Chinese coercive population policies in Tibet
A report compiled by Martin Moss for Campaign Free Tibet documents Tibetan charges of Chinese “coercive birth control policies upon the subject people of Tibet.” A small sample of eyewitness testimonies reveal the horror.
During the “introduction of birth control policies in 1983 in Drukehu Dzong in the autonomous Tibetan region of Kenlho in Amdo,” a nine member team arrived in the township led by the General Secretary and Chairman of the local Chinese administration. The townspeople were divided into small groups, identified and then informed that “birth control” operations on the women of the region would begin the next day. Local officials terrorized the women into submission. Those who resisted were tied up, beaten and taken away forcibly for surgery.
A house to house search for women of reproductive age was carried out. One family who escaped was tracked down, their home was ransacked, grain was confiscated and livestock were killed or taken. A man whose wife was nine months pregnant was beaten by township officials. His wife was bound and taken to the hospital where doctors forcibly aborted their child by injection. The child, although born alive, was subsequently killed at the direction of the General Secretary.
Paul Ingram, author of the introduction to the Report questions why non-Chinese specialists in the “birth control” movement remain silent although the coercive aspects of the Chinese policies are well known. He concludes, “Such population ‘experts’ have a general kind of feeling that whatever its supposed excesses, the Chinese population programme is ‘on the right track.’ It is necessity’s child and should be countenanced and indulged and its disagreeable aspects buried in discrete silence” (Children of Despair, Report No. 3, compiled by Martin Moss for Campaign Free Tibet, introduction by Paul Ingram, 6, 2).
U.S. Department of State to be ‘streamlined’
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Clifton Wharton outlined a major reorganization of the Department of State designed to address President Clinton’s “foreign policy priorities.” Those priorities are “democratization, non-proliferation, environmental protection, peacekeeping, and promoting American business overseas” (Text: Clifton Wharton to State Department Employees, 5 Feb. 1993).
The reorganization plan will emphasize “emerging global issues” by giving “line authority” to the undersecretaries, while reducing the number of assistant secretaries and leadership staff. Particular emphasis will be placed on the sharing of responsibility with lower staff employees in order to harness the “considerable pool of talent and expertise among them.” “Promotion precepts” for managers will “depend on delegating responsibility without distinctions between ranks and cones or divisions between the foreign service and the civil service.” Secretary of State Wharton did not mention the obvious fact that this “democratization” of the Dept. of State also reduces both the number and the authority of foreign service leadership who might resist Clinton administration policies.
Secretary of State Warren Christopher created a new position — “undersecretary of global affairs.” He has named former Senator Timothy Wirth of Colorado to that position. Former Senator Wirth has been a board member of Planned Parenthood of Denver, Colorado. He is also a member, along with vice-president Albert Gore, of the United Nation’s Global Parliamentarians for Population and Development (GPPD). GPPD legislators strategize at the international level and promote population control legislation at the national level within their country of origin. This ideological strategizing is in accord with the Secretary of State’s goals which include “overpopulation” as a primary “global challenge” (Testimony of Warren Christopher to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 13 Jan 1993).
Spanish members of European Community urge population reduction in Third World
The executive body of the European Community (EC), the European Commission, was urged to “intervene directly in the demographic policy of Third World countries” by Manuel Marin and Abel Matutes of Spain. The Commission agreed to finance the effort “for the purpose of cutting the birthrate.” The proposal must still be accepted by the EC Council of Ministers and the European Parliament.
Marin and Matutes propose the creation of “a political, juridical, and institutional environment that is favorable to the development of family planning.” They also suggested “helping the developing nations formulate their family policy, and reinforcing research and information in this field” (Brussels, Europe Today ).
AIDS disaster predicted in India
By 1996, close to three million Indians are expected to be infected by the HIV virus. Of those 179,000 will suffer from full-blown AIDS according to John Dwyer, president of the AIDS Society of Asia and the Pacific. “The biggest problem in Asia is that governments remain complacent and refuse to look ahead at the potentially dangerous scourge which could wipe out nearly two million people in the region by the year 2000,” said Dwyer.
The World Bank had given India $95 million to combat AIDS but so far very little had been achieved, Dwyer stated. In the northeastern state of Manipur shocked AIDS victims in their state are segregated behind bars. The AIDS virus in Manipur is reported to be most commonly transmitted through the use of shared needles by its approximately 30,000 heroin addicts. A study of 2,322 drug users in the state showed that none had contracted the AIDS virus between 1986 and 1989. However, blood samples taken between October 1989 and June 1990 showed 54 percent were infected (New Delhi, Seema Guha, Reuter, “Expert predicts disaster in India,” 10 Nov 1992).
