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Watergate's Deep Throat Revealed ETHICAL AND THEOLOGICAL CHALLENGES PRESENTED BY HIV/AIDS As the HIV/AIDS problem continues to take its multifaceted charge on humanity, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, Fr. Micheal J. Kelly, S.J., offers in this article, an insightful, analytical and comprehensive exploration of ethical and theological challenges presented by HIV/AIDS. Part I HIV/AIDS AND LIFE HIV/AIDS is about many things. Clearly it is about suffering and healing, dying and death. But it is also about sex and living and originating new life. For very many, especially women, it is about coping and managing on an inadequate or non-existent income. For others, it is about caring for children who have no one to look after them, while at the same time it is about caring for old people whose adult children are no more. Together, the disease and the epidemic that has resulted from it cover almost every aspect of human life. As they do so, they give rise to a whole host of ethical and theological questions. In many cases, HIV/AIDS highlights and magnifies the ethical implications of existing situations, such as widespread poverty or the unjust treatment and exploitation of women. In other cases, HIV/AIDS raises new issues with ethical dimensions, such as in the areas of stigma and discrimination or access to antiretroviral drugs (ARVs). In many circumsta-nces, responding to these issues implies two judgments that tend to strengthen each other: - This should not be it is unethical. - This must be changed; it makes the HIV/AIDS situation worse. Areas of ethical and theological challenge presented by HIVE/AIDS would include: 1. Protecting truth, and excluding denial and stigma. 2. Remedying the status of women and correcting gender imbalances. 3. Doing something about the sinful conditions of the unjust distribution of wealth, wide-spread poverty, and oppressive globalization. 4. Ensuring the protection of human rights that are threatened by HIV/AIDS. 5. Understanding sexuality and dealing with its practice. 6. Reconciling the demands of confidentiality with those of the public good. 7. Ensuring the comprehensive practice of personal and communal responsibility both to and by those who are HIV infected. 8. Balancing the competing demands of AIDS treatment and HIV prevention when it comes to the allocation of resources. A few of these issues are dealt with below (if readers want more, a further article can deal with the remainder). STATUS OF WOMEN AND GENDER IMBALANCES
IV/AIDS has a disproportionate effect on the lives of women. On physiological and health grounds they are at greater risk of becoming infected with the virus. On social and economic grounds they are more vulnerable to infection. And when HIV/AIDS is present in a household, women are likely to carry the larger share of the burden and to be more extensively affected. There can be little doubt that HIV/AIDS is increasingly becoming a disease with the face of a woman or girl. In the words of Stephen Lewis, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, “the pandemic is now, conclusively and irreversibly, a ferocious assault on women and girls worldwide”. Theological this is not as it should be. Scripture tells us that “male and female God made them. In his own image and likeness God made them.” On Social and Economic Grounds They are More Vulnerable to Infection. There is no question here of one being subordinate to the other, of one carrying a heavier burden than the other. There is no theological reason for the concentration of AIDS among women. Neither is the “feminization of AIDS” ethically right. The Universal Declaration on Human Rights affirms, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”. But until such time as women’s full dignity as human persons and their full equality with men is proclaimed and practiced in every walk and stage of life, this article will remain a pipedream. Humanity will remain out of harmony with its best aspirations. It will not be true to itself. Meanwhile, women and girls will remain at the epicenter of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The relationship of respect, mutuality and equality between woman and men will continue to be violated. In practice, the inherent human dignity of women will be denied. An unethical approach will be maintained and HIV/AIDS will continue to flourish. POVERTY
IV/AIDS has never been a democratic disease. Although in its early days it occurred more among the better –off, it settled down fairly quickly to targeting the poor and vulnerable. The poor are at higher risk of HIV infection; the poor are more vulnerable to HIV infection; and the disease makes the poor poorer. In circumstances of personal poverty and underdevelopment, HIV transmission occurs more easily while the period of HIV infection prior to the emergence of clinical AIDS tends to be shorter. Circumstances over which they have virtually no control put the poor at higher risk of HIV infection. Such circumstances include a greater likelihood of untreated STIs; absence of information on their own HIV status or that of their sexual partner; the increased possibility of high-risk behavior because of difficulties in accessing and storing condoms correctly as well as major constraints in using them properly; and economic pressures to resort to the