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| Spring 2000 issue | . | More winter 1999-2000 letters | |
LINKS: A Moveable Feast story A Reflection on Father Griffin Winter 1990-2000 online contents |
I was recently reminiscing about my stay at Notre Dame’s
Ecumenical Institute for Theological Studies in Tantur; it has been 20 years since I lived
there as a graduate student in theology. My memories came even more alive when I read
Michael Garvey’s article "A Moveable Feast" in your Winter 1999-2000 issue.
I could almost smell those peculiar and, for me, delicious smells of the crowded streets
of Jerusalem. There’s no other place like it in the world. Matthew Reynolds
’77, ’81 The front cover of the winter issue is awful. The back cover makes up for it. No problem deciding which side goes against the wall. I once saw this plate on the road and hoped I would see it in your collection so everyone could revel in its cleverness: IAM4NDRU George D. Breen, ’58
Cheever Griffin wrote an interesting article about university apparel being made at sweatshops. I can see how this could be a concern. In a recent trip to Ecuador, I toured a furniture woodworking shop. As a factory owner in Chicago, I was appalled by the lack of personal protection (i.e. safety glasses and gloves) and no visible fire fighting equipment. My friend who showed me the shop also said that the shop was several months behind on wages. In the United States, this situation would be remedied with a quick call to OSHA and the Department of Labor. This for-profit shop however was run by a Jesuit priest, and he was doing the best he could to provide jobs and training to the local workforce. With very high local unemployment, his workers must think that they have an all right deal since they stay at the job. The world is very big, and U.S. rules do not apply everywhere. What Cheever describes as "long hours and little pay," may be a fair deal if you must work or face real starvation. If Nike were to open a factory in this poor section of Quito, Ecuador, and pay market wages of four to five dollars a day, I am confident that the local citizens would welcome it. US factories in developing countries provide millions of jobs to otherwise non-working people. The backlash against factories which ‘exploit’ workers is started by unions and other groups, not out of concern for the foreign workers, but out of fear of free trade. These groups often advocate foreign aid to help these countries, though it has rarely worked. The U.S. has given billions in foreign aid to Africa and Russia, but with no accountable U.S. managers watching the till, most of the money has been stolen or ended up in dead end projects. Free trade has lifted over hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, and it is the best poverty fighting control tool that the world has seen. Louis Glunz ‘84
Notre Dame Magazine isn’t. The last issue treated us to four major articles written by non-Domers. Why aren’t they writing for their alma maters? NDM is appearing to be sham journalism quaintly committed to political correct pablum merely feigning openness, tolerance, freedom, courage and standards worth a damn. You as editor have obligations to the Notre Dame family whether you agree with the points of view expressed or not. And the Notre Dame family has the right to know the full range of articulated ideas contained within itself. Notre Dame people are strong — they can handle it even if you and your non-Domers cannot. Do your job and live up to the name of Notre Dame and its magazine. Samuel A Nigro, M.D. '58 |
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