Word: ufw
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...understand why Raza or the Progressive Student Labor Movement (PSLM) might have challenged Kovacevich. United Farm Workers (UFW) purported to speak on behalf of Mexican migrant and immigrant grape workers and for improved labor conditions (never mind that most grape workers chose not to join the UFW). It is less clear what motivated groups like UNITE, Education 4 Action, Phillips Brooks House Association, the Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Supporters' Alliance, and Ballet Folkorico de Aztlan. (Those last two seem especially peculiar, but hey, why exclude people from the party...
...debate was predictable at first. The more liberal factions on campus quickly mobilized and informed themselves of the allegations the United Farm Workers (UFW) have made about grape growing conditions. Many middle-of-the-road students didn't care, and the more short-sighted and selfish factions mounted an ignorant "Grapes taste good" campaign. We have gotten along quite well for some time without grapes, and I doubt very sincerely that many of the eventual yes-voters ever bought grapes on their own out of frustration that the dining hall didn't have them. A vote for yes, essentially, said...
Then the serious pro-grape people began to attack the UFW itself, and things changed fast in an even more disturbing way. Because we cannot know for certain what the actual conditions in California are and can only hear the opinions of the grape growers and the UFW, we do not have enough facts to vote no, they said. And it was this side that carried the day. What this means, essentially, is that when conflict arises between organized labor and the rich land-owning class, we give the benefit of the doubt to the latter...
...same issue is the prerogative of The Crimson staff, I became disturbed when the bias seemed to spill over into the actual coverage of the debate, a phenomenon that culminated in the naively uncritical interview of the former grape worker who was chosen by the United Farm Workers (UFW) to be questioned, and whose answers were given through a UFW "interpreter", who happened to be the union's vice president...
While this strange idea of student choice might seem trivial to The Crimson, to many of us who voted against the boycott it is singularly important. I do not particularly like grapes, and I found the literature from both the self-interested pro-grape lobby and the notoriously disingenuous UFW less than credible. Nonetheless, I do not feel that I have the right to decide for other Harvard students whether or not they wish to make such a political statement. --Allan L. Hill...