sale of sex to generate household income. In addition, many factors that are almost entirely outside their control make the poor more vulnerable to infection. Long prior to HIV infection, their immune system may be weakened because of their low health and nutritional status, their limited access to health care, their inability to meet the costs involved in accessing health services, and their increased exposure to other health hazards, such as malaria, TB, or gastro-intestinal problems. The poor constitute the majority of those who migrate from place to place in seek of labour and better living conditions. But only too often they replace joblessness, overcrowding, poor housing, inadequate sanitation, and poor health and educational facilities with similar situations elsewhere. In this way, they carry the burden of their HIV vulnerability with them. Clearly this is not the way things should be for forty percent and more of humanity. God did not make the world so that things should be like this. Equally clearly, the continuation of such a situation will not serve to roll back HIV/AIDS. The concentration of wealth in the top 5-10 percent of a society; half-hearted poverty reduction programmes; the application of globalization measures in ways that are to the disadvantage of poorer countries; the continued siphoning off of financial resources to debt repayments; the brain drain that eats away the human capacity of poor countries; maximizing profits at all costs; corruption and cronyism at all levels. Although in its early days it occurred more among the better-off, it settled down fairly quickly to targeting the poor and vulnerable. Mismanagement, poor governance, and poor and unconcerned leadership that is crippling the potential of many poor countries; the concentration of efforts and resources on the retention of political power; internal and international conflicts and wars -- all play their part in maintaining the poverty of peoples and thereby all play their part in maintaining or worsening the HIV/AIDS situation. Each one of these situations is unethical; it is not as it should be. Each serves to maintain the unethical situation of mass poverty in a world plentifully supplied with means and resources. Each contributes unethically to the prolongation of the wretchedness of HIV/AIDS. THE UNDERSTANDING OF SEXUALITY
exual contact is the commonest means of HIV transmission, accounting globally for about 90 percent of cases. Because of this, the understanding of sexuality and the ethics of sexual practice and customs play a critical role in approaches to HIV prevention. Sexuality is a drive for intimacy, union, relationships, and wholeness. It expresses the need real fulfillment by handing the self over in some enduring commitment to another person. Sexuality is never casual, neutral, unimportant, or just recreational. It goes beyond geniality and body-to-body contacts. Instead, it stresses person-to-person interchange. What sexuality prizes most highly is interaction with the other as a person. In many cases, the personal as well as the physical contacts of true sexuality are freely agreed upon. But much sexual contact is also forced –- physically and/or psychologically - - especially on the young and on women and girls. In addition, many societies debase the true meaning of sexuality through the different standards and expectations they have for men and boys on the one hand and for women and girls on the other. The “machismo” image found in many societies is a caricature of true sexuality, reducing it to physical sex activity and male dominance, prowess and control. Likewise, what can be called the “feminismo” image is also a caricature in the way it portrays sexuality in a girl or woman as docile, submissive, yielding, and accepting of whatever comes from the male, whether sexual advances, decisions, economic power, or gifts. Neither approach can give expression to the love, care, intimacy, and joy that characterize true sexuality. This immediately raises questions about the way sexuality is portrayed in the media and anti – HIV messages. Too often these seem to reduce sexuality almost to a commodity that can be traded (usually by women and girls). To the extent that they do so, they foster wrong thinking and ensure failure to promote appropriate life-affirming behavior. HIV/AIDS raises other difficult ethical and pastoral questions in the area of sexuality: - Can we continue to acquiesce in double sexual standards for men and women, especially as manifested in “machismo” and “feminismo”? What can we do to change these double standards? - As church people, are giving a lead in speaking against these double standards and in promoting positive attitudes to sexuality? What are we doing in cur school programmes to ensure that young people develop a proper understanding of human sexuality and the right attitude to it? - Can we continue to tolerate attitudes and practice that regulate homosexuals and lesbians to the margins of society? Is it right that homosexuality should be criminal offence? - Can we continue, in our communities and churches, to overlook the fact that so many children suffer sexual violence, in silence and in their families? Our thinking in these areas should be guided by three questions. Is this right? Dose it make the HIV/AIDS situation better or worse? What would have been the Lord’s reaction to the practice or situation? Our answers may well show that, like Abraham, we are being challenged to journey into new and unexplored territories of belief and practice. Too often, these seem to reduce sexuality almost to a commodity that can be traded. To be continued in the next issue Educations Quotations
