THE PEOPLE'S FORUM
THE PEOPLE'S FORUM Action on Algeria Dear Sirs: For three turbulent years the Algerian people have been struggling for independence. Almost 500,000 French soldiers, equipped with the most modern...
...Sufficient public response will result in a new, enlightened policy in Algeria which will help to strike a clear and lasting blow for freedom and, consequently, for world peace...
...Donald Harrington Chairman American Committee on Africa, Inc...
...In a courageous and eloquent address, he urged the United States to exert its power and prestige on behalf of an immediate cease fire and negotiations toward a settlement based on the recognition of Algeria's right to independence...
...There is something to this notion, bui I think circumstances will compel them to act Plough they believed their symbols...
...Release of Djilas Dear Sirs: I wonder if many readers of The Progressive would not like to join in writing to the release of Milovan Djilas from pfi«on in Yugoslavia...
...Senator Kennedy offered a resolution to both houses of Congress, which, if approved, would authorize and instruct the President and Secretary of State to pursue this policy either through NATO or the United Nations...
...As a result, Western security in Europe has been jeopardized and American prestige in Africa and Asia seriously damaged...
...Miss Julia H. Hill Richmond, Va...
...Today the Algerians fight from doorsteps and rooftops in the towns, from fields and roadsides in the outlying areas...
...Good Sense Dear Sirs: May I say at this time that, ever since I was introduced to The Progressive with a newsstand copy of your famous McCarthy issue, I have appreciated the eminent good sense displayed in the vast majority of your articles...
...Some of his friends ftport that he has little chance of surviving /Wether winter in his present place of *4nprijonment...
...Its success would help to restore American leadership as a dedicated exponent of freedom everywhere...
...America made a great outcry about the trial of Cardinal Mindzenty...
...Why not equal protest about the equally disgraceful imprisonment of Djilas...
...The Pentagon recently admitted that American arms and material, destined for NATO, have been deployed for use in Algeria...
...Survival of Unfittest Dear Sirs: Scientifically man has brought himself face to face with the possibility of complete destruction...
...This process has been going on for thousands of years...
...Will man continue to inherit the weakness of the survivors of the unfittest, or shall we be survivors of the fittest...
...In the entrance to the French Cathedral in the East Sector I stood amid bricks and weeds, and looked with pain on a statue of Moses, battered by man and stained and eroded by time, receiving the Law on Sinai...
...Only President Eisenhower can say less with more words, and then only at a press conference when he is trying to explain what he means...
...Perpetual conflict and war carry with them the demand for the sacrifice of the most mentally and physically fit...
...She has qualities that would grace a statesman...
...But this is a passive opposition, at best...
...The American Committee on Africa believes that Senator Kennedy's historic proposal deserves maximum support from the American people...
...Who are the survivors of war...
...That's what our lapel buttons say...
...Most familiar to Americans are those which express the cheerful defiance of this island of freedom to the sea of tyranny around...
...This repeating process is a demonstration of survival of the unfittest...
...Take his article in the September issue...
...But in the background stands the cannon-studded Siegessaule, celebrating the victory of the Franco-Prussian War...
...Despite the repeated assurances of France that reforms and a settlement are forthcoming momentarily, the struggle has continually widened...
...S*n SPD (the Social Democrats Party) officials with whom I talked in Bonn are not predicting victory in the September elections for their slightly more conciliatory program, and I find much suspicion of their economic ideas...
...For this country to give with one hand and not be just with the other is a disgrace...
...And nearby, easily overlooked in the trees, stands the grim figure of the Iron Chancellor, weather-beaten, but still dominating the awestruck figures around his pedestal...
...I could take no more after the second sentence of the eighth paragraph, containing no less than 100 words...
...Congratulations, too, to The Progressive for its brave stand on all important issues in the state, nation, and the world at large...
...And the foreign visitor is immediately impressed by the sheer physical contrast between the East and West sectors of the city...
...Outside Germany one sometimes hears that West German talk about reunification is largely breast-beating, belied by an obvious fascination with their economic mirade...
...More important in the long run than the Cold War in Berlin or reunification is the character of the new Germany which has emerged from the ashes of World War II...
...Readers of The Progressive may be interested in learning of more positive steps a few San Diegans have taken to implement public opinion on this question...
...We did a good job ourselves last election by defeating former Governor Langlie for the Senate, notwithstanding Ike's urgent plea for him...
...The people of Algeria are determined to win their independence...
...Just Call Us SANE' Dear Sirs: Dr...
...On July 2 Senator John F. Kennedy rose to the Senate floor to speak for the conscience of America...
...Miss Mears' articles show excellent judgment, wisdom, insight, and sympathetic human understanding...
...In the United Nations we have supported the French denial of international jurisdiction and French opposition to any constructive action by the world body...
...The splendid new buildings of the Interbau, built of concrete slabs made in part from rubble, rise shining in the reforested Tier-garten...
...These aid in further befogging the issue at hand...
...The U.S...
