our hearts. and taking continual, tangi­ble ~teps to prevent war, becomes a di­fficult task.

Two groups on campus, Anns RaceAlternatives (ARA) and StudentsAg-ainst Militarism (SAM), work withinthese mental limits to foster awarenessand practical action neces::-ary to coun­ter the growing threat of war. Thoughthe emphasis of the two p:roups differ.they share an aversion to current gov­ernment policy. These groups, visualiz­ing the possibilities of destruction andg-rasping the-tendencies of distorted na­tional priorities, are throwing theirweight into shifting America off thedead-end track.

"Most people my age rememberwell the air-raid drills in school, under

Hy Harack ObamaMost students at Columbia do not

have first hand knowledge of war_ Mili­tary violence has been a vicarious ex­perience, channeled into our mindsthrough television, film, and print.

The more sensitive ~lmong usstruggle to extrapolate experiences ofwar from our everyday experience, dis­cussing the latest mortality statisticsfrom Guatemala, sensitizing ourselvesto our parents' wartime memories, orincorporating into our framework ofre·ality as depicted by a Mailer or a Cop­pola. But the taste of war-the soundsand chill, the dead bodies-are remoteand far removed. We know that warshave OlX.'WTed, will occur, are occWTing,but bringing such experience down into

the desk with our heads tucked betweenour legs. Older people, they rememberthe Cuban Missile Crisis. I think thesekinds of things left an indelible mark onouf souls, so we're more apt to be con­cerned," says Don Kent, assistant di­rector of programs and student activi­ties at Earl Hall Center. Along with thecommunity Volunteer Service Center,ARA has been Don's primary concern,coordinating various working groups offaculty, students, and staff members,while simultaneously seeking the everelusive funding for programs.

"\Vhen I first came here two yearsago, Earl Hall had been a holding tankfor five years. Paul Martin (director ofEarl Hall) and [discussed our interests,and decided that ARA would be one ofthe programs we pushed. tl Initially,most of the work was done by non-stu­dent volunteers and staff. "Hot issues,particularly EI Salvador, were occupy­ing students at the time. consequently,we cosponsored a lot of activities \'I.rithcommunity organiza.tions like SANE(Students Against Nuclear Energy)."

With the flowering of the nuclearFreeze movement, and particularly theJune 12 rally in Central Park, however,student participation has expanded.One wonders whether this upsurgestems from young people's penchant forthe latest 'happenings', or from gro\\;ngawareness ofthe consequences ofnucle­ar holocaust. ARA maintains a mailinglist of 500 persons and Don Kent esti­mates that approximately half of the ac­tive members are students. Althoughhe feels that continuity is provided by

BREAKINGTHE WAR MENTALITY the faculty and staff members, studentattendance at ARA sponsored events--­in particular a November 11 convocationon the nuclear threat-reveals a deepresevoir ofconcern. "I think students onthis campus like to think of themselvesas sophisticated, and don't appreciatesmall vision, So they tend to come outmore for the events; they do not want tojust fold leaflets."

Mark Bigelow, a graduate internfrom Union Theological Seminary whoworks with Don to keep ARA runningsmoothly, agrees. "It seems that stu­dents here are fairly aware of the nucle­ar problem, and it makes for an underly­ing frustration. We try to talk to thatfrustration." Consequently. the tbrnst ofARA is towards generating dialoguewhich will give people a rational handleon this controversial subject. this inc­ludes bringing speakers like Daniel

2 Sundial. March 10, 1983

ElIsberg to campus, publishing factsheets compiled by interested faculty,and investigating the possible develop­ment of an interdisciplinary program inthe Columbia curriculum dealing withpeace, disannament, and 'world order.

Tied in with such a thrust is theabsence of what Don calls "a party line."By taking an almost apolitical approachto the problem, ARA hopes to get theuniversity to take nuclear arms issuesseriously. "People don't like havingtheir intelligence insulted," says Don,"so we try to disseminate infonnationand allow the individual to make his orher own decision."

