Thursday, September 28, 1995
Lifting
Is the United States justified?
Columinst Adam Levenstein probes
into the question.
Since the fall of the Soviet
Union and the other Stalinist
countries of Eastern Europe,
discussion has once again
surfaced regarding the small
island known as the Republic of
Cuba.
In its 35-years-and-holding
embargo, the government of the
United States maintains the
policy that the embargo will not
be lifted until "democracy" is
introduced into Cuba. Given that
there are 11 million people
starving in Cuba due to this
policy, it becomes necessary to
look at the Cuban Revolution
and examine the reasons not only
to lift the embargo, but also why
the U.S. should normalize
relations with Cuba.
In 1953, Fidel Castro Ruiz, his
brother Raul, and eighty men and
women set out to take Cuba back
'from the U.S.-backed military
dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.
On July 26, they staged an attack
on the barracks at Moncada. This
guerrilla attack not only failed,
but killed all but a dozen of the
revolutionaries. Castro and his
comrades were jailed for two
years, and then exiled to Mexico.
In Mexico, the group met
Ernesto "Che" Guevara, and
Argentinean doctor who expressed
his displeasure of the ills of
society and his belief in
Marxism. Although not a
Marxist at this point, Castro,
Guevara, and the other
revolutionaries agreed to return to
Cuba. In 1956, they returned
aboard the yacht "Gramma". By
1959, the movement had grown
to several thousand and had taken
Dry spell in Colorado
In lieu of recent complaints
about the status of Behrend's
policies regarding underage
drinking, the following situation
in Boulder, Colorado seems to fit
appropriately. There is an
apparent dry spell looming over
the fraternities and sororities in
the University of Colorado. It
seems that the local police have
received a grant to help curb the
number of underage drinkers on
and around the school's campus.
The U. of Colorado's Pan-
Hellenic and IFC has passed a by
law stating that all fraternity and
sorority parties will be dry.
During the first week of
school, an unnamed fraternity had
been ticketed with serving minors
at a party. Over seventy underage
drinkers and the executive board
of the fraternity were cited.
According to Jack Bac, the
Alumni Advisor to the Delta Chi
chapter in Boulder, "There is a
major change in the atmosphere
in Boulder. The city is really
pushing the issue on underage
drinking. Boulder has some
problems with student's but
nothing any different than any
the embargo
over Havana, the capital of Cuba.
When the revolutionaries took
power, they were horrified at the
status of their "patria", their
homeland. Forty percent of the
population was illiterate. Sixty
percent of the Cuban economy
was run by United States
businessmen.
The Revolutionary Govern
ment then undertook the greatest
social reform campaign the world
has ever seen. Teachers were sent
throughout the countryside-the
illiteracy was eliminated (not
reduced, but eliminated) within
the year. Racial and sexual
discrimination were illegalized.
A national health-care system,
now recognized as one of the
world's best, was established.
The government established a
system of People’s Power, in
which Cuba's representative
democracy was established. All
major businesses and factories
were put in government control,
thereby giving control to the
workers. The . system was
examined, and then they thought
"Why should we change?" In
1961, then-prime minister Fidel
Castro announced his belief in
Marxism-Leninism.
The issue of democracy is, of
course, a touchy issue. It is a
common misconception in the
United States that Cuba is a
"communist dictatorship" - a
concept which is itself a
contradiction in terms. In fact, in
the last elections a documented
97.1% of the Cuban population
voted.
Cuba's political system is one
of representation and parti-
other campus."
" About two or three weeks
ago," continued Bac. "The police
entered our house and began
walking up and down the halls.
It really drove the point home.”
Nick Ginsberg, member of
Lambda Chi Alpha, said "We
were basically forced to make
parties dry because the police
have enough funds to send the
troops out after hours.”
Ginsberg also added that the dry
spell has not affected fall rush.
"We didn't do too well, but other
chapters had large numbers."
A chapter can lose its charter
Op/Ed
cipation. On a municipal level,
councils are elected to overlook
local affairs. These councils elect
delegates to the Provincial
Assemblies, which represent each
province. They, in turn, elect
people to the National Assembly
of People's Power, Cuba’s
parliament of over 500 people.
The Assembly then elects the
Executive Committee and the
President, a post currently held
by Fidel Castro.
Although not a system re
spected by many Americans, the
United States has no right to
govern the affairs of a sovereign
country. There is a claim, made
mostly by wealthy right-wing
Cubans in Florida, that Cubans
do not support the Revolution;
however, a recent poll by a
Costa Rican agency shows that
60% of the Cuban people still
support their government 63%
of the anti-Revolution Cubans
still acknowledge that the
Revolution has made tremendous
social progress.
