Letters

They're building a nuke plant. Where can we get information?

Dear Sun,

I need some quick help. I live in a small town in Western Pennsylvania. We're located in the Allegheny National Forest, and recently a proposal was brought to the county concerning a nuclear power plant. It's supposed to be the largest fucker in the nation. A lot of us are flipping out and are in need of information concerning the dangers of nuclear power. Write 656 Dawson St., Kane, PA. 16735.

Skip Cocilter Kane, Pa.

(Editor 's note: We've had a number of similar requests, so here's at least a partial list of possible contacts. We'd appreciate hearing from other groups working against the growing nuclear power industry.)

The Atomic Energy Commission, Washington, D.C. 20545; Congress's Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, House Office Building, Washington, O.C. 20515; Senator Mike Gravel, 4107 New Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510; Task Force Against Nuclear Pollution, 1936 Park Road, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20010; National Intervenors, 153 E. Street S.E., Washington, D.C. 20003; Environmental Action Foundation, Suite 731, 1346 Connecticut Ave., Washington, D.C. 20036; Citizens Energy Council, Allendale, N.J. 07401 ; Coalition for Safe Energy, 72 Jane St., New York, N.Y. 10014; Coalition for Fair Nuclear Insurance, 620 C St., S.E., Washington, D.C. 20003; Energy Policy Project, P O Box 2321 2, Washington, D.C. 20024; Union of Concerned Scientists, P O Box 289,, MIT Station, Cambridge, Mass. 02139, Committee for Nuclear Responsibility, P O Box 2329, Dublin, CA 94566; Sierra Club, 1050 Mills Tower, 220 Bush St., San Francisco, CA 94104; Environmental Action Reprint Service, 1 100 14th St., Denver, CO. 80202; Friends of the Earth, 529 Commercial St., San Francisco, CA 941 1 1 Ralph Nader, 133 C St., S.E., Washington, D.C. 20003.)

"In the U.S., the Indochina ware will not be over until Americans understand the war's lessons and make clear to the planners in Washington that Americans will never again fight a similar war. The campaign for universal and unconditional amnesty is a fist step in that direction."

An open letter to the American people,

The Vietnamese and Cambodian peoples have defeated the United States and its client governments in Saigon and Phnom Penh. They are now able for the first time in modern history to shape their own destinies without foreign interference. This-is not only a momentous victory for Indochina, but also an important turning point for the future of the U.S.

Faced with the collapse of thirty years of U.S. policy in Indochina, President Ford and Secretary of State Kissinger have suddenly switched to the Bicentennial rhetoric of national unity. Both have declared that the last chapter has been read in the Indochina book. They say, let's forget about the 56,000 GIs killed, the more than 300,000 wounded, and the more than $150 billion squandered in aid. Let's forget about the millions of Indochinese killed, maimed, or made homeless by U.S. bombs, napalm, anti-personnel weapons, chemical defoliants and poisons, My Lai's, etc. Let's call a moratorium on recriminations with respect to the war, so they say. Let's look to the future and greatness of America. Let's bind up the domestic wounds caused by the war. Only weeks ago, however, Ford and Rockefeiler were blaming Congress for "losing" Cambodia and Vietnam. With respect to reconciliation, the Ford record is equally cynical. Last September, after his total pardon of Richard Nixon, Ford made a gesture of reconciliation toward war resisters. He called it clemency. In reality it was punishment, requiring years of forced labor and loyalty oaths to be signed in order to "earn our way back."

War resisters were quick to see through Ford's clemency. We called a boycott of the program. Our boycott was so successful that at the program's end Ford was forced to extend it twice. When the extensions expired at the end of March, Ford's clemency had been rejected by 84% of those eligible, and the program was not even open to the majority of vets with less-than-honorable discharges resulting from opposition to the war-hundreds of thousands of people. Now the postwar Administration policy is to talk about phony reconciliation in order to keep Americans from thinking further about the war. As exiled war resisters, the war is not over for us until we win universal and unconditional amnesty, and in the process help others to understand what we were forced to learn about the war.

This war was not the result of good intentions gone sour or an aberration of policy. It was a war to protect the interests of the American empire. It was a battle to maintain free access to the critical raw materials of Indochina and its Southeast Asian neighborsoil, tin, tungsten, rubber, etc. It was a war to end all wars of national liberation in the Third World-wars waged to regain control of natural resources and national destinies. It was a war to keep Southeast Asia free for capitalist exploitation by the U.S. and other countries. It was a war to secure potential markets for industrial exports and to obtain "cheap" Asian labor resources.

Such a war was clearly not in the interest of ordinary Americans, but in the interest of that small minority that controls our economy and formulates government policies. Just as clearly, it was not in the interest of the people of Southeast Asia. Millions came to understand this and fought to end U.S. involvement.

Instead of calling for an end to the Indochina War discussion, we call for a continued examination of this sordid chapter in American history. One of the best ways to do this is to escalate the fight for universal and unconditional amnesty. By this we mean a no-strings amnesty for all draft resister, deserters, civilians with anti-war records, and all the more than 600,000 vets with bad discharges, and the replacement of the current discharge system with a Single Type Discharge for GIs, The fight for total amnesty should not merely concern itself with winning back our rights, but also must be an instrument with which to drive home a fuller understanding of America's Thirty Years' War. In a wider sense, it is the struggle to win the right to resist unjust, imperial wars in solidarity with liberation fighters in the Third World.

The fighting has finally ended in Indochina. Now the Indochinese can begin the monumental task of rebuilding their war-ravaged societies. We call upon the American people to demand that Washington recognize the new revolutionary governments of Vietnam and Cambodia and extend large-scale, no-strings reconstruction aid to them. In the U.S., the war will not be over until Americans understand the war's lessons and make clear to the planners in Washington that Americans will never again fight a similar war. The campaign for universal and unconditional amnesty is a first step in that direction.

-AMEX-Canada magazine Editorial Board

-Toronto American Exiles Association

Steering Committee

"Inside the Hilsdale Emergency Services office, located within the Sheriff's Office, one will find several marijuana plants adorning the desk tops."

Dear Sun, The Hillsdale Emergency Services are familiar to those of us here within Hillsdale County. Most of their activities are well known, and obligations to us are high. Living in a tornado prone area, we should be thankful for having this dedicated team of volunteers on call at the first sign of danger.

Yet there are other dangers that should be surfaced, and the people of Hillsdale county have a right to complain about the recent disclosures concerning the Emergency Services office plants. Inside the office located within the Sheriffs Office and County Jail, one will find several marijuana plants adorning the desk tops. Asked about how they can get away with having in their possession a controlled substance, the reply was that they were growing them for the crime lab. Unaware that Hillsdale has a crime lab, we ask the emergency Services to either remove these plants from their possession, or else have the laws changed concerning the possession of marijuana.

Any day one reads the court record, he will find within it a conviction against someone for possession of this plant. Usually, the person receives a heavy fine, probation, and sometimes a jail sentence.

We ask how the Emergency Services can justify this double standard. Wasn't Watergate enough of a lesson?

Al Nation

Hillsdale, Michigan

Dear People,

I'm locked up in the Ionia Reformatory, and we enjoy your paper very much. I'm getting out next month and hope to get your paper at home. We party out there and we come to Ann Arbor Free Concerts. We put 25 cents each in the bucket, but one concert we were so high we put $15.00 each in. So we all hope the Ann Arbor people will put up the concerts this coming year so the people in my town can jump in my truck and take off to the free concerts on Sundays.

Joe

Ionia, Michigan

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