CovertAction Quarterly
Tracking the Real Genocide, continued

AIDS and of grassroots AIDS activists: There are hundreds of thousands of us who have worked closely with infected people for years without catching the virus. The unwarranted fears about casual contact deter sorely needed support for our brothers and sisters living with HIV infection and divert attention from the most common means of transmission: unprotected sex and shared drug injection equipment. REACTIONARY POLITICS Despite the apparent irrationality, there is a coherence to Douglass' distortions and fabrications. They are driven by an

ultra-right-wing political agenda that goes back to the 1960s, when he was a member of the John Birch Society and ran a phone line spouting a 90-second "patriotic message." In it, Douglass railed against the civil rights movement and denounced the National Council of Churches and three presidents as part of a "Communist conspiracy." Among the nuggets he offered callers in at least 30 US cities was the likelihood "that those three civil rights workers [presumably Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman] in Mississippi were kidnaped and murdered by their own kind to drum up sympathy for their cause." In another message, he predicted that

"The Civil Rights Act will turn America into a Fascist state practically overnight." Two decades later he was blaming gays for AIDS in The Spotlight, the organ of the ultra-right-wing Liberty Lobby, for which he wrote regularly and in which he ran advertisements for "The Douglass Protocol," his cure-all medical clinics. In 1987, he wrote, "some have suggested that the FDA is waiting for the majority of the homosexuals to die off before releasing ribavirin," a drug he was at the time promoting as a miracle cure for AIDS. Douglass, however, opposed withholding a "suppressed" cure, "although I feel

very resentful of the homosexuals because of the holocaust they have brought on us." Later Douglass began promoting a strange cure-all treatment (pp. 251-52), photoluminescence, in which small amounts of blood are drawn, irradiated with ultraviolet light, and reinjected. Treatments at his Clayton, Georgia, clinic can span several weeks and cost thousands of dollars. By 1992, when he wrote AIDS: End of Civilization, he saw AIDS as part of the "entire mosaic of the current attack against western civilization" (p. 14); the term "western" being a thinly veiled code word for "white." He had also

shifted blame from homosexuals to communists, and portrayed AIDS as a diabolical plot perpetrated by WHO, which "is run by the Soviets." (p. 118) In these later writings, Douglass weaves an elaborate and intricate plot describing how the communists much like an invading virus took over the machinery of the US Army's CBW labs at Ft. Detrick and the US National Institutes of Health in order to use them to create and propagate HIV. Douglass is so mired in anticommunism that he fails to revise this scenario for his 1992 edition after the collapse of the Soviet Union. He even charges

that a Russian, Dr. Sergei Litivinov, headed WHO's AIDS control program in the late 1980s, when, in fact, it was led by an American, Jonathan Mann, whose writings Douglass cites favorably on a number of occasions. In the guise of a program against AIDS, Douglass proposes a basket full of policies favored by the ultra-right and neo-Nazis: support and strengthen the powers of local law enforcement (p. 139);make preemptive military strikes against Russia (p. 138); abolish the UN and WHO (p.120); and stop all illegal Mexican immigration into the US (p. 253).Then there are his more specific proposals: mandatory

testing for HIV (p. 66); quarantine of all those with HIV (pp. 165-66); removal of HIV-infected children from school (p. 161); and incarceration, castration, and execution to stop prostitution. (p. 158) He argues that if we don't overcome a tradition "where civil rights are more revered than civil responsibility," hundreds of millions will die. (p. 165) While such proposals may further the right's law-and-order agenda, a wealth of public health and activist experience has shown that such repressive measures are counterproductive. Discrimination and repression drive those with HIV and its high-risk activities underground, making people unreachable for prevention, contact notification, and care. And here is the final appeal in his book: "[I]t appears that regulation of

