Bulletin N°629
Subject: ON LOOKING BACK WITH DR. WILHELM REICH IN ANTICIPATION OF A FUTURE WITH 'LOVE, WORK & KNOWLEDGE'.
8 September 2014
Grenoble, France
Dear Colleagues and Friends of CEIMSA,
You are probably familiar with the famous quote by George Orwell: “He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.”
This axiom grows more apparent as time goes by. A generation ago, I wrote a book on the Japanese American internment, describing the social and cultural context of this military operation which deprived over 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry living in the United States of their human rights. This book, America’s Concentration Camps during World War II (1999), described the application of social science theories in these camps, including such experiments as measuring the speed at which rumors and character-assasinating gossip could travel inside a camp and to what effect.
During the research for this book, I submitted several essays for publication; almost all of these submissions were rejected. The use of the term “concentration camp” was unacceptable for many editors, but I refused to replace this term with antiseptic alternatives such as “assembly center” or “internment center”. The term “concentration camp” had been used by President Roosevelt and other US government officials at the time, and I wished to remain true to the contemporary terminology, for obvious reasons. It was historically accurate to use the term that was employed in both Germany and the United States at the time.
When my book was finally published in 1999, it was largely ignored, with one exception. In The Journal of Military History, published at The Virginia Military Institute, there appeared a scathing review of my work written by an expert in the field, Dr. Roger Daniels. Among other things, he claimed that I had lifted large portions of information from his books without giving him due credit. I replied that this was a lie, saying that while I had certainly made use of his published works, I had scrupulously acknowledged all my sources, and I had cited him in more than 10 footnotes throughout my 415-page book and had listed four of his books in my selected bibliography. Daniels wrote a sloppy review of my book, showing beyond a doubt that he had not bothered to read it, nor even to look carefully at the Table of Contents.
In the course of my discussion of past studies of the concentration camps, I included Daniels works among the “liberal cover-ups” which dismissed the Japanese American camps as a “self-correcting mistake”. My findings from my archival studies and interviews with a variety of participants in this event was that the Federal Government had made no mistake, that a central purpose of these barbed-wire enclosures was to intimidate and recruit young Japanese-American men for particularly hazardous work in the US armed forces, and it succeeded. There were other motivations such as the expropriation the property of Japanese American families once they were removed from their homes, but my original contribution was the systemic military use of these camps, which included social science studies of “the Japanese mind”. The all-Nisei US Army 442 Regiment was truly cannon fodder on the Western European battle fields, and their Caucasian commanding officers were delighted and order more of them to the front. The social science research in the camps facilitated the military policy of social control in the US Army and in post-war Japan. Roger Daniels did not want to address this issue, and instead denounced my study as a “slovenly” work. He cited as an example my failure to provide the correct middle initial of Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. at one point in this book when I was criticizing Schlesinger's attack on Black Studies departments in American universities.
Today, a generation later, the role of social science as an instrument of social control is perhaps more apparent, and the thesis of my 1999 book is no-doubt less shocking. My experiences over this period, brought a keener appreciation to Orwell’s warning: indeed, visions of the future are given shape by interpretations of the past; and these interpretations are dominated by contemporary political agendas.
As for intellectual curiosity and honest researchers, what good is an index finger? It can point, it can poke, but it can’t seize an object without the help of a thumb. This observation is analogous to my descriptions of the uses of social science research in America’s concentration camps, a subject that was apparently too hot to pick up.
In preparation for this research, I had read a great deal about the controversaries which surrounded social psychology in the period of before and during the Second World War. The book, Character Analysis (1933), by Wilhelm Reich was of course invaluable for this study. Here I discovered that Freud’s method of interpreting symptoms was eventually found to be insufficient to cure neuroses, and that he went on to develop “resistance analysis.” It was at this point that Wilhelm Reich, still a medical student at the University of Vienna, worked with Freud and the ‘second generation” of psychoanalysts to uncover a group of resistance types which Reich later called “character resistance,” from which he later developed his much celebrated method of “character analysis.” Reich went on establish the biological basis of neurosis, thereby fulfilling Freud’s professed goal which was to discover a scientific basis of neuroses and to replace simple word therapy with a precise knowledge of cause and effect. Reich developed a method to isolate, quantify and actually measure bio-energy and the corporal blockage of energy flow within the human body. He called the causes of this blockage and its bio-social consequences “the Emotional Plague.”
