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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 11, 1989)
_r_ t 1L&7 C 1 ^ "fl fj" C "J" Associated Press Neliraskan l ^ V VV a *-> Edited by Victoria Ayotte Monday) December 1!, 1989 Non-Communists take power; Czechs celebrate rKAvjut, Czechoslovakia -- A govern ment controlled by non-Communisls took power Sunday for the first time in 41 years, and tens of thousands of people jammed the na tion’s streets to celebrate the historic victories of their peaceful revolution. President Gustav Husak, the nation’s last old-guard Communist leader, resigned after swearing in the new government, which in cludes two men who were persecuted as dissi dents until just two weeks ago. In a key compromise, the Justice Ministry, which runs the nation’s hated secret and uni formed police, will be run by a leading dissi dent, the new Communist premier and a Com munist Party member proposed by the opposi tion. The new 21 member government contains 10 Communists, two of whom enjoy opposi tion support, seven non-party members and two members each from the small Socialist and People’s parties, which recently broke tics with the Communists. More than 100,000 people crammed Pra gue’s Wcnccslas Square to hear opposition leader vaciav Havel, 53, and other dissidents who battled jail and harassment for 13 years catalogue the successes of their fight for de mocracy. The embattled Communists have granted stunning concessions, including the opening of borders, the promise of free elccuons and the elimination of their monopoly on power. Elsewhere in Eastern Europe Sunday: • More than 50,000 people chanting “Democracy!” rallied in Sofia, Bulgaria, in the biggest demonstration for reform since the Communists consolidated power there 43 years ago. • Tens of thousands of East Germans rail ied in several cities in support of further demo cratic reforms. The new East German Commu nist Party chief said he wants a clear separation of party and government functions. • Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev warned Communist Party leaders in Moscow that their colleagues’ fall from power in East ern Europe proves they must quickly solve Soviet domestic problems or face similar excesses. Czechoslovakia’s Parliament meets Tues day to pick Husak’s successor, and both Havel and Alexander Dubcek, 68, the popular leader of the crushed 1968 reform movement, have said they would accept the post if nominated. “We haven’t won yet,” Havel told the cheering crowd in a nationally televised speech. “But it is a great success, giving us great hope. This is a success for all of us, both our nations. Without this spontaneous awaken ing, this success would not have been achieved.” “This peaceful revolution was ... against violence, dirt, mafias, privileges, persecu tions,” Havel said. “Let us preserve its purity, peacefulness, love and merry, friendly flair.” ‘ ‘The ycars-long, deadly silence of a humili ated people has been drowned out by a multi voiced popular choir,” he said. Referring to the police crackdown on stu dents Nov. 17 that energized the nation’s pro democracy movement, he said: “After an arti ficial halt, history began moving with breath uuuug ispccu wiiiui >uipi iscu an ui u.s. uuc(lay, historians will study this and tell us what hap pened.” The crowd burst into applause and cheers as Havel listed the achievements of the Civic Forum opposition movement, and its Slovak counterpart, Public Against Violence, which were formed only on Nov. 19. One hour earlier, Husak, the man respon sible for the 21 years of repression and stagna tion that followed the Warsaw Pact invasion that crushed the 1968 “Prague Spring” re forms, swore in the new “government of na tional understanding” the opposition had demanded. The 76-year-old, hard-line leader - who ended up conducting the ceremony on Interna tional Human Rights Day - then resigned as he had promised to do. The government he installed includes men he jailed or stripped of all but the most menial jobs when he was Communist Party chief from 1969 to 1987. Parliament, which meets Tuesday, has two weeks to choose a new president. Anti-apartheid leaders announce militant strategy JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Anti-apartheid leaders Sunday announced a militant strategy of civil disobedience and political pressure and urged South African whites to join them for the “final onslaught on apartheid.” The plans w ere adopted late Satur day at a closed session ol the largest ann-apartheid conference ever held in South Africa. It was attended by 4,662 black, white, Indian and mixed-race delegates from 2,128 organizations. Several major black organizations to the left and right of mainstream anti-apartheid groups cither boy cotted the conference or were not invited. But Murphy Morobc, one the or ganizers, said the Conference for a Democratic Future was