Policy Issues The Government of Swaziland signed the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in 1996 and ratified it in 1997. A number of policy frameworks, which bear components of combating desertification, have been formulated and strategies for their implementation devised. The main ones outlined below are based on the UNCCD National Steering Committee Report (1999). Previous programmes included the Rural Development Area programme (RDAP); the fattening and Sisa ranches programme; the grazing management demonstration areas and the establishment of the Central Rural Development Board (CRDB). The RDAP was initiated in 1972 with the aim of improving income and the general standard of living in the rural areas. The programme was intended to gradually convert subsistence farming to commercially oriented agriculture by strengthening the extension service; promoting commercial livestock farming; setting up proper settlements and promoting land development and conservation; provision of infrastructure; and providing technical assistance and capacity building. The Fattening and Sisa Ranches Programme was initiated in response to overgrazing on Swazi Nation Land areas, which was causing range deterioration and soil erosion. The government established these ranches partly to relieve grazing pressure on Swazi nation Lands, and partly to enable the Swazi farmer to obtain good economic returns from better-managed cattle. In the fattening ranches, the cattle were fattened and then sold on behalf of the farmers. In Sisa ranches, farmers were able to multiply their cattle numbers under improved management. The grazing management demonstration areas were established to educate the Swazi farmer adopt a business attitude towards cattle farming. Instead of sending female cattle to government sisa ranches, communities usually set aside areas to be used as breeding ranches. Members of the community managed the ranches themselves under the close supervision of the government extension officers. The fattening, sisa and grazing demonstration areas programmes ate not popular with the cattle farmers because they are not in response to the underlying reasons that make farmers keep cattle. For example, many farmers keep cattle for the provision of milk to the family, for use as drought animals or for the provision of meat. The farmers under these conditions do not accrue these benefits. The CRDB was established in the 1950s to commission and monitor resettlement programmes on Swazi Nation Land; to establish and monitor soil conservation programmes; to oversee the operations of the soil conservation unit; and to promote the participation of chiefs in soil conservation and rural development programmes. Current plans and strategies include the National Development Strategy (NDS), the Swaziland Environment Action Plan (SEAP), the National Environment Policy (NEP), the Swaziland Environment Management Bill, the Economic and social Reform Agenda (ESRA), the National Disaster Management Policy Framework, the Sustainable Livelihood Programme, Poverty Alleviation Programme, and the National Early Warning Unit (NEWU). In this issue, the discussion is confined to NDS, ESRA, SEAP and partly the NEP for which documentation could be obtained. The NDS was promulgated in August 1999 and its focus was on the quality of life in the country, with special emphasis o poverty eradication, employment creation, gender equity, social integration and environmental protection. In terms of environmental protection and conservation, it is proposed, inter alia, that environmental management; that the erosion of the soil be curbed and prevented, and that the Swaziland Environmental Action Plan be implemented. In terms of strategies for achieving sustainable use of land, among other things, the following are recommended under rational land use and tenure: to bring about land use changes for highly eroded land and with arable potential currently under grazing or forest; intensify efforts to modify the land tenure system such that it is consistent with increased production. It is also clear that population growth is one of the major problems affecting national development. The NDS proposes, among other things, to involve the communities at grassroots level in the articulation and implementation of a sustainable population policy; to incorporate population issues fully into national development planning; strengthen family planning programmes that involve male partners; and introduce legislation that fosters and promotes full parental responsibility for children. Since sustainable development is the primary goal of NDS, it means that development initiatives have to address the needs of the poor. The NDS concedes that poverty is the main cause of environmental degradation and a major consequence of it undermines the ability of the poor to make a living. The link between poverty and environmental degradation is close and complicated. Poor people are quite dependent on the natural resource base for their day-to-day needs. It is only when they have exhausted their arsenal of coping