181 lines
8.7 KiB
Plaintext
181 lines
8.7 KiB
Plaintext
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Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 9 Num. 28
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======================================
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("Quid coniuratio est?")
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GLORIA IN EXCELSIS
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==================
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[CN transcript of remarks by west coast researcher Dave Emory.]
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Now. The first article I'm going to be reading here comes from
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"Counterspy" magazine, Volume IV, Number 1. And it was published
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in 1980.
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This is a statement by a group of radical feminists who called
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themselves "The Red Stockings," who (despite the fact that
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neither Nip [co-host] nor myself would agree with nor identify
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with their ideological underpinnings), they did some excellent
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and readily verifiable research. And that research is "front and
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center" in the following letter which they mailed to
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"Counterspy." (By the way, "Counterspy" is one of the top
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publications covering the activities of the U.S. intelligence
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establishment. It's now been renamed, "The National Reporter.")
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...the following statement from the Red Stockings Collective
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(this from September 6, 1979). It's headlined,
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STATEMENT
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We feel that we must respond to the latest in a series of
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attempts to suppress the inquiry into the details and
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nature of Gloria Steinem's association with the Central
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Intelligence Agency. We are alarmed that the most visible
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commentary on these events comes from several well-known
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figures in the feminist movement who not only condone but
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endorse this suppression.
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Because feminism's appeal and impact spring from a
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fundamental intellectual honesty, it is particularly
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distressing that the suppression of dissent may be seen as
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some kind of official feminist position.
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In 1975, after Red Stocking researched Gloria Steinem's
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affiliations and raised questions about her political past,
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Steinem published a "statement," in connection with her
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activities on behalf of the Independent Research Service, a
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CIA-funded group. Many feminists found this document
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neither entirely credible nor to the point, and they have
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insisted upon seeking more enlightening answers.
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Because of the conscious counter-revolutionary role that
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the CIA has played at home and abroad over the years, it
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makes sense to expect a participant in the women's
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movement, especially one who has come to symbolize it, to
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fully discuss her past relationship to the CIA. We are
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still waiting to hear Steinem's opinion of the Agency. The
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last one she gave characterized the CIA as "liberal" and
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far-sighted. [New York Times, Feb. 21, 1967, according to
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Emory.]
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The events that prompted us to send out this letter
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include:
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Gloria Steinem, Clay Felker(sp?) (most recently publisher
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of Esquire), and Ford Foundation president Franklin Thomas,
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were among those who threatened to sue for libel if Random
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House allowed the CIA chapters to be published in the
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Random House edition of Red Stocking's *Feminist
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Revolution*. At the same time, Newsweek and Washington
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Post publisher Katherine Graham and Warner Communications
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(a major Ms. [magazine] stockholder) also complained. The
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offending chapters were deleted. Thus, Steinem and her
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powerful supporters successfully used the threat of
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litigation to exercise prior restraint over publication.
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When Steinem learned that the Village Voice had assigned
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journalist Nancy Borman(sp?) to prepare an article on the
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censorship of *Feminist Revolution*, her attorneys,
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Greenbaum, Wolf & Ernst(sp?), threatened suit against the
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Voice if any mention of Steinem's CIA association appeared
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in this article.
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After some delay, to allow the Voice's legal counsel to
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review the material, the Voice published the article on May
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21st, 1979. And, in subsequent issues, several letter
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writers responded with attacks on Borman and the Voice.
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In May of 1979, when Heights and Valley News, a New York
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City neighborhood paper published by the Columbia Tenant's
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Union [CTU], began a series on the material deleted from
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*Feminist Revolution*, Steinem's attorneys again threatened
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suit. But instead of threatening the Columbia Tenant's
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Union corporation, they sent a letter to each of CTU's 32
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board members. Board members cannot be individually sued
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for a corporation's acts except in a few instances not
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relevant here. But Steinem's attorneys stated in their
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letter to the board members that publication of the
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material "could subject them to individual liability."
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Heights and Valley News stood up to this attempt at
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intimidation and is continuing the series.
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All this legal harassment was in response not to any actual
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instance of false, malicious defamation, but to the
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potential raising of embarrassing questions about some
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feminist relations with the power elite. We think that
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Steinem and her associates have not made a convenient case
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for cutting off discussion.
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And at the bottom they have a few questions they ask about the
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implications of this for the women's movement. And there's a
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series of signatories to this particular statement. And the only
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two names I recognize here are, a woman by name of Marge Piercy
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who's a well-known feminist poet, and also a woman named Louise
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Billotte, who is a KPFA [radio] staff member.
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There are a number of points to be brought up concerning this
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particular statement, here in "Counterspy."
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First of all, Steinem, as the article pointed out, has never
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denied her relationship to the Independent Research Service.
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However, people who have attempted to highlight the nature of the
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Independent Research Service relationship to the CIA and, in
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turn, Steinem's relationship to Independent Research Service,
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have been threatened with litigation and have had a lot of
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pressure put on them. The pressure in this instance not only
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coming from Steinem herself, but also from a man named Clay
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Felker (whose role in establishing Ms. magazine we're gonna take
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a look at), as well as Katherine Graham. We're gonna take a look
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at Katherine Graham, her relationship with CIA, and her
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involvement with Ms. [magazine], in just a couple of minutes.
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Not only was the book *Feminist Revolution* "leaned on" (I guess
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you'd say) by the Ms. axis, but also the Village Voice, when
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writing an article about the censorship of *Feminist Revolution*,
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also had similar pressure put on them.
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And the interesting thing is, the attorneys Greenbaum, Wolf &
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Ernst are a law firm that produced some of the people helping to
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defend, among others, Richard Nixon, in the Watergate case.
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The fact that the Independent Research Service is, for all
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intents and purposes, a CIA front, is a matter of record.
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If there was nothing to be covered up, why all of the pressure to
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cover it up? Even Steinem's own resume will maintain that she
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was related to the Independent Research Service.
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So keep an eye on these events, and remember the names Clay
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Felker and Katherine Graham. We're going to come back to those a
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little bit later.
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[...to be continued...]
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Aperi os tuum muto, et causis omnium filiorum qui pertranseunt.
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Aperi os tuum, decerne quod justum est, et judica inopem et
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pauperem. -- Liber Proverbiorum XXXI: 8-9
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