LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
LETTERS to the Editor Readers React to Bookchin's 'Death of a Small Planet' Murray Bookchin's Cassandra cries against growth ("Death of a Small Planet," August issue) obscure more than they...
...that's why it was originally called the Religious Speech Protection Act...
...But each of them is a single thread in the larger skein of a systemic social and cultural crisis...
...Murray Bookchin Burlington, Vermont Truth in Advertising Iam writing in reference to the Jewish Committee on the Middle East advertisements that have appeared several times in The Progressive, and to the letter from Hillel Schenker of New Outlook magazine ("Truth in Advertising," Letters, August issue) in which he asserted that his publication had published JCOME's statement of principles...
...But the "have-not" world suffers from a much more insidious type: Ever-increasing numbers of people dictate that any new resource will be used to maintain the poverty-stricken status quo, and that dreams of a better life will be unanswered...
...And in one of the first victories under the law, an ACLU affiliate secured for a student peace group the right to speak in school...
...Stanford University entomologist Paul Ehrlich proposed just this in his pulverizing Population Bomb—and on the eve of the Nixon Administration, no less...
...Well-meaning environmentalists have their own private causes, and I hope they flourish with all the support they deserve...
...Antonio R. Lajoie Gilroy, California Iam particularly impressed with Murray Bookchin's "Death of a Small Planet...
...Similar changes are occurring in Colombia and Mexico, despite the catastrophic predictions about these countries' population rates that were in vogue as recently as the early 1980s...
...Brian C. Myres Cypress, California Murray Bookchin perceives, through the fog of traditional economic theory, that competition-driven "economic growth" is not the world's salvation but rather a basic threat to its life-sustaining biosphere...
...Please, let's realize that survival hinges not only on what we do on this small planet but on how many of us there are doing it...
...Forced sterilization...
...It boggles my mind, therefore, that he should dismiss the problem of exponential growth in the human population...
...it is too concerned with subsistence—and the lack of it...
...The extensive legislative history of the law makes this abundantly clear...
...As for Bookchin's proposed solution: Yes, I'm sure semi-anarchist communes work well in some parts of isolated, rural Vermont...
...Or in sprawling California...
...By the same token, will it help very much if we switch from nuclear and fossil fuels to solar, wind, and other alternative technologies if the social order is not fundamentally changed...
...All letters may be edited for clarity and conciseness...
...Admittedly, there may be less carbon dioxide in the air-though that, too, is questionable for a host of reasons...
...Uncontrolled growth, whether in economic terms or in the number of humans, is undesirable from a biological point of view...
...In that regard, Bookchin's alarm comes off as very ethnocentric...
...But more significantly, what ecological gains will we make if our lumber barons, agribusinesses, and developers use solar power to continue with their ever-expanding and predatory activities...
...Henry Steele Commager Amherst, Massachusetts The author replies: George Fish's observation that it is "not growth per se which is the enemy" but rather "capitalist growth" puzzles me...
...As co-founder of the Institute for Social Ecology in Plainfield, Vermont, in the early 1970s and author of three books on the subject in the early 1960s, I can establish a reasonable claim to having helped pioneer in this area...
...George Martini, a Canadian demographer in Brasilia, reports, for example, that Brazil—often cited by the "population experts" as a demographic trauma—has virtually cut its fertility rate in half in a single generation...
...This is just elementary mathematics...
...May I suggest that you send a copy to every member of the U.S...
...However, when Bookchin and others on the Left imply that people are good because they are black or poor or gay, or because they have been victimized, that's just being patronizing...
...Certainly I do not favor the elimination of "growth per se" but growth exclusively for profit and competitive advantage...
...Ben Tutoli St...
...Very little, I regret to say— and it would be naive to think otherwise...
...if they try to, they'll be thrown out...
...Unfortunately, he discounts population growth as a factor...
