Final Call undermines public health, analysis of imperialism

by MC12

On the front page of the January 18 edition of the Final Call, 
published by the Nation of Islam, the headline screams "VACCINES 
Research or Experimentation?"(1)

The article inside reports on evidence from the San Jose Mercury 
News that recent vaccine tests disproportionately used Black, 
Latino, and First Nation subjects. That's an important thing to 
expose, given the risks involved in medical tests, and the long 
history of using oppressed-nation members as guinea pigs for 
medical experiments. As MIM has reported, for example, birth 
control drugs and devices have been systematically tested on Third 
World wimmin under coercive conditions, and without medical 
support. And the well-documented case of syphilis experimentation 
on Black men by the U.S. government comes to mind.(2) These are 
evidence that the medical system is part of the imperialist 
system.

Still, this sort of news has to be handled carefully, as some 
people do not get their children vaccinated because they are 
afraid of the medical establishment, state, or doctors in general. 
The imperialist system has a lot of oppressed-nation blood on its 
hands, including a lot resulting from medical experiments, and so 
such suspicion is of course warranted, but routine vaccinations 
should not be confused with experimentation.

Many people are afraid of the many vaccinations now required for 
children. In California, for example, children entering public 
school are required to be vaccinated for polio, diptheria-tetanus-
pertussis, Hepatitis B, measles-mumps-rubella, and meningitis.(3) 
Preventing these diseases is one of the reasons why people in rich 
countries like the U.$., even the relatively poor people here, 
live longer and healthier lives than people in poor Third World 
countries.

The Final Call article does report that "Most researchers believe 
widespread vaccination is essential to the maintenance of public 
health, and few vaccine tests have caused any severe side 
effects."

But then the article goes on to promote a book by Leonard 
Horowitz, which claims AIDS and the Ebola virus were genocidal CIA 
inventions. MIM has not reviewed this book or others that make 
similar claims, although we generally oppose genocidal conspiracy 
stories in favor of analysis of imperialism as a system of 
oppression and exploitation that inevitably causes millions of 
deaths, regardless of whether or not there are plots by demented 
individuals thrown in. The most deadly diseases, including AIDS 
but also diarrhea, cholera, malaria, and others that plague the 
Third World, are preventable with well-known and cheap medical 
technology (like clean water, in addition to vaccines), which is 
denied hundreds of millions of people by imperialism -- not by 
individual evil medical researchers.

But whether or not the AIDS conspiracy story is true, it should 
not be used to scare people away from vaccines that save many 
lives. The article refers to several well-documented, but 
relatively small cases, of vaccine experimentation that caused 
problems, and then uses that to extend to the AIDS case, referring 
to "a so-called 'green monkey virus' ... linked to the mystery 
surrounding the spread of AIDS in Africa."

There may be a "mystery" surrounding the ITAL origins END of AIDS 
in Africa, but there is no real "mystery" about its spread now. 
The poor health of millions of Africans, especially their lack of 
basic medical care -- including untreated venereal disease, poor 
health education, unavailability of condoms, and gender oppression 
-- are largely the result of the systematic economic, military, 
and political domination of Africa by imperialist countries, led 
by the United $tates. Preventing AIDS is not complicated or 
scientifically controversial, but it is not happening in Africa 
because of poverty and underdevelopment. That is the crime of 
imperialism, and the way to combat it is to organize for the 
overthrow of imperialism -- not by refusing to get your kids 
vaccinated for polio or measles.

The AIDS conspiracies are also dangerous because they discourage 
people from taking the preventative action they should to stop 
themselves from getting or spreading AIDS. If people think AIDS is 
the result of a government conspiracy -- whether or not that is 
true -- it takes their mind off the important additional fact that 
the next case of AIDS could be the result of not using a condom 
today. From 1991 to 1998, new AIDS cases in Los Angeles county 
went from 46% Black and Latino to 68% Black and Latino.(1) The 
failure of basic medical care for oppressed nationals compared to 
whites, in addition to education, is the cause of this shift. 
Revolutionaries need to stress the underlying systematic causes of 
such trends, while promoting community public health and self-
reliance, not conspiracy theories that leave no real possibility 
of political response.

The successes in Maoist China illustrate the efficacy of this 
revolutionary approach. Life expectancies just about doubled from 
liberation in 1949 to capitalist restoration in 1976, thanks to 
immense social expenditures on basic health care. With better pre- 
and post-natal care, infant mortality plummeted. Public education 
and free treatment basically eliminated sexually transmitted 
diseases.(4)

The Black Panther Party also took this revolutionary approach to 
health care. Even without state power, the Panthers scored some 
important victories. They set up free medical clinics and used 
their newspaper to educate about sickle-cell anemia and its 
treatment. The Panthers also used acupuncture and political 
education to target drug addiction.

The Final Call article concludes with a quote from the NOI's 
minister of health and human services, who says, "Many of the so-
called newly emerging diseases that we're faced with, that the 
world never heard of before -- not just AIDS, but things like 
Alzheimer's, attention deficit disorder, minimal brain-damage 
syndrome, fibril myalgia, Gulf War Syndrome -- there's a whole 
list of new diseases that seem to be vaccine related."

The Nation of Islam diverts attention from a structural analysis 
of imperialism in favor of a conspiracy approach of evil doctors. 
Part of this involves promoting individualistic solutions to the 
problem -- you as an individual should take/not take this drug -- 
instead collective solutions such as socialized health care.(5)

One reader of the Horowitz book on the AIDS conspiracy wrote on 
Amazon.com: "Any parent taking kids to be vaccinated must read 
this book!" MIM thinks that any parent taking kids to be 
vaccinated should -- in addition to being informed about the 
vaccinations -- read up on imperialism and the revolutionary 
response necessary to save the millions of lives it costs every 
year.

Notes: 

1. Final Call, 18 January 2000, p. 1. For clarification, we should 
point

out that real research involves experimentation, so it's not one 
or the

other. At some point, even under socialism, new vaccines need to 
be tested

on humans before they are given to the whole population. That 
requires a

research experiment. The issue is, who is subjected to the tests, 
under

what risks, and with what assurances of support, care, and 
supervision

medical research is carried out.

2. See "AMERIKKKA SUBJECTS INTERNAL COLONIES TO MEDICAL 
EXPERIMENTS," MIM

Notes 130; "IMPERIALISTS EXPERIMENT USING THIRD WORLD WIMMIN," MIM 
Notes

149; "SORRY CLINTON, APOLOGY NOT ENOUGH FOR BLACK NATION," MIM 
Notes

137; "FILM CHALLENGES PUERTO RICAN STERILIZATIONS," MIM Notes 87.

3. Los Angeles Times, 29 September 1999.

4. Dr. J.S. Horn, "Away with all Pests." Ruth Sidel, "Women and 
Childcare in China." Available from MIM for $7 and $5, 
respectively. 

5. " CAPITALISM AND IMPERIALISM RESPONSIBLE FOR DISEASE AND DEATH, 
NOT'INDIVIDUAL LIFESTYLE CHOICES,'" MIM Notes 165. 
ITAL Edited by MC206 END