trojan
Volume XCV, Number 34
University of Southern California
Tuesday, February 28, 1984
Exiled leader talks on home
CRAIG STEWART DAILY TROJAN
RAUL MANGLAPUS
Former Filipino senator says opposition gathering power
By Catalina Camia
Assistant City Editor
Philippine opposition leader Raul Manglapus said Monday the Filipino people, who are striving for a democratic nation, now have a new kind of strength in numbers since the assassination of Benigno Aquino, former opposition leader, last August.
"There is time to overcome the dictatorship,” Manglapus said. "But the time is running short."
Manglapus, a former Philippine senator and foreign minister and now senior leader in exile of the Philippine Christian Democrats, spoke before an audience of Filipino student leaders, campus workers and political science and international relations professors about the current state of the opposition parties and the democratic movement within the Philippines.
"There is a new kind of strength in numbers in the opposition movement," Manglapus said. "There is this mass momentum now in the press that has been generated by Aquino's assassination that is manifested by democracy itself."
Aquino, the exiled leader of the party in opposition to President Ferdinand Marcos' dictatorship, was assassinated last summer as he tried to return to the Philippines
in an attempt to create a resurgence in the opposition movement.
Manglapus, also director of the Movement for a Free Philippines in Washington, said people in opposition to Marcos have the feeling that they have the freedom to demonstrate and speak against the government because of the lack of jails in the Philippines.
"There is more self-confidence now among the people," he said. "The people believe that as long as they peacefully demonstrate, they have an immunity. But that wasn't there before the (Aquino) assassination."
Manglapus' solution to the Marcos regime is to apply pressure on a focused target — the Philippine Armed Forces.
"What we need is an internal and external pressure placed on the Philippine Armed Forces," he said. "But the timing has to be right."
Manglapus used the example of South American countries — the Dominican Republic, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Argentina — and Western Europe countries — Greece, Portugal and Spain — with past dictatorships that have all returned to democracy after pressure was placed on the military at the right time.
Manglapus said the problem now is with the United States' support of the military in the Philippines, and this country's reluctance to withdraw its bases from the 7,000-island archipelago.
"The United States 'pulled the rug' from under the
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World’s destruction imminent, author HaI Lindsey predicts
By Jennifer Cray
City Writer
Hal Lindsey, author of "The Late Great Planet Earth," told an audience of about 200 in Bovard Auditorium Monday night that the biblical signs of the world's destruction and the second coming of Christ are now taking place, and warned that the only way people can be saved is to accept Jesus Christ as their savior.
"I believe we live in the most unique period in human history," Lindsey said. He cited a "runaway population explosion, pollution in the air and water
and our planet, and the proliferation of nuclear weapons" as evidence of a "catastrophic climax in the history of man."
He said he believed there is an exact pattern of events that was prophesied by the Hebrew prophets. Four-fifths of that prophecy has already been fulfilled, and the last fifth, about the coming of a messiah, is happening right now, he said.
"The most important part of this whole prophetic scenario," Lindsey said, is a "catastrophic destruction" of Israel as foretold in the Bible and the scattering of the people of Israel. Then Israe-
Scholars skeptical of prophet forecasts
By Diane Olivo
City Writer
Five noted scholars said people such as Hal Lindsey, author of "The Late Great Planet Earth," who preach the end-of-world theory, misinterpret the Old and New Testaments to prove a point or to give a reason for current events.
This assessment was made at the day-long conference, "Armageddon and Biblical Apocalyptic: Are We Living in the Last Days?" held Monday in Hancock Auditorium before an audience of about 60 students, professors and theologists.
The conference was sponsored by Free Inquiry magazine, the Religion and Biblical Criticism Research Project and the office of student affairs.
Michael Amheim, a professor of ancient history at Cambridge University, who spoke on "Isaiah and Christianity," brought up specific examples of how prophets have misinterpreted the Old Testament.
He said that in the Gospel of Matthew 2:1, it is written that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on two asses, one being a colt. But in the Old Testament of Isaiah, the prophecy stated that God rode into the city on a single ass colt. He said this proves that prophets have misinterpreted the old writings.
"If New Testament prophets have misinterpreted the writings it doesn't give us a great deal of confidence in the New Testament," he said.
Amheim went on to say that Lindsey's book states that there is 100 percent accuracy in the Bible writings.