strategies and mechanisms that they are left with no option but to tamper with their resource base (Pinstrup-Andersen and Pandya-Lorch 1994). Poverty as the inability to meet basic needs and the lack of capacity to exit this situation is caused by lack of opportunities, choices and access to productive assets. Population growth often exacerbates poverty-led environmental degradation especially I marginal areas. It diminishes farm sized and ultimately pushes people off the land to search for more land and employment opportunities elsewhere. In Swaziland, population growth is estimated at 2.8%, with the population under the age of 15 comprising 49% of the total population. Rapid population growth is a contributing factor to the incidence of poverty in rural homesteads. This often leads to rural-urban migration and the intensified use of existing land culminating in land degradation, which is a leading sign of desertification. The Swaziland Environmental Action Plan provides and overall policy framework for dealing with environmental issues in the country. Among its objectives are to suggest solutions to priority problems in the form of practical activities and programmes and needed institutional and legal reforms; and to establish a clear indication of government’s priority areas with respect to the environment so as to guide and give proper orientation to donor intervention. The process of developing an environmental strategy has provided a forum and context for debate on general sustainable development issues and the articulation of a collective vision for the future as well as a mechanism for developing organizational capacities and other institutions required for sustainable development. The National Environment Policy focuses on the general principles and approaches, which should be adopted by an part of government, traditional structure, organization or individual in undertaking any activity which may affect the environment. The objectives of the Policy include a reduction in soil erosion and a reversal of the desertification process. It is assumed that the responsibility for controlling land degradation will be placed on private land users and communities, and that land use planning in non-urban areas will be based on agro-ecological zoning that takes into account differences in habitat and vegetation. It also obliges government to involve local communities in decisions on land use and environmental commitments. The Economic and Social Reform Agenda (ESRA) is a set of time-bound targets which government has to meet over the next three years. It is assumed that if the targets are substantially met, Swaziland will achieve good economic growth and improved social services. The priority areas in this case include developing smallholder agriculture; promotion of the small and medium scale enterprises sector; infrastructural development; environmental protection, and public sector; and parastatal reform. In any case, the National Action Programme on Desertification is considered as the framework for addressing land degradation and promoting sustainable livelihoods in dry-land areas. within the framework the following issues are considered crucial: reclamation and rehabilitation of degraded lands; drought mitigation and poverty alleviation strategies; and the promotion of active participation of communities at grassroots level in land management programmes. These efforts, albeit at policy level, indicate the political will for integrating environmental protection into national development. They are in line with the UNCED declaration in Brazil in 1992, which called for environmental protection to be integrated into the development process. As has been noted, the integration of environmental considerations into Swaziland’s national development policy began with the inclusion of some environmental objectives in the short term objectives of ESRA. These included ensuring protection of the land resource and improving water resources management. Discussion International conventions such as the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD) provide a global context of desertification, such as a global definition, but implementation of strategies remains local. International for a provide mechanisms of collective bargaining, and mobilization of donor resources to member countries. Swaziland is a signatory to the CCD, which calls for urgent priority for Africa, and has already launched a National Action Programme (NAP), which is a framework for addressing land degradation and promoting sustainable livelihoods in dry-land areas. The CCD is an umbrella body, which provides a radical agenda for achieving more dry-land development. It calls upon country governments to demonstrate the priority them placer on tackling land degradation through policy and institutional changes, economic and financial measures and technical support. It is envisaged that these mechanisms would establish clearer rights and incentives to land users to manage and invest in their land; provide economic benefits and increased incomes from better management and investment, and; support farmers to develop methods for more sustainable practices, based where possible on traditional systems, skills and priorities (Toulmin 1998). Many developing countries have taken the opportunity during negotiations to discuss common issues and identified some ways of addressing