social behavior, as much as we hate it in an egalitarian society such as ours, may be necessary for the survival of civilization." (p. 256) SIGN OF THE TIMES As bizarre, self-contradictory, and refutable as his pronouncements are, Douglass is not an isolated crackpot. A fellow conspiracy theorist with whom he shares much common ground is Lyndon LaRouche, a notorious neo-fascist with documented links to US intelligence agencies. LaRouche's "National Democratic Party Committee" organized the intensely homophobic campaign in 1986 for California's Proposition 64, which, had it not been rejected by voters, would have mandated an AIDS

quarantine. In 1989, Douglass and many key LaRouchites spoke at a conference which focused on various conspiracy theories for the origin of AIDS. The "scientific" source that the LaRouchites used for their reactionary campaign is Robert Strecker, M.D., who also addressed the conference. Douglass has worked closely with Strecker, considers him a mentor, and dedicates AIDS: The End of Civilization to him. Michael Novick reported in White Lies/White Power that within the far right, it is "The LaRouche groups that are particularly dangerous because, despite their fascist orientation, they have been attempting to recruit from black groups for some

time." The political analysis of Bo Gritz, head of the "Populist Party" is another source for AIDS conspiracy theorists. As Novick's book shows, the "Populists" use anti-business rhetoric to try to recruit among the left, but the organization has deep roots in the Ku Klux Klan and strong ties to the extreme white-supremacist Christian Identity. When such forces propagate AIDS conspiracy theories among African Americans, one result is to divert people from the grassroots mobilization around prevention and education that could foster greater cohesion, initiative, and strength within the black community. At the same time,

the right fans the flames of homophobia which combines with the problem of racism within the predominately white gay and lesbian movement to undermine a potentially powerful alliance of the communities most devastated by government negligence and inaction on AIDS. We live in a strange and dangerous period when the attractive mantle of "militant anti-government movement" has been bestowed on ultra-right-wing, white supremacist groups. The main reason they can get away with such a farce is that their big brother the police state did such

an effective job in the blood- soaked repression of opposition groups such as the Black Panthers, which was rooted in the needs and aspirations of oppressed people. With people's movements silenced, the right has coopted the critique of big government and big business to achieve new credibility. The seedbed of discontent comes from the erosion of the previous guarantee of economic security and relative privileges for a wide range of white people in the middle and working classes. The right, however, portrays the threat as coming from the inroads made by women, immigrants and people of color. Thus their vehemence and militancy spring from the same legacy of white supremacy

and violence that is the basis of the government they criticize and their program is in essence a call to return to the pioneer days' ethos that any white male had the right to lay a violent claim to Native American land, African American labor, and female subservience. Whatever the right's motives, the practical consequences are clear: There is a definite correlation between believing these myths and a failure to take proven, life saving preventive measures. In the end, the lies promulgated by the likes of Douglass, Strecker, and LaRouche kill.

THE REAL GENOCIDE The New York Times, in an editorial expressing alarm that an "astonishing" number of African Americans believe in conspiracies with AIDS as a prime example could only understand the phenomenon as "paranoia." *25 Educated white folks, to the degree they are aware of such matters, tend to be "amazed" by such beliefs. But what is truly amazing is that so many whites are so out of touch with the systematic attack by the government-medical-media establishment on the health and lives of African Americans. The stone wall of calculated ignorance and denial that blacks face every day is a fine surface on which to write conspiracies, and may explain

why some people become vested in a plot scenario that seems to crystallize the damage. But the problem is far more powerful and pervasive than any narrow conspiracy theory can capture. And although the health horror this society imposes on African Americans is not a "mainstream" public issue, black people know what they are experiencing. They also know that the radical gap between the life expectancy of African Americans and that of white Americans was there even before AIDS burst onto the scene. A 1980 Health and Human Services Department report showed that there were 60,000 "excess deaths" among

Despite media stereotypes, most drug users are white, but selective laws and enforcement
mean that blacks are more often incarcerated and given harsher sentences.