The term ‘emotional plague’ has no defamatory connotation. It does not refer to conscious malice, moral or biological degeneration, immorality, etc. An organism which, from birth, is constantly impeded in it natural way of locomotion develops artificial forms of locomotion. It limps or moves on crutches. Similarly, an individual moves through life by the means of the emotional plague if, from birth, his natural, self-regulatory life manifestations have been suppressed. The individual afflicted with the emotional plague limps, characterologically speaking. The emotional plague is a chronic biopathy of the organism. It made its appearance with the first suppression of genital love life on a mass scale; it became an epidemic which has tortured the peoples of the earth for thousands of years. There are no grounds for the assumption that it passes, in a hereditary manner, form mother to child. Rather, it is implanted in the child from his first day of life on. It is an epidemic disease, like schizophrenia or cancer, with this important difference: it manifests itself essentially in social living. Schizophrenia and cancer are biopathies resulting from the emotional plague in social life. The effects of the emotional plague are to be seen in the organism as well as in social living. Periodically, like any other plague, such as bubonic plague or cholera, the emotional plague takes on the dimension of a pandemic, in the form of a gigantic break-through of sadism and criminality, such as the Catholic inquisition of the middle ages or the international fascism of the present century.
If we did not consider the emotional plague a disease in the strict sense of the word we would be in danger of mobilizing the policeman’s club against it instead of medicine and education. It is characteristic of the emotional plague that it necessitates the policeman’s club and thus reproduces itself. Nevertheless, in spite of the threat to life which the emotional plague represents, it will never be mastered by means of the club. . . .
Like the character neurosis, it is maintained by secondary drives. It differs from physical defects in being a function of the character and, as such, being strongly defended. Unlike, say, a hysterical attack, it is not experienced as ego-alien and pathological. As we know, the character-neurotic behavior is usually highly rationalized. In the emotional plague reaction, this is the case even to a far higher degree: the lack of insight is far greater. One may ask what makes it possible to recognize a plague reaction and to distinguish it from a rational reaction. The answer is the same as in the case of distinguishing a character-neurotic reaction from a rational reaction: As soon as one touches upon the motives of the plague reaction, anxiety or anger inevitably appears.
(pp. 248-250)
Elsewhere, Reich talks about the pedagogical approach to educating people about their own responsibility for reproducing the emotional plague and the effects this physical repression of bio-energy flow has on society. One cannot educate people by attacking their delusions that sexual repression and sublimation are necessary for producing superior ‘cultural values’ at the price of ‘personal armoring’ and ‘pleasure anxiety.’ The ‘sex-economist’ must recognize that most people are under the influence of the emotional plague, that they will defend sexual repression in the name of civilization.
Reich then takes the practical step of advising an entirely different approach to educating the masses. In the face of their purely logical argument which justifies repression of sexual energy, Reich suggests that the logic of their argument should be recognized, then developed further . . . .
It is perfectly true that sexuality is not everything in life. We can even add the further fact that in healthy individuals sexuality is not a subject for talk and not in the center of their thinking. Why, then, we must ask, does sexuality –in spite of these many facts—assume the central spot in the life and the thinking of people?