a “roaring success.” “Business was concluded in a spirit of unity unprecedented in any gathering in the past with such a dis parate array of organizations," he said at a news conference. One resolution urged whites “to break decisively with all apartheid forces and side with the majority." It urged them to conduct solidarity marches into black townships and proposed a campaign to create new municipalities by merging white cit ies and their adjoining black ghettos. Another resolution urged an esca lation of confrontational activity by black trade unions. It said workers should be prepared to occupy the Johannesburg Slock Exchange if necessary to prevent possible privati zation of major state enterprises such as the postal and transport services. “ We cal I upon our people to reject capitalism and free market system,” a resolution on economics said. Perhaps the most important reso lution, Morobc said, was a demand for non-racial elections for an assem bly that would draft a constitution establishing a one-person, one-vote system for South Africa. Nebraskan Fditor Amy Edwards _ . _ 472-1766 Publications Board Chairman Pam Mein 472- 2588 Professional Adviser Don Walton 473- 7301 The Dally Nebraskan(USPS 144-080) Is published by the UNL Publications Board, Ne braska Union 34, 1400 R St., Lincoln, NE, Monday through Friday during the academic year; weekly during summer sessions. Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas and comments to the Daily Nebraskan by phoning 472-1763 between 9 a m and 5 p m, Monday through Friday. The public also has access to the Publications Board For Information, contact Pam Hein, 472-2588 Subscription price is $45 for one year. Postmaster: Send address changes to the Daily Nebraskan. Nebraska Union 34,1400 R St.,Lincoln, NE 68588 0448 Second-class postage paid at Lincoln, NE. ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1989 DAILY NEBRASKAN 1 \ m aL, Andy Manhart/Daily Nebraskan America caught in wave of high-tech snooping WASHINGTON --Therecould be a secret microphone on your telephone line, in your table lamp, in that briefcase silling next to your desk — or even under your bed. Your neighbors could be listen ing in on those intimate calls you’ve been making on your cord less or cellular telephone. Or your boss could be eaves dropping on your office at work. America is caught in a wave of high-tech snooping, according to privacy advocates who blame cheap, easily obtainable gadgets that can be bought through the mail, in electronics stores or in “spy shops.” Some examples: • Oftc-way wireless intercoms. These liny devices, which can be secreted inside any household electrical device such as a lamp or electric clock, will transmit con versations to a receiver placed on the same electrical circuit, such as from a conference room to a base ment. They’re available at elec tronics stores for $24.95. • Spy briefcases. With a flick of their handles, these normal-look ing attache cases will record, loud and clear, any sounds in a room for hours. They cost between $6(X) and S9(X). • Infinity transmitters. Attach one to a phone and call it from another phone. The bugged phone does not ring. Instead it becomes a microphone that will pick up eve rything within 30 feet. Yours for just $99.95. • Baby tenders. These innocu ous intercom systems allow par ents to monitor an infant’s room from another part of the house. Trouble is, these radio devices also put out signals that can be heard by neighbors, or by snoops. • Voice-activated tape record ers. Put one under a bed to catch an unfaithful spouse, or in your pocket to secretly record a con versation. Cost: $75 and up. • Listening aids. Designed to look like small portable radios or tape players, they can, as the ads say, let you hear what people are saying about you across the room. $49.95. Devices like these -- plus counter-bugging gadgets -- will be on display this week in Wash ington at Surveillance Expo ’89, which organizer Jim Ross says is the first non government show to focus on surveillance and countcrsurveillancc. One exhibitor will show a belt pager that actually is a tiny TV camera. “He has a transmitter on his back and a beeper on a belt. Wherever he points the beeper he’s broadcasting a picture to a receiver. ’ ’ The device has a range of a “few hundred feet, but could be boosted,” Ross said in an interview last week. “He also has one built into a tic clip and another that looks like a sprinkler head. Thai’s a big seller, he tells me,” Ross said. Another exhibitor will show how to use a touchtone telephone to modify computer programs that control sophisticated office phone systems. The exhibitor used it “so he could monitor his boss’ phone calls,” Ross said. In many workplaces, interof fice phone systems have replaced traditional clappers and bell ring ers with musical tone pulses. The systems require that the phone receivers stay