Government should protect citizens, ensure health
care
Robert Johnston, in his letter to the editor, (“Pacifists
rejected, not “˜silenced,'” April 22) turns logic
on its head.
He said he rejects pacifism because “every government has
a moral obligation to defend its citizens from harm.” Not
only does every government have this moral obligation, but every
person has a moral obligation to protect him or herself from harm.
But Johnston is under the limited presumption that violence is the
only way to do that.
One way to protect Americans from harm would be to ensure that
we have health care. Harbor Hospital, one of the biggest hospitals
in Los Angeles, is regularly threatened by closure for lack of
federal funds. But there were millions of dollars spent on Tomahawk
missiles, which landed on Iraqi cities, killing soldiers and
innocents alike. And plenty of money is spent on housing the United
States’ weapons of mass destruction.
But where is tax money for housing Americans from harm,
including the homeless in Westwood, Santa Monica and downtown Los
Angeles? Are those people not Americans?
Andrew Kay Liberman Extension
Cordero’s motives questioned
While I found TJ Cordero’s brief history of his slate
interesting (“Students unaware of USAC’s
history,” April 23), he contradicts himself several times.
Also, I question his motives.
He said that USAC’s primary focus should be serving
political interests, like external matters entirely unrelated to
our immediate needs as students on this campus.
Politics are important, but Cordero seems to be ignoring the
fact that we also have lots of issues here that aren’t
political, yet still deserve attention.
As Cordero points out, “our student fees are increasing at
record levels, proportionally fewer underrepresented students of
color are entering UCLA, student services are being cut, and
housing and parking rates are reaching record highs.” Why
shouldn’t USAC concern itself primarily with issues such as
these, above “external political issues?”
Furthermore, he also said that he isn’t concerned with
“arguing over scarce resources,” but student government
should nevertheless “be a strong advocate for the needs of
students.” This is apparently done without student knowledge
or input, as he himself implies that we, the students he supposedly
represents, are unaware of what goes on.
I can only suggest that this is due to his failure as internal
vice president, and I speculate that his article is merely an
effort to gain attention for his clearly insulated and out-of-touch
slate.
Diane Park Fifth-year, political science
Professor’s statement false
In his April 25 letter to the editor, “Genocide
recognition controversial,” Professor Aris Janigian states
that Israel is among “the most vociferous deniers of the
Armenian Genocide.” This charge is completely false.
According to the authorized Web site of the Armenian National
Institute, Israel Minister of Justice, Yossi Beilin and Israel
Minister of Education, Yossi Sarid, both affirmed the Armenian
Genocide when they appeared at the Jerusalem Armenian
community’s official commemoration of that horrific event on
April 24, 2000.
Beilin rose before Knesset on April 27, 1994, to mark the annual
Jerusalem memorial for the Armenian Genocide and said, “We
will always reject any attempt to erase its record.”
Possibly the first public recognition of the Armenian Genocide
by a Middle Eastern political entity was the article written by
Shmuel Talkowsky, under the aegis of political leader of the
Zionist movement in 1918 Chaim Weizmann. The article was called
“The Armenian Question from a Zionist Standpoint” and
emphasized the common fate that awaited national minorities, which
lacked the ability to defend themselves.
Numerous statements of Holocaust scholars, most of them Jewish
and many from Israel, have affirmed the Armenian Genocide.
On March 7, 2000, a statement was issued under the title,
“126 Holocaust Scholars Affirm the Incontestable Fact of the
Armenian Genocide and Urge Western Democracies to Officially
Recognize it.” Signatories included the Director of
Jerusalem’s Yad VaShem, professors at Hebrew University and
other Israeli universities.
On April 24, 1998, a similar statement by “Concerned
Scholars and Writers” was published to commemorate the 50th
anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and was likewise signed by
Israeli writers and professors.
To pull a single quote out of thin air and label it as normative
of more than eighty years of Jewish and Israeli recognition of the
Armenian Genocide completely distorts the historical record and
unjustly tars Israel with a denial that simply does not exist.
Sam Fraint Jerusalem, Israel