VOL 8. NO 4. WINTER 1986 S T A F F ^X-editors David Milholland Lenny Dee Associate Editors Jim Blashfield, Michael Helm Paul Loeb Washington State Coordinator Judy Bevis Art Direction David Milholland . Design Tim Braun Guest Designers Candace Bieneman, Jim Blashfield Reed Darmon Cover Preparation Sharon Niemczyk . Cover Photographer Bill Bachhuber Ad Sales—Oregon Dru Duniway, Rhonda Kennedy Ad Sales—Washington Judy Bevis. Deborah Goldhaft Ad Production Coordinator Stacey Fletcher M Production Jane Jovett, Joyce Fletcher Liz Towill Camerawork Tim Braun, Laura Di Trapani Typesetting Archetype, Harrison Typesetting, lnc„ Lee Emmett, 4M, Sherry Swain Proofreading Steve Cackley Office Assistant Michele Hall Contributing Artists Jim Blashfield, TimBraun, John Callahan Susan Gofstein, Gregory Grenon Fay Jones, Stephen Lefiar Carel Moiseiwitsch, Henk Pander Jana Rekosh, Will Spray Steve Winkenwerder Intern Lianne Hirabayashi Printing Tualatin-Yamhill Press Thanks Andy Allen, Dave Ball, Rachel Bishop Edward/Nafalle Diener, Jeannine Edelblut Steve Hood, William Jamison, Craig Karp Deborah Levin, Peggy Lindquist Theresa Marquez, Melissa Marsland Doug Milholland, Kevin Mulligan Bill Nagel, Jan Micholson, John Pickett Laura Vemum, John Wanberg The Clinton 500 ON THE COVER Cover—Tom Cramer Artist Cramer lives in Portland where his totems and paintings can be seen at the Jamison- Thomas Gallery. Sketch by Stephen Lefiar. Out of Africa—Rob Nixon The recent film provides a springboard for a look at Kenya's colonial relationships. A V Coyote and Monkey in Bali—Rick Rubin The North American trickster gets into further mischief with his Far Eastern nemesis. Luna de Miel—Mamie Mueller A honeymooning couple finds a strange new world on a return visit to Ecuador. The term neo-colonialism surfaced some 20 years ago, to describe the status of many Third World nations after the breakup of the European empires. Though Britain, for example, continues to hold such bastions as Hong Kong and the Falklands, the post-WWII political reality is totally altered. Ex-colonies, however, soon found themselves dependent again on the very nations who'd ushered in their manumission, dependent more economically than politically. Thus neo-colonialism. A less-discussed form of neo-colonialism has emerged in the twilight days of the Reagan era. The United States boomed with its immense world poistion after the war, and the entire nation found itself growing at such a rate that only isolated pockets such as Appalachia and minority America failed to benefit from the overall prosperity. True there were recessions, but the 1950s and '60s saw the U.S. bristling with power and largely unchallenged in the economic sphere. Throughout this era, the rising wages of working-class Americans were a major stimulant to the national economy. The rise of Japan, its allies in the Far East, and most of Europe to economic parity with the U.S. has opened our nation to competition it had not prepared to face. Now, large sections of the U.S. have themselves fallen out of the national co-prosperity sphere. Both producers of capital-intensive manufactured goods [automobiles, farm equipment, major appliances) and raw-materials [wood and agricultural products, oil, minerals) find themselves buffeted by international competition and high costs. Thus locales as disparate as Detroit, Houston and Portland, Oregon are watching their basic economic underpinnings reel. Financial centers such as Los Angeles and New York have largely ridden out the storm, partially through a disinvestment in the U.S. in search of low-wage opportunities abroad. The Pacific Northwest, our home base, is sorelypressed to maintain wage end employment levels. Most of its basic industries have floundered throughout the 1980s. Only Boeing, the military installations and those portions of the computer industry strongly linked to the N T E N T S Christmas Gifts for Chickens—Jim Blashfield, Will Spray & Steve Winkenwerder For those concerned about making an impression on a plucky friend. 1976 Soon I Shall Be Released—Sharon Doubiago A bittersweet memory of the night Jimmy Carter was elected from one of the West’s finest poets. Body Surfer—John Sinclair A quirky young man lets us into his living room ...a gripping tale. Man Oh Man—Leanne Grabel A disquieting conversation with a modern Marine. military buildup have escaped the long Reagan downturn. The wood products industry has waited for a trickle that never came. Few agricultural producers have stayed on top of credit and land costs incurred in the inflationary 70s. Commodity prices are stagnant. Outside of a growing service economy at low or minimum wages—this concentrated in a few urban, suburban and recreation centers—most communities have slumped into a lingering malaise. No end in sight. Unions are being closed out of company after company, store after store. Many businesses especially those owned by outside investors, have folded up shop. One popular effort to attack the situation has been to search out investment from the Far East. Despite some success, the impact has been slight. Wages paid are seldom even near previous union levels. True, the entire West Coast economy will increasingly reflect its proximity to the Orient. But the transition will be gradual. A more significant though longer-term strategy will arise from increased fragmentation of the U.S. economy. To escape neo-colonialism, capital will have to be generated and controlled regionally. This will require legal structures not yet in place. And products will have to compete no less on the international market than the national. Indeed many regional groups [the Washington State Apple Commission is a prime example) are now doing very effective marketing worldwide. Neo-colonies such as Oregon, Washington, Northern California (even British Columbia) are going to find links to eastern U.S. and Canadian financial and governmental centers diminishing as they become more self-reliant and intertwined regionally. Nuclear Christmas—John Callahan Our favorite cartoonist gives us a glowing version of an old chestnut. The Emergent Economy—Paul Hawken Our declining industrial economy is being replaced before our eyes. This story helps us understand (and prepare for) its replacement. £ Intervention in Vietnam and Central America—Noam Chomsky An analysis not permitted in most polite publications. The Clinton St. Quarterly is published in both Oregon and Washington editions by CSQ—a project of Out of the Ashes Press. Oregon address: P.O. Box 3588, Portland, OR 97208, (503) 222 6039; Washington Address: 1520 Western Avenue, Seattle, WA 98101, (206)682 2404. Unless otherwise noted, all contents copyright© 1986, Clinton St. Quarterly. The first evidence of this shift is still fragmentary. The Northwest Is at growing odds with national policy on a number of fronts. One case in point is the growing dissatisfaction with the federal decision to designate the Hanford Nuclear Reservation as a final candidate to become the repository for the entire nation’s nuclear wastes. And despite a real dependence on defense spending, especially in Washington state, strong support for the anti-nuclear positions of Seattle’s recently demoted Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen is emerging from across the region. Such anti- federal, anti-papist dissent is but the tip of the iceburg. Throughout its eight-year history, the Clinton St. Quarterly has played an active part in shaping and reflecting such opinion. As a regional publication with an internationalist viewpoint, with this, our first national-international edition, we offer you a chance to experience a new perspective. One unencumbered with obligations to traditional parties and economic interests. You are invited to grow with one of the most exciting publications of our time. We hope to both challenge and entertain you as we jointly set out to make a world in which we all want to live. DM
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