Page 6- The Behreml College Colle,i, , ian - Thursdav„llateh 5. /99S
Slovak President steps down
By Christine Spolar=m 1998. the
Washington Post
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia -- Ski\ ak
President Michal Kovac stepped
down Monday, ending a tumultuous
five-year term in a political deadlock
that has left this young democrac's
parliament divided and unable to
agree upon a successor.
Kovac, Slovakia's first president.
spent most of his time in office in a
hitter struggle with Prime Minister
Vladimir Meciar in which the two
repeatedly battled over democratic
reforms and allegations of financial
sleaze.
In Kovac's final days in office,
Meciar used Slovakia's poorly writ
ten constitution -- and the often-woh
bly political opposition here -- to en
gineer a political impasse that has left
the largely ceremonial president's of
fice empty. In the process, Meciar
acquired much of the office's power
during a critical election year. Al
though its powers are limited, the
president does have the authority to
convene parliament.
The moves by Meciar ho has
dominated Slovak politics since the
country's birth following the division
of Czechoslovakia in 1993 -- have
further underscored the difficult post-
Communist transition underway here
and added to Western concern over
Meciar's commitment to democracy.
U.S. and European officials have criti
cized Slovakia for the pace and depth
of its democratic reforms.
Meciar is "a powerful man now
Marketing Marx in China
By Steven Mufson=tc) 199 ti. The
Washington Post
BEIJING -- Entrepreneurs of the
world, step right up! Get them while
they last!
China is issuing a special limited
edition of the "Communist Mani
festo" to mark the anniversary of the
tract written 150 years ago by Karl
Marx and Friedrich Engels.
Written as revolution was spread
ing across Europe in 1848, the mani
festo has now been turned into a mar
keting opportunity. Never mind the
masses. China is issuing 5,000 com
memorative copies of the work and
500 copies of a collectors' edition, the
state-run New China News Agency
said last week.
"In China the manifesto has fos
tered generations of Communist stal
warts and proletarian revolutionar
ies," the agency said. And now those
who have struck it rich during the eco
Navajos divided over conduct of tribal leaders
By Louis Sahagun=(c ) 1 998, L os
Angeles Times
WINDOW ROCK, Arif. -- o
weeks after Navajo Nation President
Albert Hale resigned amid charges of
ethical and financial misdeeds,
American Indian officials here are
scrambling to heal a tribe divided over
how to interpret conduct on the part
of its leaders.
Hale, 47, stepped down to avoid
facing charges of accepting illegal
gifts from companies with tribal con
tracts -- and to prevent a repeat of the
deadly riots that followed the ouster
of Navajo Chairman Peter
MacDonald in 1989 on corruption
charges.
Hale, a lawyer, insists that accept
ing gifts is a Navajo custom. Not s o,
say critics -- including the former
chief of staff to the president's office.
who resigned a week ago saying such
practices arc "contrary to the way the
law is written."
Now the new president, Thomas
Atcitty, and possibly other officials
are believed to be under investigation
for similar alleged misdeeds.
"We're waiting for the other shoe
to drop -- or a bushel basket of other
shoes," said Navajo Nation spokes
man Ted Rushton. "The problem here
is a lack of clarity in the law. What
Hale has done, every other elected
official has done."
Sen. Ben Nighthorse Camphell. R
Ind es, him more influence
said Kalman Petoci of the Hungarian
Civic Party, Ii represent~ mem
hers of Slovakia's ethnic Hungarian
mint)! ity. "it's really going to he much
more of a problem when the election
campaign starts. He will have all the
power, to sidetrack and to create le
gal chaos. And he does that we 11..,
Under Meciar. Slovakia's minori
ties, media and courts have been
bruised. But the charismatic and of
ten bullying leader has had a lock on
the prime minister's office, save for a
brief rout in 1994 that was the first
public twist in the Kovac-Meciar
saga. A onetime Meciar ally, Kovac
split with him over ethical differences
and helped push a successful vote of
no-confidence in Meciar's govern
ment.