turned on all the time, which turns them into microphones, Ross said. 0 E. Germans demonstrate for democratic reforms t-rtj i DtKLirs — icnsoi mou sands of demonstrators demanded more democratic reforms in East Germany on Sunday, and a state-run labor union urged workers to defy a 40-year-old policy that forbids them to strike. Gregor Gysi, East Germany’s new Communist Party chief, said he wants a clear separation of party and gov ernment functions, a radical concept in a country where the party has been all-powerful for 40 years. In another development, the four World War II Allies — France, Brit ain, the United States and the Soviet Union — announced they would meet today to discuss the role of Berlin in East-West affairs. Tens of thousands of East Ger mans took to the streets in protests in Rostock, Erfurt and other cities, the official news agency ADN said. Most were demanding human rights and democratic changes, the report said. In the southern city of Plaucn, 15,000 demonstrators turned out for a pro-democracy rally called by the New Forum opposition group. Several hundred people in East Berlin demonstrated in favor of human rights and against what they sec as a growing intolerance of for eigners. About 15,000 people dem onstrated in favor of human rights in the city of Ilmcnau, ADN said. Leaders of the 160,(XX)-member scientists’ union, meeting on Satur day in Leipzig, issued the call for recognition of the right to strike, ADN said. The scientists’ union is one of 16 unions belonging to the suite-run labor federation Freicr Deutsche Gc wersk sc hallsbund. The scientists’ call amounts to a demand for the federation leadership to recognize the right to strike em bodied in the East German Constitution. The federation has been rocked by a growing financial scandal, and a new leadership took over Saturday to make it more independent. The prospect of strikes clearly alarmed Gysi, 41, who look over as parly chic! only on Saturday. In an interview broadcast late Saturday 1 night on West Germany’s ADR tele- I vision network, he said that given the \ country’s current political instability, strikes would be “irresponsible.” * Gysi s|xmh Sunday preparing for -next weekend’s continuation of the 1 emergency parly congress that is I expected to give ihe party a new j name. Late Sunday, the official news agency ADN said Soviet President I Mikhail S. Gorbachev had sent Gysi a 1 message of congratulations that also emphasized the “sovereign” nature of East Germany. Gorbachev, whose Soviet reform movement prompted the pro-democracy revolution in the I East bloc, recently joined with East German leaders in rejecting German reunification, a possibility that has I been debated since the reform move- I mcnl began transforming East Ger- ' many. East Germany faces its first free elections in May, and parly leaders have said they would be happy to receive 20 percent of the vole. In the interview, Gysi said he was urging a “strict division of party and government.” But he added, “This can’t be done in one day. It is a long term job that is being taken very seri ously.” The Communists also say they sec themselves as one party among sev eral political forces in East Germany, following two months of upheaval that started with the downfall of hard line ruler Erich Honcckcr. Last week, reformist Mayor Wolfgang Bergholerof Dresden said the nation’s factories have been hit by politically motivated warning strikes, aimed against Communist Party interference. Bcrghofcr said the unrest could gel out of hand and esca late into violence. On Sunday, he warned that trouble could come from both the extreme right and the extreme left in East Germany. “Violence has not been dispelled,” he told reporters. “An cscalaclion is possible at any mo ment.” Panel: Feds subverted evidence I ™ /Aonnxvj iuin — a congres sional panel charged Sunday that the federal governmeni has failed lo re port evidence of the relative safely of abortions for women. A report released by a House committee also claimed the federal Centers for Disease Control has cen sored research on abortion, and urged the Department of Health and Human Services to assure public health re search is not affected by political ments. also recommended increased federal support for contraceptive re search to help decrease the 1.5 mil lion abortions obtained by American women every year. “This report provides important evidence of the relative safety of abortion for women, since more than 90 percent of abortions performed in the U.S. arc much safer than preg nancy and childbirth, and even the most dangerous types of legal abor tions are equal in risk to carrying a pregnancy to term,” said Rep. Ted Weiss, D-N.Y. His statement was included with the report by the House Government Operations Committee, ba$ed on an investigation by its subcommittee on human resources and intergovern mental relations, which Weiss chairs.