LETTERS
LETTERS The Hunger Artists As a Unitarian, I write to register my disagreement with the views on fasting of our president, William F. Schulz ("The Hunger Artists," Reflections, June issue). The...
...Unfortunately, during the editing process the sentence was reversed to read that the Swedish parliament awarded the prize...
...The rebels never allowed themselves to be caught up in the enthusiasm, both within the Philippines and abroad, for Aquino's "People Power...
...Unless these truths are repeated, emphasized, analyzed, and acted upon, all our efforts for disarmament will continue to be undermined by the Cold Warriors...
...I admit to vagueness in this instance, but not error...
...The proposed alternative of limited fasting for a stated purpose may have dry merit, but these men were ready to go to their deaths for the highest moral purpose: to awaken this nation to the evils of our Central America policy...
...What we need are steps toward the greater socialization of health care for all...
...Save the Letters section for legitimate and relevant exchanges...
...The peace movement can still make a difference if it acquires what Albert Einstein called "a substantially new manner of thinking...
...Coretta Scott King Atlanta, Georgia Progressive Graphics Your illustrations are strong and to the point...
...It would be more appropriate to call it "space exploitation," since it has only one goal: to make richer and more powerful those elites that already have too much wealth and too much power—the military-industrial complexes and the empires of this world...
...In Nicaragua, the war is destroying forest land, and reforestation and park projects have been hurt by insurgent action...
...Like Chapman, they believe Aquino has no real intention of altering the unjust status quo in Filipino rural areas...
...It may well be that Aquino's political allies in the Philippine congress will prove even more resistant to meaningful land reform than former dictator Marcos's hand-picked "New Society Movement" legislators...
...The editors of the King papers would be grateful to receive original documents or copies of original documents...
...She now resides in England when she is not in Ladakh...
...Frank W. Goheen Camas, Washington Less than Honorable Mark Perry's digging into "Conditions Less than Honorable" in the Veterans Administration (May issue) provides a useful service, but I do not think it goes far enough...
...They heighten the thinking rather than distract or offend...
...To apply child psychology and Kafka to this fast makes the very stones along the way cry out...
...The Filipino elite would much rather fight to the bitter end in defense of its wealth and privilege than allow even a tiny bit of true agrarian reform...
...The forces pushing for space exploration, space colonies, space mining, and, perhaps, space Gulags are the same greedy forces that pushed, several centuries ago, for the conquest of the New World—to finance more wars and defuse social tensions...
...Debs Bleicher Philadelphia, Pennsylvania I like your graphics, by and large, finding them pertinent and often witty...
...The Progressive's political instincts were right on target on this issue...
...Caroline Taber Denver, Colorado What I enjoy most is that your graphics truly reflect the spirit of the articles they illustrate...
...Congratulations...
...Nowhere in the story did I discuss Helena Norberg-Hodge's citizenship, as I did not think it was particularly relevant...
...Norma Wheeler Marion, Illinois Correction Atypographical error obscured the meaning of a sentence in Robert Karl ManofFs "Reinventing Politics in the Soviet Press" (Media, May issue...
...The war against Nicaragua must be ended not only to save human lives and the towns and farms of a poor country, but to preserve the rain forest ecosystem which is of great importance to the whole world...
...There is next to nothing in the space program, at least in its present form, to justify its support by progressive people...
...Otto Fried Paris, France Here is my two cents' worth on the graphics: Yuk...
...Alfred McClung Lee Madison, New Jersey In the High Himalayas Being human, I am inclined to make mistakes from time to time, but I am reluctant to take the blame for mistakes I did not make...
...Jerome J. Nowak Milwaukee, Wisconsin War and the Rain Forests United States support for the contra war against Nicaragua is causing great harm to the unique and valuable rain forests of Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica...
...The editors welcome correspondence from readers on all topics, but prefer to publish letters that comment directly on material previously published in The Progressive...
...For further information, please write: Dr...
...Lindsey Holland Melbourne, Florida Lost in the Stars Anyone who dares to criticize the space program ("Lost in the Stars," Letters, March and June issues) is quickly dismissed as shortsighted, or opposed to technology, or even Luddite, so pervasive is the hold of technological determinism on our society...
