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GENOCIDE AND BLACK ECOLOGY                                         SINNETTE

Let us for a moment reflect on Dr. Quenum's statement in the light of an article which appeared in the October 27, 1971 issue of the New York Post. With the headline caption "FRANCE WANTS BABIES," the article stated that France was attempting to stimulate a higher birth rate. Georges Mauco, the Secretary-General of a French committee on population and the family, revealed that as early as 1967, the government of the late Gen. Charles de Gaulle had realized the necessity to embark on such a course because it was, "realized for the first time that the population level was being maintained only by foreign immigration and a longer life span, and that in another 200 years there wouldn't be any more original French in France."  While Mr. Mauco clearly saw such an event as an unmitigated disaster for France, he was convinced that zero population growth (ZPG) was needed in the underdeveloped countries which have "galloping birthrates." He also felt that ZPG was a mistake for the United States since its resources were enormous, it is technologically advanced, and is not overpopulated. He criticized advocates of such a policy for the United States, and to quote the article directly, "he suspects that its sponsors are thinking more about reducing the black birth rate than the white." U.S. population planners may be annoyed by Mauco's last comments, not because of fundamental disagreement, but simply because his Gallic outspokenness "let the cat out of the bag." It is even more difficult to disregard Dr. Quenum's anxieties when Robert McNamara, former U.S. Secretary of Defense and now Director of the International Monetary Fund, is quoted as stating that foreign aid should be restricted to those countries who are willing to adopt a national policy to limit population growth. Putting aside for the moment, the motives or validity of the arguments for curbing birth rates, is it any wonder that the poorer nations resent being subjected to such naked coercion and arm-twisting?

The population/ecology cabal frequently assert that family planning is an essential component of health care design for any pre-industrialized country. The evidence to support such a claim is open to question. One looks in vain for incontrovertible evidence to indicate that a country which has taken determined measures to improve the health care of its citizens has been thwarted in its efforts because the national health program omitted family planning. Nor has it been demonstrated conclusively that the incorporation of family planning materially accelerates the process of improving a nation's health. This question arose during a recent discussion of U.S. government health officials. Under a recently awarded 5 year grant, the United States Agency
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---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-02-16 15:55:39