It goes without saying that the circulation of the steam in a factory is the prerequisite of its functioning. Yet, the worke5rs in this factory never give a thought to the circulation of the steam; they are completely concentrated on the manufacture of their product. The steam energy is indeed not ‘everything’; there are other, more important interests, such as the making of machines, etc. But let us assume that suddenly some valves in the circulation system get stuck: the circulation of the energy ceases, the machines stop, and with that, the work. Now, the workers’ attention becomes centered exclusively on the disturbance of energy circulation, and on now it could be remedied. But what if some workers were to argue as follows” ‘This silly heat theory exaggerates the role of the steam. Yes, it is true that the steam is necessary, but by golly, that is not everything. Don’t you see that we have other interests, that there are economic factors to be considered?’ In this case, these ‘wise guys’ would simply be laughed at and one would first try to eliminate the disturbances in steam circulation before one would ‘think of other things.’
In such a situation is the sexual problem in our society. The flow of biological energy, of sexual energy, is disturbed in the overwhelming majority of people. This is the reason why the biosocial mechanism of society does not function properly or does not function at all. This is why there is irrational politics, irresponsibility of the masses of people, biopathies, murder and manslaughter, in brief, the emotional plague. If all people were able to fulfill their natural sexual needs without disturbance, there would be no talk about the sexual problem. Then one would be justified in saying that ‘there are other interests.’
The tremendous effort of sex-economy consists precisely in trying to help these so-called ‘other’ things get their proper due. That today everything revolves around sexuality is the surest indication of a severe disturbance in the flow of sexual energy in man, and with that in his biosocial functioning. Sex-economy strives to unlock the valves of the biological energy flow so that, as a result, ‘other’ important things, such as clear thinking, natural decency, and joyful work, can function, so that, in other words, sexuality, in its prevailing pornographic form, ceases to comprise all thinking as it does today.
The disturbance of energy flow, as just described, acts deep down at the basis of biosocial functioning and thus governs all functions of man. I doubt that the basically biological character of this disturbance has been comprehended even by some orgone therapists in its full measure and depth.(pp.274-275)
Two critical articles about Reich’s orgone research were written in The New Republic and Harper's magazine. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigated Reich, believing they were dealing with a "fraud of the first magnitude." He was charged with contempt in 1956 for having violated a court injunction against publicizing his work and was sentenced to two years in United States Penitentiary, at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. That summer his publications were burned by order of the court and on November 3, 1957 he died in jail of heart failure, at the age of 60, one year after his arrest and only days before he was due to apply for parole.
For my research purposes, Wilhelm Reich’s theories stood in contradistinction to those of his contemporary, Kurt Lewin who also worked in Berlin. They frequented the same circles in Weimar Germany, and both migrated to the United States during the War. Lewin’s book, Principles of Topological Psychology was published in 1936, and it gave importance to a person’s momentary situation for understanding behavior, instead of relying on memories of past experiences and early repressions. Lewin is recognized as one of the pioneers in social psychology, and the “Lewin Equation,” B = ƒ(P, E), is an attempt to mathematically map social behavior in an equation where behavior is represented as “a function of the person in their environment.”
Lewin’s studies focused on organizations which he defined in terms of “leadership climates.” He thought there existed three essential types: the authoritarian environment, the democratic, and the laissez-faire. The first environment is characterized by a leadership that dictates tasks to a divided labor force; this relationship is not necessarily hostile but is aloof, according to Lewin, and offers personal praise and criticism for tasks that are performed. The second environment, the democratic climate, is where policy is determined through collective processes with decisions assisted with technical advice by the leader after group discussions and where the division of labor is decided by the labor force. Laissez-faire, the third environment, gives freedom to the group to make policy without the leader’s participation. The leader remains uninvolved unless asked.
He also focused on situational forces that produce changes in behavior. He developed a mathematical model which divided change into three stages: the “unfreezing” is the first stage, which involved “the overcoming of inertia” and the dismantling of any existing “mind set,” such as defense mechanisms; the second stage is when the actual change occurs (typically a period of confusion and transition, without a clear picture of what will replace “the old ways”); the final stage Lewin called “freezing.” (This is when the “new mind set” is crystallizing and comfort levels are returning to normal.)