That move haunted Kovac when
Meciar returned to power after par
liamentary elect ms later in 1994. and
the feud between the two men inten
sified.
"It's led the whole society to he di
vided.- said Brigita Schmognerova,
a leader of the Party of the Democratic
Left, heirs to the old Communist
Party. 'On one level, we're a nation
between Meciar and anti-Meciar
forces. On a broader level, it's a dif
ference of opinion over what makes
a democracy.-
The Slovak president is chosen by
parliament, hut with the government
and opposition deeply divided,
nogroup in parliament has been strong
enough to produce a winner. A first
round of voting last month ended in
deadlock. On Thursday, parliament
nomic-reform era can buy a special
one. It didn't say him much a copy
will Lot
The new editions feature replicas
of the cover and contents page of the
original German-language edition as
WCI I as reproductions of Marx's hand-
writing.
Although enshrined as one of the
Chinese Communist Party's basic
texts and still routinely given homage
at major party functions, the "Com
munist Manifesto - is Out of step with
the current policies of the ruling Com
munist Party in Beijing.
Marx and Engels called for revolu
tion, hut the current Chinese govern
ment craves stability. Marx sought
equality; China has created vast in
equalities as it tries to create finan-
cial rewards for its most productive
workers and business people.
Marx and Engels criticized exces
sive returns on capital; the Chinese
government is striving to boost re
turns on foreign capital. Marx and
Colo., a northern Cheyenne and chair
man of the Senate Indian Affairs
Committee, wouldn't go quite that far.
But he did sav this crisis underlines
the ethical razor's edge that Ameri
can Indian leaders tread.
"What I'rn doing is child's play
compared to what they do; Indian
politics is mean, - Nighthorse
Campbell said. "You're always on the
edge of living within your traditions
... and falling off into an abyss of ille
gal activity from a white man's legal
standpoint.
"Tribal leaders are expected to ac
cept gifts, and give away what they
have because they have access to
power and jobs, - he said. "Yet if you
don't refuse a gift, you break the white
man's law. Give a starving relative a
joh and you're accused of nepotism.
Don't give him that job, and you're
guilty of the worst kind of abandon
ment.-
As the dispute heats up, residents
in this 25.000-square-mile reservation
of red rock canyons and mesas are
worrying as always about alcoholism,
soaring crime and school-dropout
rates, chronic unemployment, dwin
dling federal funds for social and
medical programs, eroding cultural
traditions and pressure from corpora
tions to develop mineral resources at
the expense of sovereignty rights.
But for the time being, tribal offi
cials are focused on a political pro
es, complicated by cultural do's-and-
World and Nation
will try again, hut neither candidate
- a writer and a railway worker
stands a chance.
As Kovac, 67, exits without a suc-
censor, under the constitution sonic of
the president's powers devolve to the
government and, essentially, Meciar.
With no specified constitutional time
table for filling the presidency, Meciar
will he able to consolidate his pow
ers and thwart the results of parlia
mentary elections this fall if he
chooses to do so.
As the law now reads, Meciar -
the absence of a president -- will as
sume the right to convene parliament.
But if he doesn't like the makeup of
the new parliament, nothing ensures
that he, in fact, will call the assembly.
Western observers have concluded
the government deliberately botched
a referendum last May favored by
Kovac but opposed by Meciar that
would have allowed voters -- rather
than parliament -- to choose the
country's president. That
referendum's results were voided, and
Kovac ordered a new referendum for
April 19. The government opposes a
new referendum, although the consti
tutional court has ordered the April
vote to proceed.
Even before the latest crisis,
Slovakia's democratic report card --
for respecting human rights and legal
institutions -- had fallen far short of
the neighboring Czech Republic, Po
land or Hungary. These weaknesses
have left Slovakia out of the first
round of NATO enlargement and talks
on European Union integration.
