The Prospector (El Paso, Tex.), Vol. 48, No. 67, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 29, 1982 Page: 1 of 8
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THE LIBRARY
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EI. PAS
EL PASO, TEXAS
The Prospector
Vol. 48 No. 67
Student Newspaper of The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas
- UNIVERSITY OF TEXASri be
& PASO, ILAS L CASE
* wIaunbkawoie)
Thursday, July 29, 1982
Kruszewski tells of life in Poland
Profile: The people of Poland
“It’s a fierce-looking situation,” said Z. Anthony
Kruszewski, professor of political science, in describ-
ing the situation existing in Poland, now under mar-
tial law. Kruszewski recently spent six weeks in the
Soviet-bloc country.
Kruszewski described the security police that
patrol the streets throughout the day. They walk in
groups of six, three government police and three
military soldiers.
The “Zomo” is the government policing body that
is, contrary to popular belief, not part of the Polish
army. The Zomo, Kruszewski said, is the motorized
units of the citizens’ militia. This group is partly
made up of criminals who are serving in this capacity
to escape prison terms, Kruszewski added.
Another sign reflecting the situation is that each
time one picks up a telephone, a recording comes on
that repreats, “This conversation is controlled,”
Kruszewski said. Nevertheless, Kruszewski said a
government official confided in him that the govern-
ment “didn't have that many recorders.”
Kruszewski talked about the attitudes of the people
of Poland, his native country, during the recent
political crisis.
“It’s a ridiculous situation. The people are ex-
tremely outspoken and absolutely unafraid of the
government,” Kruszewski said. He laughed, saying
the people joke that the government may have all the
guns, but it doesn’t have the people.
As a sign of resistance to martial law, many people
in Poland began wearing Solidarity buttons. Solidari-
ty is a federation of unions that represents 53 percent
of the Polish work force, Kruszewski said.
The Polish government reacted to pressure from
the Soviets by suspending the union and forbidding
the buttons be worn, Kruszewski said. Kruszewski
notes that the Polish people creatively came up with
new ways to show their resistance. At first they began
wearing a small wire “resistor” that is used in elec-
tronics, Kruszewski said.
The Zomo began taking the resistors from the peo-
ple, and they retaliated by wearing buttons of the
Polish flag superimposed with the likeness of the
Madonna of Czestochowa.
The Madonna of Czestochowa, Kruszewski said, is
the most venerated of all religious figures in Poland.
The Polish government has not yet dared to take
these away from the people, he added.
Presently there are about 5,000 people in intern-
ment camps. These individuals, including Lech
Walesa, leader of Solidarity, are not being charged
with any crime. They are just being detained,
Kruszewski said.
The people of Poland have reacted to this afront
of their rights in several ways. None is more visible
than the graffiti on the walls of every city in Poland
calling for the release of Walesa—“Free Lech
Walesa.”
One of the more symbolic kinds of graffiti that is
also widespread, Kruszewski said, is the CDN sign.
Z. Anthony
In Polish, CDN means “to be continued,”
Kruszewski said.
Of all of the people in Poland, the high school
students are the most radical. These students are not
afraid to die for their freedoms, Kruszewski said.
Kruszewski noted that the people who have lived
under communist rule all their lives, the young peo-
ple, are the ones who reject the regime totally. Their
rejection and low esteem of the government can be
seen in the questions a group of political science ma-
jors asked a government official at a press conference
Kruszewski attended.
Some of the questions were: “Poland has 49 pro-
vinces. The governors of 44 of them have been
replaced with military rulers. When is the govern-
ment going to take over the other five provinces?”
“ When is the government going to stage a trial for
the interned people?”
Another sign that the young people have rejected
the government is that they speak openly of their
escape plans. Kruszewski said that while he stood in
line for ice cream (“you stand in line for everything
over there”), he overheard two youths planning their
escape.
One of the ironies of the Polish situation is that the
Poles do not have a term for “martial law,”
Kruszewski said. Instead, they refer to it as a state of
war.
