editorial
M UN session not fun and games for Indians
One scene from this year's Nebraska Model United
Nations (NMUN) should be remembered long after
the resolutions and speeches are forgotten.
The Nebraska Union Centennial Room was filled
Saturday afternoon with NUMN delegates playing
world diplomats. Wheeling, dealing and appealing
their way through a web of parliamentary procedure,
the delegates decided the fate of nations as if they
were deciding where to eat supper.
Seated by himself in the back of the room was
Frank Black Elk, Lincoln American Indian Movement
coordinator.
Moments before, he had been the center of
attention. Persistent work by Ron Clingenpeel of the
Luxembourg delegation and a suspension of the order
of the day by Secretary-General Dean Kirby had
given Black Elk the floor to read a resolution calling
for recognition of American Indian sovereignty and
treaty rights.
Black Elk reminded the delegates that the
"indigenous Redman of the Western Hemisphere" is
the only race not represented in the United Nations.
He called on them to "demand that the United States
of America immediately stop all present and future
criminal and civil prosecution of Sovereign Native
Peoples" and that "all treaties between Native
Nations and the United States made prior to 1871
shall be recognized without further need of
interpretation."
The delegates listened attentively. Some even
stood and applauded when he finished. But almost
immediately, the American Indian was forgotten, a
condition they are used to by now but have never
been satisfied with.
1 It is disappointing that the Model United Nations
found itself unable to set a model for the real world
by seriously considering the plight of the American
Indian. Any hope of that was shattered when a mock
assassination of the Secretary-General took place even
before Black Elk could walk to the back of the room.
The fun and games were on again. The prospect of
having to deal seriously with a problem was over, to
relief of most delegates.
What must be remembered is that Frank Black Elk
and the Indian people are not playing games. Their
problem is real, not something that should be
sandwiched between fake kidnapings and mock visits
from the Queen of England.
There is nothing wrong with having fun during an
NUMN session-unless fun becomes the object instead
of a diversion. Next year's NUMN should put business
before pleasure. The disposition of the American
Indian nations should be considered with the same
fervor accorded the Palestinian refugee question this
year.
And the U.S. government should realize there is
something wrong with a system that forces the proud
representatives of the Indian people to take C -.ir case
before a mock body in hopes of getting the favorable
hearing denied them through normal channels.
One wonders how long the Indians will tolerate
our games.
Wes Alters
who tow
MY CAN
DOGGONE IT, IX
GETTING SICMND
TIRED OF VOO
THIN&S RA m
AND NEVER
RETVMM THEM.
v.
WHAT'S THAT IH
m 'mo, mfnf
IT'S A
C)N OPEHIR
Dear editor:
In response to Jeff Hermansen (Daily Nebraskan,
Feb. 5) he is apparently not one of the types Joe
Dreesen talked about in his column on
"brown-nosers." He dealt with the people, obvious to
us all, who spew forth dung with every breath.
They are not an asset to the class, as Hermansen
suggests, but instead a liability to the instructor and
especially to students since we waste our time and
money listening to some attention fanatic whose only
other goal is to make himself heard.
I don't think Dreesen suggests that all people who
sit in the front rows pucker up in avid expectation of
a chance to receive brownie points, nor do I think he
is referring to those with valid input.
Chuck Gentile
Jockfreakwhizkidgreek
Dear editor:
I was disappointed and disgusted on Feb. 6 to read
another attempt (this time by Joe Dreesen) to further
alienate and polarize the students of this campus. I
was saddened, too, to realize that a person with such
narrow and stultifying views on society is in a
position to broadcast those opinions as if they were
the word of Josh.
The problem lies not so much in that he has those
views, but in that others will take Dreesen's words
and use them as ammunition (or evidence) to
continue in their own narrow-minded ways.
What Dreesen fails to realize is that hardly anyone
could be shoehorned into one of his eight
stereotypes. I tried to clas.iy myself among his lines
and found the only term to describe me was
pseudo-jockfreakwhizkidgVeekintellectual.
