M
uy estimado
Alejandro:
Te envío este trabajo que envié y me publicaron recientemente en el
BMJ en su versión electrónica. En parte tiene que ver contigo, pues
cité los párrafos de Bernard Lown en ProCOR, que ya tú conoces.
Afectos
Alfredo.
NEWS:
Owen Dyer
US societies to defy ban on editing articles from
embargoed
countries
BMJ 2004; 328: 543-b [Full text] Rapid Responses: Submit
a
response to this article
Related letters in BMJ
Rapid Responses published:
Why The Bush Embargoes on Editing?
John M. Williams (5 March 2004)
That is bad news for USA people
Sergio A. Perez Barrero (5 March 2004)
Free flow of ideas and knowledge among scientists from all
over the
world
Alfredo D Espinosa-Brito (12 April 2004)
-------------------------------------------------------
Why The Bush Embargoes on Editing? 5 March 2004
John M. Williams,
President
Markanix Co., PO Box 2697, Redwood City, CA 94064
Send response to journal:
Re: Why The Bush Embargoes on Editing?
Email John M. Williams
The article ends with the quote, "Pat Schroeder, the [AAP]
president, said: 'This ruling is baffling. How does editing
manuscripts
threaten the US?'"
The answer is simple: The President demonstrably is having
trouble
distinguishing fact from fancy. For example, rumors of weapons of
mass
destruction (WMD) in Iraq led to an invasion of Iraq.
The obvious
way to
prosecute a war on terror would have been to invade Afghanistan or
Pakistan, where all the 9-11-involved terrorists at the time
apparently
were hiding. But this was only obvious in view of the facts at the
time.
As a result, the invasion of Iraq gave, and still is giving,
terrorists
a much needed breather and time to multiply and reorganize.
Now, having been confronted with the fact, the President has
become oversensitive to fanciful threats. To stay the course and
never
admit any error or error correction, it is necessary to view all
new but
fanciful threats as somehow equivalent to the threat of WMD in
Iraq.
Fanciful hints of a threat must, like Iraq, be met with the same
forceful leadership as would real threats.
In particular, words, which are themselves, of course,
harmless,
now must be considered threatening and thus harmful. Iraq was
attacked
because of nothing but words, so failing to treat words as actual
threats would be irresponsibly inconsistent.
Thus, words in journals sent to embargoed nations become like
money to Al Qaida.
Unfortunately, unlike suicidal terrorists, overseas
scientists and
medical personnel actually NEED words from editors and reviewers to
carry out humanitarian acts or advance knowledge in their fields.
It's a pity this heartless President could not have stayed
the
course of being a "compassionate conservative" before becoming
fixated
on appearing to fight a war which was won ten years ago by an
international alliance led by his father.
Competing interests: I review submissions for a US journal
and,
who knows, because of this Response, might have to face accusations
of
treason or worse.
That is bad news for USA people
5 March 2004
Sergio A. Perez Barrero,
Professor Doctor
Suicidology Section
Send response to journal:
Re: That is bad news for USA people
Email Sergio A. Perez Barrero
I am a Cuban psychiatrist and suicidologist. That news is not
new
for us, with more than 45 years of hostility for the
USA'Goverments, but
that news is not good for USA people who will not have the
possibility
to interchange experiences with us.
In my field of knowledge, suicidal behaviour, USA
suicidologists
need our experience in the treatment of Spanish speaking patients
with
another culture.
Finally, it is not possible to blockade the ideas, the good
relationship between people and the love of the human being for the
sciences.
Sincerely yours
Prof. Dr. Sergio Andres Pérez Barrero
Founder of the World Psychiatry Association' Suicidology
Section
Temporal Advisor of WHO/PAHO for the Suicide Prevention in
the
America's Region.
National Representative of IATS, IASR, AITS.