Kirt Lewin served as Director of the Center for Group Dynamics at MIT. In 1946, he became Director of the Connecticut Stat Inter Racial Commission the purpose of which was to combat religious and racial prejudices. He died of a heart attack in Newtonville, Massachusetts in 1947, at the age of 56.
My interest in the World War II period and the applied social science in American concentration camps came, like so many others of my generation, from my involvement in the Anti-War Movement. Could social science be used for human liberation, or was the motive force of scientific thought a pathology of control. One popular publication at the time was the American journal called Science for the People; another was the French journal, Impascience. This quote by the famous escaped slave and abolitionist, Frederick Douglass, carried a resonance during this turbulent era; it was much discussed in the radical circles at Madison, Wisconsin, where I studied history in the late 1960s :
Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.
The 7 items below will remind CEIMSA readers of the radical debate over questions of political economy and sex-economy: Does the economy exist to serve our needs or do we exist to serve the needs of the economy, or put another way, must we learn to repress our deepest feelings to serve ‘civilization’ or must society continuously adjust to satisfy the legitimate needs of the population without unnecessary delays?
Item A., from Information Clearing House, is an article by Reese Erlich demystifying Obama’s war.
Item B., from Democracy Now !, is a report by Jeremy Scahill on Obama’s Orwellian War in Iraq.
Item C., from Jim O’Brien of Historians Against War, is a series of recommended recent articles and US war resisters in Canada links.
Item D., from Information Clearing House, is a talk by David Sheen on the rampant racist violence in Israeli society today.
Item
E., from Information Clearing House,
is a medical report by Stefan
Molyneux on the human brain
and the etiology of violence.
Item F., from Global Health Check, is an article by Leila Bodeux, summarizing a report by Oxfam and Hai on EU trade policies and their consequences.
Item G., from Vicki Briault, is an article by Renaud Vivien on the financial violence today within the European Union.
Item H. is a 1999 article by US Navy fighter pilot, Dr. Gerald L. Atkinson CDR USN (Ret.), who warns Americans (and the world) of the forces at work subverting “American civilization -- the most vital and precious descendent of Western civilization.”
Item I., from Information Clearing House, is a video presentation by former US Marine, Ken O'Keefe, analyzing Israel’s Grand Strategy today in the Middle East.
And finally, we invite CEIMSA readers to watch this short video rendition of Wilhelm Reich’s popular book,
“Listen, Little Man!”
Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isBXfDTwXRE
Based on the book by Wilhelm Reich.
Photo essay about the timeless explanation of the emotional plague that affects everyone in society.
This appeal does not ask to be taken as a guide to life. It shows what the emotional plague is, how it functions and how it obstructs progress.
Music: "The Sound of Silence" by Simon & Garfunkel.
Sincerely,
Francis Feeley
Professor of American Studies
University of Grenoble-3
Director of Research
University of Paris-Nanterre
Center for the Advanced Study of American Institutions and Social Movements
The University of California-San Diego
http://dimension.ucsd.edu/CEIMSA-IN-EXILE/
_______________
A.
From Information Clearing House :
Dates: 2 October 2014
Subject: NATO.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/
The reality on the ground is far different from the propaganda coming out of Washington.
10 Myths About Obama’s Latest War
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article39837.htm
by Reese Erlich
_______________
B.
From Democracy Now! :
Dates: 3 October 2014
Subject: Obama’s Orwellian War in Iraq.
As Vice President Joe Biden warns it will take a "hell of a long fight" for the United States to stop militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, we speak to Jeremy Scahill, author of the book, "Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield." We talk about how the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 that helped create the threat now posed by the Islamic State. We also discuss the role of Baathist forces in ISIS, Obama’s targeting of journalists, and the trial of four former Blackwater operatives involved in the 2007 massacre at Baghdad’s Nisoor Square.
http://www.democracynow.org/2014/10/3/jeremy_scahill_on_obamas_orwellian_war
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C.
From: Historians Against War.
