Peace at Any Price?

COME one, come all--it's not every day you get the chance to hear words of wisdom from the mouth of a murderer.

Mobuto Sese Seko Nkuku wa za Banga (just plain Mobuto to his friends)--a man who tortures students for complaining about inflation, a man who throws loyal government ministers in prison for sneezing improperly, a man who likes to watch a good hanging now and then--will speak Thursday at Harvard's very own Institute of Politics on the subject, "Peace and Progress in Southern Africa."

Power-hungry Gov jocks, take advantage of this unique opportunity. You too can learn how easy it is, with CIA support, to plunder a country, crush political dissent and still be respected enough to be invited to give a speech on the nobility of peace to the adoring students of a prestigious university.

That Mobuto has been asked to speak, however, is not much of a surprise. The Washington Post reported that for all of Mobuto's faults, "he is, diplomats say, an unusually gracious, attentive and generous host" to those who visit him in Zaire. Ah, what style, what grace; how good it is to have a man of the world in a position of power.

Of course, with an estimated net worth of $5 billion, Mobuto finds it easy to be stylish and graceful. (Coincidentally, Zaire's national debt is about $5 billion. Funny, that.)

THE activist community is not taking this lying down. It is, I am happy to report, taking a unified moral position in opposition to something more important than whether the Undergraduate Council (a body possessing hypothetical power) should ask the faculty and administration (which will hypothetically listen to the council) to consider the (hypothetical) return to campus of the Reserve Officers Training Corp (which doesn't want to return anyway).

Students can now take a stand on a more tangible moral issue by protesting Mobuto's arrival at Harvard. I am told that the counter-demonstration planned for the night of Mobuto's speech will have more articulate speakers anyway. Besides, the Mobuto speech is already sold out.

One caveat to the protesters, however. Even human rights violators have the right to free speech. Trying to obstruct that right will only make you look bad--giving him the moral high ground by default.

Defeat him through the exercise of your own rights to free speech. Make noise. Shout to the world the nature of Mobuto's disgraces against human decency and dignity. Deprive him of the respectability he hopes to obtain. Make it clear that when he speaks at Harvard he taints the honor of Harvard. In short, make him uncomfortable, but don't be offensive.

WAIT. I am having second thoughts. Perhaps Mobuto is not that bad after all. He claims to be very popular among his own people. In 1984, after making failure to vote punishable by law, his party received 99.16 percent of the vote in general elections. Of course, no one else was listed on the ballot, but that is still an impressive outcome.

Mobuto is a family man, as well. Not only is he exceedingly generous in divvying up the proceeds of his plunder among close relatives, he has also worked to establish a personality cult honoring his dead mother. He says he wants her to be just as respected as the Virgin Mary.

Mobuto is a staunch ally of the United States. Much like Marcos in the Philipines, Noriega in Panama, Pinochet in Chile and the leaders of many other banana republics, Mobuta has been an S.O.B., but he's been our S.O.B. Loyal to a fault, he has kept communism from becoming a force in Black Africa's second largest country.

"Zaire is a friend. It is like a faithful woman," said Vunduawe te Pamako, Zaire's former deputy prime minister in 1984. Since 1984. Vunduawe's fate has been unclear--he is either in exile or prison. So much for loyalty to the head of state.

Which brings me to Mobuto's fourth good point. With Mobuto in power, there's really never a dull moment in Zaire. As a Washington Post writer put it.

"Besides Mobuto and his family, only 80 people in the country count. At any one time, 20 of them are ministers [in the government], 20 are exiles, 20 are in jail, and 20 are ambassadors. Every three months, the music stops and Mobuto forces everyone to change chairs."

ON a more serious note, however, since Mobuto took power in 1965. Zaire's government has been stable. Zaire has not been wracked by the constant civil war that has plagued other African nations.

Zaire is an artificial political entity. Its borders were decided arbitrarily on some Belgian map a century ago. Within those borders are over 250 potentially warlike tribes.

Perhaps without Mobuto's iron hand and corrupt body politic, Zaire would have fragmented long ago. Perhaps the blood Mobuto has shed is less than the blood that would have spilled were it not for his autocratic rule.

Perhaps Mobuto believes he is faithfully following Machiavelli's advice to an effective Prince--that it is better to be feared than to be loved.

Nevertheless, we who share a perhaps hopeless idealism, we who hold a perhaps naive belief in the power of democracy must firmly, resolutely oppose the suppression of human rights. We most follow our perhaps irrational faith that even if the trains do run on time. dictatorship is inherently evil and can never be tolerated. And especially such a murderous dictatorship as this one should be abhorred.

What a pity that Harvard, the world's foremost liberal institution. Must degrade itself by permitting the words of an evil man land within earshot of her eternal ivv.