My living arrangement doesn't limit me to only
associating with those in the same building, nor those
of the same lifestyle.
Face it, the only real difference between those in
residence halls and those in fraternities is that one
group lives in residence halls and the other in
fraternities.
Jeff Jensen
Change in ideas
Dear editor:
After reading" Bruce Nelson's cynic's corner last
Monday, I would like to comment.
I am sure part of the reason American politicians
voted to aid India is that India has a democratic form
of government. Politicians here are asking that more
aid be sent to South Vietnam for the same reason.
The same principle explains why Russia gives aid to
Cuba.
What India needs now is not more aid from other
countries but a revolution to drastically change the
philosophy and psychology of the people. China and
Russia provide us with a good model of how a drastic
change in basic ideas can lead to improvement in the
country's economic conditions.
As to why Gandhi spends money on nuclear
devices in spite of her country's domestic problems,
one might just as well ask why Britian, China, France,
the USA, the USSR and a few others spend so much
money on nuclear weapons.
Alyas Mohammed
Starving Indians
Dear editor:
An article (Daily Nebraskan Feb. 3)
the food crisis in India was an unfair slam on the
Indian government. The author emphasized that "our
"society is not very fond of facts" when it concerns
India and U.S. aid to that country. In the same
article, he failed to mention the "facts" by ignoring
complex aspects of Indian politics.
India is by no means a simple political unit and
neither are its problems. It is a hnd of many cultures
and people unified in a complex system. This
physically large, densely populated country has
problems of communication and transportation.
There is also the problem of Hindu traditions that
impede modernization.
Solving India's problems may take years, but many
Americans fail to realize this. Americans want a quick
solution to each and every problem. In India this is
particularly difficult due to the above mentioned
facts.
Birth control is the bone of contention of the
article. The author states that India has cut back on
family planning programs. The fact is that these
programs have failed miserably. What is needed is a
general education of the Indian populace to chanec
its traditional outlook. This will be a slow process
perhaps the only solution to the problem. Once birth
control is accepted India will have alleviated much of
her problem. In the meantime, the Indian people
must be fed.
Americans need to face the realities of India.
Attitudes about birth control and religion don't
change overnight. We don't have to feel guilty about
starving Indian children and yet we must not ignore
the fact that they are starving.
Charles Enriquez
Tony Kratochvil
Survival of the fittest
Dear editor:
A note of agreement on Bruce Nelson's opinion of
India and her food position. There are simply too
many people and, to be realistic, only some will and
can survive.
I hardly consider myself inhumane or devoid of
emotion, but dying is natural and happens to the best
as well as the worst. Not only are the people of India
helping themselves to an early death by massive
reproduction and their religious beliefs, but they are
dragging others who perhaps could have better
chances of surviving.
Who's to say dying is a bad experience, anyway?
No one has yet to come back and tell. But it seems to
me a much better fate than having your stomach
exlcr.uCu, your mind slowly deteriorating or your
muscles digesting themselves for nourishment.
It would all be very fine and valiant to save the
world and feed the starving. But this is an
impossibility with the world as it is today.
It comes down to survival of the fittest. It may
sound primitive, but man is not so advanced as he
thinks. There are problems he is unable to cope
with-either he adapts or suffers the consequences of
extinction through natural selection.
Raylene A. Rhodes
Happy Hoosier
Dear editor:
It's about time! Finally Nebraska fans have
realized that football isn't the only sport in this
world.
Reared in a region where "Hoosier Hysteria" is
alrnost as commonplace as "Big Red Country" is in
these parts, I was beginning to wonder whether these
Midwesternern would ever discover the wonder,
finesse and gracefulness of basketball.
Maybe it's just the winning season, but it warms an
Indiana lloosier's heart to witness a sell-out crowd
cheering in the aged Coliseum in the dead of winter.
It sure makes those dreary Saturdays pass quickly!
A Happy Hoosier
page 4
daily nebraskan
monday, february 10, 1975
