issues are not black and white, but large and complex, about which intelligent men of goodwill and character may differ. There are no easy solutions. All-out escalation or scuttle-and-run are not the only alternatives to present policy. Those who practice resistance are encouraging the Hanoi regime to persist in its intransigent refusal to negotiate the issues."
Another Social Democratic view is expressed by Bayard Rustin, a conservative civil-rights figure, who shows his dislike for militancy by writing: "No eternal algebraic formula can guarantee that a given act of disobedience will stimulate the necessary political response. What disturbs me, however, about much of the recent antiwar resistance is that it does not seek a political response at all; it therefore becomes self-corrupting.
Even Richard H. Rovere, staff writer for the liberal New Yorker magazine, can improve on the statements of these two Social Democrats: "I cannot in principle oppose any nonviolent act undertaken in response to the urging of a clear and examined conscience. I happen to believe that 'resistance,' as distinct from 'dissent,' will contribute not at all toward bringing the war in Vietnam to an end."
John Cogley, editor of The Center Magazine, publication of the left liberal Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions, argues for the use of civil disobedience to protest against the war: "Some Germans, a pitiful few, practiced civil disobedience during the Nazi period. Today we honor their memory. Two decades ago, at Nuremberg, we established the principle that under some circumstances such disobedience is a moral duty. During the war-crimes trials some were sentenced to death for not practicing it and others were given prison terms. We took these drastic steps not because the prisoners were patriotic Germans but because they obeyed inhumane, immoral and reprehensible orders. In their own defense a number of Germans argued that their obedience was unwilling. They had dissented as much as they could, they claimed, until the final showdown, when it was obey or else. But we knew then how to distinguish between dissent and disobedience. Dissent, we decided, was not enough. Is it enough in the U.S. today for the growing number who feel that the nation is embarked on an immoral course in Vietnam? More and more Americans are becoming convinced it is not. They feel an obligation to go beyond the 'good Germans' of a quarter century ago who went along with whatever the Nazis did."
Dwight Macdonald, political colunnist for Esquire magazine, also speaks out against the war and for strongly opposing it:
"When the President responded to the massive April peace marches by escalating the bombing of North Vietnam and setting an ominous precedent by recalling General Westmoreland from the field to justify the war, in full-dress uniform, before the Congress that had not been consulted about its escalation,
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then it became evident to me that two years of writing, speaking and demonstrating against the war had not got through to our President, and that we objectors must do a little escalating ourselves.
STOKELY CARMICHAEL HELD AT PARIS AIRPORT, THEN RELEASED
Officials high up in the French government were reported to have intervened with the police at Orly airport December 6 to secure the release of Stokely Carmichael.
The Afro-American black power leader had been halted as an "undesirable" and held overnight in a small quarantine room. The police told him that he would have to take a plane out of the country for any destination he chose. He had arrived in Paris from Stockholm to address a rally opposing the war in Vietnam.
Upon being freed, Carmichael was given a visa good for three months. The very same evening, he spoke to a huge, wildly cheering audience against the war in Vietnam and in support of the Vietnanese freedom fighters.
The incident recalled the way Malcolm X was received in Paris. On one visit he addressed a packed hall, explaining the struggle for black liberation in the United States. On his next visit, he was seized by the police at the airport and denied entry to France.
The police action against the famous exponent of black nationalism was evidently the result of pressure from the Johnson administration.
Shortly after that Malcolm X was assassinated in New York.
70,000 IN PARIS DEMONSTRATE AGAINST U.S. ROLE IN VIETNAM
More than 70,000 persons demonstrated in Paris November 26 against U.S. imperialist aggression in Vietnam. After a parade to the Place de la République, speakers called for the collection of money, medicine, and basic necessities to help the Vietnamese. On the tribune, flags were flown of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front. The Communist party sponsors of the rally also displayed three American flags. This inconsistent note was in line with the policy of "peaceful coexistence" with imperialism advocated by the French CP.
SPECULATION MOUNTS OVER FATE OF CAAMANO
Speculation continues to mount over the disappearance of the Dominican leftist leader Col. Francisco Caamafio Defio, who was last seen in The Hague October 24.
Juan Bosch, former president of the Dominican Republic, now living in exile in Spain, implied that Caamafio may have gone into hiding. However, such assurances do not appear to have allayed the fears of Caamafio's wife, Maria.
Asked about Caamafio on December 3 in Miami, where he is in exile, the ultrarightist Gen. Elias Wessin y Wessin refused to comment.
It was reported that the sinister former henchman of the Trujillo regime recently met with Gen. Imbert Barreras, head of the junta that was put into power by the Johnson administration after American troops invaded the island to put down a popular uprising that appeared to have every chance of succeeding.
Rumors have repeatedly been reported that the generals are plotting another coup d'état in the unhappy island republic which is listed by Washington as a "client" state.
IGNACIO DA PALMA FREED FROM PRISON IN FRANCE
On December 4, the Paris Court of Appeal rejected a demand from the Portuguese government for the extradition of Ignacio da Palma on charges of holding up a bank at Figueira da Foz last May 17 and escaping with 29 million escudos [about
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one million dollars]. The court held that it was not a common bank robbery but a political act undertaken by the Portuguese League for Revolutionary
WELL-EARNED PRAISE
The Dow Chemical Company, which monopolizes the manufacture of napalm B, the material used to make the liquid fire bombs dumped by the U.S. military on the Vietnamese people, has been one of the targets of antiwar demonstrators, who particularly resent the outfit's efforts to recruit personnel on the campuses.
The company feels aggrieved, as it conceives that it is only doing its payeo g duty like any other company in the U.§$. Unity and Action as part of its struggle to overthrow the Salazar dictatorship. The judge ordered da Palma released from prison as a political exile.
FOR DOW CHEMICAL
On December 8, company officials made public a letter received from Secretary of Defense McNamara praising them "for the contributions they are making to our commitment in Vietnam."
The company's 1966 contract with the government for its specialty cost the U.S. taxpayers only $6,500,000, which a cost-conscious executive like McNamara undoubtedly considers to be a very modest fee for such an effective way of broiling human flesh.
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