Generally, the narrow focus of theFreeze movement as well as academicdiscussions of first versus second strikecapabilities, suit the military-industrialinterests, as they continue adding totheir billion dollar erector sets. WhenPeter Thsh sings that "everybody's ask­ing for peace, but nobody's asking forjustice," one is forced to wonder whe­ther disannament or arms control is­sues, severed from economic and politi­cal issues, might be another instance offocusing on the symptoms of a probleminstead of the disease itself. Mark Bige­low does not think so. "We do focus pri­marily on catastrophic weapons. Look,we say, here's the worst part,let's workon that. You're not going to get rid ofthe military in the near future, so let's at

.".·it

least work on this."Mark Bigelow does feel that the

links are there, and points to fruitfulwork being done by other organizationsinvolved with disarmament. ''TheFreeze is one part of a whol disarma­ment movement. The lowest commondenominator, so to speak. For instance,April 10-16 is Jobs For Peac week, \\;tha bunch of things going on around thecity. Also, the New York City Councilmay pass a resolution.in April calling forgreater social as opposed to militaryspending. Things like this may dispellthe idea that disarmament is a whiteissue, because how the governmentspends its revenue affects everyone."

The very real advantages of con­centrating on a single issue is leadingthe National Freeze movement to chal­lenge individual missile systems, whilecontinuing the broader campaign. Thisyear, Mark Bigelow sees the checkingof Pershing rr and Cruise missile de·ployment as crucial. "Because of theirsmall size and mobility, their deploy­ment will make possible arms controlverification far more difficult, and \dBcut down warning time for the Sovietsto less than ten minutes. That can onlybe a destabilizing factor." Additionally,he sees the initiation by the U.S. of theTest Ban Treaty as a powerful first steptowards a nuclear free worlel.

ARA encourages members to joinbuses to Washington and participate in a,

March 7-8 rally intended to pushthrough the Freeze resolution which ismaking its second trip through theHouse. ARA also will ask United Cam­puses to Prevent Nuclear War(UCAM), an infonnation and lobbyingnetwork based in universities, nation­wide, to serve as its advisory board inthe near future. Because of its auton­omy from Columbia (which does notfund political organizations) UCAMcould conceivably become a more activeann of disannament campaigns on cam­pus, though the ARA will continue tofunction solely as a vehicle for informa­tion and discussion.

Also operating out of Earl HallCenter, Students Against Militarismwas fonned in response to the passageof registration laws in 1980. An entirelystudent-run organization, SAM casts awider net than ARA, though for thepurposes of effectiveness, they havetried to lock in on one issue at a time.

"At the heart. of our organization isan anti-war focus", says junior RobertKahn, one of SAM's fifteen or so activemembers. "From there, a lot of issuesshoot forth-nukes, racism, the draft,and South Africa. ''We have been betterorganized when taking one issue at atime, but we are always cognizant ofother things going on, and collaboratefrequently with other campus organiza­tions like CISPES and REEL­POLITIK."

At this time, the current major is-sue is the Solomon Bill, the latest legis­lation from Congress to obtain compli­ance to registration. the law requiresthat all male students applying for fed­eral financial aid submit proof of regis­tration, or else the government cofferswill close. Yale, Wesleyan, and Swath­more have refused to comply, and planto offer non-registrants other fonns offinancial aid. SAM hopes to press C0­lumbia into following suit, though so farPresident Sovern and company seemprepared to acquiesce to the bill.

Robert believes students tacitlysupport non-registrants, though themajority did not. comply. "Severalstudents have come up to our tables andsaid that had they known of the ineffec­tiveness of prosecution. they would nothave registered." A measure of such un­derlying support is the 400 signatureson a petititon protesting the SolomonBill, which SAM collected the first fourhours it appeared. Robert also pointsout that prior to registration, therewere four separate bills circulating inthe House proposing a return to the~, butnoneevergotoutofcorrrnti~

tees, and there have not been renewed

Mal·ch 10, 1983 • Sundial 3

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mentality. contin"edfrompageJ

efforts. An estimated half-million non­registrants can definately be a powerfulsignal.

