University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, February 7, 1990 9 KU professors speak about rapid changes By Sandra Moran Kansan staff writer A united Germany could become a world superpower and a major influence on Eastern European universities to KU professors said last night. Jarslow Piekalkiewicz and Ron Francisco, professor of Soviet and East European studies, spoke to about 35 people at Plymouth Congregational Church, 925 Vermont St. Piekalkiewicz said that the changes in Eastern Europe made teaching his political science classes more difficult. "Every day before going to class in the morning, I would watch television just to find out who the prime minister was." he said. He compared the situation in Eastern Europe to a muddy river with many unpredictable turns and the river faced a fragmented social scene. Examples of this are an estimated unemployment rate from 5 'With what is potentially a European superpower, there is no underestimating what it can achieve.' European studies β€”Ron Fransisco professor of Soviet and East to 15 percent and a lack of useful natural resources, he said. Although Piekalkiewicz focused on Eastern European countries, Francisco chose to speak specific to East and West Germany. Francisco said that he had not anticipated the events that brought down the Berlin Wall. He said he had just returned from a sabbatical in Germany, where he studied the system of illiterate society "That was really going splendidly until the elite system disappeared," Francisco said. He said that for a long time, East and West Germany were at the center of the Cold War. He said he thought that the end of the Cold War and a possible union of the two Germans could make Germany a powerful nation. "With what is potentially a European superpower, there is no underestimating what it can achieve." Francisco said. He said one problem with uniting the two Germans was that it would leave East Germany with unfilled jobs. He said that most of the important and educated professionals had left East Germany and that West Germany decided to bus surgeons and skilled machinists into East Germany to support the country's economy. "The system is decaying at an alarming rate." Francisco said. Philip Kissam, organizer of the program and member of the Lawrence Coalition for Peace and Justice, said this was the first in a series of three talks in the coalition's speaker's program. Socialism does not mean tyranny, and capitalism does not mean freedom, a KU professor said yesterday. By Carol B. Shiney Kansan staff writer Harry Shaffer, professor of economics and Soviet and East European studies, spoke about glasnost Capitalism, socialism discussed and *perecrokski* at the weekly bag lunch. 15 people attended. Shaffer said that glassnost was a new openness and freedom in the Soviet Union and Eastern "What I resent most is the impressions you get from the newspapers and magazines that socialism is tyranny and capitalism is freedom," Shaffer said. "As far as I'm concerned, that is total nonsense." He said that socialism and capitalism were not political concepts but economic concepts definec by which he means of production in a country. Roy Laird, professor of political science and Soviet and East European studies, said during discussion Europe. However, he said that in the recent years he has taken to take the recent events out of context after the speech that he disagreed with Shaffer. "Political and economic freedom are not separable," he said. "If you steal from a human being the fruits of his or her labor to redistribute in the name of glory and what have you, and give us a port of him. The two are inapparent." However, Shaffer said that the picture often presented was that as soon as capitalism was installed, it meant freedom. He said there were many capitalist countries that were not free. During the discussion, Leair also denounced communism. He said that the Soviets had killed thousands of peasants and that Mao Tse-tung of China had killed many people in the name of communism. "That is enough in itself to say there is an inherent fault in their system," he said. "There's a world of difference between Yugoslavia and Romania and always has been," Shaffer said. "There's a world of difference between Hungary and Bulgaria. In Belgrade, I could buy the New York Times in the 1960s on any street corner. You are darn right you Shaffer pointed out a difference in the degree of openness and freedom among many socialist and capitalist countries. couldn't do that in Bulgaria or Romania, for instance." He said he had argued for many years that such socialist countries as Yugoslavia or Hungary had more freedom than such capitalist countries as the Union of South Africa or El Salvador. Even in the United States slavery, segregation and a lack of women's suffrage has limited freedom and democracy. Shaffer said. "In other words, what I'm trying to say is . . . we should not make believe we are the champions of freedom