Engels appealed to the workers to
unite, whereas the Chinese govern
ment now is trying to prevent the unit
ing of workers -- especially the 10
million who are either on furlough
with subsistence wages or who have
been laid off from state-owned enter-
prises.
Marx looked to China lbr solace in
1853, as revolution was fading in
Europe. He predicted the imminent
demise of the Qing Dynasty -- 59
years prematurely -- and said that col
lapse in China would spark revolution
in Europe.
"It may safely he augured that the
Chinese revolution will throw the
spark into the overloaded mine of the
present industrial system and cause
the explosion of the long-prepared
general crisis, which, spreading
abroad, will he closely followed by
political revolution on the continent,"
Mark wrote.
Instead, China is trying to export
industrial products, not revolution, to
don'ts, as well as potentially volatile
blood ties, clan relations, extended
families and traditional medicine.
Only six months from the next elec
tion, medicine men here have been
busy gazing into crystals, casting
spells, conducting exorcisms and
praying for goodwill on behalf of po
litical leaders and potential candidates
on both sides of the Hale dispute.
Political tumult is not unique to the
Navajos. Where once American Indi
ans focused on the federal
government's handling of their affairs,
they now increasingly are turning
their ire against political targets within
their reservations.
In 1995, tensions over who con
trolled the Seneca Nation in western
New York resulted in the shooting
deaths of three men. The following
year, a family feud over the tribal
chair of the Paiute in Lovelock, Nev.,
erupted into charges of death threats,
physical assaults and embezzlement.
Now, in Oklahoma, months of turmoil
and sporadic violence over how to
interpret the Cherokee Constitution
have paralyzed that government.
Given the pitfalls, Hale -- who has
publicly apologized for any wrong
doing he committed while serving as
the 11th Navajo leader -- said that in
retrospect, "I must have been crazy
when I took that job."
Only three years ago, Hale radiated
confidence and ambition after win-
ning a nine-way race on his vow to
2 arrested in major jail
food bribe scam
By Josh Meyer and Eric Lichthlau=(c)
1998, Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES -- Cracking an al
leged conspiracy costing taxpayers
untold sums, the Los Angeles County
Sheriff's Department has arrested one
of its administrators and an indepen
dent food contractor on bribery
charges involving millions of dollars
in padded contracts for jail food.
Authorities said their 15-month in
vestigation -- triggered by a series in
the Los Angeles Times in late 1996 -
- uncovered a pattern of corruption
spanning at least two years.
At the center of the alleged scheme
to manipulate contracts was the No.
2 official in the Sheriff's
Department's $2O million food opera
tion -- civilian employee Fredrick
Gaio. In interviews with the Times,
investigators said that, despite indi
cations of earlier problems, Gaio's
alleged wrongdoing went undetected
because of serious lapses in manage
ment and oversight of food operations
in the nation's largest jail system.
Authorities said they managed to
trace more than $9,000 in alleged
bribes from food contractor Rick
Hodgin to Gaio but that they suspect
far more money changed hands. Gaio
allegedly received lease payments for
a car and an all-expenses paid trip to
Las Vegas -- complete with limousine
Europe these days. The "Communist
Manifesto" has in many ways become
a relic and a museum piece. Under the
guise of rejecting narrow-minded in-
terpretations of Marx, President Jiang
Zemin has embraced capitalist eco
nomic reforms including mergers and
acquisitions, stock ownership,
privatization, and worker layoffs -- all
measures Marx and Engels might
have viewed dimly.
It is only the latest chapter in a his
tory of adapting the "Communist
Manifesto" to Chinese characteristics.
The manifesto was first translated
in part into Chinese in 1906. But the
translator took some liberties. For
example, the translator used the term
"common people" instead of "work
ers," because largely rural China
would have to rely on peasants to rise
up against the imperial regime.