...Enough said...
...Jack Spellman Brooklyn, New York It detracts from the quality of your magazine for you to keep publishing letters from people who have an opinion about your graphics...
...My original article ("Tibetan Society Bridges the Future," Datelines, April issue) stated that the award was given in the Swedish parliament, which is true...
...Foresters have been assassinated...
...John G. Papastavridis Atlanta, Georgia Still Without Land William Chapman's pessimistic evaluation of Corazon Aquino's agrarian policies ("Still Without Land," June issue) closely parallels a similar judgment rendered by the New People's Army...
...She refers to herself as Swedish because she grew up in Sweden...
...We must organize our potential and focus on a broad effort to change public attitudes...
...Construction of roads and airstrips has decimated large areas of forest in Honduras and defiled a proposed wilderness park in Costa Rica...
...offered two important observations in his article, "Be Your Own Peacemaker" (Reflections, April issue): The peace movement is going nowhere because it lacks a mass base, and its current strategic approach to persuade the Government to change its ways is futile...
...Tracy L. Barnett Columbia, Missouri Be Your Own Peacemaker Samuel H. Day Jr...
...He is repoliticizing politics...
...We failed because we did not enlist the support of a sufficient number of Americans...
...The intense dedication of Charles Liteky and friends, their consummate moral purpose, override every other consideration mentioned by Schulz...
...It should have stated that Mikhail Gorbachev "is depoliti-cizing culture, the social sciences, and—to a certain extent—the Soviet economy...
...First, it is correct, as Nor-berg stated, that the Right Livelihood Award is not awarded by the Swedish parliament but by the Right Livelihood Foundation...
...The Philippine landlord class has by no means been dethroned by Corazon Aquino's accession to power...
...The newly elected "pro-Aquino" congress is packed to the gills with members of the rural gentry and individuals willing to do the rural gentry's bidding...
...Is the moral of the story that the VA health establishment should now be turned over to private corporations or to the medical profession...
...The lady who whipped up "People Power" as a means of sweeping into the Malacanang Palace is reluctant to help those same poor and humble people to acquire land for a better life...
...These forests, already much reduced, contain species of flora and fauna that face extinction...
...Martin R. Haase Chester, Nova Scotia King's Correspondence Ishould like to invite your readers' participation in the publication of the Martin Luther King Papers, the most comprehensive collection of the publications, sermons, speeches, correspondence, photographs, and other documents relating to Martin's role in the civil-rights movement...
...I feel sorry for those who want pretty pictures with no political or social content...
...Helena is, in fact, a dual citizen...
...Charles T. Primm Seattle, Washington Ivins Fan Molly Ivins should be declared a national treasure...
...I think we get the point: Some people like your graphics and some don't...
...We presumed we could get by with the old ways of changing Government policies by political and symbolic actions...
...I hope not...
...I think The Progressive should be congratulated for its critical, independent, and courageous stance against the infantile escapism euphemistically called "space exploration...
...For a long time, we believed that the peace movement would succeed if it used the strategy that worked for Gandhi, King, and the resistance to the Vietnam war...
...Contras have killed wildlife indiscriminately...
...military maneuvers in Honduras have destroyed more woodland...
...Escalation of the war could result in ecocide of the kind that took place in Vietnam, where napalm and herbicides destroyed a large part of the natural environment...
...The cost of running for a Senate seat came to more than $500,000...
...Life is not pretty...
...Clay-borne Carson, The Martin Luther King Center, 449 Auburn Avenue NE, Atlanta, GA 30312...
...Thus I am replying to Gard Norberg's letter, "In the High Himalayas" (Letters, June issue...
...We need to bear in mind the evils of the private practice of medicine, of voluntary hospitals, and of business-type health centers...
...All letters may be edited for clarity and conciseness...
...From my long-term personal observation of many sorts of bureaucracies, I am of the opinion that the governmental ones are the least objectionable, the most adaptable to criticism, the best compromise that we have...
...The only people able to come up with that kind of cash were landlords and their helpmates...
Vol. 51 • July 1987 • No. 7
