IPA claims harassment

Article Abstract:

The Soviet government has a history of committing citizens with anti-establishment political views to mental institutions, regardless of their true mental health. Soviet psychiatry has been linked to political oppression and human rights violations, particularly under Brezhnev. The new Independent Psychiatrist's Association (IPA) of the Soviet Union supports human rights and claims that the Soviet security police stole its files as an act of harassment. IPA members are psychiatrists from all regions of the Soviet Union. They have been collecting evidence concerning the use of mental hospitals for political repression; it is these files that the IPA alleges were stolen during a recent burglary of an IPA member's apartment. No valuables were taken during the burglary. With the records were letters requesting support from psychiatrists in other countries. The founder of IPA, Aleksandr Ogorodnikov, has written an open letter to psychiatric organizations abroad stating that harassment will not stop the IPA, but members are concerned that patients named in IPA records will be punished by the Soviet government. The IPA is seeking membership in the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), which would bolster the IPA's efforts at home. The IPA has applied for membership, but the WPA's rules require that these applications be submitted one full year in advance of its meeting. The Soviet Union has an official Soviet psychiatric society that existed before the IPA. This group resigned from the WPA in 1983 and is now seeking readmission. Neither the IPA nor the official Soviet psychiatric society has met the WPA rules for membership, yet it appears the rules may be bent to admit the official psychiatric society. The IPA has been told its application cannot be processed.

Social aspects, Political activity, Ethical aspects, Psychiatrists, Soviet Union, Psychiatry, Psychiatric hospital care, Psychiatric hospitals

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Dispute erupts over Nazi research claims

Article Abstract:

German science research did not fall significantly behind other countries during the Nazi era, according to a new book by Notker Hammerstein, a professor of history at the University of Frankfurt. The academic mainstream was able to adjust quickly to the new political environment, despite the expulsion of all Jewish scientists from their university chairs. However, Ernst-Otto Fischer, a Nobel prizewinner for chemistry in 1970, disputes the assessment in the book, and claims that there was a crucial decrease in Germany's intellectual competitiveness due to the emigration of Jewish scientists.

Germany, History, Research, German history

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Corruption claims hang over Amazon surveillance system

Article Abstract:

The Brazilian government seems poised to approve the ambitious Amazon Surveillance System (SIVAM) despite allegations of corruption directed towards government officials and contractor Raytheon. Opposition politicians are raising questions about the legality and the exorbitant cost of the US$1.4 billion radar surveillance system. They accuse US-based Raytheon of trying to bribe a Brazilian opposition legislator to support the project. Scientists also disapprove of SIVAM because its overall value to Brazilian research is still in doubt.

Telecommunications systems, Science and technology policy, Brazil, Amazon River region, South America, Surveillance radar

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