Vol. 78/No. 17 May 5, 2014
May 5, 1989
Students in the Chinese capital city of Beijing began a boycott of university classes April 24 as part of a nationwide student strike called in the wake of the biggest wave of protest demonstrations to take place in China since the mid-1970s.The wave of protests reached a high point with an April 22 gathering of tens of thousands in Tiananmen Square, coinciding with the state funeral nearby for former party head Hu Yaobang.
“Long live democracy” and “Down with corruption” have been prominent slogans in the protests. Demands include freedom of the press; enactment of laws to prevent corrupt dealings by those in power, including publication of the sources of income of top officials and their children; a full rehabilitation of Hu; and repudiation of the crackdown on dissent that followed Hu’s fall in 1987.
May 4, 1964
The announcement from Washington of plans to reduce production of fissionable material for military purposes should not be taken for more than it is worth.There is a present surplus of $1 billion worth of enriched uranium and a comparable surplus of plutonium.
The newly proposed reduction is nothing more than a cut-back of the production of surplus fissionable material. This can hardly be construed as a step toward diminishing the building of nuclear weapons.
While the U.S. military is armed to the teeth with nuclear missiles capable of delivering terrible death blows anywhere in the world, of overkilling the world’s population umpteen times, it is self-delusion to see as an important step towards peace the suspension of production of excess fissionable material.
May 5, 1939
Father Coughlin, propagandizing prelate of Detroit, is both a faithful follower of his teachers — Mussolini and Hitler — and a willing supporter of causes and principles which will further their aims and ambitions.All those familiar with Coughlin’s demagogy are well acquainted with the similarity between his program and that followed by Mussolini and Hitler prior to their accession to power. They are also aware of the fact that Coughlin supports virtually every reactionary demand supported by the European dictators, and that he mimics them slavishly in the anti-Semitic and anti-Communist hate that he spews forth.
Coughlin follows their program because he hopes thereby to create a strong fascist movement here, with himself, naturally, in the role of leader.
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