blacks. This is the number of black people who would not have died that year if blacks had the same mortality rate as whites. That figure marks more unnecessary deaths in one year alone than the total number of US troops killed during the entire Vietnam War. The black body count is a direct result of overwhelming black/white differences in living conditions, public health resources, and medical care. The infant mortality rate a good indication of basic nutrition and health care is more than twice as high among black babies as among whites, while black women die in childbirth at three times the rate

of whites. There are also major differences in prevention, detection, treatment, and mortality for a host of other illnesses, such as high blood pressure, pneumonia, appendicitis and cancer. *26 Comparisons are even starker when class as well as race is factored, and, of course, the health status of both Latinos and poor whites is worse than that of more affluent whites. The situation has worsened since 1980 with the advent of AIDS and the new wave of tuberculosis. TB, long considered under control in the US, began a resurgence in 1985. One big factor was the greater susceptibility of HIV-infected people

to TB. But TB is an important example for another reason: It has always been closely linked to poverty. Crowded tenements, homeless shelters, jails, inadequate ventilation, and poor nutrition all facilitate the spread of this serious disease. Given the distribution of wealth and privilege, it is not surprising that the rate of TB for black Americans is twice that for white Americans. African Americans are also assailed by a range of problems such as high stress, poor nutrition, and environmental hazards. One significant example of environmental hazards is the excessive blood levels of lead in children a condition

with proven links to lowered academic performance and to behavioral disorders. In 1991, 21 percent of black American children had harmful quantities of lead in their blood, compared with 8.9 percent of all US children. In addition to disease, the high rate of black-on-black homicide a secondary but particularly painful source of needless deaths is in its own way a corollary of the frustration and misdirected anger bred by oppression. STDS AND DRUGS The evidence is clear that far from being a mysterious new development, AIDS and other epidemics and health hazards flow most easily along the contours of social oppression.

There are two particular ways in which the racist structure of US society fosters the spread of HIV: The public health system fails to stem the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs); and the legal system seeks only to punish drug abusers rather than treat them or ameliorate the underlying social and economic causes. A major risk factor for HIV transmission is untreated STDs. These infections can concentrate HIV-laden white blood cells in the genital tract; and can also cause genital sores, which are easier points of entry for HIV. Although STDs can be readily

contained by responsible public health programs, rates began to soar for blacks in the mid-1980s, with, for example, a doubling of syphilis for blacks from 1985 to 1990. At the same time, rates have remained stable for whites. This grave racial difference probably results from the lack of adequate STD clinics and the failings of public health education, along with the more general breakdown in social cohesion and values that can affect communities under intense stress. Drugs, along with the violence and police repression that accompany them, constitute a plague in their own right for the ghettos and barrios. However,the public perception

Inmates who go back on the streets can either spread AIDS or AIDS awareness.
Here, prisoners in the maximum security call block at Angola.

that illicit drug use is more prevalent among non-whites is wrong. Household surveys conducted by the National Institute of Drug Abuse show that African Americans, 12 percent of the US population, comprise 13 percent of illicit drug users. Where there is a tremendous difference, though, is in incarceration. Seventy-four percent of the people in prison for drug possession are African American. There is also a major racial disparity in terms of drug-related infection by HIV. While partially a result of which drugs are used and how they are used, there is certainly a big and deadly difference in access to new

(sterile)needles and syringes through either pharmacies or personal networks. Also, on the street, the police are much more likely to stop and search blacks and Latinos. This practice deters injection drug users of color from carrying personal sets of works (in states where they are illegal) and pushes them instead to share needles at shooting galleries. CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE The latest example of the public health failing concerning AIDS is hardly known beyond the immediate circles of AIDS workers. Studies completed in 1993 showed that the previously recommended and widely disseminated protocol for cleaning needles with bleach

does not work. Yet there has been no wide-scale effort to sound the urgently needed alarm about this grave danger. The literature since 1993 has delineated a new, more effective bleach method that entails using 100 percent undiluted bleach (as opposed to a 10 percent solution) and holding the bleach or rinse water in the needle and syringe, while shaking and tapping, for a full 30 seconds for each step of the nine-step process. However, most IDUs do not even look at new handouts because they believe they already "know" the bleach method. In addition, public health authorities have taken no responsibility for

