30-09-2008, 09:09 PM
(This post was last modified: 30-09-2008, 09:29 PM by Jan Klimkowski.)
Time to tell some stories out of school....
In the mid-90s, I was investigating organizations advocating "population control" for a BBC2 documentary. Delving into the history of many of the pro-birth control, pro-contraception organizations - eg those growing out of Marie Stopes & Margaret Sanger's work - it was clear that some of them had strong links with eugenic thought & thinkers.
One of our focuses was a certain group of "doctors" who were sterilizing tens of thousands of women in developing countries using a sclerotic chemical, inserted via an IUD, designed to cause major tissue damage to the fallopian tubes. Yes - blowing up the fallopian tubes of dirt poor women, with no easy access to medical care, in rural villages in countries such as Indonesia, Bangladesh and Haiti, and in remote Andean & Amazonian communities.
As I spoke to some of the lead "doctors" involved in this, and learned of their funding by major American foundations, I started getting cold-called by some very intriguing characters. For instance, policy wonks at the Manhattan Institute would call me up, and indulge in "nod nod wink wink" conversations about how pioneering this chemical sterilization work was, how empowering it was for poor women, and how over-population prevented these women & their families from joining the Twentieth Century as productive, democratic workers.
This was an attempt to influence a journalist by a supposedly "independent" think tank.
The Manhattan Institute's current trustees can be seen here (and include the likes of William Kristol):
http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/trustees.htm
The Manhattan Institute was founded in 1978 by Sir Antony Fisher http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antony_Fisher
and William J Casey. The Bill Casey who was shortly to become Reagan's Director of the CIA.
In reality, the lead "doctors" pushing field chemical sterilization included some who explicitly argued that "third world overpopulation" was a "threat to American National Security", as per NSSM 200 (aka "the Kissinger Doctrine").
Chemical sterilization had its "medical" origins in concentration camp experiments by the Nazis on "gypsies" and Jews.
In the mid-90s, I was investigating organizations advocating "population control" for a BBC2 documentary. Delving into the history of many of the pro-birth control, pro-contraception organizations - eg those growing out of Marie Stopes & Margaret Sanger's work - it was clear that some of them had strong links with eugenic thought & thinkers.
One of our focuses was a certain group of "doctors" who were sterilizing tens of thousands of women in developing countries using a sclerotic chemical, inserted via an IUD, designed to cause major tissue damage to the fallopian tubes. Yes - blowing up the fallopian tubes of dirt poor women, with no easy access to medical care, in rural villages in countries such as Indonesia, Bangladesh and Haiti, and in remote Andean & Amazonian communities.
As I spoke to some of the lead "doctors" involved in this, and learned of their funding by major American foundations, I started getting cold-called by some very intriguing characters. For instance, policy wonks at the Manhattan Institute would call me up, and indulge in "nod nod wink wink" conversations about how pioneering this chemical sterilization work was, how empowering it was for poor women, and how over-population prevented these women & their families from joining the Twentieth Century as productive, democratic workers.
This was an attempt to influence a journalist by a supposedly "independent" think tank.
The Manhattan Institute's current trustees can be seen here (and include the likes of William Kristol):
http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/trustees.htm
The Manhattan Institute was founded in 1978 by Sir Antony Fisher http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antony_Fisher
and William J Casey. The Bill Casey who was shortly to become Reagan's Director of the CIA.
In reality, the lead "doctors" pushing field chemical sterilization included some who explicitly argued that "third world overpopulation" was a "threat to American National Security", as per NSSM 200 (aka "the Kissinger Doctrine").
Chemical sterilization had its "medical" origins in concentration camp experiments by the Nazis on "gypsies" and Jews.
"It means this War was never political at all, the politics was all theatre, all just to keep the people distracted...."
"Proverbs for Paranoids 4: You hide, They seek."
"They are in Love. Fuck the War."
Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon
"Ccollanan Pachacamac ricuy auccacunac yahuarniy hichascancuta."
The last words of the last Inka, Tupac Amaru, led to the gallows by men of god & dogs of war
"Proverbs for Paranoids 4: You hide, They seek."
"They are in Love. Fuck the War."
Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon
"Ccollanan Pachacamac ricuy auccacunac yahuarniy hichascancuta."
The last words of the last Inka, Tupac Amaru, led to the gallows by men of god & dogs of war