Prodding students into participa­ting beyond name signing and attendingevents is tricky, but SAM membersseem undaunted. "A lot of the problemcomes not from people's ignorance of thefacts, but because the news and statis­ties are lifeless. That's why we searchfor campus issues like the Solomon billthat have direct impact on the studentbody, and effectively link the campus tobroader issues." By organizing and edu­cating the Columbia community, suchaetivities lay the foundation for futuremobilization against the relentless, of­ten silent spread of militarism in thecountry. ''The time is right to tie toge­ther social and military issues," Robertcontinues, "and the mopre strident theAdministraion becomes, the more a­ware people are oftheir real interests.

The belief that moribund institu­tions, rather than individuals are at theroot of the problem, keep SAM's ener­gies alive. IIA prerequisite for membersof an organization like ours is the faiththat people are fundamentally good, butyou need to show them. and when youlook at the work people are doing acrossthe country, it makes you optimistic."

Perhaps the essential goodness ofhumanity is an arguable proposition,hut hy obsEl'rving the SAM meeting lastThursday night, with its solid turnoutand enthusiasm, one might be persua­ded that the manifestations of our bet­ter instincts can at least match the badones. Regarding Columbia's possiblecompliance, one comment in particularhit upon an important point with theSolomon hill, "The thing we need to do isexpose how columbia is talking out oftwo sides of its mouth."

Indeed, the most pervasive maladyof the collegiste system specifically, andthe American experience generally, isthat elaborate patterns of knowledgeand theory have been disembodied fromindividual choices and government pol­icy. What the members of ARA andSAM try to do is infuse what they havelearned about the current situation,hring the words of that formidable r0s­

ter on the face ofButler Library, nameslike Thoreau, Jefferson, and Whitman,to hear on the twisted logic of which weare today a part. By adding their energyand effort in order to enchance the pos­sibility of a decent world, they may help

deprive us of a spectacular experi­ence-that of war. But then, there aresome things we shouldn't have to livethrough in order to want to avoid theexperience.

Green • continuedfrom page 1

and soon, it is quite probable that theGermans will do something on theirown. The Reagan administration's stal­ling at the Geneva ta1Iks on nuclear wea­pons has thus already caused severetension and could ultimately bring abouta dangerous rift between the UnitedStates and Western Europe. By beingintransigent, Reagan is playing directlyinto the Russians' hands.

In 1933 the German establishmentthought it could use Hitler to restore amodicum of order to the confused andconfusing Weimar Republic. In fact,Hitler did strengthen the German es­tablishment, but not exactly in the waythe bankers and businessmen hadwanted; and now, fifty years later, it isclear who was using whom.

Nevertheless, the Western Worlddid not complain in 1933 because Hitler,though a fascist and a totalitarian, wasseen, like counUess American puppetdictators today, as someone who leaves

the established order in place.Not so the Greens. If a group of

young, anti-establishment pacifistsv,ith unusual ideas and uncomfortableanswers to hard questions terrifies usmore today than Hitler, Himmler,Goering and Goebbels did back in 1933,our terror says more about us than itdoes about the Greens or the Germans.It indicates that we have failed to com­prehend the meaning of Nazism andhlind obedience to authority in their fullhorror, and that we, unlike the Greens,have yet ourselves to learn the dem<>­cratic lesson that we have taught theGennans so well.

Since the European peace move­ment has long since become the Ameri­can peace movement, and since Ameri­ca now has its own Green Party, the riseof the Greens in Germany has profoundsignificance here. It is at once a warningto us that the old solutions of more wea­pons and again more weapons will nolonger be accepted in a Europe that isalready a powderkeg waiting to go off;and it is an invitation to work towards apeace that is genuine, lasting and non­nuclear.