the type of training it takes to get an IDU, anxious to get high, to properly complete such a complex and time-consuming process. One reason the authorities haven't trumpeted warnings about the problems with bleach may have more to do with politics than public health: The assumption that there is an easy method of bleach sterilization serves as a buffer against pressure to implement sorely needed needle exchange programs. There is impressive evidence that these programs, which allow IDUs to obtain new, sterile needles and syringes, are highly effective in reducing HIV transmission, while there is no evidence that they lead to any increase in drug use.

Needle exchange programs could even serve as an outreach and contact point for reducing drug use if "anti-drug" politicians allocated funds for treatment instead of incarceration. Despite the clear public health evidence, many politicians have opposed needle exchange programs out of fear of being labeled "soft on drugs." Meanwhile, the rate of HIV (ser0prevalence) among IDUs in states where needles are proscribed is five times higher than in states where they are legal. Tens of thousands of IDUs, their lovers, and their children have been condemned to die

because health agencies won't advertise their mistakes and because politicians posture for political advantage by banning the use of federal AIDS funds for needle exchange programs. Shared needles is just one area of potential risk reduction. For overall prevention to work, the most effective and documented method of sharply reducing HIV transmission is peer education. Homeboys and homegirls with appropriate training in HIV/AIDS information speak the same language, live in the same situations, and can work with the people in their communities in the consistent, caring way needed to change risky behaviors. Meanwhile, prisons provide fertile ground for peer education.

They have some of the highest HIV rates in the US, and people who might have been constantly on the move in the street are now stationary and congregated. The vast majority of prisoners eventually return to their outside communities where they can spread either AIDS awareness or AIDS. But prison administrations have generally been hostile to peer-led HIV-AIDS education; only a pitiful handful of such programs exist, and those are often hamstrung by bureaucratic restrictions. Allowing misinformation about cleaning needles to persist, blocking needle exchange programs, failing to treat STDs,

and thwarting prison peer programs are major examples of the continuing official criminal negligence with regard to AIDS and in particular, how this plague has been allowed to explode in the ghettos and barrios. FIGHT THE POWER Waiting for the government to act is suicidal. The peer education model shows that when we take responsibility for ourselves, our families, and our communities, we can make a big difference. Through grassroots organizing, communities can ally to demand social use of social resources instead of allowing tax dollars to go to massive military budgets and corporate welfare schemes.

What we don't need are the fundamentally right-wing conspiracy theories of Dr. Douglass and the like that lead us on a wild goose chase for the little men in white coats in a secret lab. The false information they purvey that HIV is spread by casual contact but not by sex and drugs generates cruelty toward people with AIDS and fosters support for a police state. In a bitter twist, these conspiracy theories divert people from identifying and fighting back against the real genocide. While US government plots such as the secret radiation and Tuskegee experiments do in fact exist, the damage they've done is small compared

to the high human costs of the everyday functioning of a two-tiered public health system that is rooted in racism, sexism, and profiteering. Overall, the living conditions of people of color in the US are a concatenation of epidemics that cascade through the ghettos and barrios: AIDS-TB-STDs; unemployment,

deteriorating schools, homelessness; drugs, internal violence, police brutality, wholesale incarcerations; violence against women, teen pregnancies, declining support structures for the raising of children; and environmental hazards. These mutually reinforcing crises flow from decisions made by government and business on social priorities and the allocation of economic resources. Government policies

that have such a disparate impact on survival according to race can be defined as genocide under international law. Whatever term is used, the cruelty of tens of thousands of preventable deaths is unconscionable. This reality is the basis for the scream of a people that "mainstream" society seems unable or unwilling to hear. These conditions are the real genocide in progress that must be confronted.

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