...Conflicting Symbols Dear Sirs: Berlin is a city bristling with symbols...
...Almost 500,000 French soldiers, equipped with the most modern weapons of war, have been unable to crush Algerian resistance...
...Reichstag has become Bundestag, and Wehrmacht has become Bundeswehr, but do the changes go deeper than the labels...
...Ann Hubbeix Ypsilanti, Mich...
...All plitical parties, for example, have urged Eat Germans—who still pour through Berlin Ktfce rate of about 20,000 per month—not W&e their Red masters except in the utextremity...
...Albert Schweitzer has suggested that nuclear tests will stop only when the people themselves demand it...
...The Freedom Bell which peals from Schoene-berg, the western city hall, and the illuminated news sign which flashes the truth across the Iron Curtain are symbols well known in the West...
...I urge all Americans who support the liberation of suppressed peoples everywhere to write the Secretary of State, and to their Senators and Congressmen in support of affirmative action in behalf of the Kennedy resolution when Congress reconvenes...
...Many are sons of rejectees of preceding generations...
...With Miss Mears as our Secretary of State we would be better off...
...All of us agree that "if you're not in SANE, you're insanel" We'll be glad to send a set of ten or more buttons for ten cents per button to anyone writing to request them...
...Now we want to be put in touch with other people across the nation who feel with us (and with a mounting list of scientists) that to continue the tests is folly...
...Hollis A. Fuchs Hot Sulphur Springs, Colo...
...We have formed a Society to Abolish Nuclear Explosions...
...History tells the sad story of many centuries of unbroken strife...
...For three years the United States has supported France in her efforts to repress this legitimate drive for independence...
...John Pixton Berlin, Germany Praise for Helen Mears Dear Sirs: I wish the article "Our Blind Spot in •Asia" in your July number would be read by every member of Congress and the Senate...
...Berlin's symbols transcend Germany's struggle and touch upon man's capacity for folly...
...I thought that was bad until I got to the second sentence of the seventh paragraph, which has 92...
...To write a letter on his behalf is surely a small thing...
...Such a policy is defensible Hpt the hope for reunification is a sub-HBtl, or at least a sincere, one...
...No wonder insane asylums and hospitals are over-crowded...
...Mtt the other hand there is little evidence reunification is a substantial possibility...
...Others are old men and women, children, the crippled and diseased...
...The Gallup Poll shows that nearly two Americans in three hope for an end to the tests...
...SANE has been incorporated under the laws of California...
...With a small and poorly-equipped guerrilla army, the Algerians have held the might of France at bay while rallying the Algerian nation behind the resistance...
...If the full name sounds forbidding, just call us "SANE...
...Box 3236 San Diego 3, Calif...
...It might also be useful to write the Yugoslav ambassador to Washington, D.C., Leo Mates...
...The pioneer non-political group includes physicians, attorneys, teachers, housewives, parents, and veterans...
...It is rare to find a magazine today that combines intelligent and stylistic reporting with a moral outlook on public affairs...
...The first sentence contains 66 words, the second 52...
...In view of his recent book—The New Class—liberals of all varieties are surely a little in debt to such a contemporary figure as Milovan Djilas...
...Dworkin's Sentences Dear Sirs: Never before have I felt compelled to criticize a writer, but your Martin S. Dworkin I can no longer suffer in silence...
...That it is HI have no doubt...
...Here the symbols of Berlin are ambiguous, giving grounds for both hope and fear...
...Abbott A. Leban Yale University New Haven, Conn...
...Helen Lustic, Secretary SANE, Incorporated P.O...
...Gutted buildings still abound in the West, but one is seldom out of sight of new construction, while in the East it is hard to believe that the war ended twelve years ago...
...I would suggest that you offer to finance Dworkin in a refresher course in freshman English at any college of his choice...
...If that be true, friend Dworkin flunks...
...New York, N. Y. Cheers for Wisconsin Dear Sirs: Most hearty congratulations to the people of my old home state of Wisconsinl The voters have returned to the sanity of the old LaFollette days and elected the liberal William Proxmire to the United States Senate, thereby repudiating both McCarthyism and Kohlerism...
...Thus, Senator Kennedy has suggested an American policy which promises a rapid and just solution of the conflict...
...I was taught that the best use of the English language is the simplest, consistent with the meaning intended...
...A biological consideration for world peace should not offend anyone and if nations could realize the colossal price paid on account of selecting the best of the leftovers, of each succeeding generation, man would outlaw war...
...Two years ago, the conflict had been limited to raids and small battles between French and Algerian military forces...
...Each succeeding generation by selective service procedure again selects the most physically fit from the survivors...
...Hervey W. Parham Bayside, Va...
...State Department could be urged to use its influence in trying to persuade Tito to release Djilas...
...Knute Hill Ephrata, Wash...
...Is their commitment to democracy firm, and are the institutions which express it viable...
...Adding insult to the injury caused the brain by trying to decode these mutilated sentence structures are the strings of poorly chosen adjectives...
Vol. 21 • October 1957 • No. 10