The situation is referred to as such because the
Polish government is justifying its takeover by
declaring a state of war. The Poles ask, “War with
whom? The people?” Kruszewski added.
Kruszewski
Photo by Keith Fong
Still, Kruszewski said that the whole country is try-
ing to “salvage sovereignty.’’ The biggest fear that
the Poles have is that the Soviet Union will invade to
restore order to the country.
Finally, Kruszewski said that he believed that the
reason for the resistance is that all around Warsaw
there are commemorative plaques extolling the vir-
tues of resistance by the Poles during World War II.
“The moral of the story is that they are surround-
ed by a museum,” said Kruszewski.
“They (the Poles) have an unquenchable spirit.
Twenty-two percent of the nation gave itself for the
sake of principle during the war,” he added.
Kruszewski sees three scenarios for the future of
the Polish situation. One is the government could
back down and end the martial law state. Although
recent actions by the Polish government have pointed
in this direction, Kruszewski points out that the
Zomo has booked the hotels of Warsaw solid for the
next three years.
A second is the stalemate will continue.
Kruszewski said this would depend on this year’s
harvest. If the harvest fails, the Poles will not con-
tinue the stalemate, he said.
The third scenario is that the Soviet Union would
invade. Kruszewski doesn’t see much chance of this
happening. But if the Russians do march in, “God
help the Poles,” Kruszewski concluded.
Student Association Council sets new goals
By Robbie Farley
Managing Editor
Ensuring student participation in decision-making,
defending student rights, informing students of ser-
vices and improving students’ political awareness are
some of the goals Student Association members will
address in 1982-83.
Student Association President Karen Tucker said
11 goals were presented to Council members and
each will be assigned tasks to fulfill the goals.
Tucker said the objectives were outlined after
review of the association’s constitution and last
year’s goals and after attending a leadership seminar,
“Mining the Gold," conducted specifically to ex-
amine what was being done and what needed to be
done for UT El Paso students.
A needs assessment conducted by professor Lola
Dawkins’ business law class also assisted in identify-
ing needs students felt were unaddressed, Tucker
said.
The assessment shows "pre-registration is the big-
gest priority. Students also want more information
on grievance procedures and services offered on cam-
pus and are concerned about campus safety,” Tucker
said.
The SA goals are:
1) to ensure student participation in the University
decision-making process.
2) to help defend the rights of each student.
3) to promote and recognize excellence on campus.
4) to keep students informed of services and pro-
cedures.
5) to address students’ financial needs.
6) to promote athletics, spirit and tradition.
7) to identify student needs on an on-going basis and
act upon them.
8) to improve mutual communication and relation-
ships between the SA Council and the University
community.
9) to improve afternoon and evening school life.
10) to improve student political awareness.
11) to improve parking and traffic conditions.
Tucker said more students would be placed on
Faculty Senate Committees and Student Affairs
Committees in an effort to implement the first objec-
tive. Student Advocates—Ruben Villegas, Eric
Winters and Willie Padilla—are actively promoting
their availability to defend student rights as part of
the second goal.
Miner of the Month, Honors Certificates and the
Awards Banquet will continue to promote excellence,
Tucker said.
She also said a booklet is being devised to inform
students of SA services available from “File-a-book”
and “Share-a-ride” to “How to’s” for graduate
students.
Tucker said addressing financial needs will include
creating scholarships and organizing to fight tuition
increases.
“We sent two representatives to Houston to a lob-
bying workshop in preparation,” she added.
To begin meeting the remaining goals, SA will con-
tinue to support Convocation and Homecoming ac-
tivities in addition to instituting the Orange-O-
Ranger, work with the administration on-campus
safety and registration problems, sponsor debates,
keep students informed about the tuition increase
legislation and offer incentives to increase participa-
tion in the “Share-a-ride.”
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University of Texas at El Paso. The Prospector (El Paso, Tex.), Vol. 48, No. 67, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 29, 1982, newspaper, July 29, 1982; El Paso, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1625818/m1/1/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting University of Texas at El Paso.