...Having spent most of my life in the New York City Left, I first encountered such "utopian nonsense" (to use Fish's expression) in Fried-rich Engels's description of communism in Anti-Duhring, long before I came to admire the writing of Peter Kropotkin...
...Given changes in people's expectations, attitudes, education, standard of living, and traditions, they may increase or diminish numerically to a startling extent...
...Petersburg, Florida The author replies: Allowing student-initiated "religious speech" in public schools was very much in question before passage of the Equal Access Act...
...Education...
...HentofFs entire discussion of whether or not other high-school clubs, such as the chess club, are curriculum-related seems quite irrelevant, since this is not a First Amendment concern and the First Amendment makes no - mention of them...
...Jerry Fal-well gleefully told the press the Equal Access Act gave him all he wanted...
...I thought that was exactly what I was saying throughout my article...
...We continue to believe it is unreasonable for an Israeli publication claiming to be for real peace and honest dialogue to refuse to accept as a paid ad a statement signed by thousands of American Jews, including professors at more than 120 universities...
...In "Even in High School" (Who's on First?, August issue), Hentoff misinterprets the 1984 Equal Access Act: That law was not so much aimed at "religious speech," which wasn't under question, as at allowing fundamentalist religious groups to meet in schools for worship and/or "Bible study...
...But I never believed it was enough, nor do I believe that our competitive system will grind to a halt if the market for its rubbish shrinks appreciably...
...Each of us must contribute to solving the crisis facing our world...
...LETTERS to the Editor Readers React to Bookchin's 'Death of a Small Planet' Murray Bookchin's Cassandra cries against growth ("Death of a Small Planet," August issue) obscure more than they clarify...
...The 1984 law allows children as young as eleven to be proselytized and converted in their public schools by professional adult missionaries without parental knowledge or consent...
...Growth is expansive and unchecked under capitalism because it is chaotic and unplanned, not because growth is inherently odious...
...Such Utopian nonsense gives radicalism a bad name...
...It doesn't bother me all that much if he dislikes the rich— they certainly aren't short of apologists...
...As for the "religious segregation" of students, these are student clubs meeting before or after classes, and they are no more "segregated," to use Doerr's inflamed language, than are Democratic, Republican, or Socialist student clubs...
...If, on the other hand, the intent is to view the Bible as axiomatic, the alleged study deteriorates into indoctrination and clearly denotes utilization of a state-funded institution for the propagation of a particular religion or faith...
...Nat Hentoff New York, New York The editors welcome correspondence from readers on all topics, but prefer to publish letters that comment directly on material previously published in The Progressive...
...Frank D. Steiner Tuolomne, California Developing a space program for the express purpose of harnessing solar energy and beaming it down to Earth would not only solve an impending energy crisis but would also help immensely in solving the pollution problem...
...Humans are social beings whose numbers depend upon cultural, economic, moral, and emotional factors, not merely on biological ones...
...Isn't humanity riding on its final trip to annihilation on a gigantic Titanic...
...Our environment would still be an appalling mess, and our future would remain as uncertain as ever...
...The possible political and social consequences of pop demography are often mind-boggling...
...The resource-hungry, waste-producing developed nations, most notably the United States, would certainly consume and pollute catastrophically more if their relatively low birth rates matched their consumption rates...
...It is true that the First Amendment makes no mention of student clubs...
...As for whether I am sufficiently "progressive" to appear in this magazine, all I claim to be is a protector of the Bill of Rights-from all kinds of zealots...
...None of them offers a basic analysis, much less a basic solution, to the larger problem that may tear down the planet...
...Does George Fish want me to pad my article with extensive quotations from Capital before he is persuaded that I've written a criticism that is precisely directed at capitalism—Eastern as well as Western...
...Second, given an expanding population, an economic growth rate equal to at least the population growth rate is necessary to avoid a decline in the standard of living...
...neither expresses a long-term commitment to survival of the planet...