The historian Jonathan Spence has
noted that the manifesto's classic con
clusion was altered in the translation.
The original read: "The proletarians
have nothing to lose hut their chains.
They have a world to win. Working
men of all countries, unite!"
The Chinese translation read:
"Then the world will be for the com
mon people, and the sounds of happi
ness will reach the deepest springs.
Ah! Come! People of every land, how
can you not he roused?"
end corruption in tribal government,
protect sovereignty rights and give
local communities authority over their
Own affairs. And on a reservation
where unemployment has hovered
around 50 percent for decades, he
promised to bring financial health to
the tribe's 250,000 members by pro
moting locally owned small busi-
neses
A few weeks ago, his proposal to
close reservation borders for one day
as an exercise of sovereignty was at
tacked by other Navajo leaders as in
flammatory -- and by whites who
threatened to run so-called "sover
eignty roadblocks" with firearms.
Then came the offer from special
prosecutor Chris Smith: Resign in
exchange for a promise that criminal
charges would not be pursued.
The charges against Hale could
have sent him to prison for 50 years.
He allegedly allowed Xerox Corp.,
which has significant contractual
agreements with the tribe, to pay his
$2,250 entry fee for a golf tournament
in Phoenix, as well as lodging and
meal expenses totaling $4,000.
He also allegedly accepted $1,700
from political appointees to pay his
travel expenses to attend the 1996
Democratic National Convention in
Chicago, used the Navajo Nation jet
for personal reasons, allowed the
Conoco Corp. to buy him dinner and
accepted free rooms from a hotel in
Albuquerque, N.M.
and gambling money -- to steer county
business to Hodgin and his food-yen-
dor clients
"I'm sure there are a lot of things
we will never prove, never find, - said
Sgt. John A. Nemeth of the Sheriff's
Department Internal Criminal Inves-
tigations Bureau.
The bribery scandal comes at a time
when the sheriff's custody operation
is under fire on several fronts .
Last week, for example, the depart
ment was hit with allegations that its
deputies provoked assaults on sus
pected child molesters, possibly lead
ing to the death of one inmate, a mat
ter under investigation.
Jail officials also have been criti
cized for providing inadequate medi
cal care and for keeping some inmates
in custody too long because of paper
work snafus, costing the public tens
of thousands of dollars in legal settle
ments.
Sheriff Sherman Block has sched
uled a news conference for Monday
to discuss the food-operation probe,
conducted by the Sheriff's Depart
ment with the assistance of criminal
investigators from the county's audi
tor-controller's office.
Gaio, 52, and Hodgin, 41, both of
Long Beach, were arrested Friday.
Gaio, who has worked in the
sheriff's food services division for
more than 15 years, remained in cus
Hunters and farmers
take to streets
By John Burgess=(c) 1998, The
Washington Post
LONDON -- Whatever the differ
ences in the crowd of a quarter-mil
lion, everyone knew how to do a
proper winter walk.
Never mind whether they were fox
hunters, chicken farmers, wealthy
Londoners with weekend cottages or
opponents of pollution caused by far
off city lights, they came with the req
uisite thick-soled shoes and woolen
sweaters and caps, and a cheerful de
termination that more than lasted
them the length of a three-mile route
through central London Sunday.
They also shared a conviction that
the "countryside" way of life is un
der assault in Britain. This was their
response, the largest demonstration
this city has seen in close to a decade,
taking nearly five hours to pass a
single point.
The fox hunters, blowing brass
horns from time to time, were protest
ing a bill that would ban the beloved
chase. To farmers, the big issue was
government measures against - mad
cow" disease. Owners of country
homes large and small were riled
about plans to develop protected land
and give walkers the "right to roam, -
that is, the right to cross their prop
erty.
Whatever their issue, people de
scribed it as interrelated, part of a pro
cess of government getting too big
and striking at something fundamen
tal in the rural soul.