them. The CCD has shown an alternative channel of obtaining donor funding of development projects. In the convention, community participation in the design and implementation of programmes is emphasized and fro many governments it provides a basis for mobilizing grassroots resources for development, which has been difficult. Lesson from Other Countries Swaziland is a small country, which shows many prospects in combating desertification and can learn from successful examples and possibly mistakes from other countries experiencing similar problems. The most relevant examples that the author is familiar with are from East Africa, especially from Tanzania. One of the often quoted successful land rehabilitation projects in Tanzania is the HADO (Hifadhi ya Ardhi Dodoma). The project was initiated in 1973 in the Kondoa Eroded Area of Dodoma Region in Central Tanzania, which was affected by server land degradation. The project was implemented in two phases. The aims of the first phase were to: promote self-sufficiency in wood requirements; encourage communal wood growing schemes; promote communal beekeeping; establish shelterbelts, windbreaks, shades avenues and fruit trees; conserve soil and water; and reclaim degraded land. Phase Two was planned to focus on soil conservation techniques and popular participation (Kikula 1999). Similar conservation programmes in Tanzania include HASHI (Hifadhi ya Ardhi shinyanga, i.e., Soil Conservation in Shinyanga), Soil Erosion, Control and Agro-forestry Programme (SECAP), HIMA (Hifadhi Mazingira Iringa, i.e., Environmental Conservation Iringa Region), and Land Management Programme for Environmental Conservation (LAMP) in Babati District. Similar projects can be cited for Kenya, where soil conservation has always received priority in Government’s programmes. Conclusions The problem of desertification in Swaziland may not be as severe as compared to some other countries. However, given the size of the country, the threat it poses it quite alarming, and urgent measures are needed for its control. As globally understood, the basic causes of desertification have climatic inclinations but is essentially an outcome of resource management failure. So far, the initiatives suggested for combating desertification in the country are ideal as they integrate sustainable development with environmental protection. The NDS is just one mechanism thought which popular support for the country’s economic development process can be mobilized, and effective use of resources ensured. For strategies of combating desertification to succeed, other policies which need immediate formulation and implementation included those dealing with population, land tenure and use, forestry, energy and livestock development as stipulated in the NDS. Lessons cited from other countries can be of great benefit provided there is a strong political will and determination. Establishing policy is not by itself adequate unless accompanied by proper implementation and monitoring strategies. This calls for capacity building at all levels of national development. Watergate's Deep Throat Revealed
The scandal forced the resignation of Republican President Richard Nixon in August 1974. Deep Throat helped Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncover the Watergate affair. Initially, the reporters refused to confirm Mr. Felt's identity. "We've said all along that when the source, known as Deep Throat, dies, we will reveal his identity," said Bernstein, according to MSNBC. But, Woodward said Mr. Felt was indeed Deep Throat, in a statement carried on the Washington Post's website. "It's the last secret" of the story, said Ben Bradlee, who was the Washington Post's senior editor at the time. Family secret Mr. Felt, now 91, told Vanity Fair: "I'm the guy they used to call Deep Throat." The name derived from a famous pornographic film of the time. Mr. Felt only admitted his secret to his family in 2002, he told the magazine; when his daughter confronted him after being tipped off by one of his close associates. The FBI has not commented on the admission. In the 1970s, Mr. Felt was convicted of organizing illegal searches of houses of radicals associated with the Weather Underground movement. Presi-dent Ronald Reagan pardoned him in 1981. Flowerpot man The identity of the most famous unidentified single source in the history of journalism has also been one of the profession's best-kept secrets. Deep Throat assisted Woodward and Bernstein with prompts and hints. If Woodward needed to meet the source to check information, he would place a flag in a flowerpot on a certain place on his windowsill, as a signal for the pair to meet in secret in an underground car park in the dead of night. For decades, there had been speculation about who the source was - but no credible individual had ever come forward. Bugging attempt When Nixon resigned in August 1974, it was the first time any US president had done so. The Watergate scandal concerned a break-in at the offices of the rival Democratic Party in the Watergate building in Washington in 1972, and a subsequent cover-up. The attempted bugging of the building was linked to officials in the Nixon White House, and the cover-up went all the way to the top. The reporters' role in the affair was immortalized in the 1976 film All The President's Men.
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