Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 03:55:36 +0100 (MET)
Subject: M-G: UNITE! Info #4en: App. 2/2 The Heidelberg Appeal


UNITE! Info #4en: App. 2/2 The Heidelberg Appeal
[First posted on 21.3.96]

[As supporting complement 2 (of 2) to my posting "UNITE! Info #4en:
A barbaric anti-industry attack", I bring the text of the Heidelberg
Appeal. This is a statement originally published on June 1, 1992,
immediately before the so-called "Earth Summit" in Rio de Janeiro,
as signed by 264 scientists, including 52 Nobel prize recipients, from
29 countries. Among those were, according to a very small notice in
the next day's issue of the newspaper International Herald Tribune
where a minimum of reporting on this very important statement was
hidden away, the Nobel prize physicians Pierre-Gilles de Gennes of
France and Donald Glaser of the United States, British medical
laureates Sir Andrew Huxley and Sir Richard Doll and the American
chemistry and peace recipient Linus Pauling.

Today the number of scientists who have signed this appeal is well
above 1000. This I was told by Mr. Tore Fredin, of the Schiller
Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, to whom I'm grateful for his contacting
me last summer to send me the full text of this statement, which I
had earlier failed to find. In important respects I'm not in agreement
with the standpoints on political matters of the Schiller Institute, but
Mr. Fredin and I are both members of the same pro-environment
and pro-nuclear-energy association in Sweden.

I reproduce the text of the Appeal from the Fall 1992 issue of the
magazine 21st Century Science and Technology, which also
included the suggestion:

"In order for your name to be included on the signature list, return
one copy of the Appeal with your signature, stating your academic
title or professional position to: Dr. M. Solomon, coordinator of the
Heidelberg Appeal, 10 Avenue de Messine, 75008 Paris, France
(Fax 33-142-890059)."]


                         THE HEIDELBERG APPEAL

                 *To Heads of States and Governments*

=A4	We want to make our full contribution to the preservation of
	our common heritage, the Earth.

=A4	We are however worried, at the dawn of the 21st century, at
	the emergence of an irrational ideology which is opposed to
	scientific and industrial progress and impedes economic
	and social development.

=A4	We contend that a Natural State, sometimes idealized by
	movements with a tendency to look toward the past, does
	not exist and has probably never existed since man's first
	appearance in the biosphere, insofar as humanity has
	always progressed by harnessing Nature to its needs and
	not the reverse.

=A4	We fully subscribe to the objectives of a scientific ecology
	for a universe whose resources must be taken stock of,
	monitored, and preserved.

=A4	But we herewith demand that this stocktaking, monitoring,
	and preservation be founded on scientific criteria and not
	on irrational preconceptions.

=A4	We stress that many essential human activities are carried
	out either by manipulating hazardous substances or in their
	proximity, and that progress and development have always
	involved increasing control over hostile forces, to the
	benefit of mankind.

=A4	We therefore consider that scientific ecology is no more
	than an extension of this continual progress toward the
	improved life of future generations.

=A4	We intend to assert science's responsibility and duties
	toward society as a whole.

=A4	We do, however, forewarn the authorities in charge of our
	planet's destiny against decisions which are supported by
	pseudoscientific arguments or false and nonrelevant data.

=A4	We draw everybody's attention to the absolute necessity
	of helping poor countries attain a level of sustainable
	development which matches that of the rest of the planet,
	protecting them from troubles and dangers stemming
	from developed nations, and avoiding their entanglement
	in a web of unrealistic obligations which would compromise
	both their independence and their dignity.

=A4	The greatest evils which stalk our Earth are ignorance and
	oppression, and not Science, Technology, and Industry
	whose instruments, when adequately managed, are
	indispensable tools of a future shaped by Humanity, by
	itself and for itself, overcoming major problems like
	overpopulation, starvation and worldwide diseases.

[So far the Heidelberg Appeal - RM]=09
=09





     --- from list marxism-general-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---