Proud of the SAS protesters
To the editor,
Congratulations to the students carrying out the SAS sit-in, and to the rest of you at the University of Arizona When I was in college in the 60s at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, some students were dedicating great effort to desegregating restaurants and movie theaters. Others were entirely indifferent. I was sort of in the middle of the range.
Since then, I've learned very clearly the importance of direct action of the kind SAS supporters are taking. The jobs that are lost from this country via the global economy do not usually improve working conditions when they go to the most exploited countries. Rather, they become part of a forced regime of cut-rate employment that holds down the aspirations of the very people who should be free to negotiate working conditions, pay rates and hours so that eventually they could afford the stuff we export.
As father of a student at UNC today, I'm proud of the sit-in he and many others participated in. I hope Arizona can soon join the other real leaders in reforming sweatshop conditions and move beyond the industry's inadequate proposals!
Jerry Markatos
Pittsboro, North Carolina
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