Cuba's right to advance along
its chosen path must be
respected. More than once the
United Nations has voted to
condemn the embargo, with only
two nations voting otherwise
(U.S. and Israel). It is time that
the government of the United
States yields international
opinion and end the inhuman
blockade in which people starve
daily. Even is Cuba were a
military dictatorship, how does
starving people to death make the
U.S. feel any better than the
dictator?
-R. Carl Campbell 111
and house if found by its national
headquarters to be conducting
illegal activities. Underage
drinking is against the law,
regardless if a person is in college
or not. The Greeks in Boulder
are conforming to this rule.
Society seems to be taking a
stand against substance abuse, if
not, then Boulder is. However, I
hope that they realize that
fraternities and sororities are
attempting to shed their image of
the "Animal House" and outside
of being fun, they are also
responsible organizations. I
wonder what Bluto, Otter and
Flounder are thinking now.
Out
Where is the line drawn ?
—Ryan Bogart
Many artists seem to be selling
out these days; could that be the
answer to making millions of
dollars? Settling down and
producing just what the general
public is looking for is not
always the best answer.
Whatever happened to good ol'
fashioned ORIGINALITY? A lot
of artists still comply by that
golden rule, but many have not.
So, how are we supposed to
define what is original and what
is selling out? There are many
curve balls in identifying these
cheesy artists from the original
ones.
One way in determining the
original artists from the fake ones
is if anyone has done something
that no one else ever has. Pink
Floyd has created a sound that has
lasted over the years, and it will
be around for a long time.
Whether you like the sound or
not, you have got to admit that
they are original. Another way
of identifying an artist's
originality is if they have been
around for a long time. For
instance, Stephen King has
written many horror films, and it
seems that everything he writes
becomes a hit at the box office.
But even though he has been
around for a while, he has written
some "sell out" films. Did you
ever see "Sleepwalkers"? This is
a poor example of conforming to
the cheesy scary films, and I
must say that I am very
disappointed in this episode of
King’s career.
Many arguments have been
aroused about Pearl Jam selling
out. I have heard some good
points and bad points about this
topic. Instead of forming my
own opinion, I will present some
of the opinions and let you
decide. One point that they have
not sold out is that it is their
style of grunge, alternative rock
that has changed and evolved to
resist conformity. This
everlasting issue seems to be
their main front, maintaining the
same image. Eddie Vedder and
the group has created a non
conformist attitude that makes
them rebels. This style has
obviously been copied
throughout America by millions
of teens that grow their hair long
and like to mosh.
Pearl Jam has not played in
New York, Chicago, or Los
Angeles in around five years.
Stadium playing for them is also
very scarce, and it seems that the
only place they do play is small,
hick towns around America.
This fact could be looked at as
Pearl Jam's way of being their
own and not selling out. They
do not want to conform and have
a million or so "poser" fans.
Whether they like it or not. Pearl
Jam is in the pop culture of
America, and they are there to
stay. Another point of their
resistance is their attempt to
work around Ticket Master's
inflation of ticket prices.
Nirvana's front man Kurt
Cobain's suicide stemmed from
deep depression about this same
reason. He did not want to be in
the American mainstream pop
culture. He was happy when he
had his loyal original fans. But
when millions of teen groupies
greeted him when he performed,
this ended up being his worst
nightmare come true. The former
Nirvana is definitely sold out,
one major reason being obvious,
Cobain's suicide. Now instead of
millions screaming his songs
live, they are singing them in
memory.
Cobain's original intention was
not to sell out, and that was the
most terrifying experience for
him. I think his wife is just the
opposite. Courtney Love seems
to feed on the very instance of her
husband's death. Her songs feed
of her husband's suicide. She
would otherwise have had no
popularity at all.
A blatant case of selling out is
the recent Microsoft Windows 95
commericials, in which
Microsoft paid the Rolling
Stones 10 million dollars to use
the song "Start me Up." Every
time I turn on the tv, I hear the
song. I call this selling out
because REM turned down the
offer of the 10 million with the
very poopular song "It’s the End
of the World as We Know It (and
I Feel Fine)". Not taking any
originality from the Stones, but I
think that one could say they did
it for the money. An obvious
question that could be raised is
"Why wouldn't you sell your
song for 10 million?" I would
and so would anyone in their
right frame of mind. But REM's
point of view is that this is the
perfect definition of selling out.
Selling out is very hard to
define, and everyone has their
own version of it Today, there
are sell outs in every aspect of
life, but the artists who last are
the real pioneers of their art. The
lasting musicians and artists of
today are the ones who choose
their own paths and lead the way
for new artists. It is your call on
who you like, but remember, try
to be original and realize who is
selling out.
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