DATE LINES
Lever, Robert & Breyman, Steve & Penn, Karen & Kimery, Anthony L.
DATE LINES Fighting French Racism Is His Job PARIS Wherever he goes, Harlem Desir finds himself surrounded. Elderly ladies grasp his hands and compliment him on his fine manners. Photographers...
...The Graduate Students Association and the Academic Senate's Committee on Educational Policy and Academic Planning condemned Chritton's presence on campus...
...And that is what bothers many here...
...He says the VA had strongly discouraged him from performing any studies that might show a definitive link between Agent Orange and damaged chromosomes, a cause of birth defects...
...The white bar is more than triple the length of the blue...
...And that has led to controversy...
...At 9 p.m...
...Did you accomplish all this by word of mouth...
...So they must be recreated anew...
...He nods...
...On stage a makeshift screen has been fashioned from a bedsheet, and a battered table is surrounded by half a dozen schoolroom chairs...
...Thenchairman Dean Mann of the political-science department appointed Chritton to a two-year visiting lectureship...
...He asks the listeners to be patient a minute or two longer...
...And the officer agreed not to "actively recruit" for the CIA while on campus...
...As we leave the parish center, four security police watch us closely...
...a blue one, the number who have already registered...
...Roy did nothing illegal to begin with...
...The ruling junta can call for a vote at any time, and registration will close on the day it does so...
...SOS also provides legal aid to victims of discrimination, lobbies on pertinent legislation, and seeks improvements in public housing...
...It appeared clear to me," says Splaingard, "that the VA was more interested in how we got the story and who the doctor was than in just simply wanting to know more about the nature of our paper...
...The CIA in Residence SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA Students at the University of California, Santa Barbara, found last fall that the political-science faculty included a new member: active CIA officer George A. Chritton Jr...
...Frei speaks to them of an urgent call...
...The town's familiar faces are greeted by happy murmurs of recognition...
...Desir, with his cafe au lait complexion, is a visual reminder of the cultural diversity of the French people, in the face of resurging calls by the far Right for "ethnic purity...
...He hasn't left his roots in the activist youth population...
...We can't resolve the Palestinian problem from the banks of the Seine...
...The department voted to demote Chritton to "visiting fellow," a rank carrying no teaching duties, and halved his term to one year...
...The student newspaper, the Daily Nexus, has been the forum for a vigorous exchange of views...
...I'm just doing my job," says the twenty-eight-year-old with a degree in history and philosophy...
...Glancing back at the hall, I see no posters, no fliers on the street...
...Ballots After Fourteen Years LA LIGUA, CHILE In the parochial hall, some 400 people are gathered, a good-sized crowd in this town of 20,000...
...But shortly after the fall quarter began, Mann's successor, Cedric Robinson, got wind of the weakness of Chritton's academic credentials...
...SOS-Racisme has several eloquent spokesmen, but its success is largely attributed to Desir's charm and ability to communicate with the media and society...
...He has also taken on the role of the nation's social conscience in the current political season, which will culminate in this spring's presidential election...
...Tonight, they have come to hear the leaders of the Committee for Free Elections, who will urge them to do what Chileans have not done in fourteen years: register to vote...
...This is a show of unity and there is only one topic: elections libres y limpias—free and clean...
...Only two million of a possible eight million voters are registered so far, but Molina and his group have their hopes...
...The cheerful new municipal square is warmly applauded...
...SOS started by selling badges with the slogan Don't Touch My Buddy—two million of them...
...Indeed, his study shows that twenty-four of seventy-four veterans known to have been exposed to Agent Orange—38 per cent-have damaged chromosomes...
...Eleven—19 per cent—reported miscarriages and six—10 per cent-reported more than one...
...The findings show a high number of Vietnam veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange have seriously damaged chromosomes...
...There follow, in rapid succession, brilliant scenes of azure skies and rich green mountains, shabby tin-roofed shacks, freshly painted municipal buildings, dusty children peering down a street, bread being sold at the corner bakery...
...And then he and the Gazette, an alternative newspaper, found themselves under investigation by the VA...
...That not only widened the group's base and spurred contributions, but it also turned Desir into a folk hero...
...Nevertheless, he says, he will continue his research...
...And, they say, the momentum is growing...
...With a click, the tape-recorded music begins to play...
...Desir lacks the fire and brimstone associated with civil-rights leaders, relying instead on a combination of Boy Scout-style optimism and an intellectual appeal for justice...
...Opponents reply that they have not inquired as to Chritton's politics, nor do they care to...
...The voter rolls were destroyed by the Pinochet regime thirteen years ago as part of an attempt to dismantle all democratic institutions...
...As for the veterans' children, Roy's preliminary study finds that "of fifty-nine individuals providing histories, thirty-six—61 per cent—reported at least one child with abnormalities, and in fifteen— 25 per cent—more than one child was affected...
...Whatever the difficulties, whatever the eventual course, one thing is certain...