Dates: 30 September 2014
Subject: HAW Notes 9/30/14: US war resisters in Canada; links to recent articles of interest.
http://www.historiansagainstwar.org/
[Note: Luke Stewart, a member of the HAW Steering Committee who is active in support of US military war resisters seeking refuge in Canada, submits the following appeal: "In the past month, an alarming number of U.S. war resisters who are seeking sanctuary in Canada have received deportation notices as Canada joins the new war in Iraq. If sent back to the U.S., they will be court-martialed and, like others before them, possibly receive between 8 and 24 months in prison, a Bad Conduct or Dishonorable Discharge. For more information on the war resisters and how you can help, please visit: www.resisters.ca."]
Links to Recent Articles of Interest
"Why Obama Underestimated ISIL in Syria and Iraq"
By Juan Cole, Informed Comment blog, posted September 29
The author teaches history at the University of Michigan.
"Why the Showdown with Islamic Extremists Is the War the Pentagon Was Hoping For"
By Nicolas J. S. Davies, AlterNet, posted September 28
By Bernard Chazelle, LobeLog, posted September 27
"Hoping
Bombs Will Fix Mess That Bombs Created in Iraq and Syria"
By Paul R. Pillar, CommonDreams.org, posted September 25
The author spent 28 years with the CIA and now teaches at Georgetown University in security studies.
By Jeremy Gantz, In These Times, posted September 23
Review essay on Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz's An Indigenous People's History of the United States
"Apocalypse Now, Iraq Edition: Fighting in Iraq until Hell Freezes Over"
By Peter Van Buren, TomDispatchg.com, posted September 23
The author served with the State Department in Iraq.
"Why Americans' Support for bombing ISIS May Not Last"
By Peyton M. Craighill, Washington Post, posted September 22
Based on the experience of previous wars, as reflected in public opinion surveys
"Gaza: How We Got Here . . . The Struggle for Palestine (1947-1973)
By William R. Polk, History News Network, posted September 4
The author is a former member of the U.S. Policy Planning Council for North Africa, the Middle East, and West Asia and a former professor of history at the University of Chicago.
The above article is one of a series by William R. Polk providing historical background to the Gaza crisis. The earlier pieces can be found on-line as follows: pre-1930s, 1930s, World War II, 1947, and 1948.
This list was edited by Steve Gosch and Jim O'Brien, with thanks
to Rosalyn Baxandall, Mim Jackson, and an anonymous reader for suggesting
articles that are included in the above list. Suggestions can be sent to jimobrien48@gmail.com.
_______________
D.
From Information Clearing House :
Dates: 3 October 2014
Subject: Israeli racism, its past and its future….
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/
David Sheen is an independent journalist and film maker originally from Toronto, Canada who now lives in Dimona, Israel. Sheen began blogging when he first moved to Israel in 1999 and later went on to work as a reporter and editor at the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz. His full-length documentary on ecological architecture, “First Earth”, was translated into a dozen languages and published by PM Press in 2010. Sheen gave a TED talk on the topic of the film in Johannesburg, South Africa later that year. He is currently writing a book about African immigrants to Israel and the struggles they face. Sheen’s website is www.davidsheen.com and he tweets from @davidsheen.
Evidence of Incitement to Genocide, Crimes Against
Humanity in Gaza
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article39843.htm
Video
David Sheen
_______________
E.
From Information Clearing House :
Dates: 2 October 2014
Subject: Violence and the Human Brain.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/
The physical, emotional and medical effects of child abuse. You cannot understand or oppose the violence of the world without understanding its true source.
The True Roots of Human
Violence
The Bomb in
the Brain - The Effects of Child Abuse
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article39835.htm
by Stefan Molyneux
_______________
F.