Competing interests: None declared
Free flow of ideas and knowledge among scientists from
all
over the world 12 April 2004
Alfredo D Espinosa-Brito,
Ave 5 de Septiembre y Calle 51 A, Cienfuegos 55 100, Cuba
Hospital Dr. Gustavo Aldereguía Lima, Cienfuegos 55 100, Cuba
Send response to journal:
Re: Free flow of ideas and knowledge among scientists from
all
over the world
Email Alfredo D Espinosa-Brito
Dear Sir:
We received in Cuba many kindly messages about this topic
from
different parts of the world. Among them, it was very important for
us
the opinion of Bernard Lown, Nobel Prize of Peace, and Founder and
Chairman of ProCOR. Dr. Bernard Lown wrote these three important
paragraphs as introductory note and published the Declaration of
the
Cuban Academy of Sciences in ProCOR:
"We in ProCOR have avoided becoming mired in partisan
political
issues, whether local or global. We also know that at times
remaining
silent is being political as well as immoral. Unfortunately, the
20th
century just behind us is a testimonial to the fact that when
dangerous
deeds are ignored, they multiply and make life ignoble as well as
unlivable. Above all, we proclaim unhampered freedom for scientific
exchange and will protest it whenever or wherever it manifests."
"The Declaration of the Academy of Sciences of Cuba protests
a
recent US policy (see below). We sadly affirm the truth of the
Cuban
statement that the US Department of the Treasury prohibits
reviewing of
papers from countries it deems inimical to US interests, including
Cuba.
I recall hat during the height of the Cold War, active scientific
exchange with the Soviet Union and Socialist Block countries was
encouraged by our government. As a matter of a fact, I headed up
one
such exchange program with the USSR on behalf of the National
Institutes
of Health--despite the fact that at the time thousands of Soviet
missiles were targeted at the USA and threatening its extinction."
"We endorse the Cuban statement, Only through the free flow
of
ideas and knowledge among scientists from all over the world can
science
grow and advance for the benefit of all humankind."
A DECLARATION OF THE CUBAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
“…In the twenty first century science must become a shared
asset benefiting all peoples on the basis of solidarity
…(considering)
the importance for scientific research and education of full and
open
access to information…”
(From the Declaration on Science and the Use of Scientific
Knowledge of the World Conference on Science, 1999)
The Academy of Sciences of Cuba, formed by scientists of
relevant
merits, representing the national scientific community, denounces
to the
national and international public opinion a new aggression against
Cuba
by the present US administration.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Department of the
Treasury of the United States of America made public the
prohibition to
review, edit, or modify in US scientific journals, papers by
authors
from countries subject to “trade embargoes”, including Cuba. Those
who would do so, would have transgressed the Law of the USA, and
could
be imposed elevated fines, and even incarceration.
Since the public announcement of this measure, several US
editors
have rejected articles presented by Cuban scientists for
publication in
specialized journals in the USA. Once again, the Government of
George W.
Bush increases its anti Cuba policies in their wish to satisfy the
Cuban- American extreme right of South Florida, particularly in an
electoral year.
The publication of research outcomes is the first step in the
socialization of knowledge, and an indispensable pre-requisite for
the
healthy development of science. Only through the free flow of ideas
and
knowledge among scientists from all over the world can science grow
and
advance for the benefit of all of humankind. Contrasting with that,
the
present measures deprive the scientific communities of the USA, and
the
world at large, from sharing with our scientists the well
recognized
Cuban scientific developments.
The adoption of that decision by the present government of
the USA
violates both, the most elementary rights of scientists in any part
of
the world, and the USA Constitution itself.
Comparable to the burning of books practiced by fascist
regimes,
this absurd measure, which is the expression of a strengthening of
the
US blockade, is a reflection of the viciousness of the present
Government of that country, that has not been remiss to resort to
irrational limits in total despise of the most sacred principles of
international law.
This is the same government that, without taking into account
the
voice of the scientific community of its own country, has denied
the
existence of global warming, has destroyed in savage military
actions
many unique pieces of the World heritage, and in their contempt for
any
other opinion, has ignored the voice of the World community of
nations.
Cuban scientists denounce with indignation this measure that
affects not only us Cubans, but all of humankind. We call for our
colleagues in the USA to act in solidarity with our declaration,
and to
scientists in the rest of the World to condemn and reject this new
absurd aggression.
The Academy of Sciences of Cuba. Havana, Cuba March 9, 2004.
Competing interests: None declared
-------------------------------------------------------
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