...And, the doctor continues, "I bet you we're going to find changes—damaged chromosomes—in many veterans known to be exposed to Agent Orange once we do more of these studies...
...dictator Pinochet in power...
...What they object to is the legitimacy the university lends the CIA by its affiliation with Chritton, whose salary is paid not by the university but by the agency...
...VA Doctor Faults Agent Orange OKLAHOMA CITY When a Veterans Administration physician who specializes in male infertility got the preliminary findings of a first-of-its-kind study, he took them to the Oklahoma Gazette...
...A hostile student of Arabic origin pressed him recently on why SOS-Racisme doesn't take a stronger pro-Arab stand and, further, condemn Israel...
...Success has not gone to his head...
...Shortly after, the VA's local public-affairs director, Norma Luster, asked the paper for its sources—particularly the doctor's name...
...Yet he admits that "in the broad sense" he is "part of the recruitment effort...
...He is president of SOS-Racisme, a group he helped create in 1984 to combat what many saw as a growing tide of racism and racial violence in France...
...When the slide show ends, the lights come up on the awkward little stage...
...Steve Breyman (Steve Breyman is a doctoral candidate in the political-science department at the University of California, Santa Barbara...
...Vigorously defending VA attitudes toward the Agent Orange problem and accusing the Gazette of trying to make it appear that "the VA doesn't care about veterans...
...During a forty-five-minute interview, the faculty found that Chritton has neither teaching experience nor a doctoral degree, is ignorant of the intelligence literature that purports to be his specialty, and was unable to explain how he would teach a course...
...Without your participation, without your registration, we can never reclaim democracy in Chile...
...It's true," Desir responded, "that Arabs are most often targets of racism now...
...The local committee director begins to explain the chart, but there's a problem with the microphones...
...And yet these other studies [such as one conducted recently by the National Centers for Disease Control] say there can be found no deleterious effects visible from Agent Orange exposure...
...Since then, Desir has published a book and played a cameo role in a film about discrimination...
...Robert Lever (Robert Lever is a free-lance writer based in France...
...Desir's days are filled with "campaigning" all over France, chiefly at university campuses, whose students are the backbone of SOS, and at immigrant-filled public-housing projects...
...A link [to Agent Orange] is very clear," says Roy...
...And his made-to-order name helps, too...
...But, of course, Dr...
...Desir, who used the program to rebuke the ultra Right, won 70 per cent approval, the highest mark ever...
...Behind them is a chart showing current voter-registration levels...
...All of this was person to person...
...The speakers suggest, however, that if enough citizens register, the government will realize that its candidate may suffer an embarrassing defeat...
...The most important issue is freedom of speech and the capacity of a university to provide for the expression of a broad range of ideas," says Chancellor Barbara Uehling...
...Karen Penn (Karen Penn was in Chile with a delegation from the International Human Rights Law Group to observe the registration and electoral process for elections, which will be held sometime before March 1989...
...Johnny Roy is a urologist with the VA Medical Center here, and he told the paper up front that he was concerned the VA might retaliate against him for releasing results of a study in conflict with the agency's position on the controversial defoliant...
...Luster says the information the agency sought was not going to be used in any "criminal reprisals" against the doctor...
...SOS benefit concerts have featured France's biggest musical stars and drawn up to 300,000 people...
...Anthony L. Kimery (Anthony L. Kimery is a freelance writer based in Arlington, Virginia...
...Roy says his findings "so far do not back up the VA's claims about the risks from exposure to Agent Orange...
...At last the program begins...
...Disagreements among the various parties have long divided the opposition, but no partisan platforms or goals are mentioned tonight...
...Enemy number one for Desir and SOS is the far-right National Front headed by Jean-Marie Le Pen, who is running for president on a platform based on kicking out immigrants—chiefly from North Africa—whom he blames for France's economic ills...
...Pride and patriotism are palpable...
...The difference in our campaign is that we're not seeking any votes," explains Desir...
...He concedes, however, that the VA does not support or embrace Roy's research in any official capacity...
...But in the 1930s, it was the Jews...
...We found evidence indicating inordinate abnormalities in the individuals under study," Roy says...
...A white bar indicates the number of eligible people...
...Under the Reagan Administration, the VA has adamantly maintained its position that veterans' illnesses cannot be linked to exposure to Agent Orange or any other chemicals used in Southeast Asia...
...They don't oppose his participation in a guest-speaker program...
...Photographers swarm around him snapping pictures...
...Last to speak is Eduardo Frei Jr., son of the late president...
...When I first reviewed his material, I was astonished," says Dr...
...Hobson says Roy has been "quite at liberty within the VA to do his own research without regard to the potential for what it might reveal...
...A rally and march culminated in the occupation of the chancellor's office and the arrest of thirty-eight protesters...
...Desir tries to use diplomacy to unite diverse elements toward a common goal...
...We're involved in educating people, in trying to change public opinion...
...The Pinochet government has planned a yes-or-no plebiscite on one candidate, designated by the junta, and it is widely thought that Pinochet will be that candidate...