From Anonymous :
Dates: 1 October 2014
Subject: NATO.
http://www.globalhealthcheck.org/
The EC is
still trading away access to medicines
by Leila Bodeux,
Policy Officer, Oxfam-Solidarity
http://www.globalhealthcheck.org/?utm_source=Global+Health+Check&utm_campaign=d66469c7a7-Global+Health+Check+email&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_89f8d74097-d66469c7a7-12083293
Today, 29 September, Cecilia Malmström will be
auditioned by the European Parliament (EP) to confirm if she is to become the
European Commission’s (EC) new Trade Commissioner. This is a very timely moment
for the release of a joint paper by Oxfam and Health Action International
Europe (HAI) on the impact of European Union (EU) trade policies on access to medicines,
both in Europe and far beyond.
Stakes are high for Ms. Maelstrom who will be leading the EC
Directorate-General for Trade’s (DG-Trade) agenda for the next five years. This
will include negotiating Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with other countries on
behalf of EU Members States. She will be especially in the spotlight over the
negotiation of the controversial FTA between the EU and the US that will affect
millions of people: the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership
(TTIP).Profits before patients in TTIP?
Leaked documents clearly show that the TTIP is a huge threat to European public
health systems, due to its clear favoring of pharmaceutical companies?
commercial interests. One objective of the Pharmaceutical lobby is patent
harmonization based on US law. This would mean more patents and less generic
competition, thus more monopolies and unaffordable medicines. Another item on
Pharma’s negotiating wish list is a ?voice? in EU Member States? pricing and
reimbursement policies. Increased companies? voice in medicine would challenge
Member states? ability to take measures, such as price control, to control
expenditure on medicines. Moreover, the Pharma lobby is seeking to restrict
public access to clinical trials data, undermining the EU’s recent efforts to
foster transparency in this area[1].
One of the TTIP?s most controversial elements is the inclusion of an
Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism. ISDS gives foreign
investors the right to sue governments for compensation if laws, policies,
court decisions or other actions interfere with expected profits from
investments. Governments? actions such as price control or patentability
standards could be challenged in court. While it may seem extreme, this threat
is far from hypothetical. Following the legitimate invalidation of two of its
patents, the American pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly is suing Canada for 500
million Canadian dollars compensation under the North American Free Trade
Agreement ISDS provision.
More worryingly still, the impact of the TTIP will not stop at EU or US
borders. The TTIP would set a new global standard for strict intellectual
property (IP) protection around the world, which could be imposed on developing
countries through other trade deals[2].
FTAs have regularly been used by DG-Trade to introduce strict investment and IP
rules (so-called ?TRIPS-plus? measures), which go beyond the
internationally-agreed IP standards set by the World Trade Organization. Such
standards promote the commercial interests of the pharmaceutical industry even
at the expense of public health. (See the EC?s latest document on the
pharmaceutical industry). The EC?s brand new strategy on IP enforcement in
third countries explicitly describes IP as a means to boost Research and Development
(R&D) and economic growth in the EU, ignoring how IP can also hinder
innovation and competition. The proposed measures to enhance the enforcement of
IP rights include FTAs and the identification of ?priority countries?, as per
the notorious US Special 301 report[3]. The EU list includes India and
Thailand, two countries which have sought to balance IP rules and public health
needs. The list foresees possible financial sanctions for countries repeatedly
?infringing? IP rights. Sanctions could include restricting third countries?
participation in, or funding from, specific EU-funded programs. The EU?s ?black
sheep? on IP in trade policies India and Thailand have bitter experiences of
the EC heavy-handed approach to IP rights. Negotiations for a FTA between the
EC and India started in 2009 and are currently on hold. India’s progressive IP
law only grants patents for ?real? innovation (i.e. it rejects patents on
products too similar to an existing product). This has allowed the country’s
vibrant generic pharmaceutical sector to play an important role in driving the
prices of medicines down in developing countries. As ?the pharmacy of the
developing world?, India provides over 80 percent of the world’s generic
anti-retroviral medicines to treat HIV/AIDS. The EC?s attempt to impose
TRIPs-plus provisions in the EU-India FTA caused a great outcry throughout the
world, thankfully forcing the EC to backtrack on some of the most controversial
provisions.