"We've been dictated to about what
we should do, about what we should
eat," declared Kathleen Hardwick, a
lifelong country resident from the
Cambridge area, as the crush of the
march forced it to a temporary halt at
Trafalgar Square. "Soon they'll be
telling us what to think."
Marchers were overwhelmingly
polite and peaceful, coming in char
tered buses and trains, standing by
patiently as marshals herded them this
way and that on a route that took them
to London's oasis of the country spirit,
Hyde Park, with its horse trails and
planted walks.
With a few, however, the mood
changed when they passed occasional
animal rights counter-demonstrators,
such as Beryl Clifton and Christine
Adams, who from the curb held up a
large picture of a fox bearing the
words "Listen to Him!" Boos sounded
occasionally, and at least one sand
wich was hurled their way. "They re
ally are so aggressive," said Clifton.
"I find it dreadful."
In addition. opponents of the march
tody over the weekend, unable to post
the $45,000 hail, authorities said. He
has been on administrative leave, with
pay, since November, when search
warrants were first served at his home.
As of Monday, he will he suspended
without pay, pending the outcome of
the criminal case.
Hodgin is free on $30,000 hail.
Neither of the two men, nor their at
torneys, could he reached for com
ment.
According to investigators, Hodgin
allegedly paid the bribes beginning in
1995 while working for a Florida
based company called Joy Food Ser
vice Inc., which at the time was re
ceiving millions of dollars in food
contracts from the jail. When Hodgin
later became director of sales for the
California-based Harvest Farms, that
company suddenly corralled much of
the lucrative business.
The investigation of the food op
eration was launched in November
1996, after the Times published an
investigative series that exposed deep
fiscal abuses in the Sheriff's Depart
ment.
The series disclosed that the depart
ment was spending millions on such
things as outdated computers, three
cars for Block, $466 toasters and high
grade food for inmates, much of it at
a cost exceeding what other vendors
were willing to charge.
worked surreptitiously Sunday when
hackers briefly took control of the sig
nal of the march's official radio sta
tion. "Broadcasting to the nation's
bigots, wherever they are," said a pi
rate voice...
Like Washington, London has a
long history of people taking their
grievances into the streets. As long
ago as 1381, a man named Wat Tyler
led a peasant army that sacked the
Tower of London and other parts of
the city.
Politicians are scrambling to dodge
or direct this present-day continuation
of the tradition. William Hague, leader
of the opposition Conservative Party,
showed up at the march. "There's a
tremendous mixture of people here
today and they deserve to he listened
to," Hague declared to a TV inter
viewer.
The Labor Party government of
Prime Minister Tony Blair was the
target of many of the marchers, who
feel it rules with a "Tony Knows Best"
approach. It sent only two ministers
to take part. In recent days, it has been
floating compromises on the march
ers' issues, which include a voluntary
code, rather than a law, to give access
to private lands, and more funding for
farmers.
By far the biggest issue for the
marchers, organizers agree, is a bill
making its way through the House of
Commons to ban fox hunting. Bill
supporters say that the sport is cruel
and that public opinion polls consis
tently show that a majority of British
citizens -- even in the country -- fa
vor its abolition.
Anger over such a move brought
close to 100,000 people to a rally in
Hyde Park last July. Fox hunters were
very much in evidence Sunday,
though organizers asked them not to
wear their red jackets, out of fear of
images of elitism. (They got lots of
cheers from the gentlemen's clubs that
lined much of the parade route.)
The National Working Terrier Fed
eration was there, as was a basset
hound group.
Hunting has "been a traditional way
of life in the countryside and we want
to keep it that way," said Alan
Crowther, who was on a hunt just yes
terday. Many hunt supporters, such as
composer Andrew Lloyd Webber,
who lent his name to the cause today,
argue that hunting is simply a means
of protecting livestock.
Marching with them were farmers.
They feel besieged by a government
that keeps coming up with they con
sider unnecessary steps against "mad
cow" disease.