...My gut feeling is that we're on to something here, that we'll find more of the same...
...Jerry Nida, Oklahoma's deputy health commissioner and chairman of the state's Agent Orange Outreach Committee...
...First to speak is Sergio Molina, former minister of finance under President Eduardo Frei in the 1960s and president of the National Committee for Free Elections, which is a coalition favoring open, fair, multi-candidate elections and including members of a broad spectrum of Chile's demoj cratic opposition...
...And estranged former CIA officer John Stockwell visited to remind the university community of the agency's past and present role in assassinations, coups, and torture around the world...
...Chritton is at UCSB through the CIA's officer-in-residence program, and his duties were to be research, teaching, public relations, and recruitment for the CIA...
...But we have brought together our chief rabbi and the leader of an Arab mosque, who both signed our petitions condemning racism...
...I ask one of the organizers, "Was there no publicity...
...Two other speakers follow, from other political parties...
...Roy told the Gazette the VA has made it clear to him that it does not endorse or encourage studies of the kind he is conducting...
...From the back of the hall comes a shout: "We have waited fourteen years...
...We can wait two minutes more...
...At the home of the local committee leader, a quiet celebration continues until 1 a.m...
...La Ligua, like dozens of other Chilean towns and pueblos, is out of practice for the work to be done tonight...
...Although the VA downplays the significance of Roy's findings, others disagree...
...they must drive on, for more than an hour, to the next town, for tomorrow's meeting...
...the lights go out...
...Editor Randy Splain-gard soon learned that someone connected with the VA had contacted his printer, asking questions about the paper's activities, management, finances, credibility, and other matters unrelated to the story...
...When the meeting ends, it is after 11 p.m., but no one has crept out early...
...He has no press agents or limousines, and he still wears the student "uniform" of crew-neck sweaters, cotton slacks, and soft-soled oxfords...
...While attempting to recruit students," says Dan Zumwinkle, a member of the Associated Students Legislative Council, "Chritton will have a strong bias not to mention the negative aspects of the CIA, such as the assassination training manuals or the overthrow of the Allende government in Chile to put the pro-U.S...
...Chromosome aberrations in 38 per cent such as is reflected by this study, even preliminarily, is certainly very high," says Nida...
...The badges launched a nationwide organization with 15,000 subscribers, several hundred French chapters, and affiliates in Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, and Canada...
...It was not discussed when the appointment was brought up and I certainly don't feel like going down to the front of the UCen [student union] with a sandwich board trying to sign up students...
...Suddenly, on the screen, flashes an image of La Ligua...
...They tell the audience that if six or seven million voters were registered, mobilized, and crying out for free elections, the current regime would not dare to cheat them of their will...
...She believes "that a university must guarantee that differing points of view, especially those that are unpopular, can be heard and debated...
...I'm a spokesman, an organizer...
...Le Pen sdemed to be gaining momentum during 1987, with 10 to 15 per cent support in the polls...
...Roy is still conducting his research from inside the VA, but the VA continues to discredit and ignore his research...
...Sergio Molina and Eduardo Frei are the first to leave...
...She revealed that unidentified VA officials in Washington had requested an "official, special investigative report" about the Gazette's story and sources of information, but would provide no specifics about the motive for the investigation or its intended uses...
...Luster says the investigation was ordered by the VA's Agent Orange Projects Office, but office director Lawrence Hobson told the Gazette he was "singularly unimpressed with either the story or the doctor's findings...
...Town by town, 400 and 500 listeners per night, Molina and Frei are talking to Chile...
...The name elicits a strong round of applause...
...Desir led some 50,000 people through Paris on November 29 in its latest antiracist demonstration...
...Many in the audience have never been to a meeting like this...
...It was obvious that the VA was snooping around...
...His father, a schoolteacher from Guadeloupe who married an Alsatian woman, named his son Harlem in tribute to American black culture...
...It was never my intention to actively recruit students," Chritton says...
...The four boys who were hanging the banner yesterday, right here on church property, they were all arrested, though later released...
...Four national leaders of the Committee for Free Elections join two of the local committee members at the weathered table...
...And while my study is a very narrow one, it shows significant aberrations...
...In its initial reporting, the Gazette left the doctor unnamed...
...Those who defend the appointment base their arguments on civil liberties and academic freedom and accuse his critics of applying political tests for employment and "reverse McCarthyism...
...Desir has matinee-idol looks and a golden tongue, but he is neither a movie star nor a politician...
...A turning point for Desir came last August, when he appeared on I'Heure du Verite, a popular television interview program in which viewers are polled on their reactions...
...Although SOS-Racisme applies pressure on political parties, "politics is just one area in which we work," he says...
...As Roy puts it, "My study does not jibe with CDC's...
...The local newspaper told us all week long that they would print the notice, but in the end, they would not do it...
...It is a call to a national work," he says, "a national obligation...
...Students besiege him for autographs, which he signs, "Your buddy, Harlem...
Vol. 52 • February 1988 • No. 2