...In First Amendment law, once a "public forum" has been put in place, the school is prohibited from banning any club on the basis of the content of the students' speech...
...I support with all my heart the simple living (which is often very expensive, given all the paraphernalia and costly organic food it requires), recycling (where facilities exist), and changes in sensibilities proposed by Marcia E. Marshall...
...Ben Tutoli ignores the difference between having the State (through the school) commanding religious advocacy and having students (on their own) creating a religious club to meet when other clubs also meet in the school...
...An elephant shot by poachers does not care that it was shot by displaced and downtrodden black peasants so they can sell its tusks to greedy Asian capitalists who, in turn, will sell ivory bracelets to ignorant members of the white European bourgeoisie...
...As for countries like Mexico, Mauritania, Ethiopia, and Bangladesh, it is their crushing growth in population, not their economy, that is laying waste to their land and lives...
...Mark McDonough at least seems quite aware of my leftist pedigree, though I have no recollection of calling anyone who disputes my views "fascists and covert racists...
...Warren Downs Madison, Wisconsin Murray Bookchin's article left me with the impression that a complete collapse of civilization within one generation is inevitable...
...It's part of the picture, to be sure, but only part of it...
...Mark McDonough Providence, Rhode Island Iagree with Murray Bookchin that "it's growth that's killing us," and that competition is the source of growth...
...Religion in High School Nat HentofFs curious crusade against the ACLU is becoming tiresome...
...But as John Marshall said, this is a living Constitution, and its interpreters finally got around to the rights of students, even religious students...
...Growth glut is almost entirely a concern of the First World, the advanced industrialized nations...
...Third, for most of the Third World—that is, for the overwhelming part of our small planet—the problem is not too much growth but rather stagnant or negative growth...
...That very much makes this a First Amendment concern...
...But then, more than half a century has passed since my generation read material of this sort—and the time since hasn't been marked by stunning intellectual progress...
...Ed Doerr Americans for Religious Liberty Silver Spring, Maryland Certainly no reasonable person could argue with Bridget Mergens's view, quoted by Nat Hentoff, that "it would be neat if we could get some kids together at school and study the Bible," if by "study" she means that the document in all its versions and revisions would be examined for internal consistency, literary quality, authenticity of professed authorship, correlation with known historical data, and comparison with alternative accounts of the revealed truth as professed by other religions...
...After selecting the parts of our ad it wished to publish, New Outlook devoted the rest of the page to an attack on JCOME...
...Leaving the environmental debate aside, I believe Bookchin's view of human society is simpleminded...
...Contrary to Ed Doerr's fears, the Equal Access Act covers the entire spectrum of student-initiated religious speech, not just that of fundamentalist Christian students...
...After all, there is still the fertile and ever-flexible market for armaments, not to mention the resources to be squandered in an expanding "service" economy, bureaucracy, and other forms of social waste that are available for the exploitation of consumers...
...In the first place, it is impossible to identify exactly what we mean by the "population problem" if we mindlessly reduce this extremely complex issue to the reproductive behavior of lemmings and fruit flies...
...It's a novelty to learn that one has to live in "isolated, rural Vermont" to advocate a cooperative communitarian society organized to satisfy authentic human needs, as George Fish avers while he beats his Marxist drum...
...How did Book-chin miss it...
...Senate...
...The denial of aid to famine-stricken people, usually in the Third World...
...Bookchin doesn't seem to realize that since we are now on the verge of killing the planet, the Left's usual focus on redistribution of wealth and power among human beings won't suffice...
...Marx pointed this out in the first volume of Capital: "Hence, it is a law, based on the very nature of manufacture, that the minimum amount of capital, which is bound to be in the hands of each capitalist, must be increasing...
...This is not to say that the study of economics, power relations, and racism is foolish...
...Finally, what solutions do our self-styled demographers propose when they panic the public with superficial statistics, often lacking any social context or explanation...
...The statute also, finally and clearly, allowed for student political speech in public schools...
