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Iowa City Oppressed Citizen, September 4, 1970

1970-09-04 Iowa City Oppressed Citizen Page 2

Let the Sunshine In
High!...The people that brought you TAKE A FREEK TO DINNER WEEK now are bringing you the Iowa City Oppressed Citizen.  With a lotta help from our friends, we'll get it on the streets twice a month. See you around!
Iowa City Oppressed Citizen
Post Office Box 986
Iowa City, Iowa 52240
All credit goes to...Ray Rutherford, Don Smith, Merrill Spector, Nick Wilke, Dwaine Schaffner, Craig Muhl, Barb Miller, Sandra Smith, Al Cloud, Eric Davis, Marcy Dockery, Bill Howell, Peg McElroy, Julie Muhl, Carol Schaffner, Don Kleinhesselink. Hope I didn't forget anybody but time is running out and the press is waiting. Bye! Star Reporter...Andy Lamberson Roving Reporter..Fred Lamberson
High!
Summer session is over, and with it most of the summer. It's been an interesting season for everyone; it'll probably be remembered as the summer Iowa City's hip community, long anticipated and eagerly awaited, took everybody by surprise simply by surviving. A lot of people - Oppressed Citizen has been guilty here as anyone - had in their hopes and pl;ans, taken to referring to this community as "our" people, as if by mere existence they had earned some right of ownership or leadership. As it happened, however, the community belonged only to those people who were of it, they chose their issues and fought their battles, sometimes wisely, sometimes awkwardly, but through it all always learning. When a "leader" appeared, it was more often simply a temporary expediency, a symbol to be used by the people and then disgarded when it came time to move on. 
Already propeller are planning for next summer; but most of it is a waste of time. For those willing to work, there are obvious needs: a free clinic, a co-op farm and store, a guerrella theater, a street sheet, free park concerts, crash pads, bail funds, and on and on. But to talk and plan beyond those basic needs is both paternalistic and self-defeating. The politicos, of course, would liek to "recruit" the culture creeps; the creeps would like to turn on the revolutionaries. And the dealers want to turn on everyone and at the same time not shake the boat and hope the heat stays away. there are a lot of internal hassles - signs of health really - but its all coming together; nothing to get hung about.
What it boils down to is that, when the time comes, the people will know they need to survive, will fight for it, and will win. No one will choose their bottles or their tactics, but a lot of people will make fools of themselves trying.
The schools are about to reopen, but thats not where the learning will be happening this winter. A lot of freeks will be doing a lot of reading and a lot of rapping and a lot of thinking .... getting themselves together.
It's been a good summer; a lot is clearer now. Last year we were almost willing to accept the media image of ourselves as eccentric but harmless flower-power peace creeps; we were so much older then.
THANKS LOUIE! Page 2
NUC RAPS on POLITICS & the STREETS
Las May U.S. Troops invaded Cambodia - and the war in Vietnam became the war in Southeast Asia. Thousands of us registered our dissent from official government policy by organizing strikes and demonstrations in the streets. we were angry about American aggression in Cambodia, about the murder of four students at Kent State and two more at Jackson State, and about the trial of Bobby Seale. At the very least we were united in our opposition to government policy and in our determination to express our opposition through effective action.
Almost immediately some people began talking about the November elections and about the importance of our working for peace candidates. Their argument was that if enough "doves" are elected the war will be ended and, that accomplished, Congress will begin solving the rest of America's problems. We've heard that before. we've been hearing it for years. And by now we should realize that it simply is not true.
Yet to say that is not enough. The November elections raise real questions concerning where the power to bring about change in America really lies. The New University Conference believes that those questions should be raised and answered. We belie3ve the answers leave little doubt that the only effective way to end war, racism, sexism and repression is to confront the people and the system which created these conditions, and that the place for those confrontations is not in the polling booths but in the streets, where it has always been.
What Makes a Dove?
Legislative opposition to the war in Vietnam has its roots in three conditions: the failure to achieve military victory, the economic crisis produced by the war, and the pressure of a militant anti-war movement. Of these three the last is the most important. If there were a military failure alone, or even military setbacks plus economic dislocation, no more doves would appear than appeared during the Korean war. However, the mass broad based and militant opposition to this war has created both the popular audience and the political necessity for peace candidates. The economic effects of war can normally be regulated by wage and price controls. But the Nixon administration is afraid to use such tactics to curb
war-produced inflation because of mass opposition to the war. In a popular war military defeats alone do not produce peace candidates. The anti-communism, quiescence and post-McCarthy fear of the 1950's resulted in little legislature opposition to a losing (and immoral) war against Korea.