Family planning promoted on Sesame Street in Indonesia
TPI, a private television channel run by President Suharto’s eldest daughter, Siti Hardiyanti, has begun a joint production with the North Australian Film Corporation (NAFC). The new series, “Jalan Kita” (Our Street), which is Indonesia’s version of “Sesame Street” is filmed on an “exquisitely designed set” with Indonesian style houses and a shop. “[W]e deal here in issues that include the mothers…in family planning for instance,” said Helen Everingham, of NAFC, who will market the 26 planned episodes. One purpose of the program, said Ms. Everingham, is to teach pre-school children to speak the national language, Bahasa Indonesia. Health, hygiene and family planning are also part of the message. “Our Street” will be beamed by satellite “into the homes of villagers across the archipelago of 16,000 islands.”
Production co-ordinator, Deborah Gabinetti said sports stars like Indonesia’s Olympic gold medalist badminton player, Susi Susanti, were brought in to show how important it was to be “disciplined and dedicated” (Moses Manoharan, Reuter, 10 Nov. 1992, Jakarta).
American entrepreneurs cash in on AIDS
American entrepreneurs have developed a scheme which consists of buying up at a discount the life-insurance policies of AIDS victims while they are still alive. The policies are obtained at discounts between l0 percent and 50 percent of the policies’ maturity value. When the patients die, the buyers collect the full amount of insurance.
AIDS sufferers take the money because, once they contract the disease, they are frequently unable to work. Selling their life insurance policies provides them with “some ready cash” when they need it. The entrepreneurs argue they are doing the victims a favor while making a profit themselves.
It was reported that two companies offered a “menu” to the investors, listing the available AIDS patients with the details of their current infections. The investor would then buy the policy of the patient with the lowest likely life expectancy. AIDS- insurance-policy trading has become a $100-million business for more than 25 new companies since 1988 (World Press Review, Dec. 1992).
Brazilian and Indian soap opera as birth control
Soap Opera Digest, in association with New York-based Population Communication International, Inc. (PCI), will present its first annual Earth-savers Award to TV Globo, a Brazilian network that has created four TV serials dealing with birth control, female emancipation, and ecological awareness. The homage will also spotlight the social and political impact of soaps produced in such nations as Pakistan, Nigeria, Kenya, and Mexico. According to PCI, in Mexico, on “novela” triggered a 34—percent rise in contraceptive sales.
In India, a current soap opera called “Humraahi” (Come Along with Me) hopes to battle a 5000-year-old tradition of early marriage. Millions of viewers (who are now only mid-way through the 52 episodes) “have fallen hook, line and sinker in love with its effervescent, l4-year-old heroine. What they don’t yet know is that, after a family-forced wedding and immediate pregnancy, she’s going to die during delivery” (TV Guide, 13 June 1992).
Japanese give free AIDS tests for Valentine’s Day
The prefectural government in Saitama, near Tokyo, plans to offer free AIDS tests to young couples as Valentine’s Day gifts. A spokesman said the number of AIDS cases among young Japanese resulting from heterosexual contacts was rising sharply. “We hope the programme will help young people increase their awareness of the disease,” he added.
Japan’s death toll from AIDS stood at 298 at the end of 1992. At the same point, according to latest government figures, there were 543 patients with AIDS and 2,55l carriers of the HIV virus (Reuter, TOKYO, 9 Feb 1993).
Netherlands approves euthanasia
The Netherlands parliament became the first among the industrialized nations to permit “mercy killing” for the “incurably ill.” The proposal of the Cabinet was passed by a vote of 91-45, Although the legislation officially remains illegal and ostensibly punishable by up to 12 years in prison, it legalizes already existing medical guidelines that have already allowed for euthanasia. Doctors who follow the guidelines will be guaranteed immunity from prosecution. The last doctor to be convicted due to “euthanasia assistance” was in 1974.
The courts usually “refrain” from prosecuting those who adhere to guidelines published by the Royal Dutch Medical Association. The guidelines contain stipulations that the patient personally request euthanasia. The request is not supposed to be made by family or friends. In addition, the patient must be suffering “unbearable and incurable pain, request death repeatedly and be in a clear state of mind.” A second medical opinion must also be obtained.
Opinion polls in the Netherlands have shown that three-quarters of the Dutch population favors an “individual’s right to die.” Subsequent approval by the parliament’s upper house later this year and the requirement of the “crown seal” are generally seen as “formalities.” (Jerome Socolovsky, The Associated Press, 10 Feb 1993).
