v Of war and truth
Thev say that the first victim of war is truth.
As we try and navigate our way through the current cold war between the Soviets and the U.S., one has to seriously question how much of the information we are receiving is actually truth, how much is distorted and how much is empty rhetoric. ,
Take the recent events in Grenada for instance.
Regardless of whether of not the invasion was justified, let,
us look at the kind of information we have been receiving. At first the U.S. contended it was necessary to invade the island to protect U.S. citizens there. Then the invasion became necessary to stop the build-up of Cuban arms there (no doubt intended to foster revolution in Central America). Now as the TV cameras show smiling faces of Granadians saying they welcomed the invasion, undoubtedly it will become a war of liberation within a few days. ' The U.S. invasion is no particular surprise, just. as an
invasion of Nicaragua will happen when the U.S. feels that.
it can aptly justify it.
Grenada is just a part of a continued war of spheres of influence that has been, happening for quite some time. It is the American versus the Soviets in Lebanon, in El Salvador, in Afghanistan, in Nicaragua although neither side may be directly involved in all the conflicts, American and Soviet support is evident in each of the conflicts for obvious reasons. _ .
Nightly for the last week we have been entertained by the American propoganda machine at its finest.
Ronald Regan appears on TV with an emotional speech about American service personnel dying overseas for freedom. We see U.S. defenses department footage of what are obviously Cuban construction workers described as Cuban troops. We see stockpiles of small arms in Grenada described as a threat to Central America. The fact that it would make a lot more sense to store arms in Havana for such purposes —— since Cuba is four times closer to the Central American conflicts — is ignored.
The nightly diatribes against the Soviets and the Cubans are interesting in light of the fact that both the Soviets and the Cubans were dismayed themselves by the recent coup in Grenada. What if the Soviets or the Cubans had invaded under the same pretext?
The government prior to the coup has been repeatedly characterized as stooges of the Soviets and Cubans. What the nightly reports ignore is that since the take-over of Grenada by the New Jewel Movement four years ago, unemployment was reduced from 49 per cent to 12 per cent. The country also boasted a 5.5 per cent rate of growth '— and this in the midst of a world-wide recession.
Tilt} government of Maurice Bishop —- although «:- so called Me; no one ~~~ was popular among Grenadians. th ' v.0 call-ed “dermitiacy” has been restored to a: point =‘l~ a gun, we can be sure the country permitted to 'L'uif M“ the ‘V ’gihere of ‘n. ‘l can b». c-stion the ‘ Kantian”! ltl‘t‘filll‘ Mountain Mill be :riearra. ali it
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t «he they should sent troops is, Guatemala, El ..‘.ll_V U.S. allies.
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wars t i liixlffilji‘ri'n tn worm: .r-gi'nes' i" 5:.» min and Still?“ Kori-‘23 -~» all in i" r. ,tudrnts and educators,
for: society is living. able to [read between the lines. To siit through the inf mitten we r and com; our our. anaylsis of ‘ .2uatioi1 it tin: analysis goyerntnents and big business {radial Wuul i illiVL ' :licve is the absolute truth.
my fs-u‘. i.‘
As 1984 appmuches it imperative {lLLL ' prepare our“ selves to deal with the ultimate tool of power — knowledge.
— Page6
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Iodowski ‘ Melted gem
CuBA N MORTAR
University threatens sociology/Anthropology again
Lets take a trip down memory lane. Remember, last year at this time when every- one was busy cramming for mid-terms and suddenly we were awakened by the pre- sident’s advisory committe report?
One clause regarding the sociology/anthropology de-
partment suggested that a joint major should be pro- vided in sociology/anthropo- logy instead of a‘major in each discipline. Most of us students were quite upset we were not consulted. Well —- it’s happening again.
At the present time, the de-
—— The N etted Gem
Volume 1 1
Thursday November 3, NS?
Stall This Week: Tin? allotar err-W of this week‘s paper includes the
Silt-x of" (in no par! 21
._ n , .,I V yuan 1.5.53.“th ,
Dan :31 Blackquiere, Denise Ri:
is nil". open it) more!
lur order) C'iroli'i; Ryan, RUE}; tZ-.lgett, lull ' ...)n Biff Bart .ir., Mickey Place, up master of ’.'\?‘TCl’Z‘l(‘)nlC.\. this week. Rick Jonson. The door
Jonathan Orloxvski, :lougan, Joanne-MacKinnon,
The: Nemxl Gem is the weekly stud-en: newspaper of the University o: Prince Edward island. Views expressed in the Netted Gem are not necessarily How. of the DPS student union. We reserve the
l
lighl to c Netted Ge noon on Vt, to cutting r
: copy for space, ‘ jrlc
must be typed doubled spaced 3y. Letters exceeding 500 words in imgth are prone .1 much abuse by the collective staff. All letters must
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be signed in“ their author(s). Our office is located on the fourth floor the Mini building. Our telephone is 8924121 Ext. 387. The ."lctled Gem is a member usually in good standing with Canadian
University Press.
partment of sociology and anthropology offers a socio- logy and an anthropology major. There is aproposal beforesenate which states: The the university offers one joint majorin sociology/ anthropology with two pat—
ference would be. that eac student would be known I have a bachelor of arts wit a major in sociology anthropology.
For those sociology an anthropology majors ou ther —— do you want you
LETTERS . .
terms of concentration (or
indeed equal distribution of courses). The department should attempt to have the materials on these patterns approved in time for: the 198/ -85 calendar.
What this means is:
I. There would be one joint major. Thus one could no longer receive a bachelor of arts degree majoring in sociology or anthropology.
2. The department could
offer a sequence in sociology or a sequence in anthropo- logy, or even the combination
of the two. 3. However, even with these sequences, the dif-
degree “combined? Th' statistics seem to suggest not
This joint major has best available the past tw years and no one has eye. chosen it. We have about :3.
v‘ ‘ 101
people declared majors :l
either sociology or anthrop.“ logy. A if you disagree. if you a' concerned about your into C and the It Ll.le of studerrt. following you, a petition wil be circulaed soliciting} you support, Furthermore ther will be a short meetings: Monday November 7 at 7:t pm in the library, room 103 Janice Keel '4th Year Sociolog
The Netted Gem, Thursday, November 198