Yet, despite the EC?s commitment to stop pushing for TRIPS-plus measures in
subsequent FTAs, the FTA being negotiated with Thailand since March 2013 (also currently on hold due to the military
coup) contained similar controversial provisions. Instead of supporting
Thailand’s good track record of pro-public health policies and its use of TRIPs
flexibilities[4] to improve access to medicines, the EC tried to stop
Thailand’s use of these legal, internationally-agreed measures.
Negotiations with both countries will resume in the near future. Are IP rights
really promoting health-driven innovation?
DG Trade ? aligned with the pharmaceutical industry- portrays IP as the panacea
to boost investments in R&D, thus justifying the inclusion of TRIPs-plus
provisions in FTAs. However, it is clear that the current R&D system, which
relies heavily on the profits generated by expensive, unaffordable medicines to
provide incentives for innovation, fails to meet public health needs. The
current Ebola crisis and the controversy surrounding wildly unaffordable new
medicines to treat Hepatitis C, clearly illustrate the R&D crisis. No
medicines or vaccines are currently available to deal with the Ebola virus due
to the lack of a market incentive; Ebola only affects some of the world’s
poorest countries, where no company could ever make a profit. In the meantime,
the pharmaceutical company Gilead priced its new and highly-effective medicine
to treat Hepatitis C (marketed as Sovaldi) at $84,000 for a 12-week course.
Even the discounted price that Gilead offered to some countries is still too
high to treat all patients[5].
This raises serious questions about a system based on monopoly that keeps
effective medicines from reaching the people that need them. Clearly
alternative R&D models which are geared to address health needs must
urgently be explored. Change is needed, now!
The coming five years represent an important opportunity for the EU to lead on
trade and R&D policies which meet health needs, and which don’t favor
commercial interests over patients’ needs. Oxfam and HAI Europe urge the future
Trade Commissioner Cecilia Maelstrom, to resist the pharmaceutical lobby and to
ensure trade policies are aligned with the EU?s development and (global) health
objectives. To reach this aim, DG Trade should ensure better coherence and
coordination of work with other DGs. The newly elected parliament must ensure
that EU trade and R&D policies prioritize access to medicines for all
citizens around the world. More concretely, the EC should:
* Stop including TRIPS-plus and investment protection measures in FTAs which
jeopardize access to medicines for millions, including in its negotiations with
the US, India and Thailand; * Support generic competition to allow broad access
to medical products in Low- and Middle-Income countries; and * Support new models
of innovation, both those under development at the World Health Organization,
and in its own programs.
References
______________________________________________________________________________
[1]
For a detailed analysis, see: Commons Network, HAI et al. (2014) ?The Trans
Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP): A Civil Society response to
the Big Pharma Wish list?, joint position paper, http://www.prescrire.org/Docu/DOCSEUROPE/20140324CivilSocietyResponseBigPharmaWishList_final.pdf
[2] C. Gerstetter, M. Mehling, A. Eberle and K. Sal?s (2013) ?Legal
implications of the EU-US trade and investment partnership (TTIP) for the
Acquis Communautaire and the ENVI relevant sectors that could be addressed
during negotiations?, EP Directorate General for Internal Policies, http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/etudes/join/2013/507492/IPOL-ENVI_ET(2013)507492_EN.pdf
[3] See USTR website: http://www.ustr.gov/about-us/press-office/press-releases/2014/April/USTR-Releases-Annual-Special-301-Report-on-Intellectual-Property-Rights
[4] In 2001, the WTO ministerial conference adopted the Doha Declaration on
TRIPS and Public Health. It affirms that the WTO rules on IP should not prevent
countries from taking measures to protect public health.Doha Ministerial
Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, WT/MIN(01)/DEC/W/2, 14 November 2001, http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/minist_e/min01_e/mindecl_trips_e.htm
[5] http://www.globalhealthcheck.org/?p=1630
_______________
G.
From Vicki Briault :
Dates: 7 October 2014
Subject: Financial Violence within the European Union.