We need only look at the past year to understand the immediate connection between our movement and the appearance of peace candidates and legislative opposition to the war. During the winter when the anti-war movement was at an ebb, the doves retired to their legislative chambers to vote for military appropriations (only three House doves opposed military appropriations this year), oil depletion allowances and salary raises for themselves. Around the Moratoria and November actions they briefly reappeared on our platforms to commiserate with us. Only in May when we had shut down the campuses and they sat our potential power did their sense of urgency re-emerge. The repeal of the Gulf of Tonkin resolution didn't happen because we campaigned for liberals, or even because
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Let the Sunshine In High!...The people that brought you TAKE A FREEK TO DINNER WEEK now are bringing you the Iowa City Oppressed Citizen. With a lotta help from our friends, we'll get it on the streets twice a month. See you around! Iowa City Oppressed Citizen Post Office Box 986 Iowa City, Iowa 52240 All credit goes to...Ray Rutherford, Don Smith, Merrill Spector, Nick Wilke, Dwaine Schaffner, Craig Muhl, Barb Miller, Sandra Smith, Al Cloud, Eric Davis, Marcy Dockery, Bill Howell, Peg McElroy, Julie Muhl, Carol Schaffner, Don Kleinhesselink. Hope I didn't forget anybody but time is running out and the press is waiting. Bye! Star Reporter...Andy Lamberson Roving Reporter..Fred Lamberson High! Summer session is over, and with it most of the summer. It's been an interesting season for everyone; it'll probably be remembered as the summer Iowa City's hip community, long anticipated and eagerly awaited, took everybody by surprise simply by surviving. A lot of people - Oppressed Citizen has been guilty here as anyone - had in their hopes and pl;ans, taken to referring to this community as "our" people, as if by mere existence they had earned some right of ownership or leadership. As it happened, however, the community belonged only to those people who were of it, they chose their issues and fought their battles, sometimes wisely, sometimes awkwardly, but through it all always learning. When a "leader" appeared, it was more often simply a temporary expediency, a symbol to be used by the people and then disgarded when it came time to move on. Already propeller are planning for next summer; but most of it is a waste of time. For those willing to work, there are obvious needs: a free clinic, a co-op farm and store, a guerrella theater, a street sheet, free park concerts, crash pads, bail funds, and on and on. But to talk and plan beyond those basic needs is both paternalistic and self-defeating. The politicos, of course, would liek to "recruit" the culture creeps; the creeps would like to turn on the revolutionaries. And the dealers want to turn on everyone and at the same time not shake the boat and hope the heat stays away. there are a lot of internal hassles - signs of health really - but its all coming together; nothing to get hung about. What it boils down to is that, when the time comes, the people will know they need to survive, will fight for it, and will win. No one will choose their bottles or their tactics, but a lot of people will make fools of themselves trying. The schools are about to reopen, but thats not where the learning will be happening this winter. A lot of freeks will be doing a lot of reading and a lot of rapping and a lot of thinking .... getting themselves together. It's been a good summer; a lot is clearer now. Last year we were almost willing to accept the media image of ourselves as eccentric but harmless flower-power peace creeps; we were so much older then. THANKS LOUIE! Page 2 NUC RAPS on POLITICS & the STREETS Las May U.S. Troops invaded Cambodia - and the war in Vietnam became the war in Southeast Asia. Thousands of us registered our dissent from official government policy by organizing strikes and demonstrations in the streets. we were angry about American aggression in Cambodia, about the murder of four students at Kent State and two more at Jackson State, and about the trial of Bobby Seale. At the very least we were united in our opposition to government policy and in our determination to express our opposition through effective action. Almost immediately some people began talking about the November elections and about the importance of our working for peace candidates. Their argument was that if enough "doves" are elected the war will be ended and, that accomplished, Congress will begin solving the rest of America's problems. We've heard that before. we've been hearing it for years. And by now we should realize that it simply is not true. Yet to say that is not enough. The November elections raise real questions concerning where the power to bring about change in America really lies. The New University Conference believes that those questions should be raised and answered. We belie3ve the answers leave little doubt that the only effective way to end war, racism, sexism and repression is to confront the people and the system which created these conditions, and that the place for those confrontations is not in the polling booths but in the streets, where it has always been. What Makes a Dove? Legislative opposition to the war in Vietnam has its roots in three conditions: the failure to achieve military victory, the economic crisis produced by the war, and the pressure of a militant anti-war movement. Of these three the last is the most important. If there were a military failure alone, or even military setbacks plus economic dislocation, no more doves would appear than appeared during the Korean war. However, the mass broad based and militant opposition to this war has created both the popular audience and the political necessity for peace candidates. The economic effects of war can normally be regulated by wage and price controls. But the Nixon administration is afraid to use such tactics to curb war-produced inflation because of mass opposition to the war. In a popular war military defeats alone do not produce peace candidates. The anti-communism, quiescence and post-McCarthy fear of the 1950's resulted in little legislature opposition to a losing (and immoral) war against Korea. We need only look at the past year to understand the immediate connection between our movement and the appearance of peace candidates and legislative opposition to the war. During the winter when the anti-war movement was at an ebb, the doves retired to their legislative chambers to vote for military appropriations (only three House doves opposed military appropriations this year), oil depletion allowances and salary raises for themselves. Around the Moratoria and November actions they briefly reappeared on our platforms to commiserate with us. Only in May when we had shut down the campuses and they sat our potential power did their sense of urgency re-emerge. The repeal of the Gulf of Tonkin resolution didn't happen because we campaigned for liberals, or even because CONT. page 5