Lowell Striker, author of the yet-to-be-published book "Gospel Time Bomb," discussed the issue of end-of-time theory and its impact on the thinking of cults.
An expert on cults who has gathered information on the Peoples Temple Members and the Guyana massacre, Striker stressed that the apocalyptic prophets are short-lived.
He said cults seem to find reasons for everything written in the Bible, but that the world and its evils persist no matter what the
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lites would gather again and a union of Arab nations would appear to destroy Israel, he said.
Lindsey said these events have already taken place, citing as evidence the Romans' destruction of Israel in A.D. 70 and the establishment of Israel as an independent nation in 1948. He said the only common goal of Arab nations today is the destruction of Israel.
He said it is prophesied in Ezekiel 38 and 39 that Russia will become the "arch-enemy" of Israel.
"(The Russians) will launch a war that will envelop the whole world eventually, according to prophecy," he said.
It is also foretold in the Bible that the People's Republic of China will raise an army of 200 million that will destroy one third of the world's population, Lindsey said.
At the same time, he said, 10 nations will arise in the area of the old Roman Empire to form a political union led by an anti-Christ who will use economics as the base of his power.
This 10-nation coalition is the European Common Market, Lindsey said. The world will see its leader, the "anti-Christ," as "the greatest man who ever lived."
Because the Bible prophesizes a European coalition will become the great power of the West, "the U.S. must fade from power," Lindsey said.
"I believe Lebanon has finished the U.S. as a world power," he continued. "I believe the U.S. is already on the skids."
When this predicted worldwide war between the great powers occurs, Christ will come to earth and save everyone who believes in him, Lindsey said.
"He will deliver everyone who believes (in him) before the holocaust begins.
"Yet with all this gloom and doom I'm not a pessimist," he said. Lindsey said he'd rather be on earth now than any other time in history. Christ's "free
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President of Austria to highlight month-long tribute to avant-garde
By Glen Quon
Gty Writer
Films, concerts and prominent lecturers, including President Rudolf Kirchschlager of Austria, will highlight "An Austrian-American Dialogue," a month-long tribute to over 100 years of Austrian avant-garde.
Kirchschlager will be speaking and answering questions on "Austria Today," Monday, March 5, at the main auditorium of the Annenberg School of Communications.
University President James Zumberge will also be on hand to introduce Kirchschlager, Erwin Lane, Austrian minister of foreign affairs, Dr. Heinz Fischer, Austrian science and research minister, and Helen von Damm, the United States' ambassador to Austria.
Many of the activities, including the Austrian diplomatic speaking engagement, were organized through the efforts of Cornelius Schnauber, associate professor and chairman of the German department.
Schnauber, when asked to define avant-garde, described it as "some new trend which has an impact on a certain field."
"If you create something new which has an impact on others or on a whole field, you are an avant-garde. Austria is known as a country of avant-garde," he said.
Schnauber cited the works of Sigmund Freud as an example of an Austrian avant-garde who influenced the thinking of civilizations around the world.
The idea of tlje tribute came about through Schnauber's organization of the German semester, an interdisciplinary program where students attend seminars hosted by 25 prominent guest lecturers from Austria, Germany and Switzerland on topics such as politics, the natural sciences and the performing arts.
"For more than 10 years, I have organized the German semester which takes place every three to four years," Schnauber said.
However, he added that the program was not possible this semester oecause of budget problems and the reorganization of the university's financial structure. This led him to the idea of the avant-garde festival as a substitute for the German semester.
Schnauber cited other reasons for the tribute, which begins tonight at 8 p.m. with a vocal recital featuring "Pierrot Lunaire" by the Austrian-bom Arnold Schoenberg, an avant-garde whose work with 12-tone music influenced the music of many 20th century composers.
"(This year) was originally thought to be the 200th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and Austria," Schnauber said.
He added that although historians now say the 200th anniversary is seven years away, the festival will still go on.
"I want a large program prior to the (summer) Olympics," Schnauber said.
Schnauber added the scheduling of the events during the month of March was due in part to negotiations with the Austrian government in bringing Kirchschlager to the university.
However, Schnauber said March was also the month of spring vacation for schools in Austria, thus allowing for the arrival of a number of lecturers who teach in Austria.
When asked about the objectives of the events, Schnauber mentioned three in particular.
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