...Mark Bruzonsky Jewish Committee on the Middle East Washington, D.C...
...Under these circumstances, would it not be wise to abandon all efforts to save our doomed society and concentrate on ways and means of survival...
...Would they have liked to see the creation of a "powerful governmental agency"—a Department of Population and Environment—to "take whatever steps are necessary to establish a reasonable population size in the United States...
...Or, for that matter, in 95 per cent of the United States...
...The elephant is just dead, and was done in by human beings...
...Readers who want to know more about this issue or about JCOME may call our twenty-four-hour computerized information system at (202) 362-5266...
...Most of the rest of the world doesn't have the luxury of worrying about growth...
...Marcia E. Marshall Strasburg, Virginia Murray Bookchin hits the nail right on the head in his attack on unrestricted economic growth...
...Indeed, if one's own particular cause is given preeminence at the expense of educating the public to the larger issue—notably, of a society that identifies "progress" with growth for its own sake—the underlying cause is obscured...
...It also makes clear that no visiting adults—whether priests, rabbis, or ministers—may dominate the student clubs...
...But in certain realms, these human concerns are almost irrelevant, and we should all be humble enough to realize that...
...First, it is not growth per se that is the enemy...
...When New Outlook was advised that we would refer to this refusal in our upcoming ads, it rushed into print with a part of our ad—omitting our presentation of the issues, the list of members of the JCOME board, or even our address and telephone number...
...Such steps as examining one's way of life, living simply, and recycling are important contributions...
...The law also permits religious segregation of students in schools, as the "Christian Bible club" Hentoff mentions obviously would...
...At the same time, we would gain invaluable experience and expertise to foster human survival in outer space...
...The full-page advertisement in question was specifically refused by New Outlook when we submitted it as a paid ad—just as we have submitted it, without difficulty, to a number of other publications, including The Progressive...
...But can one imagine them working in the industrial heartland of the Middle West, where stagnant or negative growth means plant closings and factory layoffs...
...George Fish Indianapolis, Indiana Murray Bookchin's article is an uncomfortable attempt to recast the environmental debate in terms of traditional haves-versus-have-nots left-wing politics...
...Or in polyglot New York City, with its organized interest-group politics...
...In fact, that is exactly what I did say when I criticized environmentalists who are trying to pass off "industrial society" for what is really a "genteel euphemism for capitalism...
...It also fails to mention television, movies, and an abundance of other ways of expressing freedom of speech...
...I disagree, however, when Bookchin belittles the individual's efforts to make a difference in bringing about systemic change...
...Bookchin has an absolute right to his apparent viewpoint that human gain should be the sole measure of human action, but he does not have a right to assume that all who disagree with his viewpoint are fascists and covert racists...
...An example of this kind of obscurantism is the dizzying emphasis that has been placed on the "population problem," be it by the quite decent people who raise it in their letters to The Progressive or by the more sinister people who are involved in the Rockefeller Foundation...
...The "have" world suffers from overpopulation because of its excessive consumption of resources...
...It is capitalist growth (and, by extension, capitalist methods of production and appropriation in the "already existing socialist states") that must expand unchecked because its goal is profit, not social equilibrium or satisfaction of needs...
...And the patronizing attitude of the Left toward the powerless (and even the non-intellectual middle class) is the primary reason the Left has never gone anywhere in this country...
...This is apparently what Schenker referred to when he claimed that New Outlook had published JCOME's statement...
...Until an internal change occurs in each person's thinking, loyalty, affection, and conviction, and until each individual takes responsibility for what is ethically and aesthetically right as well as what is economically expedient, systemic change will not take place...
...in other words, transformation into capital of the social means of production and subsistence must keep extending...
...Surely The Progressive could find a more progressive writer for a quarterly column on the First Amendment than one with an obsession to continually attack our most important civil-liberties organization...
Vol. 53 • October 1989 • No. 10