Why
the Troika's Austerity Programs for Europe are Illegal
http://dimension.ucsd.edu/CEIMSA-IN-EXILE/publications/Scholars/ScholarlyEssays2014.htm
by Renaud Vivien
_______________
H.
From Anonymous :
Dates: 6 October 2014
Subject: The Frankfurt School - New Totalitarians
What is the Frankfurt School?
http://www.newtotalitarians.com/index_files/FrankfurtSchool.htm
by Dr. Gerald L. Atkinson CDR USN (Ret.)
(1 August 1999)
_______________
I.
From Information Clearing House :
Dates: 6 October 2014
Subject: Israel’s Grand Strategy.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/
Former US Marine, Ken O'Keefe said that the ultimate plan for Israel is to “destroy all Arab nations" surrounding the entity "by sowing seeds of" sectarianism.
Israel Plans to Destroy Surrounding Arab Nations:
Analyst
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article39884.htm
Video
_______________
J.
From Moshé Machover :
Dates: 8 October 2014
Subject: Informations FREE PALESTINE.
Chères amies, Chers amis,
Au fur et à mesure que nous nous rapprochons de la date du samedi 1er novembre, les bonnes nouvelles nous parviennent grâce à vous tous, concernant l’événement international FREE PALESTINE, qui va se dérouler de midi à minuit aux Docks de Paris.
A une affiche déjà très prestigieuse, tant par les artistes que par les intervenants qui viendront du monde entier saluer la résistance palestinienne et demander des sanctions contre Israël, s’associent de nouvelles contributions précieuses.
Ainsi Jean-Luc Bansard, et Asma Triban (Théâtre du Tiroir) viendront de Laval pour offrir aux petits (… et grands) leur spectacle « Contes humoristiques de Palestine » dans le « village » de Free Palestine
De son côté, la FSGT nous annonce la mise en place d’un vrai match de basket en continu, auquel tout(e) volontaire pourra prendre part à tour de rôle : une équipe portera les couleurs de la Palestine, tandis que les autres joueurs, revêtus des maillots du mouvement de solidarité, leur donneront une amicale réplique.
Certains de nos invités vous proposeront par ailleurs des débats sur plusieurs thèmes, tels que la situation des sportifs en Palestine, avec Mahmoud Sarsak, la lutte contre l’apartheid en Afrique du Sud, avec Ronnie Kasrils, ou encore le système israélien d’emprisonnement et de torture, avec Sahar Francis, directrice de Addameer.
Carlos Latuff, qui nous réserve une surprise sur scène, vous dédicacera ses dessins.
Nous remercions également les medias qui relaient l’événement, dont France Maghreb 2, qui a mis en place un dispositif original.
Nous sommes à votre disposition dans de nombreuses villes si vous avez besoin de flyers, d’affiches et de billets. (Programme, autocars, départs collectifs… sur : http://www.europalestine.com/spip.php?article9846 )
Nous faisons aussi appel à tous les bénévoles disponibles, pour nous aider à installer les lieux le vendredi 31 octobre, et/ou participer à l’organisation de la journée le 1er novembre. Merci de nous indiquer vos possibilités.
Nous vous rappelons que tous les bénéfices de cet événement seront reversés à deux associations palestiniennes :
Pour acheter vos billets FREE PALESTINE (15 €, contre 20 € sur place, gratuit pour les moins de 10 ans)
- en FNAC et grandes surfaces (sur place ou en ligne : www.fnacspectacles.com, www.francebillet.com, etc)
- par courrier : chèque à Abna Philistine, 15 avenue du Bel-Air, 75012 - Paris
- en région parisienne, à la Librairie Résistances, 4 Villa Compoint 75017 - Paris (du mardi au samedi de 14 heures à 20 heures) (Métro Guy Môquet ou Brochant, ligne 13)
Amicalement et en vous remerciant de votre aide !
CAPJPO-EuroPalestine avec L’union d’Associations de Palestiniens en France et Abna Philistine