and democracy everywhere," he said. In discussing perestroika, or restructuring, Shaffer said that, again, the wrong picture was presented. He said what happened was that the Soviets wanted to incorporate some advantages of capitalism, such as efficiency in production, into their economic system. "As far as I'm concerned, what I believe Gorbachev is trying to do is to combine the best of all possible worlds," he said. "To get from us the obvious increased efficiency in production output without totally surredering the social benefits of socialism." Investigation targets Yugoslavian police The Associated Press PRISTINA, Yugoslavia β€” A commission has been established to investigate complaints against the security forces that put down violent ethnic unrest in Kosovo Province, the police chief said yesterday. Chief Jusuf Karakaui told Kosovo's parliament that 26 ethnic Albanians had been killed in clashes with police since the latest round of protests began Jan. 24. He said 94 demonstrators had been wounded by gunfire and 83 police officers had suffered various injuries. Ethnic Albanians make up 90 percent of Kosovo's 1.9 million people and thousands have taken to the streets to demand more autonomy for the province, which is part of the republic of Serbia. Serbia tightened its control of Kosovo's police, judiciary and schools last year. Officials said the measures were necessary to protect the Serbian minority in the province. The actions sparked violent demon- ticization of the police under virtual martial law for a year. Ethnic Albanian leaders have been critical of what they call indiscriminate use of force by security forces seeking to quell the unrest. One ethnic Albanian delegate, Cemail Bairam, told parliament that he had witnessed uncontrolled shooting by police in the village of Malisevo. The security forces, backed by columns of tanks and low-flying air force jets and helicopters, have maintained an uneasy calm. No additional deaths have been reported since Feb. 2. Until an investigation identifies those responsible, tension will remain high in Kosovo, Bairam said. Bulgaria pledges reforms in security services The Associated Press SOFIA, Bulgaria β€” Eighty percent of the secret police have been fired, the telephones of opposition activists are no longer tapped and other reforms are being made in the security services, the interior minister said yesterday. Gen. Atanas Semeredjiev said a prison camp on the Danube River island of Belene, "one of the most typical symbols of the old regime ... many of whose inmates have been wrongfully convicted," would be closed. Semedrijev spent five hours at a meeting of the Communist Party and opposition leaders, condemning past abuses and promising to address it "a guardian of society," the official news agency BTA reported. He rejected opposition demands for access to secret police files and a public investigation of state security, citing constitutional prohibitions he did not specify, the agency said. Semerdjew made his presentation four days after a Communist Party congress that sought to bridge differences between conservatives and party conservatives seeking to preserve Communist domination. Bulgaria has followed its eastern European neighbors in promising to remodel the Interior Ministry, which is responsible for the police agencies that have repressed the people with surveillance and force. The Communist Party remains in firm control in Bulgaria, however, and the public is skeptical of the party's leadership after the election last week of moderate reformers as prime minister and party leader. Romania's interim president will run in May 20 elections BUCHAREST Pomari The Associated Press BUCHAREST, Romania β€” Interim President Ion Ilescu registered the former ruling National Salvation Front yesterday to run in all of the elections, and a top side said Ilescu would be its presidential candidate. The Front, unelected and ruling by decree since longtime Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was toppled and executed in December, is considered the front-runner in the race among 29 political parties. "Our candidate for president will be Mr. Iliescu, that's for sure. That's what everyone wants," said Dan Radulescu, chief of the Front's commission for press and public relations. Interim Prime Minister Petre Roman said in an interview for U.S. television that he, too, wanted liescu, a former Communist official who fell out with Ceausescu, to run for president. "I hope it will be Iliescu," he said. Roman said he would not campaign to be prime minister but would probably accept the post if the Front wins the election and if he was asked by a majority of the movement. The Front on Jan. 23 reversed its pledge to stay out of the election. The Front agreed to form a Council of National Unity with opposition parties to run the country until May, when Romania will have its first multiparty elections since World War II. 6 LIVES PROTECTED. AND MORE... AND MORE...