until t h e money a special look at the roots and starts to flow the other way. traditions of its people in A TALE Despite this, a solar f u t u r e has OF TWO CITIES, to be shown become increasingly attractive to Sunday, March 5, a t 1:00 p.m. labor's progressive wing. Miners, p - P r o d u c e d by t h e E v a n g e l i c a l farm workers, auto workers, Broadcasting Corporation (E.O.) of machinists and sheet metal work- l t h e N e t h e r l a n d s in c o o p e r a t i o n e r s h a v e all t a k e n s t r o n g anti- with the Dutch Immigrant Society n u c l e a r , or p r o - s o l a r , p o s i t i o n s ; to honor the American Bicentenand t h e last t h r e e h a v e skills nial, the program examines the quickly transferable to a growing cultural and ethnic ties binding solar industry. Holland, Michigan and Pella, Iowa In t h e 1950's, f o r m e r U n i t e d to their common homeland. Auto Workers president Walter The first half of the one-hour Reuther engineered the first anti- s p e c i a l f o c u s e s on t h e small nuclear legal intervention (against farming community of Pella, Iowa, Fermi I, at Monroe, Mich.) and described by early settlers as a was a strong advocate of cutting "high ridge between two rivers." back w e a p o n s e x p e n d i t u r e s t o Some 80 per cent of the city's 7,000 create employment. But only one- inhabitants are of Dutch ancestry fourth of this country's 96 million a n d t h e i r i n f l u e n c e is a p p a r e n t workers are now unionized, and e v e r y w h e r e as t h e camera pans the revitalization of labor, one of f r o m c o m m o n D u t c h s u r n a m e s A m e r i c a ' s m o s t i m p o r t a n t pro- carved in weathered tombstones gressive movements, is key to any t o t h e well p r e s e r v e d , old g e n e r a l m o v e m e n t f o r social f a s h i o n e d s t o r e a n d g r i s t mill. c h a n g e - i n c l u d i n g t h e p u s h for Pella is also the home of Central solar power. C o l l e g e , which p l a y e d a u n i q u e As primarily a rural campaign, r o l e in t h e e d u c a t i o n of e a r l y the anti-nuclear movement must Dutch immigrants. It was founded make inroads in the cities. The by a group of Iowa Baptists at the reactors serve urban consumers, request of the Dutch settlers, who but a r e kept out of their sight. desired a "religious influence" in On t h e other hand, nearly every
c a r e f u l in s t r u c t u r i n g his sentences. Dr. Petrovich, 44, came to the U.S. at the age of 21. In 1965, while working as a s t a t e d e p a r t m e n t i n t e r p r e t e r he v i s i t e d Holland, Michigan with a Y u g o s l a v i a n official who had come to Hope to visit Dr. Paul Fried, director of i n t e r n a t i o n a l e d u c a t i o n at t h e college. Former Hope President Calvin A. VanderWerf subsequently invited Petrovich to join the Hope history faculty. He joined the Hope faculty in 1966 and holds t n e r a n k of associate professor of history. From 1974 to 1976, he was with the International Studies Institute at Grand Valley State Colleges as associate professor of history and international relations. In the last 11 y e a r s , he has b e e n a c t i v e l y involved in international studies as a teacher in, and administrator of, an American summer program in Yugoslavia. He holds a B.A. d e g r e e in political science f r o m S h e p h e r d College, and a masters degree in international relations and a Ph.D. in history from the University of Chicago. Last fall he was appointed by the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) to a review panel to evaluate proposals submitted to the U. S. Office of Education for group projects a b r o a d and f o r e i g n c u r r i c u l u m c o n s u l t a n t s in m o d e r n f o r e i g n language training and area studies. He e v a l u a t e d p r o p o s a l s relative to East European studies. In t h e p a s t s e v e r a l y e a r s , Petrovich served on five federal panels of scholars, including the prestigious Fulbright-Hays Doct o r a l D i s s e r t a t i o n and F a c u l t y R e s e a r c h A b r o a d p r o g r a m s in 1974 and 1975, and the National Defense Education Act Programs (NDFL) Title VI in 1976 and 1977.
Tale of Two Cities "to air
(continued
educating their young but were u n a b l e t o e s t a b l i s h t h e i r own school. The second half of the program j o u r n e y s to H o l l a n d , Michigan where water was also an import a n t factor in determining its early settlement. A f t e r first considering W i s c o n s i n , a g r o u p of D u t c h immigrants in the early 1800's led by Rev. Albertus C. Van Raalte founded a community near Black L a k e in W e s t Michigan which eventually b e c a m e Holland. Though earlier settlers by-passed t h e a r e a t h i n k i n g it " w o r t h l e s s swampland," Van Raalte's group drew upon the experience passed down from generations of Dutch farmers to reclaim t h e land. Like t h e i r c o u n t e r p a r t s in P e l l a , t h e residents of Holland also wished a religious influence in higher education and founded Hope College in 1851. The Dutch cameras show the fruits of their labors as they exist today. A T A L E OF T W O C I T I E S explores the sense of "community" s h a r e d by all A m e r i c a n s , no m a t t e r w h a t t h e i r c o u n t r y of origin. S e r i e s h o s t for " T h i n k i n g of Holland" is Case Deventer. Produc e r / D i r e c t o r is A l e x a n d e r J . Plewes III of the WGVC-TV staff.
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French critic to speak Dr. Germaine Bree, noted critic of French literature, will speak at H o p e S u n d a y , March 5 on t h e subject of the literary genre of a u t o b i o g r a p h y . T h e t a l k , sponsored by the department of foreign l a n g u a g e s and l i t e r a t u r e , t h e English d e p a r t m e n t , and t h e cultural affairs committee of Hope, will be held in the Van Zoeren Library conference room at 8 p.m. The public is welcome. Dr. Bree, a specialist on 20th Century French literature, has been a professor at Bryn Mawr University and at Washington Square College (where she chaired
the D e p a r t m e n t of Foreign Lang u a g e s and w a s h e a d of t h e g r a d u a t e p r o g r a m in A r t s and Sciences). She was the Vilas Professor in French at t h e Institute for Humanities Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is p r e s e n t l y t h e K e n a n Professor at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. Dr. Bree's many publications i n c l u d e such s t u d i e s a s C a m u s , C a m u s and S a r t r e : C r i s i s and Commitment, Marcel P r o u s t and the Deliverance from Time, and Women Writers in France.
Congressman Stockman (R - Michigan) to address Model U.N. c i Friday, March 10 at 10:00 A.M.